by Jamie Sawyer
“Captain Heinrich?” Lopez said.
Heinrich saluted. “Yes, sir. Understood, sir.”
The xeno followed Captain Heinrich out of the Command Centre without complaint.
“Look,” Captain Ving said, “we can do this the hard way, or the easy way.” He sucked his teeth. “Which is it going to be?”
“We’ll come with you.”
Secretary Lopez settled into one of the command consoles, looking down at the display. “On my order, all ships are to advance towards Ithaca Prime. Regardless of loss, regardless of damage, I want the Black Spiral’s fleet neutralised.”
We left the Secretary to his war.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
RENEGADE
The greatest war in history, and we were being benched. That was the truth of it.
Captain Ving was all business as he led us out of the CIC, a shock-rifle poised at my back. His squad of rookies fell in step beside us, eyes on Novak in particular. Anyone with even the slightest combat instinct could tell that he was eager for a fight. The Secretary’s words had bruised him. Zero had that same aura about her.
“I really hope that Lopez is okay,” Zero said. She shook.
“I’ll bet that you’re happy about this,” I said to Ving, as we marched across the ship. “Finally, you get to see the end of the Jackals.”
“Not at all, actually,” he said. “Truth be told, Lieutenant, I think that you’re all right.”
“Then let us go and do something useful,” Feng said.
“I like you,” Ving said, “but not that much. Secretary Lopez is in charge now.”
“Since when?” Zero chided. “This is a military operation, sir. General Draven is the commanding officer.”
“Lopez is Secretary of Defence, Zero. He’s got the power.”
“So you’re going to stand by while he signs his own daughter’s death warrant?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Whatever lets you sleep at night, Ving.”
“Just play along, and shut the fuck up, okay?” he hissed at me.
Captain Ving turned to his own makeshift squad. They all jumped in line, daunted by the Phoenixian’s reputation.
“I’ll take it from here,” he said.
“The Secretary’s orders, sir, were to—”
“Listen, kid,” Ving muttered, swinging the shock-rifle around in the direction of the extremely youthful-looking corporal, “I got this. I’ve been doing this since before you were born, and I can handle these guys on my own.”
The boy’s face dropped. “Yes, sir. Got it, sir.”
“Get down to the armoury. Run a weapons drill, in case Captain Heinrich decides to deploy us.”
That cheered the squad up. They disappeared into the corridor network, and out of sight.
“What are you doing, Ving?” I asked.
We’d stopped outside the ship’s main elevator shaft. Ving keyed in a destination.
“As I said, I think you’re all right,” he said.
The elevator doors opened, and Dr Saito stood alone in the car. He had his Army pistol in both hands, making plain that he intended to use force if necessary.
“They’re coming with me,” said Dr Saito.
“Are we?” Zero queried, surprised.
Instead of protesting, Captain Ving just set his jaw and nodded. “Come on. We have somewhere to be.”
We piled into the elevator. “Where are we going?” Zero challenged.
“Medical Deck,” said Dr Saito, locking us inside the car, and keying the appropriate location. “We need to get you to the Sim Ops Centre.”
“What’s going on, Ving?” I asked.
The stupid bastard lowered his weapon and grinned at me. “You’re not the only one that the fish can talk to privately.”
The lift descended through the decks, and my data-ports started to throb.
“Will Secretary Lopez come looking for us?” Zero asked.
“Quit with the worrying,” Ving said. “There’s a war going on. No one will notice that you’re missing until it’s too late. And, anyway, I’m as bound up in this as the rest of you. No one will question the Phoenixian.”
“Still,” said Dr Saito, “it never hurts to be sure.”
Saito racked the slide on his pistol, readying it for use, then rearranged his white smock, like an impersonator checking on his disguise. That was very much how I was coming to think of Wesley Saito…
“You’re unbelievable,” I said. “Do you even know how to shoot that thing?”
“I thought that you’d be in a better mood, what with the fact that we’ve just sprung you from Alliance detention.”
“Oh, we’re grateful,” Feng said. “That’s for sure.”
“But we weren’t detained,” said Zero. “Not technically, anyway.”
“No one gets you out of thing like that without reason,” Novak completed. “And I would like to know reason. Now.”
Dr Saito ignored Novak’s implied threat, and said, “I’ll tell you, as soon as we reach the SOC. Captain Heinrich and Pariah are meeting us down there. I told you that I had a mission, Lieutenant.”
“Is this more Watch crap, Doctor?” I asked.
“Hold on,” Zero said, to Saito. “So you’re working for the Watch?”
“Get over it, Zero,” I replied. “Dr Saito told me after the Sons of Balash attacked the Valkyrie.”
“And you didn’t think to tell us?” Feng said.
“What was there to tell? I’m not sure that I really believed it, at the time. Have you made contact with any of your assets, Dr Saito?”
