by J. A. Scorch
Lowering his head, Teve closed his eyes and began to mutter to himself. "This is not real. This is the doctor screwing with me."
"No, this is real," Mish said.
"How did you hear that?"
Mish let go of the railing and stepped back. A few seconds later, Teve watched as she jumped over the edge of the bridge and landed down gracefully on the floor in front of him.
"You just—"
"What? Surprised?" she asked as she moved toward him. She lowered her neck and stared at him like he was her prey.
"How did you do that?"
"The same way you can beat up a dozen armored people at once, Sergeant." She rolled up her sleeves and revealed the same purple Zeal tech that he had once seen infect a man he found in the sewers below Los Angeles.
"I too was chosen for something greater than my mere existence. I too am breaking free from the shackles of my inferiority."
"You were not inferior," Teve whispered as his grip waned. "You were perfect. You are perfect. This isn't the real you talking. You have to fight it. You have to—"
Teve's words stopped flowing from his mouth once the blow of multiple shock sticks hit him in the back of the neck at once. He felt his tongue jam up, refusing to function. He fell to the floor, releasing his grip on the half unconscious guard.
He tried to crawl away on his belly from his sneaky attackers. Mish had distracted him so much he didn't detect them coming.
"Stop fighting this and accept who you really are," Mish said.
"No. Never. I'm a soldier for the UEF. Not some government freak."
Mish kicked him hard in the ribs, sending him rolling over to his back. All the life rushed out of his lungs as he struggled to breathe.
She dropped down to his chest, squatting. "Join me, Teve. We can finally be together."
He stared up into the face he knew so well. For the last three years, he had fought beside her. They saw the best and worst of the war up close. Only she knew what it was like to survive while the world bled to death around you.
"Just kill me now," he muttered. A fist flew at his face, blanking out the light. Teve faded away, wishing he was dead.
Chapter Seventeen
"That's a crazy idea," Porter said, staring at Cannon. "It might work, though. Anyone else got a better suggestion?" He stared around at Briggs, Garcia, and Smith. Blank faces met his eyes. "Didn't think so." He turned back to Nicole. "Let's do it."
"Okay," Cannon said, sounding only half confident. "We first need to figure out a way to lure them out. How about we work on that while Smith and Commodore Garcia head back to Deck C and set up the trap."
"Sounds good to me. Commodore?" Porter asked.
"After you, Smith." Garcia gripped the cadet's shoulder. The two took off back to Deck C.
Porter faced Cannon and Briggs as they each maintained a tight grip on their rifles. "So how do we do this? It seems to me these things have strict instructions. The kind you don't break, no matter what."
"Yeah, I was sensing a robotic devotion coming from them, too," Briggs said. "Might be a hard thing to beat."
Cannon jumped in, defending her plan. "So we give them a reason to violate protocol. Give them a greater target."
"We can do this," Porter said with a nod. "I guess we have to present ourselves as a bigger prize than whatever it is they are protecting in the next sector. So what's in the next area they would be willing to die for?"
Cannon's eyes darted back and forth in thought. "It's a storage section. The only thing of importance is ... "
"What?"
"Oh, crap. The backup life support system is connected to that zone. The Stiltz might be guarding the mechanics' entrance."
"Makes sense. If they want to cripple the ship, that's a great start. Hopefully they haven't done that yet. Let's go."
The three charged off toward the next section of the Andromeda, running as one. Cannon and Briggs led the way with their rifles, while Porter watched their six.
They arrived a few moments later to see a room littered with at least a dozen dead MAF personnel. A group of three Zeal soldiers stood guard at a small entrance to the backup life support system, exactly as Cannon predicted. The fourth Stilt had been killed in the fight.
"These things don't screw around," Briggs said as he ducked down behind a storage crate.
Porter's brows twisted. "No kidding. They only lost one soldier to our dozen. We got lucky before."
"Lucky? No, man. That's how we survive. These aliens picked the wrong ship to mess with. Follow my lead." Briggs swapped guns with Porter and moved closer to the three. Porter shrugged at Cannon. The two followed closely behind, weapons raised.
