Abyss Of Savagery

by Toby Neighbors

  Chapter 20

  Ghost, Harper, and Adkins were the only platoon members still in armor. Tallgrass was also armed and armored, but she had removed her battle helmet so Dean had no communication with her and couldn’t get a vid feed from the camera that would show her position and what she was doing. As Dean raced down to the maintenance corridor that ran under the main passageway, he wrestled with the reality of what had happened. Sergeant Eleanor Tallgrass, arguably the most level-headed and passionless member of Dean’s platoon, had shot Staff Sergeant Chavez, who was also her lover. It made no rational sense. She had been a strong advocate for the Pergantees, and Chavez the strongest opponent of the gray-skinned aliens, but the only way Dean could fathom her actions was if she were somehow under their control.

  “Ghost, talk to me,” Dean said.

  “The main pen is undisturbed, although our little friends are on their feet as if they expect something to happen.”

  “Good, stay there,” Dean said. “Harper is on her way to join you.”

  “Roger that,” Ghost said.

  “Adkins, where the hell are you?”

  “I’m climbing down the ladder to the maintenance level, sir. It isn’t easy in full armor,” Adkins replied.

  “Well get to my position ASAP,” Dean ordered.

  Dean didn’t have a vid feed from Captain Parker, and he had to switch over to the command channel to speak to her on the comlink.

  “Captain Parker, report please,” Dean said.

  “I’m pinned down,” Parker reported. “And almost out of ammo. I didn’t pack extra magazines.”

  “Who is shooting at you?” Dean asked as he hurried toward Parker’s position.

  “Sergeant Tallgrass. She’s freed a second Pergantee and they are working to free the third.”

  “I know where you’re at and I’m moving up on your six, hang on,” Dean said, then switched back to the platoon channel. “Adkins, where are you?”

  “Almost there, Major.”

  “Ghost, we’ll be coming your way soon. We’ve got the bastards trapped between us.”

  “Don’t count on it, sir,” Harper said. “They know every nook and cranny of this ship.”

  “You’re right…damn, this is bad. Hold your position and keep the Pergantees covered at all times,” Dean said.

  “Rules of engagement, sir?” Dean asked.

  “If the aliens try anything, even if they just look at you funny, you kill them all.”

  “And Tallgrass?”

  “Leave her to me,” Dean said.

  Adkins caught up to Dean and he opened a private channel between them. “We’ve got one chance to take down Tallgrass without killing her.”

  “Name it, sir,” Adkins said.

  “How fast can you run backwards with your shield up?”

  “As fast as I have to,” Adkins replied.

  “Dammit, I’m out of ammo,” Parker said.

  “Hang on, Captain, help is on the way,” Dean said over the command channel. Then he gave Adkins instructions on their private link. “Run straight at her. Don’t stop. Stay low. She might try to shoot under your shield. Don’t shoot unless the Pergantees get between us, but I don’t expect them to. Let’s do this.”

  Adkins turned, facing Dean, his hydrogen-titanium alloy shield on his back facing down the passageway toward where Tallgrass was sniping at Captain Parker. Adkins began to trot backward, then jog. He had to bend his knees to keep the shield low to the ground. It was a difficult maneuver, and Dean knew Adkins couldn’t keep it up for long. Dean was right in front of his Heavy Armor Corporal, ducking low as he ran. If Tallgrass decided to retreat, they wouldn’t be able to keep moving at the pace Dean wanted, but as his rogue Demolitions Sergeant came into view, she turned her fire onto Adkins.

  The flechettes from her utility rifle pinged as they ricocheted off of Adkins’ shield. Dean was surprised to see that she didn’t fall back or do any of the things he expected of her. It was like she had no idea how to fight a Heavy Armor Specialist at all, even though she was an eight-year EsDef veteran. She could have moved side to side looking for an angle over the shield, or possibly focused her aim at the bottom of the shield, hoping to slip a round under the protective armor and land a lucky shot that would stop the HA Specialist rushing toward her. Instead, she stood her ground and emptied her magazine straight into Adkins’ shield.

