Ilox Saga 1: Eris Monroe: More Than Human (24 page)

“Uh, yessir…” Merrick Dunne was
slowly getting used to the idiosyncratic behavior of his chief engineer, though he didn’t know if a human could ever fully understand an alien species. The three technicians huddled together discussing what had just taken place while Saephan left for the bridge. While returning to the CIC, Hasephrey received uninterrupted data from his implants concerning the status of the Sparta and distance to the enemy ship. Arriving back on the bridge, he glanced at the main display showing Sparta on a trajectory to intercept the Alliance battle-cruiser Agamemnon orbiting the planet Furnace.

“Hasephrey, what happens if we fire at the Alliance ship and don’t disable her engines with the first salvo?” Kizzara was used to fast attack fighter craft that used speed as a defense.
A fighter pilot would evade enemy fire at long distances and then close in on a capitol ship to weaken its shields. Once a section of shields was disabled, missiles were launched against the target. She was lost when it came to larger ship tactics.

“Fire again.”
He looked at the Evene with black eyes. His red pupils were large and dilated. “And keep firing. Until the ship cannot maneuver or attack in return.” Kizzara nodded solemnly and reached for the control yoke. Sparta kept accelerating smoothly through the black void. Modern ships equipped with pulsar engines were capable of continuous thrust and increasing velocity while in normal space. Once Sparta began closing in on the Agamemnon, Kizzara would have to brake the ship to reduce velocity, otherwise they would zip by the enemy ship at hyper relativistic speeds without a chance to even fire. The Agamemnon was currently keeping itself positioned directly above Long Junction, albeit five hundred kilometers above the surface of the planet. The enemy vessel continued to fire its mass accelerator and bombard the outpost and surrounding areas. Nothing living could survive where each impact occurred. It seemed obvious that the captain of the Agamemnon was trying to obliterate all traces of Long Junction.

“Computer, can you give details on impacts? How deep is the destruction penetrating?” Hasephrey knew that the mining shafts and tunnels under Long Junction were vast
but each strike hit with a force of at least two hundred thousand newtons. The Alliance was being thorough in their design of destruction. As each minute elapsed, the crew on the bridge watched the main display with fascination, unable to tear away from the sheer devastation unfolding before their eyes. Most had never witnessed a capitol ship using its main weapon – a linear accelerator, projecting intense beams of protons at the speed of light. In five minutes, Sparta would be in range to fire its main batteries, two massive particle cannons situated along the front port and starboard sides of the ship. Additionally, she carried six turrets, three on each side, mounted with heavy gauss cannons. There was no indication that the Alliance was aware that Sparta was bearing down on them with lethal intent. The Agamemnon had not shifted from its position for orbital bombardment.

“
Gun crews prepare to fire all weapons on main engines of enemy ship once when we come into range.” Hasephrey was leaning against the railing once again, peering intently at the multi-data main display shown in front of him. “Kizzara, I want our main weapons over-charged. The shields on the Agamemnon will be weaker at the rear, but a concerted attack at point blank range should penetrate.”

“Aye sir,” Kizz’s eyes were glued to the readouts in front of her station. The ships various computers did most of the work on a starship, but each could easily be overridden with the manual controls. Kizz was ready to fly the ship with the control yoke the moment she sensed something wasn’t right.
The second a red warning flared on her screen she knew she had to take evasive maneuvers. Pulling hard on the yoke to the right, the ship shuddered as the stress worked itself out in the hull. Personnel that were not strapped into seats fell sprawling to the metal grated floor.

“Pilot, what in the
Twenty-seven Hells are you doing!?” thundered Hasephrey Saephan at Kizzara. He had barely maintained his footing by tightening his grip on the metal railing. The computer warning came a split second before Kizzara answered.

“Warning!
Threat detected! Take evasive action!” The female voice of the ships computer sounded the alert throughout the CIC. Manually controlling the ship, Kizzara continued steering to the port side and then to starboard…weaving through a barely detected minefield. The sensors on the enemy mines were fooled by the null field encasing Sparta and could not detect the ship – only direct contact with the hull would have detonated a mine.

“A minefield?
This Alliance Captain is a devious human.” Hasephrey laughed – a full throated roar that startled the crew. “Evene, you sensed that first mine and moved the ship away just before we hit it.”

“
Just so,
” Kizzara replied silkily.

“
Well, slow down and veer away. I don’t want to risk hitting any mines.”

“I'm already doing that,"
came Kizzara’s reply. The minefield was apparently not large. Sensors on the Sparta seemed to indicate that the mines were sparsely laid out ten kilometers from the enemy vessel with a density of five mines per kilometer. The mines had their own power source and homed in on vessels that came within detection range.

