“He is always playing an angle,” Thresh said. “Always looking to get ahead. Maybe he is planning to kill you once we leave the system.”
“He needs to get in line behind a few billion Skarak soldiers first.”
Once back aboard the Resolute, Boyd stripped off his suit and headed directly for the command deck.
Hemel and Cronin stood and saluted Boyd as he entered the command deck. They were both smiling.
“Congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant,” Cronin said.
“I thought bad news traveled fastest,” Boyd said climbing up into the command chair.
“Guess they’ll promote anyone these days,” Hemel said slipping a candy cane into his mouth.
Boyd remembered how the Major kept the Command deck casual and friendly. He wanted the same relaxed atmosphere on his command deck.
“Get the Resolute ready to move off, Jim,” Boyd said.
Hemel saluted and dropped into the pilot chair.
“Would you take over at engineering?” Boyd said to Thresh. She was standing in the entrance, reluctant and unsure.
Thresh nodded. “I’d be delighted to,” she said and took her position at the engineering console.
As Boyd activated the armrest holo-display he saw a private message from Marine General Lawrence. He hesitated and then tapped the file. The holo-text appeared.
“Your final order, Lieutenant Boyd. If you succeed in your mission, you are to eliminate the Faction ships before returning to the Scorpio system. Sabotage or direct assault, whatever you think is best. But make sure Kitzov dies.”
Boyd felt a shudder. He had worked tirelessly to bring the Faction leader to justice, but now he had convinced Kitzov to work alongside him and save the Scorpio system and his attempts to unite the Faction and the Union would fail if he started with an assassination of their leader.
A message appeared on the main holostage from Kitzov.
“All ships are ready to get underway, Lieutenant Boyd. So, what is the plan?”
10
“Communications open now, Will,” Thresh said. “Short range only.”
Boyd looked at the collection of ships on the holostage. The Resolute sat in the center of a small group of Faction raiders and a squadron of fighter blades. He opened a channel to all ships.
“We are going to trace this Skarak signal and hope we can find a way to disrupt it. All ships spread out so we can advance along the line of the signal at top speed.”
With the ships spread out to port and starboard, Boyd advanced. Regular reports on the signal strength from across the line of ships enabled the Resolute to stay on top of the signal. With the Resolute at the center of the formation the flotilla headed across the void of interstellar space. The blades flew in a loose formation a thousand kilometers above the Resolute.
Boyd didn’t know where the signal was leading him. He hoped the Skarak were in a nearby star system or he would never find them in time to disrupt their signal before they utterly overwhelmed the Union fleet at Terra. They could be around any of the local stars, and there were hundreds of them. But the signal was the path that would lead him to them. The Skarak used it to coordinate their forces, it would lead Boyd to them and he would kill them all if he could.
Boyd tried to focus on the data streaming in from the ships spread out in line, watching the signal strength fluctuate leading to the micro course correction that kept the Resolute and her flotilla on course. But as much as he tried to concentrate, his eyes kept drifting to Thresh. She was busy at the engineering console still attempting to patch up the Resolute’s battered systems. She was working feverishly trying to prepare the Resolute for an encounter with the Skarak.
As Boyd’s gaze drifted over to her again, he met her eyes as she looked up at him. He felt her look hit him like a hammer blow in his chest. Excitement and fear. Passion and distrust. His heart pounding as hard as it had done in any life-or-death situation he had faced as a Blue Star marine. It was confusing for sure. He wanted her near him, but he couldn’t bear to be with her.
“I think we can see where we are heading,” Hemel said.
Boyd looked away from Thresh and to the holostage. As the flotilla advanced, it became clear that a small yellow star, still many astronomical units away, was the target, the origin of the Skarak signal.
“Yes, that must be them,” Boyd said looking at the holostage. The yellow star looked strange to eyes accustomed to the fierce blue of the blue giant star at the heart of the Scorpio system.
