Iron Five by Seon O. Stronghold
My next contact is a Kedenian who I met during my fourth attachment here; a narcotics and weapons dealer who gives me information for credits. He is not a problem because no dealer in their right mind would risk being exposed as a snitch or worse, having an Earthfront Battalion storming their happy little world. Hopefully, he won’t be spooked by my last meeting with one of his associates.
“Okay guys, we’ll be mobile in a few hours so I’ll let you get back to your free time.”
“Thank you Alpha...” Akita jumps up and without looking back, hurries away.
“What’s up with him?” I turn to Terri.
“The usual…she’s young this time, blue-blonde and hypnotized by the Akita.”
I laugh “It’s the same thing everywhere we go. This is what now, seventy-something?”
“I`ve lost count...” Hound joins in.
Terrier slides out from the table “Well I’m going to go back to my room to get some air time with the folks back home. The link up is gonna be good today.”
“Do your thing Terri…” I watch him leave and think of his mother. She was like a mother to me after my parents died. I’ve known them a long time. “…and hey…” He turns to me. His face is older but his eyes…his eyes are still those dark brown ones belonging to that kid I grew up with. “…Tell them I said hello.”
“No problem Cap.”
“I’m gonna head to the lounge and see if I can get as lucky as Akita. See ya later guys.” Pitbull disappears and Hound and I remain seated.
“We need vacations.”
I look at Hound before answering. The big German swings both boot clad feet onto the table and leans back fearlessly in the narrow chair.
“Tell me about it.”
He sighs “When this is over, why don’t we put in for some time off? We’ve been on the prowl for so long I can’t remember what life outside of my job feels like.”
“Sounds like a great Idea. I’ll talk to the Hawk when this is over. I know Terri wants to go home. I also want to see Earth again.”
Hound laughs “Terri? He’s already had time off. He’s the only one who has.”
“Yeah but that was different. His mother was sick so that doesn’t…”
“He spent a month with her Alpha. Way longer than needed. You know it, I know it. He got lucky and we’re on his side about it, but at the same time, we don’t like being overlooked either.”
“Okay you’re right, I must admit it, but that was six months ago…”
“Six months…” He cuts in again “…a year, yesterday…doesn’t matter. All I’m saying is that I too, would like some R and R. Sometimes I wish my mom would get sick.”
“Okay, okay. I’ll see what I can do. Pitbull keeps talking about Creus…”
“…The Island planet?”
“Yep…”
“That’d be fun”
“I can only imagine. I’ve never been there.”
“…Seriously Cap..? I’ve been there a few times…nothing but tropical air and seas and islands everywhere; just awesome.”
“Where’d you like to go?”
“Well, Akita has been telling me about Eroi Three…”
I should have known. “…The Red moon?”
“Yep…sounds like a blast…been thinking of it for some time now. He says that whenever, if ever, we get off this beat for long enough, he’d show me around there.”
“Yeah that’s Akita for you. Travel a thousand light years for easy women. It’s the perfect place for him.”
We both laugh and I remember meeting Hound for the first time. We were both young recruits in the Spaceforce Academy on Rouna, the paradise planet. We had just landed and after a small scuffle over seats in the transport, our hostilities became very evident in everything we did.
“Cap…I’m gonna go talk to the mechanics for a while. Keep myself busy so I don’t fall asleep.”
He drags both large feet off the shiny table between us. Then, standing to his full six feet five, he walks away; blonde hair hanging a few inches below his crown and shifting with his walk.
“See you in a bit Hound…” Back in our days at the training facility, I had grown to hate everything about Hound, just as much as he did about me, right down to his beady blue eyes and our rivalry had sprouted a separation in the camp, much to the disgust of our commanders. I remember him tracking me hard in his training MAV as I tried to get into a firing position to take him down. We had been viciously going at it for a good ten minutes and then as I out maneuvered and bested him, my MAV went critical and slammed into the ground. It was Hound who dragged me from the twisted heap of metal and wires and burning debris. The man had carried me a seemingly safe distance before the explosion threw him and put us both out of commission for almost six months. It was in the infirmary, on those two neighbouring beds that we had gotten to know each other, and we have been brothers ever since.
The sounds of three female voices break my train of thought. They walk past nearby and one of them flashes me a cute smile. I look at the few folks around me. I have no Idea who most of these people are. All nameless faces in a place far away from home, but I have my unit…and my unit is all that matters.
I notice the time. There is absolutely nothing to do in this place and so I get up and walk back to my room.
“Captain…”
God please, not again.
“Commander…” I acknowledge her with a salute.
She hands me a file containing a few sheets of digital paper “These may be of some value.”
I take them from her, not sure what to make of her sudden friendliness “What are these?” I look at the first sheet.
“We are not the slackers you take us for. You’ll find that we are more resourceful than you think.”
I must admit, she is a beautiful woman in spite of the scars. Her red hair is still pulled into a tight bun with apparent military precision and her uniform, as crisp as ever. “Why are you doing this?” I’m not bothered by her for the moment. The thoughts and feelings from of our fight amazingly remain at bay.
