Empire (Empire, Book One)

by Logan Rutherford

  The door swung open. It was too late.

  A human doctor—or was it Mortukian—stood there, hands on her hips like a disapproving parent. “Now Mia,” she said, tilting her head to the side, sending her blonde ponytail flicking to the right. She wore a name tag that simply said Tiso “What’s with all the racket?”

  “What’s going on? Where am I?” Mia asked.

  Doctor Tiso picked up the scalpel from the bed and slipped it into her lab coat. “You’re at McArthur Base. You’ll be kept here until the exchange can happen so get comfortable, missy,” Tiso said with a smile. She grabbed Mia’s knee and shook it.

  Mia jerked away and Tiso let out a laugh. “Where’s Beth?” Mia asked.

  Tiso looked at her. “Why do you care where the baby is? You know, her parents were good people. It’s a shame they got caught up in the crossfire.”

  “They weren’t people,” Mia said, remembering how human they seemed as their lifeless bodies fell out of their car. “Mortuks aren’t human.”

  “No, but we’re people, Mia,” she said with an eager smile.

  Mia shook her head as best she could in her restraints. “How is this even possible? You almost look convincing.”

  Tiso reached forward and slapped Mia across the face. “How dare you insult me. I’m not trying to convince anyone of anything. I’m just doing my job, which was save your life. You’d be dead right now if it wasn’t for our technology.”

  “I wouldn’t be in this situation if it wasn’t for a damn Mortuk,” Mia said, anger boiling within her at the thought of Sam. “So we’re far from even.”

  “Well you can call it what you like, but the fa—”

  A bright light flashed through the room, and two holes appeared in Tiso’s chest. Her lifeless body fell forward onto Mia’s bed.

  Mia craned her eyes to look at the door. Four people entered the room, covered in black from head to toe. The one in front took off his mask. “My name’s Allen,” the Asian man said. “Let’s get you out of here.”

  One of the other marines—a woman from what Mia could tell—pulled the deceased doctor off the bed and searched her pockets for the handcuff keys.

  Allen reached up and undid the strap across Mia’s head. He caught the keys that the other marine tossed to him and undid her handcuffs.

  Mia rubbed her sore, red wrists as she sat up and got out of bed. “Give me a gun.”

  Allen reached down and handed her a sidearm. “Let us try and do the shooting before you have to use this, okay?”

  “Sure, as long as we can get out of here.”

  “That’s the plan,” Allen said. “First we gotta get outside and shoot off a flare.”

  “Flare?” Mia asked, confused.

  “There’s a squadron of fighters and ground troops ready to attack this facility. They’ve got over a hundred prisoners here and we’re going to rescue them,” the female marine said. “Name’s Cecily, by the way.”

  “We need to hurry up and move if we’re going to do this,” one of the marines by the door said.

  Allen walked towards the door. “Alright, let’s do this. Mia, you stay in the middle of the group. Do everything I tell you.”

  Mia wasn’t sure about that but she nodded her head anyways.

  They exited the room. The hallway was completely dark and void of all sound. They moved forward towards the stairwell. Anxiety pounded on Mia like waves crashing into cliffs. It was unrelenting. She thought about how good it would feel when the nightmare was over with. She’d never wanted to step foot on a spaceship in her life. She never thought Earth would be the last place she wanted to be.

  A baby let out a cry from behind them. The marines spun around, guns aimed. Someone pushed Mia to the ground. “Don’t move,” Allen whispered.

  The cries continued. Mia knew exactly whose they were.

  Beth.

  On one hand, Beth was a Mortuk. On the other, Mia was barley winning the fight with her instincts. She’d spent so much time protecting Beth and now she needed her help. What did the Mortuks do to orphans? Mia didn’t know, but given what she did know about them, she wouldn’t be surprised if it was something savage. How do I even know if she’s Mortukian? Sam had lied about everything else, why not that? It could’ve been a trick. She wasn’t even convinced Sam was a Mortuk. If they had the technology to heal her stab wound like it was nothing, surely turning a little bit of blood black would be possible.

