by Noah Barnett
The ship was about four stories tall, and rested on the six enormous thrusters. The loading ramp was lowered, so Remy fired several HE rounds inside. Charlie paused at the bottom waiting for Tobias to catch up. Half a dozen squads pushed past him. Remy was already inside squealing with joy firing grenades across the lower deck. Jen took up a position to the left of the ramp, aimed at a building near the east side, and fired several shots.
Ponderously, Tobias climbed up the steep ramp. Charlie backed inside and called, "Jen." The sniper fired one more round then climbed to her feet and followed.
Crates of scavenged metal filled half the lower deck. A machine churned the scrap into base components before feeding them into more bins. He found Remy hiding behind a metal crate full of gold scrap. A laser burn scoured her right shoulder leaving a third-degree burn, but Remy smiled like a shark as she reloaded the cylinder of her grenade launcher. Tobias stepped from his cover on the right side and aimed at the stairs in the back. The three barrels spun up to full speed, and Charlie clapped his hands over his ears. A fusillade of bullets sprayed across the deck punching holes into the wall, and several descending aliens were cut apart in the storm.
Ahead of Charlie, a squad of girls leap-frogged toward the right stairwell. On the left, a second group picked their way over the dead aliens. Charlie followed the ladies up to a small landing. Two sets of double doors formed a simple airlock, and a thick square button was mounted on the wall next to it. The first girl to reach the landing slapped it with a gloved hand. It lit up gold, and the door opened onto row after row of pods.
Three aliens popped out of the respawn pods already suited up for war. They turned and fired a pulse of lasers out of the open door, and the two women returned fire while a third pulled the pin on a couple of smoke grenades. She tossed them through inside while Charlie motioned for Tobias.
"We found the alien spawn room," Charlie said pushing the man ahead of him.
"The Lord will be pleased when we sanctify this altar of evil." Came the muffled reply.
Tobias walked forward as the Gatling Cannon began to spit righteous destruction. The steel storm turned right spraying indiscriminately across the cloning bay. Remy followed him through the smoking doorway, and pumped grenades in the opposite direction. Charlie and Jen went in next, along with another squad of girls. Yellow blood and blue cloning fluid covered the floor. A wounded alien soldier came toward him with a cracked visor, and several holes were leaking yellow blood. The carbine it carried fired, and the laser skipped past Charlie's head. Fara bucked against his hip and bullets hammered the Roth. As it fell, Charlie put a few more rounds into its faceplate. In the thick smoke, it wasn't hard to kill the Roth. The lasers left a brief, but visible trail to their location. He raised his weapon and shot at a second creature.
Finally, Charlie managed to find a console near the middle of the room, which was filled with the golden alien script. The first objective was to capture or destroy the spawn room, but he had no idea how to stop the Roth from respawning. A pod ten feet away opened spitting out a white-suited youth, and it looked around in surprise. Charlie drew his 1911 and fired on the Roth as it turned to look at him. The bullet punched through the vulnerable faceplate and into the alien's open mouth. It flopped to the deck. With a prayer, Charlie turned the pistol on the console and emptied the rest of his clip into the screen. The lights in the cloning bay flickered and went out.
Charlie was plunged into darkness with the rest of the assaulting humans. An ear-splitting alarm sounded, and blinking red lights illuminated the room. He found Jen and Remy near the right side. Both wrestled with a spawning soldier. Remy had a hold of its weapon arm, while Jen’s long legs were wrapped around its right side as she drove her dagger up into its helmet. A captain lay nearby with several .50 caliber holes punched into its back. Now, the aliens wouldn't be able to respawn. However, if Charlie were the commander, he'd be setting the self-destruct soon. They had to take the ship fast. More humans were piling into the darkened cloning bay from the lower deck.
They found Tobias near the front of the cloning bay hacking at a pod with his sword. The man's eyes were positively glowing with his fervor, and the pages covering his armor were splattered with blue and yellow gore.