Saephan
looked thoughtful. “We’ll shadow the battle-cruiser and attack when it stops bombardment and moves out of position.” Kizzara turned the ship away from the on-coming vessel while continuing to slow down. Within a few minutes, their speed had decreased dramatically.

“Now we wait
,” said Hasephrey. The crew of the Sparta continued to prepare for battle, putting all hatches and doors into a closed state, pre-positioning emergency hull patches for rapid deployment and making sure every crew member was fully armed and armored in case the ship was boarded. They didn't have to wait long - the Agamemnon stopped firing its main gun and began maneuvering.

“Computer, give me trajectory and velocity of Alliance battle-cruiser,” Hasephrey ordered. An orange line appeared from the enemy ship to a distant location over the planet.

“Alliance ship Agamemnon on trajectory to Platinum City. Estimated time of arrival set at ten minutes and fifteen seconds with projected course and velocity.” The computer’s feminine voice was soothing.

“
Kizzara let us see if we can give minefield wide berth. Bring us in close behind them before they arrive at their destination.” The Sparta was a much smaller ship than the Agamemnon, which was at least fifteen times her size and carried more armor and armament. This meant that the large ship was not nearly as nimble in her maneuvering and her speed was much slower. Moreover, the twin particle cannons Sparta carried were not normal for a ship of her class and could devastate a much larger ship with well placed shots. Shield strength at the rear of a capitol ship was weakest with the strongest shields being fore and to the sides. If they could penetrate the shields of the Agamemnon, they stood a great chance of disabling her engines which would mean a loss of power and no way to maneuver. She would become a sitting duck. Gunners mate first class Takashi Yoshida was in charge of the main guns. He sat at his station in the CIC just to the left of the captain’s chair. The six turrets were crewed by individuals located inside each weapon pod.

“Yoshida, don’t fire until we have clear shot at main engines.
” Saephan said emphatically. The holographic combat display showed the Agamemnon getting larger with each passing second. The null field generator which kept Sparta from being discovered was working flawlessly. They were undetected and closing in on the unsuspecting Alliance vessel rapidly. Hasephrey intended to close to point blank range and open fire with everything Sparta had. As the ship reduced the range between the vessels the computer kept up a running dialogue.

“Range to enemy vessel one hundred kilometers.”

“Range fifty kilometers.”

“
Ten kilometers.”

“
Five kilometers.” At this distance, if there had been a window visible and someone looking out, they would have seen the Alliance warship gleaming against the red curved outline of the planet below. It bristled with weapons, and its three main engines were a bright blue of hot plasma.

“Open fire with all weapons. Target their engines!” Heard clearly by everyone on board Hasephrey thundered his commands.
His face and voice carried by link to every member of the crew. Kizzara veered the ship smoothly to port as Sparta’s main particle cannons fired at the target vessel. The violet twin streams of energy impacted with tremendous force. Sparta’s smaller turret mounted heavy gauss weapons also opened up on the engines, inflicting less damage but adding to the carnage.

“Direct hit!” exclaimed Takashi
raising his fist in triumph. Flashes of white and orange tinged with red tendrils erupted from the center engine of the Agamemnon and secondary explosions began erupting on the two smaller engines. The main engine which had glowed cobalt blue now sputtered and died out as twisted and superheated metal fragments exploded outward in a display of kinetic ballet. Sparta flew by Agamemnon in a blur and was a hundred kilometers away in a few seconds. Return fire from the enemy vessel was confused and sporadic, completely missing the still cloaked Sparta. They had caught them completely by surprise.

“Make ready for another pass. I want that ship disabled,” said Saephan gravely. He wasn’t cheering yet like the crew. He knew
his enemy was like a wounded animal…still dangerous.
I will not give them time to recover
… Knocking out their power was the only way to make sure they could cause no harm. While Sparta sped nimbly away and angled for a return trajectory, Agamemnon was slowing and trying vainly to turn to bring her main weapons to bear on the smaller ship. Kizzara had taken manual control and was flying the ship directly back towards the aft section of the enemy vessel.

“Ten seconds and we’ll be at point blank range again
,” said Kizzara succinctly.

“They know we’re here…
out in the darkness of space…though I doubt their computer tracking mechanisms can lock in on us. Our stealth field stops them cold. That is why they must fire manually with their anti-fighter defense weapons,” said the Chief Engineer. Hasephrey leaned on the railing as the display showed Sparta closing in with breakneck speed.

