Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) (7 page)

“
What? He wouldn’t
be involved with that. He’s good friends with the Jötnar and the
Biomechs.”

Teresa nodded quickly.

“
I know.
H
e wouldn’t consider lifting a finger
against them. That’s the problem I think though. He knew the
Jötnar, and he is taking it hard, really hard. Not even the crime
family from Kerberos are interested in this violence.

“
Yeah,” replied
Spartan, “n
ot good for
business.”

Teresa nodded slowly.

“
Exactly, and
i
t looks like Jack has been working on
finding out all he can on this movement. I think Gun and his own
intelligence teams have been helping. You know Jack. He’s a big
supporter of him and his people. I’m worried he’ll find out more
than is safe. He’s hot headed, like somebody else I
know.”

“Yeah, don’t remind me!” he replied,
doing his best to make light of the situation.

He remembered the
last time he’d visited Hyperion and the Jötnar with Jack. They
participated in one of their violent but entertaining martial
contests. Jack had managed to bring down a juvenile Jötnar, quite a
feat for a teenager that had not reached manhood. The synthetic
Jötnar had more in common with the trolls and ogres of myth than of
modern man, and they had been created by the enemy for the war
effort in the Uprising; but a large number had turned and fought
for his side. Their reward had been the jungle world of Hyperion
and full citizenship in the Alliance itself. The War may have ended
seventeen years ago, but there were still thousands of people that
had a bitter hatred of the creatures, some of whom had caused the
deaths of so many citizens.

“
There’s something
else. Intelligence Director Johnson is here with another agent.
They want to see Jack. Apparently, it is something to do with this
Jötnar Retribution movement.”

Teresa leaned in closer to her
camera.

“No, Jack would never be involved in
that. I thought it fell apart years ago when Gun found out?”

Spartan recalled the
great problems that had followed the Uprising and the bitterness
and distrust on both sides. He was sure they had moved past the
worst of it. The Jötnar were busy rebuilding Hyperion into a place
befitting of their people, and he doubted they had the time or
interest in that kind of vendetta. Gun was committed to the future
of his people and wouldn’t risk it in some petty movement. But he
did recall the murder of a Jötnar engineer on Prometheus in the
previous year. The distrust and hatred was never far from the
surface, it would seem.

“
Well, either way we
will all be meeting at the office in a few hours. Can you get all
the information we have on these groups, and also make sure Jack is
there? I want this cleared up fast.”

Teresa nodded in agreement.

“
Now, onto more
pressing matters, how about the rest of the family? Are they
settling in to life in the military? Last I heard was that your
boys had both passed the entrance exams for enlistment in the
Navy.”

Teresa smiled. Her
sons from her previous marriage were both grown up, and although
they had met Spartan several times in the last few years, there was
little they had in common. Their grandparents had brought them up
while she repaid the debts she’d incurred, but since leaving home,
it had been hard to get them all back together in one place. The
only person any of them really had in common was Jack. Although the
youngest, he had got on well with the two boys while he spent his
infant years on Carthago. Spartan suspected that part of his anger
might have come from removing him from the family group to be back
with his parents at Epsilon Eridani.

“
Yes, they are
working on Terra Nova and hope to finish their training early next
year. Impressive, don’t you think? Not bad for local boys brought
up on the troublesome backwater of the Alliance.”

Spartan smiled at
the mention of the old world. The last time he’d visited had been
to meet with Teresa’s grandparents. They had done good work
bringing up the boys, and he’d offered to sort out accommodation at
Epsilon Eridani. They weren’t interested, and instead, Spartan
arranged for Jack to spend as much of his holiday time with
them.

“
How are your
grandparents?”

“
The usual,
c
omplaining about the crumbling cities
and crime is still rampant. Carthago always seems to be the last
place to improve. It’s been a ruin since I was a child.”

Maybe
that’s because they are always first to cause
trouble
,
he thought, but kept it to himself.

“
Will all passengers
wishing to depart please head for departure Deck Four. Your
shuttles are due to leave in forty-five minutes,” came another
pre-recorded message.

Forty-five minutes!

Spartan couldn’t but
be amused at the long delay before leaving the ship. He was used to
having no more than a few minutes for departure in most situations.
Even though he’d been out of the military for some
time
, he was often amazed at the slowness
of civilian operations.

“I’d better be off, I will see you
shortly...”

Teresa nodded happily.

“Yes, I’m looking forward to our
reunion.”

* * *

Spartan’s arrival at the APS offices was
the exact opposite of what he had expected. The small shuttle had
deposited him and the two Alliance agents on the landing pad of his
large, newly constructed facility. There was only one major
settlement on the planet of Eridani Prime, known simply as City
One. They stepped out, each wearing a sealed suit to protect them
from the thin toxic atmosphere. The planet was far from the
hospitable worlds in Alpha Centauri, but what it did benefit from
was an abundance of metals, ore and a surprisingly stable if
uncomfortable environment. The other six planets provided a rich
collection of ice worlds, rock and Jovian planets. The perfect
selection of worlds for exploitation by heavy industry, and with it
the perfect place for gangs and organised crime to move into for a
piece of the action.

A
ground
car met the three of them from the
shuttle, and they stepped the short distance to its door. Spartan
could feel the chill air through his envirosuit, and it was a
feeling that never left him feeling particularly comfortable. With
an average temperature of just ten degrees Celsius, it was a
chilling place. He was also well aware that at night it was
possible for that to drop down to over minus seventy. A number of
workers had been found frozen to death in just hours over the last
year. Once inside the groundcar, the door hissed shut and flashing
green indicators announced they were safe and out of the toxic air.
Even so, they were unable to remove their suits until going through
decontamination procedures at the main compound.

