Resurrection

by Jan Domagala

  Tanya looked at which monitor he meant. It showed a real time display of troops entering a building and killing whoever stood in their way.

  “That is a project commissioned by a member of that particular planet’s government; he came to us and asked for help in overthrowing the present government. For a fee we sent him the means to achieve his ambition. This time tomorrow he will be leading the government of his world.”

  “You are still a terrorist organisation then…” Matt began to say but was cut off by a sharp look from the young woman before him.

  “We are not terrorists; never delude yourself in confusing what we do with the sad ritualistic ideals that fuel terrorists. This is a business, a criminal cartel if you must put a label on it, but terrorists, we most definitely are not,” she said angrily.

  “You can call yourself whatever you like, but to me you’ll always be scum. I won’t stop until I see you smashed,” Matt said.

  Apollo pushed himself off the wall ready to step forward but was halted by a wave from Tanya’s hand.

  “I think you are a little confused here Matt. This may be a business but trust me if you get in my way it will be you who gets smashed not I,” she replied calmly.

  Matt looked around him at the four hulking Rover5s standing close by and thought better of antagonising her further.

  “I guess we’ll have to agree to disagree on that one,” he said.

  “I suppose we will,” she said. Turning away from him once more she continued, “Come on, I’ll show you around, I’m sure you’re itching to see what we have here.”

  “On that we can agree,” Matt said as he began to walk after her. He hoped his tracking chip was not being blocked by all the rock he could see around him. He had no idea how deep underground he was or even where he was.

  Now was not the moment to try anything. He would wait for the right moment and then he would strike. Until then he would just have to bide his time and wait.

  II

  The Hyperion

  The freighter came out of the hyperspace window as close to their destination as they dared.

  They had calculated the jump to get as close to the target as possible without being detected, and in that respect they were on the extreme edge of the sensor range from the nearest planet.

  Captain Jenkins was sitting in the command chair on the bridge, “Take us in slowly helm, this doesn’t look like a place that’s visited frequently so keep your eyes open,” he said when he saw the long-range view on the screen before him. The display showed a deserted planet, little more than a rock in space. Their sensor readings had all come back with the same results, the planet was uninhabited.

  “Copy that sir,” replied the helm officer.

  “Are we still tracking Matt’s chip?” he asked hoping that somewhere along the way they had turned around and were now following a bogus signal.

  “Copy that sir, signal coming in strength five by five.”

  “Okay then, stay frosty people, if they have defences they will probably use them if they spot us,” Jenkins said.

  Captain Storm strode onto the bridge straight up to the command chair. “Any news on Matt, Captain?” he asked as he looked at the viewscreen.

  “We’re still tracking his chip but the terrain looks unwelcoming to say the least,” Jenkins replied.

  “Get me and my team as close as you can and we’ll do the rest,” he said and then turned and left the bridge. On his way to the Ready Room he accessed an encoded subspace comm. link. When he was connected he said, “Colonel De Boer, be ready to make the jump.”

  11

  I

  The Cronus

  Kurt turned around and looked at the face of the man staring wide-eyed at him and Zara.

  “Who are you people and what…?” the guy started to say until the butt of a Remm M25 assault rifle struck him squarely in the face. He went down like a rag doll discarded by a disgruntled toddler. He was dressed in the coveralls of an engine room worker. Had he been wearing the uniform of an Alliance soldier, things would have been different in that he would have raised the alarm.

  “That was close,” Kurt said. He looked at Zara beside him and said, “We’d better bind and gag him because if they find him, or when he comes to, there will be hell to pay otherwise.”

  Zara grabbed a length of wire and began to tie the poor man’s hands behind his back then tied them to his legs, effectively hogtying him. Then she found some tape and tore off a strip and placed it over his mouth making sure his nose was clear so he could breathe.

  “Come on we’d better make a move,” Kurt urged her, all the time she had been tending to the unfortunate crewman he had been by the door keeping watch.

  He listened for a second more at the door to see if the coast was clear then he opened it.

  He waved Zara forward when he saw proof of what he already knew that the corridor was empty.

  Kurt accessed the file in his NI that held the schematics of the super destroyer. He pointed in the direction they had to go to reach their destination. Zara followed behind him covering their six in case any soldiers showed up. At the end of the corridor it formed a T-junction, branching off both left and right.

  “Which way?” Zara sub vocalised.

  Kurt knew and without a word he turned to the left. It was a short walk before he came to another door. He soon had it open and went through it. Beyond this last doorway was a balcony that ran around the top of a chamber that housed what they had come for. The huge shield generators sat in the middle of the floor and the three enormous machines were hooked up to the computer that controlled them and ensured they worked efficiently and in-sync.

  There were three armed guards stationed at the exits on the floor below and Kurt waved for Zara to take the opposite end of the balcony. They would approach from opposite ends and take out the guards before the alarm could be raised.

  The drop over the balcony was twenty-five feet to the floor and when the two of them were in position, they vaulted over the railing. They landed lightly but even so the sudden movement and noise alerted the guards. By the time the guards realised what was happening though, it was too late for them to do anything about it.

