Ronin

by Jan Domagala

  Flesh started to heal at an alarming rate, blistered and burnt flesh started to regenerate, hair began to grow again and within seconds he was returning to a more recognisable figure.

  After a few minutes, while the three Marines watched in total fascination, Stryder sat up and smiled at them, he was totally renewed.

  “Boy, was that hot!” he said.

  “And that’s why Sinclair wanted you brought back,” Hawk said finally truly understanding the importance of the naked man sitting before them.

  “Yea, he has suspicions about my party trick, but he doesn’t know just how well his little experiment worked. I was trying to keep that little fact from him for as long as I could. Guess that idea’s out now that you boys have seen what I can do,” Stryder said with some remorse.

  Storm glanced at Hawk with a look that said – it’s your call.

  Hawk looked at Storm, then Hacker, before finally turning back at Stryder. With a blank expression he said, “I have no idea what you’re talking about Cap. I’ve seen nothing. How about you two?”

  Storm and Hacker both said in unison, “I’ve seen nothing either.”

  “Let’s see if we can find you something to wear then let’s get you home,” Hawk said as he got to his feet.

  Stryder looked at Storm and said, “Did Sinclair ask for you personally to come here because of your knowledge regarding what happened on Research Station Five?”

  “As far as I know Captain Hawk asked for me and the team personally. He said you’d feel more comfortable with us coming, seeing as how we were there when the experiment went sour.”

  “I think Captain Hawk knows quite a bit more than he’s letting on,” Stryder observed as he got to his feet. Just then Hawk returned with some clothes he’d found in a locker in the storage section.

  “Here, don’t know if they’ll fit but it’s got to be better than nothing,” Hawk said as he tossed the bundle to him.

  “I’d love to see Sinclair’s face though if we returned with you as we found you,” joked Hacker.

  “Everyone brace yourselves!” Stryder said with a sense of urgency. The three of them turned to look at him in confusion as he was gripping the webbing attached to the side of the shuttle used to secure any cargo.

  When it hit, the shockwave threw the small craft end over end and the three others had to scramble to grab hold of anything to prevent being dashed against the bulkhead.

  “The fusion reactor just blew!” shouted Cowboy above the din inside the shuttle.

  “How the fuck did you know that?” Hawk wanted to know as he struggled to hold onto the webbing alongside him.

  “He’s tied into the computer down there, or was until it blew apart,” Hacker said before Stryder had time to reply.

  After a while, once the immense shockwave had washed over them, Cowboy got the shuttle back under control and had her on an even keel as he continued their journey up towards the transport they had arrived in.

  “There will be other craft escaping same as us as they evacuate whoever was left in the facility, so be careful Cowboy, it could get a little crowded,” Storm said to his teammate.

  “What happened down there?” asked Hawk.

  “They tried to duplicate the results of the experiment,” was all that Stryder would say at first.

  “And did they?” prompted Hawk. “Sinclair will want to know,” he added.

  “They manufactured what they thought was the serum and administered it to five Marines.”

  “I’m assuming they didn’t survive that explosion down there.”

  “They didn’t get the chance, I killed them before the serum had any chance to take effect.”

  “What about Hardy, you said she died?”

  “Yes, they killed her, said she was expendable so I killed them too. I’d have killed them anyway once I knew they’d been given the serum. I couldn’t take the chance that the Alliance had the capability of making soldiers with my ability. I would have destroyed the facility too but our fight took care of that. I also destroyed any samples of the serum they had left and the destruction of the facility has taken care of any chance they may have had of replicating their findings.”

  “Who was that guy you threw out of the Ground Hauler?”

  “He was the guy who brought Hardy and me here. I think he had a soft spot for her and when he found out they were going to terminate her, he released her. She persuaded him to release me too, so I knocked him out and made our bid to escape. He took it badly and somehow got them to give him the serum too. It was beginning to work on him as we fought, but General Solon took care of him with the plasma cannon when he was trying to stop me, and then of course the explosion of the reactor will have finished off any chance of him recovering. I don’t think it had had the time to affect his immune system as it has mine. So that just leaves me with the full effects of the serum.”

  “Sinclair will be pleased,” Hacker said.

  “He must never find out. As far as I’m concerned everyone who knew about the experiment died in that explosion down there, which just leaves those present. If General Sinclair finds out that it was a success to the extent it is, then he would put me in a lab under close guard while they did endless tests on me to learn just what had happened so they could reproduce the effects in countless others. I can’t let that happen. I won’t let that happen,” Stryder said vehemently.

  “I can understand why you wouldn’t want that to happen, but just think of the advantage that we could gain over the Alliance,” Hawk posited.

  “And just who are we to say that we should? The status quo exists between us at the moment. How many do you think would die if they could make more like me? If Sinclair could make an army like me who could heal on the battlefield, do you honestly believe he wouldn’t put it to use? There would be war, total all-out war in which the Alliance would be routed. Once they saw what we could do, what do you think their response would be? Lay down their arms in surrender or fight to the bitter end? Whatever they did, the outcome would be the same, more and more deaths. I don’t know about you, but I can’t have that on my conscience.”

