Edge of the Vortex

by Donald B McFarlane

  Keegan could feel the train coming to a halt, and grabbed his winter coat, and helped Ryan into hers. “Ready?” He asked.

  She smiled and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “Of course.”

  Keegan turned towards the mass of local and alien troops that were geared up. “Captain.” He waved over Joyce, and Hulo followed on his heels. “I’d suggest we take it slowly here. No need to upset the locals. A lot more people here than in that last town.”

  The captain nodded.

  “Once we get off the train, off-worlders last.” He looked at Hulo. “No offence.”

  Hulo dipped his head in agreement.

  “We move to the closest major road and try and get our bearings. The train conductor seemed to remember that the airport was on the north side of town, and we’re pulling into the south side.” Keegan bent forward and noticed that the train was barely moving. Standing back up, he locked eyes with Hulo. “Any final thoughts?”

  “None.” The alien replied in his lispy reptilian tone.

  “Very well.” Keegan zipped up his coat and looked over to Ryan. “Shall we?” He asked with a smile on his face.

  Ryan put out her hand, which Keegan took, and the pair walked over to the primary hatch to exit the compartment.

  As soon as the door was open, the cold air rushed in, sending a shiver down Keegan’s spine. Looking left and right as a habit, Keegan checked that there weren’t any other trains moving about the large rail yard, then stepped down the two metal supports until he reached the snow-covered ground. Taking a few steps away from the train, Keegan looked over the yard which was as silent as could be expected.

  Waiting for the rest of the passengers to disembark, Keegan walked to the front of the train and gave the two engineers a final wave. Looking back to the rear of the train, Keegan could tell that Joyce was already leading his troops out to the left side of the train, in the direction of the airport, and out of the rail yard. Giving the engineers another wave, Keegan walked to the rear of the train, turned right and walked up to the empty looking VIA Rail Canada building that was just next to where the train stopped.

  The Canadian troops had formed two files along either side of the road, with the Alliance soldiers taking up the rear. Joyce and Hulo were standing in the middle of the road, along with Ryan. Keegan walked up to the front where Joyce was standing.

  “What do you think?”

  “Looks like a neighbourhood ahead.” He pointed to some houses that were roughly one hundred metres from where they were standing and across a road that ran left to right at the end of the rail yard grounds.

  “Well,” Keegan shrugged his shoulders. “We might as well get going.” He said and started walking up the road. Looking towards the sky, Keegan was pleased to see that there wasn’t a cloud in sight and that there was only a light breeze. Ideal conditions he hoped for their air transport. He had no way of knowing how they would have gotten on flying south, he didn’t know a thing about flying. Just being flown.

  Reaching the main road that ran at the end of the rail depot, Keegan was not surprised to see how quiet it was. The street, Burma Road, thanks to the closest street sign, was covered in a few inches of snow, but still had numerous tire tracks running over the fine powder. Someone had gotten their cars working after the EMP blast, Keegan thought to himself.

  Ryan was standing next to him and walked out into the middle of the road.

  “Do you hear that?” She asked, turning 360 degrees, one ear tilted up to the sky.

  Keegan shook his head. “No.”

  Star Guard Hulo walked up next to Dr Beck. “Your wife is correct. There is a large social gathering in that direction.” He pointed with his gloved hand towards the left of where the service road met Burma.

  Keegan looked at the armoured alien. “Are you certain?”

  Hulo turned his head towards the doctor. “Very. My suit is able to detect the faintest noises at range.”

  Keegan pursed his lips and looked at his wife. “Looks like you were right.”

  Ryan smiled. “Happens all the time.”

  Keegan rolled his eyes and looked at Captain Joyce who had joined them on the road. “Shall we take a walk over, see what the commotion is? Maybe wrangle some transportation.”

  Joyce nodded. “A good idea.” He looked over to the Star Guard. “Perhaps you and your men should cover our six.”

  Keegan looked at Hulo. He knew it was a polite way of saying ‘you need to stay in the rear.’

