Star Crusades Uprising: The Second Trilogy

by Michael G. Thomas

  “Come with me, to the brig!” he said to his waiting guards.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  The status of Earth reached its lowest point with the founding of the Centauri Alliance. With each colony now providing senators to the Terra Nova, the old worlds became less and less significant. With the first colonies established at Epsilon Eridani, Gliese 876 and Procyon the significance of Earth would not change until the great scouring, an event that made even the Great Uprising pale into insignificance.

  The Decline of Earth

  Pontus waited in his cell and listened with pleasure at the sound of the shouting and confusion aboard the Santa Maria. He’d expected no better than to be placed in the most secure part of the ship, and the shouting from some of the crew about the loss of a cruiser merely improved his mood. The cell itself was basic and protected by a strong, triple-bolted security system that was monitored by a central command station. The two marine guards stationed at his door wore their armoured suits and carried the by now well-known L48 rifles. He sneered at them as he remembered some of the more bloody encounters he faced in the last decade with men just like them.

  Insects, worthless non-believers with nothing to commend them other than blind obedience to their parasitic capitalism. They even refuse the salvation of our holy mother, Echidna, she that is many.

  He lowered his head reverently at the mere thought of his God and master.

  By the time General Rivers and his entourage arrived, he was thoroughly enjoying himself. The Marine officer evidently wasn’t wasting time as he ordered the door to be opened and marched right in to face him. Pontus was tempted to strike. It was probably the best opportunity he’d come across to remove this troublesome man, but he had his orders.

  “General Rivers, how nice to see you. I trust you now understand the gravity of our meeting? I was not joking.”

  He spotted the movement of the man’s arm, and his stomach muscles tenses up at the expected blow. He could have avoided it if he wanted, but it would have been futile. The General was surrounded by loyal guards, and all probably desperate to strike him down. No, he took the attack and dropped down to his knees and wheezed. They waited for him to recover and stand back up before any of them spoke. One marine leaned in and whispered into his ear. The General looked even angrier but resisted striking again.

  “Ah, I see,” he said with obvious relish. One of the marines took a step closer, but his Lieutenant grabbed his shoulder and pulled him off. Pontus smiled as though thanking him before continuing.

  “By now you will understand that I was being entirely truthful with you. I have no interest in seeing your people suffer. Be under no illusions though, Echidna will not let your ships leave this system, and any further attempts to circumvent her will, will have severe consequences for the rest of your little fleet.”

  General Rivers shook his head angrily.

  “Hyperion is an Alliance world and nothing to do with your group of terrorists. You will surrender your forces immediately, or we will be forced to direct tactical atomics onto the surface.”

  Pontus merely chortled at the suggestion. The General recognised the self-importance he had seen on other members of the cult and knew the man could not be reasoned with. He decided to try and learn as much as he could.

  “Who are you, Pontus? What are you doing out here?”

  Pontus nodded and scratched his cheek as he considered the questions.

  “I am one of the Children of Echidna, like my brother Typhon. We serve her and await her coming.”

  He grinned at the obvious confusion in the face of the General.

  “She needs workers to finish our great temple, and your war has provided workers in the thousands for us.”

  Alarms triggered inside the ship, and a marine ran inside the brig section with obvious terror on his face. A crewman carrying a mobile engineer’s datapad, a large device that allowed remote access to certain management parts of the ship, followed him. The sound of what appeared to be gunfire came from a long distance inside the hull of the ship.

  “Sir! We need to move you, now!” he said, grabbing the General. The General easily brushed the man’s arm aside and looked back to the sneering face of Pontus. He stepped closer and pointed his right hand at his face.

  “What do you want from us?”

  Before he could speak, the marine tried to grab him again, but this time was stopped by a marine guard. The two started a rowdy disagreement while the General concentrated on the prisoner.

  “Echidna needs labour, and the people on your remaining ships will be a useful asset. Stay in orbit, and wait for our transports to arrive to take you to the surface. My guards are coming for me. Refusal to let me leave, or any attempt to leave your current position, and your ships will meet the same as your first cruiser.”

  General Rivers’ guard moved closer, but the Sergeant of his guard unit leaned in and whispered.

  “Sir, we have a major situation here. Machines in the secondary landing bay, looks like a boarding party of some kind. We need to get you out of here.”

  General Rivers looked to Pontus, but the Sergeant looked adamant.

  “Sir, now!” he said as firmly as he dared.

  The General stepped back and towards the door. A group of marines, all in their PDS armour and carrying carbines ran past him and took up positions at the end of the corridor. He was convinced he could hear the metallic clunk of machines moving, but it could easily have been his imagination. The engineer turned his device around to show him.

  “Sir, look. They are remotely shutting down our systems, one by one. Weapons and propulsion are down. Life support and gravity will be next.”

  He looked back to the guards in the brig and nodded to the man at the security station.

  “Release him,” he ordered, turning to the other guards.

