When the Stars Fade (The Gray Wars) (97 page)

             
Rallying around the sudden support, the tanks turned toward the dispersed enemy and went on the offensive.

-                           
VIII                            -

              Josh found himself at a loss. Not long had passed since the
y’
d assumed a defensive position, but the time for action was now. 

             
“How much is there
?
”

             
Dax had
n’
t moved from his spot against the wall. He looked up from his seat, his visored face blank
.“
Lots
.
”

             
Josh sagged
.“
Thanks, big help
.
”

             
“At least twenty pools
,”
Pierre interjected
.“
There may be more. The shape of this room is repeated five times around the circumference of the hangar
.”
He projected a 3D map from his wrist. The structure of the Hive begged for symmetry, and it looked like there were at least eight breweries on this level, and several other below.

             
Alexa leaned past the corner, staring into the darkened space
.“
This is the same agent they sprayed into the air when they first landed
?
”

             
“Yes
,”
Dax said. He barely looked up
.“
My filters caught a whiff and went crazy. Thankfully the suit has its own oxygen supply
.
”

             
Josh could tell something was bothering his friend
.“
What is it, Dax
?”
he asked.

             
“We have to shut this down
.
”

             
“We are. The bomb is going t
o
—
”
Josh caught himself. The bomb. How much of the Scourge would be released when the entire carrier went up
?“
W
e’
re going to release it. The thermobaric explosio
n
—”

             
“Will send it all over the planet
,”
Dax finished the sentence
.“
Ther
e’
s still four billion people waiting for evac. Any of them who breathe it in will be infected
.
”

             
Cho held up a hand
.“
Woah, the doc said this bomb would take down just about anything. I
t’
s got to be enough to vaporize this shit
.
”

             
“No
,”
Josh said
.“
I
t’
s thermobaric. Makes a crazy big shockwave and brings this whole place down, but does
n’
t generate nearly enough heat to cook all the poison in this carrier. I
t’
ll still push it into the atmosphere
.”
He took a knee, resting his rifle against the fleshy wall. Tapping a control panel on his gauntlet, he brought up an active hologram of New Eden. Friendly forces were represented by blue, the enemy in red. Most of the glowing sphere showed red.
No time!

             
“Josh
,”
Liane said, waving the officer over
.“
You need to see this
.
”

             
He snuck over, careful to avoid line of sight with the thus far oblivious landlords of the cesspools
.“
What is it
?
”

             
She lay down a small tablet and opened her map. Liane grabbed at the image, pulling and stretching until they saw a wireframe of the room in which they sat.

             
“This is where we are, at least I think
.”
She pointed to a series of similar rooms all around the structure
.“
We thought they were launch engines. Why else did it make sense for them to run four stories down
?
”

             
Josh played with the grid, spinning the miniature spaceship around and around
.“
That doe
s’
t make any sense. How did they expect to leave once they were done here
?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, he knew the answer. Josh nearly fell backwards as the realization washed over him
.“
This is
n’
t a carrier
.
”

             
“What do you mean
?”
Dax asked.

             
“Check out the design
.”
He walked them through the blueprints as he spoke
.“
We came in here, at the top. Traditionally tha
t’
s storage. Non-essential crew and non-mission-critical equipment is put at the inner hull. They had nothing for three bulk-heads, which means they did
n’
t bring enough crew for the ship
.”
He put a finger over the main hangar
.“
The launch bay digs too deep into the central structure of the carrier. Once this baby touched down, she was
n’
t ever flying out again.

             
“And this right here is the big problem
.”
He circled the pools, showing how they travelled all the way to the bottom levels of the ship
.“
We thought these were fuel pods for the engines, but the
y’
re biological containers. There are no rockets staged to get this boat off the dirt. Tha
t’
s why the
y’
re not trying to fix her. Tha
t’
s why they did
n’
t put up a fight for defense, they just went for the offensive. If w
e’
d managed to hold them back, all they would have had to do is put their entire payload into the air. Hell, they just needed to sit back and wait for us to do exactly what we were sent here to do
.
”

             
“And wha
t’
s that
?”
Alexa asked.

