Impulse, page 6
part #12 of First Colony Series
The others grinned.
“I look forward to serving my squad to the best of my abilities, Sergeant,” Rockwood said in a well-rehearsed, even tone.
“I know you do. Now take point,” Riley said.
Rockwood and Zerneck began running toward the ryklars. On the other side of the valley, Green and Kristensen waited a few minutes and then began their run. Ryklars would sometimes attack on sight, but not always. Larger cohorts like this needed some prodding before they’d give chase.
Riley had the recon drones deploy concussive charges and dozens of ryklars began moving. The senior alphas scanned the area, looking for threats. Seeing the CDF soldiers running on the outskirts of the valley, they began running toward them, screeching at the betas to get them to join the hunt.
Ryklars had two sets of arms. Their inner arms, which were smaller, were used for precision attacks, but the outer arms were much longer and more heavily muscled. When a ryklar charged, they used those powerful arms, along with their thick, burly legs, to propel their bodies into a high-speed gallop. Their top speeds on rough terrain could outperform any colonial rover, but they couldn’t outrun Hellcats. Air superiority usually trumped ground forces. CDF soldiers in Nexstar combat suits could run nearly as fast, but the ryklars were more agile. They were relentless pack hunters that were capable of sprinting short distances at high speeds, but they could also run for longer periods of time to wear out their prey. Ryklars’ bulky, bulbous heads had thick tentacles that covered powerful jaws with rows of sharp teeth, and their loud screeches pierced the valley.
Anticipating where the two groups of squad mates were heading, several groups of ryklars broke away from the main pack. Smaller packs joined the chase, clearing out the middle of the valley.
“Let’s go,” Riley said.
“I’m with you, Sergeant,” Jackson said.
They ran down the hill through the middle of the valley at a dead run. The combat suits’ AIs assisted the wearers’ movements, enabling strength and agility that would otherwise be outside their capabilities.
They ran toward a hill and quickly headed up. Several stragglers noticed them and screeched a warning. Answering ryklar calls echoed through the valley.
Jackson was able to keep pace with Riley. He seemed to have gotten over the jitters now that they’d started their run. Soldiers had to learn to master their fear. If they didn’t, accidents happened. He was glad Jackson hadn’t tripped. Falling at these speeds tended to damage the combat suits, and there were ryklars that would be only too eager to shred the suits to get at the juicy middle.
Riley glanced to his right and saw a ryklar galloping nearby. A CDF Hellcat flew overhead. Hanging underneath it were several long metallic cables that were attached to a mobile arch gateway. The Hellcat flew toward the waypoint, and the squad followed. The airship set the gateway down about five hundred meters ahead of them, then flew away. Rockwood and Zerneck ran along the edge of the valley with a large group of ryklars chasing them. Riley looked at the other side of the valley and saw Green and Kristensen’s locators appear on his internal heads-up display, showing him their positions.
They closed the distance to the gateway and Riley initiated a short-range ryklar activation signal. Two ryklars caught up to them and knocked into Jackson, lashing out with their claws. He stumbled into Riley, almost knocking him off-balance. Jackson fired a stunner round at the ryklars and they backed off a little. The ryklars’ bearded tentacles went from a dull gray to blood red. Both he and Jackson managed to get their feet under them, and Riley howled in excitement.
Jackson sped ahead of him and went through the inactive gateway.
“Come and get papa bear!” Riley bellowed.
Dozens of New Earth’s most dangerous predators galloped behind, gaining on him. Riley saw a slight shimmer appear in the middle of the gateway and glimpsed a wide-open field of green beyond. He then activated a secondary comlink that amplified the high-frequency sound waves, drawing more of the ryklars toward him. Several meters before the gateway, he leaped high into the air. The combat suit’s actuators enabled him to leapfrog over the gateway as he tossed the secondary comlink toward it. The comlink attached to the top of it and altered the signal to appear to be coming from just beyond the gateway. Riley landed on the other side and heard the ryklars running through. They were in such an agitated state that he doubted they noticed him. The only indication that the ryklars had breached the gateway was the abrupt cutoff of their screeches and growls.
