Nochmar (Stryker Team Book 5)

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  COPYRIGHT

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  About Frank Carey

  Nochmar

  Stryker Team Book 5

  By Frank Carey

  COPYRIGHT

  Copyright © 2017 by Frank Carey

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

  League Tale #43

  CHAPTER ONE

  Kalana walked into the dining room carrying a tray of elven savory cakes in one hand and drinks in the other. Mersa jumped up to help her. "Here, Captain, let me give you a hand," the Basili said while grabbing the tray of pastries. "These smell delicious."

  "Thanks," Kalana replied. She put the tray down on the table, then jumped back as the hungry horde dove for the foodstuffs with little regard for personal safety.

  Around the table sat members of her team mixed in with members of her adopted daughter's family. Degrebians, Basili, AIs, a Weck, an Alue, two GELFs, and her elf bond mate, ate and drank to celebrate the unification of the Degrebian peoples. These were the days that made all the shit she had recently been through worth it. She realized she was finally happy, something she had thought impossible.

  The door to the kitchen opened as Ambassador Lucien Irithyl walked in carrying a tray of his famous scones. Following him was Gabe Adon carrying a huge tray of something the humans called hot dogs. They set their trays down on the table before diving into the fray. She was glad her daughter was at her aunt's house with the other children, having their own, more subdued party.

  A knock at the door interrupted Kalana's musings. Standing outside was her commanding officer, Major John Williamson flanked by two armed Marines. She invited them in. Once inside, she instructed the Marines to partake in the feast while she and the major talked. The major followed her into the living room.

  "Sir, can I interest you in a drink, perhaps some food?"

  "No, thank you," he replied. "Love what you've done with the place."

  "Sir, is there a problem?"

  "Maybe. What do you know about a planet called Articula?"

  "Not much, sir. It's in the Elspeth Expanse. The Martok are interested in colonizing it."

  "Very good, Captain. You know more about it than I did an hour ago. We have a survey station in orbit around Articula. There's a twenty-member elf survey team aboard. 48-hours ago, we lost contact with them. We sent in a probe and lost contact with it as well."

  "Stellar activity?" she asked.

  "There was a nova-front moving through, but it shouldn't have affected the probe returning. And there's this." He handed her a photo of a ship. "They found this in orbit around the planet and were bringing it into the station right before going silent."

  She looked closely at the image. "Freight hauler. You can tell by the dorsal attachment ring. Where's the cargo container?"

  "One wasn't found."

  She took a closer look. "The lettering on the hull looks elvish."

  "That's what we thought, so we sent the data back to Ventos Prime for analysis."

  "I assume you want Stryker Team One to go take a look."

  "You and your team earned some time off, but you're the only assets we have in the area. The Ventosian Battle Cruiser Lenora will be here in three hours. She will take you to the station. You and Captain Tason will decide whether you need to board the station."

  "We'll be ready, sir," she said while continuing to stare at the image. Using her nanobots, she formed a magnifying glass and used it to look at a section of the ship's hull. "Sir, is that meteor pitting on the hull?"

  He nodded. "That's what the analysis section thinks. If they're right, that ship has been in space somewhere between ten and fifteen thousand years."

  "About the time of the destruction of Atlantis... We're on it, sir."

  "Good. You and your team have already proven yourselves. I don't have to tell you to be careful."

  "Aye, sir, we'll be careful. Now, how about some food?"

  He smiled and followed her back to the dining room where the hungry horde was making its way through Lucien's scones.

  CHAPTER TWO

  The team sat around the Lenora's mess hall table and examined the mission briefing they received from Ventos Prime. There were pictures of the ship, the station, and the planet. They had diagrams of the station showing every possible entry point along with station defensive and offensive systems.

  Kalana was still puzzled by the pictures of the ship. It was a freight hauler--a sort of tug--which attached to a cargo container. Cargo containers could be configured to haul anything from cryogenic bulk liquid transport to passenger service. Modern tugs never ventured anywhere without a container, so where the hell was this one's?

  "Mess Hall, this is Tason. Captain Grenor, you have a priority one message from Ventos Prime. Do you want it piped down there?"

  "This is Kalana. Yes, ma'am, down here will be fine."

  The main viewer lit up with the royal seal of Ventos Prime. This was followed by an image of an airlock on the surface of some gray, lifeless planet or moon. A face appeared next to the image of the airlock. It was Queen Lansing.

  "Attenshuh!" Mersa barked. Everyone in the room stood up and saluted her.

  "I will never get used to that. At ease," Lansing said. "Brains hurt yet?"

  "We're getting there, Your Highness. If I may ask, why are you briefing us?"

  She sighed. "What I'm about to tell you is so top secret that even the people involved don't know the whole story. This cannot leave this room, understand?"

  "Yes, ma'am!"