             
Josh felt the blood rushing to his head
.“
The bomb. W
e’
re the delivery system
.”
His mind raced, ignoring the fact that it had been up for over 38 hours. All of his ordnance disposal classes came flooding back in. He grabbed the tablet from Liane, manipulating the image until he saw a full topographical map of the area. Doing the math in this head, he added an initial blast radius and debris cloud estimation as an overlay. The numbers made his spine shiver
.“
Healthy estimate, we put a cloud of this shit over half the planet. This is how they take over worlds. I
t’
s a goddamn Trojan Horse
.
”

             
Cho stepped up, all piss and vinegar
.“
Then we shut it down. Abort the mission
.
”

             
“And leave all of this to be used later on? Or wait for
Valley Forge
to bombard the site again and kick up the spores anyway
?”
Josh shook his head
.“
We have to destroy this carrier. At all costs. But we have to make sure that all of this stays put
.”
He crossed his arms, looking at his captive audience
.“I’
m open to suggestions as to how
.
”

             
No one spoke. Each soldier looked to their left and right, hoping someone else would have the solution. It was Fares who answered at last, walking to the center of the group with solemn purpose.

             
“The Scourge is a virus, so we should treat it as such
.”
He pulled a pouch from his combat webbing and held it up
.“
Nano-Thermatic Cauterizers. Standard issue for all medical facilities. Inside are trillions of microscopic machines just like the ones inside all of us. They target mutated RNA and DNA strands, eliminate viruses, and burn out bacteria before it can take hold. When we use it on the field, we dilute it with water to prevent overmedication. A few full canisters in each tube, combined with an accelerant, should effectively destroy whatever those creatures are stirring
.
”

             
Josh thought on that idea for a moment, but already saw a flaw
.“
We only have seven field kits, and tha
t’
s not even enough for this room
.”
The group fell silent again.

             
“And tha
t’
s assuming this stuff dies at high temp
,”
Pierre said
.“
You know, there is another way
.”
He pulled the tablet over, showing everyone the diagram
.“
If we move the bomb below the hangar, to the lowest level, the vents and armor plates will direct the blast down into the ground
.”
He handed the device back to Josh
.“
Should turn the dirt into liquid
.
”

             
Dax sat up straight, crawling over
.“
I
t’
ll bury the ship
.
”

             
Each of the soldiers drew closer, their minds focusing together on a single point.

             
“We sink the Hive, cover it so the Scourge ca
n’
t leak out
,”
Liane said.

             
Alexa nodded
.“
We blast the dorsal vents with missiles as we bug out, make sure they ca
n’
t release the virus
.
”

             
Josh shut off the pad and handed it to Liane
.“I’
m excited about this plan. Seems foolproof. I absolutely ca
n’
t wait to see what goes wrong
.
”

             
Dax laughed
.“
Probably something important
.
”

             
“Only if w
e’
re lucky
.
”

-                           
IX                            -

              Zev arched his back as he stretched. The pain in his chest surged, but not so much to fell the soldier. He grinned, pressing at the bandaged area and savoring the sting of the stitches. Dr. Missirlian had thrown a fit when he left, but there was nothing more he could do in a bed. It was time for him to get back in the fight. Ther
e’
d been more than enough gear at the entrance to the triage center to get a full battle rattle. Armed with enough ammunition to take on an army, Sergeant First Class Perez went off to find his platoon.

             
At first he did
n’
t notice his companions tagging along. He walked through the desolate parking structure that had become the FOB, searching for any recognizable faces. Most of those he found were too injured or scared to venture back out into the world. He was able to find out a bit of information. Gabriel and the eight remaining soldiers from the Scouts had set out to reach the radio tower and, with luck, punch through the jamming devices the Boxti had in place. From there they could call in an air strike or, better yet, a rescue shuttle. Though almost one hundred soldiers stood guard at the base, the thousand civilians crammed inside were in no condition to fight.

             
Zev reached the last guard post before the surface level and stopped. A young corporal stood duty, deep circles under his eyes from lack of sleep. He barely moved when the sergeant approached.

             
“Morning, sergeant
.
”