by Ken Lozito
Sean took a long look at the authorization window that awaited his input. This was his plan for striking a crippling blow against the enemy, so why was it so hard for him to push the proverbial button? Sierra was their home and he hated seeing it destroyed. And what was worse was the fact that there was a Vemus Alpha ship filled with more soldiers, so was there even a point to the destruction? Sean gritted his teeth. Frowning, he looked away from the authorization prompt and sighed. He couldn’t worry about the Vemus Alpha in orbit above the planet. The Vemus army in Sierra was what he needed to deal with. Sean used his implants to send his authorization codes, and the Saber failsafe armed. The authorization window flickered away and was replaced with the Saber failsafe status set to ARMED.
“You did the right thing, Major,” Captain Diaz said quietly.
“Why does it feel so shitty then?” Sean asked.
“There are no perfect solutions,” Captain Diaz replied.
Sean gave him a sidelong glance. “You sound like Connor now.”
Captain Diaz snorted. “Who do you think I first heard say it?”
For the next ninety minutes, Sean helped coordinate the strategic withdrawal from Sierra. Wounded soldiers were loaded onto the tram and taken out of the city where ground support vehicles waited to take them to the gathering place. The secret encampment was located in a highly defensible position about a hundred kilometers from the city.
The Vemus pressed the CDF forces back to the tower. The strategic withdrawal of troops worked as long as their lines of soldiers weren’t overwhelmed. Each group had to cover the retreat of the previous. There had been a steady stream of CDF soldiers making their way to the tower and then flying out on Hellcat troop carriers. Sean heard the fighting gain intensity down below as the Vemus stormed the landing field and ordered all soldiers in the tower to head to the roof. He glanced out the window and still saw CDF soldiers firing their weapons at the Vemus from nearby buildings surrounding the tower complex.
“We need to get those soldiers out of there before they’re cut off,” Sean said.
Captain Diaz contacted the Hellcat commander to relay Sean’s orders. Sunset had long since passed and they were in the darkest of night—as dark as night could get on a planet with brightly lit rings around it. He saw the glowing points of the Hellcats’ engines as they blazed by. There were more than a few CDF soldiers who had stayed behind, doing whatever they could to stall the enemy’s advance. The city was being overrun, just as Sean had known it would be. If he’d kept all his soldiers in the city, they might have held it for another day, but the outcome would still have been the same. They would all be dead. The feeds from the recon drones that flew through the city showed Vemus fighters moving into the area, except for the groups that were busy lining up fallen CDF soldiers who were now covered in a viscous liquid that transformed into a dark pod. Something began to move inside some of them. Sean had taken his fair share of shots at them, as well as the Vemus in the surrounding area, but it only slowed down the metamorphosis happening inside the pods.
They headed to the roof and Sean caught the urgent chatter from the teams still making their way up the tower. Vemus forces were trying to cut them off by scaling the outer walls.
“J-Squad to the edge of the roof. They need covering fire!” Sean ordered.
He grabbed his M-Viper and ran to the east side of the roof, where CDF soldiers slid toward the low walls. The corded safety lines that prevented people from leaning over the side had already been cut away. Sean squatted and quickly crawled toward the edge. CDF soldiers joined him, and he felt someone grab hold of his legs. Sean glanced behind him.
“Give ’em hell, sir!” the soldier said.
Other soldiers quickly moved in and did the same thing, throwing themselves over the legs of the soldiers who were firing their weapons at the Vemus.
Sean leaned over the edge of the thirty-meter-tall tower, which was minuscule compared to the major cities on Earth but was the tallest building in Sierra. He aimed his M-Viper. The light sensor on his scope had already adjusted to the darkness and compensated for it. Sean had a clear view of the Vemus soldiers scrambling up the walls. The creatures’ claws gouged into the sides of the tower as they quickly climbed upward.
Sean squeezed the trigger, sending high-velocity projectiles downward and taking the Vemus soldiers by surprise. The Vemus were knocked from the sides of the building. Some slammed into other Vemus soldiers, knocking them off as well. Several floors beneath them, Sean saw the flashes of Vemus weapons fire.
