Nemesis (The MechaVerse Trilogy Book 2)

by Jeremy Cunkle

  It was only with a visible struggle that Colonel Mathias fought to calm himself enough to speak about the topic on hand. He composed himself as he walked over to the far wall which converted itself to a screen on his approach, displaying a map of the Tharsis bulge, Mount Olympus, and the plain surrounding it. As he approached, a series of strange markers appeared out on the plain, matching up to a legend with which she was unfamiliar. “During Mikkhael’s last operation, he engaged superior forces beyond what anyone imagined possible. Repeatedly, he was able to get the best of them, but their numbers proved overwhelming in the end. You are aware that Commander Ultor formed an alliance with other rebel factions in order to save Mikkhael at the very end of that last mission.” He said, intentionally leaving out the part where Mikkhael’s entire reason for fighting was to save the Commander’s daughter Eve from certain death. “What you are not aware of is the cost of forming that alliance. Some factions owed us a debt, which we called upon them to fulfill in order to obtain their assistance, while we now owe others in similar fashion.”

  He continued, “One such debt we owe is to the Lazarus faction, the faction physically nearest our own operational territory. Both sides have been actively strengthening that bond, and one such development is a recently constructed Lazarus faction settlement named Kerrak, after the Crusader fortress of Krak Des Chevaliers. They are laying claim to the mountain of Alba Patera for its rich resources, which they need in order to fuel their continued expansion. Olympus provides us with everything we need, but the Lazarus faction needs to secure a wider supply base in order to keep up with the pace of their exponential growth. This resource rich mountain, and their settlement in it, are key to their plans, and the PDF are well aware of that fact.”

  Captain Cartwright accepted his silent cue, fixing Alyona with his own soul-piercing gaze as he addressed her. “Mikkhael decimated local PDF garrisons during his campaign that the PDF refer to as Tegra. There was more though. The Lazarus faction was operating in the background, performing attacks against targets he had weakened, eliminating them, and helping to clean up this region. In response, the PDF implemented a local taskforce named the HellFire Brigade, combining Marine and Special Forces elements with the task of reestablishing their dominance. Which explains how General Akari was able to amass such an incredible force during that mission. With Mikkhael out of the picture, the PDF’s main priority has switched to containing the Lazarus faction, especially around the area of Alba Patera.”

  Colonel Mathias pointed to the map, which centered and then zoomed in where he indicated. “The Lazarus faction perform exceptionally well against regular PDF Mech armor, but their unique weapons and tactics operate at a distinct disadvantage against the HellFire Brigade, which so happens to be a style of combat we are more suited to performing. Therefore, it came as no surprise that they would reach out to the StormCrows, calling in that particular debt. However, our recent losses have steadily drained our ability to assist them, limiting our ability to fulfill their request. But, more importantly, this situation is one which your squadron is uniquely appropriate for. Patrolling and interdicting PDF in the area Kerrak will give you the experience you seek while providing assistance for our sister faction.” He closed with a cruel smile, enjoying the clever trap they had sprung. “Your cooperation in this matter is greatly appreciated.”

  For Alyona, there was no choice. To refuse their request after their recent action, during which her miscalculation and defiance of a direct command lost the StormCrows three units, would open up an unbridgeable rift between the Omnos squad and the StormCrows. Both sides might need one another, but theirs was an alliance of convenience; and one the Omnos squad sorely needed to prove they could provide a meaningful contribution. There was no way she could refuse their ‘request’. Therefore, it was a good thing she had no intention of doing anything other than accepting. “We consent. I would like you to submit the information to Kurtis so that he can plan our missions for us. For now, he is remaining in a supporting role until a solution for Aurora has been found. Losing her abilities was one of the main contributing factors to the debacle a few days ago, and one which we are attempting to rectify as rapidly as possible.”

