The Last Spartan 1: Different Paths

by A. E. McCullough

  Seeing his commander in trouble, the JDL wingman altered course to intercept and fired.

  “Incoming missiles. Anti-matter signature,” said Pax. “Firing counter-measures and engines. Initiating evasion pattern Delta.”

  Iaido could do nothing but hold on as Pax accelerated to combat velocity and twisted the Nemesis in an intricate evasion pattern that confused missiles and pilots alike. The JDL Raptor dropped in behind and the chase was on. Of course, the Raptor was one-fifth the size of the Nemesis and probably three times as maneuverable but they didn’t have Pax. Iaido was a skilled pilot; his flight log would show that but he also knew his limits. With two anti-matter missiles homing in on his ship, he knew that Pax was their best chance for outmaneuvering the missiles. All missiles operated on a scaled down version of A.I.s, not anywhere near as advanced as Pax and very limited, but still fully capable of tracking starships through an asteroid field. All A.I.s operate on an advanced algorithm that Iaido didn’t understand nor did he want to, however he knew when to let Pax do her thing and when not to, and this was a time to let go of the reins.

  Pax danced the warship through several hard banking moves which caused Iaido to experience over one hundred times the normal gravity force for several seconds. He felt the G-forces trying to push the blood out of his torso and into his extremities. But at the same time, he knew his armor would react to the increased pressure; the interior lining would automatically constrict on his legs and arms forcing blood out of his extremities and back into his torso. Having years of space combat experience, these maneuvers were unlikely to cause him to pass out. Even so, if Pax continued pulling those types of turns there was still that possibility.

  Iaido glanced at the monitors and could see that the missiles were closing. Pax dropped a few more countermeasures and took the Nemesis into a corkscrewing spin, getting faster with each revolution. Iaido watched as the missiles also started the corkscrewing motion. With each rotation the missiles got closer together until they finally ran into each other which detonated their warheads.

  The Nemesis rocked slightly with the force of the explosions but it was already outside the dangerous blast radius and closing on the remaining Raptor.

  “Pax, charge the EMP cannon and give me manual controls.”

  Twisting the ship, Iaido fired a quick burst of cannon fire. The 50mm railgun rounds flew harmlessly to the port side of his opponent yet the JDL pilot reacted by banking hard to his starboard. With a slight grin, Iaido twisted the controls a bit and let another burst, this time to starboard. The JDL pilot immediately banked to port, showing Iaido how unskilled the pilot really was, he was reacting reflexively to cannon fire that had no chance of striking his starship. Iaido began to herd the Raptor with short blasts from his cannons while using the powerful engines on his warship to close the distance.

  Pax announced, “EMP ready and active”.

  EMP, Electro Magnetic Pulse, cannons have disadvantages and advantages in combat. The disadvantages are severe considering combat conditions; EMP cannons take time to charge, require a lot of energy and have a very short range. The effective target range was less than three thousand meters, which is almost point blank range for combat situations in space. However, Iaido had always found that the advantages offered by the EMP cannon especially useful in trying to capture a mark. There was no need for a target lock since the blast covered a wide area in front of the cannon and any ship caught in it would find all of its electronic components immediately disabled.

  With an EMP cannon, Iaido had an effective way of stopping the fleeing ship without destroying it if his mark bolted; giving him a salvage claim once the criminal was convicted.

  Iaido had gotten the Nemesis, his Cerberus class warship, from one such mark. A UNCF Fleet captain had gone rogue, hijacked an old warship and was raiding local shipping lanes. For six months the Fleet was unable to capture him and out of desperation placed a bounty on the rogue captain and his crew. It took Iaido exactly three days for the capture.

