Talion by D J Thompson

Author:D J Thompson [Thompson, D J]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: action adventure, teotwawki, science fiction, hard science fiction, Military, Post-Apocalyptic, thriller, Angels of War, War, technothriller
ISBN: 9781732306431
Publisher: Masterless Press, LLC
Published: 2019-04-06T22:00:00+00:00

17

NARAKA

September 18

4:29 P.M.

LIVE SATELLITE IMAGES show the target—a massive gray Shughart-class cargo ship anchored a few miles southeast of New York’s Jones Beach. Between the four-story white bridge near the stern and the double- and triple-stacked shipping containers clustered at the bow, there’s a bare section that looks like it opens up. Ten armed men dressed in gray jumpsuits patrol the ship’s deck.

The Terah drone reaches the ship fifty minutes after we landed at Nine Gun Battery, an abandoned military facility on the barrier spit of Sandy Hook, New Jersey. The standard scan shows the company name, Erebus, painted on the back of the hull. Erebus is the Greek god of darkness born of Chaos. Appropriate.

A quick internet search shows that Erebus is a privately-owned shipping company that was registered in Panama just months after the War of Annex. Abdul is trying to find the identity of its owner when I look up at the Osprey’s drop-down monitor and see that “SS AKARAN” has been crudely painted on the starboard side of the hull.

“Akaran!” I exclaim. “That’s Naraka spelled backward!”

“But when we searched for anagrams of Naraka, nothing came up …” Abdul mumbles.

“Judging by the paint job, it’s not the ship’s official name,” Anne says. “It’s likely a message for us …”

“Yeah … maybe Stevenson wanted us to find this place,” I say. “But why?”

The Terah drone begins its terahertz scan, revealing five SH-7 Specter stealth helicopters and vehicles that resemble the Goliath LAV in the hold beneath the massive doors on the deck. On the first two sublevels near the bow are dozens of cabins that I assume are sleeping quarters. Underneath the bridge, a computer-filled command center and server rooms beside it. Underneath that, a prison that spans the two lowest levels. Besides the ten sentries topside, there are approximately one hundred to one hundred and twenty human-shaped figures below deck. Most are lying on the floor of their cells on the lower levels. The rest are armed, either patrolling the ship or standing in distinct clusters.

“Naraka …” I breathe.

“Are we calling this in now, or what?” Sung asks.

“And risk alerting Corvus?” I snap. “If we’re exposed, the Deciders kill everyone and the Dominus escapes.”

“So what do you suggest we do, Archangel?” Hughes says, annoyed.

I glare at him. “We board Naraka, eliminate as many Deciders as we can, destroy their comms, and eliminate their means of evacuation. Once their comms are down, we’ll call in reinforcements.”

Anne nods. “That is our best move.”

Jeremy raises his hand. “Mind telling me how you plan on getting us aboard that thing?”

I eye the case of jump equipment. “We parachute in.”

His eyes widen. “I ain’t trained for that, Dion …”

“I know. That’s why you’re staying on the Osprey.”

He looks taken aback.

Isabella whistles. When she has my attention, she waves with the hand not cuffed to the seat’s rail. “You doing a HALO jump, hon? That was part of basic training back at Iceworm. Let me take his spot.”

I shake my head. “Thanks for the offer, but I can’t jeopardize my team’s lives or this mission with an unknown.

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