Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (64 page)

              Only when Liam again confirmed he would not share any knowledge of it did Steve pull the tarp aside. Beneath was what looked to be a small armored robot. It was roughly three feet in height with two arms extending out either side of a large body. The large body rested on two digitigrade legs that ended in clawed feet.

              “You built a robot?”

              “Yep, I figured we could be entering climates that are too hazardous for living beings so we needed an alternative option.”

              “Why the big secrecy? It’s just a robot.”
              Steve looked slightly insulted at Liam’s assessment of his new project.

              “Just a robot? This isn’t just a robot, it possesses the newest in quantum processors with the abilities to carry enough armanment to level a small city. It has the ability to learn and adapt to any battle situation.”

              “Okay, sorry… I meant no offense but I don’t understand the secrecy,” Liam explained as he looked over the robot.

              “I have created an AI robot that can learn and adapt to combat situations. What do you think would happen if those basket case scientists back home got ahold of Ed-205? They would mess with the programming and the next thing you knew we would be at war with a robotic army!”

              “You named the robot Ed-205? How original, I am surprised you didn’t have him call you Dave,” Liam said with amusement.

              “What? It does look like the robot from
Robocop
just a mini version,” Steve stated as he looked over the robot.

              Liam just snorted and shook his head.

              “Well anyway, I just wanted to check in with you to see how things had gone. I am going to head in. Get Garroon situated and check in with Leah,” Liam explained as he began to usher Garroon towards the exit.

              “Um…Liam something happened while you were away,” said Steve.

              The tone of his voice was what made Liam look around, knowing it was not something he would want to hear.

              “A Shenkar was spotted outside the ship earlier today. Leah, Alyssa and Tim went after him with two guard members. They were led into an ambush and captured by the Shenkar, one of the guard members was killed.”

              A jolt ran through Liam and a pit formed in his stomach. Leah captured? How could this have happened?

              “Why are you just telling me this now?!” asked Liam.

              “Well, we kind of got off topic when you entered, one conversation led to another and frankly I was worried how you would react.”

              “So how many teams have already been sent to rescue them?”

              Now Steve looked really uncomfortable as his gaze slipped away from Liam to look at the floor.

              “None, General Leonid gave strict orders for not rescue attempts to be made at this time.”

              “Take Garroon to my quarters and get him situated, I am going to go speak with the general.”

              With that Liam spun and exited the shelter, heading off in the direction of where the command center had been erected. From behind him he could hear Steve call out to him.

              “Liam, don’t do anything stupid…like killing the general! I am sure he had good reason for the orders.”

              Liam did not respond and only kept walking. Everyone who saw his face quickly moved to get out of his way.

January 31
st
, 2014 10:32pm EST

Lykaa

Liam’s temper fumed as he marched into the command tent that had been set up for General Leonid. Inside, the general stood silently, as he watched a monitor.

              “General Leonid, I must speak with you!” Liam commanded, knowing he was clearly showing insubordination to a commanding officer.

              General Leonid turned his head, the look upon his face clearly showing he was not happy with the way Liam had addressed him. Liam did not care what the general felt as he continued forward, the aura of anger clear around him. Two guard members moved in front of the general but it was clear they were afraid of Liam. He could not blame them, he knew the stories of what he could do had circulated throughout the military. These two knew, if he wanted to, he could easily kill both of them before they could do anything. This act alone caused him to pause and check his anger slightly….only slightly.

              “Why has nothing been done to rescue three of my crew who have been captured!”

              “It is none of your concern but if you must know I have other matters that are far more important to deal with than rescuing three of your pilots who were foolish enough to get themselves captured.”

              “Lieutenant Barrows had informed me the Shenkar are building defenses around the facilities we have come to destroy. Why are your men not mobilizing the attack them? The more time we give them the stronger the defenses will get. We need to attack them now or are you too afraid?!”

              “Careful, Commander, you are addressing a superior officer. I would hate to have to shoot you,” General Leonid stated, his face flushing slightly with his own irriation as his hand when to his sidearm.

              Before Liam could retort, Admiral Kelvin’s voice rang out in a commanding tone.

              “That’s enough! Commander, you will stand down! General Leonid you will check yourself as well!”

              Liam stood to attention as he glared at the general but otherwise did not say anything. General Leonid looked to the Admiral, clear irritation upon his face.

              “Admiral Kelvin, must I remind you that you have no command over my ground operations and therefore you have no command over me!” stated the general hotly.

              “I am very well aware of this, I am only trying to diffuse a situation that was headed towards a very messy ending.”

              The general snorted as he looked at Liam then back to Admiral Kelvin.

              “Do not worry. I would not have shot Commander Brennan.”

              Admiral Kelvin snorted as if to stifle a laugh.

