Hell's Hoplites - Book 1 - Thebes - 11 - Chapter 10

Chapter 10 -

Sol System - Somewhere Between Haven And Io

Kawamura Industries Registered Vessel - New Edo

September 15th 2535 AD - 03:00 GMT

“What was that?” Rice said calmly sipping on his coffee as he sat in the command chair.

“If I didn’t know any better I’d say that flash of light was a high energy plasma burst; but as far as I know no company has developed it as a weapons platform,” the sensor tech said.

“Don’t be absurd,” Colonel Pendlman growled and got up from her own console to consult the tech’s sensor board.

“Well Colonel?” Rice asked quietly.

“Sir, the tech is right the readings are dead on for a high yield plasma burst of some sort,” Pendlman said still consulting the screen.

“And the Hoplite II?” Rice asked.

“Gone Sir,” Pendlman replied.

“Our missiles destroyed it then,” Rice said.

“No sir, the missiles themselves were destroyed by the plasma burst, and I’m reading the traces of a hyperspace jump, but the readings are off, we’ll never be able to follow her,” Pendlman told her boss.

“How is that possible?” Rice asked.

“My guess is they didn’t have enough time before the missiles would have impacted so they jumped without setting a destination,” Pendlman told him.

“Are we going to be able to track them?” Rice asked as if he hadn’t heard her answer the first time.

Pendlman shook her head in the negative. “No, without them setting a destination they’ll pop up some place randomly it may even carry them past the safe limits of their Carmine-Yushima drive,” she answered.

“Well we can always hope that they come out in the middle of a sun,” Rice said without the least expression.

Pendlman just nodded and shivered at the emotionless musings of her boss.

“Sir, we are receiving a call for help from the Tendo,” the comm tech told the Colonel.

“What do they need?” She asked.

“Their Fichner and Carmine Yushima drives are both offline and they have only limited maneuvering from thrusters,” the comm tech explained.

“Must have been that plasma burst,” Pendlman mused and then turned her full attention to the comm tech. “Tell them we’ll be there as soon as possible to take them in tow,” she ordered.

“Aye, ma’am,” the tech confirmed.

While the comm tech was murmuring her reply to the other ship Pendlman turned towards the nav officer. “Navigation set us a course to pick up the Tendo and then set a course for Io,” she told him.

“Aye,” the nav officer replied and bent over his console.

“Where do you suppose they got their hands on a plasma weapon?” Pendlman asked turning back towards the command chair only to find it completely empty and Rice gone from the bridge of the ship.

Sol System - Niburu - Far Side Of The Sun

Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite II

September 18th 2535 AD - 17:58 GMT

Jack slowly swam back to consciousness and found his face pressed painfully against the keyboard of his console. We must be out of danger if the crash frame unlocked itself, he thought groggily to himself as he sat back in the console chair.

Looking around the bridge he saw that everything seemed to be in working order; he also saw that Patricia, Fuji, and Samuel were still unconscious in similar positions to the one he had woken up in.

“Oz,” Jack croaked out his throat feeling dry and raspy.

“Yes Jack,” Oz replied.

“Where are we?” He rasped out.

“We are currently in high orbit around the planet Niburu and currently on the far side of the sun from our last location, also over three days have passed since we entered hyperspace,” Oz informed him.

“How is that possible?” Jack asked.

“Hyperspace really isn’t understood that well, the only thing I can calculate is that when we brute forced our way in it caused us to travel much farther than we would normally be able to,” Oz explained.

Jack was about to ask another question when Fuji flopped back in his console chair and let out a groan. “No more tilta-whirls please,” he muttered A second later snoring filled the bridge.

“God did a beaver get loose on the ship,” Samuel said wiping accumulated eye crispies from his face.

“No it’s just Fuji’s snoring,” Jack told him and groaned as he stood up.

“Shit,” Samuel said pushing up from his console chair and racing over to Patricia’s seat. Unlatching her console chair arm he slowly pushed her back in her seat eliciting a small moan from her.

“Babe, you okay?” Samuel asked his voice thick with worry.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine,” she said in a small voice as her eyes fluttered open and looked at him. “That wild ride sure didn’t help the bump that Jack’s girlfriend gave me though,” she said giving him a small smile.

Jack turned away from the scene with a stony face. “Oz how soon before we can recharge the Carmine-Yushima drive and get out of here?” He asked.

“I’m afraid I have some bad news on that one,” Oz informed him. “One of the blades of the subspace impeller assembly has cracked and broken, we won’t be able to enter hyperspace until it’s fixed,” Oz said softly.

“Great, just great,” Jack said slamming a fist down on the console. “Any other sparkling wonderful news you would like to give us,” Jack grumbled.

“I’m not finding any sign of Steve on or around the hull of the vessel,” Oz said.

“Damn, what a way to go,” Samuel said shaking his head. “He must have gotten sucked into hyperspace when we jumped,” he said with a grimace.

“I’m unsure whether that happened, or if he was killed by the high yield plasma projection that I detected right before we jumped,” Oz temporized.

“The Kawamura vessels had plasma weapons?” Jack asked confused.

“No the blast originated from the area of the hull where Steve was last standing,” Oz told them.

“So where exactly are we going to get an impeller blade,” Fuji asked yawning and stretching as he stood up from his seat.

“First things first, let’s get some clean clothes on, and then get some food and liquids into our bodies,” Jack ordered staggering a bit as he moved towards the bridge door. “I don’t know about anyone else but it feels like I’ve been eating cardboard paste and drinking liquid drano,” he said. Turning around halfway through the bridge hatch he looked back at the others. “Oh and get eight hours of real sleep and we’ll reconvene in the conference room,” Jack ordered.

The others nodded their ascent and followed him from the room.

Jack grabbed a sandwich and a bottle of water from the mess hall devouring both of them before he even made it to his cabin and barely got his Skinsuit off before falling into bed.

Fuji didn’t even make it as far as his cabin eating a hug bowl of cereal and then zonking out on one of the mess hall table’s benches.

In their cabin Samuel and Patricia helped each other out of their suits, ate a couple of power bars and drank some bottles of water and lay down on the bunk. They both tried to attempt some half hearted slap and tickle but exhaustion pulled them down into the darkness of sleep.

Sol System - Niburu - Far Side Of The Sun

Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite II

September 19th 2535 AD - 04:00 GMT

Ten hours of sleep and showers found the crew of the Hoplite II in the conference room down the hall from the bridge with the demolished remains of huge meals in front of them all.

“Okay, so we are in orbit around Niburu then,” Jack said more of a statement than a question. “Oz have you been able to get through to anyone down there yet?” He asked the AI.

“No, no one is answering my hails,” Oz stated. “Which someone should there is an entire UEF Forestry Ranger Company stationed on the planet to protect the nature preserver there and the indigenous lizard like race that lives there,” Oz explained.

“This doesn’t sound good,” Fuji moaned.

