by Rod Carstens
"We could use some help," Liya said.
Gras and Bien both jumped in and each grabbed an arm. With Nani and Hu on her legs Liya climbed on her chest. The five Marines finally had the girl pinned to the floor. Before any of them could begin to organize a way to control her the girl grabbed Retig's rail pistol off his vest. She fired point blank into Retig’s chest; the rail's slug blew him back to the floor. There was a round hole in his chest armor. Liya dove for the arm with the rail but the girl was too quick. She was aiming at Nani's helmet when Taro shot her through the head. Brains and blood splattered all over Liya.
She rolled off the girl and went to Retig. She used her med pack to jack into his armors medical system. Liya scrolled through his vitals and the medical system. He was a yellow. The round had gone straight through his heart. The suit had the temperature of his brain down and was oxygenating his body well. He was stable. The suit would keep him alive until he got a new one on the Tarawa. Liya charged his suit with additional drugs from her med pack to make sure the armor had enough drugs to control his injuries long enough to be transported.
When she finally turned away from Retig she found Nani and Hu sitting on the floor just staring at the dead girl. Taro was standing over the body. The children in the cage had grown even louder.
"Will he make it?" Taro asked.
"Yeah, LT but he is going to need a new heart."
Taro turned and looked at the cage of children. Liya knew what he was thinking. How many more of his Marines were worth trying to get these children back to the Tarawa?
"Goddamn it." Taro snapped. "Liya talk to me. Is there another way? Drugs? Something?"
Liya turned back to the children and watched them for several moments. Whatever had been done to them had made them incredibly strong and quick; and completely devoid of humanity. She had no idea if they were more Xotoli than human or what they were. She had a feeling that they were somewhere in between, with the worst of both mixed together. Given the fact they didn't have a human physiology, she had no idea what it would take to knock them out. They couldn't muscle them out to a SOC for transport they'd already lost a man trying.
"I don't know." Liya replied. " I just don't know."
"Well, those are our orders we have to try." Taro said as if he were trying to convince himself.
"Even if we did get them to the Tarawa and back to Rift, our scientists would study them and may try to reverse what was done to them. They would only suffer more," Liya explained. "I've studied enough alien biology since Rift to know we’re not even close to being able to help these kids. The guys in the white coats would only be guessing, and it’s doubtful after all their studying if they would be any closer than we are now in understanding how a hybrid works. Who cares anyway? It's the Xotoli that we want."
"How do you know what they would do?" Taro said.
"Remember, they brought me in to work on the bodies from Rift. I know what they understand." Liya had been part of the team of corpsmen assigned to the investigation of hybrid bodies on Rift. She knew exactly how much they understood. Liya might not have been a doctor, but she knew her medicine, and she had learned a lot over those months on Rift.
Taro stared at the children in the cages, then turned and looked at Bien. his suit's medical shoulder pads were pulsating as they worked to keep his body alive. Taro switched his comm to the command frequency and left the outside speakers on so everyone could hear what he was about to say.
"Taro to Regen."
"Regen here. Go."
"I need a video conference with you and the Major."
"Roger. Stand by."
"Regen to Taro it set up. Go."
"We just tried to extract one of the children. This is what happened."
Liya watched Taro body language. It was all you could do when someone was in armor; you couldn't see their face. He appeared to straighten up as the video played, it was as if he was steeling himself for what he was about to do.
"Fuck!" Regen said.
"What do you want to do Lieutenant?" Major Aijuba said.
There was a long silence. Liya saw Taro's back straighten even more.
"Put them out of their misery. Take all the drugs and other stuff we can lay hands on and let the scientists study our video. I've already lost one man trying I can't afford to loose another." Taro said.
"Fuck me," Nani said.
"Gou Shi," Hu added.
"Wa Cao," Liya whispered.
"Let me see that video again," Major Aijuba said.
