Phoenix Odyssey Book 1 (Battle Beyond Earth)

by Thomas, Nick S.

  "But I'm still the one smiling. I am everything you say I am, and you're a fool for thinking you can change any of it."

  He leant down and picked up a baton one of them had dropped.

  "Lysenko was a fool to set you free. You are not a friend to us," he spat, and the two of them came forward.

  CJ ducked under the other man's thrust and connected with his throat with the stun baton. He shook violently and collapsed to the ground. Finally, the last one came at him, the man he had already beaten twice, as if he expected some different outcome the third time around. CJ struck upwards against the man's arm with his baton. It hit the edge of bone at the wrist, and he let out a cry of pain as his weapon shot free from his grasp. He keeled over, cradling his hand in pain. CJ, still holding his baton, delivered a swift uppercut that caught the man on the chin and launched him off his feet. The room was quiet once again, and CJ marvelled at his handiwork.

  "No, I'm not your friend, and neither do I want to be."

  He strode out and dropped the baton as he reached the door.

  "Amateurs," he muttered as he left.

  As he left the room, he noticed one last guard quivering against the inner doorframe in terror. CJ glared at him as he passed him by, as if he felt no danger at all from the man. He began to wander the corridors and soon enough found signs that led him to Deck B. He rode an elevator down and staggered out. He could feel his balance was off and his vision blurring.

  "Really is strong shit," he said to himself.

  He staggered past a few crewmembers and crashed into one of their shoulders, but didn't stop until he reached his door. There seemed to be no handle or button for the door, but as he looked at it, some light flashed before his eyes as if it were scanning him, and the door slid open. The room was stark and small, but all that mattered was that it had a bed. He stumbled forward and collapsed onto it and was out cold almost as quickly as he hit the sheets.

  As he slept, some more memories came back to him like dreams. He remembered cutting his bloody path of destruction through Taylor's unit and others who worked with him. Being given his orders by Erdogan himself. He remembered it all as though it was yesterday, and for him, it was. Deep down, it had been programmed into him that he must kill Taylor and all those he cared for, but he had failed, and that hurt more than anything else. He already felt that this place wasn't for him, but he'd ride it out for now. More flashes passed him by, being tied to a rack as he was electrocuted, but he couldn't remember by whom or for what reason.

  Chapter 5

  Something was buzzing and irritating him, and all he wanted to do was sleep. He thought it was in his mind, but as it drew louder, he realised it was some kind of buzzer for his room. He groaned and tried to ignore it, but it just kept ringing. He pushed himself up and out of bed and stepped to the door, which to his surprise opened automatically. A pretty female officer stood before him, and she did not look like she wanted to be there.

  "Sir, Lieutenant King, I am here to escort you to General Lysenko."

  He rubbed his eyes, and he recognised her. The woman he had run into and stolen a hair clip from. He reached into his pocket, took out the clip, and handed it to her.

  "Much obliged, you got me out of a tight spot."

  She didn't look impressed as she snapped it from his outstretched palm.

  “Captain, you are to come with me please,” she added.

  “I am not a Captain.”

  “Yes, Sir, it says so right here.”

  He groaned.

  “Right now?” He looked down at the compression suit he was still wearing.

  “Yes, Sir, you will find a uniform in your wardrobe,” she replied and gestured towards what looked like a bare wall.

  He went over to it, and as he stood before the open space, a door revealed itself and slid open. Three matching uniforms were hung inside. He pulled one from the rack, but didn’t look impressed. It was light grey with blank epaulettes and some kind of insignia that he had never seen before.

  “What the hell is this?”

  “Alliance Navy regulation, Sir,” she replied.

  He pulled off the top of his suit and continued to drop his trousers as if having no shame or dignity at all. King turned quickly away because CJ hadn’t even closed his door, and that made him smile when he saw how flustered she was.

  “Nothing you haven’t seen before? Or don’t they make real men anymore?”

  “We believe in privacy and respect.”

