Sergeant Dorik moved forward slowly.
Boyd watched as Dorik moved into the cavern. Slowly, deliberately, he raised his pulse rifle and aimed it at Boyd.
“Careful where you are pointing your rifle,” Boyd said, secretly enjoying the danger.
Dorik said nothing but took aim. Then the last of the assault team formed up around Dorik, jostling him as they formed a tight grouping. Dorik’s aim was thrown off and he lowered his rifle.
“Are you okay, Rik?” Boyd asked, concerned—not for himself but for his old friend and his state of mind.
“I’m fine. Move up, Sergeant Boyd.”
Boyd was surprised with the formality. He replied, half in humor, half with concern. “Affirmative, Sergeant.”
Boyd moved into the interior of the heavy. He pushed aside the doubt and concern over Sergeant Dorik and made a mental note to talk it over with Doc Cronin at the earliest opportunity. He didn’t have time to deal with it now, though. He needed to press forward with the assault.
The transport was a vast freighter designed to carry black ice from the Sphere to the inner system and principally to the Union central world, Terra. Although huge, a heavy required only minimal crew. They were based in the habitation zone around the command deck at the front and center of the craft. A three-man maintenance crew lived and worked at the other end of the ship in the drive section. A transit system linked both areas to a single small communal area. Boyd checked the readings being transmitted to him from the Resolute. The crew was in neither of these three areas. They were all in one of the main holds—a space large enough to accommodate a Curveball field.
Transmitting the coordinates of the life signs to the entire assault team, Boyd ordered an immediate advance on that area.
Boyd released a swarm of micro drones. They raced along the corridors searching for any Skarak still in their way, but didn’t encounter any. The feed relayed back to his holo-stage showed him the scene that awaited him in the cargo hold.
It was just like the Ultimatum. Bodies were strapped to benches leaning back at a forty-five-degree angle. Cables and tubes were entering into their bodies and skulls. All but one was alive, their life signs weak but steady.
“Assault team, advance on the cargo hold and those people.” Boyd moved forward quickly.
Entering the bay, Boyd checked the environment conditions. The hold had been exposed to space and was in complete vacuum. The temperature was close to absolute zero. The bodies of the crew lying on the benches were unprotected by environment suits, yet they lived. Their skin was as pale as a corpse. Each was breathing through a Skarak flesh device attached to their face, which pulsed with each breath. Cables entered their bodies through the eyes, nostrils, mouths, and one had clearly drilled its way through the temples.
One crewman—the civilian captain—appeared conscious. His eyes were white but moving, although Boyd could tell they were unable to see after having been exposed to the cold and vacuum of space.
The captain’s hand on his right arm had been removed and replaced with a small Skarak device. It was powered and appeared to be a smaller version of the crackle beam emitter the soldiers used.
The cables that ran from the crew all ran to a large, dark, throbbing sphere like on the last ship. Its outer surface reminded Boyd of the hull of a Skarak ship. The surface appeared solid enough to the touch but looked as if it fell away like a deep dark pool. Boyd’s reflection in the shimmering surface appeared to be meters away but also on the surface. The tubes entered in at seemingly random points and merged with the surface.
As Boyd ran his hand over the sphere, he felt a distant memory of a voice telling him to kill his comrades. It was a voice Boyd had heard before. It was unsettling and unnerving, but he was able to ignore it. Yet it was hypnotic. As Boyd continued to touch the sphere, he began to detect other Skarak locations. An image appeared in his mind. It was the map he had found, but this was not just locations; there was detail in the image that he felt deep in his mind. Every location was a Union ship captured by the Skarak and hidden within the Scorpio System, all filled with Skarak devices designed to turn humans into slaves.
Boyd began to understand the experiments, even though it was confusing. It was like understanding a nightmare he was in but being unable to wake. The Skarak were trying to discover the best way to use humans. Some were simply killed by exposure to the vacuum of space and then reanimated; their brains were turned into simple processing units so they could operate their bodies although they were not sophisticated enough to operate any equipment or weapons. These were the lifeless flesh drones that Boyd had encountered before, people sent to rampage against their former comrades.
