“Here’s what we’ve got,” Dean continued as he peeked out from the dark passageway. “I see a lot of Kroll on the ground.”
“On the ground?” Wilson asked.
“Yeah, I see ’em too,” Carter said. He was right behind Dean and looking over his Captain’s shoulder.
“Why would they be on the ground?” Ghost asked.
“Probably because they just fed,” Tallgrass said. “They’ve gorged and now they’re too full to exert much energy.”
“That will make them easier to kill,” Chavez said.
“Maybe luck is on our side this time around,” Dean said, feeling guilty as soon as he said it.
If the Kroll had gorged themselves, it was on humans. He didn’t want to lose anyone in his platoon, and it was true the creatures looked tired and sluggish—but he didn’t want to see humans fed to the Kroll just to make his job easier. It was impossible to think there wouldn’t be casualties in the New Wales system, but Dean still felt bad thinking that the Kroll would be easier to kill at the expense of innocent civilians.
“We going in hot?” Ghost asked.
“No,” Dean said. “I want us going in slow and silent. HA, set a concave line around this opening. The rest of us will use our EMR rifles to begin the assault. Just because I don’t see any of the Kroll on watch doesn’t mean they aren’t there. Everyone switch over to infrared and keep one eye on the sky. If these bastards come down out of the darkness, we fall back into this chute.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Kliner said.
“Just another day at the office,” Wilson added.
“A walk in the park,” Carter chuckled.
“What part of silent do you chuckleheads not understand?” Chavez growled.
Dean stepped into the aviary. He could feel the spongy turf beneath his boots, which always made the nesting areas on the Kroll ships seem strange. He never expected to stand on anything soft inside a spaceship, and yet the decking beneath his feet was covered in a spongy material. He thought the scientists would have a field day exploring the alien ship if he could actually get one back to the Sol system.
Wilson, Kliner, Teller, and Carter set up in a concave line just a few paces away from the entrance to the chute. Dean was right behind the center of the HA line, Ghost and Harper to his left, Chavez and Tallgrass to his right.
“On my mark,” Dean said.
He had switched his TCU visor to pick up the infrared spectrum of light. The aviary was still dark overhead, but the floor of the massive room was glowing with fat bodies that were bright with heat. Dean took aim at the nearest creature, took a deep breath, then spoke quietly.
“Mark.”
Five EMR rifles popped simultaneously, and five tungsten projectiles tore through Kroll flesh. Three of the creatures died instantly, but two wailed in agony, alerting the flock. There was movement, a sudden sense of panic among the Kroll, but Dean didn’t slow his rate of fire. He and the other specialists continued the slaughter, which is what took place for several minutes. Dean used three twenty-five-round magazines before the fat Kroll could discover what was happening. They were confused at first; very few even tried to fly to safety. They died under a steady rate of fire from Dean’s platoon.
“I’ve got incoming,” Wilson said. “Right flank.”
“We see them,” Carter replied.
Dean stopped firing for a moment to assess the threat. A group of feline aliens were charging from their right, racing along the edge of the aviary’s curved wall. Some were on the ground, others were running along the wall itself. Dean snapped his EMR onto his back and pulled his utility rifle off his chest by releasing the electro magnets that held it firmly in place. He checked the readout to ensure he had a full magazine, then flipped off the safety and dialed the rate of fire to three-round bursts as he stepped up behind Tallgrass.
“Make your shots count,” Dean said.
“More company!” Chavez said. “Coming out of the nest this time.”
Dean fired several bursts at the onrush of aliens. He couldn’t be sure if they were armored, but their lasers flashed out bright in his infrared vision before the small wave of fighters was taken out by Carter’s utility cannon and Tallgrass’s precise rifle shots. When Dean turned back toward the nest structure in the center of the massive aviary, he suddenly felt like he was in the middle of an old-fashioned, coin-operated video game.
