Suddenly, the armored personnel carrier turned a sharp left, and plunged into the trees. It took down several before crushing its tip into a thicker tree.
“Hurry guys!” Ryan called as we charged toward the woods.
The door opened up and several people darted out. The second was an older man, likely Lee. I took a shot at his leg, but narrowly missed. As we entered the opening carved by the APC, Lee and his officers disappeared deeper into he woods.
“Don’t let him get away!” Ryan yelled.
Nevin sped up, leaving us behind him. He entered the deeper region of the woods. I heard various voices. One was yelling out orders, while the others were harder to understand. I tore through the branches and twigs that were in my way.
Then there were several gunshots, followed by the distinctive crack of an SR-4. I flew over a dip and landed beside Nevin with his rifle raised. Bullets whizzed by us. Nevin fired again into the woods. I only saw rustling, and knew that hitting anything would be beyond my ability.
Ryan caught up to us and slowed down.
“Guys, the woods aren’t too long. They should be out in the open soon,” Ryan informed us.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Nevin agreed.
We darted further into the trees as fast as we could. Within minutes be burst out the other end to see a road. Parked on the road was another APC.
“Shoot! He’s gonna get away!” Ryan yelled sprinting toward it.
Nevin and I followed. Then I heard its engine rumble to life. Nevin leaped onto the back of the vehicle. It started to move. I followed Nevin’s act of bravery, barely catching on to the back of the vehicle as it drove off, leaving Ryan and Max behind. Nevin heaved himself on top of the fast-moving vehicle. I looked back, seeing Ryan running after us, however he just wasn’t fast enough. Then, I climbed up with Nevin.
“What now? We can’t break through the windows,” I said.
“Well, you’re right. I dunno what we should do. I guess just wait here until the vehicle stops,” Nevin called over the wind.
We waited on top of the APC silently for several minutes. As it would seem, the general had no idea that we were on board. But we had no contact with Ryan, so it was up to us. As I looked ahead I saw several large, cecrete walls. Several manned gun turrets were on top of them, as well as a man holding some sort of detonator.
Suddenly, the vehicle began to shake violently. Looking off the side, I saw explosives scattered across the road and even in the grass beside it. Should they be detonated, we would both be dead, but so would the general. The turrets aimed at us, but refrained from firing. Then, to my surprise, the men pulled out rifles and opened fire.
“Nevin! What should we do?” I asked as the bullets pinged around me.
Our armor was taking the blows, but it could only take so many before something came through. I lifted my SMG-56 with one hand, the other still holding on to the vehicle. I sprayed some bursts at the gunmen as we passed the gates. I actually managed to hit one, and he toppled to the ground.
The APC kept driving, and soon the gunmen were out of range. We had to be nearing the city. The checkpoint was likely nothing compared to the forces that will be there.
“There. I can see the buildings. Be ready to take him down as soon as he exits the vehicle,” Nevin said.
I steadied my gun. Several Vorgian aircraft soared above us. The general had to know we were here by now. Ahead was a tall building with Vorgian flags waving before it. The APC turned hard, sliding sideways toward the building. I heard its horn honk loudly, likely some sort of signal. A shocking force of soldiers exited the building and opened fire on us.
Nevin hopped off the back and returned fire on the hostile platoon. I remained on top of the vehicle and aimed carefully down my gun’s sights. Vorgians continued to pour out of the building.
“Nevin!” I yelled. “He’s entering the building, we need to press forward.”
I watched as once again Lee slipped away. I jumped down into a mass of Vorgians and entered hand-to-hand combat. I bashed one in the face with my left hand, then sprayed SMG rounds into another. I slipped out my knife and stabbed it into the neck of one right as he shot me at point blank range.
I felt a stinging pain. I realized that a bullet must have penetrated the soft part of my armor. I held my submachine gun at my hip and blasted into the crowd.
