The alien creatures were still advancing toward him but they weren’t diving to attack. He guessed they just wanted his platoon out of the ship.
“This vessel is breaking apart,” Dean explained. “Captain Dante, order those other ships to stand clear. Wolfpack, stay together. We need to get back to the entry point as quickly as possible.”
Ghost and Harper dove through the hatch and into zero gravity, their momentum sending them flying down the corridor. Dean turned to look back at the aliens one last time. The flying creatures were circling overhead.
“Captain, we’ve lost atmo,” Corporal Adkins announced.
A groan that sounded like metal bending echoed through the ship as Tallgrass jumped through the hatch and followed the HA Specialists trying to keep up with Ghost and Harper. Dean knew his people could survive in hard vacuum long enough for a rescue to be organized, but Esma only had half an hour of air left. He had to come up with a plan to get her to safety and his mind was flashing through options as he followed Chavez through the hatch and into the long maintenance tunnel of the alien ship.
Chapter 13
Dean’s stomach lurched as he passed through the gravity barrier and into zero-G. He was two feet off the deck and gliding down the tunnel like a super hero from a comic book. The platoon was stretched out in front of him, moving in single file. Ghost and Harper were in the lead and much farther along than the triplets – Wilson, Carter, and Kliner. The big HA Specialists were propelling themselves as best they could, but they looked like pinballs bouncing around the tunnel in slow motion.
Tallgrass and Chavez were just ahead of Dean and sailing smoothly through the corridor when suddenly the ship shook violently again. This time the movement was enough to send them all tumbling down the long shaft. Atmosphere and debris were being sucked toward every opening in the tunnel, forcing Dean’s platoon to struggle along.
“Keep moving forward,” Dean ordered. “We get back to Adkins, Chancy, and Captain Dante. Then we find a way off this heap.”
“It’s breaking apart,” Ghost warned. “There are cracks in the bulkhead.”
“This central shaft should hold together,” Dean said, willing it to be true. “Just keep moving.”
There was no gravity, but the venting atmosphere made Dean feel like a bug trying to escape a giant vacuum cleaner. More than once someone got pinned to an open hatch or crack in the bulkhead where the suction held them until two or three other Specialists could pull them free. They passed the unconscious feline aliens who were now floating in the corridor, two of them stuck in an open hatch where more air was rushing out.
Dean was afraid they weren’t moving fast enough, but maneuvering in zero-gravity was much harder than it seemed. Everyone was bouncing along, avoiding the suction points where the hull was failing, but they were moving slower than a fast walk most of the time. And no one was gliding in a straight path anymore. They were all zig-zagging from floor to ceiling and wall to wall, doing their best to keep progressing down the corridor.
“Captain Dante,” Dean said over the open channel, “how’s your O2 reading?”
“I’ve got about twenty-five minutes before my tank is empty. I’m guessing there might be enough residual air in my suit for another five minutes, but there’s no guarantee.”
“I want you to move back through the passage,” Dean ordered. “Take Adkins and Chancy with you.”
“Already did that,” Esma said. “We’re locked down and looking out the ruined section of the ship.”
“Adkins, use the straps on your utility rifle as a tether,” Dean ordered. “Show Chancy how to do it. I want the three of you tethered together.”
“Yes, Captain,” the big HA Specialist replied.
Dean’s platoon was just passing the cages where they had tranquilized the huge simian creatures. The venting atmosphere was barely noticeable, which meant the big ape-like creatures were probably dead. He would have tried his best to save at least one of them, but he knew their only hope of survival lay in facing hard vacuum and there was no sense burdening his platoon with one of the massive aliens that would never survive. The creatures looked peaceful, and while being shot with the EsDef non-lethal ammunition surely wasn’t pleasant, at least they were unconscious when the air was sucked out of the alien ship.
“Not much farther,” Dean said.
His hopes of reaching Esma were dashed when a huge section of the ship broke away. The long corridor in front of them was suddenly ripped apart like a broken stick with only a thin strip of bark holding the two pieces together. The tunnel in front of his platoon snapped up and back so that Dean and the others were staring out into open space.
