Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (18 page)

“Helios?”

“
It is the center.
The Enemy is finding a way to reach it again since his
banishment.”

“That is what this fleet is for?” asked Khan.

Tuke shook
his
head.

“
Yes, the
E
nemy is looking to find a way back to
Helios and the Network.”

“And then what?”

“Then the great cull will begin, and he will have
his revenge.”

* * *

The lines of fresh
marine recruits did nothing to dispel the gossip Teresa had heard
about this Marine unit. She might have been promoted and reinstated
into the Corps she’d left many years before, but this group made
her almost feel it had been a punishment detail. There were
grumbles and murmurs as the two moved into the training hall. Gun
sniffed as they moved inside.

“
Smel
ls like paint, no sweat,” he
said disappointedly.

Teresa knew full
well that it wasn’t the sweat. It was the fact that this place
hadn’t been used properly. He was a strong proponent of sweating in
training rather than bleeding in combat. Though she recalled he
seemed to like the bleeding part perhaps a little too
much.

Here we
go again,
she thought
ruefully.

Teresa examined the
walls and noticed they were actually inside the landing bay itself.
Additional security walls must have been fitted or lowered for use
in training. It was a useful use of the limited space in the
cruiser, and a timely reminder of how things had changed. Teresa
had spent most of her time aboard Marine Corps amphibious
transports like Santa Maria. They’d been civilian ships with heavy
modifications for carrying a thousand marines, all of their
equipment, shuttles, and even a large training space for them to
prepare for combat. Both she and Spartan had spent the best part of
a year onboard one as they were trained into marines, prior to the
fighting on the Titan Naval Station. A young Captain saluted
smartly as she approached the lead group.

“
Sir, Captain
Michael Llewellyn at your service.”

Teresa looked at him
carefully. The man was slightly shorter than her
, and she was no giant. He was balding and seemed to have a
little too much fat around his waist for a marine of his rank. His
pale face was podgy, and he appeared to be sweating even though he
was doing nothing more than standing still. Teresa saluted. She’d
read the notes on the unit on their way over, and it was less than
inspired reading. The entire command unit for the Battalion had
been involved some kind of fraudulent activity and were up on a
court martial. Fresh officers were being drafted in as quickly as
possible, but the eight hundred marines, spread over the two
crusader class ships, ANS Savage and ANS Sentry, were considered
the runt of the Corps. She wondered why they were even being sent
on the operation, when surely they need dependable units for such a
critical mission.

“
Captain. Let me
introduce Commander Gun, leader of the Jötnar.
”

Gun cleared his throat.

“
Captain, I am
assuming command of the Battalion,” he said firmly.

The man appeared
visibly shaken at both the sight of Gun and also the unexpected
news that a Jötnar had been given the authority to operate in such
a way. He looked back at Teresa, seeking clarification.

“
That’s correct. As
a former member of the Corps, Commander Gun has been granted
provisional command of the Battalion until a more permanent
replacement has been found.”

She then turned and
faced the four assembled companies in the training hall. Each of
them wore the new style of black uniforms, along with their dark
berets on their heads. There was something about the new style and
color that left her feeling uneasy. It wasn’t the Corps that she
had known.

“
Marines, my
n
ame is Major Morato, and I have been
sent here on orders from High Command to whip you into shape. The
Commander and I have seen the reports on your previous officers and
also of your individual squad performances.”

She nodded to Gun,
who instead of nodding in agreement, decided to join in.

“
I have read the
reports
, and I am not impressed, not at
all. I’ve fought with Army, militia, Marine and Jötnar units, and
this one inspires me the least!”

He walked out in front of them all and gave each of
the four companies a long stare.

“
The Marine Corps
has a long and illustrious reputation in the Alliance, and the
Confederacy before it. I saw what your forbears did on a dozen
worlds, and they were mighty.”

The noise from the
back of the hall increased, and Gun sensed restlessness. He looked
at them and stamped down with one of his oversized feet.

“What? You don’t like the truth?”

A
m
arine from the back shouted
out.

“We don’t take orders from synthetics!”

Dozens more laughed
at the attempted insult. Teresa cast a concerned look at Gun, not
for his safety or even honor. No, she was worried about his rage,
and what he might do with the marines.

“Really?” he said quietly.

Teresa stopped in her tracks and watched him
carefully.

You’ve
done it now, you fools. When he’s quiet
, he’s most dangerous.

“
Yeah!” shouted
another. A women off to th
e left joined
in, “We’re marines, not mutant monsters. Where are our human
officers?”

Gun walked along to
the first company laid out on the left of the training hall. All at
the front were silent, but he could see the amusement on their
faces; a few, not many, showed outward contempt. He spotted one and
pointed.

“You, will you follow my orders?” he barked.

The woman looked
startled but jostled on by her friends, she shook her head. Sensing
victory, a few more joined in with the shouting and insults. Gun
pointed to Teresa.

“What about the Major? Will you follow her
orders?”

There was a short pause before a voice at the back
said what most of them were thinking.

“
She’s no marine.
M
y mother could do better!”

Laughter burst out
in the hall, but Gun had been watching carefully. He’d identified
the rough direction of the voice and now isolated it down to just
four people. He looked at them from the side of his eye and then
found his target. A tall man, easily two meters tall with dark,
tanned skin, black hair, and a sneer across his face.

“
You, step forward!”
he growled.

