Defiant (The Armada Book 1)

by Jack Hunt

  They continued on for another three hours before stopping near a large waterfall that rolled into a dark blue body of water.

  “Skinner, give me an update.”

  He tapped on the side of his forearm and glanced at maps of Drozleon. Based on their location and where the Echobi militia were, he seemed confident that they could stop awhile if they wanted to.

  “I say we stop, Lt,” Priest muttered.

  “Yeah, I’m starving,” Bulldog added.

  “I could sure use a dip.”

  He nodded and perched on the edge of a large rock overlooking the body of water. Ten minutes’ rest wouldn’t matter. They had hours on the militia. Though the edges were crystal-clear, the center was a dark blue. It reminded Reid of the blue sinkhole off the coast of Belize. Phantom, Bulldog and Priest went down to the water and removed their helmets and began scooping water over their heads.

  “Damn this is cold.”

  There was a somber atmosphere among them as the realization of losing Viper sunk in. Reid took out an MRE from one of the side pockets on his suit and tossed it to the ambassador.

  “Thanks.” She walked a short distance away and Reid nodded to Skinner to keep an eye on her. Though she worked for UEDF, and as an ambassador for Earth, he couldn’t help feel as though she was still privy to information that he didn’t have. But that was how it worked in the military. Everyone was on a need to know basis. Some would have said there was a reason for it but he knew it was nothing more than an escape clause, a loophole that they had created to avoid being held responsible when lives were lost in operations. How many lives could have been saved if critical information was made known?

  Sophie came over and took a seat beside Reid, he put his arm around her and gave her a hug. It had been months since he’d seen her. With both of them involved in operations, they didn’t have the luxury of seeing each other in person. Communication amounted to using the internal UEDF system.

  Reid had hoped that once he retired that would all change.

  On Earth, he was looking to purchase a property or boat somewhere down in Florida. Somewhere warm. Somewhere he could see out the remainder of his years in peace and quiet. The older he’d become the more he yearned for peace in his life. He’d changed a lot since he was a youngster with wide-eyed dreams of joining the UEDF and making it into the elite SOSR teams. Back then his view on life was very different to the one he now held. Time had given him perspective on what really mattered. He’d seen so many of his friends die, attended so many funerals and it never got any easier. The grit, and drive he had as a young guy was still there but he now felt jaded. Those who were lucky enough to survive battles were bedridden, paraplegics or had gotten out before anything bad happened.

  “I’m sorry about Gage, Bryce and the others. I know they meant a lot to you.”

  He scooped some of the MRE slop into his mouth and nodded.

  “It’s hard to lose them, isn’t it?”

  Her chin dropped. “Every single one of them fought. I don’t know why they kept me and Thompson alive.”

  “I do.” He looked at her again. “Draskan enjoys seeing fear in the eyes of humans. The rest of your team no doubt died before he could get to them. Torturing humans and killing his enemies slowly is like a pastime of his. It’s the reason he was kicked out of the military and the reason he has taken up arms against his own people. On Earth they might have said he had PTSD and maybe it is. All I know is he is one sick individual who delights in inflicting pain on humanity. And, given the chance, he will bring war to Earth.”

  “Even more reason to get the chancellor and the refugees off,” she said.

  Reid scoffed. “You really think that they are siding with Earth?”

  “Aren’t they? Benja helped us down there. He tried to reason with Draskan and in doing so he gave his life.”

  “Look, I’m not saying they’re all bad but Earth’s desperate need to unite every species will eventually be its downfall.”

  Sophie dug her elbow into his rib. “You don’t trust anyone, do you, Dad?”

  “I trust my team.”

  “And what about mom?”

  “I stopped trusting her a long time ago.”

  “And Kane?”

  “I’m not sure I have ever trusted him. Maybe at one time. Not now,” he said, tossing the remainder of his food and pulling out a canteen of water. He had gotten used to sipping carefully and going many hours without water. In his line of work, you had to be able to survive under the worst conditions.

