Star Force: Mettle (SF9) Read online

  “Several dozen, but we haven’t been able to get an exact count because they’ve neutralized all the security cameras. We don’t even have telemetry feeds from the tram system, so they could be bringing in more troops without us knowing.”

  “How many points of contention?”

  “We’ve locked down all security doors on every level save for one each, and have situated our defenses there, but they’ve been cutting through others to try and flank us, so we never know when or where the fighting will break out. We’ve got cameras working on our levels and someone watching them at all times, but when they breach we have to pull back to the next level…we just don’t have the numbers to hold multiple locations.”

  “Civilians?” Jason asked as they made a right turn and walked out of the docking pylon and into the spaceport’s outer edge…into the face of hundreds of people cluttering the floor of a large, low ceilinged promenade.

  “We’re keeping them as close to the evac points as possible. With your permission we’ll start loading them onto the dropship you came in on.”

  “No,” Jason said firmly, as he weaved his way through the crowd. “They’ll be safe here. I need you to gather all remaining security personnel to protect these levels and establish a makeshift brig for the prisoners.”

  “What prisoners?” she asked, nearly tripping over an elderly man lying on the floor.

  “The ones you’re going to be picking up off the floor after we finish sweeping the spaceport. We’ll let you know when it’s clear to begin. Don’t follow us down.”

  “I’m not the security Chief, you’ll need to brief him,” she said as they came to the far side of the room to a double set of stairs, one leading up and the other down. She motioned for them to go up but Jason went the other way.

  “You tell him. We’ve got work to do,” the Archon said, leaving the security guard behind and taking the steps down to the next level, having already reviewed the spaceport’s schematics on their trip out from Earth. Like all Star Force spaceports, the complex was the size of a small city, offering a wide range of services and tourist options independent from the facilities within the sector it served.

  The civilians present were a mix of workers coming to and from the regional sites and tourists either staying in the spaceport or transferring over to the Swiss resort that lay to the northeast of the facility at the opposite end of a secondary tram line, the entrance to which sat four levels above the primary and currently one above the engagement zone, meaning it and the other sites within this sector were safe from the Chinese invasion force for the moment.

  The entire spaceport was the shape of a pancake, consisting of 15 levels, all but three of which were underground. The secondary tram lines intersected with level 4, while the primary lines bottomed out at level 8 due to the track-shifting apparatus that pulled the trams out of the near surface lines and docked them with the terminal that lay below. The rest of the spaceport sat underneath the terminal, and was currently cut off from the spaceport control room, situated atop level 1.

  All in all, there was a lot of ground to cover, but their immediate objectives were to break through the engagement point and recapture the tram terminal, so as to stop any more reinforcements from coming through. After that, they could begin hunting down the remaining troops room by room with the help of the security forces to hold and monitor cleared areas.

  When Jason reached the next level he saw that the staircase down was blocked by heavy security doors, meaning that the guards had wisely set up access points at varied locations rather than having one staircase lead all the way up through the levels. That way, if one point was breached it wouldn’t expose all levels to the enemy simultaneously.

  “Keep comlinks open from here on out,” Randy said, two positions behind Jason as they began to run across level 3 in search of the next staircase down.

  Jason adjusted his wrist-mounted control panel, locking the transmit button on before sliding the armored casing back over the delicate controls, meaning that everything he said would be transmitted to the rest of the 2s and vice versa, keeping them in constant contact.

  The next closest staircase was also closed so they moved onto the next where they spotted three guards behind a makeshift barricade consisting of a pair of desks and a heavy potted plant.

  “Follow us,” Jason ordered as he ran down the stairs.

  The three men stared at the line of armored soldiers as they passed, unsure of what was happening, until one of them tagged another on the chest with his fist.

  “That’s the help we were promised. Let’s go,” he said, jumping into line behind the last of them, pistol held at the ready. The other two reluctantly followed a few steps behind.

  At the base of the stairs Ivan turned around and confronted the first of the guards. “Which way down?”

  “Far side…down this hallway, then take a right at the fountain.”

  Ivan’s helmeted head nodded, then sprinted to catch back up with the others. “Head straight,” he told Jason, “right at the fountain.”

  Jason responded by increasing the speed of his run and the line of red armored bodies stretched out slightly, leaving the seemingly sluggish security guards falling behind. When he got to the fountain, sitting in the center of a corridor crossroads, he turned the corner and spotted another makeshift barricade with six guards waiting, these more agitated and alert than the others had been. The nearest one turned, pistol drawn, at the sound of their approach.

  He almost pulled the trigger, but hesitated just long enough to realize these were friendlies…especially since they weren’t aiming at him, though their appearance was completely foreign to any of the combat equipment available to security.

  “Report,” Jason said as he slowed to a halt, pulling the stinger rifle off the attachment hook on his back and hefting it at the ready across his chest while simultaneously hitting the charge button.

  “Who are you?” one of them asked.

