Star Crusades Nexus: Book 05 - Prophecy of Fire

by Michael G. Thomas

  Evolution of the Biomechs

  Admiral Lewis looked at the schematic of his ship, shaking his head in astonishment. They had managed to get past the Biomanta blockade with nothing but minor casualties and a damaged bank of defense turrets. The attack had been so quick; they’d slipped past the enemy ships and destroyed three before they were even detected. The remaining eleven ships had targeted each Alliance ship one at a time as they passed; as opposed to the Alliance ships, they concentrated their fire on a single ship as they moved underneath them at incredible speeds. The XO looked at the damage reports and nodded his head happily.

  “Admiral, I don’t know quite how that worked, but we pulled it off.”

  Admiral Lewis gave a forced smile.

  “Yes, three destroyed evens up the odds in our favor. I just hope when we come back around, they’ve not done anything to surprise us.”

  “True, still, we are in pretty good shape. The escorts even made it through, incredibly.”

  The communications officer turned and called out over the noise of the CIC.

  “Admiral, an urgent message is coming in from the General.”

  “Good, put it on the main screen.”

  With no more than a nod, the officer transferred the feed directly to the main screen. The other video streams from the ship moved to smaller frames on the left and right of the image of the General.

  “I’ve grabbed as many as I could. We are heading back for the rendezvous.”

  A cheer rang out through CIC, but the XO barked at them for silence.

  “Great work, General.”

  He meant to continue, but the marine commander shook his head angrily.

  “We’ve got a problem, Admiral. Some of my birds were hit on the way back up, and it’s taken longer to get into position. We’re going to be eleven minutes behind schedule.”

  It didn’t sound much, but eleven minutes would mean the fleet would have passed the rendezvous point and continued on in their orbit about the moon.

  “Damn it!” sighed Admiral Lewis. He looked at his tactical map and then the list of craft heading up from the surface. There were hundreds, perhaps thousands of survivors on their way to low orbit. If he weren’t there when they arrived, the fourteen remaining Biomantas would massacre them.

  “Okay, General, meet us at the following coordinates.”

  There was a short pause while the General checked the information. He looked back into the camera, a confused look on his face.

  “Admiral, that is high orbit, and on the same level as the enemy blockade. Are you sure?”

  Admiral Lewis did his best to look confident.

  “Either we will punch a hole for you, or there’ll be no Alliance fleet left.”

  The General nodded before cutting the feed.

  * * *

  Spartan and Khan waited at the secondary deck where so many of the station’s refugees had arrived. Now that the fighting was over, the number of people had increased. Many returned to where they had been before, but others just sat down crying or running about to look for missing loved ones. Three medical staff helped move the body of the engineer that had helped them in the final stages of the fight.

  “He did well, in the end,” was the best Khan could manage.

  Spartan touched the stretcher as it moved past the two of them.

  “Better if he’d lived.”

  Multiple groups of officials emerged from the passageways, more than either of them would have expected.

  “Here come the bureaucrats,” muttered Khan.

  A small group of Earthsec security arrived, none carried anything more than a stun baton. Their uniforms were the usual dark tunics and black trousers used by security guards throughout the Alliance. On their heads were grey caps, marked with the insignia of Earth, and thick black utility belts wrapped around their waists with datapads and stun batons attached.

  “What going on here?” asked a gruff-looking, gray haired man as the security guards looked about. They moved with the assured nature of men used to being given respect. As they checked the passageways, they came across the dirty and bloodied shapes of Khan and Spartan. Upon spotting the weapons in their hands, they immediately made for them.

  “The machines are gone,” said Khan in a matter-of-fact tone.

  “Is that so?” asked the man sarcastically.

  Spartan moved closer to the man.

  “Yes, it is so. Now, what exactly are you doing here?”

  The man looked up and down at Spartan as if he were nothing more than a common criminal. He refused to answer him and waited until three more of his comrades move in to support him. Now confident of his position, he extended his hand toward Spartan, perhaps to grab him.

  Yeah, I don’t think so, Spartan thought.

  He tilted a few degrees to the left and brought his leg down on the back of the man’s knee. His leg gave way instantly, and then he was on the floor, face first. Spartan stood his ground, and Khan growled, that low, deep down snarl that even a fool would avoid.

  “Now, what the hell is going on out here? We have machines trying to take over the station, and a Spacebridge that is off-line.”

  Spartan kicked the man away and then looked to the other officers.

  “Where the hell were you, and why didn’t you stop the machines?”

  The Earthsec officers lifted their stun batons and waited while the man pulled himself painfully to his feet. One leaned over to help, but he shook the other man away, refusing to accept any assistance. His face was bitter, but also more than a little embarrassed. Spartan watched him carefully as he stepped back, and for a brief moment thought it might turn into an all-out brawl.

  “You’re not from around here, are you?” he said before spitting blood on the floor.

  Spartan laughed.

  “You only just worked that out?”

