The platoon was forced to huddle together behind the shields of the HA trio at the front of their formation. The aliens weren’t marksmen, but there were so many that the corridor was filled with the flashes of lasers and Dean couldn’t send out the AAVs. Several of the feline aliens reached the platoon. The first threw itself against Wilson, Carter, and Kliner’s trio of overlapping shields, but the Heavy Armor privates were unmoved. When the creature reared up, Wilson’s utility cannon blasted a dozen flechettes into the creature’s wide mouth.
The next creature to reach the platoon dropped down from the ceiling, but Chavez caught the creature in mid-air like a superhero from a comic book and flung it back into the kill zone like it was a rag doll. Dean knew the aliens weighed more than two hundred pounds, but Chavez was a former HA Specialist and still kept up a rigorous weight-training regimen.
Dean finished reloading the HA line and joined the fighting. They had to pop up, fire their weapons, and then duck back down to avoid the laser fire. Everyone was firing their weapons at full auto, and still they had trouble holding back the horde of fighters. Dean had read of the great battles of history where the dead had numbered into the tens of thousands, yet nothing prepared him for the horror of the aliens on the Kroll longship. When the fighting suddenly ended, Dean couldn’t believe the carnage all around him.
“What a nightmare,” Ghost said.
“Who would have thought they would have so many creatures on one ship?” Chavez asked.
“I think this was a combined force,” Dean said. “They’ve never come at us in such numbers before. Not even on the bigger ships.”
“We would’ve been overrun if not for the narrow confines of the passageway,” Tallgrass pointed out. “They’re intelligent, but inexperienced in tactical warfare.”
“I agree, but that doesn’t mean we can let down our guard,” Dean said. “Adkins, how are you feeling?”
“Right as rain, Captain.”
A yellow warning light was flashing over Adkins’ name on Dean’s TCU. The HA Corporal had a concussion from his clash with the simian, but he was alive and able to fight. Dean felt for the big man, but he was proud of Adkins at the same time. He had selflessly thrown himself between the huge creature and his less armored companion, which is exactly what the Heavy Armor Specialists were trained for. Yet no one would fault a person for hesitating in the face of the huge, ferocious aliens.
“Corporal Landin, report,” Dean ordered.
“I’m at the hatch, sir,” Landin said. “We just got the last of the captives inside.”
“Alright, double-time it back here—we’re moving forward.”
“To the nest, Captain?” Wilson asked.
“That’s right. We’re taking control of this ship, too.”
“Sir, if I may,” Chavez spoke up. “We’re going to be forced to climb over the dead here.”
“That much is obvious, Staff Sergeant,” Dean replied.
“Well, I was just thinking. Once we’re on the far side of that pile of bodies, we won’t be able to fall back very easily. If the enemy wanted to attack our people on the other ship, we would have trouble getting back to help them.”
“You’re thinking we should move the other direction?” Dean asked.
“I don’t think the Kroll will expect it,” Chavez said.
“We can pile up even more of the bodies here,” Ghost suggested. “And hide some ordinance that would hold back a renewed attack from this direction.”
Dean thought about the idea. He didn’t like leaving the longship without first taking control of the nest corridor where the gravity drive was situated, but without the manpower to hold those positions, he wasn’t sure what they were accomplishing.
“Okay, let’s do that. Move as many of the bodies as possible while Tallgrass sets concussion charges. I don’t want to blow the ship up, Sergeant. Just kill anything coming through this corridor that isn’t us.”
“Yes, sir,” Tallgrass said.
Dean would normally have stayed to help, but when he stepped into the tunnel that led back to the first longship, he saw Corporal Landin jogging toward him. And the young Demo Specialist wasn’t alone.
“Dean!” Esma said as she hurried to him. “Is it really you?”
He switched on his face projection system that showed an image of his face on the battle helmet’s visor. Dean wanted to pick her up and twirl the O&A captain around, but he had too much equipment on. All he could do was hold out his left hand, while keeping his rifle held at the ready across his body with the other.
