Ghost Soldiers (29 page)

"Well, that plan worked out well for them, didn't it?"

Five-Seven nodded.

"That is where the derelict comes in."

Spartan lifted his hands.

"Wait, I think I can see where all of this is going. The Trusskans didn't kill themselves. They activated these things, probably to protect them from something, and it went wrong, very badly wrong."

"The Biomechs?" Khan suggested.

"Probably. Whatever happened, the Trusska ended up being flagged as targets, and if the stories are true, they were hunted down."

Captain Delatorre appeared fascinated with the information.

"Yes...yes, of course. And that's why the Trusska destroyed their Spacebridges, to stop these Guardians escaping to other worlds. So the stories were true, and they did this so the other species would live."

"Maybe," added Spartan, "But somehow one of these things got aboard this collection of escaping ships. They either didn't get the memo, or decided to make a run for it. Jump ahead a few hundred years, and we've got a dead ship, inhabited by a machine that wants only to escape, replicate, and destroy contamination."

Khan chuckled.

"Hell, if it reaches T'Karan and onwards, it will find the signs of the Biomechs on nearly every world."

He pointed his armoured limb at his own chest.

"What about me? Or them?"

He pointed to Five-Seven and his Thegn comrades. Spartan sighed, realising the enemy they were facing was both more powerful than expected, and a greater threat to the Alliance than he could ever have imagined.

"This isn't good, not at all. The Guardian war machine hit us hard, and it wants out of here. We sustained nearly thirty percent casualties in less than two hours of leaving Euryale. In another…"

Khan groaned as he listened to the words.

"In six hours Euryale will blow, and all of this becomes pointless talking. All we have to do is keep it busy. Euryale will do the rest."

Captain Delatorre and Five-Seven exchanged looks, and Spartan spotted them right away.

"What is it? More good news?"

Five-Seven glanced at the Captain who still looked pale and uncomfortable. He gave the Thegn a nod to continue.

"Major, there has been partial contact from the Colonel. The information was fragmentary, but it would appear the Colonel is coming here with help. He mentioned a team from Prometheus."

Khan and Spartan turned to each other, and Khan looked both pleased and surprised at the news. Both had assumed the rescue party would be a modest affair, possibly one that was more likely to get itself into further trouble. But a troupe of warriors from Prometheus could mean only one thing, the Red Watch. Of all the Jötnar, they were perhaps the most experienced and best equipped.

"The Colonel is aboard IAS Titan. It wasn't clear, but there was a mention of the Admiral Jarvis Naval Station. The Colonel said something about an assault team at the station. He did confirm that his destination is here, and to help us."

The Thegn paused, presumably trying to remember if there was anything else. It took no more than a couple of seconds, but it felt like an eternity. He then looked directly at Spartan.

"I managed a short response before all contact was jammed. That was the end of the conversation."

"About time Gun got off his ass and came here to give us a hand," said Khan.

Spartan looked less pleased about the news.

"How much information did you send to him?"

Five-Seven shook his head.

"Not much. That we had abandoned ship and were moving in to secure the derelict."

"Did you tell him about the creature? He has to know to stay away from the derelict."

Five-Seven continued to shake his head.

"No, Major. We were jammed almost immediately after I sent the data on the creature, and then that creature hit us. It didn't want us sending a signal. I sent us much as I could in the time I had."

Spartan looked disappointed, but none of them could see that, due to his face being hidden inside the thick plating of the Maverick armour.

"Very well. How long do we have?"

Captain Delatorre opened the visor on his naval PDS armour. Normally, he looked perfectly comfortable, but in this lightweight body armour he looked completely out of his depth. Five-Seven looked to the Captain to explain the rest. Reluctantly, he explained everything they knew.

"We've triangulated their position. Based on the best data we have, I estimate they will reach here in five hours...approximately. They must be using Titan, and her engines are not in a good way. Any problems and their travel time could alter...substantially. Say, a margin for error of up to two hours either way."

Spartan sniffed as he did a quick calculation in his head.

"So five to get here, minimum. That doesn't give us much time. If they're late, we'll be trapped aboard this vessel and with that thing."

Khan seemed to agree.

"True. If he's late for any reason, we'll be dead. Nothing will stand when Euryale detonates. Everything on this derelict will be vaporised by her self-destruct system."

Five-Seven was the only one that didn't seem particularly concerned at the news.

"I concur. Either we get out on the dropship, disable Euryale's denotation..."

"...or we find another way off this thing," said Khan.

The derelict vibrated violently and dust dropped down from the ceiling. Many of the marines looked up, including Spartan and Khan.

"What the hell was that?"

The radio system crackled, and the familiar voice of Lieutenant Anne Lee spoke over the command channel. It was encoded, but open to all the officers and non-commissioned officers in the company.

"We've got a problem down here."

Captain Delatorre shook his head.

