“Now hold her left leg.”
Sledge got her leg in a lock. Garcia beat on him, but he took no heed.
“Hurry, before she does something stupid.”
Grimshaw fetched the panel removal tool from his medical kit and set about removing her leg panel.
Grimshaw sensed the tension leave her body as he worked at the releases.
“Guys, are we still on Gorthore?” Garcia said, her words slurred. “I just had the strangest dream.”
“Afraid we’re still here Garcia. What’s the last thing you remember?”
It took her a while to answer. “Damn bug bit my leg…it all gets a bit blurry after that.”
“You’ve got an infection where the bug bit you. I’m going to take a look.”
“Okay,” she said sleepily.
Grimshaw pulled her thigh panels free and balked.
Sledge caught a sight of it too and mouthed, “What the fuck?”
Grimshaw shrugged. He hadn’t been a medic for long, but he’d never seen anything like it. Not even in the literature.
Her entire leg was swollen and bright purple. Countless tiny white spikes grew from her skin. He prodded one of the spikes and they all retracted. He jumped with fright as something bulged and rolled under the surface.
Sledge gagged and looked away.
“What was that?”
Garcia screamed. “What’s happening to me Grimshaw?”
“We’re going to work that out, Garcia,” he said, struggling to remain calm. “Everything is going to be okay.”
He fetched the EM scanner from his bag and ran it over her leg. The high frequency readings showed magot-like parasites moving around inside her leg. If he had a medical rig, he could learn more, but his only option in the field was to cut them out.
He sprayed instant local anesthetic on the area and drew a scalpel.
Sledge’s eyes went wide.
Grimshaw nodded for him to hold Garcia tight and he obeyed.
“We’re just going to perform a quick operation, Garcia,” Grimshaw said, his forehead sweating despite his TEK’s air circulation being set to maximum. “We’ll be done before you know it.”
Grimshaw made a small incision, the purple skin opening with surprising ease.
He gently peeled the cut open using a small set of forceps. Several thumb-sized worms wriggled inside. He pulled on one with a second set of forceps. It wriggled and pulled with surprising strength, but he yanked it free.
It turned around to look at him. Its beaked face peeled back like a blooming white flower filled with hooked teeth and it let out a shriek.
Grimshaw dropped it in fright and stepped on it as it lunged for his boot.
The beak worms in Garcia’s leg reacted to the sound.
Her leg pulsed.
She writhed and thrashed and let out an unhuman howl that shook Grimshaw to the bones.
Her throat gurgled and she started to convulse.
Countless white worms with sharp beaks for faces exploded from her mouth and nose.
The blood drained from Grimshaw’s face.
Sledge jumped away.
“What the fuck are those things?”
“The larvae of whatever bit her if I had to guess. They’re eating her from the inside.”
One of her legs kicked one last time and she became still save for the creatures moving under her skin. Her eyes rolled back and sunk into her skull. More of the creatures emerged from her eye-sockets. Her visor cracked and the worms spilled onto the grass.
Grimshaw also stepped away.
The creatures ignored him as they scurried for the cover of the trees.
Sledge danced away, aiming his rifle at them.
Grimshaw took a medical reading from a distance. The creatures hadn’t left much of Garcia. Even most of her bone mass was gone. And it had happened in seconds. His stomach turned and Grimshaw had to stop himself from retching.
And to think Garcia had saved him from one of those mosquitoes. He wished he could have returned the favor.
“Lynch’s drone drew the Krags into the trees,” Sarge said on the short band. “As soon as Perez gets back, we retreat to a safer location and make a plan. Have you fixed Garcia yet?”
“Garcia’s gone, sir,” Sledge answered.
“Gone?” Sarge said. “What do you mean, gone?”
“Gone,” Sledge simply repeated.
Grimshaw watched as the last of the creatures vanished into the trees. He caught movement out of the corner of one eye. He thought Perez had doubled back on them. No. The shadow in the trees was too big to be human.
