Primal Destiny

by Ryan Kirk

  Derreck paced the bridge, his frustration evident. Tev watched him, always curious to see how the man reacted. Tev and Absalon were right, and Derreck knew it, even if the thought of waiting for the enemy to make the first move rankled him.

  Absalon ignored Derreck and focused on Tev. “Get your pilots ready. At his rate of burn, Nicks will be in combat range in about two hours. By that time I want you all suited up and near Vigilance. If the situation gets out of control, I’ll try to cover your escape.”

  Tev nodded and was just about to leave the bridge when a voice got his attention. It was one of the many bridge officers. “Sir, there’s something here I think you should see.”

  Absalon turned to the man. “What is it?”

  “We didn’t notice this at first, but Hellbringer left one of its dropships on the far side of the sun. It must be running quiet to have evaded our detection, but the AI just caught a glimpse of it before it ducked back behind the sun.”

  Absalon stroked his chin. “That’s odd. Do we know anything else?”

  The bridge officer shook his head.

  Absalon glanced back at Tev. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll figure everything out up here. You just need to focus on preparing your people.”

  Tev nodded and was out the door.

  The two hours seemed to pass in no time at all. In Tev’s memory, the battles he had been a part of on the journey home had been slow and ponderous affairs. At one point, he had even napped as the two jumpships got in position to fight. But then he hadn’t had anything to do, either. He had a lance commander who told him where to be, and his only responsibility had been to fight to the best of his ability. Now that he had command, those hours were spent very differently. He rushed all over the ship, trying to prepare his fighters for whatever was coming. He gave last-minute tips to everyone, and it wasn’t until he encountered Xan that his nerves began to calm.

  Xan placed an enormous hand on his shoulder. “Tev, this is no different than a hunt. Treat it as such.”

  He took a deep breath. Xan was right. He called all the hunters together, and they formed a small ring in the center of the hangar outside Vigilance. Tev looked at Xan. “Would you say the blessing for us?”

  Xan bowed. Typically, the blessing was only given by the elders, but there were no elders in this group. By singling out Xan, Tev bestowed on him an honor he wouldn’t see in his own clan for many years, if ever.

  Xan said the words they all knew by heart, asking Lys for her blessings on this new hunt. Normally faithful, Tev opened his eyes and looked around, the juxtaposition of his two worlds giving him a small sense of vertigo. The prayer of Lys, uttered within this world of steel and fire. Tev was disoriented, but only for a moment. Then the two worlds, once separate, blended together into something else entirely. He didn’t have the words to describe the sensation, or the time to decipher what it meant, but for just a moment, Tev felt an overwhelming sense of being home. He closed his eyes and chanted the final words of the prayer, feeling a small peace descend on his racing mind.

  When Xan finished the prayer Tev gave the rest of the hunters a few moments of silence. Then he raised his head and spoke in a clear voice, the words flowing out of him like water. “Hunters. We are on a hunt greater than any that has come before. You have worked hard, and you are ready for what comes next. Stay calm and stay strong, and let your aim be true.”

  Without a word the hunters broke apart, each to their own exosuits. The battle would be upon them shortly.

  Tev climbed into his own suit and powered up. His display came to life in front of his eyes, and soon he saw the situation as it developed. His greater authority gave him access to the command channels, so he could hear what was happening on the bridge. He closed his eyes and listened.

  Tev could hear the nervousness in the silence of the bridge. All the advantages were in the hands of Captain Nicks and the Hellbringer. Destiny was prepared to respond, but they weren’t sure what they would be responding to.

  The silence stretched out, each second another nervous breath within the confines of his suit. On his display there was a thin line that indicated the maximum range of Hellbringer’s nuclear weapons. The dot that represented the enemy ship passed the line without incident, and Tev started to think they might get a chance at fighting. But it didn’t mean anything, not yet. Captain Absalon was fairly certain the Hellbringer couldn’t have too many nukes left, and if they did they would wait until the last possible moment to fire.