“Been here before?” asked Spartan, his
voice slightly distorted by the respirator.

The two agents sat
quietly, but only Johnson showed any interest in what Spartan had
to say.

“No, and I have to say it hardly looks
like the kind of place I’d want to visit.”

Spartan laughed at the two men.

“
It might not look
like much, but the wealth dug up here in the last two months has
already boosted our security profits by triple of last year’s.
There’s a lot of money to be made out here.”

“
Yeah,” replied
Johnson, “t
hat part I do know. We’ve
tracked several groups here with the intention of raiding companies
operating so far out of our main areas of control. With Alliance
funds tied up in trade and planetary security, there isn’t much
capacity for the border worlds like this one.”

“
That’s why we get
paid,” s
aid Spartan stoically.

Johnson nodded.

“
Private contractors
like yours are doing well in this climate. Tell me, how did you
manage to secure this contract? I thought you had specialised in
shipping protection? That’s what your commercials always say,
anyway!”

Spartan smiled at
him, knowing that getting this particular contract had been a major
coup; one that a dozen other firms were itching to get their hands
on. It was much more than providing security at the doors of
expensive buildings. The infrastructure on Eridani Prime was worth
trillions of dollars, and that didn’t include the value of the ore
and resources being mined and refined.

“You do understand that reputation goes
a long with this kind of business, don’t you?” asked Spartan with a
tone of feigned injury.

Agent Johnson grinned at the reply.

“
Your reputation
couldn’t be any more concrete than if you were made from solid
rock, Spartan. Military service, gladiatorial combat victories and
one of the key saviours of the Alliance, what isn’t there to know?”
he said with more than a hint of sarcasm.

The vehicle slowed
to a halt, and the door hissed open to reveal two fully armoured
men. Agent Johnson couldn’t but be surprised at how similar they
looked to the Alliance Marines. Their armour was reminiscent of the
PDS (Personal Defence Suits) worn by Alliance troops, yet the
plates and ribbing suggested something even more
substantial.

“
Nice gear,
Alliance issue?”

Spartan shook his head but gave nothing
away.

One of the guards leaned closely to
Spartan and spoke directly through the encrypted suit-to-suit
communications channel.

“
Sir, something is
going on in one of the storage areas. I’ve despatched a security
team, and they have the area isolated. It’s on the route to the
refinery with the hostages.”

“What?” demanded Spartan.

“
It’s Jack, Sir. He
managed to break out with two others. Half an hour later, we got
the message of gunfire in this part of the facility.”

The small group
entered though the triple sealed entrance and into the
decontamination area. Even as the steam and gases washed over them,
they continued their conversation. Spartan thought for a
moment.

“What’s down there?”

“In the storage area? Well, no weapons
but there are about fifty spare sets of cold weather gear and some
armour. There’s also a winterised Cobra.”

The light switched to green and each of
them was able to remove the outer layers from their envirosuits.
Agent Johnson moved up to Spartan and the guard.

“I take it there’s a problem?”

The
g
uard said nothing, but Spartan decided
to share something with him.

“There’s trouble in one of the storage
areas. Reports of gunfire and possible theft of equipment and a
Cobra transport.”

“
Interesting, but
not really something I need to concern myself with. I’ll let you
get on with that. We’ll make our way to Ms Morato and get on with
our interview of Jack, if that’s okay?”

Spartan nodded,
indicating for one of the men behind the desk to approach them. The
man stood up and moved towards them. He wore a smart suit and
looked half of Spartan’s age. Spartan introduced the new
arrivals.

“
This is
Intelligence Director Johnson. Please escort him and his assistant
to Ms Morato, and give him any assistance that he might
require.”

With that, Spartan
left them and made for the nearest elevator. The armoured guard
returned to the entrance of the complex, and Spartan noted that he
locked down the door system.

Dammit, I can never catch a break, can
I?

He hit the button on
the wall to select the floor to the storage level and then
connected directly to his office.
Teresa
answered it almost immediately.

“Ms Morato.”

“
Teresa, I’ve just
arrived. What’s going on?”

“
Spartan,
Jack managed to get out and he’s met up with
some of his old friends. He said something about a cell working
against the Alliance. It has something to do with this
Biomech-hating organisation we were talking about.”

Spartan shook his head.

“
Jack, what have you
done now?” he said despairingly.
“I’m
away for a few months, and you’re in trouble again.”

“
Spartan, there is a
tactical team down there. I sent Lovett, and he’s already secured
the perimeter. Hurry, Jack said something about them trying to
sabotage the rift generator.”

“What, how can they do that from down
here?”

Teresa shook her head.

“
I have no idea,
Spartan. All I know is Jack said it was urgent, and he was going to
stop them.”

“
Okay, good work.
Johnson will be arriving at your office very soon. Stall him, and
I’ll deal with this problem.”

“
Good luck, Spartan.
Get back in one piece.”

The elevator
continued downwards until it reached almost two hundred metres
underground. The site of the city was inside one of the craters,
but for safety reasons, the storage of valuable equipment was kept
locked down under the main complex. With a low-pitched pulse, the
doors slid open, revealing a debris-filled corridor with four
armoured men pinned down behind an improvised barricade. Spartan
moved out and took cover behind the group. They spotted his
arrival, but only one turned to him. It was James Lovett, his old
friend and comrade from the War.