Warrior Chronicles 5: Warrior's Curse

by Shawn Jones

  “OORAH!” The shouts came from over a hundred and fifty Marines from various places around the compound. Every CONDOR appeared as a shimmering spectre as they rushed through gates and leapt over the fences surrounding the area.

  Cort directed his tachyon scanner toward what he assumed was the headquarters of the base. When the scan showed no humans, but dozens of lizards and an assortment of other aliens, he opened fire on the building. Charging his railgun to one-third power and firing continuously, the building was collapsing by the time he got to it.

  The few aliens who were able to escape the building during his onslaught were killed by Marines swarming the compound. Lace Havisim stood and ran, waving her arms, to the area Cort’s shots were coming from.

  “Sergeant Lace Havisim! Terran Battalion. Cease fire!”

  Cort scanned the area and since there was no resistance in the immediate area, he turned off his optical system so Havisim could see him. “You don’t give the orders, Sarge. I do. What is the situation here?”

  As Cort squatted down to make it easier for Havisim to look at him, she sobbed, “Sir, I wasn’t being raped. At least not by the man. The large reptiles are like Admiral Bazal. They control us. We’re being bred. Don’t kill the men! They don’t want it either.”

  “Bowtie! On me!” Cort ordered over the comm system. Looking back down at Havisim he cupped the HAWC’s massive hands around her to cover her nakedness and said, “I only targeted the one. We’re only killing aliens for now. Tell me what’s happened since you got here.”

  As Trask arrived, Havisim leaned on the HAWC’s gauntlet and cried as she pointed at one of the low buildings, “We arrived in that building. All of us were naked when we got here. General, there are people from a lot of different eras here. I mean, there are Huns, sir. Like Genghis Khan Huns!”

  “Back up, Sergeant. We’ll get to that. You arrived here naked. Start from there.”

  Bowtie sent Cort a message. She’s insane. We’ve found more of our people. I’ve got a shuttle bringing clothing and armor down.

  Havisim went on, holding up her arm to show an old cut that should have been healed in minutes. “We were immediately bled. They filtered out our synthetics and fed us a vile sludge. Then we were taken to the longer buildings. They are barracks. Every group that comes in is separated. They seem to have people from other human planets too, sir. Mostly outpost worlds. But they have thousands of us here. Humans I mean. I don’t know where the babies are taken.”

  “Babies?”

  Havisim was still crying, but she was staying focused. “I’ve only been here a few days but from what I gather, we are being bred. They take the pregnant women out immediately.”

  “Tell me about the Huns.” How the hell is she so calm about this? And the babies? Fuck.

  “There are people here from all eras of human history. I don’t know evolution that well, but I’m pretty sure I have seen Neanderthals.”

  Trask spoke over the comm. “She’s not insane. Not lying, sir. I’ve got CONDORs in the barracks now. We have confirmed prehistoric humans. This is unreal.”

  “How do they control your minds, Sarge?” Cort asked. Neanderthals can’t be here. The timeline isn’t right… Unless time isn’t constant here. What would that mean when it comes to getting home? Neanderthals? Fuck.

  “I don’t know. But it has to do with their eyes, I think. They can’t control us unless they can see us.”

  Trask said, “We’ve got shuttles from the Kalashnikov landing now, sir.”

  “Sarge, we’re going to take care of you and get you home.” As the words came out of Cort’s speakers, she fainted.

  “Start the evac. Get the rescuees up to the ship. I’m going to get on the horn with Quinn and have her start sweeping the city. Cut loose as many people as you can to help her. Call down some Derringers for air cover too. ”

  “What about the non-humans, sir?” Trask was pushed aside as a pair of medics moved to Havisim. When the medics had left with her, he added, “Not the aliens. I mean the Neanderthals. Echo squad has a building housing sixty-two of them. They are very agitated, but seem to understand we’re here to help.”

  “We’re taking back anyone we find. Burst the fleet to let them know what’s going on. Do you have a headcount yet?”

  “Nine hundred and counting, sir. I suspect we’ll be over two thousand here, and fleet just sent back that they’ve found two more facilities on other continents. Make that three more. George is working on what happened to our comm people.”

  “This has been too easy. If they can steal people from other universes, they should be able to stop us. Keep your guard up.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Cort commed George. “Is it safe to send down the Jaifans? We need more people on the ground, and I want to hit the other camps as soon as possible.”

  “Can you get me a sample of the enemy DNA, Father?”

  “Yeah, we’ll send a body up with one of the shuttles.”

  “I will begin printing some equipment to perform an autopsy. Once the shuttle is loaded, I should pilot it to my ship to prevent the risk of cross-contamination.”

  “Okay, and one more thing. Put on a FALCON. According to one of our rescued Marines, they only seem to be able to use their telepathy visually. So keep the active camouflage on and don’t take any risks.”

  “Yes, Father. I will keep a dead-man control on the airlock, so if I am compromised, everything in the ship will be spaced.”

