Shadows of Arcturus (Syrax Wars Book 1)

by Tom Chattle

  "Take cover!" Bauer pushed Chen back and rolled to one side as a pulsing beam of amethyst light lanced through the darkness. It impacted on the wall and send a shower of sparks cascading over them.

  On the other side of the exit, Strahovski primed a grenade in the launcher slung under her rifle. "Fire in the hole!" she called, then leaned around the corner and fired the stubby explosive shell down the passage.

  A sharp crack, followed by a shower of dust rolled back toward them. Chen winced in pain, the mournful groans of the dying aliens rattling through her head.

  Bauer stuck her head around the wall. "Good job, Strahovski." Standing, she motioned down the passageway ahead. "Let's go before more of them show up."

  - 27 -

  2208.02.20 // 04:33

  Alien mountain, Arcturus b

  The landing team pounded down the dark, empty passage. Haynes, Kaufman, and Strahovski took the lead, weapons primed as they scanned for more hostiles. Even though she wasn't loaded nearly as heavily as the Marines, Chen also lacked the assisted power of their exo-suits, and the exertion in the higher gravity of this world was making her muscles burn badly, especially after being bound for so long. Moreau and Wilde ran beside her, not affected by the effort like Chen yet, but still showing signs of the strain.

  Wilde turned to Chen while they ran, faint, smudged vestiges of makeup remaining around her eyes. "I'm not trying to jinx us, but how come there are so few of these aliens around? I would have thought they'd send everything they had at us."

  That was a question that had been bugging Chen as well. It didn't make sense for them to only be assaulted by ones or twos of the Syrax troops. A city this size had to have hundreds at a minimum, so why weren't they throwing them all at the human intruders?

  "I think they may be taking a long time to wake up," Moreau posited behind them, continuing between ragged breaths. "If they have truly been dormant for hundreds of years, it's possible whatever mechanism was keeping them in stasis has degraded to the point where things aren't running smoothly."

  Chen nodded. Moreau's theory made sense. No technology—however advanced—could hold up to the passage of time without any kind of degradation.

  Without warning, the Marines running point stopped, bringing the party to a sudden halt at a giant intersection, gloomy tunnels branching off in every direction. Moreau's eyes were glued to the scanner's data feed, and she ran face-first into Wilde, sending them both tumbling to the floor with a clatter.

  "Goddamn it, quieten down," Haynes hissed from ahead, a grizzled scowl just visible through his faceplate.

  Mumbling an embarrassed apology, Moreau picked herself up and helped a shaken Wilde off the ground.

  "Well, this is fucking great," Strahovski growled from ahead, lowering her rifle and leaning back against the tunnel wall. "Which way do we go?"

  Gunny Haynes glanced at Bauer, who looked decidedly uncertain, eyes darting between the options ahead, rifle hanging loosely in her hands. She turned to Haynes, her voice dropping as the two Marines conferred rapidly. Watching them, Chen realized she had no idea how long Bauer had been in command. She'd assumed her level of experience was high, but she was not much older than Chen was. With nothing to fight against except a few pirates or criminal uprisings since she'd joined the Corps, perhaps such a sudden thrust into an unprecedented combat situation was testing her more than Chen had thought.

  With a grimace, Chen forced her gaze to the junction surrounding them. There were at least six different passages, all seemingly identical. As she studied them, a wave of nausea hit her. The bright violet glare returned, seeping into her vision from the edges before filling the rest of her sight. Screwing her eyes shut to try and protect them didn't help. A shrieking whistle filled her mind, and Chen fell to her knees, hands clamped to her throbbing temples.

  She retched on the cold ground, blinked, and peered up through blurry eyes as the pain subsided. Wiping the back of her hand across her lips, she realized the junction was still bathed in a faint purple glow, and tiny lights flickered along invisible paths, like marching trails of luminous ants. She darted her gaze around but saw no trace of the remaining landing party, only vague, blurry shapes that shifted back and forth across the passage. With panic clawing its way through her, Chen spun around, desperately searching for any clues as to what was happening. Strange noises echoed about. Everything was muffled, and her pulse roared in her ears.

