Ilox Saga 1: Eris Monroe: More Than Human

by Bruce Adams

  “Computer, graph destination grid in the Verge and lay out all jump points.” Eris idly scanned the holographic display as it replaced the bios of her team with a floating three dimensional map showing her route throughout a small portion of the galaxy. The computer projected a map in mid-air showing a segment of the galaxy that bordered Republic space. There were twenty-nine jump points from the system they just left in the Mintaka system to their final destination in the Shaedra system located in the Verge. Hazards such as pulsars and black holes were pin-points of glaring red among crisp glowing icons indicating systems, planets, and jump points. The glowing map showed green lines bisecting systems that contained each jump point. They were jumping through a hell of a lot of space.

  “What is the total time estimate for all space travel to the destination?” She queried the computer. The answer was immediate.

  “Time estimated at one hundred seventy-four hours and twenty eight minutes, assuming no further stops or unplanned deviation in the projected course.” The computer voice was feminine, soothing and too perfect to be anything other than a machine.

  A week; Travel in starships was relatively comfortable and quick, unlike the old days before jump drive technology had been perfected. Back then ships had to use something called Quantum Zero Point Field Manipulation – otherwise known as FTL travel by warping space – a comparatively slow pace compared to jump point tech. Ron Delantus, her sergeant, arrived at the briefing room. She had very loose rules for the personnel under her command. She didn’t need them saluting her – she had gained their trust through the crucible of combat. There wasn’t a man or woman in her unit that she couldn’t count on utterly. Ron went by the nickname ‘Moak’. Where he had acquired such a moniker was unknown to her but his green glowing eyes seemed serene as she glanced his way. His real eyes had been destroyed in an explosion fighting against anti-Republic insurgents in the Samakah system three years earlier. Modern technology could replace practically any human organ except the brain. All these organs could be re-grown, so someone with artificial eyes had many more advantages in what they could see.

  “Moak, what’s the word?” Eris gave him a half-smile. Moak sat down in one of the chairs.

  “I’m glad we’re finally outta that dust-hole. I’m ready for some action.” He was serious and unsmiling as he replied to Eris. She always liked Moak; he didn’t sugarcoat his words and always told her what he was really thinking - a quality that many people did not possess. Eris walked to the other side of the room and activated the computer by touch.

  “Now that we’re underway I’ve unsealed our mission orders.” Protocol always dictated that orders would not be opened until units were in deep space and en route to their final destination. As she spoke the rest of her team silently filed in and sat down in chairs – nine more personnel. Standing, Eris activated the same display as before showing the route to the Shaedra system and the destination planet Domovik.

  “We’re heading to another possible Valdren base.” She drank a glass of water before speaking.

  “As you can see, we have twenty-eight jumps to go and a travel time of approximately seven days and seven hours.” A groan went up from the assembled men and women of her command.

  “We’re going to land on the northernmost continent at this point here.” As she gestured a small part of the map was magnified until it showed rugged snow covered mountains. “Our target is located under this mountain range in an area approximately fifty square kilometers. We will have seismic scanners equipped with ground penetrating ladar. If an installation is there, we will find it.”

  Corporal Pascha Angelis, one of only two women under her command, spoke up. “What if there’s nothing there ma’am? I mean, how solid is the Intel?” Pascha usually would broach such questions and was generally outspoken. The smaller woman was wearing a standard issue uniform and her black hair was cut extremely short. Eris preferred to have a few questions asked of her instead of silence from the team. Questions were more than likely to mean the soldier had both curiosity and imagination – both qualities that Eris found to be useful in those under her command.

  Eris grinned. “If nothing is there, then consider it an all expense paid vacation to the glorious Shaedra system courtesy of Earth’s Republic and the TEC - any other questions?”

  “Commander, what kind of backup can we call in if…” Brendan Stone was one of her newest team members, and had been with her for only two months. His question trailed off, but Eris knew what he meant. He wanted to know what they were going to do if they encountered any type of Entity that had slaughtered so many people one month ago. We’re going to run like hell is what she thought.

  “This is merely a recon. We go in and scope this place out. We ascertain whether a Valdren base is really there, and if so we secure the perimeter and wait for the TEC science teams to show up. If things get really bad we perform a strategic retreat.” Eris was solemn. Every person except one in her outfit knew what she was talking about. They had all been there when the Valdren Entity…thing…whatever the hell it was… had ripped her men to shreds. It was Bowman that had deactivated the damn ancient artifact and he wasn’t with them. Eris looked over the assembled team members, looking at each person in turn. Her last gaze fell on Kyle Arneson who had a blank expression on his face. I want him to pay attention.

