Gunship - The Series

by John Davis

  “Sure you can.” he responded.

  “What do you really think will become of myself and my people if and when we do make it back? Do you think the same Colonials who blew our warship out of orbit will let us just walk away when this is over, free and clear?” Sasha asked.

  “Sure I do,” Adam responded, although he hadn't even thought about it up until that moment and knew in his heart that she was probably right. “I give you my word right now, that no matter what I choose to do when this is over, you will walk away free and clear.” he said.

  “Can you really make such a commitment though Lieutenant?” Sasha asked.

  “I'm not making that commitment as a Lieutenant, I am making it as Adam Michaels, and my word is good.” he replied.

  “Thank you. I believe you.” she responded with a smile. “The world paints our people to be criminals, but I assure you, we are not.” she quietly added.

  Adam sat quietly, filled with inner emotion as his grief of the loss of Kelly battled the emotional distress he saw on Sasha's face. He had always been a great judge of character, and he knew in his heart that her words were saturated in nothing but the truth.

  “Sasha, you have my word. When we make it back, you will walk out of there a free woman.” Adam finally replied as he stood to his feet.

  Once the mightiest city on Glimmeria, the Colonial spectacle of a military base looked more like an urban wasteland. Only seconds separated explosions throughout the city as rockets, grenades and anti-aircraft artillery had been going since the Legion had landed on solid ground. Their far superior numbers on the ground had managed to take out all but one of the Mack stations, the last one heavily fortified by the Colonials who still feared assisting armies coming to the aid of their counterparts. What seemed like such a great accomplishment for the Colonials as the Legion base ships in orbit were strategically destroyed by Benzan gunfire, quickly became only a side note. The Legion had already sent its entire force, intending to dig in and fight a war of attrition. The base ships were nothing more than empty warehouses in the sky operated by the smallest of skeleton crews when they exploded. That said, a majority of the Legion's supplies had been destroyed with them, meaning victory would have to come swift if it were to come at all.

  “Sir, Colonial Command remains under heavy guard, and we have the streets locked down tight.” Lassiter reported to Edwards as the Colonial leaders scrambled to update their war maps, communications coming in from all corners of the city.

  “Good. We have reason to believe that the Legion is staging a very large assault force with plans to hit this area. We are trying to pull back the pockets of soldiers throughout the city and organize a defensive perimeter,” Commander Edwards replied. “Get your men resupplied and do your best to assign soldiers to new platoons as they make their way to Command.” Edwards added.

  “Yes sir!” Lassiter replied swiftly as he left the vault and returned to the streets outside.

  “Any word on Adam and his crew?” Commander Edwards asked, slowly approaching Sarah Blaine, who had been organizing all of the communications for the Colonials.

  “No sir. I'm sure they are alright, probably just inside of Valencia and unable to send out a transmit without having their position compromised.” Sarah answered, trying to convince herself as she spoke the words.

  “I see.” the Commander replied.

  “Sarah, I want to make sure that you are alright with what has to be done when they do make it back,” he added. “Leaving Glimmeria without authorization, conspiring with wanted criminals and direct insubordination.” the Commander added as Sarah sat in her chair, numb to the fact that if her soon to be husband could beat the odds and make it back alive, she would have to stand by and watch him be discharged while his crew was arrested.

  “Yes sir. I know it has to be done.” she reluctantly replied.

  “Good Sarah. You are the ideal soldier, putting your Colonial duty above personal feelings. Your father would be so proud of you. We have already been contacted by the Gali government about Roman, seems he is very high on their list of wanted fugitives. Turning him over to them would go a long way toward helping our cause.” Edwards remarked as he placed his hand on her shoulder for a moment before walking to the rest of the stations in the Vault for updates.

  “Yep, she's locked down tighter than a tick's ass.” Dalton remarked as he looked through the town streets, the morning sun illuminating the scope of the sniper rifle.

  “Nice.” Sasha remarked, already disgusted with Dalton's demeanor.

