Starkindler (MechaVerse Series Book 1)

by Jeremy Cunkle

  They did. They remained in place, watching as codename Vulcan eliminated the remaining defenses around the airlock with its main guns before landing solidly in front of the airlock where another Strident began cycling through the second door. Activating a huge energy blade of raw plasma no one knew it possessed, they watched in awe as Mikkhael briefly re-activated the afterburners, sending Starkindler swiftly charging across the empty space between the two opponents. Crouched with knees bent, wings half-way activated, Starkindler instantly closed the distance to the surprised PDF pilot. Mikkhael plunged the energy blade into the Strident’s torso, effortlessly collapsing the energy shields as the plasma sliced through the pilot’s chamber. Then Starkindler stopped at the open airlock, turning back to look at the staring Rebel pilots in a hauntingly human gesture that left chills running down their spine before blasting open the remaining airlock door and proceeding into the interior of the outpost.

  * * * * *

  “The StormCrows saw the energy blade.” Aurora announced.

  “Thank you Mother, I know.” Mikkhael snapped. The stress of the moment left him feeling testy and frustrated at events beyond his control. The initial phase had so far been altogether pretty low key compared to what they expected. Far fewer Mech armor responded to the initial attack as he headed through the airlock, which meant that later the danger potential could seriously ramp up with less than twelve minutes remaining and counting.

  Inside the stricken outpost, the walls gaped in places from explosive decompression, scattered buildings folded in on themselves, frozen bodies and debris lay scattered about, impossible to miss the hell the carnage represented. Exterior readings showed the atmospheric loss was critical, and without pressurized suits or inside a pressurized area such as the cockpit of a Mech armor, one of the hangars, or a habitat bunker, humans died as soon as they ran out of breath, if the cold did not kill them first. Ambient temperature readings showed the temperature rapidly falling. Therefore, he was not surprised in the least when he hardly saw anyone upon entering the outpost. Streetlights switched to battery power, flickering eerily in the choking dust as the weak red light failed to pierce the haze in any kind of meaningful way.

  For those PDF personnel he did see or the sensors picked up, complete chaos reigned. Suited crews moved through the debris like ghosts flitting in and out of the edge of existence as Starkindler passed farther into the outpost, dropping anti-personnel grenades while using the smaller caliber and laser weapons on everything within sight. Mikkhael grit his teeth at the slaughter, but they were all dead once he completed his objective anyways; this way, they would not attack him before he finished. Barracks, duty stations, regular military personnel and the modicum of defense forces the PDF had left at their disposal died helplessly as the giant Mech armor reaped death while passing further into the outpost. Glowing white from the heat of surrounding buildings that had been set on fire from the grenades, Starkindler passed through one set of flames after another, a demon assuming mortal form, efficiently killing any who had the misfortune of crossing its path.

  Without their drones, and the only standing forces they had destroyed as they exited the outpost, the PDF were utterly defenseless until their Mech armor could be released from the hangars. The few that did take notice of the enemy in their midst turned and fled, recognizing the futility of standing their ground. Mikkhael and Aurora took full advantage of the opening, exploiting the opportunity ruthlessly. They destroyed barracks, drones still within their hangars, the Command and Control Center, all in rapid succession before finally arriving in the center of the domed outpost amidst the armored hangars with less than five minutes to go before human operators were likely to begin releasing the trapped armor.

  With the clock counter rapidly depleting and a sense of urgency setting in, Mikkhael used everything available. Aurora helped guide wave after wave of small and medium rockets into the hangars, collapsing the roofs down on the machines they had been charged with safekeeping, entombing them. The main cannons fired as soon as they reloaded, blasting in hardened mechanical doors and then followed through with successive shots, detonating defenseless and unpiloted Mech armor, tanks, and armored vehicles.

  A few of the hangars had armored vehicles with pilots ready to go inside, waiting desperately for someone to open the hangar doors and let them fight back. Mikkhael dealt with them by using the first shot from the laser cannon on the right arm to destroy the hangar doors, and then the scared pilots would panic, firing at Starkindler’s shadow, knowing they had seconds until they were killed. They fired blind, shooting unguided weapons out into the outpost, proving more dangerous to their own side then Mikkhael who would wisely hold off to one side in anticipation. For those that did attempt to fight, a quick and singular fate awaited at the hands of the energy blade, the PDF attempts to defy their own self-destruction proved utterly futile.

  Between the successive destruction of the hangars, Mikkhael thought back to his decision to utilize the energy blade for this particular mission. The capability had always existed, but part of what he and the team of friends back on Earth considered as their biggest advantage was the sheer adaptability of the Mech armor they built. The general idea was that the PDF would eventually develop strategies to cope with Starkindler’s capabilities if Mikkhael only used a very limited set of weapons. By utilizing modular capabilities, he might not only use the best weapon suited for the job, but could introduce new weapons in an effort to always keep the PDF on the back foot; having to continually guess about what they were up against, always keeping them one step behind, even with their vastly superior numbers. Not even Chief Engineer Thorsten and the maintenance crews knew about the energy blade.