Others were being manipulated on a much higher level, to act independently but in the interests of the Skarak. These were individuals with stronger minds, able to withstand the procedure. The Skarak were creating sleeper agents. It was just what Commander Briggs of the Ultimatum had told him before Dorik had shot her. But creating a sleeper agent was difficult for the Skarak to achieve and more were killed in the process than were brought under control.
And then there was the final group: humans being reconstructed with Skarak biotech to turn them into hybrid soldiers.
Boyd could feel the terror and the torment of a thousand Union citizens at hundreds of locations, all connected to a Skarak sphere in various states of transformation. Very few of these transformations were successful. Most were just in a state of torture. As Boyd explored the network of Skarak locations, one captured ship leapt out at him and took his breath away.
“The Silence.”
Amongst the Skarak locations was the location of the Faction flagship. Kitzov’s ship. The ship where Boyd had last seen the Faction girl he’d been unable to stop thinking about: Enke Thresh.
He had found Enke Thresh.
“Sergeant Boyd, this is Featherstone. Report.”
Boyd took his hand away from the black sphere. The location of the Silence was burned in his mind. He looked around the cargo hold at the unfortunate civilians.
“Sir. We encountered resistance from a handful of Skarak soldiers. I don’t think they expected to have to mount a serious defense. We have dispatched the defenders and have found the crew.”
“What is the status of the crew, Sergeant?” Featherstone said.
“Not good, sir.” He transmitted the feed from the hold to the Resolute. “Shall we try and save them?”
“Negative, Sergeant. You are to withdraw immediately. Intel is inbound. Make sure the area is secure and return to the Resolute. Intel will take it from here.”
Boyd turned his back on the people strapped to the benches, tubes streaming out of their bodies. He put the horror from his mind and walked toward the exit.
“Wrap it up, Blue Stars,” Boyd called with a wave of his hand. They were standing around the cargo hold aghast, all staring at the people on the benches. All were stunned into silence, all except himself and Sergeant Dorik, who was leaning casually against the hold’s entrance.
“Let’s go, Blue Stars,” Boyd said again, urging his team to move. “They are sending a specialist crew to look after the civilians here. We have orders to return to the Resolute. Move!”
Boyd shoved one Marine in the shoulder and urged him to move, and the man woke up as if from a nightmare. His pulse rate suddenly elevated.
Boyd looked him in the eye and spoke calmly, “Move. Back to the Resolute. Copy?”
The Marine nodded and walked away from the cargo hold. Slowly, all the Blue Stars turned and left. Boyd was the last to leave. He walked toward Dorik, who was still leaning against the hold’s entrance.
“Quite a sight,” Dorik said casually.
Boyd looked over his shoulder. The half-naked crew were suffering. They needed to be revived or put out of their misery. Something told him that intel would want to continue whatever studies the Skarak were attempting to achieve here.
“If they ever get inside my head,” Dorik said, his vo
ice a low growl, “promise me you will put a pulse round right here.” He tapped the side of his head with the muzzle of his pulse rifle.
“You got it, old friend,” Boyd said uncertainly. “I don’t know what I’d want if they got in my head.”
Dorik pulled his pulse pistol and pressed it against Boyd’s helmet at his forehead. It was a swift and sudden movement that caught Boyd completely by surprise. Instinct kicked in and Boyd swept the pulse pistol aside.
“Easy, Rik. What you are you doing?”
Dorik laughed and holstered his pistol. “After you, Will.”
Boyd eyed Dorik warily and exited. He had a dreadful feeling about having Dorik behind him. With every step, he felt a shadow of his old friend falling over his back. He felt as if the rifle was aimed at the back of his head. He accessed the feed from Dorik’s helmet. He was walking in step with Boyd, rifle slung over his shoulder, marching easy, not a care in the world. Boyd checked the medical readings. Dorik was calm and unaffected by the horrors of the experiments in the cargo hold.
