Gamma Nine (Book One) (45 page)

The Titans did
not stop. Christian turned and fired the last of his rifle’s
ammunition into a soldier who had charged the Titan with his own
combat blade. Nathan moved fast and pounced on two more
unsuspecting soldiers, who only saw a shadow move in the smoke and
dust before they died.

Christian used
his shield to bash a soldier to the ground, kicking another into
the fire as the soldier tried turn and run away. He died like a
coward.

The remaining
soldiers sensed they had mere moments left to live if they stayed
in their positions, choosing instead to flee from the killers in
the smoke and dust.

Nathan grabbed
a soldier trying to run away, twisting and smashing the limp body
to the hard concrete. Another soldier’s last breath escaped his
body as Christian threw his shield at the poor man. The shield hit
with such force it liquefied organs and shattered bones.

Almost fifty
soldiers had pinned them down, but when the wind blew the dust and
smoke away five minutes after Nathan and Christian had charged out,
forty-five were dead or dying and only three had escaped. More than
twenty had died from the heavy weapon’s explosion and the rest at
the hands of the Titans.

Christian and
Nathan stood, the fire lighting their armour in the morning light.
They breathed heavy, but their blood was alive with battle
energy.

But there was
no time to celebrate their small victory, they had to keep moving.
By now the enemy would already be assaulting the extraction point
and its defenders, and all of the Wolves would be needed before the
battle could be won.

“Sounds like
Bear is having fun without us,” Pyoter said,

“I wouldn’t get
jealous just yet. Our traitorous friends are almost here,” Rivers
replied. “And by the sound of it, it sounds like there are more
than enough to keep us busy for a while.”

“Whatever you
do, hold your ground. If we falter all is lost,” Locke interjected.
Locke allowed the banter between his squad to a certain degree, it
helped with morale. But it was time to get serious and his Wolves
needed to focus. “Xander?”

“Sir?” Xander
answered.

“Hit the
heavies with everything you have. We can’t give them the
opportunity to fire on the central courtyard. Take some Lancers
with you and flank them from the rooftops,” Locke ordered.

Xander
acknowledged with a nod and immediately set off with a few Lancers
for the staircases on the outside of the western complex.

“Sergeant, take
position with Sabian and provide support for him and his Lancer
marksmen.” Locke did not wait for a reply. He started walking
towards the front line of the defences. Out of the corner of his
eye he saw Rivers collect Roger from the pavement where he had been
tinkering on the robot, and then saw him move off to where Sabian
and his snipers were crouched.

“I will stay
here,” Pyoter said. The giant Titan was near the front line as
well, standing dead still behind an abandoned freighter truck. The
truck had been tipped over and the large metal container on its
back was providing ample cover for Pyoter and some Lancers hiding
behind it. Pyoter had borrowed the breaching cannon from one of the
remaining troop carriers. A long-barrelled cannon capable of
flattening walls, mounted on the front armour of all troop
carriers. These cannons were not meant to be used against infantry,
but they packed more than enough punch to pulp anything in its
path. It fired rounds filled with molten lead through stone and
metal, perforating its target to allow the troop carrier to drive
through without any hindrance. One could only imagine what it would
do if it was fired in the direction of human flesh.

Locke nodded as
he passed Pyoter. “Corporal Jay?” he asked over the radio.

“Yes, captain?”
Jay replied.

“Cover the
civilians and take out anything trying to flank us. Call out as you
see targets we are blind to.”

“Acknowledged,
sir. Just don’t forget about me when the time comes to leave,” Jay
said, his voice was slightly paranoid that he, and the Lancers with
him, would be left behind if the extraction went to shit.

“Wouldn’t dream
of it,” Rivers interrupted, “I won’t ever leave Godwaker behind.
That rifle is like a son to me.”

“I know,” Jay
replied, “you keep reminding me about it.”

Locke let them
finish and then spoke. “We will pick you up before we leave. Just
keep your eyes open.”

