Armageddon's Pall

by S. F. Edwards

  Blazer almost jumped out of his seat in response. “But ma’am. Our teams have more experience aboard Gorvian ships and with using the MeG-CE than any other units.”

  “Not true anymore Lieutenant Vaughnt. The Wolfsbane’s ship capture team has captured two Gorvian cruisers. Even if that were still the case, the Wolfsbane Battlegroup’s teams are already on station and have MeG-CEs ready to go. Were we to task your teams it would take a minimum of two cycles to review your mission plans, transfer you to the mech suit carriers, calibrate to your users, and deploy to the mission location. We do not have that kind of time to spare.”

  Blazer deflated before her, sinking back into his seat as the realization hit him.

  “The teams in question also have far more experience than your teams. Expediency was the only reason your teams were ever deployed to Gorvian ships in the past. Expediency and then experience with the Planet Slicer itself.”

  Tadeh Qudas stepped in front of Blazer, drawing the admiral’s eyes away from him. “If you are deploying the number of teams that you imply then at least put my teams on standby to assist. We can shift to the Wolfsbane team’s plan and wait in case they need backup.”

  “No, Commander! It is too late to do even that. Besides that, you’ve trained your teams to specialize in covert operations. This will be a quick hit mission.”

  Tadeh Qudas appeared to mull that over for a moment; the admiral motioning to someone out of view to take a seat. “Tell us straight admiral. What’s going on here? The urgency is beyond normal.”

  The admiral remained quiet for a moment, her face screwed up as she looked at them all through the link. “How secure is this link?”

  Tadeh Qudas turned to Gokhead and Que-Dee. Gokhead’s eyes danced for a moment then he nodded to Tadeh Qudas. “More secure than needed.”

  The admiral sighed and looked at something, possibly confirming the link security before she continued. “The Gorvians are experimenting on the prisoners. The prisoner who escaped had been… modified. He reported that the final goal of the experiment might be to create some kind of Gorvian hybrid. From the looks of him,” she shivered. “It appears to be true.” The admiral let that sink in for a moment and Marda felt almost hysterical in response, fighting down the emotion. “They’ve been farming the Doblius colony for subjects. The final part of the process uses a great deal of energy, keeping them in place. But if they realize that they’ve been compromised…”

  “They’ll move out as fast as they can.”

  “Exactly. We can’t let this ship escape. If we can’t take it, there’s a full bomber wing on standby to destroy it.”

  Gavit whistled at that news.

  Tadeh Qudas straightened his uniform. “We get the next one.”

  That made Blazer sit back up, the light back in his eyes. Marda hated the eagerness she saw there. It was the same way he’d used to look at her.

  The admiral chuffed. “There’s no guarantee that there will be another one.”

  “We get a copy of all intel and get the next one,” he repeated matter of fact.

  “We’ll see,” she replied and the link cut out.

  Blazer ran his hands through his hair in frustration as he stared at the screen. Marda wished she could just hold his hand and reassure him. He looked back up at Tadeh Qudas. “How bad do you think this will be?”

  Tadeh Qudas turned back to the table. “The teams they’re deploying are highly experienced. If the Gorvians have managed to turn the prisoners into enemy combatants…”

  “It could be a complete slaughter,” Arion hissed. “God Damn those Gorvians.”

  UCSB Date 1003.326

  Ward Room, UCSBS Mercy, Veglid System

  Blazer always dreaded the captain’s cyclic officer briefings. The high-pitched screeching of her Shinekian voice split his ears that much worse when she felt she had to speak up for a whole room to hear her. She also insisted that all officers attend and with the number of doctors and nurses aboard, the only space capable of holding them all at once was the Ward Room. That always resulted in the filling of every table and many had to stand as they overfilled the chamber. The smells wafting from the kitchen didn’t help, as they cleaned up after first shift breakfast.

  Most of the meeting didn’t even affect the flight crews. The squadrons could send a single representative to find out their missions instead of cramming all of them into the same room with the medical staff. That would free up over fifty seats and might alleviate some of the animosity the medical staff were feeling for the flight crews.

