by Andrew Gates
The more he walked, the more the dust and smoke began to clear. He could now see relatively far ahead. After a few more minutes, he could even make out the ridgeline of the newly formed crater. It loomed high above them like a wall.
Now that the air was clearer, he looked up into the sky. Ships still blasted away at one another in orbit, though there were considerably fewer now. Off in the distance, he could even make out the Kholvari Mothership, Vigilant Behemoth. It orbited above central Kholvaria as it always did. Its triangular shape resembled a spear tip and stood as a warning to anyone who would dare challenge the Chiefdom.
Behind Vigilant Behemoth was his beautiful homeworld, the birthplace to all races, both Kholvari and Sorrevahni alike (though the Sorrevahni would not believe such truths).
Ikharus felt a stinging in his left arm. The pain pulled him away from the view of his planet and back to his duty. After being hit by debris, pulled on and bearing the brunt of a hard fall, part of him worried that his arm may have been fractured or even broken. Bone breaks were nothing new for him, but he wanted to avoid them as much as possible.
“Kho Ikharus, are you seeing this?” Ukhrani asked.
Ikharus looked toward the ridgeline again. He had not noticed it until now, but a Sorrevahni convoy was making its way down.
“I see them. Prepare for combat,” he said.
“I don’t think these Sorrevahni are here for us,” Ukhrani pointed out.
“What do you mean?”
She pointed off in the distance. Ikharus did not see it until now, but the limping male was now in clear view. The convoy was headed straight for him.
“They’re after our prisoner!” Ikharus said. “We have to beat them to him.”
“We can’t travel that fast. There’s no way we can get there before them!” Khreznor debated.
“I might be able to shoot them from here, but if they drive away before I get them all, they’ll know we’re here,” Ukhrani explained.
“We cannot be discovered on this mission. Kal Ezenkharam was clear,” Ikharus reminded her.
He thought about what they could do. The only other option was to call in for air support, a move he was saving until the last possible moment. If anything went wrong with the air support, they would have no ride home. Involving the ship was risky, perhaps too risky.
But there was no other option. The convoy was coming in fast.
Curse the Empire, this may be my only choice, he realized.
He opened the signal to the pilot on his comm.
“Kal Tykzok, do you read?” he said.
“I am here, Squad Leader,” she replied. She sounded relieved to hear his voice.
“How soon can you reach our location?” he asked, hoping their tracking systems were still in working order.
“Not long. I have remained close to the drop off point while you were on your mission,” she explained.
“How does it look for a pickup?”
“Messy. There’s a lot of debris in the lunar orbit, not to mention a bunch of rebels trying to shoot me because they think I’m a damn Sorrevahni. But I can do it.”
“Well we could really use a pickup right now. We have the target in sight.”
“You mean you don’t have the target with you now?”
“Affirmative. You’re going to help us reach him,” Ikharus answered.
The pilot paused for a moment, as if trying to process this information.
“Understood. I’m coming in,” Tykzok eventually said.
If Ikharus remembered correctly, Tykzok’s stolen Sorrevahni dropship did not have any weapon capabilities. It was just a dropship, nothing more. He hoped this pilot had what it took to complete the job.
“Do you think she’ll make it in time?” Evirak asked.
“I do not know anyone’s fate, but we can only hope,” Ikharus replied. “In the meantime, let us continue forward. I want to put as little distance between us and Soh Saratti as possible before Kal Tykzok arrives.”
The squad continued forward, running as fast as they could in the moon’s low gravity. At one point, Khreznor got down on all six limbs and crawled her way up the hill like an ant. It looked strange, but Ikharus had to admit, she seemed like she was moving faster.
Ukhrani raised her scope again.
“They’re almost there. The convoy is slowing down,” she said.
“How many vehicles?”
“Looks like five. If I start shooting one, there’s a chance the others may scatter.”
“I understand,” Ikharus replied. “Hold fire for now.”