"Tell me something I don't know."

Spartan checked his weapon status as he answered.

"Go on, tell us."

"We detected the creature moving back inside the rest of the derelict before it vanished near the wreckage of the habitation dome. One of the remaining drones shows it has started manually opening seals in multiple sections of the hull. I have one opened at point three-five-five and another at three-five-nine."

"What?" Khan said.

Captain Delatorre pulled out a secpad from its mount on his armour and examined the schematic of the derelict. With the data link terminated, he had to mark the changes. He then moved the unit in front of the two metal war machines. Spartan leaned in closer to look before speaking.

"It makes sense. The Trusska knew of this weapon and would have designed systems to reduce the chance of it taking control. The only way it can do this is to physically reach the controls and breach them. It is moving around the derelict, and it is up to something."

Captain Delatorre checked another screen on his secpad.

"You think it is only able to influence communications and propulsion?"

Khan nodded.

"I don't think it has control of propulsion, more like it can influence navigation, and the ship does the rest. If it could do, don't you think we would have changed course by now? With so little time left, there is nothing that can be done to stop this derelict from reaching Euryale and being vaporised."

"So what is the creature doing?"

Spartan answered him before Khan could say more.

"Look at the schematic and the seals it has breached. Notice anything unusual?"

Spartan sent the data via the direct microwave link to Khan. The imagery appeared on his overlay and added to his mapping data of the derelict. At first it was impossible to see what was happening, and he was forced to zoom out of the city-sized facility. The derelict had little in common with a ship, looking more like a junkyard of Trusskan ships, each attached together for mutual benefit. Then he spotted it.

"The smaller ship, on the dorsal section."

"Yes," agreed Spartan, but with a questioning tone.

"No...it can't be doing that."

Captain Delatorre was already looking at the same data, and discussing it with Five-Seven. Spartan spotted movement and looked back to watch as a partially damaged SAAR robot moved into position at the breach doorway. Further to the left a pair of marines helped carry away another body.

Khan grunted in agreement.

"...it knows it cannot win with another assault, not while it is badly damaged. So it slinks off to repair itself while preparing a section of the derelict to detach."

"Exactly," said Spartan, "Once it has released all of the locks, the creature will release the vessel. It is much smaller than anything else here, and will get itself clear of the blast."

Khan snarled as he listened to Spartan's assessment.

"And leave us here to burn with the rest."

Captain Delatorre didn't seem convinced.

"But won't it be weakened if deprived of the power of this ship? Surely none of the ships connected to this structure still function?"

Spartan sighed.

"It doesn't need a functioning ship, it just needs enough juice to get it away from the rest of us. A series of detonations around those breaches would do the job."

Khan seemed to agree.

"Yeah, and then it goes into hibernation until some other poor fool finds it in a few years or decades."

Khan reached for Spartan's arm.

"So, my friend, what do we do? I will not stay here to die, and I'll be damned if I'm letting that thing escape."

Spartan contemplated what lay before him. His gut instinct was, as always, to attack.

"Forget the dropship, we have a job to do. Get everybody here, including the wounded."

The others looked stunned at what he was saying.

"You're serious?" Captain Delatorre asked.

Spartan deactivated his armour, and the panels slid and moved until he could be seen inside the massive armoured fighting suit. His visor was open, and his face visible to them all.

"I am deadly serious, Captain. We will deal with this creature once and for all. If guns won't do the job, we'll use blades and fists."

The Captain shook his head.

"And what about Euryale? How will we avoid the blast?"

Spartan grinned.

"You're assuming we come out of this thing alive. All that matters is that we stop this thing."

He then looked to Khan, the only one of them that seemed to relish this opportunity.

"In any case, I've got a plan."

Those nearby looked to each other, but none had a clue what to say. Spartan activated his command network and selected a particular transponder.

"This is Spartan. Are you still there?"

He waited, and it took almost five seconds before a pained answer came back.

"Kanjana here. I'm at the rear of the ship. We made it this far, but I lost Jarvis in an ambush by one of the walking machines. Richards is injured, but not badly. I am at the evacuation level on the port side. I can see control units from here for the power system, and a single sentry machine guards them. I've been waiting to hear from someone, anyone."

Spartan swallowed uncomfortably. He'd hoped and prayed she would have made the perilous journey through the ship. He doubted he could have done it, a kilometre through twisted corridors, shafts, and ladders, all while under the watchful eye of the enemy. She could have been killed in a thousand ways, yet there she was, safe and waiting.

What a woman! What could I do with a hundred of her?

"Can you disable the power units of the derelict?"

He held his breath as he waited. It was a hard thing to ask, especially knowing the two of them were out there at the rear of the ship and alone.

"I've already checked the power core from my carbine. If you can give me enough lead-time, I can reconfigure it to overload with a plasma blast. In the right place it could cripple this vessel."