The Resistance- The Complete Series

by Nathan Hystad

  “We could, but the lander’s a much more realistic test. The drones don’t use nearly as much power. If we’re going to get the Pilgrim out of that lake and into space, we need to know if the Suckers can be distracted or not.” Captain Heather Barkley sat back in her chair but instantly sprang to her feet as a proximity warning flashed on the massive viewscreen. “What’s happening?”

  Tsang answered, “A ship’s leaving from one of our hangars.”

  “What ship?” Barkley asked with a sharp edge to her voice.

  Tsang zoomed on it. It was the modified fighter Ace had brought on board, the one with which he’d stolen the Watcher from the Earth Fleet’s own Stellae.

  “Who the hell’s on it?” Barkley asked, but they wouldn’t know, not unless it replied to their communication attempt. “Hit the alarms. Send a communication! Now!”

  The alarms rang out, red lights flashing behind them on the bridge.

  “No response,” Tsang said. “Targeting fighter now. Ready to fire on your word.”

  A tense moment lingered over the bridge. Kat sat speechless; another man, who Wren hadn’t known was there, looked nervously to the viewscreen.

  “Fire,” Barkley said.

  The pulse beams shot forward, failing to strike anything as the Fleet fighter disappeared from sight.

  “It vanished,” Tsang said.

  Captain Barkley stood behind Kat, staring at the empty space before them. “It didn’t vanish. It Shifted. Damn it! Find out who was on that vessel, Harry, and find out now.”

  “I’m on it.” Harry Tsang was already searching camera feeds of the hangar, and Wren crossed the room to stand beside him. He scanned recent images of the hangar hallway, then inside the bay where the modified fighter still sat.

  “Cut to the live feeds,” Wren said, and Tsang did.

  “It can’t be. Captain, it shows the ship is still there,” Tsang said.

  “Then send someone to investigate now!” Barkley shouted, and Tsang was tapping his earpiece, giving orders to a nearby guard to check the hangar.

  Wren noticed a light flickering in the hangar. Charles had shown her a similar thing when he started looking into the tampered footage from the laboratory.

  “I know who took the ship,” Wren said quietly. No one seemed to hear her, so she spoke louder. “I know who took the ship!”

  All eyes flew to her, the captain with an impatient look across her face.

  “It was Benson,” Wren said.

  “Turn that damned noise off, Tsang,” Barkley said. The red flashing lights cut out, as did the repetitive whine of the alarm.

  “Incoming transmission from below. It’s the councilman,” the crew member beside Kat informed them.

  “Patch it through,” Barkley grumbled.

  “Heather, I hope all is well. I apologize for taking so long to get in touch with you. I was shot and was indisposed longer than intended. As you’re aware, we have an issue with using energy on the surface. Underwater, we’re safe from the Suckers, as the colony’s calling them. What’s your current situation?” Fairbanks’ voice was strong, but Wren thought something about him was off.

  Barkley paced now. “What’s our current situation? He’s left us out of it for three days and now he wants to know what we’re up to?”

  Wren walked over to the woman and spoke softly into her ear. “He chose you to lead. Jarden wanted to find his family. He’s tired, injured, and finally with his loved ones. It’s your turn, Captain.”

  Heather’s eyes began to water, and she sniffled back the incoming emotions, her jaw clenching. “Very well. Here’s my transmission.” She moved front and center and spoke loudly. “Jarden, we’re pleased to hear you’re on the mend. We know about these Suckers and are going to test getting to the surface. We have a device being lowered a few hundred kilometers away, with enough juice to distract the insects for a wide radius. With any luck, this will allow us a window to lower to Domum.”

  They waited a few moments, since communication through the beacon wasn’t instantaneous. “Be careful. We still don’t know much about them.”

  “Jarden, is your family well?” They were all waiting to hear the answer to this. Wren was curious as to what life was like down there, but she couldn’t leave her research, not while she was so close.

  “They’re fine, but I have to tell you all something else. It seems the Rift causes some disruption of time. The colony has only aged two years while on this side of the opening. We’ve heard theories of this type of thing, and now we have evidence. This means my family members are far younger than I am. I’m thrilled they have so much of their lives left.” No one spoke as Jarden told them the news.

