“This might be it. They may consider this a defense,” I warned as we approached it.
“Not for long,” Boone said, walking up and giving the upper crate a powerful straight kick.
The crate slid back, but its top corner caught on the ceiling and it didn’t fall through. He repeated the action, knocking it to the floor and immediately gunfire was heard. I ducked, using the lower steel crate as cover. I could hear the bullets pinging off of the crate, much as they had my armor before. I took several deep breaths, thinking back to the Vorgian War. I popped my head up, pistol firmly gripped between my hands, and sighted in on my first target. I placed several rounds downrange, nailing him twice through the skull. Moving to my next target I fired once through the shoulder before I heard a round tear by my ear. It served as a grim reminder that I was no longer unstoppable.
In response I ducked down, resuming full cover behind the box. Phil and Boone were each blind firing from either side of the doorway, the hail of shotgun pellets no doubt shredding the SAS. I peered back over to see the room still crawling with Vorgians, many in cover behind a line of crates.
“Someone get a grenade in there!” I said in a strong, but hushed voice.
Without a word Boone pulled the pin and tossed a frag grenade into the room. Seconds later the explosion was heard, shrapnel bouncing around the room. The screams of the Vorgian soldiers filled my ears over the sound of gunfire, though only for a moment.
Suddenly, I saw Cassidy pass by me, leaping over the crate that I had used for cover. The bold move looked more like an action we’d do in power armor than in BDU’s. She fired quickly and precisely. I attempted to provide support from cover, unwilling to take such a risk as she had. She continued into the room, bounding over their cover as if it were nothing and gunning them down. Then it appeared her AR-27 ran dry, she swung it as a club into the nearest Vorgian before dropping it and pulling out her pistol. She proceeded to fire two rounds into a target obscured from my view before stopping, at last ceasing her river of fluid motion.
“Clear,” she said calmly.
I vaulted over the crate in the doorway and looked around the room myself. The best the Vorgians had lay dead across the floor. More SAS had escaped the Jerico system than I had imagined, their black and gray uniforms stained with blood.
“That was… impressive, Cass,” I complimented, after pondering between impressive and risky.
“That was my job, James. But thanks,” she replied.
“Right… It’s just that without the armor…”
“We’re still Rangers. We’re still the same soldiers. Let’s prove it,” she said, a new confidence in her voice unlike I had heard since before Max’s death.
“Let’s,” I said in response.
Looking back, the others had moved the crate out of the doorway and were searching the room. It seemed to be the most heavily guarded, and no other location had showed any signs of being Korth’s hideaway. The room seemed elaborate however. Across one wall was a large image of the Beholder, scrawled across the stone. The other walls had decorative columns lining them, indicating some significance to the room.
“Where are they?” Malum asked. “Where are the leaders? Korth! Show yourself!” he then yelled.
I continued to look around the room. We had killed every Vorgian we’d seen, we had no prisoners to interrogate, no soldiers to break. I glanced back at the drawing of the Beholder, the golden form of the eye surrounded by red and yellow rays. On either side were two more of the columns that adorned the other walls.
“Next room?” Phil asked.
“This one’s a dead end, we’ll have a ways to backtrack to get to the last turn,” Nevin stated.
The sketch kept drawing my attention, pulling me in. Something was there. I thought about the Beholder, the super computer we had worked so hard to find. It had been what we desired most. It was…
“Beautiful,” I murmured, walking closer to the wall. “The measure of Beauty is whatever one desires most. Though the determination of Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
The words left my mouth softly, my mind almost in a trance as I felt pieces come together. I stood before the wall, my hand slowly outstretched. I placed my palm calmly on the cool surface of the wall, directly across the eye of the Beholder. I pressed in, feeling the stone give. As I released it, I heard some nature of power source activate. Then the stone wall before me, adorned with the image of the Beholder, sank into a socket beneath it, revealing a hallway.
“Guys… I found something.”
