Primal Link 2

by L Bowers

“Not if you’re going to sit here looking that cute. I could sit here all day looking at it.” I pinched her cheek. “Look at that cute face,” I said in my best baby voice.

  “We’re done.” The expression dropped from her face. She shook her head and chuckled as she rose. “Let’s get the cat-herding parade on the road.”

  Standish stood in the center of the squad bay with several other Marines, all of them corporals. He waved me over as soon as I entered.

  “I’ll catch up.” Angela turned to go where Kopf was waiting.

  “These are your fireteam leaders, Sergeant Goshawk,” Standish said.

  Hearing Standish refer to me so formally threw me off. It took a second for me to realize I was supposed to say something. “Pleasure to meet you all.”

  “I think the pleasure is ours, Sergeant,” the Marine on the far right said. “I’m Bowen.” He pointed to the next couple in turn. “That’s Trumbull, and Seraph. We’re your fireteam leaders and your pupils.” He pounded his fists together in front of his chest and bowed.

  “Knock it off.” Seraph punched Bowen in the shoulder. “You just met the Sergeant. You don’t know if he minds you messing around.”

  “And you don’t know if he minds that language,” Trumbull added in a mild voice.

  “Oh shit.” Seraph’s eyes went wide, and she slapped her hands over her mouth. She moved a couple of fingers so her voice would travel. “Sorry, Sergeant.”

  My voice cracked as I tried to keep from laughing. “It’s fine. I couldn’t care less about your language.” I pointed to Bowen. “And no, just no.” That got a few laughs from my fireteam leaders. “Our time is short, though.”

  I took a few minutes and shared with them everything I knew about the upcoming mission. “So, in short, we have very little time to try and get our Marines on the path to increasing their bond with their Lenashal.”

  “Actually,” Seraph said. “You have very little time to get all of us on the path. Truth is, none of us can come close to doing what you do. Right now, our Lenashal might as well be imaginary friends with a cool night light feature. It’s a limited feature, but cool all the same.”

  I scratched my head as her words sunk in. “I was afraid you might say something like that.” A hopeful smile crossed my lips. “So, you’re saying none of you have figured out any of it? Like, no meditation or anything?”

  “Dude,” Seraph said before she shook her head. “Sergeant, sorry, but no. We’re not exactly the ‘let’s meditate and get in touch with our feelings’ crowd. If the Lenashal came with bayonets and a slot for inserting magazines, we'd be all over it. As it stands…” She finished with a shrug.

  “Then let’s get the squad together,” I replied. “The sooner we start, the better.” I looked around at the assembled Marines and the room. “We have plenty of space, so have everyone spread out and take a seat.” I clapped. “Break.”

  The team leads left and went to their gathered groups. Standish gave me a slight nod before he walked away to meet up with Kopf and Angela. His gesture made me feel a lot less self-conscious about having given my first order as a squad leader.

  I spun around so no one would see the smile I couldn’t keep from spreading over my face. “I just gave my first lawful order as a squad leader,” I whispered. “This is so cool.”

  I heard Lupita’s voice in the back of my head. They were words he had never said to me, but I could picture him doing so. “You think it’s all fun and games being responsible for the lives of other people, non-aug? You might want to ask that Marine who died in the trench under your watch what she thinks.” I swallowed a lump that formed in my throat. “Ask her if she thinks it’s cool that she’ll never get married, or have kids, or find the cure for cancer.”

  “Enough,” Aspen thought to me. “It is not your fault that she died. You did what you could to save her. I will not sit here and allow you to make a mockery of her sacrifice, or the lives you did save.”

  Along with the memory of her dying in my arms, Aspen showed me the wounded Marines being carried to the transports after it was all over. Lives saved and given a chance to carry on because of what my team did.

  “Good, now breathe deep. You do not have to punish yourself for every victory. Allow yourself to celebrate the small ones as well as the big. Do not let the evils you couldn’t stop stand in the way of the good deeds you will do.”

