Beachhead Series Collected Adventures Volume One: Invasion Earth series box set

by Chris Lowry

  He didn’t dare chase her in the dark. Too many people to trip over, too many chances to get hurt.

  Lutz sat back, put his hands behind his head and stared up at the metal ceiling he couldn’t see.

  He worked on committing her voice to memory, so that when he heard it again, he could mark her.

  He had an ally.

  Now he just needed a plan.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “What’s the plan, Lt?” Babe marched up next to Bonney.

  “You know the plan, Babe. It ain’t changed.”

  “We’re not looking for Lutz,” Babe reminded him. “That should be the plan.”

  Lt sighed.

  He too wanted to run off to rescue Lutz. If he was even alive.

  “Do you know how much damage we could do with these suits?”

  Babe flexed an arm out in front of them, curling the gloved fingers into a tight fist.

  “Yeah,” said Lt. “I’ve got a damn good idea of what we could do with them. The thing is Babe, there are a couple of ways this could go down.”

  He glanced at the rest of the squad spaced out in the woods.

  “We’re a little short handed right now.”

  Babe looked around too.

  “I don’t see what you’re seeing, Lt. There’s seven of us. Six suits.”

  “I know you’re itching in your britches to go kill some fucking Licks, but we need to hold up. Take it down a notch.”

  “I can’t believe what I’m hearing, Lt,” Babe swore under his breath, his voice low so the others wouldn’t hear.

  “I signed up to kill, and you’re fucking telling me it’s time to back off. What happened to the man who wanted a thousand fucking heads?”

  Lt glared at Babe and the look sent a shiver down the suited man’s spine. He took a step away from Bonney, held up a hand.

  “Sorry,” he said.

  Lt took a deep breath and let it out through is lips.

  “Apology accepted,” he said. “Tensions running high and fuck all. You still owe me a thousand heads, and since Lutz is taking a breather working for the Lick, you owe me his heads too. I ain’t forgot why we’re out here.”

  “Then let’s suit up the new two, and go get him. Get them,” Babe tried one more time.

  “Getting Lutz is a priority. But it ain’t priority one. We’re gonna get these two vets up to High Command, check on Doc to see if he’s got those last two suits ready for us, and steal us a hovercraft.”

  Babe stopped and watched Lt’s back as he kept walking.

  “Steal a hovercraft.”

  “That’s what I said, Babe,” Bonney called over his shoulder.

  “We don’t know how to fly it,” Babe shook his head and trotted after him. “I don’t know how to fly it. Do you know how to fly it?”

  “That hovercraft came up on a straight line,” Lt said, pointing through the trees to the black ribbon of asphalt as it wound in and out of view while they moved.

  “I figure they took Lutz back on that line, and,” he pointed a finger toward Jake and Steph. “That train came from that direction too.”

  Babe stared at the two walking on the far side of them.

  “We still don’t trust them?”

  “You can trust ‘em Babe. I’m not sure enough for the both of us.”

  “What about them?” he pitched his voice low and shot a look at Weber and Renard.

  “Hell Babe, you can trust them too.”

  “But you won’t.”

  “I just trust you and Waldo. That’s about all I got room for right now. Good enough?”

  “Good enough,” said Babe.

  They walked for a hundred meters in silence.

  “Just worried about him.”

  “Me too, Babe. Me too.”

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  He smelled smoke first. The misty fog clung to the branches of the pines as they worked their way through the woods.

  “Smell that?” Waldo asked.

  Lt nodded.

  Weber sniffed.

  “Metal. Plastic. Bodies,” he announced. “You think this place is safe?”

  Lt turned his fast walk into a jog through the trees, moving up past Jake to take point.

  “We need weapons,” Weber yelled.

  Then he saw the bodies.

  The first was burned into a skeleton, the roasted muscles contracted it into a fetal position.

  A discarded M-16 lay just out of reach.

  Renard leaned over, scooped it up and checked the magazine with a practiced hand.

  “Not a blaster,” he said as he passed it to Weber.

  “But it’ll do,” they said in unison.

  Weber and Babe jogged to join Lt as he stared at a former derelict warehouse.

  “Was this it?” Renard asked.

  He spied another dead body, this one missing it’s lower extremities, rifle still clutched in both hands, and relieved it of the weapon. He took two magazines off a belt clip and passed one to Weber.

  “Was,” Lt gulped.

  His blue eyes scanned the bombed out wreckage of the warehouse that used to hide High Command.

