Task Force (Task Force Series) Read online

  Task Force

  By Brad Smith

  This is a work of fiction. All characters and events reside solely in the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual people, alive or dead, is purely coincidental.

  ©2017, Brad Smith. No portion of this work can be reproduced in any way without prior written consent from the author with the exception of a fair use excerpt for review and editorial purposes.

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  Task Force

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  Chapter One

  The Noridian destroyer slid by the planet, the ship’s sleek featureless surface reflecting the black empty space on its port side, the red and browns of Karenthus on its starboard. The ship’s crew tirelessly patrolled the system, home to more than six hundred million citizens and slaves of the Noridian empire.

  The ship’s captain, a bulbous sphere–shaped creature with liquid metallic appendages, sat motionless on the bridge. The colors that emanated from within his silver body alternated between a watchful red and a calming blue. Five nearby identical spheres counted as his bridge crew. A stream of the crew’s collective consciousness flowed like a river through him. He sensed the growing awareness of a nearby ship.

  Entity approaching. Nature and origin unknown.

  The captain’s body changed ever so slightly in position and shape. The liquid metal oozed in some parts and then drew back into the body of the sphere. In response, the Noridian ship slowly altered its course, moving further away from the planet below.

  A bright flash entered the captain’s awareness and the data stream of consciousness spiked again. He focused on the climbing peak of data – a real–time representation of the very newest information his crew was assembling and analyzing. The unknown ship appeared hundreds of kilometers away from their position.

  Intent unclear. Weapons capabilities undetermined. Distance closing.

  The long black cylindrical object announced its presence by firing a bright blue light beam at the Noridian destroyer. The impressions of the crew flowed through him. Sensing the beam aimed at his ship’s broadside, the captain’s sphere turned a dark blue. Now his own sensations dripped down into the stream of consciousness.

  Hostile intent. Evasive. Maneuvering. Return fire.

  The Noridian destroyer quickly turned on its axis. The ship’s forward weapons pointed directly towards its attacker. The destroyer’s pulse guns glowed an angry red. Its drive engine pushed it forward at sub–light levels.

  The enemy ship’s beam swung out and upwards like a whip, striking deep into the destroyer’s ventral decks. The Noridian drive engine was sheared off from the ship’s underbelly and tumbled towards the planet below. Despite the loss of its sole engine, the destroyer’s forward momentum carried it quickly towards the enemy ship. As it approached, another beam from the enemy ship slammed into the Noridian destroyer. Its port side was nearly sliced off. The ship vented its atmosphere into space. Entire decks collapsed. Small fires spread into blazing infernos.

  In their final moments, the Noridian bridge crew collapsed to the deck and melted together into a large silver pool. There was no longer a captain of the destroyer. There was no crew. There was only One. A stream of consciousness screamed in unison, singing a defiant angry note to itself. Deep in the bowels of the Noridian ship, the missiles exploded just before the destroyer collided along the axis of the cylindrical enemy ship.

  Spheres of blinding white light erupted on impact. From the planet below, the silent explosions turned night into day.

  The massive cylindrical ship listed a few degrees. Its engines fired in tiny angry bursts and it neared the upper atmosphere of Karenthus.

  ***

  “My god,” Trenton said. “Would you look at that!” He pointed towards the sky. The flash grew brighter and bolder until it was bigger than the sun. Tartentus put a hand up to shield his eyes, nearly losing his grip on the wheelbarrow. A smattering of translucent blue crystals fell from its bucket and smashed on the rocky ground.

  Trenton heard the screams from all around him. He opened his eyes again. “I can’t…I can’t see. Markus, where are you?” he shouted.

  Trenton pivoted all around but saw only a collection of black blotches growing and shrinking against a white background. A thin hand landed on his shoulder, squeezing it.

  “I can’t see either! Trenton, those lights – explosions! Must be a battle going on up there,” he said. “Maybe the fleet’s finally come back for us after all these years!”

