The Squad Novelettes 1-5

by Stephen Arseneault

  "You attacked us after you woke. Why?"

  "I defended. This my ship. You intruders."

  I nodded. "Fair enough. Now I have to ask, why this direction? Why toward our space?"

  Xurpok moved back to the nav display. "Heading here."

  Barnes said, "Orion Nebula? That's right in the heart of Maxan space. Why there?"

  "Was distant enough from our planet and the Herzek."

  I asked, "The Herzek? Are they who invaded your planet?"

  "Yes." Xurpok nodded.

  "Do you have any contact with any other species near Orion?"

  "There are others?"

  "Yeah," Barnes replied. "The Maxans. We're currently at war with them."

  Another two weeks passed with information being exchanged by both sides. We made no effort to take over the ship and Xurpok allowed us to remain unrestrained. A discussion about our people was well underway when an alert sounded. A ship was approaching.

  Barnes moved over to the nav display. "Has to be the lieutenant coming back. It's a single ship."

  I said, "Let me know when you have confirmation."

  "We would have it by now if we were on the Fracker."

  Xurpok moved to the display. "This is not the same ship as before."

  Barnes turned to face me. "You think they sent someone else back?"

  Seconds later several pulses from a plasma cannon impacted the hull, knocking two of us from our feet as the ship violently shook. Xurpok jumped across the deck to another console, powering up the ship's shields and weapons. A second set of pulses pounded the outer hull as a hail came over the general comm channel.

  "Surrender or die!"

  My facial expression turned into a growl. "Maxans!"

  As the ship approached, the identification became clear. It was a Maxan Warstalker. Slightly bigger than a standard Confederation destroyer and easily able to hold the much-smaller ship we were riding in within its docking bay.

  Xurpok yelled out. "Barnes, move from that station! And the rest of you clear the way!"

  We moved back as Xurpok jumped, sprang, and dove on the controls of several stations. Sporadic fire was returned, but we were in no position to take on a Warstalker. After another dozen hits from the Maxan's weapons, the ship's drive went offline, followed seconds later by the weapons.

  Another hail came over the comm. "You are defeated. Release all weapons and prepare to be boarded."

  I looked at Xurpok. "They don't take prisoners. They torture you for information and then you're dead. We do the same to them, although it is rare for a Maxan to ever surrender."

  Xurpok pulled a laser weapon from its holster on the side of his leg. "Then we fight."

  Tanner asked, "Can we have our weapons? We promise to help."

  Xurpok pointed. "In the hall. First door on right. They are stacked on table. How many enemy on ship?"

  I replied, "A Warstalker, as best as we can estimate, has a crew of about fifty along with a couple hundred Marines."

  Xurpok responded to the comm. "We will surrender."

  Tanner returned seconds later with an armload of blasters. "Helmets and suits you'll have to get on your own. You are letting us have our battlesuits again, right?"

  Collins chuckled. "Yeah, unless you want us out there fighting in our underwear we're gonna need those suits."

  I nodded to Xurpok. He gave a nod back. The team scrambled from the bridge and got dressed.

  Chapter 6

  * * *

  I clipped on the last of my gear and reached down to adjust the crotch-cup that covered my privates. The charge on my blaster was checked, and I stepped out into the hall.

  Xurpok came from a room on the other side. His gear was a sleek black. Ridges on either shoulder extended down to his outer arms. His chest was covered with what looked like loose plating. I could only guess it was a type of reactive armor. The same plating covered his forearms and upper thighs. A black faceshield covered his area of vision and seamlessly blended with the rest of the helmet. A section covering each of his tall pointed ears gave the helmet a sinister look.

  Tanner shook his head. "You are one scary, black devil. How's your movement in that thing? Other than the plating it looks solid."

  In a flash of speed that Humans were incapable of, the alien fighter snatched the blaster from Tanner's hands before holding it out for him to take back.

  "I guess that tells me all I need to know." Tanner quipped.

  I asked, "This is your ship, Xurpok. How are we gonna do this?"