  “He's right, their defenses are solid.” the Colonial sniper added. Adam took the lenses and looked for himself, noticing the pockets of heavily armed Hunters patrolling the streets.

  “I have an idea.” Adam said, grabbing Steiner's field pack full of supplies and sifting through until he found a blue flare.

  “Sure you can make the shot?” the Colonial sniper said after having his rifle commandeered by Dalton, who laid prone with his eye pressed to the scope.

  “Don't worry son, at this distance I could split the hair on a tick's a...” Dalton responded before being interrupted.

  “What is it with you and your fixation on the ass end of a tick?” Sasha demanded to know.

  “Adam, unless you got a stout drink to offer or my first paycheck in hand, I don't gotta put up with this shit!” Dalton responded angrily.

  “Just shoot the damn flare Dalton, everybody else be ready to get down to the back of the stables if they take the bait.” Adam said as Dalton fired the weapon, its muzzle flash hidden within the silencing tube that was attached to the barrel.

  Within a second, blue smoke began filling the landscape on the opposite side of Valencia. Only moments later, several Hunters began yelling loudly as they braced for a Colonial assault. The few Fang units among them made their way to the far end of the main street, the barbarically large creatures facing the smoke and ready to let their menacing teeth slaughter any approaching Colonials.

  A majority of the Hunters dashed to the smoke, weapons at the ready, which was cue enough for Adam and his crew to sprint to the back of the large, wooden stables. A much larger and more strategically placed building, it had already been cleared by the Hunters which made the probability of them checking it again slim to none.

  Roman sunk his blade into the thick wood only feet from the ground, pulling the steel slowly across in a straight line, his bulging arms forcefully splitting wood slowly as he followed it with a solid kick that broke open a crawl space about three feet high. One by one they crawled on their stomachs across the desert floor and into the long abandoned building, the last in was Adam, who did the best job he could of putting the fallen boards back into place to appear untouched.

  “Dalton, you're with our sniper up in the loft. Keep eyes on everything and let us know of any movement. Roman, you and Steiner set up near the stable doors. Good chance when they figure out the smoke was a decoy, they'll do a half-ass sweep of the town. They come in here, take care of 'em quick.” Adam said as everyone took position throughout the large interior and Dalton bitched under his breath about loss of command. Michaels and Sasha dug in behind a stack of musty hay near the newly made entrance at the rear of the building.

  “Plan is, we'll hang here to back up Roman and Steiner if need be, try to get our com system linked up in the meantime.” Adam said as he pulled the long range com system from a small suitcase in Steiner's field pack, which was a small metal square with several knobs, and hooked it to a table top satellite dish, which he sat on the empty crate in an effort to pull signal in.

  The Hunter force inside of Valencia prepared to do a sweep of the town, just as Adam had predicted, when two Swordfish screamed overhead, dropping hundreds of rounds onto the town while taking return fire from assault rifles. It quickly took the attention off of them and onto the skies as the soon to be sweep was halted. “Well, that was a lucky break.” Sasha said.

  “It wasn't luck. My guess is the Colonials were doing
a quick flyby to scout the town so they could put together the right group of soldiers to come get us.” Adam replied.

  “What's coming across the com unit?” Dalton asked softly, laying on the loft with his head hung over the side smiling, the mange ridden whiskey laying at his side.

  “We can't send anything, it'll give our position away.” Adam said. “But from the sound of things, we're getting beat up on the ground.” he added. “What about Colonial Command?” Dalton asked, thinking of the post he held until being sent to save Adam's neck.

  “It's still there, but from what I can make out there is a large Legion force trying to take the ground, sounds like that entire area has become the front.” Adam replied.

  The sniper whistled quietly, getting Dalton's instant attention. Moments later, Dalton turned back to everyone on the bottom floor of the stable and began giving hand motions to let them know what was outside of the door.

  “Two Hunters coming.” Sasha relayed to Adam, who had put a rifle to his shoulder and the sights on the door. “Armed with standard rifles.” she added as she continued to watch the loft. “And I have no idea what that means?” she said, confused of the signal. Adam broke his attention from the door momentarily to glance at Dalton, who was turning his hand upside down next to his mouth.

