“God help us,” Kennedy muttered, looking out the window at the raging storm they were descending through. The air around them crackled with electricity.
Simon jerked the ship hard to the right, dodging a bolt of energy that got a little too close for comfort. He brought Alpha Banger back on course, struggling to keep control of her descent. As far as pilots went, Simon was one of the best, but these storms were almost more than he could handle. Kennedy had never seen anything like it. Storms, he was familiar with. Storms that moved and shifted like these did were something else. It was almost like the atmosphere was a living thing, an antibody designed by Zala IV to attack intruders.
Of course that was foolish, and it was impossible to believe the storm could have any sort of intelligence or be directed by someone who did. Still, the charged clouds of energy jumped and shifted erratically, bleeding into one another and then separating like droplets of mercury. It was impossible to anticipate where they would be from one moment to the next.
Simon stayed resolute at the controls, white-knuckling the stick as the ship bounced and jumped. Sweat had beaded on his forehead, and an errant droplet slid down his cheek. He didn’t even notice. He was too focused on not dying to worry about perspiration.
A clear patch of space lay before them, spread out nice and open like a blanket of black illuminated from beneath by the emerald glow of the planet. Simon relaxed for a split second, letting his shoulders slump so the muscles could unclench. That was the moment that a patch of electromagnetic haze shifted and stretched like an amoeba, morphing into a shape that was altogether different, partially obscuring the path before them. Simon frantically wrestled with the controls and braced for the turbulence. It felt like a giant grabbed the ship and shook it back and forth.
“We’re not going to make it,” Simon shouted.
Despite his fateful warning, he didn’t stop wrestling with the controls. The tendons and muscles in his arms were taut as he fought to maintain their course and keep them from breaking apart in the upper atmosphere. The look in his eyes went from one of steely determination to one of resigned defeat as he saw another of the enormous clouds looming before them, this one twice as big as the one they’d just passed through.
“No…” he whispered. “Our Father who art in Heaven…”
He braced himself for the inevitable death that was to come. Yet, just as the storm could move and shift into their trajectory, it could also bleed away, and it moved out of their path, dissipating like fog on a desert highway. The dropship was about to plunge into the patch of crackling, supercharged air when the cloud fled unexpectedly, a frightened animal that turned tail and ran at the first sign of confrontation.
“Lord Almighty, that was close,” Simon muttered, letting out a huge sigh of relief when some of the internal lights flickered and then came back on as the ship returned to full power.
Mercifully, the dropship broke through the clouds, and the surface of the planet came into view below. The relief surging through the two pilots quickly turned to panic as they sighted Alpha Breaker spinning out of control to their right. It was speeding directly toward them.
“Thrusters now!” Kennedy shouted.
Simon engaged Alpha Banger’s thrusters at full power, and the dropship lurched upward against the gravity of Zala IV as Alpha Breaker sped through the spot it had occupied only a fraction of a second before.
“I’m not hearing a mayday from them!” Simon yelled.
“Looks like they’ve lost power!” Kennedy shouted back. “The storm got them.”
Alpha Breaker dropped like a rock, passing through several of the supercharged storm clouds. Electricity danced and frolicked on the hull of the ship, likely frying most of the circuitry inside. The ship was insulated against electromagnetic threats, but it had limits. What Simon and Kennedy watched it pass through was unquestionably more than it could bear. The external lighting on the ship died, and within seconds it went from a bird in flight to one that had been shot out of the sky. It fell like an angel hurled from Heaven, streaking toward the ground.
“They’re going down,” Simon commented with a shake of his head, watching Alpha Breaker’s speed increasing as the dropship plummeted from the sky.
“Calling it into command,” Kennedy said. “There’s nothing we can do.”
“Agreed,” Simon said. “That was almost us.”
Simon watched Alpha Breaker disappear into the trees. A fireball blossomed skyward from the point of impact, setting the woods around the area ablaze.
