Sereva swallowed half the mug of her coffee in one go, slamming the cup down. “The bastards grow at a rate that I’ve never seen before. They grow to full maturity within days.”
Adira added, “Is that natural? Perhaps these things are biological weapons of some other race with gene-modification technology?”
Felix shook his head. “I don’t think so. I think we’re just looking at a very different kind of life form with a complicated breeding structure. During one of my sorties I saw a different kind, much larger than the soldiers and not at all spiderlike. The thing was like a colossal grub, all puffy and off-white with things moving inside it. They’re the breeders. It seems they only have three of them, but they’re responsible for the eggs. They lay thousands at once.”
Sanchez looked deep in thought as Felix was talking. Mach turned to his friend, who by now was actually looking surprisingly healthy. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking that these things are obviously what attacked the mining facility on Beta, but also, that there’s no predators here. During our race back to this outpost, I saw not a single animal track, nor heard any call whatsoever. There’s no fauna here at all.”
“You’re right,” Felix said. “Within days of the phane arriving, the population of animals on this planet plummeted. It’s how they breed. The grubs constantly feed on anything and everything, turning the genetic matter into eggs. When they first arrived, there were just a few thousand of the soldiers, but now… it’s possible there are hundreds of thousands. They’re literally eating this planet alive, turning it into a barren husk.”
“Like the bodies,” Sereva said, sneering her lips. “The bastards left a dozen of my crew behind, sucked their bones and insides clean, leaving nothing but a dried husk.”
“And they arrived by ship?” Adira said. “They don’t exactly look capable of space travel.”
“That’s where the other form comes in. We call them the controllers. As far as we can make out, they don’t stray too far from their mothership—the source of the frequency jamming. The thing’s huge. I’ve never seen a ship as big as it before.”
“Where is it?” Adira asked.
“West of the mountain range,” Felix added. “The last look I got of it, they were loading it up with the hatched soldiers. It’s like an ark. I think they’re preparing to leave.”
“It wouldn’t surprise me,” Sereva said. “There’s very little left on this planet to sustain them. Or us, for that matter. We’re down to emergency rations and recycled water.”
Mach processed all the new information, thinking of what to do next. “We need to communicate with our ship, let them know what you’ve told us.”
“We’ve got a radio working, but the reception is bad and sometimes doesn’t work at all; it depends on the strength and direction of the phane’s jamming process. But follow me; I’ll take you to it.”
Adira joined Mach as they passed through another bland passage into room crammed with radio equipment, none of which was being used. They were stuck in their respective boxes and stacked on metal shelves. Sereva took them through a maze of shelves until they arrived at a workbench with a radio circuit board laying on the surface, a multitude of wires and parts attached to it.
“You made this yourself?” Mach said.
“Electronics was my hobby,” Sereva said, taking a seat and switching on the radio. Mach gave her the frequency and protocols for the Intrepid’s radio system. They managed to contact Squid Two and used him to relay a secure message to the bridge. Over the next ten minutes, Mach and Adira informed the others of what had happened and what they had learned.
Mach gave Lassea her next orders, “I want you to fly to the bunker and stay in a low hover behind it, out of reach and sight of the gun platforms. Felix says they patrol the open plain in front of the mountain. If you come down here, you’ll be hidden by the trees.”
“Roger that, Captain,” Lassea replied.
“And one more thing,” Mach said, “we need Babcock down here to help with the analysis. Lower him down via a winch; there’s an escape hatch on the top of the outpost. He’ll be safe from the phane soldiers there and we need his expertise.”
“I’m on it,” Lassea said, her voice full of determination and not a hint of fear.
After another fifteen or so minutes, they managed to get Babcock and Squid Two down into the outpost without too much bother. It seemed the soldiers had gotten bored of attacking the unrelenting blast doors and retreated to the rest of their swarm to carry out whatever other orders their controllers issued.
The group retired to the strategy room once more and made their plans.
