by Saxon Andrew
“What do you plan to do?”
The Engineer shrugged, “We’ll continue digging and try to fight them off.”
Josh didn’t want to ask but had to know, “How many are moving toward us?”
“We’ll be outnumbered twenty to one.”
Josh turned to Bart, “Major, please tell me you have a way to stop the Weg coming our way from the Queen’s Chamber.”
Bart saw on his tactical that the Weg in the shaft had overrun one of the squads and the other two were firing on the run. He looked at Josh and said, “Get everyone back from the front wall just before they break through.”
Josh looked at the Engineer, “I want all of you to move aside ten seconds before the Mother’s defenders arrive.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Josh looked at Bart and turned back to the Engineer, “I am. I want a passage through your ranks for my child to get to the breakout point.” The Engineer turned and gave instructions to the digging Engineers.
Bart hit a clip on the tripod and it dropped off the huge multi-barrel cannon. He walked forward and waited. He kept his eyes on the front wall and also checked his tactical display. The SF Warriors in the shaft were close to being overrun. “First Squad, move back and assist the others in holding the shaft. Chen, you stay with me.”
“Yes Sir.”
Suddenly, the Engineers fell to the sides and Bart and Chen rushed forward and raised their cannons. “Burners first.”
“Yes Sir.”
A section of the front wall fell into the passage and Bart jammed his cannon into the opening. Chen pushed his cannon forward next to Bart and they fired a huge cloud of white gas into the opening. Josh’s Combat Visor dimmed at the massive fire that broke out beyond the opening. Bart said, “Clear out enough room for us to move forward.”
Josh sent the instructions and the Engineers dug away the rest of the front wall. Bart looked at Chen, “We can’t block this corridor; only use your Burners.”
Josh watched the two ten foot tall armored warriors walk through the gas burning every Weg in the corridor for more than sixty yards in front of them. Even the Weg that punched through the passage’s walls caught fire. Bart keyed his communicator, “General, hold your Weg back until the gas dissipates and stops burning. It’s going to take about twelve seconds before you can follow us.”
Josh sent the information to the Engineers and he stepped through the opening and saw the Major and Sergeant moving forward. The entire passage in front of them was choked with screaming, squirming Weg Diggers. Josh said, “Spread your diggers out and try to keep any of the defenders from breaking through the walls behind us.”
The Engineer nodded and the Weg Engineers began moving down the passage. Josh thought, “How long before we arrive at the chamber?”
“It took them fifteen minutes to get here. Thanks to them providing a direct path, we should arrive in less than five minutes.”
Bart looked at Chen, “Go back behind our ranks and fire Burners into the corridor.” Chen nodded and ran back through the advancing engineers. Josh watched him pass and said, “Major, where is your Sergeant going?”
“He’s going to the rear of our forces to fire Burners into the corridor. Your Engineers will only have to keep them out of the walls where they’re located.” Josh nodded and passed the information to the Weg.
Three minutes later, the ten surviving SF Warriors arrived at the break out location and joined Chen. They added their fire and moved forward with the Engineers.
Josh looked at the burning Weg in front of him and, then, in a moment, they were all gone. A white wall appeared and Bart said, “We have reached the Chamber.”
Josh looked at the Engineer, “I need a hole cut into that wall.”
Twenty Engineers rushed forward and jammed their claws into the wall. They peeled back layers and Josh shook his head. The wall had to be five feet thick. They finally cut a three-foot hole through the wall and Josh heard the screams of the approaching Weg behind him. He knew they would not be able to cut a bigger hole before they arrived. He turned to Bart, “Major?”
“Stand back.”
The Engineers moved away from the wall and Bart went forward and pushed the barrels of his cannon into it. He pulled a tab off the center barrel in the cannon and took a projectile off a clip on his back. He jammed it into the center barrel, leaned into the Cannon’s stock, and pulled the trigger. Bart was thrown back ten feet from the wall. Josh shook his head. Bart’s armor weighed more than a ton. Josh put out his hand to help Bart to his feet and said, “What did you just fire?”
