by Tripp Ellis
The fighter streaked through the sky, but this time it didn’t fire at her. Perhaps the pilot hadn’t seen Chloe dash into the cave.
The particles of gas and dust in the nebula allowed for the transmission of sound. Chloe could hear the enemy craft circle around and land in the high ground over the ridge by the wreckage of the Stingray. She drew her sidearm and press-checked the weapon. There was a round in the chamber, ready and waiting. She flicked the safety off and huddled in the darkness.
24
Chloe
Chloe had two days worth of oxygen left in her flight suit. But that wasn’t going to matter much if she didn’t survive past today. The enclave she was hiding in wasn’t very deep, and she was beginning to feel cornered. She pressed her back against the cave wall and inched her way to the mouth. She could hear the creature stomping around on the ridge above her.
Then the thing went silent.
Chloe felt a lot more comfortable when she knew where it was. She figured that shooting down one of his buddies had probably pissed him off. Now it was personal. This thing wasn’t going to stop until she was dead. That much she was sure of.
The long eerie silence was unnerving. Her heart was pounding in her chest, and the hairs on the back of her neck were standing tall. She waited in the enclave for at least half an hour, and there was still no sign of the creature.
Chloe was getting antsy.
She tried to contact the NSSWC, but with the interference of the nebula there was no way her transmission was going to get through. She was on her own. There might be a rescue team coming at some point, but how would they ever find her? She was just going to be another unfortunate casualty of the attack.
Chloe couldn’t sit still any longer. She peered around the lip of the cave and scanned the area. She craned her neck up to look at the ridge-line—she didn’t see anything.
Orange energy bolts streaked toward her from across the flats. The projectiles exploded inches from her head, carving craters in the cliff. Bits of rock and debris pelted her visor. She dove for cover and scrambled back into the enclave.
The alien had circled around and was positioned behind a berm across the flats, maybe 40 yards away.
Chloe angled around the edge of the cave and aimed her service pistol at the berm. She fired a few rounds, but her tiny 9mm seemed no match for the alien’s energy pistol.
The alien popped up over the berm and blasted back at her. A flight suit and helmet protected the creature from the lack of atmosphere.
Chloe ducked behind the lip of the cave as projectiles chiseled away at the face of it. Even from this distance, she could tell the alien was massive in size. She edged around the mouth of the cave and waited for the creature to pop his head up again. When it did, Chloe squeezed off another several rounds.
The bullets impacted the berm next to the alien, kicking bits of debris. Rock chips pelted the creature, ricocheting off the visor of its helmet. It flinched and ducked back under the berm.
Chloe had two thermal grenades attached to her utility belt. She reached down and grabbed one. She armed the device and heaved it at the alien. The pressurized suit restricted the rotational movement of her shoulder. But that didn’t seem to matter. The grenade soared through the air. The lack of gravity caused her to overshoot the alien by 50 yards. It exploded in mid air before it had chance to touch the ground.
More energy bolts streaked toward her.
She ducked down as they exploded against the rock overhead. Chloe crouched to a low crawl and scampered to a boulder fifteen yards ahead of her. Energy bolts were nipping at her heels.
Chloe flattened her back against the boulder and caught her breath. She spun around the side of the boulder and fired several more rounds, then took cover again.
More enemy fire chiseled at the front of the boulder. On a long enough timeline, the alien would blast the boulder to smithereens—and she’d be next.
Chloe had one more chance with a grenade. She pulled it off her utility belt and armed it. This time she used a lighter touch. She gently lobbed it in the air. It arced on a perfect trajectory. It was going to land inches away from the alien and blast it back to where it came from. The grenade flew across the sky, as if in slow motion. Chloe could almost taste victory.
But the alien had victory plans of his own. The creature took aim at the grenade and blasted it out of the sky, like shooting skeet. The grenade exploded in midair, spraying its incendiary core of S9 gel in all directions.
