by Rod Carstens
“Focus! That is only one, and we’re about to lose a number of our weapons systems!” Jakob snapped over the CIC comm system.
The operators turned back to their displays.
“Chief, you’ve got to see this,” the visual-systems operator said.
“Put it up.”
The CIC had operators monitoring each part of the light spectrum from infrared to visual. It was the visual operator who had just given Jakob a heads-up. He had control of a powerful telescope, so he could actually see the battle taking place. When the visual came up, Jakob was not sure what he was looking at. Then it became clear. The ships that had the electronic signature of a troopship were changing. Huge doors were opening on top of the ships. They ran the length of the ships, and as they opened, literally hundreds of missiles were slowly being raised.
“What are they?” the operator asked.
“They are disguised missile boats.”
“Shit,” Tepuruan said. “All scrams target those ships. They have enough missiles in their bays to knock everything out. They’re going to fire them in salvo.”
Jakob watched as the scrams changed targets and fired on the missile ships. BSAT Two fired first. It was amazing how many missiles were fired at once from a single ship. The defensive systems were having a hard time showing so many trajectories. The Xotoli missiles scattered—each was targeting a different asteroid. The Xotoli were not trying to figure out what was a target and what wasn’t—they were just going to blast everything in this part of the asteroid belt.
One then another scram hit BSAT One. Jakob could see a flash inside the vessel as kinetic energy illuminated the interior of the ship. In another split second a third scram struck it, and this time ignited the missiles. It was blown apart before it could fire its weapons. But BSAT Three, aft of BSAT One, was able to fire its weapons in a huge salvo. Hundreds more red streaks were added to the missiles headed for the asteroid belt. Crossing those streaks were the tracks of Confederation scrams racing for the Xotoli ships.
“Put up the rail-dispersal pattern,” Jakob said.
Their only hope was that the rails’ spreads would take out some of the missiles racing toward them. They weren’t smart, but there were thousands of them in a pattern designed to take out ships—now just maybe they would take out the missiles.
The thousands of red dots filled the screen as they raced for the Xotoli ships. The armored ball bearings were still thousands of miles out, but they formed a wall between the Xotoli missiles and the Confederation asteroid-based weapons.
“Come on, we need some luck,” Jakob muttered to himself.
“We sure do. Those are small, unguided pieces of iron, but they just might work,” Tepuruan said, staring closely at the display.
They both watched as the missiles and the rail shot approached one another. A missile exploded, then another. The screen was filled with multicolored explosions as the missles were struck by the canister shot, but many missiles still streaked toward their positon. The next round of rails had not reached the timed release of their canister payloads, so what missiles got through the first salvo would have to be taken care of by the anti-missile missiles scattered through out their quadrant.
But Jakob knew they didn’t have enough for this many incoming missiles. The rail canisters had done a good job considering they had not been designed to defend against missiles—they knocked out close to a quarter of them—but there were still hundreds headed their way. The anti-missile missiles fired as soon as they detected the incoming threat. They raced out of their silos to meet the incoming missiles. More of Xotoli missiles disappeared in flashes of light on the display, but there were still too many.
“Chief, we got three incoming targeting our position. They just survived the antis. We’re going to be hit.”
“Take all precautions for a strike. I repeat, take all precautions for a strike. Give me a countdown when they get close enough.”
Jakob pulled the shoulder straps and seat belt from his chair and tightened them. The whole facility was fortified against a range of threats, including direct hits from large missiles. Not only was it heavily fortified, but it was also mounted on huge springs that were designed to take some of the force of the explosions. The CIC was in the center of Vesta, which was three hundred and twenty-nine miles in diameter. That was nice and deep, deep enough that it might be able to stand up to the bombardment. He looked back. Tepuruan too was buckling in. He looked calm and composed.
Jakob hoped he looked the same, but images from the Capella were flashing through his head. The violence of the explosions and what they had done to the ship were a frightening reminder of what could happen. He still did not understand why he had been the only one out of his mount to survive, except he had been luckier than his shipmates. He hoped he had not used his luck up. He tried to focus on how deep they were inside the asteroid, this was not a gun mount on a destroyer.
“Chief, we’ve got five,” the operator began.
“Four.” Jakob found his hands gripping the arms of his chair as hard as they could.
“Three.”
“Two.”
“One.” Jakob held his breath.
“Contact.”
The first explosion shook the CIC. A few ceiling tiles fell, but it was not that violent. The next one was larger and closer. The lights flickered. Then the third struck, and the whole CIC bounced on those huge springs like a child jumping on a bed. The power went out and something struck Jakob on the head. His last thought before he passed out was that it looked like his luck had run out.
