by Ken Lozito
Captain Randle frowned. “What’s to stop this thing from spreading to creatures from New Earth?”
“There’s no way to know for sure. The experts won’t say. They’ll only say something about life developing on different evolutionary paths. Plus, we know that Earth scientists modified the virus, which made it into something outside of nature,” Connor said.
Captain Walker nodded. “I remember my brother mentioning that. But we can’t afford to let any of them escape.”
“You’ll get no arguments from me on that. Let’s give Dr. Kim some time and hope he’ll give us some good news. In the meantime, we need to come up with a plan to take out that Vemus Alpha,” Connor said.
“General, this station doesn’t have any weapons capabilities,” Captain Randle said.
Captain Walker arched a brow in surprise.
Connor leveled his gaze at them. “Yes, it does.”
“We have no missiles or heavy weapons, sir,” Captain Randle said.
“You’re right, we don’t, but I was thinking of something much more dangerous,” Connor replied.
Captain Randle frowned in confusion.
“Never underestimate the power of what a soldier can accomplish with the use of only his rifle. There are a few hundred of us left here, and we have the element of surprise,” Connor said.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Sierra was a war zone and Sean was at the epicenter. Vemus soldiers roamed the streets of the outer city, hunting for them. Sean was in the upper levels of a high-rise building, and the high-pitched whistles and clicks of the Vemus soldiers drew closer as a horde of them closed in on Sean and his team. The combined CDF and Field Ops forces had held the line for as long as they could before retreating. Civilian militia helped with the wounded, running them back to temporary safe zones so they could be transported away from the city.
Sean looked through the scope of his M-Viper rifle and watched a group of Vemus soldiers surround a fallen CDF soldier who was in a twisted heap, covered with a thick black liquid. The soldier squirmed, and for a moment, his face was free of the viscous liquid. He struggled to move his arms but the Vemus pinned him down to the ground. The soldier screamed. Something dark slithered along his body and went into his mouth. The soldier’s eyes widened as he tried to cry out. Sean lined up his shot and squeezed the trigger. A lone shot of mercy rang out amidst the gunfire that raged throughout Sierra. The writhing CDF soldier jerked back and then was still. Sean moved away from the window. He’d lost count of how many shots he’d taken like that. Mercy killings. He preferred to think he was easing their pain, but it only slowed the Vemus down. They didn’t abandon anyone on the battlefield regardless of whether they were living or not. All seemed to have equal value.
There was a muffled bang from several floors beneath them.
“We can’t stay here. They’re through the barricade downstairs,” Lieutenant Compton said. “There’s a Hellcat waiting for us on the roof, Major.”
Sean followed Lieutenant Compton up the stairs. The Vemus had ignored the buildings unless they knew CDF were inside. He’d ordered CDF soldiers to remain behind beyond the line of battle to hamper the Vemus soldiers as they pushed forward. They’d conceal their locations and then strike the enemy from behind before escaping to the next building using temporary walkways.
The Vemus seemed conditioned to engage only with something directly in their path, and Sean exploited this weakness for as long as it was effective, but they eventually caught on. The Vemus always did, and in this case it didn’t take them long to learn that they had to start clearing the buildings before moving forward. The longer the Vemus engaged the Colonial Defense Force, the more intelligent they became in the execution of their tactics.
Sean ran up the stairwell and heard a Hellcat troop carrier flying overhead. They didn’t stop in any one place for very long. He’d tasked the Hellcats with transporting soldiers, removing them from hot zones but keeping them in the fight for as long as they were able. The Hellcats were armed with an M-180 gauss cannon capable of firing thirty-millimeter projectiles in rapid succession. When engaged, the M-180 was capable of mowing down whatever enemy force was in its path. The problem was the damn Vemus energy weapons, which were capable of bringing down even the Hellcats. But the Hellcats could provide air support for a limited time and sometimes that made all the difference for the mobile infantry units on the ground. No sooner would a CDF squad get picked up than they were deposited at another location within the city. The CDF still fought, even knowing they had no hope of pushing the enemy out of the city. Instead, they fought to kill as many Vemus soldiers as they could while drawing them farther into the city.
