Star Crusades Nexus: The Second Trilogy

by Michael G. Thomas

  They exchanged pleasantries, and then he was gone, leaving the Admiral on his own and still looking at the starmap.

  I don’t like this. We have to send a team to Sol before Spartan kicks up trouble, and fast. God help us if the Biomechs could appear in that godforsaken backwater.

  He moved through his list of contacts on his device and selected Admiral Anderson. It took only a few seconds to activate the secure channel through the Rift and out to ANS Beagle, the station that managed the Rift on the other side. It would then take minutes for his signal request to Admiral Anderson to reach the AJ Naval Station deep in the heart of T’Karan, the Alliance’s foothold into the Orion Nebula. He started to speak to himself, deciding exactly what he wanted to say, but something completely different interrupted him.

  What the hell?

  The sound wasn’t the secpad. It was the internal security alert.

  "Emergency alert, hostile warships have broken the outer perimeter. Defense plan Titan is in effect."

  Gods, they're here already!

  He moved to the door, and his four escorts stayed close with him as he emerged into the well-protected corridor. The sirens continued to blare and marines, engineers, and crew rushed to their stations about the base.

  "Colonel Morato got here just in time," said one of the Jötnar.

  The Admiral looked at the massive warrior and tilted his head to the right.

  "Your job is to keep this base secure. This Morato, can she do it, Osk?"

  The Jötnar activated the helmet, and it slid open to reveal the slightly narrower face of a female Jötnar.

  "It's Commander Osk, Admiral."

  The Jötnar looked to her comrades before looking back at him.

  "And yes, if anybody can fool these machines, it is Teresa Morato."

  CHAPTER SIX

  The official colonization of Terra Nova took place over three hundred and fifty years ago. On that day, the few remaining colonies of Terra Nova united under a single banner and declared the colonization of the planet to be complete. In the century before, thousands had perished in the failed colonies that littered the surface. It wasn’t until the arrival of the third and final wave that brought with them machines, people, supplies, and terraforming equipment that a viable colony was established. Tens of thousands had lost their lives, but their sacrifice guaranteed that mankind’s foothold in Alpha Centauri would be a permanent one. From that day forward, migrants to Terra Nova would truly consider it the New Earth.

  A Concise Guide to Interstellar Travel

  Teresa had been angry, and no matter how much she tried to calm down, the imagery of Spartan kept coming back to haunt her. She'd made a deal with the Alliance and the Corps to offer her service in exchange for all the support they could muster. Now it appeared they had found him months ago, and instead of helping, they had elected to use him as part of some elaborate plan to bring the enemy out into the open and reveal their remaining Rift network.

  Bastards!

  But even as she sat there, she knew it made sense, and that was the part that really made her angry. There was little the Alliance could do other than protect its interests and continue to send scout ships and probes through every Rift they encountered or opened. The maps created so far were impressive, but none of them had yet explained how the Biomechs had spirited Spartan away through a Rift in T'Karan, only to appear many months later on Earth. It seemed perfectly obvious to her, but she wasn't the scientist.

  There has to be another nexus, like the one in the Orion Nebula. That could mean an entirely new area to explore.

  Just thinking about it hurt her head, and to try and relax she'd brought out a series of notes assembled for senior command regarding interrogation of prisoners and the captured Biomech commander. There was also collaborating information from the other races, specifically the T'Kari, and a small amount from the Helions. There were two key areas that interested her the most, and the more she read, the more she wondered if Alliance Intelligence had far more secrets up its sleeve. Moving several pages away on her system, she brought up a series of reports from the T'Kari. It took a while before she reached one of the old historical summaries. The translation was long and ponderous, so she skipped to the summary at the bottom.

  It would appear that the T'Kari civilization of the past consisted of at least four star systems, all of which were within a four light-year radius of T'Karan. Most of the colonies were lost in the war with the Biomechs, but a few lingered on after the Rifts were closed, and the Biomechs were banished back to their own domain. These last few colonies lost contact with each other over time, and all efforts to reach them through the old Rifts ended in disaster. The T'Kari sent their last ships to their one remaining colony where they were ambushed and destroyed. After that, the T'Kari went into hiding and left just their scouts to watch for signs of the enemy. This continued for generations until the coming of the Biomech commander and his Guardian ship entered T'Karan and established a base on Hades.

  Teresa skipped past the next section as it dealt with events she was quite familiar with. The machines attempted to open up a massive Rift to Hyperion, and the bomb that destroyed the Biomech commander and its base on Hades. Instead, she brought up a report on the war with the Biomechs, a poorly translated text that described how the original races had turned on one of their own, and how this augmented race of Biomechanical creatures had declared a war of eternal vengeance on the rest.

  The part that truly interested her, however, was the mention of a dead race, known as simply as The Twelve. Apparently, they were one of the nine races involved in the massive war that ended in the banishment of the Biomechs. From memory, she couldn't quite remember them all and was forced to load up a detailed list summarizing the people met so far in the last decade.

