When the Gods Aren't Gods: Book Two of The Theogony
Page 27
“Be right there,” Night replied. He had split the squad in half and was with the group on the second deck; Master Chief was leading the group on the first deck. He consulted the map in his head and was there within 30 seconds. He found Master Chief waiting there, having sent Wraith forward to keep watch.
“Are they still in there?” Night asked.
“Yes,” replied Master Chief. “There are at least two other lizards in there with the one interrogating the Mrowry. One is to the left, the other is to the right.”
“I’ll go in first,” said Night. “I’ll take the one with the knife. You follow and take the one to the right. First one done gets the one on the left. Work for you?”
“Works for me, sir,” answered Master Chief. “Ready when you are.”
“Sir,” commed Wraith, “I’ve got a group of lizards coming down the passageway!”
“Squad, we’re going in,” commed Night. “Kill ‘em all!”
Night looked at Master Chief and saw his readiness. He put one hand on the door, nodded and threw it open, diving into the room. While still in the air, he began firing. The lizard with the knife stood up in surprise and was hit twice in the chest and once in the head. Hitting the ground, Night aimed at the lizard to the left, who was drawing a pistol of his own. Night was faster and shot him three times in the chest. The third shot coincided with one from the other side as Master Chief shot him too, so he knew that the third lizard was down.
Night could hear repeated rifle fire from the passageway. “Go give them a hand,” he told Master Chief. “I’ll take care of the Mrowry.”
Night released the Mrowry from the chair as Master Chief left the room. “Thank you,” it said. “Who are you and where did you come from?”
“I’m afraid that is a long story that we don’t have time for,” answered Night. “For now, just know that we are here to help get rid of the lizard problem that you seem to have.”
“If you’re here to kill the lizards,” replied the Mrowry, “then I salute you and thank you for the assistance.” He made a fist with one paw and placed it over his chest. “I am Commander Andowwn, the executive officer of this ship.”
Night reached down to pick up one of the rifles from the dead Ssselipsssiss trooper. “You might want one of these,” he said as he handed it over.
“I think I would, at that,” replied the Mrowry.
* * * * *
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Mrowry Ship Emperor’s Paw Aft, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020
“We’ve only got one shot at this before they know we’re behind them,” commed Calvin, “What deck are they concentrated on?”
“Most of them are on Deck One,” Rrower replied after a pause to consult with the Mrowry forces. “It looks like they are trying to get to the bridge and control spaces.”
Calvin consulted the map in his head. “We can go up the stairs here,” he said, sending a marker to Rrower, “and then catch the group attacking the bridge from behind.”
“Yes,” agreed the Mrowry, “But then we are going to be trapped between the group we are fighting, and the other group that is engaged with the rest of our troops.”
“Well,” said Calvin, “we’ll get the ones attacking the bridge by surprise. The ones that are fighting your troops won’t be able to focus on us because if they turn on us, your troops will take them from behind.”
“Sounds good,” growled Rrower. “Let’s go get them!”
“Top, move ‘em out,” ordered Calvin. “Try and avoid contact until we get to Deck One.”
“Aye aye,” answered Master Chief Smith, “Sergeant Zoromski, you’ve got point.”
Zoromski led the squad up the stairs. Although they could hear firing on several of the decks, they didn’t stop. Reaching the top deck they could hear the sounds of fighting from both directions.
“Top, take Fire Teams One and Three and go aft,” ordered Calvin. “Take the lizards from behind and bring up the reinforcements. We’ll go forward and see about helping the forces at the bridge.”
Top took the two fire teams and headed aft, while Calvin and Rrower headed forward. Sergeant Gordhain MacKenzie took the lead, followed by the Gordon twins and Corporal Taylor. They had only gone a short way when they came to a sealed hatch that blocked their passage. Sergeant MacKenzie took a quick peek through the small window at the top of the hatch.
“Lizards in front of us, sir,” whispered MacKenzie. “There are at least three in the passageway. It looks like a couple of them are trying to cut their way into one of the rooms on the right side of the passageway.”
“We’ve got to stop them,” said Rrower.
“We will,” Calvin answered. He looked back to MacKenzie. “Are there any more lizards beyond them?” he asked.
MacKenzie took another quick look. “Yes sir,” he replied. “About 30 feet beyond the ones I told you about, there is a larger group that appears to be firing up a stairwell.”
“Those are the ones attacking the bridge,” said Rrower. “We’ve got to stop them, too.”
“That is going to be difficult,” replied MacKenzie. “We can take the close ones by surprise easily, but I don’t think we’ll be able to hit all of the ones down the passageway. They’ll be able to get into defensive positions before we can get close enough to surprise them.”
Calvin walked over to the window and took a peek. “I see what you mean,” he whispered. “Worse, it looks like they’re almost through the door, so we’re going to have to hurry.” He turned to Rrower. “I have an idea,” he said, “but it’s going to make a mess.”
“What do you mean?” asked the Mrowry.
“I mean, I’d like to throw some explosives down the passageway,” announced Calvin. “It will probably kill the lizards...but it’s going to make a mess.”
