The Return: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 1)

by William S Frisbee Jr

  It looked like the third attack was also focusing on the forward half of the ship, and might be looking for the plasma lances. Based on what the invaders controlled, it was obvious they did not have a floor plan or any real idea of where they were going, except for the engineering group and that would not be difficult to figure out. Just head to the rear of the ship, they would find the pulse engines, and follow those to the power plant.

  “I say we let them have the CIC,” Luke said. “Not that we need it. We can just lock out the manual controls and move to the Auxiliary CIC, which they do not appear to know about. Then we hammer the engineering team hard. We will have to make sure they don’t identify the plasma lances but they aren’t going near it anyways.”

  “That would be a good assessment,” Nelson said.

  “Agreed,” Musashi said. “Although we should spend time with each element to keep them off balance and unaware of what we consider a priority.”

  “Is second team still on the hull?” Luke asked.

  “Negative,” Nelson replied. “There are no more troops coming from the Caliphate ships. I have two still outside watching the ship and sniping at anything that moves but they have not fired at all in the last half hour. The remaining two members of second team have been used to replace casualties in first team.”

  Luke nodded. It is what he would have done.

  “First team is conducting hit-and-run attacks on the bridge assault group. I have third team doing hit-and-run attacks on the engineering assault group. I have not allocated any forces to the third assault group.”

  “Good, but like Musashi said, we need to hit them so they don’t get bored. I also need you to scan and see if they have brought along any doomsday devices, a nuke or something ‘just in case’ and I want to see what it will take to detach that damned cruiser from us. Can we do it with explosives, maybe?”

  “I’ll send repair bots to check on removing the parasite,” Nelsons said. “And redirect first team to share some love with the third assault group.”

  “Good,” Luke said. “Let’s go tear apart the engineering team. Nelson, I want you and Carmichael to move to the Auxiliary CIC and keep that safe.” It would keep Carmichael out of the fighting since Luke had little doubt she had the skills for what they were about to do and it would make her feel useful. “What about Jeeves?”

  Nelson looked to Brita. “Jeeves was killed when they broke out of the hanger.”

  Luke scowled. Another friend lost.

  “Son of a bitch. I want pay back,” Luke said grabbing a new rifle and as many grenades as he could carry from the arms locker. Musashi, Brita, and Leonessa loaded up as well. Musashi was smiling.

  “What are you so all shit happy about,” Luke growled.

  “This is what I was built for,” Musashi said. “Personal combat in close quarters.”

  “Did I forget to add sanity when I programmed you?” Luke asked.

  “Probably Meat Sack,” Musashi said. “But this is a true test, not something I’ve been able to do before, or in such desperate circumstances.”

  Luke shook his head, changed out his sidearm just in case and headed to the hatch. Luke’s suit had repaired itself and he felt ready. The others lined up behind him.

  “Time to send those Caliphate bastards to hell,” Luke said.

  * * *

  “FASTER!” Serkan yelled at the cutting team. It was taking forever to cut through the bulkhead doors. There were no manual over rides and the material used inside the infidel cruiser was unfamiliar to the Caliphate troops. It was tough and seemed impervious to explosives. It took much longer than normal to cut open a door and inevitably there were warbots on the other side. Each door became a major challenge since cutting a hole big enough for two Janissaries took twice as much time and they had to volley rocket fire through the small hole to drive back the warbots.

  It was slow, tedious, and dangerous work. Once an enemy robot had appeared in the middle of the force, where it threw several grenades then disappeared into a maintenance tunnel. Moving the bodies out of the way and cutting the hatch open revealed a maintenance space that was nothing more than a death trap. Just to be sure Serkan sent two crewmen to investigate, and neither one came back.

  Now everyone aimed at doors or hatches with their fingers on their triggers. The robots moved faster than fingers to triggers.

  Side doors that were not armored took almost ten minutes to cut open. Serkan was almost tempted to have halve the plasma lance team and reinforce his battered group when they reported getting attacked.

