Operation Hellfire (4 page)

"That will do. They'll be here soon enough."

The young officer gazed at the rough face of the Captain. Unlike hers, it was pockmarked from years of hard living and hard fighting. A thin layer of grey stubble served as a reminder of the hardships all the crew were going through. There was little free time on the ship, and most were serving excessively long hours, to the detriment of their health and capabilities.

"At least the girl got out in one piece. She was lucky."

He lifted his right eyebrow, the one that twitched due to the damage sustained to his ocular cavity at some point in the past. She followed his gaze and nodded upon seeing Cassandra Hurley being helped onto a stretcher. She sat upright and joked with several of her friends who had been waiting nearby. She wanted to go over to speak with her, but there was something more important right now.

"There."

The Captain pointed at the elevator as it moved up to the deck. Atop the metal plating was the smoking shape of Ensign Lewis' fighter. Much of the metal was covered in fire retardant foam that clung tightly to the battered and broken shape.

"Pilots, stay back. Leave this to the deck hands."

Captain Cornwallis' voice boomed loudly, much like a seasoned sergeant major. Not one of the pilots moved closer; even the twins stayed back and watched for signs of Nate. Technicians surrounded the broken fighter and sprayed it with a clearing agent. The special fluid cleared the foam, yet retained a silky finish to the metal that would stop flames from taking hold, as well as nullifying any chances of electrical sparks.

"Nate?" Cassandra called out.

She tried to get down from her stretcher, but Rex was there and held her back. Steam spread out around the base of the fighter, and then with a painful cracking sound the hinge plates snapped open. Two of the crew used metal tooling to pull the cockpit apart, and then they were helping Nate out. To the astonishment of every single person on the deck, he was conscious and even able to support his own weight. Both Captain Cornwallis and Lieutenant Commander Holder moved closer.

"Son, you hurt?" Captain Cornwallis asked.

As he asked the question, his damaged ocular cavity twitched uncomfortably. He might have been worried for his pilots, but not once did he betray his feelings. One of the crew tapped the side of Nate's helmet; another carefully removed it while checking for damage. The last thing any of them wanted was to cause further damage. After some careful manoeuvring, it lifted off Nate's sweat-covered face. He blinked several times and then wiped his brow.

"That was...intense."

A medic approached but before he could speak, Nate looked over towards Cassandra.

"Did we all make it back in one piece?"

Cassandra couldn't quite hear him from further back, but her friendly wave, and the fact that she was sitting upright with Rex alongside her, reassured Nate. The other pilots moved closer to him, Ensign Hawkins at the front. He reached out with his right arm in a friendly gesture, and though a little surprised, Nate grabbed it and both shook.

"That was some crazy flying out there today, Nate. Commander Higgins has posted Relentless' kills, and we gave a damned good account for ourselves."

Ensign Fletcher, the skinniest of the group nodded repeatedly.

"Is it true? You rammed a Mahingan fighter?"

Nate shrugged, and Fletcher shook his head. He then looked at the broken fighter and laughed.

"You know you have guns, right?"

Nate smiled as he answered.

"My guns and missiles were gone, and targeting was knocked out. It was either ram him, or let him take out Cardigan Bay's engines."

No one noticed the figure of Lieutenant Commander Holder as she moved right behind Ensign Fletcher.

"You made the right decision, Nate."

As they turned, each lifted their hands in messy, impromptu salutes. She returned the gesture and then focussed her attention on Nate.

"Tactical scans show the armour was already breached in that area. The Mahingan's impact path would have severed the ship's fuel lines to her port engine bank, and either set off a series of explosions, or merely knocked out her main thrusters and left her a sitting duck."

Her lips lifted a little, but it was still not quite a smile.

"Knighthawks, you stopped a disaster today and saved upwards of a thousand lives. Good work."

Nate took a step and then dropped forwards. Lieutenant Commander Holder caught him, and the other pilots helped hold him up. Nate muttered something, but his speech was slurred.

