Ilox Saga 1: Eris Monroe: More Than Human (5 page)

The
ground crew boss and his unit were lounging around the tools and machinery that supported the starships when they came in for fittings and repairs. The facility was unusually slow for this time. Usually it was bustling with all kinds of ships coming and going. The intense bright white light of the binary Castor system beat down on the men even in the early twilight of morning. The planet Harmony had just enough breathable air for the men not to wear environment suits, though it was unsuited for colonization due to the tremendously violent storms that cascaded throughout the temperate zone of the planet every month or so. Harmony made for an ideal refueling and drive discharge station as it was situated in the middle of six nearby jump points all of which led to systems with important agricultural or industrial worlds. The men were dressed in the uniform of Dynamic Space Development starship mechanics.

At first the maintenance workers didn’t notice the huge alien ship that had appeared roughly a kilometer above their way station. When the sonic boom arrived, they all looked up to see a swarm of smaller landing craft approaching their station. The foremen of the mechanics frowned as he addressed his subordinate.

“Hey Jase, aren’t we expecting a DSD craft any moment now?”

“Yeah, they’re scheduled to come in for a
drive core discharge in ten minutes. We have them slated for bay twelve. Over there.” He pointed to a rather large docking facility that could easily swallow a ship two hundred meters across.

“That’s what I thought. Then
what is that thing up there? I’ve never seen a ship configuration so…weird.” The large ship was gargantuan in size and had strange bulbous protrusions sticking out from the hull every fifty meters or so. The hull was a strange metallic green unlike the normal durasteel plates that made up the hulls of most starships. The size was hard to gauge, but when smaller fighter size craft began to disembark it became obvious the thing was at least two kilometers long.

“Jesus! Look at the size of that monster!
I don’t like it. Get someone at control to tell those jokers to get out of our airspace.” The foreman was angry and a bit panicked. He hadn’t had anything go wrong on his watch in over two months. His anger turned to fear when two of the smaller ships thundered overhead in a fly-by with violet energy beams lancing out to vaporize the gangway he was standing on. Other crew members scrambled for safety, but he foreman knew it was too late. As he fell to his death, the foreman screamed.

A few hours later, the Dynamic Space Development outpost known as Harmony Starship Facility Fifteen was a smoking ruin.
Only a single frantic distress call had been sent from the control room of the facility. Minutes after the first attack had begun, the signal had been picked up by Kizzara Amara Vis Sala. She had watched in horror as the unknown assailant had laid waste to an entire starship facility and hundreds of sentient beings. She had her ship’s computer record everything that had transpired as she drifted, cloaked in the stealth field that kept her from being discovered. Kizzara had taken a big risk and performed a flyover, recording everything she could. It seemed that the aliens, whoever they were, had left. She detected no activity of any kind. She decided against landing, deeming it too risky. She pulled the nose of her sleek star fighter up and headed up and out of the gravity well of the planet. She kept the stealth system activated the entire time it took her to make the jump out of the system.

She glanced at the data files that depicted the personnel records of her team. The ship’s computer had all ten bios displayed as discrete points of data in a three hundred and sixty degree pattern around her head, hovering at eye level. Angelis, Arneson, Delantus, Grant, Jorstad, Okoro, Stone, Sutton, Visalis and Zang - all of them had distinguished themselves in combat
. All of them had been under fire and in combat zones dozens of times. All of them had been hand-picked by herself and Admiral Hargrove.

She had been in the
Majestic’s operation room for only a few minutes and was early. The room was spare as the rest of the ship, functional but bare-bones and devoid of any decoration or color on the walls or furniture – just bare plasteel walls with a five meter long table situated in the center of the room with a dozen chairs arrayed all around it. A barely perceptible hum filled the room with a low level noise generated by the fusion powerplant, more a feeling then a sound. All star-faring ships had such noises - she paid it no mind. As she waited for the rest of her team to show up, Eris touched one of the displays…zooming in and displaying more material for her to digest. The computer queried if she wanted even more intelligence displayed on the subject.
If she had had neural implants, this would be even easier, as she would have a mental picture of the information and merely thinking about topics would make them appear in her mind’s eye.
Her team was set, orders had been to embark on the TEC cruiser Majestic and head out to the Verge where her destination was the Shaedra system and the planet Domovik. The ship had just made its first jump since leaving Kanpur and the Mintaka system. Eris thought over the mission orders. Director Sahin had been precise; she had been emphatic that once orbit around Domovik had taken place, the Majestic would set down on a small continent near the northern polar cap of the large M4 rated planet. The poisonous atmosphere would require her team to wear armored spacesuits with rebreathing equipment. However, there was nothing to be done about the one point five gravity that the planet exerted – her team would tire more quickly in any strenuous activity. Scans from remote probes, taken recently by TEC engineers, showed a promising location of the Valdren base – if any such still existed on the world. According to the mission data, the planet Domovik was infested with renegade clans using it as a base of operations for piracy against Alliance commercial shipping in nearby systems. The most powerful pirate clan on Domovik was known as the Death Blossom Gladiators.
Pirates shouldn’t be a problem if we come in fast and hard and leave them alone
. Eris thought that the mission parameters could easily expand if third parties became involved. That shouldn’t happen, but Eris was a survivor – she planned for the unknown. Her planning…and instincts… had kept her alive in the past against such risky and dangerous missions. Throughout her military career, Eris had taken bold action against enemies when others would have taken a more subtle approach.

