"The Reuninon"
Episode 206 – Prepare for the Worst
D-Minus 1 Day
"The bodies. I still remember the bodies. I watched them falling as the bugs attacked. They dropped, in droves, dozens at a time. Explosion after blue explosion ripped through the sky, then the screen went to static. We all remember it. The day, the hour, the realization of our greatest fear; the bugs had returned.
"The day before their attack was the most frightening day in my memory. I had stared bugs down on countless worlds, seen them eye to eye so to speak, and when I watched the vids, all of that seemed pale in comparison. The reports that were being broadcast, the vids of ships being blown apart as the transports moved through to their objectives. The question on every person's mind was 'how could we let this happen?'
"We know now how we let it happen. The civilians had wrestled with SICON long enough, and the effects on many from the war had scarred us. We thought we were on top. We were wrong."
- Dr. Robert "Paperboy" Higgins, from: The Roughneck Chronicles
LOVELL A-168
Carl pulled back on the throttle and looked down from the cockpit at the monstrous asteroid ahead of him. Its cratered surface glistened in the light of the dying star. The black shadows went on for miles from the huge mountains that ran like veins across its face. He could feel her below it, hiding, waiting for him. She knew he was coming and she knew he was there. She knew what he knew, and he knew what she knew. It was their game; they'd been playing it in silence for days.
Now he was ready to make the game something more. He took a deep breath and pushed the throttle forward and prayed.
LOVELL A-19
The egg squeezed itself out and fell softly down the tunnel that had been made for them. The queen looked at her general who was now at her side. He had been waiting on her to speak. She'd left him there for an hour, waiting. She'd been watching Carl for the entire time, waiting for him to make his move. She turned to her General.
[The time has come.] She said with solemnity touching the voice of her thoughts. She looked forward again and watched in her mind's eye, Carl's ship coming closer. [I want him alive, at all costs.]
The general nodded. [Has he brought others?]
[No, he wants just me. But I will not take the chance. I am in no condition to have a one on one fight with him; my mind is strained in to many directions for right now.] She let out a sigh as another egg fell. [Had he waited another few months, he would not have stood a chance.] She turned back to her general. [You have your orders.]
TOPHET ORBIT
The Jean Razak slowed to a stationary orbit. His breaking thrusters fired repeatedly until he was in synchronous motion with the city on the planet's surface. Admiral Ibanez watched on the displays as her ensign slowed the ship with impeccable grace and skill. It reminded her of herself in the days past. The lights were dimmed on the bridge to allow for maximum visibility of the new touch-screen control panels, the glare tended to be a bit overwhelming. She stepped up from her chair which sat above the other stations much like on the older ships. The only difference between the Jean Razak and his brothers was that the helm sat in a pit with a one eighty degree view and screens flipped around their heads to allow for a lateral, vertical and reverse view.
"Lights up." She said as the braking thrusters quit. The bridge was again filled with light and the crew all squinted their eyes in adjustment. She walked down to the edge of the pit and looked down at the ensign as she slid the screens from in front of her face. "Good job."
"Thank you sir," She said uneasily. "I feel I was too hard on the thrusters."
"Perhaps, but you'll get used to him," she smiled and stood. "You're piloting the most advanced ship in the navy; he requires new reflexes you haven't grown yet. Don't worry."
The ensign climbed out of the pit and stretched as her relief came in. Carmen had delayed the shift change by two hours to allow for the current shift to be able to utilize the most amount of time, and a shift change with a fresh crew going into a synchronous orbit was always a little too nerve-racking for her to enjoy. She felt that it took the crew for the time being, a full two hours to get warmed up to the Razak; down from the four on his initial shakedown cruise she was told.
Her standard issue boots clicked against the black metal floor as she went from station to station checking the ships systems. He was impeccable, no problems whatsoever. He'd been built with incredible attention to detail and he seemed almost a work of art, rather than a ship of war. But the Razak was definitely the later. He had eighteen missile launchers, and fully loaded carried an armament of three hundred missiles with forty-eight laser batteries that blemished the hull. She went to the communications station and read the dispatches coming in from around the sector.
The fleet was in the process of full mobilization, but with close to half of it scattered across countless sectors, it would be hard to get everyone of them to the rendezvous points in the amount of time Redwing was asking for. They needed weeks, and they had hours and days.
Carmen stepped onto the observation platform looking out into space. She frowned and looked down on the planet. Tophet had come so far since the war and now, she was threatened again, and she couldn't defend herself from a full scale attack.
* * * * *
Zim had sat alone in the mess hall for close to three hours before he was disturbed. He'd been reviewing the past week in his mind. It was all he could do to not shoot someone out of pure anger from SICON's blindness towards the situation.
For three years after the war, Miriam and Sanchez had fought to keep the MI at full readiness, and when the battles between the resurgent bug factions and the MI caused them to hold off on cutting numbers, but after three months of fighting and the destruction of most of the hordes, SICON decided to go ahead with its plans to cut costs based on the civilian voice.
When the reports started to show increased bug activity the weeks before, Miriam had been able to start the remobilization of the forces quietly, but after the attacks on Eden, Klendathu and several other colonies, the mobilization couldn't be kept quiet. The excuse of probable emergency action was enough to keep many civilian leaders from running their mouths.
Now the Jean Razak was in orbit around Tophet, and Zim was staring at the man who had just interrupted his thoughts. Doc looked down on Zim with a smile.