  “What do you suggest? As we’ve seen you come back from being roasted alive it’s not like you can kill yourself to prevent them doing all the things you said. What do you intend doing?” Hacker asked.

  “There’s only one thing I can do really, and that’s carry on as if it didn’t happen,” Stryder answered.

  “How do you mean?” Hawk asked.

  “All along I insisted that the experiment was a failure. I just need to continue with that argument and until they get undeniable proof to the contrary there’s nothing they can do,” Stryder explained. He looked at each of them to gauge their reaction.

  Storm said, “Well as far as I know, you were damned lucky you got off that troop carrier before the Ground Hauler exploded or you might not have survived.”

  “Yep, damned lucky,” Hawk added with a smile.

  “Coming up on the Hyperion,” Cowboy said as they cleared the atmosphere of Toldax.

  “Let’s get back to the flight deck, we’re not out of this yet and it could get a little hairy,” Hawk said leading the way forward.

  “Commander Park we’ll be coming up to your location soon. Please be prepared to drop your stealth shield so we can come aboard,” Hawk said through a combat channel.

  “We’ll be waiting, Captain. We’ve been monitoring the section and travel has become quite congested as the evacuation of the facility got under way,” Park replied.

  “I’m expecting that as soon as you drop the stealth shield you will become a target. Once we’re on board make the jump to hyperspace.”

  “We have the coordinates already locked into the computer, weapons systems are being manned and we’re ready to take you on board on your command Captain.”

  “That’s good to hear Commander, stand ready on my mark,” Hawk said. Then he asked Cowboy, “How soon?”

  “Now!”

  “Mark!”
Hawk said through his NI and almost instantly an outline of a starship began to coalesce in front of them, taking shape from the inky blackness of space until it was fully formed and they recognised the Hyperion.

  “Ready to take you on board Captain Hawk,” Commander Park said, his voice carrying clearly through to the shuttle.

  Just as the shuttle made her run to the freighter’s docking bay, some of the other craft in the area noticed what was happening. Commands were issued through the ether and a plan of action was formed.

  Two starships veered off from their flight plan and took on an attack vector. Their target was the Hyperion.

  “We have two craft coming in hot Cap, suggest you get on board as fast as you can, things are about to get interesting,” Commander Park said.

  “You heard the man, Cowboy, let’s see just how good a pilot you are,” Hawk said to the man seated before him.

  “Hang on to your balls,” Cowboy said as he applied full thrust to the engines sending the shuttle hurtling towards the freighter at an alarming speed.

  Plasma blasts from the two attacking starships began to explode all around them as the two crafts closed.

  The Hyperion was the main target of the attack but when the attacking ships realised what was happening the shuttle too became a target.

  “You’d better make this fast, Cowboy, as this bird doesn’t have sophisticated shielding and if we take a full hit then we’re toast,” Hawk said stating the obvious.

  Cowboy threw the shuttle into a series of complicated twists and turns to evade the plasma blasts as they neared the Hyperion.

  “Commander Park you have my permission to engage the enemy to protect the ship,” Hawk said, wondering why they had not returned fire.

  “Sir, I’m under orders from General Sinclair to only engage as a last resort. In my opinion we have not reached that stage yet,” Park replied sternly. Hawk knew that no matter what the commander would obey those orders.

  “You are in command of the ship, Commander; I’ll stand by your decision. Make it a good one, for all our sakes,” Hawk replied, placing a reassuring hand on Cowboy’s shoulder and saying, “Take us home.”

  The closer they got to the Hyperion, the more intense the firepower from the attacking ships. The shuttle was buffeted from the shockwaves caused by the plasma blasts and it was clear to all those inside that it was just a matter of time before the targeting computers on the attacking ships actually got a firm lock on them and blew them out of the sky.

  The docking bay of the Hyperion loomed large in the front viewport of the shuttle as they neared it in preparation to make their final run.

  Plasma bolts erupted all around them as they flew in a straight line for the Hyperion’s docking bay. A bolt scored a glancing blow on a rear port side thruster just as they were about to enter the docking bay, which forced Cowboy into some serious flying to counter the change in their trajectory. As it was, they impacted with the side of the bay as they entered and came skidding to a halt not quite where they were supposed to be, but safe nonetheless.

  “We’re on board Commander,” Hawk said. On the bridge Commander Park went into action.

  “Target those attacking ships and fire, but just enough to discourage any further involvement, then make the jump to hyperspace,” he said, his voice commanding in the confines of the freighter’s bridge.

  The crew manning the weapons fired the hastily installed plasma cannons in short rapid bursts targeting the weapons systems of the attacking craft. Then, while they backed off to reassess the situation, the Hyperion made the jump into hyperspace.

  As the ship’s trajectory smoothed out the occupants breathed a sigh of relief, all except Hawk.

  “Commander Park, what’s our status?” he asked.

  “We’ve entered hyperspace and we’ll be entering normal space quite soon, then it’s another short jump to Colonial territory. We’ve detected no ships following us. You can relax a little Cap, you did it,” replied Park, with a smile in his voice.

