by Ricky Sides
“Then it’s settled? You’ll remain onboard and if this turns into a nightmare you’ll work up contingency plans?” asked Jim.
“Your points were valid. And for the record I agree totally about Tim’s qualifications. He is well qualified for command of one ship. But using the assets of several is extremely complicated. I think I have an edge on Tim in that regard, though not by as much as you and he might think.”
Tim shook his head and said, “You guys can forget trying to talk me into a captaincy. I’m working on the lieutenant though,” Tim said and grinned.
“Lieutenant Wilcox would make an admirable captain,” Bill agreed.
“Indeed he would,” Braden agreed, “though I must say I am glad that he turned down the Alabama.”
“I am strike force,” the lieutenant said as if that explained his reluctance to accept a captain’s position. Perhaps it did.
“Alright gentlemen, I have an announcement to make to the crew,” Jim said. He stood and walked to the radio access station in the mess hall and got Patricia on the radio. He requested to be put onto the intercom system. He cleared his throat and said, “All hands, now hear this. In a few minutes, I will be walking to the cargo bay to inspect the volunteers willing to participate in the raid on the cult stronghold. This is a strictly volunteer mission. The enemy we are to be fighting seems to be endowed with some abnormal abilities. They are deadly. There is no shame on the part of any man who opts out of this mission. Those of you willing to volunteer for this mission please assemble in the cargo bay in full gear with extra ammunition. Those opting out will still be able to serve the ship by standing watch in the absence of the rest of the crew. The inspection will commence in six minutes,” Jim stated and closed the connection.
The cook came running out of the galley removing his apron as he ran. He tossed it on a table as he sprinted toward the cargo bay.
“Your cook?” asked Braden.
“He has known Private Williamson for years. The two were best friends. Williamson was his best man at his wedding, and godfather to his son,” Lieutenant Wilcox explained.
“Williamson was the crewmember who was killed?” asked Braden.
Jim nodded and said, “Yes he was. The cook goes. He has the right to make the decision the same as the rest of the crew,”
“He’s a qualified peacekeeper but he’ll be rusty. I’ll make certain one of the more experienced men stays near him,” the lieutenant stated and the captain nodded his appreciation.
Jim gave the crew the allotted time and then he walked toward the cargo bay. He was not surprised when he entered the bay and saw that twenty men stood ready and waiting in full battle gear. That was every peacekeeper aboard not assigned to the control room. “Lieutenant, pick four men to remain aboard. One will guard the control room door and the other three will guard the cargo bay door. That door will be closed and locked after our departure, but with the things that have been happening I want guards stationed anyway. They’ll also be needed if the ship has to land to recover wounded personnel.”
When the lieutenant had made his selection, Jim walked over and opened the bay door so that the other captains could depart. As the door was lowering his crew lined up with weapons at the ready. “Gentlemen, radio me when your ships are ready. We’ll let the fighters strafe the grounds with their energy miniguns and then the Peacekeeper will land and my team will establish the landing perimeter. The Alabama follows when my ship is out of the way. Those men reinforce the perimeter guards. The Constitution follows the Alabama. That’s the most efficient way to go about the landing and unloading process. Good luck, Captains,” Jim said and left to go to his cabin to get his armor and some personal equipment that he would be taking along on the mission.
“Bill,” Pete said. When Bill looked at him, Pete slapped his chest in the gesture indicating full armor check. Smiling Bill slammed his balled up fist into his chest. There was no mistaking that armor sound.
Pete smiled and said, “Good luck, Captains.” They thanked him as they left.
The two captains called for volunteers in a manner similar to Jim’s with similar results. Twenty minutes later the ships were ready to depart for the short hop back to the mansion. The fighter pilots had already been given the orders to strafe the grounds until they were content that the enemy threat had been neutralized. They were cautioned against hitting the house as it might contain prisoners. By the end of the strafing Namid reported that there were several bodies in evidence on the grounds but that she thought a few had retreated into the house.
The Peacekeeper made the first approach as planned. As if on cue, the fighters and drones vacated the airspace so that the ship could make the approach and landing. Once the ship was down the fighters and drones moved into position to cover the area leading to the door. Namid warned that a door had opened and two figures were charging the ship to attempt to board once the door was down. Those figures ran a gauntlet of fighter and drone energy weapons fire. They didn’t make it to within fifty feet of the door thanks to the diligent pilots and drone operators.
Before the cargo bay door was all the way open, the first five men ran out on the ramp and leapt off the door. They ran forward to form a defensive line. The men knelt on the ground fifty feet from the ship, situating themselves between the Peacekeeper and the house. The next five men ran to their left, and the next five ran to the right. The final three men reinforced the center. On cue, they stood up and advanced toward the house. Once more, the door of the house opened and out rushed four men who spread out and charged the line of peacekeepers firing their weapons as they ran. The peacekeepers on the ground opened fire, as did some of the drones and fighters. Jim was sure he’d hit one man in the chest five times but the man kept coming. A drone shot the man in the head and that dropped him. Other men reported a similar difficulty with kills and Jim ordered the men to carefully place their shots and aim for headshots or leg shots, which would at least slow down their attackers. The men they were fighting were faster on their feet than anyone Jim had ever before encountered.
