Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2)

by Adrian D. Roberts

  “Good, we’re all in,” the Lieutenant said. Now they were in the prison itself, they could use the coms without giving themselves away. “Button, take point. Richings, you’re slack. Guggenheim security and Wester rear guard. The troops are on their way and the chrono is ticking. Drop your EVA’s and move out.” He wasn’t talking metaphorically, on Button’s HUD was an actual Chrono marking time until the assault wave’s arrival.

  A twitch of the right muscle was interpreted by the armour’s computer, releasing the now unneeded EVA from his armour. They clattered to the metal floor and Button took off at a powered run down the straight corridor. At some point they would need to collect those EVA’s. Who knew what they would need in an uncertain future.

  Loping strides assisted by the armour’s servo’s boosted him along. This section of the prison wasn’t monitored by the more sophisticated systems used further in. Their armour’s camo systems allowed them to run along the long straight corridor, without triggering the alarms.

  His armour’s sensors swept ahead of Button, telling him the area was clear. After studying the schematics supplied by the Rebellion, Sneaker and Hanna identified a weak point in their defences. At the end of this corridor was a relay connecting to the outer defensive weaponry. By accessing that, not only could they shut down this portion of those weapons, they could also use it to get inside the prison itself.

  The door they needed came up on Button’s right. He carried straight on past and stopped twenty metres further down. Fifty metres beyond him sat the armoured door leading to the prison itself. His HUD showed him to be five metres outside the reach of the powerful sensors actively sweeping the corridor. He crouched down with his arm-mounted Blaster pointed at the door. When he stopped moving, his armour blended him into the corridor. Wester came up beside him a moment later and did the same. Button glanced over. If it wasn’t for the green outline imposed by the suit’s computer, he wouldn’t have known she was there.

  ***

  Tap, tap, tap, tap. Hanna’s foot had been doing its dance for the past twenty minutes. Deni didn’t say anything about it and neither did Hans, probably because they were just as nervous as she was. Deni kept rubbing her hands on her trousers as she stared at the displays in front of her. Hans seemed completely unperturbed by the tension. He was more practised so was better at hiding it, Hanna decided. There was no way he could be as relaxed as he looked.

  “I’ve got an incoming signal, Hanna.” She would have jumped out of her seat at the sudden sound of his voice, if she hadn’t been securely strapped in.

  “Is it them?” she asked excitedly.

  “I hope so,” he chuckled. “If it’s the prison commandant, we’re in trouble. It’s One Alpha, authentication confirms it. I’m bumping it to you now.”

  “OK, I’ve got it,” she confirmed. The signal was coming in strong and clear on her screen. To prevent the Rock from seeing their connection, Alpha team set up laser relays on their way in. They stretched from the Spectre, through the cavern, down the hatch and along the corridor to hopefully where Guggenheim was plugged in. He had already opened the door to the Rock’s system and it was ready to go.

  The long wait tensed Hanna’s body. She cracked her knuckles, rolled her head and loosened her shoulders. “Alright, the Rock,” she said to herself. “Let’s see what you’ve got.” She faintly heard Hans question her and Deni shush him.

  “Burrowers are on their way, off you go girls.” Her fingers tapped away, supporting and cajoling her programs as they slipped into the Rock’s system. “I’m into the first level and deploying the new and improved Hydra. Oh, security bots are coming in. Zippers, you’re up.”

  The codes and programs danced in front of her eyes, her fingers moving almost without her thoughts getting in the way. “Hah, Sneaker was right. As if I’m really surprised. These Zippers are better than the Chompers. The bots are dead and now we’re through the second layer. Hydra baby, how are you doing, girl? Look at that infection rate, you’re getting in deep.”