“I guess we now have a rescue situation on our hands,” Kennedy frowned. “Some of the troops suited up in their CASPers might have lived through that.”
“Even if nobody made it, we still have a salvage situation to deal with,” Simon reminded him. “Do you know how much those CASPer suits cost?”
Kennedy grinned. “Nope. It’s way above my pay grade. I never shop for things I can’t afford.”
Simon chuckled, needing that lighthearted moment before they went out to sort through the twisted metal for survivors and tech that was still useable.
“Oh, there’s one more thing,” Kennedy reminded him.
“What?” Simon said.
“Before we start planning the rescue mission, maybe we should get safely on the ground first ourselves.”
“Details, details,” Simon muttered with a laugh as they began their final descent toward the lush surface below.
“Hey, you were the one praying a few minutes ago!” Kennedy reminded him. “Things were a little shaky there.”
“Oh, that,” Simon said, dismissing it with a wave of his hand. “I had no doubt I would make it. I was praying for you.”
Kennedy laughed. “Working with a guy like you, I need all the prayers I can get.”
* * *
The surface of Zala IV was like the inside of a greenhouse—hot, humid, and covered with plants. Kennedy had stayed behind to begin the arduous task of offloading personnel, CASPer suits, and transport units, and to move them to command central, which was only a few hundred yards away from the mining operations. Simon had volunteered to go and search the wreckage of Alpha Breaker with a handful of men, since it would be some time until the dropship was fully unloaded and airborne again. The majority of troops were needed back with Kennedy to mobilize the cargo and get everything set up so they could begin their job. They weren’t anywhere near the humanoids’ territory, so the few men Simon took with him would likely be enough.
The CASPers hadn’t been outfitted with ordnance prior to being loaded on the dropship. In the event of a crash such as the Alpha Breaker had suffered, such a move would almost guarantee that each of the mech suits would explode on impact. Since they weren’t outfitted with explosives, there was at least a chance that some of the CASPers had survived the crash. It was unlikely any of the men had suited up while on board the dropship, since getting trapped inside of one in the event of disaster would turn the suit from a weapon into a sarcophagus. Kennedy had theorized their mission would be one of search and rescue. Simon still thought salvage would be the name of the game.
“Should we get the suits armed up?” Parker asked Simon, glancing back into the ship’s cargo hold at the suits standing there. “It won’t take long.”
“Just bring a weapon,” Simon ordered. “We won’t need the CASPers. We’re miles away from where the enemy is supposed to be. We shouldn’t run into much trouble this far out, according to the intel.”
“The hostiles may be miles away, but they aren’t blind,” Stevens spoke up. “I’m sure they saw the crash and the fireball that came afterward.”
“I, for one, am suiting up,” a mech pilot named Norman said. “There may not be any ammo in the guns of my suit, but the armor will be a welcome insurance policy.”
“The suit will slow us down,” Simon said. “But, on second thought, we may need the CASPer’s strength to get into the crashed dropship. The hydraulics and pneumatics may come in handy. We’ll just take
the one, though.”
“Let’s just hope they don’t interpret that crash and the resulting fire as an attack,” Norman spoke up. “The last thing we need are hundreds of angry monsters in our faces before we even get geared up and moving. Can I just go on record as saying I don’t like not having any ammo in my suit?”
“Duly noted,” Simon said, not bothering to hide his sarcasm. “Anything thing else you’d like to share? Maybe a commentary on the world of politics? A monologue on the futility of life? Anything at all?”
“No, sir,” Norman said.
“Good. Less talk, more walk,” Simon said. “If there are soldiers who are injured, we need to get to them as quickly as possible. If no one survived, then our mission will be simple. We assess if there’s anything useful at the crash site, radio our findings, and take what we can. Now, let’s move.”
Sweat poured from them almost immediately as they began the trek through the alien jungle to the crash site. Simon envied Norman in his CASPer. The CASPers were sealed environments, so Norman was way better off than the rest of them. Maybe he’d been the smart one after all.
