by S. H. Jucha
Jess worried on those two points, and then an idea struck him. He eased up to stare overtop the cars at the tunnel which led to the dome. He chuckled loudly, and in the other tunnel’s mouth, Sam and Juliette regarded each other.
“Yes,” Jess said into the quiet and resumed his defensive position behind the vehicle. “We’re supposed to have accepted the bait, Commodore, those sacrificed individuals. Then, when we didn’t encounter further resistance, we were supposed to have acted like fools and charged into that tunnel.” He hooked a thumb toward the one he indicated for Lucia’s benefit.
“The one that leads to the dome?” Lucia asked for confirmation.
“Right ... to the dome,” Jess confirmed. “And in that tunnel is where the Colony expected to kill us.”
When Jess chuckled again, Lucia stared at him with a deep frown that echoed Yousef’s expression. “What’s so funny?” she demanded sotto voce.
“It’s not often that you get an opportunity to perceive the Colony’s machinations before it’s too late,” Jess replied. He let out a deep sigh, believing they’d averted a calamitous mistake.
“The lieutenant respectfully asks to know how he was supposed to have died,” Esteban relayed. “He believes the answer is critical to his well-being.”
Lucia hid her smile, and Yousef added, “Couldn’t agree more.”
“The Colony is hiding massive numbers in the two tunnels that lead to shuttle-occupied tubes,” Jess said. “When we rush to get to the dome, we would probably find our way blocked. My guess is the Colony will have overridden or disabled the airlock hatch controls. We’d be trapped in a dead end, while the Colony flooded out of the shuttle tunnels and poured fired into us.”
Lucia shuddered, and Yousef muttered, “Black space.”
When Sam heard Jess’s thoughts, he thanked the stars for urging Lucia to accept Jess as the assault commander. He considered that he would have made the decision to charge the dome, enticed by the lack of opposition.
“Jess, Tacnock reminds you that we have the gas,” Esteban relayed.
Jess looked around at beta squad, and Lucia said, “We left the canisters with the suits. We couldn’t use one without wearing the other.”
Esteban turned his attention toward Jess, and he said, “Tacnock and the Crocians believe your assessment of the Colony’s plan is credible. They agree with you that the numbers in the shuttle tunnels will be significant.”
“In other words, in a firefight, we’d be the losers,” Jess remarked. “We don’t have a choice. We can’t go in there. We’ll have to use the gas.”
Immediately, the SADEs waved to the beta squads to follow them, and then they shot down the tunnels toward the tubes.
The squads were halfway to their destinations, when the SADEs passed them carrying heavy loads of gas canisters.
Beta squads donned their suits, and then they gathered alphas’ suits. Before they could set out on their return trips, the SADEs arrived and gathered up armloads of suits and tanks.
The SE security personnel shook their heads at the strength and speed the SADEs displayed. Comments such as, “Makes you want to work out more,” passed between them.
The SADEs made a third trip to complete the transfer of the remaining gear about the time the beta squads reached the tunnels’ vehicles, where the others waited.
Tacnock chittered, when Juliette deposited her third load. “You get more intriguing with every passing moment,” he said to her.
“I bet you say that to every female SADE you meet,” Juliette quipped.
“I’ll let you know if that’s true when I meet the next one,” Tacnock retorted, and most of the team laughed, chuckled, or rumbled at the exchange.
After a few minutes, Esteban reported to Jess that Sam’s team was ready.
“How many tunnels do we gas at once?” Sam asked, while looking at Juliette.
“I don’t want to waste the gas, if I’m wrong,” Jess replied. “I’m thinking we try just one.”
“What do you expect their reaction to be?” Sam asked.
“They’ll charge us rather than succumb to the gas,” Jess responded.
“Which tunnel do you like?” Sam asked.
“We’re not in the best positions for either tube tunnel,” Jess replied. He edged up to see around the car he’d hidden behind, and Lucia peeked over his shoulder.
The connecting ring joined five tunnels. Clockwise from the dome tunnel, tunnel two was the first potential target. Sam’s team hid in the mouth of tunnel three; and Jess’s team crouched behind the cars in tunnel four. The fifth tunnel was the other possible target.
“We have to hit the tunnel to your right, Sam,” Jess said. He deliberately avoided Lucia’s eyes.
“Agreed,” replied Sam. Their mutual thought was that Jess’s team protected the assets. It was best to keep them as far from the action as possible in case the Colony overran Sam’s team.
“Sam, place the Crocians to the far left and right of the cars. They can protect your flanks from the grays,” Jess said. “Have Tacnock lob a single canister into the tunnel.”
“I can toss it much farther,” Sam protested.
“I know you can, and Tacnock can retreat much faster than you,” Jess retorted. “The Colony won’t know what the canister contains, but when they detect the gas, they’ll move.”
Jess and Lucia had a good vantage point from which to watch the small Jatouche leave the safety of the cars and creep along the ring’s wall with the gas canister.