"Dining on ashes?" He said pulling a chair out and sitting next to him. Both looked out the planet. They could see dust storms racing across its surface, clouds too, and lights from small cities on the terminator.
"Dining on thoughts." Zim replied it after a minute. He put his now cold coffee to his mouth and swallowed the last of it.
"Never thought we'd be back doing this…" Doc said looking down on Tophet. The Razak was crossing the terminator into night now. The lights began to blink on across the outside of the ship and in the mess hall, they increased slightly. Both squinted for a moment.
"A blessing or a curse?" Zim asked about the lights.
"A curse, the seconds it takes your eyes to adjust, could be extremely valuable in a fight."
"I don't think they truly expected the ship to go into battle, not yet, and not like this." Zim stood and left his coffee cup on the small window into the kitchen. He turned and leaned against the wall. "Why are we in synchronous orbit? My wife is the Sky Marshal, and I have no idea what is going on."
Doc laughed. "Who knows, Carmen won't tell any of us anything. But we're orbiting about three thousand kilometers south of the station where the Threshold is docked, if that says anything."
Zim walked to the window and stood silent for a few moments. Doc stretched out and yawned.
"We're too old for this." Zim sighed, breaking the silence.
Doc joined Zim at the window and the two stared down at the planet.
* * * * *
Jonnie looked up into the purple night. The glass dome over the base allowed for humans to walk about without suits. He stood silent, his hands clasped behind his back and his feet spread. He just stared. The constellations were all different, but beautiful nonetheless. He'd seen stars from hundreds of different perspectives and distances, and they still brought out some of the most beautiful images.
Two young privates assigned to Tophet walked by him and saluted then returned to holding each other's hands. He smiled and returned to the stars. Several could be seen moving about and he knew that transports were shuttling troops and crews back and forth from the ships, readying for a war no one wanted to believe in.
Long ago, he'd accepted his fate as a warrior. One who would never be able to fully reap the rewards of his deeds, and in the end, he had decided that it suited him just fine. He was placid away from everyone and everything that reminded him of his past. His problems were his own and he preferred them to stay that way.
He flinched slightly from nerve impulses and decided that it was time to retire, the time for war was upon them. He returned to the bungalow he'd provided as his personal quarters while he stayed on Tophet and readied for sleep. He changed into a pair of shorts and a single white shirt and fell back onto the cozy single cot. His eyes closed in from the gathering fatigue and he slept in a dreamless blackness that he had come to call home.
NEAR EDEN
Captain Joe Bond of the starship Bull Run sat lazily watching the screens in front of him. The ship was running on minimal power with minimal crew while they traveled to Eden to resupply the SICON bases. He hated his job. He hated having to just sit on tons and tons of a war machine while there were bugs and probably worse out there waiting for them. He yawned and stretched out.
After the first impact against the hull, Captain Bond was no longer able to worry about his ship or crew. The initial shots from the transports sneaking up in the sensor shadow of the Bull Run took out the bridge and engines. Leaving the ship a sitting duck to be plucked away. Slowly, almost joyfully, the three transports fired at the ship, tearing it apart peace by peace until nothing was left. They continued on their way, only hours from their objective, and nothing would stop them.
THRESHOLD
Sirens shouted out across the decks of the ship, and the red of rotating lights filled the halls. The lights dimmed as if for battle, but no one moved a muscle. The ship could have been falling from the sky into the atmosphere bellow, and yet no one cared. They couldn't move. They were all fixed on the VID.
"These images were the last emergency broadcast from the starship Bull Run little over three hours ago." Every crewman watched the ship was slowly picked apart by the transports. Many were filled with anger, other's sadness. Many cried out in frustration while many cried tears of sadness and horror, men and women both.
Captain O'Hare was sitting in his quarters reviewing the data when his comm. beeped a single tone, alerting him to an incoming call. He pressed a button and the channel opened. He didn't look at it as he was busy going over what he could, he knew his ship would be ordered out soon, fully repaired or not.
He'd been awoken by the sirens just minutes before, indicating an emergency, and when he'd checked with his XO, he was shocked to find him in quiet tears. His only words were: "Check FEDNET." Now he was trying to figure out what it would take to get them to Eden as quickly as possible and the new interruption was only going to slow him down.
"I'm extremely busy, can't this wait." He barked not looking up from his desk.
"No." Was the harsh feminine reply.
He looked up into the stern glare of Sky Marshal Redwing-Zim. "Sir!" He said standing, all dignity for his current attire gone.
"Stand down Captain." She ordered. "And sit down." Michael did as he was ordered.
"Of what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked.
"New order's for you." She said. "I've already informed Admiral Ibanez of them. You are ordered to Eden Captain. You and the Jean Razak will rendezvous with the Ticonderoga and the Harry Lee where you will assist in the defense of the planet."
"The bugs have attacked the planet already?" A cold sweat began to bead on his brow.
"No, but they are only four hours away as it now stands. Two additional ships have already been destroyed in attempts to stop them, but it seems that their will is stronger than ours Captain." She let her words hang in the air a moment. "You have your orders Captain, SICON out."
Michael sat back for a moment then activated his comm. again. His XO appeared on the screen. "Yes, sir?" He said.
"Suck it up soldier. Prepare the ship to leave. Recall all personnel, and patch me into Admiral Ibanez."
"Aye," He said. Michael patiently waited while time passed after he was placed on hold.
* * * * *
Kepler looked down at the table as Murphy punched his locker. The two had just seen the VIDs of the attack. Muniz sat back in a small chair, lazily looking upward, his eyes wide with fear and anticipation.
