Ep.#11 - Born of the Ashes (The Frontiers Saga)

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  The Frontiers Saga Episode #11: Born of the Ashes

  Copyright © 2014 by Ryk Brown All rights reserved.

  First Kindle Edition

  Cover and Formatting by Streetlight Graphics

  All rights reserved. This eBook is licensed for the personal enjoyment of the original purchaser only. This eBook may not be resold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you are reading this eBook and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Amazon.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to locales, events, business establishments, or actual persons—living or dead—is entirely coincidental.

  CHAPTER ONE

  Lieutenant Telles sat on the edge of the floor of the Kalibri airship, his feet firmly planted on the foot rails outside and slightly below the bottom of the small Corinairan aircraft. He looked out at the city below. Sydney was an impressive city, with its bays and numerous rivers snaking their way inland. Although the landscape and vegetation were alien to him, there was still a familiarity about it all. He had experienced the same feeling on numerous excursions to the surface. First, in Geneva. Then in Port-Gentil, Miami, and Winnipeg. It seemed that there were similarities in all places inhabited by humans. The environment and landscape might change, but the many ways that human beings created their pockets of civilization all shared common threads, even a thousand light years from his own homeworld.

  “Winnipeg was greener,” Master Sergeant Jahal said over the lieutenant’s helmet comms.

  “Indeed it was,” the lieutenant agreed. He shifted his position for the third time since departing the airfield.

  Master Sergeant Jahal noticed the frequency with which his commanding officer adjusted his position. “Are you certain you’ve fully healed, sir?”

  The lieutenant did not respond, instead only looking at him from the corner of his eye.

  “How many of these security inspections are we going to do today?” the master sergeant asked.

  “At least six.”

  “Don’t you think that’s pushing it, sir?”

  “Why? Afraid you’ll get tired?”

  “Never happen, sir,” the master sergeant grumbled. “Still, four would make more sense, don’t you think? I mean, they’re just recruiting stations, after all.”

  “Perhaps,” the lieutenant admitted, “but four out of twenty-eight of them have been attacked by Jung sympathizers in the last two days. How many people do you think will volunteer to help defend the planet if they’re getting killed just standing in line to sign up?”

  “Not as many, I suspect. Then again, the ones that do will be the truly brave ones, will they not?”

  “Or the truly stupid,” the lieutenant added, still without smiling. “Besides, I suspect that these demonstrations are being organized by Jung operatives.”

  “Or Jung sympathizers,” the master sergeant said, “whose lives were better under Jung rule. You yourself stated that the governments of this world were, for the most part, divided, self-serving, and corrupt. Surely many of the Terrans recognized this as well, and favored Jung rule over the previous ruling factions?”

  “A possibility,” the lieutenant agreed, “but until proven otherwise, it is better we assume that the Jung are still present on this world, and are well supported and organized. To assume otherwise would be unwise.”

  “Of course,” the master sergeant agreed.

  “Lieutenant,” the pilot called over the comms. “Urgent traffic from the Sydney recruiting station. They are under fire.”

  “So much for the inspection,” the master sergeant said.

  Lieutenant Telles lowered his helmet visor, covering the upper half of his face. “Take us in low and fast,” he ordered the pilot as the tactical displays came to life on the inside of his visor. “Approach with the fire zone on our starboard side. I want to size up the situation and decide where to put down.”

  “Yes, sir,” the pilot responded over the helmet comms. “I’ll put the fire zone on our starboard.”

  “Weapons hot, gentlemen,” the lieutenant added. “Maximum force. If it’s armed and doesn’t ID as a friendly on your visor, kill it.”

  “And if it’s a local trying to fight back?” the master sergeant wondered.

  “Then we’ll apologize later,” the lieutenant answered coldly. “I’ve already lost a quarter of my platoon, so I don’t mind wasting a few innocent Terrans to ensure I don’t lose any more.”

  The Kalibri airship dropped down to just above the height of the tallest buildings in the city as it continued to advance toward the recruitment station at the city center. The lieutenant looked forward and slightly right of their flight path as a distant explosion sent a fireball expanding upward.

  “Sydney station, Telles. Inbound with four, thirty seconds out. Say your sit.”

  “Telles, Sydney station, Sergeant Mikovo,” the voice responded excitedly over the lieutenant’s helmet comms. “We’re taking fire from the north and east rooftops. Also from the west at street level. Locals have scattered. They’re popping grenades every few seconds, as well as a few vehicles rigged to explode. Estimate force strength at ten to twelve! We’re outnumbered four to one!”

  “Mikovo, Telles. Is the incoming projectile or energy weapons?”

  “I’m pretty sure all incoming fire is projectile, sir! Yes, that’s right! No energy weapons yet!”

  “Very well. Where do you want us, Sergeant?”

  “The rooftops to the west are clear! If you can get an angle on the rooftop shooters to our north and east, it would sure help!”

  “Understood. Targets lighting up now,” the lieutenant answered as red icons representing hostile targets began appearing on the inside of his helmet visor.

