by Marc Stevens
“Commander, the Operative’s flagship has arrived.”
“Thanks Justice, sneak in close to her ship, I know how much she loves that.”
My IST started transmitting. “Nathan, since we destroyed the Scrun fleet the surveillance drones have recorded very little traffic in this sector. This information could mean we eliminated the local security or they are waiting for us to attack the facility. Either way, I say we go in now and let the Sig deal with anyone who might come to their aid. What is your ETA to the rally point?”
“We are waiting about a thousand feet from your hangar door.”
“You primate! That defective relic you blunder around the galaxy in is becoming more than just a small annoyance.”
“Quit being a whiny old witch. Justice reports no changes to our previous intelligence, and I agree we should get this over with as fast as possible. The Sig should be arriving any moment and we will be ready to move when we give them our updated information and signal codes.”
“I am moving to the target area and will launch the suppression package so it will be within striking distance when we start the operation. I will give you a current brief when you arrive.”
“Acknowledged, we will give you the go ahead when we are in position to strike any pop-up targets.”
The signal went dead and Justice reported the Operative had jumped. My crew was already in the hangar geared up and ready to board Eagle One.
“Commander, the Sig have arrived. I have detected two very large transport class starships along with eight battlecruiser class attack vessels. Our communication codes have been accepted and I have an active video comm channel.”
A picture appeared on the ready room wall and to my surprise, Sushi appeared on it. His unique uniform and the prominent “S” displayed on it, identifying him.
“Sushi, what a pleasant surprise. It is good to see you again.”
“Likewise, Nathan Myers. Tam Lin suggested I come along to see that we avoid any miscommunications during the operation. Our transports will remain at this location with one of our attack vessels. I will take the remaining seven into orbit around the target and secure the orbitals on your signal.”
“Thank you, Sushi, we could not complete this mission without the cooperation of your people. We will attempt to minimize damage to the facility if possible.”
“You need only to concern yourself with the safety of the strike teams. The facility can be repaired. The loss of life cannot.”
“Well-spoken my friend. I can see why Tam Lin likes you so much. Is there anything else I need to be aware of before we jump to the target?”
“Yes: as soon as we are in orbit we will launch seven assault shuttles. Each shuttle carries sixteen special operations troopers. The shuttles will remain outside of the area of operations until you either call for backup or you have taken control of the base. The troopers are trained for slave handling and transfer situations, as well as other, deadlier skill sets. They will be at your command and will only approach the target on your orders.”
“Thanks again Sushi. We will be launching comm drones, and my A.I. will transfer the necessary access codes for your people to make use of them once we are gone. I will speak with you again when this is over.”
“Good luck, Nathan Myers.”
The transmission ended and I climbed into my armor. It was good to know we had additional backup if it was necessary. I would only make that call if the shit got too thick for us. The beast was growing impatient and was sending spikes of adrenaline into my system. A feeling of anticipation came over me as the armor tightened its caress. The suit came alive on my visor display, showing the tools of my trade at capacity and all in the green. With my lethal arsenal ready and the beast prodding me forward, I felt an almost palpable feeling of invincibility. Tria, Coonts, and Klutch were waiting by the boarding ramp to Eagle One. I strode among them and we each went over the others armor to insure nothing was loose or missing. With our inspections complete, we masked our faces with the caricatures of deathly demons Justice had chosen to loosen the bowels of our enemies.
We took our seats in the shuttle. “Justice, take us to the target.”
My awareness flared to a bright white and faded away. I came back to the sound of Justice calling to us. “Target status is unchanged and the shield is not active. I have located the Operative’s flagship and have tracks on forty-two Chaalt stealth missiles loitering close to their intended impact points.”
“Roger that, Justice. Move us aft of the Operative’s ship and open a secure IST channel to Sael.”
“Moving, Commander, comms active.”
“Senior Operative, we are moving to your location and ready to go.”
