The Apex Warriors

by Marc Stevens

  Klutch let out a loud laugh. “That’s the spirit!”

  The shuttle’s slow leisurely spin came to a sudden jolting stop, sending us all crashing to the deck. That was not the end I was expecting at all. I was thinking we were going to be blasted to atoms and they would be scattered into the void between galaxies. I had a bad feeling it was going to seriously suck to be wrong.

  “The Prule have locked on to us with a tow beam!” Coonts shouted.

  We quickly got to our feet and looked at the viewscreen. A Prule destroyer stopped several thousand yards above us and dropped its belly shields in preparation to take us aboard. The giant maw of its hangar was open and waiting for our pending arrival. Visions of Sael’s Captain being hooked up to a Prule agent started running non-stop through my brain. Sael’s fate suddenly seemed great as compared to that morbid outcome.

  Klutch slapped Coonts hard on the back of his armor, the Grawl almost stumbled back to the deck. “Haw! The Throggs want to bring us aboard. Let's make sure we are at the end of a very long line when it comes time to meet our maker.” He laughed.

  I had no illusions about the greeting we would receive. The last destroyer we were on, had more than two thousand Hunters roaming its decks. I was willing to bet that a good portion of them would be ready and waiting to meet us. The Troop Master’s bravado made Tria and I share a smile. We closed our helmets and started checking our weapons and expendable ordnance.

  Klutch retrieved his plasma weapon from the rack on the bulkhead. He checked its last remaining charge and rubbed the barrel like it was his favorite pet. “We are going to teach those mechanized Throggs a new word.”

  Coonts was checking his grenade count and momentarily stopped to give the Troop Master a puzzled look. “And what word might that be?” He inquired.

  “Regret,” Klutch said with an ear-to-ear toothy grin.

  Coonts was finally getting into the spirit. “We should have a large audience, so I think we should teach them more than one.” He said a Grawl word that translated to oversight.

  I found the banter inspiring and could not help adding a little something from Earth. “Back where I come from, we would say they’re going to make a boo-boo.”

  My crew stopped for a second and gave me silly looks. They each tried to say the words in their respective languages. It sounded so funny we all burst into laughter. I hoped the Prule could hear us, and decide that blasting us into atoms would be a better option than bringing a bunch of whack jobs onboard their ship. I stole another look at the hold monitor. The lights on Sael’s med pod were still blinking. She was still alive.

  Tria put her hand on my shoulder. “Do not wonder about Sael Nalen’s fate. I am going to rig her pod with grenades. If the Prule tamper with it, she will join us at our judgment.”

  We retracted our helmets and I kissed the pretty alien again for what I knew would be the last time. She gave me a ravishing smile and said an Earth phrase I had never heard her say before. “I love you, Nathan Myers.”

  When she saw the surprise on my face she frowned. “Did I not pronounce it correctly?” She asked.

  “Yes, you said it perfectly. I love you too Tria Burlor.”

  We closed up our helmets and she held up two Chaalt grenades. “I am going to decompress the cockpit.”

  Coonts and Klutch gave her a thumbs up. She opened the flight deck hatch and the air roared into the void taking the loose debris in the cockpit with it. She boosted across to Sael’s med pod and secured two grenades under it. She set them for anti-tamper. They could also be remotely detonated or disarmed if need be. She made her way back to the cockpit and closed the hatch. She transferred the trigger commands to all our HUDs. It was unspoken, but each of us knew, that if one of us was incapacitated, it would be the duty of any remaining strike team members to make sure no one was taken alive. We gathered back to back and waited to see what kind of party the Prule had planned for us.

  6

  The Bio-machines were taking their time bringing us up. As we closed with the destroyer, every point defense weapon in our viewscreen’s scan field was pointed down our throats. There was no doubt a Hivemind on the destroyer. It was being overly cautious and for good reason. The Prule could look in almost any direction, and see the carnage we had wrought on their secret operation.