  Mia couldn’t debate it any longer. She let her instincts take over. She pushed the hand off her shoulder and bounded down the hallway.

  “Mia! Get back here!” Allen said, doing his best not to shout.

  Mia ignored him. Beth needed her. That’s all that mattered.

  She followed the cries to a room at the end of the hallway. Mia swung the door open, gun raised. Two doctors turned and looked at her, their scrubs covered in blood, masks covering their mouths and noses. Mia fired two shots. One fell to the ground. The other fell into a shelf filled with medical supplies, sending it crashing to the ground.

  “Come on!” Allen grabbed Mia’s arm, trying to pull her back.

  Mia swung around and aimed her gun at Allen’s head. “Let go.”

  Allen complied and Mia rushed over to the crib in the middle of the room. Inside, Beth screamed at the top of her lungs, barely breathing. In her mouth was a tube that went all the way down her throat. Mia picked her up, her eyes watering at the thought of what they were doing to her. She didn’t have any blood on her, thankfully. So where did all the blood on the doctors’ scrubs came from?

  “We have to go,” Cecily said.

  Mia pulled the tube from Beth’s throat and threw it into the crib. She held the baby tight to her chest. Beth began to calm down. Mia wasn’t sure what she was but she’d have time to figure that out later. “Let’s get the hell out of here,” Mia said, walking towards the door.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  “There’s the signal!”

  Hayden looked up to see what Vick was yelling about and saw the bright red flare shooting through the night sky. He didn’t wait for the orders from Baxter. He pulled up on the yoke, lifting his Mamba into the air. He flew towards the base at full speed, his heart beating as fast as his ship.

  “Remember, the prisoners are being held on the basketball field. Keep your fire away from there. Other than that, shoot the hell out of everything,” Baxter said.

  “Roger that,” Hayden replied, eager to kick some Mortukian ass.

  His Mamba roared across the sky, the trees bending beneath him. Two fighters appeared on either side of him and, together, the three of them led the charge.

  The base now within weapons range, Hayden aimed for the tallest building of them all: the communications tower. He pressed the red button at the top of his control stick, and a wave of bullets screeched through the air, tearing through the building. Debris went flying and the tower caught on fire.

  A pair of H-27 bombers came in behind Hayden, dropping their payloads, finishing off the building.

  “On your tail, Hayden!” Vick shouted.

  Hayden pulled up without even looking to see what it was. He leveled out and watched as a Mortuk fighter screeched by below him. “How’d they get into the air so quick?”

  “Doesn’t matter, just shoot ‘em down!” Baxter yelled.

  Hayden spun around and flew back towards the base. Beneath him, the muzzles of the human assault rifles flashed against the bright lights of the Mortuks’ lasers. It was weird seeing people using old fashioned assault rifles instead of the standard issue LZARs, but he smiled at the thought that he was the one who figured out the Mortuks’ weakness.

  Hayden flew close to the ground and fired at an encampment of Mortuks that was set up across from the front gate of the base. Dirt shot into the air like water from a geyser. “There’s a little help, boys!” Some of his bullets hit a large military truck, causing a huge explosion. Hayden let out a whoop of joy as he pulled up on the stick, sending his Mamba up into t
he air. A Mortuk fighter flew over him, and Hayden shot the thing from beneath. His bullets just grazed the Mortuk, sending the thing spinning to the ground before crashing into one of the buildings below in a bright blue fireball. “Those things aren’t running on any type of fuel I’ve ever seen,” Hayden said. “Damn thing went up in a blue fireball!”

  “Save that for later,” Vick said.

  Hayden leveled out his Mamba, searching for his next target.

  “I’ve got som—” Baxter started.

  Out of the corner of his eye, Hayden saw a bright orange fireball.

  “Shit, they got Baxter!” someone yelled.

  Hayden readjusted his fighter to get a better look at what happened. A wall of large black needle shaped vessels sailed right for him.