Sean looked behind him and saw Compton. “Make sure they have backup in the stairwell, Lieutenant.”
Compton ran off and Sean scanned below, looking for more Vemus to kill. Hellcats flew to the rooftops and CDF soldiers clambered to get aboard. Another Hellcat circled the tower and used its main M-180 gauss cannon to tear into the enemy. The Hellcat stayed on the move, and the Vemus soldiers were unable to get a clear shot at it.
“Time to go, Major!” Captain Diaz shouted.
The soldier holding Sean’s legs down pulled him back from the edge. Sean pushed himself up to his feet, thanking him, and they ran toward the waiting Hellcat. The tower was alive with the Vemus’s high-pitched whistles and clicks, and it suddenly seemed like a spoken language that Sean couldn’t begin to comprehend. All he knew was that he never wanted to hear that sound again. Sean reached the hatch on the Hellcat and gestured for the soldiers to climb aboard. A squad was covering the stairwell entrance. There were still CDF soldiers running through the door, escaping the hordes of Vemus inside. When the last soldiers came out, the nearest soldier threw a grenade and ran toward them. There was a bright flash as the grenade exploded.
“Your turn, sir,” Captain Diaz said, gesturing with his thick, muscular arms.
Sean was about to turn and climb aboard when he noticed a dark shape scramble onto the rooftop. He reached out and grabbed Captain Diaz, shoving him aboard the Hellcat. Sean quickly followed while the Vemus opened fire on the Hellcat.
“Go! Go!” Lieutenant Compton bellowed.
Sean felt something hot singe through the armor protecting his shoulder, followed by intense pain. He cried out, and the CDF soldiers dragged him further into the Hellcat, away from the hatchway. The Hellcat’s pilot maximized the thrusters and the troop carrier sped away.
“I’m fine. Let me up,” Captain Diaz said.
He pushed his way to Sean’s side and looked at his wounded shoulder.
“Get me a medical pack, ASAP!” Captain Diaz said and then looked at Sean. “Just had to be the hero, didn’t you? Just lie there for a second. You’re bleeding. That damn weapon of theirs cut right through your armor.”
Sean gritted his teeth at the pain. “Now you owe me one.”
Diaz snorted. “We’ll see about that,” he said and then glared at the nearest CDF soldier. “What the hell is taking so long? If you move any slower, you might be standing still, damn it!”
A CDF soldier hastened over, carrying a medical pack. Diaz reached inside and grabbed the medi-gun, which carried the treatment for severe burns.
“Alright, bite down. A lot of pain and then nothing at all. You ready?” Captain Diaz asked.
“Stop sweet-talking me and just do it already, Captain,” Sean said through clenched teeth.
“You must have spoken to my wife. She likes to take charge, too,” Captain Diaz said. He ripped open a sealed canister and shoved it into the medi-gun. “Alright, on three.”
Sean didn’t hear the rest because Diaz squeezed the trigger and medi-paste flooded the wound. Nanorobotic-filled paste swarmed over the wounded area and Sean’s vision swam. He squeezed his eyes shut against the pain and then his shoulder became numb, but he was still gasping as he opened his eyes. He took several deep breaths and looked up at Diaz, who grinned down at him.
Sean climbed to his feet and looked at his shoulder. There was a thick, flexible mesh that looked like an extra layer of skin. He rolled his shoulder and felt a dull a
che, but he knew better than to overdo it; his shoulder needed time to heal. At least the pain had lessened.
He looked at Diaz. “I thought you said you’d go on three?”
Captain Diaz smiled, showing a healthy set of pearly whites. “That’s just so you’d relax before I got you.”
“Thanks,” Sean said dryly.
The cool night air came in through the open hatchway in the back of the Hellcat. Sierra was a sea of blazing fires. He could still hear the firing of CDF weapons from inside the city, but it was sporadic and spread out.
“There are men back there,” Sean said.
“We can’t get to them,” Captain Diaz replied.
