Star Crusades by Michael Thomas (whitelam books txt) 📗

and vanished from view, but the breach inthe ship’s hull caused the Ski’ligs much more harm. At least adozen were pulled out in the first few seconds. The one in front ofthe Captain managed to lock its one foot to the ground, only for amechanic to blast the limb with a thermal shotgun. As it detachedfrom the ground, it was sucked away while screeching.

“You bastards!”The Captain watched more and more of thecreatures pulled away before a series of internal barriers camedown to seal up the damage. It took time, but with each passingsecond, the wind decreased until he could release hisgrip.

“Captain,” said Commander Campbell, “What now?”

The Captain looked at the weakened group of survivors as theyhelped the wounded and stripped weapons from the dead on bothsides.

“We go deep into the belly ofthis beast, and we fight tooth and nailto the end.”

He looked up at the damaged internalstructure. Even the Ski’lig attack ship had partially collapsedonto the platform.

“What about that?”

“The ship?”

“Maybe we can use it in some way? Itcould be a secure shelter.”

“Perhaps,” saidCaptain Zacharias, “Or it could be ourtomb. With nowhere to retreat to, they could surround and swampus.”

He looked down and touched the runningwater as it ran off into the distance.

“I say we takethis chance before they come back. Followthe path of the water and keep our heads down low. Help will comesoon enough. If we’re lucky, they might even think we all succumbedto the explosion.”

His XO hesitated, and then nodded.

“As you wish, Captain. I’ll roundup the survivors.”

CHAPTER THREE

Martian MoonDeimos, Sol System

25th May2475

Valentine felt like a civilian asshe moved to the flank of the ship and tolines of soldiers. They were in groups, some chatting to eachother, others unloading equipment and weaponry. Hawkins spottedthem and jogged across the floor to meet them. Some of the crew andmarines watched as the half robotic warrior moved just as quicklyas they could, but many times their weight and mass. There wereeven two CES units lifting missile packs up into the loading baysbeneath the ship. They were exoskeleton systems driven by operatorsthat used the extra size and augmented strength to lift and moveparts no Human could ever manage.

“You weren’t kidding,”she said as one pushed an entire crate ofwarheads into the loading bay. The driver looked to her for a briefmoment, and Valentine gave a polite nod, “Wow. It’s all go inhere.”

“Tell me about it,” saidAlexis, “One day we were going throughthe usual introductory drills for the newbies, and then bang. Allof this arrived, and suddenly, we went from standby status tooperational readiness. That was overnight.”

“Looks like I missed a lot.”

“You’re not wrong there,”said Hawkins.

Theypassed an entire platoon of regular marines carrying so muchequipment it looked as though they would collapse beneath the greatweight. Valentine noticed some of them looking at her, and to hersurprise she felt a little self-conscious. She looked down,expecting to find she’d only half dressed, but it was then she sawher lightweight artificial limbs.

I’m not one of them anymore, am I?

It was a bitter pill to swallow,but her days as a marine were well and truly gone. Shemight feel like a marine and have trainedalongside marines, but she had moved on to something verydifferent. The way she looked as the CES suits and other heavieswas now how marines looked at her.

“Val, you okay?”Hawkins asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” she said with asigh, “I kind of miss thosedays.”

She nodded towards the marines.

“You and me both,” he said with alaugh, “But we’re the luckyones.”

“How so?”

He placed a hand over the armourprotecting his chest.

“Not all marines get a secondchance, Val. You died and were reborn asan even tougher badass. Most get left behind, buried in the ground.Trust me, this is better.”

Valentine thought on that as they passed yet more marines and heapsof containers. She knew the difference between routine, and when aunit was preparing for combat.

“We really are mustering for afight. I’ve only been back in medbay for just over a week thistime. A lot has changed.”

“A week?”

“Who told you that?”Alexis asked.

Valentine seemed confused and tried to speak with her Cortex,but nothing happened.

“My last visit was for the skingrafts.”

Alexis shook her head and tapped herright hand on her temple.

“No, you’ve been in there for thelast three months. Your body healed fast, but the trauma, that isstill up there. They’ve been working on you for some time now. Thecombat, the gas, and the mind control attempts by the Ski’ligs.They take a toll. You know this better than most.”

They passed the ship and towards a line of waiting Bulldog armouredpersonnel carriers. The classic vehicles were used by regularmarines, with their massive wheels and sleek turrets fitted atopthe sloped hull. She’d trained inside them and had seen combat onmore than one occasion with them at her side. She reached out andtouched its armour with her artificial hand. But as she looked ather artificial fingers touching the vehicle’s armour, sherecoiled.

“What is it?”

They stopped, and as Valentine looked into Alexis’ eyes, she could tellsomething was wrong.

“It’s okay. Go on.”

Alexis hesitated, and then nodded.

“Well, the convoy arrived threedays ago, with most of the warships and three divisions ofinfantry. Trust me…this is the big one,and we’re not hanging around. Why do you think the Captain paid youa visit?”

They passed the marines, many turning to look at the trio.Hawkins and Alexis were heavily armoured and looked like walkingtanks, while Valentine wore her lighter limbs more suited toaugmentations for a regular marine or soldier. Directly ahead twoNovas were guarding the wide entrance to another part of thefacility. There were more loading bays, though the shutters weredown on all of them apart from one.

“This is home?”

“For the rest of the day,” saidAlexis, “Our living space was only evertemporary and has been handed back to the Martian authorities.Don’t worry. Your gear is already stowed. We took care ofthat.”

That should have been welcomenews, but knowing her temporary home hadvanished once more she was forced to stop.

“So much…” she said with difficulty,“So much has changed.”

She looked down as her breathing became laboured. Hawkinslooked to Alexis and then back to the struggling Nova.

“Val, what’s up?”

She lifted