Stollar's Gambit

by Jason Borondy

  Thompson stood up folded his arms and said, “Hold on, you are telling me that you didn’t see what came on the station? You told us that the people had suits like ours. How do you explain that?” he asked.

  Before he could answer one Private O’Neil interrupted over the radio. “Major, we have a serious problem!”

  “What is it, Private?” Thompson asked turning to face the door as if O’Neil was standing there.

  “The techs are reporting that the reactor is in critical failure.”

  “How bad? Can they fix it?” Thompson said now turning his gaze back to the chief. Giving him a facial expression as if to ask, “What did you do?”

  “They said it will meltdown and flood the whole station with radiation. Also, no they can’t fix it,” O’Neil replied.

  “How long do we have?” Thompson inquired.

  “Ten minutes!” O’Neil answered.

  “Shit!” Thompson said aloud. Catching his momentarily loss of bearing he continued over the radio, “Okay get everyone out of there. Form up and double time it back to the shuttle.”

  The corpsman helped the chief back on his feet and began to lead him down the hallway back to the shuttle. Thompson keyed into the system to call group one. “Lieutenant Ray, how goes it with the servers?”

  “Slow, we have about fifteen percent of the data. Why?” Ray answered.

  “Change in plans. We need to evac now! The station’s reactor will go critical in less than ten minutes,” Thompson replied.

  “Yes, sir, we are on our way,” Ray responded. Thompson could hear the disappointment in his voice.

  “Shuttle, this is Major Thompson. Get those engines spun up, we are leaving hot,” he said into his headset as he let the engineering team pass him before he brought up the rear.

  “Affirmative. We’ll be ready for you,” the pilot responded.

  He changed channels on his radio as he ran to make a quick report. “Little Rock, this is Major Thompson. We are evacuating the station. The reactor is going critical and can’t be stopped. We are plus one person and will give full report once we are clear of the station. Thompson out.”

  19

  Unknown Location

  Planet M051

  Haley opened her eyes and then shut them immediately, putting her hands against the sides of her head. The searing pain was too much to bear. She took some deep breaths and gradually opened her eyes. It hurt but she eventually squinted enough to make out her surroundings. She noticed a bag of IV liquid hanging over her left side. A drip line was attached to the bottom of the bag and lead straight to her left arm. Turning to her right she observed her location was a dimly lit cavern. She could make out light brown stalactite structures hanging from the ceiling above her. She turned to her right and noticed other people laying on stretchers, the floor, or sitting against a wall. There was a young woman dressed in an infantry uniform kneeling on the ground wrapping one of the soldier’s legs. She realized she was in some sort of makeshift field hospital. The good news, she thought to herself, was she was not dead.

  “Look who finally woke from their nap,” a familiar voice said out of her view. She winced from the pain the sound caused.

  “Ow, Sergeant Rook. I knew your voice was annoying, but damn!” she replied, closing her eyes again.

  “I can see your sense of humor survived too,” he said with a chuckle. “You’re damn lucky to be alive. Not too many can pull off a stunt like that and live to tell about it.”

  She cautiously opened her eyes and turned her head to the right. In view was a soldier wearing desert battle fatigues standing over her. Looking up she could make out his face. It looked just as she remembered from that night at the Enlisted Club. It just had a day’s worth of black stubble. “About that--” she started, “what the hell happened, and where are we?”

  Rook took a knee next to her and let out a sigh before he began to speak. “Well after your little stunt took out the last of the enemy Mechs, we were able to link up with the general’s team. It seemed like we were turning the tide against these guys. Then everything went sideways just like that!” he said, snapping his fingers. Haley put her hand on his to indicate to him not to do that again. His expression indicated he wasn’t expecting that, he nodded in agreement. She returned her hand to her side.

  “What did the ground pounders look like? Were they one eyed, one horned and purple?” she asked smiling and closing her eyes.

  “What?” Rook replied confused.

  “Never mind, old Earth song from the Twentieth century. Continue.”

