Joined In Battle

by Toby Neighbors

  “The Kroll are going to break up the ship,” he said. “We have to get to the nest and stop them.”

  “We could just fall back,” Chavez said. “Let them flee.”

  “But if they return from this system with news that we’ve captured the other two ships,” Dean explained, “Major Davis’s plan won’t work. We have to stop them or destroy their ship.”

  “Alright, we’re moving,” Chavez ordered. “Double-time.”

  But before they could follow the staff sergeant’s order, another simian creature came barreling down the passageway. The HA line opened fire and before Dean could give another order, Private Loggins sent two concussion grenades toward the huge, hairy beast. The creature was already wounded, with massive gashes across its chest, shoulders, and arms from the utility cannons, but the grenades knocked it off its feet and shattered the glass wall of another holding cell.

  “Go!” Dean ordered.

  They ran around the fallen alien, heading for the hatch that led to the nest corridor. It was guarded by a T-shaped mech, only the fighter was facing the opposite direction and trying desperately to turn around. Loggins’ last concussion grenade knocked the mechanized fighter off its feet. Just as they reached the hatch, Dean saw a slim, gray-skinned alien slipping from the armor and dashing down the corridor away from the fight.

  “What the hell was that?” Chavez said.

  “Nothing we need to worry about now,” Dean said. “Get that hatch open.”

  The wheel that held the heavy metal door shut spun easily. When the hatch was open, Carter was the first man through. He had to duck his head to get through the hatch, and that was all that saved his life. A feline alien dropped onto his back, but the large rectangular shield held the creature off as Carter fell to his knees. Ghost blasted the alien, sending it flying from Carter’s back, but two more dropped onto him, snarling and snapping. The HA Specialist’s training kicked in, and he immediately drew his arms and legs together under the shield. His utility cannon swiveled around and blasted one of the aliens in the neck, sending its head shooting up into the air. The second creature sprang through the hatch toward Ghost, but Chavez intercepted it. One caught hold of the creature under its neck, and the other slashed with one of the many knives the staff sergeant carried on his armor. The alien wailed as it died, its guts spilling out in a hot gush onto the deck before Chavez tossed it aside.

  “Move!” Dean shouted.

  They scrambled through the passageway, which was so narrow that they were forced to move single-file. Owando was the first man through, and he nearly overheated his utility cannon firing at the creatures inside the nest. Dean had to switch to low-light mode to see clearly in the room. It was a grainy black and white image on his TCU, but nearly a dozen Kroll were diving from above. Owando was joined by Teller, the two men blasting away at the avian aliens who controlled the ship. Most of the Kroll stayed out of range, wheeling and spinning when they dove to present a more difficult target.

  “Switch to EMRs,” Dean ordered.

  He and Ghost were the first into the much larger section of the ship. They raised their rifles and fired at almost the same moment. Two of the Kroll jerked in mid-flight, then fell to the ground. The room suddenly became pitch-black, and Dean was forced to switch his display to infrared.

  He fired again, winging one of the diving Kroll, which pulled up before spiraling down due its wounded wing. Ghost shot just as the other Kroll was about to spew its sticky venom. The tungsten projectile tore through the creature’s throat. It bucked in mid-air, blood spraying from its open mouth, and then fell straight into Owando’s shield. The big man from South Africa shook the impact off and kept firing.

  More of the feline creatures came racing out of the darkness just as Wilson and Kliner joined Owando and Teller. Their utility cannons rained hot metal on the attacking aliens. When Chavez and Harper joined Ghost in targeting the remaining Kroll, the final three aliens broke from the others and raced back toward the oval-shaped structure in the center of the room.

  Ghost and Chavez took down one each, but Harper’s shot missed. The final Kroll was just crossing over the lip of the structure when Ghost’s second shot flipped it onto its side and sent it tumbling back down the outside of the nest.

  “Alright, get up there!” Dean ordered Ghost. “Clean out that nest. Then we go back to the big ship.”

  “Sir, I’m hit,” Teller said, tugging at his boot that was covered in the sticky goo from the Kroll.