  “Those locals won’t last long at four to one,” the master sergeant declared.

  “We’ll have to narrow the odds for them,” the lieutenant responded. “Pilot, drop down behind the gray building just west of the station, then pop ten meters straight up and we’ll take out the guys on the rooftop as we crest.”

  “Copy that,” the Kalibri pilot answered as the airship began to descend between the buildings that rushed past them on either side. “Ten seconds.”

  Lieutenant Telles braced himself for the maneuver. The small airship pitched back slightly as its overhead forward-ducted fans rotated forward and their blades changed their pitch to increase their thrust potential. The airship came to an abrupt stop only a few meters from the gray building, about two meters below its rooftop. The lieutenant raised his weapon, as did all of his men.

  “Popping up,” the pilot reported over their helmet comms.

  A second later, the airship began to ascend rapidly. Lieutenant Telles felt the hundreds of tiny tubules in the legs of his primary combat garment as their fluid pressure increased, stiffening his legs to support him against the sudden increase in gravity as the airship ascended. The same thing happened in his arms to assist him in holding his weapon up and ready. As his finger slid over the trigger, the combat systems built into hi
s gear sensed that he was about to fire and a small red targeting reticle appeared on the inside of his visor. “I’ve got the two to the left, on the north building,” he announced, his voice straining against the additional gravity.

  “I’ve got the two to the east of the station,” the master sergeant chimed in as the building rooftop passed by and dropped below them.

  The lieutenant felt his stomach change and his body become lighter as the airship abruptly slowed its ascent. He moved his weapon slightly, causing the targeting reticle on his visor to move onto the first target. He pressed his trigger, allowing three small bolts of energy to leave his weapon. Without hesitation, he immediately moved his weapon a bit more to the left, putting the targeting reticle on the inside of his visor onto the next shooter on the distant rooftop, and quickly ended his life as well.

  There was a series of thuds across the bottom of the airship that rocked it violently.

  “We’re taking fire!” the pilot announced.

  The airship spun to its left and rolled forty-five degrees to the same side. The lieutenant held onto the side rail of the doorway tightly with his left hand as the airship rolled back level and then yawed sharply to the right.

  “They’re on the roof below us,” one of the lieutenant’s men sitting on the other side of the airship reported as he opened fire. “No shot.”

  “Put us on the roof,” the lieutenant ordered calmly.

  “I don’t think I have any choice!” the pilot announced as smoke began to pour from the underside of the airship.

  The lieutenant felt the ship begin to fall from the sky. He looked down at the rooftop below them. It was only ten meters below and it was coming up toward them at alarming speed. “Bail out and engage!” the lieutenant ordered as he jumped from the falling airship. He glanced at his visor’s tactical display as he fell, identifying the hostile targets on the rooftop below. There were four of them all together, two on either side of the falling Corinairan airship.

  The legs of the lieutenant’s suit stiffened once again, along with its pelvis and torso sections. As his feet touched the rooftop, the tubules around his knees softened to allow them to bend. His primary combat garment was working perfectly. He landed and rolled to his right, away from the falling airship which came crashing down a moment later. The roof moaned and cracked open as he came to his feet, and the center of it where the airship had fallen dropped nearly a meter.

  The lieutenant opened fire as he came to his feet, killing the enemy combatant to his left while Master Sergeant Jahal eliminated the one closest to him. “Sound off,” the lieutenant ordered as he headed for the cockpit of the fallen airship.

  “Jahal,” his master sergeant led off.

  The lieutenant stepped carefully into the rooftop depression that cradled the smoking airship wreckage.

  “Alluti.”

  The lieutenant looked through the cockpit window. The Kalibri’s pilot was unconscious, his face and chest covered with blood, and his right shoulder sitting unusually lower than his left.

  “Sinnott.”

  The lieutenant paused, focusing his gaze on the unconscious pilot as his helmet’s sensors scanned the man for signs of life. A moment later, the pilot’s heart and respiratory rates appeared on the visor next to the pilot. “Jahal, call for a medevac,” he ordered as he pulled at the door but found it stuck. “Alluti, Sinnott. Secure the rooftop. Make sure no more hostiles are coming up the stairs.” The lieutenant stepped back a meter and raised his weapon as he adjusted its power setting. He took aim and fired, blasting a chunk out of the airship’s fuselage just aft of the cockpit door’s latch.

  “Telles, Mikovo. You guys all right?”

  “We’re good,” the lieutenant answered. “However, our airship is down, and the pilot is injured. They must have had guys on the way up when we came in. How are you and your men doing?”

  “We’re good for the moment. With those rooftop shooters gone, we’re free to maneuver down here. We’re going to sweep the north and east buildings for hostiles.”

  “We’ll sweep this building on our way down,” the lieutenant told him.

  The roof groaned and dropped another meter, causing the lieutenant to nearly lose his footing. He could hear the sound of bending metal and feel rivets popping beneath his feet. He stepped up to the wreckage again and grabbed the door handle. He tensed his muscles and felt the tubules in his left hand and forearm tighten once more as he twisted the handle and pulled at the door, forcing the latch free and pulling the door open. He reached inside and released the pilot’s flight harness and pulled him from the wreckage, dragging him away in a backwards walk up the side of the drooping ceiling.