  “Why didn’t anyone tell us before?” Barkley asked the crew, withholding the question to the surface. “Two years. That means that back home, weeks, maybe months have already passed.” Wren watched as the captain’s eyes widened, and she knew a light bulb had gone off.

  Heather was now speaking to Fairbanks. “That means the Rift will open in a year on this side. We can go back and help the invasion.”

  They awaited the reply, and Wren considered this. They could actually help. She’d thought they might be able to make a virus, wipe out the Watchers at their home, and stop them from sending more vessels to attack in thirty years. But now, she’d found out they had less than a year to prepare. What did this mean for them?

  “Heather, listen to me,” Fairbanks said. “We can’t help turn the tide. We aren’t a Fleet of fighters. We’re in a colony exploration vessel with limited capabilities. We have a world down here to settle, and isn’t that what’s best for the human race?” His words surprised even Wren.

  Captain Barkley was turning red in the face. “Limited capabilities, my ass. This thing has more firepower than any carrier or corvette I’ve ever seen.” She tapped an icon and spoke into it, her voice calmer than it had been when she’d addressed the bridge crew moments earlier. “Jarden, I understand your viewpoint, but as captain of this ship, I will not stand by idly while Earth is destroyed. Thirty years or not, we will return and fight for them. Will the Pilgrim be joining us?” Captain Barkley tapped a finger on the console in a controlled rhythm while waiting for her benefactor to answer.

  “Very well. Captain Aldene Hawk of the Pilgrim agrees to join your crusade. But note that not everyone will be leaving Domum when she heads into space.” Jarden didn’t say if he was included in that bunch, but Wren had a feeling he wasn’t going to be coming with them.

  Tsang waved a hand at the captain. “The hangar’s empty, and Benson is nowhere to be found.”

  “Find out where he was going,” Heather said. “He had to have left behind a clue.”

  Wren was seeing another Captain Heather Barkley, one she didn’t want to get on the wrong side of. She wanted to tell Heather about Benson’s efforts to hide a visit with the Watcher, but would wait for a better time. There was enough on her mind at the moment, and she didn’t quite know who to trust.

  The discussion with Jarden changed to their plan to get to the surface, and soon everything was in order.

  “Who’s piloting the ship down to the surface?” Jarden asked.

  “I don’t know yet. I hate to ask any of these people to endanger…” Barkley was cut off as Kat turned around in her seat.

  Kat raised her hand. “I’ll do it.”

  Flint

  Flint had spent the past few nights on board the Pilgrim at the bottom of the lake, so when he was given the opportunity to go aboveground, he jumped at it. Today was the day the Eureka was sending down a lander and testing the energy impulse device they’d created.

  He was impressed with how quickly they’d manufactured it, but Jarden would have brought the best engineering crew he could. With the help of robotic arms doing the physical manufacturing, they’d be able to work wonders.

  Flint hadn’t been fully filled in, but it sounded like the device would pulse, using a controlled thermonuclear energy. It was all well beyond Fli
nt’s capacity, but he’d be happy to see if it worked. They told him a pilot was heading down in the lander, but they’d taken extra precautions, and would be ready to eject if needed.

  Karl had arrived at the lakeside, where Flint stepped off the underwater transport ship, his old boots happy to be landing on solid ground. Even though he’d spent most of his life on a spaceship, there was something off-putting about being underwater instead of in space.

  “Good morning, Flint. Glad you could join us. We’re about to head to the rendezvous spot.” Karl extended his hand, and Flint shook it. He liked the affable, bearded man. Instinctively, his hand went to his own chin, noticing he hadn’t shaved in some time himself.

  “Glad to be here. Are we taking the cart again?” Flint saw one of the pedal carts nearby, resting beside the tall wooden fence.

  “We are. Care to do some of the work with me?” Karl asked.

  “Sure. It’d be good to get a little exercise. Who else is joining us?” Flint asked, and noticed Bull stalking toward them. “Hey, Bull. Coming for the ride?”

