The War Across the Stars (19 page)

Ryan was the first to arrive at the top of the steep hill.  Peering down he saw the same structures as I had. 

“Now that is interesting.  You ready?” he said. 

“’Course sir,” I replied. 

I was the first to begin carefully sliding down the hillside down into the valley.  Behind me was Ryan, who had his pistol in one hand as he proceeded. 

The trip down seemed long, but likely was fairly short.  From here, the distance to the first structure looked much larger than from atop the cliff. 

Realizing the distance we had to cover, we moved as quick as we could, but the snow hindered our movements. 

“What do ya think those structures are?” Cassidy asked.

Of course, Phil was the first to respond.

“I suspect they are some sort of survival shelter for the inhabitants of this planet, be that Korth’s men, the UED, or some other form of native.”

“Are you saying that there may be some other species here as well?  Even another faction besides us and the UED?” Nevin questioned.

“It seems logical.  If there are others, I hope they’re on our side.  We have enough enemies as is,” Phil said wisely.

We continued the trek through the snowy wastes, and grew ever nearer to the ominous structures that loomed over us.  The structure was round in shape, like a sort of tower, rising out of the ground.  As we came within several meters of it, the snow began to pick up off the ground, and a sort of snowstorm began.  We instinctively picked up the pace and slid into the dark interior of the structure.  There was a spiraling staircase that passed all around the walls, and there was a metal hatch at the far end.  Besides that, the entire room was bare.

“Well then.  This is basic,” Nevin commented. 

“It seems to be little more than a shelter.  Perhaps we should check out our paths.  You know, the stairs and the hatch?” Phil suggested.

“Right.  James, you take your team down the hatch, I’ll head up the stairs with Phil,” Ryan ordered.

We split into our familiar teams, but without Max.  I moved closer to the hatch and grabbed its handle.  I pulled it up revealing a wooden ladder that seemed to descend for a great distance. 

“Well, I’ll go first,” I said uneasily as I stepped down onto the first rung.

Slowly I descended down the rickety ladder, hoping that it would hold us in full power armor.  The ladder seemed to keep going for much longer than I had initially expected it to.

When I finally reached the bottom the room was lit with strange glowing orbs on the walls. There was a long hallway in one direction, while the side behind the ladder had a stone wall.  I pulled out my H-81 and clicked on its under-barrel flashlight.  I advanced quickly down the hall.  At the end was a door of solid steel.  I grabbed its handle carefully, and as I entered the room I kept my pistol pointed forward.  There was a series of symbols carved into the wall, several desks and electronic equipment, and three men standing there.  I hesitated, completely clueless what to do.

“You!  Who are you?” one asked, grabbing a pistol off one of the desks.

“Uh… I’m James.  Staff Sergeant James Ross.  Who are you?”

The man glanced behind him then looked at me nervously.

“I’m Dr. Jake Thomson of the UED Research and Discovery Corps.  To whom do you affiliate yourself?” he responded.

I steadied my gun, unsure if he knew about the recently initiated war across the stars.

“Elonian Rangers.  Special Forces.  I’ve been tasked with retrieving Rigel Korth and Robert Washington from this planet.”

He started backing up again toward the desk.  I caught eye of a handheld COM laying on it.  His hand quickly darted for it.  In response, I let off a shot, shattering part of the device.  The man then shot me, hitting a hardened part of my armor.  I unleashed a flurry of carefully aimed shots at all of the men, just as Nevin and Cassidy bounded into the room with their guns raised. 

“Um… What did you just do?” Nevin asked.

“Well, these guys just tried to kill me.  But they’re… they’re human.   At least they look human.  They said they were UED.  How could the UED be human like us?” I asked.

“We need Phil,” Cassidy said blankly. 

I activated my COM system. 

“Hey Ryan?  James here,” I said.

“Yeah, what’s up?  Find anything?” he asked back.

“Yeah, did you?” I asked.

“That’s a negative.  We’ve climbed a ways and found some windows with nice views.  That’s about it though.  We’re nearin’ the top.  I think.”

“Alright, well when you guys get a chance, we have some interesting markings down here, and… well the UED appears to be a human race just like our own.  They had scientists down here.”

“Okay.  That is a bit unexpected.  We’ll report back to you when we reach the top.  See what you can do until then,” Ryan ordered.

“Copy that sir, we’ll see what we can do.”  I clicked off the COM and approached the computers.

I observed the markings on the wall, and then looked at the computer screen.  To my surprise, I was able to read everything onscreen.  It had some sort of matrix running on one, rapidly flashing thousands of words and letters constantly, while on another there seemed to be a sort of science log.