There was total silence for some time in the room. Each man and woman was lost in their own thoughts. They were thinking of what Taro’s words meant. After several moments that seemed like hours, with the children making those horrible non-human noises in the background, Aijuba finally said.
"I concur Lieutenant. Pick your people carefully. Let me know if you need anything else."
"Roger, Taro out."
"You need any more people?" Regen asked.
"Negative. I've got good people here."
Lieutenant Taro said nothing. He had been one of the toughest and most experienced sergeants in the legion before they had made him a lieutenant when the Marine Corp was formed. He viewed things through the eyes of an enlisted man, the ones on the tip of the spear. They were the men and women who did the killing and had to live with what they had done. This was as bad as it got. This decision, no matter what he decided, would be one that haunted them all from this day forward. Liya knew what was going through his mind. This was not a decision anyone wanted to make or live with.
Sergeant Kifle Elias, the platoon sergeant, walked into the room. She took one look and said, "Those fucking kaks!"
Even in her armor, her shoulders slumped. Then she pulled herself up and said, "LT, the guys from second platoon are here. I'll have them hold outside until...."
"Good, Gras, get Bien out of here. I only want NCOs in the room."
Lieutenant Taro stood silent until Elias returned. "Everyone hinge."
Everyone hinged their helmets back so they could all see each other’s faces. Liya looked from one to the other. They all appeared like men and women facing a horrible situation with no way out. Their hair was plastered to their heads with sweat, and their eyes were red rimmed with fatigue and the strain of flipping through all of the various vision filters. The only sound was the children growling and chirping behind them.
"Elias, we tried to take one of the children out of the cage so we could transport it to the Tarawa. We lost Retig just trying to move one of them. It is my opinion , Major Aijuba and General Sand agrees that the best solution is to put them out of their misery."
Elias face looked sad instead of shocked. She shook her head to show she understood.
"You all know what that means. Is everybody on board? If anyone says they want out I would absolutely agree and it will not be held against you."
No one said anything. Liya saw Hu look over at Nani's beautiful hard face. Her eyes were cold and dark and held more knowledge of bad in the universe than good. She returned his gaze, then looked at Liya, and gave the smallest of nods. Hu nodded too. Elias only shook her head, her face sad.
"Okay, everyone prepare yourselves. Make sure every shot counts. I want no wounded." Taro snapped.
Liya pulled out her rail pistol, but she realized she just couldn't start shooting. She felt the need to say something to them. Maybe somewhere in that terrible place they were in, something might get through.
"Give me a minute, will you?" Liya said.
Taro nodded.
She walked over to the cages where the children were excitedly making those strange noises and reaching through the bars, trying to grab her with monstrously deformed hands. She stood, staring at the strange half-human, half-Xotoli medical experiments. She had no idea what she was going to say until she starting speaking.
"Sweet babies, I know you hurt. I can feel it. This will make it better. I’m so sorry we didn’t get here in time to prevent this, but d
on't worry. We’re gonna hurt the bad things that hurt you. We’re gonna make them pay for what they’ve done to you."
"Why is she talking to them?" Elias asked.
"When we were on Rift and she was treating Nani, she told me the last thing to go is someone’s hearing. I guess she thinks that somewhere they can still understand," Hu said.
Taro was quiet for a moment, and then he said, "Good."
"Okay. I'm finished. Let me go first."
"No, Liya." Taro walked over to her and took her pistol.
"I don't want you to do it."
"But I can, Lieutenant, just like the others."
"No, Liya, you will not take part. I need the part of you that takes care of my Marines whole. This will take part of that away. You've done enough. Now step aside."
Hu, with the rest of the NCOs and the lieutenant, formed a line in front of the cages. Liya stood behind them. The only sound was bolts slamming home as each checked their weapons.
"Everybody ready?" Taro asked.
