“At this very moment a dozen warships are bringing hundreds of reinforcements to quell this little revolt of yours. Surrender now and you can return to your cells, keep fighting and you will all be executed, including those still in their cells.”
From her position Teresa could make out people moving back and forth though it wasn’t clear what they planned to do. As she contemplated what to do the newly arrived guard stepped past her and towards the Governor.
“Governor, I’ve made contact with the enemy, I know who they are and their plans.”
The Governor turned and smiled at him.
“Excellent, so our little group have given up their contacts in the Confederacy. Good work, this news will greatly assist in our struggle,” he said as he indicated for Tigris to move to the side and out of the way of likely gunfire.
“Governor, this is General Rivers, Commander of Confed ground forces. Surrender now and I guarantee you a fair trial!” came a booming voice behind the barricades.
Teresa’s heart lifted as she recognised the voice.
“Governor, you bastard, turn around!” roared a voice she knew even better.
Turning she spotted the bloodied figure of Spartan. His clothes were ruined and blood dripped down his face. In his hand he carried a rifle, presumably taken from one of the many fallen guards. The man turned around to face Spartan, a look of amusement on his face.
“Well, well, I see you have…” he started before being cut short by a single shot to the head. Blood burst from his skull as he dropped lifelessly to the ground. With their leader gone the remaining guards surrendered, leaving just around ten Zealots who backed away, looking for a way out.
Spartan looked over towards Teresa who stood holding a smoking carbine, still pointing at the body of the Governor. Bishop stood next to her. From behind the barricade the remaining people jumped down and rushed towards Spartan and the other survivors. General Rivers, sporting half a dozen minor wounds was helped down and limped towards Teresa. Spartan also spotted Marcus and Misaki. A loud roar came from the defenders followed by Gun who jumped over the metal obstacle and landed just a few metres from Teresa. She lifted her gun ready to fire again, only to be stopped by the strong arms of Spartan who grabbed her tightly.
“I knew you’d be in the middle of this!” she laughed.
As the two embraced, General Rivers approached with Misaki and Marcus.
“Ahem!” coughed the General, trying to get Spartan’s attention.
It seemed nothing would split them apart until finally Teresa pulled back, spotting the figure of the General. She saluted smartly, Spartan pushed out his hand and shook it
“Excellent work, both of you. Can I assume, Private, that your appearance here is the precursor to Confed troops arriving?”
Teresa looked back to Spartan, her eyes alive with pleasure and then back to the General.
“We came on the Tamarisk, Sir, just two shuttles. How many people are here?”
“Thousands, Private, tens of thousands. We can’t leave, not yet,” he said firmly before turning to Spartan.
“Did you get the signal out?”
“Yes, Sir, it’s already being transmitted on all frequencies.”
Bishop stepped forward, saluting the General.
“Sir, you might want to hear this,” he said as he held out his intercom unit.
“Commander Anderson here. Your signal got out. There are over twenty civilian ships in orbit demanding the Echidna vessels leave immediately. Apparently your footage is causing uproar on the Trading Post. There’s talk of an outright ban on the Church and its associates throughout the Prometheus System.”
There was a short burst of static before he continued, “We will be landing shortly. What is your status?”
“We have the prisoners, a lot of them,” said Spartan almost excitedly.
“Good, we won’t be taking off anytime soon though, the ship’s badly damaged.”
“You and Kowalski?”
“We’re okay, Sergeant, I have to go, this is going to be an interesting landing, Tamarisk out.”
Bishop took back the intercom unit and fitted back his armour.
General Rivers looked over to Bishop.
“Thank you, son, your team have done the Confederacy proud. I need you to help arrange triage for the wounded and we have to get in touch with friendly vessels in the area. There are a lot of hurt people down here. Spartan, can you patch me through to our Communication Post on the Trading Station? I need to get word to the Admiral about this place.”
“Sir!”
“Look out!” shouted Teresa as she spotted Tigris moving out from the shadows with a pistol pointed at General Rivers’ head. She grabbed at her pistol but it was too late. A bright light engulfed the traitor before scattering his body into a dozen pieces across the floor. She looked across to the smiling Biomech whose gun was still rotating giving off smoke.
“That’s Gun by the way, our new best friend!” said Spartan who then grabbed Teresa again and pulled her close.
General Rivers moved away to speak with Bishop and the scene quickly turned from one of carnage to one of recovery and repair. As the General walked away he left Misaki stood, staring at the two with a look of anger on her face. With a growl to herself she stormed off to join the others.
“Hey, you crazy woman!” Marcus finished tying the bonds on two of the Zealots and ran over to Teresa and Spartan.
Teresa hugged him so hard he groaned. As he pulled away she looked at them both.
“You two don’t get away that easily,” she said with a laugh and then held them both tightly.