  “Thank you, Aspen. It’s too easy to remember the things I couldn’t do and forget the good I have and will do.”

  “If you mean that statement, you will put that smile back on your face and help these men and women to bond with their Lenashal. Although they are tainted by the corruption of machines, their Lenashal can make all the difference in the war to come.”

  I smiled, and not because Aspen told me to. I smiled because I was a sergeant of Marines who was dating a wonderful woman, and building friendships with a cool character and a funny goofball. I smiled because Aspen was right, and we were going to make a difference.

  “Good afternoon, Marines.” I approached the assembled squad. “For those of you who don’t know me, I’m Cor…” I cleared my throat. “I’m Sergeant Goshawk.” A quick movement to my left caught my eye. I looked over and saw Angela smile. She gave me a quick thumbs-up, which had the effect of making it feel like a ton drifted off my shoulder.

  I drew a deep breath and shifted my gaze to look at each of the Marines—my Marines—in the squad. As I locked eyes with Standish, I knew how to get their attention and motivate them at the same time. I manifested my glowing emerald wings and flapped them enough to take me a few feet off the deck. Keeping myself in the air turned out to be easier than anticipated.

  “As you can see,” I said loud enough to overtake the oohs, ahhs, and chatter. “I’m a Lenashal, like you. Unlike most of you, I’ve deepened my bond with my Lenashal. The result is my ability to tap into the power she provides, as well as manifest her natural gifts. This is what I plan to teach you.”

  Using Aspen’s knowledge of flight, I set down gently, then crossed my wrists behind my back. “I can put you on the path to a greater bond. It’s up to you and your Lenashal to take what I show you and grow together.”

  A dark-skinned Marine I had yet to meet raised his hand at the same time he spoke. “Sergeant, how do we acquire a greater bond? I mean, is it something physical we have to do, or more spiritual?”

  “That’s a great question,” I said to give myself a couple seconds to form an answer. “I want you all to keep in mind that I’ve only stumbled on what has worked for my Lenashal and me. Instead of answering with words, I’m going to demonstrate while you follow along.”

  I went to my knees and settled into the pose I used when meditating. “This is the pose we found pictures of when we were first trying to bond. I think there are better or more advanced techniques, but I haven’t found them yet. Maybe together we’ll figure out how to take our meditation to the next level.”

  I walked the Marines through meditation, then we practiced. Once we called it for the day, seven Marines were able to manifest their Lenashal. When it was all said and done, my patience was at zero, but I couldn’t be prouder.

  “Hey, Sergeant,” one of my squad mates said as he came over to me. He turned out to be Trumbull, one of my fire team leaders. “Is this normal?”

  After speaking, a dog shaped Lenashal leaped from his chest. “Yeah,” I said. “That’s completely…” My words stopped when another one jumped out. It was followed by three more. “Are those all the same Lenashal?”

  “No, Sergeant. I seem to have gathered a pack.”

  13

  Goshawk

  As a squad leader, I was afforded a seat in the forward section of the dropship. Unlike the last time I was in one, there was no blast of frigid air hitting me from an overhead vent. There was a strong possibility that Lupita had put me in the worst seat in the ship.

  My relative comfort did little to ease my nerves. The dropship sat immobile in the belly of th
e larger craft. Once we were close enough, we would drop. Then we would rocket to the dragon ship and board her.

  “How are you holding up?” Angela asked on a private channel I set up for the two of us. Sometimes, it was good to be a radio operator.

  “I’m okay, I think.”

  “That’s good,” she replied. “Do you think they’re ready? I mean, have we taught them enough about bonding with their Lenashal for them to get through this?”

  “We managed with no training,” I replied while leaning forward and looking down the line to see her. “I think the team is better prepared than we were when we first got our Lenashal. To top it off, they’re already trained warfighters. I’m confident we’ll be fine.” I wished I felt as confident as my words made it seem.

  “That we did,” She sat back, then turned her head to face forward and up. “Going to catch a couple of z’s.”

