by Hugh Taylor
Lang was debating what to do, when he suddenly started to get targeting data from the drone. Before he had a chance to read it, the closest Drasin turned around and destroyed the drone. “What happened?” Lang asked, unable to hide the urgency in his voice.
“I turned on all of the targeting gear, sir,” the Marine answered. “Laser, radar; you name it.”
A slow smile spread across Lang’s face. “Good job, Marine. Lieutenant Carter, you know what to do,” he added. The video feeds from the four remaining drones indicated that she did, in fact, know exactly what to do. The drones raced down the other tunnels, targeting random Drasin as they flitted past while jinking randomly. “Go, go, go!” he yelled as it was clear that the plan was working.
Lang led the lead element back into the tunnel, followed by the rest of the three rifle platoons, with the self-propelled thermobaric bombs automatically following them. After running as fast as he dared on the uneven terrain, Lang made it to what he was mentally calling the crossroads without encountering any resistance. He stopped to take stock of the situation as the rest of the Marines turned down their assigned tunnels, except for a small rearguard that was staying with Lang.
The plan appeared to be working best in the four tunnels with the surviving drones, but the Marines who had entered the fifth tunnel encountered resistance first. In fact, after about thirty seconds of contact, it appeared that they were going to be forced to retreat soon. “Back them up,” Lang ordered the rear guard, who obeyed the order without hesitation.
Lang was also doing his best to monitor both the progress and some of the video feeds from the Marines in the other four tunnels. When they first encountered the Drasin, they came up behind the enemy, who were still chasing the drones. The Marines fired into the backs of the Drasin, but it didn’t take the surviving ones long to turn and face the new threat. Lang realized each team was as far down their respective tunnels as they were going to get, so he gave the order for each of the bombs to park themselves seventy-five meters behind each team, after which he gave the order to retreat.
Lang’s heart was racing. This was the most critical part of the plan; if there was an area of vulnerability, then this was definitely it. The Marines needed to exit the mine before the Drasin reached the bombs, since they couldn’t take the chance that they would destroy the parked thermobaric warheads on sight. It wasn’t long before the first Marines came racing past Lang. He could still hear each of the rearguards firing down the tunnels, which really made him wish that he could have an EXO-12 here. The risk of that was too great, though; if one of them went down, it could potentially impede the entire company from retreating.
When about half of the Marines left in the tunnel were past him, he noticed that the rearguards had finally broken contact. Once nobody needed to shoot anymore, they all ran as fast as they could for the exit, including Lang. Aside from his route out, Lang was focused on the video feeds from the five bombs. He had made it out of the tunnel by the time the Drasin reached the first of them, but almost an entire platoon was still rushing toward the exit. Everyone who was outside gained as much distance and cover as they could, while waiting to cover the entrance to the mine if needed.
There were still a dozen friendlies left in the tunnel when the first Drasin took notice of one of the bombs. Lang swore he could hear his pulse as the alien turned toward it and advanced. But instead of vaporizing it, it began to eat the cargo-mover. Lang had no idea what would happen if the Drasin got to the warhead, but he didn’t want to find out, so he willed his last Marines out of the tunnel.
By the time everyone was clear, four of the five cargo-movers were being devoured by Drasin. Lang quickly issued the detonate order and the remaining video feeds went blank. It was silent for a moment, almost peaceful as Lang lay face down behind a large rock. The moment passed and was followed by a rumbling and then a giant whoosh as the overpressure wave blew out the front of the mine. Just when it seemed like it was over, more rumbling could be heard as the entire mine system collapsed on itself.
The destruction took some time, but as soon as it was clear to Lang that the ground wasn’t going to give out from under him, he stood and ascertained the situation. “Lieutenant Carter, come in,” he said on the command channel.
“Go for Charlie,” she responded.
“How many exploded?”
“Only three, sir; I’m sorry. They were widely spaced, at least,” Carter added.
“No need to apologize, Lieutenant. The engineers told me that we only needed two to go off, as long as they were on different sides of the mine.”
“Then why did we send five?” Carter asked, a hint of frustration in her voice.
“Lieutenant, I wasn’t sure we’d get even one of those things to survive long enough to explode,” Lang answered honestly. He didn’t quite make out the swear words on that channel before he keyed his mic to Command and requested seismic detectors and overhead surveillance. They needed to be absolutely sure that none of the Drasin had survived. Significant overpressure blasts tended to do the trick, but too much was at stake to get lazy about it now.
