Stollar's Gambit

by Jason Borondy

  Anderson placed his hand on his chin as if he was thinking. “It is a possibility. Good work, Sergeant Rook.” He turned to Master Sergeant Lamb. “How is security looking?”

  Lamb twisted to face the Major and then reported, “Well, we were able to get the main gate closed and sealed the best we could. I posted soldiers at the guard towers, and I have a small two-man team doing random security patrols. There is one curious thing, though.”

  “What is that?” Anderson asked.

  “When I went up onto one of the towers and looked off to the east, I spotted light pollution on the horizon. I think our adversaries are having their way with the find. I was up there long enough to observe what appeared to be a ship of some sort taking off. It could be one of the assault transports leaving,” she said.

  “If that is true,” Anderson said, “hopefully they’ll be gone soon.”

  One thing bugged Haley and she just let it out. “Okay, does anyone else want to deal with the elephant in the room?”

  “And that is?” Anderson said looking at her.

  “Where is the rest of the EDF?” she said, pounding one hand on the desk. “I know for a fact my sister and her ship were supposed to be here already. Not to mention the fact that we have a regional commander here who has not reported back in two days. You would think they would have sent the whole fleet by now!”

  “That is a good question. Without power, we don’t know if the beacon was sent through the network indicating we are still here. If it went silent, which I assume it did, that would have triggered them to send the cavalry,” Anderson replied.

  “Precisely. At the minimum, the Little Rock should have been here,” she said pointing in the air. “I know my sister, she wouldn’t deviate from her orders without a damn good reason.”

  Lamb looked gave her a sympathetic look which threw Haley off. “You might want to consider that she did arrive and didn’t survive the encounter or ran.”

  Haley ground her teeth together to fight off the urge to punch Lamb. She might not have gotten along with her sister, but she knew that Jessica would not give up on her. “I understand that is a possibility,” she said in a low tone. “I just won’t accept it right now without proof.”

  The Major held up his hand. “We can speculate all we want, but like Sergeant Stollar said, without proof we are just making assumptions.” He turned to PFC Kelly. “How’s our wounded?”

  Kelly, who seemed to be spacing out, snapped back into the conversation. “Um. They are doing fine. Unfortunately, without the clinic’s equipment being operational, all I can do is treat the minor stuff. Our medication supply is good, though.”

  Anderson put both hands on the desk and lowered his head before speaking. “How is the general? Can you treat him?”

  She nodded. “Yes, I can treat him to a point. He is still unconscious and all I can do right now is push fluids.”

  He stood back up, crossing his arms and grasping his armor. “Understood, do the best you can.” He paused and looked around the room before speaking. “Now that we have our current status updated, here are my orders. Like I told Sergeant Rook before, I want everyone armed up. Preferably within the next two hours. After that, Master Sergeant Lamb, I want you to work a sleep rotation to get everyone rest. If these aliens change their mind and come back at us, I want everyone rested. Lieutenant Webber, please keep trying to get power up. Sergeant Stollar, after you go and pick up your weapon, get at least four hours of rest. Then I want you to go and see if there is anything we missed with the Centurions to get them in better shape.”

  Haley nodded. Anderson dismissed the group, and Haley walked out of the office and met up with Sergeant Rook to follow him to the armory.

  “Do you even know how to use a rifle?” Rook asked her as they walked out of the building.

  She turned to him and replied, “I did go to basic training, so yes.”

  He let out a sigh. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”

  24

  Camp Chapman

  Planet M051

  Haley rubbed her eyes and yawned as she stirred the sugar into her instant coffee. The four hours of rest helped, but she have could used about twelve more hours. She didn’t usually drink coffee, but she needed the kick. Plus, she hated taking stimulant tablets. They made her feel too jittery. She looked around the room. Sunlight beamed into the room from the windows. There were long benches and tables that were placed throughout the room, and about five other soldiers were scattered about eating their breakfast rations. There was still no power, so they were reduced to eating rations. At least they came with a packet of instant coffee, and she used a chemical heater to warm the coffee.

