by Blair Wylie
Fitzpatrick paused to process what he had just heard. Their losses were tragic and staggering, but he could not dwell on that cruel fact right now.
Just then, Fitzpatrick noted someone was calling him over the command frequency. Fitzpatrick pushed the switch on his wrist, and yelled, “This is Fitzpatrick. Go!”
In response he heard, “Captain, this is Yamato. First Lieutenant Sweetwater advises that we just successfully broke into the ship’s log. We now know there were exactly fifty Warriors in hibernation. They were all in a shielded chamber adjacent to the engine room.
“And we are now uploading the digitized ship’s log to the Indefatigable! Commodore Chamberlain says they are pleased with the quality of the data they are receiving. Over.”
“Right, thanks, Commander!” Fitzpatrick barked in reply. Then he added, “Can you try to shut the damn bulkhead door again? We have to contain these bastards, and keep them in a place where we can finish them all off. Over.”
Then Fitzpatrick switched back to the operation frequency, and yelled, “Lieutenant Yang, we could use another spear or two down at this end, and maybe a crossbowman too. Can you spare them? This open door will soon start looking like an inviting safe haven to the Warriors. Over.”
“Roger, Captain!” replied Yang immediately. “We can spare those guys now. Give me a minute, and they’ll be on their way. Over.”
Then Fitzpatrick switched off his microphone and yelled, “First Sergeant, your head count was spot on! That’s the lot of them. And we may be getting the upper hand. That means some of those vicious bastards might try to go back to their safe little cubby-hole. So, you and I will just have to keep that from happening, now won’t we? But we might get some help soon.”
McIlroy just nodded, and returned his attention back to the fierce melee in the corridor.
They did not have to wait long for action. They saw an obviously wounded Warrior making its way down the corridor towards them. The Warrior was fending-off a determined charge by a huge Ranger spearman, while bouncing along between handholds. The Warrior was a huge beast itself, and it was missing the lower part of its right leg below the knee. The ugly, jagged wound was streaming orange blood and muscular gore. A crossbowman was closely following along beside the Ranger spearman, and he managed to fire a bolt at point blank range into the face of the Warrior. That ended the fight.
When the two approaching Rangers got their bearings again, and finally looked towards the open door, McIlroy yelled at them, “You two Rangers, form up right here, with us. Now!”
Captain Fitzpatrick then had a close look at the two new arrivals. They both looked highly stressed, but they were obviously very alert, and unhurt. Then he recognized them, and yelled, “Welcome, Corporal Mitterrand, and Private Klopp. Fancy meeting you two guys here.”
Corporal Mitterrand was holding a repeating crossbow, and the gargantuan Private Klopp had a bloody spear in his right hand, and a short-handled axe in a back pouch. Klopp also had a shield strapped to his back.
After a moment, Corporal Mitterrand gasped between breaths, “Lieutenant Yang said… he said we should drive this one back towards Mad Dog… I mean you… sorry, Captain. This was the bastard that killed… that killed Lieutenant Clayton, Captain.”
Fitzpatrick paused for a second, and then he yelled, “That’s really tough to hear, Corporal. The First Sergeant and I are really sorry to hear that.
“But you guys did really well. Now, get your heads straight again. This battle is not over yet, not by a long shot. This end of the corridor will see a lot of action until we get that freaking door shut again.
“So, Corporal, get yourself wedged in somewhere handy nearby, behind a bit of cover if you can, where you can get off clear shots with that bow of yours.
“Private Klopp, keep your axe tucked away for now. Use your shield and your spear and join up with me and the First Sergeant. We are going to put up a shield wall next to the door. We can’t block the door, it’s clearly too big, but we must not let any Warrior get past us.
“Now, let’s get set everyone!”
When everyone was in place, Lieutenant Ghandi hailed Captain Fitzpatrick on the operation frequency. He said calmly, “They seem to be forming up into small groups now, Captain, and gradually retreating your way. There are at least two dozen of them left. A lot of them are wounded. Over.”