  Out of the corner of her eye, the lights began to pulsate in unison, shooting down one of the passages like landing lights guiding a ship into space dock. Unexplained clarity hit her moments before the light flooded her vision again and she collapsed to the floor.

  Rolling over, Chen wiped a sheen of perspiration from her face and stared up at concerned gazes from Bauer, Moreau, and Wilde.

  "Did you have another vision?" Wilde asked, bluntly.

  "Wait, vision?" Bauer frowned, her brow creasing.

  Chen shook Bauer's hand from her shoulder and sat up, her head still spinning. "It's nothing, I'm fine." She looked around and saw the tunnel that had been marked in her mind. Their route was clear to her, but she couldn't explain why. "We should go down that one."

  "Why that way?" Bauer questioned.

  "I don't know, okay?" Chen snapped, her head still throbbing from whatever the hell had happened, a lingering sickness sitting in the pit of her stomach. "I just have a feeling."

  Bauer lowered her voice. "Auri, I think you're confused from what you've been through. There's no way you can know something like that."

  Chen's jaw clenched. "Alex, just trust me on this. We need to go that way."

  Bauer's eyes bored into her, conflict warring behind them. "Okay, we do it your way." She nodded, standing. "It's not like we have any other clues on which way to go."

  "Seriously?" Kaufman stood close enough to hear the whole exchange, his face clouded with disbelief. "We're picking a direction because this crazy Earther had a seizure and dreamed it?"

  "Stow it, Sergeant!" Gunny Haynes marched over to the man. "Who do you think makes the decisions here, shit-for-brains? Because it sure ain't you."

  Snarling, Kaufman spun and stomped off to the other side of the junction.

  Haynes inclined his head toward Bauer. "Even so, ma'am, perhaps we should consider splitting up, rather than putting all our eggs in one basket?"

  Bauer's eyes flicked to Chen before she nodded. "Good idea, Gunny. You take the remainder of Bravo and Charlie teams and pick a direction. I'll take Alpha team and escort our three charges along the suggested route."

  Haynes narrowed his eyes, frowning. "You sure you want Kaufman with you?"

  "Sergeant Kaufman will learn his damn place," Bauer growled. "Keep in comm contact and let's find a way out of this forsaken hellhole." She motioned to Chen, Moreau, and Wilde. "Come on."

  ***

  After at least ten minutes of stalking through dark, empty passages, Chen was getting increasingly frustrated. She'd been so sure of which direction to take, but since they started, she had no clue where they were going. She began to doubt what her mind had shown her. Ever since that alien had been inside her head, everything was confusing, her mind split between reality and the strange things she'd been seeing. She didn't even know whether they were real or just a figment of unknown damage to her mind.

  Approaching another intersection, Chen stubbed her bare foot against one of the stone-like ribs that lined the hallway. "Damnit!"

  She leaned against the wall, nursing her toe as Bauer approached. "You okay?"

  "Yeah," Chen grumbled. "You never truly appreciate shoes until you're barefoot in a dark, alien mountain at the edge of known space."

  Bauer snorted. "Next you'll be complaining that the food's no good."

  Chen's stomach rumbled involuntarily at the mention. "Thanks for reminding me I haven't eaten since we left the Valiant." She shook her head. "Having your mind ripped apart by an alien monster apparently makes you incredibly hungry."

  Baue
r dug through a pack, pulled out a protein bar, and tossed it to Chen with a weary smile. "I'm glad your sense of humor is coming back."

  Chen ripped the wrapper open and stuffed the dry, tasteless bar into her mouth as she walked into the middle of the junction. "Scientists can allow us to fly across the galaxy, but they somehow can't make edible rations."

  She passed a dark, recessed opening in the curved wall and froze, the back of her skull itching with an inexplicable warmth. Bauer asked her something from behind, but it wasn't clear.

  Blinking, suddenly Chen was elsewhere, a room in front of her with a bright cluster of glowing technology in the center. A relentless buzz filled her head, and she turned, recoiling at the pair of Syrax warriors next to her. Spinning the other way in panic, she almost collided with another. The beast's armored head tilted toward her, jaw snapping.

  Without thinking, she turned and hunted for a way out. The door opened without hesitation, irising into the rounded opening in an instant. Ready to run, Chen stopped in her tracks, the impossible sight ahead of her making no sense.

