Onyx Javelin

by Steve Wheeler

  The other pod had seen the ammunition he was using and also switched. Seconds later, the tendril was severed a metre off the hull, leaving whatever was embedding itself in the hull as the only threat.

  Glint found that he was panting, then grinned, realising that the whole encounter had taken less than thirty seconds. He looked back at the still-writhing section left in the hull: it slowly turned into a squid-like creature that pulled itself out of the hull and started to climb up over the curve of the Thorn. He sighted carefully and fired again, the rounds exploding right under the creature and lifting it off the hull, then, as it tucked itself into a ball, fired directly at it with the other pod doing the same. 'It started to spin and contracted in size, not showing any damage as a drone missile raced over the curvature of the hull and seized the creature, accelerating away before self-destructing with a hard flash hundreds of metres away.

  Glint finally let out his breath and turned to see the limp form of Suzie, along with two Q standing beside him readying a bigger missile launcher. He nodded at each of them and went to check on Suzie to find that she was dead. He stared for a few long moments at the body before another pair of Q arrived to take her body away. He turned back to the other Q who both looked at him and smiled.

  He did not feel like smiling, so nodded and started to make his way back to the gun. One of the Q stopped him with an armoured hand on his shoulder, saying, 'For a small dragon you fight very, very well, friend Glint! Maybe you should consider a body upgrade and join us. You are relieved. Go see to the other members of your crew.'

  Glint felt annoyed at the casual attitude of the elite troops. 'No, I did not fight well enough. The pod is damaged. My best friend and father is without his legs and Suzie is dead. And I like my body just the way it is!'

  The other Q grinned. 'No offence intended, little brother. We hold you in the highest respect. Your Marko has new legs. Bit different to his original ones, it has to be said, and Suzie is fine. Her soul is already in a mechanical chassis as we need her to be able to fight right no. Many of our company are already in the machines. And as soon as we return to Rose Foxtrot, she will take over a new body. Go. Go to the medical suite and have your wounds attended. Then have a drink and some food. Go see your crew. You are relieved.'

  Glint nodded, reached out and shook both of the Tengu by their hands and cycled himself through the airlock. He leaned against the corridor wall and took stock of himself, checking his systems. He sighed and made his way to the medical suite, suddenly remembering that he had seen Basalt but not the queen emerge in the LP.

  On the bridge, Michael, Stephine, Veg and Mr Carrington were in discussion.

  'We are still waiting for your hybridised Urchin queen to appear, Emissary Stephine.'

  'Perhaps because of the distance of the jump it would take her longer, Mr Carrington. She was behind us on the last jump. I estimate that she should be here within an hour.'

  The Q major looked evenly at her. 'And the Fast Mover drones have, with their jumper unit, arrived and are about to dock. So if she has escaped us, we would not know where she has gone.'

  Michael nodded. 'Which brings us to the question of what is aboard Basalt. Patrick said it looks human, but is not made of anything human. Your Skua pilots reported seeing it looking at them in turn when they docked, then it moved off with no form of acknowledgment or contact. They are still attached to the docking platforms and are prepared to investigate.'

  The Tengu major shook his head. 'No, I am recalling them. This crew has taken a pounding and we have lost half of the Skuas. I am sorry, but I cannot afford to lose any more considering what we may have to do when we get back to Storfisk.'

  Veg leaned down, looking into the eyes of the Tengu. 'Which reminds me, major. Why was there a full complement of Q and their equipment on Rose Foxtrot? She was on a delivery run for the Games Board to bring the Gjomvik forces to the planet for a little show and tell, and then to take them to one of the local gas giants' moons for a sanctioned battle. That, as far as I am aware, does not require two companies of Q. She, as far as we know, is not on a long-range mission and you have just said, "What we may have to do when we get back to Storfisk.'' What is your mission, Mr Carrington?'

  The Q looked up into the steely eyes of an entity he had a great deal of respect for. He winced and replied, 'You have no idea what has been put on Storfisk?'

