System of the Damned
Chapter 2 - Roderick
Boredom and sudden chaos.
Thankfully the ship had been set into a one gravity spin before the engines had been shut down, letting the crew that wasn’t in hibernation have some comfort. My teams had gone from being ready to rock and roll, to being so ungodly bored that they were getting into trouble. I couldn’t put them under thanks to the worry of the wormhole spitting us out at random, and I’d run out of training or maintenance for them to do. The absolute worst thing that anyone can do is give soldiers lots of specialized training in how to do bad things...and then let them get bored out of their damned minds. Sure, a few happy accidental discoveries might happen, but usually it required a medical team or fire suppression system.
Many of us had turned to exercising to pass the time, laps around the endless outer corridors at jogs or sprints always helped calm people down. My feet were still slightly sore from the sixty mile march I’d led the day before, in full combat gear by the way. We’d been so bored that I’d asked for spare alloys and metals from the machinist mates. Then I’d instructed all of my teams to make a melee weapon they were comfortable with, because it was a way to pass the time and see what they came up with.
That left today with practicing and training with our recently finished weapons. I hadn’t done any work in making a weapon, instead I’d helped the others and taught them how to form and curve metal. In the end, each of them ended up with at least a blade and baton, though some like Evans ended up making themselves something like a longbow or crossbow. Like I said, we were horrendously bored. Some of the techs were working on other options for defense and combat like a man portable railgun or gauss rifle, but I think they were just bored to death like the rest of us.
Captain Rowland walked in with a large saber fixed to either hip, partly because we’d already had a murder and two attempted rapes. “You got a purdy mouth” doesn’t work so well with veterans, especially spacers that will happily cycle you out of an airlock without a suit. Rowland watched quietly as my on duty teams practiced on dummies or in two cases, each other. Most were too busy or focused to notice him and he just gave me a simple nod and a little grin. He needed to work off some steam, and had come down here to spar, something we’d done quite a few times in the few years I’d gotten to know him.
I sat down and took off my tungsten leg weights, setting them on the floor before standing and unlatching my vest. There was a loud clang as the thick plated vest hit the decking, then two more as I let my forearm weights drop. I could really use the workout and ignored my teams as I moved for a case I’d brought up from my quarters earlier. A few did start to come closer, though most huddled in groups and watched. The ones that huddled were teams that’d bonded best before being assigned to the mission. We didn’t have the free space and materials for me to really slam them through some good training and get them all bonded well. Soldiers are like a metal blank, you get them hot and uncomfortable, then pound the hell out of them with training until you get something you can use.
Inside my case was a sword and a pair of gauntlets, the sword was as tall as me though. A half inch thick, four and a half foot long blade was tapered down to semi-sharp edges, and five inches across on its flat. A leather wrapped two foot long handle fit well in my hands after slipping on the gauntlets. “Are you letting the crew watch?” I asked curiously as I lifted my sword up and held it out at length, before nodding. The only reason even my overgrown ass could handle the sword like I did, was training, and the fact that I’d been used as a lab rat so many times that I was amazed I hadn’t grown whiskers and started squeaking. I had way too much black in my files for it to mean much good, and far too little solid memory of any of it.
“Adam?” He asked of the air, meaning the AI we had aboard the ship. It’d been sent with us in part, most likely to hide that one of the main Federation countries had a full AI. The Chicom AI’s had been a massive issue to deal with during the war, even as crappy as they’d been made. It’d taken Adam to deal with the mass cyber assaults, there’d been far too much for the government teams to handle. The AI thankfully had been a civilian’s baby and well programmed, not that the military couldn’t do it, but military grade anything is a lie.
“You currently have eighty three percent of the crew waiting to watch you duel Lieutenant O’Connell.” The AI’s voice came over the 1mc of the training area in a sober voice. “Betting has tripled since his sword was seen, though it is currently running about fifty fifty for either of you.” He sounded a little more cheerful about that. “And Commander Wulf asks that you two don’t cripple each other, something about not wanting your jobs.”
