Galactic Forge

by Alex Guerra

  The guards, unable to sit by while we demeaned their princess in front of them, jumped out of their seats and initiated a fight between the undercover soldiers and myself.

  The middle guard grabbed for the rifle pointed at him, successfully locking themselves into a grapple over the weapon. The undercover trooper on the far end shot the guard in front of him in the leg before the enemy grabbed his weapon as well. The guard in front of me pushed my weapon aside, while straight kicking me in the gut. I slammed into the bulkhead with the banging of metal on metal.

  It was a full-on melee in the cabin. My helmet slid shut as my attacker sprang towards me. He was relentless, continuously throwing blows at me, one of which knocked my blaster free. I cursed as he kicked it away before I could reclaim it.

  The shot guard, pulled out a blade and slashed the undercover soldier’s abdomen, sending him reeling. To my right, the guard and the soldier were wrestling over the rifle—its barrel sweeping over all of us in the cabin. They traded punches, kicks and even headbutts for a time, without a single one backing down.

  To my left, the guard I was fighting, kicked my blaster towards Ellia and Seya. Ellia reached for it as the Major stomped a meaty boot on top of the weapon, pinning it to the deck.

  I turned my attention back to my attacker, blocking most of his attacks. The tight quarters offered limited variety on fighting tactics. I went on the offensive, striking the guard in the face a few times and his abdomen whenever it was open.

  The wounded guard with the blade turned and plunged their weapon into the soldier’s arm, wrestling over the weapon in the middle. The soldier on the far end with his stomach sliced open came back and blasted a hole clean through the head of their assailant, painting the guards’ side of the cabin with a bloody mist.

  Back to my left, the Major screamed as Ellia stabbed a hidden dagger into his thigh, giving it a twist. Seya straight kicked the princess across the face, causing her to release the dagger and leaving it embedded in the Major, who clutched it through gritted teeth. Ellia recovered quickly as she came back and struck Seya with a hard chop to the back of her knee, bringing her down to her level.

  I reached for the collapsible sword on my chest with my right, as I pinned the guard in front of me with my left. I pulled the hilt free and extended the blade in one fluid motion. I ran the guard clean through and well into the seat beneath him. I saw his eyes widen in their final moments before I pulled the blade free in a bloody slurry.

  The soldier with the stomach wound was dying on the deck, holding his gut, which bled heavily through his fingers. The soldier to my right had lost their grip on the weapon when he was stabbed. Its high-powered rounds flew up into the bulkhead several times between me and the remaining soldier, blowing holes through the bulkhead as if it was was made of paper. Suddenly, the dropship listed to port, causing me to roll back onto my heels.

  Bringing down my blade, I severed the guard’s arm clean off and stopped the shooting. The soldier to my right shoved one-armed guard’s weapon away from him, throwing it towards the back of the cabin, landing in a clang while he fell into the seats. The guard screamed as he held his bloody stump and fell towards me with the rolling of the ship. I fell back into the seat with the guard falling on top of me, skewering himself on my blade.

  The Major rolled against the foot of the seats, as he couldn’t bring himself up with his wounded leg. He was bleeding steadily from a fresh slash across his face, oozing blood all over his uniform. Seya and Ellia continued throwing punches at each other amid the chaos. Seya knocked the princess down in a bloody slump, the two breathing heavily as the dropship corrected itself. Out the viewport behind me, smoke was trailing from the portside engine, the aileron struggling to keep the ship from rolling over.

  I pushed the dead guard off of me and got up to head to the front of the ship. Ellia grabbed the blaster near her and quickly aimed it at Seya, who slapped it aside just in time to miss her. Ellia kept squeezing the trigger and a lucky shot hit one of the pilot’s square in the back and through the forward console.

  Alarms and lights were flaring to life across the console, as the other pilot struggled to keep the dropship in the air.

  “We’re losing altitude! Going down!” shouted the pilot. The dropship dipped into a sickening dive, my stomach nearing freefall.

  Strap yourself in, Art. The A.I. beamed rapidly to me, over and over.

