Machine Gods (Star Crusades Nexus, Book 2) (15 page)

“
That’s right,”
announced General Rivers.
“That means an
Alliance ship at any planet within three days! If we cannot do
this, then we will have to deny it to the enemy, because he sure as
hell will be doing it to us. Assuming, he doesn’t already run the
whole show.”

Teresa looked to Gun and nodded in agreement.

“
Makes sense, the
quicker we have
control of this thing,
the quicker we can find Spartan and the others.”

Gun
said nothing.

“
There is a good
chance we will run into either these Helions, or possibly forces
loyal to the Echidna if for any reason these aliens have already
folded. Space is about to get very complicated, and I don’t need to
tell any of you how serious this is. I want every Marine unit and
Navy ship ready for combat operations in the next twelve hours,
even the recruits waiting for their unit replacements and new
commanders. We are sending twelve warships, including six Crusader
class vessels and three Marine battalions. We are also bringing
science vessels, transports, and heavy equipment. Former private
security units from APS Corporation have been transferred to us,
and they will travel aboard the civilian ships to provide unit
security.”

The officers present
seemed unsurprised at the news. Teresa quickly
realized they must have been briefed well in advance, and
she started to wonder what else had been decided without her
knowledge.

“
Admiral Anderson
will be leading this operation
, and your
specific orders await you aboard your ships. If all goes well, in
just under a month, we will make contact with a second
civilization, expand our frontiers, and obtain knowledge to protect
our worlds.”

Most of those
present assumed the briefing was over, but before they could leave,
he nodded toward Teresa and Gun. They both shifted
suspiciously.

“
There is just one
last thing I want to say before you leave, and it concerns
Commander Gun.”

All eyes were now on the Jötnar leader.

“
I consider the
disbanding of the
Jötnar Battalion to be
nothing short of a crime. I saw firsthand what they were prepared
to do and still do for our citizens. When we return from Helios, it
is my intention to push for its reinstatement in the Alliance. I
know it is a long time in coming, but we could do with the support
and strength of the Jötnar, and I am getting sick of the racism and
bitterness still prevalent.”

This sent a surge of interest through the group. Gun
looked to Teresa with a confused expression on his face. She looked
equally surprised at the news.

“
In the meantime, we
have access to the skills and experience of two of our most
experienced leaders, Major Morato, formally of the Confederate
Marine Corps and of course, Commander Gun, leader of the Jötnar and
of the illustrious Jötnar Battalion. Both played a vital role in
the War, and both have been reinstated to Alliance service with
full Marine Corps ranks and privileges. They are joining the
headquarters of the brand new and under strength 17th Marine
Battalion aboard the new ships ANS Savage and ANS Sentry, where
their skills will whip them into shape prior to arriving at
Helios.”

The other officers
looked both amused and surprised at the posting
s. Teresa had no idea what to say with regards to the unit.
She’d not heard of them, but then things had changed substantially
since she’d been in the Corps. The General then turned his gaze
from the audience and directly to Gun and Teresa.

“
The 17th is out
here for training. I need the manpower though, and you know what I
need and how to get it. I expect the 17th to be a unit even Colonel
Spartan would be proud of, and before we enter the Helios
Gateway!”

To their surprise
the assembled officers started to clap. Teresa was at a loss as to
whether it was spontaneous or planned that way, but it was still a
pleasant surprise for a change. The two looked at each other, but
Teresa was speechless. The mention of Spartan had stunned her,
especially the reaction from the Navy and Marine Corps officers
present. She felt transported back to her days in the Corps, and a
feeling of wellbeing pushed up through her body. Gun, on the other
hand, had no problem in expressing himself and lifted both of his
massive arms up into the air.

“Yes!” he roared.

* * *

Jack Morato entered
the lush jungle themed training arena. It was his
final test as the Alliance military assessed his
performance and suitability for promotion in the Marine Corps at
the end of the first year. He was dressed in a gray cadet uniform
and carried an L48 training rifle. At his flanks moved two
similarly equipped cadets. The only difference between them was
that they were both women, and they were quickly tiring of his
attempts to get their interest. Over the last year, Jack had built
up quite a reputation, to the level that the female cadets either
sought him out, or made a special effort to avoid him.

“
I can hear them,”
w
hispered the shorter of the two women, a
young oriental woman with a deep scar running along her forehead.
Her name was Thai Qiu-Li, and Jack was still finding it hard to
match her shooting skills out on the range. Jack moved closer to
them but kept his head low. She indicated with her hand to the
right, and Jack moved in that direction before lying low behind a
tree. As he peered around its trunk, he marveled at the realism of
its structure. They might have only been on Terra Nova, but the
training area could easily have been Hyperion.

Hmm, is
it me
, or is this place
designed to train marines to fight on the territory of Gun and the
Jötnar?

Next to his parents,
there was no group of people Jack trusted more than his friends on
Hyperion. The Jötnar had become family to him, especially during
his troublesome childhood. He would have stayed in the APS
Corporation if it hadn’t been for the encouragement of his Jötnar
friend Wictred, who after taking part in battle for the first time
had developed a taste for combat. He looked up into the trees and
thought back to the hunting trips he’d taken with him and his
kin.

Yes, the
trees. T
hat is where they
will go.