“There are none immediately available,” Dr Saito said.
I shook my head. “See? How convenient.”
The elevator car chimed, and the doors peeled open. The deck was busy with operators hustling to and from their tanks. The familiar scent of amniotic and body odour hit me, and the tang of anticipation grew stronger at the back of my throat. True to promise, Captain Heinrich and P were waiting outside the elevator.
“Come along, troopers,” said Heinrich, playing the part as well. “You’ve got a mission to undertake.”
No one challenged him, and no one paid us any attention. He approached the deck manager—the officer responsible for allocating Sim Ops bays to individual squads—and started arguing with him. What with so many squads being deployed simultaneously, bays were in high demand, and the ops officer wasn’t allocating one easily. Meanwhile, P used the mind-link to speak with the Jackals.
“Fuck yes,” said Novak, unable to contain himself.
“That’s the best news I’ve heard all day,” Feng said, also out loud. Neither of them really had the hang of this mind-communications thing…
Captain Heinrich had finished negotiating with the ops manager, and hustled us along to a vacant bay. I noticed that he, too, had a pistol holstered at his thigh. It seemed like no one was taking chances any more.
“Can you seal us into this bay?” Dr Saito asked.
“Yes,” said Captain Heinrich. He activated the hatch controls, and I noticed that his hands trembled a little. “I take it that Pariah has updated you on the position?”
“Yes, sir,” I said. “I’m still not quite sure why you’d want to help us…”
“I’m not helping you,” said Captain Heinrich. “Or at least, I’m not helping just you. I’m not happy about doing this, but your trooper can’t die out there. Not like that. Not after what we did in the Ghost Maker Nebula. If it comes to it, I’ll burn each and every one of you, but as things stand… I’m not sure that Secretary Lopez is the right man to be in comman
d of this operation.”
Captain Heinrich was right: Secretary Lopez was becoming increasingly unhinged. Heinrich was tight with General Draven, but that relationship wouldn’t save him any more.
“Is that a very long way of saying you disagree with his orders?” I queried.
“I suppose it is,” Heinrich replied.
“We’ll make a renegade out of you yet…” Zero said.
“It’s going to be okay, sir,” I said.
Captain Heinrich scowled at me. “I wish I shared your optimism, Lieutenant. This is all new to me. I’m not used to countermanding orders.”
I shrugged. “It gets easier the more you do it.”
“You’re trouble.”
“It’s been said before.”
There was a violent shudder through the deck and some shouting from the corridor outside.
Zero powered up the main operations console. She pulled her seat close to the monitors, and adjusted the various vid-screens so that they were to her liking.
“Then what’s the mission plan?” she asked.
A flight-path illuminated on the main display. P had already plotted a route, through the Ring of Thorns, inbound to Ithaca Prime itself. There were questions here—like how the hell did P manage to do this at such short notice?—but they weren’t for now. P’s abilities had developed to such a level that none of this really surprised me any more.
Dr Saito sat in a chair next to Zero, looking at the tri-D imagery. “We haven’t shared this intelligence with Secretary Lopez, or anyone else in the fleet. I hope the reasons for that are obvious.”
The simulator-tanks started to hum as they powered up, and filled with conducting fluid. I stripped out of my uniform.
“How are we going to get to Warlord’s location?” I asked.
“Drop-capsule,” Captain Heinrich answered. “I’ve authorised the launch.”
“P and I will stay on the Defiant,” said Dr Saito.
“Can the Aeon help us?” asked Zero.
P paused.
“They are currently engaging the Shard warships, in orbit around several inner planets,” Dr Saito explained. “We can’t bank on them doing much more at this stage.”
“I’ll cover the SOC while you’re operational,” Captain Ving promised.
I was inside my tank now, clasping the respirator to my face, putting my earbead in place.
“So,” I said, testing the comms, “all we need to do is find Warlord, save Lopez, and wait for the rest of the fleet to mop things up. The anti-virus gets delivered to Ithaca Prime, and the war is over.”
“This sounds too easy…” Feng said, also inside his tank.
“I’m sure that it won’t be,” I muttered.
“Is better than sitting in cell,” said Novak, snapping himself inside his tank as well.
In turn, I attached each of the data-cables to my ports, feeling the buzz of the transition beginning to overwhelm me.
“If we approach Warlord’s ship with drop-capsules,” I said, “won’t he see us coming?”
Dr Saito tapped his neck. “Remember those stealth bands? Well, they can be adapted for use with drop-capsules as well.”
“You fucking Watch guys and your toys…”
Another shudder through the ship’s spaceframe reminded me that we were on the clock.
“I’m ready when you are,” declared Zero, poised over her console. “The capsules are loaded, and the launch coordinates are fixed.”
“I’ll take care of that,” said Ving, checking that his rifle was armed.
