by J. A. Scorch
"Whoa, ease up, sir," Clay said as Porter overcorrected the ship.
Porter ignored him and continued to focus on the Zeal base jutting out of the city of Atlanta. He pushed past a group of slow-moving Dragonettes and took the lead.
"Sir, don't forget that base is covered in anti-air defenses. We can't charge in there."
"We'll be fine, Clay. Just be ready with the countermeasures."
The Dragonette had a thick belly of armor and small point defense turrets capable of disrupting a few incoming missiles. But it wouldn't take much for those systems to be overwhelmed. Knowing this, Porter had to avoid what he could while rushing toward the base as quickly as possible.
He had no idea what he was doing. Something compelled him to charge toward Teve. He didn't come all this way to watch his brother die at the hands of a Zeal experiment.
An alarm sounded in the cockpit. "Incoming missiles," Clay yelled. "We have four missile locks. Firing countermeasures. Take evasive maneuvers."
The defense system was automated, but a co-pilot could overwrite the computer's thinking and prioritize individual missiles.
Porter threw the Dragonette hard to the right as he banked and pushed the g-force level through the roof. Using an ill-advised method he learned in flight school, he temporarily disabled one of the engines to allow the other to throw the bird sideways. He re-engaged the engine as two of the missiles went wide while the others were put down by the PDTs.
"What the hell was that? Are you trying to get us killed, sir?"
"Settle down, Lieutenant. Haven't you ever pulled off one of those before?"
"No, sir. That maneuver was banned when I went to flight school. Any pilot that even spoke about it faced a disciplinary committee."
Porter half smiled as he dipped the bird down low through the remains of the buildings in the city. He pushed the throttle all the way forward and maxed out the Dragonette's speed. One Zeal missile after the other blasted out and missed the gunship by a few paces before spiraling away to hit rubble.
"What are you doing, Captain? We are too far ahead of the main force to be effective. We'll be dead in thirty seconds at this rate."
"Not if I can help it," Porter muttered to himself as he charged toward Teve.
Chapter Six
"What is this?" Mish asked Teve as they both continued to stare at the surrounding hybrids. "Why haven't they killed us already?"
"I don't know, but I don't think we should be complaining. This is something else."
The pair kept their weapons lowered but handy as the hybrids blocked every exit inside the Zeal base.
Teve took a few steps toward one of the beasts only to see them all flare up and threaten the two soldiers with death. "Okay, sorry," Teve said as he backed himself up to Mish. "I guess we just sit tight for now."
"And do what? Wait for them to kill us? I don't think so." She aimed her rifle again, determined to go down fighting.
A second before Mish went to shoot, the cap in the center of the room opened in a hurry.
"Oh, crap," Teve said as he knew what would come next. A giant, purple, glowing sphere lifted in the middle of the space and began to hum loudly.
Teve's thoughts vanished at once as he focused his eyes on the Orb. The Zeal object was the center of the base as if it were the heart of the building. The sphere controlled everything. It was believed they were the hubs between the Zeal towers spread across the globe like a network. They also had influence over the nanites running through Teve and Mish's systems.
Teve took a few steps toward the dominant object before he realized it was controlling him. Mish had done the same.
"Stop," he said to her. "We need to move away from that thing." He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her back from the Orb. She resisted at first but eventually snapped out of her trance.
"I hate these things," she said, looking away from the mind-controlling device. The last time either of them had seen an Orb, only the destruction of a Zeal carrier high above Earth's orbit was enough to sever the connection to the Zeal network on Earth temporarily.
In the same instance, the hybrids all stepped further into the room and formed a tight circle around the two soldiers.
"What are they doing?" Teve asked out loud.
Mish realized what was happening before he did. "They're trying to force us to get closer to the Orb. They're killing us." She raised her rifle, but her fingers couldn't control the weapon. Teve knew all too well the power of the Orb and its ability to take over your every thought.
"That won't work," he said with a heavy breath. "They won't let you harm them. We can't do anything while that thing is active."
Mish continued to struggle with her weapon to the point her nose started to bleed. "Damn it," she yelled as the rifle fell to the floor and clattered about the metal plate.
Teve grabbed her by the shoulders and placed her on the ground. "We have to fight it with everything we have. Remember who you are. Don't let them in."
As he held Mish back from the Orb, the hybrids slowly approached as one. Every step they took would be painful for them as well. The closer Teve, Mish, or any creature who wasn't pure Zeal got to the Orb, the more agony they felt until their mind could not take it anymore.
Knowing he was stronger than most, Teve held a decent resistance to the object's powers, but eventually, he would falter and give in. Mish was already crawling toward it as he reached out and tried to stop her. "Can't fight it," he let out. "It's too powerful."
He joined Mish and began drifting toward the Zeal sphere, feeling like a starving animal desperate to feed. The pair moved as one and came to within a few meters of the Orb. Teve had never stepped this close to one of the objects without believing a knife had been jammed into his brain.
Before he lost consciousness, he saw one of the hybrids step past the rest. As the beast came closer, the details of the person the hybrid once was became clearer. Teve saw a sight he never expected to see again. "No," he said, letting the word escape his lips. The hybrid he had known only as X strolled competently up to him and Mish as they crawled across the jagged flooring of the Zeal base.
