Randolph Lalonde - Spinward Fringe Broadcast 08 - Renegades

by Randolph Lalonde

  Their drop was perfect, and Jacob, Moira McFadden, Stephanie Vega and ten other soldiers made the trip to the hangar deck of the enemy destroyer.

  Stephanie Vega led half the squad to engineering, starting their rampage to the rear of the ship by using a focused high explosive charge to blast a passage up through four decks. It was then that Minh-Chu realized two important things. Firstly, that he had never been on an important ship raid with Jacob Valent’s team. Secondly, there was a method, it was well practiced by the leaders of this mission, and he could barely keep up with its execution.

  Stephanie’s team blasted their way in initially, then activated stealth systems while the few guards at the rear of the ship were reeling. From what Minh could tell, it seemed to work perfectly. The enemy was moving as though they thought Jake’s team was the only one, because they had a different strategy altogether.

  With Jacob in the lead, running full tilt through a service hangar packed with supplies, then a steep bare metal staircase leading up several decks, the whole squad moved faster than Minh-Chu had seen outside of simulations. The artificial muscle layer of Minh-Chu’s vacsuit had to kick in several times as the team kept up with the captain of the Warlord, and Minh-Chu was out of breath when they finally stopped. His tactical map told him they were one level beneath the main corridor leading to the bridge. As he looked through the transparent map in his helmet, he couldn’t help but notice that the rest of the team was trying to catch their breath as well. The powered armour all but Minh-Chu wore was helpful at making someone stronger, but the human body still had to move with it, so a hard run was still exhausting, and Minh felt reassured that he wasn’t the only one who needed a few seconds to recover.

  Captain Jacob Valent was another matter, however. He stood statue-still for long moments, and Minh-Chu could guess what was going on. He was trying to break through the security systems protecting the destroyer’s wireless network. Just as everyone caught their breath, he pulled two shaped charges from his large armoured coat and started walking back the way they came. “Get clear, they’re coming.” With two tosses that looked as nonchalant as brushing lint off his shoulder, Captain Valent tossed two more charges at the ceiling behind him where they affixed so the blast would fire straight up. “The encryption protecting their internal comms is a joke, these are amateurs.” He sounded disappointed.

  Everyone scrambled to move back to a safe distance of fifteen metres, Minh-Chu included.

  “Set personal shielding to maximum,” Jacob said as he leisurely stepped across the invisible line indicating a safe distance.

  “Ignore everything I transmit on channel three twelve,” Jake said over the comms. “All units, converge on frame thirty six, section nineteen. We’ll take the bridge via the main hall. Use stealth systems.”

  “What are you up to, Captain?” Moira asked.

  Minh-Chu grinned and nodded, “I think I know. You’re giving them a target by transmitting fake unencrypted orders using proximity radio.”

  “That location is right above your shaped charges,” Moira said, “They’re going to fall for that?”

  “If I had just graduated from the academy, I might,” Minh-Chu said.

  Minh-Chu’s tactical system indicated that someone was planting explosives on the level above within one metre of Captain Valent’s shaped charges.

  “Well, there they go,” Moira said, “Well done.”

  As soon as the explosives were armed, Jake looked towards his half-squad, perhaps not realizing that the holographic death’s head visage was in full effect so it appeared that his helmet was worn by a putrescent skull. “Two Order Knights just started setting antipersonnel mines in the hall just above my explosives. It’s the only way into the bridge. Get ready. I blow this, then we charge. Load anti-framework rounds.” He didn’t wait for anyone to acknowledge the order before blowing his shaped charges, which set off the antipersonnel mines in the hall ahead and above them.

  Minh-Chu’s lighter shields took all the damage as the corridor erupted in flame and shrapnel, settling in impenetrable smoke. The sensors in his helmet made up for the terrible visibility in time for Minh-Chu to see Jake leap up into the hole, flinging a fistful of small grenades with one hand towards the blockade the Barricade’s crew had set up and firing his long-barrelled Violator Handgun on full auto. Minh-Chu’s weapon was on the same pre-set; those rounds moved slower than an energy weapon, and they had to change clips after two hundred and ten shots, but they’d burst against armour, burning at over twenty-eight hundred degrees for several seconds.

