Reclaim: Books 1-3

by J. A. Scorch

  A white flash jolted Teve's brain as the pair hit a wet patch of concrete with a thud that penetrated his skull from all angles. The last thing he remembered was seeing Bradley roll out of his arms and splash down into a puddle beside him.

  The fading white flash transitioned into an infectious darkness until the black world claimed him.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Porter let out a long groan as he struggled to breathe out in the open. He crawled along a wet surface as he kept one hand on his bleeding throat. The last thing he remembered was passing out in the grip of the hybrid as a few UEF soldiers came after them. Several long moments had passed by before Porter noticed a soldier's body beside him.

  Without thinking, he crawled to the downed man and reached out his other hand to check for a pulse. A cracked helmet concealed the soldier's face. If it weren't for the name "Porter" written on the man's chest, he would have never realized he was staring at his brother Teve.

  "Teve?" Porter asked with a croaky voice. He pressed on his arm to jolt him awake, but Teve didn't respond.

  The footfalls of UEF boots came crashing down the alleyway he found himself in. He had no idea how he ended up on the ground with Teve by his side. None of that mattered now. All he cared about was making sure his brother was alive.

  An SF soldier arrived ahead of the others. It was the same girl he had spotted leading the charge against the Stiltz only a moment ago. Her overzealous attack run suddenly made sense now.

  "Is he okay?" she asked him without making eye contact. She dropped by Teve's side and checked for a pulse while placing one hand on his chest. A few long seconds later, she let out a breath and fell back a touch. "He's breathing, and his pulse is steady."

  Porter closed his eyes and let out his own held breath while keeping one hand on his throat. The bleeding hadn't stopped, but nothing major had been severed in the commotion.

  "Are you okay?" the woman asked as a few more soldiers arrived.

  "Yeah," he let out. "Just need this patched up."

  The sergeant pulled a medkit out from her pack and found some gauze. "I'm Mish, by the way. I take it you're the famous Bradley I've heard so much about." She moved closer to him and used an extra piece of cloth to soak up the blood. He winced a little as she cleaned him up and stemmed the bleeding. After applying some chemicals to keep everything clean and safe from infection, she wrapped the gauze around his neck.

  "Thank you," Porter said. "Will he be okay?" he asked as he pointed to Teve.

  She turned toward the master sergeant and stared at his face with what Porter could only detect to be absolute fondness. Anyone could see the concern in her eyes. "He'll be okay. Right now, tiny, alien nanites will be repairing his body and restoring him for another fight."

  Porter nodded a few times too many. He knew the nanites would be busy fighting death inside his brother's body and that they would also be adding another nail to his coffin. He also realized that Mish would be in the same situation. Porter would need to tell them both the bad news they were slowly dying.

  "How are you even here?" she asked as more UEF soldiers arrived to secure the location. The Zeal were still in control of the city.

  "I was the co-pilot of the bird that dropped off this platoon you are with. I jumped out when we pulled a combat drop and headed in the opposite direction of the UEF. The pilot is probably confused as hell. I was trying to find Teve after I saw you guys get cut off on the feed inside the tower."

  "You jumped out on your own to find Teve? Are you crazy?"

  "A little," Porter said. "This was my second attempt. Your SF buddies had to save me the first time."

  "Jesus," Mish said. She slapped Porter on the shoulder. "Good to see stubbornness runs deep in the family."

  Porter thought about the last day and how many times he should have been killed. It wasn't uncommon for him to make stupid choices, but the idea of finding Teve had burrowed into his brain and wouldn't let go until this moment. He almost felt the control come back to his mind the second he realized Teve had saved him.

  "So, what happens once he wakes up?" he asked Mish.

  She was still on her knees by Teve's side with one hand on his arm. "We kind of promised these grunts that we'd help liberate the Zeal base. Might be a bit hard given our current numbers. Plus, we don't have any SF troops on the ground. Miller never sent them."

  "Are you serious?"

  Mish gave him a solemn nod.

  Porter shook his head as he could hear a bunch of scattered battles in the distance. Each platoon would be facing their own perils and dangers, especially without any SF soldiers. The combat drops had been a desperate play by Command. Logic told Porter that the best option would be to retreat and regroup. The operation was doomed from the start.

  "I'll lend whatever hand I can to take out that base." Porter craned his sore neck skyward. The Dragonettes were still buzzing high up in the sky out of range of the missile batteries littered throughout the city. The rain was beginning to ease up, meaning the pilots could start running low sweeping runs on the Zeal with each ship's autocannons.

  "I need to get back into the air. I could help pave the way to the base. I'll call in my pilot."

  "Sounds like an insane plan," Mish said. "Should do us just fine." She grabbed out a bottle of water from one of her many pouches and took a swig. "Just need him to wake up first. Normally, I'd give him a few more minutes, but we don't have enough time to spare if we're going to get that air support." She poured a splash of water into Teve's face.

  A jolt woke him up in a flash, causing him to gasp for breath as he sat up. Teve took a moment to come back to reality as he saw Mish in front of him. "Did we save Bradley?"

  "Why don't you ask him yourself," Mish said as she pointed to Porter.

