Harbinger

by Ken Lozito

  Dash and the Ovarrow arrived, and Connor gestured to one of the containers aboard the troop carrier as where they’d stow the Ovarrow's armor and weapons.

  “Come on,” Connor said. “I’ll brief you on the way.”

  They walked up the loading ramp, and this time the Ovarrow were a lot more familiar with the troop carrier. They went to the section that was dedicated to them, and Cerot and Dash followed Connor to the front. It was always hard to gauge what the Ovarrow were thinking, but Connor speculated that Cerot looked a little excited to be on the troop carrier again. He was keenly interested in any of the vehicles the colonists used, be they for military or civilian applications. He’d even brought up the possibility of convincing the high commissioner to request a few of the rovers for their use. The Ovarrow equipment they’d found stored was several hundred years old, and anything left unused for that long wouldn’t be in prime operating condition. However, there were some bunkers that'd been hermetically sealed, so they hadn't deteriorated over time. But they'd also sat unused, and there was a lengthy process to make those vehicles operational again. The Ovarrow were primarily restricted to ground transportation, but Connor wondered how long it would be before they were able to restore more of their vehicles. They were capable of creating machines for atmospheric flight.

  “Are we heading to the base at New Haven?” Dash asked.

  Connor shook his head. “No, there’s a compound closer to Sanctuary. We have an arch there.”

  Dash’s expression was one of appreciation. “That was fast.”

  “Once we had the first one working, we built a second and then a third. We didn’t want to be reliant on finding a Krake version. And I don’t know how many arches they had on the planet. Anyway, it’s quite a setup, and you’ll get to see it,” Connor said. He activated a holoscreen. “We opened the arch and sent a reconnaissance drone through. It has a look around and then comes back. This video is from a world where we believe there’s a Krake city.”

  The others watched the holoscreen. The video had been taken from the vantage point of the drone as it ascended. In the distance, there was a distinct outline that was purely artificial. It wasn’t a natural occurrence, and the recon drone attempted to zoom in on the structures in the distance. They looked to have been artificially created. It was a large series of buildings that could be the beginning of a small city. Then the video feed cut off.

  “This is the first world we’ve seen that has any kind of structure on it,” Connor said.

  “How do we know this is of Krake origin?” Dash asked.

  “We can’t be one hundred percent sure," Connor said. "It could be an Ovarrow settlement or something else entirely. The universe coordinates were taken from the Krake forward operating base. It wasn’t one they visited, so we suspected it was something they came from. That’s why we think this location is associated with the Krake and not the Ovarrow. It’s our best lead so far, and we’re going to have another look. There's a good chance we’ll be sending a scout force through.”

  Cerot informed them that he was going to give an update to his soldiers. Once he was gone, Connor motioned for Dash to come closer.

  “I need your opinion on Cerot and the others. You’ve spent the past few days with them. What’s your impression? Are they ready for this?” Connor asked.

  Dash glanced at the other end of the troop carrier where the Ovarrow had gathered. The CDF soldiers nearby watched them. “I think it was a good idea to allow them to come to Sanctuary. That gave them more of an insight into us. Even though we still have communication barriers, I just get a sense that there's more of an understanding. There are a couple of them who . . .” Dash said and paused for a few seconds. “They’re very quiet, so I don’t really have an impression of them. It’s Esteban and Wesley. Joe, Felix, and Luca seem more open-minded about learning new things. There's a big difference with Cerot because he seems young, but at the same time, he’s . . . you can tell he’s been through a lot.”

  Connor thanked him, and the troop carrier pilot announced that they'd be reaching their destination in a few minutes.

  “Dash, I know you’ve agreed to come with us, and I appreciate that, but I wanted to give you the option of staying behind,” Connor said, and Dash immediately protested. “No one would think less of you if you did. Exploring New Earth is one thing, but having been through this a few times, I can tell you it’s quite different and very dangerous.”

