I’m not ashamed to say that we turned tail and bolted. We had cover at our disposal and it would have been stupid to try sticking it out. The soldiers in front of the bridge didn’t try to follow us, but I kept two soldiers as lookouts in case any of the humans got bright ideas.
“Captain, there’s got to be some way we can get through these men. If we stand here for much longer they’re going to get reinforcements to join them and then we will be in serious shit. Do we have anything other than beam weapons?” Each soldier patted themselves down and shook their heads. “Fuck.”
“I have my armor,” Ka’thak said. “It’s built to withstand tougher things than bullets.”
Alex who had been fiddling with her rifle, stopped and stared.
“Look,” Ka’thak said, pointing to the bullet grazes that dotted his armor, “You can see where it’s deflected the shots already. If I rush in and draw their fire, it’ll give the rest of you a chance to get close enough and overrun them.”
“Fuck no!” I swore, then added. “Sir.”
“I have to agree with Jackson, Ka’thak,” Alex responded quietly. “These men are desperate. They’re standing in front of what they think is their last hope for survival. They won’t just fight, they’ll fight hard. Plus these guys look like the President’s elite. They’ll be armed with the big guns. Armor-piercing ammunition. Things that can and will break through your suit and will kill you.”
He turned to us. “Do you have a better idea? I obviously don’t want to die here. I’ve only just begun a life leading my people and I’m not ready to let that go. As it stands, It’s not as if I have a lot of choices. If someone has to perish today, it should be me.”
I didn’t have any better ideas. I didn’t have to ask her to know that Alex didn’t either. We had to retake the ship, or else everything we had done so far was for naught. I couldn’t accept that, and I knew that Ka’thak couldn’t either. It was better to die trying. If this was the decision he wanted to make, I would follow.
“Should I not return, you must make me a promise,” he urged. “You must do everything you can to ensure my people survive. David, I leave the command of my soldiers in your hands. They will follow you if I die. Alexandra...”
She pulled his head to hers and pressed her forehead against the glass of his helmet. He smiled underneath the glass. “Those are sentiments enough.”
I shook Ka’thak’s hand. “It’s been an honor, sir.”
“That it has, Lt. Colonel David Jackson.” Ka’thak tapped the panel on the wrist of his suit and deployed two arm-mounted guns. He told the rest of the soldiers to keep behind him. Alex took up the rear after I showed her how to use the rifle properly. Ka’thak went to each of his soldiers in turn and said his goodbyes.
“It’s time. Give me until the count of ten, then follow.”
He stepped around the corner and I heard the cocking of a dozen assault rifles. Ka’thak didn’t wait. He ran down the hall with a deafening roar, guns blazing. The soldiers returned fire, bullets ricocheting off Ka’thak’s armor. I counted off to ten and motioned the soldiers to follow but staying back several steps. Bullets tore into Ka’thak’s armor, and I saw fluid spill as the hydraulics in his suit failed. The soldiers were too busy firing at Ka’thak to concentrate their fire on the rest of us. He struggled forward, still shooting. At this point the guns mounted on his armor were malfunctioning and the shots were chaotic, but they worked as covering fire. I could hear his breathing, erratic and ragged through his helmet.
Our group rushed forward, their shots aiming for human heads. I gestured for Alex to get behind me. She set her rifle against her shoulder and let off short bursts, a grin splitting her face. “I can see why you like these!” I didn’t answer her. I was too busy trying to figure out our next move. We had to close the gap.
I watched, horrified, as Ka’thak collapsed just short of the enemy position. By then the humans had noticed us and didn’t bother to keep shooting at Ka’thak. His distraction had worked, though. The alien soldiers ripped into the human infantry, slicing through body armor and flesh. They watched their leader fall because of these humans. Their fighting was fueled by rage, grief, and desperation. They fought with everything they had. This time there was no thought of mercy.
36
Alexandra
“Ka’thak!” I screamed and ran to the alien captain’s prone form. I could smell his blood over the stink of gunpowder and when I reached him I saw the holes where bullets had torn through his armor. His eyes were closed but there was fog visible on the glass of his helmet. Alive, then, but in bad shape. Blue blood seeped out of the holes in his suit.
“Help!” I yelled. “We need a medic here! Come on Ka’thak, stay with me.” I felt along the powered armor for a crack, anything where I could get the suit open. Two warriors abandoned the group ahead and returned to lift their commander.
“We’ll get him to the medical bay. There are machines there that can save him, if we hurry.”
That had to be good enough for now. I stood and wiped the blood from my hands. The serpent of rage that had whipped through me so many times before reared its head. This time I didn’t try to stop it. He didn’t deserve this. No one deserved this. After everything, I wasn’t going to let things end this way. I let the anger grow, allowing it to fuel my body and mind. An image of the alien children flashed through my mind. Betrayed by a primitive species they should have never even known existed.
The soldiers needed leadership now. Even Jackson looked at me expectantly. Some small and distant voice chattered that this wasn’t a job for me, that I was too small, too stupid to do this but I silenced it. We were going to take the ship and win our survival. There was no alternative.