  "I will go first. You follow during the distraction."

  Collins said, "He needs to know about the tags, Sarge."

  I nodded. "They have a weapon, a plasma rifle like our own, but they have a device they fire that will stick to your armor. It's a tracker of sorts, allowing the plasma bolts to seek you out. They will bounce off walls and go around corners to find you."

  Collins pulled his combat knife. "If you get tagged you'll need to haul ass away from those repeating rifles and at the same time pry that tag from wherever it is on your armor. I've managed to outrun a few of those bolts while doing so, but just barely."

  The nav display showed a Maxan warship swallowing up the much smaller vessel. A bump could be heard and felt as the ship settled on the docking bay deck.

  Before I could say anything further, Xurpok headed for the main hatch. I could hear the gears winding as the hatch slowly opened. Tanner gave me a concerned look as the alien warrior turned the corner.

  I pointed. "Come on. This way. To our breach hatch. We can make use of that winglet for defense. We go out, we take out every Maxan behind us."

  Tanner nodded. "I like that plan. Can I have point?"

  Collins stepped up. "I'd like point, Sarge."

  Tanner smirked. "No go. Too slow. Maybe next time, Col."

  Tanner walked ahead to the breach hatch we had initially come through. The locking mechanism was undone. He looked back. "Fast out behind me on three."

  The corporal had only reached a count of one before the whumps from a dozen Maxan weapons firing could be heard, followed by the thuds of plasma bolts striking solid surfaces. I could only reason many of those surfaces had been tagged.

  Tanner slammed his shoulder into the hatch. The hatch fell outward, crashing onto the deck with a loud clang. The corporal had followed the hatch down, rolling out and coming up to a squat before firing off three rounds from his blaster. Two of the three found their Maxan marks as Collins dove out the hatch-hole next— only to be hit with a mag-tag. Another burst from Tanner saw the end of the Maxan holding the repeating rifle that had fired the tag.

  I was out next, pulling my knife as I rolled, coming up to Collin's shoulder as he fired on another Maxan. The tag was pried free and thrown over to a near wall where it stuck.

  Two Maxan repeaters fired in our direction. The bolts from each turned hard for the tag on the wall before ending in thuds and sparks as they contacted the metal of the docking bay wall. Collins joined Tanner in eliminating the two threats. Barnes was out next with Mendez and Jackson following. Thorsen had been given the task of defending the ship.

  On the other side, where Xurpok had begun his efforts, whumps and thuds were followed by screams. Whatever Xurpok was doing, I could only imagine it was effective. A cleaved Maxan body flew into the air and bounced off the top of the ship before sliding down dead in front of us.

  I ordered Jackson and Mendez to hold position at the winglet as myself, Tanner, Collins, and Barnes stormed out from the back end of the ship. We expected Maxans to be waiting, but there were none— except the dozen or so dead Maxans strewn around on the deck. Xurpok had chased down a hall after the others as they had turned to flee from his seemingly crazed attack.

  Tanner glanced to either side with a grin as we moved toward where the alien had gone. "That thing, Xurpok, he's kicking ass!"

  We hurried into the hall, following a stream of dead Maxans. I cringed at the thought of having to one day fight against s
uch a creature, as just as many of the Maxan bodies were dismembered as were shot. And remarkable to me as well, they were all dead. There was no cleanup of partial kills left behind.

  We came toward a door where blasts could be heard followed by screams of both rage and terror. I stopped, peeking around the corner as Zurpok came walking toward the door covered in blood; he was breathing heavily.

  "I will need a moment of rest."

  The first of several dozen plasma bolts sparked and cracked as they impacted the hallway walls just in front of us. We turned the corner and hurried into the room where Xurpok had just completed his handiwork. The room was a dining hall and was now littered with close to three-dozen Maxan bodies.

  I gestured to Tanner and Collins, "Have a check of those back rooms. Make certain they are clear."

  Xurpok said, "They are clear. As you had stated before, the Maxan appear to fight and not surrender. Not a wise choice when you are defeated so easily."

