The commandoes on the surface gave out a great muted cheer, their breathing apparatus prevented the sound from travelling, as they saw the silhouettes of the four shuttles emerge through the cloud cover toward them, the four captured Dracos warriors simply groaned.
The shuttles came into land, their powerful gravitic engines kicking up a giant plume of dust, and blowing over small shrubs and plants in their force. They seemed to hover for an instant before finally touching down on the surface itself. Forward landing lights lit up the whole area as the scarlet light from the flare, fired earlier now faded. The landing legs themselves had sunk almost a full foot into the soft topsoil, as the weight of the craft bore down on the ground around it. A loud hiss of released gas from the shuttles landing legs equalised the pressure placed upon the landing gear itself.
The occupants all donned breathing gear, before emerging from the landed craft, now gently powering down with a gentle thrumming noise.
There was a small group of commandoes guarding the Dracos prisoners, one of which peeled off to approach Michael as he made his way toward them.
“I am so glad you guys are here for the extraction.”
“Any casualties?” Michael asked the rather young looking sergeant, his hand a noticeable mass of bandages, a deep crimson smear showing through, the poor guy was probably dosed up to the gills on morphine. “Nine sir, it was one helluva fight, those Dracos over there can really fight, sir.”
“I’m sure they can sergeant, are they prisoners?” He asked eyeing the bound and sitting Dracos warriors suspiciously.
“Yes sir. They surrendered during the battle.”
As they were speaking Nikolai emerged with a wounded Kathryn, she hobbled on her injured leg, now tightly wrapped in bandages also, towards her former captain, whom she hadn’t seen in almost four long years. Michael strolled over towards her, and they embraced each other closely, tears began to run down the inside of Kathryn’s breathing apparatus as she clung to him. She was finally free of the nightmare she had endured, she sobbed as she remembered all those who had died horribly down there, and the ordeal she had been put through, her body trembled with emotion.
“It’s all right Kathryn, you’re safe now.”
“Just get me out of here Michael, get me off this horrible world.” Then she seemed to stop in mid-sentence, “no, I have one last task to accomplish, I have to bury a true hero, one who fought and died to save me; I owe him that at least.”
“We can return as soon as the medics have taken a look at you,” Michael quickly realised she was badly traumatised by what she had witnessed down in the dark corridors of that place.
Michael turned his attention to Nikolai, “any survivors down there?”
“None comrade,” my men are bringing the bodies up now, he shook his head solemnly, “it’s like a slaughterhouse down there.”
Michael managed to carry the badly injured Kathryn into his shuttle, despite her objections, “Michael we can’t just leave them down there?”
“We are not going to Kathryn, we have to transfer the bodies to the ships in orbit, so they can have a proper burial.”
She noticeably calmed after hearing this, slumping exhausted into the co-pilot’s chair, and resting her leg gingerly. Michael studied her for a moment, she looked tired, drawn, he guessed after three days of going through what she had just gone through, anybody would be.
He wanted to ask her, if she would consider re-joining the Liberty crew, but decided against it. Right now Kathryn wasn’t exactly in the best state of mind, instead he would silently watch over her, but at the same time give her the space she needed to get over these recent events.
The remainder of the commandoes were to be transported on a separate shuttle, save two who would travel with the Dracos prisoners as an escort, while they were being transported to the Eisenhower’s brig until Michael could contact E.D. F command, who could advise on what to do with them.
That left the last remaining shuttle to transfer the bodies to the E.D. F ships waiting in orbit, of the sixteen scientists and guards that were stranded on that god forsaken planet. Only Kathryn had survived, not to mention another nine commandoes who died in the rescue attempt, twenty six lives lost, plus whatever casualties the Liberty had sustained; it had proven to be a dark day for the E.D.F.
The gravitic engines thrummed into life again, kicking up another great whirl of dust, just as Michael’s wrist comm. chirped, it was commander Ruiz. “Once we’ve got all this straightened out, I’ll see you back at the ship.”
“Yeah, no problem, it will be a little while before the Liberty is space worthy again, the old girl has taken quite a beating.”
“Fantastic, I’ll see you soon. I look forward to catching up on old times.”
“Me too commander,” Michael said before ending the transmission with a press of a red stop key on his wrist communicator.
The shuttle gently lifted off as Michael increased thrust to the boosters, with a loud roar the craft raced skywards.
Nikolai and the surviving commandoes all filed into the second craft, piloted by Maddox. Who decided that he would hang back slightly from the prisoner shuttle, keeping his forward mounted gatling laser trained upon it. If those prisoners did attempt to gain control of the craft, he would blast the thing out of the sky.
Fortunately, the return trip wasn’t as eventful as Ben thought it might be, they returned to the awaiting Eisenhower and Arizona without incident.
The Dracos prisoners were quickly escorted under armed guard to the Eisenhower’s brig, they were strangely quiet and subdued, not making a single move or effort to break free.
Kathryn benefited from the Eisenhower’s larger, moderately more advanced, and well stocked med-lab, a female officer perused the injured leg. The razor sharp wire from the Dracos silencer had sawn its way through her flesh, sliced her calf muscle virtually in half, severed her achilles tendon, and even scored a deep gouge into the bone itself.
The young medical officer stepped quietly out of the med-bay and made her way towards a waiting Michael, who was watching over her from an on-looking waiting room.
“She’ll need surgery, the damage is extensive. If we don’t operate she may never be able to walk on that foot again.”
“Do what you must,” Michael replied gravely, he cared about her a great deal, remembering the time when he rescued her from Delta base during the Krenaran war, just a young nineteen year old ensign, barely out of medical school and out of her mind with fear. He watched as she had to endure the personal torture of operating on wounded and sometimes dead friends during the war, a part of him felt responsible in that too.
The medical officer nodded gently, and as quietly as she left, re-entered the sterile room, a team of six other surgeons gradually surrounded Kathryn, he watched as they administered an anaesthetic, and the still relatively young medical officer slowly fell into unconsciousness.
Michael felt himself wince as a tiny laser cutter made the first incision, the fold of skin around her blood soaked wound, peeled back in two halves, just like the skin of an over-ripened fruit, exposing the delicate damaged muscle tissue underneath. A suction pipe was used to clear away the excess blood, precious minutes ticked by as Michael watched the operation being performed, occasionally he would look away, the pain almost too much to bear.
He remembered Kathryn having to perform harder, more complex operations than this throughout the war. Often on her friends and people she really cared about under intense pressure. For the first time he truly experienced what she must have felt, no wonder she quit the medical profession in the end, Michael doubted that he would be able to stomach it for long either.
A small injection of protonase was injected directly into the back of her shin bone to promote bone growth and slowly re-grow the damaged parts of bone. One of the surgeons held a small sonic oscillator over the muscle tissue. It gave off a gentle thrumming noise as the tiny waves of sound worked to relax the damaged muscle tissue. Minute microscopic implants were carefully inserted around this severed tissue, working to repair the damage, as well as emit tiny, controlled bursts of electricity into the surrounding muscle fibres. It would feel very much like the sensation of pins and needles. These would cause muscle spasms, the constant contracting and relaxing of the calf muscle would help to speed up its re-growth. It was a technique only recently come into practice within the medical profession, called micro-static therapy.
