by J. A. Scorch
Teve heard a collective scoff throughout the Humvee. Mish took the lead.
"The MAF might do some of the dying around here, but last time I checked, most of our population has been slaughtered."
He raised up his weapon and turned away from Mish to spy on the box once more. "Take us to sector Two-One-Three, Mish. And Moreno. Tell Command we've got a package to retrieve."
"Fine," she said, accelerating. "We could have ignored the damn thing, you know. It wasn't even hailing our signal."
"Put a lid on it, Specialist. We're getting that crate. It could hold something important."
She fell back in her seat with a huff. "Whatever, Sergeant." She turned the Humvee around on the pockmarked road and went back the way they came heading for the marked sector.
The drive took them through a slew of destroyed neighborhoods via Glendale. Twisted metal skeletons were all that remained of the once thriving area on the edge of Los Angeles. Every street from here on out was covered in a mess of debris, slowing the truck down to a crawl. It's airless, reinforced tires were built for the kind of punishment the environment dished out on a daily basis.
"Charge is at twenty-five percent," Mish said. "The Humvee didn't take in much juice during our walk into the city. I think the battery is on its last legs."
"Keep moving. That's more than enough power to reach the package and head home. We'll make it back with at least fifteen percent to spare."
She said nothing and kept driving. The Humvee bumped and rocked over the debris with the aid of its modified suspension managing to contour to the road's new form.
After twenty minutes of slow crawling, the sun was almost down. They arrived at the package as the last slice of light disappeared. The night had begun.
The box landed in a small clearing in what used to be an intersection. Mish pulled up their ride beside the half-damaged crate. Teve jumped out of the truck along with Adams while Moreno stayed on the mounted gun.
Teve enabled the embedded light on his rifle. "Keep your eyes open, people. I want a quick snatch and grab. Get us home before all the chow's gone."
With their flashlights activated, Mish and Adams moved around to the other side of the package. Teve put his worries aside about how green the rookie was. The city would make short work of his inexperience. By the end of the week, he would have seen enough to call himself a soldier.
"Sergeant," Mish said. "We've got a problem."
"What is it now?"
"You better take a look at this."
Teve moved around to the far side of the package and saw what she was talking about. Along the complete length of the container was a dozen or so holes a few feet wide. Inside, half the contents had spilled out across the city. Zeal fire had melted the remaining items. The entire unit was useless.
"Just great. Well, I didn't spot the damage." Teve clawed at his head for a moment and rattled his helmet.
"Um, Sarge," Moreno said. "We need to get out of here, now."
Snapping his focus to the private, Teve took a second before he charged back toward the truck. "What is it?"
Moreno stared down the sights of the truck's mounted coilgun. "We've got eight Stiltz headed our way from the red zone. Should I engage?"
Teve contemplated running for a half second, but the private had the perfect shot lined up.
"Engage."
With a quick nod, Moreno squinted his eye down the line. He fired off a volley of armor-piercing rounds at a rate of fire that outperformed their standard issue rifles.
"Mish. Use the package as cover and wait for them to come to you. Adams. You're with me."
The rookie perked up as he moved over to Teve. He'd only been fighting for the day, placed in Teve's command by a pissed-off general named Miller.
"What are we doing, Sarge?" Adams asked.
Teve scrunched up his brow. "We're taking out some Zeal. What's it look like? Now, I need you to stay on my ass. We're heading for that half-destroyed building there." He pointed ahead to a fire damaged, brick construction. The roof had been caved in, but the foundation was still intact.
Adams gave him a nod and inspected his rifle. "Okay, I'm ready, Sergeant."
The rookie followed behind Teve as he charged across the broken road, zigzagging around a few craters.
The two arrived at the structure. A charred smell hit Teve's nose hard. The place had been cooked alive. He faced Adams and saw a slight jitter in the man's hand.
"Don't fire until I shoot. Got that, Private?"
