Darklanding Omnibus Books 10-12: Hunter, Diver Down, Empire (Darklanding Omnis Book 4)

by Scott Moon

  All had been lost but fortune favored the bold. Now he had arrived behind the enemy’s undefended rear. The fact that the murderous alien intelligence considered the dog creature a greater threat than Proletan hurt Proletan’s pride. Angry and knowing he shouldn’t give into anger, he pulled two knives from his belt. He would kill as many as possible before he started shooting. Then he would fight his way to Yakti-droon and prove who was the most dangerous killer in the galaxy.

  ***

  Thad relaxed as the conflict continued. It was a strange thing to find peace in violence. During a hot battle, that was exactly what happened. Aiming, shooting, and moving became nothing more than a job—a list of tasks to get done with the slightly unreal prospect of death waiting beyond his first failure to meet a “deadline.”

  Shaunte quit talking and did her job, shooting the creatures whenever Thad paused to reload.

  The entire fight lasted less than two minutes but felt like two hours. Neither of them had enough ammunition for a sustained engagement. “We’re going to get the hell out of here soon.”

  “How?” Shaunte asked, not looking at him but through the sights of her small blaster for her next target. “I’m not trying to be difficult, but I don’t see how we’re going to escape without growing wings.”

  “Funny you should mention that,” he said.

  The adjacent freight cars had been covered with the creatures. Some had swarmed away to find a meatier meal, Thad guessed. Something was happening near the Unglok quarter. Others had given up the idea they could jump the gap without being shot and climbed between the battered metal freight cars.

  “I don’t like the way you are looking at me,” Shaunte said, dividing her attention between Thad and a pair of spiders attempting to sneak over the edge. She blasted one. The other scurried back. Its rows of eyes peaked over the edge as it moved sideways, looking for a chance to attack.

  “It’s a new move I just came up with. I call it the Shaunte Toss.”

  “No, you don’t!” she yelled as he grabbed her by the back of her belt in one hand and her hair with the other.

  He swung her back, then forward as hard as he could.

  She flailed through the air screaming murderous sounds that were almost recognizable as profanity.

  Thad jumped after her, landing on the vacant roof with two-thirds of his body. His knees and shins slammed into the side, causing him to grunt and slide downward.

  Shaunte grabbed the shoulders of his jumpsuit and heaved him the rest of the way up. “I’d pull you by your hair if it wasn’t so short, you jerk!”

  Thad couldn’t breathe. Pain filled his body and his lungs hated him. Gasping his words, he dragged himself to his feet and staggered forward. “We have to go now. They’re coming.”

  Behind them, the rest of the swarm realized what Thad and Shaunte had done. They pursued with renewed vigor.

  “Should I go down this ladder or are you going to throw me again?” Shaunte asked.

  “Down. Get to the street and run for the Mother Lode. Your father’s TerroCom soldiers are there.”

  ***

  Thad shoved Shaunte past the guard at the door, turned, and fired on the lizard-like spider that had nearly caught them three times during the mad dash through Darklanding. His shot winged the creature. A sergeant named Victory drilled it in the face with his heavy carbine blaster.

  “Sloppy shot, sir,” Sergeant Victory said.

  “My last shot.”

  “Glad you made it, sir. You don’t remember me. I made rank since Centauri Prime.”

  “I remember you. Thanks.” He hadn’t remembered the man at first, but it was all coming together now.

  “I’m going to my room,” Shaunte said, storming up the stairs.

  “What’s your problem?” Leslie Stargazer asked as she passed.

  “Have you ever been tossed from one rooftop to another? Well, I have!”

  “Can you define ‘tossed’? It might be something I’m into. Sounds kinky,” Leslie said.

  “Hmmph!” Shaunte turned her back on the laughter that followed.

  “Why, my dear, heroic Sheriff Thaddeus Fry, you can’t go around tossing women off buildings,” Leslie said.

  The soldiers and Mother Lode patrons taking a break from guard duty laughed.

  “It’s actually quite liberating. I highly recommend it,” Thad said. He strode to the door.