  The big man smiled warmly. He had a rifle slung over his shoulder. “You know it.”

  “You’re not going to shoot anyone this time, are you?” Flint asked, glancing at the gun.

  “That was Jane. I only do that if they deserve it.” From the look in Bull’s eyes, Flint guessed he might not be joking. But he flashed another grin at Flint, and the tension melted.

  “Where’s Bree? I thought she came up here,” Flint asked after the guard. She’d been upset when Jarden had told her to find another duty. He didn’t need protection among his family down below, so she’d raced to the surface the next trip up.

  “They’re hunting,” Karl said.

  “Hunting what?” Flint remembered the glowing eyes in the dead of night when they’d first landed.

  “We call them Wendigos, though they’re far less scary than the old legends. But they have horns and can walk on two legs. They’ve caused some trouble.” Karl’s gaze went distant for a second before snapping back to look at Flint. “We lost a few people when we first started to build the fence. Now we keep watch and set controlled fires in pits to keep them away. Seems to work. I guess they sighted a large pack of them yesterday. Twenty or so.”

  Flint didn’t like the sounds of that. Under normal circumstances, they could send attack drones out to take care of the problem, but on this backwater world, it was bullets or spears. He nearly asked for a gun but decided they’d offer one if it was necessary. “How big are they?”

  “Probably weigh as much as you, but they’re longer, thinner,” Bull answered. “Arms stretch to the ground. They’re kind of knuckle draggers.”

  “Knuckle draggers.” Flint tried the name on his tongue and found it bitter.

  “Let’s go. The lander’s due to drop in an hour.” Karl led them to the cart and Flint hopped up, settling into the seat on the left. He could pedal from here.

  Flint found the pedaling easier than expected and mentally saluted the inventors of the cart. Karl steered as Bull sat on the bench behind them, his rifle over his knees, ready to use it if necessary.

  The sun was out, peering through wispy clouds, and Flint found himself sweating before they made it to the large gate, which swung open wide upon their arrival.

  “Be careful. The Wendigos have been close. We spotted their eyes all night. Tracy thinks she tracked them to a nest, so that’s where group one went this morning,” a man told Karl. He was skinny, beads of sweat dripping down his tightly-pulled forehead.

  “Thank you. We’ll watch out for them,” Karl said, and they continued pedaling, sending the four-wheeled cart forward and beyond the safety of the colony walls. “The Wendigos rarely come out during the day, so we hunt them then.”

  “Like vampires,” Flint joked.

  “Like vampires,” Bull said from behind him, with no hint of humor on his voice.

  Flint had been so distracted in arriving last time, he’d failed to notice the large fruit-bearing trees lining the pathway leading to the small colony. “Are these edible?”

  Karl nodded, so Flint reached a hand out to grab the foreign fruit. The exterior was firm, and Bull passed him a knife.

  “Hard to get into. This’ll help. Most we can compare it to is a dragon fruit, or whatever Jane called them,” Bull said from behind him. Flint kept pedaling as he worked the knife over the peel, getting to the meat inside. Juice ran stickily down his hands, and he tried a chunk of the pink flesh. It tasted unlike anything he’d been expecting.

  “It’s bitter,” he said.

  “Didn’t say they were good, just that you can eat them,” Karl spat. So that was how it was going to be.

  Just to prove he didn’t care, Flint kept eating it, tossing the rinds over the side. He wiped his hands on his uniform pants. They were Earth Fleet’s anyway.

  “We’re heading to an opening in the forest to the west. It’s not very far,” Karl said before two quick gunshots rang out nearby.

  “Which way?” Karl asked, and Bull was standing, his hand going to his forehead like a sailor on a crow’s-nest, searching for land.

  “Over there!” He pointed north of their position. Karl was already springing out of his seat. He headed to the rear of the cart and opened a hidden door, revealing more guns. He tossed a rifle to Flint, who deftly caught it. He’d never been much of a hunter, but he’d been trained with a wide variety of weaponry in the Fleet. These were old models; archaic, even. Flint wondered if they’d been brought along to hunt game on the colony world. Stunners had no range, and you didn’t want to use pulse beams on wildlife. You’d burn the meat. Bullets were old technology, but they were still the way to take down an animal when necessary.

