Edge of Solace (A Star Too Far) (30 page)

*

William waited until they all sat and settled in. He knew what was going to happen, now he needed them all on the same wavelength. “We’re going in to hit the station.”

Sergeant Gruber nodded. Yamaguchi flashed a thin grin while Major Theodore was silent.

“Why not destroy it with railguns and missiles?” Major Theodore asked.

William shook his head. “It’s too big. We have to get inside.”

Archie sighed and looked down to the table.

“Get your people suited up and ready. Sergeant Gruber I’m heading in with the Marines,” William said.

Sergeant Gruber sat up straighter than normal and shook his head. “Captain, I don’t think
—”

“It’s not up for debate,” William said. “Gooch, how many suits?”

Yamaguchi licked his lips. “Not as many as I’d like, but as many as I’ll need.”

William smiled slightly and nodded.

“Ten suits. Two of ‘em are bashed right hard, but they can still shoot. Or should be able to,” Yamaguchi said as the words trailed off.

“It’s going to take us a few hours to come in. I’ll pass word once we know more.”

“Captain, what’s the backup plan?” Major Theodore asked. He looked at William with hard eyes.

William looked to each of the men around him. “Ms. Lebeau will impact the
Malta
on the station.”

The bridge stank of plastic and burning metal. A slight haze hung in front of the displays like a dingy tavern. Ventilators hummed at an accelerated rate with the clank of repair drones bounding through them.

“What’s the damage, Mr. Huron?” William asked. He stared at a long list of offline systems.

Huron’s voice clicked over the comms. He sounded tired, detached. “She took a beating. The strider that came in the center tore it up on the way in.”

“Anything critical?” William asked. He knew it was a foolish question, but it was mechanical triage.

“Half the shields are offline for now, the drones are welding the worst of it. Antun and Abe are working on replacements.”

William scanned the quick roster and saw a short list of able bodied ratings. He’d left Canaan understaffed and was now in a bind. “Supervise and get everything online.”

“I’m coming with
, Captain,” Huron said.

William expected that. “We need you here, this is our ride back.”

“Antun and Abe can handle this. You’ll need someone on the inside that knows reactors.”

“If this is about vengeance
…” William waited for a reply but heard only silence.

Lebeau watched the displays and keyed up the deceleration program. “Decel burn starting now, radiation levels are climbing.”

“Keep the grav shields facing the star,” William said. He looked at Lebeau and saw a face empty of emotion. “You’ll have command.”

Lebeau nodded.

“Once we’ve boarded, take the
Malta
out and orbit the station. If we’re lost, bring her in.” William heard himself say the words but didn’t feel them. It dawned on him that he might have ordered his own suicide.

“What about the case?” Lebeau asked.

“It’s already in a lifepod. Deploy it along with a data dump.”

“And the prisoner?”

“She has a Marine guard. Castro doesn’t think she’ll last another day,” William replied. It wasn’t an execution but there wasn’t anything he could do.

“Anyone else that can handle a weapon is coming out.
You’ll be on your own until we’re done.” He sighed. “Helluva first command.”

“Helluva first post,” Lebeau replied.

Radiation alarms sounded before halting. A scan of oscillations appeared, the binary star was pulsing, growing, seething.

“Fucker looks pissed,” Lebeau commented about the binaries.

*

Hours passed and the final blinks were made. The
Malta
bounded in and slid up to the station. Blocky sides and open structure showed construction that looked hasty, simple, utilitarian.

It was a mass of girders, posts, and supports all meshed together like an iron fishing net. Inside w
ere pillars and monoliths of strange purpose. A stream of plasma danced from the nose of the structure. The entire front side was almost too bright to look at.

“Scans show atmosphere on this side
. Shall we head in?” Lebeau asked.

William snugged the body armor tight and tucked the edges in. “Any movement on the docked ships?”

“Negative, still attached.”

A single Sa’Ami shuttle was hugged to the station.

“Why wouldn’t they stick weapons on this thing?” Lebeau stood and cracked her back.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to live long enough to need them
.” William gestured to the display.

