Read Online Doom Star: Book 05 - Planet Wrecker by Vaughn Heppner - Free Book Online

against what he’d done would soon begin. He’d have to decide whether he was going to initiate a bloodbath to maintain his authority or if he could continue along old lines but with upgrades.
    “How long can the operative beam these images?” Hawthorne asked.
    Yezhov cast him another nervous glance. “Perhaps I wasn’t clear enough. The… operative doesn’t know she’s beaming the information.”
    “What form of transmitter does she use?” Hawthorne asked.
    “It’s a retinal scan,” Yezhov said.
    “Explain that.”
    “One of her eyes was surgically removed. A bio-replacement was inserted along with a cerebral power-pack. You’re watching what she’s seeing.”
    Hawthorne stared at Yezhov. It seemed the Chief of PHC carefully kept his gaze on the screen in order to keep from looking at him. Finally, Hawthorne turned back to the picture.
    The grainy images showed war-torn streets: rubble, blasted buildings and overturned vehicles. People moved quickly, usually with their heads bent and shoulders hunched. A soldier stood on a street corner. He wore a Free Earth Corps uniform.
    “Where is this again?” Hawthorne asked.
    “New Orleans, in Louisiana Sector of North America,” Yezhov said.
    “That’s far behind enemy lines.”
    “Ah,” Yezhov said. “If you would watch this….”
    Hawthorne became absorbed as a giant strode into view. The Highborn wore combat armor, but without the customary helmet. He strode closer, until he filled the screen. His mouth moved as he talked to the operative. The Highborn had pallid skin, and the intensity of his eyes was overwhelming.
    “We’ve studied their preferences,” Yezhov said. “They prefer tall women, at least tall in our terms. They enjoy big firm breasts and wide hips. The last no doubt is to absorb their...ah…vigorous ways.”
    “She’s a volunteer?” asked Hawthorne.
    “…Not as you might conceive of it,” Yezhov finally said.
    “Explain,” said Hawthorne, who found that he was frowning.
    “She believes herself an infiltration operative. For morale reasons, her true mission is kept from her.”
    Hawthorne felt nauseous. It was one thing to send soldiers into desperate situations. But this—it was monstrous. Yet he found that he couldn’t tear his gaze from the screen. In morbid fascination, he continued to watch.
    “Skip to the end sequence,” Yezhov told a technician.
    One of the women at the controls made adjustments. The grainy image vanished, replaced by another. It was a shot of a ceiling. Then a door panned into view. Through it walked a nude Highborn. The man’s musculature was amazing, as was his other endowments.
    “This is obscene,” whispered Hawthorne.
    “War is vicious,” Yezhov said, without any inflection.
    The next few moments were like a bad porn video. The Highborn’s face took on an animalist cast. Then everything went red on the screen. Suddenly, there was a white flash. The grainy image vanished, and the screen remained white.
    “End of sequence,” a technician said.
    Hawthorne blinked as a growing foulness filled him. This was inhuman. He said in a choking voice, “She didn’t know what would happen?”
    “Few would volunteer if they did,” Yezhov said.
    “What method did you use?” Hawthorne whispered.
    “A cortex bomb,” Yezhov said. “The Highborn implant them in certain personnel of their suicide squadrons. You shouldn’t be troubled. We’re merely paying them back in like coin.”
    “They’re not murdering their own people to kill our soldiers,” Hawthorne said.
    “With respect, Supreme Commander, this is no different than your ordering soldiers to stand and fight the Highborn. My method is in the end more merciful.”
    “Do you actually believe that?”
    For the first time, Yezhov faced Hawthorne. “What have you said before? We could lose a million civilians to kill one Highborn. I have lost a single human and killed one Highborn. I doubt even your elite units have a better kill ratio