“How much time?” Don asked.
They sat for a moment before Beta answered solemnly, “Possibly generations. There is much to learn.”
Before Don could react, Gamma added apologetically, “Please understand that we do not mean to ... to underestimate your capabilities. It’s simply that we have over a million more years more experience in science and engineering. So to cover the accumulated knowledge necessary to understand this will take quite a bit of time. To put this in perspective, even with our advanced technology, our own schooling takes over a century of your time.”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to...” Don started, but was cut off as a shudder ran through the ship.
Kurt stumbled as he tried to regain his footing. The floor shook again and he fell into Don, knocking him to the floor. There was a low roar of distant thunder and he looked up at the aliens for help. They just stared at each other and appeared expressionless.
Beta spoke up, “I apologize. We have a problem.”
Chapter 31 – July 29, 2124; 16:27:00
The jolt knocked Jack back into his command chair. He looked to Palmer who was holding on to his terminal to keep his balance. The second shudder sent his first officer to the floor.
“Devon, was that us?” Jack called out.
After a quick glance at his console, Devon answered, “No sir. Our engines and maneuvering thrusters are off-line; we didn’t do anything.”
Jack glanced back up at the main screen and saw a wave of ripples flowing up the silver tube connecting them to the alien structure. “What the hell’s going on?” he asked rhetorically. “Palmer, get me a damage report.”
Palmer answered with a simple, “Yes sir,” as he got back to his feet.
A third shudder travelled through the IPV and sent Palmer back to the floor. Jack held on to his chair firmly as he barked, “Devon, give me a wide field view.”
The view screen quickly shifted to a slightly distorted view of the ‘city’ in which they were docked. The tall silvery structures stood serenely against the pitch black walls of the alien ship. There was no hint as to what was happening.
“Damn it,” Jack muttered. “See if you can raise Alpha on the comm. channel.”
“Transmitting,” Devon replied.
“Captain,” Palmer said calmly.
“Yes,”
“I’m reading no structural damage.”
“Good.”
Palmer continued, “Shall I ready engines?”
“What?”
“Just as a precaution. We don’t know what’s going on, but we should be prepared just in case we need to...”
“Need to what? We’ve got two men on that ship out there. We’re not going anywhere.”
“Yes sir,” Palmer said without trying to hide his disapproval.
“Devon,” Jack said without skipping a beat, “have we completed the transmission?”
“Yes, but there’s been no reply.”
Another strong tremor shot through ship. The tallest of the alien towers showed signs of swaying. Jack ran through their options. Despite their technology, he didn’t trust their alien hosts to protect them from an enemy attack. However, the IPV was no match for anything on its own either. They were trapped again, awaiting their fate. He still had to do something, and they couldn’t just cut and run.
“Alpha,” he called out, with the faint hope of getting some sort of answer. When there was no reply, he said, “Devon, come with me. Janet, take Devon’s station.”
“Yes sir,” she replied quickly.
Before Palmer could say a word, Jack continued, “I don’t like this one bit. We’re going after Kurt and Don. Palmer you have the bridge. Your orders are to hold position until you receive further instructions. Do you understand?”
“Captain, I should be the one that…”
“I’m going period. Hold position here until I let you know otherwise. That’s an order.”
“Yes sir,” was the reluctant reply. “However, I do want to prep engines for immediate departure on your return.”
“Yes, go ahead with that,” Jack answered as he left the bridge. He quickly led his pilot to the small armory. As he opened the door, Devon asked, “Won’t they just disable weapons we bring?”
“It’s not our hosts I’m worried about. I think their hiding spot’s been found.”
Jack handed Devon a pistol, along with a thin, protective vest containing extra clips of ammunition. Taking a pistol and vest for himself, Jack then reached for a small palm-sized metal case. Inside it were a half-dozen micro-grenades; though each was no bigger than a marble, they could do significant damage. He tucked the case into a vest pocket and said, “Let’s go.”
