The Vanguard Emerges (Maraukian War Book 2)

by Michael Chatfield

  “Hold on! This is getting rough!” Ergo’s voice came through to her as the two connected ships struggled with the weight load.

  She looked around. Maraukians were everywhere, almost to Xiao.

  “Rayin, cover fire now! Xiao’s down there!” But there was nothing else Rayin or Valez could do. In mere seconds, the Maraukians would be on top of him.

  “Cover fire coming in, Primus!” a voice echoed in her ear, and just as the hangar doors closed, she saw them. Three gliders. Was there hope in getting him out of there?

  Xiao, loaded with both weapons, knew it was over. He wasn’t going without a fight, however. He’d pummel as many as possible before the horde overwhelmed him. Quina wanted to look away. But she couldn’t. He’d saved her. After all those years of banter—some sheer insubordination—he’d chosen her life over his.

  It wasn’t till Xiao went down and the Maraukian horde ripped him to shreds that the doors finally closed off her view and she looked to the man on her right.

  “How they hell did they manage lift off?” she asked him.

  Panting and sweaty, he didn’t have the answer but he grinned. “I don’t care how they did it. I am just glad they did.”

  Chapter 48

  Senator Rimateus’ Residence

  Roma, Hellenic System

  8/3555

  Admiral Hesra was not only the commander of the space legion forces over Indalia, he was also the son of a powerful merchant. A merchant who was more than happy to use his connections to please Senator Rimateus.

  Senator Rimateus might have lost his bid to get the mergers to be under the control of the senate, but if they thought that he would give up that easily, they were sorely mistaken.

  He’d sent Hesra orders to do what he could in limiting the abilities of the mergers, drive them into a corner and make them look bad in the eyes of the legion and give Rimateus a way to force the legion to turn control over to the senate.

  He never thought he would become so lucky. If the mergers were to all die, then it would be possible for him to just take the information and build up a new group of mergers from the ground up.

  What Admiral Hesra had done wasn’t anything major in the eyes of the legion.

  He had requested people check out the rules and regulations for giving supplies to the Moby as it was part of the Tenth Legion. It might be annoying, but it was something that most people would think was just made by someone who pays a little too much attention to detail.

  Hesra had moved his fleet so there were no ships with sensors over the mergers’ position.

  When Captain Chen had acted out against the admiral, he had called him a mutineer. The charge wasn’t light. Though the admiral had a valid reason to, as Captain Chen had ventured into the debris field around the planet, which could very well endanger his ship and the people on it.

  Rimateus didn’t care much for Indalia. It was a part of the Union and had voting rights, but the voters primarily voted for political parties and not Rimateus. For him, it would be good if they had fewer voters and not so much pull in the senate to pick senators.

  Supplies were dropping from the Moby, which seemed to have gone rogue.

  Senator Rimateus numbly drank from his glass, his eyes fixed on the screens. When another merger died, he silently cheered at his luck.

  Then the Moby had charged into the planet’s atmosphere. Rimateus had yelled at the screens, wanting them to crash but instead they were able to hook a shuttle and pull it out of the middle of a war zone. The impossible, became the possible. Rimateus’s anger was a thousand fold.

  Chapter 49

  In Transit from Edani to Ducharev

  Indalia, Otarvi System

  8/3555

  Rayin and Valez watched the horde break through everything they could. There was no stopping them. Their firepower was so under exaggerated right now; where one was felled, a hundred took its place.

  “Think we’re fucked, mate. We don’t have the same armor those mergers have or the skills,” Rayin said through their open channel.

  Valez kept his barrage up, before finally glancing Rayin’s way. “Didn’t expect anything else.”

  It had shocked him when the Moby careened out of the sky and deployed a mag-lock.

  Rayin looked down as Maraukians surrounded the evac shuttle. It was also then he heard the telltale whistle of a glider.

  Valez’s voice came across. “Heading to your location, Rayin.”

  “Need some assistance down there?” A secure comm came through from lead pilot Yu.

