Edge of the Vortex Read online

  Salrugina wasn’t sure if he even cared anymore. All his children were dead. Killed in some nameless action against the Alliance over some rock in space that didn’t matter, or vanished into nothingness on a bad jump. He was alone. His childhood friends were all dead of old age or the war. The advisors that he actually trusted and that hadn’t led him astray as a young Prince had been dead for decades. He was surrounded by people that were self-serving, and even if they cared about the course of the war, it was because they thought it would serve their own purposes.

  Things had gotten to the point where he just didn’t care. Promises of some super weapons or something of that nature always popped up every decade. The solution they had always been waiting for. His patience and his interest had waned to the point of no return. The time when he wasn’t gorped out of his mind, he often wondered who would take his place at the top, or more accurately, how many people would die trying to climb to the top once he was gone. It probably spell the end of the Pohjois

  Checking the hour, Salrugina knew it was time for his routine war council meeting. Get a handle on what was what. Where were these forces, where were those forces? What was the status on that mythical planet that was going to supply all the answers of the war? Of course. The magical solution to the never-ending disease that the war had turned into. He often wondered about the sister that he hadn’t seen in decades. Was she alive? What had become of the beautiful gardens of her palace on Mechcharga?

  51

  Jax Ar 2R

  24 April

  Kol Fine had checked the stasis pod three times. Major Mike Tattersall was stable in suspended animation. They needed a powerful psychic to undo whatever damage had been done to him on Marxis Minor, but Fine had bigger things to worry about. Colonel Hunt and Admiral Taark had been in touch. He informed them that the Terran Strike Group was ready for action, and they requested his presence, with the team at Traxis as soon as possible. Everyone who knew that the Grand Marshall had put a hold on offensive operations knew that any move on Terra would need to happen sooner than later. The longer the hold was in place, the harder it would be for Taark to plan and then execute the rescue mission.

  When the TSG had returned to Jax Ar 2R, Z7 had taken them through a full mission debrief, which they had done after all their training exercises, followed by an extensive session going through all the intelligence they had acquired. Some of it was actionable and needed to be fed to the proper agencies, even if it wasn’t disclosed where it came from. Once that was accomplished, full kit cleaning and repair had to be conducted, along with weapons and other systems. It wasn’t easy to simply return from a mission and then go onto the next task.

  When Z7 was happy with the condition of all the men and equipment, orders were given to box everything up and ready for movement. Like any military operation, secrecy and limited disclosure were maintained, but everyone knew that there was only one possibility, they were going to retake Earth. It wasn’t so much a question of if, but when. It had been months since they had last seen Earth, just before it had fallen into Coalition hands. Now it was time to put things back to the way they were meant to be.

  When the transport finally arrived to take them off-world, the feeling of excitement in the air was palpable. Even Kol Fine was a little excited. He had conducted missions for decades, but he had never participated in a mission to liberate a planet. This was going to be a first. He knew that a planetary assault had significant risks, but it carried with it great rewards. Not to mention the chance to stamp his name in Dynamic Operations lore.

  Once the transport was loaded with all the kit, the fifty-eight Terran Strike Group members boarded, along with their commander who was kept in a med-chamber. Once Z7 was done with his checks and double checks, he locked down the base they had been using to turn the Terrans into lethal instruments of celestial combat and gave Master Grade Kol Fine the final report that base was closed down, along with all the droids and robots that had been so helpful since day one.

  Happy with what he read, Fine gave the compound a final look before walking out the main gates, locking them behind himself, then walking over to the transport that had already kicked on its engines and was waiting for dust-off. He was shocked to find that Admiral Taark had found a disused civilian luxury liner for their transportation. Forty-five metres of pure class and elegance, full of service droids providing relaxing beverages and other distractions for the sixty-one warriors that were leaving the home they had known for several months, and heading towards the biggest fight of their lives.

  Breaking orbit, Fine moved to a large window and looked out on Jax as they raced away from the planet. Major Nikita Pullinski came up next to him and joined him in watching the world grow smaller as the liner moved away at sub-light speeds.

  “What a shit-hole.” The Russian said with a smile on his face.

  Fine looked at the very capable operator and smiled. “Maybe.”

  “Jumping in five.” The announcement came over the public-address system.

  “I have a question about this jumping that is used to travel across the stars.” Nikita asked.

  Fine looked at the Russian. “Go ahead.”

  “Here,” he gestured out the window. “There is no jump box. In the past, there have been these. What are they and why are they in use?”

  “A logical question to ask.” Fine looked out of the window. “On busy worlds, there are jump boxes for departures and arrivals. They are there to ensure that any ship arriving in the sector does not collide with other ships or stations and so on.” He looked at Nikita. “Out here, a planet like Jax has no permanent settlements or administration to run jump boxes, so there are none. When we arrive at Traxis, we will be jumping into a box because it is a bustling system.”

