The Blackstar Gambit Read online

  Zara turned into Kurt’s chest as she buried her head against him; her sobs shook him as she hugged him tighter than ever before.

  “Oh my God Kurt, what have we done?” she sobbed, her tears soaking the front of his shirt.

  Quietly he whispered in her ear, “This was not us, this comes down to Visjic. It was all his doing.”

  Looking up into his grief-filled eyes she said, “But we didn’t stop him, we couldn’t save them, any of them. Kurt we didn’t even have time to warn anyone and now millions are dead because of us.”

  Her words only highlighted what he was already feeling himself, and the guilt and grief for those who died was in his eyes as clear as the sun in the sky.

  “Maybe that was kinder then, at least they died fast, not knowing,” he said unable to look in her eyes any longer. He could not bear to see the grief and the blame in those eyes, not aimed just at him. He knew she felt she shared as much of the blame as he did, and he knew why. They both had powers that ordinary folk only dreamed of and yet they had not been able to help. She felt, as did he, that they should have tried harder, done something, anything to prevent this disaster from happening.

  He also knew, the rational part of him, that there was nothing they could have done.

  The way that situation had played out there was nothing they could have done. Visjic had played his cards expertly leaving them with a pair of deuces to his royal flush.

  Sinclair strolled by them as he too took in the devastation. Kurt could see the normal stoic expression was gone and what remained was pure emotion. He saw anger on Sinclair’s face and hatred in his eyes.

  “Sir, what do you want us to do?” Kurt asked.

  Sinclair stopped and looked them both squarely in the eyes. He paused to gather himself and then said, “I want you to find whoever was responsible for this and I want you to make them pay. Do whatever you have to, you have an Executive Order to use whatever force necessary to bring the perpetrator to justice and by justice I mean kill the murdering bastard.”

  At that Zara smiled. Here was something she could get her teeth into he thought as he watched her demeanour change. Now she had a purpose once again and this time it was to avenge all those who had died.

  “Copy that, sir,” Kurt replied.

  “Now let’s get back to Nellis Base, we have work to do,” Sinclair said. Then he turned to De Boer, “Colonel, you remain here and guard the delegates, especially the President. I’m going back to Nellis with Kurt and Zara. Report to me there once the delegates are safe.”

  Kurt listened intently to what the general was saying as his mind raced working out what must be done.

  When Sinclair turned to them once more, he was ready.

  “Let’s go General. When we’re in the air, I’ll tell you what we’ll do,” he said with a determined grin.

  33

  Nellis Base

  22.10 s.e.t.

  Kurt and the rest of the small group arrived back at Nellis and exited the Silver Dart that had been placed at their disposal.

  The entire base was a hive of activity as the personnel rushed around in preparation for the huge security and clean-up operation that was required in Washington.

  The Presidential shuttle, codenamed Shuttle One had been on hand to transport President Takagi to wherever he needed to go. Other shuttles had been brought in to handle the transport of the other delegates so they could each return to their own Constituencies.

  Sinclair went straight for his office escorted by Kurt, Zara and Matt Hawk who had also been in the bunker when the bomb had detonated.

  They couldn’t help but notice the haunted looks in the eyes of those they passed by as they went about their duties to get ready for what must be done in the clean-up. They all knew the aftermath of this incident would be extreme to say the least. Calls would be made for someone to pay and, until they had the culprit in either custody or a grave, then the politicians would undoubtedly carry the burden of blame.

  “This was an absolute disaster, a debacle of purely epic proportions,” Sinclair said slamming his fist down on his desk, once they had entered his office. Uncharacteristically he stormed around his office unable to contain his emotions as the others remained by the doorway allowing him to vent.

  Kurt looked at the other two. Zara’s eyes were wide and Matt was slowly shaking his head. None of them had ever seen Sinclair react like this, not even when Col Sec HQ in New York had been attacked and thousands had been caught up in the battle. This was worse than that; tens of thousands had been slaughtered without a second thought. It was too early to know the exact death toll and part of him didn’t want to. They had died in a callous act of aggression against a small group of men who had been the real target.

  Kurt knew the general was feeling guilt at having the lives of those innocents snuffed out because of them. It had been done deliberately and with a single purpose, to cause chaos. Visjic had wanted to disrupt the normal running of the Confederation and by killing all those civilians he just might have succeeded.

  “You do realise that President Takagi will have to act against this threat, don’t you?” Sinclair said turning to face them. “This is not the first time that Col Sec has been attacked in recent months and at least twice there have been severe civilian casualties. We have shown that we are not up to the job of protecting our home planet. Something has to be done and I’m afraid that the President may strip us of our powers and place Col Sec in the hands of someone else, someone better suited to the task.”

  “Yes sir, and he has every right to, but I don’t think there is anyone more capable than you. I think we need to act now though before he has time to pull a strategy together. That’s what Visjic will be expecting, for us to plan then come at him in force. If we hit him now before he has time to prepare then we have a chance to get in a decisive blow,” Kurt said walking further into the room.