Murphy's short brown hair was matted to his forehead from the quick sweat he'd accumulated since hearing the news. His hands were bloody from hitting things and his voice hoarse from yelling and screaming in anger. His life had been ruined by the bugs, and here they were, back to ruin his life even more, and the lives of others.
He'd been ten during the first war. Up until the attack on Earth, he didn't pay much attention to the war, why should he have? Then the attacks came. He was living in Washington DC when the attacks leveled most of the city and turned it into a battleground. His mother was killed by a falling wall which caused his father to fall into a deep depression that eventually claimed his life through suicide. Ronald Murphy was then shuttled between his two grandparents before he finally ran away when he was twelve. He ran from city to city, doing what he could, learning how to fight.
When his eighteenth birthday finally came, he got the chance he'd been looking for. He joined the MI and for the past two years, has been part of the Roughnecks, moving from sector to sector exterminating the bugs. But now, he was going to be forced to participate in what he'd witnessed years ago, what he thought had been over.
"When are we moving out?" Muniz asked sitting up. "You know they'll throw us on the front lines, we've got the most action."
"Probably within the week." Kepler said timidly. "I'm tired of fighting."
"Don't let the old man hear you say that." Muniz said from his chair. "You know what his response is."
"I wasn't cut out for this." He said turning the vid off.
"Then why are you here?" Murphy asked.
"My father was in the war," Kepler said after waiting a moment. "He lost both his legs and was decorated twice for heroism on Hydora and three times on Kyrsh, where he lost his legs. I grew up always hearing about how all the bugs had to die, how they were the only true evil that had ever existed. How, if nothing else, it was the only thing that our family would see through to its end." He looked up at Murphy. "I guess I just felt I had to carry on the tradition, make my father proud. I honestly never thought that I'd actually be abroad."
Muniz sat up with a grin. "Well you all know my story,"
"Shut up." Murphy said turning to the window facing down onto the orange and brown surface of Tophet. They were still on the dark side of the planet docked in the Tophetti dry dock. He looked south and thought he saw a faint glimmer of a ship but it was too dark to really tell.
"We're moving out." Came L'Ioo's voice from the open door. She took a few steps in and the metal doors slid shut with the soft his of pressurized air.
"What?" Kepler said standing up. Muniz got out of his chair and joined Kepler as he went to the pad L'Ioo was holding. Murphy turned to face her from the window.
"There's a ship south of us." He said.
"Yes." L'Ioo replied. "The Jean Razak-"
"Whoa, wait a second," Muniz interrupted. "The Jean Razak is here?"
"It would appear so." L'Ioo smiled. "We received orders about five minutes ago from the Major." L'Ioo held up the pad.
Muniz snatched it from her hand. He read it over a few times before handing it to Kepler. "I don't believe it." He said handing it off. Kepler smiled as he read through it then handed it to Murphy who quickly read it.
"All of them?" He asked.
TOPHET
"I never really believed the time would come when I'd have to look the enemy in the eye again and truly fear." Were Rico's words as he watched the twin suns appeared over the horizon of twisted rocks. He'd went out into the wilderness with T'Phai after seeing the vids of the bug transports. Now the two waited to watch the dual stars appear over the mountains before they were thrust into war once again.
"Perhaps it is not the time to be worrying about fear." T'Phai said standing tall as Rico sat on the ledge. "Have you not been fighting the bugs for the past six years on the raids?"
"I don't even know anymore, time as blurred together into one never ending battle." Rico let out a long sigh and watched as the moisture condensed then evaporated on his helmet. "I'm cold."
"Your environmental controls are damaged perhaps?" T'Phai offered his hand to help Rico up, but he waved it off.
"I mean emotionally. Everything feels cold. Has for a long time." He stood up and turned to face T'Phai. "I received my orders this morning. The Threshold is moving out with the Jean Razak for Eden."
"What after that?" T'Phai asked as Rico began to move away.
Rico stopped and turned back to him and said: "Smash and destroy. This is hopefully the only force."
"And if its not?"
Rico shrugged. "Then its not. There's little we can do to stop a full blown invasion. And from what Carl said, that's what this is."
Rico began to walk off again, but the next words that came from T'Phai's mouth sent a chill down his spine. "What of Dizzy?"
"What about her? I haven't talked to her." Rico said continuing. T'Phai jogged quickly to catch up as Jonnie started down the mountain.
"Will she be recalled?"
"No," Jonnie said stopping. "After the baby's death, Dizzy had to spend time in a hospital. And since I couldn't make it back to her, something changed inside her, she was catatonic for three months. That's a big black mark to have on your record." Jonnie continued on the trail, the base was a short distance away.
"Your child weighs heavily on your mind still?"
"Not a day goes by that it doesn't. Sometimes I wonder if I had been there if anything would have been different. But the war-"
"The war is not to blame unfortunately. Granted, because of the war, many lives were affected, but it was long over when your child died."
"But it wasn't, because I was still out there mowing them down." Rico said hitting his fist into the rock.
"It was. Lives had already been drastically altered by the war. You were happy after the war; things were going your way. You must learn to let go of the past and realize that life is dangerous and that people will die in it regardless of war or anything as catastrophic. Your child's death was not a result of the war." T'Phai and Rico stepped over two large rocks blocking the path, the base was few hundred yards away.
"You have children T'Phai, you know what its like to-" Again, T'Phai interrupted Rico.