  Blazer had learned to filter out much of what she said. When his name came up on the board he looked. “I would like to congratulate Dr Vaughnt,” the captain said emphasizing the title. “Thanks to her pregnancy, she has completed her residency requirements and Dr Larrigan will assume her fellowship training.”

  Blazer turned to Marda wide-eyed as a short applause rang through the room. He leaned in close for her to hear him over the noise of the room. “Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Marda just smiled back and laid a hand on his. “You’ve been busy and wrapped up with the prison ship mission. I didn’t want to trouble you.”

  “How would that trouble me?”

  “Dr Larrigan,” she began, motioning at the Drashig doctor across the room, matted, graying hair covering his frail body. “He’s grooming me to take over the emergency medicine department and wants me as his second in Medical Bay Two.”

  Blazer sat back slowly in surprise. While proud of his wife, her taking over a medical bay could pull her out of the team, maybe even out of the cockpit, permanently. “Are you going to take his offer?”

  Marda rested a hand on her belly. “I’m considering it for while I’m grounded. After that, I’m back to the team.”

  Blazer nodded and took her hand, giving it a quick kiss. “Good to hear, but we need to celebrate later.”

  Marda jumped as the baby kicked and Blazer set his hand on her belly. The fluttery kick brought a smile to his face and a new warmth to his hearts. “You too little man.”

  The captain continued and a bulletpoint labeled Doblius shot up on the board. Blazer shot up in his seat in response to listen, the rest of the squadron following suit. “We received word before this meeting about a strike mission in the Doblius System. Due to the continued fighting in that system they will be transferring the most critical cases here so that we can stabilize them before sending them home.” Blazer couldn’t tear his eyes away from her skull-like visage. Even her razor-sharp teeth and head spikes couldn’t intimidate him in that moment. “While I haven’t been briefed on the nature of the mission, what is known is that many of these are liberated prisoners. They’ll arrive later this cycle so we’ll need all hands ready to receive them as soon as they arrive.”

  An Otlian doctor held up a hand and called out. “How many casualties can we expect?”

  “I’ve been told around half of them, sixty or seventy.”

  The numbers blew Blazer away and before he knew it his mouth started flapping. “Sixty or seventy? Those ships were large enough to carry well over a thousand. What kind of losses did they encounter?”

  Numerous doctors tried to shush him as he spoke but the Captain’s halting voice silenced them. “I only have the numbers I’ve provided. What I’ve been told and authorized to pass along is that many of these patients have been mutilated by the Gorvians. Their biologies have been altered, some possibly irreparably.” She shivered so hard that her exoskeleton clattered, making it obvious that she must have seen some images. “We must do our best to save them. Barring that, we must make them comfortable until a way to reverse what’s been done to them can be found. They should arrive in less than ten hects. Monstero Nach will have escort duty. Blood Pulse will conduct cyclic patrols. Dismissed.”

  The ward room emptied of the other officers, but the Monstero Nach remained. Blazer just stared at the table; contemplating what must have gone wrong in the rescue operation. He was sure that the oth
ers must be thinking the same. It was Porc who put it into words “What in the name of the holy wood happened?”

  Tadeh Qudas strode into the room as if in response, his stride full of purpose, with Que-Dee in tow. “The rescue teams encountered more resistance than they’d expected.”

  Blazer was about to say something before his commander tossed a stack of nanosheets onto the table. “That’s the preliminary report. Que-Dee was able to obtain it.”

  Blazer snatched up a sheet and handed the stack down the line for the others. The information and embedded animations painted a picture which turned his stomach. The rescue and capture teams had walked into a death trap. Hundreds of the hybrid Gorvian soldiers attacked the MeG-CE clad teams. As if guided by a single mind, they’d flooded over them, clawing at the mech’s weak points until they’d reached and slaughtered the pilots. There was no remorse, no emotion, just a drive to kill propelling them. After the battle turned against the teams they’d ordered in the bomber force to attack in the hopes that it would buy them some relief. Torpedo strikes opened the hull of the prison ship to space and flushed out hundreds of the mutilated prisoners. It also resulted in numerous friendly casualties.

