by Ken Lozito
“Have Randle secure that area. Get Ramirez to assess the fence and then meet me at the Control Center,” Connor said.
One of Mills’ team members helped the commander to his feet.
“What happened to your ship?” Connor asked.
“Those damn creatures happened. The landing zone for this base is outside the fence. They attacked it sometime yesterday. We cut a path to the ship and managed to move it over there, but it’s taken heavy damage. It can’t fly,” Mills said.
Winters headed toward them with Owens, Poe, Jackson, and Compton.
Connor waved them over. “Compton and Jackson, I want eyes on this gate at all times. If the ryklars so much as poke a claw beyond the forest line, I want to know about it. Poe, I want you up in the observation tower right there.”
The three men left for their assignments.
“Winters and Owens, I need you to get the troop carrier flight-ready if you can,” Connor ordered.
They left, and Connor followed Mills as he limped to the command center.
The holoscreens inside showed systems offline and multiple errors.
“Charlie,” Mills said, “we need that power generator online.”
Charlie wore a dirty blue jumpsuit and looked as if he hadn’t slept in days.
“We took it offline to make repairs to the fence,” Charlie said.
Mills turned toward Connor. “How many people can you fit on that ship of yours?”
Connor glanced around. “Not enough. Why are communications down?”
“Some kind of interference. That kid Noah was working on it,” Mills said.
“Where is he?” Connor asked.
“He was with the archaeological team that went to the ruins yesterday, led by Dr. Bishop. They left before we got out here,” Mills said.
Connor’s insides went cold. “Yesterday? Did you send anyone to look for them?”
“The ryklars started gathering shortly after they left and stayed in the area, with more coming all the time. They started attacking the fences last night. There was no way we could get anyone through. The team took the only armored ATV,” Mills said and gave Connor a sympathetic look. “There’s no way they could have held out this long. I’m sorry. They’re dead.”
An image of Noah joking with him at the training camp’s command center immediately came to mind and was quickly followed by a vision of Lenora with her quick wit and long auburn hair. He remembered the brush of her lips on his cheek.
“I’m not abandoning them,” Connor said.
“What about the people here?” Mills asked. “They need your help too.”
“I have an armored ATV in the Hellcat. I’ll take a small team to assess the status of the archaeological group,” Connor said.
Mills limped over to him. “Connor, there’s no way they survived the night.”
Connor glared at him. “Some would call it a miracle that you survived the night here. With comlink signals severely limited, I’m not counting anyone out. On the off chance that they did survive, they’ll need help. They’ll never make it here on foot with all the ryklars in the area.”
“We need to contact the compound.” Mills frowned in thought and checked the wall clock. “You’re early. We’re not considered overdue until right now.”
“I had my suspicions that something was wrong when you failed to check in,” Connor said.
Mills shook his head. “Shit, knowing you, I bet you disobeyed orders to be here,” he said and sighed. “I guess I owe you my life, but I still think you’re a pain in the ass.”
“Likewise,” Connor said. “We had communications with the compound until we were within fifty kilometers of this base. I’m going to leave some of my team here to assist in the base’s defense. We’ll also take the Hellcat out of range of the interference and let the compound know we need a base-wide evacuation.”
“Going to the archaeological site is suicide,” Mills said.
“Then you can return the favor and come rescue us,” Connor said and started walking toward the exit. “Oh, one more thing. My team is very good at their jobs. If they have a suggestion, I strongly urge you to listen to them.”
Connor left the command center and recalled his team to the Hellcat. Diaz had armed the surviving Fields Operations security detail with the weapons they’d brought. They were now standing watch.
The team assembled outside the Hellcat, with the exception of Deacon and Blake, who were still attending the wounded, and Winters and Owens, who were working to get the troop carrier ship flight-ready.
Connor explained the situation to his team. “Diaz, I want you to take the Hellcat out about fifty kilometers and send an emergency broadcast back to the compound and the other research bases. If there’re Field Ops people there with a ship, they’re to come here and help evacuate this base on my authority.”
“Yes, sir. Where will you be, sir?” Diaz asked.
“There’s an archaeological team unaccounted for. They left before the attack yesterday. The last drone surveillance had ryklars heading toward the site,” Connor said.
“Is Noah with them, sir?” Sean Quinn asked, his brows drawn up in concern.
Connor nodded. “Listen up. This base needs to be defended. If the ryklars are anything, they’re determined to get in here. My guess is they’re regrouping for another attack.”
“Regrouping,” Donna Marten said. “Sir, animals don’t regroup like a fighting force.”
“The ryklars are smarter than your average predator,” Connor said.
“What about the research team, sir?” Sean asked.
“I’m going to take the armored ATV to investigate what happened to them,” Connor said. Several people started to speak, and Connor held up his hand so they’d quiet down. “I’ll take three volunteers with me, but I won’t order any of you to come. None of you have to go, but we’re the only chance they have.”
“I volunteer, sir,” Sean said without hesitation. “We’re Search and Rescue, sir. We go where no one else will go.”
Sean was echoed by all the rest. All of them were willing to put their lives on the line for this. Connor had trained many soldiers in his career, but all the training in the world couldn’t predict how a person would react when they found themselves in the thick of it.
