Wolf's Run: The Chase of War (Star Wolf Sqaudron Book 2)

by Shane VanAulen

  Leaping forward she closed on him as fast as her implants would allow her to move which was very fast. She then performed three fast thrusts which was called the Serpent’s Tongue. This was just to get him to retreat as she then performed The Coiling Snake Springs and lunged forward and instead of withdrawing she brought her back leg up and reattacked with a fifth thrust.

  The Commander retreated from the series of three fast thrusts parrying as needed. He then leaped back to create distance between them but this was when she lunged. He parried her blade and pressed her sword to the outside as she replaced her footing and lunged at close range. Stepping outside of her line he turned into her lunge and brought his blade up and sliced her along the wrist severing her hand from her arm.

  Bie-Tor screamed in pain and pulled her injured arm back to her chest as she fell to her knees.

  Prince Connor Blakely aka Commander Edmond Hunter kicked her severed hand away from her as he picked up the other poly carbon extension sword.

  Mike watched the last part of the fight with awe at their skill. He had his Colt gauss rifle at port arms reluctant to interfere with their duel. It was the prince’s right and one that he had long waited for. Anyway pay back was hell!

  The commander retracted the mistress’s blade, turned and tossed him the second sword. Collins easily caught it and hung it on his belt. While this was going on the wounded mistress saw an opportunity and quickly reached for the pirate’s forgotten pistol laying nearby.

  The commander saw her movement and as she grasped the pistol he scooted over and kicked her in the chest sending her sliding across the floor back towards the main door. The pistol immediately fell from her grasp and he leaned over and picked it up. At almost the same time the outer door opened to the hallway and Karduan guardswomen came rushing in.

  Mike opened fired as he took cover behind the inactive powered armor. His shots were true and two guards went down. Other guards reached the station mistress and dragged her towards the doors. Commander Hunter took cover behind a stack of piled up hull armor. It looked as if it was damaged stealth plating probably taken from his own ship, the Star Tiger. Popping up he fired three shots from his 8mm Starburst pistol hitting another guard before he had to duck down from their return fire.

  The station mistress was dragged from the lab leaving her guardswomen to continue the fight. The Confederation officers were outgunned but they had good positions for the time being. The Karduans on the other hand had thrown over several lab tables and took up positions behind them. Unfortunately for them the tables provided concealment but not adequate cover. Mike pointed this out by empting a magazine into a table that two guardswomen were hiding behind.

  More guards were trying to get through the doorway as Commander Hunter emptied his pistol at them from the other side of the stack of hull plating. Despite their momentary successes they both knew that sooner or later the Karduans would get enough guards through the door to overwhelm them or just out flank them.

  Hunter dropped the empty pistol by the stack and looked back to Mike as the lieutenant fired another burst at the doorway.

  “Any ideas?” he called back to him.

  Collins had been hiding between the powered armor and fried battle robot both of which were hanging from the ceiling by chains. As he popped out to fire and duck back from their return fire he had an up close view of the armor and was struck with an idea.

  “Just one,” he called back and then slid the gauss rifle across the floor to the Black Prince.

  Grabbing the gauss rifle he fired a burst surprising the Karduans who had thought that they only had one gauss rifle.

  Mike had noticed that the rear entry panel to the armor was open and he could climb inside of it. He had trained on a similar model and was hoping that he could activate the damaged suit. Stepping inside he searched for the startup panel for second before finding it. The armor had a DNA lock out which had probably kept the enterprising ship mistress from even accessing its sub routines. It took a second or two but the armor system’s panel finally activated. What it showed was not good. The main power unit was damaged and not operational. Switching to the emergency power screen he was relieved to find that the secondary power unit was at thirty percent.

  Routing the power was easy but then he had another problem. The system’s neural interface that allowed any soldier to use the armor was alerting that it was not functional. The screen said cyber-jack access only.

  “Well?” Hunter yelled as his position was riddled with gauss rounds. It was so bad that all he could do was hunker down behind the stacked armor. Slowly the Karduans were advancing and firing on his position

  “It needs a cyber-jack hardwire,” Mike called.

  “Aren't your wired?” he hollered back.

  Mike let out a breath and knew what he had to do. He had read all the training manuals, taken the computer class and virtual training but his beloved doctors wanted him to wait before activation. They wanted to activate his hardwire gradually as this had been their very first implantation of a hardwire and neural interface.

  “If you going to do something it better be now!” the Black Prince called.

  The firing had stopped as the Karduans were now yelling to them and ordering them to throw down their arms and surrender or be killed.

  “What the hell!” Mike mumbled as he touched the screen and triggered the hardwire interface connection and activation sequence.

  The rear panels of the armor immediately closed. The interior area lighted up as his skull jack was connected to the armor’s systems. His sight flashed white and he suddenly felt a wave of heat course through his body as the hardwire kicked in. If what Commander Bannon had said to him about his family was true he was a Kazad Altered and was already augmented. Mike had never felt augmented even though when he needed extra strength or extra speed and endurance it was always there to be called on.

