The twin blasts blew up the top of the mound, sending one of their assailants flying through the air. The humanoid figure, its long braided black hair trailing behind it, landed on the jagged rubble of the arena with a sickening crunch. The other, a similar humanoid with a long tail of dark hair, threw itself sideways down the bank of debris just in the nick of time, rolling to the ground and dropping out of sight behind a cracked metal barrel.
Captain Mitchell raised his carbine and sent a steady stream of projectiles after the survivor, most of which bounced harmlessly off the barrel, but at least a few seemed to bore their way through. Marcus and Taylor followed his lead, snapping off shots at the drum as well.
Suddenly the figure behind the barrel threw a small glimmering ball into the air, which hovered momentarily before bursting into a brilliant flash of light, forcing the clones to shield their eyes. When the afterimages faded, they caught glimpse of a shadowy figure disappearing behind the remains of a stone staircase at the far end of the clearing.
“Reid,” Mitchell yelled. “Any sign of that third contact?”
The sniper peered every which way, trying to pick up the trail of the missing target.
“Negative,” he hollered back.
“Everyone stay down!” the captain ordered.
Taylor had a hard time remaining still. He kept looking at Jago, lying prone out in the open. If there was still time to save him, it was slipping away fast. Finally he couldn’t take it any longer and lunged out, diving to his squadmate’s aid.
Almost immediately, a stream of silvery needles pierced the air, some of them hitting Jago’s broad back, barely missing a startled Taylor, who quickly hurled himself back into cover.
“What the hell was that?” he shouted when he was safe behind the broken pillar.
“Our missing target,” Reid whispered, his voice barely audible over the comms, taking aim on a piece of hull plating sticking up from a nearby mound of broken rubble.
Marcus huddled close to Serena, keeping her safe from harm. She trembled as she pressed her body closer to his. He could feel her gentle breath on his neck. He was closer to her now than he’d ever been before. He wanted to say something, anything, but he knew this was neither the time nor the place. Not that he knew what he wanted to say anyway. His heart was racing. He didn’t know whether it was on account of the battle or because of her. His right hand gripping his carbine firmly, he wrapped his left around her narrow shoulders, pulling her head into his armored shoulder.
“Everything’s going to be ok,” he whispered.
Taylor, lying on his back in the shelter of his pillar, picked up one of the needles that had missed its mark, inspecting it. The tip was coated in a clear, viscous liquid.
“Poison,” he hissed, shaking his head.
Another stream of needles flew through the air, striking all around the pillar with a patter like rain. Taylor fumbled with the needle, dropping it to the ground as he scrambled to make sure all of his limbs were well covered.
This time, Reid was prepared. As soon as the assailant had popped his head out of cover and began shooting, he squeezed the trigger. The heavy slug sung as it soared a good hundred meters through the air, tearing the target’s head clean off its body. The rest of the corpse slumped into the open, spasming violently in its death throes.
“Got him,” Reid announced calmly.
“Is it over?” Serena whispered, not wanting to speak to loudly for fear of drawing attention to herself.
“Not yet,” Marcus whispered back. “There’s one left, but he’s injured.”
“Watch and shoot, everyone, watch and shoot!” Mitchell ordered, telling the squad to stay in cover and wait for their last assailant to show himself.
Marcus almost didn’t want it to end. There was no telling when he’d get another chance to be this close to her.
Taylor reached out of cover, crawling the few meters through the dirt to where Jago lay on his back, perfectly still. Keeping the behemoth’s armored bulk between him and the stone steps where their last assailant had disappeared only a moment before. Working as quickly as he could, he loosened the strap that held the huge laser cannon firmly on Jago’s back, hoping the weapon hadn’t been damaged in the explosion. As soon as it was free, the medic dragged it behind him as he scurried back into cover.
“How the hell does this thing work?” he muttered to himself breathing rapidly, adrenalin coursing through his body.
He held the bulky piece of hard-edged alien weaponry upright between his legs, his back jammed up against the upright metal beam. A small panel on the protruding shaft near the front housed three distinct buttons which seemed to be the only means of interfacing with the device. His fingers danced back and forth over the buttons as he frantically tried to decide which one to hit.
After a moment’s indecision, he decided the one closest to the muzzle was the logical choice, and pressed it firmly. The cannon emitted a faint hum, one Taylor could feel as well as hear as it gained rapidly in pitch. He pressed the second button, only to have a pair of mechanical fins pop out at the front of the weapon’s tapering muzzle, surprising him something awful.
Without warning, a burst of shots hit the mound of debris around which the squad was hunkered, fired from different directions as their opponent dashed from position to position, trying to force the Terrans to keep their heads down.
Suddenly, something moved less than a meter from the astonished medic, who was so staggered that he slammed his hand against the last button on the laser without even meaning to, sending a searing hot beam of energy cutting across the clearing, splitting right through rock and metal alike wherever it touched. A loud scream followed by a gurgling sound spelled the doom of their last assailant as he was promptly cut in half by Taylor’s lucky shot.
