Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (25 page)

“Excellent, the Sergeant will command the squad as
our personal escort while in this part of space. Where we go, they
go.”

Gun even looked surprised at her announcement.

“You expecting trouble?”

Teresa tightened her
forehead as she imagined the situations they’d been in
before.

“
Trouble? Have we
ever been anywhere where we haven’t run into trouble?”

Gun seemed amused at
her response, but she failed to notice and continued
speaking.

“
No, thirteen
marines and a Sergeant like Arina are just the right amount of
security I think I could make use of. What about you?”

Gun laughed at the
suggestion he might need protection. Teresa remained stern-faced,
and for a moment, he worried she was serious. If true, it would be
the greatest insult he had heard for a long time. He knew Teresa
too well though.

She is
joking,
he agreed.

“
Don’t worry about
me. If they have anything they can throw at me that might do any
damage
, you’ll have much bigger things to
worry about.”

Seeing they were
finished, t
he Captain saluted once more
and marched off to leave the two of them to watch the Rift. More of
the expedition’s ships were moving into position, with the heavier
Alliance ships taking the lead position. Even so, there were
kilometers between each vessel. A distance great enough that even
the thermal energy from a breached reactor would cause no
damage.

So, they are taking no chances today.

Teresa didn’t like
being cut out of
the loop. Though she was
second-in-command of the Battalion, she kept finding important
information didn’t seem to make it down to her. The command of the
operation lay with Admiral Anderson, and little information had
come down to either her or Gun in the last week.

“I take it you’ve received nothing from the
Admiral?”

Gun shrugged in reply.

“
Typical. Is he
doing this with the other battalion commanders, or is this
treatment just for us?”

Gun wiped his
forehead with the back of his hand.

“
The 17th doesn’t
get much respect in the fleet. It was only activated three months
ago and isn’t ready.”

Teresa shook her
head, “No, that isn’t true. It wasn’t ready. It is now.”

Gun looked at her
and recognized the look on her face. She was determined; he could
see that just from her eyes. He looked back at the mysterious Rift
and then to the ships.

“This reminds me of the old days, you know, back
when we fought the Zealots. Good times.”

Teresa looked at him and sighed.

“
Good times. Are you
kidding? Come on. Let’s get back to the troops. It’s speech time
before we go through.”

Gun nodded and the
two
walked away from the magnificent view
and made their way back through the many walkways and corridors to
the rear. The design was very different to earlier ships, with the
front half of the ship containing the power units, CIC, crew
quarters, and weapon systems. The rear contained the mission
modules, marine quarters, and hangars. As they moved through, it
became obvious when they reached the section further back; the
number of navy crewmembers diminished while marine numbers went up.
Of more importance to her though, was that the weapons, ammunition,
and equipment was stored further back. It took almost five minutes
for them to reach the large landing bay area they’d used so
effectively for training. Teresa marched in directly behind Gun,
stopping in front of four complete companies of marines. Gun turned
to her and smiled discreetly.

“They look different, don’t they?”

Teresa remained
expressionless as she examined the columns of marines. Each stood
smartly to attention in their black armor. Gone were the days of
warriors in camouflage. Instead, every single one of the marines
was clad in black like some fearsome demon of ancient lore. The
only concessions to the camouflage of the past were subtle gray
streaks that slightly broke up their shapes. Across their chests
were the dependable L52 Mk II Carbines, but she did recognize a
small number of L48 rifles used by the sharpshooters that dated
back to her time in the Corps.

“
Impressive, very
impressive,” s
he muttered gently under
her breath.

Gun nodded to them
all before speaking.

“
Marines,
today
is your first operation, and it
will be in a part of the galaxy never before explored by
humans!”

To Teresa’s
surprise, the marines erupted in a rapturous cheer at the news.
Information about combat postings and operations were always
popular, but she was completely taken aback by this attitude. Then
she remembered.

Damn, didn’t we tell them?

S
he watched Gun bathe in the adulation of his Battalion as
she tried her best to look pleased. He didn’t even have to speak
now; he just lifted his muscled arms to the air and roared. The
more they cheered, the more she found herself thinking of Spartan
and where he might be. Just a few seconds contemplating that, and
she was already resolved to do what needed to be done. Her face
changed to one of anger.

We’ll
get control of this
Helios
and its Rifts. I don’t care if we have to kill of thousand of these
things to do it!

It was only then
that she realized she was threatening the life of an enemy, yet so
far she had no idea who this enemy was
,
or even if there would be one. She’d been so busy the last few
weeks preparing the marines that she hadn’t even given it any
thought.

Calm
down
, woman, you don’t need
to go looking for enemies. They always manage to find
you!

* * *

Admiral Anderson
stood quietly and watched the main viewscreen as they moved in
closer to the
Helios Gateway. The fleet
was in position, and he’d kept them stationed at a safe distance
while the Alliance science ship ANS Kepler performed a series of
detailed scans. They were positioned inside a large debris field
from a long destroyed planet or moon. The largest object in sight
was a rocky planet with apparently no name. It had been logged
along with all other data and returned to fleet HQ. For the last
hour, a torrent of data had arrived, of which only part matched the
Spacebridges constructed by Alliance scientists. Unlike most Naval
officers, Admiral Anderson wasn’t just an experienced combat
officer; he was also actually a highly skilled scientist and
engineer himself and had been the commander of Prometheus and its
science stations for a number of years.