Behind the defensive line, the Peacekeeper took off and the Alabama approached. One last time the door of the house opened and another two men charged the line firing their weapons as they approached. This time several peacekeepers hit each of the men in the head and in the legs. Those men went down almost immediately.
Jim watched incredulously as one of the men they taken down in the charge of four men staggered to his feet. Jim shot the man in the head and then he issued a gruesome order. They were to behead the men who could apparently get up and fight despite multiple lethal wounds.
“They must be drugged out of their heads!” One medic shouted. That was something the peacekeepers were accustomed to from dealing with marauders. Often such men indulged in drug use that helped them to fight on after mortal wounds. They knew from experience that no matter how drugged up a man was, once you removed his head he ceased to be an issue.
The men from the Alabama reinforced the defensive line but no more men emerged from the house. As the Constitution was coming in for a landing, Lieutenant Wilcox requested permission to enter the house with his strike force team. He said every second gave the defenders time to prepare and that they would now be preparing for this new turn of events. Jim gave the order for the team to go, however they were to take the first couple of rooms, and then wait for reinforcements. This would permit the other peacekeepers to get inside without taking fire.
Drones and fighters hovered in front of windows to prevent those inside from using the windows to attack the peacekeepers on the ground. Jim smiled and realized that Pete was coordinating those forces with the attack. He’d been right to ask Pete to remain inside, and he knew that his decision was now being vindicated by the coordinated effort he saw unfolding before his eyes.
Lieutenant Wilcox was the second man inside the mansion. He shot a man running down a flight of stairs toward his men. The bullet hit the man in the leg just above the kneecap. Th
e lieutenant’s second bullet hit the other leg squarely in the kneecap and the man tumbled the rest of the way down the stairs. One of the other men shot the man in the back of the head as he tried to get up.
They pushed on into the next room, seeking enemies but saw none. The lieutenant ordered the men to hold what they had gained until reinforcements arrived. One minute later another forty peacekeepers entered the house. Half of those took the stairs heading up to seek prisoners and any enemy presence. The remaining men reinforced the men in the next room and they pushed deeper into the house.
Soon another large group arrived. There was some shooting going on upstairs so most of the latest group ran up there to assist. One last wave of peacekeepers entered the house. The rest of the peacekeepers on the grounds outside the house fanned out to cover the exterior exits.
Chapter 20
Newly promoted Lieutenant Maxwell Carter led his strike force unit up the stairs to the second floor of the mansion. At the top of the stairs, his team fanned out and formed a defensive line. They planned to hold that line as other peacekeepers surged up the stairs. They found themselves in a large vestibule that fronted a hallway running down the center of the upper floor. Four rooms were accessible from the vestibule. Their doors stood open and the rooms inside were dark. The rest of the rooms were accessible from the hallway.
The strike force team had just established their defensive line when dark figures charged from the rooms accessible from the vestibule. The team barely had time to realize that they were facing Rottweilers before the first dog slammed into a peacekeeper. The dog knocked the peacekeeper off his feet, but the man beside the fallen peacekeeper jammed the muzzle of his rifle into the enraged animal’s mouth and stroked the trigger. The dog collapsed on top of the peacekeeper he’d knock to the ground. One of the dogs leapt at a peacekeeper beside the banister. That peacekeeper managed to avoid the animal and that Rottweiler sailed over the railing and fell to the floor below startling other peacekeepers. Five bullets slammed into the stunned animal as it lurched to its feet.
More peacekeepers surged up the stairs as the firing intensified for a moment. All four of the Rottweilers had been killed, but one had seriously mauled the arm of one of the peacekeepers. A medic stopped to help the injured man but Lieutenant Carter ordered the man evacuated from the danger zone. The medic accompanied the man back down the stairs and out into the yard where he turned over the man’s treatment to another medic stationed there. The injured man would be evacuated to the safety of the Alabama as soon as possible.
Bill arrived at the top of the stairs a few moments after the man had been evacuated. He nodded for the lieutenant to proceed and the lieutenant ordered teams of men into the four rooms fronted by the vestibule. Shots erupted inside one of the rooms almost immediately. The gunfire was short in duration but intense while it lasted. They had located another of the amazingly strong and resilient defenders of this structure.
Bill walked into the room to examine the man. He’d been shot a dozen times and was down on the floor. Bill noted that the four peacekeepers who’d fought him still had their weapons trained on the man and was about to ask why when to his amazement, the body stirred and the man tried to get up. The peacekeepers shot him in the head then and one of the men pulled a machete and beheaded the body. “We think they are hopped up on drugs, Captain. They refuse to stay down,” the man explained.
“Don’t take any chances then. Behead the corpses before moving on in the search,” Bill ordered. If he hadn’t seen it for himself he’d have never believed it possible for a man to survive that many potentially lethal wounds and try to get up.
The rest of the four rooms fronted by the vestibule were empty. Lieutenant Carter and his team carefully entered the six-foot wide hallway that led to the other rooms. One by one those rooms were searched but nothing challenged them there.