Chapter 8
Sol System
Earth
City-State of New York
Naval Headquarters
Lieutenant Mai Netis strode down the corridor with Istas at her side. After briefing the secretary general, they were returning to the intelligence section to continue their analysis. The corridor was filled with men and women of all ranks. It was bustling with activity as they prepared for the impending invasion. Mai kept her eyes moving from one face to another as she walked, an almost unconscious habit of being constantly aware of her surroundings and who was in them. They had almost reached the bank of elevators when she suddenly alerted. It was a physical reaction to an immediate threat that she had no control over. Something had triggered her body. Her hybrid hormones flooded her. Her muscles grew and became more defined. It was all she could do to keep her claws from extending. Mai stopped and began to look around.
Istas looked up at her and said, “What is it?”
“I don’t know. Something just set me off. I’m...”
“I know. I could feel it,” Istas said as she too began to look around.
Everything appeared normal. Nothing was out of place. There were no more people in the corridor than usual. The faces were the same; they had been down the corridors daily for months and had come to know many of the men and women around them. But something was different or Mai would not have alerted. She closed her eyes to try and feel the danger. She took a long, deep, cleansing breath, and that was when she smelled it. The scent of another hybrid preparing to fight.
When the hormones flooded your system, you gave off a particular scent that other hybrids could smell. It was one of the ways that the Xotoli had built them. The scent of a battle excited other hybrids who then produced their own scents until a battle frenzy was created. It was impossible for another hybrid to resist. It helped to create the pack mentality that made the hybrids such a formidable force for any foe. The Xotoli had also used it in training and making selections for the types of training a hybrid would be chosen for. Mai was in the midst of one of the strongest frenzies she had ever experienced, and she had no idea why.
Istas touched her arm and nodded to two men standing out of the stream of movement in the middle of the corridor. They looked like any of the other uniformed men and women. They were both lieutenants. One wore the emblem of fleet service, and the other wore a set of the new pilot wings. They wer
e both big and muscular. While they seemed to be talking, Mai noticed that their eyes were darting around them. The conversation was just a ruse. They stopped talking turned and began walking down the corridor in the direction Mai and Istas had come from. They were heading for Flag Country. Where Raurk had her office and the secretary general visited often.
Mai turned and followed them with Istas at her side. The two hybrids were on a mission. Either they had been given one or were acting on their training. Once you knew that you or the network had been compromised, then you found the highest-ranking officer or official you could get close to and killed them. The destruction of the command and control of any enemy had been drilled into them as a goal since they were young just as she had just explained to the secretary general.
Now these two hybrids had decided to try for one of the biggest prizes there were. They must have been embedded for a long time. Otherwise they would never have been able to obtain the clearances necessary to be on this floor. It was one of the most secure in the Confederation. Yet here they were, getting ready to strike.
As they neared the offices of Admiral Raurk, Mai knew she would have to act. The guards along the walls of the corridor, would not be quick enough to stop them. It was up to her.
She did not want to have to worry about Istas. She shoved her to the ground and with a single tug tore off her own uniform, leaving Netis in just her bra, panties, and boots. Then she cried out in Xotoli, “Let us do battle together, brothers!”
To the humans in the corridor, it sounded like a series of clicks, whistles, and teeth snapping against one another. Mai had moved so fast that it was as if a half-naked woman had suddenly appeared in the midst of the crowded corridor. None of the guards was able to react when Mai leaped at the pair. The two hybrids separated and tore off their uniforms. One leaped to the right and killed a Marine guard before he could react. The other landed on the left side of the corridor facing her. The one who had killed the guard grabbed his rail and raised it to take aim at Mai. She had called them out with a phrase that she had been taught in childhood. It meant a hand-to-hand combat with no weapons.
“Coward!” Mai screamed in Xotoli as she dove into him. Ducking under the rail, she drove him into the wall, her claws raking his back and side as she fought for control. He drove the butt of the rail into her back. Pain exploded throughout her back. It added to the flood of hormones that was coursing through her.
She growled and tore the rail out of his hands as he jumped to the ceiling and hung there waiting for his partner to make his move. The other hybrid flashed toward her across the corridor, knocking down people as he crossed it. Mai threw the rail spinning at the hybrid on the ceiling as she turned to face the other hybrid. This time it was him who tackled her, driving her to the floor. He mounted her and went for a killing blow. Mai was just able to deflect his clawed fingers from her throat and throw him off of her. Then she saw the hybrid on the ceiling had caught the rail. It coughed several times and Marine guards dropped before any could get off a shot. He was taking aim at Mai when a rail round tore into his arm. Istas had been able to get a shot off from the floor.
The hybrid dropped the rail, blood pouring from his arm. Mai knew that would not slow him. He glanced at Istas, released his grip on the ceiling, and dropped to the floor. He was moving toward Istas, and without her enhancements she was no more prepared to fight a hybrid than a normal human.
The other hybrid was grabbing people and throwing them at Mai in an effort to distract her. Mai caught one then another as she watched the other hybrid close in on Istas. To the rest of the men and women in the corridor he was blur, his movement was so fast. Then the hybrid made a mistake. He picked Istas up by the throat to admire his new kill. It gave Istas the tiny opening she needed. She kicked with one foot that he caught easily. He could now tear her apart just by holding her by the neck and the leg. Instead of doing it instantly, he laughed. “Die, human.”