“Acknowledged, Nathan, the base’s shield is down and we are jumping to the insertion point. That will surely change once we are inside. Our missiles will take down the area defenses ten seconds after we are in. We will attempt to gain control of the shield control room and any shuttles we might find. Be prepared to make a combat landing when the shield comes down. I do not know how long we will be able to hold that position with my team split between two objectives. Keep the Legacy close to suppress any additional defenses. My flagship will fly cover and attempt to insert additional teams.”
“Understood. We are standing by.”
Justice gave us a live view of the action in our visor displays. The Operative made an intersystem jump right above the target, and in the blink of an eye her flagship quickly moved off when Sael and her team inserted. The area around the base was blanketed with blinding flashes seconds later as the stealth missiles dove into their targets. Justice rapidly moved us over the base and Eagle One launched with Klutch at the controls.
“Justice! Tell the Sig it’s time to join the party!”
“Signal sent, Commander.”
A shimmering opaque dome appeared over the base. Klutch made a tight turn away from the target to put us in a safe holding pattern. Bright lightning like flashes stabbed down from the Legacy’s cloaked position, quickly followed by massive eruptions of debris from the surface. The Scrun were exposing their additional defenses. The Operative’s flagship dove to the far side of the base and rained hell on other pop-up weapons. The atmosphere around the base was becoming obscured by the clouds of dust and debris. I was on the verge of calling Sael when the shield dome blinked off. Klutch nosed us over into a steep dive through the dense, dusty cloud. I sure hoped Sael had the access doors open.
Justice called out, “Commander, the Sig are now in system and taking positions in orbit above the target area.”
To my relief, we flew out of the dust cloud and into a gaping access tunnel. Klutch had the shuttle’s shields up and the point defense weapons firing nonstop at the access tunnel’s security systems. We were taking some hits that were rattling my teeth. We plowed past the defenses and Klutch flared the shuttle for a jarringly rough landing. Our shuttle now blocked the tunnel entrance. Justice’s subsystem took over the shuttle’s weapons and commenced picking off targets of opportunity with single shots from the rail cannons. The loading ramp slammed down and Klutch went running by as we got to our feet and unassed the shuttle. We came under fire almost immediately, but it was rapidly suppressed by rail cannon fire.
My BS transmitter came online with an urgent call from the Operative. “Nathan, we are pinned down and under heavy fire. We need you at the shield control station before we are overrun!”
Sael’s location appeared on my HUD — she was in deep shit. The area around her was choked with red hostile indicators. The beast pushed its way into my mind. I hit my gravity drives, sending me hurtling above the pitched battle and landing in the rear of the massed enemy troops. My comrades had no choice but to join me. To their credit, no one bitched about my rash move.
The Scrun soldiers seemed oblivious to us until they started hearing the screams of agony coming from their fellow troops. I had my climbing hooks extended and was slashing open the atmospheric suits on any Scr
un within reach. My crew joined the fray and we slaughtered the enemy without mercy. Our close proximity prevented the Scrun from opening fire on us. That scenario changed as the Scrun realized who we were. The terrified troops started gunning down their own people in an attempt to stop us. Coonts and then Klutch put a stop to the bastards, by firing wicked long bursts from their mini guns. Tria stood back to back with me and we took on all comers. The lull created by Coonts and Klutch’s suppressive fire gave Tria the time to rap me on the shoulder and get my attention. She was holding one of the big specialty grenades. SHIT! The beast must have thought I didn’t need them, because it never entered my mind to use one.
Tria called over our comms net. “GRENADE OUT!”
She tossed it over her shoulder and grabbed another, this time I did the same, and threw two to our front. The devices came to a hover about twenty feet above the battle and started spitting their deadly fragments in all directions. Some of the fragments were exploding so close to us, I could hear shrapnel pinging off my outer armor shell. The Scrun did not like the concept of being flanked by a bunch of demon faced killing machines and broke ranks attempting to run. Coonts cut them down with explosive rounds from his launcher. There were so many target indicators showing up on my HUD I had to ignore some of them and concentrate on my immediate front. I was taking enough energy beam fire that I had temperature warnings flashing in my visor. When Tria got a clear field of fire, she let loose with all four launchers. Everything moving on our left flank was scythed down by anti-personnel rounds.
