Onyx Javelin

by Steve Wheeler

  He turned to the Aquila major. 'Impressive machines. How many do you have onboard?'

  'By now, Mr Thompson, all our secrets open to you. They numbers be on your personal system now. Our leader, he was insistent that you be taken more care of. This Lunev, he is tougher than all others. Fitting it is for you. Soon I shall see you, commander.'

  Bob thanked him and climbed up into the cockpit, sitting down and starting to wake the aircraft up. 'Berkut control, this is Lunev two. Standing by.'

  The crisp voice of the local controller answered. 'Lunev two, Berkut local control. All aircraft you fly are hereby designated Falcon. Falcon, seal up and go for start-up. As soon as you emerge onto the flight deck, you will be handed across to flight. Pleasure to be working with you, commander.'

  Bob thanked the controller and tapped one of the screens: the canopy silently slid closed and locked. He activated his helmet and gloves while, outside the aircraft, a transparent shield slid up from the floor, rising to the ceiling of the hangar. As soon as it locked, the deck irised open. The elevator started to move upwards and Bob's fingers raced across the screens as the twin turbines behind him started, and the antigravity also came online. As the aircraft rose up onto the flight deck, he looked over all his screens and activated his HUD, seeing everything in the green.

  'Flight, Falcon,' he called. 'Holding on four.'

  'Falcon, flight. Weather Bravo, wind seventy-three, twenty kilometres. Depart sector three. You are cleared for take-off.'

  'Flight, Falcon, Bravo seventy-three, twenty, sector three. Underway.'

  He lifted the machine a few millimetres off the deck on antigravity while opening the throttles a notch. When feeling the aircraft was airborne, he increased antigravity and throttles, flying down the short landing runway and out into the controlled airspace of third sector. As soon as he passed the outer edge of the controlled space, which ranged 300 metres out from Berkut, he keyed his microphone again and banked the aircraft, heading for his carrier.

  'Berkut flight, Falcon, on course for Haast.'

  'Falcon, flight. Control now passed to Haast flight. Good day, sir.'

  'My thanks, Berkut. Haast flight, this is the commander inbound in a Lunev. Call sign is now Falcon.'

  There was a pause before the familiar voice of Major de Ruyter answered. 'Unidentified inbound aircraft. Send ID.'

  Bob looked at the comms screen and triggered a laser pulse of information from his right eye into it. 'Falcon, Haast flight. Have you inbound three kilometres, approach sector one and dock in the Aurora one hangar.'

  Ten minutes later Bob walked onto the bridge. He leaned into Nick Warne's command pod. 'Nick, please assemble the senior crew for a briefing here on the bridge now.'

  Nick nodded and started contacting each of the individuals telling them to report as soon as possible. He then looked up at Bob with raised eyebrows.

  'OK, Nick. I am now second-in-command of the task force. We are heading back to Storfisk as quickly as we can. We have the medical unit of Berkut inbound here, plus those that are under treatment, plus sixty-five Tengu grade Q3, plus all their equipment.'

  Nick stared at him for a few seconds, shook his head, cleared his throat and asked, 'What task force? And why not wait for Rose Foxtrot as per the original plan?'

  Bob reached into the pod and tapped the ACE Haast's comms icon. 'Haast, get out here and fill Mr Warne in with as much information as we have on the predator threat. No arguments. And while you are at it, create an information packet for every crew member to bring them up to speed. Nick, here are the manifests of what the medical and Q3 are bringing with them and also the loadmaster layouts which I passed on to the Q OC.' Nick saw the information coming up on his screens, grinned, reached out and shook Bob's hand and very quietly murmured, 'Good! About bloody time you took charge. I am proud of you. Now we get to work. I shall send the cleared responses over to Berkut right away.'

  Bob stood very still for a few seconds, a little surprised at his mentor's reaction but very pleased at the same time.

  The Countess Michelle was at his elbow. 'We need to talk now!' she hissed.

  Bob slowly shook his head, looking down at the outwardly calm face of the woman. Looking into her eyes, he could see that she was angry.

