27. Getting even pt. 2
Lieutenant Prinowalsky received the news of the death of his fellow squad leader with the kind of stoicism born of several identical situations where his fellow academy classmates had died. At least it looked like the other two teams had succeeded in their respective missions to get the primary objectives. Now they just had to secure the test Valkyrie to claim complete success for this mission. He looked at the schematics via his brainpal and found the optimal route to the smaller launch bay where they assumed the ship would be. He sent the information to the other team members mentally counting the received notes from their brainpals.
"Plimscoe, move out. We need to haul ass, the other teams are already exfiltrating as we speak."
"Roger Sir. Right, you heard the Lt, Dada you are front with Lazerre, Lumpskin with me, Kroke and Roeburn take the rear. Move out."
The marines moved with the efficiency born of years of training coupled with a sense of inevitability and invincibility from their first encounter with the Itani. The main opposition had been taken out; the worst they could encounter right now was station security and small arms, no match for the heavy armour and weapons carried by the EVA marines. The corridors were blacked out at this time but that was only a minor nuisance really with the brainpals showing the corridors as they would look in broad daylight to their internal eye. No hotspots were detected in the corridors; the remaining Itani were clever enough to stay inside. It was almost too easy, almost boring.
###
William activated the twin neutron guns and watched the power plant trickle the remaining energy into the battery until it was completely charged. That would give the guns at least twenty shots continuously. He was parked, if such a word can be used about having a four-ton space ship hovering on its side, in a side corridor to the main corridor leading to the auxiliary launch bay, and from where he had seen the flickering lights. He wanted to boost the ship out into the corridor right now and get stuck in the action, but he needed to get maximum effect and that meant waiting until the enemy was gathered in the long straight corridor. He counted to thirteen and engaged the bottom thrusters slightly, pushing him out into the corridor and immediately after pushing he top thrusters stopping the ship in the middle of the corridor. The Serco troopers stopped dead in their tracks and started firing at his IBG, the gauss rounds impacting on his armour like single shot popcorn guns. He grinned, they would have to fire for at least a minute to penetrate his armour, way too long. He dropped the targeting reticule on the front Serco and depressed the trigger, slowly twisting the ship to spray the corridor with massive beams of neutrons.
###
The point man stopped in confusion at what looked like the wall expanding into the corridor and effectively making progress in this direction impossible. Slowly it dawned upon him that this particular bulkhead had a shape he had seen somewhere else before. A crack boomed from behind him and he saw the twin gauss rounds impact on the wall, followed by the rest of the squad's guns as well. The connection clicked and he realised that the bulkhead was a Centurion on its side however unlikely that was.
Lieutenant Prinowalsky grinned hard while thinking "Point, set and match Tani scum." He sent a mission failure message back to the command network just in time before the one centimetre circular streams of neutrons tore him and his squad to pieces like a plasma torch through butter. As an attest to the resilience and toughness of the Serco and their EVA suits, the marines kept firing even after having circular holes punched through them, not ceasing fire until their arms or heads had been disintegrated by the powerful neutron gun. The corridor was filled with a fine pink mist that painted the IBG a deceptively cheerful colour as William moved forward to search for other Serco marines.
###
Brix piloted the Behemoth into Supay Outpost with all the care he could, docking with only a slight click to indicate that he had landed. The manifest of his Behemoth had been studied meticulously before he had been allowed to dock in Supay Outpost and it was only because of his Serco POS status that they had considered it even though he was only moving synthetic gems. The station was busy with the strike force out in large numbers keeping the normal traders away from docking. Ten minutes ago the station had been attacked by a very disruptive piece of software that had infested the mainframe and forced the station commander, also known as the Legate, aboard the station to shut it down while the computer system was being scrubbed. In the meantime the revival facility, that was the single most important department in the entire system, worked on off their own mainframe until the station systems could be restored. Firm believers of triple redundancy, the Serco had installed a tertiary back-up system for the station mainframe and the medical mainframe under armour so thick that it would take a nuclear warhead hit to disable it. Still, with one system down the Serco Legate took no chances and only allowed POS personnel to dock, and only because State law demanded it. Nobody but the most paranoid would have thought about having a person that was Serco POS bring a thermonuclear device into the station, especially not a device known as an EMP pumper. Brix stayed in the Behemoth waiting while the clock ticked down to zero and annihilation. He would live in another clone somewhere with a different name and a different DNA profile. And even if the Itani bastard lied, he would have hit back at the Serco while getting away from the prison roid.
