Nanomachine War series Box Set

by Don Viecelli

  The elevator stopped on Level 12. Rahta strode quickly to the room where Tumil was being held. A guard at the door snapped to attention and saluted both of them.

  Rahta looked through the glass wall. Tumil was seated at a desk and looked up when he saw Rahta and Anahta staring at him.

  Rahta punched the translator button on the wall and said, “We have arrived at Qum. I thought you would like to see your home world once more before we go to Yoykan.”

  Rahta ordered the AI to turn on the large video screen on one of the walls inside the room for Tumil to look at. He could see the planet below slowly rotating on its normal journey through space. It’s blue oceans sparkled under fluffy white clouds passing overhead. The mountain tops had snow on them and large tracks of land were green and yellow with color.

  Rahta then ordered Shonya to focus in on a large, busy city filled with Qumru going about doing whatever work the Yoyka has assigned them to do.

  “I will ask you one final time, Tumil, if you will teach my scientists how Onutu works and how you stopped our nanomachines from infecting others.”

  Tumil calmly said, “I will not help you, Rahta. I am willing to die once more to prevent this.”

  Rahta smiled. “I am sure you would, Tumil, but are you be willing to let others die for you?”

  Tumil looked at the scene on the video screen showing thousands of Qumru walking about on a normal looking day in summer. There were adults and many children playing in the parks. The pictures were so close up he could see the children smiling at their parents. He turned back and looked into Rahta’s eyes and saw nothing but evil in them. He immediately knew what Rahta planned to do, but he could not bring himself to accept what was happening.

  “Kill me instead,” Tumil said simply.

  Rahta calmly took the quantum computer device from Anahta, selected an option and pushed a button. Within seconds thousands of people in the video screen picture dropped to the ground—dead.

  Tears began to flow from Tumil’s eyes. “You monster!”

  “I am not the monster here, Tumil. You are.” Rahta ordered Shonya to pick another large city on the ground showing new pictures of people working and playing appeared. Rahta looked at Tumil and said. “Will you do as I say now?”

  Tumil had no choice in the matter. They would not kill him and Rahta was more than willing to kill thousands more Qumru to make him do his bidding. He finally nodded his head in affirmative. “You win, Rahta. Stop killing my people and I will help do what you want.”

  Rahta smiled with delight. “Good decision, Tumil. You just saved the rest of your people. You should be proud of yourself. I will leave you for now. When we reach Yoykan, I will introduce you to our scientists. You will tell them everything you know.”

  Rahta turned his back on Tumil and left the room with Anahta following close behind. When they reached the elevator, Rahta said. “That was easier than I thought. Tumil is weak and deserves to die once we learn all we need to know about Onutu.”

  “I thought you would have to kill more Qumru before he gave in,” Anahta said simply.

  Rahta stopped and looked at Anahta. “Oh, I plan to; all of them. As soon as he tells us what we need to know, I plan to terminate everyone on Qum for what happened at Holtu. I will not tolerate the Qumru race any longer. They must all die along with the Holtu and the Humans.”

  Anahta was stunned, but could do nothing to stop Rahta without suffering the same fate.

  The elevator doors opened and Rahta stepped inside. There was much to do when they returned to Yoykan. With Onutu and the new FTL hyperdrive technology, it would not be long before he enacted revenge on the whole Holtu Military Alliance and destroyed them all.

  Chapter 59

  Holtu

  The mission was critical. The Solruku had a head start in FTL hyperspace, but Vice Leader Di was determined to track the starship down and recapture or destroy it. He was speeding through hyperspace on his warship Bakutu. He commanded a small fleet of ten warships including the USS Illinois. He accepted their plea to join him on this mission because they were friends of Tumil, the captured Qumru scientist. Admiral Jason Weston and Commander Doug Martin were on the vidcom channel now with the other Holtu Leaders discussing plans.

  “What happens after we drop out of hyperspace, Vice Leader? Jason asked.

  “We destroy all Yoyka warships in the star system and try to prevent the Solruku from departing if it’s still in orbit around Qum.”

