Star Crusades Nexus: Book 06 - Call to Arms (4 page)

“Ah, yes…one of the fabled Jötnar. We have never had one of your kind here before.”

He moved out from behind his desk and approached Khan. He was tall, gaunt, and almost skeletal in his build. His face was pale, as were all of the inhabitants of Earth that the two had seen so far. His eyes were pale blue and his hair short and gray. Spartan looked at the windows again. They were like those used on armored ships to present video feeds from other places.

We’re underground, you fool; all of this is just a projection.

The Governor ignored Spartan and looked directly at Khan’s face.

“Your people were created on Prometheus, a fire world. That’s where you met Spartan, isn’t it? I wonder how that meeting went?”

Spartan cleared his throat.

“The Jötnar were the final creation of the Echidna Union in the War. A spy on Prometheus interrupted their programming and removed the fail-safes.”

“Indeed. I read the report. You Spartan, were there as well?”

Spartan nodded.

“Interesting.”

The Governor moved around Khan, examining him as he might a new piece of equipment or technology, and Spartan could see his friend getting annoyed.

“What are you looking for?” he growled.

“Oh, nothing, I am merely curious. In Sol, all forms of artificial life are treated with suspicion, and your people are famed for your assault on Terra Nova at the end of the War.”

Khan spat on the floor.

“My people fought under the command of General Rivers and Admiral Jarvis to liberate your capital.”

The mention of the word ‘capital’ seemed to raise the heckles of the Governor. Spartan could immediately spot the innate hostility toward the primacy of the Alliance capital, and it amused him greatly.

“Yes, we took back Terra Nova from the Union troops and their commanders.”

The Governor shook his head as if he’d just heard some tall tale. He looked at the two and smiled a thin, almost cruel smile that looked as genuine as Spartan’s respect for the man.

“Yes, a rather convoluted tale, as I recall. The Union was under the control of some Artificial Intelligence, buried deep underground on Terra Nova. They were using clones, synthetic warriors, and ship based technology to wage a war of revenge.”

Spartan said no more and simply nodded in agreement.

“This is one of the reasons that I have retained as much central control in Sol. Exposure to these unsavory elements had led to all manner of calamities. I suspect this war that ended with Terra Nova was just an attempt by these creatures, the ones you call Biomechs to destabilize our worlds ready for an outright invasion.”

Again Spartan said nothing and instead spent the time listening. After a long time dealing with situations with just his fists, he was finally starting to understand the idea of using his ears.

“I plan on keeping Sol out of this, just as we did in the past.”

“What has this got to do with us?” Khan asked.

Governor Trelleck rubbed his chin and then moved back to his desk to examine data on his computer system. There was no way to see what was showing on the screen, and when Spartan tried to move to the side, he shuffled a little to block his route.

“I have a problem, and I need your help.”

Khan raised his eyebrows at this.

“Well, problems are our specialty.”

The Governor pressed a button, and all the windows in the room changed to show a very different surface; this time it a red and rocky, with a grayish black sky.

“Where is this?” Khan asked.

Spartan answered before the Governor could respond.

“It’s Mars.”

He then turned to the Governor.

“What about it?”

“Reports came to me in the last hour to say a series of objects has been found on the surface. My people are sending in a team to investigate, but there is something about the description of what they’ve found that sounds…well…very familiar.”

Spartan looked to Khan and then again at the man.

“Familiar?”

Governor Trelleck turned his display around to face them both. It was a still image that showed a shattered structure with some kind of metal leg partially obscuring the field of view.

“This is the last image sent to us by the orbiting relay station. Shortly after sending this, it was shut down.”

Spartan swallowed slowly as he looked at the imagery.

“Yeah, I’ve seen this before. That’s a Biomech soldier.”

The Governor looked positively shocked at this.

“Soldier? How many more can we expect?”

“Oh, not many. In our experience they are very rare. You’ll never find more than three of them on board a single major warship or station.”

Governor Trelleck calmed down a little at this piece of information.

“Ah, and these soldiers, what might they want?”

Now it was Spartan’s turn to smile.

“I thought you already knew their plans? In the past, they have captured and secured areas prior to establishing forward bases. They’ve landed at a heavily occupied habitation site with minimal defenses, right?”

Governor Trelleck nodded, and Khan sighed. He walked to the screen and examined it closely.

“They will harvest your people, Governor Trelleck. When they are ready, they will turn them on the rest of Mars, then the Moon, and finally here, on Earth.”

He looked truly staggered at this.

“But why? We have no quarrel with these machines.”

Spartan shook his head.

“They want you out of the picture while they finish the job elsewhere. If you ask me, the Biomechs are on the move and heading to their endgame.”

Governor Trelleck looked back at the screen and said nothing for several minutes. Spartan and Khan just waited there until the man looked up at them.

