Predator (Old Ironsides Book 3) Read online

‘I’ve got something,’ he said. ‘A vent of some kind, it travels directly from the hull exterior into the belly of the ship, probably an exhaust. It’s closed but we can get through it.’

  Marshall nodded.

  ‘Do it,’ he ordered. ‘Send the Marines in, full attack!’

  *

  Gunnery Sergeant Jenson Agry stood near a massive sealed hatch on Titan’s upper decks and surveyed the one hundred strong Marine platoon before him. Titan’s interior shuddered from small plasma blasts and internal fires, the lighting flickering weakly in and out as he spoke, his voice distorted by the atmospheric mask he wore.

  ‘We have no idea what we’re going to find in there,’ he said, ‘but we do know it’s likely we will encounter the shape shifting material that invaded Titan some months ago. We’re equipped to deal with that, so I want the glue tanks in first under heavy weapons escort, then the rest of us right behind. We secure the entry spot, hold position and ensure Titan can’t be infiltrated before we allow more troops in and advance, understood?’

  ‘Hoo rar!’

  ‘If we can’t secure the position we will be forced to order Titan to break off and leave us behind,’ Agry added. ‘We won’t be able to risk letting the enemy aboard her.’

  Corporal Ben Hodgson stood at the front of the Marine platoon along with twenty or so of the men who had survived the last encounter with the “goo”, as they had taken to calling it. Agry nodded at them and stood aside, and immediately they went to work.

  The Marines accessed the huge doors behind the sergeant and exposed a circular room with a top hatch, ten feet across and specifically designed to be used to board enemy vessels. The entire deck of the room was an elevator, while outside a hatch on Titan’s massive hull were grappling hooks and plasma cutters designed to sheer through even the toughest hull plating.

  The Marines boarded the elevator, half of them equipped with the anti goo tanks and the rest with heavy plasma guns. Moments later, Sergeant Agry activated the boarding protocol and the hatch closed as above them he heard the plasma cutters grind into the hull of the Marauder.

  Immediately, the elevator platform began ascending. Agry checked his heavy plasma cannon one last time and then activated it. The plasma battery hummed into life, heat haze rippling up from the magazine as he looked up and saw through an observation panel clouds of sparks and whirling embers as the Marauder’s hull was sheered through.

  Moments later the cutters burst into the ship’s interior and folded away like the petals of some grotesque metal flower blossoming inside the Marauder and the elevator rose up the final few feet and hatches opened on either side.

  A rush of gas flooded across them as Sergeant Agry jogged out into the Marauder’s interior with his Marines either side of him and promptly felt his boots leave the deck as zero gravity kicked in.

  ‘Zero zero!’ he ordered.

  The troops activated small thrusters on their combat suits designed for zero zero combat: zero gravity, zero breathable atmosphere.

  They were in a corridor of sorts but it wasn’t like anything he’d seen before. The walls were forged from some kind of moss like material and the corridor itself was not straight but winding, while other corridors extended vertically up from their position and were illuminated only by a bizarre bioluminescent glow from something alive in the walls.

  The air was moist, vapor spiraling in myriad clouds of droplets as Agry looked about him and tried to figure out what to do next. They were at a natural disadvantage in these poorly lit conditions, forced to fight on their enemy’s terms and turf and…

  ‘Enemy!’

  Agry looked ahead and saw something moving in the misty confines of the tunnel before them. Moments later the dim illumination within the tunnel blinked out into utter, complete blackness and Agry’s heart thumped against the wall of his chest like an incarcerated prisoner begging to be freed as he heard a hellish screeching sound rush upon them.

  ‘Infra red!’

  Agry’s ocular implant flickered into IR vision and he almost panicked as he brought up the heavy gun at the roiling wall of creatures racing toward him in a gruesome flood. His brain had the chance to notice multiple legs, clicking beaks of some kind and bulky, horned bodies before his IR vision exploded with bright pulses of white plasma as the Marines opened up on their foes.

  The screeching reached a new crescendo and Agry lost all sense of what he was looking at as the heat flares from the plasma shots blended into a fierce white light that blinded him to where the enemy was.

