Star Crusades Nexus: Book 05 - Prophecy of Fire (23 page)

“We need to stop them, Spartan,” Khan said.

Spartan looked over his shoulder to his friend.

“Thanks for that, Khan. I mean to do more than stop them coming here.”

He looked back to the engineer.

“I mean to see every one of their ships destroyed and their homeworld burned to ash.”

The man looked nervously at him, perhaps sensing the rage within the battered looking warrior. Though Spartan had been through tough times, there was no way to hide the muscles and strength. He glanced to Khan, but the expression on the Jötnar looked almost identical.

“Yeah, I think it’s time,” he said stoically.

Spartan moved back to the screen.

“How much longer?”

The man worked frantically, and a trickle of sweat had already started to run down his forehead.

“Another minute, maybe two. The more you talk, the slower it will be.”

Spartan wanted to say something, but he was all too familiar with what it was like when somebody sat peering over your shoulder. Khan moved to the door and bent down low to get a look. He pushed it open a fraction. Spartan moved to the other side, looking about for a weapon. All he could find was a medium hammer that was part of a small escape kit near the door. It was only designed for smashing glass but was better than nothing. The engineer spotted them both and started to speak, but Spartan cut him off with a raised fist. Khan whispered as quietly as he could manage.

“One of them is coming this way.”

Spartan felt his heart skip a beat and altered his stance so that he could drive forward to the doorway when necessary. Khan had already pulled back the door as quietly as he could and lifted the metal bar to his shoulder ready. He looked to Spartan and nodded very slowly. The sound increased in volume and separated as each of the metallic feet clattered in the metallic floor. It moved closer and closer until reaching a meter from the doorframe. Khan took in a long, deep breath and tensed himself for the fight.

This is it,
Spartan thought.

The engineer pressed one more button on his computer display and then turned in his chair to face the window in the same direction as the other two. He gave them the thumbs up but said nothing, much to Spartan’s relief. The sound returned outside the door and increased in volume, finally fading away. Spartan pushed it open and gave a quick look.

Nobody there.

He looked back at the engineer who grinned.

“Okay, the clamps are disconnected. That’s all that can be done from here.”

“It’s gone,” whispered Khan.

Both Spartan and Khan waited at the door for almost a minute in case the thing came back, before moving to the window. Spartan watched for a few seconds and twisted about.

“Why is the docking arm still attached? Has that machine out there found a way to counter your work?”

The engineer said nothing; he merely nodded at the window with raised eyebrows. Nothing seemed to happen, then slowly the section of the docking arm near the station tugged, pulled, and finally detached. Arcs of blue energy rippled between the arm, and the station before one final blast separated them. The light flickered and came back but at half the brightness of before. For a second, Spartan felt as if he was falling, but it was just the motion of the rotating section starting to slow prior to the backup power units kicked in. He grabbed the nearest computer unit and slammed his right hand down onto Simon’s shoulder.

“Great work there. You may have just saved this station.”

Shouting from outside, and the clanking sound of metal feet spoilt his words.

“Not quite yet,” Khan said grimly.

He pushed the door open wide and stepped out. The sound of shouting and the occasional scream returned where in the last minute it had been silent.

We need to secure the station,” said Spartan.

Khan looked in agreement as he moved back toward the crossroads.

“What about the ship and the broken docking arm?” asked the engineer.

Spartan watched it drifting away from the station as the dozen or so machines moved about impotently

“Leave them. It won’t stay up here long. Give it a few hours, and Earth’s gravity will pull them down. It’s all they deserve.”

When news arrived of the initial attacks in Helios, many citizens clamored for the Rifts to the Orion Nebula to be closed. In theory, it could have fixed the possibility that the enemy could attack the Alliance, but the reality was far from the truth. Biomechs had already been seen on Hyperion, and minor incursions in Sol announced once and for all that at least a small number of Biomechs remained throughout the galaxy, and not just those trapped tens of thousands of light years away from Helios. Most quickly realized that turning from Helios would simply cut off the Alliance from a source of allies and resources. The battle against the machines would be decided in every part of occupied space, whether the citizens of Terra Nova or Earth liked it or not.

Orion – The future?

Jack and his five surviving comrades worked their way back through the rubble to find Lieutenant Elvidge being lifted onto a stretcher. An automated Ram lowered itself into position just four meters away and deployed its turret weapon system to provide covering fire. Private Riku waited alongside the shattered barracks wall with her heavy L48 rifle pointing toward the northern wall. Small groups of marines ran to the defenses with extra weapons and ammunition. Jack slid on the rubble, stopping next to the stretcher.

“Lieutenant?” he asked, but there was no immediate response. He twisted around to face Riku.

“How is he?”

A triple thud from a nearby mortar battery shook the ground, but Jack barely even felt the impact as he moved to the right-hand side of Lieutenant Elvidge. Riku grabbed for another clip before she answered.

“The armor’s diagnostics say there are three penetrations, but he’ll live. That’s what the medic said anyway.”

Callahan dropped down next to them as another burst tore into their position. A single projectile struck his shoulder and glanced off, embedding itself in one of the nearby walls.

