Theogony 3: Terra Stands Alone

by Chris Kennedy

  As the shuttle touched down, there was another explosion behind and to the right, causing the back of the craft to swerve violently as its landing skids hit the ground. The shuttle slid to a stop, its sideways motion causing it to tilt down to the left, and the right skid to lift off the ground. Before the shuttle could begin to roll, the pilot activated one of the thrusters, and the shuttle crashed back down, coming to a halt. “Thank you for flying Devastation Air,” called Boom Boom. “All ashore who’s going ashore.”

  Finn hit the quick-release buttons on his harness and the bomb pallet. As the chains fell away, he rolled the bomb back onto the pallet and activated the pallet’s anti-gravity system. The corporals charged down the ramp, taking covering positions behind large rocks in the landing zone. Finn continued to work the controls, and the pallet moved forward. It picked up speed as the pallet reached the ramp and gravity helped pull it toward the planet.

  “They’re clear,” said Venturi, watching the cargo compartment monitor.

  “Good,” said Boom Boom. He reached across his body to advance the shuttle’s throttles to full with his right hand. Venturi looked over and saw that the lower portion of Boom Boom’s left arm hung at a strange angle. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

  He yanked back on the stick with his good arm, and the shuttle lifted. He immediately rolled the ship 90 degrees to the left so that they stayed within 50 feet of the ground. Using a mountain range to shield the shuttle from the majority of the missile systems around the capital, he continued to accelerate; hoping to build up enough speed to avoid the missiles he knew would come when they climbed.

  The crew never saw the Drakuls in the small gully, nor the missile that was launched at the shuttle. A heat-seeking missile, they didn’t get any indication that it was coming until the automatic defense system opened fire. Boom Boom tried to jink, but it was too late. The missile hit, and the shuttle’s right engine exploded, cart wheeling the damaged craft through the air and sending pieces raining back to the planet below. The shuttle hit the ground and rolled, tearing off its wings and rupturing the craft’s fuel tanks. The ship finally came to a rest at the bottom of a small knoll. Unconscious, neither of the aviators had a chance to get out. It exploded.

  The Three Caballeros had their own problems. As Lieutenant Finn disassembled the arming mechanism, they saw a group of at least 10 Drakuls heading their way. “So much for leading them away,” sighed Corporal Stump.

  “Think you could thin them out some?” asked Corporal Owens, looking at Corporal Cuillard, who had the group’s sole trident. “I don’t mind sharing, but I think there are more in that group than we really need.”

  “My pleasure,” said Corporal Cuillard. He leveled the trident and began firing antimatter grenades into the approaching Drakuls. Most of the Drakuls got back up from a barrage that would have killed all of them...if they’d been any other species. “This is going to take a little work.” He tripled the strength of the antimatter mass and fired again. The force of the blasts pushed the corporals backward. This time only a couple got up; they were finished off by the other two corporals’ rifles.

  “Behind you!” yelled Lieutenant Finn, looking up from the bomb. The corporals turned and saw two groups of three coming from different directions; both of the groups were wearing some kind of armor. The corporals fired their rifles as fast as they could at the new groups, and Cuillard threw explosives where he could. Lieutenant Finn glanced back down at the bomb. He couldn’t get a hold of the wire with his suit on. “Damn it,” he swore softly as he quickly stripped out of his suit. Bare-handed, he grabbed the loose wire that had eluded him. “One more minute,” he yelled to the corporals.

  As he started to wrap the wire around the terminal, the sounds of lasers firing picked up again. He forced himself to finish connecting the wire, counting on the corporals to do their jobs while he did his. As he tested the circuit, there was a scream of pain. Knowing that Drakuls didn’t scream, he unintentionally looked up. One of the corporals was on the ground, unmoving. Judging by the pool of blood he was lying in, he probably wouldn’t be moving again. It was Corporal Owens, missing a leg. Two Drakuls each held onto one of Corporal Stump’s arms, and he was suspended in the air while they used him like a human wishbone. He screamed again as they pulled him apart. Corporal Cuillard was trying to fend off a third Drakul with his sword and laser pistol. The Drakul was missing a hand on one arm and several fingers on the other, but that didn’t seem to bother it. As the Drakul reached in one more time, Cuillard blocked its hand with the sword and shot the monster several times in the chest. The Drakul finally went down, and Cuillard started shooting at the ones pulling on Corporal Stump.

