ARMS For Eternity: (Book 8)

by Stephen Arseneault

  "The console input on the left is the controls for the bay across the hall from us. We need a timer or something that will allow us to make it through that door before the gravity wall is dropped and the space emptied out. That something you could do for us?"

  "You don't need a timer. You have me. Are you ready to move? You have the map?"

  "We do."

  "Get in the hall and wait for my word. I'll drop the wall just long enough for the occupants of the bay to be removed. When it comes back online, you should have access through that door."

  Tawn asked, "Wait, won't that set off alarms?"

  "Not if I have them disabled, which I now do."

  Tawn reached for the door handle, pulling her hand back as a group of five Frizoid soldiers entered the hallway at the other end. Her finger held steady just below the trigger of her Fox-40 as Harris stood behind her.

  "What's the problem?"

  Tawn held up another finger as the small squad passed by. Seconds later, they rounded the next corner. "Patrol maybe? Not sure. Sharvie, we're set here."

  "One moment... the bay is clear. Gravity wall is up and the atmosphere is refilling. And... you're set."

  The Biomarines hustled across the hall. The door to the bay was opened and they slipped through, closing it behind.

  Sharvie directed. "You can pass through the wall now. I'll clean things up on the network side from here. It should appear as though your friend in that room fell and hit its head on the console before breaking its neck. The console logs will show an inadvertent opening of the bay gravity wall, followed by an automatic close. They will find the alarm had been disabled by that same crew a month ago."

  Tawn slipped through the gravity wall, her boots pulling her securely to the hull of the warship as she moved away from the bay opening. Harris followed only a step behind. Three Frizoid bodies and a number of cargo boxes were floating off, just over a hundred meters away.

  Harris grinned. "Can't believe we pulled that off."

  Tawn scowled. "We haven't pulled off anything until we're back on the Bangor and safely away."

  Harris pushed away from the hull as he switched off the magnetic boots, enabling the microthruster he carried in his hand. A tether linked it to his battlesuit glove. Tawn repeated the move several seconds later.

  "Twenty minutes and we can celebrate. How's that sound?"

  Tawn shook her head. "Still sounds early to me."

  Harris chuckled. "Wow. I just realized. We thought it would be cool to work for the DDI as spies. Well... what we just did... we are spies. And it felt pretty good. Ever think you'd ever be raiding a ship like that? Stealing intel secrets and all?"

  "Can't say I thought that, no."

  Harris frowned. "Anybody ever tell you you're turning into a dullard?"

  "We're on a mission and I try to stay focused until that mission has come to an end, OK? Tell you what... I'll split a brew with you when we get back."

  Harris tilted his head in thought. "I just realized something else. We don't have any booze on Midelon. How'd we miss that?"

  "Not sure about you, but the rest of us have been busy."

  "We should have the bots brew something for us. Would be useful for something like celebrating this."

  "So long as it doesn't interfere with production. And keep in mind, you introduce any spirits out here and you'll have to make it for almost four thousand other Bios. Be ready to share."

  "Hmm. Guess that would be an issue."

  The remainder of the short trip was uneventful. Once through the airlock of the Bangor, Harris pulled on his helmet and assumed the controls of his ship. The small freight-shuttle moved silently away for almost an hour before a wormhole was opened to Midelon. The short run they had made hundreds of times before soon had them parked on the ground. The nav maps were transferred to the colonel.

  Harris turned to face Tawn as they walked toward the supply hut. "You ready to celebrate with a meal?"

  "Now, that I can do."

  Harris reached for his favorite, bogler ribs, and then pulled his hand back in hesitation.

  Tawn chuckled. "You have trouble with bogler now that you know what it's made of?"

  "Yeah. Not like I need to be dumber than I am. Maybe I'll try one of Trish's all-veggie meals."

  Tawn shook her head. "You won't be able to handle it."

  "Are you kidding? In our Bio training we had to eat a lot worse. Remember, you're talking to a guy who drank Earther blood just to stay hydrated."