Sean and the others exited the stairwell and followed Lieutenant Compton onto the waiting Hellcat. As soon as he was aboard and the Hellcat pilot was flying away, a CDF soldier raised a rocket launcher to his shoulder and fired it at the building. There was a brief lull in the area before the interior of the building exploded, killing all the Vemus soldiers inside.
In an instant, the hard work of the colonists was ripped to pieces. Sean had stopped telling himself they’d rebuild it all someday. It didn’t help. After destroying several buildings, it didn’t feel as if there would ever be anything here but death and destruction. A deep-seated fury took hold of him each time a part of Sierra was demolished. They’d killed so many Vemus soldiers, but it was never enough. The brief euphoria at gouging the enemy’s numbers was always short-lived. In the beginning, he’d relished the feeling. Striking the enemy down had sparked a deep satisfaction, knowing he’d hurt the things that were there to kill them. Then, bitterness set in at the reality of what they were facing. What good was a victory when they had to destroy their home in order to survive? But still, he would fight. He clutched his rifle—just as all the CDF soldiers had—and kept throwing himself into the fray. Survival required a sacrifice paid for in blood, and the colony as a whole was paying a terrible price.
Sean glanced over to the side and watched as another Hellcat flew toward a rooftop to extract soldiers waiting for a pickup. As the Hellcat approached the rooftop, a large group of Vemus soldiers stormed onto the rooftop of a neighboring building and threw themselves at the ship. The pilot tried to steer the ship away, but some of the Vemus fighters made it on board. Sean raised his weapon and called for help. He aimed and glimpsed the soldiers inside the Hellcat, trying to fight the Vemus soldiers. Deadly blue bolts flashed inside the aircraft. The Vemus had long abandoned the less effective white stunner bolts. The blue bolts could penetrate armor and combat suits alike. Sean was about to fire his weapon when the Hellcat slammed into the neighboring building and crashed onto the street below. Sean ordered the pilot to bring them around so they could search for survivors, but before they could move into position there was an orange flash and the Hellcat exploded. As the Vemus began to turn deadly weapons toward their aircraft, the pilot quickly flew them away.
Sean clenched his teeth and glared at the building swarming with Vemus soldiers. “Sergeant Mitchell, take out that building.”
“Sorry, Major, no more rockets,” Sergeant Mitchell replied.
Sean blew out a harsh breath and sat down, using his neural implants to sift through the updates from his platoon commanders. The sun was waning in the sky and the Vemus showed no signs of slowing down. Their own equipment worked just fine at night, so it was safe for Sean to assume that the Vemus wouldn’t be stopping to rest anytime soon. Did they ever rest?
“Sir, I have a comlink from Captain Diaz. He’s on his way to the tower already,” Lieutenant Compton said.
“Put him through,” Sean said.
A new connection registered with the comlink interface.
“Major, the battle lines are collapsing. The CDF forces to the east are already at the central tower. They were hit pretty hard,” Captain Diaz said.
Sean could hear the sounds of the battle on the other end of the comlink. “Understood. We need to hold that tower. I’ll send rein
forcements there now.”
“Sir, I was hoping you would be among the reinforcements,” Captain Diaz said.
Sean frowned. They were nowhere near the central tower. He glanced out the open hatchway to get his bearings, and his eyes widened. He’d completely lost his sense of direction. They’d been fighting and moving from building to building while drawing the Vemus steadily toward the central part of the city. A heavy toll had been extracted from the Vemus, but Sean couldn’t quite believe that they were already near the central city line.
He looked at Lieutenant Compton grimly. “Order the retreat. All troops are to fall back to the tower. If they can’t make it, they’re to go to the designated extraction points for pickup,” Sean said. “We’ll see you shortly, Captain Diaz.”
