The Apex Warriors

by Marc Stevens

  We still had more than ten hours to loiter according to our intel from Bond. We were settling in for a long boring wait when Justice suddenly called out to us. “Commander, I have just detected a large transition distortion wave near the fringe of the asteroid field. The data exactly matches distortion waves created by Galactic Union battleships.”

  That piqued my interest. The battleship could be here for any number of reasons, but according to Sael, the outpost was exempt from Union scrutiny. Were we about to witness an official visit, or did it have to do with the payments the outpost made for immunity? Either way, we were going to have to investigate and document what we could about the visit.

  “Justice, get us close to the location so we can try to identify the ship. If it is here for illicit reasons, I want recorded data for future reference.”

  “Moving now Commander.”

  If we could get a positive ID on the Union ship we would give the intel to General Bonaparte. It could prove to be a bludgeon to use against the Union Council members who were actively trying to get him removed from the head of security at Outpost 9765. We were rapidly maneuvering through the asteroid field and closing the distance between the Legacy and Union ship when Justice updated us.

  “Commander, the Union battleship launched two shuttles that are on a direct course to the outpost.”

  “Roger that Justice. Launch two more drones to shadow them. I want you to record their comms if at all possible.”

  “Affirmative Commander, drones launched on an intercept course.”

  Things were starting to get interesting. The unforeseen presence of the Union would take the boredom out of our wait. I was hoping to get some good intel on the battleship when Justice nixed that idea with his next report.

  “Commander, the Union battleship just transitioned back to hyperspace.”

  I was hoping for some good video of the Union ship. Now, all we could do was keep an eye on the shuttles. Justice’s next report gave some credibility to our theory that the Union ship was in the area for nefarious reasons.

  “Commander, the shuttles that are approaching the outpost match no known Union Galactic design.”

  Justice put the surveillance video from the drones on the view dome. The two ships were large for transports and bristling with weapons. They also had some interesting paint schemes. If I had to guess, I would say they were troop carriers or close support assault shuttles, most probably both.

  Sael’s eyes narrowed and she turned to me. “Commander, I recognize the markings on those shuttles. If I am correct, I believe those are modern Grippen attack shuttles. The Grippen was once a predatory race similar to the Sig. They waged war on all the lesser races they encountered until they came into contact with superior technology. The wars they brought to other planets, finally came to theirs. Their planet was left in ruins and the military fled into the void to escape annihilation. The colorful markings on those shuttles are the tribal banners of the Grippen, I am sure of it.”

  I closed my eyes and shook my head. That’s all the galaxy needed right now was another predatory race trying to make a comeback.

  “Sael, what would they be doing on a Union battleship? Is this an indication they have thrown in with one of the pirate factions?”

  “Unknown Commander. There was evidence that indicated they were the victims of the same malice they inflicted on others. A number of my fellow officers in the Chaalt military have stumbled across the wreckage of their starships but never a survivor to tell of the conflict.”

  Klutch was nodding his head in agreement. “The Senior Operative is correct Commander. The military of my race fought more than a few engagements with the Throggs. I have never seen a banner with those particular markings, but they definitely look like Grippen tribal banners. I was young when I entered the academy, but some of my first training sessions were on identifying the hostile races we would be facing in combat. The only race that had colorful designs such as those, emblazoned on their warships, was the Grippen.”

  I looked over at Tria and she just gave me an Earthling shrug of her shoulders. “They were before my time in the military. I have had briefings on their existence, but never encountered them. Just because no one has seen them in a very long time, doesn’t mean they aren’t out in the void somewhere. Those shuttles look like formidable weapons platforms. If they are indeed Grippen, they have been biding their time and modernizing their arsenals.”

  “Commander,” Coonts said. “Glock is a well-traveled mercenary. The Grippen would fit in very well with his forces.”

  “So you think that may have been Glock’s battleship?”

  “While the battleship's appearance is a bit premature, yes, I theorize that was Glock’s ship.” The overmuscled Grawl answered.