  “Archons,” Jason answered simply.

  The lot of them visibly stiffened, standing a bit straighter when their minds realized that these were their commanders’ commanders.

  “We’ve got level 5, for now,” one of them finally answered, picking up verbal speed by the word. “We’re expecting them to breach again at any time, so we have to keep this access point covered. The main defense force is on the level below.”

  “Leave four men here, the rest of you follow us down,” Jason said, jumping up and over the barricade and almost floating down the open stairs in the low gravity, with the others following suit single file behind him. Before he hit the last stair the sound of gunfire spiked his adrenaline and he moved right against the wall, halting a moment to let Paul close up on his left, then as one they turned outward, covering both directions in the lower hallway…which was clear.

  “This way,” Jason said, following the sound of the gunfire further right. It didn’t take them long to find the source, just a few dozen meters down a bullet deflected off the wall, chipping a piece of it away to fall to the floor. Whatever was happening, it was happening around the next corner.

  4

  Jason skidded to a halt just prior to the turn, poking his head around the corner for a brief look before pulling back. The stairs down to the next level must have been at the far end of the hall, because halfway down there was a hefty blockade at another intersection with dozens of security guards in position behind it and clustered off to the sides.

  “Paul, we’re going over in pairs. Dive, roll, and fire. Three second gaps.”

  His counterpart pulled up next to shoulder. “Ready when you are.”

  “Go,” Jason said quietly, then turned the corner and ran.

  His run was awkward, with almost no bounce and his torso leaning forward heavily to maintain traction with the floor. Paul was half a step behind him, but caught up even just as they reached the back row of guards hunkered down three deep behind a crate barricade that rose up to head level save for two
peep holes that they were firing through. With a hefty jump, both Archons did a superman dive over the security officers, passing over the top of the crates and through the meter high gap quick as a flash.

  Jason got three shots off before he tucked into a ball and landed on the floor, rolling over his ample backpack and onto his feet in a crouch, where he followed through with a hail of their trademark green stingers towards the two men hunkered down in the stairwell recess. The paint splattered over their heads, but made them flinch long enough for the pair of Archons to get to their feet and continue charging forward.

  The Chinese men didn’t take long to recognize the threat and began spraying the hallway with a hail of bullets from their automatic rifles, with one of them going down a second later with a stinger to the left eye, spreading its stun energy directly into the man’s head and rendering him unconscious on impact.

  Jason juked left, Paul right as the bullets came their way, hoping to minimize the impacts. Paul took one round to the knee, Jason two to his right arm but none of the small caliber rounds penetrated their armor, though the physical impact did cause them to stumble, but within a handful of seconds they were to the stairwell, throwing paintballs into the depression and temporarily stopping return fire.

  Taking advantage of the moment of confusion, Jason jumped up slightly and came down feet first into the stairwell, kicking into a man coming up and knocking him back down into a pair of others, all of which fell to the foot of the stairs. Jason stepped on them and fired into the knot of reinforcements just off to his left, taking three down within two seconds, but there were dozens more behind them.

  Paul came down a moment later, pumping stingers into the men on the floor before running forward and passing Jason, then ramming his shoulder into the sternum of the closest standing enemy, driving him back into the others and making a mess of their formation. He jammed his foot on the floor, slowing his momentum and getting a few inches of separation between him and the man, then punched his armored fist into the man’s face, knocking him out with the single blow, then he began swinging frantically, busting up anyone within range with his fist, elbow, rifle butt, knee or whatever else was available, tearing through the crowd before they knew what was happening to them.

  Jason followed him, policing the downed men with efficient chest shots, making sure they were fully down. He took another bullet to his chest plate as one of the men Paul hit swung his gun arm around and accidentally pulled the trigger. A moment later the hallway was clear of standing enemies.

  When Paul busted through the last of them he did an about face and pegged two in the head with green paint splats before he noticed Jason’s armor. “You hit?”

  “Cracked…surface only I think.”

  “Do a seal check,” Emily suggested, coming up behind them with the others.

  “Sweep the area,” Jason said. “I’ll get security to round up these,” he said, kicking one of the downed men in the leg. “Get moving before they figure out what’s going on.”

  Several nods were the only response he got from his team, which began fanning out in both directions, then splitting up by twos when they came to intersections. Paul stayed behind, pressing a finger into the hairline crack on Jason’s chest. The gloves he wore were heavy, so he couldn’t feel the damage, but he wanted to see if the material underneath had been compromised enough to flake off, which fortunately it didn’t.

  “You just can’t help getting shot, can you?”

  “You took a few dings yourself,” Jason pointed out.

  Paul’s faceplate glanced at the floor, then he stooped down and picked up an object from the belt of one of the soldiers. He stood back up, holding the grenade up for Jason to see.

  “Everyone stay sharp,” Paul said over the open comm. “They’ve got grenades.”

  “Think our armor can handle that?” Jason asked.