“…because duty comes before personal issue. Good luck Captain.” She walks past me and continues until out of sight down the narrow corridor. I am still in shock but quickly regain my senses. That was bullshit and she knows it. At least I would like to think so. Duty indeed…The file reveals information about a small fleet of ships that had entered Kedenian airspace a few days ago. I continue toward my quarters.
Maybe she was right after all. If I had let her know of our mission, Toros would still be alive and Iron Five would have been on that well deserved vacation.
One of the sheets of digital paper shows a map of Keden and a possible location for the unauthorized fleet. The image shows an unusually large concentration of heat signatures in a valley four thousand miles from here. I enter my room and barely register the door closing behind me. This spot on the map has got to be where they are based. They have obviously masked their position with some form of camouflage, so all the drones see are these red splotches. But I don’t get it. Why did she help us?
********
It is 10:45am and I am in my MAV doing a systems check. The rest of my team is doing the same as technicians and electronics specialists run around beneath us prepping our gear for departure. My communications console comes alive.
“Iron Five…” I know the voice, it’s the Battle Axe “…ten minutes to departure.”
“…Alpha copies ten minutes; ready and waiting.”
We walk toward the outer doors of the huge hangar. I take a look at my cockpit before switching to the virtual display on my visor. I have always been a believer in checking any computer system manually before digitally.
“Captain…” It’s her again “…drones have spotted three Heavy Mecha…Rhinos to be exact and four Light Booster Tanks so approach with caution.”
“Will do Commander…” We pass through the outer lock and then the protective doors of the outer hangar and take up po
A flash of static hits me “Iron Five, your launch is a go.”
I increase power and the MAV fights gravity as we lift off. The sand and dust filled winds read at sixty six miles per hour, making visibility very limited but we push upward nonetheless. At two thousand feet above AGL I give the signal and we level out, then check the uploaded flight path and hit the throttle. The vents of my thrusters shift and I am pushed back into my cushioned seat. My heart thumps away at my chest and we shoot forward. The acceleration is hypnotic. Within thirty seconds we are pushing a little over a thousand miles per hour and should be where we want to be in about three and a half hours.
CHAPTER 4 - KEDEN
The landscape below us is drastically uneven. Deep fissures spreading out in random directions look like gnarled fingers between massive sand dunes. These dunes rise, in some areas, as close to us as seven hundred feet. The winds at our altitude are seventy miles per hour but rogue gusts register every now and again at a hundred or more. This is a treacherous location so I maintain our two thousand feet above Immediate-ground-level flight path.
“Captain..?” It’s the Commander. I haven’t heard from her since we left base three and some hours ago. “Link and rep live, over?”
“Huski to base, we’re alone out here. Thirty minutes to contact.”
“We’re tracking you but the weather is getting worse…signal interference is heavy.”
“Roger that.” I focus on the ground below as we speed by. My Sol engine is a remarkable piece of work. We, as a race, have come a very long way.
The year is now 878TE and according to history, mankind came across Sol-technology in the year 2035 AD. I remember learning this in History class and wishing for it to end so I could go meet Rachel Sommers. I wonder whatever became of her.
A scientist by the name of Doctor Lorenz Olivius created the first ever successful, miniature replica of the sun. The applications were, as one can imagine, limitless. Within fifteen years of its dawn, the Sol Combustion engine had allowed mankind to go beyond their limitations and finally reach for the stars. This breakthrough had then led to one hundred years of galactic searching and mapping and development. Then in 2150 AD our ancestors left Earth in massive Starship fleets for new homes and in doing so, a new era was born; the era of, The Exodus.
“Alpha…ten minutes to contact.”
“Okay Bull, let’s get to five on deck.”
I pull the throttles back, extend all my speed brakes and feel my stomach reach up my throat as my MAV slows rapidly and drops to five hundred feet. As we fly past the last of the wicked looking fissures and tall dunes, and cross over a terrain entirely covered by massive boulders, I kill the throttle and switch the engine to hover. The machine vibrates through the transition and we descend to a few feet above an enormous flat stone and drop to the rough surface, dislodging and kicking up rocks with a quaking thud; we immediately go dark.
“Bull…?” I wait
“All clear for one mile. Their warning systems don’t reach this far…got nothing else on scan.”
“Okay let’s move!”
I switch from flight to ground commands and hit the throttle. My MAV takes the uneven, rocky surface with ease as we get closer to what could be another successful run, or our last mission.
“Alpha…” Its Pitbull again “…I’m picking up interference of some sort. Not sure what it is but I think we should be careful here.”
We are standing on the edge of another flat rock face. I step off, a mere five foot drop, and onto the dusty ground of yet more desert. On either side of me are high, wind carved dunes made of hardened dust and sand. The valley is wide for maneuvering but still small enough to make us sitting ducks. I come to a stop and check my scanners; there’s nothing. But I don’t like the feeling in my gut. And if I am feeling it, and Bull feels it, then by experience, we need to be cautious.