“Clearly. Now do you care to share precisely what?” Malum said rudely.
Ignoring the statement I entered the hallway, my pistol raised. It was cold and the hallway was dark. My mind flashed back to the day Nevin and I were escorted through the dark Vorgian corridors alongside the soldier from Beta Squad. I thought I saw a shadow dart across the darkness, but no room existed on either side. The end of the hall was lighted however. I looked back over my shoulder to see Nevin directly behind me. He nodded solemnly.
Then I entered the light. Before me stood the two men that our mission revolved around. The two men whose death was our sole objective. I raised my pistol.
“James! Nice to see you again!” Robert said, a surprising smile coming across his face.
My instincts said to shoot him immediately, though instead I paused, staring down my sights at his face. His dark hair had lengthened since our encounter on Sontonos. A thin beard had appeared on his face around the devious smile.
“Don’t you feel the same? I mean, how’s your family been? They enjoy their date with my friends?” he continued.
“Your… your what?” I asked, flashbacks of the pirates now flooding my mind.
“Oh? You didn’t know? You seemed to care about your parents so much. Honestly, I got tired of hearing about it. And after your stunt in the hangar on Sontonos… I couldn’t just leave you be! You shot me!”
My parents, dead in my arms, soared through my mind. Unwilling to listen to him any more I squeezed the trigger. The bullet went off, but as it did something pushed my arms upward. An SAS had intervened, causing my bullet to strike the stone ceiling, powdered rock floating down from the impact.
I brought my knee into the stomach of the soldier, then brought my elbow back down onto his head. He might have been strong, but Cassidy made a point. We were Rangers, with or without the armor. He tried to counter with a swing of his fist, but I dodged it and followed up with a strike to his face. Bloodied, he stumbled backwards. I raised my pistol and fired, striking his shoulder as I felt myself fall to the ground. Robert had tackled me, pinning me to the floor. My mind raced, but still it couldn’t keep out the flow of memories. When Robert had tackled Nevin in training, it allowed for me to have my first victory. This day I would have another victory.
I punched his face three times, then rolled him off of me. As I began to rise he used his leg to sweep mine, dropping me back down. In a quick motion he was back up and kicking me. On the fourth kick I seized his leg with my hand and pulled it out from under him. He fell and I attempted to pin his shoulders. He reacted by grabbing my own shoulders and rolling us. He remained on top of me, bashing my head into the ground when he was abruptly thrown off. Looking up, my vision blurred, I saw Nevin standing above me. Behind him was a scene all too familiar. Just as I’d seen that night in Ebony, the night when my life changed forever, Rigel stood behind Nevin with a knife. I didn’t think, and I didn’t process… I just did. I reached over for my dropped pistol, sliding it into my grasp in an instant, then fired at Rigel. A blood splatter burst out from behind his head. The man who had started a war fell backwards, his lifeless body toppling to the cold floor. The knife clattered to the ground beside him. I had never seen him before in person. He represented all that was Vorgian, the instrument of their will. Revolutions ago when the Treaty of Paix was signed… that was not the end of the war. This marked the end of the war.
I stood up, Nevin seizing Robe
rt and holding him to the floor. Phil and Cass had just gunned down the last SAS in the room. Robert was all that remained. I turned and faced Robert. The others came over beside me, and as a team we stood united around him.
“Robert. It’s over. Your game is up. Nevin, get off him,” I ordered.
Nevin gave a final blow to Robert’s head before rising up beside us. Robert remained, sprawled on the floor, his face bloody.
“The time has come for you to answer for your actions, Robert. We all trusted you. We had the simple camaraderie that you would be there if we needed you. When you offered us a way off of Sontonos, we followed, trusting that you were leading us to safety. Instead you killed our ally and would have killed us too! Each one of us felt that loss, that betrayal. And the role you claim in the attack on Ebony! It disgusts me Robert. It disgusts me…” I said, my voice filled with a flurry of emotions.