  Tanner asked, "Back on your homeworld— all the soldiers like you?"

  "No. Most have abilities similar to your own. My brother and I, along with forty-eight others, were in the final stage of enhancement and training."

  "Enhancement?"

  "Our muscles, ligaments, and tendons have been grown and repositioned to offer maximum strength and flexibility. The last of our performance enhancing surgeries were completed just over two years ago, Confederation time. Since that point, we have been training non-stop, that is, up until our defeat on our home planet.

  "The fifty of us were released into the final fight, several were killed, but not before thousands of enemy lives were taken. The effort was too late to stop the outcome of the war, but it did give our people enough time to gather resources and make an escape. Three battalions of our enemy were annihilated and two ships similar in size to this one were taken. But it was all for naught. The war was already lost."

  Tanner tilted his head to one side. "You sure are getting a command of our language. Heck, you might even be talking better than me."

  "Linguistics training was part of our daily regimen. Mornings were classwork, most often dealing with the aspects of war."

  Xurpok looked at the door as another heavy breath could be heard being sucked through the vents on his helmet. "I must go. There is much to be done. I would advise you to return to the ship and to prevent its capture. A stray bolt or two could finish me in an instant."

  The gloss-black alien stepped into the hall. After timing the next several plasma blasts coming our way, he then shot forward. In a matter of seconds he was around the corner and the screams of death and mayhem resumed. I gestured for my crew to fall back.

  When we arrived at the ship, a second firefight was underway. A dozen Maxan Marines had driven Jackson and Mendez back onto the ship. I attempted to open a comm but there was no response. Our frequencies were being jammed by the Maxan engineers making use of equipment aboard the Warstalker.

  Collins was the first in, racing across a ten-meter expanse before diving behind a handful of crates. He now had position on a third of the Maxans conducting the assault. When the four Maxans attempted to move to a superior location, we were waiting to cut them down.

  Barnes and Tanner sprinted from the hall door, running in the opposite direction as had Collins. I fired a steady stream of blaster bolts over another group of Maxan heads for cover. Again we were rewarded with a superior position. Four more Maxan Marines were dispatched, sent off to wherever they believed their essence would go when their lives had come to an end.

  The final four still had position against the main hatch I had left Thorsen guarding. A pair of boots could be seen underneath the ship as either Jackson or Mendez had jumped out of the far hatch. A repeater tag put off a "spat" sound as it stuck to one of the boots behind the ship. As the boots began to run, a bolt from a repeater was fired up and over the ship's hull. I winced as the boot exploded, taking off the lower leg of one of my Marines. It was Mendez; she fell hard to the floor.

  At that moment, the four remaining Maxans charged the main hatch. Plasma bolts entered but none were returned. Tanner and Barnes darted from their positions as I sprinted across the open expanse of the docking bay. I blasted a Maxan as he came toward the door and then another when I reached the ramp. Thorsen's body lay near the door with that of Private Jackson slumped over in the breach hatch. The other two Maxans were dead in the hall.

  I hurried to the breach hatch and out. A wincing Private Mendez was leaning back against a box, unable to get to or stop the blood coming from her stump. I unsnapped the armor sections on her thigh and yanked off the remaining lower portion on her leg.

  Mendez said, "Do what you have to, Sarge. I just took my pain shot. I ain't gonna feel anything in about ten seconds."

  I pulled a cord from my side pouch, wrapping her calf and cutting off the blood flow. "I got you. Just hang on. We'll get you through this."

  A final wince transformed into an expression of relief. "There we go. Meds are kicking in."

  Tanner came up with a grimace on his face. "Mmm. Nasty. Bad luck Mendez."

  "Yeah, but it looks like I'm gonna live, so there is that."

  Tanner pointed toward the ship. "Collins has a prosthetic forearm and right hand. He says it's not as good as the original, but not bad either."

  I turned. "Tanner, you really aren't helping. Take Collins and Barnes and secure the bay."