Beside the astonished medic, Jago swayed to his feet, clumsily brushing dirt from his chestplate as he looked around, trying to get his bearings. Finally he caught sight of Taylor holding the laser cannon. The huge man stumbled towards him, knelt down, and with a hand large enough to wrap all the way around Taylor’s scrawny neck, grabbed the cannon.
“Mine!”
* * * * *
“How is he still alive?” Serena was astounded. “A moment ago he was lying dead on the ground! Now he doesn’t have a scratch on him!”
“The Ape’s funny that way,” Taz joked. “He’s too stubborn to die.”
“I’m serious,” she insisted. “After what happened, it’s not humanly possible!”
“He’s not human,” Taylor answered her thoughtlessly, helping Jago clean himself up, looking up in time to catch a stern glance from Captain Mitchell. “He’s the Ape.” He finished blithely.
Once they’d regrouped, the squad made the run across the right side of the clearing, closing in fast on their rendezvous point. Once they were back in the debris field, Mitchell had Taz and Reid leapfrog between mounds, vastly increasing the speed at which they could move. All the while, robotic camera drones hovered in the dimness overhead, monitoring their progress.
The shimmering force field keeping the poisonous atmosphere of Nos Shana at bay was only a couple of hundred meters away now. Just a few more minutes and they would be free from the games, although what lay in store beyond would surely be no easier a task.
The ground dipped slightly before them, revealing an elongated lake of muddy liquid stretching from the barrier walls ahead and to the right back into the arena behind them. Three towering structures rose on its banks, obscuring most of the view, the decaying remnants of what must at some point have been a bridge. As the squad passed between them, they were shrouded in shadow, even the dim, dirty light filtering down from the glow of the city above failing to reach them so far down.
As such, the squad flicked on the infrared filters embedded in their helmets, which immediately proved its usefulness. A lone Banthalo wielding a long, heavy machete crouched near the base of one of the towers, waiting to ambush anyone who ventured to close. Ta
z made short work of him with a well placed burst of slugs, tearing through his abdomen.
As they emerged from the shadows on the other side of the towering pillars, the spotlights projected by the hovering camera drones blinded them momentarily, just as a club the size of a lamppost came crashing down in their midst.
Chapter 43
Encased in a framework of glass and steel, the chamber that housed the Division 6 Shadow Council hung from the underside of the orbital space platform. Officially, the station was classified as an industrial outpost belonging to one of Terra’s numerous mega corps. In reality, it supported a far more sinister purpose.
The room’s tall ceiling towered over the raised platform before the primary viewport, an enormous crescent pane of reinforced glass, shielded even further by the energy field that enveloped the entire station. The lighting was kept dim, allowing the natural light reflected from Beta Terra to illuminate the chamber, lending it an even more ominous atmosphere. A row of wide steps lead up to the platform, upon which the Shadow Council would gather to decide the fates of men.
Captain Intari strode defiantly down the narrow anti-chamber that granted access to the council hall, passing a formation of elite guards whose psionic powers were rumored to grant them the ability to see things before they even transpired.
“You summoned me, Senator?” Captain Intari asked as he neared the top of the steps, his throaty voice carried by the chamber’s unique acoustics.
Senator Yoishi stood by the crescent viewport, his arms clasped behind his back and his form silhouetted by the dim light source beyond.
“Have they gone?” Yoishi inquired in his callous manner, his arrogance showing as it only did when there was no present whom he needed to flatter.
“They have, Senator,” the captain confirmed, moving to stand at the Senator’s side.
“Magnificent, isn’t it?” the Senator remarked, rhetorically. “I always did want to see the stars, as a child. Now they are within our grasp.”
“Yes, Senator,” Captain Intari concurred. “But, these-”
“But what, Captain?” the Senator interrupted, shooting him a stern glance.
“These outsiders…” Captain Intari began to speak with a heavy heart, certain the Senator would not understand his concerns. “I understand the necessity for funding, but now that their contribution is complete, why do you intend to allow the corporations to license this technology? Why not dispose of them entirely? Then there would be no risk to the Division.”
“Your worries are unnecessary, Intari,” Senator Yoishi insisted. “We need corporate backing not only for funding, but also to increase our influence in the civilian sphere. When all of this is complete, Division 6 will be deeply rooted within the megacorps, increasing our capacity to control the populace.”
Intari remained silent for a short spell, weighing the Senator’s words. This worried him. Throughout his entire career, Division 6 had remained the most closely guarded of all secrets. Only a handful of non-military personnel – all of them key government officials – had ever been inducted into the organization. To bring in actual outsiders, to invite them into the heart of their confederacy, with open arms no less, felt tantamount to betrayal.
“Keeping the technology to ourselves may offer security, that much is certain, but by revealing it, Terrans will take to the stars by the millions. Expansion is inevitable,” Senator Yoishi resumed. “There is no greater catalyst for growth than the illusion of free will.”
“Then how are we to control it? How do we avoid another invasion?” Intari contested, his visage giving away his doubt. “We are bound to encounter yet more species. We know they exist. Don’t forget how we came upon this technology in the first place, Senator.”
