by D. J. Holmes
Breaking into a sprint, she made her way to a nearby set of stairs and descended two floors to the basement level. As soon as she came out, she found herself in a large room filled with computer terminals. Karacknid technicians were sitting around them. Though several were on their feet. Instinctively Jeffers identified them as soldiers. One Karacknid sitting at a large holo projector caught her attention. It had to be Hul’lixar. Without breaking stride, Jeffers moved at full pace towards him. She focused her first shots on the armed Karacknids, and then began to dispatch the rest. Plasma bolts from her marines ripped into those she didn’t get. When she got close enough to see what Hul’lixar was doing she threw herself to her knees. The laser beam he had aimed at her barely went over her head. Her own shot, aimed at his arm, struck true. It blew Hul’lixar’s pistol out of his grip. Allowing her momentum to carry her back onto her feet, Jeffers raised the butt of her rifle and smashed it into Hul’lixar’s head. Though she knew almost nothing about Karacknid facial expressions, she hoped the look on his face was one of fear and shock. “That’s what a special forces marine can do,” she said to his limp body.
“Rooney, Jamieson, take his body. We’ll cover you. It’s time to get out of here before they realize what’s happening,” Jeffers called. “Rooney,” she repeated as she swung round when the marine didn’t reply. She swore at the scene before her. Rooney was on the floor, a large hole brunt through his chest. Bedford was at his side holding his hand. When the marine looked up at Jeffers she shook her head. Jeffers swore again as she ground her teeth together. “Saul, help Jamieson. Bedford and I will cover you. We have to leave him. There’s no time.” Despite her words, Jeffers had to reach down and pull Bedford away from Rooney’s body. “Come on, or we’ll all be joining him. He wouldn’t want that.” Picking Bedford’s rifle off the ground she shoved it into her chest forcing the marine to take it. “Come on, I’m getting us out of here.”
Taking the lead again, Jeffers moved back up the stairs. This time with more care and at a pace Saul and Jamieson could match. Only when she got to the third floor above the foyer did she encounter a Karacknid soldier. They almost bumped into one another as Jeffers turned a corner in the staircase, the Karacknid, with his weapon at his side, stood no chance. Two plasma bolts burnt through his armor. Hoping they could exit the Administrative Buildings the way they had come in, Jeffers signaled for Bedford and the others to wait in the stairwell. She poked her head out into the foyer. The stairs were on the opposite end of the foyer to where they wanted to go. There was a small handful of Karacknids in the foyer on their feet. Most were tending to the wounded. Jeffers looked along the foyer towards the building’s main entrance and swore under her breath. At least ten Karacknid soldiers were pouring into the building. It looked like there could be more behind them. They’ve realized the resistance attacks were a diversion, Jeffers concluded. The main bulk of the Karacknid troops defending the Administrative Buildings were returning. Even as Jeffers watched, the closest Karacknid soldier began to bring his laser rifle to bear on her. She immediately dove back into the staircase. “We’re not going out that way,” she shouted over the bursting pops of laser beams hitting the permacrete wall of the foyer.
“Where to then Major?” Bedford asked.
Jeffers looked around and then up the staircase. “The only way is up. Move it!” As Bedford took point, Saul and Jamieson followed, Jeffers poked her head back into the foyer. She fired three quick bolts at the charging Karacknids and ducked back into cover before seeing whether she hit anything. Then she backed up the staircase. Crouching at the top of the next level, she caught the first Karacknid to round the corner right in the chest. Then she backed up again. “Quicker, quicker,” she called up after the others. As they moved, she racked her brain for a way out of the Administrative Buildings. There were several other exits. She could go up, across the floor and head down another part of the building. There were at least three sets of stairwells. They could also break a window and rappel down. They just had to find a way to do it without the Karacknid soldiers detecting them. Otherwise they’d be sitting ducks.
“Stay here,” she said to Bedford when they got to the fifth floor. “Cover the staircase.” Without waiting for a reply Jeffers made her way through the floor’s corridors to the nearest stairwell to the one they were using. Before she even got to it, she heard Karacknid soldiers charging up. Realizing there was no time to warn Bedford and that their position was already more than compromised, she keyed on the audio on her COM unit for the first time in months. “Keep heading up!” she shouted to Bedford. “They’re coming up all the staircases. Keep heading up.” Breaking into a sprint once again, Jeffers raced back towards Bedford’s position. When she got there, two Karacknids were already heading up after her marines. More were coming up the stairs behind them. Jeffers downed both of them, and then blindly fired down the staircase as she ran up, hurdling the Karacknid bodies. “I’m coming up,” she said over the COM channel to make sure Bedford didn’t shoot her.
“What do we do Major?” Bedford asked, her eyes wide as she lifted her rifle to let Jeffers past. Further up, Jeffers saw Jamieson and Saul continue to drag the Karacknid commander up the stairs. Jeffers racked her brain for an answer.
“There’s only one way we can go,” she said. “Up, if we stop for a second we will be swarmed.” As if to prove her point, Bedford fired several rounds as a Karacknid poked his head into view. Jeffers grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back up several more steps. “Keep moving, don’t stop.” Though Bedford didn’t ask, Jeffers saw the question in her face. What were they going to do when they got to the roof?
