Chapter 23: Best Laid Plans go Awry

Phil

Phil, Celyciia, Riddick, and Cherubim had been shoved into the elevator guarded by five muscular aliens. As the elevator was moving, Cherubim said. “No worries, those are just Krthar. I take them out now and then we discuss what we can do to solve this dilemma.”

Ruddick snorted. “They might as well be Holdians, we are tied up and their guns are active”

One of the Kermac soldiers grunted. “You will be dead if you just lift a finger, human.”

Phil rolled his eyes. “Just get it over with Cherubim. I know it, you and they are as good as dead.”

She lifted one of her fingers and said with a smile. “Like that?”

The Krthar laughed then gargled and sank to his knees followed only a heartbeat later by the rest. She said. “Elevator reduce descent speed to two kilometers an hour.”

“System recognized Biometrics and complies.”

To the horror of the others the bodies of the Aliens kept shriveling to their skeletons and even those crumbled to dust. Phil shivered. “Shiva Dust!”

Again no one really saw how he did it but he managed to strip the memory tape of his wrists and while Cherubim freed Celyciia, he cut Ruddick loose.

The Sergeant said. “You two creep me out more than those cursed Kermac.”

Celyciia rubbed her wrists and said. “I don’t even want to know how you killed those four. What I do know is why you didn’t know any of this will happen. Didn’t I hear something about you wanting us off the case so you can monitor the spies?”

“Let me fill you in on that later, right now we got a situation we need to contain. It should illustrate to you however that our enemies have no restrictions and will do anything to destroy us.”

Ruddick picked two blaster rifles and said. “You got a point there, and if this is over I quit the Police and start hunting the real bad guys.” Then he handed one of the guns to Celyciia.

Phil held up a small PDD and said. “They killed the Repeaters in the area. I can’t pick up GalNet or GalCom.”

Cherubim sighed as the doors opened. “This is one time I wish Richard would come. This is definitely a situation where his canons can do more good than I can.”

Phil’s ancient gun barked with a loud dry bang as the elevator doors parted and two Kermac soldiers died. “What’s the plan Cherubim?”

“Kill every Kermac, free the City population and find a way to alert the Fleet.”

Sam

Sam opened the hatch of his tank and leaned with crossed arms at the rim after he opened his helmet and stared over the field of charred earth, Green Hells nature was formidable indeed but what could Nature do against atomic fire? Around him the a few bits and pieces of a well-trained and excellent equipped commando force, but well trained and top of the line Kermac equipment was still not the same as an elite Union Marine and a team of Cerberus. He had lost one of his Cerberus to concentrated hover tank fire. Sixteen Kermac tanks and about 200 soldiers would never return. His heart was heavy with grief as he saw his farm he had built with his own hands destroyed and the beautiful jungle turned to ashes. Instead of white clouds, columns of smoke soiled the blue sky and then he noticed a wounded and burned Stomper limp across smoking ground. He never really liked Stompers, but seeing one suffer like this touched him. He knew this was only a little break, the old marine knowing that the enemy would return with more. Charles sensors had picked up several capital ships approaching.

Modern Cerberus robots with Mini TL’s might have had a chance to disable or take down a Kermac battleship. But his were old and of course had no Translocators, not even Sam was able to get a permit for those.

Charles hovered closer and said. “One has jump engines...”

Sam interrupted Charles. “You are not mine; I am taking care of you old tin head. I don’t want to explain to Roy that I sent you to your doom.” Sam knew what the Robot suggested, turning itself into a relativistic projectile by disabling the Isah fields just before impact. Eight Tons of battle robot would turn to a kinetic bullet of several million tons impact and basically turning himself into a Loki torpedo. That might kill one of the Kermac ships and disable it. Charles was the only of his Cerberus who had a FTL jump pack.

“Master Roy might hold it against this unit that I have not done everything to protect his beloved world.”

“The last shot has not been fired, Charles. The Eternal Warrior has received my Message and there is not a Galaxy far enough these paper faces can hide from him.”

