Incursion

by Paul Teague

  For a few moments, Ten ignored the file, trying to wish away the blinking alert in his HUD.

  “Fuck,” he said loudly. He pulled up the file, checked the locations, and ran the numbers. It would take time, but he had enough oxygen and power to check all three and still make it to the Sphere. It meant leaving Hunter with the Mechs for even longer, but what choice did he have?

  “Sorry, Hunter,” said Ten as he pushed the new flight plan into the SEV’s nav-computer, “you’ll have to hold out a little longer.”

  The SEV fired its manoeuvring thrusters and veered away from the Sphere, heading for the coordinates of the closest of the three casualties. The enemy had gone, but the fight zone was littered with Mech parts, SEV debris and the weird black discs the creatures had flown on.

  The first Marine was in good shape, but his SEV was dead and cold when Ten drew alongside. He opened a private channel. “You all right in there?”

  “Better for seeing you,” said a relieved male voice. “Thought I’d been abandoned out here.” There was an overtone of fear in the man’s voice, the fear of being left to a slow death in a cold craft. “Can you give me a tow?”

  “I’m not going back to Vengeance,” said Ten. “There’s only one way out of this.”

  “The Sphere? You’re mad,” said the Marine.

  “Ay, onwards to glory.”

  “There’s no way we survive this.”

  “Maybe,” admitted Ten, “but they’ve got Hunter, and Vengeance won’t last long.”

  “Shit,” said the Marine, and Ten could hear the change in his tone as he made his decision. “Can’t leave him behind. I’ll come to you.”

  Ten watched as the canopy of the damaged SEV shattered and floated in pieces into space. The Marine pulled himself out, a rifle slung on his back, then steadied himself against the outside of his craft.

  “Catch,” he murmured, then he launched himself at Ten’s craft. A few seconds later there was a clang as the Marine’s magnetic boots caught on the outside of the hull. “Good to go.”

  “Two more SEVs to check,” said Ten, “then we go in. You okay out there?”

  “Hell of a view,” said the Marine. “I’m Jackson, for what it’s worth.”

  “Call me Ten,” said Ten as he guided the SEV to the next set of coordinates. “You see anything alive in there?” he asked as they drew close to the SEV.

  “Shit. It’s Franklin, and she’s dead,” said Jackson. “Headshot.”

  “Roger,” said Ten through gritted teeth. “This day extracts a heavy toll.” Ten could feel his optimism draining away as the SEV approached the third casualty on Mason’s list.

  “Company,” warned Jackson, readying himself for action. There were five Mechs on the outside of the prone SEV, still hacking at its hull even though their comrades had long since left to attack Vengeance.

  Ten opened a channel to the Marine in the remaining SEV.

  “Hey, Marine, need some help?” he said, staying just far enough away from the other craft not to place himself in direct danger of a Mech attack.

  “Am I pleased to see you! Have you seen what these pricks are doing? They’re stripping my ship for spare parts,” said a woman’s voice. “It’s bloody outrageous!”

  “What’s your name, Marine?” Ten asked.

  “Irsia Gray. They’re almost in, so now would be a good time to act.”

  “Good to meet you, Gray. Jackson’s here as well, get ready to attack.”

  “Roger,” said Gray. “What’s the plan?”

  “Shoot them in the face till they’re dead,” said Ten. “Fifteen seconds, mark. Stand ready, Jackson.”

  20

  Ten brought the SEV to a halt ten metres from Gray’s vehicle. He popped the canopy, raised his rifle, and when the timer hit zero, he opened fire. Jackson swore and fired as well.

  The first two Mechs died in seconds, their bodies drifting slowly away under the impact of the bullets as they lost their grip on the outside of Gray’s SEV.

  Gray was struggling with her canopy, punching at the heavy glass with a power-armoured fist and shouting incoherently. A Mech reached into her SEV through a hole in the hull, arm disappearing up to its shoulder as it reached for the Marine.

  “Fuck,” said Gray as she was yanked back into the SEV. “Get off me, you fucking fuck,” she yelled.

  “Jackson, you have a shot?” Ten fired on a Mech that was cutting into Gray’s canopy.

