Edge of the Vortex Page 19

  “Engines going off-line.” Sasa reported. “Going to use the moon’s gravity to pull us around until we’ve got eyes on Terra.”

  “Roger.” Hubtar replied. “Moment of truth, Colonel.”

  Joe took a deep breath. This would be the first time he would be laying eyes on the planet in some time. He just hoped that there was a world left to rescue from the clutches of the Coalition.

  “Powering down.” Hubtar said. “We’ll look like any other space debris unless someone gets close enough to see us.”

  Joe swallowed and watched as the Earth came into view on his heads-up-display. This was the moment of truth.

  “Give me all contacts.” Hubtar said in an almost whisper into the net. It was evident to everyone that they were dangerously close to a large concentration of enemy warships, better act the part.

  “I have fifteen contacts.” Rasser replied. “We appear to be in the clear.”

  “Sasa, set us down.” Hubtar ordered.

  “On it.” Sasa replied. Twenty seconds later he came back on the net. “We are down. Crater. Should provide excellent concealment.”

  Joe smiled. “First man on the moon in a few decades.” He said out loud.

  “What?” Hubtar asked with the sound of confusion in his voice.

  “Nothing.” Joe replied, the smile still on his face.

  “Begin full spectrum scan of Terra.” Hubtar ordered.

  “On it.” Rasser replied.

  “How long will this take?” Joe asked.

  “Twenty-four hours. Terran time.” Hubtar replied.

  Joe blinked twice. “Twenty-four hours?”

  “We need to observe a full rotation of the planet to fully assess its status. We can’t just fly a loop around it, now can we?” It was a rhetorical question.

  Joe looked down, then back up at the HUD. Data and imagery were starting to flow in from the sensors and cameras mounted on the exterior of the ship. He wasn’t able to make sense of much of what he was reading, but the images spoke for themselves. The ship was currently positioned across from the west coast of South America, and everything looked in order to Joe’s untrained eye.

  “Colonel.” Hubtar cut into Joe’s head-set on a private channel. “There isn’t much you can do for a while. Nothing we can do, unless we’re detected. You might as well grab some sleep. We can wake you in an emergency.”

  Joe knew it was a suggestion, not an order. He also knew that he was short on sleep, but he wasn’t feeling drowsy. “I’m not feeling sleepy.” He said. His eyes felt heavy, but they weren’t ready to shut just yet.

  “There is a yellow button on your left armrest. Tap it once that will put you out for 12 hours.”

  Joe tapped the button once but didn’t feel anything. No pinprick, no change in the flow of his air supply. Without thinking, he touched it a second time.

  “Don’t tap it twice. It takes a while to kick in.” Hubtar said over the channel.

  Joe’s eyes darted up. “I tapped it.” That was the last thing he said for twenty-four hours.

  The noises were coming into the dream Joe was having. Rather hard for him to pin down. The closer he got to emerging from his slumber, the voices became clearer inside his head.

  “Scan complete.”

  “Confirmed.”

  “Understood. Set conditions for launch and immediate jump. What is our current range?” Hubtar asked.

  “We can make Jaxos. Refuel there.” Rasser said confidently.

  “Sasa. When the jump drives are warmed up, take us to the far side of the moon, clear the surface, then jump to Jaxos.”

  “Making it happen.”

  Joe ran his tongue around the inside of his mouth. It was dry. He blinked himself awake and shifted in his reclined seat. “What did I miss?” He asked on the open net.

  “Nothing. We’re bugging out.” Hubtar said without emotion.

  Joe nodded to himself. He was a passenger. He had just slept through twenty-four hours of something. Evidently, he hadn’t missed much.

  “Lifting off.” Sasa reported.

  The triangular shaped ship lifted off from the moon’s surface smoothly. It hung just a few metres off the surface of the celestial body and started its run to the far side, away from the view of Earth. The Coalition warships that were within a million kilometres were all stationed in Earth orbit. None had bothered to cover the far side of the moon. Simple tactics, but just not implemented.