  Tawn set an MRE down on the table, crossing her arms. "Go ahead. Have at it. I'm gonna stand here and watch."

  "Have you tried it or something?"

  "Not saying."

  Harris opened the pack. Taking a fork, he hesitated several times before lifting a portion from the package. Green slime extended down from the fork, wanting to drip but not quite getting there.

  "When's the last time you blew your nose?" Tawn chuckled. "Look anything like that?"

  "Where's that green even coming from? The entire package is brown. Almost looks the consistency of a fresh bogler patty."

  Tawn gestured. "Give it a smell."

  Harris leaned in, taking a whiff and making a face. "Not all too pleasant, is it?"

  "It gets better."

  Harris made a face before looking up with a grin. "Looks bad, smells bad. Good thing we didn't step in it."

  Tawn swirled her hand. "Come on, big man. You ate worse in training. Remember?"

  Harris reluctantly lifted the fork to his mouth. A stoic expression showed on his face for several seconds as he slurped and grudgingly chewed.

  He swallowed as Tawn returned a grin of her own. "I can't believe you just ate that."

  Harris frowned. "It is pretty horrid."

  Tawn laughed. "No, it's not that. That whole stack is emergency rations for the bogler. We had nowhere else to store it. They love that stuff."

  Harris stood with his beverage. After walking to the door and out, he could be heard spitting and gargling with his drink in an attempt to wash the taste out of his mouth. When he returned after several minutes of swishing and spitting, he found Tawn sitting at the table with an identical meal.

  "What are you doing?"

  Five packets of salt and two other spices were spread on top and then mixed in. "It's not too bad if you add a bit of flavor."

  "Those aren't for the bogler... are they?"

  "Nope. Just all-veggie MREs."

  "And you felt you couldn't reveal the salt and spice additions to me?"

  "And miss out on the fun? No way."

  Harris sat, mixing in the same additions as Tawn. She took a swig from her beverage and he followed.

  Tawn smirked. "You not gonna try your new mix?"

  "Not until after you have."

  "So you aren't man enough to give it a test on your own?"

  "Why are you torturing me? I've already lost my bogler. Can't you let me eat a meal and celebrate our success today?"

  "I am celebrating. I'm having a great time."

  The colonel came through the door. "We have problems."

  Harris turned. "What'd you find?"

  "The Frizoid are building a huge outpost about twenty light-years from the edge of our space. That's only about two days travel with the hop-drive. The plans call for an entire fleet base there. That means more ships and endless resupply."

  Tawn said, "Then we should attack it. Take it out before it's ready to be used. We might have the numbers to do that right now."

  "We have forty-eight hundred Banshees. The nav maps showed three hundred of those big Frizoid warships parked in orbit there. We don't yet have a full analysis of the Frizoid ships’ capabilities."

  "Still, that's better than a ten-to-one advantage. I say we strike and eliminate it. Would there be any way to pin it on the Burrell?"

  Harris shoved his MRE away as he looked at it in disgust. "Any way we can inform the Burrell? I'm sure they'd love to hear about a target they could take out with a
modest size fleet."

  The colonel shook his head. "We can send a message, but that and the return trip will take four months. That base may be operational by then."

  "I guess we don't have much of a choice, then. A resupply base will only make it that much harder for us to kick them out. What's their next colony beyond that?"

  "Seven hundred twenty light-years. Only slightly closer than the Burrell."

  Tawn crossed her arms. "That's a big gap. I'd say we have to go ahead and do this."

  The colonel nodded. "We're working up a plan now. I was only looking for your buy-in on the overall decision."

  "Should we go out on a scout mission? Make certain nothing has changed from the time that navmap was last updated?"

  "That would be advised. And the sooner the better, seeing as how we're planning a raid. But please, finish your meals first. An hour or two won't make a difference."

