Colossus (The Kurgan War Book 2)

by Richard Turner

  Both men ran back. Three seconds later, the charges exploded, blasting open the door.

  Williams was up on his feet and running for the opening. He ran into a darkened room and instinctively moved off to one side. His rifle was tight into his shoulder. The view in his sight on his weapon switched from normal to thermal. He panned his rifle around. The room was empty.

  “Which way now, sir?” asked one of the Marines.

  Williams glanced down at the map on the computer display built into the suit’s left forearm. “Straight ahead. There should be another door.”

  The three Marines with him moved toward the door. In a blinding flash, the door exploded inwards. Gunfire erupted from the doorway. Two of the Marines were cut down before they could seek cover. The third man died a second later when he was shot through his faceplate.

  Williams watched in disbelief as a Kurgan officer in full body armor strode into the room quickly followed by five Chosen warriors in survival suits. They turned their weapons on him. He hurriedly placed his sights on the Kurgan officer and pulled the trigger.

  The image of the Kurgan froze and then faded away to blackness.

  Williams swore as he removed his helmet. He had been too slow. He was dead again.

  “Lights,” said Sheridan. The blackened room lit up. They weren’t onboard an enemy vessel, they were instead inside Colossus’ nearly empty hangar bay.

  Williams turned to face his friend. “Jesus, Mike, that’s the third time today that I’ve died. There has to be something wrong with the simulation.”

  Sheridan shook his head. “Sorry, Harry, the computer picks the scenario, not me, and it’s working just fine. This isn’t a test of your combat capabilities, it’s designed to challenge you and as far as I can tell, it’s doing its job.”

  Williams reached for a water bottle and took a long swig of water to cool his parched throat. “If you say so.”

  “I do, Harry,” replied Sheridan firmly.

  Williams could tell that he had gone too far. “Sorry, Mike, I’m just a little frustrated. We did ship-clearing drills for a full week during training. I don’t understand why you’re insisting that we keep doing them. Are we going to board an enemy vessel? Is this what this operation is about?”

  “Suit up, Harry, you’re going back into the simulation. This time you’re going to have your full team with you.”

  “Yes, sir,” responded Williams.

  Sheridan stepped back. He did not like being hard on his friend, but time spent on training now would pay dividends when the shooting actually began. He walked over to the technician sitting behind at the computer console. “Okay, this time he’ll be going through with his assault team. Override the computer. I don’t want any more gunfights. Let them get far inside and then set the ship for destruction. I want to see how quick they can find and operate a Kurgan lifeboat.”

  Chapter 23

  With a smile on her face, Tarina rolled over and slipped an arm over Sheridan’s bare chest. She turned her head and saw that he was staring up at the ceiling. “Michael, what’s wrong? You’ve been so distant all night long.”

  He reached over, picked up her arm, and tenderly kissed her hand. “I’m sorry. There’s just a lot on my mind. That’s all.”

  “You’re leaving me, aren’t you?”

  “Yes, tomorrow, but it won’t be for long,” he replied, truly unsure of how long his mission would take.

  “Can you tell me about it?”

  “For once I get to use your line. If were to tell you—”

  “I’d have to kill you,” said Tarina, finishing his line. “How have our lives come to this? Neither of us can discuss our work with the ones we love.”

  “You know that I’d tell you if I could, but this assignment has such far-reaching implications and the brass has clamped an information blackout on the whole thing. Hell, the Marines I’m taking with me don’t even know what we are going to do.”

  “There’s a rumor floating about the fleet that we have secretly captured two enemy vessels and intend to use them to lure the enemy’s carriers into a trap. Sounds kinda fishy if you ask me, but Wendy said she heard it from a technician who knows an officer who works onboard the Kiev.”

  Sheridan cringed inside; some of the rumor was true. It wouldn’t be long before the whole truth came out. The sooner they deployed, the better. “Wendy should know better. If it weren’t for rumors, there’d be nothing for the people in the fleet to talk about.”