  Trenton laughed and let the wheelbarrow fall to the ground. The crystals drum rolled as they spilled out and scattered away from where he stood. “You think so?! Please let it be a rescue.” He squinted his eyes. “I think I can make out the mining entrance and the guard towers now.”

  The other men and women in the mining camp stopped what they were doing. They murmured to one another. A series of alarms rang in the distance, soon joined by others. Trenton turned towards where he thought Markus stood. “Where are you?” he asked. He turned again and saw the familiar outline of the haggard man covered in rags and scraps of fur.

  Trenton felt the ground shake. The tremors threw him on his back. Turning to the side, he saw it. A bolt from the sky shot down into the city far off from where he was. A series of explosions erupted near where it landed. The sky above the city turned pitch black with smoke. Another bolt landed. The outline of the city crumbled with each shot. After the third blast, there was only fire on the horizon. Trenton rolled over to where Markus lay, watching the carnage.

  “What do we do?” Trenton screamed. “Do we make a run for it?”

  Markus looked over at him and shouted into his ear. “Where the hell do we run?”

  The hair on Trenton’s neck stood up as the next bolt rained down. It was coming straight for them. He gulped one last time and the ground gave out beneath him.

  Chapter Two

  “I’ll have another drink,” Captain John Marlin announced. He leaned across the railing of the spacedock bar admiring his view of Earth out the window beyond. His eyes lingered on its myriad resplendent colors.

  Alone again. A beautiful view and no one to share it with.

  The shot glass clinked down in front of him. Marlin examined the brown liquid inside then heaved it towards his mouth. His chest tingled and he set the glass back down gently on the mirrored bar top.

  Look at me. His face was haggard and unshaved. The greying hair on his head was unkempt. The knot of his uniform’s necktie hung loose and one of the epaulets on his shoulder was dangling slightly off to the side. He laughed a little. If Ricky were here to see me now, he would laugh. Hell, we both would.

  “Here’s to you, Ricky,” he said to the empty seat beside him. Marlin’s eyes welled. No. Not again. He brought the glass to his mouth again and tipped it upwards. A few remaining drops of whisky met his throat. “Hey, Tom!” he yelled down the bar. “Don’t forget about us over here! Need to keep the good times rolling.”

  The door to the spaceport bar swished open. Marlin heard them enter from across the room. He knew right away from the cadence of their speech, the carefree way they talked and laughed. He turned to see their smooth unlined faces, free of the pain that came with years of living. They have no idea what’s being asked of them. No idea.

  “Can we get a round of draft?” the tallest of the four shouted. The natural leader. His uniform was crisply ironed and starched. No scars on his smooth face. No lines under his eyes. Hadn’t ordered anyone to their deaths yet. Not yet anyway.

  The shorter one took off his white peak cap and slapped the tall one on the back. “Hey Jenkins, are you in some kinda hurry to lose your money and your mind again? Just pass out the
cash now before you pass out like last week!” The funny one. He’ll be the first one to crack when the going gets rough.

  “Gentleman, please. It’s been a long flight and we got an early morning. Let’s not push it tonight. I want to make a good impression on my first cruise.” He was square–jawed and handsome in his white uniform. The careerist. How many bodies will you leave on the way to the top, kid?

  Marlin waited for the fourth one to talk. A minute passed without a word. The quiet one. Most dangerous of the bunch. Too bad the war’s been over for twenty years.

  Marlin looked up at the vidscreen, mutely playing the newsreel clipping of the Noridian ambassador talking with his counterpart on Earth. The spherical blob had shifted into the shape resembling a human but the liquid metal still dripped occasionally out of its various orifices. Near the bottom of the screen, the ticker ran by. “Noridian–Human Tensions Run High”. Well, they might all get their chance yet.

  “Bartender, get that table a round,” he said, gripping the bar and standing up. “Just get them whatever this will cover.” Marlin slapped a week’s pay on the bar and staggered to the door. By the time the group of young officers got their first round of drinks, he was long gone.

  ***

  Commander Dalton Rayner slammed his fist into the lieutenant’s gut. The young man’s knees buckled. Rayner threw another jab. It landed on his opponent’s jaw. The kid went straight to the canvas. Rayner shook his head and stepped back to his corner.