They quickly made their way to the airlock, and continued down the white, alien hallway without a word. On reaching the chamber where he first met their hosts, Jack didn’t break stride as he headed straight to the glass meeting table at the far side of the room. Looking over his shoulder, he saw Devon had slowed to a walk and was gazing at the walls and ceiling. “Devon, stay focused.”
Devon answered with a simple, “Yes,” and quickly caught up with Jack. “Where to now?”
“I only see one exit,” Jack said, pointing to an open door on the other side of the table.
Proceeding more cautiously this time, Jack walked down the new corridor with his gun drawn; Devon followed closely by his side.
“Captain!”
Jack was startled by the voice, but quickly recovered and said, “Alpha?”
“Yes. I apologize, but our ships are under attack.”
“That’s what I figured. Where’re my crewmen?”
“In our engineering center near the surface of the outer hull.”
“I need to get them back to our ship.”
“I’m afraid that may not be possible. It appears that we have been boarded in that section. They are cut off from the internal transport system.”
“How do I get there?”
“I’m sorry, but it’s too dangerous.”
“I don’t care,” Jack said with a deliberate edge. “How do I get there!”
There was no immediate response from the alien, and Jack shouted, “There’s no damned time to waste. Tell me how to get there!”
“Continue down the hall about thirty meters. Go through the entrance on your left. That will take you to the transport system. Simply step through the tube; I have just programmed it to take you to that section of our ship.”
Jack didn’t bother with a ‘thank you,’ and ran down the corridor and through the entrance as Alpha had instructed. The plain white room with its plastic tube stretched into the distance. Taken aback by the strangeness of the scene, he proceeded cautiously and walked to within a pace of the transport tube. Lingering doubts about Alpha’s instructions were forced from his mind by the urgency of the situation. He continued a few more paces along the tube, looking for a door or hatch, but its smooth surface seemed unbroken. He tried to touch its surface, but pulled his hand back quickly when it simply passed through it as if nothing was there. Turning quickly to Devon, he said, “OK, let’s go.”
Jack stepped through the tube’s wall and instantly found himself floating and struggling to keep upright. It was as if he were adrift in some strange, grey fog. There was nothing to hold on to, or even a way to tell if he was moving. He looked back, but Devon was nowhere in sight. “Devon!” he called out; there was no answer, just perfect silence. His thoughts didn’t have a chance to even coalesce before a scene of chaos came into view. Without any warning, a force pushed him out onto a platform filled with dozens of Alpha’s people. The room was oddly silent – there was only a frantic, pressing crowd. The aliens were completely oblivious to his presence and just disappeared, one-by-one into the transport tube. Shrieks of pain and panic in the distance broke the stillness of the air. Brief rumbles of small explosives caused the crowd to surge forward, forcing Jack to fight past them.
“Captain!”
It was
Devon. Jack turned and shouted, “Over here!” A moment later they met near the rear of the transport platform. There was an exit a few meters to their right, but a blinding flash accompanied by a deafening crack made them freeze in place. Bone-chilling cries from several aliens near him filled the air. Jack looked up in time to see a white bolt of plasma leap across the room and strike the two aliens closest to him. Their glide carts crashed to the floor; their normally expressionless faces twisted in agony before going limp. He reached toward the nearest one, in a vain attempt to help, only to see that he was coated in a warm, dark fluid. As he realized it was their blood, several more bolts mowed down more from the fleeing crowd.
Jack scanned the room and found the source of the weapons fire: two lanky, bipedal creatures, completely covered in a dull, metallic grey armor, were firing indiscriminately at the panicking mass. They stood just over two meters tall, and their limbs seemed impossibly thin. Tinted visors covering the fronts of their heads, preventing him from making out even a hint of their faces or true form. They glanced away from Jack’s direction and fired at a small group of Alpha’s people who were backed up against a wall. They never had a chance, and fell lifelessly to the floor.
