by L Bowers
“You’ll have to see for yourself,” Kopf replied. “Pruise, come over here.”
“No time,” I said as she ran over. “We need to secure the perimeter and get everyone out.”
Then I got my first look at the inside of this dragon ship. I expected it to look like the last one, but it didn’t. The walls were a purple color and shimmered like the inside of a seashell. I hadn’t seen what part of the dragon we slammed into, but the inside was huge. Aside from our wrecked ship and the downed machine, there was nothing occupying the cavernous room.
“We can handle this,” Kopf said. “You can go inside and help get everyone on their feet.”
“You sure?” I asked with a heavy bit of confusion in my tone. “This is a lot of space to cover with only three people.”
“Yeah, but it’s still a lot of space to cover with four,” Kopf replied. “Plus, all this space will let us see anything coming with enough time to call for help.”
“We could use the help,” Angela said over comms.
“Okay,” I replied. “I know when I’m outgunned. You three, keep your heads on a swivel.” It was a line from an old movie I’d wanted to say since joining the Corps.
Pruise snorted. “Aye, Sergeant.”
The airlock was higher up than I realized when I’d exited it. As I looked up at it, I realized it was no longer a viable option. With the outer hatch gone, the inner would remain shut and for good reason. Dumping the atmosphere in the ship would probably send everyone inside flying out of the hole to slam against a bulkhead in the dragon ship. I was willing to bet good money that the impact would be lethal.
“Need a hand?” Pruise asked.
I looked over my shoulder and saw the woman manifest a pair of large arms and hands over hers. They were shaped like those of a gorilla, only thicker than any gorilla arms I had seen. “Sure?” I replied.
“Trust me, Sergeant,” Pruise said. “You’re in good hands with us. Place a foot in each palm and we’ll have you on top of the ship in a moment.”
“On top?” I stepped closer.
“There’s a smaller airlock on top near the rear. It’ll let you get back in without compromising life support.”
“Good to know.” I mounted her hands.
She threw me like I was a ping-pong ball. I went up above the ship and had to manifest my wings to slow my descent. On the way down, I spotted the hatch she spoke of and changed my trajectory. When I touched down on the hull, I was halfway to the airlock. A minute later, and I was in.
“How do we look in here, Jones?” I asked as the inner hatch opened.
“Not good,” she replied. The heads-up display showed a connection from our private channel take over general comms. “We’re in bad shape, Ray. I don’t think even half the squad is combat ready. Aside from the Marines outside, you, and me, we might be down to seven people.”
“Where’s Standish?” She hadn’t mentioned him, and I hadn't heard him talking over the comms.
“He’s out cold. He took a bump to the head, but he should be all right. There are two Marines in good enough shape to sit by the hatches with their weapons ready to fire in case the ship is breached.”
“Damn,” I growled. “How the hell did we get so battered before we had a chance to enter combat?”
“It’s a risk when assaulting an enemy ship. That doesn’t matter right now, though. We need to figure out a way to get these people back to the ship. I think we have to call this mission a bust.”
“Oh, this mission is definitely a bust.” I chuckled. “But we’re not going anywhere. I don’t think this ship will ever fly again. We’ll have to complete this mission if we want to get these guys to a doc.”
“I was afraid you’d say that.'' Angela looked up from where she crouched next to an unconscious Marine and looked around until she spotted me. I gave her a little wave to help her out. “Have you heard from the bridge crew?”
I stood up a little straighter. “Shit, I forgot all about them.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself,” Angela said. “A lot has happened in a short amount of time.”
“Yeah.” I bumped my hands against my helmet as I spoke. Trying to run my hand though my hair turned out to be harder than I thought it would. Or didn’t think it would, since I acted without thought. “I’ll check on them.”
I called the ship’s crew on the comms while I tried to enter the bridge. No one responded, and the hatch refused to open. “Hey, Pruise,” I called over general comms. She had known more about the ship than I, so I figured she might be able to answer my question.
“Yes, Sergeant?”
“I need to access the dropship’s bridge, but the hatch isn’t opening. You know of another entrance?
“There’s a maintenance hatch under the bridge that will get you inside, but it’s a tight fit.”
“Of course it is. Thanks, Pruise.”
I used the top hatch to exit, then dropped to the deck. It only took a moment to find the maintenance hatch under the conically shaped forward hull. It was recessed, which must have saved it from being sheared off when the dropship created a new orifice in the dragon. It opened for me with no problems, and the airlock cycled once I closed the door behind me.
The maintenance tunnels were small, but I squeezed through and only caught myself on something once. The tunnel ended at a hatch in the ceiling. It had to be the bridge since I hadn't seen another hatch besides where I entered. This one opened, and revealed darkness.
I powered on my suit’s lights, expecting to see a gore-filled scene like those from the movie Kopf had us watch with him before this mission. Thankfully, no severed limbs lay in wait, nor was the bridge painted in a macabre crimson.
The pilot and copilot didn’t move when I entered. I had to touch their suits to establish a connection and get their vitals to show in my HUD.
“Bad news, Angela,” I said over our private channel. “Both the pilot and copilot are out. They survived, but they won’t be helping us any time soon.”
