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  Two minutes later, they made it to one of the ramps and started down. Staff Sergeant Jacobs indicated the empty ramp in front of them. “Where the hell are they, sir? I would have thought they’d put up a bigger defense than this?”

  “I don’t know,” Walker replied. “Maybe they’re waiting until we’re more concentrated—” Then realization hit him. “Damn it; I know where all their damn troops are—they must have attacked Prime Base. If they sent boarding parties over, they would have a lot fewer marines left here to defend the ship. And, if that were the case, they’d be waiting closer to the CIC if multiple groups made it aboard here, so they could shift from one group to the next without having to cover a lot of ground.”

  Walker nodded to himself. “We aren’t alone here; other forces are advancing with us, and we probably have less time than we originally thought. Prime Base was basically undefended, and if they sent forces over, it won’t be long before they capture it. The only way we can save them is to end this now!”

  “You heard the man,” Jacobs roared. “What are you waiting for? We’ve got civvies to save! At the double time, march!”

  The Horde forces raced down the ramp, going around and around as they descended into the ship. “Oh, screw this,” Jacobs said after about ten circuits around the ship. “I ain’t doing this ninety more times.” She flipped over the railing and into the center of the shaft, using her maneuvering jets to fly down it.

  “Should we follow her?” Sergeant Wyatt, the squad’s medic, asked.

  “Damn right!” Walker replied. “Everyone into the shaft!”

  The squad followed Jacobs down toward the center of the massive ship. Five decks down, the lighting went out, and they were forced to turn on their exterior lights. Although the shaft was fairly well illuminated by the ten suits, the changing direction of the lights as they moved toward the center of the ship caused shadows to jump out at them from everywhere and frayed everyone’s nerves.

  Although traveling down the shaft was inherently more dangerous, it also was faster, and they made it to Deck Two faster than they would have if they had taken the ramp all the way down.

  “Careful,” Walker said as they proceeded down the passageway. “I’ve got a bad feeling about this.”

  “I don’t see anything in front of us,” Corporal Melton, who was on point, replied. “It looks like it’s clear all the way to the CIC.”

  “I know,” Walker said. “That’s what’s bothering me.” On a ship as big as the dreadnought, there had to be a lot of marines. Even if they’d sent the bulk of them to attack Prime Base, certainly they would have kept some in reserve to defend the dreadnought, wouldn’t they? He would have, if he’d been in their place.

  The squad continued down the hall, slowing as they neared the hatch to the CIC.

  Melton was just reaching for the hatch when shaped charges blew along the length of the passageway.

  Corporal Eric Chase’s suit went red—he’d been in front of one of the charges and something large had gone all the way through his suit at chest height. Nearly everyone in the squad took at least some damage, and all their cameras were degraded by the smoke and dust in the air.

  Then the Goka dropped on them from above.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Nineteen

  MGS New Era, Approaching Prime Base, New Warsaw System

  Nigel inspected the remains of the barricade with disdain. That was the best they had? On a ship this size? Then he realized what was wrong—there should have been more forces. Up to that point, he’d thought the Merc Guild troops had been just biding their time, but as he looked at the defensive position, he realized their objective at Prime Base wasn’t its obliteration, but its capture, and most of the marines on board must have gone to participate in the assault. That meant there probably weren’t as many currently aboard the dreadnought, and if the Humans hit them hard and fast, they might be able to push through any defenses and maybe catch the CIC unaware.

  Even if they didn’t, they needed to hurry and get to the CIC before the marines returned. He looked over the railing and into the darkness of the shaft. It would be a lot faster that way. “Anyone tired of going down the ramp and want to go down the shaft to speed things up?”

  “I thought you’d never ask,” Sergeant Rahimi said. He flipped over the railing, oriented his CASPer, and maneuvered down the shaft.

  “What are you waiting on?” Mason asked when no additional forces attacked. “Everyone in a CASPer, grab a Lumar and let’s go!” He swung the closest Lumar onto his back, pushed off, and joined Rahimi in the shaft. The rest of the Asbaran CASPers grabbed a Lumar and followed.

