The War Across the Stars (22 page)

“James, I think we see you.  Look up,” Ryan replied.

I allowed my eyes to rise, before long they arrived upon a tower, exactly like the others, placed atop the mountain. 

“Yeah, I can confirm.  I see the tower.  Anything good in there?”

“A dead Tredecim.”

“Dead when you got there?” I asked.

“No.  It was acting awfully odd though.  It was hunched over on its knees with its arms pushed out in front of it.  I dunno, maybe a stretch or prayer pose?” he replied.

“No clue.  Where’re we going to regroup?”

“Give us a sec, I’m still checking out the surroundings.  There.  That might be a good sign.  I see some pretty heavy smoke coming from a crater a little ways out.  If I were to take a guess…” Ryan paused.  “I’d say it’s a life pod.”

I became excited.  A life pod meant that there might be survivors… Fellow Elonians who could join us.  Perhaps it would even be Max.  I still had difficulty trying to decide if the squad was better off without him or not, but the thought of him being dead bothered me.  He was one of us… a Ranger. 

“Alright, Phil and I are coming down.  The cliff face to our left appears to be traversable.  Barely.  You three move around and meet us at the base.”

“10-4,” I said plainly, taking a final look at the Tredecim that still stood watching us. 

As we began to move away from the opening in the mountain, I heard a noise behind me, causing me to quickly look back.  The Tredecim was gone, the cavernous opening now empty.  I brushed it off and continued to trek through the snow.  It had to have been several hours since our crash-landing in the Corsair. 

As we turned the curve of the mountain we could see Phil and Ryan sliding down the mountainside.  They seemed to be carefully moving between various outcroppings that allowed them to keep their speed in check. 

At last they arrived on ground level.  It was nice to be a full unit again.

“Before we get rolling, let’s run a status report.  Mine and Phil’s armor’s fine, essentially undamaged, though we are both running a little low on ammo.  Phil has more than I do though,” Ryan announced.

“My armor has taken a beating, but nothing worse than you already knew.  James took almost all the hits in the tunnels,” Nevin said, nudging me slightly.

“I have a few mags for my H-81 still, and haven’t fired my SR-4 since we got here,” I began.  “As for my armor, it feels fine, but I’ve had at least four of those things roll around with me.”

“I think they’re afraid to hit a girl, I mean… I haven’t been hit yet.  Ammo’s a bit low though,” Cassidy said with a smile.

We laughed a bit before deciding it was time to move.  Though it seemed the Tredecim were content with remaining inside their cave, it was clear from the UED camp that they were willing to leave it when they needed to.  With haste we made our way toward the billowing smoke cloud that lay before us.  It was a fairly long run, through a plain environment seemingly devoid of life. 

Chapter 14

This Is Real War

When at last we arrived at the crater, Ryan’s suspicions were confirmed.  Lodged into the ground was an Elonian life pod, smoke rising from its nose.  A small amount of blood seemed to be leading away from the tail door before being covered by the endless snow.  Ryan and I hopped down into the crater, no more than two meters at its deepest point, and approached the pod. 

I looked inside the damaged craft and images started playing in my mind.  Enphuerzo.  Our flaming transport descending at incredible speeds toward the ground.  Jenkins.  Rob. 

I came back to reality and saw an empty pod.  A blood splatter adorned the floor in front of one of the seats, though no other signs of life were present.  It certainly wasn’t Max’s escape pod.

“They’re still alive.  Just… where did they go?”

“Uh… I… I don’t know.  I’d expect them to look for shelter though, considering they don’t have power armor to help deal with the cold,” I suggested.

“Agreed.  Most likely they would find one of those towers and camp out inside it.”

We moved on, heading toward the next structure that jutted out of the ground.  We had to be close.  We couldn’t be the only Elonians who lived. 

“You know…” I started, thinking back to the caves while we walked.  “There were sticks in one of those structures… but where are the trees?”

Nevin turned and stared at me, clearly thinking.