  Sergeant Victory stopped him. “Once you’re in, you’re in, sir.”

  “I’m going to help my deputy and my pig-dog,” Thad said.

  “Everyone wants to go out there to help someone. Best to shelter in place and wait for reinforcements,” Victory said.

  “I just threw the woman I love off a fifteen-foot-high freight car. Call me crazy, dock my pay, drum me out of the service, but don’t get in my way,” Thad said.

  “You need help?” Sergeant Victory asked.

  “Just keep up the good work. And don’t let anyone follow me, especially not the Company Man. She’s kind of stubborn.”

  “Understood, sir.”

  ***

  Penelope Fry-Grigman, Ground Forces-retired, SagCon Special Investigator-retired, former girlfriend of General Adam Quincy-retired came down the stairs just in time to see Thad leave.

  The general followed her.

  “Stop following me,” she said.

  “You’re going to do something foolish,” he said.

  “And what if I do? We’re not together anymore, Adam. How many times do I have to say that? I’m with Tiberius.”

  The general looked around, not missing the fact that everyone not guarding the doors and windows was staring at him and Penelope. “Funny, I don’t see him here. Apparently, he doesn’t care as much about you or his daughter as he says.”

  “That’s bullshit and you know it,” Penelope said.

  “I’m going with you. Sergeant Victory won’t let you out unless I tell him to,” the general said.

  “Fine, but I’m with Tiberius,” she said, knowing it was a lie. She had lost interest in both men. They wanted to possess her as a prize. At least Thaddeus had never done that, which was, ironically, why she’d left him. He hadn’t been possessive enough.

  Sergeant Victory opened the door while two of his soldiers aimed their heavy combat rifles into the darkness, scanning for the swarm with night vision optics.

  Penelope faked a step through the threshold. The general followed too close, sensing a trick. She turned abruptly and handcuffed him to the inside of the doorway.

  By the time he finished shouting at Sergeant Victory to “get out his damn handcuff key and un-handcuff him,” Penelope Fry-Grigman had disappeared into the night.

  ***

  Everything came together for Thad and his friends. All it cost them was deadly injuries, pain, and nightmares that would haunt them all their days.

  Thad stalked toward the chaos, looking for an opportunity to do what Proletan had already begun—attack the undefended rear element of the enemy swarm. None of the creatures saw him. He was a silent angel of death about to deliver the wrath of…

  “Thaddeus!” Penelope whispered harshly.

  Thad jumped, twisted, and aimed his blaster at his ex-wife. When he came down, all his deadly composure was ruined. “Pen! Are you trying to kill me?”

  “Yes, Thad. I came all this way to kill you when you are doing a perfectly good job of dying all by yourself. We don’t have time for this. It’s time to fight, and not each other,” she said.

  “I will never understand women.” He moved as quickly as he could without alerting the alien mutants he was about to ambush. Penelope came right beside him, her gaze on the job they needed to do.

  “We are really over, Thad. I just wanted to say that. Don’t get any ideas just because I dumped two of the most powerful men in the galaxy to join you in this last hurrah.”

  “I will never understand women,” Thad repeated.

  “It’s best that you don’t.”

  They s
eparated slightly and attacked.

  Thad focused on his work, shooting nearly a dozen of the things in as many seconds. “Fight your way toward Maximus! I think he knows which one is the leader!”

  “Roger that!” Penelope shouted back.

  ***

  Proletan was so close to victory. He only needed to kill five or six more.

  A creature with poorly-developed batwings flung itself from a rooftop, sailed over the battle, and latched fangs around Proletan’s blaster hand.

  He dropped the weapon, caught it with his other hand, and began firing without hesitation.

  A bear-sized Yakti minion tackled him from behind. Proletan’s face plowed into the cheap asphalt of the Darklanding street.

  One, two, three more of the creatures piled on top of him.

  ***

  Mast tried to keep up with Maximus. A wave of monsters surged from a nearby alley and rushed toward him. He muchly retreated, aiming each shot carefully because he was nearly out of ammunition.

