Colonel David O’lleary

Assault ship Warsong, onboard the Hidden Garden space station, Year 456

Thwarted, again.

BANG.

My fist hit the leathered brown armrest of my command chair, and everyone looked at me. Saving face doesn’t mean shit anymore if we get killed! Half of my forces have been decimated by automated defenses; I don’t understand why that woman didn’t destroy the ship. Why? Is there something she wants from us?

The communication officer interrupts my train of thought.

“Sir, we lost contact with one of the safe rooms.”

“What?!” My hand glided to the communication switch on my armrest chair and I push the button to have access to the screen attached to the chair. The cameras of the different safe rooms for the support crew are dividing the screen into four parts. There is a safe room that has gone dark, the one where the medical crew was. The darkness finally ebb and what I see horrify me! Blood and body parts everywhere in the room.

“Mother of God.” I closed my eyes, my hands trembling.

“There are intruders on the ship!!” I finally manage to yell.

Everyone freeze and look at me, surprise and dread on their faces. I don’t blame them; this whole operation is a clusterfuck.

I always thought of myself as a winner, growing up on a farm world of the Columbus treaty worlds? I knew that my fate wasn’t making radish grow and harvest them. My dream was of having adventures, nail some space babes and do everything I want. Of course, I grew out of this funk when I got a price on my head after bedding the wife of some important crime lord. Fleeing for my life I secured my safety by being under the umbrella of the meanest and dangerous mercenary outfit in human space. I advanced far in the ranks and even obtained a seat in the major shareholders of Ares. And now everything I built might get snuffed by taking a rotten contract.

“Find them!” I ordered. “We are not dying today.”

“I found one of the intruders!” Screamed the tactical officer. “Putting him on screen.”

An holo-screen appeared on the bridge wall, a black armored figure walked without a care in the corridor between the mess and the crew quarter. The armored figure was leaving blood splatters and red footprints while moving. As if that butcher felt our eyes on him he turned and watched the camera without moving. The picture wavered a bit. Words in the com system resonated.

“Tá tú marbh cheana féin*(Irish)” A cold and feminine voice said. And we lost the camera, a blank screen staring at us.

Well shit, I think I just pissed myself. I don’t understand what was said or know which language was this but it was cold and clearly something bad. When I turned to my XO to ask his input I saw him pale and shocked. Maybe he knows what the clearly feminine voice has said.

“Commander.”

“Yes, Dan?” I asked, waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“She said we are already dead.”

And this is where everything turned to shit, we lost the people in the crew quarter. The cameras might be deactivated but not the sound. Screams and people trying to flee or fight could be heard in safe room number two then silence. Until we heard the sound of someone walking with metallic boots on the com.

My Com officer abandoned his post and armed himself. I don’t begrudge him his action, there is no rule against fraternization in a mercenary outfit. It’s even encouraged. This officer has a sweetheart he got engaged with; I think she is one of the cook’s assistant. He will die too, but I felt numb to it. Some others abandoned their chair and did the same.

***

Fenicia

I really kicked the hornet nest.

After killing my way in each of their hidey holes, those people have become even more aggressive. They should be, I don’t plan to leave anyone alive. Should I feel bad for doing what is necessary? Leaving no quarter, no room for negotiations?

*Nah.*

I don’t traffic with people trying to sneak on me and kill me. This is what was awaiting us, Idunn and me.

I am in stealth mode and hide because the opposition suddenly got smarter, they are creating choke points to each of the dens with the crew. They used furniture, boxes, anything to create barricades and covers, have they lost control of the doors and seal of the ship’s corridor. That security domination augment is really handy. Permitting me to find them wherever they are on the ship.

Accessing the HUD in my helmet, I look at the plan of the ship’s interior. Divided into five decks, the War Song is a light warship, we have the Command Deck nestled between the crew quarter and engineering. The command deck of the War Song is comprised of the ship’s bridge, Combat Information Center (CIC), the Lab, Armory, briefing/Communications Room and Main Airlock. My eyes followed the plan; I am in the crew quarters and already culled three of the safe rooms where the crew holed themselves.

Looking at the barricades with my LiDAR mods, I tracked the super soldiers. The icons showed me where they were, sometimes I could even see their forms behind the obstacles. Nice gadget!

My goal was to take out engineering and dispose of the crew responsible there to secure the Ion drive core, the fusion reactors and main systems of the ship that the override code that Idunn unearthed when she hacked the AI of this ship can’t take out. But those soldiers are in the way.

Life support is a perfect example. If I could, I would have vented the atmosphere of the ship and in the space station docking bay. I regret that their elimination couldn’t be any faster. While camouflaged with the stealth augment, I advanced; noise suppressors making my presence unknown. Taking ones of the electro-grenade, calculate the better angle to throw it above the barricade and in the middle of the soldiers. I throw the deadly projectile and wait.

There was no bang or boom, it was a grenade made to incapacitate them. The problem with the armors of nowadays is that they are resistant to explosive and concussive payloads and those are only useful against citizens in urban or forest terrains. The grenade delivers an electric surge that fries the armors system and knocks out your targets. And I fucking want that ship intact for my use.

