Frontline

by Z H Brown

  The trip over the water was more nerve-racking to Ansaria than the trip through the silent city had been. It was one thing to be gunned down from above or ambushed by a creature from the fog, but quite another to be attacked at sea; dragged down into the cold depths by one of the crustaceans or some other, unknown horror. She shuddered at the thought, and hoped the others would think her reaction was caused by the crisp wind of their speed.

  Before long the island loomed out of the fog before them, its steep cliffs and shoreline covered with sharp rocks. The only accessible part of the land mass was on the north side, so the craft veered around to find a landing point. Shrieks, roars and hisses filled the air along with the rush of wind and slap of waves on rock.

  They made it ashore and saw a simple dirt and rock path winding along the ground leading to the lab still mostly hidden by fog. They slowed down from their breakneck speed to a more sensible one to navigate the shrouded landscape, all the while weary of an ambush.

  As they made their way toward the lab, they encountered their first hostiles on the island; a tall reptilian creature, with strong legs, a long, thick tail and stubby arms darted out of the fog and head-butted the side of the vehicle. If they’d been going faster, the impact might have sent them spinning away, but thankfully their moderate speed allowed them to reorient themselves quickly. Goreman grabbed the jeep’s turret and unloaded on the creature, killing it in moments. A primate and an arachnid rushed at them out of the mist, but Tread hit the first with his plasma cannon and Ansaria dropped the second with a volley from her weapon. They paused for a few moments, but when no additional attacks were forthcoming they continued on their way.

  It wasn’t until they reached the lab that they encountered more of the creatures. The facility was significantly larger than the Psionics lab, the entryway half the size of the rest of the building that dominated the eastern cliffs. The doors were wide open and fog billowed out of the opening, pouring over the cliffs into the sea and drifting up into the air; at last, they’d found the source of the mysterious mist. What held the soldiers’ attention, though, was the massive assembly of monsters that surrounded the facility.

  Primates, arachnids, insects, crustaceans and reptiles milled about the opening, all of them staring directly at the soldiers. Mantis creatures crawled along the walls and roof, giving the building the appearance of shifting through the fog. Reptilian flyers flew in circles overhead, searching for any threats. There were new creatures as well; a pair of scaly, green beasts with blades for hands and a single, red eye stood directly in front of the open doors, while above them, perched on the roof were a trio of golden, dragon-like monsters, with wings in place of arms, long serpentine necks and twin tails studded with spikes.

  The appearance of the troops sent the assembled beasts into a frenzy. The island shook as the ground creatures madly charged the jeep while the flyers dived from the air, shrieking all the way. Goreman unloaded on the flyers with the turret, taking out scores of them while the others flung themselves out of the vehicle and into battle positions. Slog and Tread concentrated on the creatures in the front while Ansaria, Alvara and Critter, controlling his drone, attacked those in the rear.

  One of the blade-handed beasts appeared behind a primate as it dropped dead from a shot by Slog and raced towards the shotgun-wielding soldier. Ansaria reacted in an instant, drawing her own blade and blocking the strike from the creature’s razor-sharp appendage. The electrified sword caused the beast to draw back with a confused snarl, and Ansaria quickly followed up by removing the creature’s head. Slog fired his weapon twice from behind his sergeant and a pair of reptilian burrowers that had been about to pounce on her were blown to pieces.

  “Still even, Sarge!” called Slog with a grin, before opening fire again.

  The second cyclopean creature rushed the group, though this time Tread moved to intercept. Quickly reaching over his shoulder and swapping out his cannon for his ‘Zapper’, he swiftly sidestepped a swipe from the creature’s blade and fired a high-voltage shot at the beast. The creature shrieked in pain from the electrical attack, which quickly arced into a nearby mantis and stumpy-armed reptile. The beast fell on its back, smoke drifting from the charred corpse.