“Understood, Major,” Captain Diaz said, and the comlink closed.
Sean went to the cockpit. “Change in plans. Take us to the tower.”
“Yes, Major,” the pilot said.
They didn’t have far to fly. There were still a lot of Hellcats in the air, and when it became apparent that they weren’t going to hold the city, certain members of the CDF requested permission to set up a few parting gifts for the Vemus. High-grade explosives were hastily deployed, waiting to be triggered by the unsuspecting Vemus forces. Those explosives would stop the Vemus fighters permanently.
It was then that Sean noticed the smaller Vemus fighters as they reached the tops of the buildings and attempted to glide to the next one. They had skin that stretched from their wrists to their feet. They were much smaller than the average Vemus fighter, at only five feet in height. But for what they lacked in height, they made up in numbers. They were astonishingly fast, but they were also easier to bring down. Sean saw a group of them try to reach the rooftop of a building where the CDF had an M-180 gauss gun nest. The soldiers fired the M-180, cutting the gliding Vemus fighters down, and their small bodies fell to the streets below.
The Hellcat took them to the landing area in the shadow of Sierra’s tallest tower. Sean and the rest of the team climbed out and the Hellcat flew off to extract another troop. With his boots on solid ground again he felt weakness deep in his muscles. He was beyond the safety of consuming more stimulants, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t have time to rest. None of them did.
The landing area was a buzz of activity as soldiers were dropped off and wounded soldiers were taken to the tramway beneath the city. There was only one tramway working. All the other tunnels had been destroyed to prevent the Vemus from using them.
Director Mills walked toward him. His towering form allowed his long strides to quickly cover the distance between them, and his gaze no longer held the bitter disgust it had displayed earlier.
Sean looked at the Director of Field Ops and Security. “Are the trams still running?”
“They are. All these soldiers are being moved there for the final run before we blow the last tunnel,” Director Mills said.
“Better make it fast. The Vemus forces are going to make a major push right for this area,” Sean replied.
Director Mills frowned and Sean guessed that his father’s friend wanted to ask how Sean could possibly know what the Vemus were going to do.
“We’ll get it done,” Director Mills said.
Sean continued to walk. He needed to get to the Command Center they’d established inside the tower.
“Sean, wait,” Mills said.
Sean stopped and looked back at him.
“I’m sorry about before. I should have trusted you,” Mills said.
“It’s gotta be hard since you’ve known me since I was a teenager,” Sean replied.
Director Mills nodded. “And one who excelled at getting into trouble.”
Sean snorted. “We’ve come a long way,” he said and glanced at Lieutenant Compton, who gestured that they needed to get moving. Sean looked back at Mills. “Make sure you’re on that last tram. I need someone to get those wounded soldiers to safety.”
Director Mills arched a brow knowingly. “And here I thought you just wanted to get me out of the way.”
“That too. You’re a pain in the ass,” Sean said with a half-smile.
Director Mills became somber. “About Phoenix Station . . .”
Sean felt his throat seize up as he fought the emotion. “I wouldn’t count Connor out just yet.”
Director Mills pressed his lips together. “No, you wouldn’t, would you? Connor and I clashed on a lot of things, but I know he was very proud of you. He saw something in you that your father and I both missed.”
Sean regarded Director Mills for a moment. “This isn’t goodbye, Damon. I’ll see you later.”
Damon Mills nodded. “Right . . . see you later.”
