Embracing Oblivion: Wolfpack Book 3

by Toby Neighbors

  There was no reply from Corporal Chancy. And Dean thought he was just like his father. Both hoped Dean would die on the mission, along with his report on Corporal Chancy’s actions on Rome Three. Well, Dean thought to himself, I’ll just have to disappoint them.

  Chapter 11

  The hatch that Harper had discovered using her MSV looked like one of the hatches on the old training submarine used in Bayview. It was a narrow, metal door with a round handle for manual release. The door was oval shaped and smaller than the wall it was built into.

  “Do we open it?” Kliner asked.

  “We don’t have a choice,” Dean replied. “Whoever is controlling this ship is on the other side of that doorway.”

  “Let’s just hope they aren’t waiting with a very big gun,” Ghost said.

  “Well, that’s a cheery thought,” Kliner said. “How ’bout you open it?”

  “Nah, I’ll leave that to you, big fella,” Ghost said.

  “Here goes nothing,” Kliner said, putting both hands on the big wheel.

  He turned the metal with a grunt, but once it was moving it opened easily enough. Kliner pulled the door open slowly, and Wilson used the vid feed on his shoulder-mounted cannon to look into the opening. Dean was watching on his TCU, and what he saw inside the hatch made the hair on his arms stand up.

  “Oh, shit,” Wilson said.

  “I’ll be damned,” Ghost added.

  “What is it?” Tallgrass asked.

  “I think we found the original ship,” Dean said.

  Beyond the hatch was a completely different environment. The metal decking and walls were gone. No pipes or wiring showed. The space opened up into a dark, cavernous room.

  “Is that smoke on the floor?” Wilson asked.

  “Fog of some type,” Ghost said.

  The door was wide open and every member of the platoon was straining to see. Dean switched his own vid feed to broadcast and checked the signal. It was strong enough on his end.

  “Captain Dante, are you getting the feed from my TCU?” Dean asked.

  “I’m picking it up but I can’t view it on my suit,” Esma said. “I don’t have that capability.”

  “Well, make sure you’re recording it. If we don’t make it back, this could be very important.”

  “Dean,” Esma said, casting protocol away. “You have to make it back.”

  “Don’t worry,” he said. “I plan to.”

  “We going in there, jefe?” Chavez said on a private channel. “I ain’t too sure about this shit.”

  “It’s our job, Staff Sergeant.”

  “Could be anything in there. And we ain’t loaded for bear.”

  “No, we aren’t, but we are Force Recon. This is what we exist for. Let’s find out what we’re dealing with.”

  “Alright, platoon,” Dean said over the company channel of his comlink. “We’re going in slowly. I want you all alternating your visual feeds from night vision to ultra-violet, and even infrared every few minutes. Make sure your weapons are ready for action. We go in slow then form up on my command. Staff Sergeant, check that hatch for booby-traps.”

  “Might want to make sure none of those alien creatures are hanging out just over the door too,” Ghost suggested.

  Chavez stepped forward as Wilson stepped aside. Dean didn’t like that the corridor was so narrow. His people were stepping all over each other in the tiny space. And the hatch would require special maneuvering to get the Heavy Armor Specialists through.

  “Damn!” Chavez shouted, as he fell back into the corridor.

  At almost the same instant one of the feline creatures dropped from above, just inside the cavernous room, landing on its feet. Chavez was firing his utility rifle straight into the creature’s face, but it still set off a series of shots with the laser mounted on its back. Wilson was still pinned against the wall, and there was no protection for Dean, Tallgrass, and Harper. Dean jumped forward, throwing his body between the alien and the rest of his platoon. The first laser beam hit Dean’s thigh, burning through the kevlar and sizzling against the alloy plate that protected his upper leg. The next shot found a gap in Dean’s armor at the hip. He screamed as it burned through his armor and into his flesh. The third shot hit Dean’s abdomen and was stopped by the armor plating.

  He bent over, one hand pressed hard against the wound. He could feel his suit exuding an analgesic fluid that made the pain bearable. He staggered sideways and was caught by Wilson.

