Battle for Proxima by Michael G. Thomas

hall. Taking a few steps forward, the twin beams from his armour could barely penetrate the dusty environment. A dozen flares burned along the sides, each provided a smouldering glow that lit only the lower parts of the corridor.
    “Any idea where the signals were coming from? I mean the ones with orders and machine codes? Was there more than one source?”
    “I didn’t have time to check, but I do have the co-ordinates on my datapad.”
    “Good,” said Spartan with a smile, “can you pass the data over to my display?”
    They kept moving as Marcus moved the data remotely to the other Vanguard suit, directly onto its computer system.
    Inside the suit, Spartan added the data to his navigation unit, so that it could calculate positions for the data source. It took just a few seconds before a three dimensional map of the sector showed the source.
    “That’s weird, according to the computer, the signal came from nowhere.”
    “Nowhere?” Marcus asked.
    “Just an empty piece of space about forty to fifty AU away. Nothing charted and it’s way too far to be a planet or moon.”
    “Maybe it’s a ship. They could have planted a command vessel a long way out of the System, to keep it out of sight of Confed forces.”
    “It’s possible, they are certainly days, probably weeks away from the reach of most ships. I’ll pass this on to Command when we get back.”
    “What about Hobbs? She won’t like it if you go over her head.”
    “Hobbs, who cares about her? She can play hero all she likes, this is important.”
    They reached the end of the corridor and stopped, looking out into the newly secured location. It was dark, like most of the base, and just a single flare could be seen burning up ahead.
    He tapped his intercom. “Sergeant Morato, any news on the power?”
    “Almost ready, Sir, we’re connecting the power system through our own extension coils back to the surface. Any moment...now!”
    Spartan looked left then right, from his vantage point he couldn’t see anything of note. His lamps simply faded in the vastness of the open space. On his internal monitors he could follow the rest of the marines moving about. Then a yellow flicker came from the corner and one by one a series of strip lights flickered, then turned to continuous amplification. Not all the lights worked, but enough powered up to show the shape of the area, as well as the myriad of tunnels leading from it. Sergeant Lovett stepped next to him, examining the open space in awe.
    “Wow, this must have taken some work to carve out!”
    “You’d be surprised what a few thousand slaves and hand tools can do, when properly motivated,” replied Spartan grimly.
    The Sergeant turned back as he spotted movement in the shadows. A group of PDS armoured marines emerged from the darkness. The four-man team inched ahead nervously, closely followed by the upright and stern shape of Captain Hobbs.
    “Uh, LT, behind you!” said the Sergeant, as discreetly as he could manage.
    Spartan rotated his upper body slightly, keeping his feet planted. The Captain approached and stood before him, the four marines spread out to form a loose screen around them.
    “Lieutenant, I see you’ve secured the area. Have you located useful intel yet?”
    Spartan looked back into the cavernous open space behind her, the dust was already starting to settle. A dozen Vanguard Marines were moving about as they checked objects, abandoned machines and cabling.
    “Not yet, well, not in this part of the base. The techs are busy getting all they can from the captured data stream. Have you heard anything about Operation Blindfire?”
    “Blindfire? No, why?” she asked.
    “It was one of the pieces of data I saw on the system before the techs arrived.”
    Captain Hobbs thrust her hand forward accusingly. “You messed with the system?”
    “No, I viewed some of the information being streamed. Contrary to your reports, I do have a basic background in computer systems and data