Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (31 page)

Captain
P
arker considered the information for
just a few seconds.

“
My guess is those
are stations, much like this one here, and it is designed to stop
whatever is on the other side from coming through. Keep the
scanners going. If we have to leave in a hurry, this intel might be
all we can get. ”

That has
to be the entrance to the
enemy’s domain! So, the T’Kari were right all along. So
Helios really is the center of this artificial Spacebridge Network,
and they have barricaded the entrance to the most dangerous race
out here.
She didn’t know whether to feel
happy or concerned at the information.

She turned to the
Admiral, a look of satis
faction now
showing on her face only to see grim determination on his
face.

“
Admiral, I think
this is the entrance the enemy’s domain. It matches all the facts
of the last two years, including the intelligence given to us on
the Helions. They fought their last war, and this must be how they
keep them from coming back.”

“
The eighth
r
ace,” confirmed General Daniels. His
voice sounded doom laden as he answered. Admiral Anderson glanced
at his comrade, noting with surprise at how he was taking the news.
A moment of doubt entered his mind that he was the right man to
lead the marines if things turned bloody.

Too late
now you fool,
he thought
angrily.

General Daniels was
right to feel unhappy at the news. He wasn’t compromised by the
words, but the scars of the ground combat on Euryale flashed back
to him. In the years since those battles with biomechanical
creatures and legions of warriors, he’d developed a healthy respect
for the enemy and the damage and terrors they could bring to a
fight. Being this close to what might be their own empire left him
feeling almost queasy at the opportunity of sending so many men and
women to their potential deaths.

“
Good, this is what
we came for,” s
aid Admiral
Anderson.

Captain Parker
looked at him, surprised at his words. She spotted the look on the
General’s face and noted that although he didn’t look surprised, he
also didn’t appear particularly pleased at the news. That was when
her brain raced ahead as the facts coalesced in her
mind.

So we
are not just h
ere to explore.
We sent three battalions of marines through the Helios Gate to use
as an expeditionary force, surely not?

She looked back at
the Admiral, trying to gauge his reaction to the news. The more she
thought about it though, the
more
surprised she was that she had been left out of the loop. As far as
she was aware, the operation was an exploratory mission to map out
the Network and to secure access for the Alliance.

“Admiral, are we here to finish the war with the
enemy?” she finally asked.

Admiral Anderson looked to General Daniels who
politely smiled back at him.

“
No, our orders are
flexible. Three battalions does provide us with a great deal of
flexibility, however.”

The young
G
eneral did his best to avoid choking
with amusement.

The ship shook at
another volley of gunfire.
A computer
display flashed and then exploded, the shards of hardened metal and
glass embedded into the arms and torso of its operator, a young
woman with short black hair and narrow framed glasses. She was
knocked from her seat and was helped by two of the Marine
guards.

“Get her to medical!” called out the XO as he moved
in to manage the situation.

The blast shook her
attention from the distortion and back to their immediate
situation. She watched the ships on the display, but Admiral
Anderson was already looking back at the station.

“
So, they have
build
defenses around all of the Rift
entrances, including this one back to T’Karan. They must think we
are vessels from the enemy as well.”

“
Then why attack the
T’Kari?” she responded.

Admiral Anderson
smiled, “They attack themselves, don’t forget. They must have less
faith in the T’Kari than we have.”

General Daniels
finished speaking on his comms unit and leaned over the tactical
display, placing his hand directly in the middle.

“
What about the
station?
We can’t maneuver anywhere in
this system until it is dealt with.”

Lieutenant Powalk
walked around the central table and was forced to grab the side of
the unit as a powerful impact made the ship shudder. He almost lost
his footing but quickly recovered and moved into position. He
pointed at the shapes representing their own ships and then the
point where they had arrived.

“
If you look at the
distances involved, it’s pretty clear this station was built
specifically to monitor and control this point of space. Either
they want to stop their own people from activating it and traveling
through…”

“
Or they want to
stop the T’Kari from returning. If you ask me, they want this area
secured, and if that means firing on the T’Kari, so be it. We need
to change the situation and bring force to bear on them. At the
same time, we need the T’Kari to make contact and let them know
that we come in peace,” finished Admiral Anderson.

The schematic of the
station was becoming more and more detailed with every extra second
they were in the system. At the center of the object, a glowing orb
increased in intensity.”

“What’s that?” demanded the Admiral.

Captain Parker was
already turning to her crew and shouting out so that every single
officer could hear her. At the same time, the XO was barking orders
to the science team. On the main display, the object appeared to
split apart into two-dozen ultra high-speed missiles. Nobody seemed
to be paying any attention to either of the senior officers on the
ship. Admiral Anderson almost shouting before spotting the objects
on the display. It was quite clear why they were all suddenly
distracted.

“
Hypersonic
missiles, estimated time for impact, seventy-two
seconds
, Captain!” shouted the tactical
officer. “Sensors are picking up low yield nuclear payloads on
board.”

“
Atomics!” said the
Captain in a hushed tone. They were the most feared weapons used in
space combat
, as once embedded in the
armor of a ship, they could obliterate all but the most massive of
warships. The only defense was to explode them outside the
structure of the vessel. There would still be a superheated burst
from the warhead, but with no air in space, there would be no
damaging shockwave. All major warships were heavily shielded
against radiation and magnetic pulse attacks.

“Bring them down!” she ordered in a firm, yet calm
tone.