“Bull, how’s the weather?”
“…sunny…but something doesn’t seem right boss.”
Bull hardly ever calls me boss. He is worried “Okay. Look alive, boys…weapons hot…” I focus on my weapons module and make the mental command. My cannons come online with a whir. There is an uneasy stillness in the air that puts me on guard. It could just be a case of nerves but after a few years in this business, you learn that the jitters often precede a real event.
We continue our trek until the valley lies behind us and another one appears ahead and below. According to the co-ordinates, this should be the place but all that is here are generators and large transformers.
“Alpha…”
But Bull gets interrupted by the base commander on our open channel.
“Iron Five…we’ve got four Light Booster Tanks and an unknown transport approaching Dunan from the south west. Drone Surveillance just picked them up. They’re two hours out.”
“They’re runnin’. Bull, give me another scan.”
“There’s nothing but that weird interference boss.”
“Let’s fly then. We gotta catch those bastards”
I deactivate my stealth and barely notice as everyone else ripples into sight.
Bull comes over my com again “Alpha, these generators are the same heat signatures on the map…so was this a decoy?”
But reality hits me like a hammer. They knew we would come “No…” My warning systems light up. “…it’s a trap..!” My virtual cockpit goes wild. Alerts of missile launches and gun locks assault my senses like a wildfire. “Evasive guys, go, go, go, go..!” I switch to flight mode and drive my throttle all the way as my computer sends me flashes of tracking information and I almost feel the three missiles that approach. My MAV shakes violently with the sudden discharge of power, but I hold it steady as G-forces pin me to the seat while I accelerate upward.
What type of missiles are they?
The computer sends the answer with a barely noticeable sting. Another mental command sends hundreds of chaff spitting from the back of my machine with thousands of miniature vibrations that shiver the armor around me. But the first heat seeker is already here and hits close. The impact shakes me like an earthquake but my systems do not read critical. Thank God. Rising high into the air now, a forty ton bat out of hell, my Sol engine screams with the effort as I try to locate our unseen enemies. There are three of them.
“I’ve found those Heavies…” I shout it to the others.
“Roger, three Rhinos, northern hill top.” Hound comes across calm and collective and he already has one locked.
I swing around and fly toward the Heavy Mecha that is tracking me; he is already on the move and my systems warn of another missile lock. It leaves his launcher but I am within firing range. They might have more armor and heavier firepower but we’ve got speed and agility. I wait, hear my gun lock onto its target, and open fire. My bullets shred into the oncoming missile and it explodes in a vicious flash of white as I quickly close the distance. With another squeeze of the trigger my Auto-cannon spits with a flurry of fiery streaks.
The view around me, with my altimeter counting down 500FT, 425FT, 350FT, 275FT in less than three seconds, shakes and shifts on the outer edges of my vision. The smoke and lights of my cannon-fire leads me toward my target as he tries to turn in my direction; I guess they thought we would have been dead on the first launch.
My gunfire rakes a trail of superheated dents and penetrations across the ground and the Rhino in my sights. Dust and sparks erupt where my target stands and my pulse, amplified, beats wildly in my ear. I have to get high again, so I jam my throttle to full power, angle my thruster vents and brace myself as I launch back into the sky. The engine howls with the effort, and the pressure of the maneuver squeezes me beyond comfort, but its fly or die, as every digital module goes blinking red again.
Damn, another missile!
My heart hammers madly as all around, bullets slice the air and I
“Good work Bull…”
I push over and return to the ground but the Rhino is in the air now. My systems alert me again but I am faster than my opponent. At seven hundred feet, my targeting computer locks on to the rising Mecha and I squeeze the trigger twice. Eight missiles leave my launchers. The cockpit shakes with it and their smoke-trails, like black and grey spider webs, fill my vision. But gun fire slams into my armor. I activate the auto-coolant system; it will stop the overheating. And while I fight to clear the space between us, my visor adjusts in a millisecond as the Rhino explodes.
I got him.
My computer shouts its complaints into my senses as I roll over and force the engine to sustain the current power. I have to get down from here; I am an open target. But the other two Rhinos are busy and this gives me a perfect opportunity to strike.
I shove my MAV into a shallow dive and get a target lock just as another of our enemies light in a magnificent flash of fire and expanding energy.
“…got that son-of-a-bitch..!” It’s Bull. His long range rail gun has hit true and Akita’s barrage of missiles finishes the job.
There is one Heavy left. I see his smoke trailing from a damaged hull. He’s in the air and heading south.
“I got-im…” Terri comes over the com as his missiles trace a deadly arc through the sky. The explosion thunders through the valley as what looks to be eight warheads detonate in the distance; this fight is over.
“Iron Five…?” Our Base Commander is not as composed as before.
I respond “…still standing...” I adjust power and descend slowly. My MAV is a bit damaged but I keep my nerves “…where are they?”
“…Seven hundred miles out, and a half hour to the city.”