  Nigel smiled as Major Sulda grabbed hold of his suit. Now this is more like it.

  * * *

  MGS New Era, Approaching Prime Base, New Warsaw System

  Fighting Goka sucks, Walker decided. But fighting them in zero gravity sucks even worse. It was a lot harder to stomp on them or pin them to a floor or wall, and they could use their wings to fly. The suits could maneuver, too, but the Goka had a marked advantage.

  “Back to back!” Walker yelled, positioning himself with his back to Jacobs’ suit. The Goka were everywhere, and one sword blade was not enough. He felt like he needed three or four, as they came at him from all sides. In the time it took to rip one from his leg and stab it, two more had attached themselves to his other side, and he spent more time knocking them off than he did actually killing them. One by one, additional caution lights illuminated for the members of his squad.

  Somehow, one got behind him, and he felt a blade pierce his left shoulder. He swung hard into Jacobs and was rewarded with a crack! as the Goka’s carapace shattered. The knife dropped away. He stabbed a Goka coming in high, then fired a MAC round through one crawling along the deck. Thrust. Shoot. Slash.

  A red light illuminated as one of the Goka pulled out a laser and shot Corporal Melton through the chest in front of Walker. Corporal Everett killed the Goka with the laser, but as he moved three Goka landed on his back and went to work. Before Walker could come to his aid, Everett’s icon went red as well.

  Jacobs slammed into Walker as he was moving, trying to dislodge a Goka from her back, and hit Walker so hard it dislodged his magnetic boots, and he was propelled to the side. Before he could maneuver back, two Goka landed on her. One stuck a knife through the joint in the back of her knee, cutting her hamstring, and the other got a blade through the back. Walker cut both away with a single stroke of his blade, but he was too late. With a muttered, “Fucking bugs,” Jacobs’ icon went red.

  Now lacking a partner, Walker backed up against the wall to protect his back and killed two more. Another suit went red, and then another, and it was all Walker could do to keep them off him—he was no longer fighting to win, just to survive another few seconds.

  A Goka landed on his non-sword arm, but before he could cut it off, it was ripped away, and he had to twist at the last second to make the sword blade miss the Lumar in black armor that was now happily pulling the Goka apart. He turned the other way to see CASPers and additional Lumar marching up the passageway in an alternating line abreast, driving the Goka in front of them. If one of the aliens tried to attack, it was shot, stabbed, or grabbed and then torn apart. Many of the giant cockroaches were too busy attacking Walker’s group and didn’t see the new arrivals in time. Within a few seconds, it was all over, and the Goka were dead or dying. The Lumar moved down the passageway with glee, finishing off the ones that were still kicking.

  “You seem to attract them,” Nigel noted as he came over to Walker. “Maybe you should shower more.”

  “You should talk, Camel Boy,” Walker replied as he injected himself with his nanobot injector at the worst of his wounds. It burned like the surface of an O-class star, but the wounds began to close. “Thanks, though. That’s the second time you’ve arrived without a moment to spare.”

  Sergeant Wyatt went past, going from CASPer to CASPer, but Walker could tell there was nothing
he could do; all of them were dead.

  Walker shook his head. He was down to three troopers plus himself; however, he’d made it to the objective. “Let’s end this,” he said as he walked over to the hatch into the CIC.

  The hatch was locked, of course.

  “Now what are you going to do?” Nigel asked over a private channel.

  “I’m going to ask them to open up.” Walker replied.

  “And you think that is going to work?”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “And why is that? What reason do they have to let us in?”

  “I’m going to ask nicely.”

  Walker disconnected a package from the back of Jacobs’ CASPer and held it up in front of the camera over the hatch. “In the CIC!” Walker said over his external speakers. “I know you can hear me! Here’s the deal. Your part of this war is over, and one of two things is going to happen. Either, one, you let me into the CIC, and we take you prisoner, to be repatriated at a time of our choosing, or two, I blow this up and kill you all. Which is it going to be?”

