Onyx Javelin

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Onyx Javelin Page 32

by Steve Wheeler


  'You think he will cope with what is about to come, Graham?'

  Uncle was still looking at the door. He slowly nodded. 'One of the reasons these two crews were selected, Lorraine. Yeah, he will need everyone's help, but he will cope.'

  Thorn / Basalt

  Interstellar Space

  The Thorn, with Basalt firmly held against its underbelly, jumped into the LP between the stars.

  There was intense activity on the bridge for a few moments while three interstellar sub-AI fast pickets were launched to the other three star systems to find and get messages of the successful rescue of Basalt and of their intentions to the other Thorns and Rose Foxtrot.

  The three ovoid machines, which were almost solid in construction, started accelerating to high-g's as soon as the pickets dropped and within five minutes had jumped.

  Q Major Carrington said to the assembled crew of Basalt, 'Are you sure about this? We could simply go with less acceleration and you all stay in the gel. I am still not 100 per cent convinced that that creature on Basalt is safe.'

  Veg shook his head. 'Nope. Good idea on your part, major, but this way you will be above Storfisk two days earlier than we would be otherwise and can go straight into the battle. We have a reasonable understanding, from what the ACEs tell us, of the entity waiting for us. If nothing else, it will be interesting. See you on the planet. Kill them before we get there, and we shall be happy. Thanks for the rescue. When you are back in your human standard form I shall find you and take you out for drinks.'

  With that the veteran crew filed into the airlock of Basalt's bridge deck and sealed themselves off.

  The Tengu major sprinted for the stairs, yelling orders as he went, and a moment later the couplings retracted; the Thorn accelerated away, leaving Basalt moving at a more sedate speed towards the jump point.

  Patrick welcomed them back onto Basalt. 'Hello, all! Did you miss me? Good to have you back. Been an interesting time. The entity wants to meet with you all. Odd creature is the only way I can describe it. Wants to see Stephine and Marko first.'

  The crew went straight to their command pods and started checking the systems that the ACEs, who had boarded a few hours earlier, had not already verified.

  Harry spoke first. 'Small parts of the outer hull are, well, burnt is the only way I can describe it, from where the tendrils of the queen grasped it. Self-regeneration is underway. Two airlocks are damaged. The ACEs have started repairs after Patrick sealed them off using the engineering drones. Apart from that, hull integrity is fine.'

  One by one they all reported that Basalt was in reasonable shape. Finally, Michael ordered, 'Patrick, start jumping us back to Storfisk, please.'

  Stephine and Marko walked down the spiral staircase, wondering what they would see when they got to the engineering hangar.

  Glint and Ngoc were waiting outside the airlock door.

  'Has it given you a name yet?' Marko asked. 'And has it said anything else since your last report?'

  Glint was up on his hind legs, sitting back on his tail. 'Nope. No name. 'Itis still in the containment that Patrick convinced it to climb into, when he found it on the outside of the hull. Seems quite happy. Just wants music, as much of it we can give it, and loves to discuss physics.'

  'OK, let's go have a look,' Marko suggested.

  Stephine and Marko had seen the pictures, but it felt different when they stood only a metre or so away from the four-metre-tall, double-armed human-like creature who was covered in light-emitting nodules. 'It had no eyes, no mouth although its head was perfectly formed in human form, and it had no nose either. Looking at its body, they could see it apparently had no genitals and they noted that its feet and hands were webbed.

  Stephine said, 'Hello. Do you have a name, creature?'

  Light patterns flashed across its chest and an instant later the electronics that Patrick had built over the last few days which he had intuitively designed from Fritz Vinken's light based comms units, replied in speech: 'Stephine! Great to see you and Marko again. I am still part of Fritz and Nail, so I really have no name, and I am also, in part, the material that you sent from Blackjack. Those elements, and the original nanote tech that was sent down onto the queen when she was in her ocean tower.'