  “Captain,” he said in a worried voice. “You okay?”

  “Fine, it’s just a minor wound,” Dean said through clenched teeth as he tried to shake off the pain. “The armor took most of it.”

  “Your suit’s compromised,” Tallgrass said calmly.

  “There’s more of those monsters up there,” Chavez said as he scrambled to his feet.

  “Harper, get us eyes inside that room,” Dean ordered.

  “Yes sir,” said the Fast Attack Specialist.

  She raised an arm and sent the AAV on her shoulder flying through the hatch. Dean leaned against the wall, one hand still pressed against his hip, as he watched the vid feed from the drone. The dark room beyond the hatch lit up as lasers were fired at the drone, but Harper kept it moving and the feline creatures on the walls around the hatch couldn’t take proper aim.

  “Want me to take care of them?” Harper asked, referring to the creatures above the hatch.

  “No,” Dean said. “Just make sure there are no more surprises.”

  “What are we going to do about those creatures?” Chavez asked.

  “Ghost,” Dean said.

  The Sniper stepped forward and stuck his utility rifle through the hatch. The barrel was pointed up and he fired a steady stream of tranq-darts at full auto in an arc over the opening. There were roars and thumps as the creatures scattered. Then the Sniper jumped through the hatch, popping the magazine and letting it drop to the deck as he quickly rammed a new one home and began targeting the creatures.

  Tallgrass, Chavez, and Dean followed. Dean could support his weight and move in an almost normal fashion, if he ignored the pain. Inside the cavernous room they opened fire, bringing down the last of the feline aliens in quick fashion. Harper was just stepping through the hatch when the last creature fell to the ground.

  “I’ve got some type of structure in the center of this room,” Harper said. “I can’t tell what it is.”

  “Keep watching it,” Dean ordered. “And stay alert for any signs of movement. I don’t want to get hit unexpectedly. Staff sergeant?”

  “Yes sir,” Chavez said.

  “Get those HA Specialists through the hatch. Ghost, you’re on overwatch.”

  “Sir, I have a temporary patch for your armor,” Sergeant Tallgrass said.

  She pulled a square of what looked like black fabric from her pack. She bent low over Dean’s hip, then slapped the patch hard against him. He staggered, the pain was so intense he saw bright sparks against the green night vision on his TCU visor.

  “You could have told me you were going to do that,” he said.

  “Sorry, Captain. I wanted to make sure it formed a good seal.”

  “Better watch out, Tallgrass,” Chavez teased. “He might charge you with striking a superior officer.”

  “Very funny,” Dean said. “Everyone present and accounted for?”

  “Yes sir, got the turtles through the hole,” Chavez replied.

  “Hey man, we ain’t no turtles,” Wilson said.

  “Form up,” Dean said. “Concave, Starboard, Stinger Strong, Gouge, Neutral.”

  The three Heavy Armor Specialists took defensive positions facing Dean, their big titanium-hydrogen alloy shields overlapping to form a protective wall. Harper moved to the right of the line, Tallgrass to the left. Dean was several paces behind the formation, with Ghost on his right side and Chavez on his left.

  “Let’s move, people,” Dean said.

  “Captain, I can’t find a way into the structure in the ce
nter of this room,” Harper explained as they moved forward. “There are no doors that I can make out.”

  “You using alternate views?”

  “Yes sir, ultra-violet and infrared. Nothing shows on the outside.”

  “It could be a power plant, or even just an exhaust port,” Tallgrass suggested.

  “Does it go all the way to the top of this room?” Ghost asked.

  “I don’t know,” Harper said.

  Dean saw the vid feed from the aerial assault vehicle flip, so that the camera was pointed up instead of down.

  “This place is strange,” Carter said. “The ground feels soft.”

  “And I’m getting condensation on my helmet,” Kliner added.

  “I can’t see the top,” Harper said. “I’ll have to get my bird higher.”

  “This seems like a lot of wasted space right in the middle of a star ship,” Chavez said.

  “Nothing on this floating turd makes any sense, Staff Sergeant,” Wilson complained.

