The Apex Warriors

by Marc Stevens

  I was surprised Coonts didn’t have a rebuttal of some kind. It was a good sign Justice and the other members of our clan had thought of almost everything Coonts could question or bitch about.

  I wasn’t about to wait for Coonts to decide how he felt about Justice’s answer. We needed to move on. “Okay Justice, start running the other scenarios you have for us.”

  Justice put us through several different missions. Coonts and Klutch joined us and the AI carefully monitored our reactions to different scenarios. The next day with Tria’s urging, I invited Sael to train with us. She was almost completely healed now and her morose attitude improved for the better. She took to the drills with a fervor that surprised me. When Justice called a halt to our training sessions, I had to order her to leave the Daggers to rest. She quickly became an intricate part of our mission scenarios. I initially planned the missions without her, thinking she would want to return to her homeworlds. It became apparent that was not the case. On the fourth day of training, Tria and I stopped Sael before she could leave the galley. She had made it a practice to be the first back to the Daggers. We wanted to talk to her about that and other topics.

  I beckoned her to sit at our table and she did so without comment. She was nervous and it was written all over her face. I had a feeling she thought we were going to tell her she was going to be excluded from the mission. Coonts and Klutch finished their meals and sat down with us. Sael was now looking frantic.

  “Calm yourself Sael. You look like you’re going to explode,” My comment didn’t help much. While it did change the hue of her complexion to normal, it didn’t take the anxiety from her expression.

  Before I could say anything else, she said what was on her mind. “Commander Myers, it is my hope that you are going to include me in your upcoming operation. I have been training hard to prove to you I deserve a spot on the mission roster.”

  She looked at Coonts and Klutch to see if she could tell what was on their minds. They sat with neutral expressions on their faces. She was getting nothing from them. They were going to leave it up to me without comment.

  Rather than hear me out Sael tried to leverage her position. “Commander, you now have one of my people’s most guarded secrets. If it were to become known to my superiors they might decide I should have done something to prevent that from happening. The records will show that I was the one to give Justice access. Regardless of the circumstances, they will not be pleased with the decisions I made. I guess I am telling you this because if I return to my homeworlds they will judge me for my actions. I can see no scenario where I will remain my people’s Principal Investigator. The loss of the Fury was one thing, but the breach of our technological security is another. The transporter module had a self-destruct capability. I will be condemned for not destroying the transporter when I had the chance.”

  I frowned at her declaration. We had to have power from the module to get the Fury underway and out of the reach of the Prule. By all accounts of the records, Sael died on that mission. I didn’t think any of her decisions could in any way be construed as a dereliction of duty.

  She took it one step further. “Justice,” she called out. “Are you and the staff here at Alpha Base capable of reverse-engineering the transporter?”

  Justice didn’t hesitate to answer. “Yes. The technology is well within our scope of capabilities. We can also improve on some of the deficiencies in the Chaalt design.”

  Coonts chomped done on that little tidbit and quickly asked a question that popped into everyone’s minds. “What improvements Justice? You never mentioned deficiencies when I asked you the same question.”

  Justice decided to change the subject. “I recommend that all personnel that will be participating in the upcoming mission report to the Daggers for the next training cycle.”

  That put a sour look on the Grawl’s face but he didn’t comment. Klutch gave him an elbow and got up from the table. Coonts frowned at him but they both walked out of the galley.

  Sael looked like she had more to say and I held my hands up to her. “Sael, you should hear me out before you say anything else. I was not going to exclude you from the upcoming operation. You have proven you’re capable of handling all aspects of the mission.”

  Sael seemed shocked by my statement and she clamped her mouth shut. Now that it was closed, I had questions about her future intentions. “Sael, you have had more than enough time and opportunities to communicate with your leadership council, yet you have made no requests to do so. We would like to know the reason why?”

  The nervous look returned to her face and it had me wondering what was on her mind. This was not the same old self-assured Sael Nalen we were used to seeing. She seemed conflicted and the silence was getting awkward.

  “Sael, if you have something to say, say it. I am not going to exclude you from the mission no matter what you tell us.”

  “Nathan, I don’t want to go back. I have been trying hard to prove to you I deserve a place on your strike team.”

  I couldn’t honestly say I was surprised. Her demeanor has been markedly different than the Sael of old. I looked at Tria to see what effect the admission had on her. Like Coonts and Klutch, she wasn’t giving anything away. The decision would rest squarely on my shoulders.

  “Justice, would you see to it Felix has a work order for Sael’s combat armor.”

  “I have already taken that liberty Commander.” The AI answered.

  The AI’s statement brought smiles to Tria and Sael’s faces. I rubbed my forehead thinking I was the only one in this place that wasn’t up to speed on current events.

  I still had another question for Sael. “When do you plan on letting your council know that you are still alive?”

  Sael’s answer showed she actually was developing a sense of humor. “If I am killed on one of your ill-conceived psychotic adventures, it will make no difference whether they know or not.”

