Vance heard a deep rumbling scream that could only come from the throat of an Oterian. Stopping briefly, he turned and saw the group had become separated. To his dismay, two of his teammates were lost on the far side of the widening void, made only larger by the masses of Seques filling the gap.
“We have to help them.” Vance pulled out a grenade and tossed it into the midst of the advancing creatures. The explosion tossed the Seques aside, leaving smoking corpses face down on the sidewalk.
Eza grabbed his arm and pulled him forward. “We can’t do anything for them.” His frustration was obvious, as drops of green blood fell from his ax. “I want retribution as much as you do, but this isn’t the time or place for an epic last stand.”
Vance stared for a second longer, then Yen ran past him.
“They’re coming from everywhere,” Yen said. “If we don’t move now, they’ll trap us again.”
Looking back with disappointment and deep sadness, Vance turned back toward the outpost and ran. Four blocks ahead, he saw the sturdy fence and rising stone walls of the military compound. The front wall was damaged, collapsed either from an assault by the Seques or Halo’s cluster bombs. The way to the central building was clear, but that wasn’t what Vance wanted.
Located on the building’s exterior, guarding both sides of the door and at nearly every corner of the structure, mounted turret guns were set to open fire on any creature that didn’t emit an Alliance ID code. Implanted in every soldier’s arm was a small microchip that emitted the correct frequency. If the group could get close enough to the building, the turret guns would activate and start eliminating any Seques that came close enough while simultaneously avoiding hitting Vance’s men. It was their last chance for survival.
“I’m out!” Decker said, his voice panicky.
Vance broke his determined stare at the outpost and looked at his fellow Pilgrim.
Decker pulled the magazine from his rifle and tossed it angrily to the street. “I’m completely out of ammo.”
Reaching into the pouches in the front of his body armor, Vance took one of his last two magazines and tossed it to him. “I’m almost out, too. Make every shot count.”
Sweat seeped into Vance’s eyes, blurring his vision. Even in the cool twilight, he was sweating profusely after running so long in full armor. His pounding heart and the adrenalin coursing through his veins weren’t helping matters. Still, the outpost loomed in the distance, just a short sprint away.
“Push it out!” he shouted. “We’re almost there!”
They were close, but they lost many men to get there. Three platoons were decimated. He didn’t have time to check at the moment, but Vance was certain any survivors of the initial assault had been hunted down and killed. Of his own group, he had two remaining team members, Decker, Dallis, and a small handful of infantry. Though he refused to voice his concerns, Vance wasn't sure reaching the outpost would make any difference. Even the turret guns’ ammunition was limited, while there seemed to be a nearly endless supply of Seques destroying the city. Still, with the compound so close, he pushed on harder than ever.
As they ran the last block, nearly all of them low on ammunition, Vance saw relief flooding the men’s faces. They reached the rubble of the collapsed wall and scrambled over it, an army of Seques on their heels.
As the beasts scaled and bounded over the crumbled wall, Vance heard gears whir. The two turret guns rose from their resting positions, taking aim at the new threat. As the barrels spun, fire leaped from both ends of the weapons, as massive-caliber slugs tore through the Seques’ thick hides. Green blood sprayed in sheets. Dozens of the monsters were cut down in the opening barrages, and those that followed slipped in their counterparts’ blood before being gunned down next.
The survivors let out a ragged cheer before collapsing in exhaustion. Even Vance doubled over with his hands on his knees while he tried to catch his breath. He allowed himself a faint smile, as the Seques began hesitating after watching so many of their ilk killed so quickly by the perimeter defenses.
Reaching the outpost bought them a little more time to think, plan, and find a way off the planet. Vance had to assume that the Seques had the outpost surrounded. That didn’t mean transports couldn’t land within the compound during an emergency evacuation. Once he was inside, he’d pull up the schematics for the base and call Goliath.
While lost in his plans for escape, he noticed an absence of noise, a haunting drop in gunfire that left him feeling exposed. Though it seemed unlikely, he wondered if the turret guns were already running out of ammunition. If the Seques tried to breach the outpost before, it was possible the guns had been firing intermittently for some time, draining the belts of ammunition. If that were the case, the survivors wouldn’t have much time before the Seques returned.
