“We need to punch through these guys, we only have so long before Messor and his team get up the elevator behind us!” Nevin called out.
His statement reminded me of the pressure of the situation. While we had the upper hand over the UED here, we would still have to get through more Praetorians quickly, or else we’d be pinned in with no cover, just like the hapless UED were at present. Two of the scientists, apparently unarmed, sprinted toward the Praetorian fire and out of sight, perhaps attempting to simply run the gauntlet.
Then the last visible soldier dropped and immediately we began our advance, well aware of our limited time. As we turned the corner, we could see the light and snow pouring into the large opening. We were so close. Unfortunately, I also saw at least fifteen Praetorians in firing positions on the far side of the hall, having come from the direction in which my team had initially descended. I emptied the mag on my SF-42 before clicking it to semi-auto once more, and loading my last magazine. Now each shot had to count. I crouched and slowly took shots at the line of Praetorians, enemy fire missing me by mere centimeters at times.
As I lined up a shot for my third Praetorian kill of the engagement, I felt an impact on my left arm, near the shoulder, knocking me back. I then felt two more across my chest, stumbling me from my crouched position onto my back. I had been hit three times, the incredible heat of the rounds melting away parts of my armor. While I did have an incredibly warm sensation in the affected areas, I realized they didn’t get through, and I wasn’t hurt.
“TREDECIM!” Phil exclaimed, pointing toward the Praetorians.
I rose again to see a sizable force of Tredecim smashing through the Praetorian line, slashing them apart as they moved.
“Now’s our chance, let’s move!” Ryan ordered.
I took off running toward the Tredecim with the rest of the team behind me. When I reached the light I immediately swerved to finally escape the catacombs of the Capital. As I turned though, I saw a single Tredecim, quite tall in stature, and a large scar across its right eye. I paused for a moment, realizing it was the one I had met earlier, also making its escape from the capital that had so long held it prisoner.
“Thanks!” I called out, seemingly at random to the others in my squad.
Then I carried on past the metal barricades and crates left over from the UED’s earlier chokepoint. Upon reaching the top of the ramp I saw the Paladin tank in view of the ramp, as well as the two Corsairs, both having landed a short distance from the entrance. All of us darted toward the two Corsairs, presuming it to be Malum’s location. When we reached one, we knocked twice on the back hatch and it lowered, revealing Captain Malum leaned back in one of the seats, his usual stern, uncaring look about him.
“Sir,” Ryan said plainly. “We’ve searched the facility. No Korth, no Elonians. Just some UED, Tredecim, and now a whole new enemy in the Praetorians.”
“The who? Is this more of your detective mumbo-jumbo or is this something I can actually work with?” Malum asked.
“It is a real threat. They’ve been released and now their leader, Messor, is on his way out. I advise we bug out before we have to fight him again,” Ryan suggested.
“Again? You mean you lost against him?”
“Sir, with all due respect, we lost more than just the fight. We lost several good soldiers down there. We lost a Ranger. We cannot stay here.”
“Sounds like we have a challenge. If these Praetorians are a real threat, we shouldn’t merely flee. Let’s stop them here before they intrude our mission later. Perhaps if you did your job you wouldn’t be losing all of these soldiers. Look Lieutenant, leave the big jobs to the professionals. We’re stopping this… ‘Messor’ before he even gets started,” Malum said, finality in his voice.
“Captain, we finished your objective,” Boone started, stepping up. “May we send at least ONE Corsair to get Epsilon?”
“Boone, Boone, Boone… You said it yourself… Epsilon is already dead. We need to stick together and kill Messor.”
Boone surged forward, appearing as if he was about to strike Malum, though Ryan’s arm shot up in a second and seized Boone’s. Slowly Ryan lowered Boone’s arm.
“Soon,” Ryan said plainly, trying to soothe Boone’s anger.
“Now, let’s get focused and stop Messor from escaping this place,” Malum said.
“What about Korth? Should we break off to go try to finish the real mission?” Ryan inquired.
“No. No, no, no, no, no. We are killing Messor, THEN we’ll finish the mission,” Malum replied bluntly.