The Kroll were bright yellow and orange in his infrared vision, flying in perfect formation. Dean switched back to his EMR rifle and took aim. The rifles were accurate long-range weapons, but Recon training caused the platoon to wait until the Kroll were only a few hundred yards out and closing fast before they fired. Dean didn’t give an order, but his platoon acted almost at the exact same time, hitting the formation of alien Kroll with a volley of tungsten projectiles that knocked them out of the air.
Another group of feline aliens attacked from their left, but the group was even smaller than the first. Eventually, a group of fat Kroll managed to get into the air, but they were slow-moving, easy targets. Dean was afraid things were going too well, their victory coming too easily, but in less than half an hour, there were no more Kroll moving on the ground or in the air.
“I’ll be damned,” Chavez said. “Did that really just happen?”
“It was too easy,” Tallgrass said.
“We stay focused,” Dean warned. “I can’t imagine the Kroll would let us slaughter so many of them just to draw us into a trap, but we can’t be sure how these monsters think. Adkins, you read me?”
“Loud and clear, Captain,” Adkins replied.
“We’re going into the aviary. You hold that position.”
“Yes, sir,” the big HA corporal responded.
“Give us a chevron,” Dean ordered the HA line. “I’ll take point. The rest of you spread out behind us, but stay close. I want armor lights on. Tallgrass, mark this passage with flares, please. Rotate between low-light and infrared. I don’t want any surprises.”
They set out toward the nest structure. It didn’t take long to reach the first Kroll. The massive bird-like creature looked more like a fat, leathery chicken than a dangerous predator, but Dean knew looks could be deceiving. A moment later, they came across the first signs of the Kroll feast.
“This looks like a human femur,” Tallgrass said.
“Yeah, I’ve got a shredded jacket over here,” Wilson said.
“Damn,” Ghost said. “War is war, but these people were innocent civilians.”
“I’m recording it all,” Dean said. “The brass has to see this. They have to know exactly what we’re dealing with.”
“It don’t make sense, Captain,” Chavez said. “How did we defeat three Kroll ships, but the armada didn’t? They had six Recon platoons. What the hell happened?”
“I don’t know,” Dean replied. “I don’t understand it, either.”
They killed any Kroll they passed that wasn’t already dead. It was gruesome work, and Dean knew that eventually they would need to search the entire cavern. It was possible that some of the Kroll had fled from the fighting, choosing instead to hide, perhaps hoping they might avoid detection until they were strong enough to fight back.
When they reached the nest, Dean was in awe at just how large the oval-shaped structure was. He couldn’t see the top; it was too tall, and the aviary was too gloomy. The sides were rough and crumbly, just like the nests in the longships. Dean knew he would have to climb it, but he also knew that the climb would take a while.
“Time to finish this,” Dean said. “Ghost, do you have enough charge to get to the top of this nest?”
“I think so,” the sniper said. “I’m game to try.”
“Don’t take any chances,” Dean warned him. “Get up to the top and wait for me.”
“You want me to deal with the fledglings?”
“No, I’ll handle that. I want you on overwatch. You’ll have a better view than the rest of us, so give me a report on what you fin
d up top and then keep an eye out for movement.”
“Roger that,” the sniper said.
“And don’t fall,” Harper added. “It’d be just like you to survive all the fighting without a scratch and then break your fool neck when we’re finally out of danger.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Ghost said, just before activating his rockets and ascending the nest.
“Chavez, you’re running the show down here,” Dean went on. “Split everyone into pairs and search the entire aviary for anything that might be a threat.”
“We taking prisoners?”
“Not on this mission,” Dean said. “There’s too much at stake. But this is a big place. I don’t want anyone out of radio contact.”
“Yes, sir.”
Dean looked up. He suddenly felt very tired. His broken arm was aching and he wasn’t sure how it would hold up to the climb, but for some reason he didn’t feel like he could assign the mission to anyone else. All he needed to do was get into the nest, clear it of any survivors, and find a way to fly the enormous ship. Just another day in Off World Force Recon, he thought.
