Reclaim: Books 1-3

by J. A. Scorch

  Teve stumbled away from the downed guards, clutching a shock stick in one hand while keeping the keycard active in the other. He felt his mind drifting back to the Zeal base, reminded of its dull lighting only ever offset by the one thing he craved more than anything else inside the lair: the Orb.

  He slapped himself awake and back into reality as a guard came flying at him. Teve snapped into action and blocked the frontal assault, falling backward with the person on top of him. Using his lankiness to squirm his way to the side, Teve delivered an elbow into the guard's helmet and followed it up by shoving the shock stick into the sweet spot Dorsey had shown him. The guard fell flat on his face and remained silent.

  Teve stood and brushed off some grit. He guessed he was getting closer to the exit from the amount of dirt found on the ground. Before he could celebrate, a pack of four guards rounded the corner up ahead, all armed with large shotguns loaded with bean bags on the side. Something kicked Teve into action, making him duck down behind a laundry cart, unsure if his four new friends had seen him or not.

  No bean bag rounds rang out, so he kept as low as possible, gripping the wheeled carriage while squatting down. The first guard walked past without checking the space. A lack of training was beginning to show as the second and third did the same. It was only the last guard that bothered to check the obvious spot for the fleeing inmate. Teve had no option but to engage.

  Before the man had time to fire a single round into Teve's chest, he grabbed the barrel of the rifle and pulled the guard toward the ground, delivering a straight punch to the center of the gas mask, cracking it with ease. The shock stick did the rest as Teve scrambled up the weapon in one hand. He didn't want to hurt the guards, but they were escalating the situation.

  The first corporal to notice the attack fired wild rounds up above Teve's head. Teve dropped down and shot the man in the chest, disabling him in an instant. The other two guards made the same play, probably fearing the worst. Teve tagged each of them in the ribs. He watched as they both slammed down to the ground, stunned by the sudden impact of the non-lethal round.

  Clambering to his feet, Teve grabbed some ammunition from a few of the guards. None of them were dead. The chest hits were against light armor. He felt a sense of relief wash over him with the knowledge they were all alive, so he moved on.

  Teve charged toward an exit sign pointing toward the left, prompting him to creep up to the next corner and see what lay ahead. His attack on the guards would not have gone by unnoticed, so he reloaded his weapon, slapping in fresh rounds acquired from the downed guards.

  The exit stared back at him from around the corner with at least a dozen guards all armed with automatic rifles. Some were toting thick shields capable of deflecting bean bags with ease. "Shit," he muttered to himself. There was no other way out without backtracking and finding a service door he had no knowledge of. There was only one option left: get through the pack of guards waiting for an excuse to end someone's life.

  Teve lowered his weapons and held his hands up in the air as he walked around the corner. The guards responded with shouts as they charged up to his location ready to shoot. He just needed to draw them in close. Then it would all be over.

  Chapter Fifteen

  "The nearest armory is on the other side of the control room," Cannon said. "But here's the thing: the room's only ever half stocked with weapons. More than anything it's a storage locker for outdated or unwanted gear."

  "Better than nothing," Porter said as he moved toward the exit. He managed to bring his sidearm along to the party, always wearing the pistol on his leg out of habit. His CO back on Mars before flight school always preached the importance of having a weapon at all times, day or night. For once Porter was grateful for the old coot's hard ways.

  "Does anyone else have their sidearm on them?" Out of the thirty plus people there, only Briggs, Cannon, Garcia, and Smith were strapped and ready to fight. "Okay. We should head to the armory then. The rest can stay behind in case the action comes this way. Unless you have other orders for us, Commodore?"

  Garcia stepped forward with her sidearm raised. "Sounds like a plan to me. Lead the way, Captain. I'm giving you temporary authority until this situation is resolved."

  Porter nodded his head as a distant explosion echoed down the hall. "Let's go, people. On me."

