Task Force (Task Force Series)

by Brad Smith

  ***

  Marlin, Harris, and Randall sat at the base of the table. Commander Jin Yung took off his camouflage–patterned Marine cap and placed it carefully on the table surface in front.

  “So what you’re telling me is that you need my Marines to check out a hunch,” he said. “Is that what you’re getting at here?”

  Marlin leaned forwards. “We have enough evidence now to show that something is going on between the Arcturus AI and this moon called Iola. There’s enough to show some kind of link going on.”

  “I’m afraid without direct orders from the captain, I can’t dispatch my Marines to the surface even on a security deet,” he said. “Sorry but until I hear from him, I’ll have to refuse your request. Although I won’t mention to anyone that you made it.”

  Randall showed the images of the Arcturus chips he had pulled from the cargo ship destined for the moon. The flight recorder showing Harris’ fighter making contact with Iola played on a loop on the vidscreen. On a tablet, the testimony of Rebecca Samson played mutely.

  “So that’s that?” Harris asked as he stood up.

  Yung put his cap on and adjusted it. “I’m afraid so,” he said. He left the room quickly.

  Marlin turned towards Harris and Randall. “I think I may have found a use for that Noridian spy we locked up. Let Haraldi know we need access to the detention area.”

  ***

  “This one does not understand,” it said. The silver bulbous sphere sat before them in the glass–walled cell. “This one is being released?”

  “Not exactly,” Marlin told it. “We’re giving you a choice. You can cooperate with us and be let go or you can stay here and rot.”

  The sphere turned several different shades of color. Finally, an opening formed to resemble a mouth. The sounds of speech it synthesized from its makeshift vocal cords were the exact same pitch as Marlin’s voice. “And you wish me to take on the form of one of yours?” it said.

  Haraldi stood before the Noridian. “Exactly. You claimed in our earlier interview that you were trying to find information on the origin of the ship that attacked Karenthus ten days ago. We may have found a way to get that information. But we need your help.”

  The sphere turned several shades of various colors. Finally, they dissipated and the sphere was back to silver, the images of Haraldi and Marlin reflecting back at them.

  “This one agrees,” it said. Marlin and Haraldi looked at each other.

  “Let’s get set up and ready. You got a picture of Relnick we could use to help our friend here?”

  Haraldi nodded. “Chief Randall has worked a camera feed in here with a generated background to make it look like he’s transmitting from Fleet back on Earth.”

  “Good enough for me,” Randall said. “I’ll get Commander Yung and let him know he’s got an emergency message from Fleet. I just hope to god he doesn’t try to confirm it with Rayner or we’re cooked.”

  Haraldi took out a photograph of Relnick and laid it on the table. He knelt down and started connecting the wires together. “We’ll send you down on my watch. I wouldn’t worry about Rayner. He has only one thing on his mind. Hunting that ship down. He’s made it clear he’s not to be disturbed. If all else fails, we show him the video of our ‘Relnick’ and hope he buys it too.”

  Marlin stopped where he stood, chilled. My god – these people are just as desperate as I am. Just as lost. “Lieutenant, I’ve come to peace in my mind with the consequences of failure already. Life in prison. Maybe even a firing squad. But what happens if this actually works? How do we get back to normal?”

  Haraldi shook his head. “After that last battle with Rayner at the helm, it’s obvious to quite a few of us that there isn’t a normal now. Not anymore. There’s always gonna be a few of us who stay on after Branscome.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  As the Hellmund arrived in the Harness System, a single ship departed from its hangar bay. Marlin and a team of Marines sat on board. Below them was the moon of Iola, forever in the shadow of it mother planet Iris.

  The ship buzzed low over the moon’s rocky outcroppings and steep valleys. Marlin surveyed the cracks and ridges. The perfect place to hide something. If Iola had any secrets of its own, it had been very good at keeping them. Finally, he spotted it just ahead. A series of long dark buildings made to blend in with the moon’s surface. Exactly where Rebecca had told us.

