by H. T. Kofruk
“We can stop this, once and for all.”
The holograph disappeared, leaving echoes in Heera’s eyes.
“There’s Chinese camaraderie for you” said Anton sarcastically, just a moment too soon.
The holograph of the navy captain appeared less than a minute later with a look of dissatisfaction on his face. “You are to move to the belly of the Universe and magnetically attach your ship. Once we are in range, we will release you and assist your acceleration with pulse waves. The enemy will be within range in less than ten minutes so you best hurry” he said unceremoniously before disappearing again.
Only a few moments after they attached the Orca to the belly of the Chinese warship, the sounds from the first shots being fired resonated within the small ship as the combat commenced. The Rendens waited without saying a word when the shock waves began to increase in frequency and the abrupt movements of the Chinese ship to which they were attached threw the gravity shield generator into disarray. Although the well-equipped armoured amplifier suit gave her an amount of comfort, Heera knew that if a laser bolt happened to hit the small transport vessel directly, all five beings would immediately evaporate.
Heera clenched her jaw tight and held the multi-purpose pulse rifle close to her. She forced herself to calm down. If Terry seemed resigned to fate, she would do everything to ensure his survival. She had no doubt that her lover would perform his duty admirably to his last strength, but she somehow didn’t feel he was thinking about surviving. That would be her task.
Anton seemed completely trusting of Terry. The past few days, he had demonstrated a loyalty to his superior officer that reminded her of the respect that Terry had garnered the past few years, both as a marine and as a politician.
A holograph of Qin appeared. He was apparently on the chaotic bridge of the Universe. Desperate shouts could be heard in the background. “We will be in place in thirty seconds. There is a large tree just one hundred kilometres away and you must fly down at a forty-five degree angle. I’m sending you the coordinates now. Good luck” he said before disappearing for the final time.
The magnetic attachment was released slightly sooner than expected and the ship swooped down into the atmosphere. A display showed the explosion of the Universe just a few seconds later, ripping the hull down the middle as if being sliced by a red-hot knife.
The familiar view of flames engulfing the ship soon passed as it plunged into the dark, thunderous clouds. It felt as if the ship had been swallowed by a giant with the portholes only showing smoky grey. Heera wondered how pilots could navigate in such low visibility and looked at Sara who was neurologically connected to the ship.
The exterior cleared and heavy rain streaked down the portholes. As the ship banked to the right, Heera could see the giant dark canopy of a tree. It was so large that it seemed to become one with the curvature of the horizon. She looked at Terry who smiled grimly at her and then at Bin’ja whose golden eyes gleamed intensely as he stared at the giant plant.
Lightning erupted, highlighting the deep purple of the leaves for a split-second. The image of a flourishing, malignant life form in such an inhospitable environment was eerily beautiful and terrible at the same time.
“Enemy fire from the ground” said the ship’s computer at the neural command from Sara.
The rapid fire of pulse cannons sounded much too close for comfort. “At least there doesn’t seem to be any missile systems on the ground” said Anton, his voice strained from adrenaline.
Heera could only marvel at the way the transporter weaved between the invisible jets of pulses that came from every direction. Though she didn’t know Sara that well, she was about to gain enormous respect for her flying abilities.
A moan from Bin’ja drew her attention to him. He had his head pulled back and his mouth open as if under intense pain. He grabbed his forehead with his two large hands and started to rub it vigorously. His breathing grew faster and deeper. Heera could see he was resisting convoluting violently with all his strength since he could easily snap free from the harness and start injuring the others.
“No!” he cried so loudly and suddenly that it almost seemed that the transporter would drop out of the sky. “She knows why we’re here” he said after his breathing started to return to normal.
As if to prove his point, a swarm of drones descended from the clouds.
“Hold on tight” said Sara through the ship computer.
A deafening sonic boom sounded as the transporter abruptly doubled its speed. An equally deafening explosion was followed by a violent gust of wind as pulse fire created grapefruit-sized holes in the hull.
