by Jake Bible
“Engage boots!” Schroeder yelled from the back of the team. “Untether!”
The first wave of soldiers undid their clamps and landed boots first on the hull of the Dorso, the mag-locks on their boots keeping them from bouncing off. They instantly unslung their rifles from their backs.
“We’re plasma hot here, people!” Schroeder yelled as the last of the soldiers decoupled and landed on the hull. She landed in front of them all. “Watch your goddamn fire! We do not need to cut more holes in this POS than there already are! Hear me?”
“Loud and!” the team responded as one.
“Here we go,” Schroeder said and started walking across the hull towards a very large opening that shouldn’t have been there. “On me. Eyes open. You see anything that is not human and you kill it. This is not a bag and tag, people. This is run and gun, all the way.”
***
Parveet sat in her chair, eyes bloodshot and weary, but she kept her focus locked onto the part of the view shield that had switched to various POVs of the SpecCom team. She rubbed at her temples as the team progressed inside the Dorso.
“Here. Take this.”
Parveet glanced at the steaming mug of stim drink that passed as coffee on the Jethro. Then she followed the arm that was holding it until she was staring into Torn’s eyes.
“You push your luck, Bee,” Parveet said. “You may want to stop throwing the UEC weight around my ship. I’m not happy with your diplomatic overrides on my hatches.”
“Do you want the drink or not?” Torn asked.
Parveet took the mug and grimaced as she sipped. “Too hot.”
“Then let it cool,” Torn said.
None of the bridge crew’s eyes were on the two, but Parveet knew ears were listening and at least one of them was watching the exchange on her or his console via the ship’s vid cams. Parveet set her mug in the depression in her chair’s arm.
“Pull up a chair, Bee,” Parveet said.
“How?” Torn asked. “Aren’t they bolted to the wall?”
“I got it, Boss,” Lucky said as he moved from his post to the wall and unbolted a chair. He walked it over to Torn, set it down, and activated the leg mag-bolts which clamped the chair to the bridge deck.
“There you go,” Lucky said.
“Thank you, Major,” Torn said as she sat down. “I appreciate the hospitality.”
“Yeah, I wouldn’t make passive aggressive digs like that right now,” Lucky said, a warning tone very evident in his voice. “We have an active op going and the Boss hates passive aggressive on a good day.”
Lucky returned to his post and refocused on the POVs.
“I’ve never witnessed a mission real time,” Torn said.
“I can tell,” Parveet said. “Know how? Because you’re still talking. Hush or leave.”
Torn began to respond then only nodded.
Parveet leaned forward, elbows on her knees, and stared at the POVs.
***
“Talk to me, Hedder,” Schroeder said as she lead her soldiers down a passageway that looked like fire had raged through it before the atmosphere was sucked from the Dorso out any of the multiple hull breaches. “You seeing what I’m seeing?”
“We are,” Corporal Hedder replied over the comms. “Whatever happened here included some serious cooking. This ship got lit up.”
“Mevins?” Schroeder called.
“Same,” Corporal Mevins replied over the comms. “I’m not seeing any bodies, though. You?”
“No bodies here,” Schroeder said.
“Me neither,” Hedder said.
“Same,” Corporal Stack said. “Why would they purge like this?”
“That’s what we’re here to find out,” Schroeder said. “Keep moving and watch for structural stability. This floor feels loose.”
“The whole ship feels loose,” Hedder said.
“We’re almost to the bridge,” Schroeder said. “Two decks up to go.”
Her squad kept moving until they hit the lift shaft. The shaft was wide open and looked like the lift doors had been torn free of the wall. Schroeder carefully inspected the damage then shuffled closer to the edge. She looked down, illuminating the shaft with her rifle’s halogen, then looked up.
“Shaft is clear,” she said. “Hook us in.”
A soldier hurried forward, locked a multi-tonged hook into a slot on her rifle, then fired up into the shaft, sending the hook and a microfilament flying up into the shadows. There was a clang and the soldier yanked on her rifle.