“Quit whining,” Samuel said around a chicken leg that he was methodically destroying as they sat there.

“Don’t talk with your mouth full,” Patricia admonished giving him a mock slap on the arm.

“Yes dear,” Samuel said the leg still stuffed in his mouth.

“Okay, well we’ll just have to go down to the Ranger Station and see what is happening then,” Jack said.

“That won’t be as simple as it seems,” Oz told them.

“And why not,” Jack said a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach.

“The anti-ship systems are currently up and running and they are generally programmed to take out any vessel that is not squawking the proper clearance codes,” the AI told them.

“And let me guess they never programmed those codes into your data banks,” Fuji said groaning again.

“No they were never downloaded,” Oz confirmed.

“How about hacking the system?” Patricia asked.

“Impossible, their defense system is hard wired with no remote access,” Oz informed them.

“Okay well I guess we hover the ship…,” Jack paused. “What’s the immediate threat range of the defense systems?” He asked.

“Approximately five kilometers,” Oz answered.

“So we hover the ship and hump it five klicks,” Jack said.

“Five kilometers through thick alien jungle,” Fuji groaned.

“You know that is getting to be a really bad habit,” Samuel told him.

“What’s the matter Fuji, don’t you remember the motto of the Martian Marine Corps…” Jack trailed off

“Blow up interesting places and kill interesting people,” the three former marines chorused.

“But seriously we aren’t in the marines anymore,” Fuji said. “And last time I looked UEF Forestry Rangers were heavily armed and had bad attitudes, if something could take a company of them and their support personnel out what makes you think the three of us will survive what happened?” He asked.

“Well one, Oz informed earlier that they keep spare parts for SSPF vessels at the main ranger station and we need those parts, two we’re stuck here till we get those parts, and three there may be civilians trapped down there and we don‘t know what has happened,” Jack ticked the points off on his fingers.

“You always have to throw the help the innocent masses card onto the table don’t you,” Fuji grumped crossing his arms.

“Yeah, because I know it always works with you,” Jack said with a toothy grin.

Fuji’s only reply was to give him the finger.

Sol System - Niburu - Far Side Of The Sun

Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite II

September 19th 2535 AD - 07:00 GMT

During the meeting in the conference room it was decided that Patricia would stay with the ship and that Fuji, Samuel, and Jack would go to the surface to find out what had happened and to retrieve the necessary part.

The three of them had geared up in jungle camouflage and each carried their own personal weapons, Jack had his Barrett and FN pistols, Samuel his M30 with attached grenade launcher and the humongous Wildey pistol, and Fuji had opted for a Benelli 8-gauge and his Colt government model, they’d also each grabbed half a dozen hand grenades and a one kilogram block of composition ten.

Three hours later the Hoplite II was hovering 100 meters over a small clearing that Oz had found about five kilometers away from the UEF Forestry Service Visitor’s Center.

“Man I hate the jungle,” Fuji griped as he slid down the rope and released the latches on the harness around his torso. Stepping away from the rope he watched as it was winched back into the cargo bay of the ship.

“You hate anything that means you’ll have to walk,” Samuel told him.

“Can I help it if I have delicate feet,” Fuji sniffed.

“Can it you two,” Jack ordered drawing one of his FN pistols.

“Roger,” Samuel said bringing his M30 off it’s tactical sling and taking the slack position as Jack took point and Fuji fell in between them.

Sol System - Niburu - Far Side Of The Sun

Planet’s Surface - En Route To Visitor’s Center

September 19th 2535 AD - 08:15 GMT

“You have got to be kidding me,” Fuji bitched kicking a rock and watching as it skittered down the side of the two hundred foot wide gorge that bisected their path to the Visitor’s center.

“Oz it looks like we’ve go some sort of gorge separating the last two kilometers from the visitors center,” Jack told the AI over his earbud.

“Unfortunately I can’t use my scanners to plot out a new path for you, if I use them the visitor’s defense systems will go on long range active and start attacking the ship,” Oz told them.

“Dammit, alright thanks Oz,” Jack said staring at the gorge.

“Let me guess we have to pick a direction and hoof it and hope that it brings us to a crossing of some sort,” Samuel said after seeing the look on Jack’s face.

“Yeah,” Jack informed him.

“Heads we go right, tails left,” Fuji said holding up a quarter cred coin.

“Sure why not,” Jack said.

Fuji flipped the coin into the air and light bounced off its golden sheen for a second and then a lizard like bird swooped down and snatched up the coin and flew away.

“Seriously, you have got to be kidding me,” Fuji said fingering the slide of his shotgun as if contemplating shooting the winged lizard.

“Come on Ninja boy,” Samuel said and tugged him in the opposite direction the lizard bird had gone.

Jack had already started in that direction and Fuji gave the small shape of the animal a last disgruntled look.

Ten kilometers and two sweat soaked hours later Jack stopped suddenly holding a hand up and then crouched into some underbrush the barrel of his FN probing ahead of him.

Samuel and Fuji crouched down behind him and held perfectly still as they strained their eyes and ears to catch the motion or sound that Jack had picked up. After almost five minutes of not moving and barely breathing the two of them were able to filter out the normal jungle sounds and pick up a faint buzzing sound with some other noise, maybe static underneath the buzzing.

Samuel slapped Fuji lightly on the shoulder letting him know that he had picked up the unknown sound who in turn slapped Jack lightly on the shoulder twice indicating that both of them had picked up on the noise.

Jack nodded and the three of them slowly moved through the underbrush with miniscule movements and it took them nearly an hour to move the twenty-five meters or so that the sound was originating from.

When they finally reached the noise it was all that the hardened former marines could do to keep their lunch down. Nosed up against a tree and blood spattered was an open topped Jeep Wrangler. A cloud of black flies so thick that you couldn’t see the interior of the jeep buzzed and swarmed around the vehicle.

The three of them weren’t really sure what to do until Jack pulled a magnesium flare and the can of bug spray out of his kit, popping the top of the flare with a faint scratching sound it lit and he advanced slowly on the Jeep the can of bug spray a few centimeters from the rear of the flare.

Jack stopped about a foot and a half from the crashed vehicle and depressed the nozzle of the bug spray sending a jet of it shooting through the flare and causing a fan of flame to burn and kill large portions of the cloud of flies.

Once the cloud of flies was incinerated the others moved forward to examine the jeep with Jack.

Fuji reached over and flicked the vehicles radio off. “There’s that static sound we heard under the buzzing of all those flies,” he said.

The three of them stared at the carnage that had been the Jeep. There had to have been at least four people in the vehicle when whatever happened occurred, although it was hard to tell with the amount of body parts now bloated and green blue from being out in the sun for several days and being gnawed on and infested by maggots.

Jack holstered his FN and moved closer to the Jeep.

“Oh please tell me you aren’t going to do what I think you are going to do,” Fuji said and then ran into some trees to vomit as Jack started pulling body parts from the jeep with nauseating squelching sucking sounds.

