In his position in the second rank of his unit, he had now almost reached his boredom threshold. Wictred and Hunn were nearby, but anytime his eyes shifted, he could see the figure of Sergeant Stone watching him. The veteran marine wore his sling and bandages like badges of honor and ignored them as he moved back and forth in front of the entire company of marines. Jack turned his attention back to the ship and tried to remain positive.
Nice ship, he thought. It was the best he could manage.
The acrid smell of the paint seemed to burn through his skull and, he was starting to feel dazed from a mixture of the heat, boredom, and the waiting. Finally, the sound of boots announced the entry of somebody. He couldn’t quite see from where he stood, but at least it was a change from the monotony of trying to avoid the gaze of Sergeant Stone. Thai Qiu-Li stood in front of him, and for a second his attention lingered on her more than he intended. The oriental lady had trained alongside him, but so far he’d not actually seen her in combat.
“Marines!” boomed a loud voice through the ship.
Jack instantly recognized the sound as the voice of Lieutenant Colonel Diego Koerner. The man was only in his forties, and rumor had it he had fought against the rebels as a young officer in the Great Uprising. It was no great shock, of course. Many had fought on both sides, and some didn’t even realize they were fighting for the Echidna Union, and those that sought to manipulate them. Many records had been lost from that event, and Jack had no doubt such a topic would be best kept to himself.
“This unit has been blooded over the last three months, with detachments involved in everything from anti-pirate operations to the successful capture of hijacked vessels.”
He walked along the line of marines with his hand firmly behind his back. He kept moving until reaching the middle and then stopped. Jack now had a perfect view of the man.
I wonder if some twenty-two years or so ago he saw my father.
There was a chance the two could have met in the middle of the bloodbath on Terra Nova or one of another dozen worlds. The man looked tough, though hardly different to any marine of his age.
“In the last twenty hours, this Strike Group has been on the move. Some of you may have guessed, but I will confirm it right now. In less than seven hours, this fleet will move through the T’Karan-Helios Rift and into Helion space. We are joining a fleet that will include representatives from all six powers. The fleet will take part in a joint exercise to determine if the Alliance military is ready to assist in keeping the borders secure.”
There was no sound from the marines, as was to be expected. He looked out at them and nodded slowly.
“I cannot overestimate how important this operation will be. They will be watching us for efficiency, discipline, and tactics. We will be watching them for their capabilities under stress conditions.”
There was still no sound to be heard throughout the ship.
“Our unit is part of the first Heavy Strike Group to ever be posted outside of Alliance territory. Your platoon commanders will explain the details, but rest assured, you will be pushed and tested to the limits of your endurance. Do us proud!”
The commander turned and walked out of the hall, leaving his junior officers and NCOs to continue. With a curt signal from their unit captains, the marines were finally able to stand at ease. Jack watched as the commander of his own platoon, Lieutenant Kathra Rossen stepped in front of the unit. She was one of the new generation of young officers, ones with little experience and a lot to prove. At least, that was what Jack had heard the others saying in the mess. She was a willowy woman of average height, with short blonde hair and sky blue eyes. Her pleasant looks were completely eliminated by her permanently dour expression, as if she had just swallowed a bug and was trying to swallow it. The other officers started speaking to their marines, but Lieutenant Rossen’s voice quickly drowned them out.
“Our platoon has been selected for its recent successes to join the T’Kari in providing a guard of honor for the Helion ambassador who will be observing our part in the training. Each of the squads will operate in rotation to provide twenty-four hour coverage.”
Jack noticed Wictred and Hunn speaking to each other excitedly. He wanted to say something, but for some reason those two always seemed to be able to get away with things he never could. He had first suspected it was because they were Jötnar, but now he was beginning to think it was something to do with him. She coughed to clear her voice, and the two quickly stopped.
“In seven hours we will be through the Rift and on our way to join the fleet assembled in orbit around Helios’ third moon. We will rendezvous with the Helion ambassador in orbit over Helion itself in fifteen hours. I want every one of you ready and waiting on the main deck in exactly fourteen hours. In the meantime, you will conduct additional security drills with me.”
Security drills? Haven’t we done enough of those already?
The Lieutenant looked right at him as if she had read his thoughts. As her pale blue eyes burned into his skull, he truly started to wonder if it was actually possible.
“First drill is a simple escort run. Grab your gear and get back here in twenty minutes for the briefing.”
The unit saluted and left as quickly as they had arrived. Jack moved to follow them but was grabbed by the Lieutenant and held back. She waited until the platoon had left before speaking.
“Private Morato. I’ve read the mission debrief on the freighter. You took risks, big risks, and it could have gone badly wrong. As it is, you opened fire on civilians.”
“To save the…” he started, but she lifted her hand to stop him.
“It doesn’t matter. You are a wildcard, and I’m this far away from putting you on latrine duty.”
Jack shook his head, not knowing what to say.
“I know your parents are some kind of hotshots, but that means nothing to me out here, Private. Your father is, well, he’s been gone a long time, and your mother, she has her own worries right now.”