  “Your plan has merit Kurt; do you think it’ll work though?” Sinclair stopped pacing and sat behind his desk. He looked up at his friend, “We cannot afford any more mistakes.”

  “Copy that sir, that’s why I think Zara and I should go alone. Osiris is a heavy gravity world and there is just no time to gather a team together or get the equipment needed. Zara and I can leave right away; we don’t need any special equipment.”

  “I’ll go with them, sir. I grew up on a world with greater gravity that Earth, not as great as this Osiris obviously but I can adapt better than others could,” Matt said stepping forward.

  Kurt looked at him, frowned then asked, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

  Without looking at him Matt said, “You need the extra hand and I can leave with you right away too.”

  “He’s right Kurt, we need him and he’s the best choice we have,” Zara agreed.

  “Okay then, take the Silver Dart and dock with the Vanguard, I’ll inform the Captain, he can remain in orbit and supply you with whatever you may need,” Sinclair said.

  With a nod of his head Kurt turned and looked at his two friends.

  He didn’t need to say anything, he could see it in their eyes, there was an awful amount of payback owed to Visjic and they wanted to deliver it personally.

  00.12 s.e.t.

  Kurt, Zara and Matt were on the bridge of the Vanguard. The starship’s crew had been given orders to follow their instructions and render whatever assistance was required.

  Captain Mark Philips was fairly new to Space Command and the Vanguard was his first ship.

  Although he was too young to have seen action in any of the Colonial wars, he had been raised on stories about them, which had been a deciding factor in his joining. He had wanted to keep the line of serving officers in his family intact.

  He remained seated in his venerated Command Chair as the trio of passengers arrived on his bridge. He was extremely aware of the importance of the chain of command, he was in charge of this ship, but he was all too aware of the importance of his passengers and so he treated them with
respect.

  “Welcome aboard gentlemen and lady,” he said as he turned to see them enter.

  “No need to stand on ceremony Captain, we’re all Marines here,” Zara corrected him.

  “Have all the preparations been made Captain?” Kurt asked getting to the point.

  “Yes, sir, they have, we are ready to make the jump on your command,” Philips replied.

  “I just need to inform General Sinclair of our status then we can leave,” Kurt said.

  “I can have the call re-routed to my Ready Room where you can take it in private if you wish?” Philips told him.

  “Thanks,” Kurt said and gestured towards a door he noticed to which Philips nodded in the affirmative.

  The Ready Room was a standard in all starships, but with the Vanguard being a medium sized cruiser it was smaller than most. The monitor at the far end came alive with the face of General Sinclair as he sat at his desk in his office at HQ.

  “How are you progressing Kurt?” he asked when he saw the three of them in his screen.

  “We are about to make the jump sir. I just thought I would let you know,” Kurt replied.

  “Let us hope you are all successful then.”

  “Thanks sir. How are things progressing down there with the clean up?”

  “President Takagi has asked for a meeting with me. I feel he will move the seat of government to someplace he feels is safer than here in the US. I can’t say I blame him; we narrowly averted attacks on him and the Defence Council and now the Security Summit, in the space of a few months. These things should not have happened and I fully understand if he wants someone else to replace me. Perhaps my time is over as the head of Col Sec.”

  Kurt took a step back; a little shocked to hear such words from a man he’d known as a rock his entire career. A man as unmovable as a mountain and for him to show doubt in his own work proved the recent events had had an even bigger effect on him than anyone could have imagined.

  “Sir, you’ve dedicated your whole career to Col Sec. You’ve sacrificed huge portions of your life to this job, it’s not just a job to you, this is your life,” he said leaning forward to peer into the monitor.

  “I agree, perhaps it’s time for some young blood in the job though,” countered Sinclair.

  “Col Sec without you sir wouldn’t be Col Sec. You are Col Sec General,” Matt said, his voice almost breaking at the thought of losing his mentor.

  “Sir, those things shouldn’t have happened, you’re right but they did. No good crying over them, they’re done and gone. What you need to do now is find a way to ensure it doesn’t happen again and that’s something only you can do. We need someone with your experience at the helm of Col Sec. Someone else who doesn’t know how this thing works, especially the Wildfire Initiative, wouldn’t have a clue. You have to stay, only you can lead us, sir,” Zara added stepping forward.

  Sinclair looked at all of them and a brief smile played across his lips.

  “I thank you for your support but I think that unless we have something definitive to show the Security Council then all our fates may be sealed,” he said.

  Kurt straightened his back and with a grim determination told him, “You’ll have something to show the Council – Visjic’s head!”

  Sinclair smiled briefly then his normal stoic expression was firmly back in place.

  “Good luck, I’ll expect your report shortly,” he said then closed the connection.

  Matt looked at the two others and said, “Who gave the pep talk there, was it us or did he trick us into motivating ourselves?”

  Kurt smiled and said, “He is a master of the game, a master manipulator. I think he just gave us the reason to succeed.”

  “The crafty old sonofabitch,” Zara groaned.

  Kurt left the Ready Room followed by the others and said, “Captain, you’re free to make the jump when you’re ready.”