At first it looked like Jack himself was going to heave but he swallowed the burning bile that swarmed up his throat and completed his grisly task.

“Sorry,” Fuji said wiping his mouth on a handkerchief.

“Not a problem,” Jack said spreading his thermal blanket over the driver’s seat of the vehicle.

Samuel and Fuji followed suit and soon enough Jack had the steering wheel and controls cleaned enough that his hands wouldn’t stick to the semi-dried gluey blood caching everything in the vehicle.

“God this is so gross,” Fuji said as he shifted in the back seat and heard the squelching of blood under his thermal blanket.

“That as may be,” Samuel said. “But we need to get to that visitor’s center and find any survivors, grab the part we need and get them and ourselves off this planet,” he explained.

Jack could only nod agreement as he shoved the jeep into reverse and backed up onto the trail that the vehicle had skidded from when its occupants had been killed.

“So what the hell do you think killed them?” Fuji asked.

“I hear Niburu has dinosaurs on it and some sort of lizard like intelligent species,” Samuel said.

“Yeah Right,” Fuji said scoffing. “Another intelligent species, whatever,” he muttered crossing his arms.

Samuel just shrugged and went back to checking for threats around them.

It took nearly an hour to reach the Visitor’s Center following the winding dirt track that the Jeep had skidded off of. Jack stopped the vehicle a good fifty meters from where the entrance gate used to be on the compound, now it was just a tangled mass of concertina wire and chain link fencing having had huge holes breeched through it. The gatehouse had been trampled into splinters, and the building itself hadn’t faired any better. Windows and doors lay shattered and splintered like gaping empty eyes and toothless sockets. The worst part however was the dozens of bodies scattered around the facilities grounds, huge flocks of carrion lizard birds were stripping the soft fleshes from the bodies and as they watched one of them jerked an eye ball free flipped it into the air and then swallowed it whole.

The vehicles in the visitor’s lot were also equally smashed and destroyed even one of the Forestry Services all-terrain APCs had been crushed like a tin can, and a wrecked and battered corvette lay drunkenly across the launch pad to one side of the compound.

Fuji let out a low whistle and then looked down at his shotgun. “I should have brought a bigger gun,” he gulped out.

Jack slowly drove the jeep up and over the destroyed fencing and stopped the vehicle in front of the shattered entryway doors, one side of the vehicles tires were up on the steps that was how close he had parked.

Getting out of the vehicle Jack stood perfectly still surveying the surroundings. He felt eyes on him but wasn’t sure where they were coming from, it was also extremely quiet; the only sound was the slight squawking of the carrion lizard-birds they had disturbed during their meal and the occasional flapping of leathery wings.

“If it’s this bad outside, I wonder what it’s like inside,” Fuji said grimacing at the smell. Although the bodies here had been out here just as long as those in the jeep, the carrion creatures had done a thorough job of stripping flesh from bone thus cutting down on the stench.

“Well we’ll have to go and see,” Jack said hefting his FN. “But first let’s see if we can get aboard that Corvette and find some Impeller Blades,” he ordered.

The other two just nodded and they fanned out moving in a delta shape towards the crashed ship. As they went they would have to occasionally kick a carrion bird out of their path or detour around a particularly large gathering of them.

As they got closer to the corvette and could make out more detail Samuel let out a low curse.

“What is it,” Jack asked.

“Somebody smashed the outside control panel for the airlock, we won’t be getting through that door without a plasma cutter,” Samuel said rapping his knuckles against the battle plate door.

“Great, just great, where the hell are we going to find a damn Plasma Cutter on this rock,” Fuji started to go into hysterics but after closing his eyes and taking a few deep breaths was able to calm himself.

“Fuji you stay here, Samuel go check the cargo bay hatch, and I’ll check the portside airlock,” Jack said and walked around the dented front end of the small ship.

A few minutes later they regrouped where Fuji was.

“Smashed,” Samuel grunted.

“Same here,” Jack said and then looked at the wrecked visitor’s center. “I guess we’re going to have to go in there and find the spare parts storeroom,” he said quietly.

“Do we really have to go in there,” there was a small bit of whine to Fuji’s question.

“Jeeze you want some cheese and crackers to go along with that whine?” Samuel asked in annoyance.

“Unless you want to stay out here by yourself with those carrion eaters,” Jack said waving a hand at the masses of birds milling around the dead bodies.

“No not really,” Fuji said a green tinge developing around his mouth.

“Well inside it is,” Jack said and suiting actions to words started back across the concrete apron to the main building.

The interior was dimly lit from the outside all the overhead lights having been smashed by something. The lobby itself was relatively clear of bodies and a few carrion lizard-birds hopped around pecking at the two or three that were there.

“Man, what in the world could have done this,” Samuel said looking at the devastated room.

Of the dozen steel and concrete pillars that held the room’s ceiling up only three still stood unmarred, the remainder had huge chunks of concrete broken away revealing the I-beams underneath, some of the I-beams were even dented but the scariest part of all was the two that had been completely bent in half and had snapped free of their brackets.

“See this is the kind of shit I’m talking about,” Fuji practically wailed.

Jack was worried without the steadying influence of his brother Fuji seemed to be coming apart at the seams more and more rapidly. Turning towards Samuel he nodded and Samuel returned it.

With viper like speed Jack spun on Fuji his hand snaking out and the lobby echoed with a resounding “CRACK!” as the palm of Jack’s hand made contact with his face. Jack hadn’t been sure how strong the nannites had made him so he’d tried to pull the blow, even having done so Fuji spun and sprawled to the ground, a bruise already forming on that side of his face, a small trickle of blood trailing from one nostril.

“You will shut the fuck up Sergeant, otherwise I will shove my foot so far up your ass that you’ll have to open your mouth for me to tie it,” Jack said in his best Sergeant Major’s voice. “DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME MARINE?!” The last was screamed into Fuji’s face at a distance of less than three inches.

“YES SIR, SERGEANT MAJOR SIR!” Fuji automatically belted out as if he were still at boot camp.

“Better Marine, Better,” Jack said taking a step back and then put an arm out to help Fuji off the floor.

“Sorry,” Fuji whispered to Jack as he helped him up.

“Don’t worry about it, we all lose people and we all react to it differently,” Jack said equally quietly.

“Don’t look now guys but someone is watching us,” Samuel said barely moving his lips.

Jack nodded his head and as Fuji dusted glass and debris from his clothes he turned in a slow circle and then pointed towards a security door that had been torn from its frame at the back of the lobby.

“Might as well start there,” Jack said ignoring the security camera with its steadily glowing light.

The three of them tread carefully through the detritus and then squeezed past the reception desk that was partially blocking the door. Once through they found themselves in a stairwell leading up and down.

“Which way should we go?” Fuji asked.

“Offices and security is probably on the second floor; all their store rooms and supplies and gear will probably be in the basement,” Jack said.