Sean pressed his lips together and clenched his teeth. The Vemus had taken the city. While they could chance a flyover high above the city, they couldn’t risk going down there to extract the CDF soldiers they’d left behind. Sean walked toward the hatchway and watched. He’d gotten the Vemus to do exactly what he wanted, so why did he feel like they’d just lost the battle? The Hellcat raced past the edge of the city and over the dark forests beyond.
Captain Diaz came to his side. “All Hellcats still flying have cleared the city, sir.”
Sean drew in a breath and held it, allowing his eyes to take in this last sight of the home they’d built. Buildings were burning, and many soldiers had died in defense of the city as part of their ruse to draw the Vemus in.
Sean used his neural implants to take control of the Hellcat’s communications system. He sent out a warning signal to the other Hellcats, then counted to ten and sent the detonation signal for the Saber failsafe. Sean watched as a bright flash lit up Sierra as if a molten sun had just ignited in the middle of the city. He looked away from the bright light, but he couldn’t block out the intense sound of the thermal nuclear explosion, which had enough force to level the city and the area surrounding it. One moment Sierra was there and the next it was gone, wiped clean off the face of New Earth. Sean wondered if they would later find a crater where the city had been or if it would just be scorched earth. He forced his gaze ahead, not wanting to look back at where Sierra had been.
The Hellcat was far enough away that they hadn’t felt the kinetic forces from the explosion, and they experienced an uneventful twenty-minute flight to the away zone. The Hellcats and ground vehicles that had left earlier had made it to the coordinates. They were far away from the secret civilian bunkers they’d built, which Sean couldn’t really think about at the moment.
Diaz came over and sat next to him. “You made the right call,” he said.
Sean lifted his gaze and looked at him. “Would he have made the same call?” he asked.
Diaz nodded without even a hint of hesitation. “Connor would have done the same thing.”
Sean sighed. “I guess that’s something. The question remains: what happens when more soldiers from the Vemus Alpha come down here?”
Captain Diaz swallowed hard. “I’m sure Colonel Hayes and the rest of our forces at Lunar Base are going to take care of that.”
Sean wished he had Diaz’s confidence, but he didn’t say that aloud. No need to spread disharmony in the face of losing their home.
The Hellcat landed and Sean walked down the ramp. The night air was fresh and cool, not at all like the acrid smoke they’d been breathing in Sierra. He glanced up at the deceptively peaceful night sky.
Lieutenant Compton walked over to him. “Major, they need you at one of the tents.”
Sean shook his head. “Can’t I get a moment, just one moment to get my bearings? Is that too much to ask!”
Lieutenant Compton looked over at Captain Diaz for a moment.
“Sir, it’s your father. He’s been hurt.”
The exhaustion pressing in on Sean suddenly vanished. “Where is he?”
“Medical tent seven. This way,” Lieutenant Compton said.
Sean followed the big lieutenant as they ran toward the CDF encampment. Tent seven was only a short distance from the landing zone. He ran inside the tent and saw his mother standing, grim-faced, beside a bed. Confusion and then surprise chased each other across Sean’s face. His mother was supposed to be at Sanctuary. How’d she even gotten here? But as soon as the question formed in his mind, he realized his mother had probably bullied her way back. She looked up at his arrival, her eyes brimming with tears. Sean looked down and saw that his father was gravely wounded.
His mother wiped her eyes and walked over to him. “He doesn’t have much time,” she said.
Sean’s mouth hung open. “What happened? Isn’t there anything you can do?”
His father stirred at the sound of Sean’s voice and opened his one good eye. The other was swollen shut. Sean could see that his father’s torso was bloody and bruised beneath the white sheet. He lifted the sheet up and gasped.
“Sean,” his father said.
Sean looked at his father and sorrow closed up his throat. “I sent you away from the combat zone. To make sure you were safe . . .”
The painfully grim lines of his father’s mouth lifted. “I had to help, son,” his father said softly.
The skin around Sean’s eyes became tight and his vision started to blur. “You should have . . .”
“What? Gone to safety while other people died? That’s not what you would have done.”