  It did seem that the most prominent pirate clans and other such criminals had modern Galactic Union hardware. It would be foolish to think that Glock did not have the same access. He was, after all, associated with some of the worst scum out there, and had the credits to spend as well.

  “Justice, are you getting any comms from the shuttles?”

  “Negative Commander.”

  “What about inside the outpost?”

  Justice put the feed up on one side of the view dome. Nothing was going on at the Ilor Guild.

  Just when I thought we were barking up the wrong tree, Justice gave us another sitrep.

  “Commander, the drones that are following the shuttles just intercepted an encrypted comms burst from the lead shuttle. I am working on the encryption, but it will take an unknown amount of time to decipher.”

  “Roger that, keep me appraised.”

  “Affirmative Commander.”

  I started to walk away and retire to my cabin for a catnap until something significant took place. Something did.

  “Commander, the drones near the Ilor Guild are reporting movement.”

  I stopped and turned around. The comms burst and movement at the Ilor Guild could be just a coincidence, but I somehow knew it wasn’t. I looked at the view dome and saw the live feed from the drones. Three ground transports were leaving the Guild compound and heading directly to the shuttle parking area.

  “Justice, get two more drones over the parking area. If the Grippen shuttles land and pick up passengers I want eyes on them at all times.”

  “Affirmative Commander, drones are moving into the exit.”

  Justice had the progress of the shuttles on the view dome behind me. I turned around and saw they were close to the entrance of the outpost and rapidly slowing.

  “Commander, the drones are detecting standard communications with the outpost. The shuttles are requesting permission to land in Galactic Standard.”

  I turned back around and looked at the ground transports, they were almost to the edge of the parking area. The view from the two stealth drones that took up station over the parking area, zoomed in on an area that had a high fence around it. Stationed all around the fence were large modern-looking combat bots. The Two Grippen shuttles zoomed into view and landed in the fenced-in area. The transports quickly met them and hovered just under the shuttles. Our drones zoomed in on the passengers as they ran from the ground transports into the belly of the lead shuttle. It was easy to see they were all Ilor because of the pressure suits they wore. There were six in all as the hatch closed on the shuttle. They promptly lifted off, but not before two of our stealth drones dropped down and hovered within inches of the spines of the heavily armed spacecraft. The shuttles got departure clearance and left the outpost at high speed. They made a large looping turn away from the outpost with all our drones in pursuit. Two minutes later they transitioned to hyperspace. As soon as they were gone, Justice collecting the remaining drones with the tow beam. Now we just had to wait for the shuttles to transition back to normal spacetime and send us an IST signal to let us know their location. We didn’t have to wait long. Twenty-eight minutes later we got a location signal from our drones.

  “Justice, have the
drones disable the battleship and the shuttles. Then make a standard transition to their location. I want to reserve the DEHD Core for our return to Alpha base.”

  “Affirmative Commander, jumping now.”

  My stomach did a little churn and twelve minutes later, did another. The differences between the transition times spoke loads about how superior our upgraded Oolaran drive was versus those being used by the Grippen shuttles. Justice put red boxes around the drifting battleship and the two slowly tumbling shuttles. I only saw one blue circle indicating the location of our drone. One was missing and I frowned. Before I could question Justice about it, a second blue circle emerged from the hangar of the battleship.

  Justice gave us a sitrep on what took place in the twelve minutes we were in hyperspace. “Commander, when the shuttles transitioned from hyperspace close to the battleship’s location, I waited until it opened its hangar door to take the shuttles aboard. I sent a drone into the hangar and destroyed two additional shuttles. I was able to identify key energy conduits inside the hangar and severed them with precision fire from the drone's beam weapon. Unfortunately for the occupants of the battleship, the weapons fire breached the hull in several areas aft of the hangar. It effectively disabled the battleship’s stardrive and the loss of lives aft of the hangar will be high.”

