E.D.F Chronicles - E.D.F resurgent

by Ian. J. Smethurst

  “Today we have made history, let it be known that peace can be achieved on the field of battle and let peace return to the galaxy once more.” A great loud cheer, reverberated around the room following this proclamation, at last, after almost a year of bitter fighting, the war was finally over. Humanity could get on with the task at hand, re-building and exploring the galaxy once again.

  As the deliberations gradually drew to a close and the cameras switched off. A Solarian thrust his way into the room, Michael immediately recognised the former first officer of the Liberty. “Televis what are you doing here?”

  “I’ve come from my ship in orbit with urgent news. Solarian intelligence has just made contact with a Krenaran agent. He killed three Solarian agents and severely injured a fourth. Before the last Solarian died, he revealed the Krenaran’s codename as Lathiel.”

  “So the Krenarans propose peace, and then knife us in the back when we are not looking,” Ericsson gave Dalvosh a look of disgust.

  The two Krenaran aides rose up from the table, “we will tear your puny head off Terran!”

  “Quiet!” shouted Dalvosh, “sit down all of you!”

  The angry parties did as instructed, all looking towards the Krenaran commander, the human contingent with a look of barely concealed rage and betrayal, yet they listened anyway.

  “I know of the agent known as Lathiel, he was our secret weapon, trained to be the perfect assassin, he is equipped with a biomechanical gland that secretes a specially formulated combat drug only recently discovered, the drug is called morphos x. It is what allows him to physically alter his appearance to match any humanoid upon contact. He is one of the most vicious and deranged of all Krenarans.”

  “Did you send him Dalvosh!” Vargev shouted, “because if you did, I swear your brain will coat the walls of this room!”

  “How dare you accuse me of this!” Dalvosh shouted back, the two Krenarans made ready to charge Vargev and the humans present in the room, who all readied their weapons in response.

  “Where is this assassin now!” Michael shouted over the din of angry raised voices. The Krenaran war threatened to re-ignite again at any moment.

  “Last known location places him on Orion, reports suggest he is heading for Terra,” Televis replied.

  “There would be only one reason why Lathiel would be given an assignment on Terra,” Dalvosh said. “He plans to kill your president.”

  “Orion is one weeks travel away from Earth,” Ericsson said.

  “Hell of a good time to activate your assassin Dalvosh, most of the E.D.F fleet is here, the main intelligence facilities at Sigma XI you destroyed eight months ago. No one to track him and no one to catch him,” Vargev said accusingly.

  “I swear on my honour as a Krenaran, I never activated Lathiel!” Dalvosh shot back.

  “Then who did!” Ericsson shouted.

  “Alax must have activated him before hostilities ended, he is the only one who would have had the authority.”

  “And we killed Alax over a week ago,” Vargev said.

  “So effectively we have a rogue agent, who doesn’t know the war is over, on a mission to kill the President of E.O.C.A.” Ericsson pointed out.

  “That’s about the size of it,” Vargev replied.

  “If this Lathiel succeeds in his mission, it could destabilise the entire peace process, war could break out all over again,” Lataf announced.

  “Is the Faeriath ready?” Ericsson asked.

  “Negative, my ship is badly damaged from the battle, as is the remainder of the Solarian fleet. The rest of the Solarian warhost is at Agemman, Aurelias, and Eidolon, too far away to catch him in time.”

  “Which leaves….” Vargev said.

  “The Liberty; we can catch him,” Michael filled in for him.

  “The Liberty’s too badly damaged, it won’t make it.” Ericsson argued.

  “Captain, I believe in the Liberty, and her crew. She’ll make it,” Michael countered.

  “I hope she does captain, for all our sakes,” Lataf said.

  “I’m coming with you,” Vargev said looking at Michael.

  “As am I,” Dalvosh also announced.

  “What about your men here?” Briax said.

  Vargev swung his Armschlager menacingly, its deadly barrel pointed directly at the Krenarans reptilian face. “I insist.”

  With that, the three of them dashed out of the makeshift headquarters towards the grounded Liberty.

  Michael was first to touch his wrist comm. “Alexander to Kinraid, I want the Liberty prepped and ready to go, right now.”

  “The repairs aren’t even complete cap’n, the new main engine isn’t even tested yet.”

  “Too late commander we’ve run out of time, it’s an emergency, Alexander out.”

  Vargev touched his wrist comm. too, “all commandoes in the area, I want a full squad, prepped and ready to ship out in five minutes, form up at the Liberty, Vargev out.”

  The three of them continued running, along broken tarmac roads and muddy wild grassland to where the Liberty rested.

  Michael touched his wrist comm. once again, “Michael to Liberty, prepare to lift off as soon as we are aboard.”

  “Understood cap’n,” the reply came.

  The three of them reached the Liberty a few minutes later, where they found a full ten man squad of E.D.F commandoes stood to attention and a bewildered Logameier. “What is going on? Kinraid’s just told me that the Liberty is taking off, repairs are nowhere near complete.”