  The combat transport shipped slowed and then hovered just outside of the facility. Harris sat at the controls and Marlin tapped at the vidscreen. After a few fumbled efforts, the view from the five Marines was visible on his display. “One ready! Two! Three! Four! Five!”

  The door on the side of the ship slid open and the Marines leapt out. The ground came up fast to the screen. In the upper left, he saw a man no less than a foot away raise a pulse rifle. A split second later, the butt of the Marine’s rifle appeared and slammed into his chin. The man fell out of view.

  The high pitched whines of pulse rifles grew to a crescendo outside. One of the Marines neared the entrance of the lab and threw in a grenade. A blast flew by his helmet. The view of the Marine to his right went dark. Below that, he saw the Marine laying on the ground. The squad leader took cover behind a large rock. The pulse beams flew overhead. A grenade exploded in the lab 20 meters from where he sat. The rest of the team piled into the closest building while the leader cocked a grenade into the launcher and fired. No more pulse blasts flew over his head.

  The Marines scrambled through the lab, meeting resistance at every corner. One of the men rounded a corner and was shot in the face at close range. Another part of the screen went black. The rest of the squad filled the hallway with rifle fire and grenades. They pressed together down a long hallway. On their left was a cafeteria. Bodies lay on the ground. They kept moving.

  The squad leader and another Marine sprinted to the side of the lab. They passed a series of large shaded glass windows. At the last one, the squad leader attached some plastique and stuck in the detonator. They backed up and threw the switch. A short sharp crack and the glass shattered to the ground. The two Marines piled in through the debris. Over the hump, they found a room filled with monitors and a series of devices that blinked on and off. The squad leader collected them while the other Marine aimed his rifle at the doorway.

  The rest of the team was taking heavy casualties. Only two men remained. They were now firing non–lethal grenades down the hall. Stun grenades and tear gas went off in a series of loud pops. Marlin wondered how anyone could survive any of it. He marveled at the brutality of it all.

  He stood up and went to the door of the transport ship. Looking down from the open doorway, he saw the Marines piling up below. Harris brought the ship in closer. They dragged their dead and wounded aboard. The squad leader and the other man he was paired with finally came, sprinting towards the ship. Pulse rifle blasts soared over their head. Harris took the ship down further and Marlin started grabbing at Marines, trying to yank them inside. The ship rocked with the impact of several pulse rifle blasts. Marlin reached over and closed the door with the help of a Marine.

  The ship pulled up and rocketed away from the moon’s rocky dark surface. Marlin looked at the blood pooling on the floor. I hope it was worth it.

  ***

  Back aboard the ship, Marlin sat down with Harris and Randall. Running through the piles of datapads, computer chips, and technological bric–a–brac they had picked up on Iola, they fumbled and tried hard to piece it together. So much of it was too advanced to even provide a clue as to how it worked or what it was supposed to do.

  Randall leaned over and grabbed an old datapad. “Well, that’s not Arcturus,” Marlin said. “I had one of those myself about ten years ago or so. Let me look at that.”

  Randall handed Marlin the device. He opened it up and gazed at the bright screen. He thumbed through the file list and found a reports section. Looking it up and down, he found a series of files connected to Arcturus. It looked like
some kind of series of communications with directives from Fleet. Several of the messages dated back towards the end of the last war.

  Marlin put his glasses on and started reading. Randall listened. Details about the Arcturus Project 1.0 came out gradually. “Current situation is unacceptable…Peace required before both sides wipe themselves out.”

  “My god,” Marlin said. “Project Athena. This is dated from before the war. They were trying to build a device to completely wipe out the Noridians,” he said.

  Harris sat back. “Well, looks like they failed at that. Most of its attacks are in human space.”

  “That may be true….but get me a map,” he said. Randall brought up a map of the system on the display.

  “I want you to bring this map back twenty years ago,” said Marlin. “Just before the war with the Noridians ended.”

