The Galactic Sentinel: Ultimate Edition: 4 Books with 2000+ Pages of Highly Entertaining Sci-Fi Space Adventure

by Killian Carter

  Clio wanted to reach out to the child but stood frozen.

  Nakamura fired another series of rounds, almost forcing the enemy off its feet, though the bullets glanced off its armor, doing very little damage.

  The child reached out, and her shriek grew more frantic. The sound twisted knots in Clio’s stomach, and she sprinted at the alien without thinking.

  “Wait!” Nakamura cried.

  The enemy turned and vaulted over the nearest row of buildings, and the child’s screams faded to nothing.

  An animal-like sound tore from Clio’s throat, and Booster growled in her ear.

  Clio hung her head as she fought back tears. She noticed a stuffed toy lying where the creature had stood.

  Is it the little girl’s? The streets were strewn with rubble and litter, and there was no telling if it had already been lying there. Nevertheless, picking up the toy felt like the right thing to do. Clio held the mangled teddy bear at arm’s length, regarding its miserable state. A button-eye hung loose on a strand of thread and stuffing poked through a tear down the middle of its stomach. She dusted it off and stowed it in her belt.

  A hand on her shoulder shook her from the shock.

  “There’s nothing we can do.”

  Clio pushed Nakamura off. “The hell there isn’t!” Even she was taken aback by the ferocity in her words. “We can hunt down every mother-fucking last one of these beasts!”

  Nakamura studied her for a moment then looked away. “We need to move, Evans. Can’t stay in the open like this. If that thing has friends nearby, they’ll have heard those shots.”

  “Let them come.”

  Clicking sounded from down the street, drawing their attention. Heavy footfalls rattled in an alleyway no more than thirty yards away.

  “Shit, get down.” Nakamura shoved her through a nearby doorway and launched a grenade in the direction of the enemy troops.

  Smoke exploded, creating a screen.

  “Hurry. It won’t buy us much time.” He tugged Clio by the arm and pulled her through the building, out the back, and over a wall. All the while Booster clung on for dear life. “There’s a turning up ahead.”

  Shots rang out behind, and weapon-fire tore at the walls and paths around them.

  The Aegis fired over his shoulder, and Booster cried out.

  Clio was the fastest runner in her class at Fleet Academy Four, but without a TEK she was nowhere near as swift as Aegis Nakamura.

  The Aegis fell behind to shield her from the raining fire.

  Clio’s mobile shield unit beeped twice, warning her that power had dropped below fifty percent. Reality finally cut through Clio’s shock. Without armor, she was as good as dead. Seething fury drove all tiredness from her bones, and she ran faster still, like a reactor core had exploded in her chest, granting her boundless energy.

  They turned a corner and came face to face with another squad. Clio panicked but realized they wore Confederation Marine TEKs.

  “Six enemies hot on our heels,” Aegis Nakamura shouted as he pulled Clio and Booster out of the way.

  The squad gathered themselves just as several creatures appeared in the street intersection.

  Heavy guns and phase rifles roared through the narrow avenue as screaming bullets and burning plasma tore into the unsuspecting enemy, shredding them to pieces.

  The invaders wore powerful shields and armor, but the Marine weapons still ground them into the walls and pavement.

  Three Marines separated from the main squad to finish off anything that still moved.

  Clio took a breath, tasting the electricity and smoke in the air.

  “You’re lucky we didn’t open fire on you there,” the Marine wearing captain’s stripes said, eyeing Clio’s tattered Fleet uniform as he offered her a hand. “I take it you’re all part of the Bakura crew?”

  “What’s left of it,” Clio said as the Captain pulled her up.

  “I’m Aegis Nakamura. As Ensign Evans said, so far as we know, we’re the only survivors.”

  “Captain Kobol,” the Marine said. “We’re what’s left of the Confederation on this side of town.”

  “You saw the Bakura come down?” Nakamura asked.

  “We knew you were coming in on a cadet-run. A scout saw part of the ship touch down in the city. By the time we got there, the Chits had picked the wreck clean. Not a body in sight. Didn’t think anyone could have survived a crash like that anyway.”