  “Whatever you say, but it is hard to answer your question. That’s because we couldn’t capture one of them. What we could replay from the footage from the battle cameras, show that their forces are comprised of different species. All of them wore head to toe body armor, but you had tall, skinny, short, fat, four legged. They covered the whole spectrum,” he said.

  “That would explain the different Mech configurations,” she replied. “So how did we end up in our luxury accommodations again?”

  “As I was saying we were putting it to the enemy and actually starting to drive them back. Then they got air support. Their assault landers came in on us raining down fire. We retreated to the Armadillos and made a run for it. Jones provided cover for us,” he explained.

  Haley opened her eyes and with a look of surprised anger turned to Rook and said, “Really? You mean that damn fool finally grew a pair and got back into the fight?” She began to sit up. “Where is he? I would like to give that guy a piece of my mind. If it wasn’t for him, I probably won’t be laying here.”

  “He’s dead,” Rook said his face and voice solemn.

  “Oh,” Haley she said laying back down. She felt worse now.

  “Yeah, he lasted long enough for us to get clear, but his Centurion took a shot that slagged out the top section of the Mech. There was no escaping it,” Rook said.

  “Damn. So how did I get here?” she asked.

  “Oh, um.” He started looking around the cave. “You can thank her.” He said, pointing to the female soldier tending to the other wounded, then turned back around. “PFC Kelly’s team found you as we were advancing. Your parachute floated back towards our position and PFC Kelly found your unconscious body strapped to the chair.”

  “It was damn lucky.” A female voice came from across the cave. Haley could make out the noise of rock crunching under boot as PFC Kelly approached her.

  Rook stood back up and moved out of the way as Kelly moved in to take his position. Haley got a good look at the young woman. She had brown eyes and light brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. Her face was smeared in dirt. What shocked Haley was that she looked like she should still be in high school, not in the middle of a combat zone.

  Kelly pulled out a small flashlight to look and shined it in Haley’s eyes. Haley turned her head and closed her eyes.

  “Pain that bad huh?” Kelly asked.

  “What would ever give you that idea?” Haley responded harshly.

  “Can you sit up?”

  Haley tried to prop herself up. PFC Kelly put an arm behind her back to support. Blood rushed from her head and the pain intensified. She brought up a hand to press against her head hoping to stave off the pain.

  “Hold on.” Kelly looked to Sergeant Rook. “Can you help support her for a second Sergeant?”

  “Sure,” he responded, and Haley could feel Rook’s hands take the place of Kelly’s on her back.

  PFC Kelly grabbed a syringe from her bag, removed the rubber cap and twisted the end into a port in Haley’s I.V. line. The medic pressed down on the plunger and the syringe’s contents flowed into the line. Seconds later the pain in Haley’s head subsided to a point of a light headache.

  “Thanks. That’s better,” Haley said.

  “Good,” Kelly said with a smile. “That should help for a few hours.”

  “Just keep giving that to me and I will be good as new in no time,” Haley said.

&
nbsp; “I wish I could, but we are low on supplies. I might have enough for one more dose,” she replied with frown.

  “Sergeant Rook! The Major needs to see you,” a voice shouted from out of Haley’s view.

  “Duty calls,” Rook said as he leaned over Haley’s shoulder. “Are you good?”

  “Yes,” Haley replied and she felt Sergeant Rook let go. She could hear him stand and the familiar sound of crunching rock faded as he walked out.

  Haley looked at Kelly and asked, “Can you take this line out? I want to get up and stretch my legs.”

  “I wouldn’t recommend it you had a pretty bad concussion,” she responded.

  “It’s not like I can go far. We are stuck in a cave,” she said, looking around.

  Kelly rolled her eyes and reached in her bag. She pulled out a self-adhesive gauze pad, stripped off the packaging, and leaned over to remove the I.V. line. Haley felt a slight pinch as the catheter was removed and the pad was attached in its place.

  “Thanks,” Haley said.