  “Hold fast, Swede, we’ll cut you out,” Dean said. “Tallgrass, use your thermite.”

  “I hope I have enough left,” she said, slinging her pack to the ground and rummaging through its contents.

  “Harper, give me a sweep of the rest of this ship. We have to know if there are any more fighters left,” Dean ordered.

  “I’m on it,” the Fast Attack Specialist said.

  “Everyone else back into the main passageway.”

  Dean used the last of the ammunition in his pack to reload the HA line and distribute more magazines to his platoon. He brought up the vid feed from Harper’s AAV. There were several wounded aliens, but none looked to be a threat. Dean couldn’t believe his luck. They had fought off two Kroll ships without help—but their mission wasn’t over.

  “Alright platoon,” Dean said once Tallgrass had freed Teller and Ghost had returned from killing the rest of the Kroll in their nest structure. “We’ve come a long way—farther than any other Recon squad—but we’re not finished yet. We’ve got one more push to make. One more fight to win, and then we can go home. You’ve all shown incredible valor and fortitude, but I have to ask a little more of you. I’m going back into that harvesting ship and killing every last Kroll on board. Somehow, some way, I’m going to free the people snatched off of Cymru. Who’s with me?”

  The entire platoon cheered. They were tired, but their victories had given them a sense that anything was possible. They started off down the passageway when the entire ship shook violently for a moment.

  “What’s happening?” Adkins asked.

  Dean was afraid to say what he was thinking. Instead, he dashed toward the tunnel and saw that his fears were true. The harvester ship had broken free from the longship, and the tunnel was sealed with goo. Without even thinking about what he was doing, Dean dashed forward and dove into the slime that was sealing off the passageway. His body punched through the barrier and shot into open space.

  Chapter 37

  Dean was flying. That’s what it felt like to him as he floated through space, his momentum carrying him from the longship toward the huge saucer-craft. He didn’t see the membrane on the longship he’d broken through collapse, or the sudden violent eruption of dead aliens and debris that came spewing out of the ship. His platoon had followed him and were more or less on target behind Dean, who had hoped to hit the alien ship on the membrane that had formed the previous tunnel. Unfortunately, his trajectory was off, and when he crossed the gravity barrier he fell much faster. His hands flailed for a moment, but then caught on a protrusion in the ship’s hull below the membrane.

  “We’re coming in hot!” Chavez said.

  “Everyone grab onto something,” Adkins said.

  Fortunately, the Kroll ship was big and the entire platoon managed to grab hold of the vessel before they bounced off into space. Dean made sure that everyone was safe, then climbed up the hull to the membrane. He could tell it wasn’t as pliable as the membrane his platoon had passed through on the Kroll ship in the Alrakis system, but when he pressed his hand into the goo, it penetrated. Throwing caution to the wind, he shoved himself into the membrane, hoping it wouldn’t harden around him and trap him inside.

  Dean fell through the thick barrier after a few moments of struggle, landing on his knees in the wide, curving main passageway. Almost as soon he was free, a feline alien came bounding toward him, its huge maw opening wide as it lunged at him and the long articulated digits on its paws reaching out for him. Dean barely had
the time to raise his utility rifle. The barrel plunged into the roof of the creature’s mouth and blood splashed over Dean’s face shield as the creature flipped over him, pulling the rifle and Dean’s arm up over his head.

  He pulled the trigger instinctively. The rifle, still set on automatic fire, fired half a dozen flechette rounds in the single second Dean had the trigger depressed. The alien’s head exploded in red mist and Dean’s rifle came free as more aliens charged in. Dean rolled to his knees and brought his weapon to bear as Loggins stumbled out of the slime. A laser blast sizzled across the FAS private’s shoulder as one of the feline aliens crashed into him, knocking the young specialist off his feet. Dean fired several shots into the alien’s side, then turned toward another alien that was scrambling across the ceiling. His first few shots went wide, ricocheting off the ceiling of the passageway, but then he found his target. The creature fell hard, dropping onto the deck just as Chavez stumbled through. The big staff sergeant tripped on the creature’s body, fell forward, and rolled over his shoulder then right back onto his feet in one graceful movement.