“This sucks,” Diaz said, drawing the team’s gazes toward him. “I can’t volunteer because no one else can fly the Hellcat,” he said and glared at Connor. “I told you we needed a damn pilot.”
“I have one on order for when we get back,” Connor said and looked at the rest of the team. “Thank you. All of you. I’m sure if the others were here, they’d do the very same thing. I’ve only seen that kind of courage in one other team I’ve worked with, and they were the best.”
The Lightning Platoon’s faces gleamed with pride. Connor had told them of the Ghosts on more than one occasion—how they were the most effective team he’d ever served with. He still wished they were here with him, but looking at his new squad, he saw echoes of what the Ghosts had been in each one of them, and it made Connor proud to be their commander.
“Compton and Jackson, you’re with me,” Connor said.
Sean Quinn gave him a hard look and Connor regarded him for a moment.
“I’m coming with you, sir,” Sean said in a determined voice that was reminiscent of his mother.
Maybe it was the fact that Connor had once had a son named Sean, or perhaps it was the fact that Ashley Quinn had been one of the first people on the Ark to be kind to him—a mother figure for all—but he felt responsible for Sean Quinn. He’d even bumped heads with Tobias about Sean and the man he was becoming. But Connor couldn’t allow himself to view Sean as a boy anymore. It just wasn’t fair.
“Alright, you can come,” Connor said.
Compton’s deep voice let out a hungry laugh. “You’re running with the big boys now, Bling,” he said.
Sean smiled widely for a moment and then was back to business.
�
�You all have your assignments. Protect this base until help arrives. Stay focused. The ryklars like to try to overwhelm their prey. Marten and Poe, you can do more damage up high with your rifles than fighting in the thick of it,” Connor said.
Diaz ran to the Hellcat and returned with a small black case, handing it to Sean. “Flare gun. Fire it into the air and I’ll come get you with the Hellcat.”
“Excellent work, Sergeant,” Connor said.
There was still an angry glint to Diaz’s gaze, and Connor knew he hated that he couldn’t go with him.
“These people need you here. Keep them safe,” Connor said.
Diaz snapped a salute and headed back to the ship, muttering about pilots.
Connor glanced at Compton. “Let’s get this ATV offloaded.”
25
The armored ATV left the research base at sixteen hundred hours. Connor saw an unnamed mountain range in the distance, its high peaks wreathed in clouds. Jackson drove and kept them moving at a steady pace. He kept a sharp lookout ahead as he drove down the worn path. Compton held his weapon and kept a close watch out of one side of the ATV while Sean Quinn kept watch out of the other side. Connor wished there were a turret on the roof. It would have given them a good view of everything around them.
Connor tried to open a comlink to the archaeological team, but there was no reply. The ultra-high-frequency sonic detector still showed a strong signal up ahead, and Connor was certain the alien ruins were tied to the ryklar attack. What he didn’t understand was why the ryklars were so focused on the base.
The forest was quiet but for the steady grind of the ATV’s tires on the ground.
Connor ordered Jackson to go faster and looked at Compton. “Standard protocol for remote security is a two-person Field Ops team as escorts?”
“Affirmative, unless there were predators spotted in the area. Then they might have taken two more with them. They’ll only be armed with the CAR-74s, and the others will only have sonic hand blasters,” Compton said.
“Noah would have brought his own rifle with him,” Connor said.
Compton nodded. “I’d forgotten about that.”
Connor glanced over at Sean. He cradled his M-Viper with one hand and had his other hand on his SMG. He peered out the window of the ATV, keeping careful watch outside.
“Sir, we’re picking up another vehicle’s beacon ahead. It’s really close,” Jackson said.
Connor returned to the front of the ATV and looked at the small heads-up display that appeared over the dashboard. The other ATV was less than half a kilometer away. If the ryklars had broken off from the main group, would the team be holed up in the ATV, or would they have gone somewhere else? He should have asked someone at the base what they knew about the ruins. Any information would have given them an advantage. Instead, they were blazing their own trail. Hopefully, Lenora and her team left enough evidence that they could follow them.
Ahead of them the ground sloped upward, and as they drove over the edge, Connor caught a glimpse of the other ATV. The heavy vehicle was turned over on its side. One of the tan doors was bent outward as if something had used brute strength to tear it open. Jackson slowed down and pulled the vehicle over to the side of the path.
Sean Quinn made a move to open the side door.
“Wait a minute,” Connor said.
They waited a full two minutes before Connor opened the door and exited the vehicle. He switched his helmet view to infrared, and the overturned ATV appeared in cool blues, the only warm spots being where the sunlight hit the vehicle. Connor circled around and saw that the windshield had been kicked out. The interior was shredded, but there wasn’t any blood.
“I don’t think anyone was inside when this damage was done,” Sean said, looking relieved.
Connor engaged the sonic detectors and scanned the immediate area. No ryklars were detected. He switched his helmet back to normal combat-assist view, which had a HUD overlay. His suit computer would help identify any threats that came into view.
“Let’s follow the path. Compton, I want you to bring up the rear,” Connor said.
