by Will Crudge
“This motherfucker is armed?” Darius put it out on the net.
“Yes, this motherfucker is armed!” A male voice boomed out of the console and took Darius off guard.
“Kara, Darius… Meet your fully functional, and unshackled NAV’s. Doom, and Skull. I took the liberty of uncaging them while you too were playing virtual hanky-panky.” Val said with a smile and digital wink.
“Okay…. Where in the hell did we get this ordinance?” Kara said with a tone of disbelief.
“That’s for later, we don’t have time to waste….Boys, let’s get inside their docking bay before their shields discharge!” Val said with an uncharacteristic sense of urgency.
“Wait! We’re going in that!” Kara asked in disbelief.
“Yes. They’ll never expect three small vintage spacecraft to stage a full blown assault.” Kara instantly registered the sound as her own NAV, Skull.
“What about the massive drop pod that probably has a battalion of marines in it?” Darius asked quite directly and to the point.
“I’ve got that covered. No worries.” Val said as an eruption of small missiles fanned out of all three weapons pods. The relative close proximity of the warship meant that the space faring projectiles would close the 1 kilometer gap in a split second… and they did. Darius jerked his hands away from his controls as a knee-jerk reaction. He thought for a moment he had touched something that caused the barrage, but he quickly realized the NAV’s must have autonomously synchronized their attacks. The missile converged on the metallic docking doors of the cruiser with a dramatic display of flashes and scattering debris. Darius could see a cloud of atmosphere vent out from the remains of the ruined door.
“Let’s pay these kind folks a visit, and offer restitution for the sixty ton blast door we just ruined, shall we?” Val’s voice was chipper as always.
***
“Hull breach detected!” Alba shouted. She shot her eyes towards the Captain and saw the man nearly foaming at the mouth with rage. “Damage control protocols initiated!” She continued. The entire bridge crew seemed to ignore her, as a collective vibe of confusion permeated the bridge.
“They’re entering the dock! Seal off exits! Get the shields back on line!” The Captain shouted as he could see the icons disappear into the large icon that represented the Cerberus. “Marines! Give me a status on the Marines!”
“Most of the Marine personnel are aboard the drop pods, Sir. They were preparing for the inspection of their birthing you had me schedule…” Alba spit it out with a sense of satisfaction that the Captain could only blame himself for not being more specific about her instructions. Something he often was guilty of. “The damage control protocols prohibit the drop pods from accessing the rest of the ship to prevent vacuum loss until the damage report clears the area!”
“How many marines are on guard duty inside the rest of the ship?” The Captain was furious, but held back his scolding for a more opportune time.
“12 on duty, full battle gear… 5 off duty. No armor. No weapons.” Alba replied.
The Captain didn’t register even hearing her words, but instead grabbed a microphone from his command console. “All crew! General Quarters, by order of the Captain! Prepare to rebel boarders located in dock 3C. Be advised, there is a hull breach in that sector. Subdue the UAHC Soldier… Eliminate the others! This is not a drill!”
***
The three fighters retracted their weapons pods and came in for a smooth landing. The hull breach would prevent any enemy personnel from firing at them during while they were vulnerable. Darius could see on his readout that the emergency energy shielding over the destroyed blast door snapped into place the moment they landed. Atmosphere began to pour back into the dock and the pressures began to normalize.
Moments later, all three humans were on the deck and running towards the bulkhead doors. “These doors will be open for use.” Val said calmly as if the full sprint didn’t have him winded at all.
“Just what in the hell do we do now?” Kara asked, clearly winded and agitated.
“I have a clear path to the brig. There’s about a dozen armed marines coming to converge on us, but they shouldn’t be a problem.” Val said as he calmly opened the door.
“You do realize I have no weapons beyond my armor, and Kara only has a pistol right?” Darius didn’t avoid using sarcasm as he spoke.
“You are a weapon, remember?” Kara couldn’t help herself as she smiled.
