Kali's Children (Kali Trilogy Book 1)

by Craig Allen

  The hopper’s engines screeched as it came in, braking hard to land softly on the plateau. Badger abandoned previous radio protocol. “Gunny, time to un-ass. Now.”

  “I’ll just be a minute.” Sonja inserted the grenade into the open port at the base of her weapon. It slid shut automatically. She fired the coil gun at the nearest group of the retreating toads. They ran for the small ravine to escape into the hills. When they bunched up at the valley entrance, she depressed a second trigger.

  The grenade launched with a thump. Cody’s suit traced the projectile as it arced over the three-kilometer distance and landed in the middle of the toads. A second later, Cody’s helmet polarized against a brilliant flash. The shockwave washed over them as a mushroom cloud blossomed from the base of the hills.

  The beetles stopped and stared at the explosion, still chewing on morsels from Deveau’s body. Cody wanted to step on every beetle in sight.

  “Gunny,” Badger said. “If you’ve had enough fun, I suggest we bug out now.”

  “Roger, Badger.” Sonja’s voice was solemn as she stared at Deveau’s corpse.

  The beetles had already consumed most of the flesh, leaving white bone exposed to the planet’s air. The beetles scrambled off the plateau, carrying their young on their backs, leaving only a skeleton inside the enviro-suit.

  “We’ll need a body bag.”

  Chapter Ten

  The yellow sky faded away, revealing the blackness of space. Cody felt the hopper vibrate as it changed configurations, retracting wings and placing the engines equidistant from one another to provide better maneuverability in zero gravity.

  Cody sat in one of a dozen seats near the rear of the hopper. It was designed to carry troops to the surface of a planet and then bounce back into space, but with so few on board, there was plenty of room.

  Cody’s hands shook. He was still on edge, waiting for something terrible to happen. Accepting that the ordeal was over was hard.

  Bodin looked him square in the eye. “You okay, Doc?”

  Cody turned. “Not yet. You?”

  “I will be.”

  Cody nodded. He nodded at Sonja, who sat across from him. “How about you?”

  She shrugged. “It’s going to take a while.”

  “Yeah, me, too.” When Cody had removed his helmet earlier, he’d nearly panicked. He had become so used to the confines of his enviro-suit helmet that breathing open air felt strange. It was even stranger to consider the interior of a hopper open air. “So it’s over, then?”

  Sonja nodded. “For now.”

  “Washington, this is Hera Three,” Badger said. “We are inbound. ETA five minutes. Over.”

  “Copy, Hera Three. You are cleared to land on Port Tube Five. Over.”

  “Copy that. Port Tube Five. Out.”

  Another voice came on the radio. “This is Actual. Welcome our guests home and inform them to come to me upon arrival.”

  The pilot, Badger, hesitated before answering. “Uh, copy that, Actual. I’ll pass the word along.”

  “Wow,” Sonja said. “The old man wants to see us.”

  “What do you mean?” Cody asked. “You mean the captain?”

  “Gunny.” Bodin had risen from his seat. “Look at that.”

  Sonja and Cody both did the same, looking forward. Outside of the hopper’s canopy, a ship grew closer, filling the entire cockpit window. Lights dotted every part of the black exterior. As far as Cody could tell, the Daedalus struts were retracted. That meant they weren’t prepared to leave the system.

  “Pretty big ship just to rescue us,” Cody said.