I then looked back toward the Capital’s entrance nervously. Messor could be there any minute. When I saw movement I mentally braced myself, but then saw that it was not the lanky, silver-skinned Praetorians emerging, but rather large, brown creatures. The Tredecim were making a run for it themselves. Several of Malum’s Marine’s opened fire on the Tredecim.
Without a thought I ran toward them, hoping to stop the bloodshed.
“Stop! Wait, hold you fire! They are friendly!” I yelled out.
The troops stopped, looking toward me. Then I heard another voice.
“Don’t listen to him! Kill them all! No monsters leave here!” Malum screamed.
An earsplitting roar followed as the tank began gunning them down as well. I ran toward them again, wanting to place myself in the line of fire. I grew nearer to the stampede, bullets and tank shells flying past me.
“They are on OUR SIDE!” I screamed, my throat dry from watching them be massacred.
I then saw what appeared to be the scarred Tredecim. I moved near it, but as I was closing in, within meters, a tank shell collided with its torso. The explosion was great enough to knock me back over, Tredecim blood spattered over my visor. I eased myself back up out of the snow only to see a massive cavity dug into the chest of the scarred Tredecim who had represented to me all that was civilized about their species. He expressed their true beauty and ability to be more than mere savages. And yet it was us who ruthlessly killed them unprovoked.
“He killed them,” I murmured to myself as I brushed the snow off my armor.
Gazing around the desolate field of snow, I saw blood and bodies strewn from the Capital’s entrance nearly to the broken hole in the wall. Not a single Tredecim was standing. I could hardly believe what Malum had done.
Disgusted by Malum’s actions, as well as the soldiers around me who had blindly followed his lead, I walked back toward our group. When I once again neared the group, Ryan raised his hand and called out.
“Rangers, on me.”
We obliged, all four of us following his lead as he walked outside of earshot of Malum. When he stopped, he turned around sharply, a grim look on his face.
“James, Nev, Phil, Cass… I… I wanted to say that it has been an honor to serve alongside every one of you. We’ve been through thick and thin, and through it all we’ve always been a team… inseparable. Invincible. These conditions we’ve been faced with here on… Marzoc… they are beyond anything we’ve experienced before. They have cost us one of our own. I know you’re all tired. I know you’re all hungry. I know you are all ready for this mission to end…” Ryan paused, looking each one of us in the eye before continuing. “But just like that first mission on Enphuerzo, we can’t bug out whenever we want. We are stranded, and we have to earn our way out. We did it then, most of you untrained and unprepared for the situation we were in. This time we are as ready as we can be. Malum hasn’t made this easy on us, but we’re going to follow his command. We’re going to stop Messor.”
“Those Tredecim were on our side… they could have still helped us,” I said quietly.
“I know James. As soon as I saw them I knew they had to be the ones. But we can do this,” Ryan responded.
We all nodded, acknowledging what had to be done. Cassidy still looked distressed, holding her gun loosely and having yet to say a word since the incident.
“Check your ammo and let’s make it count,” Ryan said in c
onclusion, walking off toward the entrance to the Capital.
Phil and Nevin both reloaded their weapons, and I simply checked on how many clips I had for the H-81 and SR-4, knowing my supply of SF-42 rounds was drained. Then we each followed suit behind Ryan to await the engagement. Though we didn’t have long to wait. No sooner had we reached the Paladin I saw Messor and another team of Praetorians making their way up the ramp. I heard the roar of Malum’s Corsair taking off behind me to prepare for the fight. The supporting Praetorians opened up, tearing into Malum’s Marine support. Messor had his weapon on his back once more and his arms raised slightly from his sides.
Then I heard the distinctive sound of the Paladin’s 100mm cannon firing. A second later the sound repeated. What I then witnessed left me in awe. Messor’s arms, now fully extended, had each caught one of the tank shells, holding the sizable warheads in midair in front of him. As he did so his unit charged forward, quickly gaining ground on us. I rapidly regained my senses and swung my rifle to take a few shots, trying to drop a few of the Praetorians before they reached the tank. Messor casually dropped the two tank shells, neither having struck a target with sufficient speed to trigger their detonation. Several Praetorians were already to the tank and had jumped onto it, some firing toward us while one or two concentrated fire on the cockpit.
