Miranda's War

by Eric S. Brown

  Nothing came charging out of the doorway as Robbie and Flynn approached it with their weapons at the ready. Robbie moved to touch one of the doors. It fell from its hinges, thunking loudly onto the floor of the doorway. Any element of surprise they’d had was lost, so Robbie and Flynn charged into the town meeting hall. Miranda sprinted forward to follow them as Rachel and Joe held their positions.

  The interior of the meeting hall was a slaughter house. Blood greased the floor and walls. Bodies hung upside down, suspended from the ceiling, with their entrails dangling from their torn flesh. Many more bodies littered the aisles and benches of the place. The smell was horrible. Miranda gagged and activated her armor’s helmet. The collar around her neck grew and expanded, clicking into place around her head. The helmet’s systems came to life, bringing a tactical display flicking into existence in front of her eyes. Her gaze swept the interior of the hall, searching for any sign of the monster or monsters that had wiped out the town.

  “Frag,” Robbie muttered. “What are we dealing with here, Boss?”

  “No idea,” Miranda answered. “Just stay focused and alert. Whatever did all this could very well still be inside the building.”

  She knew Robbie and Flynn were pros but had cautioned them anyway. This was no time to be cocky. Brickson was a mining colony and far from poor. Among the corpses filling the hall were ones that wore combat armor, and there were clear signs of weapons’ fire scarring the walls.

  “They really did make their last stand in here,” Flynn said.

  “Sure looks that way,” Robbie agreed, stepping over the body of a dead woman who was missing most of the right side of her face.

  The situation went to hell in a heartbeat. The monsters came bursting out of the rear rooms of the meeting hall. There was a swarm of them as they rushed forward. Each of them stood almost six feet fall, their bodies covered in insect-like exoskeletons. The things resembled a cross between overgrown ants and giant spiders. Most of them moved straight at the small group of monster hunters, but some took to the walls and ceiling, skittering along them on the six legs that made up the lower halves of their bodies. The creatures each had two primary arms, one that ended in a wicked-looking pincer, and the other a clawed monstrosity with a thumb and three fingers. Their eyes were bulbous masses that protruded from the sides of their heads. Their pincers clacked together rapidly as they closed the distance, coming in fast.

  Robbie and Flynn opened fire on the monsters, their rifles blazing away on full auto. The heavy armor-piercing rounds streaked across the length of the hall, punching holes in the monsters’ exoskeletons and sending gray goo-like blood flying from the wounds they inflicted. Miranda could see the bugs were going to have the advantage inside the hall.

  “Fall back!” she barked, moving forward to cover Robbie and Flynn as they retreated.

  One of the bug things leaped at her, and the blade of her sword cut it in half mid-leap. The two separated parts of its body were flung in opposite directions, while its gray blood splashed over her armor. Miranda brought her sword around to slice off the arm of another monster as its clawed hand lashed out at her. Her back swing relieved the thing of its head.

  Robbie and Flynn had made it to the doorway and were doing their best to lay down cover fire for her retreat. A monster coming at Miranda on her right side blew apart as Robbie poured a dozen or more rounds into it.

  “Come on, Boss!” Flynn shouted at Miranda.

  Disengaging from the charging monsters, Miranda ran for the door and jumped through it. She landed, rolling on the street outside, and sprang to her feet, sword at the ready. Robbie and Flynn followed her out the door with the bug things on their heels. Joe was ready for the monsters. His high-powered rifle boomed in rapid succession, each carefully aimed shot sending one of the things back to whatever hell it had crawled out of.

  “Spread out and keep those things bottled up in the doorway,” Miranda ordered. The monsters’ advantage lay in their numbers, and she knew that only so many of the things could try to emerge from the doorway at a time.

  The corpses of the bug things began to pile up in the doorway of the meeting hall, and they served to slow down those that were still trying to get out onto the street.

  “We can’t hold them like this forever, Boss!” Robbie warned as his rifle clicked empty and fell silent. Robbie scrambled to change out the weapon’s spent magazine for a fresh one.