Then, I charged. Nevin was right behind me as we slammed through the wall of soldiers. We entered the building and dashed down the long hallway. At the end, I saw Lee turning a corner. A soldier stepped out and tossed a flash-bang down the hall. It blasted open, but it failed to affect us due to our tinted visors.
Bullets flew by us from behind, some denting our armor. I feared taking another… the pain from one was enough. I slipped around the turn and shot the soldier who threw the flash-bang. No sign of Lee. I looked around, and spotted an elevator. The floor number was negative three and decreasing.
“Prex,” I mumbled. “He took the elevator.” I tried to pull open the elevator doors, but my gloved hands could not get a grip through the seal. “Nevin, use your breaching charge.”
“On it,” he responded.
I moved back to the main hall and fired some shots at the oncoming mass. Then, a door opened behind me, and more soldiers entered. We were surrounded on three sides. I heard an explosion from Nevin’s breach, then turned around and darted for him.
“Go!” I yelled.
He leaped in, grabbing the elevator’s cord. I followed suit, and we slid down. We slid for what felt like an eternity, but eventually reached the roof of the elevator, now at rest on the bottom floor. Nevin peeled open the service hatch, and we both slipped into the elevator. It was empty. I slammed a button and the elevator’s door opened. We carefully entered the room. It was dark, and unlike the decorative walls and furniture of the upper stories, this room had plain Cecrete walls and lacked any furnishings.
I could not even see any doorways to other rooms.
“Where could he be?” I asked.
“No idea,” Nevin replied plainly.
Then I saw it. There was a manhole on the floor, and its lid was slightly out of place. It had not been placed back on correctly.
“He’s in the sewers,” I murmured as I moved the lid aside.
I leaped down and landed on a hard surface. There was a river of sewer water running down the center. It was a slimy green color.
Nevin plopped down beside me.
“Which way?” Nevin asked.
I thought hard, but briefly, knowing the consequences of failure.
“Left.”
We ran down the hall to our left. My heart beat faster. The running was causing additional pain to my wound, which throbbed continuously like an intensifying fire. The tunnels seemed to stretch forever, with the pain only adding to the feeling.
Out of nowhere, a Vorgian SAS leaped out from behind the curved wall. We fell into the river of muck and began sliding with the current. My gun clattered on the cold Cecrete walkway we had been traversing. I wrestled free of the crazed soldier and kicked him away. Then I planted my feet on the ground and grabbed onto the edge. I pulled myself out and saw Nevin running toward me holding both of our SMG’s.
“You okay?” he asked
“Yeah, I’m good,” I answered as he passed my gun back.
My armor dripped with the slime. Nevin and I proceeded down the hall. Then we saw him.
“We’ve got this!” I said as I sped up.
Nevin zoomed ahead and closed in. He began firing his SMG at Lee’s guards and officers. The last two of his guards collapsed, one of which fell into the river. Nevin catapulted himself forward, crashing into Lee. The two rolled then slid to a stop. His uniform had Lee stenciled on it.
I caught up and reloaded my gun.
“Now what?” Nevin asked, holding down the thrashing general.
“My guess… would be to knock him out somehow,” I answered.
“Ok,” Nevin said, squeezing the
general’s shoulder.
Lee suddenly fell limp.
“Nice… Let’s go,” I said.
Nevin hoisted the frail old man onto his shoulder, and we began to walk down the tunnel. We couldn’t go back the way we came, considering the amount of opposition there would be. We had to find another alternative.
As we meandered down the tunnel we heard voices. They were alert, and obviously in search of us.
“Do we fight, or hide?” Nevin questioned.
“Hide,” I said, leading the way toward the river.
We both eased ourselves into the water. I heard the footsteps and voices get closer. I held my hand over Lee’s mouth and nose and dunked his head underwater. I looked up, but could barely see anything through the slime. Flashlights flashed around above the surface.