“Should we check on who’s in the security room?” Samuel asked.

“Might as well get that out of the way first,” Jack agreed.

The stairwell was rather free of carnage save for a single severed arm lying in its own pool of blood on the second floor landing. The same couldn’t be said for the second floor however, something huge had come crashing through the rear windows of the building leaving a gaping hole and carrion lizard birds hopped around the overturned desks and scattered debris left behind, several dozen bodies were pile in a large group in one corner.

Jack kicked a couple of lizard birds out of the way and examined the bodies. The outer ring of them was dressed in what was left of UEF Forestry Ranger uniforms, spent shell casings and empty magazines scattered around them. Oddly enough there were no weapons though, the inner group of bodies all appeared to be civilians and Jack was about to turn away when the pile of bodies suddenly rippled a little.

Jack jumped back and brought one of his FN pistols up.

“What was that?” Fuji said swinging the barrel of his shotgun towards the pile. Samuel smacked the barrel away and then started tossing bodies aside uncovering a small blood soaked form. Picking up the figure it immediately clutched at him staring up at him with frightened blue eyes. “It’s alright little one,” Samuel told the gore and blood streaked girl as he stroked a comforting hand down her back.

“How in the hell did she manage to survive?” Fuji blurted out too loudly.

In Samuel’s arms the girl started crying at the outburst; she couldn’t have been more than three or four years old; she was dressed in a dark green silk dress with white lace, short white socks, and patent leather shoes covered her feet. Her wispy blonde hair had been pulled back in pig tails, one of which had come undone.

Jack whacked Fuji on the back of the when the girl started crying. “Nice job brain donor,” Jack hissed at him.

“Ow, oh shit, sorry,” Fuji said quietly.

Jack shrugged out of his pack, untied the scarf from around his neck and pulled out his canteen.

“Hush little one, hush you’re safe now,” Samuel crooned to the little girl. After a few minutes she sniffled and then fell silent.

Jack soaked the scarf with water from the canteen and approached the girl cautiously.

“Now little one, let’s let Jack clean you up,” Samuel said to the little girl.

The girl resisted for a few seconds but with a little more coaxing from Samuel she allowed Jack to clean the gore, grime, and blood from her face and hands. “Nothing much I can do about the dress,” Jack said looking at the once beautiful dress the girl was wearing.

Samuel shrugged, “nothing can be done about that till we get her back to the ship and toss it in the wash, it’ll probably still be ruined but till we can get her some new stuff it will have to do.”

“Speaking of that what do we do with her?” Jack asked.

“We can’t do much till we can get the visitor center’s defensive system off line and call the ship in,” Samuel said.

“I wonder what her name is,” Jack mused.

“We’ll ask,” Samuel said and turned his attention to the girl that was still clutching him with a death grip. “What’s your name little one?” Samuel asked.

The girl seemed to think for a second as if she couldn’t remember her name. “Rebecca,” came out with an exhalation of breath and all three men had to strain to hear it.

“Rebecca, what a pretty name, what were you…?” Samuel’s question trailed off as he realized that the girl had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

“Samuel why don’t you stay here with the girl and Fuji and I will check out the security room,” Jack suggested.

“Probably a good idea,” Samuel replied and carried the girl over to an open office door and backed into a corner setting his assault rifle within easy reach as the girl’s sleeping breath pushed against the hair on his neck.

“Never knew Samuel had a paternal side,” Fuji commented as he and Jack treaded quietly down the hallway that led to the security room.

“He had a sister once, she died when she was four I believe,” Jack told him quietly.

“Jeeze, what happened?” Fuji asked.

“Samuel and Monica’s mother; Monica was his sister’s name,” Jack paused not really sure if he should continue. “Their mother was an alcoholic and was diagnosed as manic depressive, their dad left when Monica was born, he couldn’t take his wife’s mood swings and most of the time she refused to take the medication that would take care of that,” Jack explained.

“Well one night their mother was hitting the bottle really hard, or I should say bottles, when the police broke into the house they found close to a dozen empty vodka and whiskey bottles on the kitchen table,” Jack eyed a security camera as it swung to follow them.

“Seems their mother was off her meds for almost a week and with the combination of booze and no medication she had finally sunk into a pit of black despair and took Monica with her,” Jack navigated around a hole in the floor. “Samuel was with me at a concert of some sort, I can’t remember at this point what it was. When Samuel got home he found his sister drowned in the tub and his mother had overdosed on sleeping pills, combined with the booze the end went pretty fast,” he finished.

“Jesus,” Fuji said not knowing what else to say.

“After that Samuel pretty much stayed at my house, mom and aunt Aireal pushed for foster child status and got it,” Jack continued.

“I never knew,” Fuji said.

Jack stopped to face the man. “And Samuel is never going to know that you know, understand,” Jack said with a hard glint in his eyes.

“Yeah, yeah, damn,” Fuji said shaking his head sadly.

“I think this is it up ahead,” Jack said motioning to a thick battle plate door that was imbedded across the breadth of the corridor’s end.

“Yeah, I’d say that’s probably it,” Fuji said eyeing the blood and gore spattered door.

“Looks like someone tried to make a last stand here,” Jack said motioning to the three mangled bodies of UEF Forestry Rangers.

“Damn, I’d still like to know what did all this,” Fuji said toeing one of the corpses and eyeing the ripped and torn body parts.

“Well maybe we can find out once we get in here,” Jack said placing his hand against the sensor plate next to the door.

“Access denied, you must have a level six security clearance or higher to enter this portion of the building,” a recording told Jack after it had scanned his hand.

“Damn,” Fuji said. “What now we need to get in there to shut off the security system.”

“I know,” Jack turned away from the door and started walking back down the hallway.

“Where are we going,” Fuji asked.

“Well we can’t get in that way and we need to get a cutting torch from the supply area so we might as well do that while we think of a way to get in, plus we just might get lucky and find someone with level 6 access,” Jack told him as they re-entered the office area.

They found Samuel where they had left him, the girl still asleep against his shoulder.

“Samuel we can’t get into the security room so we’re going to go see if we can find us a plasma torch. Hopefully they have one and it’ll have enough fuel to get us through both the security door and one of that corvette’s hatches,” Jack told the other man talking as quietly as he could so as not to disturb the little girl.

Samuel just nodded at them and stroked the sleeping girl’s hair as she whimpered in her sleep.

Leaving their team mate on the second floor the two of them made their way back out to the stairwell and into the basement. The door at the bottom of the steps was completely intact and there didn’t appear to be any signs of an attack taking place down there.

“Hopefully that’s a good sign,” Jack told Ren quietly.

“Yeah, sure, when has nothing having happened ever been a good sign,” Ren told him rolling his eyes.

“Awfully pessimistic today aren’t we,” Jack grunted slowly turning the stairwell door’s knob and pushing gently against it.

The latch of the knob came open with a small grating sound and the door eased open silently under Jack’s gentle pressure, Fuji had switched the tactical light attached to his shotgun on and probed the dark room beyond the door.

