The Vanguard Emerges (Maraukian War Book 2) Read online

  “Well, search it.”

  The marines hesitantly put their hands in the nanites, quickly checking the inside of the suit before pulling their hands out.

  “Nothing in there, sir.”

  “Nothing here.”

  The Phantoms got back inside, their armor system diagnostics scrolling down part of their screen.

  “Well, if that’s all, we’ll be going.” Senator Weng moved, the diamond moving with him and pushing through the marines back to their quarters.

  Jarek’s contubernium was waiting just inside the door. They only relaxed once the door was closed and the searchers walked away.

  The talks had been ongoing for a month. Damus had been included, probably based upon the fact he knew the most out of anyone about the legion.

  Small incidents were the norm, trying to make the delegation look bad. The Phantoms were furious and even the patient senators started to get annoyed. Flavius had lost his hand one day; someone had changed a turret’s settings in order to test the strength of the armor. Flavius had known but had cut off his nerves and removed half of his armor, losing his arm to not give away the fact the Phantoms were in the building’s network or show how well their armor worked. And it also gave the delegation ammunition.

  The next day, the marines had tried to deny them access, saying they couldn’t have him bleeding on the carpet. The delegation, including the senators, acted as if they didn’t hear the marines and continued to walk into the main room they used for talks. This day, Flavius stood close to the delegation so the cams couldn’t get the delegation without seeing the man with his missing arm.

  The president said that his people could look after the injured man; Flavius happily said he wasn’t in pain. Senator Weng asked the president whether he would give a spaceship to a toddler who couldn’t figure out a space suit. The president automatically said no. “Then why should we give you any military technology when you can’t even control the turrets you already have?”

  Some remarks were made, some stares given. Ultimately the government couldn’t reply and instead focused on talking about medical technology, in a ploy to look as though they cared for Flavius, whose arm, M20, and armor where already being remade by the Phantoms.

  He still didn’t put it back in its correct place. It was good to have a few surprises.

  Chapter 9

  Mega City

  Earth, Sol System

  7/3354

  “Ready Senators, Legate Alves?”

  “As we’ll ever be. Let’s get this over with,” Senator Weng replied. They moved out normally. The blonde was with them again.

  “At least they keep a pattern,” Sarah said as they walked through the corridors. No one accidentally tripped and launched coffee or other staining liquids at the senators, no overactive turrets, no marines or deliveries they needed to get out of the way for, or they nearly hit.

  “Light,” Sarah said in an annoyed tone.

  The light exploded above them. A cloud of debris came from it as Liam’s NIAI took over, their anti-grav holding the debris in place before letting it fall behind them.

  “Never a boring trip to these meetings,” Alves said in an annoyed tone as they quickly reached the doors, walking in and assuming their positions at the table.

  There were a few questions for clarification on some minor things. The president was quiet, a look of contemplation on his face, waiting for a while before he spoke.

  “Senators, Legate.” He’d taken to not addressing them properly. Although it was a small thing, he was spitting on the honor of the Ninth Legion, the honor of all the centuries and legions. In the military, that honor was what held together units; it was what made the rank structure and chain of command work. Shaming the leader of one of the major sectors of the legion shamed them all and angered them.

  “You’ve told us a great deal about the legion, about the Maraukians and the technology you can supply us, and you’ve also said what we’d need to do to join the alliance. Or that we can stay as an entity onto ourselves.” He waited as the senators nodded their heads in agreement.

  “But that’s what you’ve told us. There’s not much we can confirm that you are telling the truth about. You could’ve sent the Maraukians to our world and are using this as a ploy to gain power of the EHC. There isn’t one person who can vouch for you. Yes, you have a ship; yes, you have a group that looks like a military but you can’t vouch for yourselves. Do you have someone who could vouch for you? Someone you aren’t using to sabotage the EHC? I’m sorry, but you’ve tried to dictate to us what we have to do. I have some news for you and your alliance—bring everything out, let us look and study everything. Then we will think if we want to help your group of liars.”

  He turned now, filled with confident rage, to the reporters. “It has been found that the legion and Maraukians have been working together to try to deceive us.”

  Suitably outraged peers gasped at the accusation and stared at the alliance’s delegation. They tried to speak, but their microphones were turned off as the president’s voice boomed through the room.

  “They want to take our planets and resources and subject us to create tools for them to fight in this fantastical war. Those ships that you see in Earth and Gilese’s orbit are nothing but advanced props. They don’t have a jump drive, and they’re lying to get us to submit without knowing. They’re trying to make us slaves!”

  Calls came out as people threw items at the alliance delegation. Somehow the protection field had been disabled to allow this.

  “I say they come back to the table when they are ready to meet our needs, not to fill their demands.”

  “SIT DOWN, MR. PRESIDENT.” Mark’s voice rang through the entire room, through every speaker, including those in the Phantoms’ armor.

  “You can’t believe the things you’re hearing! No wonder, with the lies that the government spouts at every crossing for the corporations to keep running. You want someone to vouch for them, someone you can’t deny?” Mark grabbed his helmet, unsealing it as he looked at the president. The scar on his face pulled together; the nanites rebuilt it, returning it to its original form.