  “I understand, Connor, and you don’t have to worry about me. I’ll keep my head down and do as I'm told—you know, leave the soldiering to the professionals.”

  Connor gave him a long look, considering. “That’s just it. You’re much more capable than the average citizen, but you’re not a soldier. You’ll be armed, and you might be called upon to do more than you ever have before.”

  Dash gave him a determined look. “I won’t let you down.”

  Connor had trained a lot of soldiers throughout his career. There were some who excelled in a training environment, only to freeze up during a hostile situation. Even though Dash had never been through a CDF boot camp, much less any of the additional years of training that ranger companies went through, he'd been in some tough situations. Connor could have brought in another specialist or a soldier who knew the Ovarrow translator interface and had a basic rudimentary knowledge of it, but nothing could take the place of the years of study Dash had done at the Colonial Research Institute and in the field on New Earth. Dash knew the Ovarrow to a degree that very few had attained.

  Connor had also seen it with Lenora. This was an important mission, and he needed answers as quickly as possible because lives might depend on it. And even though Dash thought he knew what it was going to be like, Connor actually had a better idea. The platoons that made up the 7th Ranger Company were all seasoned soldiers, but it was Carl Flint’s men who'd actually been to another world and engaged the Krake. Connor had absolute faith in Samson, but he wouldn’t have minded Flint being with them. The trouble with finding truly capable soldiers was that they tended to be put in charge, and sometimes that spread the forces pretty thin.

  The troop carriers headed to the LZ inside the walls of the compound. There were habitat units on the other side where the permanent residents stayed, but the bulk of the compound was in one large warehouse capable of holding several squadrons of combat shuttles or dozens of the troop carriers they’d flown in on.

  As they went inside the warehouse, Connor caught his first glimpse of the arch. It was on an elevated platform that was capable of either maintaining the arch at ground level or raising it thirty meters straight up. That had been a last-minute addition when they discovered that some of the universes they opened a gateway to had different elevations on the other side. The gateway could still be opened whether it was aboveground or beneath it. They wouldn’t be able to go through if it was beneath the ground, but the goal was to explore what was on the other side. Massive power cables coiled on the ground near the platforms that raised the arch. Connor knew that a great deal of effort had gone into maintaining the alignment so they had a stable gateway. The arch itself was six meters tall and fifteen meters across at the base.

  While everyone else waited below, Connor, Samson, Dash, and Cerot walked up to the command center, which maintained its elevation to be level with the arch. They used the staircase outside the command center to reach it, and even though the steps were wide enough for the average human foot, the Ovarrow's feet were both longer and wider than the average human's. But Cerot didn’t hesitate to go up the stairs. Dash told Connor it was only the second time the Ovarrow had ever used stairs. In their cities, they typically built long ramps to ascend to upper levels.

  Connor entered the command area and Major Kent Henderson greeted him. By his side was the familiar face of Dr. Volker, whom Connor had had transferred from the CDF base by New Haven for the purpose of this project.

  “General Gates,” Henderson said, “welcome to Independence Compound. We’v
e just completed our second scouting run and have some additional intel for you.”

  “Show us what you have,” Connor replied.

  Henderson brought up several holoscreens and gestured to a particular area. These were more detailed images of the structures Connor had initially seen. Even though it was still quite distant, they were able to see large groups of figures moving in the distance. They couldn’t tell whether they were Ovarrow or Krake, and he also couldn’t discount the possibility that they were something else altogether. Scientists believed it was highly unlikely that they would find another completely different species. This made perfect sense to Connor because the Krake had obviously been using the multiverse for quite some time, and nothing indicated that they’d found anything but a variance of themselves in these different universes.

  “General Gates,” Volker said, “these images are very exciting. I was alarmed by the number of mixed results we had in the beginning.”

  “What were you expecting?” Connor asked.

