by T. R. Harris
Zac and Sean slipped down on their butts, resting against a corridor wall. They would wait until Croft was in position before making their move.
5
Lt. Brian Croft led his six-man team down the stairwell to the main floor. This shaft was to the back of the building with access to the hallways leading to the rear doors of the main assembly chamber. They found the metal frames of the doors welded shut. From the intelligence they’d received from the Enif, the team was ready for this. Two of the REVs set about placing adhesive strips on the welds before peeling off the back cover. A soft sizzling began, along with whiffs of light smoke. Soon, pieces of silver metal were flaking off and falling to the floor. A moment later, the welds were gone.
The door was opened, and the first two REVs entered cautiously, their night-vision shades covering their eyes. The room was shaped like a large college lecture hall, with rising tiers of seating climbing away from a curved presentation stage. The door they came through was to the right side of the platform. The room was dark and smelled awful, the result of a large number of beings living and cooking in the same area for seven days. By now, the hostages were weak from malnourishment and dehydration, along with a fair amount of understandable depression. They were all asleep when the REVs entered.
Using red filters on their flashlights, the team moved up to the first group of prisoners, green-skinned creatures spread out on dirty pads with thin blankets over them and parcels of clothing rolled up as pillows. Croft bent down and clasped a strong hand over the mouth of one of the male hostages, startling him awake.
“We’re Humans here to rescue you,” the officer whispered. “Do you understand?”
The Enif native mumbled something. Croft pulled his hand away. “Yes, I understand. How … how did you get here? The Ha’curn will kill us all if they find you.”
“Don’t worry about that. We’re getting you out of here. Other Enif are waiting to hide you in the city. Wake up the others. We have to get ready to go.”
The REV officer found it odd that the alien hesitated a moment before he set out waking the other hostages. There were mumbles of confusion, even protests and fear, before the prisoners were gathered around Croft as he stood on the presentation platform.
“We will go out the back. Once we get to the front of the building, we’ll clear a path for you to make it to the Bendesf Gate. Only go on my command. Run as fast as you can; other Enif will be waiting at the gate for you.”
“Run?” asked a female Enif. “We are to run for safety? The Ha’curn will not allow us. We will be killed.”
“We’ll protect you,” Croft assured her.
The female looked at the six REVs. As impressive as they were, there were only six of them.
“You do not have enough; we will all die if we attempt to leave.”
“I will go,” said one of the younger Enif males. “We will die if we stay.”
“No,” said an older male. “The rebels will agree to a ceasefire. They will stop their aggression. They should never have begun this travesty to begin with. The Order … the Ha’curn do the bidding of the Guardians. We must obey them.”
“They do not represent the Order, Seans,” another old Enif countered. “They have killed your friends and colleagues. They will kill us, too. They are not of the Order. They never have been.”
“They will kill us if we run in the open to the Gate. By staying, we at least have a chance to live.”
“Stop arguing!” Croft growled. “We don’t have time for this. We are leaving. Anyone who wants to can come with us. If not, then stay here. I don’t care.”
Soon, a division appeared in the ragged and smelly crowd of natives. Croft did a quick count. Twenty-one were coming; fifteen were staying.
“They will surely kill us if you leave,” said the original female protester. “I cannot allow you to do that. The Ha’curn will punish us for not alerting them of your plans.”
David watched the alien as her eyes grew wide, and her voice louder. Any moment she would begin to shout. The REV’s movement was so swift hardly anyone noticed, except for the other REVs. Croft locked his right hand around the female’s neck and twisted it as he squeezed. Her neck snapped, killing her instantly. The Human held her limp body by one arm until he gently lowered her to the floor.
“I can’t let anyone jeopardize the welfare of the rest of us.” His tone was tense and final. “You can stay, but you will not sound the alarm. If you do, we’ll come in here and kill every last one of you ourselves. Is that understood? Now those who are leaving, come with us. The rest of you … good luck.”
