by Jan Domagala
“What do we do now?” Natasha asked looking around also watching the great beasts.
“I’m working on it,” Kurt replied. Then he accessed a com. channel via his NI and called Riley. “Captain Riley what’s your status?” he said.
Outside the cavern Riley and the rest of the Wildfire Team were looking at the group of large octo felines that were not too far away and staring at them with a malevolent glare in their eyes.
“We’ve a few problems of our own at the moment Kurt,” Riley said.
“Boss, what do we do now, do you think we have the firepower to take out all those, whatever they are?” Vance asked as he stood by Riley’s shoulder.
“What about getting off this place now that our ride has been trashed?” asked Cooper.
“I hope you are not referring to me sirs,” the Pulsar’s AI said as the smoke cleared from around the forward section of the craft. “It would take a lot more than three Sabre missiles to ‘trash’ me Lieutenant Cooper,” Artie added as the forward hatch opened for them to get aboard.
Riley looked at his teammates and said, Let’s get aboard now.”
“Yes sir, you don’t need to tell me twice,” Vance said.
“Kurt, hang tight my friend, we’re on our way,” Riley said through the com. channel.
The octo felines ran at the small group as they sprinted for the Pulsar’s forward section.
Riley was the first to reach the ramp leading up to the hatch in the small craft. He sprinted up the ramp followed by the rest of the team. As soon as the last member passed through the hatch it slammed shut.
“Artie get us out of here fast,” Riley shouted and the AI took the craft up into the air seconds before the pack of octo felines overran their position on the ground.
“Artie scan for Kurt Stryder and whoever is with him and take us up over his position. We have to get them aboard,” Riley said as he led the team forward to the flight deck.
“Sir, Captain Stryder and Miss Garvey are deep in a cavern ahead of us surrounded by what appears to be four very large fish. There is an access shaft on the top of the rise above the tunnel,” replied the AI as it piloted the craft up to the top of the cliff face.
“Can we drop a line down to them through the shaft?” asked Riley.
“Yes, sir.”
“Then hurry Artie, they are in danger if those fish are like those creatures we just escaped from,” Riley said urgently. He had come so far to see again the woman he still loved and to have her snatched away at the last moment would be fate’s cruel twist, one he was not about to let happen.
“Yes, sir, be prepared to bring them aboard,” Artie replied.
“Kurt, we’ll be over your position in a few seconds. We’ll drop a line down to you to winch you up,” Riley said through the com. channel.
Kurt and Natasha were still treading water in the pool being circled by the four huge aquatic beasts.
“Make it quick, Riley, we’ve got company and they look hungry,” Kurt replied.
“Do you still have your gun?” Natasha asked as she pulled hers up to show him. Somehow she had miraculously kept hold of on the way down into the pool.
Kurt pulled his own Sig free from his shoulder holster and jacked the slide.
“Don’t do anything just yet, these creatures aren’t showing any signs of hostility at the moment,” Kurt said as he watched the beasts.
“Are you serious?” Natasha almost screamed; she was getting freaked out being so close to such huge predators of the deep in their own habitat.
“All the other creatures we’ve come into contact with have been aggressive towards us more or less on sight, why not these?” Kurt said.
“I don’t know but I’m not going to argue the point. I’m not about to look a gift shark thingy in its freekin’ huge mouth,” Natasha replied.
Just then, a rope ladder dropped down from the hole in the roof above. It splashed into the water between the two of them.
“Right, up you go,” Kurt said as he grabbed the ladder to steady it for her.
Without saying anything, Natasha grabbed hold of the ladder and began climbing.
“Don’t look down, just keep climbing,” Kurt urged as he watched her pull herself clear of the water. Once she was a few yards above him he began to climb free of the water himself.
Even as he began to climb the beasts continued to circle where the two of them had been. When he was clear of the water ascending the rope ladder the beasts continued their uncharacteristic circling of their intended prey.
On the command of Riley, Artie began to winch the ladder up once the two of them had started to climb. It speeded their rescue process up considerably and within minutes Natasha followed by Kurt was climbing aboard the forward section of the Pulsar.
As Natasha stood up, she turned to see Riley standing watching her. She smiled nervously, then said, “Good to see you Jake, you’re looking good.”
“Thanks, you too,” Riley replied stiffly.
“Oh please, is that the best you two can do?” Torres said.
“Leave it Torres,” Riley scolded.
“Why Jake, so you two can play this game where no one tells the truth about how they feel for each other. Okay sir, if that’s what you want.”
“Why, how do you feel Jake?” Natasha asked.
“How do you think I feel?” Riley said his face a tight mask of repressed emotion. He spun away from her and left the room heading for the bridge. “Artie take us up to rejoin the rest of the Pulsar,” he said.
“What did I miss?” Kurt asked as he came on board.
“Sir, I have several large flying creatures coming straight for us, I think they are about to attack,” Artie said.
“This just keeps getting better and better,” Vance said.
