Dodds, Estelle, Chaz and Natalia walked slowly forward to the rear of the lander, staring up into the bowels of the ship, where troops were still spilling from within.
Dodds’ eyes were drawn to one man in particular, descending the ramp and clutching a rifle in hand. He came to stand only a short distance away – a man in his late forties, dressed like the captain of a starship. He glanced around the scene of devastation, then to the group before him.
“Should’ve known I’d find you lot here,” said Elliott Parks.
XX
— The Needs of the Many —
“I count three,” Parks said, lowering his rifle and looking about the group. “And a plus one,” he added, indicating Natalia, who stood just back from the Knights. “Where are Todd and Taylor? Are they with you?”
“No, sir,” Estelle said. “We don’t know where they are. We all became separated when Ifrit went down. We evacuated at the same time, but owing to unforeseen circumstances we weren’t able to stay together post planetfall.”
“You’ve had no communications from them since you came down?”
“No, sir,” Estelle said. “Lieutenant Koonan and I began a search for them, but we didn’t find either them or any other survivors. Up until about an hour ago, we weren’t even sure if Dodds was alive, sir.”
Parks swore, then said, “Do you have any idea of where they might have put down? What happened to you three?”
“Myself and Lieutenant Koonan ditched in a park, due south of here. Our sled malfunctioned when we hit something during evacuation and we weren’t able to guide it to the beach. Lieutenant Dodds’ own sled suffered a mechanical failure during flight and he also had to ditch, due west of the coast.”
Parks looked a little confused. “Why were you in sleds? No, forget it – you can tell me later. How did you come to find yourselves here? Is there any chance that Todd and Taylor are here already?”
Dodds looked about the square, the lights from the lander, fires and exiting vehicles allowing him to truly appreciate the sheer number of soldiers and personnel that occupied the area. Yes, it might have been possible for Kelly and Enrique to have become lost in amongst all these people, perhaps injured and going unnoticed. Then again, Potter had already said that there were no reports of Confederation personnel anywhere.
Estelle confirmed to Parks as much, adding in her and Chaz’s findings at New Malaga’s beach.
“Then that should be our first destination,” Parks said.
The man was speaking in very methodical, practical terms, sounding as if there was no time to waste. Just as Potter had done. Something was going on, something that made Dodds think that the White Knights were more important to the Confederacy and Independent worlds than he had been led to believe. “You sure arrived in the nick of time, sir,” he said to Parks. “When did you actually get here?”
“Mythos, literally within the hour,” Parks said. “But Griffin arrived in the Coyote system almost a day ago. We’ve been fighting a hellish battle against the Enemy for nearly twenty-four hours. They have the entire planet surrounded with a tremendously powerful force. It’s pretty clear that they were trying to stop us from retrieving the ATAFs.”
Dodds looked skyward, imagining the battle that must have been raging miles above him. The blanket of smoke still obscured much of the sky. But even if it hadn’t, he knew that he wouldn’t have been able to see even the slightest hint of battle with the naked eye, not even if the participants were fighting in low orbit. The most he would be able to make out would be tiny pinpricks of light, only slightly brighter than stars in the night sky.
“How did you get through all that and down here?” Dodds wanted to know.
“Luck,” Parks said bluntly. “We discovered that the Enemy hadn’t actually disabled the planetary defence systems as first thought, and we were still able to remotely hook into a number of the platforms. After we’d done so, and once we had lured their forces into position, we shot them in the back. It’s probably the only time anyone has ever seen an Imperial dreadnought being taken down so easily.
“But I’m sure you’ll find out all about that another time, if we ever get off this planet. We’ve been flapping our lips for long enough already. Time is short. Now, who’s charge around here?”
“That’ll be Brigadier Potter, Commodore,” Natalia said, coming forward. “I saw him being helped away by a field medic, to have his injuries attended to. I can take you to him. There are some things that I want to discuss with him, too.”
“Good. You three wait here until you receive further instructions,” Parks said. Then, to Natalia, “Let’s go, Grace.”
Grace? Dodds thought, watching as the man and woman strode off together. Did he just address her by name? He couldn’t remember Estelle having introduced the two. Come to think of it, how did Natalia even know that Parks was a commodore? No one had addressed him by rank. He brushed the thought aside for the time. Natalia was a secret service agent and Parks was a high-ranking officer in the CSN. The explanation was clear. Sort of.
*
Parks returned not a short time later, Natalia in tow. He brought them quickly up to speed with what his next move would be. With the help of the Territorial Guard, they were to begin a systematic search of New Malaga and its surrounding cities for any sign of Enrique and Kelly. This was now the Territorial Guard’s number one priority, even ahead of evacuating the planet.
Parks was to take an Osprey troop carrier to the east coast and begin a thorough search of the beach for any sign of what may have become of the two missing pilots, had they put down on the beach in the first place. Yes, Lieutenant Dodds, it could take days to locate them, but they would search for as long as they could.
