Merkiaari Wars: 04 - Operation Breakout Read online

  “Want me to fetch a cryo unit?” Kate asked as they debarked.

  Stone shrugged. “If you want. We’ll meet you at the ramp.”

  “Good deal.”

  Kate hurried away, not jogging but walking with serious purpose directly for the ship. Well before reaching Harbinger’s ramp, she used her neural interface to unlock the hatch and open it. She went directly to the cargo hold. They had three of the regiment’s cryo units aboard locked down and ready for use. She quickly unclamped one from the deck and powered its anti-grav. She ran a diagnostic on it, deftly using the controls to make sure she didn’t waste time bringing a bum unit out of storage. The unit’s computer reported all in the green, and she manoeuvred it into the elevator.

  Stone and the others were waiting at the bottom of the ramp for her when she reached the airlock. She ordered the hatch closed and locked behind her via neural interface, and guided the cryo unit down the ramp ahead of her. Stone led the way along the docks passing the marine sentries guarding the other ships. Jean de Vienne was docked just beyond Audacious. It also had marine sentries guarding the access ramp, but the unit patches on their uniforms indicated they were Warrior crew. James took the lead; they knew him and let him through with barely a glance. They did ask for ID from everyone else despite recognising their uniforms, but they had the grace to look embarrassed about it. Kate felt that was unnecessary. They were doing their jobs and doing them right.

  James led the way into the ship. “We’ve kept all the artifacts aboard for security reasons, but we did move the bodies from the boat bay to medical. There are stasis units there in the morgue and well... the autopsies and dissections can be handled better in there close to the labs. The raiders didn’t have much in the way of lab equipment, but the facilities were basically sound. We just brought our stuff in and got to work.”

  Stone grunted.

  “I’m still not receiving a beacon,” Kate said. “Maybe it really did fail.”

  Gina nodded but Stone gave no reaction.

  “Brenda and Janice are using a conference room just along here. They would love to see you again—”

  “Later,” Stone said. “Take us to the morgue.”

  James nodded.

  The morgue as expected was located close to sickbay within the medical department. Medical included the labs where the technicians and doctors James mentioned earlier were working. Their arrival caused a stir. James led them through the gathering crowd, ignoring the whispered questions, and into the morgue where the cadavers were being stored in stasis. He unerringly chose one of the chambers arrayed along the wall opposite the door, and punched one of the controls. The stasis unit slid out of the wall.

  James stepped aside, grim faced, obviously expecting a strong reaction. The crowd had followed them to the morgue, but had stopped just inside the room. A hush fell over them as Stone approached the stasis unit. Kate parked her burden and joined Gina to flank Stone. She heard his indrawn breath just as she reached him, and her heart sank. He must recognise the fallen unit. He might even be responsible for sending him out this way.

  Stone stared through the transparent cover of the stasis unit at the body within. His face... Kate hadn’t expected to find what she saw on his face. It was shock, not sadness or pain. He was shocked immobile by what he’d found and she didn’t understand that. She turned her attention to the contents of the stasis unit and knew right away that although the beacon had obviously failed, there would be no resurrection for this man. He’d been killed instantly with a solid shot to the head. She couldn’t be certain about the weapon used, but there was very little charring, almost none. It had definitely not been a pulser or other energy weapon in her expert opinion.

  There were many possibilities, but an HTR (Heavy Tactical Rifle) like her own preferred Steyr 7.62mm TacSix would produce results just like this. Then again, a Merki gauss cannon could cause similar damage if the blow were glancing. She could see the setup from a sniper’s point of view clearly in her mind’s eye. He had been targeted from somewhere to his front and below his elevation. One shot and he was done, but it didn’t explain how he’d come aboard a raider ship. It also didn’t explain the aliens and other Alliance soldiers.