As the soldiers advanced with an intimidating calmness, a wave of aliens flooded toward Jack, forcing him to move out of the way. His reflexive act of keeping his eyes on the enemy, however, didn’t go unnoticed. The lead one turned to face him, its posture, however, belied its surprise. Before it could bring its weapon to bear, Jack raised his pistol and fired two rounds at its head. The effect of the electromagnetically propelled projectiles was devastating as the creature’s helmet shattered. The second round took its head completely off. Its companion turned with unnatural speed and returned fire. The plasma bolt swept past him, striking Devon in the shoulder. Jack didn’t let it get off another shot, though, shooting it in the head and chest. As it fell to the floor, the pandemonium that had filled the room ceased. The attackers lay dead, Alpha’s people stopped their panicked exodus and just silently surveyed the scene.
Turning to Devon, who was clutching his left arm, Jack said, “Let me see.” The alien’s shot had only grazed him, but still managed to tear away a large section of skin and singe the exposed muscle.
“It hurts like a bastard,” Devon groaned.
“You’ll be OK,” Jack said as he opened his first aid kit. He handed Devon a sterile pad and said, “Hold this on it for now. There’s not much bleeding – just burns. Keep it covered.”
“Yes, sir.”
Jack surveyed the room and then pulled Devon a couple of meters to his right, behind a collection of crashed alien glide carts with their now deceased occupants. “You’ll be out of sight over here. Can you hold on while I go for Kurt and Don?”
“No problem sir,” was Devon’s obedient response.
Jack smiled, but was surprised as Devon’s eyes widened. Instinctively, Jack froze in place and surveyed the area around him with his peripheral vision: to his right lay the shadow of an enemy soldier standing directly behind him. Its weapon was aimed at the back of his head. He remained motionless until the creature barked a harsh, but unintelligible command at him. Jack carefully laid down his weapon and stood up. It uttered another command and Jack carefully turned to face the creature. He slowly raised his hands, as much as a sign of surrender as to buy himself time to size up his adversary. The creature stood a few centimeters taller than him, but otherwise was shockingly humanoid in form – it was just thinner than a man. What he originally took to be armor were hard plastic-like pads in its uniform, not too different from what he might find on riot control police. More importantly, Jack noted, its padding left its joints and extremities exposed. It held a pistol-like weapon in its right hand that was currently pointed at his chest. He looked at the creature’s face but saw nothing other than his own reflection in its helmet.
No more than a second passed before the soldier raised its weapon again, pointing it directly at his face. Jack pivoted fast to his left and brought his right arm across, knocking the alien’s gun off target as it fired. The sound of the shot cut through his ear as he stepped into the creature and grabbed its gun-hand and wrist with both hands. With a single motion Jack twisted its wrist and pulled back. Sensing the move, however, the soldier let go of the gun and yanked back hard, freeing its hand from Jack. They faced each other, barely two meters apart.
Jack wanted to glance back at Devon, but kept his eyes fixed on his enemy. The creature didn’t pause and swung at him with a right hook. Jack quickly brought his arms up to deflect the blow, but it was a fake; a lightning-fast kick caught him in the gut before he could recover and block the strike. The force knocked him backward, hard into a pile of wreckage. The soldier didn’t hesitate and came at him fast with another punch. Jack dove at its knees, surprising the creature and upending it in the process. They hit the floor simultaneously. As they rolled away from each other, Jack got to his hands and knees first and spotted his gun only a few meters away. He scrambled for it, and was almost within reach when he heard the alien coming up fast behind him. He looked back in time to see it was only a step away, its leg pulled back as it threw a hard kick at him. Jack twisted desperately to avoid the blow, but wasn’t fast enough. Its foot struck him in the chest. A sharp pain spread across his ribs, forcing the air from him. His lungs burned as he gasped for air; it took all of his strength to keep his eyes on his adversary as he rolled to his side to avoid another blow. Instead of attacking, the soldier tried to jump over him to get to the gun; but Jack threw a short, quick kick to its knee that sent it sprawling.