  Sonja shook her head. “That’s not a rescue ship. That’s a battle cruiser.”

  ~~~

  The Washington snatched the hopper from the sky and pulled it along the landing tube to the ship’s interior. The tube never actually made contact with the outside, and thus didn’t require the landing bay to be evacuated every time there was a new arrival.

  Once the hopper was inside the main bay, a complex system of cranes set it on the deck. The hopper’s door hissed open. A viscous liquid rolled down the sides of the hopper. Cody assumed it was part of the decontamination process done prior to the hopper entering the main bay. They had to store their own suits in special receptacles for that very same decon process—and they would have to go through a similar process themselves.

  The landing bay of the Washington stretched before him. Dozens of hoppers covered the football-field-long landing bay. Sonja stepped down the ladder to the deck below. Cody followed. Having one g under him felt good. Even though the enviro-suit’s joint actuators tried to compensate, it wasn’t the same as real gravity. Cody needed a minute to get his footing. Neither Bodin nor Sonja seemed to have the same problem. As marines, they were probably used to switching between different gravity environments.

  Cody started to step away from the hopper when Sonja grabbed him by the arm. “Not yet.”

  Before he could ask, a series of lights passed over him. Emanating from the ceiling, they waved back and forth across every centimeter of the crew. After several seconds, it finished, and a voice called out, “Clear.”

  “Very good.” An officer stepped forward. “I’m Lieutenant Jason Roth. After decon, I’m to take you to the admiral.”

  “Admiral?” Sonja asked. “Did you bring a whole fleet, sir?”

  “Negative,” the lieutenant said. “It’s complicated. I’ll let him explain.”

  “Are there others?” Cody asked. “Did anyone else survive?”

  The lieutenant hesitated before answering. “We found escape pods from the Spinoza. Apparently, some of the crew survived, but…”

  Cody hated to ask. “They weren’t inside the escape pods anymore, were they?”

  “You are the only survivors we’ve found.” He gestured toward a set of clear tubes against the bulkhead, each large enough to hold one person. Sonja and Bodin each entered one. A crewman guided Cody to a chamber.

  The tube flooded and filled with breathable fluid. Cody smiled. The military loved breathing water. The liquid covered him, and he forced it into his lungs. Unlike before, he didn’t panic. After what he had been through, having water in his lungs was hardly terrifying.

  Next to him, Sonja stood in her own tube. She smiled and winked. Cody smiled back. Her eyes looked past Cody, and her smile disappeared. From the hopper, two people emerged. They carried the med-pod containing Deveau’s remains.

  ~~~

  Cody was sure he would have been lost without the lieutenant guiding them. Bodin and Sonja knew their way instinctively.

  “There’s a pattern,” Bodin said. “Once you learn it, you can get around any ship.” He shrugged. “Well, mostly.”

  They sat in a tram. The tube stretched the length of the ship. Through the glass-steel tube, many different corridors and rooms of varying sizes whizzed past. There were so many people walking down halls and working. They could run a whole war from there. Ships like the Washington were designed to do precisely that.

  When the tram came to a stop, the lieutenant exited the tiny car, and they followed. After walking down yet another corridor, they went through a door and entered the bridge. It was massive, consisting of multiple levels, all overlooking a larger area. Holographic displays lit up a dozen different consoles. In the center of the lowest portion of the bridge, a large hologram showed the entire star system. The planet and the Washington’s position in orbit were clearly visible.

  An officer at the command desk stared at a three-dimensional image hovering nearby. The image showed the plateau they had just left.

  “Sir,” the lieutenant said.

  After a moment, the officer looked up. Cody didn’t recognize rank very well, but the man wore more adornments than anyone else around, so he figured the man must be the admiral. He had lines in his face and a touch of gray in his hair—the signs that his body was beginning to reject rejuvenation drugs. On Earth, they referred to it as “last call.” The admiral could’ve
been over two hundred years old.

  Bodin and Sonja both stood at attention and saluted. The admiral returned the salute, but much more casually than either Bodin or Sonja. “As you were.” He glanced at Cody before returning to the display before him. “You must be Dr. Brenner.”

  Cody nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Welcome back.” His voice was barely above a whisper, but it carried a presence. His tone alone made it clear he was in charge.

  “Thank you, Admiral.” Cody didn’t know what else to say.

  “We received your logs and transmissions from the bridge-sat,” the admiral said. “We’ve been monitoring the situation since we arrived.” He shook his head. “But I want to hear your side of it.”

  Sonja blinked. “Sir?”

  “In my office.” He nodded at another officer on the bridge, who nodded in return and took up the admiral’s position at the command desk. The admiral walked away. The lieutenant followed, with Bodin and Sonja behind him. Cody brought up the rear.