  PFC Kelly helped Haley stand up. She felt a little wobbly at first then the feeling diminished. Kelly looked her right in the eyes. “If you feel your symptoms getting worse, come see me ASAP. Understand?” Her voice taking an authoritative tone.

  “I will. Thanks again,” Haley said then turned and tried to figure out where Sergeant Rook took off to.

  Haley did the best she could to catch up. She was still a bit wobbly and was walking slower than she wanted to. Turning around a cylindrical stone pillar, she about ran into the back of Sergeant Rook. The impact caused Rook to take a step forward to prevent him falling.

  “Oops, sorry,” she said. Then she noticed three other people were there huddled with Sergeant rook. To her right was Master Sergeant Lamb, who was giving Haley a disapproving look. “Of course she survived,” Haley thought to herself.

  Directly in front of Sergeant Rook was a red-headed man with blue eyes. He was wearing desert fatigues and holding a tablet in his hand. His freckled face gave Haley a look of shock.

  “Wow. I am glad to see you up and walking, Specialist. It was my understanding that you were going to be out for a while,” the man said.

  “Thanks, Major Anderson, for your concern. I still hurt a little but I will be fine,” Haley responded. “I am sorry to interrupt,” putting up a hand apologetically.

  “You’re welcome,” he said with a smile.

  “Well if you excuse me, sirs, ma’am,” then began to turn to walk back the way she came.

  “Hold up, Specialist,” Anderson ordered.

  Haley froze then turned to face the group.

  “You might as well stay since you are the highest ranking Mech pilot left,” Anderson stated.

  “She’s the only one left.” Lamb butted in. “She doesn’t need to be involved with this. She is just a Specialist and I don’t think she can contribute anything anyways,” Lamb said, staring her down.

  “Well, Master Sergeant, I beg to differ,” Anderson started. “After what she did out there, I’d say she proved to be more than capable. Heck once this is all said and done she will probably get one hell of a medal out of this,” he said holding the tablet to his chest. He looked straight at Haley. “It’s up to you if you want to stay, Specialist.”

  Haley stared at Lamb defiantly and said, “Oh yes sir I do.”

  Major Anderson gave her an approving smile and said, “Excellent. Also, to set the Master Sergeant’s mind at ease, you are now field promoted to the rank of Sergeant.” He turned to Rook and asked, “Do you have an extra chevron somewhere?”

  Rook looked at Haley and grinned at her. “I think I can make something work.”

  “Good,” Anderson said. “Now can we get back to the matter at hand. Lieutenant?” The Major turned to the other person in the group. It was a young man with buzzed brown hair and brown eyes. He was in full combat gear and was holding his helmet under his arm. On his armor was stenciled the name Webber.

  Before he could speak, Haley held up a hand and asked, “Wait, where is the Colonel and the General?”

  “The Colonel is dead. He was killed during the engagement, and the General was injured and is unconscious. Didn’t you see him back there?” Lamb replied.

  “No. I didn’t but thinks for the information,” Haley said solemnly.

  “May I continue?” Lieutenant Webber asked.

  Haley just nodded. Webber than pointed at the Major’s tablet and he held it horizontally and everyone huddled around it. The image on the screen was a view of Camp Chapman taken from a distance.

  “As you can see from these angles there is no activity at the Camp. There is no evidence from this distance of sentries anywhere. Not even their Assault Landers were present,” Webber stated pointing at the screen.

  “Did you use a drone to get pictures over the wall?” the Major asked.

  “Yes,” Webber said, swiping the screen to open the video file. The video was showing everything inside the base’s perimeter. What she saw reminded her of a scene from a dystopian movie. Vehicles were overturned with black holes poked through them. Buildings were in various states of damage from busted windows, and doors to bullet-riddled walls. There was one thing that caught her attention.

  “Where are the bodies?” she asked looking puzzled. “With that much fighting there has to be bodies on either side.”

  “That is a good question, Spec-Sergeant.” Webber stumbled over Haley’s new rank. “There were none. We ran the drone through as much of the base as we could and there was nothing.”

