“Honestly? I’m not quite sure. She put me in command .” I shook my head and bit my lip. “I think, I should go talk to her.”
“No,” Becca said abruptly. “You stay here. You’re in charge now. I’ll go.”
To say I was surprised by my sister’s offer would be an understatement, but I nodded in agreement then collapsed into Kaya’s seat as she disappeared out the doorway. “Well then, Lily how long until we reach the array?”
“At current course and trajectory? Uh,” she paused squinting her eyes and leaned over the console. “About forty minutes.”
“Good,” I nodded. “Keep your eyes peeled on the sensor readings I have this inescapable feeling that there’s going to be trouble.”
“Lily, stay with the ship,” I said moments after we’d set down.
She pursed her lips and looked ready to protest, but she stayed her tongue. Someone would need to keep our ride ready in case we need a quick getaway and since I’d be needed to command the expedition she was the only other logical choice. The others could operate the ship with the biometric locks disabled, but none of them were nearly as skilled as pilots save perhaps Kaya, but since her breakdown I was hesitant to put her behind the controls.
I grabbed one of the handheld communicators Lily had rigged together then led the others to the exit where we were met by Becca and Kaya. I was more than a little relieved to see that my former lover had regained nearly all of her composure. “Guys, I’m sorry. I– It won’t happen again,” she bit her lip and blushed before a smirk touched her lips. “I’d like to still come along if you’ll still have me.”
“Of course, we–” I started to say, but was cut short by Kaya who folded her arms across her chest.
” I can’t be in charge. I don’t think I can be trusted to lead, but I’m still good for shooting shit up,” she added holding her phase pistol up as if to prove her point.
“Vakrexid does not believe there will be any need for violence.” The doctor absently patted his tangler, and then let out a high pitched squeal. “But one must always be prepared.”
“Well,” I muttered palming the button to extend the exit ramp. “Let’s get this done with, shall we?”
“This is exciting.” Rayland beamed as we descended the ramp.
I stopped once my feet had touched the ground, looked around and let out a long sigh. There really wasn’t anything noteworthy for as far as the eye could see, and I cursed under my breath as I realized that it wasn’t going to be as simple as I hoped.
“Dammit,” Farris cursed coming up beside me. “Why can’t anything ever be easy? Where the fuck is it?”
“Well, it’s not like they could have just left a big X on the ground for the gray skins to find, now could they?” Kaya rolled her eyes and shouldered past him moving toward the opposite end of the ship then came back around the other side a moment later. “Nothing that I can see on the other side.”
“All right,” I nodded. “Everyone fan out, we’ll meet back here in two hours if no one finds anything.”
We all spread out into different directions and began our search. The terrain wasn’t the hardest to transverse, since it was mostly just flat with a few hills here or there. I was able to see the others as they moved about and I grew more frustrated the longer our search lasted. Finally, the doctor’s distant voice called something out and I rushed toward him to see what all the fuss was about.
“Doc, what is it?” Farris panted arriving about the same time as me.
Vakrexid shook his head then pounded his open palm against the ground beside where he was sitting producing a loud metallic thump. “Vakrexid was walking then I stumbled and fell upon Vakrexid’s juxda-javib in a most obscene manner. This appears to be a hatch or perhaps a fluxla, I cannot decide.”
“That’s got to be it,” I knelt down next to the metal plate and started to sweep away the dirt and other debris off of it. It had been painted to match the terrain and unless someone looked really close it would have been very easy to overlook, particularly with the layer of dust and dirt that had settled over it. It took me several minutes just to uncover the latch, and when I pulled it free it took me far more of my strength to pull it open than I had anticipated.
There wasn’t a set of stairs or a ladder on the other side, like I had been expecting, instead there was some sort of control panel with a small indentation that looked like it would be the perfect fit for our biometric key. “Brilliant,” I whispered tracing my hands over the hole then turned back to Farris and the doctor. “Round up the others. This has got to be it.”