  The colonel glanced down at the two packages of food on the table before making a face. He turned quickly and left the supply hut.

  Harris looked back at his lunch, dragging it back to him. "Can't believe I'm going to eat this."

  Tawn smirked. "Not only that, you better get used to eating it. That, or you can continue to be a moron by eating that tainted meat."

  Harris stared at the stack of MREs for several seconds. "Might actually be worth it."

  A bite was taken and a scowl returned. "This is awful."

  Tawn chuckled as she pushed hers away. "The bogler don't seem to care."

  Harris stared for several seconds before taking in an even larger portion, determined to show he could take eating just about anything.

  Tawn sighed as she pulled hers back under her chin. "You're right. It is awful, but it's what we have available other than the bogler. I've been eating this for several days now. And believe me, it hasn't gotten any better."

  Trish walked into the room with Garvis at her heels. "You're eating my veggie-meals? Good. Hated to see them go to waste."

  Tawn looked up. "You aren't eating them?"

  "Goodness no. I eat from that stack over there. I took the grass from this planet out of it. It's much better now."

  Tawn set down her fork. "Why'd you leave these in here?"

  "I don't know. I thought someone might like them. We all have our different tastes."

  Tawn shoved the MRE away. Standing, she walked to the stack Trish had referenced and retrieved a new package. "Harris? You want one?"

  "Nope. Gonna finish what I started. We can't afford to be wasting food."

  Tawn chuckled. "If I considered that food, I might feel the same way."

  — Chapter 7 —

  * * *

  The meals were finished and the Bangor boarded. Twenty minutes later the ship slowed as they came within view of the workings on the planet called Morebad. Five planets circled a blue sun. One side of the second planet eternally faced the star. The night side stayed at a moderate temperature throughout the ninety-six day orbit. The planet itself lacked an atmosphere, having been knocked off long before by powerful solar winds.

  The Bangor’s sensors showed an immense project under construction. A dozen repair bays sat across from two dozen supply platforms. Those platforms would be capable of accommodating the largest of the Frizoid warships. A warehouse structure, the size of a small city, rose up between the two mission areas of the base.

  Harris looked on in awe. "The word big doesn't do it justice."

  Tawn adjusted one of the sensors, bringing up a split screen. "Two hundred ninety-eight warships."

  "I have to wonder if now might be the time to strike."

  "What? Why?"

  "Look at them. What is that, a dozen rows? We could take out more than half those crews with a dozen gamma missiles. What do you think we could do with a few hundred Frizoid warships?"

  "You suggesting we hit them here and fly them out?"

  "That's exactly what I'm suggesting. The Banshees could finish off the rest and then destroy that complex down there. This could be monumental. It would give us the Frizoid ships to study as well. Those aren't the chintzy ships they're providing our pilots with to fight the Burrell. These are top-of-the-line Frizoid Communion fighting ships."

  "Even if we lost a few thousand Banshees, it would be worth having a few hundred of those. I think you've just altered the colonel's plan."

  "Anything else here to see?"

  "Looks just like standard construction to me. Want to head back?"

  "I think we should."

  A short run was followed by a jump back to Midelon.

  Harris stood in front of the colonel's team with an image of the facility on the display wall. "I don't see any defenses yet, but it looks like gun placements are going in about every hundred meters. A quick count says maybe two hundred fifty total. That isn't what we brought back though."

  Tawn stepped up as the image changed. "Their fleet. Two hundred ninety-eight warships, all parked in neat little rows for us. We take in a few dozen gamma missiles and we might end up with more than half of those. The others our Banshees would have to destroy, but the gamma strikes would make that mission a lot easier."

  Sharvie raised a hand. "I'm confident I now have a way into their systems. The code you loaded on the ships at Domicile revealed several weaknesses I can exploit. If you want to use gammas, I could disable their self-destructs internally, leaving whatever ships we hit still able to be flown out of there."

