Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) (19 page)

“Spartan…Khan, I see you’ve made your
entrance.”

A group of armoured marines burst in
through the door with their weapons levelled at the
Jötnar
.
At the head of the group
was an angry faced Asian Captain. Unlike the others, his helmet was
off, and he shouted loudly at Spartan.

“Get on the floor, now!”

Spartan turned to
face him with both his arms raised to defend himself.

“Stop this!” roared the General, with a
booming voice that
even
surprised
Spartan.

The marines stood
their ground but dared not come even a footstep closer into the
briefing room. The Captain looked up to th
e even angrier looking General Rivers.

“
Sir, these
unauthorised civilians assaulted my men. They have no business
here, and they must answer to my authority!”

“
Your men, Captain?”
The General retorted. “Every marine on this ship answers to me!
This group, under the command of Spartan,
ha
s
all been personally cleared and invited by my
staff to assist in this operation.
Their
paperwork went through nearly an hour ago, Captain. They are to be
treated with the respect due any marine and navy crewman on this
ship. Both Khan and Spartan have long, exemplary records with the
Corps. I requested his entire party to be brought here for this
briefing. I suggest you find out who screwed up and sanction him or
her properly. Understood, Marine?
”

The
C
aptain stared with piercing eyes at
Spartan and looked back to the General.

“Sir!” he called out.

The General
then
looked to Khan,
doing his best not
to smile.

“If you could send your retinue with
the
Captain
here
,
he will show them to your quarters.
It is mainly the two of you I need to see.
In the
meantime
,
we have things to discuss.”

Khan looked back to his people and said
nothing
.
H
e
simply nodded slowly. Spartan was dismayed to see the lack of trust
now held between marine
s
and
Jötnar. In his time, they had fought side by side on
planets and ships, but now it seemed there was a whole new
generation with little or no respect for their brothers in arms.
They filed out of the room until just Spartan, Jack and Khan
remained of their group. After the door had shut, the General
continued speaking.

“
Khan, it is to my
deepest regret that the Alliance saw to the disbanding of the
Jötnar Battalion. I argued against it
,
but you of all people will understand the whims of politicians. We
fought some tough battles to get where we are now. Perhaps the
three of you from the APS Corporation would listen in on this
briefing?”

Khan nodded
politely, and Spartan noted that his manners had improved massively
since the last time they’d met. The Jötnar glanced to
Spartan.

“
We get to do more
fighting with Spartan’s company anyway...and we get paid better! If
we didn’t do that, then we’d end up spending our time hunting on
Hyperion,” he laughed and squeezed himself in next to Spartan and
Jack.

The seats were large
but still not suited to the oversized fram
e and muscles of a nearly three-metre tall Jötnar. General
Rivers grinned at his words. He was well aware that numbers of
Jötnar had served with APS teams throughout the Alliance and had
achieved some staggering victories against criminal gangs, thieves
and even the odd insurrection. It amused him that most there would
think Khan referred to the hunting of docile beasts on Hyperion. He
was, of course, referring to hunting down the surviving Biomechs
that still roamed the jungles and mountains of the mist-covered
planet. Their numbers were apparently under control, only just
though.

“I have no doubt about that.” He then
indicated to those around him.

“Let me introduce you to some of the
command staff of the ship. This is the XO, Commander Jane
Parker.”

The tall woman wore
her uniform without a single regulation crease showing on her
uniform. Her neatly cropped reddish hair was pulled back, and her
blue eyes seemed to almost glow at him. She nodded but said
nothing. The General moved along to a short man wearing his navy
uniform and with the rank of lieutenant showing.

“
Devastations
Tactical Officer,
Lieutenant Jesse Powalk
, his father fought at Euryale in the Uprising.”

“
I heard you were
there, Sir,” said the young officer to the seated Spartan. “My
father spoke of your ground troops and the Jötnar. He always said
they should have been mixed with the rest of the Corps. I think he
was right. Your people are an asset to the Alliance.”

General Rivers
looked to Spartan and back to the Lieutenant, but the XO
interrupted him.

“
He’s a civilian
now, Lieutenant,” she said sternly. “You will refer to him as Mr.
Sir is reserved for officers in the Alliance Military.”

General Rivers
looked to her and shook his head. He had spent only a short time on
the ship, but it was clear the XO for a stickler for the rules and
would make it her mission to hold him back, or at the very least to
hold back anybody not part of her crew. He was well aware of the
antagonism towards private companies in the military, but it was an
evil they happily made use of. The PMCs fought, bled and worked
just as hard, sometimes even harder than the regular units they
helped or replaced.

“
Actually, no,
Commander. As you are no doubt aware, under the articles of the
Alliance, all military forces, whether regular, militia or private
will fall under the same rules and regulations as the regular
military. Any military-type operation requires clear chain of
command, and this also necessitates a formal rank to be applied to
all members of a private unit. This was introduced to ensure
private companies operate under the same laws and restrictions as
regular military.”

He looked to
Spartan. “Can you explain to the Commander?”

Spartan nodded and stood up.

“
Of course, General.
At this level, our combat forces are based on small units with the
same size and capabilities as Marine Corps squads and platoons.
You’ll find almost all of our operatives are ex-military, mainly
ASOG and Marine Corps. They are led by Team Leaders, roughly the
equivalent of a sergeant in the Corps. Our equivalent of private is
Operative, though they are normally known as ATLs or Assistant Team
Leaders and use code letters instead of ranks or names. Leadership
for these units, when in theatre, is by Security Managers, such as
myself. This position in our Corporation carries a similar level of
responsibility as a company commander such as a Captain. We are
held accountable to the same rules and laws as you, and report
directly to our assigned commander, in this case General
Rivers.”