Riley continued onward and caught up to Jackson, who waited for him over a hundred meters away.
“Green. Kristensen. You’re up,” Riley said over comms.
The CDF soldiers acknowledged and led their frenzied group of ryklars toward the gateway.
“We’re coming in hot, sir. Another cohort has joined this one,” Rockwood said.
Riley turned toward them. They were running at max speed and had several large groups of ryklars chasing them. He cursed.
“They’re coming in too fast,” Jackson said.
There was nothing Riley could do. The CDF teams were going to arrive at the same time as the ryklars, and the ryklars were as likely to combat each other as they were to go through the gateway.
Riley opened a comlink to Lieutenant Harlan. “We need an emergency extraction,” he said and explained the situation.
Manipulating smaller groups of ryklars to go through mobile gateways was much easier than the larger groups. Dividing them up with multiple teams usually worked, but not this time.
“I’ll alert the nearest Hellcat. Stand by,” Harlan said.
The comlink session went on standby and Jackson gestured for his attention.
“Sergeant, I’m detecting a secondary ryklar signal,” Jackson said.
Riley frowned and checked the recon drone feeds. Jackson was right. There was another signal being broadcast. The rogue signal was interfering with theirs at the mobile gateway.
He increased the intensity of the signal on the mobile gateway. He could still get the closest ryklars to go through. Green and Kristensen were first to arrive at the gateway and he watched as they circled around it. Rockwood and Zerneck were just a few moments behind. Riley seized a recon drone feed to get an aerial view. There looked to be a couple hundred ryklars closing in on the gateway. Bulbous heads with crimson-bearded tentacles raced forward without any cohesion.
Riley opened a comlink to his team. “Abort mission. Don’t stop at the gateway. Change ammunition type to incendiary rounds.”
CDF standard-issue rifle was the AR-74 that had a nanorobotic ammunition block capable of forming multiple types of munitions. Incendiary ammo could burn through armor, as well as the toughened hides of the ryklars, and increased the damage above what a standard round could do.
Riley aimed his weapon. “Covering fire. Let’s try and give them some breathing room.”
Jackson brought his weapon up and began firing in short, controlled bursts.
Riley aimed for the ground behind the fleeing soldiers. Large pockets of dirt burst into the air at the charging ryklars. The predators flinched away from the small explosions, causing several to stumble into each other.
He only wanted to slow them down, but if they kept pushing forward, he was going to have to shoot to kill. Jackson followed his lead.
Riley looked at the gateway. Several groups of ryklars clustered around it. They kept shaking their heads and pounding the ground with their outer fists. Fighting broke out among the groups. A few dozen had followed the CDF soldiers past the gateway.
An alert appeared on his internal heads-up display. The rogue signal had moved to a place behind Riley’s location. It had increased intensity to a staggering degree, rendering the one at the gateway useless. The effect on the ryklars was immediate. A chorus of screeches and howls came from all the ryklars in the area.
“What the hell just happened?” Jackson asked.
Riley gritted his teeth and looked at the hordes of ryklars being driven into a frenzy. “Shoot to kill.”
This operation had quickly gone from high-risk routine to a fight for their lives. Their weapons fire tore into the nearest ryklars, but they kept charging. Riley knew they wouldn’t relent no matter how many he killed, but he kept firing until the rest of the squad reached him.
A comlink came to prominence and Riley acknowledged it.
“Sergeant, this is Lieutenant Peters on Hellcat E-74. We’re fifteen minutes out from your location.”
“You need to get here faster than that. This is an emergency evac, danger close,” Riley replied as he fired his weapon.
“Understood. We’ll get there as soon as we can,” Peters said.
“When’s the evac coming, sir?” Rockwood asked.
Riley told them.
The squad had been steadily retreating while firing their weapons at the ryklars. “We need to run for it. Hellcat is coming from that direction.”
