Kyle called through his comms for Kang and Boots to join him urgently. They both arrived battered and breathless but alive, he put his arms around their shoulders, shaking them with an outpouring of relief and that exhilaration he had begun to feel during and after a fight. This new aspect to his character was unexpected and something that Kyle knew he would have to keep a lid on.
“Well, together we did it but we have lost so many, I have no idea how many Lillindians have survived, there cannot be too many but boy what fighters. The next job is to decide what we do with these boneheads.”
“I take it you are not planning an execution then?” enquired Kang
“No, much as I hate them, if we kill them when they are surrendering we would be worse than they are. Also we might learn what they are up to if we can communicate somehow.”
In the time they were talking, the banner waving alien had shuffled over to the trio, his banner lowered and pointing at them. Kang noticed the approach first and tapped Kyle’s shoulder to indicate a presence behind him.
Kyle turned and looked up to see the emissary looming over him. All he could think of saying was “Who are you?”
He did not really expect anything other than frustrating arm waving in response and was taken aback when an extremely clipped human voice began. “Unknown warriors, my name is ‘Apek’ son of ‘Ateche’ and I am the Military Commander for the hapless troops behind us. We are now without honour having been vanquished by tin soldiers and microbes, we have brought shame on our cadre and our race. We accept our fate and seek a quick end to our suffering.”
Kyle felt it was still appropriate to be pointing his sub-machine gun at the alien, he raised his helmet visor and carefully chose his words to avoid renewed hostilities.
“Apek son of Ateche we salute your troops, who fought with valour against our combined elite task force. There has been too much suffering here, and we will not add to it, by taking needless lives. We will decide what to do with you all, but firstly I must ask you to arrange for all your weapons and ammunition to be brought here, to us. Then please attend to your wounded the best you can. One more thing, how do you speak the language of humans so well?”
“I don’t, he pointed to a box on his belt, I think you call it a communifier!”
When Apek had gone, Boots asked “What was all that saluting aliens stuff about?”
Kyle looked thoughtful, “After scores of centuries mankind has had its first human to alien contact and look how it finished. I am just trying to do something to bridge the gap between us.”
****************************
On Edenfall at that time of year the nights were shorter, lasting only around five hours and it wasn’t long before the result of the previous evenings fighting could be seen. Nearly all the vegetation between the original camp and the alien ship was blackened or obliterated and groups from both sides were scouring the land for the last of their fallen comrades.
At the camp a first aid station had been hastily rigged up under canvas and Marine Orderly Ptomski together with some of the released women were tending to half a dozen wounded marines in makeshift cots.
Corporal Willox of the Lilliandians did a roll call and there were only nine fit marines remaining, plus himself and the medic. They were digging individual graves for their fellow marines, including Lieutenant Winkler, Gumm, Hashimoto, Wei and Paribas, who had failed to get far enough away from the alien ship before it exploded.
Shiner and Boots were also digging graves for their fallen comrades and Kyle found it hard to deal with the fact that he had contributed to all the deaths.
He accompanied Speedy as she ferried the freed women back to Jubilation in the Spotted Canary, taking his mind off the losses. They landed close to the village and whilst escorting the women down the main street they noticed the gaps between some of the houses were occupied by old style canvas tents.
They were still in their castorian armour and Trilby raced out from one of the tents to greet them. She was about to throw her arms around the neck of Kyle, the tallest of the troops but as she got closer she could see that their helmet visors were raised and it wasn’t Boots.
“Err, hello,” she said awkwardly, “where is Boots?”
Speedy gave the answer, “He’s ok but doing important work at the battlefield, you must be Trilby.”
“Yes,” she said her cheeks colouring, “can I help?”
“You can find help for your ladies,” and round them a crowd of anxious relatives swarmed seeking out familiar faces. There was many a tearful re-union as families were re-united, but there were still many whose families had been wiped out like Trilby’s and had nobody to welcome them.