“James,” Cassidy said, placing her hand on my shoulder and turning me slightly. “What if we offer him redemption? Something to repair what he’s done to you, to all of you.”
“Our objective is to kill him Cass, you know this,” Phil stated. “And every second that man lives is a second too many.”
“But listen,” she said, backing up to gain audience to everyone. “He is an administrative figure in the Vorgian caste. The Vorgians clearly have a pact with the UED. We are stranded on this planet with no ship capable of getting us home. He has access to one.”
I looked down at the broken remains of the once cocky Robert.
“How do you propose?” I asked.
“We can have him contact his UED buddies to bring a transport within range, then take them out and nab the transport.”
“James, remember last time we let him live. Shoot him now,” Nevin said quietly.
I looked between the two, Nevin’s eyes burning with anger, while Cassidy’s glistened with hope.
“Cass is right. We can use him. But Robert I want you to understand something. You will die. This does not make up for what you’ve done to us.”
“I understand James… Gah, you guys are right. I was merely serving my people, you can’t blame me for that, but maybe I took it too far,” Robert admitted, his face showing signs of pain. “I’ll do whatever it takes to repent for the mistakes I’ve made.”
“We’ll see about that,” Nevin said, disbelief evident in his voice.
“Prove it,” Phil said angrily. “Call the UED, get us our ship.
“I’ll get better. I’ll bring you the admiral of the entire UED Fleet. You can take him out while you secure yourselves a transport. That prove enough?” Robert said, a hint of his usual tone slipping back into his voice.
“If it’s true,” Nevin said. “Then it’s a start.”
Robert slowly picked himself up, none of us offering him our hand. When he rose he walked toward a table with a COM unit on it, likely salvaged from one of the Hornet’s vehicles. He reached for the activation, and I held my breath. He could use it to give our location to the UED and make his last big bang before we kill him.
“Odyssey Actual, what’s the matter Korth?” a voice said from the COM.
“It’s Washington. We need to talk. In person. Now.”
“What about?” the voice replied.
“We’ve got a few problems, I need to discuss the details with you, and I can’t afford to be monitored by these newcomers.”
“From what I hear Marzoc isn’t the safest of destinations right now Washington. Why do you require my presence?”
“Admiral, you said you would do anything to ensure our safety, so long as we led you to the Beholder. As long as we never gave you reason to distrust us,” Robert protested.
“And yet we have yet to find the Beholder Washington.”
“Korth is dead. That important enough? I need to see you. You promised protection, and these infiltrators are compromising that.”
“He’s… dead? The situation is indeed more grave than I had anticipated. You know Camp Echo?”
“Yes sir.”
“That shall be my LZ. Get there. You’ll get your talk,” the Admiral responded.
“Yes sir. Right away sir,” Robert said, cutting the COM. “You guys happy yet?”
“Looked pretty legit,” Cassidy said optimistically.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Phil countered.
“Okay, you guys need to understand what I’ve just given you! You kill Admiral Cope and their whole freakin’ fleet tumbles into disarray! You guys can get out of here unnoticed!” Robert defended angrily.
“Robert, shut up,” I ordered.
He scowled, but ceased to run his mouth. We opened up our circle, letting Malum, Boone, and the two Marines in. Every survivor excluding our Corsair pilot and Lowell was present. We were nearing our escape, all we needed was the clearance to access the Hornet and a distraction so the rest of the fleet wouldn’t see us.
“So we’re killing their leader? Excellent. I suggest explosives,” Malum stated.
“We already had this problem sir, our explosives are with…” I paused, sighing deeply. “With Ryan sir.”
“Then we go get them. I don’t want the enemy knowing we are there. It will allow you to capture the transport easier.”
“But sir, we could snipe them just as easily… it’s what snipers do!” I protest.
“Enough excuses. A dead soldier is a dead soldier. Just because you can’t get over it doesn’t mean I will let it hinder my mission plans.”