  He crept along to the end of Deck C and positioned himself on the corner of the exit. Briggs did the same on the opposite side. They gave each other a nod and both jumped out to check the next sector for hostiles. Nothing. Porter signaled the group to keep moving.

  "Cannon, Smith. Form up a few paces behind Briggs and I. Garcia. You take the rear. We can't risk losing our commander."

  "You can and will, Porter. Just treat me like one of your cadets. This old girl can fight, you know."

  He gave her a smile and continued down the hall. The armory was off to the right a few branches past the control room to Deck C. Gunfire rang out in the distance sounding sporadic and unorganized. A stomping of metal on metal clanged in unison. The Zeal soldiers Porter had only read about over the last three years were on board the ship.

  "We've got contacts up ahead. Do you hear that?"

  They all nodded. No one could ignore the sound of a deadly enemy they had never faced in such close quarters. Smith began to shake out of the corner of Porter's eye. "Nicole," he said. "Get Smith in line. We can't afford to have any shaky hands out there."

  "Smith," Cannon said, shoving his bicep. "Get your shit together, Cadet. We are about to face the Zeal. Show them you are a worthy opponent." Smith nodded his head, most likely unconvinced. His shaking stopped long enough for Porter to direct the small team to a wider hallway full of chaos.

  Gunfire erupted up ahead as a few random MAF personnel attempted to take on four tall, metallic aliens. The Zeal soldiers the Earthers had named Stiltz were worthy of their title given the way they towered above the tallest human the MAF had on offer.

  With mechanical precision, the Stiltz utilized a long rifle that fired out superheated iron bolts. The projectiles streaked out and sliced through the human personnel, killing three MAF soldiers in front of Porter. One of the soldiers lost an arm when he got hit by a burst of bolts. Without heavy armor, no one stood a chance against the beasts.

  Porter took his eye of the battle for a moment to speak to Briggs. "We can't engage them with these peashooters. We need to cross that area and book it to the armory."

  "How are we supposed to do that with them in between?"

  Turning back, Porter could see the problem in front of him. The four Stiltz had surrounded the door to the armory. That was when he realized they were deliberately guarding it.

  Ready to give up, he spied another branch to the left that he and a few others could utilize to navigate their way past the aliens. "I'm going to scout ahead. Stay here for a second." Briggs gave him a nod.

  Not wanting to try and sneak around a hyper-aware enemy, Porter stayed low as he moved along a wall, ducking between storage crates to break the eye line of the Stiltz. Not that they had eyes, he had read. The Zeal used a combination of other senses to form their own version of vision. He made it to the next branch and heard more gunfire down the way. Glancing back to the Zeal, he noticed they didn't plan on moving from their location unless someone convinced them.

  Porter glanced down at his weapon. He knew that the survival of the ship depended on them getting access to some weapons capable of taking out the massive beasts. He ducked down lower behind the crate he was using and radioed Briggs using the comm system all officers had to wear whenever they left their quarters.

  "There's no point sneaking past. We've got more of them ahead. We need to get to that armory."

  "Understood. What are your orders?"

  Scanning the area, Porter tried to find the answer to Briggs' question. Short of a suicidal attack, nothing came to mind until he saw it.

  Beside him on the wall sat an industrial sized fire extinguisher, mounted insid
e a casing in the event the ship's gravity failed. He had one crazy idea that made no sense at all. "Briggs. Follow my lead. Make sure everyone is ready to attack as soon as I start shooting."

  "Roger that. Are you sure about this? We could always backtrack to Deck C. Make a stand there."

  "The ship will be overrun by then. We need to do this now."

  "Understood. We're ready when you are."

  "Okay," Porter said to himself. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. "We can do this." He opened his eyes and reached for the fire extinguisher, opening the access panel with minimal noise. The tank weighed more than he expected as he lowered it to the ground. He'd hate to fight a fire with the bulky item.