At last, they passed. Nevin and I emerged from the water. We pushed Lee back onto the ground. We then pulled ourselves out and picked Lee up again. We quickly moved the way that the soldiers had come from.
“There! A ladder!” I said looking at a rusted ladder.
“’Bout time we found one,” Nevin mumbled.
Together, we climbed the ladder pushing Lee up. It seemed to be a long ladder, perhaps stretching clear back up to the surface. We reached the top and rose from the floor. The lid to the hole was off to the side.
“Careful Nevin, I wouldn’t be surprised if they have more troops in the building.”
“Ya think?” Nevin said sarcastically.
We emerged from the service hole and began to climb the nearby stairway, due to the lack of an elevator. This building was far less elegant than the one we had come down in. As we approached the top of the stairs we heard more voices.
“Hold on,” I whispered, letting go of Lee. Nevin still kept a tight grip on the general.
I slowly opened the door with my gun in my other hand. I saw a guard and in response, slammed the door open into another guard. I sprayed a burst into the Vorgian who was standing before me. Quickly I entered the room and went around the door. Three shots entered the Vorgian who was trying to get back up.
“Clear,” I called back to Nevin.
He came into the room with me, Lee still hanging limply over his shoulder. We exited the room and entered a dimly lit area. Several mobile stations were set up with large COM and TRIAD modules. Many Vorgians were busy watching the TRIAD.
Nevin and I slowly backed into the other room.
“Ok, so there’s a lot of bad guys,” Nevin commented.
“Uh… Yeah,” I agreed. “Put Lee down, I’m gonna need your help.”
Nevin set Lee gently on the floor and pulled his SMG back out.
“Now!” I ordered as we both entered the room.
My first move was to toss a grenade into the center of the equipment. It exploded, shattering several screens and causing ripples in the holo-display. Then I opened fire taking down the survivors as fast as I could. One began to swivel rapidly, clearly attempting to bring me down. I fired another short burst and he fell backward onto the TRIAD.
“Clear,” I stated, sweeping my gun around the room. “I’m on my last clip though.”
“Great,” Nevin said. He pulled out two extra ammo magazines and passed them to me.
“Thanks.”
We went back and scooped up the still unconscious Lee. Then we proceeded hastily out of the building. Outside there was a line of APC’s and other light vehicles.
“C’mon, hurry,” I said as we rushed Lee toward an APC.
I slid open the door and pushed Lee into a seat. I took the wheel and Nevin sat by Lee. I started the engine by turning the switch, then pulled out of the parking lot. I moved the vehicle out to a highway and cruised down the road, attempting to move quickly, though not suspiciously so.
“Ha, I think we did it, James,” Nevin laughed. “We’re in one of their APC’s and they have no way to ID us as Elonian.”
“Yeah, you’re right. We did good.”
We each waited silently for several minutes.
“Where do you think Ryan is? Did he try to continue the mission? Did he wait where we left him?”
“That is a good question. He may even have tried to return to the foothold.”
We drove on for a while without incident. Suddenly, Lee woke up. He looked around frantically and grunted. I looked back to see Nevin restraining him. He was pressed hard against the seat.
“Keep him under control! We still have a ways to go!” I yelled to Nevin.
“Working on it,” Nevin said trying to stop the old man’s resistance. “Ya know, this would be a lot easier if we had some sort of tranq shots.”
“I’ll bet, but we can thank our superiors for lack of forethought on that one,” I said.
Finally Lee stopped fighting as Nevin squeezed his pressure point.
“That wasn’t as easy as the first time,” Nevin sighed.
Time dragged by but eventually we reached the outer perimeter of the foothold. Nevin stepped out of the APC to go clear us. He approached the entrance with his hands in the air and guns on his pack.
“It's us! The Rangers! We have Lee secured in the vehicle,” he called to the sentry.
The soldier on the tower looked around, then looked down.
“You’re clear to enter.”
Nevin ran back to the APC and hopped in. We drove in and parked near the Command Tent. I exited the APC and walked into the tent.