  “Yeah, get some rest. I’ll make sure you’re up when it’s time.”

  I also sat back, but leaning my head back to sleep wasn’t going to happen. The adrenaline already rushing through my veins was thick enough to turn my life’s blood into molasses.

  Then I was somewhere else. Aspen stood in front of me with her head tilted to the side as she eyed me. “You must learn to relax at least a little.”

  “I’m trying, but it’s easier said than done. Too much is riding on this, on me, to take it lightly.”

  “Nor should you,” Aspen replied. “But you cannot take the weight of the galaxy and place it solely on your shoulders.” She stepped close and touched her beak to my chest. “Like you, the others have chosen this life and accepted its consequences. Do the best you can, and allow them to do the same. No one expects more.”

  “Lupita does.”

  “That man would expect perfection itself to push harder and become better. There is no pleasing some.”

  “That’s the truth if there ever was one. What do you suggest I should do to calm down?” I asked.

  “You could further our bond with meditation,” Aspen replied. “That seems to have a calming effect on you.”

  “I like that idea.” I dropped to my knees. It wasn’t a necessity that I take the pose and go through the motions of meditation while in Aspen’s memories, but I found that it helped me focus so I began the breathing exercise.

  Two breaths in, everything shook and pitched me to the side. “Aspen!” I shouted as I placed my hands on the ground for balance. “What the hell is happening?”

  “Something external,” she replied in a calm voice. “You need to go back.” Without waiting for a response, she dropped me from her mind.

  Bright light blinded me, and caused me to blink rapidly. A loud tearing sound was followed by the ship shaking. Something overhead broke loose, and a large green case fell onto the Marine across from me. His scream ended as quickly as it had started.

  Using the comms command module on my wrist, I tapped into the pilot’s communications to listen in.

  “... the hell is that thing shooting?” Voice One demanded.

  “It doesn’t matter!” Voice Two snapped. “Stop letting it hit us. We can figure out the rest later.”

  “I have no maneuvering jets,” Voice One said. “We’re dead in the water!”

  “The hell we are,” Voice Two retorted.

  “Hey!” Voice One shouted. “What are you doing, Lieutenant? This is my bird!”

  “Not dying,” Voice Two said a calm voice. “If you want to make it, I suggest you activate the ram shield.”

  The rear thrusters pushed the ship violently forward. The motion caused a noticeable uptick in gravities as all the Marine passengers were thrown to the side. Since we faced each other across the aisle, those on my side leaned far left while those across from us leaned hard right.

  “Jones,” I said after switching back to our private channel. “What’s a ram shield?”

  “What?” Her voice was full of fear and her next words were shouted into the ship for all to hear. “Brace yourselves! We’re ramming!”

  The opportunity to ask her what she meant didn’t come. The ship jerked to a sudden halt and all hell broke loose. I slammed against my harness hard enough to cause a lot of pain in my neck and back. Anything that wasn't tied shot to the front of the ship at speed. Anyone unlucky enough to be in the path of the debris soon stopped moving. The lights flickered and went out, and left behind screams of pain and fear as well as the sounds of metal tearing and groaning.

  A moment later, red emergency lights flickered to life. The orderly space that was the inside of the drop ship became a chaotic mess of gear and moaning or motionless bodies. While the pain in my neck and back remained, I didn’t seem to be otherwise harmed.

  “Angela?” I asked over comms.

  “I’m here.” She punctuated her statement with a groan. “Do you know what happened?”

  “Not specifically, but I’ll find out. We need to help everyone.”

  “We need to do that, as well as set up a secure perimeter, assuming we’re in the target ship. From the sounds of it, I believe we are.”

  The metallic groaning continued as we talked, and gave me a clue about which sounds she had to be referring to. “I’ll get as many Marines as I can to the airlock so we can secure the ship.”

  I switched to general comms on my wrist device. “Anyone able to get up and help me secure the perimeter?”

  Three Marines sent back an acknowledgement. “Let’s get to the airlock and get to it,” I replied.

