by Ken Lozito
“Sorry, Major, no more rockets,” Sergeant Mitchell replied.
Sean blew out a harsh breath and sat down, using his neural implants to sift through the updates from his platoon commanders. The sun was waning in the sky and the Vemus showed no signs of slowing down. Their own equipment worked just fine at night, so it was safe for Sean to assume that the Vemus wouldn’t be stopping to rest anytime soon. Did they ever rest?
“Sir, I have a comlink from Captain Diaz. He’s on his way to the tower already,” Lieutenant Compton said.
“Put him through,” Sean said.
A new connection registered with the comlink interface.
“Major, the battle lines are collapsing. The CDF forces to the east are already at the central tower. They were hit pretty hard,” Captain Diaz said.
Sean could hear the sounds of the battle on the other end of the comlink. “Understood. We need to hold that tower. I’ll send reinforcements there now.”
“Sir, I was hoping you would be among the reinforcements,” Captain Diaz said.
Sean frowned. They were nowhere near the central tower. He glanced out the open hatchway to get his bearings, and his eyes widened. He’d completely lost his sense of direction. They’d been fighting and moving from building to building while drawing the Vemus steadily toward the central part of the city. A heavy toll had been extracted from the Vemus, but Sean couldn’t quite believe that they were already near the central city line.
He looked at Lieutenant Compton grimly. “Order the retreat. All troops are to fall back to the tower. If they can’t make it, they’re to go to the designated extraction points for pickup,” Sean said. “We’ll see you shortly, Captain Diaz.”
“Understood, Major,” Captain Diaz said, and the comlink closed.
Sean went to the cockpit. “Change in plans. Take us to the tower.”
“Yes, Major,” the pilot said.
They didn’t have far to fly. There were still a lot of Hellcats in the air, and when it became apparent that they weren’t going to hold the city, certain members of the CDF requested permission to set up a few parting gifts for the Vemus. High-grade explosives were hastily deployed, waiting to be triggered by the unsuspecting Vemus forces. Those explosives would stop the Vemus fighters permanently.
It was then that Sean noticed the smaller Vemus fighters as they reached the tops of the buildings and attempted to glide to the next one. They had skin that stretched from their wrists to their feet. They were much smaller than the average Vemus fighter, at only five feet in height. But for what they lacked in height, they made up in numbers. They were astonishingly fast, but they were also easier to bring down. Sean saw a group of them try to reach the rooftop of a building where the CDF had an M-180 gauss gun nest. The soldiers fired the M-180, cutting the gliding Vemus fighters down, and their small bodies fell to the streets below.
The Hellcat took them to the landing area in the shadow of Sierra’s tallest tower. Sean and the rest of the team climbed out and the Hellcat flew off to extract another troop. With his boots on solid ground again he felt weakness deep in his muscles. He was beyond the safety of consuming more stimulants, but it didn’t matter. He didn’t have time to rest. None of them did.
The landing area was a buzz of activity as soldiers were dropped off and wounded soldiers were taken to the tramway beneath the city. There was only one tramway working. All the other tunnels had been destroyed to prevent the Vemus from using them.
Director Mills walked toward him. His towering form allowed his long strides to quickly cover the distance between them, and his gaze no longer held the bitter disgust it had displayed earlier.
Sean looked at the Director of Field Ops and Security. “Are the trams still running?”
“They are. All these soldiers are being moved there for the final run before we blow the last tunnel,” Director Mills said.
“Better make it fast. The Vemus forces are going to make a major push right for this area,” Sean replied.
Director Mills frowned and Sean guessed that his father’s friend wanted to ask how Sean could possibly know what the Vemus were going to do.
“We’ll get it done,” Director Mills said.
Sean continued to walk. He needed to get to the Command Center they’d established inside the tower.
“Sean, wait,” Mills said.
Sean stopped and looked back at him.
“I’m sorry about before. I should have trusted you,” Mills said.
“It’s gotta be hard since you’ve known me since I was a teenager,” Sean replied.
Director Mills nodded. “And one who excelled at getting into trouble.”
Sean snorted. “We’ve come a long way,” he said and glanced at Lieutenant Compton, who gestured that they needed to get moving. Sean looked back at Mills. “Make sure you’re on that last tram. I need someone to get those wounded soldiers to safety.”
Director Mills arched a brow knowingly. “And here I thought you just wanted to get me out of the way.”
“That too. You’re a pain in the ass,” Sean said with a half-smile.
Director Mills became somber. “About Phoenix Station . . .”
Sean felt his throat seize up as he fought the emotion. “I wouldn’t count Connor out just yet.”
Director Mills pressed his lips together. “No, you wouldn’t, would you? Connor and I clashed on a lot of things, but I know he was very proud of you. He saw something in you that your father and I both missed.”