  Kate took the time to properly examine the body. The only injury she could detect was to his head, but there was massive trauma. The right side of his head was missing from just above his cheekbone extending up at an angle to the back of his head, leaving the remains of the left hemisphere of his brain exposed. Lucky for them in a way, because his processor might still be intact—viper processors were located deep within the brain on the left side. If it proved to be intact, downloading his logs would be a snap. If not, the data would be harder to recover but not impossible back on Snakeholme. The doctors would need to physically access his memory crystals—they couldn’t be removed safely outside of an operating theatre, located as they were in the chest cavity protected by plasteel armour directly behind the breastbone. She knew the process. Hymas had backed up her data in a similar way, not removing them in her case, but using a hard wired connection to the crystal’s interface while under local anaesthetic to backup their contents.

  Kate frowned at the classic Y incision left behind by the doctor performing the autopsy. What had he been looking for when the cause of death was obvious?

  “Stone?” Gina said gently. “You knew him?”

  “Yeah,” Stone croaked. “I knew him... a long time ago. This isn’t possible.”

  Kate glanced at Gina who shrugged. “What isn’t?”

  Stone took a deep bracing breath and straightened. “Where’s his uniform?”

  “I’ll get it for you,” James said and hurried away.

  “What’s the deal, Stone?”

  “There’s something screwy here,” Stone said, keeping his voice down. “He’s one of the units listed MIA from round 2 at Forestal—the second Merki incursion of that system. He was my CO back then, Captain Degas 3rd Battalion Charlie Company 501st Infantry. He... Tony was lost in one of the many dustups we had back then, and we couldn’t recover him. The Merki hit us hard with reinforcements from orbit and overran the ground he was defending.” Stone sighed and looked back at his dead friend. “When we finally kicked their butts off the planet and started the cleanup, a few units were unrecovered. We assumed their bodies were destroyed by arty or the air-strikes we called in. The General was one of Tony’s LTs back then and was promoted to fill his slot. This was a few months before his Garnet op. You know the one I’m talking about?” Kate and Gina nodded. “They were best friends, a bit like you two. Recruited together, fought together... fuck, he’s going to need to hear about this right away. I’ll have to send that drone sooner rather than later.”

  Kate hesitated. “You think you should?”

  Stone’s eyes narrowed. “Why not?”

  “Just wondering what there is to say about it. We have nothing but his name to tell the General. How did this guy get here and why? We don’t know. Who are the other soldiers with him? We don’t know. How did the aliens get—”

  “I get the picture,” Stone said with a frown. “Maybe you’re right. Okay, I’ll give it a few days. We need more information, you’re right about that. Tony being here means at the very least that the Merki captured him, or recovered his body. That’s unprecedented. Merki kill, that’s all they’ve ever done. They don’t take prisoners—ever.”

  Kate nodded. That was well known. No quarter was asked or given by either side.

  James came back into the room with a folded viper uniform in hand. He wasn’t alone. The man with him was wearing scrubs, obviously one of the doctors James mentioned earlier as part of the team. James handed the uniform to Gina and introduced his companion.

  “Captain Stone, Lieutenant Fuentez, Lieutenant Richmond, meet Doctor Harvey Borthwick.”

  “You can’t take this specimen!” Borthwick said, glaring at them.

  Kate felt her hackles rising and missed the signs. Gina didn’t, lucky f
or Borthwick. Stone had hardly moved when Gina slapped a restraining hand on Stone’s chest hard enough to rock him back on his heels. The surprise on his face was enough to make him hesitate and regain control of his temper. Meanwhile, Gina had taken firm control of the situation.

  “You will be releasing Captain Degas into our care, Doctor,” Gina said coldly but calmly. “In addition, you will turn over to us all recordings, notes, and relevant materials used during his autopsy including blood and tissue samples. I shouldn’t have to remind you that viper construction and technology is classified ultra secret, and is covered by the Alliance’s Military Secrets Act, a document you are required to comply with or face incarceration. I suggest you read section 56, sub-section 5a paragraph 18 of the AMSA. I believe it’s titled ‘Military Applications of Cybernetics and Nanotechnology’.”

  Borthwick spluttered.

  Gina handed the uniform to Stone. “Kate, if you’ll help Stone dress the Captain, I’ll go with James and Doctor Borthwick to collect any samples they may have. James?”