There was a chorus of quiet yesses. Taro raised his pistol and carefully took aim. He killed the girl with a baby face first. Her head disappeared in a fine mist of blood. Hu chose a boy for his first shot and fired. The boy was faster than Hu had expected, and he caught it in the shoulder. It let out a scream that went to the center of Hu's being. He flipped his 48 to auto and fired a full clip into the twisted, grotesque body of the boy. He disappeared into pieces and splashes of blood. The others continued to fire until all of the children were no longer recognizable as bodies. No one said a word. They all stood, staring at the carnage. Not a single body was intact. Nani put a hand on Liya's shoulder. She looked at her and saw something that she thought she would never see from her old friend, Nani. A tear was trickling down her cheek. Liya nodded, wiping away her own tears. The lieutenant broke the silence.
"Okay, Liya get to work. Take all of the drugs and anything else you think is important."
Before Liya moved she walked over to Taro and said.
"Thank you, you were right. I would not be same if I had done that."
Taro could only nod.
"Elias, get the second squad in here and get to work on those computers. Borges, grab everything you think is important, and if you need help carrying everything, shout. Nani, get the rest of your squad and finish clearing the dome."
"Roger that," Liya said. She grabbed both the Xotoli medicines as well as the human ones. It was obvious to her that they were trying a mixture of the two. Once she had all of those in a dump sack, Liya turned to the medical cabinets and began grabbing any other items that might prove important.
Liya focused on the medicines as she heard Nani say, "Check, LT. First squad on me."
Liya watched over her shoulder as the rest of the Marines left the room. She was left alone with the dead children. There was not sound except for the distant roar of the battle outside. She hinged her helmet down. It put some distance between her and her surroundings, and then she went back to searching the infirmary.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Xotoli Outpost
Exoplanet 1123.567
Von Fleet Planet 701
Geosynchronous Orbit
Landing Ship Dock
Tarawa
1st Marine Raider Battalion
Combat Information Center
Lieutenant Mai Netis had been listening to the ship-to-ship communication between the Pollux and the Tokyo. Her job was to monitor Naval and Marine communications and combat displays to keep the situational awareness up to date. Situational awareness, or SA, was such a simple phrase for what was a complex and challenging job. SA was simply understanding what was happening and what was important for the general to know. An easy sounding job until you understood that there were thousands of sensors, readouts, communications, unit positions, enemy activity, and more to monitor and sort. Then once you had the information, you had to sort and prioritize it all and display the most important information. Given the battle was in a constant state of flux, this was more than challenging. Mai loved the challenge.
She had been assigned as the battle captain for the Emergency Combat Information Center the day the Xotoli had attacked Rift. That meant she had been Admiral Raurk's battle captain during the invasion. It was the most challenging and satisfying day of her life. To keep the commander of both naval and ground forces up to date on the most important battle in human history had been a life-changing event.
The admiral had awarded her for her performance and given her a promotion. She had also assigned her to General Sand's staff. Admiral Raurk had said, "Your talents will be needed to keep the Navy and Marines on the same page, and I can think of no better place than as General Sand's naval liaison and battle captain." So Mai now sat in the Marine Combat Information Center on the Tarawa, monitoring the Naval and Marine forces.
"General," Netis said.
"Yes, Lieutenant," Sand replied.
"Uh, one of the destroyers just requested the fighters check out a signal a sensor is picking up."
"Yes, go ahead."
"The captain is having a combat patrol go ahead and check it out."
Lieutenant Netis turned around from her station to address Sand directly.
"Sir, the captain of the destroyer was on the Capella at Rift. He is Zula Temesgen. Uh, I don't know how to say this."
"Spit it out, Lieutenant. That’s what I'm paying you for," Sand said sharply.
Lieutenant Netis looked around at the other officers and men in the command center. She cleared her throat before she said, "Sir, I think he’s right. I would trust him. After Rift, I got to know him well. He was trained and fought under Captain Grogen. He was taught to trust his instincts."
