Extinction, page 7
part #5 of Col Sec Series
“There’s no way of knowing precisely how many,” Hacker replied as he thought about it.
“We’ll just have to keep killing the fuckers when they show their ugly faces then,” Cowboy said, his words coming out almost as a snarl.
“Actually, there might be a way,” Hacker said after a moment’s pause. “We could contact the Silver Dart and ask the Captain to use the ship’s sensors to scan the interior of the facility for life signs. The sensors will be able to detect our trackers implanted in our NIs so he can eliminate us and anything else he picks up we either squash or avoid. It’s as simple as that.”
“Things are never that simple Hacker, you should know that by now,” Guardian said, then added, “Besides, to contact him we’d have to access a comm. channel with our NIs and that would be bad, remember?”
“Hmm, sorry boss,” Hacker said sheepishly.
“No need, if there was a way to contact him though, it would be extremely useful,” Guardian said, and by that Hacker knew he had just been given a suggestion to come up with a way of communicating with the Silver Dart without actually saying anything.
Before Hacker had the chance to actually think about the problem an almighty crash rent the air as the hatch cover was torn off its fastenings by sheer brute force and thrown across the corridor.
“No time for that now,” Cowboy observed as the screams and shouts of several Berserkers was heard as they poured out of the hatch to come after them.
The Red Team began to run with no idea where to go, just aware they needed to get away from this latest bunch of psychotic killing machines.
As they ran down the corridor they saw a glass walled enclosure to one side of them.
“There it is, the C and C,” Hacker said.
Up ahead they saw an entrance to it, what caught their attention though was the large bloodied figure of a man struggling to get to a control panel.
“Who the fuck is that?” Cowboy uttered when he saw all the blood.
“Looks like he’s had a run in with our friendly neighbourhood psychos,” Hellcat commented.
“He’s heading for a control console. We need to stop him,” Guardian said when he saw where the bloodied figure was heading.
Behind them the Berserkers were gaining on them. Guardian turned and sprayed a series of pulsed plasma bolts at them. The first figure was caught full in the chest with the high-energy stream. The kinetic transference of energy from the bolts stopped the Berserker in his tracks forcing the others to dodge around the flailing form as it fell.
Guardian did a quick headcount and there were still another eight of the homicidal clones rushing towards them.
“Find cover and fast,” he said and the rest of the team ran for the C and C.
* * * * *
Nikolas heard the gunfire and turned to see the Red Team advancing on him. He increased his efforts to reach the control console. Trailing blood behind him he dragged his aching and bloody limbs across the floor into the C and C. He saw the console in front of him as his vision began to swim once more. His efforts caused more blood loss, weakening him further. Every step increased his heart rate, which pumped more blood out of his body depleting his already low reserves.
Another tremor shook the facility, the floor undulated beneath his feet throwing him off balance and he stumbled and fell heavily on his side. Blood smeared across the floor where he landed and skidded a few feet. Pain lanced through his body threatening to overload his senses once more. He managed to remain conscious, gritted his teeth against the sensations smashing through his defences. When the floor stopped shaking he tried to regain his footing. His only consolation was that the tremor had slowed his followers too.
Stumbling to his already shaky feet he turned back towards the console. The tremors had turned him around and he had fallen a few feet further away. He began to drag his dying body towards the console once more.
* * * * *
The Berserkers had been stopped in their tracks by the tremor also, which gave the Red Team a slight advantage. They regained their feet faster than their followers and were off towards the inner chamber of the C and C.
Every few steps one of them would turn and fire on the run with their pulse rifles, working instinctively as a team and each time they fired another Berserker would go down. By the time they reached the door to the C and C there were still five of the hulking brutes chasing them with no sign of them slowing down.
“Get in there now, see if we can barricade it somehow against them,” Guardian ordered.
They entered the room and immediately searched for somewhere to use as cover against the five Berserkers who were intent on killing everyone who was not the same as them. Cowboy aimed his Remm at the doorway whilst the rest sought out cover.
A Berserker appeared in the doorway, spittle flying from his slack-jawed maw of a mouth as he screamed in fury at them. Cowboy calmly shot him in the head dropping the large clone like a rock.
“Here they come,” he shouted and the others turned and took up firing positions alongside him.
* * * * *
Nikolas heard the soldiers enter the C and C after him but he did not allow his focus to deviate from his objective. The console was right in front of him but by the sound of the running feet behind him he knew he would not make it.
He felt despondency grip him like a vice as he realised he had failed, but then when he heard the voice shouting to warn them his heart leapt. They would have to defend themselves against his fellow clones that had been infected and all thoughts of stopping him would be forgotten for a moment. A moment though was all he needed.
Within a few more steps he would reach the console. It had already been programmed to transmit the code to the array on the roof of the facility. All he had to do was flip the switch.
Finally he reached the console. He chanced a glance behind him to see all the Marines facing the opposite direction to greet the threat from his fellow clones.
