Battle Beyond Earth: Deception

by Thomas, Nick S.

  “Sure, and so does Rivers.”

  “But he isn’t a fighter, and he doesn’t know how to handle these things.”

  “Neither did you once, but he has a brilliant mind, and you cannot hold him back. How do you think we would ever have equipment like this, if it weren’t for his brain and his work?”

  “I don’t know. How much of this was his work, and how much Irala’s?”

  “Truly, I don’t know the answer to that, but I have seen him achieve great things here, and you would do well to keep him onside. He is the man who might be the key to your survival.”

  “Yes? That’s what worries me.”

  “You have to have faith in others sometime, you know.”

  “I do, and it usually costs them dearly.”

  Rogers was finally happy with the cleaning job. It was the best he could manage, as the Prince’s blood stained permanently. They could hear footsteps, and Rivers drew up to them.

  “So, what now?” he asked.

  “You say you need a few weeks to get this back to where you were. There is nothing I can do to help you with that, but what I can do is put these suits to some proper tests.”

  “Was that not test enough for you, Colonel?”

  Rivers pointed to the pool of blood on the floor where the Prince had fallen and been dragged away.

  “No, not even close. They need to be tested outside of a lab in a range of scenarios, and while we’re at it, there is a war to fight. You say these suits were built for stealth, well, let’s start using that. We’ll hit the enemy in ways they never imagined. Let’s make them begin to fear the night because they know we are coming for them.”

  “The last thing we need is for the enemy to know we have this technology at this time. It is not complete or nearly ready to go into production. You can see that, surely.”

  “Maybe, but we can’t afford to wait either.”

  “Then don’t let them know we have it.”

  They both looked at Rogers as if he was crazy.

  “Stealth, you are right. That is what we need, but we have to make them fear the unknown.”

  “How do we do that?”

  “How quickly would word spread of some terror if their people started getting killed, but they had no idea by who, how many, or how it was done? We become ghosts.”

  “The two of us, two guys in a couple of super suits? Do you know how crazy that sounds?”

  “Tell me what about this life isn’t, Colonel. The fact that the most powerful creature known in the universe is toying with you before she kills you in a personal duel, is that not crazy enough for you? These Princes stomp around as if they are a one-man army, and they might as well be, so why can’t we be that, too? We can do and go where armies and fleets cannot. We can take the enemy on, on our own terms, and we can strike the fear of god into them.”

  “Yes, and who would be looking or even thinking about Colonel Taylor, then, when there is a new horror?” Dart limped up slowly and leant against a pillar beside them.

  “I can see where you are coming from, but the two of us, two suits? How can we possibly keep such a thing up, and not have them come for us?”

  “You can’t kill what you can’t find. Hell, Colonel, these suits don’t even look like anything the Alliance has made, and certainly not of human origin. So we put out a few stories about attacks on Alliance facilities by these things around the time we first attack Bolormaa’s people. She’ll be chasing a ghost,” said Rogers.

  “It’s genius,” Dart joined in with the discussion again, “I don’t know why we haven’t done it already.”

  “Because we haven’t had this technology until now. Two men against an army would never have stood a chance, not even the Colonel, but now we have these.” Rogers was more than enthusiastic.

  “I think you are forgetting the limitations of this hardware,” replied Taylor.

  “No, I am thinking of ways to make it work for us. There are enemy outposts and ships that we could attack and wreak havoc in that small space of time. Being in and out that quickly could be our calling card. No one need know that the suits can’t do more than that.”

  Taylor thought about it, and the more he did so, the more he liked the sound of it.

  “And if we needed targets for such a raid? Realistic targets that we could handle, you would know them?”

  “As many as you want. The Alliance is spread thinly these days, and Bolormaa’s forces set up in many sectors completely unopposed.”

  “And how would we get to them without being detected?”

  “You don’t think we developed stealth suits without a way to deploy them, did you?” Rivers asked.

  Dart’s head sprung up as if he had found new reserves of energy at the prospect of something new to fly.

  “Follow me,” said Rivers.

  He led them out of the dome and to an area none of them had seen before, but by the look on Rogers’ face, it was clear he knew precisely what Rivers meant. The scientist passed his hand over a scanner and waited for the iris scanner to activate. A door opened to a hangar bay with two small craft. There was space for another dozen. Four mechanics were busy at work on one of them.

  “What the hell is that?” Taylor asked.

  They were little more than seven metres long and three metres tall. The overall craft was of a sleek design. Small wings swept back and the engines were built into the fuselage, but somehow it was not smooth at all, but built of constantly converging angles so that it had a ripple effect. It looked like some hybrid of Aranui and Krys technology, with something else thrown in that was entirely new.

  “We call them the Lynx, and they are built for just one thing, stealth. They have modest speed and modest armour. No guns, only countermeasures. The only luxury is a jump drive out of necessity. Everything on these ships is low power, to slip under the radar. Temperature is kept low except under full power. It has every single form of stealth technology we could pour into her.”

  He lifted pressed a key on his Mappad, and the ship that wasn’t being worked on simply vanished.