I jump above the barricade gun at the ready, I see six unconscious bodies on the ground. Not losing time I fire in their helmets while still in the air, thanks to my enhanced reflexes and reaction time it is child’s play. But I was careless, and before my feet touched the ground I felt a pain to the side of my head, my HUD fritzed and went out.

***

Daniel Fitzpatrick XO of the Warsong

“Did we get her?” I whispered to the super soldier captain.

I lowered my rifle and watched my handy work. Two years since I didn’t see any action and our very lives are at stakes here for a mission we thought was going to be easy. I wiped the sweat off my forehead. I’m not in my A game, I feel rusty and shouldn’t have neglected to continue to hone my shooting skills. Complacency!

“She’s not moving, but that’s a centurion from Vice Industries. We might just have knocked her out. Let’s finish her.” The Super Soldier captain said briskly.

He left the alcove in the corridor where we hid; with prudence, he slowly advanced toward that monster. Vice Industries is known for relying on merciless soldiers with abilities making super soldiers looks like babies. They relentlessly follow orders to their letter and often never left survivors, those fuckers are hard to kill too.

The captain arrived near the body of the centurion and with a careful movement of his right foot touched her arm with the pistol still in her hand. He kneeled and took her pistol from her. When it was secured in his hand the weapon gave him an electrical shock, how do I know. I saw the arc of electricity surge when he pawed it.

*DNA locked gear. Expensive shit.* I told myself.

The captain threw the gun, I advanced carefully toward him and the downed centurion.

“Take her helmet off.” I ordered.

The captain was about to touch the helmet but the hand of the centurion caught his, and I swear I heard bones breaking when she did. I don’t know what happened after that but the captain was down and the centurion was standing. Her impressive physique dwarfed me. Taking my rifle I attempted to fire but was stopped by some sort of invisible force. I couldn’t move.

“Fuck, damn it! She’s psionic!!” I screamed. Only my mouth could move.

The centurion put her hand against her helmet and took it off. And just now I saw a beauty facing me, she has a short blue bob of hair with a slash of white strand in them. But the insanity and fury in her golden eyes eclipsed my natural instinct to appreciate female beauty.

*Wait, blue hair?*

“Fuck, you are Saryan.”

***

Fenicia

“Not anymore,” I answered while squinting my eyes.

I made my peace pistol float toward me and the reassuring weight of the weapon settled in my hand, having no helmet I couldn’t check the energy charge and the munitions. A backup HUD activated using my optical nerves when I thought that. Ah, handy! It seems that the nanites can do things like that in case I am not synchronized with a part of my armor.

About to fire my pistol on the man, he surprised me with what he said.

“Please, don’t kill me.” The man whined.

I saw him tense when I looked at him, he dared to beg for his life? On Sarya, it would have been unthinkable for this to happen. Honor as a warrior is important. Dying on your feet and accept the inevitable or struggle until you are knocked out or killed is the only result which is desired. This man disgusts me.

“That's Why I hate mercenaries, you come in force and try to sneak up on us to murder us. And you fuckin’ expect’ that I am going to let ye walk away?”

“It’s business, it ain’t personal...” The man tried to defend.

My mood flared.

It wasn’t personal…? “IT WASN’T PERSONAL?! You Boshtalk (a type of smelly slug), we are beyond personal now!” I screamed.

My fist sank in his face and I sent him flying, ah I guess my concentration on keeping him unmoving with my telekinesis broke. That Boggin(Irish slang for filthy, repugnant) puss bucket angered me. And that’s weird; normally this kind of slime can’t raise emotion within me normally. I think that the ordeal which brought me here took its toll on me. My feeling felt raw, just under the surface. One look and the body of the man was levitating and coming to me. When the floating man reached me, I looked at him.

“Fine, you will live,” I said.

The man’s body lost tension as if he was a puppet and every one of his strings were cut and he sighed.

“But you will wish that I’ve killed you.” And I fired my non-lethal pacifier on him only once. The blue lance of energy speared him and he went slack. Then I went out of my way to break his legs while I was at it, in the eventuality that he is resistant to the energy of the stun shot.

“Time to introduce myself to the engineers.” Turning toward the Engineering deck, I walked.

***

Colonel David O’lleary

This monster is one sexy bitch, I mean look at that female. She looks like an Amazon, walk like a predator but she was merciless. I watched her advance, not caring one bit that she is monitored. When I saw my XO’s lining for a shot, I thought everything would be alright; after all, Dan is a good shot. But it wasn’t to be. Somehow that female centurion escaped a blow to the head. Result of the fight: the captain of my super soldier is dead, Dan was rendered useless. My heart went to him when I saw that centurion gal crush his legs. My XO lay broken like a doll on the ground of corridor.

I decided to be the last line of defense between the centurion and the engineers of the ship, those guys will be able to undo whatever that bitch on the com did. The HUD before my eyes glowed with information on the energy charge of my battle mech. The integrity of the mech-armor is at 100%, unfortunately, I don’t have any weapon that I can use on the ship with it, and I don’t want to put holes in it.

This is a customized mech, maybe I can go toe to toe with that slut.