A sudden crackling on her COM unit distracted her. Reaching up, Jeffers flicked the frequency up and down to reset it to her squad frequency. For a millisecond she picked up what she thought was a Human voice. Frantically, she flicked the frequency up one again. It was a Human voice! It took just a couple of seconds to figure it was a shuttle pilot. They were speaking to a flight controller in orbit. The invasion has begun, Jeffers thought. Maybe… “Human shuttle come in, Human shuttle come in,” she said over the COM. “This is Major Jeffers of 34th special forces marine platoon. I’m requesting evac for my squad. We have captured the Karacknid general. Repeat we have captured the Karacknid general. Need immediate evac from the vicinity of Landung’s Administrative Buildings. Do you copy shuttle?”
“We copy Major. We’ve just dropped the first platoon of Marines outside Landung. There are no shuttles tasked with dropping troops into the city until the third wave. You’ll have to stay put until then.”
“Negative,” Jeffers replied at once. “We have five minutes at best here. We need immediate evac. We have the Karacknid general. If we are overrun, he will be freed again.”
The line went quiet for nearly twenty seconds. Jeffers continued to back up the stairs, firing again and again towards where the Karacknids were following them. Then the pilot’s voice returned. “Confirm your identification number Major.” Jeffers listed off her number and then added an extra code. It was one she was meant to give only if she was not under duress. “All right Major,” the pilot said, “I’ve been ordered to come get you. We’ll have to fly through the city. Many of the Karacknid weapons haven’t been taken out yet. I can’t guarantee we will make it to you.”
“Just do your best pilot,” Jeffers replied. “And hurry. We’ll be on the roof. If you come under fire from our position, bug out for we’ll have already been overrun.”
“Affirmative Major, on my way,” the pilot responded.
Jeffers switched the COM channel back to her squad. “Evac is on its way. There’s a shuttle heading for the roof. So keep heading up!” Jeffers jumped up several stairs as explosions peppered the permacrete steps she had been standing on. Quickly she moved around the next bend in the stairwell. Turning, she held her rifle around the corner and fired blindly. Seventh floor, she thought as she read the sign on the exit beside her. Two more to go. Glancing up she saw J
amieson and Saul were already at the next level. Bedford was beside her, her weapon raised and ready. “Take point,” Jeffers ordered. “Make sure there’s no Karacknids on the roof. Then go cover the other stairway that leads onto it. There will be Karacknids trying to get up ahead of us.
With a nod Bedford spun and sprinted up the stairs. Jeffers held her rifle out and fired blindly below her again. She then retreated back to the next turn in the stairs. This time she kept her head and rifle poked out. As soon as a Karacknid appeared she dropped it. “Roof is clear Major,” Bedford’s voice informed her. “Moving to the other stairwell now. No sign of the shuttle yet.”
“We are on the roof,” Jamieson reported a few seconds later. Jeffers had already taken out two more Karacknids. They were all but throwing caution to the wind as they charged her position. When a laser rifle appeared around the corner of the stairs below her and started firing blindly she had to duck back. When she poked her head back again, four Karacknids were already racing up towards her. Spinning, she retreated to the next turn in the stairs. She was now on the eighth floor. Before she could line up a shot, something round and metallic landed at her feet. With lightening quick reflexes Jeffers threw herself towards it, grabbed the object and hurled it back down the stairs. It exploded a second later sending shrapnel in all directions. Jeffers grunted as she felt several pieces slam into her leg and back.
Grunting at the pain, she rolled over and back onto her knees. There were several dead or injured Karacknids just below her. As more tried to climb over them she fired a hail of plasma bolts into the tangled mess of Karacknid bodies, then limped further up the stairs to take cover.
“You ok Major?” Bedford’s voice asked. “No contact with the Karacknids up here yet.”
“I’m still in the fight,” Jeffers assured her. “What about the shuttle?”
“No sign Major,” Jamieson responded.
“What is the roof like, much cover?” She asked.
“None to speak of, it’s flat and open,” Jamieson responded.
Jeffers grimaced. She was just one bend in the stairs away from the door to the Administrative Buildings’ roof. “I’ll hold here as long as I can, as soon as the shuttle comes, get on board. You can cover me from there.”
Leaning back out of cover, Jeffers fired another spread of plasma bolts down the stairway. There were no Karacknids in sight yet, but she didn’t want to encourage them. Come on, come on, she thought to the shuttle. They were almost out of time.
“I think I see it,” Jamieson said over the COM channel. “It’s coming from the west. It is flying low. Wwwoooo! It just dodged a hypervelocity missile!”
