by S. H. Jucha
Yousef growled his complaint, while he loaded another round from his bandolier. Then he fired again.
“Most satisfactory,” Esteban commented.
“Are they retreating?” Yousef asked.
“Negative, but they aren’t advancing,” Esteban replied.
“Another round, Sergeant,” Lucia ordered, which Yousef obeyed.
“And now?” Lucia asked Esteban.
“They’re in retreat,” Esteban replied.
Yousef breathed a sigh of relief.
Kasie looked at Esteban and then Juliette. “I don’t get it,” she said. “You’d be better at this than any of us. Why aren’t you two carrying weapons?”
“The answer to that question is complex, Kasie,” Esteban replied. “It’s best left for another time.”
“But you threw the gas,” Kasie protested.
“It incapacitated. It didn’t kill,” Esteban pointed out.
Kasie looked at Juliette for confirmation, and she added, “It’s a subject each SADE must deal with personally.”
“No SADE has ever killed?” Kasie asked.
“Not true,” Esteban replied, before he hurriedly added, “They’re coming again, Sergeant.”
At the ramp, the fight became intractable. Tacnock and his squad felled the first grays to descend the ramp. Some stayed where they were shot. Others slid down the ramp. As the bodies piled up, the grays raced overtop the dead in an effort to get to their attackers.
To make matters worse, reds arrived. They stood just out of sight and sent their slugs ricocheting off the ramp and the walls.
Tacnock had already lost two of his squad to the reds’ slugs. He glanced toward Jess to determine his progress and was ecstatic to see two teams working the rooms instead of one. The sooner they arrived to help his beleaguered squad, the better.
At the other end of the corridor, Lucia, who had the foresight to pick up a felled defender’s launcher, unslung it from her shoulder. She ejected the drum and inserted a fresh one. Now, she held it out to Kasie. “Do you know how to use this?” she asked.
“Absolutely,” Kasie replied.
Thrusting the launcher into Kasie’s hands, Lucia said, “I’m not about to retreat if it’s only going to be the five of us.” Then she checked her weapon and marched down the corridor.
“I like her,” Kasie said to Yousef.
“Hard woman to get to know but a good leader,” Yousef commented.
Lucia walked past Jess’s and Sam’s groups. She stopped beside Jade. Her timing was perfect.
The noises in the corridor and the insectoids’ communications had brought grays streaming from the rooms that were yet to be cleared.
Lucia and Jade fired as quickly as their launchers would allow.
“Tacnock, watch your back,” Lucia yelled, as she put another gray down. The thought occurred to her that a red had yet to make its appearance in the corridor.
Tacnock spun around when he heard Lucia. He hunkered close to the ramp’s bottom to protect himself from whizzing slugs, while he eliminated the grays slithering his way. “Help,” he called out urgently, when the number proved too many for one individual to handle.
One of Tacnock’s squad, hearing her leader’s call for help, swiveled around. Then a slug caught her in the back of the skull, and she collapsed. That left two of Tacnock’s squad holding the ramp, while the third member helped the Jatouche defend the rear.
Reality struck home for Tacnock. He wasn’t going to see the defenders take the dome, and he snarled and spit his anger at the advancing grays.
Juliette watched the mêlée unfold in the corridor. In a few ticks of time, she calculated that shortly the four of them near the airlock would be the sole survivors of the assault teams. She found that result unacceptable.
When Juliette heard that Olawale and Patrice had agreed to take the dome, she’d examined her kernel’s programming in detail. She’d determined the algorithm code edits and the hierarchy shifts that would need to be made if she chose to fully participate in the assault. Then she created a program to execute the changes, if it proved necessary.
Juliette made the same conscious decision that other SADEs before her had made. Prime among those individuals were Z, Miranda, and the sisters. She signaled her program to run, and the newly organized kernel galvanized her. She yelled in a booming voice, “Hold fire in the corridor.”
Lucia and Jade barely had time to register Juliette’s shout and ease their fingers off the launchers’ triggers before the SADE flashed past.