  “Agreed.” Hulo said, then quickly stepped off and redeployed his forces.

  Joyce looked at Keegan. “Shall we go for a walk?”

  “After you.” Keegan said.

  Joyce smiled. “Right boys. Helmets off. Berets on. Relax, and don’t shoot any civilians!”

  “Try not to, Sir!” Sergeant Wilson barked back.

  The comment drew a laugh from the soldiers.

  Keegan couldn’t help but smile. It felt like they were finally out of danger. It was now just a case of getting to the airport and getting to the Tohil headquarters.

  Turning left onto Burma Road, Keegan followed Captain Joyce while holding hands with his wife. A pleasant stroll down the middle of a quiet street during the winter, he thought to himself. The closer they got to the nearest intersection, he could start to hear the commotion that Ryan had noticed earlier. Voices in the distance coupled with the occasional clang of two objects smacking into each other became apparent the closer they got.

  Reaching the intersection, Chappell Drive, Keegan looked to the north and spotted a large white building that was doing its best to blend into the environment as possible fifty metres up the road. Joyce didn’t stop walking as he turned towards the building which had several cars and truck parked outside. His men were walking casually for the first time. Rifles were mostly slung over their shoulders while their heads stayed on a swivel, looking around their rather drab and unimpressive surroundings.

  As Keegan got closer to the building, the noises from within became more distinct, and when they finally reached the front of the building, Keegan couldn’t help but notice the sign on the front of the building. CN Curling Club.

  “Curling?” He said out loud. He looked over to Joyce who was smiling. “What do you think?”

  “I think we should go inside and asked them if we can get a lift to the airport.”

  It turned out to be just that simple. When Captain Joyce emerged from the building, he brought with him the entire population of the curling club. They all wanted to see the brave Canadian soldiers and their alien compatriots.

  There was a lengthy session of hugs between the Canadians, and the Alliance forces trying to explain themselves to the locals. It took a strong, but well-placed hand from Captain Joyce to get everyone into their cars and truck and pack in all the soldiers to drive up to the airport. Once everyone was onboard, the motorcade took off from the curling club, and started the ten-kilometre drive to the airport which should have only taken fifteen minutes on a good day, but took twice that on the cold January day.

  Keegan had somehow been sandwiched in between two ladies who were the current curling champions of Saskatoon for the drive and had to listen to stories of their glory years attempting to make the Canadian Olympic team. It was not the riveting of stories.

  When the convoy finally reached Saskatoon International Airport, the kind drivers acted like everything was business as usual and pulled up to the departures terminal without a second thought. Not wanting to be rude, Keegan and the rest of the Canadian infantry quickly exited the vehicles and collected their items before walking up to the locked terminal doors.

  Without hesitation, one of the alien troopers punched through the glass doors, and the entire party walked into the unheated and abandoned terminal.

  “Doesn’t look like anyone is in.” Ryan said, staring up at the departures board which hadn’t been changed since the Coalition seised the planet.

  “Yeah.” Muttered one of the Canadian soldiers.
>
  “Where would the aircraft be?” Ryan asked, looking at Keegan.

  “The runways?” He asked back with a hint of sarcasm.

  Ryan smiled. “Yeah. Good point.”

  The group moved through the abandoned airport until they reached a huge floor to ceiling window that looked out over the airport's runways, and spotted three green and silver Buffalo planes parked in the middle of it.

  “Looks like our transportation is here.” Captain Joyce said with a smile on his face. “Now we just have to figure out how to get down there.”

  An access door was found that led the group to a set of stairs that brought them down to the ground floor of the building, and eventually out onto the quiet, snow-covered flight line.

  The three aircraft were parked on the runway, and they had covered over their piston and turboprop engines to keep the cold at bay. The flight crews must have spotted their cargo the minute they hit the ground and were out of their birds prepping them for flight.