  "As you know, a group of elves from outside League space immigrated here when their planet--Crystal--was destroyed. They claim they developed independent of the League elves. Genetic analysis tells a different story. Around 14,000 years ago, humans, elves, and dracos coexisted on Earth, making their home in the city-state of Atlantis. Things were going swimmingly until General Nochmar, a brilliant megalomaniac military strategist caused the volcano under Atlantis to explode, sending the Earth into an ice age from which only the humans emerged to repopulate the planet. Meanwhile, refugee ships made their way to Ventos Prime and Ith with thousands of elves, dracos, and humans. Sadly, a plague on Ventos Prime wiped out the humans and dracos while sending the elves back to the stone age. Only Ith retained all three races.

  "A study of the Crystallanian history files reveals that a third ship escaped the holocaust that befell Earth. It carried several hundred Nochmar loyalists, General Nochmar, his personal guard of about 300 highly-trained troops, and a security team of clones led by a super clone who held a copy of Nochmar's complete personality and memories. The team and their leader were held in stasis in case they were needed to replace the general in the event of his untimely demise. This ship made a stop at an underground base on the far side of Earth's moon."

  "My Queen," Kalana asked, "they could copy personalities?"

  The Queen nodded. "The inhabitants of Atlantis were much more advanced than any modern League race." She continued with the briefing. "The narrative gets a little muddy at this point. We think the general had a group of scientists stay behind to arrange for the creation of a hidden laboratory where they could refine the cloning process. He felt that an army of his duplicates would be impossible to defeat. He then sent loyalists on to Crystal to establish a new elf home world. Finally, he and his guard headed off in the direction of the Elspeth Expanse to retrieve a weapons cache he had hidden there. He and his guards were never seen again while the elves of Crystal seem to have forgotten their mission."

  "What about the clones?" Nana asked.

  "Yeah, the clones. An elf found them during a rescue mission. He destroyed them and the lab thinking he had rid the universe of a monster."

  "Why do we think he didn't, My Queen?"

  "The ship the survey team found has markings that match those found at the moon base. An inventory list shows a tug and a stasis module missing from inventory."

  "A stasis module, ma'am?" Mersa asked.

  The Queen nodded. "It was designed to carry colonists across great distances over long periods of time. The missing module is designed to haul 500 colonists to the Large Magellanic Cloud, a trip which would take hundreds of centuries even using our fastest FTL drives."

  "My Queen, I assume you have taken command of this mission since it is most definitely an elf matter," Kalana noted.

  "I can see why Lucien thinks so highly of you. Yes, I am officially taking command. You are to proceed to the station and reconnoiter the situation. It is possible that you will be dealing with a hostage situation, so be advised
that the survey team is combat trained. I know their leader. She’s tough and capable. Under no circumstances is any Atlantean elf to be allowed to escape if they are the ones responsible for the communications blackout. We have three more cruisers in route to the station, but they won't arrive for another 48 hours."

  "What about Captain Tason and the Lenora's crew?"

  "Tason and her command staff are being briefed as we speak. They have orders to destroy the station if the situation warrants it. You, your team, the survey team, and the Lenora and its crew have all been designated expendable for the duration of this mission."

  "Understood, ma'am. Anything else you can tell us?"

  She shook her head. "May all the gods watch over you. Ventos Prime out."

  Kalana sat back, but continued to stare at the screen over steepled fingers.

  "I don't know about the rest of you, but I could really go for some more of those savory cakes right now," Glean said.

  "There are two boxes under the counter," Kalana said absentmindedly.

  Glean got up, retrieved the boxes and laid them out on the table. "Now, this is the only way to prepare for battle," he said as he chomped down on a cake.

  "Damn Skippy," Kalana replied as she grabbed a cake and bit into it.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Kalana and Mersa stood behind the captain’s seat and watched as the Lenora approached the station. It looked quiet, too damn quiet.

  "Science! Anything on scanners?" Tason asked as she stared at the image of the station on the screen.

  "Nothing, ma'am, which is a problem," she replied. Kalana had noted that the Lenora had an all-woman crew, which was why Glean was sooo happy to go into battle with them.

  "How so, Ophelia?"

  "The station should be lit up with comm and scanner emissions as part of the planetary survey. All I'm getting is cosmic hiss and normal emissions from the planet itself."

  "Life signs?"

  "Muddled, ma'am. Someone is running a scan blocker," she replied.

  "Battle stations," Tason calmly ordered.

  The ship quickly went to general quarters.

  "Communications, hailing frequencies,"

  The comm officer nodded to the captain. "You're on, Captain"

  "Pensacola Station, this is the Ventosian Battle Cruiser Lenora, please respond."

  Silence, so the captain took it up a notch. "Weapons, bring the rail guns on line and get a firing solution on the station."

  "Aye, aye, Captain!" the weapons officer replied. "Targeting scan complete, firing solution is locked. We are ready to fire.”

  "Pensacola Station, this is Jennifer Tason, Captain of the Ventosian Battle Cruiser Lenora. Please reply or we will be forced to fire on you."

