In a second, Riot took all of this in. There was no more time on the game clock. The weapons the Trilords carried were the most intimidating that she could ever imagine—long axes, war hammers, even shields were all retrofitted around blasters of their own.
One of the warriors carried a shield in the shape of a roaring creature’s face. The closest animal Riot could match the image with was a wolf mixed with a sabertooth tiger. The shield was almost as large as his body. A series of circular blaster barrels sprouted from the creature's mouth in the center of the shield. The barrels pumped round after round while the shield protected its user. Likewise, long and short weapons like maces, axes, and hammers all sported a barrel at the end of the shafts, along with the weapon heads.
At once, Riot understood their ploy. The Trilords had sent in half their number to hold Riot and her squad’s attention while the rest made their run. It had worked. Within seconds, the group of Trilords were close enough to begin their assault, using their multipurpose weapons up close and personal.
Riot tossed her weapon to the side, choosing instead to make her shots count instead of spraying and praying for a hit. The smaller weapon in her hand wasn’t much larger than a Beretta, but it would have to do.
With a burst of fire, Rizzo cut one of the Trilords down at the knees. Two more jumped on top of him, swinging their axes down onto his skull. Riot took one between the eyes.
Wang covered Rizzo with a burst of his own weapon.
The next thing Riot remembered was pushing Deborah behind her as a Trilord a full foot taller than her brought a hammer sideways across her body. Riot felt the blow as if it were actually striking her torso. She was hurled across the landscape, losing her grip on her weapon.
The Trilord let out a roar. With a shake of its long, black hair, it ran at her. As if the aliens needed to appear any crazier, they didn’t wear any kind of armor. The men were naked from the waist up and the females wore barely more, with a leather-looking tube top covering their breasts, and shorts or skirts.
Riot had a second to register how much her calf still ached from the previous day’s wound before she reached for her molten blade. She pressed the button at the base of the weapon, creating a sword three feet long.
The Trilord brought his hammer down on Riot—hard. Riot blocked the blow with her own weapon. The blade of the molten sword cut through the hammer’s shaft. A moment later, the heavy end of the hammer fell to the ground.
“Sucks to be you, hologram boy.” Riot looked at the confused Trilord with a shrug. Without wasting more time, Riot jammed her sword through the throat of the Trilord and pulled up. The action severed her enemy’s head in two equal parts before he fell quivering to the ground.
Another Trilord came at Riot, and then another and another. A blow struck her right shoulder and glanced off, this time from a Trilord carrying a double-bladed axe, a barrel in the middle of the weapon, head smoking. Riot batted away the long weapon with her blade, then sank it hilt-deep into her opponent’s stomach.
“Rizzo’s down!” Wang shouted.
BOOM!
Another explosion in the jungle meant Vet was still on his feet. Whether he would be able to dispatch the last six Trilords by flanking them was another story altogether.
Wang was pushing Deborah back, trying to cut down the oncoming Trilords with a weapon that looked like a long-barreled shotgun. It sent red sprays of blaster fire at any Trilord that approached. Wang took down three before one of the remaining two Trilords thought better of charging into the weapon like his predecessors, and instead opened fire on Wang.
The last two Trilords had the massive shields with the rotating Gatling-like guns in the middle. They cut Wang down in a series of rapid fire bursts as he shielded Deborah with his body.
Somewhere in the back of her mind, Riot understood this was all an exercise, but in the heat of the moment, it felt as real as the molten blade in her hand.
Riot took up a defensive stance in front of Deborah as the two Trilords bore down on her position.
14
Riot didn’t have a whole lot of options, and neither did she have the luxury of a weapon that she could shoot at the moment. The two Trilords in front of her peered over their massive square shields that curved in at the sides.
“Hey, big boys,” Vet’s familiar voice called out from behind them. “Care to make this a two-on-two?”