  "OK, Sarge. Oh, the docking bay is clear. And I just got a comm from Xurpok, he cleaned out their engineering section. The jammers are off."

  "If the bay is iced then move on to securing that hallway coming in here."

  A nod followed as the corporal hustled for the hall entrance. "On it."

  Chapter 7

  * * *

  I carried Mendez back around the ship and up the ramp.

  She reacted to the body of Thorsen as we came into the main hall. "Gah. Thor... I told you to move back from that position. And Jackson too?"

  "Happens to the best of us," I said.

  Mendez smirked. "The best of you are still fighting."

  "You'll be back, Private. And you'll be popular. Who else can say they stormed a Warstalker with a single squad?"

  She chuckled. "Yeah. Like anyone would believe that. And we still have to make it back first."

  I glanced toward the main hatch as I set her on the floor of the bridge. "I get the feeling Xurpok is gonna finish off the Maxans. Tanner says he's like some turbocharged tornado. I've never seen anyone or anything like him. We could use his kind in the war with the Maxans. I could do some severe damage with a squad of his type."

  Tanner was standing behind me. "What? You selling us out for whatever that thing is?"

  "You telling me you wouldn't do the same? Look what he's done here."

  "Well of course I would, Sarge. I just didn't figure you'd sell out your boys so quickly."

  "Is the hall secure?"

  "Barnes has it covered. Collins is sweeping the rooms up and down going out to that dining hall."

  Another twenty minutes had passed when a huffing and puffing alien came back into the docking bay.

  I asked, "Ship cleared?"

  "Unless there are more hiding. I hope I did not embarrass you back there."

  "Embarrass?" I chuckled. "Son, that was the biggest can of whoop-ass I think I've ever seen opened."

  "I do not follow."

  "You took out the entire crew of a very powerful Maxan warship. I've never seen anything like it."

  An alert went up on the nav console. A new ship was approaching.

  Xurpok snapped his laser pistol into its holder that had been moved to just under his left arm.

  He turned to the console. "It appears to be your original ship. They have come to a stop."

  I opened a comm channel. "Fracker, this is Balls. Are you receiving?"

  The lieutenant's face fizzled into focus on a display. "Balls! Where are you? Your signal is coming from that Maxan ship!"

  "W
e took it, sir. This Warstalker is under our control... well, technically under the control of our friend Xurpok. We do have casualties, sir. Thorsen and Jackson bought it. Mendez needs medical care. You can come right into the docking bay for a pickup, sir."

  "You are certain it is secure?"

  "We own this ship, Lieutenant. Unless there's a Maxan hiding in a closet somewhere, they're all dead. I can give you a full report when you arrive."

  "Please do. We'll be there momentarily."

  I looked up at Xurpok. "What are your plans?"

  "We were heading to the region of space you call the Orion Nebula. But if you say it is infested with these creatures, our plans will have to change. I can only hope the rest of our people did not go there."

  "Go there? I thought they never came through the wormhole you came through?"

  "We emerged from a gate that had been constructed. When the fleet was to have arrived, a new gate was to be assembled and used. We waited for the fleet for nearly a year. We were the advance scouts. The others were to follow."

  "So what were you doing all the way out here?"

  "Without a gate our only way to follow was to set a course and put ourselves into stasis."

  Tanner frowned. "That would have taken thousands of years at your speed."

  "Yes. Somewhere around four thousand. But what were our options?"

  "No way this ship would run for four thousand years straight."

  "You are correct. Our technology will take us just over a hundred light-year's distance. We would soon be looking for a planet where the minerals required by this drive could be mined and refined. We have the equipment aboard to do so, and the sensors to detect those minerals when that time comes."

  Tanner scowled. "Wouldn't the people you know all be dead by the time you got there?"

  "They would, but again, what other choice do we have?"

  "You could stay and fight alongside us. Would make a fine addition to our squad. We're in need of replacements."

  Mendez scowled. "Hey. I'm still right here."

  "And you're missing a foot. Get a new foot and come back and see us."