by SD Tanner
“Ammo check,” Samson ordered.
While he looked through the door, his squad divvied up the ammunition they had left. He didn’t need to hear the exact number to know they didn’t have enough. The Bomhammers were out of battery packs, so they were down to their Needle handguns. The BattleDroids had two more missiles, but that wouldn’t help them clear enough rooms to make it to the surface. The droid that had protected his room by exploding its missile was missing an arm and chunks of its heavy thighs. Limping behind the squad it looked like the walking wounded.
It was what he saw next that made his heart freeze. Another uneven wall of white was heading towards them from the destroyed room. They were being attacked from both sides. There was nothing inside of the room to hide behind and at least one doorway was blown wide open.
“Cardiff, get onto that droid’s shoulders. See if you can open a hole in the ceiling.”
Hearing his order, Lace gently lowered Mex, leaning him against a wall. Dropping to his knees, he began pounding at the floor. There had to be a way out above or below them. Samson and his BattleDroid were on either side of the still hidden door with their weapons ready to fire. That left only him guarding the broken door on the other side.
Pointing to it, he ordered, “Droid, get on the other side of this door.” His BattleDroid didn’t move, appearing to have shut down. “Droid, respond to master.”
He didn’t have time to argue with his robot and he ran across to the open door. The wall of uneven white was turning black until the forms of a hundred critters became clear. They would swarm the room in numbers he couldn’t defeat. Cardiff was hammering at the ceiling looking for a weak spot and Lace was doing the same to the floor. If neither of them found an exit then they were all dead.
Gunfire erupted from behind him. He opened fire at the first of the critters making their way into the destroyed room next to theirs. With only seventy-five rounds, it would be a short engagement. Hoping to warn anyone who might follow them through the wormhole, he dictated a message while he fired. It might never make it through the bronzed walls, but he had to try.
“This is Ark Three. This planet is infested with critters. Do not land. Repeat. Do not land.”
The critters were chittering across the floor, kicking up dust and burned limbs. Now only twenty feet away he unloaded everything he had at them. With every shot, he waited to hear Cardiff or Lace say they’d found an exit, but they were ominously quiet. Five magazines down and only two left. Each shot was hitting true, exploding a critter, but another always took its place. Last magazine. Ten feet, five feet, four feet, three feet. When the first of the critters was only two feet from his face, it reared on its back legs, ready to slash him apart. He fired his last bullet at point blank range, but even as it spun away, another took its place.
Dropping his gun, he lunged, grabbing its long thick legs. The critter fell forward, crushing him under its weight. Its mouth was wide open aiming for his helmet. Jerking his head to the side, he heard the jaws snap. Raising his knee to his chest, he heaved upward trying to dislodge it. More critters had piled on top of the first, pinning him under their combined weight. For all his strength he couldn’t move. Teeth were clamping down on every part of his body, tearing at his armor. Once it was gone, they would take apart his exoskeleton until they found his organs. This was the end. Unlike his grandfather who had defeated the critters, he would be slaughtered. He’d let everyone down. Their trust had been misplaced. All his BattleDroid had learned from him was how to be a coward.
Refusing to go quietly into the night, he twisted his body desperately trying to get out from under the growing pile of jittering critters. Suddenly his screen went dark. The weight that had been crushing him disappeared. Tentatively moving his arm, he raised it above his prone body. Feeling nothing over him, he raised his other arm. Sitting up, he was hip high in black dust.
Samson was against a wall also sitting up. Cardiff was climbing down from the BattleDroid’s wide shoulders. Lace was by the door leaning on the wall for support. His BattleDroid was standing in the middle of the room with both arms stretched in front of it. It clenched fists were tightly closed. Other than their own movement, there was no sign of activity.
“What did you do?”
“You were in danger. Your orders are to save you.”
“What did you do to save me?”
“Analyzed situation. No guaranteed solution. Sought less assured option.”
Climbing to his feet, he walked across the room until he stood facing the droid. “What option did you find?”
Turning its clenched fists, the gloves opened revealing crushed glass. “Are they the vials from the room?”
“Yes.”
“How many did you use?”
“Eight.”
“How did you know to do that?”
“No alternative.”
“So, you took the long shot.”
“I am programmed to learn from my master.”
Relief flooded through him, not just for his life. His BattleDroid did what he would have done had he been carrying the vials. Stepping forward, he batted its thick arm. “We’re going to make a hell of team.”
“What happened?” Cardiff asked. “What’s in the vials? Where did you find them? Have you got more?”
“It’s a long story and we have to get Mex back to the ships. I’ll explain as we go.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN:
Battle Rattle
(Tank)
Although he’d told the fleet to retreat, there was nowhere to run. Critters were determined to fight with them wherever they went, so he’d ordered the fleet to turn around following the fastest route home. There was no peace anywhere. Every light-year was being fought over. It had gotten so bad they’d nicknamed the types of critter attacks. A “Wall” was the enormous dense black chunks floating through space. When they got close enough, it would explode with critters, turning it into a “Blur” of teeth and claws. Once they dispersed, they travelled as “Swarms” towards their ships. When one attached itself to a vessel, chewing its way inside before exploding, it was called a “Howler”.