“Keep your head down, you fool!” laughed Riku.

It was an attempt at humor, but the nervousness in her voice was easy to see. She turned to Jack and opened her mouth to speak when she spotted a squad of Helion soldiers rush out from cover. At first she thought they were attacking something, but then she saw the pair of Biomech creatures chasing them. The soldiers easily had the firepower to deal with them, but they were green and barely trained. She took aim, but a Helion was torn clean in half before a Vanguard marine arrived and intervened. The massive armored form blocked her path, and she was unable to help as the marine hacked the creatures apart before sending the terrified Helions back to the inner defenses. Riku turned back to Jack and shook her head.

“The rest of our unit is here, but we’re scattered over half the base.”

She pointed at the running Helions.

“I thought these soldiers were supposed to be improving?”

Jack didn’t quite understood and had to lean out from cover to look at the shapes of the Helion soldiers. Though thinner and faster than the human soldiers, the donated armor from Alliance stocks had at least bulked them out to something a little more impressive. The armor was mainly of the older PDS type used for the last two generations but some seemed to be using variants of the gear used by the Narau military. Every one of them carried the standard Alliance carbine, however, the trusted L52. Riku slammed her fist onto the top of his helm to get his attention.

“The Sarge has vanished, along with half of our heavy weapons. Lieutenant Elvidge said you were to take command of the platoon until Corporal Frewyn gets here.”

Jack looked at her suspiciously.

“He said that, when?”

She spotted something and twisted to the right before firing a single shot from her L48. Jack couldn’t see the target but the smile showing on her face showed him she’d been successful. This time Riku kept her eye on the sight while speaking.

Private Jenkell appeared with another dozen marines from their platoon. Two were struck by flying debris, but they all reached the cover of the shattered walls without injury.

“Good to see you all,” she said with a chuckle.

Jack shook his head, but before he could say anything, the screaming sound of two Biomech landers flew overhead with a trio of Hammerhead fighters strafing them as they fell. One disappeared over the outer wall, but the second crashed into one of the surface-to-air missile arrays. A series of violent explosions rippled through the base, yet somehow the lander remained intact. The petal like door hissed open, and more Biomech warriors streamed out.

“Get down!” shouted Callahan.

Jack threw himself to the floor as a stream of metal slugs smashed the masonry to powder behind him. He kept his head low and crawled to the right where he could just see the flank of the nearest lander. Callahan followed close behind as more rounds slammed into position above them.

“Reports are coming in from our other two bases. It’s the same everywhere.”

Jack looked at his friend’s face and could see the fear in his eyes. He might be taller, stronger, and scarred from whatever had happened to him in his past, but Jack suspected he never expected to be in a situation like this one. An image appeared showing the face of Gun to the side of his visor.

“Jack, this isn’t going well. Grab as many as you can, and meet me at the eastern wall.”

There were plenty of other marines Gun could have asked, but he spoke directly to him in a crisis. Jack looked to Riku and Callahan, but it was hard to tell who had faced the worst so far. Their armor was covered in dust and splatters of blood. He banged his fist down on the shoulder of Callahan where the projectile had bounced off.

“APS Corp designed the modified chest piece for that armor you know.”

Callahan had no idea why Jack brought it up, or quite why he might care about a defunct private military contractor. He crawled over to him, always keeping down low enough to avoid being seen by any remaining Biomech warriors. More explosions rocked the base, and he looked about in disbelief at what was happening.

“This is insane!” muttered Private Jenkell.

The skies of Eos were full of hundreds of different smoke trails from the falling landers, destroyed fighters, and the hundreds of aircraft that continued to duel for supremacy. No more of the larger Biomech ships made for the Marine compound anymore. Instead, they crashed down into positions up to ten kilometers away. This put them out of range of the marines’ firearms but still in easy range of artillery and fighters cover. Outside of the fortified zone, the Biomechs massed in large numbers for their next assault on the base around the crashed landers that provided cover from the defensive fire of the fortress.

Fort Macquarie had withstood the initial assault of the machines, but at a very heavy cost. Most of the prefabricated barracks had been shattered, and the large field hospital was now a hollow black husk after one of the massive machines had exploded, tearing the structure apart. One of the landing strips was strewn with wreckage, and a dozen fighters burned out in the open. The only fighter cover now available was that remaining in the air. All the Alliance facilities on Eos were under attack in the same fashion as Fort Macquarie.

Jack looked at the group of battered marines and knew he needed to take charge. His visor overlay was still functioning and showed the outer defenses were holding, and small groups of marines were dealing with the isolated pockets of Biomech warriors that remained in the base itself. Quick moving shapes were the fighters from both sides, as Alliance fighters fought against the Biomech drones that had now deployed from the landers.

“Lieutenant Elvidge has put me in temporary command of our platoon.”

“Platoon?” muttered one of the men.

Jack threw the man a grim look and then pointed to the eastern wall.

“The enemy has landed almost a thousand troops outside the base and are moving in under heavy fighter cover. We need to get out there and stop them.”

He moved to stand, but Callahan grabbed him.