“Sir,” one of them said, snapping a quick salute before gripping his rifle again.
“Boone,” the other stated, nodding at the First Sergeant.
Silently, Boone returned the nod.
“So what’s going on here? Is this…” Ryan paused, thinking for a moment. “The capital?”
“Captain Malum tells us that this is some sort of UED stronghold,” the soldier answered. “A lotta scientist types alongside their troops, too.”
Ryan looked at Boone, then at me.
“I think this is it. The UED didn’t build this, this had to be the Tredecim capital. Have you seen any Tredecim? The big… I dunno, monsters?” Ryan inquired.
“Well, we saw a few before we got to this place, but so far only UED guys fightin’ here. Though Malum thinks the UED are fighting two fronts at this place. He says that central structure prob’ly leads underground and that we might have people there… you think its Tredecim?”
“I guarantee it,” Philip added.
“C’mon, let’s go talk to Malum,” the soldier said after a slight pause.
We followed him through the snow toward the Elonian vehicles. The tank had begun rolling over the rubble left of the wall. The dual Corsairs each hovered menacingly over the tank.
I had heard a bit about Captain Malum before the mission. He was one of the primary infantry commanders assigned to Operation UNKNOWN. He was supposed to be ruthless though efficient. I had yet to meet him.
We moved swiftly through the snow toward the hole in the wall. My guess was that we were heading for the tank. As we climbed over the debris, the Corsairs above us let loose a withering spray of bullets onto a UED entrenchment up ahead. Ryan and I opened fire on the enemy position, providing any assistance we could.
The firefight lasted only a few minutes before it fell quiet, only the roar of engines filling the air. The soldier who had escorted us walked over to the Paladin and hopped onto it. He knocked on the hatch a few times and leaned back. It opened, and he exchanged words with the pilot that were inaudible at this distance.
When he finished, he climbed off and one of the Corsairs moved forward and then lowered itself slowly to the surface. Malum must be inside. When it landed, my suspicions were confirmed as a middle-aged man with the double-bar insignia of a captain emblazoned on his shoulder stood in the hold of the vessel.
I briefly considered saluting, though refrained, considering this was a battlefield mere minutes ago. Instead I nodded slightly and waited for him to speak.
“Name’s Malum. You’re the Rangers?” the man said sternly.
“Yes sir, that’s us. We’re with Alpha too,” Ryan replied.
“First Sergeant,” Malum said to Boone with a scowl.
Boone showed no sign of acknowledgment, now seemingly unimpressed by the sizable Elonian force present.
“Now what we have here is a substantial UED stronghold. My present theories include that it contains Korth and his Vorgian goonies, or that we have forces stranded inside being pushed deeper by the UED.”
“Sir, I believe that this location is the ancient Tredecim capital. Within it should be the knowledge bank we've been looking for, the Beholder,” Ryan said.
“Lieutenant, while I appreciate your detective work, we have bigger things to deal with right now,” Malum said matter-of-factually.
“Sir, this information could be of significant aid against the—” Ryan said before being cut off.
“Soldier. Listen. We're runnin' this my way, and it'd be a heck of a lot easier if you let me call the shots,” Malum said impatiently.
There was a pause as the two stared at each other. The Marines outside the Corsair appeared to be freezing, though those inside had the benefit of some degree of thermal control. For a moment my mind flickered to what the terrible planet's environment would be like without my armor.
Ryan looked over at Boone, breaking the stare-down with Malum. Boone gave a casual shrug, as if he was used to the sort of treatment being given to Ryan.
“Are we clear now Lieutenant?” Malum asked.
“Yes sir,” Ryan said obediently, though I could tell he was reluctant to submit.
I shifted my rifle uneasily in the silence to come.
“Now whatever greater purpose you want to search for in there is up to you, but I plan to deploy you immediately. I'll continue my advance as scheduled, but with your power armor, I'll have you and Alpha push down into the tunnels. From what I gather, this stronghold is based primarily underground. A fair amount does rise above, as you can quite clearly see, though I doubt that is little more than a recon post to keep an eye on intruders such as ourselves,” Malum explained.
