Rise of a Legion

by Trey Deibel

  “Children? Interesting.” Malcolm wasn’t sure what to make of it either.

  “Oh… here we go. James and Erryn are headed back to the ship to plan an attack against the control station. Is this our play, Malcolm?”

  “No, we need more of the legionnaires together. Let’s wait until they decide to raid the control station. According to Brad’s schematics, it’s an easy place to ambush them while not alerting the dytircs.”

  “Aye, aye. I’ll keep listening.” Vaal placed her ear buds back on.

  Bearon tapped Malcolm’s shoulder and shook his hand. “I do believe this is where we part ways.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “I reckon so. I have to take this shot while I still got it.”

  Malcolm extended his hand to Bearon. “Good luck. Remember, don’t underestimate James.”

  Bearon shook hands with Malcolm and headed to the crumbling door. “I ain’t plannin’ on it.”

  After Bearon left, Vaal asked, “Do you think he’ll succeed?”

  “I doubt it, but we don’t need him to.” Malcolm shrugged. “He’s played out his use to us, and if he manages to kill Erryn, that would only be a bonus.”

  Chapter 21: Taking Control

  October 23, 2111 – October 25, 2111

  James Stone

  “Don’t move, or I’ll blow your head right off,” the voice of a stranger repeated.

  Whipping around, I saw another omelic holding a revolver behind Erryn. She didn’t move and held her hands up. He walked closer to her and placed the barrel on her back.

  “I reckon you stay over yonder,” he said with an off-brand, jumbled mix of a western human and traditional omelic accent.

  “Who the hell are you?” I asked.

  He ignored me and pulled out some cuffs. Meanwhile, Erryn winked, and as soon as she heard the jingle from the cuffs, she spun around. The mystery man’s gun went off, but Erryn had already redirected the gun away from her. She held on to his arm, and both of them fought for the gun. I took this chance to run over to help, but before I got there, the man kicked her off him and aimed at her leg.

  Another shot rang out, this one deflected by a deployable stasis shield Erryn dropped in-between the two of them. She tossed up a stasis coin and shot at it. At its current angle, the coin deflected the bullet toward him, but he sidestepped before the shot went off.

  As I approached, he fired at me. I took shelter behind the shield with Erryn.

  Click!

  The sound of an empty mag - his mag. I grabbed my hand pistol off the mag lock and aimed around the shield. Bearon dropped smoke pellets, and I lost sight of him. I fired anyway As Erryn got back to her feet.

  “Christ, what does this jack-hat want with you?” I questioned Erryn but received only a blank stare.

  Out from behind a nearby pile of debris, the omelic stood up and pointed his revolver at us, holding us at gunpoint again. We were now at a standstill.

  “Howdy, Erryn. I reckon you’ve gotten quicker since our last tussle,” he said with a chuckle. Despite the conflict at our hands, the man keep a light-hearted tone - almost like a bellhop greeting a welcome guest. This actually made me feel uneasy.

  Erryn taunted him, “You seem familiar...didn’t I kill you someplace before?”

  He placed his offhand to his heart. “I’m hurt. You don’t remember your wild Uncle Bearon?” he responded.

  “Just the bad stuff.”

  “Uncle?” I questioned Erryn but was ignored.

  “I never much liked you either, but I’m gonna give you one chance to come with me. Call it a late birthday present.”

  “And you can take that present and shove it!” Erryn shouted.

  As if he was pleased with her response, a massive smile spread across his face. “I tried being reasonable… but I’m glad you didn’t take it.”

  I jumped in front of Erryn and ignited my stasis shield just as he began unloading bullets at us. Too bad I wasn’t quick enough to aim the deflected bullets back at him.

  Erryn looked at me. “How about you circle around the building on our left? I’ll hold up here.” She dipped to the safe side of the deployable shield.

  “Very well.”

  I dashed backwards and turned the corner of the caved-in building, disabling my shield to move faster. Around the third corner, I peeked out; Bearon had posted up against the wall, shooting down the alley at Erryn. Aiming around the corner, I fired and missed. Instantly, he threw down more smoke pellets. From the gray smoke, bullets fired into the wall behind which I took cover. I ducked and plunged my hands into the thick mud to avoid fire. This time, I popped on my shield and plodded toward Bearon’s last location.