  He watched as some of them filled their canteens up from the body of water. He grimaced. Reid had only once resorted to drinking foreign water and that was after losing his canteen and being stranded for a week on Bartucii. It wasn’t that he didn’t know if the water could be consumed by humans as they were all trained in survival on different planets, but who knew what microscopic creatures lived inside the water? Sure, Earth’s water wasn’t much better but he had lived this long on it, whereas he had seen some soldiers succumb to unknown diseases from drinking water from foreign worlds.

  Then again, he had approached his entire career by sipping, figuratively. He took everything that was told to him with a grain of salt. He watched as marines eager to impress and work their way up through the ranks guzzled down the political bullshit that was being handed to them like honey on a spoon. They did it because they wanted to fit in. He’d done it himself as a new recruit. Though age and experience had taught him many things. Now he viewed the entire UEDF through a jaded lens.

  He glanced at his daughter. “Sophie.”

  “Don’t say it, Dad. I made my choice when I signed up.”

  “And now you know the risk involved.”

  She shot back at him, “I knew the risk long before I enlisted. Heck, I heard mom crying every night you were away.”

  Reid felt a lump form in his throat. It wasn’t easy being married to a marine or an SOSR. Earth’s people knew the statistics, and yet it wouldn’t stop future generations from signing up. Everyone had a reason. Some wanted to prove a point and others were just insane.

  “You’ve been in two years now, Sophie, you’ve visited countless planets and experienced war up close and personal. It doesn’t get much better than that. Trust me. The fact that you are still alive is a miracle. Cash out now, and make a life for yourself on Earth. Hell, visit your old man and do some fishing with him.”

  “Would you have done that?”

  “No, but I was foolish when I was young.”

  “You still are.”

  “Maybe.” He shook his head. “The sooner we get off this damn planet the better.”

  No sooner had he finished saying that when Bulldog started yelling. He looked over and saw that they had got out of their suits to go for a swim. Bulldog was peering down into the deep blue water, and Phantom was making his way back to the edge.

  “It’s got Priest.”

  “What?” Reid replied rising to his feet.

  “It grabbed me but I managed to pry myself loose,” Phantom said in a panicked state. His eyes were wide and fear masked his face. Grabbed you? He immediately knew what it was.

  There existed a creature on Drozleon called the Kuraca. It looked like a mix of octopus and shark. It had tentacles but they were on the body of a large white. It was usually found in the largest bodies of water on their planet, not in a small area at the bottom of a waterfall, and yet there was no telling what chambers and tunnels lay beneath the surface. Reid yanked off his helmet and slid down a section of his suit that gave him access to a release button. He pressed it and his black matte armor disconnected from the bodysuit beneath. He reached down in one smooth motion, took out a plasma blade, then grabbed a oxdive breather from the front of his armor and jammed it into his mouth and dived into the waters. An oxdive would help him to breathe under the water for up to two hours. The device had tiny holes in it that stopped the water getting in but allowed for free-floating oxygen to get in. The oxygen was then comp
ressed and kept inside small tanks either side of his face, which would allow him to breathe underwater. A similar device had been created on Earth but it only lasted forty-five minutes. Through Earth’s relationship with other species, they had managed to gain access to new technology that allowed them to stay underwater longer using minimal power to compress the oxygen and ensure that no side effects occurred.

  As Reid swam deeper he could see Priest struggling to get free from the Kuraca. He activated the plasma knife, and the water glowed green as he reached Priest and cut through one of the tentacles. He pulled the oxdive device from his mouth and handed it to Priest to give him oxygen. No sooner had he done that when a tentacle grabbed a hold of him by the legs and pulled Reid down. Below him he could see where it had come from. The water might have looked small on the surface but below it was deep, extremely deep and dark. In a fight for his life, he slashed at the tentacle, cutting away his ankles from its powerful grip. Looking up he saw Priest heading for the surface. He began swimming up watching the beast disappear down into the darkness. He was just about to break the surface when he felt it wrap around him again. This time it went around his waist and yanked him down hard. Bubbles came out of his mouth and rose to the surface as he struggled to get free from its grip. It wasn’t just the fact that he was being pulled down into the mouth of this beast but with the pressure that this thing could apply, it was able to snap his bones if it wanted to.