The gel sprayed as far as the boulder Chloe was hiding behind. Blobs of the gel littered the rocks around her. A few drops got on the sleeve of her flight suit.
Chloe’s face went pale with panic. The S9 gel burned at upwards of 6000° when oxidized. One drop would have been enough to sear through the suit and put a nice hole in her arm. Not to mention evacuating the suit of all its oxygen. But since there was no atmosphere on the asteroid, there was no oxygen to oxidize the gel.
She angled around the boulder one more time and waited for the alien to pop its ugly head over the berm. When it did, she blasted several more rounds at him.
The pistol locked out—the magazine was empty. Chloe took cover again and reached into a side pocket for another magazine, but there wasn’t one. She had forgotten to stuff extra magazines in the pouch. Chloe had been too preoccupied with the opportunity to fly a Stingray.
She clenched her jaw and was cursing herself, and her lack of focus. It was a stupid mistake.
She was stuck on a rock with a creature twice her size and no viable means of defense. Maybe joining the Navy and becoming a fighter pilot wasn’t such a good idea after all, she thought.
25
Chloe
It didn’t take long for the alien to figure out Chloe was out of ammo. It charged over the berm pelting energy bolts in her direction.
Chloe cowered behind the boulder amid the chaos. Chips of rock and debris showered everywhere.
The alien hopped from point-to-point with massive strides in the low gravity environment. It had hocks, like a dog, giving it incredible leaping ability. Its form fitting flight suit was light and flexible. It had thin black armor plating on the shoulders, chest, forearms, and thighs. Its helmet was angular to fit its reptilian features.
Chloe pulled her tactical knife from her utility belt. She didn’t know how much good it was going to do, but it was better than nothing.
The creature angled around the boulder. It had a clear view of Chloe, but it didn’t incinerate her right away. It wanted to see the fear in her eyes, and the agony as she died.
Chloe’s heart was thumping. She gripped the handle of the blade tight. She was breathing heavy, and her visor was once again starting to fog. Sweat rolled down her face.
The massive beast marched toward her—the big barrel of the rifle staring her in the face. The thing strode within a few feet of her and said something in a language she didn’t understand. Then it took aim and squeezed the trigger.
But the weapon misfired.
A plume of smoke wafted from the receiver. The creature looked at the rifle in shock. It fumbled to reset the weapon. Maybe the excessive burst of firing had overheated the unit.
Chloe didn’t care the reason, she wasn’t going to waste the opportunity. She lunged for the beast, aiming the point of the blade at the soft fabric covering its belly.
But the creature batted her away with the rifle.
The impact hurt like hell. The force sent Chloe tumbling through the air. This thing could hit home runs all day long in the Federation Baseball League.
Chloe crashed to the ground twenty yards away. The knife spun away and clattered to the rocky surface. Chloe was seeing stars from the hit. It took her a moment to re-orient herself. She scanned the terrain for the knife—nothing but craggy rocks and dust.
The beast raced toward her, looking to bash her to death—probably more satisfying that way.
Chloe’s desperate eyes finally caught sight of the glimmering blade ten feet
away. She scrambled for the knife as the alien careened toward her, ready to pummel her into a pulp.
Her fingertips grasped the blade.
The creature was almost to her. It reared the weapon back, ready to clobber her.
Chloe threw the knife like a circus performer. The blade toppled end over end as it rocketed through the air. The point punctured the alien’s fabric flight suit, piercing into its belly. It didn’t seem to slow him down one bit. The beast swung the rifle, clocking Chloe in the head.
She tumbled across the rocks. It was a miracle her neck wasn’t broken, or that her visor wasn’t cracked. By the time she stopped rolling across the rocks, she was seeing double.
The alien took stock of the situation. The knife was protruding from its belly. It glanced down at the green blood oozing out of the tear in the fabric. But that wasn’t the only thing escaping from the pressurized suit—precious oxygen was gushing out.