It took close to fifteen minutes for us to get everyone gathered around the hatch, but when I looked around at them all I hesitated. What if we activated the array and there was no one on the other end? Or what if they’d decided that Earth was a total loss? I shook my head and gritted me teeth, even if there was no response we needed to know, humanity’s salvation was at stake.
“Do it,” I looked back at Becca who had the biometric key gripped in her fist. With wide eyes and quivering hands she moved next to me, knelt down and, stuck the key inside the hole. There was a soft click from the panel which was followed by a second louder clicker and a mechanical whir. “A-a-analyzing biometric p-p-pattern,” the panel buzzed in a harsh artificial voice. “P-p-pattern accepted. Welcome Reb-b-becca Julliana Brigg-g-gs.”
The key popped out and Becca grabbed it out of the air before the panel slid away revealing a narrow tube with ladder rungs descending into darkness. Lights flickered on illuminating the interior which was no more than nine or ten feet deep. The doctor ducked his head inside and then looked up at me with those wide unblinking eyes. “There is a door, Vakrexid wonders what is on the other side.”
I glanced at my sister, who nodded, swallowed hard then descended the latter. “Lily,” I spoke into the communicator. “We’ve found an opening which we were able to open with the key. Becca’s gone down to investigate and assuming she can get the door inside the tube to open we’ll be following her in.”
“Got it,” she responded. “If you’re going underground we may lose radio contact.”
“Should have figured.” I bit my lip and then gritted my teeth. “Lil, if you detect any ships I want you to book it out of here. I don’t think I need to tell you it would be disastrous if the gray skins found this place.”
“I’m not just going to leave you guys here!” she protested.
“If they find this place then we’re all dead anyway. I want you to promise me, Lily.”
“Fine, but if I leave I’m coming back for you.”
I smiled as I imagined the anxious look Lily must have been wearing on her face. Had we not been separated be a good distance I would have wrapped my arms around her and kissed her on the cheek. I settled for a few reassuring words. “Don’t worry, Lil, it’s just a precaution. Assuming you’re forced to leave wait a safe amount of time and pick us up back here. Everything, will turn out all right I’m sure of it.”
“Okay,” she replied. “Just keep your radio on. If I can, warn you, I will. Assuming you can still receive signals.”
“Hey guys!” Becca called down from the tube. “I got the door open. Looks like there’s a whole structure down here. I can see a hallway, and even a few doors.”
“Lily, we’re going in,” I spoke into the radio one final time.
“Good luck.”
I was the first down the hatch, after my sister and when I came down she already had the door open. I stepped through and turned to watch as the others descended after me. The doctor was the last and he pulled the hatch closed behind him. It sealed shut with a snap hiss and a moment later the panel slid shut over it.
The door at the bottom of the ladder led into a stark gray corridor reminiscent of a ship’s passageway. There was enough illumination for us to find our way, but it was still dim enough to convey an atmosphere of gloom. I took the lead, following the hallway its entire length to a stark gray do
or which was would have been indistinguishable from the walls around if it hadn’t been for the very visible seams in the wall. There had been a number of similar openings scattered throughout the hall, but this had been the only one with a panel next to it.
Without being cued, Becca stepped forward and placed the key, which she’d kept safely tucked inside her jacket, into an indentation identical from the one on the hatch panel. The door slid open revealing another dark room which was quickly illuminated by a series of bright lights that blinked on in rapid succession.
“Shit, it looks like the control room of a ship,” Farris said stepping inside and looking around. “It’s even got a view port.”
“I think it is a ship,” Kaya said craning her neck around before turning to look me in the eyes.
“Why go to all the effort to bury a ship? Wouldn’t have been easier to just bury a small array?” I stepped inside and seated myself at the nearest console. The controls were simple, but in a sleek and elegant sort of way. The whole set up had a distinctly more modern design than most of the human tech I’d seen. “They must have built this thing just before the end of the war.”
