Battleframe (The Mindwars Book 1)

  Selfia said, “Yes we are pushing them back, but look at the concentration of battleframes around Freehold. There must have been a huge battle and a lot of pilots eported back to safety. They’re going to be in a bad way for a long time as they pull themselves together.”

  Whizzbang nodded to Selfia in agreement.

  Bosk said, “It must be a mess in Freehold right now.”

  Whizzbang said, “As long as it keeps on standing.”

  “Can you check and see if the others are within comnet contact Whizz?” asked Bosk.

  Whizzbang selected a different option on his wrist-comp that allowed him to see a list of his friends. “It looks like they’re all at Freehold Bosk. Let me try and get in contact with Pyro.”

  Strangely, Whizzbang’s upper arm was still hurting from the wound he received from the Scourge Sniper earlier. The nanomeds would normally have healed such a superficial wound by now. He involuntarily grimaced as he tapped on the screen to select a different mode and bring up Pyro’s face.

  Whizzbang spoke towards his comp, “Hey, Pyro you copy?” Static emitted from his forearm comp. “Hey, Pyro you there?” he again asked.

  Suddenly his wrist-comp erupted loudly into life, “Due to recent Scourge activity this transmission has been intercepted and blocked by Concord central command.”

  With a concerned look on his face Acheron said, “Well I’ve never heard that message before.”

  “It must have been worse than we thought Ach,” Whizzbang replied. “Let me try and get in contact with someone from Central Command.”

  Chapter 17

  The End

  Altavia dragged her battered body across the cold floor, leaving a smear of blood to mark her passage. Each breath was agony as the fractured ribs bit into her left lung. Propping herself up against a shredded box relieved some of the pain from breathing.

  “My hair must be a complete mess,” she thought to herself. This was quickly followed by, “What strange thoughts you have when your body is about to die.”

  Slowly turning her head, she could see the Scourge Shock trooper laying on its back about twenty feet away. It would seem that the detonation came just in time. At least it was dead. Her head was pounding from the effort of remaining upright and she could feel her own blood soaking through her undergarments. This energised body must be experiencing damage that she could not see or feel without using mental power.

  “If only Intellect could see the mess I’m in now.”

  Altavia turned her head suddenly to look back at the Shock trooper. Did she just see it move?

  A strange, very human, sense of frustration washed over her as she watched the hulking Scourge haul itself to its feet. She could not risk revealing herself to the ultimate enemy by mentally eliminating the Shock trooper. She would have to let her energised body die.

  Her mission to pass on the nano-technology to the Concord had been a success. The micro-machines would just need the right genetic encoding to complete thousands of years of work. Resigned to her fate, Altavia Createlin closed her blue eyes in anticipation of her inevitable passing.

  Bosk raced around a large multi-spectral analyser that was leaning precariously on its side against another box after being tossed away from the epicentre of the explosion. The analyser’s screen was completely shattered and glass crunched under his metal boot as he ran past. With a quick blast of his jump jets, he skated over an upturned computer rack that was blocking his path.

  Running around the corner Bosk finally came in sight of the final Scourge just as it let fire a triple burst at an unseen target. He quickly raised his Charge rifle to his shoulder and fired. With a crash of armour, the Scourge collapsed to the floor revealing Altavia’s beautiful but now disfigured body. Her usually straight perfectly groomed hair was a mess and half draped across her blood-splattered face. The Scourge’s attack on her unprotected body had completely shattered her chest and red blood sprayed the surroundings in testament to the violence.

  Bosk walked past the warrior and then staggered forward towards Altavia. “No, no, no,” was all he could say as tears streamed down his face.

  Ripping off a cloth covering an upturned machine Bosk knelt down beside Altavia and gently, almost lovingly wiped her face clean with one corner and covered her mangled body with the rest. It was then that he heard Whizzbang’s urgent voice across the comnet, “Bosk, Bosk, Bosk! Are you there Bosk?”

  Choking past a sob Bosk replied, “Whizz, Altavia’s dead. I didn’t get here in time.”