“You got it, sir,” the big man said.
Connor took point with Sean right behind him. Jackson and Compton followed. The path took them through the brush to a large fissure in the ground. Connor glanced up and saw a bright blue sky overhead, but this place would be hard to detect if they were flying. Connor walked to the edge and saw a fifty-foot drop to the bottom. Thick vines with wide, pale yellow leaves grew across the narrow fissure, and Connor could only just make out the bottom.
“There’s an elevator,” Sean said.
Connor saw the winch system with cables that went over the edge. “See if you can raise the platform.”
Sean went over to the winch and pressed one of the buttons. The winch motors started retracting the cables, and Compton and Jackson kept their AR-71s aimed at the area where the platform would appear.
There was a loud snapping sound and then the top of the platform appeared. Connor peered over the edge and then stepped onto the platform. The others joined him and Connor pressed the button to descend.
They moved downward at a steady pace, all of them keeping a watchful eye on the surrounding area.
“I’ve got nothing in IR,” Compton said.
“I’m not tracking any movement either,” Jackson said.
Connor tried to reach Noah with the comlink, but there was no answer to his broadcast signal.
They reached the bottom, where a shallow stream trickled by. Piles of dark stone and dirt were off to the side. A flickering light lit the tunnel across from them. Connor gestured for the team to be quiet as they headed toward the tunnel. The rounded entrance was eight feet across and gave them more than enough headroom. Overturned lights littered the ground, but the few that were still working cast a soft yellow light. Connor’s helmet display automatically compensated for the dim lighting. The smooth walls had uniform scuff marks from an industrial digger. Connor’s heads-up display registered the end of the tunnel at twenty-five feet, and they cautiously approached to find that it opened into an enormous underground cavern. They emerged onto a ledge that overlooked a small underground city. Over a hundred light-stands were positioned on the rooftops throughout the cavern, which gave it an artificial glow. Flat square rooftops stretched out before them with deep shadows down below the rooflines. Faint glowing lines surrounded some of the rooftops, adding more light to the dim cavern.
“I knew they’d found ruins, but this is amazing,” Sean whispered.
They were high up above the grounds, and Connor glanced around, looking for a way down.
“Contact!” Sean hissed. He brought up his M-Viper sniper rifle and peered through the scope.
“Easy,” Connor said. “Tell me what you see.”
“Twelve hundred meters that way,” Sean said and gestured toward the left side of the cavern.
Connor looked in that direction and enhanced the view so he could see better. Scurrying from rooftop to rooftop was the spotted back of a ryklar. Connor panned his view but didn’t see any more in the area.
“Should I take the shot?” Sean asked.
“No,” Connor said.
Sean looked up from his scope. “I can get him.”
“I know you can, but I don’t want the other ryklars in the area to know we’re here,” Connor said.
Sean nodded. “Understood, sir.”
Connor continued looking for a way to get down and saw a few anchor bolts drilled into the rock wall with a nylon rope attached. They used the rope to lower themselves from the outcropping, and Connor found himself wondering how Lenora had discovered all this in the first place.
They ended up on top of a flat roof that butted against the cavern wall. There were small metallic bridges that connected the buildings, and Connor squatted down to feel the smooth surface. Certain parts of the substance glistened in the light from his combat suit.
Connor led them toward the middle of the
cavern. The buildings had octagonal shapes carved into them and he wasn’t sure whether they were doors or windows. They were much larger than any standardized door he’d ever seen. Connor opened a comlink and set it to broadcast.
“Archaeological team, this is Connor Gates from Search and Rescue. Acknowledge.”
Connor waited fifteen seconds before repeating himself.
The comlink status on his helmet display showed a red circle with a line drawn through it, and Connor was about to repeat himself when the status changed to green.
“Commander, this is Noah Barker. Thank god you’re here. We read your signal.”
“Good to hear your voice, Noah. What’s your status?” Connor asked.
“The ryklars tracked us in here and we lost some people when they attacked. We tried to reach the base, but our signal couldn’t get through,” Noah said.
Connor could hear the tension in Noah’s voice. “How many people are with you?”
“There are seven of us now. We came here with ten, sir.”
“Understood. We came in through the tunnel and are near the middle of the cavern. Can you tell me your location?” Connor asked.
He heard Noah repeat the question and it sounded like the comlink was handed off to someone else.
“Connor, Lenora here. Noah said you were in the middle of the cavern. We’re—”
A loud screech echoed through the cavern, making Connor jump. He spun around, checking the area. The others were doing the same.
“We’ve been made, sir,” Compton said, pointing his rifle.
Standing on the rooftop a hundred meters away was a ryklar, each of its four arms held out, its muscular chest heaving as it drew breath. Another one climbed up next to it and let out an ear-piercing cry. Several more ryklars climbed on top of nearby buildings within a hundred meters of their position.
“Could really use that location,” Connor said.
They slowly moved off the roof they were on and retreated from the ryklars.
Jackson cursed and brought up his weapon. Before Connor could tell him to hold his fire, an incendiary round burst forth from the chamber and streaked a line of red, taking a ryklar in the chest.