  “Yeah, you’re right,” Tarina said as she snuggled in tight to her lover’s side.

  Sheridan glanced at his watch. “When do you have to go?”

  Tarina saw the time and said, “In an hour. Like you, duty calls.”

  Sheridan let out a resigned sigh. Their time together was coming to an end all too fast.

  “Hey, turn that frown upside down, mister,” said Tarina as she crawled up on top of Sheridan. “No one said for you to take a break.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” he replied, leaning forward to kiss her lips.

  Admiral Sheridan walked out onto the hangar bay floor.

  Michael saw his father approaching and called the Marines with him to attention. He smartly turned about and saluted his father.

  “At ease, Marines,” said the admiral. “I know that since you arrived here two days ago, Captain Sheridan and Master Sergeant Cole have been preparing you for a mission without ever telling you what that mission was. Well, I’m here to tell you all precisely what you are going to be doing. Folks, you will be leaving here as soon as I am gone and your mission will be to lure in and then capture an enemy ship before it can purge its computers.”

  An excited murmur sped through the crowd.

  “Keep it down, Marines,” warned Cole.

  “To do this you will be using a damaged Kurgan transport ship as bait. You will be towed to a spot just outside of the Andoron system, where, if things go to plan, an enemy rescue ship will come to your aid. It is imperative that you seize that vessel and take possession of the codes stored in the ship’s computer banks. Once you have those codes, the tug will return and transport you back to the safety of the fleet.”

  A Marine put up his hand. “Yes, Marine,” said Admiral Sheridan.

  “Sir, what if the enemy doesn’t take the bait?”

  “We’ll worry about that when and if we have to,” replied the admiral.

  Williams stood up. “Sir, you can count on us. We won’t let you down.”

  Admiral Sheridan smiled. “I know you won’t, Harry.” He had met Harry Williams a couple of times during breaks from the Academy when Michael would invite him to stay at their home rather than try to make it all the way to his parents’ place in Toronto.

  “Sir, I don’t want to rush things, but we’ve got a shuttle to catch,” said Michael to his father.

  “Very good, Captain, I’ve kept you all long enough.”

  Captain Sheridan saluted his father. He turned and said, “Master Sergeant Cole, get our people on board the shuttlecraft ASAP.”

  “You heard the man,” barked Cole. “Now move it, Marines.”

  Sheridan walked over to his father and stuck out his hand. “See you soon, Dad.”

  “I’ll see you soon,” replied the admiral as he shook his son’s hand. “Is there anything you wish me to pass on to your mother?”

  Sheridan took a deep breath. He had not spoken with his mother since leaving Earth. “Yes, tell her Tarina and I are both in good health.”

  Robert Sheridan shook his head. “I’ll pass the message.”

  Captain Sheridan bent down, picked up his rifle and his pack. He turned and walked away. All that could be said between the two men had been said. Whether they saw one another again was in the hands of fate, and she was a fickle mistress.

  Sheridan was met at the docking port on the Kurgan vessel by the last of the maintenance crew who were hopping on the shuttle for a ride back to the Colossus.

  “Will she keep together?” Sheridan as
ked a senior technician.

  He shrugged. “If you don’t do anything but float in space you should be okay. However, if you try anything fancy with her, she’s likely to fall to pieces and kill you and everyone in her.”

  “Wonderful news. What a great start to the mission,” said Cole over Sheridan’s shoulder. “We’re flying to our deaths in a coffin.”

  “Could be worse.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know, it just could be,” said Sheridan. “Why don’t you show the Marines their accommodations and then have the squad leaders and Mister Williams meet me on the bridge.”

  “Aye, aye, sir,” replied Cole with a mock salute.