  “Arneson - questions? You’re the only one in this group that hasn’t gone up against ancient tech before.” He seemed to come out of whatever reverie his mind had been engaged in and looked at Eris with a startled expression.

  “Um…ma’am, I don’t think I’m qualified to ask any questions about dead aliens…or live aliens.” He sighed heavily and attempted a weak smile. “I’m just a glorified taxi. Tell me where to fly and I’ll get you there faster than anyone else.” Kyle was thinking about her the whole time. In this modern age of long life spans, life was still short and could be snuffed out at any moment – especially true for those professions included getting shot at. The deaths on Kanpur had proved that. Kyle wanted nothing more than to be with her for the rest of his life and he would do whatever it took to make that happen. Her beauty and command presence was too intimidating for him to approach her and the time wasn’t right. He said nothing further.

  Eris turned slightly, surveying all ten of her team members.

  “Don’t sell yourself short Arneson; you’re a hell of a pilot.”

  She began to circle the briefing table while pausing in front of each soldier, looking at each as she passed them by. She put a hand on the shoulder of Moak as she passed him. Her voice came alive and her eyes shined with passion as she spoke.

  “We’re all alive. We’re still here and the Valdren tech that tried to kill us is destroyed. If there is more of the same type of thing on Domovik and it turns out to be hostile – we will survive it. Each one of you will do your duty. I know it.” She had stopped after coming full circle around the table in front of the sitting Kyle Arneson. She looked him directly in his green eyes.

  “Kyle, you’re a soldier first…pilot second…remember that.” She cocked her head to the side and uttered a short “Dismissed.” All of the assembled men and women filed out as silently as they had come into the room - All but one. Sergeant Angelis remained standing in front of the chair she had been sitting in. She had a wistful look on her face and pursed her lips to ask a question, seemed to pause a second, cast her eyes down to the floor then turned to leave.

  Eris put her hand on Angelis’ sleeve to stop her. “Did you want to say something Corporal?” Her voice was earnest. She genuinely wanted to hear all concerns from her subordinates. They weren’t her friends, but she relied on them in combat and she needed them at peak performance. Doubts could gnaw on a soldier’s confidence and erode capabilities; best to have everything out in the open. Eris Monroe towered over the smaller woman who barely measured one hundred and fifty seven centimeters. She was small but had a lot of heart and determination. Pascha Angelis looked up at her comman
ding officer with a look of fear on her face.

  “Ma’am…I…remember that…that thing…inside my head, chewing on my thoughts – tearing me apart from the inside. I don’t ever want that to happen again.” Pascha shuddered as she remembered. Eris thought quickly how she would reply.

  “Corporal…” Eris paused for a split second, “Pascha…I meant what I just said. You’re alive. We all endured something that killed our comrades. You wouldn’t be alive if you didn’t have what it takes.” She didn’t mention that those soldiers must have been mentally weaker than those that had survived. Eris paused for a moment and then continued. “You’re standing here now, right in front of me because you’re made of a material so tough…” her voice trailed off. Unlike so many others that had dropped dead from massive brain hemorrhages. Eris blinked as if to turn away from the memory. “You’ll be fine. Shrug it off soldier! That’s an order.”

  Corporal Pascha Angelis straightened herself and squared her shoulders. A look of resolve filled her face as if fate itself had spoken to her wordlessly.

  “Ma’am, I’ve seen you do things I didn’t think were humanly possible. I know you will survive. I’m not so sure about the rest of us…” Sergeant Angelis walked out of the briefing room without another word or glance back at her commanding officer.