  The crew members of Basalt shook their heads, staring at him.

  The Q puffed out his cheeks and let out a long sigh. 'Oh, this is most awkward. I was under the impression that maybe you knew?'

  Once again the heads shook.

  'OK. We know that six confirmed, possibly more, soldier builders of octopoid origin have landed on the great southern peninsula of the Haulers Territory on Storfisk. Here is the information we have on them.'

  Stephine gasped when she was halfway through reading. 'What! Did you immediately nuke the area, or at very least neutron bomb the area? Those things are so infective on every possible level. They are mindless horrific killers. And you are here, and not there eradicating them!'

  The Q shook his head, then looked up into the eyes of a very angry Stephine. He had been told that she was the emissary of a shadowy, very powerful component of the Administration. He gave her a short bow.

  'There is a plan, emissary. It is a good one and, yes, there are risks, but members of the Haulers' Collective believe the risk is worth taking.'

  She hissed at him. 'Those things are recorded in the information from the octopoid library. They are confirmed as sentient weapon constructs on the pillars of species, which can be seen in the great carved-stone historical library on the Avian planet. Do not wait for the Urchin queen. We can deal with her later. This is devastating information, major. We must return to Storfisk at greatest possible speed.'

  The Q looked unblinking at her. 'With the greatest of all respect, madam emissary, I do not follow orders from you. I shall take your advice, but I am under no requirement to act upon it. As I said, there is a plan to deal with the soldier builders and we have more than enough resources to deal with the threat upon our return. I shall wait for a few more hours to take care of the Urchin queen when she appears. I shall also return you to your ship so you can make your own way back to Storfisk.'

  As Stephine glowered at the Q and opened her mouth to speak, Veg threw back his head and laughed, then cheerfully said, 'Mr Carrington. Major Longbow. Time for a little reveal on my part. Mr Carrington, look into my left eye. I have something to show you. Major Longbow, you next. You can verif y. This is a secret you will both keep.'

  An instant later the Q major, looking more than a little bit upset, almost lost his detached reserve.

  Michael Longbow burst out laughing and clapped his hand on Veg's massive shoulder. 'Coding verified. He is what he says he is, Q.'

  The Q major swallowed hard and snapped to attention. 'What are the general's orders, please?'

  Veg looked down at the augmented human, feeling almost sorry for him. 'Do what the lady says,' Veg said with a smile. 'She says go, we go ... now. Lock Blackjack hard against your hull. Send instructions to Patrick on Basalt to learn as much as he can of whatever the hell is onboard ... what it is doing there and why, and to go with us as we jump. Oh, and tell him what is awaiting us on Storfisk. He has friends there as well. He will be none too happy about that.'

  Haast

  Gas Giant Moon

  Bob stood in the middle of the bridge, looking down at the harsh windswept snow- and ice-covered mountainous terrain of the battle area. He glanced down at his hands and wondered what surprises the brigadier would spring on him on the third day of battle.

  He looked over the conflict reports, and the AV feeds. The Games Board were still crowing over them, saying the exciting footage would have great appeal to the various audiences throughout the far-flung Sphere of Humankind.

  'May I have a moment of your time, please, commander?'

  He inwardly groaned, knowing that the monit
or beside him would have recorded everything he had been doing since leaving his cabin a few minutes earlier to climb the grand spiral staircase from the senior crew accommodations to the bridge. He fixed a pleasant smile on his face and tried to look calm as he turned towards the partially living camera unit which once had been a human.

  'Of course, monitor. How may I be of assistance to the Games Board and consequently the billions of conflict followers.'

  The monitor's face, with its overly made-up large eyes and its sculpted ears, smiled widely at him. Bob looked from the face down to the brightly coloured, fashionable, tailored top covering ample breasts and perfectly painted fingernails on what he could only consider augmented hands and fingers since they were longer than any he had ever seen on anything but a weapons system.

