Omega

by Jan Domagala

  “You sound like an advert for the tourist board,” he joked.

  “Promise me,” she demanded.

  “Okay, okay, I promise, now go on and leave me in peace or I won’t finish in time for our trip, and you don’t want me to have to break my promise now, do you?” he said, smiling for the first time.

  “Okay, I’m out of here. I’m off to lunch. If you can’t make it I’ll just have to make do with what’s-his-name from Security.”

  “Who, Taylor?”

  “Is he the cute one on the front desk?”

  “I don’t know about ‘cute’ but he does work on the front desk.”

  “Yea that’s him then.”

  “He can’t, he’s on duty.”

  “You want me to be safe don’t you? And besides, it’s so boring having lunch on my own, you don’t know who may come up and want to chat with me.”

  “Okay, go and tell him I gave him new orders to escort you to lunch and not to let you out of his sight at all.”

  “Don’t worry Dad, I’m sure he won’t,” she said with a cheeky wink that left her father wondering if anything was going on between the two of them.

  Tanya Wilde twirled around and left the office far happier than when she had arrived. Wilde called Taylor through his NI.

  “My daughter is on her way down, you are to escort her to lunch. You are not to allow her out of your sight for the briefest of moments, is that clear? This is not important, it is so far past important that it’s beyond your comprehension. Is that perfectly clear to you?”

  “Perfectly sir, I won’t let her out of my sight,” Taylor replied nervously.

  “Yes, she said you’d say that, just make sure you don’t,” Wilde said then broke the connection.

  Using his NI to connect via subspace to Rygar, he said, “Give me a sit. rep.”

  “The chamber is destroyed, sir. We’ve blocked the entrance but the interior has been destroyed along with those inside,” Rygar replied.

  “Those inside? Explain,” Wilde said his voice rising slightly.

  “When we arrived there was a group of Col Sec marines entering the chamber. We destroyed the vehicle they arrived in then blew up the chamber blocking the entrance. You’d need heavy excavation gear to clear away the entrance to get inside now, so whoever’s in there, if the grenades didn’t kill them, won’t be getting out.”

  “And you’re sure of that because...”

  Rygar paused before answering, “They have to be dead, there’s no way they could’ve survived.”

  “Confirm that report and check all possible alternative exits before you vacate the area. No one, and I repeat no one must escape from that chamber alive. You make sure they are all dead before you return here. I don’t care how you do it but you don’t come back here without proof that they are dead. Do I make myself clear?”

  “Perfectly, sir.”

  “Then carry on soldier,” Wilde said, breaking the connection. Rygar was probably right in his assumption but he had to be sure. There could be no slip-ups, not this close to the end, not when he was so close to ultimate success.

  OUTSIDE THE DOOR TO his office Tanya Wilde stood, having returned to tell her father that she loved him. She overheard the conversation, all of it.

  She was in shock. At first she thought she had misheard him but as the conversation progressed she was left in no doubt.

  When she arrived at the door to his office she had heard her father speaking, so rather than interrupt him she had decided to wait until he had finished his call. Then she overheard him order the deaths of those men and she was aghast.

  Her father couldn’t have said those words, not her father. She wanted it to be a mistake, but clearly that wasn’t the case. She had heard correctly. Her father had said those words, the words that had destroyed her long-cherished image of him.

  Not knowing what to do or say she turned and quietly left the room heading for the elevator to go back downstairs. She walked as if in a trance, knowing that she couldn’t remain there any longer.

  WILDE FINISHED THE call and noticed that his daughter was leaving the outer office again.

  How long had she been there and had she heard anything?

  If she had, what would he do?

  She was his daughter; surely he couldn’t order her death too?

  Could he?

  Before he came to any decision over this new and very disturbing development he had to learn just what she had overheard, perhaps then he could make a more informed decision.

  As much as he loved her, and he loved her more than life itself, he knew he could not allow her to jeopardise the success of everything he had worked so hard for over the past decade. He had endured too much at the feet of Maxwell Eisenhower. He would have to prevent her from spilling the beans to anyone. He must speak with her and hope that she would see sense over this. If not then he would have to take drastic measures. As much as it would pain him to, he could not allow anyone to get in his way, no matter who it was.

  7

  Hawk heard the warning shout from Johansen then the first explosion and knew they were in deep trouble. Inside the confines of the cavernous chamber the sound of the explosions was amplified enormously. The walls shook from the concussive blasts and large chunks began to fall around them.

  “We have to move NOW!” screamed Hawk, hoping his voice would carry above the deafening explosions. He needn’t have worried though as it was a thought that had occurred to them all and they moved to the rear of the chamber hoping to escape, or at the very least, find refuge from the falling rocks and blasts.

  De Boer was at Hawk’s side as was Johansen, but Patterson and Gates were lying on the floor closer to the entrance. Patterson had his back ripped open by shrapnel from the explosions and Gates was lying to his side crushed beneath a huge chunk of rock that had been blasted free from the wall.

  “I swear to God those bastards will pay for this,” said De Boer as he saw the bodies of his men.

  “Get in line, Colonel,” Hawk replied with barely contained fury emanating from his ice blue eyes.