He turned toward the weapons, expecting them to be resting with their barrels down, the common position once they stopped firing or expended their rounds. Instead, the weapons whirred back and forth, scanning the group of soldiers who hid and caught their breath on the other side of the outer wall. Vance’s confusion caught Dallis’ eye, who supported an infantryman who coughed hoarsely, his lungs burning from exertion.
Dallis looked back and shrugged, unable to explain the weapons. Without warning, the guns fired again. The Uligart commander and the solider he supported vanished in red mist, as the high-caliber rounds dismembered the Alliance troops.
Blood splashed the soldiers seeking refuge near the pair. Vance’s instincts took over, and he slid behind a pile of nearby rubble. He heard the guns change trajectories again, and another soldier screamed before his body was shredded by the high-velocity rounds.
The remaining members dived for cover, as rounds rained down, splitting the stones they hid behind and showering flecks of debris on the petrified soldiers.
Vance lowered his visor and switched the monitor. Invariably, all surviving members of the group emitted their ID codes. The invisible pulses registered on his visor, rolling like concentric circles from each forearm.
“Why are they firing on us?” Yen shouted, his words barely audible over the constant hum of the automatic defenses.
Vance didn’t even try to answer. There was no reason for the guns to fire on them. Their signals were still strong. He didn’t believe the automated system could make a mistake between a Seque and one of the soldiers. It was too complex for such a simple mistake. Here was no reason for the guns to fire on them unless they were reprogrammed.
Vance shook his head, not eager to follow that line of thought. If they were reprogrammed, that meant someone betrayed four platoons of Alliance soldiers. If there was a traitor among them, turret guns ahead, and Seques waiting hungrily behind them, the survivors were doomed.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
“Halo,” Vance said, “I don’t know why the guns are firing on us, and right now, I don’t have time to care. I need you to shut them down.”
“I’ve been trying, Michael. Someone’s blocking my attempts to hack the outpost’s computer system.”
“Keep trying.”
Slivers of rock shattered free, as more bullets slammed into his barricade.
“We need a way out of here and fast!”
“I’d doing all I can,” she said, an edge of panic in her voice. “I’m working as fast as I….”
The transmission stopped.
“Halo? Halo, answer me!”
“I wish I could say I saw this coming,” her soft, feminine voice said.
Vance knew she wasn’t speaking to him. She intentionally left the radio active, so he could listen.
“I have cameras on you. I can see the gun behind your back.” She paused. “You’re going to kill me, aren’t you?”
“I haven’t really been left any other choice,” a familiar male voice replied.
A loud gunshot echoed in Vance’s headset. He jerked at the sound, his heart racing.
“Halo?” He felt weak. Nausea threatened to overwhelm him.
“Aleiz, please answer me.”
“She won’t be answering you,” a man replied. “Halo’s gone.”
“Captain Young?” he asked in disbelief. “I don’t understand.”
“What’s to understand?” Captain Young asked angrily. “I sent you on your last mission with two simple instructions-retrieve the data and don’t open the disk. You couldn’t manage to follow two simple tasks.”
Vance sat paralyzed and bewildered. His thoughts raced in a jumbled mess, individual thoughts lost in a cloudy haze. “I don’t understand,” he said, unsure what to say.
“You aren’t listening, Michael! You had very specific instructions. Did you or did you not complete both your assigned duties?”
“We retrieved the disks like you asked.” Vance’s head spun. “Why’d you kill her? We did what you asked!”
“I told you, in no uncertain terms, not to open the disk!” he screamed, sitting beside Aleiz’ body. Blood dripped from the destroyed side of her head, pooling on the leather seat below. “I’m not stupid, Michael. I could tell you opened the files.”
“I didn’t!” he shouted back, wanting to close his hands around the captain’s throat and shake him until he understood. “I didn’t open the disk. You didn’t need to kill her.”
