part0030

“You can use that terminal over there; you’ll need the nanoscope anyway to be able to read any data from something that small,” Randolph said, indicating the terminal in question next to a piece of equipment that resembled a proton microscope.

Placing the slide with the Neural Interface containing all the encoded data into the nanoscope, Hawk waited while the information was downloaded onto the hard drive. Some of the data was corrupted due to the damage from the plasma bolt but there was some he could use. After a while he had what he wanted, the call logs. Scanning through them he found what he was looking for, the record of the call to Captain Nokorovic who Norsky passed the NI tracking codes to. Nokorovic was an aide to General Solon himself.

Turning to the ME he said, “Thanks, Doc, I’ve got everything that I need.” He left the morgue and headed straight for Gemmell’s office. This news he wanted to deliver in person.

“Sir, I think we may have something,” Hawk said as he entered the office. Gemmell looked up from his screen saying, “Okay, tell me.”

Hawk hastily went through everything he’d done with the NI to extract the data and his conclusions.

“And that helps us how?” Gemmell asked.

Hawk smiled. “Well, sir, I played a hunch and while I waited for the ME to extract the NI I placed a call to our closest monitoring station to Alliance space. As you know they monitor the comings and goings of all their top brass much the same as I’m sure, they do with us.”

“Go on,” Gemmell said, still not exactly sure where this was heading.

“Sir, the tracking codes were passed on to Captain Nokorovic who is listed as an aide to General Solon himself,” Hawk said his smile still in place.

“But how does that help us in our present situation?” Gemmell asked.

“Shortly after the codes were passed on, the General made a trip to a small planet where they have a research facility. Now why would the man in charge of the Alliance Special Forces go to a research facility do you think?” Hawk saw the realisation dawn on Gemmell’s face .

“He’s gone to oversee what they can extract from Stryder,” he said, adding, “Where’s this planet?”

That’s when the smile faded from Hawk’s face a little.

“It’s Toldax, sir, well inside Alliance space, they chose well.”

“Right, well we’ve come this far and just because the destination is a little tricky doesn’t mean we give up, there’s just too much at stake here. I want you on the first available transport to Celeron where you’ll rendezvous with General Sinclair. We can commandeer a freighter from local sources and refit her with stealth shields for your trip into Alliance space. We’re going to do this Captain.” Gemmell’s enthusiasm was rising and contagious. Hawk had thought that once the destination was known the plan might have been vetoed and yet there he was standing in the office of his superior officer hearing that the plan was going to go ahead.

“Thank you, sir, I’m on my way,” Hawk said as he turned to go.

“Good work Matt, and bring them back. Okay?” Gemmell said with a smile.

“You can count on it, sir.”

“Your travel arrangements have been made and your transport is waiting in orbit as we speak. There’s a shuttle powered up ready for take-off on the rooftop landing pad,” Gemmell said. Hawk realised then that he’d had more faith in him coming up with the goods than he had himself. He left the office and headed straight for the elevator that would take him straight to the rooftop landing pad and his next mission. He dared not fail for too much was at stake. Not just the lives of the two soldiers he was going to help rescue, but possibly the lives of countless others including innocent bystanders who might get caught up in the conflagration should the Alliance manage to reproduce the serum that made Stryder so important to both sides. He didn’t know what that was yet but he did know it must be important to warrant all this attention. The responsibility of the success of this mission therefore, lay squarely on his shoulders. If he failed now then everything he feared would come to pass.

So, no pressure then!

The guard tracked his movement and opened fire at the same time.

Stryder’s burst of plasma fire raked across the guard’s chest sending him flying backwards whilst the guard’s salvo went past Stryder harmlessly.

Hardy saw the movement, brought up her assault rifle and fired at two more guards as they appeared round the corner. Their attention had been on Stryder. Hardy’s burst of plasma fire raked across their bodies sending them crashing backwards, their limbs askew as their torsos were blasted open by the salvo.

“C’mon we haven’t got much time,” Stryder said as he got up and continued down the corridor.

“Where the hell are we going?” Hardy asked, the recent bloodshed already a distant memory .

“Grab as many battery clips as you can,” Stryder said as he raided the dead guards’ pockets for more ammunition.

“That doesn’t answer my question,” she said as she stooped to the task as well.

“We’re going farther into the complex,” he said.

“I can fucking see that Kurt!” she answered him angrily. She was getting rather pissed off at his apparent reluctance to inform her of anything.

“Okay, well down in the bowels of this complex will be the Life Support section of engineering. If we can access one of the tunnels there should be a way to the outside.”

“‘If we ‘can’ and ‘should be’? Those are phrases I’m not sure I want to hear in an escape plan thank you very fucking much.”

“C’mon, what do you expect here, I’m making this up as I go along; cut me some slack why don’t you.”

