Warrior Chronicles 2: Warrior's Blood Read online

  Each administrator’s face occupied a section of Cort’s vidscreen. They only saw an avatar of Cort because he was in the HAWC suit. “I’ve been very clear about this. I run the military. No one else. And no one else has a say in it. They were warned.”

  “Cort, please don’t do this,” Clare was pleading, “They are just scientists. We have an entire planet. It’s just one colony at a barely habitable pole.”

  Cort was on a small hill overlooking at an Atlantica colony. The sensor packages on several of the orbiting Multi-Purpose Satellites had detected the site five days before when Rhodes brought the surveillance systems online. He notified Cort immediately.

  Keen said, “Cort they are civilians.”

  “People, I’m going to say this one more time. We don’t know that they are just scientists. I hardly think that they would’ve gone to the trouble of building their own secret launch system, setting up a colony without asking us, and lying about it when we did ask them if it was only a scientific station. And we already know that they are trying to replicate my weapons. Also, why would they build it here? The modules won’t survive six months in this climate. It’s a temporary base. But even if they are just scientists, I was very clear with Earth. Just as I was very clear with all of you. No one comes to our planet without our permission. Dave, you and I are the only ones who can grant that permission, and we didn’t. I was also very clear about what happens if they fuck with us. Rhodes, begin recording me.”

  “Go ahead Cort,” Chief Rhodes said.

  “I warned you. Their blood is on your hands.” Cort pulled the oversized sidearm from the holster in the suit’s thigh. A massive hand appeared in the image being recorded. The meter-long sidearm in it was pointed at the colony site.

  “CORT! PLEASE GODS NO!” Kay screamed.

  Cort selected the incendiary rounds from his HUD.

  “OH MY GODS, CORT! THEY AREN’T DANGEROUS!” This time it was Kim Point begging him. “DON’T BE LIKE THEM!”

  Cort pulled the trigger. The furthest visible module erupted into flames. He pulled the trigger again and again. One after another, the modules of the secret colony ignited. By the time the last of the nine modules was glowing in flame, the first had burned out. Nearly explosive decompression and the incendiary rounds united to consume all of the colony’s air in the space of less than three minutes.

  Cort spoke again, “I don’t know how many people were in that colony, but you condemned them all to death. I was only the executioner. Do not test me again. Mars out.” Cort paused then said, “End recording Chief.”

  “Yes, sir.” Rhodes was nauseous. He understood killing out of defense, but this was cold blooded murder, no matter how Addison justified it. The man was acting like a monster. Their survival had depended on him once, but this was over the top.

  Cort began to walk toward the wreckage of the burned out modules. “I know you are all disgusted by me right now. Listen to me though. I’ve spent my entire adulthood waging war. This was not a scientific colony.”

  “You can’t know that,” Keen said. “You killed them without so much as a warning.”

  “I gave them warning the day we declared our independence. I told them this was exactly what would happen if they sent anyone else here. I only kept my word.”

  Clare spat, “You slaughtered them, Mr. Addison. Do not make excuses.”

  Cort was hurt by Clare addressing him so formally. “I’m sorry you feel that way, Clare. Out of everyone here, I had hoped you would understand.”

  “I understand perfectly. I’ve seen you kill to protect us. This time you killed because you wanted to. You liked it. You are a barbarian, and I should have left you in your cave.”

  “Clare!” Kay was shocked.

  Cort was walking through the wreckage now. He ripped the top off the module nearest him. There were fewer bodies than he would have expected. The ones in sight were swollen and burned beyond recognition. “It’s all right, Kay. If she thinks I liked this, then she doesn’t know me at all.”

  “No it’s not. What you just did was wrong, Cort. But she has no right to talk to you that way. You are this family’s savior.”

  “It’s all right, Kay,” Cort said again as he continued opening colony modules and looking through the debris, “everyone wants a Marine until they don’t need one. Then we become expendable. It was the same in my own time. It’s why my marriage ended. It’s why my daughter died. Clare is also done with me, apparently. That’s her prerogative.”

  Everyone else was silent. It was clear this was personal between Cort and Clare and their family. The others were beginning to feel like eavesdroppers.

  Rand said, “Clare, we can’t have it both ways. Either he protects us, or we protect ourselves. And we can’t do that. If we want Cort’s help, we have to accept it when we don’t agree with his judgement.”

  “We did just fine for three centuries without him. I would rather be forcibly mated than be protected by a monster. At least then I am innocent. If I condone this, I am as guilty as he is. All the other times I’ve seen him kill, it was justified. This time it was murder. I mean it. I should have left him there in his cave.”

  Kim said, “You’ve never been forcibly mated, or you wouldn’t say that, Clare.”

  “Shut up, Kim. This is none of your business.” Clare said.

  “You need to shut up, Clare. You’re way past reasonable. Settle down,” Rand said.

  “I wish I had never found him.”

  “If you hadn’t, I would still be alone in my own mind, Clare. And Rand would be in prison,” Kay’s voice was cracking. “I don’t know why you are acting like this, but you know as well as any of us that Cort is not a monster. I thought you loved him.”

  “I’m sorry, Clare,” Cort said.