  There was a long pause before Whizzbang replied, “I’m nearly with you.”

  Bosk first noticed his friend when Whizzbang knelt beside him and placed one arm on his shoulders. Altavia almost appeared asleep lying against the box with her eyes closed. He half expected to see her eyes open and give one of those stunningly beautiful smiles that she frequently bestowed. However, she was still, unmoving and dead. How many would have to die before they stopped the Scourge? He quickly wiped away a tear that came unbidden with the back of his Raven glove. Now was not the time for mourning. There was still a Scourge cruiser high above and they need to leave if Altavia’s sacrifice was not to be in vain.

  “Bosk, we have to go.”

  “I know but I’m not leaving her here.”

  “We’ll both carry her.”

  They carefully lifted Altavia’s body and wrapped the remaining material around her. With Bosk at one end and Whizzbang at the other, they carried her back towards the frigate as if she was in a hammock between them.

  Colonel Greerson greeted them sympathetically at the top of the stairs leading into the frigate. “Captain Eldrich heard everything over the comnet as he prepped for launch. Altavia was an amazing person.”

  Both Whizzbang and Bosk nodded sombrely.

  “You can rest her body in the last seat up the back.”

  Whizzbang and Bosk carried Altavia to the seat and Greerson said, “Here, let me give you a hand,” as he unbuckled and then refastened the safety belt around Altavia’s body.

  Whizzbang said gratefully, “Thank-you Colonel. Do you know where the professor is? He’ll want to know.”

  “He’s in the upper deck but right now we’ve got bigger things to worry about. Although this ship’s fast, it’s not going to be fast enough to escape the moons gravity without getting picked off by the cruiser up top.”

  “Do we have any weapons?”

  “She was built for speed not offense. There isn’t enough to light a cigar. We didn’t think the Scourge would be this bold or even find us.”

  Bosk said, “No offense Colonel but they have and we need to get out of here before they decide to blow us to bits from orbit. It’s only a matter of time before they notice that Whizz and I took out their ground forces.”

  “You took them all out?” the Colonel asked incredulously.

  “All of them.”

  Colonel Greerson touched the comnet at his ear, “Captain we’ve got to go and go now.”

  The crisp Captain’s voice replied, “CT Colonel. Closing all hatches. Firing manoeuvring thrusters.”

  The outside door slowly closed and a low rumble filled the cabin. A little jerk indicated that they were now rising above the docking cradle in the hanger.

  “I think that we’d better get settled in as it’s likely to be a rough ride.”

  They belted themselves into three seats facing each other. “Colonel, did we get everyone?” Whizzbang asked.

  “Yes, all personnel managed to get on-board. Thanks to both your efforts.”

  Leaning forward, Whizzbang looked out a small round window just as they passed through the energy wall. So much had happened in such a short amount of time. “Colonel, how are we going to get past the cruiser?”

  “I really don’t know what Captain Eldrich has in mind.”

  Still staring out the portal Whizzbang looked up into the night sky and watched three distinct flashes appear from where he had previously seen the Scourge cruiser. “We’re in for it
now. I just saw the cruiser launch three missiles in our direction.”

  Bosk leaned over Whizzbang to get a better view. “I think they’ll hit us in about ten seconds. By the way, how’s the leg?”

  Whizzbang flexed his right leg a number of times and said, “It’s as good as new.”

  Sweat beaded and rolled down Colonel Greerson’s temples. These boys really were the cream of the crop. They discussed their potential deaths with a calmness that was completely mystifying.

  “Any second now,” Bosk said.

  Whizzbang looked across at the Colonel’s worried face. “Sir, it will be better if you tightly hold your arm-rests.”

  Powered only on its manoeuvring under-jets the back of the sleek fast frigate left the edge of the hanger bay. The tail dropped suddenly and with precise control, Captain Eldrich fired the main thrusters in a minimal burn.