  ‘Glow sticks now! IR off!’

  Agry fired into the white mass of noise as with one hand he tossed a glow stick ahead of him. His ocular implant switched off at his mental command and he saw the blackness of the tunnel return to be illuminated by the glow from numerous luminescent tubes spinning through the tunnel away from him to collide with more creatures rushing upon their position from in front, behind and above.

  In an instant he knew that they simply did not have enough firepower to hold their position, and he knew they could not let the creatures into the breaching pod behind him for fear that they might get aboard Titan.

  Sergeant Agry knew the fight was already over and that he would never be able to secure their position against so many enemy, but he kept firing anyway.

  ***

  XLIII

  CSS Titan

  ‘They’re pinned down!’

  The XO’s voice rang out across the bridge as Marshall saw the communications feed from Sergeant Agry’s Marines inside the enemy ship. He could hear the desperate gunfire and could see the gruesome creatures screeching and charging this way and that in the dim light as the soldiers tried to hold them at bay.

  A scream of agony pierced his ears and he saw a Marine yanked from his position by one of the creatures, its thick beak shearing off the soldier’s leg as though it were made of butter as two cruel stingers plunged into his chest and pierced his body armor. The Marine screamed in pain and then quivered in the grip of the creature as some vile cocktail of venom surged through his body and poisoned him, white foam spilling from his mouth. A hail of plasma fire rained down on the animal and drove it back but the shots also peppered the injured soldier and killed him.

  Sergeant Agry’s voice rang out above the din of battle.

  ‘There’s too many of them!’

  Marshall stared in dismay as he realized that the Marines were about to be overpowered and that there was nothing he could do about it. Olsen’s hand rested on his shoulder.

  ‘Admiral,’ the XO said softly, his voice strangely audible despite the noise of battle filling the bridge. ‘We’re done here.’

  Marshall turned to Olsen. He knew that there was nothing else that they could do, no other plays left in the game other than to pull away and physically use Titan and the other fleet vessels as battering rams to try to smash the enemy ships to pieces.

  ‘We’re done,’ he agreed, unable to look his XO in the eye.

  There was nothing more he could do for any of them, either the Marines aboard the Marauder or the people on earth. With a heavy heart, Marshall turned to the tactical officer and gave what he felt sure would be his last command.

  ‘Withdraw,’ he said, ‘before our hull is breached.’

  The tactical officer nodded solemnly, the voices of the fighting Marines echoing back and forth across the bridge as he reached out to disengage the boarding pod mechanism and fall back from the Marauder.

  ‘New contact, bearing oh seven elevation five, CSS identification!’

  Marshall looked up at the communications officer, the final vestiges of hope drained from his mind and body.

  ‘Who is it?’

  The officer looked up at him in surprise. ‘It’s Defiance, sir!’

  Marshall raised an eyebrow. ‘Defiance was destroyed in the…’

  ‘They’re requesting a channel, captain!’

  ‘Open it!’ Marshall snapped.

  On the deck before him Marshall saw th
e holographic form of Captain Lucas standing before him.

  ‘Admiral, Captain Jordyn Lucas, CSS Defiance!’

  Marshall hesitated, uncertain of who he was looking at. ‘Captain, right now I cannot rely on anything that you say due to our predicament regarding infiltrators that have been exposed here on earth. They replicate human appearance perfectly and we have evidence that your ship was destroyed in an explosion and…’

  ‘Admiral, with all due respect shut the hell up and listen!’ Lucas snapped, shocking Marshall into silence. ‘The enemy ships were built by a different species to the ones that are inside them now! We’ve analyzed them and we believe that they were designed as mining vessels, not warships!’

  Marshall stood up straighter.

  ‘Mining vessels? We call them Marauders.’

  ‘That’s what their plasma cannons are designed for. They’re not warships! The plasma cannons are designed to blast asteroids and rock, to extract minerals from within them. The creatures aboard them now are scavengers and they’re hiding behind the power of the capital ships. We’re on our way to you now and we’ve brought some help.’

  As Marshall watched, he saw a young man appear in a CSS flight suit flanked by two towering Ayeelan warriors.