  As for the energy blade, Aurora was able to control the energy output of Starkindler’s right arm, focusing the plasma into the shape of a blade five meters long. Raw energy pulsed in rapid waves out from the arm taking a solid form; glowing white with extreme heat, enabling the blade to cut through even the graphene Starkindler’s armor was composed of. Tests back on Earth using the energy blade on stolen PDF Mech armor showed that even before the blade began cutting, the outer layers melted; nearly a hand width to each side of any cut melted away.

  The countdown finished. Hangar doors within the outpost began to open with increasing frequency as Aurora’s prediction once again proved eerily accurate. Two dozen units of mixed types, ranging from drones, to armored personnel carriers and Mech armor left their hangars in a staggered wave. Starkindler danced among the clumsy attackers, main cannons firing again and again, using the energy blade when the cannons needed to reload, eliminating what was left of the outpost’s defenses with ease.

  With the last of the armor destroyed, he piloted to just outside the hole in the dome the StormCrows created. Aurora selected nine large missiles reserved for this moment, and fired them in a steady wave, timing them down to the millisecond so that they would impact against the nine pillars supporting the dome simultaneously. Explosions rang out as the dome shuddered under the missiles’ impact. With an ear-splitting groan, as if Mars itself had cracked open with an earthquake inducing-shudder, the dome came falling down, crushing the outpost underneath its massive weight.

  Mikkhael turned Starkindler, engaged the afterburners, and began flying back to Mount Olympus at maximum speed. Not once did he stop to admire the extent of the destruction he wrought. The weight of the thousands of lives he had just stolen an incomprehensible and permanent burden on his soul. Starkindler avoided the worst of the ensuing earthquake caused by the collapsing dome by being airborne as the ground shifted in protest at the carnage and sheer scale of destruction.

  As for the pilots of the StormCrow brigade, even the White Tiger sat in stunned silence in the cockpit of his Justice, still not believing that they had just accomplished something that eluded them for years.

  Chapter 13 – Logistics

  “My logisticians are a humorless lot…they know if my campaign fails, they are the first ones I will
slay.”

  - Alexander the Great

  “Aurora, evaluate overall mission status,” Mikkhael commanded.

  “Shall I compare the current status against our initial plan of action?” Aurora asked.

  Mikkhael sat back in the pilot’s seat, allowing it to conform around him. Eight days had passed since the destruction of Outpost Redemption, six of which he spent unconscious in the med bay under the direct care of Dr. Hesken. Rebels throughout the base now hailed him as a hero, stopping to thank and praise him wherever he went within the carved halls of Mount Olympus. Here in the cockpit, sitting in their private hangar was the only place he could be alone, the only location he could be sure that no one would overhear them. “Yes.”

  Aurora began listing off numbers, breaking their progress down into statistics that bored him until one in particular caught his attention. “Overall combat actions are eight times higher by this point in our mission than we initially forecast.”

  She paused dramatically, allowing him to absorb the enormity of the number before continuing. “By Lady Fortuna’s blessing herself, you met up with the StormCrow brigade almost immediately upon arrival on Mars, allowing you to accelerate combat operations far faster than even the most optimistic forecast created back on Earth. Under the full support of Commander Ultor’s leadership and his able veterans, our rate of combat actions have been incredibly accelerated from even the most optimistic forecast. Allying with any other faction would have had far less successful results.

  She waited for him to digest that tidbit before beating him with the club known as reality. “At the current rate of operations, we can move forward our timetable by nearly two months. I need to stress however, that this rapid domination of the Planetary Defense Forces significantly raises your profile in their eyes, and will do much to influence their threat assessment of you and Starkindler. Before the destruction of Outpost Redemption we were already seeing such results, as the increasingly large combat patrols showed. Now that the outpost is destroyed, Central Command has been scared into actively searching for those responsible in order to exact revenge; the operational tempo on their end is set to increase. With this in mind, it would also be wise to factor in resupply rates and whether or not we have sufficient means at this current pace of action to finish the mission as originally intended.”

  Eyes closed, Mikkhael groaned internally. He knew she was about to deliver a harsh reality check about their continuing campaign and that she had already run the calculations. Programmed or not, her twisted personality was enjoying stabbing him with the tip of the dagger, slowly pushing it in waiting for him to yell. He knew better than to prolong the pain, he closed his eyes and laid back in the cockpit seat, shoulders sagging in defeat. “You can just go ahead and state your opinion. How bad is it?”

  Her holographic self-representation relished his discomfort, letting the silence stretch just long enough to let him know it was intentional. Even computer algorithms knew life was all about the simple things. “At the current optimal pace of operations, barring any sort of unforeseen negative event such as being forced into a large battle unnecessary to the mission mandates, you will not be able to complete the second stage of the plan due to complete exhaustion of all munitions. This result does not factor in any kind of significant PDF reaction to your continued operations against them, and the destruction of the outpost only serves to multiply the chances of them ramping up their defenses in order to defeat you, thereby requiring even more munitions that you do not possess. To quantify the situation, Starkindler will run out of missiles and rockets within three weeks, large caliber munitions within the month, and small caliber ammunition including grenades and the like within five to six weeks, leaving just the energy blade and the plasma cannon operational.”