  I looked at the others who were too far away for me to help. I struggled to grab the straps to my seat and locked myself in. I grabbed the wounded soldier to my right and brought him upright, securing him into his seat.

  I looked back at Seya who just barely got into her seat when the pilot shouted, “Brace, brace, brace!”

  Squeezing my eyes shut, we crashed with a sickening crunch. My back took the brunt of the impact as my helmet banged back and forth between the headrests. The soldier next to me grunted with each blow.

  The Major bounced around the cabin like a rag doll as did the princess, the dead guards, and the soldiers—their dead weight hitting us occasionally like a ton of bricks. Seya wasn’t fully strapped in, instead, she held on by wrapping the seat belt around her arm. She resembled a tetherball as she banged against all sides of the bulkhead, holding on for dear life.

  The dropship started to slow down, when it suddenly stopped completely and rolled over the top of its nose, landing us upside down and coming to a complete halt.

  Dizziness washed over me as blood ran to my head. The soldier next to me was still and silent, with one leg twisted in a disgusting angle that dangled up near his face. My HUD marked his status as critical. Reaching down, I felt for the harness release and upon pressing it, I fell. Collapsing onto the ceiling in a hard thud that knocked the wind out of me, I laid there for a moment, wheezing and gasping for air.

  When I managed to catch my breath, I looked around the cabin.

  It was a horror scene.

  There was splattered blood dripping over everything—including myself. Strewn bodies lie across the ceiling. Dotty informed me that the Major, along with the soldier with the stomach wound, were both deceased. Princess Ellia lie crumpled in a corner like discarded trash and Dotty marked her injuries as critical.

  Still dizzy, I turned around and found Seya unconscious. She was sitting upright with her arm raised, still wrapped up in the seat harness, making her look like a sleeping marionette.

  I stumbled over and knelt beside her. The A.I. marked her as severely injured. I found the two buttons along the inner lining of her helmet that allowed me to retract her faceplate briefly.

  “Seya,” I said, coughing a few times and tasting the iron of blood from biting my cheek badly during the impact. “Hey, wake up.”

  There was a discarded knife next to me that I used to cut her arm free. It was apparent that the crash cut her arm, severely, and it was also broken in several spots. Dotty provided further scans, noting that she had a dislocated shoulder as well. There were also lacerations and scrapes all over her body with some fractured bones in her foot.

  “Son of a bitch,” I cursed at the crappy situation. It was a miracle anyone was still alive considering the cockpit was crunched in like an aluminum can.

  Seven dead, two in critical condition and one severely injured. Although I was able to move about easy enough, my back hurt like a bastard at the moment.

  I moved to the rear of the dropship and checked on Ellia, moving her out of her strewn position and flat into the aisle. She had severe head trauma and her white hair was matting in a pool of blood, which was turning it pink and red. Dotty’s examination also revealed she had a collapsed lung, several broken bones, and a serious back injury.

  I wouldn’t be able to carry all three of the injured myself, but I needed to move quickly. I didn’t know if the dropship would explode at any moment, and I didn’t want to stick around to find out. I made my way towards the starboard side room first, carefully stepping over the bodies and made my way inside. I managed to find
a blanket and a medical kit; however, I wasn’t going to be able to fix everything with this.

  Back in the main aisle, I approached the hatched door closest to the tail end. Spinning the emergency lever, I popped the door open, which fell away outside. It was going to be difficult to move the injured through here now that the bottom of the door was actually the top and started over three feet up a curved interior.

  I managed to make a shoddy ramp out of crates and other items on the inside and outside of the entrance. I moved Ellia out first since she was the closest. I grabbed her just behind her collar, cradling her head in my arms as I dragged her up the ramp and down on the outside. I carried her the rest of the way to a small, shaded copse.

  We crashed on the edge of town, the nearest building was maybe two hundred feet away. Our landing took us through the main street, evident by the carved trail behind the dropship. It ran for maybe another eight hundred feet or so, I estimated. Had we crashed any later, we would have most likely hit a bunch of the trees, exploding instantly.