He ran for cover.
“Krags!”
4
Fight Fire With Fire
Grimshaw threw himself behind a rock as three Krag heavies emerged from the tree-line. Blue and red lights flashed as both parties exchanged fire. Grimshaw stayed low in the grass and leaned out from behind the rock, pulling his trigger and adding to the fray.
Still in shock from what happened to Garcia, he struggled to maintain control of his phase rifle. It kicked all over the place, but at least a dozen rounds slammed into the nearest Krag.
Energy discharge snapped and fizzled overhead.
A bolt of plasma narrowly missed his helmet and vaporized a patch of grass next to him.
Sledge’s plasma canon boomed from behind, sending streams of plasma into the Krag ranks.
The fight stopped as fast as it started.
Three Krag heavies lay motionless, their thick-plated armor smoking, their black horned helmets giving them the appearance of fallen demons. Even in death, they looked intimidating.
Sledge ran forward, screaming, blasting each alien several times in the head to make sure they were dead.
Grimshaw climbed from his firing position and took stock. A quick check showed they hadn't been hit.
“Status report!” Sarge ordered on the short band as he retrieved Garcia’s tags.
“Not hit,” Grimshaw said.
“Took my damn shield to twelve percent, but I’m still alive and kicking.” Sledge kicked one of the dead Krags to drive home the point.
“Shield at seventy-one but fine.”
“We’re lucky we had ninety feet or so on those three, or we’d be dead,” Lynch said.
“I’d hate to think about what would have happened if they hadn’t broken cover like that,” Sarge said.
Grimshaw took in the three-smoking bodies. Sarge was right. Sometimes Krags used tactics. Other times they charged blindly. Tacticians couldn’t make sense of their unpredictable nature. Some said that Krags valued valor and courage above all else and that they wanted nothing more than to die in war. Others argued that they were wild, insane beasts and that there was no accounting for such madness. Despite being at war with them for years, the Confederation knew little about the aliens.
“We might not get so lucky when those other three realize what’s up,” Sarge said.
“They just took down the drone,” Lynch said, checking her SIG. “They’ll have heard the gunfire.”
“Then we better get to that Temple before they get to us. Any sign of Perez?”
“Afraid not sir. I just performed a wide radar burst. He’d either gone off grid or the Krags got him.”
“Let’s move it double time. Move with caution. Anything could be hiding among those rocks. When you reach the temple, meet at the western side entrance.”
Sarge led the line at a running pace.
Grimshaw brought up the rear as usual. He regularly kept an eye on the jungle behind but there was no sign of the Krag.
They made it halfway across the plain when all hell broke loose.
Three Krags erupted from the trees to the north-east, cutting a diagonal line towards them.
They moved with incredible speed for creatures so large and cumbersome.
“They’ll cut us off before we reach those trees,” Sarge called.
“Not if I can help it!” Sledge shouted as he broke the
line.
“Get back here, Sledge goddammit,” Sarge shouted.
“I’ll slow them down. Keep running.”
Thunder fired from his canon as he sent a volley of plasma into the Krags.
“Activate Fury Drives,” Sarge said.
A second later, he and Lynch were speeding ahead, the additional energy from the fury implant lending more power to their bones.
Grimshaw was about to flip his switch when a beam of light blasted the ground before him.
He tumbled through the air with rock, dirt, and mud and landed on his backside. The orbital laser flicked to one side, cutting a long scar across the plain.
By the time he got back on his feet, Krags poured from the trees on either side and orbital lasers cut up the plane left right and center.
They were lucky to still be under heavy cloud cover.
He engaged his fury drive.
Heat rushed through every inch of his body lending him strength, endurance, dexterity, and speed. His awareness and senses augmented, he picked the best route through the chaos and broke into a run.
He zig-zagged between the rocks where he needed them for cover and cleared the ones he could when he didn’t.
He laid on suppression fire several times when Krags got too close.
One got within feet of him when another beam from above struck down, vaporizing everything it touched.
