Legions of Orion (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 1) (6 page)

Heroes of the Great Uprising

“Thirty seconds until activation,” said
a pre-recorded voice over the ship’s internal speaker system. It
was nothing more than a simple reminder that they were about to
move through. Spartan suspected the warning was more for insurance
purposes, as at least half the trips through a rift ended in minor
injuries or at the very least some violent shakes.

He
wa
tched the glowing shape of the
Spacebridge from the observation area of the liner. The entrance
itself reminded him of a whirlpool, and no matter how many times
he’d travelled through; it gave him a sickening feeling in his
stomach. This wasn’t the bridge that had been found in the middle
of the War though. This was one of the first artificially made in
the years since the War and had been lauded as the ultimate example
of Alliance engineering. He knew where the technology had been
found, and it had been won through blood and combat, not science
and discovery.

Not that Spartan
really cared too much about where it had come from. He’d made
hundreds of such trips in his long career, but times had changed.
In the past, he travelled to warzones or to fix problems, but now
he was travelling to another private security post and yet another
contract. He looked over his shoulder, half expecting to see one of
his comrades from the Marine Corps or the Alliance Navy, but
instead all he found were groups of civilians. It seemed a long
time since he’d completed his ten years in the Marines, and there
were still days when he missed the action. He looked at the people
around him; most were specialists but a few were heading out to
visit their families. He straightened his back, boredom now seeming
to settle into his very bones.

How much
longer till this damned journey is over
?
He wondered.

Although unlike the
rest of those on board, he knew almost to the second how long it
would take. Even so, he was still impatient and wanted the journey
to end. He looked at a young man, probably in his early twenties
that sat and chatted to two women at the other end of the viewing
area. They were all watching in awe as they travelled through the
rift in space. It was old hat to Spartan. Little did any of them
know how instrumental this one man’s military victories had been in
allowing the creation of what was now known as the
Network.

Spartan was unlike
anybody on the ship, however. Years of trouble had led him to a
life of illegal pit fighting on the stations of Prometheus. The
many fights and contests had toned his body and toughened his mind
into that of a modern day gladiator. He had spent ten years in the
military, with the first three taken up with the events of the
Great Uprising that had led to a major civil war. Only the total
defeat of the Echidna rebels and their hordes of Biomech creatures
had averted the colonies from total disaster. He considered the
great gulf of time that had passed since those bloody days, and in
some ways missed the simplicity of the battles.

Not that
my security work is exactly safe
,
he thought to himself with a
wry grin.

In walked two Alliance Agents, one of
whom he instantly recognised.

“Johnson? What are you doing here?” he
asked.

The two men moved
towards him, but only Johnson put on any attempt of
pleasantries.

“
Spartan, nice to
see you again,” h
e said, reaching out to
shake his hand. The two had worked on a good number of operations
both on Prometheus and Hyperion during and after the War. Johnson
looked both pleased to see him but also concerned.

“This is my partner for this operation,
Agent Stefan Hammacher.”

Spartan nodded to them both but
concentrated on his old friend.

“Why are you here? I thought you were
in charge of Special Operation on Kerberos now? Aren’t you a bit
old for fieldwork?” asked Spartan mischievously.

Johnson nodded and chose to ignore his
barb.

“
I am, but the
rumours I’ve been hearing about Jack are worrying. I have selected
the capture team myself. They are all reliable, skilled and
understand the mission. We have to bring him in, ideally without
violence.”

Spartan raised an eyebrow at the last
point.

“
You think he’ll
come in without a fight? You do understand he’s a son of mine? I
know we go back a long way, Johnson, but I’m no ally against my own
blood. If you are thinking of taking him, why are you telling me?
You looking for a fight?”

Johnson
smiled
, but Agent Hammacher maintained a
completely straight expression on his face.

Johnson spoke to his partner for a few
seconds until stopping and nodding to him. Hammacher stepped away
and moved closer to the door, about twenty metres from where
Spartan and Johnson were stood.

“
That was just
posturing in front of Hammacher. About Jack, I know he’s barely
eighteen now, but his list of offences keeps growing. At this rate,
he’ll end up spending most, if not all of his adult life in prison.
Maybe he’ll be given the same choice as you?”

Spartan shook his head.

“
No, the Alliance
doesn’t do that anymore. I don’t understand what happened with him.
He was doing well at school, and Teresa and I have been spending
more and more time with him at our new home, as much time as we can
both spare. Okay, it’s mainly her, but still, he has a good
life.”

Johnson nodded.

“
True, but that last
incident on the transport over Terra Nova left three men dead. He
just doesn’t have any respect for authority and keeps getting into
trouble. I’ve pushed enough off my desk already, but this current
line of attack is getting a lot of attention. Either I came or
somebody else would have.”

“Hey, you know that was an attempted
hijack of a Jötnar supply ship. Seven of them were murdered before
he killed one of them and helped space the rest of them. It was
judged a justifiable homicide if I remember correctly. So quite how
does Jack really necessitate the involvement of Alliance
Intelligence?”

Johnson shook his head.

“
You do know that
isn’t why I’m here, don’t you? We both know what happened on the
ship, and the Jötnar won’t forget it either. That was a close run
thing. The last situation the Alliance needs is a planet of angry
Jötnar looking for some payback.”

He touched Spartan’s
shoulder, moving him closer to the window where the flashing of
energy marked their journey through the Rift. They were now a good
distance from anybody else in the observation area.

“
Your boy has dug up
information on Epsilon Eridani that is causing quite a stir. I know
you’re heading back to work on this new contract, but I could
really use an assist on this one. It’s in your interest, Jack’s and
the Jötnar.”