  Teve turned around with an open mouth and wide eyes as he spotted his brother. The two men wrapped their arms around each other and held on tight. After more than four years of death, chaos, and destruction, Teve and Bradley had found one another. Neither soldier could hold back their tears.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  "What the hell are you doing here?" Teve asked as he stared at Bradley. "I mean, this is insane. I thought you were in space training pilots."

  "I was. In fact, I'll be due to return in a few days. I managed to cash in every favor I had to my name to fly down here. I needed to see you. It was like something was calling me down."

  Teve smiled. "I understand. I've seen some crazy stuff during this war."

  Bradley chuckled as his eyes drifted. "Yeah, these aliens sure know how to mess with your head. But anyway, there's something we need to—"

  "Sorry to interrupt, sir," Lieutenant Hensley said, "but we should move out if we are going to keep up with the other platoons."

  "Yes, sir," Teve replied. "We better go. That base isn't going blow itself up, unfortunately."

  "Wait a second," Mish said. "Your brother has a plan on how we can reach the tower a bit easier. Could save a lot of lives."

  Teve faced Bradley. "You always were a thinker. What have you come up with?"

  Bradley glanced from face to face, understanding that they were all keen to hear his grand plan. "From what I've read, every successful attack on a Zeal base has had two things: the Special Forces soldiers and air support. Seeing as we are short on SF troops, we can still pull together some air support and pave a path to the tower."

  "How?" Hensley asked. "The weather's restricted the Dragonettes' capabilities. They're circling up there."

  "I know, but the weather is starting to clear. As soon as it does, I can call in and coordinate some attack runs to carve a straight line to the base from our location. We just need to rendezvous with the other platoons along the way and create a big enough attack force to take that base."

  "Is that all, sir?" Hensley asked, not hiding the sarcasm in his voice. "You might be able to control the birds in the sky, but the grunts on the ground are spread out thanks to Command's brilliant tactics. There's n
o way we can get what's left of the two companies to meet in the middle of this battlefield."

  "Leave that to me, Lieutenant. I need you to convince your people of my plan. I can make the pilots see the light. I just have to get back in the air."

  Teve cut in. "And how are you going to do that?"

  Bradley faced him. "I've got a pilot up there who will listen to me. I'll show the others what we can do to shift this battle in our favor."

  Teve didn't let his doubts surface. He nodded to the crazy plan and thought about how many times he'd done something as desperate and reckless.

  "Sir," Hensley said. "With all due respect, this plan has a great potential to fail and set us back even further than before."

  A few of the grunts joined the argument, some were for it, some against.

  "Hey, enough," Teve said. "Not only is the captain the ranking officer here, but he's also the pilot who took out the first Zeal carrier in orbit. He knows a thing or two about this enemy."

  Hensley threw up his hands in silent protest before half stepping away from the small group. Teve stared him down and commanded the lieutenant's attention back to his brother without words.

  "Thanks, Teve," Bradley said. "I know we don't have much time to talk about this, so I suggest you let me at least try while you head out toward the base."

  "That's fair," Mish said. "Lieutenant, we should get your platoon on the move." She wasn't waiting for another round of discussion as she faced Bradley. "Teve will stay back with you while you call in your ride, if that's okay with you, sir?"

  "Sounds good to me, Sergeant," Bradley said.

  Mish slapped him on the arm. "You got this, Cap." She moved past him and grabbed Teve by the back of the neck and pulled him in close for a kiss in front of any soldier with a pair of eyes. She didn't care who was watching.

  "Don't die on me," she said to Teve.

  "Same goes for you. I'll see you soon."

  Mish gave him one last look before she charged off and led the platoon toward the base. No one knew how many Zeal soldiers and hybrids waited between their location and the tower. There wasn't enough time to run recon on the safest path through, either. All they could do was fight until Bradley came through.

  "So," Teve said. "About this plan of yours: how confident are you that it'll work?"

  A half smile formed on Bradley's lips. "About fifty-fifty."

  Teve laughed. What else could he do? The odds were greater than any other plan executed by the UEF. He might as well die fighting beside his brother on their terms than to drop dead because of a Command screw-up.

  "You better call that pilot of yours back down here to pick us up, then."

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  After a brief and expressive reaction from Clay over the comm, Porter managed to convince the pilot to risk his Dragonette and make a rapid combat drop to his location. The twin engines whined and strained to stop the heavy bird from slamming into the ground as Clay brought the aircraft to within a few meters of the deck in a hurry.

  The tail ramp dropped down enough for Porter to climb on board. He spun around and stared at Teve. "You coming?"

  Teve shook his head. "No. My place is on the ground. It's where I can do the most damage to the Zeal."

  Porter tried to contain his disappointment. He wasn't surprised in the least and expected the move. "Give em' hell for me."

  "Always do. Just bring the rain and clear us a path. I'll see you on the other side of this mess."

  The tail ramp began to rise before Porter could say more. Clay would have seen him climb on board by one of the many external sensors. He leaned over the edge and caught one final glimpse of Teve before the ramp sealed shut. He wanted to tell him about the nanites and Miller's confession, but the timing wasn't right.

