by T. D. Wilson
The dust in the cavern was thick, and Gina found it difficult to breathe. Tearing a piece of cloth from the arm of her jumpsuit, she covered her mouth. The cloth helped, but the air needed to be cleaned and they needed to see to find the wounded. The supplies included an air purifier, but it, too, required one of the power generators to function.
Gina didn’t have a choice. They needed that power now, at least until they cleared the air. She turned around and used her light to scan down the line of crates. She found one of the generators. To her surprise, this one was already attached to a light array and both were undamaged in the cave collapse. Gina located the activation switch and turned it on. Light from the array grew as the cells charged, and Gina’s vision around her was much clearer, but its rays diminished in the dusty cavern. What she did see made her heart sink. Large chunks of rock littered the floor, and colonists were still running for cover along the walls of the cavern. Bodies of the dead and wounded were everywhere.
Gina turned around and found a medical supply crate. It wasn’t locked, and she opened the lid. Inside were several medical kits, including a large container of med-gel packs. Gina grabbed two kits and set them on the ground at her feet. She reached back into the crate, opened the med-gel container, pulled out a stack of ten pouches and filled her jumpsuit pockets.
Three colonists stumbled to her side, one bleeding from a nasty gash along his arm. Gina’s gentle hands held the man’s arm still and she examined the wound. It was long but not deep. She ripped open a med-gel pack and spread the thick gray suspension over the gash.
The man cringed. “It burns.”
“The process makes you feel like you’ve been sunburned for a few minutes, but it’ll pass,” she explained. She handed medical kits and a few med-gel packs to the two other colonists. “Start treating the wounded and send any able-bodied person over here to get a kit to do the same.” Gina turned back the man she’d just treated. “You and I have got to find the air purifier, or this dust will clog our lungs and kill us the same as the rocks would,” she said as she coughed. She and the man spread out and searched the surrounding crates.
It didn’t take long before she heard him call out, “Here! It’s here!”
Gina grabbed one of the power generator’s extensions and ran toward the discovered crate. The purifier was in a sealed crate, and the colonist struggled to open it until another man arrived with a small crowbar. Both men popped open the top of the crate and started to pull off the sides, while Gina searched for its power coupling.
She found it on the back of the unit and connected the power cable. Once the unit was free of its crate, she switched it on, and its fans whirled to life. “Okay, there are supposed to be two other units in this cavern,” she told the other two men. “Find them and get them operational. I’m going to check the entrances and see if we still have a way out of here.”
More colonists were moving around now, assisting the injured, and crying beside the fallen. Gina grabbed another medical kit and stopped to check on the more seriously injured. As she continued toward the cavern entrance that led to the surface, she noticed another body trapped under a rock. The half-meter-thick boulder had crushed the man’s legs, and she could see a small pool of blood underneath him. Gina tried to turn away from the gruesome scene, but she couldn’t. She started to hyperventilate and it took her a few moments to get her breathing under control. The amount of damage to the trapped man was most assuredly fatal. She pointed out the body to those colonists around her when one of the man’s arms moved. She almost jumped out of her skin. The motion was definitely not the typical postmortem twitch. She scrambled around the rock to help the injured man, who let out a low groan.
Gina dove to her knees at his side, setting the kit in front of her. She opened the kit and removed a jet gun with a pain med injector. While she prepped the injector, she noticed the man wore a tan jacket that seemed familiar. The man tried to move, and she had to calm him down. If he struggled, he could cause more damage and worsen their chances to save him.
“It’s okay, everything’s going to be...” Gina had to cup her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. The man lying trapped under the rock was Caris.
* * *
Toronaga accelerated his MACE to its top speed, and the Marine gunnery sergeant led the charge of the MACE company on the Cilik’ti Shredder tank and remaining ground forces. He dodged two incoming particle blasts from Cilik’ti shoulder cannons and returned the favor with fresh bursts from his weapon, dropping two of the huge warriors closest to the tank.
