Omega Force 3: The Enemy Within (27 page)

“What happened?!” Alux demanded.

“Secondary explosion after the initial impact,” the sensor operator said frantically as he played back the feed to the moment the optical sensors were overloaded. “Sensors recorded a massive anti-matter explosion from the
Diligent
. It took out the factory ship’s core and compromised structural integrity.”

“Compromised structural integrity,” Alux deadpanned. “You don’t say.” He was staring at the forward section of the massive ship as it accelerated away on a new course, pushed by the explosion, when he caught a movement to his left. Steader Dalton had pulled a small blaster and had it trained on Kellea Colleren’s head.

“She had something to do with this,” he snarled. “She let herself get captured as a setup to find this place.”

“Must you be so overwhelmingly stupid
all
of the time?” Alux said wearily. “Whoever did this was waiting on us. They knew that ship was here already
and
knew enough to be able to use the
Diligent
as a ballistic weapon. So where are they, Kellea?”

“Who?” she asked calmly, still eyeing the business end of Steader’s blaster.

“You know who,” Alux grated in impatience. “Do not play stupid with me. Omega Force is responsible for this and now they’re on their way here, aren’t they?”

“I still don’t know who—”

“I’ve had enough of this!” Steader shouted
, his eyes tinged with madness as he raised his blaster again. Kellea closed her eyes, waiting for the blast, but all she heard was a hollow
thud
and the sound of a body hitting the deck. She opened her eyes and saw Steader on the ground, blood streaming from a gash on his right temple, while Agent Alux stood over him, fists still clenched.

“I’ve also had enough,” Alux said. “With the primary objective destroyed, your usefulness is close to its end. She is no longer your plaything. She just became our hostage and likely our only way off this ship alive.”

“What are you talking about?” Steader said, moaning as he held his head.

“Sir!” the sensor operator exclaimed. “We have a ship approaching!”

“Let me guess,” Alux said, never taking his eyes off Kellea, “it’s a gunship-class vessel. It should read as a Jepsen Aerospace Industries DL-series.”

“Confirmed, sir,” the crewman said in surprise. “How did you know that?”

“Holy shit!!”
Jason exclaimed as the
Diligent
slammed into the factory ship about three-quarters of the way back along its starboard flank. The tactical sensors on the
Phoenix
were able to filter out the flash from the impact and the crew watched, mesmerized, as waves propagated out along the hull of the larger ship, rippling the alloy like it was water.

“Direct hit,” Doc reported. “Target is listing to port and is adrift.”

“I can’t believe it’s still in one piece,” Jason said in awe. “Twingo, would you rectify that for me?”

“It would be my pleasure, Captain,” Twingo said expansively and held one of his fingers aloft. With a dramatic flair he brought it down and pressed a soft key on his display. A split second later there was another, bigger explosion, and Jason watched as secondary explosions ran up and down the length of the factory ship until it split at the point of impact, the venting atmosphere feeding the flames. The remaining section of the
Diligent
was blown clear and came hurtling back towards them. “So ... do you really think Kellea is actually going to be happy to see us?” he asked as they flew by the spinning remains of the warship on their way to the
Stalwart
.

“I’m sort of hoping she won’t know what happened and we can play stupid later,” Jason admitted. He lined up on the carrier and accelerated hard, hoping to catch them by surprise. The massive hangar decks on the ship were exposed to space and had minimal shielding over the ports. The two main hangars, one on either side of the ship, were not designed with defense in mind, only ease of access as it was strictly a commercial vessel. “Full active sensors,” he ordered. “I want to know what else is on that ship.” He’d been surprised when a salvo of missiles had streaked away from the ship. When only thirty percent of them hit the
Diligent,
he suspected the missile batteries must have been a hasty addition with no fire control systems installed to support them.

“Looks like some mid-power beam weapons and one more missile battery,” Kage answered, looking slightly baffled. “All the weaponry is localized near the prow. With the shape of the hull there’s no way they can cover the hangar entrances, which are the main ingress points on the vessel. Who would do that?”

“Someone who has no idea what they’re doing,” Jason said. “Like even arming an underpowered, thin-hulled ship transporter in the first place.”

Armed with his new bit of
intel, Jason brought the
Phoenix
hard over to port and accelerated quickly away from the effective angle of the carrier’s minimal gun emplacements. Straightening back out, he lined up the nose with the shimmering barrier of the hangar shields and steadied his hand over the throttle, prepared to reverse his field bias and haul the gunship to a stop once through.