“Trilby, where can we find Pastor Green?” Kyle asked.
“I am here young man,” a voice came from the crowd which parted to let their elderly leader pass through.
Dressed all in black and wearing his large brimmed hat, the Pastor approached Kyle and saw the name Getaway on the helmet and ‘Cassidy’ stencilled on the breast of his armour.
“You must be Lieutenant Cassidy.”
“Yes Sir, Pastor Green?”
“We could hear the noise of war last night and could see the night sky being rent, it must have been terrible to be there.”
“It was Pastor, and I am afraid we need to ask your people to aid us further. As well as being jailors for the pirates, we now have close on 40 giant aliens that need imprisonment until we can decide what to do with them.”
“We have barely started the first jail and many of our men were killed by those cursed pirates.”
“I accept what you say but my comrades and I need to be away from Edenfall today, we should not even be here but were diverted to your distress beacon. All I can offer is to leave Boots and the surviving Lillindians here for five days to try to get things organized.”
“Very well young man, will you be leaving the flying ship and the flying discs?”
“I can leave you three of the discs permanently and the Spotted Canary for five days.”
“That’s something I suppose. To begin with I suggest that your party take over the Randolph farmstead, which is approximately 4 miles west of the lake, they won’t be using it anymore. It has two large barns which will provide shelter in the short term and there are other farm buildings to billet your men. Is that agreeable?”
“It sounds very sensible in the circumstances but will you be able to come up with twenty of your own men to take over the guard duty?”
“It’s a case of having to Lieutenant. You haven’t said what your important mission is but I guess it’s more important than what’s happening on our small world.”
Kyle excused Speedy and himself, they flew back in the 'Canary' to the Lake to prepare for departure. The Pastor insisted that Trilby go along to represent the Edenfall community and she seemed unusually enthusiastic about the idea.
The plan was for Seeker of Moons to land, collect the remaining shore party and when Speedy came in sight of the lake the welcoming black silhouette of their mothership was already there.
Kang had organised for the five wounded Lillindians to be taken to on board Seeker of Moons and to be cared for by Dr Hussein and the Hu-mechy nurses.
There had been a constant stream of comms between the various groups to organise the expedition departure and Kyle did not want to risk Seeker of Moons on the ground for any longer than was necessary.
In his comms with Boots he briefed his colleague on the plan to use the nearby farm buildings for shelter and a makeshift prison. Kyle still had no idea of what to do with Apek and the surviving boneheads in the long term but he just had a feeling something would come up.
As part of Boots brief, he was to organise the Edenfallers when they arrived as guards and to equip them from captured weapons. Boots was also ordered to get close to Apek and find out as much as he could about the aliens and their motives.
The Edenfall objectives were all to be accomplished in five days, at which poin
t Boots was to pilot the Spotted Canary carrying the Lillindian marines towards Chamtofi and attempt a link-up with Seeker of Moons. Whether the operation was still running by then would be anybody’s guess.
Speedy wasted no time in landing the Spotted Canary and they hurried towards their own craft, which still had its reactors running for an emergency take off should it be necessary. Trilby on the other hand raced over to Boots and tried to put her arms around him but had to make do with receiving a heavy pat on the head.
Just two minutes after being back on their own ship, the reactors powered up the engines and the craft slowly lifted from the ground before turning and heading at great speed towards the stars.
Kyle wished Boots good luck as they left Edenfall’s thin atmosphere, he thought he would need it.
As Leader, Kyle needed to get his crew focussed back on the main mission and after a quick shower he changed back into fatigues, then feeling refreshed went to organise the crew. He had asked Bambi to get everyone together in the mess, except Ossie, who was left in charge of the bridge and Dr Hussein who was busy in the sick bay. When Kyle arrived everyone was seated but there was an empty seat at the head of the table with a steaming hot mug of Kaffoo ready and waiting.