  CHAPTER 7

  The K’Tosk mercenary was clad head to toe in heavy plasteel combat armor. An observer would be hard-pressed to notice him as the surface of his armor light-shifted to blend in with the rocks and vegetation that adorned the side of the mountain he had been climbing. For the last two hours he had slowly and meticulously made his way down the sheer cliff and jagged jutting outcroppings to reach his destination. The high flying robotic sentinels that protected this stretch of territory shouldn’t be able to detect him. They were the reason he was here, because an orbital strike or close attack fly-by to destroy the target would be detected and possibly stopped. He had a heavy pack strapped to his back and carried a laser pistol firmly holstered against his left leg. He paused in his exertions to look down once again - the precipice was almost ninety degrees straight down. The snow covered rocks he had been clinging to were large and sharp and could easily cut unarmored flesh and fabric, but as a K’Tosk his thick chitonous skin would have barely been scratched. He saw the monorail below that came out of the mountainside like a never-ending grey tongue stretching away into the distance. Surveying the valley below him he saw that the rail line snaked along a river for at least two kilometers and then began veering south towards a very small outpost. From this distance it was not difficult for the unaided eye to tell that one side of the town had a large starport as the ships were obvious and situated on variously sized docking platforms. He didn’t try to make out the types and numbers of ships; he concentrated instead on climbing with his cargo intact. Inside was essentially a small nuclear device that would deliver five hundred tons of explosive force, more than enough to accomplish his task. The concealing cover of his armor continued to blend with his surroundings as he carefully climbed down to the top of the tunnel. It had been bored from the mountain using fusion cutters at least forty years before. Long ago, this had been a primary method of transporting the raw materials of heavy metal mines to the one starport on the planet. Now there were five other starports scattered all over the mineral rich surface of this world. Soon, this rail line would be buried under countless tons of rock. If he did his job right, then the train that would soon emerge would also be destroyed along with the cargo it carried. He climbed inside the tunnel and slowed to a crawl. Even though his armor allowed him to stick to the rock walls, it was decidedly uncomfortable, especially when he was hanging upside down. The tunnel was large and wide and he finally found what he was looking for, a small vent that traveled at an angle towards the outside of the mountain. He decided to situate the device there, at least fifty meters from the mouth of the exit. It could be remotely detonated easily, but as he prepared the explosive he made sure to set a timer…just in case the signal couldn’t be sent in time to trigger the device. He had enough experience to realize that contingencies needed to be accounted for. With the device firmly attached to the ventilation shaft and the timer set to explode in the next four hours, he slowly crawled back the way he had come. K’Tosk were not expert climbers as their joints were not made for such activity – they had evolved on a world as armored mammals and preferred the flat and spare plains of their homeworld. He never paused and continued to work his way back up – with any luck he’d arrive back at his destination with plenty of time to spare. He wanted to make absolutely sure that no one knew what he was doing. For those that were going to lose their lives in the next few hours he cared nothing. It was just another job he did for pay and he enjoyed it.

  The mercenary waited patiently for the command to be given. He’d been told to wait, so he was waiting. The air was chilled and crisp as snow had been falling and sticking to the ground for hours. Standing in front of piled up payload crates on a loading dock he was clad entirely in plasteel armor which showed no outward markings or insignia of any kind. The dock had a commanding view of the entire spaceport as it was elevated the most. The view encompassed a swath of verdant valley surrounded by mountainous and hilly terrain. Looking out over the edge of the platform railing, the merc could see for kilometers as the port rested on the top of a flat mesa. The mercenary’s helmet faceplate was open and he was smoking…lazily expelling vortex rings out of his mouth into the cold air. At a short distance it was obvious he was a K’Tosk, one of the fierce breed of humanoid aliens that had inflicted carnage on Earth’s Republic during the so-called Misunderstood War twenty years earlier. From a distance, only an observer familiar with K’Tosk military gear or weapons manufacturing would discern that the merc was not human. To anyone else, he would just be another anonymous gun for hire, a ubiquitous and familiar sight to those that entered or left starship ports throughout the Verge. The cargo loading dock platform was one of a dozen, haphazardly scattered in a ring centered on a control tower that guided heavy ships down to this largely forgotten pirate haven on Domovik. There were at least twenty-eight ships – all smaller craft that could hold few passengers and crew. Those ships were built for speed and were designed to carry heavy weapons and a ruthless crew. Only one starship at the dock was large – seemingly large enough to hold two hundred personnel and a large quantity of cargo. Weapons turrets bristled from the dark grey hull – it was no cargo ship but sported the insignia of the Horizon mercenary group. The starship port had an old maglev rail line extending to the north and through the nearby rugged mountains. A tunnel several kilometers distant swallowed the rail line on the side of the largest mountain in sight of the starport. A second armored mercenary carrying a heavy gauss rifle in both hands approached with his visor down.

  “Get ready. The target should be exiting the tunnel at any moment.” On the far side of the valley, a train emerged from the black pit of the tunnel. The train was still traveling at over one hundred kilometers per hour even while it was decelerating. From this distance it looked like he could reach out his hand and grab it as if it was a toy. The mercenary that had been smoking gave one final puff, dropped the still smoldering cigarette to the ground, and touched a control on his left wrist. A holopad appeared in front of him. In the distance a flash of brilliant white light and orange flame heralded the shockwave and furious sound to come. Thirty seconds after the detonation a massive blast of wind and a pressure wave hit the platform where the two stood. Alarms began wailing from multiple sources all over the starport in response. Figures could be seen running in a panic from loading docks and taking cover wherever they could find it. A few small starships hastily departed and rapidly rose into the atmosphere as if shot from a monstrous invisible slingshot. The two K’Tosk mercenaries silently surveyed the scene – the destruction of the tunnel and remnants from the train as well as the panicked reaction from people at the starport.