Iron Five

by Seon O. Stronghold

  “Weapon down, on your knees, hands behind your heads!”

  The gravelly voice reminded Mirana of her own; it was the one thing she hated about this place more than any other. When she first arrived, they had told her about this, and that her suit’s filters and whatnot would keep her safe. But after five years on a planet, habits form and precautions easily disappear.

  The women did as the man commanded. Mirana watched his boot clad feet move behind them and felt a rough hand lift her effortlessly from her knees and shove her toward the transport. She heard Sari’s whimper as she too was shoved but remained calm; resistance would be foolish.

  Mirana was approaching the wide doorway of the transport when gunfire erupted. She heard the unmistakable tumbling of Auto-cannons and familiar fizzles of rockets leaving their launchers. She grabbed Sari and shoved her ahead and away from the transport. It would be a death trap in there and their best bet was to get as far away from this battle as possible. The soldiers were now too busy to concern themselves with the women and as Mirana looked back, she saw one of them gesture for her to run, and then he and the transport exploded into a billion pieces.

  ********

  Mirana left the darkness and opened her eyes to a bright expanse of dusty air. Sari was shouting in her ear and explosions and gunfire erupted nearby. She saw the melted transport and remembered what had happened. The blast must have knocked her off her feet and thrown her to where she now lay. She allowed Sari to help her to her up and both women huddled together, powerless in the face of what was happening around them. What she saw now was imminent death. One of the strange looking Mecha that had attacked her base was here and by the looks of things, even though it was alone, it was winning this fight. One Kedenian MAV was standing its ground while the other lay in ruins not far away. The Booster Tank was in full assault, tearing up chunks of desert as the driver maneuvered wildly to get a shot from below.

  Sari screamed as the menacing Machine flew by no less than two hundred feet overhead in hot pursuit of its prey, bathing the women in a backwash of hot dust. Mirana looked on and her stomach sank. Up to this point she had not panicked or given into fear but here, after the hope of escape had eluded her, all of her restraints gave way.

  Her Father, where was he? Was he in heaven? Was there a heaven? And if there was, would she be there in a few minutes? How does one get to heaven? She remembered going to church one Sunday, a very long time ago when the world made sense and her mother was still alive, a few months before she would pass away. Mirana must have been about seven, the pastor had said something relating to getting into heaven but it was all a blur now.

  The Sol engines overhead shook her back to reality. This Kedenian pilot was good. He rolled and looped and jinked his way out of his pursuer’s claws but Mirana knew that it would only be a matter of time until the whole ordeal was over. The Booster Tank, keeping up its mad dashes made little impact on what was going on yet she had to admit, even in the face of annihilation, its driver was admirably persistent. And then it happened. The loud boom of missile meeting metal echoed overhead and the women watched as the stricken Kedenian MAV glided its way to the planet surface and crunched a deep groove in the dirt not too far away.

  Mirana’s heart planted a few punches squarely into her chest as the man-like machine landed no less than eight hundred feet away. Even at this distance it bore down on her like a towering beast, but the sound of the Booster Tank filled the air and she watched as it shot across the surface, toward its doom. The Unbeatable Mecha turned toward it and Mirana knew that when there were no more metal targets left, she and Sari would be next. The Monster lined up its prey and the Booster Tank fired futilely, but then without warning, what must have been ten trails of missile exhausts suddenly appeared in the air above the enemy machine, and then the Invincible MAV exploded into a ball of crimson fire and flying pieces.

  CHAPTER 12 - BEHIND ENEMY LINES

  Iron Five

  System: K1

  Time: 0600 Hours Dunan Local

  20,000 Km from Atmospheric entry

  We are flung out of hyperspace and the caramel colored Keden warps into view and takes shape. Our approach is not from the K1 Starport, but from a point in the Solar System given to us by the computer on Artac Nine. All of our warning systems go haywire.

  “Guys we’re locked up and it’s not the Spaceport that’s doing it…” Maria shouts this across the comms.

  “We’ve got no weapons…” Bull is busy at his console trying to jam whatever it is that has us in its sights.

  “Maria, get us out of here. Go to hyper…”

  “Where..?”

  “Anywhere..!”

  “I can’t. They’ve got us Magnet-blocked…”

  “Can we approach the planet?”

  “Yes but not fast enough to escape…”

  “Get us as close as possible. You said the DAWGs could survive in vacuum?”

  “Yes but the systems have never been fully tested.”

  “Well from the looks of this, we might be testing them real soon…”

  “Alpha..!”

  “Akita..?”

  “Look…”

  We all turn toward what Akita is showing us and my breath leaves me. It’s madness. Hundreds of Kedenian and Deepcore destroyers hang on the open side of the planet and one of them has its sights on us.

  “Starship Cala, you are entering restricted space and are ordered to surrender ship and crew. Keden Battle group Command requests Commanding officer ident and intensions. You have ten seconds to respond.”

  I don’t hesitate. It makes no sense to fight this “Starship Cala copies orders. Ident, Captain Richard Victor Gant and our intentions are non-hostile, I repeat, non-hostile. We are here to find and recover SysDef Base crew. I also request to know who has us in Magnetic Guidance…”

  “Battleship Nova Seven has you on link. You have ten seconds to surrender.”