As the six MACE units closed, the Shredder unleashed its plasma web. The blue tangle of energy rippled in front of the tank, and vicious arcs danced between the energy strands as it sliced along the ground. The ground turned black where the web passed over it, and sparks flew high when it touched the wet dirt.
Toronaga forced his MACE into a high leap, followed in concert by his teammates. The powered armor units cleared the approaching energy web with ease and landed square in the heart of the Cilik’ti ranks. The weight of Toronaga’s MACE pinned one of the Cilik’ti to the ground. He placed two rounds from his M420 square into its back as the other Cilik’ti closed in around his team.
Blasts from lances to his right struck his weapon, and it went off-line. Toronaga jumped to his right. He jettisoned the weapon and rushed in closer to the two Cilik’ti warriors nearest him. He extended the MACE’s blades on his hands and prepared himself.
Even in his MACE, the Cilik’ti were larger, and the one to his left made a powerful thrust at his chest with its lance. Toronaga caught the lance with his armored hand and jerked it past him. The Cilik’ti, now off-balance, stumbled past but managed to hold on to its weapon. With a fierce yell, Toronaga drove the blades protruding from his right arm deep into its torso, just below its neck. Even with the assist of the powered armor, his muscles strained as he drove the blades deeper into its body.
The Cilik’ti warrior let out a gurgling sound. It let go of the lance and found the shoulders of Toronaga’s MACE. Held fast, Toronaga struggled to move away, but the warrior drew him closer. Desperate, Toronaga twisted the blades still in the Cilik’ti warrior’s chest and he could sense the pain it caused, but the Cilik’ti refused to let go. Its sets of faceted eyes stared directly at his MACE’s head, as if trying to sense the human inside controlling the armored monstrosity.
The Cilik’ti warrior’s breath fell heavy on his armor now and its grip loosened. The once-powerful hands slid down Toronaga’s armor and the warrior followed them, finally collapsing to the ground.
Toronaga wasted no time and jumped over the body toward the other Cilik’ti that was firing on one of his team. He tackled the warrior, and their armor crunched in the impact. Both combatants rolled from the collision in the soft ground and found their feet just as an explosion sent tiny pieces of shrapnel all around them. Toronaga looked past the warrior to the source of the explosion. One of the MACE units with its antitank weapon tore a huge hole in the side of the Shredder tank and was loading again for another blast. The wounded tank tried to retreat behind its infantry cover and turned its close range antipersonnel weapons on the MACE that attacked it.
Noticing Toronaga’s brief hesitation, the Cilik’ti squaring off against him fired a blast from its lance, striking Toronaga’s MACE in the shoulder. Toronaga rolled his MACE with the blast, spun the powerful armor to his left and charged the Cilik’ti. He managed to get inside the warrior’s lance, driving both sets of claws into the warrior’s torso. Down again they plunged into the muddy ground, but Toronaga soon found himself on the bottom of the pile. The Cilik’ti warrior’s body was tangled with his legs and his MACE was pinned to the ground. Luckily, his arms were still free.
The warrior managed to hold on to its lance and struggled to free its weapon arm to strike at Toronaga, who grabbed the Cilik’ti warrior’s weapon arm and forced it upward. Hi
s armored hand squeezed with all the strength he could muster. Sweat from the strain flowed down his face. The warrior dropped the lance, but its free arm searched for a soft spot in the MACE’s armor.
Toronaga pulled hard on the Cilik’ti warrior’s arm and slammed his blades from his free hand into the warrior’s shoulder, piercing the armor and spraying black-and-yellow blood across his optics.
The warrior screeched in pain. It tried to peel itself away from the blades, but Toronaga’s grip was too strong. He punched again and this time his blades tore through the shoulder, separating the arm from the warrior’s body. His hold on the warrior lost, Toronaga struggled to get up, but the warrior used its weight and held his MACE to the ground, pounding his armor with its remaining arm.
The Cilik’ti warrior’s blows hammered his MACE, driving it into the muddy ground. Inside the MACE, Toronaga could feel the impacts as they rained down upon him. It was like being inside a metal drum. His armor cushioned each one somewhat, but his neural interface inside the armor told him that structural integrity was beginning to fail.