  He flashed a laser message across into her eyes. 'Why talk, Michelle? You and Haast, probably with Uncle's help, have manoeuvred me enough. We need to tell the crew what is going on as the game has changed. This ship is now under the control of the brigadier and I am second-in-command of the task force.' 'Fool! You are being manipulated by him! We risk losing the vital part in the puzzle. You should have spoken to me

  first! I am furious that you did not.'

  Bob looked around the bridge filling with the senior staff arriving. He looked out through the window to Berkut in the closing distance. He looked back at Michelle.

  'No, Michelle,' he said firmly. 'I am right. Your game risks losing a world. Hell, it may already be too late. You have a few days to find your other turncoat amongst us. I suggest that you get on with it.'

  Michelle let her good-humoured mask slip, glowered at him, turned and marched away. He wondered if he had made a bad mistake, but there was something nagging at him that he could not put a finger on and decided he was right. He decided that the Baron Willie der Boltz would approve as he had once warned him that she had her own agenda and was not to be entirely trusted. With that resolve, he straightened his back, squared his shoulders and as soon as all the senior crew arrived told them everything he knew.

  By the time he had finished, the first of the Q landers were docking and being taken into the large hangars at the base of the carrier. The smaller, individual fighter aircraft of the Q were also en route, followed by another large lander which had medical red cross markings on it. As the little fighters, which were no bigger than the Chrysops, approached, all the Maul hangar doors opened and folded down. The Qspun each of the craf t and alighted gently onto the massive doors -as many as three per door -their clawlike landing gear locking down into the mesh and holding them tight. The Tengu climbed out of their craft, taking their kitbags with them, and walked into the Maul hangars. The doors closed and sealed behind them.

  Bob climbed into his command pod as the unit commanders all hurried off to sort out their units and to accommodate the Q3, plus the additional medical staff. He tapped the ship-wide comms icon.

  'All crew: this is the commander. We face an unprecedented situation. A predator of possible octopoid origin is loose on Storfisk. 'It is an army builder and hostile to us on every possible level. Haast is now under the command of Brigadier Mortlock of the Aquila. Tengu Q3, which most of you would only have heard about as rumours, are now part of this crew. Make them welcome, learn from them and treat their command structure as our own. This is a twenty-minute warning as we are about to climb out through the atmosphere and make our own way at one gravity to Storfisk. Bridge out.'

  Anneke Bester was walking down the internal corridor which linked all the Bravo squadron hangars. Tengu were walking quickly out of the internal airlocks and running towards the internal stairways. As each one ran past, they greeted her by her rank, and although each was physically identical their voices were individual.

  One of them stopped beside her. 'Hello, Anneke!'

  She peered at the Tengu's face, then at its combat suit, knowing that the voice was from her past, but not recognising it.

  The dragon laughed. 'Sorry. 'It is Vince Hofman.'

  Anneke instantly wrapped her arms around the creature who had once been one of her best friends and a long-term lover.

  'Oh, Vin! 'It is so good to see you. I have not heard anything of you in so many years. How long has it been?'

  The Q smiled at her, something that she found quite disconcerting as the creature had a mouth full of what she could only recognise as weapons. She was fascinated, delighted and a little appalled all at the same time. She had always known Vince as a warrior soul, but had never considere
d he might become a member of a group that she had only known as a myth. The dragon returned her embrace then pulled away.

  'Just over nineteen years, Anneke, but I am sorry. We shall catch up later. I have to go sort this lot into their billets and talk with your cooks and get our catering sorted. We live on high protein high carbs. See you soon!'

  He gently squeezed her arm, then ran off down the corridor, following the last of his colleagues.

  Haast flew straight up through the atmosphere and carried on at a steady one gravity of acceleration as the navigation officer, Captain Claire Bretherton, plotted the course that would take them to Storfisk in the least possible time. She checked her figures one last time then keyed the commander's comms icon.

  'Commander, course is plotted and I have run the figures again. As we get closer to the star, we will pick up steadily more electrical energy from the carrier's graphene hull ion conversion. We can use that additional energy to go faster. 'It will, however, also increase the gravitational force generated.'