"I have not lost my children, I have lost my wife. You have lost both, one more so than the other. You must decide which is the one that is further from reach. And only then will your coldness leave you." The two reached the base. Rico's gear was already in a transport, and it was waiting for him on the tarmac.
Rico stared T'Phai in his eyes for a moment then smiled. "I wish you could come with us, I could use a conscience on this one."
"As do I. But the situation here on Tophet is worse than on Earth, but I give you my promise that I will join you in battle." T'Phai stretched his arm out, offering his hand to his companion, his friend. Rico smiled again, took the hand and shook it firmly.
The two parted ways and Rico boarded the transport which quickly took to the sky. T'Phai waited and watched until it disappeared then left to begin the preparations for the Tophetti forces to join their Human brethren in battle.
LOVELL
Carl stepped down onto the soft gray dust of Lovell A-19, the second largest asteroid in the field. He could feel the gravitational change from the shuttle, to the asteroid and was overcome with sudden nausea. It had been too long since he'd had to work in gravity less than a G. He stopped and caught himself before he fell over and let the queasiness pass.
He stood back up and checked his surroundings. The rock was mostly flat, with the horizon little more than a mile away according to his scans. He reassured his grip on his Morita and moved slowly.
His internal sensors popped up in front of his left eye. It displayed his blood pressure, his heart rate and various other statistics. His heart rate and adrenaline levels were climbing.
He sent himself through a mental exercise to calm himself. The presence of evil was all around him, he could feel its power coursing through his veins. He stepped lightly around the surface, looking for the fissure he had identified before he landed.
Carl had set down about two hundred meters away from the fissure and moved from there. He wished he could hear. The vacuum of space took that one sense from him, but his seismic monitors should be sufficient.
The lip of the fissure was close now, he was sure it would only take him a few moments to reach the catacombs and from there the radar on his back would help him get to the queen. He had to finish her and her spawn off; he had to stop the cycle of death.
He was about to enter the fissure when his seismic meter began to vibrate on his back. He pulled it out and could see dozens of dots swarming around indicating movement in his direction.
Behind him, several warriors erupted from the ground and with a single thought, they crumpled to the ground, after moments Carl was surrounded by dozens of warriors. He opened up with his Morita and dropped several quickly, but he soon began to grow tired. He knew that he was beat and could do little else, and that staying would only get him killed, and then he could help no one.
A psionic wave was sent out in front of him at destroyed the small minds of the killers, making an escape hole. He ignited his jet pack and flew as fast as he could, stopping the thrust right as he reached the shuttle and slammed into the hull. He slumped to the hard gray floor with a hard impact.
Carl's head was swimming as he tried to make his way into the rear hatch. Warriors were quickly slamming their thick skulls against the bulkheads trying to get in. Carl fell from the hatch onto the floor and breathed a sigh of relief as the chamber was pressurized. He released his helmet and crawled to the cockpit. Warriors were crawling all over the ship, tearing the hull, ripping pieces off with their powerful jaws and sending them flying into space with the weak gravity.
His hand slammed on the ignition button and the ship tore from the asteroid. Warriors rained down as he shot away and fell back to the gray rock below. But they'd accomplished their task. The engines quickly cut out and Carl was forced to try and pilot the ship as it coasted through the asteroids. Several blue streaks began to arch their way across his field of view, only adding to his already stressful time.
He made his way towards an asteroid on the outer edge of the field. He nosed the shuttle down and drove it into the ground of the rock. He was thrown from side to side as the ship rolled to a stop. The groaning and tearing metal split his head, and only made the already present pain worse.
As the ship came to a stop, Carl pulled himself up and looked out the view port. In the failing light, the cockpit was illuminated blue from the burning plasma still trying to find him. He smiled,
"I'll see you again." He said then slumped over onto the floor unconscious.
JEAN RAZAK
Rico sat in his office on the Jean Razak and watched Carmen's face as she spoke. He remembered how she had made him feel, and smiled as they all came back in a nostalgic moment. But his thoughts were more forced on the current situation, he words now.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow troopers of the Threshold, we are currently underway to Eden, into the face of battle once again." She let the words hang a moment. "I know I don't need to emphasize what this means in the long run. People will die. There is no denying it. You may watch the trooper next to you buy the farm."
She let out a sigh. "We will intercept the Ticonderoga and the Harry Lee tomorrow and then set course for Eden, giving us three days to prepare for battle. Our orders are to extract any and all survivors that we find on the planet and retreat to a predetermined, undisclosed at this time, position. You all have your orders, and you know how to do your jobs.
"At this time I am ordering for all personnel to man their battle stations. We don't know what's waiting for us, but I am sure you will all do your jobs the way you've been trained to do, and we will stop this invasion before it gets started." Rico could imagine the troopers in the mess hall cheering with that comment. "Admiral Ibanez out." He face was replaced by the SICON insignia which Rico quickly cut off.
The time had arrived again. He had kept a lot of feeling bottled up inside of himself, and now with this, he had hopes of getting that aggression out of his system. He exited into the Roughnecks bunk area and found Goss tinkering with some gadget.
"What's that?" He asked sitting next to him.
"You know, I don't know." He said holding it in front of him. "I have absolutely idea what it does." He threw it behind him. It clanked around before resting against a bunk's leg.
"Something to pass the time." Rico said patting him on the shoulder.
"So here we go again, huh?" Goss asked.
"Again."
"Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold."
