Dropship One

by L. D. P. Samways

  Men that survived tours like this were usually machines. They were big and covered in tattoos. The slight inkling of combat excited them. But then there was me. A guy that was both vertically challenged and impartial to bloodshed. A guy that finished fourth to last in his boot camp. A guy that fell behind his squad and was nearly killed by the wildlife on this planet. Each and every man in this squad has changed.

  We aren't the same anymore. We are different. We are battle hardened. We are men. Men that have seen their friends die. Men that have waged war against intelligent aliens. Walking onto the harsh and sandy terrain of the Tribeca planet, I was not a man but a boy. A boy used to the ways of the world. A boy that chose luxury and money over serving his country. But a boy I am no more, for if I survive this, I shall be a man. And men grit their teeth and get on with it. They do their people proud and laugh in the face of adversity. I shall never forget the torment that I have experience on this sordid rock. I have learned from it, and hopefully I shall adapt from it. Adapt into the man I’ve always wanted to be.

  But before I can look back on how this has changed me, I have to look forward – and forward was where we were headed. Forward and up the slope. I didn’t know what lay in wake for us when we reached the surface, but I did know that it had to be better than what we had dealt with below. I didn’t fancy facing those sorts of odds ever again. I’m no yellow-bellied Marine, but fighting hordes of reptilian pirates doesn’t sound like a sure-fire way to survive a campaign of war. It’s a miracle that any of us survived this thing at all if I’m honest. None of us were vets. We were all green, apart from Spooks, so without him, I don’t think any of us would be alive right now. And the funny thing is; it’s because of Spooks and the fact that some of the men didn’t listen to him that they now find themselves dead.

  Gratitude is a funny thing. Funny in the way that a tasteless joke is funny. No one wants to admit that they laugh, but they do. And just like many laugh at the misfortune of others, a Marine swallows his pride and feels grateful for the men that saved his skin when he was at his weakest and most vulnerable.

  “On my say so, we go up there and give them hell!” Spooks shouted at us, turning back around and counting us down from five with his right hand.

  I watched as his digits retracted. As I did so, my stomach began to churn. If there weren’t butterflies in there, I could have sworn that there were eagles. Eagles flapping their mighty feathers, the interior of my stomach protesting. Spooks’ fingers disappeared and all that was left was a fist. He punched the air and we started to ascend the steep slope. As we did so, the shadows around us became less and less. The darkness was brushing past us, like a thick dark cloak draping over our shoulders. But the light seeping through the cracks in the rock eroded the darkness into nothing but the past. All of that was now behind us, and what lay ahead was light. Light and freedom. Or at least that’s what we thought.

  “Brace yourselves,” I heard Spooks say as he disappeared into a haze of light. We must have reached the top of the slope and were now seconds away from reaching the surface.

  But something was wrong. I could hear a thunderous roar. Like a lion was nearby or something. But the roar was far too loud to belong to a solitary lion. It sounded like it belonged to something much bigger. And judging by the guy in front of me rattling as he walked, he’d heard it too. I could hear the Marine praying under his breath as he stepped into the haze. I would have done the same as well, but I’d already done enough hoping and praying for the day. I’d deal with whatever was up there in the only way I now knew how, and that was with a light trigger finger and very little remorse.

  “Holy shit,” I heard somebody say as I walked through the haze.

  My eyes were finding it incredibly hard to focus, as the light was incredibly bright. I shielded my eyes and then after a few seconds – a few very long ones at that – I could see. The surface was a sight to behold. I think that being underground in the darkness for so long had made me forget how bright the sun was on this forsaken planet, but the glare beating down on me acted as a not so gentle reminder. I looked away from the sun and settled my eyes to my front. At first, all I could see was my fellow Marines staring off into the distance, looks of awe on their faces. I also spotted the native, his beetle-like body was shaking in fear. He was sidled up beside me, and I swore it looked as if he was holding onto my leg, but before I could get a clearer view of the creature, I heard a gigantic roar. Suddenly, the collective group of Marines in front of me hit the deck. My training permitted me to do the same. Anytime you spot one of your own ducking for cover, it’s probably best to do so as well. Fools die standing up and all.

