Star Force: Origin Series Box Set (13-16)

by Aer-ki Jyr

  With the pistol as his backup weapon, Frank pulled a plasma rifle off a rack on the far wall. He didn’t take one of the preloaded ones which were prepped for immediate, emergency use. Instead he grabbed a recently cleaned empty one and a box of shells, then sat down on a bench and began to load the weapon.

  The thick rifle was vertically aligned, having a very narrow cross section but a board-like side view, narrowing at the end of the barrel making the whole assembly look like a sword out of Final Fantasy. Frank broke the straight butt of the rifle away just aft of the trigger assembly and set it aside. Just ahead of the trigger assembly, which was within the line of the rifle rather than hanging below it, he slid open a small hatch that opened up the forward ammunition hold.

  He opened the box of shells and began sliding them into the hold one by one.

  Each shell contained both the energy charge and physical material necessary to create plasma. Upon triggering the round, the hyper-compressed xenon gas would be bombarded with electrical energy, contained within a small capacitor located inside the shell. The gas would ionize and break containment at the weakest forward section. As it did so, the barrel of the rifle would magnetize and push the ionized gas out like the slug of a rail gun, forming a short, glowing ‘squirt’ of plasma. Different elements produced different colors, but as far as he knew all Star Force plasma firearms used xenon, which glowed painfully blue.

  After he finished filling the forward ammo hold he began adding shells into the disconnected aft piece. Once full and reattached, the rifle would hold 432 shots total, with 207 of them being quickly replenishable through a quick release swap-out with another preloaded aft piece. Frank wouldn’t be carrying any spares, but knew where to find them in the security outposts if needed, stashed into hideaways in case of a prolonged fight.

  He clicked the aft piece into place then checked to make sure the rifle’s power charge was full. While the shells contained the energy needed to make the plasma, the rifle’s own power source was required to magnetize the barrel and propel it to target.

  Seeing that it was at 97% he set he rifle down on a nearby table and removed the power charge, sliding the rectangular cube out of the side of the area just above the trigger. He replaced it with another and rechecked the rifle charge meter, which now read 100%.

  Frank carried the rifle back over to his locker, from which he slipped a small knife and inserted it into a hidden sheath on the outside of his left calf, after which he grabbed his night vision glasses and earpiece, then closed the locker.

  The others were more or less ready to go when he was, so he waited another 30 seconds for everyone to finish up and they walked out of the armory as a unit over to the security outpost on the other side of the compound looking up at the underside of the high topped landing pad, under which several buildings were sprawled. The entrance to the mine shafts were nearby, with the rest of the necessary processing buildings arrayed in a small circle.

  The security outpost was located near the center of that circle, with two guards inside and another two on patrol walking laps around the short streets and perimeter. A fifth was stationed out in the forest as Venator, roaming about with no particular pattern and making for a wildcard should anyone try to exploit the static security measures. That man was just now returning inside the perimeter as the two patrolmen circled back to the outpost as their replacements arrived.

  Without any unnecessary chatter the five Canderians swapped places with their counterparts. Frank was tagged as the Venator for this patrol, so he quietly made his way out of camp and into the forest, losing himself in the foliage and becoming a ghost in the night.

  Two hours later, crouched into a sitting position with his back up against a tree and rifle laying across his knees, Frank heard the first faint hum of engines, which sent a surge of adrenaline up his spine. He strained to get a direction on the sound, then stood up slowly as a craft flew over his position, up above the treetops where he couldn’t see it, and in towards the camp at a creep.

  Keeping to cover and brush as much as possible, Frank followed them in, noticing that they were heading towards the storage area on the north side of the platform. When the ship emerged from the canopy and dipped down towards the ground it finally cleared the high leaves enough for him to get a good look at it. His nightvision glasses produced a yellowish tint to everything, but the blocky outlines of the craft stood out in contrast to the naturalistic surroundings, revealing some type of transport that he’d never seen before…and it clearly wasn’t Star Force construction.

  The idea that some other faction had found their way to Epsilon Eridani without Star Force knowing about it didn’t make any sense, but that wasn’t for him to worry about now. Whoever was on that ship was going after their cargo crates, just like they’d done with the Corvati. They had a full load of materials that were scheduled to be shipped up to the seda tomorrow morning waiting to be transferred up to the top of the landing pad…and there was no way Frank was going to let them steal from Canderous.

  On top of that, he intended to steal their ship.

  “Contact coming to ground,” he whispered, touching his earpiece as he quickly jogged forward.

  “Copy that,” a voice replied, equally low. “Wait till they get boots on the ground.”

  Frank understood what that meant and pushed his pace, wanting to get in position before the fireworks started.

  From a distance he saw a side hatch on the hovering ship open up and a large forklift-like device drop out over the edge…then bounce back up on an invisible cushion as it ‘hit’ the ground. It moved towards the crate stack, lowering its angular forks to the ground to slide them underneath the first metal-loaded industrial box. Behind it a pair of figures dropped out of the hold and disappeared into the shadows.