  I went back for Seya, who was now moaning slightly. I placed her near Ellia, although not right next to her—just in case either of them woke up with a vengeance while I fished out the remaining soldier. This was going to be tough, I thought.

  Standing on a crate, I was able to reach up and hold the soldier in place with one arm, as I unbuckled him with the other. I cleared the belt and managed to get him out. I would most likely not been able to do this without my enhanced muscles. His leg kept dangling and bouncing every which way as I dragged him to the end to the rear of the ship. I noticed that his suit’s air tank burst open. I searched the other soldiers’ armor and found a replacement before heading outside with the wounded soldier.

  Now that everyone alive was clear of any potential secondary blasts, I went to work with the medkit, starting with Ellia and her collapsed lung. Dotty had shown me step by step what I needed to do. I fished out a wire from the kit and struggled to get the princess’s uniform off.

  I was wasting too much time and I cut a large hole open, exposing her ribs. I placed the wire where Dotty had designated, and it began cutting its way through the skin. It eventually hit the lung and sealed the inside and outside of it before the A.I. told me to take out the wire, leaving a rubber cannula. The lung was able to correct itself in the next few breaths. I taped it into place and moved to treat her head wound. There was a strange bottle of fluid to douse the wound in and then gently wrap her head. I placed the blanket as a pillow to prop her head up in the meantime.

  Inside the kit, there was an air tank I could use. Ellia had a lung injury and no helmet, unlike the rest of us. Because she was like Seya, I knew that she wouldn’t be able to breathe for long outside. I had Dotty tell me how to set the right mixture and placed the mask on her face.

  Despite my suit working overtime to keep me cool, sweat from my brow kept falling into my visor as I continued moving. I checked on Seya again briefly, who was still unconscious. I let out an aggravated grunt and kept going.

  I moved to the soldier next. Taking out a large syringe, I squeeze a gel into the deep cut on his arm from his knife wound. The bleeding stopped almost instantly, and I placed a bandage over top of it. Next, I removed the armor plates from his broken leg. I went to work, cutting his pant leg wide open and setting his leg as best as I could, before placing a weird sleeve around his leg. I pulled several strings on the sleeve and it shrink-wrapped the broken appendage into a hard cast. It apparently releases a numbing agent through the skin to deal with pain. It turns out it was a neck injury that was marking him as critically injured. I placed a collar around his neck and stabilized him as best as I could, but the injury might paralyze him. If that were the case, the only good news was at least he wouldn’t feel the leg.

  I was flying through the treatments as fast as I could.

  Cutting Seya’s suit open, I put a similar sleeve on her arm as I did the soldier’s leg and then ran an approximating laser over the smaller cuts she had all over. I opened her visor once more and snapped the equivalent of a smelling salt under her nose, her eyes fluttered to life.

  “Come on, wake up, dammit,” I muttered.

  Her eyes shot open and she thrashed her good arm around in a panic.

  “Easy now. Seya, it’s Art. I’m here,” I closed her faceplate, “It’s me, just breathe.”

  “Art! Art! The ship!” she yelled, frantically.

  I grabbed her hand tightly. “I know, we crashed. The crash destroyed the ship, and nearly everyone’s dead. I need you to relax and breathe. Remember the breathing technique,” I said, showing her deep breaths. “That’s it, just like that,”

  Dotty, can you send a signal to the conglomerate and request an EVAC at our location? I needed to take advantage of all the time we had. A mental conversation was much faster.

  I can try establishing a signal, but the communications at the moment are chaotic. I will attempt to boost an encrypted signal to mark our location for the conglomerate. Art, there is a chance that enemy forces may also be heading towards this location. I suggest arming yourself if you must fight.

  Good idea, Dotty. Any clue on ETA of either imperial or conglomerate forces?

  There are some troops from either side nearby. It would be a race between the two, but I estimate around twelve minutes.

  Okay, you give me a heads up if anything changes.

