Omega Force 5: Return of the Archon (13 page)

“This will be the operations center, as Connimon no doubt already told you,” Meluuk said. Jason noticed that the gelten’s arms were massively overdeveloped, far more muscular than any non-warrior he had met so far. After seeing the look of awe on his face as he watched Crusher, Mazer, and Morakar walk around the area, he thought he understood why. “It is an honor to have you all here. If there’s anything you need, don’t hesitate to ask.”

“We’ve had a long flight,” Morakar said. “It is currently early morning, local time, and we should all get some rest.”

“Of course,” Meluuk said, almost bowing before stopping himself. “If you’ll follow me I’ll show you to where we’ve prepared temporary barracks.” They all followed the tall gelten deeper into the warehouse until they came to a pre-fab structure that was free-standing near the southwest corner of the building. The unit was complete with sleeping quarters, showers, and their equipment laid out in front of their bunks. “I will be standing watch while you sleep.”

“You won’t be the only one,” Jason said, looking over his shoulder at the gelten. “Lucky.”

“Of course, Captain,” Lucky said, turning to make his way out of the temporary barracks. When he had left, Meluuk turned to Jason.

“I’ve never had the honor of meeting an actual battlesynth,” he said. “Or any synth, for that matter. Is there anything I should be aware of?”

“Don’t piss him off,” Kage said as he flopped down on his bunk. “He’ll tear your arms off.”

“Ignore him,” Jason said. “Lucky is a soldier. Treat him with the according respect. He’s also my crewmember, a personal friend of Lord Felex, and a free-thinking being. He’s not a machine or a tool to be ordered around.”

“I wouldn’t dream of giving him insult, Captain Burke,” Meluuk said, still eyeing Kage uncertainly.

“Good,” Jason said, patting the other on the shoulder.

“Feel free to engage him in conversation,” Crusher called. “He likes to meet new people, but he’s a little shy. You have to be persistent to get him out of his shell.” This time Meluuk actually did bow before leaving the barracks and pulling the door closed after him. Jason waited a few beats before speaking.

“You know Lucky’s going to kick your ass for that, right? Meluuk will follow him around and drive him insane the entire time we’re sleeping.”

“That’s the idea,” Crusher said with a smile. “It’s what he gets for selling me out about the race when we picked you up on Aracoria.” Jason opened his mouth to argue, thought better of it, and went to his bunk to lie down. Mazer was already snoring by the time he kicked his boots off and stretched out. Tomorrow night the mission would hit the operational stage and there would be no easy way to turn back. Although even if he wanted to call it off now it would be problematic. They were dependent on the sympathizers here to get them off-world and the
Phoenix
was on the other side of Galvetor Prime with no way to call it in if he got into trouble. As he drifted off to sleep, his last thought was that he may be using the powerful gunship as a crutch, always depending on her speed and firepower to bail him out of situations he had planned poorly for. Maybe that was why he was so apprehensive now.

*****

Jason’s neural implant told him he’d been asleep for seven hours. He hadn’t authorized it to try and link up with the local nexus over operational security concerns, so he wasn’t aware of what the local time was. He rolled out of his bunk, restless after so much sleep. When they were aboard the
Phoenix
and there was no real day or night, he tended to take a series of two or three hour catnaps throughout the day. He found it broke up the monotony a bit and allowed him to be up for significant portions of both watch shifts.

All the warriors were now snoring loudly and Kage was making a weird, warbling sound in the back of his throat, so Jason slipped on his boots and padded quietly out of the barracks. The warehouse was still dimply lit and the lack of windows made it impossible to tell if it was day or night, but he assumed it had to be mid-morning given when they had arrived. He saw Meluuk walking the perimeter and strode off towards him. Lucky was nowhere in sight.

“Good morning, I think,” Jason called as he approached.

“It is indeed and good morning to you as well, Captain Burke,” Meluuk said.

“Where is Lucky?”

“He went out to inspect the neighboring buildings a few hours ago to ensure that they were empty as they are supposed to be,” Meluuk said. “He should be back soon.”

“Is it wise for him to be out there?” Jason asked with a frown. Getting caught before they even started wasn’t what he had in mind when he signed on for this mission.