  “Farside.” Sasa reported. “Pulling off moon for jump.”

  Rasser came on the comms with the countdown that was so similar to the ones Joe had heard in the past. Ten to zero, then they were gone. Hurtling across the stars. Hundreds or thousands of light years covered in less time than it would have taken Joe to walk from his old house in Florida to the Gulf of Mexico.

  Before long they were back in orbit of Ames and requesting landing permission from Standish Out Post. It was granted, and they descended into the sandstorm that was in a never-ending swirl around the planet. Joe just realised he didn’t know if the planet had any inhabitants. Didn’t seem like it did. At least no higher life-forms, just a deserted sand covered ball in space.

  When the ship reached the landing platform, it lowered its skids and hovered just above the ground while two droids emerged from the hangar bay and started pushing it back inside. Once they were inside the hangar, a large device was lowered from the rafters of the hangar down to the ship and quickly decontaminated the craft, but it just mainly sucked off all the sand and dust that it had accumulated since re-entering the planet's atmosphere.

  The canopy was raised, and Hubtar was the first to stand to his feet, and he quickly started to shake his legs out and swing his arms about. It wasn’t easy being cooped up in a coffin for over twenty-four hours. It took Joe a little bit longer to get his legs working again, but once he did, he scooted himself up to the top of his chair and sat there watching the hangar bay slide by as the craft was pushed back into its holding slot.

  Finally parked, Sasa, Rasser, Hubtar and Joe had climbed down the provided set of steps and touched down on the hard floors of the giant chamber. With a smile on his face, Hubtar put his hand on Joe’s shoulder.

  “That was a successful mission.”

  Joe returned the smile. “Really?”

  “Yes.”

  After getting back into the clothes he had arrived in, Joe and the flight team went back to the main operations centre and had a mission debrief with the base commander and highest-ranking member of the Dynamic Operations organisation.

  Dynamic Operator Master Grade Il Rotana was sitting behind her desk just like Joe remembered, and her office felt quite crowded with the liaison officer, plus Hubtar and Sasa and Rasser.

  “Give me the highlights.” Rotana ordered, looking at Hubtar who was standing next to a vis-wall.

  Hubtar nodded and activated the wall, bringing up an image of the Sol system. “At the time of our incursion, there were fifteen ships in the system. Intelligence has provided a list of suspected classes and capabilities.” He pointed at a data pad on Rotana’s desk. “The details are in the datapad.” He turned back to the image and manipulated it until Earth was at the centre of the picture. “Terra. The objective of the reconnaissance.” He looked over to Joe, then down to Rotana. “This is where we have a problem. There is some form of energy shielding in place around the planet.”

  “Source?” Rotana asked, leaning forward to get a better view of the vis-wall. “Space or planet based?”

  “That is the problem. The source is located on the planet’s surface. Four points around the globe link together to form the barrier. The primary set-up is here.” He pointed at Kansas. “I believe that if any of the four sections were taken off-line, the entire field would collapse.”

  “How do the Coalition breach the shield?” Rotana asked.

  “More analysis is required, but I believe that they are using a piggy-back system with this ship here.” The image zoomed in a small craft. “During
our recon, every time a ship entered or exited the shield it was accompanied by this ship, which is probably using a distortion field with the proper frequency modulation to get through the shield.”

  “So.” Rotana sat back in her chair. “We can’t break through the shielding as things are.” She nodded and looked at the faces around the room, then back to Hubtar. “What would be your proposal?”

  “Get a message down to the surface instructing local forces to neutralise one of the four sections that prop-up the shielding. Once that is down, jump into the system and retake the planet.” He replied in a confident voice.

  Rotana nodded, then picked up the datapad that was on her desk and gave it a quick scan. “So, the issue isn’t the size of the Coalition fleet in the system. It’s getting that force field down.” She nodded to herself. “Well done Dynamic Operator Grade Two Hubtar.” She looked over to Joe. “Well, Colonel. It looks like you have the information you came for. I hope it helps you in your endeavours.”

