The War Across the Stars (3 page)

             
Luckily for us we had crashed near the Aruvia Desert.  We took off running, dragging Jenkins with us. 

“Guys,” Robert said.  “It’s not going to be here!”

“What makes you so sure?”  Max asked. 

“I had a friend who was Vorgian.  He worked for the government, told me some things he probably shouldn’t have,” Robert answered. 

“Right,” Max said doubtfully. 

“I guess it’s worth a try,” Ryan decided. 

“Fine…” Max whined. 

We redirected toward the Pombo Jungle, which was not too far off from the Aruvia, despite fairly sizable differences in weather.  The desert was hot and running only made it worse.  Jenkins, being a poorly trained pilot, quickly grew too tired to keep up.  In response, Phil actually ended up half-dragging the man along.
             

“This is nonsense!” Jenkins complained.  “We should stop and take a break.” 

“No,” Phil replied.

By the time we reached the perimeter of the Pombo Jungle we were exhausted.  Without warning Max collapsed. 

“Max!” Nevin called. 

“I'm okay,” Max moaned.  “Just a little tired.”

“Um… O-kay,” Nevin told him.

             
“How much time do we have?” I asked. 

“Looks like we have about forty-five minutes,” Ryan said.

“Wow.  That was a long run,” Nevin pointed out.  “Rob, you better be right.” 

“We should have done this sooner!” Jenkins advised. 

We waited for about five minutes before we continued.  The jungle’s plants and trees cast shadows onto the ground.  They caused the jungle to appear dark and gloomy.

“We’ve got to be close,” Ryan said as he pushed through some shrubbery.

             
Then, I heard gunfire.   We all dropped to the ground.  Phil pulled Jenkins down; otherwise he probably would have just stood there to die.  The shots were obviously from an automatic weapon. 

“Keep low,” Ryan whispered. 

“Understood,” Nevin said back.

             
We saw leaves getting shot off trees and dirt splashing up as gunshots hit.  We were looking around through our scopes for the gunman.  I heard one shot.  The machine gun stopped. 

“Bull’s eye,” Ryan said quietly.  “Let’s go.”

             
We stood up and attached our SR-4’s to our packs and pulled out our handguns.  It would be close quarters combat once we were inside the complex.  We ran over to the structure, a dead body leaned over the sandbag machine gun nest on top of it.  Then, we were directly in front of an iron door with a code lock. 

“Any ideas?” I asked. 

“We have two grenades each and enough Eupholium to blow up the whole base,” Ryan said. 

“Let’s save the Eupholium for the mission itself,” Nevin advised. 

“I’ll try to hack into the system to open the door,” Philip said. 

“Go for it,” Ryan approved. 

             
After about two minutes of waiting Philip finally found something. 

“Guys, I didn’t open it yet, but I managed to pull up a map of all of the guards’ stations,” Phil told us. 

“Phil, you’re a genius,” Max said in awe. 

“W-w-w-why do we care where the guards are?” Jenkins wondered aloud. 

“Dude… It’s obvious man,” Max said slowly.

             
“Max!  Is this some kind of joke to you?” Ryan questioned. 

Max merely stared back at him silently.

We finally looked at the map displayed on a small screen above the keypad. 

“All right,” Ryan said.  “We go in and there is a split in two directions.  Then some guards along each symmetrical path,” Ryan observed. 

“What’s symmetrical mean?” Max questioned.

             
“You serious?”

             
“Yeah, I am.”

“It means the same on each side,” Ryan informed him, shaking his head in dismay.

“Okay,” Max said.

             
“Anyway, let’s look here.  It keeps going on each side.  They each have a door that leads into a small hall and the command room, which has guards everywhere,” Ryan continued. 

“But look,” I said.  The halls keep going past the side doors.  Each end has a power generator!” I realized. 

“We should split into two groups and go down each hall,” Ryan said. 

“Right,” Phil agreed. 

“I’ll take Jenkins,” Robert called. 

“I’ll go with them,” Philip added.
             

“No.  Just me and Jenkins,” Robert told him. 

“Why?” Nevin asked. 

“I’d like to get to know him better,” Robert retorted.

             
“I did it!” Phil announced as the door began to rise. 

“Let’s go.  And Rob, I dunno what’s wrong with you… but I trust you,” Ryan said as he passed two of the four Eupholium charges to Robert.

We walked in and split up.  Ryan, Philip, Nevin, Max, and myself took off down the left hall.  Robert and Jenkins went down the other. 

“Kinda strange that Robert
wants
to work with Jenkins,” Max said. 

“I agree, but we need to stay focused,” Ryan told us. 

             
We then saw the first pair of guards.  We approached slowly, hoping not to catch their attention  before killing them.   Then, we opened fire with our pistols.  There were five of us and only two of them.  And since we had the first shots, they were easily defeated.  My shots connected… but they weren’t the first.  I wasn’t responsible for the kill. 

We continued down the hall and saw more guards, this time aware of our presence.  We all started shooting and rapidly downed both guards.  We needed to move fast, in case the gunfire caught the attention of anyone else.

“Good job guys,” Ryan congratulated.  “Anyone hurt?” 

“Nope, I’m fine,” Max said. 

“All right.  Let’s go.” 

We continued down the hall, all the way to the door to the command room. 

“Max!” Ryan called.  “You stay here and make sure no one comes out from here,” Ryan said as he pointed at the door to the side hall. 

“Okay,” Max agreed. 