“Looks like they’re stopping now,” she reported. “The front vehicle is opening a door.”
“That’s not good.” Ikharus reopened the comm signal to Tykzok. “Status?” he asked.
“Nearly there. I encountered some issues with the rebels on my way down here, but I’m back on course.”
“We need you, now!”
“Then all you need do is look up,” Tykzok responded.
Ikharus glanced up to find the stolen ship fly in right on top of them. He smiled and waved to the pilot, though she already knew where to land. The ship touched down next to them, blowing up more dust as it settled. Tykzok opened the aft door and they ran up the ramp as fast as they could.
“Take us to that convoy!” Ikharus ordered.
“Understood,” Tykzok replied.
The pilot took off without bothering to close the aft door. Ikharus held on tightly as they ascended. The ship turned around and blasted off towards the line of Sorrevahni vehicles.
“As we took off, I saw them bring the prisoner into the front vehicle,” Ukhrani said. “They have him.”
“Then we’ll have to take him.”
Ikharus turned to face his team.
“We can’t let a single vehicle escape. Do you understand?” he asked.
“Understood,” they replied in unison.
“There are five vehicles and only four of us. Each of you will disable a single vehicle. Kho Evirak, you will take the one in the rear. Kal Ukhrani, you will take the second to last. Kal Khreznor, you will take the second to the front. I will disable the front one.”
“What of the middle vehicle?” Evirak asked.
“Hopefully we can trap it between the others,” Ikharus explained. “But if not, it will be up to one of us to stop it. Is that understood?”
“Understood,” they answered together.
“Good,” Ikharus replied. “May you be swift and efficient in your efforts.”
Ikharus turned back around and faced out the door. He could see tire treads in the dust below. They were getting close.
Evirak edged close to the exit. Ikharus stepped aside to let him through. Once the vehicle came in sight, Evirak jumped out, landing directly on its roof. He immediately started bashing at it with his sharp claws.
The next vehicle came into sight. Ukharani jumped out next. Like Evirak, she landed perfectly atop it. She promptly pulled out a knife and used it to shatter the front window.
When the next vehicle came into sight, nobody moved. They all remained where they were. This one was for later.
Then next one came into sight. Khreznor jumped onto this one. Unlike the others, her landing was not perfect. She slid off the roof and grabbed onto the door as it sped along in the dust. She pulled out her pistol and started shooting.
Ikharus did not have time to watch what happened next. Before he knew it, the front vehicle came into sight. He jumped down and landed perfectly on its roof, planting his sharp feet deep into the metal.
The vehicle came to a full stop almost immediately. The doors opened on all sides and four Sorrevahni soldiers poured out. Ikharus lept off the roof and landed on one of the soldiers, knocking him down. He pulled out his pistol and began firing at each one of them. These soldiers were better trained than the others. They managed to dodge the plasma blasts.
The one beneath Ikharus started squirming, making it hard for him to maintain his footing. Befo
re Ikharus knew it, he toppled over. The Sorrevahni stood up and jumped toward him, but Ikharus quickly fired his pistol and hit the attacker directly in the facemask. He fell over dead.
Three others still remained. Two hid behind the other side of the vehicle. One was quickly making his way over to Ikharus. The squad leader fired at the nearest one, but he ducked down and dodged the shots. Before he knew it, this Sorrevahni ran right into him and knocked him down onto the cold, dusty ground. Ikharus dropped his gun.
The Sorrevahni pulled out some sort of baton and pressed a button, causing the baton to extend into a long spear. The soldier held it up above his head and was ready to bring it down, but Ikharus rolled out of the way at the last moment. The spear hit the ground, sending dust flying into the air.
Ikharus stood up as fast as he could and grabbed onto the spear as its tip stuck vertically in the dirt. He pulled on it and the soldier pulled back. They both seemed equally strong and neither wanted to give it up. Ikharus let go of it with his left claw and struck the Sorrevahni in the face with his bad arm. The soldier stumbled back and released the spear. Ikharus now had a brief moment of opportunity. He angled the spear toward his opponent and thrusted it forward, right through his neck. Blood gushed out of the suit and onto the dirt. The Sorrevahni squirmed for a moment but then fell over and died.