“Sir, we've commandeered some UED communicators, and have been in contact with Epsilon since our landing. Would you like us to try to have them regroup? House was injured, I'm not sure they are prepared for the journey but...” Boone said.
“Just call 'em. Get them here. If necessary leave House. We need the manpower. We can't afford to delay over a single soldier.”
Without responding Boone turned away, clearly offended by Malum's disregard of Sergeant House's life.
“Epsilon, come in? This is Boone. Wait, hostiles? How close? Is everyone alright? How could the COM's be tracked so easily? Okay, hang in there, we've located the capital as well as a contingent of friendly troops. Yeah, its Malum. I'll try to get a team sent to pick you up,” Boone said over the COM.
“What's going on?” I asked, having clearly been able to observe something being amiss.
“They believe the communicators we're using can be tracked, and the UED picked up that they were still in use after their guys died. They've sent a force and are closing in fast. We need to get some help over there if we want them alive,” Boone said, loudly enough for Malum to hear.
“Denied soldier. We need the Corsairs here. If we get hit by another air raid, we'll be defenseless without both of them. They'd take out the Paladin and then we'd be back to square one. As much as I'd like to add six men to our unit, the Paladin is more valuable,” Malum reasoned.
“With all due respect sir, there is no guarantee that the UED will launch an air strike here. If we do not go help Epsilon, there is a guarantee they won't survive.”
“I understand Sergeant, but sacrifice is a part of war.”
Malum's face was emotionless, clearly dedicated only to the completion of his objective, whatever he seemed to feel it was. The stress on Boone's face was becoming clear. While he obviously knew Malum treated his soldiers like this, the feeling of losing Epsilon had no doubt intruded his mind.
“Now get movin',” Malum instructed, signaling his pilot with his hand.
The Corsair began to rise back into the sky, leaving Boone staring up at it.
Boone sighed before looking back at us.
“I really hoped he had died,” he said quietly, looking nervously over his shoulder.
“Well, chain of command just shifted. Now we all have someone to take orders from. I've heard good things about Malum... I'm a little less impressed in person,” Ryan stated.
Chapter 16
Revelation
We proceeded on toward the large ramp that led into the capital. As we stepped within view of the base of the ramp, I felt a bullet ping off my armor, and immediately I dove to the ground. Slowly and carefully rising back up, I could see that the UED had established a chokepoint at the base. Around a dozen men seemed to be holed up behind various crates and metal barricades. Using the SF-42 I took several precise shots at the soldiers as they poked their heads above their cover. Each shot landed exactly where I wanted, resulting in clean kills.
Then I saw a bright flash as one of the troopers fired an RPG. The explosive seemed to be flying toward me and time seemed to slow. I hurriedly tried to catapult myself backwards to avert the rocket, thinking about the damage such a weapon could do, even with my armor.
Suddenly everything was normal again as I felt my impact with the snow and ground be
hind me. The rocket flew past my face and into the snowy sky. As I climbed back up I saw the Paladin was aiming its twin-barreled 100mm cannons into the pit. An earsplitting bang burst forth from the first cannon as it fired downrange. It was followed shortly by the second cannon. I returned to a crouching position for a better view, only to find the entire position was now covered in blood, bodies, and damaged metal. Two craters were left in the stone flooring.
“We're clear,” Ryan said, starting the walk down the ramp.
Our team formed up on Ryan as Boone and Alpha prepared themselves behind us. Malum seemed expectant of more friendlies. I knew better than to expect that. We moved slowly down the ramp, taking our time to examine the walls around us. There were two passageways that could be taken up ahead. When we reached the split, Ryan split us up. We divided into our usual teams of three. Nevin, Cassidy, and myself would be going with Boone and Hood. The rest were taking the left door with Boone's other two troopers.