The maneuver was quite a bit trickier than it appeared, and Jason was relying on the computer to feed him course corrections through his neural implant as well as take control and make fine adjustments without hesitating for him to approve it. They were approaching the carrier at a right angle to enter through the starboard hangar bay, but the
Stalwart
was travelling over thirty-six thousand miles an hour in her orbit. So to maintain their eight hundred mile per hour closure speed, the
Phoenix
had to also match her lateral velocity to the
Stalwart’s
forward velocity. It would get much more complicated as the grav-drives of both ships began to interact with each other, not to mention the powerful pull of the gas giant itself. Thankfully, the computers sorted it all out and updated it trillions of times per millisecond and provided a seamless flight path to their destination, the hangar that now appeared to be teeming with security personnel.

“Are they seriously going to stand in there
before
we actually come to a stop?” Twingo asked incredulously. When warding off a boarding party on a large ship there were two methods. Stopping them from coming aboard was preferable. But should a ship breach your defenses, you wanted to stay clear of the landing zone while an assault craft’s main drive was still at power and then move your forces in. To do so in the wrong order was both a dramatic spectacle and a waste of perfectly good security troopers.

“It looks like it,” Doc confirmed as he studied the sensor feed. “This is going to be ugly.” Jason changed his approach at the last moment and cut his forward velocity, allowed the carrier to pass them, and angled his course so he was coming at the opening tangentially. By crabbing into the barrier at an angle he wouldn’t need to scrub off so much forward velocity in such a violent braking maneuver.

“Here we go,” he said at the last instant. The
Phoenix
pressed against the shielding with her left wing, and then slid easily past. As soon as the ship was inside the hangar, the computer automatically commanded the drive to full stop the exact instant it needed to. The result was predictable. The powerful gravimetric forces produced by the drive flung troopers, equipment, and smaller ships around the massive hangar deck like toys. When the ship had stopped in relation to the carrier, hardly any security personnel were left alive, few were uninjured, and none were combat-effective.

Jason set the drive to maintain position and evacuated the seat. “Let’s go!
Assault team, with me. Support team, in position. Kage, feed me the ship schematics to my helmet and slice into the internal sensor network. Find Kellea and don’t let this ship break orbit or engage its slip-drive.” Doc hopped into the pilot’s seat even as Jason, Lucky, and Crusher moved down to the main deck, came forward and stopped at the port airlock. They didn’t want to risk lowering the ramp and exposing the guts of the ship to any surprises the security teams might have hiding out there.

“Ready?” Jason asked his team.

“Always,” Crusher said, hefting his plasma rifle. He had two more slung across his back and his usual assortment of explosives, edge weapons, and side arms. Lucky switched over to combat mode, charging his weapons and looking at Jason through blazing, crimson eyes. Jason deployed his helmet and reached for the hatch control.

“Assault team departing,” he said into the com.

“
Copy, assault team
,” Kage answered. “
Go get her. Feeding the map to you now
.”

Jason led the way out of the ship and jumped the twelve feet to the deck. He raised his weapon and covered underneath the hovering gunship, allowing Lucky and Crusher to quickly exit and cover the two other one hundred and twenty degree sectors. The
Phoenix
would remain where she was, hovering in the hangar so as not to open a gap in the hull by lowering the landing gear and presenting the defenders with a weakness to exploit.

The assault team moved quickly to the front of the hangar to a hatch which led to the part of the ship they needed to be in. Floating in Jason’s field of view was a map that was increasing in detail as Kage sliced the carrier’s computers and fed that information to the assault team. Jason raised his railgun, a weapon his companions weren’t thrilled about him carrying during shipboard combat, and selected a high-velocity round. He squeezed off two shots directly at the sealed hatch they needed to go through.

As he expected, the hypersonic rounds blew the hatch inward. Unexpectedly, they also sent it sailing down the corridor, effectively wiping out the ambush that had been hastily set up by the security forces the
Phoenix
’s engines hadn’t flung out into space. The three-man team moved through the hatch, dispatching security troops as they moved deeper into the ship. They worked together silently in the way only highly trained and experienced warriors can. Gone were the jabs and quips at each other’s expense as they methodically worked through the
Stalwart
.