Plasma blasts erupted next to Ikharus as he stood before the fresh corpse. The remaining two soldiers were now opening fire and using the vehicle as cover. Ikharus wasted no time and ran toward the vehicle. Using the low gravity to his advantage, he jumped all the way over it and landed between the two shooters on the other side. They both seemed surprised to see him. They turned to him and opened fire, but Ikharus jumped out of the way at the last second, leaving them to shoot each other instead. Both bodies fell to the ground.
Now it was just Ikharus and the prisoner.
The squad leader entered the vehicle. He could not make out the face of the passenger through the bulky helmet, but his suit resembled the one taken from the prison. Ikharus quickly closed all the doors and pressurized the interior of the cabin. The whole process took longer than he wanted, but it was necessary.
“Take off the suit,” he ordered.
The passenger remained quiet. He did not seem to react to the words at all. Is this Sorrevahni without a translator chip?
Ikharus decided to remove the helmet himself. He leaned forward, unbuckled it and lifted it up. The prisoner cooperated the entire time. Sure enough, Soh Saratti sat before him. He recognized the face from the hologram. Good, he thought. Finally.
But this was not over yet. Ikharus placed the helmet back on, stepped outside and watched the other vehicles. It appeared that each of his squad members managed to stop their respective targets, but the middle one was loose and getting away. It was almost up the ridgeline by this point.
The trained Kholvari reached down to the corpses below his feet and picked up their plasma cannons, holding one in each claw. The shot was far, but it was now or never. Ikharus blasted away as best he could. The first several shots were way off, but as he continued firing, his aim improved. After a few blasts, the vehicle erupted in a fiery explosion right as it crossed over the ridgeline. He smiled and dropped the cannons.
Ikharus took a deep sigh of relief and peered back inside the vehicle. Soh Saratti was still there, sitting calmly. He knows he has no way to escape, not anymore.
“Status,” Ikharus said over the comm.
“Vehicle disabled. All hostiles eliminated,” Evirak replied.
“Vehicle disabled. All hostiles eliminated,” Ukhrani said.
“Vehicle disabled. One hostile remaining. Just a moment… alright, now all hostiles eliminated,” Khreznor answered.
“Very good. I have Soh Saratti in custody. Kal Tykzok, do you have eyes on the final vehicle?”
“Affirmative, Squad Leader. The one on the ridge looks disabled.”
“Any signs of life?”
“That would be a hard question to answer from this angle,” she replied. “One of you should check.”
“Understood,” Ikharus replied. “Kho Evirak, would you lend your assistance to this task?”
“Affirmative, but it’s a long walk. Would Tykzok be willing to provide a lift?”
“It would be my pleasure,” the pilot replied.
Ikharus watched as the ship touched down by Evirak and picked him up. It did not take long to fly to the top of the ridge. Evirak jumped down and quickly examined the wreckage.
“All hostiles eliminated up here, sir,” he eventually said.
“Congratulations team, we accomplished our first mission together.”
Ikharus could hear garbled cheering over the comm. He was not sure who was doing it, but whoever it was, they were proud of their success. Ikharus smiled. He had to admit, they worked well together.
“Kal Tykzok, it is time for final pickup. We’re going home.”
IRIS WATCHED AS THE MOON lit up with great blasts of orange and white light. Ships danced around it like fish in water, maneuvering this way and that through a sea of wreckage and explosions. The sight reminded Iris of the light show from her first date with Dan. But this was so far away. It did not even seem real.
It was well into night now, but Iris found it difficult to sleep. In the darkness of night, each fireball in the sky seemed as bright as a second sun. It was like sleeping in the front row at a cinema, only quieter.
