The Blackstar Gambit

by Jan Domagala

  Sinclair nodded but held up a hand to halt Matt from leaving.

  “Hold on, this venue is as secure as it gets, I doubt anyone could get in here through the security we have in place,” he declared confidently.

  “With respect sir, we thought that about Area 15 and look what happened there,” Matt countered.

  “Point taken, I’ll make the arrangements,” Sinclair agreed after a pause.

  Matt nodded and looked around at the security men stationed inside and couldn’t help harbour a feeling of dread about the whole thing.

  11.05 s.e.t.

  “He’s gone inside, give them a few more minutes then we move,” said the leader of the team at the edge of the security perimeter.

  A full attack team were hidden in the folds of the forest, armed with assault pulse rifles and other weaponry. They had watched as Matt had arrived and entered the confines of the lodge.

  The leader communicated with another team around the opposite side of the lodge hidden out of sight. An attack jet copter waited in a clearing inside the Forest for the word to co-ordinate the planned attack.

  Checking his chronometer, the leader linked all the teams in the comm channel and said, “Five minutes on my mark.”

  He leaned forward and focused the lodge through his visor’s visual enhancement. He saw every detail in crystal clarity. In five short minutes, the elegant lodge would be reduced to a smouldering pile of rubble.

  11.09 s.e.t.

  “How long before we can leave, sir?” Matt asked Sinclair.

  For the past four minutes, the general had been busy contacting all the delegates already present and those about to arrive to alert them of the change in plans.

  Matt had stood by while Sinclair did his thing, waiting patiently so they could do something to secure the summit.

  He had this feeling that something very bad was about to happen, but he wasn’t sure what.

  Sinclair held up a finger to say, ‘wait’ as he concentrated on a conversation he was holding with someone through his NI.

  Matt looked away unable to contain his frustration at not doing anything.

  Precious minutes were flying by and he felt they should be moving, leaving the lodge and getting back to the spaceport. The longer they delayed the more time they gave the opposition to set up their attack.

  He looked at the ever-vigilant guards as they surveyed their surroundings, in constant contact with the rest of the teams located in and around the lodge.

  Matt turned to face Sinclair about to tell him they had to move when the entire room erupted in chaos.

  11.10 s.e.t.

  Kurt smiled across the aisle at the young woman seated across from him.

  “Don’t worry, we’ll be okay,” he assured her. He tried to appear calm to help her get through this. If they crashed, there was more than a good chance he would survive but that couldn’t be said for the rest of the crew. They did not share his ability.

  The pilot wrestled with the controls and Kurt could feel him gradually getting the shuttle under control.

  “See, I told you we would get through this,” he told her with a smile.

  As the shuttle’s flight began to ease off and the buffeting died down Kurt activated the viewscreen on the hull next to his seat. He operated a forward view so that he could see where they were going.

  “Let’s see what this place is like,” he muttered to himself as he accessed the onboard computer and the sensor readings.

  The atmosphere was similar to that of Earth’s, as was the climate, but due to the size and the core the gravity was at least half as great as that of Earth, hence the sudden pull towards the ground.

  Now that the pilot had compensated for the heavier gravity the landing would be relatively easy, emphasis on the word relatively.

  Kurt noticed the flight attendant straining to see over his shoulder at the screen.

  “You can access the screen on your side. It’d be much easier, I’m sorry I didn’t catch your name?” he mentioned.

  “I know but,” she paused a little self- consciously, “I’m Joanne Grey, sir.”

  Kurt recognised the fear and the need to be close to someone in her brown eyes. He told her, “Pleased to meet you Joanne. If you want you can see better from the seat in front, just turn it towards me,” he offered.

  She quickly unfastened her harness and moved across and sat in front of him turning around to face him. A smile crossed her full lips rather sheepishly as she said, “Thanks.”

  “No problem,” he told her then filled her in on what he’d learned so far.

  “So it’s an ‘E’ Class planet but with heavier gravity,” she reiterated his findings.

  “Yep, very interesting. There’s not many that have been colonised due to the heavier gravity. It plays havoc on the skeletal structure and internal organs. There have been a few that were attempted but I thought they’d all been abandoned. Of course there’s also the myth of Osiris.”

  “Osiris, the Egyptian God?”

  “No the planet named after him. It goes that the Alliance set up a colony there generations ago; it became a sort of a cult really. It was said the people who survived were super soldiers, stronger, faster, harder to kill, because over time they evolved to survive the harsh environment. They evolved stronger skeletal structures, thicker stronger bones and more muscle mass. It was said it was a secret order that the Alliance kept in check just for when they conquered the galaxy. That was back when the Alliance and Confederation were still battling for control. Over the years the fighting calmed down as they realised there were more than enough planets to colonise for both sides. Obviously it was a myth because not once in all those years of struggle and conflict was there even a mention of an Alliance super soldier.”

  Joanne listened intently then asked, “So what is this place then?”

  “I have no idea, but I’ve a feeling we’re about to find out,” Kurt told her as he noticed the ground below was getting closer.

  They were about to land.

  20

  11.12 s.e.t.