"It's okay," said Lieutenant Commander Holder, "He's weak, probably from all the excitement."

She signalled to the medics.

"Get him to the medical bay and check him over. I need him fit and ready ASAP."

"Sir."

Three orderlies took Nate away and left the senior officer with the other pilots.

"Well, we're due home in a few days. I suggest you all get some rest. You'll be on call again when Thunder Squadron comes off standby."

With that she left. They said nothing for several seconds. Billy, who had been silent until now, broke the deathly silence.

"I need caffeine, and fast."

Travis struck his shoulder.

"Good plan, little buddy. Get me a drink, and then we can all talk about my mad heroics."

Billy laughed and they left, each stopping at Cassandra's stretcher for a few seconds. Finally, just Billy and Matilda remained. They stayed back to speak with Cassandra and Rex while the others moved off into the distant passageway.

"That was way too close," said Matilda.

She moved closer to Cassandra, examining the marks on her head and arms. They were little more than discoloured shapes, and there was no sign of cuts of anything too deep. There were a few white marks on her face, but nothing to suggest burns.

"Just bruises and abrasions, right?"

Cassandra nodded, but as she moved, she grimaced. Her right arm came up to grasp her head. A medic held her and shook his head.

"Let me give you something for the pain. You need to stay still. You've experienced heavy whiplash, and you'll feel it tomorrow, I can promise you."

He leaned in and pushed a metallic injector to her arm. The device fired micro chemicals into her limb without needing to use a needle. All she felt was a cold tickle, and then he rubbed to entry point with a small, infused patch.

"Hold that for thirty seconds. Then you can rest."

The man left, and Billy took the opportunity to get even closer.

"Let's get to the nitty-gritty. You're the first of us to eject. What was it like?"

There was no sense of sarcasm in his tone, but Cassandra wasn't entirely sure if that was his intent. She looked to Rex who grabbed her hand and squeezed it. That seemed to relax her. Their eyes remaining locked for a moment before she turned her attention back to Billy.

"Billy. It was the single most terrifying thing I've ever done. But nothing as bad as surviving."

Billy's face seemed to light up, even though he wasn't entirely sure what she meant.

"Really?"

Cassandra nodded.

"I knew I was gone, and I knew my fighter was going to be destroyed. I panicked and hit the eject button and closed my eyes. Next thing there is pain and shaking. I thought that was it."

His eyes were now wide open, like a child listening to an exciting tale being read by a parent.

"And that wasn't the worst part?"

Cassandra nodded in agreement, and once again moved her eyes to share a glance with Rex. He gave her a nod to continue but said nothing.

"That's right. The explosion and the ejection were over in less than three seconds."

Billy's brow tightened in confusion.

"So, how...uh, what?"

Cassandra chuckled.

"When I opened my eyes it was clear, and I could see the battle from inside the pod. All without overlays, computer displays, or extra data. Just engines, gunfire, and missiles."

Matilda nodded as she listened.

"Of course. With the pod blasted clear of the wreckage, you now had no armour, no engines, and no weapons."

"Exactly," said Cassandra, "One minute I was in command of a heavy fighter, next thing I'm in a pod."

Billy seemed to understand now.

"Yeah, that's normally where we quit and return to the lobby."

"Yes, but this time I was in space, with no ability to control or influence anything going on. I saw Nate fly past and the guns of the enemy fighters."

She visibly shuddered as she explained what had happened.

"At any moment they could have turned their guns on me, but they didn't. Instead, I had to watch as our ships were pummelled. I saw our friends shot at, and all I could do was run for my life. It took six minutes to get to Relentless, and every second was terrifying."

She lifted a plastic beaker and sipped the water for a second. Her rate of breathing had increased merely by the act of recalling what had happened.

"I've got one piece of advice to give you."

Billy leaned in, and Matilda even took half a step closer to listen.

"Don't lose your fighter in a dogfight."

Rex laughed and pointed off to the passage that led deep inside the ship.

"Time to get you to the medical bay for a check up."