Just then they ran headlong into three more guards who appeared from around another corner. They collided and all ended up on the floor.

They all eyed one another before realising their weapons were scattered on the floor and that the first person to retrieve one of them would most likely be the victor.

Stryder kicked out at the nearest guard catching him full in the face, breaking his nose in a spurt of blood. He was on his feet in a flash followed by Hardy and the other two guards.

Hardy took the one on her right with a right cross to the jaw, snapping his head viciously to the side causing him to stagger slightly. She followed up with a kick to his midriff, which bent him double, then brought her right knee up to his face with such force it actually lifted him off his feet. He landed on his back, blood from his shattered nose leaving a trail in the air tracing his flight path.

Stryder watched this from the corner of his eye, assured she didn’t need any assistance while he dealt with the other guard. The first attack was anything but subtle. The guard came rushing at him with his head down trying to take him across the midriff in a tackle. Stryder sidestepped out of range as the guard rushed past then came up short behind him. Stryder spun around to face him as the guard also turned and Stryder hit him with a back fist that had so much force behind it the guard was sent spinning through the air and landed heavily on his back temporarily winded.

Hardy was ready for her next challenge as the guard she had decked flipped onto his feet, rage clearing showing in his eyes. He wiped blood from his face and snarled in fury at her before rushing forwards. He swung a haymaker right cross at her head, which she easily ducked beneath, ramming her right fist into his unprotected stomach. A left cross to his ribs caused him to buckle so she followed with a right uppercut to his chin. As his head came up she sent her fist smashing into the side of his chin in a left cross, snapping his head sideways with such force that he left the ground and landed on the floor face first. He would not be rejoining the fight after that.

Stryder turning to watch and smiling at her technique and power was almost caught unawares by the first guard who had received the kick to the face. He’d regained his feet and was about to attack, when Stryder heard his approach from behind .

The punch from behind sailed over his head harmlessly and Stryder, ducking slightly, rammed an elbow into the man’s midriff. All the air was expelled from his lungs by the blow and Stryder simply brought his fist up into the guard’s face further damaging it. Broken teeth and blood were spat out from the blow and then Stryder spun around and smashed his left fist into the guard’s face sending the man flying onto his back out cold.

The second guard was on his feet by this time and ready to continue the fight. Stryder saw his advance and, jabbing him to the face with his left, which stopped him in his tracks, he then finished him with a right cross to the jaw sending him to the floor also out cold.

“Cool,” Stryder said to Hardy.

“Well, as much fun as that was, we still have to get the hell out of here,” she replied with a hint of a smile because despite, or perhaps because of, the danger they were in she had enjoyed the brief struggle.

Stryder picked up both their weapons, tossed Hardy’s to her which she caught effortlessly then, smiling, said, “Let’s go then, oh and remind me never to piss you off, okay?”

“Not again!” he snarled and he asked the computer to verify the incident, which it did by relaying real time video display to a monitor in his office .

When he saw the blaze, which by this time had completely engulfed the room, he was furious. Seeing all his plans literally go up in flames before his eyes was too much for him to bear.

Grabbing an assault rifle from a cabinet by the wall he stormed out of his office. Using a combat channel via his NI he called Captain Anders.

“Captain, are you any closer to finding Captain Stryder?” he barked.

“Not yet, sir,” came the reply.

“I’m not surprised; he’s just been back into the lab and destroyed all the serum and everything else there. I suggest you tap into those enhanced abilities of yours and get me some results.” His voice was infused with anger and, ending the call abruptly, he left the captain in no doubt as to his mood.

Rage gripped him so fiercely that he couldn’t think straight. He wandered the corridor looking for something to vent his anger on but when nothing presented itself he returned to his office. The blaze in the main lab was growing, but because he wasn’t thinking clearly escape was not even something he considered. How could he rectify the situation, drag success from the very embers of defeat? There was only one way and that was to recapture Stryder and glean some more samples from him to reconstitute the serum and start all over again. There was only one flaw with that plan which was that he had already issued orders for the death of the very man in question.

“Captain Anders there has been a change in your orders,” he said through the combat channel via his NI .

“Copy that, sir, I am ready to receive new orders,” replied Anders.

“We need Captain Stryder alive. Your orders now are to capture him at all costs, but he must be alive, is that clear Captain?” Solon said.

“As crystal, sir. Does it matter if he’s a little damaged, sir?” asked Anders. Solon could almost see the smile on the captain’s face as he asked the question.

“As long as he’s breathing I don’t care if he’s banged up any, just make sure you get him and quickly, this place is going up in flames and we’re going to have to evacuate it very soon.”

“Copy that, sir, we’re on it. We’ll keep you informed of our progress.”

As his anger abated and clarity of thought returned, Solon had an idea. He said, “I’m inputting the tracking codes for the Recon Delta NIs into the facility’s main computer which will be uploaded directly to your NI. Using these codes and the facility’s interior sensors you should be able to pinpoint Stryder’s location and find him.”