“Secure,” she said.
“Clamping in,” Schroeder said as she leaned forward and hooked a small clamp around the microfilament.
Then she stepped into the shaft, letting the mag-locks on her boots shift from the floor to the shaft’s wall. Schroeder tested the microfilament, which kept her from floating around the shaft just in case her mag-locks shorted out. Never rely on tech was a SpecCom team motto. Expect the worst was another one.
Schroeder led her squad up the shaft, passing another set of destroyed doors, before stopping two decks up at what was nothing short of a complete mess.
“Is that open space, Sarge?” a soldier asked.
Schroeder stared at the huge rip in the Dorso that exposed the entire bridge to the vacuum of space outside the hull.
“Sarge?” the soldier asked. “We going in?”
“Hold,” Schroeder said, focusing on the rip in what had to be ten meters of metal. “Boss? You seeing this?”
“I’m seeing it,” Parveet replied over the comms. “Can you see a cause?”
“Not from here,” Schroeder said. “Moving closer.”
She stepped from the shaft and onto the bridge, unclamping from the microfilament as she went. Schroeder took a hand off her rifle and fished at her belt, finding a small orb and threw it down onto the bridge’s deck. Another microfilament shot from the orb and stayed affixed to her belt as she moved closer to the rip.
“Deactivating mag-locks,” Schroeder announced. “Squad, stay locked and secure the bridge.”
“Yes, Sarge,” they replied.
Schroeder deactivated her mag-locks and let herself float closer to the bridge’s ceiling and the huge rip in the hull. She held up a hand and stopped herself from colliding with the ceiling, the barrel of her rifle covering the rip.
“Scanning,” she said.
“I’ve got ya,” Wan replied over the comms.
A bright red light lit up the rip then moved systematically back and forth then up until it stretched all the way to the outer hull. Lines of data filled Schroeder’s display screen in her helmet. She studied the data then shook her head.
“Is this right?” Schroeder asked. “You seeing this?”
“Can you confirm with your eyes?” Wan asked.
“I guess,” Schroeder replied. “It looks like the metal is ripped through. I’m not seeing any signs of fire or explosives. Acid, maybe?”
“Maybe,” Wan said. “I don’t see any signs of…”
“Wan? Talk to me,” Schroeder said as she cautiously moved into the rip, one hand guiding her while the other kept a very firm grip on her rifle. “What do you see?”
“Can you get to the outer edge?” Wan asked.
“Yeah, the filament should reach,” Schroeder said. “Why?”
“Not sure yet,” Wan said.
“Well, I’d like a little more intel before I expose myself to open space without my boots engaged,” Schroeder said.
“Which way is the opening going?” Wan asked.
“Which way is it…what? Out. It’s going out,” Schroeder said. The realization of what she said slammed into her brain. “Shit. It was already inside the bridge.”
“Yeah,” Wan said. “Whatever did the damage did it from inside the bridge. It tore its way out, not in.”
“What the shit?” Schroeder mumbled.
She reached the outer edge and slowly peeked outside. Schroeder turned her head one way then the other, letting her vi
d capture as much image as possible of the outer hull before ducking back in.
“I’m heading back,” Schroeder said. “You get anything?”
“I got a lot,” Wan said.
“Hey…what was that?” Stegson said. “Wan? You see that?”
“What is it?” Schroeder asked as she climbed her way back down out of the rip and into the bridge. “We secure?”
“Secure, Sarge,” one of her soldiers said. “No sign of the bridge crew.”
“Hey, Sarge?” another soldier said over by the command console. “I think I have something. I jumped the console with my suit and found some data.”
“Is that movement?” Stegson asked.
“I can’t tell,” Wan said. “It looks like a shadow to me.”
“Will you two shut up in my ear, please?” Schroeder barked. “It’s distracting as hell. Have your convo off comms.”
“But the light’s wrong for there to be a shadow at that angle,” Stegson said.
Schroeder paused.
