COLOSSUS: A New Menace Read online

  There was a secret High Mage Cina did not reveal to the Daakie Caid, and that was she and Empress Katin decided that if the outcome of the attack proved not to be precisive enough in eliminating over three-quarters of the Hive without losing too many Predators, Cina was ordered to bring the Armada, including the Daakie, back to Abor.

  During the secret discussion, Empress Katin was concerned about leaving the Daakie on Planet Daak. She felt that with such an attack on what the Hive had considered being an obvious strategic outpost, they would send back an even larger fleet of Hive nests and the few Predators that had been designated to stay with the Daakie would be lost, along with the last of their royal bloodline.

  Chapter 4

  After observing the asteroid aliens mining the asteroids for nearly three hours, Admiral Allen thought it time to let the aliens know they were there. Following orders from Allen was General Dubois, and he called Colonel Hammer and ordered him, Commodore Jeeves, and Captain Slain to take the USC Striker to meet up with the aliens.

  Allen was going to have Hammer and Jeeves take a hornet but then thought better of it. He figured the hornet could draw fire from the aliens before they had a chance to hail them. But seeing the Battlecruiser instead might make them return the hail instead of attacking.

  Locating a target to approach was easy enough as the asteroids were spaced hundreds and some thousands of miles apart, and from what the Colossus’s sensors had shown there were only one mining vehicle and ore hauler at the smaller asteroids. Most of the asteroids in close proximity to Colossus were small to medium size rocks and measured from five to ten miles in diameter.

  Captain Slain brought the Striker to within a thousand feet of the mining vehicle. The ore hauler was stationed next to the mining vehicle, waiting as the miner swung the large bucket full of ore around and dumped the contents into the cargo hold.

  Colonel Hammer hailed the ore hauler: “Ore hauler, this is Colonel Jak Hammer of the USC Striker positioned to the west of your hauler. We mean you no harm and just want to talk to you. Will you comply?”

  The Striker’s intercom buzzed then cracked, then a voice came over the speaker, “This is Dumo Char, Rank 5. What do you want? We are just miners and have no weapons.”

  Dumo was nervous as he thought the formidable warship only a thousand feet from his hauler were possibly pirates wanting to steal the high paying load of beryllium he already had in his cargo hold. He wasn’t completely truthful about not having any weapons as he had a blaster holstered on his right hip.

  He had a right to be nervous because pirating was prevalent in the asteroid belt because most of the metals taken from the asteroids were highly sought after in industrialized nations located on two of the four planets in the Mikos System.

  There happened to be two major players in the asteroid mining operations and it was not above either one’s morality to hire robbers disguised as pirates to steal from each other. Dumo was a member of a race known as Nims but wasn’t one hundred percent Nimian. He was bioengineered by his race and was half Nimian and half machine.

  Normal Nimians looked down on the bios and didn’t recognize their names given to them at birth. They only referred to them as Chars, which meant second-class citizen. Dumo’s Rank 5, was his designation in reference to his military rank when called upon by his kind in matters of war.

  To become a Char the individual had to have been mortally wounded in battle and sent immediately to bioengineering to be saved. The Nimian’s technology in engineering Chars would be of great interest to the Humans.

  “Dumo Char, Rank 5, we are a race known as Humans. We come from a star system several hundred light years from here and are just explorers. Would you mind if we had you come to our ship so we could talk?”

  “No, I will not be coming to your ship, Human. I know nothing about you other than you are stopping my work. If you want to talk to someone, go to the planet you see on your sensors to the east of this position. It is the bright yellow-green planet and the only one in this sector with breathable air. Your kind does require oxygen, don’t you?”

  “Yes, we do breath air with a high oxygen content, but I feel if we could meet with you it will help us before we go to the planet you are suggesting. How about I come to you instead of you coming to my ship? Will that make you more comfortable?” Hammer asked.

  “You are being a pain in my ass. But in order for me to continue my work, I will allow only you to come to my hauler. And you had better not come to my hauler armed. I suppose you will be on a spacecraft much smaller than the warship you are on now. I have a small docking port in the center of my hauler and you can connect to it. I will be waiting and make it quick. Dumo, out.”

  “Sounds like a very nice guy, Colonel,” Captain Slain said while smirking.

  “I would advise you to not go to that alien’s hauler without at least a blaster, Colonel,” Jeeves said.

  “I’ll do as he asked, but I will have my Strider SMF (Marine Special Operations foldable knife) in my interior boot sleeve. Better get down there before he changes his mind.”

  “What are you going to say to him, Colonel?” Slain asked.

  “Kenner, we can talk or we can do. I don’t know what I’m going to say to him but I’ll let you know if my trip was a success or not.”

  He went down to the Striker’s bay area and climbed into the pilot’s seat of the hornet. As soon as the bay door was fully opened he flew out and down to the asteroid. As soon as he was within a couple hundred feet of the alien ore hauler he saw an exterior light turn on above the docking port which made it easy for him to see the dock.

  Within a few minutes, Colonel Hammer had managed to connect to the docking port. He left the pilot’s seat and walked to the side of the hornet connected to the docking port. Just as he stopped to wait for the hauler’s door to open, it opened and he was surprised to see the huge alien standing in front of the opening.