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Mia held Beth tight to her chest as the battle raged on in every direction. Above her, Mambas from the Empire fought off the Mortuks, while in the distance the ground troops were storming the gates of the base, aided by the bombers from the Empire.

  “Stay close!” Allen shouted to be heard over the sound of gunfire.

  The group ran alongside the building, ready to take out any threat. Since it was dark inside the hospital, Mia noticed for the first time that they were using old fashioned assault rifles, like the ones that were widely used at the beginning of the first Mortukian war. She wondered why.

  “Contact!” Allen yelled.

  Mia ducked and covered Beth’s body with her own. The marines got in formation around her and fired their weapons at the Mortuks. The sound of the gunfire caused Mia to jump. The LZARs weren’t nearly as loud. It sounded like hundreds of explosions happening all around her. The guns spat out bullet casings, some of them raining down on Mia. The hot metal burned her skin, but she gritted her teeth and endured it. She wanted to fight alongside them but she couldn’t risk putting Beth in danger. The baby screamed and Mia covered her ears, but it seemed to make little difference.

  “Alright, we’re clear,” Allen said once the firing stopped.

  “That was easy enough,” Cecily said as she helped Mia up.

  “Don’t get complacent,” Allen said. “Double time to the hangar.”

  They took off, almost sprinting to the hanger. There a stairway down into the tunnels beneath the base awaited them. Despite the fact that the Mortuks knew it was there, it was safer than running through an open field. In the tunnels there was at least a bit of control.

  They turned a corner and the hangar loomed ahead—a large metal building in the middle of the base. Above it, the dogfight between the Mortukian and Empire fighters raged on. On the ground, the Mortuks had set up a line of defense next to the hangar. The ground soldiers pushed forward, having liberated the prisoners from the basketball court.

  “There’s too many prisoners,” Mia said. “There’s no way they can keep them all safe.”

  “Don’t worry about them!” Allen shouted back at her. “Just run!”

  They ran across the road towards the hangar as fast as they could. Allen and another marine ran on the left, watching for any sign that the Mortuks had spotted them. Cecily and the other marine did the same on the right. Mia ran straight forward, Beth in one hand, the pistol in the other.

  They reached the other side of the street, but didn’t slow down. The hangar doors slid open just enough for Mia and the rest of the crew to squeeze through.

  On the other side of the door, the Mortuks waited.

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  “Captain, the battle has begun,” Mia said.

  “Thank you.” Ivan stood in front of his seat, hands crossed behind his back. He felt so helpless. There was nothing he could do. At least, not yet. It was all in the hands of the ground and air squads. If the space squad had to get involved, it would be with a mothership. And Ivan wasn’t sure if he or the Empire were ready for that.

  “Sir, we’ve got another mothership incoming,” Cadet Lily Norwalk said.

  Ivan scanned the screen for the new ship and, sure enough, there it was. It floated down majestically into place. Ivan could almost feel it locking in. He didn’t know if he’d get everyone out before the pattern completed. He’d by lying if he said he wasn’t afraid. “How many more motherships are needed?” he asked.

  “It looks like just one more,” a cadet called out from behind him.

  Ivan didn’t bother to turn around. He couldn’t take his eyes off of Earth. “How much longer until the mission is complete?”

  “Not sure, sir,” Millie answered. “There’s too much interference for anything but short range communications to work. I think it’s the motherships, sir.”

  Ivan said nothing in response. He wanted to sit down in the chair behind him, but he also didn’t want to show any weakness to his crew. They needed to see him standing in the face of the enemy, not willing to back down. They needed to have trust in him and Ivan needed to find that trust somewhere within himself. Because with every mothership that appeared, it dug its way down deeper and deeper.

  “Sir, we’ve got incoming.”

  Ivan looked up at the screen.

  The final mothership had arrived.

  “Angelica,” Ivan said.

  “Yes, Captain?” she answered.

  “How many of the guns have the WorkerBots finished retrofitting?”

  “Our new—or old—weapons are at seventy-eight percent functionality.”

