Chaos Tactics (The Reckless Chronicles Book 1)

by Trent Falls

  He was just about to the stairway when a Xen marine appeared ahead of him. John spotted the second marine before the first could spot him.

  “HEY! Who the hell are you?!?” the marine moved swiftly to raise his submachine gun up at John.

  John already had his pistol raised and fired. The discomfortingly loud shot fired through the Xen marine’s head. John dropped the second marine with three shots. John expected a third marine to appear but no one did.

  “Shit!” John swore, holding his pistol out cautiously ahead of him as he hurried towards the bodies of the two Xen marines.

  John preferred their submachine guns so he holstered his pistol and took one of their weapons. He pocketed two clips and took a pair of grenades. Knowing he had no time he ran towards the stairway. He could already hear security on that level racing towards the sound of the gunfire.

  John hurried down the stairway as fast as he could, sliding down the railing of the returning flight of steps to land on the next deck. Though there were no immediate threats there he pulled the pin on the grenade. He chucked the gray metal concussion grenade a few feet down a nearby corridor. It was meant to serve more as a distraction to occupy the Xen. John raced down the next flight of stairs a few seconds before the grenade went off.

  The explosion was deafening and shook the bulkheads slightly. A scream was heard, then another. Xen soldiers and astronauts alike began to shout on the deck now above John as the explosion had helped stir up further chaos.

  John rushed away from the stairway as he set foot on the detention level deck, which was lit any better. There was little cover John could use but, thankfully, the corridors seemed somewhat sparse with no Xen hands visible.

  Scott Euler sat in his “guest quarters” with a blank expression on his face. He sat on the single sized bed set against the wall and stared out into nothingness. He had come so far, ground so many under his boot, and burned so many bridges to get where he was because he had known he was right. The Norn DID exist! He had successfully contacted extraterrestrial life. He had fulfilled most of his dreams except for one major detail. He was unable to secure the Norn’s trust and obtain any of their advanced technology.

  Scott looked around. There was nothing special to the room. It was small, as were most private quarters on a battleship. There was little more than a bed with a chair set on a pivoting arm that swung out from under a desk molded into the wall. There was a small computer terminal but he had been locked out of the battleship’s network.

  He had nothing to do but sit with his thoughts in silence.

  Euler’s head swiveled around as he looked blankly around the room. He had hoped that obtaining the Norn’s technology would allow the human race to move forward in a significant way. Yes, he had killed many people, but he had been a killer since the war. He had been trained to do that. The ESA, the Terran government, and the United States in general had done nothing significant in Scott’s eyes in promoting a better society. The leaders on Earth were corrupt, as they had been for all of recorded history, and cared only for maintaining their own wealth and power. Indeed, Scott had been trained to become a killer in order for the leaders on Earth to maintain their financial dominion over the colony planets.

  The Xen were no better. They promoted concepts like harmony within their society, social equality, and being environmentally friendly. Euler, having dealt with those in power at the top for the last several years, knew the way things really worked. Like their Earth counterparts, the Xen leaders were just as interested in maintaining their own power and amassing more influence and wealth. It was, perhaps, a general human condition. The poor suffered the same on Xin’Shi as they did on Earth. The rich never fought the wars; they never had to live with the horrors of the things they had done or witnessed.

  Scott Euler found himself sitting in a small Xen stateroom – on a battleship that was about to be destroyed by the alien race he so desperately sought. He wondered how he could have been so wrong. It was humiliating. It was disappointing to the point that he could barely rationalize what had happened.

  Marcus Agrev was dead. If they lived they’d surely have to answer for that. Hedges was also dead. Scott had seen him disintegrate before his eyes. It was an image that was impossible to clear from his mind. Lieutenant David Zao was also gone. One minute he had been running behind him on the alien beach. Scott had only turned away from looking at Zao but for a moment when the bullets John had fired ripped through the Xen officer’s chest.