As the team boarded the troop carrier, Dodds began to wonder why such a fuss was suddenly being made of them. Parks, the Confederation and the United Naval Forces had fought tooth and nail to get past the Imperial forces and get down to the planet, so that they could affect rescue … but what could possibly be so special about five people?
Was it to stop Zackaria from getting to them first? He should tell Parks about that incident.
He looked over to Estelle, who was sitting across from him as the Osprey flew towards the coast. She appeared lost in thought. Her eyes flickered briefly to him, but her face remained dour. Dodds wondered whether she was feeling bitter towards him over his actions earlier, about not knowing whom he should’ve helped first – his long-term friend, occasional lover and comrade, or a blonde woman whom he had only met half a day earlier. Surely not. But if so, then that was a bridge he felt he needed to start rebuilding.
“Are you okay, Estelle?” he said.
“They’re all infected,” she said, without looking at him.
Infected? “Who?”
“The Imperial soldiers, the ones in the black suits, the Pandorans.”
“The Pandorans?” he repeated. He noticed Natalia’s eyes on him. She had been looking at him strangely over the past few hours, ever since they had met up with Estelle and Chaz.
Estelle nodded. “They have nanomachines in their blood. That’s what gives them their strength and makes them act as they do. They’re being controlled by them, by something or by someone.”
“By aliens?” Dodds said. It sounded like such a cliché when he said it. He couldn’t imagine it was aliens, though. Wait a minute, there was a discrepancy here, a contradiction to what he’d heard earlier. “Who told you this?”
“One of the Territorial Guard, a woman named Edie Thompson.”
“You’re sure she’s got her facts straight?”
Estelle nodded. “Positive. In fact, Chaz already knew.”
Wait, what?! What did she mean, Chaz knew? Dodds looked to the big man. “Chaz—” he began.
“It’s true,” Chaz said, without waiting for him to even begin asking his question. “I’ve known for the last four years.”
Ah! There was the discrepancy. Dodds looked to Natalia. She had been lyi
ng. She had told him that the soldiers in the black suits were a private military company, hired by the Senate to help fight their war for them. Now it turned out that the soldiers were in fact infected with … something, a something that had turned them into the unstoppable killing machines that had hijacked Dragon, attacked Ifrit and invaded Coyote.
And what had Chaz said? Before, at Arlos? He had said that the soldiers were a mistake, that they were a result of the Senate’s lust for power. He thought about the soldiers and everything that they were capable of. He understood what that meant now – none of this was supposed to have happened. Their original goals had gotten out of hand.
The Pandorans weren’t aliens, a PMC or a force created to destroy the Mitikas Empire. They were the Empire! Dear God, what had the Senate done?
Natalia had all the answers. He looked to the woman. “Natalia, you told me that the soldiers in the black suits were a PMC—” he began.
He was interrupted by another voice, coming from a device that Natalia clutched in one hand. She waved his question away, asked the voice to repeat itself and listened closely over the noise of the aircraft’s engines. She repeated the words coming from the device twice over, sounding to be seeking confirmation of what she had been told. The voice concurred; Natalia signed off.
“Todd and Taylor, your wingmates – we’ve managed to locate them.” she said, jumping up from her seat.
“You’ve found Kelly and Enrique?” Dodds asked, he, too, springing up from his seat.
Natalia nodded and pushed forward to the cockpit area, where Parks was speaking with the Osprey’s two pilots. Dodds exchanged a pensive look with Estelle and Chaz, before all three of them crowded in behind Natalia, listening in as she detailed what she had just been told.
“We believe they are being held at a facility due west of New Malaga,” Natalia said. “It’s in an isolated location, one of the settlement location for the original colonists that came to the planet. It houses a number of facilities, including a disused refinery and what has now become a hospital for the mentally ill.”
“Let me see,” Parks said, taking the communications device from Natalia. He conversed with a voice on the other end, before directing the pilot to fly them towards their new destination.
Dodds didn’t move from the cockpit all the while, eager to see where Kelly and Enrique had been taken, ever since they had all put down on the planet.
“We’ve got a small team working to secure their release,” Natalia told him.
But, as the troop carrier dipped beneath the cloud layer, Dodds was struck by an incredible sight. Not far ahead stood a number of medium-sized buildings, giving the appearance of a large industrial park. A motorway ran past it, fading off into the horizon, a single exit leading on to a road which wound its way over to the entrance. And, making their way also towards the facility, was one of the largest ground assault teams that Dodds had ever laid eyes on. The number of participants didn’t quite rival that of Operation Clean Sweep, but it came close.
APCs were moving in, troops leaping out and running around to take cover and focus on driving back enemy forces; aircraft shot past, chasing other airborne vessels and lending their support to those on the ground; Spiders tramped their way across the battlefield. Even at the Osprey’s height above the field, Dodds could make out the telltale signs of discharging weapons, flashes from explosives, and the eruption of dirt and dust that made up their destination’s desert-like surroundings. Amongst them he could make out black suits, darting here and there, disappearing in and out of view. It might have been his imagination, but he swore he could see even more forces moving in from the north and the south of their position.
