First Assault

by Kliment Dukovski

his shoulders. “Ifrin burn me alive,” he said. “You’re not dead.”

  Luthis tapped the dirt off his suit. It made a temporal cloud around him. He came out of it half-clean. “It needs something bigger than a few bombs to kill me.” His eyes moved toward the rubble behind Ailios.

  “Olivia’s down there,” Ailios explained.

  Luthis extended his hands forward. “Move aside,” he said.

  Every pebble and every piece of rubble started to vibrate, first slowly then franticly bouncing up and down. Friseal and Ailios moved aside to let Luthis do his thing. The smallest pieces moved up in the air as if some god had sucked them up toward the sky. Soon enough the big ones followed, uncovering black crater underneath. Ailios’s face softened in an instant. It was the second best thing he could hope to see – Olivia safe under the floating blanket of rubble (the first thing was definitely when she was tying her boots back at the ship). He fought the urge to stay back, to stay safe, but he couldn’t do that. He ran toward her. Without anything holding him back, he embraced her. “How did you manage to get under all this rubble?”

  “It beats me,” she said with a smile behind that cracked glass of hers. “All I remember was this powerful explosion and then I blacked out.”

  “Can you stand up?” he asked her.

  “Well, I haven’t tried yet–”

  “Move!” Luthis shouted from behind. “I can’t hold this forever!”

  Ailios grabbed her in his arms and carried her out. The chunks came down with a grumble of an earthquake, the smallest pieces kept cascading down even as the team left the building, tapping that residue dust off their bodies.

  Olivia had an injured leg, Ailios had his hand and back hurt, Friseal and Luthis were as ugly as before, but they were all alive and that’s what mattered.

  “You know you can put me down now,” said Olivia.

  “I know I can, I just want to savor the moment.”

  Olivia smiled and shook her head while Luthis scoffed. But then her expression changed. She looked at Friseal, then her eyes moved behind the chameleon, then she looked around obviously searching for something.

  “What is it?” Ailios asked her.

  “Where’s Ray?”

  “The bloody Cyon?” Luthis was disgusted. “I could care less about that metal thing.”

  Olivia turned to Luthis. “That metal thing is what kept us alive–”

  “Yeah, right,” Luthis scoffed. “Who knows what he said to those soldiers.”

  Ailios faced the mover. “Ray translated everything the Cyon asked me,” he said. “At least, I think he did. He even told me what to say.” And then Ailios smiled. “Did you guys hear me talk Cyon?”

  “I think he made you curse in Cyon, is what he did,” said Luthis.

  “He’s alive,” Olivia said. “I can sense him.”

  Ailios put her down and held her arm over his shoulder, turning himself with her limping steps as she looked around.

  “I say we leave him here,” said Luthis. “It’s because of these bloody Cyons that we’re in this mess. Oh, that, and Ailios’s poor judgment.”

  Olivia ignored the mover’s remarks. She was still looking around, focused and tense. “That way,” she pointed north.

  They all went past the crater where Ailios and Friseal were thrown, and they stopped beside the chunk of concrete that Ailios recognized. He was leaning there when he came to himself. Or at least he thought it was.

  “He’s underneath,” Olivia said.

  Friseal tried to move the chunk but it was obvious there was no way he could do that, not in a million years, and not if Olivia and Ailios joined strength with him.

  “Get him out, Luthis,” said Ailios.

  “No bloody way I’m doing that.”

  Gods, how much I miss Faragar to slap some sense into him. “What, you’re going to leave the three of us struggle with a piece of concrete?”

  Luthis scoffed and raised his hand. “Stand back,” he said. The chunk moved up and then it was hurled sideways. Ray was down, lying on his back. His legs and arms were splayed out like he had fallen from some serious height. His suit had the most damage than all of the team combined. It looked as if it was torn apart by a wild cat with burning teeth. One long gash opened him from neck to his right leg, revealing body of metal underneath. The other cuts were slits from side to side.

  Friseal rushed to help him up. “He’s not breathing,” he said.

  “Of course he’s not breathing,” Ailios said, adjusting Olivia’s arm over his shoulder. “Cyons don’t breathe.”

  “Actually they do,” said Friseal, “but not as much as we do.”

  Luthis crossed his arms. “Like anyone cares if they breathe or not,” he said.