“I see. Well, in that case it would be useful to have you around. We will be back in contact with the ground station in thirteen hours. I’ve arranged for you both to have guest quarters. I will send for you when I have information.”

Neither made a move to leave the room.

“Is there something else?” he asked.

“Yeah,” Khan muttered, “What about the Spacebridge back to Terra Nova?”

He left his computer and walked to one of the nearest fake windows. He pointed up to the sky.

“That is where it used to be, a busy transit point between different parts of our great Alliance.”

The sarcasm in his voice was bitter and obvious.

“The last reports from the barge around Mars said that an unknown vessel tried to take control of it the station. We’ve put a lot of time and money into building up the defenses on Mars. My teams deactivated the station and shut down the Rift immediately. In the subsequent battle, the ship was destroyed and the barge heavily damaged, but not before the vessel released several large objects that dropped to the surface of Mars itself.”

He looked to his right and pointed to more open space on the surface of the Red Planet.

“That is where one of them came down. Less than an hour later, all communication with the mining base ceased, as well as contact with the dozens of civilian ships docked on the planet.”

He looked at Spartan and tried to smile at him.

“I know you have fought these things before, and I suspect I will need your help very soon.”

He pressed a button, and in walked the guard Spartan had put on the ground. His face tightened at seeing Spartan.

“Governor Trelleck.”

Trelleck looked first to Khan and then to Spartan.

“I suggest you get some rest, perhaps visit one of our biomedical stations and see to that arm.”

Spartan started to speak, but the man continued.

“I will not give the order to reopen the Rift until I am satisfied that Mars and the rest of Sol are clear of any contamination. As soon as we make contact with the planetary bases, I will be in touch. In the meantime, you have unrestricted access to this facility, as our guests.”

Spartan moved to the door and stepped through before stopping and turning back.

“Governor Trelleck. If Biomechs have landed on Mars, you will need to evacuate the entire colony. They will leave no one alive.”

The Governor lowered his head in acknowledgement and then indicated for the guard to escort them from his room. The door shut behind them, and the man attempted to block their path once more.

“Really?” Spartan asked.

“Yeah, are you that stupid?”

The man looked at them both, closed his eyes, and pointed in the direction he wanted them to leave.

“No,” said Spartan.

“Take me to this biomedical station the Governor was talking about.”

The guard clearly didn’t want to assist, but the hard lines on Spartan’s face and the bulk of Khan, as well as the pain in his stomach, encouraged him to do otherwise. He let out a sigh from his chest and reluctantly nodded to his left.

“This way, to the plaza.”

* * *

The lights flickered inside the Governor’s personal quarters as a priority video message woke him up. He hadn’t meant to sleep and was still dressed in his smart Earthsec uniform, albeit it in a creased form.

“Governor Trelleck, we have the signal. The full report is coming in now…”

That was the news he’d been waiting for. Just a quick toggle of a switch, and the feed switched instantly onto his system. The imagery of the surface of Mars was nothing unusual, but the new craters and damaged buildings near one of the shuttle landing stations shocked him.

“What happened?”

The view shifted, and the camera panned quickly to the right to show a large refinery structure. A number of towers rose up hundreds of meters into the sky, and one had collapsed down and crushed three large structures. A rail track was torn and damaged on one side, as well as several dozen cars strewn about.

“No,” he said, unable or unwilling to accept the fact that something terrible might have happened at the colony.

Finally, a woman in an Earthsec uniform appeared. Her face was cut, and she had lost her cap at some point. It was only then clear that she was inside because her face was partially reflected on the glass behind her.

“This is technician Evans. We are in trouble…”

She looked back at the glass window, watching as another of the towers crumbled and then collapsed. A massive cloud of dust obscured all but the peaks of the towers and partially blocked the view from wherever the woman had been stationed. She looked back at the camera.

“The things smashed through the hangars. All of the security detail are dead, and the survivors, they’ve been given evacuation orders to head for the water towers.”

More explosions rocked the background, and cracks appeared on the glass.

“Their commander broadcast a message before landing and demanding our surrender. Captain Peterson led a patrol out to their landing site.”

She sobbed, and more blasts shook the buildings.

“We’ve not heard from them since.”

The sound changed to a banging noise and then gunfire. The woman looked out of shot and then ducked down for something. A sickening screeching sound followed. She reappeared with a long metal tendril thrust through her body. She slumped out of view along with the limb.

“What the hell is going on?” asked the Governor.

He had already pulled on his boots and rummaged about for his utility belt and firearm. He knew he needed to speak to somebody else, but there was something akin to a sickening fascination in watching the young woman die such a painful and bloody death. There was nothing showing now but the ruined control room and the cracked glass. He made to leave his room but stopped when a figure moved into shot. He watched, completely amazed at the sight of the thing.