The Hippopotamus; T.S. Eliot
Episode 206 – Prepare for the Worst
D-Minus 1 Day
"The bodies. I still remember the bodies. I watched them falling as the bugs attacked. They dropped, in droves, dozens at a time. Explosion after blue explosion ripped through the sky, then the screen went to static. We all remember it. The day, the hour, the realization of our greatest fear; the bugs had returned.
"The day before their attack was the most frightening day in my memory. I had stared bugs down on countless worlds, seen them eye to eye so to speak, and when I watched the vids, all of that seemed pale in comparison. The reports that were being broadcast, the vids of ships being blown apart as the transports moved through to their objectives. The question on every person's mind was 'how could we let this happen?'
"We know now how we let it happen. The civilians had wrestled with SICON long enough, and the effects on many from the war had scarred us. We thought we were on top. We were wrong."
- Dr. Robert "Paperboy" Higgins, from: The Roughneck Chronicles
LOVELL A-168
Carl pulled back on the throttle and looked down from the cockpit at the monstrous asteroid ahead of him. Its cratered surface glistened in the light of the dying star. The black shadows went on for miles from the huge mountains that ran like veins across its face. He could feel her below it, hiding, waiting for him. She knew he was coming and she knew he was there. She knew what he knew, and he knew what she knew. It was their game; they'd been playing it in silence for days.
Now he was ready to make the game something more. He took a deep breath and pushed the throttle forward and prayed.
LOVELL A-19
The egg squeezed itself out and fell softly down the tunnel that had been made for them. The queen looked at her general who was now at her side. He had been waiting on her to speak. She'd left him there for an hour, waiting. She'd been watching Carl for the entire time, waiting for him to make his move. She turned to her General.
[The time has come.] She said with solemnity touching the voice of her thoughts. She looked forward again and watched in her mind's eye, Carl's ship coming closer. [I want him alive, at all costs.]
The general nodded. [Has he brought others?]
[No, he wants just me. But I will not take the chance. I am in no condition to have a one on one fight with him; my mind is strained in to many directions for right now.] She let out a sigh as another egg fell. [Had he waited another few months, he would not have stood a chance.] She turned back to her general. [You have your orders.]
TOPHET ORBIT
The Jean Razak slowed to a stationary orbit. His breaking thrusters fired repeatedly until he was in synchronous motion with the city on the planet's surface. Admiral Ibanez watched on the displays as her ensign slowed the ship with impeccable grace and skill. It reminded her of herself in the days past. The lights were dimmed on the bridge to allow for maximum visibility of the new touch-screen control panels, the glare tended to be a bit overwhelming. She stepped up from her chair which sat above the other stations much like on the older ships. The only difference between the Jean Razak and his brothers was that the helm sat in a pit with a one eighty degree view and screens flipped around their heads to allow for a lateral, vertical and reverse view.
"Lights up." She said as the braking thrusters quit. The bridge was again filled with light and the crew all squinted their eyes in adjustment. She walked down to the edge of the pit and looked down at the ensign as she slid the screens from in front of her face. "Good job."
"Thank you sir," She said uneasily. "I feel I was too hard on the thrusters."
"Perhaps, but you'll get used to him," she smiled and stood. "You're piloting the most advanced ship in the navy; he requires new reflexes you haven't grown yet. Don't worry."
The ensign climbed out of the pit and stretched as her relief came in. Carmen had delayed the shift change by two hours to allow for the current shift to be able to utilize the most amount of time, and a shift change with a fresh crew going into a synchronous orbit was always a little too nerve-racking for her to enjoy. She felt that it took the crew for the time being, a full two hours to get warmed up to the Razak; down from the four on his initial shakedown cruise she was told.
Her standard issue boots clicked against the black metal floor as she went from station to station checking the ships systems. He was impeccable, no problems whatsoever. He'd been built with incredible attention to detail and he seemed almost a work of art, rather than a ship of war. But the Razak was definitely the later. He had eighteen missile launchers, and fully loaded carried an armament of three hundred missiles with forty-eight laser batteries that blemished the hull. She went to the communications station and read the dispatches coming in from around the sector.
The fleet was in the process of full mobilization, but with close to half of it scattered across countless sectors, it would be hard to get everyone of them to the rendezvous points in the amount of time Redwing was asking for. They needed weeks, and they had hours and days.
Carmen stepped onto the observation platform looking out into space. She frowned and looked down on the planet. Tophet had come so far since the war and now, she was threatened again, and she couldn't defend herself from a full scale attack.
Zim had sat alone in the mess hall for close to three hours before he was disturbed. He'd been reviewing the past week in his mind. It was all he could do to not shoot someone out of pure anger from SICON's blindness towards the situation.
For three years after the war, Miriam and Sanchez had fought to keep the MI at full readiness, and when the battles between the resurgent bug factions and the MI caused them to hold off on cutting numbers, but after three months of fighting and the destruction of most of the hordes, SICON decided to go ahead with its plans to cut costs based on the civilian voice.
When the reports started to show increased bug activity the weeks before, Miriam had been able to start the remobilization of the forces quietly, but after the attacks on Eden, Klendathu and several other colonies, the mobilization couldn't be kept quiet. The excuse of probable emergency action was enough to keep many civilian leaders from running their mouths.
Now the Jean Razak was in orbit around Tophet, and Zim was staring at the man who had just interrupted his thoughts. Doc looked down on Zim with a smile.
"Dining on ashes?" He said pulling a chair out and sitting next to him. Both looked out the planet. They could see dust storms racing across its surface, clouds too, and lights from small cities on the terminator.