“I see,” said the felinoid. He paused, his eyes distant. “The commanding officer says that he doesn’t think the bridge can hold out much longer. He says to go ahead and do it.”
“Roger,” replied Calvin. He turned to his troops. “I’ll push open the hatch,” he said. “Mac, I want you to shoot a couple of grenades down the hall to where the lizards are shooting at the bridge and clear them out. Gordons, you’ll shoot the lizards that are close, along with Corporal Taylor. Lieutenant Rrower, you keep a lookout behind us so that nothing sneaks up on us while we’re killing the lizards. Everyone got it?” He saw five heads nod, and they all got into position.
“Gluck ab!” commed Corporal Jamal ‘Bad Twin’ Gordon. “I love a target rich environment, dude!” His brother punched him in the arm. “Ow!” Bad Twin continued, “I mean, I love a target rich environment, sir!”
Calvin shook his head as he moved to the side of the hatch and took hold of the latching mechanism. He looked up to see his troops ready and focused with rifles and trident pointed and ready to fire. “One...two...three!” he said and threw open the hatch.
The door slammed open, just as one of the lizards had raised a foot to kick in the door. Its head snapped to the right. Before it could complete the kick, Suzi ‘Deadeye’ Taylor shot it through its right eye with the Gordon brothers shooting the ones on either side of it. Two antimatter grenades arced down the passageway from Sergeant MacKenzie’s trident to explode in the group of lizards down the hall.
Deadeye and the twins charged down the passageway with Calvin and Rrower in close pursuit. Reaching the group by the stairs, they found a couple of the lizards still twitching, and one starting to rise. They shot them all through their heads before they could recover enough to shoot back. “Stay here and cover us,” said Calvin to his troops. He turned to Rrower and said, “Please let the bridge know that we have secured the passageway down here.”
Calvin walked down to the doorway that the lizards had been cutting through and pushed open the door. Before he could move, a laser beam flashed out from the room, missing his left ear by inches. Instinctively, he dove to the right away from the shot yelling, “Don’t shoot!”
Rrower hissed at the youngster. “That’s not a nice thing to do to the person that is here to save you,” he scolded.
“I didn’t see him,” the child said in a soft, high-pitched voice. Calvin realized that the cub was a young female. “I had my eyes closed.”
“Now how are you ever going to shoot something with your eyes closed?” scolded Rrower further. “The only way to save yourself is to look death in the eyes and spit in its face.”
The little cub came over to rub up against Rrower. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I will try to do better next time.”
“Don’t tell me you’re sorry,” replied Rrower. “I’m not the one you almost accidentally killed. You need to tell this male that you’re sorry.”
She turned her head to look at Calvin. “He looks funny,” she said. “Where’s his face fur?”
“Now you are being rude to the one that just saved you from the lizards,” Rrower scolded. “Where are your manners today? Now you need to apologize for that, as well.” She buried her face back into Rrower’s fur, obviously embarrassed. “I mean it,” he growled. “Now!”
She turned her head far enough for one eye to be seen from the depths of Rrower’s fur. “Sorry,” she said in a tiny voice.
Rrower reached down and pushed her away from him. “Now say it like you mean it,” he admonished.
The child gave what was almost a human curtsy and said, “I’m sorry for being rude. Thank you for saving me from being eaten by the icky lizards.” She looked up to see Rrower still looking at her. He mimed holding a pistol. “And I’m sorry for shooting at you,” she added quickly.
Calvin gave a little bow. “It was my pleasure,” he said graciously.
Seeing that he wasn’t mad, the little cub came over to rub against Calvin. He looked at Rrower. “Is it all right to pick her up?” he asked.
“Yes,” replied Rrower.
Calvin picked up the cub and gave her a hug. “What is your name?” he asked.
“My name is Mimi,” she said as the largest Mrowry that Calvin had seen came bounding into the room on all fours. Nearly black in color, he was darker than any of the others that Calvin had seen, except for when he had seen the commanding officer of the ship on the Gulf’s view screen.
It came up and stood on his hind legs, and Calvin saw that, at seven feet tall, he was also far larger than the other Mrowry. “Might I have my daughter?” he asked.
“Certainly,” said Calvin, handing her over. “Here you go.”
The two Mrowry nuzzled each other. “Thank you for saving her,” said the newcomer, saluting Calvin with a fist to his chest. “I was sure that the lizards were going to get her.”
“It was my pleasure,” said Calvin. “She seems like a nice young lady. By the way, I’m Lieutenant Commander Hobbs, the leader of the forces aboard the ship.”
“You are wrong,” replied the felinoid. “She is a little spitfire.” He rubbed her head. “But I love her anyway. I am Captain Yerrow, the commanding officer of the Emperor’s Paw.” The Mrowry was the one they had seen earlier. “Thank you for coming. The AI tells me that our lizard infestation is almost eradicated. In addition to the ones that your group has killed, the group of ... Terrans? ... in the front of the ship has been like a whirlwind. They have swept through and killed all of the lizards that they came upon.”