  The man looked to his colleagues and spoke for a moment before turning back. Before he could speak, an officer flanked by four men in Marine Corps uniforms marched toward them. Spartan was very familiar with the training, organization, and equipment of the Marines, and these men looked very different to what he was used to. All four carried thermal shotguns, a weapon more commonly associated with civilian and security use. Their armor was only partial, covering just their heads and chests in a layer of plastic of some unfamiliar type.

  “We’re on lockdown here, orders from Earthsec Command,” said the officer. “Commander Stanley is coming here for an inspection.”

  “Lockdown?” grumbled Khan, “What’s going on?”

  The thin, gray-faced man in an Earthsec uniform pushed to the front, lifting his hands in a conciliatory gesture to both groups.

  “Easy now,” he said, looking at his own people. He then looked to the two guests.

  “This is Spartan, and this one here is Khan, both are former Alliance Special Forces...and our guests.”

  The man Spartan had cast to the ground reached for Spartan’s weapon.

  “They are civilians. You know the rules,” said the man.

  The officer laughed and stepped back to give the man easy access to Spartan. He turned to him.

  “If you think you can take them without losing a limb, feel free to try it.”

  The man stopped, now suddenly unsure. He waited, perhaps considering whether he should try his luck and then moved back, doubt now taking over.

  “Good man,” said Spartan, “you just saved yourself a lot of trouble.”

  “And pain,” added Khan, tensing his great fists.

  The newly arrived officer extended his right hand to shake Spartan’s hand.

  “You don’t recognize me, do you Spartan?”

  Spartan shrugged.

  “The name’s Jenkins, John Jenkins. I enlisted at Prometheus with the same stream as you. My platoon trained alongside yours before we went into that meat grinder on Titan.”

  Spartan looked at the man carefully. There was something in the eyes that looked vaguely familiar, but he di
dn’t recall spending any real time with the man. A brief glance down showed he hadn’t maintained the kind of body or fitness one would expect for a man of so much experience.

  “What happened?”

  The man gave a modest smile.

  “Retirement. I came out here when the first Rift generator station was activated. Earthsec pay good money for ex-military.”

  Khan grabbed Spartan.

  “Enough talking, there are things that need doing.”

  “He’s right,” said Jenkins.

  The man walked to the row of small windows to the right of them. The stars moved swiftly in the background, as the section of the station was still rotating to provide artificial gravity.

  “We’re spread pretty thin out here, Spartan. Earth and Mars have less than sixty million citizens between them, with half again spread over the moons. With the Rift down, we’ve lost contact with Terra Nova and our fleet.”

  “Wait, what about the Sol Patrol Force?” asked Khan suspiciously.

  Jenkins shrugged.

  “Force? Is that what they’re calling it now?”

  Khan and Spartan looked at each other before returning their gaze to the man. He looked different to the others, his bearing was more upright, a hint of his confidence perhaps due to his past in the Marine Corps.

  “Look, that force is just one frigate, and it’s in about a hundred pieces near the Rift. All we have left are the war barges. There are nine spread through Sol, and they ain’t worth a damn.”

  “That’s it?” asked Spartan incredulously.

  Jenkins nodded.

  “Yes, and they answer directly to Earthsec, not the Alliance.”

  “What about the Rift station?”

  The older man in the unit moved in to interrupt them.

  “Look...I don’t know who you think...”

  He stopped when more men in suits from their interrogation appeared. The one with the bloodied nose smiled when he saw the Earthsec security man clutching a sore arm.

  “I see you two have been making friends.”

  Spartan sensed something in the man’s tone though, as if something had changed, and not to Spartan or Khan’s advantage. He wasn’t entirely sure what it was but was certain he could sense a double-cross. Khan must have felt the same because he tensed and then moved his feet slightly apart as if readying for a fight. From behind these men walked a man in a smart suit, flanked by four more Earthsec operatives, each in their security uniforms but apparently unarmed. Spartan could make out the batons on their belts and that the civilians seemed to move quickly away from him as he approached. Jenkins cleared his throat, and Spartan suspected it was a warning, to him. He then looked to Spartan, but the newly arrived man spoke first.

  “Greetings, Gentlemen. Report.”

  The older man with graying hair spoke first.

  “The station is secure, and we’ve sent the automated orbital barges in to finish off the flotsam in space.”

  “The docking arm and the T’Kari ship?”

  The man nodded.

  “Yes, Sir. The ship was infested with machines, same as the docking arm. The barges are pounded it as we speak.”

  The man still refused to look at Spartan and walked to the window to look at what was left of the arm, far out in space and flickering as gunfire raked the metal structure. He nodded to himself.

  “Good, good. Shame about the loss of the docking arm though.”

  Then he turned about and looked to the gray haired officer.

  “What about the T’Kari? I have orders to bring them to the surface for…discussions.”

  The man tilted his head, looking at Spartan while waiting for a reply.

  “They are safe on this station, Sir.”

  The man waited in silence, as if he needed the time to digest the information. A couple of seconds might have been manageable, but he dragged it on for so long it became uncomfortable.