  “Looks like the Lick made it through round Three,” said Babe.

  “Round Three,” said Weber. “Was that the code for this place?”

  “Round three of leadership,” said Waldo. “Lick killed the first round on Day One. Second round a little after that.”

  “Surprised these idiots lasted this long,” said Babe.

  “They were good at hiding,” said Lt.

  He began moving around the perimeter, eyes roaming over the structure and grounds.

  “You want us to split up?” Babe asked.

  “That didn’t work out so well last time,” said Lt.

  Babe shrugged, checked the charge on his blaster rifle and followed.

  Waldo motioned the two veterans, Jake and Steph after them so he could watch them from behind.

  “Bombed from the inside,” said Weber.

  “Looks like,” Lt agreed.

  “And attacked out here.”

  “Yep.”

  “Does he always talk this much?” Renard spat at Babe.

  “Lt? He’s a chatty Cathy most of the time. Unless he’s thinking traitorous sabotage. And when he’s thinking traitorous sabotage, watch the fuck out.”

  “How do you know that’s what he’s thinking,” Jake asked.

  “Cause it’s what I’m thinking about you,” Babe answered. “Lots of bad shit has been happening since we rescued you. Starting with Rook.”

  Lt stopped them at the entrance to the compound. It was littered with the bodies of burned fighters ripped apart by blaster fire.

  “Only Stormtroopers are so precise,” he said.

  “What’s a storm trooper?” Steph asked Jake.

  “It’s like we’ve lost all our culture, Babe,” Lt complained.

  “I know what they were,” said Weber. “Movies, right?”

  “Nazis,” Renard corrected. “My grandfather told me about them before. But they didn’t use lasers.”

  “It’s a movie,” said Lt. “At least what I’m talking about. And this is Lick work, not some science fiction make believe.”

  He hunkered down on his knees and stared at the dark hole where the door once was on the warehouse.

  “Think those food crates had a transmitter in them, like his jacket?” he said aloud.

  Babe glared at Jake, who shrugged.

  “They did that on Mars,” said Weber. “Bug a supply drop, and follow the radio signal to our posts.”

  “Lick can be crafty sons of bitches,” said Lt.

  “You think Suds was in there?”

  “Where else would he be, putz?” Babe shouted.

  “Hey!” Waldo raised his voice. “Don’t take it out on me. I didn’t lead the Lick to him.”

  “No,” Babe rushed Jake and pounded him into a tree. He put his forearm across his throat and lifted him off the ground. “He did.”

  Ste
ph grabbed Babe’s elbow and jerked him off Jake. She twisted his arm around, leveraged him down to his knees, then flipped him over onto his stomach.

  Babe shuddered a muffled groan as she held his arm up and back, shoulder digging into the dirt.

  ‘You know kung fu?” said Lt.

  She shook her head.

  “I didn’t know I knew it.”

  “Let him go. Be cool, Babe. Everybody, just be cool right now. I need to do me some thinking.”

  But what he wanted to do was pray a little bit for Suds. He had liked the man and now he was one more down in his squad.

  They had taken the fight to the Lick, had worked to make the Lick fear them, and in doing so, killed a lot of damn people. Or got them killed, which didn’t make much difference in his mind.

  “You think anyone’s still alive in there, Lt?” Waldo asked.

  Bonney looked at the small squad around him. Babe nursed his wounded shoulder as he shot glares at Jake and Steph.

  Neither were hurt bad, he knew. The suits had protected them.

  Weber and Renard stood to one side, armed now with conventional weapons, and waited.

  He wasn’t sure if they were from Mars, or not, but they played the part well. Just a couple of soldiers waiting for orders.

  He could see his reflection in Waldo’s faceplate, his own faceless helmet hiding the doubt and worry in his eyes.

  No matter what the man inside felt, the image he saw was intense. Inspiring.

  “Fake it til you make it,” he told them.

  “Lt?”

  “We came here to get Suds and turn you two loose to High Command,” said Lt. “Guess that’s gone to hell now, so we’re on to plan B.”

  “What’s plan B?” asked Weber.

  “It’s time for a doctor’s visit.”

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “I don’t see how you expect me to get work done with you breathing down my neck like that?”

  Crockett backed away as Doc swung his arms wide to get some room.

  “I was just curious about what you were doing,” said Crockett. “No need to get testy.”

  “Your Lt gave me a task to complete,” Doc grumbled. “And I am finding it difficult to do given the constraints I’m working under.”