  “Just make sure you are tethered.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Inform the fleet of your orders and get back to me as soon as you can. Ares out.”

  Next, Cort commed Bowtie and Blenda. “Bowtie, leave a squad, along with an equal number of empty CONDORs with me, then head out to the next nearest prison camp. Use a few shuttles and be ready for heavier resistance. What do you have, Blenda? Any activity?”

  “I’ve got nothing. No sign of unusual activity at all.”

  “Okay, keep eight three-man fire teams at the compass points to monitor the city. Divide the rest of your people between the two remaining camps. The rescue evac will have to wait long enough for you both to deploy your people. Clear the camps as soon as you can. Both of you keep your camo active and don’t let the enemy see you. Any questions?”

  “You’re spreading us pretty thin. If you’re right and there’s something else waiting for us, we should focus on one camp at a time.”

  “You’re right, Bowtie. But if they know we are here now, we need to rescue our people as quickly as possible. I’m calling down H’uum and the Jaifan shock troops now. They were immune to Bazal, so hopefully they are to the lizards, too. But I want human Marines at every base. If the prisoners see giant bugs storming the camps, it will bring an entirely new terror to them.”

  “But what about you, General?” Quinn asked. “Two squads and a HAWC? Is that enough?”

  “It will be. You forget that my railgun has a fractional mode. I can take out anything smaller than the Kalashnikov with a single shot.”

  “I still don’t like it, sir.”

  “You don’t have to,” Cort snapped. “You just have to follow orders, Colonel.”

  “Yes, sir. Blenda out.”

  Cort felt a little guilty for how he spoke to Quinn, remembering everything she had gone through. Remembering the first time he met her caused his eye to itch. The eye itself wasn’t fully formed yet, but the nerves were. Sometime in the next few days, Ceram would cut the eyelid and begin the final phase of regrowth. The thought of that made the eye itch even more, and with his arms strapped into the HAWCs torso, there wasn’t a damned thing Cort could do about it. Fucking karma.

  A few minutes after the Bowtie’s people left, Cort responded to an incoming comm from George. “How did you get an autopsy done that quickly?”

  “I have not received the body yet, Father. I wanted you to know that Colonel Faulks left more of her people nearby than you ordered her to. She left a platoon in place
between the compound and the city, in addition to the eight fire teams you ordered her to leave in place.”

  “Godsdammit! If she turns into another Kim, I’m going to space her!”

  Cort immediately realized what he had said. “Forget I said that, Son. Erase it from every part of you.”

  “Yes, Father. But why would you space the colonel for being like Mother?”

  “I wouldn’t George. You know that.” Cort thought for a moment, deciding how best to handle the can of worms he had opened. “While human men and women are equal, both genders still retain some basic differences. Your mom being here is the perfect example. Even though she didn’t need to, she came to this universe rather than be away from me. It wasn’t the smartest thing she could have done, but that’s her way. And I couldn’t order her to be any other way. Nor would I want to.”

  “Then why do you want Colonel Faulks to be different?”

  “I want Colonel Faulks to follow orders. She can’t second guess me. People could die that way.”

  “But it’s okay for Mother to disobey you?”

  “Kim is my mate. That changes the rules for interaction between a woman and a man.”

  “Perhaps Colonel Faulks wants to be your mate as well.”

  Oh fuck. Gods I hope not. “I doubt that George. But she still may think she knows what is best for me. I’m not going to make a big deal out of it while we are conducting this mission, but she will have to be corrected after it’s over.”

  “Why don’t you want to mate with Colonel Faulks? She is attractive to you, and clearly you are attractive to her.”

  This conversation is going sideways. Cort was about to ask why George thought he was attracted to Quinn when one of the remaining Marines commed him.

  “Just a minute, Son. This is Ares, go ahead.”

  “Sir, this is Corporal Voss. I’m an Alpha Company squad leader.” The corporal’s voice sounded strained.

  “I know who you are, Corporal. What do you need?”

  “We’ve just opened up the factory building. You need to come see this.”

  “What is it Corporal?”

  “You just have to see…”

  The next sound Cort recognized was that of Voss vomiting into his CONDOR helmet.

  Cort backed up to the door of the factory and squatted down in the HAWC. He disconnected from the suit and opened the ‘butt’ of the armor, then jumped out. A Marine in a CONDOR stumbled out the door and got her helmet off just in time to throw up on Cort’s feet. After she stood upright again and realized who was in front of her, she turned even more pale and was almost able to avoid Cort’s feet the second time her mouth erupted. Cort looked down at his legs, then at the Marine doubled over in front of him. He stepped around the retching woman and walked inside.

  All military discipline was gone inside the building. The Marines that weren’t vomiting or crying were viciously mutilating the corpses of lizards. Looking around and seeing he had been right about the building being a slaughterhouse, Cort knew there was nothing he could do to stop the Marines, so he commed George.

  “Son, lock down all the CONDORS at my location. Then patch me through to them.”