  More of the creatures rushed him. His blaster ceased to work. He patted his coat pockets for charge packs and didn’t find any. “I am Mast Jotham! This is my home!”

  He clubbed a red-eyed, black and silver centipede with his empty blaster.

  ***

  Penelope went down.

  Thad turned and fired several quick shots to clear the creatures away from her. She jumped to her feet and staggered away, not even pausing to complain she could have done that without his help.

  He thought she must be injured.

  Maximus wailed as the hive-leader bit him less than five strides from where Thad stood deciding if he should help the pig-dog or check on his ex-wife. The decision should have been easy.

  He charged toward Maximus, shouldering the biggest of the creatures aside and stepping on the smallest that covered the ground like a carpet of organic murder-bugs. The entire swarm converged around him.

  Maximus had his jaws locked around two of the hive-creature’s arms while the other arms stabbed and slashed him.

  Yakti-droon kills the Glakridozian! a voice in Thad’s head wailed triumphantly.

  “Not today!” Thad threw his body over Maximus to protect him from further attacks while thrusting his blaster forward at the same time. The barrel pressed into the hideous, many-eyed face of the creature. He pulled the trigger and sent ancient goo flying out the back of its head.

  The moment felt short and eternal at the same time. Rolling away from Maximus, he struggled to catch his breath and winced at pain all over his body. His back and left arm had been pierced multiple times during the second and a half he had shielded Maximus.

  “You okay, animal?”

  “Aroooh.”

  Screams filled the air as the lesser monsters withered and died. Some managed to flee, but they didn’t make it very far.

  With his good hand, Thad scratched behind the pig-dog’s ears. “Pen?” he called.

  Penelope Fry-Grigman fell to her knees, chest heaving with her efforts to fight the pain that racked her body. “Getting better by the minute,” she managed to say. She didn’t try to stand, not wanting Thad to see her weakness.

  “Max? Come on, buddy. Give me some loving.” The Glakridozian nuzzled him before heading for Penelope.

  She draped an arm over him as he smacked her face with his tongue.

  “Get off me you disgusting creature!” she ordered with little energy behind her words.

  A long arm reached down and pulled her to her feet. “Your eyes look bigly weird, all pupil and no iris.”

  “That’s because I’ve been rocking the ganj, my alien friend.”

  “Mast Jotham must remind the former Special Investigator that on Ungwilook, she is the alien.”

  “Point to the deputy!” she declared taking a step forward to test her balance.

  Thad struggled to his feet, grimacing at his deputy. “I knew you had a soft spot for the ladies.”

  “I am muchly like you,” the deputy replied.

  Thad started to laugh as he staggered to Mast, nodding and apologizing when he grabbed on to maintain his balance.

  With a human braced on each side and a Glakridozian pig-dog leading the way, Mast started for the Mother Lode.

  ***

  Shaunte faced Judy Ortega across the largest table in the Mother Lode. They each had a witness.

  “This contract doesn’t even resemble fairness,” Ortega said.

  “It’s non-negotiable,” Shaunte said.

  “I don’t see why I have to sign myself into a mental hospital. You’re trying to discredit me.”

  Shaunte smiled. “My sheriff has more than enough evidence to convict you in a court of law. Consider yourself lucky I am willing to deal on this proof.”

  “What kind of evidence?”

  Thad cleared his throat. “Some jury members don’t like sworn witness statements unless they come with video and audio evidence. Fortunately, my witness is smarter than you are.”

  “I demand to know who your witness is and what he or she claims I did,” Ortega said. “Carter, make them tell me. I need proof or I’m not signing this contract.”

  Thad interrupted. “That will be revealed if we go to trial as part of mandatory discovery. I’ll show all my evidence to your defense lawyer. He or she will want to make a deal, take a plea bargain, but you’ll get a hard forty instead.”

  “Take the deal, Mrs. Ortega.”

  “This gives all the advantages to SagCon and far too much protection for the planet of Ungwilook and its natural population,” Ortega complained.

