Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) (16 page)

“It looks clear to me. There are a
number of people already on this moon. Look, they are the same
height and build as us, but this armour and the weapons are not
Alliance. Maybe somebody else got a rift generator working before
us?

“Maybe, but I doubt it,” replied the
Admiral. “Those fortifications looked old, at least a few decades,
maybe more.”

“
Well, we did start
this operation based on intelligence recovered from Hyperion.
Didn’t you see legions of Biomechs on the other side of the Rift
before it was destroyed?” asked Intelligence Director Johnson,
directly to Spartan.

The question took
Spartan back to the last battle of the War. The fighting had
occurred around a secret archaeological site from which a massive
rift generator had been sited. Unfamiliar Biomechs and war machines
had arrived through the Rift, and though it had been destroyed, he
had seen what was on the other side. Few believed what he and his
comrade Kowalski had seen, but he knew it to be true. On the other
side was a great cavern filled with enemy warriors.

“
Surely this isn’t
related to the enemy of Hyperion? They were destroyed.”

“
Well, why do you
think this region of space was selected to start with? We have
known for some time that the rifts generators, the Anomaly in
space, the Zealots and ultimately the Biomechs are all intimately
linked. There is no way they could have built up such a massive and
successful infrastructure on their own, without us knowing about
it. What if what we’re seeing on this moon is part of the puzzle?
Maybe there are others out there, and they have been behind the
Zealots and their Uprising?” asked Johnson.

His question was the
one none of them had wanted to ask, but it needed to be answered.
There were many questions left unanswered from the War, and few had
answers that seemed helpful. Admiral Anderson shrugged at his
question.

“
The simple answer
is, we don’t know. These people could be from ANS Beagle or less
likely from another rift that has been built. Until we know more,
this is all speculation. I think you can see the gravity of the
situation though. In a matter of days, we have both discovered a
new star system ripe for exploitation and also made contact with an
unknown people. Who are they, and why are they on this moon? Do
they have any connection with us or the Biomechs?”

“
But I have another
question, Admiral?” asked Spartan.

“Well?”

“
That armoured man,
assuming it is a man, was running from something, and it wasn’t our
marines. What the hell was it that crushed him and why?”

General Rivers turned from the feed and
to the group.

“
That is for us to
find out. One thing I do know is that the Senate has already voted
on making this system part of the Alliance. We need land for our
people and resources. New Charon is the greatest planetary
discovery since we first colonised Alpha Centauri. That means we
have carte blanche to explore and secure every site in the sector.
If we want this territory, then there is a chance we will have to
exert our authority here.

“General, if there are already people
on the moon, doesn’t that mean it’s already been claimed?” asked
Teresa.

Admiral Anderson shook his head in
disagreement.

“
It doesn’t really
matter now. Either way, they know we are there now, and the
official policy of the Senate is that we have no interest in giving
up this discovery. I have been ordered to secure several sites and
to make first contact with these people. We will try to establish
some form of communication with them, but be under no illusions,
New Charon is now part of the Alliance.”

Spartan looked over
to Teresa, and he knew instantly that she was uncomfortable with
the situation. He looked at the video display and the group of
military people around him with both pride and
confusion.

We’ve
arrived in a new world that may already belong to somebody else.
Has anybody even thought a
bout whether we should even be here?
He thought.

“
What about Daniels
and his m
arines? Have you heard back from
him? What about Commodore Lewis and his ships?”

This caught the
attention of General Rivers, and he spoke before anybody else could
interject.

“
That was the first
thing I thought, Spartan,” he said while looking at the others with
barely concealed contempt.

“
The Commodore
detected a vessel on approach to the moon and withdrew his vessels
to one of the thick debris fields orbitting the moon, prior to the
action we’ve just seen. That was the last we heard from either the
ships or the ground troops.”

He paused for a
moment, but Spartan was instantly reminded of the missing ships at
Hyperion. He couldn’t see anything positive about this
situation.

“
I have redirected
ANS Devastation, as she only recently entered through the bridge.
She will be here soon and will stop at the station to pick me up.
Interested in coming along? I could do with an experienced eye, and
knowing our luck, Daniels and Lewis will have ended up is a
shitstorm, as usual!” he laughed in a way only the senior military
commanders seemed to be able to get away with.

“
I’m not military
anymore, General,” Spartan answered.

The General shrugged.

“
So what?
Y
ou’re military cleared, and you run
security services for the Alliance, don’t you?”

Spartan nodded
slowly, but he knew where this was going.

“Good, then consider your Corporation
hired to provide auxiliary services for the Marine Corps. I think
you’ll find there is going to be plenty of work to go around in
Orion.”

Spartan turned to
Teresa, and she quickly nodded.

“
It’s Daniels, if
anybody can get him out of this mess, it will be you two. At least
this way we get a foot through the door, and help out Daniels at
the same time.”

Spartan looked back to the General and
shook his hand.

“Good, get your kit, we’ll be leaving
within the hour.”

General Rivers left
the two of them and started speaking with the Admiral. It was clear
they were having a difference of opinion, and as Spartan watched,
he was secretly pleased it was something he no longer had to be
involved in. Looking about, it was clear from those in the room
that exploration and exploitation was the number one priority, even
at the possible expense of another people. Maybe he was wrong, but
the fate of the small group of marines seemed far from any of their
minds. While the others talked excitedly about what was happening,
Teresa moved close to Spartan.