  High command declared the mission a success in spite of that. The battered teams had managed to liberate the majority of the surviving prisoners and take the ship. They’d almost captured the scientists performing the hybridization. The prisoners’ need for revenge however had prevented that objective. The holo of them feeding on the Gorvian almost made Blazer gag, and forced Marda to set her sheet down. Blazer recognized the nausea on her face.

  Tadeh Qudas waited until everyone had read the report before he continued. To Blazer’s surprise, he took a seat. “There was no way that even I could see to avoid what happened. Had we gone, we would have faced a similar fate.”

  Blazer let that sink in for a moment, the bottom falling out of his stomach. He had been so eager to take one of the prison ships, but now… He squeezed Marda’s hand and looked around the table. They all looked pale, as if contemplating what might have happened to them. The report, sparse as it had been, had made it clear that the deaths were gruesome. Blazer didn’t want to imagine the terror that the Special Ops teams had faced when confronted by the hybrids.

  Arion looked sobered by the thoughts running through his head as he set the nanosheet down. “Are these figures on the bombers’ shots accurate?”

  Tadeh Qudas nodded. “Looks that way. The teams called in torpedo strikes to vent atmosphere from overrun areas of the ship. They attempted to evacuate before the strikes, but not everyone made it.”

  A name on the list of KIAs kept drawing Blazer’s eyes. He’d looked up the records on the teams undertaking the missions; this one hadn’t belonged to any of them. “Who is this Dwar Renwar? He’s not attached to any of the teams, but it said that his MeG-CE was destroyed while taking the bridge. It also says that he led the charge to release the prisoners and killed one of the Gorvian scientists.”

  “He was the prisoner who escaped. He then demanded to lead the teams back in.” Tadeh Qudas paused for a moment. “He was very brave. He fought hard to save his fellow prisoners despite not having the training to do so.”

  Marda stared at his file image. “We’ll make sure that his sacrifice isn’t in vain.”

  “Good. I want you all down in the tactical room. Get me your flight plans inside of two hects.” Tadeh Qudas turned to Gokhead. “I want you and Que-Dee to get us as much data as you can on those prison transports. The next one that comes up, we’ll take it.”

  Zithe crossed his arms at that, looking at the team rosters. “These were the top rescue and ship capture teams in the Confederation. If they couldn’t do it…”

  Tadeh Qudas’ icy words cut a swath through all of them, silencing Zithe. “You can. I trained you to be the best, and you will prove it. We will go in with the information those teams gathered and will drill against that.”

  Blazer nodded, the weight of the universe on his shoulders. Sitting there, the nanosheets began crumbling, to prevent them falling into uncleared hands. “Let’s move people.”

  Bridge, Planet Slicer, Nashig System

  The constant delays in getting the Planet Slicer back underway had begun to wear on Gondral. Even with the construction drones shut down, work orders would come through compromised. This mandated passing commands over the comms or ferrying them about in person. Gondral felt some solace in the fact that their campaigns elsewhere were moving at a good pace at least. The Planet Slicer itself remained still.

  The news that the young reptiloid Gorvian tactical officer relayed to Gondral was nothing fae cared for at the moment. Battle reports of stalemates and destroyed cruisers or corvettes were of little concern. Still the young Gorvian stood with pride before Gondral at the opportunity to relay the report in person. After a report on advances in a system Gondral couldn’t bother to remember the name of the young Gorvian halted; eyes wide with fear.

  Gondral swirled fas massive goblet and leaned forward; the tiny new brain tail sprouting from fas wound twitching. “What is the matter young one?”

  The fear swirling around the young Gorvian excited Gondral in ways fae hadn’t in ages. Fae suppressed the urge and instead willed the young one to speak. “We have a report from Doblius. A Dondick assault force circumvented the battle lines and attacked a prison transport.”

  Gondral kept calm; swirled the goblet a little faster. “And?”

  “Lord of All. The ship was captured before reinforcements could arrive. The Dondicks are moving it out of system.”

