Chapter 14, part 3
“What game are these stupid elves playing at?” Marine Lieutenant Allerberger said angrily as he futilely tried to re-establish a communications channel with the Loroi diplomat.
“Sir…”
“Trying to take the ship by themselves, gutsy I admit but now they don’t even…”
“Sir!”
“What?!” He yelled back at the pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Viranko.
“Their airborne shuttle,” The pilot pointed. “It’s flying erratically.”
“What the…” Both men just starred as the Loroi shuttle that up until now flew circles around the Umiak wreck swerved left and right as if out of control before losing altitude and landing hard some distance from the wreck.
“What now sir?” The pilot asked.
“I don’t care what the Loroi said, get me and my men down next to that shuttle.” The lieutenant replied and rushed back into the passenger compartment where his men were waiting.
“The elves are in trouble.” He joked the moment he entered, drawing a few chuckles from the 17 marines he had with him. “With that out of the way, does anyone else hear a screech at the back of their head?” He asked hoping that it was just him but all of the marines just nodded. “Why didn’t anyone say anything?” No one moved at that. “Didn’t want to be left out and now we all are under the side effects of a faulty batch.”
One of the admittedly minor side effects of the cocktail that their armors pumped into their bodies was an increase of aggression after a few hours. He noticed the usual signs of that and tried to fight them back but what worried him was that constant, almost pain inducing screech that just got to him. Hallucinations were usually the signs of a faulty chemical batch and were enough to have a whole operation aborted, something that he really didn’t want to do at that moment.
“Lieutenant Allerberger, when you say a screech, do you mean something that you know that isn’t real and yet you hear it?” The pilot asked through the intercom.
“Yes, Lieutenant, there is nothing wrong with the shuttle.”
“I hear something like that to be honest.”
“Are you sure boy scout?”
“It started out like a buzz and I didn’t pay much attention to it but then it got loud enough to give me a weird headache.” The pilot explained.
“It’s either from the stress or someone didn’t do a good job of keeping the radiation outside.” Lieutenant Allerberger replied. “I hope it’s the radiation.”
“That’s not funny marine.” The pilot complained.
“Just focus on flying boyscout.” He replied and turned to his men. “Ignore the screech and focus on the task at hand. Ideally we want both the ship and to keep the Loroi friendly. Their diplomat said that they wanted something of vital importance from the ship, probably some form of communications device like the ancient enigma one. In any case they wanted us out of their way until they got what they wanted, promising that the ship would be all ours afterwards.” He paused in thought at that. "I know that you lot are a lot smarter than the usual lot I yell at. Did we miss anything?”
“Sir.”
“Yes Hood?”
“A few of us wondered why the Loroi didn’t take out the bugs like they did the ones on our ship.” Private Hood said.
“Captain Asteios asked that out loud before we left. Could be that they want prisoners but they looked like they went in looking for a firefight, I would expect that they would at least trim their numbers from afar but they didn’t do so.” The Lieutenant replied.
“I remember the diplomat saying that they should have detected us telepathically when we approached their ship and judging from how they reacted with the Umiak they didn’t detect them as well.” The Private added.
“True… could be related and would explain why they were so quick to attack the crashed ship…”
“Touchdown Marines!” The pilot announced the moment he felt the shuttle touch down.
“Seal and check armors. Ready weapons and shoot bugs on sight!” He ordered as he put on his helmet and sealed his armor. “And watch your backs with the elves.”
“Sir, yes, sir.”
It didn’t take long for all 18 marines to disembark and form a defensive perimeter around the Loroi shuttle while their shuttle rose up and circled above them. The Loroi shuttled looked intact after its hard landing, no sign of escaping atmosphere or other significant damage; probably due to the asteroid’s low gravity.
“Still no response. Alpha squad, see if one of you can climb up to the cockpit and take a look inside.” He ordered and changed channels. “Hey boy scout, do you see any movement from up high?”
“No, nothing from the ship or the shuttle landed next to the airlock.” The shuttle pilot replied.
“Keep me posted.” He changed channels again when he saw that one of his men had already reached the cockpit of the Loroi shuttle. “Do you see anyone inside?”
“Wait… Yes the pilot, she is walking in circles while holding her head with both of her hands. I think that her head is wet and she… yes she is coughing but still walks in circles.” Sergeant Suzumi
replied. “I will try to get her attention.” The sergeant added and knocked on the window. “She noticed me and… she fell down and… no she run at the back of the shuttle on all fours like she was
chased by a devil.”
“Get back down here. All squads, we are going to secure the Loroi airlock.”
“What about the pilot?” Suzumi asked once he jumped back down.
“She is alive and we don’t have a way to go inside without blowing something up.” He replied and before running back into formation with his men.
“Watch out for mines!” He called out when they run across a sizeable crater in front of them.
“Would the bugs really do that so quickly sir?” One of his men asked.