  Dr. Volker scratched his dark beard. “I was expecting more worlds like ours, but what we’ve been seeing is a lot of variation that goes well beyond different climates. Some of them have a completely different composition and are entirely lifeless. But not this one. There's a civilization here, but with the type of reconnaissance we’re allowed to do, we're limited to a peek on the other side.”

  Connor nodded. “We don’t want to draw attention to ourselves.”

  “I completely understand. I was just hoping to provide more information that you could base a decision on,” Volker replied.

  “I have to agree with him,” Major Henderson said. “You brought a team with you, so will you be launching an operation to go through the arch?”

  Connor glanced at Cerot. “Do you recognize those buildings?” he asked and gestured toward one of the images on the holoscreen.

  The Ovarrow peered at the image and then opened the translator interface. “They appear to be of Krake design, at least partially.”

  Connor glanced at Dash.

  “I see what he means,” Dash said, gesturing toward a different part of the image where the buildings appeared to be rounded at the top. “These are more in line with the architecture we’ve found here, so they must be Ovarrow, at least at one time. But these other buildings don’t match anything we’ve seen so far. Maybe they built something temporary,” he said and asked Cerot a question.

  “I’ve never seen these types of materials before. Therefore, they are Krake,” Cerot answered.

  “General, I don’t think that’s enough to go on,” Major Henderson said.

  “That’s the problem,” Connor replied. “We’re making our best guess. I think this warrants us taking a closer look.”

  “We have armored rovers, but we don’t have any stealth ships here,” Major Henderson said.

  Connor glanced at Samson for a moment, and they shared a look. “No, we need to minimize our footprint. We’ll be going across in combat suits. They can keep up with any rover, and they give us more flexibility with the terrain we can cover.”

  Dash cleared his throat. “Excuse me, General Gates, but what about the Ovarrow? Their powered armor isn’t as capable as the combat suits are.”

  Dash was right, and there was no way they could adapt the combat suits for Ovarrow use. He looked at Major Henderson.

  “All the equipment here is designed for us,” Henderson said.

  “If they want to risk it,” Samson said, “they could hitch a ride on the combat suit heavies if we had to move quickly.”

  “I’m not sure they’ll like that,” Dash said. “Isn’t there something else they can use to keep up?”

  Connor frowned for a moment and shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Everything is designed for us, and we want to reduce our presence so we’re not bringing any vehicles.”

  “I’ll go get the 7th ready, sir,” Samson said and left.

  Dash explained the situation to Cerot. Connor knew the Ovarrow were used to walking long distances, but if they got into a situation where they really had to move, they wouldn't be able to keep up with the soldiers in combat suits.

  “What about a couple of MPSs?” Dash asked. “They're designed to be worn by—well, by anyone, and despite certain physical anomalies between humans and the Ovarrow, they’re bipedal. The suit doesn’t have to actually provide protection, but it could enable them to move faster than they otherwise could.”

  Connor shook his head. “They don’t know how to use them, and there's no interface for them to utilize the features. MPSs are reliant on the standard implant interface. They wouldn’t be able to turn them off and on. The MPS isn’t going to help.”

  He tried to think of something they could bring that could help the Ovarrow, but there wasn’t really anything that would fit the parameters. Most importantly, they couldn’t leave anything behind. Samson was right. The Ovarrow would have to hitch a ride.

  Cerot looked at Connor. “Stealth is most important for scouting missions. The Mekaal will not be a burden.”

  “I’m glad you understand. We’re taking a small force through the archway. Therefore, I can only allow three of you to come with us. The others will have to stay behind,” Connor said.

  Cerot read the translation and turned to look at the arch for a few moments. Then he looked at Connor and gave him a single nod. Cerot had picked up on a few human gestures, and he’d seen Cerot and some of the other Ovarrow mimic human mannerisms when interacting with the colonists.

  Connor left the command center and headed back down, Dash and Cerot following. A CDF soldier met him at the bottom of the stairs and saluted.

