Battleframe (The Mindwars Book 1)

  Arms, legs, heads, plasma canons and chest plates soared into the air and away from the epicentre of the blasts. Whereas in the past the arms and legs were connected by bone and sinew this time they flew both separately and freely amidst the purple mist from Scourge blood that slowly settled over the surrounding area. A hole in the ground was all that remained of the drop-pod. Above all the devastation was the low groaning of Acheron’s mini-gun spewing its deadly contents onto the still materialising Scourge on his side below.

  It was not long before two of the battle-pods were ruined husks with black acrid smoke billowing out of their sides as the delicate internals were violently wrenched apart. The trio needed to reload and as if on cue, the remaining Scourge from the battle-pods attacked.

  Three Shock troopers charged around the corner with guns blazing as they ran up the ramp towards Whizzbang and Selfia. In front of them, a Scourge drone dropped a barrage of sparks and smoke making it almost impossible to see targets.

  Whizzbang’s battleframe was constantly “pinging” with the sound of the Shock trooper’s small arms fire. “Selfia, we’re not in an Anvil battleframe, we can’t take much more of this punishment. Time to move.”

  “CT Whizz!”

  “Selfia, get back into the control room and take a position at the top of the central ramp. I’ll buy you sometime.” Whizzbang said urgently over the sounds of the battle.

  “CT Whizz. Moving now.”

  That’s when Whizzbang noticed that the methodical whine of the mini-gun was silent.

  “Nooooo!” Selfia cried out in anguish. All thoughts of the plan to hold the central ramp fled from her mind as she sprinted across the control room with jump jet assisted speed. Acheron lay on his back and a weak voice sounded over the comnet, “Medic, I need a medic…”

  Defending the ramp by himself Acheron knew that he had taken a lot of damage and his battleframe was in tatters. Although the Evkon 316 stopped the worst of the pain, the number of holes in his armour seeping blood was not a good sign. His nanites and nanomeds had overloaded and commenced an auto recharge sequence. This was the stage immediately before an eport. He desperately needed help from either Whizzbang or Selfia.

  “Oh frap!” Whizzbang cursed. He had managed to down one of the Shock troopers but the other two were still charging up the ramp. Ducking back inside the control room gave him a moments respite from the hail of bullets and with a blast of his jets he launched himself for the central ramp. While flying through the air he twisted around and fired a couple of grenades in the direction where he and Selfia had been defending. Two satisfying thumps greeted his ears as bits of Shock trooper sprayed into the control room.

  Speeding across the large control room Selfia yelled across the comnet over the detonation of Whizzbang’s grenades. “Don’t you eport Ach!” Selfia knew that many pilots were changed by the trauma of an eport and whatever happened she loved Acheron just the way he was.

  Selfia skidded to a halt beside Acheron and immediately extended her battleframe’s emergency nanomed tube out of the back of the armour in her forearm. She then quickly inserted it into a small socket in Acheron’s chest armour. A flush of fresh nanomeds and nanites gushed across the battleframe connection slamming into Acheron’s now exhausted semi-dormant micro-machines. It was like a high-tech version of jumpstarting a flittercar but in this case, it was a billion mini-jumpstarts all at once.

  The connection auto-terminated before too many of Selfia’s nano-machines overloaded the now active ones in Acheron’s body and in his battleframe. Acheron’s eyes flew open just as first one and then another red beam of a Scourge Sniper fire burrowed into the wall above Selfia’s head.

  “Whizz, we need some help here!” yelled Selfia. It would be at least another fifteen seconds before Acheron could start moving and those sniper rounds were too close for comfort.

  “CT Self. I’m on it”

  Whizzbang lobbed a couple of grenades at the entrance behind him just in case any Scourge had any thoughts of following. He raced up the inside central ramp to the one connecting both the outside walkway linking the second and third levels. As he ran, he slammed his grenade launcher into its hip holster and pulled out his Charge rifle.

  Reaching the ramp, he peered through the scope and murmured to himself, “Where are you?” Quickly panning in the direction the beams had come from he caught the glint of metal armour. “Gotcha you frapping monster!”