The Trilords swung around, opening fire on Vet’s position. Riot didn’t wait. She charged forward. The Trilord on her left, a muscled mountain, swung his shield at her. Riot skidded on her knees, allowing her forward momentum to carry her under the shield.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the handgun she had lost during the fight. Riot released her grip on the molten blade and grabbed the projectile weapon at the same time she rose to her feet. She placed two shots to the underside of the jaw of the Trilord that stood inches from her.
Riot pivoted even as the spray from the holographic blood plastered her vision. She double tapped the trigger at the second Trilord to her left. Both beasts of men fell to the ground, shaking in their death throes.
Riot’s lungs burned, sweat gathered at her brow as she swept the exercise room for more enemies. Everywhere she looked, the ground was carpeted with bodies. The display across her helmet read nothing but red outlined enemies with small red “X’s” above their bodies.
Across Riot’s vision flashed a “Mission Complete” sign in big red letters. The Hazard Room faded back to its normal, empty, spacious appearance. The weapons racks along the walls opened once more.
Riot removed her helmet, shaking the sweat from her face and hair. She raised an eyebrow at Wang, Rizzo, and Vet. Although the room had registered the mission as a success, they all understood what had happened. A single teammate down at the end of any mission was a loss.
“Wow.” Deborah removed her helmet, staring in awe at the members of Riot’s unit. “I never even thought we had a chance. Twenty Trilords against four Marines. You all were amazing.”
“Not amazing enough.” Wang held his helmet in the crook of his arm. He looked over to Riot instead of Deborah. “We’ll get better.”
Rizzo nodded along with Wang.
“We have to.” Riot motioned to the arsenal of weapons that lay out in front of them. “We’ll take the rest of the day to familiarize ourselves with the weapons we’ll be using.”
“If you like, the Hazard Room has a shooting range function,” Deborah volunteered, already striding over to the panel on the inside of the octagon-shaped room. She looked over at Riot for permission before beginning the program. “I can set it up for you.”
“Let’s do it.” Riot turned to her squad. “The three of you need to dust off some of that rust. If the War Wolves are going to ride into battle again, we need to get back to where we were before. I’m going to take a minute to speak with the good doctor, here. Familiarize yourself with all the weapons and see what works best for you.”
Two “rogers” and a nod from Rizzo came back to her as the men went along the walls of the room choosing new weapons to try. The room transitioned to a long gun range, a counter a few yards in, with targets stationed every few yards from there. The targets were anywhere from the shapes of humans, to Trilords and bull’s eyes, and a variety of alien shapes Riot didn’t recognize.
“You know, we’re an envoy first and foremost, trying to make allies.” Deborah cleared her throat. She kept her voice low so the others wouldn’t be able to hear. “I think calling yourselves War Wolves is cool and all, but let’s hope we won’t have to fire a single weapon during the trip.”
Riot felt anger rise in her heart, but just as fast, as it trickled down her veins, she calmed herself. Deborah was trying to be polite. She had waited until it was just the two of them speaking instead of addressing her in front of her men.
“Listen, Bubbles.” Riot placed her helmet at her feet, eyeing the woman up and down. “I’m the last person who wants to put my squad in
harm’s way. I’ve seen enough killing to last a lifetime and have enough for leftovers the next day. But I’d rather be the meanest mother in the room, than to hope that the meanest entities in the universe take pity on us.”
Deborah slowly nodded. It was clear she didn’t feel the same way, but she was unwilling to argue the point. “I understand your thought process, but I think we can still work together while respecting each other’s opinions and respecting—”
“Yeah, yeah, respect and love and all that.” Riot waved away the rest of whatever Deborah was about to say. “We need to talk about Rizzo.”
“What about Corporal Rizzo?”
“You’re telling me with the pages and pages of crap that’s coming up in my bucket while I’m trying to fight, there isn’t a way for Rizzo to communicate with us? Seriously, while we’re at it, let’s tone down the info that comes up through our visors while we’re in a firefight.”
