by Robert Byers
They walked forwards, and she began calling out names, the two soldiers would walk together to the spot she pointed to and wait for further orders. “Quintus, Bowen.”
It caught all three of them by surprise, Tiberius actually looked at them and smiled, trying to feign the happiness that they were already friendly and would become closer, like brothers. Everyone at their spots were murmuring back and forth, some small talk as they got to learn more about their new partner.
Captain Sidonia didn’t do this often, but with so many of her squad killed in the last battle and then losing some to another squad she needed to get everyone on the same page, needed them to all work together and become a well-oiled machine.
“Tiberius, Walsh.”
All of the murmuring stopped at once, it became so quiet you could hear a pin drop as they all waited to see what would transpire between the pair. Tiberius looked at Walsh and thought about what had happened the last time they were so close together and he walked up to Walsh. Sticking out his hand he said, “Bygones?” hoping for a clear slate, hoping they could work together. Hoping he wouldn’t have to do it all himself.
Walsh stood where he was and looked him over, then stuck out a hand to grasp his. “You got some balls greenie, you got some damned balls.” They shook hands and walked to the spot Captain Sidonia indicated and stood there looking at the rifles she pulled out.
They were Aritech pulse rifles, but as they looked closer they could see a red light that pulsed out of the bottom of the grip, an indication these were training rifles with their setting locked on stun sot hey couldn’t kill anyone on accident, nor could they puncture the hull of the giant ship and kill everyone on that deck.
She walked up to the cadets and pointed at the other side where there were holographic targets set up. “What you are going to do is charge to that other side and press the button, that will turn off the simulation. You will go in pairs, and only two pairs at a time. You will need cunning and teamwork to make it to the other side because those targets will shoot you once I press this button. If you get hit, you will feel a decent bit of pain, I’m not going to sugarcoat it, and it will drop you to the ground. Bowen and Quintus will start along with Tiberius and Walsh. On my mark!” Each of the four grabbed their weapons and looked down the sight. “Three…two…one, mark!”
Captain Sidonia pressed a button on the side of the shield and a second later two holobots walked out of the back room, each one displaying the projection that they were wearing clothes like the terrorists have been seen wearing. They each held the same type of rifle as the two pairs of recruits held. Each one looked so lifelike the cadets worried they wouldn’t be able to take the shot.
Each team started off with a sprint towards the targets when everything went to shit.
There was a grinding sound, like the hull was grating against some asteroids or something harder, and the whole ship shook. Each of them was knocked around and the targets began shooting at them as they fell, as if waiting for that moment. Tiberius landed against a barricade and jammed his shoulder into the hard surface, he dropped his rifle.
Walsh was right next to him and pulled his rifle up to fire, pulled the trigger and the rifle fired off a stun charge that hit its mark and dropped the target, but nothing shimmered like a normal hologram.
The other target fired at Bowen and hit him square in the chest, he dropped like a sack of potatoes and crumpled around his weapon. Captain Sidonia saw what looked like smoke curling up from the cadet and realized something was seriously wrong.
The holographic target turned and another three showed up from the back room and began firing on the cadets, and they weren’t ones she’d activated. The targets fired at the rocks where Tiberius and Walsh used for cover and the captain tried to press a button on the device that was fixed to her wrist, it was supposed to turn off the holograms and act as a dead man’s switch for the simulation.
But it didn’t stop, the simulation continued and the holobots turned their weapons on the transparent shield, firing at one spot. When their rounds hit the shield shuddered and she knew they weren’t using stun rounds. The shield turned black where the shots were landing which meant it would break soon.
“Cadets this isn’t a simulation! You need to get out of there!”
Tiberius looked at his partner and smiled, this was a good test for him and he felt his adrenaline sing through his body. “Let’s go kick some ass.”
Walsh nodded, “You take high, I’ll take low.” And they thumbed the switch on their rifles to burst, popped up from cover and aimed at the same targets. Squeezing their triggers they fired six stun rounds at the person, Tiberius covering his shoulders and head while Walsh covered the torso.
The person, it had to be a terrorist that was the only reason Tiberius could think of that they’d be attacking on a ship. The other two that had appeared aimed and fired their rifles at the cadets causing them to duck to keep their heads attached.
Captain Sidonia tried to raise the shield so she could help, but the blasted thing wouldn’t raise to allow her through. She watched as Quintus aimed at the first of the two firing on his mates and fired at the man’s head. His body convulsed and he fell into the other causing them to land in a pile of limbs.
“Shoot them again!” she cried out, actually feeling fear that these raw recruits would fail and she wouldn’t be able to protect them.
All three cadets fired three shots each into the pair laying in a heap and Tiberius looked back at the captain, “Sir, are there any bindings in the back room?”
She thought about it a second, her mind still catching up that the raw recruits took down four of the terrorists. “We keep some cable there in case one of the bots needs tied down for transport, why?”
“Walsh you grew up in gang territory, right?” the man nodded but his eyes never left the bodies splayed out in front of him, he had good intuition to keep his eyes on the enemies rather than assume they were out of the woods. “Do you know any good knots so they can’t escape?”
“Yeah, I know a few, I’ll go get the cable.”