Already the leading edges of the structure were glow
ing and dancing with plasma.

He snapped up his rifle and walked to the edge of the bridge. “Midshipman, you have command.”

“Give them my regards,” Lebeau said.

William walked off the bridge and made his way to the hold.

Around him stood Marines, soldiers in power armor, most of his crew. Huron stood in a yellow and orange maintenance suit with a high powered single-shot Browning cradled in his arm.

“I’m not here to give a speech. Do your jobs, don’t get shot, and find that reactor.”

A Marine replied, “Oorah!”

A moment later
, the rest followed. “Oorah!”

The boarding umbilical snaked out and latched onto a flat plate near the mooring area.

“Atmosphere on the other side,” Huron said.

Sergeant Gruber advanced and tucked into the zero gravity of the umbilical. Near the opposite end he took footing again but this time standing on the ceiling.

Magnesium white burns appeared on the plate followed a second later by a whooshing sound. The Marines huddled behind the boarding shields and waited for the cutter to finish. The edges cooled and the plate dropped with a kick.

Inside was a wide open space that disappeared into darkness.

The soldiers pushed through the umbilical somewhat awkwardly and disappeared into the breach. Marines followed behind with the naval ratings in the rear.

William kicked off into the zero gravity and spun himself over. A moment of vertigo came and was gone once his feet found the floor. He keyed on his enhanced vision and caught his breath.

The room expanded as far as he could see. Pillars of alloy punched through the floor far in the distance. Each glowed with a ghostly light. The entire structure seemed to hum and resonate.

A light caught his eye as he passed the threshold. It took him a moment to understand what it was. Then the sound wave hit him.
Gunfire.

“Contact!” Sergeant Gruber sounded.

William tucked close to the wall and watched as a Marine sealed the entry with a shimmering nanite cloth. The center dimpled and hardened. Through the frosty glaze the umbilical pulled back and the
Malta
powered away.

“There’s an opening,” Sergeant Gruber said between breaths. “Strider peeked up.”

Gunfire sounded again. Flashes lit the structure further down.

William checked his carbine, seated a round, and ran towards the breach.

The armored infantry disappeared into a cluster of machinery. He’d have thought them gone if he didn’t hear the comms chatter. They were heading around, sprinting far and wide before quartering at the opening.

The armor felt heavy as he sprinted forward. He started to get warm even though it felt cool inside of the structure. The lack of cover was painfully obvious as his eyes darted around for anything. Pillars loomed up
, but no one wanted to get close.

He passed a
Marine sprawled on the deck. His face was down with a gaping hole through the side of his chest.

William followed closer to a
Marine who huffed with a boarding shield. Around him more of the naval ratings followed. The lead Marines had slowed with weapons at ready.

The strider burst upwards and fired off a rapid stream. The muzzle blast roared through the cavernous space. Rounds impacted on the boarding shields with a loud clang. The strider bounced off the ceiling and rebounded down.

Fire opened from the opposite side and caught the strider in the shoulders. It tumbled and smashed against the edge of the opening. A loud bang sounded from beneath.

“Keep moving!” Sergeant Gruber yelled.

The powered infantry leaped and disappeared into the chasm.

William passed a pair of dead
Marines before reaching the edge with his weapon raised. Below was a mass of wiring, conduit, and piping. A ramp of perforated alloy led down. “Shit,” he whispered.

“Wouldn’t be any fun if it was easy
—eh, Captain?” Avi said as he slid on his bottom down the ramp.

The sounds of
war came with confused voices.

William snapped his weapon up and realized it was coming from behind him.

A flock of mechanical drones flew through the air and seized upon those still standing.

“Get into the pipes!” he yelled. He turned and let loose a pulse of rounds
, but missed the nimble creatures. He sprinted down the ramp expecting to feel the burn of the drones.

“He’s here,” Major Theodore said over the comms.

“Who?” William asked. He found a passage into the conduit and turned to see that the birds weren’t pursuing.

“The Commandant,” the Major replied with a detached voice.

