Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) (33 page)

“Thank you, Mammoth leader!” Carter gave a sigh of relief and targeted another enemy fighter. “Can you reposition your team to create a flak curtain in grid four? We can lure them to your fire.”

“Roger that, Echo leader,” the man confirmed the call.

“Echo leader?”

“You are the acting wing commander. We lost Echo leader’s signal moments ago.”

“Great.”

Two more gunboats came out of the buzzing cloud of ships, positioning near their leader. Their armor and shields were strong enough to ignore the fighters but they’d learnt the existence of enemy bombers the hard way.

“Two Eyes coming in hot!” another man’s voice echoed over the channel.

“Where…Wait, I see them!” Carter yelled when she spotted the ellipsoid shapes. “Targeting them now. Echo Nine, on me.”

Echo Nine responded to the call, forming on Five’s wing shortly after. Baeal bomber’s eye-like shape made it impossible to say whether it was flying away or toward the pilot without the help of radar. The Eyes were not as agile as the Consortium’s Marauder bombers, but they delivered quite a punch. If the Eyes landed two torpedoes on any one of the gunboats, it was all over.

“There!” the other Echo pilot called over the radio.

“Gotcha!” Carter confirmed, firing her weapons.

The laser blasts rained on the two approaching bombers, taking one in its tail. The Eye lost its balance, diverted from its course with fire and smoke coming from the hull and Carter watched the thing explode.

The second bomber had fired two torpedoes before the other Avenger managed to take it down and now, the gunboats had a real problem coming on their way; if the warheads reached them in their close formation, it would mean the end of Mammoth wing.

“Mammoth leader, you have two warheads on you!” Carter warned the gunboat captain. “Echo Nine, tail those torpedoes.”

Carter made a sharp engine-kill turn and hit the throttle to full, trying to ignore the counterforce her body faced from the kiting. The warheads were somewhat slower than a fighter missile but still quite fast to catch. She had no choice but to divert all power to the engines and drop her shield. If the Avenger took a hit or two in this chaos—and it would be some miracle if it did not—she would meet her maker.

Her fighter was gaining on the torpedo but she only had a few seconds left to take it down before it came too close to the gunboats.

“Sorry for the friendly fire, Marauder leader,” Carter said and opened fire, both of the Avenger’s guns firing non-stop at the torpedo. She counted on the powerful shield of the gunboats and risked her projectiles hitting the gunboats more than they did the warhead.

A sudden, bluish flare stunned her but she remembered to pull up just in time to protect the fighter’s cockpit. The shockwave of the blast hit her fighter shortly after the explosion, throwing it away like a fishing boat caught up in the waves of an ocean liner. She tried to stabilize the Avenger and hoped the damage wasn’t too severe. At least, she’d protected the canopy or she’d already be dead. That had to count for something.

Another flash of light in the distance pulled her out of the bleak thoughts. A huge fireball cut into the Baeal capital ships like a hot knife through butter.

“What was that?” she asked out. The radio was full of cheers.

“It was the
Seth
!” the Mammoth leader said over the radio.

***

The
Deviator
changed her target from the nearby enemy capital to the anti-matter reactors in the super-dreadnought’s belly and fired all of its forward and upper banks.
Seth
’s armor held for a few more seconds and then the ship exploded in a ring of fire that reached all the way to the
Deviator
, violently shaking the ship.

Rebecca covered her eyes from the brightness of the explosion, yelling “Report!” at her officers over and over again.

“M-Ma’am!” Lieutenant Jong babbled finally, “the
Seth
’s destroyed.” He checked his console. “The signals of the five Baeal ships have disappeared.”

Rebecca walked toward the main screen to confirm it with her own eyes. The core of the enemy crescent looked like a junkyard now, metal husks of dead ships floating around like rocks in a dense asteroid field. The blast had scattered some of the bigger pieces toward the
Garrett
but their awareness helped them to move the ship enough to avert a collision.

Rebecca turned away from the screen and looked at Ga’an. She was having a hard time deciding if she wanted to kill the man or hug him. The call had been heartless and yet, Ga’an’s tactics had saved them. She found herself nodding in respect, and Ga’an bowed back.