  Not knowing what the hell to say to that, I told her to report to her Dagger for training. Tria took my hand and we followed her to the storage building. Coonts and Klutch were sitting outside of the building and they both quickly stood. Before one of them could open his mouth I settled their stupid bet.

  “Yes, Sael will be included in the upcoming missions.”

  Klutch burst out laughing and slapped Coonts on the back. “Hah! I told you she would be coming along!”

  Why the overmuscled Grawl would think otherwise was beyond me. He obviously liked taking sucker bets from the Troop Master.

  I put a halt to the argument that broke out. “ If you two are not in your Daggers’ in the next thirty seconds you will both be staying behind.”

  They both turned and ran into the storage building. I heard Coonts spouting some crap about a wager. He was much faster on his feet than Klutch, and it seemed like a no-brainer as to who would reach their Dagger first. Klutch evened the odds by purposely tripping him. Coonts still won, but the ugly commentary between the two was about all I could take for one day.

  “One more word from either of you and it will be Pungo rations for a month!” I shouted.

  Sael was walking just behind Tria and me and added a little something to the discussion. “Is it too late to reconsider my request?”

  I rolled my eyes and pointed at her Dagger. She climbed in smiling and closed the canopy. Tria and I boarded our Daggers and ran through the simulation checklists. “Justice, let’s get this show on the road.”

  Justice started us off with unopposed insertions and then put the screws to us. He repeatedly changed the simulated Prule tactics to make it even harder on us. He purposely made us fail, then ran the same mission until it reached a favorable outcome. In some cases, it was just to make it back to the gates so we could escape before being overwhelmed and destroyed. After seven frustrating hours, he told us to take a break and come back and we would do it again. When we exited the Daggers, we had to make our way through the crowds of scientists and engineers still working on the spacecra
ft. All gave us a polite nod and stepped out of our way. We went to the Legacy and sat quietly eating in the galley. The results of the simulations did not make for good conversation. Once we finished eating, we took a short sleep period. The rest period made me eager to get back. We were more focused than ever on surviving Justice’s war games. Justice made it a point to show us how many different ways there was to die. The session lasted ten hours and I was physically wrung out when we finally exited the Daggers.

  We went straight to our cabins and slept for eight hours before Justice woke us. We had another fast meal and went back to training. Justice was going to drill us until our responses became second nature. The repeated failures started changing for the better. We were reacting to the AI’s attempts at sabotaging us faster and more intelligently. Not only were we winning more engagements, but we were also making it back to the gates to escape the ones we failed. It was on our eleventh training session that we noticed the number of Grawl scientists and engineers was dwindling. It told me the Daggers were getting closer to being fully upgraded. The Legacy was now back to one hundred percent, and my clan was making a united effort to correct the last of the remaining issues with the Daggers. Most of the serious complications encountered were now overcome. My clan rose to the challenge and with Justice’s processing power to aid them, they conquered each setback as they manifested. With each passing day, we drew closer to our first gate insertion. As crazy as it might sound, we were training so hard, I was looking forward to the mission.

  Justice put us through six more training sessions. Our last two were in the completed Daggers. The Troop Master was reluctant to call it quits, but Justice said we needed the rest more than the additional training. We were now ready for deployment, and after one last pilot meeting, we made a visit to the Replicator Building. We thanked everyone for their hard work. It was an incredible feat of engineering. Once the final load of torpedos was stowed in the Legacy’s hold, my entire clan gathered in the base’s cafeteria. We had a meal together, and one by one, Tria, me, Sael, Coonts, and Klutch got up and addressed the crowd. We again thanked them all for doing such a great job preparing us for combat with the Prule. If it were not for them, the odds of our returning from the gates would be much lower.

  We took our last sleep period before our departure. Justice encouraged everyone to sleep in because we never knew how long it would be before we would get the chance to do it again. As much as we tried to heed his advice, the anticipation of the upcoming mission made sleep difficult. Tria and I rose early. We thought we would go over our armor one last time before the rest of the team was up. It was not that surprising to find them in the ready room and armoring up. Our clan gifted us with another unexpected bonus. There was a second suit of battle armor for each of us. They must have wanted to make sure we had every possible advantage. If we sustained battle damage we now had the option of strapping into a new armor suit.

  All of our gear was in the green, and Justice called to inform us the Daggers were loaded in the hangar of the Legacy. The five spacecraft were wedged into the space two shuttles would normally occupy. As we boarded the Legacy we made hand contact with each of our clan members. They tried to keep neutral expressions on their faces, but we knew they were worried. We turned to wave one last time, and Justice closed the boarding hatch behind us. We went to the hangar and looked at the sleek deadly fighters. The Prule were going to be on the receiving end of a painful lesson. They thought they could hide away and bide their time. We were going to let them know just it was no longer an option. I walked Tria to her Dagger and retracted my helmet long enough to give her a kiss. When I went to turn away, she grabbed me and showed me just how good she was at the human gesture. It was one of my better human qualities that rubbed off on her in all the right ways. Sael stood watching us closely. I gave her a smile then blew her a kiss. She barked a laugh then boarded her Dagger. We started going over our checklists. Mine was a little longer than my strike teams. I was carrying the Guardian Transponder. If for some reason I did not trigger the device after a seventy-two-hour period, Justice would trigger the other transponder and reverse the gate from this side. If that failed to get the other members of my team out, he would try to get a lock on our locations and make a DEHD core jump to come looking for us.

