Omega

by Jan Domagala

  “A few times, but I don’t know how that helps,” she admitted.

  “It helps us understand his mindset and from that we can maybe work out his intentions,” Hawk said. “Sir, I think he probably blames Col Sec for certain things he sees as not going right in his life, and with you being in command you could be the focus, his main target. In his evaluation was he borderline psychotic with sociopathic tendencies?”

  “I believe so, yes.”

  “Then his interests will be self-centred and he will view himself as being superior to all others. His interests, his opinions and his purpose will be the only things relevant to him and are the only things he’ll give precedence to. He’s using those pent-up ill feelings and frustration towards Col Sec to fuel this scheme and I wouldn’t be surprised if he planned to attack Col Sec itself and, seeing you as the focus, the target will be this building.”

  “How can you be so sure?” asked Tanya.

  “Your father arranged for us to capture one of his clones, probably leaked the Intel to us either directly or via a third party. We duly brought him here to be interrogated. That was probably just a test to see if we’d take the bait and bring the clone back here.”

  “Why though? That piece of the puzzle has been bothering me from the start,” asked Sinclair.

  “I have a theory that Wilde arranged for us to capture the clone so we’d bring him back here to see if they could track him. All Recon Delta marines have a tracking chip in their NI, as do all top-level staff at Col Sec, so why not assume that Wilde had the same for all OMEGA staff. I would guess that Miss Wilde here has one too and I’d bet anything that Wilde is going to use that signal to target the Nemesis’ weapons.”

  “Are you suggesting he’d use his own daughter as some sort of laser pointer to paint the target?” Sinclair asked.

  “But if he wanted her here why did he try to kill us all before we left Cordoba? It doesn’t make sense,” De Boer said, unable to see past the small details for the moment and view the larger overall scheme of things.

  Hawk took on board what the Colonel said, seeing the rationale behind it, then the truth dawned on him as another piece of the puzzle fell into place.

  “It makes perfect sense. If he wanted Tanya here for the purpose I’ve suggested, what’s the best way to ensure she got here? Make us think he was trying to kill her, and knowing she was carrying data vital to the case against him, he knew that we would do everything we could to keep her safe, to the point of bringing her to the safest location, probably in the galaxy – Confederation HQ,” he explained with a look that said they were in real trouble.

  “Are you saying then that the attack on our shuttle was staged, because it felt damn real to me?” De Boer said still not convinced.

  “Oh no, it was real enough, he probably told his men to kill us so it would appear genuine.”

  “And if they’d succeeded?”

  “Oh no doubt it would’ve slowed him down but I’m sure only momentarily. I feel certain he’d have a backup plan or at the very least an idea he could utilise. He seems very organised, structured almost to the point of being anal, but I wonder if he’s had to adapt this plan of his or if this is exactly what he wanted, what he planned all along.”

  “What’s the difference, either way we’re screwed,” interjected the first marine.

  “Not quite, if this is his plan and it’s going along as he predicted it means he’s logical, methodical and he’s foreseen every step we’ll make and he’s planned a counter move like a chess grand master. If that’s so, then we can use that to our advantage,” answered Hawk.

  “How?” asked the marine.

  “By doing something unpredictable, something he can’t have planned for,” Hawk explained.

  “And if it’s the second option?” asked the second marine.

  “We could have a problem. If he’s adapted his plan to changes we’ve made then it shows he’s not only a brilliant strategist but able to think on his feet and come up with solutions to problems as they present themselves. Stopping him could be tough.”

  “Like I said, we’re screwed,” the first marine said.

  “Not at all, I said it could be tough, I didn’t say it would be impossible,” Hawk replied optimistically.

  Before anyone could say anything further the building began to tremble and they all heard a loud explosion seemingly from a distance but close enough to be heard and felt. They felt the floor move beneath their feet and the walls shake as bits of mortar and plascrete began to shower down on them.

  Sinclair looked at Hawk and said, “It’s started.”

  18

  In close approach to Earth the Nemesis chose a geo- synchronous orbit that would place her over Confederation HQ so they could target their weapons onto the building directly. Her primary shields kept her safe from the orbiting platforms that had been manoeuvred into position to defend the planet. A well-aimed Hammerhead missile took out the nearest platform then three more took out the remaining ones. Luckily they were automated platforms so no lives were lost when they were destroyed. That couldn’t be said for when the Nemesis turned her weapons towards the planet itself. Once the pulse cannons were targeted at the Headquarters building and began to fire, the loss of life was devastatingly high.

  The first salvo destroyed the entire top three floors of the building; two hundred and twenty-four lives were snuffed out in a blink of an eye. The only saving grace being that they died instantly with no knowledge or fear of it happening and no pain when it did. They died mercifully swiftly. That couldn’t be said for those who died after that. They all knew it was coming so they died in pure terror and ungodly agony as the building was razed to the ground, one level at a time, slowly, methodically and with absolutely no regard whatsoever for the lives that would be lost in the implementation of this act.

  The devastating attack was felt throughout the building right down to the sub-basement levels where the Intelligence Division was housed.

  “We need to mount some kind of defence or at the very least get you to a safe location,” suggested De Boer.