  Dean was in awe until he felt something burning into his lower back. He turned just as another alien, its laser cannon blazing, jumped onto him. Pain exploded in Dean’s left arm as the alien’s wide maw snapped down on his forearm like a bear trap. The triangular-shaped teeth couldn’t penetrate his armor, but they could crush it—and he felt his bones snap like dry twigs. His rifle was in his right hand, the barrel suddenly jamming into the alien’s stomach. He pulled the trigger and the alien jumped away from him, but Dean knew the damage was done.

  Before Dean could even think about getting to his feet, Chavez was standing over him, his utility rifle firing in a steady rhythm at the approaching aliens. Dean struggled to his knees, his arm throbbing and his TCU pinging wildly, as if he didn’t already know his arm was broken. Tallgrass pulled Dean to his feet, and his battle armor locked his forearm into a tight splint automatically. He couldn’t bend his wrist, but he could still hold a weapon.

  Adkins, Teller, and Owando had formed a defensive line behind Dean, their utility cannons roaring to life. Harper launched a concussion grenade down the passageway where Chavez was engaging the enemy. The grenade went off with a bang that caused Dean’s TCU to cut all audio for a moment. The first sound he heard was the warning chimes notifying Dean that he had wounded specialists. Laser blasts continued to flare overhead, and Tallgrass pulled Dean down as Wilson, Carter, and Kliner formed a line opposite from their HA companions. The entire platoon was huddled between the HA lines, and as the pain suppressors and chemical stimulants kicked in from Dean’s battle armor, his mind cleared and he saw that several people were down.

  “Chavez?” Tallgrass said.

  “I’m a little cooked, but okay,” he said.

  Dean saw smoke rising from several places on his armor. The rubber underlayer of the armor—created to protect them from the laser fire of the Kroll—had stopped most of the damage, but Dean could feel a searing burn on his own lower back, and he knew the big staff sergeant was surely in a world of hurt from the burns.

  Dean checked his TCU and saw that Loggins had a dislocated shoulder. He was out cold near the membrane. Harper had a burn on her forearm, but otherwise she was fine. Tallgrass had sprained her wrist helping Dean, but she wasn’t complaining.

  “We got more incoming,” Adkins said. “Two mechs.”

  The big T-shaped mechanized fighters took aim with their large steady-state laser cannons and opened fire. The space between Dean’s platoon and the mechs was filled with red laser light.

  “Harper, get an AAV on those fighters!” Dean ordered.

  “My control system took a hit,” she said, tugging at the drone controls on her wounded forearm. “I need a minute to reroute the hardware.”

  Adkins and Teller were each taking a hit on their shields from the mech on the left side of the passageway. Owando had both lasers from the second mech lighting up his shield.

  “Let’s see what the EMR rifles do to those mechs,” Ghost said.

  He popped up over the HA shield wall and fired three quick rounds. The tungsten projectiles penetrated the mech’s armor, but didn’t cause noticeable damage.

  “We need a new plan,” Ghost declared.

  “And fast,” Owando said, his shield glowing under the heat of the steady-state laser fire from the two mechs.

  “I’ve got it,” Harper shouted.

  The AAV shot up and flew like a missile toward the two mechs, delivering several warheads right on top of each and blowing them to bits.

  “That will hold them off for a while,” Adkins said.

  “What does that bird have left?” Dean asked Harper.

  “One warhead,” she answered.

  “Use it to scout. What else is coming down that corridor?”

  “I see a group of armored felines,” she said. “Nothing else.”

  “Bring it back, and send it the other direction,” Dean ordered.

  The AAV raced over their heads and down the curving corridor.

  “Oh shit!” she shouted, as an explosion flashed from the passageway where the drone had gone. “Three more monkeys, captain. I don’t think I stopped them.”

  “We sure as hell will,” Wilson said.

  “Use your grenades when they’re in range,” Dean said to Harper. “Ghost, Chavez, stay where you are.”

