Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1)

by Michael G. Thomas

  LEGIONS OF ORION

  STAR CRUSADES NEXUS, BOOK 1

  By Michael G. Thomas

  Copyright © 2012 Michael G. Thomas

  Published by Swordworks Books

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.

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  CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER ONE

  The creation and expansion of the Centauri Alliance took place after a period of wars and uprisings that had gone on for over five decades. The scores of planets around six star systems was now home to billions with each colony connected via the newly established Interstellar Network, a variant of the spacebridge technology discovered during the last war. These rifts in space were held open by spherical shells of exotic matter controlled by monitoring orbital platforms. The near instantaneous travel offered by the Network, and the opportunities the transportation web offered, turned a backward and disjointed collection of colonies into a thriving and bustling hive of enterprise within a decade of their discovery. It was this new age of optimism and hubris that pushed humanity on to its great adventure in the Orion Nebula and its destiny among the stars.

  A Concise Guide to Interstellar Travel

  It was ten years since the founding of the new Alliance. Ten years since the end of the bloody struggle that brought the first period of peace in a generation. With the fighting over, it was finally time for the scientific expertise of the Alliance to tackle some of its greatest mysteries. One of the most important lay within the jungle world of Hyperion. It was a strange planet with a viable atmosphere and abundant water that remained barely habitable, due to its difficult atmosphere and frequent violent storms. Its breathable atmosphere contained a higher level of nitrogen dioxide than was safe for humans, and some were able to adjust in weeks or months. For others, the use of a respirator was vital until a person’s body was given enough time to adjust, assuming it ever did.

  The discovery of Hyperion had been early in the colonisation of the Alpha Centauri sector but had been quickly eclipsed by the rich jewel of Terra Nova, the most valuable planet ever discovered. Hyperion became little more than a backwater, as the other twenty-three planets spread out between Alpha Centauri and Proxima Centauri were thoroughly explored and exploited. Other than science teams, few had visited the planet until the discovery of the ruins. Much had been destroyed in the last days of the Great Uprising and it was now a thriving colony of the Alliance and populated by the semi-synthetic humans known as the Jötnar. In orbit over the planet waited a small flotilla of ships. Most were civilian transports and heavy haulers but a handful were small military ships. At the core of the group was a single capital ship, one of the last remaining cruisers from the war and a prior visitor to the world, the Alliance Navy Ship Minotaur. She’d been involved in many battles, but her repaired and upgraded superstructure gave little of her history away. From her hull, the dark shape of an Alliance shuttle appeared. It was a standard design used for everything from delivering cargo to landing Special Forces on remote moons. It moved away, making no sound in the cold vacuum of space, only the faint wisps of escaping dust and gas betraying the manoeuvring thrusters as it pushed away. A pair of Lightning MK II fighters took up their positions alongside the shuttle and proceeded to escort the craft down to the atmosphere of the planet. Only when they reached the outer reaches of the atmosphere, did they pull up to avoid being pulled to the surface.

  From the ruins of the archaeological site, a team of Alliance marines monitored the landing pattern of the shuttle. The site was apparently safe, but they were taking no chances. A single ground based fighter circled around the landing site and stayed on position as the craft finished its journey from space and down to the modern landing pad. The structure had been built in less than three months, as part of a permanent science station on the planet. Most of those in the shuttle moved off to the compound, each wearing the usual respirator as required for new arrivals on the planet. Two members of the party moved to a waiting groundcar that was being guarded by another two marines.

  The journey from the science station to the dig site took almost forty minutes and took them through a rough track that had been cut through the thick jungle. A light mist hung over the land and reduced visibility to barely more than a hundred metres. The occasional insect or small animal could be seen, but the little life present on the planet soon kept away from the noisy machine. Most of the trees had been seeded along with the arrival of the colonists, back when Terra Nova had been settled; little now remained of the indigenous vegetation other than on some of the more distant parts of the planet. Eventually, the vehicle reached a clearing before a series of large hills. Rocks and debris littered the site, but it was clear there had been something man-made here at some point recently. The groundcar pulled to a stop, and the doors hissed open to reveal the pair of civilians and their escort. Dr Katha Morgonz, a longhaired technological archaeologist, stepped out and shielded her eyes for a moment from the bright light. She was one of the most experienced and knowledgeable people in the entire Alliance when it came to unusual and old technology.

  “Dr Morgonz, you’re ahead of schedule,” said a waiting marine as he moved up to the door.