"Porter, Cannon," Briggs whispered. "Stay here. I'm going to draw them out. You two hit them from the side and give them something to chase."
"Wilco," Porter said. "Don't get yourself killed, Lieutenant."
"Never have. Never will." Briggs continued forward, snaking his way across the room from cover to cover. The Zeal started to stir a little, sensing his movements in the distance. Despite his presence, the three didn't feel the need to engage yet.
Porter aimed his weapon at the nearest Stilt, lining up a clear shot on the side of its head. At least he thought it was the head. Cannon squatted by his side, aiming her rifle using its scope.
"Having fun?" he asked.
"Hell of a party. Just got some rude gatecrashers to deal with."
"Do you think the assault will be called off tomorrow?"
She turned to face him, taking her eye off the line for a moment. "If we survive this attack, we might not have a choice but to hit back as hard as we can." She shifted back to aiming at the closest Zeal.
"You're probably right. Beats me how these bastards pulled this off. It was like no one saw them coming. Like they just used their own version of stealth on us."
"Maybe losing two massive ships promoted some desperate action."
"I suppose so," Porter said as he refocused on his wingman.
Briggs jostled into position and signaled his readiness. He fired off a few rounds from his pistol as he knelt behind cover. His shots scattered wide, bouncing off the wall behind the Zeal. They returned fire.
"Now," Porter said. He and Cannon both blasted out at the Zeal, hitting the first in the side. Porter's bullets got the attention of the tall beast, turning it sideways to shoot in their direction. Cannon's shots pushed the Stilt back a little, enough to cause it to rethink its strategy.
Cannon and Porter continued taking pot shots while Briggs eased up his attack.
"Move back," Porter said as they inched backward the way they came toward Deck C. The Zeal began to follow. "Keep up the pressure." Porter reached the next piece of cover through a set of broad doors. "They want us dead."
Cannon fired her rifle and edged around a corner. Porter did the same on the opposite side. Their rifles were enough of a distraction to pull the Zeal away from their target. Briggs stopped shooting altogether. Apparently, his pistol didn't quite register as a priority to be dealt with now that two rifles were hitting the aliens.
"Fall back to Deck C," Porter shouted. "Come find us, assholes." He reloaded as Cannon fired in their direction again. Without the aid of the fire extinguisher's chemicals, the Zeal were tough targets. Every shot simply bounced off the metallic beasts, only pissing them off.
"Keep going," Porter yelled. "Almost there." He tapped his comm to change channels. "Commodore. We've got incoming after us. How are we on your end?"
"Good to go, Captain. Draw them in, and we'll take care of it. Out."
Porter fired off another full magazine at the Zeal, drawing their fire as Cannon pulled back to the blast door to Deck C. They slapped open the sealed entry and moved inside, still taking shots.
Garcia shouted. "Move it. They're on your asses."
Porter and Cannon both scattered as they reached the deck. The three Stiltz came barreling after them. The thick, large door slid shut with a hiss behind the ali
ens. Less than a second later, the determined Stiltz faced a wall of hot metal in the form of gunfire from the main cannon of a Stalker. The high-explosive rounds were several inches thicker than the small bullets found in the average MAF rifle and turned the Zeal soldiers into a pile of scattered metal and purple mush in half a second. The rounds that passed through the Stiltz all got absorbed by the blast door of Deck C.
Finding himself on the floor, Porter stood and dusted himself off. Cannon found her way over to him and wrapped her arms around his body.
"We did it."
"Yeah, your crazy idea worked."
She smiled at him as Briggs called them over the comm. "Did it work?"
"Yeah. We got them. Let's reload and move on to the next one. We need to wipe these things from our ship."
"Hell yeah. Meet me at the armory. Out."
Garcia stepped toward Porter and Cannon. "Smart plan, Cannon. Glad you're on our side. What now?"