  “What in Blue Christmas is that?” someone whispered, their voice coming through my suit radio. It was soon replaced by the sound of at least twenty men asking the same thing. I couldn’t see very well on account of my head being firmly buried in the sand, but I did manage to tilt my head up slightly, a layer of sand sliding off my visor.

  To my surprise, about three hundred meters in front of us, right in the middle of what appeared to be yet another damn quarry, there was a giant creature standing on its hind legs swatting at the air. I couldn’t tell what the creature was, but it looked dinosaur-like. T-rex like even. But this thing didn’t look very nimble. It was fat. Really fat. And its huge belly wobbled as it swatted at the air like an enraged ape. I half expected it to start pounding its chest like King Kong. But all it did was roar again.

  “How in the hell are we getting past that thing?” I asked, feeling the urge to call an audible with the group, but everybody was freaking out over the comms, and there was no way that anybody would be understanding anything over the radio the way things were going. Too much chatter was making it increasingly difficult to hear our fellow members, so I did the only thing I thought I could do, and started crawling toward the front.

  It was an easy enough endeavour, seeing that most of the Marines were slowly backtracking. It was understandable. I’d be doing the same if I wasn’t so damn curious. But I wanted a better look at the creature. So I continued crawling. To my surprise, the native was still right beside me. I looked to my right and saw it crawling alongside. I frowned and stopped.

  “What the hell are you doing? It’s dangerous at the front! Stay at the back with the rest of the cowards!” I said, immediately feeling like an ass, but hey, it was the heat of the moment, and I was starting to feel a little irritated with the majority of my team.

  We were here on a mission, and most of them were shitting themselves. I expected more of them. Thankfully, Spooks and a few men in the front were holding their ground as the rest backtracked toward the slope. The native heeded my suggestion and scurried to the back.

  I continued on my front until I reached Spooks. He was trying to call HQ on the Sat Phone. I couldn’t keep my eyes off the creature though. Even from that far back, it seemed gigantic. I watched in awe as it swatted at the air. At first, it looked like he was thrashing out at nothing, but then I saw the aircrafts circling him. One of the crafts was a gunner craft. Its role was to support the rescue craft. And it looked liked our rescue ship was in danger of being taken down by whatever that thing was.

  “Is that for us?” I asked Spooks. He turned to me and nodded. For the first time since I’d met him, he looked glum. Deflated. And that scared me. It was as if he knew what was about to happen. And deep down, so did I.

  Seconds later, I heard a thunderous explosion. One of the crafts had been hit by the creature. It had smashed the ship into a million pieces. I guess the force of the creature’s swatting limbs had been the reason that the craft exploded in such a spectacular fashion. Everybody gasped in horror, but I was holding my breath. I hadn’t realized yet, but the ship that had been decommissioned was none other than our rescue dropship. If I’d known, gasping probably wouldn’t have been my reaction. Crying floods of tears would probably be a little more likely. But before I could shed a tear for the loss of our only hope of rescue on this planet,
the other ship was hit as well. But instead of exploding into a mesmerizing fireball, it spun in the air like a Frisbee and was catapulted into some nearby trees. A forest by the looks of it. The beast roared once again, probably in victory, as we all stared in horror.

  “What now?” somebody nearby asked.

  Spooks didn’t reply. He just stood there staring. I could see the reflection of the burning debris from the first ship in his eyes. A slight glaze fell over his vision as he zoned out and came to terms with what he’d just witnessed. I felt the need to answer the guys question, so I turned around and faced the gormless expressions of my fellow squad.

  “What now?” I repeated, more of a statement than a question. “We get our asses to that forest and search for any survivors. That’s what we do. We are here to fight after all,” I said, sternly looking at each man.

