Alpha Team Prologue

PROLOGUE // CODE BLACK

YEAR 2509 OF THE EARTH ALLIANCE, 5027 YEARS AFTER THE BIRTH OF CHRIST // THE BRIDGE, CRUISER LONELY KNIGHT // 0400 HOURS
Maria could not sit still. There was too much going on in not much time at all, and in a few hours’ time she would meet her father for the first time since she could not remember. God, in all her forty-three years, she had never been so nervous. Her new project, codenamed BRAVEHEART, was something her father would have to know about, and as far as she had worked out, even the best worded explanation would infuriate the Council. How to word this? She sighed. No, it’d be best not to tell the Council just yet. Anyway, Project BRAVEHEART was too highly classified to let the junior members know.

“Captain, the guys from AOI have reported heavy enemy activity in the area. Permission to charge the main cannon?”

“Has the Knight’s Intel department reported contacts?”

“No, ma’am.”

“Then permission is denied. Communications!”

The lieutenant at the COM station jumped, “Yes, Cap’n?”

“To be sure we aren’t caught napping, relay the following orders to the Cryo team: We are at code black. Execute SYLVESTER procedure.”

“Consider it done, ma’am.”

Maria turned back to the main viewscreen, chewing the end of her stylus. The stress of the past few weeks was getting to her again. She needed an AI system for the Knight more than ever now. She jumped, swearing loudly. A huge number of red triangles had appeared on-screen.

“Bring the ship back up to Combat Alert Alpha! We’ve got a whole enemy armada bearing down on us! This time we’re not going to run. I know we’re hopelessly outnumbered, but they’ll just follow us again. Communications, send out an emergency signal to the Alliance fleet. I need all the firepower the Alliance has available right here right now! And tell Cryo we need all the occupied tubes thawed. Weapons, I need you to charge all our weapons. Navigation, I need you to come up with all the wild and crazy manoeuvres you can.”

MEANWHILE // ALPHA TEAM QUARTERS, CRUISER LONELY KNIGHT
“All personnel to combat stations. This is not a drill, repeat, this is NOT A DRILL! We are at Code Black.”

“You heard the Captain, Alpha Team! Triple time it to your stations! MOVE! It’s not like the Knight has any backup at the present time,” Sam bellowed, “Hurry up, dammit! Do you lot WANT us to get our asses whipped? This is EXACTLY why I told you all to be ready for combat! Get into your WARHAMMER suits. The sets with an AFIS would be a good idea. We might need them. Let’s hope the inertial dampeners on this hunk of junk are working properly, or when Holloway tries his crazy manoeuvres the bridge crew will all black out and we’ll be in trouble.”

It was a good thing Sam was already in full AFIS WARHAMMER, because if he showed his concern his soldiers would panic, and he had a terrible poker face. He could force his features to look calm and in control, and make himself sound as such, but it was always his eyes that gave him away.

“Come on, we don’t want to be last to our posts! Even Omega Team must be already nearly at their posts, and THEY were in Cryo! This is not a fucking drill, remember?! If you don’t damn well hurry up, we’ll be dead by the time you’re ready! Fuck it, I’m not going to bother with you guys if you can’t follow my orders when I give them. If you had, I wouldn’t be shouting at you.”

“Sir…?”

“What is it, Alpha Two? Not another comment on my language, I hope,” Sam growled, “Because I’ve given you orders to keep your mouth shut about matters of my tongue.”

“No, sir, it’s not about your language, sir. Just… Uh… How say? Ah, yes. The other teams can hear you, sir, and if they think you don’t have us under control, sir…”

“I know that, Alpha Two. Team, if you’ll kindly stop driving me insane and do as I say when I say it, I won’t have to yell. Listen up. I have a plan…”

THE BRIDGE, CRUISER LONELY KNIGHT
Even with the inertial dampeners, Lieutenant Holloway’s insane manoeuvres were sending vacant swivel chairs rolling across the bridge and into walls or occupied chairs. Maria was having trouble staying on her feet because of the forces acting on everything in the room; for the first time in her life she was afraid for not only herself, but her project. For the past twenty-one years she’d been working her ass off for the Alliance, most of those years on Project BRAVEHEART. Now the project was almost complete. One last hurdle stood in her way. This battle.

“Navigation! Give the Weapons guys an angle. We’re going on the offensive. The fleet is nearly here. Communications, get Alpha through Omega Teams off the Knight however way you can. I’m bringing the escape pods online. Evacuate all non-essential personnel. Surrender is NOT an option, and I don’t want twenty-one years of my hard work going down the drain in the case of our failure. Weapons, is the main cannon fully charged?”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Fire at will! Arm missile silos A1 through Z36!”

“All of them, ma’am? Every single missile in every single silo?”

“Yes, Lieutenant! Every single one of them! Leave nothing to chance!”

“Calculating firing vector. Done. I have the main cannon aimed at the enemy armada’s capital ship, ma’am, and the missiles aimed at every single enemy ship respectively.”

“Good. Fire when ready.”

“Firing in five… Four… Three… Two… One... Firing now!”

The three men at the weapons station all slammed their fists onto the same big red button. Ten missiles streaked from each silo, nine thousand, three hundred and sixty in all from nine hundred and thirty-six silos, and a huge blue beam shot from above the bridge towards the biggest enemy ship. Huge explosions punctuated the star-specked blackness of space.

“I think we took them out, Captain!”

Maria shook her head, “Wait and see. We can’t be sure just yet.”

Sure enough, the enemy armada emerged from the remnants of the explosions. Maria swore under her breath, “Not even a single bleeding scratch! Reload the missile silos and fire the main cannon at their capital ship again! Are the teams out?”

“Launching escape pods in five, ma’am.”

“Just launch the damned pods now!”

“Yes, ma’am!”

The main cannon’s immense bright blue beam streaked towards the enemy capital ship again, slicing straight through and destroying three frigates as well. More missiles impacted the other enemy spacecraft, blasting them into oblivion. The crew cheered, but the cheer was cut short when Maria held up her right hand.

“What is it, ma’am?”

“We thought one of their cruisers was their capital ship. The real capital ship… It’s got the perfect angle to destroy us…”

ESCAPE POD, EN ROUTE TO NEAREST PLANET
Sam stood at the back hatch, which was made of Perspex, just watching the Lonely Knight. His team and the other teams were safe, as were a large number of the crew members who did not work on the bridge, but what of the Captain and bridge crew?

A bright white beam of energy lanced towards the Knight, seemingly in slow motion. It connected directly with the main cannon and kept going out the back of the massive cruiser. A huge explosion washed over the escape pod, and when Sam could see past it again, the Lonely Knight was no longer recognisable as the beautiful craft she once was. Instead she was now a cloud of space junk.

The remains of the command couch floated past the escape pod, its colours eerily bleached by the artificial light from the six WARHAMMER helmet flashlights pointed at it.

“Wow, sir, we’re seventeen and we’ve already survived more brushes with death than your average Marine,” one of Sam’s soldiers commented.

“Is that good or bad, Alpha Four?”

“I- I’m not sure, sir…”