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  The wall on the other end of the boarding tube vanished. The turrets and Zeta soldiers fired in unison. Danny saw at least two men take direct hits, before taking cover.

  Caught off guard, the defenders quickly rebounded. The boarding tube filled with beams of plasma. For the first few moments, the two sides were locked in a see saw battle, neither side gaining advantage.

  Deploying level one siege bots.

  Danny and G325 side stepped the armored bot rolling up to the tube. It was reminiscent of a tank clad with extremely thick armor. No taller than Danny’s waist, it sported a relatively large barrel. It fired rapidly, and unrelenting waves of baseball like plasma shells, flew into the adjoining ship.

  Violent detonations chewed through the Pallian troops, the Pallian armor unable to absorb the plasma blasts. Discipline broke down among the remaining defenders as they fell back in a disorderly retreat.

  A cohort of reinforcements intercepted their disoriented peers, rushing forward to close the gap. They were greeted by a fresh salvo of plasma shells. As they scrambled for cover, the Zeta soldiers seized the opportunity to push through the boarding tube into the compromised Pallian ship.

  They moved with practiced ease. Upon entry, the Zeta team quickly dispatched the remaining Pallians, establishing a beachhead.

  Entry point secured. Secure primary and secondary objectives. A map of the ship’s interior flashed on Danny’s visor. The bridge was their primary target, and engineering the secondary.

  The Zeta contractors broke into two teams. Danny’s headed for the bridge, he and G325 leading the way. The other group advanced toward engineering.

  “If the Pallians wanted to break away, they should’ve upgraded their ships”, said Danny, as they stalked through the aging warship.

  “This is not a Pallian ship. They stole it from the Empire,” G325 said. “We’re here to take it back.”

  “Yes, sister. I haven’t forgotten why we’re here. But you can see by this ship’s disrepair that they had little hope of victory.”

  “So?”

  “So, why do it? Why fight a war you can’t win?”

  “Why are you searching for logic? It makes no difference to us why they rebelled. Our only concern is that they are defeated.”

  “I know my duty, sister. I am trying to understand why the Pallians chose to rebel when they were clearly not prepared for the consequences.”

  “It’s simple,” said G325. “They’ve seen some of the more distant worlds gain independence, and thought why not us?”

  “They’ve also watched the Empire put down several rebellions. The Empire has proven it won’t tolerate more fragmentation of its empire. They knew Earth would react violently, and they must have known that they were not equipped to deal with it.”

  “It is not our place to understand these things. But, if I was to guess, I would say that it came down to a naive idealism. They convinced themselves that independence is worth dying for.”

  Danny’s team turned a corner to confront several un armored Pallian crewmembers. They scrambled in vain to find cover from the black clad Zeta contractors, whose fire, cut the Pallians down before they could conceive of escape.

  Danny contemplated the fresh corpses. He tried to make sense of their actions. They died for the ideal of independence. Freedom from the Empire. Something they would never know. Even at a fraction of its former size, the Empire was still powerful enough to make quick work of these Pallians, and their outdated military. Were these people simply fools? A whole planetary system of fools? Was that even possible?

  Proceed to primary objective, said the Voice.

  “Come on, little brother,” said G325. “We still have a job to do.”

  As the contractors neared the bridge, they were greeted by intense weapon fire.

  “Lay down your weapons, and you won’t be harmed,” shouted G325, her voice amplified through her helmet.

  “Go to hell Zeta scum,” came the response.

  “We’re just going to have to do this the hard way,” said G325, as she crouched behind a bulkhead.

  Danny quickly looked over the team, noting their armor was still well intact. “We should charge,” he said. “We can take the initial punishment, and they won’t stand a chance once we close. I haven’t seen armor since the first skirmish.”

  “You’re right, little brother. They have no chance.”

  Charge order received, said the voice. Commence charge in three, two, one.

  Danny and the rest of the team leapt forward. He easily covered three meters with each stride. Enhanced by his powered armor he could hit two hundred strides per minute. It was difficult to hit something with that kind of speed. He dodged from side to side, even up the walls to evade the defenders. But he couldn’t avoid every strike, and his visor indicted his armor’s integrity was dropping rapidly. The Pallians were determined in their defense. But determination wouldn’t be enough.

  Danny and G325 reached them first, weapons firing as they led the Zeta stampede through the defender ranks. A Pallian jumped out from behind a bulkhead shooting Danny square in the chest. His integrity numbers dropped lower. The man was so close that Danny didn’t fire. Instead he drove an armored fist into the man’s temple. The pink mist spraying out from the man’s cracked skull, speckled Danny’s visor.

  Danny took a hit from behind. He spun around, squeezing off a round. The plasma bolt burned straight through the Pallian’s forehead. He fired off two more bolts into another man’s back. He was dead before he hit the floor. Another Pallian jumped out at him. A woman this time. Two rounds finished her off.

  The melee continued, with the contractors quickly gaining the upper hand. Danny never questioned this outcome. The Pallians couldn’t win, still they fought on with fervent zeal. Was it bravery? Or foolishness? Danny wasn’t sure.