  “It’s loaded. You see a Wendigo, you point and shoot.” Karl was off, running like a man possessed. Bull was behind him, and Flint propelled forward to catch up.

  They heard more gunshots, closer now. Flint ran until his chest burned, air pressing in and out of his lungs with each exasperating step. It must have been two kilometers by the time they saw the other humans. They were walking backwards, heading away from a twenty-foot-tall hill, thick trees covering the ground between them and Flint.

  He didn’t see Bree among them.

  “Spread out. The Wendigos must have attacked. They probably live on the other side of that hill.” Bull was aiming his rifle at the knoll and walking steadily toward it.

  “What happened?” Karl asked the five people. Two of them were limping, and Flint noticed a wide man carrying a woman in his arms. She was bleeding from the head, and Flint didn’t think the prognosis was good.

  “We found a lair. Ten of the creatures were sleeping inside. This is closer than they’ve been in a long time, so we wanted to make an example of them.” The woman speaking had dirty streaks running down her face, her shirt and pants torn in multiple spots. “We started a fire, but they were asleep. I think it was a trap. They killed three of us before we had a chance.”

  “Where’s Bree?” Flint asked, not wanting to believe she was gone so easily.

  “I don’t know. We got separated,” the woman answered.

  “I’m going in. Karl, you get this group back to the cart. Bull, with me,” Flint said.

  Karl looked at him, smiled, and went to help with the unconscious woman.

  “How many did you take down?” Flint asked as they started toward the hill.

  “Seven. There are still three out there. Maybe more if they called their friends,” the woman said.

  “Two against three. Not bad odds,” Bull said.

  Flint held up his rifle. “We’re the ones with the guns.”

  “You haven’t seen them yet. Be careful. They’re fast. Makes shooting hard,” Bull said, sounding like he had a wealth of experience.

  Flint knew they themselves were the invaders, but eventually, the Wendigos would learn to stay away from humans, just like most animals had over the course of Earth’s history. Still, before most of th
em went extinct, there were things like tigers and lions that would attack and kill people. They would forever have to be cautious of the Wendigos, and likely of any other creatures on this world.

  Flint didn’t care. He was going to see if Bree was alive and then get out of here. The ground was hard, and Flint kept an eye on it, stepping over tree roots and through tall brush. Bull was beside him, making even more noise than Flint was. So much for the stealthy approach.

  They arrived at the hill, and Flint motioned for Bull to go around the other side while he took the area close by. Flint raised the rifle, his finger pressing ever-so-lightly on the trigger, careful not to accidentally fire a round and give away his position.

  The hill was covered in cerulean grass. Flint ran a hand over it, feeling the coarse sward between his fingers, and he waited. Around the bend, he heard a noise unlike anything he’d ever listened to before. He closed his eyes for a second, imagining a ten-foot-high animal on the other side of the mound, with the horns of a demon, and smoke flowing from the beast’s flaring nostrils.

  When he stepped around the edge, he sighted the creature. He was a little disappointed it wasn’t a real Wendigo from American folklore, but was happy to see the animal go down when he fired a bullet into its wide skull.

  Bull appeared just as another ran into view, and he fired twice, striking the beast in the chest and stomach. Flint walked deeper into the nest and saw various bones littered around the area, some fresh and quite human in appearance. This was where the recent missing people had gone.

  A scream carried to Flint’s ears from beyond the Wendigos’ nest. “Bree.”

  Flint walked over to the dead animal and cringed. Skin pulled tight over a wide face, where it fell in folds along the chest and sides, its arms thin and long. Bony elbows protruded sharply, leading to long clawed fingers.

  As if that wasn’t bad enough, the smell coming from the thing was almost enough to put Flint on his back. He threw an arm up to cover his mouth and nose, and kept the rifle up with his right hand.

  “I’m coming, Bree,” his muffled voice said.