On this count, only eight natives chose to stay behind. Croft did a quick walk past them, staring into their eyes, looking for any trace of betrayal. There was none; at the moment, they feared the Humans more than they feared the Ha’curn.
“Major Murphy, have you been monitoring the situation down here?” asked Croft through his comm.
“I have. You did what you had to do. Get the hostages in position. We have to rush two guards down an open corridor. If the alarm is sounded before we have the Premier, you get everyone moving. Don’t wait for us. We’ll catch up.”
“Roger, that, sir. We’re moving.”
Zac and Sean stood up, checking their weapons and firming their resolve. The guards were thirty yards down the corridor with no cover between here and there. The men would go in shooting, hoping there were no other guards in the room with the Enif leaders. With a nod, the two REVs raced into the hallway, their M-201s spitting bullets, finding their targets without a single miss.
Zac lowered a shoulder into the door, sending shards of the metal frame peeling away while the wooden door panel shattered. The room inside was mostly dark, partially illuminated by a broad shaft of light from the hallway outside. Zac and Sean were in a second later, scanning the room for hostiles.
Unfortunately, the hostiles found them first.
Two dark forms bounded into the air, each one striking a REV. The men maintained their balance thanks to the strength of their cascading bodies. Ripping sounds were heard as two-inch-long, razor-sharp claws tore into their body armor. The material was made to resist Ha’curn claws, but the creatures managed to reach the uncovered flesh of hands and necks.
Zac dropped his M-201 as the beast on his back swiped at his hand. He covered his head with his arms and was met by more slashes that cut his toughen skin. The Rev coursing through his body allowed him to ignore the pain, and with a swift hand, he grabbed the Ha’curn by the arm and pulled him off his back. The cat landed on his hind legs and sprung at Zac again, lowering its head, aiming the pair of sharp-edged bone plates at the Human’s face. Zac caught the plates in his hand, stopping the creature in its tracks. But then the Ha’curn folded its body and began ripping at the armor with the claws on its feet. Zac squeezed the headplates together, but even with his REV strength, he was unable to make them crush the alien’s skull. Then he thought they might be like alligator jaws, designed to resist pressure from one direction but not the other. He now pulled them apart. The Ha’curn soldier squealed in pain as the plates separated, splitting the skull in half. Zac was coated in a sickening spray of grey, bloody flesh, as the alien’s brains poured out on him. In a fit of sick rage, Zac tossed the body aside, coughing and spitting as he did.
A horrid sound off to his right caught his attention. Zac turned in time to see that the Ha’curn Sean was fighting had just sent a wild arm slashing across the gunnery sergeant’s neck, the sharp claws opening a bloody gash in the unprotected flesh. Blood sprayed out, atomized by the exhaling air from his lungs. The REV fell to his knees, grasping his throat, panic filling his eyes.
The Ha’curn stepped back and lowered its head, extending its arms out to each side and grasping air with the claw-tipped fingers. It let out a savage, high-pitched cry, not of pain, but victory.
What the beast didn’t see or count on was Zac approaching from behind, a KA-BAR knife held firmly in his grip. In a fit of retribu
tion, Zac whipped the blade around to the front of the Ha’curn, and in a fit of REV anger, severed the alien’s head completely from its body in one, rapid swipe.
Zac was at Sean’s side a moment later, holding the body in his arms.
Time for an activated REV ran slower than others, and the moment he took to mourn his friend was only a heartbeat in real-time. Then Zac was back to work.
He spotted a trembling cluster of prisoners huddled at the other end of the room, as far from the fighting as they could get.
“Which one of you is Premier Kaznis?” he asked. He knew he was quite the sight, covered in globs of gray matter and blood.
“I, I am Kaznis,” answered a slender alien with white hair and an incredibly wrinkled face.
“I’m Zac Murphy. I’m here to get you and the others to safety. Come with me. There’s no time.”
