Aliens Vs. Humans (Aliens Series Book 4) (38 page)

“Quite so,” said Hideyoshi as the man moved to Jack’s side. His laser rifle glowed at its tip from having fired a shot into the other knee. “Though I suggest that our rocket and artillery launchers also fire at separate targets. If we encounter multiple dinos.”

Jack agreed with the admiral’s guidance, though he did not like the image in his mind of several dinos charging his people. “Everyone, let’s do as Lieutenant Mabry and Admiral Hideyoshi direct.”

Maureen walked ahead confidently, skirting the mound of scaly flesh that had just tried to kill her. She stepped on the bottom of the rampway leading up to the next deck. “Let’s get this game on the road.”

Mabry ran up to her and took position at her right side. “Teams, with me and with Combat Commander Maureen!”

Jack, Hideyoshi, Marlena, Angelique, Gareth and everyone followed.

They climbed up three decks before Maureen stopped and looked at a device in her hand. “This thing says we are just below the apex of the upper hull, where the rows of portholes were. My guess is this ship’s Command Deck lies behind that hatch.” She pointed at a red and yellow-striped metal hatch that soared ten meters high and stretched seven wide. It blocked off access to what seemed to be a central part of the ship.

Mabry gestured to a nearby Marine. “Petty Officer Gomez, place C4 putty against that hatch. Aim for the middle section, which might be less dense than the rim. Everyone, insert your ear plugs! This is going to be loud.”

In seconds a rectangle of gray C4 putty made an outline large enough for three people to enter side-by-side. Jack plugged his ears, lifted his laser rifle and aimed it at the hatch. But Mabry motioned everyone to move to either side of the putty ring. “Get out of the flash-back zone!”

Jack and Gareth and Lopez did so, while another group with the recoilless cannon tube moved to the opposite side. Mabry checked that everyone was clear, lifted his laser rifle with one hand and squeezed his other fist.

“
Kablam!
”

Yellow flame and white smoke flashed back toward the cleared zone. Ahead, in the thinning smoke, Jack saw a red-glowing rectangular opening. Beyond it was a space with golden yellow light, as best he could make out through the blast haze. Then the haze cleared and Jack saw the distant shapes of five giant dinos, each standing by a control pedestal taller than any human. All five were bent over and moaning, as if in pain.

“Inside now!” Mabry called over the comlink tabs everyone wore. “Before they recover from the blast sound.”

Maureen was first through the red-glowing opening, followed by Mabry, followed by Jack, Gareth, Hideyoshi, Colin, Amitar, Ras, the other Marines and his ship captains. They spread out to either side of the penetrated hatch, their attention on the five giant dinos. Who stood seven meters tall in a room with a domed ceiling that was easily 20 meters high. Mabry gestured for his teams to form up in three combat clusters. Those teams put out six claymore mines at ten meters ahead of them, while two Marines tossed contact mines toward the dinos as if they were skipping stones across a pond. Marlena joined the left side group with her anti-tank rocket launcher while a stocky woman Jack now knew to be Petty Officer Mellencamp took her tube cannon to the right side group. Jack, Hideyoshi and his other captains formed up behind the middle group of Marines, with laser rifles aimed at the five dinos. Who were now turning to face them.

“Stupid little primates!” roared the shark teeth filled mouth of MakMakGor, who was the center dino. “See now how we Arbitors became the apex predator of our world!”

All five dinos charged as a group.

With 44 lasers and two anti-armor weapons among them, Jack knew there were nine lasers available per dino. But could they stop the giant monsters before they covered the hundred meters separating the three Marine groups. Belatedly he realized Mabry had chosen to take a stand just inside the breached hatch in case they needed to retreat.

“
Varoom!
” went Lopez’s rocket launcher.

A sleek black missile raced out on yellow flames and struck the far left dino in the upper chest. Where Jack hoped the creature’s heart and lungs were located. Its chest erupted in a gory spatter of blood, organs and white bone.

Dozens of green laser beams shot out, nearly all hitting dino body parts. Which was not hard considering the size of the monsters. Screams, howls and roars greeted the laser strikes. The far left dino, with his bloody gaping chest and belly stitched with tungsten coated 50 caliber rounds, fell to the floor fifty meters from them.

The other four shrugged off the laser strikes and automatic rifle rounds, their massive legs churning as their clawed feet pounded the metal floor. Jack’s whole body shook with the floor-transmitted impact of those running feet. He aimed his laser at the pink tongue of MakMakGor and tapped the Fire contact.