  Dean and Harper joined Tallgrass just behind the triplets as they waited for the simian creatures to come around the bend in the passageway. Ghost and Chavez waited with Owando, Adkins, and Teller facing the opposite side of the corridor. Their guns blazed to life as more armored felines came charging in from what Dean thought of as the southern side of the curving passageway. The gunfire seemed to call the last two simians to the platoon from the north. One came racing through the smoke, and the platoon opened fire. Their flechettes ripped across the huge alien’s upper body, but it didn’t slow. Harper launched a concussion grenade, which knocked the hulking creature off its feet.

  “Score one for the good guys!” Wilson cheered.

  “There’s another one,” Dean warned, but the second simian creature had been wounded by the AAV. It was limping along and already bleeding from several wounds. Their rifles brought it down quickly, and finally, the passageway was quiet.

  “Report?” Dean said.

  “I’m low on ammo, but okay,” Adkins said.

  “Ditto,” Teller added.

  “I’m fine,” Tallgrass lied, favoring her wrist as she pulled off her heavy pack to reload the HA utility cannons.

  “I could use some help,” Owando said, his voice weary and laced with pain.

  “Sergeant Owando’s shield failed,” Chavez said. “I’ll get it off him.”

  “Loggins is still out of it,” Harper said. “Where’s Landin?”

  “Still on the other longship with our people,” Dean said. “He didn’t make it back to the harvester ship before they split.”

  “It’s a good thing,” Tallgrass said. “He wouldn’t have survived on his own.”

  “We’re all fine,” Kliner said sarcastically. “Thanks for asking, Captain.”

  “Owando’s got some nasty burns,” Chavez informed them. “He won’t be able to fight.”

  “It’s a good bet there are more of those aliens on their way here,” Ghost said.

  “Bring it on,” Adkins said.

  “We can’t take care of the wounded and keep moving toward the entrance to the nest,” Chavez declared. “What’s your orders, Captain?”

  “For now, we bring them with us. If we can find a way into the aviary, the corridor will be small enough to defend while we get a lay of the land,” Dean explained.

  “We’re out of AAVs,” Harper said. “And most of our MSVs were on the longships.”

  “We don’t have any explosives left, either,” Tallgrass said. “Not even thermite.”

  “So we have to get to the nest,” Dean said. “We kill the Kroll or die
trying.”

  “Force Recon—first in the fight!” Chavez shouted.

  “Tip of the spear!” the platoon chanted back.

  Chapter 38

  Getting into a nearby corridor that led to the nest section of the ship wasn’t difficult. They didn’t run into any more resistance, and once they revived Loggins, everyone could walk with assistance. Dean still felt incredibly fortunate they were all still alive, and while he was anxious to know that Esma was all right, he was hopeful that her longship had been sealed against hard vacuum when it was split from the harvester.

  “I feel like a cockroach that just ran under the refrigerator because the light came on,” Chavez said.

  “Yeah, we get into it, we’ll be stepping all over one another to retreat,” Ghost added.

  “We aren’t going to retreat,” Dean said. “This is what we came here for.”

  He was at the front of the line of Recon specialists. The chute, as Dean thought of the passageway, was so narrow that the HA Specialists had to walk single-file. Adkins was guarding the entrance to the chute, with Owando and Loggins just behind him, unable to fight. The remaining HA Specialists were behind Dean as he approached the opening where the chute led into the massive nesting aviary.

  “Alright, hold right here,” Dean ordered.

  “What’s it look like, Captain?” Chavez asked.

  “Just like the one we saw on the diplomatic mission, Staff Sergeant,” Dean replied, only that wasn’t exactly true.

  Like before, the nesting pod was so large that it seemed more like Dean was looking through a portal at a primordial world than another area on a spaceship. He couldn’t see the roof, which was lost in misty gloom. The floor of the huge cavernous room was covered in the same spongy turf as the other nesting corridors on the longships, only the deck sloped down toward a large nest structure. The room was dark, almost like twilight, making it difficult to see anything clearly or judge distances. There were several large rocky formations, and unlike the ship his platoon had been on before, there were Kroll spread out on the floor of the massive room.