* * *
Admiral Jarvis paced inside the CiC of the newly repaired and now fully operational CCS Crusader. It had taken weeks to finish the repair work but with her now ready for battle the Admiral finally had a fleet worthy of the Confederacy. Over a dozen capital ships sailed alongside her as they made their way to their rendezvous with the CCS Wasp and her extra forces.
“General, the information you obtained from Prometheus is fascinating. As per your recommendations the Biomech programming has been reversed though what we will have to do when they are hatched, for want of a better word, is something we will have to consider. The total count of prisoners released will be in the thousands. Thankfully the video footage has created uproar throughout System,” she said with glee.
“That is good news, Admiral, will this turn the tide?”
She stood, silent for a moment as she looked at the strategic map of the Proxima System. Nothing had changed in terms of control of territory but the propaganda victory couldn’t be overstated.
“News from my contacts at Fort Hood on Kerberos tells me there have been several popular uprisings against the new government and their rulers. It isn’t the end, not by a long shot, but I truly believe this is the best opportunity we have had for months. How is the team? I understand they are back on the Santa Cruz recovering?”
“Yes, the entire group were commendable and I have requested promotion for them all. Especially Sergeant Spartan and Private Morato. They proved strong and dependable in a critical situation.”
“Indeed, I understand my old friend Commander Anderson is still on the planet working through the shipyard intelligence?”
“Yes, when he saw some of the half completed vessels I couldn’t get him to leave,” he said with a grin.
The intercom on the wall started to emit a tone. The Admiral walked over and picked it up, she listed for a moment then replaced it.
“General, the probe is due to enter the anomaly in the next minute.”
The entire CiC was empty other than the two commanders and one trusted science officer who managed the probes support system. On the screen between them the image flipped from the strategic map to a full size time-delayed video feed from their probe.
“This is the anomaly Commander Anderson obtained intelligence on?” he asked. The science officer nodded in agreement.
“Does it c
orrelate with the intelligence we received from our source on Kerberos?”
“Yes, Sir, it is positioned roughly 50AU from Prime. We tracked the surviving cutters from the battle over Prometheus making their way to the point before losing contact with them.”
“Special Agent Johnson managed to get additional location data to us from Fort Hood before the planetary transmission was jammed. Whatever it is, the insurgents don’t want us finding out about it,” explained the Admiral.
“What is it? Some kind of cloaked or masked base?”
Admiral Jarvis shrugged.
“Admiral, the probe has just past through the path of a massive digital transmission, it is coming from the anomaly. We only have a small fragment of the data, it appears to be encrypted control code for automated systems, I have sent it to the decryption analysis engine for study,” the Science Officer said, pressing several buttons on his console. Just seconds later he turned back to the Admiral. “The probe is entering the anomaly in ten seconds.”
The three stopped what they were doing and watched the video feed. They had no idea what to expect other than it was the unknown.
“Strange,” said the Science Officer, “the probe is still accelerating, it should be…” he said as the image flashed and showed several bright colours and then went black.
“Signal lost, Admiral.”
General Rivers appeared unmoved but Admiral Jarvis shook her head in annoyance and turned away.
“I knew we should have sent something slower. Six days for the probe wasn’t enough in my opinion, it must have hit something on its arrival.”
“Uh, Admiral, you need to see this.”
Admiral Jarvis turned back, intrigued by the tone of the man’s voice.
“Yes?”
“Look, if I move one frame at a time there are three frames after the flash on arrival.”
“Okay, what is it?”
The officer brought up the first image. It was nothing other than a multicolour blue blur. The second image was dark blue with a few patches on it and the third was just noise.
“Can you enhance the second one?”
“I’ll see what I can do, Admiral.” He started fiddling with his computer.
Admiral Jarvis moved to the next computer and started trawling through astronomical objects before settling on one. She hit a key and blew it up full size on the main view screen.
“Well, how long?”
“It will take a few hours to fully compile, this is what I have so far though.” He loaded the partially enhanced image to the screen next to the one the Admiral had used.
“Are you seeing what I am, Admiral?” asked a bewildered General Rivers.
“Quite, if I’m not mistaken, that is Terra Nova.”
“The capital of Alpha Centauri?” asked the confused Science Officer.
Admiral Jarvis stepped back and examined the images side by side.
“It looks to me like we have just discovered a viable route that leads directly to Terra Nova. If it works we can travel between both points in weeks instead of nearly a year.” She turned and looked at the General.
“This is sensational. We must assemble a fleet and move to control this position immediately. If this anomaly truly works, it will be the single most important piece of real estate in the entire sector. We and nobody else must control it. This could be our lifeline to the old worlds and the key to our final victory!”
She stopped for a moment as she considered their position before looking at the images again.
“You being captured may have been the best thing that ever happened to us!” she said happily.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
SIEGE OF TITAN
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
TEARS OF KERBEROS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
FIRES OF PROMETHEUS
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Star Crusades Uprising: The First Trilogy Page 59