Michael continued to watch the surgeons at work, both in awe and wincing as he imagined the pain Kathryn must be going through.
The severed achilles tendon was an altogether different prospect, if the surgeons could not repair the damage, Kathryn would never be able to walk with that foot again. This would require a previously experimental technique in medical science, known as servo-assistance. It involved placing a pair of tiny servos, no bigger than a pinhead, and attaching them to the tendon via degradable sutures. The servo would assist the severed tendon to move the foot, though the servo would pull ever so slightly harder on the tendon each time, in order to aid in its natural re-growth.
Michael watched as the surgeons performed the most delicate and complex of all the operations, one that had never even been attempted before. The concentration and dedication lining each and every one of their faces was plain to see. In a way, he wished he was in there with them, yet he was a ship captain, medical techniques were not his forte. He could fly a ship halfway around the galaxy, yet this tiny operation was beyond him, he felt the whole experience humbling.
Nikolai eventually found his way inside the viewing booth to join him, “how is she doing comrade?”
“The operation is almost over, the techniques used, the way they work, it’s incredible to watch.”
“I know, one of ours; Razor, is having an augmented hand attached on the Arizona.”
“I’m sorry about the losses you took Nikolai, I know the men in your unit are close to you.”
“It goes with the territory, every single commando knows the risk when he enlists, they have no regrets.”
“So what will happen now?”
“Well,” Nikolai gave off a gentle sigh, “once we are all finished here, it will be off to Alpha-centauri for de-briefing.” The Russian gave off a deep growl of a yawn, “But, I’ll tell you something comrade. I never want to have to come up against those Dracos again. They give me the creeps, can come out of absolutely anywhere, and are so well trained, so fast and acrobatic. You could be patrolling happily one second, and you’ve just lost a squad member the next. As night fighters, I don’t think I’ve ever seen better.”
“Let’s just hope we don’t have to fight them again.”
The surgeons had finished their work on Kathryn’s leg, and wheeled her bed around to a small side ward for her to recuperate.
“Kathryn belongs with you comrade, with the Liberty, where you can keep watch over her, and take care of her when she falls down. She needs you, and you need her.”
Michael knew within himself that Nikolai was right, for five long years, ever since his wife and son had died, the caring side of him, the tender side, had died along with them. People had suffered because of that, people like Kathryn. “I know Nikolai, in the time she has been gone, I’ve come to realise that.” Michael looked out across the med-bay to the small side ward in which she was sleeping, “the question is; has she?”
“Give her time, she’s been through a heck of an ordeal.”
“I intend to.”
The group of six surgeons all entered the booth and faced the two men. One of them, a middle aged man, still wearing his surgical scrubs said. “The operation has been a success, she will have to be very careful over the next few weeks; if she aggravates the wound even a little, she could tear out the sutures securing the servo’s to her tendon, and would need a further operation to re-attach them.”
“When can we expect her to be back at full health doctor?” Michael asked.
“I would say with this type of injury, not for another six weeks. Then she would have to come for a check up before she returns to active duty.”
“Thanks.”
“She’s currently sleeping off the effects of the anaesthetic, and should be awake again in a couple of hours. She’ll be a little sore, and the twinges from the micro-static implants will take some getting used to; but she should make a full recovery.”
“Thanks for all you have done, doctor.”
“Just doing our job captain,” the surgeon replied, before he and his entourage of medics left the two men alone again.
“Now to find out just what to do with our captured Dracos friends,” Michael said with a smile as he turned to leave the booth.
“You have a plan, don’t you?”
“I always have a plan, Nikolai.”
“That’s what worries me.”
Michael made his way through the thirty four decks of the Eisenhower, to the tiny hatch that connected it to the Liberty which floated alongside.
After a few minutes of walking through his old ship again, he stepped out onto the battered command deck of the Liberty once more.
“Hello there stranger, just where the bloody hell ‘ave you been, I thought I would ‘ave to promote me’self as new cap’n while you were gone, so I was.” Kinraid said with a mocking wink.
“You know where I’ve been Quinn,” Michael smiled at his first officer. “If you need me, I’ll be in my quarters, I have some important business I must attend to.”
“Understood, sir. Logameier’s been making temporary repairs, he tinks we should be able to make the jump into plasma drive soon, without fallin’ to bits.”
“Good work, we may need to.”
He stepped through the doors and into his quarters, it was a mess from various objects fallen from tables and shelves during the battle, now lying broken on the floor. Luckily the food synthesiser was still intact, with a sigh, he keyed in the control for a latte, double sugar. Taking the cup, he slumped down at his desk. The deep beige colour of Auriga III was plainly visible through his window, a bereft backwater planet, god it even looked ugly from space, he thought. He hoped he would not have to set eyes on this fateful planet again.
He needed to contact Admiral Montrose at alpha base and inform him of what had happened here, that the E.D. F had encountered a new hostile alien force in the Dracos, though first he had other ideas.
Punching in a few controls on his personal terminal, he attempted to contact Solaria, eventually getting through to an official acting for the Solarian government.
“I’d like to speak to ambassador Kerulithar please, it’s a matter of some urgency.”
“I’m afraid no ambassador by that name exists.” The softly spoken echoic voiced Solarian replied.
Michael’s brow furrowed in thought, that’s odd. “He must do, five years ago he was instrumental in the Solarian involvement in the Krenaran war, I have personally worked with him.”
“You must mean governor Kerulithar of Celtris III, I’ll transfer you to his office.”
Huh, governor now, Michael thought. Raising an eyebrow in the process, the plucky ambassador has done well for himself over the years.”
Gradually the familiar blue tinged face of Kerulithar appeared on the screen, “Michael Alexander my old friend. This is a surprise, how are you doing, and how are Nikolai and the Liberty?”
“We are good actually, the Liberty has had a few more upgrades since last we spoke, you have done well for yourself, a governor now I hear.”
“After the events surrounding the Solarian entry into the Krenaran war, and our subsequent victory over them, they made me a governor of my home planet of Celtris III, no more hopping around the galaxy for me, I have a family now.”
“That’s fantastic news!” Michael said with a genuine smile, he was delighted things were going so well for his old friend, “but hold the phone with that galaxy hopping thing, would you?”
Kerulithar’s brows furrowed as he suddenly took on a far more serious tone, “what’s on your mind?”
“Know anything about the Dracos?” Michael rubbed his chin as he asked the question.
“Sure; all Solarians know the story of the Dracos, how their evil and murderous ways threatened to almost overthrow our people, and how in response we chased them through our space, it was a terrible time; very sad.”
“Okay, have you heard about their return?”