  Captain Valent’s first volley of grenades exploded against the energy shield protecting the enemy crew as he was tossing another handful of the small but devastating explosives. By the time Minh-Chu and the rest of the squad were up through the hole in the ceiling, the hall in front of Jake was a twisted ruin of doors and broken walls leading to senior officer’s crew quarters and abandoned secondary control rooms, and the energy barrier protecting the first barricade was gone.

  Minh-Chu spotted what was left of one of the Order Knights’ torsos to his right, a pile of gore that was already regenerating, and he fired his Violator handgun at the half-ruined head and its chest. He dumped a focused electromagnetic pulse grenade modified to disable a single framework onto it and stepped away. His shields registered a slight decline as it popped, and the framework’s activity ceased.

  “Good job, Ronin,” Moira said.

  The remains of the other Order Knight were destroyed by a pair of soldiers using rifles loaded with anti-framework rounds – explosive ammunition that released an electromagnetic charge as well.

  Jacob and Moira led the way, calmly walking down the broad corridor towards the barricade. Jake fired his violator handgun on full automatic, the barrel end starting to glow red, while he fired bursts from an overcharged pulse handgun with the other hand. Moira walked right along side him, methodically firing one heavily modified and overcharged energy pistol then the other. Her rate of fire was far slower, but her accuracy was deadly.

  The rest of the squad moved along behind them, firing around the bold pair, who were met with resistance at first as the ship’s defenders fell back to their second and final barricade, but they were pressed under cover in seconds. Even an attempt by one enemy soldier to throw a seeker grenade into the air was stopped as the boarding team member beside Minh-Chu shot it out of the air by sheer luck, detonating the explosive above the defenders’ heads.

  The defenders scattered. Minh-Chu shot two of the enemy soldiers several times as he took his turn firing around Jake’s right side. One of the enemy soldiers went down when two rounds from Minh-Chu’s weapon burned through his armoured hip and thigh. He only had seconds to scream before he was finished off. Anyone caught in the open was cut down as soon as they broke cover. They weren’t there to take prisoners, and everyone there knew it.

  Without warning, Jake pushed Moira back and charged forward, his shield system drawing as much energy as his suit could provide. “Take cover, now!” he said as he rushed ahead.

  As everyone ducked behind a twisted wall or fallen door, an energy reading appeared on Minh-Chu’s tactical system that was identified and marked in red. It was an Order Knight in full armour, surrounded by an energy shield, carrying one of their high-powered rifles.

  As the Knight emerged from the main bridge doors, Jake careened into her shoulder-first at a dead run. Their shields clashed with a blinding flash, and Minh-Chu’s tactical system warned him that the energy barriers’ crossing was raising the temperature around them at a rate of several degrees per second.

  No one had a clear shot as Jake tried to avoid the business end of the Knight’s rifle while keeping her between the bridge doors. All Minh-Chu could do was watch and make sure that there was nothing coming from behind.

  Captain Valent managed to get the Order Knight’s leg into a lock despite the near frictionless nature of their energy shields. The clashing of energy scarred the deck with red-hot st
reaks at their feet and the heavy armoured door that was being held open by the width of the Knight.

  A pair of enemy soldiers broke cover, firing down the hall. Minh-Chu leaned out to return fire, and was rewarded with several hits on his shield. “I’ve got this, Commander,” said a soldier behind him as she leaned out and ripped through the pair before they could find cover away from the Order Knight and Jake.

  The Knight fired several rounds above them as she fought to get her rifle pointed at her assailant, the shots leaving white-hot spots over their heads. She dropped it and reached for a sidearm while Jake let go of her, reaching for something in his jacket.

  Minh-Chu was shocked when Jake pulled out a handful of small electromagnetic pulse grenades and dropped them between him and the Order Knight. “Pray to your maker,” were the only words Captain Valent had time to say before they went off, blasting both their shields to nothing and severely damaging all the automation in the outer layers of their armour. Whatever strength Jake was using was his own, and the speed of the man astounded Minh-Chu as he managed to snatch the Order Knight again and drag her back through the heavy bridge doors.