  'How much, captain?'

  'We will peak at one point three g's in forty-seven hours time. We then maintain that high-g for forty-eight hours before I would decrease it to get us to Storfisk at one gravity for a smooth atmospheric entry. Oh, yes, and that little extra would put us only a few hours behind Berkut.'

  'Good work. Set it up. If there is a change, I shall advise.' Bob tapped the medical officer's icon. 'Major.'

  He waited some moments for Sally Aydon to answer. 'Commander, as per normal I am rather busy. I have a full ward of our casualties and also Aquila.'

  Bob winced a little. He always treated the MO the same as any other crew member, but he sometimes wondered if he should make an appointment when he wanted to see her. Then he remembered that she could override him if she saw fit and decided discretion is the better part of valour.

  'Sorry, major,' he apologised, 'just wanted to advise that in forty-seven hours we will increase the g-acceleration, and then subsequent deceleration. Need to know if this will affect your patients.'

  There was another pause.

  'That should be fine,' she said. 'Sorry for snapping at you. Things are a bit hectic as I want all these people out of here within two days anyway. Everyone is being filled with the latest nanotech. Oh, and those few I could not readily bring to full health, I have either had them fitted with prosthetics or euthanased and readied for upload into mechanical chassis.'

  Bob did not allow himself to smile, but inwardly did, knowing that the brigadier was right in his statement that Sally Aydon was a true professional. Keeping a sombre face, he thanked the major and broke the connection.

  He looked across his screens, observing the crew being integrated with the Tengu and the seventeen additional crew from Berkut,as well. He tapped Nick Warne's comms icon.

  'You are on top of things here. I am heading down to talk with Uncle, then a meal and then catch a good sleep, I hope.'

  He stood to move across to the windows and look down the length of Haast, seeing the rocky planet below them and high above the massive bulk of the gas giant. Walking into the corridor, he was met by the Tengu major who was still in her light combat suit. He noted that all the Q he saw now had their ranks and names displayed, probably to make it easier for the standard humans to recognise them.

  'Major Graham. Everything set?'

  'Yes, our thanks, commander. There was a bit of surprise from a few of your crew when they saw us, but nothing dramatic. I am a little concerned that the secret of our existence is going to be that much more difficult to keep after this engagement.'

  Bob drew in a long breath and frowned a little. 'Not much we can do about it at this stage, major. Just have to wait and see on that. Were you coming to see me?'

  The creature shook her head. 'No. I am in conference with your admin OC and the ACE Haast in a few minutes.'

  Bob nodded and took his leave, deciding to walk down the stairways rather than take one of the lif ts.

  Ten minutes later he found Uncle in one of the internal weapons ranges of Haast along with three of the Tengu, looking over weapons.

  One of the Tengu called out, 'Commander on deck!'

  The four soldiers snapped to attention, so Bob braced and said, 'Stand easy, thank you. Uncle. New toys?'

  The cyborg grinned. 'Oh, yeah. Nice, very nice. We should chop your arms off and get Major Aydon to fit you out with some proper arms so we could integrate you with these.'

  Bob shook his head and gave a small laugh. 'But I can use them, anyway, just not as quickly, or possibly as accurately, eh? Can I have a word, please? Your armoury in ten minutes.'

  He nodded at everyone and walked out of the range, which ran the full length of the carrier, back up the stairs and into the garden to gather a few pieces of fruit, then down again to meet with the sergeant major.

  Once up against Uncle's four-metre-cubed armoury he asked, 'Secure?'

  Uncle shook his head as a door opened in the side of the armoury. He gestured the commander inside and as soon as the door had closed behind them, said, 'Now we are. What's on your mind, boss?'

  Bob looked across at his old friend, wondering if he was correct in his assumptions. He shrugged, thinking what the hell.

  'Countess Michelle of the administration council. Should I trust her?'

  'No, of course not. I know that you have bedded her quite a few times and I know that you are not thick. Ever felt that she was playing you like a violin?'

  Bob looked at him evenly, waiting for the other boot to fall, as Uncle continued.