Jack gasped again, and managed to get a half lungful of air before lunging toward the weapon. The alien, however, recovered quickly from its fall and got its hands on the gun first. Jack made a last ditch stretch and grabbed the creature’s wrist with both hands. There was a deafening crack followed by a searing pain in his arm as the gun fired. Jack fought to push everything from his mind and tighten his hold on the alien’s arm. The pistol was firmly in its hands, but Jack’s grip was strong enough to keep the it pointed away. They struggled, pushing each other up onto their knees; the alien desperately tried to push the barrel of the gun back towards him. Jack stood up hard, using the quick motion as leverage to keep the weapon pointed away. The gun barrel waved back and forth as neither could gain an advantage. The wound in Jack’s arm burned, but he didn’t relent. The creature threw its entire weight into pushing the weapon downward, trying to overwhelm him. Jack, however, saw an opening. He suddenly stopped pushing, turned sharply and pressed his back into its chest. The alien stumbled forward, allowing Jack to slide his right arm over its elbow. Its flinch told him it knew what was coming, but Jack was too quick this time. He clamped its elbow against his chest, and pivoted hard to his left as he dropped to his knees. The sickening crack of the bones in its forearm was followed by a loud growl of pain from the alien. As the creature let itself fall to relieve the pressure, Jack maintained his hold on its arm and twisted back in the opposite direction. It shrieked in agony as the break was compounded; the gun slid harmlessly to the side.
Jack kept his eye on the injured soldier as he retrieved his own gun. The alien simply cradled its arm and tried to push itself back from him. As Jack stood up an explosion hurled him back to the floor. A searing pain cut deeper into his already injured left arm. He glanced at his blackened uniform and the singed, exposed flesh of his forearm before looking up – his former adversary had taken the brunt of the explosion and now lay dead in a pool of its own blood. Two attackers ran toward him and Jack instinctively rolled to his left ignoring the pain while raising his pistol to fire. The heat of a plasma bolt just missing him made him cringe as he fired a half-dozen rounds. Both creatures fell to the floor. Jumping to a crouched position, Jack looked for more of the enemy, but only saw the panicked mass of Alpha’s surviving shipmates push away from him.
“Devon?” he called out as he turned back. His pilot however, lay motionless on the floor;
a small wisp of smoke rose from a tear in the side of his shirt. “Devon!” Jack shouted as he crawled to him. The plasma bolt had left a gaping, blackened hole in Devon’s side, exposing cracked ribs and torn, singed muscle.
Jack gently rolled him over only to see another wound in the side of his pilot’s skull. Devon’s face was frozen in pain, his eyes wide open, staring straight ahead.
“No! God damn it, no!” Jack shouted with pure anguish coursing through him. A wave of rage washed away any memory that he himself was wounded. He used what little self-control that remained to gently lay his pilot back down, and close the man’s eyes. The desire for revenge filled his mind as he got up, loaded a new clip of ammunition into his pistol, and walked to the edge of the room’s door.
A quick glance around the corner showed three enemy soldiers standing in the adjacent room’s center, only a few meters from the bodies of two more of Alpha’s people. What caught his attention though was a pair of human legs pulled in behind the alien corpses. Jack eased himself onto his belly and quietly slid himself into the doorway. As soon as he had a clear shot, he fired three short bursts at the unaware targets. They fell without even turning to return fire. Jack took a second to be sure they were dead before calling out, “Kurt? Don?”
The legs moved and Kurt crawled into view. “Jack, is that you?”
Jack kept his eyes on the room’s rear entrance and said, “Yes. Now, get over here quick; I’ve got you covered.”
Kurt stumbled toward Jack before leaping behind him. Jack pulled him out of the room before asking, “Where’s Don?”
“I don’t know,” Kurt replied out of breath.
“Tell me what happened.”
“We were in another room – their engineering center – when the attack started. Beta and Gamma seemed confused. There were explosions all around, and then dozens of them plowed through the room, trying to escape. I was pulled along with them. Before I could get back to Don, those other ones came in shooting.”
Jack put his hand on Kurt to calm him. “OK, where’s the engineering center?”
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