Sol Shall Rise (The Pike Chronicles Book 1) (26 page)

Kevin and his team approached a double set of doors, which opened as they got closer. Ahead was a large open area, which looked like an indoor gymnasium of some sort.

“They must use this for the prisoners. We’re getting close,” said Kevin over his comm. He gestured for his team to enter in two groups, one taking the right flank and the other taking the left.

The Marines rushed through the doorway two by two, splitting up as they went, rail guns leveled in front of them and ready to fire. They moved so fast that it would be difficult for the enemy to target them. But there was no resistance. No firing. Kevin’s group continued to advance.

They reached the far side of the large room with ease and regrouped at a far wall. There were openings at both ends of the wall.

“Listen up. There could be Kemmar on the other side of this wall waiting to ambush us. So we’re splitting into two teams. Private Chen, you and your team are going to take the opening on the left.”

“Yes, Sir.”

“The rest come with me on the right. Nice and easy. We’re not getting nailed by a Kemmar ambush. Move out.”

The two teams split up and approached their designated openings, flanking them from both sides. Kevin looked back at Chen and held up a metal fist. He waved it forward and the two teams entered.

They moved in with fingers tight on their triggers, ready to take on an entrenched enemy. But what they found stopped their advance faster than any Kemmar energy burst could. From one end to the other were rows of naked humans hanging upside down from the ceiling on hooks.

None lived.

There were hundreds of them, both men and women, and all visibly tortured, their bodies riddled with cuts, welts and blisters. Their arms were not bound, but hung down instead, like some morbid human willow tree, making it impossible to walk through without the corpses touching you.

“What the hell is this?” said Chen.

“The Reivers,” said Kevin. He looked ahead and saw a set of doors and it all began to make sense. “They make the rest of them walk through here, to get to the gymnasium.”

“Those fuckers!” said Chen.

Several other Marines grunted in agreement.

Kevin knew they had to get through to the other side of the doorway. So with grim resolve he gave the order to advance.

Even with his combat suit on he swore he could feel every hand of every corpse touch him as he passed. He didn’t want to look but couldn’t help staring at the lifeless eyes of each Reiver he passed. He felt them all pressing against him, grabbing at him, trying to hold onto him. He knew it was all in his imagination, but he couldn’t shake the feeling they were trying to hold him back. Trying to keep him from reaching the doorway and crossing through to the other side.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep after this one,” said Reynolds.

“You and me both,” said Burke.

“These Kemmar are some twisted motherfuckers,” said Chen. “I’ve got something special planned for them.”

“Ok, everybody stay focused. Keep your eye on the prize,” said Kevin.

The Marines made it through the Reiver corpses and reached the doors on the other side with half the group flanking the left side and the other half flanking the right.

“Ok, same as before,” said Kevin. “On three we go in, two by two.”

“Yes, Sir,” said the rest of the Marines.

“One, two…”

Just then the doors slid open and a round metal object flew through.

“Bomb,” yelled Chen.

But before the Marines could get out of the way a blinding flash of light discharged from the device and the power drained from Kevin’s combat suit. Where he was once a metal Goliath, he now collapsed under the dead weight of the unpowered body armor. He hit the ground hard and heard the rest of his Marines doing the same.

He tried to open a comm with the rest of his team, but to no avail. “Chen, Reynolds, Burke, respond.” But there was no response. He tried to get up, but his combat suit wouldn’t budge. Everything was dead. Then realization swept over him. The device was an EMP weapon. It fired a focused electromagnetic pulse at his team frying the power supply and all the circuits in their combat suits.

They were all trapped.

He heard the heavy stomping of more combat suits, but any hopes of rescue were dashed when Kevin looked up to see two armored Kemmar standing over him. Dread swept over him as they bent over and each grabbed one of his arms, lifted him up and dragged him through the doorway.

The Hermes left a fiery trail as it fell from the sky. The remaining assault shuttles followed closely yet were almost invisible beside the wounded warship. Thrusters fired underneath the ship ensuring the fall was a controlled one, and the Hermes dropped its landing gear, hoping for an easy landing.

Ensign Richards manually controlled the fall, positioning the ship for a landing in the valley directly in front of the prison complex. On the viewscreen the ground came up fast. Mountain peaks and frozen cliffs rushed past as the Hermes dropped past them, like a giant skydiver, waiting until the last minute to let loose her parachute.

They were still falling too fast. Even with Richards’s flying prowess, they were not slowing down enough for a soft landing. There simply wasn’t enough power in the ship’s thrusters. As alarms rang out, fires raged and smoke filled the bridge, Jon stared at the viewscreen. He stared at the crystal blue surface rushing up to meet him and wondered if this was it. Would he die here on this desolate frozen world? Would he finally be free?

I want to live.

He heard the words, or rather felt them, but wasn’t sure where they came from. Was it him or the creature? He didn’t know. Did it matter? With all that had happened did he still want to die? The answer was no. Why?

At that moment he thought of Breeah and Anki. For all his efforts to save the Reivers, for all his dreams of freeing humanity, at this moment the only thing that made him want to go on was Breeah and Anki.

Why them? Did he love Breeah, or was she a just a replacement for the wife he lost? What about little Anki? The little girl did bring out his paternal instincts. Was it because he missed his daughters so much? Did it matter? They needed him and he realized he needed them just as much. He wanted to protect them. And for whatever reason, that desire made him want to live again.

He looked back at the viewscreen. Richards had managed to slow the drop considerably. At their current speed the Hermes would be damaged by the impact, but shouldn’t be destroyed.

He looked over at Commander Wolfe’s still motionless body. A medic was crouched over trying to revive her. Jon yelled at the medic. “We’re going to crash. Grab hold of something.”

