“Sixty-seven,” the other said hurriedly.
Their pounding feet echoed through the empty halls, and they came to a screeching halt in front of Jack’s cell. “Is that him?”
“I dunno… There’s an awful lot of beard in the way.”
“Is this a jail break or improv night at the Chuckle Hut?” Jack asked.
Charlie lowered his hood, and then the five-foot hoodlum beside him lowered hers as well, revealing Lisa Albright’s glittering smile.
Charlie spoke while he attached a small explosive to the cell door. “Good to see you, bro. I thought for sure you were a goner.”
“I didn’t,” Lisa said matter-of-factly, and added, “You’re gonna want to get down.” She and Charlie both ducked to the side.
Jack ignored her, and blithely sat on his small bunk with his hands behind his head. The charge blew the lock seconds later, the blast pinpoint specific, producing little more than a few stray sparks and a puff of smoke.
Charlie pulled the gate and it rumbled across the floor, while Lisa stood in the opening, waving for Jack to follow. “Come on, hero. Time’s a-wastin’.”
He pushed himself up, stepped into the opening, took Lisa in his arms and kissed her hard. When he pulled away, she had a sour sort of smile on her face. “You could use some mouth wash,” she said.
“Sorry,” he said. “Been in prison. Second in so many months. Oral hygiene hasn’t been a priority.”
“Regardless,” she said, nuzzling against his chest for a moment, “I’m glad to see you, too.”
“Come on, love birds,” Charlie chided. “We need to get a move on before someone notices you’re missing.”
“Like I’ve never done this before,” Jack said, and the three took off at a swift pace.
Charlie knew the inside of the rat maze like the back of his hand, and he led the way. He ducked in and out of shady corners and paused before every guard station, until they were clear of the detention district altogether. Then they threw caution to the wind and ran at break-neck pace all the way back to the loading docks. Nikitin and Chase were waiting there in a four-wheeler with the engine running.
“I’ll be damned,” Nikitin said. “I will most surely be damned.”
Chase revved the engine and said, “Yer a sight for sore eyes, boss.”
Jack smiled. He’d been sure he would never see those faces again, yet there they all were. They were more than friends; after all they’d been through together, they were his family. Even Charlie.
The three jumped into the jeep, and Chase hit the gas. The wheels squealed, the vehicle lurched forward and it flew through the tunnel leading outside. To Jack’s shock and dismay, the armored doors were gaping wide open. “The man I was with, did they capture him?”
“Nope,” Charlie said. “He made it out before they even got the doors closed, and they canceled the lockdown. Must be real fast, that one… left two dozen dislocated shoulders behind him.”
“Fast isn’t even the half of it,” Jack said, but his words were lost in the wind. The jeep raced out of the Ark and into the open night air, then slowed and trundled along the lightless roads.
“So, where to?” Chase asked after a half-klick.
“South,” was all Jack said, and Chase took them Southward until the village thinned and disappeared behind them. After another half-hour across the open steppe, the copse where Jack left Felix and the others came into view.
Jack tapped Chase on the shoulder and said, “Slow down when we get near that group of trees. Listen… I know you folks have heard some rumors about me turning traitor, and throwing my hat in with the aliens.”
“No worries,” Charlie said. “We wouldn’t have busted you out if we believed a word of it, bro.”
Nikitin said, “You’ve saved my ass enough times to earn a little blind trust.”
“Yeah, about that…” Jack said and paused to look for the right words. “I need to cash that trust in. I didn’t exactly come back alone.”
“We gathered as much.” Charlie gave him a pat on the shoulder. “Managed to spring a couple other prisoners on your way out?”
“No. I came back with the jailer and three of his ET buddies.”
A silence fell over the passengers, so brittle that Jack thought it might shatter.
“Your partner. The guy that made it out of the Ark?” Nikitin asked.
“Yeah. That’s him.”
Jack could smell the confusion.
“So… there are humans working with the aliens?” Charlie asked.