“Five hundred special sliver rounds that are set to find the Queen. They’re boosted to more than seven hundred miles an hour and they’ll blow through anything they hit until they find the Queen.”
“How were they able to target them to her?”
Bart smiled, “The scientists used that head your Weg brought to the surface at the Gracken Capital to set their targeting systems. Bart looked back up the corridor and saw the Weg advancing down the Corridor were close. Suddenly, the ground shook. Josh began walking up the corridor and saw the Weg had stopped their advance and were walking around aimlessly. He knew that would end shortly once they were able to shake off the disorientation of losing the connection to their Queen.
Josh heard a loud sizzling sound through his helmet and saw a bright blue beam blow through the corridor a hundred yards behind the Engineers. “Josh, get the engineers to jump into the shaft we just blew.”
“Prissy, wha…”
“SHUT UP AND DO IT!!”
Josh looked at the Lead Engineer and thought, “All of you jump into the shaft that was just cut.”
The Engineer looked at Josh and thought, “We would rather die fighting.”
“You will do as I order!”
The Engineer stared at Josh for a moment and then rushed over to the shaft and jumped in. He shot upwards in an instant. Josh thought, “Get moving into the shaft.”
The Engineers rushed forward and began jumping into the shaft. It took twenty minutes but they were all gone when the Weg in the corridor began moving toward them. When the last Engineer disappeared the Weg stopped their advance. Josh pressed a button on the side of his armor’s helmet and thought, “I am now your leader. All of you will go to the surface and await further instructions.”
Bart looked at Josh and saw the Weg in the corridor were turning and moving away. “How did you get them to do that?”
“The Argon got a reading on the Queen’s thought pattern and set my helmet to broadcast on it.”
Bart looked at the six Special Forces survivors and said, “Jump in the shaft.”
Captain Anderson walked forward and stuck out his hand, “Good job, Sir.” Bart shook his hand and nodded. They disappeared up the shaft and Bart said, “After you, Sir.”
Josh shook his head, “No, I will go last.”
“No Sir. You are much more important than me.”
Josh stared at Bart, “Don’t make me give you a direct order, Major. I’d hate to see you court-martialed for not following it.”
“That is exactly what you’ll have to do, Sir.”
Josh saw the resolve in Bart’s eyes and shook his head, “I’ll see you on the ship.”
Bart nodded, “Thank you, Sir.”
Just before Josh jumped into the shaft he turned and said, “I’m not at all certain that I’m more important than you, Major.” Bart smiled as Josh jumped into the shaft. He pressed his communicator, “Status of the other shafts.”
Prissy came on the frequency, “Evacuations are taking place now. Everyone should be out in four minutes.”
“Did every shaft survive?”
“No, two of them were overrun.” Bart closed his eyes and shook his head. He sat down on the floor and wept. He knew Kim had to be one of those that died. Time seemed to cease to exist and he heard Prissy say, “All our forces have been evacuated.”
• • •
Josh arri
ved on the transport and Prissy rushed into his arms, “How did you…”
“I’ve had the engineers working on an evacuation beam from the moment you planned this attack.”
“Why couldn’t we have used it to get to the Queen without having to dig?”
“It’s not the power of a Q beam and it only works vertically. Any shaft it cuts into the ground at an angle collapses. It’s also too small to drop huge numbers into. The surface defenders would have jumped in the hole before we could drop our Weg. Its only purpose was to evacuate the survivors. I thank God they came up with it in time.”
Josh sighed and pulled her close.
• • •
Bart stood up and walked over to the hole in the white wall and jammed his cannon back in it. He took another projectile off a rack on his back and jammed it into the center barrel. He looked back at the shaft a hundred and fifty yards behind him and closed his eyes, “This is for you, Kim.” He pulled the trigger and was blown off his feet. He rolled over backwards, dropped his cannon, and came to his feet running. He made it to the shaft and jumped just as the ground shook violently. He shot up the shaft as it crumbled below him. He saw it starting to fall apart above him just as he cleared the surface and shot up into the waiting transport’s landing bay. He was stunned at the view of the planet’s surface as he moved toward the transport. The Weg covered the ground for as far as he could see.