  “Should…but I don’t feel like testing it.”

  “Me neither. Let’s get them picked up for security. If one goes off accidentally they can’t take the hit. Go get ‘em, I’ll pick up the Easter eggs.”

  “Make sure they’re all napping,” Paul said, stepping over the downed enemies as he headed up the stairs. When he got back to the barricade he heard muted gunfire over his comm, then silence. He gave his team a moment to deal with the situation then voiced his curiosity. “Report.”

  “Caught a couple roaming the halls,” Emily said as Paul made it back to the security checkpoint. “No trouble.”

  “We’re through,” he said, temporarily disabling his comlink output so as not to interfere with his teammates’ concentration, though he left the input active. “We need the prisoners stripped of weapons, bound, and transported to a holding area.”

  “Yes, sir,” one of them said gratefully through the peep hole.

  “Come with me,” Paul said, pulling the top crate off and tossing it aside effortlessly. The guards began prying several others off with considerable effort. “Keep a man on the stairs, everyone else start policing the bodies. They should all be alive and unconscious. See that they stay that way until your commander has confinement set up.”

  Paul met up with Jason at the bottom of the stairs cradling both arms full of grenades and gingerly passed by him.

  “Put these somewhere safe,” he said, looking at the nearest guard. “Come back for the prisoners.”

  “Guys, some help,” the guard said, grabbing two of the grenades and pinning them against his chest with his left arm, then he grabbed a third and moved off, not wanting to risk carrying any more than that. The other guards picked Jason clean and headed back up the stairs, leaving the rest to begin restraining the unconscious enemies with bundles of plastic binders that they carried in their utility belts.

  “Found a nest of them,” Megan’s voice said through Paul’s helmet. “Looks like a staging area just short of the next stairwell. We could use some help.”

  “We’ve got it,” Jack said. “We’re one corridor behind you.”

  “Are they contained?” Jason asked.

  “Looks like three entrances, plus the stairs,” Megan answered. “They’re in a room just off a T-junction.”

  “Make sure they don’t get a chance to retreat, then push ahead to the tram station. Once we have that secured we can start sweeping level by level.”

  “Copy that.”

  Paul toggled his helmet’s tracking device and pinged for the location of his teammates, requesting a brief radio transmission that his HUD flashed in the form of blue dots superimposed over the walls. He rotated his head around, getting an idea of where they were, then turned the ping off and pointed down the hallway to the right of the stairs.

  Jason nodded and fell into step with him as they pushed into an area that hadn’t been explored yet, but one that should connect back to the stairwell that half their team would be assaulting shortly.

  The hallways were all straight, but made up more of T-junctions than conventional intersections, making long distance line of sight impossible. Paul and Jason had to zigzag their way through the level in a question mark-like route to begin approaching the target area from the south, but before they got there they came across another soldier standing guard outside a partially open door.

  Jason nailed him with two quick shots, one hitting him in the head, the other impacted his left shoulder before he could even turn to face the Archons. The man fell forward, twisting as he went down and taking a third shot in his chest thanks to Paul, who covered Jason as he approached the doorway.

  When he ducked his head and weapon inside, kicking the door wide for Paul simultaneously, he found a large number of people bound at the hands and feet and essentially dumped on the floor in piles. Jason swung inside, covering the left flank with his weapon, then whipping it back around to the right, finding no more Chinese in the room.

  Paul followed him in and took a quick glance around. “Hostages found and secured,” he reported for the sake of the others as Jason knelt down next to
one woman in civilian clothes who screamed as he reached for her.

  “Relax,” Jason said through his menacing helmet speakers as he untied the wire bundled so tight around her wrists that they were bleeding. “We’re Star Force.”

  “Told you they would come,” one of the other civilians said.

  “They killed the rest!” another shouted, then the whole room became so noisy he couldn’t make out individual voices.

  Paul untied another two, then motioned that they needed to get moving. Jason untied one more man’s hands then stood up. “Untie the rest of them, but stay in this room until we come back for you. There are still enemy troops loose on this level.”

  “You’re leaving us?”

  “We have bad guys to shoot,” Jason said before ducking out the door behind Paul.

  By the time they caught up with the others they’d already taken the ‘nest’ as well as the stairs, leaving a pile of bodies behind. Paul shot one again when he saw movement, but the pair didn’t stop to look around, instead pinging for the location of their teammates and confirming that six were below them, then running/floating down the stairs onto level 7, which was where they found their first civilian body.

  They passed by several more, most just kicked off to the side, leaving blood smears on the smooth white tile floors, until they realized that the others had already pushed down another level, apparently encountering little resistance this far from what had been the front lines. Paul and Jason quickly located the open staircase down and caught up with Randy and Jack just as they were finishing off a knot of soldiers down a side hallway.

  “About time you guys showed up,” Randy quipped.

  “You found survivors?” Jack asked.

  Jason nodded. “You?”