The Rylerran Gateway

by Mark Ian Kendrick

  Do’yukya raised his weapon and aimed. Within a millisecond, the cannon’s computer found the heat signature of two bodies. Unfortunately, there was a considerable amount of rock between him and his targets. He pressed the trigger anyway.

  The energy blast hit less than a second after the failure of the stealth shield. It came as quite a surprise to the three Terrans. Fortunately, the infrared goggles had an automatic limiter on them. The blast, directly against the rocks they were hiding behind, would have been bright enough to overload them, blinding them in the process. Instead, they went opaque. All three were thrown backward.

  Agrida landed on his back and didn’t move. Navar shook his head. The blast had made his ears ring something awful. Urret had landed next to Agrida. He slowly rose up to his knees, then realized he was a target by doing so, and dropped to the ground immediately. Although Navar couldn’t hear much of anything, he had enough of his wits about him to activate the motion detector sensor. One target was coming directly toward them. Navar had the barrel of his projectile weapon in the crack between the two larger rocks on purpose. He only needed to reposition it and set the targeting computer. That took two seconds. He pressed the trigger. Do’yukya had no chance to take cover. A moment later, a searing hot projectile exploded several centimeters inside his body. It caused him to issue a loud roar before he slumped over and stopped moving.

  Ta’Norat had already opened the comm channel back at the ship. The sounds of the firefight and the sensor data were being transmitted to An’Arka. Already An’Arka was assembling a small team as back up.

  Naylon pulled Tann close to him and spoke directly into his ear. “Go. Back up and crawl straight back. Don’t get up. Just crawl.”

  Tann immediately complied. It was almost impossible to determine where to go though. It was still nearly pitch black, even with the night vision visor. He crashed head on into a bush, which dislodged the visor from his face. Naylon ran right into his muddy boots. Tann fought to get the visor back in front of his eyes then moved the bush’s thin branches aside. He scooted over to the right and continued to crawl. The adrenaline surging through him threatened to overwhelm him as he scraped his knees and abraded his hands as he went. From his ground level view, a wall loomed up ahead. He raised his head several centimeters and realized it was nothing more than a pile of rocks. He scooted around them. Breathlessly, Naylon was right behind him. He took cover right next to Tann, and turned his body to face the firefight head on in an attempt to make himself as small a target as possible.

  Urret had recovered enough from the blast to check on Agrida. He pressed his ear against the man’s chest while pressing his forefinger against his neck. Nothing. Angered beyond control, Urret scrambled to aim his weapon ahead of them toward where Navar had fired. He didn’t even bother with the tracking sensor. He managed to get off a hail of rounds.

  Urret only saw the distant flash before the second blast slammed into the boulder in front of him. It had enough force to send rock shards through the crack between the rocks, scraping the barrel of Navar’s weapon and raining rocky hail all over them. A thin sharp shard of rock pierced the side of Urret’s face. Immediately, he clamped his hand against the wound. He was sure it had missed his jugular, but already he could feel blood oozing out in front of his right ear. Trying to stem the flow of blood was proving to be extremely difficult. He needed to fire his weapon but found he couldn’t remember how to do so. Within seconds he felt so faint he dropped his head to the wet earth, trying to ward off the feeling dizziness. It was doing no good. The spinning sensation was growing more intense. “Can’t… fire,” he said to Navar just before he passed out.

  Navar pressed the comm on his forearm and spoke rapidly. “Captain, we were discovered. They somehow disabled our stealth shield before we knew it. Agrida’s dead. Urret’s wounded and might be dead any minute. Only one Telkan biosign left. I think we got one of them. Need backup. Fast!”

  Pacudas heard the plea from Selaye’s station to his right. He snapped his fingers. Selaye relayed that to soldat Lazcún who was already suited up with Zapante and Barcega.

  There was no way they were going to take the ship in. All of them would be discovered if they did that. It would be up to them to hurry in as quickly as they could on foot. Zapante wasn’t so sure they’d be able to make a difference, given how far they were from the fighting.