“Open fire! All weapons target engine compartment of enemy!” He shouted his commands in the heat of the moment baring his four rows of sharpened teeth in a feral snarl.
Once again violet lances of pure energy leapt from the Sparta like twin spears, vaporizing metal hull and propulsion systems alike. This time, all the engines of the enemy ship went dead, the blue glow flickering and finally sputtering to an end. Damage to the Alliance vessel was severe. Sparta shuddered as impact from one of the anti-fighter guns scored a passing hit as she sped by the wounded battle-cruiser.

“Shields holding!” shouted
Alyssa Cavalcanti, the damage control specialist seated just to the left of Takashi Yoshida. “Kinetic shields down thirty-seven percent…one minute and twelve seconds to regenerate!” Sparta continued to maneuver even as she sped swiftly away from the encounter. They were not out of range of the enemy just yet, but had inflicted maximum and precise damage on the Agamemnon’s engines and power generators.

“Tactical!
Tell me what Alliance is doing,” Hasephrey looked directly at specialist Thomas Silayev seated to the right of Yoshida. Silayev peered into his panel display which indicated what damage had been done to the battle-cruiser. His station was important for assessing what systems were destroyed and what remains to be targeted.

“Sir!
The Agamemnon has had her engines completely knocked offline. She is drifting through space without power…” Thomas adjusted the display and noted more information streaming through. “Their aft shields have buckled completely…major structural damage to their main engine thruster and secondary thrusters…they appear to running on auxiliary power only.” Kizzara swiveled her chair sideways to see Hasephrey directly.

“Should I prepare for a third fly-by?” Hasephrey could detect the blood-lust in her voice. “We should completely destroy them!”

“No! Move Sparta to other side of Furnace,” ordered Hasephrey with finality. He crossed his arms in front of his chest. “We have given Captain Monroe time to finish her mission. I will let her decide what fate befalls Alliance battle-cruiser.”

“What if she can’t finish her mission?”
Kizzara didn’t believe what she had just blurted out. The Evene turned back to her piloting controls before hearing what the Chief Engineer had to say.

“Nothing has stopped her yet…” Hasephrey was tired. The stress of combat had frayed his nerves. He was used to the hum and rattle of engines and
fixing mechanical problems – not making life or death decisions.
Monroe must succeed
he thought wearily.

Eris ordered everyone in her squad to put their weapons away as they entered the underground outpost of Platinum City. Even from where they were standing they could tell the area was over-crowded and bustling with activity. Located at least fifty meters beneath the surface of the planet a broad avenue beckoned to them. There were people everywhere moving about including aliens such as K’Tosk, Orvod and others though they were a minority of the species gathered – humans dominated on Furnace. The smell hit them first…a mixture of sweat, various body odors and the rank stench of fear. There were thousands of miners and support staff located here – some workers had brought their wives and children to live with them, it wasn’t just field workers and repair techs milling around. It appeared though as if the inhabitants of at least two or three outposts had moved into Platinum City. Her squad was in good spirits – the two groups of guards they had bluffed their way through had not been a serious threat but it felt good they had gotten past them so easily.
Alteration of our armor to appear as FMM uniforms was a good idea
.
Now if we can find out where the Initiator is located…

“Eli,
find a data link – search for the information we’re looking for,” Eris said warily, eyeing the dozens of people that were within ten meters of their position. Clearly there were more people in this outpost than normal. “Lia, are you picking anything up on your med-scanner?”

“No Captain, readout
is still negative,” Lia said softly. The chatter from the throngs of people almost drowned out her voice. “I will immediately inform you if anything is detected that could harm our team.” Eli had trotted over to a public data access terminal and was
doing his thing with it
. Eris didn’t know how he interfaced with computers or electronic devices, but she had seen him work his magic before and it only took a few seconds for him to access all kinds of information.

“Uh…Captain. There is a general broadcast alert from the Alliance warning everyone to stay well away from Long Junction
and other outposts.” His nose crinkled up as if he smelled something awful. “The Alliance has a virtual lock on all the other mining outposts. It’s as bad as you feared…” The rest of Alpha squad had gathered around him. Sev Tariv was watching the crowd walk by, looking for anything out of the ordinary. Lia and Eris were paying rapt attention to what Eli was saying. T’sell T’savri frowned at the huge crowds as if she could make them disappear through will power alone.

“Is Platinum City the only outpost free of Alliance and Vortex control?” asked Eris directly
of Eli. She was serious and wanted quick answers.