  “Fight? Are you mad? You expect us to fight that thing?” somebody else said.

  I nodded.

  “That’s what we do, Marines. We fight. So pull yourselves together and get to filling that creature up with a few thousand rounds. I’m sure that will be plenty enough,” I said, turning back around and aiming my weapon. Spooks turned to me, then at the creature.

  “He’s right. We open fire on this thing. Wipe it out and move forward. It’s either that, or we wait to die,” Spooks said, aiming his weapon as well.

  Everything went quiet for a few seconds as the orders sunk in. We were to fight. And that’s the only thing you can ever expect on the battlefield. I hadn’t noticed but a few of our men had decided that fighting wasn’t what they wanted to do at that moment. They’d slipped off back down the slope and into the mineshaft. I don’t know what became of those men, but I do know what became of us … and the creature.

  Chapter Four

  Battle with the beast, the surface, Tribeca Planet

  I held my breath, condensation forming on the inside of my visor. I think that everybody in the squad was doing the same thing. It was all you could do. The mammoth challenge in front of us was unique. And the seconds before such a mammoth task were always slow. Time seemed to stand still, as the majority of us prepared ourselves for the very real possibility that we were all about to die. Everybody had been through quite a lot, that I admit. Part of me doesn’t really blame the deserters, the ones that scurried back down the slope and into the mineshaft. They were probably the smarter ones if I’m honest. Because as I stood there, feet dug into the sand, positioning my railgun tightly against my shoulder, finger hovering over the trigger, I knew that this could either be one of the greatest moments of my life, or literally the last moment ever.

  Around seven seconds passed before we were given the signal to let loose and feel the giant creature two hundred meters away from us with lead. All of us were itching to begin firing on the massive beast. But Spooks was biding his time and waiting for the creature to get a little closer.

  It was being escorted by around twenty reptilian pirates. The good news was that neither the beast nor the pirates had seen us hunkering down into cover near the mouth of the mineshaft. I’m pretty sure if they had seen us, then the deserters down the slope would have been joined by many more. And they probably wouldn’t be referred to as deserters, but most likely smart men that knew how to get out of dodge before the shit hit the fan.

  And as the seconds ticked, I wondered if I would be better placed down below, in the safety of the darkness, waiting for this to blow over. But the seconds soon eroded, and the possibility of me sneaking away along with the others, disappeared. Spooks was the first to open fire, and milliseconds later, we all found ourselves pressing down on our triggers.

  The collective sound of around two hundred railguns being used both professionally and effectively was deafening. Most of the men were aiming at the beast. I saw Spooks taking some pot shots at the pirates, who to their credit, were quick to respond with firepower of their own. As the firefight progressed, the beast roared into action. It seemed as if the railgun ammunition wasn’t causing much of an impact on the beast.

  I could see from where I stood that the T-Rex-like creature had pot holes in its skin. But the thing was, none of our rounds were penetrating fully. It was as if its skin was tough and hardened, and was causing our bullets to bounce off. But nonetheless, the beast was roaring in pain, and it was also making its way toward us. Slowly and steadily, because the impact and force of our bullets was causing it to slow down.

  It looked as if the creature was being hit by a massive wind fan, it was trying to fight the downforce of our collective firepower, but it was not able to move at the pace that it was so used to moving at. The same pace that had caused two of our very own aircraft to be taken out of commission. I could still see the dark plumes of clouds coming from the forest where we thought that maybe the second ship that was hit would have survived the impact. Only because the ship hadn’t exploded when the beast had swatted at it. Unlike the first aircraft which unfortunately there wasn’t much left of.

  Shards of debris surrounded the beast as it made its way towards us. I calculated that there were still a good couple hundred metres between us and the beast. And I’m pretty sure that if there was an aerial view of our assault on the creature, it would most likely look like a hundred lasers firing from the cover of rocks. The pattern of our firepower would most likely resemble the spokes on a bicycle, stretching out far, in lines that were both thick and thin, on account of our men being bunched in together. The spokes of fire were all pointing in the same direction. And that direction was the creature in front of us. The creature that was now stumbling like a drunk man on a Friday night on leave.