  “Sorry Lieutenant, it’s an emergency, we have to take off immediately.”

  “Then where are we going?”

  “Earth, to stop an assassination plot against the president of E.O.C.A himself,” Michael replied.

  General Kalidis caught up with them, out of breath, he wheezed. “You’re going to need me with you, to make sure this bucket of bolts holds together.”

  “You’re welcome to come along,” Michael replied as he climbed inside the port access hatch.

  “Think your man enough for it Kalidis?” Vargev asked, then followed it up by simply saying, “click, click.”

  Kalidis frowned at the Russian and climbed onboard, followed by Dalvosh.

  “Commandoes on me!” Vargev barked out his order.

  The colonel and the remainder of the commandoes climbed onboard also.

  Michael was soon on the bridge, in his somewhat muddied naval uniform. The bridge itself was still damaged in places and still bore many of the scars of the damage the ship had sustained.

  “Status report,” Michael asked as he took his seat.

  “We have main power at seventy percent, ninety percent emergency power; all stations report ready,” Kinraid replied.

  Michael noticed that Eldathar was seated in the pilots chair again, “good to have you back ensign,” he said as he placed a reassuring arm on the Solarian’s slender shoulder. “Now let’s get this show on the road!”

  “Gravitic engines to maximum,” Kinraid said.

  Outside of the ship the grass swirled, whipped up by the force generated by the Liberties powerful gravitic engines propelling the ship skywards, a loud whine became audible as the anti-gravity motors struggled to keep the Liberty airborne.

  “Retract landing legs,” Michael said.

  Eldathar responded, and the landing legs slowly retracted into their horizontal positions, matt black panels slit into position over them with a gentle creak.

  “Main engines at one half power, we don’t want to tax them too much just yet.”

  “Understood captain,” Eldathar replied.

  As the Liberty continued to ascend skyward, Televis, Ericsson and Lataf silently watched from the doors of the tank factory.

  “Godspeed,” they said in unison as the Liberty flew out of sight.

  “Status of main engines,” Michael said as the Liberty continued to climb through the atmosphere.

  Kinraid constantly kept his eye on an engineering systems console at the rea
r of the bridge. “Main engines are okay so far, but at this speed we won’t break orbit.”

  “Increase power to eighty percent,” Michael said growing tense, the Liberty had to break free from the gravitational pull of Gamma IV, if not they were all doomed, and so was the E.O.C.A president.

  “Increasing power,” Eldathar replied.

  The ship began to shudder as the gravitational forces and atmospheric pressures of the planet began to take their effect, Kinraid made his way over towards his usual seat and strapped himself in, this was proving to be a rather bumpy ride.

  “We are approaching the upper atmosphere; main engine at seventy percent power and rising,” Eldathar informed the bridge crew.

  Down in engineering Kalidis and Logameier were working furiously. “Secure that panel” Logameier barked out over the noise. “Keep an eye on the status of the main engine in case it heats up too fast or gets too hot.”

  Solarian engineering crews literally ran from console to console, checking over vital systems.

  The outer hull began to heat up as friction from the violent upper atmosphere of the planet continued to increase, the shuddering and swaying of the ship rose in its violence, flames scorched its outer hull as the atmospheric forces increased in their intensity.

  Some of the plating used to seal the breach of the Liberties destroyed torpedo launcher began to buckle and tear under the pressures exerted upon it. The violent shuddering continued relentlessly as the small ship climbed higher and higher into the upper atmosphere of Gamma IV, sparks erupted from damaged circuits and consoles exploded, sending glass showering across the bridge. Michael secretly prayed that his damaged ship would hold together.

  “Engines at eighty percent!” Eldathar struggled over the noise.

  The ship continued to race through the atmosphere, finally the forces threatening to tear the damaged ship apart became too much, and the plating around the breach of the torpedo launcher sheared off completely, flames poured into the damaged section which had already been sealed off as a precaution, however now heat was building rapidly inside as super heated plasma from the intense heat whirled around the sealed off section. If something wasn’t done quickly, the bulkheads would collapse and the whole ship could be lost.

  “Forcefield! Seal that breach now!” Michael shouted over the cacophony of consoles exploding, violent shaking and sparks flying across the bridge.

  A forcefield shimmered into life protecting the damaged section from the ravages of the atmospheric pressure, for now at least.

  “Forcefield is in place cap’n, but I don’t think it’ll hold for long!” Kinraid shouted back.

  Sweat trickled down the sides of Michael’s face from the rising heat and desperation, “just a few more seconds,” he whispered over pressed lips. The shuddering reached a fever pitch, and just for an instant, Michael, along with most of the bridge crew closed their eyes.

  The shuddering had ceased, it had become calm once again. Slowly Michael opened one eye, then the other, confirming they were still in one piece. All that was visible on the viewer was starlight, they had done it, they had broken free of Gamma IV. He let out a loud sigh of relief. “I would consider that a successful test,” he said.