  Keegan smiled. They were almost home free. The runway looked in fairly decent condition, and that may have been due to the yellow snow ploughs that were parked near the aircraft and most likely used that morning to clear the runway of excessive snow.

  The closer they got towards the planes, Keegan couldn’t help but notice how old they were, and how completely majestic they looked sitting on the runway with the rising sun reflecting off their skins. Keegan also noted that the pilots had a very unique look about them, winter clothing of all shapes and colours with no clear uniform among the group.

  With two of the three planes already starting up their engines, one of the flight crew started walking towards Keegan and the rest of his group. They met about halfway between the terminal and the planes, which were almost at the bottom of one of the airports two runways.

  “How ya doin’?” The man put out his hand, and Keegan shook it.

  “Fine, thank you. This is my wife Ryan, and this is Captain Joyce, and that is Star Guard Hulo, of the Alliance.” Keegan smiled as he made the introductions.

  “Frank Butterman. Flattered we got called in for this one.” He jerked his thumb towards the planes. “I guess these old birds still have their uses.”

  Star Guard Hulo scanned the white tundra that surrounded the airport. It was quiet, and all blanketed in a same amount of snow, and there was very little high ground to speak of with the exception of the airport terminal, and a single wooded clump of trees roughly two-hundred and fifty metres north of where he was standing.

  He looked over at the humans who were busy introducing themselves, then to the aircraft fifty metres away, then off to the clump of trees. He suddenly regretted not putting any of his forces on the roof of the terminal for top cover. It was a grave oversight. If there was an attack waiting, this could be the perfect spot. Out in the open with no cover or concealment.

  Bringing up his sensor suite, he quickly focused the hearing perception sensors to his front, and swept the area around the airfield, quickly, and once he was satisfied, he concentrated on the group of trees that were standing alone north of the airport proper.

  Hulo wasn’t able to detect anything that gave him pause, but he knew it was the only concealed position nearby, and the instant he used the helmet’s enhanced optics, he was aware that something was off. There might not have been any visible signs that there was anything or anyone in the group of trees, but he knew that something was off.

  “Keltar. Grenade the target I’ve marked.” Hulo ordered, using his helmets HUD to send the target to the trooper standing next to him.

  “On it.” Came a short response.

  Hulo didn’t have to tell the rest of his men to ready themselves. Once the instruction had been given to launch an attack of any kind, everyone switched into high gear.

  The moment the Alliance forces stopped moving and turned to face the position where Sajoba was concealed with the infantry squad, he knew something was wrong. The team leader had assured him that their position was properly hidden by a cloak-net that was set up the night they took up their positions, and even though Sajoba wasn’t a ground fighter, he could tell something was off.

  He brought up the team leaders private comm chat on his helmets systems.

  “How many ops is this for you, section leader?” Sajoba asked in a low voice while keeping his helmets advanced optics trained on the group of Alliance soldiers and humans that were standing in the middle of the runway.

  “Forty-seven. Simulated.” Came the reply over the net.

  “How many combat operations?” Sajoba asked, snapping his head around to look at the team leader who was lying next to him in the snow.

  “Three. Including this one.”

  Sajoba brought his head back around to the front, then looked down to his left and closed his eyes. He should have been more picky with selecting his ground force. Where was Sinus Fu when he needed him? But it was too late.

  “Incoming.” The call went out over the entire element comm net.

  Everyone heard the ‘pop’ of the round being fired away from the cluster of humans and aliens on the airfield. Keegan and Ryan didn’t know what to make of it, but Captain Joyce was quick to react.

  “Contact?” He shouted towards Hulo.

  The alien didn’t respond but tracked the flight of the projectile through his helmets optical systems. He knew that if there were a Coalition force out there, the humans would prove more of a distraction than a real benefit in a gunfight.

  “If we get contact,” Hulo looked at Joyce, “run for cover. We’ll engage.”