Istas’s hands grabbed the hybrid’s throat. She arched each so the crystal blades that were still embedded in her wrists slid out and into the hybrid’s neck. She crossed her hands and blood poured from his throat as both jugulars and carotid arteries were severed. He dropped Istas, both hands clutching his throat, a look of complete amazement on his face. A mere human had killed him. He dropped to his knees and slowly fell forward.
Mai’s opponent had been distracted by his partner’s death. His head snapped back toward Mai, his teeth bared. “Time to die, traitor,” he said.
They leaped at the same moment and met ten feet off the floor with a huge thud as their extraordinarily muscular bodies clashed. The male grabbed her, raking his claws down her back while she sank her teeth into his shoulder, raking her claws down his chest. They fell to the floor with a crash. Both tried for a mount and when neither could get control they rolled away from one another. They both crouched facing one another, covered with blood from their wounds. Out of the corner of her eye Mai saw guards rushing to the scene, rails up and ready to fire. Mai knew if they fired there was just as good a chance of her getting hit as there was of her opponent. She and the other hybrid would be moving too fast. She heard a sharp command.
“No, wait.”
It was Istas, and the Marines all knew her and followed her orders none fired but kept rails trained on the hybrid. The corridor was clear now for their fight. Those who could flee had, leaving only the dead and wounded on the floor behind. Mai knew what the male hybrid was thinking. He could still get to his target if he could only kill her. It would be nothing for him to move past the humans, even with their weapons.
The Xotoli had drilled into Mai during her fighting training to always think in three dimensions because of her strength. She did not have to stay on the floor. A wall or the ceiling was just as good or better some fights. She knew the other hybrid was planning his next attack. He had not used the wall or ceiling yet. It would be some sort of aerial attack, she thought.
She decided to counter with the same. As soon as he moved, she did too. She jumped across the corridor to the opposite wall and planted a foot flat against the opposite wall. He had gone for the ceiling. Instead of springing from her foot, she kept her momentum and took two more steps up the wall, then swung her leg in a huge roundhouse kick with all the weight of her body and momentum behind it.
The male hybrid guessed wrong and was dropping to the floor. With her toes arched back, the ball of her foot caught the male on the side of his head. With a huge crack the male was thrown spinning to the floor. Mai let her momentum spin her around so she landed on the male’s back.
There were a dozen ways to kill him now. With her left hand she grabbed his head, her extended claws raking his eyes while her right grabbed his throat. She grabbed a fistful of his throat and tore it out. He was dead. With a scream of victory Mai stood, her bloody fist raised above her head.
Istas approached her carefully, knowing that she was in the killing place and the hormones that the Xotoli had filled her with were in control.
“Mai, are you there?”
Mai blinked several times before she looked at Istas. “Yes. Yes, I am back.”
Istas stood in front of Mai as her breathing slowly became normal.
“I need to stay close to the admiral,” Mai said. “There will be more.”
“Yes, I agree.”
The corridor quickly filled with corpsmen and Marine security guards as they began to treat the wounded and take away the dead. It had been a close thing; Mai thought that if she had not been here they would have succeeded. She would have to stay at the admiral’s side.
Chapter 9
Asteroid Fortifications Command
Quadrant Four
Headquarters
Combat Information Center
Vesta
Jakob slowly began to regain consciousness. He could see flashes of images and hear voices, but none of it made sense.
“Nicole...Nicole, is that you? Are you all right?”
“Eas
y, Chief. I’ve got you.”
Slowly Jakob began to see the face of someone working on him. It had blonde hair but he could not tell if it was a man or a woman. Slowly the face came into focus. It was the female former Legionnaire from this morning’s briefing.
“What are you...?”
“Easy, I’m a medic so let me do my thing and I’ll have you back to duty in no time.”
Jakob watched as she worked on him. He had found her attractive at the meeting; he had never been around an older woman who had not been rejuvenated. Up close he could see the lines around her eyes and mouth, but the intensity in her face as she worked on him made her seem much younger. Her utilities were unzipped. She must have hastily put them on. He could see the muscles of her chest and her six-pack abs as she worked. In his dazed and confused state the injection of thoughts of sex only confused him more. He closed his eyes as she took care of his wounds.
“Chief, what’s your name? I’m getting tired of calling you Chief.”
“Jakob. My name is Jakob.”
“I like that. A good strong name.”
As she prepared something to treat him, she asked, “Who’s Nicole? You were asking about her?”
“She was on the Capella with me.”
Those wise, clear eyes looked down into his. “She make it?”
“No. No, she didn’t.”
“I know how that is. You never forget them.”
She carefully laid out some syringes and other instruments before she said, “Chief, you’ve got a broken arm and shoulder. Not to mention a few other injuries. You got the worst of it up here. I need to inject you with some of my nice nanos to repair those breaks and some internal injuries. Have you been injected while you were conscious before?”
“Yeah, on the Capella. It hurts like a son of a bitch.”