  A heartbeat later a stealthy pair of stingers shot out towards one of the targets that Frank couldn’t see or hear, the sound of his own footsteps and the distance involved covering the muffled wisps of the pistol fire, but he couldn’t miss the green plasma lance that returned from the interloper. He couldn’t tell if anyone had been hit, but he did see three blue lances return fire on the target…then all hell broke loose.

  7

  Half a dozen more enemies dropped out of the hold, scattering when they hit the ground and running for cover. One of them was hit as he began to move, but the others got clear and began returning fire, with the green lances now outnumbering the blue. To make matters worse the ship opened up a small port and extruded a turret that fired a large green orb of plasma that exploded on impact, spraying dirt and burning filaments everywhere.

  Frank broke into a run, but didn’t head straight for the engagement. Coming in from outside he had an advantage if he kept to the forest so he headed north and flanked the position of the ship, making a hard right pivot and down a slight ridgeline so he could come in from behind the enemy. He’d been forced to turn his attention away from the firefight while he trekked up and around the edge of the camp, but now as he came back in towards the edge of the forest and the clearing surrounding the camp he saw one of the enemy taking cover behind the edge of a building.

  Shock nearly froze him, but Frank’s training served him well as he dropped to a knee and lined up a long shot. He fired three quick rounds, hitting the target in the back just above its tail and dropped it to the ground. Meanwhile the ship’s cannon was making a mess of the camp, and he could only hope that the others were going evasive.

  As his eyes scanned the area for more targets he noticed with dismay as the enemy forklift was still going after the crates even as the battle was raging on. Apparently they intended to rob them regardless of the amount of resistance they put up. That wouldn’t do at all.

  Jumping up into a sprint, Frank dashed out of the edge of the forest and up to the back of their grounded ship, slipping down and underneath the hull as it floated on an anti-grav cushion. He saw two sets of legs on the far side and fired at both, clipping one set that ran off while t
he other fell to the ground giving Frank an easy shot at its torso. He fired two solid blue lances, one of which hit the creature in its scaly head, blowing out a small section of its skull.

  Frank scanned the area underneath the ship again, seeing no other targets, then pulled back out and circled around, intent on going after the forklift. His effort came up short as a green flash of plasma hit the ship next to his head, prompting him to turn back the way he’d come, using the ship’s hull for cover.

  Knowing his feet were exposed as well, he ran along the outside of the port hull and up towards the front end where most of the fighting was taking place. Halfway up that side he spotted another of the aliens and fired. His shot missed low and splattered dirt up on the lizard/man, causing it to jerk back around. Its head twitched in surprise at seeing him approach, then Frank blew out its left knee with another shot. To the creature’s credit, it stayed on its feet until a wave of plasma shots came in from the left and took it to the ground.

  Frank kept his face forward but glanced left, seeing a knot of armed workers and off duty security poking weapons out of a side building. Apparently they’d been able to make it over to the armory, which meant the Canderians now had numbers on the attackers.

  In response to the new threat the ship’s cannon swiveled around and targeted the building, blowing apart the main door with the first shot and scattered debris like a fragmentation grenade. No return fire manifested from the building, meaning either they were dead, incapacitated, or had fled into the back…none of which was a good sign right now.

  Knowing they had to do something about that cannon, Frank moved forward up towards the blunt nose of the craft until he could see the muzzle of the weapon sticking out ahead of him. Hugging the hull as close as he could, he moved up until he was about ten meters away from it and fired three rounds at the stubby barrel.

  A force field flashed into place as the plasma hit, protecting the weapon that now started tracking Frank’s way.

  Knowing that even a close hit would hurt him, the Canderian ducked under the ship and rolled sideways as fast as he could. He felt a wash of pressure and heat cook his right side as he flipped over onto his back, then it dissipated as he continued his roll. The ship was sitting about a meter off the ground, and he desperately hoped none of them got the idea of flipping off the engines and smashing him flat. To avoid that possibility he stopped his roll when he came over onto his stomach for the third time and began crawling towards the starboard side in a hurry.

  Outside the ship there was a large ‘crack’ accompanied by a flash of light that Frank recognized as a Canderian grenade, though he didn’t see who’d thrown it or where it’d hit with the ship obscuring most of his view. What he could see as he approached the far side was the bottom of the fork lift dig down into the dirt and slide forward into the side of the ship four meters ahead of him.

  The underside of the ship just above his head moved from the impact and Frank scurried back for a second, not wanting to get pinned. The ship leveled out soon after the impact momentum bled off and Frank took advantage of the newly formed cover as he slipped out from under the ship, but aft of the downed forklift. He stepped out and stood up…staring face to face with the driver.

  Both soldiers went for their weapons, but Frank had the advantage that his was already in hand while the lizard’s was still in a hip holster. The point blank plasma blast tore through the chest armor the creature was wearing and knocked it back a step, the scent of cauterized blood filling the air. Frank fired three more times while stepping forward, then used the butt of his rifle to knock the alien’s pistol aside as it tried to aim at him.