“What was that?” she asked. No response. “I’m talking to you, Stegson!”
“The shadow we saw on your vid feed shouldn’t be there,” Stegson said. “Not the way the light is coming from the system’s star.”
“Could it be because of the angle the Dorso is to the planet?” Schroeder asked, turning around and aiming back up at the rip with her rifle. She held up a fist then extended her fingers, waving them twice. Two soldiers came and backed her up while the third stayed at the console. “Stegson?”
“Sarge, I see movement,” one of the soldiers said.
“Copy that,” the other said.
“Stegson!” Schroeder barked.
“Sergeant, I would like you to move towards the shaft now,” Parveet interrupted on the comms. “Do not, I repeat, do not take your eyes off that breach.”
“Not a chance in hell I would think of looking away, Boss,” Schroeder said. “Pasco?”
“Sarge, I’m sending data to the Jethro,” the soldier at the console said.
“Good,” Schroeder said. “Unhook that jump and move on me now, Pasco.”
Schroeder and the two soldiers slowly eased their way back to towards the shaft.
The third soldier unhooked his suit from the console and began to follow.
He didn’t make it.
“WHAT THE SHIT?” Schroeder yelled and opened fire at the breach.
***
“Talk to me, Sergeant!” Parveet yelled, jumping to her feet as the POVs of Schroeder’s squad became nothing but bright flashes of plasma fire. “Schroeder!”
“Jesus Christ, what is that?” Lucky muttered as he leaned towards the view shield and the chaos that had erupted in the POVs.
“That’s what we saw on that vid,” Wan said. “One of the xenos is still on the Dorso!”
“Pull back now, Schroeder!” Parveet yelled. “That is an order! Get off that ship! We’re gonna nuke it from here!”
“We’re too close to nuke it, Boss!” Stegson yelled.
“Axson!” Parveet shouted.
“Boss, I’ll have to cut the tethers!” Axson said. “Schroeder and her team will be stranded!”
“Schroeder! Do you hear me?” Parveet yelled. “We are cutting tethers so we can nuke the Dorso! I need your team to get off that ship ASAP!”
Nothing but shouting in the comms could be heard. None of the shouting was directed at Parveet.
“Boss?” Stegson said.
“We aren’t leaving them,” Parveet said. “Watch scanners. The second you see movement that is not me and mine, you cut tethers and get us away from the Dorso. Understood, Axson?”
“Understood, Boss,” Axson replied.
Parveet stayed standing, her eyes watching only the POVs as the other squads’ were lit up by plasma fire.
2.
“Pasco!” Schroeder yelled as the soldier was snatched up by a half-dozen tentacular limbs and yanked towards the breach in the ceiling. The plasma fire behind Schroeder stopped. “What are you doing, goddammit? Keep firing!”
“Sarge, we’ll hit Pasco!”
“He’s right in the line of–!”
“I said to keep firing!” Schroeder roared. “Pasco is gone!”
It was true. The soldier was being ripped apart limb by limb right before their eyes. His screams were cut off as his head was snapped from his neck and tossed aside. It tumbled, floating, around and around before colliding with the bridge wall and bouncing off towards the rest of the squad. The interior of the bridge became a swirling mass of bloody droplets that spread out in a whirlwind. Then the xeno snagged the head with a tentacle and yanked it up into the breach.
“Piece of shit xeno!” Schroeder yelled as she took a knee and aimed.
She squeezed her trigger again and again, sending several plasma blasts directly into the xeno. The creature let go of Pasco’s dismembered corpse and scurried back through the breach, lost from sight.
“To hell with this,” Schroeder said and pumped the launcher under her rifle’s barrel. She fired a small rocket directly into the breach. “Go!”
The other soldiers didn’t have to be told twice. They raced for the shaft and dove down inside, bouncing off the shaft walls violently as they descended. Schroeder was right behind them and had barely gotten clear of the opening when the rocket exploded. The force of the blast rushed into the shaft and slammed her against the wall.
