Task Force (Task Force Series)

by Brad Smith

  “This one needs a medical team right away!” the squad leader shouted. He bent down to pick up the body from the floor. One of the men holstered his pistol and ran over to him. “Let me help,” he said. She was small and thin. He staggered out the entrance of the cargo ship. He came down the ramp of the cargo ship carrying her in his arms. The bright lights of the hangar bay momentarily blinded him.

  “Medic!” he shouted. “I need a medic over here!” He cradled her as the medics sprinted towards them. “Careful. Careful! She’s still alive,” the Marine shouted. The medics placed her on the stretcher and rand down the ramp with her. The shouts of the squad members rang out through Bletchley’s display device. “Clear!” They piled out of the ship and stood at attention.

  The ship’s Marine commander stood in front of them with arms folded. He stared at each of the men and checked the time on his device. Shaking his head, he turned to the squad leader. “Report,” he said in a flat voice.

  “Sir, we’ve got an empty ship with one body inside,” he said. “Female. Human. One barrel of cargo unopened. No explosives. No viruses or toxic chemicals. Clean. That’s pretty much it.”

  Marlin nodded at Chief Randall’s approach. The burly man walked up to Marlin and shook his hand.

  “How’s your old man these days, Chief?” Marlin asked.

  Randall looked at him and rolled his eyes. “Sitting at home…bitchin’ and moanin’ about retirement from Fleet.”

  Marlin chuckled. “Too bad we didn’t have him for this cruise too. We got the next best

  thing, I guess. Anyway, you’d think with his pension, he’s be happy as a pig in shit,” he said.

  Randall set the report down on the console next to Bletchley. “Here’s what we’ve got,” he said to her. “Commander Rayner has told us to handle it ourselves. Says he doesn’t have time to deal with this right now.”

  Marlin turned to him. “If it’s not too much trouble, I’d like to take a look at that, Chief,” he said.

  Chapter Twelve

  Haraldi sat in the briefing room, listening to Rayner bellow orders into the vidscreen. “Why don’t I have my intelligence reports back from the picket ships yet? Where are the readings from the planet–based sensors? How am I supposed to make informed decisions when no one is giving me any information?!” The big man waved his arms as he strode back and forth. The sweat poured down his face.

  “Sir, the information is coming in piecemeal and needs time to be collected and analyzed. Not to mention the time it takes for our redundant systems to confirm the information with each other,” Haraldi said.

  Rayner’s fist shook and pounded the table. “You get our people working on it faster then, Mr. Haraldi – or I’ll find a new executive officer who can.”

  That doesn’t sound so bad right about now. Haraldi nodded and tapped a note into his datapad. The note read as follows:

  Dear Captain Rayner,

  Please be so kind as to consider this note my resignation. I wish I had printed it out and given it to you like in the good old Earth days so then you could roll it up and stick it up your ass.

  Sincerely,

  Lieutenant J.D. Haraldi

  “Sir, about the matter of the Noridian spy we apprehended…,” Haraldi said.

  Rayner shrugged. “I’m delegating that entirely to you. Fleet has told me we should Interrogate and extract any information from him. Once you’re done with him, airlock it and be done with it. We’re at war now. For all we know, it could be giving away our location to that enemy ship.”

  Haraldi shook his head. “Sir, I’ve already personally interrogated him with my team. The Noridian claims he was sent aboard to find out what he can about that enemy ship. Apparently, they’re just as in the dark about it as we are.”

  Rayner stared at him angrily. “And you believe that? Haraldi, you know as well as I do we can’t trust what they say. Go down there and push it further. Use whatever techniques you need to in order to get at the truth. In case you’re wondering if I’m authorizing torture then let me put that doubt out of your mind. Torture the shit out of it and then kill it. You and your team have full run of the detention block.”

  Haraldi rocked back in his chair. He looked down to his datapad. Then up at Rayner.

