Dust & Iron (Adventures of the Starship Satori Book 9)

by Kevin McLaughlin

  “Halcomb, Sing – head toward the bridge. They’re going to need backup. Be ready to repel boarders in case any of them get on before we jump,” Charline said.

  “Jump? In case you missed it, there’s a massive slice missing out of the power line,” Halcomb said. “What are you thinking to do, patch it yourself?”

  “Something like that,” Charline said. “Just go!”

  Halcomb paused, his armor stock still like he was trying to see her through her suit. For a moment Charline thought he was on to her plan. He’d never go along with what she had in mind. The gap torn in the conduit was long, too long for much of anything to patch. But it was just about the distance of an armored suit’s arm reach.

  She could be the conduit. If her suit could just survive the energy discharge long enough for the wormhole to form before it turned into slag around her, then her people would get home. Charline wished there was time to tie the suit’s arms into place, or weld them there. But they didn’t have the tools or the time. A series of bangs echoed through the hull as the first set of alien vessels began docking.

  “Go. I’ve got this,” Charline said. “If the bridge is overrun, it’s game over.”

  “All right. Sing, move out! I’ll follow you and cover our withdrawal to the bridge. Follow us as fast as you can, Charline,” Halcomb said.

  Then they were both gone, leaving her alone to face the enormity of what she was about to do.

  Charline reached out both arms of her suit. They easily spanned the gap between the two torn bits of conduit. Maybe she could get out of the suit and leave it there? But no - as soon as she released the suit controls, the hands relaxed and slid from their places to fall limply back down at the armor’s sides. She could only have the armor hold position while she was actively engaging it. That was a costly design flaw! She supposed there was some reason for it in the original suits, but it wasn’t helpful for combat situations.

  Her mind was racing, babbling nonsense, and she knew it. There wasn’t much help for it, though. She took hold of the conduit again. They were out of time. Stalling would only hurt her people more. Charline gripped the conduit tightly and activated her radio.

  “Tessa, fire up the wormhole. You should be able to get one jump. Make it count!” Charline said.

  “Roger. We’re activating it now,” Tessa replied.

  Charline closed her eyes. Everything in her life had brought her to this moment. She wanted to say goodbye to Andy more than anything else. He’d lost a surrogate father when John had died to save them all. Now he was losing her the same way. Their relationship had been bumpy, but it was real.

  Charline hoped he would understand why she was doing this, why she had to do this. But whether he understood or not, it was out of her hands now. Any second, power would course through her suit, killing her and sending the rest of her team home.

  Before she knew what was happening, Charline was flying back through the air. She slammed against a nearby wall hard enough to knock the wind from her lungs. Then she crashed into the floor with bruising force.

  What the hell had happened? She was still alive – had she been thrown clear by the force of the energy channeled into the conduit? No, if that had happened she’d still have been scorched, if not killed. She came back to her feet, preparing to rush back to the conduit and save her people.

  But there was someone else already there. Halcomb’s armor stood facing her, one hand on each end of the pipe.

  “Not your time, commander. Get them home,” he told her.

  “Halcomb, no! This is my job. My responsibility,” Charline said. It was her duty to pay for all those who’d died. Even as she had the thought, she knew that wasn’t true. That didn’t make her feel it any less.

  “Your responsibility is to live. You’ve started something with this armor. Take it to the next level,” Halcomb said. “I know something important, vital, when I see it. This matters. Make it count. Godspeed, commander.”

  A whining noise almost drowned out his last words. The armor of his hands heated up, turning bright red in seconds and then blindingly white. Charline dove to the ground, taking cover behind a pile of machinery as a small nova erupted in the room. Excess energy poured away from Halcomb’s armor, arcing in sharp bursts light lightning darting to one wall after another.

  There was that oh-so-familiar sensation of suddenly being nowhere and everywhere at the same time. It had worked. They’d entered a wormhole. The coordinates were already set. They’d arrive back home, near Earth. Near help that they so desperately needed.

  But the cost. As the ship entered real-space again, Charline was able to recover to her feet and get a look at what was left of Halcomb.

  The armor looked like a melted candle in the rough shape of a man. Metal had slagged off in droplets, melted to liquid under the intense flow of energy. It was over now. Part of the suit’s arm had melted away, breaking the connection, but it had lasted long enough for them to get through the wormhole.

