The Heart of Matter: Odyssey One (64 page)

Given the rather extreme nature of the Priminae’s weapons, he understood their reluctance to aim the blasted things in any way that might intersect with the planet. Even an ocean strike would probably vaporize an unbelievable amount of water and have significant effects on planetary ecology. If one of those beams happened to intersect a city…Well, there was no point in doing the enemy’s work for them.

Still, it meant that the orbital defenses wouldn’t be able to intercept enough of the incoming ballistic drones. With the Archangels in play, a few more would be taken out before they hit the ground, and the Priminae armed shuttles would account for still more. In the end, though, Reed was banking on the probability that they wouldn’t get them all.

That was why he’d activated all his men and got them dispatched out to work with the Priminae ground combat teams. Well, his own men, at least. They were experienced in dealing with locals who probably thought they knew more than they actually did about soldiering. The
Odyssey
’s ground combat detachment was a force he was keeping in reserve, partially as a trump card in case things got out of hand, but more because he was afraid they’d make a bigger mess than was necessary if he put them in the field with untrained local militia.

There are few things worse in the universe than soldiers who think they’re better trained than the guy beside them
, Reed thought,
except when the soldier in question is right.

“We have several possible impact sites plotted, Colonel.”

Reed glanced at the Priminae display table, eyeing the map carefully. “You’ll be sending out teams?”

“Yes, Colonel.” The young ithan nodded. “If we can eliminate any threats before they begin to multiply, things will be much safer.”

“Can’t argue with you there. Make sure that some of the advisors are with the teams dispatched, if you can?” he asked. “It’ll give us a chance to learn what we need to work on in the future.”

“I believe that can be arranged, Colonel.”

Reed nodded before turning his attention back to the display and trying to work out which flashing light represented which life currently sitting in harm’s way.

RANQUIL, UNDERGROUND

▸FOR A HUMAN, the events transpiring around the planet of Ranquil were such as to inspire everything from awe to terror. To the being known to the populace of the planet as “Central,” the awe was almost entirely missing, but deep inside, even Central would admit to the terror. The Drasin were unlike any other complex life-form in its experience—on that one area Central agreed with Captain Weston.

This is what humans feel when they’re exposed to a potentially lethal disease.

Laser fire was crossing the skies, invisible to unaugmented living eyes, but Central saw the beams clearly by the bleed of their coronas. Each flare of heat was the satisfying sign of a potential infection vector being annihilated by those immensely powerful beams, but it was also a sign to Central of how very helpless its position really was.

The ancient intelligence had no weapons and exerted little influence on the world around it in a physical way. For nearly uncountable years, it had been content to watch and enjoy the slow development of the people the world of Ranquil played host to.

Now those people, and itself, were under threat of destruction, and Central found itself not enjoying the sensation of helplessness.

Within its sphere, Central could well claim to be nigh omniscient. Omnipotence, however, was far from within its grasp.

So when the first impacts began to rock across the surface of the planet, Central could only watch and wait to see if the people of Ranquil were up to the task of saving their lives, their planet, and itself.

RANQUIL’S SURFACE, EXERCISES ZONE

▸MASTER CHIEF NATHANIEL Wilson had been pegged for a lot of off-the-wall duties during his tours as a SEAL, but he couldn’t think of any that quite rang the bell for “weird” as much as sitting in an alien shuttle craft, surrounded by trigger-happy yokels, while about to land in a crash zone that could possibly contain an active alien monster that was looking to eat him.

Mom told me there would be days like this, but I thought she meant if I took drugs.

The compact shuttle was surprisingly roomy inside, leaving him and the twenty local militia he was riding shotgun with just short of rattling about like the lone pea in a pod. He’d feel a lot better if they hadn’t shown him the melty walls trick before takeoff; the idea of a computer controlling the solidity of the bench his backside was firmly ensconced on gave him shivers. He knew it was more than a little hypocritical, given that computers were pretty much the only thing
keeping a Terran shuttle flying, and he didn’t mind those, but frankly, at the moment, he couldn’t give a damn.

Just don’t let this freaky wall melt until I’m within a survivable distance of the ground.

“The impact site is just ahead!”

The pilot’s message was translated through his computer almost fast enough for real time, but honestly, in Wilson’s opinion, the slight lapse between spoken word and translation made him feel like he was living one of those classic Japanese movies he grew up watching whenever he got drunk with his buddies.

