Star Crusades Nexus: Book 03 - Heroes of Helios

by Michael G. Thomas

  “That is the Zathee district, one of the less…”

  Of all of them, Gun seemed to be the one with the least patience. He grimaced as he spoke.

  “Less what?”

  “Well, the Zathee district is the least well established on our world. The population is much smaller as it has only a few levels.”

  A bright flash almost made it look like the ship had exploded, but it was no more than a visual artifact from the great distance being tracked. The shape of the burned and damaged ship had now moved well away from the tall spires of the massive city and to vanish into the fog laden skies of the targeted landing site. A great black trail followed the damaged warship, and streaks of flame continued to burn along her flanks.

  “What are they?” asked Teresa.

  “Yes, they are three of our rescue craft. They will follow at a safe distance and provide immediate visual feedback and assessment of the...er...landing.”

  General Rivers indicated for Gun and Teresa to approach. They moved a short distance from Vigilis before he spoke.

  “All of this sounds like bull to me. I’ve received intel from the T’Kari. They say the Zathee are the largest ethnic group here and are heavily discriminated against.”

  The Helion official made to speak, but General Rivers continued.

  “The information I have says you used these people as foot soldiers in the last war with the Biomechs. They died by the million, and now they are in revolt. Do you think it might have been helpful to let us know this before we brought in a ship so close to your world?”

  “Why would they attack us?” asked Gun.

  Rivers nodded firmly.

  “Good question, and right now, I don’t trust a single one of them.”

  Another flash from the ship was the last sight they had as it completely vanished into the fog. The three rescue craft stayed well away and were now all that remained of the falling ship. Vigilis said something, and the displayed flickered as a red overlay appeared. He turned and started to speak, but Rivers stopped him.

  “Yes, I know, thermal imaging; we have the same.”

  Vigilis lowered his head politely and turned back to the large screen. The thermal overlay showed the outline of ANS Conqueror as it dropped further and further.

  “What about the citizens there? Have you evacuated?” asked Teresa.

  Vigilis shook his head.

  “No, we do not have the time or the ability to reach those in the Zathee district. They will have to manage, as they always do.”

  Teresa looked at him suspiciously. Although the alien’s accent was thick, she was convinced she could detect a degree of scorn in his tone. She knew almost nothing of the political situation on Helios, but it was clear the Zathee were considered an underclass even though they were the most numerous.

  No matter how advanced they are; there always seems to be an oppressed group at the bottom.

  Teresa might have even felt a degree of sympathy toward them if it wasn’t for the ship falling to the surface. It reminded her of the many ships that had crashed down to the surface of Terra Nova during the battle for that world at the end of the Uprising. She’d been a prisoner back then, but she had seen the many vessels hurtling down from space to disgorge their hordes of warriors. Gun and Spartan had landed this way, and the last bloody battle had marked the start of the Alliance.

  Spartan, Teresa shook her head as she thought of her husband, how in the Gods are we going to find you when these idiots are as likely to kill us as the Biomechs?

  Her heart felt heavy, but yet another flash from the descending ship turned her attention back to the imminent crash. General Rivers must have received important information because he looked up from his secpad and nodded slowly.

  “They have leveled off and are decelerating. They have a good chance.”

  The ship finally made contact with the ground, in what must have been a horrific crash landing. In part, Teresa was glad the thermal imaging showed little detail, for the crash would have been terrible to see. She was well aware that Jack was on board, and the thought of him being hurt or even killed was more than she could bear. Incredibly, the ship appeared to have remained in one piece as it ripped through metal, masonry, and probably people. Teresa estimated it must have hit the ground at something close to three hundred kilometres an hour. Any other craft would have been destroyed, but the Conqueror class was something special. The wreckage covered a long distance on the ground, leaving a trail of burning destruction behind it as it smashed through raised levels, buildings, and other structures; finally coming to rest.

  “Right, let’s go,” Teresa announced in a firm voice.

  Gun and General Rivers nodded in agreement but were stopped by a pair of uniformed Helion guards. They were dressed in a similar fashion to Vigilis, but their long faded yellow cloaks marked them out as some form of security unit. Both men wore helmets but no other obvious armor.

  “No, I am sorry, but this is an internal matter. I cannot allow foreign soldiers access to our districts.”

  General Rivers looked livid at his comments.

  “No foreign soldiers? You are aware that a warship with over a thousand crew and hundreds of my marines has just been brought down. Wars have started over less.”

  Vigilis actually seemed to pay attention to this last part.

  “In our past, the betrayal and destruction of a warship has started conflicts that have killed thousands. Do you think we would treat you any differently?”

  Vigilis looked at him and then to Gun who stood with a look of bemused interest.

  “Of course you are welcome to monitor and provide assistance. I merely wanted to remind you that we cannot allow further warships into the area. After all, we need to locate and eliminate these terrorists before they can cause more harm to either of our peoples.”

  Yeah, why do I think he’s not so bothered about these Zathee? Teresa thought bitterly.