The XO was having
none of it, and she glared at Spartan while replying.

“
Yes, Spartan, I’m
well aware of the rules governing Private Contractors in military
theatres. You are still a civilian though. You gave up your
commission in the Corps a long time ago.”

General Rivers shook his head in
annoyance.

“
Spartan and Khan
are both senior members of APS and will be given the same respect
and authority given to Marine Corps ranks of an equivalent
seniority.”

The General came to
Jack and sized him up. He had a great deal of experience with
Teresa and Spartan, but he’d only met the boy a few times. He knew
little about him, other than the dossier he’d scanned briefly while
transferring over to the ship.

“
Son, you have no
formal military training, do you?”

The young man was of
a similar height to Spartan but much less broad, and with dark hair
and a darker complexion, no doubt due to his Hispanic mother. Even
so, his face was hard edged, and he looked a good deal older than
he actually was.

“
No, Sir, but I’ve
plenty of experience with the Jötnar, and with company special
operations.”

“
I see.
W
ell, according to my paperwork that
still makes you an operative for APS. You are granted the same
privileges as any Marine Corps private and that goes for any of
your other... Assistant Team Leaders,” he looked over to Spartan,
“...or whatever you call them!”

The General took a
step back and checked the rest of those he had requested were
present. He looked a little confused, but the door opened and in
walked two more officers. One wore in Marine Corps overalls and the
other the smart uniform of a Navy Captain.

“
General, apologies,
we‘ve been supervising the transfer of spares from ANS Beagle,”
said the Marine Officer.

General Rivers looked less than
impressed with her response.

“You are?”

The young woman
stopped and saluted, immediately recognising the seriousness of the
situation. Her tunic was only half tucked in, and it looked like
she must have run all the way there.

“
Lieutenant
Colonel Maria Barnett
, I’m the senior commander
of the two embarked Marine Corps companies.”

“
And you?”
General Rivers continued as he looked at the
Navy officer.

“Captain Vinson
,
General.
Commander of Devastation
’s
air wing
.”

“So you’re the CAG?”

“Sir!”

The General took a deep breath before
speaking.

“
Captain Thomas has
already laid in the course to our destination, and we are underway.
We will be meeting with Commodore Lewis and the rest of the Orion
Taskforce for a rescue mission. I will pass on the exact details
when we are closer to the objective. For now, all we have is that a
Marine Corps platoon has been scattered, and there are casualties
on one of the moons. It looks like they were hit by an explosion of
some kind.”

The XO looked at him
with one slightly raised eyebrow as if questioning him.

“
There is more,
though. Our scout drones are returning images and details that are
well, quite frankly - they are astounding. Long abandoned
settlements have now been found on two of the planets, and we
suspect we will find more. The debris fields we detected upon
arrival seem to be the remains of constructions, presumably
man-made. It is clear to me that people of unknown origin have
already beaten us to this place. The good news is it seems they
left. The bad is that something is still here, and it attacked our
marine unit.”

He brought up a
static image of part of the moon. It showed a cratered surface, as
well as the outline of the craft the marines had taken to the
surface.

“
These images were
taken by the last shuttle down. Within an hour, this entire area
was subjected to an orbital bombardment that covered over a square
kilometre.”

A murmur spread
amongst those in the small group watching the briefing. General
Rivers took a few paces in front of them and continued.

“
That’s right. We’re
talking firepower that is equal to the entire arsenal of Commodore
Lewis’ taskforce. There is a chance this was nothing more than a
meteor storm or impact, but in the meantime, Commodore Lewis has
withdrawn his flotilla at the request of Admiral Anderson until we
can fully assess the situation. His ships were already spread out
when the attack happened, as they were conducting scout operations.
He has launched drones to scout the area of space around the moon
itself, but will not be close enough to start a rescue for another
seven hours. I have been in touch with the marines, and they are
making their way to a secure LZ, prior to their
evacuation.”

The General paused
and let that information sink in. As he waited
, the XO nodded, and she continued the briefing.

“
As you can see,
this is one of those great days in history, and the one many of us
have wondered or dreamed about.”

She then pointed to
the image of the planets in the New Charon system.

“
It is true
that
we have discovered the remains of
intelligent life on another world. Is it from our own species? My
opinion is this is probably something to do with our early colony
ships sent from Earth hundreds of years ago. Who knows, though?
That is for the scientists to discover, and right now is of little
concern to us. You are Alliance Military, and you all have a job to
do.”

General Rivers was
still slightly surprised at her abrupt nature but said nothing.
Although he was in overall command of the operation, it wasn’t his
ship, and he was well aware of the subtle differences between ships
and their crews in the Navy. It was important he disassociated
himself from the day-to-day running of a warship and concentrated
on the strategy for this mission. He lifted a hand to indicate he
wanted to continue, and the XO moved back, but not without looking
more than a little displeased at being interrupted
mid-flow.

“
Thank you,
Commander,” he said politely and turned to the rest of those in the
room.

“
Our ETA is in
twenty-six hours, so there is a chance all of this could be over by
the time we get there. Even so, we will be ready for any and all
eventualities, both on the ground and in space. I will need three
platoons of marines, ground support and air cover for the
operation. Spartan and his APS team will be coming with
us.”