“Engine one compromised” said Sara. “There are too many enemy drones.”
“Not if I can help it” said a familiar arrogant voice.
Another transporter holding Qin and two dozen Chinese soldiers hailed them from a kilometre above. The computer created a holograph of it and it showed the Shadow in full battle armour with the main hatch open. He and two others were brandishing pulse cannons and shooting down the drones that were below them. Within moments, dozens of other transport vessels and fighters emerged from the clouds, undoubtedly the survivors of the destroyed Han Jingdi.
“I never thought I’d be glad to hear that bastard’s voice again” said Anton.
“I heard that” said Qin. “A simple thank-you will suffice.”
The tree was a just two miles away, merely seconds at their current ground speed. It was, therefore, with immense surprise and frustration Heera looked upon it as the transporter suddenly nose-dived towards the ground after a split-second vibrating sound.
“Mendoza!” cried Terry as the ground drew closer at a fatal speed.
“No vital signs detected from pilot” said the computer, this time independent from Sara’s commands. “Switching to auto-pilot.”
There was the sensation of the ship heaving upwards as the auto-pilot started to attempt to slow their descent by shooting pulse waves at the ground which was less than two hundred feet below them, creating eruptions of mud in the process. It slowed further as four parachutes, made from the same silky material as shock-shields, opened up behind them.
Heera, who had had her eyes squeezed shut, opened one and spied Terry looking at her as if his only concern was her safety. She wanted to smile and reassure him, to show him that she was tough enough not to warrant his anxiety.
The crash felt and sounded as if the ship had split asunder the ground. Her inflated armour and actuators prevented her neck and back from whiplashing on impact. She still felt, however, as if she was on the verge of passing out.
“Stay awake, Heera” said Terry, invisible from the dust and smoke though he was seated just a couple metres in front of her.
She blinked and shook her head. Her visor had come down at some point, protecting her face. Another armoured figure jumped out of the smoke and grabbed her harness before stabilising his feet on her wall. “Keep your visor down” said Terry. She nodded. “The smoke could kill us. The ship seems to have embedded itself in the soft mud at a sixty degree angle. We have to climb up where the smoke is even thicker and climb out of the rear hatch. Do you think you can climb, or better, jump up?”
“Yeah, don’t worry” she said, although she felt exhausted after those three words already.
“I have to get Bin’ja out of here. He might suffocate without wearing a mask.”
Her right shoulder cried out in protest as she unbuckled her harness. The computer inside her helmet overlaid a sonic image feed on her visor so she could approximate any jumping distance more accurately in the smoke.
“Sagawa!” shouted Terry while Heera prepared for her first jump. “If you’re conscious, I need your help. Sagawa!”
“That was a mean crash” said Anton in a drowsy voice.
“Get your arse over here, marine. Bin’ja’s unconscious and he’s too damn bulky for me to carry alone.”
Heera made her first jump and only just managed to grab ano
ther harness strap. She climbed another twenty feet, her shoulder pinching her the whole time, until she reached the rear hatch. A gush of wind and rain entered as she opened it but the smoke also rushed out, rapidly improving the visibility inside the ship.
Bin’ja’s unconscious body was soon lying on the mushy ground. Terry went back to get Sara’s body while Anton returned to get their weapons. They were already nearly under the giant canopy of a great tree, merely half a mile from their target.
“Southend?” said Qin through the Web-Com. “Are you alive?”
“Just about” replied Terry as he climbed up the ship with Sara’s body slung over his shoulder.
“There are literally hundreds of Nikruk soldiers converging on your location. We’re trying to pick them out but there are too many drones in the sky. And they’re moving too fast as well.”
“We’re almost there. Just need to get Bin’ja awake.”
Terry laid Sara down next to Bin’ja and took off her neural-link helmet. Heera was horrified to see the blackened blood vessels all over her face that still retained an intense look of concentration. “Death Beam. She must have thought about diving down right before it hit the ship. That probably saved the rest of us.” He gently closed shut her eyelids.