  Derreck gave Tev the command to spread out his hunters, and Tev didn’t question why. He gave the orders, and the six lances of four suits each spread out throughout the Destiny, prepared to repel boarders.

  Tev’s attention was drawn to his display, which had suddenly lit up with dozens of tiny lights. The battle between the two jumpships had begun.

  The lights distracted Tev, so he switched back to his combat display, which was much more barren. He left the audio channel open so he could hear the news.

  The bridge was still largely silent, which surprised Tev. He knew that Derreck and his people let the machines do most of the fighting for them, but it was surprising how much trust they put in their technology.

  The floor rocked underneath him, and on his audio channel he heard the report. “Missile strike penetrated our point defense system, outer hull, decks six and seven. Bulkheads are sealed, sir.”

  There was no audible response.

  Another officer spoke. “Sir, Destiny is reporting the attack is concluding. It requests guidance, sir. Counterattack or defensive?”

  Tev heard Absalon reply. “We don’t have the missiles to get past their defenses. What does Destiny think?”

  “Three percent chance of penetrating defenses. Destiny is better electronically, but we’re solidly outclassed when it comes to weapons. Hellbringer’s electronic interference isn’t even slowing us down.”

  “Defensive positions. We’re not going to waste what missiles we have.”

  Tev wondered what was going to happen next, but he didn’t have long to wait. The report came in from the bridge. “Sir, Hellbringer’s launching a dropship, arrow class.”

  The sensitive microphones caught Absalon whispering to himself. “Where the hell did they get an arrow class from?” Out loud, his voice was commanding. “Unleash everything on that dropship. Try to kill it before it breaches our hull.”

  Tev couldn’t contain his curiosity any longer. He pulled his original display back up, and he saw a single pinpoint of light speeding towards Destiny. Their own ship launched dozens of missiles towards the dropship, and it looked for a second as though the space in between the dropship and the jumpship was a solid block of light. Tev turned the display back off. The information didn’t help him at all.

  Absalon spoke to Derreck. “Get everyone to the breach point of that ship.”

  Derreck relayed the order to Tev, highlighting the points where he wanted exosuits stationed.

  Tev passed along the order and started running towards the point his display indicated. The walls of the Destiny were a flat gray, and without directions it would have been difficult for him to find his way.

  He was one of the last to arrive. Many of the others were already in position. Tev didn’t get there a moment too soon. As soon as he was in position, the whole wall of the ship started to cave in. Tev had never heard of an arrow-class dropship. He didn’t know what they were capable of, didn’t know that they had made their name by boring directly into jumpships and depositing their soldiers. But he learned quickly as the event unfolded in front of him.

  The sound was tremendous, a wailing screech of metal so loud even Tev’s audio system wasn’t able to dampen the sound to a more bearable level. Instinctively, Tev closed his eyes as the sounds of tearing metal assailed his ears. He forced them back open. He needed to see what was happening. Even with his eyes open, Tev wasn’t sure he wasn’t dreaming.

  The walls gave way to the pointed hull of the arrow-class ship. Once the
ship had broken through Destiny’s armor plating and into the hangar, it opened up, like a deadly flower unfolding. Inside were four enormous machines, exosuits Tev had learned in their last engagement were known as “heavies.” Tev frowned. Four heavies were a considerable force, but was also much smaller than he was expecting. From his vantage point almost directly in front of the breach, he could see deeper into the ship that had broken into the Destiny, and there were no other exosuits.

  The arrow class reversed its direction, pulling backwards as the hull folded back on itself. The breach, which had been mostly sealed by the presence of the other ship, rapidly depressurized the hanger. Tev watched as emergency bulkheads closed all around them, trapping their entire force within the hangar, at least for a few minutes. His perspective shifted, and it occurred to him that all his well-trained hunters were now locked in a small space with some of the most powerful exosuits in the galaxy. The next few minutes would be a trial by fire.