  Sheridan shook his head and made his way down the dimly lit corridor to the bridge. With only so much time, the maintenance team had restored power to only a few sections of the ship. The rest would remain turned off. A shiver ran down Sheridan’s back. He could not decide if was from the cold air in the vessel or the darkened corridors that seemed to be watching him as he walked by. Whatever it was made him pick up his pace.

  The door to the bridge slid open. Sheridan stepped inside and saw Tartov and his two technicians working on the ship’s communication’s console.

  “Does it work?” asked Sheridan.

  “We were about to try it,” answered Tartov as he pressed a button on the console. “Black Knight, this is Rook One, how do you read us, over.”

  “We read you loud and clear,” said a voice over the bridge’s speakers.

  “I take it the tug is the Black Knight and we’re Rook One,” said Sheridan.

  “Correct, sir,” replied Tartov.

  “Rook One, we will be locking onto you in the next five minutes. Please acknowledge that you have all your pers aboard.”

  Sheridan nodded.

  “Rodger that, Black Knight,” replied Tartov.

  Sheridan looked around the bridge. There were jury-rigged consoles and computers hooked up to most of the Kurgan systems. “I’m no expert but it looks like you and your team are to be commended for their work.”

  “Any chance of letting us off before you make the jump into enemy space?” asked Tartov.

  “None, I need you and your people on the other end.”

  “I thought you’d say that,” replied Tartov, none too enthuse about being part of the mission. He took a seat and got back to work.

  The bridge door opened. Cole, Williams, Staff Sergeant Chang, and three other sergeants walked in.

  “It’s bloody cold in this ship,” muttered Williams.

  “Got to keep it cold,” said Sheridan. “For the deception to work the enemy has to think this is a badly damaged and nearly lifeless ship.”

  “Sir, how long will it take to get to where we’re going?” asked Chang, a short man with a thick neck and muscles to spare.

  “A fleet tug does not travel as fast as a capital ship does, past the speed of light. When you add in the mass of this ship into the jump equation, I think that it should take us just under seventy-two hours to reach our destination.”

  “Trust me, you can all use the time to hone your skills,” added Cole.

  “Sir, now that we’re about to set sail, can you tell us your plan?” asked Williams.

  “Fair enough,” said Sheridan. “As we cannot be one hundred percent sure what kind of vessel will respond, Master Sergeant Cole and I have devised a plan that should work regardless of what comes our way. The assault force will be broken down into four teams. Master Sergeant Cole and his team will maneuver over to the enemy ship and disable its engines and life support systems. Another team led by myself will secure the bridge. Staff Sergeant Chang will protect PO Tartov while he downloads the enemy codes from their main computer database. Harry, you will command a small reserve and go wherever you are needed. If Sergeant Chang or I bump into heavy resistance, we’ll probably need you to bail us out.”

  “Sir, how long do you think it will take to accomplish everything?” asked Chang.

  “I want it done in under five minutes,” replied Sheridan. “Any longer than that and we run the risk of the enemy completely erasing their computer files.”

  Williams let out a low whistle. “That’s cutting it a might bit fine.”

  “Well, we have three days to get it right, now don’t we? I expect everyone to learn their job until they can do it in their sleep.”

  Chapter 24

  Tarina watched as a meteor slammed into an asteroid a few kilometers away, shattering it into hundreds of smaller projectiles. For a moment, her hand went over to her fighter’s joystick. She thought about putting some distance between them and the debris but decided that it wasn’t going to fly in their direction.

  She let out a bored sigh and looked at the time. They had been on station for nearly six hours and she was becoming restless. Every day was the same thing. They jumped out to a previously unpatrolled section of space and waited. So far not a single sign of the enemy jump ship had been recorded. Back at the squadron, some of the crews had begun to call it the Phantom.

  “Anything on the monitor?” Tarina asked Wendy.

  “Same as the last twenty times, nothing.”

  Tarina did not realize that she asked so many times. “Sorry, Wendy. I’m just frustrated that we can’t seem to find hide nor hair of the enemy.”