Their tactics were primitive, but effective. Ship after ship was overwhelmed by a swarm, rendering their weapons useless. At this point, the only thing keeping them going was a grim determination to make it home. Even if they couldn’t stop the hordes of critters, they could at least choose how they died.
He’d spread the fleet wide, travelling in groups of ten Scorpions protecting a BattleRig. They needed the rigs. Without them, they couldn’t resupply and he wanted the rigs back on Earth. If the critters landed on the planet in these numbers then they’d lose, it was that simple. If anyone was going to survive then all they could do was escape, which meant he needed the rigs on Earth.
Four hundred Scorpions were spread along the jagged line he laughingly called the front. Some were set back and others, like his, were pushing their noses into the wall. Walls were strange. Appearing like a dense mass in front of them, the closer they got to it the more it looked like a nasty fusion of critters. Able to adapt quickly, sometimes the wall would explode into thousands of critters, other times it sent out long tendrils seeking the BattleRigs. He didn’t believe the wall had a center much less a brain. Something else was controlling the critters with devastating accuracy. It wanted to take out the rigs, but the Scorpions weren’t handing them over.
“Sitrep.”
“Same old, same old, Tank.”
Did it matter how many ships he had left? Probably not. They were going through hell and wouldn’t stop until they reached the other side, no matter how few of them were left.
“Forward.”
Following his order, their Scorpions surged ahead of the fleet. The wall shuddered, exploding into thousands of critters. Large and multi-limbed, they propelled through space towards them.
“Defend the rig!”
Fifty Scorpions pulled into tight formation around the rig, creating a defensive circle.
His Scorpion remained in the lead. Critters were flying past them with their many limbs jerking wildly. One passed close enough to scrape the hull with one long multi-clawed leg. The holographic view showed the thick legs moving in unison as if the critter were swimming through space. Its head was pointing forward as it propelled itself towards the ships behind him. It seemed a lone ship was not considered a threat.
Turning in his chair, Scorpions were leaving their orbit around the rig, launching towards the critters while firing. Their shots hit home, causing critters to explode. He didn’t have enough ammunition to kill them all. Several ships already had critters attached to them, meaning they would chew their way through the hull. While he watched, two Bombardiers in HackSuits ejected through the hatch.
“Pick them up.”
His Navigation specialist turned the ship on a dime, spinning until he was facing the Bombardiers already firing through space.
Opening a channel, he said, “Emergency extract in transit.”
The voice that replied was female. “No, sir, you need to get to Earth.”
“Not without you.”
“But they need us there and you’re the Commander. Someone else will catch us.”
Critters still eager to reach the rig were traveling past the woman, not seeing a single person in a HackSuit as a threat. It had been this way since they’d started the fight. The critters assumed a lone soldier in a HackSuit or even a single Scorpion was irrelevant. Whatever controlled the critters was keen to break the backbone of the fleet by primarily targeting the BattleRigs.
His Scorpion was already alongside the woman, reaching long mechanical arms towards her. In turn, she was grabbing the levers, pulling herself closer to his ship. Hand over hand she made her way to the underbelly of the Scorpion.
“Get her inside.”
Following his orders, a BattleDroid lumbered from a corner on the Bridge, dropping into the tunnel leading to the hatch. Maybe he was doing this wrong. Once again, the critters had ignored a lone ship and HackSuit, preferring to attack those defending the rigs. If he spread the Scorpions widely enough, perhaps they could tear apart a critter wall before it was anywhere near a rig. It would mean having less Scorpions defending the BattleRigs, but it might disrupt their coordinated attacks.
“All rigs. Send half the defending fleet forward. Hang back and let us take the brunt of the wall. All forward Scorpions. Draw the critters away. Stop them from massing an attack.”
Commander One-Zero-One asked, “What’s the plan, Tank?”
“They don’t bother attacking a lone ship. If we split up, we can pull them apart. It won’t get rid of them, but it’ll even up the fight if there are less in an attack.”
Casey’s tone was unhappy. “No way, Tank. A lone Scorpion can be overwhelmed. They need to travel as a fleet.”
“I don’t agree. A Scorpion against one or two critters is a fair enough fight.”
“Only if they still have ammo. If they get too far from a rig then they can’t resupply.”
He blew out a long breath, unsure how to tell her casualties were inevitable. “The rigs have to make it home. It’s gonna cost. There’s nothing I can do about that.”
While they’d been talking, Scorpions were already pulling away from the rig behind him. Surging forward, they were overtaking his ship. Regardless of what Casey might think, they were following his orders. Maintaining a distance of a tenth of a light-year apart, three in front of him were twisting and turning while they traveled through the clutter of critters. They were moving so fast the critters couldn’t attach. Weapons fire sparked from all three ships, exploding critters as they passed by. The critters weren’t reacting fast enough to the Scorpions. Still targeting the rig behind him, they were failing to protect their flanks or their six.