  At her words, Commander Ultor nodded his head slightly, never doubting the outcome. “Drogdyn and his team have been working on a network of laser communicators and sensors for use while the communications networks remain unusable. Captain Cartwright will lead a team as soon as they are ready, planting the sensors around the Alba Patera region. The grid will monitor the area around Kerrak for PDF patrols, to an extent, as well as provide a means of long distance communication. Those sensors will not perform the job themselves though, and regular patrols will have to be performed. For the time being, we will have to do this the old-fashioned way. Chief Thorsten has notified me that your Mech armor require a period of maintenance. It will take some time to get the grid in place, during which you can get your units back to operational readiness.”

  With the matter settled, the rest of the meeting came down to haggling out the details, one such being that there would no longer be a StormCrow escort for their squad unless a clear reason warranted it. Consequences. Alyona sighed internally, knowing that this situation could have been avoided for only a short amount of time but grateful to escape with something that seemed like a win-win for everyone involved. Once the meeting adjourned, she left for the Omnos squad hangar where their supplies were kept. She needed a drink and knew her room did not have a stocked bar that could begin to equal what they brought from Earth.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN – SALVATORE

  “It’s the children the world almost breaks who grow up to save it.” – Frank Warren

  Kiryl was resting, knowing that he was too close to the problem he was trying to solve, unable to find the solution because he was overtired from working nearly every waking moment. More than anything, he needed to step away and clear his head for a bit before he would be able to tackle the problem once again. Even knowing what he needed, he could not bring himself to get out of the seat of the maintenance crane where he had collapsed in frustration, weariness overtaking him. That was when he saw Chief Thorsten walking up. He just lay there a moment longer, too tired to greet the chief who stopped, eyeing Intrepid approvingly, able to respect the craftsmanship and skill that had gone into the titan towering menacingly over them, even in its state of partial disassembly.

  “How go the repairs?” Chief Thorsten asked him knowingly.

  When Kiryl just shrugged wearily in reply, Thorsten changed tactics. They had bonded quickly and he was checking in because he knew his friend was frustrated and needed a distraction, one that he could provide. “I have a problem of my own I’ve come across and I’m trying to solve it. I think you can help me. There is something that we have been hiding from your squad, and I think it’s time we told you. Although, in this instance, showed you might be better.”

  Instantly, Kiryl perked up, shrugging off his exhaustion as curiosity overcame him, much as Thorsten guessed it would. “Now that’s a hell of an introduction. You should have led with that. Let’s go.”

  Chief Thorsten just chuckled a bit and motioned for Kiryl to follow him. They grabbed a two person electric cart outside of the hangar, Thorsten entering an unfamiliar destination into the nav computer. Waiting a moment for the cart to get moving, he began his explanation. “The arms race between the PDF and the rebel factions Mikkhael worried about sparking is well underway, and was long before he showed up. Both sides have been fighting with antiquated equipment for years now, although it seems the PDF are rapidly moving to rectify their shortfalls. We’ve all known it was coming, for years, and spent our time preparing for the inevitable. What I’m about to show you is pretty much the rebellions best kept secret, but that just shows how much we need your help in solving it.”

  He turned to check Kiryl’s interest. Seeing his friend engaged in his story and once again clear-headed, no longer feeling the confusion of being frustrated by
a task that he was too close to see the answer in front of him, he continued, feeling quite pleased with himself. “If you stop and think about it, the fact that all of the rebel factions use pretty much the same kind of Mech armor is a riddle that is so obvious, it’s overlooked. Somehow, at some point, specifications were released detailing how to build Mech armor, what we refer to as Furies and Justices. Each faction usually has their own name. Of course that was a huge risk by whoever opened up the designs, but only those with enough resources could build them, eliminating most criminal elements from pursuing Mech armor. That, and the criminals rely on their anonymity, something that possessing Mech armor eliminates. At the time, the designs were cutting edge, limited only by their fuel cell reactors. Which, thanks to Dr. Schmid and the Schmid Law, were doubling their energy output every three years while also increasing storage density ratios by half. Well that was damned near fifteen years ago, and the Witten generation of reactor designs have pretty much been maxed out, which is why Furies and Justices don’t use lasers like the PDF, there isn’t enough power.”