  Marko walked around the containment vessel. 'You are in salted water and you are aquatic. Am I correct?'

  'Yes. I need to get into an ocean within a few days before my reserves are depleted to a dangerous level.'

  Marko nodded. 'OK, so what do you have to offer us? Why would we consider doing that for you?'

  'Because, Marko and Stephine, I am a creation of your tech, Urchin tech, octopoid tech and then the minds of Fritz and Nail. I am unique and I need to be allowed to flourish.'

  Marko could see Stephine was excited; energy was almost crackling from her fingertips.

  Before he could stop her, she walked up to the containment and placed a hand against it. A large part of her palm then peeled off and went through the transparent wall, through the fluid and into the creature. 'It went completely rigid, then visibly relaxed.

  She turned. 'Marko. Think beautif ul thoughts, think love, think cherishing and think respect for sentience and do the same. We have to reinforce the last pieces of this entity's higher being.'

  He hesitated.

  'Please, Marko. This is a new species, it should be allowed a chance to survive. Place a little of your own innate goodness into it.'

  Nodding, he felt deep into his mind, sped himself up and placed his right palm against the tank. He felt a sharp pain, as the skin and a little of the muscle below it, pulled away from him and moved through the wall, shooting across the water to spread out against the creature's skin and a moment later was gone. He moved a pace backwards and looked down at his raw palm, seeing the muscle and skin growing back. He looked at Stephine and laughed.

  'So I could grow my own legs if I wanted to? Not have to worry about these Tengu ones?'

  Stephine nodded with a wry smile on her face. 'You could, or you could absorb the tech in those legs and adapt them to you. You can choose, as each day that goes past you become a little more like me. You are a proto-angel now, Marko.'

  Marko looked at her, then back at the creature in the tank, which was starting to stir. He walked to the airlock, passed through it and waved Glint over.

  'Go get Nail and bring him in,' Marko whispered to him.

  A few minutes later, Glint walked in followed by the cat who, although still functioning, was not 100 per cent of his old self. Marko bent down and scooped him up into his arms and pressed him up against the tank.

  'Sentient,' Marko said, 'please duplicate that part of you which is Nail, and only of Nail, then give one part back to him, making him whole.'

  He stood there with the large cat, waiting five or so minutes, until the creature reached down and placed one of its hands up against the cat. Bursts of light flashed across and into Nail's eyes. As the transference was happening, Stephine walked up beside Marko, touching his shoulder, giving him support and energy which he could feel coursing through him. The light stopped after a few minutes and Nail slumped down, feeling like a dead weight in Marko's arms. Stephine took him then, holding him against her chest and gently rocking backwards and forwards on her heels. Some time later, the cat's eyes flew open.

  'Damn, I am me again!' Nail exclaimed. 'Shit, this feels good! Thanks, Marko, thanks, Stephine, wonderful to see you for real again. I am off to see Glint and the guys. Oh, yes ... Stephine, I know a hell of a lot about the Urchins now! Then I need to go say hello to Veg.'

  With that he leapt down onto the floor and, using his crew comms, cycled himself through the airlock and was gone.

  'I think that we should invite Fritz down, don't you think, Marko?'

  Thorn

  Approaching Storfisk System

  The Q sat in his command pod, looking at the jump sequence that the navigator, Captain Reese, had laid out.

  'Captain, we need to get there as fast
as possible,' Major Carrington said. 'If we edit away the second drop by the gas giant, we will get above the planet almost eighteen hours earlier. Am I correct?'

  Yvette Reese looked over her large screens in her oversized pod and quickly looked at the alternative. 'Yes, correct. However, we will also use a further seven per cent of our fuel in deceleration. It cuts the fuel water reserve margins down to two per cent.'

  The major tapped his armrests, thinking. 'It is acceptable. We are taking this ship into the atmosphere anyway and there is an abundance of water available to us there. Initiate the new jump sequence. Communications, is the long-range comms drone ready to deploy?'

