On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1)

by Mark Harritt

  A torrent of blood dripped, and then gushed out of the mouth of the great beast, and it collapsed. “Must have cut its spinal column,” Mike thought. Mike pulled his hand out of the great dragon’s mouth and stood up. He looked around for his original target and saw it lying, unmoving on the meadow, twitching as it died.

  The final hostile was fatally damaged. Its spine was broken. It had been clawed from head to toe by small arms fire, pulse lasers, and rail guns. There was no give in it, though. The desire to kill was so deeply rooted, that it tried to pull itself forward to kill. Mike watched as his team moved forward and, saving ammunition, hacked it apart with pulse lasers. A finally quiver of the muscle and it went still.

  Mike walked over to the female on the ground. He noticed the rapid shallow breaths. He assumed it was in shock. It didn’t seem to be able to move anymore, so he walked around to the eye of the dragon, which was open. The great beast tracked him with the one good eye. He saw the hate in its soul. He triggered his pulse laser, piercing the brain of the beast. The breathing stopped.

  He stood up, “ACE report. Over.”

  His team reported in, green across the board.

  Then he called Pang, “Lieutenant Pang, ACE report, over.”

  She replied, “Green across the board, they didn’t even come close to us.” Pang looked at the team. They were no longer camouflaged. They looked like the denizens of some demonic charnel house, covered in gore, dripping blood across the grass and sand of the churned up meadow, gods of slaughter and death.

  The valley map expanded across Mike’s vision again, the boarders flashing red. Another hostile was on the way.

  --------------------------------------

  Lenny talked to Matki Awrani using the AI software. He had been working long hours to create a program and AI that would learn Matki Awrani’s language. Matki Awrani was no fool, and quickly figured out that Lenny was trying to learn his language. Matki Awrani was taken aback the first time that he heard Lenny say something, and then hear the computer say a phrase in his own language. As for Lenny, he was delighted to see how the AI was beginning to respond to the new program. It learned very quickly, and was able to access a lot of the stored internet translation programs to learn how different languages worked and intersected from Earth. It was able to use these programs to create a new algorithm to understand Matki Awrani’s language, and then translate it into English, and from English back into Matki Awrani’s language. With this comprehension, Lenny was able to understand one thing about the hostile dragons that just tried to kill everybody.

  “She’s in heat,” Lenny conveyed this to the Mike and his team.

  “Damn it, can’t we get a break here?” Rob complained.

  Mickey retorted, “That’s not going to happen, evidently Mike really pissed off Murphy.”

  Mike replied, “Not my fault, I blame it all on Everett.”

  “How the hell is it my fault?”

  “You asked the question, I answered it. If you hadn’t asked the question, then I wouldn’t have answered. Then I wouldn’t have pissed off Murphy. Ergo, your fault.”

  “Oh, I have to call B.S. on that, Mike.”

  “Of course you’re going to call B.S., because you know it is your fault, therefore, you want to blame me.”

  “It’s not my fault. You’re the one that made the inference that we would be okay if nothing else showed up.” Another red hostile was indicated on the map as soon as the words escaped Everett’s mouth.

  “See, you did it again. So, your fault.”

  Mike made a decision, “Okay guys, before they get here, let’s drag these carcasses out of the way. Pull them to the edge of the tree line so that we keep our dojo open for combat.”

  The team followed Mike’s lead, and started dragging each carcass back to the tree line.

  Downstairs, as the group watched the combat, somebody said, “Jeez, they sound like an old, married couple.”

  Major Nosstrand and Dr. Humpreys found it fascinating. They were looking at the physical readouts of the soldiers as they were bickering about who was at fault. The banter back and forth among the team was actually reducing their stress levels. The more they bantered, the lower their physical stress became.

  Dr. Humphreys said, “God, I wish I was able to do a dissertation on this.”

  Major Nosstrand laughed, “What would you call it? The ‘Jackie Gleason and Art Carney effect on combat stress levels?”