Mach stretched his arms and yawned. He downed another cup of Sereva’s ration coffee and looked at the flashing red dot that represented the bomb on the holomap.
“They don’t even realize what it is,” Felix said.
“We’re going to need to go and arm it ourselves,” Sanchez said, summing up the only realistic option now that they had gone through half a dozen plans. Even Squid Two couldn’t help with this one.
Adira and Babcock agreed with Sanchez.
That just left Mach.
“Felix, how far is it to the mine shaft that enters this complex?”
“About five klicks west of here. We can take the scimitar; it’ll attract less attention than your Intrepid and give us the chance to stay low, out of the way of the gun platforms.”
“What about the soldiers?”
Felix grinned. “The scimitar is no ordinary APC. Since I’ve been here, let’s just say it’s been a project of mine. I’ve upgraded the armor and weaponry, as well as the engine. I’m sure we’ll be able to withstand the swarm long enough to get you into the mine shafts.”
“And then what?” Babcock asked. “It’s not like you can just park up and wait around.”
“No,” Felix said. “It’ll likely be a one-way journey.”
Mach knew this was likely the case. Hell, he had the feeling from the moment he took the job. This changed nothing. “Babs, you’re staying here. I need you and Sereva to help guide us. We’ll take your modified laser transceivers to send a feed back.” Mach regarded Adira and Sanchez. “You’re my away team, but if you would rather stay, I understand. I’ll go alone.”
Both Adira and Sanchez said, “No,” at the same time. Adira added, “It kinda looks fun anyway. It’s not fair you get to have it all yourself. What’s not to love about this, eh? A dungeon crawl, big monsters, and a super weapon… This is the kind of adventure I’ve always wanted. So what if we might not get back? We could get killed by interplanetary bandits or run over by a hover bus. If I’m to bite the dust, I’d rather it be for a good cause.”
“Besides,” Sanchez added, “we can’t afford to let these damned things leave the planet. Look what they’ve done in this system. The next system from here is in the Salus Sphere. We can’t allow a threat like this to take hold. You’ve seen what they’ve done.”
“And,” Babcock interrupted, “by my calculations of their breeding rate and estimated numbers, if allowed to breed and take another planet, they’ll have enough numbers to overwhelm the entire Salus Sphere within two months. The CWDF wouldn’t have a chance at stopping them.”
“It’s settled, then. Adira, Sanchez, and I will go. Felix, you’ll take us there in the scimitar. Babs, you liaise with Lassea and Sereva to make sure the Intrepid’s safe and ready to take you out of here. We’ve got ourselves an enemy territory to infiltrate.”
Chapter 18
Felix led the group back to the docking bay. Mach knew that with the sun dipping in the darkening sky, they had to move immediately to take advantage of the fading natural light outside.
The old officer swung open a heavy metal locker door grabbed a box full of graphite colored spherical objects. “Load your compartments with as many as you can. Trust me, we’ll be needing them.”
Mach picked up one of the tiny balls and rolled it between his fingers. “Are
they some kind of mini bomb?”
“Transceivers calibrated to our local network. With the phane interference, we can only keep comms going by creating temporary grid systems to boost the signal. By tomorrow morning they’ll have traced every transceiver and destroyed them.”
Sanchez grunted down, scooped up a handful and dropped them into his left thigh compartment. Mach considered asking a final time if he was really up to their mission but decided against it. The big hunter deserved to out with a bang. Better to complete a final mission or die fighting for what was right, instead of quietly on his bunk in the Intrepid at the hands of a parasite.
They all loaded their spare compartments with transceivers and inspected personal weapons. Mach noticed the modified dark blue Scimitar parked in a gloomy corner of the bay. These were used as a common ground vehicle for moving troops around a planet’s surface for the CWDF forty years ago. The solid looking, rectangular tracked APC had an oversized laser cannon mounted on its roof and four double barreled muzzles of old school Fides Prime heavy machine guns aiming out of each corner.