With a sigh of absolute satisfaction he reached forward to flip the switch.
18
1.15pm
In space above Tarsus II two things happened almost simultaneously.
Firstly, a hyperspace window opened and the Sparta re-entered normal space through it. She took up a course that would take her over the facility. The Sparta was a cruiser and fit for entering the atmosphere of a planet but with Tarsus II being a moon with no atmosphere it meant she could glide over the facility using thrusters only to act against the lower gravity.
Secondly, another hyperspace window opened and another, much smaller and faster vessel came through and made a direct line for the facility on an attack run.
On the Sparta Captain Bennett sat upright in the command chair when he saw the other craft. “Who is that?” he asked no one in particular. “Hail that ship,” he ordered then said, “And get me Captain Storm.”
* * * * *
Apollo sat in the pilot’s chair of the small craft. It was a sleek shuttle that had FTL capabilities. Based on an experimental design for a mid-range fighter that MaxCorp had been working on it was new in OMEGA’s arsenal. When the configuration was picked up by Sparta’s sensors it was not recognised, causing their response time to not be as quick as it should be. It was an early design that had the Jump Drive engines built on struts to gain maximum output for the small craft. When the jump had been completed the Jump Drive engines or pods could be retracted into the outer hull of the craft to make it more streamlined so it could attain greater speeds.
Apollo had the co-ordinates for his attack run and his mission was simple. Re-enter normal space, travel to co-ordinates and begin attack run on facility. Continue the attack until said facility was destroyed then return to base. Under no circumstances must he leave the facility until it is destroyed and when he does he must ensure he is not followed.
On face value the orders were simple and concise; the execution of which may prove a little more difficult.
Apollo knew what he had to do so he took manual control of the small craft and pointed her straight at his target.
* * * * *
Guardian saw the wounded clone reach the console and he knew his intention.
“Hellcat stop that man,” he shouted at her. As she was the closest to him she had the best chance of stopping him.
She turned and fired her Remm at the console. The pulsed plasma bolts scored a path up the console destroying whatever they hit in a shower of sparks and tiny explosions. Nikolas moved out of the way by sheer instinct and roared his rage at not completing his mission after being so close.
The code had invaded his mind and he had fought it off with all his prodigious will but since being wounded his strength had waned to the point that his mental acuity was unable to fend it off any longer. He turned to face the onrushing form of the woman and by this time the code had him in its insidious grip. When his opaline green eyes saw her they were the eyes of a Berserker.
Hellcat saw the look on his face change and knew what had happened, but by that time it was too late she was almost on him. She leapt into the air attempting a full-length dive tackle that Nikolas saw coming but did nothing to evade; instead he met it head on. He stood his ground, all pain gone now as his brain refused to recognise it. They collided, Hellcat’s shoulder striking him in the abdomen the force of which slammed his back into the console.
He screamed in rage at being forced back and he slammed his damaged arm down against her back. The impact was minimal, as he had almost no control over the limb.
She brought the butt of her Remm around and upwards to strike Nikolas in the side of his head. The blow had enough force behind it to cut the larger man’s cheek sending a spurt of blood across the room as his head was turned. She followed up the blow by ramming the butt into Nikolas’ face as he turned his head back to glare at her. Teeth and blood went flying in all directions from the impact and she was able to extricate herself from his hold. She took a couple steps back from him and as he roared his fury at her and was about to launch himself across the distance towards her, she shot him full in the face at point blank range. The shot blew his already damaged head apart in a gory shower that covered the console behind before his dead body slipped to the floor.
She breathed a sigh of relief, as she knew she had prevented him from transmitting the signal to the array and a smile played across her lips.
As she turned back to the rest of her team suddenly remembering they were not out of the woods just yet, she saw Cowboy dispatch the last of the Berserkers.
The C and C resembled a charnel house as bodies littered the blood-splattered floor.
Guardian said, “Right Hacker get to work, disable the connection to the array.”
“On it boss,” Hacker said as he ran over to the console. “That might be a problem boss,” he said after a cursory glance over the equipment.
“How so?” Guardian asked as he went over to him.
“The console has been shot to shit. I can’t access the controls necessary to do it, not from here anyway,” he explained quickly.
“Is it necessary, if the console is shot to shit like you say?” asked Hellcat concerned.
“We have to make sure that no one else can access it at a later date, just in case the EMP is not delivered,” Guardian said.
Just then another tremor hit the facility. This one was the worst yet. The Red Team were thrown about like rag dolls in a blender. Guardian crashed into the wall, Hellcat was thrown back and landed on the dead body of Nikolas while Cowboy collided with Hacker before they too fell to the floor.
“Holy shit that was a bad one,” Cowboy said once the floor was stable once more.
“Feels like our time has run out,” Guardian said as he got to his feet.
* * * * *
On the bridge of the Sparta Captain Tyler Bennett watched as the sleek fighter headed down towards the facility on the surface of the moon.
“Why won’t they answer?” he muttered.
