Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (73 page)

‘The scan results of your modified recon frigates don’t seem to corroborate her story, for a start,’ said Shale.  ‘I mean, I can clearly see that there is a Shaper presence in the city, around twenty thousand troops, I’d guess, but nothing like the numbers she’s talking about.  Are we sure that those things are working correctly?’

‘As sure as we can be, General.  I have three ships alone focusing their instruments on the city.  I can bring in Nahabe vessels to cross check their results.  Maybe their superior equipment might detect things that we can’t spot.’

‘Might be a good idea.  I’m despatching recon gunships to get a good look at low level.  If you could have your fighter squadrons do sweeps of the city then we can correlate what they’re seeing through their low light and infra-red instruments with what the arrays on the ships are telling us.’

‘Roger that.’

‘I can’t entirely discount what she was saying, Admiral,’ said Shale, obviously sounding troubled.  ‘I don’t know if she was telling the truth, or whether it was mass hysteria, or what.  Others we talked to said the same thing:  Mass round-ups of civilians and what sounds like mass implantations.  I’ve instructed the refugees to keep heading south.  I don’t know what we can do for them, but at least we’ll be between them and the city.  I’ve halted our advance for the time being until we decide what to do.  Shale out.’

Chen felt uneasy.  There was something going on here, she could feel it.  Who in their right mind told you to obliterate their own home if the situation weren’t the direst imaginable?  Yet their instruments revealed little to confirm the story that the refugees were repeating. She turned to McManus.

‘Commander, send orders to the flight deck.  I want three of our squadrons flying recon patrols over the city, in rotation,’ and then she gave orders to Andrews.  ‘Ensign, send a message to the Lord Protector aboard the
Shadow in the Void
.  Tell them that we urgently require a ship to assist us in getting a closer look at the planet’s surface.’

              She listened as McManus and Andrews began relaying her orders.

              ‘What do you think about the situation, Commander?’ she said to McManus.

              ‘I think you’re right to be cautious,’ he replied.  ‘The Shapers are slippery bastards all right.  This could all be a ruse to get us to fire on our own people.’

              ‘Or those people in the convoy could be telling the truth.’

              ‘All the same.  We need to know what’s really down there before we start shooting.’

              Outside the bridge windows, the slow ballet of ships continued.  Chen watched as – as if to emphasise McManus’s words - one of the tactical missile frigates attached to the
Leonides
group unleashed a volley of kinetic missiles at a target on the planet below.  Chen watched the rounds streaking through the atmosphere, distant sparks that vanished from view beneath the cloud tops, which seconds later were lit from beneath by flickers of light as the missiles hit home.

              Later, leaving the technicians to their work, Colonel Gunderson, flanked by his men and Major Durham, strode out of the building housing the array and drank in the cool night air.  It was time to make an inspection of the defences that his marines had erected about the site.  He was pleased to see that his men had constructed their positions well.  A series of fire bases covered the rocky, sloping approaches to the array, with interlocking fields of fire that fanned out across the barren terrain.  They were situated well up on the hillside, well back from the edge of the tree line a couple of hundred metres away, ready to engage anything that emerged from cover.  In each fire base, his men had erected pintle mounted heavy weapons – railguns, gatling cannons, repeating lasers – as well as distributing supplies of disposable one shot anti-armour rockets and anti-personnel fragmentation grenades.  Between the fire bases, automatic sentry guns squatted on folding tripod legs, the multiple barrels of their gatling gun armaments jutting forwards from armoured fairings.

              Gunderson walked slowly around the facility, stopping and chatting with his men, encouraging those who felt downhearted at missing out on all the action going on to the north, making a few suggestions about weapon placements and so on, and sharing a joke or two.  Durham walked beside him, poker faced and stiff.  He knew that Durham believed in keeping a certain distance from his men and he couldn’t help but feel that the Major overdid it at times, coming across as a little cold.  Gunderson preferred a more informal approach to his men as long as they all bore in mind that he expected his orders to be obeyed to the letter.

