Battleship Furiosa (30 page)

"Okay, I'll follow."

Billy moved off, but as Nate
followed him, he heard a groan. Looking back over his shoulder, he
watched two Anicinàbe lift up from the floor. Both dripped blood,
and one carried one of the massive Byotai Sparth
cannons.

Where did he find that?

Private Valentine thrust him hard
against the wall just as the weapon fired. This was no carbine, and
the triple block of burning hot metal hissed past and blasted a
massive chunk from the wall. His eyes moved to the right and at the
face of Valentine.

"Shoot him!"

Nate didn't think
and simply lifted his carbine and took aim at
the pair of Sparth. Two shots were all it took, and the warrior was
down. The second rushed ahead, but Valentine made short work of
him. There were only four of them left now on the ramp, and as they
moved, one of the younger marines fell to one knee. Another thermal
bolt glanced off his shoulder and narrowly missed Nate before
embedding in the wall. Nate rushed to help, keeping his carbine
pointing to the enemy. As he moved, he pulled at the trigger,
firing the weapon in short bursts. One of the muscular warriors
took multiple hits, and Nate blasted away, certain that he'd hit
the figure. The mortally wounded Anicinàbe staggered and then
collapsed a metre from the injured Marine. Nate grabbed under his
arm, and Valentine did the same.

"Come on!" she yelled.

The last of the
m
arines worked their way up the ramp and
pushed through the large blast doors. As Valentine came through
last, they hissed shut with a loud crunching sound. No sooner were
they shut, and a pair of Byotai technicians moved in with portable
welders to fuse the two sections together. The gentle crackle of
small arms served as a constant reminder that the battle was far
from over. Valentine leaned in and whispered in his ear, "Not bad,
Nate, not bad."

Nate noticed Valentine raising
her eyebrows as Valdis moved in close, and he instinctively
shuddered, confusing the Byotai pilot. She moved away to speak with
the Captain, leaving Nate alone with his friends. He shook his head
and gave the place a cursory glance. This part of the passageway
was much larger than the others and formed into a crossroads. One
part led further back into the ship and was protected by a hastily
erected barricade, guarded by four Byotai soldiers. Many of the
surviving Byotai moved through a gap in the barricade, those they
had helped in the fire shaft heading through first. Valdis finished
speaking and moved to the defensive position. Her comrades passed
her by, Dogg being the last of the four to pass the
barricade.

"We made it,
" said Valdis.

Nate should have been happy, but
with the enemy so close, and having no real idea what was
happening, he was less than convinced.

"Yeah, we did. What next,
though?"

He lifted his left arm and tapped
his Secpad bracelet. Once again, it showed the public cortex was
still off-line.

Typical!

Without the mapping
data
, he would have to use the map he'd
stored mentally and compare it to what he could see. The routes to
the left and right were marked in Byotai lettering, and red lines
on the floor led off into the distance, stopping at a smaller blast
door. Each side appeared identical in design, but he had no idea
where they went. He looked confused, and the young Byotai slapped
his shoulder and then laughed nervously. At the same time, the
Captain extended his arm in the human fashion and placed it on
Nate's shoulder.

"Impressive,
" he said in English, "Very impressive. I could do with
more like you in my crew."

Both watched as the last few
passed the barricade, leaving just Captain Sobiex, Valdis, Nate,
and his four friends. Billy moved to the gap, and Nate looked at
the sealed doorway they were leaving behind them. The Byotai
engineers had done a quick job on the blast doors, but it was more
than enough to hold them back until they could bring up heavy
weapons.

"What's wrong?" Cassandra
asked.

Nate breathed slowly and
lifted his carbine as though it was something
he'd never seen before. Just remembering the fight earlier gave him
a sick feeling in his stomach. Shooting as fighters was one thing,
but a living breathing enemy? That was quite another. He could see
she was affected, too, and as their eyes met, he realised for the
first time that she was absolutely terrified. He wanted to reach
out, but with Valentine, the Captain, Valdis, and the others
around, it just felt weird.

