by Jan Domagala
Another shape, this time a little clearer, he fired again and again the shape dropped then more shapes came through a slightly darker white area that he thought must be the door. If that was true then the shapes he had hit must’ve been two of the clones.
VII
Apollo saw the first two Rover5s get hit by pulsed plasma bolts and was enraged. How was this happening, how was the agent capable of mounting any resistance after the stun grenade went off so close to him?
He urged the others through the door, this must end and now.
Apollo followed the last of his team inside the room firing blindly as they went. The last team member went right as Apollo went to the left. Two targets would be harder to hit than one.
Their covering fire had forced the agent to cease firing and take for cover once more. From the angle the shots were fired Apollo had a rough idea where the agent would be and he signalled his fellow clone to move around from the edge of the room in an attempt to flank him. If the Rover5 could draw the agent’s fire it would give Apollo the opportunity to finish him off. He knew the agent’s senses would be returning to something like normal soon so they had to end this fast.
Looking across at the last of his team Apollo gave the signal for him to move in.
VIII
Matt’s eyes were beginning to return to normal and he could differentiate better between light and dark. They were no longer mere shapes but now had definition and detail.
His hearing was still affected though and all he picked up was a loud, painful humming noise in his ears. To compensate he kept turning his head to see if he could pick up movement from the two remaining clones that had breached the doorway.
Over to his left he managed to see movement. He brought the Magerov up over the top of the desk to fire and realised his mistake. He had seen only one of them. It had been a ruse to get him to break cover so that the other one could finish him off.
He braced himself for the final shot that would end his life.
IV
Apollo saw the agent get up from behind a desk with his back towards him aiming a pistol at his last teammate and he knew his tactic had worked.
I have you now, he thought and brought up his assault rifle to fire.
X
Matt braced himself for what he thought would be his last breath but instead what happened was the Rover5 facing him raced up to him.
Matt could just about make out his shape and as he got closer he knew something was wrong. His sight had returned enough for him to make out his features. His face was a contorted mask of rage. Something else was not quite right either in the fact that his rage didn’t seem focused on him but rather the figure behind him.
All this happened in the blink of an eye and Matt held back on firing out of sheer surprise and wonderment at what was happening.
As the clone neared him Matt moved slightly to the side and the clone dived fully at the other figure as he went past him.
Matt could just about make out the surprise on the other clone’s face as his team member came hurtling at him.
The two of them collided in mid-air. The one behind him had been aiming an assault rifle at Matt’s back and the other clone’s body knocked it aside as they collided. They disappeared from sight for a second as they hit the floor.
XI
Apollo saw the Rover5 drop his weapon, scream in rage and come hurtling towards him. He had no idea what was happening or why, just that he had to defend himself.
There was no time to move the assault rifle out of the way before the clone collided with Apollo. The force of the attack knocked them both off their feet and he landed on his back all the air forced from his lungs. He used the momentum of the attack to roll over and land on top of his attacker. They both gripped the rifle in their hands as they held it laterally. Apollo pulled it away enough then twisted it from the other’s grip before he could react, smashed the butt into the side of the face of the clone below him. Blood began to flow from the gash opened up by the blow further enraging the clone beneath him.
Apollo then hit him again so that he could get away from his clutches. The clone was stunned by the second blow and more blood flowed from the wound after being struck once more. He reached for the escaping figure but by that time Apollo was almost on his feet aiming the rifle down at the prone figure below.
Pulsed plasma bolts opened up the clone’s chest as he danced like a puppet from each impact. Blood began to spread beneath him as Apollo got to his feet intent then on only one thing, the Col Sec agent. The reason why his brother attacked him could wait.
XII
Matt came from around the desk holding the Magerov out in a two-handed grip hoping for a clear shot at them. His sight was clearing more with every second. He saw the two clones wrestling on the ground, each one trying to gain the upper hand. The attacker had more aggression; the other one seemed in shock at being attacked by one of his own. Nevertheless this one gained the upper hand by rolling over in the initial collision, which now found him on top.
A quick struggle and the clone now on top, was getting to his feet after killing the other with a blast from his rifle.
Matt was ready and when Apollo turned to face him his sight had cleared enough for him to feel confident that he would hit what he aimed at.
Matt pulled the trigger on the Magerov sending a pulsed plasma bolt straight at the clone in front of him. The bolt missed its target by mere inches as Apollo moved just enough and just in time.
Apollo got to his feet and fired back instinctively forcing Matt to take cover. Behind him the clone heard the sound of someone approaching. He turned and saw the Red Team not too far away. He fired a short burst in their direction forcing them to move to the side of the corridor or dive for cover, which gave him time to get away.
A commotion at the door made Matt turn towards it, the Magerov poised to fire.
“Wait… it’s us,” Guardian said as he pulled up at the doorway.
“What kept you?” Matt asked. The tone of his voice belied the relief he felt at seeing his friends arrive.
