Uncommon Loyalty

by Toby Neighbors

  “I’ve got company!” Ember said, rolling to her knees and drawing her short-range eliminator.

  “Incoming! Incoming!” Kal shouted.

  Ember didn’t have time to check on her friends. She fired at the closest creature. It was moving on six legs, the body and massive head low to the ground. Her eyes couldn’t tear themselves away from the huge pincers that were snapping open and shut as the Isopterans moved closer. The bullet from her pistol smashed into the creature’s head and dropped it dead instantly. She quickly fired at the others who tried to dodge away. They were quick, but too large to miss at close quarters. Ember killed three and wounded the fourth.

  She was just about to turn her attention back to her teammates when an entire wave of the creatures came crawling up the edges. She fired quickly, working her way through the throng of Isopterans. They might have overrun her position if they hadn’t suddenly panicked as the first few died from her unrelenting weapon fire. Soon, the throng of creatures had slipped back over the edge. Once again, Ember started to turn her attention to her friends, but more creatures appeared, this time on the opposite side of the plateau. She killed several and realized that if she stayed near the edge, they would eventually reach her. The thought crossed her mind that she should get off the plateau, but she didn’t have a chute, and climbing down wasn’t an option.

  “Man, they just keep coming,” Kal complained. “I’m off this rock.”

  “Gracie, what’s your situation?” Gunny Tveit asked.

  “I can’t leave,” Ember said. “I don’t have a chute. But I think I can hold them off.”

  “I’m going to try and get to you,” Tveit said. “Try not to shoot me in the process. I know you owe me one.”

  “Yes, Sergeant,” Ember said. She was in a fight to the death against a horde of alien creatures, but she couldn’t help but giggle.

  “I made it down,” Kal informed them.

  “Get inside the complex,” Gunny Tveit ordered. “Stand by for more orders.”

  “Roger that,” Kal said.

  Ember had moved back, trying to stay in the center of the plateau. Her musket wasn’t much use in a fight where speed was her greatest asset. Plus, the creatures were close enough that she wasn’t worried about missing her targets.

  When more of the Isopterans appeared over the edge where she had been lying down just moments before, a shudder rippled through her body. Moving back had been the right move, she realized, emptying the magazine in her pistol as she dispatched four more creatures.

  She replaced the magazine and mentally calculated how long she could last on the plateau. She had four more clips in her belt, not counting the one she had just loaded into the pistol. If the creatures kept up their current attack pace, she might last half an hour. It wasn’t a reassuring thought. If Gunny Tveit couldn’t help her, Ember decided she would empty her pistol and then jump off the spire. If she was going to die, she would do it on her terms, not being torn apart by insectoids.

  “Gracie, get ready. I’m coming in on your six,” Gunny Tveit said.

  Ember turned and saw the gunnery sergeant racing toward her. She looked incredible, the webbing between her arms and legs made her look like a comic book superhero. Ember ran to the edge of the plateau just as Gunny Tveit popped her chute. The wind filled the chute and slowed her descent. The two warriors were less than a meter apart, and Ember was about to leap across to her NCO, who was reaching out for her, when an Isopteran rose up from the edge. The creature snapped its mandibles onto her lower leg. Fortunately, her armor kept the nasty-looking teeth from hurting her, but she couldn’t break free. The creature started to pull her off the plateau, and Ember was forced to shoot the alien in its oversized head.

  At close range, the bullet ripped through the creature and splashed gore over Ember. But the worst consequence was that Ember missed the chance to connect with the tough gunnery sergeant, who flew past with her chute already deployed. Ember felt a sick feeling in her gut as she backed away from the edge of the plateau.

  More of the creatures came scrambling up, each one intent on ripping Ember apart, or perhaps carrying her away. Her mind couldn’t sort the facts as she focused on killing. She emptied another magazine and reloaded before finally looking up, hoping to see Gunny’s parachute miraculously rising up to save her somehow. Instead, she saw nothing but more of the Isopterans rising up from the edges of the plateau. The parachute was nowhere to be seen, and her hopes had vanished with it.