  She took a sip. It was bad not because it wasn’t sweet enough, it just wasn’t warm enough. She swallowed hard and shook her head in disgust. She then looked down at her watch; it read 0700 hours. Time to get moving. She looked down at her cup of coffee, shrugged her shoulders and then downed the cup, wincing as it went down. Placing the cup on the table she stood up and reached down to grab the rifle that was leaning against the table. She slung it around her now-armored chest, then picked up the empty cup and walked to the door, tossed the cup in the trash can beside the door, and stepped outside.

  It was bright and the light caused her head to start hurting. She reached into her cargo pocket and grabbed a pair of sunglasses and slid them on. The world dimmed a little and the pain subsided. She did get another shot for the pain before she slept, but some things, like bright light, would cause the pain to come back.

  She took a left and walked the 200 yards to the entrance of the Mech hanger. She strolled over to the side entrance door. She stepped into the hanger. She looked at the three remaining Centurions.

  “Morning everyone. Ready to get to work?” She spoke out to the giant machines and nodded as if they responded. She approached a metal cabinet that was against the wall behind the closest Mech. She opened it and inside was shelves of tools. She slung the rifle around to her back and began loading her hands up with tools. Then she made her way up the stairs to the hatch of the Mech. Haley placed the tools on the ground, then grabbed a flat and Phillips head screwdriver and some wire cutters. She slid down into the pilot’s seat. Tried the start-up sequence again. The screen came on but no power to the engines just like when she checked it before. She shook her head and reached for the Phillips head screwdriver. A sound what seemed to be a high-pitched squeal from outside the hanger caught her attention. She darted out of the Mech and ran down the catwalk. From this height she had a good vantage point of the base.

  She noticed someone in the far security tower waving what looked to be a bullhorn. The sound was emanating from it. She looked down towards the ground, and everyone was running about getting into defensive positions, but they were looking up into the sky. Then the sky darkened as a shadow was cast across the base, she could make out what looked like one of the alien assault ships coming to a hover over the grounds.

  “Shit! Shit! Shit!” she said to herself. She had to do something, but what? She looked across the way to the only functional Centurion. “Well, if you gotta go?”

  Haley sprinted down the stairs and back up to the to the hatch of the Centurion. The whole action made her winded, and the pumping of blood to her brain caused her headache to return. She tried to force the pain down as she started the Mech. She had placed the rifle across her lap. The view screen came to life the targeting crosshairs came on. She looked at the power supply, it was flashing, “Warning Power at 5%.” She ignored it and pushed forward on the throttle. Another warning displayed indicating that the hatch was open. She bypassed it as the giant machine stepped out and away from its parking spot. She turned the Centurion to the left, and it made the turn and faced the open hanger doors. She pressed a button on the panel to release the ladder from the back. She knew that she would have to get out once she ran out of power, and she was not going to eject again.

  She pushed the throttle forward and the Centurion lumbered
. She pulled back on the control stick and dropped her crosshairs on the large alien vessel. Haley noticed doors open underneath, and wires were hanging out from the doors. She could make out tiny figure sliding from the wires. To her surprise, the targeting system locked onto the vessel. “Hell, yeah!” she yelled out. Their ships are not made of the same material as the Mechs. She squeezed the trigger and a loud Whoosh came from the Centurion’s shoulder. Haley squinted from how loud the sound was from the Mech’s hatch being open. The missile struck the ship on its starboard hull causing it to spin out of control towards the security tower. She squeezed the trigger and with another “Whoosh!” the second missile streaked out from the Mech and it found its home in the opening on the bottom. The resulting detonation split the craft in half, and fiery debris rained down over the tower and main gate. The tower collapsed into a fiery pile of metal. She hoped the personnel inside were able to escape.

  Haley heard plinking sounds, and she pointed the nose of the Mech down to notice individuals in gray armor taking shots at her. She took a quick look at the power levels and it read 1 percent. Haley switched from missiles to the Gatling gun. She aimed down at the group of assailants and squeezed the trigger. The gun hummed as it spun to life, then high velocity rounds spat out of the barrel. She twisted the controls, so the weapon unloaded its fire in a sweeping motion. Dirt and debris kicked up from the bullet impacts. Then the cockpit went dark.