“Sir, they’re on an attack vector, we’re getting weapons hot signatures from them. It’s clear they’re going to fire on the facility, what are your orders sir?” said the first officer, Commander Ed Crow, a stalwart of Col Sec Fleet and the most experienced officer on board.
Bennett turned away from the forward view screen that displayed the image of the craft heading for the surface and said, “Take it out.”
Crow turned to the weapons officer and gave the order to open fire.
* * * * *
Apollo had one eye on the flight controls and the other on his sensors. He knew the moment the craft he had seen on his arrival at Tarsus II, had weapons lock on him and he threw the craft into a complicated series of manoeuvres, which he hoped would throw off their computer’s aim.
His twists and turns threw his small craft close to the surface of the moon and narrowly avoided being hit by a strafing run from the Sparta’s pulse cannons. Pulsed plasma bolts tore up the surface of the moon in the small craft’s wake as they unsuccessfully chased it.
Apollo pulled back on the control stick which brought the craft’s nose up from the surface scrubbing course he was on to fly up and away from the moon. He knew it was just a matter of time before the larger craft shot him out of the sky. He couldn’t afford to allow his craft to be destroyed as it was still experimental and had not yet been fitted with all the necessary equipment.
On his way up from the surface of the moon he released two of the Hellfire MKIII’s he had in his weapon pods. The two missiles streaked towards the facility on a collision course. Then he fired one more at the vessel that had been attacking him.
* * * * *
Bennett watched as his weapons officer tried in vain to hit the incredibly fast moving target. When he saw the pulsed plasma bolts cut a trench in the lunar surface after a chase seemingly all through the sky over the moon, he thought they finally had him. Then he saw the sleek fighter twist around and begin to climb up into the rarer atmosphere over the moon. He ordered his helm to increase speed in an attempt to get closer to the fighter. He knew it was risky being that close to the moon but he had no choice, they had to stop that damned fighter.
Then he saw the missiles being released and his heart sank.
“Evasive manoeuvres and get me Captain Storm now damn it!” he screamed. The helm threw the ship into a tight turn hoping to evade the missile heading directly for them as he also activated the electronic counter measures they had on board for just such an emergency. The counter measures blocked the path of the Hellfire heading their way as it was given another target. The Hellfire exploded in a bright display of pyrotechnics that lit up the dark sky. The Sparta was brought under control once more and all the bridge crews’ focus was on the other two Hellfires as they all watched the missiles streak towards their obvious conclusion.
19
1.25pm
Guardian and his team had just got to their feet when he felt a tingle informing him of a call coming in.
“Captain Storm, you have two Hellfires heading your way. I suggest you brace yourselves,” Bennett said through the comm. channel.
Guardian looked around him at his friends and his expression told them more than his next few words ever could. He said, “Incoming.”
Suddenly their whole world went to hell.
* * * * *
Apollo turned away from the vessel following him as she dealt with the missile he had fired at her. He slowed down and activated his Jump Drive. The engines came out from the rear outer hull of the small craft and he initiated the jump into hyperspace.
He just had time to see the craft that had been following him escape from the Hellfire he had fired at them before the window opened. As he entered the hyperspace window he saw the missiles strike the facility. As he disappeared through the window he was secure in the knowledge that he had completed his mission and the facility had been destroyed.
Now he could return home.
* * * * *
Inside the facility the explosions from the missile strikes were devastating. Even though Guardian and his team were over a hundred feet below the surface the shockwave caused a terrible amount of damage.
The roof above them began to crack as the whole facility shook from the double impact and subsequent explosions. Debris began to fall down in a frightening shower of plascrete and loose dust. Then chunks of the roof started to fall.
A piece of rubble the size of one of the desks fell away from the roof and smashed into the floor mere inches from where Guardian was standing. He threw himself out of the way but his footing was unsure due to the tremors from below and the shaking from the impact above. He stumbled and the huge chunk of roof narrowly missed him. He looked up as other chunks of debris started to fall. Hellcat pushed Hacker out of the way of a rather large piece and then she threw herself in the opposite direction to avoid being crushed herself.
Cowboy dived clear of the last piece to fall, for the moment anyway.
Guardian was on his hands and knees as were the rest of them. He looked around; he knew what had happened and what they had to do if they wanted to survive the next few moments.
He saw what he needed lying around on the floor after being discarded by the intruders once the atmosphere had been reactivated.
“Get an environment suit on fast,” he said as he indicated them on the floor around the room.
They got to their feet and quickly ran to the discarded suits and began donning them as fast as they could. All the time more and more debris rained down on them from the slowly disintegrating roof above.
“Hacker, which is the best way out?” Guardian asked as they gathered in the centre of the C and C once they had on the environment suits.
“I would suggest an elevator shaft but we’d better make it fast before they collapse and fill up with debris. If that happens we may never get out,” Hacker replied.
Another tremor hit them, as the fusion reactor got ever closer to its own self-destruction.