Over the sound of the coilgun blasting off another volley, Adams gave his understanding and moved over the remains of a window. He sighted his weapon down the line at the approaching Stiltz.
Teve did the same and studied the charging group. Moreno had managed to thin their numbers down to seven. Pushing them back wouldn't be an issue. They just needed to secure a safe exit for the slow ride out of the area. He couldn't risk losing the Humvee.
"Sergeant," Mish said over the comm.
"What have you got?"
"Drones inbound. Too many to count."
"Shit," he said, shaking his head. "Mish. Stay down. We'll draw them in."
"Copy that."
He couldn't see her behind the box, but she would be okay. He scrutinized the approaching drones Mish spotted. The spherical objects were coated in the same armor of the Zeal foot soldiers. Their primary objective was to cause chaos from above and monitor for human activity. They didn't possess the same weaponry of the Stiltz. Instead, they used an electro shocker that extended out from their armored core for a very different purpose: to capture the enemy alive.
If a drone got close enough to a soldier, it could zap them unconscious in a few seconds. The soldier would be out cold for hours and ready for collection.
The coilgun's blast brought Teve's thoughts back to the task at hand. "Adams. Move to the far corner and concentrate your fire on the drones. I'll handle them from here."
The private nodded and fell back to the edge. Teve turned to the line of incoming targets and said, "All right. Let's kill some of these assholes."
He sighted his weapon at the lead drone and squeezed off a quick burst, splashing a few rounds into its armor. The few bullets only slowed it up for a half second before a coilgun streak put it down. Teve thanked the stars for the weapon. The task at hand could have been far more dangerous if they didn't have the firepower at their disposal.
To his left, Adams opened fire on the approaching drones. Mish did the same from the side of the Humvee. Teve could see her prioritizing the closest ones while Adams shot at random targets. He would learn with time how to best deal with each situation the fire team came across.
Adams continued to fire. His shots were still too scattered and low to make a difference. Teve shouted out at him from a distance. "Higher. You're shooting beneath their—"
A humming sound above cut Teve off as a dozen or so drones flew over the back of the building and down through the non-existent roof.
"Hit the deck," Teve yelled as he slammed down to the grimy floor. Adams didn't hear the humming or the command and continued to fire. Two of the parasitic bots charged up to him at the same time and let off a dazzling line of electricity into his chest. The dark building glowed blue for a moment as Adams fell in a heap. The light on his rifle burned out.
Teve fired at the two drones, hitting the first one dead center. It fell back and tried to compensate for its sudden loss of control until it slammed into the ground with a thud. The second did the same a moment later.
Moreno opened fire on the next lot of drones as they continued to fill the space.
Teve went to grab Adams, but more of the flying bots came in and surrounded his body. "Dammit," he yelled, knowing he had no choice but to escape. He fled out of the building shouting, "We have to go, now. Mish. Get in the driver's seat and start her up. We're out of here."
"What about Adams?" Moreno asked.
Teve turned to see a new swarm of drones fly in and cover
the fallen man. They claimed their target and would die protecting it.
He faced Moreno as he got to the Humvee. "He's gone. We need to leave."
"But there's only a handful of Stiltz left. We can take them all out."
"Over there," Teve said as he pointed in the direction of the Zeal soldiers. A new group of at least thirty had joined the commotion. They would be overrunning the intersection in a few minutes.
Moreno understood with broad eyes and realigned the coilgun. He continued to shoot out at the drones, hitting the pack with ease at the close range.
Mish had the Humvee going as Teve climbed into the back seat to cover her. She punched the accelerator and bounced over some rubble three times faster than she would usually drive.
The undercarriage of their ride groaned and smashed against the debris of the city as the suspension did what it could to keep them stable. Moreno was still shooting.
"Cease fire," Teve shouted. "You're not going to hit anything."
The two soldiers inside rocked from side to side. Moreno's legs spread wider and wider on the gunner's platform to compensate for the additional movement.