  Ta’Norat kept the comm channel open while he continued to fire on his target. He was entirely focused on the fighting and had almost forgotten about the two Terrans who he had been guarding. Knowing they had no weapons and were unfamiliar with the territory, he wasn’t too concerned with their whereabouts just now. Regardless, if they were stupid enough to attempt to escape during the weapons fire, they would be wounded or killed. If they somehow managed to get away, a simple scan of the area would turn them up very quickly.

  Efren stopped dead in his tracks. Off to their right were flashes of light followed by the sound of weapons fire moments later.

  “Weapons!” Darreth stated.

  “But whose?” Rehl asked.

  Efren aimed his sensor toward the flashes. He continued to tweak the readout until he found what he was looking for. “Terrans. At least three. And… one Telkan. The Terrans are in two groups. They might have the Telkan surrounded. But I’m not sure. The two groups are too far apart. I don’t know what to make of this.”

  Rehl didn’t want to state the obvious. After all, the initial weapons fire was already finished. Anyone could have been killed so far. “I’m betting it’s your fire team. They’ve engaged the Telkans.”

  They continued to stand still for a few more moments, listening. Then, continuous firing went on for nearly ten seconds.

  Efren aimed the sensor again, trying to discern more of what kind of activity was going on below them. Darreth and Rehl looked on as well. Moments later the second Telkan biosign faded. All that remained were two Terran signs, which were further away and a separate one closer by. None of them were moving about. Perhaps they were all still taking cover, Efren surmised. “No Telkans. We should investigate,” he told them.

  Rehl quickly grabbed Darreth’s arm. He shook his head no. Darreth shook his in rebuttal, countering Rehl’s refusal. “Those two Terran biosigns might be Naylon and Tann. We have to at least find out.”

  Rehl let go of Darreth’s arm just as fast.

  The firing abruptly ceased. Tann unplugged his ears. Naylon did the same. They both listened. They only heard wind. Naylon lifted his head up and adjusted the night vision visor. The visor showed two sprawled out glowing patches ahead of him. He shifted his position and saw that one of them was clearly a Telkan laying on its side. The other one didn’t move either.

  He quickly ducked back down. “I think they’re dead.”

  “What?”

  “Both of our guards have been killed.”

  “What about whoever was firing on us?”

  “There’s no way to know.”

  “Maybe we can get the Telkan weapons,” Tann said.

  “Good idea. But I’m not even going to attempt it until we’re sure whoever was shooting at us has either left or is dead.”

  “What’s that sound?” Tann asked.

  “What sound?”

  “That one.”

  Naylon held his breath. It was faint but they both distinctly heard it again.

  “Help!”

  “Someone’s calling for help!” Tann exclaimed as he tensed up. “It might be one of the crew on board the ship that captured us.”

  Naylon tapped on the back of Tann’s hand. “We’re going nowhere. It could be a trick to get us out in the open.”

  Tann gulped. “I’m not moving.”

  Rehl stopped in his tracks. “Did you hear that?”

  Efren cupped his ear. There it was again. A cry for help. Efren couldn’t quite tell who it was, but it was certainly someone from his ship since it was in Empire Spanish. He glanced at the comm on his forearm. He didn’t dare activ
ate it. As far as he could tell, no one knew they were off the ship. If he dared answer he, and by default Darreth and Rehl, would be discovered for sure. He scanned the area again. There were still three distinct Terran biosigns. Two were much further away. One was much closer to them, most likely the one who yelled out.

  He had to make a choice and make it now. “Hello!” He called out.

  Instantly, Darreth was alarmed. He grabbed Efren’s shoulder and loudly whispered. “Why did you do that?”

  “That’s a call from one of the crew.”

  “But they don’t know you’re gone.”

  “Don’t you think I know that?”

  “Then why did you call out?”

  “Like I said, defection is not a word you will use in my presence.”

  Darreth was fuming. They were extremely close to the cavern. Now this.

  “Did you hear that?” Naylon whispered.

  “Yeah. Someone yelled out ‘hello’.”

  “Damn. I wish we had some sort of scanner to determine who’s out there.”

