by Ben Winston
“What of Mid-Lord Hasshkiss?” the High Lord asked.
The small being bobbed its head. “He is standing by to begin the analysis, but his expertise is in the mechanical not the biological. You orders will be followed to the best of our abilities, High Lord, however, our abilities may not be what are needed in this situation.”
“I understand, Grahssk. I will consult command on this. Delay the examination until I have received word on the disposition of the captive. If he is in danger of regaining consciousness, place him in stasis.”
The small being, Grahssk bowed low to the being. “As you command, my Lord.” It then stood and left to carry out its orders.
The High Lord of Communications, sighed to itself, and began composing a report to its superiors. It knew that capturing a Marine – alive – had been a priority since the last war with the humans. It also knew that it would be ordered to return the soldier to command for proper analysis. However, it did not know what priority the task would be given. At least they had the only soldier that could stop them in their custody.
Mark took form behind Mary in the command module. He did warn the two women he was coming this time, so they wouldn’t be surprised. “Have you gotten any more readings on the rooms you discovered, Gloria?” he asked.
She shook her head. “Not really, Mary asked the computer to start mapping what it could of these anomalies as well. Mark, if this whole thing is occupied, it would have to be huge.”
Mark nodded. “I know, and that’s what has us all worried right now. However, there simply can’t be that many troops here. There is no way the Tammerain could support a large garrison this deep in our territory.” He turned to Mary. “Doctor, could you please patch me into the comm system? I need to speak to John.”
“At once Your Majesty,” Mary replied, winking at him.
“Smart ass,” he replied, grinning at her.
“You’re on, Mark.”
“John, this is Mark. From the sound of things, I’m tempted to order the evacuation of the town until we can discover the extent of this complex. What’s your take on the situation?”
“Do we have the capability to do that?” John asked.
“I can activate the planetary garrison in Threshold to cordon off the area, and we can move the people out. We have an emergency shelter in Longshore that we can use for the time being,” Mark replied.
“If you can think up a believable reason to evacuate, then I would certainly do it. If we don’t have to worry about collateral damage, it would be a whole lot easier,” John replied.
“Okay, I’ll take care of it,” Mark replied. “Is there anything else I can do for you?”
“Just help Mary and Gloria, they’re doing great, but this isn’t what they’ve been trained for,” John replied.
“Will-do. Mark out.” He turned to Gloria, who was sitting in the pilot’s chair. “I need you to do something for me,” he smiled.
“Anything,” Gloria said, then blushed.
He smiled. “I need you to access the right hand control board.”
“Uh, John told me to stay away from that since it was the weapons control board,” Gloria replied, worriedly.
“Don’t worry, I’ll walk you through it,” Mark explained.
“Sire, I don’t mean to argue with you, but I cannot be a party to the use of weapons,” Mary replied.
“Don’t worry, Mary. I wouldn’t do that to you. No, we’re going to create the reason to evacuate the town,” Mark said.
“By blowing it up?” Gloria asked.
Mark chuckled. “No, we are going to create a situation that looks like the power unit for the crashed satellite, that no one ever found, is about to go critical, and is leaking lethal radiation. None of which is true of course, but it will appear to be.”
“Oh!” Gloria said. “I can do that.”
“So can I. Thank you for respecting my oath, Mark,” Mary replied.
“You’re my friend, Mary. I’d never intentionally violate your wishes or make you violate your oaths as a doctor,” Mark replied. He then turned back to Gloria and had her program a missile for what they needed.
“Missile ready, do I need to let our guards know we’re about to launch?” Gloria asked.
“That might be a good idea,” Mark nodded. “Launch when they’re clear.”
“Missile away,” Gloria said.
“Good, I’m already getting the local garrison activated, to cordon off the area, and evacuate the locals. This should work out pretty well,” Mark said.
“Drone cable has been cut! Drone is now in autonomous mode!” Mary said. “Mark, someone had to have cut the line. It was armored against things like sharp rocks and snags.”
“Better let John know they may be onto him,” Mark replied nodding.
John was just about to attack the two guards when the rest of the team caught up to him. He was starting to get worried about what might be happening to the Gunny.
“John, it’s Mary. Someone just cut the line to the drone. Mark says they may be on to you.”
“I don’t think so. If they were, we’d be up to our helmets in Lizards by now. They detected the drone, but not us. Now that the drone is gone, they’ll find us... if we give them the chance,” John replied. “Let’s take out these two, and get in there before something unfortunate happens to Gunny. Once we do this, we push ahead, because they’ll know we’re here.”
The weapons the marines used underwater created a ‘tunnel’ of supercavitated bubbles through water, opening a passage not filled with water for the laser to fire through. Of course it all happened so quickly, the target didn’t have a chance to react to the weapon firing. The two guards were dead before they even knew the Marines were there.
However, the base immediately knew they were there, since the energy from the weapons was detected, and alarms began sounding in the base.
John cycled the lock into the area where Gunny was taken, and the door opened.