Bart came to a stop in the landing bay and found himself hovering three feet off the floor below a huge magnet attached to the ceiling. Three Ordinance Sailors grabbed him and pulled him to the side and he dropped to the floor. “Thank you.”
“Congratulations Sir.”
Bart nodded and sat down on the floor. He unclipped his helmet and let it fall to the floor. He put his head in his hands and slowly shook it. Suddenly, he was bowled over as he heard, “Always the show off, aren’t you.”
His eyes flew wide, “Kim! I thought you were killed.”
“Why on Earth would you think that?”
“I heard two teams were overrun.”
“My team wasn’t one of them and we were close to being the ones that took out the Queen.”
Bart pulled her over on top of him and kissed her, “Let’s get out of this armor and celebrate.”
“We have one more assignment and then I’m all yours.”
“Assignment?”
“Six of us are going down to the surface with General Adams. He directly asked for you to be one of those going with him.”
“How did you draw the short stick?”
“I told the Colonel that if you went, I would not be left behind. He didn’t like it but he saw things my way.”
“What did you do?”
“Handed him my major’s leaf.”
“That sounds like something I would do.”
Kim smiled brightly, “I’ve learned from the best. Get your helmet back on and we’ll join the General in the carrier at the landing bay door.
Bart walked over to the carrier and Josh’s eyes narrowed, “Major, what was that explosion underground?”
Bart stared at Josh for a moment and said, “Sir, killing the Queen was only part of what was required. I’m reasonably certain that she had some eggs in that chamber that were unhatched Queens. We had to remove her eggs as well, Sir. The round I fired should have done the trick, Sir.”
“That’s why you made me leave first.”
“Yes Sir. I didn’t know if two of us would make it out before the shaft collapsed.”
Josh stared at Bart and smiled, “In the future, just tell me what to do and I’ll not argue.”
“Sir, you’re a General, that’s what they do.”
Josh smiled, “You’ll have to tell me if that’s true.”
“How would I do that, Sir?”
“You are promoted to command a special unit. You are also a General.”
“But…”
“See, there you go arguing.”
Bart closed his mouth and looked at Kim, “May I select my Second-in-Command?”
“You may.”
Bart nodded and smiled, “We won’t be separated again.” Kim gave him a hug as they climbed on the carrier.
Chapter Nineteen
The carrier moved out of the landing bay and headed toward the planet. Bart saw that Josh didn’t have on his armor, “Sir, shouldn’t you be wearing armor?”
Josh shook his head, “Do you honestly think it would make a difference where we’re going?”
“Uhhh, where are we going?” Josh smiled and pointed toward the ground moving rapidly toward them. Bart saw the ground was covered in Weg all the way to the horizon. He shook his head, “How are we going to defend you?”
“You’re not here to defend me. You’re here to defend him.”
Bart looked at the rear of the Carrier and saw one of the Weg Engineers that was in the corridor with him. “Is this a good idea, Sir?”
Josh shrugged, “We’ll see.”
Bart looked at the Engineer and saw he was trembling. It dawned on him that the Engineer wanted to jump over the side and attack the Weg below.
• • •
The carrier stopped ten feet above the ground and Bart could see the millions of Weg under the carrier were agitated. They were moving into a tighter gathering directly below them and the agitation was spreading out into the masses around them. Josh pushed two buttons on his telepathy helmet and thought, “YOU WILL BE SILENT AND YOU WILL BE STILL!!”
The huge mass stopped moving. Josh dropped a rope ladder over the side of the carrier and climbed down to the ground. Kim shook her head and said to Bart over a private frequency, “This General has guts.” Bart nodded and pulled his cannon off the clips holding it. The five other SF Warriors lifted theirs as well.