              They were inspecting one of the fire bases facing the eastern approaches to the array, when the call came in.  Though the message was intended for Major Durham, Gunderson had patched his suit comm. into the local command net as he arrived, and heard it also.

              ‘Major, this is team Charlie.  We’re about a click north-west of your position.  We think we see movement.’  The man was trying to keep his voice low so as not to broadcast his position to any potential hostiles.

              ‘I sent some squads out to reconnoitre the area,’ said Durham to Gunderson.  ‘Those trees would provide good cover for an attacking force.  Starship sensors be damned, I want men on the ground to see what’s out there.’

              Gunderson nodded in agreement.  It was his opinion also that the mark one marine eyeball was still the most reliable piece of kit in their surveillance arsenal, when it came down to it.

              ‘Can you confirm what you’re seeing, Sergeant Huang?  Could it be local wildlife?’ said Durham.

              ‘I don’t know.  It’s difficult to tell,’ said Huang.  ‘Our low light helmet sensors show things moving under the trees.  But they don’t show up on our heat scopes.  I’ve ordered my men into overwatch.’

              ‘This is Colonel Gunderson.  What sort of things, Sergeant?’

              ‘We thought we saw human figures at first, but they seemed to melt into the trees but we keep seeing glimpses of other things and... I know this sounds absurd, sir. Some of the men report hearing whispered voices out of the darkness.’

              Gunderson had seen enough reports.  He had a bad feeling about this.

              ‘Sergeant.  You and your men are to withdraw in an orderly fashion towards our position.  Is that clear?’

              ‘Yes sir,’ Huang replied.

              ‘Major Durham.  Recall the other squads.  Order the other men to stand to and be ready.  Get the gunships up in the air – we may need air support.’

              ‘Sir?’

              ‘Do it, Major.’

              ‘Something’s coming out of the trees,’ said Huang, suddenly.  ‘I can’t see them properly, but it looks like... shit! Open fire!’  There was the crackling of automatic weapons fire.

              ‘Sergeant!  Who or what is attacking you?’ said Gunderson, his voice insistent.

              ‘They’re all around us!’ cried Huang.  ‘Shit! They’re all around us! Fall back!  Fall back and regroup!’

              ‘Sergeant, report!’ Gunderson barked.

              ‘Dead men, sir!  We’re being attacked by dead men!’

              There was an extended burst of weapons fire, the sound of screams and explosions.  Huang screamed and fell silent, and then something else could be heard over the comm, a rasping sound that issued from decomposing vocal cords before the link was terminated

              As gunships screamed into the sky behind them, Durham asked, haltingly:

              ‘What did he mean? Sir, what did Sergeant Huang mean when he said they were being “attacked by dead men.”’

              ‘It’s the Shapers, Major.  Their slaves are coming for us.’

              ‘But the starships?  Their sensors saw nothing...’

              ‘I know that, Major,’ said Gunderson, who grabbed a rail rifle and then activated his suit comm. ‘All squads, be advised: enemy forces inbound.  They’re in the trees and they’re coming right for us.  Give them hell.’

              As Gunderson finished his words, and his men began to react, the first of a mob of ragged figures, their military fatigues caked in earth and blood, some with limbs missing, some with gaping, grievous wounds to their bodies began to emerge from the tree-line below them, and started to charge.