“I heard rumours of their name being bandied about again in the senate, rumours of trouble in the distant Auriga system, our government has taken a strict non-interference policy on this if I’m correct. Our people do not want to get involved, the gulf of differing philosophies, ideologies, everything about the Dracos runs contrary to our own beliefs. They are a people who actively condone violence and torture as a way of life, where we advocate peace, harmony and advancement through art and the sciences. The Dracos turned from that path a long time ago; and in so doing, stopped being Solarians, they are regarded as their own people now.”
Michael was stunned at hearing this, shocked at how two races, who had once been one, could turn out to hate each other so vehemently, where was the higher sensibilities of the Solarians now? “There is an old Earth adage Kerulithar, that time heals all wounds.”
“What do you mean, my friend?”
“I have four Dracos warriors, all taken prisoner while we rescued what was left of our science team.”
“So it is true, it is not just a rumour, the Dracos do still exist!” Kerulithar gasped.
“Oh yes, they have just killed a good two hundred and fifty E.O.C. A citizens, however this presents us with a unique opportunity.”
“For what, exactly?”
“Re-unification, to right a three hundred year old wrong.”
“Too much time has elapsed my friend, there is too much hatred on both sides now,” Kerulithar sighed, shaking his head.
“I’m asking you to be that plucky little ambassador I once knew five years ago Kerulithar, one last time, for your own, and for your peoples benefit.”
The Solarian stared through the monitor at him, and it seemed as though long seconds passed between them, “if this goes wrong, it could mean my political career.”
“Or it could be the making of it, all I’m asking is for you to trust me once again, as you once did, old friend.”
“I worked with you once before, and that turned out to be the greatest case of my ambassadorial career. I will work with you again, but I make no promises.”
Michael was buoyed that he managed to get Kerulithar on-board with this, “I will arrange for talks to be held at a neutral site.”
“Excellent, once the location has been transmitted, I will be there.
“Thank you, Kerulithar.”
“Don’t thank me yet, I am only doing this because I trust you Michael Alexander,” the Solarian smiled, “Kerulithar out.”
The screen went blank, and Michael slumped back down into his chair, he felt elated, but also exhausted. He rubbed at his temples, and let loose a long sigh, it had been hard work. Nevertheless, the first steps toward a peace process and re-unification had begun. He just hoped all this would not land him with a court martial for interfering in the affairs of other cultures.
Next he had to contact admiral Montrose at Alpha base, to submit his mission report, he informed the admiral about the discovery of the Eye of the Dracos, the destruction of the Copernicus, and of the evidence they had found of the systematic hunting down of the scientists through the corridors of the alien facility, and also of the bloody, yet successful rescue of the only survivor, Kathryn Jacobs.
“Do you think these Dracos will return?”
“I would have to say yes, absolutely admiral, and in greater numbers, in fact I would bet my wages on it.”
The admiral stroked his bearded grey flecked chin, “what do you suggest?”
“Well, since there are no colony worlds out this far, the threat to E.O.C. A citizens is minimal, however it is still an incursion into E.O.C. A territory, and they have attacked E.D. F shipping. I would recommend routing patrols to include this area of space, sir. From what we have learned, the Dracos are only interested in this one planet because of the Eye of the Dracos built upon it. From what I have been able to gather they have labelled it as a halo world, a world of special significance to their people, thus it would be a high priority for re-capture.”
“So, this Eye of the Dracos is basically an enormous, super advanced geothermal power plant, extracting energy from the core of the planet itself, and then hurling it out into space.”
“Yes, admiral.”
“Any way we can adapt it, for our own use?”
“Unlikely; from what we have found, the facility used to fire its beam in regular bursts to a collector stationed in orbit. However, the whole place was shutdown and abandoned some three hundred years ago, as the Dracos fled from Solarian attacks. The collector has since burned up as its orbit decayed, and that is why the beams are being shot out into space, as the base still thinks the collector is there. Plus, we’ve seen how the Dracos react to anyone studying their technology, they hunt them down mercilessly.”
“True, but it’s a heck of an opportunity to pass up, captain. A facility capable of producing virtually unlimited energy, that would solve E.O.C. A energy needs practically overnight.”
“I agree sir, but at what cost, the facility itself is so far removed from standard E.D. F systems and technology, that we would have difficulty integrating it and defending it.”
“It’s a damned shame, all that power on tap, and virtually for free too, what’s your plan then, captain.”
“We shut the facility down, just as the scientists found it, and then seal it, so that it stays shut. Perhaps in the future E.D. F scientists may be able to integrate it into our own systems, and the Dracos may be more amenable to us using it. Until that day however, it is simply too dangerous, and right now beyond our level of expertise.”
The admiral sighed noticeably as a few tense seconds passed, finally after seeing that there was no other option, Montrose agreed. “Shut the place down captain, and lock it tight.”
“Will do admiral, I have one final request to make, sir. It is one of a more personal nature.”
“Go ahead?”
“The survivor we rescued, Kathryn Jacobs, is a former medical officer of the Liberty and personal friend to me. She had requested some time to be allowed to bury a very dear friend of hers, who was killed by these Dracos before we arrived.”
“You have five hours captain, then I want those ships back at Charlie gamma base for repairs, as well as the final testing of the Liberties new systems.”
“Understood, thank you sir; Alexander out.”
Montrose nodded as Michael ended the transmission.
Another intensely bright burst of energy, shot forth from the surface of the planet once again, close to the Liberty, it shot past Michaels personal porthole, briefly coating his entire quarters in a bright orange glow, “sweet Jesus that thing’s bright,” he cursed to himself as he shielded his eyes.
He eventually emerged from his quarters with a new sense of purpose.
“What’s the word, cap’n?” Kinraid asked.
“We have to go back down to the surface, to seal off the facility. I don’t want to have to do it to her, because Kathryn has had enough of an ordeal already, but she is the only one who can guide us to the central control room within that place in order to shut it down.”
“I hear ya’, sir.” Kinraid replied, concerned more for Kathryn than anyone else.
“I also want Lieutenant Logameier to come up with suggestions, as to how we can shut this thing off, permanently.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Kinraid replied.
“I’m off to see Kathryn, hopefully she is awake now, to tell her the good news, you’re in command until I get back Quinn.”
“Understood, sir. I’m sure little Kathryn’ll be delighted to find out she’s goin’ back down the rabbit hole again.”
Michael looked at Quinn, “she’s one of ours, she deserves better after what she’s been through.”
“I know, Cap’n, I know.”
Michael left the bridge, and entered an adjoining elevator, which deposited him on deck four, he made his way through the Liberty, passing various crewmembers making repairs to still-damaged systems, and who all regarded him with the kind of respect one would give a good friend. Eventually, he found the temporary inter-connecting corridor between the Liberty and the Eisenhower, he hoped it would be the last time he would have to make this crossing.