As Matilda and Billy walked ahead of them, Cassandra grabbed Rex's hand.

"Stay with me. Will you?"

He said nothing, but gave her a gentle nod as the orderlies pushed the wheeled stretcher from the deck. As they left, Rex gave the deck one last glance. It was busier than he'd ever seen it, as deck crew moved to clear the debris and flotsam created by the recently arrived spacecraft. At the same time, members of Corsair Squadron appeared and moved off into the large hangar space to check on their own equipment. Rex spoke quietly, so much so that not even Cassandra could hear him.

"Relentless never sleeps. She's always ready for a fight."

Alliance Battleship 'ANS Warlord'

Admiral Churchill walked along the deck to the wide, semi-circular bridge. Unlike the other ships in the fleet, the Vengeance Class Battlecruisers, from which Warlord was developed, had a full width, forward facing bridge. In combat, it would be completely sealed by retracting inside the thickly armoured hull. For now it pushed up from the superstructure from where the Admiral could survey his fleet. Large, square windows ran from left to right, giving a perfect view of both flanks and directly ahead. He waited there, gazing out at the other vessels.

Just a few more days.

Three of the Liberty Class destroyers were just visible at a distance of nearly two hundred kilometres ahead. The bright blue glow of their engines gave the impression they were a triangular constellation. He looked to the right at the much closer shape of a Crusader Class ship. From his position it looked tiny, yet he could still make out its ungainly shape, and the engines left a blue streak trailing behind. It was quiet this far forward and away from others. Behind him were the rest of the bridge and an arched dividing wall marking the boundary between this section and the CIC. Only one other person waited on the bridge, and both of them looked out at the stars. Nothing seemed to move, and it was hard to sense the scale of distance when the nearest celestial objects didn't move, even after hours of travel.

"I don't like this, not one bit, Alexander. High Command wants us to maintain our commitments to the Byotai. Do they actually understand what's happening out here?"

Admiral Churchill looked to him and answered with a very slow nod. Very few people would use the Admiral's first name, and his XO was one of these men. Commander Arthur Jarvis might only be distantly related to the renowned Admiral of the same name, but he'd served on board ANS Warlord three times since she'd been commissioned back in the Biomech War. He'd been one of the many weapons officers on the ship in the War, and since then he'd been reassigned twice, finally resulting in his latest promotion to serve as second-in-command on the massive battleship.

"Anderson has received all of our reports, as well as those coming from IAB units and their mercenary cohorts operating in the Tenth Quadrant. He's briefed the Security Council at the Naval Station. Trust me, they know what's happening, all of them. Even the Klithi and Khreenk have been notified."

The Commander remained silent for a short while, and both looked out at the massive bow of the battleship. It was the strangest ship in the fleet, with two complete vessels fused together. From the side it looked like any other major warship, but the bow was particularly strange, with its duplication of features.

"The Byotai Empire is gone. They must accept that by now, surely? So why bother putting us, and the fleet in harm's way? The longer we're out here, the greater the chance of provoking this new Empire. Is that a war we want to fight?"

Churchill smiled.

"Oh, you're not wrong. The Byotai Empire hasn't collapsed, though. It's been absorbed into this dangerous new faction, and that is the real issue for us." He licked his lips before continuing, "Remember the ranting from the commander of the Nozu-Kuba People's Militia?"

Commander Jarvis nodded.

"Centurion Naciss?"

"Yeah, that's him. He made a big deal about a movement called the Technos. According to Admiral Anderson, the Technos are more widespread than we thought. There are even rumours of small support groups on some of our Helion colonies."

Commander Jarvis' eyes widened.

"I've not heard that before."

"It's not a big deal, at least, not yet. But you know what the public thinks of synthetic creatures and biomechanics. Since the War, a lot more synthetics have settled in the broken colonies out here. Some have even travelled to the old worlds to work in the mines, factories, and of course, the military."

The Admiral smiled.