  He loaded a small freighter with an EMP cannon, cross-referenced all the routes the rogue captain had been raiding then flew the routes himself. When the rogue warship approached and threatened Iaido’s freighter, he powered down all systems except the EMP cannon and waited till the rogue captain came in range before disabling it with one quick shot. This left the deadly warship adrift in space and at Iaido’s mercy. After towing the disabled warship to the closet UNCF station, he received the bounty for the AWOL officers and filed his claim for the salvage on the warship. Since the Medusa, his ship’s original name, wasn’t an active Fleet vessel at the time, it had been decommissioned for nearly twenty years; the UNCF was obligated to honor his salvage claim. With the large bounty and a warship at his disposal, Iaido ‘Achilles’ Spartan the bounty hunter was born.

  “Range to Raptor Beta forty-one hundred meters and closing fast…Raptor Beta is within effective EMP range. Range to Raptor twenty-seven hundred meters…”

  Iaido triggered the EMP cannon. It blasted out in front of the Nemesis in a wide arc and looked like a lightning storm in space. Engulfing the Raptor, all systems were immediately shorted out and the JDL Raptor became a flying coffin, still heading in its last direction.

  Iaido keyed his mic. “Nemesis to Captain Dixon.”

  “Go for Captain Dixon.”

  “I let you live this time, take this as a lesson learned and one not to be repeated.”

  “Nemesis, there will be another day and another time. This isn’t over.”

  “Yes it is. Heed my warning or die. I have you marked, Captain Dixon. Don’t cross me again. Next time I won’t be merciful.”

  Iaido turned off the com-link. “Pax send out a level one distress for the Raptors, plot a course for home and complete a sector scan of the surrounding area.”

  “Affirmative. Distress beacon dropped and course laid in to Starbase Alpha. ETA three hours. Sector scan is clear of all traffic.”

  “Engage.”

  “Captain, you have three messages waiting for you.”

  Unhooking his harness, Iaido stood up and stretched. “Transfer the messages to the dojo.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Moving out of the cockpit, Iaido moved down the short passageway to the main deck of the warship. It wasn’t large but he had converted the mess hall to a workout room. A heavy bag hung from the beams, a small shrine was along one bulkhead, a futon was against the opposite bulkhead with a vid-display and comm-center controls alongside it. Pulling off his helmet, Iaido placed it on a rack designed for his armor.

  “Play messages.”

  The image of a petite blonde with short spiky hair filled the screen. His assistant Diana had a gorgeous smile that was infectious.

  “Hiya Boss. Here’s the run down. KC is going to meet you at Stardock 5 at 0600 hours UTC, try not to be late. Don’t forget to collect the bonuses on the bounty. You know they always conveniently forget about them. Also be careful, it seems the knowledge of your cargo has leaked and you may run across some bounty jumpers. Oh…some guy named Sergeant Major Spenton called for you earlier and said he was an old friend. He seemed to be a bit upset but left no contact info. That’s about it. See you when you get back.”

  Blowing the camera a kiss, Diana ended her transmission.

  Iaido looked at the timestamp on the message. “Hmmm… nearly eight hours ago. That would’ve been useful information before we entered hyperspace.”

  The timestamp on the next message placed it almost seven and a half hours old. The scene was a dark room with military plaques and awards hanging in the background. It was the Sergeant Major and Diana was right, he did look old.

  “Shit! Achilles, this is the Sergeant Major. I need you! Contact me as soon as you get this message. You know it’s urgent or I wouldn’t have called. I have a bounty and I need your help. It could be a matter of life or death, old friend.”

  Tapping the controls to pause the image, Iaido studied the face of his friend. Yes he had
aged, it happens to normals but the look in his friend’s eyes was fear. Having served with the sergeant major under some very stressful circumstances, he had never seen that look in his eyes. Plus, he wouldn’t have used his old codename unless he was afraid someone was listening and needed to get a warning out.

  “Pax, place a return call and let me know when you get through.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Iaido tapped the controls to play the last message; the text message flashed across his screen.

  ‘I AM IN NEED OF YOUR SERVICES. VISIT ME UPON YOUR ARRIVAL. SENSEI’

  “Pax, double check all sensor readings; notify me of any anomalies no matter how small or insignificant they seem.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Iaido climbed the ladder which led up to the crew cabins and paused at the first door. Tapping the controls to gain entry, the door slid back to reveal a room covered with strands of white fibers which stretched from deck to ceiling and bulkhead to bulkhead. In the center was a seven foot tall cocoon. A dark shape could occasionally be seen moving inside.

