CHAPTER 11 - KILLERS
Twenty Two and a half hours before Iron Five leaves Adula
System: K1
Location: Keden, Dune Desert
Time: 0330 Hours Local
Base commander Mirana O’Canon hit the Eversteel floor hard and it felt like it had hit her back. Another explosion rocked the domed complex and brought more glass and evercrete crashing down around her. What she had seen was madness and if it had not been by her own eyes, she might not have chosen to believe it.
Six of the strange looking Mecha, bearing Earthfront insignias surrounded the base while a seventh cut a deadly path through the outer and inner hangars, devastating everything in its sights. Nothing in Mirana’s arsenal could have held their ground. Every MAV that had engaged the unknown was cut down and the armored Tanks never even had the chance to fire a single shot. What puzzled her was that while the machines carried the Earthfront logo, the foot soldiers bore the red and black insignia of the Raiku Dynasty. The implication of this was mind blowing.
As Mirana dragged herself from the floor, she could still hear the two Auto-cannons of the killer in the distance. Everything and everyone was gone, save her and the frightened girl trailing behind. The men and women on her base, with their lives snuffed out in an instant, hung like a weight above her head. Guilt gripped her and Bile rose into her throat but she forced it back; she would deal with that later.
Knowing she would never have made it to the starship in time, her orders across all coms were clear…leave without her. But as she ran across one of the upper corridors after escaping the control room, a blast of expanding energy shook the walls and shattered windows. She was powerless and could only watch as the four hundred and fifty ton starship returned to the planet surface in a hail of fires and raining debris.
“Let’s go!”
She yelled it to the scared girl on the floor. Twenty years old and fresh out of communications training
“We’ve got to keep moving.”
Mirana had not long arrived on the ground floor level of the base, when she spotted the frozen cadet crouching beneath a broken table. The weight of her Tex’s Semi-automatic M71 hung heavily on her shoulder but she ignored the temptation to relieve herself of it. She had used it to end the lives of those wretched soldiers who had stormed her base just over seven hours ago, just as her father had done when she was seventeen. He died saving her that day and she had escaped because of it. The hostile takeover of her father’s base on the moon of Karin eighteen years ago served as a reminder of how desperately wicked the hearts of men were and still are. They had tried to take her but she’d fought, the way he trained her to, and for it they had marked her for life. Her scar was a permanent reminder…
Richard Gant
Why was he in her head? She knew that he’d taken a good look on more than one occasion. What did it reveal to him? She chose yet again not to care. She had worn her mark proudly ever since that day.
Mirana looked at the scared girl beside her and vowed to save her, even if it meant making the same sacrifice her father had made. She and the men and women who had stood against these new invaders had done well, but then the machines came, and now only she remained. The thought of this cramped her throat but she pushed on until reaching the debriefing room. A pang of desperation lodged itself into her gut like a large stone. Her office was only a corner away, a mere hundred feet or so.
The complex shook violently again and the girl behind her stumbled but used the commanding officer’s outstretched arm to regain her footing. The hammering had intensified. They were bringing the place down but why? She had been nothing but loyal to Earthfront, and a duty minded soldier for Earth ever since she could remember. What could have caused this? Her mind drew a picture of the only possibility it could conjure. Gant…Captain, Richard Gant and his Iron Five. She knew deep down that somehow, somewhere in all this chaos, she would find them in the midst and right now, she hated him for it.
That self-centered bastard! What right did he have to bring this on her? But what if she was wrong? What if he had nothing to do with it? Why was she even thinking of him?
She ran on feeling conflicted and to her relief, her office door appeared. The walls shook and the floor suddenly turned to jelly but Mirana launched herself inside and to the wall behind her desk. The girl, following, whimpered but her commander remained calm. She had to do this right the first time. Slowly, but deliberately, her fingers tapped out a sequence on the keypad behind her gold trimmed certificate. In a few seconds a hissing sound filled the room and a doorway, half on the floor, half on the wall opened up and she grabbed the young recruit by the hand and bolted down the still aligning staircase.