“I can take a look at the parameters for the visor’s programming,” Deborah said. “There may even be a way to have Rizzo type messages, or maybe choose from a list of preloaded messages, to communicate with the rest of the squad. I’ll put the best scientists on it today.”
“Great.” Riot head-motioned to the door, ready for Deborah to leave, but the woman clearly didn’t get the hint. Riot leaned in, widening her eyes, looking from Deborah to the door and back again.
Deborah leaned in, as well. “Are you going to whisper something, tell me a secret?”
“What? No.” Riot scrunched her brow and ushered Deborah from the room. “I was trying to be polite and give you the hint that you’re not wanted here anymore. I need some time to work with my unit. Get out.”
“Oh, oh, oh, right.” Deborah’s fair complexion flushed as she walked toward the door. “Okay, I’ll save you a seat at lunch. Don’t forget at twelve hundred hours, you all divide to study your skill set for the rest of the day.”
“Yeah, whatever. Get the heck out of here, Bubbles," Riot said, mockingly, and shook her head as the woman departed.
Trapped in a steel can while we fly to another galaxy with an adult cheerleader. Riot bit her tongue so hard, she nearly drew blood. Control yourself, woman. This is going to get worse before it gets better. At least we have a while to figure things out before we take off. Maybe Bubbles will get sick or break a leg or something.
She was still coming to grips with the fact that, very soon, she would be trapped on a ship with this woman.
15
Weeks passed at the Bulwark as Riot and her squad trained all day, every day. Marines were creatures of habit, if nothing else. Practice and practice, and then more practice, would lead to fewer mistakes in the field and lives saved. Mornings were physical conditioning, as well as weapons training and a mission in the Hazard Room.
Once they became familiar with the alien weapons and how the Trilords worked as a unit, it wasn’t much of a challenge. Riot and her squad were able to tear apart twenty Trilords without breaking a sweat. They perfected flanking techniques for their much faster opponents, as well as identifyng the Trilords’ weaknesses. There weren’t many, but the Trilords did favor a frontal assault rather than maneuvering their warriors into a better position.
The afternoons were reserved for each of the members in the squad to train in their discipline, with Riot studying the flight pattern they would follow on their way to Hoydren, who the Trilords were, and a hundred other important angles of their trip.
The nights were spent with her unit learning sign language, with Rizzo and Wang leading the class. The lessons usually ended in laughter and some new obscene gesture learned, but they were making progress.
As the days passed, the more Riot talked with Deborah and Captain Harlan, the more she was sure something was being kept from her. It all came to a head one day while Riot was on her way to a meeting with Captain Harlan. She had just stuffed her face at the mess hall and was regretting that last plate of sloppy joes, when she passed a flustered Deborah in the hall.
“What’s up, Bubbles?” Riot stopped the woman, who looked like she was about to cry. “Did someone break it to you that Santa is just a diabetic in a red suit?”
“Riot, this isn’t the time.” Deborah stopped in her tracks, looking at her as if she were going to say more. “I’m just not in a good headspace right now.”
“Whatever.” Riot shrugged and stepped to the side, trying to get around Deborah.
Deborah moved to block Riot’s forward progress. “Okay, okay, if you must know, I guess I can tell you. I’m just really not supposed to say anything but—”
“I didn’t say anything. You don’t have to tell me. In fact, I don’t even really want to know.”
“All right, all right, I’ll tell you, but you didn’t hear this from me.” Something dangerous in Deborah’s eye caught Riot’s attention. “I just hate lying to the unit I’m going into space with.”
“Lying?” Now Riot was definitely intrigued. “What are you talking about?”
“Ask—”
Deborah mumbled something about the food as a pair of scientists in white lab coats passed, giving the two women a sideways glance.
Once Deborah was sure they were out of hearing range, she continued. “Ask Captain Harlan about Peace Envoy One.”
“One?” Riot squinted, trying to piece together everything Deborah wasn’t saying. “What are you—”
“I’ve really already said too much.” Deborah walked down the hall. “You didn’t hear anything from me.”