He reached up his arms and caught the next blow. Toronaga twisted hard and heard the Cilik’ti warrior’s limb snap under the stress. The warrior fought hard to free itself again, but its efforts ended when the blades from Toronaga’s right arm pierced its neck just underneath its mandible.
Toronaga held the blades there until the warrior’s body slackened, but as he removed them, the full weight of the warrior’s body collapsed onto his MACE. He pressed up against the warrior’s torso and shifted it to the side, but he still couldn’t free his legs.
He managed to prop his MACE up on one arm and reached forward to push the rest of the warrior’s body off him when another Cilik’ti stepped into view. The warrior aimed its lance at the center of his MACE’s chest. Toronaga could hear the energy crackling on the end of the lance. He closed his eyes and pictured his parents along the shoreline, admiring the whales as they left for their migration. It was a good memory. He smiled and waited for the end to come.
* * *
From his position at the bunkers, Sanchez tried to get a glimpse of what was happening. The Shredder’s plasma made it darn near impossible, especially without his field glasses, which were buried under debris in his bunker.
More shots rang out from Priest’s sniper rifle high on the plateau wall, and Sanchez witnessed a large explosion, probably a blast from the Shredder. They had to get down there to help Toronaga. Even in their MACE armor, Toronaga’s team was outnumbered, and one Shredder came close to wrecking his entire force in their fortified positions.
The sound of the motor from the Marine APC to his right caught his ear and he ran toward it, Maya on his heels. He pounded on the driver’s compartment, and the Marine inside slid open the armored hatch.
“We need to get up there now!” Sanchez waved over the rest of the Marines still wandering the battlefield, checking out the dead Cilik’ti. “Come on, Marines! The battle isn’t over. We’ve still got men in harm’s way, so let’s go!”
Marines gathered to his call. Maya and Sanchez hopped in the back of the APC, followed by every able-bodied Marine. Some joined him inside, while others jumped on the sides. The large APC moved forward and picked up speed.
The APC closed within range of its top-mounted gun, and Sanchez could hear the weapon firing. Sanchez activated the APC’s optics gear and zoomed in on the battle ahead of them. The Shredder wasn’t moving. A pillar of black smoke rose from its turret, but plenty of Cilik’ti warriors were still in the fight. He could see four of the six MACE units that charged the enemy, but they were still outnumbered by almost two to one.
The MACE with the heavy munitions maintained his distance from the group and fired another round at a Cilik’ti warrior that charged after him. The round streaked past the warrior and impacted on the ground just behind it, flinging shrapnel into its legs and thorax. The huge warrior barreled into the MACE, sending the smaller Marine armored unit flying back at least ten meters.
The APC was two hundred meters from the fight when it slowed down. The battle involving the heavy weapon’s MACE unit was the closest to their position. Marines on the side of the APC jumped off and opened fire on the Cilik’ti warrior when it tried to stand. The MACE pilot had trouble regaining his armor’s footing but was able to reload and launched another blast at his foe. This one struck pay dirt in the heart of the warrior’s chest armor. The resulting explosion sent pieces of the warrior everywhere and left a few sections of its armored legs implanted in the muddy ground.
The rest of the Marines jumped out the back of the APC amid a wall of pulse lance fire. Some of the Cilik’ti engaged with the MACEs had turned their fire on the approaching Marines.
Sanchez followed Maya out of the APC. As soon as his boots hit the ground, it felt as if he was running in slow motion. Blasts from the Cilik’ti screeched past him like long lines of bright light, and voices of the Marines in front of him called out for fire on targets. Maya dove to the ground, and Sanchez ducked in between her and the closest Marine. The cold water splashed into his armor and jolted his perception back to normal, though normal speed wasn’t that much better.
Heavy fire strafed their position, and the Marine to their left took a blast to his shoulder, which penetrated his armor. The man screamed in agony and dropped his weapon. Sanchez rolled to his left to reach him. More blasts hit the ground in front of him and sprayed mud into his face. Sanchez grabbed the man’s arm and tried to hold him still.