Iris’s stomach rumbled like she had not eaten a substantial meal in weeks. It was damn near impossible to hunt without their guns, but yesterday Jallah managed to catch a squirrel simply by chasing it down. It was an amazing sight to see. The squirrel did not provide a lot of meat, but mixed in with some vegetables and water, it made a tolerable stew.
Ryan was the only one designated on watch right now, but Iris could tell there were others awake. She was not surprised. Even if a lunar battle were not raging above their heads, she knew the thought of those savage humanoids was fresh on everyone’s mind. She had hardly been able to think of anything else since the encounter. It was a miracle that this many of them had even survived.
This was their second night since the human-like creatures arrived and attacked in full force. The group had taken to calling them zombies, though Iris hated the name. The creatures were nothing like the zombies from old surface era stories. These were living beings with blood pumping through their veins, not mindless reanimated shells. But she supposed she could not blame them for choosing strange names. She had come up with the name for the mantises after all.
Iris adjusted as she lied flat on her back in the grass. She felt the need to pee. Not again! I just went, she thought to herself. If anything, Iris had been drinking less water than normal lately. Clearly her body was not behaving the way it should. There was no way around accepting it. She was experiencing something and it wasn’t the same thing Kaitlyn had.
Swelling, vomiting, urination; the signs were clear. Iris had waited too long for her period now. Selena had already had two since they came to the surface. There was no sense denying it any longer.
I’m pregnant, Iris admitted to herself. We might not even live nine months, but I’m pregnant.
Iris placed both hands on her belly. She rubbed it tenderly. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, trying to forget about everything around her.
Deep in the back of her mind, Iris knew she was pregnant for a while, but admitting it was hard. Now that she came to grips with the truth, it did nothing but fill her with worry.
We’re being chased by monsters, we can’t get food, tensions are high, we’re lost and the world is ruled by mantises. Iris lifted her hands from her belly and placed them to her face. She felt her palms full of sweat. On top of everything they already had to worry about, she was going to have a baby without prenatal vitamins, sonograms or even basic medicine.
She temporarily lost her balance. She could not tell which way was up. She fell down to the soft, grassy ground and opened
her eyes again, hoping to reorient herself.
Nothing good will come from this, she thought. She felt herself hyperventilating. Calm down, she told herself, calm down. She took a deep breath and forced herself to sit up. She tried to relax.
How do I tell Dan?
“Psst,” someone said. Iris turned to face the sound. Unsurprisingly, it was Ophelia. She was crouched down near Iris’s head. She must have approached very quietly.
“Ophelia?” Iris asked, trying to keep her voice down. She wondered how much the girl had seen.
“I’ve been trying to speak to you. I guess you couldn’t hear,” she replied.
“You know how my hearing is. If I focus on something, I can hear a lot better. But if I don’t know you’re there, it’s hard for me.”
Ryan stood up from sitting on his rock and slowly walked over to them. Even in the darkness, Iris could tell he had his finger placed before his mouth.
“Ssh,” he said as he walked over.
“Sorry,” Ophelia replied. “Is it okay if we talk quietly?”
“Sure, but not here. Stay where I can see you, but far enough away that you won’t wake anyone,” he explained, keeping his own voice down.
Ophelia nodded her head and tapped on Iris’s shoulder before standing up and walking off.
I guess she wants me to come with her.
Iris was full of energy after her short freak-out, so she did not mind following Ophelia through the darkness. At the very least, talking to the girl would allow her some time to calm down and distract her from her worries. They made their way through the high grass, keeping Ryan in sight the whole time as he sat upon his rock.
After walking about 70 meters, Ophelia stopped and turned to her. Iris instinctively reached out and grabbed her shoulder, comfortingly. It was hard to see Ophelia’s expression in the darkness. Iris did not know if she was sad, scared or just bored.
“What is it?” Iris asked.
“I can’t sleep.”
“Again?”
Ophelia had not slept last night either. They talked about it a lot yesterday. Iris empathized. There were few things worse than multiple sleepless nights.