As he made his way back to the med-bay of the other ship, he bumped into commander Fontain again; informed her of the new orders and requested the use of a shuttle. The commander duly granted him the request; he also paged Nikolai through his wrist comm. asking if he wanted one last trip down to the surface. It turned out that the colonel was packing ready for the trip back, yet ultimately agreed.
Michael carefully entered the med-bay to find Kathryn awake, although still a little drowsy, he sat quietly beside her.
“How are you feeling?”
“A little sore, and I keep getting this strange tingling sensation in my leg, but I’m okay I guess.”
Michael smiled, repressing a slight chuckle, “the tingling is the micro-static therapy working, something you’ll have to get used to for now I’m afraid.”
“You mean they put little implants inside me, why I ‘oughta.”
Michael chuckled again, “well you seem in better spirits anyway.”
“I’m just so glad that I’m finally free of that horrible nightmare, I’m glad you came back for me,” she reached over from her hospital bed and kissed Michael tenderly on the cheek.
“You are one of ours, as well as one of my closest friends, I couldn’t just stand back and let you die down there.”
“I know.”
Kathryns levity, and emotional state made what Michael had to say next all the more difficult, his face sunk into one of concern as he struggled within himself how to tell her.
She studied him intently, “I think I know you well enough by now, to recognise that look, what’s wrong Michael?”
The Liberty captain grimaced as he realised that there was no easy way to tell her this, “we have to go back down there.”
Kathryn recoiled in shock, “No! I can’t, I won’t, I won’t go through all that again Michael!”
He silently regarded her with patient eyes, “we have five hours Kathryn, in which to bury your friend, and to finally shut that thing down, for good.” He looked at her again, and pleaded with her as he whispered, “you are the only one who can end this.”
With that, Michael got slowly to his feet, nodded respectfully to her, and left the med-bay and Kathryn to think over what he had just said.
Over the next four hours, Michael went through the details of the mission, the team was to be made up of himself, Lieutenant Logameier, Colonel Vargev and four of his commandoes as well as Kathryn, if she was up to it, if not, they would have to find some other way to shut the facility down.
Hopefully, that wouldn’t include sending a torpedo straight down the main aperture and destroying its collider.
He spoke to the men arrayed ahead of him in the briefing room of the Liberty. “So is everyone clear. It’s a simple, go in, shut down, seal it off, and get out again.”
Nikolai spoke to his men, “commandoes will be taking the same armaments as before, we did a quick sweep of the base when we went in the first time. But we could have missed a few, so stay frosty and remember, we are on their turf comrades.”
A loud shout of “Ooooragh!” came back at the colonel.
“Okay let’s gear up and get ready; dismissed.” Michael said.
Just as the assembled men went to leave, the doors slid open to reveal a lone, dark figure, silhouetted against the bright lights from the corridor to the Liberties bridge behind, and clutching a walking stick.
She stepped through the doors, it was Kathryn, she hobbled unsteadily towards the assembled men in the tiny briefing room, “you’ll need me with you, if you want to find the central control room of the base quickly.”
Michael gave a broad warm smile, almost wanting to punch the air in delight, she had come around, although in his heart he knew she would. “Thank you so much Kathryn.”
“It’s time to finally end this,” she replied, “besides, I’m a sucker for punishment.” A mischievous grin played across her features.
The others all respectfully filed out of the small room, leaving Michael and Kathryn alone together.
“What is going to happen to Rachthausen, he deserves a proper burial?”
“His body has been taken out of cold storage on the Eisenhower, and loaded aboard the shuttle as promised. As soon as we shut down the facility, we will all bury him with full military honours, you have my word.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do, have you given any thought as to your next posting?” He probed gently.
“Not yet; I’m just trying to take things one day at a time right now.”
Michael smiled knowingly, “I understand, take all the time you need, although I’m sure a warship like the Liberty would be in need of a planetary geologist, somewhere down the line.” He winked playfully at her.
Kathryn chuckled slightly and smiled in return, “I’ll give it some thought.”
“Well,” Michael said with a little sigh, “I had better get ready for the mission myself.” He smiled as he made to move past Kathryn and leave the room, as he did so however, she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the cheek, “thank you.” She whispered.
He looked down at her tender features, the long dark hair swaying over her shoulders, betraying just the hint of an occasional grey strand. He wanted so much to kiss her back, but it wouldn’t have been right, he knew there was a closeness between them, though with what she had gone through he didn’t want to pressure her. He didn’t know if she really had feelings for him or not right now, with the burial of someone she loved looming he knew that now was not the best of times, and he did not want to sacrifice what they already had for one stupid impulse.
“You have nothing to thank me for,” he replied with a curt smile as he left the briefing room for his quarters.
Kathryn headed back to the Eisenhower’s hangar bay to join the rest of the team, she knew she was in good hands at last, but was still terrified of returning to those long dark corridors once again.
Michael gathered his belongings, changing into his full military landfall uniform for the first time in five years. Surprisingly it still fit, Nikolai had warned him that the surface of the planet was particularly cold and windy, and that his naval uniform would not be ideal for spending more than a few minutes on the surface at best. He took a pulse pistol as a sidearm and tucked it into a holster on his hip, picked up his breathing apparatus, and once he was confident he was ready, left his quarters and stepped out onto the bridge. He felt a little silly, stood out as he was in his camouflaged combat fatigues and heavy military boots, while all the other officers around him were in typical royal blue naval uniforms, yet it was necessary.
“Quinn.”
The commander turned, and stopped him in mid-sentence, “Yes I know cap’n, I’m in charge until ye’ get back.”
“Good man.”
With that, Michael left the bridge, and quickly made his way over to the Eisenhower also, soon meeting up with Nikolai, Kathryn, and the others in the hangar bay, “hopefully this will be last time we will have to go down to Auriga III for a while, has the body I requested been stowed onboard?” He asked as he turned to Logameier.
“Yes sir, I saw one of the Eisenhower’s crew load it onboard not ten minutes ago.”
Kathryn hobbled onto the shuttle itself helped by Michael, while Nikolai, his four accompanying commandoes, and Logameier all followed behind.
Michael sat at the controls and began working them, the rear door closed tight and sealed shut, the craft began to power up again, controls and displays all lit up in front of the pilot’s and navigators seats where Logameier was sitting. A dull thrumming groan reverberated around the interior of the bay, slowly increasing in its intensity as the shuttle’s gravitic engines began to gradually kick in.
Michael keyed in another control, “shuttle alpha-zero-one to Eisenhower, requesting permission to depart.”
“Shuttle alpha-zero-one, request is granted, opening bay doors now, happy travels.”
The communications ceased as the giant hangar bay doors slowly opened, once again revealing the starry blackness of deep space.
He increased power to the shuttles gravitic engines, and the craft began to levitate and gently taxi along the wide central aisle of the hangar bay once more, before Michael brought the boosters up to full power, and, with a loud roar, the shuttle shot forth from the hangar bay, and away from the huge form of the E.D. F heavy cruiser.