             
The rest of us took off down the hall to the generator room.  It had a large door, similar to the one at the entrance to the complex. 

“Get it open ASAP, Phil,” Ryan said. 

“Working on it. Won’t be long,” Phil responded. 

I held my H-81 tightly as I repeatedly looked around the hall. 

“I’m in… Done!” Philip said. 

The door opened, revealing a large machine.  We proceeded cautiously into the room. 

“Where are those guards who are supposed to be here?”  Nevin asked cautiously.

“I don’t know,” I murmured in response. 

Ryan crouched down and began prepping the Eupholium charges.  I looked around the room for some clue as to where the guards were. 

“What if they are just waiting to ambush us?” I asked nervously. 

“That would be unfortunate.  Let’s keep our guard up,” Philip told us.

“The Eupholium’s ready!” Ryan announced. 

“Great.  Let’s go,” Nevin suggested. 

We took off down the hall, moving as fast as we could to escape before the  blast.  The Eupolium was on a timer and I didn’t want to be in that building when it reached zero.

“MAX!” Ryan called.  “Four minutes ‘till this place blows.” 

“Oh…” Max responded.  “I should start running.”  “Great idea Max… Way to go,” I said to him as I ran by.

Chapter 3

A Battle to Remember

             
We kept running down the hall until we reached the intersection that Robert went down. 

“Where do you think Rob is?”  Max asked. 

“He may still be setting up,” I suggested. 

Then, we ran out of the building and hid in the bushes near the base.  Suddenly, Robert came running out of the building.  He was alone.

“Where’s Jenkins?” Ryan asked. 

“Dead…” Robert answered. “He was shot in the head a few times.” 

“Ouch,” Max replied.  “That had to hurt.” 

“Max!  I can't believe you even placed in the competition to be on the Rangers,” Nevin said.

“Did you get the Eupholium set up!?” Ryan yelled. 

“No.  There were too many of them.  I was just setting it up when they came in the room,” Robert explained. 

“Then they shot Jenkins and I surrendered.  They took me down the hall.  I kicked the guard that had my weapons and they spilled to the floor.  I grabbed my pistol and took out the other guard.  Then, I took off out the door,” Robert finished. 

“Gah!  I knew I should have sent someone else with you.  Did the base think you were alone?”  Ryan questioned. 

“I think they know that there were more of us. 

“I sure hope not,” Nevin said.

“That’s not too big a deal at this point,” Phil said in his deep voice. 

“I agree,” I said.  “Surely they can't disarm the Eupholium in time, even if they find it.”

             
“James is right.  Let’s go.  If that Eupholium blows, I don’t even want to be this close,” Ryan warned.  We took off, tearing through the jungle.

             
It was not long before a powerful explosion shook the ground.  I looked back and saw some trees light up in flame.    Then, a second explosion filled the air. 

“Outstanding!” Phil cheered.  “I didn’t even think about how the first explosion would set off the other Eupholium charges.” 

“Phew, I guess it worked out then,” Robert said nervously.  “Sorry for the scare there, Ryan.”

I looked back to see the entire facility destroyed, flame spewing from the gray ruins of the building. 

“Seven minutes ‘till Dixon arrives to destroy
Fargo
,” Ryan announced. 

“Just in time…” Nevin added. 

We continued through the jungle and then burst out into the desert.  Leaving the shade of the trees, I felt the temperature noticeably rise.

             
“Without our transport, how do we get off the planet?” Nevin asked. 

“Call Dixon,” I said. 

“Our transport had our only form of communication,” Ryan informed us. 

“So… we’re trapped,” Max sighed.

             
“I bet a Vorgian base would have some sort of emergency escape vessel,” Philip said.

“That’s all fine and dandy, but we just blew the base to smithereens!” Max added.

             
We took off through the desert for any signs of another base. We ran for an exhausting twenty minutes until we found a lightly guarded Vorgian Transport outside of a small Cecrete structure, similar to the one we had just destroyed. There were several soldiers meandering around the ship.  It appeared to be some sort of border patrol outpost, perhaps guarding the perimeter of a higher order facility.

             
“All right…” Ryan whispered as we dropped to the sand.

             
Ryan then pointed silently at various guards, then at one of us.

“Fire!”

All of the soldiers dropped to the ground as Ryan, Phil and Robert unleashed rounds at their targets. We ran over to the transport.

“Get ready,” Ryan said. 

We pulled out our pistols and approached the door.  Ryan knocked on the door of the transport, hoping the pilot would mistake him as one of the guards.  The door slid open and we moved in.  Ryan took the shot. He removed the body, and then took the controls.

“Let’s get outta’ here,” Max said.

             
We rose high into the air and began to see
Fargo
battling Dixon’s fleet.  At first, the ride was relaxing, bearing with it a satisfying feeling of completion.  I had not only survived, but so far wasn’t directly responsible for any kills.  I was still innocent.  Though I knew in war, it was only a matter of time before that innocence was lost.

Suddenly, three Vorgian Avenger-class Battleships warped onto the battlefield. 

“Uh-Oh…” Nevin said. “This will be a battle to remember.”

“Yeah… If we survive!” Max pointed out.

             
At the head of the Elonian fleet we could see the
Concordia
, the massive flagship of Dixon’s fleet.  It was a memorable sight as its main batteries hailed fire onto the enemy.  As we neared the
Concordia
’s landing bay, Ryan tried to contact Dixon. 

“Come in… This is Ryan Dunkelman of the Elonian Rangers, he announced.