“Got caught in traffic,” Cowboy joked.
Matt smiled at that and turned to Hacker and said, “I think your little plan worked.”
“Not on him it didn’t,” Cowboy said indicating the direction Apollo had taken off in.
“He’s not like the rest, they made him individual so he could lead the rest,” explained Matt with a worried frown. He rubbed his eyes as his sight began to clear then smiled at his friends.
“Let’s go,” said Guardian.
20
I
Tartaran
Captain Markovic was seated in the command chair on the bridge of his starship, the Potemkin. Before him, on the forward viewscreen he could see their destination clearly, the planet Tartaran.
Behind him as his ship exited the hyperspace window were the other ships in the battle group; the Rasputin, the Stalin, the Tolstoy which were similar to the Legend class battle cruiser of Col Sec and then came the three smaller light battle cruisers, the Federov, the Petrov and the Alexeiov.
Using the intership he called the battle group. “This is Markovic, form up on me as we approach then initiate a standard approach vector. I want us to park next to the Cronus in a standard orbit ready for phase two,” he said.
The battle group moved forward towards their destination and what they thought would be their destiny.
II
Jake Riley and the Wildfire Team had entered the city and were desperately trying to make up ground after the ground troops from the Cronus had arrived before them.
He felt a tingle telling him that a call was being routed to his NI and he instinctively added the rest of his team to it.
“Go ahead,” he said.
The voice of their ship’s AI came through loud and clear and urgent. “Sir an Alliance battle group has just arrived through a hyperspace window and is heading for a parking orbit around the planet close to the Cronus,” he sa
id.
For a second Jake was too stunned to speak. When he regained his composure he asked, “What’s their eta Artie?”
“Twelve minutes, thirteen seconds sir,” Artie replied in his usual exact fashion.
“Any ideas as to their purpose?” Jake asked hoping for some insight, although the only reason he could come up with was not anything good.
“As yet sir, I do not have enough data to formulate a hypothesis.”
“Artie see if you can catch any cross comm. traffic,” suggested Vance.
“Are you suggesting I should listen in to their communications sir?”
“That’s exactly what I’m suggesting Artie,” Vance confirmed.
“Get back to us as soon as you have anything Artie,” Jake said before contacting Kurt and Zara.
“I have some bad news guys,” he said when the call was connected.
“Can this get any worse?” Zara asked.
“An Alliance battle group has just appeared and is heading our way. We have less than twelve minutes to either do what we came here to do or get the hell off this rock,” Jake told them.
Kurt looked at his partner and lover and said, “What do you wanna do?”
“Continue with what we came to do. Until we know exactly what those bastards want we have to carry on,” she replied with conviction.
“Okay Jake, you heard that so we’ll move on and try to finish this until we know more of what those guys are doing here,” Kurt said.
With a scowl on his rugged face Jake said, “Okay Kurt but just remember not all of us are indestructible you know.”
“We know Jake, don’t worry we’ll keep you safe,” Kurt retorted.
Jake contacted the Pulsar once more and said, “Artie, contact General Sinclair at Col Sec HQ and give him a sit-rep.”
He looked at his team and said, “Okay, you heard Kurt, they’re going to continue with the mission and they’ll need our backup even more now that the battle group has arrived.”
Torres said, “You’ve been awfully quiet Mack, what’s bothering you?”
Cooper looked her in the face and said, “If the Cronus’ efforts have been a last ditch effort to get results from this planet, what the hell have they sent a battle group here for?”
Vance was the first to voice what they were all thinking.
“Nothing good,” he said.
III
Kurt and Zara were still in the crawlspace above the rooms and corridors and were making slow progress.
“We need to get out of here,” Kurt said and he punched his fist through the bottom of the crawl space. His fist smashed through the building material and into the corridor below sending a shower of debris onto the floor below. He quickly made the hole bigger by tearing away pieces of the material until it was large enough for them to drop through.
Kurt landed lightly in the corridor below and waited for Zara to follow.
“How did you even know you would be able to do that?” she asked shaking her head in wonderment.
“I didn’t, but it was worth a try though,” he said with a grin.
“Where to now?” she asked crinkling her eyebrows in disbelief.
“There should be a courtyard through there somewhere which leads to various other areas of the city. We need to find a door to it,” he said.
“What, not going to make your own then?” she asked sarcastically.
He turned to look at her with an expression that told her he was considering it and she laughed saying, “Don’t even…”
He turned away and started to look for the door they needed.
“What about those creatures, are there any more in here?” she asked remembering the hideous feline-arachnids they narrowly escaped.
“I’m not sure; I’m hoping that if there are any other surprises like that Artie will keep us informed. Here we go,” Kurt said when he came across a huge domed doorway.
It was an impressive sight, larger than all the other doorways and curved at the top for some reason not apparent to them straight away.
“How the hell are we going to get through there?” Zara asked. She had looked around the framework of the door and could not see any locking mechanism. There was a small panel to the right of the doorframe about the size of a hand.