  The grenade had already started its descent on its path towards the cluster of trees when Hulo’s suspicions were confirmed. The round which, depending on the setting Keltar had programmed into it would either exploded at the top of the trees to shower the area in shrapnel, or impact on contact with the ground. It did neither. Just as the round passed the first centimetres of the treetops, a light blue light flashed, and a puff of smoke rose up.

  “Energy shield!” Hulo shouted into his internal comms unit and over his suits external speakers. “Aline left and open fire!” Hulo quickly dropped to one knee and fired two quick shots at the clump of trees. The energy shield actually meant the humans could help. “Captain! Suppressing fire on that group of trees. 12 o’clock, 300 metres!”

  Hulo looked to his left and watched as his men sprinted to get onto a firing line that ran from his position, sixty yards towards the centre of the runway. The members of his unit quickly moved out from the bunch that they had been in and took up their positions while putting accurate fire towards the clump of trees.

  Keegan and Ryan had been completely caught off guard by the sudden barrage of fire, and once the Canadians opened fire with their conventional weapons, the roar around the airfield was almost deafening.

  As both of the Alliance and Canadian forces opened fire, the peaceful, snow-covered runway was suddenly turned into a war-zone as energy beams dashed back and forth from the engaged parties, while the Canadian soldiers opened fire with their rifles and light-machine guns. The effect of the sudden weight in bullets and laser fire upon the clump of trees immediately started shredding the limbs, and trunks, throwing up a mountain of dirt and snow and wood into the air.

  Captain Joyce spotted the two civilians huddling together in the open with the flight crew and dashed towards them. “We need to move, now!” He yelled, pushing Keegan to his feet. “Make for that fence!” He pointed off to their right.

  Keegan nodded and got to his feet, trying to drag Ryan up with him, but his timing proved fatal, and just as he was about to take his first steps, the trio was engulfed in a wave of enemy laser fire. The first round punched through Keegan’s back, his right kidney, before continuing out of his stomach. Everything was cauterised at once, but the pain was real. Grabbing at his midsection, Keegan fell face forwards into the snow.

  Hitting the cold ground, it took a moment for Keegan to get his focus back. He could barely breathe, and when he
looked down at his stomach, he could not see the wound because of the puffy jacket he was wearing, but he could see the burn marks on the front of the garment. Rolling over onto his back, he looked up at Ryan and Captain Joyce who were stood frozen like statues, and after a moments pause, both crumpled to the ground as if they were puppets and their strings had been cut.

  Keegan quickly reached Ryan who was still breathing but had a clean energy blast wound to her chest. There wasn’t any blood, but the expression on her face told Keegan that she was in serious trouble. Instinctively he put his hand over the front of the wound, then glanced over to look at Captain Joyce. He had landed face first in the snow, and Keegan could see a hole punched through the back of his head. There was no doubt that he was dead.

  Looking up, Keegan’s vision started to get blurry. He could still hear the constant pounding from the Canadian soldier's weapons as they hammered away at the enemy position. Rolling onto his back, Keegan looked up at the clear blue skies overhead and tried to relax.

  Fifty metres away, Hulo and his team had rapidly achieved fire superiority over the unknown forces that were lurking in the trees. The enemy forces had no heavy weapons, and once the Alliance troops got on-line and started advancing towards the clump of trees, the enemy fire became disorganised and the continued peppering of the position by the human infantry shredded the trees that they had attempted to hide behind.

  The Alliance forces advanced a full one-hundred metres in bounds with half the element laying down suppressive fire while the other half raced forward. It was a textbook ground assault in the open. Their green armour gave them little cover on the white runway, but the sheer weight of their fires prevented whoever was on the receiving end of the attack a chance to breathe.

  Once the team was online with the aircraft, Hulo stopped them, and they ceased firing. There was almost nothing left of the clump of trees. Just some smouldering ash. Looking over towards Keegan’s position, be ordered his closest trooper to instruct the pilots to get the aircraft ready for departure and to conduct an assessment of their losses. There were only three individuals down, Captain Joyce, Keegan and his wife.