Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (36 page)

“Yeah, I have twenty or so of them, all fully
functional. Why?”

“
Take out her
fighter bays. They’ve been launching a new fighter every sixty
seconds. If you can stop them sending anymore, it will allow us to
send you more marines.”

Gun couldn’t have looked happier.

“General, give me five minutes, then send in your
fighters.”

The General saluted
to the new commander of the 17th.”

“
Good luck,
Commander.”

* * *

Teresa climbed
through the melted bulkhead structure and into the cylindrical
passageway. The walkway was much larger than on any Alliance ship.
She was reminded of a cave, based on its overall size and shape.
Like the latest Crusader class warships, this vessel was using a
form of artificial gravity. Even so, it was still less than she was
used to, and it slowed their progress.

“
Major, sensors are
detecting no life signs within a hundred meters,” said Sergeant
Arina Nova in a hushed voice.

Teresa nodded, “Affirmative, keep moving.”

As the first unit on
the ship, the single squad had pushed deep inside the aft. More
marines had managed to make it, but nowhere near as many as had
been planned.

“
Major,” said
Commander Gun, his voice seeming to be so far away on their ship,
“The last wave has been turned back. It’s just your three platoons
of 1st Company and a single platoon from 3rd Company.”

“What the hell! Where are the rest?”

“
The Guardian ship
has launched fighters, but don’t worry, I’m working on that. See if
you can do something about her engines or weapons. The tech teams
here have this for you.”

On the left of her
visor a schematic appeared. It was a rough plan of the ship, based
on sensor scans of the exterior plus the data sent by from the
sensor feeds on the armor worn by the marines.

“
This is one big
ship,” s
he said, forgetting that Gun
could hear her.

“Yeah, about the size of a tanker, maybe
bigger.”

She skimmed over the
details and spotted the locations of the main weapons fitted toward
the rear of the ship. It was the closest primary system that she
could find. Dark green spots indicated the positions of her marines
at various points in the aft.

“Gun, I’m splitting my forces. One platoon will
strike the engines, the rest will move inside the ship and target
any primary systems we find.”

“
Good, I am
preparing a final wave to assist you. When the fighters are thinned
out, I’ll lead them in.”

Teresa looked ahead,
ever vigilant and expecting trouble. She was sure she saw something
moving, yet the scanner on her armor showed nothing. Simply by
moving her retinas, she selected each of her units and sent command
directives to all the platoons. It was quicker than using audio
commands through the intercom. Something caught her eye, and she
glanced back to see the marines from 1st Company making their way
inside. She nodded and then looked back in the direction her own
unit was heading.

“
Marines, check your
visuals.
I don’t like this.”

She lifted her
coilgun up
to her shoulder at the exact
same moment that the great machine burst out from the darkness. It
actually dropped down from the ceiling, roughly thirty meters away.
It was squat in shape and protected by smooth, ceramic looking
plates from head to toe. It moved like it was alive, but she
couldn’t see a single hint of living matter anywhere on it.
Sergeant Nova opened fire first and was followed by the rest of the
marines at the front. The crimson striped marines put down a
withering hail of fire that sent sparks and flashes off around its
armor. It must have changed its mind, as the machine moved to its
right and behind the covered provided by the thickly ribbed
tunnel.

“Gun, we’ve got hostiles down here.”

She checked the schematics as they continued to
expand with details from the marines.

Okay, so the passageway reaches an intersection
after this thing, then it splits up. It must be trying to stop us
reaching the junction.

The machine leaned
out from the cover and aimed its right arm at the marines. Yellow
flames flashed and
dozens of projectiles,
each the size of a man’s finger, ripped through the marines. Their
armor deflected most of the fire, yet two of the guards took
impacts in the faces and were slammed onto their backs, now nothing
more than lifeless corpses.

“Gun?” called out Teresa again on the intercom.

“
Understood.
I will be there when I can. You know what to
do.”

Teresa smiled grimly to herself; it was exactly the
kind of thing she would expect him to say. She took a step forward,
her weapon raised and ready.

“Marines, maximum power, forward!”

The surviving guards
of Sergeant Nova’s squad moved closely around their leader,
ensuring they could shoot while doing their best to present
themselves as human shields against potential fire from the tunnel.
The machine tried to return fire, but the coilgun of the marines
utilized their high-power mode to tear chunks off it. By the time
Teresa reached it, the marines had torn it apart and were moving on
to secure the intersection. She stopped, examining it for a
moment.

This must be another one of their warriors.

A symbol on its
thigh caught her eye. She leaned in
for a
closer look and saw the coiled serpent of Echidna. It was similar
to the iconography used by the Zealots and their allies back in the
Uprising. A scream made her spine tingle, and she turned around,
trying to identify the source. Instead, she identified man-sized
Biomechs, but with the shape and muscle tone of the Jötnar, and
carrying firearms. They appeared from hidden points throughout the
passageway and fell upon her marines.

“
Close quarter
drill!” shouted Arina, remembering their training.

Unlike any other
battalion in this part of space, the 17th had spent as much time
practicing hand-to-hand combat as they did their shooting. It was
unusual, but both Teresa and Gun had demanded it. All it took was a
tap on the side of the coilgun to release the retracted bayonet. In
seconds, each in the passageway had both coilgun and a razor sharp
spear. The bayonets extended over thirty centimeters and ran into a
hardened tip that was perfectly suited for stabbing into armor.
Teresa would have been impressed if two of the Biomechs hadn’t
leapt at her.

“
Major!” cried out
Arina, but it was too late.