“Could this be what I think?” Kurt wondered as he saw what she was looking at.
Zara placed her palm against the panel and a blue light passed first up her hand then down as the device read her palm. The doors slowly began to open.
“How the fuck did that happen?” Kurt said stepping back and raising his rifle to aim at the widening opening.
“I know, how did it know who I was? How can I be authorised to enter in there?” Zara asked, the words blurting out as she was in as much surprise as Kurt.
“It may be what you think,” he said.
“What’re you suggesting?”
“Think about it, we don’t know what’s through there, but I’m guessing it’s nothing that needs authorisation. So the chances are that the palm reader is just a switch to open the door.”
“But how would it recognise me as being someone who would live here? You said it yourself, the first time you came here, it was an alien species who built this city and it was millennia ago, so how does my palm open anything in here?”
“Good point,” Kurt said seeing where she was going with her argument. “Only one way to find out,” he said and walked through the open door.
IV
Captain Dankovic turned to his ops station when he heard his name called. “Say again,” he said.
“Sir, the battle group Potemkin has just entered our space and is approaching orbit.”
Sakovic got out of his chair and stormed over to ops. What he had just heard could not possibly be true. What had Tillic done now he wondered? His blood ran cold as he formed his next sentence.
“Hail them,” he said. He had to know what they were doing here. He had his suspicions but he hoped he was wrong.
“This is Captain Markovic in command of the Potemkin battle group. We are here under direct orders of General Tillic. He has given me strict orders to take command of this situation. We are going to deploy ground assault forces to help facilitate your mission but before we can do that we have to make the area safe for our troops.”
“Why do I get the impression I’m not going to like your method,” it was a statement rather than a question.
“Because Captain, you’re not.”
V
Major Solon was leading his men through the corridors when he heard the sound of the creatures Kurt and Zara had managed to escape.
They all stopped in their tracks as his men heard the low-throated growl of the large beasts.
“What the fuck was that?” Solon heard one of them ask.
“Whatever it is, we’ll be ready for it,” he said and began to cautiously proceed forwards once more. He had his assault rifle up at his shoulder aiming through the computer-aided sights looking for the first glimmer of a target which he had no doubt he could stop with a burst from the ARX 360.
He was the first to round the corner in the corridor and he almost walked straight into the pack of feline-arachnids.
He fell back firing his assault rifle on fully auto as he back-pedalled almost tripping over those that followed him.
Cries of fear from those behind him assailed his ears as his men caught their first close up glimpse of one of the creatures living on this world. Training took over, stamping down hard on their rising panic and they added their firepower to that of Solon’s.
The creatures before them were caught in a withering barrage of high intensity pulsed plasma bolts that tore them apart. Blood and tissue were sprayed over the walls and floor as they died without getting close enough to strike at any of the Black Knights.
When they ceased firing all the creatures were dead. Bodies littered the floor making it almost impossible to get past.
Solon said, “Clear a path through, we need to
continue.”
As his team got to work moving the remains of the creatures to one side; Solon felt the telltale tingle of a call coming through.
“Go ahead,” he said as he moved to the rear so he could hear better.
“Sakovic here, a battle group is on its way to join us and you will not like what I’m about to tell you.”
“Go ahead,” the Major said as he turned back to face his men who were working hard at clearing the corridor. As he listened to what the Captain was telling him his face drained of all colour.
21
I
Paradisia
General Tillic was furious. When he found out about the Col Sec insurgent at Tartaran; he wracked his brain as to how they would know about the rescheduling of the timescale.
There was only one person he had told, actually it was the Senator who had told him that they needed to move things along and that they only had one week before the Council was informed.
Senator Mikal Tovaric, it had to have been him.
A security detail was stationed at his door, a tall well-built man in his early thirties and a member of the Black Knights who had been seconded to be the General’s bodyguard. His name was Arkady Popov.
As Tillic exited his office he said to Popov, “Come with me, I have to see a man about something.”
Popov fell in step behind the smaller man, his slate grey eyes scanning constantly for any threat that may suddenly appear. He was used to working with a team when on bodyguard duty but Tillic had declined stating that he was a man of the people and he would not go about his duties hindered by a bulky team of minders. He did, however, acquiesce to having just the one guard who would remain by his side whenever he left his home or office.
“May I ask where we are going sir?” Popov asked as they were about to leave the Headquarters building.
“You may ask,” Tillic replied, not wanting to give too much away at this early stage in his game.
“Sir, protocol demands that you tell me so that I can set up a safe route, otherwise I must insist on you returning to your quarters,” Popov said stopping the General in his tracks by placing a hand the size of the General’s head against his chest. As he stood in front of his superior officer he stared down into his eyes. He knew well enough that Tillic could have him demoted back down to Private and given the worst duty imaginable, but he did not let that bother him. What bothered him was not doing his duty to the best of his ability.