  “Request to speak with a commanding officer.”

  “Request denied. You have seven seconds to comply.”

  I kill the coms “Maria, get us to that planet. Bull, jam whatever they throw at us…” I turn to Hound and Akita “Hang on to somethin’ boys…”

  The ship shudders as we break free of the Magnatech holding us. Unlike Spaceports, because of our distance from the battleship, we have the power to escape it.

  “Alpha we’ve got incoming missiles” Akita confirms visually what we see on the holoscreens.

  “Maria, can we get into atmosphere?”

  “I think so…”

  The Cala launches toward Keden and the first missile goes wide and detonates safely away. I turn just in time to see three more approaching and…

  One!

  Two!

  Three!

  The Cala buckles and lists and the crunching noises that I hear, tells me that the ship is beginning to break apart.

  “Get to the Gear!”

  Frantic sounds of belts unclicking and bodies shuffling fill the cockpit. I get to the doorway and wait there while Akita, Hound, Maria and then Pitbull passes through. Without a second glance, I follow my team into the large hold behind the cockpit and run, drift, almost fall toward the opening DAWG. Then the ship shakes violently and I lose my footing, but I reach out and Pitbull stops my fall. In a split second I am back on my feet.

  “Thanks…”

  “Nothing to it Cap…”

  I slide into the cockpit thing, The Brace, according to Maria, and let it suck me into the confinement of the machine. Then the systems come to life and I activate everything, from full offensive to total defensive modes.

  “Maria…I hope you were right. Are we ready?”

  There’s no time left

  “Let’s go Cap and if not, it was an honor serving with you…”

  Hound’s words sink deep but Maria’s fill the com now “Bullshit. You got me into this and now, you’re going to get me out.”

  Another missile warning alerts me of our immine
nt doom. I lift my hands and see the robotic arms on my DAWG rise in front of me, both Vulcans beginning to spin. In my head I select armor piercing rounds and squeeze both triggers with my index fingers. The side of the Cala tears up and disintegrates within seconds as I trace a destructive arc along it. The bullets leaving my machine appear as superheated streaks of high speed lights that carve and decimate everything in a whorl of sparks and smoke. Then as the intense decompression of oxygen suddenly meeting vacuum takes place…“Go, go, go..!” I yell it with all my heart and wait as the team makes for freedom one after the other.

  The last of the team gets to the crumbling opening and I disengage the clamps that keep my Gear in place. The sensation of being released mixed with the knowledge of the missiles about to strike, makes me push my legs like never before. I feel as though a foot is lodged somewhere in my stomach and as I make my run, the impact of the final few missiles hits me from behind and pushes my DAWG at odd angles away from the exploding ship.

  The momentum carries me until I am a safe distance away, and then I shut down my thrusters, initiate the suit’s Magnatech and everything stops spinning. The first thing I notice is the mixed brown of Keden below me. The caramel colored orb hangs in the black of space like a shiny marble.

  “Status..?” I stabilize myself and take a look around.

  “Bull, all good…”

  “Akita’s alive and kicking…”

  “Hound is okay…”

  “Maria is…Dane is okay…”

  We need to get out of here now. The silent detonations in vacuum close to atmosphere draw my attention as the Cala splits apart and begins to drift in pieces at all angles. The front of it bends under while the center tears up into millions of burning particles. Then the stern bursts open, spinning slowly away from the blazing frame and toward us.

  “Hou…lee…um Cap…”

  I turn in the direction Akita is facing and the sight is increadible. From what my computer tells me, five hundred Raiku ships have appeared from hyperspace and without delay, the fireworks begin.

  What the hell is going on?

  “Alpha, let’s get out of here before we become space dust…”

  “You’re right Hound. I’m on point. Team, follow through, tight formation let’s go!” On the digital interface in front of me, I see many options outlined in translucent blue lines. I select what I need and think of entering Keden’s atmosphere and without realizing what I’ve done; the computer initiates the required sequence.

  “Atmospheric entry ninety eight percent success”

  “What the hell...? It talks? Dane, you didn’t say this thing talked…”

  “I forgot about that…”

  Ninety eight percent..? That’s good enough for me. And because we are all synced, my actions are easily followed by the rest of the team’s auto piloting systems as I drop toward Keden.

  Picking up speed, we accelerate and are pushing past five times the speed of sound. In a few minutes I approach the hazy aura of the planet and for the last time, look back at the muted battle raging above and behind us. The Raiku have clashed with the blockade and while the first wave is halfway through, more of the Dynasty forces are still arriving. This is a full scaled invasion. In all my time, I’ve never seen anything like it.

  “Atmospheric entry in five, four…”

  I focus on what’s beneath us as the computerized voice continues

  “…three, two…”

  Everything shakes

  “…one”

  The DAWG’s auto piloting system keeps me from tumbling uncontrollably and shuts the engine down. Keden is now a blur of light brown and red haze and we rocket downward at over ten times the speed of sound.