  The report of a lot of casualties should have bothered me more than it did. I was okay with it as long as some of the command staff survived and were somewhere forward of the hangar. I was wanting to speak with them and I hoped that Glock would be among them. The Legacy was running full stealth as Justice made a close pass by the battleship. He was wanting to see if it would trigger some form of defensive action. Other than belching its precious life support from its various wounds, the ship drifted aimlessly. The ship still had a backup power source because we could still see lights in several locations. The atmospheric retention field was still active because we could see repair crews trying to put out a fire raging just the other side of the wrecked hangar doors. I counted nine very impressive holes burned through the hull of the ship at different angles. Justice was his usual deadly efficiency, none were close to the stardrives, or more importantly, the anti-matter containment vessels.

  “Commander,” Justice called. “I have dispatched additional drones to disarm the shuttles and secure the area. The battleship successfully launched two jump buoys that transitioned before they could be destroyed.”

  Unless an armada showed up to aid the battleship, I wasn’t too worried about any additional company. I looked at my crew and they gave me silent looks of anticipation. “What are you all standing around for? Armor up!”

  Klutch smacked his fist into his palm and it sounded like a gunshot. “It’s about time.” He said with a big toothy smile.

  We headed to the down tubes in a rush led by Coonts and Klutch. They were elbowing and shoving at each other and Sael wanted no part of their childish performance. She stopped short of the tubes and waited until they went down. It looked like a full-blown wrestling match was taking place and the language was just as colorful. Sael looked back at me to see what I thought of their unruly behavior. Tria and I brushed past her and stepped into the tubes. There was nothing constructive to say about their conduct. My two favorite troublemakers were high-strung but were all business when the shooting starts. I kept my mouth shut about their antics, which implied Sael should do the same.

  Sael scrunched up her face and shook her head. “How do I get out of this Throgg scat outfit?” She mumbled under her breath.

  As Tria and I entered the ready room we heard Coonts and Klutch talking in a conspiratory hushed manner. I squinted at them and they both gave me cheesy grins that ended the conversation. We stepped into our armor and ran the checklists. Everything was in the green and we gave each other a once over to make sure nothing was loose or out of spec.

  “What is your first destination Commander?” Justice asked.

  “Take us to the shuttle with the fugitives. I want to get them secured before we board the battleship.”

  Justice rapidly approached the shuttle, or what was left of it. The once weapon-laden spacecraft was now missing all of the hardpoints that once held them. It was trailing smoke and debris while it tumbled and everyone aboard was no doubt having a really bad ride. I felt the G-load through my boots when Justice arrested the shuttles tumble with the tow beam.

  “Open a comms channel to the shuttle Justice.”

  “You can now broadcast on the channel the shuttle used to contact the outpost Commander.”

  “Attention on the shuttle! I called out in Galactic Standard. “Put your weapons in the atmospheric lock and surrender if you do not want to be harmed.”

  I got nothing from the shuttle. Klutch was watching me and I pointed at the cockpit hull. He gave me a thumbs up and we moved to that location.

  We stacked behind him and cloaked. “Make a hole Troop Master.”

  Klutch bent over and got a good portal. We went through and found ourselves in the abandoned cockpit. It was large and spacious and had seats for four crew members. There was no atmosphere and crap was floating around everywhere. The shuttle was as dead as a brick. I wondered if the occupants might be in the same condition. The hatch to the rear of the shuttle was large and heavily armored. It appeared to be sprung in the open position. Klutch moved to it and took a peek. It was a darkened corridor that had a partially empty weapon rack on one side, and a single biped armored pressure suit hanging from an open cabinet on the other. The two arms on the suit were oversized as were the legs, which also sported an extra set of knee joints. There was nothing else of note except the pressure hatch at the other end of the passage that matched the one to the cockpit.

  Klutch grabbed one of the remaining weapons from the rack and gave it a quick look. “Cloakable heavy railgun, explosive projectiles with molecular acid cores. Won’t be an issue for our Containium armor, but the acid will be hard on our cloaking emitters.”