  It was at that moment a voice stirred in both of Naylon’s ears. It wasn’t Tann’s.

  “Naylon. Are you there?”

  It took a full second before Naylon registered the ‘sound’ because it hadn’t from outside his head. And it was in Lingua so it couldn’t have come from the comm device the Telkans had attached to his neck.

  He subvocalized it as loudly as he could without actually shouting, “Darreth!?”

  “Naylon! Is Tann with you?”

  “He’s right here with me. Where are you? How did you find us?” Naylon was having difficulty hearing the complete sentences due to no repeaters being involved in the comm transmission. His brain filled in some of the syllables.

  “Never mind that right now. Are you two okay?”

  “We are. We’re hiding out. There was a firefight. We’re okay though.”

  Then out loud to Tann. “You’re not going to believe this. Darreth is out there. He found us!”

  Tann’s mouth dropped open in surprise.

  “Rehl! The other biosigns are Naylon and Tann. We found them. By thunder, we found them!” He grabbed Rehl by the shoulders and hugged him.

  Efren looked at the two of them. “How do you know it’s them?”

  “Because I’m talking to them right now.”

  Efren was aware that Naylon had some sort of tech in side of him, but wasn’t sure exactly what it was. He gathered now that it was a comm device.

  “Over here!” Navar called out.

  “It’s Llarena,” Efren shouted back. “Don’t shoot.”

  Naylon and Tann were close enough to hear voices up ahead of them, but not close enough to make out whether it was a conversation or just shouting.

  Naylon took a chance. “What’s going on, Darreth? Where are you?”

  “We’re approximately one hundred meters from your twelve.”

  Naylon relayed the information to Tann.

  “Stay put until we’re sure the area is secure.”

  “There might still be Telkans nearby,” Naylon warned.

  “None are near here. No biosigns.” Darreth realized at that moment he’d not ever seen one of them alive.

  “According to Darreth our guards are definitely dead,” Naylon told Tann.

  At this point Naylon was wondering why he hadn’t heard even a warning from An’Arka. He was sure all the communication he was creating, along with the firefight, would have had them coming in record time. Perhaps they had their own stealth technology undetectable by anyone with scanners. That thought alone was keeping Naylon on edge.

  Darreth, Rehl and Efren made a direct approach to Lieutenant Navar. When they reached him, he was clutching his thigh. He had already made a tourniquet and had tied it just above his knee.

  “Llarena. How did you get here so quickly? Why are they with you?”

  “I can’t explain it right now. Let me see your comm.”

  Navar held out his arm. Llarena found the latch that held it and removed it from Navar’s arm. He carefully laid it flat on the ground, picked up a rock, then smashed it.

  “What in hell? Why did you do that?”

  “So you won’t call the ship.”

  Next, Efren pulled the hand weapon from Urret and Agrida’s utility belts and handed them to Darreth. Darreth passed one to Rehl. He then un-strapped the comms from their wrists and tossed them away as well.

  Navar winced as he attempted to move his leg. “Lazcún will be here any minute with reinforcements. You will be court-martialed for this!”

  “No one will be court-martialed for anything.” He played his light across Navar’s bloody pant leg. It looked awful. He turned to Darreth and Rehl.

  It was obvious to the Lieutenant they were leaving. Without him. “What are you doing,” Navar demanded.

  “Getting out of here.” Then to Darreth, “Call your friends.”

  Darreth had already done so using his internal comm. Naylon and Tann were making a beeline toward them. Darreth took the lantern from Efren and pointed it toward them as Naylon and Tann hurried toward them, past both dead Telkans.

  “Cover him,” Darreth told Rehl. Rehl quickly assessed how the weapon he had been given worked and pointed it at Navar. Darreth left the group and went to the other side of the boulder the Lieutenant was leaning back on.

  It was a moment Naylon didn’t think he’d be experiencing again. In the instant he saw Darreth the many days of the fear of the unknown melted away. They ran toward each other those last several steps, stopped, then held on to each other in a tight embrace. Tann was a split second behind Naylon. The three of them wrapped arms around each other, tears welling out of everyone’s eyes. Naylon quickly wiped his away. Tearful reunions would have to wait. They were nowhere near out of danger yet.

