by Will Crudge
She adjusted her optics, and then activated her helmet. Within a second, her facial energy shield snapped off, and was replaced by her advanced ballistic helmet that assembled itself around her head and neck in a flash. Once she adjusted her HUD to the visor view, she looked to see the four Soldiers running forward in a zig-zag pattern and firing well-controlled bursts.
“Break, right… pulling a frag!” The audible voice burst through her helmet’s audio system, but she couldn’t pinpoint the voice.
Her HUD display gave a green flash on her shield icon, and she knew it was ready to pounce from cover. She dove into another combat roll, and she engaged her shield. The view of two dozen armored Crimson troops made her gasp in her mind. The dark red armor that the enemies wore were far from standard issue. Kara wasn’t an infantry expert, but she knew that these troops were special ops.
Special ops troops didn’t seem to even phase the UAHC Soldiers, as they charged right in like human tanks. The matte silver UAHC armored suits smashed right into the enemy skirmish line, and red armored bodies were sent reeling in every direction.
Kara took advantage of the melee and flanked the Crimson troops in a one-woman charge. She swung her left arm in a backhanded swing which caused the energy shield’s repulsive field to knock two enemies to the deck. She took two shots with her pulse pistol, and each pulse burst impacted on the fallen soldier’s helmets.
A few shots of plasma deflected off her shield, and she shifted her direction towards the source. Two more Crimson troops were kneeling and taking shots at her as she charged straight at them. The pair of spec ops soldiers were too fast, and they rolled out to either side. Kara had factored in the impact force to slow her down, so she was now scampering to slide to a halt.
Everything was now in slow motion. She realized that the troops had planted their feet and were tracking her with their plasma rifles. Plasma bolts lost a lot of heat and energy at range, but in close quarters it was devastating… But it wasn’t her time to find that out first hand.
One soldier was completely cut in half from his head down to his groin. The other was missing a significant portion of his throat. Jimma and Sasha were on either side of her.
Jimma slashed at three more troops, while blood and hydraulic fluid sprayed in all directions. Sasha tackled a Crimson soldier who was trying to line up a shot on Jimma. Kara saw half dozen suits of red armor trying to move in on the big cat from her blind side, and she rushed in to cover Sasha with her shield.
Plasma and electron beams flared the pink shield to a brilliant white, and then it collapsed a rippling burst of energy. OH SHIT!
But by the time she opened her eyes again, the troops were taken from behind by the UAHC Soldiers. The sounds of weapons fire couldn’t fully drown out the screams of the men garbed in red steel. Crunching metal and cracking bones penetrated the noise polluted space, and then the crumpled heaps were dropped like discarded trash.
David was jumped on by two troops on either side, and his rifle was stripped from his grasp. A third Soldier came up behind him with, what Kara recognized as, a gravity hammer. She unleashed a controlled barrage from her pistol, but all she could do was knock the man back. Overheated, her pulse pistol was nothing but dead weight, so she hurled it through the air at the man’s head. A loud cracking noise rang out, and the soldier’s visor was smashed. While he desperately tried to unseat his helmet, she rushed in grabbed the hammer from the deck… The man’s head was driven down into his ribcage… helmet and all.
Kara just stood there and stared at the two-handed weapon in awe. It used tech that was derived from inertial dampening systems, and when fully charged, could multiply the hammer’s normal inertial impact energy by tenfold.
Snapping back to the present, she could hear chatter on the Soldier’s net, and it reminded her that David was left with two enemies at close quarters. She wheeled around to where he once stood, and just saw two twisted corpses with red armor. She almost smiled to herself.
“Mechs! Heavy Mechs!” Jefe shouted on the net. The bulkhead was being torn open by two large humanoid robots with articulating claws in place of hands. They stood almost four meters tall and were clad in heavy plated armor.
“Fall back!” David shouted through the net. But before Kara could respond two large particle beams lanced towards the mechs. Within a flash the mechs were molten heaps of glowing metal, and the one closest to Kara fell forward onto the deck. Crimson bodies were dropping like flies, and several more were being knocked into the remains of the bulkhead. Kara turned to see the Skull-Crusher fly into the dock and hover a meter above the deck. The wing-like weapons bays were fully splayed, and the twin plasma Gatling guns were providing suppressive fire.
“Everyone fall back! Sasha and I will kill anything that comes through that wall!” Jimma shouted.
There was no hesitation. Kara and the four blood-soaked Soldiers sprinted for the UAHC sloop at full speed. Power assisted armor accelerated Kara to well over forty kilometers per hour, but she was still sadly out-paced by the four human tanks that pulled ahead. Damn, they’re fast!
They jumped up onto the gangway and funneled into the port-side hatch. Kara didn’t have time for a tour, but she didn’t need one. The deck layout of the ship was close enough to a standard Unum cutter, that she quickly made her way to the CIC without having to pause and ask for a cue from her new shipmates.