He asked all those present to stand so that they could remember Ploughman and Sunshine. Although he had never done it before he managed to find words to describe their sacrifice and the loss to the crew.
**************
Through the cloud gate seven silver darts passed in line abreast and once through a course adjustment took place to direct them to Chamtofi in the quickest time possible.
This was the relief force that Admiral Ng had hinted at and it was the first evidence of a combined response from the United Worlds, who had reluctantly voted to use military force beyond the frontier.
There had been agreement to act but there was some reticence within the United Worlds as to what assets they would donate and nobody was prepared to commit either a Capital ship nor even a cruiser, so it was down to a task force of corvettes. These had been provided by Berengia, Alabaster, Castoria, Mengensis and Novo Europa. Alabaster like Berengia had volunteered two ships and was allowed to appoint the Mission Commander, who was Commodore Crisp. The raid on Chamtofi was going to be undertaken by a combined force of marines, with 50 crammed into each ship.
Though Kyle did not know it this force was acting independently and the Commodore was planning to check on the situation of Cassidy’s group before ordering them to stand down.
The Berengian ships were commanded by Lieutenants Fuentes and Freeman and both had been situated on the wings of the formation.
Once through the cloud gate communication silence and amber alert were the running orders but there was a confidence that the flotilla could deal with whatever challenge they encountered. Then on the second day past the gate things changed, a warning klaxon blared out on the bridge of Esther’s ship ‘Greyhound,’ it's sensors had picked up six fast moving unidentified craft approaching at 90 degrees to the UW flotilla. All hands were ordered to battle stations and the Commodore was advised of developments. He ordered the flotilla to turn and face this threat but as the seven craft commenced their turn, three of the alien spider ships appeared broadside from nowhere, they were in a trap!
The Commodore ordered the last three ships in the formation to turn about to face the spiders and the first four to complete their manoeuvre and engage the six other rapidly approaching enemy craft.
There was an immediate exchange of fire from energy weapons between the two groups of adversaries, the United World craft used ionised streams of plasma charged from the ships reactor. The alien spider ship fired bolts of pure energy back in return and the space between the two groups became criss-crossed with iridescent fire harnessed to oxygenated matter.
The UW ships were accurate in their fire but the energy beams were dispersed by the alien ships force field. Return fire from the aliens was much more devastating and the UW ship next to Freeman’s, ‘Scourge’ spun lifeless as all power and systems were disabled by the pounding electronic pulses. Freeman was trying to find something at the back of his mind, which would give him and his crew on ‘Pretender’ a lifeline.
“Skipper, the Kiara’s gone too, all systems dead and comms out,” the announcement came through the commanders control console. Freeman knew that if he could not come up with something quick his ship would suffer the same fate.
“All gunners, target the enemy ships firing tubes on the two ships port and starboard. Weapons Bay, make ready a fission torpedo and let me know as soon as you can fire it.”
The Pretender shook as sustained energy continued to pound the hull from the front and sides. Lights flickered and for a couple of seconds, went out altogether before returning to life.
“Skipper, Weapons Bay here, we have a 3 kiloton calling card loaded and ready to go.”
“Well done boys, transfer control to Commander, let’s deliver the mail!”
Freeman set his weapons targeting system on to the alien spider ship dead ahead and spoke the coded launch code into his helmet mic.
In just seconds the bridge forward viewscreen burst into a nova as the alien ship was replaced by a bright silver sun. There was now a gap to escape and he ordered his helm to go full speed for the space, which the alien ship had left.
“Gunners, keep targeting the aliens firing tubes!”
“Skipper, port side alien damaged and no longer firing.”
“Skipper, our starboard target has ceased firing too but I can’t tell if it’s damaged.”
“OK, great job everybody. Engine Room, give me everything, I want us out of range as fast as this crate will go.”