“All right, Mr. Jong.” The battle-worn admiral walked back to the tactical holograph. “Tell the fleet to complete the cleanup and bring our birds back home.” She already felt fifty years older.

***

“This is the
Deviator
,” a male voice cut all the chatter on the radio. “Report to your carrier group following the cleanup.
Seth
’s wings will report back to the
Deviator
.”

So, the
Deviator
was her new family.

Captain Carter felt a relief, a sign of hope in her heart. She switched the Avenger back to combat mode and fired on the nearest Crab, luring the disarrayed enemy fighters toward the Mammoth wing’s barrage.

Another explosion in the distance made her heart stop but she saw the gunboats were sitting safe shortly after the smokes cleared. “Good work Echo Nine.”

“Echo Nine is down,” the second gunboat’s captain responded instead. “I am sorry, Captain, she intercepted the warhead too close.”

Carter didn’t say anything. She
couldn’t
say anything, trying to concentrate back on the battle, but numbness filled her. Samantha had been her friend since childhood, more than twenty years, and she cursed the enemy for taking her away. Tears rolled out, and Carter blinked. “I’m starting the maneuver now, Mammoth leader,” was all she said, gripping the flight stick as hard as she could, holding back the furious screams she very much needed to burst out. Samantha was a hero, sacrificing herself to protect others. And Samantha was dead.

Carter couldn’t say for how long she pressed the fire button and she didn’t care.

***

One of the airmen gave Rebecca the report of the latest probe readings from Saturn. The signs on the gate had begun glowing pale white while they were occupied with the battle over Mars, just as the gate symbols had back in Samara’s Star.

“What is our situation, Mr. Jong?” she asked her chief tactical officer.

The slender man touched a few buttons on his screen before speaking. He looked like he would fall down any second now. He needed to rest.
We all do.
“The enemy forces have been scattered. A few of their fighters limped back to Saturn.”

“Call all the remaining wings back home,” Rebecca ordered. “And lay a course for Earth. I want every available ship, civilian or not, there as soon as possible.”

Ga’an approached Rebecca and took the data pad from her hands, inspecting the readings.

“Mr. Ga’an?” Rebecca raised a brow. “What is it?”

“They are coming.”

“Ma’am!” Lieutenant Jong interrupted their dialogue, calling to the Admiral. “The enemy gate’s active!” He left his station and rushed to the main screen, linking the probe image from his console to the huge display.

Rebecca moved closer, Ga’an following. A blurry image appeared and after a minute—that passed agonizingly slowly for the commanding duo—Lieutenant Jong managed to clean the visuals.

Rebecca didn’t remember stepping back to lean on the tactical holograph desk or holding the shoulder of a terrified lieutenant to encourage him. All she felt were the shivers running down her spine. If the spiders were frightening, the monster before them was the definition of a nightmare.

A huge, wormlike
ship
came out of the ring lazily, with a size that dwarfed the arachnids. A dark gray fog travelled with the alien ship, surrounding the beast with a black aura. The ship undulated like a water snake, drifting through the darkness surrounding Saturn. Its drab scales reflected the rays of distant Sol, their independent movement creating a bleak light show.

Rebecca thought the exit of the enemy’s titan through the gate would last forever; the enemy mother ship looked hundreds of kilometers long, perhaps bigger than the Italian Peninsula. Soon after it appeared in the enemy gate, the mist surrounding the dark shape became so dense, the probes were no longer able to get a clear visual of the big ring.

A sudden, deafening static echoed through the ship’s speakers and stopped as abruptly as it came. What followed next made Rebecca wish she
was
deaf.

WE. ARE. HOME.

Chapter FORTY-SIX

YRRHA

“I thought you were on board with Mr. Harris,” Captain Samir said.

“Admiral Conway told me of your mission. She asked me to join and I wanted to lend a hand, anyway.”

“You any good with weapons?”

“I’ve security training. Close quarters combat and firearms.”

“Welcome then, Ms. Davis.”