  “Oh, I see it now,” Harper said. “The structure doesn’t reach the ceiling. And it’s open from above.”

  “Wait, what are you saying?” Dean asked, turning his attention back to the vid feed from the AAV.

  Before Harper could explain, something shot out of the darkness inside the structure and grabbed the done. The vid feed shook uncontrollably, and then was lost.

  “Damn!” Harper said.

  “Platoon hold,” Dean said.

  Everyone stopped, the tension among them like the stench of a locker room after a bad loss. Dean ignored it and looked up, straining to see in the dark chamber. His TCU had zooming capabilities, but the night vision was useless more than twenty feet from Dean’s actual position. With a few facial twitches Dean turned down the comlink volume and turned up the exterior feed. At first there was nothing but the quiet whir of servos on the HA armor. But after a moment he heard a strange sound. It was strange, but recognizable at the same time. It was the unmistakable sound of flapping wings.

  Chapter 12

  “Incoming!” Dean ordered. “We’ve got airborne creatures on the move.”

  “What the hell?” Wilson grumbled.

  “We’re no good bunched up like this,” Dean said. “Stagger! Tallgrass, you’re with Kliner. Harper, stay with Carter. Ghost and Chavez, stay with Wilson. Get low to the ground, people. Weapons ready. This damn non-lethal ammo doesn’t have enough range to take them out until they’re attacking.”

  “Captain, what about you?” Chavez asked.

  “I’m the bait, Staff Sergeant. When they come after me, you take them down.”

  “That’s the craziest thing I’ve ever heard!” Chavez argued. “Let me be the bait.”

  “It’s not personal, Staff Sergeant. I’m the slowest person. If we’re going to survive this, then it only makes sense that I take the biggest risk. I’m already wounded.”

  “That’s not how we do things, Captain,” Tallgrass said.

  “Yeah, we should have someone fast out in the open so that they can evade whatever is coming,” Ghost said.

  “No time to argue,” Dean said, raising his utility rifle as one of the alien creatures came into view.

  He flipped the toggle near his thumb that adjusted the rifle to fully automatic fire and began spraying the air with the non-lethal tranq-darts as the first of the large avian creatures swooped low over the platoon. The alien was doing its own reconnaissance overflight, trying to get a better look at the enemy spreading out around Dean. He couldn’t make out the details of the large creature. It was little more than a shadow at the edge of his battle armor’s night vision capabilities. His battle armor told him the creature was out of range, but his instinct was to fire at the creature anyway.

  “Switch to infrared,” Harper said. “They’re lit like Christmas trees.”

  Dean’s TCU view changed from the green of night vision to the bright colors of infrared. He could see four bird creatures circling overhead. They were bright yellow on the edges, then orange, then red at the center of their long, narrow bodies. Dean could make out wings, thick rear legs that were bunched close to their bodies, and long, slender forearms. They also had tails that waved behind them like ribbons trailing a kite.

  “What the hell are those things?” Carter said.

  “Bats out of hell,” Ghost said with a chuckle.

  “Not funny,” Harper replied.

  “Now we know why this compartment is so large,” Tallgrass said. “It was built for avian creatures.”

  Dean had no way of knowing for certain, but he felt that they must be in the center of the huge alien vessel. His guess was the bird creatures were the masters of the ship.

  “Here they come,” Ghost announced.

  Dean saw the flock split, with two coming at him from his right side and two from his left.

  “Kliner, Tallgrass, engage,” Dean said, after sending them an indication of the bogeys on his right via his TCU.

  Then he turned and opened fire on the two swooping down to his left. All around him he heard the chatter of the non-lethal weapons. The tranq-darts flew up toward the flying aliens, but the avian creatures were smart enough to stay out of range. Dean saw the lead creature spit at him from over fifty feet away. He dove to the ground to avoid the strange attack and rolled, ignoring the pain in his hip which felt as if he were rolling over a bed of red hot coals.

  Something hit near him, then another blob splashed over his boot. Dean was still rolling, but suddenly he was stopped, as if his right foot was being held by a giant fist. He struggled to pull his leg free, knowing the boot was caught in the substance the creatures had launched at him. He sat up, but all he could see in infrared was a pink glow over his foot.