  Kurt fired a short burst on his assault rifle catching the guard nearest to him across the chest before he could reach for his own weapon. The pulsed plasma bolts stitched a path across the guard’s chest as the kinetic energy from them smashed him against the wall. Kurt then spun around to face another guard who was taking aim on Zara. The guard had raised his assault rifle and was taking aim after hearing her land. He would fire any moment.

  Zara did the same as Kurt had done; she vaulted over the railing on the balcony and fired her assault rifle the moment she landed. The guard she had aimed at fared the same as the first, her salvo tore open his chest and smashed him against the wall in a shower of blood.

  As she fired she was about to turn when she heard a rifle fire. She turned to face the direction the sound had emanated from and saw the last guard fall to the ground. He had been holding his assault rifle up to his shoulder about to fire. She wasn’t afraid of dying, her abilities would see to that, but being shot and having to wait the time it would take to heal would slow the mission down.

  She glanced across the room and saw Kurt with his assault rifle up to his shoulder. He had prevented what she had feared from happening. Kurt lowered his rifle and waved to her with a smile.

  “Lay the charges,” he said.

  Zara went straight to the nearest generator and knelt down beside it. She took out three small packages and stuck them to the base of the generator. They were explosive charges, TX explosive, a compressed derivative of the old Semtex. They were fitted with magnetic pads to adhere to the generator and could be detonated remotely from an NI.

  While Zara was busy with that one Kurt had rushed over to another and had done the same. They met at the last and laid the charges for that one together.

  “Right, let’s go, not even we want to
be around when these babies go up,” he told her.

  The large room had two exits on the ground level and a staircase that led up to the balcony. They ran over to the staircase and climbed up to the top taking the steps two at a time. Once they reached the top the corridor spread out around the perimeter of the room below. They headed for the door they had come through just moments before. As they reached it Kurt activated the door release. The door to the small room opened and as they entered he detonated the charges.

  The charges exploded simultaneously tearing the generators apart in a fiery cataclysm of pure fury. Flames spread out from the epicentre of the explosions filling the whole room and destroying everything in their path. Pieces of the generators were sent flying in every direction, smashing through the walls as the chamber was totally destroyed.

  The force of the explosions was so great it was felt throughout the length of the super destroyer. The blast threw the massive starship off course destabilising her orbit over the planet below. She began to spin off her axis and spiral down towards the planet’s surface, the pull of Tartaran’s gravity adding to her decent.

  Inside the room Kurt and Zara tried to remain on their feet but the violent shaking the explosions had subjected the starship to, made it impossible.

  “Did you know that would happen?” Zara asked as she bounced off the wall again.

  Kurt steadied himself the best he could and said, “I knew the explosives were powerful but they never said that would happen.”

  “We’d better get off this thing before it’s too late,” she suggested.

  Alarms rang out throughout the starship, “Intruder Alert!” the computer’s simulated voice said.

  “I think we’ve overstayed our welcome,” Kurt said with a smile.

  II

  The Pulsar

  Under the stealth shield the crew of the Pulsar watched on the forward viewscreen as the orbit of the Cronus deteriorated.

  “Come on you guys, get the hell off there,” Jake muttered under his breath voicing what the rest were thinking.

  “Jake we’re running out of time, we’d better act now,” Cooper said.

  Jake turned and gave his friend a hard stare. He knew he was right but he didn’t want to put his friends in any further danger.

  “Just a few seconds more, give them a few seconds more,” he said then returned his gaze to the screen.

  Torres said, “What’re you waiting for, it’s not like they’re in any danger Jake. You know as well as the rest of us what the two of them are capable of, they’ll be fine.”

  Jake realised he’d been treating Kurt and Zara like the rest of the team when clearly they were not. They could survive things that would cripple normal people and come away laughing. They were virtually indestructible and he had better get used to it, as difficult as that was to comprehend he had to adjust his way of thinking.

  “You’re right,” he said with a smile as he looked at her. “Artie, target their engines and fire,” he said.

  “Copy that sir,” replied the ship’s AI and from the forward missile tubes a brace of Hellfire missiles went streaking towards the rear section of the huge super destroyer. Had the shields been in place still the missiles would have impacted upon the invisible barrier and exploded harmlessly. The shields were down though and the missiles reached their targets with devastating results. The blast from the detonations forced the rear of the starship further into a spin. Debris from the shattered engines was sent flying out in all directions as the huge super destroyer continued to slowly spin out of control.

  “Keep your distance Artie, we don’t want to sustain any damage out here,” Jake suggested.

  The Artificial Intelligence controlling the large starship fired thrusters to manoeuvre her in reverse out of reach of the explosions.

  “Not too far, we still don’t know the extreme range those dinky bracelets they’re wearing have,” he added. Then as he stared at the viewscreen he said a silent prayer, “Come on guys, don’t leave us here waiting.”

  III

  The Cronus

  Kurt came out of the small room followed by Zara. They had their assault rifles slung across their backs as they needed their hands free to steady themselves against the walls of the corridor.