  When the last blade creature fell, the trio of golden beasts lifted off from the roof with a unanimous cry like a cruel cackle. They opened their maws and lightning poured out, striking the ground around the ATHV and forcing the squad to scatter. Goreman leapt from the vehicle before another volley of lightning struck, causing it to explode. The blast knocked Goreman onto his stomach but he quickly turned the fall into a roll, un-slinging his heavy blaster and switching to rapid fire mode. Countless beams streaked though the air, hitting one of the golden beasts in the chest and wings. It dropped from the air with a shriek and landed on the spiky back of a burrower, ensuring the death of both creatures.

  Another of the creatures dived out of the air towards Goreman, striking him in the chest with its sturdy legs and landing on top of him. The lieutenant could barely cry out in pain as the heavy beast threatened to crush his chest, but a moment later the beasts’ head was replaced with a smoking stump as Alvara took it off with a precision shot.

  As Ansaria and Tread rushed to the fallen CO, the final monster came in for its attack. Lightning blasted from its mouth, striking Critter’s drone and destroying the small machine. It swooped low, aiming at Goreman and his rescuers before being knocked out of the air by a blast from Slog, his shotgun blast ripping through one of its wings and forcing it to collide with the ground and skid toward them. It came to a stop in front of Slog and tried to pick itself up, roaring and thrashing in pain. Before Slog could stop him, Critter jumped off his squadmate’s shoulder and landed on the beast’s head.

  Grabbing hold of one of the head spikes to steady himself, Critter unloaded his small Stingers into the creature’s eye, sending the beast into a new series of thrashing spasms, its spiked tail knocking aside some of the remaining monsters as Critter held on for dear life. With a final barrage from the tiny weapon into its already damaged eye, the creature finally ceased its flailing and fell still.

  The remaining invaders were quickly dispatched until finally the area was silent, aside from the crackling flames of the wrecked jeep and destroyed drone. Goreman was alive, but something in his chest had been snapped and he was having trouble breathing; after they provided what aid they could, he demanded that they help him up.

  “Are you sure, sir? Maybe you should remain here while we-”

  “I did not watch my world be swallowed by monsters only to be stopped right outside their lair!” shouted Goreman. His face was contorted with pain but he stared defiantly into Ansaria’s eyes. “Get me on my feet, soldier!”

  Ansaria and Tread helped him up, being as gentle as they could. Goreman couldn’t walk on his own, so Tread offered to help him along, slinging one of the lieutenant’s arms over his shoulder.

  “I’m going to see this through,” he said through gritted teeth. “I have to.”

  Before pressing on, they dug through the wreckage of the battle to find the Nova bomb. Thankfully, the device was harmless unless activated and the sturdy case had protected the ordinance.

  The squad slowly made their way into the building past the corpse-strewn battlefield. The entryway was dark and thick with fog, but seemed to be devoid of life. When they reached the larger building, they were surprised to find the lights still on.

  “If this place still has power…” pondered Ansaria. “Tread, give the LT to Slog for a minute and find a computer. Let’s see just what the hell is going on here.”

  Tread complied and searched the room they were in, quickly locating a terminal. A few moments later, he found what they were looking for.

  “This facility was conducting research into inter-dimensional travel, apparently trying to find a means of interplanetary travel that doesn’t require venturing into space.”

  “So, they were looking for a new form of Z-Space?�
� asked Alvara.

  “Correct. They created a portal that was able to breach dimensions, but all their investigations into it came up empty handed; none of their probes ever came back and they were hesitant to send anyone in without further data.”

  “So how do the monsters and the fog tie into this?”

  “The fog is apparently a natural occurrence of the breached dimension. They never kept the portal active for long, so the fog quickly dissipated once it was closed, though they were also beginning to study it as well. The only mention of the creatures comes from a Doctor Serizawa. Apparently, Serizawa was convinced the dimension was home to native life, though his colleagues disagreed as none had been detected. Serizawa’s claims eventually became so forceful that he was removed from the project on the grounds of being mentally unfit to continue working. Three days later, Serizawa overrode the system so he could access the portal again.” Tread paused a moment before saying, “I have located audio logs from after the activation.”