Jeffers poked her head out again but she pulled herself short when laser beams struck the stairs and wall all around her. I can’t let them past, she realized. As soon as the Karacknids got to the roof they would spread out and overwhelm the shuttle. “Get Hul’lixar out of here at all costs. That’s an order,” she said to her squad. She tried to fire another round of plasma bolts blindly down the stairs. Before she even got a shot off a laser beam struck her rifle and melted its front barrel. The heat made her throw the rifle away with a scream. Sensing the Karacknids were just a few steps from her corner, Jeffers reached for her plasma pistol. In the corner of her eye she saw a now familiar metal object bounce off a wall to land near her. Before she could react a second and then third appeared. With a scream of rage and defeat she threw herself to the ground, batting the grenades with her arms as if they were baseball bats. Her last thoughts were of all the marines who had died under her command. Please be worth it, she asked as the one grenade she missed detonated just a meter from her face.
On the roof, the simultaneous detonation of three grenades made Bedford stumble. Glancing away from the stairwell she was protecting, she saw smoke and debris flung out of the doorway to the other stairwell. “Major, Major,” she called over the COM channel. When no reply came, Bedford had to fight her instincts to rush over to the stairwell. Instead she poked her head down her own and released a hail of plasma bolts.
“The shuttle is touching down!” Jamieson bellowed over the COM channel. “We are boarding it now, pull back to us.” Bedford fired another string of bolts blindly down the stairwell and sprinted for the shuttle. As she moved, she kept her eye on the other stairwell. There was no movement from it. Then something emerged from the dust. But it wasn’t Jeffers. It was a Karacknid! With a snarl she peppered it with more plasma bolts than she could count.
“Cover both stairwells!” she screamed as she ran up the shuttle’s ramp. From weapons ports in the shuttle, Jamieson and Saul did just that. A steady stream of bolts kept anyone from emerging from either stairwell. Bedford was barely three steps up the shuttle’s ramp when it started to retract and the shuttle jumped into the air. Reaching out with her fast reflexes she grabbed onto a strut and clung for dear life. Just ahead of her, where Jamieson and Saul had dropped him, Hul’lixar’s body rolled about from the g-forces of the shuttle’s maneuvers. The only thing that kept Bedford from shooting him was the earnestness she remembered on Jeffers’ face when the Major had first suggested capturing him. She had thought it was worth risking their lives for. As tiredness threatened to overwhelm her, Bedford sunk to her knees. They had done it! They had captured the Karacknid commander from his own command bunker. With the invasion just beginning, it would sow confusion among the Karacknid forces. But was it worth Rooney and Jeffers’ lives? Bedford asked herself. She had no answer.
Chapter 41
Many who die in battle are remembered as heroes, and rightly so. Perhaps more so however are those who survive the horrors of war, and press on to fight for the Empire once more.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD.
IS Earth, 4th April 2482 AD (one day later).
“Thank you for joining us General,” Gupta said when Johnston stepped into her briefing room. She had to keep her emotions in check. The marine looked far weaker and frailer than she had been expecting. And his face was almost unrecognizable due to the burn marks. She had first met Johnston when she had been the First Lieutenant of HMS Drake. Then and every time she had met him since he had given off the impression of being an unmovable rock, bursting with muscles. Now he seemed like a slight breeze would knock him over.
“No problem Admiral,” Johnston replied with a brief smile that made him grimace. “I knew I was getting a little malnourished, but the way Earth’s Doctor has been going on about it, I didn’t think she’d let me leave except for your summons.”
“I was relieved to hear you have survived this ordeal,” Gupta said as she gestured for Johnston to take a seat. “I was shocked when I first heard the number of survivors.”
“We took heavy losses,” Johnston confirmed. “In the initial Karacknid landings, and then when we ran out of dampeners. Many marines and soldiers were lost to orbital strikes. Then, when we were hiding, if they discovered one of our groups, they hunted them down to the last marine. I intend to make sure every name of those we lost will be remembered.”
Gupta nodded. “A worthy endeavor. And yet those who survived deserve praise as well. Despite everything you went through, your strikes against the Karacknid defenses during our landings proved invaluable. Now,” she added to change the subject, for it was clear that she had struck a nerve. “I believe you know Admirals Lightfoot and Jil’lal as well as General Jackson, let me introduce you to Commodore Flew. She commands the Varanni Squadron that is part of our fleet.”
Johnston and Flew bowed to one another at the same time. “It is my pleasure to meet a warrior of such caliber,” Flew said. “It is my understanding that several of my allies’ colonies in Alliance space have been conquered by the Karacknids. It’s very likely they have landed ground troops. The knowledge and experience gained from your victories will aid us when we retake our own worlds. For that I honor you.”
“There is no need for honor,” Johnston replied. “We were simply doing our duty. My people came to hate the Karackni
ds for what they were doing to us and the civilian population. That was motivation enough. Now that I have learnt about Earth, I understand why we are all here. How is the battle faring General?” Johnston asked as he turned to Jackson.
“Better than our initial projections thanks to you,” the American marine answered, “we took less losses in the initial phases of the landings. We have mostly cleared Landung City and are expanding our control of the surrounding countryside. So far we have pushed out about forty kilometers from the colony’s capital. Elsewhere on the continent, atmospheric fighters and orbital strikes have reduced all the known Karacknid bases and military formations. What is left of their forces have gone to ground.”