Stepping out of the freighter and onto the asteroid, Boyd felt relief to be out in the open. He leapt up off the surface, his thrusters pushing him away and toward the open Marine deck on the Resolute.
Ships were arriving above the asteroid: an intel frigate and a squadron of Blades. They dropped their drive fields and deployed anchor fields. Boyd touched down on the Resolute. Once inside the deflection shield, it was safe for him to take off his helmet. He was sweating but cold, with a sick feeling in the pit of the stomach. He reported to the command deck that all were aboard as the outer door slid shut and the Resolute was underway once again.
Boyd checked the Resolute’s heading on his wrist-mounted holo-stage. They were being directed to another Skarak location. Boyd checked the heading against the map he had transferred to his holo-stage. He marked the location of the Silence. The Resolute was moving closer to the Silence, but it was not a direct heading. Boyd knew that the Resolute was heading to a different location, but he needed to go to find Thresh. He needed to know if she was safe, or if she was strapped to a Skarak bench.
With hundreds of hidden Skarak locations appearing on the network, it could be years before they were sent to the Faction flagship.
Boyd headed to the navigation sub-node near the Marine deck. He stepped inside and closed the emergency door. It slid into place. He pulled the panel away from the base of the console and accessed a navigation node. Having spent almost a year under cover amongst the Faction, he had training and plenty of practice at this kind of work. He pulled a thread from his holo-stage and coupled it to the navigation systems.
A simulated micro meteorite strike on the main drive assembly gave him the momentary glitch in the system for him to take control. As the Resolute raced toward the location given it by intel, he subverted the heading.
The Resolute moved smoothly along its trajectory, drifting away from the original location and heading toward the new one that Boyd had selected.
It was the location of the Silence. It was, he hoped, the location of Thresh.
10
Boyd had taken risks since returning to the Resolute, but this was suicidal. Subverting an intel order and rerouting the Resolute was not just illegal, it was treason. This was not going to earn him a flogging; this was a hanging offense. If he was caught.
The skills he had developed during his mission undercover in the Faction served him perfectly here, and he watched the progress of the Resolute on his wrist-mounted holo-stage as it accessed the feed from the main holo-stage. The ship was climbing up from the ecliptic plane toward the northern edge of the Sphere.
The Sphere, a region of densely-packed asteroids that surrounded the system, was peppered with black ice mining facilities, remote Union outposts, listening stations, and Faction pirate bases. It was also the location of the captured Faction flagship, now in the hands of the Skarak.
Boyd urged the Resolute across the vast swath of space. This ship was fast—Blue Star frigates were designed to transport a special ops forces across the system in hours where it would take a freighter days—but it was too slow for Boyd right now.
The last time he had seen her had been aboard the Silence. She had been helping him escape the Faction after his cover was blown. To make it look like an escape, Boyd had shot her in the chest. He still felt his heart sink to the pit of his stomach every time he remembered her slumping to the deck, a pulse round burn on her chest right next to her heart.
If she had not helped him to escape, he would have ended up dead—or he could have ended up in the clutches of the Skarak too. He shuddered to think what terrors he would be subject to right now if that had happened. He felt a wave of frustration as he realized Thresh was there now. Would she still be the person he had last seen? Or would she be mutilated and adapted with Skarak biology and technology? Was she sitting strapped to a bench at this very moment, probes entering her skull, her brain? Was she a mindless, lifeless drone, ready to claw at any who approached?
If she was, he consoled himself with the grim consolation that he would end her suffering. He was not sure if ridding Thresh of her torment was worth the risk of facing the noose—technically, she was the enemy, she was Faction—but he did relish the danger of subverting the Resolute’s course.
The ship closed in on the northern edge of the Sphere and reduced speed. Dashing into the Sphere at full speed would surely put them on a collision course with one of the millions of asteroids within. Boyd regretted not being in the pilot’s seat. He was a great pilot and would relish the opportunity, and the danger, of piloting at top speeds through the asteroids.