  Whizzbang pressed the firing stud ended the Scourge Sniper’s life. The second sniper revealed his position with another shot towards Selfia and Acheron.

  Selfia yelled again, “Whizz!” through his comnet earpiece just as he fired at the Scourge Sniper. Like everything else, that is elevated instantly to one thousand degrees centigrade the Scourge died.

  “All clear Self. I got him. How are you guys going?”

  “G2G Whizz,” came Acheron’s strained voice via the comnet.

  “Like fun you are! You’re to stay right here until the meds fix you up,” Selfia ordered.

  “Yes Mum,” Acheron replied attempting a cheeky grin.

  “Hey guys. I hate to break this up but we have the third battle-pod to deal with out there and I know that there is at least an Engie to take out”, said Whizzbang.

  “Let me deal with this!” said Selfia as she got to her feet and pulled out her assault rifle.

  It goes without saying, that the Scourge Engineer died and the third battle-pod was quickly vanquished. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned. That is when the three minutes clocked up and the outpost defences came online.

  General Grendig, supreme commander of all Scourge forces on Alpha Three leaned forward on his command throne. He revelled in the feeling of power that he always experienced as he looked out from his position in the middle of the massive dome. From here in the centre of his fortress, he planned and plotted the downfall of the human habitations on the other side of the planet. Below his dais, in expanding rings around him, officers tapped at consoles while they grunted orders to fists and strike leaders all across the planet. Each of them was busy unfolding their part in the plan for the extermination of the humans on the planet.

  Grendig indulged in a parody of a smile that revealed a mouthful of sharpened pointed teeth and two longer fangs. His pink eyes were in sharp contrast to his deathly pale skin and missed nothing as they scanned the reports pouring in on two of the three huge screens suspended from the ceiling of the dome opposite him. Today was turning out better than he could have hoped.

  Surprisingly, the spy had done a remarkable job with the accursed Concord defence network. The plan was on schedule and losses were within acceptable parameters. Despite the natural viciousness of his race, this put him in a good mood. Absently he reached down with his right hand to a bucket beside him and pulled out a human arm, puncturing it with his sharpened nails. He noted that blood still flowed freely so it was fresh from a recent battle. Still reading the reports, he nonchalantly began ripping the flesh from the arm, savouring every morsel. “There was nothing quite like devouring ones enemies,” he thought.

  The new off-world troops made the plan of eradicating the humans from this world possible. They had arrived in stealth a few weeks ago by entering from the far side of Alpha Three and using the planet itself as cover from the orbiting Concord space station. Once landed, the troops immediately started training and becoming acclimatized to the gravity and atmosphere. The General had waited a long time for reinforcements on this backwater of a planet and a second detachment would be arriving within another few weeks.

  With the successful conquering of this world, he could begin to contemplate the next stage in his ascendancy up the Scourge command structure. He was sure that it would take an assassination or two but that was no matter to him. If those above were too weak to realize his threat then they did not deserve to rule.

  Flicking a switch on his left armrest, he brought up a map of Alpha Three on the far left screen. Other than the Concord Central command
and the baneful Freehold, all the sectors were a glorious vivid red. Looking at the readouts, he was confident that the Concord command sector would soon fall. Glancing at the invasion plan timer on the right screen he again smiled in anticipation as the battle for Freehold would be commencing shortly. He looked forward to pulling that so called “Freedom Torch” down himself!

  A morsel of meat became stuck between two of his fangs so with a quick wrench he ripped off one of the human fingers and used it like a toothpick to extricate it. Looking back up at the map one of the sectors due south of Freehold changed from red to green. It was most likely a glitch in the system as the vast amounts of data was collected, collated and summarized before him. He would have that officer’s head on a spike on the outer wall for that failure!

  It never occurred to the General that the information was correct, the master plan wasn’t infallible and overwhelmingly superior numbers of troops was not a guarantee of victory.