“We should hang back and observe them.” Kessler’s image appeared on the holostage from the flight deck of the Phantom Zero. “It works for the Faction against the Union every time. We try and identify any pattern in their behavior. We watch out for any patrols. And then when we find a weakness, we creep up on them and put the blade to their necks.”
“No,” Boyd shook his head. “The Scorpio system will not survive the Skarak armada for long. We don’t have the luxury of time. We need to move in fast and act fast.”
Boyd watched the Skarak system draw closer. The Resolute’s surveillance range was huge with the ships of the flotilla spread out wide, all feeding their sensor data back to the Resolute’s systems. The main holostage showed the planets of the system as more data streamed in. The system had a typical layout with large gas giants at the outer edges and rocky planets near the star. But just like all systems, it had its own peculiarities. One inner planet was so close to the star that its rocky surface was covered in molten lava that sloshed around in waves of liquid rock. The next rocky planets were in a binary pair. They were spinning slowly about a shared point, dancing about each other as they orbited the yellow star. The binary planets were of similar mass, although one was slightly larger. Both were blue with huge oceans of liquid water. White clouds scattered across a blue sky. One of the two was noticeable, redder than the other with more land area than ocean.
Both planets were heavily populated and were covered in clusters of tall structures that were towering high into the clouds. Orbital elevators reached out from the equators of both words. And there were Skarak everywhere on the ground and in orbit.
The Skarak ships were everywhere across the system. Huge masterships were in orbit around each of the seven major planets of the system. A ring of Skarak structures surrounded one of the gas giants all drawing gasses up from its swirling atmosphere and channeling it into a huge Skarak industrial station. Swarms of Skarak fighters swept back and forth across the system and along the outer system, patrolling, guarding, and watching.
“All ships, run dark,” Boyd said seeing the Skarak threat. “Drop all power. We will run into the Skarak inner system with momentum alone. No sense getting spotted before we make our move.”
As the Resolute moved into the Skarak system, the group of Faction raiders turned and ran. Their drive flares burning fiercely for a moment before leaping away back to the Scorpio system.
“Looks like our new friends got cold feet,” Thresh said.
“The Silence?” Boyd asked. “What about Kitzov?”
“The Silence is still with us.” Thresh said. “Phantom Zero too. Kessler isn’t running.”
Boyd opened a channel to the Silence.
“Kitzov. Tell those Faction captains to cut all power to their drives. The Skarak will spot them and I don’t think the Skarak will be pleased to see them.”
“No, Boyd,” Kitzov said. “They follow me because they want to, and I respect their freedom. If they want to leave, they should be free to go.”
Then a Skarak fighter patrol changed course and moved on an intercept course to the fleeing Faction raiders. The Skarak moved in fast, sweeping past the Resolute, Silence, and the Phantom Zero with their fighter blade escort, all powered down and running dark. The Skarak closed in on the Faction raiders and opened fire. The blue crackle fire slammed into the raiders one after another. It flickered over the ships, gathering over the drive assembly and then fizzling out. The raiders all lost drive powe
r and began to tumble out of control.
Then the Skarak soldiers leapt from their fighters and landed on the Faction vessels where they started cutting their way in.
“Look, the raider crews are abandoning their ships,” Thresh said. “They are evacuating. But they’ve got nowhere to go.” She showed the bodies of Faction crew leaving the ships. They began to drift out into the black of space, suit thrusters pushing them away from them, with Skarak soldiers swarming over their hulls.
“Damn you Kitzov,” Boyd said under his breath. “You could have tried to stop them.”
A Skarak warship moved up from the system and began scooping up the bodies of the fleeing Faction crew.
Thresh dropped her head. “I know what the Skarak are going to do with those poor bastards, it would be better if we shot them now and save them the pain and suffering.”