  Chief Thorsten continued his story as they passed signs showing that they were headed for the R&D hangar, a place where not even Aurora had seen the inside of as it had no outside network connections for her to access and gain entrance. The walls were extra thick and lined with sheets of brass, iron, and lead respectively, deadening all communication signals, effectively cordoning off its secrets from the outside world. “The one thing holding us back in every single way has, time and again, come back to the damned reactors and having to wait long enough for their output to catch up with everything else. I can’t say it truly has, but the advances in energy output and storage density amounts are far more favorable than they used to be. Knowing this, two years ago Commander Ultor tasked R&D with designing a new reactor, one that took advantage of the advances in power over the last decade and a half. What started out as a simple upgrade turned into a full re-design. Normally, designs like this are open sourced in the rebel community, but there was too much risk of the PDF catching wind and using the new reactors themselves. Their vastly underpowered reactors are pretty damned near the only reason we kick their asses on any kind of a regular basis, and it was deemed an advantage we had to maintain at all costs.

  He continued, “What a lot of people don’t know is that, sure the StormCrows as a faction have lost a lot of their fighting strength, but our support personnel are second to none. We used to be the strongest faction by far on this hemisphere. Just because we lost of a lot of Mech armor and pilots didn’t mean a thing as far as our R&D division was concerned. As a matter of fact, it has continued to grow through the years, a resource that Commander Ultor has always dedicated his attention to developing. We have more scientists and engineers than any other faction in our hemisphere, and for the last two years their main concern has been that reactor design.”

  The cart slowed to a stop at a guard shack outside of the R&D hangar. On a console in the center of the cart, the nav computer showed another two miles of travel deeper inside the mountain before they reached their destination. Once clear of the guard shack, the cart sped up now that there was no other competing traffic in the tunnel. Thorsten continued his tale. “There’s a small problem though, the new reactors don’t link up with the Furies and Justices. An upgrade of 5x total energy output while cutting the energy density by an extra two hundred percent meant certain compromises, such as physically larger reactors. We can’t modify them to fit either, it would take a complete re-design to make them work and that’s time better spent elsewhere. All of that, and the fact that the Furies and Justices are already severely outdated, meant that what was needed now were specs for a new mass-producible Mech armor, one combining the best traits of its forefathers and able to incorporate the new reactor design.”

  Kiryl listened raptly, allowing Chief Thorsten to continue uninterrupted, “Well, it just so happens that new schematics have just been approved and released by Soteria. As you well know, in the open source world, someone starts a process and then farms it out, allowing whoever wants to modify the schematics the opportunity in the hopes of applying their own specialties, in the end allowing for continuous improvement. There are two ways then that a schematic is used: the anarchical system of sheer popularity and the more controlled method of having a board whose role is to solicit and guide the development process. The latter option is the one we went with, and Soteria takes care of that with a major caveat. Once they release a finalized schematic, there are hundreds of small variations to accommodate for the fact that not every faction has the same level of production capabilities.”

  They rounded a bend with a whoosh of air rushing past their faces, creating a natural pause in the conversation; one Kiryl took advantage of to interject. “Wait Soteria? What’s that?”

  Chief Thorsten blushed a bit as he realized his grave error, for him to avoid answering would only make Kiryl curious, a dangerous turn of events that would only make him dedicated to finding the answer. Left with only one choice, he provided just enough information to satisfy his curiosity, hopefully putting the matter to rest. “Mainly there are just rumors; no one returns from Soteria, it’s a one way ticket. When someone does go, they are allowed access to outside communication but everything is heavily filtered. In order to prove that they are ok, when someone from Soteria sends out a communique they always reference something that just happened in the news in the last few days in order to timestamp what they say. Needless to say, only the most dedicated rebels go, and it’s an invitation only kind of deal.”