"Dining on thoughts." Zim replied it after a minute. He put his now cold coffee to his mouth and swallowed the last of it.
"Never thought we'd be back doing this…" Doc said looking down on Tophet. The Razak was crossing the terminator into night now. The lights began to blink on across the outside of the ship and in the mess hall, they increased slightly. Both squinted for a moment.
"A blessing or a curse?" Zim asked about the lights.
"A curse, the seconds it takes your eyes to adjust, could be extremely valuable in a fight."
"I don't think they truly expected the ship to go into battle, not yet, and not like this." Zim stood and left his coffee cup on the small window into the kitchen. He turned and leaned against the wall. "Why are we in synchronous orbit? My wife is the Sky Marshal, and I have no idea what is going on."
Doc laughed. "Who knows, Carmen won't tell any of us anything. But we're orbiting about three thousand kilometers south of the station where the Threshold is docked, if that says anything."
Zim walked to the window and stood silent for a few moments. Doc stretched out and yawned.
"We're too old for this." Zim sighed, breaking the silence.
Doc joined Zim at the window and the two stared down at the planet.
Jonnie looked up into the purple night. The glass dome over the base allowed for humans to walk about without suits. He stood silent, his hands clasped behind his back and his feet spread. He just stared. The constellations were all different, but beautiful nonetheless. He'd seen stars from hundreds of different perspectives and distances, and they still brought out some of the most beautiful images.
Two young privates assigned to Tophet walked by him and saluted then returned to holding each other's hands. He smiled and returned to the stars. Several could be seen moving about and he knew that transports were shuttling troops and crews back and forth from the ships, readying for a war no one wanted to believe in.
Long ago, he'd accepted his fate as a warrior. One who would never be able to fully reap the rewards of his deeds, and in the end, he had decided that it suited him just fine. He was placid away from everyone and everything that reminded him of his past. His problems were his own and he preferred them to stay that way.
He flinched slightly from nerve impulses and decided that it was time to retire, the time for war was upon them. He returned to the bungalow he'd provided as his personal quarters while he stayed on Tophet and readied for sleep. He changed into a pair of shorts and a single white shirt and fell back onto the cozy single cot. His eyes closed in from the gathering fatigue and he slept in a dreamless blackness that he had come to call home.
NEAR EDEN
Captain Joe Bond of the starship Bull Run sat lazily watching the screens in front of him. The ship was running on minimal power with minimal crew while they traveled to Eden to resupply the SICON bases. He hated his job. He hated having to just sit on tons and tons of a war machine while there were bugs and probably worse out there waiting for them. He yawned and stretched out.
After the first impact against the hull, Captain Bond was no longer able to worry about his ship or crew. The initial shots from the transports sneaking up in the sensor shadow of the Bull Run took out the bridge and engines. Leaving the ship a sitting duck to be plucked away. Slowly, almost joyfully, the three transports fired at the ship, tearing it apart peace by peace until nothing was left. They continued on their way, only hours from their objective, and nothing would stop them.
THRESHOLD
Sirens shouted out across the decks of the ship, and the red of rotating lights filled the halls. The lights dimmed as if for battle, but no one moved a muscle. The ship could have been falling from the sky into the atmosphere bellow, and yet no one cared. They couldn't move. They were all fixed on the VID.
"These images were the last emergency broadcast from the starship Bull Run little over three hours ago." Every crewman watched the ship was slowly picked apart by the transports. Many were filled with anger, other's sadness. Many cried out in frustration while many cried tears of sadness and horror, men and women both.
Captain O'Hare was sitting in his quarters reviewing the data when his comm. beeped a single tone, alerting him to an incoming call. He pressed a button and the channel opened. He didn't look at it as he was busy going over what he could, he knew his ship would be ordered out soon, fully repaired or not.
He'd been awoken by the sirens just minutes before, indicating an emergency, and when he'd checked with his XO, he was shocked to find him in quiet tears. His only words were: "Check FEDNET." Now he was trying to figure out what it would take to get them to Eden as quickly as possible and the new interruption was only going to slow him down.
"I'm extremely busy, can't this wait." He barked not looking up from his desk.
"No." Was the harsh feminine reply.
He looked up into the stern glare of Sky Marshal Redwing-Zim. "Sir!" He said standing, all dignity for his current attire gone.
"Stand down Captain." She ordered. "And sit down." Michael did as he was ordered.
"Of what do I owe the pleasure?" He asked.
"New order's for you." She said. "I've already informed Admiral Ibanez of them. You are ordered to Eden Captain. You and the Jean Razak will rendezvous with the Ticonderoga and the Harry Lee where you will assist in the defense of the planet."
"The bugs have attacked the planet already?" A cold sweat began to bead on his brow.
"No, but they are only four hours away as it now stands. Two additional ships have already been destroyed in attempts to stop them, but it seems that their will is stronger than ours Captain." She let her words hang in the air a moment. "You have your orders Captain, SICON out."
Michael sat back for a moment then activated his comm. again. His XO appeared on the screen. "Yes, sir?" He said.
"Suck it up soldier. Prepare the ship to leave. Recall all personnel, and patch me into Admiral Ibanez."
"Aye," He said. Michael patiently waited while time passed after he was placed on hold.
Kepler looked down at the table as Murphy punched his locker. The two had just seen the VIDs of the attack. Muniz sat back in a small chair, lazily looking upward, his eyes wide with fear and anticipation.
