Star Crusades Nexus: Book 06 - Call to Arms (13 page)

“Right, you’ve gone over my layered defense already. What do you think?”

Osk didn’t even need to look.

“I think it is simple and leaves command to the junior officers. They are ready to do their duty. I made just one change. I hope you do not mind?”

Teresa lowered her head a little as she looked at Osk.

“Oh?”

“The Alpha arm. It is the oldest of the eight arms and has been heavily expanded and extended to make way for larger Alliance ships to land. It is twice the size of the others and has multiple access points. I have kept a single landed frigate there and stationed a company of marines on board.”

“Interesting...and to what end?”

Osk laughed in reply.

“An old trick I learned on Hyperion. When you are unsure what is about to happen, you dig in and wait with every weapon available. The frigate is a heavily armed and armored bastion, and it is positioned directly in the middle of the Alpha arm and in a cavern the size of a Battlecruiser.”

“I see. Well, that makes sense to me. I had your forward position already set up to use that location. That is acceptable?”

Osk bowed politely.

“Indeed. From the defenses we have been working on, my marines will stop anything getting inside.”

Osk moved to the doorway.

“I must ask your leave, Colonel. Time is against us.”

Teresa pulled on the front of her tunic and straightened herself.

“Of course, Commander. Good hunting.”

Osk saluted and started but hesitated and looked back to Teresa.

“I heard what happened to Spartan. He is in Sol, is he not?”

Teresa found it hard to breathe and found she could do no more than nod.

“My people have no greater friend than your family, Teresa. When we are done here, we will be duty bound to offer our help.”

She paused to emphasize the next part.

“In any way my people can.”

With that, she exited her quarters as quickly and as silently as she had arrived, leaving Teresa in her civilian uniform and completely alone. Teresa looked about her quarters and then placed her head in her hands.

What did she mean? Is Osk offering me the help of her Jötnar to find Spartan?

* * *

Dauntless wasn’t just an old ship. She was technically the oldest functioning vessel anywhere in the Alliance. Dating back to fifty years before the colonization of Terra Nova, the ship was a throwback to the time when ships were designed for journeys of up to a year through Sol. Back then, she had been a flagship for the United Nations Fleet. That small flotilla of ships had been funded by scores of nations on Earth to protect their fledgling operations on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Inside the vessel, just a short distance from her aged plasma powerplant was a small reliquary, the room not being much larger than crewmen’s quarters.

“Interesting,” Spartan said as he examined the brass plaque fitted to the wall. It was heavily corroded, and the corner had been broken off sometime ago. It was the remaining wording that intrigued him the most.

“What about it?” asked Khan, barely concealing his boredom.

“Well, for starters look, the ship is using the old Earth system of dating.”

Khan scratched his head in confusion.

“I don’t get it. What are the A.D. bits for then?”

Spartan shook his head and sighed before pointing at the numbers.

“These are apparently the number of years since the birth of Jesus of Nazareth.”

Khan straightened himself and immediately struck his head on the metal ceiling. Something clattered, and a metal box dislodged and dropped to the ground, only to crack and shatter on the floor. Spartan bent down and opened up the damaged unit. A brass object fell out onto the floor.

“Now that is more interesting,” said Khan.

The plaque and the date of the ship faded from memory as Spartan lifted the item and held it in front of them both.

“What is it?” asked Khan.

Spartan examined it carefully and turned it about in front of him. It was made from metal and glass and felt rather heavy. The brass and iron framing was pitted and fitted along a partially curved rail. On one side were a number of thin lenses or mirrors, and on the other what appeared to be a small telescope. Spartan fiddled with it until something snapped off and dropped to the ground. He then handed the device to Khan and reached down to the broken piece.

“This is a museum ship. It must be related to that.”

Khan spent even less time than Spartan looking at the device and handed it back. Spartan placed it inside a velvet-lined case sitting on the floor at the side of the room.

“For such a famous ship, I thought there would be more here.”

Spartan agreed with him and walked about the room, examining trinkets and small artifacts as he moved about. One cabinet was filled with nearly a dozen small models, each one the size of a man’s hand. Spartan opened the door at the bottom and took out one. Khan watched him as he placed the object in his hand.

“Fascinating,” said Spartan.

Khan walked over and looked at the object. It was rectangular in shape but with a narrow, slightly lifted front. The rear was raised, and three tall poles jutted out from the top. Thin wires ran down to join with the rest of the structure. It was only then that Spartan spotted the name inscribed on its side.

“HMS Dauntless, 1804,” he said quietly.

Khan was intrigued and opened another door and pulled out a similar model. It was painted gray, and much of it had chipped off to expose the metal underneath. This one was much sleeker and lacked the wires and details of the other. There was a small, slightly rounded turret, with what looked like a gun pushing out of it.

“Dauntless, 2010,” he said to himself but loud enough that Spartan could hear him.

“I see. These are old Earth warships with the same name. That one is from 2010, and the other one is nearly two hundred years older. This is from a time when warships traveled across water and fought each other.”