  “And where would you suggest, Colonel? I can think of no safer place than right here, that is until about five minutes ago,” Sinclair retorted.

  “The Colonel’s right, sir. The problem is if they’re using Tanya’s NI to track and target, no matter where you go they’ll find you. We need a way to jam the signal,” Hawk said.

  Sinclair said, “I’ve got Tec Division working on that along with other problems since we learned that OMEGA had the same tec and munitions as we do, to try and navigate around that problem and give us some kind of edge.”

  “Isn’t that like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted, sir?” commented De Boer.

  “Hopefully not. Let’s go see what they’ve come up with,” Sinclair said.

  CAPTAIN JEFFERSON WAS sitting in the command chair on the bridge of the Valkyrie watching the huge battle carrier approach the Earth as she prepared to enter a geo-synchronous orbit over the Confederation Headquarters building.

  “Jesus H Christ sir, look at the size of her,” exclaimed the pilot.

  “She sure is impressive, never seen or heard of a ship like her before, hope to God she’s one of ours,” Jefferson said in awe of the monster before them.

  “Should we scan them, sir?” asked ops.

  “I’m sure Col Sec know what they’re doing,” Jefferson replied.

  “Sir, I’m reading the orbiting defence platforms just went hot and are targeting the new bird and Tiger squadron has just scrambled,” ops said urgently as his instruments came alive before him.

  “What the...” exclaimed Jefferson as he leaned forward in his seat, his gaze fixed on the forward viewscreen. He watched as the Nemesis fired Hammerhead missiles at the orbiting defence platforms destroying all four then, unbelievably, the huge ship’s pulse cannons began firing towards the planet’s surface.

  “Sir, they’re firing on Confederation HQ,” ops said. />
  “What do we do, sir?” the pilot asked urgently.

  Jefferson sat back in his chair a feeling of helplessness overwhelming him. His ship was fast and powerful for her size but to attempt to go up against the monster facing them would be like an ant facing off against an elephant, they would get trampled without the elephant even being aware of the ant’s existence.

  With reluctance he said, “Against that thing, what can we do?”

  THE TEC DIVISION WAS on the same sub-level as the Intelligence Division so it was just a short walk – a very rushed walk – along a few corridors until they reached their destination.

  When they entered the large room it resembled a factory more than a tec lab. There were workbenches laid out along the entire length of the long room, strewn with equipment and devices of all shapes and sizes that were in various stages of repair.

  A man wearing a lab coat, the same as all the tec guys working there, came to greet them at the door, a worried expression on his face.

  Tall and slim with thinning hair combed across his pate and with ocular implants, he looked every inch the geek he obviously was; yet the straight back and military bearing gave the opposite impression.

  “General, what the devil is happening, are we under attack?” he asked in a voice that showed the strain they were all under.

  “Yes, Major Purvis, we indeed are under attack and that is why we are here to see if your efforts can help us,” Sinclair answered.

  “We’ve made some progress, sir, but I’m not sure how it’ll help against an invasion.”

  “Show us, then we’ll decide if it’ll be of any use to us.”

  “Come this way, sir,” Purvis said as he turned back into the room and led them over to his workstation. “When you informed me of what OMEGA had in terms of the same tec as us, I went back to basics as it were. If they have Neural Interfaces like us there’s a good chance they could access our com. satellites, channels and even the battle com., so like I said, I’ve gone back to basics. I designed this ear bug which, when placed inside the ear, enables you to communicate with anyone else using the same network. It will be isolated from the usual networks and double encrypted so there will be little or no chance of your com. chatter being intercepted. In time we can have them implanted inside the ear canal for safety reasons. As I’m sure you’re aware, placing them inside the ear means they could be dislodged with vigorous activity.”

  “Impressive,” said Hawk. “Anything else?” he added.

  “I’m not sure, we’ve got a few things under development but nothing quite ready.”

  “We need something to combat that huge ship, or something that would help get a team on board,” Hawk said.

  “I might be able to get you on board,” Tanya said and they all turned to look at her as if they’d forgotten she was there.

  “Excuse me?” De Boer said incredulously.

  “I... er... can get you on board; well I can get you through the shields if they’re similar to those at the MaxCorp building where Dad works. I don’t know about the locks on the docking bays but then again if they’re the same principle as my Dad’s office then I can get you in those as well. Why are you all staring at me like I’ve gone mad?” Tanya said in that rambling, breathless way of hers.

  Hawk came over to reassure her and said, “It’s okay Tanya, we don’t think you’re mad, we’re just not sure you quite grasp the complexity of the situation.”

  “Why, ’cause I’m a girl? Listen, my NI allows me access to areas in the MaxCorp building that only top-level managerial staff members have. Dad made sure I could go wherever I wanted if I needed to speak to or see him. Some areas are shielded to keep out those not authorised but I can just walk through them. My NI has a recognition code embedded within it, which negates the security protocols embedded in the shields or locks. Now if they’re the same on the ship, and I have no reason to think he’d change them, then I should be granted access,” she said, showing she had a firmer grasp of the situation than they had assumed.

