Beyond Antares Dimensional Gates by Edited by Brandon Rospond

Author:Edited by Brandon Rospond [Rospond, Edited by Brandon]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Winged Hussar Publishing, LLC
Published: 2017-10-07T06:00:00+00:00

* * * *

The longer they waited, the more Kalta felt the absence of the IMTel.

It wasn’t as though she was entirely disconnected, of course. The combat shard kept her in touch with her squadmates - though as that connection conveyed largely a mixture of pity, contempt, and disapproval, she almost wished it wasn’t there after all. It wasn’t even as though she had never before experienced separation from the IMTel; that was a standard part of training in the Concord Combined Command, because it was such a common occurrence in hostile environments. In training, though, there had always been the comfort of knowing that the disconnection was both temporary and intentional. This world, Astioch, had had a fully-functional nanosphere once – but not since the Ghar invasion, and that meant this was different.

Despite the missing connection to the IMTel, or perhaps because of it, Kalta was more focused on her sentry assignment than ever. Holding position within the building her squad had seized, she sighted down her carbine at the surrounding ruins. Every now and then, there was a flicker of movement, but each time it turned out to just be a buddy drone hovering among the rubble, scanning and searching for threats. Kalta did not allow herself to become complacent. It was one thing to shoot a long-dead corpse; that mistake had had no consequences beyond embarrassment. To overlook a genuine threat could be fatal.

She heard movement behind her; Baravit, she judged. The veteran strike leader's movements were habitually slower, more measured, than most of the others in the squad. Not that Kalta looked down on him for that. The old man was as tough as petra hide and sharp as skark teeth - few survived for his length of service in the C3 if they weren't.

"Anything out there, Trooper?"

"All quiet, sir," Kalta replied. Of course it was; she'd have raised the alarm already if it weren't.

"Good." Baravit paused but didn't move on to the next member of the squad. "How are you holding up?" he asked, eventually.

Kalta looked back at him, puzzled. "Sir?"

"No more nausea? Vomiting? Nosebleeds?"

She cursed to herself. "I feel fine, sir. That was just a reaction to null-space proximity. I'm over it."

"Good," Baravit said again, and he turned to leave.

Kalta couldn't help but ask. "Sir, how long will we have to hold here?"

The strike leader looked surprised. "Until we get orders to the contrary, Trooper," he said, as though it were obvious. She shook her head.

"I mean on Astioch, sir. How long until they decide whether to reinforce us or extract us? How long until civilians are brought in?"

He shrugged. "That depends on what we find here. We need to determine what Ghar forces remain. If we can defeat them, Astioch will be reclaimed. If they still hold the world in strength, we will withdraw. Our reconnaissance will give the IMTel the data it needs to make that decision."

"Shouldn't the orbital surveillance tell us that?"

The strike leader frowned. "Too much interference from the remnants of the nanosphere.

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