  Dr. Humphreys smiled, “You better watch it, Major Nosstrand. That show is from my era. These kids around here will start to call you,” he paused for dramatic effect, “old.”

  Her eyes twinkled, “I’ll just tell them I watched it on TV land.”

  Dr. Humphreys looked back at the physical readouts, “Still, I wish we had time to get some blood samples so that I could check cortisol levels.”

  In the meadow, they were prepping for the two new hostiles. This time, the camouflage wouldn’t be as useful as it was previously. The mech armor suits were covered with gore, and no amount of camouflage would be able to hide them.

  The beasts were using the same strategy that the previous males used, though one of the males seemed to be more aggressive.

  “Man, would you look at the stats on that one. Forty feet long and sixteen tons of meat and gristle.”

  “Yeah, bigger than the previous ones. Still, the second hostile seems to be about the same size as the other two.”

  Mike painted the larger one as target one, and the smaller one as target two.

  “Alright, mechs two and four on me. We’re now team one, and we’ll engage the larger of the two hostiles. Mechs three and five, you’re now on the secondary target. Please reply that you understand.”

  Four replies indicated that they understood the order.

  Downstairs, the people watched as the next battle was about to occur.

  “Man, after that last fight, I’d figure they’d want to get the hell out of here.”

  “Be glad they aren’t hightailing it out. If they did, we’d all be snacks for those dragons.”

  “Dude, did you see when Mike jumped on top of that small one and rode it like it was a bucking bronco. Man. That takes some major cojones.”

  “I thought the part where Mickey slammed into the Dragon and brought it to a dead stop was amazing.”

  “What I find amazing is that our security team is up there ready to fight if these things get through. And they don’t have any mech armor. Seems to me that takes more guts than being inside the mech armor. Mike and his team are impervious to the physical danger. If Pang and her team have to mix it up, they’re hosed.”

  “Yeah, Pang and Jondreau have some big huevos to back up the mech team. Of course, Pang was one of the few people that helped to kill the first one that was going to carve us up.”

  The pattern of the two dragons changed. They stopped, and then Mike could hear the hunting cry of the dragon. He didn’t know which was which, but his money was on the big one.

  “Alright, we have incoming hostiles. Let’s go ahead and get back into wedge formation. Sniper, Over.”

  “Roger, sniper. Over.”

  “This time, don’t wait for me to tell you, just shoot one of them. The big one if you can. I’d like to slow him down before we engage. Hopefully the three of us can get him down and then help with junior. Over.”

  “Roger, I’ll engage as soon as I see him. Over.”

  “Sniper, this is Mech team leader. Over.”

  “Mech team leader, this is Sniper. Over.”

  “Great kid. Don’t get cocky.”

  “Mech team leader, this is Sniper. Err, what?”

  Mike and his team cracked up. “Sniper, this is Mech team leader. Sorry. Just kidding you. We need to break out some movies when this is over, then you’ll understand what I’m talking about.”

  “Mech team leader, Roger.”

  Rob started talking, “In a g . . . “

  “Whoops, sorry Rob, I hate to interrupt, but
the big guy and junior are coming in pretty quick. We need to get ready.”

  Once again the five mech armor suits were standing in line so that they could engage the different hostiles. They didn’t have long to wait. The large male was the first to emerge from the tree line. Then the smaller male broke through the trees. The bodies of both males were slightly hidden behind the carcasses of the other three dragons.

  The large male moved forward to smell the carcass of one of the dead males, and then sniffed the dead female.

  He lifted his head and roared. The second male answered him with his hunting scream. Both of the males started pawing the ground, in anticipation of the kill.

  “Sniper, do you have a target?

  “That is a negative, mech leader. Can you shift position? Maybe they’ll move so that I can get a shot.”

  “Roger sniper, your bait is moving.”

  In the cave, sniper started sweating, “Jeez, I didn’t mean it like that.”