“Computer, graph destination
grid in the Verge and lay out all jump points.” Eris idly scanned the holographic display as it replaced the bios of her team with a floating three dimensional map showing her route throughout a small portion of the galaxy. The computer projected a map in mid-air showing a segment of the galaxy that bordered Republic space. There were twenty-nine jump points from the system they just left in the Mintaka system to their final destination in the Shaedra system located in the Verge. Hazards such as pulsars and black holes were pin-points of glaring red among crisp glowing icons indicating systems, planets, and jump points. The glowing map showed green lines bisecting systems that contained each jump point.
They were jumping through a hell of a lot of space.

“What is the total time estimate for all space travel to
the destination?” She queried the computer. The answer was immediate.

“
Time estimated at one hundred seventy-four hours and twenty eight minutes, assuming no further stops or unplanned deviation in the projected course.” The computer voice was feminine, soothing and too perfect to be anything other than a machine.

A week
; Travel in starships was relatively comfortable and quick, unlike the old days before jump drive technology had been perfected. Back then ships had to use something called
Quantum Zero Point Field Manipulation
– otherwise known as FTL travel by warping space – a comparatively slow pace compared to jump point tech. Ron Delantus, her sergeant, arrived at the briefing room. She had very loose rules for the personnel under her command. She didn’t need them saluting her – she had gained their trust through the crucible of combat. There wasn’t a man or woman in her unit that she couldn’t count on utterly. Ron went by the nickname ‘Moak’. Where he had acquired such a moniker was unknown to her but his green glowing eyes seemed serene as she glanced his way.
His real eyes had been destroyed in an explosion fighting against anti-Republic insurgents in the Samakah system three years earlier. Modern technology could replace practically any human organ except the brain. All these organs could be re-grown, so someone with artificial eyes had many more advantages in what they could see.

“Moak, what’s the word?” Eris gave him a half-smile.
Moak sat down in one of the chairs.

“
I’m glad we’re finally outta that dust-hole. I’m ready for some action.” He was serious and unsmiling as he replied to Eris. She always liked Moak; he didn’t sugarcoat his words and always told her what he was really thinking - a quality that many people did not possess. Eris walked to the other side of the room and activated the computer by touch.

“Now that we’re underway I’ve unsealed our mission orders.” Protocol always dictated that orders would not
be opened until units were in deep space and en route to their final destination. As she spoke the rest of her team silently filed in and sat down in chairs – nine more personnel. Standing, Eris activated the same display as before showing the route to the Shaedra system and the destination planet Domovik.

“We’re heading to another possible Valdren base.” She drank a glass of water before speaking.

“As you can see, we have twenty-eight jumps to go a
nd a travel time of approximately seven days and seven hours.” A groan went up from the assembled men and women of her command.

“We’re going to land
on the northernmost continent at this point here.” As she gestured a small part of the map was magnified until it showed rugged snow covered mountains. “Our target is located under this mountain range in an area approximately fifty square kilometers. We will have seismic scanners equipped with ground penetrating ladar. If an installation is there, we will find it.”

Corporal Pascha Angelis, one of only two women
under her command, spoke up. “What if there’s nothing there ma’am? I mean, how solid is the Intel?” Pascha usually would broach such questions and was generally outspoken. The smaller woman was wearing a standard issue uniform and her black hair was cut extremely short. Eris preferred to have a few questions asked of her instead of silence from the team. Questions were more than likely to mean the soldier had both curiosity and imagination – both qualities that Eris found to be useful in those under her command.

Eris grinned. “
If nothing is there, then consider it an all expense paid vacation to the glorious Shaedra system courtesy of Earth’s Republic and the TEC - any other questions?”