  The map showed the contested boundaries of the human and Noridian empires at the time. “I knew it. Anata, Harness, Hayes, and Verada Systems. They were all under Noridian control.”

  Randall nodded. “They were ceded during the ceasefire and subsequent peace talks. Never formally acknowledged in the treaty but an informal agreement guaranteed they’d be left alone for either side to colonize without any conflict.”

  “So what we’ve got here looks like a device built before the war ended that was intended to run amuck on its own in Noridian space, wiping out the planets one by one,” said Harris. “So far, it’s batting one for four systems in that regard.”

  Marlin looked at the map, tracing a finger through the Karenthus System through to the Harness System. Oh shit. “Well, don’t worry – I have a pretty good idea that it’s gonna be two for five real soon. It’s heading right back into Noridian space after this. And by then, we should be back at war with those slimy metallic bastards.”

  “What’s the relationship between Arcturus and that big enemy vessel?” Harris asked.

  Randall ran his finger along the edge of the screen. His pupils flashed red, a sure indication that his cybernetics had been activated. He blinked and his pupils returned to their natural dark color. “The Arcturus AI that was installed on the Hellmund and all her systems was based on the original AI that runs that big enemy ship out there,” he said. “When it was first activated on our ship, it sent the protocols that activated Project Athena. The two systems started to talk with one another, just as Harris’ fighter did when she activated her Arcturus.”

  Marlin shook his head. “That still doesn’t explain the lab. I’ve been in the Fleet for forty five years now. That lab had Fleet written all over it. What were they up to?”

  Randall shook his head. “These communiques were encrypted so I’m not entirely sure yet,” he said. “But from what I can gather, Project Athena was never shut down after the war like it was ordered to. A group of senior officers kept the project afloat, headquartered on Iola in case the war ever started up again. The messages show they’d lost all control of Athena by the time it activated and were trying to regain control over it.”

  Marlin laughed bitterly. “And now their toy is starting a war anyways. I’ll bet Relnick is laughing his ass off. Guys like that were only too happy to keep the war going. He was one of the officers in charge of planning the revenge suicide tactics against the Noridians. Once his crazy ideas filtered up through the rest of command, he got promoted real quick.”

  Harris nodded. “Rayner’s the logical outcome of that policy. He’s intent on winning no matter the cost. Throwing away lives for no damn reason.”

  Marlin shrugged. “Might as well join the fight or find a nice place to sit it out. Iola looked like it might have its fun moments,” he said.

  Randall chuckled and looked away. Harris exploded.

  “Damn it, Marlin!” she shouted. “Of course there’s a way. You need to deal with this issue of yours right now. It’s time for you to step up and be captain again!”

  “Don’t you remember?” he said calmly. “I was captain. They took it away from me. And you know what, I deserved it. They gave me the chance. Rayner was right. I lost my edge. It doesn’t matter anymore anyway. Why do you care?”

  She stood up and poked him in the chest. Marlin looked surprised.

  “We all know you’re hurt,” she said. “But with Rayner’s way – with the Fleet’s way – we’re all doomed. We need someone like you to protect us. But we also need you to let us do what’s needed when what’s needed is to risk losing everything. That’s not easy for a bridge officer. I get it. But it’s part of the responsibility.”

  Randall stood up and excused himself. Neither Harris nor Marlin acknowledged him.

  “I’ve got years behind me of damage,” he said. Years of watching good people get thrown out there and wasted for no good reason and in the stupidest ways. I’ll be damned if I do it again. Can’t you see that I’m not fit for this job anymore?”

  Harris grabbed him by the collar and yanked him towards her. She brought him close and embraced her. Marlin held on to her for a long time. “You have to do this,” she said. “We need you. Marlin, please. Somewhere in all this, it’s got to be here. Some kind of weakness. Some way we can get this thing.”

  Marlin shook his head. “I don’t know. It’s just…the past…,” he said.