  “Lieutenant Jenkins,” he said before stopping amidst the group. All three groups coalesced into a single mass of Earthsec personnel.

  “Good work to you and your staff. The station is secure, and we will be back to normal in no time.”

  Spartan opened his mouth to speak, but the man lifted his hand and interrupted him.

  “Let me introduce myself. I am Commander Richard Stanley. This Earthsec station is under my official jurisdiction.”

  Spartan was unimpressed at this.

  “Then you’ve been doing a piss poor job, Commander. It came down to me, my friend here, and a single one of your engineers to fix this mess. Where were all your suits and officers when there was real fighting to be done?”

  The man looked at Spartan suspiciously, but it didn’t stop him from speaking.

  “You have a Rift down. That means no communications and no help from the rest of the Alliance.”

  The man smiled at him, one of those smiles Spartan knew meant anything but good news. He’d met men like this many times before, men whose interests lay in their own advancement.

  “Yes, that is very true.”

  He nodded to one of the men in the suits, and one walked closer. They spoke quietly for a few seconds and then separated. The Commander waited patiently while the other man walked to the side of the passageway and activated a communication panel.

  “By order of the Governor of Earth and its colonies, stations, and territories, a state of martial law is being declared. All citizens are to contact their nearest Earthsec center within the next twenty-four hours.”

  The Commander looked away from Spartan and to the rest of his people.

  “I’ve been saying for the last ten years we needed to become more self-sufficient. With this fighting starting, it is critical that we keep Earth and our colonies out of harm’s way.”

  Spartan stepped closer to him, but two of the men blocked his path.

  “Are you insane? We need to open the Spacebridge and find out what’s happening?”

  Commander Stanley shook his head.

  “No, I don’t think so.”

  He indicated for Spartan and Khan to walk with him. Khan refused to move, but a stern look from Spartan forced him to comply. They walked along the passageway until reaching one of the many bulges that extended like pimples from the station. The Commander looked out into space and waited until the blue orb of Earth drifted into view.

  “The last information that came through the Rift was that machines were attacking territories throughout the Alliance. It seems they are using the Network against us.”

  Spartan wasn’t surprised in the slightest.

  “Makes sense. They’ve been using uncharted Rifts in the past, and they have servants among different races, including the rebel T’Kari.”

  “Ah, yes, the Raiders?”

  Spartan nodded.

  “We’ve had dealings with them and the Biomechs themselves.”

  The man studied Spartan for a few more seconds before speaking.

  “We are not ready for this enemy, not out here in Sol.”

  “Then let us open the Rift and get help!” growled Khan.

  He looked back out of the window and the view of the stars once more.

  “We are not what we were, less than a hundred million souls throughout this system. If Terra Nova or Prime are under attack, then we can expect no help from that quarter.”

  Spartan pointed to the window.

  “Take the station, open the Rift, and send through a scout. If you find trouble, you can close the Rift.”

  The man looked to Spartan and smiled.

  “My friend, I don’t think you quite appreciate the situation. We are fully self-sufficient, especially since the arrival of the heavy equipment from Prometheus.”

  Khan looked back into the passageway. Nothing of note had changed other than the large number of uniformed personnel moving about. It was when a group of civilians and children were stopped and escorted away that he realized what was happening. He turned back to find the Commander looking right at
the two of them.

  “You’re not serious?”

  The man smiled.

  “We managed alone for a long time before useful contact was re-established through the Spacebridge. It used to take over eight years to send a message to Terra Nova and to get one back. When you had your little civil war, it was over before we even heard about it!”

  Spartan wiped his brow and turned to Khan.

  “They’re going it alone.”

  He then looked back at the Commander.

  “Aren’t you?”

  The Commander nodded slowly.

  “When a diseased limb threatens the host, you remove it from the body. The Alliance is a luxury we can happily manage without. At least, for now.”

  A whistling sound appeared from the space above them, shortly followed by a holographic image appearing in the center of the passageway. The Earthsec officers stepped back and watched flickering image stabilize to show the form of an aged man with a monocle.

  “The Governor of Terra Antiqua,” said the Commander in a hushed tone.

  Spartan had never heard the honorific title for Earth used before and found it almost absurd.

  “Citizens of Sol. Due to incursions from the colonies of the New Alliance, we have been forced to permanently deactivate the Spacebridge. A number of vessels forced their way through and deposited objects onto the Martian surface before our barges could destroy them. But there is no way of knowing where else the decadent taint of Terra Nova has spread.”

  Khan spat on the floor in annoyance.

  “This is…”

  Spartan shook his head, encouraging his friend to remain silent.

  “…until such time as this Biomech menace is permanently eradicated, it is with a heavy heart that I enact Martial Law throughout Sol.”

  This sent a murmur of conversation through the station, even into the sections that couldn’t be seen from where they all waited.

  “All colony transport and transfers will be monitored via Earthsec border controls.”

  Those civilians still in the wide passageway started to move away, but the Commander lifted his hand.