“
Captain, I’m sending you directions to one of three detention areas onboard
,” Kage said. “
The computer indicated that Kellea is being regularly kept in a cell there, but she’s often brought up to the bridge.
”

“Copy,” Jason acknowledged. “We’ll check the cell first.” It took them fifteen minutes to reach the detention area, meeting sporadic resistance along the way. The defense forces put up another stand right at the entrance to the detention block. Eleven troops were behind a barricade firing suppressive fire down the corridor to make sure Jason’s team wouldn’t see the three troops sneaking along the side of the bulkhead with heavy plasma weapons.

Jason nodded to Crusher, who then detached a grenade from his tactical harness and flung it around the corner with a seemingly negligent toss. The delay was only two seconds, so no sooner had cries of alarm sounded out than a massive concussion rattled Jason’s teeth, even in his helmet. He selected low-velocity on his weapon and swept quickly around the corner to clear the remaining defenders.
There was no need, as nobody had survived the blast. Crusher nudged one of the bodies with his boot. “These are ConFed troopers, Captain,” he said.

“Looks like ol’ Steader was in pretty deep,” Jason agreed, looking down at the telltale uniform. “I do feel better knowing we’re not killing a bunch of Crisstof’s men.”

“I’m fairly indifferent either way,” Crusher disagreed, moving to the door to gain access to the actual cellblock. “Lucky, your turn.” The battlesynth nodded and Crusher flung the door open, allowing Lucky to rush in with Jason right behind him, covering to the right and behind.

“Clear,” Lucky said. He went quickly to the indicated cell and simply ripped the door from the frame rather than negotiate with the locking mechanism. “The cell is empty.”

“Kage, any luck getting a firm location on Kellea?” Jason asked over the com.

“
Give me a few minutes, Captain
,” Kage replied. “
They’re trying to shut down sections of the internal sensors to keep me out. I suggest you make your way to the bridge and I’ll update you as soon as I can
.”

“Copy,” Jason said, moving quickly to the main corridor and racing towards the lift shafts that would take them to the upper decks. “Anybody come out to mess with the ship?”

“
Just some sporadic small-arms fire
,” Kage said. “
Twingo has been entertaining himself with the point defense turrets
.” As he was about to reply, Jason was suddenly hit with a massive concussive force that sent him sailing into one of the side corridors. He sat up, his head ringing, and realized he’d tripped an anti-personnel mine that had been stuck to the wall.

He shook his head to clear it and then stood up. All his indicators were still green; his armor had absorbed the blast and was still fully combat capable.
Worth every last credit.

“Be aware they’re mining the corridors as they retreat,” Jason warned his team. “Crusher, this means you take center position in the column. Lucky, keep a watch for any of the defense forces circling around on us.” With a more cautious approach, the team pressed on.

*****

“Who are these people?!” Steader Dalton was apoplectic as he watched the three soldiers move through his ship at will. He had ordered his forces into the hangar to try and take the ship out as it attempted a boarding, but the gunship rushed through the shields with its engines still at power and wiped out half his defense force before a single shot had been fired. Agent Alux had berated him for the decision, but he’d offered no alternative when it became obvious they were under assault.

“I’ve tried to tell you who they were,” Alux snapped. His cool and calm demeanor was dissolving as everything they tried did little to slow the small team down. They verified their intent, at least, when they went directly to Kellea’s cell. He hadn’t been able to figure out how they knew exactly where she might be until one of the bridge crew noticed strange behavior from the internal systems. Once he looked, he knew the team must also have a skilled slicer with them, obviously still stationed on the ship hovering in Hangar Two. The worst part was they also had no way to try and deal with the ship.

“A small band of mercenaries is ripping through your ConFed soldiers like they’re nothing more than soggy
kelft
leaves,” Steader prodded him again. “At this rate they’ll be on the bridge in less than ten minutes.”

“They won’t be able to so easily gain access to the bridge,” Alux said. “Calm yourself.”

*****

“
I’ve gained control of the internal sensors, Captain
,” Kage reported. “
I’m shutting them down in your area so they won’t know where you are. I’ve also confirmed Kellea is on the bridge with Steader Dalton, a few troops, and someone who looks like an Intel Agent
.”

“Good job, Kage,” Jason said as he ran smack into a set of formidable-looking blast doors. “Shit. I was afraid of this.”

“What?” Crusher asked, running his hand over the doors.

“Even a civilian ship like this was bound to have some heavy protection for the bridge itself,” Jason said. “Almost every ship does.”

“We do not have the equipment to breach this wall, Captain,” Lucky said.