  A flick of a finger initiated a fourth screen to go with the three already active. Her default settings slotted it in just where she needed it. “OK, now we need today’s prisoner listings. Come on, Valerie. Where are you?” Lists ran up the screen, too fast for the eye to see. Her system scanned through them all. There were not any names, every prisoner was identified by a number. The Rebellion hadn’t been able to get Valerie’s or the one belonging to the Rebel inside. She sliced her Ignore program in and used the algorithms, normally reserved for removing a person from a system, to find Valerie.

  “There you are. Still in Wing Six and they haven’t switched the cycle so you’re up and about. Level three, corridor two, cell ten.” Another flick of the finger sent the information back to Alpha team. If anyone was going to rescue Valerie, it was going to be those closest to her.

  “We’ve still got five hours until shift change,” she continued the commentary as she worked. “So let’s make sure we keep everyone right where we want them. Hydra, are you ready? Why, yes you are, but first we’ll need to have that wall down. Time for one of my own personal contributions. Rock meet Amygdala, Amygdala, meet the Rock. Hah, wait until I show Sneaker this. It’s like a rampaging Stone Dragon in a herd of Tofu. They don’t know what’s going on. They’re fighting back, but it’s too late and Hydra is waiting in the wings. Amygdala is going for the goal, they’re trying to stop her, but she’s dodging, weaving and oops she just swallowed one of their defenders whole. Oh no! They’re driving her off? What can I do? Oh, wait. I meant for that to happen. In you go Hydra.

  “YES!” Hanna shouted in jubilation, punching both hands in the air. “Hanna one, the Rock nil!”

  “We’re in?” Hans asked urgently.

  “We are, and the crew quarters are locked down!”

  ***

  The lift moved smoothly and quickly. Two fully armoured guards stood at the doors to the car. They were not needed. No prisoner had ever escaped from their area. Regulations were clear on the matter though, the Commandant must always be accompanied by two guards whenever he left the command centre, and Sang-wook Polledo believed in the rules. It was what kept the prisoners in their place and saved the Pantheon from utter anarchy.

  The file on his datapad in front of him was a case in point. Valerie Carter, an inmate who had been dumped on him personally by Admiral Cestari. Why she was here, Sang-wook didn’t know. She came with a raft of dire warnings that had come to nothing until two months ago. Then she riled three of those Spartan barbarians into a fight, putting four of his guards into the Rock’s hospital. None of them were seriously hurt, but it was not the point.

  Since then he took a more careful interest in her. She was fanatical about her fitness and her daily workouts, before her day even began, were legendary with the guards. Most used it for a form of voyeurism he despised. He ignored it. Until one of the doctors pointed out to him, with her physique, she shouldn’t be able to do it at all and yet she did. Daily.

  Along with the warnings came some very special instructions. She was not to be harmed, except in the most dire of circumstances. She should be socially isolated from the other prisoners and she was not to be medically examined. The Rock was the dumping ground of all those the Pantheon thought to be possibly useful in the future, so he was used to an oddity or two with most of the inmates. Valerie Carter had taken that to an extreme.

  Initially, isolating her was easy, all he needed to do was make it known she came from the Privileged. She was not the only one here, but the others were all in sections reserved for them. They were not mixed in with the rabble. Now reports came to his attention she had formed a strong group, included the Spartans she fought on their first day.

  He knew he should have done something about this sooner, but there were almost twenty thousand prisoners under his care and a seventh wing, capable of holding an additional four thousand and thirty inmates, under construction. He did not have the time to deal with every individual prisoner. Yet
here he was. Included in that packet of instructions, was one making it very clear, any contact had to be with him and only him. So now he sat in this lift car, with these guards he did not need, to interview a prisoner he did not have time to deal with. It was not a good day.

  The screech of an alarm ripped through his thoughts. Red lights flashed all through the car as it came to a swift stop.

  “That is the lockdown alarm!” he exclaimed. The looks on the faces of the guards, through their clear visors, was one of stupefaction and Sang-wook did not bother trying to talk to them. “Who initiated a lockdown!” he shouted into his com, routed directly to the Command Centre.

  “I, I, I don’t know, Sir,” a stuttering female voice replied.