  “There isn’t enough explosive in that pack to breach the CIC’s armor,” a voice said through the speaker next to the camera. “I doubt that is enough to even dent it.”

  “You’d be right,” Walker agreed, “if this were conventional explosives.” He pulled a deadman’s switch from the pack and pushed the button. “This, however, is a nuclear bomb, and I just activated it. It definitely is big enough to blast through the hatch, and it will kill you. So, what’s it going to be? Death or repatriation?”

  “How do I know you’re not bluffing?”

  “You don’t. But you can watch the way my people run and guess that it’s real. Of course, if you do that, I’m going to make sure you die, just out of spite, and we won’t be returning you, safe and sound, to your home world. I’m willing to do what it takes to save Prime Base, so it’s your choice. Do you surrender, or do I blow us all up?”

  Walker counted to twenty in his head and was just about to issue his final ultimatum when the lock clicked on the hatch. Nigel moved forward and undogged the hatch. It opened easily. Walker followed Nigel into the CIC, before safing the weapon.

  “Was that a real nuclear weapon?” a Bakulu sitting in the command chair asked.

  “Yes, it was,” Walker replied. “You chose wisely.”

  “There was little reason to continue,” the Bakulu said. “The attack on Prime Base has failed, and one of your other groups has captured our engineering section. Hopefully, you will honor your promise to repatriate us.”

  “What the hell is this?” a voice yelled from behind them. “What are you doing, Admiral?”

  Walker turned to find a large Goka standing at the hatch. Oh fuck. More Goka? How many of them are there on board? A mass of the giant cockroaches could be seen behind him in the passageway, and Walker stifled an involuntary shudder. All were armed with laser rifles, although he knew they also had knives hidden on them somewhere—all of the insectoids seemed to have knives, as well as the training to use them effectively on the CASPer suits. Perhaps something about their eyes allowed them to see the joints and gaps of the suits easier—Walker had no idea—but they always seemed to find them easily enough while in combat.

  All of the CASPers turned and leveled their weapons at the Goka, who aimed their rifles back at them.

  “I have surrendered the ship,” Galantrooka replied. “Lay down your rifles.” When none of the Goka moved to do so, he yelled, “Lay down your rifles, now!”

  The Goka leader slowly placed his weapon on the deck, although without gravity, it rebounded slowly upward. The other Goka behind him did the same.

  “Why are we surrendering?” the lead Goka asked. “There aren’t many more of them than us.” He looked up and down the closest CASPer to him. “I think we can take them.”

  “We have lost all our screening ships,” Galantrooka replied, “and the assault on Prime Base has failed.”

  “Should have sent us,” the Goka leader replied. “We could have chewed them up. Of course, we still can…”

  “That is enough!” Galantrooka roared. “I have surrendered the ship; you will follow my wishes!”

  “The Black Death doesn’t surrender, Galantrooka. Perhaps you’ve forgotten that? Maybe we need to kill all of you useless Bakulu and take over the ship ourselves.”

  “Look,” Nigel said, stepping in front of the command chair where the smaller Bakulu had adhered his viscous foot. “It’s over. The assault on Prime Base is over. We hold engineering and the CIC. Stand down. Hasn’t there been enough lives lost in this war? Stand down, and let’s end it.”

  “No surrender!” the Goka yelled as Walker moved to stand beside Nigel. “Not to the likes of you!” It reached up under the shell protecting its wings and whipped out a laser pistol.

  “Move!” Walker said. He’d seen plenty of Goka treachery before and was prepared for it—he tackled Nigel out of the way of the laser blast as the Goka fired.

  * * *

  CIC, MGS New Era, Approaching Prime Base, New Warsaw System

  The rest of the Goka troopers exploded into action, pouring into the CIC. They came in high and low, spreading out like a plague.

