Joined In Battle

by Toby Neighbors

  “What?” Dean asked, trying not to let his frustration show.

  “Some of the crawlers got to the shuttle.” He was moving his hands in mid air like an interpreter for the deaf as he controlled the MSVs. “Looks like they ripped off the charging cable. Might have damaged the control receiver too.”

  “Oh shit, are we stuck here?” Adkins asked.

  “If they took out the receiver, the operator can’t fly the shuttle,” Harper said.

  “And that tub doesn’t have manual controls,” Ghost said. “It doesn’t even have a window to see out of.”

  “But it does have an emergency antennae,” Dean said, remembering how he’d used the emergency antennae on Rome Three to keep the Raptor Combat Shuttle from crashing. “As long as she has power, I’m sure Lieutenant Chappelander can fly her.”

  They waited nearly half an hour, ensuring that the sun was up enough to keep the crawlers from attacking. Dean had Tallgrass ignite the thermite. He didn’t like the idea of picking his way through the bodies of the slain crawlers. They weren’t all dead, and he didn’t want to lose anyone after the fighting was all over.

  They made their way carefully back to the shuttle. There were several crawlers around the vehicle, which made Dean nervous, but they were able to do a visual inspection.

  “How do we raise the emergency antennae?” Chavez asked.

  “There’s a manual control handle inside,” Dean said.

  “How do we get inside?” Ghost asked. “The crawlers took down the shortwave antennae and the tight beam projector too. The entire outpost is wrecked. If we can’t utilize the comms gear on the shuttle, we can’t tell the operator back on the ship what we need.”

  “I can open the shuttle with my armor,” Dean said. “Once we have power, that is.”

  “That’s going to take a while,” Harper ventured. “When they tore out the charging the cable, it popped off the battery leads. Loggins and I can fix it, I think, but it will take time.”

  “Time’s what we don’t have,” Dean said. “If we aren’t airborne by nightfall, we won’t survive out in the open.”

  “Then we better get busy,” Harper said. “And we’re going to need some tools from the hangar.”

  “Oh, shit,” Chavez said. “Ain’t nobody gonna want to go back in there.”

  “We’ll do what we have to do,” Dean said. “We’re Recon. We don’t back down.”

  “I ain’t suggesting that we do,” the staff sergeant replied. “I just don’t want to step on one of those things and get my leg ripped off.”

  “I think we can find what we need near where we fought,” Harper said.

  “Let’s get to it,” Dean replied. “Priority one is to restore power to the shuttle. Priority two is to re-establish communications with the Hannibal. And then we go after the workers and get off this wretched planet.”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Chavez said.

  Chapter 19

  Dean, Tallgrass, Landin, and Chavez went back into the hangar to get the tools needed to repair the shuttle. The HA Specialists were in defensive positions on either side of the shuttle, while Ghost took the overwatch position on top of the outpost. Dean led the way through the hole they had cut in the wall using the thermite. The interior of the hangar was still dark, despite the bright sunlight outside.

  There was a mound of dead crawlers filling the large hangar door opening. And more piled around the hole the creatures had torn into the opposite wall. But Dean’s TCU switched to low light and he had no trouble finding tools. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief once they were out of the hangar, which felt more like a tomb to Dean.

  “What’s the damage?” Dean asked Harper, who had been inspecting the ruined power coupler that had been ripped out of the shuttle.

  “Well, we won’t be able to recharge until we get back to the Hannibal,” the Fast Attack Specialist explained. “There’s no way to repair the charging port. It’ll have to be replaced.”

  “But the shuttle should have power,” Dean said, hoping Harper wouldn’t contradict him.

  “It should; we have to see if the damage somehow drained the batteries,” she explained. “I can’t say for certain until we get this panel off and test the batteries.”

  “Hey Captain,” Corporal Landin spoke up. “Looks like I found a manual release for the hatch.”

  “Alright, good work, Corporal. Let’s get it open.”