  She’d seen the crash footage, and it was clear that a large number of innocents would have died in the impact. Rivers took in a deep breath, a sign Teresa instantly recognized. She braced herself for what was coming.

  “If I want ships in the area, I will have them. If you even think of interfering, I will report to the Alliance that you are actively assisting in this plot.”

  Vigilis shook his head furiously.

  “No, no, we are happy for your observers.”

  Rivers cooled in an instant, a skill Teresa wished she could apply herself.

  “Gun, you will prepare our marines for rescue and recovery operations.”

  He then looked back at Vigilis.

  “In the meantime, we need a representative to go along, to assist, and to observe. We can then direct our own recovery operations.”

  Vigilis made to protest, so Rivers added one last clause.

  “Just as you have been doing aboard our ships.”

  Vigilis looked unimpressed and opened his mouth to speak. Gun, however, had straightened his back and looked directly into the Helion’s eyes. He had said nothing, but the intent was clear; compared to the giant, the Helion guards looked like unarmed children.

  “Very well, one of you may come along. The rest of you are welcome to stay here, or my guards will escort you back to the capital where you can make preparations to recover your ship.”

  “And our people,” Gun added.

  With that, Vigilis turned from them and marched back inside the building. Rivers moved after him, but Gun grabbed his arm and stopped him.

  “General, what are you doing?”

  He grinned in reply, “You know what, observing. I need to see first hand what’s going on.”

  “Gun’s right,” said Teresa, “You need to stand back to manage this situation. There’s something going on around here, and it isn’t good. Let me go instead. You and Gun can monitor what is happening here and get our forces ready.”

  She then leaned in close.

  “Just make sure you have a platoon on standby and
ready to assist. A platoon of marines, not a recovery team.”

  She pulled down to her belt and withdrew her military issue secpad as well as a small metal cylinder.

  “I will stay in touch.”

  Then she was gone, without even waiting for the agreement from Gun or the General. She reached Vigilis as he exited through a pair of small black doors at the rear of the cavernous room. Gun looked back at Rivers after she had gone and noticed the metal cylinder was now in the General’s palm.

  “What’s that?”

  Rivers grimaced slightly as he looked at it.

  “Teresa’s emergency tracker.”

  Gun smiled at his explanation.

  “Smart woman, no wonder Spartan likes her.”

  General Rivers looked back to the large screen that showed the crashed ship. A large number of fires burned nearby, but it was then he noticed the number of tall structures littering the crash site. From the satellite view their height hadn’t been clear, but as the device moved further and further from the scene, the angle changed to give a better idea of the height. Gun shook his head in irritation.

  “Yeah, and I thought he said this area was only two stories high. Do these people have anything to say that is true?”

  Rivers sighed and closed his eyes for a moment. Gun watched him, remembering the many battles he’d been involved in over the last two decades where they had stood shoulder to shoulder. But was different. They were on foreign soil with few warriors and even fewer friends.

  “I’ll leave a fireteam with you for security. The rest I’ll take back to our holding area near the landing pads.”

  Rivers was still tense but clearly seemed to like the sound of that.

  “Good, but don’t make it too obvious. Get cutting gear and medical kits in position. Make sure you have combat teams ready to go, just don’t look too ready.”

  Gun laughed and performed the sloppiest and most over the top salute the General thought he’d ever seen.

  “Sir!”

  Gun left, and the rest of the Alliance military personnel went with him. Only a single fireteam of four marines stayed behind at a discrete distance from the General. They all wore ceremonial uniforms and carried L52 Mark II carbines across their chests in three-point slings. General Rivers flanked them, and quickly spotted the dozens of Helion security personnel busy going about their business. They might have been busy but all of them seem intrigued and a little uncomfortable at the sight of both him and his marines.

  Tough, they can deal with it, he thought.

  He looked back at the display and then pulled out his secpad. Every marine carried one, and it provided him with a powerful tool to communicate with those on the ground, as well as the small number of ships in orbit. He just hoped he could reach one of their cruisers still up there. A schematic of the vessels nearby showed two cruisers in high orbit, and both were able to accept secure communication. He selected the nearest, ANS Savage, Teresa’s own ship.

  We need to get ready.

  As he waited for the connection to verify, he watched the Helions, and for the first time started to wonder what it would be like if he and his Alliance forces were forced into battle with them, face to face. He knew the Alliance was massively outnumbered, and there was no way they could hope to win in a stand up fight unless they brought the full weight of the entire Alliance military to bear. Even so, the Helions looked weak and soft.

  If it comes to war, we’ll show them something they haven’t seen since their fight with the Biomechs.

  * * *

  The crash site was more like the after-effect of a meteorite impact. A scar almost twenty meters deep ran behind the ship and through scores of buildings. Two massive concrete towers had been torn in half, and hundreds of other buildings lay in ruin. From the ground level, the brown fog appeared much thinner, but the fires and smoke caused by the crash had once more reduced visibility to less than a hundred meters. Emergency airlocks had opened at key points through the ship, as well as throughout the evacuation decks on the dorsal level along the spine on the vessel. From one of the small doors emerged the coughing shape of Jack Morato, closely followed by his three marine comrades, five Helion guests, and the two crewmen that joined them just prior to the crash.