Juliette was a blur, as she wove between the grays. She struck with her hands and feet. In some cases, she cracked skulls. In others, she snapped necks. A few times, she only managed to stun.
Tacnock had pulled his squad mate’s weapon down to prevent harm to Juliette. When she arrived at the ramp, he watched her flatten against a portion of the wall that had been unmarked by slugs.
“I’m in love,” Jaktook gushed admiringly and chittered briefly. Just then, a slug pinged off the ramp near his head, and he turned around and added his ramp fire to the others.
When Lucia saw the downed members of Tacnock’s squad, she said to Jade, “Support the ramp fire. I have the corridor.” As she spoke, both of them killed three stragglers exiting the rooms. Then Jade hurried to help Tacnock.
Jess and Sam’s meager groups had also suffered casualties. As they’d worked their way down the corridor, the number of occupants in the rooms increased. Several times, the opening of a door had resulted in a rush of grays at them.
With only one Crocian to protect each group against the rush, neither Daktora nor Bortoth could single-handedly block the grays when they slithered out two abreast.
In one instance, a gray slithered past Daktora, and its heavy pincers locked onto the ankle of one of Jess’s people. Bones were snapped, and the man fell screaming. A second bite into his stomach eviscerated him. Reflexively, he’d pulled the trigger on his weapon, and the dart killed one of Sam’s squad.
Another time, a gray struck a leg. When that woman went down, a second gray severed her neck.
Moments after Jess put down a gray in the facilities of the final room on his side, Sam announced that his side was clear. Jess and he glanced at the carnage that littered the corridor behind them. Bodies of insectoids were mixed with humans.
“Sam, the ramp,” Jess ordered, and Sam directed his group to support Tacnock.
“Sergeant Yousef?” Jess queried loudly.
“We’re good here, sir,” Yousef yelled back.
Jess focused on the one individual standing alone in the corridor. It was the commodore, and several grays were piled at her feet. He touched two fingers to his brow in imitation of the ancient spacers’ salute, and he was rewarded with a quick, but bright, smile. Then he turned and ran with his group to join Tacnock.
Jess took a head count. Only nine security personnel remained out of the original twenty-four. The count included Yousef but not their lieutenant.
Jess flattened against the wall next to Juliette. He eyed her hands and feet that were coated in insectoid blood. Glancing down the corridor, he noticed many of the insectoid bodies appeared broken but not shot.
When Juliette saw Jess examining her, she said, “I made a decision. I chose to participate fully.”
“Welcome to the fight,” Jess replied. When his shoulder was bumped, he turned his head to find Lucia attempting to stay out of the way of ricocheting slugs.
“I think I’m going to stop giving you directives,” Jess said to Lucia.
“I understand,” Lucia replied. “I’m known as an Independent woman.”
Juliette issued an odd sound that Jess associated with her laughter, and he considered that he’d missed a private joke.
Sam flinched from a volley of slugs that slapped the floor near him. They came even closer to the individual beside him, but Sam noticed that rather than fear on the man’s face, he saw grim determination.
“Tacnock, have grays stopp
ed descending the ramp?” Jess asked.
Tacnock leapt from his firing spot to crowd between Jess and Juliette. “We haven’t seen any more of them lately,” he replied.
“Everyone, away from the ramp. Press against the walls,” Jess ordered.
When firing ceased from the assault team, the reds held their fire too. The sudden quiet was eerie.
Jess found he was the focus of every pair of eyes that he could see. He assumed those squeezed next to him were also looking at him. At the moment, he didn’t have an answer for them. He dearly wished they had more gas canisters.
“Can we wait them out?” Sam asked. “These rooms have food, water, facilities, and cots for us.”
“Don’t forget,” Tacnock replied, “those insectoids above us can journey to another dome for rest and resources.”
“That platform works both ways,” Lucia added. “The Colony can bring in fresh troops.”
Jess rejected every idea that occurred to him for one reason or another. The reds had superior firepower, greater numbers, and the high ground. If the assault team couldn’t poke their heads above the edge of the deck, they’d never take the dome.