  Throughout his life he had always felt normal yet now he felt the power of his hardwire augmenting his already enhanced strength. It was almost overwhelming as he struggled with controlling his hardwire he also had to deal with the armor’s further augmentation and its computer controls which were now in his mind. He no longer had to touch a panel or flick a switch he just moved his eyes or thought of it and the suit made it happen.

  Reaching up he grabbed the chains holding the armor up from the floor and he pulled them from the ceiling with ease. Stepping out he flung the chains at the approaching Karduan guards with all his might. The chain flew like the awkward missiles that they were and cut the four of guardswomen in half.

  The other Karduans open fired on the powered armor as they retreated from the lab. Mike was a little worried that their gauss rifles would punch through the armor’s cracked breast plate but they seemed to have no or little effect on his armor.

  Seeing them retreat he jumped to stop them but overshot his target, hit the ceiling and then landed near the doorway right on top of a very surprised guardswoman. She was crushed from the massive force and sheer weight of the powered monster. The other guards at the doorway quickly fell back into the hallway. Ignoring them for the moment he saw that there were still four Blue guardswomen firing on him from within the lab. Turning on them he ordered them over the suit’s PA system to surrender.

  They continued to fire whether they were out of control with fear or being just crazed fanatics he really wasn’t sure. Thinking of weapons, he saw a screen with a list of the weapons systems the suit normally had. Several of them were off line or empty. The fusion rifle aperture for his left arm was missing. The shoulder mounted rocket grenade launchers were also gone. His right arm had a retractable gauss rifle as well as flame projector. The gauss rifle’s ammo count was thirty-three rounds. The flame projector was down to one burst.

  Raising his right arm, he thought flame and the projector erupted with a stream of flame that lasted a mere few seconds. It didn’t matter as the four remaining guards all burst into fire. Falling to the lab’s floor, the
station’s fire suppression system quickly activated and rained down a chemical bath on them. It was too late as the liquid flame had done its job killing them in a most agonizing manner.

  Mike immediately felt remorse and fought to keep from throwing up in his suit. He didn’t have a lot of options and this was war but burning someone alive just wasn’t something he ever wanted to do again.

  Weird, he had killed people with gauss guns, swords and even with his bare hands. He had rained death on the enemy with fighters, particle weapons, missiles and even nukes yet he had felt no remorse but this was different. He was sure that it would be a sight that would hunt him in his dreams for the rest of his life.

  Commander Hunter came out from behind the stack of armor plating and shot a burst into the four burning masses that were once Karduan guards. He then ran to the back wall where the Star Tiger’s A.I. core was still sitting. Grabbing the sphere, he ran back to where the suit of powered armor stood waiting.

  “Good work, now let’s clear the hallway and we’ll link up with your rescue force,” he said while walking towards him and reloading the Colt gauss rifle as if nothing gut wrenching had just happened.

  “Mike, where the hell are you and what is your status?” Rufo’s voice resonated via his neural communicator.

  “I’m in a lab just down from the station mistress’s office,” he reported and then added, “I’ve got the Star Tiger’s XO and we are heading towards the courtyard. Be advised that Bie-Tor escaped us and is still at large though she is missing a hand.”

  “Roger that,” Cappillo replied.

  “Did the tanks show up?” he asked concerned that they couldn’t blow their way through or that Daily wouldn’t be able to let them in.

  “Going on as planned,” the engineer reported. “Two M45 grav tanks are in the courtyard and the other six are reeking havoc as they fly up and down the sides of the station knocking out their outer defenses.”

  Mike smiled as this was one of those things that came up in their course of action presentations after he had submitted his unorthodox plan. Cappillo noted that most of the station’s turrets couldn’t traverse low enough to hit something on the station’s surface. It was a safety feature to prevent accidents but now it proved to be a major design flaw.

  “Oh and one more thing, I’m in an old suit of Delta-4 powered armor, so let everyone know especially the tanks,” he said not wanting to be hit by gauss cannon fire or a grav tank’s main fusion gun. Friendly fire was a bitch!

  “Wilco, boss,” Rufo said sounding as if he was half laughing.

  Collins signaled, “Out Here” just as he and his suit of powered armor reached the now closed and sealed lab door.

  Pulling his arm back he punched the door making it buckle into the shape of the letter C. An armor powered kick sent the crumpled door flying down the hallway.

  Cmdr. Hunter ran ahead of him and did a quick glance into the corridor.

  “It looks clear, they must have taken the station mistress and bugged out,” he called back to Mike.

  “I’ll go first,” the Lieutenant said not wanting to risk the prince after so much hard work to save him.

  The hall was clear of enemy forces and they quickly moved on to the courtyard.

  As the powered armored unit entered the main plaza, Mike could see two grav tanks and hundreds of milling former prisoners. At his sudden appearance the closest tank turned its main gun and aimed it directly at him.

  “Martin? ... Stanton?” he said in concern broadcasting from the suit’s comm. system and over his PA system. He doubted his suit of power armor could withstand a direct blast from a tank’s fusion turret.

  “Roger, we just were being careful,” Stanton called back across the comm. channel as the tank’s turret realigned.

  Commander Hunter ran around him as numerous prisoners cheered and ran over to him surrounding the senior officer with well wishes at his survival.