Anders felt the tingle as his NI accessed the incoming data, and he smiled.

“Data received, sir. Copy your instructions. Will inform you when the target has been acquired.”

“Good luck Captain and no slip ups,” Solon said breaking the connection to leave the team to get on with their mission.

Smiling, he sat back and thought that perhaps he just might get a result from this after all. He had a team of enhanced soldiers looking for the source of the serum. If they didn’t manage to capture Stryder he still had them. It might take a little longer to fabricate the serum from them, instead of from its pure form via Stryder’s blood, but it could be done just the same. It was not a total loss after all, and this little exercise would prove the worth of the programme, demonstrating how the elite team performed.

The briefing had been simple and to the point.

“Bring them back, Captain,” was all Sinclair had said. Everything else had already been stated, they all knew the vital importance of this mission and time was of the essence, so no one wanted to waste any more on pointless speeches.

While Hawk was en route to Celeron, Storm and his team were being briefed by the General about what would be happening when the team leader arrived.

They didn’t know Hawk, but like the good soldiers they were, they trusted the General’s judgement and followed orders.

A freighter commandeered from a company with whom Col Sec had dealings had been refitted in record time with some special fitments and renamed the Hyperion. The shield generators had been increased and some armaments had been installed and concealed so that they would not be suspected. The last item to be added was a stealth shield enabling them to pass through the border of Colonial and Alliance space without being detected .

When the munitions and hardware had been installed and all the briefings had been completed there was only one thing left to do and that was to board the ship and leave for Toldax.

Captain Reynolds’ First Officer and certain members of his crew, now all suitably attired as merchant spacers, had replaced the original crew of the freighter.

It was a short jump through hyperspace to cross the border and then they were in Alliance territory. Another jump put them within a few light years of the solar system of which Toldax was part.

Hawk and Storm and the rest of his squad were on the small bridge of the freighter as it came out of hyperspace. Watching through the main viewer they saw Toldax in the distance, a small ball of blue against the obsidian backdrop of space.

“How do you want to play this, gentlemen?” asked Commander Park, the First Officer, as he turned in the command chair to see the small group standing just behind him.

“Commander Park, is there any way to get a transmission through to Captain Stryder’s NI from here without us being detected? I need to inform him of our intentions,” Hawk asked, not holding out much hope for an affirmative.

“It’s very doubtful, sir, not without the planetary sensors detecting the transmission. They might not be able to pick out what the signal says or where it was going to, but they would certainly detect a signal coming from somewhere. As we are the only merchant craft out here, it would be just a matter of time before some bright spark wanted to know what a beat up old freighter was doing here anyway,” replied Commander Park dubiously.

“Then we’re just gonna have to get a bit closer,” Hawk said.

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” Cowboy muttered to himself.

“Button it, Cowboy!” Storm ordered.

Commander Park turned to the helm officer and gave the command to take them in closer using the sub-light engines.

Hawk said, “Guardian, are you and your men ready for immediate ship evac?”

“We are, sir. All munitions have been checked and we are as ready as we can be. We’d just like some hint of the plan so we can acquaint ourselves with it, sir.” Storm replied.

“Ah!” said Hawk taking Storm to one side, “That’s a good point but you see this is a rather fluid situation. We are just going to have to do the best we can with it.”

“You don’t have one do you?” Storm realised.

Hawk’s face split into a rather sheepish grin and he slowly shook his head. “Not really, I’m making this up as I go, going with the flow as it were. It’s difficult to plan for something like this when we have no intel on the planet or the facility down there.”

“I see, sir,” Storm said. “Well, sir, General Sinclair seemed to have enough faith in you to put you in command of this mission, so who am I to argue with that. We’re with you sir, one hundred per cent.”

“That’s good to hear soldier. There are two Recon Delta Marines down there and I don’t intend leaving here without them.” He added, “If I just knew how though, it would be a help.”

Storm huffed a short laugh that almost went unheard, but Hawk knew this officer would follow him even though this mission was absurd in the extreme. He would go through with it probably because of its absurdity. Times of battle were times of extremes and absurdity and it was this that brought out the best in some men and the worst in others. Hawk knew he had with him some of the best and he felt secure that whatever happened these men would give their all to help make this mission a success, or die trying.

He could ask for nothing less and want for nothing more.

CAPTAIN ANDERS ACCESSED the facility’s main computer that was still online. He attempted to put fire prevention measures in place. Other security measures were being demanded by the various commands from various other sources. Instead, Anders inputted the codes for the Recon Delta tracking nodes via data transfer through his NI and asked the computer for a location of Stryder. Within less than a second he had what he needed. Ordering the computer to keep relaying live feeds of his location directly to his NI he began to formulate a plan to capture Stryder.