A solid green beam shot out and cut through the Arbitor’s pink tongue. Which only caused the chief dino to lower his teeth-filled head and fix red eyes on Jack.

“
Varoom!
” went a second rocket.

“
Blam!
” went the first recoilless cannon shell.

“Throw your grenades!” Mabry called as the charging dinos reached the 25 meter mark.

Black balls streaked through the air to explode about the heads of the three surviving dinos. The far right side dino had fallen due to the double hits from the rocket and the recoilless shell.

“I smell you!” hissed MakMakGor, sounding like an ancient steam train whistle. Something Jack had only seen on Open Library vid records.

“
Varoom!
”

“
Kablam!
”

The dinos to either side of MakMakGor slowed and fell as their chests were opened by explosive missiles and shells, and lasers cut into their knees, belly, chest arms, every place possible.

The sound of sizzling dino flesh filled Jack’s ears even as the thundering tread of the last dino took it within ten meters.

“
Baroom!
”

The six claymore mines exploded and shot hundreds of steel ball bearings at the legs and knees of MakMakGor. Then the creature stepped on the round disk of a contact mine.

“
Boom!
”

The right claw-foot of the dino disappeared, making it fall forward. That fall slammed its chest against two more contact mines. Muffled booms sounded as the tons of its giant torso shifted slightly from the upward blasts of the mines.

Looking down at its amputated right foot, the chief dino pulled up his left claw-foot, stomped the metal floor, and levered himself up. Gaping red holes showed in his belly. White loops of intestines spilled out to dangle. Red blood dribbled from his rows of white dagger teeth. The creature’s red eyes fixed on Jack.

“Human! I eat you!”

It lurched forward, its two small chest arms reaching for Jack.

“Fuck you!” screamed Maureen as she ran forward, leaned down to grab a Bangalore tube, then ran on until she dropped and slid under the massive bleeding belly even as MakMakGor tried to grab her with his giant mouth.

“No!” Jack screamed. He fired his laser into the creature’s right eye, keeping the laser firing in the hope of burning into the Arbitor’s brain.

Similar laser beams came from the right and left. Forty green beams cut through the yellow and red scales of the giant T-rex dino.

Beyond the dino he saw Maureen slide past its thick tail, stand up and pull on a wire cord that linked back to the Bangalore torpedo stuffed with black powder and shrapnel. The torpedo lay just under the slashed open belly.

“
Blammm!
” went the torpedo.

Jack flinched. But the steel shrapnel in the tube went straight up and into the bulging belly of the dino chief. Then a steel pole jutted out from MaxMakGor’s throat. Maureen’s javelin!

The last dino fell forward, landing just a meter from the three groups of Marines. One red eye fixed on Jack.

He ran forward, past Mabry and his people, lifted Old Roy and thrust it into the red crest that ran along the top of MakMakGor’s head. The creature snapped at his legs. Jack jumped up and landed atop the sword impaled head of the Arbitor. Akemi came up from the right and thrust her
katana
into the neck of the dino. Gareth and Minna also sank their swords into its upper chest, pushing them deep until only the pommels showed. Ignacio stood behind them and fired a volley of bullets into the creature’s chest. Aashman and Kasun jumped up on the dino’s long back and sank staves into its back.

The surviving red eye blinked slowly. “At last. Now you Humans must become the new Arbitors.”

Jack jumped off the dino head, a head as long as he was tall, and walked carefully up to the creature’s only working eye. That eye twisted to fix on him. “Us, Arbitors? No! We humans break the old rules and find new ways to win!”

The creature coughed. Red blood ran from its half-open mouth. Had it laughed? The single eye blinked but stayed focused on Jack. Clearly his sword thrust had not reached MakMakGor’s brain. Maybe just the spine behind it, since no other part of the creature now moved.

“You Humans have done what we Arbitors did twelve hundred cycles ago. When we defeated the former Arbitors of the Great Dark.” The dino hacked, coughed, hissed low. “Now, you must arbitrate among the Hunters of the Great Dark.” Its eye closed. Labored breathing stopped.

Jack reached over and pulled Old Roy out of the head of the dino who had threatened to Isolate Sol from the rest of the universe. His lips felt dry. His hands shook. This was not what he had expected.

“Well,” said Maureen as she came up to his side, her bloody javelin in one hand even as her other hand gripped an equally bloody sword. “For a youngster, you sure know how to find grown-up problems to solve!”