  I could hear the Troop Master mumbling the words boo-boo and snickering. Coonts was just shaking his head at the Tibor’s antics. I stole another glance at the viewscreen, silently counting down our remaining time till we were inside the mammoth destroyer. The screen suddenly whited out and our shuttle shook violently. We were thrown into the overhead and pinned by centrifugal force as it started tumbling.

  A voice I thought I would never hear again, broadcast over our group comms. “Brace for a rough landing!”

  “Justice?” We called in unison.

  “Were you expecting aid from another source?” The AI answered.

  The shuttle’s tumble came to a sudden stop and we were thrown to the deck. I tried to sit up but the shuttle crashed into something hard. If we were not wearing armor we would have suffered serious injuries.

  “Commander, you must all quickly exit the shuttle. I intend to jettison it back into the void to distract the large number of Prule forces attempting to locate the Legacy.”

  I felt like I was just run over by a truck but got back up on my knees. “Roger that, we are moving now.”

  Justice’s voice took on a different tone. “I am not receiving telemetry from Xul’s armor, and I am detecting med pod alerts that indicate its atmospheric systems have failed. My scans indicate Sael Nalen’s body temperature is more than twelve degrees below normal, and she is not breathing. Her cardiovascular system is in full arrest. You must remove her from the damaged pod immediately for resuscitation. I am dispatching a gurney to retrieve her body.”

  The shuttle was now upside down and we were forced to crawl across the cluttered cockpit ceiling to make our way to the cargo hatch. It was no longer functioning and Klutch made a hole without the need for me to call out the order. Sael’s med pod was still partially secured to the deck and was hanging precariously from one end. Tria disabled her grenades and reached up to the pod’s emergency release. I stood underneath it waiting to catch Sael’s body once the pod retracted the numerous tubes from her body and opened. When she was finally released, her naked body fell into my arms limp and unresponsive. Her normal dark brown complexion was almost completely black. Sael was dead. The Shuttle started shaking and was accompanied by the sound of metal being rent apart. Justice had extruded arms from the hangar overhead and was ripping his way into the crumpled remains of the shuttle. I carefully laid Sael’s body down and Tria started chest compressions. I gave her mouth to mouth for several minutes thinking we were too late to save her, but I was not going to give up. It was a shock when her eyes suddenly opened wide and I pulled my mouth away from hers. She wheezed in a deep breath and started breathing on her own. I somehow knew she was just too stubborn to die on me. One of her eyes locked onto my face, the other was abnormally dilated. She was shaking uncontrollably.

  She tried to say something and I leaned closer to hear. She embraced me with two of her arms. “You came back for me.” She wheezed.

  “We all did,” I answered back.

  With a final groaning screech, Justice widened a hole large enough for the evac gurney to make its way inside the cargo hold. I gently picked up Sael and placed her on it. She would not let go of me and I had to pry her arms loose. Justice whisked her away to the med bay. We crawled out of the opening and I noticed a crate full of anti-matter scuttling charges sitting on the hangar deck. Justice’s extruded appendages shoved the crate into the shuttle’s hold and then sent the whole mess tumbling into the void with the tow beam. No sooner than it cleared the hull, Justice transitioned to hyperspace. There were four more evac gurneys lined up and waiting for us. I felt like week-old scat and dead tired. Every inch of my body was sore, but I really didn’t want t
o be in the med bay right at the moment.

  “Justice I just want to lay down in my cabin for a little while. I will report to the med bay later.”

  “I am sorry Commander, but that is not currently an option. I insist you and my crew take your places on the evac gurneys. It will be much easier on you all if you voluntarily accept my request.”

  I wasn’t quite sure if that was a veiled threat or not. I looked up at the overhead to see if the anti-boarding devices were pointed in our direction. Tria nodded at me and retracted her helmet, then popped the seals on her armor. Coonts and Klutch did the same then stood waiting for me to quit being bullheaded. We stepped out of our damaged armor and took a gurney for the ride to the infirmary. I was grumbling my displeasure at being ordered around like an unruly child being menaced with a spanking. When I laid down on the gurney, I had to admit, it was the most comfortable I had been in over a week. My eyelids must have agreed because I don’t remember making the entire trip to the med bay. I awoke eleven hours later and I was in my cabin. Tria was laying at my side and I was wondering how the hell I got here. I decided it didn’t matter because it was where I wanted to be in the first place.