“There it is,” Jack breathed a sigh of relief pointing his hand at a small plasma cutter and spare energy packs lying on a shelf at the back of the room.

The two of them walked slowly towards the back of the room Fuji still had the tactical light on and Jack pulled a small Maglite from a pouch on his belt and was running it over the walls of the room.

“I wonder why no one came down here to get away from whatever it was that killed everyone,” Fuji said looking at the rows upon rows of equipment and parts stored in the basement of the building.

“Probably the same reason people always run up stairs in horror movies,” Jack replied running his light along the walls. “Or they were trying to get to the security room.”

“I wonder what the hell actually happened…,” Fuji let out a startled yelp and then there was a clattering crash.

“Fuji,” Jack said pointing the flashlight and gun in the direction of the noise.

There was a groan and Jack moved his light downwards to find Fuji lying on the ground rubbing the back of his head with his legs splayed over a short rolling tool chest that someone had left sitting in the middle of the floor.

“How do you always manage to trip over something?” Jack asked in exasperation.

“I don’t know, I didn’t expect a freaking tool chest to be in the middle of the floor,” Fuji said standing up.

“Here,” Jack said holstering his FN and put a hand out to help him up.

“Thank…,” Fuji said and then let out whoosh of air as his back impacted with the ground again. “What the hell man,” he squawked again.

“Fuji I believe you may have found us a way into the security room,” Jack said.

“What do you mean?” Fuji said.

“How are you about small confined spaces,” Jack asked showing Fuji a large air vent that had been behind the tool box.

“Seriously I thought only bad horror movies and action flicks had huge vent systems,” Fuji said as he stood up and dusted himself off, retrieving the shotgun he checked to make sure that no damage had been done to it during the fall.

“Who knows maybe they needed someway to get to and from the security room without anyone seeing them,” Jack shrugged. “Alright you better get going then,” he said motioning to the vent.

“Me,” Fuji sputtered. “Why me?”

“Because you’re smaller than I am,” Jack told him.

“Smaller, that vent is a good three feet on a side,” Fuji told him.

“Fine, we’ll both go,” Jack said sighing. “Scaredy cat.”

“Scaredy cat, I’m not a scaredy cat,” Fuji grumbled. “Your larger body will just soak up more bullets is all,” he muttered.

“Did you say something?” Jack asked examining the vent.

“I said you’ll probably need this electric screwdriver,” Fuji said pulling a battery operated screwdriver from the pile of tools that had fallen out of the tool chest when he knocked it over.

“Thanks,” Jack said taking the screwdriver, re-holstering his gun he stuck the flashlight in his mouth and went to work. Four heavy bolts held the vent cover in place and with a slightly overstressed whine the self conforming screwdriver had them out in less than a minute.

“Alright,” Jack said tossing the screwdriver aside and taking the light out of his mouth. “Let’s go,” he said drawing the FN again.

Surprisingly the vent shaft was rather on the roomy side and they soon found out why. The vents ran below the floor and up the walls of every level and contained not only the buildings air conditioning and heating systems but there were numerous electrical and computer nodes that were accessed from the vent system.

Thankfully the vertical shafts had built in ladder rungs that made traveling from level to level very easy and soon they found themselves outside the vent for the security room.

Jack motioned for Fuji to shut his light off and doused his own pen light as well, easing slowly forward they found that the vent for the security room came out above a set of lockers.

“See anything?” Fuji asked Jack quietly avoiding whispering to keep any s sounds from giving away their position.

“Negative,” Jack replied equally quietly. “But there is a large leather chair in front of one of the consoles with its back to the vent,” Jack told him.

“That’s probably whoever’s been spying on,” Fuji muttered.

The dark shape that was silhouetted against the faint light coming from the vent cover just nodded. Reaching around he felt for the nuts that would be holding the vent in place on this side and slowly, very slowly, worked them loose with his fingers until just one hand and the not unlocked bolts were holding the vent cover in place.

“Alright I’m going to kick this thing across the room and into the back of that chair,” Jack told Fuji. “Once I do that I’ll dive off to the side and you go for the guy in the chair,” he ordered.

“Roger,” Fuji confirmed quietly.

With an explosive kick more powerful than he thought he was capable of Jack propelled the grate across the room into the back of the chair slamming it up against the security console. The sound of flesh hitting metal could be clearly heard as whoever was in the chair impacted with the console hard.

Jack let out a small wince as he dove to the side to clear out of Fuji’s way.

Fuji came out of the vent in a roll and was back on his feet and pulling the chair away from the console as Jack came to a stop in one corner from his own diving roll. Swiveling the chair around Fuji definitely found someone in it.

The figure was that of a slight young man no taller than five foot five or five foot six and a trickle of blood leaked from a small gash in his forehead and wire framed glasses hung from one ear.

The young man was dressed in a leather jacket, jeans, and a polo-shirt; a small courier bag was hanging from a strap over one shoulder and was currently empty.

Searching the rest of the figure Fuji came up with no ID but found various computer tools and a battered but serviceable Walther P5 in an inside pocket of the man’s jacket.

“What have we got?” Jack asked walking over after checking to make sure the rest of the room was clear.

“I’d say some sort of computer nerd, he’s not wearing any military uniform or insignia so he must have been one of the civvies here when the shit hit the fan,” Fuji said piling the detritus from the man’s pockets in one of the other console chairs. He’d continued the search and come up with a couple of Manga volumes and several other odds and ends, including a Volvo keychain.

Fuji and Jack looked at the slight figure for a few minutes.

“I’d say he’s probably not the one behind all the bloodshed and mayhem,” Jack said.

“I’d have to agree, that is unless he’s some sort of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde type capable of incredible feats of strength,” Fuji said with a grin.

“At this point that just may be possible,” Jack said. “Or are you forgetting we are toting around a 10,000 year old teenager on the ship,” Jack told him dryly.

“No, you’re right,” Fuji said soberly.

“Keep an eye on him, I’ll go get Samuel and the girl,” Jack ordered heading for the security room door.

Fuji just nodded and stared at the figure in the chair.

Jack pulled on the manual release for the door and un-dogged the heavy bolts that were sealing it shut and then dragged it inwards on heavy hinges. Walking through the door he left it open just enough for a full grown adult to get through. Pulling his comm out he walked down the hallway to where they had left Samuel and the girl. “Samuel its Jack, we’ve got the security room door open,” he spoke into the comm.

“We’ve got company,” Samuel said over the comm quietly.

Jack cursed silently for a second. “Who and how many?”

“You remember us joking about this planet having dinosaurs?” Samuel asked.

“Yeah,” Jack answered slightly confused.

“Well it does and there is a whole horde of raptors crossing the parking lot as we speak,” Samuel told him in that quiet tone.

“Velociraptors, those are easy to take out,” Jack said.

“These aren’t Velociraptors, they are Megaraptors,” Samuel told him.