  Fine turned away from the window and motioned one of the service droids over, and took a pink coloured drink from its tray. Bringing the drink to his lips, Fine took a short sip, to taste the liquid. It was sweet and warmed his chest immediately. Out of the corner of his eye, he could tell Pullinski was looking at him.

  “Does that answer your question?”

  “Yes.” Nikita replied, but continued to stare at Kol Fine.

  “Yes?” The Operator asked.

  Pullinski smiled and pointed at the drink. “Pink?”

  Fine looked down at the glass in his hands and examined the colour, then looked at the Russian Red Team leader. “Yes, it is.” He took another sip. “And it tastes amazing.”

  When the luxury liner finally arrived in Traxis space, most of the TSG had remained in their seats, but Nikita was still near the large viewing window next to Kol Fine, and when the station above the planet came into view Kol Fine almost spit out the drink that was in his mouth. “Holy fuck.”

  Nikita snapped his head to look at his instructor. He had never heard him use foul language before. “What?”

  “Those.” Fine pointed at the window, and Nikita quickly moved to a position where he could see what he was pointing at. Following the direction of his finger, his eyes opened wide when he caught a glimpse of the two twenty-kilometre-long war machines.

  “Holy mother Russia.”

  52

  Mechcharga

  24 April

  “She’s dead.”

  “Are you sure?”

  The physician looked at the Councillor with a look that boarded on disbelief. “Yes. I am sure.”

  “I see.” The councillor looked around the room. It was filled with members of the Royal household, security personnel, and several appointed advisors. Junior Councillor Valtrax was under qualified for this situation. He might have been the most senior individual in the room, but that didn’t make him capable of handling the magnitude of what had happened.

  “We need to contact the appropriate individuals.” He wasn’t looking at anyone when he said that, but the head of the household, Master Yutari stepped forward. Wearing his usual black garb, Yutari looked quite at place in the enormous bedchamber of the now decea
sed Princess.

  “May I assist, Councillor?” Yutari asked. Hands clasped at his sternum, a grave look on his face.

  “Indeed, Master.” Valtrax looked towards the bed which had already been covered over with Princess Via’s body to keep it from view. “We need to contact the Elders and the Royal Councillors at once.

  By the time the Grand Marshall arrived, the session with the Royal Council and the Elders had been going for two hours. The massive hall had seats for hundreds of delegates from various branches of the administration, and there was huge representation from all levels of Alliance hierarchy, from the Royal Council and Elders at the top, down to the Military and High Council. There was representation from the Junior Council, the Guilds, and the Administrative wing. It was a full house.

  When the Grand Marshall arrived, he didn’t walk into the room alone. He brought with him the best twenty operators that Dynamic Operations had, along with ten top-level Light Sentinels and four ten-foot tall Sentinel Commander robots. The show of force wasn’t subtle, and it was immediately met with condemnation from everyone besides the military types in the massive room.

  “This is an outrage!” The burst came from a member of the Royal Council.

  The Grand Marshall was still making his way to his seat when he brought up his hand and pointed his finger at the agitator. “If he speaks again, kill him.” Without instruction, one of the Dynamic Operators peeled off from the Marshall’s precession and walked to a position just behind the boisterous Councillors chair and aimed his weapon at the old man’s head.

  Making his way to the head of the table where the Princess had always sat, the Grand Marshall pushed the royal seat out of the way and stood before the long table, and all the shocked faces that were looking back at him.

  “I’m taking over.” He said it without hesitation and without remorse. “And we’re ending this fucking war.”

  53

  Somewhere in the Etelainen

  April

  Things never went the way they were planned, or at least that was Rhea’s current thought on the subject. Twelve months ago she’d have never thought that she would meet an advanced alien civilisation, let alone travel to the stars and visit different planets. But on top of all that wonder and splendour, there was the surreal reality that her home was under the occupation of an unfriendly force, and she was wandering the length and breadth of the Etelainen looking for proof that there was some massive conspiracy being perpetrated by forces partially unknown to keep the war against the Pohjois rolling along.

  Doctor Rhea Stokes knew that some of the pieces she had to work with had been removed from the table. Admiral Lex, their best lead was dead. Many of their contacts on Mechcharga were dead. She had managed to track down the heavily self-medicated Ship Master Ava of the supply ship she had visited before the invasion of Earth. He had missed several pickups from around the Etelainen and had put his ship in the crater of a giant asteroid in the Tro Vaco system.

  After a little persuading and some nudging by Royal Inspector Wey, Ava had agreed to travel to Traxis and seek sanctuary under the protection of Admiral Taark. Ava would prove a key component in their hunt for what was really going on on Mechcharga, and while Ava may have been an out of control mess, he did recognise the name Master Nune. It was enough for Wey to go on, and they were plotting a course to Mechcharga when a call came in from Colonel Hunt.

  “What’s up?”

  “Can you come back to Traxis, as soon as possible?”

  “Yes.” She replied. “Is something wrong?”

  “Earth is in danger.”

  “We know that.” She replied sharply.

