The War Across the Stars (25 page)

“That way,” he said with a grin.

Boone looked at Ryan, who actually seemed to be considering the idea.

“Max is alive right now for one reason, and one reason only,” Ryan said.  “Luck.  We’re goin’ this way.”

“Hey, I have a little bit of skeel, don’t I?” Max asked, his grin only partially dampened. 

Ryan casually ignored the question as he began to walk in the direction Max pointed.  We fell in behind him as he proceeded through the snow.  As we slowly walked away, many of the Marines rushed in and out of the armory, trying to rearm and get the best weaponry for their own skill sets. 

Again I observed my new gun, checking for any sort of settings such as fire mode.  In the end I had adjusted my scope, set it to semi-auto, and loaded the gun. 

“So how’d it go down Max?  How’d you make it?” Nevin asked.

“I left you guys and bolted in the direction of the armory.  I’m glad we looked at it as much as we did over the trip here… I knew right where it was.  I got to it and turned off the lock, and then it was all
whoosh
and I was hurtling toward the planet,” Max replied.  “Then after a rough landing I just stayed inside for a while before checkin’ out the tower.”

“The chances of us finding you in this wasteland were pretty slim,” Phil pointed out.  “It’s a miracle we found you.”

The thought of finding Max had bolstered my hopes, that perhaps we stood a solid chance out here.  Already we had a fighting force capable of standing against the UED.  It wasn’t long before we were met with another shocking surprise. 

A large wall made of the same stone material as the observation posts towered before us.  A part of it was blown out by missile fire that was coming from two nearby Corsairs.  On the surface was a Paladin tank, supported by a sizable team of Elonian Marines.  The tank was rolling toward the hole punched in the wall.

“You seein’ this?” Ryan asked, looking in awe at what would soon be our reinforcements.

Boone just nodded his head, acknowledging his own satisfaction to see our own guys.  In their wake I saw a number of bodies, some half buried by snow.

We moved closer to them, keeping our arms over our heads, Ryan even swinging his and calling out.  Several of the soldiers at the rear of the unit turned toward us and began approaching, rifles raised, though not firing. 

“We’re Elonian!  We are friendly forces!” Ryan called out over the brewing blizzard.  “We are the Rangers and what remains of Alpha!” Ryan yelled.

The oncoming Marines slowed down and lowered their weapons when they could tell we were telling the truth from our uniforms and armor. 

“Sir,” one of them said, snapping a quick salute before gripping his rifle again.

“Boone,” the other stated, nodding at the First Sergeant.

Silently, Boone returned the nod.

“So what’s going on here?  Is this…” Ryan paused, thinking for a moment.  “The capital?”

“Captain Malum tells us that this is some sort of UED stronghold,” the soldier answered.  “A lotta scientist types alongside their troops, too.”

Ryan looked at Boone, then at me. 

“I think this is it.  The UED didn’t build this, this had to be the Tredecim capital.  Have you seen any Tredecim?  The big… I dunno, monsters?” Ryan inquired.

“Well, we saw a few before we got to this place, but so far only UED guys fightin’ here.  Though Malum thinks the UED are fighting two fronts at this place.  He says that central structure prob’ly leads underground and that we might have people there… you think its Tredecim?”

“I guarantee it,” Philip added.

“C’mon, let’s go talk to Malum,” the soldier said after a slight pause. 

We followed him through the snow toward the Elonian vehicles.  The tank had begun rolling over the rubble left of the wall.  The dual Corsairs each hovered menacingly over the tank. 

I had heard a bit about Captain Malum before the mission.  He was one of the primary infantry commanders assigned to Operation UNKNOWN.  He was supposed to be ruthless though efficient.  I had yet to meet him.

We moved swiftly through the snow toward the hole in the wall.  My guess was that we were heading for the tank.  As we climbed over the debris, the Corsairs above us let loose a withering spray of bullets onto a UED entrenchment up ahead.  Ryan and I opened fire on the enemy position, providing any assistance we could. 