The blade-covered hybrid knelt beside Teve and ran the back of his sharp hand over Teve's face, slicing his skin in the process.
"Hello, T. Did you miss me?"
Teve never got a word out before X placed a hand over his face and sent a white flash into his mind. His head hit the plate with a thud as his eyes faded away.
Chapter Seven
Porter pushed the Dragonette to its limits, dodging laser fire as best he could. But despite his efforts, the armor on the bird had received multiple hits and was compromised in several locations.
"We can't take much more of this," Clay said as Porter strafed a row of Zeal defenses using the ship's three-pronged autocannons. The system spat out 30mm high-explosive rounds at a high rate, splashing the Zeal missile launchers with powerful enough blows to blast them out of action. Despite Porter's attack run, there were still too many other defense systems for the lone ship to deal with.
More Dragonettes showed up to enter the fight. They were protecting fast-moving personnel carriers designed to insert ground troops into the field as quickly as possible while minimizing loss of life. So far, the attack was on target, with most birds and soldiers making it through the Zeal defenses to mount an assault.
Porter did a quick analysis of his gunship and saw that he was leaking fuel and was running on fumes. He would need to put the dying bird down within the space of thirty seconds if he were to survive the impromptu and foolish attempt to reach Teve.
"Sir," Clay yelled. "We are out of fuel. I suggest you make an emergency landing ASAP."
"Already ahead of you," Porter said as he swept the bird in low while a missile streaked overhead. Black smoke was pouring out of one of the engines as he shoved the Dragonette into a vertical approach of sorts.
Leaning to one side, the ship touched down hard as Porter felt the spine of the craft snap
in two. There was no way it would be flying again. He found himself staring out of the cracked cockpit at the Zeal base ahead. Something was drawing him in to find Teve, and he had felt this sensation before the few times he had ventured inside one of the Zeal carriers in space.
"Sir," Clay said as he choked on the smoke pouring into the cockpit. "We have to go. Come on." Clay unbuckled the captain and snapped Porter's attention back to the present.
"Yeah, sorry," Porter said as he disconnected from his helmet. "Grab us some armor and weapons first."
"What?" Clay asked as he was halfway through the cockpit door to the cargo hold.
Porter turned toward the lieutenant. "You heard me. We're going to need something to shoot the Zeal with. Now go."
"Yes, sir," Clay said through gritted teeth. Porter could tell the pilot was hoping to bug out and let the UEF do the dying. Whether the idea was a decent one or not, he wasn't planning on hiding or retreating anytime soon. He had to get to Teve.
After a short climb down into the Dragonette's hold, Porter found the chest armor Clay had sourced and placed it on over his fatigues. Clay handed him an X762A1 rifle and an ammunition pack full of high-explosive rounds. They were the only kind of bullet that had any impact on the Stiltz.
"What's the plan, sir?" Clay asked as he waved off more smoke from his face. The overwhelming smell of an electrical fire filled the hold and stabbed into Porter's nose.
"We're going to that base."
Clay's shoulders slumped as he stepped forward with wide eyes. "Don't you think that's a little risky, sir? We should wait for the main force to reach us and join up with them at the very least."
Porter shook his head. "You can wait for them if you want, but I'm heading for that base." He chambered a round into the rifle and brushed past Clay as he headed for a side door on the Dragonette.
"You'll die, Captain. You won't make it more than ten meters before those things cut you down."
Porter slapped a button on the door to manually open it. With a heave, he made enough room to allow himself the space to drop down through a gap. Fresh air and smoke fought one another as twilight seeped into the hold of the dead ship. Before Porter left, he glanced back to the lieutenant.
"Sorry about your ride. The UEF should be here any moment now, so just sit tight."
Clay stared back at him, shaking his head while remaining silent. He ducked down low and began to make his way toward the base.
"Wait, Captain," Clay said from the doorway of the Dragonette. "I'm coming with you." He dropped down to the fractured concrete of the city and headed over to Porter.
"You don't have to do this, Clay."
"I'm aware. Now let's go before I change my mind, sir."
Porter let a smile form on the side of his mouth as he refocused on the battlefield ahead. All around the sound of approaching UEF and MAF aircraft filled the air. The Zeal released one missile after the other overhead. The aliens seemed to be dug in quite well and prepared to die defending the strip of broken land.
"Right this way," Porter said to Clay as he moved up to the unrecognizable remains of a building. He used what was left of a wall as cover and checked the next sector for enemy contact.
After ten minutes of slow progress, Porter stumbled out into a small clearing only to see a dozen or so Stiltz stomping toward his direction. "Shit," he let out as he hit the deck and melded back into the limited cover of the debris that littered the former city. Before Porter had time to work out if the Stiltz had spotted him, a spray of iron bolts stabbed into the ground around his feet.
"They've found us," Clay yelled.
"Fall back," Porter said as he crawled on his belly away from the incoming fire. The superheated iron bolts sizzled in the dirt and brickwork around him. The Stiltz continued to blaze out at his location, coating it with the lethal ammunition.