  Matt dived to cover the general as the walls of the lodge imploded.

  The security guards, dressed in formal suits and not combat gear, took the brunt of the explosion. Standing by the walls watching through the windows they never saw the missile strike that hit the lodge.

  Matt felt his back pummelled by debris as he lay on top of Sinclair.

  He looked up at the carnage and knew what had happened.

  “Get ready to move sir, when I say,” he shouted at the general. His ears were ringing from the blast so he couldn’t hear a word he said he just hoped Sinclair had.

  Pulling his Sig from his shoulder holster, he scrambled to his feet. With his free hand, he pulled Sinclair to his feet too.

  A quick glance around told him what he needed to know.

  “Follow me, sir,” he croaked, his throat coated with the dust filling the air following the blast.

  Keeping low, he ran for the hole in the wall. He knew he had to get out before the TAC team arrived.

  “We have to get to the other delegates,” Sinclair screamed in Matt’s ear, his hearing was impaired just the same.

  Matt glanced over his shoulder at the general whose expression told him there would be no arguments.

  Nodding his head he turned away from the hole in the wall and headed towards the bedrooms at the rear.

  As he pushed Sinclair through the door, he saw a salvo of pulsed plasma bolts tear up the wall by his head.

  He turned and fired. His plasma bolt hit the shooter in the face knocking him back through the hole in the wall.

  “Go, go, go!” he screamed at Sinclair as he pushed him down the short corridor towards the bedrooms.

  There were only three other delegates in the building; all the others had not arrived yet. They had heard the explosion and were ready to move when Matt and the general knocked on their doors.

  “Follow us,” Sinclair ordered as he followed Matt
to the rear exit of the lodge.

  Plasma bolts tore up the corridor, dropping one of the delegates and a member of his security staff.

  “Get down!” Matt shouted as he saw the man drop to the floor. He had just reached the exit and operated the lock to open it. He turned and fired a three-round burst at the shooter. He saw two hits; one to the torso and the last one took off the top of his head dropping him like a stone.

  As he kept his Sig trained on the opening, he urged the others to get through the door.

  As soon as the general was through, Matt turned and followed him.

  He closed it behind him then shot the door lock ensuring it wouldn’t open any time soon.

  It wasn’t built to withstand plasma fire but it would surely slow them down.

  “We need to get into the Juggernauts to have any chance of staying alive,” Matt gasped when he reached them.

  “They’re round the other side of the lodge,” one of the delegates argued.

  “Then let’s get moving,” Sinclair urged.

  Matt looked at the delegates’ frightened faces but saw determination in their eyes and he agreed.

  “We have little time to waste gentlemen, so when I say move, you move as fast as you can and you don’t stop until you’re safely in one of the Juggernauts,” he instructed.

  Just then, he looked up as the sound of a high-powered engine came soaring in from the forest.

  Pulsed plasma bolts stitched the ground where they stood, narrowly missing them as the jet copter began its first attack run.

  “This just gets better and better,” mused Matt quietly as they all pressed themselves up against the wall of the lodge.

  As the jet copter passed overhead Matt saw the first wave of a TAC team come around the corner of the building.

  He shot the first in the face then rushed the next two as the first fell back stifling their aim. He punched one then shot the other. As the one he had punched staggered he shot him in the head before he had time to recover.

  Bending down he relieved the corpses of their weapons, tossing a rifle to Sinclair and one each to the other two delegates.

  The soldiers had grenades in pouches on their combat utility belts. Matt took a few and as he looked up he saw another trio of soldiers coming at them, rifles at their shoulders ready to fire.

  Matt pulled the pin on a grenade and tossed it in their direction. It landed in the middle of them right at their feet. The explosion lifted them off the ground and hurled their blasted bodies in all directions.

  Body parts hit the ground with a squelch as the decimated trio were torn apart.

  “Come on, this way,” Matt commanded.

  He set off down the side of the lodge towards where the Juggernauts were parked, mindful that other members of the tac team were nearby as was the jet copter.

  Plasma bolts stitched a path across the wall chasing them as they ran.

  Sinclair and Matt turned and fired as they sprinted towards the parked Juggernauts. They knew they had little hope of hitting anything it was more of a deterrent.

  Either way their shots worked, forcing the shooters to re-think their action.

  “Quick, before the jet copter returns,” Matt encouraged them.

  They all sprinted down the side of the lodge, Matt keeping a wary eye out for the TAC teams chasing them.

  The Juggernauts were within reach and Matt ensured they all reached them. As they climbed aboard the huge vehicles he stood guard, his Sig held in a two-handed grip as he watched for any signs of the tac teams.

  “Matt get on board now!” Sinclair shouted at him from the open doorway of the first Juggernaut.

  Matt quickly turned and jumped onto the vehicle climbing into the front passenger seat. A security man was in the driver’s seat and had the engine running by the time Matt sat down. He noticed Sinclair was safe in one of the rear seats.

  The Juggernauts were huge armoured ATVs capable of travelling over any terrain and capable of withstanding a direct strike from a Hellfire missile. With the doors locked Matt was confident they would get to safety.