35
The Wildfire Team with Kurt and Natasha all reached the bridge in time to witness the flock of winged creatures that seemed to fill the sky, viewed through the forward viewport.
They marvelled at the sight of the creatures as they powered their way through the evening sky towards the escaping craft.
Each creature had an estimated wingspan of around fifty yards. They had long bodies with legs that ended with powerful talons on four appendages. Their heads were long and pointed, shaped like a spearhead with a long, razor sharp, serrated beak. Brightly coloured plumage adorned their bodies and wings making them beautiful yet deadly.
The flock numbered hundreds of these creatures making it virtually impossible for the Pulsar’s forward section to get through and reach the rest of the craft in orbit.
“Holy shit!” Torres said when she saw what was heading their way.
“As an understatement that’s gotta be in the top ten,” commented Cooper.
“Artie, have we the firepower to blast our way through them?” Riley asked with mounting concern.
“I doubt it very much, sir. Our supply of missiles is limited and our pulse cannons could pick off many of them but their superiority in the air would make targeting them most difficult. I estimate the odds of making it through them at only twenty-seven to one,” replied the AI.
“Suggestions anyone?” Riley asked, as he knew their time was running out.
Kurt stepped forward to say, “You know what we have to do; we haven’t much choice. We have to return to the surface.”
“You’re kidding right, go back down there? You can’t be serious,” Vance said.
“He’s right, we have to return to the surface. If we try to fight our way through we’ll lose. Those creatures will trash us and we’d crash. We have no choice, we’ll just have to find the safest landing site we can and try and contact General Sinclair with a sit-rep. Hopefully he’ll send some reinforcements to help us,” Riley said.
“That has got to be one of the worst ideas in a long list of bad ideas,” Cooper said.
“Artie, quick as you can, locate a landing site and take us there,” Riley ordered.
“Hold tight, sirs, taking ev
asive action and scanning for possible landing site,” Artie replied. He put the forward section through a series of loops and turns after a pair of wings had extended from the sides of the craft to better enable their manoeuvres through the atmosphere.
The flock of winged creature increased their speed then as they swooped in to attack the craft that had invaded their airspace.
TARKOVIC WAS STANDING behind the pilot of the attack craft that had picked him up when the flock of winged creatures appeared on their screens.
“What the fuck are these?” he said as he viewed the flock in the distance.
“I’m not sure, sir, but there’s a fucking lot of ’em and they look mean,” replied the pilot nervously.
“Get us back to base and I mean now,” Tarkovic ordered urgently.
The pilot fired the attack craft’s after burners to boost their speed and blast them through the planet’s atmosphere and out into space. The escaping attack craft’s speed took it out of the area before the flock got within striking distance, leaving the Pulsar’s forward section the only viable target for their aggression.
“SIR, I MAY HAVE SOMEWHERE for us to land, not too far from your original landing site,” Artie said as he steered the craft away from the angry flock.
“No time to explain Artie, just take us there fast,” Riley said.
The AI fired the craft’s main engines, as ordered. This took her into a powered dive back towards the ground.
The forest canopy gave way to a clearing. The opening was startling, not because of the suddenness of its appearance, although that in itself was startling, but because of what it revealed.
“Is that what I think it is?” asked Natasha as she stood at Riley’s shoulder looking out of the forward viewport.
“I don’t believe it,” said Cooper in awe of the sight before them.
“Artie, that isn’t a hologram of some sort, is it? I mean those Outlaws haven’t somehow rigged something up to make us think we’re seeing that, have they?” Vance asked tentatively.
“No, Lieutenant Vance, it is not a hologram and my sensors are picking up nothing that could transmit something of that complexity or magnitude,” replied the AI matter-of-factly.
Riley said, “Before any of you say another word, I’ve a feeling all our questions and possibly a whole lot more will be answered once we get down there.”
“Personally, I can’t wait,” said Kurt who was as intrigued as the rest of them.
“Okay Artie, take us in,” commanded Riley.
36
“Okay Garvey, we’re here, we’re under way so speak. What happened down on Tartaran all those years ago?” Sinclair said as the small group made themselves comfortable in the ready room.
“Okay General, I’ll tell you what I know, but you’re not going to like it,” Garvey said as he eased his long body into the chair next to Sinclair.
“I’m all ears Admiral, make it quick please, we’re running out of time,” Sinclair replied.
“I was a young Lieutenant when we first arrived. We’d heard about the planet from long range scans and we knew once we’d set off to explore it that the Alliance had done likewise. What we found was beyond even our wildest dreams though, dreams that soon turned to nightmares.
“Our preliminary scans had told us that Tartaran was an ‘E’ class planet, able to sustain humanoid life but when we arrived we learned from more detailed scans that the indigenous life forms were like nothing we’d seen on Earth or on any of the other ‘E’ class planets we’d visited at that time. We did further scans from orbit as we tried to learn more about these life forms but then came the time when, if we wanted to study them closely, we had to go down to the surface.