“Sir?” I said nervously. I was uncertain if I was supposed to go directly to the major, but I figured I would try.
“Wha—” he started. “Oh, it’s you,” he said, having recognized my armor.
“We… We have Lee. I don’t know where the rest of my team is,” I admitted.
“You have Lee? Magnificent,” Kohl said in awe. He instructed a nearby officer to move Lee to his next location. “Alright, I’ll recall the rest of your team. They reported you missing a few hours ago. After that they continued to pursue the objective.”
Kohl walked over to a COM unit and activated it. “Dunkelman, your two missing soldiers just arrived at base with Lee. Sending evac to your location.”
“Roger that! Get it here ASAP! We’re under heavy fire,” Ryan said with sounds of guns in the background.
“On it,” Kohl replied.
He then called in a Corsair to pick them up.
Nevin and I paced around the camp, right outside of the command tent. Soon a medic would come patch me up. Yet time dragged on, though the end of the war was coming. It drew ever closer. But I knew that even when the war ended, our training would continue. It would continue until we were the best soldiers the Elonian Empire had ever known.
Chapter 10
Treaty of Paix
“Today it was made official that the war is over. The war lasted barely over a month and proved how powerful the Elonian Empire has become. Earlier today, General Walt Lee abdicated command of the Vorgians in what is now known as the Treaty of Paix. Special Forces captured the military dictator earlier this week. His capture disheartened many Vorgians, and with his official abdication, Hothonos, Sontonos, and Vorga have surrendered control to our forces. We’ll have more on this astonishing news later, including live at Paix, Euphola for interviews,” a news anchor announced cheerfully.
It was done. Phil would recover and the war was over. I would soon be at home with my family. Spend some much needed time with Mom and Dad. I missed my sister Amanda as well. It was incredibly exciting to be going to visit them.
I arrived at the spaceport in Ebony a few days after the official end of the war. Nevin was with me, but we would soon go our separate ways after we left the spaceport.
“Well, that was quite the experience, eh?” Nevin said.
“That is for sure,” I replied, walking through the crowds of people.
“It’s been a lot better than it could have been, considering we could have not been accepted together,” Nevin pointed out, smiling.
“Yeah, having a close friend helps. But m
an, I miss my family. I can’t wait to see Mom, and Dad, and Amanda again,” I said.
We were finally at the door to the spaceport. It was time to split up.
“Well, I’ll see you later,” Nevin said.
“Yup, you too,” I chuckled.
I managed to catch a taxi and was home within twenty minutes. I stepped out, still in my soldier uniform, and approached our house. It looked just like I had remembered it. I rang the door and waited for a response. I could here rustling from within, then the door swung open.
Standing in front of me was Amanda. Her dark hair, barely dangling past her shoulders, was just as I remembered it. She opened her arms and pulled me in for a hug. It was wonderful to see her again. As she let go I saw Mom walk into the room.
“James!” she said in an alerted tone. “Earl! He’s here,” she yelled to my Dad.
I proceeded into the house and looked around. Once again it had been redecorated and the walls had changed color.
Mom scurried closer and embraced me.
“I’m home, Mom,” I whispered.
She started to cry and continued to hang onto me. My dad finally showed up. He had silver hair about the same length as mine, and a furry mustache.
“It’s good to see you again, James,” he stated.
“You too, Dad,” I responded.
At last Mom let go and I approached my father. He reached out his hand, and I returned the shake firmly.
“You’re stronger,” he murmured, his face glowing with pride. “You helped us win out there. I’m proud of you, son. I’m proud of you.”
“Thanks, Dad,” I accepted, smiling with excitement. It was so nice to be home.
“So… Uh… How long will you be around?” Amanda asked cautiously.
“Well… I only have a week. Then we are back to training. There is only so much that I am cleared to tell you, but we have to become the nation’s best soldiers.”
The War Across the Stars Page 11