  “Sorry doesn’t bring all those people back. Don’t speak to me. Ever. Now that you are a cold-blooded murderer, are you going to throw yourself out of the colony? Or are you above your own law? Oh my Gods. What have we done?” Clare cried.

  Cort’s heart was breaking. “You didn’t do any…”

  “I SAID DON’T SPEAK TO ME! JUST LEAVE ME ALONE!”

  Everyone was silent for several minutes. The only sound was that of the HAWC tearing the top off of one burned out module after another.

  “Cort, back up,” Keen’s voice startled them out of their silence. The HAWCs video feed was still active. “Now turn left. On the floor.”

  Everyone was looking now. The image from Cort’s feed showed rows of empty crates. Several were labeled ‘AMMUNITION. TYPE : CHEMICAL PROPELLENT’. A few others were marked ‘WEAPONS. TYPE : CHEMICAL PROJECTILE’.

  “Fuck,” Cort said. “Prepare for an attack. I’m on my way back.”

  “But you killed them all,” Rhodes said.

  “No. No, I didn’t. There aren’t enough bodies here.”

  While the implications soaked in, Kay spoke. “We’re sorry, Cort. We didn’t know.”

  Cort was silent. Rand said, “But Cort did. And we didn’t trust him. And now we need our Marine again.”

  “It doesn’t matter. I’m too far away to help. You’re on your own until I can make my way there. Good luck to you all.”

  “The CONDOR Two’s have been alerted,” Rhodes said. “I’m bringing up the other MPS feeds now. We don’t have many satellites in that area though.”

  “Rand, send a message off to Dar,” Cort ordered. “They need to be prepared for whatever happens. Rhodes, hold on the video to Earth. And don't forget your satellites. They have weapons too.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’m going to Oxia. Rhodes, keep me updated on what you find. Addison out.” Cort deactivated his comm system.

  “We really fucked that up,” Keen said.

  “He didn’t know they were an invasion force. He killed those people in cold blood,” Clare said.

  “Clare, now isn’t the time,” Rand said.

  “That’s easy for you to say, Rand. You didn’t unleash Hell. I
did.”

  “Shut up Clare. I lived Hell. I was tortured by Taps and his men for years. Your ‘Hell’ is my savior.”

  “Then fuck you too, Rand,” Clare spat.

  Kay spoke, “What is wrong with you Clare? Except for Rand, we were all wrong. Every single one of us. Why can’t you accept that?”

  “He couldn’t have known that was a military base. He couldn’t have. Other enemies were pointing disruptors at him. Or us. He couldn’t have known these people were enemies.”

  “Kim, Chief,” Keen started, “let’s get started on our readiness. This conversation isn’t our business.”

  “I’m family. I’m staying on,” Kim said. After Rhodes and Keen were gone she said, “We were wrong. He knew. I don’t know how, but he knew. I read an old story from his library once. It was about a Swedish king in Old Europe. He was a warrior. He always seemed to know what the enemy was going to do next. Cort is like that. War is instinctual to him.”

  “I don’t believe that. Instinct is natural. War isn’t.” Clare was not backing down.

  “Yes it is, Clare. Throughout the animal kingdom. From bacteria to bears. Combat is natural,” Kay said.

  “No. Before he came here, war was almost forgotten among humans. He’s killed more people in combat since arriving in our time than the rest of the human race has in the last century. Nobody becomes that good at something unless they love it. He loves killing. He loves hurting people.”

  Her last words were more telling to the others than the rest of the exchange had been.

  “That’s what this is about, isn’t it Clare?” Kim was seeing the light now. “He doesn’t love you, and that is too hurtful for you to face. Wow.”

  “No, Kim,” Kay said, “that’s not it. Because Cort does love her. He just won’t tell her. He won’t show her. When John died, Cort and I talked a lot. Clare, he won’t tell you because everyone he has ever loved has died. And often enough, it was because of who he is. Or I should say, because of the strain that loving him back puts on people.”

  Clare was crying now. “You don’t understand. Any of you. Just leave me alone.” She turned off her comm.

  “This is bad, Mother.”

  “I know Rand. And the timing is even worse. War is coming to us. And the only person who knows how to fight is thousands of kilometers away fighting his own internal one.”

  Kim said, “And we all just made it worse.”

  Addison Trust Utah Launch Facility

  “Uncle, they are here,” Lex Sike said to Dar. He was in a CONDOR Two. “They have breached the perimeter gate. We took out their flights, but they have ground troops coming in. We have thirty minutes or less.”

  “I had hoped Cort was wrong. Very well” Dar turned to the launch controller, “Launch the last three lift flights, Mr. Alt. What are you going to do? You can no longer put off your decision. You can go with us, launch with one of the last three lifts, or wait here.”

  “I will stay. I have family here. Mars is no place for an old man, and running just doesn’t seem the right thing to do.”

  “Okay. I wish you the best.” Dar and Lex Sike waited while the lifts took off. After they were all in the air, Lex destroyed the control systems to make sure the flights couldn’t be aborted.

  Lex said, “It’s not because of you, Mr. Alt. You’ve earned Uncle’s trust. But we can’t take the chance that they stop the lifts. They are likely the last supplies the Mars Federation will receive from Earth for a very long time.”

