OMEGA TASKFORCE, CHAPTER #1

Cold hearts and dark thoughts

Lucas Sterling followed Commander Ariel Gunn onto the bridge of the Fleet Dreadnaught Hammer, plasma pistol raised. The door hammered shut behind him, trapping the rest of their forces outside. Sterling cursed, but remained focused, aiming and firing at the Sa’Nerran warriors who had taken control of the ship. 


“It’s just us two!” Sterling called out to Gunn over the rasp of his plasma pistol. Two warriors dropped, but more moved in front of the conn, forming a shield in front of Commander Welsh. The neural implant on the side of Welsh’s head displayed the tell-tales signs of Sa’Nerran neural corruption. The alien race was controlling the Commander like a puppet, and using her to steal the Hammer. As Fleet’s sole remaining Dreadnaught, its loss or capture would lead to certain defeat at the hands of the Sa’Nerran race. The Omega Directive was clear in this situation. Commander Naomi Welsh had to die, and Sterling was the one who had to kill her. 


Gunn darted along the left-hand wall of the bridge, shooting two Sa’Nerran invaders before being pinned down. A plasma blast ripped past Sterling’s head, but he didn’t flinch, shooting the attacker in the torso then diving for cover as more plasma blasts tore through the air. Sterling returned fire, driving the aliens back and giving Gunn an opportunity to advance. She moved toward the conn, killing another two warriors, but the final Sa’Nerran invaders were still trying to shield Commander Welsh. 


“They’re protecting her,” Sterling called over to Gunn, who was pinned down on the far side of the bridge. “I can’t get a clear shot!”


Sterling assumed the Sa’Nerra must also have known that without their human puppet, they would lose control of the Fleet’s largest and most powerful capital ship. The aliens seemed willing to sacrifice themselves in order to ensure the ship surged through the aperture into the Void between Fleet and Sa’Nerran space. If that happened, Sterling knew the Hammer would be lost. The Sa’Nerra had planned the assault meticulously and would have ships waiting to escort the giant vessel back to Sa’Nerran space. The Hammer would then be turned against them, and eventually used to batter Earth from orbit until humanity’s home was nothing more than a wasteland.


Sterling glanced at the viewscreen and saw that the aperture was fast approaching. Despite plasma bolts flashing all around him and consoles erupting into sparks and flames, he had no choice but to press the attack. Charging forward, he unleashed a flurry of plasma fire at the remaining alien warriors. The Sa’Nerra returned fire and he took a hit to the shoulder, but pushed on through the pain. Gunn also advanced, catching the Sa’Nerra in a crossfire. Sterling took another hit, but his combat vest absorbed the bulk of the energy. Even so, his chest burned and the pain threatened to overwhelm him. Clamping his jaw down hard, Sterling continued to fire until all the Sa’Nerran warriors were dead. All bar one; a final alien warrior remained. It stood behind Commander Naomi Welsh, its long, leathery fingers wrapped around her neck, and a plasma pistol pressed to the side of her head. Sterling could hear the alien’s raspy breathing, faster and more labored than usual. Yet he could determine nothing about the alien’s state of mind from its round, yellow eyes, and unyielding expression. The Sa’Nerra were simply unreadable. If they felt anger or joy or misery or pain, it was not possible to discern such emotions from their faces. They simply killed without compunction, just as Sterling had to. By holding Welsh hostage, the alien being must have believed that Sterling’s basic human emotions would cause his resolve to break. Yet if the alien warrior believed for one second that he would not shoot, it was sorely mistaken, Sterling told himself.

Sterling gritted his teeth and aimed his pistol at Commander Naomi Welsh’s head. He knew her and she was well liked on the ship. More than that, she was Gunn’s friend. The fact he had to kill her was a bitter pill to swallow, but he reminded himself that the Naomi Welsh he knew was already gone. The Commander’s eyes were glassy and vacant, like all of the other 'turned' humans Sterling had seen. Yet they were also staring straight at him. Part of him wished Naomi Welsh would look away, but the soldier in him preferred it this way. He was not ashamed of what he was about to do. It was repugnant, even callous, but also necessary. Sterling swallowed hard and was about to squeeze the trigger, when Gunn jumped in front of him and blocked his shot.


“Lucas, wait, we can still save her!” Gunn shouted. She had her back to Sterling, and was training the barrel of her plasma rifle at the alien. The Sa’Nerran’s eyes flicked to Gunn and its raspy breathing intensified.


“Ariel, get the hell out of the way!” Sterling yelled, trying to sidestep around her in order to get a firing angle, but Gunn made sure to match his moves. She then removed one hand from the plasma rifle she was wielding and drew her pistol too. However, instead of aiming the weapon at Commander Welsh or the alien warrior, Gunn aimed it at Sterling instead.