The knife wasn’t going to kill the beast, but lack of oxygen would. The creature knew it was going to die. But it wasn’t going to go down without a fight. It was going to get what it came after.
It took off, lunging toward Chloe. She scrambled to her feet and tried to run. It was a difficult thing to do in a low gravity environment. It was easy to launch up rather than forward. You had to dig your toes and then angle your thrusts to keep moving in a horizontal direction.
Chloe had no idea what the lung capacity of this creature was. How long could it go on a single breath?
The thing tossed its weapon aside and pulled a knife from its utility belt. It sprung forward closing the gap.
Chloe gasped for breath. Her quads burned as she scampered across the terrain. It didn’t take long before the beast was at her heels. Its long arms grasped her and tackled her to the ground.
The alien straddled her, holding her down with one hand while the other raised the knife high in the air, ready to stab down.
Chloe’s eyes were wide with fear.
Green blood had flowed down the creature’s abdomen and dripped down its thigh. The exterior of its flight suit was covered with it. The beast hovered over her gasping for breath—but there was no oxygen to breathe in. All of the oxygen had escaped from its flight suit.
Even more damaging than the lack of oxygen was the lack of atmospheric pressure. It caused gas bubbles to form in the alien’s blood stream. It reduced circulation, and its tissue began to expand. Not to mention, it was extremely painful.
Chloe looked into the creature’s red, viper-like eyes—a grim realization washed over them. The beast blacked out before it could stab the knife down. Its massive body collapsed on top of Chloe.
The weight of the creature was crushing. It felt like an elephant sat on her chest, even in the low gravity environment. The thing had to weigh over 500 pounds. She struggled to slide from underneath him, but she wasn’t making much progress.
The alien might not have succeeded in killing her, but if she couldn’t get out from underneath him, the end result was going to be the same. It felt like a redwood tree had fallen on her, and she was trapped in the forest.
She finally squeezed from underneath the massive beast and staggered to her feet. She was exhausted and drenched in sweat. Chloe gazed at the creature’s lifeless body, still oozing green blood onto the jagged surface of the asteroid. She would find out later that these were the same aliens the Marines had battled on Ceti Reticuli 9.
Chloe had less than 48 hours to get off this rock, otherwise she wouldn’t be in much better shape than the dead alien.
26
Chloe
Chloe scaled the ridge to the crash site. If she kept expending oxygen at this rate, she was going to have considerably less than 48 hours left.
The alien’s fighter was sitting on the plateau in perfect condition. The canopy was open. She hopped across the craggy terrain and climbed into the cockpit. It swallowed her tiny frame whole.
The spacecraft was still powered up. Chloe fumbled for a few minutes looking for the mechanism to adjust the seat. This spacecraft wasn’t designed for a petite human female. She could barely get the seat close enough to reach the control panel.
The instrumentation cluster was labeled with strange alien characters. The layout of the craft was somewhat similar to a Stingray. There were only so many ways to lay out an attack fighter, if you were a bipedal creature with two arms. There was a joystick for controlling the pitch and roll. There was a throttle control lever on the left side, just like a Stingray. Four display panels across the dash provided a horizontal situation indicator, a targeting pod, a long range scanner, and nav control. There were multiple levers and buttons on the joystick that presumably interfaced with the displays. At least, that’s how the Stingrays operated. It gave the pilot hands-free access to every control. The alien fighter had a single piece, bubble canopy that provided an unrestricted view. Chloe found what appeared to be the landing gear controls on the left side of the dash.
She fumbled for the control to close the canopy. After a few missteps, the canopy closed, and the cabin pressurized. She took a minute to familiarize herself with all the controls. She practiced reaching for them, trying to ingrain some type of muscle memory.
When she felt comfortable, she engaged the vertical thrusters and lifted off the ground a few feet. She hovered there for a few moments trying to get a feel for the spacecraft. Baby steps first. She spent the next half hour doing basic maneuvers, getting comfortable with the layout and the handling of the vehicle. Then she decided to take the leap and cruise into space.