The firefight lasted only a few minutes before it fell quiet, only the roar of engines filling the air.  The soldier who had escorted us walked over to the Paladin and hopped onto it.  He knocked on the hatch a few times and leaned back.  It opened, and he exchanged words with the pilot that were inaudible at this distance.

When he finished, he climbed off and one of the Corsairs moved forward and then lowered itself slowly to the surface.  Malum must be inside.  When it landed, my suspicions were confirmed as a middle-aged man with the double-bar insignia of a captain emblazoned on his shoulder stood in the hold of the vessel.

I briefly considered saluting, though refrained, considering this was a battlefield mere minutes ago.  Instead I nodded slightly and waited for him to speak.

“Name’s Malum.  You’re the Rangers?” the man said sternly.

“Yes sir, that’s us.  We’re with Alpha too,” Ryan replied.

“First Sergeant,” Malum said to Boone with a scowl.

Boone showed no sign of acknowledgment, now seemingly unimpressed by the sizable Elonian force present.

“Now what we have here is a substantial UED stronghold.  My present theories include that it contains Korth and his Vorgian goonies, or that we have forces stranded inside being pushed deeper by the UED.”

“Sir, I believe that this location is the ancient Tredecim capital.  Within it should be the knowledge bank we've been looking for, the Beholder,” Ryan said.

“Lieutenant, while I appreciate your detective work, we have bigger things to deal with right now,” Malum said matter-of-factually.

“Sir, this information could be of significant aid against the—” Ryan said before being cut off.

“Soldier.  Listen.  We're runnin' this my way, and it'd be a heck of a lot easier if you let me call the shots,” Malum said impatiently.

There was a pause as the two stared at each other.  The Marines outside the Corsair appeared to be freezing, though those inside had the benefit of some degree of thermal control.  For a moment my mind flickered to what the terrible planet's environment would be like without my armor. 

Ryan looked over at Boone, breaking the stare-down with Malum.  Boone gave a casual shrug, as if he was used to the sort of treatment being given to Ryan. 

“Are we clear now Lieutenant?” Malum asked.

“Yes sir,” Ryan said obediently, though I could tell he was reluctant to submit.

I shifted my rifle uneasily in the silence to come.

“Now whatever greater purpose you want to search for in there is up to you, but I plan to deploy you immediately.  I'll continue my advance as scheduled, but with your power armor, I'll have you and Alpha push down into the tunnels.  From what I gather, this stronghold is based primarily underground.  A fair amount does rise above, as you can quite clearly see, though I doubt that is little more than a recon post to keep an eye on intruders such as ourselves,” Malum explained.

“Sir, we've commandeered some UED communicators, and have been in contact with Epsilon since our landing.  Would you like us to try to have them regroup?  House was injured, I'm not sure they are prepared for the journey but...” Boone said.

“Just call 'em.  Get them here.  If necessary leave House.  We need the manpower.  We can't afford to delay over a single soldier.”

Without responding Boone turned away, clearly offended by Malum's disregard of Sergeant House's life.

“Epsilon, come in?  This is Boone.  Wait, hostiles?  How close?  Is everyone alright?  How could the COM's be tracked so easily?  Okay, hang in there, we've located the capital as well as a contingent of friendly troops.  Yeah, its Malum.  I'll try to get a team sent to pick you up,” Boone said over the COM.

“What's going on?” I asked, having clearly been able to observe something being amiss. 

“They believe the communicators we're using can be tracked, and the UED picked up that they were still in use after their guys died.  They've sent a force and are closing in fast.  We need to get some help over there if we want them alive,” Boone said, loudly enough for Malum to hear.

“Denied soldier.  We need the Corsairs here.  If we get hit by another air raid, we'll be defenseless without both of them.  They'd take out the Paladin and then we'd be back to square one.  As much as I'd like to add six men to our unit, the Paladin is more valuable,” Malum reasoned.

“With all due respect sir, there is no guarantee that the UED will launch an air strike here.  If we do not go help Epsilon, there is a guarantee they won't survive.”