She leaned in close to him, so close he could smell her almost non-existent perfume. For the briefest of moments, he nearly leaned in and kissed her. He had no idea why. It was almost a natural reaction for him. Luckily, he managed to stop himself at the last moment and kept still.
“This post is a major one, for you, and for me. I don’t want any heroics or going off book. Do you understand?”
Jack nodded but once more kept his mouth shut.
“Good. If it were up to me, I wouldn’t risk the unit having you in it. Luckily for you, there are those higher up that think having a Morato in the unit will bring us good favor. Do not prove them wrong.”
With that, she left him wondering once more who was his real enemy. His father had spoken to him occasionally about scenarios like this happening to him on one of his few visits when not on duty. As he thought about Spartan, he finally realized there was so much he didn’t know about him. Half the marine officers he ran into had more experience of the man than he did.
Wherever you are, you had better have a dammed good excuse for Mother when you get back!
It was really just humor to occupy him, but deep down he knew his mother would be worrying about him every day. They had seen so much trouble in the last few years, and with the collapse of their own company, it couldn’t be easy for them. He sighed and walked for the passageway that led back to his quarters, and that was when he spotted Hunn, Wictred, and Thai Qiu-Li waiting for him.
“Well?” asked Hunn impatiently.
Jack put his arms around the waist of Thai Qiu-Li and partially around Wictred who was the nearest of the two Jötnar.
“We, my friends, are going to show our leaders why we are the best!”
Hunn and Wictred looked at each other with knowing looks while Thai Qiu-Li burst out laughing. Jack released her, and she took a step back before speaking.
“Try not to shoot any friendlies this time, okay?”
“Yeah,” Wictred added in a more serious tone, “do that, and
you’ll start another war.”
“Hey!” responded Jack with feigned indignation, “I didn’t start the last one, you know. Hell, I wasn’t even alive when it all kicked off.”
* * *
The journey through the sweeping metropolis seemed to take forever. They had started at a high level, and very soon the land train had dropped over fifty stories to the darker sections of the city. Teresa watched the buildings flash by as the long, narrow train sped through one city block after another. There were vehicles and people at every level, and few showed any interest whatsoever in the movement of the train. The massive civic buildings including the vast chamber they had first met in were long gone, replaced by the equally impressive looking towers and spires.
“What the hell is that?” she asked, spotting an odd shape to their right.
Gun leaned over from his position on the other side of the car and looked through the curved glass. A number of multi-leveled platforms stretched out with dozens of small craft in stages of loading or unloading. The object that caught her eye was a large black vessel that looked unlike anything else there. The central section reminded her of an insect with three large sections joined together. Engine pods hung down low on its flanks, and ultrafine wings lay angled downward and touching the ground. The wings were easily wider than the craft was long, and the material looked like a thin green plastic membrane, almost completely transparent.
“It looks like a dragonfly or something?”
“The ship?” asked Ayndir through her translator. She had decided to come along with the group on their visit.
Teresa nodded, “Yes, the black one.”
“Ah, yes, it is a Byotai merchant ship. All their vessels are black and modeled to look just like the living creatures of their worlds.”
All three of them watched with interest as they continued on past the landing platforms and even deeper into the great city. The atmosphere changed considerably as they carried on, and Teresa became more agitated.
“Uh, is this really the route to the Helion Military Academy?”
Ayndir nodded.
“Yes, the military facilities are deep underground for security reasons. This is the…uh, the scenic route I think you would call it.”
Ayndir stood up and walked to the bulbous observation window to the left of the craft. No sounds entered the land train, yet Teresa felt a chill as they moved deeper into the darker parts of the city.
“You will see the damage from the war on these levels,” said Ayndir, pointing at the sides of multiple buildings. At first there were just odd stains and marks, nothing really of note. Then they passed a half destroyed tower surrounded by a wide-open space.
“What is that?” asked Gun.
“This was one of the last buildings to be destroyed in the war. The machines had been defeated, but as they withdrew, they sent a last surprise for us; a reprisal that cost the lives of nearly half a million citizens.”
Gun seemed to perk up at this news and turned from the glass to look at her.
“War? Which one?”
Ayndir nodded at his question, realizing that for them the last war had been the Uprising. For the T’Kari, they had been at war for hundreds of years. Even so, this particular conflict made the others pale to insignificance.
“This was the end of the Desperation War, as some of us have come to call it. It marked the defeat of the machines and their exile to their homeworlds. The seal of the Black Rift is the official end of the war.”
She turned back to the glass and pointed at a massive black streak that ran down the side of the structure and then expanded before reaching a pile of debris the size of a starship.
“From the atmosphere came thousands of burrowing charges. We’d come across these earlier in the war, but usually most were shot down.”
She paused and took a breath.
“With the Enemy beaten, they caught us by surprise and managed to strike the surface with over three hundred charges. Each tore down buildings and killed indiscriminately.”
“That was it?” asked Gun in surprise.
“Gun!” replied Teresa, embarrassed at his words.
“Well, after hundreds of years, that was it? A final bombardment, and then they left?”
Ayndir sighed.