“It’s me,” he said. “I’m happy to see you.”
She reached up and touched his battle helmet. In that moment Dean felt so many emotions—happiness, love, and pride—but more than all of that, he felt fear. He didn’t like seeing Esma on the Kroll ship.
“Tell me what happened,” he said as they stepped to the side of the opening where his platoon was starting to gather after mining the short passage between the ships.
“I was on the Sekigahara. We were assigned to Rear Admiral Chancy’s battle group when word came in that the Kroll were here. Six ships in all: the Hastings, the Petersburg, and the Constantinople, which were older double-helix ships. The Dunkirk and the Spartan each had two Recon platoons and large flights of fighter drones, but we couldn’t hold off their tug ships. I was piloting the combat shuttle with Lieutenant Adrian Smith’s Great White Recon platoon, but we lost contact as soon as they entered the gravity field of the big Kroll ship.”
“What was the plan?” Dean asked.
“Chancy sent in all the Recon platoons using their shuttles. They were taken to the big, round ship and we lost contact. The Petersburg was sent back to warn EsDef, but it was too slow. The first ship captured was the Constantinople. When it was locked onto the Kroll ship, Chancy ordered Vice Admiral Ewens to overload the fusion reactor. It blew the ship apart but didn’t do much to the Kroll. We lost contact with the other ships as soon as we entered their gravity well.”
“And you were held in one of their holding cells?”
“That’s right, until they forced us out into the corridor. We were there for hours, surrounded by the feline creatures. We didn’t know why until you showed up.”
“So they set a trap for us,” Dean said. “That’s why there was hardly any resistance when we first came on board. Did you see any other captives?”
“No, just the crew from the Sekigahara.”
“We found the crew from the Hastings, and it’s a good bet the other ships’ crews are somewhere close by.”
“Sir,” Chavez said as he came out of the tunnel, “the charges are set.”
“Alright, let’s move back down to the main hatch,” Dean ordered. “Loggins, I still want two MSVs watching this passageway.”
“Yes, sir,” the FAS private responded.
“What can we do to help?” Esma asked.
“We have two objectives. The first is to take control of at least one of the Kroll ships. We’ve done that but we don’t know how to operate anything.”
“I would start with the tug vessels,” Esma volunteered. “From what I’ve seen, they operate in a similar fashion, and you said the tugs are manned, right?”
“Yes,” Dean said.
“So, the controls should be easier to find. Once we understand that, we could probably control the larger ship.”
“Damn, Jefe, she’s smart,” Chavez said.
“It’s a good idea,” Dean said. “Why don’t you take some of the other operators and see if you can find the tug ships?”
He handed her one of his sidearms and two extra clips for the pistol. He wanted to do more, but he couldn’t spare anything else. It took all of his strength to press down his emotions and say goodbye, but he knew he had a job to do. If nothing else, he was determined to keep the Kroll busy while Esma learned how to fly the longship and escaped with the other captives.
Chapter 36
Dean led his platoon down the long passagew
ay. He couldn’t help but marvel over the size of the Kroll ships. Where humanity tended to make things as compact and efficient as possible, the Kroll assembled huge, sprawling vessels that were cobbled together from their conquests through the galaxy.
When they finally reached the stern of the ship, Dean called his platoon to a halt and once again sent a drone ahead to scout the way. Everyone waited to see if another massive group waited just beyond the tunnel that connected the ships, but what they discovered was a dark ship that seemed empty.
“I don’t like it,” Chavez said.
“Better than the last time,” Loggins argued.
“No,” Dean replied. “An enemy you can see is always better than one you can’t.”
“Maybe there is no enemy,” the FAS private replied.
“Spoken like a true rookie,” Adkins joked.
“We must always anticipate the enemy,” Dean said. “Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean they aren’t there. And if we aren’t careful, they just might hit us before we see them coming.”