  The manual release consisted of a small lever that had to be pumped back and forth to lower the hatch, centimeter by centimeter. It took the Demolition corporal nearly half an hour to lower the ramp enough for Dean to get inside. Harper got the charging panel off and worked on the battery connections while Private Loggins worked to reseal the panel so that the shuttle would be airworthy. They couldn’t risk leaving the planet’s atmosphere with a jagged hole in the airframe, not to mention the problems it would cause during flight on the planet.

  Dean got into the shuttle and raised the emergency antennae at almost the same time that Harper got the batteries reconnected. There was still work to be done, securing the batteries and sealing the panel back up, but the shuttle was almost fully charged and Dean was able to utilize the comlink again.

  “Command, this is Wolfpack. Do you read, over?” Dean said once his TCU synced with the shuttle’s communication gear.

  “We have you, thank god, Wolfpack. What the hell is going on down there, over?”

  Anderson was clearly relieved and at the same time pissed off. Dean couldn’t blame the man. They had been cut off for several hours in a combat zone. Not that there was anything the crew of the Hannibal could do, but still, there was nothing worse than feeling helpless and forced to wait.

  “Command, the crawlers cut our communications during the fight,” Dean explained. “We just got the shuttle back online. Please have Lieutenant Chappelander run a diagnostic on the vessel, over.”

  “Lieutenant Chappelander is off duty at the moment,” Anders replied. “Sergeant Fennes is running that diagnostic now. What the hell happened, Blaze, over?”

  “They came at us hard, sir,” Dean said. “Hundreds of them. We were able to hold them off without casualties, but they destroyed the outpost. They also ripped the charging cable out of the shuttle and damaged the control receiver. We got power back on and raised the emergency antennae. We’re working to repair the panel that covers the charging port, but we won’t be able to recharge the shuttle until it’s replaced, over.”

  “Sir,” Dean heard Sergeant Fennes’ voice over the Command channel. “We have the replacement parts already fabricated. I can have it repaired in less than a day once the shuttle is back on board the Hannibal.”

  “I’m thinking that we should bring your platoon home, Captain,” Anders said. “We’ll make repairs to the shuttle and then you can rescue the workers, over.”

  “Negative, sir,” Dean said. “If the workers are still alive, we’ve got one chance to get them off the planet. They won’t last another night—not if they’re hit the way we were, over.”

  “And you won’t survive if the shuttle can’t get you back to the ship,” Anders said. “That’s one hell of a risk, Captain, over.”

  “I agree, sir, but we have to try. The creatures down here are merciless and damn hard to kill. Give us half a day to find survivors. Sergeant Fennes can observe the shuttle’s power from her station on the bridge. If we use more than a quarter of our power, we’ll come home, over.”

  “This mission is turning into a disaster,” Anders said. “I’d rather not lose your platoon and the shuttle. Do not push me on this, Captain Blaze, over.”

  “Yes, sir, we’ll turn things around. Wolfpack out.”

  “What now?” Chavez said. “We dusting off this rock?”

  “Not without the workers,” Dean said. “As soon as we get the panel patched we go find them.”

  It took longer than Dean expected for the hull patch. The thin atmosphere made the bonding agent less effective, and several hours passe
d before the shuttle was ready to fly. Dean still had no idea where the workers were, but he knew they had fled to the mountains, which were visible as a bluish haze in the distance. Dean ordered his platoon onto the shuttle, and they took to the sky. Lieutenant Chappelander followed Dean’s directions. He was guiding them by sight using the Raptor’s external cameras. When they reached the mountains, Dean ordered the shuttle to land. He didn’t want to waste power searching for the missing outpost workers. Instead, he had Loggins and Harper launch their AAVs. The drones were only in the air for a few minutes before they found the tracks of what looked to be several heavy vehicles.

  “That’s it,” Dean said. “Everyone back on the shuttle. We’ll follow their tracks.”

  “I hope we find something worthwhile,” Harper said.

  “You mean people alive somewhere?” Ghost said. “I have my doubts.”

  “Me too,” Adkins agreed. “Those crawlers are seriously tough.”