She knew him all right; if he was concerned, then the captain was concerned. They had met at one of the dozens of after action debriefings after Rift. They had immediately hit it off and spent as much of their off duty hours together as possible, mostly in bed. She had come to not only care about Zula, but to respect his opinion and judgment. It worried her that he was concerned. She had feeling that he was right.
"If he’s right, what could it be? Not the Xotoli."
"Sir, I can't speak for him, but if I were to guess that is exactly what he and the captain think the signal is. He wouldn’t have asked for the combat patrol to be diverted if he didn’t think it was serious enough. That would put a Xotoli force heading our direction while we still have troops on the planet surface. Sir, you might consider beginning to plan an emergency extract."
Sand stared at Netis for a long moment, absorbing what she was saying.
"That’s not much to go on for that kind of change in our operational tempo, Lieutenant."
"Yes, sir. But as I said, I would trust Lieutenant Commander Temesgen."
"How long before we would know with a degree of certainty?"
"The combat patrol would take a couple hours or more, sir. It would all depend on the speed of the target."
Sand glanced at the mission clock that would put them halfway through the mission with all of his troops still engaged and on the ground.
"You keep me informed of other traffic concerning anything to do with the Pollux or contacts."
"Yes, sir."
He looked over at his Naval Special Warfare Squadron Officer. "Lieutenant Chuto, where are the SOCs in their turn around?"
"General, we have about half of them on board for rearming. The other half is still planetside, providing close support to the ground forces."
"How long would an emergency extract take if I had to order one?"
Lieutenant Chuto turned to his display and began to punch in numbers. He took a long time before he answered. "I could have them out of there in two hours with three quarters of my ships. Major Aijuba has not committed her third company. They are still on board and loaded. All we would have to do is unload them and use those ships for the extraction. With that number of ships, we would not have to have specific pick up points. We could go to the troo
ps."
"What would the other third be used for?"
"Given this would be an emergency extract, I assumed the troops would still be in contact. The other third of my ships would have to provide cover so the ships could make their pick ups."
Sand got a knot in his stomach. Something was out there. He had a feeling Temesgen was right.
"Lieutenant, keep a good situational awareness of your assets and the troop positions. We may have to switch gears. Grab anybody you need."
"Aye, aye, sir.'
The lieutenant motioned to two other staff members, and they came to his station. He pressed a button on his console and two more navy types came into the room and reported to his station. Soon, there was a knot of men and women working the problem. Sand hoped that he wouldn’t need them, but God help them all if he did.
CHAPTER NINE
Sol
Planet Earth
City State of New York
Confederation Senate Building
Armed Forces Oversight Committee
Rift Investigation Committee
Senator Lia Katte was the only representative from Ceti who happened to be on Earth when the Xotoli attacked. A whole system’s representation now rested on her shoulders. The others representatives were now in the Xotoli’s hands. She didn’t look her usual confident self. She looked tired and worn under the responsibilities of her new post. Usiche had no idea what to expect from the senator. If it were her, the questioning might be very pointed.
"Admiral Raurk, I’m not as interested in blame for the attack as I am in who and what are the Xotoli. It has been almost a year. What can you tell this committee about the Xotoli?"
Usiche took a deep breath. Not many knew how truly ruthless and cruel the Xotoli were. Now she had to explain their savagery to someone who had family and friends under their control.
"Senator, we still know almost nothing about the Xotoli. As you know, they use human/Xotoli hybrids to fight the war. After Rift, our scientists have been examining as many of the hybrid’s bodies as we could find. The Xotoli, when they retreated from Rift, triggered a destruct program built into each hybrid’s armor, and the vast majority of the bodies were blown apart. But we were able to recover a few. There are two types of hybrids: ones similar to the one who tried to kill me in the command center and those that fight in the field. The one who attacked my headquarters is almost indistinguishable from a human without an autopsy. She looked, talked, and acted like a human until it was time for her to act. I would like you to see a video I brought. It’s a recording of the attack that has not been seen outside of military circles. I must warn you, it is graphic."