  ********

  “Alpha…” It’s Bull on the open channel. Even in atmosphere there is no static interference “…We’re on the outer edges of the Dune Desert. From what I’m picking up, there’s nothing at the base.”

  “Copy that Bull…I’m still gonna check it out.”

  “…Gotcher back boss…”

  His words carve furrows into my stomach. The thought of finding her dead is beyond me. I switch to manual command, then open up the menu on my HUD and select Air Operations. Almost instantly the machine responds and the sensation of freefalling takes over. I am no longer a passenger in a cockpit, I am now a man flying in a suit and without much thought I push my head over, ask my engines for power and enter a burning dive.

  The rest of the team follows suit. The Neural Link tells me that we are all spread out at five miles apart and my Dees indicate the ground at fifty thousand feet and closing.

  Forty thousand feet

  Thirty five thousand feet

  Thirty thousand feet

  Twenty five thousand feet

  Twenty thousand

  Fifteen thousand

  I pull my head up and push my hands back to force the DAWG out of the fall. The engine screams and the heady rush flows through me like an overdose. The Mecha responds more like body armor and less like a Machine. Maria was right, it does whatever I do. We pass over the Dunescape by only a thousand feet and while the sandy hills zip past us, I see the base in the distance…what’s left of it.

  “Coming up on the Base guys, everyone, give me a full sweep…”

  I’m calm on the open channel. I’ve made up my mind to accept whatever I meet and in spite of the hollow feeling in my gut, I still hope.

  “Roger that Alpha…”

  “Damn, it’s all gone…Huski are you seeing what’s under all that rubble?” It’s Akita in my ear now.

  “Yeah…”

  I ignore the lump in my throat. I’ve seen death before but this is ridiculous. Through the eyes of the onboard computer, the forms of dead bodies buried under tons of fallen steel and Evercrete is life changing. I will the DAWG to slow down and it does. The fallen Starship and what is left of its passengers appear in layers of lines connected to streaming data.

  This is tragic.

  “Those weren’t Earthfront ships Alpha…”

  “I know Akita…Something very big is happening and we’re flying blind in it.”

  “Yeah…” Bull joins us “…flying blind in a shit storm.”

  Between the Cyclones bearing Earthfront logos and an invasion of Raiku ships on Keden, I am left to believe that Earthfront and the Dynasty have bigger plans for the Galaxy.

  “So what’s the plan Boss?”

  I take a second to reply to Akita “We go with the flow.”

  “Aye aye Cap”

  Descending brings an unfamiliar sensation. If it weren’t for the knowledge and memory of me climbing into this thing, I would believe entirely that it was me, naked and flying around with guns and missiles somehow strapped to my body.

  “What the hell happened? What did this?”

  Pitbull answers Hound before I can say anything “Cyclones…”

  I look on as the last of us touch down on one of the dusty landing pads; my mind grasping for answers before asking my question. “How do you know?”

  Pitbull’s voice is steady and even. He is angry but in control…I know him enough by now to judge correctly “…I’m picking up a Cyclone a few miles out. We can get to it if we try.”

  “…Anyone got any live readings here yet..? Because I’m getting nothing...” I take note of the time on my HUD. It’s now oh-nine-hundred hours, Dunan time.

  Maria, who has been silent for most of the trip, joins in “Negative Alpha…”

  As a matter of fact, I haven’t heard her speak since we escaped the ship in vacuum.

  “Dane..?”

  “Huski..?”

  “…you alright..?”

  “I’m okay Alpha, just pacing myself…”

  “Okay lets go get that Cyclone and see what this sonofabitch is all about.”

  I open my vents for maximum push and as they burn hot, I jump into the sky and watch the ground fall away in the blink of an eye.

  If this Cyclo
ne is nearby, then where are the others? That Deepcore pilot had said that there were seven more. It had to be them that had leveled the Base. Either way, the dead of SysDef on Keden will be avenged today.

  The team and I are now edging past the speed of sound and as the sand and dust dunes of the desert flash past; I try to ignore the worry that’s beginning to seep in.

  Maria comes over the com “Alpha, I got a tally on the Cyclone…”

  “Copy tally…” I see my target “…I got him too. Looks like we’re crashing the party…weapons hot…”

  I’m two miles out and slowing down quickly. The edge of the Dunescape is in view and what looks like a Kedenian MAV is battling an Earthfront Cyclone.

  That Ked pilot is good.

  The onboard computer alerts me of six life-forms. I push the thought to a place somewhere in the back of my mind, keeping my focus on what is going on ahead. In a split second, the information races through me and my heart stops for a moment. I pick up the Kedenian pilot who’s MAV is now slamming into to the ground but somehow, he has survived the crash. The enemy in the Cyclone is there also, along with the two crazies in the Booster Tank headed to their deaths. I turn my attention to the other two on foot…

  “Alpha, are you getting this?”

  “I see them Akita…going ballistic!”

  I am seeing Mirana and a girl in my head as the super computer streams the battlefield information through me like a wildfire.

  How did she get out here?

  But there is no time to waste. Switching to ground controls as I drop out of the sky, my tracking reticule locks on to the tin-man boasting the Earthfront insignia. I think of my missiles, select ten Brimstones and without thinking twice, release them.