  'To say nothing, Bob, of why she is here and why such a high-ranking official of the council would want to fuck with you?'

  Bob let out a nervous laugh. 'Likes to rough it with the riffraff maybe? Is she bad, Uncle? Should I arrange to put her on ice?'

  Uncle looked at the other man and wondered why he was being handed such a shitty deal.

  'No, she is not bad, well, not in a malicious way. She is just playing her role in the game as she sees fit. On ice? Actually, probably not a bad idea and I should do the same with Adrian Crow at the same time. You know the time delay of all this is going to cost us very dearly on Storfisk, don't you?'

  Bob looked down at his hands, then around the inside of the armoury, and said quietly, 'What do you think, Lorraine?' Uncle stood very still. There was a barely audible woman's laugh from all around them and a few seconds laterthe armoury spoke.

  'When did you work out that I was here, Bob?'

  Bob looked at Uncle with a sad smile on his face. 'A while ago, because I know Uncle, Lorraine. I know that he would never give you up, that he would find a way to take you with him. And he has always seemed just a little too content with life, even as a cyborg. So what do you think, as I also know that to make you safe he would have wired you into every data feed of the ship.'

  The beautifully modulated voice of the woman surrounded them again. 'I believe that the chances of any of us making it off Storfisk are remote. I believe that we should start making plans to stay on the planet's surface as all the information I have is that the predator has a lot more to show us yet. Patrick of Basalt shared information from the octopoid library with me. These things were created by the octopoids to make planets safe for them. And they do it on every level from microbial up. But there is a very small chance that we might defeat them and for that we need Stephine from Basalt. I do not think that it was by chance or mistake that they may have been sent to the wrong system.'

  Bob let out a long breath. 'Right. Well, we will just have to take that chance. But what of Michelle?'

  There was a long silence.

  'Honestly, I am not sure,' Lorraine said. 'There has been contact between her and Adrian Crow, but then again she has had numerous contacts with most of the crew as part of her brief is as an attache, a bridge for the crew to the Administration, if you like. I am not sure if I agree with my husband about putting either of them on ice. And you do know that a Tengu is onboard Angelito, and th
at information from the ACEs on the affected peninsula of the Haulers Territory has been sent to the ACE Haast, don't you?'

  Bob felt a chill run down his spine. He looked at Uncle, then around the compact room with its weapon-making machinery and numerous storage units.

  'Oh, shit! No, I did not know about any of that. Is Haast aware of your existence, Lorraine? And why is a Tengu on Angelito?'

  She instantly answered with a chiding tone in her voice. 'No! Of course not. No-one does, except you and Graham. I have been totally passive in my information gathering. Angelito is rotten to the core. The Tengu went to shut him down, or at least disable him somehow. Oh, and that Tengu is not like the Q3, no, no ... he is one of the ACE Tengu. The original was made for Baron Willie der Boltz when he was a young officer. Obviously he cloned himself, so my best guess is that this is a game being played amongst the ACEs. I know of four, but I suspect that there were even more.'

  Bob looked up at the ceiling again, furiously thinking of what to do. 'How do you know that?'

  'Two had been reported by the ACE Ayana to Haast as being killed: one is on Angelito and another with the Games Board director.'

  Bob was pacing up and down inside the armoury. 'OK, here is what I want from you. Lorraine, please put together everything you know about the predators. Uncle, go find those two Q weapons geeks you were being entertained by, as I want you all working on every killing method that you can come up with to knock over those bloody things. I am off to have a private word with an eagle.'

  Lorraine said urgently: 'Please don't talk with Haast. He may come to you of his own free will soon, anyway. And besides if he knew that you knew, he might come looking for the source and find me and I would not like that.'

  Bob clenched his fists. 'Fuck! I hate this bloody sneaky underhand bullshit and it's all around me! Give me a straight up, no bloody nonsense punch-up any time. OK, OK, but if you learn anything, please pass it on through Uncle. I need to think. Oh, Lorraine, I am glad that you are here.' He then turned and pushed his way through the door and out into the workshops.