“I’m not sure I heard anything at all.” Riot shook her head and continued on to the captain’s office. The entire time she traveled down the halls, she thought about Deborah’s cryptic message.
This chick has finally cracked, Riot thought. We’re supposed to be SPEAR’s first unit launched into space. We’re Peace Envoy One … unless we aren’t.
Before Riot could figure out what she even thought of the message, she found herself in front of the captain’s door. She rapped twice on the wood, waiting for a response.
She didn’t have to wait long.
“Come in,” said Captain Harlan’s firm voice from the opposite side.
Riot opened the door, then closed it again behind her, saluting the captain. He stood and saluted back. He motioned to a chair that had been moved into his office. “Please, sit.”
Riot obeyed, still trying to consider her conversation with Deborah.
“Are you feeling all right?” Captain Harlan also sat. He leaned over his desk, examining Riot. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m fine,” Riot lied. “Just some questionable sloppy joes for lunch.”
“We’ve all been there.” Captain Harlan waved his hand over the long, metal strip atop his desk that brought up a hologram. “Reports across the board say your unit has been dominating training in every aspect. It turns out you were right about Rizzo and Wang. Rizzo’s scored higher marks in piloting our ship than anyone before. And Wang seems to be keeping in line.”
“They’re thriving here, Captain.” Riot nodded along with the report of her men. “We’ll be ready when our time comes.”
“That’s actually what I want to talk to you about today.” Captain Harlan swiped at his hologram, bringing up a view of an alien ship with sleek lines and four engines in its rear. “How do you feel about launching Peace Envoy One sometime soon?”
“I feel confident we’ll get the job done with Peace Envoy Two.” Riot studied the captain to see if he would pick up on her words and what his reaction would be.
For the briefest of moments, surprised panic drifted over his eyes. Just as soon as it was there, a veil of practiced composure once more fell across his hard, blue gaze. But it had been there, of that, Riot was sure.
“I think you made a mistake.” The captain leaned in and looked hard into Riot’s eyes. “You and your squad are Peace Envoy One.”
“Captain, you’re my friend, but also my superior. If you want me to pretend you’re telling me the truth ri
ght now, I will.” Riot considered not saying what she thought, but that wouldn’t be her style. “However, we both know the truth.”
Captain Harlan took a deep breath in through his nose and let it out through his mouth. He glanced over to make sure the door to the room was locked, then he lowered his voice.
“You didn’t hear this from me, do you understand that?” Captain Harlan gave Riot a look that said he would deny any knowledge of this conversation if it got out. “This meeting never happened.”
“I get it.” Riot waited for the captain to continue. “I wouldn’t push you into a conversation you didn’t want to have, except my men’s lives are on the chopping block, here.”
“You are the second attempt at reaching allies in space. The first attempt ended when we exited light speed around the planet Hoydren. All communication was cut off.
“I never lied to you. You were always my first choice to lead this mission, Riot.” Captain Harlan finally allowed his eyes to drift from hers. He scratched the back of his head, gaze on his desk as if he were reliving the events. “We had a squad of six go out weeks before I contacted you. They were well-trained Marines, along with two scientists, one of them trained in diplomacy. I tried to get you to head that mission, but my superiors had someone else in mind, and he took his men out. The last report we received is that they had exited light speed, and then nothing.”
“Super.” Riot let out a heavy sigh of her own. “So you said we leave soon. Would that be as soon as tomorrow? The day after tomorrow?”
“You’re not worried at all?”
“Of course I am, but that doesn’t change what needs to be done.” Riot shrugged, thinking back on all the information she had learned about the Trilords, and the planet Hoydren, over the last three weeks. There had to be something there that would help her get further than Peace Envoy One. “We’ll make it happen. We’ll find out what happened to the Marines who were sent there before us. If they’re still alive, we’ll bring them back.”
Bring the Thunder (War Wolves Book 1) Page 6