Glancing at the Stalker and then back at the door, Porter thought of the next step. "We need to get that fighter through the blast doors."
"I got a better idea," Garcia said. She slapped him on the shoulder. "Check this out."
Chapter Eighteen
When Teve woke up, he found himself in a part of the Black Forest facility he didn't recognize. There was no camera, no window, and no acrylic door. Only an empty room without so much as a mattress, a toilet, or even a sink.
Hoang had caged him in a smaller, more depressing box that held no lighting except for a red torch that hung from a tall ceiling.
He stood from the metal flooring that reeked of dust and neglect, sensing a twinge in his neck where the prods had stung him.
"Assholes," he mumbled as he stretched out. Mish stabbed into his mind with her words, her reluctance to fight back against Hoang still the worst thought.
"Now, Sergeant, is that any way to talk?"
Hoang's voice boomed down from above. Teve swooped his head around, trying to find the source of the noise.
"Show yourself, Doctor. I'm here and ready. Why don't you come in here so we can speak, face to face?"
"And waste this greater opportunity we have. No, I think I'll keep my distance and see how this unfolds."
Teve spun around in circles, feeling his anger swell within. "What is this, huh? What game are we playing now?"
"No games. Just a test."
A moment of silence filled the darkened cage. "Test?"
"Yes, a test. Well, more of a field test if you want to be specific."
The word "field" stuck Teve's brain leaving him with one crazy thought. "You wouldn't. Not yet."
"Well, now. It appears you have worked out what I mean."
A double door previously invisible to Teve's eyes opened in front of him. He realized the box was a steel container as the metal exit crept open, ripping out across the outer edge of the broken city of Los Angeles. Hoang had put him out in Zeal occupied territory.
"You son of a bitch. You've killed me."
"Have I, Sergeant? Don't discount yourself yet. And give me some credit. What would be the sense of sending you out to the center of an alien army without any weapons? There's some gear out the front of the container including a comm. Put it on. Failure to do so will result in your death."
Teve scoffed and scratched at his short hair. "And how are you going to kill me out here?"
"Simple. There's a chip installed in your neck. If you cross me, disobey me, or escape the city, I will have no choice but to release the tiny vial of poison into your system the chip contains."
Teve pressed the back of his neck and ran his hands over an incision. A small row of stitches bumped at his fingertips. He had no way of knowing if Hoang was telling the truth.
"You sick piece of—"
"Don't waste any more time questioning me. You've got a simple objective to achieve: get to the marker on the e-slate provided and destroy the target. You have until sundown."
The slight bit of static that accompanied Hoang's voice cut off.
"Hoang?" Teve yelled before realizing the dangers of making too much noise. The afternoon sun hit him in the face as the giant, orange orb hung above the horizon. He didn't have time to waste. By sundown, he would be dead.
Outside the container, Teve found weapons and gear sitting in the open for the taking. It was at that moment that he realized he was wearing fatigues and battle armor instead of a white jumpsuit. He wasted no more time and scooped up the X762A1 rifle and checked the attached magazine: fully loaded with high-explosive incendiary rounds. The weapon came with a sidearm, a stocked ammo belt, short-term supplies, and a small in-ear comm device sitting atop an e-slate. A marker blinked away on its active screen, showing him a location one mile away. There was no way he would make it in time.
A few patrols could be seen up ahead, formed from packs of Zeal soldiers always numbering in groups of four.
"Goddamn it, Hoang," Teve said as he shoved the comm in his ear. "I'll never make it to the marker by sundown."
"Excuses won't stop me from releasing the poison, Sergeant. I'd spend less time complaining about your circumstances and more time taking action."
"Whatever," Teve said as he finished loading up. "I'm going to picture your face every time I kill these pricks."
Silence answered him in return. Something crackled over the line. "Move out, soldier. The clock's ticking."
Teve rolled his eyes as he tightened his grip on his rifle, tucking it to his hip with the strap over his shoulder. He charged out at a quick pace, scuttling along faster than he had ever moved in the field.