"I don't know. Something tells me
they won't just sit this one out. These Technos, or whatever
they're called, they’re motivated, I mean seriously
motivated."

Cassandra opened her mouth to
speak, but a loud screeching sound drowned out her voice and every
other noise. As soon as it subsided, the passageway shuddered and
part of the ceiling collapsed with a loud thud. Smoke drifted out
from the breach, and more crashed down, completely blocking the
passageway in a single swift movement, as well as showering the
improvised barricade with debris. Those unfortunate to be waiting
there were quickly buried under tons of metal and wiring. Billy ran
to the wreckage and pulled at the debris, but it was too late. He
looked back to others, a look of sad desperation on his
face.

"What do we do
now?"

Valdis looked stunned. Her
friends had only just passed through the barricade, and now she had
no idea if they were alive or dead. Nate moved to her side, turning
his focus on the aged Captain for guidance. Of those remaining in
the small group, he was the one with the best knowledge of the old
ship. The Captain checked his portable computer unit and then
cursed in a strange, guttural fashion.

"Everything is off-line. We have
to get to the command deck with the others. We do not want to be
here when they come through."

He po
inted to the sealed up doorway that now rung with the sound
of metal objects striking against the heavy blast doors. Nate
hadn't even noticed the sound before, but now that he was aware, it
became the only thing he could hear. Valdis snapped out of her
daze, looked up, and then spoke quickly. When finished, the Captain
nodded and began to move away. Nate grabbed the arm of Valdis, and
she twisted around.

"Well?"

She bar
ed her upper teeth in a bizarre expression that Nate simply
had no understanding of.

Is she happy, angry, sad, or what?

"We take the flank passageway and
through the torpedo bulges."

With no further explanation, she
moved on ahead of him, leaving Nate none the wiser. Billy was next
alongside him, along with Matilda, and finally all of his friends.
Of them all, the most confused looking of them all was
Cassandra.

"The torpedo bulges?"

Matilda took all of this in her
stride and pointed to where the remnants of the unit were
going.

"Maybe we should go,
too."

Nate shrugged, and off they went. No
sooner had they moved through the next blast door, and Cassandra
returned with the questions, calling out to those further at the
front of the column. Nate followed further back, constantly
checking behind them for signs of danger. He could just make out
Cassandra's voice and smiled to himself when Valdis began to
explain.

"They are bulbous sections on the
flanks of Furiosa. They are layered to provide torpedo and
proximity weapon protection to her hull."

"So they're hollow?"

Valdis chuckled, perhaps
forgetting her current fears, even for a few seconds.

"No quite. We use the space to
store the Tribunus Class clippers, one on each flank of the
ship."

The mention of the tiny ships
piqued Nate's interest. He called out after the others, his mind
now only on this interesting new discovery. There was little Nate
found more interesting than Naval technology. And though Furiosa
was something of a floating legend, the idea of a small, hidden
away cutter was fascinating to him; the fact that they were in the
middle of a battle seemed to have little effect on him. He caught
up with the others and placed a hand on the shoulder of both
Cassandra and Valdis.

"Tribunus cutters, like the ones
used for customs duty work?"

Valdis looked at him with a strange
expression.

"Yes, why?"

Byotai Imperial Battleship
'Furiosa'

Martos III, Tenth Quadrant

24 December 2472

From the outside, everything looked
fine. Battleship Furiosa had sustained only minor external damage,
and her three escorts appeared equally unscathed. Nothing could
reveal the trauma two of the ships still faced from the mass
boarding action hours earlier. It would take an expert eye to spot
the damaged and discarded cargo containers that the enemy had used
to get so close. At least five still remained on Furiosa's upper
deck, with a sixth shattered against the shielded front section and
filled with the bodies of thirty or more convicts that had failed
to make it aboard.