“This isn't right. We ought to be using our resources to save every life. We should be rescuing House and the rest of Epsilon,” Boone said, looking straight at me.
I simply nodded, unsure how best to respond. At the end of our path was a turn, heading the same direction that the ramp had gone. After only a few meters in that direction however, it then turned back the way we had been walking. At the end of this last hallway was what appeared to be an elevator.
We moved closer to it, watching out for additional UED forces. I could hear the faint sounds of gunfire echoing below. The UED was fighting something below us… that much was for sure. We piled into the elevator and I took a look at the unusual control panel. It appeared to be a touch-pad screen displaying two characters.
“Well, this is more advanced than any Tredecim tech I've seen so far. Prior to this was all wooden ladders,” I pointed out.
“Yeah, I've noticed the same thing,” Hood said as he examined the touch-pad.
“I believe its function is fairly obvious, Hood,” Boone stated.
He then reached out and tapped the lower symbol, causing it to change from green to red, then swell slightly. After a brief second of being larger, it returned to normal and the doorway before us closed.
“First Sergeant, when should we try to get more information out of this laptop?” Hood asked.
“After we've made Malum happy enough to go save Epsilon,” Boone replied coolly.
Abruptly the elevator jerked, then I starting having the sensation of falling. It felt like we were moving at incredible speeds, pressing deeper into the planet. After nearly a minute the elevator slowed down, coming to a complete halt with a loud thud.
“This thing better work on our way out,” Cassidy murmured softly.
The doorway slid open and I felt myself fly backwards, slamming into the wall. A sizable amount of gunfire ensued, bullets pinging off the metallic walls. I rolled out of the way of incoming fire, taking cover behind the front wall of the elevator. I took a quick evaluation, finding Boone and Hood using the other side as cover, Nevin behind me, and Cassidy up against the control panel. Boone stuck his shotgun out into the line of fire and took a shot blindly. The cry of pain marked his accuracy.
I prepared myself to move out of the elevator when I saw a single grenade roll into the compact space. We would all be KIA if it detonated where it was. I rapidly crouched down, scooping the grenade with my left hand. With my right hand firmly placed on the handle and trigger of my SF-42, I opened fire into the swarm of UED soldiers that had set the ambush. As fast as I could, I brought my left hand forward, giving the grenade a toss straight back into the heart of the enemy squad. There was a flash, followed by the pinging sound of shrapnel hitting my armor.
Fortunately, my armor was not the only thing to be hit by the metal fragments. A majority of the UED formation had been impacted by the position of the grenade at its point of detonation. Capitalizing on the opportunity, I darted forward, fully out of the elevator and leaped over the nearest cover point, landing on top of a dead UED trooper. I fired a pair of bullets across the room at a now exposed target, when I heard someone behind me. I spun with incredible speed, bringing my left hand to bear on the neck of a UED soldier, knocking him off his feet. Only then, as I put the kill shot into the downed soldier, did Nevin emerge from the safety of the elevator, opening fire on the last pocket of resistance.
“Clear,” I said, glad to have made it through the rough spot. “Ryan, this is James. We had an encounter with some UED troops, anything on your end?” I asked, this time over the COM.
“Blood. Just a lotta blood,” he said, his insinuation of Tredecim responsibility being clear.
“Alright, we'll be on the lookout for UED or Tredecim,” I replied, acknowledging my understanding.
Everyone had now exited the elevator and were looking around the vast chamber that we stood in. The ceiling rose at least thirty meters over our head, creating an empty feeling in the expanse of space.
“What do you think this room was used for?” Cassidy asked.
“Based off of the fact that it seems to be one of only two destinations that elevator has, I'd say it's where everyone lined up before going outside,” Nevin said, a faint smile on his face to mask the fear of what may actually be there.
We moved quickly across the immense room to a single doorway on the other side. Tapping the single button on the touch-pad beside it caused the metal door to slide upward. Behind the door was a darkened hallway made of the same stone material that the towers were. Again I heard distant gunfire.