His own ship was surging forward, firing at critters trying to pass them. More groups of three Scorpions were breaking away from the rig heading further out.
“Spread the line.”
Traveling far apart, groups of three ship were forcing their way through the mass of critters. Caught unawares, critters were exploding across the entire front of the moving battlefield.
“They’ll catch on to this tactic, Tank.”
Casey was probably right, but it was working for now. “I know and then we’ll do something different.”
“I don’t like it. We’ll lose ships this way.”
“We’re gonna lose ships no matter what. Even if we try to run we’re screwed.” His own ship twisted sharply, sending particle beam pulses at several critters flicking past them. “Make every shot count!”
To his left, one of the Scorpions was hit by two critters. They both latched onto the hull, chewing manically. In a sharp and sudden flash, the ship exploded killing the critters and the crew.
“What just happened?” Casey asked angrily.
“Guess they made a call.”
Now sounding exasperated, Casey replied, “I have to get out there. These are my troopers.”
“Not anymore. They’re mine and they’re doing exactly what I need them to do.”
“You son of critter.”
Although calling someone a critter had always been a curse, up until today he was probably the only person who’d known what it meant. He couldn’t blame her for being angry. She’d trained and nurtured the Navigators for over a decade, turning young men and women into an effective army. Sending them out to die wasn’t something he wanted to do either.
His ship was surrounded on all sides by critters. They were streaming past him, heads forward and legs pumping behind. There was no air in space so he didn’t understand how they were able to move, only that they did. Studying the jerking motion as one sailed past he wondered if it was another weakness. How many legs did they need to move? Did they need them at all or did they only use their legs to change direction?
Using his visor screen to set a target, he fired a continuous particle beam along the body of a critter heading towards them. The beam cut the legs close to the body, stopping them from moving. Tilting, the critter appeared confused as if it had lost something it needed. It didn’t stop moving forward, but it slowed considerably.
“All Scorpions. Aim for the legs. Cut ‘em off.”
“Your plans are getting crazier by the minute, Tank,” Casey said.
She might have got to him emotionally, but he didn’t have time to fight with her. The slowed critter was headed towards his ship, attracting the attention of ones nearby. At least ten of them were jerking towards him headfirst with their mouths wide open.
“Evade!”
As his ship zipped upward, his Navigation Specialist drawled. “Ya think?”
The critters changed direction, clearly hunting his ship. Whatever was controlling them had him in their gunsights. “Swing back. I want as many around us as we can get.”
The ship tilted until he was hanging upside down, strapped into his seat. Every ship had decompressed to limit the effect of an exploding critter. The downside was the Bridge no longer had gravity. The BattleDroids were using their magnetized boots to stay attached to the floor. If he bothered to get up, he could do the same. His weight was straining against the metal harness holding him against his chair. Suddenly the ship arced sharply until his rear slammed back into his seat. Ten or more critters were clumsily turning towards them. That was another of their weaknesses. They weren’t as fast or maneuverable as a Scorpion.
“Wait for it,” he said in a steady tone.
Point-two of a light-year, point-one, point-oh-five.
“Wait for it.”
At least ten critters were already within a twentieth of a light-year from their ship with another twenty or more zeroing in. His Weapons Specialist sounded worried when he said, “Tank.”
Holding up his gloved hand, he wanted to play possum for just a little longer. With each passing second, the critters moved another hundredth closer. “Wait.”
At a hundredth of a light-year, he finally pointed at
the holographic image of the critters in front of him. At this distance, he could see their faces through the cameras attached to the hull. With their mouths wide open, their jaws were unhinged so there were rows of sharp teeth surrounding a deep gullet. Their legs were pumping rhythmically behind them. Jerking movement was being echoed by all of the critters in a coordinated and almost graceful dance through space.
“Now!”
Clutching at the harness with his free hand, he used the other to launch a swarm of mini-missiles, while instructing the nanobytes to fire the particle beam cannons at all targets. His ship was spinning, not just left and right, but head over tail. All weapons were firing in every direction. The tactic used a lot of ammunition, but it also killed plenty of critters if it was used at just the right time. The holographic image was sparking white. As each light cleared, chunks of critters were firing away from their ship
“Extract!”
Continuing to spin and fire, the ship zipped between the critters, exiting the trap he’d created. Once it was a safe distance away, he ordered, “Finish it.”
Without turning, his Weapons Specialist fired a shrapnel missile at the still clustered critters behind them. Having drawn so many critters to their position the way forward was clear.
Now upright again, he waved his hand tiredly. “Forward.”
It was going to be a long ride home.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN:
Lost in Space
(Ark Three)
“We did it!”
Given Mex was still unconscious and traveling in the Scorpion with Lace, Cardiff’s elation was a little premature.
“Settle down, kid, we still have to get back,” Samson said.
“Who are you calling a kid? We’re the same age.”
The coordinates for the wormhole were only ten minutes away. They would need to go through it one ship at a time. Dunk Three was supposed to have the larger one working soon and then they’d be able to transport twenty Scorpions in one trip.
“Take Mex through first. He needs immediate medical aid.”