by Rod Carstens
“Okay, tell him this. ‘I am going to the fight around Times Square, should you have the courage to meet me there. If one of your troops kills me instead of you, then he should be the leader of this generation, not you. He will will have proven himself a better warrior than you.’”
Netis translated, and they watched the display closely as those around Askars suddenly began talking to him.
“Can you tell what they’re saying?”
“Only snatches. Some say to wait, that this is a trap. Others are saying you are right, the one who kills you would be the leader.”
“Good. I’ve got him in a corner. Especially since all his troops are hearing this. It is a trap, because he is going to die no matter what happens. I’ll be sure of that. Do they use snipers?”
“No. That would not be an honorable way to fight. It is better face-to-face.”
“Good. Because I have an idea.”
Finally Askars looked up at the camera and said, “It will be my pleasure to kill you, human. I will meet you at this Times Square.”
“I will meet you at the Times Square subway station,” Sand said. “It will be my pleasure to kill you for all the humans who have suffered under your hand.”
Netis looked at Sand and smiled. “You got him.”
“Now I’d better win the fight. Where is Nani’s platoon?”
Netis pulled up the tactical display and searched for Nani’s platoon.
“Okay. Advise them to meet me here,” Sand said, pointing to a position above them in the building with an elevator that led down to the subway station. “I want them to back me up.”
Chapter 61
City-State of New York
Times Square
Subway Station
General Dasan Sand stood on the landing next to an elevator that led to the Times Square subway station. He was armored and surrounded by Nani’s platoon as he made final preparations to step out of the door. The sounds of battle were getting louder and closer. He had to kill this alien before the Xotoli won. He glanced at Nani’s tactical-electronics trooper. He was linked to the CIC and had their tactical view mirrored on his screen. They were tracking Askars’s progress.
“How’s it looking?” he asked.
“They're moving pretty fast. Looks like we’ve got maybe ten or fifteen minutes.”
“Make sure everybody knows what to do when I face them. No one fires at the Xotoli. No one interferes with the fight until one of us is dead.”
“Are you sure, sir? We want this fucker dead. Why not ambush him?”
“This is personal for me. I could never live with myself if I didn’t try to kill this piece of shit. He started it all thirty years ago so he could be the leader of his generation. Sure, they wanted the crystals, but the real reason was simply ambition. Billions of people have died because this shit wanted to be a big man. No, I need to do this. Remember, no matter what, he doesn’t leave the station alive. So if he kills me, it’s up to you and your platoon to kill him. No matter what. Do you understand?”
“General, we go back all the way to the Legion. I feel the same way you do, but I’m telling you—let us ambush this alien shit and get this over with. I don’t want to carry your body out,” Nani said.
“I’ll do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
The elevator door opened, and Liya Borges stepped out in full medic armor and kit.
“Who sent you on this fool’s errand?” Sand asked.
“The admiral did, and she said if I let you get killed she would make sure I paid the price.”
Sand could only chuckle.
“It’s funny to you, but she gave me the look. You know, the one that could kill. I don’t intend to find out what she thinks the price I should pay is, so how about staying in at least big pieces so I can put them back together?”
“I’ll do my best.”
Sand switched his comm to the CIC’s channel. Netis was stationed there and would use the loudspeakers to communicate with Askars.
“Does he have a weakness?”
“His only weakness, and it's not physical but mental, is you,” Netis said. “You are the only one who has defeated him.”
“Are there any rules to this fight?”
“No, only that it is to the death with hand-to-hand weapons.”
Sand looked at the platoon and said, “Give me as many mini-grenades and mines as I can stuff in my pockets.”
As Sand was loading up on grenades, Hu stepped forward with his famous shovel in his hand and said, “Sir, this has done me a lot of good over the years. Would you like to use it?”
Sand took the shovel and hefted it. “So this is the famous shovel. No, Sergeant, I’ll stick to my old axe. Thanks, anyway.”
Sand was satisfied with how many grenades and mines he had stuffed in his pocket. Then he had a thought. “Nani, do you have a shaped charge on you?”
She handed one to him and he put it into his vest.
“Okay. Now this is how it’s going to go. I’ll go down and stand on the rails. Nani, I want your platoon to set up an ambush the best you can. No matter how it turns out, you’re going to need to kill his command group. So get prepared.”
“Yes, sir. We’ve got your back.”
“Basso, you here?”
“I’m here, General.”
“You find yourself a perch and be ready, because if he kills me I want to know you have him in your sights. If he kills me, you kill him, do you understand?”
“Sir, let me take this fuck out before he gets close to you.”
“No.”
“Goddamnit, sir.”
“Promise me!”
There was a moment’s pause, then Basso said, “I promise, sir. I will kill that fuck after he has killed you. Mara has a sniper rail too. We’ll get a good sensor plant and find a couple of good hides. We’ll double up on him.”
“Thank you, Basso.”
“No problem, sir.”
“Let’s get to it.”
Sand was standing on the subway rails. The rest of the platoon had found cover behind columns that lined the platform. It was a dark and dirty place to die, Sand thought to himself.
“Sir, about three hundred yards down the tunnel moving fast this way. A bunch of them,” the CIC tech said.
