Hard Corps

by Paul Mannering

  The ship hit the outer limits of the atmosphere as Noshi continued her analysis, determining which course of action would be the most effective.

  Every conclusion confirmed that she should continue the hard burn and return directly to the orbital command fleet to upload all her data to the network and allow the Diorites to determine the final certainty.

  Another voice spoke to her. It sounded tremulous and uncertain. Erik, the voice whispered. You came for Erik.

  Noshi blinked. Pizak always said that emotion had no place in analysis. Noshi agreed; probability was separate from feelings and yet, in Diorite philosophy, incidents of great emotion held the power to irrevocably alter probabilities.

  Iskad. Action taken without conclusive analysis or supporting evidence. Sometimes, Pizak had said, the individual has insights hidden from us all. Their actions are determined by faith.

  Noshi’s hands and mind flew across the ship’s controls. The ship tilted downwards, plunging back into the atmosphere and homing in on the previous landing site.

  The shuttle weapon systems came online and she unleashed beams of pulsing fire into the swarm of Zarans pouring out of the ground. Alien bodies flashed and burned to ash under the thundering attack. Noshi corrected the weapons to avoid killing the surviving troopers. She hoped their armor would protect them and with luck the weapons systems would be coded to not fire directly at recognized allies.

  An explosion erupted out of the pit, scattering the remaining Zarans and rocking Noshi’s ship in the blast wave. Noshi regained control, horrified that she had unleashed something terrible.

  Erik. Erik, can you hear me? She brought the ship in low, turning it slowly on the spot as it sank, running scan after scan for any sign of survivors around the burning hole.

  Below she could only sense darkness and the cooling forms of Zaran corpses.

  With her ship holding a few feet above the surface, Noshi activated the landing gear and let the ground take the full weight of the craft. She listened intently as the dirt creaked and settled. Feeling her way back from the pilot’s seat, Noshi opened a hatch in the floor and let her senses guide her hands.

  A utility cable hummed out of a slot in the roof and descended into the open pit. Noshi grabbed the line as it snaked past her and stepped out into space.

  Chapter 10

  “Timber?” Erik muttered. “You hear me?”

  A weight pressed down on him, pinning his legs and making it hard to judge where he was. His suit reported that his visuals were blocked by a biological mass.

  Working his hand free, Erik knocked on the side of his helmet. The lighting system flickered and began to glow.

  The retreating shadows revealed he was buried in cooling Zaran bodies. Working his shoulders and twisting like a snake, Erik wormed his way clear. Looking up, he saw the scorched walls of the shaft. In the final moments of the battle, when everything had exploded, he had tumbled down into the pit.

  “Timber?” Erik wriggled into a sitting position, the limp form of a trooper lay across his legs. He shook the body, and pulled himself free. Turning them over, he stared into the broken faceplate of Clix. She still had chunks of Zaran tentacles gripped in her fists.

  A hand slapped on the ground and Timber pulled himself free from a pile of steaming Zaran meat.

  “Fuck me,” Timber said, the usual humor missing from his voice.

  “You okay?” Erik asked.

  “A-1,” Timber replied.

  The flickering sensors in Erik’s helmet told him the atmosphere was returning to human breathable, and there were life signs for almost all the squad troopers in range.

  Standing, he checked his weapon. It was functioning, and he reloaded it automatically as he took stock of their situation.

  A thin line dropped down through the hole, vibrating with a zipping sound. Erik stepped back, rifle up and ready to unleash death on the first enemy to show itself.

  Timber took two shaky steps across the pile of remains and lifted his rifle as a human figure in an armored flight suit slid down the line and landed lightly between them.

  “You are the shuttle pilot?” Erik slapped the headset point on his helmet. “You are the shuttle pilot?”

  Erik. Noshi’s voice rippled through him, not heard so much as felt.

  “Noshi?” Erik staggered, blinking furiously and trying to determine if the figure standing before him was in fact Noshi.

  The pilot unlocked their helmet and removed it.

  “Hot shit!” Erik babbled. “It’s Noshi!” He scrambled to remove his own helmet.

  Timber could see the pilot was a woman with long white hair braided and tied in a complicated pattern.

  “First Trooper Timber?” Silaro came over the squad channel.

  “Go ahead,” he replied.

  “We have four casualties and one confirmed fatality.”

  “R an’ R,” Timber replied. Received and reported.

  Timber frowned at Erik who was talking quickly and quietly to the woman, the Herald. With an eye at the circle of night sky visible high above, Timber maintained his watch. The walls of the shaft were too smooth to be natural except for the holes where Zaran slime still oozed. Timber watched the dark openings cautiously. “Watch the holes. Zaran tunnels, there’s always more of them.”

  The troopers glanced up from where they were tending the injured. How Diorite medical tech worked was of no interest to Timber; all he ever cared about was getting his squad patched up and back into the fight. They lifted the dead trooper. Do not speak her name. Her remains might be recovered, or not. The dead didn’t care.

  A Zaran burst out of a tunnel, spreading its tentacles like a net as it flew. Timber immediately opened fire, sending the Zaran spinning across the floor and spraying its life blood up the wall.