Chapter 39
Dean had trained in pain. Lack of sleep, difficult conditions, and even injuries were not obstacles once he set his mind on accomplishing a task—yet climbing the nest structure was by far the most taxing thing he’d ever done. His arm was broken, and his armor had inflated several emergency channels between his elbow and wrist, holding the broken section firmly in place and allowing him to continue his mission. He favored his left hand, only using it when it was absolutely necessary, yet when he did the pain was so intense that he saw bright sparks in his vision afterward and had to rest for several minutes before continuing the climb.
“Good to see you made it, Captain,” Ghost said when Dean reached the top.
“I gotta… get me one… of those,” Dean said, trying to catch his breath.
“What, this jetpack?” Ghost asked. “Most of the time it’s a pain in the ass, but occasionally, it’s worth its weight in gold.”
“Report,” Dean said, still lying on the edge of the structure.
“There isn’t much to report,” Ghost said. “I’ve got no visual inside the nest. It’s as dark as the devil’s heart in there. The gravity drive is putting out a steady heat that’s masking anything that might be alive down on the bottom. Nothing moving in here but us at the moment. We’ve dispatched a few pockets of survivors, nothing more.”
“Good,” Dean said, happy that for once there was nothing that needed his immediate attention.
His arm was aching terribly, and the burn on his lower back was starting to bother him despite the analgesic his armor had flooded the area with. And he still had to climb down inside the nest, which meant he would have to climb out again eventually.
“It’s a big space,” Ghost went on. “But it’s hard to believe they went down to the surface to collect people for just one meal.”
“I agree,” Dean said.
“That means there must be more somewhere.”
“I know,” Dean said getting slowly to his feet.
“It could take a long time to search this entire ship.”
“I’m sure it will,” Dean said. “But that’s our job.”
“I just hope we can manage to get everything done before the Kroll attack another system.”
“Me too,” Dean said, looking down inside the nest.
“You sure you’re up for the climb down?”
“Can’t be harder than the climb up,” Dean replied.
“I could do it for you, sir.”
“But I can’t shoot like you can. It’s better if you stay on overwatch as I go down.”
“I’ve got some juice left in the tank,” Ghost said, patting the jet pack. “Enough for a rapid descent at any rate. You run into trouble, just give a yell and I’ll come to the rescue.”
Dean moved slowly on the climb down. The inside of the nest was in fact much easier to climb down. There were an abundance of places he could hold onto and nooks that supported his weight. He took his time, making visual scans frequently to ensure that he didn’t climb down into something dangerous.
He was about ten feet from the bottom when he finally caught sight of movement. The lights on his battle armor shone mostly on the wall of the nest, but when he turned his head to the right he saw a flash of motion. He couldn’t hold a rifle and finish the climb, but he held his pistol in his left hand just in case whatever was moving in the darkness was dangerous.
Dean made the final descent quickly. He knew he wouldn’t feel safe until he could get his bearings. He wanted to use his utility rifle, but he feared that he might damage the gravity drive, which took up the center of the nest. His armor was reading a high heat signature from the massive device, and the floor of the nest was filled with bones and the spongy matter that covered the aviary floor. He moved slowly as he circled around the gravity drive. On the far side, he heard what sounded like whimpering but he wasn’t sure.
“Is someone there?” he asked, the speakers on his battle helmet projecting his voice.
“Oh god, oh god,” came a voice, as the detritus on the floor began to move.
Dean realized that a person had buried himself in the debris on the floor of the nest. And the voice Dean heard was all too familiar. He had heard it before, and had heard it in the voice of the man’s son, who had been the worst specialist Dean had ever worked with.