  Gondral squeezed the metal goblet, deforming the lip. Once in a system the prison ships operated alone, the better to hide their energy signature. Thus far it had worked well; all ships had escaped detection. That policy would have to change. Gondral turned to the communications officer. “Send the remote destruct command to that prison ship. How many Mini-Gorvians were aboard?”

  “They had almost two cohorts at last count Lord of All.”

  Gondral crushed the goblet and let it fall to the deck before stroking fas brain tails in thought. Fae could feel Gondish’s ghost creeping back into fas mind; he pushed the nagging thoughts aside. “Order all other prison ships to send whatever Mini-Gorvians they have to the fleet immediately. We have what, two legions’ worth?”

  The Gorvian nodded. “In place yes, Lord of All. Unfortunately, Grand Lord Voltick was aboard that ship. There is no word if moe survived.”

  Gondral sat back in consideration of the new information. Voltick would have made an excellent consumption, or even possibly a host for a lesser progeny. The idea of a consumption excited Gondral again. “If Grand Lord Voltick is dead, others can continue mor work. Do we know the identities of the Dondicks that captured the ship?”

  “No Lord of All. They most likely came from the task forces in-system.”

  “And Vaughnt’s ship is not amongst those?” Gondral turned to the communications officer. “Have you sent the signal?”

  “Yes, Lord of All. Awaiting response signal.”

  “Good,” Gondral growled. Looking up fae met Gondish’s ethereal face shaking mor head. “Vaughnt will come again, and when he does, I will crush his Dondicks bones into dust.”

  Medical Bay 3, UCSBS Mercy, Veglid System

  It was all Marda could do to keep her stomach from going into reverse as butchered patients flowed into her bay. The degree of mutilation was worse than she could have imagined. The images she’d seen hects earlier hadn’t been adequate preparation. Dr Larrigan hustled about on his reverse-hinged legs instructing every other medic and doctor on how to proceed. Marda could see how much he was struggling.

  Every patient looked like they should be in severe pain, but few complained about it. The Gorvians appeared to have killed their pain response as part of the procedure. Some had yet to receive that mercy before they’d been rescued. They called out in agony as their bodies rejected the alien limbs and organs replacing their own. Then there
was the grey pallor to their skin. They all looked like the reanimated dead. When Marda went to stop the bleeding on one she saw firsthand that their blood was just as grey. Seeing that for the first time had sent Marda running away, gagging, and choking back vomit.

  “Doctor,” a Drashig patient called. The Gorvians had replaced her arms with what Marda thought might have been plucked Chret arms, her feet with Chret talons.

  Marda couldn’t help but wonder what that grey Gorvian blood replacement was. She knew of nothing that allowed such disparate alien organs to work together. The Chret breathed chlorine. Their whole biology should prove incompatible with the Drashig’s, yet here this woman lay. Marda stepped over and pulled up the Drashig’s chart on her micomm. She was already starting to exhibit signs of organ failure. There was definite necrosis near the grafting points. It looked like even the Gorvians couldn’t make the limbs completely compatible. “How can I help you, officer, sorry, Doctor Vitongnoc?”

  Her vertically-hinged snout grimaced. Her teeth gritted together so hard that Marda was afraid she might shatter them. Despite that, she remained lucid, the intensity in her eyes showing an inner fire that the Gorvian’s hadn’t been able to extinguish. “The pain is getting worse, and they won’t let me see my chart. How bad is it?”

  Marda wrestled with what to say, and decided on the truth. She seemed able to take it. “It’s not good,” Marda replied and pulled the medical macomm from the bed; handed it to her. “We still have almost no idea how the Gorvians have even managed to do, this,” she said motioning to her new arms. “Or, why.”

  Vitongnoc reviewed the chart and set it down. Instead of appearing resigned to her fate, a new sense of defiance grew. “I wasn’t aboard long. My team and I deployed to Doblius to evacuate the civilians when the Gorvians jumped us. I did my best to help the others and figure out this obscenity. I didn’t exactly have the tools.”

  Marda nodded. “What happened to your team?”