14
Goshawk
Before we set out, I used my arm pad to active all the remaining drones. One by one, they left the ship through a hatch that opened at the top near the rear engine compartment. Of the total complement of twenty, only twelve were in working condition.
Once the last drone was out, I tapped a sequence of commands on my pad and sent it to them. They shot toward the exit of the large chamber, and disappeared from view.
“Scouting party?” Pruise asked.
“Yeah,” I replied while still looking at the screen and watching a map form in real time. “They should… Hey!”
“What is it?” Kopf stepped close enough to look.
“We lost comms with the drone,” I replied.
“Will we have to carry on with no map, then?” Kopf asked.
“We shouldn’t have to. I made sure they were all programmed to carry on their mission regardless of communications to the ship or me. They’ll return here as soon as they’ve collected all the data in their mission parameters. We should have a complete map, even if only one drone returns.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Pruise said. “What do you want us to do in the meantime?”
I looked again before answering. “As far as I can tell, there’s only one way in or out.” I turned to Kopf, since he was the Marine I knew and trusted out of the small fighting force I had. “Set up a listening post by that hatch so we know when and if anything comes our way.”
“You got it.” Kopf nodded, took one step, then stopped and looked at me with a big grin on his face. “Technically, there are now two ways in and out.”
“Huh?” I replied, as eloquent as a rogue scholar. “And how is that?”
He pointed to the ship. “Our little birdie there made a new entrance when we came in.”
“I’m surprised at you, Kopf,” I said. “That has to be the least funny joke you’ve ever made.”
His shoulder drooped. “Yeah, the crash has me off m
y game.” He flashed another smile at me. “Give me a few, and I’ll be back up to a high-class jokester in no time.”
“I’ll hold you to it.” I smiled.
Activating the drones did two things for me. First, it pointed out how inexperienced I was. The first thing I should have done was communicate with my CO and report our situation. Something I would rectify. The second thing it did was remind me that there were resources available to me that would only come into play if I reached out and asked.
“Dragon Slayer Actual, this is Dragon Slayer One. Do you copy?” I waited for a couple of minutes, then sent my message again. After the third try with no response, I gave up on audio and sent it as a short text message instead. No response came.
A clunking noise behind me drew my attention. I turned in time to see a Marine pull one of the pilots through the lower hatch. Since there was only one Marine left in the ship capable of doing so, I waved and ensured I was on our private channel before I spoke. “Hi, Angela. How’s it going on your end?”
“As well as can be expected.” She grunted as I watched her give one last yank down before the Navy man came free and fell out of the dropship. Angela caught him and kept him from hitting the deck. “I thought you would be gone by now.”
“Sent drones to do some scouting and map the ship. I tried contacting DS Actual, but no response. That, coupled with the loss of contact with the drones, makes me think something is blocking our communications.”
“That seems like a likely assumption. Maybe you should take one of those drones with you to send back if you need me? Yeah?”
“That’s a good idea. Will do.”
“Hey, Sergeant,” Kopf’s voice came over the comms. “I think I see a drone returning.”
“On my way,” I replied, then used my pad to switch back to my private channel with Angela. “Gotta go. A drone is returning.”
“Okay. I’ll see you soon. Stay safe, Ray.”
I moved away at a quick jog, and was next to Kopf in a few seconds. I placed a hand on his shoulder so he would know I was there, then leaned past him to see what was down the corridor. Sure enough, a single drone flew toward us. It didn’t look right, however.
“Should it be flying like that?” Pruise asked.
“No.” I shook my head, but didn’t take my eyes off the thing. Then felt stupid for shaking my head like she could see the movement in my helmet. “It looks like it has some damage.”
It took a ping sound in my helmet to tear my eyes away from the wobbling drone. An incoming message icon flashed on the screen. I tapped it, hoping to see a message from DS Actual. Instead, it was a prompt to download the map from the drone. I tapped “Yes” and a moment later, what I estimated to be fifty percent of the dragon ship appeared on my screen.
“Shouldn’t we have more than half?” Kopf asked while looking down at his wrist pad.
“It should,” I replied. A few taps allowed me to see the drone’s logs. “It was damaged, so it activated a failsafe protocol and came back to home base.”
“No sign of any other drones,” Pruise said. “Are we going to keep waiting?” She turned her body so she could look at me through the limited field of vision provided by her helmet.
“No,” I replied. “We’ll use what we have and get going. I don’t think waiting will do us any favors.” I tapped my faceplate as an idea struck me. “I’ll be back. I’m going to get a couple of things before we leave. Hold this spot until I return.”
I beat feet back to the dropship. Getting back to the top on my own would be difficult, so I sent the drone instead by using the remote-control feature on my pad. It rose to the still-open drone bay, latched onto one of the dead drones with its cargo pincers, then returned while carrying its sibling.
Swapping parts from the dead drone to make the semi-operational drone whole was simple. As always, the Corps went out of its way to make everything Marine-proof and this was no exception. The drones were made from a collection of modular parts attached to a simple frame.