  After considering what he said, Kiryl decided to press a bit further. “So you don’t know where it is then? What is it, like a hideout?”

  Chief Thorsten shook his head no for an answer. “Like I said, all we have are rumors, but like all folk tales the story grows bigger and better with each retelling. When you filter enough of the tales, Soteria is a city deep underneath the surface, one of the original mines that rebelled and formed their own society away from Mars Industries. Soteria is supposed to be this enormous underground city, one that is still growing as they mine new areas, completely isolated but self-sustainable. Ironically, rumors actually suggest only Mars Industries knows where Soteria is, but they have stricken all record of the location because they have attacked it so many times, taking incredibly one sided casualties each time. The city defenders are supposedly masters at collapsing the tunnels around any invading force, and the PDF still have no counter for that tactic. Whoever is in charge of the city mostly recruits science and academic types, serving as behind the scene organizers of the rebellion, if we have anyone like that. Rumors also suggest that they have been forming their own army, only inviting proven warriors and those completely dedicated to the cause. I know that Captain Cartwright turned down their invitation, he believes in Commander Ultor as much as the rest of us.”

  Kiryl was shaking his head in disbelief. “Wait, you guys are ok with doing all the fighting, and dying, and if you just so happen to topple the Mars Industries government you’ll simply turn around and hand it all over to these Soteria people? That seems.…”

  Chief Thorsten did not take the criticism personally; it was a common argument. “I once heard Mikkhael say that, “Victory brings its own terrors.” We are fighters, mechanics, medics, and not politicians, and certainly not fit to run a world government. We aren’t fighting this revolution to replace one tyrant with another, or the more likely option, anarchy. We would be doing those we fight for a great disservice by doing so, and all those who perished in the process would then have done so without purpose or meaning. Mars has a population of nearly eight hundred million people now, most of which exist in the major population domes under the control of Mars Industries. They have their clear and deep flaws, but Mars Industries is an efficient and capable government entity in the domes. Corruption and cronyism are two of the most heinous crimes someone can commit in their eyes. Life for many in the domes isn’t just stable, it’s as good as
it gets for how overcrowded they are. If we win, there has to be a stable and effective government implemented immediately, or else, and Soteria is the best chance we have of accomplishing that.”

  “Makes sense I guess, but still doesn’t sit right with me.” Kiryl grumbled as he sat there, considering all the implications of the revelations about Soteria.

  The cart slowed down as it approached the R&D hangar, presenting Thorsten with the opportunity to get the last word in. “As Winston Churchill is often quoted as saying, democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time… Well Soteria isn’t a democracy, but it’s not tyranny either. If anything, they are supposed to act as technocrats, similar to the ancient custom where people were governed by councils of old men in the belief that their experience would help their people avoid common mistakes. One of the main weaknesses of those old councils was the lack of diversity and the ability for any one man to gain an outsized influence over the rest of the council. Soteria incorporates leaders from hundreds of factions and other sources, so diversity will never be a problem. That, and the UN down on Earth, show the danger of only acting when a unanimous vote is achieved. Each member in Soteria gets a vote, but a measure doesn’t have to be unanimous to pass. There needs to be a wide majority. No one’s sure what it is, but supposedly it’s 77%. On top of that, Soteria’s role isn’t to pass laws or choose sides. They are simply to keep the peace, providing us with a functional, transitional government.”

  The cart stopped in a designated spot outside of an automated translucent glass panel several feet thick stretching from one side of the tunnel to the other, blocking them from going further down the tunnel. Signs on the outside of the glass wall warned that it was shatter and bulletproof and to stop accordingly. Dozens of cameras watched their every move. Guard outposts were cut into the rock on both sides of the tunnel on the opposite side of the glass. Armed sentries in fully powered infantry combat suits activated a second glass barrier a little farther down the tunnel before opening the first barrier, coming out to inspect their cart while other infantry stood ready behind blast walls should anything happen. The level of security impressed even Kiryl.