  Chapter 12

  Assault

  Whizzbang raised his Charge riflescope to his eye and adjusted the magnification to zoom in on Altavia finishing a conversation with Professor Steinberg. “The woman certainly had all the right curves,” he thought to himself.

  Annoyed at himself for getting distracted, he dialled back the settings on the scope and scanned around the hanger bay. It was an amazing feat of engineering for Blue Sky to cut the huge area out of the moon’s bedrock. He zoomed in on the gigantic plasteel beams that arced overhead and supported the roof over a hundred meters off the floor. “Bosk, you’re going to just love the scope on the new rifle.”

  Bosk still held his arms out for the nanites to complete the building of his Raven battleframe. “I’ll be with you in a second Whizz.”

  Altavia strode up to Whizzbang, her hips just swaying in just the right way to enhance her femininity. “So you like your new toy?”

  Whizzbang lowered the scope from his eye and cleared his throat before speaking. “Yes, like the battleframe, it’s magnificent.”

  “I personally oversaw the design of the energy transfer system. It’s a generation ahead of anything currently available,” Altavia answered with just a hint of pride.

  “I haven’t fired it yet so I wouldn’t know.”

  Whizzbang thought, “Why was it that he always became so nervous around this woman? There seemed to be something about her that was downright unnerving.”

  “Hey, Altavia,” Bosk interrupted, “Did you really develop this rifle?”

  Altavia blessed Bosk with a smile. “Not all of it. As I was saying to Whizzbang, just the energy transfer system.”

  Bosk returned the smile with one of his own. “Don’t be so modest, that’s the core of the whole weapon.”

  Whizzbang said, “Come on Bosk, let’s head down to the test firing range.”

  “Good idea,” Bosk replied as he swung the rifle up into its back harness.

  High overhead a low moaning siren began winding up. A voice over a loud speaker blasted, “Incoming Scourge assault. This is not a drill. Incoming Scourge assault imminent. I repeat, this is not a drill.”

  A look of intense concentration crossed Altavia’s features as she listened to the announcement. “You two wait here. I’ll go and find out what this is about.”

  Both Whizzbang and Bosk ignored her last remark and followed her to the nearest terminal. Professor Steinberg appeared from behind a rack of equipment and quickly headed towards them. After working with him for the past several months, his dishevelled appearance and smudged spectacles were now a common sight for both pilots.

  Altavia pointed a perfectly manicured fingernail to an image on the monitor. “I don’t know how they found us so fast but it looks like we have a Scourge cruiser dropping out of subspace just outside the gravity well of the moon and planet. It will only be a few minutes before they get here.”

  The professor became flustered at the news and stumbled over his words as he asked, “Wha,…what should we do? We have technology here that the Scourge could only dream about. How are we going to save it?”

  Altavia’s voice took on a timbre that neither of the two pilots had heard before. It commanded and expected instant obedience. “Professor, send all of the data that we have on the battleframes back to Blue Sky on Kaladon. Do it quickly!”

  “Yes, yes, of course Altavia.”

  Whizzbang lifted his Charge rifle out of its harness and checked the power levels. Thankfully, they were fully charged. “Won’t the signal be intercepted?”

  “We’ll have to risk that.”

  “How long will it take to send all the data?”

  “At least ten minutes.”

  Whizzbang glanced down at the monitor. “We don’t have ten minutes.”

  Altavia looked the two pilots up and down in their new battleframes. “You and Bosk will have to hold them off. There will be a lot of them though.”

  Bosk quipped, “That’ll mean we won’t be able to miss.”

  Altavia ignored Bosk’s comment. “The professor and I will get as many people as we can into the frigate. My guess is that Captain Eldrich will already be prepping it for launch.” Altavia paused as she thought through the ramifications of what she was about to ask. “Whizzbang, Bosk, we’re going to need as much time as you can give us.”

  Whizzbang nodded. “Understood. Come on Bosk, we have some work to do.”

  “Got it.”

