Primal Darkness

by Ryan Kirk

  The dropship’s doors opened and suits came pouring out. Behind the dropship, several suits floated in, coming to land in the hanger on their own. Below him, his squad opened fire, covering the doors of the dropship with metal death.

  Just as though he was hunting, Tev’s senses focused. He picked a target, a suit near the rear of the boarding party. He rested the reticle over the suit’s head and mentally pulled the trigger. The head disappeared and the suit collapsed, but in the middle of the firefight nobody noticed. Tev drifted over to the next target and repeated the process.

  Inside he was cold. A part of him recognized that he was killing people, something he had only done once before. But seeing them in their suits made it easy, made it possible to think of them as being something other than human. He found his next target and fired again, and then once again.

  Finally, someone below must have figured out what was happening. Tev heard the rounds strike around him. Of all his team, the height and cover he was behind made him the hardest to hit. He focused on another target, and another round sent the suit crashing to the ground.

  Tev pulled his focus back. It was easy to only see one thing at a time, but it was also the way that people got killed. He took a moment to take in the entire battle. His squad was doing everything they could to hold off the much larger boarding party. All of their weapons seemed to be firing continually; and rockets, grenades, and other explosives were launched with deafening regularity towards the dropship. For a moment, it almost seemed as though they might be able to hold back the advance.

  The dream disappeared as quickly as Tev’s hearing once the enemy dropship opened fire. Tev hadn’t expected it, but within moments he was hiding behind his barricade as the dropship unleashed a tremendous amount of firepower in the hold. The barricade, which to Tev had once seemed sturdy and dependable, shook against his suit like a blanket in the wind. Tev, more scared than rational, leapt from cover and rolled behind a thicker steel box. His timing couldn’t have been better, as an explosion enveloped the place he’d been just moments ago.

  An eternity later, the firing stopped, and Tev’s hearing returned to normal. His suit had deadened the sound for him, the only reason he could still hear anything at all. There was plenty of movement below, and when he poked his head around, what he saw sank the slim hope he had left.

  The dropship was disgorging three, no, four, enormous machines. They moved like exosuits, but were so much larger.

  “Heavies!” someone shouted over the intercom.

  Aki didn’t hesitate. “We can’t stay here any longer. Retreat to checkpoint Bravo. Arm the traps, maybe it will slow them down. Tev, can you cover us for about ten seconds?”

  Tev acknowledged and took some deep breaths. More than anything, he wanted to stay behind cover and wait for everything to be over, but before the battle he had made a promise to himself. If this was what it took, so be it.

  “Mark.”

  Tev stood up and pivoted, giving himself a clear field of view of the battleground below. He raised both arms, and let his right arm with the main rifle spray the entire area without concern. That was the cover his teammates needed, but he knew the odds of getting a fatal blow were slim. He focused on his left arm, bringing his targeting reticle up over the cockpit of one of the heavy machines. He could see the man inside, and he pulled the trigger in his mind.

  The result wasn’t as dramatic as he’d expected, but his rifle had the power to punch through the cockpit. The heavy sank to its knees, some type of automatic shutdown.

  His elation lasted only for a moment, and then his world became a living hell. His actions had worked too well. Every single suit down below seemed to fire on him, and Tev stepped backwards, out of line of sight, as bullets whistled in front of him. Below him, the deck shook, and as Tev stepped backwards again, trying to get to checkpoint Bravo. Then the entire deck collapsed around him as he was swallowed up by flame.

  Kindra was frozen in indecision.

  Day after day, she considered the decisions she’d made, but day after day, she was able to push her guilt aside. There was always a duty to do, a task that needed to be completed. She was never in a place where she had to make life-or-death decisions. Derreck was her commander, and she always had the shield of his orders to hide behind.

  When the battle came to them, her shield disappeared.