  “I wouldn’t want to face them without armor and automatic weapons,” Corporal Landin said.

  “Well, the outpost workers are resourceful,” Dean said. “My gut tells me they’re alive.”

  “Good enough for me, Captain,” Chavez said.

  Everyone agreed as they settled back into the shuttle after the AAVs were collected. Dean knew that half of the long day on Lars was over, but he finally felt like they were on the right track.

  The shuttle picked up the trail left by the outpost vehicles and followed it up into the foothills. The Raptor’s power charge was at three quarters when several of the outpost workers came in sight. Dean felt relieved when he saw movement, but as the shuttle dropped down he also saw the humped shells of dozens of crawlers.

  “Damn!” Dean said. “The survivors must have had to fight the crawlers off during the night.”

  He had the primary vid feed displayed on the Raptor’s small low-res monitor that was built into the bulkhead opposite the rear hatch. They could see a semicircle of heavy vehicles parked bumper-to-bumper around what appeared to be a cave.

  “Looks like one hell of a last stand,” Ghost replied.

  “At least there are survivors,” Tallgrass said. “They weren’t completely wiped out.”

  “Corporal Landin, make sure you have your medical gear,” Dean ordered. “We get the wounded on first.”

  “Sir,” Chavez said over a private channel that only he and Dean could hear. “This shuttle isn’t large enough to take everyone back to the ship.”

  “No, that’s why I want the wounded on the first trip.”

  “But the shuttle will have to be recharged,” Chavez went on. “And the charging port repaired.”

  “What’s your point, Staff Sergeant?” Dean asked.

  “I’m just thinking they won’t make it back down here before dark.”

  “I know that,” Dean said.

  “Looks like another long night.”

  “Yes it does,” Dean agreed. “But that’s why they called us. We still have time to prepare. It looks like the outpost workers chose a good spot to make their stand.”

  Secretly, Dean was worried about the workers and his platoon. He knew the shuttle wouldn’t make it back down before nightfall. It was a terrifying prospect, but there was no other alternative. They would have to fight: it was unavoidable. They wouldn’t have relief until the next day, and even if the shuttle could return in the night, there was no way Dean would risk damaging their only way off Lars with a night landing that would surely attract the crawlers.

  Dean switched his comlink back to the platoon channel.

  “Alright, platoon,” he said calmly, “we have two objectives. We need to get as many of the workers on the shuttle as we can. The rest of us are going to have to make it through one more night.”

  “You’re kidding, right?” Adkins said.

  “No, Corporal. The shuttle will have to be repaired and recharged before it can return to get the rest of us. There were two hundred workers on the planet. I’m not sure how many are left, but I’m guessing we’ll need to make a few trips to get them all off this world. That means we hold the line until the shuttle can return.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Wilson said.

  “We ain’t expendable, Captain,” Kliner added.

  “No, you are not,” Dean agreed. “But you are Recon Specialists. We don’t run from a fight.”

  “Hell no!” Chavez said loudly. “We’ve got plenty of time to prepare for the crawlers, and this time we don’t have to hold back.”

  “Our AAVs should make a difference,” Harper said.

  “And we have more explosives,” Tallgrass added.

  “So let’s kick some ass!” Adkins declared.

  “Recon! First in the fight!” Chavez bellowed as the hatch on the shuttle popped open.

  “Tip of the spear!” the rest of the platoon chanted, following their staff sergeant out of the small craft.

  Dean felt pride in his platoon rising up inside him, buoying his courage. And he was determined to make sure that every one of them made it back from Lars safely.

  Chapter 20

  “Well it’s about goddamned time!” Nathan Orlovskey said as he walked toward the shuttle flanked by several other people. “Nice of you to show up.”

  “Got here as quickly as we could, sir,” Dean replied. “I’m Captain Blaze, EsDef Recon. We’re going to help.”

  “I hope you’ve got a few more of those shuttles,” Orlovskey said, his voice slightly muffled by the full face-breathing mask he and the men with him wore. “There are over a hundred of us that need evacuation.”