  Had it been quick? Charline hoped so, that Halcomb had died instantly. Another of her people who died so that she could live. She wanted to drop to her knees and cry for him, for herself, for all their losses.

  There wasn’t time yet. At least one of those alien ships had docked before they were able to jump. The danger wasn’t past. They had more to do before she could put her ghosts to rest.

  “Tessa, Sing, Arjun, meet me in the hall outside the bridge. We’ve got some cleanup of our ship to take care of,” Charline said.

  FORTY-FOUR

  Cots beckoned to an exhausted Charline as she took the long hike from the ship’s bridge down to engineering. The battle to capture the ship had gone on for three days. Even then, the fight was a near thing. The bugs managed to board the bigger ship and holed up near the aft sections. Three battalions of Marines rooted them all out of their hiding holes, though. Then to make sure, they’d opened the entire vessel to vacuum for a week. It was possible the bugs could have survived even that, but she was pretty sure any still hiding on board would have died.

  Now the massive vessel was in orbit over Earth. People were tearing into the ship, trying to figure out how everything worked.

  It wasn’t going to be disassembled, though. Humanity only had one wormhole-capable ship, before. The Satori had been unique. Now they had four more – the mothership and three smaller ships which had managed to dock. Understanding the technology behind the drive was still years away. Maybe even decades. For now, they had to make do with what they had. The captured ships would become part of Earth’s fleet.

  Charline had a feeling they were going to need every ship they could muster. How many vessels could these bugs bring to bear? Scores, at least, but maybe the number was a hundred or more. There was no way to know precisely what they were facing.

  Her time on board was almost done. She’d been reassigned. Taking Halcomb’s words to heart, she’d gone to General Hereford with the data gleaned from their fights in hand. She’d been ready to put up a fight for her idea, the thing Halcomb had given his life for, but it turned out Hereford had already seen the armored bugs in action. They’d boarded Dan’s ship and only barely been beaten back by his Marines.

  Armor wasn’t just a possible concept to work on. It was precisely the solution Hereford had been looking for, and he grabbed on with both hands as soon as she presented her plans.

  Halcomb had left her with all the schematics for the Overkill armor unit. They might not be able to build it precisely the same way he had; the alien alloy wasn’t available in abundance, and neither were plasma cannons. But they could rig up some Earth-made weapons to mount instead. With a little human ingenuity, Charline was confident the fighting force would be even more effective than her fledgling group of survivors.

  She was surprised Hereford caved so quickly to her request that she be given command. He’d grinned like an old fox with a mouthful of feathers. Charline smiled at the memory. Of course he’d been glad. He had her right where he’d wante
d her, volunteering to take a leadership role in humanity’s survival.

  She brushed her fingers over her collar, where a brand new silver oak leaf rested. It felt strange to her, to be officially part of the military. A few years ago, she would have scoffed at the notion. But now it felt like the only place she could possibly make up for all those people who’d died saving her.

  They’d begin with a battalion of armored troops, but Hereford had bigger plans for the unit. Eventually he hoped to have a lot more armor ready. He agreed with Charline. Earth was going to need every advantage it could possibly get in the months and years ahead.

  Charline had hoped to tell Andy about her new job, but he’d vanished shortly after being released from the hospital. He wasn’t answering calls or messages, and she had no idea where he was.

  Well, the hell with him. If he felt like riding in as a white knight again, she’d tell him where to shove his chivalry. When she actually needed him, he was nowhere to be found.

  It hurt more than she wanted to admit to herself, but pouring all her energy into the work ahead helped. Some.

  Now there was just one last thing to take care of before she returned to the planet below to begin building the new unit. Charline leaned on the wall outside the engine room and closed her eyes for a moment before stepping across the threshold. She hadn’t returned to this room, not since Halcomb had died there.

  Steeling herself, she opened her eyes again and strode forward with all the confidence she could muster. He was still there, the armor a living tomb around whatever was left of Halcomb inside. They couldn’t even carve him out for a proper burial. The casket had been closed, with nothing inside. Based on the damage, the engineers working on the ship said there probably wasn’t much left of the man inside the melted armor, anyway. What remains might be there were fused with the metal. Halcomb had become one with his armor, in the end.

