by Marc Stevens
I felt several sharp raps on my shoulder and realized Klutch was calling to me. “Commander! Cease fire! There are no more targets!”
I slowly lowered my arm and looked up at the Troop Master, then at Tria. They pulled me to my feet, and I turned to find the Operative. She was standing with her back against the tunnel wall, staring back at me in silence. I couldn’t think of anything useful to say that would make everyone believe I was in control, so I did what all soldiers do: carried on.
“Klutch, take point. Let’s not give them any time to regroup!”
The debris was so thick on the tunnel floor that Klutch boosted above it and we made our way to the corridor that the enemy wave had come out of. We set down in the knee-deep carnage, and Klutch poked his shotgun low around the corner. Using his weapon sight in his HUD, he took a good look at what awaited us. It was not encouraging when he started cursing.
“Commander, there is a lift at the end of the corridor, and the Hivemind is herding several Chaalt into it!”
Damn! I leaned my head around the corner and saw the Hivemind push its way into the lift loaded with Chaalt. They had to be the council members we were here to rescue, and the machine was not going to let that happen. The bio machine saw me looking and raised some kind of weapon. I jerked back around the corner, pulling Klutch with me as a bright flash of energy impacted the corner above our heads. The energy blast knocked us sprawling on the gore-covered floor. We got back to our feet and charged around the corner in time to see the lift disappear up the tube. I had no idea what the Hivemind was planning to do, but we had it on the run. Taking the council members meant it was down to its last bargaining chips. They would be the Prule’s only shield against our retribution.
“Nathan! As far as I know, there is only one exit to this building other than the tunnel behind us, and it opens to the exterior shuttle pad,” Sael commed us.
Her heads-up gave me a feeling of dread. Things were about to come to a reckoning sooner than later.
If that was the case, I was hoping the Hivemind would make the mistake of going out onto the shuttle pad. I knew for a fact Justice would put an end to the bio machines’ plans no matter what they were. We ran to the lift tube, and I gritted my teeth in frustration. The lift had stopped one floor below the shuttle pad. We would be forced into another confrontation that could spell doom for the Chaalt council.
I pointed back down the corridor. “Klutch, pick us a spot and make a hole. We need to get up to the fourth floor and find out what the bio machine is planning to do!”
Klutch took off running, and stopped after about a hundred yards. He leaned back and activated the portal device and got a good hole.
“Don’t stop until we are on the fourth floor, Troop Master!”
We boosted up through the hole two at a time, and Klutch closed one side and activated another. We didn’t bother to stop and were on the same level as the lift in less than three minutes. This floor was unlike the others because there was no open hallway leading to the lift. It looked like we were inside of a sizable storage area. I could only guess, but it may have been the supply depot for the lab areas. Klutch ran to a large doorway at the end of the room. We quickly followed and stacked to the side that had a large button that said “open” above it. I tapped Klutch on the shoulder, and he hit the button. The door opened with a slight hiss, and we could see the lift across from us. It was open and empty. A voice boomed down the corridor in the Chaalt language.
“The failure of one faction’s ambitions of power only slightly diminishes my bargaining position. I know there are others who place great value in the biological vermin I hold here with me. They will be dissected a piece at a time if you do not yield to my demands!”
Well, there it was. The place I knew at some point I would be but thought I could come up with a plan to avoid it. The big problem was I had no idea how to get the council out of this alive. I would be damned if I let the Hivemind leave this place. I moved to the corner of the corridor and used my shotgun as Klutch did. I saw the Hivemind backed into the corner of a large common area with fourteen of the Chaalt council members, four being held by their appendages. I sent the video feed to my teammates.
“Klutch! Get outside of that wall and have Justice bring the Legacy in as close as possible. If I can distract the Hivemind, I want you to make a hole and pull as many out as you can. Wait for my call and do whatever it takes to try to save them. Sael, back him up as best you can. We may only have one chance at making this work!”
The Operative and Klutch ran to the exterior wall and ported out. Tria stepped in close to me. And I put my arm around her. The determination in her eyes wordlessly told me what I already knew. This would stop here and now.
“Nathan, we may be forced to sacrifice some to save the rest,” she said. “I can think of no scenario where they will all see another star rise.”
I was going to lie and tell her she was wrong but was interrupted by a blood-chilling scream.
“I have come to the conclusion that biological infestations are not capable of clear and precise thought,” the voice boomed out again. “Past experience has shown me your respect for your superiors is only reinforced by displays of power. Since you obviously lack the thought processes necessary to communicate or bargain with me, I will demonstrate my resolve.”