"Tobias, we are moving on," Charlie called. Tobias stood from the remains of the destroyed pod and followed along after Jen and Remy.
The door forward opened revealing a long hallway. At the end was the landing for the double back stairs. Two alien squads knelt behind fixed positions and started to fire. There was no cover, and Charlie forced open an equipment room door. He hurried inside with Tobias right behind him. Remy squeezed in next, which left Jennifer to buddy up on the other side.
"Well, that's a meat blender." Charlie thought. A man from another squad tried to fire off a burst, but was lanced by a dozen lasers.
"Smoke grenades again?" Remy suggested. That had worked well last time, and he nodded.
She popped open her MGL and refilled it, then bounced the grenades off the opposite wall. Soon they skipped and danced along the floor spewing pink smoke. Immediately lasers cut down the hallway in a constant stream.
"Wait for a break!" Charlie shouted over the high pitched noise. Tobias unmounted his cannon, and set it down like Gadreel was made of brittle glass.
"What are you doing?" Charlie asked.
"I will bring the Word of God to these demons," he said removing the metal pack frame.
"You're not going to start that bullshit again, are you?" Remy asked incredulously.
"I am," he replied smiling, but not with those grey eyes of his. Tobias pulled off his damp helmet and unbuckled his armor. His chest underneath was covered in strange religious circles and Latin diagrams. In the hallway, the lasers were still scorching black marks up and down the walls.
"We just need to wait for reinforcements," Charlie said. Time was short, but in a minute more squads were bound to show up.
"You're gonna get your ass shot off," Remy said like it was a matter of fact.
"Have faith, deviant. Besides, my beautiful ‘paperweight’ is out of ammo." Tobias said and took up his sword. He went prone on the floor and crawled into the smoke-filled hallway. He held the sword in one hand with the blade turned to protect his face.
Pink smoke continued to swirl as red lasers crisscrossed the hallway. The air smelled electric like lightning during a storm, and through that tempest, Tobias crawled forward an inch at a time. Charlie reloaded his weapons while he waited. After a minute the mist dissipated enough to make out a form. Tobias stood perfectly still halfway down the hall, with his sword held aloft. He was bare of clothes except for a thick pair of kevlar pants. He was alive, but not unhurt.
A line of black crossed over his brow leaving his left eye milky and blind. Another black mark ran over his scalp burning his peach fuzz off. Four more laser shots had grazed his back, and his blade had half a dozen holes melted into it. Maybe all those protective tattoos did him some good after all. The pink smoke thinned, and Tobias became visible standing in the open hallway, so there was no way the aliens didn't see him.
"Come, heathens! Hear the Word of God and be purified." He thundered. Remy laughed despite herself. Seconds passed as the Roth continued to aim down the hallway. Then a single warrior jumped over the armored wall and ran toward Tobias. His one good eye fixed on the Roth. It was unarmed but a foot taller than the giant man. Its suit was a sophisticated shade of colors like it had graduated from being one of the masses.
The Roth attacked, but Tobias didn't even move. He shifted his weight to his back leg and slashed the blade across at an angle. The alien sailed passed him in two parts and rolled down the hallway. The next Roth leaped from the stairs and sprinted forward, with one hand ahead of it as it tried to tackle the crusader. Tobias roared and brought the two-handed sword down. The blade severed the soldier's arm, shoulder, and part of its torso. A set of lungs and both its hearts spilled out.
Charlie was astonished t
hat it was working. Even if Tobias died, he'd thrown the Roth into a glory-seeking frenzy. Two more soldiers started to step from cover, but they froze as a roar echoed down the stairs. From the command deck, a truly massive suit crashed to the main level. It was immaculate with golden plates, and instead of a helmet, it's lower face was covered with a breathing regulator.
