by Isaac Stone
“I want everyone moving to those caves in five minutes,” I ordered the NCO’s. “We need to be in place and ready to take them down before they bring up their kaiju.” I wanted control of the cave where the portal was located before we had to worry about the kaiju employed by the other side. There wasn’t a lot of time and the sun would reach its zenith in a few hours.
“Captain,” my aide, a young guy named Samuel, called out next to me, “I’m talking to Company B on the line. They’ve got the scout the Force sent in here last month.”
I adjusted my chinstrap, took a sip off the water bottle and turned to him. “Send him over here. I can use his experience. He may not know the entire island, but he’s the only experienced scout we have at the moment.”
SEVEN
The scout eventually made his appearance. We had started to move the brigade west to the location of the portal when a man dressed in black with a dirty face walked up to me and offered his hand.
“Captain, is it?” he said to me. “It’s been a long time.” The man in black, who was covered by a layer of dirt, grinned at me.” His face seemed familiar, but I couldn’t place it.
Then it hit me. “Fit David,” I said to him. “After all this time and now you’re here?”
“You can call me Filthy David until I get a shower,” he laughed. “I’ve been holed up in this shitty place for way too long. You can thank me for all the information I sent the Force when we get out of here alive.” Fit David was a big dude I once knew in the old neighborhood who used to work out by pushing trucks around. Someone claimed he was shot in another bank job that went bad.
“So how did you end up on this island?” I asked him. “If I recall right, you went down with a slug to your chest.”
“Don’t believe everything you hear, Captain,” he laughed again. “I wanted people to think I was dead. No one in the old neighborhood every amounted to much, so I had the word spread I was killed. The last thing I wanted was some family from down the hall hitting me up for money.”
I nodded when he told me that. The old neighborhood had a reputation of being filled with hustlers and second story men. I wouldn’t have wanted any of them to find me. Even in my current state.
He was still a huge man. Dave had to be at least six foot six, although he wasn’t as muscled as he used to be. He fell in with my group and became the man I needed to ask for an opinion when we came closer to the cave.
“You say they have three kaiju?” I asked him. We were cutting our way through the undergrowth. He shook his head and held up five fingers. Dammit.
We could hear the Invaders in the distance. According to David, they stuck around the caves and didn’t leave them that often. There were four large caves at the base of the extinct volcano right next to each other. The portal was stored in the one to the far left with the other caves used to house the stalkers and the war equipment they brought to the island. He wasn’t here when they took the island and slaughtered the inhabitants. He pointed out where they’d made their first landings from the clearings we crossed. He told me they’d burned most of the bodies so as not to attract any wild animals or give Orbital something to notice on the surface. He’d stayed out of their way ever since Force Intelligence dropped him into the hot zone. He’s survived on what he could dig up from the local plants and what game he could take on his own. The Force was stretched so thin that they’d begun pulling entire prison populations out of the hold and putting them into work crews and other useful tasks. David’s unique abilities for stealth and resourcefulness, which had never quite turned him the profit they deserved in the bank heist industry, had served him rather well as an advance long range scout. He didn’t think the Invaders knew where he was, but there was no way to be sure.
We came to a clearing at the edge of the trees that faced the caves. I had the Raptors stop when we reached it. On the other side were two of the kaiju, surrounded by a squad of twenty-five stalkers. They had to know we were close from the way they continued to turn in every direction. I looked for the officer who directed them, but couldn’t find one. The metal suits were the standard green color and each of them carried an impact gun or laser rifle, marking them as elites.
“There are more inside those caves,” Dave told me as we peered out at them. I’d told the other Raptors not to fire unless fired upon. We still had the element of surprise on our side.
I had to find out what kind of power they held in those caves. I didn’t want to fully commit my guys unless I knew what we were up against. There was one way to do it that should work.
“Daphne,” I radioed to her over my headset, “Take Terry to the tree line and let one of the kaiju see him. It will get a reaction for sure. When they attack, pull back right away. Terry won’t want to do that, but you’ll have to be the boss.”
Daphne had Terry lumber up to the tree line, just as I asked her to do. We were still far back enough from the clearing to make it hard for them to see us, but Terry was in his own size class. The other dinosaurs were far to the rear, as I didn’t want to risk bringing them all forward unless I had to do it. The earth shook again as Terry marched up the edge where his size was visible from the group around the cave. I knew they could see him when Daphne had the big boy stop.
The effect on the stalkers in front of the caves was magical. They froze and quit looking around. Every last one of them turned in Terry’s direction and watched to see what he’d do. His reputation preceded him.
“Have Terry say hello,” I told her.
“It should be easy,” she told me.
It was.
Terry leaned his head back and let loose a roar that rattled the armor on him. I don’t know how Daphne managed to get him to do it, but she’d been with Terry a long time and knew him better than anyone else. The sound reverberated all over the front of the caves. It had to get everyone’s attention.