  “Brook!” Miranda yelled over the comm of her helmet. “Get Strider over here! We need you to come in on an attack vector and blow the town meeting hall to Hades!”

  “On my way!” Brook answered. Miranda could hear Lee in the background grumbling about the cost Brook’s actions were going to incur. She didn’t care. Maybe they could take the monsters without losing anyone, but maybe they couldn’t. Her people mattered more to her than credits.

  Miranda saw Strider rise up from the nearby hills. The Deathbird-class ship came screaming across the sky toward the town.

  “They’re getting through!” Flynn warned as numerous bug things made it through the devastating fire being poured into them. Flynn and Joe’s weapons fell silent, needing to be reloaded. Robbie’s rifle was blazing again, and even Rachel had joined the fight, but their two guns alone weren’t enough to stem the tide of the creatures bursting out of the town’s meeting hall.

  Strider reduced speed as it approached the meeting hall, hovering back away from it, as its main guns targeted the doorway of the building. Its barrels flashed as Brook blew the bug things in the doorway, and the walls of the building itself, apart.

  “Get clear!” Miranda shouted, already running for cover.

  The others went their own ways, legs pumping beneath them as they hurried to escape the coming hellstorm. A single missile flew from the underside of each of Strider’s stubby wings. They streaked into the town’s meeting hall and exploded. The building went up in a conflagration of white flames that sent burning bits of wood spinning out from it like shrapnel.

  In the wake of the explosion, Strider rose and soared away across the sky. Brook had done her job and was getting clear of the battle. Miranda knew she would circle around and be ready for another run at the bug things if it came to that. Several of them had escaped the building before Strider had blown it to hell, and they were spreading out in the street, going after her and her group of hunters. It was all about clean up and survival now.

  Miranda loosed a battle cry and charged the closest of the bug things. The blade of her sword slashed through the exoskeleton of its chest, opening it up from one side to the other. Gray blood splashed out and over her as she struck the monster again as it fell. Her second slash finished the twitching bug thing, slicing its back open from top to bottom. Its corpse clattered into the snow at her feet.

  The head of one of the bug creatures exploded as Joe’s high-powered sniper rifle thundered. Shifting his aim, Joe targeted another of the creatures and put a round into its chest, blowing a massive, gaping hole there.

  Robbie and Flynn’s rifles weren’t as powerful as Joe’s, but they were getting the job done. Each of the men were hosing the bug things that came at them on full auto. Their bullets ripped and tore at the exoskeletons of the monsters, punching into them and blowing them apart.

  Rachel was the weak link in the group, and Miranda ran to her aid as Rachel’s rifle clicked empty. The bug thing that sprang at Rachel was knocked from the air by one of Miranda’s armored hands as she brought it down onto the creature’s back. It landed in the snow, trying desperately to scramble back up onto its legs. Miranda didn’t give it time. The blade of her sword came around in a mighty arc and entered its head at eye level, slicing completely through the top half of its skull.

  “Thanks!” Rachel blurted as she struggled to reload her weapon.

  Miranda ignored Rachel, turning to face two more bug things coming their way. Springing forward to meet them, Miranda impaled one with her blade, sinking it into the monster’s body, then jerking i
t upward, cutting the creature open along its middle. The thing died instantly, but doing so gave the other bug a chance to strike at her. Its pincer hand clanged against the side of her battle helmet. The impact was so jarring it caused Miranda to lose her footing in the snow and sprawl onto her side, her sword bouncing from her grasp. The bug thing skittered over her, its claws raking along her armor. Sparks flew as its claws met the metal of the armor, but they were unable to pierce it.