  “I’m hit,” Dean said, switching his TCU back to night vision. “Looks like the same stuff they used to seal off the ship.”

  “Are you hurt?” Tallgrass asked.

  “No, but I can’t get free.”

  “Here they come again,” Wilson announced.

  “We need real ammo,” Kliner complained. “They’re out of range.”

  “Harper, launch your secondary AAV,” Dean ordered. “Target the structure at the center of the room.”

  “Yes, Captain,” Sergeant Emily Harper said.

  Dean heard the drone shoot off, just as he switched his TCU back to infrared and looked up to find the flying creatures. They were on another attack run, but they broke off, and turned to pursue the drone.

  “Platoon retreat,” Dean said. “We can’t do any good here with the ammo we’ve got.”

  Chavez and Ghost were by Dean’s side looking at his leg. Chavez drew a large curved knife and jammed it into the goo.

  “Damn stuff is like tar,” he complained.

  Ghost was pulling Dean’s leg, trying to break it free of the thick substance. Wilson, Kliner, and Carter were lumbering toward the hatch.

  “It’s not working,” Chavez said.

  “Here, let me,” Tallgrass said.

  She pulled a tube of thermite from her pack and dropped to one knee.

  “Be careful, we don’t want to burn his leg off,” Ghost said.

  “Absolutely not,” Dean agreed.

  She traced a line around Dean’s boot, then activated the thermite. Dean had to look away, and saw the AAV’s attack on the structure in the center of the cavernous chamber. The explosions lit up the darkened space, revealing the aliens as they swooped after the drone.

  “Harper, report!”

  “Three warheads away. I’m angling for a run on the other side.”

  “There’s no time,” Dean snapped. “Those things are on your tail.”

  “Damn!” Fast Attack Specialist Emily Harper said, as she struggled to evade the flying creatures. “Activating the warheads, now.”

  Dean could still see the thermite’s glare, so he didn’t try to tug his foot free. He knew that if he couldn’t get free of the goo he was going to order the others to leave him there. He could try and cu
t off the leg of his armor, but it would be difficult and slow. Chances were high that the flying creatures would attack before he could escape, and if that happened he had no illusions about what they would do to him.

  Suddenly Harper cursed and another explosion was seen in the distance.

  “What happened?” Dean asked.

  “They caught the AAV before it could impact the structure,” she reported. “Probably took out one of the aliens, but I can’t say for sure.”

  “Thermite’s done,” Tallgrass said.

  Chavez grabbed Dean’s leg and jerked it hard. The goop that held him to the deck had gone soft and his boot pulled free with a slurping noise that reminded Dean of clinging mud. Dean got quickly to his feet, ignoring the pain in his hip and the weight of the goo that still clung to his boot.

  “Let's move!” he ordered.

  They were running back toward the hatch in the wall nearby. Dean could see that two of his Heavy Armor Specialists had already passed through the small opening, and were helping the third. The big shields had to be maneuvered through diagonally, which was a complicated action for the hulking soldiers to perform. Dean could see that his group, Harper, Ghost, Tallgrass, and Chavez, were going to reach the hatch just as the last HA Specialist worked his way through the opening. He looked back over his shoulder. The explosions were still bright orange smears in the infrared view of his battle helmet. Two of the flying aliens were headed his way and Dean hoped he could hold the creatures off while his platoon escaped through the hatch, but even as he began to formulate his tactics the alien ship rocked violently.

  “What the hell?” Ghost said as he grabbed onto Harper to keep her from falling down.

  “Holy shit!” Carter declared. “Captain, we’ve lost gravity.”

  Everyone was talking at once but Dean knew instinctively what had happened. He and the rest of his platoon were still running, still held in the gravity of the alien vessel, which Dean guessed was breaking apart so that the aliens could make their escape.

  “Captain Blaze!” Esma announced over the open frequency. “We have contact with the other ships.”

  “Everyone listen to me!” Dean ordered, glancing over his shoulder to confirm his theory.