  So, we have the Biomechs, obviously. Then come the Helion League, the T’Kari Empire, the Khreenk Federation, and the scattered powers of the Klithi, Byotai, and Anicinàbe.

  She moved to the next page and found the two lost empires.

  So, The Twelve and the Trusska. I wonder if one of these empires had links from the Orion Nebula and back to Sol?

  It was a lot to take in, especially as there was so little known about the last two other than the Trusska had killed themselves in a massive ritualistic suicide pact before sending an automated weapon to destroy access to all their Rifts. The Twelve apparently were named for their twelve stars that were separated by a vast gulf of space. Each star contained a number of inhabited worlds. One of these worlds was nicknamed the highway to the Gods in their own tongue, and another given the name Taxxu. What really caught her attention was that this particular race was famed for its use of long-range exploration. Apparently, they had been the first to come across the T'Kari and the wandering Biomechs way back in the distant past.

  Interesting. So the Twelve and the Biomechs were more than neighbors. They lived together.

  As Teresa read further, she found that the Twelve had intermixed with the Biomechs over the centuries, based on a mutual desire to see technology improve their lives. The Biomechs had been granted land on Taxxu and made it their home for hundreds of years. The Twelve were the masters of long-distance space travel, and the Biomechs supreme at the melding of machine and flesh. It sounded too perfect until she reached the part about the war. The Twelve had suffered horrendous losses at the start of the war, before viral bombing wiped them out as a species, and their sterilized worlds overrun by the machines of the Biomechs. She almost ignored the last few lines before coming across a section that said a number of moons had fought against Taxxu and its Biomechs before they too were annihilated. According to myth, the last of their kind, a mixture of races, including Biomechs, escaped through their Rifts and were never seen again.

  Biomechs fighting Biomechs? Could these refugees have reached Sol in the past?

  The more she thought about it, the more Teresa realized it was a tenuous link at best; although it was interesting enough for her to submit
an information request for the stellar organization of the old Empire of the Twelve. It had never occurred to her that the Biomech territory encompassed much of what had been known as The Twelve.

  You live and learn.

  Teresa walked to the water dispenser and filled her glass with the cool liquid and reflected on her new position. This new post was one she had never expected to be granted, but after reviewing the plans for the defense of the base, she was almost pleased they had chosen her. As so many had tried before, it was almost impossible to contain a Biomech assault once it made headway. The latest reports from Helios confirmed her reasoning, and against complaints from many of the other officers, the Admiral had accepted her proposal. Now the entire plan was based around her idea of a very aggressive defense, with only a modest reserve centered in the middle of the base. She had only just sat down in her room for a moment’s respite when the sound started. Her first thought was that it was an attack, but when she looked over at her secpad in its charging stand, she could see it was an urgent alert. Teresa cleared her throat and tapped the device. An image of the Admiral Appeared.

  “Colonel. A number of unregistered transports have just arrived. I suspect this is the first of many.”

  Teresa was confused for a few seconds.

  “Transports, Sir?”

  The Admiral looked annoyed, as if Teresa’s brain had slowed down or she’d lost her wits.

  “Yes, unregistered transports of a very old configuration. Looks like from about twenty years ago to me.”

  The mention of them being old sent a surge of adrenalin through her body. The date matched the Great Uprising, and that could mean one of very few options.

  “You think this is the beginning of an attack?”

  The Admiral nodded in agreement.

  “I’ve run through your plan with the commander of the Red Watch. She will be with you shortly, along with the status reports for her units.”

  He rubbed his chin and then looked hard at the camera.

  “Teresa. Use her and any other assets we have to keep Prometheus safe. If Johnson is right, this is the first stage in their operation to reclaim the Biomech.”

  “They won’t make it, Admiral.”

  He didn’t smile, but she did recognize a look of determination on his face.

  “Teresa. The modified cargo ship, it contains more than just the Biomech. It is also home to a miniaturized atomic warhead, more than enough to vaporize the machine, ship, and entire hangar space. If we fail, just make sure you’re somewhere else.”

  “Understood, Admiral.”

  “Good. I will be sending out the general alert in ten minutes. That should be more than enough time for you and your commander to get acquainted. Good luck, Colonel.”

  The image cut and was almost immediately replaced by a banging sound at the door. Teresa twisted about, grabbed her cap, and straightened herself.

  “It’s unlocked,” she called out.

  The door slid open without a sound and in walked the shape of a maroon armored Jötnar. She recognized the gait and overall size as being one of the four that had been in the Admiral’s quarters.

  “Colonel Morato,” said a familiar voice.

  The warrior’s visor lifted up and exposed a female Jötnar’s face.

  “Osk?” replied a startled Teresa.

  The only response was a wide grin. Teresa stumbled toward the Jötnar who grasped her arm firmly. The strength in Osk was substantial, but Teresa bit her lip and ignored the pain until she released her.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “Secrets within secrets, my friend.”

  Teresa indicated for her to sit, but Osk shook her head.

  “I cannot, I am sorry. News has just arrived that several unidentified ships have arrived.”

  “I know. I just spoke with the Admiral.”

  Teresa looked a little confused.