Another bloodcurdling scream forced my hand, and I stepped around the corner and into the open. I stood staring at the Hivemind. The bio machine had taken the parts from Prule Hunters and manufactured legs and arms for itself. What was once jokingly similar to an oversized light bulb was now a horrific abomination. Revealing myself did have the effect of stopping the Hivemind from doing whatever it was going to do to the elderly Chaalt female it was holding in its spiked hand.
“You! I should have foreseen it would be the minions of the ancient enemy!”
The beast in me stifled the indecision fogging my senses. I felt its rage building. My breath became heavy and deep as I reined in my murderous intentions. I had to try something, anything, before I unleashed an attack that would undoubtedly kill everyone in the room. My mind was working enough to remember my last encounter with the Prule Hivemind. I had disguised my voice to ensure nothing would point to humans or the planet of my birth.
“You wanted to bargain, so I will bargain with you,” I said in the Scrun dialect. “Set the prisoners free, and I will allow you to leave this place.”
“You insignificant piece of effluent, do you think I would err and make such a flawed decision? Here is an error you should have considered before spouting your mindless nonsense.”
The bio machine lifted the Chaalt it was holding and held her out toward me. The end of its power whip extruded a glowing rod. It whipped it downward and, with a hiss of burning flesh, sheared two of the arms from the council member. The screams of agony had me raise my beam weapon and point it at the Prule. Tria ran to my side, pulling my arm down.
“No, Nathan! There has to be another way!” she yelled over my comms.
The whip came around again and sheared off the Chaalt’s legs. The Hivemind tossed her aside and raised another.
“Here is a bargain even a parasite like you should understand. The two of you will shed your armor and stand before your god and master! Then, I will release the biological waste you have come here to save!”
Tria knew the Prule had just sealed the fate on itself and the remaining members of the council. She saw the blackness that surrounded me and felt the rage of the monster coming forward. There was only one option she could think of that would bring me back from the brink and save the council members. She did the incomprehensible. She called Klutch and Sael and told them to port in on the count of three. She then popped the seals on her armor and stepped out.
“Here is the only option that will spare your existence!” Tria called to the Hivemind. “I will stand in the place of my people!”
The world around me froze. The words from her mouth were like swords shearing aw
ay the darkness blinding me. The reality of what was going to happen swept the Oolaran soldier aside with a tidal wave of fear. Tria was going to sacrifice herself for the council.
“Tria! No!” I cried.
I tried to move in her direction, but the Prule Hivemind saw the truth in Tria’s words. It dropped the council members and charged across the room. If I opened fire, she would die by my hand. A portal appeared on the back wall, and the Operative and Klutch ran through. They did not hesitate and started pushing and shoving the Chaalt council through the opening. In a handful of seconds, they were all out, and my team took up firing positions. The Hivemind snatched Tria up from the floor and held her as a shield. It turned to see that the Chaalt council was gone and it was now surrounded by the beings responsible for its capture. The piercing note of its rage and indignation could be felt as vibrations on our armor. The bio machine shook Tria like a rag doll, then pulled her across the front of its torso.
She called to me in anguish, “Nathan! Do what must be done!”
The beast was blinding me with hate. I raised my beam weapon, but something inside of me snapped and I let it fall to my side. All of these events were my fault because I failed to listen to the psychopathic killer imprinted into my brain. I should have never let the Hivemind leave the lifeboat alive. Nothing I could do now would change the past. The final choices that led me to this crossroads were mine to make, and I once again let compromise be the deciding factor.
The Hivemind wasted no time trying to capitalize on its new bargaining position. “Throw your weapons down, or I will disassemble this soldier a piece at a time.”
Klutch and the Operative looked to me for guidance. The hesitation cost Tria a lower arm as the bio machine flicked its power whip’s cutting tool down her side. She gasped out in pain. In a move that surprised me, Sael threw down her weapon and stepped back. Klutch grudgingly did the same. The blackness surrounding me blotted out all but the Hivemind, and I raised my beam weapon and pointed it at the loathsome machine. The machine pushed Tria out in front of itself.
“I sense you value this soldier more than the prisoners I once held! Abandon your armor and surrender yourself to me, and I will spare the female’s life!”
The howling rage of the monster inside of me was deafening. My conflict with the beast, brought another scream of pain from Tria, as the machine sheared away her other lower arm. It held the cutting tool next to her legs.
“Step from your armor now! My patience is at an end!”
The reality of what just happened was like a sledgehammer blow, and I was suddenly free of the Oolaran soldier conflicting my mind. I popped the seals on my armor and stepped down to the floor. The Prule threw Tria at Klutch and the Operative’s feet and quickly snatched me up from the floor by my neck.