  “That means that they have liquor.” Adam said, turning back to the door as Sasha stood there nothing short of speechless.

  Both Hunters pushed the stable doors open slowly, the wood creaking as light from the desert heat permeated the entire building and illuminated thousands of dust particles that had yet to settle. Their thunderous laughter was cut short as Roman moved with exceptional speed, the titanium plating on his elbow crushing the lower jaw of one of the demons. Before either man had a chance to respond, Steiner grabbed the second man and wasted no time snapping his neck under the pressure of his sheer strength as Roman dug the serrated edge of his blade into the intestines of the first.

  As if the stables were engulfed in flames, Dalton scaled the wooden ladder and reached the ground with unmatched haste. It took only moments of searching the bodies before he found a small bottle of rock whiskey.

  “Fucking cheap ass bastards. Could have at least had something decent on 'em.” Dalton said in disgust as Roman and Steiner dragged the bodies out of sight and quickly closed the front door. “Oh well, with the day I've had, it'll do.” he added, climbing the ladder much slower than he had descended, almost as if he had become an instant cripple.

  “Adam.” Roman said, tossing back a small radio he had found on one of the bodies.

  “Some crew you have here.” Sasha commented.

  “I know what you must be thinking, but they're loyal and get the job done when it's on the line,” Adam replied. “Also, I'm sorry for ever misjudging you.” he added.

  “I'm not sure what you mean?” Sasha replied curiously. “When we arranged to meet with the Benzans, honestly, I did think you were criminals. It's all I had ever heard, ya know? I had always been told that the Benzans were cold-blooded killers, so I guess I had just started to believe it myself.” he answered.

  Sasha sat there for a minute, full of emotion and empty on words. Thinking back to her family being slaughtered only a few years back when she was a teen, and how Cyrus had taken her in, trained her and most importantly, been like a father to her. “Don't worry Adam, I understand.” Sasha finally replied.

  “No Sasha, I don't think you do,” Adam said as she smiled slightly.

  “What you said back there made a lot of sense to me. We are more like one another than you will ever know.” he added.

  “I used to fight the system too. I can remember the deep space runs, just looking across the stars and truly feeling freedom.” Adam said.

  “I know that feeling. Almost like you are witnessing something magical about the stars that you weren't intended to.” Sasha replied.

  “Exactly.” Adam responded. “Does she share your sense of freedom?” Sasha asked.

  “No, unfortunately not. I guess the time comes in everyone's life when they have to make the decision though, who they want to be and what they want to live for. I chose love.” Adam replied.

  “You guys want some of this to take the edge off?” Dalton said, his head falling in front of them as he hung down from the loft with the rock whiskey bottle in his hand.

  “No thanks.” Adam replied as he began to remember what life was like only a year ago. His original crew that included Kato and Luck, both victims of the war that Adam had drug them into.

  “Sure, why not.” Sasha replied, surprising both Adam and Dalton as she turned the bottle up and took a healthy swig.

  “Alright, alright...save a little for me, damn.” Dalton said nearly prying the bottle from her hands in order to salvage what he could.

  Adam hadn't truly seen the kind of smile that Dalton currently had on his face since before they had gotten drug into this damn war. Their lives had consisted of card games, saloon brawls, black market jobs and a type of family atmosphere aboard the Gunship that was hard to explain, unless you were a Benzan.

  Whether it was the effects of whiskey or the traumatic events of the day, she spent the next hour explaining to Adam what Benzan life was like. He found himself relating it to the life he used to live when he was free. Before he was Lieutenant Michaels, he was Captain of the Gunship. It didn't have a Colonial logo painted on the side of its thick plated steel, in fact it didn't have anything more than a film of rust coating. He started to realize that even though he was indeed in love with Sarah Blaine, his life had been changed so dramatically for the worse.