  Tria must have somehow sensed I was awake. I rolled over to face her and few new sore spots made themselves known. I had the feeling Justice was using me for a pin cushion while I was sleeping. It was hard to say what he jacked me up with, but aside from a little tenderness, I felt right as rain. The beautiful smile on Tria’s face and the mischief in her eyes told me she felt the same way.

  “I did not think I would ever be here again.” She whispered.

  I made damn sure she would remember it too, just in case.

  When we finally left my cabin, I called Justice. “What is Sael’s condition?”

  “The swelling on her brain has eased and the vision in her right eye will eventually return to normal. She remains concussed, but it appears she suffered no permanent brain damage. I put her in a medically induced coma to further enhance the healing process and give the nanites in her system time to repair her internal damage. Her enhanced skeletal system is aiding in the repair of her numerous fractures. Before I anesthetized her, she requested to see you.”

  I had no idea what she wanted, but it could wait. “Justice, where are we?”

  “Commander, I located an intergalactic rock and ice cluster one-hundred and forty light-years from your previous location. We are currently holding on a rock formation large enough to shield the Legacy from detection on the perimeter of the field. It remains to be seen, but we have not been pursued. I can only speculate as to why. Past experience has shown our transition distortion waves have been trackable by Prule forces. Before we made our retreat, I detected one-hundred and three Prule warships that were still combat-capable.”

  “Was the remains of the shuttle destroyed?”

  “Yes Commander, it was taken under fire by Prule warships within seconds of being ejected from the hold. The anti-matter charges I placed aboard the wreckage ensured there would be no usable traces of the shuttle to examine.”

  “What is the status of the Legacy?”

  “All expendable ordnance was depleted in the battle for the Scrun occupied planet. Our energy weapons are still functioning at ninety percent efficiency. The anomaly weapon is still operable but is showing signs of deterioration on the projector aperture. I am currently repairing the Legacy’s hull breaches and replacing shield and negation emitters. The repairs will exhaust our supply of spare parts but will bring our stealth capabilities back to eighty-eight point seven percent of capacity.”

  “Have you reviewed the data from our battlesuits?”

  “Yes. The revelation that the Prule discovered a gateway system on the contested planet and were making use of its abilities, is both interesting and frightening at the same time. It indicates they have an advanced knowledge of the gateways and their destination points. It would be foolhardy to believe the gateway systems are not linked to multiple locations in the Milkyway galaxy. If my theory is correct, it would explain the arrival of Prule forces from multiple vectors during the battle for the planet.”

  “Do you think the gateways are connected to the Andromeda galaxy?”

  “Unknown Commander. The time it took the Fury to transition to the Prule hub of operations was swift as compared to some dated hyperspace technologies, but it would require at least an additional year or more of travel time in order to reach the fringe of the Andromeda galaxy. That equation is based on the fluctuating velocities of the gateway used by the Fury. The number of variables is large and any number of them could shorten the transit time. To mention just one, I could point to the corrosion present on the contested planet’s gateway power generators. The deterioration of those systems could significantly slow the transit times due to insufficient energy levels. I also surmise the technology is beyond the ability of the Prule to service or repair. They were making use of it in the condition it was found until you permanently rendered it inoperable.”

  Tria was carefully listening to my discussion and had a question. “Do you have any idea how old the system might be?”

  “I do not Tria. It will take intensive research of the gateways to make an informed estimation. Based on the observation of the gate generators on the planet, they have been in disrepair for hundreds of years. I can say without reservation, the gateway present in the tunnel predates any of the modernizations detected at the Scrun occupied base. I theorize the Heckler may have made the initial discovery of the tunnel installation and gateway. The oldest structures on the base all have similar architecture. It leads me to further theorize they were the ones that built the original base and fortifications around it.”