  Kindra sat on the Vigilance, in exile from her own jumpship. She had company, at least. Eleta was on the bridge with her. She watched the battle unfold, her attention divided between several viewscreens. On one, she had Tev’s feeds pulled up, and on another, Derreck’s. On the third she could see the battle readout of the entire situation. She was a part of this battle, and yet her actions had separated her from the rest of the jumper. The dissociation in real life mirrored her mental state.

  Eleta sat right next to her. In the preparation for the battle, the two of them had been forgotten, or at least, that was what Kindra told herself. They had been sealed in their dropship by Absalon’s orders, and that seal had not been broken. Perhaps he figured they were just as safe there as in the center of the ship with the rest of the non-combat crew.

  For now, there was nothing they could do, and Kindra wasn’t certain she even wanted to do anything. She wanted to get back to Tev’s planet and explore it more. The last thing she wanted to do was see more bloodshed. Wasn’t space big enough for all of them?

  She had convinced herself that supporting Tev was the right action to take, but she hadn’t been forced to consider the consequences of what that support might be. How far would she go to protect him and his people? She hadn’t answered that question, not even for herself.

  Kindra tore her eyes away from the viewscreens and watched as a dropship came into the hanger where the Vigilance was docked, settling in softly. She had watched the ship come in the entire way on the battle net, but seeing it there, in her hanger, wrenched her gut in a way she hadn’t expected. Danger, from a distance, was very different than danger right outside your door. Flashes of light filled the bridge as the suits stationed in the hanger opened fire on the enemy dropship.

  She could hear the firefight, both on her screens and outside her ship. The exchanges were intense, and she wondered if she would be able to hear any shots taken against the Vigilance. She pulled up another screen with diagnostic imagery. So far, everything read green across the board. She wasn’t surprised, but she was grateful. Dropships weren’t nearly as valuable to humanity as jumpships were, but they were still prizes. The rebels would want to take the Vigilance intact if they could.

  Kindra’s sight was drawn back to Tev’s screen. The fight happening there was insane. She could see that Tev was firing, and the viewscreen displayed just how successful he was. He was so many things, but one aspect she sometimes forgot was that he was a warrior unlike any they had seen recently. He was good.

  A glance at Derreck’s screen and the tactical readout confirmed that so far, the fight was restricted to the hangers. But, if the screens were telling the truth, they were far outnumbered.

  Outside the Vigilance, the fight increased in intensity. The gunfire was almost constant. Kindra had never lived through anything like it before. She looked over at Eleta, and they shared a look of uneasy comfort.

  Her chair shook as explosions rocked the ground outside. A glance at her monitor showed that Destiny’s troops were retreating. Two of the four in the squad had been killed, more than they could afford to lose.

  On Tev’s screen she saw the heavies unload from the other dropship. She had heard about heavies and seen pictures, but had never seen one in reality. She watched in horror as Tev launched an all-out assault on the rebels. She shook her head, horrified by the knowledge that he was completely outclassed. Seconds later, his screen erupted in flame and went dark.

  Kindra screamed, her mind working on autopilot. She checked all the other channels of information, but she wasn’t getting anything from Tev’s suit. No vitals, no video, no audio. Eith
er he was gone or all of his communications had been knocked offline.

  In that moment, Kindra made a decision. She wouldn’t sit on the sidelines. No longer would she try to push her decisions off on others. She wasn’t some helpless damsel. She might not know how to pilot a suit, but she could solve problems, and she would take a stand against those who thought Tev’s people were nothing more than pilots for their weapons. She looked over at Eleta, who was appeared to be in a state of shock. “Do we have anything that will make their life hell?”

  Eleta nodded. “We could unleash our new defensive measures into the hanger.”

  “Do it.”

  Eleta hesitated.

  “What’s wrong?” Kindra was surprised by the edge in her own voice.

  “It’s just that, that’s a lot of people.”