Charging from one cover to the next, Teve dropped down long enough to shelter himself from any aliens about to snipe his location. He aimed his rifle down the line at the nearest patrol, calculating them to be only a football field away. Broken buildings and rubble divided him from the four Stiltz as he continued to duck and weave his way toward their flank. In less time than he had to think, he was on top of their location. The rest was a blur.
Controlled bursts rang out from his rifle, every bullet hitting its intended target dead center. With every bullet that successfully hit its target, Teve felt the slightest amount of pain in his head.
He pushed through the headache and popped up, shot, and dashed to the next location, running circles around the Zeal. By the time he had killed the first two, he had the second half of the alien fire team utterly confused. A quick pop from the grenade launcher attached to his rifle finished them off.
One of the Stiltz lay half dead, trying to crawl away from the charred remains of the ground it had been standing on. Teve stood over the writhing body and fired off a single round into the back of the Stilt'z body, stopping its vain attempt to survive. He'd never killed four of them on his own.
"That was a good start," Hoang said, buzzing into his ear without warning.
"What? Are you spying on me from a distance?"
"Something like that. Better keep moving, Sergeant. I don't like the look of that setting sun."
Letting out a groan, Teve moved forward, jogging at a medium pace to his next bit of cover. A patrol stomped off to his right, but he didn't have time to engage them, so he snaked his way through a section of debris and left them behind.
After ten minutes of running, ducking, and scoping out his path, Teve had managed to bypass three more patrols without raising any alarms. A swarm of Zeal drones had flown in and arrived at his first engagement and began sweeping the area for the humans responsible. The round bots were nothing but hovering surveillance units covered in a thin layer of Zeal armor. Their primary objectives were to spy on any human activity and to capture soldiers alive using their non-lethal electric shockers. The droids wouldn't be taking anyone today, though.
Teve moved on and arrived at the marker on his e-slate a few minutes later. He spotted two Zeal fire teams totaling eight Stiltz. The tall aliens were standing around and patrolling a high Zeal spire Teve didn't remember seeing this far away from the main alien
base. It was the target Hoang had sent him to, and of course, it was surrounded.
The doctor wanted the spire destroyed before Teve ran out of sunlight, so he dropped down and did a quick inventory check. Before he confirmed his findings, he knew he only had three forty mil grenades, two EMP grenades, and five magazines for his rifle. It would be a hard fight, but for some reason, he felt confident.
Letting out a sharp breath, Teve stood from the ground to a low crouching position and moved out. He couldn't face them all at once so the key would be to divide and conquer. He shuffled up to the closest group, knowing that if he engaged one, the other would have no choice but to feel the collective pain and fight for their comrades' life. The thought gave him an idea.
Sneaking in as close as possible without being seen, he fired off a quick burst on the nearest Stilt. Every bullet struck the lanky beast on the side of the chest, adding more pain to his expanding headache. But instead of finishing it off, Teve ducked backward and fell away from the area to move out and around to approach from a new angle. He did this with swift speed and efficient movement. The Zeal reacted immediately and fired upon his last location as they ventured out from the spire, taking the bait.
A smile formed on Teve's lips as he hit the next target and did the same move, drawing the second fire team away from the spire while he relocated. He repeated the process and caused the Zeal to scatter in all directions as they tried to find their harasser.
With the tower unprotected, Teve charged up to the base and pulled out two of the three rifle grenades. He placed them at the bottom of the pole and moved back out before one of the Zeal spotted him. With the last grenade loaded and ready to fire, he popped up from cover and fired the explosive out from his rifle, hitting the target dead center. A decent explosion rang out as the other two grenades blew up in a chain reaction.
Once the smoke had cleared, Teve gazed out to see the spire half twisted and about to collapse. It just needed one more hit to do so.
A few iron bolts from the Zeal sprayed out over his head as one of the patrols found him. Teve dropped down flat and returned fire, hitting a Stilt directly in the face, stunning it enough to stop its fruitless attack. The rest of its fire team reacted, joining in the fight.