  Serkan swore and looked at the Janissaries carrying a nuke between them. It might come to that, but there might still be time.

  “FASTER you DOGS!” Serkan screamed at the cutting team again but they were going as fast as they could.

  * * *

  Luke leaned back against the bulkhead. The survivors were getting paranoid and aiming at every possible hatch or crawl space. Just opening one caused them to panic and fire. The last time enemy ricochets had killed more than Luke’s grenade. The ricochets did not have the penetration to pierce New Alamo battle suits but they could sting and bruise. Luke knew a direct hit would pierce, and he refused to give them a chance. Caliphate space suits and armor took little to pierce.

  “We have the advantage with these suits,” Leonessa said as they watched the Janissaries cutting through a door, sparks drifting down the corridor in the zero gravity. “I wish we had these in the Jupiter Alliance Commandos. We could use any surface as a floor. Useful.”

  Luke nodded, his weapon aimed at where they would appear.

  “Got the technology from the Srakka,” Luke said. “They like to fight in space. Nimble bastards and they always seem to be glued to a wall, ceiling or floor. The janissary suits have their suits manually activated.”

  “And they suck at three-dimensional fighting,” Brita said from the ceiling above them.

  “Nelson,” Luke asked. “Do you have control of the various doors back yet?”

  “In most areas,” Nelson said. “They still haven’t noticed the sensors and I’m starting to get information from some of them. At this rate, we won’t have full control of the ship for at least ten hours.”

  “We don’t have ten hours,” Luke said.

  “Not if you stand around flapping your lips,” Nelson said. “You need to kill them faster. We don’t have much time.”

  “Okay squidbert,” Luke said. “I want you to randomly open them about ten centimeters, wait a few seconds, and then close them when Caliphate forces are in the area.”

  “Wow,” Brita said realizing what he wanted to accomplish. “You are so mean!”

  Luke smiled and shrugged as he led them to attack the engineering assault team next. He was tired of waiting for them to cut through this door.

  * * *

  A hatch opened part way and a nearby soldier fired, missing the door but the ricochets from the rounds that didn’t enter the crack flew wild and two of them hit the Janissary next to Serkan, smashing his face shield and killing him as his helmet depressurized. Serkan was glad he couldn’t hear the dying man’s screams as the blood flowed out of the helmet. Serkan shot the Janissary, so he didn't have to listen to him scream and beg for help over the radio.

  The hatch closed without any grenades coming through. Serkan watched the dead Janissary float next to him, blood spilling out like a shapeless blob trying to escape its source.

  “Don’t fire unless you have a real target!” Serkan screamed realizing what was going on. Were they all idiots?

  “They can control the doors and are causing you to shoot at ghosts!” Serkan said over the general frequency so everyone could hear him. “The next person to shoot without a legitimate target I will kill myself! Corporals and Vice Sergeants, you are ordered to shoot anyone who disobeys my orders.”

  “Insha’Allah,” several of them intoned.

  Serkan scowled at the surrounding soldiers who dutifully pointed their weapons at anything tha
t might open. He was taking more causalities from friendly fire then enemy attack, and ammunition was not limitless. In fact, he suspected they might not have enough if this kept up.

  * * *

  “They have a nuke,” Nelson said and Luke swore.

  “Just one?” Luke asked.

  “Apparently. Looks like they salvaged it off a warhead and have it jury-rigged. Not sure what the detonator is. It is with the assault group trying to get to the CIC.”

  “We will have to do something about that,” Luke said. Caliphate fanatics with a portable nuke were a civilized person’s nightmare.

  Everyone checked his or her InnerBuddy display of the ship and Nelson identified it.

  Luke zoomed in to look at the situation better. It looked like there were about seventy soldiers in the group, down from about a hundred and fifty, and many of them were armored Janissaries.

  “Why don’t we hide in the side rooms and ambush them? Doesn’t look like they are trying to clear the side rooms at all,” Leonessa said.