They didn’t need a beacon, a tracking unit, or anything as technical as the topographical scanners onboard the dropship to find where Alpha Breaker had fallen. The column of smoke rising from the thick canopy in the distance told them all they needed to know.
In places, the underbrush was so thick it was like trying to walk through a wall. Everyone had been equipped with their own machete the moment they knew what the conditions were like on Zala IV. The men were grateful for them now, as they slashed sections of foliage away with their glowing red blades. Norman plunged through it first in his CASPer, making a path, and the rest of the men came behind, slashing and cutting and hacking their way into the heart of the forest. Between the machetes they carried and Norman’s CASPer, they were able to move quickly through the dense jungle and arrived at the crash site in half an hour. What they saw there, however, confused them.
The mangled, burned bodies of what looked like all the crew of Alpha Breaker had been stacked neatly outside the ship like cordwood. They certainly hadn’t crashed and ended up that way by coincidence. Someone had placed them there.
“Safeties off, gentlemen,” Simon said, holding up a hand and lowering his voice to a whisper. “We have company.”
They crept forward carefully, weapons held in front of them, eyes scanning the terrain for movement. The dropship was mangled and scarcely more than heaps of scrap metal. Parts of the craft were still smoldering, and the smoke was thick enough to cut with a laser knife. A gaping tear in the hull of the ship nearly split it into two distinct halves. Despite the firelight, the inside of the ship was filled with shadows.
“This is a bad idea,” Stevens muttered. “Don’t say I didn’t tell—”
His words were cut short as a spear with a point the size of a traffic cone clove his head from his shoulders. Blood jetted upward in a massive scarlet arc, and he went down without seeing his attacker. The massive spear embedded itself in the ground just beyond where his body had fallen. Simon stared at it in shock, then forced himself to snap out of it.
“Down!” Simon said, throwing himself into a gully near the crash site as their mission suddenly turned into one of survival.
The spear had come from the party’s right flank. Simon’s eyes scanned the trees in that direction, desperately trying to catch sight of their attacker, but the forest was dense, and visibility was at a minimum. Anyone or anything could be hiding in it. Norman, unwilling to be a sitting duck, was already charging the trees, trudging through the underbrush in his CASPer.
“Wait,” Simon said, but the pilot wasn’t listening. Despite what had happened to Stevens, Norman thought himself protected in the suit. Simon would have assumed so, too.
A second massive spear flew through the air. It slammed into the front of Norman’s CASPer with impossible force. Simon watched in disbelief as the CASPer turned back toward him. The spear had pierced the armor of the suit. A mixture of coolant fluids and Norman’s blood leaked from the hole where the spear was buried in the CASPer’s chest. Norman tried to take a step, but he didn’t make it far. Instead the CASPer toppled over onto its face and didn’t move again.
“Holy frag, sir,” Parker muttered next to him. “Those things just took out a CASPer.”
“I can see that, Parker,” Simon snarled. “Shut up and let me think!”
They needed to get the hell out, as fast as they could. If the things in the trees could take out a CASPer, they’d likely have no trouble with four guys carrying rifles. Simon was a pilot, though, not a line officer. All this crap was outside his skill set.
“Corporal Williams!” Simon called out.
“Here, LT!” Williams answered him.
“You’re the ranking trooper. Get us out of here,” Simon ordered.
Corporal Williams stared at him and then nodded. “Roger that, sir.”
Williams took the lead. “LT, I want you to lay down some heavy cover fire in the direction that second spear came from. Just be sure not to shoot us in the back, sir. Parker, Sym, you’re with me. We’re gonna show those fraggers that Hellhounds aren’t such easy prey.”
“On my mark…” Williams started counting down, “Three…Two…Move!”