"Satan shows himself at last," Tobias said with a smile. His single wintry eye glittered at the Roth with something approaching madness. The commander stood close to eight feet tall, with dark red skin and little white thorns coming out of its eye-ridges. Two more cream colored horns protruded from its temple curling backward. It withdrew a black saber from behind it's back, and the blade was five feet long with a curved serrated edge. In the other hand, it held a device which was blinking and pulsing.
Tobias changed his stance immediately. He took this older demon more seriously and held his blade defensively. The Commander stalked forward, and the first exchange happened fast. Tobias sidestepped and brought his weapon across his opponents stomach. The captain partially parried. Tobias's blade dug a long furrow in the armor but failed to penetrate. At the last second, Tobias jumped back from the riposte. He reached up touching the side of his head where his ear used to be.
The commander's gold eyes twinkled under his ridges, and it smiled with sharp teeth around its respirator before it dashed forward again. Tobias turned and ran at the wall. He got three steps to it and kicked off trying to gain a few more inches of height. The giant spun in midair slashing with his two-handed sword. The commander cut upward with its black saber, and Tobias's sword flashed as it sank into the opposite wall. Two severed arms were still gripping the weapon's hilt.
"I did not think the demon had courage enough to commit to that swing," Tobias muttered falling backward. Blood pumped out of the two stumps onto the floor. The commander remained standing in the hall. Slowly a line of yellow formed along its neck. Then the head slid free and rolled across the metal floor, which was followed by the body a few seconds later. The blinking device in its hand powered off. Tobias’s one eye gazed up past the bulkhead to the heavens, then closed slowly.
"Holy shit. The nutjob actually knows how to use that thing. Damn it! I'm gonna have to be nicer to the Zealot from now on." Remy said.
The chain of leadership was broken, and the Roth fought to be the ship's next commander. The soldiers on the landing started shooting each other. Charlie ran forward taking the stairs before the Roth finished killing one another. He vaulted the armored railing and fired on two of the fighting defenders. His bullets caught the first in the back, and he grabbed the Roth from behind. The second Roth fired at Charlie, but the pulses blasted into the corpse's chest armor. He angled his M16 under the alien's dead arm and discharged the rest of his magazine. Remy and several others ran past him up the stairs.
The bridge was an elevated disk, and the defenders must have been the bridge crew. It was empty save two green-skinned aliens working the consoles as the others fought below. They didn't even have weapons. Remy skipped across the short distance and daintily placed her magnum against the alien's helmet.
As it looked in her direction, she smiled and said, "Welcome to Earth."
She pulled the trigger, and the helmet snapped backward. The second crew member died less dramatically, but no less brutally. Charlie gained the bridge as Remy was cleaning her weapon of icky yellow blood.
After a few minutes, several humans came aboard carrying laptops and plastic boxes. They pulled panels off and plug in the computer. Lines of orange colored code started to scroll down the screens.
"We're in," the small man announced. The leader of the tech group went over to the Commander's chair. He sat down and placed a hand on the screen. It flashed, and he tapped a button.
"This ship has been captured," The man said, and his voice was projected around the dropship.
"Congratulations, now everyone off the ship. You have a mission to continue." He said flicking the intercomm off.
That was right. There was still three more dropships. The squad was unceremoniously dumped from the ramp. The engines bloomed, and heat blasted the grass into cinders. The players swore and dashed from the vessel as it lifted skyward. It turned east towards what he thought was Texas and disappeared. Charlie felt a little drained as he watched it go.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Spoils of War
Charlie checked the time—7:20 pm.
The event would end at eight, so they had less than an hour left. After capturing the first dropship, things had not gone well. Not at all. Humanity was down to a single spawn center which was under constant siege.
Charlie chewed his nail and glanced at Jennifer. She was lying prone on the kitchen counter with the sniper rifle perched on the dining room table. Jen's unblinking gaze looked through the scope, and down the long avenue. The sun had set more than half an hour ago, and the night was a dark one. Charlie and his team didn't have any night-vision gear, but at least they didn’t have to go far to reach the dropship. The apartment complex sat just four blocks from the nearest one. All they had to do was wait for the signal.