  They did have Alex Scoffield; one of the Norn. All the same, Scott wondered what good would come of interrogating or dissecting Alex. And Taos’ warning that there were others? Other Norn living among the Xen and the Terrans? After seeing the power the Norn could wield the thought of sleepers within their societies was frightening.

  There was nothing left to lose.

  Scott Euler stood up. He walked to the door of his stateroom. The door would not slide open as he neared, as it normally would have. Instead it beeped. A second later the door slid open to reveal one of the Xen marines on the other side.

  “I’m sorry sir but we have orders to keep you here.” One of the marines noted to Scott through the open door.

  Scott Euler didn’t speak; he acted. Without pause and with surprising speed he pulled the knife out of the sheath on one of the marine’s web belts. The other marine raised his rifle but Euler pushed the barrel of the weapon away as he fired, causing him to miss and shoot into the bulkhead.

  Euler slashed the first marine’s throat, then spun around and stabbed the knife into the chin of the second marine.

  In a few moments time both Xen marines were dead in a growing pool of blood on the floor.

  Scott Euler took the black web belt off the marine he had stolen the knife from. He put the wed belt on and sheathed the knife. Euler then stooped down and picked up one of the semi-automatic rifles they had carried.

  In his mind Scott knew he had to fight to get off the ship. He was trapped and needed to get out.

  Euler walked away down the corridor, leaving the bodies of the two marines where he had killed them.

  The hangar bay was large, with a ceiling about fifty feet above the open deck. The back of the hangar contained the same large space doors as the other smaller hangars clustered at the back of the Nanjing. The large hangar was designed to hold the large Northwind shuttle. The Northwind class was the size of a midsized airliner. It was low to the ground, sitting on short thick landing struts with broad padded feet. Its forward section had a tapered neck with the cockpit at the front widening into an almost bulbous shape. Its main cargo area was thick and wide with short wings that angled up slightly from its side. The Northwind was a similar class to the Tequesta, only it was sleeker and of Xen design.

  Two thick refueling lines ran across the hangar floor up to the starboard side of the ship. It was being fueled for flight. Steam rose up from the vents at the top of the sides of the Northwind, from heat exchangers venting from the main reactor.

  Captain Shin stood before the goose neck bow of the ship looking up at its cockpit windows. The pilot and copilot seemed to be hurrying through a series of preflight checks. The white main cabin lighting was on allowing Shin to see what both pilots were doing clearly from the deck below. One of the pilots flipped a pair of overhead switches and disappeared to the back of the flight deck.

  An explosion rocked the ship outside, buffeting the hangar deck uncomfortably for a moment. Shin regained his balance quickly. He then looked to the Northwind’s landing struts. All four of their wide metal pads were locked down to the deck.

  The Northwind pilot appeared from behind the vessel. A bulbous navy blue helmet, which matched the pilot’s uniform, covered his head. His back tinted visor covered half of his white face.

  “Sir, were fueled and ready for launch.” The pilot stated to Shin as he stood before him.

  Another explosion rocked the ship.

  “We should be ready to go in about five minutes or so, li
eutenant.” Shin said back to the shuttle pilot. “We’re awaiting a prisoner transfer from deck nine.”

  “With all due respect sir, this is all highly irregular.” The lieutenant replied. “Captain Sands is my commanding officer.”

  “I have executive orders that override his command, lieutenant.” Shin argued back indirectly. Shin kept his eyes on the connecting corridor to the hangar. He appeared visibly to be waiting.

  Another blast from outside the ship quaked through the hangar.

  “Sir…” the pilot proceeded hesitantly. “I don’t think this ship is going to last another five minutes.” The lieutenant seemed to choose his words carefully. “We should leave now or we’ll be destroyed with this craft.”

  Shin silently turned his head toward the pilot. At first Shin seemed to have an expression of disbelief. Clearly the lieutenant was showing cowardice. He looked back at the pilot, who seemed to be trying to keep his cool. Beneath Shin knew the man was afraid. He was about to call the pilot out on his cowardice when he gave the idea some though.