He couldn’t quite believe what he was seeing. Were all these people really here to rescue just Kelly and Enrique? Surely not. “I thought you said it was a small task force?” he said to Natalia, flabbergasted.
The transport shook and Dodds stumbled backward into Estelle and Chaz. An alarm started to ring. The pilot swore and then began to flip switches, press buttons and shout instructions to his co-pilot, whilst taking a firmer grip on the flight stick.
“What’s happened?” Parks said.
“We’ve taken a hit!” the pilot called back. “I’m going to bring her down before they do! Get back into your seats and prepare to evac as soon as we’re on the ground! I think it goes without saying that the LZ is going to be hot!”
The five passengers scrambled from the cockpit and dropped themselves down into the seats at the rear, taking a firm grip of the support rails above them.
*
Over the past hour or so, Kelly had been bracing herself for the worst. The incredible sound of fighting had started then, the thump of explosions near and far, and this time she knew it wasn’t her imagination. The strange voices of her captors had echoed down the corridors, accompanied by the tramping of heavy boots as they ran. Then, all had gone quiet. But now the voices were drawing closer again. Promptly, a set of boots clumped hurriedly down the corridor, coming to a halt outside the cell door.
She waited for the door to open, but it remained shut. There came a brief series of muffled bleeps, followed by what sounded like a buzz. After a few moments, she heard a voice speak a number of incomprehensible words. Another voice came back in return, sounding as though it was coming from some sort a comms device. She felt an irrepressible nagging build within her. Something was very wrong.
“Enrique,” she started, her voice shaking with urgency. “We need to move!” Enrique didn’t respond as fast or anxiously as she would’ve preferred. Whatever the soldiers had administered to perk him up, relieving him of his pain and other ailments, had worn off. He had become very lethargic once more.
“Enrique! Come on!”
“Mmm? Wher … goin?”
Kelly didn’t actually know. She had examined the cell a great number of times and there was only one way out – through the door. And right now, all she wanted to do was to move as far away from it as possible.
The voice beyond the door spoke a few more words. The voice of the comms device came back. Bleeps followed. Another buzz.
Kelly knew what was happening – some of the soldiers had come to remove them from the cell, but were having difficulty getting the door open. The combination to the lock she had seen on the other side of the door must’ve changed! The soldier was requesting confirmation to get it open.
Voice.
Comms.
Bleeps.
Buzz.
Kelly put her arms under Enrique and started to drag him towards the rear of the cell.
Voice.
Comms.
Voice.
Bleeps … Jingle.
She backed up against the wall, Enrique in her arms, and watched helplessly as the heavy locks thunked apart and the door slid open. A single black-suited soldier crossed the threshold, rifle in hand. Kelly’s stomach knotted. She had expected more, – a sizeable team to take the pair from the cell and transport them somewhere else. A single armed soldier could only mean one thing.
The masked trooper raised their rifle quickly, bringing Enrique and Kelly smartly into their sights. Kelly closed her eyes and turned her head away. There was a bang and she felt something warm splatter her face. She flinched uncontrollably.
Oh God, Enrique! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry! At least his suffering was over. She was next.
Another bang followed, with the same consequence. Then came a third and a fourth. A few moments later, she realised she was still alive. She hadn’t felt Enrique flinch or react in her arms from the gun blasts, either. She opened her eyes in time to see the soldier who had walked through the door slump down onto their knees, arms shaking, still trying to operate the rifle they gripped. It tumbled from their hands and they fell forward, flat on their front. Behind, in the doorway, stood a man. His attire wasn’t immediately familiar to Kelly, not even the emblems that decorated his uniform.
He was breathing hard, as though he had just sprinted a
great distance. He pointed his gun down at the soldier on the floor and emptied a couple more rounds into the back of their head. He then tottered forward into the room, put his back against the wall and slid down, not taking his eyes off Kelly for one second.
“Lieutenant Kelly Taylor?” he asked, once he had regained control over his heavy panting.
Kelly realised that she had been holding her breath ever since the door had opened. She exhaled with relief. “Yes,” she answered him.
“That Lieutenant Enrique Todd?” He pointed a finger toward the man Kelly held. Kelly nodded her response. He hooked a thumb towards the badge on his breast. “Sergeant Hamilton, Mythos Territorial Guard. I’ve come to get you out of here.”
There came the sound of voices in the corridor outside the cell. A mixture of armed figures promptly arrived. Their weapons flashed around the room, marking each occupant.
“Easy! Easy!” Hamilton said, raising a hand. “Sergeant Hamilton, MRG 234 Rifles Regiment.”
“Have you located the packages?” one of the new arrivals asked.
Hamilton pointed to Kelly and Enrique. “This is them.”
“Is that one dead?” a man in the doorway said, pointing to the black suit sprawled out on the floor of the cell.
“I put four into him, then a couple more into the back of his head,” Hamilton breathed.
The questioner added several more of his own, then, seeming satisfied, stepped over to the corner, to Kelly and Enrique.
The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy) Page 79