  Pang was crouched right beside him. She was there so that he didn’t tunnel vision on the main threat and get compromised if another threat suddenly appeared.

  “Don’t worry, that’s just Mike’s way.”

  Mike moved to the left, using the big dragon as a pivot. He didn’t get any closer. He and his team shifted as one unit. He looked at the enormous bulk of the beast. It watched him, but it didn’t move. Mike could see on the display that junior was shifting position as the other team moved.

  “Sniper, I think you’re going to have to engage the smaller one. The big one is cannier than the others before him.”

  “Roger, I have the small one sighted. Give me more movement, and I think I have a shot.”

  Everett was the team leader for the second mech team, “Roger, we’ll move more and see if we can’t pull him out so that you get the shot.”

  Mike spoke next, “If you can’t get a shot into the joints, put some lead into the body and see if you can do some damage.”

  “Roger.”

  A few seconds seemed to be an eternity, and then the shot rang out. Mike could see dust fly off the hide of the smaller dragon as the bullet hit. The smaller dragon stood straight up and bellowed a challenge, then jumped over the carcass in front of it to attack Everett and Tom.

  Mike looked forward at the big beast. It wasn’t moving. It watched to see what was happening.

  As chaos engulfed the other team, Mike had a thought, “In for a penny, in for a pound.”

  "Rob, Mickey, you two move around to the left, I’m going to move to the right. I’m going to start moving straight for the creature. Maybe it will take me as bait.”

  The team started walking forward. Mike could tell that they were getting well past the big dragon’s comfort zone. Its tail was twitching furiously as he watched it. As Mike separated more from Mickey and Rob, he could tell that he was drawing more attention.

  The great beast could take no more. It wasn’t used to having prey challenge him. He bellowed a challenge and leaped, running forward towards Mike. Mike rolled as the great dragon tried to take him down. Mike didn’t escape the full force of the blow, however. The extended claw glanced against the armor, driving Mike off balance. Mike took the armor into a shoulder roll and then came back up to engage with the dragon.

  Rob hit the side of the dragon running and slammed his fist into the beast to cut the tough hide, hoping to get his pulse laser or rail gun inside to vital organs. Mickey tried to take out the beast’s mobility by concentrating his pulse laser and rail gun on one of the back legs. Mike decided to play the option he knew best, and went for the head as it whipped towards him.

  The dragon drove Mike down to the ground, and started biting. The speed of the monster surprised Mike. It wrapped both arms around Mike and chewed on the mech, seeking vitals to kill, not knowing that the mech wasn’t alive. It was startled when the bite didn’t break the armor. Mike grabbed a handful of the nest of wildly whipping tentacles around the neck and slammed his gauntlet blades against the side of the head. As he slammed his hand in, he triggered the pulse laser, which sliced into the neck. Blood and fluids flashed into steam as the laser cut and cauterized the deep wound. The pain drove a bellowing cry of agony from the great dragon.The beast stood straight up and came crashing back down directly on top of Mike. Mike’s mech slammed into the ground, causing his head to bounce around. His helmet pinged against the armor from side to side.

  “Thank God for helmets,” he thought. Without the helmet, even inside the mech, he would have had a concussion.The beast had him on the ground and both giant paws bore down on the shoulders of the mech armor. Mike had no leverage, he was pinned. The dragon repeatedly bit down on the armor. The pressure of the dragon’s jaws was no match for the mech armor.

  Mike couldn’t see it happening, but he knew his team was killing the beast as it attempted to rend him to pieces. In his position, Mike couldn’t do much, with the entire weight of the beast on top of him. He could only do one thing; he aimed his pulse laser and rail gun up into the vitals of the beast.As the beast slammed its weight into him, he triggered both weapons. Both the pulse laser and the rail gun projectiles impacted and cut into the chest and neck, gobbets of flesh, bone, and blood exploding from the wounds.