  The pilot seemed rational. The Nanjing was slowly being destroyed around them. Why it hadn’t already been destroyed was a bit of a mystery. Shin looked up to the extended cockpit of the Northwind above his head. It was in that moment that Shin thought of leaving himself. The pilot, while he was afraid, seemed to make absolute sense. It was his sense of human survival speaking to him. It was his rational side beginning to understand what he was risking. Shin could go home. He could live to see his wife and children. And why was he waiting? For Alex Scoffield? An apparent extraterrestrial? For advanced technology? For contact with an alien race that clearly wanted nothing to do with humanity? Letting it go and leaving seemed to make sense. Going home to see his family made sense.

  No. He had come too far. The potential reward was too great. And if Shin were to go home he would not only be branded a coward but also held accountable for the loss of his carrier and the nearly 6,000 men that had perished in its destruction.

  Shin responded by raising his wrist com to his mouth. He keyed in a specified channel and spoke. “Security. Where is that prisoner? We need to leave on the double.”

  “We’re en route sir.” A male voice replied. “A few of the corridors were damaged and we had to find an alternate route. We’re a few minutes away.”

  “Hurry up, sergeant.” Shin said finally.

  “Yes sir.” The voice replied.

  Shin shut the com line and looked towards the worried pilot. “A few minutes. Get up to the flight deck and be ready.”

  “Yes sir.” The pilot replied obediently. He ran towards the back of the shuttle to board the craft again.

  Shin stared at the corridor leading from the hangar bay, then back up towards the Northwind’s cockpit windows.

  Alex was escorted by eight soldiers. Eight Xen marines. They had escorted Alex to the brig when they had received instructions by Shin to turn back around and head towards hangar bay four. They were all armed with submachine guns. They were all prepared for anything.

  John had been tracking them for the last few minutes. Still careful to stay out of sight, John craned his head around a passage corner to watch the security detail hurry by at a quick pace. The marines appeared sharp, though they had yet to spot him. Perhaps they were overconfident being on their own vessel. Certainly they didn’t expect an intruder on board. John wondered if the guards he had killed earlier had managed to raise an alarm. The ship was heavily damaged. Hopefully they were too busy to do anything about him.

  John hurried on towards the next junction. Thankfully the power was out to that area of the ship. Emergency red lighting lit the halls, again allowing John’s obvious white pressure suit to be obscured. John weighed his options in the few seconds that he had. John had the element of surprise. He knew they wouldn’t kill Alex. Certainly they knew the value of the prisoner in their hands.

  He didn’t have many options and a better opportunity might not present itself. John was in a maintenance corridor. Water lines, electric and fiber optic pipes ran through the dim passage. John readied his submachine gun and peeked out from around the corner of the exit of the maintenance corridor.

  John waited for the first two soldiers to pass. He knew Alex was four deep. Hurriedly, John raised the barrel of his submachine gun, set on single fire, and shot the third marine. The fourth fell just as quickly as the rest scrambled into action.

  Alex was shoved aside, into the custody of one of the marines and pulled out of the line of fire. Three of the remaining marines aimed their weapons back at John and fired. The gunfire was deafeningly loud. John pulled his upper body back behind the metal bulkhead as bullets hammered in staccato fury into steel. John ran away from the maintenance corridor opening, but not before pulling the pin of a concussion grenade and rolling it back behind him.

  The marines saw the grenade roll into the hall but were little worried about it. The grenade was too far away to do any real damage. The exposed marines pulled themselves back behind the vertical corridor wall supports to be sure of their own protection. The grenade exploded in a loud blast. A concussive wave swept down the corridor but did little but present itself as a slight pulse as it reached the marines at the end of the hall.

  John appeared behind the marines from another passage. He shot two of them with about six shots, quickly dropping two – then a third.