The Captain laughed and slipped out of his dress coat, hooking it on a punching dummy on his way toward me. “The eggheads say that we’re curving away from the galactic core now and heading for a group of stars in one of the nebulas not quite on the other side. Said it would take a day, maybe two before we finally got out of this damned wormhole.” As he spoke, he drew his sabers and gave them a few test swings to make sure of the gravity.
I was doing much the same, making sure I had the weight judged just right. “Good, then we either die in a rapid or slow manner, or find ourselves in a place that we can survive.” I took a firm grip on the long handle of my sword and spun, barely feeling the thud of it cutting through the training dummy closest to me. I had to shift my weight and brought the sword around to the ready, giving it a soft kiss. “I missed you…”
“You’re crazy, you know that…” The Captain said and came at me, his swords flashing through the air and making me have to dance my much larger sword around my body to deflect his strikes. “You’ve cut people in half with that weapon and you kiss it like a lover.” And then both of us froze in mid motion, my blade touching his shoulder. “A draw as usual.” He said with a sigh and put an ounce more pressure upward on his sword.
I grunted as I felt the side of his blade tap the side of my giggle stick. “Not nice to hack off a man’s bits, but bravo.” We drew our blades back and stepped back, though it was my turn to take the offensive. “Remember the California assaults…” Since we had the distance, I spun and leaped into the air at him, spinning the blade around myself and knowing he’d dodge in time. Instead of my friend and Captain’s head being lopped off, my blade sliced through an aluminum framed table.
“Oh yes, I came in with a full flight and” He dodged another swing, using his swords to deflect mine. “Find a crazy marine guarding the wounded with a sword and dead Chicoms around missing limbs and heads.” We paused again as my blade touched his side and his blades touched my neck and wrist.
I just smiled and drew my sword back as he drew his from me. “Yes, but a sword and a bunch of wounded or dead marines, lots of emptied weapons too.” We stepped back from each other and I checked the edge of my sword. “I also remember a certain crazy pilot having this thing for burning vehicles and people with his jet blast.” I raised a brow and he raised his sword before pausing in his movement. There was an odd feeling and suddenly both of us pulled back our blades. “Adam!” I snapped out.
“It is amazing that you can feel that. I am picking up minor gravitational and magnetic shifts.” Came the Ai’s voice once more over the 1mc. “I’m picking up more odd fluctuations, we may be leaving the wormhole sooner than expected.” It was never good when an AI sounded worried, and at that moment Adam sounded rather worried.
“XO! All hands to suits and ready stations! I’ll be up in a moment.” He looked at me and nodded. “Gather your people and get them into suits and to the hangar. I’ll have your pilots ready by the time you are.” His swords went to their sheaths and both of us snapped out our arms and clasped the other’s wrist and forearm.
“Roger that, do your voodoo.” And with that we parted and I moved to my case to grab the sheathe for my sword before looking at my teams. “Rouse the others, everyone down to the bays in your full combat suits and loads.” Which got several “Sir!”s barked out as my troops headed for the barracks and bays. I could feel the little pulls and shifts in gravity on the giant blade in my hands, which meant that the entire ship was getting pulled and shoved inside the wormhole. I had absolutely no idea what could possibly cause it.
My suit and gear were in my room and I ran down the corridors, then slammed into the ladder harder than I’d meant to, groaning as I started to climb. I could hear the ship seeming to groan with me as gravity pulled at it oddly, nearly slamming me across the next corridor as I moved up the ladder past one floor to the next. Only my strong grip on the ladder and the quick action of hooking my leg around it had kept me in the ladder bay.
“All hands! All hands!” Blasted from the 1mc in Commander Wulf’s voice. “We’re experiencing odd gravitic and magnetic anomalies. Use extreme caution in movement and stow any loose items. In three minutes we will be starting to slow the rotation of the ship!”
