by J. M. Hagan
At this range – all he had to do was blanket them with fire.
Bodies were dropping all around as impact thuds hampered his ears beneath the thunderous racket of his gun firing in a fury. Other soldiers joined him. They lay on their bellies and fired through the opening with single shot rifles, lasers, and sub-repeaters.
When his ammo was spent, Jack cried: “Fire in the hole!” He chucked a grenade through the gap and they rolled to safety, covering their ears before it went off.
Certain of their victory over the bunker – they carried on into the trenches behind.
Jack slid down a muddy hill and dropped on his fist, snarling as he rose with his sub-repeater and took aim at a handful of combat-drones. The light of their flashing purple eyes made them easy to spot through the grey smoke clouds from the devastation they’d caused to the bunker.
He took them down with the aid of his Fireteam. Then they hurried on through the trench-maze blazing away at anything they saw.
A deafening screech wailed above him. Jack’s eyes went skyward – an enemy fighter was crashing down toward them.
Jack dove and covered his head.
The world around him shook – a terrifying explosion erupted from nearby. Men around him screamed agony. The flames so near they were scalding hot.
He got up and saw the cockpit that had ejected just seconds before the crash. The windows were cracked all over. Jack fought through his daze and approached to finish the shadowy figure he saw moving within. He fired a burst through the window at the shadow. Blood spattered the window.
When he looked around with his ears ringing, he saw that his disorientated men were trying to retrieve the wounded. Their numbers had been decimated by the unexpected crash of the burning craft.
In his fury, Jack decided to break his way into the ship to finish off whatever survivors may be inside. He beat on the handle with his rifle butt until it broke off, then he swept inside with his gun aimed.
He had been maddened until he saw her.
A middle-aged human woman turned her rotating pilot’s chair to look at the face of her killer. There were multiple bullet wounds to her chest and stomach. He froze. Swallowed. Felt his eye twitch.
Jack had heard some terrifying rumours about the Overseers having an army of humans that they collected from a forgotten colony. Earth was the only possible colony he knew of with the numbers they were said to have…
The woman reached for something. Jack aimed his gun at her in a flash. His head twisting slightly, his eyes warning her – don’t you do it, as he anticipated her drawing a weapon while his blood was up.
But the woman didn’t have a concealed weapon.
In her hand, was a little golden crucifix with Jesus hanging on it.
“Do it,” she pleaded, gasping for air.
Jack lowered his gun with tears in his eyes…
“Do it. Rovian bastard,” she demanded, shivering in pain.
He set his gun aside. He wanted to tell her he was from Earth. But that would take a lot of explaining, and she didn’t have the time for it.
She looked at Jack in surprise as he took her hand and comforted her for the small moment she had left. He didn’t blink, looking into her deep brown eyes, and when her final breath came, he knew he had done the right thing, the only thing he could live with…
“Witch!”
The cry turned his bowels to water, and he got to his feet in alarm.
When he looked out the door, he saw one of his own men turn his weapon on his allies. He shot a half-dozen men in the back before one was quick enough, and cold enough, to take the mind-controlled soldier down.
Someone came screaming as he sprinted through the trench. He pulled the pins on his grenades and dove into a group of terrified comrades taking cover. They cried out sharply, and then their screams were muted by the explosion that sent red bits and limbs flying in all directions.
The Witch appeared as an apparition on the smoking hill above, between blazing fires.
She extended her hand and men were being lifted from the ground, choking and kicking out their feet. A chorus of snapping bones followed.
Then her other hand came out and purple lasers began firing through the black shroud, scoring a hit every time. Her eyes, like her mind and reflexes, had been perfected through hundreds of years of genetic mutation.
Jack had never encountered such a dangerous foe. All he could do was fight. So he took aim with his scope and fired at her…
Starmen
Battle for Maji-Onda
Part 2
Specialists
It is during our darkest moments that we must focus to find the light.
--Aristotle
13
Jack trimmed his overgrown hair while looking into the steaming mirror.
Three months of training had come to an end. Maji-Onda was on the horizon. They were so far from home, yet he was there in his mind, eating his cereal with Brigid, smelling her morning coffee, hearing his Dad’s thunderous tread as he came downstairs when he was ready for work.
Even now, at the midway point of their journey, he could still fall back home in his mind in an instant. Europa was a big ship, but it still made for a small place. It felt like an extended stay at a hotel, in some ways.
That bed still didn’t feel like his. This self-cleaning bathroom was so pristine that it was just odd. There wasn’t a hint of grime anywhere on the ship. He was used to dirty streets, imperfect, but homely, living conditions, a large pool of diverse faces that he saw every day. All he had here was his crew, and this pristine ship. It was easy to feel homesick, making it a persistent occurrence. Jack had been trying to compartmentalise his thoughts. He had to give these feelings some consideration, but he couldn’t dwell on them all the time. That would drive him mental.
Nightmares were second to his homesickness. Am I seeing glimpses into the life of my future-self? It’s all so vivid…
Every time the training got too intense, he went somewhere back home in his mind. Then he thought about how that place might not even be there anymore. For all they knew, the Overseers had turned their guns on Earth before setting out after them. Or worse, they’d touched down and made first contact in an attempt to forge a deceitful alliance.