  “I’ve seen this tech before, but it was rendered close to useless with the other signatures that ships put out,” declared Dart.

  “Not like this one, you haven’t,” replied Rivers, “This machine will get you where you need to be, and out again without ever being seen. I can guarantee that.”

  They all looked to Taylor for the next step, and he was eager to get out and do something.

  “All right, what are we waiting for? Let’s do this.”

  “Right now?”

  “Sure, you’ve convinced me. The suits have been charged, the ship is here ready to go, we have a pilot, what else do we need?”

  “I…I thought…” began Rogers.

  “You said you knew plenty of targets, so what’s the problem?”

  “Well, I thought we’d plan this out before leaping in.”

  “Like you said, we are going to become something very different, and to do that we need to start working differently.”

  “But…”

  “Do you have faith in this equipment and us, or not, Captain?”

  “Yes, Sir, I do.”

  “Then let’s move. Babacan, bring that BA1 along with you. You are the plan B if the shit hits the fan.”

  Rogers stepped up close to him to speak more privately, and his face was full of fear.

  “I am not sure…” he began.

  But Taylor spoke over him. “There’s no time left for uncertainty. You wanted in on all this, well it’s time to get your hands dirty.”

  The ship reappeared before them as Rivers powered it down, and Dart ran his hand along the rough hull, as if stroking it like a pet.

  “We’re going to get along just fine you and me,” he said to the ship as he caressed it.

  “Is he okay?” Rogers asked.

  “Perfect,” replied Taylor.

  It wasn’t long before Rivers was back with several staff and all their equipment on tro
lleys. They loaded the gear onto the Lynx as Babacan climbed into the huge BA1 Guardian suit and climbed aboard. He had to stoop to get in, and there was little room left for the three others once the AR2s had been placed aboard.

  “I…I can’t say this is a situation I ever envisaged, Colonel. I set up this facility for research and development. I never imagined for a moment that it would be the launch facility of a mission for someone as…important as you.”

  “Yeah, well, I bet you never planned on an attack by a Morohtan Prince either, but some shit just happens.”

  “And if you don’t come back?”

  “Life goes on. You can find some other chump to test your inventions.”

  “It would never be my aim to have the hero of the Alliance lost because of my shortcomings.”

  “Then don’t stop working. What you have achieved here is nothing short of amazing. You must forgive my impatience. I let it get the better of me. Keep making those suits better, and get them into service, and we may turn this war around yet.”

  Taylor then headed for the ramp of the ship that the others were now aboard. He turned back at the last moment.

  “Oh, and one last thing. Taylor was never here. If you ever make note of me, or discuss anything over comms, any mention at all, you will not use my name. I am…” he tried to think of something, and then one name sprung to mind, “Becker, Captain Becker.”

  “Of course.”

  He climbed into the ship and sat down. There was very little space inside with all their equipment loaded. Space for maybe two more men at best.

  “It sure is tight with you in here,” he said to Babacan.

  “Why Becker?” Rogers asked.

  “He was a guy I knew a long time ago. An arrogant bastard, and a good guy all at the same time.”

  Taylor smiled as he thought back to the German tank commander who he had fought beside so long ago, but to him didn’t feel like much time at all.

  “Do you have a target for us?”

  “It wasn’t difficult, Colonel. There is a communication and monitoring station not far from here. The Alliance has known about it since it was set up, but we couldn’t spare the resources to go after it, and frankly it could well be there deliberately to draw a fleet in anyway.”

  “Whatever happens out there, it is vital that nobody knows who I am, or you for that matter. As far as anyone is concerned, we aren’t even human, and we certainly are not part of the Alliance.”

  “I hear you, but just to say for the record, all of this, it is crazy.”

  “Spend a little more time with the Colonel, and you’ll realise this is just another normal day in the life of Mitch Taylor,” added Dart.

  Taylor couldn’t help but nod in agreement. “I gave up expecting to live a normal life a long time ago.”

  “And is it as exciting a life as it would seem?”

  “Exciting? No, it does have its moments, but I’d never have chosen it.”

  “Well, I guess that’s what makes you so good at it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you actually care, and you aren’t in it for selfish reasons.”

  He groaned. “I wouldn’t quite say that. If you could tell me right now where Alita Hariz is, I’d have this ship there in a heartbeat, and I wouldn’t hear a word against it. Not from you, not from Admiral Nilsson, or the President, nobody. Is that not selfish?”

  “No, far from it,” he replied with a smile.

  That was comforting to Taylor. He’d rarely had anyone to talk to about it, and Rogers seemed remarkably understanding.

  “For a woman like that, I would go to the furthest lengths of the universe and endure anything to get her back,” added Rogers.

  Taylor was aware that behind the smile the Captain was close to tears, and it was clear that he understood loss all too well, and yet didn’t seem ready to talk about it.

  “You want to make Bolormaa pay, don’t you?”

  “I want to end her, or help others do so.”

  “You don’t care who? You don’t want to be the one to stick the knife in her throat and finish the job?”