“All I meant was, if we have to go into the other ship, at least they aren’t ready to blast us as soon as we walk through the corridor.”
“And that’s what makes me nervous,” Dean said. “I get the feeling they want us to go into the nest ship.”
“What for?” Wilson asked. “What could they have waiting for us in that ship that they don’t have in the others?
“If we knew that, we’d be ahead of the game instead of trying to catch up,” Dean said. “The nest ships aren’t necessarily built differently than the longships; they’re just big circles with the main passage around the outside of the big aviary in the middle.”
“You make the call, Captain,” Chavez said. “Don’t matter to us. We got your back.”
“Alright, what’s our ordinance like on the AAVs?” Dean asked.
“I’ve got one drone with a full load,” Loggins said.
“I’ve got both drones,” Harper added. “One’s carrying a full load, the other’s got all but one warhead.”
“MSVs?” Dean continued.
“I’m out,” Loggins confessed.
“I’ve got six left,” Harper said.
“Alright, we’re going in and taking the passage to our left. Harper, give us two MSVs to watch the corridor to our right. I don’t like the idea of something showing up behind us.”
“Roger that,” Harper said.
“Tallgrass,” Dean went on. “If you blow the charges in the other longship, will it break away from this ship?”
“I didn’t set them specifically to do that,” Tallgrass said. “But it’s possible.”
“Okay, I want ordinance set in the tunnel here for that purpose.”
“You planning on blowing the tunnels, Captain?” Ghost asked
“If we can’t make it back, we blow the tunnels,” Dean said. “I don’t know if the operators on the longship can fly it or not, but at least they’ll have a chance to escape.”
No one replied. Dean didn’t blame them for trying to dismiss any thoughts of dying. They had done well in their battles with the Kroll, but every Recon Specialist knew they were taking a chance of not coming back on every mission. Being on the strange Kroll ships only made that possibility seem more real.
“Here we go, people. Stay alert. Endcap formation. Adkins, stay with Tallgrass until the charges are set, then you catch up.”
“Yes sir,” Adkins said.
They moved quickly into the dark ship. Loggins kept the AAV moving ahead of them to scout the way. Unlike the other ships, there were no lights on in the nest ship. The long, curving corridor was like the interior of a cave. Without their battle armor’s night vision, they wouldn’t have been able to see anything. Dean was rotating between night vision, infrared, and ultraviolet modes on his TCU.
“What’s that?” Wilson asked as they approached a large hatch with a red light above it.
It was the first light they had encountered on the ship, and it was over a wide hatch on the interior of the vessel.
“Looks like a warning light,” Kliner said.
“Yeah, a keep-the-hell-out light,” Carter added.
Dean moved closer and realized there was a glass panel in the hatch. His night vision just reflected off the glass, but when he switched to normal vision on his TCU he found he could see through the panel like a window.
“Oh, my god,” he said.
“What is it, Captain?” Chavez asked.
Dean was standing close to the door, his helmet nearly touching the glass panel. The sight beyond the glass was breathtakingly beautiful and horrifying at the same time.
“This isn’t a nest ship,” Dean said. “It’s a harvester.”
The center of the saucer-shaped ship had detached and was essentially a huge version of the teardrop-shaped tug ships. He could see stars in the distance through the glass panel, as well as the far side of the alien ship curving around a large opening. Below him, rising up slowly from the glowing green planet, was the teardrop-shaped vessel, complete with waving tentacle arms. Some were massively long, others much shorter and delicate-looking. Dean could see big circles of lights around the vessel and huge flaps along the bulbous top that were retracting as it rose up into orbit.