  The delegates from the EHC who had worn grins signifying their victory as someone from the alliance had spoken, let alone a single soldier, turned white.

  “Deny me, Captain Mark Victor, the hero of Kamesh, Gilese, Sharveti, Worlesft, and Urmevi. Supposedly killed in a mugging after I was retired! Isn’t that right, chairman of the Earth Military Force?” His brown eyes were like turrets as the COEMF shrunk into his seat.

  “I vouch for everything these senators of the free systems and the Legate of the Ninth legion have said. The Maraukians are real. In my first battle with them, I nearly died. They aren’t human and as Senator Weng said, they don’t give a shit about our squabbles. They just want to kill us. You think they treat us like children? Why do you think that when we lie to them and the people about matters to look big?”

  “Capt—”

  “DO I LOOK LIKE I’M FINISHED SPEAKING, MR. PRESIDENT.” Mark turned his glare back onto the man looking wildly for an escape.

  “Well, we can’t be children anymore. Welcome to the big boy’s game. The universe is doing its level best to get rid of us. You think we have time to play these games? You want to push and shove the alliance? Hah. Good luck. This is your choice: join the alliance, become individual systems, become your own entity. Frankly, the alliance cares some as you’re the original ancestors to most of them. We’re not at this meeting to have you tell us what to do, and this is a courtesy to help you beyond the supplies you’ll get.”

  “Mark, may I?” Senator Weng commed.

  “The floor is yours, Senator.”

  “It is a courtesy that we will now withdraw. I wish the EHC good luck in the future, but I will not stand here as a delegation from the alliance to have you spit upon our hard work. The universe is a big place; we’ve learned that sticking together is usually the best option. I hope you can wo
rk with us. Good luck with the future. It’s dim for all of us, those in the EHC, the alliance, and the free systems.” The senator surveyed the now quiet room. Florence and Legate Alves rose as well, nodding to the delegation as Mark put his helmet back on.

  “Sarah, Chen.”

  “This is Chen. What is it?”

  “Round up your boarders and get them off your ship. Get a glider and escort of Ares fighters ready. We’re evacuating Earth and I don’t know how long it’ll be before they react.”

  “Understood.”

  “Phantoms.” He felt the connection change, knowing he was on the general net. “Get ready to move, ladies and gents, and for God’s sakes, put the arm on Flavius. You might need it. We’re evacing Earth and I don’t know how long of a lead we’re going to get. It’s not going to be much.”

  Mark started looking through the information coming in, around him Phantoms checked their gear and one another. Through his feeds he could see that the Victor Corporation assets were being mobilized. There were haulers carrying away troopers that had followed Ortiz off to the Yard while the westerly three complex crew were securing their ground and their hold on Earth.

  With the information and technology package that eh had given the Yard they hadn’t been idle.

  In secret they had been building alcuberrie drives and forges, sending a number of them down to the westerly three complex crew.

  The Yard was readying itself for evacuation if needed but there were too many people in the Westerly three complex crew to be evacuated at the same time.

  “Looks like the peace is broken once again,” Makr muttered to himself.

  Chapter 10

  Tower

  Earth, Sol System

  7/3354

  Nivad was working as he heard an explosion in the distance. He frowned slightly as he felt the tremors. Already on his various screens around his office, information reports were coming in.

  The doors to his office were opened as his head of security, wearing full powered armor, took the lead.

  “Sir, an explosive went off outside the tower. It looks like one of the protestors knew something about bombs and attached it to one of the main supports of the building. We need to move you to a secure location,” the stone-faced man said.

  “Very well.” Nivad sighed and allowed himself to be hurried out of the room. He found it interesting. Although the corporate world seemed to be united with the president, leaning on the Legion and Roma to gain more for the corporations, behind closed doors, it was a brutal battle.

  People were assassinated all over the place; rivals were at one another’s throats, hidden behind a thin veneer of decency.

  The corporations had also looked to Nivad, seeing the power that he wielded. Now, with Roma, they were offered another system that they could manipulate once again, no longer needing Nivad, his rules or the agreements.

  There had been a number of plots targeting Nivad already.

  He mentally thought over the biggest culprits for this latest attack. However, he had not received any information on them making any plans to attack him.

  He thought on it more as he was guided through the tower to a conference room. Behind one of the paintings, there was a secured door. He passed his security detail as he walked inside. Nivad didn’t even stop, moving toward the office in the heavily armored and hidden apartment. He could last years in this armored living space.

  The door sealed behind him as Nivad thought over who might be behind this latest plot.

  “Hello, Nivad.” A cold voice came from the living room.

  Nivad paused and pressed the alert within his implants. However, he found that it couldn’t find a signal.

  Nivad had a thoughtful look on his face. Others would be scared and pleading. He had already realized that this was the real attack. The fact that he was cut off from the outside world, he didn’t doubt whoever it was attacking him had taken the precautions to make sure that he died without interference.