  A good kick in the midsection took the creature to the ground and Frank poured four more shots into its chest at point blank range for good measure before stepping over it and grabbing the dropped pistol, flinging it far underneath the ship and out of reach of anyone else. He crept around the back end of the lifter as another cannon blast hit a nearby building that he saw Nicholas taking cover behind, then a hail of incoming plasma shots again became visible to Frank’s eyes. All across the front arc of the ship the attackers were taking hits from more than 20 men while the aliens’ deployed troops were clinging to cover behind some of the damaged crates, with the metal bars within soaking up all the plasma damage that could be thrown at them.

  Suddenly there was an ear piercing mechanical whistle that made Frank grimace. Upon hearing it all the lizards began backtracking towards the open access door just ahead and to Frank’s left where the lifter had been trying to enter. The Canderian shot two on approach as they figured their back arc was still secure while several others jumped up and in…far more than he’d realized had been deployed.

  As soon as they were inside the ship rose up and took to the air. Frank fired a few shots at its underside, which ironically made little imprints where the plasma hit, along with the salvos coming from the other Canderians as they melted away tiny bits of hull armor…but no shields popped into place to prevents the hits, making Frank wonder if they had only been built in to protect the ship’s guns.

  Not counting it all clear yet, Frank began a visual sweep of the area searching for other threats and policing the bodies of the lizards he’d just shot. An arm movement from one prompted shots from three different Canderians almost simultaneously, putting an end to that potential threat as more and more people began emerging from cover. Overhead the ship disappeared across the edge of the forest canopy, quickly gaining altitude and speed.

  “I’m clear,” a voice said through his earpiece.

  “Same here,” another said.

  “Clear,” he echoed into his comm.

  He expected two more voices but only one replied after a few seconds delay. “I’m hit.”

  “Where are you?” Frank asked immediately.

  “50 meters south of you.”

  Frank jerked his head around and began running, still keeping his peripheral senses alert for trouble as he searched for Henry. A few steps later he saw a rubble pile that had been the corner of one of the buildings before the ship’s cannons had knocked it down…underneath it was half a body sticking out, rifle held in hand.

  “Injury report,” Frank demanded, putting his rifle on the ground beside him as he started carefully pulling debris off the Munifex.

  “Don’t know,” he said, spitting out a bit of blood. “Numb below the waist.”

  Frank paused a moment to reach up to his earpiece. “Find the medic and get an evac dropship down here now!” he ordered.

  “We’ve got more wounded,” Nicholas replied. “And Wex is dead.”

  “Work the problem,” Aaron cut in. “I’ve got the perimeter, you guys see to the wounded.”

  “Copy,” Frank said, continuing to pull pieces of concrete-like building off of Henry.

  “Think…my back is broke,” Henry said.

  “Stay still until we get the medic,” he said, pulling a bundle of wiring out of the heap and tossing it aside, glad that it wasn’t electrically active.

  “What were they?” Henry asked, breathing progressively harder as the seconds ticked by.

  “Not Human.”

  “Their ship didn’t show up on sensors…until they were on top of us.”

  “We’ll find them,” Frank promised as he removed the last piece of debris and inspected Henry’s legs. By the odd way they were laying he knew his fellow Canderian had at least three broken bones. Several blood spots had already formed on his armor, prompting a frown from Frank.

  Henry saw what he was looking at. “Damn cannon splash damage…right before the wall came down.”

  “You’re going to bleed out,” he said, looking around for that blasted medic.

  “I know…how many did we get?”

  “I got at least four from behind,” he said, seeing and pointing at a nearby worker, then motioning him over. “Give me your shirt.”

  The man pulled his uniform top off without question and handed it to Frank who began slicing
it up with the knife from his boot. He made a patch out of it and put it on one of the breach points in Henry’s armor. “Hold.”

  The worker stepped in and applied pressure, trying to staunch some of the bleeding while Frank cut another patch.

  “I…don’t think I’m…gonna make it.”

  “Stay awake!” Frank urged.

  “Trying…” Henry said, his eyes starting to disfocus.

  “Step aside!” a man yelled right behind Frank’s ear. He turned back and saw the uniform of a medic, then jumped out of the way gratefully.

  The medic pulled a quick injection vile out of a kit and jammed it into the side of Henry’s neck, making the already teetering man pass out. He reached up and grabbed the rim of his right arm and disconnected the armor latches, pulling that section free then attached a metallic brace around his arm. He inserted a needle in the contraption directly into one of his veins and started the artificial blood flowing in as he attached a liquid-filled sack onto the brace.

  That done, he attended to the blood leaks in the man’s broken legs using a can of sticky spray foam that filled the crevice the plasma had burned out, sealing up the wound and preventing further loss of blood. Upon reaching a medical facility the foam could be melted away with a special liquid, but until then it would work as a temporary bandage…though a painful one, which was one reason he’d knocked Henry unconscious before starting to work on him.

  As the medic continued to examine him as best he could while still in his armor he found another wound in his lower back where a piece of the rubble had punched through at the base of his spine.