“I… I’m not sure,” he said shortly afterword, the others clearly reaching the same conclusion.

“I don’t see how trees could survive out here, the snow’s substantial and if this planet doesn’t have a real sun, I can’t imagine plant life ever being supported,” Philip pointed out.

“Just another mystery to solve,” Ryan said thoughtfully, exhaling as he spoke.

We walked silently for several more minutes before finally reaching the next Observation Post.  There was blood splattered across the side of the doorway.  To the left of the tower was a small mound, mostly covered in snow.  Despite the cover, it appeared that the mound’s base was composed of bodies clothed in arctic camo.  UED.

“Alright team, we’re here.  Phil, stack up,” Ryan ordered as they each took a side of the open doorway. 

He took a deep breath, before making his move.

“Now!” he ordered.

Both soldiers turned into the doorway and moved in.

“Clear.”

Nevin, Cassidy, and I entered the doorway behind them.  A blood trail led up the stairs.  It had to be them.  It had to be the survivors.

Phil started up the stairwell, Ryan and I following close behind.  Nevin and Cassidy waited near the hatch that led underground.  As we neared the top I heard hushed whispering.  Phil was the first to the top, his head poking out above the floor.  Immediately a loud
crack
sounded, followed by the sound of a shotgun pump.  Phil flew back against the tower wall, his visor strewn with cracks.  Ryan was next to the top, but held his hands above him, one clutching his AR-27. 

“Friendly!  Friendly fire!” he beckoned, gazing upon Elonian Marines clad in black. 

“Whoa, stop.  Put the gun down.  Put it down,” the soldier with the shotgun ordered. 

I also rose into sight, and slowly lowered my H-81 to the floor.

“Lieutenant Ryan Dunkelman, Elonian Rangers,” Ryan said calmly.

Phil, having recovered from the shock of the hit, held his own shotgun pointed at the lightly armored Marine. 

The shotgun armed Marine remained still for a moment longer, before lowering his gun.

“Sir.  First Sergeant Dakota Boone.  I’m sorry.  We thought you were the enemy,” the lead soldier defended.

“Phil, you good?” Ryan asked, looking over his shoulder to see Phil had lowered his gun as well.

“Yeah.  Though I’d immensely prefer not to be subject to attempted fratricide again.”

“Understood sir,” the Marine said obediently. 

Phil was only a standard sergeant, so the Marine either hadn’t taken note of his rank patch on his armored shoulder, or was simply showing respect for us being Special Forces. 

Ryan’s COM clicked, likely Nevin checking on the gunshot.

“Hey Rye?  You good?” I heard his voice ask.

“Yeah we’re good.  Just a misunderstanding.  Hold position.”

“So Boone,” Ryan started, looking around at the twelve men standing in the room, and the one sitting on the floor clutching his stomach.  “Status report.”

“Baker gave the order to get off the
Procyon
and Alpha and Epsilon squads made their way to evac.  I’ve got the whole of both of those squads, and a crewman from
Procyon
.  Alpha’s my team, Epsilon’s under Sergeant House, but he isn’t combat ready.  On impact with the planet, Private Wells’ rifle discharged, shooting the man directly across from him… his own CO,” Boone explained.

“I’m sorry!  I’ve already said I’m freakin’ sorry!  You keep bringin’ it back up an’—”

“Private.  Shut up.  You need to keep it together out here,” Boone told him coolly. 

The private didn’t reply, but closed his mouth, which had been left hanging open, then tried to regain his composure. 

“So, we saw this structure and made our way to it as quickly as we could, helping House along.  It is frigid out there sir.  Absolutely frigid.  We arrived here and killed the guards.  We then took over the tower and camped here since.  Far as supplies, we’ve got a water apiece, excluding the swabbie, and a small amount of food,” Boone concluded.

Boone was wearing a pair of sunglasses, which seemed out of place, though it added an air of command to him.  In addition to aesthetics, at least it provided him something to keep the snow out of his eyes.  His face was clean-shaven, and he seemed to have a bandana around his neck for face coverage. 