“That’s the same direction as that rogue signal,” Jackson said.
“Can’t the Hellcat take it out? I mean, it’s coming from that direction anyway,” Rockwood said.
“Good thinking!” Zerneck groused. “Tell the Hellcat that’s coming to pick us up to go take out the rogue signal instead.”
A few moments passed and Rockwood replied. “All right, tiny, it was a bad idea.”
They continued running over smalls hills in the valley, pausing to fire at the ryklars and then moving forward.
Riley knew they couldn’t keep this up. “Listen up,” he said. “We’re going to make our stand at the edge of the valley. We’ll have the high ground, and we’ll hold them off until the evac gets there.”
Riley checked that their locator beacon was activated, and the CDF squad headed for the waypoint. It was a solid plan—get to the high ground and then unleash their full armament on hordes of ryklars coming to kill them. But once they reached the edge of the valley and glimpsed the surrounding area, things really started to unravel.
“Holy hell, we’re going to die out here!” Green shouted.
“Then we’ll die fighting,” Riley said.
Jackson locked gazes with him and nodded.
“Rockwood, Zerneck, and Jackson take east. The rest of you are with me, holding west,” Riley said.
He glanced skyward, hoping to see a CDF Hellcat flying towards them, but the skies were clear.
Over the next few minutes, they fired their weapons at the ryklars, but they kept coming. They were circling around and pushing in on all sides.
“Conserve your ammo. Controlled bursts!” Riley shouted.
More and more ryklars darted toward them, avoiding being shot. One barreled its way past the front line. Riley heard Zerneck scream as she fired her AR-74 on full auto, chewing through the ryklar’s massive chest. It sank to the ground and its innards slapped the dirt in a grisly mess.
They were moments from being overwhelmed when Riley heard the high-pitched whine of the Hellcat’s engines, followed by the heavy gauss cannon as it unleashed an onslaught of 30mm projectiles. The ryklars closest to them were split in half. Blood splattered the piles of bodies littering the ground.
Other ryklars avoided fire from the heavy gauss cannon, and Riley growled as he continued to shoot his weapon.
Rescue lines dropped from the Hellcat. The CDF soldiers stepped into the boot and grabbed the line, then covered the others while they did the same.
“Time to go, sir!” Jackson shouted.
Riley spun and hastened toward the remaining rescue line while the others continued firing their weapons. He stepped into the boot and it attached to his armored foot, but before he could be lifted, something big slammed into him, pushing him toward the ground. Riley heard the others shouting as he tried to regain his feet. A ryklar howled as it tore at his armored back. Riley jerked his elbow back and twisted around. His elbow hit something solid, but he had no idea what. He tried to bring his weapon around but didn’t squeeze the trigger. If he did, there was a good chance he’d hit the Hellcat or one of the others.
The ryklar let go of his combat suit and Zerneck screamed while she fired her weapon at it. Riley stood up and saw the ryklar tumble away. Two rescue lines dangled nearby. He grabbed one and shoved it toward Zerneck. She took it and started to rise into the air as the line was retracted. Riley took the other one, feeling the line become taut moments before he was whisked into the air. Several ryklars leaped up, attempting to get at him. He fired his weapon at them. Then he saw Zerneck fall past him. One of her legs was missing, and three ryklars clutched her as she hit the ground. Then more piled on top. Zerneck screamed in pain as the ryklars tore her to pieces. Riley kept shooting his weapon, trying to clear them off, but there were too many. His back hit the edge of the Hellcat and the others pulled him in.
Rockwood screamed. “We have to go get her.”
He started toward the edge and Riley grabbed him. “She’s gone. Look!” He gestured toward the rescue line and the remains of Zerneck’s leg. The combat suit had been severely damaged.
“No! Dammit!”
More ryklars stormed the area as the Hellcat rose into the air. Riley looked at the others. They’d all made it except for Zerneck. Had she not helped save him, she might have survived.
Riley clenched his teeth and cursed.