  Lieutenant Finn looked back down to the bomb, connected the last wire and ran a circuit test. Success! The bomb would finally work. He cycled it to ‘on,’ and heard it start to run through its boot up process.

  “Look out!” Corporal Cuillard yelled.

  Finn looked up to see a Drakul stumbling toward him holding one of Corporal Stump’s arms. The second Drakul was down, and Cuillard continued to shoot at the Drakul approaching the officer. Finn drew his pistol and tried to aim at the Drakul, but found his hand wouldn’t hold still. He fired once, missing to the left of the Drakul’s head and then a second time, missing to the right. As the Drakul got within 10 feet, its eyes suddenly rolled up into its head, and the monster fell forward. The Drakul’s head came to a stop between Finn’s feet, a smoking laser hole in the back of its head.

  “Ha!” said Corporal Cuillard. He put his fists on his hips and boasted, “the Three Caballeros always win.” He didn’t see the Drakul behind him rising to its feet.

  Finn screamed a warning, but Cuillard only had time to turn before the monster was on him. Lacking hands, the Drakul stepped on his right foot and pushed. Finn could hear Cuillard’s leg bones shatter as his leg dislocated. Cuillard screamed in pain as he fell backwards. Barely able to see, Cuillard fired at the Drakul and saw it collapse. Again. He fainted.

  As the last Drakul went down, Finn breathed a sigh of relief. The bomb was still going through its boot-up process, so he started forward to check on Corporal Cuillard. He had only taken two steps toward the downed soldier when something grabbed his left wrist and lifted him off the ground. As he dangled, he spun slowly, eventually coming eye to eye with the Drakul holding him.

  Before he could break free, the Drakul reached forward with his other hand and grabbed Lieutenant Finn under his left arm. Holding him steady, the Drakul twisted the lieutenant’s arm with its other hand, dislocating it at the shoulder. The Drakul then ripped Finn’s arm out of the socket and tore it from rest of his body.

  Lieutenant Finn screamed as he fell to the ground, blood spurting from where his arm used to be. In shock, he stared up at his tormentor. The Drakul looked down at him, considering, before finally stepping forward to stomp on his chest with a massive foot. Finn screamed again as he felt things inside him shatter. He coughed up a gob of blood and realized the end was near.

  With the Terran pinned beneath him, the Drakul paused to look at Finn’s arm. It took a bite out of the meaty part at the end and then looked back down at Finn.

  Pinned like a butterfly on a mounting board, Finn was done. Even if he had a way to get the Drakul off of him, he knew he couldn’t reach the bomb before he died of blood loss, either from his arm or the perforated organs in his chest.

  Feeling faint, he looked up at the Drakul standing over him. The Drakul looked back down, inspecting him with its three eyes. It took a few precious seconds before Finn realized that Drakuls only had two. Just long enough for the Drakul to start to fall backward.

  “Ha!” a voice said thinly from the side. Lieutenant Finn’s head rolled over to where the three corporals lay amidst the pile of dead Drakuls. Corporal Cuillard was up on one elbow, Corporal Owens’ laser rifle resting in the dirt in front of him. “Three Caballeros...always...win.” Spent, he fell forward into the dirt.

  That only l
eft him to arm the bomb, thought a dazed Lieutenant Finn. Shit, he thought, swearing for only the second time in his life. He looked at the weapon, but the bomb was six feet away. He didn’t think that he had it in him. He knew he didn’t have it in him. One step, he thought. If I can get up and take one step, I can fall forward to it.

  He rolled over, screaming as his mangled shoulder hit the ground. When the pain had receded enough that he could see again, he managed to get up on his knees and his remaining hand. He looked down and saw his blood was starting to pool. Got. To. Do. This. He managed to get one foot under him and then most of the other. Pushing off, he stood up weakly.