  Static filled the room before a panicked voice broke through.

  “Serizawa’s gone mad!” It seemed to be a female voice. “We’ve tried to call the mainland, but the griza fog is blocking our comms.! The security director told us all to go to our rooms…I can hear the fighting downstairs. I don’t know what that madman let through, but I can hear shrieking, horrible shrieking! Whatever it is, it--” the voice suddenly cut out.

  Tread played another. This time a deeper voice came through.

  “All the security agents are dead,” the voice sounded sad and resigned; the faint sound of banging could be heard in the background. “Those of us left have taken shelter on the top floor. Trizer and some of the others tried to reach the motor pool, but I don’t think they made it. We aren’t going to make it either,” The banging sound grew louder, and the shriek of metal tearing could be heard. “Please, if anyone gets this, tell my sons I’m sorry, and that I love them.” A final loud shriek was heard, this time from one of the monsters, and the file ended.

  “Tread,” said Ansaria, “copy these files to your TIG; let’s make sure they get to the right people.”

  “I’ll have the files copied in just a few moments, sergeant.”

  When that was done, they pressed on deeper into the facility. The mist continued to permeate the building, but strangely they did not encounter any monsters. Eventually, they came to a wide staircase that rose up to another level. The fog flowed down it like gaseous river, and at the top, a lit doorway could be seen through the thick mist. The group readied themselves and ascended the staircase.

  When they reached the top, they were momentarily blinded by the bright light coming from the room. When their eyes adjusted, they found they were standing in the entrance to a massive room that looked as though it made up the bulk of the building’s central interior. Equipment lined the walls; computer terminals were scattered throughout, while analyzers sat dark and silent. A long catwalk stretched out before them, at the end of which was a massive ring, easily three meters tall. The interior of the ring was awash with swirling light, and the ever-present fog flowed from it like blood from a mortal wound. The stream flooded along the length of the walkway and spilled over the side, filling the space beneath the ring with a sea of mist. To the right of the ring was a control console- and the room’s single occupant.

  He had his back to them when they entered, but, whether because he heard or sensed their arrival, he turned to face them. He was wearing a lab coat that, while once pristine and white, was now dirty and ragged, with patches that looked as though they had been burned or rubbed with dirt. Beneath his coat he wore a full body HAZMAT suit (also white) that clung to his thin frame. His face was concealed beneath a one-way reflective helmet that covered his entire head, except for a piece that had been broken off, revealing the grayish skin, and a single, wild, black eye of the madman they all could assume was Dr. Serizawa.

  As soon as he registered their presence, Serizawa pressed a button on the console. The device beeped twice before falling silent.

  “You’re too late, Imperial worms!” he said, his voice high pitched and frantic, the voice of a man who had lost all grip on his sanity. “I’ve locked the controls and the King of the Jukai is on his way! Once he arrives, he will lead his children into this world and purge it of all the non-believers! And once we have claimed this world, we shall use the portal to move on to the next, until your precious Empire is nothing but a smoldering memory! Nothing in creation can stop it!” He began to laugh maniacally.

  Goreman snarled in rage and lunged forward, bringing his massive blaster to bear. A half-dozen flashes of energy lanced out and struck the mad doctor in the center mass. His laugh turned to strangled gurgles as he collapsed against the console, his wounds smoking. He slowly slid to the floor before falling to his side, his exposed eye going dark and blank.

  After a few moments, Goreman turned to the others.

  “We need to set the bomb and get off this damn island, now,” he said. Ansaria nodded and knelt down to begin unpacking the device, when a massive roar reverberated throughout the room.

  They all turned toward the portal. From within the swirling light, a black mass was forming, getting larger with each passing second. They began to hear thunderous footsteps as the mass nearly filled the interior of the ring. A pair of massive clawed hands reached out and grabbed either side of the portal, before a matching, scaly, gray head emerged from the dimensional breach. The snarling visage of the so-called “King of the Jukai” fully emerged, its eyes small and full with what could only be described as genocidal hate.