“There is little risk,” Meluuk said. “This area has practically no surveillance and his sensors would be able to pick up someone, or something, hiding in one of the adjacent flats better than our own visual search would have.” Jason couldn’t fault his logic so he let the matter drop.

“Can I ask you what may be a personal question?” he asked.

“Certainly,” Meluuk said somewhat hesitantly.

“This is my first time around any geltens other than Crusher … Felex … and I notice that you’re much larger than anyone else I’ve seen that isn’t in the warrior class,” Jason said. “Is this something natural, or from conditioning?”

“I am somewhat taller than the average here on Galvetor, but my size is also from near constant training,” Meluuk said with a hint of pride in his voice. “The day is coming when the classes won’t live separately, as if we were different species. When that day comes I want to be ready.”

“For what?” Jason asked. “Surely this abolishing of the class division wouldn’t result in a war. Would it?”

“You misunderstand me, Captain,” Meluuk said with a patient smile. “When I am permitted, it would be my greatest honor to apply for entry into the Legions. I was not blessed with the warriors’ strength and abilities from birth, but I hope to overcome that through hard work.” A few things clicked in Jason’s head and confirmed his suspicions when he saw the awe Meluuk seemed to regard the other warriors with. “So allow me a question, Captain. You’ve served with Lord Felex since his exile?”

“Not quite,” Jason said. “We were both captives at one point and had to rely on each other to gain our freedom. Neither of us had reason to trust the other, but we succeeded and got along well enough together so we all decided to make the arrangement permanent.”

“Is it true what I’ve heard about your Omega Force? That you and Lord Felex fight for the oppressed?” There was a desperation in Meluuk’s voice that Jason picked up on. The hero worship of Crusher in some circles had almost reached cult status and his real actions while away from Galvetor had become legend. He was gaining valuable insight into the gelten psyche the more he was around them, and a lot of what he was learning explained some of Crusher’s more unpredictable behavior.

“It’s our primary mission,” Jason affirmed. “There are a lot of beings out there who are powerless to defend themselves. That’s where we come in.” He could see Meluuk swell with pride. His next question was cut off as Morakar emerged from the barracks.

“Is there anything to eat in this hovel?” he practically bellowed.

“At once, sir,” Meluuk called back, hustling away towards the stacks of equipment cases and work benches. Morakar nodded to Jason and then began walking off the perimeter of the building for himself.

“Captain,” a voice said from behind him, causing him to jump.

“Damnit, Lucky!”

“My apologies, Captain,” Lucky said. “I did not mean to frighten you.”

“You didn’t frighten me.”

“You jumped, as if in fear,” Lucky said in his deadpan delivery.

“What do you want?” Jason said irritably.

“Nothing in particular,” Lucky answered. “I completed a search of the surrounding area and found nothing of concern. My scans revealed that, aside from Meluuk’s vehicle, there has been almost no traffic to this area recently.”

“That’s good,” Jason said. “I’m trying to take it on faith that they know what they’re doing, but I keep reminding myself they’ve never been in a live operation and covert isn’t exactly their strong suit.”

“Agreed.”

“So what do you think of the geltens, Lucky?” Jason asked after a moment. “Now that we’ve spent some time around a group of them.”

Lucky considered the question before answering. “They live in a world of extremes,” he said. “They are capable of incredible feats of architecture and artistic expression, and also horrific levels of violence and savagery. Despite their reputation as hardened warriors, they are an overly emotional species, which may explain my earlier observations. It also makes them prone to melodrama and hyperbole in their interactions with each other.”

“That’s along the lines of what I was thinking,” Jason said with a nod. “You’ve said it a bit more succinctly, of course.”

“Of course,” Lucky agreed, drawing another annoyed look form Jason. The pair stood around until Mazer and Crusher made an appearance, leaving only Kage in the barracks still asleep.
Not the least bit surprising.

“Crusher,” Jason called. “Wake Kage up, we need to get started on preps for tonight’s recon.” Crusher just smiled and turned to move back into the makeshift building. As Jason expected, there was soon what could only be described as a ruckus.

“What the hell!” he heard Kage scream, but before that there was a loud clanging of metal on concrete. Afterwards there was the maniacal laughter of a Galvetic warrior. As Jason and Lucky approached the group, Crusher emerged from the barracks with a beatific smile splitting his face.