  He shrugged as if it hadn’t even occurred to him.

  “Dealing with that Prince you looked to be in your element.”

  “I was getting the job done, that is all. I don’t enjoy drawing blood from anyone, and nor to I like to see a living creature suffer, even if it is one that I despise.”

  “Why? It would happily do so to you, and revel in it?”

  “That doesn’t mean I have to. I will not stoop to their level. These creatures are devils, but they are still God’s creations.”

  “Oh, shit, a damn priest.”

  Rogers didn’t seem insulted by it.

  “Maybe once, yes.”

  “Seriously?”

  “After my preliminary years in service, I moved to the Chaplains’ Corps and had fit in just perfectly there for many years. That is until Bolormaa’s armies swept through my world and killed nearly everyone I knew.”

  “And yet you still have faith, after all that?”

  “Of course, why would that make me question my faith?’

  Taylor laughed, but he could tell Rogers wasn’t amused.

  “Well, I guess I would.”

  “But you never had any faith to begin with, did you?”

  “Faith in humanity, faith in my friends, sure I did.”

  “Then you do have faith, Colonel.”

  “It’s really not the same thing, but come on. You are a man of God, and you resort to violence to fix violence?”

  “Yes, because sometimes a shepherd must protect his flock. God gave me the strength, the skills, and the will to protect others. That is now my calling in life, and through him I am strong.”

  Taylor pointed to the AR2 suits.

  “No, through that you are strong, and through this you are strong,” he added as he held up his Assegai.

  “Merely instruments for our work. You of all people should know that it is what is inside of us that makes us truly strong.”

  Taylor shook his head.

  “You think it was a piece of hardware that made you able to overcome all the things you have.”

  “You’re damn right I do. You have no idea what it was like back in the first war. When we made first contact, it took a whole platoon to take down a Krys warrior. We were being cut apart. It was this technology that allowed us to fight back.”

  Rogers didn’t seem convinced, and it was obvious to Taylor that his belief was still in humanity more than anything else.

  “You’re about to go into battle, and you’re arguing philosophy, geez,” muttered Dart.

  Taylor smiled. “It’s the stupid shit that keeps us human, right?”

  “You got that right.”

  “This target…” began Dart as he studied the screens before him, “Says we don’t know how big it is, what the enemy presence is, or what support they have. Hell, just about all we know is something is there, is that right?’

  “Yes,” replied Rogers bluntly.

  “And that’s the kind of thing we are going to be doing from now on?”

  “Times change, and we have to change along with them. That is something I have learnt many times over,” added Taylor.

  “Ready to jump when you are.”

  “Do it,” Taylor ordered firmly.

  Taylor felt the jump activate. It was far smoother than any he had been through before, and in a flash they were on the other side. There was nothing to see initially, only open space lit by a dim and distant star, but Dart soon pinpointed the enemy location and zoomed in on his scanners.

  “I guess that is it.”

  “It is,” said Rogers, “Small, but well armed and garrisoned by between forty and fifty Morohtan warriors.”

  “You didn’t just find this place by random, did you?”

  He shook his head. “This was always going to be the first testing point of our new technology. The only uncertainty was how we went about it. W
hen I started working with Milo, I never envisaged attacking a facility like this with just two men.”

  “It would be awful nice if you could share these things with me in the future. I don’t appreciate being herded by anyone, not even a shepherd.”

  “And if I had told you early on that this might be the case, what would you have done?”

  “I’d have said you are being distracted from the larger things in this war.”

  “Yep, that’s what I thought, and you wonder why I release these pieces of information to you as I desire. You are the greatest weapon the Alliance has at its disposal, Colonel, but you aren’t always clear of mind. You work on instinct, always seeing what is before you, and not what might be around the corner.”

  “What of it?”

  “Nothing, it is an admirable quality in many regards, but I believe you could do more with the help and guidance of those who think a little differently.”

  “We’ll see.”

  “Okay, Colonel, so this tech we have, it shouldn’t identify us as Alliance personnel. The fake stories we have put out should support that, but that doesn’t mean we want to give them any further evidence. We don’t leave any survivors. We do not leave any evidence behind, and we do not let them get any communication out that an attack is underway.”

  “That’s fine by me, but do you think you are up for it? What you are talking about requires being a cold killer. No remorse, no sympathy, and no compassion.”

  “I wouldn’t wish such a fate on any living thing, but when that is what is required, it will be done, and I will pay for it on my conscience in my own time.”

  “You really want to torture yourself like that?”

  “It’s not even a choice.”

  “Damn right it is. Those things we are fighting are monsters.”

  “And didn’t you once think the same thing about the Krys? And now you sit beside one as his friend and ally.”

  Taylor looked to Babacan and nodded in agreement. It was not the first time that he had been made aware of the fact, and yet in his mind, he saw no issue with it.

  “I don’t think it is the same thing. The Krys were just misguided. The Morohtans are pure evil.”

  “A judgement that is so easily passed around, but I doubt many have ever witnessed pure evil, nor would they recognise it if they had.”