Jack had been lost in a world of worry for so long that he would have begun talking to himself if it hadn’t been for Europa.
“Do you understand regret, E?” he asked, pulling some hair taut before clipping it.
“The concept – yes. The feeling, however, is a different matter.”
“How come? I know you’re an A.I. but if you can understand a feeling, how come you can’t feel it?”
“Simply put – I don’t have feelings, Jack.”
“Simply put? I didn’t ask for the simple answer. Explain it to me, why don’t ya?”
“I prefer not to discuss complicated emotional matters with emotional beings,” she replied hastily enough for it to be considered a display of keen wit.
Jack shook his head, grinning. “Good answer. I guess I’ve gotta give you that one.”
“Jack, I can comprehend feelings. But I can’t experience them.”
“And how does that compute?”
“Very well, actually. It eliminates the burden of the useless stress that you all seem to carry like a cross – to borrow an expression from your world.”
“Man, I hear ya,” Jack sighed, looking at the dark rings beneath his eyes. “Feel like I haven’t slept in months.”
“You have slept much less than the others. Well, aside from, Cane.”
“Please, don’t quote me a number. It’d only add to my depression. I miss a good sleep.”
“Aren’t your living quarters comfortable?”
“Of course. It’s not that. It’s just…unlike you, I can’t just switch off, ya know? My head is just buzzing with thoughts all day. Only time I get sleep is when I’m exhausted.”
“Then the nightmares – “
“Yea
h. The nightmares.” Jack cut off a few strands with an angry snip.
“– you could purchase some sleep aids while on Maji-Onda.”
“Like sleeping pills?”
“Pills are effective, yes. But, Venec, always favoured herbal medicines. Pills can become addictive.”
Jack sniggered. “Are you suggesting I take up smoking weed? No thanks, man, I’ve gotta be sharp as a blade, not stoned to the gills.”
“I wasn’t referring to narcotics.”
“Oh?”
“There are many elixirs available in the Galaxies that will help you sleep. Many beings that spend a prolonged amount of time in space find it difficult to sleep. It can sometimes lead to insomnia which is potentially harmful to most races, and potentially fatal to others.”
“Heavy,” he said, grimacing. “Okay. Send me the info to my PDP. I’ll pick them up while I’m there. It might be a good idea to have a supply on hand when we set out again. How long is it gonna take to reach Delta-2 from Maji-Onda again?”
“Almost three months.”
“Damn. One week of freedom, followed by another three months of waiting around for nothing to happen? I hate having so much damn time. It’ll be worse, after we leave Maji-Onda. When the end of the line is in sight – this crew is gonna be tested. You mark my words.”
“I recorded them.”
“Even better.”
As he stared at his reflection with the shears in hand, he gradually paled, picturing the destruction of Earth. The images fed by the nightmares he’d been having of a future that he hoped to avoid.
Were these nightmares glimpses into the experiences of his future-self in a timeline that was now askew, he wondered. Or was it all just the product of an overactive imagination? He hoped it was the latter.
Jack was no scientist, but he understood how dangerous messing with time could potentially be.
“Is something the matter, Jack?” Europa asked, when he had been locked in the trance for some time.
Jack took some strands of his bangs and cut. “No, E, I’m fine. Just…worried.”
“Remember what you told me – worrying is pointless.”
“Yeah. I remember. Thing is…we humans do a lot of pointless shit. It’s like we find comfort in it. Even when it makes us feel bad.”
“I don’t understand.”
He went back to his nightmare, his fear. As he stared at himself, there was self-loathing in his eyes.
“Neither do I,” he sighed, cutting some more. “How long until Maji-Onda is in visual range, E? I wanna see it with my own eyes.”
“17 minutes and 42 seconds.”
“Okay. Buzz me in fifteen,” he said, wiping some hair off the rim of the sink.
“Affirmative.”
*
And there it was...
Three months on-board Europa – of discipline, pain, exhausting focus – had come to an end with their arrival. Bigger challenges lay ahead. But they weren’t thinking of that as they stared out at the slowly rotating space station in awe.
It was lit up like a Christmas tree. Lights of green, red, yellow, white, purple. Shinning beams spun with the rotating station, projecting advertisements out on space with poor frame rates.
Ships were coming and going, and when they saw the size of the freighters and cargo ships awaiting docking clearance, some of which were much larger than Europa, they beheld the size of the vast station in comparison and found that it was a thousand times bigger than the largest ship.
"Holy shit," muttered Jack. The thrill of excitement had his arms morphing into gooseflesh.
Anderson leaned into the window, his eyes getting wider as he examined a bright pink beam that shone above the station with the Starman logo.
"Never seen anything like this," he gasped, heart in his mouth. “It’s like a floating city.”
Claudia clapped her hands together and jumped on the spot. They looked at her, but she didn't have to say a thing. Her vibrant eyes relayed excitement.
"Let's go," said Jack.