  “This way,” Darreth told them. “One of the men from Efren’s ship is hurt.”

  “You know Efren?” Naylon asked, greatly surprised.

  “We were captured by the same men who captured you. He helped Rehl and me escape from his ship.”

  Naylon and Tann looked at each other briefly. “Rehl’s with you?” Naylon asked, incredulous.

  “I couldn’t have done this otherwise.”

  They quickly returned to the others. Rehl quickly greeted the two but couldn’t do more than that due to covering the Lieutenant.

  Navar was still wincing in pain. “You have to help me, Llarena.”

  “No, you already said Lazcún is on his way. I’m leaving with these men.” He turned to Naylon and Tann. “Good to see you both again. I trust your time with the Telkans was… interesting.”

  Naylon looked at Efren, not sure what to make of that statement. “We were taken prisoner.” He turned to Darreth and spoke in Lingua. He didn’t want the Telkans to understand what he was saying through the comm still implanted in his neck. “The Telkans let us go because they know about the tunnel in the cavern. They wanted us to find it for them. They know it’s some sort of dimensional device.”

  “Fruck!” Darreth was greatly concerned now.

  Naylon continued. “If you know how to get there, we have to go now. The Telkans on the ship that brought us back are already after us. They can track us with these things in our necks. We have to hurry! You do know how to find the tunnel, right?”

  Darreth pointed. “It’s about a half kilometer that way.”

  “That’s all?” Naylon asked. “We’ve got to go now! The Telkans are very efficient at everything.”

  Navar was fuming as the men started to leave. “We’ll find you, Llarena. When we do, you will be summarily shot. Do you hear me? I will ask to pull the trigger myself!”

  Efren was already several steps away but he halted upon hearing that. Darreth tried to get him to continue on but knew it would do no good.

  Efren went back and looked Navar in the eye as he pointed his finger at the officer. He spoke with conviction although he still had only Darreth’s word for what he was about to
say. “I am sick of this endless war. You know it will never end. All of us know that. All of us! You know it more than anyone. Where I’m going neither you nor anyone on the ship will find us. Ever.”

  He quickly returned to Darreth and the rest of the entourage. “You said you had a ship. Why are you discussing a cavern?”

  “We, uh, have to find the cavern to get to the ship. Trust me, we’re all getting away from here as fast as we can. Scan for Terrans and Telkans.”

  Everyone adjusted their night vision goggles. Efren activated the scanner. He wasn’t happy about the reading. Three Terran biosigns were already headed toward them from one direction and six Telkans from the other. “We have to move quickly. If I can detect them, they can detect us.”

  “Thunder!” Darreth exclaimed after looking at the screen. “That way.” They went as quickly as they could in complete silence, no one realizing that Darreth and Naylon were holding a conversation.

  As they hurriedly headed toward the cavern Tann barraged his brother with questions. “How did you get here? How did you know what happened to us? We barely understood what happened ourselves. It’s because of those discs, isn’t it?”

  “Exactly.” He explained how he had also found one.

  It was Naylon’s turn to talk but he used his implant. “Darreth, I missed you so much. I was sure we would never see each other again.”

  “I had no choice but to come back for you. It’s a long story, but trust me when I say a lot has gone on since you and Tann were lost.”

  Talking quickly while picking through the darkness, they gave each other a recap of what had happened to them both since Naylon and Tann had disappeared. The common element that surprised them both was how Efren had turned so easily against his own people. The war had more casualties than the Terrans were aware of.

  Twenty minutes later, they reached the second to last track point in Darreth’s scanner. Everyone was huffing and puffing as they had had to make their way in complete darkness with no trail whatsoever. It was terribly treacherous trying to find their way back while stopping periodically to determine if the second fire team was on their trail or whether they were indeed attempting to rescue Navar first. Apparently, they were not the team’s primary target after all, since the three moving blips on Efren’s screen continued to stay at a lower elevation. It seemed the Terrans intended to retrieve their men or engage the Telkans.