  The big HA Specialist slammed into Sergeant Eleanor Tallgrass like a battering ram, and Dean whipped around the big man in time to dive on top of the fallen Demolition Specialist before she could recover. He wrenched the rifle from her, tossed it to the side, and just as she tugged her sidearm free with her right hand, he grabbed her right hand in both of his.

  Dean felt a sudden sense of warmth in his mind. It was like he’d come in from the cold and was standing next to a roaring fire. His body began to relax, and he heard a soothing roar somewhere nearby. Dean almost gave into the feeling. He wanted to let all his worries slip away, to be relieved of the responsibilities of command and let his mind float free. But just as Tallgrass started to wrestle her sidearm away from Dean, he snapped back to himself.

  Adkins’ utility cannon had gone off, firing a prolonged burst of flechette rounds toward the trio of Pergantees who had turned their attention on Dean. Shaking his head to clear the sudden sense of fogginess that had almost enveloped his mind, Dean slammed a padded elbow across Tallgrass’s jaw, then wrenched the gun from her hand. A moment later, he had her on her stomach, with both arms pinned behind her back.

  “Those little bastards were screwing with my mind,” Adkins said.

  “We’ve got to be careful,” Dean said. “They’re more powerful than we thought.”

  “Thanks for the help,” Captain Parker said, kneeling beside Dean and adding her weight onto Eleanor Tallgrass. “They would’ve had me if you hadn’t come along when you did. I was trying so hard to catch up that I ran into a trap.”

  “Did the Pergantees infiltrate your mind?” Dean asked.

  “No, not that I could tell,” Parker replied.

  “You’d know,” Dean said.

  “That’s for damn sure,” Adkins said, shaking his head as if to clear cobwebs.

  “But they weren’t even in sight,” Parker said. “They couldn’t have been within thirty feet.”

  “And yet they almost got us all killed,” Dean said, before switching to the platoon channel.

  “Ghost, you still read me?”

  “Five by five, Major.”

  “Any sign of our escaped Pergantee?”

  “Not yet,” Ghost said. “The ones in the cage are glued to the bars. They know something’s up.”

  “Ghost, listen to me. The escaped Pergantees are headed your way, presumably to free the others. You can’t do anything until you see the escapees, but as soon as you do, wipe out the ones in the cage.”

  “Sir, are you telling me to terminate the captives?” Ghost asked.

  “That’s right, Sergeant. Do you have a problem with those orders?”

  “No, sir,” Ghost said. “Just making sure I understand you.”

  “Shoot them all in the head as fast as you can,” Dean said. “Is that clear enough?”

  “Roger that, Major. And what about the ones that got away?”

  “If you get a shot, take it,” Dean said. “They’re dangerous. We can’t take any more chances.”

  “Sir, may I ask about Sergeant Tallgrass?” Harper asked.

  “We have her in custody,” Dean said.

  “Is she alive?”

  “Yes,” Dean said. “A little banged up, but breathing.”

  “Thank you, Major.”

  Dean turned to Captain Parker as he pulled the knife from a sheath at the small of Eleanor Tallgrass’s back. He handed over the weapon.

  “Can you keep her here?” Dean asked.

  “Yes, sir,” Parker said. “I’ve got her.”

  “Alright Adkins, let’s go,” Dean ordered.

  There w
ere moments when time seemed to drag on and on, and other instances when time rushed by so fast that Dean almost felt like he was moving backward. In the heat of battle, with so much riding on every move and decision he made, Dean sometimes felt like time stopped completely. There was no doubt that the trio of Grays were somewhere in the passage ahead of them. If Dean had been surrounded by a full platoon he might have charged ahead boldly, but Captain Parker’s words echoed in his mind: I was trying so hard to catch up, I ran into trap. Dean wasn’t about to make the same mistake. He had to stop the dangerous aliens, but he had to be careful. He couldn’t risk the possibility that they might take control of his mind. As the commanding officer, he could quite possibly ruin the entire mission before anyone knew the aliens had taken control of him.

  “You start feeling anything, you speak up,” Dean told Adkins.

  “Yes, sir,” the big HA Specialist said.