“You know, sometimes it can be hard to comprehend the true vastness of space,” Logameier said, staring out from the shuttles cockpit into the stars beyond. “Just when you think that space, with all the peoples, planets, asteroids, phenomena and everything else is such a crowded place, it shows you something like this, and then you realise that space itself is a whole lot bigger than you ever imagined.”
“I agree lieutenant, space is wondrous in its vastness.” Michael said as he swung the shuttle around, lining up to fly the craft in the channel between the vast bulk of the Eisenhower and the Arizona again, thereby revealing the dirty beige colour of the planet below in all its horrible glory once more.
“ You know, I think I’m going to miss this world,” Vargev said from behind them.
“You have got to be joking!” Kathryn retorted, finding the colonel’s remark in mildly poor taste, after what she experienced on the surface.
“Actually; I am, I hate the place, its cold, windy, there’s no breathable air. I have to admit, apart from the muddy, rain soaked battlefields of Gamma IV, this has to rank as one of the worst places I’ve ever been assigned, the place is one utter shit hole.”
“Ditto,” Michael replied simply, as he took the craft into a dive as it neared the planets atmosphere. The hull began to heat up quickly, flames and super-heated plasma began trailing across its bullet-like hull. A thick contrail of smoke followed the craft as it plunged ever deeper.
Inside, the occupants were jostled in their seats as the craft rocked and shook from the effects of atmospheric entry.
Once the shuttle glided through the thick methane cloud cover, Michael set the craft to atmospheric flight mode, and the ubiquitous delta wings emerged from underneath the main fuselage once again, the small winglets slid out from either side of the cockpit, the twin tails lifted up and the shuttle gently flew on course for the Eye of the Dracos.
Another beam of intensely bright orange energy surged skyward heralding another release from the Dracos installation, it burst through the cloud cover with ease and careered off into space. The brightness of the energy burst almost blinding the occupants of the approaching shuttle.
The E.D. F craft gently set down a few minutes later, near to the remnants of the devastated Dracos assault landers, its small landing lights illuminating the ragged twisted black metal of the downed craft.
While the shuttle was on the surface, the four Dracos imprisoned within the Eisenhower’s brig had plans of their own in mind. Their suits only had another twenty four hours worth of power left in them, and they did not wish to waste it being confined to this primitive vessel’s detention area.
They had lost their uplink to the Blade of Rhovanion when it departed the system, so they were alone, and although the E.D. F guards had removed their eviscerator rifles, wrist blades, and silencers. They were not altogether unarmed, one of them looked up, seeing a small grille supplying fresh air into each of the cells. Using the still functioning magnetic properties of their suits they slowly, quietly crawled their way to this grille, and, taking the greatest of care not to make a sound, opened it. The lone guard hearing nothing untoward, continued to stand with his back to them.
The four Kallan silently crept out from their cell, and made their way along this tiny air duct, barely large enough for them to crawl inside.
There was an opening to the main walkway of the ship’s brig, where the guard, still unknowing, stood below them, weapon in hand.
The Dracos though, had more than just wrist blades, as the guard would soon learn to his cost, one of the warriors flicked out two small, yet incredibly sharp blades from the front of his boots. The warrior waited for the perfect opportunity, as the guard scanned the walkway and corridor beyond, for just the instant when the hapless soldier would look away. Eventually he did so, and immediately the Dracos warrior sprang into action, bursting from the grate in a blur of black bodysuit, he swung from it with both hands, before launching himself, and slamming his feet hard into the startled soldiers chest. The blades bit deep, the victim hardly had time to even blink as he fell backwards in a spray of blood from the impact.
He took the troopers weapon, sidearm and passkey, while the unfortunate soldier was still convulsing and gurgling on his own blood, much to the delight of his assailant. With a gentle whisper of “shush now,” the Kallan placed both hands either side of the man’s head and twisted sharply, the sickening crunch of neck snapping rang out loudly, the victim lay silent, and the Dracos had found a new hunting ground.
Michael, Nikolai, and Kathryn emerged from the just landed shuttle, donning full breathing apparatus and flanked by the four E.D. F commandoes accompanying them.
They made it rather quickly to the now blasted hatch, the wind howled around the giant focusing pylons, the one on the far side of the aperture partially blotted out the sun, casting them all into shadow. Michael could feel the cold wind through his combat fatigues, he shivered and wondered why in the world would the Dracos build such an important facility on such a blatantly inhospitable world, probably just down to desperate measures, he guessed. The thought intrigued him as he pressed on, following the others down the dark flight of steps and into the bowels of the facility once more.
“Okay comrades, nows the time to remain focused,” Nikolai said, speaking into a tiny microphone inside his breathing gear.
The lights were all still out, and the illumination from their torches cast strange shadows along the length of the dark shaft, just as they did when they first ventured down.
“Kathryn, are you okay?” Michael asked with genuine concern.
“I’m fine.” She lied, as she continued to descend, helped in part by Nikolai. No-one wanted her to aggravate the injury to her leg. With each new step she took, she shuddered just a little more. Not from the cold winds blowing in from the surface, but from fear, she was descending back into her nightmare. Both Michael and Nikolai were worried for her, and neither had really wanted her to do this, but she was the only one who knew the location of that main control room.
“We have to keep descending, it’s on the third floor,” she said, her voice betraying only a little of her pent up emotions.
“We’re right behind you Kathryn, lead on, we are with you every step of the way.”
The going was painfully slow as they descended the long dark steps built into the now defunct lift shaft. After another half hour later, they came upon an opening which signified the first of the three floors. Pressing on slowly, they passed the entrance to the second floor.
“It’s only about twenty rungs to the third floor now.” Kathryn announced, her left leg felt painful from the constant stresses and strains the descent placed on her newly operated on muscles and tendons.
Eventually the small group found the entrance to the third and final floor, the howling winds gave off a type of eerie groan to the place, and each footfall seemed to echo into the darkness beyond.
The pain was beginning to get too much to bear for Kathryn, “I have to rest a moment.”
“No problem, take all the time you need.” Michael smiled through the darkness at her.
Nikolai signalled to his commandoes to fan out, forming a half sphere of protection to those within, while the Russian himself took out a small plastic canteen of water, offered it to Kathryn, who gingerly took a few sips, then to the others, before guzzling some himself.
Logameier was perusing the control panels of the security station, as well as the hieroglyphs adorning the walls, “you know for three hundred year old technology, this is remarkably advanced.”
“That’s what Kalschacht and Gomez thought.” Kathryn replied between gasps of pain.
“I bet in their day, these guys where a real rival to the Solarians. No wonder their attempted coup scared the bejesus out of them, and they went on to chase them out of their territory.”
“What I don’t get is; if these Dracos were so powerful. Why didn’t they just create their own empire?” Nikolai asked.
“Because the Dracos were already severely weakened by their failed coup, and the Solarians chasing them through their territory made it worse, any empire the Dracos may have made wouldn’t have lasted long before the Solarians came calling again. So the Dracos used the only option they had left at the time; they went into hiding.”