We were being ringed in by the dead and dying and needed to move toward the Operative’s location. A flash so bright it blacked out my visor came from my right side. It was accompanied by a jarring blast. My visor cleared in time to see a large crew served weapon flipping end over end, landing on a squad of Scrun that had been knocked down by the blast. Klutch gave me a thumb’s up. As I returned the gesture, movement caught my eye. A large door on the side of a building structure directly across from us opened, and the twin barrels of another large weapon system swung in our direction. Justice did not issue me anti-matter, so the monster in me cut loose with my beam weapon. The shot hit the right barrel of the big gun, blasting it from its mount and twisting the other to the side as it discharged. The corner of the building took the shot, collapsing the roof in on the occupants. Tria followed up with an anti-matter shell through the wrecked doorway. The whole structure disappeared in a blinding flash of flying debris.
The Scrun were now in full retreat toward an adjoining cavern. Tria gave them no quarter. Once again, she opened up with all four launcher tubes, ripping the fleeing Scrun to shreds. I was glad Sushi voiced no concern for the interior of the base. It was going to need a major remodel when this was over with.
The Operative called over the IST net. “Nathan, the Scrun are retreating and we have a firm hold on the shield control building. We are preparing perimeter defenses and I have another strike team prepping for insertion. We should be able to hold this location. Get to the shuttle bay as fast as possible — I have lost contact with the strike team that was tasked with securing that area.”
This was not good. If Sael could not contact them on her BS transmitter, there was a very good chance they were no longer among the living. My grim thoughts were verified by the appearance of a Scrun shuttle coming out of the cavern that served as the hangar bay. We dove behind a stack of empty slave crates as it opened fire on us. A huge blast blew the crates to pieces, burying us beneath the rubble. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that this might be my final resting place. We were bounced violently off the floor by another tremendous blast, that was followed by a horrific grinding crash.
“TRIA, ARE YOU INJURED?”
“No, Coonts and I are buried under debris. I do not know where Klutch is.”
I was going to call out to Klutch, but there was no need. The slave crates and debris that had covered me were thrown aside, and a big thick arm reached out and righted me.
“Commander, it is much safer to sleep during the team meetings than it is in combat.”
The big toothy smile of my comrade was a welcome sight. He pulled me to my feet and I was stunned at the sight of the Scrun shuttle that had attacked us. The cockpit and a good portion of the nose cone was molten slag. Evidently the Scrun should have fired on Eagle One instead of us. The fools got a point-blank shot from our assault shuttle’s main weapons. The wreck came to rest within a few feet of us. Tria and Coonts made their way through the rubble to Klutch and I. Coonts brought us back to reality with a sobering comment.
“Commander, If the Scrun were able to board a shuttle, I fear the Operative’s team may have been wiped out.”
My blood boiled at the comment, and I felt the beast wresting my will to restrain his suicidal ways. Tria picked up on my change in demeanor and cleared her visor of its morbid specter. She placed two of her hands on each side of my helmet.
“NATHAN! You must take control! Do not let the demon lead, use your will to make it follow!”
My focus returned and with it my sense of duty. “Klutch, take the lead and make sure we don’t walk into an ambush. We need to find Sael’s strike team.”