I looked around at my team, Malum clearly not making sense. Every fiber of my being wanted to strike him across the face and let Boone lead the way. But the thought of Ryan catching Boone’s attempt played back in my head. Ryan had expected us to follow Malum’s orders, regardless of whether or not we agreed with them.
“Okay, how do we use explosives?” I asked.
“We strap them to your friend.”
“There’s no way he’ll—” I started.
“I’ll do it. Strap the Eupholium to me,” Robert said, the devilish grin on his face frustrating me.
His smile was no doubt the result of him piecing together that Ryan was dead. The satisfaction he received from it disturbed me.
“At least let us act as a failsafe, what if the explosives don’t go off?” I proposed.
“Fine, two of you may go. I need our presence there to be small, nearly undetectable. You will NOT engage the enemy unless you are certain the explosives failed to activate. Do you understand that soldier?” Malum inquired intensely.
“Yes sir.”
“Now, let’s go get our explosives,” Malum concluded, walking from the secret room back into the dark hallway.
Chapter 20
Endgame
The Corsair slowly eased itself to the ground near the Tredecim capital. The dead still littered the ground, though many were half-buried by the endless snow. I alone stepped out of the warmth of the Corsair and approached the site where my life had been changed dramatically, just as it had in Ebony. Rising partially from the snow was the helmet of a warrior. The helmet of a leader and a friend. I walked toward it, the cold biting away at me. When I reached it, I brushed off some snow, revealing the body of Ryan.
Emotions once more flooded through me, but I had a mission, and I would complete it. I removed enough of the snow to slip off the backpack that was still strapped around his arms. Inside it was a sizable portion of Eupholium, Ryan’s favorite explosive ordinance. I slipped the pack over one of my shoulders, then carefully removed the helmet from Ryan’s head. I reached down and pulled his tags from his neck, and then placed the helmet back. I slipped the tags into my pocket before proceeding back to the Corsair.
When I reached it I silently climbed back aboard, letting the pack slip to the metal floor with a clank. Without a word Malum nodded his approval, and we soared toward the location provided by Robert.
As we flew, Phil and Boone did what they could to strap the Eupholium to Robert without giving any sign that it was there from t
he outside. When they finished, they had done a fair job, nicely securing it to his chest and thighs without any exterior bulges.
“We’re close enough. Land the ship,” Robert instructed as he watched from the door to the cockpit.
The pilot nodded and the Corsair sank down toward the snow. A soft thud was heard as it touched down on the solid ground, pressing into the deep snow. The hatch dropped and I looked around at those who survived. My team, my friends, each knew how close we were. Boone rose from his seat and approached me. He extended his hand. I took it, and shook it once, looking Boone in the eye, despite them still be obscured by his shades.
“It’s been an honor James. Good luck out there,” he said softly.
“We’ll be back Boone, and we’re all getting off this rock together.”
I then turned my head to Cassidy and Phil, who would be staying behind as we went out to capture the transport. It seemed so foreign to see them without their armor and know we were in a combat zone. While the sight itself wasn’t so unusual, considering we lived together on base, the danger of the environment and the notion that any one of them could die at any time was haunting.
“You two get us that ship,” Cassidy said, her eyes sad and her tone tired.
“Will do,” Nevin chuckled.
“You stay safe Cass,” I said, stepping down from the Corsair.
“You too James… You too,” she replied.
I turned slowly, hoping Nevin and I could survive one final trial.
“Uh, James?” Cassidy’s voice asked.
I paused, turning back toward the Corsair.
“I wanted to tell you… Um… Thank you. I appreciate what you’ve done for us… for me.”
At first I was unsure how to respond, but I pondered a response briefly.
“Yeah, it’s been… this mission is rough. But we all just needed some hope. We’re going to make it through Cass,” I finally answered.
Without a response, we continued into the snowy wastes. As we proceeded away Malum finally spoke.
“Don’t get caught.”
The War Across the Stars Page 23