Tobias was keeping an eye on the stairwell, and Remy was being Remy with a squad of players in a next apartment suite. The ancient bed springs were violently protesting the carnal exploits taking place upon it. He sighed and glanced at his watch again. Barely a minute had passed, and he wondered what moron came up with this ridiculous plan. For two hours now human forces had been gathering near one dropship. At the last second, they would zerg rush the Roth in a wild gamble. In Charlie's opinion, it was a stupid plan. They wouldn’t catch the aliens napping, and unlike players, NPC's didn't get bored.
"Stop pacing," Jen said in annoyance.
"I'm bored."
"Go join Remy."
There was a loud female cry from the next apartment suite. Charlie sighed, pulled Fara over his head, and set the weapon down. Then sat in a tottering dining chair, quietly wiggled his foot in the air, and glanced out the window. Outside it was pitch as black, and he lamented not bringing a flashlight into the event.
At last, ten minutes later, a grenade shot skyward and exploded in a brilliant flash. Charlie launched himself from the chair and grabbed Fara from beside him. He didn't wait for Jen as he jogged from the apartment. With a fist, he banged on the next doorway as he went past.
The mattress springs sighed in relief, and a rosy-cheeked Remy ran into the hall wearing nothing but an extra-large shirt. She carried her grenade launcher in one hand while struggling to pull on the two belts of ammo. Following after in various degrees of undress were a squad of male players.
Charlie threw himself headlong down the darkened stairs passing Tobias on the next landing. It had been a long day, and he was eager to make this one last push. Jennifer's pace was more leisurely as she trotted behind them.
Charlie waited just long enough for his team to exit the building before they started forward in a jog. Outside figures were storming the streets like a kicked anthill. In the distance red lasers began to lick out of the upper story windows. Tobias had lessened his weight by dumping half his ammo, so at least he could manage a fast walk. Ahead lasers lanced out from the defenders cutting into the rushing crowd. None stopped, not even to fire back because this plan was an all or nothing gamble.
The dropship became visible in the night. It was the only thing illuminated as it squatted over hole nine of the Wilshire Country Club. Two laser cannon emplacements started to fire. The heavy red beams lit up the sky, and Charlie lost sight of his squad in the wild rush, but it mattered little now as everyone converged on the ship.
He sprinted past a sand trap and up the ramp into the brightly lit interior. The bay was full of metal bins and churning machinery. Further inside humans were forcing their way up the stairs. Finally, he slowed and shouldered his weapon. Charlie was breathing hard as he scanned the stairs through Fara's red dot. The door to the cloning bay opened, and he fired at the Roth as it exited. P
layers pushed passed him even before the corpse rolled to a stop. Charlie followed them in and turned aft running past rows of pods. At the back of the chamber, there was another set of double doors.
He wasn't alone. A man with a blue mohawk slapped the control button, and Charlie aimed down the corridor. Two Roth jogged toward them through a short hallway, and he opened fire tracing both with the spray. His strange new companion went in first while Charlie reloaded. The man had two flash-bangs already unpinned as Charlie caught up and hit the door switch.
Inside, the engine room was sixty feet wide by thirty long, and two containment cylinders pulsed with green energy in the middle. The man tossed his two flashes, and they skidded toward a couple of consoles and exploded while Charlie looked away. Mr. Mohawk lead the way with a P90 SMG in his hand. He unleashed a flurry of rounds into the alien crew. Charlie turned right aiming at two more on the catwalk. They were doing something with the machine near the ceiling. Charlie tried to avoid hitting the equipment as he fired. His first burst caught the closest Roth in the back of the head. The second Roth dropped his tool and grabbed the small carbine laser hanging at its waist. Charlie knelt, aiming quickly at the new threat. Fara bucked against his shoulder and the crew member fell over the railing to the deck.