  Lieutenant Finn coughed up another gob of blood as he tried to stanch the flow of blood from his left shoulder. The shoulder seemed more important, although he didn’t know why. The Doomsday Device beeped once, indicating its readiness to be activated. Remembering his purpose, he took a step toward it and then collapsed in the dirt. His combat suit would have helped stabilize his shoulder, but it was lying in a pile on the other side of the bomb.

  Raising his head, he looked at the device. The bomb was only four feet away. It might as well have been a mile. He took his hand off of his shoulder and used it to pull himself a foot closer. Blood spurted anew from the hole where his arm used to be.

  He lay face down in the dirt. Although the planet was hot and damp, he was cold. So very cold.

  It won’t be long now, he thought, the edges of his vision going gray. He pulled himself forward again with his remaining arm. Two feet away, the button was still just out of his reach. Rolling onto his left side, he stretched out his right arm. The pain that shot through him as his left shoulder hit the ground cleared his vision for a few seconds, and he pushed off with his right foot. Pressed into the dirt, maybe his shoulder wouldn’t bleed out quite as fast.

  He fell short of the button again. Only a couple of inches more. As he pushed forward, he saw motion through the gray in the periphery of his vision. Looking over, he could see several Drakuls approaching. From his vantage point at ground level, they looked immense. And fast, they were moving way too fast. He wouldn’t make it.

  The first Drakul drew a rifle and aimed it at Lieutenant Finn. Finn closed his eyes, waiting for the inevitable. The Drakul had him; he wouldn’t make it. When the expected blast didn’t come, he opened his eyes again. He only had vision in the center of his sight, but could see two Drakuls fighting over the rifle. The second one must have recognized the device was a bomb and was worried about setting it off.

  He pushed off with his foot again, moving another couple of inches closer. With a shout, a third Drakul ran around the two fighting for the rifle and sprinted toward Finn. All Finn could see was a dim outline of the bomb. Reaching out, his hand slapped at the side of the device, just as the Drakul grabbed the bomb and tried to pull it out of reach. The Drakul succeeded in turning the weapon slightly, and Lieutenant Finn missed the blue button.

  His hand hit the red button with just enough force to activate it. His pain vanished in a flash of light.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Bridge, TSS Vella Gulf, 54 Piscium, February 24, 2021

  “Break orbit!” yelled Ensign Sommers from the science station. Although they were orbiting around the planet’s furthest moon, she wanted to be even further from the planet. “Now! Now! Now!”

  “Uh, what?” asked the helmsman. “To go where?”

  Captain Sheppard looked over. “What’s going on?”

  “Sir!” Ensign Sommers said. “My system just picked up an anomaly from the planet’s surface. It looks like there is a black hole forming!”

  “Dammit!” growled Captain Sheppard. “They weren’t supposed to do that!”

  “Sir, it doesn’t matter whether they were supposed to do it or not,” Ensign Sommers said. “They did it. There is a black hole forming, and if we don’t move, we’re going to be caught in it!”

  “Shit!” said Captain Sheppard, wrapping his mind around the problem. “Break orbit! Maximum speed away from the planet!” He paused to ensure his orders were being obeyed, and then had another thought. “What about the shuttle? Will it be caught in it?”

  “Sir, I haven’t had communications with Shuttle 02 for a while,” said the communications officer. “They reported they were taking heavy fire as they lifted off. Since then, I haven’t heard a word. They aren’t overdue yet, but I haven’t heard from them.”

  “I think we have to assume they have been destroyed,” said Ensign Sommers. “If they aren’t in orbit now, they will be caught in the gravity field. We only just avoided it. Shuttle 01 should be OK; the replicator should be outside the black hole’s area of effect.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Task Force Calvin, Onboard the Dreadnought, 54 Piscium, February 24, 2021

  Calvin looked back as the access tube to the replicator clanged shut, blocking out the flashing blue lights in the replicator. “The other group must have been discovered,” he said as the squad became visible. He glanced back to Master Chief. “You know where the bridge is; let’s get there ASAP.”

  “Aye aye, sir,” Master Chief replied. “I’ve got point; everyone, follow me.”