Wictred
, the son of the famous
Jötnar commander known as Khan, and Hunn, the Champion of Hyperion,
were the first Jötnar to pass the entry requirements that so far
had managed to block access to his kin. In theory, the Jötnar were
allowed to join the Corps, the same as any other citizen of the
Alliance. In reality, however, Jack was convinced the increased
language and technical skills requirements had been put in place to
ensure no Jötnar would be able to pass the tests to enter the
Corps. It had taken a great deal of coaching by Jack to get them
both in, but they’d succeeded against all the odds. The sight of a
multi-legged machine interrupted his thought of his friends. It
reminded him of the things he’d seen nearly two years
ago.

Machines!

His first reaction
was to
open fire, but he remembered his
training and the voices of their instructors. The sight of a single
enemy was not an offering by the gods. It was frequently used as
bait, or might simply be a scout. Intelligence was the key, and he
needed more information before he pulled the trigger.

“
Over here,” he
sai
d quietly and then twisted to indicate
for the two cadets to get down as low as they could. Thai Qiu-Li
didn’t hesitate, but the second, a feisty woman in her late
twenties from Kerberos, refused to listen. Her name was Karen, and
they’d ended up arguing more and more over the last few months,
neither accepting the authority of the other. Instead of staying
down, she ran past him and vanished into the
undergrowth.

“
What the hell is
she doing?” Jack murmured to the remaining cadet. She shrugged in
reply, lifting up her rifle in case of any surprise visitors.
Almost on cue, there were shouts in the distance, followed by a
burst of gunfire.

“
Damn it, come on!”
he snapped, and the two lifted up from their hiding place and
followed Karen’s trail into the wooded area. Jack had spent many
years tracking and hunting with the Jötnar and had no trouble
following the route she’d used. They came to the edge of a
clearing, and he automatically stopped and took cover, ever wary of
the dangers presented by such a location.

“
What is it?”
Thai Qiu-Li asked.

Jack examined the
surroundings and the ground out in front of them. He nodded to the
lightly trampled ground. The plants had been flattened, but there
were no more footsteps moving out to the other side of the
clearing. There was a single empty magazine discarded on the ground
from an L48 rifle. Jack could see from where he stood that it still
contained ammunition. It must have been knocked from her weapon
rather than her needing more ammunition. That meant it could be
only one thing.

“An ambush!”

He twisted his head
around
, instantly wishing he had Wictred
or Hunn with him. Their senses were incredibly attuned, and there
was little chance of any creature or machine ever sneaking up on
them.

We have
to keep o
n though. We’re on a
tight schedule,
he thought, remembering
the priority for the mission was to secure the communications array
within the allotted time. Points would be deducted for losses, but
not meeting the main objective would result in a failure of the
final test.

“
Jack,”
Thai Qiu-Li said as she moved around the
clearing. She was quiet and stealthy, much better than Jack
actually. She made it half way around before stopping. She froze as
if something had just been pumped into her veins. Jack looked at
her with a confused expression, but spotted her slowly lifting up
her rifle and taking careful aim. Jack knew what was going to
happen and turned his head a fraction, just in time to see the
shape appear behind him. Jack saw it with his peripheral vision as
his head was still pointing to the side of the clearing. He rolled
over to his side, lifted up his rifle, and pulled the trigger in
one smooth motion. The muzzle flash from the training rounds was
impressive, yet it took half a magazine before the multi-limbed
training drone dropped to the ground lifelessly. Images of the
machines he’d fought aboard the medical ship a long time before
came rushing back to him. Worse were the memories of the torn and
mutilated bodies.

“Stay down!” he cried, still suspicious of what was
happening.

The briefing had
been to locate a missing team at the communications relay inside
the jungle area
, and these machines must
have been sent out as scouts. Now that he had used his weapon, he
had announced their arrival. They had two other three-man teams on
the same mission, yet Jack was the only one with any kind of field
experience in the jungle. While the others were undoubtedly
scanning the ground, Jack knew full well that the real dangers
lurked in the trees. As if on cue, Thai Qiu-Li called out to
him.

“Up there!”

The young cadet
pointed her rifle up and opened fire, hitting another of the
machines square in its center-mass. The training rounds were
actually low velocity, rubberized projectiles that struck with a
dull thud. The machine must have been waiting patiently in the
lower branches for them to pass by underneath. For a second, Jack
wondered how it could do that without causing injury to the cadets,
but then remembering this was the final test. It wasn’t unusual for
cadets to leave with broken bones and limbs. There were rumors that
occasionally cadets were even killed in this part of the test. He
doubted that, but he didn’t want to find out by having the thing
landing on him.

“
Good job,”
h
e said calmly.

The device flashed
several times and fell to the ground, its sensor suit registering
the hits from the weapon and mock smoke pumping from its flanks, as
if it had sustained major internal damage. Jack remembered how they
were destroyed in reality and recalled that the things were capable
of fighting on, even after sustaining heavy damage.

“
So, Jack, what
now?
Where is she?” asked Thai
Qiu-Li.

Jack looked around
their position but could see no more signs of the machines. He was
tempted to stay and look for their missing cadet
, but he knew the mission was the priority.

“
She’s trained for
this. Right now, we have four minutes left to reach the objective,
or the mission is lost. We finish the mission, and then we go back
for her.”

“
What?”
Thai Qiu-Li snapped.

“
You heard me. This
mission would be critical to a colony. Remember, the communications
array is the only way we have of sending out a distress signal to
the passing ship. If we fail, then every single marine and civilian
on this rock will die. We are all expendable for this
one.”

Thai Qiu-Li shook her head in disagreement.

“
We can still do
this and save her. You think you’ll pass by abandoning half your
crew. Didn’t your father do that on Euryale back in the
Uprising?”