  “Listen, I still have some other stuff to do and I have to do it now. I’ll be nearby, okay? I’ll be right back,” I said to Seya.

  I saw her gold and white eyes glowing through her clouded visor. They remained wide with confusion, but she nodded to me. I got up and ran to the dropship once more, climbing inside. Looking around, I grabbed as many weapons as I could—three blasters, two working rifles, and some ammo. I also found my collapsible blade still poking through the last guard I fought. I slid it out with a wet tug, wiping it off before collapsing it and hooking it onto my armor once more.

  Still not knowing if the dropship was safe, I didn’t bother looking anymore and left the vessel cradling the weapons in my arms, heading back to the survivors.

  Just get through the next hour, I told myself.

  FIFTEEN

  “This is High Commander Bran—we received a distress signal on this frequency, does anyone read?” came a voice over comms.

  “I read you, Commander. This is Arthur Holland along with Seya Aranis,” I replied.

  “You said you’re with Seya Aranis?” he said.

  “Yes, our ship crashed. I have three wounded with me, one V.I.P.—the rest of the team is gone. Please tell me you’re on your way to our position?” I asked, breathing heavily.

  “Gods, that was you on that ship? I didn’t think anyone would survive that. I will send the nearest platoon to your location, but we are running into increasing imperial resistance. Are you in a defendable position?” asked Commander Bran.

  We were currently along the jungle’s edge. I could either push further into the jungle and hide or run further into the city and hole up in one of the many buildings. I had to decide quickly.

  “We’re still near the crash site. We’ll be moving back into town to find a better position. I need you to track my signal and please, hurry,” I added.

  “Yes, Holland. We’ll go as fast as we can,” replied Commander Bran.

  I looked to Seya who overheard the communication. “Okay, I need your help on this. We won’t have enough time to make two trips, so you'll need to help me out here,” I pointed back in the direction from where we started our crash landing. “Look, you can see it from here, it’s not that far.”

  She gritted her teeth, slowly getting up but almost lost her balance as she tried to put pressure on her injured foot. “Aah!” she yelled out, looking down at her foot.

  “It’s bad, huh? Dotty says you broke a bone or two in that one,” I said, gesturing to her left foot. I immediately opened the medkit, finding a spray I saw earlier that would help relieve her pain. “Here,
this will numb up the foot a bit,” I said, helping her remove her boot. She winced and gritted her teeth through the process but didn’t complain. I sprayed a liberal amount onto the affected foot, letting it take effect before getting her boot back on.

  Once it took effect and she was considerably more comfortable, I explained, “You’ll only need to take the medkit and weapons with you. I’ll take these two, but before we go...” I entered the edge of the jungle, finding a sturdy stick and handing it to Seya. “Use this to help you walk.”

  I removed the makeshift pillow from behind Princess Ellia, laying it out and placing her on top of it with her hands crossed over the air tank. There’s my stretcher, I thought. I grabbed the soldier and slid him next to Ellia. Now came the hard part—I would need to drag the two behind me for quite a distance, and I was already feeling drained.

  I took a good hold of the top of the blanket in one hand and grabbed the rear strap of the soldier’s armor, trudging my way over dirt, grass, and rubble towards the buildings, with Seya limping in tow.

  Glancing down at the woman I was dragging, my mind ran scenarios, wondering just how screwed this operation was. The princess could’ve died in that crash—hell, she still wasn’t what you would consider exactly stable yet, by any means. This kidnapping could’ve easily turned into an assassination—it still could be.

  Shaking the thought off, I pressed on. There was nothing to do at this point, other than to make contact with conglomerate forces and get the hell out of the city.

  Surprisingly, I only had to stop one time to resecure Ellia’s air tank, which fell to one side during our jaunt. I used the opportunity to catch my breath and check on Seya, who had been lagging behind slightly, before proceeding the rest of the way.

  When we reached the first of the buildings, it was evident that the dropship clipped a few of them during the crash. Some of their roofs were caving in, and demolished storefronts and patios were everywhere. It was obvious the dropship’s wingspan hit both sides of the avenue during its descent.