  “Well that’s it,” she said as she stood up and picked up the rifle and turned to exit. Climbing out of the hatch, she didn’t stand right away. She instead maintained a crouched position so as not to give the enemy something to shoot at. She looked down at the ladder and sighed. This was the hard part. The ladder would only give her cover for part of the way down. She slung the rifle to her back and began to make her way down. Ping! Ping! Came the familiar sounds of incoming fire bouncing off the Mech’s armor. The ladder began to sway as she descended, which kicked up the fear factor. If she swung too far she would lose what little cover she had and could be picked off. She looked down--she still had about five feet to go.

  Boom! The impact from the weapon jarred the Mech. The ladder swung way then back into the body of the robot. The pain from the impact shot through her body. Another boom! This caused the Centurion to fall backwards. Haley could see the ground closing. “Shit!” she yelled. She let go of the ladder and fell and rolled with the impact onto the ground. The M-22 sling dug into her neck. Then she rolled to her left, and the Mech impacted the ground a mere few feet away. Dirt kicked up and clouded her vision, but she couldn’t worry about it now. She sprung to her feet and ran weaving through the debris field.

  A pop hiss noise near her head caused her to dive behind a piece of twisted metal. Crouched, she slung the rifle back to her front. She looked it over. It was dirty; she had to wipe the optics clean. She switched the weapon from safe to semi-auto. She heard a clump, clump, clump sound come from her left side. A shadow crept across the ground and the sound got closer. Haley brought her rifle to her shoulder.

  She couldn’t believe what she saw next. A massive alien, close to seven feet tall in her estimation, rounded the corner. It was covered in smooth, form-fitting gray armor. It held what appeared to be a rifle in its arms. It looked down at her with its featureless helmet. It started to swing its weapon in Haley’s direction. She instinctively squeezed the trigger of her rifle. There was a loud report from the barrel, and the weapon’s recoil slammed into her shoulder. The 6 mm armor piercing round caught the alien in the torso. A hole appeared in its armor and the resulting impact caused it to stagger for a split second, but it didn’t go down. She quickly brought the rifle to her cheek and looked down the optics. She placed the red dot on the center of her target and fired shot after shot. She could see holes forming all over the chest of the alien. It began to stagger with every impact until it finally toppled over.

  Haley sat there shaking, the adrenaline pumping. Green liquid oozed from the alien’s back. It soaked into the sand. The sky suddenly darkened as another alien appeared from behind her. It was standing on the piece of debris that she was using for cover. This one was smaller and had four insect-like legs and two arms. It carried a small rifle, and this one was aimed right at her. She had nowhere to go and her rifle was lowered. She closed her eyes waiting for the shot. “Would it hurt?” she thought. “Would death be quick?” She heard a loud crack! It caused her heart to jump to her throat. Was she hit? She opened her eyes and the alien was gone.

  “Get your ass over here, Stollar!” A voice came from her right. She looked over and she spotted Sergeant Rook cupping his hands to yell at her. A squad soldiers were flanking him rifles drawn and taking shots in different directions. “We will cover you. Now move!”

  Haley broke from cover, running as fast as she could. She could feel the rounds whizzing by her as she ran. Then something else came from behind and missed her. It was a blue energy bolt. She saw it impact the piece of metal that Rook was using for cover. It dissipated with no visible impact. “What the hell was that?” Haley thought as she slid behind a broken piece of metal that was next to Rook’s.

  “Thanks, Sergeant,” she yelled, out of breath.

  “No time for thanks right now!” he replied popping from cover and taking a couple of shots. Then ducking back down.

  Haley peaked out from the side of cover and her jaw hung open in shock. She saw hordes of aliens scaling debris, and they were now firing energy bolts. The soldier to Rook’s left caught a bolt to the chest and he fell to the ground limp.

