At first, they didn’t run. They picked up a better pace than what they had been, but kept it slower until they absolutely had to speed up. Everyone stared at the trees beside them and above them, trying to penetrate the darkness. With every step, it felt like that darkness was closing in more and more. The light seemed less and less effective, even though she was pretty sure that was an illusion of her nerve-wracked mind.
“Any change?” she whispered to Roxanna after a time.
Roxanna didn’t answer at first, although her eyes were slightly unfocused. Then she said, “Yes. They know we’re coming. I sense…fear.”
As they drew closer, however, something strange happened.
They saw light.
Andy frowned and motioned for everyone to keep moving forward at the pace they had been, but it didn’t take long to reach the edge of the invisible boundary and discover a world so drenched in light, they were nearly blinded.
As soon as her eyes adjusted, she was able to look into what they had all assumed to be the nesting grounds of those four-armed beasts.
But that wasn’t what they saw.
Their view was filled with small creatures, perhaps no more than waist-high to Andy. They were roughly humanoid, but looked like lizards, or maybe more like the armadillos of Earth that she had once seen. They watched the group with wary eyes, the larger ones half-hunched into ball-like shapes over smaller ones.
And everywhere were these giant mushroom-like plants, giving off as much light as the sun, or so it felt.
“They’re terrified,” Roxanna said.
Even Andy could see that.
“These aren’t the creatures that have been attacking us,” the major stated the obvious. “They are attacked by them too. That’s why all the light.”
“It looks like we’ve found the nesting grounds of the planet’s prey, not its predators,” Marthe said quietly.
Good thing we didn’t set it on fire, huh? Andy thought, but she didn’t say. No sense in poking, but a quick look back suggested that Marthe was already saying it to herself.
“Just keep moving forward,” Andy said quietly. “Slowly, carefully. Damage nothing. Make no sudden movements, but keep weapons tight, just in case they decide to attack. We don’t know what they might be capable of.”
Everyone acknowledged quietly, and they kept moving.
With every step, they saw more of these creatures staring at them with terror, but some with curiosity. Had these little things thought they were more of those big brutes, coming to attack them and eat them? Probably, Andy thought, and she could hardly blame them. She was pretty damned terrified of those things herself, and she didn’t live here.
It took longer than expected to cross these new creatures’ territory, but that was due to their extreme care. Andy wished she could communicate to them and say they weren’t a threat, but she didn’t know how and didn’t have the time to try. The best way to say it was to simply leave, causing no harm.
Then the numbers thinned as the light began to fade, darkness returning.
She noticed that everyone slowed as they neared this border, since none of them wanted to be back in the dark.
None of them had any choice.
They left the light and moved carefully onward. Enzo checked the scanner to assure they were still on the right track, and they were.
Once in the dark again, everyone grew tense . Andy thought she might break from the tension.
“They’re coming,” Roxanna said, almost desperately, pleading with someone or something to make it not true.
“Get ready to fight,” Andy said resignedly.
But then, they saw the lights of a landing shuttle up ahead, and the plan changed.
“Run!” Andy shouted.
From there it was a blind, headlong rush to safety.
27
The rhythmic thumps above them drove straight into Andy’s skull, and her imagination pictured a horde of beasts swinging through the trees, the thud each time they grabbed a branch making the sound. Her imagination wanted to conjure up a few other images too, but she resisted.
“Hold the torches up!” she called over the sounds of their feet on the underbrush. She knew it wouldn’t be easy, but they had to try. Maybe it would keep the beasts from landing on top of them long enough to reach the shuttle.
Hope was a lousy plan, though.
Three of the creatures dropped down right in front of the group, instantly swinging all of their arms while the ones in front skidded to a halt and the ones behind tried to not crash into them. Andy took aim as soon as she had enough balance to not fall over, but her bullet just grazed one of their skulls.
“Watch the flanks!” she called, taking aim a second time at the same beast as it growled and rushed at her. Two bullets, another graze and then one lodging in its skull. It wasn’t enough to drop it immediately, but it grabbed its head with two of its hands and then flailed with the others. It was just close enough that Andy had to dodge to the side just to keep from getting caught in the head.
The creature fell into the dirt just where she had been standing.
Everyone was taking aim and firing shots, while the group’s torch-bearers were moving forward on the beasts with the fire before them like sword points. The fire was limited, though, and the beasts were all around them.
Anallin was crouched in the center, looking ready to spring back into action but keeping the injured Arkana out of the line of fire as best it could. The pilot stood over them both, torch held in shaking hands. Pilots weren’t supposed to ever need to leave the shuttle, after all.
“We need to keep moving,” she shouted over the noise of the fight. She didn’t know how they would do it, but she did know that they couldn’t get stuck in a prolonged fight. Who knew how many of those animals were out there. This could last longer than they had…
“Major!” someone shouted. She wasn’t sure who.
She looked up just in time to see a creature leaping out of the tree almost directly above her. Swinging her gun up fast, she fired without aiming. Some hit, but none in any way to kill the beast. At the last moment, she tried to jump out of the way, but she was too slow.