  “What about the armor?” I asked.

  Klutch pulled the suit from the cabinet and took a look. He called to Coonts. “Tell us what you think.” He said.

  It was obviously something he had not seen before and wanted the Engineer’s opinion. The two fought all the time, but there was no hint of that now. It was all business and mutual respect when our lives were on the line. Klutch knew Coonts would have a much better idea of what he was seeing and passed the suit to him. Coonts took it from the Troop Master so he could keep an eye on the other hatch.

  Coonts pulled the rear entry plate open and gave the interior a good examination. “Oxygen atmospheric, universal interface AI, multi-sourced power supply, interweaved artifact 699 inner liners and hull alloy outer armor plating. See this mesh over the armor plates?” He said pointing at it. “That is Grawl cloaking technology. All in all, it is good quality armor. It would stop most high-velocity projectiles and certain commonly used handheld beam weaponry. That being said, the armor was never designed to stop projectiles with a Containium penetrator casing.”

  Sael seemed skeptical of Coonts's cursory inspection. “How can you be sure of that by just looking at the armor?”

  “Senior Operative,” Coonts said holding the suit up to her. “It takes thickened Containium to stop Containium. As far as I know, no one makes armor of that quality except us.”

  Coonts had a very valid point. Containium was a rarity in the galaxy and exceptionally valuable. Each of our armor suits was worth as much as, or more, than a modern starship. Unless someone else had a Containium mine and didn’t care about the cost, they were going to be vulnerable to our weaponry.

  The Troop Master was getting fidgety. “Commander,” Klutch said pointing at the Senior Operative and Coonts. “Can we send these two back to the Legacy so they can discuss our enemy’s deficiencies in private?”

  That stopped the discussion and netted the Troop Master some ugly looks. Coonts shoved the armor suit back into the locker. While this was going on, Tria put a data
siphon on the shuttle’s nav computer.

  She stepped up beside me and took the words from my mouth with her next comment. “If everybody is done dicking around, we have a mission to complete.”

  We stacked behind the Troop Master and cautiously moved to the hatch that would give us access to the shuttles hold. Since the power was off Klutch didn’t bother with the hatch. He pointed to the portal device and I nodded. He made a hole and we moved through quickly with our weapons up and ready. We were on a catwalk that overlooked the hold. It was occupied by one very dead body of a creature I assumed was a Grippen. It had a face with a short wide muzzle and thick scales the size of nickels. Its teeth were slightly pointed and yellow-brown. I didn’t know if the hue was from a lack of care or that it came naturally. Its overly large legs had an interesting shape due to the double knee joint and the narrow torso looked out of place with the large arms. The body was lashed to the rail of the catwalk. About thirty feet away from us on either side of the catwalk were two tri-barreled weapons. They were mounted to the rail and both pointed down into the cargo bay. The guns were each manned by a single cloaked hostile. I knew this because my suit scanners picked up their power sources and my AI put an outline around them for targeting purposes. They were fixated on the large cargo doors at the rear of the shuttle. Sooner or later our enemies were going to figure out that we didn’t need a door to get at them. This was going to be bad news to the gun operators. With the ship being decompressed, sound had no way to propagate. We could have been dancing for all it mattered. Unless they could feel the vibrations from our approach, they were deaf to what was about to happen to them. I tapped the Troop Master’s shoulder and pointed to the hostile on the left, and I went right. As we closed on our targets I looked down into the hold and saw six Ilor lined up in a row. They all had their hands on the helmets of their pressure suits. Just behind them were four cloaked Grippen. It looked like the Ilor were going to be used as shields against anyone coming through the cargo doors. There was no good angle to get a shot at them. We were going to have to wing it as usual. As I closed with my target, I turned up the power output of my spike launcher to maximum and targeted the helmet of the hostile. The aliens had no discernable ears but did have prominent holes on the sides of their heads. I put my targeting reticle on the spot where I thought its ear was and commed Tria, Coonts, and Sael.