  “Thank you, Master Grade.” Joe bowed his head slightly. The liaison officer quickly moved to the door and opened it. Joe gave a final nod of recognition to Hubtar, then exited the room. Time to get back to Mella II. Walking along with the liaison towards the hangar he suddenly realised that there was something about the reconnaissance images and data that he thought was funny.

  “Do you have that data?” He asked the liaison who quickly produced a datapad.

  “It’s all on there.” He said.

  Joe quickly powered the unit on and found the imagery of the planet, and quickly zoomed in on the United States, where everything looked in order. He zoomed out until Mexico was in the picture, and then he spotted what he had missed earlier, there was a giant blank spot where Mexico City should have been.

  “What the hell?”

  36

  Earth Orbit

  10 March

  Sector Commander Varus was disappointed that Imperator Casix had taken so long to visit the system that he had conquered. Bigger priorities perhaps. When the Imperator’s cruiser finally jumped into the system, it was unannounced, and Varus felt slightly unprepared, but Sajoba was eager to show him the progress they had made.

  Varus and Sajoba boarded the Lone Hunter’s primary shuttle, still not on speaking terms since their last encounter, and made their way to Casix’s ship which was much older than the ships under Varus’s command, but was very regal, harking back to the golden age of the Empire. The hangar bay itself had a ceiling that was almost twenty metres high and was coloured in bright red paint.

  The layout of the ship was simple, verging on rudimentary, only a single turn was required to navigate from the hangar to the bridge. Varus and Sajoba followed a pair of security operatives dressed in their most formal uniforms along the intricately detailed hallways to reach the large, glass-walled conference room that had a large black slate table in the middle of it with Casix sitting waiting at the head of it.

  The Imperator didn’t bother rising to his feet when the pair walked into the room, but a small smile came onto his face. “Varus.” He looked at his subordinate with a glint in his eye. “Good of you to come.” He waved Varus towards a seat that was halfway down the table. “I see you’ve brought your second with you.” He observed.

  Sajoba offered a slight bow. “An honour to be here, Imperator.”

  Casix raised his hand and dismissed the remark. “It is because of your foolish and reckless command that we are here. And I am grateful, however.” I pointed his finger upwards. “I will be more grateful when the full potential of this planet and this system have been harnessed. I hope that is why you requested my presence, Varus.”

  Varus stopped himself just before he was fully sat down, and looked to the end of the table, then stood back up. “I can assure you, Imperator, that this system holds many riches. It is an untapped resource.”

  Casix waved him to sit. “Very well. Now give me a full run-down on your tactical situation.”

  Varus nodded, and placed a small data-box on the table, and activated a three-dimensional image, which he enlarged so that Casix could see it without difficulty. “I currently have a force of fifteen ships spread to key locations throughout the system. The planet is shielded by the barrier generator, and ore and minerals are being processed at the projected rates.”

  Casix nodded. “Excellent work. Alliance incursions?”

  Varus shook his head. “None.”

  “Good. I’m sure they would know the futility of such activity once the barrier generator was activated.” Casix said with a smile on his face. “What is the status of ground forces?” Casix pulled a small data-card from his pocket and activated the device which put up a holographic page which he read from. “I understand that there are still Alliance forces on the surface of the planet.” He deactivated the device and looked at Varus. “Were you not supposed to neutralise all the forces on the planet during your initial assault? It’s been how long now? You’ve had the world under control, and yet some prey still eludes you.”

  “Imperator.” Varus was out of his chair and standing quickly. “You are correct. There is a small number of Alliance forces on the surface, but they pose no threat to our operations, and are without support from off-world elements.” He said in a voice that verged on fear.

  Casix looked at Varus, then over to Sajoba. “Is that your assessment, Base Commander? No threat?”

  Sajoba rose to his feet, his hands clasped to his front. “I agree with Sector Commander Varus, Sir.”