  "This is General Nochmar. You are ordered to stand down." The image of a very muscular elf appeared on the screen. He was wearing a one-piece science uniform that barely contained him.

  "Right," Tason said. "I think you may be a little out of touch with current events. Nochmar died over 100 centuries ago. As for standing down, I am sorry, but I don't recognize your authority. Now, where the plark is the survey team?"

  "They are safe for now. You will surrender your ship, or I will put them to death... Slowly."

  "You really do have a death wish, don't you? I need to confer with my commanding officer, but to do that, I will need to get clear of the nova front passing through this system. I am sending over a shuttle with a robotic med team to check out the scientists. Refuse to allow them in and I will assume the survey team is dead and blow that station to the seven hells. We'll be back in twelve hours. Lenora out." She made a throat-cutting gesture, a signal for the comm officer to cut the connection. She flicked a switch, then nodded to the Captain.

  Kalana tapped her ear comm, "Kalana to Murph, do you copy?"

  "Yes, ma'am," the AI replied.

  "You and Nova get yourselves some medical bot suits and get the team to the shuttle bay." She turned to Mersa. "Sergeant, get the team ready for a spacewalk."

  "Aye, aye, Captain," Mersa said. She turned and hurried off the bridge.

  "I assume you have a plan," Tason said.

  "Yep. I'm under orders to recon, but avoid engagement, so recon we will. If you don't hear from us in four hours, I suggest you assume that we are either dead or captured."

  "Copy that. That creature will not see the sun of Ventos Prime except from inside the Brig. You have my word."

  "Copy that," Kalana replied before saluting, then following Mersa off the bridge.

  ###

  Nochmar glared at the massive warship parked near the station. He turned to the station director. "What are its capabilities?" he demanded.

  Neva pushed him out of the way, so she could better see the ship. "Hmmm, that's the Lenora under command of Jennifer Tason. Jen can get real ornery when provoked. She could easily render Articula a smoking cinder without breaking into a sweat. As for this station? Ever see a log pass through a wood chipper?"

  "What is a wood chipper?" Nochmar demanded.

  "Computer! Wood chipper video!"

  The main viewer lit up with a short film detailing the operation of a wood chipper. When it finished, the screen went blank while Nochmar and his lieutenants went pale.

  "She wouldn't dare! You and your people would die with us!"

  "Then I guess it sucks to be you. If given the choice of saving us or protecting the League, then she will always choose the latter. What is that word? Oh, yeah, expendable."

  The big elf glared at her.

  "You want my advice?"

  "No."

  "I suggest you give up. The only crime you've committed is kidnapping a group of survey scientists. Surrender and you and your people will be gently absorbed into Ventosian society.”

  "We don't want to be absorbed. We want to rule."

  "Tell that to the thousands who died when Atlantis exploded. Tell that to the humans and the dracos who died on Earth during the plague. Tell that to the Ithians who still hide from the likes of you. You and your people seem to want to die. So be it. This isn't your time; it's our time. Got it, mister?"

  "Return her to the mess hall," he growled. She was about to say something when he raised his index finger. "One more word and I will throw you out an airlock. Get out of my sight!"

  Two guards escorted Neva off the command deck, leaving Nochmar to stew.

  A woman walked up to Nochmar and stood at attention. "Sir!"

  "Yes, Reza?"

  "We have partial access to the computer."

  "How partial?"

  "We've accessed something called the League database."

  "Show me."

  She took him to a terminal and typed in a command. A menu appeared. "History," she said.

  A much longer menu appeared. "Earth," she said.

  Text and pictures scrolled up the screen. Luckily, Nochmar was a speed reader. "By the gods. Humans survived on the home world?"

  Reza nodded. "And thrived. They only recently rejoined the elves and dracos. This was made possible by their inclusion in the League of Planetary Systems. Sir, this League has over forty-member planets. Sir, with respect, perhaps we should listen to the director..."

  "No! I will not surrender! We will prevail as the elven gods foretold millennia ago. I will not disappoint them."

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The shuttle Vortek approached the shuttle bay. Underneath, hanging on to the hull, Stryker Team One waited.

  "Having fun yet, Glean?" Mersa asked over the secure channel.

  "No, I am not having fun. I think I'm getting airsick."

  "You mean space sick. There is no air out here."

  "Nana, how long until we leave this party?" Kalana asked.

  "Fifteen seconds, Captain."

  "Get ready, people," Kalana announced. She was in stryker form as were Marcus and Nana. She peered at the dorsal side of the station and saw the beacon marking the position of a service airlock. "There's our target. Don't miss."

  "You just had to go and say that, didn't you, Captain," a distressed Glean said.

  "Sorry. Okay, three... Two... One... Mark!"

  The six of them pushed off from the shuttle just as its bow entered the bay. Unseen, they jetted to the service lock and quietly entered the station undetected. Once passed the lock, the three strykers reverted to organic form while the other team members stripped-off their space suits. Glean gave his body a good shake as if trying to dislodge a family of spiders.