  “General Gates, sir, I’m to escort you to your combat suit,” Corporal Julia Bradley said.

  “Lead the way, Corporal Bradley.”

  Bradley turned smartly on her heel and set a brisk pace, leading them over to the staging area. Cerot went to speak to the other Ovarrow.

  Connor was already wearing an MPS that had been specifically designed for him. The suit redistributed its mass so it wouldn’t weigh him down all that much, and he kept it on when he climbed into the Nexstar combat suit.

  Dash gave the Nexstar an appreciative look. It added several inches onto Connor's already impressive height. “We need a civilian version of this.”

  “You have the MPS series 7, which is quite capable,” Connor said.

  Dash slipped into his MPS and it immediately adjusted to his body type. “Yeah, but the combat suit has all the extra bells and whistles. It has things like thrusters.”

  “I know, but don’t underestimate the MPS. It can allow you to do most of the things I do from in here. But not everything. It’s only a matter of time before we see more MPSs being used instead of these combat suits,” Connor said.

  He used implants to bring the combat suit's systems online. It went through a quick diagnostic check on startup and then showed green across the board on his internal heads-up display. The Nexstar was constructed of composite material that was quite strong without weighing the wearer down with needless bulk, which affected power consumption. The suits could operate out in the field for almost a full week before needing to recharge. All but three of the 1st Platoon in the 7th Ranger Company wore similar combat suits. Those three exceptions wore combat suit heavies. These carried heavy weapons capable of massive amounts of destruction, and they could also carry immensely heavy loads.

  Corporal Bradley came back to them and handed Dash a hornet class SMG. “Mr. DeWitt, I’m told you're a capable marksman, but you’re not qualified for the standard AR-71 assault rifle. This is the next best thing.” She proceeded to go over the capabilities of the hornet and its operation. Connor agreed that it was the best suited for a nonmilitary person to use if they had to go into a dangerous situation. It had the option of becoming fully automatic. And even though a single dart wouldn’t punch through the armor of a Nexstar combat suit, the next hundred fired inside a few seconds would chew right through it without any
problem.

  “I think I got it,” Dash said. “I mean, I got it,” he tacked on quickly.

  Connor walked over to where Samson stood, and the men and women of the 1st Platoon gathered. Connor glanced at the arch behind them for a moment and then turned back to his soldiers. Dash stood with Cerot, Esteban, and Felix. The Ovarrow had put on their armor and carried their long rifles with them.

  The soldiers quieted down, and Samson gave him a nod.

  “In a few minutes, we’ll be the first of many scout forces that will be sent through the arch. Our objective is clear. We’re to scout out Krake installations for the purpose of gaining intel on our enemy. We need to know more about them so we can develop a strategy on how to beat them. This is where the groundwork gets laid—right here by all of you,” Connor said, allowing his gaze to sweep across the men and women who stood before him. “We need to know what they know about us. To help speed up our intelligence gathering, we’re bringing a few specialists with us,” he said and gestured toward Dash and the Ovarrow. “You’re here because you’re among the elite. You’ve proven that you can adapt, and you’re part one of the most capable Spec Ops companies in the history of the Colonial Defense Force. Most of you have seen what the Krake are capable of. We’re going in first because we do what no one else can, but remember the mission objective. We are a scout force. When it comes time for us to fight the Krake,” Connor said, pausing for a moment, “we’ll be able to do it more effectively because of missions like this.”

  Samson leaned over so only Connor could hear. “Are you planning to go on all the scouting missions?”

  “I can’t let you have all the fun. We’ll see. You never know what we’ll find,” Connor said.

  Samson let out a soft chuckle.

  A large holoscreen came on next to the arch, and then a countdown appeared. The timer reached zero, and there was a brief shimmer in the space at the absolute center of the arch that spread to the edges. The arch was elevated about seven meters into the air, and a large loading ramp was moved into place. Two squads went up the ramp and through the arch gateway. A few moments later, they received an "all clear" message.