  “Sir, if you won’t be needing me then I’ll go take care of these items,” Haraldi said. He stood up without saying another word and left the briefing room.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Hellmund and the ships surrounding her arrived in the Hayes System. The big enemy ship lay before them. Rayner stepped forward and ordered a sensor scan. “Deploy every ship we’ve got forward. I want every fighter launched as soon as possible. Let’s attack this thing right away. No retreats. Pull out everything you can.”

  The fleet moved forward en masse. One battleship and two dozen cruisers were at its leading edge. The big enemy vessel fired its weapon at their front ranks. Before they had even got into firing range, half a dozen ships were burning or collapsing into tiny chunks.

  Rayner strode back and forth on the bridge. “Keep pushing forward!” he said. “Any ship that falls, another one moves in and plugs the gap. Fire everything you have!”

  ***

  The fighters swept forward from the carrier.

  “Keep it loose out there,” Harris ordered. “I need Blue Wing left and Yellow on the right. We go straight at it and let out our torpedos at danger close range.”

  Rayner leaned in towards the command console and checked Haraldi’s readings. A destroyer near the ship blew up. The explosions billowed outwards from its metal frame. The pieces scattered around the fringes of the fleet’s advance. Then nothing.

  “Sir, the enemy ship has stopped firing.” Haraldi said.

  “Okay, let’s bring everyone in to bear on it. Get as many ships as you can around it and let loose with everything you’ve got. Fire all torpedos. Hell, get close in and fire projectile and beam weapons too.”

  Something’s wrong. Harris pulled her fighter up in an arc, away from the big enemy ship. The rest of her flight swung around with her. A warning sounded on her display and she watched as a projectile from the Archimedes slammed right into one of her fighters at the back of the formation.

  “Let’s get out of here!” she yelled. “Throw on your afterburners. Pull back towards the carrier. There’s too much incoming fire!” I am gonna kill Rayner.

  ***

  The ships were in close range to the enemy vessel. The space around it lit up with the blasts from lasers. Projectiles piled into it from the large ships’ railguns.

  Haraldi shot up and swung around to Rayner, a panicked expression on his face. “Sir! Sir! There’s some kind of energy buildup happening on that enemy vessel. We need to pull back. Get those ships back!”

  “Negative, lieutenant,” Rayner replied. “We take this thing down now. Bring as many ships as you can towards it. Keep hitting it.”

  The battleship Tiamat waded towards the large ship. Its huge railguns fired the big metal slugs out into space. The square sleek metal projectiles shot out at high speed. Ten minutes later, they arrived at their destination. With each impact, the cylindrical ship moved a little further back from where it stood.

  The Hellmund trembled and the crew on the bridge were flung to the deck. Outside, the enemy vessel released an energy beam that dwarfed even the largest ships in the human fleet. The front ranks of the ships nearest the enemy vessel were instantly incinerated by the blast. The ships behind it were blown back like tumbleweeds, the metal skin of the ships sloughed off like a snake’s skin.

  Haraldi climbed back to his display. “Shields gone. Structural damage to decks four through eleven. Propulsion damaged. Launch catapults damaged. Forward sensor array offline. All weapons systems inoperative. Casualty report incoming.”

  Rayner stumbled before the viewscreen. “All ships! All ships! Press the attack. Keep going in. Reamus, get your ship as close as you can to that enemy ship! I want you as close as you can
get!”

  Haraldi turned around and looked at Rayner in disbelief. “Captain, are you —?”

  “You heard me, lieutenant!” Rayner replied. “I want all remaining ships to keep up the fire. Let that thing know we’re not going down so easy. All fighters press the attack!”

  The Reamus shouldered away the fiery debris and remains of the ships surrounding the enemy vessel. It reached within one kilometer of it.

  Rayner turned to Haraldi. “I want all vessels to open fire on the Reamus. If we can get that experimental propulsion system to blow, it may be enough to destroy that thing. Fighters launch your torpedoes. One flight goes for the enemy ship. The other targets the Reamus.”

  ***

  What the hell is he thinking? Is he out of his goddamn mind? Harris hit the afterburners and keyed her mic. “Squadron, this is squadron leader. Ignore those orders. Return to Hellmund immediately. I say again, return to Hellmund.”