“Don’t know but the elves spent some time blowing stuff all around us.” The Lieutenant replied as he waved to the craters around them. They didn’t run into anything on their way to the second Loroi shuttle but they did waste some time by moving cautiously towards it.
“Alpha, airlock exterior secured.”
“Beta, covering Alpha.”
“Charlie, covering the shuttle.” The squad leaders reported in.
“Cover me, I will check the cockpit myself.”
Climbing up to the cockpit wasn’t hard, there were plenty of large enough handles for him to take hold and the combination of the low gravity and his armor assist made him feel light as a feather. Reaching the canopy he looked inside and saw that the pilot was sitting on her chair with eyes closed while another Loroi was checking up on her. He knocked on the canopy and instantly the pilot opened her eyes and looked like she was screaming while trying to get away. The other Loroi tried to hold her down but ended up slapping some sense into her comrade before turning to look at him. He recognized her, she was the Loroi Medic that tended to Gomez, she now wore what looked like heavy combat armor but there was no way that she would recognize him with his helmet on.
He tried some hand signals, hoping that she would understand that he wanted to talk with her. She nodded slowly and adjusted something on her armor; his HUD flashed that it detected a new signal and opened it.
“Can you hear me? I am Lieutenant Allerberger, we met at your ship.” He asked in trade.
“Yes… but… hard… think…” He saw that she took a pained expression each time she spoke.
“What’s going on?”
“Shout… strong… mind… pain…”
“I don’t understand. Is it telepathic?”
“Yes… shout… strong…” The medic replied.
“Doranzer… Needle.” He begun once he remembered her name. “What about Mizol Torimor Shadowcloud? What about the ones inside the ship?”
“Can’t… sense… shout.” The Loroi replied.
“We are here to help. Can you open the airlock?” There was not much they could do outside the ship and their best bet for future friendly Loroi relations were with Shadowcloud; they needed her alive, perhaps even more than the crashed ship itself.
“Yes… help… inside…” The Loroi replied and walked back into their passenger compartment, leaving the pilot, who stared at him with eyes full of terror, sitting alone on her seat. Shaking his head he jumped back down, lifting a small cloud of asteroid dust the moment he touched the ground.
“We have an elf coming out from the shuttle and she will operate the airlock for us. Stack up and prepare for contact the moment we enter.”
“What’s going on with the elves sir?” One of his men asked.
“Can’t say for sure; it sounds like something telepathic is bothering them. Stay alert and be prepared for anything.” It didn’t take long for the Loroi to exit the shuttle, carrying what looked like a bullpup style rifle and a bag that looked a lot like a medkit.
“Doranzer Needle, I appreciate your intentions but we just want you to operate the airlock, you don’t need to come with us.”
“Doranzer… needed… warrior…” She replied with effort. It was common sense that soldiers from two different armies, with vastly different training and languages should never work right besides each other. Too many things could go wrong and too many things have gone wrong in the past. But this one was a medic and chances were that she was already needed inside.
“Stay in cover behind us and do as you are told. I am only taking the risk to take you with us because of your comrades.”
“…Understood…”
“Good, open this airlock and get us inside.” He switched channels one last time to contact the shuttle above them. “We are going inside and we may not be in contact. If you see bugs coming out after us then the captain should know what he has to do.”
“Understood. Good luck in there.”
Thankfully the airlock was large enough to accommodate a full squad at each rotation and whole process was quick enough to get them all inside in just a couple of minutes.
“Did the elves actually build a ramp?” One of his men asked outloud the moment Alpha squad passed through the breach.
“Looks like, they even pushed everything aside to clear a path to the door.” Lieutenant Allerberger replied. “Must have been their telekinetics at work. Do you see anyone?”
“Negative, just a bunch of dead bugs, these ones are not armored and they don’t seem to wear any clothes.”
“Bugs don't need clothes.” He commented “Stack up at the door and check it.” His men immediately did as they told with mechanic precision, while Private Gomez checked behind the door with a micro camera.
“It’s a corridor, tight as well… contact, two elves… one of them is collapsed on the floor while the other one is shaking her and… movement bugs incoming!”
“Move in, move in, cover them!” He ordered
Gomez instantly dropped his micro camera and was the first to go through, the trademark flash and thumpish sound of his firing MD-45 following a moment after he disappeared behind the door. Two more marines immediately followed in his wake, their weapons flashing in turn. He barely reached the door himself when Gomez gave the all clear.
The two Loroi were a couple meters down the left side of the corridor, the one laying on the ground was motionless while the one shaking kept doing that as if the three bugs that were blown apart by SHEAPs a dozen meters away from her just a second ago away weren’t even there.
“The damn bugs move fast and they looked like they were going for hand to hand.” Gomez reported.
“Take the guns from the two elves.” He ordered. “Doranzer Needle we have two of your comrades here. I think that they need help.” He called out in Trade.
Chapter 15, part 1:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 350#p21350