The creature pointed to the enlarged forward view. There was a long band of rock and debris, as well as the remains of six massive structures. It was hard to tell the rock from metal, but what it was clear the ring was much more than dust. Colonel Black nodded.
“Understood. Put it on the mainscreen, no return feed.”
The forward view remained, but to the side appeared the shape of a roughly dressed Anicinàbe warrior. He wore no uniform but carried the common bandolier, as well as stabbing blades in small pouches. His head was devoid of hair, and a thick double scar ran from the top of his head and down his nose. His lips were also marked, either from combat or some deadly illness. The Colonel looked to the icons at the side of the screen, checking that both the return audio and video feeds were closed.
Good work, Thegn. Spartan wasn't wrong.
Kanjana pointed at him.
“This man, I’ve seen him before.”
The Colonel looked to her and wondered quite what she brought to the SWD. He'd seen her resume, and while her technical skills were impressive, he was sure there must be more to it than that.
“Tahkeome?”
Just the possibility of finally meeting the man, the figure that had brought so much calamity, had a calming effect on him. In his mind, the alien leader could be negotiated with, and if he refused, he had little doubt this ship could handle whatever militia ships Tahkeome had access to.
"Well?"
Kanjana shook her head.
“No, this is one of the Red Scars. They take their name from ritual injuries. It’s all part of joining the criminal organisation.”
He shook his head as if surprised at what he could see, and she began muttering to herself. At the same time, the figure on the mainscreen began to speak, and moments later his translator kicked in.
“This is Tarak. You are trespassing on Anicinàbe territory. Deactivate any weapons and prepare to be boarded.”
Colonel Black looked again at his new Anicinàbe second-in-command, Kanjana.
“Tarak?”
She nodded quickly and swallowed before answering. He could see she was nervous, and the very mention of this individual’s name had a reaction far greater than he’d expected.
“He is an animal, a monster.”
She looked away from the screen and down at the floor. Colonel Black kept his eyes fixed on the imagery on the mainscreen. The Anicinàbe were not always easy to judge, with different emotions being exhibited. This one was different to any other he had seen. Where Kanjana was calm, yet excitable at times, this one seemed to reek of violence. Even the way he leaned in to the camera was aggressive.
“Tell me about him.”
Kanjana turned back to face him, and he could see her face had darkened. It was something he had never seen before, but he had heard of the bizarre ways the skin could change to show emotions, even more so than shown on humans.
“This thing, he is known as Tarak the Butcher. His reputation among my people is something of a legend.”
Colonel Black watched the screen and especially the look to the warrior’s face.
“He is known for kidnap, slavery, and even worse debauchery. He is infamous for his obsession with blades.”
She pointed at the view on the mainscreen.
“You can see them across his body. He doesn’t just use them in battle. He alters and disfigures with his blades.”
She looked away, made a spitting sound, and then looked back.
“...For nothing more than simple pleasure.”
There was more to this; that much was obvious. Colonel Black wanted to know more, but neither Kanjana nor the situation was ready for that conversation. The approaching craft were moving closer, and still the signal came deep from within the debris field. Colonel Black licked his lips and focused on his foes.
“Captain Five-Seven. Charge up the particle emitter capacitors, and activate the turrets. I am authorising defensive fire only. Prepare for battle.”
He then reached for the controls at his seat, and an image of Spartan popped up on the mainscreen. It was an extreme close-up from inside his helmet and only showed three-quarters of his face.
“Spartan, your status?”
The quality of the audio and video was perfect and the response instantaneous.
“We’re ready, and the Jackal is fired up. Just get us close.”
Colonel Black hadn’t doubted it for a moment, but even so, he was glad to hear that. As he listened to Spartan reel off the status of the team, Khan arrived on the deck.
“Colonel. They are ready to go. What’s happening?”
The large warrior was alone, with Olik still back on the operations level. An alert warning sounded, and colour markers flashed on the mainscreen.
“Enemy gunfire detected, impact in six seconds,” said Five-Seven.
Colonel Black rubbed at his cheek.
“Now we’ll see if those turrets are up to the job.”
There was no time for Khan to answer, and he was either unconcerned at the consequences, or had utmost confidence in the ship.
“Four...three...”
The Colonel tensed his muscles and waited for the inevitable. There was no impact, just a string of flashes.
“All targets destroyed.”
“You see,” said Khan, “We spent a lot of time and money on this ship. CTC is expecting the Alliance to go all out on this contract when they see results.”
Colonel Black looked to the Thegn controlling the ship.
“Five-Seven, take us into our orbital entry point...at two hundred and twenty kilometres.”
“Affirmative, Colonel.”
Spartan was busy watching him via the mainscreen.
“Spartan. Your team needs to be ready for a high-speed drop. We won’t have much time.”
“We’ll be ready, Colonel. Don’t worry about us.”
