Chapter 2
Zosen IV was a hive of activity. The
colony on this far flung, temperate world had been founded five years
previously and had rapidly increased in size. Settlers from all over the Empire
had been drawn to the rich mineral deposits and the endless employment in the
defence factories. The Admiralty required a constant stream of warships, star
fighters, and a defence force garrison. The population had grown from the first
few thousand settlers who had emerged from the seeding ships to forty million
in just five years.
Unlike so many other worlds forcibly
settled by Parliament, Zosen IV had a rich wealth of minerals and a good
temperate climate and no surprises. The memory of Partolli II was still fresh
in the mind of every Galactic Scout and colonist. The planet scans showed a
similar template as Alpha prime and rich in minerals with fertile soil. Four
nights into the colonies existence all nine thousand settlers were killed, as
was the battalion of soldiers sent to investigate. It was a month before the
next military vessel passed by and landed more troops. Lieutenant Herrick, the
sole survivor reported to his Captain that nocturnal Ogre like creatures rose
from the caves and culled everyone.
Luckily for the millions on Zosen
nothing like that existed here.
By eighteen years old Stacey Nash
had already seen much of the Galaxy. Her father had been assigned as a
navigator on a civilian Survey ship and had taken his family with him. Stacey
had seen the birth of a star, looked into the eternal darkness of a black hole
and the deep purple haze of a Quagor Nebula. Life on the "Aurora" had
been educational and an experience that had moulded her view of the galaxy, it
was bigger than her and in comparison she was a tiny atom in a much larger
animal. She knew others who thought they were a vital organ or even the very
centre of the Galaxy but she let them labour under their false beliefs, it
would one day catch up with them one lonely night. She still thought about the
days out in deep space wandering and exploring, she would let her mind return
there to stop it thinking about the boring nature of her job and there here and
now…
Now though... Now she was stuck
here. Her mother had died four years previously and her father had deteriorated
and almost penniless took the emperor's golden credit and became a miner on
Zosen. After the accident that had left his left side paralysed she had taken a
job as a pit worker too. Two years of scratching a living from rock and taking
care of her two younger brothers had left her with a wistful melancholy but
with a chipper sense of humour. She had learnt to swing a pick and operate
heavy machinery quickly and to defend herself from the advances of the other
miners even quicker. More than one man had reported to the infirmary with a
broken jaw or arm and the whisper "Leave Stacey Nash" ran quickly
through them. She loved the respect she had earned but it came at a price,
people were often too scared of her and she was often treated as a pariah by
most. Her only real friends were Eddie and George, two other pit workers from
the same watch. George was like a surrogate father who constantly looked out
for her where as Eddie was a young lad, a newbie. She' saved him from a fight
two years previous and since then they'd become inseparable. Eddie reminded her
of her brothers and his wide eyed youth, albeit that he was only two years younger
than her, was like a reminder of the innocence she had lost the moment she had
walked into the mines and picked up that axe for the first time.
It had been another gruelling day in
the mines. The government had upped the quota of ore required, they were
obviously gearing up for something and the supervisors were taking it out on
the workers with louder threats, shouts and abuse than usual. More carts had to
be filled, more rock chipped and with less workers as the military reservists
were called up for active duty. She was
even starting to feel grudging jealousy for them, a way off planet or at best
out of the mines and into a barracks with regular food and pay. She had thought
about volunteering but who would take care of her family? She was also below
regulation height and she had heard women got a tough time in the infantry
which was a shame because she had been trained to shoot by her father and she
had always been a dead shot.
Stacey and Eddie were walking down
the escalator to the habitation sector, stretching their aching arm muscles and
trying to acclimatise to the bright summer day light. The sound of martial
music carried across the crisp cool morning air. Stacey strained her eyes in
the direction it came from. From their lofty vantage point she could see the
columns of figures marching along the main street that ran through the centre
of town before cutting past the pits and on to the space ports and the
squadrons of transport ships that had been arriving for the past fortnight.
Green helmets bobbed like a sea whilst silver plates and bayonets glinted and
sparkled in the sun. The sounds of crumping boots on concrete and the shrill
shouted orders of officers and NCOs carried through the still air/
"Looks like a parade."