  Every CONDOR in the building, and some of the ones outside, froze in place. Momentum caused a few of them to topple over. “They are immobilized, Father.”

  Once the chatter on the comms stopped, Cort said, “This is Ares. I’ve seen inside the building. I know it’s bad. But right now, I need you to all remember your training. You are United…”

  Cort caught himself in the comfort of his own training from centuries past, and went on. “You are Ares Federation Marines. You are the most disciplined, effective, and deadly fighting force in two universes. Right now I need you to remember that discipline. I promise you, we will get ours. Here and now though, we need to put a stop to this. Let’s save the humans we can, and honor the ones we can’t. Remember. You are Marines.”

  George returned control of the CONDORs to their occupants and Cort began walked back into the building. He saw that his HAWC was much too large for the walkways and ceilings, but a FALCON was too small. So he went outside and found the pile of empty CONDORS. Once he found his personal CONDOR, set apart from the others by a quick-thinking Jaifan, he donned it and walked back toward the building. After taking a deep breath to settle his own nerves, Cort stepped inside the nightmare.

  Twelve

  Cort walked down a ramp that took him to the main level of the facility. He stepped onto a walkway that led between rows of small, automated beds. The occupied bassinets held young babies. He realized the abductions from Earth had been going on for a long time when he noticed distinct ethnicities among the children, including what appeared to him to be other species. He had only seen neanderthals in scientific renderings, but he suspected that was what some of the babies before him were. Don’t stop and stare, Cort. Stay stoic. I’m all that is keeping these Marines sane right now.

  He looked at the rows and rows of infants. Each bed had several overhanging arms that Cort couldn’t identify. There were three tubes in each bed as well. One was clear and filled with what Cort assumed was milk because of its nipple-shaped end. Another was attached to the babies’ arms, and the last terminated in a cup that was obviously for the removal of waste.

  “Ares to Fleet. Get medical teams down here now. To every one of these damnable places. Human or Jaifan, we need anyone with medical experience down here now. We need to get these babies out of here.”

  “Fleet to Ares. Repeat. Did you say babies?”

  “Affirmative. We have several hundred human babies at this location. I assume the same is true of the other targets. Get shuttles, ships, whatever down here to get people out. Coordinate with the other teams to prioritize transport.

  He stepped over a dead lizard and past the nursery area into the next section of the building. There were two squirming babies on a table. One had some sort of laser tattoo on both its forehead and its abdomen, and the other was under the presumed marker, which appeared to be bent. There was a partial tattoo on the second baby’s head.

  A Marine nearby said, “Sir, I broke it before it could mark her abdomen. We’ve stopped the conveyors where we knew it was safe to. It’s a lot worse further inside.”

  The young man’s voice sounded distant, almost mechanical. He’s turned off his emotions. Good. There’ll be time for emotions later.

  “Do you know what the arms over the beds are for?”

  “Sir, I’d guess they are some sort of device for touching or maybe massaging the babies. They were rubbing the babies when we first came inside.”

  Kobe beef. Fuck me. “Okay. I’ve got transport coming down for the ones that are still alive.”

  “Sir, there aren’t any live ones beyond here. It’s a meat processing plant.”

  “It’s a slaughterhouse. And the fucking lizards are going to pay for having humans in it.”

  “Sir, I hope so, General.”

  “I know so, Marine,” Cort replied as he went through a door to the next area.

  The real hell began beyond a wall that Cort supposed was to insulate the babies from the rest of the factory’s sounds. The first section appeared to be a stunning station. There were two prods that Cort guessed were to designed to touch the skull and the chest of each baby as they were processed. Just as with Terran livestock, the right shock humanely electrocuted the baby, inducing a grand mal seizure that rendered the still living child senseless. After the electrical shock, the twitching body was hoisted by one leg and sent sliding down a rail.

  Cort reached up with one hand and broke the chain fastened to one twitching body. He lifted the naked little boy and carried him back out to the Marine at the marking station. “This one might still be okay. Get him to medical as quick as you can.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Back in the processing area, Cort found the next body and broke its chains as well. Had the Marines known about how meat was processed in Cort’s time, they might
have known this one had also been savable if they had gotten him down soon enough. There’s no reason to add that guilt to their anguish. The he laid the fat little cherub on the work table as gently as possible. There were two babies further down the line there were dead without a doubt. They had been bled while alive, their own hearts pumping the blood out of holes in their necks, even as the hearts themselves slowly faded away.

  Cort looked at his HUD to verify it was recording video but not transmitting, and he made his way further down the line. At the next station, Cort first thought there was only one baby. A presumed neanderthal boy was hanging just over a brine of salt water, the rail sloping down into the bath. Cort’s helmet scanned the bath and confirmed his fear. Beneath the surface, there were two more bodies that had been in the bath since Marines first shut the facility down. After pulling the babies out of the scalding salt bath, he took a deep breath, fought his bile in a contest for control of his stomach, and went to the next work area.