  “Take us to the jump point Justice.”

  “Ready to launch Commander. The matrix is charged to one hundred and twenty percent. The DEHD core is optimized for intergalactic transfer. I am powering down all unnecessary systems and starting the countdown in T-minus ten minutes.”

  “Roger that, we are go for departure.”

  Justice took us out of Alpha Base and well clear of our planetary system. Just when I began to wonder when he was going to DEHD core jump everything around me flared a brilliant white. The return to normal spacetime was a little disorienting. I could not recall if I felt like this the last time we made the intergalactic trip. The feeling of vertigo finally subsided and I started powering up my Dagger. It fleetingly flashed through my brain, that not all of me had made the trip.

  Justice gave us some good news. It made me think we were at least starting off on the right foot. “No hostile targets to report. We will be closing with the gateway the Prule were attempting to destroy. I am preselecting debris for our torpedos and have secondary choices for the Daggers.”

  “Roger that Justice, open the barn door, we are ready to take a look around.”

  The hangar door opened and Justice used the tow beam to give each of us a firm shove into the void. We assembled in a “V” formation with Klutch taking the lead spot. The gate hub was filled with debris of every shape and size. Justice would have no problem finding something to attach our Daggers and torpedos too. We started phasing at low power and made a pass by all the gates. It was almost like a rollercoaster ride. We dipped, weaved, and slipped through the debris clouds as Klutch took us around the giant planetary fragments. Many pieces of the former Prule base and the supercarrier, were slowly tumbling and spinning from the epicenter of our surprise attack. As Justice had pointed out, a lot of crap was finding its way into the gates. We turned back toward the Legacy and watched as Justice corralled several large pieces of the planetoid and Prule ships.

  Klutch called to us. “Commander we should make a pass by our previous jump point while Justice gets the torpedos prepped. I am getting a faint power source reading coming from that direction.”

  “Roger that Klutch, lead the way.”

  The Troop Master made a hard turn and turned up the cycles on his phase drive. We tucked in close and increased our phase to stay with him. The wreckage of the Prule ships appeared on our holo displays. The debris field rapidly grew in size and Klutch slowed his phase cycle so we could take stock of the job we had done on our previous visit. Eleven small red circles appeared on my three-dimensional display. They were the unexploded mines we had used as a trap to slow the Prule that were pursuing us. To our surprise, a large red box blinked onto our displays. It was the wreckage of a Prule battleship. Justice’s subsystem reported a functioning power source. As we made a turn toward the target, the power source suddenly winked out. The surviving Prule aboard the ship fragment accurately determined we were not friendly. They pulled the plug on the anti-matter cells but it was far too late to think they might go undetected. The symbol for Klutch’s Dagger blinked once and a line appeared between his Dagger and the Prule ship fragment. The Troop Master fired a single shot from his anomaly weapon. The target flared on our HUDs then disappeared. We passed by the rapidly shrinking cloud of dust and debris. If it came down to ship-to-ship engagements, the Prule were in for an unpleasant surprise. Now we needed to test them on some shielded targets.

  Klutch took us around on another sweep of the area. Other than the wreckage of more Prule ships, there was nothing alive out here. We turned up the power on our phase drives and rapidly returned to the gate Justice chose for our first insertion. He was using the tow beam to assemble the last of our torpedo carrie
rs. There were a lot of large pieces of ships and other debris floating just outside of the gate. They weren’t present before we made our sweep of the local space. I was going to ask Justice about the junk because a lot of it would have been unusable for a Dagger insertion. He answered my question by snatching up several pieces and propelling them into the gate. It occurred to me he was making sure if there was Prule on the other end of the gate, they would be busy tracking all the crap coming through. Justice gathered twenty smaller fragments for the drones and sent them through. It was now down to us. He selected five remaining pieces of debris and pulled each of our Daggers to them. We grav locked onto our temporary landing pads.

  He gave us some last-second advice. “I recommend that you use your gravity thrusters to impart random momentum to your host fragment before exiting the gate.”

  We gave him five quick acknowledgments and he gave us our final briefing. “I will be sending random debris through the gate behind you. The torpedos and drones will be interspersed with the wreckage. If our IST transmissions are not available, and you change the mission from reconnaissance to a strike scenario and need my assistance, change the direction of the gate three times in succession. I will be at your location as fast as the DEHD core permits. Good luck and good hunting.”