“Let’s move.” Val said while betraying no emotions. The three moved quickly through the corridors of the cruiser. Brightly light polished metallic panels lined the ceilings and gave them plenty of lighting to scan for threats. Darius realized he was oddly comfortable with taking on an entire cruiser with nothing more than a suit of power armor, a glorified security guard with a pistol and an amazing body, and a monk. He had to mentally stop from laughing out-loud at the odds stacked against them.
“Here! This is the brig section.” Val seemed to know exactly where he was, as if he had memorized the layout of the entire ship.
“Well, I’m an atheist, so I can’t fathom you performed some kind of magic to tell you how to get here.” Kara said as she held her pistol at the ready and hugged the edge of the wall.
“This hull is Unum-built. I’ve personally worked on the layout.” Val said.
“Oh, well… That actually makes a lot of sense.” Kara nodded in acknowledgement.
Darius stood to Val’s left rear, as Kara hugged the wall on the right side. Val seemed to walk down the center of the hallway with no sense of tactical movement. Unarmed… unarmored.
“Halt!” The sound came from the other end of the hallway. Darius realized that he and his comrades were in the open… no cover… one pistol. The 30 meter distance to the end of the hallway would be too much for him to cover in an all-out power assisted sprint… at least when there were heavy rifles pointed right at them. “Drop the pistol!” The voice was the same as the first. Stepping from behind the cover of an adjacent hallway, three fully armored marines formed a skirmish line and motioned at Kara to drop her pistol.
“Don’t do it.” Val said calmly as he kept his eyes on the marines. “They’ll kill you as soon as you drop your only means of defense from the equation.”
Kara glanced at Darius for reassurance, and he gave an approving nod to Val’s words. Darius thought to himself that Val was absolutely correct with his assessment. He was perplexed at the seemingly harmless man’s grasp on tactics.
“Do it, now!” The marine repeated himself. This time Kara was noticeably frightened, and began to lower her pistol. Then Val’s assessment was confirmed… The marine in the center fired a rifled slug directly at Kara… She audibly screamed and looked down at her chest to see no damage whatsoever. Her jaw dropped and she looked up to see Val’s arm extended in front of her with a clenched fist. The marines were equally dumbfounded and froze in place.
Val slowly moved his arm out in front of him and opened his fist. Resting on his palm was the ruined remains of a CAL .50 rifled slug that had previously been inside the ballistic launch-rifle a moment earlier. The marines were stunned at the sight… so stunned, they didn’t expect what happened next….
Val lurched back in a fast but smooth motion and threw the bullet through the air over-hand. The slug bounced off of the offending marine’s helmet and ricocheted off only to strike the helmet of the marine in the center. The two stunned marines lost their footing for a moment and knocked the third marine into the wall with and audible thud.
None of them had time to see the sparsely adorned monk sprint forward at super-human speed, and leap to in the air to the right. He kicked off the wall with his right leg and while still in midair, caught the first marine square in the face with a superman punch. The nearly 300 kilos of man and armor was launched into the bulkhead behind him, and fell into an unconscious heap of flesh and metal. A follow up elbow to the chin of the next marine was followed by a side kick to the face of the r
emaining enemy’s face… Both were now unconscious.
Val turned towards Kara and Darius with a small smile. He clasped his hands behind his back and slowly walked back towards them. Darius and Kara just stood where they were… awestruck… motionless.
“Still an atheist?” Darius softly asked with his eyes still transfixed on Val.
“I think I’ve promoted myself to cautiously skeptic, or maybe open to new ideas.” Kara replied, then turned to smile at the big man. She noticed he was still looking forward, and his expression quickly changed to concern.
“Look out! Behind you!” Darius shouted. Kara raised her weapon again and shifted her eyes back to the end of the corridor. Two more marines ran from cover and trained their weapons on Val. Then all hell broke loose…
Val didn’t even flinch and kept walking towards them as if he was oblivious to the marines barreling towards him from the rear. Then just as the marines passed in front of a bulkhead door to their immediate left, and inversely the right side of Val, the door flew off the hinges in a loud crash. It barely missed Val, who didn’t even bat an eye, and continued to casually walk towards Darius and Kara.