Rear Admiral Grayson Chancy II sat up, brushing the filth from his body. The man looked as if he had aged a decade since Dean had last seen him. His fatigues were torn and filthy, his skin looked ghostly pale, and there were dark sacks of puffy skin under his eyes on his otherwise gaunt face.
“Rear Admiral?” Dean said, still struggling to believe what he was seeing.
“I’m here… I’m alive. Help me, please,” Chancy begged.
Dean stepped forward, reaching out a hand to pull the senior officer to his feet. Chancy was trembling and weak.
“What happened?”
“We were overrun. There were so many of them.”
“No, sir, I know what happened to the armada. How did you get in here?”
“They forced me to come,” he cried. “They’re animals.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No, no, I’m not injured. But they haven’t fed me in days. I’ve been alone down here in the dark.”
“Well, I’m here to help you,” Dean said. “Do you think you can climb out of the nest?”
“I don’t know, I’m so weak.”
“Fine, we’ll find a way to get you out. Do you know how they operate their ships, sir?”
“They do it up there,” he said. “That’s all I know. You have to get me out of here. Please!”
“We will,” Dean said, trying to hide his exasperation.
The last thing he wanted to do was to make another climb. Still, it made sense that the controls would be on the top of the gravity drive. The Kroll were an avian species. They wouldn’t want to spend much time on the ground if they could help it.
“Ghost, we have one survivor down here,” Dean said. “It’s Rear Admiral Chancy.”
“You don’t say,” the sniper replied, with mirth in his voice.
“He’s too weak to climb out. We’re going to have to find a way to hoist him out. He’s not hurt, but he needs food and water.”
The next few hours were a blur of activity. The crew of the Spartan, Dunkirk, and the Petersburg were found in the harvester ship’s holding cells on the outer ring of the saucer-shaped vessel, but it was in a massive space just below the aviary where thousands of colonists from Cymru were found. They were packed into a dark room with a low ceiling. Many of the colonists were injured from the tentacle arms that had snatched them from the planet. The sheer number of people was overwhelming. It took hours to find the access hatch that led to the maintenance space below the outer ring of the ship, but eventually all the captives were freed.
“Sir,” Chavez r
adioed Dean, as he tried to oversee the cleanup of the aviary.
“Go ahead, Staff Sergeant.”
“I found some survivors: Recon Specialists. Most were killed. They all look like they’ve been tortured.”
“Where are you?”
“Sending my location now, sir. Better come quickly. Without major medical, they won’t last long.”
Dean had to leave the aviary and walk half a mile along the outer passageway before he came to the hatch leading down into the bowels of the harvester ship. Beneath the surface was a maze of workspaces, storage rooms, narrow corridors, and maintenance nooks. The tentacle arms were actually segmented, telescoping robotics that filled large storage chambers. Eventually, Dean made his way to where Staff Sergeant Chavez was waiting.
“What have you got, Staff Sergeant?” Dean asked
“It’s not a pretty sight sir. The Kroll tortured them and they didn’t bother cleaning up.”
“Alright, show me,” Dean said.
They stepped through a doorway and Dean thought he might be sick. His battle suit was self-contained, with no air from outside the suit getting in, and Dean could only imagine the smell. There were several tables with restraints. Everything was stained with blood. Six bodies were still on the tables, and there were enough body parts strewn around the room that Dean guessed at least that many more had died being questioned.
“I don't feel bad about killing the fledglings anymore,” Dean said, as a rage filled his heart at the sight of the dying Recon Specialists.
“No, I don’t suppose so. I have never seen anything like this before,” Chavez admitted.
“Only psychopaths would treat prisoners this way.”
“A few can still talk, sir. We better find out what happened.”
Dean walked slowly into the room, the pain from his wounds forgotten as he stared into the glassy eyes of a dead specialist, his small intestines pulled from a bloody hole in his stomach. Dean couldn’t be certain, but the intestines looked gnawed on.
“Captain,” said a weak voice from a pale man who was covered in sweat and lying on another of the surgical tables.
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