  Chen could see herself clearly standing on the other side of the door. Still in the middle of the intersection, Bauer waved a hand in her face, trying to get her attention.

  Before Chen could process the insanity of seeing herself from another perspective, her vision exploded in light, and then she was staring at Bauer's face, staggering forward into her surprised arms.

  She stared up at the Marine, then slowly turned her head to the dark opening they had passed, an eerie glow emanating from the now open door. "Oh, shit."

  The rest of the group followed her gaze. They stood there frozen for a moment before the towering aliens in the control room turned, an amplified, bear-like bellow alerting the others when it saw them. The rest snapped around, raising their cannons, and a howling group of the hound creatures jumped down from the rear of the room and spread out, their scythe arms lashing around in bloodthirsty excitement.

  Bauer visibly paled and raised her rifle. "Uh, run."

  Kaufman, Strahovski, and Bauer let out long bursts of fire while Chen bolted into the dark, head still spinning. The others followed her, pounding along the empty passageways. Her adrenaline surging, Chen made a series of turns in the twisting tunnels that just seemed to make sense. The pulsing lights she'd seen earlier flickered back to guide her in the darkness. Rapid shots, squeals of injured aliens, and the dull crack of one of Strahovski's grenades rang out behind them. The Marines covered each other, holding off their pursuers while they retreated.

  Chen rounded a final corner, and a large open exit appeared, dark sky visible through it. "Come on!" Chen cried. "Through the door."

  Moreau and Wilde sprinted through, followed by Kaufman and Strahovski who they arrived moments later. Chen aimed Moreau's sidearm down the hallway. Bauer barreled toward her, firing off several blazing shots at the advancing warriors.

  "Go! Now!" Bauer yelled, and Chen jumped through the door seconds before the Marine caught up with her.

  - 28 -

  2208.02.20 // 04:54

  Mountainside, Arcturus b

  Chen stumbled through the exit, rolled on the ground, and searched around for a way to close the door. Before she found one, Bauer skidded through and the door slammed shut behind her of its own accord. Narrow segments locked into one another, the clanging echoes pulled away by the roaring wind that whipped in from the darkness.

  Gathering herself up, Chen took in the view as the brutal chill of the outside air slammed into her, the remnants of her clothing doing nothing to protect her. "Shit."

  They had emerged onto a narrow balcony, high up on the side of the mountain. The shielded city spread out before them, far below in the gloomy, unlit haze. Spires that had seemed to stretch into the sky from down below now appeared small and frail, reaching up like bony fingers. Only a thin, delicate rail stood between the group and a vertical plunge of hundreds of meters.

  "Fucking great," Kaufman yelled over the brutal howl of the wind. "You trapped us on a goddamn ledge, you stupid bitch!"

  Jaw clenched, Bauer took a step toward the Marine, looking as if she were moments away from losing it with the insolent man.

  Chen placed a hand on her armor. "Ignore him, there has to be a way down from here."

  A heavy crash from behind them reverberated through the metal grating that plated the angled rock below. Bauer and Strahovski raised their rifles and backed away from the door. "We better figure out something fast. I don't think they're going to take long to get through."

  "I still don't understand why that door shut in the first place." Moreau frowned. "None of us touched it."

  "Does it really matter right now?" Chen searched their surroundings for any way off the ledge that didn't require fighting back through the alien warriors.

  "Well, if it closed without warning, it could open without warning." Another heavy blow landed on the other side of the door, and Moreau flinched.

  "It won't. Trust me," Chen replied, nerves on edge. Moreau's constant questioning was getting distracting.

  Moreau threw her hands in the air, brow creased with frustration. "But how do you know that?" She took a deep breath and blew it back out her mouth. "Ma'am."

  A sudden urge to lash out at Moreau coursed through Chen, and she balled her fists, taking a step toward the ensign. Moreau's vivid eyes lit up with apprehension, and the feeling evaporated as quickly as it appeared, leaving Chen bewildered. She rubbed a hand across her face. "Look, never mind. We need to focus on moving."