Sean noted the stubborn gleam in his father’s one good eye and recognized a similar view when he looked at himself in the mirror. He leaned closer to the bed. “Thank you.”
His father’s lips lifted for a moment and then his body arched in pain. He grabbed Sean and pulled him closer. “Survive,” his father said in a harsh whisper, and then he collapsed to the bed, his body going limp. He heard his mother cry out and then slam her fist on his father’s chest. She began administering chest compressions while calling out for medicine. None of the medics moved and Sean glanced at all the blood on the floor. There was no coming back from such a huge loss.
Sean reached for his mother and she snarled at him.
“He’s. Not. Gone,” she said, emphasizing each word with a compression.
Sean watched as his mother pounded on his father’s chest. “He is gone. You need to stop.”
Sean gently grabbed his mother’s arms as they kept pressing on his father’s chest. He brought his other arm around her shoulders, but she just wouldn’t stop. “Please, Mom, you need to stop. He’s gone.”
Sean tried to pull his mother away but she drove her elbow into his stomach. He took hold of her firmly and pulled her back while she cried out, reaching toward his father. Sean held her as she sagged into his arms, weeping. He felt his own tears streaking down his face as everything he’d walled up inside burst forth. He clung to his mother and tried to be strong. It was what she needed. The people around them stepped back, giving them room. Theirs wasn’t the only grief being felt that night, but Sean couldn’t think of anyone else as his mother sobbed in his arms.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
There was a heavy silence across the Command Center on Phoenix Station. Connor had just gotten an update from Lunar Base that Sierra had been destroyed.
“A nuclear explosion,” Major Elder said. “We destroyed our own city.”
Connor frowned as he reread the report.
“Major Quinn wouldn’t have done this without careful consideration,” Captain Randle said.
“He’s right,” Connor said.
“But, General, why would Major Quinn destroy not only Sierra but Delphi and New Haven?” Major Elder asked.
CDF soldiers in the Command Center craned their necks so they could hear Connor’s response.
“We obviously don’t have all the information, but my guess is that Major Quinn made a strategic decision,” Connor said. “They couldn’t hold the city, so he did exactly what I would have done—lure the enemy inside and then blow them to kingdom come.”
“But General, there are people here who have families there,” Major Elder said.
“The cities had alrea
dy been evacuated and the most recent reports indicate that most civilians are safe at either the secret bunkers or Sanctuary. Look, I know it’s tough being in the dark about what’s going on back home. I get it. But we still have a job to do. We’re still fighting for those same people,” Connor said.
Slowly, the Command Center returned to its normal buzz of activity. He knew the war was far from over. With a ship that size, many more Vemus fighters were bound to begin the next stage of the invasion. The question remained: could the Vemus detect the bunkers they’d built, or Sanctuary?
“General Gates,” Lieutenant Daniels said, “Dr. Kim has an update for you and requests that you join him in his lab.”
Connor thanked her and gave a slightly annoyed glance at the main holoscreen, which was still broken.
“Captain Thorne, you have the con,” Connor said.
“Yes, General,” his tactical officer replied.
Connor left the Command Center and had Captain Randle send a comlink to Captain Walker to meet them at the lab. Major Elder followed them. Connor kept thinking about Sierra, trying to imagine just how bad the fighting must have been. The report he’d read indicated that the Vemus’s fighting abilities had increased throughout the course of the engagement. Connor was familiar with soldiers becoming more adept at their jobs, but this was something different. If the war continued for a lengthy period of time, the Vemus would continue to become even more dangerous. Was this what had happened to the NA Alliance military? They needed to end this war quickly if they were going to have any hope of survival.
Connor walked into the Research and Development Lab. Captain Walker was already there and snapped to attention.
“At ease, Captain,” Connor said and looked at Dr. Kim. “I’ve given you more than thirty minutes. Tell me you have some good news.”
Dr. Kim nodded and then gestured one of his assistant researchers toward a clear container on the lab table. Connor glanced inside and saw a small puddle of dark liquid.