  The Knight was stunned just long enough for Jake to get a grip under the chin of her helmet, and Jake bashed his enemy’s head on the edge of one of a barricade’s waist-height metal plates, hard enough to dent her helmet. He put a knee on the Knight’s chest, knocked her sidearm from her hand, and drew a cutting tool from his jacket. Just as Jake was getting poised to cut through his enemy’s helmet, it fell open.

  “You’re living on stolen technology, and we will take it from you. All hail the Order,” said the fresh-faced young Order Knight before she convulsed. Jake leapt up and took cover.

  For several long moments, nothing happened. “Advanced scanning is picking up the release of some kind of enzyme, a few liquid acids, and minor nanobot activity. Looks like she just self-destructed,” Moira said.

  Jake came out from cover and picked up his Violator Handgun. Minh-Chu didn’t see when he dropped it. Without hesitation, he pushed the heavy bridge security door open with the weapon pointed at someone inside. “Everyone on your knees,” he said flatly.

  The squad moved up in time to see nine crewmembers in simple dark green uniforms slowly kneeling in the middle of the bridge behind the empty command seat. The bridge was a typical semicircle with the command seat in the middle and the rest of the crew stations around on an incline so they were all visible from the centre. There were two levels of stations, and a large display space at the front.

  “Now! Get out here and get on your knees, now!” Jake shouted, firing at the second level of the bridge.

  Minh-Chu’s scanners picked up someone hiding in an access hatch to the right of the command seat.

  “Watch them,” Jake said as he strode to the narrow service hatch door and ripped it off its hinges. He reached in and dragged a screaming crewmember out by the hair. Without a moment’s hesitation, Jake forced him onto his knees and pressed the barrel of his Violator Handgun against the side of his head. The crewmember slipped Jake’s grip as soon as the barrel seared the skin at his temple. Captain Valent caught the back of his uniform and held him out in front of him. “I’m sorry, did that hurt?” he said through a grimace as he pressed the barrel to the back of the crewmember’s head for a moment, provoking a shrill scream. “This one is a Junior Lieutenant, and probably twenty years old, just at the beginning of his life. Surrender complete control of this ship and its database, now,” he said, looking at the rest of the kneeling crewmembers, “or it’ll be the end.”

  Two of the youngest, barely men, were in tears, refusing to look at Captain Valent. The rest stared ahead. No one replied; the only sound in the large bridge was the whimpering of the crewmember Jake held at the point of his sidearm. “They’re not very interested in keeping you alive,” Jake said to him. “What’s your name, Junior Lieutenant?”

  “Blantonne,” the wide-eyed captive replied.

  “That sounds like a last name,” Jake said, touching the barrel of his weapon to the back of the crewmember’s head for a moment. Blantonne shouted at the shock of the pain. “I think we should be on a first name basis under these circumstances. I’m Jacob, people call me Jake, and you are?”

  “I-Ira,” he replied.

  “Good, Ira. We’re going to play a game – it’s called Chinese Whispers, only it’ll be a short one. I’ll whisper something to you, and you’ll tell your captain over there what I’ve said. You have to say the words like they are your own, or something bad will happen. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, yes I understand,” replied Ira.

  Jake leaned forward and whispered something then said, “Go on, no need to rephrase.”

  “He s-“

  “Like they’re your own words!” Jake said, shaking his captive. “Try again! No more warnings.”

  Minh-Chu had never seen anyone so openly wrathful. He knew Jacob carried a certain amount of anger with him, something he did not show to people, and knowing the man’s history, Minh couldn’t blame him. Jacob Valent had everything from identity to abandonment and relationship issues, and he also believed that it was up to him to fix the greatest wrongs in the galaxy. As deluded as it seemed, Minh knew the man felt he had to make a difference, and that, above all else, he was the one most capable. It was a delusion, one that Jake wouldn’t admit to, but Minh-Chu knew it was his friend’s greatest flaw, and the slow progress they’d made at defeating the Order only stoked the flames in Jacob’s heart.