  “I’ll be able to relax once we’re in Confederation space and we did it Commander, it was a good team effort.”

  EPILOGUE

  The Hyperion returned to Celeron where General Sinclair was waiting. Commander Park parked the freighter in a close orbit and the general came on board alone to debrief Stryder.

  Stryder was still dressed in the borrowed uniform when Sinclair came to see him.

  “Glad to have you back, Kurt,” he said as he shook his hand.

  “Not as glad as I am to be here, sir,” replied Stryder with a half smile. “I can’t thank those guys enough. If it hadn’t been for them I’d still be there.”

  “Well, we can go into that at a later date, for now you need to get some rest before you return to work.”

  “Excuse me?” Stryder said taking a step back putting some distance between the two of them.

  “You’ll return to duty as soon as you’re fit and ready and have undergone a full medical. We need to know exactly what was done to you while the Alliance had you,” Sinclair said.

  “I can tell you exactly what was done to me – nothing.”

  “Well, you’ll have to excuse me if I don’t take your word for it.”

  “That’s your prerogative, General, but let me assure you that is all you’ll get.”

  Sinclair looked at him for a long time assessing how far to go with this, wondering what he would do if pushed.

  “You know I can’t just leave this like you want me to, don’t you. You have to realise that I have to take you back with me. You’ve become too valuable a commodity to just be allowed to wander around like any normal citizen.”

  “Why? You know as well as I do that the experiment didn’t work. So why can’t we just leave it be and move on.”

  “But that’s just it Kurt, I do know it was a success, to some degree anyway. The rest I’m sure we’ll learn with some testing.”

  “Okay, let’s just say for arguments sake that it was an unqualified success. What would you do?”

  “We’d try to reproduce the effects in others,” Sinclair said with an expression of mild surprise. “Don’t be naive Captain, you know exactly what I would do.”

  “And then what, invade the Alliance? Let’s just say you could reproduce the effects of the experiment. That the experiment actually yielded the results you’d hoped for. What would be your plans for the Alliance – an initial strike to cripple their military capability for retaliation perhaps? And what would their response be do you think?

  “Don’t you see, that would only lead to all-out war with neither side ever gaining an advantage because to defend their way of life they would fight to the bitter end. Maybe even come up with a plan of their own to obliterate as many Confederation colonies as possible.

  “How many lives, General? How many lives would it cost to prove the experiment a success?”

  “But what would you have me do?” Sinclair asked after a pause. He could see the future that Stryder had painted for them all and in his heart knew it to be true. Oh, maybe not by him, he had the same view as Stryder, but there would be others who would outvote him to make that awful dream a terrifying reality.

  “Just let it go. Allow me to resign my commission and report that the experiment was a failure. Everyone who knew absolutely anything about this on Toldax has died, that just leaves Hawk, Storm, Cowboy, Hacker, you and me. I know they’ll keep it quiet, they can’t tell anyone about something they know nothing about anyway. You know I’ll say nothing as I maintain it was an unparalleled failure, which just leaves you General. The ball is in your court.”

  Sinclair turned away from him while he thought through what had been said.

  The nightmare scenario that Stryder had painted so eloquently was a viable one. The question was, would he sanction it and if he did, could he live with the consequences?

  Turning back to face Stryder, just one look into the eyes of the man before him and he knew. His decision had been made.

&
nbsp; The nightmare scenario was alive and living inside him and would continue to do so for as long as he lived. Seeing the anguish in that man’s eyes at the horror he could envisage, he knew he could never let that vision become a reality.

  “Your resignation is accepted forthwith,” Sinclair said and held out his hand in friendship.

  Stryder relaxed for the first time since he could remember and took the offered hand in a vice-like grip.

  “Thank you, General, you have no idea what this means,” Stryder said smiling.

  “Oh, don’t think I’ve done you any favours my boy. You’re a soldier and as a soldier you will be called upon to act, maybe not in an official capacity but act you undoubtedly will.”

  “If I’m a soldier then I’ll be one who serves no master, like the Ronin from Japan’s past, a samurai who served no Shogun,” countered Stryder.

  “Ronin ’eh? I like that. Well, I’ll keep a watch on you Kurt. You’ve become more than just a soldier who served under me, you’ve become, and dare I say it, a friend. Look after yourself.”

  “Thank you, sir, you take care too.”

  “I’ll organise a shuttle to take you back to the surface. Oh and finally, I’d just like to offer my condolences about Hardy; I understand you two were close.”

  “Yes, sir, we were. She deserves to be remembered with honour. She died a meaningless death but should be remembered for being not only a good soldier but a decent human being.”

  “We will, I’ll see to it personally, my boy.”

  They parted then with nothing left to say. Stryder boarded the shuttle that took him down to the planet’s surface close to his home. The home he had been brought up in, where his parents had lived to a ripe old age and now would be his sanctuary.

  As he watched the shuttle leave, he wondered what the future now held for him. No doubt it would be interesting; there would be many adventures to come mainly because he was not the type of person to sit back when he saw an injustice. He remembered a quote, one of his father’s favourites, “For evil to triumph all that is needed is for good men to do nothing”