The creature landed almost exactly on top of her, with just enough time for her to partially curl up and try to protect her insides from ending up on the outside.
As she worked her hand to reach for her knife in her vest, she felt the thing’s weight on top of her, pressing her into the dirt and leaves beneath her. She felt her breath being pressed from her body, but she wrapped her fingers around the handle of her knife and started working it free despite her position.
Suddenly, though, the weight left. She looked quickly and saw that it was falling back with blood coming from its face. In another moment more, someone was standing over her, firing a very pale-colored weapon. Andy recognized it as Ingo, who finished firing his current salvo and reached down to help her up.
Andy didn’t say anything, but met his eyes and nodded once in thanks. Of course, she didn’t even get to finish the nod before seeing a creature behind him.
“Down!” she called as she brought her gun back up and fired. The creature swayed and then there was a pale, slender body wrapped around its back. The white arms encircled its throat, locking hard despite four arms trying to flail back to grab Marthe off. She would not be removed, however, and soon the creature was face-first in the dirt.
Turning to try to see if the way ahead was clear, she saw another land and rush at Anath. She fired again, which just made the beast come for her. She fired a second time, and as it charged her, Anath opened fire from behind until the beast fell.
“Move forward!” she called. “Make for the shuttle! Cover the rear, but we need to keep going.”
No one acknowledged the order in words, but just started moving forward while trying to make sure no other beasts jumped in front of them but also fire at those behind and to either side. They worked the balance between “tactical retreat” and “run for yo
ur life.”
Take a step. Take a shot. Take a shot. Take a step…
They inched their way forward, holding off the creatures as they tried to rush after them. It was a task just barely achieved, as Marine and Arkana blood spilled repeatedly and flowed freely as they did.
At one point, it was Andy who ended up face-first in the dirt, and a pain in her leg that made her trip again. Before she knew it, she had Viator’s shoulder under her arm, helping her to keep walking. She fired her rifle one-handed, which wasn’t particularly good but it still sent bullets in the direction of the pursuing creatures, and that was better than nothing.
“We’re getting close,” Dan called to them as he fired off another shot. Dan’s body was positioned directly behind Anallin, covering both the Hanaran and the Arkana woman.
“We just need to get close enough to the shuttle and the lights,” she said. “The running lights are bright enough, I think.” She fired one-handed, winging one of the creatures and making it roar again.
“Come on!” Marthe called. “We can do this!”
Even with everything, Andy smiled faintly—inwardly, at least.
“Oorah!” Andy shouted.
Her Marines echoed her.
She fired again. Marthe fired again. The torch-bearers would turn every now and then to brandish their fire. More bullets and more bolts. The number of creatures lessened for a moment, but then more jumped from the trees to join the pursuit. The weapons fire and the actual fire just barely held them back.
The shuttle drew closer and closer, and the furthest edge of its running lights was reached. Everyone tried to put on that extra burst of speed, even Andy with her hurt leg and Arkana crutch as they raced toward the shuttle. Soon, they were deep enough in the light that the beasts slowed and then stopped.
Andy pounded on the door to the shuttle. It popped open and a pair of Marines were inside to help.
They gaped at the Arkana for a moment until Andy shouted, “They’re fine! Monsters on our tail!”
Everyone raced into the shuttle and they closed the door. A couple managed to land on the seats, while others just fell to the floor. Jade helped untie Odila so Anallin could have a seat too.
One of the Marines looked between the group and said, “The captain is gonna be really interested in hearing this story.”
28
Everyone was sent immediately to sickbay, where they were all treated for their injuries as well as varying levels of dehydration. Odila was treated and regained consciousness, but she remembered almost nothing of what happened on the planet.
After that, the Marines were released to rest and recover while the Arkana were put in the brig. It was expected, they said, but Andy assured them they’d be treated well.
In the comfort of her quarters, spending time with her brother, she wrote her after-action report and recommended ESS Science send someone to at least chart out the planet so that people in the future would at least have some information about it.
After her first decent night’s sleep in days, Andy—still on captain-ordered downtime—decided to go see how the Arkana were doing. She couldn’t call them friends or anything like it, but there’s something to be said about foxholes and all that. She wanted to assure herself that they were doing alright, and she certainly had the time.
When she got down there, she passed the detention guard.
“Everything quiet?” Andy asked.
“Ain’t a peep out of them pale bastards, Major,” the guard said, gesturing at the monitors around him. “Just sitting around.”
Andy almost corrected him about what he’d called them, but she knew he wouldn’t understand. She just stayed silent and went back to the forcefield-and-bars cell door. When she looked in, however, she realized in a moment that something wasn’t right. Yes, they were sitting, but…that was it. None of them were moving. At all.
Except Marthe, and she was making small jerking movements that didn’t look good at all.
She knew exactly what was happening, but she couldn’t believe it.
“Open the cell!” she screamed at the guard.
“But, sir, they’re pri—”
“OPEN THE CELL!”
The forcefield vanished and she ran straight to Marthe as the woman fell to her side, half landing on Andy.
“Why?” Andy whispered. “Why would you do this now?”