  “Do your plans include destroying the Solruku if it won’t surrender?”

  “I have no choice, Admiral Weston. We cannot allow the Yoyka to steal our secrets and use them against us.”

  “I understand. Are you still receiving distress codes from the Solruku?”

  “No, it stopped sending soon after we left Holtu. Someone aboard the ship disabled the beacon.”

  “Any idea who sent the message?” one of the other Leaders asked.

  “I suspect it was Shonya,” Di said.

  “Do you think the Yoyka know a message was sent out?” Jason asked.

  “The Yoyka would not suspect a distress code was sent out if the ship was not damaged. Someone must have turned it off. The last message we received said the Solruku was headed for Qum.”

  “Any idea why it was headed there instead of straight for Yoykan?”

  “I can only speculate it has something to do with the people of Qum. I am not certain why Rahta would do this.”

  “How much time before we reach Qum space?” Jason asked.

  “We will arrive in one hour. Prepare your weapons to engage any Yoyka warships still in Qum space. I will call again before we reach Qum.”

  The call ended. Jason turned to Doug. “Tell me what you know about Qum.”

  Doug spent the next fifteen minutes describing what he knew about Qum and the people on the planet. Jason already knew the basics, but he was not up to date about everything that happened before they joined the space battle at Holtu.

  “Qum still has nineteen billion Qumrus living and working on the planet for the Yoyka. They are all infected with the nanomachines. I was part of a rescue mission to save the last few uninfected Qumru scientists that knew about Onutu technology. Two of them were Killian and Jopar. Killian is the sister to Tumil. They were all returned safely to Holtu. The Qumru left on Qum need to be saved before Rahta decides to kill them all like he killed our people on Earth and Mars. I fear he may decide to use the nanomachine kill code to exterminate the people on Qum.”

  Jason tried to comprehend in his own mind what killing nineteen billion people with a simple kill switch meant. Nothing of this magnitude in all of human history could match such a horrific tragedy. “Why would Rahta do such a thing?”

  “Rahta is a ruthless tyrant. He will seek revenge for losing the battle at Holtu. Why he is stopping at Qum instead of Yoyka is a mystery to me. Maybe he has a warship fleet there and wants to warn them or something.”

  “We’ll find out soon enough. Have Commander Potter prepare the Zoltu fighters for battle as soon as we drop out of hyperspace. Make sure we have the KEMs ready to launch at any Yoyka warships. I’ll instruct AIC to prepare to fire energy weapons as needed and increase our energy shields. I want the ship ready for battle as soon as Vice Leader Di gives the command.”

  Vice Leader Di looked at his wristcom. His fleet was almost at its destination. They would drop out of hyperspace in moments. He sent a final vidcom message to all his ship Leaders. “Be ready to fire weapons at any Yoyka warships in the area. Take no prisoners! If the Solruku is still there, try to damage its engines so it cannot escape. That is all.”

  Di did not say what he would do if the Solruku was there and they could not prevent it from escaping to hyperspace. He knew he would have no other choice but to destroy it. Whether it was already too late to prevent the Onutu technology or the FTL hyperdrive capability to fall into Yoyka hands was immaterial. He would fire his KEM missiles and kill everyone on board the Solruku. If fate had a
hand in the matter, Rahta would die in Qum space.

  Chapter 60

  Saving Qum

  Vice Leader Di with his fleet of ten warships dropped out of hyperspace near the center of the Qum star system. It was risky, but he thought he had the advantage of surprise; and the new KEM in his weapon arsenal that would prove devastating to any Yoyka warships that had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  “Two enemy warships on the screen, Vice Leader!” First Leader Miata announced.

  “Fire two Kinetic Energy Missiles at each target!” Di said without hesitation.

  Two KEM missiles were speeding toward each Yoyka warship before Di ordered all fleet First Leaders to release their Zoltu fighters. Their orders were to find and destroy every Yoyka Spitka fighter, troop transport ship, freighter and all other Yoyka spaceships in orbit around Qum or on the ground.