"Did you know that nearly twenty percent of the crews of the Navy Auxiliary are made up of Thegns that fought on our side against the Biomechs? Or that one in ten recruits to the Marine Corps are Jötnar?"

Commander Jarvis shuddered involuntarily as he listened. Like so many people in the Alliance, he found idea of the Thegns in military service abhorrent, even though they had been nothing but loyal since the last days of the War.

"I knew about the Jötnar, but I'm surprised at the Thegns. Recruitment hasn't been easy. Most just want to rebuild, and fewer people choose to volunteer from the old colonies anymore."

Admiral Churchill nodded in agreement.

"True. Even so, the Thegns were a risk, but we have trialled them in the IAB, and they have performed flawlessly. Reports from Brigadier Black recommends rolling out their use in all Naval units, and even in ground units."

The Commander's expression confirmed his distrust of the alien creatures. They were of a similar size and ability to a human, but fully synthetic and constructed to be a living soldier by the Biomechs. Their skin was metallic to the touch and coloured like dull iron. This bizarre outer layer allowed them to live for many minutes in the vacuum of space, with little discernible effect on their physiology. They had proven loyal, reliable, and very quick learners. Now many of them worked aboard the support ships of the fleet, as well as in the shipyards and maintenance docks of the Alliance. Admiral Churchill breathed slowly as he kept speaking.

"As for out here, we cannot let this movement gain traction, not unless we want to see the same hysteria spreading through our own colonies. The Helion population and infrastructure bore the brunt of the War, and rebuilding efforts would collapse without the help of the synthetics."

He then smiled.

"Hell, you've seen the work of the Jötnar on Prometheus and Hyperion? They are proving to be some of the best engineers we have ever seen."

Commander Jarvis looked confused as he listened to the Admiral. He could accept the place of synthetics in the Alliance, even though the idea of the Thegns still unnerved him, but that still didn't answer all of his questions.

"So that's why we're out here, helping a teenage Byotai prince to reclaim his legacy?"

The expression on the Admiral's face changed to a knowing look. His deputy's tone might have indicated subordination, but he knew the man well enough that he was merely offering up options to discuss. When the time came to make a decision, Commander Jarvis would follow his orders, no matter the content, or where they might lead them.

"Eighty percent of the Byotai Empire has already been absorbed into this Empire, commanded by the mysterious figure, Tahkeome."

He considered his next words for a moment.

"What remains are the frontier settlements between the Klithi and our sectors, and of course, the besieged Tenth Quadrant. In total, there's anything up to twenty percent up for grabs, and Tahkeome will be doing his best to take it while he has the Byotai on the run."

He lifted his right hand and moved his index finger back and forth.

"And High Command has determined that this cannot be allowed to happen. We need to maintain the status quo, and ensure the Byotai remain the victims here. They have been attacked, and we will assist where we can with what is left. We cannot let them turn this into a struggle against synthetics or machines. Both of which we need right now."

He then looked back to the bow of the ship.

"It's more important that we avoid a major new power forming on our doorstep, one that will try and stir up discontent through our colonies. That's why the Alliance will support the legitimate Byotai forces in defending their remaining territory, with Prince Kratha as the figurehead."

The Commander nodded, only now fully understanding what was happening.

"So the remnants of the Byotai Empire will become a proxy theatre of war."

"Exactly," said the Admiral, "And by helping the Byotai loyalists under Kratha, we will help weaken this new and dangerous movement of machine breakers and synthetic haters. We've already fought two wars with Biomechs at the heart of both. We can't take a third."

He rubbed his hands together, a slow gesture as he looked back to the Commander.

"We will show the Byotai that there is something worth fighting for, and that they can win. Then, and only then, can we try to contain this threat."

* * *

Alliance Armoured Assault Ship 'ANS Relentless'

Orion Battlegroup, 8th Quadrant, Uncharted Space

21 December 2472

The briefing room was attached to the side of the CIC, with one dividing wall made of dark glass style material separating the deck officers from whoever was inside. Captain Galanos nodded slowly as she listened to the Admiral. The images of four captains and the Admiral looked down at her as if she was in the middle of a court-martial. An image of the former Byotai Empire filled a large part of the vertical display. One by one they spoke until finally the Admiral turned to her.