  Shaunte didn’t argue. She waited, not caring which decision Ortega made. The woman had come to Darklanding thinking she was playing a deadly game of chess when she was really only playing checkers. Shaunte had learned the game from a master, honed her skills on the hardest frontier in the galaxy, and found a sheriff who didn’t scare off easily or get himself killed.

  The future of Darklanding was in her hands. With a little help, everyone could win. Except the woman who had tried to betray her and murder her friends.

  Ortega muttered curses as she signed the certified tablet form.

  Shaunte signed her portion, then leaned back. “Welcome to Darklanding.”

  The End of Episode 12. The End of Season 1

  Thank you for reading this story.  If you liked it, please leave a review.

  Social Media for Scott Moon

  Amazon – www.amazon.com/Scott-Moon/e/B0082VIWL8

  Facebook – www.facebook.com/scottmoonwriter

  My web page – www.scottmoonwriter.com/

  Scott’s Email – scott.moon@scottmoonbooks.com

  Social Media for Craig Martelle

  Amazon – www.amazon.com/author/craigmartelle

  Facebook – www.facebook.com/authorcraigmartelle

  My web page – www.craigmartelle.com

  Craig’s Email – mailto:craig@craigmartelle.com?subject=Darklanding

  Other Books by Scott Moon

  Darklanding with Craig Martelle

  Episode 1: Assignment Darklanding

  Episode 2: Ike Shot the Sheriff

  Episode 3: Outlaws

  Episode 4: Death of an Unglok

  Episode 5: TBD

  Episode 6: TBD

  Episode 7: TBD

  Episode 8: TBD

  Episode 9: TBD

  Episode 10: TBD

  Episode 11 TBD

  Episode 12: TBD

  The Chronicles of Kin Roland

  Book 1 – Enemy of Man (also available on audiobook)

  Book 2 – Son of Orlan (also available on audiobook)

  Book 3 – Weapons of Earth (also available on audiobook)

  SMC Marauders

  Book 1 – Bayonet Dawn

  Book 2 – Burning Sun

  Grendel Uprising

  Episode 1: Proof of Death

  Episode 2: Blood Royal

  Episode 3: Heavy Weapons

  Son of a Dragonslayer

  Book 1
– Dragon Badge (also available on audiobook)

  Book 2 – Dragon Attack (also available on audiobook)

  Book 3 – Dragon Land

  Other Books by Craig Martelle

  The Terry Henry Walton Chronicles, a Kurtherian Gambit Series, co-written with Michael Anderle

  World’s Worst Day Ever (a short prequel of sorts)

  Book 1 – Nomad Found (also available on audiobook)

  Book 2 – Nomad Redeemed (also available on audiobook)

  Book 3 - Nomad Unleashed (also available on audiobook)

  Book 4 - Nomad Supreme (also available on audiobook)

  Book 5 – Nomad’s Fury (also available on audiobook)

  Book 6 – Nomad’s Justice (also available on audiobook)

  Book 7 – Nomad Avenged (also available on audiobook)

  Book 8 – Nomad Mortis (also available on audiobook)

  Book 9 – Nomad’s Force (also available on audiobook)

  Book 10 – Nomad’s Galaxy (also available on audiobook)

  Book 11 – Nomad’s Journal (also available on audiobook)

  Free Trader Series

  Book 1 – The Free Trader of Warren Deep

  Book 2 – The Free Trader of Planet Vii

  Book 3 – Adventures on RV Traveler

  Book 4 – Battle for the Amazon

  Book 5 – Free the North!

  Book 6 – Free Trader on the High Seas

  Book 7 – Southern Discontent (2017)

  Book 8 – The Great ‘Cat Rebellion (2017)

  Book 9 – Return to the Traveler (2017)

  Outpost of the Ancients – a Free Trader short story published in the Apocalyptic Space Collection, Volume 1

  Cygnus Space Opera – set in the Free Trader Universe

  Book 1 – Cygnus Rising

  Book 2 – Cygnus Expanding

  Book 3 – Cygnus Arrives