  “Pax, any change?”

  “Negative. Life signs are nominal but no change in status.”

  Iaido moved to the large cocoon, placed his hands gently on the form inside and whispered, “How much longer, my friend? I have a feeling that I’m going to need your help in the days to come.”

  Iaido secured the cabin door before moving back down the ladder to the dojo. Pausing at a small altar, he lit two sticks of incense and ceremoniously waved them over each shoulder before placing them on the altar. He sat down in the lotus position with legs crossed with his feet on the top of thighs, cleared his mind and relaxed; content to await his arrival to Starbase Alpha.

  Chapter 4

  Lieutenant Charles Kristopher moved through the crowded starport with an easy confident gait. His khaki slacks, black loafers and bright red polo shirt were a sharp contrast to his ebony skin. He could’ve been just one of a thousand people moving though the starport if he wasn’t accompanied by five SWAT officers in full tactical armor.

  He glanced at the people moving aimlessly through the Starbase; most ignored them, they were too busy with their own lives to wonder what a SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team was doing here.

  Starbase Alpha boasted three hundred thousand residents who lived and worked on the edge of space on a daily basis. This was just one of five floating fortresses that were in geo-synchronistic orbit around Earth. Starbase Alpha was the closest to the eastern seaboard of North America hovering almost directly above the decimated region that once was New York City. Most space traffic that was heading to this region came through here so it wasn’t uncommon to see ground forces. However, it was uncommon to have them in full tactical gear but few citizens did more than glance at the group.

  Lt. Kristopher knew that his escort was entirely for show. Their destination was already staked out and under surveillance by the rest of the SWAT-Four and SWAT-Six teams. He heard a voice on the tac-net (tactical network) through the cybernetic implant in his left ear.

  “All units be advised that Starship Nemesis has just received clearance for docking in landing bay five.”

  Lt. Kristopher keyed his sub-vocal mic, another cybernetic implant, but this one on his vocal chords and asked, “ETA?”

  He knew that his transmission would be tagged with an identifier visible to all SWAT members in their tactical armor that it was him asking.

  “Five minutes, sir.”

  Slipping on a set of mil-spec glasses, it only took a few seconds for the glasses to interface with his cybernetic implants and the HUD popped up on the edge of his vision. He knew that the three SWAT teams assigned to this detail would be entering a high-stress situation and he hated to compound their stress but experience had taught him to leave few things to chance.

  Keying his transmission to broadcast on the team-wide tac-net Lt. Kristopher said, “All units are to hold positions and weapons on safe. This is a no-fire situation. I say again, a no-fire situation. You are not authorized to fire unless fired upon. All units confirm no-fire order.”

  His HUD switched to green as all units responded with confirmation of the no-fire order. He knew that a few members weren’t happy about it but being good little grunts they would follow orders, or at least he hoped they would. He didn’t want to experience another friendly fire incident like those that he’d lived through during the war.

  As they entered the hangar Sgt. Hamilton, the most junior SWAT sergeant in his escort, broke the silence. “El-tee, I know this Spartan fellow is a friend of yours but your no-fire order is very unorthodox.”

  Lt. Kristopher did a quick check of his HUD to confirm that they were on their local channel and not team-wide before replying. “You are correct but until you experience a blue-on-blue situation, you don’t have the right to question a no-fire order.”

  “Blue-on-blue?”

  The commander of SWAT-Six Lieutenant Dominic Palummo answered. “It’s military jargon for friendly fire. We lost numerous troops and ships during the war to friendly fire. After the unfortunate destruction of the Arizona there was a standing order for any call of blue-on-blue to be grounds for immediate cease-fire.”

  “Aye-aye sir,” said Sgt. Hamilton. “I wasn’t questioning the El-tee’s right to give the order; I was trying to understand the need for it?”

  Lt. Kristopher looked over his shoulder at the SWAT commander. “He’s your sergeant.”