“Just Sarah, Samir. We’ve been through enough already.”

Captain Samir smiled, nodding. He’d worn Colonel Pats’ dog tags since their encounter with Baeal on Pendar. He was at the end of the line, following his men. The transport had dropped them several kilometers away from the target zone to avoid detection.

“So, you asked to lead the team?” Sarah asked Samir.

“Yes. I think I owe it to Pats. He would have wanted to see this through. I intend to complete the mission, no matter what.”

“I never thought it would be this hot.”

“Never been to South America?”

“Don’t like Earth much. Most of our time would be near London or Berlin when we were docked. I prefer the colonies. Too many people.”

“Welcome to
Yucatán, then. This is Mexico. Reverend Marcus said his research ended up here.”

“Where are we, exactly?” Sarah avoided talking about Reverend Marcus. She was still trying to swallow the news about the Cavils.

“Some fifty clicks south of
the famous
El Castillo
pyramid that dominated the Chichén Itzá
archeological site. The Arinar is somewhere nearby.”

“Well, remind me to buy a drink for that transport pilot of yours. That was one hell of a ride, passing through all those fireworks.”

“He’s good.”

“Everybody down!” Sergeant Walters dropped, signaling them to do the same as the band arrived at the base of a small hill. “You got to give it to the old man,” he smiled, making a cross for the dead Reverend Marcus’ soul. They had heard the news over coms after leaving for Yrrha. Captain Samir crouched next to him, and Walters spat out his gum and said, “Reverend Marcus was right. There.” The sergeant gave his binoculars to the captain, pointing.

The area was filled with bushes and rocks with occasional farms scattered along the horizon, giving the special ops team a good view. Except for the three touched-down transports in the distance, the place was desolate and away from prying eyes.

“They’re human,” Sarah noticed, crawling near the duo with binoculars of her own.

“Yes,” the sergeant nodded. “The ships are unmarked. And I’ve no idea whose uniforms those are. Perhaps they’re like Matthews?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” Samir crawled back from the hill. “I prefer fighting with something I understand. If they’re human, they bleed and die like the rest of us.”

The captain gathered his squad near the landing area and drew a quick action plan on sand with a dry branch. There were no points of interest on the map and neither the scout nor Captain Samir had seen anything of significance from the observation point. However, a squad of soldiers with unknown origin sitting in the middle of nowhere with three transport ships meant the Arinar was there.

“We
have
to secure the stone no matter what,” Sarah said.

“And we will, Sarah.” Captain Samir took a branch from the ground and drew a rough map of the area. “We’ll flank the enemy from two sides and down as many as possible in silence.”

Walters spat on a bush nearby. “Too much open field. We’ve little room to maneuver.”

“The alternative is to charge blindly on, Walters.”

“That sounds heroic,” Walters said.

“That sounds stupid,” Captain Samir slapped. “They can take us down like flies or destroy the Arinar. Do you want to be the one to tell Admiral Conway about how we let them destroy the statue?”

Walters eyes bulged. “We’ll be silent as the night.”

Sarah sighed, “And we’ll pray the luck be with us.”

“Is this package that important?” one of the marines asked, checking his weapon.

“You saw what they sent to Pendar for just one of those things,” Captain Samir said.

“Yes, sir,” the soldier’s face went pale immediately with the memory of Pendar, saluting his captain. They were all eager to forget recent history and Sarah couldn’t blame the kid.

The teams, six men each, moved through the bushes, their active camouflage blending them into the rocky background, slowly surrounding the unaware enemy soldiers. On the captain’s signal, the team took out their silenced weapons and killed six of the guards patrolling near the ships.

“They’re armed to the teeth, boss,” Walters whispered over the communicator. “They were expecting us.”

Samir looked at one of the dead guards’ weapons lying nearby. “MR-8’s.”

“Special forces gear?” Sarah whispered. She heard Walters’ coarse voice cursing over the communicator.

“Check the transports,” Captain Samir ordered via the communicator, moving toward the ships with careful steps. “They’re what they are; the enemy.”

Several muffled gunshots echoed through the in-ear radios, followed by confirmations of his soldiers sweeping the ships.