  “Well, we can get twenty-five in the Raptor,” Dean said. “The rest of us will have to wait until morning.”

  “That’s going to be a problem,” the administrator said angrily. “We won’t survive another night down here. I’ve already lost nearly half of my workers, and we’re all out of ammunition.”

  “You can’t fight crawlers with spears or knives,” said one of the other workers beside Orlovskey.

  “We know,” Dean said. “They attacked the outpost.”

  “I’m surprised you’re still standing,” Orlovskey said. “That facility isn’t built to withstand an attack.”

  “We made do,” Dean said. “For now, I’d like to get your wounded onto the shuttle for evacuation. My Specialists will help. Then we’ll prepare for nightfall.”

  “Your funeral,” Orlovskey said before turning to the people with him. “You heard the man. Let’s get everyone who has a chance to survive and load them on the shuttle. Leave the terminal cases.”

  Dean felt a wave of guilt nearly knock him off his feet at the look in the eyes of the workers who trudged back toward the cavern where they had taken refuge through the night. He wasn’t sure he was ready to see the carnage made by the crawlers, but he didn’t have a choice. Corporal Landin hurried ahead of the rest of Dean’s platoon. They all had to crawl over the large vehicles. Dean noticed that the tires had been slashed by what looked to be knives. The vehicles were all large-wheeled, heavy-frame work trucks. Some had open beds, others had canopies large enough for two dozen people to squeeze inside. There were even a few backhoe loaders, a bulldozer, and two dump trucks. The rest were all large-bed trucks, and all of them looked as if they had been in a stampede recently.

  “We cut the tires to keep the crawlers from getting underneath, but they found a way to get over the barricade. They always do,” Orlovskey said.

  “They got into the caverns?”

  “Some of them, yes,” the administrator said. “We killed them eventually, but not before they slaughtered nearly half of us. I had one hundred and eighty people here when the sun went down.”

  “I’m sorry,” Dean said. “We didn’t know where you were.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m sorry too. We didn’t have any other choice but to get the hell out of that outpost. We got hit by a scouting party last night. No more than four dozen crawlers. But there are more, a lot more.”

 
“We fought hundreds last night,” Dean said.

  “It’s a miracle you survived.”

  “That’s what we do,” Dean said. “Your outpost wasn’t as fortunate.”

  “Doesn’t matter. We can’t stay on this planet. I don’t know what set the crawlers off, but something drew them to us. And they are determined to kill us all.”

  “How many of these are still alive?” Dean asked, waving at the humped shells of the crawlers just outside the barricade.

  “All of them,” Orlovskey admitted. “We killed the eight or nine that got past the trucks, but didn’t have the firepower to hold them back. All we could do is fight the ones that made it inside.”

  The cavern they entered was large, easily the size of the hangar Dean’s platoon had spent the night fighting in. At the rear of the cavern, a smaller corridor led back into the mountain. Dean guessed that at least thirty people were on the ground with makeshift bandages. Some looked worse than others. Landin was already at work doing all he could for the wounded outpost workers.

  “Wolfpack to Command, come in, over,” Dean said over the command channel of his comlink.

  “We’re here, Wolfpack. Tell me you have good news, over.”

  “We have found the survivors,” Dean said. “About one hundred are still alive, although there are many wounded. We request your permission to send them up to you, over.”

  “Permission granted,” Anders said. “Lieutenant Chappelander will pilot the shuttle up and Sergeant Fennes is standing by to begin repairs. It may be a while before we can make another drop, over.”

  “We’re aware of that, Command. Wolfpack will prepare to hold off the crawlers through the night, sir. It isn’t an ideal situation, but we do have some cover and I believe we can hold them off. Just don’t leave us more than one night. We’ll need supplies and ammunition sent down in the shuttle, over.”

  “I’ll see to it personally, Captain. Get the wounded on the shuttle and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. Good work, Blaze, over.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Dean said, although he didn’t feel good about the mission. “We’ll have the wounded on the shuttle in a few moments. Stand by.”