Commodore Crisp and the other three UW ships charged like ancient cavalry towards the enemy, the crews working like crazy to load and target their weapons systems. As they drew closer Crisp’s IO uploaded the detail from his sensors onto the bridge viewscreen. Five distant dots were changed to a computer generated silhouette of an individual enemy ship. Beneath the rotating ships outline, the analysis programme began loading text across the screen…
Status of Subject…Potential aggressor
Type of craft ……….Warship
Size ……………………Cruiser equivalent
Origin …………………Unknown
Weapons…………….Unknown
Weapons status….Targeting
There was no time to manoeuvre, there was nowhere to run as the four small UW craft seemed to be sucked towards the much larger enemy ship. They were still not able to hurt them with their own weapons due to the distance, although they were closing fast.
The unknown aliens had recognised Crisp’s ship as being the command centre and three of the cruisers began a bombardment with concentrated energy beams which pummelled the Commodore’s craft, causing the hull to glow first red-hot then white hot. A fourth ship then fired a salvo of vibrating material which overwhelmed the little ship’s shields, inside the noise of warning alarms built to a crescendo. Commodore Crisp hailed his other three ships “Fire everything you’ve got now, then get the hell out of here!”
It was the last sound from the Commodore or his ship as it burst into a million fragments of metal, synthetics and people.
The Captains of the three remaining craft obeyed their late commander’s final order and fired their plasma cannons and sub-atomic warheads towards the five aggressors, before splitting up and trying to escape.
Esther sitting in the captain’s chair of the Greyhound shouted feverish orders to the helm, engine room and weapons stations. The whole craft shook from the extreme manoeuvres and the recoil of the pulse generators, and then the pounding from the enemies ships began.
On the bridge of the enemy flagship, Lord Burzot commander of the emperor’s warship ‘Kreznan’ issued his orders. “Warriors of the one empire, we must drive out the insects that have been carried into our space. Pursue these lesser beings, let none live.” Kreznan and its crew
were not the boneheads that Kyle had faced, these were Kyandians, the warrior race used by the Infinite Empire to subjugate vast tracks of the galaxy. The Kyandians were impressive in the flesh, bipeds of around seven feet in height, scaly skin, green or black with no discernible ears, a beak with nasal openings for a mouth and two large composite eyes. Their hands were similar to humans but with thumbs at both sides. They all wore armoured combat suits of silver, irrespective of their roles and were all without reason or mercy, a race bred for one purpose, war and domination.
Esther’s Systems Engineer shouted across the bridge, we’ve lost ‘Steel Orchid’ and ‘Wamberoo’, it’s unlikely we can take more than another five minutes before we become toast too.
The main lights went out altogether, which caused the dim red emergency lights to come on. Esther was not prone to panic but this time her adherence to doing things by the book was not helping and Cassini the Systems Engineer, noticed that Esther was sitting with her head in her hands.
“Skipper, the ship has had it and so have we if we don’t get off now. You need to order ‘Abandon Ship.’ Do it now, or no one will escape!”
“Yes you are right Cass, I am sorry, get everybody moving towards the escape tubes.”
Cassini urged the crew on the bridge to move as quickly as possible to the Emergency Escape System. Esther used her security pass to unlock a small compartment on her console. The flap raised and underneath was the red button she had never dreamed of using, after a moment's hesitation Esther pressed hard. A new shrill klaxon joined the other alarms and at first some of the crew didn’t realise its importance, but the increasingly strident tones were soon understood by all.
An orderly queue formed three abreast at the triple escape tubes, where three of the Greyhounds crew were organising the release of the escape pods, something they practised on a regular basis. Three open pods rotated towards the escaping crew one person was urged into each pod, the lid automatically shut and restraints locked the passenger in. The pods then shot through an air lock and into open space like torpedoes. This process went on until only Esther and one of the attendants were left, she insisted that her crew member leave first, then with a last look at her ship Esther too took her place in a tube, which followed the rest of the ships occupants out into a very dangerous void.
Seeker of Moons (Cassidy's Command Book 1) Page 18