  Rayner stood stock still at the bridge. Haraldi sat quietly, his finger suspended over the security comms channel. Order that one more time and I’ll bring in the security team. Rayner watched the movement of the ships quietly. He opened his mouth but before the words could come out, the large enemy vessel had disappeared from the display.

  There was only silence. The Hellmund sat quietly among the field of debris. Pieces of the ships destroyed in the battle clunked against the carrier as it slid through space. Haraldi looked on his scanner. Two–thirds of the fleet had been destroyed. The Reamus sat quietly in space. Her captain and crew refusing to answer the Hellmund’s calls. Haraldi closed the comms channel and nodded his head. Insanity.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Harris sat at the bar alone. The glasses were lined up beside her. The only people left were her, the bartender, and Captain Marlin. He sat beside her with glass full of clear liquid in his hand.

  “Damned shame,” he said. “Damned shame.”

  Harris let her eighth shot of the night hit the bar top. She stammered and slurred. After a few more attempts, she simply slurred. “Captain, what happened out there today was…it was,” she said.

  Harris nodded and patted her on the shoulder. “I’m glad it wasn’t me up there, I’ll tell ya. I’ve made some pretty rough calls before. I’d hate to hear what people would think of me,” he said.

  Harris slammed down the drink and turned towards Marlin. “Captain, if I can talk freely. I’ve read your file. Even you’ve never ordered something like that,” she said.

  “That’s true,” he said. “Very true. I come upon my incompetence honestly,” he said. “And I’ll drink to that.” He raised a glass and waited for Harris. She kept her glass down on the bar top. Marlin drank.

  “What was it like?” she asked. “What was it really like at Branscome?”

  Hell in space. Marlin shook his head. “Not much to say beyond what you’ve probably read in all the books. I saw it from the cockpit of a Voodoo. They lured half our fleet in for one last showdown and then nuked themselves to spite us. Now no one seems surprised about the suicide attacks that both sides used at the end of that war. It was brutal. Savage. We hadn’t seen anything like that since the 20th century. Most of us at the time saw it as a sign that the war needed to end and the sooner the better. But there were enough officers who believed we needed to resort to the same tactics – and they did. Lucky for us, the war ended before it got too widespread but not before it ripped the soul out of Fleet.”

  Harris shook her head and ordered another drink. “Why did you stay on? The war ended twenty years ago, Marlin. You could have retired and collected your pension now.”

  Marlin looked at his drink. Picked it up. Set it down without drinking. “After the war, I took a hard look at the kind of people who got promoted up into Fleet Command. They were the same ones who pushed for the suicide attack doctrine. I thought I could help prevent a return to that. Some of us knew what was at stake. Now look at me – swept aside and alone in the end.”

  Harris nodded. “Put the wrong people in the wrong places and you get that. But you’re far from alone now, Marlin. You were just a bit ahead of the curve.” She stared at him and put her hand on his. Marlin sipped his drink.

  Harris was quiet for a while. “Did you hear back from Fleet about my Arcturus yet?” she asked.

  Marlin jogged his memory. “What do you mean?”

  “Well, Rayner and Randall and I analyzed the accident,” she said. “We found the Arcturus AI on my fighter was communicating with another system. Some moon called Iola. Didn’t Commander — Captain Rayner tell you about it?”

  Marlin coughed. Enough drinking for tonight. “I think we have a lot to talk about,” he said.

  Harris looked up as Lieutenant Haraldi sat down at the bar with them. He pointed to the full glass of scotch that Marlin had just shoved away. “I’ll drink that if you aren’t going to,” he said.

  Marlin chuckled and patted Haraldi on the shoulder. “What are you doing here sitting with us miscreants?” he asked.

  Haraldi shook his head angrily. “It’s like you just said, Captain. We have a lot to talk about.”

  ***

  The contents of the barrel fell to the deck. Randall and his men started sorting through them. There were computer chip boards, processors, and odds and ends of wiring and network cable. Marlin picked up a silver ring with a display that ran around its inner curl. He held it up to the light and examined it. “I’m not even sure what I’m looking for here,” he said.