  Rayin breathed in and then let out a sigh, patching through to Yu. “Glad to see you. Now help the Moby and that shuttle get the hell out of here!”

  The gliders circled the once, dipped its wings and then sped off toward the grounds ahead. Rayin could just make out clearly with his HUD the sheer force of the enemy that they would soon be under. Then he made the fatal mistake of glancing down. He’d known the towers they were on would be overrun. But this...

  “What the sheer fuck?”

  Valez had reached him and glanced over Rayin’s shoulder. “Seems the Maraukians learned to climb.”

  Chapter 50

  SLS Moby

  Indalia, Otarvi System

  8/3555

  After finally dropping their extra load off at Ducharev, the atmosphere on the command bridge was heavy. They didn’t have any rounds left and if they kept cannibalizing parts of their ship, they would start to lose necessary systems.

  “Sir, I am getting an emergence on the peripheral of the system. I don’t have a clear reading on it but it is massive, whatever it is,” Francis yelled.

  “I want an update on it right away. I don’t want to get blindsided with another Maraukian barge.”

  Liang turned around to his station as a bewildered look appeared on his face. “Sir, there is a video transmission coming from the unidentified ship!”

  Carla let out a sigh. If they were sending a message, then it wouldn’t be a Maraukian ship. Maraukian barges never talked to anyone.

  “Put it up!” Chen ordered.

  A refined-looking man sat on a cramped bridge.

  “Captain Chen, this is Admiral Hall of the Victor Supply Fleet. We heard you are need of supplies. We are moving in-system to provide support. We have five full carrier groups of re-trained troopers aboard, led by Jerome Victor.”

  Carla looked at the information on the ship as it started to flow in. It was one of the super transports that the Victor Shipyard had been making. It was outfitted with what looked like an Alcubierre drive, but the readings coming from it were odd.

  “Admiral, your support is appreciated. At this time, I see that you are four days out from reaching the orbit of Indalia,” Captain Chen said.

  “Yeltsin!”

  “Yes, Admiral.” Yeltsin, who was on Admiral Hall’s deck, snapped to attention.

  “Let’s do some stupid shit!”

  “Yes, sir!” One could hear the smile in Yeltsin’s reply.

  “They’re spinning up their Alcubierre drive!” Francis said, not believing what was going on.

  “To do that inside a system…” Taelyon sounded shocked. The reckless pilot daredevil seemed to be fearful of such an idea.

  “They transitioned!” Francis yelled. “We’ve lost connection!”

  “They’ve appeared next to the support fleet!” a sensor operator called out.

  Carla and Chen exchanged a look.

  They just found out about the technologies of Roma. How is it possible for them to do such a thing?

  The two of them both made to open their mouths and ask the other when they stopped and looked at the mergers on the ground.

  Who was Mark Victor? He was centurion of the mergers but he was still a major in the Earth Military Force.

  Jerome fucking Victor? Wait, his brother, and Admiral Hall? The Admiral Hall, formerly Captain Hall of the Reclaimer? They might not be part of the EMF anymore, but they fought for one another, not some damned c
ountry or flag.

  Chapter 51

  Stadium

  Indalia, Otarvi System

  8/3555

  Rayin and Valez’s rate of fire slowed as they had to pick their shots carefully. “Almost out,” Valez said.

  Yu’s voice rang through the net. “Glider heading in. ETA two minutes. Can you hold on?”

  Valez’s face lit up, but he, too, glanced down at the climbing horde below. His face contorted for just a moment and he stood, his empty M20 recoiling behind him. “I’ll take them out with my bare fists if I have to,” he said but drew his sword.

  Rayin stood too. He’d not much left but he sure as hell would make it last. “Copy that, Yu. We’ll last. Get your asses here ASAP. If you guys can grab us from here, could do with a lift to aid Ducharev.”

  “One minute.”

  “How we gonna get the fuck off this building? Ain’t no landing spot here now.”