“I take it you didn’t just shake him awake?” Before Crusher could answer, an infuriated Veran stormed out of the barracks, although a being less than one hundred and thirty pounds didn’t “storm” out of anywhere with much authority. He was pointing an accusing finger at Crusher with one hand while trying to pull up his pants and fasten them with the other three.

“Captain, this asshole kicked my bed across the bay while I was still in it. I want him punished,” Kage declared dramatically.

“What would you have me do?” Jason asked, trying not to laugh at his friend.

“What?” Kage asked incredulously. “I don’t know. You’re the captain … think of something.”

“I’ll give it serious thought,” Jason assured him, trying to give him his most earnest “Captain” expression. Kage just stared at him a moment before walking away, muttering to himself.

“Crusher, why do you insist on tormenting him just before we need him to perform a vital role in a mission to keep us alive or out of a prison?” Jason asked.

“You know … I’m not sure,” Crusher admitted before slapping Jason on the shoulder. “Let’s grab something to eat and get this final brief out of the way.”

“I know this prison is a few hundred years old,” Jason mused while looking though his binoculars, “but why does it still look like it? I don’t see much in the way of improvements.”

“Casguard was designed for the warrior class when we all still lived on Galvetor,” Mazer explained, looking through a pair of similar enhanced binoculars. Both pairs were equipped to view in multiple spectrums and provide analysis of anomalous readings.

“That doesn’t really answer my question,” Jason said. The pair were sitting in a generic aircar on a seldom used side road that overlooked the prison a mile and a half away. They had popped off some panels to make it look like a breakdown to the unlikely passersby. While Jason’s presence would be difficult to explain, it wouldn’t raise much suspicion as Galvetor did have its contingent of alien guests. If Crusher were to be seen and recognized, however, it would be disastrous not only him but for the entire mission.

“If a warrior is sentenced to this place, his honor dictates that he serves out that term with dignity. Nobody would dream of trying to escape. In modern times, the facility is used to house mostly normal geltens. The walls and cells are more than enough to hold them,” Mazer explained. Jason was glad he was partnered up with the younger brother this night. Morakar was a bit more harsh and brooding than Mazer, not necessarily a bad thing but not exactly pleasant company for a night of boring recon of a stationary target.

“That makes sense,” Jason said. “But even then, other than a couple of guard towers, I don’t see much in the way of surveillance on the outside.”

“Isn’t that better for us?”

“Yes, but I’ve long ago learned to distrust things that look too easy,” Jason said, continuing to sweep the complex and memorize the details. He knew the interior was much more secure than the outside looked from their multiple intel briefs. The cells were arranged in rows and had heavy steel bars that even Lucky would be unable to simply bend out of the way. The floors along the walkways were also pressure sensitive and individual footsteps were tracked when the cells were all closed and locked; even an increase in walking speed from one of the guards would trigger an alarm and bring more into the area. There were also autonomous, airborne bots that patrolled the entire cellblock in random patterns and would look in on occupied cells to confirm bio signs and scan the room with lasers to ensure the physical dimensions were the same from lockdown.

“We’ll stay another hour and then move to our next position,” Mazer said, moving to keep an eye out for approaching vehicles and letting Jason concentrate on the prison. The next thirty minutes passed in comfortable silence before Mazer spoke up again. “I say this with no intent of giving insult,” he began, “but is Kage as … flighty … as he appears?”

“He’s just excitable,” Jason said a bit defensively. “He’s solid though. We’ve been in more than a few scrapes we thought we weren’t going to walk away from and he’s come through every time.”

“Good enough for me,” Mazer said with a shrug. “I will admit to you, Jason, that I’m nearly overcome by jealousy of you.”

“Me?” Jason said, surprised. “I can’t imagine what for.”

“We train from the time we’re children to the time we die to be the best individual warrior we can be,” Mazer said. “While we organize ourselves into legions, we’re very much in competition with each other and want nothing more than to apply what we’ve learned in real combat, but for generations we’ve done nothing but train. There’s a certain ideology that is also imparted to us, and it’s very much embodied in the mission you and your crew have taken on without being asked.