by John Walker
“Have them coordinate with Jenks,” Clea said. “That might not be the best plan. For whatever reason, we didn’t use our ship in the fight so I think they’re concerned about something.”
“Roger, over and out.”
Clea took a deep breath and continued working. She hoped the Behemoth soldiers got there in time. So much was riding on the success of this mission, even if the data wasn’t present. Durant’s research alone would set them years ahead in the arm’s race. But if she found it…then they might be able to wrap the whole thing up.
If only it will be so easy. Come on, computer! Move! Move!
***
Jenks fired again and tapped Walsh. “We have to get back! Fall back to Meagan and Rudy!”
“That’s going to be crazy, you know that, right?”
The enemy had begun laying down suppressive fire again, a wide spread of action all across the area. Bullets riddled their makeshift cover but so far, they hadn’t employed any explosives. I wonder why. Jenks didn’t want to look the gift horse in the mouth but considering the situation, it seemed suspicious.
They would be overrun if they didn’t get to new cover but that meant risking being shot. His com barked in his ear. “This is Captain Hoffner, I understand you guys need some help.”
Jenks felt his heart hammer in his chest. “Thank God! Glad to hear your voice, sir!”
“We’ve got two transport shuttles with fifty men converging on your location. What’s your status?”
“Defenses are holding but not for long,” Walsh replied. “We need to fall back to better cover. Enemy is about to overrun our position.”
“Why didn’t you use your ship for cover?”
“The enemy has some kind of directed EMP weapon,” Jenks replied. “Could be possible to take a ship out of the air.”
“Understood. Can we set down near your position safely?”
“I’ll give you coordinates,” Jenks said. “But we really need some help getting out of our current situation if you can risk it.”
“We’re on it. Stay alive, guys.”
Jenks looked around and gestured to the door behind them. “It’s only fifty meters away.”
“Might as well be a mile,” Walsh said. “They’ll snag us, even with cover.”
“They’re definitely going to get us here and they aren’t proving to be the best of shots.”
A bullet nearly caught his foot and he pulled himself more fully behind the cover. Another scream echoed off behind their line, this time Jessy. “I’ve been hit!” He recovered himself quickly enough, not sounding as if he’d been butchered the way Crandy carried on. “Leg, I’ll live.”
“We’ve got a big problem!” Rudy shouted. “Grenade!”
There they are. Jenks cursed. They saved them for the buildings. “Get it out of there!”
He heard an explosion off to his left and prayed the pilots got it out of there. “Report!”
“We’re okay,” Meagan replied though a fit of coughing cut off her report. “Can’t see a damn thing but we’re okay!”
“For now!” Rudy cried out. “They’re charging!”
“Shit!” Jenks turned and fired at the men he could see some seventy meters off. It caused them to divert their rush and run for the side of the building. He took two of them down before the other four made it to safety. A bullet grazed his arm and he winced, spinning to return fire. “We cannot stay out here!”
A ship flew by overhead and another opened up with a strafing run. More cries of agony filled the air and the strange battle language continued barking back and forth. Jenks and Walsh ran for it, each dashing at a full sprint. The door loomed ahead, growing larger with every step. When he cleared it, Jenks couldn’t believe his luck. He swore they’d be gunned down in the effort.
Even more gunfire erupted outside, this time from the familiar rifles of their own men. Jenks glanced outside to help and saw as more than a dozen of their own took cover and laid down their own suppressive fire. The ship above flew by again but someone took a shot at it from a shoulder mounted weapon, a blue blast flying directly for it.
The pilot managed to evade the attack and disappeared behind Durant’s home.
“That was an EMP blast,” Durant pointed out. “If it would’ve hit them…”
“We get it.” Jenks aimed and fired at the guy who tried to take down the ship. He connected with his shoulder and a second burst perforated his head. The man collapsed and as one of his friends tried to grab the weapon, Walsh blew him away. “Do you have another count on these guys?”
“There are ten left,” Durant said. “My turrets are overheating.”
Arak shouted for help but the cry was silenced a moment later. Jenks turned in time to see the man collapse to the ground, a wound in his head bleeding profusely. Damn it! He called out for a sound off. Meagan replied, “I’m okay, Rudy’s down. Shot to the shoulder.” Durant confirmed he was still okay.
Neither Crandy nor Jessy replied.
Wow, this is getting worse than I thought.
Jenks’s arm hurt from where he’d been grazed. The wound stung and it ran up into his forearm but he did his best to ignore it. They were on the verge of driving these pricks back. All he had to do was hold out for a few more moments and they’d win. The miracle of their reinforcements arriving saved the day but they survived and that was no small feat.