The tranquillity of their advance
was broken as the four ves
sels cut their
engines and presented their bows to the Rift. It was a classic
final adjustment as they waited to face whatever was on the other
side.

Commander Higgins paced about the
bridge with impatience. He'd been out of contact with the Ironclads
for hours now, and in a matter of seconds, they would breach the
Rift and enter the disputed Tenth Quadrant. This area was a
warzone, with forces of a dozen factions vying for control of the
planet Karnak and its immediate neighbours. He needed them and
their fighters, but more importantly, he was worried about
them.

"This is it, judgment
time,
" said General Honorius.

Captain Krammer gave
him almost no attention as he gazed upon the
central display. The schematics showed a full ten percent of the
ship was either under enemy control or currently disputed. Worse,
he'd lost control of a full quarter of his weapons and now had lost
contact with both main hangar decks.

"They are getting dangerously
close to this deck," he said with a grumble, "This was a costly
attack for them, but hell, it was an audacious one. Hiding anything
up to a thousand hardened criminals, militia, and volunteers on
that station was a stroke of genius. If we'd moved any closer or
docked, well..."

He shook his head.

"Furiosa would be gone, perhaps even
under their control."

General Honorius nodded.

"Yes. You may be right, but that
is not what happened. Our mission stands, and we have to make
contact with Makos."

He rubbed at his head.

"Tahkeome has been smart. He's
utilised the divisions in our own society and his, while giving his
supporters a clearly defined goal. They are the poor, the deprived,
and the disenfranchised. The people we've let slip through the gaps
for centuries."

The Captain appeared confused by his
statement.

"What are you saying, General?
That this is our fault, and we are the villains?"

General Honorius snorted.

"Of course not, but you cannot
deny that Tahkeome has run circles around us. He's mobilised two
societies and unified them in a matter of months. Now they see one
enemy, an enemy that we defeated a decade ago."

He snorted once more, and then
laughed.

"We fought alongside the Alliance and
Helions against the creatures, and won, with no help from the clan
warriors of the Anicinàbe tribes. And yet now this Star Empire is
motivated in a crusade to defeat the ancient Biomechanical evil
that no longer exists."

He tilted his head back and let
out one breath, held it, and then breathed more slowly. Then he
spotted Commander Higgins watching him.

"Commander, do you agree with my
assessment?"

The Alliance officer nodded
without even having to think about it.

"Yes, General. Tahkeome has
mobilised a fleet large enough to defeat Makos, or the entire
forces of Alliance Orion Command. He commands the initiative, and
until that changes, he'll have the advantage."

The General brought his hands together
with a crack.

"Exactly. Tahkeome may have planned
this one or two decades ago, and now his plan is coming to
fruition. He commands both his own fleet, plus those he has taken
from us. That is why we must succeed in our mission."

He nodded to the central display
unit.

"Only by combining the forces of Orion
Command and Makos can we stop the relentless advance of
Tahkeome."

He showed them all a single finger and
then smiled.

"One battle;
that is all it will take to turn this around. Bloody them
and show Tahkeome that he may go no further. Now, Captain, How long
till we breach the Rift?"

The Captain didn't even need to check
the navigation information.

"Four minutes, General. If I had a
choice, I would stay in this system and clear the decks. Going into
action with..."

General Honorius shook his head just
like a human.

"No. Whatever we do, it will happen
now, or all is lost."

All eyes turned to the forward
artificial windows that showed the crackling shape of the Rift. A
large countdown displayed the time left till they breached, and for
a moment there was quiet. Then came the sound all of them dreaded,
shouting and the rush of feet. General Honorius lowered his hand to
his flank, ready to grab his pistol. The soldiers at the doorway
separated, and in rushed a handful of bloodied Byotai, led by the
pilot Svana. Blood dripped from her shoulder, and as she arrived,
she dropped to her knees, panting from either pain or exhaustion,
perhaps both.