Jack didn’t doubt Samuel’s word, other than guns Samuel’s only other passion had been dinosaurs, and if he said they were Megaraptors, they were Megaraptors, the large, more aggressive, and unfortunately more intelligent cousins of the smaller Velociraptors.

“Damn, how many are there?” Jack asked and then heard a chirping shriek from the parking lot.

“Two or three dozen at least and one of them either spotted or scented me and the kid,” Samuel said and then the sound of pounding feet could be heard over the comm.

Jack had just enough time to squeeze up against the side of the hallway to let Samuel through and into the security room, he had his rifle over his back and the girl cradled in his arms against his shoulder the other hand cupping the back of her head so it wouldn’t bounce as he ran.

The shrieking chirp sounded again and it was a hell of a lot closer, raptors were fast and they had already managed to make it into the stairwell and Jack could practically hear their clawed nails tapping against the tiled floor in the stairway.

Turning around he slid through the narrow opening and practically kicked the door shut just as the first raptor stuck its scaly snout around the corner of the hallway.

“So any clues as to what we should do?” Fuji asked still staring at the unconscious figure at the console.

Samuel found a forestry ranger’s coat and tucked the girl into and then set her down still asleep in one of the other security center’s chairs.

“Wake him up for one,” Jack said moving towards the figure. “That way we can get the ship in here and get out as soon as possible,” Jack pulled out his canteen and unscrewed the lid from it dumping the contents out on the head and shoulders of the figure in the chair.

The figure spluttered and blinked his eyes straightening his glasses as he sat up to look around. “Uh, who are you guys?” He asked.

“The people that are going to get your butt out of here alive,” Jack told the slight figure. “What’s your name by the way?” He asked.

“David, David Callister,” the young man said.

“And just what are you doing here David?” Samuel asked.

“Uh,” David squirmed in the chair.

“Oh, let me guess something not entirely legal,” Jack said maliciously.

“Well, yeah,” David said squirming even more in his chair.

“Please, please tell me you aren’t responsible for any of this,” Jack said darkly.

“No, no,” David said waving his hands in front of himself. “I was only hired to get some data out of the Forestry Ranger’s data-net.” His face had turned a pale shade of gray and he looked like he was going to be sick.

“Good, I’d hate to have to kill someone of such obvious skill,” Jack said cheerily and examined the monitor screens at the console. The raptors were running loose throughout the facility and were chewing on whatever remains they could find, several were even outside the door and they could hear the skritch of their claws against the heavy duty steel.

“Hmm, so can you shut down the anti-spacecraft defense grid?” Jack asked.

“Yeah but it’s going to take some time,” David said licking his lips.

“Well then I guess you better get started,” Jack said and turned to Fuji. “Okay Fuji as soon as Oz gets here we’ll have him give us some covering fire, and then we’ll use that plasma torch to cut through the hatch on that corvette and hopeful recover a usable impeller rotor blade.”

“Where did you set the plasma torch at Fuji?” Jack asked turning towards him.

His question was rewarded by Fuji whistling off key.

“Oh please tell me you didn’t leave the torch in the basement?” Jack asked with disgust.

“Uh, yeah sort of,” Fuji answered sheepishly.

“Hey I’ve got the air defense system shut down,” David crowed just as a security grate slammed shut over the vent at the back of the room.

“Well I guess we won’t be going the easy way to get the torch,” Samuel said dryly.

“No I guess we won’t,” Jack said throwing him a disgusted look.

“What are you guys talking about?” David asked swiveling his chair around to where the three men were talking.

“Oh nothing important just the only way for us to get our ride back to anywhere useful,” Jack grimaced.

“Oh,” David said wiping his glasses off.

“Yeah, Oh,” Jack said disgruntled.

“Alright I guess as usual its go blow the shit out of anything that moves,” Samuel said.

“Yeah,” Jack said laying his Barrett in a corner. “Fuji you stay here with the kid and the geek,” he said taking the offered 8-gauge and bandolier of shotguns shells.

“Hey, I’m not a geek,” David said and then shrunk down in his chair when the three heavily armed men glared at him. “Computer nerd,” he said quietly.

“Who opens the door?” Samuel asked.

“I opened the door last time,” Jack said.

“I’ll open the door,” Fuji said shaking his head.

“Why thank you my good man,” Samuel said.

Fuji gave him the finger and went over to the door preparing to the throw the lock bar and pull it open.

Samuel and Jack checked their weapons and then moved to just behind Fuji.

“Ready?” He asked over his shoulder.

“Sure,” Jack said jacking back the Benelli’s bolt.

“1, 2, 3,” On three Fuji threw the bolt and yanked the door open barely avoiding the raking claws of a mega raptor. “Son of a bitch.”

Boom, boom, boom. Jack put three shells into the raptor and he speed loaded three shells as he pulled the trigger.

A pair of bursts from Samuel’s M30 knocked another raptor back and down two other raptors fell on it and started devouring their fallen brethren.

Jack’s steel toed boot snapped out and kicked one of them in the jaw flipping it on its back and he put a rifled slug into its soft underbelly.

Samuel finished the last two raptors in the hallway with a sustained burst that blew bloody chunks out of their bodies as behind them the door slammed shut and the bolt slid into its armored slot.

“Alright that fire will attract more of them,” Jack said sliding another shell into the tube.

“Sure it will, when doesn’t it,” Samuel said replacing the spent magazine with a fresh 30-rounder.

It took nearly ten minutes to blast their way to the basement and recover the plasma torch and then force their way back to the security room.

“We have a major problem,” Fuji said waving a hand at the outdoor security camera monitors.

Packing the screens from edge to edge all around the forestry station was masses of raptors. Not just mega raptors this time either but Velociraptors and a few of their smaller cousins.

“We don’t have the ammo to take all those down,” Samuel said in disgust.

“We may not, but someone else does,” Jack said pulling out his comm. “Oz?”

“Yes Jack.”

“Got any anti-personnel munitions on board?” Jack asked the AI.

“Why yes, the missile tube magazines each have four Mk.982 anti-personnel munitions missiles in them,” Oz told him without a single pause.

“Awesome, here’s what I want you to do Oz,” Jack told the AI. “I want a spread of missiles every 250 meters around this facility, we need to take out those dinosaurs and quick, that way we can retrieve that corvette’s impeller blades and get off this dirtball,” he ordered.

“Calculating burst patterns now,” Oz said. “It is completely possible, and it’ll only use up a missile from each tube,” he informed Jack.

“Great after that you can use the rail turrets to take out any stragglers and keep them off our backs, start the barrage in five minutes,” Jack ordered.

“Uh guys, we can’t leave yet,” David said waving a hand as Jack signed off the comm.

“What do you mean we can’t leave yet?” Fuji asked fingering the shotgun that Jack had given back to him.