“Ryan here, we've got some Tredecim guarding somethin'. Trying to get through enough of them to figure out what.”
“It's not going down!” I heard Max scream into the COM.
“Roger that, we've got nothin',” I replied to Ryan.
“It doesn't sound good,” Cassidy said.
“They're Rangers, they'll be fine,” Nevin stated, assuring himself as much as anyone else.
At the end of the narrow hallway was a T-shaped split, giving us two choices. I looked over at Boone, who seemed to be thinking the same thing that I was.
“We'll take this way,” he said, jerking his thumb over his shoulder down the hall as he backed into it.
Hood followed close behind him, rifle raised. Nevin, Cassidy, and myself made our way cautiously down the other path, which turned several times without any apparent reason.
“James, we've... something. It's... Not sure who...” I heard Ryan's voice say over the crackle of static.
“Repeat that, there's interference,” I replied.
“James... Are you... You read?” he returned, seemingly having not heard my prior statement.
“Yeah, we're here. You aren't coming through clearly,” I repeated.
A silence ensued, making it clear that Ryan had given up.
“Well, they found something. The question is... what?” I said.
The other two looked at me, neither putting forth any guesses.
“Let's keep moving,” Cassidy suggested.
After the contact from Ryan, it wasn't long before we found a likely candidate for what he had found. We entered a narrow room, extending nearly forty meters. Along both walls were rows of tubes containing strange beings that I did not recognize. They certainly weren't Tredecim, though they seemed plenty tall, standing a full two meters in height. Their skin was silvery, almost white in coloration. Its eyes were yellow and were located near the back of its elongated head. Two small pincers were located at the tip of their face, likely surrounding a mouth. They were angled backwards in the pods at a forty-five degree angle. The pods seemed to be holding the creatures in a cryogenic stasis.
“Definitely... not Tredecim,” Nevin said, observing the nearest pod.
“Then what are they?” Cassidy asked, running her hand over a tube.
“If this is what Ryan found, Phil's got to be in heaven right now,” Nevin said, a true smile coming over his face.
Maintaining a serious tone, I replied,
“I say we keep moving. We have to be close to the Beholder. That should answer all of our questions.”
“How do you think these things open?” Cassidy asked, searching the surface for any sort of interface.
“I'm not so sure we want it open. Like I said, we should concentrate on the Beholder,” I repeated, wanting to get away from the creatures.
They nodded, at last acknowledging my suggestion. The two rows of pods continued down the entire length of the hallway until a large doorway. As it opened I thought I saw a shadow move across the room. I entered slowly, gun raised to my shoulder. This room was far darker than the one before it, illuminated only by a dim blue light on either wall. It was only then that I realized one thing the SF-42 was missing was an under-barrel flashlight like that of the H-81. I snapped the 42 onto my pack and drew my pistol, clicking on its light. Running the light across the room I could see a heavy doorway positioned right where the shadow had disappeared. Across from that was yet another door. I immediately moved to the first door. I reached down and touched the pad, though instead of opening the door, the pad merely flashed red once. I repeated to the same result.
“I think it’s locked. Nev, try the other one,” I ordered. Nevin placed his finger on the opposite door's interface, resulting in the door slowly opening.
Unlike the other doors, this one appeared to be dual layered, the first layer rising while the second split in the center and slid to either side. Inside was yet another surprise. A bright light flooded out of the room, a stark contrast to the prior darkness. As I entered the room I realized it was far different than any other room or region I had been in since landing on Marzoc. The room overflowed with plant life, trees and shrubs distributed throughout. Some of the trees even seemed to bear small fruits of some sort. I could only make assumptions that the temperature and air quality had changed as well, though through my armor it was unclear.
“Whoa...” Nevin said in awe as he looked around the large room.
“I bet we could eat these,” Cassidy said, plucking a round purple fruit from one of the trees. “We haven't had food since arriving in-system.”
The War Across the Stars Page 18