  Crockett glanced at the pristine work bench, the LED lights bathing everything in a soft glow. The solar collectors on the roof were powering dozens of electrical outlets, providing enough juice to operate the tools Doc needed to work on the suits and spread some throughout the compound.

  “We’ve been constrained the past three years, Doc,” said Crockett. “You tell me what you need and I’ll get it for you.”

  Doc waved him off.

  “It’s easier for me to find what I’m looking for than to take the time to describe it.”

  He tottered to the far side of the work bench and began picking through the drawers full of miniature pieces that would become the robotic guts of a suit.

  Burmage paused by the still open wall and cleared his throat.

  Crockett watched Doc for a second, then moved toward the opening.

  “What do we have?”

  “Food,” Burmage beamed.

  It looked out of place on his sallow face, long out of practice, thought Crockett. But the man was trying to make up for lost time since they gained access to the inner room.

  He double checked the two civilian guards posted on either side of the opening. They were still in place, rifles resting in their cradled arms.

  “You boys go eat,” Crockett told the two. “I’ll stand watch.”

  They shot him grateful looks, and left him with Burmage to go grab their portion of stew.

  There still wasn’t much, not by a long shot. But it was more than they had I months, and with patrols hitting the woods around the hidden base, the hunt could keep starvation at bay for months.

  “How is the progress?” Burmage peered over Crockett’s shoulder to get a peek inside.

  “He’s still bitching.”

  Burmage glanced up at the thin strip of LED lights that ran the length of the corridor, casting light down where none had been seen for three years.

  “I don’t see much to complain about.”

  “He doesn’t want Lt to be disappointed,” Crockett explained. “A disappointed lieutenant is an angry lieutenant. You wouldn’t like him when he was angry.”

  “I didn’t like him when he was happy either,” Burmage offered. “But that’s how I feel about all men of violence.”

  “I’m a man of violence,” Crockett sounded offended.

  “I don’t like you either.”

  “Well fuck you too, Burmage,” Crockett laughed. “Don’t hold it in.”

  Burmage smiled.

  “I don’t,” he said. “But I’m grateful. I don’t have to like you to appreciate you, do I?”

  “He was like that before the aliens invaded,” said Doc from the opening.

  Burmage squeaked, startled.

  “Find what you were looking for?”

  “No,” said Doc.

  “You should let me help.”

  “The programming is done,” said Doc. “None of that has changed. I just need to upload and adjust the components.”

  “I could give it an upgrade.”

  “The Tech One’s couldn’t handle the upgrades,” Doc said.

  “Oh yes,” Burmage rubbed his hands together. “I recall that.”

  “He’s itching to get in there, Doc.”

  “Not until our companions have returned,” said Doc. “Bonney’s orders.”

  Burmage looked as if he was about to protest, but bit it back and swallowed it down with visible effort.

  “Go eat Doc,” said Crockett. “You need some fuel for your thinking cap.”

  “Thinking cap!” Doc snapped his fingers and turned back into the room. He hustled to a different part of the workshop and searched the drawers on that side.

  It took two drawers, but he gave a eureka shout, and went back to work on the partially assembled suit on the bench.

  “Guess he’s not hungry,” said Crockett as he turned back to guard the door.

  Burmage didn’t answer, just watched inside the room with a look of longing on his face.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  “Days,” Babe grumbled. “That’s how long it’s going to take to get back to the suits.”

  The squad marched along a game trail through the woods next to the road.

  The pace they set was brisk, leaving Weber and Renard huffing for air as they struggled to keep up.

  Waldo and Jake offered to carry their rucksacks, which helped at first. But the speed with which the suits moved was difficult for the two normal men to maintain.

  “Can’t go any faster,” said Lt. “We’d lose them two to who knows what.”

  “It’s two days there,” Babe continued. “Then how far to Lutz?”

  “I don’t know Babe.”

  “He’s tough,” said Waldo. “He can hang on.”

  “Not if they’re torturing him.”

  “They don’t know he’s one of us.”

  “But the uniform,” said Babe.

  “They all had uniforms,” Lt reminded him. “Every soldier they picked up from the compound. Besides, Lutz can take care of himself. Least til we get there.”

  “If we get there,” Babe muttered.

  “Hold up,” Weber called out. He pitched against a tree and struggled to catch his breath.

  Renard slid down beside him, rubbing his wounded leg.

  “We can’t keep this up,” he said.

  Lt looked at the bulge in Danish’s ruck, the outline of armor pressed against the thin material.