One thought did spring to mind for Jess, but it seemed ludicrous. As a child, he’d watched an ancient vid brought from Earth. It had been carried by the Honora Belle, and it had resided in the colony ship’s enormous library. The part Jess remembered was when an outnumbered band of heroes had charged a superior force and miraculously defeated them. As a boy, he’d cheered the vanquishing of the enemy. Later in life, he recalled the action as completely unfeasible.
Unfortunately, only two options occurred to Jess. They either committed to a full assault or they retreated.
“We can’t stay flattened against these walls forever,” Lucia remarked quietly. She hated to press Jess, but she felt it was her duty.
“How do you feel about a wild charge up the ramp?” Jess asked.
“I’m serious, Captain, what’s your idea?” Lucia asked testily.
“A wild charge up the ramp,” Jess repeated seriously.
Lucia’s mouth hung open for a brief moment, and she heard Tacnock chitter in amusement.
“Our short legs have become assets,” Bortoth announced. “We’ll be the last to die in the assault team’s final charge up the ramp.” Then Daktora and he added their rumbles to Tacnock’s humor.
“Or we could wait while you two climb the ramp,” Sam said to the Crocians, which halted their rumblings.
“As Esteban is prone to say, Captain, your idea has merit,” Juliette remarked. “But it might be successful only if we commit to making it wilder than you imagined.”
“What did you have in mind?” Jess asked hopefully.
“I observed the fire from the deck,” Juliette replied. “At any one time, there were only two sources of slugs. When one shooter was eliminated, the replacement stood in the same location. Based on the angle of fire, I know within less than a meter where those weapons are held. Despite the present ceasefire, I have confidence they haven’t moved.”
“You’re fast, Juliette, but you can’t dodge two slug throwers,” Tacnock said in a worried voice.
“I don’t intend to give them an opportunity to target me, my little friend,” Juliette replied, gently tweaking Tacnock’s ear. Turning her head to stare into Jess’s eyes, she added, “I’ve no intention of ending my existence in this dome, Captain. There will be a narrow window of time before I become the target of every insectoid on the deck. Your support will be critical to my survival.”
“You’ll have it,” Jess earnestly promised.
“How do you two intend to accomplish this foolish endeavor?” Lucia replied, leaning her head forward enough to see both faces. In reply, she received two grins.
“I’ll take the right side of the ramp, Captain,” Juliette explained. “I’ll start from fifteen meters back to build up speed. I’ve calculated that with the ramp’s angle, my velocity, and my leap that I’ll sail slightly over the shooters’ heads. My hands or feet will eliminate them.”
“If you have the right side, we’ll take the left,” Jess said. “Tacnock, you’re the fastest. Set yourself to be the first up the ramp. Juliette will cue you when to run.”
Jess looked around at the remainder of the assault teams. Many of them were built like Sam. It surprised him that they were the survivors. He’d have supposed that their bigger bodies would have presented more substantial targets.
As if reading Jess’s thoughts, Lucia said, “Looks like you’ll have to send Jade and me up the ramp behind Tacnock.”
Jess regarded Jade, who stated unequivocally, “I’m fast, Captain. I could always outrun my brothers.”
“There’s no decent cover on the deck, except the console,” Jess stated, accepting the odd circumstances of who would lead the assault on the deck. This wasn’t the wild charge he envisioned. “Juliette and Tacnock, you make for the console. Commodore and Jade, you drop prone at the top of the ramp. Your jobs are to protect our two at the console. I’m next, and I’ll shoot from the edge of the wedge. Sam, you figure out who follows me.”
Jess regarded the Crocians.
Bortoth held out his heavy arms and dark-clawed hands in apology.
Daktora quipped, “We ask all of you to save us some targets. We’ll be along eventually.”
Jess cracked a grin, and then said in a determined voice, “Everyone, get ready.”