  She had not disappointed, he reeled from her assessment knowing that she was correct. “What are my options?” He asked. She would not have brought up the issue and rubbed in his inability to continue fighting without her help unless she had some sort of plan already thought out.

  Aurora continued as if she had not heard him, “The StormCrows are unable to supply you with the advanced materials required for constructing additional armor plates, or the high-grade custom munitions, let alone any of the more sophisticated parts once the supplies in the pod are exhausted. At the current rate, the supplies we brought with us from Earth will be used up within two months. The only option you have is to requisition more materials, munitions, and spare parts from the base in Australia, hoping that your allies back on Earth have been diligent in constructing more.”

  He considered her answer, turning over alternatives in his mind, but unable to find a flaw in her assessment or reasoning. She was right; there were no other alternatives. This eventuality had been anticipated, just not so early into the campaign. He knew without a doubt that his friends back on Earth continued to develop the spare parts he would need according to the plan; he just hoped they had been able to drum up enough of the rare materials needed in the short time frame to make the effort of asking for more worthwhile. “Aurora, are you deep enough in the PDF system yet that you can make a requisition request? We could intercept the delivery once the materials arrive planetside. If we bring in another shuttle from Earth, they will surely suspect it; but, if we use their own transportation system they won’t think twice about it.”

  “If I switch tasks and elevate priorities, there is a reasonable chance I can accomplish that within a few days. With your permission?” Aurora asked.

  “Granted. Be sure to order in bulk by the way, at least enough for a battalion in order to avoid too much suspicion of the request’s origins. The more genuine everything appears the better. As far as anyone who checks is concerned, the supplies coming from the base back in Alice Springs will be provided by a UN military base, and can have their crates marked as classified, thereby bypassing any security checks. Evaluate current routes used by all methods of the PDF logistics system and plan three different interception points for here on Mars, evaluate the tactical advantages of each point, and then report back when ready. Take into consideration civilian transportation from Earth, but if possible I want to use a military mass freighter; that would be the last thing anyone would be watching for us to use.”

  Aurora’s laconic, “Aye sir” barely registered in the background of his consciousness as he leaned back, daydreaming about performing yet another feat where he dared to use the PDF’s superior resources against them. He allowed himself a rueful chuckle. He wished he could be there to see the look on the High Commander’s faces when the full realization of what had happened sunk in.

  A sudden stroke of inspiration flickered through his mind, and he began digging through computer records of the Mount Olympus defenses as well as the StormCrow’s supplies of munition stockpiles and base materials for MARS suit repair and construction. Seeing the depleted and outdated stocks available; it was no wonder that they had steadily been forced to reduce the output of their operations over the last years. Chief Engineer Sir Henry Thorsten was holding their MARS units together with tape, glue, grit and sheer determination. Mikkhael began shopping. Aurora would have access to an entire mass freighter’s cargo space; it would be a shame for him not to utilize the space effectively.

  * * * * *

  Mikkhael had never seen Commander Ultor smile so much as when he and Aurora met him in his office in order to explain the full plan before briefing the other officers. What started as exploiting a flaw within the vast and cumbersome PDF logistic system rapidly morphed into the largest combined Rebel operation to occur on the Tharsis plain in years. The amount of cargo space on a military mass freighter capable of carrying ten thousand people at a time in between planets necessitated a well-planned logistics operation on the Rebel side, which was as equally important to their overall success as anticipating potential combat. While the strike force would be prepared for combat, like any robbery, the overall success of their mission depended on them avoiding provoking
a military confrontation. As any career criminal would say, the best robbery was one no one knew took place.

  Once engaged, Commander Ultor immediately bought into the plan, using his old contacts from back in the rebellion’s heyday to assist with providing the manpower they would need to pull off the operation. The strike force alone required hundreds of personnel, with double that number to provide the sheer numbers required on the logistics side. They were luring the other factions involved with the promise of a share of the spoils. Onboard the mass freighter, whose hold was even now bulging as it was loaded with evermore military equipment and weapons in lunar orbit, there would be more than enough materials and parts for all of the interested parties to split amongst themselves, and then some.

  At Mikkhael’s bequest, Aurora bought needed equipment, weapons, supply and repair materials for both military and civilian use in city-sized quantities using the same methods and supply channels as a standard PDF procurement. She paid for everything from hacked PDF military bank accounts adding bureaucratic legitimacy to the entire process. From the simple original vision of resupplying Starkindler’s depleted stores, the amount of war material purchased from Earth grew to outfit three entirely new divisions split equally amongst the various factions. Commander Ultor suggested the mass freighters destination, as well as provided suggestions on how to create the circumstances necessary to ensure their operation was failsafe with planning for multiple contingencies completed.

  Normally, mass freighters only traveled between the space docks located in each planet’s upper atmosphere. Occasionally, a freighter would land out at the larger, extremely remote mines on an annual basis, collecting the years’ worth of metals previously smelted into ingots in preparation of travel. Because of the lower gravity, the gigantic freighters could still manage to take off from the surface when half-loaded. They would then stop back at the space dock, which used a space elevator to collect and house the other half of the materials, transporting their full load back to Earth.