  He began to feel the tension in his chest and desperation as his body screamed for oxygen. Darkness starting creeping in at the sides of his eyes. A sudden bright light appeared beside him just as he lost consciousness.

  When Reid came to, he was coughing up water and laying on his side.

  “That’s it, Lt, spit it up.”

  “Welcome back,” Phantom said.

  “Am I dead?”

  “I’m afraid not,” Bulldog muttered with a grin.

  He rolled over and went to sit up but felt a few seconds of dizziness.

  “Steady there. You might want to take it easy.”

  “What happened?”

  “You don’t remember?” Bulldog asked.

  “I remember…” he muttered trying to push through the brain fog.

  “Your daughter saved you.”

  “What?”

  He looked over at Sophie who was drying off her gear and perched on the edge of a rock. She glanced over and grinned. “Still think I should cash out?” she muttered and then let out a laugh. She acted as though she had just dived with the dolphins. Reid glanced at what was once clear water, now it was dark. Like an oil spillage, the Kuraca’s thick blood tainted and spoiled what beauty remained.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Damp, exhausted and tired, the team had been trudging through the humid jungle of Drozleon for hours. After the close encounter with the Kuraca, Priest was on edge. His eyes darted around the jungle waiting for the next unknown beast to attack.

  By the time they reached the foot of the Garantu Mountains and stared up at the steep incline of narrow trails, to say that everyone had begun to question the mission would have been an understatement.

  “Where are they?” Reid asked the ambassador in a tone that made it clear he was frustrated and at the end of his tether.

  “You see that ridge up there, there is a cave to the right, once we go through, it comes out in a basin. It’s like the inside of a volcano. The only way to access is via that cave or by air. That’s where the chancellor and the refugees are.”

  He shook his head and was the first one to begin the trek up the narrow path. They were silent the rest of the way and had slowed down from exhaustion. After an hour they reached the ridge and the mouth of a large cave. Inside it was pitch-dark. As they stood before it, Reid got an uneasy feeling.

  “Ammo check. How we doing?”

  “So far, so good,” Bulldog replied.

  Reid turned to them and his eyes drifted over what remained of his team. It had been a suicide mission from the start. With only Phantom, Priest, Sophie, Bulldog, Skinner, the ambassador and himself packing weapons, heading into a cave system that could have all manner of alien creatures inside wasn’t something he was comfortable with, but the idea of getting trapped in a basin with only one way in and out, well, that had him questioning whether to continue.

  Bulldog pulled him aside. “Lt. A moment.”

  They walked a short distance away from the group while the others rested on a large collection of boulders at the mouth of the cave.

  “I’ve been talking with the others. We’re thinking a few of us should hang back and wait here. If this truly is the only way in and out, we are going to need to make sure we can get out. If we get trapped, we are screwed.”

  “Yeah, I know. And yet we don’t know what we are up against when we head inside. I can’t leave anyone here.”

  He nodded. “Understood.”

  Bulldog walked back to the group and muttered a few words with each of them. They shot Reid a look. Who knew what they were thinking? Did they think he was mad? It wasn’t like his involvement in the war four years ago hadn’t tainted his reputation. Those who weren’t there heard mixed stories. Many on Earth were very vocal and some suggested that Reid had caused the war to start by killing Draskan’s son, others funneled their hatred towards the Echobi people and wanted Earth to remove its outpost, and some saw him as a hero. It didn’t matter what he said, people would have mixed opinions about what happened because they didn’t have all the facts. The only ones who knew what really happened four years ago, were those that died on the battlefield, Draskan, Kane, a hundred survivors and himself.