  Olivia limped few steps forward still holding on Ailios. “I can wake him up,” she said. “Just let me take a seat. The pain in my leg makes it hard for me to concentrate.” Ailios helped her sit on a head-sized piece of metal. A moment of silence followed where she probably tried to penetrate Ray’s mind with her thoughts. Then Ray’s body flinched and Luthis jumped back. Ray’s green eyes lit on.

  “What happened?” he said.

  “You’re dead,” said Ailios. He spread his arms to accentuate the fire burning behind. “Welcome to Ifrin.”

  Ray looked around as if he believed that. “The doctor,” he muttered. And easily as that he was on his feet, flicking dust off his chest and arms.

  “Hey wait a minute,” said Ailios. “Didn’t you just have a piece of concrete the size of a brute on you?”

  “I did,” said the spy and then he looked up. His green eyes narrowed as they focused on something. “I’m afraid we don’t have much time.”

  “We just came back from the dead,” said Ailios. “I think there is some time to enjoy it.”

  Friseal and Luthis were looking up as well. “Mmm, I don’t think we do,” said Friseal. “Not this time.”

  A thunderous roar ripped the sky, loud and unsettling. Ailios flinched despite his best efforts not to. But it was too damn loud, almost as if the atmosphere itself detonated. Even Faragar would have flinched.

  Hundreds upon hundreds of burning fireballs cut through the clouds, leaving trails of fire and smoke in their wake. One of the fireballs collided with a ship that was trying to get away from the battleship. Its engines shattered into tiny fragments of metal and fire. What remained of the hull went in an uncontrollable roll toward the ground, drawing a spiral of smoke behind.

  “The Cyons have really angered their gods this time,” said Ailios.

  “I don’t think it’s the gods,” said Friseal. His hand pointed where the ship exploded not a moment ago. “There, next to the battleship. Do you recognize those?”

  Ailios rubbed his visor and strained his eyes. In between fireballs and next to the battleship he noticed white metal tubes speeding toward the surface. Dread crept over his body. “No bloody way,” he muttered. “It’s the tubes we saw on Timor.”

  “And I bet they are carrying fully-grown abominations inside,” said Friseal.

  Luthis started scratching his wrist and moved a step back. “We have to leave,” he said. “Olivia, is our ship still functional?”

  She took her time before responding. “Yes. The archeologist says not a single bomb dropped in the garbage disposal complex. I think we are good to go.”

  “Excellent,” said Luthis and turned to go toward the ship. He then stopped and looked around. “Which way was it?”

  Ray pointed east behind a burning shack. “Your ship is that way.” Luthis started to go before Ray could say anything else. “We have few minutes head start,” said Ray, his eyes looking up. “If we are leaving, we better do it now.”

  Leaving? Their mission wasn’t over yet. What was the point of coming here, getting killed almost, just to leave now? Ailios saw the abominations and what they were capable of. And the Cyon fleet is already underway. Whether he liked it or not the future of Talam rested in his hands.

  “What
will it be?” asked Ray.

  Olivia looked at Ailios with uncertainty in her eyes. “You’re the team leader,” she said. The chameleon nodded, words completely unneeded.

  “We came here for a doctor,” said Ailios. “We won’t leave without one.”

  Olivia smiled. “I was hoping you’d say that.”

  Luthis was already a dozen paces away when he stopped walking, turned, and strode back toward the team. “Please, tell me you’re not serious,” he said.

  “Luthis, I don’t have time for this,” said Ailios and turned to Ray. “Which way?”

  The mover came even closer. His upper body leaned toward Ailios, their visors almost touching. “Are you bloody nuts? Look at the destruction here. The doctor may be torn to pieces for all we know, and when these abominations arrive we’ll be dead for certain. Losing a hand was enough for me, I don’t plan to lose my head this time.”

  Ailios felt a sudden urge to punch the mover. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and then he opened them with regained control. “Really, Luthis, now it’s not the time–”

  “Now is the time, dammit! You’ll be getting us all killed–”

  Ailios’s fist smacked the mover’s visor glass before even Ailios realized what he did. The mover fell down like scythed.

  “You think I’m eager to die, is that it? You think I’m eager to get you all killed? Dammit, Luthis, the only reason I accepted this mission is because I don’t want to die! I don’t want any of you to die! I thought we would find a dead end on Timor – maybe some nice relics I could sell – and then we would stroll around the system to stay alive for as long as we can.