“Warriors! My friends, you have fought bravely today. You have gone above and beyond the call of duty.” A couple of the warriors smiled crooked grins. One of them clutched his shoulder where a bullet had grazed him. “Through that door, my brothers and sisters, lies our survival. Through that door lies our victory. Through that door, lies your future. Let’s go take it.”
“Huah!” The warriors shouted, stamping their feet on the floor. I shouted with them, my fist raised. We kept up the stamping and advanced on the door to the bridge. We made as much noise as possible, our shouts echoing off the walls of the passage. A glorious end, indeed.
I knew that Wright wouldn’t go down easily. We had almost certainly taken out most of his remaining force but who knew what wanted for us behind that door. We had to execute an attack perfectly, otherwise we were doomed to failure.
Three of Wright’s men barreled around the opposite turn in the corridor. We made short work of them, killing them with three easy blasts from beam weapons. We marched onward and I found myself leading the group. Every inch we got closer to that door I felt the fear of death melting away from me. This must have been what Jackson meant when he talked about the joy of battle. I found myself bearing my teeth and roared and hissed with my alien comrades. If we died here, it wouldn’t be without a fight.
We found the bridge door completely sealed. I stepped back and motioned three soldiers forward who shot the control panel off. They unloaded their weapons into the metal, heat pouring off of it so hot that it made sweat break out on my forehead. I felt someone staring at me and turned to see Jackson looking at me in awe. I raised my eyebrows and flashed him a full-faced grin. He grinned back and returned to looking after his men. Once they had made openings big enough for their limbs they stuck their knives into the molten slag as a team and pushed them down. A kick opened a panel big enough for the alien troops to duck under and it was over from there.
There was a brief firefight. It turns out that President Wright had recalled not soldiers, but Secret Service agents. That was stupid. Alien warriors were on them in a fraction of a second and sent their service pistols flying before ripping into their vulnerable bodies. I walked forward to Wright with my rifle aimed at him, head cocked, and eyes blazing. Thinking back on it n
ow I must have looked like a berserker, immune to all but my mission. Take out the target. Jackson briefly tried to intercept me but I waved him off with a snarl.
I was done letting others make decisions for me, and I was sure as hell done with letting anyone else take those I cared for away from me. Wright held up his hands in surrender and I dimly heard him say something, but my blood rushed too loudly in my ears to make out his words. I saw the figures of my brothers and sisters close in around me and I held up a hand to restrain them. We had backed him into a corner. I strode forward and pressed the end of my rifle to his chest. His eyes got wide and he raised his hands even higher. I took a deep breath, and then another.
“On your knees.” The voice that came forth from me was almost unrecognizable to my own ears. It was a snarl, a growl worthy of any alien warrior. I liked it. Jackson appeared at my side after he and another soldier had cleared the room. He saw Wright and stopped cold.
“You piece of shit,” I spat. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” The President’s hands were shaking now and he looked up at me with a hard stare. The proud wolf dying the warrior’s death. “You murdered children, Max. Women and children. You betrayed an entire race and you sentenced them to a death more horrible than you can imagine.”
Jackson opened his mouth to say something and to my surprise, one of the alien warriors held up their hand to silence him. This one was mine.
“P-please,” Wright sputtered, “I had the best intentions. I was trying to save humanity! I was trying to save us all.”
“Tell that to the millions you left on Earth,” Jackson interjected. “Tell that to the aliens who you condemned, their only sin being of a different race.” Wright flinched a little at that, realizing that Jackson was now one of that race.
“And what about me, President Wright?” I demanded. “What about the vital person for your alien relations? The sacrifices I had to make? The people I had to sentence to death? My reward was really going to be roasting to death on the Earth’s surface, unable to breathe, unable to scream?”
His face darkened at that. Clearly, I didn’t count on the same level as ‘women and children’. “You put my plan in danger. It’s not personal, my dear, just business.” I flipped the rifle in my hands and rammed the butt of it across his face, splitting his lip. I smiled as he wiped his mouth and spat blood to the floor. Behind me, Jackson laughed. Wright glared at him and he shrugged.
“You’re a fucking moron, but we already knew that,” he said.
“I am not your dear,” I stated and stepped back, letting the alien soldiers close in. They took care to let their prey know his death was coming, hissing and licking their lips. Just before they sprang for the kill, I held my hand up. “With respect, my friends, I have better plans in mind for this piece of shit.”
Wright laughed. “What, are you going to take me into custody? Put me on trial? Good luck with that. You’ll never find a human willing to punish me. I saved their lives!”
“Not so much.” I motioned the soldiers forward and they hauled the President to his feet, restraining his arms. “I’m going to do nothing more than what you promised me. When we are finished here, we are going to take you down to that little island you left me on and there you will remain, along with any and all who sympathize with you. Soon the radiation from the supernova will start to change the Earth’s atmosphere.” I stepped closer to him, my face scant inches from his. “You will lay on that beach as the air slowly turns to nitrous oxide. You will gasp for air as your body slowly fries from the sun’s radiation. You will leave this world in excruciating pain. A fitting end for a sadistic murderer.”