  “Things have escalated. They’ve destroyed Mexico City, Moscow, Tokyo, Lagos, Sydney and Sao Paulo completely and it sounds like they’re going to start ripping the planet apart.”

  Rhea could tell that something was wrong with Joe’s voice. It wasn’t fear, but she could tell he was worried. “Alright. I’ll talk to Wey and Estiva Daz.”

  “Good. I’ll see you soon.”

  It was unanimously decided to head to Traxis and hear what Colonel Hunt had to say. The search for the real culprits behind the seventy-year-old war would have to wait just a little while longer.

  54

  Qera

  25 April

  “She’s dead.”

  “And by she, you mean?”

  “Your sister.”

  Prince Salrugina dropped his head. The glass in his hand fell to the floor and shattered. Two seconds later he fell to his knees; the wind knocked out of his gut.

  “A full and unconditional cease-fire.”

  “Starting when?” Salrugina asked his senior military advisor.

  “Now.”

  Salrugina nodded. “What does that mean?”

  “It means there is a hold on all operations, everywhere.” The official replied.

  Salrugina nodded. “Then what happens?”

  “Once the cease-fire is in effect, the Grand Marshall wants to open talks for a peace.”

  The tears were already flowing from the Prince’s eyes before the advisor had finished his sentence. Peace. After all these years. It was like a dream. “Arrange for talks to being at once.”

  55

  Traxis

  25 April

  Joe walked into the communications suite that was part of the large office complex that made up 7th Fleet headquarters and waited for the officer in charge to notice him.

  “May I assist you, Colonel?”

  “Yes, I would like to open a channel to Standish Outpost.”

  Joe had gone through the process numerous times before. Some places and people he could contact through any communications terminal he could lay his hands on. Other times he needed to go through the Comms section. This was one of them.

  “You’re cleared. Secured line.” The officer pointed at one of several soundproof, intrusion proof rooms in the department. “Room eight.”

  “Thank you.”

  When Joe finally got into the room and got the station up on comms, he quickly asked for someone he could rely on. It took five minutes, but eventually, Hubtar got on the other side of the monitor.

  “Terran.”

  Joe smiled. “How’d you like a mission, you and Rasser and Sasa?”

  “Haven’t you heard? There are no more missions.” Hubtar replied.

  Joe nodded. He had heard. “There is one more mission I’m interested in.”

  Hubtar leaned into the monitor until his eyes were filling up Joe’s screen. “Tell me.”

  56

  Fort Riley, Kansas

  26 April

  Major General Wilkinson’s office looked just like the image Doctor Beck had been expecting. All the right things were hanging on the walls, and the view from the office windows captured the essence of the vastness of the Kansas plains. Keegan had been shown into the office along with John Robert and Star Guard Hulo by the Division’s Command Sergeant Major, Thomas Ware, a lean, angry looking black man with thirty plus years experience in the US Army. He was thrilled to see Doctor Beck and his Alliance colleague and was baying for blood.

  “You telling me there is a chance to do something about that rig set up down the road?”

  Keegan opened his mouth and was about to respond when the Star Guard fielded the question.

  “That is correct, Sergeant Major. We are planning a decisive strike that will liberate this planet from the clutches of the Coalition.” Hulo had taken off his armour and was wearing a loose-fitting set of US Army fatigues[DM2] which his lizard-like skin blended into with easy. “And this unit will be integral to that effort.”

  The Sergeant Major smiled and nodded his head and put out his hand towards to Hulo. “That sounds good me.” They shook hands.

  “What sounds good, Sergeant Major?” Major General Wilkinson strode into his office, broad shoulders, big chest, high-and-tight hair-cut, uniform pressed within a fraction of perfection.

  “Looks like an attack is on t
he table, Sir.” The Sergeant Major replied.

  The general stopped at the side of his desk, turned and looked at his guests. A smile came on his face. “An attack?”

  57

  Bearing Sea

  26 April

  The Planetary Command Ship had been waiting. And waiting. Lord Soturi was only so patient. It had taken almost the entire might of Sector Prefect Dinalis’s powers of persuasion to prevent the Jin-Mona from single handily going to the surface of the icy ocean they were hiding under and launching a solo attack on the Coalition forces on and off-world. Dinalis wasn’t sure just how powerful Soturi had become with his daily meditations, but he was worried that there was a risk that he would destroy the entire planet if he weren't careful.

  So when the communications station in the massive amphitheatre brain of the PCS, Dinalis was quick to rush to the command platform. “Status?” he asked the Ship Master.

  “An off-world communication. Originating from Traxis.”

  “Traxis?” Dinalis looked at the Ship Master, then moved to the closest terminal. “Feed it in.”

  58

  Earth Orbit

  26 April

  Sector Commander Varus had spent a considerable amount of time considering his options since he had been replaced by Base Commander Sajoba. Some of the options he was toying with were more radical than others, but he was starting to get the feeling that the power-hungry monster he had created was going to have to be put down at some point. It was just a question of when, all the while Varus needed to make sure that he wasn’t the victim of a psychotic episode from the new commander in the system.