“
Interesting, very
interesting,” he said, reading the latest batch of data.

“
The power levels
are off the charts,” the Chief Engineer said, doing his best not to
be surprised at the technological proficiency shown by the
Admiral.

“
Yes, this
R
ift has more in common with our own
system back at Prometheus. We can only assume the distances between
this Rift and Helios are equally as impressive as our own journey
here.”

The Chief Engineer scratched his forehead as he
examined the raw data.

“
Uh, not
necessarily, Admiral.”

He leaned forward pointed at a particular column of
numbers.

“
Ah, you’re right,
t
his part of space is being contested by
three astronomical objects. The forces present must require changes
to the power signature of the Rift generator. The level of
technology to build this thing is impressive.”

The Chief Engineer brought over two screens of
visual patterns and placed them over the new reading. He pointed at
the images to the left before continuing.

“
I think there’s
more to it than that. If we overlay the data from this area of
space, you’ll notice the gases; forces that make up this sector are
almost identical to Prometheus. We always assumed only the rarest
of places could be used to create stable Rifts at extreme
distances.”

He looked back to
the Rift and the number of small stations and platforms built
amongst the ruins of a moon. Their sensors had detected nothing but
debris upon their arrival. It was only when T’Kron and his scouts
had sent the signal, and the generators had powered up, that the
Alliance vessels had detected the platforms hidden in the debris
field.

Platforms hidden from view
, to activate and control a Spacebridge, that seems
familiar,
he thought, considering the
Anomaly discovered in the middle of the Uprising. It had also been
operating with similar platforms stationed around it.

“
I think you might
be right,” he said.
“Perhaps this Helios
will provide the answers we need on constructing, maintaining, and
managing our own Spacebridge Network.”

From his
positi
on on the combined bridge and CIC,
he could see the rest of the fleet assembled and waiting to go. ANS
Victory was the assigned flagship of the force, for no reason other
than she was the newest of the enlarged third tranche of Crusader
class warships. Even more importantly, she was commanded by the
redoubtable Captain Jane Parker, former executive officer of ANS
Devastation, and hero of the battle for New Charon. ANS Crusader
may have been the namesake of her class, but Victory was the most
powerful ship in the fleet. It was an impressive force but not too
massive. He counted the other craft, confirming in his head that
all of them were present.

It’s
hardly the fleet we used at Euryale
, but it should be more than enough.

There were no great
troop transports or battleships in this force. In
fact
, the most substantial warships were
ANS Victory and the other five Crusader class warships. They were
there to provide the muscle, as well as carry half a battalion of
marines onboard each ship. They were not alone though; there were
also the much smaller T’Kari vessels as well as the same number
again of civilian transports. He was forced to remember the meeting
he’d had with Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Rivers. The force was a
token in numbers to both wave the flag and also demonstrate the
strength of the Alliance. Any more vessels, and the expedition
would look more like an invasion fleet.

“
Well
, gentlemen, this is it. Are
we ready?”

Around
him stood the highest ranking individuals in the
fleet. As each of them nodded in agreement, he examined them
carefully. There were many new faces, but some he recognized. There
was Brigadier General Daniels, the recently promoted Marine officer
in charge of the ground element of their force. Slightly younger
than the Admiral, he was one of the most experienced military
commanders in the expedition, and if he remembered correctly, an
old rival and friend of Spartan.

Spartan,
he thought back to the
old Marine officer.
What are
you up to, and where the hell did you go?

Next to him waited
Captain
Jane Parker, the new commander of
ANS Victory. As always, her cropped red hair made her stand out
just as much as her pale blue eyes. Admiral Anderson wasn’t fooled,
and he was well aware of her reputation aboard ANS Devastation. It
was rumored that she ran a tight ship, with no room for arguments
or negotiation. Anderson turned his attention to the space
distortion as the Rift started to take form. It was unlike any he
had seen before. It was a more a storm in space, as opposed to the
almost mirrored glass effect seen on the stable Rifts used by the
Alliance.

They had better keep it stable.

“
Admiral, the
T’Kari have activated the Rift, and it is clear
for entry,” announced the ship’s XO.

Admiral Anderson
nodded but said nothing immediately. Unknown to the rest of the
crew, he had been privy to one final briefing with the T’Kari
scouts and the highest-level commanders in the Alliance military.
He recalled the schematic they’d shown him of the T’Kari control
mechanism for the Rift. They’d explained how each of the races had
coded their own Spacebridges to Helios via unstable Spacebridges, a
system that granted maximum security for each of them. Without the
race specific control data, the Rift would destroy anything
entering it. According to T’Kron, the codes were the most prized
secret of their race, an heirloom that each of the races guarded
with their lives.

They’d
better
hope this thing is
working then,
he thought, imagining the
carnage that would occur if his ship entered an unstable
Rift.

He’d traveled
through the Spacebridges enough times now to know how much he
disliked using them. There was always the doubt in his mind that
something might go wrong, or that it might close down with him
halfway through. Even so, he’d been one of those behind their
development, and he couldn’t deny the benefits they’d given them
all.

“Can you put them on the main screen?” he asked,
with a commanding tone to his voice.

The main display
running along
one side of the room
transformed into a forward view from the ship. Part of the bow was
visible, and it formed a slightly curved frame from the space
distortion itself. They all looked into the spherical shape and the
wild patterns and shapes that flickered across its
center.