  As night began to fall on the town of Valencia, Adam started to do something he had not done in a while. Search his soul. Maybe convince himself that he knew the definition of true happiness, and if by some miracle they made it off of Glimmeria alive, what changes he would have to make in order to become truly happy again. When it came to love, he had followed his heart. However, when it came to being a free and happy man, he realized that he had done everything but follow his heart.

  Sure, his heart belonged to Sarah, it had since they very first moment he had laid eyes on her. Still, he thought a lot about Sasha as he lay there during the night. Not just because she had a pure beauty about her, but because he envied the life that she had chosen to live. Missing it very much. Living for the moment was the only real definition of happiness in his opinion, and Sasha lay there doing just that, sleeping like an angel and taking life one day at a time.

  Suddenly, explosions rang out all around them as the Hunter controlled town had come under siege by Colonial forces. Dalton and Roman had already been wide awake, pulling watch as everyone else quickly jumped to their feet and tried to assess the situation. Realizing it was the Colonials by the sound of their weapons, Adam immediately got on the com unit and sent a communication to let them know they were hold up in the stables. Moments later, the group could hear the explosions backing off of their area a bit, the Colonial cannons redirecting their fire in order to avoid hitting them.

  “I got another idea.” Adam said, pulling Roman and Steiner to the side. A few minutes later, Adam and Sasha had taken guard at the door as both Roman and Steiner had put on the uniforms they had removed from the dead Hunters.

  “This looks ridiculous!” the hulking Steiner said, his pants legs a good foot higher than the tops of his boots and so tight you could make out the patterns of Husk hair underneath.

  “A couple more drinks and you might be looking mighty fine to me,” Dalton said jokingly as everyone took a moment to giggle about the underhanded joke. “Or not.” Dalton added in a serious tone as Steiner sent him a blood curdling scowl.

  “The quicker we can get out there and kill some of these damn flesh eaters, the sooner the Colonials can come fetch us.” Adam said.

  “Shouldn't take us too long.” Roman replied as he and his horribly outfitted comrade equipped themselves with Hunter rifles and waited at the door for an all clear from the loft
before cracking it open and sprinting across the street.

  “You two keep your eyes wide up there, any Hunters get after them, you do anything you can to clear a path.” Adam said shouting up to the loft as the roar of explosions in the distance intensified.

  “You got it Adam.” Dalton replied, pulling the slide loader of the sniper rifle back and putting his eye to the scope.

  “Hey that's my gun!” the Colonial sniper contested loudly. “Steiner is a big sumbitch...you 'aint. I'll listen to him, but your ass I'll whip.” Dalton replied snidely, taking no chances in defending his two friends.

  It had only been a handful of minutes when Dalton spotted a small group of Goliath soldiers at the edge of town making minced meat out of the heavily out gunned Hunter soldiers. Several tense moments later as the three mechanical masterpieces began to enter Valiance, a whole squadron of Colonial soldiers behind them, two Fangs entered the street from a Hunter choke point. They were much more intimidating than even the model two Goliath. Sure, the alloy steel and chain guns helped the mechanical backbone of the Colonial army mow through normal foes, but the Fang units were anything but.

  Several feet taller than even Steiner, they looked more like a monster than a man, the face of of demon with two arm sized fangs hanging from their top jawbone.

  They spent a moment exchanging gunfire before realizing that tactic was useless, both the Goliaths and Fangs had thick enough plating, whether alloy or skin, to deflect any small arms ammunition. Instead, they began to pick up the pace as they geared up for a fist to fist showdown with one another. Passing a large metal dumpster, one of the Fangs was stunned as Roman quickly stood up and swung the stock of his rifle, smashing it to bits across the face of the biological killing machine. The second Fang stopped suddenly, turning into Roman's direction, when the three Colonial Goliaths began letting a blanket of lead unleash onto it, if nothing else to blind and confuse it. Immediately, Steiner jumped onto the face and shoulders of the much more powerful foe, doing his best to hold on long enough to put the barrel of his weapon into the neck area of the oversize flesh eating monster.