  Chapter 28

  Kal dashed into the nearest building. The doors had been ripped from their hinges and left gaping open. He wasn’t frightened, but he felt a sense of concern that resulted from his friends being separated. Nick was who knew where, crawling through tunnels, trying to save the day. No surprise there, Kal thought. Unfortunately, Ember was trapped on the top of the spire with no parachute. Kal felt a bit of resentment that Nick would have taken her chute and left Ember defenseless. Of course, Ember wasn’t defenseless, but it felt that way to Kal at the moment. She had no way of getting down, and that bothered Kal. Perhaps even worse, he had no way of getting back up to her, and that made him angry too.

  “Yo man,” Ty called from the interior of the building. “Come let me hook you up.”

  The big specialist had a trident plasma cannon strapped to his armor. The weapon came with an adjustable support arm so that the bearer’s armor could help distribute the weight of the big gun and also take most of the recoil.

  “There’s one waiting for you, bro,” Ty said. “Jules is suited up too. We’re bringing the thunder.”

  “That’s good,” Kal said. “Because Ember is trapped on her spire.”

  “No, I heard Gunny say she was going to help,” Jules replied.

  “I can’t believe we’re in this position again,” Kal snapped as Ty lifted the TPC and settled over Kal’s shoulder.

  “Sounds like you’re blaming Nick,” Ty said.

  “Well, he did leave her up there without a chute,” Kal said.

  “That’s because he ruined his saving her in the first place,” Jules said.

  “I just don’t get why he ran off to help the other teams,” Kal said. “Why can’t he stay here and help us?”

  “You know Nick,” Ty said.

  “I do, and I love him, but I wish we didn’t always end up in a jam,” Kal said.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t mind if things went smooth for a change,” Jules said.

  “We can’t reach her, but these babies can,” Ty said patting the cannon. “We might be able to help her. Let’s get up on the roof.”

  “Lead the way,” Kal said.

  “You sure you’re alright?” Jules asked.

  “I will be as long as Ember is,” he replied.

  Gunny Tveit couldn’t believe their bad luck. She had been so close to Ember that success had seemed almost guaranteed. But the one thing she knew for certain from her years in the PMC and as a Dragon Team member was that nothing was ever certain in combat.

  She pulled the steering cord hard to swing back to her left and was aided by a gust of wind that rocked her hard back and forth. She was headed straight for the rock face, just a dozen meters below the edge of the plateau. There were aliens crawling up the sides of the spire. They looked like giant ants to her. She pulled her sidearm and fired fifteen quick shots. Several of the creatures dropped. Some even knocked those around them off the spire’s sheer cliff face that led to the plateau.

  She let the wind carry her into the spire, then cut her safety latches that held the emergency chute in place. The parachute fluttered away as she scrambled for purchase. The wily sergeant was forced to draw her pistol and shoot several more aliens that suddenly changed course and tried to attack her. She could hear Ember blasting away above her, and climbing up would be dangerous, but the last thing Gunny Tveit intended to do was to leave Ember all alone.

  The aliens were coming faster, and it was harder for Ember to push them back. She fired round after round, almost ever
y bullet was a kill shot, but the aliens seemed less deterred by her lethality than before. She was down to just two clips of ammunition when, to her complete surprise, Gunny Tveit climbed over the edge of the plateau.

  “Don’t shoot me, Gracie,” Tveit said as she scrambled to her feet.

  Ember had to shoot quickly to either side of the gunnery sergeant to keep the aliens from turning and attacking.

  “What are you doing here?” Ember said. “We can’t both be stuck on this spire?”

  “I’m not leaving you,” Gunny said, joining Ember at the center of the plateau.

  The two warriors stood back to back, gunning down any of the Isopterans that came into view. Ember felt safer having someone with her, but she also felt guilty. Without a parachute, they had no way down. Because of Ember, Gunny Tveit would die, and that made Ember feel even worse.

