by Frank Carey
TABLE OF CONTENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
COPYRIGHT
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Evolution
Stryker Team Book 1
By Frank Carey
COPYRIGHT
Copyright © 2017 by Frank Carey
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author except by a reviewer who may quote brief passages in a review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
League Tale #39
CHAPTER ONE
Birds song and the aroma of fresh tea and biscuits filled the glade as Kalana rose from her bed of flower petals. Small forest creatures joined the young elf princess as she sat up and stretched in the morning sunlight. "Oh, what a wonderful morning!" she said as her tail reached over and retrieved a cup of tea from the nightstand. "The day will be wonderful..."
"Rise and shine, ladies. It's a new day in the corps," Space Marine Gunnery Sergeant Geraldine Hartman yelled as the lights in the squad bay came on to full brightness. She punctuated her request by throwing a metal can down the length of the room with enough force to dent the far wall.
Kalana rolled out of her bunk while begging the gods that this was a nightmare. She looked around and saw similar looks on the faces of her fellow team members.
"Attenshun!" Hartman yelled. "Officers on the deck!"
Everyone leapt to a spot at the foot of their bunks where they stood at attention.
"At ease. Listen up!" Captain John Williamson, their human commanding officer, barked as he, Lt. Shenta, his Sokuhl number two, and Sergeant Hartman walked to the center of the room. "The LWS Plotkin has been diverted to Meltor to aid in a search and rescue operation. This team will assist members of the Consortium military to find and rescue members of a research team lost inside the Maelstrom."
"Sir!" a team member barked. "Why not wait for the storm to pass, Sir!"
"My God, someone with a vocabulary," Harman yelled.
The lieutenant explained, "Maelstrom is a permanent fixture on Meltor. The boffins think it's a leftover from a previous civilization. It is also home to several species of sapient winged dragons."
The team glanced at Mersa, their Basili weapons specialist. Basili were the closest thing the League had to winged dragons.
"Due to time constraints and the severe conditions associated with the Maelstrom, we will halo two clicks from the last known position of the research team. We will hike in, find them, then render aid until the Consortium shows up. Any questions?"
There were none.
Hartman took up the briefing. "We will be using the new sigma power suits. They've been hardened for use in Maelstrom-type environments."
"We drop in eight hours," Capt. Williamson added. "Any questions?"
Again, there were none.
"Dismissed!" Hartman barked. The team dispersed.
"Corporal Grenor, a word," the captain requested.
"Sir?" Kalana replied while her tail formed its characteristic question mark.
"You're doing double duty this trip. Hanson broke his arm during a handball match, so you're the medic this trip. Any problem with that, Doctor?"
A knot of fear formed in Kalana's stomach. "Sir, you of all people are aware of what happened the last time I put on the stethoscope."
"Yes, I am," he replied. He stared at her.
"No, sir. No problem," she finally replied.
"Good. Carry on, Corporal."
Kalana saluted, then walked away to attend to her duties. A delivery bot trundled up and handed her a medical kit before heading off to make other deliveries. She looked at the bag before grabbing her kit and heading to the showers.
###
Mersa walked over and gave her wings a nervous flap as Kalana finished squaring away her bunk.
"What's up, girlfriend?" Kalana asked. She and Mersa were team mates and friends. She knew when the Basili wanted to ask something, but didn't know how to begin. Mersa was the fiercest warrior imaginable, but when it came to personal matters, she was a wuss.
"Why did the captain call you Doctor?"
Kalana smile. "Because, in a previous life, I was doctor. I healed people."
"I don't understand. MDs come in through Officer Candidate School, not boot camp."
"I was a doctor until I got someone killed. Since then, I'm a corporal. No stars, no bars, no salutes; just a Space Marine doing her duty protecting the League."
Mersa had never heard so much pain in one sentence. She put her taloned hand on her friend’s shoulder. "You want to talk? I'm here."
Kalana put her hand on her friend's and said, "Maybe later. For now, we have a mission to prep for."
"Copy that, Sister!" Mersa patted her friend's shoulder then waited for her to grab her med kit before the two of them headed out to the staging area.
CHAPTER TWO
Kalana powered up the suit before running its pre-launch checklist. "Murphy, are you on-line yet?" she asked her AI companion.
"Yes, ma'am. I am jacked-in and ready to rock."
She looked at the unit. "Watching those adventure films again, Murph?"
"Aye, ma'am. Have I gotten the lingo correct?"
"Murph, you're perfect. All you need is a white-linen sport coat and deck shoes."
"Yes!" She was reminded of that InterWeb meme of a baby doing a fist-pump.
"While you're at it, could you run a level-3 pre-launch diagnostic?"
"Aye, aye, Corporal Grenor. Running diagnostic."
