She nodded and put a hand on her husband’s shoulder. When she looked up, she smiled proudly.
“Here it comes,” Char said. She didn’t have to point as the ballistic canister raced toward them. Its stubby wings allowed it to fly parallel to the ground. Small rockets ignited at the last second to slow it down and a second set ignited to help it settle to the ground. It hit with a great thud.
“Woohoo!” Terry shouted. He waved at the others to spread out. They had less than half a mile between them and their resupply.
Secure the site with your mechs, he told Kaeden. Almost immediately, the two on the left started running. The two on the right pushed forward a few moments later.
Do you see the extra suits? Kae asked.
“I’ll be damned!” Terry exclaimed. He raised a fist over his head and pumped it up and down, signaling for movement at a double time. “Pick up the pace, people.”
Char jogged easily at his side. “You’re not getting one of those,” she told him.
“Not even for a little while?” Terry asked, knowing that she was right. They’d discussed it and his best place was in managing the battle, not duking it out on the front lines.
“Kimber!” Terry yelled over his shoulder. His daughter quickly caught up to him. “Looks like four more mechs. Take care of manning them, if you would.”
“I’ll let the four who showed the most promise in the simulator know.” She ran off.
“How easy was that?” Char asked as her eyes scanned the area around the canister. She grabbed Terry’s arm and slowed. She took a deep breath and bellowed, “LOCK AND LOAD!”
The War Axe
The captain vaulted three steps at a time as he raced downward. He reached the ship’s third level and exited the stairwell, running forward along the starboard passageway. Others were running in the same direction.
Micky stepped aside to let the others pass. He stayed far to the right side as he walked forward, looking at this and that. He wanted to be where the damage was right at that moment, but he also didn’t want to panic his crew. He pulled his hood on as he approached a closed bulkhead.
Smedley, is this what we’re using for an airlock? the captain asked.
>>It is, Captain. As more reports come in, the damage is not as bad as we first thought, but without repairs done at a shipyard, I fear we won’t be able to survive a second attack like that.<<
Micky stopped, stepping into a transverse passage to stay out of the way.
Do you know what hit us?
>>Commander Lagunov is collecting samples now. I hesitate to guess when we will have a definitive answer soon. There is plenty of debris lodged within the hull from which to make a determination.<<
Thanks, Smedley. Not that I’m happy to hear about the debris, but I am happy that we’re still flying and not in a billion pieces as part of our own debris field. No sense wasting time speculating when there’s real work to be done. Open the bulkhead, please.
>>There is a small repair party coming through. Wait one moment,<< Smedley replied.
The captain returned to the corridor. When the bulkhead lifted upwards, two crew supported a third between them. The mechanic had a tourniquet around one leg, keeping his ship suit from leaking atmosphere.
There was a jagged cut through the suit and into the man’s leg. Micky hurried to pull a stretcher from the wall and set it on the ground. The man winced as he climbed on. The other two crew picked the stretcher up and headed down the connecting corridor where an elevator was located to take them closer to the Pod Doc where the man’s leg would get repaired.
Micky watched them go before turning and walking into the space they were using for an airlock. The bulkhead dropped down behind him. When the forward area opened, he saw the chaos beyond.
“My beautiful ship,” he whispered.
***
Joseph and the Podder ran past Terry and Char. Timmons hurried forward and took aim, but Terry pushed the barrel of the werewolf’s railgun away.
Joseph held up his hands. “He said this is a bad place for a landing!” the vampire yelled over his shoulder. On cue, the can rocked slightly before breaking through the surface and sliding underground.
“No you don’t!” Terry yelled and started sprinting. He pulled his Jean Dukes Special, checked the setting with his thumb, and started looking for targets. Terry asked Char out the side of his mouth, “What did you see?”
“A mob of Podders. A big group just below ground level. It’s like the can dropped right in the middle of a Pod convention.”
Wall-to-wall Podders underground. Follow us in, Kae, Terry passed over his comm chip as he looked around him to see what forces were at his command. werewolves, weretigers, mechs, a platoon of enhanced warriors, and one dog. Kimber! Secure the can and get your people into those suits. We’ll need the firepower, and now would be a good time to get it.
Terry accelerated as he approached the crater forming around the can. It dropped two meters and then five. Terry launched himself through the air. Char and Dokken followed as they aimed to land atop the canister, between the suits that were latched tightly to the top of what looked like little more than an old Earth shipping crate with wings and an aerodynamic nose cone.
Timmons and Sue were the first to fire into a mass of Podders that appeared from the cave-in. Shonna and Merrit leapt into the crater, sliding to the bottom where they put their backs against the can and fired into the relative dark of the cavern beyond.
Joseph and the Podder captive were next into the hole. The alien slid down the wall on its wide stump-like legs. Joseph fell onto the Podder and hung on to its blue shell as he was dragged downward. Petricia jumped in behind them.
Terry noticed that she didn’t have a railgun with her, but he didn’t have time to dwell on it. As his eyes adjusted, he saw Podders filling the tunnels that crisscrossed the area just below the surface. The can had landed on top of a broad cavern. The can crashed through as Terry and Char hit, tipped sideways, and then settled right side up.