The conduit was slightly warm while the entire area smelled of ozone. The air felt static, tight, almost electric.

“Hey, hey!” Huron
said. “This way! Reactor is this way!”

William scooted under a beam and followed Huron’s voice.

Then the striders blitzed.

*

Proximity alarms fired as a red icon exploded into his view screen. Yamaguchi tucked and propelled himself underneath a thick brace and crashed against a pillar. Force alarms sounded, along with a maintenance alert. He snapped the weapon up and watched.

The striders came from every angle except where they expected them. Two of his soldiers had been shredded in the initial assault. The Sa’Ami constructs worked to separate, corral, and destroy like a pack of wolves. Now he was almost out of ammo and couldn’t reload, not with one right in front of him.

Movement flashed with an overlay of a ghost before it was gone.

The communication grid blasted in and out. Data would flood in before clamping shut. The fear return
ed. For all he knew there was another soldier a meter away and he wouldn’t know it until he saw him.

The strider flashed through shadows on the other side. Or was it a different one? He propped himself up when the first strider came in over the brace.

His weapon flared with a gout of fire that bowled the Sa’Ami construct back into brace where it flopped and shuddered. A mechanical arm spun away and clattered to the floor.

Alarms blared in his suit, the strider managed to put one helluva dent in his chest armor.

The strider, wounded as it was, clambered under the beam and disappeared into the shadow beyond. Scattered armor plate drifted gray smoke. He slammed in another clip and sprinted again. The pulsing conduits all led somewhere.

“LT! Move right thirty meters,” Sergeant Hoffman called.

“Moving,” Yamaguchi replied. He scanned his display and saw icons wink in and out. Half his troops were rallied with Hoffman, the other half dead or scattered.

Hoffman’s suit was battered with a raw gash from groin to shoulder. The atmospheric layer was visible showing how close he came to being eviscerated. In one hand was a piece of alloy beam and in the other his stubby Glock carbine. Around him a defensive position of four more suits huddled with weapons raised.

“Marines?”

“With the sailors, they were hit from behind.”

“Striders?”

“Aerial drones.”

Yamaguchi grunted. He scanned the ceiling. They were in an area tight with pipes and wiring. No aerial drone was going to risk that mess.

“Gruber? Captain?” Yamaguchi sounded on the comms.

Clipped voices and ghostly echoes responded.

“Is this it?”

Hoffman turned his suit and scanned the soldiers around him. “I get an occasional ping from one other suit. Someone with the Marines maybe?”

Yamaguchi started to grow angry. “Keep moving! We’re going to draw the bastards away from the Navy. If those sons of bitches can’t fight for themselves
, we’ll do it for ‘em.”

A cluster. A cluster of shit, he thought. A giant steaming turd. But he knew there wasn’t much to be done differently, not with the close quarters and difference in capabilities.

“—open space below——not sure—down—down,” a voice crackled over.

Hoffman reached down and pulled a slender tube from a pack strapped on his leg. He slung it underhand beneath the beams and tubing. A moment later a great white flare burned brightly. It continued to slide until the light dropped away.

“There we go!” Yamaguchi slapped Hoffman on the shoulder and leapt over a beam following the path the flare took.

It was claustrophobic as the tubing meshed closer, tighter, denser. The pulsing grew in intensity. It wasn’t heard, or even seen, but felt right in the stomach. He began to sweat even though he wasn’t warm.

“Feels weird, man,” Corporal Amal whispered.

REKT flashed from Herringbone.

“Cut it,” Yamaguchi said. He could sense the fear in them. They were losing the edge—the adrenaline was taking its toll.

Hoffman opened fire with a short burst. “No arm on that one.”

“Hey, hey! Call out features as you see ‘em,” Yamaguchi shouted.

The infantry advanced from one cover point to the next in the thick mass of piping
, calling out features they saw on the striders.

Yamaguchi felt proud that they’d found a way to work without the tactical overlay. The pride turned to disappointment when he discovered it was only three striders causing them so much grief.