“Anyone find a slot for the key?” I called over my shoulder, but before anyone could answer the view screen flickered and activated. While I’d been studying the panel in front of me Becca had found the slot for the key on another panel and stuck it inside.
“Welcome. Confirming identity of key holder. Confirmed Rebecca Julliana Briggs niece of Colonel Harold Anthony Briggs. Scanning for the presence of other life forms. Human and Dexgarmetrax occupants only. Confirmed. Determining mental state of keyholder.”
“W-what?” Becca stepped back from the panel, and before any could move in a mechanical arm extended from above and placed a small domed ‘cap’ on her head. After a moment both retracted and she jerked away and watched them disappear into the ceiling.
“Subject is not being coerced. Initiating communications array. Please stand by.”
The screen flickered and stuttered and displayed a message indicating that the array was attempting to open a subspace link. Finally, after what seemed ages the face of a pinch-faced man in his mid twenties appeared onscreen. He was wearing, a crisp navy-blue and uniform and he looked very surprised to see us.
“Good God!” Kaya gasped gawking at the man with wide eyes.
“This is Lieutenant Matthis Steinburg with the Earth Reclamation Fleet to whom am I speaking?”
I stepped forward until I was just in front of the screen and stared back at the image. “I am Alexana Briggs commander of the Human Resistance Movement. God, I gotta say you don’t know how good it is to see you.”
Matthis grinned and nodded. “Likewise, we were beginning to wonder if there was anyone still on Earth who knew that we were out here.”
“Well, we only recently became aware that a remnant of the original Earth defense fleet even existed. Our leaders knew, but since we’re likely all that’s left of the resistance, it fell on us to make contact.”
“You’re all that’s left of the resistance?” he asked obviously distressed by the news. “How many of you are there?”
“Six… seven if you want to count Rayland, but I don’t.”
“But you should,” Rayland stepped forward and settled beside me as he stared up at the view screen. “Lieutenant Matthis, my name is Major Rayland Patterson a ranger with the Nester Alliance, and while the resistance might have fallen, my people stand strong. We’ve hidden ourselves away in preparation of this day and we are ready to aid you in the task of retaking Earth.”
“And how many of these rangers do you have at your disposal, Major Patterson?” Matthis asked.
“Between all eleven nests we have close to two hundred men, but I can’t guarantee they’ll all agree to fight. It’s only a loose alliance, but I’m certain I can get at least five nests, on top of my own, to join with us. Given enough time, and proper training I may be able to muster a force several thousand strong, but that is wholly dependent upon how many nests I can convince we can successfully drive the Qharr from Earth.”
I glared at Rayland and bit my lip. Rayland’s offer of support was enticing, but could we really trust him to follow through? I’d brought him along so I could watch him, but I wasn’t sure that had been the best choice given the circumstances.
“Well, that sounds promising, but it takes a lot of time to train an army. In any case, there’s a lot we don’t know about the situation on Earth, if you could fill us in it would go a long way in helping us plan.”
I nodded, and with input from my symbiote began to tell him everything the two of us knew about the state of Earth. Starting with the fall of the resistance then moving onto other details like locations of Qharr bases, Earth defenses, and finishing with population estimates including human, Qharr and other aliens. When I finished Matthis frowned and stroked his chin. “I need to convey this information to the general immediately. I think, we’ll need to remain in frequent contact. Let’s plan for another comm-link in let’s say, three days.”
I agreed and was almost ready to close the comm-line when Kaya pushed past Rayland and I. “I-It’s possible some of us may have family off-world. My mother had a brother living on Shambhala before the war, I always wondered if he could still be alive.”
“Shambhala? The colony was destroyed after the invasion of Earth, but there were survivors. If you gave me your uncle’s name, I could look into it. Come to think of it, it might not be a bad idea to get all of your names. The chances are remote, but it’s always possible I might be able to track down some long lost relative.” It was difficult to tell through the view screen, but his eyes seemed focused on me.