  “What do you want us to do with this, ma’am?” one of the techs working in the room asked when he saw her enter.

  They’d cut Halcomb’s armor loose from where it had still been attached to the wall. New conduit was going in to permanently repair the damaged link. The melted armor now stood in the middle of the room. Scuttlebutt said they wanted to melt it down for the precious alien alloy it contained, but Charline interceded. There was still a body in there, a fallen member of her team. She’d be damned if he was going to be treated with anything but respect.

  “Get a hauler to load it in the shuttle at Bay Five. I’ll be taking it ground side,” Charline said.

  “Pardon me asking, ma’am – but what’s the plan for it – for him?” the tech asked.

  Charline nodded at the correction. That felt right. The armor wasn’t just a thing. It was a person as well. What was left of one, anyway. Her idea for how to make his sacrifice mean something more was simple, elegant, and had been a quick sell to Hereford.

  “We’re bringing him down to McClellan,” Charline said. That was where the new Armor Battalion was forming up. “He’ll reside there as a reminder to all of us of the importance of duty, and the sacrifices we might all make in service to humanity.”

  “Yes, ma’am. I’ll see he’s transported with the same honor we would any of our fallen.”

  “I appreciate that,” Charline said.

  She crossed the short distance to the melted statue that had been her friend. Charline reached out to touch the smooth metal. It was cool to the touch, now. She missed the easy chuckle Halcomb always had at the ready, and his smooth, calm nature. Damn the man, he was going to be difficult to replace.

  But she wouldn’t need to, Charline realized. He’d still serve. Halcomb would be a beacon to all those joining the unit he helped her start.

  “You old goat. How d’you like that? You’re not just going to be a part of the unit,” Charline said softly, the whisper so faint that no one else would hear her words. “I’ll turn you into a god-damned legend. One that will spawn so many more heroes like you that we’ll save ourselves from this mess yet.”

  KEVIN’S NOTES

  It seems forever ago that the last Satori novel was released, but we’re back and there are plenty more adventures to come in the books ahead. Look forward to Book 10 next month, and probably around one a month for a little while after that.

  How long will the Satori’s saga go? That’s hard to say. This current sequence of books will be six long (through Book 12), and there is at least one more sequence of books to write after that. I have a lot of other stories I want to tell, but this world keeps calling me back, and you folks seem to love the ship and her crew. Keep reading, and I’ll keep writing them!

  I seem to have started a trend with the last book. It was the longest Satori novel to date. This one is about 13% longer than Embers of War. I don’t know why; I just write until the story has been told well. But I doubt anyone is going to complain about the books being a little longer.

  This book is a departure from the other books in the series. It’s the first Satori novel where the starship Satori doesn’t actually appear. Because I left a big hook at the end of Embers of War - what happened to Andy and Charline? - I needed to spend some time answering that question.

  Charline had also never had a book really focus on her before. We’ve had the spotlight on a number of other major characters, but she hadn’t had her chance to shine until now.

  I thought long and hard about how I wanted to handle her story. Should it be a sub-set of the main series, a little trilogy of novellas? Could I tell the tale as a side-line for the ongoing main story?

  Eventually I decided that I needed to give her tale its own book. What you have here is the result, and I hope you’ve enjoyed reading it. Charline has certainly come a long way. She’s no longer the young hacker she was in the first book. Now she leads squads of powered armor into battle against alien bugs. She’s taken a stand, rising to the increasing challenges humanity is facing in space.

  It will be interesting to see where that path leads her in the books to come.

  Thanks for reading both the book AND these notes! Remember that I’m always glad to hear from readers, so drop me a line any time.

  Kevin

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  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  When not practicing hobbies which include sailing, constructing medieval armor, and swinging swords at his friends, Kevin McLaughlin can usually be found in his Boston home. Kevin’s award-winning short fiction is now available in digital form at all major ebook retailers. His urban fantasies “By Darkness Revealed” and “Ashes Ascendant” are available in ebook and print. His latest stories, the “STARSHIP” series and “King of the Dead” serial, are ongoing.

  I love hearing from readers!

  www.kevinomclaughlin.com

  kevins.studio@gmail.com

  Also By The Author…

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

&n
bsp; Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Kevin’s Notes

  Afterword

  About the Author

  Also by the author…