The Battle for the Solar System (Complete Trilogy)

by Sweeney, Stephen

  “That’s it!” Parks said. “That’s what we’ve come here for. Taylor, Todd, can you get it out of there easily?”

  There was the sound of grunting and straining. “No, it’s too heavy,” Taylor replied.

  “Bloody heavy!” Todd added. “It weighs about three hundred kilograms, according to what’s written on the side. I don’t think we’ll be able to shift this ourselves.”

  Three hundred kilograms? Parks thought. That was heavier than the one he and Potter had dragged through Grendel’s Mother, back in Coyote. Likely, the container was packed full of all kinds of other bits and pieces that would ultimately be of little use of them. He briefly considered asking the two to ransack the box and remove anything that was clearly not of value, then thought better of it. He couldn’t risk them setting aside a vital component. They’d just have to struggle their way back to the shuttle with the lot.

  “de Winter, Dodds, Grace, did you get that?” he asked of the three.

  “Just about, sir,” de Winter said.

  “I need one of you three to get over to Todd and Taylor and give them a hand getting the asset out of there. The other two will need to provide cover, got it?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’m going to open up the inter-container passageways, so you three in the middle should prepare to meet opposition from both sides, got it? Taylor, Todd, do what you can for n—”

  “Oh, hell!” Todd’s voice interrupted. “We’ve got company!”

  Parks didn’t need to ask what was happening down there – it was clear from the sound that followed that a number of Pandoran soldiers had just arrived in the container’s H section, attacking Todd and Taylor on sight. He’d do what he could to ease their troubles in a moment. He saw that the Elpis was catching up with Cratos fast. The enemy fighters were still paying the Elpis no attention, even with the freighter’s sudden increase in velocity. For a moment, he considered giving the gunners a helping hand, before discarding the thought. The Elpis had been weaponised, but right now Parks couldn’t see the few plasma cannons that had been shoehorned onto the bow doing much good. Most likely, he would also hit Cratos with a stray shot, directly in the region of the engines. He’d leave that kind of clinical shooting to the vets …

  “Closing safety doors,” Parks prompted, his fingers tapping away at the console. Various markers on the internal layout of the ship flipped from a pale blue to a hard red, indicating the lockdown of safety doors and security checkpoints, and restricting the lower decks of the ship to the equivalent of a rat run. He then brought the Elpis’ shields down and swung the vessel about, so that its starboard side was facing the dreadnought. “Ready when you are, Mr Liu.”

  “Understood,” Liu said. “Firing,” he added, not a moment later.

  “Brace yourself,” Parks said to Koonan, who found a seat just in time. Bright green light blazed from Cratos as the cannons aimed themselves at the tailing Elpis. Seconds later, the entire ship rocked, a tremendous boom rattling its way up from down below. Sirens began blaring, consoles all about the small bridge warning of the sudden decompression. Several more explosions followed, before the rattling subsided.

  “Admiral, are you okay?” Liu asked.

  “Fine,” Parks said, after a nod from Koonan, and decipherable shouts of well-being from the five in the cargo containers.

  “Good,” Liu said. “Now, if you swing yourselves one-eighty degrees, we’ll see what we can do about the other ones …”

  *

  “We’re going to make a run for the rear container,” Estelle said, from where she held cover.

  Dodds glanced around the large crate that had shielded him for the engagement to the entrance of the compartment and the approach corridor. There were many bodies there now – all the black-clad soldiers that had fallen. Most had tried to stand back up, some being caught by the follow-up fire that chased their retreat, some escaping. The rest had gone down far easier than they had in the past. It was like Kethlan all over again. It was a relief to see that the sickness extended all the way to the frontline troops, and wasn’t just restricted to the ones back in the home systems.

  It didn’t help that much though, the soldiers had still put up quite a fight and remained a force to be reckoned with. Dodds had lost count of the number of times he had stared death in the face since the fight had begun. He couldn’t see it, but knew that plasma and bullet impacts would’ve made a mess of the other side of the container he stood behind. A good job it was sturdy. He felt at the flak jacket he wore, a finger working its way into a bullet hole in the armour. The bullet hadn’t penetrated deep, but the impact had hurt much more than he had expected. Estelle had been quick to take out the soldier firing the shot, dropping down to the floor to dispatch the woman who had crawled her way into the compartment from the approach corridor.