“I concur, Captain,” interjected Lieutenant Yang with a growl. “Over.”
“Okay, then drive the battle back this way, you guys!” yelled Captain Fitzpatrick. “We’ll block the door until it closes. Over.”
The struggle at the door then became extremely fierce, but no one panicked. The Warriors quickly realized they could not just move past the door with the neighbouring shield wall in place, and an obviously proficient crossbowman working as a sniper nearby. So, they focused their attention on destroying the shield wall first.
Klopp was magnificent. He stood in the middle of the shield wall, and Fitzpatrick and McIlroy protected his flanks. Klopp withstood the press of sometimes two or more Warriors at a time, while McIlroy and Fitzpatrick took opportunistic and flesh-and-bone finding thrusts with their stabbing swords. A Warrior chopped Klopp’s spear shaft in half, so he brought out his axe. He quickly proved to be a proficient butcher with it.
It was brutal, gruesome, intensely physical work.
Fitzpatrick knew they could not keep up the non-stop, total exertion much longer. Determination, training and good tactics were all very good in principle. Overcoming pure fatigue was ultimately an impossibility.
Yamato knew Fitzpatrick was monitoring the operation frequency. So he used it to yell, “We just broke through the door security firewall, Captain! Do you still want us to shut that bulkhead door? Over.”
“Yes, close the fucking door, Commander!” yelled Fitzpatrick immediately. “And right now! Over.”
And that marked the beginning of the end of the battle. When they saw the door closing, the Warriors went back to fighting as individuals all along the corridor.
It became clear that surrender was not an option for any of them. So, the Rangers accommodated them. They continued to fight effectively in small teams, until the last of the once mighty, reawakened Warrior force was destroyed.
29
Captain Fitzpatrick was embarrassed, and astounded that he had fallen asleep. As his head cleared a bit more, he realized that he was sitting quite comfortably with his back to a box-like container of some sort. He also noted that he had hooked his booted feet under the lip of a door on another box.
He was still wearing his helmet and battle armour. The armour was heavily spattered and smeared with dried blood. Thankfully, it looked like most of the blood stains were of the orange variety.
During the fierce, long battle he had been unable to empty the urine containment sack that was built into his armoured suit. He realized with disgust that the sack must have ruptured or over-flown while he had dozed off. His under-garments were completely soaked, and he stank heavily of both urine and sweat.
He also noted that his short, battle-notched sword, and his heavily battered shield, were both floating nearby. They were tethered to his belt by slender nylon straps. The sword and shield were also heavily smeared with gore and mostly orange blood. He admonished himself for not properly cleaning his weapons, forgetting that he had literally collapsed with fatigue.
But remarkably, he was mostly unscathed. He just had a few bruises and gashes. Well, maybe two of the gashes were rather deep. Those wounds were still bleeding a bit. Lieutenant Sweetwater would probably conclude they would need to be stitched up. But unfortunately, other Rangers were in far greater need of a doctor’s attention right now.
He remembered with more clarity that a few minutes ago he had ordered First Lieutenant Sweetwater to manage the first aid operation, and to start ferrying the critically wounded back to the battlecruiser nearby. He had given her full discretion to use her own judgement on who should be returned to the Indefatigab
le.
Or, had he issued those orders a few hours ago?
Fatigue had really messed him up.
Then he sensed in a fuzzy sort of way that someone was hailing him on the command frequency.
“Captain Fitzpatrick, do you read? Over!” It was Commodore Chamberlain, and he was yelling at him! Uncharacteristically, the commodore sounded a bit frantic.
“Ah, roger, Commodore,” Fitzpatrick mumbled. “Sorry, sir, I must have passed out or something. I’m pretty bushed, I guess. Over.”
There was a long pause, then Chamberlain said quietly, “Yes, I bet you are, Captain.
“I followed what I could of the battle by listening in on the radio chatter. It was pretty confusing, as one would expect. But look, can you give me a bit of a status report now? Why don’t you start with the casualties we suffered?”