“Assault teams, make ready,” Major Featherstone ordered. “The location is showing high levels of Skarak activity. Looks like we’ve hit a nest of the bastards. Tactical intelligence wants us to make safe the location for their investigation. There are several ships buried down there, including a Faction ship known to be under the command of Kitzov, the Faction leader himself. We are detecting many human life signs concentrated in a Union freighter. Blue Stars will attack in force. Estimated time of arrival at Skarak location: five minutes. Suit up, Blue Stars.”
Boyd was already running to the deck.
It was bustling with the full company, all twelve squads of highly trained and fully equipped Blue Star Marines. The fighter that was almost fully repaired had been pushed to one side to make more space, but it was still a tight squeeze for the entire company. Sergeant Dorik was organizing the squads into their egress order, lined up facing the outer door. The door was already open and showed the target location: a massive asteroid. The surface of the asteroid was a honeycomb of caverns all leading into the interior, where Boyd new a large Skarak facility was waiting, filled with bodies of Union and Faction crew, all at the mercy of the Skarak’s horrific experiments.
Doctor Cronin, his helmet under his arm and pulse rifle over his shoulder, picked his way through the crowd and over to Boyd.
“How is your back feeling, Sergeant?”
Boyd shrugged. “Fine, I guess. It will take more than a couple of licks across my back to slow me down.”
“You’ve already been in action since the corrective punishment. I can sign you off this one if you like.” Doc placed his hand lightly on Boyd’s shoulder.
“Not a chance, Doc. The major has ordered a full assault. I’m going in with the rest of the Blue Stars. Just you try and stop me.”
“Somehow, I don’t think I could stop you, even if I wanted to. Just keep a check on your bio readout, I gave you some pain relief after your punishment. If you start to feel like you are losing your edge, then I want you out of the action. No sense us losing one of our leaders if we can avoid it.”
Boyd checked his pulse rifle and marched to the front of the assembly. A flashing red light flickered across the deck. It turned green and the Marines jumped.
Boyd kicked off the deck plate, his thrusters throwing him forward. He passed through the deflection shield, flic
kering static briefly interfering with his enhanced data view he passed through the field. Then he was out into the void, heading toward the asteroid below.
Blue crackle fire leapt up from a dozen caverns on the surface, forcing Boyd to narrowly maneuver around an incoming beam. Boyd scanned the surface for the cavern closest to the highest concentration of human life signs. He hoped that Thresh was there amongst them. He dreaded the thought of what state she was in, but he had to know and to see her, if only one last time. He pushed his thrusters to the limit.
Setting his grav field to its maximum to pull him in, and the thrust throwing him forward, Boyd dropped like a stone and rapidly closed in on the surface, moving out of formation and ahead of the rest of the company.
“Sergeant Boyd,” Dorik’s voice came over on his helmet communicator. “Slow your approach. You are getting too far ahead of the main force.”
“Increase approach speeds and catch up,” Boyd responded as the surface of the asteroid came frighteningly close. He slowed his descent with reverse thrust and inverting the grav field. The nearest cavern lit up as blue crackle fire was launched at the incoming Blue Stars. Boyd pulled a pulse grenade from his belt and tossed it toward the cavern. The grenade self-propelled toward the target point he had selected, and it detonated with a bright flash, lighting up all the shattered bodies of the Skarak soldiers inside.
“That’s one cavern cleared,” Boyd said. “Get everyone down onto the surface. Speed your approach. We are wide open here. The Skarak are on a free shooting spree.”
Boyd ran to the cavern he’d just cleared and looked in. The jagged edges of the cavern led down to a ship’s hull deep in the asteroid’s crust—the hull of the Union heavy.
“Resolute, this is Boyd. I have found the heavy. I’m going in.”
Boyd was already dropping into the cavern as Blue Star Marines were landing on the surface all around. Reports coming in from across the asteroid told him of the various caverns where Skarak soldiers were hiding in cover and firing at the incoming assault.
Blue Star Marine Boxed Set Page 44