***

At first Commander Wolfe didn’t know exactly where she was. She looked around at the mayhem surrounding her and was jolted back to reality. The battle. The Hermes had been hit. People were injured. She had to get up. The crew needed her. But something was wrong with her legs and she couldn’t move them.

She looked down expecting to find them pinned under some piece of equipment, but there was nothing. She noticed the medic working on her. She had been injured, and from the looks of everything it was serious. Although the Hermes didn’t look any better off.

Chaos reigned around her. People were injured, equipment was destroyed. They needed her to keep things under control. As she saw the viewscreen and the ground rushing up at them, she opened a comm link with Chief Engineer Singh.

“Yes, Lynda.”

“Raj?”

“Yes, what is it?”

She heard the commotion in the background and knew things were no less chaotic down in Engineering than they were on the bridge.

“Lynda, I’m very busy down here, what do you need?”

“Raj…” Her throat exploded into a violent coughing fit and she struggled to catch her breath.

“Lynda? Are you alright?”

Tears were streaming down her cheeks and she knew they weren’t only from the coughing. Everything around her seemed to slow down. They were going to hit the ground any second now. The medic who had been looking after her was lunging, trying to grab hold of a railing to brace against the impact. This was it.

“I’m sorry Raj.”

The Hermes hit the ground.

***

The impact made the medic change directions in mid-air, and her body surged hopelessly into a bank of consoles, bouncing off of them and turning like a helicopter before landing on the ground in a broken heap.

Commander Wolfe’s body didn’t fare any better and flew yet again across the room into a nearby wall, the impact so strong that Jon doubted any bones remained intact. Her lifeless body fell to the floor.

Jon stared at his vibrant first officer’s corpse in disbelief. So much talent. So much potential. She was the very last person who should have died. But she was dead. All because of him. She was not the only one. Reports were coming in fast from throughout the ship. The casualty rate was climbing.

The seated crew members fared much better. The threat of a crash landing forced them all to secure themselves with their seat restraints. The bridge’s Marine sentries were also unscathed. They wore full combat suits which protected them from injury, so while they were bounced around a fair bit they got up and took their posts as if nothing had changed.

On the viewscreen the orientation had changed to show the prison complex on the far side of the icy valley. Regaining his focus Jon realized they hadn’t heard from Kevin and his Marines.

“Do we have communications now?”

“Yes, Sir. The interference is gone,” said the comm officer.

“Open a comm with Chief St. Clair, and see if you can bring up his combat suit’s video feed.”

“I am receiving no response, Sir.”

“Ok try Sergeant Henderson.”

“No response.”

“Can you locate their combat suits?”

“No, Sir. I am not getting a response from any of the combat suits.”

“I thought you said the interference was gone?”

“It is, Sir.”

Jon slumped back into his chair as realization donned on him. No response from the combat suits could only mean that they were all destroyed. If the combat suits were destroyed, that meant the Marines were all dead. Could it be possible? Kevin? Henderson? The fleet’s finest, dead?

“Captain, we are under attack,” shouted Petrovic.

Petrovic’s words pulled Jon back into the moment. On the viewscreen were dozens of Kemmar soldiers in combat suits charging the ship. There could be no doubt now. The ground assault had been defeated and the Kemmar were now coming for the Hermes.

The assault shuttles responded first and swooped in on the attackers opening fire immediately. Energy weapons and missiles lit up the icy landscape as the shuttles did their best to fend off the attackers. The Kemmar kept coming and fired missiles of their own at the shuttles buzzing above their heads.

The four remaining assault shuttles simply didn’t have enough firepower to clear the battlefield and were eventually picked off by the Kemmar missiles, each disappearing from the sky in a flash of light.

“Ensign Petrovic, can you open fire on the enemy ground troops?” said Jon.

“Negative, Sir. Weapons are offline,” said Petrovic.

Jon stared at the screen as the Kemmar soldiers came closer, and opened a ship wide comm. “All hands, arm yourselves and prepare to repel enemy boarders.”

They had fought off a boarding party in their previous encounter with the Kemmar, but with a full detail of Marines. How could they fight them off now? What if they couldn’t? The Kemmar would turn them into slaves and take the jump technology for themselves. A slaver race with a jump system.

They could grow to rival the Juttari and Diakans in no time. What’s worse, they would be within striking distance of Sol. Under the terms of the Accord the Diakans would have to defend Sol against the Kemmar, but what would happen if the Kemmar became allied with the Juttari? They would be unstoppable.

Of course the chain of events might take another direction, but it didn’t matter. Regardless of how Jon felt about the Diakans or the Juttari, Jon knew he couldn’t let the jump system fall into Kemmar hands. He had only one option. He had to destroy the Hermes.

But what about the crew? What about Breeah and Anki? Should they all die because of his mistakes? He couldn’t let that happen either. Still, where could they go? Kerces was a frigid wasteland. If they left the ship they couldn’t hope to survive for long. If they could survive, the Kemmar would eventually find them and either kill them or enslave them. Not an option either.

“Ensign Richards, is the jump system still online?”

“Yes, Sir, but it has sustained some damage.”

“Can we jump?”

“Sir?”

“You heard me Ensign.”

“Uh, yes, Sir, but we’re not supposed to attempt a jump while inside a planet’s atmosphere, let alone while on the ground.”

“But we can jump. How far?”

“The planet’s gravity will drastically reduce our range.”

“Can we get out of this system?”

“I think so.”

Jon glanced at the viewscreen. The Kemmar were now pouring into the Hermes from the hull breach. It was now or never.

“Initiate jump.”