The sigma power suit is an eight-foot tall bipedal unit driven by a Marine who sat in the unit's chest cavity. Kalana climbed to the top of the unit where she opened an access door and pressed a button underneath. With a loud whirring sound, the "Head" tilted forward to reveal a cockpit complete with seat, harness, controls, and readouts. The corporal climbed inside, sat down, and fastened the harness before donning the control headset. Satisfied, she reached up and pushed-in the power breakers.
The control console lit up like a holiday tree as systems came on. "Murph, where are we with the diagnostic?"
"Just finishing up, Corporal," Murph replied through the unit's intercom system. "All systems on-line and fully functional."
She reached up and pressed a button which closed the head and sealed it. "Activate all motor functions."
"All motor functions activated, ma'am." The unit lurched as its systems applied minimal power to its arms and legs.
"Retract gantry. Activate warning horns and beacons.”
The ladders surrounding the unit pulled back while warning horns and mars lights activated, warning personnel to stand clear.
"Ready for motion test, Corporal."
"Staging control, this is Elf Princess requesting permission to perform mobility tests."
"Elf Princess, this is control. Standby."
"Elf Princess standing by..."
"Elf Princess, Staging Control. You are go for mobility test."
Kalana tapp
ed her headset, activating it and tying it into the unit's control system. Using hand and foot controls augmented by the telepresence headband, Kalana commanded the unit to stand. Once upright, she walked it to the center of the room where other units were being run through test routines by their operators.
"Hey, Princess, I hear you're going to be playing doctor. I got a boo-boo that needs to be fixed,” a heavily-armed unit sporting black and white stripes said as it showed her a massive robotic finger.
"Hmmm," she said over the comm while examining the digit. "Your unit looks fine. How about I remove yours and see what I can do with a hot poker."
"Ooooh!" the rest of the team said while Mersa gave her a mechanical fist-bump.
The Captain and Gunny watched from the side. "Sir, what's the scoop on Grenor?"
Being tall, even for a human, he looked down at her. "Didn't they brief you?"
"No, sir. I replaced Sergeant Zon only a week ago."
"You're taking over for one of the finest non-coms in the Corps."
"Yes, sir. How's she doing, if I may ask."
"On the mend. She should be back to work within a year. Lucky for us, the Alturans can grow back tentacles."
"Sir, Grenor?"
"She used to be Captain Grenor, MD. She was involved with a Colonel who happened to die on her operating table after a rather nasty accident. The Colonel's father, a very powerful senator, demanded she be court-martialed and sentenced to death. General McMurphy stepped in and persuaded the court to bust her to corporal and assign her to this ship."
"The General is EMEF, not Space Marine, isn't she, sir?"
"Affirmative. She was Space Marine until General Aymar asked her to transfer into the Elf Marine Expeditionary Force. Our loss, their gain. She still has friends in the corps, so the tribunal acquiesced."
"Damn. I thought Grenor was just a screw-up..."
"Gunny, that woman saved my wife's life when the rest of Corps Medical had written her off. I was honored to have Kalana join the team, understand?"
"Sir, yes, sir!"
"I suggest you pull the team's jackets and read them thoroughly. They're unique, which may explain why it's the most decorated team in the Corps.
"Yes, sir!"
He turned back to watch his Marines work their rides.
CHAPTER THREE
Kalana made a final system check as she waited for the drop. She looked at her displays and saw the biometric readouts of the seven members of their team and noted that they were all calm, even the lieutenant. "LT, how many drops have you made?" she asked.
"This is my first, why?"
"You're calm. Most first-timers show elevated respiration and BP. Yours is calm."
"It's a Sokuhl characteristic. Is it a problem?"
"No, sir. Not a problem at all."
Kalana finished her checks. "LT, we are good to go."
"Thank you, Corporal. Control, Rescue One ready to go."
"Copy that, Rescue One. Drop in thirty seconds."
Kalana checked her harness one final time. "How are we doing Murph?"
"All systems in the green. Ship scans of the surface show all conditions nominal."
A chime announced the five-second mark.
"Ready for this, Big Guy?"
"Always, mistress."
She reached up and felt the ring hanging around her neck under her uniform. Peter had given it to her as an engagement ring. Now, it was a reminder of what could have been. The floor folded away to show the planet waiting below. The units around her dropped just before the bottom dropped out of her world. She scanned her board and saw the rest of her team on profile. "Murph, status please."
"We are on profile. Altitude fifty miles, speed nominal. Profile nominal."
She looked and saw everyone, including the LT, were as frosty as snow cones.
"We are entering the upper layer of the Maelstrom. Still on track. Still... Warning, atmospheric ionization reaching critical level."
"Shit, you mean we're hitting a lightning storm?"
"Affirmative. Communications down..."
"Murph, go to manual then transfer to my gauntlet."
"Roger-Dodger, going to manual." She looked down and saw a green indicator illuminate on her right gauntlet, indicating Murphy was safely ensconced in her suit. Her unit shook as every indicator and display flickered.
"Lightning strike. Thrusters down to 40%. Scanners out. Communications out."