“Well, it’s good to see other Elonians,” Ryan said.  “We don’t plan on just waiting around to die, so will your team join us?” Ryan asked, giving the squads a choice.  “We’ll have platoon numbers then, and can really inflict some damage on the UED.”

Boone looked back at Sgt. House, still reeling in agony against the wall.  He then looked at all of the soldiers standing behind him, and looked back at Ryan.

“What about House?  He can’t keep moving around.  He needs rest… heck he needs medical attention but we don’t have any med supplies.”

“I have basic medic training,” Phil said, stepping forward.  “But I only have a few bandages as far as supplies are concerned.”

Boone looked back at House.  I could tell they knew each other, likely good friends. 

“Anything.  Just do what you can.  Lieutenant?” he said, turning back toward Ryan.  “Alpha’s behind you.  I’d like to have Epsilon hold here and stay with House.  We can run this like an HQ, a base of operations.”

“Our numbers don’t really constitute an HQ, but given the circumstances…  We’ll make it work.  We will need a way to communicate back.  All of us have a COM system, but I don’t intend on leaving a Ranger here to run COM duty,” Ryan said.

“I understand sir.  It appeared the UED may have some form of advanced COM device.  Maybe we could use those.”

Ryan reached into one of his ammo pockets and extracted the communicator from the sergeant he had interrogated. 

“Phil.  Figure this out.  We’re gonna go get some more,” he said, flicking it over to Phil.

Ryan began down the stairs, and I recovered my pistol and followed closely behind.  I was elated to see friendly faces, even if our initial encounter wasn’t so pleasant. 

We moved down the stairs hastily, and with a purpose.  When we reached the bottom I saw Nevin and Cass, still hanging around the hatch.

“Hey, go check it out down there.  Give us a better idea of what we’re settlin’ into.  This is our Base of Ops for a while,” Ryan stated.

“On it,” Cassidy said, lifting the hatch and descending the ladder into darkness. 

Ryan and I exited back into the ferocious snow and moved around to the mound.  We then dug away at the snow, finding the heads of the dead soldiers.  It somehow seemed wrong, despite all the times I had taken weapons of the men I had killed, something about pulling these earpieces from their skulls didn’t seem the same. 

After we had collected three of the devices, we returned to the tower.  Climbing the steps, I toyed with the two devices in my hands.  They seemed to be an incredible piece of technology, much like the COMs we had in our suits, though cheap enough to be deployed to all soldiers. 

When we reached the top, most of the men had dispersed.  House appeared to have been bandaged up, presumably by Phil, who now was standing near Boone holding the earpiece Ryan had given him. 

“Phil, Boone.  We’re back.  Three more.  This’ll give us a total of four.  I’d say two on Alpha squad and two here at HQ with Epsilon.”

“Good with me, if they work,” Boone replied. 

“I think they do.  I just required another to receive and send to prove it.  Hand me one,” Phil asked.

I handed Phil one of the ones I had collected, and he flipped it around in his hand until he found what he was looking for.  A small button juxtaposed to an equally small screen displaying a number.  He tapped the button several times, before stopping.  He motioned for one of the soldiers on the floor to come, and he did.  Phil handed it to him, and then gave instructions.

“Put it on your ear.  Then hold your hand up to it, and apply a light pressure to the device.”

The soldier immediately did as he was told.

“Did it work?” he asked.

Phil glanced back at Boone, whose helmet was in his hands and the device in his ear.

“Yeah.  I heard him loud and clear straight in my ear,” Boone replied, a smile splashed across his face.

“Knew you could do it Phil.  You always can,” Ryan said, patting Phil on the back. 

“We simply had to adjust the frequencies to be the same, and the pressure activation was fairly obvious,” Phil said modestly.

“Obvious may not have been the word I’d have used,” I pitched in. 

Boone replaced his helmet on his head, fitting it snugly over the device.  “Let’s hit ‘em.”