“No, we will give away our position if we open fire. But maybe we can rescue them without showing ourselves to the Skarak.” As Boyd began to formulate a rescue plan, the first Faction ship exploded. Then a second and a third, until all the raiders that had fled were destroyed. Whether they had been destroyed due to the Skarak attacks or self-destruction, either way it was a relief. They had chosen their fate, as Boyd had chosen his. He had to remain focused on the task ahead.
Boyd returned his attention to the Skarak home world. One of the two planets in the binary pair was the origin for the signal. He needed to get in closer to be sure. He saw one of the planets had a towering structure that reached up from its north pole high into the atmosphere. It was dark like a Skarak ship’s hull. Boyd was sure that was the source of the Skarak coordination signal.
The flotilla advanced now in tight formation, the Resolute between the Silence and the Phantom Zero with the blade squadron split into two flights on either side of the formation. They all drifted in, unpowered, dark and silent.
As the Resolute moved ever closer, drifting unseen past Skarak warships, the origin of the signal was identified. It was as Boyd had suspected for some minutes, the tall, dark tower.
“There,” Boyd said. “Thrusters only. Put us over that structure.”
Kitzov appeared on the holostage. “I am putting the Silence right alongside you. Shoulder to shoulder with my Union ally.” Kitzov grinned.
“You could have told those captains to drop all power,” Boyd said, trying to be diplomatic but he struggled to contain his anger. “They have probably alerted the Skarak to our presence. They will be on high alert now.”
Kitzov smiled. His holoimage was as fake as he was in person. “I don’t think so, Boyd,” Kitzov said. “The Skarak don’t think for themselves. They are of a single hive mind. They wouldn’t expect one ship out of many to do something different. If anything, the captain that ran away did us a huge service. A heroic sacrifice for the good of the mission. They probably bought us some room to maneuver, and give you time to get ready to play your trump card.”
Boyd rolled his eyes. Kitzov always saw the bright side, and he was never at fault. He was as self-deluding as he was mendacious. Then Boyd had a cold thought.
“You didn’t tell them to run, did you?”
Kitzov smiled. “Now why would I want to do a thing like that?” Then his image disappeared from the holostage as he ended the transmission.
“To draw the heat off you,” Boyd said answering Kitzov’s under his breath.
The flotilla moved in and hid high above the planet swarming with Skarak. Most of the bodies moving around on the surface appeared to be a non-Skarak population all converted to Skarak control. As more images were received, Boyd could see clearly the planet was covered in a human population that had been enslaved by the Skarak. Blue crackle fire flickered lazily over the planet surface. The tower rising up from the planet surface, through the atmosphere and reaching up into space, was transmitting the Skarak signal to the Scorpio system.
Boyd needed to act fast before he was discovered.
“We have a system hack in progress. Someone is in our data core,” Hemel said.
“Only me,” Kitzov said as his image appeared on the holostage. “Just checking your status,” Kitzov said. “The Resolute has a full complement of combat drones. Put just one of those into the base of that tower and it should bring the whole edifice crashing down to the planet surface.”
“Get him out of my systems,” Boyd said to Thresh. Thresh nodded and immediately began locking out Kitzov.
Boyd stepped toward the holostage, looking at Kitzov. “If we launch a combat drone strike every Skarak in the system will know we are here. If we could be sure that a combat drone strike would bring that tower down then I would have no hesitation in sacrificing my life, and yours, Kitzov, to save the Scorpio system from the Skarak armada. But I don’t know what sort of planetary defense they have. We are going to have to be more careful. This is a job for the Blue Stars.”
Admiral Selby sat back in his chair, exhausted. His eyes drifted in and out of focus as he watched the retreat on the holostage.
The battle for the Scorpio system was being lost. Supra’s moons were lost and the defense platforms had been destroyed, sabotaged by Skarak sleeper agents. The moons were still scattering debris high into orbit as the fleet cleared the Belt and headed to the cover of the Terra planetary defense systems.