  “It’s okay, I feel the same way.”

  “Well, it’s getting near that time. I take it your return trip calculations have not changed?”

  “No, we’re good to . . .” Wendy’s voice trailed off

  “What is it? Do you see something?”

  Wendy silently studied her monitor.

  Tarina was becoming restless. She wanted to know what was going on. “Wendy, please tell me. Do you have something?”

  “A ship just jumped into our sector,” responded Wendy.

  “Friendly?”

  “No. It’s not giving off a friendly force tracker signal. It’s definitely Kurgan.”

  Tarina’s pulse began to race. She quickly brought their fighter to life. “Bearing and distance to the target?”

  “Bearing, six-three-zero-one. Distance, one hundred thousand kilometers. The object is stationary.”

  Tarina knew that it would take their missile ten seconds to reach the target. At that distance, the enemy would see it coming and might be able to react. However, if it were in the act of deploying one of its jump fighters, it would be vulnerable to attack. She decided to take the risk and fed the data into the ship’s targeting computer. “Standby!” said Tarina as she pressed the launch button on her console.

  Beneath their craft, the anti-ship missile locked onto its target and shot away increasing its speed by the second.

  Both women stared at the screen on their consoles. A red dot moved straight at the enemy vessel. Tension filled the cockpit. Neither woman breathed as the missile closed in on its prey. However, a split-second before detonation, the enemy craft vanished from their screen.

  Tarina swore and struck her console. They had missed. Now the Kurgans would know that they were being hunted and adjust their tactics accordingly. She had just made it harder for the next crew that stumbled across the Kurgan vessel to kill it.

  A computer voice spoke. “Warning, incoming missile. Eight seconds to contact.”

  Fear gripped Tarina. “Jesus, get us out of here, Wendy!”

  “Jumping in three-two-one,” reported Wendy calmly.

  In an instant, their fighter was enveloped in darkness as they jumped past the speed of light.

  “What happened?” Wendy asked.

  “They must have spotted us the second we launched our missile and fired one straight back at us.”

  “That was close. My heart’s still racing.”

  “Mine too.”

  “I guess the only good that came from today was that I doubt the enemy was able to launch one of its jump fighters before it had to leave.”

  “Good old, Wendy. Always looking for the silver lining in an otherw
ise crappy day.”

  “The day’s not over. I doubt that the Sixth Fleet is going to be happy that we missed.”

  Tarina shook her head. Wendy was right. Some staff officer sitting behind a desk was going to second guess everything that had happened today. She clenched her jaw until it hurt. The thought of having to explain her actions to someone who had never been shot at galled her. She sat back in her chair and cleared her mind. No matter how bad she thought things could be, Tarina knew that Sheridan was about to risk his life, and there was nothing she could do to help.

  Chapter 25

  Sheridan sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge while eating his breakfast. It was supposed to be sausages and hash browns. To Sheridan, it was a tasteless mush in a warmed up bag. Napoleon once said that an army marches on its stomach. Evidently, he was not thinking of Marine Corps rations, thought Sheridan.

  The door to the bridge slid open.

  Sheridan turned in his seat and saw that it was Cole. His friend had a pissed look on his face. “What gives, Master Sergeant?”

  “Sir, I did a quick inspection this morning and found that some of Mister Williams’ Marines had somehow unlocked the armorer’s setting on their assault rifles. If I hadn’t caught them, who knows how many more weapons would have been tampered with. The last thing we need is for an explosive decompression to happen while we try to take an enemy vessel.”

  Sheridan shook his head. He was disappointed and angry with Williams. “Can you adjust the rifles back to the proper settings?”

  Cole held up an armorer’s tool. “I already have. I borrowed one just in case someone decided that he knew better than we did.”

  “Thank God for that. Please round up Mister Williams and Staff Sergeant Chang and have them meet me here on the bridge.”

  It took Cole less than two minutes to find and escort Williams and Chang to the bridge.