  “Privacy, in the armed forces? This isn’t Sunday School. We are fighters, or you’re supposed to be anyway.”

  “I am not sure how that is relevant, Sir.”

  “The survival of the whole Alliance at stake, and you’re worried about seeing a man naked? Sounds like you have got your priorities all wrong, Lieutenant.”

  “It’s what we’re fighting for, isn’t it? To protect our way of life?”

  He laughed.

  “Whatever that is. It’s no wonder you are in this position. Humanity was always weak, but never as much as I have seen it since I was brought back here.”

  “It isn’t weakness to be a good person.”

  He laughed once again. “A good person, and what is that?”

  She didn’t even seem sure.

  “Being a good person is what you be at the dinner table, but this is a different game altogether. Your boss has brought me back because your generation doesn’t have the balls to get the job done.”

  “I am glad I did not live in your time,” she snapped.

  He just smiled in response. He pulled on the uniform to find it was a perfect fit as though it had been tailored to him, but he looked at it in the mirror beside him and shook his head in despair.

  “Fashion certainly hasn’t improved.”

  Finally, he stepped out of the room, and she led him onwards.

  “You know I was created to kill your kind, don’t you?”

  “I have heard the rumours, but I also know that some of Captain Jones is still inside of you, and I know he was a good man.”

  “Maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t, but I am not him.”

  “So you really aren’t him?”

  He shook his head.

  “So the rumours are true,” she whispered to herself.

  He knew he shouldn’t have told her, but he didn’t care.

  “The General was foolish to release you into this world,” she added.

  “Yeah, maybe,” he replied.

  She didn’t have any more time to speak as they reached a vast drill hall. It was more like a hangar than anything else, and hundreds of troops were formed up, Humans, Krys, and some other smaller creatures the size of Human children in their early teenage years.

  “Who the fuck are they?”

  “Cholans,” she replied, surprised that he had never encountered them before.

  The troops were formed up as if for parade, and only a small group was moving towards him, led by Lysenko, and with Wespe by her side.

  “Captain, I have selected these troops personally.”

  “To what end?” he asked as they stopped before him.

  “If you are going to accomplish the tasks that we set you, you are going to need help. I want you to select fifty of the best from these units, and you are to train them into an elite fighting force.”

  “Fifty?”

  “Yes, you are to operate an elite Special Forces operation, not an army.”

  “I thought it was too many, not too few,” he smirked.

  The General didn’t know how to take it or respond, so she quickly brushed over his comment.

  “Every man and woman here has volunteered and are highly skilled.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that,” he said and began pacing down the line. He was at the Human units first, and he didn’t look impressed. Most looked too young and too fresh-faced. He reached the Krys and seemed at least partially impressed. Their equipment was not as he remembered it. Their armour was far sleeker and agile, and mor
e in line with what Human soldiers of his day had worn.

  “The Krys is a blunt instrument, not a subtle weapon in war,” he declared.

  “Not this unit. They are some of the finest fighters in the Krys Empire.”

  CJ groaned as he carried on and finally reached the Cholans. He stopped and gave them a disgusted look as though he had no respect for them at all.

  “I won’t take children to war,” he finally declared.

  “Captain, the Cholans have more than proven themselves in this war.”

  “Not to me they haven’t.”

  “Captain Tamay, step forward!” Wespe roared.

  The Cholan did as ordered, but Jones was not impressed.

  “They are toy soldiers, and I won’t have them along for the ride.”

  “Let them prove themselves before you dismiss them, Captain,” insisted Wespe.

  He grunted as he looked at the Cholan officer from head to toe. She was armoured up and wearing a smaller version of the exo-suits that everyone else wore, a hybrid of Human and Krys technology.

  “If a soldier fights beside me, I need to know they have got what it takes to do the job and have my back. Put your weapon down!”

  Tamay looked to Wespe and Lysenko for confirmation.

  “Don’t look to them. You came here to prove yourself to me. Either do it, or get the fuck out of here!”