  “Erik, put your fucking helmet on and get back in the fucking fight,” Timber transmitted.

  His fellow trooper’s head whipped round and he said something to the white-haired humanoid before slapping his helmet back into place and locking it down.

  “Timber, what’s your sitrep?”

  “We have one-now three Zaran motherfuckers still viable. I’m initiating a shitstorm.”

  “Confirmed. I’ll be right there.”

  “Kill them,” Timber ordered on the squad channel. The air erupted with the roar of weapon’s fire. Solid slugs tore the Zarans into steaming chunks. Seconds later, the fight was over and silence fell. The troopers covered the floor for any further sign of enemy movement.

  “Kills confirmed,” Timber reported.

  “R and R,” Erik transmitted. “Timber, get over here.”

  Timber made his way over the uneven ground to where the Herald and Erik stood together.

  “First Trooper Timber, this is Noshi. Herald of the Diorites.”

  “Herald?” Timber straightened up as if he hadn’t known who she was and snapped a salute. “We are honored by your presence.”

  “The honor is mine. Your prowess in battle is a common data point across the network,” Noshi replied.

  Timber felt a flush of pride. Troopers were insects, living and dying beneath the notice of Diorites. To be singled out like this was to be touched by a greater power.

  “You have proven effective against high probabilities of failure,” Noshi continued. “The Helos attribute great value to some aspect of this sector. It is not clear what the source of that value is. Our most effective course of action will be to utilize the resources we have and secure more information.”

  “We are ready, willing, and able,” Timber said without hesitation.

  “We are a combined squad. We are more than capable of defeating whatever the Helos throw at us,” Erik added.

  Noshi nodded. Erik had changed so much in the time since she had last seen him. She had briefly swept her fingers across his face. The exploratory touch confirmed that the skinny boy from the Mess was gone. In his place stood a man shaped by constant experience in war. His eyes were sunken and his f
ace had a grim set to it, as if he had forgotten expressions.

  “Herald, I advise you to launch your ship and return to orbit. We can send you an update when any threat has been eliminated.”

  Noshi inclined her head towards Timber. “My gratitude for your concern, First Trooper. I will stay with Erik for now. Focus your attention on the battle. Your probability of survival increases as long as you are intent on victory.”

  “By your word, Herald.” Timber made a slight bow and stepped back, leaving Erik and Noshi alone as he returned to the squad.

  “I can’t believe you are here. You shouldn’t be here. It’s dangerous,” Erik said.

  “The Diorites have taught me that we are all connected by a vast sea of probability. All the things in all the Universe that may happen. Every moment has an uncountable number of possible outcomes that are affected by and, in turn, effect every other moment. My being here is the result of an infinite number of probabilities. I am here, because I must be here. As must you. As must your troopers. As must our enemy.”

  “I don’t want you to die,” Erik said.

  “Death is always a possibility. Today it is not a certainty. Do what you can to keep it uncertain.”

  Erik nodded, staring at Noshi. She had changed since he saw her last. She had also grown and while her skin was still as pale as her hair, her body seemed strong and healthy. Only her unseeing eyes were unchanged.

  “We should get you out of here,” Erik said.

  Noshi did not speak, but he heard her voice caress his mind. Yes, but not until we have completed your mission. Our paths have crossed again, Erik. Do not be so eager to waste the resources available to you.

  “Of course.” Erik nodded. The mission was everything. No trooper would walk away until the mission was completed or they had made the enemy pay dearly for their victory.

  “Erik, the Herald is with us?” Timber sounded unusually impressed.

  “Yes, Herald Noshi is leading us to victory,” Erik replied.

  We are close to a Helos. Noshi’s voice was a warm whisper against Erik’s skin.

  “Here?”

  Helos are complex organisms. My knowledge of them is limited. I feel a great consciousness at work around us.

  “We can kill it?”

  Perhaps.

  Erik felt hope surge again. To destroy an actual Helos would be a great victory in the war. So far, Erik had only battled against the various species enslaved by the Helos as their soldiers.

  “How do we destroy the Helos? Find it’s heart? Or brain?”

  We will know when it is dead.

  “Can you communicate with the Diorite Network?” Erik asked.

  No.

  “My comms unit is showing interference beyond short range.”

  I am sorry your people were killed.

  Erik hesitated. “Why would you say that?”

  I sense—I feel your grief. You are mourning the death of your friends.

  “Soldiers die in war. It is why we train to kill the enemy before they can kill us.”

  The Diorites form close bonds for breeding only. To them the idea of a friend only applies as long as there is purpose to the relationship.

  “Slugs do a lot of things that make no sense. Any dead troopers were of my squad. Fellow soldiers, not friends. We fight until the war is won. That’s the only thing that I need to understand.”

  Your effectiveness has been noted and transcribed.

  “An R an’ R? You’re filing my comments?”

  Noshi remained silent. She had no words to explain to Erik the volume of data that was filtered and processed each nano-second by the network. Only a fragment of all that was collected could be elevated to the level of information. For Erik’s existence to be noted and distributed among the endless nodes and hubs of knowledge was as close to immortality as any single entity could hope for.