  “How much ammo do you have left?” Tveit asked.

  “One magazine after this one,” Ember said.

  Gunny Tveit pulled one from her ammo belt and handed it to Ember.

  “Where are they all coming from?” Ember asked.

  “I don’t know,” Gunny Tveit said. “I guess this spire must be a hive of some kind.”

  “You two need some help up there?” Kal said, his voice so clear over their com-links it was as if he were standing right beside them.

  “All we can get,” Gunny Tveit said.

  “Well, stay in the center of that plateau and cover the back. We’ll take care of the front,” Jules said.

  The unmistakable chatter of plasma cannons was nearly drowned out by the screeching of the Isopterans hit by the cartridges that burst into plasma gas. Acrid smoke rose into the air, and Ember felt a small tremor of hope. Perhaps, she reasoned, with her friends blasting away at the creatures climbing one side, and Gunny Tveit helping stem the tide of attack on the other, the aliens might decide that getting her off their spire simply wasn’t worth it.

  “Oh no,” Ty said. “We made them mad.”

  “Gunny Tveit, the aliens are flying,” Jules explained.

  As if to illustrate the point, several went fluttering up into the air. Most of the flyers arced over the spire and dove toward the mining compound where Kal, Ty, and Jules were firing plasma cannons.

  “Why haven’t they flown before?” Kal asked.

  “The better question is where are they going?” Gunny Tveit said. “Transport 2257B, what is your position?”

  “Incoming, Dragon Team. We are on approach. ETA, forty-five seconds,” the pilot of the transport full of infantry marines said.

  “Be advised, transport, the enemy is airborne and possibly moving to intercept,” Gunny said.

  “I’ll take the flyers, you keep the rest off us,” Ember said, raising her pistol and firing at one of the aliens rising through the air. Her shot was perfect, and the creature’s wings went suddenly rigid before the Isopteran dropped from the sky.

  “Here, use this,” Gunny Tveit said, handing Ember her telescoping sniper musket. “It’s got better range.”

  “Thanks, Sarge,” Ember said.

  “You were right, Dragon Team,” the pilot said. “I’ve got flying insects on my hull.”

  “We’ll try to keep them off you,” Gunny said.

  “One just went in my starboard engine,” the pilot exclaimed. “We’re losing control and there’s a fire.”

  “Just get that ship on the ground,” Gunny said.

  “That’s easier said than done, Dragon Team,” the pilot exclaimed. “Firing repulsers now, but we’re too high up. They might not function. Damn!”

  “What’s wrong now?” Gunny asked.

  “The bugs are attacking the engines. We just lost power.”

  Chapter 29

  Nick guessed he was halfway up the tunnel when his arm began to ache suddenly. He cursed Donny Calloway but kept moving. The creatures behind him were scrambling through the tunnel and not just the bottom of it. Some were even up on the top, others on the sides. When he stopped, it took half the ammunition left in his sidearm to buy himself some time.

  In all, Nick stopped and fired his weapon four times before clawing his way to the top. At the mouth of the tunnel, he sat down, popped the clip out of the handle of the pistol, and rammed a fresh one home. He was beginning to feel his ammunition dwindling. He fired ten shots into the tunnel and stood up, only to discover more of the creatures above and below him.

  “This is Nichols, I’m going airborne,” Nick said.

  “Hey, Nick, watch out for flying bugs,” Kal said.

  Nick felt a sense of panic just before he jumped. Not because he feared heights, but because he had thought to escape the Isopterans by taking to the air. But if the aliens could fly too, then nowhere on the planet was safe.

  Nick jumped and deployed his armor’s wingsuit membranes. He fell into a dive, letting his momentum and the gusting wind lift him up just above the open space that led into the cave. To his dismay, he saw members of Dragon Team Thirteen running from the large opening.

  “What’s going on down there?” Nick said.