Knowing computers, the translation’s probably about as good as those old dubs, too
, the master chief thought wryly as he checked his assault weapon once more.

He’d armed up with one of the local’s gravity impellers, though he was packing his own service pistol as a backup. He’d selected the local weapon for a lot of reasons, including the fact that it was always good to be able to swap ammo with the guy next to you, but really, it was more about getting to know the weapon in field conditions. They’d run them through all the tests they could back at the training facility, and pound for pound, Wilson was certain that it was the most lethal piece of munitions delivery mechanism he’d ever held in his hands.

Especially when the gravity impeller is on.

That said, there were things you just didn’t learn until you used a weapon in a fight, and this was as good a time as any. He just hoped that there weren’t any of the “obvious in hindsight” design flaws that tended to congregate around weapons that were rushed into the field waiting to bite him on the ass.

The back of the shuttle melted away while he was thinking, and Wilson almost jumped up in surprise while barely keeping from cursing.

Damn! A little warning, first?

The militia troops with him seemed to expect it, however, and were immediately piling out of the shuttle in a reasonably ordered movement. Wilson followed them, thumbing the gravity impeller to active mode as he did. The heavy gun instantly lightened in his hands as he jumped down from the shuttle, stepping aside and lifting the muzzle skyward.

“Well…This is a mess,” he said, accompanying the comment with a low whistle.

Smoke was slowly filtering up from the ground ahead of them, likely the impact crater, but the entire area was flattened like a bomb had gone off. In fairness, Wilson supposed that one did. He wasn’t sure why the brass on both sides were so hepped up over this. No matter how tough those things were, he didn’t think that they could survive this kind of impact.

If they could, I can’t see how our guns would do much to them.

Still, aliens and all that, so maybe they had some kind of insulation technology. Wasn’t his department, so the Navy master chief just shrugged and followed the squad in as they started to make their way through the rubble toward the smoke that marked ground zero. For now, his primary duty was just to keep a watch on the new kids and make sure they lived to learn how to play the game in the big leagues.

That, and report back to the colonel on what lessons still needed teaching, of course.

Walking toward the center of ground zero went against pretty much every instinct in his body, but Wilson followed the men as they did just that. There was no cover to hide behind as they moved, but on the flip side, there was no cover
for anyone or anything
else
to hide behind, either. The blast of the impact had flattened the local flora, including some goodly sized trees, leaving nothing but open ground to cross as they entered ground zero.

The first thing Wilson thought as they reached the lip of the crater was that it was smaller than he’d expected.

He looked down over the edge and frowned. “I’m no expert on kinetic artillery, but this looks more like a deep penetrator strike than a meteor.”

“Indeed,” Coranth Seran Mir said, looking down into the pit from beside him. “We had tracked the object at higher velocity than expected. It would appear this was intentional.”

“You think it accelerated after it hit the atmosphere?”

“No. However, it did not decelerate so much as we expected,” she countered. “Likely, it adopted a streamlined aspect in midfall.”

Ouch.
Wilson really didn’t want to think about a living species that not only was willing to subject itself to an unaided orbital drop but actually attempted to make itself hit the ground harder in the process. “We’ve got to climb down there, don’t we?”

“Unfortunately, yes,” she replied, waving some of the others forward. “We need the descent tools.”

Two of the others came forward with what looked vaguely like rappelling gear to Wilson. He didn’t question it too much and just set to strapping himself in while watching the others do the same.

“Do I have to worry about making sure this is cinched tight enough or anything?” he asked, not seeing the others do much more than slip the harnesses on and snap them shut.

“No, they won’t fall off unless you try to remove them.” Seran shrugged. “Please don’t be silly enough to do that until we’re finished with the descent, yes?”

“No worries there, lady,” Wilson muttered, hooking himself up. “These things better work is all I’m saying.”

“They work fine, Mister Chief.”

“That’s master chief.”

“Someone has an inflated impression of themselves.”

I’m either starting to like these people, or I’m going to shoot them
, Wilson thought dryly as the team got prepped for the descent.

The first two stepped into place, fiddling with their harnesses before they shouldered their weapons just how Reed and his beanies had taught ’em, then stepped right over the edge and started walking down the near-vertical wall like the proverbial spider.