  Dodds wondered just how many more of them were to come. How many Leeches had attached themselves to the hull? Would several more soldiers be preparing to attack them from behind? He glanced back to the locked door at the far end, the way he had to go. Only a short distance but cover was sparse at that end. They had to reach the door without being shot to ribbons halfway there. In his mind’s eye he saw a great line of soldiers, queued up in the approach corridor and on the other side of that far door, all intent on flushing out the three people hiding in the room up ahead. The Enemy could’ve done it quickly if they’d made judicious use of grenades, but maybe explosives weren’t on the cards. The Enemy was clearly very keen to discover what it was the CSN wanted on the ship and were willing to operate without explosives for the time being in order to do so.

  Well, if they weren’t going to …

  He pulled back into cover to prepare a grenade, just as a soldier made a running dive into the storage room, aiming and firing with tremendous accuracy, even during the roll. Dodds heard the fizz of plasma racing through the air for the briefest of moments, seemingly inches from his ears, before the bolts burst where they landed. Two struck the side of the container where his head had just been. He heard Estelle and Natalia swear.

  “Two are in!” Natalia shouted.

  Hell! That was the most boisterous the invaders had been yet! Maybe they now knew how many opponents they were facing and had opted to press home their advantage of numbers. Dodds risked a peek and saw another soldier appear by the entrance. No doubt about it – they were moving in for the kill. He then saw Natalia rise from her holding position. Several bursts of her gun elicited a cry from the direction of the entrance.

  “Got one!” she announced, dropping quickly back down. “I’m going after the other one! When he shows his face, I’m going to drop him!” She continued talking for a while, shouting her plan loud and clear for all to hear.

  As return fire struck where Natalia was hiding, Dodds realised what she was doing and ducked out just long enough to dispatch the second attacker, who had been distracted by the woman’s shouting.

  “Good one,” Estelle said. “Okay, we need to try and get moving. Natalia, you’re closest, you go first. Dodds and I will cover you.”

  Dodds glanced to the digital counter on his rifle. Only about three shots remaining. Dregs, of no use. He snapped the weapon open, upending and shaking it to loosen the now-hot and unwanted battery, and allowing it to fall to the floor. He then slammed in the replacement, very much aware that it was his last. He couldn’t believe he’d gone through the other two so quickly. Now he’d either have to ration out the charge or liberate a weapon from a fallen adversary. That could come later. He looked to Natalia and gave her a nod to proceed. Natalia said nothing more, dropping down from her perch and starting for the far door, as Dodds squeezed off suppressing fire.

  “You ready?” Estelle asked, once Natalia was safely at the other end.

  “One second,” Dodds said, returning to the grenade he had started preparing earlier, “I’m just going to give them something to think about …”

  He activated the grenade, letting it cook for a tim
e, as he had seen many of the allied soldiers do in the past, before hurling it into the corridor. There was a shout the instant it clattered to the floor, a number of other voices joining in, and Dodds saw two soldiers who had made to rush the compartment come to a sudden halt. They stalled for an instant – a quite human quality, Dodds thought – appearing to struggle with deciding which way to go. It made little difference as the grenade exploded the very next moment, the strangled pain from the two male voices lost in the boom that accompanied the detonation.

  Neither Estelle nor Dodds hung about but raced away from their cover to where Natalia awaited them. They all leapt through the rear doors which they then sealed shut behind them.

  *

  The deck had indeed become the maze of corridors that Parks had warned it might, once the safety doors had been brought down. Dodds, Estelle and Natalia were forced to turn around several times as they encountered dead ends, their way blocked by thick steel. It took a while for them to find a clear, unrestricted route to the third container, a path down which they hastened.

  And it was there that things truly turned ugly.