CHAPTER SIX
Exciting new technological wonders were just one of the great numbers of benefits to mankind’s journey to the stars. With a permanent system of Spacebridges, it was now possible to transport goods and supplies from one world to another in a matter of days or sometimes even hours. This ability to transport material so quickly would result in an explosion of trade and services, with entire moons and sometimes planets given over to their specialisms. Fiery worlds like Prometheus would find the emerging markets in the Orion Nebula to be highly profitable, whereas the old colonies of Mars and Titan made great strides in tourism, as well as military training on the ruined surface of the birthplace of man, Old Earth.
Orion – The Future?
ANS X-45 ‘Titan’, Helios Prime, Alliance
The assault ship was already moving into position at the orbital entry point when the enemy ships were spotted. This time it wasn’t the three civilian ships, but a formation of heavily modified frigates had appeared out of nowhere and on a higher orbit. They were nowhere near the size of Titan, but all were configured with different arrays of weapons. Some carried crudely fitted turrets; others were fitted out with scores of anti-ship missiles.
“How the hell did nine ships get there without us detecting them?” Colonel Black demanded.
Five-Seven shook his head.
“Unknown. The ships were cold, no heat or residual electrical signals, and our radar system is offline.”
“Cold?” Khan asked, “How would the crew survive without life support and heating?”
Kanjana was the only one not surprised at the news.
“Gentlemen, they are sentinels. My people often use captured ships and fit them out to be controlled remotely. My guess is they are sending them commands directly from the debris field.”
Khan laughed.
“Yeah, that makes sense. Hide like a coward in an asteroid field and send machines to do your fighting.”
Kanjana looked at him and raised her eyebrows, an expression she’d learnt from the other humans working at the Special Weapons Division.
“What?” he asked.
/> Kanjana simply laughed.
“The irony, after everything we’ve been developing the last few years.”
She placed her hand on the Colonel’s shoulder.
“You will have to take it from here; it’s time for me to get the dropship ready.”
Colonel Black nodded without taking his eyes of the ships. Kanjana moved down the eight steps to the lower level and then into the spherical area. The thick glass-like material gave the perfect view of Karnak, as well of deep space. Unlike from where Colonel Black was sitting, she now had an unfiltered view of space around the ship, whereas the others were using the mainscreen that utilised information streamed in from the hundreds of cameras fitted to the exterior of the ship.
“Activate the radar and attacking systems. Keep the guns online.”
Five-Seven acknowledged and then issued the orders. Extra data appeared in seconds as the onboard scanners sent out micro-pulses in all direction. Two more derelict spacecraft were identified.
“More hostiles?”
Five-Seven shook his head once more.
“Negative. They are derelict hulks. Both match Alliance registered transports.”
The Thegn moved his hands and checked multiple streams of data. He beckoned towards the numerous diamond symbols on the mainscreen.
“Approaching craft are targeting us. Missile trackers are active. They will fire any moment.”
Colonel Black licked his lip and glanced towards Khan. The towering figure merely nodded, giving him the affirmation he didn’t need but still appreciated.
“Activate the guns, bring down any craft targeting us.”
The response was instantaneous. Though the forward particle emitters were in the wrong direction, the aft mounted weapons were just able to target the last two ships. The quadruple particle cannons emitters adjusted their focal length and opened fire. The beam weapons of the past had changed considerably, and now the weapons fired in rapid pulses, striking with the force exceeding a gigajoule of kinetic energy.
“We have good hits,” said Five-Seven.
They watched small flashes of energy mark the impacts on the last two ships. There were hundreds of small impacts as metal plate, plastic, and other material exploded from the heavy fire. Chunks of hull vanished into clouds of dust-sized particles until finally both vessels were torn apart.
“What’s that?” Khan asked.
He was busy pointing to the larger ship that had just been detected leaving the debris ring around the planet. The imaging system magnified the vessel, but at this extreme distance, it was still difficult to make out much more than the rough profile. But it was immediately clear that the ship was big, very big.
“We have no records of this ship in the database. There is nothing that matches her energy signature either.”
The ship shuddered a little as they moved into the final insertion position in orbit over Karnak. They were much too high to release combat troops, but the perfect height to put the dropship onto an assault vector. Khan spotted the indicator first.
“We’re ready.”
At the same time, the first of the enemy guns managed to breach the defence turrets to strike the outer hull. Warnings flashed, but not one of them looked particularly concerned.
“No breach, the hull is secure,” said Five-Seven.
Colonel Black took in a short breath and gave a nod in the direction of the lower navigation and control sphere.
“Kanjana, we’re in position. It’s now your turn. Begin the drop.”
He didn’t notice the grin on Khan’s face as he said the words.
Good luck, old friend, thought the Jötnar.
* * *
Jackal Dropship ‘Haywire’, Karnak, Demilitarised Zone
At the first stage of the operation the Jackal dropship was lowered down on its elevator and rested after twelve metres. The deck sealed above them and was quickly followed by the ship’s double-layered outer doors opening up. There was little to see, but then the video feeds from outside the dropship fed directly into Spartan’s suit.
Beautiful.