“Look I saw these things, they looked like lizards, but they walked upright and had nasty claws and teeth and were dressed in animal skins, and had stone axes and clubs, they took some of the people from the visitor center while the raptors were having their hey day,” David explained.

Jack got a thoughtful expression on his face.

“Oh come on Jack, we need to get out of here,” Fuji said.

Samuel made no comment as he picked up the small girl wrapped in the Forestry Ranger jacket.

“We can’t just leave them to rot,” David said insistently.

“About how many were taken captive and how long ago?” Jack asked the computer nerd.

“About a dozen were taken captive and that was about a day and a half ago,” David told him. “There were some women but mostly men and no children,” he added.

“Alright we’ll go get them,” Jack said and the outside monitors went to fuzz and the whole building shook as the anti-personnel munitions devastated the packs of dinosaurs outside the building.

While they had been discussing those taken prisoner Samuel had taken a couple of web belts and created a harness for the girl to ride on against his chest still wrapped in the dark green jacket.

“Let’s go,” Jack said charging for the door. Throwing the bolt he slammed the door open and immediately opened fire on a raptor blocking the hallway.

“Here you might need this,” Fuji said tossing the Walther P5 to David. “Although I don’t know how good that pea-shooter will do you,” Fuji commented following Jack and Samuel through the door.

The sound of gunfire woke the child and she started screaming and crying, blood and gore flew in the air as the four men and one little girl carved their way through dozens of raptors to reach the outside sky.

“Oz, we’re outside make sure to give us cover fire,” Jack said taking the plasma cutter from Fuji and moving towards the corvette.

Oz’s only reply was the crack thoom of one of the ship’s ventral turrets firing and obliterating a small pack of raptors that had barged from the jungle racing towards the group.

The plasma torch cut through the hatch of the corvette slowly, the battle plate resisting the intense heat of the tool but after about thirty minutes a circular portion of the hatch fell inwards with a clang.

“Stay here,” Jack ordered the others and ducked through the hole and quickly scavenged the parts needed for the Hoplite II, ducking back through he tossed the bundled parts to Fuji.

“Alright Oz drop the ramp,” Jack ordered and the ship dropped lower to the ground the rear cargo hatch dropping down to slam into the ground splattering a pair of still squirming raptors.

“Patricia I need you to come down to the cargo hold,” Samuel said and then went back to trying to calm the small girl down.

A few minutes after Samuel had paged her Patricia was in the cargo hold her .357 magnum wheel gun grasped tightly in one hand. “What is it?” She asked staring wide eyed at the decapitated heads of the two raptors that had been killed when the ramp slammed down on them.

“Take her to the med-bay and have Oz run some scans to make sure she has no injuries,” Samuel ordered pushing the small girl into Patricia’s arms.

“Where in the world did you find her?” Patricia asked scrabbling to put her revolver away and grasping the crying girl tightly in her hands.

“Inside, we can’t explain right now,” Samuel said catching the bag that Jack tossed him and setting it on the cargo bay’s floor. “That’s the parts we need to fix the ship,” Samuel explained nodding at the bag.

“Come on,” Jack said opening the door of the driver’s side door of the Yukon Denali that was in the cargo bay and sliding his Barrett into the back seat as he climbed in.

“Where are you guys going?” Patricia asked.

“Apparently some other civvies got captured by the indigenous population of the planet and we need to go rescue them,” Samuel explained as Fuji walked past them pushing a slight figure.

“Who’s that?” Patricia asked as the current situation seemed to be getting out of control.

“Another survivor, apparently he’s the one that activated the defense systems,” Samuel told her. “About a bunch of dead people to late,” he commented dryly.

“Ow,” Patricia blinked owlishly and retreated from the cargo bay before the animals started arriving two by two.

“Oz I need you to run a life signs scan, locate those civvies while we’re on the move,” Jack said over the comm.

“Certainly Jack it will probably take me a little while to do so though there is quite a bit of life on the planets surface.

“Alright we know the basic direction they skedaddled in so we’ll head that way,” Jack told the AI jamming the SUV into reverse and accelerated so fast out of the cargo bay that the vehicle bounced on it’s suspension when it landed on the cracked pavement of the skirt around the visitors center.

Jack and the others were nearly three hours from the visitor’s center when Oz finally got back to them.

“Jack I’ve located two human bio-life signs approximately five kilometers from your current location,” Oz informed them and a map showing the easiest and fastest route to the location of the signals popped up on the windshield‘s HUD.

“Alright Oz, thanks, and keep us updated,” Jack told the AI and slewed the huge SUV around and slammed through the jungle at high speed.

“Hang on,” Jack shouted as they bounced and slammed over the terrain knocking down anything small enough to be done so and avoiding anything that couldn’t be.

“Do we really have to go this fast?” David asked from the backseat and nearly slammed his head into the ceiling before Fuji could grab him and make him fasten his seat belt.

“Yes!” All three of them replied to his question.

It turned out that the five kilometers to the life signs were on a direct line but it was nearly fifteen on the track they had to take to reach them.

The area where the two life signs had been found was a small bowl like depression with a small raised ridge around the depression, Jack brought the SUV to a rocking halt just below the ridge.

“Alright, Fuji you and our new friend David stay with the SUV and protect it, Samuel you’re with me,” Jack ordered pulling the Barrett out of the back seat.

The two of them belly crawled up the slope and to its edge being careful not to silhouette themselves against the skyline. The sun was just starting to dip below the horizon as they assessed the situation below them. A huge bonfire roared in the depression, spread around perimeter of the fire were several wooden poles, most of them had bodies hanging limply from them. Two of the poles across the fire from the ridge held two still live prisoners.

Jack uncapped the Barrett’s scope and digitally zoomed in to look at the two prisoners, the first appeared to be a young woman in her twenties, and she was wearing a tight fitting t-shirt with some sort of band logo and wore tights under a short skirt and combat boots. Her sweat wilted hair was brown with streaks of green and red running through it; she glared defiantly at the figures dancing around the fire.

The second figure had long wild red hair and a beard, his upper chest covered by a black leather vest and his legs clad in leather pants and a pair of heavy combat boots.

“Jeeze, looks like a teeny bopper and a Viking,” Jack said describing the two occupants of the poles.

“Take a look at the figures dancing around the fire,” Samuel commented looking through a pair of binoculars.

“Holy shit,” Jack said whistling lowly at what he saw around the blazing bonfire.

It took a second for Jack’s mind to wrap itself around what he was seeing and as the sun rolled below the horizon he watched the figures around the fire become more frenetic and a gurgling cry started to rise from the bowl.

“That doesn’t sound like they’re serenading their captives,” Samuel said switching his binoculars to IR.

“No it looks more like they plan are skin them alive and then barbecue large chunks of the bodies,” Jack said zooming in on the other victims dead bodies.

“Sounds like fun,” Samuel said laconically.

“Being eaten by, oh let’s see,” Jack said focusing back in on those around the fire. “Scaly, lizard people thingies with very sharp claws and teeth.”