“Thank you,
sir. I will watch over you.” Jay did not say any more. The radio
went silent and the scout Titan shifted into a better position to
watch over the civilians the Wolves and Lancers were protecting.
Jay spoke a few words with the Lancers that were still acting as
his guard, encouraging them with words from speeches he had heard
as a new recruit. He assured them that the time to leave was near,
and they only had to survive a little longer. Whatever Jay said, it
had worked, and the spirits of the Lancers with him on the rooftop
lifted visibly, some even smiling as they watched the skies and
empty stairwells leading down into the darkness of the tall
building below them.

A few moments
passed and all that could be heard was the footsteps and the
growling engines of the enemy moving closer. Soon the traitors
would be advancing through the buildings to the south.

Locke could do
nothing more to inspire the soldiers around him. His words earlier
had done enough to fill their hearts with courage, and he hoped it
would be enough. He had reached the edge of the defensive line, and
had decided that it would be the place where he would fight. It was
a small level piece of ground directly in front of the south
building, with only one door and a few windows overlooking the area
he had chosen. Whatever decided to come through those windows or
door would face Locke head on, something very few people ever lived
through.

The cocktail of
drugs pumping through Locke’s system made his muscles strain
against the inside of his armour. The adrenaline and synthetic
compounds the Nano machines were feeding him fuelled his rage even
more. He was shifting position constantly, moving his weight from
one armoured boot to the other, hands tightening on the grip of his
rifle.

His choice to
fight in full view of the soldiers behind him was not for fame or
heroic tales. No, he was doing it to show them that the invincible
Wolves were there beside them, shielding them and taking the brunt
of the attack for them.

Locke just
hoped he would survive long enough to see the civilians and the
others get rescued. It was his only objective now, and he would see
it through until the end.

An allied
vessel named the Brother’s Bond was the first to perish in defence
of New Horizon. It sacrificed itself to protect the rest of the
vessels forming part of the blockade, dying an honourable death
worthy of its name written in the legends of humankind.

Its captain had
seen the danger heading for the blockade before anyone else, and
had moved to intercept what would have surely been a devastating
blow to the defenders.

Three
Bowbreaker class ships had raced ahead of the traitor’s ever
growing number, hurtling directly for the grand cruiser in the
centre of the blockade’s lines. Bowbreakers were dangerous vessels
used specifically to charge ahead and cripple the most dangerous
vessels among the enemy’s number. Thick armour protected the
Bowbreaker’s prow and sides, armour thick enough to deflect fusion
lances and absorb ship to ship ordinance with ease. These ship
breakers would chew through other vessels in its path, their large
engines providing them with enough power to tear through hulls like
a rock tearing through wet paper.

One Bowbreaker
was already a deadly opponent, three, however, was a nightmare. But
Captain Kohl never hesitated in the face of such horrible odds. His
vessel was an underequipped science vessel, used primarily to scan
and survey planetoids for the expedition fleet. The Brother’s Bond
had almost no offensive weapons to speak of, armed with nothing but
surveyor equipment and a few gun batteries that were more of an
afterthought than anything else. Yet, knowing that his vessels was
no match against the Bowbreakers, still Captain Kohl powered
towards the three ships, burning his vessel’s engine at dangerous
levels.

The Bowbreakers
saw the Brother’s Bond coming, and the arrogance of the captains on
board the traitor vessels took the bait without hesitation. They
would mangle the vessel as a show of power before wreaking havoc on
the rest of the futile blockade. But such a delicious and enticing
target was too good to be true, and as history has taught the
survivors of warfare, nothing is ever what it seems.

Captain Kohl
had bargained on the Bowbreakers relishing the idea of destroying
his vessel, but little did the traitors know that Kohl had a big
surprise in store for them. Unbeknownst to anyone outside of the
commanders and officers of the expedition fleet, the Brother’s Bond
held a secret in its cargo hold. A secret that was in its final
test phase, a secret - as luck would have it - that was on-board
Captain Kohl’s very vessel when the call for aid had been heard by
the expedition fleet.