  Whizzbang and Bosk kicked in their jump jets and side-slipped to increase their speed along the main throughway that ran down the centre of the hanger. Technicians and other research staff jumped out of their way as they raced past. Glancing over his shoulder Whizzbang watched both Altavia and the professor feverishly working at their consoles.

  As they neared the outside energy wall Whizzbang shutdown his jets and ran a few servo enhanced steps to slow down. Colonel Greerson and Captain Eldrich were both running towards them, obviously intent on reaching the professor.

  “Colonel Greerson sir,” Whizzbang said.

  Relief passed across the Colonel’s face as he said, “It’s good to see you both in uniform.”

  “Thank you sir.”

  Whizzbang related what Altavia and Professor Steinberg were doing further back in the hanger.

  The Colonel and Captain quickly absorbed the implications of the information. Colonel Greerson looked Whizzbang and then Bosk in the eye, “It looks like you’re about to be the first line of defence for the base.”

  Whizzbang nodded in acknowledgement.

  “Once we heard that the Scourge were hunting for us we thankfully evacuated most of the teams here to other Blue Sky facilities. There’s only a skeleton staff left. Both you and Bosk need to stop the enemy outside the hanger while the Captain and I coordinate the evacuation of the remaining personnel.”

  “Yes sir.”

  Even through the energy wall Whizzbang could hear the sound of multiple battle-pods screaming towards the crater. He hated that noise. It was as if someone was dragging their fingernails down an old blackboard and it grated on every fibre of his being. He had been dreaming of a chance for revenge ever since the death of his parents at the family farm but he just did not expect it was going to be today.

  Whizzbang turned to leave and felt the Colonel’s hand on his arm. “Son, be careful out there. This isn’t a game. You too Bosk. Stay frosty and stay calm.”

  Whizzbang replied, “Take care of everyone here Colonel. Bosk and I will do our part. Good-bye.”

  “No good-byes, see you later Private.”

  Whizzbang and Bosk once again kicked in their now recharged jump jets and passed through the energy wall separating the hanger from the outside. The screeching noise of battle-pods plummeting to the ground competed with the automated warning message in their earpieces. It looked like there was going to be a lot of enemy and pretty soon.

  Bosk pointed out the dark shape of a Scourge cruiser in the night sky as it occluded the stars behind it. “You think they’d just blow us to pieces
from up top.”

  “Not likely. I think that they’re after some of the technology being developed here.”

  “That makes sense.”

  “Bosk I’m getting sick of that alarm. Switching to local three three seven.”

  “Switching to local three three seven.” Bosk adjusted the frequency to one that just he and Whizzbang could communicate. “I thought that you’d never suggest going local Whizz. That automated alarm sounded like the navigation unit in my flitter-car.”

  Despite their dire circumstances, Whizzbang gave a little chuckle. “You know I think you’re right. The voice even has that same sense of urgency when you’re the one driving.”

  “Eh, that’s not fair. I’m a good driver.”

  “If we get through this then you can show me how good you are. Anyway, back to business, suggestions?”

  “We could stay here and shoot down at them.”

  “No, we’d get picked off. How about behind those rocks we found on one of our glides on the far side of the crater?”

  “Not a bad idea. We’d have a clear view of the entrance and provide incentive for the Scourge to attack us rather than the base.”

  “Done.”

  “One of these days I wish that you’d take my sarcasm a little more seriously.”

  “If we get through today then I promise that I will.”

  “Done!”

  Whizzbang dropped a packet of nanites down and the now familiar glider launch platform took shape. It was only a short glide to the other side of the crater so they both sprung their wings open before the top of the arc and pointed their noses to their destination.

  Below them huge puffs of dust flew in all directions as one battle-pod after another slammed into the crater floor. In another few seconds, the Scourge warriors would start warping in.

  “Bosk, did you see how many of them there are?”

  “Too much dust.”

  “I didn’t see either.”

  At the last second, they both retracted their wings and scurried behind the shelter of a boulder perched precariously half way up the crater. Around them, rocks the size of small flitter-cars lay half embedded in the dirt and dust of the steep sloping crater wall.