  “Who is this?” Sang-wook demanded.

  “Guard Harig, Commandant.”

  “Where is Captain Percival?”

  “Right here, Sir.”

  “Well put her on NOW!”

  “Yes, Sir. Transferring you.”

  The com went silent and Sang-wook cursed to himself. He tried to work out what could possibly have happened to engage the lockdown protocol. It was a last line of defence, for use only if there was a mass breakout of the prisoners. Should the situation get too far beyond any hope of control, all the station personnel were to retreat into the crew quarters wing and seal it. Blast doors, capable of keeping out fully armoured Marines, would be more than sufficient to protect the crew until help arrived.

  “Commandant, Captain Percival here,” A strong female voice broke through the silence. A former Legion Commando Ranger, Maritta did not rattle easily and her calm even tones helped Sang-wook reply in a more normal volume.

  “What is happening, Captain?”

  “We don’t know, Sir. Lockdown around the crew quarters is complete. None of the other wings are affected. We have no reports of disturbances amongst the population.”

  “Incoming!” another voice shouted in the background. It was so loud, it managed to get through the coms filters.

  “What? Those are fucking missiles!” Percival exclaimed before a shudder could be felt through Sang-wook’s seat. The entire station reverberated with the force of the strikes.

  Before he could say anything Captain Percival was back on the com. “I’m sorry, Sir. I need to call you back.” With that final remark the line went dead and Sang-wook sat staring at the empty seat in front of him, wondering what was going on.

  ***

  “Damage report!” Maritta demanded through the blaring alarms and flashing lights of the Command Centre.

  “Multiple impacts. Defensive weaponry at...” the technician’s pause said it all, but Maritta waited impatiently for him to finish. “Gone. It’s all gone.”

  “Contact the Hector,” she snapped. “Full security download, with the Rock’s defence protocol packet.” With the Commandant stuck out in the tunnels between the wings, it would put Admiral Groetzschel under her command. She did not know what was going on, but it must be some sort of breakout attempt. In eight and a half hours they would have the battleship PLN Hector, along with the dozen other ships that made up its task force, to deal with. It would take whoever was attacking the Rock at least a day to move the twenty thousand prisoners off the station and. The task force was not going to give them that time.

  “We can’t. Coms are down. Both primary and secondary arrays have been destroyed.” Maritta eyes widened and the blood drained from her face at the Communications Technician’s reply. Admiral Groetzschel had no idea the Rock was here. Without the download and the sealed orders it contained, he would not move, even if a freighter pulled up right beside them. What happened to the automated anti-missile guns? They should have destroyed them before those arrays could be damaged.

  Her mind moved quickly and she glanced at the tactical screen at the front of the Command Centre. It still showed no threats, just as it had for the entire five hours of her shift. The only thing on the board was a freighter making its slow progression to the systems hyper-limit. Blaze A’s current position, made the route passing the Rock the quickest way out to several systems and it was not unusual. The only time it displayed anything out of the ordinary, was that oh-so-brief flash of missiles before they impacted.

  “Captain!” the Sensor Tech called.

  “Yes?”

  “It wasn’t just missiles that took out the defences. I’m showing energy spikes from Pulsar Cannons.”

  “How in hades is someone out there in Pulsar range and we can’t see them!?”

  The tech swallowed nervously. “I don’t know, Ma’am, but whoever it is, is within two klicks of the base. They’re still out there and destroying our sensors. At this rate we’ll be blind in a matter of minutes.”

  “Two klicks!” Maritta could barely believe her ears. A Marine boarding team in full armour on a ballistic course, might be able to slip past the Rock’s defences, but not a ship big enough to carry Pulsar Cannons. She spun to the Com Tech.

  “Launch an emergency beacon. No! Belay that. Set every beacon we have for rapid fire launch. Scattered exit vectors. We have to warn the task force.” Not waiting for a confirmation she turned to the Engineering Tech. “Shut down and seal the landing bays!”