  The admiral entered a small door just off the main bridge. The lieutenant gestured for the others to enter. After doing so, he closed the door behind them and waited outside.

  The admiral gestured toward a large couch. Sonja and Bodin both glanced at each other, wrinkling their foreheads as they took a seat. Cody sat in between them. A plaque on the wall indicated the admiral’s full name was Jonathan Carter, but Cody was sure everyone just called him admiral or sir.

  “I know this is irregular.” The admiral sat at on the corner of his desk. “I’ve seen the recordings and information Major Deveau transmitted via the bridge-sat, as well as the recording from ten years ago. I just prefer to hear it from the horse’s mouth, so to speak.”

  The door opened. The lieutenant returned, carrying a tray of coffee. He gave everyone a cup, and then sat down with a viewer. Sonja and Bodin held their coffee as if it would jump out and grab them. Cody wondered if it was their first time in an admiral’s office. It certainly was his.

  “So, tell me everything.” The admiral sipped his coffee. “From the beginning.”

  ~~~

  Cody did most of the talking, with Sonja and Bodin adding to it from time to time when it came to anything military. Cody tried hard to be respectful, but he’d never spoken to an admiral before. The lieutenant took notes on a viewer the entire time. When they finished, the admiral simply nodded. He waited thoughtfully for a few minutes before breaking the silence.

  “That sounds like the hairiest mission of all time,” he said. “If you’re wondering, the UE council itself requested this ship be sent here. They’ve given me broad discretion to handle this situation.”

  “How broad?” Cody asked.

  The admiral chuckled. “Let’s hope we don’t find out.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” At Cody’s outburst, the lieutenant stared at him and then at the admiral. Bodin nudged him gently, but Cody would hear nothing of it. “We just leave, right? We destroyed the Kali, and now it’s over.”

  The admiral didn’t seem bothered by Cody’s outburst. “I hope you’re right. If not…” He gestured outside toward the bridge. “Then we have to make sure it is.”

  “And then what?” Cody started to stand, but Bodin put a hand on his shoulder. “We destroy them? All of them?”

  “That would be unfortunate,” the admiral said. “If it’s as you say, then we clean up any leftovers and go home. Otherwise—”

  A bosun’s whistle sounded from overhead, followed by a disembodied voice. “Admiral to the bridge.”

  The admiral pressed a button on his desk. “What is it?”

  “Sir, we have a contact. Bearing three one zero by two eight zero, three hundred thousand klicks.”

  Cody tried to remember how those numbers worked. Navigation consisted of two imaginary discs—one level with the spaceship and the other perpendicular, going from aft to stern. The first number represented a series of degrees along the parallel disc. The second number represented a point on the perpendicular disc. The last number was the number of kilometers away. Even though he knew all of that, he still had trouble picturing the direction based on the numbers he had just heard.

  “Can you identify?” the admiral asked.

  “Not yet, sir. We picked it up on passives.”

  “Go active. I want to know everything about it. I’m on my way.” He straightened his uniform as he looked at them. “We’ll finish this later.”

  The lieutenant stood quickly to open the door for the admiral. Cody and the others followed close behind.

  “Gunny, what the hell?” Cody barely heard Bodin’s question.

  “No clue,” Sonja said, her voice just as low.

  Cody looked at her. “What?”

  Sonja glanced at the admiral before answering. “He’s giving orders to a ship. An admiral commands a fleet, not a single ship. They should have a captain doing that.”

  On the bridge, nearly everyone had taken a seat at a station and was running his or her hands across control systems. All attention was focused on the main visual, which had zoomed in to a view of the planet’s moon. The planet itself was off to the right. A small circle highlighted something that appeared to be orbiting the moon.

  The officer at the command desk moved aside as the admiral approached. The admiral’s voice was clear even though he didn’t shout. “Show me.”

  The highlight disappeared as the image zoomed in until the object filled most of the giant visual. The image showed a ship, or at least part of one, spinning end over end.

  “Mr. Briar,” the admiral said, “why wasn’t it detected upon arrival?”

  An officer at a nearby console spoke. “It wasn’t there before, sir. It looks like it just came out from behind the moon.”

  “Can you identify?”

  “Checking, sir.” Mr. Briar ran his hands through his controls. A cross-section of the ship appeared next to the floating image. The serial number that came up didn’t mean anything to Cody, but the name next to it did. Kali.

  “Christ,” the officer next to the admiral said. He looked like the second in command, making him the XO. “Looks like it’s been cut in half.”

  “Yes, sir,” Mr. Briar said. Cody couldn’t tell his rank. “Lidar indicates the main cargo bay, fusion plants three and four, and the factory section are missing.”

  “Ex-mat pod?” the officer next to the admiral asked.

  “Not detecting the beacon, sir,” Mr. Briar said. “It could be on the planet.”

  The admiral frowned. “How’d it get there?”

  “Probably broke apart after the crash,” Cody said. “The factory section is on the planet.”

  Sonja pressed her hand against the small of his back. The executive officer glared at him. Cody tried to look as small as possible. Finally, the XO turned back to the main visual.

  “Power signatures?” the admiral asked.

  “None, admiral,” Mr. Briar said. He ran his hands over his console. “Sir, the bridge section appears intact.”

  “The memory core may still be there,” the XO said. “Should we go after it?”

  “Affirmative,” the admiral said. “Send hoppers. Have them consider the ship a threat and approach accordingly.”

  “Yes, admiral.” The voice came somewhere behind Cody. “How many, sir?”

  “Deploy first squadron.” The admiral glanced at the XO. “I don’t like this one goddamn bit.”