  The blood from the lieutenant’s mouth dripped on the ship’s logo emblazoned on the canvas. The little red splotches landed on the tail of the leaping tiger with its claws spread and jaws open. His arm lay outstretched on the canvas, covering part of the ship’s name stenciled below it. ESS Hellmund had become ESS Hell. Rayner laughed.

  The referee waved his hands together and apart. TKO. Rayner’s hand went up and he nodded. The crowd roars. The empty bleachers stood mute. With a shrug, the commander picked up the lieutenant from the mat and hugged him.

  “You’ve got the strength and speed,” Rayner told him. “It’s just…it’s just you’re all defense! Get more aggressive!” The lieutenant nodded and clung to the ropes.

  Rayner patted him on the back and swung his leg over the bottom rope. He sighed, taking off his gloves. The kid still leaned against the ropes behind him, clinging for dear life while the referee dabbed at the cut below his eye. Rayner tried to feel the rush but it had already left him. His heart rate was normal. His breathing was slow and steady again.

  He walked into the locker room, counting in his head the number of days he had spent like this in dry dock. Three fights this week. If we don’t get out there soon, I might end up killing one of these poor bastards.

  Chapter Three

  The Morningstar veered to port with its big engines screaming. The enemy beam hit it anyway. The starboard engine exploded, sending the big ship lumbering helplessly towards the gravity well of the planet far below.

  Inside the ship’s smoke–filled command center, lights blinked on and off and a siren warbled like a dying animal. Her captain leaned against what remained of the battle console, clinging to its railing for dear life. The ship shuddered and groaned and he swore.

  “Damage report now,” he howled. The ship shook violently again and listed hard. The railing collapsed and the captain landed hard on the deck. All around him, the ship creaked and bellowed, dying a loud painful death. “Tactical, I need a report now, damn it!” he shouted. There was no reply. His eyes closed slowly.

  A single muffled groan filled the empty silence amidst the clamor of the dying ship. The captain opened his eyes. His sensors officer lay in front of him, pinned underneath the remains of his station. The young man’s chest heaved once and then stopped.

  It’s over. “All hands! Evacuate. Get to your ships now!” he screamed. The lights flickered on and off. One of the displays above him came loose and crashed to the deck beside him. This is it. Outside the bridge window, he witnessed the fates of the two other ships in the patrol.

  The enemy ship’s beam whipped hard at the Justice. A red gash glowed all along the cruiser’s port side. From the wound and out into the empty space beyond poured debris, gasses, and crewmembers. Justice fired back with its dorsal–mounted railgun. The Karenthian–steel projectiles slammed into the curved surface of the cylindrical enemy ship.

  For a merciful moment, the enemy stopped firing.

  Then it let loose another beam at the Justice. It carved a wide hole into the cruiser’s forward section. The ship lurched and turned hard to starboard. The hull buckled and crumpled. Justice inverted and sliced through the aft of the much smaller patrol vessel Deliverance. A chain of explosions blossomed from aft to stern on the tiny ship.

  Escape pods tumbled out into the vast distance behind both ships. The captain prepared for what would come next. A lurch, a shudder, and then the cold emptiness of space. He swallowed and gritted his teeth.

  Everything turned black.

  ***

  “Keep your ships on the right flank moving! Don’t make them targets!”

  Marlin stood before the display. Its blue incandescent light flickered as the tiny three–dimensional fighters weaved around the asteroids. Beyond the nearly invisible chunks of space rock sat the unmistakable outline of a lone Noridian cruiser. The lights from its forward decks blinked off and on. Each time the tiny lights came on, several of Marlin’s approaching fighters disappeared.

  “Assume Beta Attack Pattern. Gold Flight, pull back! You’re getting shot to pieces!”