I could hear the din of combat increase in volume. The Scrun must be trying to retake the shield control building. I heard the distinct thunderclap of another Chaalt strike team inserting into the complex. The pitch of combat increased yet again. Tria rapped me on the shoulder and pushed me in the direction Klutch was leading us. We skirted the hulk of the destroyed shuttle and Klutch held his fist up to stop us. There was no activity to our front and the Tibor did not like it. He leaned around an engine nacelle on the downed shuttle to take a peek but jerked back as the rear of the shuttle blew up in our faces, sending us all sprawling among the rubble. Klutch was on all four scurrying toward me when the rear of wrecked shuttle blew apart from another weapon strike. I no longer wondered about the fate of the Chaalt strike team. If they were caught in the open by the weapon the Scrun was using on us, there was little chance they would survive.
The beast was cluttering my thoughts with hazardous mayhem. Tria saw me move in the direction the weapon had fired from. “Nathan, we must distract them before we attack.” She pulled out three grenades and threw them one after another in the direction the hostile fire was coming from. Coonts and then Klutch followed suit. I regained enough control to do the same. At first, there was nothing, then a series of blasts reverberated around the cavern.
Klutch yelled out, “HIT THEM FROM ABOVE.”
We launched on four different trajectories high above the Scrun gun emplacement. My crew rained anti-matter and high explosive down on the enemy. The blinding blasts obscured the target area, so I took my revenge on the three shuttles parked on the hangar ramp, giving each multiple beam strikes. The ensuing conflagration filled the cavern with dense black smoke. Two of the shuttles had troops in them and must have been preparing to lift off. The beast would let no one escape and I turned everything below me to scrap. My beam weapon shut down from overheating and my minigun from lack of ammo. My crew was putting an end to all resistance. Coonts called to me, clearing my thoughts and alerting me to his grim discovery.
“Commander, I found the remains of the Chaalt strike team.”
I located Coonts and set down next to him. I could see bits and pieces of Chaalt military armor spread about. We quickly searched the area, which proved difficult because of the large amount of battle debris. We came up with a small quantity of eviscerated remains but nothing more. I called Sael on my BS transmitter. “Senior Operative, we found your team. There are no survivors.”
“Acknowledged.”
The transmission ended with that clipped reply. Even if the Scrun were to throw in the towel and surrender, the slaves would be the only ones leaving here alive. Tria pointed to a large pressure door on the cavern wall.
“The slaves must be on the other side of that door along with the cowards who are in charge of this place.”
/> The sounds of battle coming from the entrance chamber had dwindled to almost nothing. What we continued to hear was the explosive report of additional Chaalt assault teams inserting into the complex. I would keep the Sig out of the program until we were ready to transport slaves. It would not be good to have a misunderstanding as to who was hostile and who was not.
Justice gave us a sitrep. “Commander, three Scrun motherships have jumped in system and the Sig have engaged them. One has been destroyed and two disabled. One Sig battle cruiser sustained heavy damage and another has light damage. They are preparing to board the disabled Scrun ships. Sushi has informed me they are pulling the seven special operations shuttles for the boarding unless you have immediate need for them.”
“Tell Sushi to go ahead. We will alert him when we have taken the facility and are ready to move the slaves.”
“Acknowledged.”
I needed to find out what Sael was up to. I was going to move our shuttle to give us some shielded firepower in case the Scrun had more of the big mobile gun platforms waiting on the other side of the door.
“Senior Operative, what is your status?”
“We have a large number of Scrun troops trapped in a large bunker complex. It appears they will not surrender, so I am moving re-enforcements into the complex and prepping for our assault. I will keep you posted.”
“Roger that, we are trying to locate the slaves and will be moving Eagle One to our location for fire support.”
The transmission went dead. I called Justice’s subsystem on Eagle One to remotely pilot to our position. The Scrun would get a rude awakening if they thought they could take us out the same way they did Sael’s fireteam. The shuttle swung gracefully around the corner and sat down directly in front of the big pressure door. The boarding ramp came down and we took shelter inside. We replaced our depleted ordnance and Klutch went to the cockpit. He used our point defense weapons to blast the massive hinges off the door and then bounced a single railgun round off of it. The huge pressure door rebounded out of the opening and crashed to the floor.