  'Sir, yes. Programmed and ready. Will automatically deploy on the jump closest to the gas giant.'

  The major nodded and tapped the ship-wide comms icon.

  'All Q, except bridge! In gel and sleep in five minutes. Wake in seven hours. We deploy to the surface in eight hours.'

  Those crew members who were not vital to the bridge quickly walked out, going to their heavy combat suit containers, climbed in, initiated the gel flood and told their bio-units to take them into sleep mode.

  On the bridge, the remaining handful of Qsealed their command pods and had their seats hold them tight. They flooded themselves with the gel a minute before the next jump -and massive gravities of deceleration kicked in -and before the Thorn jumped again to carry out the sequence of jumping and decelerating again and again until many hours later they were in a tight orbit around Storfisk.

  As soon as the gel had been cleared from their systems and they had been woken, the Tengu started checking their weapons, packing their field rations and getting themselves ready for immediate deployment.

  'Major.'

  'Comms?'

  'The ACE Tengu onboard Angelito has sent us the updates. In the space of time that we have been away the first generation of predators have hatched. He reports no other sign of them on any part of the planet, apart from the peninsula that they were first reported on. Their numbers have reached in excess of 600 with the second generation only a few days away from emerging which will be as high as 60,000 army builders.'

  The major felt a chill go through his body, wondering what he could do with his small force, knowing that the weapons he had available on the Thorn were impressive but they could not hope to make much of an impression on the predators.

  'Very well. We go for a denial of territory and await reinforcements. Navigation, take us down to the narrowest part of the peninsula. All crew: we have a difficult task. We must deny the enemy access to the greater landmass to the north. We have a twelve-and-a-half-kilometre-wide series of mountain ranges to cover. All operations will be aerial. Stand by for sectors and orders.'

  He linked his mind with the platoon and section commanders through their comms units, and in a few minutes had gone over the landmass and given them their sectors, resupply times, fallback positions and casualty evacuation points.

  As soon as he had finished, he sat back in his chair, wondering what else he could do.

  'Major, we have a message from Berkut and another from Haast. They are aware of the situation. Berkut will be over the peninsula in twelve hours and Haast a few minutes later. They have sent the contact codes for the fifty or so ACEs still alive on the peninsula who have been at war with the predators. They have split into two groups. One at the end of the peninsula and the other fifty kilometres south of the line that we will defend.'

  'Good. Very good! The brigadier and Mr Thompson have shown excellent initiative. I had been most concerned that they would wait for our return. Obviously no need for us to have deployed that comms drone.'

  The comms officer then added, 'They say it is imperative that we make contact with the ACE tiger Ayana and the ACE Haast's eagle, Maqua. They have information vital for the detection of the predator.'

  The major nodded.

  Ten minutes later, after the comms officer had made contact with the Tengu on Angelito and asked where Ayana and Maqua were, they made contact. Having verified that it was, in fact, the ACEs, information files started streaming across the comms officer's screens. He pushed it through his checking systems, then contacted the major.

  'It is a software upgrade for our use,' the officer said. 'Clever. I am impressed. I have released it to everyone and also started upgrades to our craf t's sensors. Effectively, can see the predator by what they are standing on and disturbing.'

  The major took the upgrade and integrated it into his own systems. 'Good! Navigation, I see our speed is sufficiently slow for us not to burn up on entry to the atmosphere. Fly us down over the area where the ACEs are engaged. Firstly, to the ACEs under the most pressure at the end of the peninsula .

  .Then climb back to altitude and we will do the same with the other group, hopefully giving them some relief. All crew: man external hull weapons. We are going on a strafing run.'

  Haast

  Storfisk

  Bob Thompson watched on his screens the steady descent into the atmosphere. Deciding that it was more interesting to see it with his own eyes, he climbed out of his pod and walked up to the panoramic windows at the front of the bridge, looking out and down and seeing Berkut a few kilometres below them. A hundred or so kilometres below them, the towering thunderclouds of an electrical storm flashed silently and Bob smiled, enjoying the wonder of it all.