  Several of the Human troopers got off MAC rounds, but then it was hand-to-hand combat in the enclosed area, and the Humans’ sword blades snapped down. Nigel pushed Walker off him and climbed to his feet. At least ten of the Goka had made it into the CIC, and they worked to get behind the CASPers, where they could stick their long knives into the suits’ joints.

  The battle didn’t last long. Although there were an equal number of Humans and Goka, the additional five Lumar made the difference, as they were able to grab a Goka with two hands, hold the Goka’s knife arm with a third, and disarm the giant cockroaches with their fourth. The Lumar then pulled them apart, ripping off legs until they had an opening where they could stab them. Some just turned toward the closest CASPer, which would stab it while the Lumar held it incapacitated. A blue mist filled the air, joined with plenty of red globules, as knives and sword blades flashed.

  Within seconds, all the Goka were dead, as were one of Nigel’s troopers. One of the Goka had charged the ship’s crew, and several of the Bakulu appeared to have been killed as well. As Nigel surveyed the room, he realized Walker had never gotten up. His CASPer floated near one of the terminals with the nuclear weapon close by. Nigel raced over and found a laser hole through the center of his chest.

  “No!” Nigel yelled. He toggled the canopy release and pulled it open, and a huge spray of red was sucked out to float nearby. Walker’s eyes were half open, and his hands covered a leaking wound over the center of his chest.

  “Oops,” Walker said, gasping. “Fucking hate…Goka.”

  Nigel opened his own canopy and grabbed his first aid kit. He pulled out the auto-injector, set it to max, and tried to move Walker’s hand so he could use it.

  “Too late,” Walker whispered. “Don’t want…that pain…too.”

  “Why?” Nigel asked. “Why did you do it?”

  “You have…” Walker’s voice trailed off, but then he added, “…Son.”

  “No!” Nigel yelled. “No! I won’t let you die. Thorb said to tell you no one goes to the light alone.”

  Walker reached up, his hand twitching, and grasped Nigel’s hand. “I’m not…alone.” He gasped once more, then his whole body relaxed.

  “He’s gone,” Sergeant Wyatt said, confirming what Nigel already knew.

  Nigel looked away from his friend, trying to control his breathing and his emotions. He could barely see through the tears welling in his eyes. He wanted to kill something—anything—as long as it was associated with the Merc Guild, who’d already been responsible for killing his family, possibly his girlfriend, and now the man he considered his best friend. His eyes filled with murderous intent, looked across the CIC to where most of the Bakulu huddled, but then he looked back down at Walker. Killing the entire bridge crew, even the entire crew o
f the dreadnought, while satisfying, wouldn’t bring Walker back or get him any closer to his number one goal, and that was the one thing he would do, even if it ultimately cost him his life. He would kill the rat-faced bitch, even if it was the last thing he did.

  “What is the status of this ship?” he asked the Bakulu sitting in the command chair.

  All three eyestalks turned to look at him. “We are damaged, but still operational.”

  “Good,” Nigel replied. “Turn this thing around. There’s a Veetanho on Earth I want to talk to.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Twenty

  CIC, BMS Trushista, New Warsaw System

  “It is confirmed; the Humans have taken the dreadnought,” comms reported. “The Hussars’ battleships and remaining screening vessels are changing course for our vector.”

  “Get us out of here,” Paka ordered the captain.

  “We need time to recover our screening ships,” Captain Glashpooka said, looking at Paka with a single eyestalk as he issued orders to the squadron.

  “No!” Paka barked. “Set course for Sol. Use your shunts and get me out of here.”

  “You knew that ship was a bomb, didn’t you?” the captain demanded, now looking at her with all three eyes. “You knew and didn’t warn Admiral Galantrooka.”

  “I suspected,” she said and shrugged. “It doesn’t matter; get us out of here.”

  “You mean get you out of here. That’s what you said a second ago.”

  “You know what I meant. We have to escape.”

  “Why did you not tell me about that ship? Tactical analysis suggests it was a doomsday weapon. At its full potential, it could destroy an entire planet!”