The Biomech brought
its rifle down on her shoulder, striking the armor with a blow that
almost crushed her collar. She dropped to one knee, using all her
strength to stay upright. A quick jabbing motion from her right saw
her coilgun thrust upward in a savage move that punched the spike
bayonet into the thing’s armpit. It pushed through the thick skin
with ease and up into the base of the skull. The creature screamed
and flailed before dropping to the ground, still shaking from the
killing move. A corporal stopped next to her, firing a burst at
another Biomech, and then helped her to stand upright.

“
I’m okay,
Corporal.”

She placed her left
armored boot on the Biomech’s stationary head and yanked the spiked
rifle from it skull. Thick blood oozed from the wound, and she
noted with satisfaction how it died. It was almost enough to dull
the throbbing in her collar and shoulder. It didn’t feel broken,
but it was certainly badly bruised. She tried to lift her arm, but
the pain was too much when she lifted the rifle to her shoulder.
She spotted the Corporal looking at her.

“
Keep moving.
W
e need the engines and guns taken care
of.”

As the Alliance made its first tentative steps into
the Helios System, a group of fledgling colonies struggled to
expand back in the so recently discovered T’Karan System. The
T’Kari had welcomed the Alliance with open arms, and the Jötnar had
been amongst the first to set up colonies. The most prominent of
these was on Luthien, the small iron silicate world that most
considered inhospitable. In the past, it had been the homeworld of
the T’Kari, a place of learning and advanced technology. The war
against the biomechanical enemy reduced the cities to dust and
polluted the atmosphere for hundreds of years. To the Jötnar, it
became a second home after the jungle world of Hyperion.

The New Colonies

Another explosion
ripped through the bow of ANS Victory, sending any unfortunate
crewmembers still in the forward sections out into the void of
space. The outer plating was torn apart as though a great iron fist
had smashed through and pulled back the exposed segments. Massive
bulkhead sections melted into slag from the incredible heat
produced by the thermite missiles. Very few of them made it past
the fighter screen, and even fewer penetrated the point-defense
turrets. The ship rocked from the fearsome impact, and the officers
in the CIC were forced to grasp the emergency grab rails dotted
throughout the ship.

“
Brace, brace,
brace!” came a random voice toward the front.

Admiral Anderson
watched in horror at the scenes of carnage when three more thermite
missiles struck different sections of the ship. None detonated
until they had embedded themselves deep inside the plating before
releasing their superheated warheads. With each explosion, came a
thump through his body like a burst of adrenalin. He had an even
greater concern, and it came in the shape of a small group of
Helion ships that was heading toward the space battle at great
speed. They’d been tracking them now for over an hour, and he had
no idea as to their plans.

“Get me T’Kron on the horn!” he snapped, his
patience starting to wear thin.

Commander D'Vani moved his hands around the display
and soon brought up the video feed of the T’Kari exile.

“Admiral!”

Anderson turned and looked directly into his
face.

“
T’Kron,
I need something on those ships. What can you
do?”

T’Kron twisted his head and spoke with one of his
crew before looking back.

“Admiral, we’ve sent them information on why we are
here. They are receiving us but are refusing to communicate
directly back with us.”

Anderson’s face
started to redden, and it took all of his self-control to keep
calm.

“
Send them a new
message, T’Kron. We are here in peace, and we’re enemies of this
biomechanical enemy of yours. Either they help us stop this ship,
or God help me, I’ll bring a thousand more ships and burn Helios to
ash.”

T’Kron looked at
him
but said nothing. His expression was
cold and static as though he was a mere sculpture. Finally, he
replied.

“You would do that?”

“Just tell him!”

Anderson turned back
to his own officers, doing his best to hide his look of
exasperation from them. General Daniels seemed far too busy
commanding the combat mission onboard the Guardian ship to even
notice what he had been saying. His tactical display looked like a
giant war-game, with blocks of marines at certain points on the
enemy ship. Two of his officers stood alongside him to help with
the communications. Admiral Anderson spotted him for a second and
noted his grim expression. The General saw his stare.

“
Admiral, the
Guardian ship has sustained major damage to its hull and armor. I
have one platoon from the 3rd Company moving up a pair of
passageways and destroying anything they find. So far, they’ve
managed to destroy seven weapon control units and a large number of
Biomech warriors.”

“What about the rest?”

The General moved the map slightly to show the
positions of the three platoons under the command of Major
Morato.

“
The entire 1st
Company under Major Morato has split up and is moving toward the
bow.”

“
Why?”
Anderson asked.

General Daniels pointed at a pulsing location about
ninety meters from the bow of the ship. They are moving in on this
location.”

Commander D'Vani
brought up a detailed schematic of the area covered by the marines
so far. At one point, it showed a chamber the size of a training
hall. Multiple passageways led to it, as well as pulsing rods that
extended to all the main areas of the ship.

“My scans indicate this is where a massive amount of
power is being generated.”

“For what?”

The Chief Engineer shrugged.

“
I couldn’t say with
any great certainty. It’s the most significant location in the
entire ship though. More importantly, the machines onboard are
defending it at all costs.”

Anderson nodded,
looking back at the main display in the front of the CIC. The
streaks of heavy gunfire ran out into Guardian ship, sending
patterns of yellow flashes along the hull. He witnessed massive
heat blooms and explosions, as yet more blasts from the Alliance
warships’ particle beams exploded layer upon layer of its
armor.

“
This is going to
take a while, but I think we’re getting there,” he said
calmly.

But
something unsettled him. He tapped at the ship
on the display.