“I understand Sergeant, but sacrifice is a part of war.”

Malum's face was emotionless, clearly dedicated only to the completion of his objective, whatever he seemed to feel it was.  The stress on Boone's face was becoming clear.  While he obviously knew Malum treated his soldiers like this, the feeling of losing Epsilon had no doubt intruded his mind.

“Now get movin',” Malum instructed, signaling his pilot with his hand.

The Corsair began to rise back into the sky, leaving Boone staring up at it.

Boone sighed before looking back at us.

“I really hoped he had died,” he said quietly, looking nervously over his shoulder.

“Well, chain of command just shifted.  Now we all have someone to take orders from.  I've heard good things about Malum... I'm a little less impressed in person,” Ryan stated.

Chapter 16

Revelation

We proceeded on toward the large ramp that led into the capital.  As we stepped within view of the base of the ramp, I felt a bullet ping off my armor, and immediately I dove to the ground.  Slowly and carefully rising back up, I could see that the UED had established a chokepoint at the base.  Around a dozen men seemed to be holed up behind various crates and metal barricades.  Using the SF-42 I took several precise shots at the soldiers as they poked their heads above their cover.  Each shot landed exactly where I wanted, resulting in clean kills. 

Then I saw a bright flash as one of the troopers fired an RPG.  The explosive seemed to be flying toward me and time seemed to slow.  I hurriedly tried to catapult myself backwards to avert the rocket, thinking about the damage such a weapon could do, even with my armor.

Suddenly everything was normal again as I felt my impact with the snow and ground behind me.  The rocket flew past my face and into the snowy sky.  As I climbed back up I saw the Paladin was aiming its twin-barreled 100mm cannons into the pit.  An earsplitting bang burst forth from the first cannon as it fired downrange.  It was followed shortly by the second cannon.  I returned to a crouching position for a better view, only to find the entire position was now covered in blood, bodies, and damaged metal.  Two craters were left in the stone flooring.

“We're clear,” Ryan said, starting the walk down the ramp.

Our team formed up on Ryan as Boone and Alpha prepared themselves behind us.  Malum seemed expectant of more friendlies.  I knew better than to expect that.  We moved slowly down the ramp, taking our time to examine the walls around us.  There were two passageways that could be taken up ahead.  When we reached the split, Ryan split us up.   We divided into our usual teams of three.  Nevin, Cassidy, and myself would be going with Boone and Hood.  The rest were taking the left door with Boone's other two troopers.

“This isn't right.  We ought to be using our resources to save every life.  We should be rescuing House and the rest of Epsilon,” Boone said, looking straight at me.

I simply nodded, unsure how best to respond.  At the end of our path was a turn, heading the same direction that the ramp had gone.  After only a few meters in that direction however, it then turned back the way we had been walking.  At the end of this last hallway was what appeared to be an elevator.

We moved closer to it, watching out for additional UED forces.  I could hear the faint sounds of gunfire echoing below.  The UED was fighting something below us… that much was for sure.  We piled into the elevator and I took a look at the unusual control panel.  It appeared to be a touch-pad screen displaying two characters.

“Well, this is more advanced than any Tredecim tech I've seen so far.  Prior to this was all wooden ladders,” I pointed out.

“Yeah, I've noticed the same thing,” Hood said as he examined the touch-pad.

“I believe its function is fairly obvious, Hood,” Boone stated.

He then reached out and tapped the lower symbol, causing it to change from green to red, then swell slightly.  After a brief second of being larger, it returned to normal and the doorway before us closed.

“First Sergeant, when should we try to get more information out of this laptop?” Hood asked.

“After we've made Malum happy enough to go save Epsilon,” Boone replied coolly. 

Abruptly the elevator jerked, then I starting having the sensation of falling.  It felt like we were moving at incredible speeds, pressing deeper into the planet.  After nearly a minute the elevator slowed down, coming to a complete halt with a loud thud.