***
Jim entered the house in the wake of Lieutenant Wilcox’s entry team. He sensed something, and that sensation triggered an associated memory of the time that he had asked his martial arts master about teaching him to battle evil, should that ever become necessary. In his mind, he vividly remembered the incident that had prompted that question. He saw the spot in the woods where a satanic ritual had been conducted. The blood stained rock was as clear in his mind as the day he’d seen it many years ago. His master had asked questions about what he had located in the woods before giving Jim an answer.
Jim also remembered the surprising answer he’d gotten from his master when he’d asked the man to train him to battle such forces. Jim had assumed that the people were just evil and that they might harm decent people as they pursued their warped religion. It had never occurred to him that they might be able to enlist the aid of demonic forces to assist them. His master was one of the most practical people Jim had ever met, therefore when he warned Jim not to pursue an investigation of the site, Jim had been astonished at his reasons. When Jim had asked why he should not pursue the matter, his master had stated that sometimes such people summoned demonic aid. Whereas Jim might be able to avoid detection by the cultists, if they summoned such demonic aid, he could not escape detection by that entity. When he had asked his master if he was serious, the man had smiled one of his enigmatic oriental smiles and replied, “That you pose that question confirms in my mind that you should not pursue this matter. If you are not prepared to accept the existence of an enemy, how then can you hope to survive an encounter with such an enemy? No, Jim, you are not ready. Do not pursue the matter. It could very well lead to your death.”
For a year after that incident, his master refused to discuss the matter with Jim. But looking back on his martial arts training, Jim realized that it had shifted substantially in some areas. Then one day about a year after the initial conversation his master had said, “Jim, I think that you are now ready to begin to learn that which you will need to know in order to combat the evil you referenced.”
Jim had been taken by surprise. He’d thought the topic closed. As it turned out his master had been teaching him the fundamental skills he’d need for over a year. In an intensive private study course that lasted for several months Jim was taught things that he had to swear he would never reveal to his own students without consulting his master first. Just as he had already been taught to sense the presence of a mortal enemy, his master then taught him the methods needed to sense the presence of a demonic enemy. He explained to Jim that as a follower of good, in his case Christianity, he had access to powerful protection, if he knew how to utilize that protection. He pointed out that a follower of good would be able to sense a demonic presence, provided he knew how to interpret that sensation. Then the master taught Jim how to interpret those sensations. Much of that teaching dealt with interpreting that inner voice we all have that provides feedback concerning our environment.
Some westerners call this inner voice psychic ability. Some easterners do not consider the ability to be supernatural at all. They consider it to be an inherent ability in mankind, just as walking and talking are abilities common to man. Such easterners consider this ability to be largely untapped by most westerners. In a sense, this ability is a sixth sense that can be trained and developed. Like the other five senses, this sense varied among individuals, but unlike the other senses, this sense actually improved with usage and can be sharpened by the correct training.
His master had pointed out that as a follower of good; Jim’s inner voice was attuned to protecting him from the powers of darkness and evil. Therefore, that inner voice would inform him when a powerful foe was near. By training himself, Jim would be able to pinpoint that source.
At the end of that training, the master had informed Jim that it was not possible to defeat all demonic forces that could be unleashed, though it was possible to defeat many. In his final lesson the master told Jim that his inner voice would warn him when he was about to confront an evil that he could not hope to defeat, and if that occurred he should leave the area. He also
solemnly warned him that according to the beliefs he’d been taught, most demonic forces could sense the thoughts of a man and know his innermost secrets. He stressed that it was vital to discipline the mind when combating such a force, lest your own thoughts betray you.
In the few seconds all of these memories flashed through Jim’s mind, he detected the presence of a vile evil the likes of which he had never before encountered. The source of that evil was beneath him. That was when he knew that they would locate something terrible beneath this house.
Jim concentrated his thoughts, centering on his inner discipline, as he had been taught to do so many years before. He knew that the creature would be able to sense him if he could sense it. He also knew that it was possible that the creature would be able to sense his thoughts. With that thought in mind, he concentrated on his master’s advice and focused his mind on a genuine fear that he felt. A fear that would not provide the creature with useful information, but the fear just might confuse the enemy. Jim smiled as the perfect thought occurred to him. The fear was a genuine fear, but at the same time it should not aid the enemy. Indeed, it might cause the enemy to hesitate briefly at the wrong time.
***
Captain Braden Murphy had taken command of the exterior guards. They had the house completely encircled. He had half the men facing the house to guard against any enemies attempting to escape, and the other half searching the fenced in property. The search party was looking for any evidence of an escape tunnel. Pete had advised the captain that Clarissa was known for her extensive use of such tunnels. The teams searched everywhere within the grounds of the once grand estate. This search was complicated by the explosive growth of vegetation brought about by the neglect of the property.
Clarissa had wanted the estate overgrown to conceal its occupation. She’d gone to great lengths to make the outside world believe that the manor was abandoned. She’d even had a cult member who worked for the utility department come in and run a concealed power line to the house that bypassed the electric meter. Anyone checking the meter would find it tagged as turned off and the settings unchanged.