“We can still help her,” Gunn hit back. “We have to try, Lucas. We can’t just murder her in cold blood!”

Sterling glanced past Gunn and looked at Commander Welsh. The Commander was physically tethered to the captain’s console in the center of the bridge by a wire inserted into her spidery, corrupted implant. Then he glanced at the viewscreen. The flashing beacons that marked the boundary of the aperture were now visible. If he didn’t act soon then the Hammer would surge into the Void between Fleet and Sa’Nerran space, where hundreds more alien warriors likely lay in wait.

“Ariel, she’s already gone,” Sterling hit back, still trying to get a clean shot at the 'turned' Commander. “Now get out of the way, that’s an order!”


Gunn shook her head and moved closer to the conn. The Sa’Nerran warrior remained behind Commander Welsh, occasionally flicking its egg-shaped eyes to the screen, watching the aperture creep closer. “To hell with the Admiral, and to hell with the Omega Directive,” Gunn spat. “I’m not going to let you kill Naomi. I’m not going to let you murder my friend!”


“Help… me…”


The whispered plea had escaped from the lips of Commander Welsh. Sterling scowled at the officer, and for the first time he saw a flicker of life behind her eyes.


“Help…” Commander Welsh said again, her voice weak and anguished. Then she slipped away and her eyes turned glassy again, as if dropping into a waking coma.


“I told you!” Gunn said moving closer to the Sa’Nerran warrior, this time with the rifle aimed high and her other hand raised as if in surrender. The alien peered back at Gunn, though there was nothing about its leathery features that suggested it had understood Gunn’s intentions.

Suddenly, the Sa’Nerran released Commander Welsh and grabbed Gunn instead, wrapping its long fingers around her neck. Sterling watched in horror as the warrior clasped its neural control device around her head, then used Gunn as a human shield too. Its yellow eyes peered over Gunn’s shoulder and a series of waspish, hissing sounds escaped its lips. These were then mixed in with sharper, more grating sounds that were equally incomprehensible. Sterling cursed and cast his eyes to the viewscreen again. The ship would surge in less than a minute. Gritting his teeth, Sterling aimed his pistol at Ariel Gunn. Her implant now bore the telling signs of corruption. An irregular pattern that extended around the neural device, and crawled across the side of her face like the legs of a wolf spider. 


“Ariel, get out of the way…” Sterling implored her, hoping that somehow his words would reach the willful officer. However, in his heart he already knew she was lost. And he knew what he had to do.

Squeezing the trigger, Sterling shot Lieutenant Commander Ariel Gunn straight between her eyes. With his pistol set to maximum power, Gunn’s head was blown clean off. Her decapitated corpse then dropped to the deck like a grotesque shop mannequin. Sterling felt guilt and revulsion stab his insides, but his task was not yet done. Squeezing the trigger again, he sent another plasma blast rippling across the bridge. It sunk into the gut of Commander Welsh, penetrating through her body and striking the alien that was now cowering behind her. The Sa’Nerran hissed, and returned fire, but its shot was wayward. Sterling fired again and again, each blast cutting through the body of Commander Welsh and dealing more damage to the alien. This time the warrior dropped to its knees and Sterling advanced, stepping up onto the conn. The Sa’Nerran peered up at him, hands wrapped around its injured body. It met Sterling’s eyes and hissed at him, the rasping sound of its breathing growing weaker by the second. Perhaps it was cursing him, Sterling thought. Or perhaps it was begging for its life. He didn’t know, and he didn’t care. Pressing his pistol to the side of the Sa’Nerran’s head, Sterling fired a final shot, blasting the alien warrior at point blank range. The stench of burned alien and human flesh filled his nostrils and caused him to gag, but the job was done. The invaders were all dead. Yet, incredibly, Commander Welsh was still standing, despite having three holes burned clean through her body.


“Commander?” Sterling said, turning the woman to face him. “Naomi, can you hear me?” he tried again, disconnecting the cable that linked the officer to the captain’s console. “Naomi, it’s Lucas…” Sterling continued. “It’s okay, you’re okay now…”


Commander Welsh finally met Sterling’s eyes. She then peered down at the plasma burns that had cut holes through her flesh. Pressing her fingers into the gaping, cauterized pits in her gut and sides, the officer then lifted her head to Sterling, wearing an expression of utter confusion. She opened her mouth to speak, but then suddenly collapsed to the deck, as if she were a puppet that had just had its strings cut. His eyes fell onto the headless body of Ariel Gunn and he forced down a dry swallow. Suddenly, the body of Gunn thrust her hands out toward him and sat up. Sterling screamed and backed away as Gunn rose to her feet, headless and bloodied from the battle. Then she came at him, hands outstretched toward Sterling’s throat.

//end of chapter

Buy the series to keep reading!