  “Right, get us moving,” he told the driver. The other delegates were safely ensconced in the other Juggernaut and would follow their lead.

  Matt kept an eye on the sensors shown on the heads up display. It also gave a variety of other readings even the targeting sensors for the onboard armament. He logged into the onboard computer via his NI and was then able to access all the functions, including weapons, just in case.

  He knew they wouldn’t give up on them just because they had reached the vehicles. After all, they still had the jet copter.

  “Where’s that damned jet copter?” asked Sinclair voicing the same thought Matt had.

  “Coming around on an attack vector,” he told him as he saw the image of the craft on the HUD.

  Plasma bolts raked the ground on either side of both Juggernauts as the jet copter flew overhead straight at them.

  “Missed us,” the driver breathed.

  “He’ll be back don’t you worry,” Matt informed him.

  Matt watched as the jet copter spun around to face the fleeing Juggernauts once more. He saw the spark of a released missile.

  “Incoming!” he shouted and braced himself for the impact.

  They were not the target though.

  The missile slammed into the ground beneath the last Juggernaut. The blast lifted the vehicle off the ground and flipped it fifteen feet into the air only to land on its roof. The Juggernaut crashed down into the ground with such force the roof buckled trapping those inside.

  “Stop!” Matt ordered the driver.

  “No, carry on,” Sinclair countermanded.

  Matt stared at the general with fury blazing in his eyes.

  “There’s nothing we can do for them now. If we stop we seal our fate to theirs,” Sinclair said answering Matt’s unspoken question.

  Another missile struck the weaker underside of the Juggernaut in a massive explosion that Matt and the others felt inside their own vehicle.

  Matt watched the HUD intently. TAC teams swarmed the wreckage of the destroyed Juggernaut for any signs of life. Matt was sure after that last missile strike they wouldn’t find any.

  He quickly accessed the weapons array.

  Rear pulse cannons raked the tac teams with vicious plasma fire cutting them down. Those not hit hid behind the wreckage of the Juggernaut.

  Matt fired a brace of mini Hellfire missiles at the jet copter just before it could gain any momentum to chase after them.

  The missiles struck the cockpit blowing it out of the sky. The remaining members of the TAC team soon found fiery debris raining down on them.

  “That’s for those poor souls in the Juggernaut,” Matt growled with some satisfaction. “Take us to the spaceport,” he told the driver.

  Sinclair leaned forward and said, “Whoever they are, they certainly are determined.”

  Matt simply looked straight ahead as they continued on their way as he thought about those they had left behind, the ones they could not save, and he knew he had some sleepless nights ahead of him.

  21

  11.15 s.e.t.

  Kurt got out of his seat under Joanne’s watchful gaze.

  “Where’re you going?” she asked, not wanting to be left alone.

  “I have to leave. You and the rest of the crew won’t survive for long down there, not without gravity compensators, the gravity is too great,” Kurt told her.

  To the pilot he said, “Do not land, hold this position, I’m taking the switchblade down to the surface from here. You get back to a high orbit and I’ll contact you when I’m ready.”

  “But sir, the switchblade won’t have enough thrust to reach escape velocity, not here,” the pilot argued.

  “Then you’ll have to come pick me up or I’ll find another way off this rock. Either way you get to orbit and remain there unless it’s not safe to do so. Do you understand?” Kurt replied.

  “I don’t like it K
urt,” the pilot told him.

  “You don’t have to like it, as long as you follow orders.”

  “Copy that, sir,”

  Kurt smiled at Joanne, “Don’t worry, everything will be fine,” he assured her.

  Kurt left the passenger section before Joanne could say anything. He had to move fast before those on the ground learned of their arrival and did something about it, although he suspected they already knew they were here.

  The switchblade was stored in a compartment under the passenger section. He opened a hatch in the floor and dropped down into it.

  He quickly opened the canopy and climbed aboard the small craft and closed the canopy back over him.

  The controls were simple; he logged onto the onboard computer via his NI and then gripped the handle controls.

  It had a built-in air supply and was pressurised for high altitude drops so he would not be starved of air or crushed by the heavier gravity when he exited the shuttle.

  “Okay, I’m ready. Open the hatch,” he told the pilot through the secure comm channel they shared.

  The hatch beneath the small glider slid open and the clamps holding the glider in place were released. The switchblade dropped free of the shuttle at an alarming rate.

  Kurt struggled at first to get the glider under control until the thrusters kicked in giving him that extra control he needed in the heavy gravity.

  He swooped down through a layer of dense cloud using the sat com to navigate.

  He hoped the readings he was following he hoped would lead him to where they had taken Zara.

  His onboard computer had a limited range for the sensors. He was flying blind most of the way.

  As the switchblade broke through the clouds, he saw the ground below.

  It was a harsh landscape, rocky with undulating green hills that stretched for as far as the eye could see. Directly below was a settlement, that’s all it could be called really. It was too small for a city.

  The settlement was made up of domed structures that were built low and close to the ground.

  As his speed increased he fought with the controls, feathering the thrusters to slow his descent and therefore conserving fuel.