  “You will put him in irons. He’s coming with us to the secondary landing bay.”

  The marines and crew went about their business to release and shackle Pontus while General Rivers assessed the situation. He looked carefully at the systems failure on the engineer’s equipment.

  “I don’t understand. Most of these systems are hardwired. How are they gaining access and controlling them?”

  The engineer shrugged.

  “The only option is that they have something or someone on the inside. I have been locking down the subsystems one at a time and posting crew to manage them at each station. It takes time, but so far I’ve completely isolated the last remaining powerplant.”

  Pontus was now out of his cell, fitted with restraints and a locked collar attached to a metal rod.

  “How long until you can lock down the entire ship?” he asked.

  At least three hours, and that’s assuming I can reach the main conduit here,” he explained while pointing to the section of the ship.

  Captain Carlos, commander of the First Company and four more of his marines arrived and ran to the doorway. He was a decorated veteran of Euryale and as loyal and experienced an officer as existed in the Corps.

  “Sir, the Captain sent me to retrieve you and bring you back to the CIC before we lose control of the ship.”

  General Rivers shook his head and pointed to the map. It showed a bright green schematic of the ship and its primary systems. He tapped the primary conduit.

  “No, either we regain control of our systems or we start falling into the atmosphere. This conduit is on the other side of the secondary landing bay, right?”

  The engineer nodded.

  “I thought so. Right, you all come with me, and get Pontus out at the front. If they want something to shoot at, they can have him.”

  He looked back to the engineer.

  “Can you reach the CIC on that thing?”

  The man shook his head furiously.

  “No, Sir. After they breached the habitation seals, we lost all internal communications, and that includes data access to all networked and connected systems. That’s why the Captain sent ou
t engineering teams like us to restore and protect what’s left.”

  “I see,” he replied slowly.

  He looked back at his men as he formulated a quick plan in his head. It seemed simple to him. Either they ejected the boarding party and restored their systems, or they let Pontus and his people leave to achieve the same. Either way, he was going to be there and if possible, he would make the man pay.

  “Right, to the secondary landing bay, now!” he growled.

  With that order, the first small group of marines pushed off ahead. They took the shackled Pontus with them and pushed him out to the front like a mine detector. About ten metres further back was the General and his personal guard unit. They made quick progress as they worked their way there. Unlike the main bays, this one was actually located in the retaining habitation ring. It was very difficult to actually land inside but perfect for the launch of small lifeboats. General Rivers assumed the only possible way of landing there successfully would be a forced entry with drones of some kind. The only surprising thing was that none of the compartments had explosively decompressed. They moved passed two crew, one was bleeding was a gash on the shoulder.

  “What’s happening back there?” asked one of his marines.

  “Machines, in the habitation ring, and they’re killing anybody they find. They...they are coming this way!” said the young woman, her voice trembling.

  The marine looked up to the General, half expecting him to order a retreat. Instead, the veteran commander simply shook his head and nodded in the direction of the sound. All that changed was that he reached down and pulled out his Marine Corps issue pistol and pulled back the slide.

  “We’re ending this, now!”

  The marine nodded, and with that the entire party continued on and towards the sounds of screaming and violence. General Rivers felt his pulse quickening and although he might hate to admit it, the thought of getting back into action made him feel alive again. It was only when he rounded the last bend to reach the double width access corridor, could he appreciate the carnage and violence the machines had caused. At least a dozen shredded bodies lay strewn about the floor. Heads and limbs had been torn off, and all that remained were three metal machines, like some monsters from ancient myth. Like mechanical spiders, the things were larger than a man but featured no discernible head. Their eight limbs were thicker than a man’s legs, yet more fully articulated and ended in scythe shaped toes. At the sight of the marines and Pontus, they stopped and froze completely as if they had been switched off. The nearest of them was bathed in red blood, presumably one of its many victims.

  “Let me leave, and they will come with me. Resist, and they will carry on their fine work aboard your ship. Your choice, General.”

  At the last words from Pontus, the three machines lifted up four of their eight legs and extended their razor sharp talons towards the General and his men.

  “What the hell are these things?” cried one his men only to be berated by Captain Carlos. He leaned in towards the General.

  “Sir, what do you want us to do?” he asked.

  General Rivers looked to Pontus and then the blood splattered machines that waited for their order to continue on with their violent rampage. What he wanted to do was to lift his pistol and blast the things apart. His gut instinct reminded him of the failures on their ship and the hundreds of men and woman that had already died. He lifted his pistol and pointed it to the forehead of Pontus. The man looked back, and his expression changed from surprise to amusement. Pontus could see the General was torn between what he should do, and either through malice or just simple amusement, he decided to play one final card.

  “Oh, one last thing General. Either you or your Captain will accompany me to the surface. Now, release me!”

  General Rivers glared at the man, his right hand twitching with desire to blast the hated enemy. The machines nearby moved towards the marines. It was very slow, almost creepy in nature, but they were drawing the confrontation to a head.