  34

  01.24 s.e.t.

  The Vanguard had exited the hyperspace window some distance from where Kurt had remembered Osiris being.

  Philips had argued that it was best to come at the planet slowly in stealth mode rather than suddenly appear out of a hyperspace window. His reasoning was that a sudden appearance could trigger off sensor relays around the planet, whereas if they arrived a bit slower they had a better chance of going in undetected.

  Kurt had agreed and the jump was made.

  “There she is, just where you left her, sir,” Philips said as the image of the planet began to fill the forward viewscreen.

  Kurt stared at the world and thought of the last time he and Zara were there. He knew that Visjic had the time to return to his home world since he left Earth and he tried to envision his reaction when he found the two of them had escaped. As he imagined the horror explode on his face it brought a sly smile to his lips.

  “Thank you Captain, we’ll take the switchblades as soon as you reach a stable orbit,” he said.

  “You do realise that with a switchblade, if the gravity is as heavy as you say then it’s a one way trip?” Philips pointed out turning in his command chair to look at the three of them.

  “Oh don’t worry Cap, we do this sort of shit for a living,” Zara told him with a deadpan expression.

  “Life in Recon Delta is not just a job, it’s an adventure,” Matt added emphasising the last word with gusto and a fist bump from Kurt.

  Philips shook his head in dismay. “And that’s why I chose Space Command,” he muttered.

  “I heard that,” Zara whispered in his ear as she leant forward catching him unawares. He hadn’t meant his comment to be heard and his eyes went wide in surprise when she backed off from him.

  “Okay, enough fun for the time being, let’s do this,” Kurt said suddenly all business again. He led them off the bridge leaving the young Captain to wonder what sort of people they were.

  01.45 s.e.t.

  The three switchblades zoomed in through the planet’s atmosphere approaching terminal velocity.

  Kurt and Zara let out a whoop of delight as they enjoyed the speed accelerated by the heavier gravity. Matt on the other hand was beginning to think him coming along might not have been such a good idea after all.

  They soon came upon the settlement and activated the landing thrusters to slow their descent.

  “I’m seeing movement down there,” stated Zara, which brought Kurt to focus on what she was seeing. She was right there was definitely something. He saw several figures milled around the buildings over which the cavern was situated and it looked like they were carrying pulse rifles.

  His enhanced vision zoomed in on them and he gasped. “It’s the people from the cavern. He woke them up.”

  “Wait, what now?” Matt asked.

  “Hold on, this is going to get rough,” Kurt told him as they came within firing range.

  01.50 s.e.t.

  “Kurt we’re picking up sensor readings of a starship nearing the planet. It came out of hyperspace at the edge of this system and it’s heading straight for you,” Captain Philips said through the open secure comm channel they all shared.

  “It’s coming to pick up the inhabitants of this world,” Kurt replied. “We have to stop them picking anyone up,” he added.

  “Copy that, I’ll see if I can’t change their minds,” Philips said.

  “Good luck, we’ll do our best to prevent them reaching you from down here,” Kurt said then ended the call.

  A few seconds later, they were coming in to land close to where Kurt had left his switchblade from before.

  Kurt and Zara stretched their bodies when they got off their rides luxuriating in their newfound strength, whereas Matt was coming to terms with feeling heavier. His frame was large and bulky with muscle so he had the reserves of strength and stamina to cope with this world as long as he remained only for a short time on the surface.

  As they peered over the ridge where they had landed out of sight, Matt asked, “What now? You never expected them to be free did y
ou?”

  Kurt quickly gave him a look that told him he was right. “The mission is still on, now it just got a little harder,” he confessed.

  01.51 s.e.t.

  Visjic had decided that if his family were doomed then they could face it on their own terms.

  He had tuned in to the comm channels from various resources and had picked up chatter about the attack on Earth. What he learned reinforced his belief that his family would be best set free to find and face their own fate. He knew the Confederation would come after him and he was certain that Kurt Stryder would have divulged his whereabouts before his demise with the others at Washington.

  He had little time to spare so he called on the services of a starship that was seconded to BlackStar. He planned to ferry his family, his entire people, off this planet and go anywhere as long as they evacuated before the arrival of Col Sec.

  The starship would arrive soon and he still had so many to bring up. They were still thawing out down below so he just had to wait.

  He saw a shuttle exit through the clouds forming over the settlement and come in to land.

  The first batch of people began to enter the shuttle, and when it was full, it took off leaving Visjic to stare after it wistfully.

  As that shuttle reached the cloud layer another burst through to fetch more of the inhabitants of the vats below.

  Visjic scanned the skies for any signs of the Confederation. He thought of how his fate had changed drastically in the space of a few hours. He had gone from being the leader of an organisation that threatened the major powers to being a fugitive on the run. It was not something he planned on enduring for long. He would turn it around soon, but first he needed to get his family away from here.

  35

  01.54 s.e.t.

  “Whatever you have planned, I suggest you do it soon,” Matt said as they watched the second shuttle come in to land.

  Zara looked at Kurt and asked, “You do have a plan, don’t you?”