The marines were none too lucky. They were knocked against the bulkhead and went limp. A third marine rushed from cover and into the hallway, but before he could even get his bearings, a large black mass struck him at full force. Darius couldn’t believe what he was seeing. It looked like a gigantic muscle-bound panther. The beast wheeled his left hind leg around and pinned the marine to the bulkhead by the neck. A single claw protruded out from the massive hind paw, and rested against the skin of the terrified man.
“Don’t move… Don’t breathe.” The words were coming from a device that hung around the creature’s neck, and bore a striking resemblance to Darius own status display that rested on his right arm. The rectangular shape of the flat display seemed to light up in chorus to the words pouring out of the creature’s throat. The biological growl was somehow augmented by the device, which seemed to rectify it into human speech.
Val turned to see the 500 kilo creature in all its glory, then turned his gaze back to the pair of dumbfounded humans before him. “Meet our client, Shadow. He is a member of the War-Master guild, and is bound by oath to your bloodline.” Val turned his eyes towards the Soldier. “He will now be at your side at all times, if you wish it.”
“Isn’t that a War Master’s mount?” Darius was staring directly at the big cat in awe.
“Yes, I am. We’re collectively known as Zodiacs.” Shadow spoke without taking his eyes off of the marine he was suspending against the bulk head. He retracted his leg, and with a sudden crushing sound, his massive hind leg kicked the marine into unconsciousness.
“I see you managed to get your voice module back, my old friend!” Val said as he turned to meet the gaze of the large panther. The big cat bumped the unconscious marine with his nose as if to make sure he was out of commission.
“Indeed… My lady bribed the Sergeant of the Guard from the outgoing shift… It was dropped through the food tray slot about 30 minutes before I sensed your presence.” Shadow said, as he lumbered forward towards Darius.
“I guess everybody has a price, huh?” Darius said with a crooked smile.
“Not exactly… A money bribe would be too risky. It was in the form of a partially nude, yet… classy image sent to the marine’s HUD. The temptation of an unauthorized sexual encounter is a more effective method of ensuring it wouldn’t go reported.” Shadow spoke, and Darius nodded in agreement.
“Smart.” Darius said.
“Well, whoever your female helper is… I guess she made that guy get all excited for something that ain’t ever gonna happen!” Kara said with a wink. Darius marveled at Kara’s ability to keep her mind in the gutter.
“She will never get what she was promised. The Sergeant of the Guard is one of only a handful of female Crimson Marines… And the only one who doesn’t care for the overwhelming male to female ratio, if you get my meaning.” Shadow corrected.
“It pays to know your audience if you’re going to get into shady business, I guess.” Kara shrugged.
“Jimma is extremely resourceful.” Val said. “Let’s move on, shall we?”
Friends in High Places
Location: UAHC Military Quorum Wing, UAHC Capitol Building, Earth
Date Time: Post Interstellar 07/29/4201 1456HRS Local
System: Sol System, 8 Light Minutes from System
Consul Gerhardt stood by the large window in his office and set his gaze at the natural beauty that spread out before him. He thought of all of the events that led up to his election. As Consul, he held executive power over the Military Quorum of the UAHC, but that power was very limited during peace-time. He wondered what if his civilian counterpart even believed there was any looming threat. After all, the UAHC Government was comprised of two parallel elements, and the one who held the majority executive powers depended on a state of war, or a lack thereof. In two centuries of peace, the Civil Quorum and its Consul Garrick held an unprecedented advantage in political power. Two hundred years of unbroken peace meant that the Civil Quorum had amassed significant power and influence. Once believed to be the saviors of the UAHC, the civil arm of government succeeded in marginalizing their military counterpart in every aspect. They would be hard pressed to acknowledge any threat to peace, and be forced to relinquish more and more power to the Military Quorum.