  “Star Tiger personnel to me!” he yelled in a command voice but the crowd of happy prisoners drowned out his order.

  Mike seeing his dilemma repeated his order over his public address system. The crowd thinned as other Confederation crewmen pushed their way to their XO.

  “We need to get to the Star Tiger and retake her,” he said as he passed the A.I. core to one of his crewmen.

  “We’ve already sent a raid team,” Mike interjected as he opened a separate channel. “Gunny, I need a SITREP - what is your status?”

  “We need to retake that ship,” Hunter insisted.

  “Hold one, sir,” Mike said to him as Gunny reported in.

  “We’ve taken out the guards at the airlock and have entered the ship. We have broken into three teams and are moving to take the bridge, auxiliary bridge and engineering. We’ve encounter no further resistance and I believe the ship is unmanned.”

  “Roger that, the Star Tiger’s XO Commander Hunter and his remaining crew would like to assist you if you could use a hand?” Collins asked.

  “I posted a guard at the airlock and he’ll let them in.”

  “Wilco and out,” Mike replied, he then noticed that the commander was facing his armored suit and had been talking to him.

  “Sorry sir, I was talking with the raid team leader onboard the Star Tiger. Gunny Masters has entered the ship and is in the process of taking the CIC. He has a guard at the airlock who will let you in.”

  “Right, he said and looked to his crewmen, “Let’s go!”

  “Hold one,” Mike announced over the PA system causing everyone to stop.

  The Black Prince turned with an expression on his face as if to ask “What now?”

  “I need armed men to accompany the Star Tiger’s crew,” he said seeing that the former prisoners that made up the crew had only a few weapons amongst them.

  Lieutenants Chow and Doyle both stepped up as well as several other prisoners that had acquired weapons.

  “We’ll go with them,” Lt. Chow said as Doyle nodded with a determined look on his face.

  “Ok, get to it,” Lt. Collins said as the group led by Cmdr. Hunter headed out on the double.

  A second later an explosion from somewhere beyond the opposite end of the plaza went off.

  “This is Chief Reynolds, we’ve blown the Kardie weapons vault,” he reported and added, “it was just like breaking a piggy bank open.”

  Mike smiled thinking of the seventy-nine-year old CPO grinning.

  “I’m sending people to help you with the weapons retrieval,” he said and continued “Lets get everyone an isotope injection and armed. I want this station secured ASAP,” he ordered.

  “Roger dodger, Werewolf one,” Reynolds called back.

  “Mike, we’ve got a problem,” Daily cut in.

  “Go ahead,” Collins said not really needing another headache.

  “We’ve taken their lower command center which they used as an auxiliary center but Raid Team Bravo has run into heavy resistance trying to take the upper CIC,” Lt. Daily informed.

  “And?” Mike prompted hearing it in his voice.

  “And I can’t crack their command codes to their mines, maser satellites or their system defense ships.”

  “You … you can’t crack their codes?” he replied in shock at the computer wizard’s admission of failure.

  “We’ll I can but if I don’t do it from their CIC then their systems go on internal backup, locking out even their own command center for a twelve-hour period. It is automatic failsafe,” he explained.

  “Location, location, location,” Mike mumbled as he opened another channel. “Cappillo, where are you?”

  “Presently I’m hunkered down around a corner so I don’t get my ass shot off,” he yelled back.

  “Ok, where is that?” he asked calmly

  “Sending you my location,” he replied as Collins’ internal screen showed that his team was in the hallway just outside of the upper CIC.

  “What’s the hold up?”

  “What’s the hold up! We h
ad to fight Karduan guards for each hallway just to get here. When we got here we find that there is a freaking ceiling mounted gauss turret covering the entrance to the command center,” he said just as a burst of gauss needles tore into the corner across from him.

  “Could you use some help?”

  “Yes, we could use some God Damn help!” the Italian said instantly regretting taking the Lord’s name in vain.

  “Right, it is on way, just hold on and no heroics,” Collins ordered.

  “Don’t worry there are no heroes here, just get a move on,” Rufo stated and then terminated the link with an “Out here!”

  “Werewolf one, the Star Wolf is coming through the gravity well,” Daily informed from his computer station on the Culper.

  “Fill them in on the situation,” Mike ordered as that was now priority one to warn them that the minefield and defense ships were still active.

  “I’m on it!” Daily said even as he opened a channel to the incoming squadron.

  Mike then activated his external speakers.

  “I need a heavy weapons team here on the double!”

  A few seconds later a six-man squad showed up to help. They were a mixed group having two marines and four Templar men at arms. The squad was all in sealed combat armor and were loaded for bear. Two of them were carrying a man portable heavy gauss gun. Two others had M75 rapid fire rocket grenade launchers and the last two had standard gauss rifles. The two with just gauss rifles each had a heavy looking backpack. They were the sapper team and were there for breeching operations.

  “You men are with me!” he commanded as he turned and ran to the cargo lift. Behind him the heavy weapons squad followed.

  Reaching the lift used for heavy loads, they took it up to the upper command level.

  Mike went through everything that was going on in his head and realized that he hadn’t had an update from Raid Team Charlie.