  Before they could move, the door next to Calvin opened, and a Drakul filled the doorway. Seeing the soldier in front of him, the Drakul clubbed Calvin to the floor with a fist. Moving quickly despite its bulk, the Drakul drew a giant knife. Raising it over his head, he stabbed down toward the officer. Lying semi-conscious on the ground, there was no way for Calvin to avoid it. As the knife started down, though, a metallic hand flashed out and grabbed the Drakul’s wrist, stopping its downward travel.

  “Not today, froggie,” said The Wall, reaching up to punch the Drakul in the face with his free hand. Although smaller than the Drakul, the cyborg had as much mass and rocked the Drakul backward with the punch. The punch only stunned it for a second or two, however, and the monster reached for The Wall with its free hand. Seeing that it intended to grapple with him, The Wall grabbed its other hand, momentarily holding it at bay.

  The Wall looked down at Calvin, still on the floor between them. “Hey Skipper,” he said, “it would be kinda helpful if you would move please.” The Drakul, taller than the cyborg by two feet, had moved in on him and was beginning to use its leverage to force The Wall’s arms down and apart.

  Calvin slid out from under them and back to the rest of the group. The Wall’s hydraulics were not quite up to the task of holding the Drakul, and he saw a smile, or what he thought was probably a smile, begin to form on the Drakul’s face. The Drakul could see that it was winning their wrestling match. In another few seconds, the Drakul would force the cyborg’s arms far enough apart that the monster could step in and break them off.

  The Wall gave a small smile of his own. “I’ll bet you don’t have one of these,” he said. With a thought, an eight inch blade sprang from the toe of his right boot. Bracing on his left foot, he kicked the Drakul as hard as he could in its knee, driving the blade all the way into the joint. The Wall twisted his foot and the blade, pre-stressed to do so, broke off in the knee of his enemy. The Drakul crumpled to the side as its knee gave out. Seizing his advantage, The Wall dove onto the 10 feet tall monster, and his added weight collapsed the Drakul’s leg the rest of the way. The Drakul fell to the ground with The Wall riding it down, both knees on its stomach.

  The Drakul thrashed around on the ground, but was unable to throw off the 450 pound cyborg. After a few seconds its motions became less violent, finally going still. As The Wall climbed off of the now motionless creature, the rest of the squad could see why; matching eight inch long blades protruded from both of his knees. The entire stomach area of the Drakul had been pureed. “Stupid frog,” The Wall said, wiping a wad of blue from his right knee blade. “Now I’m going to have to get disinfected again when I get back.”

  The Drakul twitched as he started to walk away. Without looking back, he drew his
pistol and fired once, hitting it between the eyes. It went still.

  “I got it!” said Bob ‘Danger’ Jones, looking up from his camera. “My audience is soooo gonna love that!”

  “Wonderful,” said Master Chief, sarcasm dripping from his voice. “We’ve still got a ship to capture. Space Force, follow me!”

  He took off at a lope down the larger than normal corridors. The ceilings were four feet higher and the passageways four feet wider than any Terran ship he had ever been on; there was plenty of room to run, especially since the Drakuls hadn’t set general quarters or gone to any kind of higher alert status.

  Blue lights started flashing in the passageway, and a voice announced the intruder alert.

  “Damn it to hell,” Master Chief grunted. In a louder voice, he said, “Faster! We’ve got to get there before they lock the bridge.”

  The stairs were right where Azrael had said they would be, and he began climbing. As he reached the second landing, there was a pounding from above, and he could see two sets of oversized boots coming down. Hiding behind the stairs, he waited until they were right above him and then stuck a hand through the gap between the stairs and grabbed one of the Drakul’s feet. Pounding down the steps as fast as it could, the Drakul couldn’t get its balance and went headfirst down the last five steps. There was a loud ‘crack’ as it hit the deck and lay motionless. From the angle of its neck, it wouldn’t be getting up. The other Drakul hadn’t seen Master Chief’s hand come out, and it stopped at the bottom of the stairs, looking at the Drakul on the deck.

  Staff Sergeant Dantone firmly but silently pushed Master Chief out of the way and went to stand next to the Drakul. “Too bad,” he said in Drakul.

  “He was an ass...” the Drakul started to say as he turned. He was cut off as The Wall shoved 15 inches of steel up through his throat and into his brain.