In a time of war, the Military Consul would be the Commander in Chief of the UAHC Fleet. The seven appointed Quorum members were comprised of season military veterans who had all held a senior command – or acting command – and would vote on key strategic issues. The Consul would provide civilian executive oversight and be the final approving official for all issues voted on by the Quorum. This separation of civil and military governmental bodies was developed as a result of the bloodshed in the previous war. Dozens of civilian elected officials with no concept of military affairs had undermined the war effort to such an extent, that it caused a decades long protracted campaign that nearly caused humanity to devolve back into the stone age.
“You’re here at great risk, War Master.” Gerhardt said while he considered his political predicament.
“For a man with vast military experience, I figured you’d have recognized the wisdom in my methods.” The War Master spoke with a calm and reverent tone. “Humans and AI’s alike seek out there enemies from a distance… They seldom look to see if the enemy is standing right beside them.”
Gerhardt turned to meet his guests gaze, then calmly walked behind his large highly polished desk and took a seat. “A frigate spotted a Crimson Fleet heading towards the outer edges of UAHC controlled space.”
“And what does your civilian counterpart say of this?” The War Master seemed authentically interested, but Gerhardt’s instincts said that his companion already knew the answer.
“As to be expected… He saw no evidence that it was any sort of invasion fleet. As far as he was concerned, they were out on training maneuvers. He doesn’t even believe they have the material resources to wage full scale war against anyone let alone the most powerful human civilization in history.” Gerhardt cringed.
“Denial is a form of fear. He fears a loss of control and he rationalizes. This is the collective mindset that dominates the civil arm of the UAHC. Nothing can be gained by allowing fear to consume you.” The War Master spoke as if profound wisdom was his comfort zone.
“So what do I do?” Gerhardt said as he tossed his open hands in the air.
“You can’t control them. You can’t control the Crimson’s incursion. Stop wasting your energy on variables beyond your control… Devote all of your energy to what you can impact right here and right now.” The War Master spoke slower now. His hands were clasped on his lap. Gerhardt couldn’t fathom how someone could be so vague and mystical, but so deadly at the same time.
“Well, then… That brings me back to what can I do?” There was no shortage of frust
ration in Gerhardt’s tone.
“Darius. His time has come sooner than expected. You must bring him into play.” The shadowy figure reached his hand down to stroke the fur of his companion. Gerhardt had never seen a live wolf before, and thus had no frame of reference. However, this creature was massive. The wolf was curled up next to the chair that the War Master occupied. It was like a mountain of grey fur and muscular flesh that seemed to dwarf the already imposing man next to it.
“It’s already set in motion. By a stroke of luck, he made the short list of candidates to be considered without any intervention required. I’ve given the Quorum my endorsement for him, and so the vote will be a mere formality. The problem is that I have no idea where he even is, or if his status system is within range to receive the update.” Gerhardt paused to bring up a new line of discussion. “Then that leaves the problem of whom he must replace…”
“It won’t be a smooth transition, I suppose.” The War Master nodded in agreement, and seemed to know where this was leading. “The Crimson has its claws in everything. The civil government. Fleet AI’s. And certain key Acting Commanders. If the Crimson are planning to do what Father believes they will, then keeping the existing Acting Fleet Marshal in place will be a top priority… For them, and for him.”
“The Crimson Fleet is still months away from penetrating deep enough into the UAHC sphere, that the civil arm won’t even consider officially declaring a state of war any time soon.” Gerhardt tapped his finger on his desk as he spoke.
“Fleets. Plural…” The War Master clarified. “There are at least two more. This one has either shown its cards deliberately to act as a fixing force for the UAHC to have a knee-jerk reaction to… or the Admiral is just an idiot who allowed his overconfidence to rule his actions and prematurely reveal their intensions.”
Gerhardt’s eyes got big, as he recognized either or both of those scenarios to be plausible… if not, likely. “Our Fleet is stretched thin as it is… If I had the leverage to order resources to be diverted and forces to consolidate in an effort to meet this threat, then…”