Rather than open the valve and toss it into the tunnel’s mouth. Tacnock crossed to the parallel lines of vehicles, which sat idle in the tunnel’s mouth, and disappeared from view.
“Tacnock,” Jess whispered.
Lucia could hear the worry in Jess’s voice for his friend.
Tense moments passed. Then the teams clearly heard the clanging of a metal canister bouncing along the tunnel’s floor.
Like a shot, Tacnock scampered between the rows of cars and crossed the ring’s open space, racing for the safety of Sam’s team.
“They’re in there,” Tacnock said hurriedly, as he vaulted over the cars. As he cleared the last unit, he was snatched out of the air by Juliette, who spun on a single heel to decelerate his impact on her.
“Jess, the tunnel lights are out, but I could hear their legs scratching on the floor. There are a lot of them,” Tacnock called out.
“Keep your faceplates open and preserve your air,” Juliette said, simultaneously sending to Esteban. “I’ll warn if I detect the gas.”
Weapons were readied, and the teams waited anxiously for the attack.
The longer they waited, the less sure Jess was about his reasoning. He was about to speak to Sam, when the Colony rushed out of the tunnel.
The advantage for the teams was that the reds came out firing blindly. They weren’t sure where their attackers hid. Reds and grays raced toward the connecting ring’s center, swinging their heads to and fro in search of their adversaries.
“Now,” Jess whispered urgently to his team, and Esteban shared his order.
In the first fusillade, more than five hundred small darts flew from Loopah weapons to tear into the insectoids, dropping most of them to the floor.
Unfortunately for the assault teams, that was only the Colony’s first wave. Those that followed had witnessed the devastation of those first to the ring, and they whirled toward the nearest attackers — Sam’s team.
Grays dropped to the floor and slithered swiftly toward the nearby tunnel. Reds reared and launched slugs at the cars, pinging off metal or tearing into the car’s view plates and body.
Team two knocked down reds, as fast as they appeared. They were too busy targeting them to fight the grays, who slid over and around Sam’s cars.
Bortoth and Daktora were forced to sling their launchers and meet the grays flanking the team. They stomped heads that were on the floor and swatted those that reared up. All the while, they roared in defiance.
Sam’s Omnian alpha team had more hand-to-hand combat time. When they were pressed back by the grays, they used the butts of their launchers like clubs.
A gray came over the top of a car and clamped its pincers around the neck of an Earther. The man’s head was neatly severed from his body. Then Tacnock put a dart into the gray, and its head joined that of the Earther on the floor.
“Alpha squad, attack,” Jess yelled, when no more reds appeared from the tunnel. He raced across the ring, dancing over the bodies of reds and grays and pumping dart after dart into the grays swarming out of the tunnel.
“Black space,” Lucia swore, as alpha team and she ran after Jess. In the adrenaline-fueled moment, she forgot she was to remain with beta squad.
Jess, Lucia, and his alpha team waded into the grays. When Sam saw their attack, he yelled to his team to switch to single shot.
As the struggle ensued, the flow of grays from the tunnel slowed, enabling Sam’s team to leave the protection of the cars. They joined Jess and the others, firing and advancing on the grays.
At the mouth of the tunnel two, where the Colony had hidden, Sam asked, “Do we go in?”
“We have to,” Jess replied. “We can’t have them at our back.”
“What about the other tunnel?” Sam asked, nervously eyeing the other mouth.
“That’s not how the Colony works, Sam. They’re not coming to the rescue of their companions,” Jess said, with disgust. “They’ll stick to what I believe is the plan.”
“I see,” Sam replied. “We eliminate this group, we think we’ve won, and then we head for the dome and our doom, right?”
“That’s what I think,” Jess said.
The Omnians froze at the sound of popping darts. They swiveled to locate the danger, but it was Bortoth and Daktora dispatching wounded insectoids.
“Alpha squads only,” Jess ordered, ignoring the Crocians’ actions. “Faceplates down,” he added and signaled to Sam to take the near wall. Then Jess led his alpha squad to the far wall and hugged it, as he advanced down the tunnel.
Sam heard Lucia chuckle. It was uncharacteristic of her, and he shook his head as much as the helmet allowed.
Sam sent.
Lucia replied.
Sam knew that tone and decided not to push the subject.
The grays that had remained in the tunnel had finally succumbed to the gas. There weren’t more than twenty of them, and they lay comatose on the floor.
The Omnians hesitated, ceasing their advance.
Tacnock glanced across the tunnel at Jess. He signed, “Visitors reluctant to shoot.”
“You and I,” Jess signed.
“Yes,” Tacnock’s fingers replied.
The Omnians watched Jess and Tacnock wade through the downed grays. They dispatched each individual with a single shot to the head.
Sam sent privately to Lucia.
Lucia sent.
Lucia saw Jess’s fingers fly, as he walked past her, a grim expression on his face.