  “We can use your ship as an extract point and complete a scan of the area for enemy concentrations.”

  No Erik. We must go deeper. There is a sentience near us. We must find it.

  “That’s a job for techs, not troopers.”

  It is not a job for technicians. It is the duty of the Commonwealth’s best.

  II

  Under Noshi’s command, the squad continued to shift the bodies of Zarans. Tossing them towards the walls of the shaft and digging down towards the consciousness she could feel pulsing beneath her feet.

  Silian rapped on a metal plate with the butt of his rifle. “First Trooper Erik, Herald. We have found something.”

  The squad paused in their labors, and Noshi climbed down through the layers of Zarans. Crouching, she removed her gloves and let her hands touch the warm metal.

  Yes. She stood, turned to her right and walked forward. Dig here.

  The troopers obeyed without hesitation. More corpses were dragged aside, unearthing a seam in curving metal skin.

  “What is this?” Erik asked.

  The Helos is inside.

  “Squad, crack this fucking thing,” Erik commanded.

  They went to work with energy beam cutting tools, sparks cascading into the night as the glow made shadows of them all. After a minute, the crackling stopped and the glow faded.

  “We could try blowing it?” Timber suggested.

  No. Noshi’s response had the entire squad turn in her direction. There is a way…

  Noshi came forward, crouching again and tracing her fingers over the scorched metal. The squad readied their weapons as a line appeared in the smooth surface. They watched a circle form and then a section of the metal slid up and out.

  “It’s a ship,” Erik couldn’t believe it, but he knew better than to act surprised by anything in front of his squad.

  “It didn’t show up on any scans,” Timber replied.

  It was hidden here. This is what the Helos were looking for.

  “Where is the Helos then?” Erik glanced around as if expecting a towering alien monster to leap out of the shadows.

  I feel it inside.

  “The ship?”

  My consciousness.

  “We going in?” Timber asked.

  “Go careful,” Erik replied.

  Timber used his boot to slide the glowing hatch aside and then dropped into the space beyond. The rest of the squad waited for the go order and then followed him in.

  “Noshi, you should return to your ship. Report this find to the command fleet. We can’t protect you against whatever the Helos has waiting for us.

  I appreciate your concern. I will follow you and when I know what it is we have found, I will return to orbital command and advise them.

  Erik sighed. “You may die down here.”

  Possibility is not certainty, First Trooper Erik.

  III

  Erik dropped into a dark corridor lined with metal panels. The squad were crouched, alert and ready for any kind of trouble.

  “No life signs,” Timber reported.

  “No Zarans,” Erik said.

  “Well, wake me up when they show up,” Timber replied.

  “Squad, move slow, fire on confirmed enemy targets only. Anything else, notify and await orders.”

  The squad moved the way they were trained, spread out as well as they could in the confined space and covering both directions with clear lines of sight.

  Timber and Erik took their positions in the formation. Only Noshi stood apart.

  “If this is a ship, then who made it? Helos? Diorites?” Erik asked.

  It’s not of Diorite construction, Noshi replied.

  “Doesn’t answer my question.”

  “Squad, hold up,” Timber ordered. The squad sank into defensive crouching positions along the walls. Ahead of them a staircase, as wide as the corridor, angled upwards. Ten steps up, it terminated at a closed door.

  Erik came forward, climbing the steps carefully until he could examine the door.

  “Seems like a control panel, right side. Squad stand by, I’m going to try opening it.”


  With no obvious controls, Erik tapped a gloved finger against the panel. It beeped and lit up with a soft glow.

  “Red or green?” Erik asked.

  “What?” Timber replied.

  “I’ve got two colored squares on this panel. Red or green.”

  “Anything else?”

  “Negative.”

  “Try red?”

  Erik shrugged and tapped the red square. The panel beeped with a lower tone that sounded like disappointment.

  “Negative. I’ll try green.”

  The door slid open. Erik held his rifle ready and stepped into a larger room with several seats and consoles. “It’s some kind of control room.”

  Bridge. This is a ship. The word for the control room is bridge.

  Several squad members remained on rearguard, covering the empty corridor behind them. Timber, Noshi, and the others came onto the bridge and looked around at the confusing array of screens and workstations.

  Erik, is there a central station or console.

  Erik reached out to take Noshi’s arm and guide her to the seat in the center of the room.

  She pulled away. Just tell me where it is.

  “Forward three meters, under your right hand.”

  Noshi moved with confidence and slipped into the seat. Screens on the armrests glowed with patterns of light. Her hands brushed over the patterns and the light spread. Lines of it ran through the floor and bloomed on the consoles as they flared with their own patterns and beeps of activation.

  “What did you do?” Erik asked.

  Have your troopers take position. The ship systems are coming online.

  “We aren’t pilot techs. We are troopers.”

  Troopers of the Diorite Commonwealth, find a seat. Take a position and await instructions.

  Erik gritted his teeth, biting back the snarl at the way Noshi ignored his authority.

  The squad hesitated and then moved, peeling off and settling into the seats in front of various consoles. More lights and patterns glowed as each position was filled.

  Erik remained standing. “What now, Herald?”

  I am exploring options.