Sean left the Director of Field Ops and Security, keeping a firm grip on his emotions. Thinking about Phoenix Station and the fact that Sierra was a heartbeat from being destroyed threatened to topple his resolve. He hastened toward the tower and took the elevator to the CDF mobile Command Center. He remembered when the tower had been completed, commemorating the colony’s sixth anniversary. It was a time when belief in a hostile attack force that was on their way here was starting to wane in earnest. All the preparations they’d made by building Titan Space station, the beginnings of the CDF space fleet, and the missile defense platforms had lulled them into a false sense of security, which Sean hadn’t been completely immune to. He’d thought they would have more time. The only people whose commitment never wavered were Connor, Wil, and Kasey—the most senior military officers in the Colonial Defense Force and men who not only had actual combat experience but who had made a career of neutralizing threats that operated outside the normal confines of society. Those men might not have been ideally suited for mankind’s first interstellar colony, but they were the best men to see that the colony survived what was coming. Wil and Kasey had been killed during the colony’s first battle with the Vemus, and Sean had to admit, if only to himself, the very real possibility that Connor Gates was dead as well. Sean hated that he’d ever had the slightest inkling of doubt that an attack force like the Vemus was coming for them. It all seemed so foolish now with the benefit of hindsight.
The elevator doors opened and the CDF soldiers in the Command Center glanced up, immediately looking relieved that Sean was there. Sean had seen this same thing many times when Connor walked into a room. There was a certain comfort that came when the burden of command rested on someone else’s shoulders and that superior officer was someone like Connor. Sean kept expecting their gazes to shift to the side where Connor would normally have been standing, but they were all looking at him. The soldiers at the entrance saluted him, and Sean returned the salute as he walked past them.
Sean glanced toward the windows, where he saw multiple Hellcats flying in, dropping soldiers off. There were several flashes of light about half a kilometer from where the line of battle was still being fought.
“Major Quinn, I need you over here, sir,” Captain Diaz called out from the CIC.
Sean turned away from the windows and walked over toward Diaz, who stood at the command table where the three-dimensional holographic display was focused in on the tower and the immediate surrounding area. Sean grabbed a canteen of water and gulped it down.
“Where do we stand, Captain?” Sean asked.
Captain Diaz regarded him for a moment with concern. “How many stims have you had beyond the recommended dosage, sir?”
Sean gave him a hard look, which he knew wouldn’t change the pupil dilation in his eyes that had no doubt given him away. “Irrelevant, Captain.”
Captain Diaz frowned but didn’t press the matter. Sean knew he was beyond the maximum dosage allowed, but he also knew he could push the limits. He could hear his mother’s voice in the back of his mind, scolding him for doing such a thing, but he ignored it. He had a job to do and had no time to worry about how his body would need to cope with the withdrawal symptoms from extended stim usage. If he survived long enough to experience
the severe muscle cramping and the inability of his brain to determine reality, it would be a blessing.
“All CDF troops are falling back to this position. The Vemus have been pushing forward much harder than they were before. It’s like they become more capable the longer they fight,” Captain Diaz said.
“It’s only going to get worse. Those bastards can smell blood in the water,” Sean said.
Captain Diaz’s face became a thoughtful frown. “Interesting choice of words. The last group of scientists we evacuated from here had a theory about the Vemus mimicking the behavior of ocean mammals, particularly predators, which might account for their appearance.”
“Does it help us kill them?” Sean asked harshly, the stims barely keeping exhaustion at bay.
Captain Diaz’s expression went back to business. “Well, they do seem to follow an alpha in their midst, which suggests they might organize themselves into packs.”
“Which is why we’ve been targeting those alphas. It stalls their attack when we can take them down,” Sean said.
“And they’re the hardest to kill,” Captain Diaz said.
“I don’t care where the scientists think the Vemus came from. I only care about stopping them,” Sean said.
“What about knowing one’s enemy, sir?” Captain Diaz said evenly.
Sean shook his head and grinned. Connor had preached the importance of learning all they could about their enemy. “Point taken, but we really don’t have time for a theoretical discussion,” Sean said.
Captain Diaz nodded and brought up the Saber failsafe interface, which required Sean’s authorization.
“It’s a little too soon for that, don’t you think?” Sean asked.
Saber failsafe was the CDF code for the self-destruct that would level the entire city.
“This is the authorization for it to be armed. Detonation has to be authorized by you or the next officer in the chain of command in the area,” Captain Diaz said.