“It seems that way,” Eli said. “That’s why this place is so
crowded; they’re refugees from all across the planet.” He stared off into space. “Wait a minute…the computer here has a link to restricted data on the mines and Vortex activity.” His brows furrowed as he concentrated. “Give me a few seconds…ah…got it!” He grinned triumphantly. “Vortex mercenaries were last seen heading down into the deep mines below the city five days ago. Nothing has been heard from them since then.” He looked at Eris expectantly. “If I can get a look at their data comms I can sift through them and find out what they knew about the Valdren artifact they’re looking for.”

“Find out exactly what route they took and let’s see
if we can find them. We don’t want to go near them unless we have to. It would be ironic if the Initiator was under Platinum City the whole time and the Alliance was looking all over the rest of the planet.” Eris did not want any surprises.
I need more information
.
The tools were right here, she just had to use them
.

“I’ve got it,” Eli tapped one forefinger to his temple.
“Right here.”

T’sell spoke to Eris with a haughty tone.
“If Bowman knows the way then we should leave. I do not like this situation. There are far too many sentients moving about and too many avenues to attack us from cover. Alliance spies could easily have infiltrated into this outpost. In fact, I would be surprised if there weren’t any agents here at all. We must move swiftly, Captain.” T’sell T’savri’s headache was steadily getting worse, but she didn’t want to alarm any of her companions. She would wait and see if it was an allergic reaction to something in the atmosphere. Eli looked up into the air, as if he was staring at the cavernous ceiling twenty meters overhead. “There’s a maintenance shaft about a klick to the west. The elevator there can take us down into the old mine tunnels. That’s the way the Vortex went and we can go the same route.”

“Good, let’s
get moving now,” Eris ordered her squad to move out. Before the team set off from the data kiosk, Eli put his hands to his head and doubled over in pain.

“
Aaaaggghhh!” Eli screamed in pain. “My head!” He looked worried and sick. “It feels like it’s going to explode!” Lia Xinhao quickly took her portable med-scanner and ran the sensor over his head and upper chest. She frowned at the result.

“The pain is real. However, a quick scan doesn’t show what is causing it.” She took out a laser hypodermic and took hold of Eli’s arm. “Be still.
You’re acting like a baby…” She then jabbed him in the neck to take a sample of his blood.

“Ow!” Eli rubbed the spot where she had drawn blood.

“Is this the sickness the miners were talking about?” Eris was alarmed. She didn’t think it would have affected any member of her team so quickly, if in fact Eli was infected, it was serious.
Perhaps I should have kept our helmets on and suits sealed
. Doctor Xinhao took another portable device from her backpack and inserted the blood sample into a compartment in the side.

“Captain, I’m running more thorough tests. In a minute, I’ll know if Eli has anything serious going on with his blood chemistry.
It would help tremendously if we could get a blood sample of someone that has been infected…”

“Yeah…being infected would be a great help…” Eli stated sarcastically while still rubbing his neck.
The squad continued moving west albeit at a slower pace than before. Buildings lined the avenue – most were shops and businesses selling items that miners would want and need. Eris stopped in front of a barber shop. It was busy and crowded with people sitting in chairs waiting for their turn. There weren’t enough chairs available for all the customers to sit – some were standing. Fragments of conversation drifted to her ears.

“What’s the Alliance doing on Furnace anyway? Are they taking over for good?”
Eris overheard a conversation between a man wearing stained and worn overalls seated next to a plain looking woman with two small bickering children seated beside her. “Have you heard about all those missing miners down in the Remont Mine, they sent a few MEKS to search and only one returned? It was all damaged…” The woman absolutely would not shut up and kept asking questions in between trying to keep her kids from fighting each other.

“Who knows…there’s nothing but rumors
... But I’ll tell ya this – I came from Epsilon Outpost and those Vortex mercenary guys ordered everyone to leave. Just drop all the equipment…weapons…whatever we had and get out. They only kept a few guys that knew how to run the big digging rigs…” He took off a cap and scratched his head. “They weren’t fooling around. One miner tried to take a shot at them and they blew his freakin’ head off like it was nothing. After that no one said anything and followed their orders.” The woman looked stricken.

“They killed that poor man? That’s horrible! I’ve heard other stories about those mercenaries. I think they’re no more than pirates!
Just savages!”

“Yeah…well. Shit happens. That guy shouldn’t have fired at them. He was stupid…” The MEK at the front desk called out. “
Gene? Are you ready to get your hair cut?”

“Well that’s me. See ya later and stay safe.” He
stood up, chuckled at the two quarrelling children while another MEK met him with a warm smile. All of the hair cutters were MEK’s who appeared to be human females wearing tight outfits - all had meticulously coiffed and styled hair.