  Miranda brought an armored knee up into the bug thing’s underside, and knocked it away from her as she rolled in the opposite direction. Leaping to her feet in a defensive stance, Miranda was ready as the bug thing came at her again. She caught its pincer hand at the wrist as the bug thrust it at her armored face. The servomotors of her armor whined and strained, but she stopped the creature’s thrusting hand and bent it sideways with a loud cracking noise. The exoskeleton of its arm snapped open, leaking gray goo, as Miranda delivered a kick that shattered one of its forward legs. The creature slumped in front of her, but was far from out of the fight. Its clawed hand balled up into a three-fingered fist and slammed into her. Miranda grunted from the force of the impact, but her armor held against the blow. She staggered a few steps backward, away from the crippled bug thing, as Joe rushed in to save her.

  Joe came running up, so close to the bug monster that the barrel of his sniper rifle was touching the side of its head as he squeezed his weapon’s trigger. The rifle bucked in his hands as it spat a round point blank that pulped the bug thing’s entire head. Its headless body toppled over into the snow and lay there, motionless.

  “Frag me,” Joe shouted. “That was too close for comfort, Boss.”

  Miranda shook her head to clear it and took a quick look around at the snow and corpse-covered street. All the bug things that had escaped the meeting hall were dead, and everything was just as calm as it had been before the battle started, except for the crackling and popping of the burning building. She heard its wood give a heavy groan just before its roof collapsed inward, sending scorching hot embers flying.

  “We’re not done here,” Miranda told the others. “There could be more of those things around this place.”

  “We’ll find them, Boss,” Robbie told her. “We always do.”

  “I just hope that senator lady’s brother wasn’t in there.” Flynn gestured at the burning meeting hall with the barrel of his rifle. “If he was, it’s going to be dang hard for us to find it and get paid.”

  “The street is clear,” Joe told them. “No signs of any more of those things anywhere out in the open.”

  “They won’t be out in the open.” Robbie snorted. “Bugs like that never are, unless they’re chasing you.”

  “Enough,” Miranda cautioned Robbie, shooting him a glare.

  Strider came flying in over Brickson’s main street and touched down in the middle of it. Its rear bay opened, and a ramp extended into the snow. Lee came marching out of the ship with Brook behind him.

  “Did you really need to order that strike?” the old hunter complained. “Those missiles aren’t cheap, ya know, and if I’ve been hearing your comm chatter right, we won’t be finding this guy we were sent after despite it all.”

  “There were only hundreds of bodies in that building, Lee,” Miranda argued. “This place was supposed to have a population pushing two thousand folks. The ones that died in there,” she gestured at the burning meeting hall, “were likely the last to die. I’ll wager we’ll find the rest of the colonists’ bodies spread out all over.”

  “I still don’t like those odds,” Lee grumbled.

  Miranda turned to Brook. “That was nice shooting.”

  Brook grinned at her. “You know how creepy you look in that armor, right?”

  Miranda’s helmet broke apart, disengaging, and reformed into the collar that spread out in a “v” around her neck. “You keep reminding me.”

  “So what happens next?” Joe asked.

  “Now we go hunting,” Miranda answered the sniper, frowning.

  “These things are bugs,” Robbie said. “Things like that you usually don’t find in small numbers.”

  “Robbie’s right,” Flynn agreed. “We may know what we’re dealing with now, but who knows how many more of those things are out there. Do we really want to go kicking over nests?”

  “We do!” Lee snapped. “Like I said, those missiles weren’t cheap.”

  “Brook, is there any way, using Strider’s sensors, to help us find Senator Lindsey’s brother?” Miranda asked the pilot.

  “Sadly, no.” Brook shrugged. “As far as we know, he’s just another body rotting out there somewhere. The sensors aren’t going to be able to pick out his corpse from any of the others.”

  “Understood.” Miranda nodded. “Then we’ll have to do this old fashioned way. Robbie, Joe, I want you guys to take the right side of town. Flynn and I will take the left. We’ll work our way through the buildings one by one. Rachel, you stay with Lee and Brook aboard Strider.”

  Rachel looked like she had mixed emotions about being ordered to stay on the ship. Part of her was glad to be off the front line and out of danger, but at the same time, she seemed offended that Miranda had benched her.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Rachel said and started up Strider’s ramp. Brook followed her, but Lee lingered behind. Miranda could see the old man had some choice words for her.