I said a great deal of curse words in a few languages as I made my way to my quarters and stripped down. I’d managed to get my catheter in and had the top half of my suit almost down when the next shift in gravity hurled me across my room into the wall. Luckily the armor on my back and shoulder took most of the blow and even laying on my side atop my dresser I managed to get my suit to seal. I lunged for my helmet and snapped the armored protection over my head in time to not crack my skull when the ceiling became the floor. The slam to the floor was almost as fun since I managed to land on my feet, popping the button to turn on my mag boots, locking myself to the surface. It took nearly a minute to get my sword’s sheath latched tight to my back, and I then just had to groan and curse and fight my way down to the bays.
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The engines on the ship came to life to start slowing the spin and dropping the pseudo gravity, since it wasn’t helping anyway. I paused on the floor above the hangars and sighed as I saw a very angry looking tiny bunny floating in the center of the corridor. I just sighed and came out of the ladder bay into the corridor, the little albino Netherland dwarf glaring at me and squeaking, its front legs crossed like it was pouting. It was then that I realized this was one of the genetically enhanced animals. “Oh for fucks sake….come here you little shit, don’t you dare shit or piss on me.” I said to it and it squeaked, grabbing my hand as I grabbed for it, bouncing from my hand to my helmet to scrabble inside.
Amazingly the little thing just wiggled in beside my head and settled on the right side of my neck, laying down. “So you a boy?” I asked curiously as I moved for the ladder and froze as the bunny nodded its head, and I mean actually nodded. “Damn they tinkered with you a ton didn’t they?” I got a little growl for an answer as I worked down the ladder, feeling a tug or shove every so often from the shifting gravity. “Hey...not all bad, they tinkered with most of us humans too. Make you a deal...you don’t piss or shit on me and let me know when you need out of my helmet, and you can bunk with me and hide in my helmet.” I barely got it out before he squeaked and nodded rapidly.
When I got down to the bay it was controlled chaos as pilots were strapped into the seats of scout ships, transports, and our trio of fighters we’d gotten out of lockup. We didn’t actually have a large amount of weapons aboard, it’d been the driving force behind most of the weapon creation in the boredom. Techs and workers moved about carefully, making sure they always had at least one foot locked to the floor.
The scout craft were little more than missiles with fat fuel tanks shaped into wings for the rare times they went into atmospheres. Otherwise they were just giant lawn darts with a pilot compartment, a ton of sensors, scanners, radar, and lidar. Our shuttles were based somewhat on the old Nasa design, but with actual engines, armor, and guns. Ok, so they weren’t like Nasa’s old design...they actually worked well and didn’t blow up if you looked at them wrong. The real terror though was that the fighter’s used the same base frame, so shuttle pilots were usually fighter pilots who’d try their best to make you puke, or see if they could break the shuttle with high g maneuvers. I’ll admit to the puking, and thankfully the shuttles are hard to break.
I spotted Evans with her wolves, which were also wearing armored suits like the rest of the combat teams. The duo’s helmets had a bulge at the top that let their ears move as sensors sent sound properly for them to hear as if the helmet wasn’t there. Like the sound of something tiny barking at them from inside my helmet.
Several heads looked over at me as I walked along the hangar, stopping to let one of the techs pass by who was wearing an exoskeleton and carrying a crate. I was busy trying to poke the bunny in my helmet that was trying to pick on the wolves. “Quit it...they’re nice.” He just squeaked at me as I walked the rest of the way over to Evans. I grunted as Evans grabbed my helmet and looked inside, blushing darkly as she started to cackle like a mad woman. “I found him in a corridor.” I grumbled and her laughter died when the bunny used an ear to wave at her in greeting.