The ship’s XO was
more concerned with the m
assive energy
build up on the station. He heard the words from the Captain
though, and while still looking at the screen, pulled the nearest
command intercom from a support bulkhead. Of all of the officers in
the CIC, he was the grimmest. His face was pockmarked and rough to
look at, and he walked with a slight limp from an injury sustained
years before his military service. None of that had stopped him
from an exemplary career as a combat officer in the Navy. He
cleared his voice and called out over the public address system to
the crew.

“
Incoming
weapons fire, brace, brace, brace!”

Admiral Anderson
looked to his side where General Daniels was watching the attack
unfold before him. Until nearer to the enemy, there was absolutely
nothing for him to do but check on the status of his three
battalions, and make sure they were ready for action. He looked on
helplessly as he waited for something, anything to do.

“
Here it comes!”
cried the t
actical officer.

On the
mainscreen
, a great red line appeared,
running directly from the station and toward the Alliance warship.
It was thick, easily ten meters wide, and reflected from the odd
red particles that littered the region of space near the Rift
entrance. At first nothing happened, then came the alarms, and
shortly after that the sparks and fires. Just a second after this,
the entire ship shuddered as if it had just struck a massive
barrier.

“Captain, we have breaches on all levels!” cried
Lieutenant Powalk.

“
Emergency seals are
active, and ho
lding!” added the chief
engineer.

Before anybody could
respond
, the CIC flashed yellow, and a
dozen computer units exploded directly in front of their users.
Admiral Anderson was blasted to the wall with such ferocity that he
was unconscious before he even hit the floor of the large open
room. More systems exploded in a spectacular fashion, and the XO as
well as Commander D'Vani, were also struck down.

“
Admiral, missiles
are locked on. D
o I have permission to…”
said an unfamiliar voice, but it was nothing but a dull murmur to
him now.

“Admiral?”

His view went black
and quiet as more weapons fire continued to slam into the armor of
ANS Victory. It was a testament to her backup systems, defensive
turrets, and multi-layered armor that not a single deck had yet
been breached for longer than the internal seals could operate. At
the same time, the auto-repair units pumped sealant into ruptures
and cracks in the plates. But nothing could stop the energy from
the weapons wreaking havoc in the populated parts of the ship. A
great surge of electricity ripped through the enclosed space,
destroying electronics and displays with ease. Anyone touching the
equipment was instantly incapacitated. Captain Parker moved to the
tactical display, doing her best to avoid the injured or possibly
dying around her. It showed a great mess of a battle as every one
of their ships continued shooting at approaching rounds and
missiles.

That’s
it, we need to get out of this place, T’Kari
, be damned!

She pulled the
intercom to her lips
, but another blast
ripped through the ship. Shards of glass from the tactical display
disintegrated and flew at her like a cloud. She was dead before her
mutilated body crashed into the bulkhead. Of the command crew, only
General Daniels was still standing. Just four more officers
remained at their posts, including the tactical officer. He wiped
his forehead and felt a sting as he rubbed against a piece of
fractured glass on his forehead. Ignoring the trickle of blood
running down his face, he took the intercom from where the Captain
had tried to reach it. She’d left it active for the entire ship to
hear.

“This is General Daniels. I am taking command of the
ship. Prepare for battle, we are taking the fight to them!”

* * *

Lieutenant Ortega
watched the series of explosions rippling along the outer hull of
the leading Crusader class warships. He was forced to push maximum
power into his lateral thrusters to avoid a stream of metallic
rounds that were targeted directly at ANS Victory.

“
Alpha
S
quadron, form up on me. Defensive
pattern Delta,” he announced over the fighters’ intercom
system.

The fighters lurched
to the right and moved into a figure of eight pattern around the
fleet, along with the rest of the widely spaced out squadron behind
them. These sleek new craft were Hammerheads, the latest addition
to the Alliance Navy fighter arsenals. Only one squadron was active
with the taskforce, the rest being the standard twin engine
Lightning MK II fighters.

“Now!”

With a brief burst
of power, the fighter pushed forward and built up speed. Behind it
came the rest of the formation. Their engines glowed as they
expended substantial quantities of fuel to accelerate. The
Hammerhead fighters were the heaviest and most advanced fighters
ever created and had been designed like most of the new Alliance
hardware to be multi-use. With four engines and two crew sat
side-by side, they were easily fifty percent larger than a
Lightning. They carried more guns and ordnance, as well as a
mission bay that could carry supplies, heavy ordnance, or even a
complete combat unit of up to a dozen warriors. Sea Skua anti-ship
missiles were fitted above and below the wings, but what really
made the craft stand out were the gun systems. Turrets were fitted
above and below the main fuselage, with each fighter equipped with
automated weapon systems and 20mm Gatling flak cannons for defense
purposes. Slung under the chin was a pair of massive 60mm railguns,
each capable of destroying fighters and other spacecraft with
ease.

“
LT! 7
o’clock.”

Lieutenant Ortega
twisted his head and
instantly identified
the threat; a pair of hypersonic missiles was moving at high speed
toward ANS Victory. The scanner picked up a dozen more, each of
them launched in salvos from the station.

“Fighters, break and engage, don’t let them
through!”

He pulled the stick
back and twisted the thruster control. Small outlets across the
fighter spun the craft around even though it continued on its same
track. By ensuring the front of his fighter was directed toward the
missiles, he could give both the turrets a clear view. His
co-pilot, Sergeant Taka Asan removed the safeties from both
turrets. They opened fire immediately, sending vibrations through
the reinforced hull of the fighter. Four streams of magnetized
projectiles licked out and ripped the missiles apart. The next
three fighters peeled off and activated their own turrets. In less
than ten seconds, all but one missile had been destroyed.
Lieutenant Ortega linked to the tactical officer onboard the
targeted warship.