  “You find this guy, kid,” Lee told her. “We can’t afford to botch this one. We’re playing with fire, taking a contract from an Earth Gov senator. Let her down, and there’ll be hell to pay.”

  “I’m not a kid anymore, Lee,” Miranda said, reminding Lee it was her show. He was her trusted second in command, and she loved him dearly, but she was the boss.

  Lee frowned without saying another word and stomped up the ramp into the ship. Its rear bay door clanged shut behind him.

  Miranda stared at the ship for a second, thinking of days gone by, then got back to business.

  “Let’s get moving, people,” Miranda ordered.

  * * * * *

  Chapter 10

  Robbie and Joe started along their side of the town by entering what appeared to be a general store. Tiny bells rang above its door as it slid open to admit them. Robbie was thankful the power was still on in the town. Doing this in the dark would have been a nightmare. Infrared had its uses, but he preferred his own Mark I eyeballs. They tended not to screw things up with false readings, which even the best tech could do at times.

  The bug things had been inside the store. The corpse of one them, with a hole blown through its face, lay just inside the doorway. Robbie wore a disgusted expression as he stepped over it. Across from the bug thing’s body, the corpse of a middle-aged man rested on the floor near the store’s counter. His body had been torn open from the base of his neck to his groin. One of the bug creatures had devoured most of what had been inside. The expression the man wore in death was one of intense pain and fear. The smell of urine rose from the floor beneath where he lay, his bladder likely releasing itself before the bug that killed him had eaten him.

  “He ain’t the one we’re after,” Robbie told Joe as the sniper stopped to examine the man closer. “According the data file we got on him, our guy only had one eye, remember?”

  Joe chuckled. “Yeah, you’re right. I’d forgotten about that. This guy at least put up enough of a fight to get one of those things, though. That’s better than can be said about the lot over in the meeting hall.”

  Robbie snorted. “We don’t know that. Those guys could have killed dozens of those things, and the others carried off their bodies before we got there. Besides, look at that guy. He got lucky is all. The thing came straight in through the door, and he was there waiting for it with that shotgun on the floor next to him.”

  “Let’s finish checking out this store and get on to the next building,” Joe urged Robbie, dropping the subject of the dead man.

  The two of them made a quick sweep of the store and found no
other bodies inside it. As they headed out, Robbie paused to help himself to a pack of heavily-salted jerky from one of the shelves. He noticed the sniper watching him with a stern expression.

  “What? I’m hungry man,” Robbie said.

  Still munching on his jerky, Robbie followed Joe out of the store and back into the night outside. The meeting hall continued to burn, and its flames lit up the town’s main street. A fresh round of snow had begun to fall. White flakes danced on the gentle breeze that blew down out of the surrounding hills.

  The men looked up at the night sky.

  “Great,” Robbie said around a mouthful of jerky. “Just great.”

  “It’s beautiful,” Joe commented. “Look at it coming down.”

  Robbie huffed. “Let’s just get this over with already.”

  Joe felt a chill out of nowhere. It felt like someone had stepped over his grave. He flinched as Brook’s voice came over their ear comms.

  “Hey, guys,” Brook said. “I’m picking up some weird readings near you. You see anything strange out there?”

  “Snow,” Robbie snarled. “Lots of freaking snow, oh and some buildings, and some more snow.”

  “Negative on that, Brook,” Joe answered. “What kind of weird readings?”

  “If I knew what they were, they wouldn’t be ‘weird,’ would they?” Brook laughed. “The best I can describe them is that there are some kind of energy shifts close to your position. They don’t appear to be anything dangerous, but I wanted to give you guys a heads up.”

  “Thanks,” Joe said. “We’ll be careful and keep an eye out for anything ‘weird.’”

  Robbie shot Joe a sidelong look, knowing the sniper had just tried to make a joke. Sometimes Joe’s sense of humor was so dry it was hard to tell.

  “You still sweet on her?” Robbie asked after Brook’s transmission had ended.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Joe said, overly defensive.