“What are we doing here?”

Spartan looked at
her and thought back to the planets he’d landed on and the enemies
he’d faced in the past. First were the Zealots, the religious
fanatics who’d resorted to suicide bombings and terrorist attacks
through to the Echidna Union and their biomechanical creatures.
Nothing had ever prepared him for the potential of meeting a new
species on another world. His gut instinct told him this had
something to do with the War, and if that were true, then who knows
what they might find.

“
I don’t know, but
something tells me we’ll be seeing a lot more of Orion soon. If
we’re going to expand into this territory, then APS is going to be
there. If we don’t go, then somebody else will.”

Teresa sighed at his
comments. They both looked at the Admiral, the General and the host
of other senior officers. It was clear something big was about to
happen, and for even just a moment, they both wondered if they were
actually the good guys this time. Spartan looked at her and
smiled.

“
Hey, whichever way
it goes, they’re gonna need a lot of security out there, and we are
the best.”

Another
ship
, this time one of the Crusader class
warships moved through the Rift, but only Spartan and Teresa seemed
to notice it this time. She looked back at him.

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

Prior to the Great Uprising the
common disposition of fleets was heavy warships, including
warbarges and battleships with fast cruiser squadrons as escorts.
Frigates and light cruisers were used in smaller taskforces or to
provide skirmish screens in major actions. The transition to
multirole ships in the Alliance reduced the requirement for such a
diversity of ships and increased the importance of fighter wings
and marine detachments. The single weakness of this new philosophy
would be if Alliance vessels were ever again required to fight
major ship on ship action.

Naval Cadet’s Handbook

The private space for APS staff was less
impressive than Spartan had expected. Although the office on the
Prometheus Seven Trading Post was modest, he hadn’t expected their
space on ANS Beagle to be even smaller. In a matter of days, the
spacecraft had been turned from a space-going craft into a combined
space station and rift generator, exactly what she had been built
for. Living space on any ship was at a premium, but the three small
rooms, including this cramped canteen area was starting to irritate
Spartan. It was as sterile as a storeroom and interrupted by the
constant drone of machinery that pervaded through the metal of the
ship. The only real upside was the view, and that was more due to
accident than design. A window of almost two metres in length ran
along the left-hand side to provide access to a now removed
lifeboat. It gave him the perfect view of the Rift.

Some might wonder
why he and Teresa were in Orion rather than their other
operatives
, but that simply betrayed
their lack of understanding about the company. Though the two had
founded the corporation some years ago, they now had a board of
directors to respond to, as well as hundreds of employees and even
more operatives throughout the Alliance. Both had relinquished
their positions at the top years ago, but were still senior members
of the board and with the controlling stakes in the company. Of all
their top people, there were none more qualified or better suited
to tackling the unknown than Spartan and Teresa Morato.

Not that it was
particular important right now; the news coming from Orion was
becoming more intriguing by the hour. Another message arrived with
new facts and figures from the official Alliance media channel. It
was filtered, of course, but that was fine. Spartan needed to know
the public mood, just as much as what was actually happening. As he
chewed on the piece of steak he’d just been served, he watched a
number of vessels manoeuvre away from the exit point of the
Rift.

“How many is that now?” he asked.

Teresa took a sip from a tall glass of
wine before replying.

“Seven ships in the last hour. Pretty
soon this system is going to start to run out of space!”

T
hey seemed calm, but the opposite was true of Jack. He sat
next to Teresa but had managed to eat nothing and was more
interested in watching the queue of ships waiting to return through
the Rift. Some of the vessels had now made the trip back and forth
more than a dozen times as they brought people, supplies and
equipment into the system.

Spartan looked back
down at the reports laid out on his secpad. More drones had been
sent out, and so far, information was coming back on two of the ice
worlds and a number of moons. What was getting the most attention
was the number of derelicts found using long-range sensors in the
massive asteroid belt. It was too soon to be certain, but the press
was already having a field day with the news. Rumours were flying
that ranged from Alliance separatists found at the asteroid belt
through to Alien spaceships discovered. But it was all irrelevant
until the first of the recon drones passed through the belt in a
week’s time. Until then, they had to manage with the images from
the telescope mounts.

If they
knew about this one
, there
would be ructions
. He thought as he moved
to the next report.

He had to provide
both a thumb and retina scan before the secpad would even grant him
access. It was the latest information on the missing marines on the
gas giant’s moon and could not under any circumstances be made
public. He leaned in closer as he checked the information. It
seemed that contact had been made with the
marines
, and a team was being sent to
reinforce their position.

Now that is somewhere I should be.

Spartan had that
feeling everybody felt when
somebody was
looking at him. His pulse changed slightly, and he lifted his eyes
to see Jack looking directly at him. Spartan lifted one eyebrow as
if in question.

“
What did Gun say,
then? Has he found out any more on this underground
movement?”

Spartan chewed another piece of steak
before lowering his knife and fork.

“
Jack, whatever they
were planning, it failed.”

Jack stood up and
moved back to the window where he could watch the arrival of more
ships. Off to the side of the Rift were two massive platforms, each
surrounded by workers in spacesuits and remote drones. It looked
like a giant construction site, but it was being worked on while
vessels continued to come through.