by Mike Smith
The bolt of pulse fire from the tank missed his armoured shoulder by a hairs breadth, and with a startled oath Gunny lowered his weapon. The tank stood precisely where it had been, completely unblemished from the onslaught of fire from Gunny’s pulse cannon.
Glancing at the weapon in his hand, Gunny discarded it in disgust. “I need to bring a bigger gun next time,” he muttered, scratching his head. Forgetting that the suit was still tracking his every movement it did likewise, with the rather comical effect of a nine-foot armoured exoskeleton standing in the middle of the road scratching its head. His musings were interrupted when he noticed the tank was once again moving.
Obviously realising this target was too mobile to hit, the turret started to once again swing around—this time to take aim at the remaining marines, all sheltering behind the burnt-out remains of a sole transport pod.
“No, no, no,” Gunny cried out, waving his hands, frantically trying to draw the tank’s attention back to him, as there was no more cover for the marines. They would be easy pickings for the tank. But the long barrel ignored him, continuing to ponderously swing around to bring its main gun to bear on the helpless marines.
With no weapon in his arsenal powerful enough to penetrate the dense armour protecting the tank, Gunny bent his knees and, with the powerful actuators in the leg joints assisting him, jumped the several feet up onto the deck of the tank. Hurrying forward, Gunny reached out, clamping a massive armoured fist around the barrel, as it continued to swing around, pulling with all the enhanced strength that the suit offered—but it was not enough. Unable to find any traction, his legs simply slipped across the smooth surface of the tank.
“Brace, brace, brace,” he shouted, and the powerful electromagnets built into the legs of the suit activated, clamping firmly to the deck of the tank. Designed for use in space boarding operations, they were designed to clamp onto the side of starships to stop the suit floating away. They were just as effective on the surface of the tank—but not enough. While the speed of the rotation had slowed, as the powerful suit actuators fought against the movement of the tank, slowly but surely the barrel came to rest on the marines. Gunny could feel the vibration through the barrel as it once again prepared to fire. Closing his eyes, he was helpless to stop the massacre that was about to unfold, as the tank fired.
The explosion was massive, as the beam travelled such a short distance. Gunny opened his eyes, already horrified at the scene of carnage he expected to see. Blinking, he was unable to believe what his eyes were showing him. For the beam had stopped several feet short of the marines. Even more incredibly, it seemed as if some invisible force field had descended from the heavens to encompass them, as the bolt was reflected back at the tank, away from the men. “Crap,” Gunny said, as the backlash from the blast swept over the tank, tossing him backwards to land on his side several meters away.
Like a mirage appearing on the distant horizon, the air in front of the tank started to ripple and waver. Then, with a bright flash of light, it appeared—the Endless Light hovering serenely over the scene, sparkling in the midday sun. Unconcernedly it started to swing around until it was facing the tank, like a soaring eagle hovering over its much smaller prey, for the tank seemed tiny when facing the much larger shuttle. For several seconds all was still as the two antagonists faced each other, as if each considering their next move.
Then, with a barely perceptible movement, the hull on either side of the shuttle started to retract, as it deployed its internal weapons pods, the dark instruments of death conflicting starkly with the pristine white hull of the ship. The silence was broken by a barely perceptible whine, as the electromagnets in the railguns powered up, then the first shell was ejected at several times the speed of sound. Firing dozens of rounds per second the sound was incredible at such short range, as each penetrated the sound barrier. Any window within a thousand meters that was not already broken instantly shattered from the repeated sonic booms.
The tank was thrown back into the side of the building by the force of the impacts, the kinetic energy of the repeated blows causing the tank to glow an angry red, before turning an incandescent white. The dense armour starting to warp and deform from the repeated impacts, but still it held. Finally the horrific noise came to an end, as the guns fell silent, but the echo kept spreading out across the already dazed city.
After a momentary hesitation, the shuttle drew back slightly, as if to give itself some space while it considered its next move. What this was became immediately obvious when its missile pods were deployed next. After a brief pause, one of the missiles leapt from the left pod, followed almost instantaneously by a second from the right. The two missiles streaked towards the tank, impacting almost simultaneously. Designed to penetrate the thick armour of warships, the super dense warheads penetrated deep into the tank’s armour before detonating. The resulting focused explosion was enough to breach the armour, the force of the explosion magnified within the close confines of the tank, until it reached the vehicle’s ammunition magazines. The tank exploded in a ball of white light, the explosion reaching several stories in height, the remains of the turret eventually being found several hundred meters away.
The shuttle hovered for several seconds longer, before finally angling its nose upwards, accelerating quickly away, leaving behind a scene of utter destruction all around it.
*****
The massive hangar bay doors started to ponderously close behind the Endless Light as it came in for a graceful landing on the flight deck of the Relentless. Jon was out of the shuttle the minute that the bay doors had completed their cycle, Harrison’s daughter still firmly in his arms. The doors to the hangar deck opened long before he reached them, as Admiral Romanov stepped out onto the flight deck. Her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him, dishevelled, wearing a torn suit that was covered in blood, carrying a young girl in his arms.