Eris tugged on Lia’s arm and whispered, “
Found anything
?” Lia was fixated on a holographic readout in front of her showing biological data from Eli’s blood sample. She finally looked up at Eris with a worried expression on her face.

“Hmmm.
This is not good. There is a genetic abnormality showing up in his blood platelets. I need to get back to the Sparta and into my lab. These portable devices are powerful but limited in performing tests. The equipment on the Sparta will help me isolate what exactly is happening to him. I should take Eli back to the Sparta at once.” Her tone was insistent.

“Negative. I need Bowman on this mission.
And I need you as well Doctor.” Eris was looking at the crowd of sentients passing by for signs of interest in her group. So far no one had paid much attention to them.
They were just another group of miners
. “We need to get moving again. We’re losing time. Is this the disease they were talking about?”

“Hey! I’m standing right here! Stop talking like I’m some lab
rat…” Lia put a hand on Eli’s shoulder to soothe him.

“Eli, calm down. Here, I’m going to give you something for the headache,” she cooed at him, while
jabbing him again in the neck.

“
Ow! Do you
have
to do that to my neck?” Eli rubbed the spot and complained half-heartedly while jerking his head away from Doctor Xinhao.

“Well
, if you want to take the time to remove the armor on your left or right arm…by all means – I’ll take the blood I need from your median cubital vein.” Her sarcasm was not lost on Eli who shut up but continued to make small noises of discontentment. T’sell T’savri had been staring intently at Sev Tariv never taking her eyes from him.

“Captain, let’s get to that elevator.
If we can get there in ten minutes or less I’ll be satisfied,” T’sell stated quickly. She was in a stony mood and wanted to get on with the mission.
There have been too many delays – I could have done this already if I were alone
… She was agitated that her headache was getting worse.
I will not let anyone see this weakness
. Eris nodded and motioned for the squad to move out. After five minutes of heading further west, they turned south and found their way to the rough hewn wall of the cavern. Gone were the strident sounds of sentients going about their daily business. The passage they travelled through was well worn and old…no one took this passage behind the façade of the buildings on the main avenue. Seeing no other people in the vicinity, Eris halted the squad at a massive portal set into the worked stone. In front of the portal was a heavy assault MEK. The security had opted against using sentients and resorted to machinery as a defense.

“Eli, disable that MEK, I don’t want to have a firefight here. We’re too close to the outpost…” Eli looked
to his Captain with an air of superiority.

“I’ve already altered its programming….it sees us as
permitted security personnel. Don’t worry…” As the group passed by the silent but hulking robot, they were presented with another obstacle.

An airshaft a meter above the door made
whirring
sounds - a hidden mechanism sucked air down into the tunnels. Blocked by a solid and imposing security door, the tunnel they needed lay just beyond.

“
Bowman, you feel up to disengaging the locks on that door?” Eris asked Eli. “I’m sure T’sell can use her tools to open it if you can’t…you know…use your mind right now.” Eris had noted how the drug Lia had given him had improved his mood tremendously. The pain must have subsided.

“Yeah…on it
…” he murmured distractedly. A few short seconds later the lock cycled and the door swung open with a creak – the door must not have been used in a long time. Having Eli Bowman around was extremely useful. A bypass on an advanced lock could take up to five minutes by a skilled electronics and security system expert – Eli performed the same function in a matter of seconds. The maintenance tunnel to the emergency elevator shaft was smaller than the previous tunnels.

“
Re-engage helmets and perform internal leak checks,” ordered Eris as she manually activated the reticulated helmet.
They would have a total of six hours of suit air with the rebreathers. They had best find what they were looking for in that time
. The durasteel metal scallops emerged from the collar at the back of her neck and snapped into place with a series of
clicks
. Modern combat armor designers tried to make the form fitting suits as ergonomic as possible - collapsing helmets was just one special touch. With helmets sealed and weapons ready the squad moved down the corridor...with Eris in the lead. Like many of the previous access tunnels this one was the same. Roughly four meters in height and four meters in width, it was wide enough for miners to move with hand held equipment, though it was designed as an emergency access and egress tunnel. Smoothed over with obvious white patches of plasteel the walls were a uniform rough granite texture. Dim glow panels peeled back the darkness every twenty meters though there was not enough light to see well. Ultravision sensors embedded in their combat helmets enabled each member of the team to see perfectly well – even if it had been pitch black. After twenty minutes, the squad reached the elevator shaft they desired. Hard use had scratched and dented the tightly shut door. A steady red light on the nearby panel indicated the elevator was locked and closed.