Lang then called Weiss directly. “Set up a perimeter and a rotation. I’m going to brief the brass, but I have a feeling that we’re going to be here until this area is verifiably secure.”
“Roger that, Cap,” his XO said, and Lang left him to do his job.
Chapter 13
Captain Lang stood at attention in a room toward the top of one of the remaining skyscrapers in Los Angeles. The initial impacts of the Drasin drops combined with the subsequent fighting had destroyed entire blocks of the city. In the background, out the window, he could see smoke rising from a number of sites that had been cleared over the past several weeks. The death toll was not known yet, especially amongst the civilian population, but they had won, if it could be described that way. They had avoided extinction, if only temporarily, and Lang guessed that was something.
His new CO, Lieutenant Colonel Tremblay, was busy finishing some paperwork with Lang’s counterpart from Delta Company. A newscast was on in the background, discussing the recent events. Though Lang had played an active part, it was a big planet, so he’d missed many of the details. Based on the graphics, he could tell that the newscaster was covering the major points. First, video of the Odyssey firing at the Drasin during its uncontrolled descent into Long Island Sound. Next, there were shots of fighting in major cities from all over the world; but what really had the media talking was that the NAC Navy had assisted Block forces in India and China. There was hope that the recent alien invasion, among other discoveries, would bring peace and harmony between the political factions on Earth. Lang wasn’t so optimistic, but it was a step in the right direction. After the anchor discussed that topic for what seemed like an inordinate amount of time, he progressed to computer simulations of the combat in space that had rendered this solar system secure.
Lang straightened his posture slightly as the other captain walked out, leaving him alone with the lieutenant colonel. “Reporting as ordered, ma’am,” he said.
“At ease, Captain,” Tremblay responded. Lang relaxed his posture and nodded as his CO continued, “I want to commend you and Bravo Company for your performance.”
Lang wasn’t sure what this was about or why she was being so formal, but responded in kind. “Thank you, ma’am; we were just doing our jobs.”
Tremblay nodded as if she’d expected that answer, but quickly switched gears. “As you know, we’re rebuilding our military forces, including in space.”
For a moment, Lang was terrified that he was being reassigned back to Logistics. “… Yes, ma’am,” he said, unable to keep the uncertainty out of his voice.
The lieutenant colonel had a hint of a smile as she detected his uneasiness. “I wasn’t speaking lightly when I said that you did a good job, Captain. I’ve seen the statistics as well as some of the anecdotal video from your missions, and I’m not the only one.”
Lang was uncomfortab
le for some reason he couldn’t identify. “Uh … thank you, ma’am.”
“What I’m getting at is, we’re reorganizing and will be moving people and units around. Given your performance, you pretty much get first choice. So, where do you want to go next?”
Lang looked up at the ceiling for a moment, but he didn’t have to think long before he gave his answer.
“That’s what I thought,” Tremblay responded, now with a full smile on her face.
Author’s Note
If you haven’t checked out Evan Currie’s Odyssey One series, starting with the novel Into the Black (https://www.amazon.com/Into-Black-Remastered-Odyssey-Book-ebook/dp/B005ML0EZS/), then you’re missing out! This novella is just one, small story in a much larger universe, and I’m flattered to have played a part.
I have big plans for the third novel in my Interstellar Navy Investigations Agency series, which I’m currently writing, so hopefully you’ll take a peek at Paradigm Lost and Limits of Power if you haven’t already. To stay updated, please visit www.hughtaylorscifi.com, join my mailing list at http://eepurl.com/bhBDRv, like me on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HughTaylorSciFi), and follow me on Twitter (https://twitter.com/HughTaylorSciFi).
Thanks for reading!
About the Author
Hugh Taylor started his law enforcement career as an intelligence specialist, where he worked in various roles for almost a decade. Hugh recently moved to program analysis with a focus on information systems, which allows him to combine his intelligence and investigative experience with his background in computers and love of strategy. Hugh's academic background is in computer science and economics, but he has a wide variety of interests including (but definitely not limited to): astronomy, chemistry, geopolitics, cyber-security, history, and the political economy.