  “Recall them immediately. Seventy-eight percent will have to do.” He turned and faced his crew on the bridge. “Set an intercept vector. Tell the remaining fighters to prep for launch. We cannot let that mothership reach its destination.” Ivan turned back around to the screen, not wanting to see the looks of fear and despair on the faces of his crew.

  All they’d seen at the hands of the motherships was death and destruction. He hoped that this time things would be different. They had to be.

  If they weren’t, Ivan wasn’t sure the war could even be won.

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Hayden pulled up on his yoke as fast as he could. His Mamba shot up in the air and the black needle-like ships passed beneath him. A quick glance behind him told him that they weren’t giving up the pursuit though. He flew left, then right, then did a barrel roll and still couldn’t lose the ships. In fact, they were gaining on him.

  Sparks flew behind him and he turned to see Empire fighters shooting at them. But their bullets did nothing to faze the ships. They just bounced off their hulls.

  “I can’t shake them!” Vick screamed through the comm system. Hayden had never heard him so afraid before.

  “Hold on Vick, I’m coming!” Hayden yelled, though he had no idea where his friend was.

  “They’re getting closer! They won’t get off me!”

  Hayden took a quick glance behind him. He was in the same predicament. “What’s your location?”

  “Flying towards the middle of the base!” Vick said.

  “I’ve got eyes on you Vick,” another pilot said.

  Hayden looked towards the middle of camp and saw him. One of his engines was on fire. Black smoke and flames shot from the ship, illuminating the fast-approaching needles. “Hold on Vick, I’m coming!” Hayden yelled, although he had no idea what he was going to do once he got there.

  “I can’t wait! I gotta pull it!” Vick yelled. The top of his Mamba blew off, and the pilot’s seat shot into the air. The now vacant fighter drifted downwards and, within a few seconds, the needle ships were on it. The vessel exploded, the debris falling down, crashing into the McArthur Base hangar.

  “Hayden! Pull!” Vick screamed.

  Hayden didn’t question his friend’s judgement. He didn’t even look behind him. He knew it was now or never. Hayden grasped the red lever beneath his seat and yanked upwards.

  The top of the Mamba blew off and his seat rocketed into the air. The needles shot through his ship, sending the debris raining down on a nearby building. His parachute opened and he began his slow descent to th
e ground, the battle raging on around him.

  Chapter Fifty

  Mia felt the fist of the Mortuk before she saw it.

  She ran into the hangar full speed and the creature slammed its fist into her, sending her flying to the ground. Mia twisted her body in mid-air to keep herself from crushing Beth. But this meant she had no way to break her own fall. Her head slammed into the concrete and she saw double of everything around her—double the bodies that hung from the ceiling, double the blood that dripped down around her. Double the approaching Mortuks.

  Mia fumbled for her pistol that had landed nearby. She could see it but couldn’t tell if it was near or far away. The floor of the hangar was slick with blood, which didn’t help any.

  The Mortuk stepped on her wrist. She screamed in pain. The Mortuk stood above her, its black armor reflecting what little light illuminated the room. It looked down at her, its face squished like a mix between a bulldog and a wild hog. It snarled at her, revealing sharp, yellowed teeth. It spoke something to her but she couldn’t understand. It could’ve been Mortukian or it could’ve been English. Given the blow to her head she’d just suffered, she wasn’t trusting her ears.

  The creature reached down and grabbed her ankles. She kicked at it in vain. She looked around for any sign of help.

  Allen stood behind the Mortuk, gun raised. He fired into the alien. How many rounds, Mia wasn’t sure. All she knew was that the Mortuk fell to the side, dead.

  Allen reached down and helped Mia up. She found it hard to stand up straight. “Come on,” he said, helping her walk. “Don’t slip.” He nodded his head down at the puddles of blood that covered the hangar floor, correlating with the bodies that hung on the ceiling above them.

  “Where’s the rest?” Mia asked, her words slurred, trying not to retch from the sight. She could hear Beth crying in her arms, but it sounded far away. She turned her head to look behind her but Allen stopped her.

  “Don’t look back,” he said. “Don’t look back.”