  They found a tunnel at the back of the chamber and managed to squeeze through as the explosions ripped apart the main chamber. It was narrow but they could feel a slight gust of air as they went deeper.

  “We may have found a way out that they overlooked,” Hawk said as he led them down the tunnel. They had to stoop as they travelled further along the narrowing passage, but they began to feel fresher air stirring around them as they squeezed their bodies down it. Soon they were on their knees in a half crawl but their hopes were high that they would get out of their predicament.

  The light was fading as they entered the tunnel, intensified by all the dust thrown up by the explosions, but as they crawled down the tunnel that seemed to fade away and light from ahead began to force itself through the haze so they could see where they were going.

  Hawk led the small group followed by De Boer then Johansen. They had managed to keep hold of their weapons, which they planned to use at the first opportunity against their attackers.

  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, they reached the end of the passage, but then their hopes faded when they saw there was nothing more than a mere slit in the rock wall facing them.

  “Shit!” exclaimed Hawk when he saw the narrow aperture.

  De Boer looked over Hawk’s shoulder to see what had caused the exclamation and said, “Great, a fucking dead end.”

  Hawk looked behind him at the Colonel and said, “Is that the attitude they teach in Recon Delta now? We’re not dead yet, we’ll get out of here I’m sure.”

  “Oh this I’ve got to hear, just how do you intend getting out of here then? Do you plan on squeezing through that slit?”

  “Sort of,” Hawk replied with a grin.

  “Excuse me?” De Boer said, a little confused.

  “Pass me your Remm.”

  Passing the assault rifle to him, De Boer backed down the tunnel as he realised what Hawk
planned to do. He hoped his actions wouldn’t make their plight any worse than it already was.

  Hawk ramped the assault rifle up to full power and ensured it had a full battery pack inserted then fired a continuous burst at the slit.

  The pulsed plasma bolts struck the slit and blasted through the rock blowing a wide rent in the wall.

  The walls started to shake from the energy being blasted into them and chunks of rock began to fall around them.

  “Out now, move fast,” Hawk said as he scrambled free from their confines quickly followed by the two remaining members of the team.

  As the wall collapsed after them, closing up the exit, they all breathed a sigh of relief as they watched from a few feet away and safety.

  “Well, Colonel, we did it,” Hawk said.

  “Yes, now it’s payback time,” De Boer replied. Hawk realised he was glad he wasn’t the one to face the wrath of this man.

  RYGAR AND HIS MEN HEARD the blast from the assault rifle and knew what it meant.

  “Over there, the bastards found a way out, unbelievable,” he said. “Make sure their escape is short lived,” and they headed straight over to where the Recon Delta men had escaped their tomb.

  “COLONEL, DO YOU THINK it’s wise to engage an enemy who has superior forces and superior fire-power in a frontal assault?” Hawk asked, hoping to give the Colonel time to think before he rushed off to fight in anger.

  “Captain, I’m not about to allow these bastards to get away with attacking us and killing three of my men,” De Boer replied, clearly angry at both the mercs and Hawk for not wanting him to exact revenge on said mercs for the losses his team had endured.

  “Fools rush in but a wise man runs away to fight another day,” countered Hawk.

  De Boer rounded on him, his eyes blazing with fury.

  “Are you telling me to run away?” he snarled, his teeth clenched tightly together as an animalistic bloodlust threatened to engulf him.

  “Run away? Never! But if we leave on our own terms we can engage them at a future date when we’re better prepared. There’s no telling how many of them there are, but we’re down to three and who knows what other weapons they may have. I’m still in command of this mission, and as much as I want to rip into those bastards who attacked us, I’d rather find out who’s responsible for sending them here so we can get to the bottom of all this.”

  “Does any of that make sense to you, Colonel?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. Okay, I’m in agreement so let’s get back to the shuttle and get off this planet so we can alert Col Sec,” De Boer said.

  “This way then,” Hawk said, starting to climb up the side of the mountain. The wall before them was full of crags and rents suitable for hand and footholds. They soon made it up the side, high above where they had exited only moments earlier.

  Sub vocalising through a battle com. channel Hawk said, “Lieutenant Hall, we’re working our way around to you. We’ll be coming in hot so get the shuttle ready for take off the moment we arrive.”

  “Will be ready on your arrival, sir,” Hall replied through the same medium.

  RYGAR LED HIS TEAM towards the sound of blaster fire.

  “Where are they?” he said when they arrived at the place where they thought their targets should be.

  “Here’s where they escaped, sir,” said one of his team, indicating the rent in the wall caused by the blaster fire.

  “They can’t be far. Find them and kill them,” ordered Rygar.

  THE TRIO CLIMBED AS quickly and quietly as they could, scaling the mountain known as Q3. There was a large overhang they had to navigate around before they were out of danger from being spotted by Rygar and his team of mercs at the base. They climbed until they reached the overhang and then began the arduous route that would take them around and over this section of the mountain. Without any climbing gear their task was that much harder, made even worse by the fact that they were carrying weapons.

  Just as they reached the overhang and had started to climb around it their luck finally ran out. One of Rygar’s team happened to glance up and saw them.