Simon popped up from the groove the Alpha Breaker had cut into the ground and opened fire. He hosed the woods with a stream of bullets that sent splinters flying as they dug into the trees. The sound of a pained grunt preceded a hulking eight foot tall creature as it came rushing out of its cover. Simon swung his rifle to focus his fire on it, emptying the last of his magazine into the thing. Blood splattered from the holes his rounds ripped in its body, but the creature refused to fall.
Williams had led the others in a mad charge toward the trees, their own weapons blazing. He yanked a grenade from his belt and lobbed it into the woods. He and the others hit the dirt again as the grenade detonated in the trees, setting several of them on fire.
From his position, Simon could see the grenade had killed one of the creatures. Bits and pieces of the thing had gone spinning through the air as the grenade went off. The blast had also driven two more of the beasts out of the trees. One of them appeared wounded, cradling a blood-smeared arm to its chest. The other hefted its spear and threw it at the soldiers, impaling Parker where he lay. His head and feet jerked upward as it entered the center of his back. Blood gushed from Parker’s mouth as his head collapsed onto the dirt.
Williams and the other soldier came to their feet, rifles aimed at the two approaching giants. Bullets from their weapons ripped into the two creatures, peppering their bodies with jagged holes. The wounded one went down. The other kept on coming, despite the damage it absorbed. The creature plucked an axe from where it dangled on its belt and threw it. The axe spun end over end on the way to its target. The soldier beside Williams died instantly as the axe buried itself in his forehead. His rifle fell from his hands as his body was tossed backward by the impact.
Simon’s rifle clicked empty as the creature charging him continued forward. He had no idea how many rounds he’d put into the thing, but it just didn’t want to die. Simon knew he was dead if the thing reached him. He turned and started running, even as his fingers clawed at the holster strap of his sidearm, trying to draw it. Simon heard Williams’ rifle booming behind him.
Aiming carefully, Williams fired a three-round burst that blew apart the creature’s skull. The beast’s corpse hit the ground rolling, carried on by its own forward momentum.
“Sir!” Williams shouted at Simon as he ran to catch up to him.
Simon waited for the corporal to catch up, but as Williams reached him, the younger man shoved him forward again.
“We need to get back to Alpha Banger now!” Williams told him.
* * *
Lieutenant Rai stood in the clearing, watching the dropships come and go as they deposited the Hellhounds and their gear onto the surface of Zala IV. The ride
down had been just as bad as she’d thought it would be. She’d been thankful that Kennedy and Simon had been at the controls of the shuttle that had carried her to the surface, or things could have been a lot worse. Those two were the best dropship pilots she knew. Her first order of business had been to get the CASPers under her command loaded up with ordnance. Norman, one of her CASPer troopers, had been drafted by Simon, with her permission, to go check out the wreckage of Alpha Breaker. Simon and the soldiers he took with him hadn’t returned yet, but Rai wasn’t worried. They hadn’t been gone that long, and she had a lot to keep her busy.
Hellhound CASPers functioned in squads of four. Her personal squad included Kylie, Norman, and Summers. With Norman gone, they were a man short until he returned. Rai didn’t know Norman well; he was a rookie and had only been added to the unit in the last few weeks to take the place of Bates, who’d bought it during the Hellhounds’ previous contract.
Security for the drop zone was in the hands of Lieutenant Peterson and Sergeant Glover, who were in charge of the unit’s infantry. The infantry troopers had spread out and secured the drop zone, while the CASPers were still getting loaded up. The aliens they had been sent to wipe out were supposed to be miles from the drop zone and so far, that intel appeared accurate. There had been no sign of hostiles.
Time ticked by slowly as Rai waited for Colonel Hendershot to give the order to move out. She hadn’t seen him since landing, but she knew he was fine and tucked away inside the mobile command center accompanying the APCs. Rai had heard him barking orders over the unit’s general comm channel.
His voice rang out in her ear over the command channel that only he, herself, and Lieutenant Peterson had access to. “Rai. Sitrep.”
CASPer Alamo Page 14