  Young’s crazy laugh came across then. “Seems Charles isn’t the only crazy one. Chen gave us the idea. Our death-defying pilot’s gonna slow down his glider, open the doors, and wait for you to hop on in.”

  Rayin and Valez traded glances. “I’m game if you are?” Rayin laughed.

  The glider’s engines whirred in, and Rayin laid down the last of his fire as the Maraukians were almost to the top of the roof. One of the gliders dove down, and started laying in fire at those lower down. The piles of Maraukians scrambled and Rayin whooped as the glider circled the building, knocking them all down in a scrabbling pile of blood and gore. The building, however, couldn’t take the hits. The weapons fire ricocheted through the Maraukians and into its softened substructure.

  One of the gliders dipped in now, slowing the engines down as much as physically possible without stalling. Not meant to hover, it spluttered once and dipped too much. Its doors opened.

  Rayin heard Yu’s shout loud and clear, then Bobbie’s crazy laugh. “Just testing ya. You boys ready? Next pass, you better jump.”

  Rayin spun around, watching the glider as it circled one last time around the building. Valez was right there with him. Valez was the one who counted.

  Three.

  Two.

  JUMP!

  The two-ton pair jumped, their boots slamming the roof of the glider. It dipped again due to its low velocity.

  “Trying to compensate!” Bobbie said.

  Rayin was the quickest to act and hit his mag clamp. Valez followed, just before he would have rolled off.

  Bobbie’s fervor could be heard net-wide as he whooped out. “Buckle down, boys! Gotta get you back in the fight!” He sped up to catch up with the others now whizzing past over the Maraukian herd commanders’ heads.

  Chapter 52

  VCF Osdal

  Indalia Orbit, Otarvi System

  8/3555

  “Opening bay doors,” Guy said from his position at the comms desk. Since he had left the EMF, he continued to have a bald head but was trying to grow a goatee—try being the operative word in this situation.

  “On a scale of one to ten, what would you rate Guy’s mustache?” Celik asked.

  “Negative one,” Rasalov said.

  “Negative one? Why?” Yeltsin asked. “Why not negative infinity?”

  “If it’s negative one, it already broke the scale,” Rasalov said.

  “Why do I think that there is a Rasalov story somewhere in this?” Hall muttered aloud as he read the different reports.

  “The two carriers are moving to enter the bays,” Rasalov said.

  Hall nodded as they continued their debate even as two carriers seemed to disappear into their ship.

  “You guys are assholes,” Guy said.

  “And you look like you colored your fuzz to make it stand out,” Yeltsin threw back.

  Guy looked back to his station.

  They’d all been friends for a while so they leaned forward, Hall with them.

  “Guy. You didn’t, did you?” Celik seemed ready to burst with excitement.

  “He was sweating a lot from his upper lip the other day and said that it burned a bit.” Rasalov quickly turned to his sensor panel.

  “What are you doing, Rasalov?” Guy demanded.

  “The docking cables are being attached! And, I just ran sensors on your”—Guy was trying to undo his seat to attack Rasalov before he said anything—“brown tone, no grays brand hair-colored mustache!”

  Rasalov yelled it out as the others all smiled at Guy’s misfortune.

  Hall shook his head at their activities.

  “Report.” Hall’s simple words ended Guy’s ribbing and turned them toward their stations.

  “The first carrier is secure. Second carrier is moving into position. Clamps are being applied. Looks like the shipyard boys are earning their pay today,” Rasalov said.

  Celik nodded along with it all. As a freighter, it didn’t officially have any weapons; however, they had hidden a few secrets behind certain bulkheads if they needed to use them.

  “Checking carrier placement. Adjusting position to ease load and strain.” Celik was their weapons officer but he doubled as their loadmaster.

  He used the massive machinery inside the freighter to hook onto the carriers and move them through the cavernous hold so that their weight was distributed more evenly.

  Mag clamps moved to capture the carrier and hold them in place.