Marthe made a sound somewhere between a gurgle and a cough, maybe a cynical laugh.
“You tried so hard on the planet to live… You fought side by side with us so that you could live. You agreed to come here to live and not die! So…why?”
“Because we fought side by side with you,” Marthe whispered hoarsely.
“What?” Andy felt anger rise. “Some sort of… You couldn’t live with yourselves knowing that you’d fought with your enemy?”
“No,” Marthe said. “We got…to know you…” She coughed and blood splattered on Andy’s chest and chin, but she ignored it. “We could not go back to our people with…all that…we know now.” A rattling wheeze of breath. “But we…could not…betray them…either…” Tears leaked from her ice blue eyes. “I’m sorry.”
And then she went limp against Andy’s arm.
Andy just sat there. She couldn’t move. There was a very dim awareness of the guard coming to the brig door, then running away, but it wasn’t until Anath was behind her, gently pulling Marthe away and lifting her up while Doctor Martin and the nurses came in that she felt at all back to reality.
And yet, she didn’t. This couldn’t be reality anymore.
“I don’t understand, Anath,” she said as they walked out, his arm around her shoulders. “I just don’t understand.”
“No one can understand the insanity of war,” he said sadly, casting a glance back over his shoulder toward the brig. “For a moment, I thought we’d reached them.”
“That’s just it, Anath,” she said, stopping just inside the doorway out of the brig to look up at him, dark eyes glistening. “We did reach them. And that’s why they’re dead. They die because we fight them. They die because we don’t fight them. How is this war ever going to end in anything but annihilation?”
He hugged his sister, and she let him. She didn’t care who saw now.
“I don’t know, but you and I, my dearest sister, are going to figure it out.”
Furlough
ESS Space Marines, Book 8
I
Paradise Lost
1
“First person who interrupts me gets shot.”
Dan lifted his eyes from where he was reading something off his data tablet and eyed Anath. “Don’t you think that’s a little severe?” he asked wryly, although clearly didn’t put much stock in the question since he just went back to reading. He and Jade were trying to pretend that everyone couldn’t see how close they were sitting.
Andy just smiled. It was a small expression, since joy didn’t seem like something she could manage anymore, nor much relief, but she was still as close to happy in that moment as she could be.
The ESS Star Chaser was engaged in something that it hadn’t been able to do for quite some time.
The ship was on shore leave.
Andy and Alpha Squad were sitting in a civilian transport shuttle taking them and several other members of the crew from the space station orbiting the planet Azara down to the surface.
“We’re all beyond tired,” Andy said, leaning her head back against the interior of the shuttle and closing her eyes. Aside from the lounge pants and tank top she wore to sleep, or the similar outfit to train, she couldn’t remember the last time she’d been in civilian wear rather than a uniform or battle suit. It felt…strange.
“Look at this!” Jade said, sounding actually excited about something. When was the last time she’d heard that in her people’s voices? “A real beach. I haven’t been to a beach in so long.”
“I’ll take you to the beach,” Dan said, warmth clear in his voice. Apparently being o
ut of uniform made them even worse than usual at hiding their relationship. “But will you go hiking with me? They have some great trails in these mountains.”
Jade laughed. “We’re going on vacation and you want to put on packs and hike mountains? This isn’t a training mission.”
That made him laugh too, but he still insisted on hiking and she agreed to go with him.
“What do you plan to do, Major?”
It was Roxanna’s voice from directly across the aisle from Andy. The commander of the 33rd opened her eyes and looked at the Selerid. Her skin was calm, not swirling in agitation as it so often did.
Andy smiled. “I have no idea.”
Roxanna’s brows rose. “No idea? Really?”
“Mmhmm,” Andy said with assurance. “I’m tired of making decisions and plans, and then having to make more plans, execute the plans, then make new plans when the old plans don’t work… I don’t want a plan. I don’t want to decide anything. I’m going to put my feet on that planet and just…go wherever and do whatever until they call me back to the ship.”
“I think that sounds like a good idea, sir,” Roxanna replied. “I’m going to be going to the beach myself. I miss the oceans back home. That’ll be close.” Her eyes glanced at Dan and Jade, heads leaning toward each other as they made their plans. “Although, nowhere near the two of them.”
Andy laughed.
Anallin was the next one to speak. “I am going to the jungle. There is supposed to be a remarkable assortment of wildlife that I am intrigued to try to see.”
“I didn’t know you were a hidden zoologist, Anallin,” Andy said with a curious look. Even after all thier time together, and so close at that, it was kind of amazing that they could still learn new things about one another.
The Hanaran gave a little head-bob, which was sort of a smile for the species. “Yes, my familial line has several zoologists, as you call them.” It paused, tilting its head slightly in a quick gesture that made Andy think of an animal. “There is a specific animal on my home planet called a—” The Hanaran said something with some clicking sounds that their translators couldn’t process. “—and it is common for those of my family to study. They have been instrumental in the protection of the species, forming protected habitats and such. Parks, I think you call them?”
World Breaker Boxed Set (ESS Space Marines Omnibus Book 3) Page 8