  “We were lucky.” Nakamura waved his stump at the Captain. “Chits is what you call the invaders?”

  “Don’t know who came up with it, but it seems fitting.” The Captain eyed Nakamura with suspicion. “What the hell’s an Aegis doing all the way out on this shit-rock? It’s got something to do with that hole outside Sector Seven, doesn’t it?”

  “Don’t know about no hole, Captain,” Nakamura said. “I’m heading to Xerocorp Labs.”

  A Marine poked at Booster, and the Puck growled. “What the hell is that thing?”

  “It’s a—”

  “Pet,” Nakamura interrupted. “Long story.”

  Booster purred as Clio stroked his ears, and he climbed back into the bag on her shoulder.

  “Other Chits will be here soon. We should keep moving,” Captain Kobol said, leading his people.

  Clio and Nakamura followed, stepping over the steaming alien remains.

  “After we got away from the crash, I returned to find there were no bodies in the wreck, just like you said. Why is that?” Nakamura pried.

  “These Chits don’t just kill,” a Marine behind them said. “They harvest the bodies too.”

  “Crazy bastard Francis here thinks they harvest ‘em then eat ‘em,” another added.

  “Why else would they harvest people?” Francis said.

  “Like that little girl…” Clio’s voice trailed off.

  “Little girls, pregnant women, babies, old folks.” Captain Kobol spat in disgust. “They harvest anyone and everyone they can get their dirty claws on. Doesn’t even matter if they’re dead or alive. Sumbitches haven’t got an ounce of mercy in ‘em.”

  “They harvest people like crops?” The anger-infused hatred swelled in Clio’s chest again.

  “What’s the status here?” Nakamura asked, clearly eager to change the subject.

  “After they bombarded the base, we were assigned to Sector Two. We took care of a few stray Chits out by Gate Two, but it quickly became clear that all the action was happening over on the west side of the city, especially around Sector Six. We were going to head over there, but command ordered us to stay put. We lost communication with them after that.”

  Nakamura nodded as he listened. “What’s your plan?”

  “Gate Two’s locked. When we didn’t receive any new orders after a while, we left it. We don’t know why, but the Chits started evacuating the city this morning. It seemed like an excellent opportunity to move my men around and try to establish communication with command again. There’s a bunker two miles from here. We split into three squads. Squad one went first. Squad two took the civilians, and here we are bringing up the rear.

  “Sounds like an entire company of Marines, then some.”

  “Sixty-five in all, if the other squads made it. We won’t know ‘til we get there. Forty-odd civilians too, but there’s no counting on them. Most are children, olduns, and women with no combat experience.”

  “What can you tell us about the enemy?” Nakamura asked.

  “Tough bastards. Hard to kill, like roaches. When one goes down, another three take its place. They arrived last week on a big-ass black ship. It looked like an octopus. Orbital defenses were useless against the vessel. It landed near that hole outside Sector Seven. The Confederation established some sort of secret excavation site out there several months back. It’s a bit of a coincidence that the enemy chose to land out that way.”

  “Excavation site?”

  “City’s population exploded when they found those ore deposits in the North. Engineers w
ere digging new trenches to extend the walls when they found something.”

  “What exactly did they find?” Nakamura said.

  “No one knows. Before anyone could ask questions, a bunch of Confederation specials landed and took control. Made the engineers working on the dig disappear and kept the area on lock-down. Bastards probably didn’t even see what hit ‘em when the Chit ship came in.”

  “There was nothing on file before we left.” Nakamura sounded troubled.

  “Like I said. Lock-down.”

  A Marine up ahead gestured with his hand, and they slowed to a walk. “We need to take it slow from here. We haven’t been down this way for a while.”

  Clio needed to know anything that would help her put the aliens down. “How come your weapons made light work of those Chits back there?”

  “One of our techs worked it out,” Kobol said. “Something to do with shield oscillation or modulation or some mumbo-jumbo. Afraid they got him in the last skirmish, but I can give you his data.” He operated his SIG and sent Clio a file-transfer request as they walked.