“Oh, by the Order! You are he!” the Premier said. “I remember you from the time you were on Enif before, in the arena.”
“Good; I’ll give you an autograph later. But right now, we need to go.”
Zac recovered his M-201 and then led the Premier and his four Secretaries from the room and down the corridor to the stairwell.
“Croft, I have the Premier; what’s your status?”
“We’re near the front door. There are nine Ha’curn in the lobby. They’ve all been painted. Awaiting your orders.”
“I should be coming up to your position in ten seconds.”
The corridor running along the backside of the assembly chamber was now filled with REVs and former hostages. Zac pushed the Premier to the head of the pack and then took a quick look through the doorway to the lobby outside. The Ha’curn were clustered near the exit and not wandering within the building. That was good.
“Everyone get ready. Fire disks on my command. We go in ten seconds. Lisbon, watch that doorway across the greenbelt. All right. Three, two, one, fire disks.”
6
The three REVs positioned at the windows on the third floor broke out the glass with the barrels of their M-201s while simultaneously fingering the trigger for the smart bullet disks. Eighteen tiny rockets shot out, leaving faint trails of white smoke behind them. Even before the first bullet struck its target, the REVs had replaced the spent disks with new ones and were already painting other Ha’curn with the invisible laser light. The weapons were now set on paint-and-shoot mode, so the moment a target was locked, a missile launched.
The Ha’curn below uniformly turned to the sound of breaking glass, with a few already pulling their energy weapons from the cradles on their chests in a display of their quick reactions. Then an entire swath of the aliens fell dead to the grass as the bullets struck, tiny explosive charges in their tips finishing the job. Other missiles now streaked through the air, seeking out new targets. And amid the trails of white smoke, the REVs opened up with their ballistics, dropping more enemy bodies and churning up the beds of green grass in geysers of black soil.
Some of the Ha’curn managed to duck behind cover. It didn’t help. The smart bullets homed in and spun around corners, while others changed course in the midair and dove for their targets. There may have been two hundred Ha’curn when the battle began, but already thirty-one lay dead in the courtyard outside the Minorial Center.
A group of the aliens made it inside the building and shut the glass doors for protection. It didn’t help. The bullets smashed through the glass and spiraled around until striking their targets. Although the kill rate was nearly one hundred percent, a few of the Ha’curn managed to avoid the missiles until the propellant ran out. Now they, along with the others in the lobby, stood staring out in the night, momentarily stunned by what was happening outside.
That’s when Croft ordered his people to fire their smart-bullet disks. Most of the Ha’curn within the building were caught off guard. The bullets had less distance to travel and struck the backs of the unsuspecting aliens almost in unison.
Lisbon was at a window on the third floor at the west side of the building, looking down on a door to the building across the thirty feet of grass between the structures. The Ha’curn had incredibly quick reactions, and they responded to the attack almost as fast as a REV. Now the door across the greenbelt burst open, and Ha’curn cats streamed out, already dressed and armed with their energy weapons.
The Alpha opened up, his first shot shattering the glass, followed by a series of REV-quick three-shot bursts, chewing up the Ha’curn who continued to pour through the opening even as their comrades in front of them fell dead. Then came the poof of launching grenades from the undercarriage of the M-201. Explosions filled the night as more Ha’curn bodies stacked up outside the opening.
But then more aliens swarmed out of the front entrance before winding around to the side, leaping as they did and digging their sharp claws into the masonry wall of the Minorial building before beginning the short climb to the third floor.
Lisbon didn’t see them coming, his focus locked on the doorway below. More windows in the room broke, and three—then six—Ha’curn fell into the room. The REV rolled away from the window, bringing his M-201 to bear on the targets. He snapped in another magazine and was about to press the trigger when the first Ha’curn landed on him. With his elbows flying, the rifle became a heavy metal club, bashing into three of the Ha’curn and sending two crumbling to the floor. The third staggered back before leaping again. Two more of the savage cats landed on Lisbon’s back. He planted a REV-powered fist into the face of one of them, smashing the soft bone between the head plates, killing the alien instantly.