The squads returned to their starting places behind the cars of tunnels three and four.
“Losses?” Jess asked Esteban.
“Two Earthers on Sam’s beta squad,” Esteban reported.
“Are Olawale and Patrice receiving updates?” Jess asked.
“That’s unnecessary, Jess,” Esteban replied. “With our presence, they’re observing our actions in real time.”
Jess looked directly into Esteban’s eyes. “Patrice, I’m sorry for the loss of your people. I’d hoped to take the dome with a minimum of casualties. Now I’m afraid more of us will be joining them.”
In Jess’s ear wig, he heard Patrice’s voice, as transmitted by Esteban. She said, “Thank you for your sentiments, Captain. Continue with your efforts. You have our support.”
“Jess, Tacnock asks if he’s to target tunnel five,” Lucia said.
“Yes,” Jess replied.
“Sam requests the teams change places,” Esteban said.
“No,” Jess replied, after a moment to think. “Send me Tacnock and the Crocians. I’m sending you the commodore and my sister.”
Jess saw the flash of disappointment that crossed Lucia’s face, but she patted his shoulder and left with Kasie.
Tacnock arrived with a gas canister in hand. Bortoth and Daktora took a little longer.
“Same positions?” Bortoth requested.
“It seemed to have worked well,” Jess replied, while nodding in agreement, and the Crocians moved to guard the assault team’s flanks.
-12-
Tunnel Five
Jess considered the actions against tunnel two. By all accounts, it should be declared a success, but the deaths of the two Earthers disturbed him. His ancestors came from Sol aboard the Honora Belle. He felt a link with them that he couldn’t articulate.
Now Jess wondered if they could take the Colony hiding in tunnel five without losses. He had no doubt the insectoids were in there. The questions he asked himself were: How many, and what mix of reds and grays?
Esteban and Tacnock regarded Jess. He was lost in thought.
“Two deaths,” Tacnock signed to Esteban, when the SADE looked questioningly at him.
That was something that Sam could understand. The headless bodies of the Enclave team members were in sight of the team. If Jess could think of a better way to take tunnel five, Sam was all for it.
Jess visualized the rush of the Colony into the connecting ring, and their shift to attack the nearest defenders.
“We’re moving,” Jess said, surprising his team. “We’ll be taking up positions behind the cars in tunnel two.”
The Crocians, Tacnock, and Esteban hurried to obey. That galvanized the two squads to grab the team’s gear and follow.
Jess’s team had to clear the Colony carcasses and body parts to make room for them around the tunnel’s cars.
“Now?” Tacnock asked Jess when the team was ready.
“I hate to expose you so much,” Jess replied, eyeing the open expanse to tunnel five’s mouth.
“We each have a part to play,” Tacnock replied. He flashed his teeth, closed his faceplate, and took off across the ring. He didn’t bother being surreptitious. Instead, he dashed between tunnel five’s cars, threw the canister, and raced back.
This time, slugs followed Tacnock, smacking into the walls encompassing the ring. Tacnock’s asset was his size. The reds were aiming too high to hit him.
When Tacnock reached tunnel two, he leapt through the lines of cars and smacked into Jess. The Jatouche ended his flight sitting atop Jess. He popped his faceplate up and said, “Safe.”
“For now,” Jess remarked. “Get off me and grab your launcher.”
True to form, the Colony rushed out of the tunnel. The mass of insectoids was led by a great number of reds, and their slugs sprayed the walls, while they searched for their adversaries.
“Fire,” Jess yelled, and both teams sent multi-dart loads into the Colony, which filled the ring. Their number was several times greater than that in tunnel two.
In response to the darts flying at them, the reds targeted tunnels two and three. Their enormous number of slugs shredded the first vehicles in each row. It became dangerous for the team members to pop their heads up to aim and fire. Many team members loaded multi-dart rounds, hoisted their launchers overtop the cars, and pulled the triggers.
Jess hadn’t counted on being overwhelmed by the Colony’s firepower. When he heard the constant pop of multi-dart rounds from behind him, he turned around. Tacnock was lying flat and shooting under the cars. His shots took out the lower sections of the reds. When they hit the floor, he’d deliver kill shots.
Jess called out to everyone to shoot from under the cars.
The firefight raged on. Tunnel five was predominately reds, and the teams were outnumbered five to one. They were suffering casualties from direct strikes of slugs and flying debris from the cars, which the slugs tore off. Not a single gray, of which there were few, dared crawl forward under the withering firestorm.
“Gas,” Juliette yelled tremendously loud.
The teams signaled their faceplates closed and watched gas canisters, one after another, bounce throughout the ring. They were well-dispersed.
“I think that’s every canister we have,” Jess commented to no one. He’d calculated that both SADEs had thrown the entire inventory of each team.
Jess heard the beep of his drum. He fired five more darts and then swiftly ejected the empty and loaded a fresh one. All around him he’d heard the strident noise of drums running dry.