  The two Yoyka warships in orbit around Qum had no time to change course to avoid the .99 sublight speed KEMs before impact. The Yoyka warship Commanders had no prior knowledge of what type of weapons they were. Two fiery explosions lit up the heavens around Qum in the blink of an eye. The two warships broke into hundreds of pieces while more explosions disintegrated larger sections that remained in orbit. Thousands of Yoyka died instantly.

  Within moments, the space around Qum filled with 1,000 Zoltu fighters. They quickly formed up into squadrons led by their Squadron Leaders. The Zoltu’s fired nuclear tipped missiles at any Spitka fighters that were still in the area. Many tried to escape the onslaught by heading for deep space. They never had a chance of escaping and were destroyed by long range energy weapons or missiles fired by the Holtu warships.

  Finally, Di ordered troop transport shuttles filled with over 5,000 UN Space Marines to perform ground assault landings against any enemy troops found on the surface. Most enemy troops were stationed near large Qum cities and easy to locate. The Yoyka never had to use troops to control their slaves since the nanomachines did most of the work for them. The situation of Qum was no different. The Yoyka never expected to be attacked by another race and defenses were poor or nonexistent.

  The space battle lasted all of twenty minutes. Miata reported, “Both enemy warships have been eliminated, Vice Leader. All Spitka fighters have been destroyed. Enemy ground troop locations have been identified and are under assault by our troops.”

  Di checked his monitoring screens and verified with the AIC. They had caught the Yoyka by surprise and with superior numbers. However, they were too late to find or stop the Solruku; if it was even here before they arrived. The space battle was over, but the danger confronting the Qumru on the planet was not. He had AIC scan the surface and verified the Qumru on the ground were still alive, but for how long? If word of this attack reached Rahta before he could save the people on Qum, then all was for naught.

  “We must get our people to the ground as soon as the assault troops say it is safe. We may not have much time.”

  Admiral Jason Weston read the battle reports on his monitor screens. The results were better than anticipated. He said to Doug, “We surprised them. That makes two for two.”

  “We’ve been lucky so far, Admiral. The Yoyka are receiving a taste of their own medicine now.”

  “How many fighters have we lost?”

  “None so far. The first wave of Zoltu’s pretty much cleaned the Yoyka out of the way. Our fighters are searching for targets in support of our Marines on the ground now. I should have more information shortly on what they’ve found.”

  “I’m receiving a vidcom call from Di now. Let me put it on the viewscreen. Hello, Vice Leader. Congratulations on the battle.”

  “Thank you, Admiral Weston. We have achieved one of our objectives, but we have not located the Solruku. We may have missed it.”

  “I’m sorry, Vice Leader. What do you need us to do?”

  “Our ground troops have cleared the capital city of Yoyka troops. It’s safe to take our people down to the surface. When the Yoyka learn what happened here, I expect them to react harshly with deadly consequences. Time is of importance. I want you to send the scientists down to do what they came here for and try to save our people.”

  “We’ll get right on it, Vice Leader.”

  “Let me know what happens as soon as you know.”

  “We will, Vice Leader.” The call ended.

  “It’s time to send the Qumru scientist down to the surface. Maybe they can do what they said if they have enough time.”

  “I would like permission to go with them, Admiral. I owe it to Tumil.”

  “Very well, Doug. Keep me informed.”

  Doug saluted Jason as he left. He has been waiting for this moment since they left Holtu. He had suggested they try and save the people infected on Qum with the new counter nano-agent Tumil and Janice had developed on Holtu a short time ago. It was one of the reasons Tumil was on board the Solruku in the first place. He was planning to use the counter nano-agent on the 16 infected Solruku officers they had brought back to Holtu months ago. The solution worked on tissue samples, so it should work on the infected Qumru on the planet now. It was a chance worth taking.

  Doug quickly left the Command Center and headed for the hangar deck. The Space Marines on board the troop transport shuttle were waiting for clearance to leave the ship. A few moments later, Doug entered the hangar, walked up the ramp and found Colonel Shirley Tills.