Anderson returned his attention to the window, still lost in wonder. "That's okay. You both go on ahead. I'll follow in a minute. I wanna look at this a little more...it's giving me perspective. Look where we are.”
"I don’t need perspective, I need new surroundings,” moaned Claudia. “I'll guarantee that inside is even more interesting! Gentlemen – we are officially about to have our tiny minds blown!”
“I could do with having something else blown,” joked Jack, with a juvenile smirk.
Anderson giggled. Then fought to contain his grin because Claudia was present.
She shook her head at him. “There was just no need. Everything you say is a recipe for face-palm.”
Jack shrugged.
*
Location: Maji-Onda Station, Hangar B
Siena and Cane were awaiting them at the entrance to the cargo hold when they arrived. They went in without a word and waited with an air of anticipation. Claudia’s fingers were wriggling electrically by her sides.
The loading bay opened with a heavy sound of release – the drone of a thousand voices, port calls, and surging hover car engines came pouring in.
They stood in awe, looking out at the diverse faces, skin tones, heights, body shapes. Claudia saw a hugely powerful cyclops with skin as yellow as sunflower petals, and a long black braid that stretched down his back. He wore a vest top, and his thick, muscular arms were bulging with purple veins as he carried two metal cases in hand that looked to weigh a ton.
A little girl with chalk-white skin and tentacles came running along with a doll in her hand, giggling when she approached a man that looked to be her father. He picked her up in a loving embrace and they laughed together – a happy alien airport reunion.
That was when Claudia’s nostrils flared.
Jack covered his mouth and gagged. “Gawd. What is that smell?”
“Ugh,” Mark groaned, then smiled nervously between his coughing. “That’s…yeah. That’s potent.”
The immunisations they’d been given upon first arriving to Europa would guard them against the alien bacteria they would come into contact aboard the station. That morning, Cane had given them boosters to bolster their immune systems further. They couldn’t risk catching an alien cold, or worse, with the final assessment so close. Even with them at 100% it would be difficult, to say the least. But this smell, it burned the nose from within.
“You’ll get used to it.” Cane chuckled. “Welcome to the Galaxies.”
He strolled by them with his hands locked at the small of his back and Siena went at his side. They followed at a slow pace, still trying to take it all in, as the alien putrid stench burned in their nostrils.
When they were out from Europa, the entrance ramp retracted, shutting with a poignant clang. No turning back now. Claudia looked up and the roof was a mile high, with many floors that seemed to be bustling, too, as hover cabs flew to-and-fro collecting and dropping off passengers.
She levelled her eyes, feeling dizzy, and saw another hugely powerful cyclops come right by her, so near she detected the odour of his hard labours. Her eyes followed him, and she caught a set of three red and black eyes looking at her among the crowd. The staring creature’s head was triangular, and its rough brown skin hugged tight to its rigid bone structure.
Claudia brought eyes to her feet sharply. That thing is like a demon! She glanced over at him again, and realised he was just looking at people in the crowd, and hadn’t been staring directly at her.
“Jack, this is like a nightmare,” she whispered.
Jack was pale as she felt. “Don’t freak out.”
“I won’t,” she said, trying to convince herself of it.
She looked down and saw pink webbed feet with cracked yellow nails standing next to her. Claudia shut her eyes and swallowed. Shit. I’m gonna hurl.
Jack placed his arm around her shoulder. He smelt normal. Everything here smelt horrid, so strange that her nostrils kept
flaring up. She almost wanted to bury her head in his smell.
"Remember what you said earlier? You're just having your tiny mind blown. It'll all get normal fast. Cane, said so himself."
"Yeah. But he's from another planet,” she complained, pinching her nose with water building in her eyes. “I'm barely used to people from outside town, let alone outside our solar system."
"This is fucking fascinating," said Mark, giddy with excitement. He chuckled, put his arm over her other shoulder and hooked it all the way to Jack's, then squeezed them all together. "Man-up! I mean, seriously...look at what's around us right now!"
Claudia rolled her eyes, then forced herself to tentatively glance up. She caught a face in the crowd. A little human girl with blonde hair. She was sitting on her daddy's shoulders, resting hands on his head. He was holding two heavy containers in his hands, probably all of their belongings. The girl caught Claudia staring, gave a slight smile her way. Then she looked around again, drinking in all of the faces, the different races, with a child's inquisitiveness. If that child can handle this, so can I.
"Okay. I’m okay,” she said, and Claudia had a near-miss with another chalk-white alien. She stared in fascination at its trailing tentacles and saw they were covered with tribal tattoos.
“That’s a Dikini,” Anderson told her. “They’re almost as common as humans out here.”
“You done your homework.”
“Yeah. Europa’s databanks are full of information regarding the different species we’ll encounter out here. You should have read up on it.”
Cane casually negotiated his way through the traffic of bodies with Siena at his side. “Your first order of business will be applying for citizenship,” he said.
“How long does it take?” asked Jack.
“A few hours,” said Cane.
“Hours?!” Claudia blared in English. “Hours of…this?!”
Cane smirked. Before he could reply, she held up her hand. “Yeah. Welcome to the Galaxies. I hear ya,” she moaned.