              “It was you I was protecting or have you forgotten the abilities this young man has demonstrated?”

              General Leonid paled slightly as if he did, in fact, become suddenly aware of who he was arguing with.

              “Commander Brennan, I know you are worried about your fellow pilots but the fact of the matter is I am still organizing the troops to launch an offensive. From the reports I have receive from Lieutenant Barrows we simply do not have ther numbers to launch an offensive against the defenses they have amassed. Did Mr. Barrows inform you the Shenkar have heavy artillery as part of the defenses they have amassed?”

              This was something Liam had not known and it was clear by the expression upon his face. Seeing this, the general continued on.

              “Our original plan called for a sneak attack upon the facilities. All of our Spartan battle tanks are still on the
Kraken
and she has returned to the Cathergon base. I would simply roll the thermobaric bomb we have off the cliff and into the cavern where the facilities are located but unfortunately that would be the death of your friends. Their lives are not something I am willing to trade. Not to mention I have a Shenkar battle group in space at the moment with enough reinforcements aboard to crush any offensive we launch against the facilities.”

              Liam felt a bit sheepish now as he realized the general did have his friends well being in mind.

              “I apologize for my earlier outburst General Leonid, I am only worried about my fellow pilots.”

              “I understand, Commander, and as soon as we have dealt with the Shenkar battle group we can return our attention to our ground forces.”

              Liam nodded but otherwise said nothing else. Although he suddenly began to wonder how the general would handle the Shenkar battle group that was in space if all his forces were planet side. Was the Kraken going to return with her frigate escorts? He was about to voice this question when Admiral Kelvin spoke up, asking the exact question that occupied Liam’s thoughts.

              “How are you going to handle a battle group from here? Is the
Kraken
returning?”

              “No, Admiral, the
Kraken
is under strict orders to remain out of the battle. I have a much bigger surprise for our party crashers up there.”

January 31
st
, 2014 10:52pm EST

Orbital station 1, Lykaan space

              “Captain Thresh, we have disabled the last of the orbital stations weapons systems. You may begin docking procedures whenever you wish.”

              Captain Thresh looked at the monitor that showed the orbital station. All of the weapon emplacements were now charred remains. This had not been the case when he had first closed his battle group within firing range of the station. He had mistakenly thought the humans had abandoned the station when they had entered the system. He had witnessed several Cathergon freighters fleeing to the planet as his battle group had approached. But it seemed this was a ruse as all of the orbital stations came to life. The weapons fire had been slightly inaccurate and seemed to lag as they tracked their targets which led him to believe the humans controlling the weapons were not accustomed to Shenkar weapon systems. Either that or the humans were not the warriors he was led to believe. Even so, he had lost four warships before he was able to destroy the energy cannons and torpedo launchers. Now he would need to dock his remaining ships to offload his warriors so he could slaughter the human occupiers.

              “Begin docking sequence, as soon as all ships are docked I want our troops to storm that station and slaughter every human they find. Have all of our troop transports position themselves nearby. These humans are a disease that needs to be burned from our universe.”

              Captain Thresh sat in silence as he watched his monitor as real time reports continued to report in. The Shenkar had encountered no humans upon entering the station yet there were clear signs of battle throughout the area. After what seemed an eternity the squad commanders began to check in. Every report revealed no humans found. So where were the humans? Keying his comm unit, he spoke.

              “Commander Dyta, how close are you to the command center?”

              “We are cutting through the command center outer doors now. Sound tests revealed nothing from within that we could pick up.”

              Captain Thresh tensed as he awaited the news to come through. The humans had to be on the bridge, there is nowhere else they could be where they could operate the weapon systems.

              “Captain, we have successfully cut through. No humans found in the command center.”

              “How is this possible? Someone had to have been operating those weapons systems.”

              Silence returned his questions for several long moments before the squad commander spoke.

              “Captain, it seems the humans were able to automate the weapons systems to automatically fire upon any ship that drew close enough.”

              This surprised Captain Thresh, he had not expected such a cunning maneuver from these humans. Clearly, they were as intelligent as he had heard. He looked forward to engaging in battle with one of these humans that wielded the plasma blade as well. He would take great pleasure in collecting the swords of his defeated. Unfortunately with the recent turn of events it looked as if he would have to take the fight to the planet to get his human trophies.

              Captain Thresh was about to signal for all non essential personnel board all available gunships when he received an urgency notification. Keying the comm unit he spoke.

              “This is Captain Thresh, go ahead.”
              The voice that responded was frantic and did not even identify himself although it was clearly Shenkar.

              “Captain, we have just arrived in the reactor room and we have found a device attached to one of the reactors. We believe it is an anti-matter bomb of some sort but our technicians are unable to deactivate it or disengage it from the reactor wall!”