  “We’re cleared for takeoff Colonel,” Doug said after returning her salute. The transport closed its doors and prepared for departure.

  Doug found the Qumru scientists he needed to talk to. “Hello, Killian; Jopar. We have permission to leave now. Are you ready?”

  Killian looked at Jopar and back at Doug. “We are ready. Get us to the surface and we will do our jobs.”

  Doug smiled for the first time today. If all goes as predicted, the people on Qum just might have a chance at life and regain their freedom once again.

  Chapter 61

  Time Is Short

  The troop transport shuttle departed from the USS Illinois and quickly made its descent to the capital city of Ollala. On board was a platoon of forty-three Space Marines under the command of Colonel Shirley Tills. Doug was glad Tills was leading the landing team for the two scientists, Killian and Jopar, who asked to be part of the Qum mission to try and save their people.

  Colonel Tills standing next to Doug said, “It’s good to see you again, Commander.”

  “You too, Tills. Is this your first mission?”

  “Yes, it is. Been waiting for a chance to show these Yoyka bastards what real Space Marines can do.”

  “Hopefully, that won’t be necessary in Ollala. The reports I read said the Yoyka troops have been cleared out of the capital city already, but you never know what we’ll find, do you?”

  “We can handle whatever is there. What’s the deal with these Qumru scientists?”

  “Killian is the sister of Tumil. Jopar is her husband. Di, I and a few Holtu troops rescued both of them from the Yoyka on Qum three months ago. They’ve been helping Tumil find a counter measure to reverse the effects of the Yoyka nanomachines on infected Qumru. They think it will work if we can give it to enough people on Qum before Rahta decides to kill everyone off.”

  “How many Qumru still live on this planet?”

  “Around nineteen billion Killian told me. I don’t know how much time we have or what’s going to happen down there.”

  The red alert lights illuminated the cabin. The pilot on the shuttle announced over the comspeakers, “Prepare for landing. Two minutes out!”

  Doug checked his seat belt. He was wearing a Space Marine armored suit with standard issue handgun, knife, ammunition belt, wristcom for location tracking and other essential items for surviving a possible fire fight. He placed the helmet over his head and turned on the HUD display. He was ready for whatever was waiting for them on the ground.

  The pilot found an open area near what looked like a park in the center of
the city. He landed with a thud and sudden stop; engines still running. The rear door opened and the landing ramp was already down on the ground. Colonel Tills ordered her troops out first to secure the perimeter. A few moments later, the all clear message was received over everyone’s comlink. Tills led the rest of the group out of the shuttle towards a large building nearby. Once the building was cleared, Tills, Doug and the Qumru scientists were led inside to await further orders.

  There were signs of fighting all around them. Several buildings in the city were on fire. Rifle shots, energy weapons and explosions from mortars could be heard in the distance. The only flying vehicles in the air over the city were friendly Zoltu fighters scouting for enemy targets.

  Doug turned to Tills and asked, “What’s the fighting status in the city?”

  Tills was listening to Marine chatter on the comchannel. “Our Marines are chasing the last Yoyka soldiers out of the city. It appears we have them on the run. We can move out, but keep an eye out for enemy stragglers.”

  Doug walked over to Killian. “Do you know where we have to go?”

  “We need to get to the Capitol Building in the center of the city. That’s where the Onutu administration center is located.”

  “Why there? I thought we needed to find some Qumru citizens and begin injecting the counter nano-agent.”

  “We do, but Jopar and I need to find out if there are any Onutu quantum computer centers still operating on Qum just in case the Yoyka send their kill code.”

  “Good idea. We’re cleared to move out. Show us the way.”

  Colonel Tills ordered her platoon to separate into three rifle squads of 13 soldiers each. Squad One was led by Captain Juan Sanchez. Squad Two was led by Sergeant Alexa Dimitar. Doug knew both of them well from working with them on Mars to recapture the Solruku. Squad Three was led by Lieutenant Joshua Mills. Each squad included a two person mortar team and a four person assault weapons team. Just to be prepared, the platoon also had a three person machinegun team. They were ready for anything the Yoyka could throw at them.