  She said nothing, other than making an impossible to understand grunt. He showed her the way to the entrance of the site. It was little more than a crater in the rubble, and as he continued talking, she dropped down from the thick stone slab to the group of marines waiting below. Two of them grabbed her and placed her behind their position at the entrance to the partially collapsed chamber. She shook some of the dirt from her face and then double-checked her file on the location. She wore a close fitting helmet that came down low over her ears and a lightweight respirator to help with the difficult atmosphere. It was breathable but took over a week to acclimatise, and she didn’t have that long. Not that she would have objected to spending more time on Hyperion, but this mission was both time critical and also extremely secretive.

  “Are you sure this is the entrance? Teams Three and Four have found similar sites and are requesting more r
esources to continue their digs,” asked Dr Neson, the special unit’s technical officer.

  Dr Morgonz nodded but said no more as she checked her data. A final look satisfied her that they were in the right place. She took a few steps forward to where the diggers had cleared an access point into the structure.

  “No, this is the place. If you examine the satellite scans, this is definitely the location of the main data arrays. The reports from General Rivers during the fighting here confirm my findings. If there are any intact control computers, data or working systems, it will be here. The other sites sustained substantially more damage in the explosion when the power cores vaporised almost everything underground.”

  “Look!” called out one of the small group of Alliance marines. He was pointing to a beautifully detailed carving that had been made directly into the wall. Doctor Morgonz moved to examine it but spent no more than a cursory moment examining it before moving away.

  “It’s just another of the images showing the construction and use of the gateways. There are lots of them over this entire site. We aren’t here to sightsee, marine. This operation has one objective, and it lies inside there.”

  She looked about as if waiting for somebody.

  “Where is our guide? I thought the Jötnar were providing us with one of their best?”

  The marine that had spoken before pointed inside the crevice.

  “Doctor, he’s already inside with Captain Garcia. They’re checking the route first. I think his name was Khan, and he is one of the Jötnar’s most experienced commanders. He fought alongside Spartan and the other marines on Terra Nova. Amongst his people, he’s seen as a hero.”

  She moved to the gap and stepped inside while at the same time tapping the button on her arm. The high powered lamp on her helmet lit up and flooded the inner chamber to reveal little more that dirt and broken rock. She glanced at the marine as she passed him.

  “I need a scout, not a commander.”

  She pushed on, and her assistant Jose followed a short distance behind her. The Alliance marines waited outside, each on the lookout for any of the creatures that were known to lurk on Hyperion. No one seemed particularly bothered that they were being left behind, and the attitude of Dr Morgonz did little to encourage them to show much interest. There was little action to be had these days, and the escort task on Hyperion was hardly a choice operation. The planet had been the home of a secret base used by the enemy at the end of the war and had housed untold numbers of Biomech creatures; many of which still roamed the jungle world. It had since been settled by the synthetic Jötnar, the close cousins of the Biomechs but now members of the Alliance.

  “Watch where you’re stepping, Jose. There might be some of those animals down here.”

  “Animals?” he asked in surprise.

  “Yes, Jose, you know, of the four-legged kind.”

  Jose did his best not to stumble as he moved over the broken rock and dirt and followed the Doctor. He knew only a few scant details about the Biomechs, but the four-legged variety was now considered almost mythological in their status. They had been monsters created by fusing the dead and dying with synthetic technology to make violent and terrifying beasts. The Jötnar had hunted down most of untamed survivors on the planet but a few remained, and he’d heard terrifying stories of the bear-sized creatures attacking visitors to the jungle world and being torn apart, limb from limb.

  “This way!” called out a familiar voice. It was that of Captain Garcia who had established a small supply dump about fifty metres inside the structure. They moved closer until moving through a low opening into a damaged room. A dump containing fuel, power cells and tracking equipment lay to one side, along with three marines.

  “Yes, are you ready?” she answered it in a short and irritated tone.

  A dark shape turned to face her. It was a Jötnar, and one of the nearly three-metre tall creatures that inhabited Hyperion. He was build like an ogre of legend and thickly muscled. He wore an odd uniform that bore some similarity to that of the old Confederate Marine Corps, but with newly fashioned armour plates around the chest and shoulders.

  “We’re ready. Are you sure you want to reach the lower levels?” he asked.

  Dr Morgonz looked up to him and shook her head.