“Mary, you might lose us in here, but Private Solms is setting a repeater just outside the door. It looks like this is some kind of moon pool entrance, so we will leave the door open,” John called.
“Understood. Be careful in there,” Mary replied.
John signaled for teams of three since that’s all the moon pool could accommodate at one time. Chloe and two other Marines moved into position, and John gave them the go signal. As soon as they entered the pool, three more Marines got into position.
“Clear and set, no opposition at this point,” Chloe called. “Advancing to the inner door, and holding.”
“What’s it look like, Chloe?” John asked.
“Like a small supply point. The inner door is double wide, and there are a few crates stacked around the room. Plenty of cover, move on in – we got the door covered,” she replied.
Acting on her information, John motioned to the rest of the team, and moved into position himself. The team quickly moved into the small bay, and John surveyed the area.
“Solms, Walenski, back into the pool and cover that door. Make sure nothing comes up behind us.” The two Marines nodded and jumped back into the water.
John motioned for Chloe to open the door and move ahead. “Carter, since you’ve got Gunny’s armor, stay with the second group. Once we find him, help him get suited up. He might be kinda groggy for a few minutes. Mary, can you still track us?”
“For now, although the signal is weak. The comms seem to be good though,” she replied.
“Good, do you still have Gunny?” John asked.
“Yes, but the signal hasn’t improved,” Mary replied.
“Try to send the wake up signal. I know you don’t think it’ll get through, but please try anyway. What direction do we need to move?” John asked.
“Northeast, about sixty feet, I think. Like I said before, I can’t pinpoint it,” Mary said.
“Understood, great work,” John replied, knowing Chloe could hear the directions as well.
“C
ontact!” Chloe called. Enemy front and rear!”
John turned to the door just as Chloe and her two companions jumped back through the door. Firing their weapons at unseen enemies in both directions in what looked to be a hallway.
John tossed a small device called a tattler out through the door, so it landed roughly in the middle of the hallway. His helmet visor darkened and switched the view to that of the small camera he just tossed into the combat zone. He looked north, and saw the corridor ‘T’ about twenty feet up. Lizards were using both sides of the intersection as cover.
Turning around, John saw the corridor continue off to the south and into darkness, but the lizards had opened doors into the hallway and were firing from them. They weren’t grouped up like the ones at the intersection to the north.
“Pop a frosty to the north, we’ll put up a blocker for the south,” John ordered.
The devices the team was using were all designed for anti-ship boarding parties to use. However, they worked very well for base assaults like this one as well, since it was the same type of battlefield. A frosty was a liquid nitrogen grenade. Basically, it couldn’t harm battle-steel bulkheads, but any organic matter in the blast area was immediately frozen. It was a very nasty weapon.
The blocker, was a small, portable, self-contained shield generator. What it did was seal a corridor or tunnel with a force field. There was nothing fancy to it. It was simply a portable wall. Neither side could shoot through it, nor could they move past it. It would stay in place until the power unit expired, or it was shut off.
They had more gadgets they could use, some of them more destructive than others, but until they located Gunny Skarsgaard, and got him into his armor, John didn’t want to use them.
“Blocker in place!”
“Throwing the snowball!” Chloe said as she boldly stepped out in the hallway and threw the grenade. Even twenty feet away, the temperature dropped a few degrees when it detonated. The team advanced to the intersection in a combat rush, Chloe and her group leading the way. As he passed it, John picked up the tattler and returned it to the pouch he carried it in.
Behind them, the lizards began pouring energy and projectiles into the shield covering the hall. They even threw a gas grenade hoping to penetrate the shield with a gas, but nothing worked.
The shield emitter was powerful enough to take a couple hits from a heavy mount, ship based laser cannon before overloading. Projectile weapons had no hope at all of weakening it. Not even gas would get through. It completely isolated the hallway. It’s too bad it didn’t work underwater.
“Boss, we have a door on the right ten feet down the right hall. The left hall ends in another set of double doors, like on the bay we just left,” Chloe reported.
“Team one, move up to the right and secure the door, but don’t open it yet. Team two, slap a lock on those double doors, and move back to the intersection,” John ordered. “How much further does the hallway go Chloe?”
“Another fifty or so feet there is a turn to the left, there are two doors on the left, one more on the right, about ten feet from the turn,” she reported. “Noise coming from the turn, we’re going to have company very soon, and there is no cover here.”
“Team Four, advance to the corner and secure it. Team Three back them up. Team One, as soon as Team Four gets to the corner, get into the room. Neutralize all enemy present secure Gunny Skarsgaard. Carter, go with Team One,” John ordered.
“Yes Sir!” Carter replied, and ran up to where team one was hugging the corridor. Team four was running with her, and they made it to the corner before any enemy could get to that point. However, they immediately engaged someone out of sight around the corner.
“Team Four in position. Enemy contact confirmed. Roughly a squad in size. We got this,” the team leader called to John.
“Understood. Team One, go!” John ordered.