  There was no answer from the runners. Nick circled around and saw to his relief that none of the creatures that had chased him through the tunnels had followed him into the sky. When he circled back around, he saw the rest of Dragon Team Thirteen and a few members of Dragon Team Four carrying and dragging the bodies of inert marines and Proxy miners.

  “Master Sergeant,” Nick said.

  “Florez didn’t make it,” Ariel Summers said. “But we have the captives.”

  Nick was looking over his shoulder as a horde of Isopterans came racing out of the cave entrance after the Dragon Team members. Nick turned and dove again, drawing his weapon and shooting into the mass of aliens.

  Flying and shooting was difficult. To keep control of his wingsuit Nick was forced to hold the pistol out away from his body. But with the weapon on full auto, he could swing low, squeeze off a few bursts, and then rise back up, lifted by the constant winds.

  “Keep moving back to the mining facility,” Nick said.

  He dove and fired at the horde of Isopterans again, this time forcing them to stop. He rose up and was about to wheel around again, when the winds suddenly stopped blowing and Nick dropped toward the ground. He almost crashed, but a second gust caught and propelled him back up.

  “They’re gaining on us,” Ariel Summers said.

  Nick could see the group was struggling. They had six captives who couldn’t walk. Two were humans, the other four Proxy. Nick had no idea whether the captives were dead or alive, but he knew that if he didn’t do something, the horde of aliens would catch the Recon specialists on the ground and slaughter them all.

  Flying just ahead of the insectoids, Nick fired his gun at a particularly fragile-looking spire. He emptied the entire clip, blowing off large chunks of the crumbling stone.

  “Come on, come on!” he shouted. The spire swayed but didn’t fall. There was only one thing left for Nick to do. He rose up higher in the air, circling around the swaying spire and dove straight for it. At the last second, he swung his body around and hit the spire feet first. The impact was jarring but effective. Nick bounced off and was able to turn his fall into a looping dive that brought him back up into the air. The spire fell in the opposite direction. It came crashing down on the horde of aliens, burying half their number in rubble and blocking another quarter of them from following the Dragon Teams.

  “That ought to help,” Nick said as he came swooping around.

  “What did you do, Nichols?” Summers said.

  “Just helping out,” Nick said.

  He was surprised and relieved to see that the rest of the Isopterans were no longer following the Dragon Team members. Instead, they were scurrying around like ants whose nest had been kicked over.

  Nick rose up on gusts of air, flying higher and higher. He noticed smoke in the air and saw the troop transport dropping to the ground with black smoke billowing from its engines. There were I
sopterans flying around the big ship, and Nick was helpless to do anything that would make a difference. He wanted to fly down like a superhero and catch the ship, but he knew that if he tried, he would only be crushed under the weight of the ship. His armor let him fly like a comic book character, but he didn’t actually have superpowers. In fact, he was out of ammunition. He needed to get on the ground and resupply, but he had no parachute to land with.

  “Nick, what are you doing?” Ember said.

  He glanced over and saw Ember with Gunny Tveit still on the plateau. A simple course correction had him flying toward them. He angled straight into the wind and flared his wingsuit. The moves slowed him considerably. He was only a meter from the top of the spire, and he actually landed on his feet before dropping and rolling across the rough surface.

  He got to his feet with a silly grin. “Did you see that?”

  “You’re out of your mind,” Ember said as she rushed toward him.

  “Nice of you to drop by, Nichols,” Gunny Tveit said. “I don’t suppose you have any ammunition.”

  “I’m out,” Nick said.

  “There’s plenty down here,” Kal said. “Why don’t you try that landing trick on the rooftop here?”

  “Yeah, I’ll catch you this time,” Ty added.

  There was a crash like thunder, and the spire shook hard enough to make them almost fall down. They turned and looked for the troop transport. It was hidden in a cloud of dirt and debris.

  “Transport 2257B,” Gunny said. “Do you read?”

  “We hear you,” the pilot said. “We have injuries onboard, but we’re alive.”

  “Stay where you are,” Nick told them. “Your ship is surrounded by Isopterans.”