  “We might have to wait a few minutes,” Luke said. “But we might be able to. Nelson show me the last hour of their movement if you can. I want to plot out their movement and setup an ambush spot. The goal is to hole up in some side rooms as close as we can to where the bomb will be when they are stopped by the next door they have to cut through.”

  “Calculating,” Nelson said. Luke and the others watched the display as it replayed activity and then tried to simulate forward activity.

  “Should work,” Nelson said. He highlighted rooms on the display. “These will put you closest but the problem is getting you back out. One room is a machine shop, and the other is a supply room. Even if you take out the nuke, you will have to go forward or backward to get out. You will be isolated.”

  “Well,” Luke said. “If we fail, you know the mission. Carry it out. You can bring back one of the other teams to help us escape, but I figure we will have to fight our way out anyways. Maybe we can kill enough to break out.”

  “Aye, aye Commander,” Nelson said and Luke scowled. Nelson sounded unhappier than usual.

  * * *

  The door fell open and the Janissaries volley fired into the opening, bouncing their rockets off the floor and ceiling. They were getting good at it by now Serkan thought, just as they were running low on rockets. The last team that had gone back to the ship to get more had not returned yet and Serkan suspected they were not going to.

  The corridor curved preventing the Janissaries from seeing all the way down the corridor. A warbot that survived the volley popped out and drilled one of his Janissaries, a clean hit and instant kill. Other Janissaries fired, but the warbot had disappeared.

  Serkan swore. This was taking forever. He had not received word they were out of the wormhole yet so there was still time. He looked at the surrounding troops. They were tired, their eyes were taking on a blank look as the stress, and fear reduced them to automatons. It had been several hours, and they were worn-out and taking too many stims to remain alert. Even if they remained alert, they were likely to die because the battle droids they were facing were not getting tired or slowing down.

  Serkan understood what the troops were facing aboard Athena and was glad this infidel ship had sent most of the droids there. Had he been required to fight through them at full strength, there would have been no chance without massive help from Allah.

  Another door slammed shut. “Cutting team advance!” the Janissary squad leader ordered. There were few hatches or doors in this stretch of corridor, for which Serkan was glad. Even he was getting tired. He glanced at the Janissaries beside him carrying the warhead. They carried the bomb in one hand, their ready weapon in the other. Setting the bomb down beside them, they took a knee to rest. Serkan wanted to do so as well, but he refused to show any weakness and strode up toward the cutting team.

  The door next to Serkan slid open a crack and Serkan scowled at it. Had they not figured out it was no longer effective? A grenade sailed out, surprised Serkan leapt in the opposite direction. Around him, others screamed and fired. The grenade exploded and Serkan felt his leg go numb.

  The door opened again, and another grenade sailed out. People dived away expecting the explosion but instead the door opened all the way and a pair of troopers leapt out, firing as they came. Serkan tried rolling over but there was no gravity and he flailed about.

  Serkan tried to bring his pistol to play but one attacker launched in his direction and used him as a springboard to land with his feet on the ceiling. Serkan stared at the attacker appearing to crouch on the ceiling as he fired.

  With his enemy firing, Serkan brought his hand up only to see he had lost the grip on his pistol and it had floated away. Serkan would have screamed, but the air had been knocked out of him and he could only gasp. Weapons fire slashed the corridor. Serkan saw they were not warbots, and this was not a random attack. A strange black battle android entered his view shooting down the other direction toward the cutting team.

  Serkan pulled himself to his feet, activating his magnetic soles while drawing his vibro knife, powering it up as he lunged at the back of one of his assailants.

  * * *

  Luke’s heads-up display also showed a ghostly view of what was behind him as he crouched there on the ceiling firing. When the Caliphate soldier came at him from behind Luke stood up and stepped to the side. In one smooth motion, Luke blocked the knife wrist with his rifle and using the other hand, without a wasted motion, drew his pistol, and fired several shots into the Caliphate soldier’s chest.