“Halt!” Dean ordered. “Lose the utility rifles and use the straps to tether us all together.”
“This is some crazy shit,” Chavez said.
“Wonderland is coming apart at the seams,” Ghost agreed. “No more rabbit hole.”
“Listen up,” Dean snapped. “We’ve got one shot at getting off this ship and we aren’t going without Adkins and Captain Dante. I want everyone tethered, then we climb up into the other section of the ship.”
“Sir, we better hurry,” Tallgrass said. “This vessel is breaking into pieces.”
“I know it,” Dean agreed. “Move your asses, people.”
The rifles were discarded and the canvas straps hooked onto the armor of each specialist. Then Ghost led the way first to the roof of the corridor, and then out into open space and back into the broken section of the ship with a little burst from his jet pack. Once he had a solid hold inside the ship, he pulled everyone else up and in.
There was no sense of movement as Dean and the others raced along. The ship seemed to move around him, while Dean was floating, but in reality they were all in motion. The long maintenance shaft was one of the central architectural features of the strange craft, like the backbone of a magnificent beast. But as the cobbled pieces of technology were released, the shaft became fragile and began to break up.
They were two hundred feet into the next section when they came to a debris field. It looked to Dean as if something had crashed through the shaft, ripping out chunks of metal, sections of pipe, and a host of other materials which were now moving gently in the lack of gravity.
“Keep moving!” Dean ordered. “Don’t hit anything hard, we don’t need things bouncing around in here and injuring anyone.”
The debris slowed their progress once again and Dean felt panic trying to take control of his mind. The shaft seemed to stretch on forever. There was no more power, no light inside the long tunnel, and his night vision only illuminated a short distance in front of him before darkness once again reclaimed the damaged space.
Eventually the debris cleared without any evidence of what might have caused the damage. Dean was just about to order his platoon to increase their speed when suddenly the corridor seemed to collapse. In the absence of any kind of atmosphere, the destruction all around them was silent, almost ghostly, and it made Dean wonder if perhaps he was already dead. His hell would be a race against time to try and save the woman he loved in a never ending tunnel of death.
“What the hell is happening?” Wilson shouted.
“Tunnel’s collapsing!” Carter replied.
“That’s impossible,” Ghost said.
“Something hit us,” Tallgrass said, her voice so calm it seemed a little frightening.
“Everything is breaking apart,” Dean said. “There’s bound to be collisions. Can we get through it?”
“As long as it doesn’t collapse any further,” Harper said.
“Alright then, people, keep moving. We move or die, you understand? Our one hope is to find the rest of our platoon and get off this ship together.”
“What if they’re already dead?” Chavez asked.
“Then we take their bodies home,” Dean said. “No one is getting left behind. Not today.”
They had to get down on the floor of the tunnel and pull themselves throug
h the crushed section of the shaft. The Heavy Armor Specialists were forced to remove their shields. Everything ate away at their time, and Dean knew that even if they could reach Esma there was no guarantee that the other Recon vessels would risk moving closer to the alien ship to rescue them.
“How much farther?” Kliner asked once he was back on his feet.
“We’ve got to be close,” Ghost said.
Dean was doing his best to hurry but the pain in his hip was starting to sap his strength. Half of his mind seemed to be under siege by the constant, agonizing burn. Chavez took Dean’s hand and pulled him through the end of the crushed section of the corridor. As soon as Dean was clear of the claustrophobic space they were off again, moving as quickly as they could through the alien ship.
“There it is!” Ghost shouted.
“Hot damn!” Wilson said.
“What happened to the goo?” Carter asked.
“I imagine the aliens did something to it,” Dean said. “That was the glue holding their ship together, and I think they disengaged it, which caused the ship to break apart.”
“If they could do that?” Chavez asked. “Why wait so long? I mean, they could have escaped this system days ago.”