“No, he just looks like us. It’s a disguise.”
Nikitin was the first to speak. “Hey pal… I don’t think I’m alone in saying that you’re actually shaking my faith a little bit here.”
“I know, but I promise I’m no traitor. I’m trying to…”
“To stop the war,” Lisa said. “What else? You’re the same man you’ve always been. Still standing up for what we all used to believe in. Still trying to save lives, no matter the cost.”
“Any which way I can.”
“You’re a real stubborn son of a bitch,” Charlie said. “You always took after dad, that way.”
“It’s the only virtue I’ve got. That’s a virtue, right?”
Lisa shook her head. “Not one of the classical ones, no.”
“Bottom line is that a big ass stampede is about to storm through here and trample this place into dust, and millions are going to die unless we do something about it.”
“What kind of something?” Charlie asked.
Nikitin twisted in his seat and looked Jack in the eyes. “Does your plan involve doing something dangerous or stupid?”
“I’m not sure yet, but probably both.”
Nikitin laughed. “Right on. Count me in.”
“Why not,” Charlie said, “I don’t much like the colonel’s battle plan anyway, and I’ve never been too attached to breathing.”
“You know what he’s up to?” Jack asked.
“Mostly. There’s something super secret brewing that I couldn’t get in on, but I know the major moves. I’ve also heard rumors that they jury-rigged the nuclear reactor into some kind of last resort weapon, in case things go real bad. Command has a real no surrender mentality, and frankly, these aren’t my kind of tactics.”
“Me neither. You in, Chase?”
“You know me, boss. I don’t ask too many questions. Just point me in a direction and I’ll drive.”
“What about you, Lisa? With me?”
“You need to ask? To the ends of the Earth and right on into hell.”
The jeep slowed and pulled around the circle of trees. Jack took a deep breath and said, “Then it’s settled. Do me a favor and keep cool when you meet my new friends. They may be monsters, but they’re pretty decent folk.”
Chapter 48:
Salamander
The day of the attack arrived, and Elkellian was mounted up and ready to go. He felt nervous, as did his Yuon Kwon, Klethis Aum-Auresh. They were eager to get things started, hoping the sprint would calm their nerves. The waiting was always the hardest part.
Rider and mount strutted and paced together, while the Silgama—the many-legged constructor Yuon Kwon—assembled fortifications all around them. Elkellian tried to calm Klethis, whispering, “Soon, honorable one. Just another few moments, and then it will be our time.”
The other Yuon Kwon and their Alarhya stood at ease, and Elkellian wondered how they did it. He was always a bundle of nervous energy before a battle, and he worried that it was just his nerves and not Klethis at all. It was sometimes hard to tell which was which, even for a practiced rider.
He had reason to be nervous, though. This would be the last great battle. Broken remnants of the Nefrem were still scattered around the planet, but the great bulk of their military was here, and they would fall. There could be no other outcome. Elkellian cherished the thought of a day when the Nefrem were nothing but a legend, a scary story whispered to children over firelight,
and the Oikeyans’ new home was truly their own once and for all.
Then the war horns sounded and it was time. Elkellian and Klethis whooped together, their combined voices rising above the din of Yuon Kwon hooves. “For freedom!” they cried, their long legs launching them out over the open ground, and the advance had begun.
Neck and neck, the rush of Yuon Kwon raced out across the plains toward the Nefrem fortress. Elkellian and Klethis became pure speed, each stride driving them faster until the world around became a blur and only their distant target was clear.
Open soil gave way to the enemy’s primitive huts, and the pair cut hard to the left. Klethis’ agile hooves found footing between the close packed shelters, while Elkellian scanned the clutter for his target.
There it was.
Klethis’ hooves clattered, his legs bent and filled with energy, then he leapt high into the air. He was pressed against the sky. The world was eerily quiet at the top of the arc until the wind rushed in to fill it.
Rider and mount cried out in unison, and spread their cannon arms like short, stubby wings. They sailed down toward the Nefrem air-defense tower and fired, bright blue blasts streaking out and battering the target into a cloud of smoke and burning debris.