  “I am no fool, Mr Khan, and I am equally capable of taking care of myself. Now, we are running on a tight schedule, and my superiors require this information quickly. Let’s go.”

  She moved to the dark opening at the end of the room and disappeared through it. Only the light on her head provided any illumination as she moved along the perimeter of a deep chasm. Jose followed close behind her, and the three marines that had been waiting joined in as well.

  Khan shook his head as she left them.

  “It isn’t Mr, it’s Captain,” he said with amusement to himself.

  Captain Garcia leaned in closely towards him.

  “Is it just me, or are you tempted to stay here and leave her to get lost down there?”

  Khan started to shake and laughed with a low rumble. They both paused for a moment, but in the end they had a job to do, and much as they might want to stay, they couldn’t. Khan moved first, and the young Captain followed close behind. Another group of three researchers and two archaeologists arrived and moved behind them. Once through the gap, they could all see the great pit that according to their scans descended nearly three hundred metres straight down. Dr Morgonz pointed at one of the thick sets of power cabling, each one as thick as a man’s arm, that ran like a snake around the structure.

  “You see the pattern. It’s the same as in the other mountain. The others were destroyed in the blast, but this one is still giving off trace interference.”

  She pointed over the edge and into the blackness.

  “Something down there is still running. If it is anything to do with the control system for this site, then this could be most significant breakthrough in science for the last decade.”

  The rest of the group mumbled in partial agreement, but it was clear most had no interest in being in such a place. The reputation of the last stronghold of the Zealots and their hordes of machines and creatures left a taste that could be eliminated only by leaving the underground site.

  “Come on, we are running on a tight schedule here. If we don’t strike gold by the end of today, we will have to give up on this part of the site and try the next hole.”

  They pushed on, and Khan watched her move ahead with amusement. He looked to Captain Garcia.

  “What is she looking for exactly? I thought the research was going well.”

  The Alliance Captain shrugged.

  “Not what I heard. The rumour I heard was that the last orb entry point just disintegrated whatever went inside. Without a system at the other end, there is no way to get through. Why do you think it’s been taking so long to expand the network? She must be after technical information from the control system.”

  Khan nodded at that part.

  “Makes sense. This was one of the main command sections of the base.”

  They moved on for almost an hour, each inching their way down the slippery surface until finally reaching a series of arches of which only three were still in one piece. The Doctor moved into the first and lit up the darkened space to reveal more of the cables that ran inside. The light revealed that the space was in fact a large open cavern full of damaged machines and cables.

  “Look!” she said almost excitedly.

  She stepped forward, but Khan called out.

  “Stop!”

  He pushed ahead and to a position about ten metres in front and further inside the room. He stopped and sniffed the air.

  “What is it?” asked Captain Garcia, who moved passed the civilians to join him.

  Khan sniffed the air again but said nothing at first. He glanced about suspiciously, scratching his chin as he considered their situation.

  “Well?” asked Captain Garcia, but this time with an impatient tone.

/>   “I thought I heard something in there.”

  Dr Morgonz walked up to him and looked inside the chamber herself.

  “What’s the problem? Come on, we have work to do,” she snapped, moving past him to enter the chamber. Khan shook his head angrily, but the woman ignored him and entered the open space. The rest of her team followed, only the marines waited. Khan looked at them and grinned before looking back to Captain Garcia.

  “I see your men have the intelligence to be suspicious. Look at them,” he said, pointing at the civilians that were already inside, completely unaware if there might be something dangerous lurking inside.

  The Alliance Captain looked up to where they had entered, but it was too far away to be seen now and was no more than a glimmer of light hundreds of metres away from them. He tapped the radio unit built into his armoured suit of marine armour, known as a PDS suit.

  “Garcia here, we’ve reached the main control level and are moving inside. Contact the Commander, and give him our updates.”

  He then turned to Khan. “What do you think?”

  Khan shrugged.

  “We’re underground with five guns between us. Could be interesting.”

  Captain Garcia shuddered slightly at his cavalier mention of the danger and the odds. He’d only been on a few missions with his kind in the past and had never quite gotten used to their attitude. They were an odd dichotomy where they seemed to love battle and action, yet were openly more cautious and sensible in battle than his battle-trained marines.

  “Let’s go,” he said finally.

  The four marines and the Jötnar pushed away from their position and entered the large chamber. The civilians were already busy exploring the plethora of interesting items both on the floor and walls of the cavernous place. Khan moved along the right-hand wall and rubbed his large hand over the carved stonework.