  “True,” Lt. Palummo replied, “but this bounty hunter is your friend and you did give the order.”

  “Fair enough.” Lt. Kristopher turned his attention back to the warship which was taxiing to a docking space nearby. Seeing they still had about a minute before it docked he explained, “I gave the order for two reasons. One, I don’t want any trigger-happy grunt to accidentally shoot our prisoner or my friend.”

  The Nemesis came to a smooth stop a hundred feet away.

  Sgt. Hamilton asked, “And the second?”

  While they waited for the gangplank to be lowered to the hangar deck, Lt. Kristopher turned to the young SWAT Sergeant. “If there was an accidental misfire and a round just happened to be near my friend Spartan or his prisoner before we assumed custody, I would have to explain to that officer’s next of kin why he died.”

  Sgt. Hamilton shook his head slightly. “I don’t understand sir.”

  “Let me be blunt. If someone takes a shot at Spartan, there wouldn’t be a damn thing that anyone in this hangar could do to stop him from killing that individual.”

  As the gangplank touched the hangar deck and the hatch opened, a fully armored figured stepped into view. Even to the SWAT officers, the bounty hunter looked daunting. His armor was primarily black and silver with highlights of scarlet. It seemed to be form-fitting and more anatomically correct than the bulky SWAT armor. Although his face was hidden by an opaque dome, a floating skull seemed to grin at the officers. His hands were empty at the moment but several weapons, including twin blasters at his hips and the hilt of a sword were clearly visible and within easy reach.

  After a moment Sgt. Hamilton added, “But sir… he’s only a bounty hunter?”

  “That might be his job for the moment but that isn’t who he is and trust me sergeant, you don’t ever want to be on his bad side.”

  * * * * *

  Iaido paused at the top of the gangplank and scanned the landing bay visually and with the electronic sensors in his combat armor. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary but that didn’t mean anything. The scan showed that there were at least thirty androids in the landing bay and twenty-three humans. Judging from their readings all but five of the humans had combat augments. The androids and four of the humans were concentrated around the nine other starships parked in this hangar bay. Iaido could assume that they were doing numerous maintenance tasks on those ships, although he knew that assumptions were the mother-of-all screw-ups.

  “Pax, any unusual comm traffic in the area?”


  “Affirmative. There are numerous shielded transmissions from all corners of this hangar.”

  “Probably the SWAT tac-net. Can you crack it?”

  “Negative. It is encrypted and they are using burst transmissions which are difficult to localize and track.”

  “And you can’t crack their encryption? I’m shocked.”

  Pax’s monotone voice didn’t fully hide the sarcasm in her answer. “I mis-spoke. I answered the unspoken portion of your question which was if I could crack their encryption in the amount of time it takes you to descend the gangplank. Since it will take you exactly nine point three seconds to descend, there is insufficient time to localize and crack the encrypted transmissions.”

  “It’s okay Pax. I wasn’t questioning your capabilities.” Seeing the approaching police escorts, Iaido became serious. “Run your diagnostics and let Jay’s techs know what you need.”

  “Affirmative.”

  Moving down the gangplank, Iaido spotted his friend and noted that he was flanked by five heavily armed grunts in black combat suits with SWAT emblazed across their chest in white.

  Lt. Kristopher was his old XO, military jargon for Executive Officer, usually the second in command of a military unit but had become one of his closest friends after the war and one of the few people Iaido really trusted.

  Iaido’s HUD was busy displaying information about the SWAT grunts.

  Each had combat augments to enhance speed and reaction time but was within the legal limits set by the Coalition for law enforcement officers, greater than those allowed to civilians but far below those allowed for the military. Each SWAT officer carried the latest police issued ‘Riot Rifle’ commonly referred to as the R-Gun. It was a combination weapon of less-than lethal and lethal technology; with an ultrasonic blast for rendering unruly subjects unconscious, a lightning blast to disable augmented humans, advanced pepper spray for crowd control and two-hundred rounds of lethal force in the form of 5mm railgun ammo.