“Impressive job,” Mach said to Felix and nodded in the direction of the Scimitar. “How much ammo have we got?”
“Enough to hold off a thousand of those damned things. Are you ready?”
Sanchez tapped the stock of his rifle. “Ready as we’ll ever be.”
Adira had already moved over the APC and walked around its perimeter, staring at the weapons. She sported what Mach thought of as her kill face: focused and determined, assessing every element of their capabilities.
“There’s viewscreens in the back, synced with the sights,” Felix said. “I suggest two of you take the rear. One ride shotgun with me and take the front right.”
“That’ll be me,” Mach said. “I need to pinpoint a few potential escape routes in case you’re not outside after we arm the weapon.”
Felix smiled although his eyes betrayed an opposite emotion. He slid the Scimitar’s remote control out of his pocket and thumbed the pad. A square door along the side of the vehicle groaned out and hummed to the left. A set of five black steps folded out and thumped against the concrete.
Mach clambered in, turned right and toward the front cabin. This version of Scimitar became known as the mobile coffin after the horans developed powerful armor piercing ground missiles near the end of the war. Most were swapped out, but it wasn’t uncommon for some to be used on frontier planets as admin vehicles.
Felix sat behind the driver’s controls. The dashboard lit up in an array of prime colors, and the engine roared into life. Adira and Sanchez took up positions on two stools at the end of each troop bench, and activated the screens showing views of the docking bay with crosshairs in the middle of each image.
Sanchez twisted on his stool and the feed scanned around, following his movement. “Nice work, Felix,” he said.
“I’m not just a pretty face,” Felix said without a hint of emotion. “I cobbled together what I could from the bunker. We needed to stay alive until somebody got here.”
The APC’s four circular headlights flicked on, firing white beams of light against the blast door. Mach hated himself for thinking it, but with Sanchez on his way out, he wondered if he hadn’t just found a perfect replacement. If they made it out of the mines in one piece and escaped, Mach decided to offer Felix a place on the Intrepid.
An electronic whine came through the speaker. The thick blast doors smoothly parted, revealing the dimly lit ramp outside. Felix wrapped his gloves around two silver levers and eased them forward. The Scimitar jerked and settled to a consistent speed, its tracks grinding up the ramp.
The bottom half of Noven Alpha’s orange sun had already dipped below the horizon. Mach gazed out of the reinforced glass screen, searching for signs of movement in the gloomy undergrowth.
Felix directed the Scimitar toward a track that cut straight through the forest toward the distant mountains.
After twenty minutes rumbling toward the mines, Mach spotted the first signs of movement between the trees that hugged either side of the dusty trail. A dark shadow weaved between the trees, keeping pace with the APC. He grabbed the front gun controls and focused the crosshairs, hoping for a clean shot.
“Conserve your ammo until we hit the open ground in front of the mountains,” Felix said. “That’s when we’ll need it.”
“Have you spotted any patterns to the phane’s behavior?” Adira asked.
“If you’re on foot, they attack immediately in numbers. Since I’ve been coming out in this little baby, and gave them some laser treatment, they’re more cautious and stalk, waiting for a moment of weakness.”
Sanchez spun on stool, panning his screen across the forest. “We’ve got company on both sides. How long till we hit open ground?”
“Two minutes. From there it’s a klick to the eastern entrance.”
Mach glanced into the clear darkening sky, half expecting to see the red glow platform engines approaching. The jagged mountains rose in front of them and the track widened ahead.
Plants, vines and trees suffocated a series of four buildings near the edge of the forest. They were the same design as the long rectangular CWDF barrack blocks: quickly assembled, not designed for comfort, and were probably used to accommodate workers. Rust caked the line of bolts holding each section together and mold spattered every filthy window. Three faded blue vehicles decayed in an overgrown space in front of the blocks.
“I searched that place for supplies,” Felix said. “Found nothing apart from rotting mattresses on bedframes and thousands of smashed egg shells.”