  After placing the cylinder in position, Porter shook out his reservations to the terrible plan he was about to execute. "Here goes nothing." With the container on its side, he shoved the extinguisher with his foot, putting every ounce of energy he had left in him to propel the tank along the ground toward the Zeal. The fire extinguisher rolled on a direct path to the aliens’ location, making so much noise that all four of the Stiltz couldn't seem to sense anything else in the world. Porter made his move.

  He popped up from his hiding place and fired several rounds into the tank. The first few bullets missed, going slightly wide, until he clipped the tank three times, causing it to explode in a puff of white chemicals, coating the Stiltz in the contents of the pressurized bottle.

  "Now," Porter yelled as he fired at the Zeal. He emptied his magazine into the nearest Stilt as it struggled to understand what was happening. The chemicals seemed to screw up their ability to focus on one target, causing the Zeal to shoot in random directions.

  Briggs and the rest of the team came charging forward, firing their weapons. Porter struck the closest Stilt in the chest over and over, knowing he needed to hit the thing a lot more to bring it down. The large creature fell to the ground and twisted about as did the remainder of them.

  Porter, Briggs, Cannon, Garcia, and Smith all fired upon the Zeal as they twitched about the floor. Briggs grabbed out a hammer from a nearby toolbox and started to wail on the first downed alien. He bashed its life out with several direct hits while Porter continued to fire bullets into the next one's chest.

  Within a few minutes, the Stiltz were no more, succumbing to the impromptu chemical attack led by Porter. Purple ooze flooded the floor, coming from each alien corpse.

  "How did you know that would work?" Garcia asked.

  "I didn't. At best I was hoping to confuse them. I had no idea they would react like that to the chemicals."

  Garcia shook her head at the fallen Zeal. She turned back to Porter. "You may have just found a weakness in them we can exploit."

  Porter grinned back at her and nodded. "Wouldn't that be something."

  "Hell yeah," Briggs said.

  Garcia stepped forward. "Let's keep moving, people. We can discuss what to call our invention a little later. Right now, we need to continue fighting. Let's hit that armory."

  "Yes, ma'am," Porter said.

  The group moved up to the armory and opened the locked door using the combination code Cannon knew. The door unlocked with a hiss. Autolights kicked into action, lighting up a half empty room. In places where heavy weapons should have lived were the outlines of gear the team could have used to save lives. Only two rifles were in the room with plenty of ammunition to spare.

  "These will have to do," Porter said as he distributed them out to Briggs and Cannon. He grabbed some additional magazines for his sidearm along with a few flashbang grenades.

  "Those won't work," Garcia said. "Earthers have had no luck utilizing flashbang grenades in the field. At best, they cause a distraction. The only thing that has worked are EMP grenades which are too dangerous to use on board a warship."

  "Forget the bangs. The rifles will do," Porter said. "We better keep moving. Everyone grab what you can. We're heading on to the next lot of Zeal."

  A few concerned groans escaped the lips of Smith, Briggs, and even Cannon. Porter had no idea what to say. "Come on guys. You can all hear it. The ship is under attack. We can't just sit here and let them kill us."

  "How did this even happen, anyway?" Smith asked.

  "That doesn't matter now. The only thing we need to focus on is getting help to the next group of people before we lose the entire ship. Now hurry up. We don't have all day."

  Porter moved to the open door. He did what he could to project confidence and faith in the plan to go forward. As he reached the doorway, Cannon grabbed his arm.

  "Wait a minute."

  "What is it? We don't have time to—"

  "Just listen. I think I may have a better way to take out these bastards."

  Breathing half a sigh of relief, Porter was more than eager to hear what she had to say.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Teve held his arms steady as the group of guards closed in on his position. A few of them seemed a tad nervous, causing him to wonder exactly why these idiots were ever given access to assault rifles. One wrong flinch and the flightiest member of the guards might accidentally pull the trigger, ending his life.

  "Don't move," the leader yelled. "Hands on your head, now."

  Teve complied, letting the five advance on his location.