“It sounds a little like a coward’s way out to me,” Nikolai replied as he shone his torch over the interior of the security booth.
“Not really, don’t forget their entire race was under the threat of extinction, by going into hiding, they ensured that they at least survived.”
“Perhaps; I’m glad I’m not a president, just a soldier, I have an enemy and I kill it, nice and simple.”
His reply raised a few smiles from the accompanying commandoes who were trained in exactly the same way.
“Okay, I think I’m ready to go on again now,” Kathryn said, “at least its level ground from here on in.”
The group continued on their long walk through the three kilometre long, third floor, passing the barren Dracos chief scientist’s office. The gentle tap of Kathryn’s walking stick echoed through the long deserted dark corridor.
They came to the science maintenance stores, where Rachthausen had cunningly rigged up that small laser welder. He was so proud of himself at the accomplishment; the thought gave Kathryn a warm smile. Although it felt kind of strange, almost as if the spirit of Rachthausen was still with her as she soldiered on, willing her to finish this, to put the nightmare to rest. She dismissed it as little more than wishful thinking.
They carried on until they came upon the next room, Kathryn immediately froze, terrified as she relived the horror that went on in there. It was the briefing room, blood spatter still coated the walls, and stained the floor from the now removed bodies of the dead scientists. The wall directly opposite to the doors was studded with dozens of tiny craters from pulse rifles and pistols used in the desperate last defence of the men and women inside.
It was almost as if she could hear their dying screams, the swish of a Dracos blade scything down another of her team, her friends. “Noooo!” She cried out, unable to cope with the flood of awful images this horrific place assaulted her mind with.
“It’s okay Kathryn, we’re here,” Michael said.
“No! It’s not okay Michael, this is where they died, you didn’t hear their screams, the screams of agony, and the Dracos enjoyed it. They fucking enjoyed it! Hacking my friends down like dogs!”
“I know, it must have been horrible.” Michael tried his best to comfort her, although he was growing more worried by the second.
“No you don’t know! You weren’t there! You weren’t there…you… bastard!” She sobbed uncontrollably as she thumped Michael weakly on the chest. Collapsing into him, as all the raw emotion came pouring out of her.
“I’m here now Kathryn, I’m here.” Michael replied as he consoled her.
The four Dracos warriors continued their silent creeping throughout the air circulation ducting of the Eisenhower, they spied a room that piqued their interest, and using the nearest vent, dropped down into it.
They quickly sealed the door shut from the inside, and consulted a computerised layout of the whole ship, they found they were located on deck twenty four of the thirty four deck cruiser.
“We need to retrieve our weapons,” one of the escapees said.
They consulted the deck plan further, “the weapons storage facility is on deck twenty one, three decks above us.”
“How will we get there?” A third Dracos asked.
“These ships have an elevator system that runs throughout the ship, we can ride it until we reach that deck, retrieve our weapons and then capture the bridge.”
“We’ll be seen as soon as we exit the elevator.”
“Calm yourself Taneth, we are Dracos, the undisputed masters of moving unseen remember. We can do this.”
“We all die if you fail Kallos, remember that.” Taneth retorted.
The four Kallan all climbed back into the ducting, quietly replacing the vent as they found it, they continued on their silent creeping towards the elevator stop. Checking to see the corridor below leading up to it was clear, one by one, they slowly dropped down into the corridor itself and sprinted into the elevator, lest anyone should see them.
The doors slowly closed around them, sealing them off from anyone who may chance upon them.
“Deck twenty one,” Kallos spoke into the elevator speaker.
“Destination confirmed,” came the reply from the elevators onboard speaker system, as it whisked them onto the next phase of their plan.
Once it arrived, the four Kallan warriors quickly exited and dove into a side room, it appeared to be some form of laundry area. There were strange uniforms and camouflaged clothing piled high on racks of shelves. An attendant whirled around quickly; startled, to face the four intruders. Before the woman even had time to react, two pulse rifle blasts tore a large bloodied hole straight through her chest and flung her into a row of shelving, before she collapsed, motionless.
“Go!” Taneth shouted, as they climbed up through the air circulation ducting again, and began to make their way across this new deck.
A klaxon began to wail loudly, easily audible through the thin aluminium ducting of the ventilation system. As they passed by another grille, they saw red flashing lights coat the rooms below in dark crimson, enemy soldiers and naval officers were running hither and thither. The four hidden Dracos all thought the same thing; they must have found the body of the guard.
They refrained from quickening their pace however, to the Dracos this was inconsequential, it would not affect their ability to hide, or creep around the ship.
“What the hell is going on! Who ordered a red alert?” Commander Fontain barked.
“The Dracos prisoners have escaped, there are reports that one guard is dead, two stab wounds to the chest. He has also been relieved of his weapons,” Maddox replied.
“Damn it! I want a full deck-by-deck search; find them, prepare to seal off the bridge.”
“Aye commander,” Maddox replied as he relayed Commander Fontain’s orders to the search teams fanning out through the other decks.
Despite the constant hurrying back and forth of the Eisenhower’s crew below, the Dracos continued on their inexorable, silent creep toward the weapons storage facility. Two guards were stationed at the door to the weapons room. Predictable, Kallos thought, these aliens whom he had come to learn were called the E.D. F from the deck plans he had studied, almost always prepared for a frontal assault.
The problem with that was, the Dracos almost never attacked from the front, not if it wasn’t advantageous to do so. He crawled onwards through the ducting, and sure enough there was another vent that provided access to the inside of the armoury, and their weapons.
The four of them gradually climbed down into this rather cramped room, the interior looked like a maze of weapon racks, ammunition cases, and dusty old grenade boxes.
Taneth switched his helmet to thermal imaging mode in an effort to see if the guards on the other side of the door had noticed anything untoward, they were stood still guarding the entrance as if nothing had happened, blissfully unaware that their staunch guard had utterly failed, he breathed a sigh of relief.
After a short period of searching, Kallos and the others found their confiscated weapons, there was a crate containing three eviscerator rifles, an eviscerator pistol, two silencers and their wristblades.
Kallos kitted himself with the eviscerator pistol and silencer option he had used on the surface, while the others all held eviscerator rifles. They attached the weapons to the backs of their suits and fixed their blades and silencers into position on their wrists. Kallos smiled, the second phase of their plan had been successful, now they were fully armed again, and ready. “The hunt must continue,” he said to the others.
“I’m okay,” Kathryn said as she struggled onward through the gloomy corridor, past the awful sight of the briefing room massacre. Just the gentle tap, tap, of her walking stick kept her company now, as they ventured onward through the dark confines.
They passed Dracos corpses that had fallen, looking like bizarre black mannequins in their environment suits, the red glow of their eye slits, so terrible in the darkness, now long since faded away.
She led them to a small room, its doors once again crumpled and full of blast marks, this was the auxiliary energy monitoring station, the place where they had first activated the station. “This is where it all began, perhaps it can be shut down from here too?”