  When the last of the defending contingent lay dead, the contractors turned their sights to the bridge. A set of locked doors, the only thing separating them and their objective.

  “Setting charges,” said G325. “Fire in the hole.”

  Danny watched from behind a bulkhead as the locked doors blew open. Springing out from his position, Danny and the rest rushed into the bridge in unison. Three armor clad Marines waited inside, opening up on the contractors from concealed positions. They fought well, offering a determined resistance. But they were outnumbered, and it could not go well.

  The contractors steadily advanced, fanning out until they outflanked the Marines. Even then, the Marines somehow managed to fight back. Impressive, Danny thought, as he lay down suppressive fire. Outflanked, and outnumbered, the Marines were eventually cut down.

  A woman stepped out from behind a console, taking several shots at the contractors with a sidearm. Danny’s visor immediately identified her as the ship’s captain, and the order was to take her alive.

  Danny swiftly closed the gap between them. As she turned to fire on him, Danny made special note of the calm, determined look in her eye. He slapped the weapon out of her hand, seizing her by the throat. He threw her to the ground and held her in place.

  Despite the force with which she was subdued, she didn’t cry out. She kept her composure. Even in defeat she maintained her dignity.

  “Why?” Danny said, his hand still on her throat. “You could never win. Why fight?”

  The captain looked back at him with a cold hatred that was meant to speak volumes. “You would never understand, mercenary.”

  Chapter 4

  “The Zeta contractors have captured the destroyer, Sir,” said Commander Travers. “They are requesting permission to pilot it back behind our lines.”

  “Permission granted,” said Captain Reynolds, studying the tactical display. The Pallians were taking heavy losses, but hadn’t run up the white flag yet. “Still no surrender?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “How about the Pallian government? Any response from them?”

  “Not yet, Sir.”

  “Do we have to de
stroy their entire fleet before they come to their senses? Bomb their cities?”

  Travers stayed silent. Reynolds knew his XO never liked to speculate about what politicians and bureaucrats would do.

  “Damn fools. What are they trying to prove?” Reynolds continued. The brass had anticipated quick surrender, not a prolonged battle. The plan was for Empire forces to simply give the Pallians a bloody nose. The Pallians would then surrender and fall back into line under Earth rule. Surrender would effectively hand over control of the Pallian fleet, ensuring the Empire’s dominance in this region of space.

  The longer this played our, the more ships were destroyed. There was no doubt that the UEDF could defeat the Pallians, but it needed those ships. They had successfully captured the destroyer, but disabling and boarding all Pallian ships was unrealistic.

  This is not going to look good, thought Reynolds. Capturing the destroyer is not enough. The operation will be seen as a failure. The brass will need a scapegoat. They’ll blame me. I’m the most senior ship captain in this fleet. They’ll say I’ve grown old, and weak. That I’ve become a liability. They’ll push me out of the service. Offer me full honors, and a nice pension if I play ball. Get nasty if I don’t. Either way I’ll get the boot. I must find a way to turn this around.

  “Sir, one of the Pallian heavy cruisers has broken from the fleet. It is on an intercept course with the captured destroyer. It’s firing weapons.”

  The heavy cruiser closed with the crippled destroyer, lancing out with its plasma weapons. The crimson beams wreaking havoc on the compromised hull.

  “Damn it. Are we in weapons range?”

  “Our missiles are in range, but nothing else.”

  “Fire missiles. Order all fighters to engage the heavy cruiser. Get us into weapons range.”

  “Aye, Sir. Missiles are away, and fighters are responding. Valiant is changing course.”

  A volley of missiles sprang out of the Valiant’s prow, racing toward the heavy cruiser. The Valiant’s fighter squadrons simultaneously broke off, moving to intercept the powerful enemy ship.

  The cruiser continued to ravage the helpless destroyer with impunity. The maneuver that had earlier allowed Earth’s forces to surround the Pallian fleet, now left the captured ship alone and helpless.

  “That destroyer is taking heavy damage,” said Travers. “I don’t think we’ll make it in time.”

  “Bloody fanatics. They’d rather destroy their own ship, than let us take it. Surely they know that there are still Pallians on board. How about the contractors? How many are on that ship?”

  “Two hundred. Should I order them to abandon ship?”

  “No. We’ll need them on board if we save the destroyer.” Hell, Zeta will just grow more of the damn things.

  Chapter 5

  “Why are the Pallians firing on us?” Danny said to the destroyer’s Captain, as concussions rocked the ship.

  “This is no longer a Pallian ship. We will not let the Empire have it.” The Captain leaned against a console, her face swollen and bloody.

  “Then you will die, as will your crew.”

  “Then we will die for the cause.”

  “What cause. You make no sense. This is war. Your side has lost. The only option left is surrender. There is no need for you to die.”

  “We are not merely fighting a war. We are fighting for our freedom. Something your kind wouldn’t understand.”

  “And what is my kind?”

  “You are the property of Zeta Corp. What would you know of freedom?”

  “I know my duty. There is nothing more.”

  “You know what you’ve been programmed to know. Believe what you’ve been instructed to believe. You’re no better than a machine.”