  Within the cabin, everything suddenly turned ninety degrees. The safety harnesses slung over their shoulders tightened and kept Whizzbang and Bosk from falling onto the Colonel. Cabin equipment not already secured fell to the back of the spaceship with a crash.

  Whizzbang glanced at his wrist-comp and counted aloud, “Five, four, three, two, now!”

  Within the cockpit, Captain Eldrich slammed the thrust levers to maximum burn a fraction of a second before the missiles struck the crater. The three simultaneous explosions completely collapsed the craters walls and vaporised the research facility. A massive plume of dust and rock soared several thousand feet into the air in a great mushroom cloud.

  Within the cabin, the instantaneous acceleration of the main engines made breathing almost impossible. The addition of the concussive force of the missiles shock wave sent the fast frigate forward at an unspeakable velocity. Its teardrop shape tore through the moon’s atmosphere and the friction of the air against the outer hull caused the reinforced plating to glow a malevolent red.

  Every bone in Whizzbang’s body shook violently under the stress of the forces. He managed to shift his head to look across at Bosk who widened his eyes to indicate that was a little too close. Whizzbang replied with a barely perceptible nod of his head. Any greater movement than that would cause his head to roll to the side with the additional weight of the acceleration. All at once, the shaking stopped and they were hurtling through space with the moon rapidly receding behind them.

  Bosk sighed with relief. “That was a little too close.”

  “What happened?” Colonel Greerson asked.

  Whizzbang replied, “Once the missiles were launched the Captain knew that he was given an opportunity for us to escape.”

  The Colonel wore a mask of confusion as he asked, “What do you mean?”

  “Rather than taking the more traditional and much slower route of leaving the atmosphere he flipped us onto our main engines and waited for the missiles. At the last second, he shot us out of the crater and then rode the shockwave from the explosion to add to our already rapidly growing velocity. The flash of the explosions would have also disguised our ascent. The cruiser would need to react instantly to respond to the completely unorthodox manoeuvre."

  “When did you work this all out?”

  “As soon as we started moving.”

  “How so?”

  “The Captain could have left the crater at maximum burn but he didn’t. He manoeuvred slowly to make sure the Scourge cruiser had an easy target. In fact, he made us irresistible. He wanted those missiles firing down at us. They not only provided an escape route but also destroyed the research facility.”

  Colonel Greerson nodded his head thoughtfully. These two were very special. The professor had been right in suggesting that they find some young, highly intelligent Cadets to test the nanomeds and nanite battleframes. Or was it Altavia who came up with the idea? He involuntarily looked over at her enshrouded body strapped into her seat. Sadly, it really did not matter now.

  In the cockpit, Captain Eldrich plotted a course for Kaladon and flipped in the inter-spatial drive. Outside the ship, the stars vanished and replaced by roiling clouds of orange and black gas. After checking the readouts from the automatic pilot he closed his eyes and let some of the tension slip away. Against the odds, they made it.

  Chapter 18

  Concord Central Command

  Whizzbang spoke clearly and concisely into the direction of his wrist-comp, “Concord Central, Whizzbang Romeo Oscar Sierra Two Niner request.”

  Whizzbang used the call-sign and identification code that Colonel Greerson had provided all those years ago when he and Bosk were selected to test the first battleframes. When initially engaging Central Command it was mandatory that a pilot use battlespeak to reduce the possibilities for misunderstandings in the heat of combat.

  The reply from Concord command came crisply through, “Concord Central acknowledge Whizzbang, Romeo Oscar Sierra Two Niner.”

  “Request status update on Scourge activity in vicinity of Terrarium.”

  “Did you say Terrarium?”

  “Affirm Terrarium.”

  Whizzbang listened to several thumps as the microphone was grabbed from the communications handler. A strong confident voice then said, “Whizz, its Franky here. Was it you guys that got the tower back up at Terrarium just now?”

  Whizzbang had met General Franky a number of times at Concord Central and he had always seemed to be a no nonsense General who could twist you into a pretzel if you got on his wrong side. Luckily, after a few drinks at the officers club they had both hit it off and developed a solid mutual respect for each other.

