Fragments

'Major, I hear you have a resistance problem. Do you think the resistors will follow you up here?'

'Colonel, there's a seriously frustrating issyrian with about five hundred armed men and woman from what I can tell. I haven’t seen the bug in a few hours now, but I’m sure he’s still directing his men from somewhere.'

'We are aware. We're bringing a whole unit of heavies right now. It's time to bring the resistance to a halt. This acquisition has already cost us too much in equipment and manpower, not to mention we're due to join the eleventh Order of Eden Fleet in five days with this vessel in tow.'

'So they finally did it, we're all signed up with Regent Galactic and that little prick prophet of theirs?'

'That's our lord and savoir you're talking about, Major. Looks like our outfit's finding religion whether we like it or not so the big bad Holocaust Virus doesn't take us out all together.'

'Our AI's have been wiped, we're safe in case you forgot how that thing works.'

'Seems the virus has evolved, now there's an AI built in. Unfirewalled machines are waking up with a digital soul and looking for anyone not listed in the Order of Eden database to kill. It's a whole new ball game now, so you'd better kneel and praise the child prophet like the rest of us sheep, or at least learn to pretend real good.'

'I hear you. Just needed to know why we were getting on with the zealots.”

“We’re getting on with the Order of Eden because Regent Galactic was nice enough to pick up our tab so Caran Enterprises doesn’t go belly up and leave us grunts twisting in the wind. That’s why, as if it makes a difference one way or another.”

“Mind if I ask why this ship is so important?'

'Since we've got a minute, I'll fill you in. This ship was captured by the man who started it all, so they say. Jonas Valent.'

'The hero of Enreega?'

'The deserter of the Aucharians. He forced a whole section to desert when they needed him most and left Enreega wide open. You'd best check your history.'

'Yes, sir.'

'Seems Jonas changed his name a while back to Jacob Valance, probably because he designed the virus that started all this when he unleashed an un-safe guarded artificial intelligence into one of those great big Overlord command ships.'

'I heard about that. Does Command think he's aboard?'

'They didn't see him leave, so chances are he's holed up in that great big vault in the centre of the ship. He’s not on the bridge, let me tell you. We just took the command deck, killed a lot of Triton soldiers and there was still no sign of him.'

'How did it end?'

'They had to use four squads of heavies, took heavy fire but burned everything inside to nothing. Rumour is that the Captain has been popping up and killing people with an elite unit, but then, those cloak suits have been making everyone as twitchy as hell. No way of knowing if any of the attacks were the Captain’s unit or someone dressed like him. Either way, they're not acknowledging our demands for surrender, so we're taking further steps. The order to execute the captives has been given on an open channel. Should flush him out if he's any kind of leader.'

Another unit of fifty soldiers started running down the incursion ramp to join the total of seventy already on the deck, reinforcements were coming, for whatever reason the efforts to take the Triton intact were redoubling. Major Cumberland looked back to the Colonel and asked; 'When do the executions start?'

'Five minutes ago.'

The words seemed to echo across the hollow deck. It was like looking at some dead creature from the inside, the gunnery turrets hung down like dormant organs and the thick, transparent hull overhead was like delicate, translucent skin. Under the muted lights from the Command ship the slower, heavily armoured soldiers looked like dark insects with man shaped carapaces, the regular soldiers looked smaller, and even though there were so many gathering, they didn’t fill enough space on the deck to obstruct the view.

Several loader suits stood against one wall and were scattered around the expansive space, dormant and limp like three meter tall standing corpses. The chamber was filled with the high screech of metal scraping against metal as the main mooring door closed from the inside. Two meters of armour separated them from the destroyer above,

'Planned?' asked Major Cumberland.

Colonel Ratner ignored his question as he tried to get Command on comms. 'Can't raise Command, someone's scrambling us. It's local, from this deck.'

'They cleared this deck, didn't they?'

'No one was reported in this or any compartment adjacent to the upper hull,' Colonel Ratner answered.

Hatches began to open overhead, pulling the air out of the massive compartment in a rush that sounded like a mournful, undulating howl.

'Seal up! Affix your soles!' Major Cumberland ordered. His men were the first to react, and were ready, rifles in hand, secured to the deck with their suits sealed up and vacuum ready before half of Colonel Ratner's were.

Three of the heavy armour units weren’t quick enough to affix their boots to the hull and were sucked right off the deck and out of the largest of the hatches. Most of the soldiers on the embarkation ramp were swept out into open space one after another, as though they were roped together. Cumberland just shook his head. Heavy armour units were always vacuum sealed, so they would survive, but they would be out of action for minutes or longer while they used their tiny emergency thrusters to return to the ship and get back on the deck. The rest, the regular soldiers, would have to be retrieved if they sealed their armour in time. The dark dust cloud they were in would make it difficult, many would be lost.

'What's going on Major?' asked the Colonel’s second in command. 'You've been here for hours, what do you think they're doing?'

'I can't say; this is new.' Major Cumberland signalled his unit to spread out to his right and left using hand signals, and they reacted as though they were marionettes tied to his fingers.

'Right! Spread out! Find cover where you can!' ordered Colonel Ratner.

Major Cumberland knelt and looked down his rifle sight, scanning the way ahead. No one else seemed to notice that the transparent emergency bulkheads separating the deck into sections were being drawn aside and down. The whole deck would be open in seconds, something was happening.

'What should we be expecting, Major? What are we looking for?' asked Ratner.

'I have no idea. Just keep your eyes peeled and get ready to call targets for your heavy armour.'

'Don't tell me how to command my Unit.'

'I won't tell you how to do your job if you stop asking me stupid questions and start using your scanning teams,' Major Cumberland griped back.

'Sergeant! I'll have you-'

'Shut it!' He shot back as a power source appeared on his reticule only fifty meters away. It was one of the power suits several of the light infantry that had just arrived with the Colonel were hiding behind. 'Get your people away from that loader suit!'

It was too late. The three meter tall machine snatched an empty ammunition cartridge the size of a coffin and swung it with impossible speed at the four infantrymen using him as cover, striking three hard enough to dislodge them from the deck. They were flung across the span at great speed while the armoured suit pounded its other claw hand into the fourth infantryman's chest so brutally that he flat lined the second he was struck.

'Fire! Open fire!' Colonel Ratner ordered.

It was too late. The thing had some kind of impact shielding that easily deflected their small arms fire. Even the heavy suits barely dented its thick armour.

'Those things are made to survive ship to ship guns! We'll never penetrate without explosives. Use 'em or lose 'em!' Major Cumberland ordered. One of his men tossed his last grenade set to a manual trigger and blew it as it came into contact with the chest plate of the armoured suit. To everyone's surprise and dismay it barely scratched it. 'Don't let that thing get to you!' Cumberland warned as he carefully fired at the round sensor cap atop its shoulders. If the pilot inside noticed, he didn’t let on.

'Should we fire rockets, Colonel?' asked one of the heavy armour units.

The loading suit snatched one of the heavily armoured soldiers who wasn't wary or fast enough to keep away and hurled him at the rest of his unit. They were still too tightly grouped to use their weapons or to keep from