  As always, the red eyes were the first thing that Dodds saw as he, Estelle and Natalia rounded a corner, almost into a group of soldiers running towards them down a stretch of corridor. The seconds that followed became a blur. Estelle fired chaotically, taking down the lead before throwing herself to the floor and attempting to shoot down the second. The foremost of her own party in such a narrow corridor, she was able to do little else. It saved her life, but almost ended Natalia’s, the bolts from the still-standing soldier’s rifle streaking over her head and missing the former intelligence officer by a hair’s breadth.

  In flinging herself to the floor, Estelle had compromised her aim and Dodds knew that the unscathed Pandoran could soon re-aim and shoot Estelle where she lay. Dodds prepared to intervene, when he saw something roll past Estelle and stop directly in front of him. For longer than was wise he remained where he was, until he realised what the object was – a grenade.

  “Simon!”

  Natalia was suddenly by his side, shoving him backwards, moving him out of harm’s way. She turned as the grenade went off. Dodds heard Natalia’s cry for only a split second before the world around him erupted in a white, hot flash, the once-gloomy corridor of the Elpis blazing fiercely before his eyes. It felt as though he had been hit over the head. His vision became blurry, almost as though it was filled with static. To his horror, he discovered that he could also no longer hear anything.

  Blind, deaf, disorientated. He stumbled into something, a wall perhaps. He was then on the floor, fumbling with his rifle, feeling it slip from his hands and finding it suddenly very difficult to pick back up again. He flailed and patted about the floor for but a few seconds, before giving up. This wasn’t good, this wasn’t good at all! He waited for the remaining Pandoran soldier to finish him off, waited to feel the plasma burn as the bolts struck him, and for his blood to come gushing out of his chest as he’d seen happen to others so many times before. The blasts never came, and then someone was next to him, hauling him up and shoving him back the way he’d come. It could only be Estelle, Natalia must be dead …

  Estelle continued pushing him. If she were saying anything, he couldn’t hear – there was only an eerie ringing in his head. He felt someone bump into him, someone other than Estelle. They were being herded along together, both shoved forcefully forward. Then the pushing stopped. Dodds felt hands close on his face, holding him there, as his eyesight slowly returned. Estelle was staring at him, seeming to search his eyes for signs of coherence. Dodds was gradually able to take in the scene around him, noticing Natalia, slumped down on the floor. But she was alive, uninjured. How?

  With the ringing still in his ears Dodds could hear Estelle’s voice only as a dull murmur. Reading her lips, however, it was clear what she was saying – Are you okay? He nodded that he was. She then released him and moved back to the entrance of the room she had shoved them into, standing half out the door, looking back the way they had come. Clearly, she was expecting pursuers. When none came, she turned to Dodds and Natalia, saying something and gesturing for them to stay put, before turning to leave. Dodds grabbed her arm, holding her back, pointing to his ears and shaking his head. She nodded and held up fingers. Two minutes, she mouthed. He nodded his understanding. Estelle indicated her intention to proceed to assist Enrique and Kelly, and moved out.

  A flashbang. It hadn’t been a true explosive. If it had, he’d probably be dead now, even with Natalia having pushed him away and taken the brunt of the blast. He looked over to where she was on the floor, almost scrabbling around in fear. He grabbed her, indicating with his fingers as Estelle had that the loss of hearing was temporary. Natalia didn’t react, but groped about with her hands. Her eyes were unfocused and as Dodds’ hearing began to return, he recognised the terror in her voice.

  “Help! Who’s this?! What’s happened?” she cried.

  “Natalia, it’s me, it’s Simon,” he said, trying to calm her.

  “Simon, I can’t see!”

  “It was just a flashbang,” he explained. “Your eyesight and full hearing will come back in a few minutes. I’ll stay with you.” He found his rifle in the room as he waited for Natalia’s eyes to return to normal. Estelle must’ve picked it up as she’d herded them along. He’d somehow managed to flip the safety on as he had fallen. Or perhaps Estelle had done that. He clicked it off and wondered about retrieving either another gun or a cell from one of the fallen soldiers. They would have to get moving soon. They’d wasted too much time getting to Enrique and Kelly as it was.