The tower was no more. Elkellian and Klethis plummeted through the cloud, reoriented in mid-air, and cranked hard to the side. As they hit the ground, they rebounded and raced off in a new direction, already on the hunt for the next tower.
***
The sky was clear except for a single cloud. Zelliar and Vissa Aum-Heirath climbed high into the air, twisting and spinning as they went, the rest of their fighter wing trailing behind in a delta formation. The rider and his flyer cut thrust and allowed their momentum to carry them up into stall. The Yuon Kwon’s nose just barely touched the misty cloud, then together they tumbled back toward the swollen Earth.
Clouds were good omens, and since there was only one, Zelliar gave it a gentle kiss before rushing into battle. The fin surrounding Vissa’s hull spun into motion, and her thrust returned. Mount and rider howled as they bolted down from the heavens and opened fire on the ramshackle settlement below.
The timing was exact. The Auresh walkers sprinted clear, having destroyed the air defense towers and paved the way for the Heirath flyers to finish the job. Zelliar’s fighter wing stretched apart and spat blue flames at the sprawling wooden city, which lit up like kindling and choked the air with smoke. They turned the Nefrem settlement into a raging firestorm, a twisting, demonic inferno crackling beneath a sky of charcoal grey.
Flames reached upward, with only the dirt mound that was the Nefrem fortress standing above them, uncaring and unaffected at the center of the blaze. Zelliar had an odd feeling looking upon the fortress, as if it were moulting, shedding its skin and transforming into something else. Something unknown and terrible.
No matter. He could hardly wait to see it smashed to pieces, and he wouldn’t have long to wait. He called out to the rest of the fighter wing, who returned to formation and left the battlefield as one.
***
Ten-thousand Heirath Yuon Kwon filled the darkening skies as they formed up and raced away from the burning lands. At the battle line beneath them, a Kitsu named Arcotis sat atop one of the many Khoom Yuon Kwon, the massive siege-cannons which sat aimed at the fortress. The Khoom could fire incredible distances, but their vision was terrible, making the Kitsu and their sharp eyes ideal companions.
When the last of the Heirath were clear, Arcotis gave the signal. The great walker leaned forward, braced itself and fired its unbelievably large cannon with a deafening thump. The other Khoom and their Kitsu fired all around the great circle of the Oikeyan battle line, creating a thunderous cacophony. Their rounds exploded in star-shaped bursts on the other side of the inferno, biting deep craters out of the armored mound.
The rhythmic thump of the cannons continued throughout the day while the crackling firestorm raged, yet the Nefrem fortress remained. Arcotis called out adjustments, placing shells all over his target, but the building stood despite him, pitted and chewed up yet unassailable and imperious above the flames.
Twilight came, and the charcoal sky turned black. The fires burnt on, unquenchable and undying, lighting the landscape in flickering yellow and orange, but still the fortress stood.
Arcotis called out another adjustment and shouted “Fire!” above the racket. He watched yet another blast take an insignificant hunk out of the fortress, grimacing with the realization that cracking it might take all night.
***
Daniel waited in a dark, stuffy, cramped room. There were other men at either shoulder, in front of and behind him, and he felt like a sardine. Or maybe a canned mackerel. Or anchovy. Definitely a fish of some sort.
They’d been standing there in the dark throughout the day, while the thunder of nearby artillery rocked the shelter over and over again. It didn’t seem so bad at first, but after more than eight hours of standing nuts-to-butts, Daniel was uncomfortable in a way he never thought possible.
Then a red light flicked on to signal the assault, and Daniel and the others checked their weapons one last time.
“Locked and loaded,” a sergeant yelled.
“Ready to rock and roll!” the others replied.
Ground charges went off. The Earth rumbled and shook as thousand upon thousands of buried explosives detonated for tens of kilometers around, tearing the ground asunder and disrupting the enemy line. Alien screams and panicked cries rose above the din, as the constant thump of artillery finally came to an end.