“Have you ever seen one?” Khan asked.

Spartan looked for somewhere to sit, but there was nothing other than old relics and boxes. He’d already caused enough damage so decided to stay upright instead.

“What, a ship?”

Khan nodded.

“Well, there was a replica of a wooden ship on Terra Nova. I’ve not seen it, but there are video streams of the thing. It is very similar to that model, the one with the wires.”

Satisfied that they had now explored this small part of the ship, Spartan had Khan moved back into the main passageway. They had examined the entirety of Dauntless almost four times now. If either of them had an interest in old ships, they hid it well during the long walks. Even the ship’s Captain, a curt, slightly angry looking man called Thomas Cobb, had grown bored of their investigations. He was a sprightly old man with a thin layer of white hair, as well as a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. Spartan had found it best to avoid him when he could.

“Well, what do you think of him then?” Khan asked.

As Spartan moved through the ship, he had been looking at more than just the shape, design, and condition. He’d been using the long days of travel to loosen up his limbs and to assess the rest of those on board. Captain Cobb was something of a mystery to him. He was old enough for senior command, yet had been put in charge of an ancient museum craft. They had just left the Captain to deal with a routine thruster problem with his crew and were busy making their way to the appropriately named mission bay.

“Cobb?”

Spartan tried not to laugh when his friend knocked his head on the low level bulkheads for what must have been the tenth time that day.

Khan nodded.

“Well, for a man in his mid sixties, he is in surprisingly good shape.”

It was true; the man had looked after himself, either through personal effort or substantial amounts of money. He was average height, but his arms and torso betrayed a level of fitness that would have impressed even a Marine Corps physical training instructor.

“Well, he’s a tight ass for a start. I don’t think he was particularly impressed with your little speech about the merits of Jötnar infantry.”

Khan smiled, and this time managed to avoid cracking his head on a bulkhead. He ducked down and then pushed on down the narrow passageway. The metallic wall on the left dripped with condensation, and there were marks of corrosion in places, none of which inspired much confidence in the two of them.

“Maybe he could spend some of that energy getting this ship ready for combat. This thing is a disgrace.”

They finally reached a wide-open access point that led into the mission bay. This section was more frequently used, and at least part of it had been cleaned up for the mission. Even so, it looked far from what either of them was used to. They both went inside and stopped to see what progress, if any, was being made by the hastily assembled troops.

“Spartan,” Captain Cobb called out from across the bay.

Khan bowed his head a little in the direction of the man.

“Looks like the Captain wants to play…again.”

Spartan did his best to hide his amusement and walked over to him, carefully avoiding the groups of men who were busy going through their drills. Unlike the Marine Corps, this unit was entirely male, and not one of them had shown even the slightest bit of interest in Spartan or Khan. Once past them, he moved to the space between two of the assault shuttles where a table had been put up and a number of weapons and pieces of equipment laid out. Spartan stopped in front and looked down at the gear.

“Interesting selection.”

The Captain waited behind the table and looked singularly unimpressed with his comments.

“Interesting? These weapons are the best equipment Earthsec has to offer.”

Khan moved alongside Spartan and scooped up one of the rifles. It looked like any other small arm, but with the magazine inserted behind the trigger and under the stock. It kept the weapon short, but it looked strange to him. He turned to Spartan and held it out to him.

“Why?”

Spartan coughed and did his best to hide the smile on his face.

“It’s, uh, a Bullpup, I believe?”

Captain Cobb nodded.

“That’s right. Short, compact and ideally suited for close ranged firefights.”

Khan wasn’t particularly inspired by its diminutive size, placed it back down, and picked up one of the magazines. He was amazed upon seeing the column of projectiles fitted inside, all of them pushed up by a kind of spring, presumably at the base of the magazine.

“What is this?”

Spartan took it and withdrew one of the bullets from the magazine. The shape was odd, nothing more than a rectangular block that felt like a kind of resin or wax in his hand.

“Uh, I have no idea, old friend.”

“This, Gentlemen, is one of Earth’s most advanced exports, the TEK-40 tactical weapon. The small size hides an electronic firing system with state-of-the-art 6mm caseless ammunition and a rate of fire in excess of fourteen hundred rounds a minute.”

Khan lifted just one eyebrow at the figures, but Spartan said nothing.

“The TEK-40 has been exported to the security forces on Mars, Lunar, and a dozen stations throughout Sol.”

Spartan lifted the weapon to his shoulder and aimed it at the wall of the mission bay. He intentionally kept the magazine well away from the weapon, and as soon as he spotted an operative moving into his line of sight, he lowered the gun and examined it even more carefully.

“It looks well made, Captain Cobb. I’m not sure it will be enough to deal with the enemy though.”

The commander of the Earthsec operatives looked unimpressed at his words.

“Spartan, your account of these machines and their capabilities has been examined in detail, and we are confident our training and equipment will be more than adequate to deal with them.”

Khan lifted the weapon once more and then cast it down on the table.