###
The technician hummed an old military march while thumbing through the latest issue of "Female Fighter Pilots", fresh from Dau and the Waldoze distribution centre. He opened the centre fold and admired the girl and her Prometheus with a nod and a soft whistle. He turned to the other technician on duty who looked at the picture and did a thumbs-up with a toothy grin behind. It was a slow day even though they had to run everything away from the station mainframe. They both scanned the boards quickly, all green lights across. The other technician went over to grab a couple of caffeine-enriched soft drinks and took careful aim to toss one over. He never got that far. A massive sound so deep it was not heard but rather felt, resonated in the floor plates that shook as if an earthquake had hit the station, the floor buckling in a single ripple across and tossing both technicians to the floor. The light went off and all the monitors died along with their neural implants including the brainpal they had used since it had been inserted in pre-school. They both started screaming with the pain of malfunctioning implants enhanced by sensory depravation in the now completely dark tomblike room. If it weren’t for the complete lack of power inside the station, all the control lights would now be red for critical malfunction. More than two hundred and ninety million mem-cordings, sixty something million clones and the current hundred and forty eight revivals had been erased or died in the blast and resulting power out. The Itani had hurt the Serco war effort badly, and with a UIT pilot driving the Behemoth that contained the device, had put the blame squarely on the ones responsible for the terrorist act in Cantus.
###
Riddik looked over John's shoulder while he punched the address into the SSCU. A confused looking young man opened the channel, frowning as he saw John and Riddik.
"What, who, whem...How did you get this number?"
John grinned, he loved this part.
"Indecent Proposal six-three Alfa."
"Excuse me?"
"Check in your codebook son, Indecent Proposal six-three Alfa."
The young man looked doubtfully at John before nodding and pressing a button that made John's screen go black. A minute later he re-appeared on the screen.
"Councillor Eldritch, what can I do for you?"
"Get me Keria Willenium CIT ID (omitted for security purposes) online on this SSCU please. It is a priority Alfa-Z."
"Yes Sir. Standby Sir."
The screen went black again
Three minutes later a red-faced and puffing slender woman gathered her wet and bright red hair in a ponytail as the screen went online again, her confusion about being here very obvious. She turned to the communications tech.
"Is this on?"
"Yes ma'am."
"Keria!"
She turned and grinned fiercely at the screen.
"Riddik baby."
"Keria."
John looked at Riddik and cleared his throat.
Riddik almost blushed at that point but managed to suppress it. He turned to a broadly smiling Keria.
"My love, how are you? Are they treating you good?"
"Riddik, you didn't call me for that. I am good, they are treating me good. What do you want baby?"
Keria finished gathering her hair and wrung it, letting the water drip all over the floor and focused on the screen.
"Well, I missed you? Or rather, I miss you. I called you to tell you that I have been offered a spot with TGFT."
"That sounds good. Do you want to?"
"Yeah, they are kinda cool. I have a spot for you as well baby."
"Aw, that would be awesome but I can't. You know I can't and especially not now."
"What do you mean baby?"
"SCAR is dying Rid, and I am helping in twisting the knife. Besides, I cannot leave my home and my people. But you should do it and then we can move to Pyronis or Helios for both our needs?"
"Yeah, I will. Listen, you go and do that thing, and I'll join TGFT. I have been told I can reach you on this one at all times, so we'll talk. Love you."
Keria smiled and leaned close to place a kiss on the screen.
"Right back at ya love. Next time, a little less priority on the call, okay? Then maybe I can finish my shower before running to the SSCU."
She extended a hand towards the controls and the screen went dark.
"Guess I am in John."
"Not quite mate. We have a small initiation rite that you need to participate in. I'll book a time for you."
Riddik looked in amazement as John started cackling like a madman. What the hell was he getting into?