The release hatch opened with a groan, revealing the dim and smoky night, the riven landscape and raging fires beyond. Gun emplacements on either side of the hatch opened fire, spitting burning lead at the alien bastards, their bright tracers streaking the dark sky above.
“Go, go, go!” Daniel shouted, accompanied by the sound of boots pounding dirt.
All along the battle line, a flash flood of fresh human troops numbering in the millions surged from their underground shelters, filling the ragged craters left by their explosives. The teams took turns moving, odds then evens, providing cover fire while their counterparts advanced, then striving for a few more meters. They squeezed the enemy in towards the Ark and the ravenous blaze which surrounded it.
Daniel’s squad pushed fast and hard, and as a group, dove to their bellies and opened fire. Their barking rifles punched holes in the invaders, who scrambled for cover in half-demolished forts. The twitching corpses of the giant cannon walkers lay beyond, their legs shattered by the surprise attack.
“Move up the MG!” Daniel shouted, and a gunner stomped up behind him, hit the deck and leaned into his weapon. The gun spat another stream of hot lead into the enemy hordes.
Grenades arced high, rolled across the ground and exploded, raining shrapnel in every direction. Rockets whistled by, their smoke trails gleaming in the orange light of the thriving inferno.
“We got ‘em. Keep up the pressure!”
“Right flank. Pin it down.”
“Die bastards!”
Daniel was sighting targets and dropping one alien after the next when he heard a sound like no other. He heard and felt it, like the buzz of a defective speaker at a concert, but amplified a thousand times. He looked all over for the source of the noise, and finally found a titanic silhouette in the smoke filled sky.
An instant later, metallic bubbles like boiling quicksilver appeared around the alien troops. Bullets and rockets alike bounced off the bubbles impotently, unable to penetrate or even disturb them, while the enemy regrouped inside.
Just like that, the advantage went back to the invaders, while the human soldiers sought cover and dug in. A new battle line emerged, with forces entrenched on either side, lobbing explosives forward and firing at anything stupid enough to raise its head. It ceased to be a battle, and instead became a meat grinder, churning human and alien alike into an undifferentiated smear of stinking offal.
Supp
ressed by fire and locked in place, the soldiers on both sides fought without rest. The lines never moved more than a meter in either direction, and the carnage continued until morning.
Chapter 49:
Donovan’s Counter-Attack
Legacy’s bridge was oddly quiet. The three tiered ivory-white room had been redecorated, now sporting a combination of human and Eireki technology, as did much of the rest of the ship. Dozens of computer workstations lined the room, each manned by a crew member busily making final preparations for the return.
Marcus Donovan was floating in place at the command station, the exact spot where he was bonded to Legacy more than a year before. He’d become so adept at manipulating the gravity systems that his feet never touched the floor anymore. He was content instead to fly from one position to the next, like a proper creature of the void.
“This is taking too damn long,” he said. “Mason, give me some good news.”
“Loading procedures are nearly complete, sir. We’re waiting on the last cargo shipment right now.”
Much to Marcus’ surprise, things had gone largely according to plan during the previous nine months. The two factories, one inside Legacy and the other on the surface of Mars, had worked non-stop, fed by materials reclaimed from the two small moons. The fleet of tugs completely dismantled Deimos, and Phobos was nearly hollow now.
The three habitation domes of Ares Colony were transformed into a sprawling metropolis that far outpaced its population, while a half-dozen destroyers and an assortment of smaller warships joined Legacy in orbit. They also surrounded Mars with a network of defense satellites, capable of putting a serious hurt on anyone reckless enough to arrive unannounced.
Mason said, “The last carrier is docked, sir. We’re ready to go.”
Marcus nodded. “About time. Open a priority channel to Administrator Saladin.”
Mason tapped at his console, and a holographic image of the administrator appeared at the front of the bridge.
“You’re ready to depart, Dr. Donovan?”
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