The entire building shuddered and groaned as it began to cave in and when Mirana slapped her palm against the button at the base of the steps, the doors re-sealed and the last thing she saw outside it, was her office folding in on itself and then darkness encased them. But the Commander wasted no time. She was up and moving, her Digital Eyes adjusting almost instantly.
“Come on!”
The girl snapped out of her trance and followed and they both ran on.
********
900 hours Dunan Time
Almost two days had passed since Mirana and her young escapee had fled the fallen base. They relentlessly navigated the tunnels and had eaten old tasting MRE’s from a bunker a half mile or so in. But now she was hungry again and although the young girl, Sari, according to their conversations, said nothing about it, Mirana knew that the craving was mutual.
“We’re here…”
The girl was much calmer now. Her anxiety and fear had faded into nothing after eating, talking and rest but that was ten hours ago and now, as natural light made the tunnel ahead visible, Mirana could only hope that Sari’s newfound courage would hold out.
“Is that it?”
The girl had an untainted innocence about her, in her eyes, in her voice that had no place in SysDef let alone Earthfront.
“Yeah…”
Mirana had not been to Dunan in over two years. The City lay in the distance, ten miles and some, as shown on her Dees. The dusty outline of it rose in the center and reminded her of a mountain near her home back on Earth. As for Earth…she had not seen Earth for over seven years; her home and what was left of her family, an aunt, uncle and sister, was all that she had.
“How are we going to get there?” Sari’s voice brought Mirana back to reality. This was a part of the equation she had yet to come to grips with, but there was only one way and although her body rebelled against it, her mind was resolute.
“Let’s go…”
Mirana, with Sari’s help, pushed the brown-rusted metal grate until it moved, creaking, outward. Below them was nothing more than a four foot drop where harsh winds had eroded a long gone dirt pathway. Above them was dust and sand, hardened into a natural roof, held up by strands of weathered, rock-solid dirt columns. It took five minutes to get clear of these shelters which were actually the foot of the cliffs marking the edge of the Dune Desert. Then they began the long walk. A trip through the open plains of dry dust with only their station suits to keep them cool.
********
An hour and twenty eight minutes later, Mirana ignored the fact that they had just covered barely a quarter of the distance. If she were alone, the trip would have been a short one but this girl was tired and needed a reason to go on.
“Sari…”
Maybe if she got her talking, the trek might seem easier
“You said you were from Dullus?”
It took Sari a moment to acknowledge the question “Yes, I was born and raised there.”
“I’ve never been to that planet but I have heard of it. Is it nice there?”
“It’s great, if you love…”
Sari’s voice trailed off and as Mirana turned toward the growing sound, she understood why.
Across the landscape, and approaching fast, was what looked like two MAV’s, a Booster Tank and a Transport of some kind. They were on an intercept course, and based on Mirana’s knowledge of military operations, she had no doubt that she and Sari had been spotted and were about to be picked up.
“Sari..?”
The Commander put her hand on the girl’s shoulder, making eye contact
“No matter what happens today, do not run. Let’s not give them a reason to harm us. If they pick us up, we’ll be okay and if not…”
The fear had returned to the innocent eyes but Mirana had to be real about the situation. She recalled her own fears when her father had shouted for his Aide to take her to safety. It was not the fear of losing her life, no it was not that. She had feared that she would never see him again
“If not…then tell the Galaxy that I defended my men with my life…”
There were no other words to say and Sari knew this much. Their silence was now drowned out by the small convoy slowing to a halt. Both MAV’s took up positions a few hundred feet out, between the SysDef women and the Dune Desert and what made it interesting, was the fact that the MAV’s were facing away from them. The Booster Tank however, swiveled its turret toward her. Its sleek tank frame and Fiber Steel Armor hung suspended from the ground. The Magnatech keeping the thirty ton beast afloat whined while spreading dust and dirt out and away from under it.
Mirana’s M71 hung loose enough to have it ready in a flash, not that it would make a difference but for the time being, she held on to hope.
The Transport; a long, wide, hovering, aerodynamically sleek and reinforced vessel, touched the light-brown desert with a quake. The engines remained running while more dust fluttered out and around it, adding to the thickening haze created by the Booster Tank. Two very thin slits of Everglass in front of the caterpillar-like machine showed Mirana where the pilots sat.