“Perhaps they were waiting to see what we would do?” Dean said as he followed the others through the narrow opening that led to the end of the tunnel.
Dean could see the thermite burns where Chancy had worked to clear the space. It didn’t matter as much with the Heavy Armor Specialists not carrying their large shields, but at least the contrary corporal had obeyed an order for a change.
“You mean they were studying us?” Kliner asked, as if the thought was somehow morally wrong.
“Is that so hard to believe?” Dean replied. “They did the same thing we were trying to do. Reconnaissance of an alien race. Now they can take whatever they learned back to their people, just like we’re going to do.”
Seeing Esma was such a relief that Dean almost forgot to stop himself from floating right out of the alien ship. Captain Dante was waiting with Corporals Adkins and Chancy near the jagged edge of the deck that looked out the ruined section of the star ship. There were chunks of strange-looking vessels floating all around them.
“How much time, Captain?” Dean asked Esma as soon as he reached her.
“Ten minutes, maybe,” she said.
“Any hope one of the other shuttles will pick us up?”
“No, they won’t risk getting hit in the debris field,” she said, her hand tight on his arm.
“Alright, here’s the plan, people,” Dean said, connecting his own tether to Esma and the two corporals. “We’ve got to get clear of the wreckage if we’re going to get picked up. So we jump out of this piece of shit together, then Ghost gets us moving with his jet pack. We won’t be able to maneuver, so we have to go on my count and we have to hang on to one another. Double check those tethers, if you break loose you’ll be lost in space.”
“And if we get hit by some big chunk of metal?” Wilson asked.
“Then we’ll die together, Private, but at least we’ll die trying.”
“Some kind of pep talk,” Esma said nervously.
“We don’t have time for anything more. Everyone ready?” Dean asked.
They all responded with a firm Yes sir! Dean studied the debris around their section of the ship. He knew he could have spent hours trying to track all the debris but there wasn’t enough time. He waited for a large section of a strange-looking ship to float past, then he gave the word and the entire platoon flung themselves out into empty space.
Chapter 14
The platoon plus Captain Dante were drifting through space in a bunch until Sergeant Brodus activated his jet pack. The Sniper moved slowly ahead of the rest, dragging them on their improvised tether away from the larger parts of the alien ship.
“Get us out of this debris, Ghost,” Dean ordered. “Run your pack ‘til it’s dry.”
“How will we slow down, Captain?” the Sniper asked.
“We’ll let our rescuers worry about that,” Dean said, before switching over to the command frequency. “This is Wolfpack. Come in Command, over.”
“Wolfpack this is command, we read you.”
“My platoon is EVA, requesting immediate evac. Captain Dante is with us, but her O2 levels are dangerously low, over.”
“Wolfpack, we are in emergency maneuvers. We have no craft in your vicinity, over.”
“Command, we won’t last much longer out here. Captain Dante is down to reserves on her oxygen. We need help, over.”
“Wolfpack, this is Rear Admiral Chancy. The alien ship is breaking apart. We cannot risk personnel or equipment to rescue one Recon platoon. You should survive in your battle armor for several hours at minimum. We will pick you up when you clear the debris field. Command, over and out.”
Dean switched off his comlink and screamed. The sound echoed inside his battle helmet, but no one else heard it. He was desperately trying to think of a way to save Esma, when his platoon channel flashed. Dean toggled it on.
“…coming right at us,” Ghost said.
“Say again,” Dean ordered.
“There’s something coming right at us,” Ghost said.
“Debris?” Dean asked, he was at the rear of the long line of people gliding through space.
“No sir, it’s making course corrections,” Ghost said.
“One of the other shuttles?” Esma asked.
“Can’t be,” Dean said. “I just contacted Command. RA Chancy refused rescue.”
“That’s because we need to clear the debris-” Corporal Chancy said, starting to defend his father, but Dean cut the corporal’s comlink.
“Check the open channel again,” Esma said. “My suit won’t pick anything up at this range, but your TCU should be able to.”