But then the slashes and bites began to take their toll. Malcolm Lisbon killed two more Ha’curn before he finally fell on his face, his body lying still as the wild animals ripped it to shreds.
Zac and Croft now led the rest of the REVs and the Enif hostages through the shattered front door of the Minorial Center. As they stepped onto the polished concrete entryway, the three REVs from the upper floors landed next to them, having jumped the three stories to the ground.
There were still ten active REVs in the team, and now two of them raced off into the courtyard, going out about forty yards before stopping and taking up firing positions. They began to pop off at other Ha’curn in the area, providing cover for the next two REVs who ran past them. This pair went another sixty yards before finding cover amid the few trees that dotted the landscaping. Another two took up similar positions further along the path to the Bendesf Gate.
With a path now open and lined by REV defenders, the hostages began the long, two-hundred-yard sprint to the gate. More Ha’curn were coming from the building next door, requiring the remaining REVs at the front of the Minorial building to dive for cover and open fire on the aliens, leaving the hostages to run on their own. Several of the Enif fell to energy bolts, while a couple just fell. Their fellow politicians ran past them without offering to help.
Two of the REVs along the line were taMark out, along with another who had stayed with Zac and Croft. The flow of Ha’curn from the barracks building began to slow.
Croft patted Zac on the shoulder. “You and Haby go; I’ll cover from here.”
Zac didn’t argue. He and Mike Haby sprinted off before diving headfirst into a pond when flash bolts began to explode around them. They came out of the water firing in the direction they’d just come, giving cover for Croft. He zigzagged his way across the field with a dozen Ha’curn leaping after him.
Two of the screening REVs slipped into the pond next to Zac, and together, they cleared the path for the lieutenant. Although the aliens had no fear, they did have common sense. They realized they were running straight into the strength of the enemy fire, so they split off, allowing Croft to reach the others.
Zac looked behind him, toward the Bendesf Gate. The hostages were there, but not as many as had started the run. A quick count showed only fourteen made it; Premier Kaznis was among them. They disappeared through the opening.
“Jones, Negron, what’s your statu
s?” Zac asked through his comm. These were the two REVs closest to the gate. Neither answered.
That left only five REVs, and they were standing in a pool of cold water in the middle of an open park with a horde of angry Ha’curn attempting to outflank them.
“Okay, men, time for Plan B,” Zac said.
“The shuttles?” Croft asked.
“The shuttles.”
“They won’t get us far,” the lieutenant said. “Into space is about it.”
“They’ll get us to where I want to go. Move out!”
The Ha’curn were pretty impressive in the way they would coil their bodies and then jump twenty feet at a time as they ran. But five desperate and thoroughly revved up REVs would leave any Ha’curn in the dust. If it hadn’t been for them having to cover for the Enif hostages, all the REVs who weren’t shot could have made it out of the complex based on their running speed alone. Now they headed for the pair of small shuttlecraft resting on an asphalt parking lot about five hundred yards away.
A pair of Ha’curn were at the spacecraft with their energy weapons drawn and firing at the oncoming REVs. Even in an all-out sprint, the REVs took them out with accurate gunfire from several hundred yards out.
The door to one of the shuttles was open, and that was the one Zac barreled through. Once inside, he was met by a metal bar across the face, sending him crashing to the deck on his back, momentarily stunned. A Ha’curn appeared above him; his claws extended and ready to rip off Zac’s head.
That’s when two other REVs flew through the shuttle door, tackling the alien. They held his arms—along with his equally deadly feet—until Croft stepped up and smashed the cat in the snout.
Someone helped Zac to his feet.
“Are you okay, major?” Croft asked.
“Yeah, I think so. Is he dead?” Zac asked of the Ha’curn.
“He’s still breathing, for now anyway,” Mike Haby replied.