  “Of course, I understand,” Alt said.

  “Let’s go, Uncle Dar. The Claymores will only delay them so long. We have to take off.”

  “Who’s staying behind?” Dar asked. Someone had to cover their retreat. It was probably a suicide mission to do so, and Dar couldn’t ask anyone to do that, so he had left the details of the evacuation to Lex.

  “It’s taken care of, sir. You will sleep better if you don’t know. Let’s go.”

  Out of everyone in the pack, Lex is most like Cort. Dar thought as they left the base. He takes all the guilt on himself. He owns it all. Almost.

  Oxia Palus

  There were three columns of armed vehicles approaching from three different directions. The Oxia Palus site had watched them approach for thirty-two hours. Their lead elements were just minutes from being in visual range of the nearest MPS weapon system.

  “Tracking group one with Oxia One. Railguns online,” the weapons tech said.

  “Don’t wait for my order. Fire the moment you have visual lock. And keep firing,” Rhodes said.

  “Yes, sir. But we won’t get them all. I’ll get all of group one, maybe the rest of group two. But group three won’t be in range until we are under their feet. It’s coming from the wrong direction.” Group two had been in range of the Arabia One MPS an hour before. Its railguns were only able to fire three times before the remainder of the column was out of range. Two shots were direct hits and destroyed the first two vehicles in the group. The armored vehicles scrambled then, and shot three only winged its target and created a crater that the target vehicle and one other tumbled into. The dust kicked up by that hit prevented visual lock for a fourth shot.

  “I know, Rick. But we have to do what we can. The CONDOR Twos are going to have their hands full as it is. This time, once there is too much dust in the air, override the targeting computers and fire into the dust cloud. We might get some lucky hits.” Rhodes was watching as the first railgun fired.

  --

  Dave Gaines had escorted his aunt Kay to Oxia Palus. When the crisis materialized, Rhodes had cleared him to take one of their CONDOR Twos. Once they realized an assault on the colony was imminent, it made sense to arm anyone who was qualified. Only four of the new suits were online at Oxia, and Dave had more time ‘in armor’ than any of the Oxia Palus security people. Now he was north of the colony waiting for the invaders. There was another CONDOR at each of the other compass points. Cort made sure Dave was the leader of the CONDOR squad. Right now, Dave was the only person at the colony who had taken human life.

  The new CONDORs were identical to the original models except in their power system and how they were controlled. The power system was more robust and efficient than the previous model. Its power output was just slightly higher, but it recharged faster and lasted almost fifty percent longer. Cort’s own suit was being retrofitted with the new power system back at Argyre. Also, Cort’s version of the suit was controlled by the Atlas interface. An electronic port in the operator’s neck jacked him or her into the system and all movement was controlled through by the user’s own nervous system. Because the Atlas interface didn’t work for people with pre-injected synthetics, a new control system had to be devised for the suit to be useful to modern humans. The inside of the suits already inflated to conform to the user’s body by inflating a carbon nanotube liner around them. This allowed the suit to act as a shock absorber. The new suits used a ‘smart’ version of the same system. The fabric of the suit’s liner sensed the movement of the user, matching the exoskeleton powered armor’s movement to it. The system was only a fraction of a second slower than Cort’s own interfaced system, while offering all the same protections and sensor systems. With the MAT carbines, the suits were formidable. And with almost three dozen inbound transports, they would have to be.

  Inside, civilians were locked in their quarters and all airlocks had been sealed. The corridors had been cleared to provide unobstructed lines of fire, and common areas had been cleared as well. Men and women in FALCON suits patrolled the corridors. Over the colony, the Oxia One Multi-Purpose Satellite tracked thirty-four targets. It began firing when the first column of targets was within visual range. It fired every twenty seconds for three minutes before it could no longer visually lock on targets because of the dust. Three more shots were fired manually into the cloud before column two was acquired. Four minutes later, the weapons tech shifted fire back to the original column of approaching armor. Five vehicles had emerged from the cloud.
Three minutes later, the first column was completely destroyed.

  “Target group three. The remnants of the second column are too close to the colony now,” Rhodes commanded.

  “Yes, sir. Unless they try and join up with column two at the west end, they won’t ever be at range that’s safe for us to fire…” Rick said.

  --

  “Oh hell,” Dave said to no one in particular. He had destroyed the first two vehicles before the third one came to a stop. Ten men stepped out of it. They were all in suits similar to his own. “We have a problem. They have armor. It looks like ours.”

  --

  “Sir, we are at a standstill,” Dave said to Cort over the comm system. “As long as we have ammunition and they do not storm the colony, we are good. Their armor does not appear to be as good as ours, but they have numbers. All their vehicles have been destroyed. Right now, we estimate thirty targets still active. But only the railguns have been really effective. Rhodes has taken out nearly two hundred of their suits, but he cannot target the remainder because they have moved too close to the colony. The only one we have gotten was when we missed and hit a rock behind it. It was crushed. In the mean time, I have told the FALCONs to evacuate the outer modules and load them up with Claymores. It will not stop them if they get past us, but it might slow them down.”