Dean wanted to ask how much oxygen Esma had left, but he knew it would only make things worse. There was nothing that could be done about her suit’s dwindling oxygen supply, he could only hope that whatever was headed their way would provide some type of assistance. He switched over to the open frequency and immediately picked up a message.
“Wolfpack, this is Wolfden, please respond, over.”
“Wolfden, this is Wolfpack,” Dean said. “Lieutenant Owens, the shuttle is wasted and we’re adrift. Can you help us, over?”
“I tapped into the vid feed being sent over to the Sparta and saw what happened to the other shuttle. When the other platoons didn’t move in to help I requisitioned the other shuttle from the Alrakis Ship Yard. I’m dead ahead of you, Captain. I should be in range in about two minutes, over.”
“Thank god,” Dean said. “We’re all fine, but Captain Dante’s O2 is nearly gone. We can’t slow down, is that going to be a problem, over?”
“Dodge space junk, match speed with out of control Recon soldiers, and save the day, no sweat, Captain.”
Dean informed his platoon that help was coming, but while his Specialists celebrated, Esma sounded odd. She was slurring her words and not making much sense.
“Captain Dante!” Dean said. “You stay with us. We’re almost home.”
“I don’t want to go home,” she said lethargically.
“Yes you do,” Dean said. “We’re going to make it.”
“She’s out of air,” Tallgrass said. “It’s carbon dioxide poisoning.”
“We get her on the shuttle first,” Dean said. “We make this maneuver happen by the numbers people and I mean fast.”
“Yes sir!” the platoon responded.
Dean couldn’t see the action, but he noticed the drone spin on its axis. He tapped into Ghost’s vid feed and saw that Lieutenant Owens had swung the shuttle around so that they were approaching the rear. The big ramp opened and the maneuvering thrusters were firing to slow the shuttle down.
“Come on! Come on!” Dean said.
The shuttle slowed to a stop and then slowly began moving in the same direction as Dean’s platoon was drift
ing. They were gaining on the space craft, but their progress seemed agonizingly slow to Dean.
“Captain Dante!” Dean said. “Esmerelda, do you copy?”
There was nothing but silence. Fear hit Dean and he wanted to pull himself toward Esma using the tether, but he knew that would only slow their progress toward the shuttle.
“She’s passed out, Captain,” Tallgrass said.
“Almost there,” Ghost said.
“Wolfpack, Wolfden is ready,” Lieutenant Owens said. “Just drift right in the back, over.”
“As soon as we’re in, you seal that shuttle and reestablish atmosphere,” Dean said. “Captain Dante won’t last much longer, over.”
It only took about sixty seconds for Ghost to reach the shuttle. He drifted in, activated the electro magnets on the soles of his boots and then began reeling the rest of the platoon inside. Dean was the final person to reach the shuttle and it took all of his self control not to let the panic he felt over Esma show to his platoon. Not that his relationship with the O&A Captain was a secret. They had been discrete, but they hadn’t tried to hide either.
“Get that hatch closed, Owens!” Dean ordered as soon as he was pulled inside the craft. “We need O2 as fast as you can get it in the shuttle, over.”
“That craft only has a reserve,” Owens said. “But the specs show oxygen masks. You can pull off the face cover and hook that hose right into Captain Dante’s helmet, over.”
The door was still closing but Dean didn’t wait. He moved over to the nearest seat and ripped the compartment cover on the emergency supplies off of the overhead bin. A plastic tube with a clear face mask dropped toward the seat. Dean snatched it up and looked at the connection between the plastic hose and the mask. The hose was connected to the mask over a small nipple and came free easily when Dean pulled.
“Get her over here,” he ordered.
Tallgrass and Harper pulled Esma in her bulky space suit toward Dean. It took him several agonizing seconds to locate the connection on her helmet. There were several small nodes at the back of bulbous helmet. One was an emergency oxygen connection with a universal adaptor. Dean pressed the tube onto the node and twisted the activator. Nothing seemed to happen.
Embracing Oblivion: Wolfpack Book 3 Page 8