  “On it,” said Jackson as the body of a third Mech collapsed under the weight of his fire. He shifted position, targeted the Mech that was trying to pull Gray’s arm off, and shot it in the back.

  The final Mech, perhaps realising that it was suddenly alone, turned to bring its weapon to bear on Ten’s SEV. The barrel spat fire and stitched a neat line of holes in the hull.

  Then Gray managed to pull herself free from the wreck of her vehicle and pointed her pistol at the remaining Mech.

  “Die, fucker,” she said with a tone of quiet triumph as she emptied her magazine into the Mech at short range. It went still, head a bloody ruin, and spun away into the void.

  “You okay, Gray?” said Jackson.

  “They’re tough buggers, aren’t they?” she said, out of breath as she reloaded her pistol. “And my SEV is dead. Did you see how easily they cut into the hull?”

  “Time to worry about that later,” said Ten. “We need to deal with that Sphere.”

  “Wait, what?” asked Gray. “You want to attack it?”

  “It’s the only way,” said Jackson. “And we’re the only ones who… shit, look out!”

  A sixth Mech had appeared, clambering around the outside of Gray’s SEV to grab her from behind. Its arms slid around her neck, and it wrapped its legs around her waist as it tried to twist off her helmet.

  “Help,” yelped Gray, struggling to bring her pistol to bear.

  “I don’t have a shot,” said Jackson, moving across the hull of Ten’s SEV as he sighted down his rifle. “Can’t get it.”

  Ten opened the canopy on his SEV and heaved himself into space.

  “Hold on, Gray,” he said, holding the edge of the craft and getting his feet beneath him, “hold on.”

  “I fucking heard you,” said Gray as she scrabbled for purchase on the Mech’s arm, trying to pull it away from her neck.

  Ten breathed out to steady his focus, then pushed off with his legs to launch himself across the gap between the two SEVs. As he flew, he drew his pistol and reactivated his power armour’s magnetic boots.

  “Gah,” said Gray as she saw Ten approaching.

  Then Ten slammed into her, almost knocking her loose. He pulled himself around to stand on the hull of the SEV, then put his pistol against the Mech’s faceplate and pulled the trigger.

  “Weirdly quiet,” said Gray as the Mech stopped struggling. “Can’t get over the lack of noise.”

  “You okay?”

  “Yeah, just about. Get it off me, would you?”

  Ten unwrapped the Mech’s legs and arms and pulled the corpse away from Gray.

  The Mech had a name etched into its metal frame. Wachowski. Was that Russian origin? Eastern European? Total coincidence, maybe?

  Ten tossed the Mech into space and turned to check on Jackson and his SEV.

  “Looking good,” said Jackson, waving. “What the hell is that?” he asked suddenly, pointing at Gray’s vehicle as his ride twisted slowly, turning to carry him out of view.

  Ten turned and clomped across the hull. “Just cuts where they were trying to get in,” he said. Then he stopped and looked again, and now he saw what Jackson had seen: a message scratched into the hull by the Mechs.

  DEATH TO SOL

  “What the hell…?” said Ten, capturing images through his HUD camera. The letters were crudely cut into the outer hull of the SEV, ugly and ill-formed but as clear as the stars. “A message. A message for us in English, and not a friendly one.”

  “Admiral Stansfield isn’t going to like this,” said Gra
y as she moved to stand beside Ten. “They know where we’re from. We need to tell Vengeance.”

  “You need to hold that thought a little longer, Gray. We’re ordered back to Vengeance, but we need to take the fight to the enemy. They took our cyborg mascot, and I want him back. Are you with us?”

  Gray was a young Marine, unversed in the etiquette of order-dodging, but familiar with the ‘get it done’ doctrine of the Commandos.

  “Vengeance is my first combat posting,” she said after a moment’s hesitation. She glanced across the void at the battleship. Its surface seemed to be moving as the Mechs crawled all over it, and she shuddered.

  “Funny you should say that,” she said carefully, “but I’ve been having comms problems with my HUD. Must be the Mechs… Ten, watch out!”