  It almost felt as if Tev’s thought triggered the firefight. Any sense of order evaporated immediately as the room erupted in fire and metal. These exosuits were equipped differently than the ones Tev had fought against before, and when the four heavies took a moment to face each other, showing boxy objects on their back Tev had never seen, he knew something was wrong.

  Derreck’s voice came over the general channel before Tev could say anything. “Take cover!”

  Tev’s instincts took over and he threw himself behind a steel plate purposely designed for the purpose. He was almost fast enough. In the corner of his vision he saw the boxes open and hundreds of small missiles shoot out, heading in all directions. One struck Tev directly in his left leg, and plenty of others struck all around him. His view was obscured by fire and smoke, and his helmet cracked as it was struck by shrapnel. His leap would have landed him on his side, but the explosion on his leg twisted his body in mid-air. Tev didn’t know which way was up as his body careened across the floor and walls.

  He hoped that the others had fared better. As the last one into the room, he had been distracted by everything happening and hadn’t had a chance to get behind cover. With any luck, the others hadn’t been so foolish. Agonizing seconds passed as Tev fought to get his bearings once again. His head was ringing, and his leg didn’t seem to be obeying his commands. Finally, he remembered how to move his head, and he sat up and looked down at his leg, fearing the worst.

  The damage was bad, but it could have been far worse. All of his armor had been stripped from a large part of his left leg. His bare shin was showing, and there were several deep cuts bleeding profusely. As Tev came to awareness, he could feel the armor on his lower thigh constricting, attempting to keep blood loss to a minimum. From what Tev could see, the suit’s efforts weren’t too successful.

  There was an even more challenging problem, though. Most of the suit had been blown away, including the parts that helped move the lower leg. Tev’s foot was still encased in his armor, weighing more kilos than Tev wanted to count. With an extreme effort, he could move his leg, but not much. In terms of combat mobility, he was useless.

  Tev remembered he wasn’t alone.

  The sounds of gunfire returned to his ringing ears, and he forced himself to look away from his leg and find out what was happening.

  He was in some sort of hell.

  He was sitting up, not even behind cover, as the four heavies laid down a blistering field of fire. If any of them saw him, his life would be over in a moment.

  Tev froze, worried that any movement would attract attention. To try to hide or not? Indecision made him a statue.

  No one else was moving. Were they dead? Injured? Or just taking cover?

  Tev’s thoughts ran in circles, out of control and yet returning to the same place over and over.

  His leg. His life. His hunters. Kindra. His leg. His life.

  Derreck’s voice pierced through the fog of his shock, abruptly ordering his thoughts. The captain’s voice was cold and calm, ice in the middle of a hot summer’s day.

  “Tev, get behind cover! Most of your hunters are fine, but they’re hiding. They need to remember that they have armor now. They can start taking shots, but they aren’t listening to me.”

  The voice gave him purpose, a list of tasks to accomplish. Get behind cover. Give orders. One task at a time, Tev’s mind returned to normal.

  He looked around. There was a steel plate he could hide behind just a few paces behind him. He risked a glance at the heavies and saw that he had a clear shot on one of them. Tev had a different weapon than most of the other hunters. Instead of an automatic rifle, he had a single-shot rifle, far more powerful. It was the weapon he had been given by his former lance commander, and he had developed an appreciation for its abilities.

  The heavies had made another modification to their armor. Their cockpits were better armored than the last. They had learned. Tev wondered if the extra armor would be enough. With the speed of thought, he raised his arm and rifle and centered his targeting reticle on the cockpit. The round sped from his arm and the heavy collapsed. He had his answer.

  His action attracted the attention of the other three heavies, as he knew it would. Tev planted his good leg, his right leg, down on the ground, and shoved himself backwards. He could hear the screech of metal on metal as his exosuit slid across the decking towards the steel plate. He reached cover just as hundreds of rounds of ammunition made the place he had been sitting a death trap. Even behind the steel plate, with all three heavies focusing their fire, he wouldn’t have more than a few seconds. But hopefully it would be enough for everyone else to regain their courage.