"Well, Captain. That is the latest information from the fleet, and from Orion Command. You've spoken with the Prince and were in Byotai territory when all this kicked off. What are your thoughts on the current position?"

Captain Galanos answered immediately.

"I think it's too little too late. We should have sent in the fleet from day one to stabilise their military before it collapsed. Now we have to deal with the armed forces of two of the largest empires we've ever encountered."

"Speak your mind, Galanos," said Captain Ontarus, of ANS Vigilance.

"It's true," she said defensively, "We can muster a military to face one, but not both. Now the Byotai are broken, and those trapped behind the lines will be forced to collaborate or suffer the consequences. The Byotai collapsed in days, and we were lucky to make it out when we did."

One of the other captains almost choked as he listened. Admiral Churchill listened patiently while Captain Galanos continued outlining her criticisms until finally he could answer.

"I see. For what it's worth, I advocated for an immediate mobilisation of Orion Command. Nonetheless, this is the position as we find it, and not as we would like it. So, what are your thoughts on this strategy? You've spent more time that most among the Byotai."

She shook her head.

"They are broken, and most of their younger people are keen on the ideals of this new faction. Many have been drawn to the fighting on the border. I suspect that was the plan of Tahkeome from the start."

"That makes sense," said Captain Achilles, of ANS Dauntless, "The younger generation has spent the last decade seeing the footage of the Biomech War, and now they see us working with the synthetics and machines. That, coupled with the border disputes seems to have left them vulnerable to this transition. From what we've seen, entire sectors have changed sides without a fight. Only the older systems, especially those located near Imperial facilities have shown any sign of loyalty."

"I see," said the Admiral, "Captain Galanos, you think stabilising the remnants of the Byotai is wise, and workable?"

Captain Galanos nodded.

"This new movement is fanatical, and we saw the effects of that in the Uprising. We have to maintain a buffer between them and us. What choice do we now have? The border systems are still fighting, and we've all seen the reports. They can fight, but not for long."

She pressed a button, and the mapping data showed the locations of various Alliance Naval units.

"We have two battlegroups and a heavy strike group under Orion Command, and auxiliary units from the Helions to bulk up the numbers. That should be more than sufficient to bring force to bear if we are careful. I suggest we pick a small number of key locations and send units to reinforce them. We will send out a signal that these areas are safe zones for all that remain loyal to the Prince and the Byotai Empire."

Admiral Churchill seemed to like what he was hearing.

"Yes, that matches my thoughts, and Admiral Anderson's as well. Very well. I will pass on your comments. In the meantime, get your ships ready. We have two more waypoints to pass before we make it home. I can tell you this, though, this crisis is not over." He nodded slowly, as though only now beginning to accept the truth, "It has barely even begun."

The image faded to black, and Captain Galanos slumped back in her captain's chair and pulled back her head. There were differing views in the fleet, but it was now clear that Relentless was going to be in action for some time, and that meant her crew, marines, and pilots were here to stay. Her body ached from the tension, and even though she knew they were travelling away to safety, she still couldn't relax. The crew continued to work as normal, and reports arrived from different parts of the ship every few minutes. Even so, with the threat of battle over, it was time to prepare for what lay ahead. The conversation with he Admiral began to fade, replaced by the myriad of tasks to be performed aboard Relentless.

"Another day, and another list of damage and problems to have to fix."

She spoke quietly while examining the imagery in front of her. The schematic of the ship was so large that several of her officers actually used the same diagram to communicate with parts of the ship, as well as to assess the various problems from ventilation to gunnery control. Most of the ship was blue in colour, but orange and red lines marked where damage had been sustained. Under ideal circumstances they would stop for a few days so the autonomous drones could get to work repairing damage to the outer hull. Much that she would like to see that happen, there was no chance now.