  The dragon’s rage grew as its efforts to kill the mech armor did no damage. Pain ravaged its body, driving its fury. The mech armor wouldn’t bleed, wouldn’t shatter, wouldn’t die, no matter how many times the dragon bit it, no matter how many times he clawed it, no matter how many times he slammed his full weight down on top of it. It would not die. Still, the dragon tried to kill, frustration increasing as the pain mounted. The damage was too great to continue. The great dragon raised its head to heaven and roared its defiance, even as it died. The ground shuddered as the legs failed, and the body slammed into the ground. Right on top of Mike. Mike heard the network erupt as the great beast died.

  “Christ, where’s Mike?”

  “I don’t know, last I saw, it was slamming him into the ground, trying to crack him like anegg.”

  “Yeah, but where is he now?”

  Mike replied, “I’m down here.”

  “Down where.”

  “Underneath it. It fell right on top of me.”

  “Underneath?”

  “Yeah, Underneath.”

  “What, you decided to take a nap?”

  Mickey was enjoying this. Rob jumped into the exchange.

  “Mike, if you’re tired, we can get you a cot. You don’t have to sleep in your mech armor. I mean, I know the foam is pretty comfortable.”

  Mike replied, “Wow, you’re two funny guys. Maybe you should take your standup on the road. Hey, here’s a question. What about the other dragon? You think maybe Everett and Tom might need some help?”

  Everett spoke, “No, Mike, while you were taking your nap, we were taking care of business. Junior is down and done.”

  “So, since every hostile up there is dead, you guys think you might stop the comedy routine and roll this big bastard off of my mech armor so that I can stand up?”

  “Well, Mike, you have to understand, this type of situation, doesn’t come along every day. So, we do need to savor the moment.”

  “When you’re done savoring, you might want to get me out of here. Not for my sake, God knows. But we might want the techs to take a look at the mech armor before another wave of these things hits.”

  “Weellll, yeah, I guess you’re right.”

  Another voice clicked on. It was Bob, “Don’t worry boys, we have everything saved on video. You can watch and re-watch to your heart’s desire.”

  “Thanks Bob, you’re a great help,” Mike replied. “Comedians, surrounded by comedians,” he thought.

  The team got busy. It didn’t take them too long. Another twenty minutes and Mike was freed from his prison. Much longer and he would have tunneled out through the dragon.

  --------------------------------------

  There were no more hostiles to deal with. They sat
in the mechs for a good hour, watching for hostiles. Mike felt that the situation had cooled down, and with no more hostiles inbound, Mike started rotating the team out to get something to eat, drink, to stretch, or to hit the latrine. Another two hours and they were back down to their lowest security stance, with Mickey on watch in his mech armor. The security team was much friendlier now. Days of interacting with Mike and the team had brought the groups together. Now they understood they had the same mission, to protect each other, and the engineers below. As Mike and his team sat down among the security police and other Air Force personnel that were now on the security team, he could feel how the attitudes had shifted. He and his team were now accepted. Stories were told and retold as the afternoon wore on.

  Lenny and Matki Awrani came over to talk to Mike.Mike was eating an MRE. Matki Awrani eyed the MRE covetously. Mike fished out a muffin top and tossed it to him. Matki Awrani’s eyes lit up as the package flew through the air towards him. He snatched it out of the air and started to open it. His eyes rolled in pleasure as he saw the chocolate chip muffing top. Mike motioned for them to have a seat with him.

  “Hey Mike, how are you?”

  “Pretty good Lenny. How are you and M.A. doing?”

  Matki Awrani was busy inhaling the muffin top.

  “He has some more information about the dragons.”

  “Really? That translation software of yours must be working pretty good.”

  Lenny nodded, “Yeah, it’s almost scary how well the AI is working in the translation program.”

  Mike considered this, “I know what you mean. The AI in my mech armor is getting so good that I don’t even realize that it is there. Every now and then, though, a display or icon will light up a split second before I realize that I triggered it.”

  Mike took a bite of lasagna, “So, what’s up with the dragon situation?”