Clay pulled Porter to his feet and assisted him for a few seconds as they took off away from the superior force of alien soldiers. "Should we retreat, sir?"
Porter half considered the thought but soon realized all choice in the matter had been eliminated when he saw another group of Stiltz cutting off their retreat. The aliens fired the instant they saw the two human soldiers.
"Crap," Clay said as he came to a stop.
"This way," Porter yelled as he charged off to the left toward an open building. "We'll lose them in here."
"Yes, sir."
More bolts stabbed through the air around the pair and slammed into a chunk of concrete already pockmarked with gunfire from human and Zeal weapons.
Porter led the charge into the remains of a department store, spotting a broken escalator that could take them to the next level. The building had been reduced to only two levels. The roof and beyond had caved in and covered most of the flooring.
"Up here," Porter said. "We can get a reasonable look at their approach."
Clay didn't argue as he continued to follow. The escalator remains groaned with their weight as they both realized at the same time that the ramp had large cracks throughout its base. The pair made it up the top as the stairway collapsed a few moments later.
"Straw that broke the camel’s back," Clay muttered.
"Come on," Porter said. "They won't be far behind."
Clay nodded and followed Porter's play. The two pilots had to climb over the caved-in roof and bypass one piece of twisted metal after the other as they headed for the top.
"You ever fought these things before? I mean on the ground like this?"
Without wanting to, Porter's mind flashed back to the attack on the Martian battle carrier he served on named the Andromeda. The Zeal had managed to board the ship with enough Stiltz to kill half of the clueless MAF personnel inside the tub. Through sheer determination and a bit of luck, Porter had survived the ordeal.
"Yeah, once. They're a tough enemy to beat. Nothing short of these HE rounds does the trick."
"No kidding. I've never had the privilege myself. I spent the last few years on Mars waiting for an attack."
Porter shook his head as he suppressed a comment that was dying to come out. He had voiced his opinion on Command's constant desire to understaff the front line and keep a sizeable force back at Mars. None of that mattered now.
"So, no combat experience at all?"
"No, sir. Today was my first real dip in the pond, so to speak. I only transferred in with you on that drop ship."
Coming to a stop, Porter faced Clay. "Well, don't worry, Lieutenant. I'll make sure you get plenty of practice today."
Clay didn't seem to know if he should be smiling or taking the captain seriously. He instead responded with a "yes, sir."
"Come on. We need to keep ahead of these things. They move slowly but don't let up until you're dead." Porter climbed a twisted piece of the roof that was still connected to the frame of the building. He scaled the structure to an open edge that gave him a real view of the fight outside and the Zeal base. In every direction, he could see Stiltz and the occasional blade-covered hybrids he had seen surround Teve. Part of him hoped to see his brother retreating toward him, but he knew logically that he was probably dead.
"What do you see, sir?"
Shaking his head to concentrate, Porter put the thought of Teve to the back of his mind. He could still feel his presence in the distance, so how could he be dead?
"Sir?"
"Umm, sorry. Do you want the good news or the bad news?"
"That bad, huh?"
"Yes, I'm afraid."
Clay muttered something to himself before asking his next question. "So, what was the good news?"
Porter slid back down toward him and came to a steady rest. He gazed into the lieutenant's eyes. "They don't know where we are ... yet."
Chapter Eight
Teve woke up. At least he thought he did. He was no longer flat on the ground inside the Zeal base, but sitting in the comfort of a chair in a room he instantly recognized.
"What is this?" he asked himself as he stared ar
ound the old room. The walls were made of ancient timber and covered in dusty paintings and memorabilia from a small lake town he hadn't been to in a decade. Without even seeing the room, the smell alone told him he was in his parents' lakeside cabin. That was when he saw Mish in the bedroom through an open door, sleeping on the bed.
"No," he said as he raised a hand to his temple. "This can't be real."
"It's not, I'm afraid," X said in his multi-layered voice as he materialized in the chair opposite Teve.
"What did you do to me?" he demanded to know. A stab of pain hit his brain with the question.
X lifted both his arms in defense as he told Teve to calm down. "Take it, easy, T. The more you struggle, the worse it gets. You are in a safe room. This is just a projection of the place you find the most comforting."
"Most comforting? I haven't thought about this spot in a long time."
X smiled as best one could with a face that was covered in blades. "You don't need to always think about something for it to hold a special place in your memories. Of course, I can see you've added a minor detail." X motioned toward Mish. She had never been to the cabin or even knew of its existence.
Teve shook his head at the words coming from X's mouth. "Whatever. Why are we here? What is this?"
X leaned forward. "I needed to talk to you. And since you are always so desperate to fight, I thought I'd take a moment in time to speak to you directly."
Teve let his eyes twitch back and forth until he realized this conversation was only happening for one reason. "You're doing this with the nanites, aren't you?”
X grinned. "They do have their upsides, don't they? Granted yours have been somewhat limited, but that isn't what's important, T. What is important is why I brought you here."
Teve tried to stand, but he found himself stuck in the chair.
"You can't leave this place. Not until I allow it."
"Just kill me already. I don't need you screwing with my head. You've got me surrounded by your hybrids. End me and get this over with."