“We’ve got to get moving, sir” said Anton. “And we need to get him conscious.”
“Check the perimeter. Shoot anything that moves.” He then looked at Heera. “Do you think you can wake him?”
She nodded and went over to the alien’s large, armoured head and cradled it. The connection she had nurtured with Bin’ja was random, often nothing more than surges of emotion. She called out to him in her mind, something that she had never actively done before.
“Four targets approaching from the east” said Anton. Terry picked up his weapon and went to join his marine.
The sound of weapons fire quickened her pulse. She didn’t know how to call out to Bin’ja. Despite the distracting weapons fire, she closed her eyes and attempted to reach out to the giant, gentle alien lying before her.
“I think I got one” said Anton. “They’re too fast.”
While the two marines were shooting at blurs in the rain, Heera sat motionless with Bin’ja, shrieking his name in her head. She was too preoccupied to react to the eruption of mud. A large figure, even larger than Bin’ja, jumped out of the ground, its terrible silhouette lit up by lightning. The thunder and constant pulse fire prevented the two marines from noticing the enemy just behind them.
“Terry!” she screamed, her senses returned.
Bright yellow eyes turned towards her before disappearing in a damp blur of brown. She lifted her rifle in the direction where the alien had been but found herself aiming at Terry. When the alien appeared, it snatched her rifle and squeezed the barrel shut before reaching towards her. Everything was happening so quickly that Terry had only half-turned his torso to see why she had screamed his name.
The Nikruk dove towards her, its large metallic claws outstretched as if aiming for the spine behind her heart. She held up her gauntleted hands to protect herself and perhaps even repel the alien assailant.
A familiar but far more deafening shriek left her grabbing her ears. A second blur had intercepted the bio-engineered alien and pushed him far away, creating long skid marks in the mud. Her mind must have sub-consciously awoken Bin'ja for he was standing in front of her. The other younger Nikruk was larger with heavier body armour than her protector and soon came galloping towards them again. Terry and Anton, by now with both their barrels pointed at the attacker, fired their weapons.
They didn't even graze it, however, and it was soon locked in a wet ball of fury with Bin'ja. Their movements were so fast and the mud and rain so thick that it was difficult to guess what was going on or, indeed, which one was which. Shrieks of pain and rage erupted sporadically as the two deadly aliens fought furiously until one of them was thrown thirty feet into the air and landed heavily near where the three Rendens were staring stupefied by the vicious battle.
It was difficult to tell immediately which one had landed until it lifted its muddy head and muttered "Run".
The synthetic, younger alien jumped down with such a force that Heera was sure that Bin'ja's back was broken. It looked menacingly at the three Rendens before it opened its mouth with a purple glow in its eyes. "You are nothing!" it screamed in a rumbling voice.
It was Terry who pulled the trigger. Everyone expected that the alien would disappear into a blur but as it strained to avoid the pulse, it looked down at where Bin'ja lay almost submerged in mud to discover he was grasping its ankle. The pulse went right through its chest and created a fist-sized hole dripping with brown blood. Its eyes turned from purple to yellow before looking confused and pained.
Terry went and pushed it off Bin'ja. Anton came to help his leader clear the mud off the face of the alien who had probably saved all their lives. The lone natural-born Nikruk was bleeding from cracks in his armoured face and body and seemed extremely tired. Heera knelt down in front of him, not knowing whether the liquid on her face was rain or tears. Her wise, formidable friend seemed old and sick.
"Can you stand?" she said.
The old alien coughed brown blood after making and attempt, only to find that his right leg was broken awkwardly at the knee.
"Can you give it to me?" said Terry with eager eyes under his helmet.
Heera switched her gaze to her lover. What was he thinking?
Bin'ja shook his head. "It will kill you."
"But can I do it? Can I kill Mother?"
"This is a bad idea, sir" said Anton. "Let me do it."
Bin'ja said nothing for a moment. When Terry asked a third time, he nodded weakly. Terry immediately started to help remove the brown armoured plate from Bin'ja's chest.