“That’s becoming a recurring theme,” Mach replied, thinking about what he witnessed in the quarry and crevice. “Can you tell us anything else about the mines?”
“It’s part natural, part drilled. The map’s accurate and you won’t have a problem finding the bomb. Luminous stalactites provide limited visibility in some of the larger chambers. I can’t give you an accurate prediction on the level of infestation. The only thing I can tell you is the phane have exploded in numbers over the last few days.”
“What about the mothership?” Adira asked. “It’s hard to believe they don’t have more tech on the ground.”
Felix shook his head. “They send out the platforms and have craft in the air above the main ship. The way I see it, the phane just take what they want. If you get in the way, they’ll attack.”
The forest thinned to a barren stretch of land, littered with huge boulders and small shrubs. The track ahead snaked toward a black square entrance, cut into the bottom of the mountain’s almost vertical dark brown face.
“Holy shit!” Sanchez said.
Mach looked to his left. Hundreds of dark arachnid figures broke from the tree line. He glanced in the opposite direction. Hundreds more scuttled across the opposite side of the wasteland. Both groups of arachnid phane soldiers fanned out into an extended line, covering both sides of the Scimitar.
Felix thrust the two levers forward and accelerated. “I’ve dealt with this before. Relax guys,” he said.
“Relax?” Sanchez asked. “I hunt to relax, not the opposite.”
Dust puffed out from either the Scimitar as it ground over the dusty track, increasing the lack of visibility around the vehicle in the fading light. Mach’s heart thumped against his chest. He remembered how much force it took to kill one of the large arachnids. The hundreds closing in were equal in size.
“What’s your plan, Felix?” Adira asked with urgency in her voice. “I hope you’re not thinking of going directly to the mine entrance and opening the door.”
“There’s an open space ahead. We wait there for the phane to close in and hit them with all we’ve got. The laser will slice through at least four ranks. They need to be close for the machine guns to be effective too.”
Mach frowned. “So we sit there and let them surround us?”
“Pretty much, and hope they lose their appetite.”
Felix directed the APC of
f the track and crashed over small rocks away from the larger boulders. He slowed the Scimitar to a screeching halt roughly half way between the mine’s entrance and the forest.
A gentle breeze blew across the wasteland, clearing the dust. Hundreds of phane arachnids had turned to a couple of thousand. They circled the vehicle at a distance of a hundred meters and slowly moved forward on their for back legs.
Mach swept his crosshairs across the creatures on the right hand side of the APC. Their ranks swelled deeper as they closed in for the kill.
Felix activated the laser controls for the oversized cannon on the roof. “I’ve got four three-hundred-and-sixty degree bursts before it runs out of juice.”
“You can swivel fire that thing?” Mach asked.
“I configured it for an extended shot. Think of it like cracking a graphene whip across a group of melons. You concentrate on any phanes who avoid it.”
“Nice thinking,” Sanchez said. “It’s a shame we’ll never get a chance to exchange notes.”
Felix sighed. “You never know how things work out.”
The phane soldiers in front of the reinforced windshield looked far too close for comfort, but Mach remembered the magnifying effect the glass produced. Their orange beady eyes glowed in the gloom and they collectively raised their pincers.
A bead of sweat ran down Mach’s temple. He turned to look at Adira who returned a nervous glance before focusing back on her viewscreen.
“They’ll charge any second,” Felix said. “Prepare to fire.”
The overhead laser whined around on its turret. Mach thumbed the fire button of his machine gun. The phane paused.
“They’re too close,” Sanchez said.
“Follow my lead,” Felix replied. “Timing’s everything.”
An ear-splitting screech blasted from speaker. The arachnids sprang forward and reached within a couple of seconds of the Scimitar. Felix fired the laser. Its red beam swept around the surrounding the vehicle in a heartbeat, brightening the area, and slicing through the front ranks.
The Lost Voyager: A Carson March Space Opera Page 14