  Time seemed to slow down as Luke glared into his enemy’s eyes. Anger contorted the Janissary's face and then a look of surprise replaced the anger as the dead man's body refused to obey him. The Caliphate soldier died and Luke saw the Emir rank on the body’s helmet, two crossed scimitars and a star.

  Kicking the body aside, Luke turned to resume firing down the corridor at the remaining troops. Behind them, other warbots pressed forward to come up beside him. Kneeling by the nuke, Brita dropped an enemy soldier with each shot.

  To Luke’s rear Leonessa and Musashi wiped out the lead element, securing their escape but there was no need as the warbots finished the last of the attackers to the rear and placed a shot into each Caliphate soldiers head to make sure none were playing dead.

  Luke leapt from the ceiling to the floor and knelt beside the nuke and where he could scan it.

  “It is not armed,” Nelson said and Luke sighed.

  “I’m sending instructions on how to disarm it,” Nelson said, and a diagram appeared on the nuke, showing Luke what to do.

  Luke ripped off a panel and ripped out wires before smashing a circuit board, insuring it would not be armed or dangerous anytime soon. Two warbots moved up and took the nuke, off to jettison it out the nearest airlock as Luke looked around him at the bodies.

  There were a lot of them.

  Brita was holding her arm but everyone else was unhurt.

  “You okay?” Luke asked. Not all wounds were visible. Luke’s InnerBuddy reported it was not critical and her suit’s integrity was intact.

  “Yes sir,” Brita said taking her hand off her arm tentatively as if she were worried the seal would not hold.

  He turned to Leonessa. “You okay?”

  “Yes sir,” she said looking around her.

  “Good, let’s get back to the auxiliary CIC,” Luke said.

  “Break out in fifteen minutes,” Nelson said.

  CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE

  Josaka System, Battlecruiser Leonis Ultio

  “Incoming Caliphate targeting lock,” the Ultio computer announced and Luke swore but it was expected. “Incoming Bronkaw targeting lock.” The computer reported and Luke’s eyes widened. That was very bad. “Incoming Caleet targeting lock. Incoming New Alamo targeting lock. Incoming Caleet targeting lock.”

  “Lock onto the drive of the juggernaut and fire as soon as you can,” Luke said, tuning out the incoming target locks. “Full speed a
head. Find it while there’s time. Deploy the frigates and fighters if you can.”

  Luke looked at the plot, which had not updated. Most of the sensors able to feed detailed information to the CIC had been fried. It was habit. He wondered what was out there. Bronkaw? Caleet? Had the Conglomerate assembled a fleet already? That was very bad. There must have been a hidden ship that launched an attack against the Conglomerate. It was the only explanation.

  “Target acquired,” Nelson reported. “Firing and accelerating. Direct hit, recycling for shot two. I am unable to detach frigates due to structural damage.”

  “Keep going,” Luke said. “Estimated time to impact?”

  “Five minutes,” Nelson said and Luke stared at him. They must have come out behind the juggernaut in time and space, or the Caliphate ship had barely moved from the arrival point.

  “I suggest you get to the escape pods,” Nelson said.

  “You are coming with me,” Luke said.

  “A Captain goes down with his ship,” Nelson replied. “No time to argue Commander. I cannot control this battered beast from a life pod.”

  “Dammit,” Luke said. Too much had been damaged. “I don’t want to lose you too.”

  Nelson nodded. “You are running out of time. We will meet again, sir.”

  “What do you mean metal head?” Luke said. “If you die here, then it is the end!”

  “Topa Suresh told me I have a soul,” Nelson said with a sad smile and Luke stared at Nelson, unable to think of anything to say.

  “What the hell are you talking about?” Luke said. “Why wasn’t I told?”

  “You didn’t ask Commander,” Nelson said peacefully. “You need to leave. We can continue the conversation on your way to the life pod.”

  “No,” Luke said. He had lost too many friends. It wasn’t right. “I’m the Captain; I go down with the ship.”

  “Sorry sir,” Nelson said. “Not working that way. You are needed elsewhere. I have made this decision and I am the most qualified to carry it out.”