Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) (15 page)

“Sir, Lieutenant Commander Sanlav
Erdeniz. I’ve been sent by the Admiral to bring you down to the
research lab. He requests your assistance with a pressing
issue.”

His name meant nothing to Spartan, but
Teresa appeared to recognise something about him.

“Erdeniz? Aren’t you the young officer
that worked with Special Agent Johnson on Kerberos?”

Sanlav looked at her in surprise.

“Yes, Ma’am, you know him?”

Teresa nodded but said no more.

The Naval
officer indicated for them to follow him to one
of the doorways guarded by two armoured marines. They stepped
inside but stopped when Angela Brevik tried to enter.

“Sorry, this is for cleared personnel
only,” said the taller of the two marines.

Spartan looked to the Lieutenant
Commander, but he shook his head apologetically.

“Sorry, Sir, you know how it
works.”

Spartan sighed and stepped back to Ms
Brevik.

“
This won’t take
long, so g
et a video conference ready in
one hour. I’ll need to speak with all company
directors.”

Ms Brevik nodded and
made to turn, but Spartan stepped in closer.

“Get me in touch with Governor Gun on
Hyperion. It’s time we had a chat again.”

“Understood,” she replied and moved
away and into the crowd.

They followed the
Lieutenant Commander further into the Naval part of the station and
past a number of secure laboratories. Spartan noted the number of
marine guards stationed at different points, quickly working out
that this was one of the most secure sites he’d seen in some
months. They reached a final open space, behind which lay two large
glass doors. The officer stopped and looked back at
Teresa.

“How is Johnson? I’ve not seen him
since the rebuilding of Kerberos, and that was more than a decade
ago. He’s the Director of Alliance Intelligence, isn’t he?”

“Yes, he is,” answered a firm voice as
the door opened.

Intelligence
Director Johnson appeared, along with Admiral Anderson and a small
group of high-ranking military officers. For the briefest of
moments, the man forgot military procedure and stepped forward to
shake Johnson’s hand. An agent moved quickly between then to block
his path. Johnson waved him off and took his own step closer to
shake his hand.

“Sanlav, it’s been a long time.
Slightly nicer setting than the Kerberos Underground, don’t you
think?”

The Naval officer smiled but quickly
stepped back, remembering military protocol. The Admiral indicated
for them to step inside the room where a projected model of part of
ANS Beagle filled the room. All along the one side was a massively
reinforced window that gave them a perfect view of the entry point
to the Spacebridge. The Admiral indicated to the object. Spartan
spotted a group of Marine Corps officers, and he was sure he
recognised one before the Admiral caught his eye. He looked
impatient and a little irritated by the wandering eye of
Spartan.

“As you can see, we have activated the
Spacebridge to Orion Major. It is the provisional name given by the
Senate to this newly discovered region of space. There are already
rumours in the media about this project, but nothing concrete has
been issued...yet.”

He looked back from the Rift and to the
projected model of ANS Beagle.

“
We were in the
middle of this discussion when I heard you had arrived, Spartan. If
you are interested, I have some work on the other side of the
Rift?”

He gave him no time to answer before he
moved over to Teresa.

“It’s been some time, hasn’t it, Ms
Morato? I take it you’re still watching his back? Remember, don’t
let him and the General go off on one of their adventures!”

Teresa grinned at his comment. It was
well known that the two of them had been part of the rescue party
involved in freeing untold numbers of prisoners and slaves on
Prometheus.

“
Your timing is
fortuitous, if not because things are developing in Orion at a much
faster rate than we expected. I have been authorised to use this
station as a research and command centre for the entire Orion
sector, as we continue to explore, expand and exploit the region.
To facilitate this, I will need military, civilian and private
sector involvement. We’ve already discovered a number of very
interesting moons and artefacts that I think we can all benefit
from.”

As they considered his words, he
indicated to the group of marines.

“I think you’ve all met the
General.”

From the corner of the group, the form
of the battle-hardened General approached. Spartan hadn’t seen the
man for some time, and the years had certainly taken their toll on
him. Even so, he was still physically fit and commanded a presence
in the room that even the Admiral couldn’t match.

“
Admiral, I’ve just
received the report from Colonel Daniels. Have you seen it?” said
the General, without even acknowledging the others present. He
handed over his secpad and waited patiently. Admiral Anderson
examined it for what seemed like an age before finally
speaking.

“Well, this is incredible. Colonel
Daniels has landed a company of marines onto the largest of the
moons...and they’ve...found something.”

General Rivers
looked at the group briefly and laid his eyes on Spartan. His
expression changed instantly to pleasure, and he stepped forward
and embraced him as only two men that had faced the rigors of war
together could.

“Spartan, I thought you’d retired from
all of this?”

“Yeah, me too.”

“General, I requested the assistance of
Spartan’s APS Corporation in the Orion sector. We have military
forces, but the protection of facilities and personnel is a task
APS is well suited for,” explained Admiral Anderson.

The General laughed at his words.

“
I think you’ll find
that in reality what you mean is you’ve found something, and
sending in private security will double our numbers in the field,
without having to redeploy most of the fleet and Marine
Corps!”

Admiral Anderson shook his head.

“Well, that is one way to look at it.
Anyway, you have all been cleared for this project, and I would
remind you that anything you hear in this station is classified.
Only the senior members of the Senate, the Defence Committee and
our senior military commanders know all the details, and that is
the way it will stay. If anybody doesn’t want to go further, please
state this now.”

There was a short pause, but not a soul
moved.

“Very well, then. I asked you all here
to finalise the initial stages of exploration and exploitation.
This news from the moon doesn’t change anything, other than
increase our need to establish a strong presence in Orion.”