I spit out what I thought would be my final order. “Get Tria out of here now!”
Klutch opened a portal and pulled Tria inside with Sael backing in behind them with both her pistols drawn. The portal disappeared, and I resigned my fate to the will of my maker. This was never how I envisioned my end to come. Now that it was at hand, I tried to find solace in the fact that I did make a small difference in the lives of others who had no future until I intervened. The bio machine whipped me around, tightening its grip, and my vision started whiting out.
“Order the intelligence of your ship to transport us aboard now, or I will prune your appendages a fragment at a time!”
For reasons unknown, I thought the bio machine’s order was funny, and I laughed out loud. The only response that came to my mind was an epithet. “See you in hell, you piece of shit!”
The Prule obviously do not possess a sense of humor. It slammed me into a wall for my lack of capitulation. The explosion of pain was a tidal wave blotting out my world. As blackness enveloped me, I saw a shimmering circle appear behind the Hivemind, and then my world blanked out.
15
When I was young, I had a lot of things to be thankful for according to my grandparents, and they were right. Out of curiosity one day, I asked Granddad what he was the most thankful for. He smiled at me and said waking up another day knowing you are with the people you love. At the time, I accepted the response as any inquisitive child would have. I now realize what an understatement his answer was.
“Commander, I have stabilized your condition and need you to speak with Tria,” Justice’s voice said. “She is refusing surgery necessary to remove the sheared bone fragments from her wounds. We must assure her that you are well and in command. I have introduced nanites and stimulants into your system that should allow you temporary mobility. I recommend we convince Tria to undergo surgery immediately before she suffers further neurological and physical damage.”
I could not see out of one eye and didn’t know why. My other eye felt like someone had stepped on it, but it had enough vision I could see Klutch and Sael Nalen standing at the edge of my med pod.
My voice came out in a hoarse whisper. “Get me out of this thing!”
They tried their best to gently stand me up. Even with the work Justice had done to me, I could tell I was in piss poor condition. Whatever he was using for pain blockers must have been at a dose level to allow me to speak without slobbering, because I hurt everywhere. It was an effort not to groan out with each step I took. I could feel Klutch holding me up from behind. His grip felt like knives stabbing into me. Out of my good eye, I could see Tria in an open med pod. She was staring at me. I could see the sheared off bones protruding from her sides and tried my best to keep a neutral expression on my face. It would be one of the most difficult things I had ever done.
“I took a little damage, but Justice says I will be fine,” I reassured her. “Unless you allow Justice to repair your wounds, I will also refuse further medical treatment until you come to your senses.”
She tried to hold an arm up to me but did not have the strength. I did not know how much blood she had lost, but it had to be substantial. She was in shock, and I could see tears running down her cheeks. I put my hands on the edge of her pod; the effort was rewarded with pain. I felt Klutch grab the back of my uniform and keep me from falling face-first onto her. I kissed her as gently as possible.
“I will be here when you awake.”
Her eyes clouded over and her head lolled to the side. Klutch pulled me away, and Justice’s extruded arms urgently went to work. The med bay started making some unusual gyrations, and the next thing I knew, Sael Nalen was in my face. She turned her head and called to Klutch.
“He is back with us again!”
For lack of anything better to say, I told her she needed a mint. The frown my comment elicited turned to a small smile.
“Primate!”
“What happened to the Hivemind?”
“Justice took it upon himself to have Klutch activate a portal, and he sent a nanite missile through with the tow beam,” Sael said. “It was an admirable shot and struck the Hivemind dead center. When the missile released its payload, the bio machine lost all interest in using you as a hammer. The Troop Master collected a sample of the Hivemind before it was completely consumed. He is holding the containment vessel in isolation and refuses to give me access. I have informed him that the biomass that sustains the Prule collective of entities must be hydrated with biological fluids or the sample will cease to function. On his orders, Xul has sealed the brig, so I am unable to determine the status of the sample.”
“What about the council members?”
“Other than being scared for their lives and deprived of food for several days, they are as good as can be expected. They have been supplied with rations and water. Justice has them locked in the crew quarters. They believe the internment is for their own protection and they are compliant for now.”
“Is there someone on the outside we can trust to tell your people what has really transpired?”
“My most trusted commanders already know, and the captain of the Fury should be covertly spreading the word to all the ri
ght people. Unfortunately, the traitors have more time to prepare for the coup than we have to stop it. All the major communication hubs are firmly in their control, but that will change with time.”
I briefly closed my good eye and took a deep breath. While it hurt to do, it reminded me I was still here and the Hivemind was not. Or was it?