Eddie said incredulously
"Well Yeah..." Her dry
sense of humour often relied on Eddie's stupid comments and was rarely left
wanting.
"Do you want to take a closer
look?"
She didn't even have to answer, this
was excitement and standing in the darkness all day carving out chunks of rock
was an occupation that needed any form of excitement, anything new to talk
about in the canteen or if you saw a colleague for a few fleeting moments
before you felt the lash of a supervisor’s tongue for shirking duties.
The hurried down the hill and into
the shanty town of grotty prefabs, lean-to's and unsanitary tenements that
lived under the grandiose name of worker’s habitation sector. Jumping a burst
sewer main and its stinking discharge they picked their way through the slime
towards the merchant sector and the aortic road that was the "Main
Street."
Stacey had become accustomed to this
place. She hated it and yearned to leave but the sights, sounds and smells had
long been engrained in her mind and she had acclimatised even secretly loved it.
She knew every alleyway, back route and side street in Mineville. The official
cartographers and military planners probably called it something else but for
those who lived here it would always be named after it’s defining feature.
Eddie still curled his nose in
disgust at the effluent that flowed down the street in the open drain and tried
to avoid stepping in slime. His attitude would change but Stacey hoped that
would take a long time, when others had lost their standards and embraced their
lot they had lost a part of themselves as she feared she had.
They crossed the rusting bridge over
the brown slimy river that was clogging with slag and sewage and into the
"Merchant sector" and walked down the dark ally into the cheering
crowd.
Through the mass of citizens Stacey
could make out the soldiers of the fourth Zosen light infantry, their pulse
rifles held to the port, the regimental band playing with a jaunty number that
kept everyone in step behind the red regimental standard. Behind the column of
men came the APCs and light tanks. Their engines roared a throaty cough as they
rolled down the black tarmac streets.
It was an impressive sight
especially for the civilians who rarely saw such a spectacle, or any spectacle
come to that. She couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride at the flower of
Zosen’s youth marching off to war to protect them from alien aggression. They’d
all read the news and releases about how the N’kell ate human young and were a
terror of all civilisation pillaging their way across the Galaxy and now they
were coming this way. Animals in body armour with large claws and a savage
disorganised and poorly equipped scourge that would ravage the planet and leave
it burning before continuing on. These boys would stop them in their tracks and
turn them around at the first battle. Tell this barbarian horde to try
somewhere else.
"Fools" a familiar voice
filled her ears. George stepped out of one of the shadowy doorways and up to
her and Eddie.
“Come on George they’re the shield of
the Empire.” Eddie scoffed
“They’re dead men walking.” His
voice was as cold and crisp as the morning air. “I’ve fought the N’kell boy,
they are ruthless and efficient killers bent on one thing- the annihilation of
the enemy. When their Admiralty has finished wiping these boys out they will
come for us here.”
“Do you really think so George?”
Stacey half smiled as she tried to make light of the dark prediction. “I’ve
heard the N’kell are a mindless rabble. Surely our disciplined lads will make
short work of them?”
“Definitely” Eddie pointed at the
proud looking infantry column “They’ll deal with them easily. Look at all their
kit, the discipline.”
George shook his head, his eyes
fixed on the troops. “Their high command has known this day was coming and have
prepared for any incursion by us. Then once our shield is cut off they’ll stab
deep into our heart.”
Stacey’s blood ran cold. What if
George was right?
“I’ve seen N’kell troopers, twice
the size of you boy, seen ‘em cut a man in two with one swing of their blades.
I watched a whole battalion wiped out by a squad of their frontline assault
troopers like they weren’t there. They’ll fight and they’ll win and then
they’ll come here.”
“But…” Eddie tried to break into George’s flow but
was waved silent by the elder man.
“Discipline and weaponary is all well and good on the battlefield but the trick is to get off your warships first. Their warships are impressive, even more so than ours and they know that we’re coming, you think these boys will stand and fight on the field of battle? I say they won’t even get to disembark.” George took one last look at the parade before turning away towards the Worker’s habitation area. “You mark my words… Death will come to us all if they cross the border.”