  Passing through the smoke, I saw both Erryn and Bearon engaged in hand-to-hand combat behind the deployable shield. I had no shot. Erryn dodged his knife and landed a jab at his crouch.

  “Whoa. I know that hurt.” I grinned between my teeth.

  Bearon somehow managed to catch Erryn’s leg as she tried to roundhouse kick him in the face.

  “Aagh… son of a--!”

  She screamed in pain. His knife had penetrated her leg, and blood squirted and gushed out. The wall of the nearby structure was painted with crimson stripes. In pain, Erryn plopped into the wet mud, back-first. I picked up my pace, activated my stasis shield, and scrambled onward. Bearon noticed me and fired more rounds in my direction, but my shield deflected them.

  “Damn!” Bearon cursed as one bullet grazed his arm. Thinking fast, he tossed a proximity mine to a wall on my side. Just at that moment, I turned my shield toward the mine, and without warning–

  BOOM!

  A powerful shockwave blasted me back into the opposite wall, and shrapnel scattered all around me. I dropped to the muck and sludge, gasping for sweat oxygen.

  Erryn managed to evade the explosion by sliding to the other side of her shield. However, she was in a firm battle with pain. In spite of this, she tossed up three more energy coins and fired at each one. As Bearon came at me with his knife, one bullet hit him in the leg and he tumbled down. With my legs, I flung him back toward Erryn. With the wind still knocked out of me, I pulled myself up and turned toward him.

  Erryn was already hunched over Bearon, holding her gun to his head. “Payback’s a bitch, and so am I.”

  She fired. His head flung backwards into the muck, and he was no longer a threat.

  I spurted over to her. “We need to haul your ass back to Uslar so he can give that knife wound a major polish.” She pushed me off and tried walking herself, only to stumble. Before she hit the ground, I caught her. She tried to push me off again. Not letting go, I stammered, “Stop! This isn’t an I-can-walk-it-off scenario. You need to let me assist you.”

  “I can handle myself,” she insisted, continuing to fight me.

  “Not when you’re leaking blood like a broken faucet. Simply put, if you don’t lean on me, I’ll be forced to carry your ass back myself. Is that what you want?” She stopped and let me help her.

  After setting a new record for the slowest time between each step, we finally made it back to the ship. “Uslar!” I roared.

  Erryn and I were halfway through the hangar before Uslar paced through the door. As soon as he noticed Erryn, he rushed over and helped me.

  Erryn’s head was hung over. Her legs and arms had gone limp under her weight, and she was now completely dependent on me to move. Erryn’s eyes shut, and she was dancing in and out of consciousness.

  “We’ll put her down in her room,” Uslar told me as we entered the main lounge. “Valiic, grab the medic bag,” he commanded as we walked to her room.

  We moved her to her bed and laid her down. Valiic returned with Uslar’s bag. Uslar pulled out some alcohol first. He opened the bottle and splashed a bit over her wound.

  “Aaagh!” Erryn bellowed in pain.

  Next, he tossed me a belt. “Use that to slow down the bleeding.”

  I wrapped the belt around her thigh and pulled, only enough
to slow the blood flow in her leg. Uslar pulled out a needle and thread. Like a professional, he slid the thread in and out of her flesh repeatedly to close her wound. After stitching together Erryn’s leg, he taped peric fiber over his handiwork. The material was strong enough to keep her wound closed and protected while remaining flexible.

  After that crazy experience, I sauntered back into the lounge and let out a sigh of relief - one that felt like a load had been lifted off my shoulders. Shadow-Walker was rolling around on the ground. The two dytirc children were attacking him in a playful manner. He swatted at them as a mother cat swats at her kittens and laughed as he pretended to be helpless under them.

  “Looks like you got your hands full, Shadow,” I teased.

  From under the children, he replied, “They’re not so bad, James. I have to say, you were right about them.”

  Smiling, I now felt better about the day. Something about children’s laughter chased away the galaxy’s troubles. I flopped down on the nearest couch and gathered some long-deserved sleep.