  “I am human, just like you.”

  “You are a genetically engineered clone, augmented with technology. You were not born. You were built. You are no more human than this console I am leaning on.”

  “I am flesh and blood, just like you, regardless of how I was created.”

  “Creation is for humans. You were engineered. When you die, Zeta will merely engineer another clone to take your place. You live for nothing, and you die for nothing.”

  G325 walked toward them “What are you speaking to her about?”

  Danny continued to study the Pallian captain from behind his visor. The woman’s words left him agitated, but he was unsure why. Finally, he turned to face G325 who now stood beside him. “Foolishness, sister. Nothing more.”

  “We have a problem.”

  “Yes. The Pallians are trying to destroy their own ship.”

  “They will succeed. The Valiant is out of position, and cannot reach us in time.”

  “Have they ordered us to abandon ship?”

  “No.”

  “No?”

  “We have been ordered to stay on board and continue commandeering this vessel in case they manage to save it.”

  “What is the probability of rescuing this ship?”

  “The ship’s destruction is inevitable.”

  Laughter interrupted their conversation. The two contractors turned to look at the Pallian captain, who was laughing uncontrollably.

  “Did you damage her mind?” said G325.

  “It is a possibility,” said Danny.

  G325 shrugged. “The orders were to take her alive. They said nothing about her mental health.”

  “How long until this ship is destroyed?”

  “The Valiant’s fighters have engaged the heavy cruiser that’s firing on us. They have bought us some time. Perhaps we can get some of the weapons back online.”

  “What are the chances of that?”

  “Not good. I think this is it, little brother.”

  Danny glanced at the Pallian captain whose laughter had turned to a delirious chuckle. “No.”

  “No?”

  “No. This is not ‘it’”

  “It’s not?”

  “We will not die here, sister. This ship’s fate is sealed. The correct course of action is to abandon ship.”

  “Yes, but those weren’t our orders.”

  “Do those orders make sense, sister?”

  “In a way. If the ship survives we will be needed on board.”

  “Does this ship have any chance of surviving?”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “Then the orders make no sense.”

  “No, they do not.”

  “Do you want to die?”

  “No, little brother. I do not.”

  “Neither do I. So, what are we waiting for?”

  “Nothing. We should go.”

  The two contractors headed for the exit. Danny stopped and turned back toward the Pallian captain. “Come with us. There is no need for you to die here.”

  “I’m the captain of this ship. I will remain.”

  “Staying here means certain death. I can save you. You would be a prisoner of war, but would be released once this war is over. You could go back to your home. Your family. Why die here?”

  “It is my fate,” the captain said in resignation.

  Danny studied the woman, he couldn’t decide if she was thinking rationally. He could simply carry her off to safety. It would be for her own good, and she could not stop him. But there was something in here face, swollen as it was, that told him to leave her be. That this was her decision, not his. “As you wish,” he said finally, and turned to leave.

  “I may have been wrong about you,” the captain called out. “You might be human after all.”

  Chapter 6

  “Sir, the Zeta boarding craft are disengaging from the destroyer,” said Commander Travers. “The contractors are abandoning ship.”

  “Commander, I specifically told you not to give the order to abandon ship,” said Captain Reynolds, growing increasingly agitated.

  “I didn’t, Sir. It appears they have made the decision on their own.”

  “Then order them back. They are required to stay on board the
destroyer until further notice.”

  “Aye, Sir. Transmitting orders.”

  That’s all I need, thought Reynolds. A bunch of damn clones with their own ideas.

  “Sir, the contractors are refusing to comply with the order to return. They say it would be suicide and offer no tactical benefit.”

  “That’s insubordination.”

  “Yes, Sir. I’ve told them.”

  The more he thought about it, the angrier he became. These are combat clones, goddamnit. They’re expendable. That’s what they’re here for. That’s what Earth pays for. What the hell is going on? “You tell those things that if they don’t return, we will fire on them ourselves.”

  “I have relayed the message, and they are still refusing to comply.”

  “They think I’m bluffing.”

  “It would seem so, Sir.”

  In the midst of his anger, a revelation suddenly came to Reynolds. This might work to my advantage, he thought. I can pin this whole fiasco on Zeta. Accuse them of sending us faulty contractors. I would be blameless. They wouldn’t force me into retirement. But I must act decisively. I can’t show weakness. “Very well, shoot down the Zeta vessels.”

  “Sir?” Travers said apprehensively.

  Reynolds eyed his XO. “Is there a problem, Commander?”

  Travers straightened, the implied threat clearly not lost on him. “No, Sir. Targeting the Zeta boarding craft. Firing.”

  Red plasma beams burst forth from the Valiant, and collided with the small ships. Several explosions followed, as the tiny vessels blew apart.

  “Four of the five shuttles have been destroyed. The fifth has been seriously damaged.”

  “Finish them off.”

  Commander Travers hesitated.

  “Do I need to relieve you of your duties, Commander?”

  “No, Sir. Firing.”

  Another burst of plasma lanced out at the tiny vessel, it too was obliterated.