“Just make sure that Dr Saito doesn’t kill himself with that pea-shooter,” I said. “Zero, send us in.”
Captain Heinrich saluted. “Don’t disappoint me, Jackals.”
“Good luck,” Zero said.
I laughed. “Fuck luck, Z. Fuck luck.”
Zero turned to her console. “Transition in three… two… one…”
Snap.
Eyes open. Breathe deep. Keep breathing.
Oxygen. Atmosphere.
Another new skin.
The dark of a drop-capsules interior. Cold, but not the freeze of space. That came later…
The armourglass shield of a face-plate was directly in front of me. I was wearing a combat-suit, tactical-helmet and all. The armour’s intelligence systems booted immediately, and made uplink to the Alliance battle-net. I thought-commanded maximum encryption. A new icon appeared on my HUD, flashing intermittently. Dr Saito’s stealth device was operational.
“Transition confirmed,” I said.
“Copy that,” said Feng.
“And here,” said Novak.
Another shudder through the Defiant’s spaceframe, this time more aggressive.
“Are we still taking hits?” I asked.
“Affirmative,” said Zero. No time to waste, she asked, “Are you ready to drop?”
“Born ready, Z. Born ready.”
“And will die ready, too,” said Novak.
“Who wants to live for ever, right?” I asked.
Novak’s raucous laughter was swallowed by white noise, as the drop-capsules launched from the Defiant.
The trio of drop-capsules launched into space.
As we powered onwards towards our destination, my Pathfinder suit’s AI built up a picture of the surrounding sector. Real-time updates on the war flooded my HUD, providing me with an overview of the fleet’s progress. The Defiant was taking fire. Her point defence systems were working overtime, targeting incoming munitions and warheads. There were a series of blistering explosions at the perimeter of the Defiant’s null-shield, as energy weapons were ablated. In the vacuum of space, everything played out in a disconnected silence.
“Whoah!” Feng yelled, his breathing ragged and shallow over the comms.
Somewhere among the tangle of debris and dying ships that was the War for Ithaca, space seemed to warp. Searing white light licked the dark, and the battle-net flickered erratically.
“What was that?” Novak asked. Drops, and anything to do with zero-G in general, had never been Novak’s thing; he sounded on the verge of being sick.
“Ah, I’m not sure,” came Zero’s clipped voice. “The conflict is progressing rapidly.”
“That you, P?”
Whereas Zero’s voice was hazed with static, P’s mind-link was crystal clear.
“So this hyper-evolution bullshit has given you a sense of humour as well?”
“Tell her to do that again.”
“Have the Aeon suffered any more casualties?”
“Keep it that way.”
The drop-capsules initiated second-stage thrust, and I felt the tug of acceleration across my body.
“Almost there,” I said.
“Good,” replied Novak.
“Aren’t you glad that you didn’t eat breakfast now, Big Man?” Feng asked.
Novak snarled. “Have not eaten in days. Am very hungry, in fact.”
“Eating can wait,” I said. “While Lopez is out there with the Spiral, at least.”
Soon, we were behind enemy lines: inside the Black Spiral’s cordon. The Kalliper Belt stretched out before us.
It looked, for all intents, very much like the Drift; that ring of dangerous debris that surrounded the Maelstrom. The Ring of Thorns—the moon-sized asteroids that orbited Ithaca Prime—appeared behind the debris-field of the Belt. The field was dense here, and had obviously not been caused by the current conflict, but something more ancient. Maybe this was a remnant of the first war, of the last time that the Shard walked this area of the Milky Way. The press of history, of the ages, was everywhere. Ithaca Prime was visible through the band of rubble, her ocean’s surface reflecting the light of the local star. The planet was distant, and yet still so very close.
I closed my eyes as the well of memories—memories that were not mine, but I nonetheless felt—poured over me. Even at this distance, my suit’s scopes could pick up the huge nest bases—continent-sized, sprawling over land and sea. Green and blue mixed in equal measure; gigantic kelp-beds crossing the hemisphere, swamp-lands merging with shallow seas. In the deep alien forests, the Krell observed, aware through their connection with the Deep that war was coming. The Great Nest bases were hives of activity, as every bio-form capable of fighting was mustered.
“It’s… kind of beautiful,” said Zero, dragging me from my thoughts. “No Alliance eyes have ever seen this place, up close.”
“Is main fish world,” said Novak. “Yes?”
“This is where it all started,” I muttered.
“People have worked, fought, died, to find this place,” Zero said. “And now we’re here, trying to save it. Feels like this should be more of a moment or something.”
“Moments are for people like Secretary Lopez,” I said. “We’re just getting a job done.”
I felt fear. Real, tangible fear. The Krell Deep Ones knew what was at stake, and they knew Harbinger was coming for them.
P initiated a private mind-link with me.
I know, P, I said, answering privately as well.
How can you tell?