  Randall shrugged. “Neither do we. But since our guest aboard the Vectura isn’t able to tell us yet, we need to find out what it was carrying. Safety issue.”

  Marlin dropped the ring and let his hands sort through the junkpile. Before giving up, a bright glint of steel caught his eye. He dropped his hand towards it and fished it out from the rest of the items. It was a gold plate with one word emblazoned on it. Marlin gulped hard and his eyes went wide. “Chief, I think we got something. In fact, I know we got something here.”

  Randall came over to him and took the item. Squinting hard, he read it aloud. “These are Arcturus AI chips. I guarantee it.”

  What the hell is going on here? “Chief…you wouldn’t happen to have a manifest would you?” Randall shook his head. “No manifest. Logs are clean. He waved his hand over the junk pile. “The only thing that might tell you about all this is that woman we found.”

  Marlin nodded. “Gotcha.”

  ***

  She lay before them on the hospital bed. Her face was thin and her body frail. It wasn’t clear exactly how long she had been floating near death in the cargo ship, but it was evident she would need some time to recover. Marlin eyed her medical chart. Severe dehydration. Hypothermia. Some internal bleeding. Cybernetics are keeping her alive.

  The ship’s medics had done a nice job of repairing her but the chart showed she would need a few more days of bed rest before she was back on her feet. Randall and Marlin watched her eyes open slowly. Marlin nodded to the nurse, who glared at them and packed away the stimulants into her medical kit. “You’ve got five minutes with her and then she needs to sleep,” she said. Marlin felt like a 10 year old who had just asked for one too many candies.

  Harris arrived beside them. “What’s up, Chief? I got your message. Oh…Captain Marlin!” she said. She turned back towards the sickbay entrance. Randall put a hand on her shoulder. “You should probably be here for this,” he said. Reluctantly, she turned back.

  The woman’s eyes went wide as she looked at the three of them standing at the foot of her bed. “Am…I…Where…?” she asked.

  Marlin stepped forward. “You’re safe. You’re aboard the ESS Hellmund. We found you aboard a cargo ship near Ordin.”

  She flinched at the mention of Ordin and began to cry. Harris sat down beside her and took her hand.

  “Ordin…I saw it all. I saw it get destroyed. My mother…” she said. The tears flowed freely down her face.

  Harris nodded. He cradled her hand in his. “H
ow did you survive?”

  The sobs died down a little. “Just lucky – I was just getting off the ship. Still in the spacedock. All of a sudden the whole city just started to explode. The engines were still warm. We nearly didn’t make it. My Hector kicked in when life support systems on the ship were gone. I heard about Nidal. I hope it didn’t hurt.”

  Randall handed her a tissue and she wiped her face. “Rebecca, I need to know about that barrel in the hold. Tell me what you can about the parts you were delivering.”

  “We made — I made deliveries from Karenthus to a moon called Iola. In the Harness System,” she said.

  “Who was picking up those parts? Why?” Randall asked.

  Rebecca shook her head slowly. “Seemed like it was some high security laboratory,” she said. “They were pretty quiet. Just took the delivery off us without saying a word. Paid pretty well too. The last time we went there, I saw something I think I shouldn’t have. There was this room with a big screen in it and it talked about something called Arcturus and casualty rates. I saw Ordin on the screen!”

  Rebecca’s breathing quickened. The tears came again. Harris called for a nurse who came in and shooed all of them away.

  The three of them walked down the hall together. “We need to get down to Iola. Something’s happening with the Arcturus and that moon and all of that seems to be tied up with that big enemy ship out there,” he said.

  “I can get us down there if we can get hold of a ship,” she said.

  Marlin shook his head. “That’s the easy part. The hard part is finding someone who’s willing to risk their butts to help get past the security down there and into the facility.”

  “Well, we do have a platoon of bored Marines on board,” Harris said. “Maybe Commander Yung would be willing to lend us a few of his men?”

  Marlin laughed. “You’re dreaming, kid. There’s no way he’ll let us do that without authorization.” It ends here I guess. Back to the bottle in my room. “It might be worth a try though.”