Incursion

by Kevin McLaughlin

  Ka’thak, teeth bared in anger—or maybe frustration—spoke, “We fed you, kept you healthy, protected you. We have every reason to kill you and send your body to the humans; yet, we treated you with dignity. Withholding this from us is an affront.”

  The chief growled in agreement, nodding and saying, “You have endangered not only our people but yours as well. If the others find the orb before we do, you’ve doomed us all. Everything we have done will be for nothing, Lt. Col. Jackson, and you shall have the blood of two worlds on your hands.”

  Great. More guilt. Maybe if I had spoken up sooner we might not be arguing over a bloody coup with the death of humanity creeping ever closer. If I had shown a little trust in these aliens, Alexandra and the orb might be in this very room right now, the four of us joining forces. Instead, we might lose everything. If I lived through this, I would spend a lifetime atoning for my actions here.

  “Where would she go?” Ka’thak spat. He was more angry than I had ever seen them. I fought to remain calm as memories of the battle reminded me that I was likely to end up just like those soldiers on the battlefield if I didn’t find a way out of this.

  “I don’t know. I imagine she would have run until she found a town to hole up in. There’s a town not too far from here. Plainville, Plainfield, I don’t know. Something like that. A small village that is too far from the cities for most people in this state to even remember it exists. They’ll have basic things at best. Maybe a few restaurants, basic utilities. A school, maybe a hospital. There would be other people in town, she would have gotten together with them.”

  “She still has the orb on her?” the chief asked.

  “Not if she ran into trouble. She would hide it somewhere. Your would-be usurpers said they have her. If the egg was here, we wouldn’t be. Your man would have taken over by now. We’d be dog food. They don’t have it, yet. If they have her, they aren’t keeping her here. They’ve either tortured or forced her to show them where it is. If you don’t send out someone to track her down, it sounds like worrying about human forces will be the least of your worries.”

  The captain and leader looked at each other. “The prime minister’s hold on the council is very tenuous,” he said. “If we make the wrong move it won’t matter if they find the orb or not. We’ll have half our people taking up arms against the other half. If we don’t do this right, most of us will be dead within the day. The person leading the opposition party is very popular. He has already been sowing dissent among our people, trying to convince them that it would be the better course to kill us and the humans. If they do find the orb, that will be the end. The opposition force will take over, we will die, and your species will have a swift death.”

  “Perhaps the best way forward is for us to work together,” the prime minister said. “The ship is too damaged already. A war with eight billion humans would do enough additional damage that we would never be able to fix it in time to escape the destruction from the supernova.”

  The door to the room burst open, and a young alien soldier barged in.

  “I thought I said we were not to be disturbed,” Ka’thak snarled.

  “Sir…” the alien panted as she tried to catch her breath. “Sir. My apologies, sir. Turuk has taken a ship. He has twenty soldiers with him. We caught sight of a human female with them.”

  “Why would he take…” the captain trailed off, comprehension dawning.

  “They’ve figured out she knows where your orb is,” I said. “She must be leading them to it. We have to go after them! If they get to that thing, it’s over for all of us, right?”

  “You…” Ka’thak stood and pointed at the soldier. “Gather ten soldiers and get them into a transport right away.”

  The chief sputtered, “Wait! Turuk and his soldiers could be coming for me any minute!”

  The captain whirled. “You think Turuk is coming for you when he just took off with the human female? If we do nothing, our fate is sealed.” He pointed at me. “Come, Lt. Col. Jackson. We must be quick.”

  We took off at a run down the hallways of the ship. Minutes later we arrived outside. To our left, a squad of soldiers waited in a troop transport ship with the lift open. We climbed inside and Ka’thak handed me a beam handgun and tossed me a helmet. Some confused soldiers looked at one another as I joined them. The helmet was too large and fit awkwardly, and the ‘small’ gun would still require me to use both hands, but it would work. I sat between two soldiers, nodded and smiled at them as the lift door shut, and we took off.

  27

  Alexandra

  The soldiers removed my manacles and led me out of the semi-hidden aperture we had come through to get into the ship. They circumvented the camp where the alien refugees were set up and we walked into the forest to a cleared area. Several ships were parked here, hidden amid the trees. I recognized five or six of the small, sleek fighter ships Jackson and the other Air Force pilot had battled, and a large shuttle like the one Ko had been in.

  My captors shoved me towards a mid-sized vessel that bore a resemblance to an Air Force troop carrier. The leader shouted two short bursts of orders and a dozen more aliens appeared from around a corner of the ship. There was no hope for me to use my gun against almost twenty of these creatures.

  One approached and bowed its head. It spoke a moment and turned towards me. I jumped as a ship came to life with a loud whining sound. A soldier shoved me onto the ship’s platform. As I went in and sat on the cold metal floor, a kind of calm washed over me—a strange comfort in knowing I would not live to see the sunrise. I breathed deeply and opened my eyes; instead of seeing hostile aliens, I peered at nothing, lost in thought.