The stalkers on the ground opened up with everything they had as Terry cut loose with his arc cannons even as Daphne had him crash backwards into the jungle. Bolts and beams fired all around him, but none could score a useful hit any part of his armored form. One of the kaiju plunged into the jungle after Terry, and soon the sound of their epic struggle faded into the thick canopy of the jungle.
“Raptors light em up!” On my command, the Raptors unloaded with a series of plasma bursts that ripped through the green suits. They were caught out in the open. These were elites, and as usual the stalkers wouldn’t retreat, even when the plasma tore apart their suits and fried the person on the inside. They continued to advance on our position while firing, even as the remaining kaiju moved to block the cave entrance.
The stalker squads were reduced to smoking piles of metal in a matter of seconds. The kaiju roared in frustration. Their riders kept them under control in front of the portal cave. We all had to hit the dirt as the kaiju unleashed its own mounted weapons.
“That was quick,” I said to David as lasers cut through the trees just above us, “You say the other dinosaurs were on the opposite side of the island?” I asked him. I had a bad thought all of a sudden.
“Yes. At least three of them.”
Suddenly, the enraged kaiju began to move away from the caves as Terry emerged from the tree line and pounded it with arc cannon fire. Daphne dared not use missiles for fear of wrecking the cave entrance, but the fullisade of hard rounds did the trick. It lumbered off to the right and exchanged fire with Terry as the two monsters fought a running battle deep into the jungle.
“Wow, having a tyrannosaurus rex on our side is freaking awesome,” Dave commented.
EIGHT
“Make sure we’ve got plenty of Raptors covering our rear,” I radioed to Hamid. “There are supposed to be at least three battle dinosaurs on the other side. Have some of the other lizards move to the rear. I don’t want any surprises.” David nodded when he heard me give the order.
“What about the caves?” Hamid returned. “Don’t you want to take them as fast as we can? They can ho
ld out until those portals open again real soon.”
“Just hold off for now,” I let him know. “I’m going to send a few guys across the clearing around to the side of the rocks to see if there’s any activity inside those three caves next to where they’re keeping the portal.” I wanted to know exactly what we were up against before I committed anyone.
“I can have the guys hit those caves with enough plasma to cook whatever is on the inside,” Hamid transmitted again.
“Not a good idea. We don’t know what’s inside them. For all we know they could have another portal in there.”
I turned to David. “Did you get a look what was inside the other caves?”
“No,” he replied. “I couldn’t get much closer than the ground around the entrances. It didn’t look to me they were building anything else, but you never can tell. I saw the portal in operation from the outside of the far cave, which is how I knew they had it. I sent an emergency message to Orbital as soon as I knew what they were doing in there.”
“I thought Command said you’d seen them assemble and run a portal?” I said to him.
“That was what they told you?” He returned with a look of surprise.
I wanted to ask him something else, but was interrupted.
“Captain,” came another voice over the headset, “This is Kelly. I just heard from one of the men guarding our rear. More kaiju sighted, heading our way.”
“How many stalkers with them?” I demanded while pivoting to look back the way we’d come. It was hard to see anything through the trees, but I could tell something was coming by the noises I could hear.
“They’ve got about fifty on the ground we can see, and snipers spotted flanking them. I wouldn’t be too worried about what they’re packing, we have the numerical and the firepower thanks to the dino mechs, but I don’t know about what’s in those caves. You want me to shift our dinosaurs to the rear?”
“I’ll send some guys over to your side,” I told Kelly. “Sounds like you’re going to need some help.”
I switched the channel of my headset to the other dinosaur riders. “We’ve got kaiju from the Invaders moving into our backfield,” I transmitted. “I want you to intercept them and stop the advance. There are stalkers on the ground, so they know we’re here and what we want.” I turned to watch
Most of the other dinosaurs were already in the back of our formation, but I could feel the vibrations on the ground as they moved. This was putting us in a tight spot with the caves to the front and Invaders to the rear. I didn’t want to be in this position, but what choice did I have? Never drop the soap.
I flipped down the video display and watched the feeds from the dinosaur riders as they advanced on their quarry. Between the feeds from the big lizards and the Raptors on the ground, I had a good view of the skirmish as it began to unfold.
From what I could see, Terry advanced into sight and pushed aside any trees that got in his path. We were only minutes into this combat operation and Terry had already taken out two enemy kaiju, only having sustained minor injuries as a result. What a complete badass.
Terry was the largest of all our dinosaurs, so he would be the one to take center. Daphne pushed him forward as he roared a challenge kaiju ahead of him. She deployed the wings on his back, which carried the missiles. She fired a barrage at the ground to halt the stalkers. It worked and the ones that survived the explosions scattered to engage the marines who flanked our dinosaurs. Now it was just one set of monsters against another as the infantry fought each other in the thick jungle around them.
Terry lumbered forward in his glory a kaiju from the other side, also armored, came up to engage him. They were too close in range to use their rockets, so Daphne retracted the weapons systems. I didn’t have to hear Daphne give him the command. I could see the change in Terry’s eyes as he was given the order to attack. Terry lunged forward and collided with the other beast, sending his opponent to the ground.