  Ten turned fast, and a Mech smashed into him. The cluster Boss wrapped its arms around him so that he couldn’t move. And then it began to squeeze, locking his arms against his sides so that even with the power armour, he couldn’t break free.

  Ten could see the thing’s eyes glinting behind its faceplate, mere inches from his face. He leant back, trying to pull free, but the thing held him tight. There was an ominous creak from the armour, and a pressure warning appeared in his view.

  “Watch its head!” warned Gray, and Ten blinked at a row of spikes that had appeared on the Mech’s forehead. He squirmed and pulled but couldn’t break free. All he could do was watch as the Mech pulled its head back, then slammed it forward into Ten’s helmet. The spikes skittered across the surface but didn’t puncture the helmet. The Mech pulled back and headbutted Ten again.

  And now it was Ten’s turn to call for help. He tried to shuffle around to give Gray a clear line of sight, but the Mech smashed against his helmet again, and Ten saw sudden lights in his vision as his head was rammed back and forth.

  Again and again, the Mech pounded Ten’s helmet. Between strikes, Ten felt vibrations through the hull of the SEV, as if someone were banging it like a drum.

  Then the Mech went limp and fell back, pulled clear by something.

  Ten blinked the lights from his eyes and shook his head to clear it. Gray was in front of him, holding the shattered corpse of the Mech in one hand and her pistol in the other.

  “Did you get him?” said Jackson. Ten and Gray looked over to see Jackson coming back into view as Ten’s SEV continued to revolve. “Is it dead?”

  “Gray got it,” said Ten gratefully. “That’s got to be the last of these buggers for now, right?”

  “Yup, they come in tens,” said Jackson.

  “So, what were you saying about that Sphere?” said Gray. “I’m up for the trip, but my SEV is fucked.”

  “Are you sure?” said Ten. “Are you wearing a clone?”

  “Of course,” said Gray in a tone that suggested any other option was utterly insane. “And so is Jackson, and the rest of our company. Who isn’t, these days?”

  “The rest of Charlie Team,” said Ten darkly, “and most of the crew of Vengeance, it seems.”

  “Yeah, well, they’re properly weird and old,” said Gray. “We arrived on Colossus and were off-loaded to Kingdom 10 while we waited for Vengeance to arrive from wherever she’d been.”

  “Have you died before, Gray?” asked Ten quietly.

  “No,” said Gray.

  “Me neither,” said Jackson.

  “Well, this isn’t the time to start practising, okay?”

  “Vengeance doesn’t have cloning bays yet,” said Gray, as they watched Jackson take control of Ten’s SEV and guide it carefully across the short gap, “but I think Colossus delivered new equipment to Kingdom 10 at the same time she dropped us off. You’ve got a mix of cloned Marines and Vengeance original crew on board. So if you’re asking if I mind joining you on a one-way suicide mission, my answer is ‘yes’. I’m too raw to have lost a skin yet, but there’s got to be a first time, right?”

  “Definitely,” said Ten as Jackson brought the SEV close enough for them to step across the gap between the craft. “And this is as desperate a situation as you could wish for.”

  They were quiet for a few moments as Gray and Ten stowed the gear they’d rescued from Gray’s SEV and arranged themselves on the outside of the hull.

  “The comms with Vengeance are dead,” said Jackson as he triggered the thrusters to move them clear of Gray’s SEV. “The ship has gone completely dark. We’re on our own.”

  21

  A breach warning was the first sign the Mechs had penetrated Vengeance’s hull. The klaxon wailed throughout the ship until someone hit the override control.

  “External comms are offline, sir,” said the midshipman at the communication console. “Internal channels still functional.”

  “Give me an update, Commander,” said Stansfield.

  “Three breaches, Admiral,” said Vernon. “Two in the bays, one in the vents.”

  “Damn it, Ed. I ordered the vents to be sealed.”

  “They cut their way in and past the seals, sir, nothing we could do to stop them.”

  “Refresh my memory, Fernandez,” said Stansfield. “The bridge uses a separate venting system, yes?”

  “We’re going to get a breach in this bay any moment, sir! The Mechs are forcing the doors, there’s no stopping them.”

  “An answer to my question, please, Fernandez,” said Stansfield calmly.