  Dean checked his pistol to make sure the safety was off. He wasn’t afraid of combat, but he had been afraid of accidentally shooting Sergeant Tallgrass. She had been not only a strong Demo Specialist and loyal platoon mate, but also someone he could talk to. He had shared his fears with her early in his tenure as her platoon leader, and she had compared him to a Native American War Chief. There was no part of Dean that had wanted to see harm befall Eleanor Tallgrass, but once she was safely in custody, he was ready to unleash hell on the aliens who had infiltrated his platoon. The Wolfpack was his family, and no one could harm them and expect to escape Dean’s wrath.

  Chapter 21

  Stealth was not the easiest function for a Heavy Armor Specialist, but Adkins managed it. The biggest concern wasn’t being seen or heard, but rather rushing into something they couldn’t handle. Dean and Corporal Adkins had been in the shit together on numerous occasions, but there was so much more riding on their current operation than just personal safety. If they failed, the entire mission could be in jeopardy, and if the mission failed, the entire human race was at risk.

  “Ghost, what do you see?” Dean asked over the platoon comlink, despite the fact that he could have pulled up the vid feed from his sniper’s battle armor and seen for himself exactly what Sergeant Bradus could see.

  “Everything’s quiet,” Ghost replied. “No sign of the bogeys.”

  “That you can detect,” Adkins replied. “You start feeling fuzzy in the head, I suggest you shoot no matter what you see.”

  “I’ve got my MSVs set to detect motion from the passageway,” Harper said. “When the Grays come this way, we’ll know it.”

  “Alright, we’re closing in on your position,” Dean said. “No sign of the Pergantees on our end.”

  “Any chance they aren’t coming this way?” Ghost asked. “For all we know, they could care less about their incarcerated brethren.”

  “That may be true, but we haven’t seen any sub-passages,” Dean replied. “And they were between us and you.”

  “Why do I have the feeling we’re the prey, not the hunters?” Ghost said.

  “Take everything down a notch,” Dean said. “This is too important to blow because we’re all keyed up.”

  “I’ll relax when I know Chavez is going to be alright,” Ghost said.

  “And every last gray-skinned alien is dead,” Adkins added.

  “Movement!” Harper announced.

  Dean froze, waiting to hear what would happen next.

  “I see them,” Ghost replied.

  Dean brought up the vid feed from the MSVs in the maintenance corridor. He could see the three Grays huddled close to the curving inner wall of the passageway. Suddenly there was an extended hail of automatic gunfire. Dean could tell from the sound of it that someone, either Harper or Ghost, had emptied the magazine in their utility rifle. Added to the blast was more of the strange keening wail that made the hair on the back of Dean’s neck stand on end. Then came the more powerful report of Ghost’s Vandemere long rifle.

  Dean saw the first of the escaped Grays slam backward into the other two. All three went down, and a fluorescent green blood covered the group and left bright splatter patterns against the wall. Two of the aliens scrambled back, but the lead Pergantee was dead from a headshot by Dean’s sniper.

  “Got one,” Ghost said. “The others are hurrying your way, Major.”

  “Adkins, don’t fire until you’ve got a good shot. I don’t want to spook them.”

  “Roger,” Adkins said.

  But the Pergantees never revealed themselves. Dean and his Heavy Armor Corporal were three hundred yards down the curving passageway from the holding cell where Harper had executed the aliens, and even though Ghost had reported the two survivors fleeing back toward Dean’s position, they failed to come within sight. After a few minutes, Dean sighed.

  “You sure they were headed this way?” Dean asked.

  “That’s affirmative,” Harper said.

  “They took off like cockroaches when the lights come on,” Ghost asked.

  “Damn, I was afraid of this,” Dean said. “Advance, Corporal, low and slow.”

  “Yes, sir,” Adkins replied.

  They moved down the passageway at a very slow walk. Dean stayed low, but searched the passage for any signs of hidden doors or hatches. They came to what looked like an air intake vent and Dean directed Adkins over to it.

  “Ghost, Harper, I’ve got a possible egress point for the Pergantees. I want you to advance slowly to our position while we inspect it.”

  “Roger that,” Harper said.