More of the Behemoth’s marines came from around the corner, charging into battle and firing into the ranks of the final men. Some of them tried to flee back toward their ship but they were pursued, cut down before they could even get back to the undamaged tree line. Jenks and Walsh joined the assault, helping to finish off the remnants.
“Is that all of them?” Jenks shouted. “Did we get them?”
“No,” Durant said. “There’s still one left.”
“What?” Jenks looked around. “Where?”
“Oh no…” Durant sighed. “He’s made his way over to where Clea’s performing her searches. We have to get over there. Now!”
Jenks slapped Walsh’s arm and gestured. “Move out! Now!”
***
Clea heard someone pound on the door, three hits high then three low. Her eyes flew over the screen, the back of her mind praying Durant built the room to withstand a beating. Text made her gasp, a single line logs from the Tempered Steel, Zanthari An’Tufal. “I found it! I found it!”
Her excitement was short lived. An explosion shook the room and tossed her to the floor. Smoke filled the area and her ears rang from the suddenness of it. Someone entered but she couldn’t move, couldn’t make her legs respond or her muscles clench. She struggled, desperate to recover any faculty, any chance to defend herself.
Her vision cleared and she saw her pistol some five feet away. Rolling on her stomach, she managed to crawl, reaching for the weapon. A blow to her side knocked the wind out of her, making her slide into the wall under the desk. She didn’t have time to nurse the injury and instead pressed away, climbing to her feet unsteadily.
Another attack came, this one a punch toward her face. She faded backward, narrowly avoiding the blow. In desperation, she retaliated, throwing a feeble kick. It kept her opponent back and she pressed backward, stumbling away from the assault. A weapon cocked and she dove to the ground just as the person fired, destroying a computer console behind her.
Adrenaline cleared her head and granted her some strength. She crawled, scampering toward her gun. The enemy walked casually, rounding the table to get a clear shot at her. She rolled toward the console she’d been working at, once again taking herself out of the line of fire but away from her weapon.
Turning, Clea decided on another tactic. Moving toward the soldier, she climbed to her feet in a crouch and crept closer. When she saw him, he was about to turn on her. She dashed forward, grabbing his arm with the pistol and aiming it toward the ground. He peeled off several shots as she struggled to disarm him.
He punched her in the face but it wasn’t e
nough to dislodge her. Clea smelled blood, wondered if it might be her own then saw the man’s wound—the shot to the shoulder she’d scored before he scampered out. Jamming her thumb into the injury, he screamed in agony and tried to throw her off. She clung tightly to him, grinding into the hole with all her might.
A knee to her stomach made her lose some of the fight in her and he shoved her away so she collapsed on the floor. He struggled to raise his weapon, trying to point it in her direction but the offended arm would not respond. As he switched hands, Clea rushed for her gun, diving for it just as his went off.
Hot fire burned her leg as she rolled in place and unloaded her magazine. The man fired once more, a shot tapping the ground by her head even as he began to dance backwards from her attack. When he hit the ground, he heaved a gurgling sigh and went still, quite dead.
Clea didn’t move for several moments, savoring the fact that she’d somehow survived unscathed. When she finally tried to stand, she realized he’d got her in the thigh just above the knee. The pain made her vision go dim and her stomach turn but she fought through it, crawling back to the terminal.
Blinking the blur from her eyes, she read the words on the screen, noting that she’d found her scan data, what they’d come all that way for. It was there, waiting to be downloaded and disseminated but just then, she couldn’t make any of it out. Pain overwhelmed her and she collapsed to the floor, focusing on breathing.
Someone else came in the room, shouting her name. She recognized them as Jenks and Walsh. “I’m here…” She whispered, lifting her hand. It wasn’t just the gunshot but the punch to the face, the adrenaline, the kick to her side…everything caught up to her and she didn’t have it in her to move anymore. They came close and checked on her, applying pressure to the wound.
“You’re going to be okay,” Jenks said. “Just relax. We’ve got you.”
“Thanks…” Clea muttered. “That was…pretty crazy.”
“You sure know how to pick a mission,” Walsh said. “We won, by the way.”
“Never had…any doubt…” Clea smiled. “Well…just for a second.”
“Be quiet. Talking’s a bad idea right now.” Jenks turned to Walsh. “Get one of the medics in here. We have to get her somewhere more comfortable, maybe even back to the ship. Thank God this mess is over with but holy crap what a rush.”
“Is everyone else okay?” Clea asked. “Anyone else get hurt?”
Walsh cleared his throat. “Crandy’s in critical condition. Jessy…well…he died. Bled out it looks like. Arak also took one to the head and Rudy’s shoulder’s pretty bad.”