“Squads!” Schroeder called as she pinballed her way down to the other soldiers that were waiting at the lower shaft opening, arms out to catch her. “Report, goddammit!”
There were only screams in the comms.
Her soldiers caught her and pulled her into the passageway they’d first left.
“Schroeder!” Parveet shouted over the comms.
“Here,” Schroeder said, whipping around to cover the shaft opening, her rifle barrel red hot as she kept the trigger halfway depressed. “We lost Pasco.”
“I know,” Parveet said. “His feed went dead. You’ve got at least two more xenos on the Dorso. Forget them and get to the tethers. Now.”
“I hear that,” Schroeder said. “All squads on me! All squads on me! We are bugging out now!”
Schroeder nodded at the two soldiers and they ran as fast as the mag-locks would allow them to, headed for the tether point.
***
Corporal Stack spun to his left and opened fire on the thing that was half-crawling, half-slithering its way down the passageway at his squad. He took a knee and refused to back up despite his squad’s voice shouting over the comms.
“No way,” he snarled as he rained plasma fire down on the xeno that kept on coming. Hunks of the thing were sheared off, but it refused to stop. “No goddamn way.”
A soldier took a knee next to him then another and another. They opened fire as well.
The xeno kept on.
“Rockets,” Stack ordered.
As one, they loaded and launched four rockets at the creature. That got its attention. As the rockets sped towards the thing, it halted and began to scramble backwards. Its tentacles tucked into it as it used its body for fast locomotion, undulating in thick waves back down the passageway.
Then the rockets hit and the entire passageway became fire.
And black gunk.
Stack and his soldiers were knocked off their knees, their battle suits’ mag-locks disconnecting from the force of the blast. They tumbled head over heels until one by one they collided with the sides of the passageway and slowed enough for the mag-locks to re-engage.
“Report,” Stack said, coughing hard as he struggled to catch his breath.
“Good.”
“Good.”
No third response.
“Hamid? Report?” Stack ordered. He gasped and looked down at his suit. A four-inch hunk of metal was sticking out from his chest armor. “Shit.”
“I’ll get it, Stack,” one of the soldiers said as she shoved off from the wall opposite Stack and landed next to him,
already fishing in a compartment on her suit’s thigh. “Gonna hurt.”
“I know,” Stack said.
The soldier pulled the hunk of metal out then slapped a thick wad of gauze into the tear in the suit. Stack screamed in pain as the gauze worked its way into his wound. Then the soldier slapped a patch on the armor and the suit sealed off. Stack gritted his teeth until the painkillers in the gauze kicked in.
“Goddamn,” he mumbled as he pressed his helmet back against the passageway’s wall. “Talk to me.”
“Hamid is gone,” the other soldier said. “Shrapnel ripped him in half.”
“Shit,” Stack said. “What else? Xeno?”
“Xeno is sludge,” the soldier next to him said. She held up her glove and waved it in front of Stack’s helmet. “See?”
The glove was coated with what looked like thick motor oil.
“Boss?” Stack gasped.
“Here, Stack. What have you got?” Parveet asked over the comms.
“Call off the nukes,” Stack said. “We can kill the things with rockets.”
“Stack, I want you to retreat back to the tethers now,” Parveet ordered.
“You heard the Boss, Stack,” Schroeder’s voice interrupted over the comms.
“With all due respect, Sarge, we can take these bastards,” Stack replied.
“Not without a price,” Parveet said. “We have an entire planet to secure. I need you all.”
“Sarge, listen to me,” Stack said. “We’ve got this.”
“Shit,” Schroeder said. “You’ve lost Hamid, I’ve lost Pasco.”
“That’s what we do, Sarge,” Stack said. “We lose good people doing our jobs. Hell, I could die in the next five minutes. But I don’t give a shit. We’re clearing this ship.”
“Sergeant–” Parveet began to say.
“Stack is right,” Schroeder interrupted. “We know we can kill them with rockets. We’re staying.”