  Tev spoke for the first time since entering the battlefield, and even he was surprised by the sound of command in his voice. “Hunters, your prey is in front of you. They are dangerous, but they are prey. Time to hunt.”

  For a long, fear-filled second, nothing happened. More rounds punched through the steel that protected him. Tev believed Derreck that most of his people were still alive, but he hadn’t seen any evidence of it yet with his own eyes.

  Then the room came alive, exosuits running, jumping, and spinning behind cover. As they did, they took shots at the heavies, and as their confidence grew, so did their rate of fire.

  At first, nothing seemed to affect the heavies. They had more armor than Tev and his hunters did, and they could shrug off rifle rounds like they were shrugging off bugs. The hunters might be becoming more confident, but they weren’t becoming any more effective.

  “Their weak point is their cockpits. You need to hit them there.”

  There wasn’t any verbal response, but Tev risked a short glance to see the three remaining heavies struggle as round after round pinged off their new cockpit armor. The rifles the other hunters had weren’t as powerful, but they made up for it in sheer volume.

  The heavy pilots were very good. They kept moving, not letting themselves become a target for any one exosuit for more than a second or two. At the same time, they kept trying to hit the hunters, which was apparently a challenge for them. The hunters had remembered how well they could move in the suits, and they were leaping all over the hanger with almost reckless abandon.

  For almost a full minute there was a stalemate between the heavies and the hunters. The hunters weren’t piercing the armor of the heavies, but the heavies weren’t hitting the hunters as they bounced around the room. The only casualty in the firefight, as near as Tev could tell, was the hangar itself. Spent shell casings littered the deck, and there were more holes in the walls than a team of repair techs could work on in a month. A random thought crossed Tev’s mind that made him smile. Absalon was going to be furious about the damage.

  Xan, of course, was the one who broke the stalemate. Tev watched the entire feat. He saw as Xan leapt from the upper decks, ten meters above the fight. He plummeted towards one of the heavies, his feet aimed squarely at the cockpit. The heavy must have had some warning, because it looked up and started shifting its position. But i
t was too little, too late. Xan adjusted his course with a small rocket thrust, and his aim was true. The huge hunter crashed through the armor of the heavy and straight through the cockpit, sending both exosuit and heavy crashing to the floor of the hangar.

  Xan’s idea had been effective, but he hadn’t thought about how tangled up he would get in the remains of the heavy. The two remaining warriors turned to avenge their fallen comrade, and Tev shouted a command, all he could do. “Hunters! Protect Xan!”

  Tev didn’t need to worry. Xan had shown them the way to make the most out of their mobility. The hunters swarmed from the walls, giving up on trying to take the heavies out with their rifles. They darted in, slashing and grabbing at the heavies. One-on-one, an exosuit would never have the power to manipulate a heavy, but as they swarmed, they became more and more effective.

  As soon as the hunters left the protective cover of the edges of the hangar, the battle was over. The hunters only needed a few minutes to make it official. Tev watched as they brought down the heavies and tore them into pieces.

  Unfortunately, he didn’t get to see the end of the battle, as he passed out from blood loss.

  For a moment, Tev felt like he was reliving a previous memory. He woke up and the world was black. He took a deep breath and shot his arms out, suddenly afraid he was locked in a healing pod again.

  He didn’t need to worry. His movement brought the lights up, gradually brightening so as not to hurt his eyes. He looked around, deciding he must be in the sick bay of Destiny. He had only been here once before, and now he was in a private room which he had never seen. But he recognized enough of the devices to be certain.

  As his memory returned to him, Tev looked down at his leg, fearing again that the worst had come to pass. He wasn’t sure he could take the loss of his leg. But his leg was still there, wrapped up in a healing cast similar to the one he once wore on his arm. He shook his head. This was, what, the third time Kindra and her technology had saved his life? Or at least saved a limb.