With the drone back up to ninety percent—there was a dent on one of the engine housings that caused some issues—I sent it back in. Six more trips let me make three drones that would fit my purpose. They wouldn’t fly, but they didn’t have to.
With my new toys in hand, and one drone following, I ran back to the door. I set one on the deck and activated it so it would perform its new purpose. A quick check on my pad informed me that it was working.
“Let’s roll,” I said. “Since I haven’t worked with all of you, I think it’s best if you guys decide who should be point.”
“I’ll take point,” the stranger said.
“Copy.” I checked my pad to see who he was. Once he was identified by my friend or foe system, I created a comm channel for us and added him as well as Pruise and Kopf.
“Let’s move out,” I said into our new channel.
I took the third man spot so I could concentrate on my pad more than my surroundings. It wasn't ideal, but I needed the ability to track our progress. When the comm signal to Angela dropped to near zero, I set one of the flightless drones on the ground and activated it. A quick check on my pad showed the signal was boosted.
After another hundred yards down a long hallway with seemingly no end, I heard a beep. A message flashed on my HUD, indicating there was a connection to a drone. According to the map, which updated with information I already had, it was right ahead.
“There’s a drone up ahead,” I whispered although no sound escaped my helmet. “It looks stationary, but it hadn’t gathered any data we didn’t already have.”
“What do you want us to do?” Kopf asked.
“Keep moving, but be cautious. There’s no telling why it isn’t moving.”
My fingers tightened around my rifle’s grip while keeping my trigger finger straight. Something about the entire situation didn’t sit right with me. Why would a dragon be so hellbent on taking us out while we flew in, but hardly have any defense once we breached its skin? Where were the SEALs that had to be here?
Kopf threw his fist up, and we all stopped. “I got something moving up ahead. It’s too big to be a drone, but too small to be a person.”
“Copy,” I said. “Let’s keep going and be ready to bring the hurt.”
Kopf did just that, taking his first step and raising his rifle to his shoulder. “It’s a machine, and it looks like it’s eating the drone.”
“What?” I rushed to the front without waiting for an answer. Sure enough, the machine, which was similar to a sentry dog, but had a mouth where those didn’t, was chewing on the drone. “That’s just messed up.”
“Let’s kill it,” Pruise said. She stepped up next to me, pointing her rifle at the machine.
“Go for it,” I replied.
She didn’t have to be told twice. Two rounds punched neat holes in the dog sentry’s head. One spark shot out of one hole and it fell to the deck. We approached moving as one with our rifles pointed down at the thing. Kopf gave it a kick, and no one moved for a long while. Convinced it was dead, I lowered my weapon and knelt next to the drone.
“Its flight engines are gone,” I said. “Looks like the machine was working on getting to its power core next.”
“What does that mean?” Pruise asked.
“Doesn’t mean shit,” Kopf said. “Whether they’re eating other machines, or a Cobb salad with a spicy vinaigrette, they all have to die.”
“I hate to have to agree with Kopf,” I said. “But I think he’s right. We just need to keep going and kill anything that gets in our way.”
Pruise and the other Marine chuckled. Kopf turned so I could see him giving me the stink eye. “Not funny,” Kopf said.
“Yeah, you’re right,” I replied. “I think the stress is getting to me. “I’ll think of something downright despicable later. For now, let’s keep going.” As I stood, I tapped at my pad changing the drone’s mission adding it to the network to act as a comms relay.
“Hey Angela
,” I said after as we continued.
“Everything okay?”
“As good as it can be. I’m just checking in. We ran into a sentry dog, but this one was different.” I told her about our encounter and listened as she imparted her wisdom.
“I think it’s a fair bet that any machine you encounter going forward is going to be different than it was on the planet. Keep your eyes open and be ready for anything.”
“That’s a good call,” I replied. “I’ll make sure we’re not surprised too badly.”
“Hey, Sergeant?” Kopf said while unknowingly interrupting my conversation with Angela.
I swapped channels. “What’s up?”
“There’s something weird going on with the hallway. You should come up here and see this.”
“Why would it be any different from what I’m seeing now?” I asked as I stepped around Pruise to get to him. “You’re just a couple feet… What the hell?”
The hallway began to shimmer as I stepped closer to Kopf. The shimmer grew to take up the whole space, almost like a wall. Without taking a pause to think, I ordered the drone still trailing me to continue forward. It slammed to a stop once it hit the shimmer. A ripple spread from the point of impact, and gave us a momentary glimpse at a wall behind the shimmer.
“It’s an illusion,” I said. “The hallway dead-ends.” I looked down at my map, which continued past the illusion. “Map is compromised. I think we have to go back.”
No one responded as we turned and headed back the way we came. While we walked, I looked to each side, hoping to see a passage we might have missed. Going all the way back wasn’t an idea I was too fond of.
When we reached the drone the dog sentry had treated like a Scooby snack, I scooped it up and used my suit’s magnetic plating to stick it to my side with the others. When we reached the first drone I set down, I picked that one up, too. No point in leaving a drone sitting in a hallway that went nowhere. My hope of this being an easy mission fell when we arrived back at the entrance to the large chamber that our dropship crashed into.