"Just keep your eye on the line. We'll be out of here soon."
"How do you know they won't follow us?" Moreno asked.
Teve sighed under his breath. "Because they got what they came for. Adams will be taken to the Zeal base for God knows what."
The reduced fire team remained silent for the rest of the journey until they got back to the highway. With a heavy heart, Teve knew he had to report his findings to Command.
Mish stared at him in the mirror. She didn't have to say a word for him to know how much he screwed up.
Chapter Four
"I'm losing power. I think that hit did more damage than I realized," Porter said over the comm. Briggs' voice came in half crackled as another system shut itself down to conserve energy.
"Dammit," he yelled. "Caesar. Can you hear me? It's time for you to get the hell out of here."
"Not yet," Briggs said. "Disengage your engines. I've got an idea."
Porter didn't have to do much to comply. The twin systems were coming close to shutting down of their own accord. "What insane plan have you got now? I gave you an order to leave. Don't make me write you up for insubordination, Lieutenant."
Briggs chuckled over the comm. "You're gonna have to do better than that. Now shut up and let me work."
Porter released his hands from the controls and waited as his wingman moved in front of his dying ship and slowly let out a small mechanical claw. The powerful magnet they used to release the packages into the atmosphere snapped to the nose of Porter's fighter. Briggs took control and started to fly him in all directions to test the line. He had the perfect tether.
"You've got to be kidding me. You're crazy. You know that, right?"
"I like to think of myself as an innovator."
"Innovator, huh? Tell me then, how do you plan on landing this new twin-seater of ours?"
A moment of silence opened between them. "Hadn't thought that far ahead, but we'll figure something out."
"Spoken like a true pilot of the MAF."
"Damn straight," Briggs said as he steered them away from the retreating fighters. They would need to take the long way around to avoid the returning Tritons. "Um, slight problem."
"What is it? Up until now, this mission was going perfectly." Briggs didn't laugh, sending a sinking feeling to Porter's gut.
"I'm losing power. Could be because of the extra fighter strapped behind me."
"You think? I told you to leave me. Now cut the line before we both end up dead."
"No, I can do this. We'll just need to go straight up the middle of these pricks."
Porter stared past Briggs' ship at the concentrated group of at least three hundred Zeal fighters. The MAF had done an outstanding job to slay as many as they had, but there would no doubt be significant losses as a result. He only hoped enough packages made it through the chaos.
"You're not going to listen to me, are you?"
"No, sir."
"I guess I'll just hold on tight and wait for death, then. Please continue."
"Not today, my friend. Today we survive." Briggs punched forward and dipped the pair down to come at the scattered Zeal pack from an angle. The Tritons were forming small swarms in random directions, using the unlimited possibilities of space. This would be the only thing giving Porter and Briggs a chance at making it back to the Andromeda.
"At least hail Command before we smash into the ship. Request an emergency deck. Tell them you're coming in hot."
"Hot as hell," Briggs said. "But good idea."
Porter listened as his wingman requested the emergency deck. He left out the minor detail about the second fighter attached to his ship.
"Forget to mention me?"
"It never came up in conversation. Plus, I'm pretty sure Command would open fire on us as soon as we were in range."
Porter nodded, understanding the logic behind the move. The Andromeda wouldn't risk scuffing a deck to save a couple of pilots despite how badly they were needed for the cause.
"What's your range?" Porter asked, not having any readouts of his own to gauge.
"One hundred klicks out. The heavy weapons are keeping the Zeal back. Time to push through this group up ahead."
Porter let out a long breath and sat back. His oxygen levels were sufficient for another five plus hours. All he could do was watch Briggs in action.
His wingman pushed his fighter beyond its limits as he ducked and weaved through the Zeal. The aliens opened fire on the two ships in confusion, narrowly missing a few times. The occasional hit got soaked up by the armored skin of the ship, grazing and chipping away at the layers keeping them alive.