The nav computer had the coordinates of the last destination programmed in. The aliens used a dot and dash system to represent numbers, similar to the Mayan numerical system. Chloe stared at the blinking coordinates for a moment. There was a good chance the enemy destroyer would be at those coordinates.
Chloe pondered this decision for a moment. The safe bet would be to head back to base, but the chance of locating the enemy destroyer would certainly be worth the risk, she thought. She banked the craft around and headed deeper into the nebula.
As she arrived at the coordinates, she got the surprise of her lifetime. There wasn’t just one destroyer—there was an entire fleet hiding in the hazy nebula.
Chloe’s heart fluttered in her throat. She swallowed hard. This was an invasion force. There were cruisers and destroyers and super-carriers. Hundreds of attack fighters buzzed about the fleet. Among them were several Saarkturian warships.
It all began to make sense. It seemed the Saarkturians had formed an alliance with these aliens, and their mission was clear—they were out for revenge. Chloe was certain an attack on New Earth was imminent.
She engaged the thrusters and pushed forward toward the armada to get a closer look. It was like swimming with great white sharks without a cage. Her stomach fluttered with nerves. This was far bigger than the Decluvian fleet that had attacked New Earth—the colonies were still recovering from the devastation.
Chloe angled the fighter and drifted through the midst of the warships. No one seemed to pay her any attention.
The super-carriers were enormous. Easily twice the size of anything in the UPDF Navy. In the center of the formation was an orb-like device that was as large as a Corvette class ship in diameter. Chloe had no idea what it was, but she tried to get a good view of it for later analysis. She recorded everything on her helmet cam.
Chloe decided it was best to get out of there before someone got suspicious. She arced the fighter around and headed back toward the NSSWC. She was sure a squadron of fighters were going to come after her, but no one ever did.
She disappeared into the haze of the nebula and breathed a sigh of relief. Now she just had to make it back to base without getting shot down by friendly fire.
“Nighthawk, this is Rockstar, do you copy, over?”
“Rockstar, go ahead. We thought we lost you.”
“Well. It’s a long story. Just don’t shoot at the incoming enemy fighter. It’s me.”<
br />
“Say again?”
“I’ve captured an enemy fighter, and I’m returning to base. Don’t shoot. How copy?”
“That’s a solid copy, Rockstar. How the hell did you do that?”
“I’ll tell you all about it later.”
She was quickly surrounded by a squadron of Stingrays. They weren’t going to take any chances. They escorted her down to the tarmac. Chloe opened the canopy and climbed out of the sleek spacecraft.
She was met by several of the cadets, the ground crew, and Commander Scott. Their eyes were wide as they stared at the alien fighter. She received somewhat of a hero’s welcome, but she didn’t feel like much of a hero.
“Ensign Johnson, I want a full debriefing, ASAP.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’ve reviewed your helmet cam footage. Impressive. And also quite concerning.” Commander Scott paused for a moment. “I don’t know what to do with you.” His conflicted eyes surveyed her. “On the one hand, you showed tremendous bravery and initiative. You are one of the few cadets who continued to their spacecraft and joined the fight, despite the overwhelming odds. You’ve proven yourself to be courageous and selfless. Those are all qualities that I admire in a pilot.” He took a deep breath. “But, by the same token, you have an impulsiveness, and a reckless disregard for safety that got Ensign Lily Sharp killed.”
Chloe’s eyes welled with tears. “I take full responsibility, sir. I made a judgment decision to pursue the enemy craft in hopes to discover their point of origin. It was a mistake.”
“And yet you returned with a craft that is going to provide us with valuable intel about the enemy’s capabilities. As well as their location.” Commander Scott grimaced. “That creates quite a conundrum for me. I’m not in the habit of rewarding reckless behavior.”