  ‘You want us to help even the odds there, admiral?’ the pilot asked.

  Before Marshall could reply, CSS Pegasus pulled up and away from them and the communications channels filled with the voices of the captains of other ships.

  ‘This is CSS Pegasus, we have regained control. Repeat, we have regained control! Launching all fighters and redirecting attacks onto Marauders!’

  ‘This is CSS Vanquish, we have regained control, vectoring for flank attack!’

  ‘This is CSS Delphi, we have regained control, request orders!’

  Admiral Marshall pushed himself off the command rail.

  ‘Titan, belay my last and hold firm!’ he snapped. ‘Delphi, Pegasus and Vanquish, attack all targets and get in close! Get inside their guns and rip them apart! Defiance, your assistance would be most welcome. Board her with us and send your reinforcements immediately, we have Marines under fire in her lower decks!’

  ‘Bright lights!’ the CSS pilot with the Ayleeans said.

  ‘Say what now?’ Olsen asked.

  ‘Bright lights!’ the pilot repeated. ‘The enemy are of aquatic origin and avoid bright light! It’s their weakness!’

  A ripple of excited anticipation surged through the ship as the bridge crew leaped into action and Marshall watched as Defiance rushed in alongside Titan and climbed into position to board the huge Marauder. Marshall turned to the viewing screen where Sergeant Agry’s Marines were under fire.

  ‘Get some damned spot lights to those Marines, now! And start jamming all of the enemy’s communications, order Polaris Station to do the same! I want that enemy blind in more ways that just one!’

  *

  CSS Defiance

  Tyrone Hackett jogged along at the head of the Ayleean warriors, leading them through the frigate as crew members staggered back and out of their way, shocked at the sight of the heavily armed Ayleean troops moving through the ship.

  Tyrone reached the boarding hatch even as it was opening, and he ducked inside as Shylo and another twenty Ayleeans crammed inside, each dragging canisters of hemostatic agent and heavy, powerful flashlights alongside their plasma rifles.

  ‘Twenty this time, no more!’ Tyrone called out as more of the warriors tried to force their way in, eager to join the battle. ‘We’ll leave the hatch open topside and you can all climb up once we’ve secured the position!’

  Although Tyrone had not given the command a second thought, he was somewhat surprised to see the warriors back off from the hatch entrance without argument, gripping their weapons tightly as the hatch doors closed.

  ‘You’re a natural leader,’ Shylo growled down at him. ‘But my men should be ashamed to obey commands from a mere human.’

  ‘Yesterday you would have said they should kill me for giving them orders,’ Tyrone replied, and smiled up at the warrior. ‘You’ve gone soft, Shylo.’

  Shylo glowered down at Tyrone as the boarding hatch rose up and the cutters did their work in a frenzied shower of embers, and then Tyrone activated his plasma rifle and looked up.

  ‘Here we go! One for all and…’

  The boarding hatches burst open and Tyrone saw a frenetic tumble of octopedal predators scrambling over the roof and plunging down into a misty corridor before them, beyond which he could see the flashes of plasma weapons and the screams of both human and alien combatants.

  ‘…one for all!’

  Tyrone rushed out with nineteen Ayleean warriors behind him all screaming with bloodlust as they opened fire into the enemy hordes. The octopeds screeched in agony and alarm cries went up among them as they turned to face the attack from behind and were met with a hail of plasma fire and brilliant, blinding white lights.

  The octopeds’ black eyes squinted and shied away from the brilliant illumination as the Ayleeans pored out into the corridor.

  Tyrone went down onto one knee, propping his elbow on the extended knee and firing on automatic into the frenzy of entangled gray limbs and cruel black eyes. The stench of burning flesh and skin filled the corridor, a cloud of acrid blue smoke searing his eyes as plasma rounds blasted into the bodies of their attackers.

  Tyrone checked behind him and saw more of the octopeds crawling over the top of the boarding hatch, but even as he shouted a warning so he saw dozens of Ayleeans flooding up and out of the breach, firing as they went and cutting the fresh intruders down.