  Kinraid nodded his approval and a broad smile opened across his features, more at his thankfulness at still being alive than anything else.

  “Set course for Earth, bearing zero-three-five degrees, elevation zero; best possible speed.”

  The Liberty leapt into plasma drive; destination Earth.

  10. Earth race.

  Location : Delta base.

  Date : 18th October 2071.

  Time : 21:44 hours.

  The Krenaran assassin known as Lathiel casually walked towards the vast docking area of Delta base, replete with buggies and carts whizzing to and fro, loading and unloading supplies from ships that had come from all over E.O.C.A territory.

  Although the majority of military vessels were taking part in the fighting around Gamma IV, some were still present providing a defence for the station and the colony world of Orion IV far below, others were undergoing emergency repair work, obviously damaged in combat in some other area of E.O.C.A space.

  The majority of ships docked were transports, carrying vital medical and other supplies to civilians caught up in the huge conflict.

  There was a small warship that the Terrans called a Ghandhi class destroyer, however he ruled out hitching a ride aboard it, it was doubtful he could overcome its crew, and even if he could, he wouldn’t be able to control all the ship’s systems himself.

  A nice, small, inconspicuous transport would suffice for this mission. The trick was getting on-board without being detected however.

  Three E.D.F naval officers walked straight past him, not paying him any heed whatsoever, just a few minutes before he had killed Ensign Butler with a knife straight through the back, nice and quiet, it had allowed him close contact with his body which he touched and then activated his crodes gland buried deep beneath his thick ribcage. It secreted the top secret combat drug known as morphos x, the drug caused him extreme pain as his body altered to take on the form of any humanoid he touched, but he had learned to cope with it.

  He was his races ultimate weapon to bring down the puny Terrans once and for all. His mission was the elimination of the E.O.C.A president, a Terran by the name of James Rushfeldt.

  The hated Solarians had managed to expose his mission on Perseus; he had barely escaped alive. Worst of all, the Solarian agents had managed to send a communiqué to Solarian command before he had disposed of them.

  The Terrans would be waiting for him on Terra, he would have to be careful.

  He made his way over to one of the docked transports, being careful not to attract any attention, a lone officer was standing guard at the docking port.

  Transports didn’t have as tight security as the warships of the E.D.F navy, this transport with a crew of only twelve, allowed him to take control of the ship with minimal difficulty. This small oversight was going to cost the Terrans very dearly indeed.

  The young officer addressed him, “eello ensign, what are you doing here?”

  “Ensign Butler transferring from the E.D.F.S Avenger,” Lathiel replied.

  The officer looked perplexed, “for what reason?”

  Lathiel had to think quickly, “as an engineering assistant.”

  “Do you have your I.D. card?”

  “Yes, here you are.” Lathiel produced the I.D. card he had taken from the real ensign Butlers body.

  The officer studied the card, before placing it into a reader to his right.

  He used his Krenaran training to calm his nerves, but still readied himself in case anything should go wrong. After what seemed like an eternity, the officer finally said. “O.K. your all clear, welcome aboard the transport blue-177 ensign.” He handed him back the card, as Lathiel went to embark on the transport, the officer asked. “Where are your transfer documents?”

  Panic gripped Lathiel, “Still being processed, you know how it is,” he replied meekly.

  “Yeah don’t I, you’re probably right, thanks ensign,” the officer said as he nodded knowingly at him.

  Lathiel inwardly sighed with relief as he quietly stepped onboard the transport, once inside he found the confines tight and uncomfortable for his frail Terran body. The corridors were narrow and for the most part, badly lit. The transport seemed quiet, he surmised that no one else was yet onboard.

  He walked up to a small computer display, the screen was cracked in one corner and the system looked ancient, however he did manage to access the crew manifest.

  The transport was commanded by a Lieutenant Pryce, obviously the E.D.F didn’t place as high a value on its transports as it did its warships, which would be why only a junior officer commanded the vessel, another costly oversight.

  He exited the crew manifest and consulted the deck-plan, the ship had eight decks, four of them were given over to the enormous cargo hold. The
remainder of the decks were taken up with the bridge, crew quarters, a small mess area, engineering, and a tiny medical bay as well as the main engines and thruster systems.

  By consulting the deck-plan further, Lathiel noticed that there was a very small armoury located on the third deck, directly adjacent to the entrance to the cargo hold.

  Exiting out of the manifest, he immediately began making his way there, quickly locating the cramped elevator to deck three. Once there he walked the length of the corridor, finally coming upon the door to the armoury on his left. There was a tiny swipe card reader to the side of the steel door.

  Lathiel swiped the stolen I.D. card through the slot in the reader, and hoped it would give him access.

  Success, a green light blinked on and he quietly entered the armoury.

  There in the small room, barely larger than himself, and only dimly lit he noticed a rack of ten dusty looking pulse rifles and two heavy machine guns, together with a dozen or so combat knives.