  They set off towards the first room they had arrived in. Their presence was definitely being broadcast as they saw more Alliance officers looking at them questioningly. The fact they were in full combat gear with battle helmets on was also a sure giveaway that they weren’t part of the crew. The corridor was beginning to fill up with more and more people milling around as the crew attempted to regain control of the floundering super destroyer.

  “Is there any point in us trying to hide anymore?” Zara asked as several of the crew pointed in their direction.

  “I suppose not, what are you thinking?” Kurt asked sensing something he knew he was not going to like.

  “Let’s do as much damage as we can before we leave. It’ll make Jake’s job that much easier,” she suggested eagerly.

  “What you’re suggesting would mean us going deeper into this ship. I doubt we have the time,” he replied thoughtfully, his brow creasing with worry.

  “What are you worried about Kurt, it worked on that lunar base not so long ago. We shifted all over the place causing all kinds of mayhem. The least we can do here is try the same thing, this ship is massive, all the redundant systems and back-ups they must have on board, the meagre damage we’ve done so far will not stop them for long,” she argued putting her head close to his so he could see her eyes through the visors of both helmets.

  Kurt looked at her; her deep brown eyes were on fire with the sense of urgency she was trying to convey. He had to admit though that she had a point.

  “Okay, I’m in,” he agreed.

  “Cool, follow my lead,” she said, then grabbed his wrist and activated her SUT.

  They were gone, literally in a flash.

  12

  I

  OMEGA HQ, RH426

  Tanya was proudly walking in front of Matt as she showed off the underground base to him. It was a display of power that was meant to intimidate and beat him into submission, something he had been aware of from the start. As much as he tried to ignore the fact and focus on gaining intel on the base he couldn’t help but feel awed by what was being shown to him. The scope the organisation covered was indeed massive and went much further, much deeper into the galaxy than any of them had imagined. The more she showed him, the greater the doubt in his mind grew that what he was attempting would work.

  They had reached another huge chamber, larger than the command centre they had visited briefly earlier. This one was filled with rows and rows of man-sized canisters that had tubes running from them connecting them all to a series of pipes that ran the length of the room which in turn connected to a huge control panel over by the far wall.

  “What do you think?” she asked as they stopped. They were standing overlooking the room from an elevated vantage point on a railed balcony that ran the circumference of the chamber. Matt quickly attempted to do the maths connected to what he was seeing, attempting to count how many canisters there were down below and his mind reeled at the enormity of it. There must have been several hundred of them.

  Tanya looked up into his blue eyes and could see the worried look behind the unasked question.

  “Oh yes we have hundreds of these rooms, or rooms like this one, all over the quadrant and each canister holds a Rover5 in case you were wondering,” she said to clarify matters.

  Matt looked down at her and she was smiling.

  “Yes, you heard me correctly, hundreds. Just imagine how many Rover5s that would be,” she said looking up at him, the smile still in place. “It’s a veritable army Matt; would you fancy your chances in battle against a foe like them, armed with the latest weaponry? These are the next generation Rover5s too, I suppose they’re Rover5.1s really, or should I say Rover6?” she said glancing away towards Apollo for a sec
ond, smiling as she thought about her little play on words over the name.

  Matt came to a decision, he had seen and heard enough, the threat was viable and it was time to act.

  He pushed Tanya away from him and turned on the clones guarding him. He struck out with a spinning back kick catching the nearest Rover5 in the chest smashing him against his companion. They stumbled backwards from the force of the impact, giving Matt time to move against the other two.

  He ducked beneath a hurried attack by one of the remaining two Rover5s and slammed into the stomach of the last one with his shoulder. He rammed the Rover5 into the railing they were standing close to, the unbending metal digging deep into the back of the clone. The Rover5 screamed in pain from the impact across his lower back and Matt used the diversion to reach down to the clone’s feet and hoist him over the railing. The clone’s scream filled the cavern, echoing off the walls as he fell the fifty-odd feet to his death.

  The remaining clone on his feet spun back to face Matt and brought up his rifle to his shoulder to fire. Matt saw the action just in time and swatted the tip of the rifle barrel away just as the clone fired. The pulsed plasma bolt struck the wall to the side and then Matt slammed a huge fist into the side of the clone’s head rocking him on his heels. Blood from the shattered jawbone and mashed teeth was sent spraying in an arc from the blow. Matt grabbed the clone’s head then leapt up and smashed the point of his knee into it. The clone fell to the floor, unconscious.

  The first two he had attacked were ready then to continue the fight having untangled themselves from their collision with the wall.

  They came at him hoping to catch him in between the two of them. They separated so they could approach from either side. Matt saw the manoeuvre and knew that he had to act fast to take these two out before anymore came to subdue him. He punched the one to his right with a straight left which stopped him in his tracks and actually rocked him back on his heels. The other clone rushed Matt who evaded first, blocked a punch aimed at his head then countered with a swift series of blows culminating with an uppercut that took the clone off his feet.