  I wondered about the outcome of the battle. “I take it the Chaalt now control the planet and orbitals?”

  “Yes Commander, after the high order explosion in the tunnel and its collapse, the remaining Prule warships abandoned their ground forces and jumped out of the system. The Chaalt overwhelmed and destroyed the Bio-machines attacking the base. The surviving Scrun surrendered.”

  I had a feeling the gateways were Guardian technology being utilized by predatory races. It was unfortunate that peaceful races were not the only ones making these discoveries. It was also apparent that the gates did not emit a signal detectable by our Guardian transponders. It would have been advantageous to have stumbled across one in our travels, and our scientists could have studied them.

  Coonts walked up behind us and was listening to our conversation. We noticed his approach and acknowledged his presence with a smile and a nod. He returned the gesture and added a bow for embellishment. I suspected he has yet to see or speak with the Troop Master, or he would not be in such a flamboyant mood.

  He had questions for Justice as well. “If I heard correctly, you believe the gateways may be connected to our home galaxy?”

  “It is only a theory, but yes, I believe they are,” Justice answered.

  “What are your thoughts on the possible presence of additional gates near the one we exited?” Tria asked.

  “Scan data transferred to your battlesuits from my subsystem on the Fury, indicate three additional energy sources of unknown origin. The energy signatures are similar in many ways to the gate that transported you between galaxies. Two of the detections emit energy levels greater than those from your exit gate. There is a small percentage of a possibility they are from a Prule manufactured source. They could also be emanations from naturally occurring anomalous phenomena that manifest in the void between galaxies.”

  The engineer in Coonts did not like undetermined equations. “Commander, we need to go back and investigate the energy detections. If they are gates, we should attempt to send probes through them. If they emerge in our home galaxy, they might reveal the locations of other Prule bases.”

  Those very same thoughts were rattling around in my Earthman's brain. “Justice, do we have a probe or jump bouy that can make the transitions and emerge undetected on the ot
her end?”

  “Negative, Commander. The remaining inventory of jump buoys aboard the Legacy are not IST capable and not designed to be stealthy. We should assume the Prule will carefully monitor and guard any gate that leads from this location. The level of destruction your surprise attack inflicted on this base of operations, will not soon be forgotten.”

  We were progressively making our way to the galley for some much-needed nourishment. A loud belch echoed down the corridor and the Troop Master stepped out of the galley entrance.

  He gave us a cheesy grin. “Sorry Commander, I thought I was alone.”

  I rolled my eyes and shook my head. I knew he really wasn’t sorry. He would have done it anyway if Tria was not present. He considered it a salute to a good meal. The decibel level was the determining factor of his contentment.

  He shrugged off our annoyance and changed the subject. “I cannot stop thinking about the size of that Hivemind the Prule were trying to rescue from the wreckage of the supercarrier. If a chunk of it filled the back of a resource gathering platform, then that Throgg had to take up close to a quarter of the carrier. That should officially make it the biggest piece of scat we have ever had the pleasure of killing.” Klutch laughed.

  The Tibor was correct, but I found no reason to be jovial about his conclusion. Another grim statistic came to mind as well. We have killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions of Prule. That number probably paled in comparison to the number of biologicals the Prule had killed in their attempted conquest of Andromeda and the Milkyway. Either way, there was a lot of killing going on, and no end to it in sight.

  “Justice, do you have any thoughts about the data collected on the Hivemind we encountered?”

  “Commander, the enormous size of the Hivemind fragment the Prule were attempting to recover, and the number of assets involved may indicate it was the superior authority at the gateway hub. The number of entities present in the Hiveminds processing reservoir could well have been in excess of a hundred billion. If its size is an indication of the Hivemind's age, the possibility exists that it may have been several hundred years old. Unless there are more of its kind at other locations, its demise will most assuredly set back ongoing Prule operations”