Grimshaw sped on, the long grass and rocks disappearing in a haze.
He broke through to the tree line and hurried in the direction of the temple, the sound of mayhem dying down behind him.
He could hardly believe he made it.
He reminded himself, that there was still a long way to go.
5
Holy Wars
Grimshaw reached the temple side entrance. Sarge and Lynch were already waiting behind one of four pillars that held up a giant stone arch. Lynch leaned against the stone wall. She looked like she could barely stand.
Grimshaw sidled up to them, remaining alert for Krag activity. The sounds of fighting in the jungle had died away a while ago.
“Do you need meds?” he asked Lynch quietly.
She shook her head. “Got plenty of meds, Grimshaw. Just not enough blood.” She gave a weak chuckle.
“We can’t delay,” Sarge said. “I’ve already scouted ahead. The tunnel that leads from the entrance splits in two. Lynch and I’ll take the left. Grimshaw, you take the right. We just need to get one person with a Fury Drive into a regeneration pod and splitting up increases our chances. As soon as you find a regeneration pod, get inside. The Fury Drive will do the rest.”
“Any juice left in your Fury Drive?” Lynch said. “We used ours up getting here.”
Sarge seemed in good shape for someone who just depleted his implant. It explained why Lynch was in such a bad state too, though she was also wounded.
“I’ve got enough for one more charge,” Grimshaw said.
“Good,” Sarge said. “We’ll need to move fast when we get inside. It goes without saying, but try to avoid bumping into Krags. If you come across any, run and hide, and try again when things calm down.”
“Yes, sir,” Grimshaw said.
“Right, enough delaying. Let’s go.”
“Good luck,” Lynch said.
“Same to you,” Grimshaw said.
They hurried into the gaping dark hole and were swallowed by shadow. The entrance quickly narrowed into a tunnel barely wide and tall enough for a single Krag.
They kept their torches off and deactivated their helmet lights, allowing visor night vision to take over.
The tunnel eventually forked as Sarge said it would. Without a word, they parted ways.
The right tunnel descended gradually. It was difficult to keep a track of time, but it felt like he was running for an age when he finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel.
He slowed to a jog, and then a walk, approaching the opening cautiously.
The tunnel ended in a small platform with wide steps leading thirty feet down into a broad chamber. At least five Krags worked at tables bearing items he couldn’t even begin to describe. He saw no sign of regeneration chambers. Another tunnel entrance lay at the end of the chamber. He pulled back under darkness, certain he hadn’t been seen.
He had no idea what the Krags were doing, but guessed they had something to do with the fighting above or the regeneration network below. He had no way of taking out that many Krags alone. They didn’t appear to be armed, but then they didn’t need to be. All a Krag had to do was get his hands on you, and you were dead. He had to make a run for it.
He took a step back, braced himself, and activated his Fury Drive.
Another wave of heat surged through his veins. He drew a deep breath, readied his rifle, and sprang forward. The steps passed under his feet in a blur. He was already inside the other tunnel by the time the Krags reacted, their groans and roars following in his steps.
The tunnel branched off several times, but he followed the main tunnel as it descended further into the depths of Gorthore. He arrived at a T-junction and took another right. At the next, he took a left. The deeper he went the more complex the tunnel network became until he found himself running through a maze. Watching the levels of his Fury Drive drop quickly in his visor caused him to push harder. He hit a few dead ends, and stumbled upon Krags or shadows of Krags, but he moved too fast for them to catch up.
The descending tunnels finally opened up into a huge cavern that stretched further than his sensors could see. He wasted no time turning down the narrow ramp that wound its way around the outside of the cavern. He came upon a Krag also making its way down into the cavern.
As it turned to see who was approaching, Grimshaw sprang off the wall and shouldered into its side. It stumbled sidewise and tumbled over the edge with a resounding howl.
The maneuver ate a big chunk of what little juice remained in the Fury Drive, but he couldn’t leave the threat behind him in such an open area.