Murphy's short brown hair was matted to his forehead from the quick sweat he'd accumulated since hearing the news. His hands were bloody from hitting things and his voice hoarse from yelling and screaming in anger. His life had been ruined by the bugs, and here they were, back to ruin his life even more, and the lives of others.
He'd been ten during the first war. Up until the attack on Earth, he didn't pay much attention to the war, why should he have? Then the attacks came. He was living in Washington DC when the attacks leveled most of the city and turned it into a battleground. His mother was killed by a falling wall which caused his father to fall into a deep depression that eventually claimed his life through suicide. Ronald Murphy was then shuttled between his two grandparents before he finally ran away when he was twelve. He ran from city to city, doing what he could, learning how to fight.
When his eighteenth birthday finally came, he got the chance he'd been looking for. He joined the MI and for the past two years, has been part of the Roughnecks, moving from sector to sector exterminating the bugs. But now, he was going to be forced to participate in what he'd witnessed years ago, what he thought had been over.
"When are we moving out?" Muniz asked sitting up. "You know they'll throw us on the front lines, we've got the most action."
"Probably within the week." Kepler said timidly. "I'm tired of fighting."
"Don't let the old man hear you say that." Muniz said from his chair. "You know what his response is."
"I wasn't cut out for this." He said turning the vid off.
"Then why are you here?" Murphy asked.
"My father was in the war," Kepler said after waiting a moment. "He lost both his legs and was decorated twice for heroism on Hydora and three times on Kyrsh, where he lost his legs. I grew up always hearing about how all the bugs had to die, how they were the only true evil that had ever existed. How, if nothing else, it was the only thing that our family would see through to its end." He looked up at Murphy. "I guess I just felt I had to carry on the tradition, make my father proud. I honestly never thought that I'd actually be abroad."
Muniz sat up with a grin. "Well you all know my story,"
"Shut up." Murphy said turning to the window facing down onto the orange and brown surface of Tophet. They were still on the dark side of the planet docked in the Tophetti dry dock. He looked south and thought he saw a faint glimmer of a ship but it was too dark to really tell.
"We're moving out." Came L'Ioo's voice from the open door. She took a few steps in and the metal doors slid shut with the soft his of pressurized air.
"What?" Kepler said standing up. Muniz got out of his chair and joined Kepler as he went to the pad L'Ioo was holding. Murphy turned to face her from the window.
"There's a ship south of us." He said.
"Yes." L'Ioo replied. "The Jean Razak-"
"Whoa, wait a second," Muniz interrupted. "The Jean Razak is here?"
"It would appear so." L'Ioo smiled. "We received orders about five minutes ago from the Major." L'Ioo held up the pad.
Muniz snatched it from her hand. He read it over a few times before handing it to Kepler. "I don't believe it." He said handing it off. Kepler smiled as he read through it then handed it to Murphy who quickly read it.
"All of them?" He asked.
TOPHET
"I never really believed the time would come when I'd have to look the enemy in the eye again and truly fear." Were Rico's words as he watched the twin suns appeared over the horizon of twisted rocks. He'd went out into the wilderness with T'Phai after seeing the vids of the bug transports. Now the two waited to watch the dual stars appear over the mountains before they were thrust into war once again.
"Perhaps it is not the time to be worrying about fear." T'Phai said standing tall as Rico sat on the ledge. "Have you not been fighting the bugs for the past six years on the raids?"
"I don't even know anymore, time as blurred together into one never ending battle." Rico let out a long sigh and watched as the moisture condensed then evaporated on his helmet. "I'm cold."
"Your environmental controls are damaged perhaps?" T'Phai offered his hand to help Rico up, but he waved it off.
"I mean emotionally. Everything feels cold. Has for a long time." He stood up and turned to face T'Phai. "I received my orders this morning. The Threshold is moving out with the Jean Razak for Eden."
"What after that?" T'Phai asked as Rico began to move away.
Rico stopped and turned back to him and said: "Smash and destroy. This is hopefully the only force."
"And if its not?"
Rico shrugged. "Then its not. There's little we can do to stop a full blown invasion. And from what Carl said, that's what this is."
Rico began to walk off again, but the next words that came from T'Phai's mouth sent a chill down his spine. "What of Dizzy?"
"What about her? I haven't talked to her." Rico said continuing. T'Phai jogged quickly to catch up as Jonnie started down the mountain.
"Will she be recalled?"
"No," Jonnie said stopping. "After the baby's death, Dizzy had to spend time in a hospital. And since I couldn't make it back to her, something changed inside her, she was catatonic for three months. That's a big black mark to have on your record." Jonnie continued on the trail, the base was a short distance away.
"Your child weighs heavily on your mind still?"
"Not a day goes by that it doesn't. Sometimes I wonder if I had been there if anything would have been different. But the war-"
"The war is not to blame unfortunately. Granted, because of the war, many lives were affected, but it was long over when your child died."
"But it wasn't, because I was still out there mowing them down." Rico said hitting his fist into the rock.
"It was. Lives had already been drastically altered by the war. You were happy after the war; things were going your way. You must learn to let go of the past and realize that life is dangerous and that people will die in it regardless of war or anything as catastrophic. Your child's death was not a result of the war." T'Phai and Rico stepped over two large rocks blocking the path, the base was few hundred yards away.
"You have children T'Phai, you know what its like to-" Again, T'Phai interrupted Rico.
"I have not lost my children, I have lost my wife. You have lost both, one more so than the other. You must decide which is the one that is further from reach. And only then will your coldness leave you." The two reached the base. Rico's gear was already in a transport, and it was waiting for him on the tarmac.