“I’ll get Steve’s node installed. Get on the starboard-side turret!” David hollered at Kara. It wasn’t a scolding tone, but one of military authority and confidence. Allied rank recognition would have to take a back seat for now… This wasn’t her ship. She just wanted to do whatever she could to make her own ship safe… and her shipmates.
She powered up the gun-sight display, and a sharp view of the dock became visible. Her neural net interfaced with the controls, and she was now one with the cannon… a cannon of which type, she had no clue. But she did know that it was armed.
She saw her LRF open the single port-side hatch in anticipation for Jimma and Sasha’s extraction. Both Jimma and Sasha were like statues, as they stood amongst the ruined piles of bleeding metal. Their eyes remained locked on the huge gash that was once a bulkhead. C’mon! Get on board!
“Kara!” It was Steve. Kara realized the AI must be in control of the ship.
“Let’s get off the ground, buddy! The sooner we leave, the sooner those two crazy ladies will decide to stop playing hero!”
“Working it now. I’m going to have to pull it off on backup power. Main reactors are still warming. Our shielding will be limited to ward off space debris, but we’ll be vulnerable to heavy weapons.” Steve rattled the words off.
“Shouldn’t you be telling David this?” Kara asked.
“He was the first to know. Just keeping you in the loop… Hey! I just found something on the manifest!”
Kara didn’t understand why that was important but paused to let him speak. Then Steve broke his momentary pause. “Gen-2 QET! It’s slated to replace the old one aboard the Hailstorm.”
“Relevance?” Kara asked.
“The new specs allow AI coms!” Steve seemed excited.
Kara considered what he was saying, and she knew the game was about to change. Quantum Entanglement Transmitters currently in use couldn’t transmit AI communications. The complex system didn’t have the bandwidth for the complex AI coding, and even while deeply compressed, there was too much data packet loss for the signal to be decompressed on the receiving end. The AI limitation was a saving grace while the UAHC AI’s were infested with the Chimeras, but also hindered the ability to apply the countermeasures as well.
“What do you suggest, Steve?” Master Sergeant David chimed in on the net.
“
The QET aboard the Hailstorm should be able to receive my transmissions, but only a human can respond. If we can get this new one online here, then I may be able to bounce the Paladin Protocol through a human neural net, and directly into the CIC AI node. It’s a long shot, but if we manage to get through the gate to Tangine, then we may be a small metal spec of metal staring down an AI hijacked battle cruiser,” Steve said.
“None of us are rated to install it,” David replied.
“Kara can.” Steve insisted.
I can? Kara asked herself. “I’m not sure if—”
Steve cut her off. “Yes, you can. You installed the after-market neural interface flight controls that allow you to fly the Skull-Crusher. It uses the same basic cables. Transmitting install procedures to your interface, but you’ll need help. Your suit can lift it, but it’s physically too cumbersome to move it to the proper power ports without damaging it.”
“Jefe, you’re up!” David spouted over the net. Kara saw the data pour in, and instantly recognized the schematics. Steve was correct. She could get it working. She wasted no time, logged off the turret controls, and sprinted down to the main hold.
Jefe was already there and was scanning the crates for the QET container. Within a few seconds he found it, and Kara positioned herself to take it down from the storage rack. The crate was huge, but the two suits of powered armor guided it off of the rack with ease.
“Where to, Jefe?” Kara asked.
“Back through the bulkhead door. I’ll guide you from the other side.”
***
Kara could see the prow of the Foehammer leave her peripheral vision. It was backing out of the dock, and the sound of energy shield ripples came from behind. She knew the stern was making contact with the magnetic energy field that held the atmosphere in the dock. Good! she thought. Now she could focus on what would inevitably coming through the torn bulkhead she held in her field of vision.
The sabot round caught her by surprise. Pain nearly crippled her, and the super-heated projectile was lodged in her left shoulder. She collapsed to her knees and cried out in pain. She heard Sasha squeal and growl. The big cat could feel her pain as well.
“My starboard landing gear is severed! I’m going to have to pull out of the dock!” Skull announced on the net. She turned to look to her rear, and then had to take a deep breath. Her vision struggled to regain focus, but she could see the LRF-90 tilted to one side. The starboard weapons cradle was now bearing the weight of the listing hull. The LRF Lifted off the ground with steering thrusters, then it began to back out of the dock.
The sound of a single pair of powered armor boots impacting the deck caught her attention, but she had to focus on her own self-preservation. Jimma reached up and wrenched the shaft of the sabot round with her bare hand. She screamed in agony as she pulled the half meter long dart-shaped object from her shoulder, and then flung it to the deck in a single motion. She spat out a mouthful of blood and forced herself to her feet.
The sight of the Lance Corporal heaving the severed landing gear gave her some comfort. She was still wracked with pain, and blood poured out of her upper body. She felt the warm streams of fluid flowing down her abdomen and her back.