  James looked at Borthwick and then back to Gina. “Ah... I guess... follow me?”

  Kate grinned at Borthwick who hesitated to follow as James showed Gina the way to the labs. He finally realised the inevitable and hurried to catch up with them and the crowd at the door dispersed.

  “That was unforgivable,” Stone muttered. “I nearly—”

  “Don’t beat yourself up. I nearly ripped his head off myself, and I’m faster than you. If anyone had killed him, it would have been me.”

  Stone snorted. He looked at the battle dress blacks he held and shook them out. The collar and right shoulder of the uniform was stiff with dried blood and less savoury things. He sighed and turned to the stasis chamber.

  “Open this thing up and let’s get going. I want him safely aboard Harbinger ASAP. We have some information to gather and a drone to launch. I’ve got to wonder how many of our lost units were actually taken by the Merkiaari.”

  “Yeah, I was thinking about that,” Kate said as she worked the controls to shut down the stasis field and open the chamber. “I heard that the Merki we took home were freaks—”

  “Genetically engineered.”

  “Like I said, freaks.”

  Stone rolled his eyes. “We’ve always known that Merki troopers were engineered. The new model troopers we fought for the Shan were no different in that. They’re just new and improved.”

  “That’s my point. The Merkiaari we fought were more intelligent but just as big and strong as the ones you fought before. Right?” Stone nodded. “Well then, they didn’t use anything they learned from captured vipers against the Shan… maybe our tactics, but certainly not our cybernetics or nanotech.”

  Stone frowned. “You’re right. I wonder why not.”

  She leaned into the chamber and lifted the body out. Stone quickly dressed it allowing her to transfer it to the cryo unit they’d brought with them.

  “You want me to head back to the ship?”

  Stone hesitated.

  “You could hang here and view the other bodies. We need to start figuring out how the hell they ended up here in the Border Zone.”

  “No, we’ll head back together. I know you want to see your brother, Richmond, but let’s do this right. I promise to let you go the moment we get back aboard Harbinger.”

  Kate’s lips thinned in annoyance but she stopped the protest she wanted to voice. Stone wasn’t going to change his mind. There was no point whining about it. While they waited for Gina to return, they busied themselves poking into things. Kate started it after closing and storing the now empty stasis chamber. She opened the one next in line.

  “Take a look at this ugly bugger!”

  Stone came over for a look. “He... it? It might be a real good looker to others of its kind,” he said doubtfully. “I wonder what they call themselves.”

  “Greys,” she said sagely. “Zelda’s fan club has known about them for ages. They built the Chaos Engine.”

  Stone sighed. “This is serious stuff, Richmond.”

  “I am being serious.” She grinned. “Didn’t I read about aliens visiting Earth way back?”

  “Myths and legends. Those stories started before Mars was even colonised. Nothing was ever proved as far as I know.”

  “As far back as that? I didn’t realise.”

  “Yeah. We only had the homeworld back then, over populated and running out of resources. Mars was a fluke. The terraforming project was a desperate attempt to solve some serious issues. It nearly didn’t happen at all. The cost was staggering, but luckily we had some visionaries who pushed on despite the do-gooders insisting the money would be better spent on increasing welfare budgets. It worked out and we gained another world full of resources at a critical time in history. If not for Mars, we wouldn’t be here today.”

  “By us you mean vipers?”

  “I suppose so, but I meant Humans in general. We would have wiped ourselves out. When someone else has what you need to survive, war is the result. Think about all the little wars and revolutions you’ve ever heard or read about happening in the Alliance, and then imagine all of them happening on one planet. That was Earth before colonisation began.”

  Kate whistled silently. Stone was right; they were lucky it had worked at all. No one bothered with terraforming any more—the process was too expensive and too long term an investment. The invention of foldspace drive meant there were plenty of habitable planets for colonisation within easy reach with more discovered every year.