He hurried on, passing several openings until his implant’s fuel had almost run out. He figured the deeper he went, the more likely he would be to bump into a regeneration pod.
With the final ounce of power left in his implant, he turned into the next opening.
He came face to face with three Krags. They were just as shocked to see him as he was them.
He leapt forward, sliding under their legs and reaching claws. He sprang back to his feet and ran without so much as looking over his shoulder.
Another light appeared at the end of the dark tunnel, but it felt like the harder he pushed, the further away it got.
He willed his leg onwards, but little by little he slowed as the heat seeped from his bones, taking his energy with it.
He carried on, dragging himself step by step, running himself dry.
Little by little. The entrance grew bigger.
Roars and howls bounced off the tunnel walls behind.
Too slow.
He reached the end of his tether but stumbled through the light to emerge in a small room with walls draped with curtains of glowing white. Energy raced along strands of silk hanging from the high ceiling. Little flickering motes of color drifted so gently on the air around him. It was like walking into a dream.
His legs almost buckled, and he leaned against a white curtain for support. Light pulsed away from him where he touched the sheet. It would have been so much more wondrous if darkness wasn’t beckoning his consciousness. He injected Fury Serum through his SIG’s IV system. The darkness abated, but his legs remained weak, his arms feeble.
A figure emerged from the shadows.
His shaking hand reached for his rifle, until he realized it was just Perez.
“What the hell are you doing here, Perez? We thought you were dead.” Even his words lacked strength.
“Dead?” Perez all but screamed. “I’ve never felt more alive!” In a flash, he pointed his sidearm at Grimshaw.
“Whoah. Wait a second, Perez.
What the hell’s going on?” Grimshaw started to back away, sliding along the wall while at the same time using it for support.
Perez followed with menace in his eyes. His head tilted to one side. “I’ve been waiting for you Grimshaw. It took you long enough getting here.”
It was definitely a coincidence that Perez happened to end up in the same room he did. But how could he have known that was where he would go? Grimshaw didn’t even know where the hell he was going. “How did you get here? How did you know I would come?”
“These voices,” he hissed, waving his sidearm in frustration like it should have been obvious.
“They told you I would come?” It was all he could do to delay the madman as he slid further into the chamber. His arms and legs were too numb to be of any use even if Perez didn’t have a gun pointed at his face. But there had to be a way out.
“The voices didn’t just tell me you would come here. They promised. They won’t let me enter the regeneration chamber, Grimshaw. I tried, but they told me it wasn’t meant to be.” His eyes flicked to a structure at the end of the room. It looked like a section of hollowed-out pillar that had fallen against the stone wall. White mist rolled from the gaping hole in its front.
“They say that you must enter, Grimshaw.” Perez sounded disappointed as he took aim. “But it was meant to be me!”
“Wait!” Grimshaw shouted, desperately trying to stall the madman. “I need to know. Wha…What do you mean I must enter? I don’t understand.”
“I thought they wanted me…thought I was worthy,” he screeched. “But all this time the voices wanted you to be the one to enter the regeneration chamber. I can’t let you.”
A horrible roar came from the entrance as Krags poured into the chamber.
The Marine turned his sidearm on them and opened fire. The bullets bounced off their thick armor.
They lunged at him. A scream rang out for just an instant. They tore him apart.
“Come,” a voice beckoned from the pod.
Grimshaw didn’t need to be told twice.
With the Krags distracted, he shuffled into the pod.
He pressed a white orb he assumed was the activation control. A shimmering energy shield spread across the opening just as a Krag shouldered into it. Grimshaw expected the barrier to break, but it was unaffected. As much as the Krags tore, and clawed, and hammered on the pod, it would not be opened. In fact, it was so well insulated, Grimshaw didn’t hear a thing.
The Galactic Sentinel: Ultimate Edition: 4 Books with 2000+ Pages of Highly Entertaining Sci-Fi Space Adventure Page 120