Around them came sighs, a few cheers, some whelps of pain as a piece of Bangalore shrapnel was removed from someone. As best Jack could tell, everyone had survived. Even crazy Maureen who had run straight at the boss dino and slid under it in order to plant the Bangalore torpedo that did the final job of felling MakMakGor. Duty hit him.

“Admiral Hideyoshi, please organize Tech salvage teams. Grab those giant control pedestals. Look for any kind of computer module. I want to know where these Arbitors call home.” He paused as Akemi, Gareth and Minna pulled their swords from the creature’s dead flesh. “They need a visit from me to remind them that Humans are never anyone’s fall guys!”

Akemi, dressed in her black
ninja
-style bodysuit, came up to him, her sword wiped clean and stored in a back scabbard. She fixed black eyes on him. “My
shogun
, what do we do now?”

With a wave at Mabry and his fellow ship captains, Jack headed for the giant hatch that gave access to a ship filled with wonders, dangers and puzzles that might take a lifetime to unravel. Akemi fell in beside him, as did grandma Maureen, his brother Ignacio, Minna of the yellow braids, Aashman of the Deccan plains, Kasun of the jungled isle and Gareth of the Welsh kingdom.

“Akemi, we do what we know how to do, as Belters and as freedom-loving humans.” He stopped by his carrybag, reached in and pulled out a cold bottle of Europa Light Ale. Flipping off its cap he sucked in the cool, cool beer. “We spread the word among juvenile system peoples that they have the right to explore the universe. We free subject peoples whenever we can. We trade with the Nasen and a few sensible Hunters. And maybe, just maybe, we travel to the home system of the Halicene Hunters. They established this Hunters system. Let them figure out how to put it right!”

“Jack!” called Maureen from where she stood to one side. “The Marines and I are going to broil us some dino steaks. You want one?”

He burst out laughing. “Yes! And I’ve got some cigars in this carrybag. So let’s everyone have a drink, a smoke and a taste of our enemy!”

Jack felt hands pummeling his back, cheers sounding from the Marines, chuckles coming from Hideyoshi. His friends, his fellow ship captains, his allies, they had stood by him when a herd of
Tyrannosaurus rex
dinosaurs had stampeded straight for them. That had taken guts. And courage. And devotion.

What more could a man want from his friends?

THE END

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

T. Jackson King (Tom) is a professional archaeologist, journalist and former Hippie. He learned early on to question authority and find answers for himself, partly due to reading lots of science fiction novels. He also worked at a radiocarbon dating laboratory at UC Riverside and UCLA. Tom attended college in Paris and Tokyo, then helped organize anti-Vietnam War demos in Knoxville, Tennessee. Tom is a graduate of UCLA (M.A. 1976, archaeology) and the University of Tennessee (B.Sc. 1971, journalism). Tom has worked as an archaeologist in the American Southwest and has traveled widely in Europe, Russia, Japan, Canada, Mexico and the United States of America. Other jobs have included short order cook, hotel clerk, legal assistant, telephone order taker, investigative reporter and newspaper editor. He also survived the warped speech-talk of local politicians and escaped with his hide intact. He writes hard science fiction, anthropological scifi, dark fantasy/horror and contemporary fantasy/magic realism. Tom’s novels are
FREEDOM VS. ALIENS
(Wilder Publications, 2015),
HUMANS VS. ALIENS
(Wilder Publications, 2015),
GENECODE ILLEGAL
(Wilder Publications, 2014),
EARTH VS. ALIENS
(Wilder Publications, 2014),
ALIEN ASSASSIN
(Wilder Publications, 2014),
THE MEMORY SINGER
(Fantastic Books, 2014),
ANARCHATE VIGILANTE
(Wilder Publications, 2014),
GALACTIC VIGILANTE
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
NEBULA VIGILANTE
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
SPEAKER TO ALIENS
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
GALACTIC AVATAR
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
STELLAR ASSASSIN
(Wilder Publications, 2013),
STAR VIGILANTE
(2012),
THE GAEAN
ENCHANTMENT
(Wilder Publications, 2012), 
LITTLE BROTHER’S WORLD
(Fantastic Books, 2010),
ANCESTOR’S WORLD
(Ace Books, 1996, with A.C. Crispin), and
RETREAD SHOP
(Warner Books, 1988, 2012). His short stories appeared in
JUDGMENT DAY AND OTHER DREAMS
(Fantastic Books, 2009). His poetry appeared in
MOTHER EARTH’S STRETCH MARKS
(Motherbird Books, 2009). Tom lives in Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA. More information on Tom’s writings can be found at
www.tjacksonking.com/
.