Juliette set her position down the corridor. Tacnock judged his starting point, which was meters closer to the ramp. Jade would have stood behind Tacnock, but Lucia beckoned her even closer to the ramp. Tacnock waved to the women to step a little farther out of his line of flight.
Jess liked Lucia’s idea, and he edged as near to the ramp as he dared. Sam and the others stayed pressed against the wall. They were ready to take two steps to hit the beginning of the ramp after Jess ran up it.
Juliette’s attention was focused on Jess, as she reran her calculations.
Jess gazed around at the few bodies he had left to take the dome. For a brief moment, he wanted to call it quits. Then he heard Lucia say quietly, “We’re ready when you are, Captain.” He turned toward Juliette and nodded.
“On my count,” Juliette said, “and may the stars protect us. Three, two, one.”
Tacnock knew the Jatouche were fast compared to most races. In a pinch, they could drop to all four limbs, but Juliette was past him before he’d taken a step. With an urgency he hadn’t felt since he escaped from the insectoids’ advance, years ago, he scrambled up the ramp.
Juliette wasn’t completely accurate in her description to Jess of the scene she expected to find on the deck. On the other hand, she hadn’t fabricated information. Her motivation for her partial presentation originated from her newly edited algorithms. She was driven to prevent the deaths of more of the assault team members if it was within her capacity to do so.
When Juliette hit the point on the ramp that she calculated would launch her over the heads of the reds, her avatar flew into the air. Instantly, she was able to see a scenario that she’d considered but not shared with Jess.
There were three reds where Juliette believed the odds favored only two of them. To make matters worse, one was erect, and the other two were nearly prone and working on one of the weapons.
Having no other choice, Juliette continued on her trajectory and used a foot to cleave the head of the erect red from the body before she landed and sought the relative safety of the console.
Grays crowded the console, and Juliette wasted precious moments eliminating them. From her sensors’ side vision, she saw the weapon belonging to the third red at the ramp come to bear on her. Her scan of the deck, while she flew through the air, had identified other reds, who would surely target her if she tried to evade the third red. The thought originated in her kernel that Tacnock was right. She couldn’t dodge multiple automated slug throwers.
Abruptly, the third red was cut in two, and the parts folded to the
deck.
Tacnock raced across the deck, eliminating the second red on his way to join Juliette at the console.
“My hero,” Juliette gushed in a mock swoon, as Tacnock pressed against her to share the console’s narrow width. He flashed his teeth at her antics.
Grays advanced on the pair from both sides of the console. Tacnock fired his launcher, and Juliette used her lethal hands and feet.
A gray slithered around a platform and came at Tacnock from behind. Juliette was occupied in handling a gray in front of her, when her rearward sensors detected Tacnock’s attacker. An instant later, the skulking gray’s head disappeared. Lucia and Jade were on the job.
Jess arrived in time to witness a red target the women on the ramp. With one shot, he eliminated the threat.
Sam and the others crowded onto the top of the ramp next to the women or beside Jess, and the combined firepower of the remnants of the assault teams devastated the remaining Colony members.
No quarter was given. Jess and Tacnock left the safety of their positions to finish off the two remaining reds, which had taken refuge behind a platform. Then they swept around the other platforms. Several grays were found hiding, and they were dispatched too.
-14-
Hold the Dome
The security squads stood and cheered at the taking of the dome.
They were silenced by Jess, who shouted, “Stand ready. Target the platforms, especially that one.” He pointed at the gate near Juliette and the console.
Tacnock quickly retreated from the console, and Jess reclaimed a spot on the ramp.
Time dragged by agonizingly slowly, while the group waited and watched.
“What’s happening?” Kasie hissed from the bottom of the ramp. “The sergeant sent me to find out.”
Lucia rolled on her back to reply. She said, “We’ve taken the dome, but Jess expects incoming. Is the access to the third level secure?”
“Yes. We’ve repelled a lot of attempts, but it’s been quiet for a little while now,” Kasie replied.
“Go back,” Lucia directed. “We’ll send someone to relieve you when we can.”