I tried desperately to pick them off, but to no avail. A hole was melted into the hatch and some sort of object was tossed inside. The Praetorians dove off as I fired my last round into the head of the one on the hatch. Seconds later an immense explosion blinded me. Even through my armor my ears were left ringing. When the smoke cleared, the Paladin was little more than a burning hull.
Snow erupted rapidly around the Praetorians who were still near the tank as both Corsairs opened fire with their chin-mounted guns. Messor then appeared at the top of the ramp, ascending onto the snow for the first time in ages. His weapon in one hand he opened up a spray toward one of the Corsairs, which after taking several glancing blows to the belly began to veer off, as if it were leaving the fight. I took this as a chance to drop Messor, while he was distracted.
I removed my SR-4 as quickly as I could and then crouched. I placed the Oracle scope over his head and squeezed the trigger as fast as I could. In a flash his hand shot up, activating its force field, and catching my bullet. His reflexes were clearly far superior to that of a human. I looked around, trying to get a read on everyone’s locations. Only a few Praetorians remained, though the ground was littered with the black-clad Elonian Marines. Only one seemed to remain standing. It was Boone, presently engaged in a hand-to-hand brawl with one of the Praetorians. I took the opportunity to help him, firing a 12.7mm round from the SR-4 through the Praetorian’s chest, causing Boone to spin from the sudden impact. He regained his balance and shot me a thumbs up.
Resuming my search I saw Nevin and Phil laying down fire on a few of the remaining Praetorians. Then I saw Ryan charging across the snow, his rifle held in one hand. Mere seconds passed and he dropped the rifle, then I realized what he was doing. He was repeating the tactic that I had used during my first Praetorian encounter.
He leaped forward, arms extended and tackled Messor, both him and Messor doing a complete roll across the ground. Ryan punched him twice before he drew his pistol. Messor’s arm shot up and activated the force field, sending Ryan’s arm flying upward and disarming him of his pistol.
I readied my SR-4 and fired a shot to try to assist Ryan, though Messor’s insane reflexes caught the bullet in the field. It seemed as if there was no way to beat him.
Ryan brought his fist back into Messor’s face once again before being knocked to the side by the creature. Messor returned to his feet swiftly, and then approached Ryan who tried to do the same. Ryan then pulled out his combat knife and moved in a quick thrusting motion toward Messor. The Praetorian grabbed hold of Ryan’s arm, twisted it back, then grabbed the combat knife. In a quick action, it shoved the knife through Ryan’s stomach with incredible force.
In response, Ryan head-butted Messor, then seized both of his arms tightly. In an instant I realized the opening. I peered back down my sight, calming myself as best I could. I lined up the silver skinned head, aiming for a spot not guarded by the helmet on his head. I breathed in, then held it. Slowly I squeezed the trigger. The crack of the gun was followed by a splatter of Praetorian blood from Messor’s skull.
Ryan stumbled back, both of his hands coming in toward his stomach as Messor’s body fell limply to the ground. I lowered my rifle and sprinted toward him. When I reached him, his gauntlets were covered with blood, and the knife was still inside of him.
“Ryan? You alright? Hang in there,” I said encouragingly, reaching for the knife.
Ryan placed one of his arms around me, leaning heavily on me. I eased him toward the ground slowly. I observed the wound, the knife thrust clear through the softer, more flexible portion of the power armor. I looked over toward the rest of the team, though they all seemed to be relaxing their guns. We had won.
“Nev! Guys! Get over here!” I called out. “Ryan’s hurt!”
The group reconvened from their various places on the battlefield to Ryan and I’s position. Observing Ryan’s face, he was growing pale, we had to do something.
“Phil, patch him up!” I ordered.
“10-4,” he replied, slinging off his pack with great haste.
Phil then knelt down, immediately gauging the wound, trying to conclude the damage as he pulled bandages from the pack. Already Ryan was looking bad, and I began to grow incredibly concerned for him.
“C’mon Phil, you’ve got him right? He’ll be good?” I asked hurriedly.
“Yeah, yeah… well, Gah, I do not know. Give me a few James,” he replied.
Phil slowly pulled out the knife, blood gushing out rapidly as he slipped it from the incision in the armor.