“Captain Intari, you overestimate our people,” Yoishi sighed. “They will always need guidance… leadership. We have seeded our tools into every aspect of Terran politics, and now we will have even greater influence through our corporate allies. Their compliance is as much assured as is their need to draw breath. As for the Nyari invasion, we both know that it was our choice which led us down the path to war, a war which will eventually bring us even greater economic prospects on new markets among the stars.”
Intari was beginning to understand the Senator’s point of view, though he didn’t necessarily agree with it. Then again, he was not in a position to countermand the Shadow Council.
“Stay the course, Captain. Have faith in the Division. You have a part to play in securing the future of this organization, and we have complete faith in your ability to see it through. We simply ask that you have the same faith in ours.”
“Yes, Senator.”
“Go then, Captain,” Senator Yoishi urged him, laying a hand on his shoulder. “Your crew awaits you.”
* * * * *
In the bowels of the orbital space platform, the TFS-Genesis lay berthed alongside the main docking platform. She was a formidable vessel. As intimidating as her enormous bulk was, her true strength lay in the numerous modifications Intari had supervised throughout his many years of command. She was the only ship in the entire Terran fleet equipped with a shield generator, a technology which, for now, was exclusively in the hands of Division 6. Her hidden arsenal of nuclear missiles and siege cannons gave her enough firepower to level entire cities.
Various sections of the ship’s hull lay open and exposed as a horde of technicians raced to complete their clearance procedures. Droves of hovering drones buzzed about, ferrying tools and performing routine scans of the ship’s various sub-systems. Bundles of wiring and enormous hoses, some the size of freight trucks, venting steam and other vapors into the surrounding chamber, were strung between valves and connectors along the ship’s hull and sockets in the platform itself.
Ramps as large as frigates bridged the gap between the platform and the ship’s loading bays, where hundreds of support staff ferried provisions to the ship’s stores by means of motorized carts. On the platform itself stood a contingent of soldiers, at least a thousand strong, carefully screened and enlisted into the ranks of the Division’s private army. They were geared up and standing in formation, awaiting their turn to begin boarding.
The grey-haired Captain Intari arrived standing on the bed of a cargo vehicle with a delegation of his most trusted officers. As they came to a stop near the main entry ramp, he was greeted by his science officer, Dr. Drechsler.
At more than two meters, the doctor was an unusually tall man, towering over the team of technicians who were transporting his specialized equipment; a pair of cold steel operating tables, a tank filled with lime-tinted liquid, and an array of consoles and wiring. Unlike most other scientists, Dr. Drechsler had a naturally stocky build, broad shoulders and a square jaw line. Had he been dressed in anything other than a lab coat, he would have looked more like he belonged at the forefront of a battle than in a lab. The diminutive Dr. Reisner stood at his side, datapad in hand, attempting to familiarize the tall scientist with the new drive technology, though he was having a hard time holding his colleague’s attention, which kept drifting to his equipment.
“Dr. Drechsler, I must insist that you take this matter seriously,” Reisner was demanding as Intari approached, “The alterations to the auxiliary manifolds and the new reactor calibrations will be crucial to such a long journey.”
“14.706 and a correlative increase to the primary plasma injector,” Drechsler recited without taking his eye off of a pair of technicians carrying a large glass tank. “Careful with that cloning vat, or I’ll see you drowned in it!” He shouted.
“But the injunction field must-”
“-be primed prior to the third cycle,” Dr. Drechsler injected, “I read the reports, Doctor.”
“Well… I…” Reisner mumbled, both affronted and relieved to hear that his counterpart aboard the Genesis had taken the appropriate measures to ensure that the new drive would run smoothly.
“Don’t worry yourself, Dr. Reisner,” Captain Intari ordered,
his escort forming up behind him. “The Genesis is in capable hands.”
At the captain’s curt dismissal the short scientist scurried away, leaving the crew to begin boarding. Intari allowed the others to pass on ahead of him, pausing midway up the ramp to peer out towards the end of the docking bay where the enormous docking hatch had slowly begun to open. A shimmering energy field had manifested in its place to keep the enormous chamber from venting into the vacuum beyond. He stared out into the vastness of space. The stars seemed to shine unusually brightly, as if they were calling out to him to come and claim them.
“That ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither by spirit, nor by word,” Intari muttered to himself, followed by a heavy sigh, wrought with hesitation.
He let go of the railing and proceeded up the ramp.
Less than an hour later, the Genesis was fully loaded and ready to embark on its long voyage. Fuel hoses detached with loud reverberating clanks, docking clamps released their grip, and the Genesis began to drift out into the void. As soon as it had cleared minimum safe distance, it adjusted its course, preparing to engage its newly installed superluminal drive.
Captain Intari stood at the helm, gripping the cold metal banister of the balcony overlooking the bridge crew. Drechsler and his team of assistants had just finished going over the calibrations with the engineering crew, and reported the drive ready for operation.
“Lord, grant us your blessing on the journey on which we are about to embark,” Captain Intari murmured as he readied himself, preparing to give the command which would catapult them to speeds far greater than any Terran before them.
“Activate the drive!”
Chapter 44
Merillian: 2 (Locus Origin) Page 30