Logameier was first into the room, eager to get to grips with the alien machinery, what he found dismayed him. Much of the delicate electronics and terminals were smashed in the fighting. He glanced over the various controls, studying them intently.
“I’ve had enough experience working on Solarian technology on the Liberty, this is crude, but not too dissimilar, in-fact I recognise many of the controls.”
Kathryn’s heart leapt with joy, “so you can shut it down, right?”
“Not by the looks of it; not from here anyway, Kathryn this is just an auxiliary control station you see, used to monitor the collider, and the flow of energy from the planets surface through it. In an emergency it can be used to re-initialise the base, which is likely what has happened. But it cannot be shut down from here; that can only be done from the primary control station, elsewhere.”
“I know where it is, I’ve been there, follow me,” Kathryn replied a little deflated, but anxious to get this all over with.
The team all filed out of the room, the crunch of broken glass from the various smashed displays echoing loudly underfoot.
Eventually they came to a set of giant blast doors, “I shut these behind me, I guess that alien scum must have opened them again,” Kathryn pointed out rather acidly.
The deep thrumming grew steadily louder once again, as the facility prepared to hurl another blast of energy far out into space.
The group continued onward, “see how this corridor is semi-circular, it must be following the walls of the aperture, we’re not far from the collider itself.” Logameier pointed out excitedly to Michael, to him, this was a voyage of discovery, learning about new and alien technology, the secrets it unlocked was all very fascinating.
“We don’t need a running commentary lieutenant,” Michael whispered, as he pointed to the forlorn figure of Kathryn trudging ever onward, reliving her own personal torture step-by-step.
Logameier looked at the sad figure, and a profound sense of embarrassment came over him, “sorry, sir.” Was all he could think to offer.
Michael nodded silently to him as they walked.
After a slow walk of perhaps half an hour, they had reached the second set of blast doors, this place is incredibly well built, Michael thought, they can section off parts of the base in the event one part is damaged, much like starships can.
Eventually the small group came to a gigantic control centre, the lights from dozens of consoles flickered off the dark walls. This room at least gave Kathryn a warm feeling, this was where she and Rachthausen had shared that tender moment, when he had kissed her. It was then that she knew the sergeant loved her, and, even though she had been fighting it, loved him too.
The accompanying commandoes took up a guarding position at the doors as Logameier peered over the controls, studying them much as he had done in the smaller auxiliary control station. He watched the power levels build up in the spinning collider. Incredible, he mused; that collider is spinning at over twenty thousand revolutions per second. It is spinning so fast, that anything a similar size made by the E.D. F would have spun itself to pieces virtually instantly.
After spending a few moments hopping from console to console, looking over all the controls, he announced. “Right! I think I have it, with the occasional difference here and there; it is similar to the process used to shut down the Solarian power core on the Liberty.”
He eyed one of the consoles intently, the language was based upon Solarian script, he had come to recognise many of the flowing, delicate symbols in his time aboard the Liberty, and was able to equate many of them to their English language counterparts. This was somehow different, altered slightly, the symbols instead of depicting peaceful iconography, like the Talula leaf, which symbolised life or beginning in the Solarian language, were replaced with harsher, jagged, aggressive counterparts.
His finger hovered over one of the controls; doubt began to cloud his mind.
Finally, Lieutenant Johnson Logameier bit the bullet, pressed the button, and held his breath.
The station let forth one final, almighty blast of intense energy, far in excess of any other, bright enough to be seen for miles around. It was so bright and so intense, that it set nearby plant life alight, creating a number of fierce, yet short-lived wild fires.
This last, furious release tore its way through the planets atmosphere with all the force of a high power sniper round tearing through its targets body. This was the eye’s swansong, its final farewell to the galaxy that had created it, and what a swansong it was. It shot past the E.D. F fleet, illuminating every single ship in an intense fiery glow.
“Holy mother of crap!” Kinraid replied from the captain’s chair of the Liberty, as he had to turn away from the viewer to avoid being blinded by the massive flash of light.
The beam continued past the five ships in close orbit, and shot forth through the Auriga system, then out into deep space on an endless journey into the vast starlit void beyond.
Logameier breathed a sigh of relief, he had chosen correctly. The remaining energy stored inside the collider read zero, it had completely discharged all the energy contained within, and could now be shut down safely.
He made his way over to another complex looking console, discharging the built up energy was just the first part, now he had to shut down the collider itself, if he guessed wrong, that enormous spinning structure could very well spin itself into oblivion.
Slowly he traced his finger over a rectangular touch sensitive control, it was lit up in increments, figuring this was the speed setting for the revolutions the collider was spinning at, he traced his finger along it, the green increments slowly winked out as he did so. Johnson had to do this slowly and carefully, too fast or too jerky a movement could seize the entire thing, tearing it to pieces within seconds, and Michael had told him the E.D. F wanted this thing intact, so future scientists could study it and perhaps find a way of using it.
The final increment slowly winked out, and gradually the collider came to a standstill, now all he had to do was lock it down, and the shutdown process was complete. He realised he was sweating, not because he was hot, though it was warm in here, more from an intense, nervous concentration.
The weight of responsibility he had felt throughout this process had been huge, akin to the time when he had first took up his chief engineer responsibilities on the Liberty. There was so much at stake, the entire E.O.C. A was counting on him to have this place secured.
If he didn’t get this right, not only would the E.D. F lose a potentially vital new source of power; entire star systems rested on this one outcome. If the Dracos did manage to capture this facility, like they are intent on doing, and do become as powerful as they once were, not only were the Solarians at risk, but nearby E.O.C. A colony worlds as well, he was damned if the Dracos would stop here, he had to lock this out and he had to do it right.
Taking a breath, he calmed himself, and swallowing his nerves, he walked over to a third console, finding that this was the control panel for four giant magnetic interlocks that clamped onto the side of the collider in order to hold it secure, thus preventing it from being activated, even accidentally. In their haste to abandon this place, the Dracos must have skipped this step all those years ago, just one simple step that could have avoided everything that had happened here.
He punched in the four controls, and slowly four massive twenty metre diameter rectangular clamps, emerged out from the aperture wall toward the smooth circular collider itself. Each one must have weighed twenty tonnes. They were imbued with a heavy magnetic charge, and extended inexorably outward until magnetic attraction took over, and they slammed down on the collider with a resounding, dull thud.
Not one man, one single person uttered a word while Logameier worked, they simply stood watching in silent awe as he went about the process, willing him on, because they knew as much as he did, that so many lives rested upon it.
He eventually stopped and turned towards his captain, “structure is shut down, and locked securely, sir.”
Michael smiled with warm pride at his chief engineer, “good job, lieutenant.”
“Thank you, sir.” Logameier breathed a sigh of relief as he shook Michael’s hand.
“Now let’s get out of here shall we, we still have one last task to perform,” he said as he smiled in Kathryn’s direction.