The kaiju righted itself, came up low and prepared to charge at Terry. All of Daphne’s attention was focused on the one kaiju in her front. I could see Terry prepare for another attack.
However, Daphne made the mistake of ignoring the other opponents on the field and assumed they were focused on the rest of the dino mech. From what I could tell, two of the kaiju changed their attack pattern the moment Terry walked into their range and focused on him. In horror, I watched as their missiles turned and locked on Terry while Daphne had him concentrated on the kaiju now struggling vainly in his mighty jaws.
I tried to issue a warning to her, but it was too late. Both of the other dinosaurs fired their missiles directly at Terry the same time. He was armored up and it protected him, but the pod where Daphne monitored him in the saddle was struck from both sides by the missiles.
Daphne was killed instantly by the force of both explosions as they all but vaporized the pod. I stood there and watched as my helmet screens showed her pod disintegrate from the force of both detonations.
Terry ignored the blast on his back and went straight for the next kaiju in front of him. He had his armored jaws around the opponent in second and wrestled him to the ground. It was a bloody fight, but Terry’s instincts took over and he killed the other kaiju quickly by crushing its armor around it.
The entire backfield turned into a scene of mass chaos at that point. The remaining dino mechs who fought for us released a barrage of missiles and arc cannon fire at the same time, which ripped into the last kaiju even as it unleashed its own weapons arrays. It was a furious exchange of fire, but with one against several the kaiju didn’t have a chance, and only managed to kill one of our dino mechs before it was destroyed. Our marines still clashed with stalkers in the jungle, but I could tell just from the video feeds that we had them beaten. A costly engagement, but victorious.
NINE
There was still no activity from the caves, which told me they didn’t have access to the portal jump points. If they did, an entire army would pour out of those cave openings.
Terry stood up and looked confused after he had eaten his fill of the fallen kaiju.
“Captain Daphne’s gone!” I heard Hamid radio to me. In the chaos not everyone had noticed her die.
“I know,” I told him from where I watched the e battle. “I don’t think she felt a thing.”
“Terry is rogue,” he observed. “What do you want to do about him?” A dinosaur on the loose was a source of concern.
“Let him go,” I said. “He’ll be a threat to the stalkers and we can still use him. Pull all our people back, there are enough enemies still around to occupy him for awhile.”
“What about his armor?” Terry’s battle armor could be removed only by the right code entered into it.
“Leave it on him; we still may need him for our side. Pop the weapons, he doesn’t need them now. Have someone try to retrieve them the first chance we get.”
While Terry picked up his former opponent with his jaws and tossed him in the air, Hamid had a remote operator eject the weapons off him. The X wing array that held all his weapons flew off his back and landed in the jungle. Some of the new guys could pick it up later and use the projectiles if we needed spares.
“Looks like they won’t try and do anything else for a while,” I heard from Kelly. “What are your orders?” I could hear his breathing on the other end of the channel.
“Sit tight, “I told him. “We don’t know what’s in those caves at the moment. We still have control of the backfield. Keep an eye out for any more incursions because they are bound to come. Hopefully with Terry rampaging around they won’t have a chance to regroup for awhile.”
In my helmet screen, I could see the kaiju Terry had mauled lay still on the ground. Terry seemed satisfied with his work and began to thud away in to the forest as he went to look for other prey.
“Quite a few stalkers I saw near the volcano, maybe they are using that as a power source,” he told me.
“That would explain why Terry i
s headed there, must be tracking the path that war party took,” I told him.
“Those caves worry me,” I told Dave. “We have no idea what is inside of them. I’m afraid hordes of the stalkers will stream out at any minute.”
“You have them covered about as well as anyone can do,” he responded.
“It won’t matter. If they open up that portal, they’ll swarm out of it like yellow jackets in the fall. We won’t stand a chance.”
“Like someone said earlier, you can always send a whole barrage of plasma bolts into the openings.”
“Do that and there’s nothing left. My primary mission is to capture the portal. Do that and there won’t be enough left to even identify.”
The element of surprise was gone. By now, the Invaders would know how many of us were here on the island, or have a very good idea. All they needed to do was wait until their portal was operational and send more stalkers in from the other side. Once they had the entire island under their control, they could deploy their forces anywhere on Earth.
I thought about the old neighborhood again. The building where I’d grown up in was a huge market of some kind years before I was born. People told me generations ago it was a fashionable place, but those were the days when the area was still part of the Old Republic. I didn’t remember much of what I learned in school, but I recalled that at one time the various places on Earth were all part of separate governments. This was all before most people who could afford to do it left for the colonies. Earth was still the government and military center, but most of the money was off world. No one stayed on Earth unless they had some sentimental attachment to it or couldn’t afford better. You stood a good chance of ending up like the fishermen who lived here recently. It didn’t matter much now because they were all dead.