  The engines blasted up to full power again and lifted the support ship back into the sky toward the safety of the clouds above.

  Porter made his way to the cockpit and was met with one question.

  "What the hell, sir? I thought you were dead."

  "Sorry, Clay. I had to find my brother. I knew he was out there, so I dropped out with the platoon to find him."

  Clay shook his head in silence for a moment before speaking. "You're a crazy bastard, sir. The ground is no place for a pilot. I thought our last trip into town would have shown you that."

  "Guess I'm a slow learner. Now, if you will please pass me the ball. I need to take the lead on this mission." Porter sat down in the co-pilot's seat. The two chairs had identical controls to the Dragonette. The only difference came in permissions granted to the pilot over the co-pilot unless the pilot left his station.

  "You can't be serious. I could write you up for that stunt you pulled back there. There's no way I'm letting you fly this thing."

  "There's no choice, Clay. We need to make a path for the grunts down there, or we might as well call it a day and head home."

  "Make a path? How? We've got nine birds scattered in the sky with poor weather conditions. Our troops are sticks in the wind down there. How are we supposed to provide support for them?"

  Porter smiled at Clay from the corner of his mouth. "Got that covered. The people I just left will be taking point toward the Zeal base. All other platoons are making their way to a single location to merge into one solid force. They just need us to show them the way."

  "Jesus," Clay said, shaking his head. "How are we supposed to get a decent firing solution in this mess?"

  "The weather is starting to clear a little. We just need each co-pilot to run the autocannon system and manually target the Zeal. When I give the signal, every grunt on the ground will activate their emergency beacons. We'll know where not to fire. Everything else is fair game."

  Clay scoffed. "You thought of everything, didn't you? Well, almost everything."

  "What do you mean?"

  The lieutenant punched in a few commands and gave Porter complete control. "You haven't told me how we are going to stop Command from bumping us down to privates after this shit storm."

  Porter laughed. "That's simple: we pull this mission off and get our troops to the base. Don't ask for permission, Clay; ask for forgiveness."

  The lieutenant threw up his hands in defeat and muttered away as quietly as he could, possibly cursing his luck.

  "Save it for the Zeal. We've got some work to do." Porter seized control of the bird and bought the aircraft around to face the distant Zeal tower. He jumped on the comm and dialed into each individual ship to leave Command out of the loop. He didn't need Miller shutting down his idea before it had a chance to work. He called in a priority mission to each pilot and explained the plan as quickly as possible. Porter outranked every pilot in the air and used his position to rally them to a platoon each that would soon display on their sensors. All he had to do was contact Hensley to activate his emergency beacon and make sure it was set to a frequency Command wouldn't see. The lieutenant would then need to tell every other platoon leader to do the same thing.

  Hensley confirmed Porter's order and ran it on to the next CO. One by one, the scattered emergency beacons came online. Command would have no idea what was happening.

  "How the hell did you pull this off?" Clay asked as he ran his eyes over the sight before him. Over 300 beacons flashed into life, giving the pilots the location of every grunt.

  "Just desperate, Clay. Simple as that." Porter banked hard and flew in low toward Teve's platoon. He ordered the other birds to do the same. The co-pilots would run the autocannons and countermeasures at the same time. "Stay low and move fast. Speed is the key. Let's light up a path for the UEF."

  Porter received positive replies over the comm as he threw his bird slightly off balance and aimed the nose of the Dragonette so far forward the ship was close to losing control. The move allowed the front facing autocannons to do their worst and light up Zeal targets as they came into existence ahead of the platoon.

  Clay battled the warning system alerting them to the constant flow of miss
iles locking on to their Dragonette temporarily while he also prioritized targets on the ground away from the UEF.

  When the aircraft had gone too far ahead toward the tower, Porter climbed skyward in a quick blast to loop back around and begin his next attack run on the Zeal, slightly widening the path he had started to make for Teve's platoon. By the time he had completed the third pass, two Dragonettes had been shot down, but their platoons had been given the opportunity to fight their way to the central position the grunts would attack the base from.

  One by one, the platoons all converged on the central path and charged toward their primary objective. The seven remaining birds lit up the Zeal as they tried to hit the UEF from all sides. The attack runs had diminished the Zeal missiles enough so the Dragonettes could fly freely within a small section of the city without fear of being shot down.

  "This is actually working," Clay said. His eyes lit up brighter than the thousands of autocannon blasts spraying the ground around the grunts. "We're running low on fuel and ammunition, but the UEF have a safe path to the base."

  "Good work, Clay. Run an order down the line for all pilots to bug out as soon as they need to refuel. Command will have worked out what's going on by then."

  "Yes, sir. What about us? Are we heading back home?"

  Porter stared down at the city below through a live feed coming from the belly of the Dragonette. He knew Teve would be fine, given his abilities. "Affirmative. Let's head back to base after this last salvo. I'm sure the general will want to welcome us home with open arms."

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Teve saw Bradley's bird finish another attack run before his ship banked hard and headed away from the city. Hensley confirmed a moment later that the birds were all bingo fuel and ammo. It was now up to the UEF to bring the pain to the Zeal base and retake Atlanta.