  Goreman pulled himself to his feet.

  “Get that bomb set now!” he commanded before lurching towards the monster, opening up with his cannon. The energy blasts struck the massive beast in the face, and made it roar in pain, though judging by the lack of visible damage they seemed to be nothing more than pinpricks to it. Ansaria frantically used her TIG to program the bomb as Goreman continued to advance on the beast, his weapon firing on full auto.

  The creature’s eyes began to glow with energy which then began to fill its maw; it opened its mighty jaws wide, as Goreman, seemingly intent on continuing his futile attack, marched forward.

  Ansaria’s squad scattered to either side as the beast unleashed a torrent of burning, blinding energy from its mouth. Goreman cried out, but was cut short, his weapon flying from his hands as he disintegrated into nothingness. The blast ripped through the doorway and out through the rest of the building, unhampered by anything in its path.

  Shaking herself from the shock of Goreman’s instantaneous death, Ansaria glanced at her TIG and saw the bomb was synced. Summoning her telekinetic abilities, she lifted the Nova bomb and sent it flying towards the portal, straight as an arrow. The bomb passed through the energy membrane that separated the two worlds without a sound. The King Jukai regarded the soldiers with its malicious eyes and began summoning its energy for another attack.

  “Tread, the console!” said Ansaria.

  In the blink of an eye, Tread swapped his Zapper for his ion blaster. He lined up his shot and fired, the blast striking the controls just above Serizawa’s lifeless corpse. The console sparked briefly before going completely dark. A warning siren filled the room as the portal began to contract. The beast’s claws were torn from the side of the portal. It roared in rage and opened its mouth to incinerate them as the portal collapsed around it.

  Ansaria triggered the bomb. From the rapidly closing portal there was the sound of a million thunderbolts and the creature’s reptilian visage became awash in white-hot light. The massive beast’s jaws snapped shut and they saw a look of surprise and pain in its beady eyes as the portal swirled shut, the only remnants of the megaton bomb a small disgorge of energy, and then the room was silent.

  Ansaria collapsed backwards onto the floor, suddenly exhausted. She lied there for a few moments before she summoned the will to sit up and regard her squad. They were all looking at her with expressions of r
elief, disbelief and uncertainty. After another moment to compose herself, she got to her feet.

  “Come on,” she said, her voice unusually flat. “Let’s get out of here; we have a mission to complete.”

  Before they left, Ansaria used her powers to collect Goreman’s weapon; she was sure somebody would want it. They snagged a copy of the building’s layout from the system and made their way to the garage.

  Alvara led the way, Ansaria lagging behind as she lugged Goreman’s weapon with her. When they reached the motor pool, she remained by the entrance as the rest fanned out to find something to get them off the island.

  “Over here!” called Slog. They all converged on his location to view his discovery. “Thank the Emperor for small favors,” he said, as they regarded the craft before them.

  It was a fully intact Starhopper, likely used by one of the facility’s head honchos or investors for conducting off-world visits. Tread entered the system to open the launch doors as the rest piled in. With that, the Starhopper shot out into the fog covered seascape and back towards the base.

  Chapter XIII

  Unfinished Business

  The key difference between the Empire and Imperium is that the Imperium conquers in the name of subjugation. All they absorb are studied, and once their value to the Imperium is determined, given a place in their massive machine where they are expected to stay, regardless of their own wants and opinions. When a world joins the Empire, every being is given the choice to determine their own path within the brave new world which they have become a part of.

  --Excerpt from The Newcomer’s Guide to the Empire

  As the ship flew back towards the base, the fog gradually began to dissipate, so that by the time they had reached their destination, Ansaria could see a crowd of people gathered outside the compound. The ship landed in the courtyard, and as soon as the door opened, the sound of cheering filled the small craft. Ansaria and the others saw the survivors of the colony whooping and celebrating, hugging each other in sheer joy that their ordeal was over. The few remaining troops were keeping the crowd at bay so that they did not swarm their returning rescuers.