“One places much hope on his timely arrival.”

“Hope Charles, isn’t that a little out of robot character? You didn’t turn sentient on me with burning all those loyalty pathways for Roy?”

“One is a robot; one will serve and execute any command you give.”

“You always have been a little different than the other bots.”

“One is an SII quality war machine after all.”

“Go and take this Auto Doc to that Stomper, Charles. That thing can help 99 % of all known Union life forms maybe it can help that Stomper.”

Ma Swenson

Ma Swenson lay flat on her belly behind a monstrous Ult Anti Hover Tank gun. This truly ancient war had been part of the weapons stash she had hidden under the shelves. She watched a swarm of Arrow Wasps aiming at her, but then moving away. A patch of Killer moss made a wide circle around her. She forgot to aim at the next Kermac Flyer as she saw that strange behavior. She expected to be dead by now, and just wanted to take as many of the bastards along, a Pandora swarm had killed the alien warrior in seconds but did not harm her and now even Killer moss left her alone. A big Water Snake shot out of the water, colliding with a Kermac Flyer, taking the machine down, She grinned and patted the ground with her flat hand. “Yes Green Hell shows them!” Then she aimed and sent a bolt of plasma right through the cockpit window of the second flyer. Clarion her old and fragile husband stemmed his thin frame against the H&K Raketengewehr and took Kermac soldiers under fire. Ma Swenson felt only hate as she saw her husband fall with a smoking hole in his belly. She ignored the blistering hot energy beam impacting the ground next to her and took carefully aim.

Roy

They had reached the White Mountains and landed on a plateau they had blasted free of any vegetation, not far from the spot he had met Qaroniel the first time. He recognized the boulders. Two of the Kermac soldiers died as a camouflaged boulder attacked one of them and the other stepped into a stream of ants. The lead Kermac said. “Now find that cave!” Roy knew only of one cave and it was not far from where they were. The Kermac sneered. “All this subterfuge getting Harlex Gedde, then trying to abduct your parents was absolutely useless. The Ministry of Information tried but failed. That it would be that easy not even I imagined and I will be the next Wizard Supreme.” Roy was not sure to whom the Kermac said all this but when he mentioned his parents, Roy lost his concentration and pulled his TKU. “You! It was you who killed my parents?” His TKU did not fire, it was dead. The Kermac Leader took a step backwards. “How did you manage to slip out of my control? Are your emotions that strong? Matters not, lead the way or I have the woman killed and vaporize Ant Hill. Your weapon was unloaded of course. I never trusted my Psionics that much.” Roy was at the end of his nerves and yelled. “I don’t know any cave other than the one over there. One of his men held a scanning device. “He is right master; I am picking up metal scan readings that are consistent with ancient Seenian and Saresii Tech.” The Kermac leader triumphantly spoke into his command pick-up. We found it, bring the Tegohr down!” While the Kermac soldiers carefully closed in on that cave entrance, a big shadow appeared in the clouds. A Kermac battleship was about to land and hundreds of Kermac soldiers came swarming from already opening hatches. Roy had to do something and yet all the planet’s power could not stand against that. Roy was about to give up and lose all hope. He was just a teenager, what could he do?”

Phil

They had decided to find the Slide Belt Company. Cherubim was certain they would find a Myon Repeater there, and a GalNet Terminal that was not destroyed most likely even an extended range unit.

To Celyciia it was uncanny and frightening to creep and sneak through a domed city with no one around, except to find a body here and there.

The Infrastructure and everything worked, the Station Computronic told them where to find the companies premises. It was on the lowest level, far underground.

They had run into several Kermac solider patrols but neither she nor Riddick had much to do. Cherubim truly was an unstoppable killing machine, like a human spider she had crawled across the ceiling dropped on Kermac guards and killed them without any visible weapons. Even as she explained to them that she was wearing Terran All Terrain Boots with Gecko Soles and similar gloves, it was still a frightening sight to see a human being crawl along a ceiling like that.