  She accepted the invitation and the transfer completed immediately. “Thank you, Captain,” she said, forwarding the file to Nakamura.

  Captain Kobol looked at the Aegis. “What’s your plan for getting to Xerocorp Labs? Scouts said that the Chits are still swarming out that way even though they’ve gone from most other areas.”

  “I’m not entirely sure. But I know they’ve got a starship at the facility, and our pilot here can get us off this rock.”

  That was the first Clio had heard of such a plan.

  “Good thing you have someone who can fly,” Captain Kobol said quietly. “Our pilots were taken out when the first wave bombed the airfields. It was almost like they knew exactly where to hit us. They’ve probably been watching us from orbit without us even realizing it. Every time we reconfigure the scanners to track them, they scramble us again. Not easy working in the dark like this. You can accompany us to the bunker if you want. It’s on the way to those labs anyway. Be good having an Aegis nearby if anything goes down.”

  “Have you got any spare TEKs for my friend here?” Nakamura cocked his head at Clio.

  She welcomed the idea of finally getting some armor.

  “We got plenty. As long as she doesn’t mind the holes in ‘em.” Captain Kobol flashed her a smile.

  Clio attempted to smirk back, but from his reaction, she probably didn’t quite succeed. After witnessing the screaming girl being taken, Clio had no smiling left in her. She would destroy every last Chit, or she would die trying.

  Booster sniffed at her ear. “Much anger,” he whispered.

  18

  Gut Feeling

  They lost communication with the camp just over a mile out. It seemed the enemy scrambling signal knew no bounds.

  Grimshaw and his five companions marched for hours through dense brush, chopping at blue and purple vines twisted and woven into nets between trees. Eline and the scouts claimed they had cut the very same path the night before. Grimshaw took them at their word but found it hard to believe that the streamers had already regrown. Then again, he’d experienced stranger things in other parts of the galaxy.

  The jungle buzzed and hummed with a plethora of alien noises. However, apart from a purple three-headed snake that kept its distance, Grimshaw didn’t see any wildlife, which was just how he liked it.

  They stumbled past numerous exotic plants, most of them vividly colored and dangerous looking. One reasonably innocent looking plant left a deep scratch in Grimshaw’s TEK, and on closer inspection he found that the leaves were as sharp as razors and sturdier than steel.

  They progressed slowly, the thick canopy providing cover from enemy eyes in the sky.

  Nevertheless, Grimshaw was glad when trees and plants gave way to rocks and dirt. They wasted no time finding the track Eline had used with Martin and Stone, eager to find the boulders and rocky overhangs marked on the map.

  The dusty track wound into the steep, red-gray hills. The higher Grimshaw and his team climbed, the taller the leaning rocks became. They protruded from the ground at odd angles, creating endless rows of leaning pillars and arches. Halfway up the hill, most of the formations stood over ten feet tall and provided perfect cover from surveillance and attack, but they had yet to see or hear an enemy aircraft.

  Grimshaw called for a short break when the team reached the brow of a particularly high hill. The jungle spread out like a green and purple quilt below, and the rocky hills ahead rose higher still. He rested in the shadow of a twisted rock and wondered what kind of geological activity could have caused such an anomaly.

  “Team Horizon to Team Alpha. Do you read?” Grimshaw suspected that the forest had blocked their signals earlier in the day. He had hoped that climbing higher would improve their chances of picking up a secure channel, but static answered yet again.

  He removed his helmet, washed a leather-dry ration down with water from his canister, and took in some fresh air…if fresh air was what one could call it. Colony 115’s air content was more or less the same as Earth’s, but something about the atmosphere in the hills didn’t taste right.

  “Sir, there appears to be something coming over that hill,” Briggs hissed, pointing from the shadow of a jagged boulder.

  “Take cover,” Grimshaw said on the short-band vox. He fastened his helmet clasps and crouched behind a pile of rust-colored rocks, the remains of a fallen stone pillar. He zoomed in on the hill where two silhouettes moved awkwardly against the backdrop of the white sky. The shimmering heat rising from the baking stones obscured them further.

  The rest of the squad blended into their surroundings.