  Stone stored the alien and moved to open another chamber. He grunted when a Merkiaari trooper was revealed. A big one. Female then, Kate thought looking her over. The monster was unclothed but without getting more touchy-feely than she felt comfortable with, she decided its prodigious size was enough to mark it as female. The shaggy grey fur hid details of her anatomy, but she took particular interest in the creature’s chest and the wound that had probably killed her. The burnt fur and cauterised hole on the left side was classic pulser damage. Stone closed the chamber.

  Together they had time to investigate the entire contents of the morgue taking particular interest in all the different types of alien. No two were the same race except for the Merki. Each type was distinctly different in colour, size, and shape. One had a human-like face—two eyes, two ears, one nose and mouth—the other two didn’t resemble Humans or Shan at all. The Grey had a horribly flat face without a nose. Kate made a point of scanning everything with her sensors so that she had as complete a record as she could devise without using proper medical scanners. She did notice something significant. None of the new aliens, unlike the Humans and Merki, had died by violence. There were no obvious wounds at all, and she wondered why they were dead. She did notice some scarring around throats, but upon closer inspection decided they hadn’t died of strangulation. She didn’t know what had caused the pale band of scarring, but it didn’t seem likely as a cause of death.

  Gina finally arrived and she was pissed!

  “What’s up?” Kate asked her friend, taking the sample cases and stowing them in the cryo unit’s storage compartment beneath the control panel. “They give you trouble?”

  Gina growled something under her breath. “James is keeping Borthwick away from me. Lucky for him.”

  “Oh yeah?”

  “The fu... the good doctor tried to hide some of the blood samples. I don’t know what he thought he would learn, or what good it would do him, but I got them all in the end. Sorry I took so long. I had to go through the video record of the autopsy to make sure I didn’t miss anything before I deleted it.”

  Kate remembered her thought regarding Degas’ logs. “They didn’t extract his memory module did they?”

  Gina’s eyes hardened. “No. I checked for that specifically.”

  “You did?” Kate said. Gina’s forethought impressed her especially as she’d only just thought of it herself.

  “It was my thought that Borthwick or his team would go
straight for the prize, but they didn’t. Maybe they thought the data would be encrypted, which it is, but still... I expected them to at least try.”

  “Good thinking,” Stone said approvingly. “And you protested you wouldn’t make a good agent.”

  “I would make a terrible agent,” Gina protested. “I just put myself in a nosey civs place and figured out what I would want to extract from a dead viper.”

  “Exactly what a good agent would do when gathering intel.”

  Gina scowled.

  Kate grinned at Stone. “Okay, so they took blood and tissue samples but we got them back. You took all the recordings?”

  Gina nodded. “And deleted the backups off the system.”

  “Good. Are we done here?”

  Stone nodded. “We’re done for now. I’ll want to come back, but probably not until tomorrow. I think I’ll spend the rest of the day poking into things on the net.”

  “I’ll come back with you, but then I’ll visit with James and Brenda,” Gina said thoughtfully. “I’ll try to pump them for information. Borthwick is a dead loss now. He’ll order his team not to talk to us.”

  “Good,” Stone said. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Kate activated the cryo unit’s anti-grav and they retraced their route out of the ship and back to the docks.

  The marine sentries snapped to attention and presented arms as a sign of respect as the cryo unit floated down the ramp towards them. Beyond them a crowd again began to gather to watch. They had obviously learned about the viper presence on the station from their earlier sojourn to station offices. The crowd remained quiet and respectful as the cryo unit reached the dockside. Stone chose the forward position ahead of the unit and set the funereal pace, Kate had the controls behind the unit. That left Gina to march in slow step with them on the right of the unit.

  They marched along the docks, eyes front and ignoring the crowds. The marines guarding Audacious snapped to attention as they neared, and a group of officers just then leaving the ship came to attention at the bottom of the ramp. They saluted and held them as the funeral party marched by. Kate recognised Captain Colgan of Warrior. He was famous within the Alliance for his discovery of the Shan, but more recently his face had been prominent on the recent news broadcasts about the Merkiaari threat and the Red One Alert.