The Weg moved away from Josh giving him room to stand and he looked around at the mass gathering, “The most Senior Leader among you will come to me now! The rest of you will continue to remain silent.” Josh waited and Bart saw movement about a mile away. A path was cleared and a huge Weg Digger approached Josh. He arrived and stood staring at Josh. “Do you recognize me as your Mother?”
The Weg stared at Josh and after a moment thought, “You have the pattern of my Mother.”
“Answer the question.”
The Weg stared at Josh, “Yes.”
“What else do you see in my pattern?”
“There is a different pattern you are using.”
“What is your prime responsibility to me?”
“To defend you and your children.”
“So anyone with either of these two patterns is one of my children.”
The Weg stared at him and after a moment said, “We have never seen this before.”
Josh said, “You will discuss this among yourselves and tell me what you decide.” Josh looked up at the carrier and thought, “You will also discuss this with the others on the ships in orbit and tell me what you decide as well.” The Engineer sat down and became still.
Josh quickly removed the helmet as the mass of Weg began communicating. Josh sat down on the ground and Bart saw that millions of the Weg were still staring up at the Engineer at the rear of the carrier. Bart could tell they were considering jumping to kill him. He kept his eyes on the masses below and after an hour, the Weg began looking at each other. After two hours, none of them were looking up at the carrier. “I wonder what’s going on.” Kim shook her head and continued to stare at the mass below.
The carrier remained ten feet above the ground for the next seven hours. Finally, the Digger turned toward Josh. He put the helmet on and was surprised that there was silence. The Digger looked up at the Engineer in the Carrier and then looked at Josh, “Are you telling us that the one up there is one of your children?”
“Yes, I am. And all of those like him are my children as well.”
“How is this possible?”
Josh smiled, “Many of you have slightly different patterns from each other, don’t you?”
“Yes, but the overriding pattern is yours.”
“Their pattern is different from yours. That shouldn’t be hard to understand. The overriding pattern is of no consequence.”
The Weg turned and they began communicating again. Josh yanked the helmet off his head and sat back down. Another carrier arrived six hours later with water and food for the SF Warriors and then lifted back into space. The Warriors took shifts eating and standing guard over the Engineer. The Weg continued to communicate through the night and at midday the next morning, the Digger turned back to Josh, “We are of the opinion that any of your children are to be defended. We don’t understand how this can happen but if you say they are your children, then that is the overriding issue.”
Josh looked up at the Engineer, “And what have your decided?”
“We cannot resolve this issue. We have decided to accept whatever decision those here make. They are much more numerous and we accept that they will have more wisdom than us.”
Every Weg on the ground was looking up at the Engineer and all of them shrugged at the exact same moment. Josh said, “Bring the carrier down.”
Bart said, “Lock and load.” The carrier dropped to the ground and Josh thought, “Join me here.” The Engineer jumped over the carrier’s rail and stood beside Josh. The Digger looked at him and said, “You are an excellent digger.”
The Weg actually bowed, “Our Mother gave us an opportunity to join her.”
Josh thought, “In the future, all Engineers will join in defending us.”
Josh yanked the helmet off as the joy of the Engineers was yelled around the planet. After a few moments, Josh put the helmet back on and said, “You will eat and take care of your needs. I will communicate with you soon about what I need you to do. I will be bringing the rest of my children down shortly and you will welcome them into our family. You will remain close to the surface until I tell you otherwise.” The Weg turned and many of them began disappearing into the soil. Josh lifted his communicator and waited. Soon the carriers could be seen dropping to the planet’s surface and the hundreds of thousands of Engineers began mingling with the Weg still above ground. Josh communicated with the Lead Engineer and gave him instructions. The Engineer nodded and moved toward one of the shafts that had been used to attack the Queen. Fifty other Engineers moved into the shaft with him. Josh climbed over the rail and blew out a breath, “Get me to the transport, I need some sleep.”