“Sir!” Walters called over the radio again, “I found something. Two things, actually.”

The team gathered around what the sergeant found; a stairway going underground in the middle of nowhere. The metal staircase was covered in dust and sand but had no noticeable corrosion or metal fatigue.

“This looks recent,” Walters said, checking the bolts on the wall. “Someone went down not too long ago. Hours maybe.” He scanned the sand covering the steps. “The sand’s strewn, not formed naturally.”

“What’s the other thing, Walters?” Sarah asked.

“This,” Walters reached for a body lying near the entrance. The man had been taken down with a single headshot. He raised the body enough for the group to see, pulling down the neck of the dead soldier’s uniform.

“I think I’ll be sick,” Sarah said. “Freaks!”

A symbol was carved into the man’s back; a sword made of hexagonal shapes, its blade intersected by an upside down crescent moon as its hilt, its arms facing down.

“Cosmon Brotherhood,” Walters said, dropping the body. He spat on the dead man in disgust and Sarah couldn’t argue with the man’s actions.

“Perkins,” Captain Samir turned to the nearby soldier, “pick Oswald and Jones. Stand guard topside. Report the moment you see something off.”

The marine saluted him, waving two of the commandos to follow him into the bushes.

“Jackson, you still there?” the captain asked over the radio.

“Yes,” a man whispered. “All quiet.”

“Provide fire support for Perkins’ team.”

“Acknowledged,” was all Lieutenant Jackson responded. The man was withdrawn by nature; a perfect fit for a sniper.

“All right, are you ready?” Captain Samir looked at Sarah.

“I don’t think I’ll ever be ready for something like this.”

“That sounds ready enough.” He activated his night vision glass and dived into the darkness.

***

The stairs ended up several meters underground, where they connected to a stone tunnel. Sarah realized the place was old,
really
old, unlike the scaffold at the entrance. The air was heavy and moist, making it hard to breathe, and the narrow path made them feel as if they were dwelling inside a limestone tomb. The corridor only had enough room to walk in pairs and if they bumped into an enemy patrol, there was nowhere to take cover. Their descent lasted half an hour before the corridor came to a sudden end.

“Great, now what?” Walters muttered, the dust making him sniffle.

“Well, there’s something behind this wall,” Sarah pointed the footprints ending near the wall. One footprint was cut through the middle by the wall. “Or this man walked through solid stone.”

Captain Samir looked around, inspecting the wall. “Here,” he said.

“Let’s see.” Sarah came closer and saw a slight bump on the surface. She removed one of her gloves and scanned the rock with her hand. When she came on a raised spot, she pressed on the stone piece and the rock moved into the wall, activating the door mechanism. The blocking wall opened into another corridor with a thunderous sound like the structure was collapsing on them. Sarah winced.

“Let’s hope no one heard that,” Walters whispered.

One of the marines whispered back. “Even my momma on Moon heard that!”

“Hush!” Samir pointed. “Light, up ahead.”

The squad moved quietly toward the light reflecting off the walls at the end of the tunnel. Near the entrance to a large chamber, they stopped. Samir took out a gadget the size and shape of a marble. He touched the thing twice and a tiny green light flashed once.

“A scanner?” Sarah asked.

“It’ll map the room.” The captain put the spherical device on the ground and awaited the probe’s adaptation to its surroundings. A few seconds later, the ball-shaped device had the texture of the sandy, rock floor.

“That’s cool,” Sarah whispered. “I need one of those to spy on Ray.”

Captain Samir looked at Sarah, raising an eyebrow.

“Just for fun, you know,” Sarah said, blushing.

The seasoned soldier slowly rolled the device into the room. After a while, his wrist tool gave an almost inaudible beep and a holographic image of the hall appeared before them, outlining the shapes with blue lines inside.

There were twenty-one guards scattered around the room. Three men stood at the far end, before a rectangular object protruding from the wall. Besides the columns supporting the ceiling and whatever those men were studying, the room was open.