  “There they are,” he shouted and the rest of the mercs looked up to where he indicated and raised their weapons to aim at the trio, easy targets.

  “Shit!” Hawk said as he heard the shouts from below. He glanced down and saw all the weapons being aimed their way. Quickly he reached for his Sig P996 and fired down at the group.

  “Move, I’ll try and hold them off until you clear the overhang then you can cover me,” he added. His pulsed plasma bolts struck the first targets he aimed at, killing two of the mercs with headshots. Blood and gore splashed their teammates as they stood in shock, their easy targets proving to have teeth.

  Hawk fired his Sig until the battery clip was empty but by that time De Boer and Johansen had reached the top of the overhang and were under cover.

  Hawk holstered his Sig and began to climb after the other two who had taken positions up ahead and were aiming their assault rifles down at the mercs who had fled to cover.

  “Hurry, we won’t be able to hold them off for too long,” De Boer sub-vocalised through a battle com. channel so that only Hawk could hear him.

  There was no need for any answer; his actions were the only reply the Colonel needed. Hawk climbed the overhang as fast as his tiring arms and legs would carry him and he was soon alongside his comrades.

  “Where to now? They have us pinned down. They’ll be able to work their way around and attack us from the rear,” De Boer said, a little angry at the way things had turned out for them.

  “We’ll just have to prevent them from doing that or get out of here before they can get the drop on us,” Hawk said as he quickly formulated several options in his mind.

  Using his NI he called Lieutenant Hall. “We’re not going to be able to make it to you, we’re pinned down on the mountainside. Use your scanners to locate us via our tracking chips, then come and pick us up.” Turning to De Boer he said, “Our ride home will be here shortly, we’ve just got to be ready and try and keep those bastards busy while Hall picks us up.”

  “Good move, it’ll be tricky but we should just make it, if we’re lucky that is,” replied the Colonel.

  “Lucky’s my middle name,” Hawk joked.

  “Thought it was ‘Trouble’,” said the Colonel with a half smile.

  Hawk took out his Sig P996 and ejected the battery clip from the butt, selected another from his belt and rammed it into the butt, pulled back on the slide to prime it which meant he was then ready to rock and roll. The spent battery clip was replaced into the slot in his belt where the minute charger would recharge it ready for use again. In that way soldiers and operatives in the field could have an endless supply of ammunition, solving a problem that had arisen when the space fleet’s supply lines were spread out across light years of space.

  Soon they heard the sound of the shuttle’s engines as the small craft approached them from above.

  Rygar also heard the approach of the craft and he looked up and caught sight of the shuttle coming towards them through the clouds.

  “Shoot that shuttle out of the sky, don’t let it get near them,” he ordered his team. The mercs brought their assault rifles to bear on the approaching shuttle in an attempt to bring her down.

  “Sir, they’re firing on the shuttle,” Johansen said as he saw what they were doing.

  “Let’s persuade them otherwise,” Hawk said and he fired down at the mercs with his Sig. His first shot killed one of the mercs standing furthest away from the mountain wall, the plasma bolt blowing his head apart.

  De Boer and Johansen joined in killing two more, before the mercs found cover behind some rocks and continued firing from their hidden position at the approaching shuttle.

  Hall steered the shuttle towards the mountain known as Q3, where the remainder of the team were positioned precariously on the mountain wall.

  Before taking off he had secured ropes next to the lateral hatch a
nd as he approached Hawk and the two soldiers he released them through the open hatch so they dangled down towards the trio.

  “Get up there, I’ll hold them off same as before,” Hawk said as the ropes came close to them from above. “You’ll have to hurry, he won’t be able to hold that position for very long,” he added.

  De Boer and Johansen grabbed hold of the ropes and began to climb as fast as they could whilst Hawk laid down covering fire with his Sig P996. As soon as they reached the hatch they climbed aboard. Hanging out of the hatch and holding a Remm assault rifle aimed at the mountain wall below Hawk’s position, De Boer shouted, “Okay Matt get your ass up here NOW.”

  Holstering his Sig, Hawk reached for the one remaining rope and started to climb up.

  De Boer and Johansen fired down at the mercs giving them something else to think about other than killing the climber.

  Disregarding the fatigue that was creeping up on him Hawk climbed the rope as fast as his aching arms would allow. Climbing aboard the shuttle he breathed a sigh of relief for a moment. “We’re not out of the woods yet guys, they could still come after us with their own craft. Let’s get back to the Valkyrie as quick as we can.”

  “Hall, get us outta here and back to the Valkyrie as fast as you can,” De Boer said and the pilot acknowledged by steering the shuttle away from the mountain.

  RYGAR CALLED THE PILOT of the freighter they came in on to come and pick them up too. He was not about to lose them now, he would give chase until he ran them down and killed them like the irritants they were.

  The freighter came swooping in low and dropped the rappelling lines out of the lateral hatch for Rygar and his men to climb up. Rygar was the first to reach the lines and was soon climbing up to the hatch. Once inside he went straight to the forward pilot’s cabin and said, “Get after that shuttle, if it escapes I’ll kill you myself. Bring the weapons systems online, I’ll man the targeting scanners.”