  Harris dragged Marlin by the hand to the terminal at the far end of the workshop. “A standalone version of Arcturus,” she said. She tapped a few buttons on the terminal. A bright white light appeared on the screen and then formed into the figure of a human head.

  “I am Arcturus. State your request,” it said.

  Harris stood before the terminal. “Boot up the Third Battle at Branscome System 2549. Just prior to Fleet and Noridian engagement.”

  The head collapsed on the terminal screen and projected a 3D holographic map of stars with Fleet ships represented as blue and Nordian ships as red.

  Marlin turned. “I don’t need to see this – I was there, don’t you know?” he shouted.

  “Not like this,” Harris said. “You haven’t seen it like this!”

  “Arcturus, run every permutation of the battle possible and report back with a casualty probability list for Ensign John Marlin and Richard Hayes.”

  The 3D projection smashed the ships together again and again, faster and faster. The Noridian ship exploded a thousand times. Each time, the Arcturus showed varying probabilities of survival for the Fleet ships.”

  Harris turned, tears in her eyes. Marlin sniffed. “Did you see that, John?! Less than a three percent probability for any ship to have survived that hell. Either the Noridian ship blows itself to pieces and wipes out your friends or the attack fails and it destroys your carrier and kills everyone!”

  Marlin watched the simulation run again and again. He observed it from different angles. Put different pilots in different positions with varying levels of training and skill. Same results every time. Either most of us are killed or we’re all dead.

  After ten minutes of watching the simulation run on automatic, he shut off the terminal. “I think I need some time alone for a bit,” he announced to the room.

  After ten minutes passed, he emerged from the workshop and entered the adjacent flight ops briefing room. “Get Randall back here with some technicians,” said Marlin. “And get Commander Yung down here. I have a feeling we’ll need his Marines.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  “Okay, Rayner – it’s time for you to get the hell off the bridge,” Marlin said. “You’ve done enough damage here.”

  Rayner spun around in disbelief. “Captain Marlin. You were told to stay off my bridge!”

  Marlin pulled the gun out and aimed it at him. “You’ll need to take this away from me first.” His finger rested against the trigger. He felt his jaw tighten as Rayner took a step towards him.

  “I’m not sure you’re going to do it,” Rayner said. “Actually, I don’t think you have the balls. I saw how you acted at Anata System. You’ve lost the edge, champ. Your stupid piecemeal tactics are over. Now
I’ll give you one chance to get off this bridge before I call security and have them haul you out of here by your face.”

  Marlin laughed. He sat down in the captain’s chair, pushing up to adjust its height. “Well, you’d better call them. Because from what I see, you’ve violated every bit of Fleet doctrine that’s ever been written with your maneuvers back there.”

  Rayner shook his head. “I had no choice and you know it. You were there at Branscome. I read your file. It may have cost a hell of a lot of lives, sure. But it ended the war.”

  Marlin jerked his head up at the mention of Branscome. His eyes narrowed. His grip on the pistol tightened. “What in the holy hell would you know about Branscome? You weren’t even there. A waste of life when we had already won. But Fleet wouldn’t teach you that part of the story, would they?”

  Rayner turned to Haraldi, who sat passively in his bridge seat, watching carefully. “Haraldi, I want you to call the security team right now. Get them up here and have Mister Marlin removed from this bridge and placed under arrest.”

  Haraldi didn't’ budge. He folded his arms and leaned back in his chair. He wore a scowl on his face. “The Reamus, sir. The Reamus. You pushed things too far. Asked too much.” He turned back to his station and scanned his sensors.

  “It’s really too bad, Rayner,” said Marlin. “You had the makings of a damn good ship’s captain. But you don’t know where to draw the line between bravery and fanaticism. I saw what happens when men forget. Saw that darker side come right out for myself at Branscome.”

  Marlin felt the weight of the gun in his hands now. There’s no going back from any of this. The door to the bridge flung open and a two–man security team stood at the entrance. Their pistols were at the ready. “Drop the weapon!” one screamed at Marlin. “Put that gun down on the ground right now!” shouted the other.