Koukax watched the CDF Hellcat fly away and looked back toward where the squad of soldiers had been. They’d lost one of them to the ryklars.
He glanced at his own soldiers. They were lying on the ground under the cover of the foliage around them. Their armor had helped them avoid detection from the CDF. He’d taken this scout group to investigate the rumors—rumors that had just been proven true. The colonists were attempting to rid Bhaneteran of the ryklars.
Koukax placed an armored hand on the soldier next to him. “Deactivate the signal.”
“At once, Commander,” Seomus said.
The ryklar signal went offline.
“We’ll stay here until nightfall. Then we head back to Renoya to regroup.”
His scout force gestured their acknowledgment.
“The Konus endure,” Koukax said, invoking the motto that had sustained them since the great awakening.
6
Noah Barker stared at the data on the holoscreens as if they had just betrayed his best friend in the whole galaxy. It was as if the universe had some kind of vendetta against him for trying to succeed where so many engineers and scientists throughout history had failed. God really did have a sense of humor.
He inhaled deeply and pressed his lips together as he stood in his lab at the science research station Terra. He then looked out the window. From the station, he had a clear view of the moon and New Earth just beyond it. New Earth’s rings shone even brighter from off-planet than the brilliant display from his home. He suddenly realized he’d lived longer here on New Earth than he had on Old Earth. His fortieth birthday was rapidly approaching, but he still looked as if he were in his mid-twenties.
He sighed.
Old Earth was a distant memory, and New Earth was more of a home to him than anywhere else. Kara had brought up his birthday the other day. She was likely planning some kind of party for him.
“We’re part of a small minority of colonists who actually remember Earth,” Kara had said to him.
His wife’s words had stuck with him, and his brain wouldn’t let them go. They persisted in his mind like an annoying song that he just couldn’t get out of his head.
The door to his lab opened and Kara walked in. She stopped a short distance from him, hips cocked to one side. Her blonde hair skirted an inch below her jawline, and eyes the color of warm honey regarded him. The edges of her lips were the color of frozen strawberries and lifted into a flirty smile. Being married for as long as they had had given him more insights into another person than he’d ever thought was possible. Within the passing of a few seconds, they could gauge each other’s temperaments and share a brief moment’s respite in each other’s company. He loved his wife more now than when they’d first met.
Noah tilted his head toward the phalanx of holoscreens. They were like a strike team that had just brought back bad news.
“Look, hon, I found another way how not to crack FTL.”
Kara scanned the data on the screen. She could read faster than anyone he knew, and it was something to see. “Structural integrity is lost in transit,” she said, coming to stand next to him. She rubbed the middle of his back in slow circular motions and the tension eased out of him a little.
“Just a little decomposition of mass, and the fact that it’s way off course,” Noah said and frowned. He looked at her. “I’ve never failed at something so consistently in my entire life.”
Kara grinned. “Well, it’s not just you. There’s a team working to help you.”
Noah nodded in mock severity. “It’s a group effort,” he said and shook his head. “I just don’t get it. The only consistent result is that I manage to destroy anything we try to propel. The Ovarrow somehow managed to link two gateways across vast distances of space.”
“They weren’t trying to use it for traveling. They were trying to bombard the planet.”
“That’s the big question. We’re not exactly sure what they were trying to do. We’ve only observed the results,” Noah said. He made a swiping motion and all the holoscreens disappeared. “At least we got subspace communications out of it.”
“I know you thought it was going to be easier to figure out than this, but you have to realize that most major scientific breakthroughs happen on top of a mountain’s worth of work. Sometimes it takes decades,” Kara said.
Noah nodded. She wasn’t saying anything new. “I know. It just feels like it’s right there at the edge of our grasp. Or I can see the top of a mountain, but the higher I climb, the farther away it becomes.”
Kara arched a blonde eyebrow. “Regretting not going on the Ark II?”
“No,” Noah said with a laugh. “I meant the proverbial ‘we’ as in humanity. I don’t want to leave New Earth.”