Terry and Char clung to the armored suits until the can stopped moving. Terry aimed his pistol, then pulled up as Joseph and the Podder ran into his line of fire.
Slugs started impacting around them. Terry took two in the leg and he fell over. Another hit Char in the shoulder, just outside of her ballistic vest. The pistol flew from her numb hand. Slugs slammed into their chests.
“Move, MOVE!” Terry growled as he forced his way over the mech suits and threw himself over the edge. Char dove after him, hitting and rolling, screaming in agony from the damage already done to her body. Her nanocytes were already streaming into the wound.
Dokken landed on top of Terry. TH grunted from the impact. He struggled to stand, using the canister to slide his body upright. The sounds of railguns echoed throughout the chamber.
The werewolves were on the other side. Terry belted out a war cry as he started firing. On the number five setting, he was blowing two Podders backward at a time. He dialed it up to ten.
Char fired her nine-millimeter one-handed with unerring precision. She’d always been the best pistol shot Terry had ever known. She never wavered in combat. He couldn’t wait until she carried a JDS.
He hoped they’d survive to see that day.
Blood poured down his shattered leg. More slugs slammed into his body. One bounced off his helmet, shaking his brain and raining sparks before his eyes.
Dokken barked furiously, and then Char went down.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
The captain worked his way past the debris in the corridor. When the hull breached, anything not tied down headed toward the breach. The auto-sealing system filled the gap before too much gear was vented to space.
Crew members from all departments were there, forming a chain and moving things out of the way to return the corridor to a certain state of normalcy.
The red emergency lights painted an eerie glow throughout the area.
Smedley, bring up the white lights in this area so
we can see what the hell we’re doing. At our speed, the chance of a white light giving our position away is irrelevant.
The lights came on, muted at first, and then slowly worked toward full brightness.
The captain spotted his structural department head not far away inspecting the breach into the corridor.
“What do you think?” Micky asked when he arrived.
“I think we scratched the paint on our new ship,” Blagun replied in a loud voice to be heard as he stepped back and put his hands on his hips. He looked unflustered. His hood was in place and his ship suit was clean, unscratched.
“How bad?” Micky was ready for the worst.
Blagun turned toward his captain and cocked his head as if confused. “The War Axe was built for this. We’re still accelerating into space, flying without any problems. We don’t want any more of this garbage.” The commander pointed at the split in the hull that destroyed the room beyond and the walls all the way to the hull. “But that doesn’t mean we aren’t fine. Give my bots a day or two and the breaches will be welded shut. It won’t be pretty, but it’ll be sound. Just tell me that we’re not flying through any more minefields at warp seven and we’ll be okay.”
“Warp seven?” the captain wondered. “You know it was a minefield?”
“What else would do this?” Blagun looked again at the damage before waving at the captain to follow him. The way forward was crowded with more than debris. The metal bulkheads were twisted and contorted. The two men worked their way around them until they found themselves past the furthest work crew.
They heard the clicks and clacks of a bot installing metal sheeting over a nearby crease. “How many breaches are there?” Micky asked.
Blagun produced a small pad. He tapped it a couple times and then started scrolling. The longer he scrolled, the more the captain’s heart sank.
“One hundred and seven, but that’s not as bad as it sounds.”
“That sounds pretty bad,” the captain countered.
“We already have forty-seven of them sealed. We’ll have another fifty sealed in an hour. The last ten will take longer,” the commander replied.
“What capabilities did we lose?”
“Starboard main weapon is down and can’t be repaired. Right now, we can’t open the hangar deck to recover the drop ships, but I’m positive that we can fix that ourselves, at least enough to recover the shuttle pods, even if we have to do it one at a time through a half-open door. As long as you give me a week to make the repairs,” Blagun said, raising one eyebrow.
“We need to be able to recover them whenever they’re ready. Since it’ll take three days for us to slow down, turn around, and head back to the planet, you have that long to get one of the hangar bay doors operational. We may have more time, but don’t count on it.”
The captain wasn’t kidding. He was still angry about the destruction to his ship by what should have been a marginally capable space force.
“You can count on us. They can count on us. It’ll be ready when they are,” the commander promised.
The captain turned and walked away, refusing to look further at the damage to his ship because he could do nothing about it, and he was holding up the people who could.
***
Terry fired his JDS as quickly as he could recover his aim after each trigger pull. He fired in a pattern, blasting swaths of blue aliens from the connected tunnels.
Suddenly, there were no more slugs flying in his direction. He struggled forward, his leg still damaged. He needed to buy time for his body to repair itself. A slug had hit his neck and blood was running freely down his chest. He slapped a free hand over the wound and struggled one-legged over the rubble until he got to Char. Dokken was standing between her and the closest tunnel, growling at the darkness beyond.
Terry fell over the last rocks, landing heavily next to Char. There was a crease across her forehead where a slug had hit. Terry checked the wound.
It hadn’t penetrated. Char groaned as Terry pulled her roughly to him. Her shoulder was torn up. Her ballistic vest was destroyed. Blood covered her face.
Terry couldn’t pull her to her feet because he wasn’t able to stand. Kaeden. We need you. We’re both down on the starboard side of the can.