  Nivad moved toward the living room without pause.

  “A merger?” Nivad asked out loud, looking to the special Pluto armor-toting Phantom Lord who sat in the living room, facing him.

  “Nivad Selvra, I gave everything to the EMF and you returned it by killing my brother and sister-in-law,” the merger said, his voice cold and uncaring.

  Nivad saw that this man had already sentenced him to death. Any pleas or threats were useless. Not having to care about the simple emotions that clouded so many others’ minds made it much easier to be realistic, Nivad found.

  “Who are you?” Nivad asked, curious.

  The merger stood and grabbed his helmet. A silver line appeared around his neck as he pulled off his helmet.

  “Mark Victor.” Nivad nodded to himself. “I should have sent my own people instead of just letting Jones send his.”

  Mark’s M20 snapped into place and fired. Nivad, the director of the Ministry of Intelligence and the master of Earth and Her Colonies, turned into a paste as Mark’s M20 barrel unlocked and collapsed.

  Mark pulled his helmet back on and turned around. A silver line appeared in a wall; the section fell away. Mark stepped through and pushed the wall back into place. It sealed up again, showing no signs of being entered or exited.

  Mark found a man wearing simple maintenance overalls.

  “M sent me,” the man said.

  “Lead on.” There was one more person Mark wanted to deal with today, personally.

  ***

  General Jones was grunting and groaning as his sex robot rode him. Their bodies ground together in the midst of a stunning garden, with bubbling waterfalls and natural rock formations interspersed with colorful plants.

  “Seems pigs never know their environment,” someone behind the sex robot said.

  Jones was about to cry out in anger but the sex robot exploded on top of him. Jones screamed as he was cut apart by the metals and plastics of the robot.

  He had never been in so much pain as he looked to the man at the edge of his garden. He stood there, a picture of power, his gun barrel locked under his arm and pointed at General Jones.

  “You killed the wrong man’s brother and sister,” the man said, his helmet under his other arm.

  That face left Jones in shock as a cold current ran through him. Pee ran down his leg. “I can give you anything you want!” Jones yelled.

  He didn’t even hear the second round.

  “You can’t give me back Tyler or Alexis,” Mark said to the meat paste that had been General Jones.

  Mark turned and left General Jones’s home.

  Nivad Selvra and General Jones’s deaths might have been the highest profile of that day, but they were by no means the only ones.

  Selvra’s top advisors, Wallace and Diana, were both killed; corporate heads, officials, generals—it seemed that the towers ran red with blood.

  A number of these deaths were just from circumstance or old grudges being realized, but many of them were carried out by the Westerly Three Complex Crew and M’s operatives.

  They hit hard and fast, not leaving any witnesses, and slinking away back to the slums once more. This was no shock to Mark, but it also didn’t numb his pain.

  It might never be enough.

  Chapter 11

  The Yard

  Sol System

  7/3354

  General Ortiz looked over the information coming in from Earth and the various operatives who had gone to work.

  He no longer wore the flashy suit with all of his medals. Now he was wearing a standard Earth military uniform, the same one that he had worn in the battle for Earth. His armored plates comforted him like an old friend.

  To one side there was Jerome and Dominguez; on the other side, Admiral Hall and Captain Yu. Dominguez was part of the Triple-Twos and had been Mark’s second-in-command when he was fighting on Earth. She and the other Victors had been fighting beside one another over three different systems. Their bonds were no less than those held with Jerome.
Jerome had been Tyler’s second-in-command on Earth and had married Esamai, whom he’d fallen for after returning to the Yard when he’d believed his brothers to have died. Both Jerome and Dominguez wore their uniforms and armor plates.

  Admiral Hall had led the Earth Military Force carriers across multiple star systems. What he was known for most was his clash against the Harmony Fleet within Sol system.

  He was one of the only captains to have fought in ship-to-ship battles and he was the only admiral who had commanded ships to fight other purpose-built warships.

  He had retired out with everyone else. The Ministry of Intelligence was more than happy to get rid of him and the others, scared they might become too powerful within the EMF.

  Captain Yu was one of the best combat shuttle crew leaders Ortiz had the pleasure of knowing.

  The two of them controlled the fleet of ships that were moving throughout Sol and the rest of the Colonies. Jerome and Dominguez looked after the Yard and managed the Westerly Three Complex Crew.

  Ortiz ran the crew most of the time from the shadows. It was easier for Moretti to buy him a window that he could disappear from his home, meet up with them and make sure that everything was good.

  They’d spread themselves around the globe, concentrating around the greenhouses to provide security.

  A full third of the other gangs in the slums were actually offshoots of the Westerly Three Complex Crew, people who had retired out of the EMF or had an agreement with the Westerly Three Crew.

  In the slums, they were the power. They’d made sure to separate the gangs out into sub-groups. Most didn’t know where their true allegiances lay; only those at the top knew the truth. It was the only way to make sure that Nivad and the Ministry of Intelligence didn’t find out about their true numbers and strength.

  “General?” Dominguez turned to Ortiz.