  Tyrone kept up his firing as Shylo and several other Ayleeans charged forward with long, polished blades in their hands that flashed in the white light beams. The towering warriors plunged into the fray with screeches of fury, their weapons crunching deep into the enemy’s bodies or slicing clean through limbs and necks.

  Tyrone backed up as thick, oozing purple blood snaked in pools like oil across the ship’s decks, more Ayleeans rushing past him and plowing into the octopeds in a wave of fury that pushed them back. Tyrone ceased fire and grabbed a communicator as he yelled a warning. ‘All CSS boarding forces, Ayleens in the vicinity are allied, repeat: they’re allied, do not shoot!’

  The flashes of plasma fire up ahead blazed through the thick smoke and mist like thunderstorms flashing in distant clouds as Tyrone edged forward. Before him in the corridor was a mass of twitching limbs, of gray bodies heaped upon one another and laced with streams of blood that spilled from deep wounds. The last of the Ayleeans thundered past him as they boarded the vessel and sprinted up and over the grim mound of corpses, rushing into battle as Tyrone’s communicator crackled.

  ‘Marine Force One, we’re pinned down!’

  Tyrone saw the Ayleeans rushing into the octoped creatures in a frenzy of clashing limbs, weapons and teeth, and beyond through in the fog of battle he saw what looked like CSS troops fighting toward them from the other direction, the bright lights blinding them just as effectively as it was blinding the octopeds.

  ‘Oh no.’

  Tyrone vaulted up onto the heaving mound of bodies and grabbed his communicator.

  ‘Marine Force One, allied dead ahead! Repeat, allied ahead!’

  Tyrone heard nothing but static on his communicator and he shoved it into his belt and clambered up over the amassed bodies as he fought to catch up with the agile Ayleeans as plasma shots flashed over his head and screams echoed all around him.

  A thick segmented leg swept across his vision and slammed into his chest and he was hurled against the wall of the corridor as his pistol clattered onto the back of a fallen octoped. Tyrone’s head smacked against the solid wall and his vision blurred as a wounded octoped crawled from the grisly mass of corpses, three of its limbs missing and one side of its head a bloodied tangle of purple blood and shattered gray exoskeleton.

  The creature’s bony limb pinned him in place by his chest as a second slammed into h
is throat. Tyrone’s eyes bulged and his senses swam as the injured creature pushed against the bodies of its fallen comrades in an attempt to squeeze the life out of Tyrone.

  Tyrone’s right hand fumbled for a combat knife in his ankle sheath but he couldn’t reach it and his vision was swimming with light and color. The octoped’s shattered face sneered in agonized fury, blood pulsing ever faster from the hideous wounds to its skull as it leaned in and tried to break Tyrone’s neck, unable to use its stingers which had been shrivelled and burned by plasma fire.

  Tyrone’s vision began to dim and he flailed for his knife, lifted his leg upwards toward his hand and suddenly he felt the handle of the blade brush his fingertips. He yanked the thick bladed weapon out and slammed it deep into the limb pinning his neck against the wall of the corridor.

  The octoped squealed in pain but it did not release him, growling and pushing even harder. Tyrone twisted the blade with the last of his strength, seeking the nerves and blood vessels in the limb, and a fresh gush of purple blood spilled like glutinous ink across his hands as he ruptured an artery deep within the creature’s body.

  The octoped snarled in anger, pushed harder against the wall, but Tyrone felt the strength go out of the limb and suddenly it fell away from his neck as the other limb against his chest weakened. The octoped sagged, the rage still visible in its eyes but it’s grim features collapsing as it slumped before him.

  Tyrone dropped onto his knees, his voice ragged through his damaged throat and his breathing tight and whistling as he reached for his communicator. He tried to speak but no sounds came forth, his vision starring as he tried to reach the Marines he knew were just meters from where he crouched.

  *

  ‘Keep firing!’

  Sergeant Agry’s voice was barely audible above the din of battle as he fired two plasma rounds into the face of a charging octoped and watched the creature’s bones and flesh melt away in a sizzling cloud of burning flesh as the animal slumped onto the deck before him.