On my way, Kaeden replied.
Railguns continued to fire rapidly from the other side. Pings from slugs hitting the canister pounded out an ear-splitting staccato. Terry held Char and rocked. Dokken started to bark.
Terry fired blindly into the tunnel. Three shots, left to right. Dokken settled down.
“Do you see anything?” Terry asked in a normal voice.
They’re down there. I can smell them, Dokken replied.
Terry looked at his leg. The wound was closed, but he couldn’t put any weight on it. He let go of the wound on his neck. It too had sealed. He pulled his canteen and took a long drink. He almost jumped out of his skin when the mech slammed into the ground less than a meter in front of him. Dokken bolted into the tunnel, but quickly returned.
“Nice entrance,” Terry told the back of the suit.
The ground shook three more times as the mechs arrived within the tunnel.
Expand the perimeter and then let’s get those mechs unbolted, Terry broadcasted using his comm chip. He was starting to get the hang of using it. Instantaneous command and control for a unit no matter the size. He had thought it would come in handy, but now he was positive.
Kaeden stepped past the German Shepherd and headed into the tunnel. His large railgun cracked rapidly, unleashing its full destructive power against a relatively defenseless enemy. The mech backed up and assumed a defensive position, the railgun swinging menacingly back and forth.
“Where’s Joseph?” Terry bellowed. Where’s Joseph?
“Over here, Terry!” Timmons yelled from the other side of the can.
We have a problem, Joseph told Terry using his comm chip.
Explain.
My friend here says this is a bad Pod. His Pod is at war with this one, Joseph explained.
How in the fuck does that work? Tell him to tell this Pod that they are all going to die if they keep coming at us.
Can’t do it, TH. He doesn’t speak their language.
He’s a Podder. How can he not speak Podder? What in the jump the fuck up and down has he been speaking with you? Terry tried to stand because he wanted to look Joseph in the face for this conversation. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
Telepathy is different, but Podders are like humans. They grow up in different areas, speak different languages. How’s your French?
Don’t fuck with me, Joseph. You have got to be shitting me. Why didn’t he tell us they were in the middle of a civil war?
That’s probably my fault. I thought I understood what he was saying, but there’s a lot of nuance. Joseph and the Podder appeared around the front of the can and approached Terry. “My bust, TH.”
Terry looked at the vampire and the Podder captive. “If he’s not with them, then why did he run when the can fell through the crust?”
“He was trying to stop us from getting into the middle of the bad guys. His words, Terry.” Joseph held his hands up in surrender.
“Our Podder can’t talk with these Podders, but that’s okay, because his Pod is at war with these. I expect these are the ones that killed the Crenellians, but since they can’t tell the Podders apart, they’re killing all Podders. So how can we tell them apart?” Terry wondered.
Joseph tapped on the Podder’s shell, nodded, then tapped some more.
Terry waited patiently, willing time to pass more quickly so his leg would heal enough that he could stand up and go hit something. Char stirred, struggling to open her eyes. Her pupils were dilated as she fought against the pain within her head.
“He said the bad ones are blue,” Joseph said cautiously.
“Goddammit, Joseph! Now I know you’re fucking with me. They’re all BLUE!”
“I know, I know. He tried t
o describe the difference, but imagine using words to tell the difference between sky blue and robin’s egg blue.”
“Is there a difference?” Terry asked.
“For a snappy dresser like you? Probably not. Felicity could probably tell the difference.”
A mech from the other side of the can opened fire. Joseph’s eyes darted toward the sound of the railgun.
***
Kimber arrayed the platoon outside the crater. She heard the fire, saw the slugs ricocheting off the can. She couldn’t see clearly through the dust and debris into the darkness below to see how the Bad Company was faring. The volume of fire from both sides was deafening.
When the Jean Dukes Special opened up, the entire dynamic changed. Podder slug-throwers were mostly silenced. Railguns sent darts at hypervelocity into the tunnels. The echoes died away into an eerie silence.
“Dad?”
She heard his call for Kaeden to help and breathed a sigh of relief. Cory and Ramses tried to get past her and into the hole. Kimber held them back.
“I don’t think the battle’s over down there. Wait until Kae and the armor boys get into place.” Kimber had a firm grip on Cory’s arm. Her blue eyes flashed angrily for a moment, but she understood.
“Let me know as soon as I can go. I think Mom and Dad are both injured. They need me,” she pleaded.
“I can’t imagine anyone down there who isn’t injured.” Kim craned her neck to look from one warrior to the next. “Gomez, Kelly, Capples, Fleeter, get in the hole and bring those suits to life.”
“Yes, ma’am!” came a chorus of replies. Two men and two women jogged to the edge of the hole, assessing the distance to jump to the top of the canister before determining that it was too far.
Kim pointed to the side where a slope led into the hole. The werewolves had taken that way in.
The four jumped over the edge one after the other, sliding into the cavern below. They hit the bottom, came to their feet, and raced to the can, where they used the stubby wings to help them climb to the top of the canister where the suits were affixed. They each took one, studying how the suits were held in place.
The Bad Company Page 9