“Jon, are you alright?” she asked in worried tones, taking in his appearance. “The data-nets have lit up all over Capella, reporting some sort of war going on down there. Who’s the girl?” she added.
“Take her for me, can you?” Jon said, gently disentangling the little girl’s arms from around his neck, depositing her in Anna’s arms. “She is Captain Harrison’s daughter. We found her down on Capella. Take her to medical and make sure that they give her a full check-up. She’s had a rough time of it down there. She probably could do with a hot meal, as I doubt that she has eaten in days.”
“Harrison’s daughter?” Anna replied in shock, hugging the little girl to her tightly, as if she was her own. With their pale, white skin and long, blond hair, from a distance the two could easily have been mistaken for mother and daughter. “What was she doing down there? Where is her mother?”
“Dead,” Jon said in a bleak tone of voice, fury smouldering in his eyes, tension clearly visible in his taunt body. “She had been murdered.”
“She’s dead?” Anna replied in disbelief, taking a step back in surprise, wavering on her feet for a moment.
Jon caught her by the arm, alarmed at how pale she had suddenly gone. “Are you okay?” he asked concernedly.
“Sorry, yes,” Anna said, shaking her head. “You just took me by surprise. Of course I’ll take her to medical and get her checked out. Where are you going?” she called out after him, taken by surprise by his already retreating form, his long stride quickly eating up the distance to the exit, which was already sliding open at his approach.
“I’ll be on the bridge,” Jon called out over his shoulder. “I have a message I need to deliver.”
Anna was going to follow him, to ask what he meant by that cryptic remark, when she was reminded of the little girl now in her arms. Changing direction she headed toward Medical instead. Her questions for Jon about what happened down on Capella could wait.
*****
“Captain, report,” Jon demanded, stepping out onto the bridge several minutes later, having come directly from the flight deck. “What is our c
urrent position?”
The Captain looked up in surprise at his unannounced entrance, and then looked twice, taking aback by their Emperor’s dishevelled state. “We are currently in a geo-synchronous orbit, five-hundred kilometres above Capella, my Emperor.”
Normally Jon would have taken exception to the title, but instead he took a seat in Admiral Romanov’s command chair, back ramrod straight, eyes fixed directly ahead. His thoughts were in a whirl, but time and time again they came back to Harrison’s dead wife, staring up at him, angrily. Demanding to know what he had done to stop this.
“Bring the dorsal and ventral railguns online and prepare to fire,” he ordered abruptly.
“Yes, my Lord,” the Captain replied after a moments’ hesitation, still staring at Jon’s battered and bruised face, torn and bloodied clothing. “The target?”
“Headquarters of United Stellar Services.”
At a nod from the ship’s Tactical Officer, the Captain turned back to face Jon. “Target locked and awaiting your orders, sir.”
Jon blinked, as if hearing the voice from a great distance, suddenly remembering about Gunny and the marines on the planet below. “Signal Captain Frasier and Gunnery Sergeant Reynolds on the planet. Order them to pull back and get to a minimum safe distance,” he ordered.
Stepping out onto the bridge, having run most of the way from the flight deck, Paul was just in time to hear the last order issued by Jon. He had been worried about him, as he had said very little on the flight back. “Jon, stop this madness,” he urged him stepping closer to his side. “You cannot do this.”
“You forget who I am now, I can do anything that I want,” Jon contradicted him. “I gave warning to those who murdered Marcus, Sofia and so many others on Eden Prime. Yet still they defy me. The most sacrosanct bond between Lord and his subjects is that he will protect them. I promised Harrison that I would protect his family, and I failed. Now all will witness my retribution.”
“Jon, listen to me,” Paul said increasingly franticly, trying to get through to him. “There are people down there that had nothing to do with this, innocent people caught up in this feud of yours. Do they deserve to die because of the actions of others? Pawns on a chessboard, that’s what you said, remember?”
“What would you have me do instead?” Jon replied. “Send Gunny and the marines back in there to separate the innocent from the guilty? How many of them would I be ordering to their deaths? How many more children would lose a parent this day?”
“There is always another way,” Paul insisted.
“Not this time,” Jon insisted. “You know the thing about revenge? It eats away at your soul, a little piece at a time. You make one compromise after another, and before you know it you look in the mirror and you don’t recognise the person that is staring back at you.”
Realising that enough time had now passed for Gunny and the marines to get to a safe distance, Jon turned to the Captain. “Fire,” he ordered. Watching emotionlessly as the ship opened fire on the planet below. Once all the rounds had been fired and the weapon systems once again secured, Jon rose from his chair turning to face Paul for the last time.
“I make it a point not to look in the mirror anymore. Go home Paul, back to Carol and your children. You don’t want to have any more part in this, as this is only the beginning. They think this is some sort of game? Well I have stopped playing their games and, as for their chessboard? I will smash it into a million pieces.”