“Netis, you ready?”
“Roger.”
“Okay, say this. ‘I am Sand. I wait for the so-called Xotoli warrior, Askars.’”
Sand changed his visor to night vision and stood with his arms down at his sides. In one hand he had his axe. The other was full of mini-grenades. His heart was about to pound out of his chest. His headache was gone. It would all be over soon. He made sure he had the handkerchief the young girl had given him so many years ago stuffed into his vest. He looked down and saw the tip peeking out of one of his MOLLE pockets.
No matter how it turned out, he would be free of the weight he had carried over the years. Strange. He wasn’t afraid, just anxious to get it over with once and for all.
He could see a Xotoli take the lead. He was bigger than the others, and his black armor gleamed in the low light. He must have been close to eight feet tall, with distinctive, very long arms and legs jutting from broad shoulders and a V-shaped torso that ended with a tiny waist on narrow hips. For something so big, he moved with a fluid grace. He had a gold crest on the left side of his armor that must have showed his rank. In one hand he carried a laser knife, and in the other he held a large, strange-looking hooked weapon. He would try to hook him with that thing and then use the laser knife, Sand thought.
Other strange-looking weapons were stuffed into his belt. They were smaller and almost looked like surgical devices. Sand thought they must have been the tools he used to torture the losers of these contests.
Askars strode confidently toward Sand, and his command staff spread out along the walls. He suddenly yelled something.
Netis translated. “He said you are a puny excuse for a warrior, and this will not take
long.”
“Tell him to go fuck himself.”
When Askars emerged from the dark tunnel into the light of the platform, all Sand could think of was those who had died—and the children. He was not going to let him make the first move. Now was the time.
With a roar of rage, Sand jumped at the Xotoli. The roar filled the station from his outside speakers. He raised his ax when he jumped, and he also threw the handful of mini-grenades into the Xotoli’s face. The grenades exploded around Askars’s head, and his arms went up in a defensive gesture. Sand knew the Xotoli armor would absorb most of the power of the grenades—it was too good. But even if it didn’t hurt him, it gave Sand a chance to get the first blow in.
Sand landed on top of Askars, driving him to his knees. He smashed the ax into the Xotoli’s helmet twice before Askars threw him off and staggered to his feet.
Sand found himself lying across the rails almost fifty feet away. This fuck is strong, he thought. The Xotoli, moving faster than he’d thought possible, was on top of him before he could stand. It drove that hooked weapon into his armor and pulled. Sand groaned as the hook went through his armor and into his back. Askars picked Sand up with hook and held him high in the air in front of his face. All Sand saw were three glowing red lenses. He spun the ax in his hand so the spike portion was forward and drove it into one of those lenses.
Askars was staggered by the blow. It caused him to drive the laser knife into Sand’s side instead of his chest. Askars dropped Sand and he staggered backward. The hook was still in his back, and the laser knife had done a lot of damage. His armor was working overtime trying to keep up with the pain and injuries. It was hard to think or move. Sand reached into the pocket on the leg of his armor for another fistful of grenades. Askars saw him reaching and kicked, striking his hand and causing the pressure-sensitive grenades to explode as one, blowing his leg and left hand off.
Sand screamed into his helmet.
Now with the upper hand, Askars was on top of him in a split second. He reached down and picked Sand up by the hooked weapon again. Sand screamed as the hook dug even deeper. This was it.
Askars lifted him up so he could look into Sand’s face. Using the laser knife, he chopped off more of the arm that had lost its hand.
This stupid fuck is going to chop me up in pieces, Sand thought.
It gave him the seconds he needed. Sand grabbed the shaped charge with his right hand and smashed it into the alien’s chest. It went off with a tremendous blast, blowing a huge hole in Askars’s chest and taking off Sand’s right arm.
His last thought was, That was for the children.
“Open fire!” Nani screamed.
Basso and Mara were the first to fire, and four different Xotoli in the command unit fell. Nani, Hu, and Tolla all stepped out from behind the columns. Each had a scram and they fired as one, aiming at the Xotoli that were left. Tiny and the other minigunners opened up on the Xotoli as they tried to return fire. The return fire from the Xotoli was ragged and unorganized. They had not expected to see their leader killed.
A body moved by her and went to Sand. It was Borges. She knelt next to him. A Xotoli appeared out of the darkness, but Tiny’s mini ripped into it, and Nani added a grenade from her launcher. It dropped before it could harm Borges or Sand. Nani glanced up at her tactical readout. It showed Sand’s symbol blinking between red and black.
“Is he alive?” Nani yelled.
“Barely! Cover me! I need a few more minutes before I can move him.”
Before she could stop him, Tiny jumped down onto the track, his legs spread against the recoil as he poured mini rounds down the tunnel.
“Tiny, get back here behind some cover! We can cover them from here!”
“We got more company coming. I don’t think they like us killing their big man,” Basso said, firing as quickly as she could line up her targets. Mara was firing too. They had found places in the overhead cable trays where they could lie and look down the tunnel for a good distance.