“So who should I shoot first?” Jack asked.

“Maybe the one that’s about to gut that young lady,” Samuel suggested dryly.

“Oh sorry I was looking at the pretty fire,” Jack said and jerked the rifle around and pulled the trigger as soon as the scope was focused on the native’s body.

A huge boom rolled across the depression and the native’s body was flung to the side nearly cut in half. Jack’s shot was followed by a 40mm yellow three star shell from Samuel’s under-slung grenade launcher.

When what Jack supposed was the witch doctor or shaman’s body flew across the depression all movement around the blazing bonfire stopped and everyone stared at the mangled body.

“Okay, that got their attention. Now let’s see who is next,” Jack muttered looking for a target and then just shooting the person with the biggest head dress.

“I’m going for suppressing fire,” Samuel barked and multiple three round bursts ripped down into the depression.

It wasn’t until Jack had emptied his entire magazine that the natives finally broke and ran for cover.

“Alright go down there and get those people Samuel,” Jack ordered slapping in a fresh magazine of .50BMG.

“Roger,” Samuel said running and sliding his way down the depressions inner wall and putting a fresh magazine into his rifle, putting the occasional three round burst into any native not smart enough to run away.

“To your left,” Jack said over the comm blowing a lizard man native type guy away, or was it a girl.

“Thanks,” Samuel panted out unsheathing the machete that he had brought with him and decapitating a lizard man that popped up out of nowhere ducking and rolling he skirted the fire and chopped at first the Viking man’s bonds and then the girls.

“Come on, come on,” Samuel bellowed.

“Not just yet,” the girl shouted back, running and ducking into one of the mud huts she came back out dragging two woven baskets with various items stuck in them. “Fox,” the girl shouted tossing the Viking guy a bundle wrapped in what looked like leather.

“Thanks Marie,” Fox said pulling a gunbelt out and slapping it around his waist and shrugging into the leather duster.

Samuel watched wide eyed as the girl pulled a Beowulf .50 caliber rifle out of the other basket as well as a web belt and MOLLE vest festooned with weapons and gear and covered it with a denim jacket.

“What’s taking so long,” Jack growled blasting another lizard thing, “these guys are starting to make a come back.”

“On our way,” Samuel hollered over the rolling thunder of the Barrett as Jack continued his over watch. “Come on, we gotta go, up the ridge we got an SUV on the other side,” Samuel bellowed at the two freed captives as he laid down covering fire as the other two backed up the hill.

The Viking guy pulled a pair of Colt Mk-V Anaconda’s chambered in .44 Magnum and started adding his weight of fire, and the girl slung her big Beowulf and pulled a CZ75 9mm out the sharp reports of it being heard between the blasts of the Barrett, the booms of the.44s and the high pitched stutter of the M30.

The three of them backed up the hill slowly laying down fire and dropping it seemed a never ending mass of the lizard things who were either highly pissed; likely; or just too dumb not to realize that their numbers were being quickly decimated; most likely.

Jack was down to the last magazine he had brought with him when the girl crested the ridge and flopped on her stomach trading the CZ75 for the Beowulf and laying down sniper fire.

“Fuji we’re coming down,” Jack said and started sliding down the back side of the ridge to where the SUV waited.

“Damn man, sounds like the 4th Solar War up there,” Fuji commented running around to the passenger side to get in.

A few seconds after Jack started the SUV the girl came down in a controlled slide her big .50 BMG rifle held across her chest, Viking guy soon followed and he saw Samuel pitch something down in the depression followed by a bright flare of light and even more flames started shooting out of the bowl.

“What the hell did you throw in there,” the girl asked as Samuel slammed his door shut.

“Mix of magnesium, thermite, and a couple of other things,” he said rolling down the window and shooting a flaming lizard thing through the head with his Wildey.

“Neat,” the girl said.

“I don’t want to sound ungrateful or anything,” the Viking said his gravely voice sounding like thunderheads as he spoke. “But can we get the Fuck out of here,” he shouted.

“Hang on,” Jack downshifted, stomped the gas, the tires spun trying to gain traction for a few seconds and then all six occupants were slammed back against their seats as the SUV surged forward and slammed down the trail back to the visitor’s center where they could be picked up by Oz.

Jack felt like he was in a runaway bobsled as the SUV caromed off of trees and boulders, denting the fenders and bodywork, gouging out huge sections of paint and ripping off the passenger side mirror as he and the others were tossed about the cabin.

“What the hell is that?” Fuji hollered followed by the rear window being run down and then the boom of shotgun fire.

“What are you shooting at Fuji?” Samuel yelled the question Jack was about to ask.

“I don’t know but it’s big, ugly, and has some of those lizard things riding on its back,” Fuji hollered over his firing and everyone but Jack looked back.

Most of the looks by the others were followed by curses and gunfire; there was even the small sharp crack of David’s P5.

“Oz find us a clearing, quick,” Jack hollered over the comm.

“There is a clearing approximately 2.3 kilometers to your northwest,” Oz informed him.

“Drop the ramp and get ready to pick us up, we aren’t stopping to do this neatly,” Jack ordered.

“Certainly, what seems to be the problem?” Oz asked.

“Some sort of dinosaur of some kind transporting some of those lizard things and its fast,” Jack answered.

“Ah yes, I see it now, an Ankylosaurus of some kind,” Oz told him after running some scans.

“Thanks for that info,” Jack said dryly.

“Not a problem,” Oz answered back.

Unfortunately Oz had forgotten to inform Jack that the clearing they were heading towards was in another one of the bowl like depressions that seemed to be scattered randomly around that area of the forest, racing up over the lip Jack found the vehicle suddenly airborne the firing from behind him suddenly stopping as everyone grabbed for something to hold on to.

“Oh fuck me,” Samuel said.

“Today is a good day to die,” the Viking said.

“You have got to be kidding me,” the girl said.

“We’re all gonna die,” David screamed like a little girl.

“I think I’m going to barf,” Fuji said sticking his head out the window and doing so.

“You’re cleaning that off when we get back to the ship,” Jack hollered.

The huge SUV slammed back down inside the rear cargo bay of the Hoplite II, the heavy duty suspension groaning under the impact as the undercarriage of the vehicle literally smacked the floor of the cargo bay and then popped back up to its normal height. Inside the vehicle its occupants were flung every which way with loose objects bouncing off the ceiling and then dropping down on the occupants.

Jack sat for a second gripping the wheel of the vehicle and panting heavily. “Okay Oz we’re in,” he told the AI over his comm after he was able to pry his hands loose from the steering wheel.

“What would you like me to do Jack?” Oz asked.

“Put us in orbit so we can get this hell hole behind us,” he ordered shaking slightly as he mopped a hand back through his sweat soaked hair.

“Certainly,” Oz said. The whine of the cargo bay doors could be heard and then the heavy crump of them finally sealing reverberated through the cargo bay as the six people sat catching their breath.