  Casix nodded and smiled. “My information also informs me that you were involved in a gun-battle with these forces. And beaten.” His smile was gone, and he was staring right at Sajoba.

  “Imperator.” Sajoba hesitated while he tried to find the right words. “The battle was a draw.”

  Casix slammed the palm of his hand onto the table, and bolted out of his chair and started to circle around to the far side of the table, his eyes locked on Sajoba. “I didn’t send you,” He pointed at both of his subordinates. “To draw against the Alliance. I sent you here for glorious victory, and for the rewards and spoils of that victory. Draw!” He shook his head. “I hope I haven’t picked the wrong leaders for this mission. If there are any more disturbances on the planet’s surface, I will be quite put out.” He slowly walked back to his seat and sat down.

  Varus didn’t move for a moment, but once he had felt that Casix had calmed slightly, he continued with his briefing. “Imperator. We have discovered plentiful supplies of other resources in the system that would require additional mining equipment to harvest.”

  Casix swatted his hand through the air. “Yes. What about the planet?”

  Varus paused. “I thought we were under orders to not disturb the world.”

  Casix tilted his head from side to side quickly. “I have changed my mind. Resources?”

  Varus nodded. “Substantial amounts. Of course, there is the question of the inhabitants.”

  “I do not think there is.” Casix replied quickly.

  “Sir,” Varus sat down and pulled his chair in. “Instructions coming from command on Qera were very specific that the indigenous peoples were not to be harmed if it could be prevented.”

  Casix tilted his head back and looked down at Varus. “Is that so?” He pursed his lips. His eyes darted to Sajoba. “Base Commander.” Casix tapped a computer attached to his wrist. “I am transferring command of this task-group to you effective immediately.” He looked up. “Perhaps you have the drive to get things done.”

  Sajoba snapped to attention, then looked at the Imperator. “Honoured, Imperator.”

  “Good.” Casix looked at Varus. “You are relieved, Sector Commander. I will need you to stay in the system and act as second to Sajoba.” Casix looked over to Sajoba. “Tell me about these resources.”

  Sajoba took his seat and activated a datapad that was on the table. “There are several planetoids in the system that have precious treasures to extract. There is an asteroid belt beyond
the systems fourth planet that also holds great riches. And then the planet Terra itself has a rich selection of minerals and other resources that can be harvested.”

  “What about the local inhabitants. How many are there?” Casix asked.

  “Roughly seven billion intelligent lifeforms on the surface. They are of varying intelligence and capability.”

  “Like all species. Some are superior to others.” Casix sat back in his chair. “I might have a customer for them.” Casix looked up to the ceiling. “I’ll contact him and have him travel here to check the viability of the indigenous population. Hopefully, they’ll fetch a good price.”

  Varus had been sitting in silence since he had been relieved of command, but what he was hearing was making him ill. He could not believe that Sajoba had taken his rightful place, and now there was discussion of stripping the planet of everything.

  “What about lower life forms?” Casix asked.

  Sajoba nodded. “Many species on offer.”

  “I might have a buyer for those as well.” He rose from his seat and walked to the wall behind his chair and put his hand on it, and stood in silent contemplation for a few minutes before turning around. “We are going to strip this world down to the bone. And we are going to make enough wealth to live forever like gods.” He looked at Varus. “Don’t worry, you’ll get your share of the spoils.” He let out a laugh then looked at Sajoba. “Come with me, Base Commander. We have an entertainment suite on this vessel. Let us enjoy ourselves.”

  Casix quickly moved towards the conference room door and exited the room, Sajoba hot on his heels, leaving a very dejected, and frustrated Varus sitting in his chair. He wasn’t angry. That phase had passed. He was already in the planning stage. He wasn’t going to let his sudden demotion stand. Not to a fool like Sajoba. No. Casix be damned. He was going to take his position back, and regain his honour. He had spent too much time and effort over the course of his life dedicated towards the war effort for this to happen to him.