  “Anyone getting a clear image?” Grimshaw said.

  “I’ve got eyes on them, sir.” Stone had dug himself into a pile of dry dirt and watched them through his sniper scope.

  “What are you seeing, Stone?”

  “Looks like two Confederation Marines, sir. Hold on a second.” Stone adjusted his scope. “They’re in bad shape, sir. Looks like they’re fleeing.”

  Grimshaw squinted through his rifle’s sight but couldn’t make out anything useful. “Fleeing what?”

  “Not sure, sir. Whatever it is could still be on the other side of that hill.”

  “Okay, hold your positions,” Grimshaw said on the vox. “No one moves or does anything until we know exactly what’s going on.”

  Details became clearer as the Marines moved out of the haze. Just as Grimshaw recognized their Confederation uniforms, two larger forms crested the hill behind them, advancing a fraction faster. The Marines were definitely being pursued by whoever the black-suited guys were.

  “Must be those Chits the Sergeant was talking about,” Martin said over the vox.

  “Have either of you got a shot?”

  “They’re in range, sir,” Martin said. “But still a bit far to make it clean.”

  “Eline, O’Donovan, with me. The rest of you, provide cover on my mark. Briggs, watch the hills for anything else. Get ready to pull back into that cavern we just passed if things go south.”

  Grimshaw, Eline, and O’Donovan ran down the slope, weaving in and out of cover as they went. Grimshaw leaned over a boulder and peered through his scope again.

  The Marines looked spent and had slowed to a crawling pace. Their brutish pursuers, however, moved unnaturally fast for their size. They wore sleek black armor and carried long black blades in two of four hands. Grimshaw figured they were the elites Sergeant Wallace had spoken about. Whatever they were, they were closing in on the Marines fast.

  “Those things have rifles on their backs,” Officer O’Donovan said. “Why don’t they just shoot them.”

  “They’re hunting them for sport,” Eline said clinically.

  Grimshaw raised his arms and gave the signal. “Fire.”

  Lines streaked overhead and slammed into the creatures.

  Martin and Stone’s sniper rounds slammed into one, knocking it
sideways. Rather than dig in or flee, the other elite picked up speed, it’s friend still lagging behind.

  The Marine furthest back stumbled and rolled, giving Grimshaw a clean shot.

  Bullets thundered into the beast, but it still leapt forward, plunging a black blade into the fallen Marine.

  The second Marine had almost reached Grimshaw’s position.

  The black creatures sheathed their swords, drew their long-range weapons, and exchanged fire while advancing without regard for cover. Red plasma smashed into Grimshaw’s boulder and he ducked behind as another bolt sailed overhead.

  “I’m going to flank them,” Eline said, signaling from behind a rock across the track.

  She rolled over a low ledge and disappeared.

  Grimshaw fired again, but no matter how many hits he landed, the creatures kept advancing fast, though the bug-like aliens stopped firing, their rifles spent.

  The Marine passed him, and seconds later, the nearest elite attacked, forcing Grimshaw to duck under a set of swiping claws.

  Grimshaw emptied half of his magazine at close range and knocked it back several feet. It returned the gesture with brute strength, smashing him into a rock, his rifle spinning from his hands.

  The lean, black creature charged as Grimshaw brought up his blaster. O’Donovan’s heavy machine gun roared, driving the writhing alien into the ground. Grimshaw discharged his entire magazine, the last five bullets penetrating the Chit’s helmet, hammering its head to a pulp.

  As Grimshaw got to his feet, Eline called his name on the vox. He turned as the other creature shouldered him in the chest, slamming him into the dirt. Grimshaw rolled onto his back as a black blade descended.

  Its sword arm spun off, and a burning white light exploded from its abdomen, spraying Grimshaw with dark fluid.

  The Chit turned as Eline leaped, an intense white light discharging from her SIG. She swung the weapon in a full arc, lopping the creature’s head off. She landed gracefully next to its carcass. The Aegis deactivated her weapon and offered Grimshaw a hand.

  She pulled him back up with next-to-no effort, and he wiped the guts from his visor.