He walked over to
one of the many computer displays and hit a button. Most of the
assembled personnel turned their attention to a civilian heavy
transport that was entering the Rift entrance of the Spacebridge.
It distorted and then vanished as though it had never existed.
Admiral Anderson spotted their interest; even noting the General
was intrigued.

“Yes, even as we watch, more ships are
travelling through. Commodore Lewis already has access to a small
taskforce, and seven civilian vessels are in the vicinity of the
bridge to enlarge ANS Beagle to provide a longer term exit
point.”

“So the plan is no longer a short-term
exploration mission of six months? What’s changed, and why do you
need civilian security involvement?” asked Spartan.

The video display
changed to an encrypted data stream direct from the CIC of ANS
Dragon. It showed helmet footage from a squad of marines as they
waited inside a shuttle.

“I think this video will explain things
more clearly. Let’s just say that Orion has many secrets, some good
and some, well...less so,” said the Admiral. “It was packaged and
sent directly from Commodore Lewis less than an hour ago.”

The view took Spartan back to his days
in the Marine Corps, and he couldn’t help but feel a pang of
disappointment to not be there with the marines. The side door
opened, and it took a few seconds for the exposure unit of the
cameras to adjust to the bright light as opposed to the darkness
inside the shuttle. The marines stepped out and looked around the
landing area. It was a small open space, much like a crater, and
perfect for the safe landing of people. Two of them moved out of
camera shot, and it took a moment for the blurred feed to stabilise
as the marine turned around. A large series of mountainous
structures filled the screen, but it wasn’t the geography that drew
a gasp from the assembled military and scientific personnel. It was
the fact that as the image became clearer, they could see that the
formations were actually shaped and carved directly into the
rock.

“Are you seeing this, Sarge?” asked the
marine in the video.

“Keep moving, marine!” came back the
gruff reply.

A calmer voice appeared, and Spartan
quickly recognised it as coming from Colonel Daniels; a man with
whom he’d also served with in the past.

“1st Squad stay with the shuttle, 2nd
and 3rd Squads with me. We need to reach the source of the
transmission.”

They continued
forwards, along what looked like a dry riverbed. The ground and
hills around them were colourless, much like the surface of many
moons, but the bright glow of the gas giant in the sky overshadowed
everything, even the distant sun. Their movement was confusing to
all of those other than the marines present. It was a classic low
gravity world, and the marines were forced to use the odd skipping
movement to make quick and safe progress. A few more minutes, and
they came to an obstruction; much like a wall, but this was a
natural barrier like a dam. The Colonel appeared, and his lightly
armoured PDS suit, with its unique striped camouflage, looked odd
against the dull grey background. He bent his knees and jumped up,
easily reaching three metres before grabbing at the barrier and
pulling himself up.

“What are they looking for?” asked
Teresa.

None of them could tear their eyes from
the screen as the display shook violently. When it settled down, it
was clear the marine must have jumped to join his commander. He
looked up and over the ridge to see something that shocked the
assembled group. A large group of thickly armoured buildings
littered the ground. Many were damaged with holes in their walls or
roofs.

“How did we not see this on the way
down?” asked the marine.

“Look at the angles. You can only see
this part of the terrain if you approach down this riverbed,” said
Colonel Daniels.

The marine continued to turn his head
slowly, panning across the skyline and taking in the site of the
damaged structures. It was then that he fixed his gaze on something
metallic that was broken up across the ground.

“Sarge, is that what I think it is?” he
asked.

In the pause before
anybody else spoke, the marine tapped a button and the camera
shook. The optics shifted, and the depth of field changed as the
lens zoomed into the object. It was massive, probably a hundred
metres long, dark grey, metallic and smashed beyond recognition. He
fixed on something hanging out of one of the holes. It was about
two metres tall and a similar colour to the vessel. Then it moved.
He gasped with excitement and horror as he recognised what he was
seeing.

“It’s alive! Sarge, there’s somebody
down there!”

The camera shook again, and the man and
the other marines broke out into a fast hop over the broken ground.
The images became confused as they bounced over the ground, but it
was clear enough for those watching to make out the shapes of the
small bunkers and buildings.

“Is it me, or do they look like long
abandoned military fortifications?” asked Spartan.

General Rivers nodded in agreement.

“Not abandoned though. Look at the
damage. I’d say there’s been fighting here.”

The marines were over half way to the
debris when the moving shape vanished into cover, and the object
itself vanished in a bright flash. It forced the exposure control
of the camera to change, and the image turned bright white. When it
returned, the image was sideways and facing away from the object.
In the background were the sounds of shouting.

“Marines, fall back!” shouted the
Colonel in a cool and dispassionate tone.

The image was now stationary and gave a
clear view of the ground and one of the bunkers. Two marines ran
past the camera and off to the right.

“To the shuttle!” shouted the
Sergeant.

A blurred shape of
an armoured man came from the left. His armour was thicker than the
marines but beautifully crafted with no exposed cabling, wiring or
connections. The armoured head was shaped almost like a bug with a
pair of antennae pushed up from the back. A dark black visor ran
where the eyes should be. He ran up to the camera and bent down to
look at the lens, turned his head and raised his right arm. A
double-barrelled weapon system seemed integrated into the armour.
As the warrior lifted the weapon, a dark shape smashed down into
him. It must have been massive because it filled the screen.
Gunfire crackled in the background, and in less than a few seconds,
the dark object lifted up out of view to show the crushed and
broken body of the armoured man, and then the feed went dead. The
image froze on the last still as if somebody had deliberately
paused it. Admiral Anderson turned back to the group.

“What the hell was all of that?” asked
Spartan.

General Rivers shook his head in
dismay. He had already stepped up to the display and reversed the
video to the section showing the debris in the open area prior to
the blast.