“Right, Commodore,” replied Fitzpatrick with a bit of a slur. Then he shook his head, and after a few moments, and quite surprisingly, he found a bit more strength well up from somewhere deep inside himself. He said more clearly and forcefully, “Sixteen Rangers killed, sir. Twenty-four wounded, six seriously or critically. Sadly, Lieutenant Sweetwater said we might lose three of those injured guys. Time will tell, I guess.
“Look, sir, I’m really sorry about that! But it was a true slug-fest, or a street fight, as filthy and dirty as it can get.
“Ah, there were exactly fifty living Warriors altogether in the attack, and we had to kill them all! None of those vicious bastards even attempted surrender. They would literally keep fighting with limbs hacked off or blown away.
“I guess they must have been specially bred for this kind of nasty business, or something like that. Hell, they were all in some kind of hibernation a little over one day ago! I doubt a human soldier could be ready for a full-fledged battle that quickly after something like hibernation. Of course, the point is moot. We don’t know how to put ourselves in hibernation, of course.
“Bottom line, Commodore, it took everything we had to beat them in the end. But we did beat them, thankfully. Over.”
There was another long pause, then Chamberlain said, “Okay, thank you, Captain. No, we thank you all, and very much!
“You and your company did your duty, to the letter. And you went beyond that, actually. It’s too early to talk to you about individual commendations, but after you get some proper rest, I want you to start thinking about that.
“Okay, now here are some new orders for you, beyond continuing to look after the wounded.
“Get everyone out of their battle gear. Tell them to make their way over to the toroidal section, and to get properly cleaned-up and properly checked-over by the medics. Not all injuries are physical, you know. Some people will be really shaken up by the ordeal. That can happen to even the toughest soldiers. And sometimes only a doctor or psychologist can tell how serious it is.
“Then order everyone to get a proper rest, and a proper meal, including the medics, eventually.
“Next step after that will be to clean up the incredible mess you no doubt have made inside the Flagship. That includes dealing with all of the freshly-killed Warriors.
“I have just given special orders to Commander Yamato. He will be working with four of your Rangers who were guarding the toroidal section while you were directly engaged with the enemy. They are currently putting six freshly-killed Warrior corpses back into hibernation chambers. I’ll tell you why later.
“You might think that I overstepped your command to assign the four Rangers to Commander Yamato, but, well, I could not reach you until now.
“Perform the same routine as last time with the other Warrior corpses. Strip them naked, and itemize everything taken off their bodies. Take before-and-after digital images of each Warrior. Then pitch the corpses out into space through the shuttle docking hatch. Pitch them down-trajectory, into the Flagship’s wake.
“Make sure everyone in your company knows we will be conducting proper space burial services over here for all of our dead. This is formalized action is very important for morale. People need to grieve. And funerals are for the living. It helps them on their personal journey towards full acceptance and recovery.
“But sorry, more about all of that later, when you are properly rested. Okay, Captain, that is all for now. Execute your new orders! Over.”
“Yes, sir!” Fitzpatrick barked in reply. “Over.”
As he started bending his stiff and cramped limbs to comply with the fresh set of orders, Fitzpatrick smiled to himself. He had just been kicked into action like he really was just a ‘mad dog’. But he really appreciated the commodore’s motivational and highly-complimentary speech.
He decided once again that he was glad Chamberlain was in charge.
30
Commodore Chamberlain was pleased that everyone showed up on time for the midnight, shift-handover command staff meeting.
Of course, they had not had one of these meetings for a while. He grinned inwardly that everyone had been rather preoccupied lately.
He hoped that he had given everyone enough time to get some proper rest. But there were some pressing, heady matters that just had to be discussed.
When everyone was seated around the table, in his usual way, Chamberlain said loudly and bluntly, “Commander Yamato, please provide us with your watch report.”
“Yes, Commodore!” Yamato barked. “Our situation is nominal. We have no impairments with any of our systems. The same can be said for the captured Warrior Flagship. We have had no incidents of note with naval crew members or with Ranger personnel.