Sean regarded Director Mills for a moment. “This isn’t goodbye, Damon. I’ll see you later.”
Damon Mills nodded. “Right . . . see you later.”
Sean left the Director of Field Ops and Security, keeping a firm grip on his emotions. Thinking about Phoenix Station and the fact that Sierra was a heartbeat from being destroyed threatened to topple his resolve. He hastened toward the tower and took the elevator to the CDF mobile Command Center. He remembered when the tower had been completed, commemorating the colony’s sixth anniversary. It was a time when belief in a hostile attack force that was on their way here was starting to wane in earnest. All the preparations they’d made by building Titan Space station, the beginnings of the CDF space fleet, and the missile defense platforms had lulled them into a false sense of security, which Sean hadn’t been completely immune to. He’d thought they would have more time. The only people whose commitment never wavered were Connor, Wil, and Kasey—the most senior military officers in the Colonial Defense Force and men who not only had actual combat experience but who had made a career of neutralizing threats that operated outside the normal confines of society. Those men might not have been ideally suited for mankind’s first interstellar colony, but they were the best men to see that the colony survived what was coming. Wil and Kasey had been killed during the colony’s first battle with the Vemus, and Sean had to admit, if only to himself, the very real possibility that Connor Gates was dead as well. Sean hated that he’d ever had the slightest inkling of doubt that an attack force like the Vemus was coming for them. It all seemed so foolish now with the benefit of hindsight.
The elevator doors opened and the CDF soldiers in the Command Center glanced up, immediately looking relieved that Sean was there. Sean had seen this same thing many times when Connor walked into a room. There was a certain comfort that came when the burden of command rested on someone else’s shoulders and that superior officer was someone like Connor. Sean kept expecting their gazes to shift to the side where Connor would normally have been standing, but they were all looking at him. The soldiers at the entrance saluted him, and Sean returned the salute as he walked past them.
Sean glanced toward the windows, where he saw multiple Hellcats flying in, dropping soldiers off. There were several flashes of light about half a kilometer from where the line of battle was still being fought.
“Major Quinn, I need you over here, sir,” Captain Diaz called out from the CIC.
Sean turned away from the windows and walked
over toward Diaz, who stood at the command table where the three-dimensional holographic display was focused in on the tower and the immediate surrounding area. Sean grabbed a canteen of water and gulped it down.
“Where do we stand, Captain?” Sean asked.
Captain Diaz regarded him for a moment with concern. “How many stims have you had beyond the recommended dosage, sir?”
Sean gave him a hard look, which he knew wouldn’t change the pupil dilation in his eyes that had no doubt given him away. “Irrelevant, Captain.”
Captain Diaz frowned but didn’t press the matter. Sean knew he was beyond the maximum dosage allowed, but he also knew he could push the limits. He could hear his mother’s voice in the back of his mind, scolding him for doing such a thing, but he ignored it. He had a job to do and had no time to worry about how his body would need to cope with the withdrawal symptoms from extended stim usage. If he survived long enough to experience the severe muscle cramping and the inability of his brain to determine reality, it would be a blessing.
“All CDF troops are falling back to this position. The Vemus have been pushing forward much harder than they were before. It’s like they become more capable the longer they fight,” Captain Diaz said.
“It’s only going to get worse. Those bastards can smell blood in the water,” Sean said.
Captain Diaz’s face became a thoughtful frown. “Interesting choice of words. The last group of scientists we evacuated from here had a theory about the Vemus mimicking the behavior of ocean mammals, particularly predators, which might account for their appearance.”
“Does it help us kill them?” Sean asked harshly, the stims barely keeping exhaustion at bay.
Captain Diaz’s expression went back to business. “Well, they do seem to follow an alpha in their midst, which suggests they might organize themselves into packs.”
“Which is why we’ve been targeting those alphas. It stalls their attack when we can take them down,” Sean said.
“And they’re the hardest to kill,” Captain Diaz said.
“I don’t care where the scientists think the Vemus came from. I only care about stopping them,” Sean said.
“What about knowing one’s enemy, sir?” Captain Diaz said evenly.
Sean shook his head and grinned. Connor had preached the importance of learning all they could about their enemy. “Point taken, but we really don’t have time for a theoretical discussion,” Sean said.
Captain Diaz nodded and brought up the Saber failsafe interface, which required Sean’s authorization.
“It’s a little too soon for that, don’t you think?” Sean asked.
Saber failsafe was the CDF code for the self-destruct that would level the entire city.
“This is the authorization for it to be armed. Detonation has to be authorized by you or the next officer in the chain of command in the area,” Captain Diaz said.
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.