The
m
arine spotted him but didn’t move. Gun
took this as an invitation to exert his discipline, but instead
Teresa waved him off. She marched directly into the middle of the
group of assembled marines. For a moment, it looked as if they
would stand their ground, but when within three meters, those at
the front separated. She pushed on, her back straight, and her head
held high. Her figure was athletic, helped by daily workouts in the
gymnasium, and her long black hair flowed behind her. Her tanned
skin against the black uniform gave her an almost exotic look that
oozed control. She pushed on until reaching a knot of young
marines. The tall troublemaker stood in the center of the group and
leered at her. She looked puny next to him, but her body language
suggested anything but.

“Private, what did you just say?” she asked, her
voice dripping with venom.

The man looked
nonplussed, however, and Teresa noticed the marking on his face. At
first it looked like a tattoo, but then she saw it was actually the
tattoo of a scorpion, the symbol of one of the infamous crime
families from Kerberos. She’d come across them with her work in APS
and knew full well the ramifications of what might happen. Gun
watched her move with amusement, recognizing her posture and what
was to come. The marine leaned forward slightly and tensed his
muscles as if he expected trouble.

“
I said
my mother could do a better job than an
ex-marine and a synthetic Biomech!”

Teresa feinted a
punch, one that the man was evidently expecting. He lifted his
hands while betraying his arrogance with a look of leering pleasure
to his face. Teresa dropped to one knee and swept his leg from
behind the knee. She moved with the speed and grace of a time spent
working as an exotic dancer in the long distant past. As her foot
made contact, his leg bucked and he collapsed backward. In a flash,
she leapt upon him with her knee pushed down onto his chest and her
right hand raised ready to strike. He looked up at her, doing his
best to avoid her chest that was now directly in front of his face.
She stayed there until she could feel his body relax. With a flick
of her body, she was upright and nodded to the two nearest marines
to help him up.

“
There’s no such
thing as an ex-marine,” she quipped.

This seemed to get
the attention of a large group off to the left, and at least a few
whooped with delight and clapped their hands. As the man was
brought back to his feet, she could tell he wanted to say
something. She just stood there, straight, and commanding. Teresa
refused to give ground, and the man could sense it. His shoulders
sagged and he gave in.

“
Sir,”
h
e said smartly.

Teresa turned her
back on him and moved back to the front. Though now blind to
possible retaliation, she could see Gun off in the distance. If
there had been even the slightest chance of an attack, he would
have let her know. The impression given, however, was one of utmost
confidence, and it wasn’t wasted on the four hundred marines now
watching her nervously. Once at the front, she turned back to face
them.

“
Now. I’ve fought
more enemies than you’ve even read about. I battled Zealots on the
Titan Naval Station two decades ago, machines and Biomechs on
Hyperion, and boarded ships dating back to the Great War. I shot,
stabbed, and cut my way through hundreds of enemies and have never
known defeat.”

She started to walk
along the front of the assembled marines.

“
Commander Gun is a
hero to the Alliance. He was the first of the Biomechs to break the
shackles of the Echidna leadership. He fought alongside us, as did
his people, and turned the tide. He has killed hundreds of enemies,
most with his bare hands, and all in the name of our
people!”

She stopped
alongside him and looked at his features carefully. She wasn’t
alone either, and most of the marines watched his great hulk in
awe. Few of them could have seen one before, and the fact that the
most famous one them all was on their ship must have been quite a
surprise. She turned and faced them all.

“
The Alliance is in
a crisis. We are at the start of a golden age, yet there is
something gnawing at us. A great enemy lurks around us, sending
agents to our colonies, inciting rebellion and war. We will find
them, and we will destroy them. This expedition is the first stage
in that process.”

There was no
reaction from the audience, and Teresa noticed that so far she
hadn’t mentioned anything about them, or what their role was to be
in this great new undertaking.

“
We will reach the
Helios Gateway in three weeks. That is how long I have to get you
whipped into shape. Who knows what we will find, but any combat
unit needs to be ready. You are out here as part of your first
assignment as a complete battalion. Half of you are fresh out of
boot, and the rest have only seen security detail. Today that
changes.”

She paused, noting
that their expressions had already changed from boredom to that of
intrigue.

“
The 17th represents
a third of the total Marine force for this operation. If there is
to be any major combat, then you can expect companies from the 17th
will be in the thick of it.”

She took another
deep breath and continued, sensing she was making
progress.

“
I know you’ve had
command problems, but from today that changes. I intend on turning
this Battalion around into a lean, aggressive fighting machine. One
that can hit the ground running with the best the Corps has to
offer!”

To her surprise she received a cheer of approval.
Gun smiled at her and nodded.

“I have been looking at the record for this unit and
am astounded to see that you are missing a number of key officers
and NCOs. We intend on finding replacements as soon as
possible.”

She paused, knowing the next words would be shocking
to enlisted personnel. She started to speak but then decided it
would be better to hear it directly from Gun, the new commander of
the Battalion.

“
Over the next two
weeks I will assess you for skill, leadership, and ferocity. I want
marines that can match Biomechs in hand-to-hand combat and outshoot
the T’Kari. You’ll be fast, inventive, and dangerous. The best of
you will be promoted within the Battalion!”

The
m
arines looked stunned. It was clear they
had been waiting bitterly for a large number of officers to arrive
from outside the unit to fill the gaps. The command scandal had
ripped the heart out of the unit, and this proposal meant they
would have input over their own Battalion.