She reached up and pulled a lever. The unit separated, releasing her and Murph into the fury of maelstrom. She watched as moments later her unit was vaporized by another lightning strike.
"Murph, how screwed are we?"
"Wait one, mistress... Altitude 10,000 feet above ground level. Scanners read mountains below us."
Kalana looked down and saw glimpses of a rocky landscape quickly approaching. "Prepare for parachute release. Any chance we can get a beacon signal out of this dust?"
"Doubtful, mistress. Perhaps after the electrical storm passes. Approaching 2,500 feet AGL."
"If the storm passes," she said as she pulled her rip cord. A large paragliding parachute deployed overhead. Her descent quickly slowed as the chute canopy filled with air.
"Mistress. I've detected a level area to your right."
Kalana turned and saw what he was talking about, so she pulled her right lines, causing the chute to turn in the direction of the clearing. Moments later, she was on the ground and gathering-up her chute. "Murph, any idea where we are?" she asked as she piled up her chute, harness, and flight helmet.
"Thirty clicks due west of the team's designated landing site. Scanners are having a hard time with the dust."
She reached into her pack and took out a full-face breathing mask. After checking the filters, she put it on. Immediately, a heads-up display appeared on the mask's faceplate. "Better. You're right, this dust is playing havoc with the scanners." She checked her supplies and found they had survived relatively unscathed. "Thirty clicks, say six-hours in this terrain. Any radio contacts?"
"No ma'am, and I I've tried contacting them on all frequencies, both League and Consortium, but the dust could be blocking them."
"Got it." She looked up at the sky and saw the sun was approaching the western horizon. "Night will be falling soon. Keep your scanners peeled," she said as she got her bearings before heading east toward where she hoped she would find the rest of her team.
###
By the time the sun had set, Kalana and Murphy had made it down to the base of the mountain and were making good time across a flat area studded with odd rock formations that shown like large ghosts in her HUD.
"On Earth, they're known as hoodoos, mistress."
"You learn something new every day."
"The harder stone of boulder on the top protects the softer stone underneath," Murphy explained.
"Look at that one off to the left. The top-stone looks like Mersa..." She watched as the top stone lifted off and flew away into the night. "Murph, was that a dragon?" She asked as she continued to stare into the night.
"Yes, mistress, though my records indicate it was a very small one."
"Why did the scanners miss it?"
"I don't know mistress. Even in flight, it did not show up. This concerns me."
"Are they dangerous?"
"To date, all interactions have been neutral or friendly."
"Let's hope we don't meet an unfriendly one," she said as they continued their journey.
###
Two hours later found them in a valley of caves. "Does this dust ever let up?" Kalana asked.
"No. This storm has been a permanent feature long before the Consortium survey team found the planet over two hundred years ago. The storm is formed by an immense, low-level force field that surrounds the area."
"Force field? You mean its artificial?"
"Yes. All of the species that inhabit the Maelstrom have adapted to the conditions so completely that loss of the field would be catastrophic to the a
rea's ecology."
She stopped. "Species? As in more than one?"
"Yes, the dragons are only one of many species that inhabit the Maelstrom."
"Are any of these species dangerous?"
"Yes. There are several non-pinnacle predators which could be considered dangerous."
She looked around and saw several pairs of glowing red eyes watching her. "And you didn't think to tell me this before now?"
"Records indicate that the predators in question do not inhabit this part of the Maelstrom."
"Really? Have you looked at video channel one?" she asked as she drew her weapon and set it to level 11--the kill setting.
"Oh my. Scanners still say there's nothing there, mistress."
One of the creatures that wasn't there leapt at her. She fired, but the energy beam deflected off the creature's armored flank. She prayed to the gods of her family that the beast could die as she emptied the weapon's energy pack into the advancing creature with little effect. In one motion, she holstered her weapon and grabbed her Marine knife. It was strong, sharp, and perfectly balanced, but it was no match for the thing coming at her. She glanced toward one of the caves, but found one of the creature's companions guarding it, as if it knew what she was thinking. Just then, an amazing thing happened. A white form appeared from the dust. It screamed, then grabbed the creature guarding the cave and threw it into the dust beyond before placing itself between Kalana and her attacker.
"Cave! Run!" it said as it blew a gout of fire at the lead beast. Kalana ran into the cave, threw off her pack and grabbed a force field generator just as the white dragon ran in behind her. She threw the generator at the entrance while hitting the activator button. When it hit the entrance, the generator stopped in mid-air. Suspended by the field it generated.
Two of the attackers hit the field at full tilt, but were deflected with a burst of lightning. Seeing their way blocked, the rest of the pack slunk off into the dust-filled night.
CHAPTER FOUR
Kalana looked at her new friend, not thinking for a moment that this dragon was just protecting its dinner. Instead, she felt a sense of safety, of friendship. "Thank you," she said. "I am Kalana."