He paused, listening to something via his implant. “It appears that the ship is ours again, but it will be a while before our ship is mobile. I would greatly like to speak face-to-face with your commanding officer. Would it be possible to get you to shuttle me across to your ship?”
“Yes sir,” said Calvin, “I’m sure we can arrange that. Just a second.” He commed Night. “Night, Calvin. I’m going to shuttle the ship’s commanding officer over to the Vella Gulf. You’re in charge of the troops that are still aboard.”
“Got it,” said Night. “We’ll finish the clean up. It doesn’t look like there are many remaining. We found where they were preparing a major assault and hit them with high explosives first. The ship’s a mess, but we killed a lot of lizards.”
“Good job,” said Calvin, “Keep it up.” He switched to the shuttle’s WSO. “Shuttle 02, Calvin. Hey, Faith, can you come pick up several passengers for transport to the Vella Gulf? You can get us where you dropped me off.”
“We’ll be right there,” replied Lieutenant Faith Ibori. “Two minutes.”
“Thanks,” Calvin replied. “Be advised that one of the passengers is Captain Yerrow, the ship’s CO. Please let the Gulf know that we are coming.”
“OK sir,” Calvin said to the Paw’s CO, “we have a shuttle coming to take us over to the Vella Gulf. Is there anything else you need?”
“Yes, there is,” replied Captain Yerrow. “If you have any extra engineers, we could use them to help get the ship operational again. We are in a bit of a hurry.”
* * * * *
Chapter Thirty-Nine
TSS Vella Gulf, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020
Captain Griffin met the shuttle as it docked, and Calvin introduced the two commanding officers to each other. He let the two COs introduce the members of their staffs that they had each brought. He fell into trail behind them as Captain Griffin led Captain Yerrow to her conference room, where they were going to have their meeting. Steropes joined the procession as it passed an intersection, coming up to walk next to Calvin.
“How’d it go?” Steropes asked Calvin.
“It went as well as could be hoped,” said Calvin, “and maybe even better. They didn’t expect us and we rolled right through them. We had a few minor casualties, but nothing serious. We even saved their commanding officer’s daughter along the way, which ought to be good for some bonus points.”
“You’re not kidding,” Steropes said with a chuckle.
“What do you mean?” asked Calvin.
“You didn’t know?” asked Steropes. “Captain Yerrow is a prince.”
“No,” replied Calvin angrily, “how the hell would I have known that?”
“The black stripes are bigger and much closer on royalty,” replied Steropes. “The more black their color, the higher they are in the line of succession.”
“And since Yerrow is nearly all black...” said Calvin.
“...he is the Crown Prince,” confirmed Steropes. “You saved the daughter of Crown Prince Yerrow, Princess Merrorritor. She is probably 4th or 5th in the line of succession for the throne.”
Calvin looked at the Mrowry officers walking in front of him, and, now that Steropes had mentioned it, he could see that there was a lot more variation in coloration than he had previously noticed. While the Mrowry troopers he had fought alongside were predominantly red in color, the officers had more black on them, and the prince was almost completely black.
Calvin felt like an idiot for not noticing previously, but combat has a way of making you focus on the important things, like who is trying to kill you, not whether the cat next to you is more red or black. The more he thought about it, the more he realized it wasn’t his fault. “You didn’t think that was something that we might have wanted to know?” he asked Steropes. “Why didn’t you mention that?”
“I don’t know,” said Steropes. “I never thought about it.” He paused. “Now that you know it, you will also now understand that the cruiser’s name is not just meant to describe the ship, but its commanding officer. The Emperor’s Paw is always captained by a member of the royal family. It is meant as a play on words. All of th
e alliance nations know that when the Paw comes on a visit, it is a royal visit.”
“I don’t get it,” replied Calvin. “Why wouldn’t royalty command a battleship or something bigger than a cruiser?”
“You have to understand their mentality,” answered Steropes. “They are warriors. The emperor’s family is supposed to lead their forces into battle, not stand in the background launching missiles. The emperor’s family usually flies fighters when they are junior officers, and even when they are senior officers they can usually be found at the front of the battle.”
CO’s Conference Room, TSS Vella Gulf, Ross 248 System, August 24, 2020
The procession reached the CO’s conference room, and all of the officers were seated. As Steropes entered the room, Captain Yerrow growled. “Why is he here?” he asked.
“Steropes is an advisor on this ship,” replied Captain Griffin. “Were it not for him and the rest of the Psiclopes, we would not have this ship, nor would we be here right now.”
“I’ll bet all of that came at a steep price,” said Captain Yerrow. “It usually does.”
Calvin looked at Steropes and could see that he looked uncomfortable.
“What does that mean?” asked Captain Griffin.
“We can talk about it more later when he isn’t around,” said Captain Yerrow.
“All right,” said Captain Griffin. “I’ll look forward to it.” Seeing Yerrow still staring at the Psiclops, she changed the subject. “I understand that you are going to be able to save your ship?”
Captain Yerrow looked back to his host. “I’m sorry,” he said. “Where are my manners? First, let me thank you for your assistance in fighting the lizards and for sending over engineers to help with our damage control process. We would surely have lost the ship without your aid.”