“He just...did you just wave at me?” She asked and he nodded. “That is so...weird, and cool. It means you’re like my kids.” She pointed to Zeus and Hera, who were looking up at my helmet. The bunny peaked himself out and looked down at the wolves, then barked at them, but it was the two wolves both sitting in unison that made us stare. “I know you...you're that violent little lab bunny...Xavier! Right?” He nodded and wiggled back into my helmet. “Of all of the genetically modified things on this ship, you made friends with a bunny…” She snorted. “Fits your libido.”
I just huffed. “Time to work, Hel, is everyone ready?” I asked and moved to the case that held my ready gear, strapping on my belt with my magazine pouches and latching my rifle’s straps to my armored chest.
“Ready and loaded into the different shuttles just in case, and I have three of the teams standing by waiting to help with emergencies.” As she spoke she helped check over my armored suit, attaching the compressed air cartridges and scrubbers to the hard points. As she finished attaching things to my suit, I turned and attached the things that she needed help with. “Command shuttle sir?”
I just nodded. “Yes Master Sergeant, you’re with me in the command boat. Lance Corporal Miller is my commo man, and I keep PFCs Avery and Johnson. Go pee before I seal us up.”
She was nodding and we’d drilled on this so it took her a second for her head to snap up and she noticed the bunny jumping from my helmet to the table to relieve himself. “I was about to say…” She shook her head. “Ok and I’ve also got Hiroshima with us. I didn’t figure you wanted to leave him behind and bored.”
Xavier finished and left a puddle and some pellets floating in a can on the table, then shifted himself and aimed for my helmet as he kicked off. The tiny bunny thudded into me and wiggled in on the left side of my head to wiggle his way around to the right side. “Like I’m going to leave a bored bomb tech around that plays with anything he can make go boom. I mean his pranks are terrifying.” During the boredom of the last couple months, Sergeant Haruki Yuto Yamaguchi had entertained himself by making all sorts of bombs. He’d also made quite a few flashbangs. Bartering had gotten the demolitionist a healthy supply of cigarettes and smuggled alcohol, which he traded for parts and other...things.
I had four of the smaller flashbangs in an armored pocket on my thigh, and a bunny nestled in my helmet looking at my hud. Zeus and Hera moved to their person’s side and let her hook on the micro thruster packs that her enhanced duo could use better than some humans. We stepped around and through the armored hatch of the command shuttle, my hand snapping up and grabbing a bar as the gravity shifted. I could feel her hand grab my belt and the pressure of a canine curling its leg around mine.
“Major, best get to your seats, I’ve been talking with the scientists. They’re not expecting our exit to be fun, no matter where we come back into normal space.” First Sergeant Muhammed “Prophet” Hussein was my highest ranking middle eastern born soldier, and the man that made the others behave. He was also good at keeping track of situations and operations.
“Aye Top...and it’s Lieutenant, not Major.” I said as the gravity pull eased and we moved to our seats, Zeus and Hera laying down on latches that locked their suits to the floor. “Seal up and pressure check.” I ordered and snapped my own helmet faceplate closed, the pressure built up and after a moment I cracked my faceplate’s vents and sighed. “I’m good.”
The others said much the same as they cracked their vents after their checks, but one of them heard a soft chitter and PFC Johnson tilted her head as she looked at my helmeted face. Evans did well in keeping silent and not saying a word. “Is there something in your helm…” Her words died as Xavier barked that tiny bark he’d done at the wolves. “Lieutenant!?”
I just chuckled. “Oh stop messing with her…” I tilted my head enough and Xavier peeked his wee head up, wiggled an ear at her, and then settled back down beside my neck. “Pfc Johnson, that is Xavier, who is now my helmet buddy and apparently normally violent. He’s probably been gene modded as much as I am or more.” I gave a little shrug at the thought.
“I think that’s about most of us Sir, but isn’t that the trick with this group? Most unloved and unwanted by the purists that are happy we won the war, but wanted us out of sight?” Johnson grumbled. It was a usual grumble and something we’d all figured out in one way or another, most of us had gotten the job because we’d all had the most gene mods. There’d been much more widespread and general mods, but ours were hard set military mods. The new government didn’t want those genes flowing through their perfect little populace.