Samir signaled his men to get ready, switched his vision to infrared signature mode, and armed his weapon. He waved his hand at Sergeant Hughes and the grim man changed places with Walters, preparing his riot gun.

“Get ready.” He turned to Sarah. “Shoot everything red on your visor.”

“Don’t worry about me, I’m cool.”

“Do it,” the captain whispered, nodding at his men.

Hughes leaned around the corner and fired several shots from his silenced weapon, sending small capsules into the room. A second later, several booms filled the hall, followed by curses and noises of men tumbling over one another, trying to figure out which way is
up.

“Go!” Samir barked and rushed into the hall. Sarah dashed right after him, taking out anything red, as Samir had advised. One of the enemy guards recovered himself quickly, firing his rifle blindly through the fog and shooting one of Samir’s men in the chest, but that was the only casualty they suffered. By the time the smoke cleared, all of the enemy soldiers lay dead.

“How the hell these guys have such hardware, boss?” Walters spat on one of the dead bodies.

“I’ve no idea,” Captain Samir said, checking the bodies.

“Traitors, I tell you.” Walters spat on the corpse again, cursing under his breath.

Sarah checked on the young marine, Peterson, and closed his eyes gently, taking the tag of the fallen soldier. She sent a silent prayer for the kid’s soul and threw his tag to Captain Samir.

The captain caught it midair and cleaned the blood on the metal id. He signaled the men to secure the room. “All right, do your thing Evans.”

The blond woman, Evans, attached a scanner to one of the nearby columns, and activated it. The scanner shone with a sudden blue light and modeled the whole room in detail, including the interiors of walls and columns, its scanner beam passing through the stone surface and dust over and over again. The scanner beeped when it completed marking the rectangular sarcophagus leaned on the northern wall of the room.

“Nothing on scanners sir, no booby trap.”

“Hello, beautiful!” Samir whistled, hitting the stone tomb with his rifle. “This is solid. Walters, blast it.”

“Sure, boss.”

“Blast it?” Sarah said, not hiding the concern in her voice. “What if we damage it?”

“That won’t happen, Sarah,” Captain Samir said, looking at Walters. “Right, Walters?”

“Sure thing, boss.”

“Walters, small charges. We don’t need the whole place coming down.”

“When did I ever fail you, boos?” Walters looked offended.

“Remember that hostage situation on Galaxia? The luxury liner?” Evans said, packing her scanning gear.

“Wasn’t my fault.”

“Walters, you blew up three decks to remove an air duct gate!”

“Oh, boy,” Sarah sighed.

“Enough, open it up.”

Walters planted a small plastic charge on the bottom of the lid and sprayed a gel around the covering. With the press of a remote, the colorless gel turned yellow and smoke rose. A moment later, the stone cover fell on the ground.

“See, no fuss.”

“That was a first,” Evans said.

Sarah walked toward the sarcophagus. The Arinar sat in the hands of a mummified corpse. The bones of the occupant were long rotten, the remains defeated before the test of time.

Sarah gently took the statuette from the hands of the corpse, “Sorry buddy.”

A sudden quake hit the room, shaking everything violently.

“Sir?” Walters raised his head hesitantly toward the ceiling, trying to figure out what was causing the tremors.

“Run!” Samir yelled, grabbing Evans’ arm and pushing her toward the exit. “Sarah, move!”

Sarah didn’t need another warning. The wall panels of the hall cracked one by one, flows of sand filling the room from every side. The marines rushed to the exit, but the flood was too fast and too
dense
to avoid. By the time they cleared the hall, the squad was already short two men taken by surprise. One of the younglings, Private Gus had a stone panel fall on his head, cracking his skull wide open, and Private Derrick had disappeared in the knee-deep sand, trying to save his fallen comrade.

“Don’t stop!” Samir roared, lashing his men with his words.

Sarah afforded a quick glance over her shoulder and saw the waves of sand rushing toward them like a hungry beast chasing its evening meal. By the time the squad reached back the hidden stone door they had opened, five men of the team were already lost inside the dune sea.

“Help!” Sergeant Hicks called, but his words were muffled by the tsunami of sand surrounding him.