“Quintus cover these four, I’ll back up Walsh.”
Before Quintus could say anything they were moving together into the back room searching for the rope to tie up the four men, and a knife to cut it so that Walsh could do the honors. Tiberius tried pressing the button there that was supposed to end the simulation, but the shield still didn’t raise.
When they got to the back room he found the cable easily enough and rushed back to Quintus and the unconscious men. Quickly they pulled lengths of cable and cut it, Tiberius passing the cable to Walsh while Quintus kept his weapon trained on the men. After all four were hogtied they were left next to the simulated rocks that just refused to dissipate.
“I’m going to rip the dressing off, have you guys noticed Bowen isn’t moving?” Quintus asked.
Both men nodded solemnly and it made Tiberius angry. Bowen didn’t do anything bad, if anything he was too nice sometimes. He did not deserve to go out this way, and these men were going to live, they were going to survive when Bowen wasn’t. It made his blood boil.
They walked to the body and saw he was in fact dead; his eyes wide open and milky, the hole in his torso the only evidence of what befell him. Tiberius was angry, he looked back at the men and he could see the one that had killed his friend. He stalked over to the man, intending to get justice.
“Cadet Vesper what are you doing?” the captain’s voice rang out stopping him in his tracks.
“Getting revenge for Cadet Bowen, Sir.” He replied matter-of-factly as he walked over and kicked the man in the stomach, his eyes popped open and he stared up at Tiberius. “You killed my friend.”
“You k—” the man never finished his sentence.
Tiberius was angry, he needed something akin to the norm for his mind to function right, he needed to kill the man who caused that norm to be disrupted. And he’d taken the knife from the bot room and found that justice. It stu
ck from the man’s throat, stabbed into his jugular and ripped across to sever his windpipe and vocal cords. His head was nearly severed by the movement. His eyes were red with anger.
He stood and looked back at his captain, she was standing in shock like the rest of the cadets at what he’d just done. “Sir, what do we do now?”
She stared at him a second before recovering herself and saying, “Now we have—”
The captain was cut off as another grinding sound echoed through the floor and everything shook as they heard what could only be called an explosion. The lights went out, emergency lights came on immediately and a voice called over the intercom, “All hands to battle stations. Repeat, all hands to battle stations.”
“Captain, what are we going to do?” Payton Oliver asked as she stood next to his partner, Ortiz.
Captain Sidonia grabbed two of the pistols that were laying out and set to stun, and gave a grim smile. “We are going to do a trial by fire and stun every single person who attacks us. You three,” she said looking at the trapped cadets, “In the back room there’s a way to get out of there, and you’ll end up in the bot repair bay. Get there quickly, but safely and we’ll met you there.”
“Sir!” Tiberius said as he led the other two into the bot room and looked around. It was a sort of maintenance room for the bots and such machinery, a hoversled even sat along one wall. There were some bots hanging from the ceiling that needed repairs, some that were decommissioned but not yet recycled. They looked around for a door like their captain talked about.
Walsh saw the piece of machinery that looked out of place int he room and walked up to it, “I think there’s something behind here. It looks like this hover table was moved here.”
The others walked to him and looked it over, the table was supposed to hover due to magnets, so it was easy to use. But the magnets had to have been removed or blocked somehow because it just sat on the floor and didn’t move when they pressed the button that should have released them.
The table itself was heavy enough the three of them together had a hard time moving it at all. The table itself was a mobile repair bay for smaller bots and got moved to and from some of the other sections of the ship on this level.
“How the hell are we getting this thing moved?” Quintus asked.
“I have an idea.” Walsh moved over to the far side of the room and got onto the hoversled. It was a long sled maybe seven feet long and half that wide with a slope at the front like a blade and a spot for the driver to step onto and controls to let them guide it. Once at the controls he pressed a button to reveal the magnets on the bottom of the sled and began moving it just a little to test it. Pressing another he retracted the magnets and it dropped to the floor. “We can try using this to lift it and then maybe we can see what’s back there.”
The trio got the sled down and with the slight gap between the legs of the table and where the magnets are supposed to be, they shoved the blade of the sled there. It took some doing, the three of them had to work in concert to shove the sled under because of how heavy the table was, thanks to all of its internal circuitry and repair arms.
Getting the sled under the table they all collapsed against it and breathed heavily from the exertion. Walsh got onto the back of the sled and pressed the button to reveal the magnets and the sled was able to lift the table by a whole two inches, two freaking inches!
The three of them stared at the space and knew the time they’d wasted here was time that the others were most likely to spend dying.
Chapter 6
“What the hell is happening Doyle?” Admiral Harcourt demanded as he stepped off of the lift and onto the bridge. He saw everyone at their stations, hands moving in a blur as they checked their instruments, checked their cams, some checking to see where the damage was, trying to see if it was external as well as internal.
His XO, Erika Doyle looked at him with a bit of worry in her eyes. “Sir, we were ambushed. A battlecruiser came out of nowhere and struck our port side, after an asteroid slammed into that same side. I feel it wasn’t a coincidence.”