  “Affirm Franky. It’s good to hear your voice. We’ve been to hell and back this past day.”

  “CT Whizz. We were caught with our pants well and truly around our ankles this time. We’d thought that Terrarium was lost for good. I don’t need to ask now how you managed it but let me send a team to relieve you so that you can hike it back to central for a debrief.”

  “Thanks for that General but we need to stop into Freehold for a few friends first.”

  There was a slight pause in the communication before Franky said, “Whizz, cancel Freehold, need a face to face asap.”

  Whizzbang grimaced and replied, “Sorry General, no can do. We will make all haste Central via Freehold.”

  Again, there was a pause before the reply, “Roger that Whizz, see you when you arrive but make it snappy. Central out.”

  The four veterans looked at each other with concern etched on their faces. Something was wrong, very wrong for Central Command to ‘request’ a personal visit.

  Bosk broke the silence and said, “Whizz, what in the frap is going on?”

  Whizzbang flexed his still throbbing arm and said, “I have absolutely no idea.”

  Selfia noticed Whizzbang stretching his arm and said, “Everything OK Whizz?”

  “Not really. Something’s changed. I’ve seen a lot of combat Self and suffered my fair share of scrapes, even an eport but that last near miss from the Sniper that grazed my arm is killing me. After every other battle, the meds have fixed me up and I was G2G but this time my arm feels like it’s still on fire. Have any of you felt the same?”

  Bosk immediately jumped in and began complaining about his various aches, cuts and bruises. Acheron discretely raised a questioning eyebrow in Selfia’s direction. She briefly shook her head in the negative before Whizzbang and Bosk noticed anything.

  Whizzbang held up his hand and said, “Hold on a minute. Let’s take a look at this in a little more controlled fashion. I’ll tell you my symptoms and you let me know if yours are the same. OK, immediately after being wounded I felt the nanomeds kick in to fix me up,” Whizzbang stated with a matter of fact voice.

  There were three nods from each of the squad members.

  Whizzbang began peeling back his frame to show his wounds and said, “When I look at where I was shot it looks perfectly healed with not a mark.”

  Each of the others did the same as Whizzbang showing nothing but beautifully smooth skin where previously
there had been shrapnel burns and other typical minor combat injuries.

  “Despite the nanomeds appearing to have done their job in patching us up, my injuries feel as if they’re still there.”

  Once again, there were nods of understanding from Whizzbang’s companions.

  Marking his points with his fingers Whizzbang continued, “So let’s think about this for a minute. Each of us has injuries that look like they’ve healed but not properly. The Scourge in that last fight seemed smarter than ever. We have the ‘toothpaste’ squeezing syndrome and Central wants us to hike it asap.”

  Bosk said, “That seems to summarise things pretty well Whizz.”

  “Come to think of it, things only seem to change after we experience that sense of vertigo Bosk. Things seem to be changing and then going back to normal on an increasingly regular basis. I had Slayer knife embedded in my thigh and it feels just fine but my arm is killing me.”

  Bosk replied, “Really? A Slayer knife? You’ll have to tell me that story sometime.” Bosk paused in thought before continuing, “Whizz, there’s definitely something going on but I don’t think that we’re going to find out about it here. What I do know is that we need to get to Freehold, spin up some refining and get our frames seen to. I don’t know about you guys but my equipment’s almost being held together with force of will alone. We can’t defend ourselves if we run out of tellurite and our gear lets us down.”

  “CT Bosk. We’ve all seen better days. So the decision stands that when relief arrives we head back to Free and then onwards to Central.”

  While they waited for the relief to arrive Whizzbang regularly checked his wrist-comp scans to get an update on what was happening in the various districts. It was clear that there was horrendous fighting up north with some areas swapping control a number of times. A few hours after speaking with Franky, Selfia spotted a number of battleframes gliding in from the north through her scope.

  Whizzbang put his hand up to shield the glare of the bright late afternoon cloudy sky. “I know that frame. I’d recognize it anywhere,” he said.