  The crash harness holding me to my seat took a little coercing to get the locking mechanism free. Being in the front meant I was close to the airlock, and put me in position to be the first to reach it. I tapped the open button and waited. The airlock’s subroutines ran through a quick check to ensure the airlock was safe to open. A light above the door turned green, and the door slid into a pocket in the wall of the ship.

  As I turned toward the cargo area, two Marines reached me. They nodded as they passed, and went into the airlock without the need for instructions. A moment later the last Marine, who turned out to be Kopf, arrived.

  Kopf was a jokester, there was no doubt in my mind about that, but he could also turn it off when it was time to be serious. His nod and hard gaze let me know he was in serious mode. I was glad to have one of my inner group with me as we took our first step into the dragon ship.

  I followed them into the airlock while checking the seal on my helmet. The HUD display on my visor showed all systems green. A big red button on the inside would close the inner door and begin the air evacuation process. Like most things, it was Marine proof. I slapped it.

  My small team checked our weapons to ensure we were ready to rock and roll. A green light came on above the hatch leading out and it slid into the wall, but stopped halfway.

  “There’s something jammed against the hatch,” a female voice said over our comms.

  “Let me at it.” Kopf squeezed between the two Marines in front of him to get to the hatch. The man went to work, hammering away with the butt of his rifle.

  Aside from his heavy breathing coming through the comms, there were no other sounds. It was a stark reminder of how much this fight would be different from any other I’d experienced. While boot camp had a couple of days of vacuum and zero gravity warfare training, it was all simulation. By simulation, I mean we got the joy of wearing a couple of hundred pounds of gear without the benefit of weightlessness while running around trying to kill each other. Simulated, of course.

  This was different. While there was no sound, and my HUD read no atmosphere, there was gravity. It wasn’t a full Earth-g, but enough for me to feel the pull down. I wouldn’t struggle under the weight of my gear, but I wouldn’t float away into oblivion. I did a mental happy dance. Have to celebrate the small victories, after all.

  “Yes, you do,” Aspen thought to me. “How will this affect your use of my wings?”

  It was a great question. “I don’t know, Aspen. We’ll have to test i
t at some point, but I’m not sure if this is the best time.”

  “I agree. If you can put us in a similar situation at a less dangerous time, that would be preferred.”

  Kopf stopped beating on the door. One of the Marines close to him stepped up and helped push. As they settled their weight against it, they fell out of the dropship. A large mechanical hand clutched the hull where the hatch receded. An equally large head came into view, and looked into the airlock with a series of various-shaped and colored lenses.

  The Marine with me didn’t waste a second. Her, or his, weapon snapped up and fired before the stock was against their shoulder. I fired a moment later. The machine stumbled back as rounds bounced off its face. One bullet cracked one of the large lenses before it bounced off, and caused the first bit of visible damage.

  Considering the amount of lead we were pumping into it, the lack of destruction was disheartening. Seeing the machine sidestep as Kopf and his partner joined helped to boost my morale. A grin spread on my face as I stepped forward.

  “Cease fire,” Kopf said over the comms.

  While I had no idea why he wanted us to stop shooting, I did as asked. The last thing I wanted was to accidentally kill one of my own. It didn’t take long to see why he called for us to stop. The air next to the large head shimmered, then Kopf was there and standing on its shoulder. He pinned the barrel of his rifle against the machine’s skull and let loose.

  The giant leaned to the side going over a little more with each round that impacted. Half a magazine later, the rounds penetrated. A shower of sparks and some involuntary twitching marked the end of the thing. Kopf leaped off its shoulder as it fell lifeless to the ground.

  “Nice one.” I ran up to him. “That invisible thing of yours is righteous.”

  “You should see what she can do.” Kopf pointed to the Marine that had fallen out of the ship with him. “The only reason I made it up there is because she threw me.”

  “What?” The word took a couple seconds to leave my mouth as my eyebrows rose. “I know she’s an aug, but there’s no way she could have thrown you that high, not with all your gear.”