  Kindra, driven more by frustration and rage than by reason, navigated the weapons control panels herself. If Eleta wouldn’t do it, she would be more than happy to. She found the controls and commanded the AI to target enemy suits. She held fire until the AI had the best targeting solution. She hesitated just for a moment. A part of her recognized that if she did this, there was no turning back. She would be a killer.

  Kindra opened fire.

  Vigilance erupted, small turrets throwing out thousands of pellets at tremendous speeds. It tore up over a dozen suits in less than two seconds, destroying the hanger in the process. The enemy didn’t even have time to react.

  Kindra didn’t feel anything.

  Tev’s world spun, a kaleidoscope of flame and gravity. He crashed onto his side, an impact only dulled a little by the suit he was wearing. He tried calling out to Kindra, but there was nothing. Something must have happened to his suit to prevent him from communicating. Grunting, he called out for a report of the suit, and the suit responded by flashing a display in the corner of his screen. There were yellow markers around the suit, indicating non-critical damage. All he knew was that he needed to avoid red. As long as he did that, he’d be fine.

  His second thought was that he needed to move. He had crashed to the deck below the one he had been shooting from. He was still above the battlefield, but it would be much easier for the boarders to reach him. The rest of his team would be waiting at Bravo. He just had to make it there in one piece.

  Tev stood up, and immediately a hail of gunfire converged on his location. He felt several impacts, one of which cut through the armor on his right bicep. Tev felt the pain flood through his mind, but he couldn’t allow it to distract him. He half-ran, half-stumbled towards the nearest bulkhead. It opened to his suit as he got close and he threw himself through. The door closed behind him, and for the moment, he was safe.

  Tev took the time to catch his breath and his bearings. There was a general ache throughout his body, but his arm felt as though it were on fire. What he wanted to do was sit and fall asleep. What he did was get back to his feet and ask his suit for directions to Bravo. Arrows came up on his display, and he started walking as fast as he could.

  He made it to the barricade without problem, and his teammates let him through. Tev’s commander looked him over. They stood a step apart from one another until Aki realized Tev couldn’t hear him. He stepped forward and put his helmet against Tev’s. “Are you okay? I can’t get any information from your suit, and you looked pretty banged up.”

  Tev replied, “I’m shot through the arm, but otherwise, okay.”

  “Okay. It’s good to see you. We were getting a little worried.”

  Tev took his position and double-checked his suit. It seemed like everything was going to work, but his right arm was sluggish. That could be a problem. In the close quarters of the hallway, the rifle underneath his right arm was far superior to the long-range rifle on his left, but there wasn’t any time to do anything about it. Tev could hear the sound of the other suits approaching, and it wouldn’t be long before battle was joined again.

  The loss of communication had a strange effect on Tev. He had walked into this battle as part of a team, including Kindra in his head to keep him company. But now, even though he was surrounded by people who were friends, he felt alone, isolated, in a bubble of silence even though he was sure his team was chattering back and forth. Tev had felt alone before, especially since he’d left his planet, but he had never felt this.

  It was a profound sense of isolation, as if he were in the plains that the elders of his clans talked about, nothing but grass for as far as the eye could see. Sorrow and a sense of resignation washed over him. The barricade they were behind was strong, but it would not last against the forces arrayed against it. Behind this, there was nothing but the hallways that led to the bridge and to engineering. No more cover.

  Tev was pulled from his reverie by the shaking of the floor. He imagined that one of the traps his team had set had gone off. He could hope, at least. Who knew how effective they’d be?

  Another explosion rumbled through his feet, and he knew they didn’t have too much time left to wonder. It would all be over for them soon. Tev decided that with few other options, he would fight the best he could. He would show them the strength of a hunter from his clan.

  He didn’t have long to wait. A suit came around the corner, appearing unconcerned about its fate. Tev was faster than anyone else on his team. He raised his left arm, and a single shot streaked through the suit’s chest. It collapsed to the ground. In the next few seconds, the entire hallway became a hail of metal. Their barricade was holding, but it wouldn’t for long. One of Tev’s team launched a handful of grenades, and for a moment, there was peace. Tev looked around and was surprised to see Aki on the ground, a clean hole through his helmet. He didn’t even have time to feel remorse.