"No, Terry. You can't do this. You know what will happen" said Heera. He ignored her and continued his task, bringing cries of pain from Bin'ja. She grabbed his wrist forcefully, obliging him to look at her. "No!" she shouted. "I won't let you do this."
"Then what!" he shouted back. "This is the only way" he said in softer voice a moment later with a pained expression on his wet face.
"I won't let you" said Heera.
"Sir, I would be honoured..." started Anton.
"You will only do as ordered!" he shouted. With that he lifted a flap on his wrist and activated the override option of the two Atlantic Alliance-made amplifier suits. As team leader, he had the possibility to immobilise the amplifier suits of his two subordinates, an emergency option in case of insubordination or mutiny.
Heera suddenly felt her suit no longer responsive. She was essentially paralyzed. "No!" she cried. "Please don't do this. Please don't do this."
He kissed her on the lips before pulling down her visor to muffle her pleads. She could only sob and watch as Terry pulled out a pulsating, pink object from Bin'ja's chest who then fainted.
The love of her life disappeared from the limits of her peripheral vision. In a few seconds, a slight static informed that he had reinstated communication. "Qin, you can probably see me running towards the tree."
"You have dozens of aliens closing in towards you. They've taken a special interest in you and none of them are going towards your friends" answered the Shadow.
"They know what I'm carrying. Rather, She knows what I'm carrying. You have to keep them off me."
"I'll do my best" said Qin.
As he ran, Heera could hear his breath getting heavier. "I'm going to reinstate your control now. I need you to stay where you are. It's too dangerous for you to come and attempt to help me."
A click sounded and Heera could move again but communication was still only one-way.
"I'm sorry you had to come all this way just to lose me again" said Terry, his voice breaking up from exertion.
She was so stricken with grief that she couldn't say anything. She looked through tearful eyes to his direction, seeing only pulse explosions as swarms of drones attempted to take o
ut the Nikruk warriors converging on him. He heaved and the muffled sound of his pulse rifle go off could be heard.
"I need you and Anton to use magnified thermal vision to get these things off me" he said.
Anton, being the professional that he was, immediately lifted his weapon and started firing in the general direction of the Great Tree. Heera weakly lifted hers and magnified her vision just enough to see Terry, covered in mud, sprinting away. She couldn't make out any solid enemy aliens though Anton continued his fire. She could only assume that he was creating a corridor of pulse fire along which Terry could run to his inevitable death. The only thing she could do was to create the other wall of the corridor, which she did gritting her teeth.
He was almost at the base of the giant tree when he suddenly somersaulted like a doll being thrown into the air and landed just as savagely on his head. There was a split-second delay before the 'oomph!' sound he made travelled to her earpiece. Whatever had attacked remained invisible until it jumped down on top of him.
Heera screamed though she knew no one could hear her. She magnified her vision once more and aimed at the rapidly moving Nikruk before squeezing the trigger. Luck was on her side; a chunk of the alien's head disappeared. She held her breath as she waited for some kind of sound, even a moan of pain, from Terry. After hearing nothing for several seconds, she slung her rifle over her shoulder and started to run towards him despite Anton's protests.
"That fucking hurt" said Terry finally in a voice that suggested that he was trying with all his will to hide how much pain he was really in. He then attempted with limited success to get up without groaning out of pain.
Heera stopped and knelt after seeing him get up. He was only twenty metres away from the tree. She unslung her rifle and aimed at anything that moved around him. Anton did the same as soon as he caught up with her and knelt beside her.
Terry limped towards the tree, dragging his left leg and cradling his left arm. With his right hand, he aimed his rifle at the black trunk of the tree and started firing. Heera knew what he was trying to do and aimed and shot at the same point, sending dark splinters into the muddy ground. Slowly but surely, a sap-filled hole started to form. When it was as large as man's head, Terry dropped his weapon and drew back his good right arm with the pink, pulsating object in his gauntleted hand.