  “Damn it!” Rook exclaimed. “Hey, Sergeant, if that rifle still works, we could use you.”

  Haley was out of breath. She looked over her rifle; on one side was the ammo indicator. It read 23, telling her that is how many rounds she had left in the current magazine. Around her waist she had two other magazine pouches. Each pouch contained two magazines. Each magazine held thirty rounds. She took a deep breath, turned around, brought her rifle to her shoulder and cheek, looking through the optics. She inched her way around the corner of the hunk she was using for cover. She spotted another alien, this one was bipedal and closer to the size of an average human. It was aiming towards members of the other squad. The indicator in her rifle’s optics read 50 meters, and the dot moved to adjust for the distance. She adjusted her aim to where the red dot was placed on the chest of the target. She squeezed the trigger. The rifle bucked from the shot, but this time she ignored it. She saw the target stagger from the hit to the chest. She followed up with a second shot. This one caused the alien to collapse into a lump on the ground. For a second Haley marveled at the shot.

  ZAP! A blue bolt of energy impacted the piece of metal in front of her. She fell back on the ground letting go of her rifle. “Whoa. That was close!” she exclaimed. She glanced over to Rook; he and two other soldiers were holding cylindrical metal objects. Grenades, she thought. They looked at each other and pulled the pins.

  “Fire in the hole!” Rook yelled. Then all three individuals tossed the grenades each in a different vector. Rook threw his down the middle while the others threw them at angles to the left and right. Haley rolled face first into the ground covering her ears.

  BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! The three grenades detonated. Bits of dirt and debris pelted Haley all over her body. BAM! Something slammed in the piece of metal in front of her. She rolled to her back. She looked up and an alien head peered over the metal structure. Its hands were grasping the edges. Panicked, she looked for her rifle. She reached all around her, eyes fixated on the alien. “Where is it?” was repeating franticly in her head. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of it. It was by her feet. Fear took her over.

  “Rook!” she screamed.

  Nothing came.

  She looked at Rook and noticed his rifle was aimed at the enemy then he lowered it. She scowled at him as if to say, “What the hell?” Then she looked back at the alien. It had slumped down out of view. She exhaled, then scurried to pick up her rifle.
She returned to a crouching position. Chunks of loose dirt slid off her body. The sound of weapons fire subsided a bit, but her ears were ringing from the grenade detonations. Her breathing was heavy, and her hands were shaking as she was processing what just happened. Plus, the damn headache was back. She caught movement out of the left corner of her eye; she brought her rifle up to aim.

  “Whoa. Friendly!” Rook yelled waving his arms.

  Haley relaxed and lowered her weapon. She noticed the other soldiers of Rook’s squad were sweeping the area. One individual was tending to the unconscious soldier.

  “Are you okay?” Rook asked offering a hand.

  She took his hand he squeezed and heaved her up. “Thanks. It was a good thing you were in the area,” Haley replied.

  “Well, Major wanted me to take these guys over to you to see if they could help out any way.”

  She looked around the area. Armored bodies littered the ground. A dark green slime oozed from the armor. Sparks were emanating from the alien weapons as if they were shorting out. She took a step with her weapon at the ready and looked at the alien that had scared her to death. As she peered, she could hear weapons fire in the distance, and it startled her.

  “It seems to be coming close to the clinic and operations area,” Rook said from behind her. “We are going to need to move.” She could feel him grab her shoulder. She brushed it off her.

  “Hold on,” she said and approached the body of the alien. It wasn’t emitting any green slime. She scanned the body with her eyes. A chunk of armor was missing from its left breast area. She crouched down to get a closer look as their seemed to be writing. Her mouth dropped as the lettering was in English. She shot up and turned to Rook and pointed to the body. “You need to look at this.”

  Rook rolled his eyes as to indicate he didn’t have time for this. Then approached the body and squatted down. His armor squeaked as he did. He paused a moment to look over the alien. The he shot up and looked straight at Haley. His face might have been caked in dirt, but she could still tell it went white with fear. “Is this some sort of joke?” he exclaimed.