He could see the spherical shape of Karnak below them, and then to his surprise, two streaks as a pair of unguided rockets rushed past and vanished off into the distance. It served as a rather unsubtle reminder that the experimental assault ship was under direct attack.
“Are you all ready?” Kanjana asked.
Her face was now showing on Spartan’s overlay. He looked to his left and then to his right. All six of the mercenaries were clamped in and waiting patiently for the word to go.
“We’re ready. Let’s do this.”
“Hold on.”
There was a clunk, but nothing seemed to happen. Only when Spartan looked to his left did he see the view from the top of the craft as they fell away from the ship.
Here we go again. High-speed and flying blind, just like old times.
For anybody else this might have been a worrying operation, but not for him. As they began the violent re-entry to the planet, he found he was almost looking forward to some action. He gripped his hands together and clenched his fists. This time he knew who the enemy was, and he also knew who his friends were. It was simple, but it made a big difference.
This time they come back, every last damned one of them!
As he looked back, he spotted dozens, perhaps hundreds of projectiles, and all were heading towards the dropship or the assault ship. He opened his mouth to speak, stopping as the first exploded. Occasionally, dust would get in the way, and he would see hints of the particle beam cannons firing, and the flashes of rockets exploding surrounded the entire ship.
“Spartan, are you seeing this?” Arana asked.
He nodded, assuming she was referring to the battle.
“Yeah, I see it. The ship’s doing her job, though.”
The silence persisted as they all watched the unfolding battle from the videostreams in their armour until they burst through the upper atmosphere and began their high-speed dash to the surface. A transmission came through from the ship.
“Kanjana, what is it?”
She looked surprisingly peaceful even though he could see what was happening nearby.
“We are taking heavy fire. You will have to deploy in the next sixty seconds. I need to get the Jackal back on board before we jump. Else she’s going to be left behind.”
Spartan looked back to the mercenaries, but they were unaware of what he was seeing inside his helmet. The ship was surrounded by what seemed to be flak, but in reality was the debris left behind by the assault.
“Understood. Dropping in twenty seconds.”
He looked to the six mercenaries.
“We’re dropping earlier. Get ready.”
Arana shook her head.
“Are you insane? We haven’t broken through the fifty-kilometre barrier yet. The freefall will be impossible.”
Spartan shook his head.
“No, that isn’t true. We’ve done unmanned tests over Kerberos for just this eventuality. Just keep your stabiliser on, and do not open your chute until I give the word.”
He ran his eyes along the diagnostics and then hit the timed exit button.
“Fifteen seconds. Be ready.”
Two of the mercenaries were saying something in a chant. It might have been a good luck chant or a prayer to a deity. Not for him, though, he was long past that.
No deity intervened to help my family or me. If there is a God, and he’s content to let millions die. Well...screw him!
Each sent the acknowledgment tone, and Spartan hit the depressurise button. The entire interior normalised with the outside environment in seconds. Only the powerful clamps on the dropship were able to keep the passengers from being sucked out in an uncontrolled fall.
Not much longer.
Spartan could see the counter working its way down, and finally it hit the limit. The brackets attached to the lower hatch groaned, and small cylindrical openings appeared beneath him and the mercenaries.
The hatch slid into the hull, revealing the lower part of the craft to the elements. It was almost impossible to see what was happening, but Spartan was unconcerned. He knew the specification of the dropship almost by heart, and unlike the others, he’d actually seen her perform in dry drops.
“Drop!”
The clamps released his M-3B armour, and he dropped out of the craft like a stone. The shock of the exit was enough to drive what little was in his lungs straight out. He remained calm and collected, and found himself enjoying the sensation.
The other six quickly followed, feet first. Spartan was only moving for a matter of seconds before he’d rotated over so that he was heading to the surface head down. He had the perfect view to the ground, and it was nothing if mesmerising.
Check your numbers.
He knew it was easy to get caught up in the moment and forget the mission. He took in several quick breaths, checking the figures as he continued to fall. At this height, the air resistance was small he was now travelling at more than five hundred kilometres an hour, and still increasing.
“Squad...”
He took in another breath.
“...Report in.”
There was a short pause, and for a brief moment, he worried the others had failed to jump or experienced some kind of freak occurrence. He knew the dropship and his own armour was capable, but he had nothing to go on for the mercenaries, other than their word their armour was certified for jumps into the stratosphere.
“Spartan,” said Arana, “We’re right behind you.”
He acknowledged and then concentrated on his own freefall. The mapping data was active and locking onto geographical points to assist in his descent. At the same time, he continued to speed up. The signal from the dropship was already moving away, and he suspected it was travelling back to the ship under the control of Kanjana.
He’d been falling for thirty seconds and began to spin. The forces against his body were immense, and it took all of his strength and nerves to remain calm. He’d seen the after-action reports of this manoeuvre before, and it was quite common for people to enter uncontrollable spins. He moved his arms out just a fraction and spent a few seconds to levelling off into a standard vertical drop. The counter continued moving up even higher, and he would have cried out just as he broke the sound barrier. The numbers were moving so quickly that he couldn’t even see the needle.