  Wespe looked unimpressed by his vulgar ways, but Lysenko knew what to expect.

  “I’d do what the Captain asks of you,” she stated.

  Tamay handed her rifle to one of her own and stepped out in front of CJ, who merely held out his hands as if to show he had nothing on him.

  “Unarmed, unarmoured, and you’ve got four hundred years on me. Put me on the ground, and I’ll consider changing my mind.”

  Tamay lowered and stretched out into some elaborate martial arts stance that was entirely alien to CJ, but he didn’t look bothered by it, and casually stood waiting to be impressed. He pointed for the Cholan to come forward. The child-sized officer leapt into a summersault in an impressive show of athleticism before bounding towards him. The alien was swaying back and forth and stepping from side to side, as if weighing CJ up before finally coming forward with a kick to his flank.

  CJ calmly took hold of the officer’s leg as it struck him and didn’t even flinch from the power of the block. He delivered a crippling punch to the alien’s face and dropped his elbow onto his knee, breaking the joint. The Cholan let out a cry of pain as he let go and crumpled to the floor. He turned to the General.

  “These children don’t impress me.”

  The Krys soldiers seemed highly entertained by the display, while many of the Humans were appalled by the act of barbarism.

  “Captain Jones, what do you think you are doing?” Wespe demanded.

  “Your job.”

  Wespe was silenced as CJ walked up and down the lines of troops. Lysenko waited and watched to see what he would do.

  “You listen to me. I don’t give a damn who you are, or what you think you can do. If I am going to war with you, then you better be damn sure you have got what it takes. That thing doesn’t,” he said, looking at the wounded Cholan with disgust, “Get them out of my sight,” he snarled.

  Wespe couldn’t believe what he was hearing and turned to the General to appeal to her.

  “Sir, you can’t let this go on anymore. This maniac has already hurt and killed more of our allies than any good he is ever likely to do.”

  CJ didn’t even bother to try and fight it. He was completely unapologetic for what he had done, and if anything looked inclined to violence towards the Major, who now appeared both angry and fearful.

  Everyone looked to Lysenko for some answers, as she seemed to be assessing the situation. Wespe look furious, but he could do nothing without orders from her. Finally, she spoke up.

  “I don’t like the Captain’s methods, and I think it is a sad day that we have to regress to what he once was, but whatever we are doing has not been working. Colonel Taylor has turned the tide of this war, and not because he has done things our way, but because he has cut his own path, and we must trust in that. The Captain, CJ, must be given a chance.”

  “But look what he has done!” Wespe protested, pointing down at the wounded Cholan.

  The General nodded. She looked sympathetically at the alien, but still shook her head.

  “I hate to say it, but we are weak. And there is no room for weakness anymore. We need the strength that Humanity once had, and old school relics like Taylor and CJ prove that perfectly. We need to dig deep into our own history, and find that strength which we once had.”

  “This isn’t strength. It is cruelty and intolerance.”

  Lysenko nodded in agreement.

  “Yes, it is, and it is what we must learn from, and ultimately become.”

  Wespe couldn’t believe it, but could do nothing to change the General’s mind as she continued.

  “CJ, I am giving you a commission as a Captain in a newly formed unit, known as the 1st Special Service Brigade, in honour of its historical namesake. The unit is yours to recruit and control, and you will answer only to me. You will undertake those missions that I give you. I don’t care how you get them done, only that you do. All those who serve with you must be volunteers, and you may have as many or few as you deem necessary. All those that you do not accept will be returned to their units. You have three days to assemble your team, and then you will be going into action. I wish you every luck, and hope that you can be the man we desperately need you to be. They are all yours, Captain.”

  With that, she turned and left. Wespe glared at CJ for a few moments. Tears were almost coming to his eyes as he could see the slippery slope they were going down. CJ responded with a murderous look that Wespe could see he would be more than willing to back up.