“But someone did. If you didn’t, then someone on your team did. If it wasn’t you, then the blood of all those soldiers is on the hands of one of your teammates.”
Vance’s head jerked toward the remaining teammates. Yen and Eza entered the room and retrieved the disk. Could they have opened it? They weren’t involved in the conversation and were blissfully unaware of the accusations against them.
“Because they opened the disk and read a file, you’re willing to sacrifice over one hundred lives?” Vance’s anger grew. “If you wanted my team dead, why not send us in alone? Why send all those infantry soldiers along, condemning them to death?”
“Think about it, Michael,” the captain replied coolly. “It’ll come to you.”
The realization froze Vance’s breath in his lungs. For a moment, he couldn't speak. Finally, he said, “In one mission, you killed almost every soldier who could stand against you onboard. You’re taking the ship for yourself, but that doesn’t make sense. You already have possession of the ship as its captain. Who else would want it besides…?”
The captain left the sentence hanging.
“But why?” Vance asked breathlessly. “I’ve known you my entire life. You’ve been loyal to the Alliance your entire career. Why suddenly turn traitor? Why would you want to turn Goliath over to the Terrans?”
“That’s the question you’ve been yearning to ask,” the captain said, holstering the still-smoking pistol. “You beat around the bush, but you finally got to the heart of it. Gods alive, Vance, I’d love to tell you they kidnapped my family and are holding them for ransom. I wish I could tell you a tale of epic heroism, where I have to do this, or my family dies.
“Real life isn’t a storybook, Michael. I did it for money. The Terrans wanted an operational warship and a halo system to analyze. Even with her dead, the system’s in place, ready for reverse engineering.”
“Don’t you dare talk about Aleiz like she was a cog in a machine.”
The captain continued as if he hadn’t heard. “Did you know the Empire has a massive budget set aside just for bribing Alliance personnel? They have more money than they know what to do with, and they’re paying me enough to buy a small moon on which I can retire. You don’t realize how rich this will make me.”
“For money?” Vance’s face flushed with rage. “You killed my men, Aleiz, and all these soldiers just for money? You pathetic son of a bitch!”
“Watch that temper, Michael,” he replied coldly. “I killed only those who wouldn’t see the common sense I offered. The rest of the ship supports me. They’ve all been offered very comprehensive financial payoffs for their support.
“Everyone has a price, but it’s more than just the money. You and I both know neither the Alliance nor the Empire have been following the Taisa Accord. As of right now, the Terran Fleet has slipped ships past the demilitarized zone and has begun an invasion of Alliance-occupied space. The war’s coming, and I’m here to tell you the Terrans will win. Sure, they offered me money, but they also offered me a chance to be welcomed back into the Empire’s fold, regardless of my Pilgrim background. Had you not been so damned stubborn, you might’ve had the same offer.”
“Unlike you,” he roared, “I’d never sell my own people for money!”
“News flash, Michael. The Terrans are your people. Just because your grandparents made piss-poor decisions about which side they wanted to fight on doesn’t mean you’re that far removed from the Empire. You’re still a Terran.”
Vance seethed. His depression and horror at the blood on his hands was replaced by a deep-seated yearning for vengeance. “Believe me when I say I’ll personally see you dead before this is over.”
“Let’s be realistic. You’ll never get off that planet. Since you’re going to be this way and insist on making threats, there’s nothing more to say to each other. Good-bye, Michael.”
The radio went dead, and Vance howled in frustration. Yen and Eza looked at him from across the small gap. He shot both of them a look of pure malevolence. Rage showed in his bloodshot eyes.
“You two have a lot of explaining to do. First, we have to find a way off this rock.” Slumping back down behind the rubble, he muttered, “I’ll find a way off here, so I can send that son of a bitch straight to hell.”
Vance’s salvation came seconds later, as a turret gun exploded and lit the night sky with a shower of sparks. Sitting atop a four-story building fifteen blocks away, Ainj aimed at the second turret gun and fired.