  “I can’t,” the Tech replied. “We’re locked out.”

  “What do you mean, locked out?”

  “Our entire system has been Hacked. It’s what initiated the lockdown,” she said. “We have control of everything in Wing Five, but outside of that, it’s almost non-existent. The Hacker has even got control of all of the cameras and sensors outside of this wing. We’ve got internal coms and the outer defences. That’s it.”

  “Can you get it back?”

  “I don’t know,” the Tech answered. “The computer core is down with the reactor. The Hacker has cut our remote access to it. We’ll need to physically open the core up and to do that...”

  “You need to get through the blast doors,” Maritta finished for her.

  “Yes, Ma’am.”

  An invisible ship and their central computer had been completely taken over. How was any of this possible? They must have left the outer defences alone as they knew they would destroy them. It gave her a chance with the emergency beacons, but were they overconfident or had they planned for that as well? It didn’t matter. She couldn’t do anything to change the situation, all she could do was her best with what she had.

  “How long to get those doors open?” Maritta asked

  The Tech answered in a quick, clipped tone. “One of my people is already looking at one. Whoever did this has managed to fry the control circuits. We’re not going to be able override the lockdown. I have teams assembling with cutting gear now. As you know, the lockdown was designed to protect us from the prisoners doing just what we are proposing. Those doors are heavily reinforced and it’s not going to be easy.”

  “How many teams do you have and how long will it take?”

  “I’ve got enough people and equipment for ten teams. We’re looking at approximately eight hours per team.”

  “What about replacing the circuitry?”

  “There are thirty tunnels leading out of this wing. Each one has six blast doors between it and the rest of the Rock. We have sufficient parts to replace circuits to six of them. We only hold basic maintenance spares here, everything else in the main store next to the reactor. We can get one tunnel open in about an hour.”

  “Blazes. By then we could be up to our eyeballs in invaders. They’ll know the moment we get through the first door. We’ll never be able to destroy the cameras quick enough. If we try to storm out of a single exit, it’ll be a massacre. Alright, we’ll use the circuits to get you through the first doors on six separate tunnels.” She brought up a hologram of their wing in front of her and studied it intently. “Use the circuitry on these six tunnels.” As Maritta’s finger touched a point on the hologram, it highlighted it in red. “Put your remaining teams on these four tunnels.”

  “Yes, Ma’am.”


  “Good, make sure you keep me up to date.” Maritta stared down at her own panel and hit the button for the on-duty guards net. “All guards, this is Captain Percival in Command Central. We are under attack. An enemy of unknown capability has sealed Wing Five and destroyed the outer defences. I presume they will be landing shock troops shortly. For the time being, you are on your own. We’re moving as fast as we can to get to you, but that’s going to take time. Each wing is to co-ordinate its own defence. I will be sending out command responsibilities based on seniority and competence. Good luck. Central out.”

  Maritta turned away from her panel and looked again at the now blank tactical screen, all of the Rock’s sensors having been destroyed.

  “Who’s out there and what are you going to do next?”

  ***

  At Hanna’s confirmation of the lockdown, Hans moved quickly, his hands danced over the Spectre controls almost as fast as Hanna’s had on her keyboard. The display moved as the ship reoriented itself to his commands. Part of it switched to a three dimensional tactical representation of the Rock. Surrounding it were green dots, each representing a missile put in place by Deni and Hans. Now they were all moving simultaneously. On Hanna’s screen warnings were beginning to flash all across the Rock, but the missiles were already too close to be stopped.

  Blue energy lanced out from the Spectre’s energy weapons. Every missile the ship had in its arsenal had been deployed and there were still defences unaccounted for. Those were all directly in front of the Spectre’s current position and based on Hans’ meticulous targeting, they were now being obliterated. Red icon after red icon disappeared from the tactical display in front of Hanna’s eyes.

  “Defences are down and the Rock is blind,” Hans announced. “Call in the cavalry, Deni.”