  Dumo was almost as wide as he was tall and stood at about 5’7”. He was as thick as he was wide, had an almost square head, a protruding square chin, and eyes set back in his face. He wasn’t what Hammer would call a handsome alien as he had a square head and a long face.

  Dumo had huge muscled arms, big hands, and his yellow hair was cut in a crew cut style. Dumo’s lower body was made up of some type of alloy and had hydraulic drives that ran partially down his legs. Hammer’s immediate thought was I’ll be damned he looks like a shorter version of the Hulk.

  Dumo was equally surprised when he saw Colonel Hammer. He had never seen a Human before and thought Hammer looked rather soft and wouldn’t last long in hand to hand combat. But instead of pursuing any type of physical altercation with the Human, he thought let’s see what this alien wants.

  Dumo stepped away from the opening and Hammer walked into the hauler. The alien asked him to follow him to the front of his hauler, which Hammer did. Dumo pointed at a chair adjacent to his and said, “Sit, Colonel Hammer.”

  Hammer sat down and as soon as the thick-bodied Dumo sat, Hammer spoke, “Thank you for meeting with me. I’ll be quick so you can get back to your work. We are interested in the technology used to mine asteroids. During our explorations, this is the first time we have encountered a race that mines asteroids. What type of ore are you mining on this rock?”

  “It is Beryllium and it pays well per ton. The ore is used in copper alloy for better fatigue endurance in electrical contacts and is in high demand on Edan.”

  “Is Edan the name of your homeworld?” “No, Edan is not my world. Well, it used to be, but now that I am a Char I don’t call it my home. As do all the Chars, we just exist there.”

  “I’m interested in what you mean when you call yourself a Char, but I know you have work to do so I’ll not ask you to go into that now. I have one more question, then I’ll get off your hauler. Can you give me a name of a person we can contact on Edan to find out if they would be interested in holding a meeting with my superior officer?”

  “Edan is po
pulated by a race known as Nims. There are only fifty-thousand Chars on Edan. The rest are Nims. You will need to contact Jav Kor. He might be the one to contact if you want to set a meeting.”

  Hammer removed himself from the seat and said, “Time for me to let you get back to work, Dumo Char, Rank 5.”

  Dumo walked him to the dock and before pushing the button to open the airlock he said, “I hope you well, Colonel Jak Hammer, but I don’t know if you will be.”

  He pushed the button and the airlock opened and Hammer went to his hornet, disconnected, and flew back to the Striker thinking don’t know if I will be well. I wonder what made him say that?

  Chapter 5

  Less than twenty minutes prior to the Armada’s attack on the Hive around Planet Daak, High Mage Cina was remembering the discussion she had with her beloved Empress. She made the decision to make a slight variation to their attack plan and hailed Caid Maalik.

  “Caid, I’ve made a slight change to our battle plan.”

  “What would that be, Cina?”

  “When we begin our attack I want you and your Zurguts to concentrate on the Hive’s command stations by using your gamma ray weapons. The power of those weapons will do more damage to the command structures in a shorter amount of time than our photon torpedoes. Each Zurgut will have four Predators to defend them until they can power up again, at which point I want you all to jump to our predesignated jump point. King Gorvik and Queen Junal will not take part in the destruction of the Hive command structures.”

  Caid Maalik thought about her instructions for a moment then asked, “What about going down to the planet to destroy whatever it is they are building down there?”

  “We will be sending two Predators down to the planet to see if they can locate the structure, and if they have the opportunity they will record whatever they find, then destroy it. Will that be sufficient?”

  “You are the commander, Cina. But I wish to go with the Predators going down to our world. I know the pertinent areas they should search first.”

  “Negative, Caid. You are the leader of your military and they can not afford to lose you. Order one of your Burseqs to go if you must, but I need you to stay with King Gorvik and his Queen. Pick your commander so he can teleport to these coordinates. When Commander Lurcie has received your Burseq, we will commence with the attack. Cina, out.”

  Maalik wasn’t pleased with his babysitting duties but knew the Aborian High Mage was right in her decision to keep his king and queen out of harm’s way. He disliked the idea of sending one of his Burseqs to do what he should be doing, but none the less, he ordered Burseq Amiik to handle the task.

  Just prior to giving the order to begin moving towards Planet Daak, High Mage Cina’s Predator Commanders informed her of two Hive nests moving fast and heading straight to the Armada.

  “How far out are they, Commander Mave?”

  “I am marking them at 40,000 miles out, High Mage. What are your orders?”

  Thinking that it was possible as soon as the nests were close enough to pick the Armada up on their sensors, they would contact one of the command structures to inform them they have made contact with alien warships. So expediency to begin the mission was suddenly paramount to the success of the mission.

  Cina called on a private comlink to Caid Maalik and said, “Caid, we have two Hive nests approximately 40,000 miles out coming in our direction. It is probable that they have already detected our presence in the area. I’m requesting you order your Zurguts to stay here until we have eliminated the approaching nests. My ships are cloaking as we speak and I’m ordering four Predators to leave ahead of the Armada to take out the two nests. As soon as we have destroyed them we will cloak and begin our attack.”