  “This might work,” Hawk said and then turned to Purvis, “I need as many of these com. bugs as you have.” Finally to De Boer he said, “Fancy a trip into the belly of the beast Colonel?”

  “Hell yeah!” came the rousing reply from him and the two marines.

  “Assemble your team, Colonel, you’ll need at least a full squad,” Sinclair said. “I’ll contact Jefferson on the Valkyrie to stand by, he can transport you onto the Nemesis.”

  Hawk turned back to Purvis to ask, ”Is there any way you could extract those recognition codes from Tanya’s NI?”

  “I’d have to log onto the NI and search through all the codes written on it, but there’s no telling which would be the right one. It could take some time but I’m sure I could do it if Miss Wilde wouldn’t mind. I may have to extract the NI for an in-depth search,” Purvis said with a thoughtful expression.

  “Time is something we don’t have, she goes with you,” Sinclair said with a tone that brooked no argument.

  “I can’t ask her to do that, she’s a civilian,” Hawk argued.

  “You don’t have to ask, I’m ordering you to take her with you.”

  “Again with the ‘she’s a civilian.’ You can order me but not her. If she says no then she stays here and we figure something else out.”

  “What ‘something else’, there is no ‘something else’. We’re right out of options, Matt, you know that as well as I do.”

  “You don’t have to ask, I’ll go,” Tanya said virtually stepping in between the two men whose voices were getting louder and angrier with each new word, or so it seemed to her.

  She’d had men fight over her before, well, argue really, they never actually came to blows, but this was different. This was important, life or death important, and not just who she would dance with first. This was how many lives will it save important, and she had no hesitation in saying yes. Was she afraid? Not yet but she was sure that would change sooner rather than later. She was also sure that these men, especially the dishy, tall, broad shouldered one, Matt, would keep her safe from harm no matter what, she knew that.

  So really there was nothing to be afraid of, except fear itself.

  Hawk, Sinclair and the rest of them turned to look at her, “What, have I just grown another head or something?” she asked suddenly nervous under their scrutiny.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?” Hawk asked, concern causing deep furrows across his brow, his ice blue eyes intensely boring into her to see if she had the strength to do what would be asked of her if she went along.

  “The General’s right, you’re out of options and short on time. You have to take me along,” she replied earnestly. “Do I want to go, quite frankly, no, but I can’t allow my father to go through with this, he’s done enough harm already and it has to stop.”

  “Okay then,” Hawk said, smiling to reassure her and also feeling quite proud of her for showing some steel, “I don’t like it, but it seems we have to go.

  Sinclair smiled at her also, like a father who was proud of his daughter’s achievements.

  De Boer placed a beefy hand on her shoulder and softly said, “Don’t worry girl, we’ll make sure you’re okay, no harm will come to you while we’re at your side.”

  She looked up into his stern countenance and said, “You’d better not let anything happen to me, I’ve got plans for when this is all over,” then leaning into him she whispered, “but don’t tell him, I don’t want to scare him off,” indicating Hawk with a slight nod of her head.

  De Boer smiled, the first time she’d seen it and he said, “Don’t worry Miss, I’ll personally make sure he turns up for whatever you have in mind.”

  “Tanya, call me Tanya please.”

  “My pleasure, Tanya.”

  WILDE PACED THE WIDTH of the bridge watching the forward viewscreen as the Nemesis’ pulse cannons fired down towards the planet’s surface.

  Tanis Rygar, the Rover5 and what was left of the merc
enaries, all stood at the rear of the room watching the events unfold on the viewscreen.

  “Sir, we have incoming fighters, it’s the Tiger squadron based at Col Sec HQ,” said ops.

  “Launch all our fighters, wipe them out then continue firing at the HQ, raze that building to the ground,” Wilde replied coldly. Briefly turning to Rygar he said, “You and your men take two troop carriers full of my new Rover5s and head down to the HQ, make sure they’re all dead. I want no survivors, is that clear?”

  “Yes, sir,” Rygar said, then just as he was about to leave Wilde halted him by saying, “No wait, if General Sinclair is still breathing, bring him here to me.”

  “What about your daughter, sir, shall I bring her too?”

  “Only if she’s alive, if she gives you any trouble, kill her.”

  19

  The destruction of the Confederation Headquarters building was unrelenting. Wave after wave, salvo upon salvo of high intensity pulsed plasma bolts pounded down, blasting it with each consecutive strike. More and more of the building was blasted away until finally the firing stopped and the once proud edifice that had stood tall for everyone to see, embodying the hopes, wishes and ideals, everything that the Confederation stood for, was nothing more than a burnt out wreck.

  The loss of life was horrendous; hundreds died in the first few seconds of the attack and then more died as the panic set in and escape became the only thought the survivors could think of. Like lemmings, many hurled themselves from sections that had been destroyed, through windows or walls blasted open to the air and to certain death below. Many more were crushed in the mad rush for any exit that seemed a possibility, making it nothing more than a panic-fuelled stampede.

  The true death toll would not be known for many weeks, maybe even months, after the attack when all the names could be correlated with the remaining body parts. DNA would have to be used where no recognisable evidence remained. The final count was bound to be in the thousands.