  “This is insane!” said Thai Qiu-Li as she climbed out onto the surface of the ship.

  Hunn moved through the door and stopped, bending down to touch the metal plating on the exterior of the powerful warship.

  “Can you feel the heat? Is she burning inside?”

  The form of Lieutenant Rossen emerged, the last to leave the evacuation deck where they had been waiting. She heard Hunn’s question and moved on past him and to the others along the curved upper level.

  “No, the heat is from the re-entry. Look at her. I’d say she survived the landing pretty well.”

  Wictred laughed at her words.

  “Landing! What would you call a crash?”

  The Ambassador moved along the side of the ship, examining the burn marks and damage. Some of it must have been from the descent, but there were other areas that showed obvious impacts and weapon damage. He stopped at one the worst and reached out to touch the fused material. Jack spotted him and grabbed his hand before he could touch it.

  “Are you serious? You’ll burn your hand off touching that.”

  The smoke and dust started to clear a little more, and they could now see large groups of Alliance personnel leaving from scores of exit points. The ship was clearly in a bad way but was still intact. Emergency vents dumped excess gases and heat from ruptured internal sections, and yet there was still power to large parts of her hull. Jack watched in surprise as the descent vanes withdrew back into the hull just a short distance from where they stood. The group continued their downward progress along the curved hull and to one of the large ribs that ran out and touched the ground. Along three sides were grab rails, designed for use in zero-g situations. Shapes in the dust and fog moved about, but from that distance it was hard to tell who they might be.

  “Lieutenant Rossen, are there evacuation craft on the way?”

  She pulled out her datapad to find the communication section showing as blank.

  “Weird.”

  She shook the device and then tossed it to Thai Qiu-Li.

  “What do you make of that?”

  Thai Qiu-Li examined the screen and made several adjustments before throwing it back. She withdrew her own unit and shook her head in surprise.

  “Nothing, Sir. The secpads are working, but something is nullifying the signal completely. There’s nothing, not even static.”

  The two extra crewmen started to push to the front of the group. One of them bumped into Thai Qiu-Li, almost sending her off the ribbed section and out into the fog.

  “Hey! Watch yourself,” growled Wictred, his patience now started to wane.

  The man Lieutenant Rossen had kicked seemed to have forgotten their little disagreement and instead continued onward. Hunn grabbed his arm, and in a flash, the marine was trying to duck under him to push on. Hunn struck him with the back of his forearm, and the man instantly lost his grip. Luckily for him, Wictred grabbed the falling marine just as he slipped off the side of the rib.

  “You heard him the first time. Now wait your turn, or take the express route.”

  He looked over the edge and toward the ground that was still covered with a layer of dust filled fog.

  “Okay, okay. I just don’t wanna...”

  “Cut it out!” barked Lieutenant Rossen, “We’ll all get off this ship, now keep moving.”

  The group moved on as before, and with each passing second, the fog cleared until finally the shape of a large group of scruffily dressed people could be seen. From this distance, they could easily have been survivors, but they were all coming from the fog itself, not the ship.

  “Who are they?” asked Jack.

  The Ambassador nodded to Jack, doing nothing but confuse him and then walked closer to Lieutenant Rossen.
He reached out to touch her arm. The other Helions watched him expectantly as he started to speak, though not one of them stopped.

  “This is not as it seems.”

  Rossen looked at him and rubbed at a spec of dust that had just blown into her eye.

  “What do you mean?”

  “The damage to your ship. It was not caused by the Zathee rebels.”

  At the same time, he turned and pointed to the rear of the ship.

  “It was by mining missiles. You can see the screw pattern on the hull.”

  “So?”

  The Ambassador sighed at having to explain.

  “These weapons are only found on Helion vessels. Whatever attacked you was not a weapon of the Zathee.”

  “How do you know that?”

  The Ambassador now looked uncomfortable. His facial muscles seemed to move in ways that would have been impossible for a human. The cheekbones almost vanished before he composed himself and replied.

  “I cannot say. All I can tell you is that the Zathee resistance have access…to other equipment.”

  Lieutenant Rossen stopped and looked at him carefully.

  “Are you saying what I think you are?”

  The alien’s expressions were not always easy to comprehend, but he was evidently nervous. Even so, none of the marines appeared particular concerned as they reached the next level down from the ship. Wictred spotted the flickers of light first, but even his reactions were not enough for him to save the life of the Ambassador. The sound of gunfire came, but only after the Ambassador and all but two of his entourage were killed. The shooting stopped as soon as it had started. Jack rushed to the fallen Helion while the other marines moved to any cover they couldn’t find on the outer structure of the ship. Unlike the burst of initial fire, the continuing fire was far more sporadic and simply forced them to keep their heads down.

  “Return fire!” called out Lieutenant Rossen.

  Two round struck the Lieutenant directly in the chest. She staggered back and was pulled out of the line of fire. Jack leaned over her, pulling her tunic away to find the multi-layered armor had done its job.