  “Man, this thing can take a pounding,” Spooks said as he continued to fire on the creature, who was now roaring less and less, and slowing down even further.

  Spooks was right, this thing could take a pounding. But unfortunately it was resilient. And the reptiles that were escorting the beast were also resilient. They were now lobbing grenades at us. Some of them were falling quite short, and actually blasting near the creature itself. Which, by the sound that the creature made, it didn’t appreciate. I spotted the beast swiping at one of the reptiles. It brought a smile to my face. Even when it was being completely pounded by us, it still found the time to take out a reptile that had inadvertently let off a grenade near it. But the grenades had given me an idea. I turned to Spooks and grabbed one of his grenades on his utility belt. I had run out of my own. So his would have to do. Spooks looked at me and then at the grenade and nodded his head.

  “Good idea, won’t hurt to see how many of these it can take!” Spooks said, immediately commanding the rest of the men to do the same. Suddenly we had stopped firing on the beast, allowing it to gain some ground on us.

  But it was strategic. We were not stupid, and knew that the closer it got, the worse off we’d most likely be. But, we needed it to get a little bit closer, so we could start attacking it with explosives. And to our surprise, it stopped moving toward us. I peeked over the rock and saw it standing there, roaring at the top of its lungs. I turned to Spooks and shrugged my shoulders.

  “Well, that’s unexpected. What now?” I asked, getting ready to grab my railgun again and let loose on this beast. But Spooks put his hand on my weapon and stopped me from picking it up.

  “Wait, wait just one more second,” Spooks said, pointing in the direction of the creature. My eyes followed his finger, and locked onto the beast. To my surprise, Spooks was right to hold off. Waiting was definitely the best thing that we could have done. Because seconds later, the beast started to run toward us. The ground shook violently as its gigantic legs pounded the terrain beneath it. It was now or never. So we all cooked our grenades and lobbed them in unison.

  The grenades arched in the air, spectacularly if I may add, hanging in the atmosphere for a couple seconds before freefalling toward the charging dinosaur. Around seventy-five meters from us, the beast was hit with hundreds of grenades, which exploded on contact. We all ducked fo
r cover, the explosions rattling the rocks in front of us.

  A large dust cloud formed and rose up in the air. It was obscuring our view, so we listened out intently. None of us were risking an ambush by the creature or its masters. The reptilian pirates were hard enough to deal with, let alone that god damn freak show of a creature. So we listened and we waited for the dust to settle. I was the first to raise my head slightly, peaking just above the rocks for a better look.

  A massive smile came across my face. A mere twelve to fifteen meters in front of us lay the head of the beast that was so violently trying to attack us seconds before. And scattered around it were the dead corpses of the reptilian pirates that had been escorting the thing. I let out a massive cheer and so did the rest of the men. We had done it. We had conquered Goliath. And Goliath’s head had rolled on account of our proficiency and professionalism. We could have run, we could have cowered, but we stood tall and firm and made sure that nobody, beast – reptile - or anything else messed with this Marine squadron.

  “Holy cow! We did it!” Somebody said next to me. I didn’t know him, but I didn’t care. I wrapped my arms around him and jumped up and down in the air, embracing him in a tight hug. Most of the others were doing the same, smashing their helmets together, cheering and whooping like college footballers scoring their final touchdown for the win. And make no mistake, this was a win. But our game wasn’t over. And Spooks was quick to remind us of that.

  “Okay ladies, huddle up,” he said, gesturing us closer toward him. We did as he said. I stood next to him, and he clunked his fist on my helmet, rattling my head slightly, shaking me, and smiling. “Well done, you are a natural at this,” he said, wrapping his arm around me and squeezing tightly. He soon let go and turned toward the other men.