  “Don’t make the General regret this decision. It has been made in the worst possible of scenarios. These are desperate times. Please don’t make them any worse.”

  He didn’t wait for a response, and CJ wasn’t going to give one. He rushed on after the General. CJ was left with the volunteers only. Two of the Cholans were helping their wounded officer, but CJ showed no sympathy towards them.

  “Get out of here now, and take your pathetic excuse for soldiers with you,” he scowled.

  They helped up their officer before shuffling out of the room, leaving only Humans and Krys. CJ walked up and down the lines of them and seemed to have almost no respect for the Humans. Eventually, he stepped back and casually stood at ease, gazing at them all in an inquisitive fashion. He could see a mix of uniforms, and it was clear they had volunteered from many nations and many arms of service.

  “You!” he declared as he pointed to a woman in the front rank. She was the shortest of all those before him and looked to be of South American heritage.

  “What is your name?”

  “Corporal Rivera, Sir!”

  “Okay, Corporal, what are you doing here?”

  “Sir, I came here to be the best.”

  “And you think you are?”

  “Not yet, Sir.”

  Against his better judgement that brought a smile to his face, but he soon removed it, not wanting to seem favourable to any one of them. He stepped down the line until he stopped at the complete opposite of Rivera, a tall ginger-headed man half a foot taller than he was. He was broad shouldered and looked as strong as an ox.

  “Name?”

  “Private Ross,” he replied in a deep Scottish accent.

  “Three days until we go into action. Not a lot of time to improve, what makes you think you are tough enough already?”

  “I believe you can make us tough enough, Sir.”

  “Mmm,” he groaned.

  He couldn’t help but feel that they were kissing his arse. He went over to the officer standing in front of the Human units. He held the rank of Lieutenant and wore a Russian flag on his uniform. He wasn’t much smaller than the Scotsman.<
br />
  “Name?”

  “Mirov, Sir.”

  “Why did you all come here? Why volunteer for this?” he asked quietly.

  “Sir, Colonel Taylor has made a world of difference in this war, and we want to do the same.”

  “But I am not Colonel Taylor,” he snarled, “So did I get his rejects, is that what is standing before me?”

  “No, Sir,” he responded in surprise.

  “Then what are you doing here?”

  He looked confused. “I thought you knew.”

  CJ shook his head.

  “Sir, we are all convicts. We were told that if we volunteered for service with you, whether you accepted us or not, we would be set free.”

  CJ began to laugh. “A penal unit?” He laughed even louder.

  None of the others laughed, but he was highly amused. He took a few paces back to address them all, two hundred Humans and Krys.

  “I don’t much care for Humanity, but I am going to give you a chance? Why? Because you are slaves and prisoners to Humanity, just as I was made. I am going to wipe the slate clean, and if you can live up to my expectations and pass my tests, you will have a place in this unit!”

  He paced back and forth, thinking about how he would go about it, finally stopping in front of Mirov. He smiled. He had a solution.

  “Your teams, how do they divide up?”

  “Four-man fireteams, Sir.”

  CJ nodded in appreciation as he paced up and down once more.

  One in four, perfect.

  “Two hundred of you stand before me today, but I only need a quarter of that number! I don’t want an army of mediocrity; I want a handful of the best! Take off your weapons and armour. Each four-man fireteam fights it out, last man standing, officers and all. That last man or woman has a place in my unit. The rest of you, the losers, can get the fuck out of here!”

  Nobody moved for a moment as they waited for some sign of what to do.

  “What are you waiting for? Get to it!”

  Chapter 6

  CJ stood at the edge of the room with his arms folded and a huge grin on his face, as he watched the melee and chaos unfold before him. Cries of pain rang out as arms and legs were broken, and blood was spilled in a bloody hand-to-hand rampage. Nobody had questioned his orders. Being free of their cells seemed to give them the willpower to do whatever was necessary to fight on. It took seven minutes for most of the decisions to be made. Many of the wounded lay sprawled out on the deck and unable to get back up.