  The attack commenced again, and Tev stood straight, his left arm out, as suit after suit came around the corner. Tev’s side was pointed towards the enemy, and he felt the impacts as he was hit by several rounds. He grimaced through the pain, but his aim wouldn’t be thrown off. Calmly, he picked off the attacking suits, one at a time. The rifle wasn’t meant to be used at such close quarters, but Tev’s aim was impeccable, and his shots always went through the armor.

  Off to his side, Tev saw another one of his teammates fall, but it only registered in the farthest corners of his mind. He didn’t react until he was pulled back down behind the barricade, just as one of the heavies turned the corner. Tev got off one shot, but he wasn’t able to hit the cockpit, and his shot did nothing but fling armor off the heavy.

  He didn’t understand why he had been pulled down. His eyes took in the scene and saw that Murphy, the last member of his team, also had a number of holes in her suit and was bleeding freely from them. It hit Tev, like a punch that he never saw coming, that suddenly he was the last member of his team, one of the last people standing between the rebels and his home planet.

  Tev’s first instinct was to stand back up and unload both of his weapons at the cautiously approaching enemy. The hail of steel had become a trickle, their enemy uncertain whether or not they had killed everyone. His teammate seemed to be trying to say something, forgetting that Tev didn’t have any comms. She grabbed his helmet and slammed them together.

  “RUN!”

  With that, she shoved Tev forward. Some part of Tev seized on her intent. Their barricade was going to be overrun, probably in a matter of minutes, if not seconds. She was sacrificing herself for him, for his people. Tev focused on his movement, turning at the first corner as a burst of gunfire chased him. Another round struck his suit, but when he called up diagnostics, he saw that although he was almost entirely covered in yellow, he had still managed to avoid any red.

  Tev paused around the corner, catching his breath and deciding what to do. His mind told him to run. He knew he couldn’t change the direction of the battle on his own. But there was another part of him, the part that wanted to be the best, to be greater than anyone expected he could be. It wouldn’t let him run, not when he could still make a difference.

  A massive explo
sion rocked the hallway, and flames licked past Tev’s suit before disappearing. Murphy had set off all the ordnance she had left. It was a noble sacrifice, and he thanked her for what she had done.

  Not for the first time, he wished that he could talk to Kindra one last time. She was a woman torn between her desire for knowledge and the understanding of what that knowledge cost. He wanted to let her know that it was all going to be fine. She would be heartbroken over his death, but she had to know that he went willingly. It had always been his choice.

  Tev took a deep breath. It was time to join the final hunt.

  Kindra’s mind was focused on the viewscreens. Beside her, Eleta seemed to be in a state of shock over what they had done, but Kindra didn’t have time. She had done what was necessary. Her only concern was what the other dropship in the hanger would do.

  Kindra figured she would help it decide. She opened a missile tube on Vigilance. The enemy dropship had been kind enough to land directly in front of them, so Kindra could snap off a shot in a moment. There was no way she would miss. It would destroy quite a bit of Destiny, but Kindra was willing.

  The enemy dropship seemed to sense her intent. It took off and glided back out of the hanger, heading back toward the rebel ship.

  Kindra shifted her attention to Derreck’s screen. It made little sense for the dropship to pull off the ship. She knew she had dealt the rebels a blow, but it couldn’t be that easy. If anyone would have any answers, it would be him. When she looked, though, she saw that his helmet was off-center and the view was all askew. She worried for a moment before realizing he was just holding the helmet under his arm. Curious, Kindra turned on the audio pickups to match the visuals. She saw he was on the bridge of the Destiny.

  Derreck wasn’t speaking, and she had to turn the gain up to hear the background chatter. What she heard chilled her blood.