“A research team, along with a security detail was sent down to establish an observation post to study a group of animals we’d observed from orbit. We’d learned that, although these creatures didn’t fit into any specific species we knew of, they did group together. This particular group was isolated from all the others so we figured it would be easier to study them. We were so wrong.
“Setting up the OP had its difficulties as the creatures were in dense rain forest, and I mean dense and yet strangely beautiful too. All the colours of the rainbow were present and some you’d never thought of.” Garvey paused and his features took on an expression of rapture, lost deep in the memory. Realising they were hanging on his every word he pulled himself back to the here and now and continued, “I know how that sounds but that forest had a beauty that somehow transcended anything we’d seen before and I mean anywhere. The longer we stayed down there though we learned that, even there, such beauty came with a price.
“We finally established the OP, we shielded it best we could, even used a camo cloak so we blended in with the forest and we settled in to do our jobs. I was in command of that first landing party and I soon regretted volunteering.
“The creatures we were studying were something like a very large cat and I mean very large. We knew the dimensions from the scans we performed whilst we were in orbit but knowing that did not prepare us for the sheer massive size of them when we got up close and personal. They were huge, yet sleek like all big cats. Their fur was sort of mottled which helped them to blend in with the forest. They had four sets of eyes, two on each side of their head, which gave them an unprecedented three hundred and sixty degree field of vision. We never learned how their brains processed that much visual input though, the best we could come up with was that they could swop from one set of eyes to another, probably like us looking from left to right. They could look all around themselves moving from one set at a time. They also had eight legs, four forelegs and four hind legs. This made them incredibly mobile and fast. Their claws were razor sharp and as long as my hand, their teeth were even longer. They could bite a man in half with ease.
“The group we set out to observe we believed was a pack, but we found out it was a family, a real family unit with two parents and their cubs. The most startling thing though, as if what we’d learned up to that point wasn’t startling enough, was their aggression. We’d never seen any species with as much aggression before or since. It was terrifying.”
“How did this aggression manifest, did another species invade their territory?” asked Matt, intrigued at the vivid imagery Garvey’s memories invoked.
“Oh yes, most definitely, another species invaded alright. At first the creatures allowed them in giving them a false sense of security, letting them think they’d gone unnoticed, but what they were actually doing was observing them, those being watched were watching the watchers, so to speak. When they attacked it was so fast and so violent they didn’t stand a chance.”
“Wait a minute, what was this other species that invaded?” Matt asked suspicious of the answer to come.
“We were, it was us. I was the only one to get out alive. I still don’t know how, but somehow I made it back to the shuttle and got out of there as they overran the OP. They slaughtered everyone they found. When I handed in my report I was ordered back down there with a squad of marines to capture one of the creatures.
“While all this was going on we were informed of the arrival of an Alliance starship, obviously they had the same idea as us of colonising the planet. We heard on the grapevine that they sent down a landing party too, but to another section of the landmass we were exploring. They too met with the same fate as our first landing party, they all died, slaughtered by another species. We hoped the incident would deter them from further investigation, at least for a while, long enough we hoped for us to complete our capture and autopsy of the creature.”
“Were you successful?” asked Sinclair.
“If you mean did we capture one of the creatures and learn anything, the answer would have to be, yes, but we also found more questions too. We found that the creature wasn’t a natural life form but one that had been created through genetic manipulation and gene splicing.”
“Transgenics?” asked Matt.
“Exactly,�
� agreed Garvey.
“Which leads to the next question,” Sinclair added.
“Do you think the Alliance had been there years before us, sir?” Our intel on their scientific development tells us that they’re about equal to our own research in that field except for one notable programme,” Matt said.
“How did they get here without us knowing?” Sinclair asked.
“They didn’t,” Garvey stated.
“Excuse me? How can you be so sure?” Sinclair asked.
“It couldn’t possibly be anyone from the Alliance because the creature we autopsied was a mature male at least thirty standard years old but it could’ve been older, possibly fifty or more. The medical examiner at the time couldn’t be completely accurate but that wasn’t all. One thing he was sure of was that it wasn’t the result of experimentation.”
“But I thought you said it was a transgenic?” Matt said jumping immediately on the contradiction.
“You’re right I did and it was, but not a direct result,” explained Garvey enigmatically.
“Okay, it’s official, I’m confused,” Matt said.
“Are you saying, what I think you’re saying?” Sinclair asked as an idea began to coagulate, one that seemed preposterous, yet would seem to explain much of what had happened.
“Yes General, probably,” Garvey said.
“Well, could you put me out of my misery and explain it to me please?” Matt said.
“As I think the General has already deduced, the creature was not the result of an experimentation but of natural propagation. These creatures had bred for many generations, too many to tell how long ago the experimentation actually began.”
“You’re joking right? That’s just impossible, you have to be wrong,” Matt said.
“I can assure you Matt, I’m not wrong. Those creatures and quite possibly every creature on the planet, although indigenous, are the result of transgenic experimentation that began hundreds, possibly thousands of years ago,” Garvey said with an air of sad finality.