“Captain, looking at these plans there is a quicker way to the surface, through the emergency hatch,” Logameier suggested.
“We tried looking for it, but couldn’t find it ourselves.” Kathryn replied.
“Can’t hurt to take another look, besides this time we are not running for our lives.”
The team slowly continued along the remainder of the floor, eventually coming to the elevator, which had quickly returned to their level after detecting their approach. They all piled in, and were automatically whisked to the floor above, where they disembarked and immediately began searching for the hatch opening.
“It has to be here somewhere, it’s noted in the plans,” Logameier cursed as he searched the place.
Kathryn tapped the bottom of her cane on the corridor walls, listening for any hint of a hollow, eventually she came across one, “over here!” she shouted to the rest of the group, all busily searching.
Their collective torchlight illuminated a large panel, certainly large enough to crawl through, slowly Nikolai and Michael unfastened the metal panel from the wall and laid it down to one side.
There were small rungs leading up to an incline all the way to the surface, Nikolai took up the rear, closing the panel shut again behind them. The group all crawled single file up these rungs toward the surface. Kathryn had to stop frequently as the constant crawling was difficult on her newly operated on leg, the pain was severe. Nevertheless, she limped onward as best she could, as she knew as well as anyone that there wasn’t enough room to carry people in this dark cramped shaft.
Michael was at the head of the line, and was first to come upon the hatch exit. His torch revealed a small two button control panel, he quickly figured that it was there simply as the means for opening the hatch, and, after pressing one of the controls, found he was correct as the hatch slid noisily open; covering him in a thin mist of dirt and the occasional piece of dead vegetation in the process. Wiping the lenses on his breathing mask in order to see properly, he stepped out onto the harsh windswept surface once again.
He helped Kathryn clamber her way up, who took a break sat upon a nearby rock, as the accumulated pain from the climb had become almost unbearable. Gradually, as she rested, the pain came back down to tolerable levels again.
Nikolai, Logameier, and the rest of the commandoes all followed soon enough, and Nikolai sealed the hatch shut behind him.
“It is a shame we had to blow the hatch open in order to get access earlier!” Nikolai shouted over the howling winds, which had picked up somewhat from when they had landed.
“Why!” Michael replied.
“Because we cannot seal the place shut a hundred percent, that’s why, not without an engineering crew down here to fabricate a new cover to go over it.”
“We could ask for a systems engineer to input an E.D. F encryption algorithm into their main computer, so even if the Dracos do try to re-take this place, they won’t be able to use it without our codes, and with the language being so vastly different it’s unlikely they’ll be able to break it anyway,” Logameier suggested.
“Good idea, I’ll add it to my mission report to submit to Admiral Montrose, when we get out of here,” Michael replied.
He turned to Kathryn, who had now recovered sufficiently to be able to walk “Let’s get back to the shuttle, so we can bury your friend like he deserves to be, shall we?”
Kathryn smiled warmly and nodded despite the pain, she walked the rest of the way, a little over three kilometres with little fuss. In-fact, other than the bitingly cold winds that constantly harangued this place, the return journey was rather a pleasant one.
The team all took some shelter in the shuttle itself, and a brief moment in which to warm up a little from the cold conditions outside. Took out some rations and began eating while this latest storm surge passed over them. Once they were sufficiently warmed up, hunger was staved off, and the storm had largely passed, they set forth to brave the elements again to bury the late Sergeant Rachthausen.
Nikolai, Michael, Logameier, and one of the commandoes bore the zipped up body of the sergeant on a stretcher at shoulder height as they would a coffin. Kathryn carried some of his more mundane personal effects with her, as she led the procession, the others like medals, and any personal items such as payment cards, would be sent to his next of kin. Kathryn wasn’t even sure he had one; he had never even mentioned it in the brief time she had known him. E.D. F command would no doubt see to that side of things, if he did have a mother or a family, she made a mental note to visit them as soon as she could.
The solemn procession slowly marched without a word, as a mark of respect to the fallen sergeant, to a spot Kathryn selected near the giant alien structure. The other commandoes all dug a shallow grave and gathered together a prodigious amount of rocks. Including a giant gleaming boulder of quartz, which would serve as a fitting headstone. The quartz itself was heavy and had to be rolled into position, its various facets glinted in the light from the twin Aurigan moons. She smiled as it reminded her of the light that Rachthausen carried within him, the goodness of his soul. Once the digging was finished and the grave prepared, Kathryn began the eulogy.
Her voice was cracked and choked with emotion, Nikolai, Michael, Logameier, and all of the commandoes bowed their heads in silent respect.
“Here lies Sergeant Heinrich Rachthausen, of the 69th Sicarian guards infantry battalion, a proud leader of men who fought with valour and honour, far beyond that expected of him.” She stopped to wave away a tear.
“But what people didn’t know, was that besides his great physical strength, he was one of the kindest and gentlest men I ever knew. Always putting the needs of others around him above his own needs, and…in the end… he made the ultimate….sacrifice,” Kathryn could no longer hold the emotion within her, and she began to break down. Tears began to flow down her gentle cheeks, her shoulders drooped, and she began to sob, before with one last ounce of courage summoned up the will to say, “so that others…may live.” She wept openly, finally overcome, her resolve gave out as she remembered his final moments in stark clarity.
Michael took her place as Nikolai consoled her, “and now we commit this brave and noble soul to the ground, earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust, may you rest in peace.”
Kathryn placed her hand softly on his personal copy of the holy bible, and rested it onto the chest of the body, “goodbye, my love.” She whispered under tear stained cheeks.
They all worked together to cover the sergeants body with the earth they dug out earlier, and then to lay the assortment of rocks, in a simple but fitting tribute to a great man.
Nikolai took out a small piece of chalk, and drew a large white crucifix on the glittering headstone, before placing the blood spattered helmet atop it, Logameier took out a tube of high strength adhesive, and carefully attached the chin strap onto the rock face so that it would not blow away in the wind.
Finally, Kathryn placed his sergeant’s stripes in the centre of the crucifix, and taking great care not to get any on the fabric itself, Logameier attached them in the same way.
The entire group took a minutes silence, heads bowed low, before stepping two paces backward.
“Present arms!” Nikolai called out.
Snapping into action, the commandoes immediately held their weapons aloft, the muzzles pointing skyward.
“On my mark, three rounds… fire!”
A blast of armschlager fire rang out loudly amongst the desolate, empty surroundings.
“Fire!”
A second blast of gunfire, tore through the silence.
“Fire!”
The third and final blast of gunfire seemed to echo even louder than the previous two over the windswept flatlands, the sound travelled for miles around. The three gun salute to a brave soldier was complete, the arrayed commandoes all stood silently to attention, clasped their weapons to their sides, brought their hands up and gave a long silent salute.
Nikolai, Kathryn, Michael, and Johnson all did likewise, it was a simple, but fitting tribute to such a kind, gentle and brave man, who made the ultimate sacrifice to ensure that Kathryn now lived.