  'We have a little time before breakfast and the first of today's battles, so I wonder if I may ask your views on the marvellous brigadier and how his forces have managed to cut a swathe of destruction through yours?'

  He smiled with his best 'I am the wou nded but valiant warrior' smile. 'Yes! Is he not a marvellous tactician, planning his conflicts with the utmost accuracy and aplomb? I feel honoured to be his adversary and have this opportunity to learn so much from a great man who is widely admired throughout the Sphere.'

  The once-woman smiled with even more vigour as her eyes sparkled. 'Oh, yes!' she gushed. 'His deployments and wonderful battlefield tricks are seemingly endless! Like you, commander, I too have enjoyed this conflict and I just know that it will rate highly on the entertainment screens wherever our sentient clients reside. My thanks and may you score some solid hits upon your opposition today.'

  Bob smiled inwardly and gave himself a tiny mental pat on the back, knowing that Michelle and Nick would be happy with his performance to camera. The monitor turned with her fixed and panning cameras to go and speak briefly with each of the bridge crew on his watch, and as she went from person to person spent those few moments extolling the virtues of a myriad Games Board-endorsed products.

  Lost in thought of how he could put one across the brigadier, he did not notice Nick Warne until he was at his elbow. He let out a long sigh, then greeted the shorter man.

  'Morning, Nick. Night shift had nothing to report, except that the maintenance staff spent the night assembling the spare aircraft. OK, give it to me. How many aircraft and crew can we muster?'

  Nick Warne looked into the drawn sombre face of his student and longtime friend. 'Hope you managed some sleep, Bob. Yeah, well, we are down to two salvage craft now af ter that brilliant ambush and capture of the two Maul that had forced landings. We have one Aurora after those other two flew into whatever the hell it was that the Aquila forces used against them. Looked like some sort of rapidly solidifying smoke to me. Two Hawks: the one that crashed into the mountain top has been repaired and is flightworthy, and the other that had its engines blow up and was recovered from the glacier, has also been repaired. Our full complement of Chrysops is OK. Two were repaired overnight. Pity that the two maintenance pilots who were flying them could not be as readily repaired. But the Mauls are way down. Sorry, but the three squadrons plus four spares are now down to only eight.' 'Eight! Bloody hell! Paul Black promised me ten! Useless bastard.'

  Nick grinned. 'Nope. Don't go hard on him. He has been driving his crews hard. He has done well. Come on, we won't have to queue up for breakfast with half the crew already captured by the Aquila. At least we know that those still breathing will be well fed by them.'

  At breakfast, the remaining crews nodded to the superior officers, everyone putting on a show for the three Games Board monitors who were recording their every move.

  Captain Viggo Eames grinned widely, looking down at the powerful, squat form of the pilot, Major Nico Matsis. 'Wonder how things are going to go today, Nico? Your turn in the front seat. Better to leave me do the shooting anyway, eh! I hit them while you just spray bullets all over the landscape!'

  Nico looked up into the beautif ul face of his longtime friend and fellow Gjomvik pilot. 'Yeah, yeah, sure. I miss once, and you smoke two with one burst. And now you are the whizz bang jock. Vig, you are full of shit.'

  Viggo started filling his plate with steamed vegetables and filled a second plate with slices of pineapple. He then gestured at Nico's plate, filled with fried bacon, hash browns and eggs. 'Just as well that we are at either end of the aircraft,' Viggo mused. 'Hate to fly with you in the left seat when you've had a breakfast like that! Your farts stink!'

  'Huh! Like your flying, ya useless turd! Hey, mate, the bosses don't look too pleased this morning.'

  The tall, willowy form of Anneke Bester was in front of them selecting the bowlful of chopped fruits and nuts she always had for her breakfast. She quietly said, 'Nor would you be if, on your first deployment as the commander of a brand new carrier, you had your arse handed to you on a plate.'

  The two men grimaced and shrugged as they moved across and sat down at one of the tables. 'Ithad a superb view of the distant sun rising over the horizon, flooding the mess area in golden light.