“Curse it! The Praetorian had to have nailed a fairly significant artery. He’s hemorrhaging real bad,” Phil said.
I knelt down beside the two. Ryan had yet to say anything.
“Ryan, you’re a Ranger. Remember. Inseparable, invincible, we can finish the mission!” I said intensely, my own face becoming strained to see Ryan this way.
“James…” Ryan mumbled, coughing blood onto the inside of his helmet. “You know… what needs to be done… It is up to you to finish the mission.”
“Ryan, hang in there,” I said, frantically glancing back at Phil, whose hands were moving as quick as he could to try to limit the bleeding.
“James… this is real war,” Ryan said, his eyes closing.
“Ryan, hey, listen… we’re doin’ this together. C’mon! Ryan?” I spat, moving his head slightly side to side.
I looked back over my shoulder at Nevin and Cass, both of whom looked as stricken by grief as I was. He was gone. Our most experienced soldier, our only pilot, our explosives expert, our jack-of-all-trades… our leader… was dead.
We were all silent, Phil taking his hands off the wound. There was no way to try to revive him in time, the armor over his chest was too thick. I remained there, kneeling, for quite some time, everyone staying in their positions. When I at last stood up, I looked back at our team. Three others stood in power armor, each damaged in its own way. Phil’s visor had been shot out, Nevin’s remained clawed up, and Cassidy has numerous marks across her armor from UED and Praetorians alike. My own visor still had claw marks of its own impairing some of my vision.
“Let’s go… We all suffer losses. We… we need to move on.”
“We should take his body… for proper burial,” Phil suggested quietly.
“No. We need to leave it. James is right, we all suffer losses, we just have to move on,” Nevin said, stepping up.
I gave a glance at Cass, thinking about what had happened to Max. Then I added more to Nevin’s point.
“I know what it is like to lose family. I know we are all family here, in our own way. As our numbers may dwindle, we still have those who are
left, and we always have the families of others to fight for. Then there are always those who might still be out there, perhaps alive, perhaps dead… but that hope can always live on,” I said, my thoughts drifting to my sister, Amanda, who I hadn’t seen or heard from in the revolutions after that fateful day.
Phil finally rose as well, leaving the body of our commander in the cool snow. He waved his arms toward the Corsair, and I took it as a symbol he was ready. I too joined in, and soon the Corsair moved over, parking itself beside our small team. Boone slowly approached us, having been watching from afar, avoiding any interference with our moment.
The Corsair lowered its back ramp, revealing that it was Malum’s Corsair that had abandoned the fight. We each stepped up and took seats in the back of the Corsair. We remained there for another minute, uncertain what to do next, when I decided to speak to the pilot. I rose and approached the doorway to the cockpit. With a simple knock, I proceeded to open the door. The pilot turned around, his face mostly obscured by his flight helmet.
“I’ve had no contact with Malum, he didn’t even say where he was going,” the pilot said.
“Boone, come here,” I said, waving Boone over from his seat.
“Yeah?” he asked casually.
“We need a plan. We haven’t heard anything from Malum, which for the moment means we’re in charge. I propo—“
“We? I’m in charge Ross,” Boone replied coolly.
“Right, uh, okay. But I was going to suggest that we take advantage of this time to try to save Epsilon, or to find the Vorgians and finish this.”
“This is our one chance to go back for Epsilon without that loathsome rat Malum barring our path. We’re taking it,” he replied.
“All right, then let’s roll,” I said, looking at the pilot.
He nodded and assumed the controls, sealing the back hatch and starting the Corsair’s ascent. The cockpit was tight, so I stepped out to let Boone in. He watched out the window in search of the structure that they had taken shelter in. We only had a general idea of its direction, and locating the structure could be difficult. Equipment on board the Corsair would certainly play its part though. As I looked around the hold of the aircraft, so few soldiers were still there. With Boone now up front, only the Rangers remained in the back. Nevin seemed to be in deep thought while Phil and Cass were using the time to try to catch up on some sleep, an understandable activity considering it had been well over a day since the last time we had slept. I too found myself thinking though, about everything we had been through and all the lives we had seen lost, and those we had taken ourselves.
The War Across the Stars Page 21