“Oh, and I personally disposed of the old coffee maker in the bridge after it crapped out on us yet again. I am pleased to say it is now in the wake of the Flagship with the Warrior corpses. I must confess I truly enjoyed the experience of getting rid of it.
“Corporal Mitterrand of Ranger Special Weapons and Equipment just surprised us by delivering a new coffee maker to the bridge. Apparently, he has been secretly constructing it from scratch, as a hobby of sorts. I must say it makes an excellent brew, which will no doubt improve naval crew morale. I do not think this action warrants an additional citation for the corporal, of course. However, I believe honourable mention from yourself would be very well received, and further improve our inter-service relationship.
“That’s about it, sir.” He had somehow managed to keep a straight face the whole time he was speaking about coffee makers.
“Okay, Commander, maybe we really can get back to nominal and boring again?” replied Chamberlain with a quick smile. Then he frowned, and said quietly, “But our well-established, comfortable, coffee-drinking routine was definitely broken recently, of course.”
Chamberlain paused to look around the table. He was pleased to see that everyone looked well-rested, well-groomed, in good humour and very alert.
Captain Fitzpatrick had a long, stitched-up scar on the back of his right hand that obviously extended well up his arm. And he had a similar, ugly wound on his forehead. But otherwise he looked to be in reasonably good spirits. So Chamberlain asked him quietly, “How are the wounded Rangers coming along, Captain?”
“I am pleased to report that only one Ranger remains in serious condition, Commodore,” replied Fitzpatrick. “But I’m talking about Private Klopp, and that proud Ranger is as strong as an ox. First Lieutenant Sweetwater believes his left leg can be saved, and that he should pull through okay.”
Chamberlain then looked carefully at Sweetwater, and she just nodded, and offered a weak smile in return.
It was obvious that their first real combat experience had been highly traumatic for every member of the Ranger Company.
So Chamberlain said, “First Lieutenant Sweetwater, point forward, please provide the Command Staff with a weekly status report on the morale and condition of everyone on board.
“You know better than any of us about post-traumatic stress disorder. And I want to hear fresh ideas for keeping everyone physically and intellectually challeng
ed with activities, preferably communal activities. Lonely people can become depressed people, especially with what this lot has been through.”
“Yes, Commodore, I will be most happy to comply with that order!” Sweetwater said with passion. She now looked visibly relieved. Chamberlain concluded she had obviously been worried about this difficult matter herself.
Chamberlain paused for another long moment. Then he said, “I will now verbally share my own, highly-redacted status report with you people. Consider what you hear now as highly classified, and definitely for your ears only.
“Commander Yamato and four Rangers successfully injected thousands of capsules into six Warrior corpses. The capsules originated on New Earth. They contain two strains of an alien virus that we know is highly infectious and lethal to all three Master variants, even after further mutations, which we know will occur. The six virus-hosting Warrior corpses were then returned to hibernation chambers on the captured Warrior Flagship.
“Captain Fitzpatrick, I now want you to assign personally-selected Special Weapons and Equipment personnel to work with Commander Yamato to install those six hibernation chambers into Warrior scout ships. I am talking about one chamber installed per ship.
“The chambers must be able to be dropped under gravity, or slowly ejected, and then opened remotely on command from an artificial intelligence system we will install in each scout ship. So, that will no doubt require some creative engineering, and real craftsmanship. There will probably need to be a considerable amount of modification to the scout ships, and the hibernation chambers. But the commander will elaborate directly with you about all of that, later.
“Bottom line, Captain, make sure everyone takes their time, and gets this job done properly.
“Commander Yamato is going to be really busy. He has not exactly been slacking off lately, of course. Point forward, he and I will be personally working to install an over-riding artificial intelligence control system in the captured Warrior Flagship, and in each of the six Warrior scout ships. No one else will be involved with this top secret work, and I want you to order everyone in the naval crew and the Ranger Company not even to speculate about what we are doing.