  “Ready?” he said, helping Natalia up.

  “No,” she said, still totally dazed.

  “How many fingers?” Dodds said, holding up three.

  Natalia said nothing, but grasped his arm. “I don’t know!” she said. “I can’t see!”

  Oh, hell. Natalia looked terrified. “Wait a few minutes more,” he said. “I’ll be right here with you.”

  “No, something’s wrong,” Natalia said, gripping his arm tight. “I’ve had it done to me before – when I was training. It shouldn’t last more than a few seconds! Minutes is too long!”

  Dodds’ mind raced as to what to do. He found himself with little choice. “Natalia, I have to get to the hold and get the TSB off the ship. I’m going to lock you in here for now,” he explained, as he felt her grip on him increase. “I’ll pick you up on the way out and we’ll get you back to the shuttle and Cratos in one piece.”

  “Simon …” she started, her voice pleading.

  “I’ll be back for you,” he insisted. “I promise.”

  He had to prise her grasp from him before moving to the door and taking a look outside. The corridors were still empty, even back the way they had originally come from the security gate. Maybe Parks and Chaz had been playing around with the fire doors and boxed the Pandoran soldiers in some place else. He looked at Natalia again. She had lost her rifle, but she still had a conventional pistol holstered. At least she had some means of defence should her eyesight return and she need to get out.

  “I’ll bang like this on the door before I open it,” he said, thumping out a pattern, “so you’ll know it’s me and not shoot. And just for the record, I’m not abandoning you,” he added.

  Natalia turned in his direction, smiling weakly. He smiled back, even though he knew she couldn’t see it.

  “I’ll be back before you know it,” he said. He then locked the door behind himself and sprinted for the final container.

  *

  “Good to see you, mate!” Enrique’s voice came in Dodds’ earpiece, as Dodds raced through the entrance to the hold, and dived for cover. “I thought we were never going to get out of here!”

  “We’re not out yet,” Dodds said. “Still got to get back the way we came.” He took a snap glance around before ducking down again. “Where are Estelle and Kelly?”

  “Here,” Estelle called f
rom behind him.

  “And Kelly?” he asked, when the woman didn’t answer him.

  “Taking cover,” Enrique said. “Don’t worry, she’s okay.”

  “How many are we facing?”

  “Four,” Enrique said.

  “Can we rush ‘em?”

  “No,” Estelle said. “They’re not as easy to take down as the others, and at least one of them can still regenerate at full speed.”

  Dodds looked around, but there was no sign of the Enemy. He decided to fall back to Estelle’s position, informing her of his intentions before leaping up and running low to reach her.

  “You okay?” he asked.

  Estelle nodded, but said nothing, concentrating on looking for the soldiers. Dodds noted a red patch on her left leg, where it looked as though a bullet had grazed it.

  “Flesh wound, nothing serious,” Estelle said dismissively, as she saw where his eyes were lingering.

  “Any other injuries?”

  “Kelly knocked her head against something when she retreated earlier. Don’t panic when you see her – it’s not nearly as bad as it looks. Oh, and Enrique’s got a couple of plasma burns.”

  “You okay, Enrique?” Dodds checked.

  “Nothing to worry about,” Enrique answered over the earpiece. “One of ‘em got lucky. One of my straps came loose and I lost a bit of protection to my leg. Where’s Natalia? I thought she was with you?”

  “I had to leave her back there,” Dodds replied. “Long story, but she’s safe. We’ll get her on the way out. Where’s the bomb?”

  “At the foot of the stack to the left. Your right,” he clarified. “See it?”

  “See it.” The container was nothing out of the ordinary – just a long, rectangular metal crate, with recessed handles for lifting. Orangey yellow in colour, there appeared to be something written on the side, though from this distance it was too difficult to read.

  “Dammit!” Estelle cried, as a series of bullets clattered off the container they were hiding behind, ricocheting off other equipment. One pinged close to her foot. “Can anyone see the marksman?” she asked.