*****
The first railgun round appeared from seemingly nowhere, splitting the midday sky where storm clouds had only just started to gather. The projectile, already super-heated to over one thousand, six hundred degree centigrade, parted the clouds travelling at over fifteen times the speed of sound, leaving a glowing halo, as the heavens parted in its wake. The first round impacted the headquarters of United Stellar Services two-thirds of the way up the building. The shell, travelling at a perpendicular angle, burrowed it’s way through twenty floors, setting all alight, burning a tunnel fifteen meters in diameter.
The entire building shuddered at the force of that first ringing blow.
Then the remaining rounds started to fall, first one, then another, hammering into the side of the building, the building trembling after each impact. The internal structural supports were weakened to such a degree that they could no longer support the weight of the above floors.
With an almighty groan, the loadbearing supports snapped, and floor after floor came crashing down, one on top of another. The noise was unbelievable, one continuous almighty roar, the sound of the building’s death cry.
When the dust finally started to settle, many hours later, all that remained of the once massive building that towered over all the others was a twisted pile of steel, concrete and broken glass.
The price paid for a murdered wife, tortured husband and orphaned daughter.
*****
It was several hours later, late into the night on-board the ship, when Jon finally found himself outside the personal quarters of Admiral Romanov. He had taken a shower and was relieved to be back in his white naval uniform, with his dark cloak wrapped around him, but sleep was still not forthcoming. He had tried to eat but the food had stuck in his throat. Eventually he had decided to check up on Harrison’s daughter. The least he could do for the parents was keep an eye on her, but he’d been surprised to be informed the Admiral had already taken the girl with her after all the necessary tests had been carried out.
Announcing his presence, after a long pause the door finally slid open, permitting his entry into the darkened room. Pausing for a moment just inside the room, Jon let his eyes slowly adjust to the dim light, as the stars offered the only illumination in the spacious room. Anna was facing away from him, her posture stiff, back ramrod straight, as she stared out at the panoramic view. As if finally acknowledging his presence, she turned around to face him, and it was only then he saw the pistol in her hand.
Pointing directly at him.
“I know I promised to keep you informed of my activities, but I think this is a little extreme,” Jon quipped, motioning to the pistol still firmly trained on him.
“Tell me about Captain James Harrison,” Anna demanded, “And how he died.”
Jon eyed her warily, eyes flicking once again to the pistol, before he nodded his head. “Captain James Harrison killed himself with a pistol on-board the Indomitable soon after the attack on Eden Prime. An attack that he instigated.”
The pistol in her hand wavered for an instant, before she took a firm grip of it, pointing it directly at his head. “You’re lying. James would never have done such a thing. You ordered the attack, and then killed him to cover it up.”
“No,” Jon disagreed. “Harrison killed himself after I threatened to expose who was really behind the attack on Eden Prime. His family were being threatened. They were to be murdered unless he did as instructed. I offered him an alternative, leaving him the pistol and time alone. Did I kill Harrison? No. Did I give him little other alternative than to take his own life? Probably. But in the end it was still his choice.”
“James was a good man, he would never have—”
“Done exactly what I would’ve in his situation,” Jon interrupted her. “As I sat in his chair, in his personal quarters on his ship, as he confessed everything, I asked myself that same question. What would I have done if it were my wife, my daughter? The answer is I would have done exactly the same as him—and more. There is no difference between Captain Harrison and I, except for a twist of fate. But this doesn’t have anything to do with Captain Harrison and I, does it? This has everything to do with James Harrison and Anna Romanov.”
“I loved him so much, but he still left me for her,” Anna cried.
“You don’t get to choose who you fall in love with.”
“I have been sitting next to their daughter while she slept. She is so beautiful. It made me see what I had missed out on, made me realise she could have been mine.”
>
“Then it would have been you dead, down on that planet,” Jon pointed out to her. “None of this is your fault.”
“You don’t know the first thing about me. I could’ve tried to stop him—”
“Malthus?”
Anna looked up in shock, “You knew?” she gasped.
“That you were working for him? Reporting my every action and move. Yes.”
“But how? Why?”
“I have known from almost the first day that we met. It was most opportune you being on Eden Prime just in time for the attack. Also your reason for being there was absurd. Called before the Senate to account for two deaths on your ship? I’ve seen the fleet look on as hundreds, thousands have died, and the Senate didn’t blink. Your story about them being involved in people trafficking was a nice touch however, as my feelings on that topic are well know.”
“But why didn’t you do, or say anything?”
“Two reasons,” he replied. “The first a matter of expediency, better the spy that I know, than the one that passes by unnoticed. The second is that I know you. When I was in your office with my sword at your throat and looked into your eyes, I could see all your hurt and pain. But more than that, I could see your courage and strength. Malthus thought that you were weak and could easily be controlled, but I knew better. You are your own person Anna. You didn’t give up when Harrison left; it was you who achieved all those notable successes, not him. You are beholden to nobody.”
Taking a couple of steps closer, Jon held out his hand. “So now you must decide if you are going to kill me. The decision is yours, nobody else’s.”
Anna paused for a moment, glancing uncomprehendingly at the pistol in her hand, before depositing it carefully in his outstretched hand.