              General Shale’s forces had drawn themselves up into a defensive posture about a mile from the city.  The guns of his tanks faced the city.  San Domingo was now visible through their infra-red sensors as a smudge of heat on the horizon against the cool of the night, the high rise towers jutting upwards against the sky like glowing fingers.  The vehicles themselves were parked hull down in serried ranks, their low, armoured forms protruding above the sea of gossamer ferns.  His men had advanced quickly and then dismounted from their rides, taking up positions along either side of the highway as the last of the refugees to leave the city passed between them.  Tens of thousands of desperate looking people had now headed south through their lines, and the column showed no signs of abating.  Overhead, the distant sound of spacecraft engines tore through the night as squadrons from the carriers orbiting above them headed for the city on recon missions.  Shale had ordered the other two columns to halt and dig in also, and now his forces sat poised like a vast armoured claw, ready to grab the city.  Scans from the orbiting ships using the new sensors showed an enemy presence inside the city, mainly clustered about the centre of town and the Assembly House and government buildings in a defensive posture.  Squadrons from the Army and Navy were now overhead and were confirming what the Navy ships had already reported.  There were armoured vehicles concealed within the narrower streets and alleyways of the city and figures could be seen moving in the streets in an oddly regimented fashion.  What was odd was that, apart from these, the city didn’t look that abnormal.  The streets were almost deserted, but there were the usual heat and electromagnetic sources one would expect to be coming from most of the houses and apartment blocks and no signs of any sort of struggle.  It didn’t tie up with the accounts that Mayor Marchand had given him, of a violent crackdown and the mass rounding up of the city’s inhabitants.  Something wasn’t right.  Were the Shapers simply trying to hide what they had done?

              In the back of his APC, Shale began drawing up orders.  The infantry were to push into the city, scouting units in light vehicles leading the way and heavy armour following close behind to provide heavier firepower where it was needed.  The artillery would remain here, delivering indirect fire support if required.  With the remaining civilian population leaving the city, at least he didn’t have to worry so much about collateral damage. 

              He relayed his orders also to Colonel Shima and Colonel Reynolds in command of the two other columns, ordering them to synchronise their assaults, so that the enemy would be simultaneously hit from three different directions.  The other two commanders reported that their troops were in good order and were formed up ready to attack.  Unlike Shale’s column, they had not encountered any massed groups of refugees, although a few isolated parties had made their way through their lines.

              It was as Shale began to speak to his own unit commanders, and his troops made ready to move off, that the message came in.  It was from Major Douglas, in command of the artillery division a kilometre to the rear of the column.  Her voice was strained and urgent.              ‘General, this is Major Douglas.  We are under attack.  Repeat, we are under attack!  Enemy forces to the rear!’

              Shale’s eye strayed to his tactical map.  There was nothing showing to the south except for his own units, and the column of vehicles fleeing from the city.

              ‘Major, this is Shale.  Please confirm: who is attacking you?’

              ‘It’s the refugees!’ said Douglas, as small arms fire began to crackle in the background.  ‘Oh my God!  Something’s happened to them, they’re climbing out of their vehicles and turning on us!’

              Shale’s heart sank.  As he looked back at his display, winking traces denoting the presence of the enemy were starting to appear south of his position in a line that was creeping back up the road towards where the bulk of his units now sat.  Units that - he realised as shots began to ring out outside the APC - were now facing the wrong way.

Chapter 42

              Sunlight flooded into the bridge of the
Shining Glory
and they stood open mouthed at the scene that its radiance illuminated.  The sheer scale of what they were seeing was overwhelming.  It was as if the surface of an impossibly large planet had been pasted onto the inside of the gigantic globe.  Vast artificial continents, themselves many hundreds of times larger than the surface area of any planet that had ever existed, were separated by seas of similarly enormous expanse.  These seas were dotted with what appeared to be chains of small islands, but which were in fact landmasses larger than the combined continents of the Earth.  There were huge swathes of green from forests and grasslands hundreds of thousands of kilometres across, great rivers that wound through them and sparkled in the light and vast sweeping deserts, swirled with colours like daubs of oil paint, whilst chains of snow capped mountains marched across the land like lines of jagged teeth rising tens of kilometres from the artificial surface.  Banks of cloud moved above the oversized landscape, shining a brilliant white in the sunlight and swirling in immense weather systems.  Even those of the largest gas giants were dwarfed in comparison by their size, though here their violence was tamed by the careful contouring of the land, breaking it up with chains of mountains and hills and great island archipelagos to absorb their force.  The entire scene was so overwhelmingly large, that the human, Arkari or K’Soth eye could scarcely comprehend it all in one go. The brain sought to break it down to a more manageable size, using the lack of points of reference to try and ignore the fact that here was a habitable environment with the diameter of a planetary orbit, and moreover, that it had once been constructed by beings not unlike themselves.