  Jake had been left alone for years, lost his daughter, found her again, been under the thumb of Regent Galactic, seen the horrific destruction on Pandem and countless other places. He’d been betrayed, hunted, attacked, watched friends and crewmembers die. The Samson and its crew were shunned while others were accepted, and finally, the love of his life had turned away from him with little explanation. Yes, Minh-Chu understood Jacob’s rage, and he knew, listening to his voice as it alternated between ice-cold tones and wrathful instruction, that there was no stopping whatever was going to happen.

  Ira repeated what Jake told him with his eyes squeezed shut, sweat dripped from his chin. “Surrender this ship with all the access codes for all systems,” Ira blurted in a rush. “Or in ten seconds I won’t…” He shuddered. “I won’t have a head.”

  Jake whispered something and Ira tried to look back at him. Captain Valent only nodded solemnly.

  Ira looked to his fellow crewmembers and started counting with tears rolling down his cheeks. “Ten, nine, eight…”

  “Slower,” Jake said with mock sympathy. “A little slower for your own sake.”

  “S-seven.” He paused to take a shuddering breath. “Six, five, four, please, Sir!”

  “Keep counting,” Jake barked.

  “Three, two,” Ira tried to struggle at the last moment and everyone flinched as Captain Valent fired. In a flash of light, the cranium of his captive was gone, leaving a gory stump. Before anyone could react, Jake strode to the next nearest crewmember, and grabbed him by the hair. Then he deactivated his own helmet and regarded the rest of the bridge staff, who were all cringing in utter terror. Jacob Valent’s expression was twisted in an expression of unhinged wrath that made the artificial death’s head of his helmet seem like a comforting alternative. “This is a lieutenant commander. I will not bother to learn his name, because he is about to die!” he looked down at the man in his grip and said, “Count down from ten!”

  “Ten,” the lieutenant commander started.

  “Louder!” Jacob Valent shouted with such violence that his voice rasped.

  “Nine,” the man said, ashen faced and shaking with fear. “Eight.” He would be a tall man if he were on his feet. “Seven.” Cool blue eyes and a traditionally handsome face would help him make easy friends. “Six.” His uniform was in good order, clean and tidy.

  “Jake, don’t do this,” Minh-Chu said.

  Captain Valent fixed him with undiminished fury. “These people
are objects, weapons that the Order owns. It’s up to them to prove me wrong before I run out of soldiers to break.” He turned to his captive and shook him. “Keep counting!”

  “Five,” the lieutenant commander said, visibly losing hope. He closed his eyes. “I don’t have the right codes, or I’d give them to you.”

  “Who does?” Jake asked. “Where is your captain?”

  Minh-Chu looked at the other crewmembers and noticed, for the first time, that the highest rank was that of commander – there was no captain.

  “She is,” the Lieutenant Commander said, nodding to the woman closest to him.

  She had a narrow face, and wore her dark red hair in a long braid. “Traitor! Activate reactor overload!” she shouted into the air above. The bridge lights flashed red and an alarm sounded one whoop.

  “Oh, no, we’re all going to die,” Captain Valent said sardonically through his teeth.

  Minh-Chu checked his scanners and saw no change in the reactor status. Everyone waited quietly for several seconds before Jake shrugged and said, “Guess not.”

  “We’ve had control of the reactor room for six minutes,” Commander Stephanie Vega said over the comm. “There was one Knight and a dozen crew guarding engineering. We went around and incinerated them from behind.”

  Captain Valent let go of his captive and kicked him onto his side before dragging the captain to her feet by the root of her braid. “No quick death for you,” he said, nose to nose with her. “Life doesn’t mean much to a monster like me, little girl. I’ll keep you alive while I rip pieces of you off with my bare hands if you don’t give me what I want. You’re an obstacle, and I don’t go around, I go through.” He gave her a moment to reply. Her face turned red, and she started to close her eyes. He shook her by her braid so hard Minh was afraid it was about to come off and she screamed. “Stay here! Right here, with me! You wanted command of a ship, and this is what that has brought you to! I’ll fight my way through every captain and soldier in the fleet to get to the real war and they won’t even leave a stain on my memory.” She regarded him with wide eyes, one hand trying to push him away, the other reaching for the wrist of the arm that gripped her ponytail. “The question is, will I have to torture you for a few weeks to get what I want?”