  The brave group of pilots were taking a beating now they had cleared the asteroid belt. The Noridian’s lasers coldly picked them off one by one. Marlin sighed. It seemed like no matter how hard he screamed into the ship’s radios, the pilots were oblivious to his commands. His heart sank as the last of Gold Flight’s fighters was blown to pieces. Another group of his fighters on the Noridian’s bow had gotten through the defenses unscathed. Two of the fighters unleashed their torpedoes and they sailed towards the enemy cruiser. Marlin shook his head. Useless.

  “Okay, that’s enough. All flights, pull back. I say again, pull back.”

  The enemy cruiser fired blast after blast at the retreating fighters. Two more were lost before they re–entered the cover of the asteroid field. Now they were limping back to his carrier group with little left to show for their efforts. What have I done? This was a huge mistake.

  Ten minutes later, he watched the screen show the last fighter dock with the huge ship. He looked at the display to see the final tally. The screen flashed at him – “Battlegroup Squadron at 30% effectiveness. Simulation Grade: 42 per cent”. His stomach tightened. He walked down the steps and stood before the simulation room’s shiny metallic doors. They hissed open to reveal his executive officer. Commander Rayner stood before him in the corridor with a slight grin on his face.

  “That could have gone better,” Rayner remarked.

  Marlin’s eyes narrowed. “It went like it went. A pure disaster right from the start,” he said. “Not my fault the computer started us off so close to the Noridians.”

  Rayner tossed his head to the side. “Still…might have been interesting to see what would have happened if you let Gold Flight loose. You didn’t even give them a…,” he trailed off. The crew gave both men a wide berth as they strode down the ship’s corridor.

  Both men silently waited for the elevator. It finally arrived and the doors closed behind them. Marlin’s jaw tightened and he crossed his arms. The elevator jolted to life under their feet. Marlin spoke without looking at Rayner. “You got something for me?” he asked.

  Rayner looked down at the tablet in his hands and offered it to Marlin. “Sir, this is a direct communique from Fleet Command. Thirty six hours ago, three of our ships in the Anata System were destroyed by a surprise attack from a very large vessel of some kind. Our orders are to form up with the Sixth Fleet in Verada System then proceed together to the Anata System. Once the
re, we’re to investigate the hostile presence, gather as much information as we can and then destroy it.”

  They walked into the empty briefing room together and sat down opposite each other. Marlin rubbed his eyes and fumbled with the tablet. “Okay, what am I looking for here? I don’t know how to work this damn thing.”

  Rayner leaned over and tapped on it twice.

  Marlin read the report. His eyes widened. “Morningstar, Deliverance, and Justice. Three ships of the line wiped out! I thought we had a ceasefire with the Noridians. What’s been going on out there?” he said.

  Rayner shook his head. “That’s the thing,” he said. “We don’t know. No one knows. The Noridians lost a destroyer at Karenthus about five days ago. After that, this thing wiped out the entire planet. They’re blaming us for that attack. The Noridians lodged a formal protest and have mobilized half their fleet. Word from high up is that the diplomats are working around the clock to prevent an all–out war.”

  “Maybe someone new in the neighborhood has found us,” Marlin suggested. “Any signs of intelligent life? Any recent signs of contact?”

  “None at all, captain,” Rayner said. “But maybe this is someone dropping in to say hello.”

  I’m too old for this. Marlin tossed the tablet aside on the table. “How’s the refit gone with the Arcturus AI? Found any problems? Bugs?” he asked.

  Rayner breathed in for a long moment and then sighed. “Well…the Arcturus is installed successfully on every ship computer. Initial tests show no major issues. At least nothing that would prevent us from performing this mission. Some of the bugs that might be there won’t show up until we’re en route,” he said.

  Marlin’s palm landed on the table. “We’re six months in dry dock with a crew fresh out of the academy and an untested AI” he said quietly. “And now Fleet wants us to go out and fight a war. What other good news do you have for me?”

  Rayner backed up his chair a little and paused. He twisted his fingers and the vidscreen in front of them turned on, showing an image of the Sixth Fleet and its current positions. He dabbed at the cruisers and destroyers that surrounded Earth. “Sir, the other ships that would usually be assigned to us as carrier escorts are faster than we are and Fleet wants them there as soon as possible.”