Did this thing have any weak points?
Mirana knew the answer and it was a disappointing one. A slot in the side of the Caterpillar opened like a large wing and five soldiers stepped out. The first noticeable thing about them was that they had no helmets, but their heads and faces were covered with the same material as their combat suits. She left her gun hanging and did not grip it or appear threatening in any way. According to Kedenian law, soldiers apprehending non hostiles are to capture and hold. At any rate, they would be taken as prisoners or sent back to Earth, but her heart hit a bump in her chest and she forced herself to take deep breaths. These were not Keden’s ordinary soldiers. By the black insignia’s on their battle suits, and Keden’s large red K behind it, these were the Kedar…Keden’s elite.
“Weapon down, on your knees, hands behind your heads!”
The gravelly voice reminded Mirana of her own; it was the one thing she hated about this place more than any other. When she first arrived, they had told her about this, and that her suit’s filters and whatnot would keep her safe. But after five years on a planet, habits form and precautions easily disappear.
The women did as the man commanded. Mirana watched his boot clad feet move behind them and felt a rough hand lift her effortlessly from her knees and shove her toward the transport. She heard Sari’s whimper as she too was shoved but remained calm; resistance would be foolish.
Mirana was approaching the wide doorway of the transport when gunfire erupted. She heard the unmistakable tumbling of Auto-cannons and familiar fizzles of rockets leaving their launchers. She grabbed Sari and shoved her ahead and away from the transport. It would be a death trap in there and their best bet was to get as far away from this battle as possible. The soldiers were now too busy to concern themselves with the women and as Mirana looked back, she saw one of them gesture for her to run, and then he and the transport exploded into a billion pieces.
********
Mirana left the darkness and opened her eyes to a bright expanse of dusty air. Sari was shouting in her ear and explosions and gunfire erupted nearby. She saw the melted transport and remembered what had happened. The blast must have knocked her off her feet and thrown her to where she now lay. She allowed Sari to help her to her up and both women huddled together, powerless in the face of what was happening around them. What she saw now was imminent death. One of the strange looking Mecha that had attacked her base was here and by the looks of things, even though it was alone, it was winning this fight. One Kedenian MAV was standing its ground while the other lay in ruins not far away. The Booster Tank was in full assault, tearing up chunks of desert as the driver maneuvered wildly to get a shot from below.
Sari screamed as the menacing Machine flew by no less than two hundred feet overhead in hot pursuit of its prey, bathing the women in a backwash of hot dust. Mirana looked on and her stomach sank. Up to this point she had not panicked or given into fear but here, after the hope of escape had eluded her, all of her restraints gave way.
Her Father, where was he? Was he in heaven? Was there a heaven? And if there was, would she be there in a few minutes? How does one get to heaven? She remembered going to church one Sunday, a very long time ago when the world made sense and her mother was still alive, a few months before she would pass away. Mirana must have been about seven, the pastor had said something relating to getting into heaven but it was all a blur now.
The Sol engines overhead shook her back to reality. This Kedenian pilot was good. He rolled and looped and jinked his way out of his pursuer’s claws but Mirana knew that it would only be a matter of time until the whole ordeal was over. The Booster Tank, keeping up its mad dashes made little impact on what was going on yet she had to admit, even in the face of annihilation, its driver was admirably persistent. And then it happened. The loud boom of missile meeting metal echoed overhead and the women watched as the stricken Kedenian MAV glided its way to the planet surface and crunched a deep groove in the dirt not too far away.
Mirana’s heart planted a few punches squarely into her chest as the man-like machine landed no less than eight hundred feet away. Even at this distance it bore down on her like a towering beast, but the sound of the Booster Tank filled the air and she watched as it shot across the surface, toward its doom. The Unbeatable Mecha turned toward it and Mirana knew that when there were no more metal targets left, she and Sari would be next. The Monster lined up its prey and the Booster Tank fired futilely, but then without warning, what must have been ten trails of missile exhausts suddenly appeared in the air above the enemy machine, and then the Invincible MAV exploded into a ball of crimson fire and flying pieces.