Spartan looked intrigued.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s no secret that your boy has spent
a few interesting vacations with the Jötnar on Hyperion. Hell, I’d
say he prefers the Jötnar to those of his own kind.”

“
So? He’s become
good friends with the sons of Khan. He’s not committed any crimes.
Even if he had, Hyperion is Jötnar territory.”

The Agent pulled out
secpad, a heavily improved and more secure version of the venerable
datapad still used in the Alliance. It was the size of his fist and
made from a toughened plastic. Spartan took it and placed his thumb
on the side to activate the unit. It showed an image of Jack with
two Jötnar climbing over a security fence. Although the Jötnar were
the same age as his son, they were already the size of an adult man
and much more strongly built. Originally a synthetic spinoff from
the enemy’s war efforts, the Jötnar had become an integral, if not
volatile part of the Alliance.

“Your boy has been seen making contact
with members of the Retribution movement.”

Spartan looked surprised at the
implication.

“
The Retribution
movement? We shut them down years ago. Why would he be involved
with them?”

“
That we don’t know.
You are well aware they have been conducting vigilante raids on
those suspected of working with the Zealots in the War. My
intelligence sources suggest they have altered their scope in the
last six months. Now they are looking for anybody involved in the
Biomech programmes.”

The ship shuddered
violently, and the flashing colours of the Rift vanished to be
replaced by the glowing orb of the new sun and the blue, watery
planet below. Spartan looked out at the planet and allowed himself
a short smile as he thought of his modest home on the surface.
Epsilon Eridani was one of the newest star systems that had been
colonised in the last five years, and with the construction of the
bridge it had expanded at an incredible rate. It contained only one
habitable world, but that was more than enough for dozens of
companies to move in and start exploiting its many
resources.

“
Jack wouldn’t be
involved in that kind of crap and you know it,” he replied, but
truthfully Spartan just didn’t know anymore. He saw his son
infrequently, and when they did, they usually fought. Things had
never been resolved since the incident with the woman on Kerberos.
He tried to shake the memories for a moment and get back to
business.

Johnson leaned in closer.

“
Look, this is the
official line. The truth? We have intel on potential threats to the
Jötnar, and we have suspicions that Jack knows more than he is
letting on. I came here because it is Jack. I won’t risk him with
any other agent.”

Spartan looked over
to the agent waiting impatiently at the end of the room.

“You don’t have much faith in your own
people?”

Johnson shrugged.

“
The only person I
trust is me, and I think I owe it to you to get this done
properly.”

Spartan nodded at this, thankful to
have something that hopefully resembled the truth of the
matter.

“
Well
, it looks like we’d better
find Jack then. How many people have you brought?”

Agent Johnson looked back to his
partner and indicated for him to come back. He then looked back to
Spartan.

“Just the two of us. We will meet at
your new office and assess the information my units have
established so far. I think we can end this before anybody gets
hurt.”

Spartan nodded, and
the two agents moved back to the door. Spartan looked back out of
the window, but now nothing but a dark cloud seemed to hang over
his return. He’d been working away from home for four months, and
it had been hard work getting the contract organised for his firm
to take over the security of the colony base. He had set up the
small firm now known as Alliance Protection Services after leaving
the military. Teresa, his wife, managed most of the day-to-day
operations, and in just a few years, they’d moved from running
security on a number of commercial sites to becoming the most
important security contractor in the Alliance. Much of this was
down to the reputation of its two founders; both decorated and
experienced marines with exemplary track records.

Spartan pulled out his own secpad from
a pouch on his belt and held it in front of him. He tapped the
button that connected him directly to his office on the surface.
Almost immediately the face of Ashley Helsing appeared. She was one
of his best assistants and ran parts of the office when he was
away.

“
Spartan, good to
see you,” s
he replied
pleasantly.

“Is Teresa there?” asked Spartan.

She nodded while simultaneously
connecting him through to her office. The image quickly shifted to
that of a slightly darker room and the face of his wife and
co-director of APS.

“
Spartan,”
s
he said with a concerned
look.

Spartan recognised the expression
immediately. The two of them had been in the trenches on many
occasions and seen some of the bloodiest action of the Uprising.
His heart felt heavy as he expected the worst.

“
I need you down
here fast. There’s been trouble at one of the refineries. Two men
killed and the control crew are being held hostage. In the last two
weeks, we’ve had a string of incidents. There’s a lot of money
moving down here, and some of the competition are trying to muscle
in on some of the smaller industrial operators. It’s getting
hectic,” she paused and then did her best to smile. “It’s nice to
see you.”

Spartan nodded, but
he was actually relieved the news wasn’t about Jack. After seeing
Johnson on the same ship as him, he was starting to worry that his
troublesome son had somehow turned into one of the Alliance’s most
wanted individuals.

“What about Jack?”

Teresa sighed with
the look of exasperation he’d seen so many times in the last few
years. Jack was a skilled and intelligent boy but had the fire and
passion of Teresa, mixed with the stubbornness of Spartan.
Individually, it was awkward but combined it became a lethal
combination.

“
I’ve grounded him
until this farce with Gun’s sons is sorted out. Apparently, they
were found at one of the mining complexes with people from a
Kerberos crime family.”

“What?” asked Spartan
incredulously.

“
That’s what I
thought. Jack said something about a movement on Kerberos that’s
working against the Biomechs, some kind of vigilante programme. You
know, one of the groups that looks to push them out of Alliance
business and trade, the usual discrimination. I think this time it
has got more serious. One of the Jötnar juveniles was found dead
last week, and there are rumours they tried to sabotage one of the
planetary rift gateways.”