  ~~~

  A few minutes later, icons representing twenty hoppers appeared on the main visual. They all closed on the spinning remains of the Kali.

  “ETA, three minutes,” Mr. Briar said.

  The admiral kept his eyes on the main visual. “Very well.”

  “Admiral.” Cody tried his best to ignore the XO, who glared at him. “It’s derelict. It doesn’t work.”

  The admiral glanced back at Cody. “I hope you’re right.” He turned his attention back to the main visual. The hoppers closed in on the spinning remains. Minu
tes later, they were there.

  A voice drifted out from the visual in front of them. “Washington, this is Hera Five. Over.”

  “Hera Five, this is Washington. Over,” a voice behind Cody said. He assumed it was the communications officer.

  “We are five hundred meters out. Confirm. Over.”

  “Confirmed, Hera five,” Mr. Briar cut in. “I read you at five hundred meters. Over.”

  “Docking’s going to be a bitch,” a second voice said. “Who wants it?”

  “I got it, Bounder.” Cody recognized the voice as Badger.

  “All yours, Badger,” the second voice said. “Watch your ass.”

  “Roger that, squadron leader,” Badger said. “Washington, this is Hera Three. I’m adjusting my trajectory to match Kali’s spin. Contact in one minute. Over.”

  “Copy that,” the communications officer said.

  On the visual, the image focused on the Kali. It seemed out of control, yet somehow it maintained orbit. Badger’s hopper, Hera Three, moved closer. The others formed up behind him.

  “Strange,” Badger said. “Washington, this is Badger. I can see the stern, or what’s left of it. Looks like sections normally open to space have been covered up. Pretty sloppy job, too.”

  The admiral’s passive demeanor changed suddenly. “Goddamn it. Break off. Get them the hell out of there.”

  The communications officer nearly shouted the instructions. “Badger, bug out now. All hoppers return to Washington.”

  Everyone on the bridge had their eyes either on the main visual or on their own controls. All were concerned, even Sonja and Bodin.

  Mr. Briar’s controls lit up with red lights. “Admiral, I’m getting a massive power spike from the Kali.”

  ~~~

  The hopper’s sensors detected the gun port as it went hot. Badger thrust to starboard. A split second later, a graser fried the place where his hopper had been. Four more graser ports came online on the half-Kali. He shoved the throttle forward, thrusting away. He didn’t care where he went as long as it was somewhere else.