  I wasn’t a religious woman. Raised in an Irish Catholic home, I abandoned divinity for science as soon as I struck out on my own, yet in the face of my demise, I started to pray. I prayed to Jesus, Allah, Amaterasu, Odin, and any god that would listen. I prayed for my parents to never know how their daughter died. I prayed for Jackson, hoping he found peace and forgiveness before his passing. It wasn’t his fault, after all. He had been a soldier. I prayed for my own forgiveness but, most of all, I prayed it would end quickly.

  I watched the soldiers strap on heavy armor and unload large guns from their cargo hold. Finding the computer must be their last step before rebellion. No matter what happened from here on, there would be blood.

  A soldier passed by and kicked me, chuffing its alien laugh. I ignored it. Another spat a gob of greenish spit on my boots. It blinked at me, expecting me to react so they would have reason to further abuse me. I was beyond caring. The spitting alien barked to the commander, gesturing at me.

  It came over and glanced down. “Are you sick, human? Hurt?”

  I said nothing, keeping my gaze straight ahead.

  The commander prodded me with its foot. I kept my leg slack and stared into nothingness.

  It chattered at the spitter, barking an order. It jumped to obey like its life depended on it, fetching a bottle of water and a protein bar from a pouch on its belt. Scavenged from my truck, no doubt. How ironic that they’d taken useless things without ever noticing that which was most precious to them, hidden right under their noses!

  “Here,” The alien hissed and tossed the items on my lap. “Eat, stupid human. Drink.”

  I moved my head to stare at him and said nothing. It blinked at me, then blinked at the commander. “What does it do?”

  The commanding alien shifted its weight from one foot to the other. Good. I hoped I made it nervous. If I was heading to my death, I would not cower or cry. I would face the end head-on and at peace.

  Humanity was lost. We had been given the opportunity to collaborate with the aliens and thrown it away. Then, my decision to play hero had cost us our last possible avenue of negotiation.

  The commander said something in its native tongue to the spitter and walked away. Minutes later, we landed near the truck. The spitter pulled me to my feet and walked me out of the ship with its claw on my shou
lder.

  The commander strode to us. It grabbed my other shoulder and pulled me away from the spitter. It lowered its face to mine. “Where is the orb, human?” The commander tightened its grip, the points of its claws dug into my shoulder blade, its interest for my well-being gone.

  “In the truck,” I said.

  It showed its teeth and chuffed its foul breath in my face. “Do not play games with me, human. I have brought you here because you say you know where the computer is. If you wish to keep breathing, you will be more specific, or I will tear out your throat right now.”

  I met its gaze and counted to twenty before answering. It was satisfying to watch the alien twitch. Rather than kill me, it waited.

  “Underneath the seat. On the right side,” I said.

  The commander nodded at the spitter, and it hurried to search the truck. The commander stayed, claws still digging into my back as it filled my view. It studied my face. “I must question why humans are the dominant species on this planet. You are all so weak. Pathetic. You have some weapons but take those away and your flying machines and your technology, and what are you?” It leaned closer to show off its impressive teeth. “Soft little sacks of meat. Merely prey.”

  I met its gaze. “We’re more than that.”

  It chuffed. “Whatever you think you are, human, I know what you are to me. No longer needed.”

  “You’re going to race back to overthrow the leader now, I understand that. But, after you do that, millions of humans will descend on you. We vastly outnumber you. For every one of you, there are thousands of us. Thousands. If you think two of our missiles did damage, wait until every country rains thousands of atomic bombs on your ship. So do your worst. You’ll follow me into the grave soon enough.”

  The commander said nothing, its eyes flickering as it tried to assess how truthful I was being.

  “You want to make it off this rock alive? I can help you. You need someone who can negotiate a relationship with humanity. I could advise you. Or, at the very least, keep you from getting blown into ash on the wind. I can build a bridge between our peoples to benefit everyone, so kill me if you like, or work with me.”

  It smiled. “Bridges? I don’t think you understand, stupid meat sack. I’m not looking to build bridges. I’m looking to burn them. Once we return, I will slay the prime minister, which will be very, very enjoyable for me. I will slay every last sympathizer, and then I will make you pay for what you did to us, and it will not be painless or quick. I’m going to torch every one of your settlements within striking distance and cut open every human within them. Trust me, I will not be needing you for that. Goodbye, human.”

  The alien raised its clawed hand for the killing strike. As much as I wanted to, I didn’t look away. I stared it straight into its slit eyes and waited for death.

  Just then, one of the soldiers searching the truck shouted in triumph. “We have it! The orb!”

  The commander whipped its head around and took off toward the truck. Before he reached it, a beam weapon fired and the soldier’s head exploded, blood and brain spraying everywhere. Its body hit the ground, the orb rolling from its hand.

  The commanding alien barked orders at his soldiers as they took fire. The soldiers clustered around their leader, squawking and gnashing their teeth, discharging their weapons toward whoever was attacking them. The leader rushed to where the egg had fallen and snatched it up, shouting for cover. Soldiers fell in on both sides of it, some of them absorbing hits and falling dead.

  A soldier grabbed me from behind and hauled me over its armored shoulder while shooting beams behind it. I should have fought, should have screamed, but there wasn’t any point. The alien was too strong. Still, the humiliation of being carried like a sack of potatoes was just one more straw on the proverbial camel’s back. It ran up the platform and into the ship as the commander hopped into the cockpit with the pilot.