  Everyone around him was edgy, including the Tengu major who strode up quickly with her prehensile, bladed tail tucked hard against her plated back.

  'Commander,' she greeted him.

  He nodded at her and raised his eyebrows.

  'Commander, I have been advised by Major Carrington that Major Suzuki is awake and has taken command of the Thorn again. They are going to stick with their plan of sealing off the most northern choke point of the peninsula. The brigadier also says that I am under your command until Colonel Bierwage returns with Rose Foxtrot,or sometime after. However, they do not anticipate him to be back for at least another two days.'

  Bob cocked his head to one side. 'Is there a problem with my commanding you, Major Graham?'

  The entity looked at him for a long moment and then seemed to gather herself and shook her head. 'No, of course not, sir.'

  She quickly turned and marched away.

  Mark de Ruyter, who was already wearing his light combat suit, sidled up beside him. 'Trouble with our elite troops?'

  Bob looked at him and then back to the hard crescent of the planet's horizon and its thick band of atmosphere. The local star shone through ... it would be early morning when they got down to the surface.

  'I hope not, Mark. Where is Nick Warne?'

  'I relieved him so he could grab a quick breakfast. He will be back in a couple of minutes.'

  'About time I did the same. Back in a few minutes.'

  He visited the ablutions, relieved himself and freshened up, then gathered a handful of fruit and munched on them, before going back onto the bridge. With nothing to do but wait, he sat in his pod and scanned through the screens, looking at the various parts of the ship. Everyone else was quiet as well, just waiting for the deployment and the first attacks on the predators. Bob's thoughts went back to the night before, when the ACE Haast had requested a private meeting with a link to the brigadier.

  The ACE told them everything that had been passed on to him from the ACE Maqua: what the predators had been doing on the surface; how they had built up their numbers and then remorselessly hunted the ACEs who had been looking after the introduced animals;how the battles had gone and the cries for help which Angelito had ignored, not responding to any of the ACEs' calls. Then they learned that the core intelligence of Angelita could not be found on the station by the Tengu and that any offensive weapons on the station which could have helped the ACEs, had been systematically wrecked beyond immediate repair.

  That was one thing that the brigadier could help with, and a repair crew had been sent from Berkut as they had passed by the station on their way to the planet
.

  The ACE had then shown them everything they now knew about the predators, including specific scents, the weapon systems that they knew it had available to it, including the others that the ACEs suspected it had.

  Bob did not ask nor dare to calculate the possibilities of an outright victory. The last thing he had done before Haast started to slowly descend down through the atmosphere was to take everything that they knew, load it all onto the data core of a fast picket drone and launch it to the nearest human star system. But he also knew that by the time help arrived the predators numbers would have built into the millions by using all the larger animals they had available to them.

  Feeling the weight of the odds stacked against them, he reached out and tapped the direct comms line to the brigadier.

  The man had a gentle smile on his face when his image appeared on Bob's screen.

  'I am not sure about your feelings,' the brigadier began, 'but I don't like this stage of any battle, Bob. Those last thirty minutes or so before all hell breaks loose, and the careful battle plan that was meticulously planned goes straight out the window ...'

  Bob nodded. 'And here is me so concerned about the overwhelming odds against us winning.'

  The older man looked at him and steepled his fingers, slowly nodding. 'Well, here's the thing. I have a whole series of nasty weapons so that if things go bad we will kill everything on the peninsula. So if we get pushed back, that is what I will do. The Haulers will not like it, but in time the environment will recover. We will, of course, save as many of the ACEs as possible, but once again we will sacrifice them as well to stop this plague. Until that moment arrives we will battle as hard as we can and just work on knocking them down. Hopefully, Rose Foxtrot returns so she can make those decisions for us.'

 

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