The high-velocity sniper rounds tore through the metal casing, igniting the ammunition within. The second gun exploded, opening a path through which the survivors could enter the outpost.
“Move,” Ainj whispered, wishing he still had his headset.
When the Seque barged onto the roof of the skyscraper and pounced on Reese, Ainj was startled and took to the air in a hurry to avoid the charging beast, but he left behind most of his ammunition and headset. Unable to communicate with the soldiers near the outpost, he had to hope they saw his actions clearly and moved inside fast.
The sound of the sniper rifle firing undoubtedly gave away his position. Still, he stayed, trying to buy Vance and his team more time. The rest of the guns around the building would never allow Ainj to get close by flying, and he couldn’t risk being on the ground. He still held the advantage, since the Seques couldn’t follow him in the air. By firing and moving, he had a chance to elude the predatory monsters.
Through his scope, he watched Vance and the rest of the survivors break for the outpost door. Noticing the guns were destroyed, the Seques hurried to follow.
Ainj took aim and squeezed the trigger. As the first Seque leaped over the crumbling outer wall, its head exploded in a mist of green blood and gray brain matter. Ainj, feeling the rifle’s recoil, readjusted for his second shot. That one slammed into a Seque’s back, sending it tumbling end-over-end before lying unmoving on the ground. He fired a third time, tearing off the leg of another beast, as it ran toward the soldiers.
The roof shook, as a Seque climbed the rear of the building and launched itself over the lip. It howled angrily at the Avalon before digging its claws into the stone floor and charging.
Ainj climbed to his feet and hoisted his rifle, tucking the stock under his arm. Leaping into the air over the main street, he opened his wings, caught an updraft, and glided into the chasm. He spun in midair, letting his wings carry him, as he twisted to face the roof he just left. The Seque charged, preparing to launch itself across the gap at him.
Bringing up his rifle, he fired several times. Flames leaped from the large-bore barrel, as the sniper rounds slammed into the running Seque. Gaping holes appeared in its abdomen, chest, and arms, as round after ro
und shredded thick muscles and mangled internal organs.
The Seque staggered, as Ainj fired again, catching its neck and nearly ripping its head from its shoulders. The Seque collapsed onto the roof, tearing a rut in the stone as it slid.
Ainj smiled sadistically, glad to see another one of the beasts die. Still gliding backward, he never saw another Seque perched on the roof he approached. Tucking its muscular legs underneath it, the Seque leaped and collided with Ainj above the street. It wrapped powerful arms around his body and latched its long claws into his chest and stomach.
Ainj screamed in pain, as the Seque sank its teeth into his shoulder. Its massive bulk twisted, snapping his thin, hollow-boned wing.
The pair plummeted forty feet to the street, hitting the ground with a horrific crash. The Seque’s heavy mass made them spin until it struck the ground first. Its body cushioned Ainj’s fall and broke its fangs free of his body, but blood poured from numerous wounds on his shoulder, back, chest, and stomach.
Ainj coughed weakly, as specks of blood flew from his lips. His frail bones snapped on impact, leaving him unable to move. Around him, low growls emerged from the darkness, quickly followed by a sea of glowing, red eyes. The Seques stalked toward their downed prey.
Ainj closed his eyes, not wanting to see the razor-sharp teeth and claws that came to feed upon him.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Keryn sat outside the dean’s office, feeling like a child waiting to be scolded by her disapproving parents. From within, she heard muffled yells coming from Magistrate Victoria and the dean, as they discussed her situation. Her stomach fluttered from nervousness and dread, as she waited for the inevitable order to report within.
Keryn looked for a clock on the walls, anything to tell her how much time passed. Sitting in the chair, she felt it was already hours. The walls, however, were barren save for small placards indicating the Academy’s many accomplishments.
By the time the office door opened, and Keryn was called in, she was beyond dread and entered a realm of nervousness she couldn’t describe. All her hard work getting accepted to the Academy as a Wyndgaart hung in delicate balance. Her fate rested firmly in the unforgiving hands of the Academy’s dean. Swallowing hard, she stood and walked into the office.
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