“I took a graze and you have the leg injury. All in all, considering the odds, we probably made out better than we deserved.”
“Though not as we hoped…” Clea sighed. Poor Jessy. He just wanted to leave that life behind and I suppose he has. But Arak…a solid engineer. He’ll be missed. I’ll have to deliver the letter to his family personally. That’s not going to be an easy task. “Be sure to let the ship know I found what we’re after. This was not for nothing. I found it…”
Now I just hope it pays off. Heavens please let it pay off.
Epilogue
Gray left Adam in charge of the ship and went down to the planet personally with another contingency of marines. Not a single enemy remained alive down there, none of them surrendered and the injured ones killed themselves before they could be captured. They did manage to isolate their shuttles and confiscate their weapons though, allowing them to do some research on this new threat.
They landed in the clearing where the majority of the ground battle took place. He disembarked and made his way for the platform, meeting Hoffner beside a makeshift barricade. They took a tour of the battle, briefing Gray on what happened and how the men held out. Afterward, they met Durant, who was guiding robots to help clean up the mess.
“I hope you’ll be coming back to the fight,” Gray said to the scientist. “The alliance could definitely use everything you’ve got.”
“If your people hadn’t been here, I’d be dead now,” Durant said. “They didn’t hesitate to stay and protect my home. I believe I have enough of everything to help the war effort and with what Clea discovered, I’m sure we may well end this conflict soon. You have my commitment, Captain and the use of my facilities. Please contact the alliance and have them send people as soon as possible.”
“You know what Clea found?” Gray asked.
Durant nodded. “Her dream turned out to be extraordinary. Who knows how long it would’ve been before I got to that particular record and discovered the hidden gem? A random storage drive from a forgotten battle didn’t seem like a treasure but it sure has proven to be one. I’ll let her explain how.”
“Where is she?” Gray looked around.
“This way.” Durant led the way, taking them through the foyer into a bedroom. Clea sat up on the bed, her wounded leg bandaged. She worked on a data pad, reading intently without even taking note of three people entering the room. “Um, Clea? Your captain is here to see you.”
Clea looked up and her expression melted from serious to relieved. “Gray! I’m so glad to see you!”
“You too. Looks like you’ve had a bit of excitement.” Gray approached the bed. “How’re you feeling?”
“Oh, I’ll be fine. The injury isn’t so bad the medic said but it’ll take a while to heal.” Clea tapped the side of her pad. “I found it, Gray! I found it!”
“Please explain why it’s so exciting,” Gray replied. “What drove us through three systems to find?”
“When the attack began all those years ago, I happened to be scanning the largest ship for weaknesses, a chance to get through the shields or disable systems, anything a hack might’ve been for. Just before we were hit and destroyed, I uncovered something far more beneficial. As you know, the enemy ignores our hails and has not communicated with us since discovery.”
“Right…” Gray nodded.
“Well, one of the reasons is their communications operate on a totally different technology than ours, much like that other species we discovered. Their codes are totally foreign to us, or so we thought. I uncovered their trick. The largest ship was broadcasting and decoding at the same time. I happened upon it and recorded it.”
“So you can talk to the enemy now?”
“And better. Not only can we force communications and adapt our systems to tap into them, but they sent an FTL message back home.”
Gray frowned. “Are you suggesting you know…”
Clea nodded. “Their home world. The information was lost a long time ago…some even said a saboteur made it happen but regardless, we haven’t had coordinates for their point of origin since first contact. Now…we do.”
“We’ll have to verify the data,” Gray said. “But otherwise, fantastic work. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
“I’m sorry I gave you cause to.” Clea smiled. “At least it proved to be more than a random obsession…or if it was, it paid off. Either way, discovering Durant and gaining this information will definitely make the trip worth it. The alliance is going to benefit in a major way and when we verify these coordinates, we can take the fight to them.”
“Soon,” Gray said. “For now, we need to keep this place safe until reinforcements arrive. These weapons can’t fall into the wrong hands and now that we have them, I’m loath to leave them unguarded. Besides, you could probably use the rest planet side. Seems pretty nice out there in Durant’s terraformed nature.”
Clea peered out the window. “He definitely did a good job. Reminds me of the mountain you took me to on Earth.”
“Good memory. Even on the verge of war, with the threat of violence, we managed to find a moment of peace.” Gray leaned against the wall, peering outside. “Maybe when this is all over, we’ll find it again only more permanently.”
“There’s always another challenge,” Clea said. “Even in times without violence, we’ll create obstacles to test ourselves and push ou
r cultures to progress. I just hope they involve exploration rather than pulse cannons.”
“I’ll second that, Clea.” Gray took a deep breath and let his shoulders relax. “Whole heartedly.”