Kaya complied listing first her Uncles names, then all of ours, but when she got to the doctor she hesitated. Fortunately, he stepped in to share his moniker.
“Lex… ship …ing …ease respo…” Lily’s voice pronounced from the hand communicator.
“Lily, could you repeat that? You’re not coming in very clearly.”
“Yeah,… here. I can… und…and you. There’s… ship. Don’t know…” she replied and suddenly cut off.
“Did she say something about a ship?” Farris asked.
“Problems?” Matthis said.
I bit my lip and nodded. “We have someone waiting in our ship; the signal isn’t coming through very clearly, though.”
“You should be able to pick the transmission up. You wouldn’t even need to close our comm-link since radio transmissions operate on a separate sub-system,” Matthis responded.
“Yeah, um, how exactly would we do that? I can operate just about any Qharr machine, but I know next to nothing about human-tech,” I scratched the back of my head.
Matthis directed me to the same console with the insert for Rebecca’s key then walked me through the steps to activate the radio radio. I didn’t have to tune it since, it scanned for incoming transmissions automatically. “…peat. There is a Qharr ship approaching.”
“Dammit all to hell!” I cursed resisting the urge to pound my fist into the console, with my strength I’d probably end up breaking the damn thing in half. “Lily, this is Lexa. How close is it?”
“It will be right on top of our position in about a minute. I’ve tried to bluff them, but they didn’t buy it. They even saw through the fake transponder signal I rigged for the ship. I think it’s pretty safe to assume they know who we are. There were three two begin with, but I managed to take out two of them. Shit, I–” she stopped short and we were confronted by the sound of static.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Kaya cursed beside me. “Anyone have any ideas?”
“This is a ship,” I said staring down at the control panel then spun around to stare at Matthis. “Isn’t it?”
“Well yes, but there’s no guarantee that’ll fly after being buried for so long and…” He winced fiddling with his collar and gritted his teeth. “It’s a prototype craft that was designed near the end of the war. It was hoped that
the experimental shield emitters would prevent the Qharr from cutting through our defenses so easily. They did work, but the dedicated shield reactors were too unstable.”
“We just won’t turn the shields on.” I shrugged my eyes roving the control room searching for the controls. “This thing does have weapons doesn’t it?”
“Just phase emitters, I think.”
“Perfect,” I nodded pouncing on the foremost of the panels which I assumed must be the pilots station. “Explain how these systems work.”
“You don’t honestly believe you can pilot that thing do you? You didn’t even know how to use the radio!” Matthis protested throwing his hands up in the air.
“What other choice do I have, dammit! If the Qharr find us what do you think will happen to your plans of retaking Earth? Just tell me how the damn controls work, I’m a fair pilot and I learn quickly. All I need to do is get this thing high enough so I can blast a hole in that ship!”
‘Fair?! With the abilities I passed onto you try amazing!’ Khala protested, but I paid her no mind as I listened to Matthis’s instructions. The controls seemed straightforward enough and once you got passed the very obvious differences the basic mechanisms were the same.
“Lily, hold on, we’re coming,” I muttered under my breath.
“All right, here goes nothing.” I pressed my thumb down igniting the thrusters. The whole ship started to quake and groan in protest. The engines stuttered and I could tell that they were having trouble lifting the ship through the hard-packed soil. “Kai, I need you on weapons now!”
“Got it!” She called back as the ship suddenly lurched upward.
“Good luck,” Matthis said his image fading away replaced by the darkness of the view port.
“That could be a problem.” Becca said staring at the black view port with wide eyes. “The screen’s packed with dirt.”
“Maybe if I press… this button, I can at least get a view from the exterior cameras.” I toggled one of the switches and let out a sigh of relief when an image appeared via hologram in the empty air around me. The picture was a little muddled and there were several blinds spots which I guess were caused by clumps of dirt, but it was clear enough to give me a reasonably good view of the surrounding area.
Battle For Earth Page 34