  Alex’s eyes glowed. The last three Xen marines flew away from him in a furious invisible kinetic pulse. The unsuspecting marines were slammed into the walls at high speed through Alex’s telekinetic power.

  John watched in awe as Alex exerted his force, clearing out the remaining marines from the hall.

  “Why the hell didn’t you do that earlier?” John asked his friend with a grin.

  “I could have handled eight of them maybe. I couldn’t fight an entire ship. They’d kill me.” Alex explained. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  “Rescuing you, my ungrateful friend.” John answered, his eyes scanning all the adjoining halls. “Come on. We should move.”

  John let the way with Alex walking closely behind.

  “This was foolish, John!” Alex complained. “It’s amazing you’ve gotten this far. Getting on this ship in my pressure suit? You’re lucky you’re not dead.”

  “Thanks! You’re welcome too for saving your life.” John smirked.

  “What about Julie? What if something happened to you?!?” Alex demanded. “They were beaten when they left the planet.”

  “Your friend Taos seemed set on destroying this ship and you with it.” John explained.

  “As he should have!” Alex griped back. “My life isn’t important. Given the history of the human race over the last hundred or so years… yea, they should have destroyed this ship by now.”

  “I think they’re humoring me.” John observed. “All the same the ship hasn’t been destroyed yet so what does that say?”

  Alex looked ahead towards the end of the corridor they were walking through. Two Xen firefighters raced across the hall in an adjoining passage but they failed to notice Alex and John.

  “Can you use your psychic powers to get us to the hangar bay?” John asked in a hushed tone.

  “I’m already trying but I can’t make any guarantees. My powers are finite and not very advanced.” Alex explained.

  “It’s not very far anyway,” John looked around as they ran down the hall, “I think.”

  There was a commotion ahead. John pushed Alex back to the bulkhead for the cover of the hallway braces. Once semi covered John pulled up his submachine gun. He was cautious but ready to fight.

  A group of six Xen soldiers ran past an adjoining hall. They seemed to be an armed response to John’s intrusion yet they failed to see them. John kept his rifle trained on them from outside their peripheral vision. The Xen soldiers ran down the hall, missing John and Alex entirely.

  “Go, go, go!” John urged Alex to move in a loud whisper, still keeping his submachine gun tr
ained on where the Xen soldiers had disappeared.

  Alex needed little coaxing. He hurried across the hall, running out into another adjoining passage. John covered him and followed quickly.

  They hurried along a few more passages until they finally closed in on the entry to one of the larger hangar bays. It was guarded.

  John surprised the two guards before they could realize who and what he was. John shot one through the head, then the other.

  Alex found himself flinching at the violence. “I forgot how easy it is for you to kill.”

  John turned silently to look at Alex for a moment. He wasn’t sure if Alex meant ‘you’ rhetorically about the human race or if he was addressing John directly.

  “I forgot too.” John muttered. “To tell you the truth I’ve had my fill of it. I just want to get off this damn ship.”

  John cautiously approached the blast doors to the hangar. He peered around the corner quietly. The chorus of mechanical sounds in the large hangar must have served to mask the sound of John’s gunshots. John saw the big Northwind shuttle in the giant hangar. He also saw Captain Shin pacing.

  John pulled his head back away from the door to talk with Alex. “Shin’s in there.” he explained. “Can you fly that big shuttle?”

  Alex moved past John for a moment to peer inside the hangar bay quickly.

  The Northwind shuttle took up most of the field of view. Alex took a quick look to his right too to see the broad panoramic window of the hangar control room high up on the far wall.

  Alex pulled himself back to face John. “Yeah, I can fly that. She looks like she’s ready to go too. We will need someone to open those big doors in the back. The control room looks to the fore of the ship about twenty meters and three decks up.”

  John cautiously took another look around the door to get an eye on the control room.

  “There’s an access hall that way.” John pointed towards the narrow corridor leading to their left. “I’ll get up there and cycle the door and meet you down here.”