Once Briggs cleared the first swarm of Tritons, he lined up his nose with the deck he had been granted to land on.
Landing was one way of describing their approach. Crashing was the word that sprung to Porter's mind first.
"How are you going to maintain control? There's no way for me to keep her level. I'll end up on top of your tail. We'll be nothing but a fireball by the time we come to a stop."
"Already thought of a solution. Gonna send you into a gentle slide, seeing as your skids are stuck."
"Slide? Are you nuts?"
"Just kidding. I got a better idea. Check this out, old man."
"Old man?" Porter muttered to himself. "We're the same age." He watched again as Briggs lined up their fighters with perfection. He released the magnet claw and dropped down and away from Porter's sight.
"Um, don't want to complain, but what the hell are you doing?"
Porter gazed around his cracked canopy trying to find Briggs. He got his answer when he felt a sudden thud at the rear of the ship. "You can't be serious?"
"Afraid so. We're coming in hot."
Briggs had secured the line to the back of Porter's X90. He was going to slow him down with reverse thrusters and somehow land both of them on the deck.
"If you pull this off, I owe you the biggest goddamn beer they serve back home."
"Don't start pouring yet," Briggs said. "Still gotta set us down without dying."
Briggs fired off his reverse thrusters with a full burn. Porter knew this because the back of his ship was copping the blast of concentrated power. What little would remain of Porter's Stalker would be burnt to a crisp. The MAF would have his ass after this. They almost preferred pilots to die instead of coming back alive with damaged ships.
The deck came up harder and faster than Porter had ever experienced. Briggs had to be firing every single reverse thruster he had available, but it was not enough to slow them both down.
"Hold on," Briggs shouted.
The fighter kissed the metallic floor with a crunch as the belly of Porter's bird ground over the smooth runway. Bright beacons flashed along the way as mechanics and emergency crews scattered to clear a safe path for the two crashing fighters.
Porter th
ought everything was going to be okay until he saw the entire deck flip upside down. The world as he recognized it rolled into a blur and crashed hard into the side of his head.
A shadow overcame Porter's vision as he faded into the darkness of space.
Chapter Five
The Humvee rolled up to a clearing a few miles off-road to the entrance of the secret UEF base tucked away in the Hidden Springs canyon range. Night had set in, forcing Mish to drive in the dark with nothing but a pair of night vision goggles to guide her. Protocol dictated no drivers were to use their headlights above ground at any time, day or night, to reduce visibility to the Zeal.
A standby team of two guards opened a hidden door enough to allow the Humvee through, welcoming them down into an underground tunnel. The soldiers closed the entry in a rush behind them.
The base, known as Phoenix, was nothing short of a miracle. Originally built as a storage bunker for the government, the FOB came into service a few years ago when the UEF discovered the Zeal armies decided to stick a central point of their occupied cities. With every major military base in the world wiped out, underground operation had become the cornerstone of survival for the UEF. The facility had never been completed, but the skeleton of the building allowed the soldiers enough room to operate.
Mish pulled off her goggles once they were inside and flicked the headlamps on. She let out a heavy breath, possibly pleased to be home or happy to take her headgear off.
The comm crackled into Teve's ear. "Sierra Two-Two-Niner. This is Phoenix Actual. Report to docking bay Zero-Three."
"Copy that," Teve said. "Mish. They want us in Zero-Three."
She didn't respond at first, eventually giving him a slight grunt in return.
Teve sighed. There was nothing he could say or do. Adams died because of his decision. He could blame Command, but ultimately, he made the call to go for the package.
Mish would forgive him after a day or so. The next line of problems would force her to move on. The flow of war didn't allow enough time for anyone to hold a grudge.
For the last few years, the Zeal chose to stay within each city they conquered, never straying beyond a certain point to attack the humans they pushed out in the initial capture of Earth. It was a strategical error everyone both questioned and relied upon to keep moving forward.