Deep within the
cargo holds of the Brother’s Bond rested an experimental weapon,
designed and created to use against the Beast. It was a strange
creation, born from a mind thinking so far out of the box that most
would think it insane just to dream of such things. There was no
official name for it, only a designator used to hide its existence
from the eyes of people without high enough security clearance.
Scientists and engineers called it The Device, others referred to
it as Project Black. Whatever its name was or would have been it
must have been serendipity that had seen it placed in the cargo
hold of the Brother’s Bond. The Device was capable of generating an
anti-matter field, using technology most did not know existed. The
anti-matter field would suck in all matter within its range, and
then release all of that accumulated energy in one devastating
blast.

Captain Kohl
did not ask the commanders of the fleet for permission to use The
Device before he had made up his mind to intercept the Bowbreakers.
No, the vessel was his and everything on-board was his to do with
as he saw fit in the defence of New Horizon. His crew had supported
his decision the moment he had told the two-hundred and fifteen
souls on-board the Brother’s Bond what his course of action would
be. All of them had surrendered to their fates and proudly manned
their stations one final time.

The lead
Bowbreaker bore down on the Brother’s Bond with all of its raw
power, aiming to hit it head on, intent on tearing through the
smaller vessel from bow to stern. Captain Kohl accepted the
invitation and manoeuvred his vessel to face the lead traitor
vessel head on. In the background while he commanded his ship,
engineers had readied The Device for its swan song.

No-one would
ever know what Captain Kohl’s final words were in those last
moments, but everyone would remember the destruction his daring
move had caused.

Moments before
the Bowbreakers dissected its prey a bright light erupted from the
Brother’s Bond bowels. One moment four vessels were bearing down on
one another, the next moment the bright flash of light had heralded
the end of all four ships. The Device had generate a field large
enough to suck in the Brother’s Bond and two of the Bowbreakers,
leaving the fourth vessel drifting towards the controlled black
hole. No amount of power could save the drifting vessel, and as the
anti-matter field fed on the energy around it, others watched in
awe as the other three ships were torn apart on a molecular level.
Little by little the ships disappeared from reality and our known
existence, vanishing into nothingness as The Device gorged itself
on everything nearby. It was so powerful that it even sucked in a
few light-weight bombers and fighters trailing in the wake of the
Bowbreakers.

The artificial
black hole suddenly stopped gathering energy. Everything not pulled
apart by its sheer power drifted helplessly, waiting for the
monster to release all of its gathered energy in the silence of the
void. Lightning arced from its heart, and seconds later a blue
light engulfed what was left of the ships around it. The explosion
tore apart everything it its path, creeping slowly towards other
vessels nearby as it reached for more targets. Vessels on both
sides were rocked and thrown off course as the explosion hit both
lines. Luckily the defenders had known what Kohl had planned and
had prepared for The Device’s detonation. A few ships suffered
nothing but cosmetic damage, while others had to reboot and fix
systems shorted out by the anti-matter field explosion.

The traitors on
the other hand were not so lucky. Not only did the Bowbreakers
perish, but the explosion had crippled two larger vessels heading
for the blockade as well. Hundreds of bombers and fighters were
lost in the aftermath, and with one single blow Captain Kohl and
his crew had shifted the balance enough to give every defender hope
in their own survival.

Now the real
fight would begin, and once the vessels were in range of each
other, the death toll would rise and only the most hardened of
captains would live to see another day.

A Lancer by the
name of Siddle drew first blood against the enemy. The man had the
foresight to bring an anti-vehicle launcher with him when he had
followed Xander to the roof of the complex surrounding the
extraction point. Xander had led them to the outer corner of the
square buildings overlooking the advancing troops from the south.
Corporal Siddle was an older man, stuck in his rank for many years
due to his extreme insubordination and reckless actions during
operations. His wrinkled face was hidden behind his Lancer helmet,
so Xander could not see the man’s face when the Lancer had made the
rash decision to fire the first shot.