  "Alpha One. This is Alpha Two. We have the asset in custody. Returning to you now. Over."

  Sensing an extreme level of confidence from the leader, Teve couldn't help but smile as the group surrounded him.

  "Something making you happy, freak?"

  Teve leaned toward the first guard as he reached for his wrists. "Just can't wait to see the look on your face when you realize it's too late to walk away."

  The guards all shared a laugh as the first man proceeded to angle Teve's hands into position. He got one cuff on and quite possibly lost consciousness a second later when Teve swung around and elbowed him directly in the throat, dropping him in one hit.

  Before the others could react, the fleeing prisoner before them struck the next guard's rifle and flipped it over into his hands.

  "Get him," the leader said as Teve swept the butt of the rifle around to pull the man's feet from under him. He cracked the leader in the ribs with the weapon and kicked the side of his helmet. A second later, he charged at the next guard.

  In the space of five seconds, he proceeded to engage and disable most of the remaining guards in front of the downed leader as he tried to raise his weapon up to shoot. Teve kicked the man's chest, flinging him to the floor a moment before he ducked behind a half-dazed guard and grabbed her by the throat.

  "Nobody fire," Teve shouted as he held out the heavy rifle in one hand. He could blast off a few rounds and hit every one of them in the head without hassle.

  "Drop your rifles, or she gets it."

  The remaining guards didn't budge an inch while the leader writhed around on the floor in pain.

  Teve backed up a little as the remaining guards didn't give him what he wanted, leaving him no choice but to shoot his way through. The woman struggled in his grip as she tried to edge her way out of his control.

  The guards stood around a single security door, blocking the way with their bulky armor and rifles. One of them tightened his aim on Teve's head and went to squeeze the trigger.

  "Lower your weapons," Hoang announced from above.

  Teve glanced up to see the doctor standing there with two armed guards pointing down on Teve's location.

  "Do not shoot this man. He means you no harm. He is merely trying to escape. Nothing more."

  "What game are you playing, Doc?" Teve asked. "These guys have me dead to rights. Let them finish what they started."

  "Why would I do that? Why would I want to waste your potential on these people? We both know you could kill them all dead in a few seconds."

  "That's not the point. I don't want to be here, and you know it. Let me go. Mish and my fire team, too, wherever they are."

  "And what makes you think they want to
leave?"

  Teve stared into the doctor's eyes, trying his hardest to determine if he was telling the truth. So far, every word out of his mouth was either a lie or a distraction designed to confuse him. "What are you saying? They're prisoners here, too. Let us all go."

  The doctor didn't respond. He continued to lean down toward Teve, standing over him with absolute authority and power.

  "I'll tell you what, Sergeant. Why don't we ask them if they want to leave? Let's start with the one you love, the one you'd sacrifice the others for."

  Teve shook his head. "Don't involve them in any of your twisted bullshit."

  "Now, what kind of sadistic maniac do you take me for? I'm simply allowing Mish up here to speak her mind. Come forward, Specialist." Hoang stood tall and turned to the side, off to an area Teve couldn't see. A moment later Mish walked out, gingerly stepping toward the doctor with timid, small steps. She was wearing the same white jumpsuit as every other inmate, but there was something off about her walk.

  "Mish?" Teve asked, slightly releasing his grip on the guard. "What are you doing?"

  "Let her go," she called down from the bridge. "We can talk about this."

  Teve squinted his eyes shut for a moment. "But you wanted to escape. You sent me notes and got Dorsey to bust me out. What are you doing up there?"

  An audible sigh came out of Mish's nose as she closed her eyes and lowered her head. "It's over. They've won. The faster you accept this, the quicker we can both move forward."

  "No, no, no. Mish. Don't do this. They did something to you. You're not making any sense. You're—"

  "It's over," she yelled. Her grip on the railing intensified, causing her knuckles to turn white. "Don't you understand? You never know when to give up, do you? We wouldn't even be here if you could have just let things be."