  The colonel slowly nodded his head. "Looks like you just turned my mission into little more than a logistics run for us. I'll need a few days to train crews to pilot those vessels now that we know what nav controls they have."

  Harris shook his head. "Not necessary, Colonel. This is a job perfectly suited to the bots. When we bring those ships back here, you can have at them, but we shouldn't be risking our people when we have bots that can do the job for us."

  "My boys and girls are getting restless, Mr. Gruberg. This type of assault falls right into their wheelhouse."

  "I know what you're saying, Colonel. But we need to protect life first. The Bios stay here for this raid. There will be more opportunities for raids in the future, and you’ll have several hundred warships to learn on and play with. The slugs and stumps stay here."

  The colonel stood and began to pace. "When do you want to do this?"

  "Today... if possible. You never know when half of those ships will just pick up and leave. We catch them now and we might be able to keep our losses to a minimum."

  The colonel stopped, placing his hands on the back of his chair as he leaned toward the table. "Two hours. I'll need two hours to plan this given what I have here. I'll have Idiot begin coordination of loading supplies. You'll be taking our transport to use for delivering bot crews."

  "That would be the plan. These ships all have docking bays with gravity walls. The bots should have direct access through those. Sharvie? You said you think you have access to their networks. Any chance of getting that before we go in? If the bots have the layouts of those ships, it makes their efforts that much easier."

  "We won't know until we try to connect again."

  Tawn stood. "Then I think we go take care of this now. Put on your battlesuit and we'll meet you out at the Bangor."

  "Give me ten minutes." Sharvie hurried out of the room.

  "Get us a plan, Colonel. Looks like this is gonna come off fast."

  "I'll want at least an hour when you get back."

  "We aren't on a timetable here other than sooner is better."

  Harris followed Tawn as she walked toward the Bangor at a brisk pace. "Hey, what's the rush? We have ten minutes to make a thirty second journey."

  Tawn slowed. "Sorry. I'm just getting a bit excited I guess. We could use a victory here."

  "We could. But just so you know, this raid will put the Frizoid on high alert. They may want to take retribution on our people for this. Could make it harder on all the regulars they're training."

  "I was already co
nsidering that. What we do know is this new base will make it considerably harder on us all. I'll take removing that as a priority over the possibility of things getting harder elsewhere."

  "Makes sense."

  Harris turned toward the lab where Alex was busy working his normal magic.

  "Where you going?"

  "Just getting a quick status. I'll meet you at the ship."

  Harris walked into the lab. "Alex, how are things looking in here?"

  "As you already heard, Sharvie managed a crack of the Frizoid networks. I've moved back to my study of the hop-drive. I have a theory about extending the boson field. If possible, we might be able to double the distance for each jump. It may also be possible to jump beyond that. Idiot is assisting with setting up a simulation. I hope to have results from that simulation in about a week."

  "So double the hop, double the speed?"

  "Essentially."

  "I like the sound of that. Any new breakthroughs on the gamma missiles or interference emitters? Or weapons maybe?"

  "Haven't moved those technologies forward. I should build a time machine so I have more time to study."

  Harris chuckled. "We could all use one of those."

  The Bangor zipped up through the Midelon sky. It was soon parked only five hundred kilometers away from one of the Frizoid warships at Morebad.

  "No reaction, so we must be holding our stealth," Harris said.

  "I have more than eight hundred comm channels running. I'm thinking we select one from a ship toward the other end of the rows so as not to draw attention our way if we're discovered."

  "Sounds like a plan. Sharvie better have been right about this hack or we might not be going home."

  "I trust her. She's thorough when it comes to this stuff. And she had Idiot check over the code. If their people begin sniffing around there are multiple exits for the app to take advantage of."

  "Go ahead and let her rip, then."

  Several seconds passed before Tawn commented: "We have a connection... and we're in. Tunneling into their network... through the first firewall. And the second."

  "How many are there?"

  "Forty-two."

  "That's insane."

  "Shows they care about keeping others out."