  They rested for another five minutes before entering the darkness. The external lighting system on their armor kicked in and the inside of the cave lit up. Shadows danced on the walls as they made their way through. Large stalagmites and stalactites rose from the ground and hung down from the ceiling giving the whole place a creepy appearance.

  “Why did they come here?” Reid asked the ambassador.

  “In the Echobi culture, it’s believed these caves are cursed. Like Earth has myths and legends, from a young age the Echobi are told that their ancestors came from caves and that this cave is a gateway to the afterlife.”

  The ambassador stumbled and Reid caught her before she nearly slipped down into a crevice. Loose rocks disappeared into the darkness. Panting hard, she looked up at him, gripping his arm. “Thank you.”

  He didn’t reply but continued on.

  “Anyway, they are told that any Echobi that comes into these caves while alive will be torn apart by a beast called the Haravnu.”

  “What the hell is that?”

  “A myth.”

  “If the Echobi believe the myth, and the refugees are on the other side of here, what made them certain that no harm would come to them?”

  “Kenji. It’s the reason why Draskan wants him. The Echobi are a very different species to humans. They hang upon their word of their leaders as though it is coming from the mouth of God himself.”

  “Yeah, that wouldn’t go over well on Earth.”

  “They know nothing else than to believe what is told to them. That’s why so many have spent their lives destroying worlds. Create enough fear in a person and you would be surprised at what they would do, even if it goes against common sense. I would have thought you knew this?”

  “They don’t teach us everything in the academy. Just the essentials in order to kill them.”

  She scoffed. “Then what you need to know is that they operate very much like a wolf pack. Though wolves are a cooperative species that hunt together to survive, they also know that their survival is only as strong as their weakest wolf.”

  “The Omega.”

  “That’s right. The lowest in the social order. The weakest. Have you ever seen a pack attack its Omega?”

  He shook his head.

  “It’s not known how they determine this, but it’s suggested that it’s based on how they hunt or fi
ght. Once that Omega is made known to the rest they will gang up and attack it because it’s believed that it will make the rest of the pack stronger. They either fight back or eventually leave the pack. The chancellor of the Echobi is usually considered the Alpha but Draskan has polluted the minds of those around Kenji to make the others see him as the Omega.”

  “Because he has chosen to unite with Earth?”

  She nodded. They made their way around small bodies of water inside the cave. Water could be heard dripping around them, and the air was so hot it was making it hard for the ambassador to talk and walk at the same time. She sounded out of breath. Without a suit, she didn’t have anything to monitor her body temperature or adjust it.

  “Draskan has done what all dictators do when they rise up among a group. He has warped the minds of those around him using fear. Fear has been used for generations on Earth to get people to believe and act in ways they never would. From religion to politics, the same tactic is used. Spread the fear of what might happen if a person doesn’t believe or follow a certain person, principles or position and you might not win everyone but you will gain a following. And that’s all that Draskan needed, a small following of enough people who believed that the chancellor was too weak to lead and the rest is just a snowball effect. Those who don’t believe he is right, Draskan kills.”

  “Like Hitler, Attila the Hun and Stalin.”

  “Something like that. Once people are divided, the system that once held them together collapses.”

  “Like a stack of cards,” he muttered peering into the darkness.

  Reid understood Draskan on the surface. He knew that his need to be in control superseded what changes were being made for the good of the people. Kenji, like Benja had tried to work with Earth’s people to create a relationship that would lead to peace not war. But Draskan was a different kettle of fish.

  Though Ambassador Powers felt that the Echobi were very different, in his eyes he felt that they were much like humans. For centuries, long before Earth united and countries became a thing of the past, nations had warred with each other. It had been driven by ego and the need to establish one country better than another. Exclusivity for the longest of time had been Earth’s weakness, but eventually nations united.