The other members of his platoon were crowding around him, trying to see through the small panel of glass. Dean wanted them to see, but he couldn’t tear himself away from the sight. The vessel was moving slowly, and Dean could only guess how long it would take to rejoin the ship. He was afraid that it was coming back full of colonists from the planet. The Kroll didn’t need humanity’s technology, even though they had begun to incorporate the Recon armor for use on their fighters. They didn’t need the worlds to live on or the abundant natural resources those worlds held. What they needed was a food source. Dean realized the Kroll were true carnivores. They would not see the value of cultivating a planet or growing their own food. They needed places where creatures were abundant to fill their ships as they moved through the galaxy.
“Alright, time is short,” Dean said, forcing himself away from the window. “My guess is we have maybe an hour before they’re back on this ship. Odds are they’ve got a full load of humans to feed on and they’ll be pulling up stakes once the harvester is reconnected.”
“That’s why they’re still here,” Chavez said. “They’ve been gathering people this whole time.”
“They won’t be thrilled to find out we’ve taken over one of their ships,” Ghost said.
“That’s why we’re going to make sure there are no more threats on the second longship,” Dean said. “The clock is ticking. We have to clear that vessel and get back here to help our own people.”
“What are we waiting for?” Adkins said.
“Let’s move out,” Chavez ordered.
They started down the curving passageway and were nearly to the opening that led to the other longship when they caught sight of humans through the milky glass wall that lined one of the many holding cells on the massive ship.
“Sir, we have humans in this holding section,” Wilson said.
“Quite a few of them,” Loggins added.
Landin,” Dean ordered. “Do you have thermite?”
“Yes, sir!” the Demolitions Specialist replied.
“Alright, get a hole cut in this glass. Send the people back to the other longship. We can’t wait for you.”
“Roger that. Do you want me to escort them?” Landin asked.
“You’ll have to, I’m afraid. But get them moving as quickly as possible.”
“Yes, sir.”
The platoon moved on. Adkins and Tallgrass joined them just as they entered the tunnel that led to the other ship. Loggins was using his AAV to scout the way, and the small drone was barely through the opening when it was snatched out of the air by a hairy hand and disabled.
“Damn it! I lost the drone,” Loggins said.
“Can you blow the warheads?” Dean asked.
> “They’re not responding, sir.”
“Well, you’ve got your concussion grenades. Shoot a few into the ship, then we’ll go in guns-hot.”
“I love his style,” Adkins said.
“It is an aggressive plan,” Owando commended.
“Everyone ready?” Dean asked.
“We’re on the highway to hell!” Adkins shouted.
“Go, go, go!” Chavez ordered.
The next few minutes were complete chaos. There were nearly fifty of the feline aliens waiting at the opening to the longship, most of them scattered as the grenades went sailing into their midst. The third concussion grenade was caught in mid-air by the same simian creature who had disabled the AAV. When the charges went off, the feline creatures fled in fear, and the huge simian was knocked off its feet. The poor creature’s hand was blown to tatters and the bones of its forearm stuck out from the bloody stump. It had lost its footing and was still in a sitting position when the HA Specialists charged onto the ship.
Dean always marveled at the hugely muscled Heavy Armor warriors jogging backward into battle, their large, rectangular shields mounted on their backs to face the enemy. All six HA Specialists led the charge, running into the chaos two at a time and forming a semicircle around the opening. Dean, Ghost, and Chavez followed them, their utility rifles spewing flechettes at anything that moved.
The simian creature rolled sideways onto its knees as Wilson blasted the creature with his utility cannon. The beast roared and swung its good hand at Wilson, who took the glancing blow on his shield and kept firing. Dean added his own rifle to the mix, sending blood, flesh, and fur flying into the passageway. Laser fire began to flash out, causing Dean to duck along with Chavez and Ghost behind the HA shields.
“Owando, Teller, Kliner, Carter—move forward!” Dean ordered. “Adkins, Wilson, cover our six.”
The number of feline creatures was falling rapidly. Some were killed in the battle, but many more were simply fleeing down the long passageway. Dean wasn’t certain where they were going but he had an idea.
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