“
Commander, what kind of backup can we call in if…” Brendan Stone was one of her newest team members, and had been with her for only two months. His question trailed off, but Eris knew what he meant. He wanted to know what they were going to do if they encountered any type of
Entity
that had slaughtered so many people one month ago.
We’re going to run like hell is what she thought
.

“This is merely a recon. We go in and scope this place out. We ascertain whether a Valdren base is really there, and if so we secure the perimeter and wait for the
TEC science teams to show up. If things get really bad we perform a strategic retreat.” Eris was solemn. Every person except one in her outfit knew what she was talking about. They had all been there when the Valdren
Entity…
thing…whatever the hell it was… had ripped her men to shreds. It was Bowman that had deactivated the damn ancient artifact and he wasn’t with them. Eris looked over the assembled team members, looking at each person in turn. Her last gaze fell on Kyle Arneson who had a blank expression on his face.
I want him to pay attention.

“Arneson -
questions? You’re the only one in this group that hasn’t gone up against ancient tech before.” He seemed to come out of whatever reverie his mind had been engaged in and looked at Eris with a startled expression.

“U
m…ma’am, I don’t think I’m qualified to ask any questions about dead aliens…or live aliens.” He sighed heavily and attempted a weak smile. “I’m just a glorified taxi. Tell me where to fly and I’ll get you there faster than anyone else.” Kyle was thinking about her the whole time. In this modern age of long life spans, life was still short and could be snuffed out at any moment – especially true for those professions included getting shot at. The deaths on Kanpur had proved that.
Kyle wanted nothing more than to be with her for the rest of his life and he would do whatever it took to make that happen. Her beauty and command presence was too intimidating for him to approach her and the time wasn’t right.
He said nothing further.

Eris turned slightly, surveying all ten of her team members.

“Don’t sell yourself short Arneson; you’re a hell of a pilot.”

She began to circle the briefing table
while pausing in front of each soldier, looking at each as she passed them by. She put a hand on the shoulder of Moak as she passed him. Her voice came alive and her eyes shined with passion as she spoke.

“
We’re all alive. We’re still here and the Valdren tech that tried to kill us is destroyed. If there is more of the same type of thing on Domovik and it turns out to be hostile – we
will
survive it. Each one of you will do your duty. I know it.” She had stopped after coming full circle around the table in front of the sitting Kyle Arneson. She looked him directly in his green eyes.

“Kyle, you’re a soldier first
…pilot second…remember that.” She cocked her head to the side and uttered a short “Dismissed.” All of the assembled men and women filed out as silently as they had come into the room - All but one. Sergeant Angelis remained standing in front of the chair she had been sitting in. She had a wistful look on her face and pursed her lips to ask a question, seemed to pause a second, cast her eyes down to the floor then turned to leave.

Eris put her hand on
Angelis’ sleeve to stop her. “Did you want to say something Corporal?” Her voice was earnest. She genuinely wanted to hear all concerns from her subordinates. They weren’t her friends, but she relied on them in combat and she
needed
them at peak performance. Doubts could gnaw on a soldier’s confidence and erode capabilities; best to have everything out in the open. Eris Monroe towered over the smaller woman who barely measured one hundred and fifty seven centimeters. She was small but had a lot of heart and determination. Pascha Angelis looked up at her commanding officer with a look of fear on her face.

“Ma’am…I…remember that…
that thing…inside my head, chewing on my thoughts – tearing me apart from the inside. I don’t ever want that to happen again.” Pascha shuddered as she remembered. Eris thought quickly how she would reply.

“
Corporal…” Eris paused for a split second, “Pascha…I meant what I just said. You’re alive. We all endured something that killed our comrades. You wouldn’t be alive if you didn’t have what it takes.”
She didn’t mention that those soldiers must have been mentally weaker than those that had survived.
Eris paused for a moment and then continued. “You’re standing here now, right in front of me because you’re made of a material so tough…” her voice trailed off.
Unlike so many others that had dropped dead from massive brain hemorrhages
. Eris blinked as if to turn away from the memory. “You’ll be fine. Shrug it off soldier! That’s an order.”

Corporal
Pascha Angelis straightened herself and squared her shoulders. A look of resolve filled her face as if fate itself had spoken to her wordlessly.

“
Ma’am, I’ve seen you do things I didn’t think were humanly possible. I know
you
will survive. I’m not so sure about the rest of us…” Sergeant Angelis walked out of the briefing room without another word or glance back at her commanding officer.