  “Instructions received. Waiting for your go order,” Maalik said.

  The four Predators made short work of the Hive nests and the lead commander of the attacking Predators called and informed her High Mage the nest was destroyed and they are waiting for the Armada to catch up with them.

  Immediately after receiving the communication from the four ship vanguard, Cina announced to an Armada wide comlink to begin moving towards Planet Daak. The Armada was too close to jump to the battlefield so High Mage Cina knew the Hive would know they were coming. With all one-hundred and five of her warships staying cloaked, her only concern was the Zurguts that didn’t have cloaking capabilities.

  She had already thought about that scenario and had the Zurguts position themselves in the center of the Armada. Cina’s Raptor and Caid Maalik’s Zurgut were positioned near the rear of the V-shaped attack formation.

  As soon as the Armada entered the space around Planet Daak they were met with several hundred Hive fighters flying in different formations around the Hive command structures. It didn’t take High Mage Cina long to realize they were waiting on the Armada.

  The Hive couldn’t see the Aborians but did see the Zurguts and began firing on them. The Aborian pilots had seen the same reaction from the Hive nests before. Many of the pilots wondered what the Hive fighters and nests were thinking when the projectiles firing from their ships seemed to explode without hitting anything discernable.

  One piece of luck was the Hive command stations were still full of dock nests and the High Mage ordered the three Zurgut commanders to break off from the main Armada and attack the three command stations with their gamma-ray weapons.

  The Zurguts immediately picked their designated command structure and with four Predators surrounding them, they fired their weapons. As soon as the weapon hit their targets it was a chain reaction of explosions and within a minute they were destroyed.

  During the firing of the gamma-ray weapon the four Predators protecting each of the Zurguts uncloaked and began firing on the groups of Hive fighters and nests in close range to them and the temporarily disarmed Zurguts.

  Though Predators were doing their best to protect the Zurguts, two of them were beginning to take heavy damage. High Mage Cina saw what was happening and ordered the Zurgut commanders to immediately jump out of the battle as soon as they were powered back up.

  Meanwhile, Tage Doni in her Raptor along with twelve Predators was decimating the Hive nests, but she was taking a ton of hits from the still operating nests. Every Aborian warship was involved with head-on contact with the nests and the nests were exploding all around the battle area.

  High Mage Cina let out a loud screech when she saw on her display the Raptor piloted by Low Mage Arian had disappeared from her screen indicating she had just lost her good friend. Next, she saw the Zurguts jump and quickly ordered Caid Maalik to do the same.

  Maalik, having a heavy heart in seeing several Predators explode as well as Low Mage Arian’s Raptor, didn’t hesitate and immediately jumped. As the battle continued, Cina ordered the two Predators, one carrying Burseq Amiik, to enter the atmosphere of Planet Daak on their single mission to destroy whatever it was that the Hive had been constructing.

  Burseq Amiik gave the commander flying the Predator he was on the coordinates of two possible areas the Hive might have chosen as a good place for a massive weapon or communication array to be constructed.

  With the Predators recording their flight at low altitudes, one went west and Amiik’s went south in the direction of the Daakie king’s palace. When they were within ten miles of the palace they were shocked when they saw one completely constructed tower with the huge disc rotating in their direction.

  “Evade, Commander. That damn thing isn’t a communications array, it is a weapon. Just as Commander Lurcie dove to the right a large single yellow and red beam discharged from the weapon. It barely missed them, but they were still rocked by a concussion wave from the explosion of whatever the beam hit.

  The Predator’s electrical panels were spitting sparks and Commander Lurcie was having a hard time bringing the ship back around for a firing solution at the Hive weapon. But before the weapon could track the Predator, the massive weapon exploded sending large junks of the disc fly
ing in all directions.

  “Take that you frikin insects,” came over Commander Lurcie’s comlink. Commander Sulin had hit the Hive weapon with four photon torpedos.

  Both ships quickly cloaked and began their procedures to get back to space so they could jump out of the area, but not before recording the huge number of ground stations firing at them. There would be no using the Wardogs during the battle, as the recording would later show there were too many weapon placements.

  “What are your dispositions, Commander Lurcie and Commander Sulin?” Cina asked.

  “We are about to leave the atmosphere and are heading back to space. We both are requesting authorization to immediately jump when able. We have recordings that do not need to be destroyed and we are damaged,” said Commander Lurcie.

  “Affirmative. Make your jump as soon as you are able. We won’t be far behind. High Mage, out.”

  The Aborians continued the fight for another six minutes, then Cina ordered everyone to jump. They had succeeded in eliminating three command structures, one powerful land-based weapon, a thousand Hive fighters and 260 Hive nests. But they left the materials for another weapon build and over a hundred Hive nests. No Daakie vessels were lost, but the Aborians lost their Low Mage Arian, and her Raptor, along with eleven Predators.

  Sadly, for Caid Maalik, his small remaining military and the eight transports carrying Daakie civilians that escaped from the Hive attack, there would be no returning to Planet Daak for quite a long time. The worst part being the couple million civilians captured by the Hive to be used as slaves and eventually for the insectoid’s food.