Selby watched the surveillance data from the Belt. The path was strewn with space mines and combat drones. He waited for the first to explode and deal its terrible damage to the Skarak as they picked their way through the asteroids.
“They are not following,” a commander at the surveillance console called out, part in triumph part in frustration, partly confused.
“They don’t have to,” Selby said. “They can take their time.”
Marine General Lawrence appeared on the command center main holostage.
“Good news, Admiral, I hope. I’ve been in touch with one of our Blue Star frigates. We are about to attack the Skarak home world. We think we’ve found the source of the Skarak coordination signal that is keeping all Skarak on task. Every sleeper, every Skarak soldier, every ship, they are all operating under the influence of the coordination signal. We can knock out as many transfer nodes as we like here in the Scorpio system and we can never disrupt the signal, they have enough nodes to keep the signal spread system wide. But if we take out their transmitter, we will cut them off from their command structures. Major Featherstone and his Resolute Company did it. His ship is moving to the Skarak origin now.”
Selby looked up.
“Thank you, Marine General. We could use some good news.”
He looked at the holostage. The Skarak fleet was sending fighters into the Belt and clearing the space mines one by one. Selby knew the mines were now not going to deal any damage to the Skarak armada but they had at least halted the attack, for now. It was only a matter of time before Skarak fighters cleared the mines and opened the way for the armada to move in toward Terra.
“I hope your Blue Stars are not wasting their time,” Selby said watching the Skarak operation in the Belt. Then all surveillance from the Belt was lost as the surveillance drones were destroyed by Skarak fighters.
“All ships, defensive positions, fall back on Terra and get ready to fight for your lives.”
11
Boyd studied the Skarak structure on the holostage. He ignored the images of the humans on the Skarak planet, he could do nothing for them except end their suffering and torment. A blue crackle flickered over the surface emanating from underground near the base of the huge tower. It rippled lazily over the planet in waves, radiating out from the base of the tower, flickering over the ankles of the humans that wandered listless about on the surface.
The tower was deep and dark like the void of space. The outer edge of the tower could not be fixed by the Resolute’s surveillance systems. It was as if it was made of tar, and the best the Resolute’s sensors could determine was that the tower’s outer edge seemed to be at some point in the dark depths. It was just
like a Skarak warship’s hull.
Boyd reckoned that active sensors might have a better chance at fixing the outer edge, but that would alert the Skarak to his presence and he decided to rely on passive sensors alone. Boyd remembered how he had once stepped through a Skarak hull into a strange dark inner chamber. The Skarak interior seemed to exit partially in another dimension. He had nearly lost his mind in that chamber, but his dedication to his mission had kept him sane and focused. He needed more of that same determination now.
“What are humans doing down there?” Cronin said leaning forward from the weapons console and looking more closely at the holoimage. He highlighted a portion of the ground.
Boyd glanced over, momentarily distracted from his task of planning the attack on the structure.
The ground around the tower was covered in a dark viscous material. Skarak soldiers scuttled about and over the tall tower. Amongst the Skarak walked humans, naked, mindless humans. They were walking in rough undulating circles around the tower, all walking in the same mindless amble.
“These people have been taken over by the Skarak,” Cronin said. “If I could try and save one I might find a clue to freeing them all.”
“I fear we do not have time for a humanitarian mission, Doc. We have to bring that tower down. It is our only hope to save those in the Scorpio system. Our priority must be to protect those who the Skarak haven’t captured yet.”
Boyd looked more closely at the image of the Skarak planet surface. At the base of the tower there was one point where people were walking in through a small entrance. They entered one by one. The huge spiraling circle of people surrounding the tower ended with a single line of people who were entering the tower at a slow and steady pace.
And chillingly, Boyd could see that at no point were there any people coming out.
“This is what will happen to the Scorpio system if we don’t stop it.” Boyd refocused on his task and looked at the data he had gathered on the tower itself.
Blue Star Marine Boxed Set Page 68