  The massive carriers were like shuttles compared to the freighter, easily slipping into their hold. The bay doors sealed behind them as if they had never existed.

  “Legate Nerva and his command staff are on their way to the command center,” Guy said.

  “Got some Admiral Hesra yelling all over the place, telling us to identify ourselves and then ordering the people aboard the ships to arrest us. Dude’s losing his shit.”

  “Patch me into the command center.” Hall disregarded the other admiral as he continued talking. “I want everything secured and ready to go in twenty!”

  This was a grand undertaking but he knew his people; they were the best.

  “Sir!” Celik said. Even with his five o’clock shadow, there was no lack of professionalism as he worked his station. “Sending you new weight information, Nav!”

  “Got it. Adjusting for weight and checking coordinates,” Yeltsin said.

  “Yeltsin, let me know the minute you have a navigation solution.” Hall didn’t want to be caught up in this shit show any longer than necessary.

  “This Admiral Hesra is just getting louder and louder. It looks like he is sending people to intercept,” Guy said.

  “Rasalov?”

  “They won’t get in range with us before we jump, if we go according to Yeltsin’s timing.”

  “Let them yell. They left Mark and his people out to die.” Admiral Hall had watched countless people die and he had no mercy to those who would do so without regret. It was an admiral’s role to try to limit the casualties on his side, not add to them.

  Hall looked down to the screen mounted to his seat, seeing he was connected to the meeting room where the leaders of the Victor Corporation force were talking to one another in low voices and pointing to the map in front of them.

  “In fact, Guy, prepare a long-range communication,” Hall said.

  “Sir?”

  “Send a message to Moretti. Get him to look into Admiral Hesra’s background. Let’s see if there is more to this than meets the eye.”

  Hall had been blindsided by so many things working behind the scenes, he wanted to know the whole picture now. Either Hesra was a shit admiral or something else was going on. If there was some other reason for his actions, Hall didn’t want to be blind going in to talk to him.

  “Can do, sir.” Guy quickly wrote and sent the message to Moretti, the old intelligence officer for the Ministry of Intelligence and the man in charge of guiding the Victor Shipyard to the Tricticus system.

  Hall sat back in his chair and watched the screen as four legion personnel entered the room.

 
Here he got his first real look at retired Major Nerva, the legendary leader in the Earth Military Force, and he grinned. He liked what he saw.

  Chapter 53

  In Transit to Indalia

  Inner Otarvi System

  8/3555

  Admiral Hesra watched as the strange freighter that seemed to appear from nowhere moved into his region. Then, as he zoomed in on the far side of the carrier, there it was, as blatant as ever: a logo.

  Zooming in once more, Hesra frowned.

  I know that logo from somewhere! He queried his NIAI for a full search. His hand slammed down on his desk, announcing the arrival of the query. His plastic drinking bulb dropped on the floor, unnoticed as Hesra grit his teeth.

  The Victor Corp. How in the holy hell did Earth and Her Colonies get a freighter that size? And more to the point, where did they get the personnel to man it?

  As he got more information, an uneasy feeling started to appear.

  Finally, he sat back in his seat.

  He had heard of the mergers in the past but he didn’t really pay much attention to them.

  When his father had come to him saying that Senator Rimateus was looking for a favor, he hadn’t immediately agreed.

  When he looked over the information, he found it was an auxiliary century, not even eighty people, led by an ex-officer from the EMF. The positions were filled with the disgraced exiles from the legion or barbarians from some backwater planet.

  The kind of people who didn’t have much backing.

  He hadn’t looked into their background.

  Now he found out that their leader wasn’t just some simple ex-EMF officer; he was one of the people who were the personal students of Legate Nerva, the Legate Nerva. He had been one of the heroes of the EMF; he had built the Victor Corporation, which was quickly becoming a superpower in the EHC and was pushing to expand.

  The mergers had saved other units on Gilese. Their carrier, the Moby, had been given to them by the admiral of the space legion and Damus Versanti himself.