“I’m going to move,” Borges said. She picked up Sand and scrambled toward the platform. Hu jumped down to help and Tiny moved to his left as he continued to pour fire down the tunnel. Borges and Hu had Sand on the platform when Tiny took a round in the stomach. It doubled him over, and before he could even fall, two more rounds hit him, one in the head. He dropped dead to the tracks.
“Goddamn you shits!” Hu screamed.
Hu jumped down on the tracks, grabbed Tiny’s mini, and starting running down the tunnel, firing as he did.
“Cover him, Basso!”
“Already on it.”
Nani leaped down and followed Hu, with the rest of the platoon behind her. She switched her visor to night-vision mode as she ran after Hu and she could see the Xotoli down the tunnel; they were still confused. Some were firing while others were milling around. The death of their leader seemed to have really shaken them.
They had to exploit this confusion. Tolla was running beside her, and she still had a scram. Nani snapped her rail back into her chest rack and grabbed Tolla’s scram. She put it to her shoulder and let the targeting system get a good look at the Xotoli.
“Scram firing!”
Hu was listening and dropped. Just before firing, Nani realized firing into a crowd wasn’t the best use of a scram. She aimed it at the wall of the tunnel and pulled the trigger. The scram hit the wall with a tremendous explosion, throwing concrete and debris in all directions. Nani and the rest of the platoon dropped to the tracks. She watched the wall and ceiling of the tunnel collapse on the Xotoli and sealed the tunnel. Nani stood and scanned the area of the collapse for any movement. There was none. The subway tunnel was completely blocked, and there were no live Xotoli left.
“Let’s get back to Borges and help her with Sand.”
They all turned and raced back toward the platform. When she reached Tiny’s body, she paused and knelt down to put a hand on his chest. The rounds from the Xotoli had done terrible damage to him. He was almost unrecognizable.
“You proved yourself. You’re one of us. I was wrong about you.”
She reached over and switched on his locator beacon so the medical teams could find him. Hu had walked up and stood beside her.
“There have been too many like him,” Hu said quietly.
“Yeah, and now maybe Sand.”
The two walked together over to the body of the Xotoli and looked down at him.
“One guy caused all of this. One guy who wanted to be king of the hill,” Hu said.
“Isn’t that the way it has always been?”
Hu kicked the body of the Xotoli leader in the head, sending it spiraling down the darkened tunnel.
Chapter 62
Sol System
Earth
City-State of New York
Operations Center of the Secretary General
The CIC was silent as they watched Nani’s platoon carry Sand up the stairs. Admiral Raurk turned to the room and said, “I want updates as soon as you can get them. I want to know if they are really retreating. I need to know now, people.”
She paced on the platform at the rear of the room. Her battle staff worked every sensor and field report, looking for any signs that this would really work. She walked up to Netis, who was working a station.
“Have you been able to listen in on the Xotoli comm?”
“They have very good encryption, but I have heard a lot of chatter, and it was about the loss of Askars and what that meant. They are damn sure not planning any new offensive.”
“And?”
“I don’t think they know what to do. This has not happened before on this scale, ever. So there is some confusion.”
“Battle Captain, are they attacking anywhere?”
“Negative. But they are not retreating either.”
Secretary General Monnetal stepped out of his office behind the command platform and walked up to Usiche. “Any movement yet?”
“They’re not attacking, but they’
re not retreating either.”
“What does our hybrid think?”
“She’s not sure. This has never happened before.”
“As she said, the Xotoli always told them to go after the command and control. It obviously came from their own beliefs in their warrior leader. How is Sand?”
“Unknown. His medical status still flashes between red and black, so it is touch and go. He lost a leg and most of both arms.”
“All of that can be regrown. Let’s hope there's no other damage.”
“I just hope his sacrifice was worth it. Until I have proof, I have to assume the Xotoli will begin fighting soon. Advise all units what we are expecting and tell them I want any retreat by the Xotoli sent as a flash to this command.”
“Ma’am.”
“Make sure our ships in orbit get the same message. We may see movement up there before we do down here.”
Usiche began to pace, her arms folded, her face a frozen command mask, as she waited for some sign that this was going to work. She should never have let Sand do this. It was too big a loss. Without him leading the ground troops, she doubted any of the men and women in the chain of command was up to stopping the Xotoli. He had been something special—it had been an obsession with him for thirty years. He had dedicated his life and career to stopping this, and now she might have lost him on a fool’s mission the results of which could not be determined. Minutes that seemed like hours passed as the battle staff worked frantically to develop a clear picture of what the Xotoli and hybrids were doing.
“Ma’am, I’ve got video from Long Island you should see.”
“Go ahead. What’s it from? We don’t have troops out there.”
“The Raiders planted a standard battlefield sensor network, and not all of it was destroyed by the Xotoli. I hooked into what was left of the system. It’s a lousy feed, but it’s something.”
A grainy picture came up on the screen. It showed Xotoli troopships taking off for the orbiting Cube.
“They could just be going up for another load of troops or supplies.”
Then a group of Xotoli marched by the sensor and boarded a ship. The ship took off and headed directly up toward the Cube. Several groups emerged from the buildings and began to move toward other waiting troopships. They loaded up and the ships took off.