  “You’re secure, sir. The bridge has its own life-support and venting systems, and all security, power and essential services can be diverted to the bridge.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant. Keep me briefed, and make sure you’re ready to send those Mechs packing if they breach your bay.”

  “Ay, sir, we’ll be ready,” said Fernandez, sounding anything but prepared and ready.

  “Report from Bay Three, sir,” said Vernon. “Defensive teams pulling back, the bays are too large to defend, and they’re at risk of being overrun by Mechs. A similar report from Bay Ten.”

  Vernon was beginning to show signs of stress. He looked like a man with the troubles of the world on his shoulders.

  “Thank you, Commander,” said Stansfield, scanning the data flowing through the command centre. This was the most alive he’d felt since coming out of stasis. This is what made life worth living.

  In Bay Seven, Kearney and Mason watched the inside of the outer doors with Lieutenant Fernandez and a small team of Marines. All wore power armour, and they’d thrown together a defensive position behind a bank of packing crates and half-assembled cloning equipment.

  “Kearney, Mason,” said Stansfield in their HUDs. “I want regular updates and a visual feed.”

  “Will do, sir. Any news on Hunter and Ten?” said Kearney.

  “No news,” said Stansfield. “And I want you to catch one of those things alive, find out what makes it tick, understood?”

  “Ay, sir,” said Mason, “but what about Davies and Conway?”

  “Safely on the other side of the portal,” said the admiral before he cut the channel.

  “Love you too, sir,” said Mason with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

  “How long till they get the bay doors open?” asked Kearney. “Have I got time to update my will?”

  Mason snorted. “What do you own that anyone would want?”

  “I'll have you know I have an excellent collection of primitive 3D films from the early twenty-first century depicting a team of heroes as they struggle to–” Kearney’s reply was lost behind a squeal of tortured metal as the bay door was finally levered open. The atmosphere howled out, sweeping past the Mechs that crawled across the hull.

  “Stand by,” said Kearney, aiming her rifle across the top of their improvised fort.

  “Bay doors breached, sir,” said Mason, back on the line to the admiral. “They literally prised them open, hundreds of them.”

  And then the firing began. It was noisy at first, but grew quickly quieter as the last remnants of the bay’s atmosphere blew out into space until the two sides were fighting in t
otal silence.

  “Eerie,” said Mason as he shot a Mech that was clambering along a wall.

  “They’re all over the place,” said Kearney. “They move so fast in here.”

  With the bay doors open, the Mechs crawled in through the gaps like an ant nest on the move. They swarmed between the doors, and the moment they stepped into Vengeance’s artificial gravity field, they sped up.

  Mason updated the bridge crew. “They’re incredible. Even at speed, they’re laying down accurate fire. We’re hardly slowing them.”

  “We need to fall back,” said Kearney. “We’ll never hold them here.”

  “The Admiral wants one alive,” said Mason, firing at the Mechs that ran across the open bay.

  “Any idea how we’re supposed to do that?” yelled Kearney, her own rifle firing continuously.

  “Not a fucking clue,” said Mason. He tossed a grenade across the bay, then ducked back behind the crates to reload his rifle. “Where’s Ten when you need him?” he muttered to himself.

  “We need a different strategy, Lieutenant,” said Kearney. The Mechs had taken cover amongst the vehicles in the bay, and now the two sides were standing off taking potshots at each other. “It’s only a matter of time before we run out of cover and they kill us all,” she said as the crate to her left disappeared in a cloud of splinters.

  “Agreed,” said Fernandez. “Admiral, we’re withdrawing from Bay Seven,” he said, waving at Mason to give the order. “Evacuate the atmosphere behind us. Have any other bays been breached?”

  “Bays One and Nine are lost,” said Stansfield. “Capture me one of those things alive, there has to be a way of disabling them. They’re just tech, and that means they’ll have an off button.”

  “Fall back into the corridor, Marines,” ordered Kearney, hurling grenades over the barricades. “Me, Mason and Fernandez are going to try and capture us a souvenir. Give us cover when we come out.”

  The Marines moved towards the door, firing as they went, and slid out into the corridor beyond. The door closed behind them and, just like that, the firing stopped.