  Explosions of dirt erupted around us. The scream of beam weapons was deafening. The soldier tossed me onto the floor and moved away to return fire at whoever was attacking us. I noticed they were all firing upwards, and I waited until none of them were paying attention. I bolted. I leapt off the platform and ran as fast as I could toward the forest, beams blasting everywhere down at the ship and up into the sky. Just as I was about to duck into the forest, I chanced a look skyward and gaped at what I saw. Another transport hovered above and, hanging out the side of it, Jackson fired a massive gun alongside other aliens.

  He’s alive! I broke out in laughter and tears. The cavalry has arrived!

  I spied three of my captors at the edge of the transport platform, weapons in hand and pointing at me. They looked like dogs straining on a leash. One hopped to the ground, but climbed back inside as more shots rained down on them.

  I dimly heard the commander’s shout, and I could guess what it was yelling—leave the human, I’m the important one!

  The shuttle rose, and a couple of them fired beams my way. Neither shot came within fifty feet of me so I stood there and gave them all the finger, grinning madly. The commander glared out the cockpit window, teeth bared.

  I waved at him and laughed. It might have the orb for now, but I was free.

  28

  David

  “Fuck yes!”

  The enemy shuttle managed to lift off the ground, but we had gotten a few good shots off to scare the hell out of them first. We passed their ship as it zoomed by, and I leaned out of my restraints to signal a very clear ‘up yours.’

  This was the best fighting of my life.

  These ships weren’t at all like the jet fighters I flew. These were bigger and slower, but better equipped. They reminded me of a large rotor-less Blackhawk that could throw plenty of firepower, but evasive maneuvers were tricky. I was flying around in a fast air-whale.

  The rebel alien ship matched us maneuver for maneuver. Before long, both ships were streaming smoke. Some of the captain’s soldiers flanked me, firing, and the soldier to my left crumpled when a beam made a blackened crater of their face.

  We banked, and I swung to grab at them as they slid out of the ship. I missed by inches and flinched as the body tumbled out. My fellow soldiers didn’t skip a beat—finish the fight first, mourn the dead after. I could admire that.

  We lost a few more, and I was surprised when the others pushed the bodies out of the aircraft. Maybe there was some religious meaning to it, them not wanting to keep the fallen there during the fight. More likely they were clearing the decks to take the places of the fallen.

  A deafening bang was followed by a keening engine noise as the craft suddenly shuddered. Something had blown a human-sized hole in our ship, rendering the engines useless.

  Ka’thak shouted a command in his native language, then yelled at me in English to brace for impact. I dove towards a cargo net slung in the rear of the ship and tangled myself in it, making sure if I was thrown I wouldn’t be leaving any limbs or my head behind.

  My body flexed as the ship crashed, spinning, our velocity slowed by churned earth. We came to a lurching stop on our side. None of the seats were located close to the edges of the platform, so almost every soldier on board had made it through save for a couple that weren’t strapped in and were flung away.

  I had enough experience with being shot down to know what was coming. We needed to get out of there, fast. I grabbed my knife and cut myself free from the cargo net as soldiers started to release themselves from their seats. I climbed through seats and straps to the cockpit, dismayed to see the alien pilot was dead.

  I checked Ka’thak. He was alive, but out of it. I raced to free him from his chair and helped him up as best I could. The remaining soldiers and I jumped free from the ship, two of them taking over in assisting Ka’thak. We ran, hobbled, or limped to take cover in a sprawling thicket of brush and tall grass, which mostly obscured us as the enemy shuttle cut through sky above the forest, blasting multiple lines of fire that hit the downed shuttle. It exploded in a fireball, and the
rebel craft veered away.

  The captain spoke, “Do what the human tells you. This is his territory.”

  The soldiers nodded, heads bobbing as they waited for my command.

  The enemy had flown away, so I yelled, “With me!” and ran from cover.

  The soldiers followed, forming a defensive perimeter. They had to slow their pace for me but kept a sharp watch. After all our misunderstandings and mistrust, these aliens had accepted me as one of their own. We had fought together, eaten together, worked together. I suddenly understood Alexandra’s outlook. These were people who deserved as much respect as human beings.

  As we ran, I tried to get some idea of our surroundings. I knew roughly where we were because of my flight out here but had no way of identifying where the nearest town or even campsite was. We’d been jogging for a while when I picked up the sound of running water. Perfect. After a quarter of a mile, we came upon a river, and I saw to our right a concrete bridge.

  We headed up there and came across a state highway. The soldiers gulped mouthfuls of water from the river, then we heard the rebels passing overhead and took shelter underneath the bridge. I hoped their technology would have a rough time picking us up beneath the concrete. After a few sweeps, it gained more altitude and flew back in the direction of the mothership.

  “We are lost,” Ka’thak said. “Turuk has the egg. When they get back to the ship, they will demand the prime minister’s position. No matter the outcome, Turuk will murder our leader and everyone who supports them. On foot, we will never make it in time. We are lost.”