“You can’t do that,” Wright protested. “I’m the President of the United States! The people on my ship, they won’t allow it.”
I motioned for the soldiers to take him away. “There is no more United States, Mr. Wright. From here on, humanity will lead itself. Thankfully without men like you to deceive them.”
37
Jackson
After we disposed of President Wright, I left the command of the ship to the aliens who would pilot us away from the Earth. I spent my time instead sitting next to Ka’thak’s sickbed. My right leg shook and my foot bounced on the floor in a nervous rhythm. The tapping roughly kept time with Ka’thak’s heartbeat. The medics had tried to get me to leave more than once. He lay on his side, his eyes shut as a scanner moved up and down his body. The shots from the human soldiers had done a lot of damage. After he was carried back to the infirmary he was worked on by the aliens’ automated surgeons for almost twelve hours. The bullets pierced several major organ systems and Ka’thak had sustained damage to his skull and legs. An almost fatal injury for an alien warrior. Without full use of his legs, Ka’thak would never be able to fight properly again. It was a death sentence.
My leg was starting to get sore from all the activity but I ignored the pain. The motion was comforting in its own way. When I couldn’t ignore the cramps anymore, I switched legs. I put my hands over my eyes and prayed. I tried to come up with something eloquent but the words didn’t come.
Please gods, let him live.
I said the prayer over and over until the words rang in my ears. I was jerked out of my trance by the sound of a cough and I jumped away from the bed in surprise. Ka’thak coughed again and opened his eyes. “Wha—what happened?” he rasped.
I ran and poured a glass of ice water from a pitcher the medics had kept nearby the entire time I had been there. I handed Ka’thak the cup, nearly tripping and spilling it in my haste. The captain took the cup from me and drank deeply. He sputtered and coughed water back up. I grabbed a towel from a nearby rack and handed it to him. After he had cleaned himself up he swallowed hard and spoke again.
“How did I get here?”
“You were shot up pretty badly,” I informed him. “We sent two soldiers to haul you back here while we retook the bridge. The surgeon spent something like half a day on you from what I understand.”
Ka’thak swallowed again and motioned for more water, which I poured for him. “We retook the ship? Where are my men? How is Alex?”
“She didn’t get another gun held to her head, if that’s what you’re worried about. Your men are readying the ship to enter a slip-space bubble. While you were out the remaining human forces surrendered under the promise that they would be allowed to accompany the passengers on the ship. Doctor King made sure to eject any and all soldiers who sympathized with the former President. Who is at this moment contemplating his life decisions on the same island he intended to leave us on.”
Ka’thak smiled at that.
“Furthermore,” I paused to stifle a laugh. “The humans have elected Alexandra to be their Governor! Until they are able to hold a proper election, of course. As she’ll tell you when you speak to her.”
“Hah!” Ka’thak laughed. “No good deed goes unpunished, it would seem. But I sense that you have something else to discuss with me, my friend.”
I shifted nervously in my chair. “I don’t want to overburden you, sir, especially not while you’re still wounded.”
Our conversation was interrupted by an alien medic who had noticed the captain’s awakening. I stood and moved respectfully out of the way while she tended to Ka’thak, checking his wounds and vital signs. The medic left for a moment and returned with fresh bandages and medication for the captain. When she finished, she nodded her goodbye to the both of us and drew a curtain around his bed. It wouldn’t provide much in terms of privacy for speaking, but it would at least signal to anyone around to give us space.
“You were saying, David?” Ka’thak looked at me expectantly.
“Sir, I dare not let the words leave my mouth. They are too shameful.”
Ka’thak rested his hand on my arm. “It’s all right, David. Whatever it is that you have to say, it will certainly be better to say it rather than leave the words sitting heavy in your heart.”
I couldn’t exactly argue with that. If I
was going to continue living amongst these people, I had to get this off my chest. “Sir, with respect, you have been more than hospitable to me during my time here. I am truly honored to take my place among your warriors. But...”
“But you have concerns,” he said softly.
“I don’t feel like I’ve been fully accepted here, sir. It’s not that anyone has been rude to me, but I can’t help but think that I’m still...just a human.”
“I can see that,” Ka’thak said. “You made that much clear to me in the cloaked ship.”
“I apologize for that. I should not have acted in the way I did.”
“No, you shouldn’t have.” He growled. “Please, continue.”
“I’ve risked my life for both our peoples more than once. I am grateful for your gift of the knives, and the uniform. For all of that, I still worry that I will never be seen as anything more than the enemy.”
Ka’thak sighed. “I don’t know what to tell you, David. I have worked tirelessly to make sure that you have been welcomed into our fold. You haven’t heard a single soldier or civilian say a single word against you, have you?”
“No, sir.” I should have just kept my mouth shut. The truth was that I was probably totally full of shit. Bringing this up at all was a slap in the face to every gesture of goodwill Ka’thak had extended to me. Still, I longed to better assimilate myself with them. “Your Gods,” I said. “Some of your warriors have told me about them. I want to pledge myself to them. That’s the only way I can think of to fully join your people.”
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