“Corpsman!” he yelled back toward the APC. “I need a medic over here!”
He leaned on top of the Marine’s side and fumbled for one of the med-gel packs in a pouch at his belt. He wasn’t about to let him die. How many more good men was this fight going to claim? He didn’t want to know the answer and frankly, the mere thought of it scared the crap out of him.
The Marine stopped struggling. His terrified eyes pleaded to Sanchez for help. “Sir, I got to make it,” he said through clenched teeth, fighting back the pain. “I didn’t come all this way to this rock just to take a freakin’ dirt nap!”
Sanchez found a med-pack and tore it open with his teeth. “Hold still, son,” he said and poured the thick gel into the jagged hole in the armor covering the Marine’s shoulder. The Marine’s face tightened again as the pain hit, but he didn’t struggle.
To his right, Sanchez heard more weapons fire continue to pour out of the M20 Maya had grabbed from inside the APC, but it stopped.
“I’m out!” she yelled to him as her Cilik’ti-blood-and-mud-covered hand ejected her spent magazine.
Sanchez reached into the front ammunition pouch of the wounded Marine with his free hand, pulled out two ammo magazines and tossed them to Maya. She caught both of them in her left hand, ejected the spent magazine and slammed in a new one.
Confident the Marine was now out of danger, Sanchez picked up his rifle and checked his ammo meter. It was almost full. The rhythmic sound of the Marines’ weapons and the larger discharges from the remaining MACE units were all he could hear now. He pulled his M20 to his shoulder and peered through the sight, searching for the nearest Cilik’ti. He scanned to his right and then back left, but there was no sign of the enemy.
One of the Marines on the other side of the APC called out, “Cease-fire!”
A wash of relief replaced the battle-induced adrenaline, and Sanchez’s breaths came long and labored from exhaustion. The rifle slid away from his shoulder. He lowered his head and rested the front of his helmet on the rifle’s stock. The cool, wet ground felt refreshing on his face and for a brief moment, he didn’t want to move. Is it over?
“Are you all right, Commander?” She kneeled beside him.
“I’m fine,” he muttered. “Just taking my time is all.” He put his hands underneath him and pressed himself up. His muscles were sore and his whole body felt like one big
punching bag after a boxer’s long training session. He managed to get to his knees, and Maya helped him to his feet.
The level of carnage spread out in front of him after the battle was agonizing to behold. Of the six MACE units that charged, he saw only two still standing. One of the damaged MACE pilots was now out of his unit and under care from one of the unit’s corpsman. He checked another of the MACE units and dread gripped him. He couldn’t find Toronaga.
A few bursts of weapons fire came from his left. Two Marines fired rounds into a Cilik’ti warrior that still showed signs of life. It took a lot of firepower to bring them down and from what he witnessed, just as much to keep them there.
Looking to his left, he spotted another one of the MACE units. The set of powered armor was tangled with another Cilik’ti warrior, its gun hanging loose at its side. The warrior’s lance had pierced the MACE’s armor in the heart of its midsection and the end protruded on the other side. More Marines moved to separate the two fallen combatants, but Sanchez already added the Marine inside to his list of casualties.
Just short of the destroyed Shredder tank, Sanchez and Maya came upon a pile of bodies. Two Cilik’ti warriors blanketed a third figure underneath. The large warrior on top had a huge hole in the back of his head. From the direction it had fallen, Sanchez wondered if this was another target of Priest’s deadly aim.
Something moved under the pile, and he jumped back and reached for his weapon. He stopped when he saw the armored hand, coupled with the distinguishable blades from a MACE unit, straining against the weight of the Cilik’ti bodies.
Moving in to help, Maya and Sanchez gripped the armor of the Cilik’ti warrior’s body on top and pulled. The weight of the warrior’s body and armor was immense, but three more Marines joined their effort and managed to move the first body off the pile.
The upper part of the MACE unit in the pile was now visible, and Sanchez was relieved when he recognized Toronaga’s nameplate on the armor. “Sergeant, are you all right?”