Rico stared T'Phai in his eyes for a moment then smiled. "I wish you could come with us, I could use a conscience on this one."
"As do I. But the situation here on Tophet is worse than on Earth, but I give you my promise that I will join you in battle." T'Phai stretched his arm out, offering his hand to his companion, his friend. Rico smiled again, took the hand and shook it firmly.
The two parted ways and Rico boarded the transport which quickly took to the sky. T'Phai waited and watched until it disappeared then left to begin the preparations for the Tophetti forces to join their Human brethren in battle.
LOVELL
Carl stepped down onto the soft gray dust of Lovell A-19, the second largest asteroid in the field. He could feel the gravitational change from the shuttle, to the asteroid and was overcome with sudden nausea. It had been too long since he'd had to work in gravity less than a G. He stopped and caught himself before he fell over and let the queasiness pass.
He stood back up and checked his surroundings. The rock was mostly flat, with the horizon little more than a mile away according to his scans. He reassured his grip on his Morita and moved slowly.
His internal sensors popped up in front of his left eye. It displayed his blood pressure, his heart rate and various other statistics. His heart rate and adrenaline levels were climbing.
He sent himself through a mental exercise to calm himself. The presence of evil was all around him, he could feel its power coursing through his veins. He stepped lightly around the surface, looking for the fissure he had identified before he landed.
Carl had set down about two hundred meters away from the fissure and moved from there. He wished he could hear. The vacuum of space took that one sense from him, but his seismic monitors should be sufficient.
The lip of the fissure was close now, he was sure it would only take him a few moments to reach the catacombs and from there the radar on his back would help him get to the queen. He had to finish her and her spawn off; he had to stop the cycle of death.
He was about to enter the fissure when his seismic meter began to vibrate on his back. He pulled it out and could see dozens of dots swarming around indicating movement in his direction.
Behind him, several warriors erupted from the ground and with a single thought, they crumpled to the ground, after moments Carl was surrounded by dozens of warriors. He opened up with his Morita and dropped several quickly, but he soon began to grow tired. He knew that he was beat and could do little else, and that staying would only get him killed, and then he could help no one.
A psionic wave was sent out in front of him at destroyed the small minds of the killers, making an escape hole. He ignited his jet pack and flew as fast as he could, stopping the thrust right as he reached the shuttle and slammed into the hull. He slumped to the hard gray floor with a hard impact.
Carl's head was swimming as he tried to make his way into the rear hatch. Warriors were quickly slamming their thick skulls against the bulkheads trying to get in. Carl fell from the hatch onto the floor and breathed a sigh of relief as the chamber was pressurized. He released his helmet and crawled to the cockpit. Warriors were crawling all over the ship, tearing the hull, ripping pieces off with their powerful jaws and sending them flying into space with the weak gravity.
His hand slammed on the ignition button and the ship tore from the asteroid. Warriors rained down as he shot away and fell back to the gray rock below. But they'd accomplished their task. The engines quickly cut out and Carl was forced to try and pilot the ship as it coasted through the asteroids. Several blue streaks began to arch their way across his field of view, only adding to his already stressful time.
He made his way towards an asteroid on the outer edge of the field. He nosed the shuttle down and drove it into the ground of the rock. He was thrown from side to side as the ship rolled to a stop. The groaning and tearing metal split his head, and only made the already present pain worse.
As the ship came to a stop, Carl pulled himself up and looked out the view port. In the failing light, the cockpit was illuminated blue from the burning plasma still trying to find him. He smiled,
"I'll see you again." He said then slumped over onto the floor unconscious.
JEAN RAZAK
Rico sat in his office on the Jean Razak and watched Carmen's face as she spoke. He remembered how she had made him feel, and smiled as they all came back in a nostalgic moment. But his thoughts were more forced on the current situation, he words now.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, fellow troopers of the Threshold, we are currently underway to Eden, into the face of battle once again." She let the words hang a moment. "I know I don't need to emphasize what this means in the long run. People will die. There is no denying it. You may watch the trooper next to you buy the farm."
She let out a sigh. "We will intercept the Ticonderoga and the Harry Lee tomorrow and then set course for Eden, giving us three days to prepare for battle. Our orders are to extract any and all survivors that we find on the planet and retreat to a predetermined, undisclosed at this time, position. You all have your orders, and you know how to do your jobs.
"At this time I am ordering for all personnel to man their battle stations. We don't know what's waiting for us, but I am sure you will all do your jobs the way you've been trained to do, and we will stop this invasion before it gets started." Rico could imagine the troopers in the mess hall cheering with that comment. "Admiral Ibanez out." He face was replaced by the SICON insignia which Rico quickly cut off.
The time had arrived again. He had kept a lot of feeling bottled up inside of himself, and now with this, he had hopes of getting that aggression out of his system. He exited into the Roughnecks bunk area and found Goss tinkering with some gadget.
"What's that?" He asked sitting next to him.
"You know, I don't know." He said holding it in front of him. "I have absolutely idea what it does." He threw it behind him. It clanked around before resting against a bunk's leg.
"Something to pass the time." Rico said patting him on the shoulder.
"So here we go again, huh?" Goss asked.
"Again."
"Blood of the Lamb shall wash him clean
And him shall heavenly arms enfold,
Among the saints he shall be seen
Performing on a harp of gold."
The Hippopotamus; T.S. Eliot