“Aye, I know...now sit back and let me call the Captain.” I said and focused on a spot on my hud, bringing up another menu and focusing on the Captain’s connection. “We’re latched down, ready to move as soon as we’re…” I grunted as it felt like we were suddenly in a trash can that'd been kicked down a rocky hill.
“All hands! We’re leaving the wormhole! Hang the hell on!” Came over the 1mc and coms in our helmets. Xavier squeaked softly and I could feel his fur standing up as my hair was trying to on my body.
Then all of the uneasy feelings seemed to vanish faster than they’d shown up and I blinked a few times, sucking in a few deep breaths. “All teams launch! We’re in a system and we need to spin the ship and fire the engines to reduce speed.” Came over my coms and the pilot’s as bay doors slammed down and the air was sucked from inside.
The shuttle was shifted and faced toward the outer blast doors pulling open, then fired out with a burst from its thrusters, another few bursts formed it up with the other shuttles and scout craft. I, like many of my people, were staring at the gas giant we were currently screaming past, while our pilots worked to get us out of the Yangtze’s way.
One of the reasons many of us were staring at the screens or out port holes was the fact that there was an installation hanging down into the jovian’s atmosphere. It made the Yangtze look like the pinky finger compared to a hand, and it wasn’t human built. My attention snapped back to my hud as it displayed the Yangtze firing its thrusters to turn one hundred and eighty degrees, the main drives flaring brightly as they came to life. It would pass by the Jovian and no doubt out of its primary gravity well, but it wasn’t going to slow too quickly.
The scout ships actually rocketed ahead of the Yangtze to try and find out what was ahead of it, sensors going as strongly as they could go. Hundreds of probes started to fire from tubes along the big ship’s sides as the thick plumes of plasma tried to slow it. “There!” Came from Pfc Avery, and he was pointing to a bulkhead, meaning the picture in his hud.
Xavier squeaked and I chuckled at the bunny bitching. “Share the feed, Noble!” I barked out at him and watched as he grunted and eyes flicked to spots to share the feed with us. When his feed showed on my hud I blinked, it looked like the remnants of a battle. Ships, dozens if not hundreds of them, sat rent and broken in the void of space. There were obviously more than one species' ships in the chaos, which had apparently ran into the massive field of wreckage at high speeds.
“Oh god...Sir...those ships look like they were spat out here like us and crashed.” Hiroshima said as he looked at the various feeds in his hud. “Wreckage is ancient, heavy buildup of dust and it looks like very high yield weaponry.”
“We got lucky kids. another half a second in the wormhole or if we’d of been accelerating longer inside it, we'd be like them.” Lance Corporal Miller said as he was listening to several different things at once. “Squads alpha and bravo request to stick close to the ship Sir, Sergeant Abrams said she’s already had to fire on debris.”
“Approved. send orders to all shuttles to watch for debris and screen the Yangtze...except ours. We’re going with the scouts and finding out if we need to fire nukes ahead of the damned ship.” I ordered and brought up the pilot’s connection. “Take us out ahead of the Yangtze with the scout craft. Dump all the sensor and visual data back here, you know the drill Blitz.”
“Aye Major.” Came from Warrant Officer William “Blitz” Krieg, Soldiers were never too inventive with team names, and with a few flicks of his fingers, displays came up in the command shuttle. The rest of us pushed the buttons on our seats that brought us up to standing positions, getting to work checking to make sure nothing was getting into the way of the Yangtze, which was going to take time to slow down.
Hours passed and we realized a monstrous issue, this gas giant had rather large moons circling it, and the Yangtze was heading for one of them. It looked like it had lush areas, ocean sized lakes, about one and a half times the size of earth, and had whopping big craters in some areas. The planet had seen war and devastation long ago, and still seemed to support life, hopefully it supported human life.