“The Commander is of course correct. The burrowing charges were much more than just bombs.”
Teresa twisted her head slightly.
“Traps?”
“Much worse, have you heard of nano-machines?”
Teresa shook her head. Gun said nothing but was clearly intrigued to hear about a new weapon.
“The nano-machines were outlawed long ago through our worlds. Not even the technologically advanced Klithi would use them. They are miniature machines, so small they cannot be easily seen with the eye.”
That part seemed to trigger a memory of something she had heard Spartan talking about months ago. Perhaps it had been years ago.
“Nano-machines, like nanobots?”
“Perhaps. These miniature machines work in swarms and were able to reduce buildings and destroy machines with ease. It took thirty-one years to fully eradicate them.”
The land train dimmed for a moment before the interior lighting compensated for the lack of daylight. The effect was as though nighttime had just arrived on Helios, though it was still late morning. From the windows, she could see dull streaks of light from powerful lamps that tried to illuminate those parts now obscured from the sun.
“This part of the surface used to be the richest in people and buildings. Most is now rubble and reused for the foundations of new buildings. We are nearly there.”
The view vanished completely and was replaced by total blackness. Even though the land train was fully sealed and pressurized, Teresa could feel the change as they plowed through the tunnel complex deep underground. The journey took only a few more minutes, and the land train rolled to a gentle stop. The door hissed open and cool air washed inside. Teresa moved from her seat, pulled on her uniform to ensure it wasn’t creased, and then stepped out of the land train and onto firm ground for the first time in over an hour. Beside her was Gun plus their two marines guards, both of whom wore smart black dress uniforms. They looked unarmed, though she knew only too well that both wore tactical armor underneath their clothing and were armed with submachine guns. In front of them stood a Helion civilian in bright clothing. Teresa assumed the figure was female from her slender shape, but it wasn’t easy on this planet.
“Major Morato, I have been expecting you.”
Teresa looked to Gun who looked equally surprised to hear his voice.
“Thank you, you must be Praetor Darius?”
He nodded and beckoned for her to follow him away from the land train. Ayndir stood on the platform next to the land train. Teresa noticed she wasn’t following and stopped to look back.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” replied the leader of the T’Kari.
“You’re not coming with us?”
Ayndir shook her head and took a step back to the land train.
“No, we are already represented in terms of military forces.”
Teresa looked confused, and her surprise was compounded when Gun explained for her.
“Didn’t you hear? Anderson said the T’Kari ships are now operating under Alliance command.”
Ayndir was by now stepping back onto the train, and Teresa was beginning to feel a little lost. The T’Kari looked at her with an expressionless face.
“My people are no longer powerful enough on our own. We will still guard our borders, but our warships will fly the Alliance flag.”
The door slid shut, and the land train pulled away slowly. It quickly built up speed and then vanished into the night. Teresa shook her head slowly, turning back to Gun. She hadn’t noticed them at first, but that was when saw the shape of General Rivers, now Chairman of the Joint Chiefs and by law, the highest-ranking military officer in the Alliance military. He was busy
speaking with several other Alliance officials but recognized Gun as the giant ducked to enter the building.
“Commander, Major,” he announced, instantly ending his current conversation.
“General,” They both replied in unison, much to the amusement of the others there.
The entry point for the Helion Academy was far from salubrious. Teresa looked about the place and noted how dampness seemed to pervade every part of it. She noticed stains on the walls and cracks near the frames of the large metal doors.
“Uh, this is it?” asked Gun, without thinking for a moment of sparing the Helion’s feelings.
General Rivers smiled awkwardly.
“Quite.”
With both hands, he beckoned for them to move closer so that he might speak more discreetly to them.
“This is just one of the escape shafts, or so they say. The main site is much deeper underground. Now, they have requested a demonstration of our techniques in combat. So far the Helions have been positive, but the others are treating us with, well, disdain is probably the correct word.”
“They think we’re primitives?” asked Gun angrily.
Rivers shook his head and started to walk back inside but making sure they followed him. The modest entrance opened out into a large L shaped room with ultra smooth walls. Four Helion officers stood in a line blocking their path.
“The politicians are doing their bit, but trust me, they need us a lot more than we need them. Rumors are spreading about these Biomechs, and it seems they are expecting something bad, and soon.”
Gun moved closer to the four soldiers and reached out to touch one. The warrior to the immediate right tried to block his hand with his feeble right arm. Gun barely noticed the interruption before he was making contact with the man’s shoulder. Gun looked back while keeping his hand on the Helion.
“These are the soldiers that beat the machines in battle?” he laughed with such violence that he caught the attention of every soul in the room.
“Apparently. Perhaps we’ll learn more inside?”
General Rivers moved off quickly, possibly embarrassed by the comments of Gun, or more likely that he wanted to see quite what these disparate aliens had to offer. As they moved through the end door, the room opened up in a vast underground complex. He’d expected tunnels and rooms, but the interior was almost like the surface of Helios. Great towers rose from the ground, and buildings could be seen as far as his eyes would let him.
Star Crusades Nexus: Book 03 - Heroes of Helios Page 7