Down the hall, Chloe and her team opened the door and rushed into the room, weapons ready. John motioned for his team to move up and cover them and Team Four.
He could hear Team One’s weapons firing. But it ended quickly. “Room secure, it is a medical room, but no Gunny,” Chloe said.
“Fuck. Try the next door down on the right,” John ordered. “Mary, he wasn’t in the room you thought, Care to try again?”
“Give me a sec, John. I’ve lost all of your signals, but not the comms. I’m trying to use the repeaters as a scanner array, I might be able to use that to locate his signal,” Mary replied, but her signal was static filled.
“Okay, we’re going to clear the adjoining rooms until then,” John ordered, and motioned for his team to hit the first door on the left.
Since it had sent out the request for information as a priority, the being was expecting an immediate reply to its inquiry. As expected, that reply was ordering him to place the Marine in stasis and transport him back for extended analysis. He had just noted that this mission had a higher priority than his original mission of relaying messages. Even if it meant exposing the base, he was to ensure the Marine was returned to Imperial Command at all costs. He was just about to call for its second to prepare the human for shipment when every alarm in the base began going off.
It got off its throne, and ran for the base control chamber. When it arrived, it discovered a flurry of activity. It also noticed that its second, may Gihya protect it, had already given the necessary orders to get their meager soldiers to where they would be needed.
During a short lull it pulled the smaller being over and told it of the orders from Imperial Command.
“Massster, I think our time here issss over anyway. If the Marines are assaulting ussss, then they know we are here. Hiding issss no longer an option,” the small being said.
“Agreed, give the orders for abandoning the base, our mission now is to return our prize to Command,” the leader said.
“What of our departure orders?” the small being asked.
“I do not believe we have an option. I will bleed for the death of this world, but our Commanders do not feel that pain. The sin will be mine alone.”
The small being shook its head. “With respect, I have to disagree with you Master. We will all share the death as our own, may Gihya forgive us. We will not let you carry this burden alone.”
The large leader of the base saw that all the technicians present were nodding in agreement, and felt pride in his people. “Thank you. Let us ready ourselves to go home. Issue the departure instructions. Tell our soldiers they will need to hold off the Humans until we are ready to depart.”
“As you order, Master.” The small being bowed and turning, began issuing orders.
The large being sat at its own console and activated the terminal there. It brought up the control systems command matrix, and input its special code. A simple menu appeared for him, and he selected ‘Base Evacuation’. As it went through the procedure required of it for leaving the base, he paused at the last command.
The Saurian, as a race, had grieved when they had believed this planet killed during the war. Murdered by the ravages of the Tammerain Empire’s need to exterminate the humans. When it was discovered that the humans had been able to revive the dying world there had been a long and joyous celebration on the homeworld.
Now, he was about to trigger a device that would destroy this world. It knew that there would be no saving it this time, since there would be nothing left to save. The planet itself would be gone.
Humans were little more than a plague on the worlds they infested that much was true. However, they had been clever enough to save this world when the Saurian had believed it lost. His second believed he was enabling the destruction device, and he knew he would, but perhaps if he gave them just a little time, perhaps those same clever humans could save the world again.
It quickly set the timer on the device, and enabled it. If Gihya wished this part of herself removed, then she would see to it, if not, then she would guide the humans so they could save her once again. If puni
shment would be handed out for failing this part of the mission, then it would not be shared with its underlings. If the price for keeping this planet alive was for it to give up its life, then so be it. It locked the terminal, making sure the unlock code was left in plain sight, and looked up at its second. The smaller being was the only one left in the room as all the rest had already left for the shuttles.
“We are finished here. May Gihya forgive us,” it said as it rose.
“Ssso sssay we all,” the second replied. “We musssst hurry, Masssster. The Marinessss are moving quickly.”
“What of the captured Marine?” the larger being asked.
“We are having difficultiesss getting it to the shuttlessss, Master. The Hoomansss are blocking the only remaining pathsssss.” The smaller being explained. “I have ordered our remaining troopssss to clear the waysss. Sssseveral of our techssss have taken up weaponssss and are helping themsss.”
The Commander nodded its head, and flicked out its tongue while it thought. “That is good, No one is to get on the shuttles until we have secured the chamber in one of them. That is our only remaining task.”
Chapter 15
“Gloria, call the guards down here, please,” Mark asked.
Gloria nodded. And Mary looked at him. “What do you have up your sleeve?”
“We’re going down there, we need to get a better data link to the team, and the sensors built into this sub are far better than those of the suits or the ROV,” Mark said.
“I don’t know how to pilot a submarine, Mark,” Gloria asked.
“It’s not that different than piloting the barge, Gloria, the lever next to the throttle is your depth. Forward to go down, and back to go up, detachment and recovery are handled by the computer. You can easily do this,” Mark explained, smiling at her.
“Mary, we will have the weapons systems active, but will only use them for defensive purposes. That should not violate your oaths,” Mark replied.