  'Yeah,' Nico murmured, 'but, bloody hell, look who we got slammed up against. Just as well this thing finishes today. We are going to have to be very quick and very smart not to get decked today, people. So, Anneke, how the hell did you manage to slap down those bloody Saluki helicopters in a one on three after your number two Maul got chopped?'

  She was just about to answer when the familiar figures of one of the numerous long-term married couples of Magret and Johan Etz placed their meals on the table. Magret said, 'Yeah, I would like to hear that. I know that you came back flying on fumes, Anneke, and that the Games Board is going ape over the action.'

  Anneke popped a few more nuts into her mouth, chewed and swallowed, smiling demurely. 'It's all about reading the ground. That and a good tail gunner. Not sure where Vishav is.'

  'Be up to his elbows in tech somewhere,' Johan said.

  Anneke nodded, leaned across and took a small sliver of toast off Viggo's plate. She held it up. 'So this is us, OK. Two were chasing us and I knew that that mountain range had triple peaks with a nice basin between them. It was a howling gale and a hellish ride, as you all know. We hammered over the top and I dropped down into the bowl. I suspected that they were driving me into a trap. One of the Saluki came over the top of the range with the other two hiding, hovering below the outer lip of the crest. I glimpsed one who had put his targeting tower up over the top to see where I was. So I yelled at Vish giving him the position where that one was, rolled hard over, dived and skidded on the AG right across the top of the ice up under the ridgeline and waited. The first one poked his nose over so I rolled the machine on its back and hammered him with the front rotary as Vish fired along the ridgeline where the other one was. Had the desired effect of smashing a tonne or so of ice through his rotors. So he was out. The one I hit in the nose had smoke pouring out of him and he took off, so then I rolled back over, hugged the ground and backed the Maul up the ridge so Vish had a perfect shot when the third came up looking for us. Simple, really.'

  Viggo, with a twinkle in his eyes, looked at her and replied, 'Yeah, sounds right. Roll a Maul over and have someone pat its tummy. Can I have my toast back, please?'

  'So now we have to put up with Bravo flight deck, do we?' Sitting in the heavily armoured rear turret of the Maul, Viggo adjusted his seat, instructed it to lock itself around him and grimaced slightly before he replied.

  'Yes, Nico. There is fuck-all of us left. Just as well it's the last day. You know, Anneke's idea of showing them the underside of the Maul is not a bad idea. It's where the best armour is, anyway. And you know what? It's the best of the best left. We should have been a squadron from the outset.'

  Nico's voice sounded in his ears. 'Yeah, yeah, you are probably right, but Warne would not have allowed us all together in the first place. Says we are too much trouble. I'm thinking of chucking the rule book out the window today. Last blast and let's fuck up as many Aquila as pos
sible.'

  Viggo nodded to himself, looking at his screens. 'Well, we have a ten-minute transit flight to the smaller 100-square kilometre operational area. How about we discuss new tactics on the way out?'

  'Yeah, time for a change, I think. Thompson's ideas are really good, but he is going a bit by the book. Hold on, here we go. Lock down your canopy, Vig.'

  Checking the time, Nico waved at the ground crew and started each of the engines in turn, firing up one turbine in each pod then starting the two turbines in the back of the hulking machine. He watched as the engines all quickly came up to temperature and that the two antigravity units, buried inside the fuselage, were spooling to lifting power from their quiet state of neutral.

  'Bravo squadron, this is flight. Weather Charlie. You have your individual post-launch vectors. You have a go for launch. Sound off when at the point of drop.'

  Nico fed power to the turbines as the launch platform on which the Maul was locked slid out of its hangar and out over the side of the carrier. Looking to his left and right, he could see the other three Mauls on that side of the carrier were ready to take to the air. He waited as the other Mauls' pilots sounded off their numbers and acknowledged weather for the area then said, 'Flight Bravo two, Charlie, ready.'