  “Why did you not introduce yourself to me earlier?”

  Osk sighed.

  “Yes, it was the Admiral’s idea. He wanted to meet you without distraction and to get your ideas on the defense of Prometheus. The last commander of the station fell ill and was taken back to Terra Nova. He is in charge now, but overall command of the defenses has been handed to me. I would value your assistance in any way you can.”

  Teresa lifted her secpad from its unit and passed it to Osk.

  “I thought I was in charge here?” she asked in surprise.

  Osk pointed to Teresa’s secpad.

  “That’s the official line. This operation is complex, and your role is to be, well, more flexible than defending this base.”

  Teresa lifted the unit and examined the first page before lowering it.

  “So, I am in charge but on standby, waiting for the word from the Admiral?”

  Osk nodded politely.

  “Churchill, Johnson, and Anderson apparently came up with this one.”

  Teresa raised an eyebrow to that and then shook her head.

  “Very well. It doesn’t really surprise me. Let’s look at these defenses then.”

  She would much rather have found out what was going on but was equally aware that events were already in motion, events that she had played no part in. Just as at every time since she’d first joined the Corps, Teresa Morato was only another cog in the massive machine. She resigned herself to the task she’d been allocated, and only then did she realize she’d missed the bottom of the page from the Admiral. Teresa lifted the unit once more and looked at the wording. It did indeed confirm her role as commander of Prometheus’ defenses, but it also mentioned a code. One she recalled from her days back in the last war.

  Code Hypos Alpha. That was the code for Alpha Teams to perform an immediate extraction from a combat zone.

  It put a smile on her face.

  “So, the Admiral is planning on sending me somewhere. I wonder where?”

  She looked back to Osk, but it was clear that even she wasn’t privy to the entire plan.

  Secrets within secrets, indeed.

  “Right, you’ve gone over my layered defense already. What do you think?”

  Osk didn’t even need to look.

  “I think it is simple and leaves command to the junior officers. They are ready to do their duty. I made just one change. I hope you do not mind?”

  Teresa lowered her head a little as she looked at Osk.

  “Oh?”

  “The Alpha arm. It is the oldest of the eight arms and has been heavily expanded and extended to make way for larger Alliance ships to land. It is twice the size of the others and has multiple access points. I have kept a single landed frigate there and stationed a company of marines on board.”

  “Interesting...and to what end?”

  Osk laughed in reply.

  “An old trick I learned on Hyperion. When you are unsure what is about to happen, you dig in and wait with every weapon available. The frigate is a heavily armed and armored bastion, and it is positioned directly in the middle of the Alpha arm and in a cavern the size of a Battlecruiser.”

  “I see. Well, that makes sense to me. I had your forward position already set up to use that location. That is acceptable?”

  Osk bowed politely.

  “Indeed. From the defenses we have been working on, my marines will stop anything getting inside.”

  Osk moved to the doorway.

  “I must ask your leave, Colonel. Time is against us.”

  Teresa pulled on the front of her tunic and straightened herself.

  “Of course, Commander. Good hunting.”

  Osk saluted and started but hesitated and looked back to Teresa.

  “I heard what happened to Spartan. He is in Sol, is he not?”

  Teresa found it hard to breathe and found she could do no more than nod.

  “My people have no greater friend than your family, Teresa. When we are done here, we will be duty bound to offer our help.”

  She paused to emphasize the next part.

 
“In any way my people can.”

  With that, she exited her quarters as quickly and as silently as she had arrived, leaving Teresa in her civilian uniform and completely alone. Teresa looked about her quarters and then placed her head in her hands.

  What did she mean? Is Osk offering me the help of her Jötnar to find Spartan?

  * * *

  Dauntless wasn’t just an old ship. She was technically the oldest functioning vessel anywhere in the Alliance. Dating back to fifty years before the colonization of Terra Nova, the ship was a throwback to the time when ships were designed for journeys of up to a year through Sol. Back then, she had been a flagship for the United Nations Fleet. That small flotilla of ships had been funded by scores of nations on Earth to protect their fledgling operations on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Inside the vessel, just a short distance from her aged plasma powerplant was a small reliquary, the room not being much larger than crewmen’s quarters.

  “Interesting,” Spartan said as he examined the brass plaque fitted to the wall. It was heavily corroded, and the corner had been broken off sometime ago. It was the remaining wording that intrigued him the most.

  “What about it?” asked Khan, barely concealing his boredom.

  “Well, for starters look, the ship is using the old Earth system of dating.”

  Khan scratched his head in confusion.

  “I don’t get it. What are the A.D. bits for then?”

  Spartan shook his head and sighed before pointing at the numbers.

  “These are apparently the number of years since the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.”

  Khan straightened himself and immediately struck his head on the metal ceiling. Something clattered, and a metal box dislodged and dropped to the ground, only to crack and shatter on the floor. Spartan bent down and opened up the damaged unit. A brass object fell out onto the floor.

  “Now that is more interesting,” said Khan.

  The plaque and the date of the ship faded from memory as Spartan lifted the item and held it in front of them both.