  “You have sixty seconds to make your decision, General. Or my metal friends here will send a coded signal to our ground base to use our weapon against your pitiful little fleet.

  The young engineer from the CIC spoke into his left ear.

  “Sir, before I left, we detected additional signatures from the planet that matched the last weapon impact. It is likely they can do it again.”

  That wasn’t the news he wanted to hear. Now he was stuck in a small space with a dozen armed marines, three robotic machines, and a psychotic terrorist facing him. Sparks from one of the malfunctioning display terminals on the wall snapped him out of it. With just seconds remaining, he needed to make a decision.

  Do I let him this bastard go and let him take me with him? Or do I end this now, and put a bullet in his skull?

  He looked at Pontus and tried to work out if the man was bluffing? Could he trust this man to keep his word, and was he prepared to die? The more he looked into the man’s face the more he knew this man was happy to die. It might even be what he really wanted.

  Bastard!

  * * *

  Spartan was in the greatest battle of his life. The area was more than a bit like that of a professional fighting ring, and its walls seemed to be carved out of solid rock. The only light came in through a narrow hole in the distant roof, bathing the floor in a pale blue sheen. A dozen bodies lay around him, and yet four more Biomech gladiators stepped in for him to fight. It seemed nothing he did would stop the unrelenting hordes of enemies.

  “Die!” he roared and rushed forward to the nearest creature.

  In his right hand he carried a great axe, and in his left a small metal buckler. He reached the first and smashed its weapon out of the way to leave the creature’s head exposed. In a quick movement, he twisted his hip and brought down the axe with such force that the monster exploded in blood and gore that drenched him from head to toe. He pulled the weapon from its body to reveal nothing but a pool of blood and gore. A loud roar and buzz made look up to see a great black shape rushing for him. It made a terrible buzzing sound and stopped him in his tracks. He shook his head and shouted only for his voice to seem weak and muffled. He opened his eyes to the sight of the flashing light, and the buzzer on his video comms unit droning continually. For the briefest of moment, Spartan almost struck it with his fist.

  He’d been in the middle of a dream, a violent reimagining of one of his gladiatorial contests back from before he had been a marine. The tone was loud, and the slowly increasing internal lights made him lift his hand to his face.

  What the hell is going on now? Somebody forgot a meeting appointment?

  He looked to his left and could see the blinking unit next to his bed. A bright red light flashed several times a second to remind him somebody wished to speak. He slid over the bed and lowered his feet to the floor. The coldness made him jump as shivers ran up through his muscles.

  Here we go again.

  Spartan tapped the button, and the black, featureless face of the unit changed to that of a naval officer. He rubbed his tired eyes and tried to focus.

  “Lieutenant, Admiral Churchill here. I need you in the Defence Committee room in fifteen minutes. We have a major situation developing.”

  Spartan shook his head, partly out of confusion and also in surprise. He was after all merely a low ranking officer. Strategy and operational planning were not something he was ever involved in. His brain went into overdrive as he considered the kind of problems that could occur on Terra Nova that might require his special skills. Perhaps somebody had been kidnapped, or a terrorist was threatening to blow up a building?

  “What is it, Sir?” he asked, his voice still dreary.

  “Not over the official channel. Fifteen minutes, Spartan, and don’t be late. This is important!”

  The signal cut out completely, leaving Spartan alone in his room and wondering what was going on. He looked about, noting it was still dark.

  The time?

  A quick
glance to the clock on the wall showed it was only just past three o’clock in the morning. That might explain the dull ringing in his head. It was certainly more likely than the fact he’d taken a mace impact to the jaw while fighting in the arena. He slid out of bed and to the bathroom to get ready. After starting to wash his face, his brain started to wake up, and the gravity of what the Admiral had said worried him. He wiped his face and grabbed his combat fatigues and gear without even thinking. It took less than two minutes for him to leave the room and make his way to the elevators. Inside, a soldier from the Terra Nova Guards saluted. The decision may have been made to scrap the Army in its entirety, yet this one paradox remained in the capital.

  “Where to, Sir?” asked the man.

  “Defence Committee,” he replied, much to the surprise of the soldier.

  He paused, but upon seeing Spartan’s expression, turned and pressed a button. It was a fast device and took him below the ground a substantial distance before slowing to a halt. The doors hissed open to reveal the main foyer and a number of high-ranking officials from the Navy and Marine Corps. There were also a significant number of politicians, but he recognised none of them. He stepped forward only to find Khan step from out of the crowd.

  “Spartan, what’s going on here?” he asked.

  Spartan couldn’t work out what was more surprising. The fact that he had been called to such an important meeting, or that Khan had also been brought there. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged.

  “Beats me, come on, let’s get in there, looks like they are starting.”

  They moved along with the others into the committee room, a place much like the room he had been in to look at ship designs. When they were all inside, the door shut and a high-pitched squeal reverberated through the room. Khan winced at the sound.