  “Hostiles coming up the stairwell,” Sinnott called over the lieutenant’s helmet comms. He could hear Sinnott and Alluti firing as he pulled the Kalibri’s unconscious pilot away from the wreckage and onto the undamaged section of the roof.

  “I’ve got him,” the master sergeant said as he grabbed the unconscious pilot’s jumpsuit and continued pulling him toward the side of the rooftop. “I’ll stabilize him and wait for the medevac.”

  The lieutenant spun around as the roof under the wreckage behind him gave way and the fallen Kalibri airship fell along with it, sending a wave of dust into the air. His visor immediately showed him the width of the opening, and the lieutenant began to run toward the cloud of dust coming out of the collapsed rooftop. Four strides later, as he reached the edge of the hole, he leapt, sailing easily across the hole as he passed through the cloud of dust and landed on the roof on the far side. Letting his momentum continue to carry him, he continued running across the rooftop as energy weapons fire began to spray the rooftop at a shallow angle from his right. Several bolts of energy struck him, on his right thigh, abdomen, and chest, nearly knocking him over. He raised his weapon to his right and fired blindly, adjusting his aim as he turned his head and his visor identified the location of the shooters for him. They were on another rooftop, one that had not had hostile targets on it moments ago.

  The lieutenant came to a halt, nearly falling against the stairwell entrance shack. He quickly rolled along the wall and ducked inside the doorway to escape the incoming energy weapons fire. “Jahal, Telles. Keep down. Hostiles on the rooftop to the north. They’re using energy weapons, so they’re probably Jung. Tell that medevac to stay clear until we deal with them.”

  “Copy that,” Master Sergeant Jahal answered over the lieutenant’s helmet comms.

  “Alluti, Sinnott, situation.”

  “Blasting our way down, sir,” the lieutenant heard Sinnott announce over the comms, the sound of his men’s energy weapons blasting away in the background as it also echoed up through the stairwell.

  “We’ve got energy weapons fire coming from a rooftop to the north,” the lieutenant reported. “Hold position while I sweep the top floor behind you.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Telles, Mikovo. Which building is the fire coming from?”

  “North of us. The next building over. Tall and brown.”

  “Got it,” the sergeant answered over the comms. “We’ll try to clear it first so the medevac can get in.”

  “Watch yourselves, Sergeant. They’re probably Jung regulars.”

  “Yes, sir,” the sergeant answered over the comms.

  “Jahal, sit-rep.” the lieutenant inquired over his helmet comms.

  “I’ve got this.” the master sergeant answered with all the usual confidence of a Ghatazhak.

  “Sinnott, Alluti, I’m coming in behind you,” the lieutenant announced as he moved toward the stairs.

  “We’ll push them down a level and keep them from advancing while you sweep the top floor,” Sinnott said as he and Alluti continued to fire.

  “Copy that,” the lieutenant answered as he descended the stairwell, his weapon held high and ready. As he made his way quickly down the stairs, his peripheral vision watched the tactical display on the inside of his helmet visor. Even in the poorly lit sta
irwell, the enhanced vision system of his combat helmet made everything easy to see in great detail. “Thermals,” he instructed his combat systems. A moment later, faint thermal images appeared on his visor, showing the varying temperatures in the stairwell, most of which were relatively cold.

  The lieutenant passed through the doorway from the stairwell onto the top floor of the building. It was a large, open office area, with desks and cubicles scattered about. Much of the ceiling had collapsed, shaken loose by the collapse of the ceiling elsewhere on this same floor. Many of the overhead lights were out. What few that were still operating flickered on and off, casting pulsing shadows across the room. “Penetrating scans,” he whispered. Red outlines of people on their knees, hiding behind partitions and desks appeared. The lieutenant scanned the wall on the far side of the room. The penetrating scans indicated that the offices along the far side were empty. “I am Lieutenant Telles of the Earth-Pentaurus Alliance! Stand and reveal yourselves, hands held high above your heads, or you shall be considered hostile and subject to the use of deadly force!”

  One by one, every image shown kneeling began to rise, none of them wanting to be the recipient of the lieutenant’s idea of deadly force. The lieutenant kept his weapon ready as he watched each of them rise, waiting until his scans showed there to be no one still hiding. A quick count showed eight persons. “You, young lady,” he called to the woman nearest him. “What is your name?”

  “April,” the frightened woman stammered, her hands held high.

  “Do not worry, April. Unless you show hostile intent, you shall not be harmed. Do you understand?”

  April nodded.

  “Is there a room without windows nearby, one large enough for all of you?”

  “The break room,” she mumbled, pointing toward the back of the room.

  The lieutenant moved to his right, giving himself a clear line of sight to the doorway to the indicated room on the opposite wall. “Magnify penetrating scans, twenty percent,” he said under his breath.