  “So let me get this straight,” Rook started. “They come in hit us hard and take out all the people including the dead?”

  “Looks like it,” Webber responded.

  “Evil fuckers!” Rook exclaimed.

  Anderson just nodded in agreement and then asked, “How are the supplies?”

  “From what we could tell they are intact. Nothing was taken. Other than the people,” Webber replied.

  Haley raised her hand. “How about Centurions? Any left?”

  Webber took the tablet from Major Anderson and typed a few commands and then turned the display towards Haley. The first image was that of two Centurions, or at least what was left of them, sprawled out in front of the hanger. He swiped his finger across the screen and the next image shown a shot inside the hanger and three Mechs were still parked in their bays. Haley let out a small sigh.

  “Answer your question, Sergeant?” Webber asked.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Okay so what is next?” Lamb asked.

  “Well, the base looks secure. Our first order of business is getting back there resupplying, and getting our people proper medical care,” Anderson started. “Sergeant Rook, get with PFC Kelly and see what the state of our wounded are and if they can be transported. Lieutenant Webber, get all our remaining fighting forces ready to deploy. I want them armed up and ready to go by dark.”

  “Yes, sir,” both men said in unison and turned to depart to their assignments.

  “What about me, sir?” Haley asked.

  Major Anderson took a step towards Haley. “I have a question for you, Sergeant. How good are you at training pilots?”

  “I can teach the basics. Show them how to turn it on and shoot, but tactics would take awhile.”

  “Good. If I can wrangle up two volunteers, could you get those last three Centurions working?” Anderson asked.

  “I will do my best, sir.”

  “That’s all I ask,” he said with a smile.

  20

  EDS Little Rock

  Canary Jump Point Canary System

  Jessica just finished making her morning coffee. She had brought her own personal machine from home and installed it in her living quarters. It could make a far superior cup of coffee than any machine on the Little Rock, including the machine in her ready room.

  She picked up her mug and walked over to the small nightstand by her bed to pick up a small computer tablet. It was black and rectangula
r with an eight-inch screen. A blinking green light on the frame of the display indicated she had a message. Jessica sat at the edge of her bed and placed her thumb on the biometric reader that was on the bottom of the device.

  The screen came on to show Jessica a list of message titles. At the top of the list was a message from Major Thompson that read “Mission Debrief UPDATED.” Jessica read the receive time of the file, 0512 hours. “Wow, does that man ever sleep?” she said to herself then took a sip of coffee.

  The investigation team arrived back at the Little Rock around 2300 hours the night before. Major Thompson gave an initial debrief to Jessica after he arrived. He also displayed doubt about Chief Reynolds’ story of what happened on the station and that he was going to investigate further. Apparently, he got some more information.

  Jessica selected the file to open. Since the report was considered classified, she had to enter in her clearance code to open the file. It was a video file. Major Thompson’s face popped on the screen. He looked tired. His eyes were read and the dark circles that had formed under them gave her the answer to the question she asked herself.

  “Morning, Captain.” He started staring straight into the camera. “I just wanted to give you an update from last night. As you know, Chief Reynolds’ story didn’t sit well with me. I stayed in the med bay and kept going over his story. He didn’t budge. I kept pressing, but the Doc kicked me out of the room. Hopefully I will be able to try again later today once I have slept. If you are available, I would like to meet up today around 1400 hours to discuss the situation further. Thompson out.”

  The screen blanked out for a second before switching back the main screen. Jessica took a minute to think and opened a new window to look at her schedule. She saw it was clear at the requested time. She then brought up another screen, typed a confirmation message, and sent it to Major Thompson. A beep came from her wrist. It was her watch. She gave a quick look; it read 0700 hours, time to get to the bridge. She stood up, grabbed a lid, and placed it on her mug. She turned off the tablet and placed it on the charger. Then walked to the door. She gave a quick look in the mirror by the hatch to make sure she was in regs and opened the door.