  “On our way, sir,” Ghost added.

  “You think they went in there?” Adkins asked.

  “I want you to keep your eyes glued on the passageway just in case I’m wrong,” Dean said. “And don’t shoot anything, especially our own people. There’s been enough of that already.”

  “I would never shoot Harper,” Adkins said.

  “Hey, I heard that,” Ghost growled. “And here I thought of you like a little brother, Adkins.”

  “You treated me like one too, Sergeant,” Adkins teased.

  Dean didn’t mind the razing. He didn’t want any of his people caught off guard by the Pergantees, but he didn’t expect to find them. The grate on the air intake had no screws or locking mechanism. It was a simple grate over what looked like a twenty-inch round pipe. No one in Dean’s platoon would fit through the small pipe, but Dean was willing to bet the Pergantees could. Their bulbous heads were larger than a human’s but small enough to fit into the pipe, and their heads were the largest parts of their body.

  “Any idea where that pipe leads to?” Adkins asked.

  “No clue, and we don’t have schematics of the ship. Those bastards could hide in the plumbing and we’d never find them,” Dean said. “Fortunately, we have tech that can search for us.”

  “Too bad we can’t just blast them out,” Adkins said.

  “We’ll have to settle for finesse,” Dean replied. “Smoke them out. We’ll find the perfect place to put an end to the deceptive little bastards. Some place where using force won’t hurt us, and where they can’t do any damage to our people, the ship, or the mission.”

  “Damn straight. That’s why they pay you the big bucks, sir.”

  A few minutes later, Ghost and Harper came into view. Dean could see that they were both tense. They relaxed visibly when they came into sight, but Dean could tell his sniper and Fast Attack Sergeant were angry.

  “That where the little bastards went?” Ghost asked.

  “I think so,” Dean replied. “Harper, have you got any MSVs left?”

  “I pulled the two we had monitoring the Pergantee holding cell,” she replied. “They’ve both got half a charge left.”

  “Send one into the pipe,” Dean ordered. “Infrared spectrum.”

  “What about the other one?” she asked.

  “Let’s get if fully charged,” Dean replied. “I want eyes on the Pergantees at all times.”

  “What if they split up?”

  “We’ll cross that bri
dge when we come to it,” Dean said. He switched over to the command channel on his TCU comlink. “Captain Grant, can you send two members of your platoon to my position?”

  “We’re kind of busy cleaning up the mess your platoon made, Major,” Grant said, with a hint of insubordination in his voice. “What the hell happened?”

  “Captain, I know you aren’t happy with your assignment, but don’t mistake the respect I show for your rank to mean that I won’t kick your ass if you question my orders ever again.”

  Ghost, Harper, and Adkins all took a step back. Dean could tell they were staring at him, but he couldn’t see their faces. Still, he imagined he saw looks of shock and admiration at the way he was putting Captain Grant in his place.

  “Now, get two specialists to this position ASAP,” he concluded.

  “Yes, Major,” Grant said.

  “That’s going to get messy,” Ghost said over the platoon-only channel.

  “I’ll deal with Captain Grant,” Dean said. “I want the three of you to report to the med facility.”

  “You want us to check on Chavez?” Harper asked.

  “Yes, and I want you all to have a PET scan run on your brain. Everyone who has had interactions with the Pergantees gets one, no exceptions.”

  “What’s going to happen to Sergeant Tallgrass?” Adkins asked.

  “That depends,” Dean said. “I don’t think she acted of her own free will, but we’ll have to question her to know for sure. We can’t take a risk that she might try to help the Pergantees again or sabotage our mission.”

  “I’ve known Eleanor for years,” Harper said. “She would never disobey an order, much less shoot a superior. It’s unthinkable.”

  “People change,” Dean said. “Desperation makes people do the unthinkable. She was adamant that the Pergantees were victims. The only question is, would her compassion for the Grays be enough reason for her to turn her back on a stellar career in EsDef?”

  “She might do something crazy, I guess…maybe,” Harper said. “But she’s in love with Chavez. I should have seen something was wrong when she fought so hard against him in regard to the Pergantees. There’s no way she would shoot the man she loved.”