Forward defensive turrets on the sloop erupted all at once. A new wave of Crimson spec ops troops tried coming through the ruined bulkhead. Tried.
Jimma could barely stand. A stray plasma bolt missed her head by centimeters, but she barely cared. She was fading fast. Then she felt the warm fur of Sasha’s head intercept her right hand, and ripples of comfort flowed through her hand and up her arm. She closed her eyes for a moment, and she could feel her strength returning. Direct contact with the War Master Mount triggered a rapid healing process that was the secret to her strength.
She opened her eyes with a new sense of vigor. The bleeding was halted, and she was able to push back the pain. With a brief smile, Jimma glanced down at the motherly eyes of the big cat.
“We need to move!” Sasha sounded off. Her sultry feline voice reverberated through the voice module and snapped Jimma back to reality. Ignoring the screams of pain behind her, she and Sasha were now on the move.
***
“I can’t believe what I’m seeing!” David muttered under his breath. He watched the visual feeds come through to his console in the CIC. The LRF was now completely clear of the dock and hovering with its port-side ladder assembly dangling within ten or so meters from the energy shield that delineated the atmosphere from the vacuum of space. The sight of the Lance Corporal leaping from the deck and into the void wasn’t a shock to his senses. UAHC powered armor could easily protect a human from the harsh conditions of open space with ease.
It was the sight of an unprotected human being, and a large predatory cat that astonished him. The armored soldier landed softly onto the ladder assembly, and then he gracefully dove into the open hatch. The soft ripple of an energy shield protecting the small circular hatch was an indicator that the fighter’s atmosphere was likely intact.
It was the image of the War Master and her mount that sent chills up the battle-hardened soldier’s spine. He watched as Jimma leapt from the dock, through the protective shielding, and floated gracefully to the exposed ladder assembly. Sasha followed suit. Holy shit! David thought.
Fun with Legalities
Location: UAHC Mine-Layer Sloop Foehammer, CIC
Date Time: Post Interstellar 08/01/4201
System: Vulcan System, Outer Region
“Pointing the bow towards the taxi-way towards Tangine, Master Sergeant!” Steve reported. But David was caught off guard. He was still trying to reconcile his sense of reality with what he’d just seen. Not only did Jimma stop an armored piercing sabot round with her shoulder… and lived, but she jumped into open space as if it was nothing.
“Copy that, Steve,” David said. “Call me David, by the way.”
“David it is then,” Steve replied.
“How’s that QET coming along, Corporal?” David switched gears.
“Major Elders has it all hooked up to power and data lines. She’s going through the initialization now. Three minutes until its up,” Jefe said.
“Very well,” David replied. He then switched his attention to the main visual display in the CIC. The sloop was in primary traffic lanes that skirted the equatorial portion of Clarendon Station. They had to guide around until they would have line of sight of the hyper gate that lead to Tangine.
David smiled. He knew that STC had no clue that their reactor wasn’t online yet. Which meant that they didn’t bother to do a standard energy scan… which meant that the STC wasn’t in control.
There was barely a pause.
He didn’t have time to respond… Audible alarms went off all over the CIC. Red flashed on his command console, and the indicator of weapons lock was the cause.
“What the…” Then his eyes got wide, and he could see the outer panels of a mega-freighter begin to sheer off.
“Action stations!” David announced. His tone was calmer than what was warranted in this situation, but he knew he had to steady himself. The freighter’s panels were all false but t
he Crimson Destroyer they concealed was real.
David stared at the bow of the Crimson ship with astonishment. Had he not been such an elite warrior, he would have probably wet himself by now. Then it got worse.
Two more freighters flew in to flank the Crimson destroyer, and the façade of storage containers flew away in all directions. The three destroyers that blocked their path were all the same hull type. Each one was at least four times tonnage of the Foehammer, and all had the same menacing shape. The fuselages were anything but smooth, but rather lined with lateral ribs of metal. The dark blend of earthy red markings were the standard colorizations of Crimson warships.
“Steve?” Was all David could ask.
“We’re lucky we can maintain minimum shielding while on backup power. Still two minutes before we’re on full power. Defensive turrets are all we have!” The AI replied. Well, isn’t this wonderful?
“Incoming!” Kelley shouted. David barely realized she was even in the CIC.
“Relax fellas,” Skull chimed in. “That’s just little ol’ me!”
“SK’s?... What the fu…” Kelley spouted with a tone of shock. “How the hell?”
“No, worries… My ship is built to kill big ships,” Kara said over the net.
Both Kelley and David could see the impacts on their displays. Two massive projectiles streaked underneath the keel of the sloop, and then honed into the destroyer that loomed within two thousand meters off of their bow. A fraction of a second before impact, there was a flash of energy that burst from the projectiles. The burst of energy was a forward focus electromagnetic pulse designed to weaken to disable energy shield generators. The destroyer’s shields were flared to maximum capacity when the first warhead struck, but it collapsed in a burst of electricity which allowed the second impact to hit its mark.