  ⁕⁕⁕⁕⁕

  After a couple days to recover from our last encounter, we’d gathered around in a circle in the loading bay of the Striking Star to go over the final plan. Shadow-Walker was the last to enter.

  “Righty, what’s the plan?” Everyone except Erryn and Narrisa was present.

  Pulling up the two-story-tall control station blueprints, I began. “As we speak, Erryn is waiting on the roof of the control station, giving us real-time information on the position of the guards. As you can see, there are eleven guards on the top story; nine are sleeping soundly, and three guards are stationed on the first floor. Stage one is a fine and simple takeover. Erryn will make the communications array go bye-bye and then sneak through one of the second story windows, where she’ll make sure those guards never wake up again. Meanwhile, we’ll be sitting on our asses, waiting for her go-ahead. I’ll then kick open the front door, and we’ll overrun the first floor guards. Once the enemies are down, Shadow, you’ll power down the shields. Do I hear any questions?”

  “What about Narrisa?” Uslar asked.

  “Narrisa is staying with the children,” Valiic answered for me.

  “Any more?”

  I waited; not a sound, so I pulled up the blueprints for the Grando Military Prison. They showed it as a multi-level complex over the top of a cocoon-shaped cavern, which was home to all the prison cells and surveillance systems used to monitor everything that happened in those cells.

  “Very well. Stage two is a bit more dangerous. With the shields down, we’ll burst through the gates and create a distraction for Erryn to enter the prison from the top of the hangar and sneak inside the cave cells to extract Landis. Once she has Landis, we book it to the Striking Star and spit in the mud as we leave Delkeedo. Now, if everyone is combat-ready, give me a nod.”

  Everyone nodded, and we marched out, geared up and ready. Outside, a sudden rain storm drenched us in seconds. Every step was cumbersome. Each rain drop felt like a sharp prick in the freezing night. With those conditions, it was hardly a night for an attack. Unfortunately, with Erryn’s inconvenient injury, we were already on borrowed time and couldn’t risk borrowing any more.

  “The lords are just pissing on us tonight. This is never a good sign, James,” Shadow-Walker complained, swiping water off his face.

  “Our mission never was. From the beginning, we were neck deep up maggot creek with our mouths wide open. So, let’s finish today with a thrust and carry our collective asses out of here successfully!”

  Valiic cackled, “James, you sure have a way with words. Ever consider poetry?”

  “Maybe when hell hits its ice age,” I smirked.

  After a long and dragging march, we got in position. Each of us lay prone in the cover of a hill. Up at the top of the control station, Erryn disabled the communications array and vanished into a window.

  After moments of waiting in the ice cold rain, Erryn made contact. “It’s clear, James. But there’s something else.”

  “Something else?”

  “The guards, they… they didn’t look like they were fit to be… well, soldiers. I-I don’t like the looks of this.”

  “If there is a trap, we’ll have to spring it. Simply put, my squad is the bait anyway. Might as well wear the role proudly.”

  “I’ll see you soon, then?”

  “You beat your ass.” I turned around and shouted, “Attack!”, and we all dashed down the hill, straight toward the control station’s doors.

  I was in the lead, Shadow-Walker and Uslar at each of my sides, while Valiic held the rear. The door burst open after I kicked it in. The three guards spun towards us, and each met a shot from one of our weapons. Just as Erryn had stated earlier, these dytircs weren’t the standard grey, bulking, four-armed beasts we knew; these were thin, weaker in every sense of the word. Hell, I might even say they looked malnourished.

  “Shadow-Walker, time to shine. Do your magic.”

  He hopped the railing and took a seat at the terminal. “Shouldn’t be a problem.” We spread around him and waited. “James, according to this, all the prisoners in the Grando are omelic, with the exception of one human.”

  “Landis,” I whispered.

  “No…ah, James, that isn’t my point. Why only omelics? Why--”

  “Save it for another time. Shields,” I instructed.

  He deactivated the shields using the code given to us by Larno. “Done.”

  My senses flared, and my eyes widened. Instinct took over, and I reacted in the nick of time to activate my shield as multiple shock projectiles zapped towards us from various directions.

  “Incoming!” I roared, but the damage had been done.