“Sir, confirmation we have boarders.” The voice belonged to ensign Lowell who manned the security systems, he was checking the cams and his eyes were a blur as he switched between screens. “We also have fired on decks H and I, the fire containment systems are putting them out, but if we get hit there again we’ll be breached.”
“Fuck. Those bloody terrorists are going to die, today. Marshal the soldiers, have them search deck to deck and clear the ship. I want those rebels taken alive and brought to the brig. We need to interrogate them and find out if they are alone or if there’s a snake aboard our ship.”
“Sir, enemy ship has us in target lock.” His radar technician said.
“Weaps, do you have a solution?”
“Yes sir, I’ve targeted their engines.” The weapons specialist, Tristan Mellan, said. He held his finger over the button that would launch their torpedoes and another finger over the button that would fire their particle beam cannon, the finishing touch on most ship to ship battles.
“Fire at will!” the Admiral yelled not wanting to pull any punches.
Tristan fired the torpedoes first and waited for them to be far enough away before charging up the particle beam cannon. Each of the weapons was dangerous in its own right, but using the particle beam cannon was nigh on overkill in most skirmishes.
The torpedoes would impact their enemies engines, causing enough damage to the ship that it would stutter to a stop. As they all watched the main screen at the front of the command deck they saw the enemies navigations officer pulled them far enough away that the torpedoes didn’t impact on the engines so much as reached their apex and exploded near them.
From the maneuver and the explosion the ship was just a hairsbreadth farther to the side and when the particle cannon fired it only sheared off one of the external wings of the ship, but didn’t do any real damage to it. Certainly nothing that would stop the enemy from continuing their engagement.
“Sir, they are locking targets again.”
“Fire rail guns, prep the gauss cannons and antiaircraft turrets. I want the ‘Hawks ready to launch on my mark.” As he called out the orders there were members of the bridge crew relaying said orders to the appropriate persons.
“Sir, they are charging weapons.” His radar tech, Ellis Cole called out.
“Bring up the shield, lets give them a show.” The Admiral said.
The enemy ship, a thing of beauty when in the right hands, drifted in space closer to them. It was a former Terran Imperial ship, one that had been boarded and taken, he guessed, just like they were trying to do to the Integrity. It’s main cannons glowed a hot red as energy built in the weapons and just as quickly it was launched across the void of space at them. The red hot energy impacted the front of the Integrity, but the ship didn’t budge.
At the last second Tristan powered up the shield at the bow of the ship and it absorbed the blast from both of the enemy ships forward cannons. The crew let out a cry of joy before one of the officers called out to the Admiral.
“Sir, the enemy ship has been identified. It’s the— my gods —Sir, it’s the Infineon.”
“That ship belongs to Captain Brewster, why the hell is it attacking us?” The XO asked.
“Either Brewster’s defected, or he’s been replaced.” Admiral Harcourt said as he took a seat in the captains’ chair and began gripping the arms of the seat tightly, a tick he had when he was angry. “Coms, hail that ship.”
“Aye, aye Sir.” Emma Hart said as her fingers flew over the controls and the Admiral shifted in his seat. “I got them, Sir, on screen now.”
The forward section of the bridge changed as the monitor showing them the outside turned into an image of a bearded man in his late forties with a slash over his right cheek. He wore a green uniform with red stripes down his arms and an insignia on each shoulder. On his head he wore a thick hat similar to what the Admiral had seen in the old
video records that men from the colder climates would wear.
He wondered briefly if the man was from Pluto or another frozen wasteland that was being mined to it’s very core for the valuable resources.
“Who the hell are you, and why are you aboard the bridge of the Infineon?” he demanded.
The man mimed being struck, like he’d been slapped harshly and said, “Oh, Admiral Harcourt you wound me. Surely you know why I am in command of this wonderful vessel. I took it.” The man had a sneer on his face now. “Just as I’m going to take your ship, and do the same thing to you that I ddi to poor old Captain Brewster. Launch you into space and leave you there like the piece of gutter trash you are.”
Anger clouded the Admiral’s face at the words. He’d known Captain Brewster for years, they’d gone through basic together, and to be told he was gutter trash from some backworld man who hadn’t seen a razor or dentist in years made his hackles rise.
Admiral Harcourt pressed a button on his armrest to cut off the video feed and everyone looked at him, a mixture of fear and admiration. Admiration that he’d heard that about his friend and it hadn’t seemed to face him in the least. Fear because they knew what he would order be done to the Infineon would be that much worse.
“There is no saving that ship now. Prepare a ship killer.”
—
Captain Sidonia led her squad through the ship looking for anyone else she didn’t recognize. If there were already four of the terrorists on board posing as TIN personnel, there could be more than a dozen or even close to a hundred more. They really weren’t sure how many were in their organization, it was hard to get a handle on it when they didn’t exactly keep records and the few cells they took out were so compartmentalized they didn’t even know who their real leader was.
She had her pistols drawn and was ready to shoot anyone she was even remotely suspicious of, at least they were on stun and not kill. Rounding a corner she saw a pair of ship security personnel whom she recognized. “We’re in luck, we just found some guys to help us clear this section.” She kept her squad behind her as she called around the corner, “Ensign Mason, Ensign Victor.”