  Wracking her brain for ideas, Chen strode to the edge. There was no obvious reason for the balcony to exist at all, but each end had gaps in the railings, the means of connecting them not apparent. Another ledge sat across a gap, maybe ten or so meters away. Too far to jump, even for the Marines in their exo-suits, but the outcrop of rock—or whatever this mountain was truly made from—that hung over it sparked an idea. "Hey, do we have any kind of grappling equipment?"

  Strahovski nodded and hit a button on her gauntlet so her pack detached from her back. "I have one in here somewhere." She dug around before pulling out a compact item that looked similar to a flare gun.

  "Will it reach?" Moreau asked, latching on to the idea quickly.

  "No problem," Strahovski answered. "These things have over a hundred meters of carbon-bonded cable."

  A gust of wind caught Chen. She grabbed the railing and stared down into the abyss that separated the two platforms. It was risky, but staying where they were just meant fighting their pursuers on a narrow ledge with no cover once they inevitably broke through the door. Even the handful of warriors would butcher them in such an open space, let alone if they'd received backup. "Okay, go for it."

  Strahovski nodded, knelt to the platform, and took aim carefully. After a few seconds, she depressed the trigger and sent a small dart soaring across the gulf. It hit the rocky outcropping and burrowed into the surface. Anchors deployed into the surrounding material with a high-pitched whine. Strahovski held the weapon against the rock face next to her, and it anchored itself the same way, internal gears spinning to bring tension to the thin wire. Testing the cable strength, Strahovski turned, a lopsided grin on her bruised face. "All right, who's first?"

  "Are you kidding me?" Wilde stared at the cable with wide eyes. "There's no way I'm crossing that."

  "Well," Bauer said, walking past, "you either take the cable or stay and say hi to our friends on the other side of that door."

  Wilde pursed her lips, clearly unhappy, but she didn't argue further.

  "Stuck up bitch," Kaufman muttered as he moved to the cable.

  "What the hell did you say to me?" Wilde snapped, her arms folded.

  Kaufman snorted. "Nothing." He tugged on the cable. "I'll go first."

  Bauer nodded. "Go ahead, we'll send Strahovski next and I'll go last."

  Strahovski offered up the handle that came with the grappler, and Kaufman slung it over the cable and grasped tight before activating
the tiny motor within. He pulled his legs up to his chest and launched over the edge. Despite how far it seemed to Chen, Kaufman made the transition in only a few seconds. He dropped off on the other side and sent the handle back over for Strahovski, who crossed in the same method, a gust of wind almost unbalancing her midway across.

  Wilde was next up and was about to reach for the device when Chen saw Kaufman moving across from them. "Katrina, wait!"

  With a deft slash, Kaufman cut the cable with the saw-toothed blade built into the forearm of his suit. Chen watched in horror as the cable lost tension and dropped away into the chasm.

  "What the fuck are you doing, Kaufman?" Bauer yelled. "That was our only way across."

  Kaufman chuckled, peering over the edge at the falling cable before lifting his arms apologetically. "Oops."

  "Sarge? What the hell?" Strahovski asked, face paling as she watched the remains of the cable plummet into the darkness.

  He turned, his face reddening with anger. "Did you know the Lieutenant and Chen are screwing?"

  "So the fuck what, Kaufman?" Strahovski yelled, shaking her head. "What the hell does it matter? It's no business of yours."

  "It's my damn business because our commanders are making dumbass decision after dumbass decision, too blinded by their own feelings to see what a giant cluster fuck this mission has been from the start." Kaufman ranted, pointing an accusing finger back across the chasm. "We're on some planet full of psycho alien monsters, and all they've cared about is rescuing some precious little admiral's daughter who was fucking stupid enough to get stuck here in the first place."

  "Kaufman, if you have a problem with me, say it to my damn face," Bauer bellowed at the man, fists clenched.

  "Fuck you, LT," Kaufman spat, his eyes wild. "All you've done is get my buddies killed. My friends, brothers, and sisters I've been through everything with." Kaufman had always seemed to be barely holding his anger back, but now, he was losing what little control he'd maintained up to this point. "And for what? Some fuck-up spacer who only graduated because her mommy's a big-time Earther politician and her daddy died while spilling Martian blood?" He spat toward Chen. "Yeah, we all know your story. You wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for that name you hide behind."