  I deflected one projectile using my superior reflexes and dodged another; however, my squad mates weren’t as lucky. Only Valiic remained conscious. Out of sheer luck, he turned at the right moment to block the shock with his shield. Suddenly, two explosions blew out the windows. My mind raced for answers, but the results rattled me to my core.

  “James Stone, you are absent without leave. This is your one chance to come home peacefully,” a voice announced.

  Chapter 22: Ambush

  October 25, 2111

  Malcolm Richardson

  Only a few hours ago, the hunters had eavesdropped on the legionnaires’ plan and were ready to counter. With the rain pelting their armor, they waited for the legionnaires to make their move. James’s plan to attack the station by brute force was so predictable, it was laughable in Malcolm’s mind. Stone’s idiocrasy made it a breeze for Malcolm to come up with a simple and sweet counter plan: Trap them inside the control station and take them down using shock rifles. Unfortunately, shock rifles had a limit of two shots before needing a reload, and the hunters only had a magazine each; however, Malcolm had planned for this. He counted on the fact that one, maybe even two, of the legionnaires would remain standing – and that was when the fun really began. It would give Malcolm the chance to make an example of this squad to show all aces that what makes a military great aren’t some overloaded, in-over-their-head super beings. No. What makes a military great are soldiers willing to put everything on the line and follow the orders given to them.

  “Attack!” Malcolm heard James Stone’s voice in the distance.

  Every member of the 1070 Legionnaires, minus Narrisa, burst through the doors. Malcolm signaled for his hunters to follow. They flitted behind the legionnaires, out of sight, until they reached the station.

  Once the legionnaires were inside, Malcolm signaled to his unit to take their positions. At one of the windows, Malcolm planted a breach charge and waited. Vaal posted up next to the door, and Brad went to the opposite window. They were ready.

  As the legionnaires’ guard lowered, Malcolm spoke over the intercom, “Three, two, one. Fire!”

  Malcolm let loose his only two shots in-between the bars of the window. One was deflected by James Stone’s shield, and he dodged the other. “Just as
I thought,” Malcolm said with a snicker. Over the com, he said, “Form up.”

  With a click, Malcolm detonated the breach charge and stormed through the window, tossing his stock rifle in the process. As he closed the distance, he shouted, “James Stone, you are absent without leave. This is your one chance to come home peacefully.”

  The hunters now surrounded James and Valiic. Malcolm took out a dor’o shock grenade and held it up. James Stone turned his attention to Malcolm.

  “Who the unforgiven mercy are you?”

  “Malcolm Richardson. That’s Brad Swift, and over there is Vaalima Stoox.” Malcolm pointed to each person respectively. “We’re the 51 Hunters and have been assigned to bring you in. Come back peacefully, and we can offer you a fair trial.”

  James’s stare was fixed on Brad’s finished tribute mask. Its sharp yet elegant design sent shivers down Malcolm’s spine. To an enemy, it could be the last image they saw before Brad killed them. After moments of staring at Brad’s visor, James turned his gaze back to Malcolm. Malcolm knew James would never admit it, but James couldn’t hide that look. James had recognized Brad from someplace before.

  James clenched his fists in rage and shouted fiery insults at Malcolm. “Did your mother drop you on your skull, or are you just a few bricks short of a load? I’m in the middle of a mission, and I don’t have the luxury of wasting time clowning around with you empty-headed numb-nuts.”

  His insults pissed off Malcolm. “Your mission was finished when you let Steion escape with Landis! Now, stop this idiotic crusade. Final warning!”

  “The only way you’re going to stop me from finishing my duty to Landis is by killing me.”

  “Then you leave me no choice. Brad, now!”

  Both Brad and Malcolm threw a shock grenade at James’s feet. In less than a second, it discharged.

  “ERGH-AAGH!”

  James stumbled to the ground, but to their surprise, he remained conscious. Malcolm figured James had only a seven percent chance of overcoming that kind of energy; so, the fact that James was able to overcome that could mean Malcolm had underestimated James’s potential. No matter. Percentages wouldn’t mean anything anymore. Now was the moment when everything Malcolm had trained for would be put to the biggest test.