1 December 2197

We’ve been studying this rock structure for while, thus far, with little luck.  O’Brien had a minor success when he translated a few of the cultural notes.  Apparently, this planet was known as Marzoc by some race known as the Tredecim.  They were the indigenous people here, and had some sort of empire going for an extended period of time.  The story details the construction of some super-computer, perhaps an AI, known as the Beholder.  After its creation it essentially became their god.

             
             
-Dr. Jake Thomson

             
             
             
UED RADC

7 December 2197

Jackpot!  We ran across a sort of Rosetta Stone for this language.  It has allowed us to dig deeper into their culture and beliefs.  They seem to have only been quasi-advanced, yet the Beholder appears well beyond them.  We believe the Beholder is located in a massive complex underground where their capital was located.  It honestly seems as if they had a golden age, then fell into a dark age from the sudden drop in advancement and technological use.  Some time before the Beholder’s construction they created Facticius Phoebus Platforms.  They were an array of machines meant to act as the planet’s suns, considering the planet was out of range of any star, which in itself seems an impossible anomaly.  The planet does appear to have a higher than average temperature near the core, which may be part of how these species survived.  The deeper they go the more heat it provides.  These platforms were intended to provide a light and heat source to the planet with their tremendous energy emission. I’m astonished that they worked, and that these Tredecim even had starships to get them into space.  So far we haven’t found much out as to why they are no longer present on the planet.  In truth, they may still be here, just hidden in some underground network that we have yet to find.

             
             
-Dr. Jake Thomson

             
             
             
UED RADC

13 December 2197

Intel came in from Cope that there might be hostile personnel in the area.  He mentioned it was unlikely that they’d show up here, and that most are likely dead, but apparently we’ve made a new enemy.  Perhaps the Tredecim have emerged and are attempting to combat us.  He said they were going by “Elonian” though, so it may be some other alien race.  Exciting!

             
             
-Dr. Jake Thomson

             
             
             
UED RADC

I looked back at the bodies lying on the ground.  It seemed odd reading what they had written mere days and hours before we killed them. 

“Well, this place is fairly strange.  Interesting information on that terminal,” I said.

Nevin, looking up from having read it himself, nodded in agreement.

“Tredecim,” he murmured. 

“Yeah, I think this would fascinate Phil to no end,” Cassidy pointed out.

Once again clicking the COM, I planned to inform Ryan of our new intel.

“Sir?  We’ve come across UED terminals loaded with valuable information about the planet, its prior occupants, and those light stations we saw on our way down.”

“Yeah, alright, we’ll head down.  This top room seems to be little more than an observatory,” he returned.

We searched around the mid-sized room looking for any other high-value discoveries.  We managed to locate a tunnel leading deeper into a pitch-black region of the cave and more of the strange symbols on the walls. 

“You two wait here for Ryan.  I’m gonna check this out,” I told the others.

I stepped into the dark area, pointing my pistol around, its light illuminating the darkness. As I proceeded deeper into the tunnel I thought I heard some sort of scampering noise.  I searched the area, but saw nothing that could have been the source of the noise. 

I turned back around, ready to head back down the path, but to my surprise I saw Rigel Korth before me.  I swung for his face but he narrowly ducked, then took off down the hall.  I pursued him, aiming my gun.  He slid, and then turned left.  As I arrived where he had turned, I too swung around to follow him, only to find a stone wall.  There was no door, or even a sign of movement.  I looked behind me, but nothing there either. 

“Surely I didn’t imagine that,” I mumbled to myself.  Though as I looked around, I began to question if maybe I had. 

I shook my head and returned to my team, unsure whether to tell them what I saw.  I was second in command, the executive officer… I could not let them believe me to be insane. 

When I arrived, Ryan’s team had returned.  Ryan looked up from the computer.

“Hey James, you see anything?” Ryan asked.

“Uh, no, not really.  It was just a long tunnel,” I told him, fairly honestly.

“Think it’s worth exploring?” Ryan inquired.

“Well, it’s probably better than the arctic wasteland up there.”

Phil finally looked away from the computer.

“This is amazing.  Simply amazing.  I can’t believe we stumbled on something like this.  And for these aliens to speak our language!  But they’re human… How?” he said in disbelief.

“I dunno, but when those Intelligence guys said that this would be an unusual mission, they weren’t kidding, that’s for sure,” Nevin said.

“So Phil, any clue about that matrix, or these symbols on the walls?” I questioned.

“Well, the matrix is some sort of translator, rapidly processing a bunch of these symbols into words.  I assume this is how the UED came up with the information in those logs.”

“You want us to stay here for a bit Phil?” Ryan asked.

“Actually, as much as I’d love to keep reading the new translations, I suspect the UED might be looking for their scientists soon.  We should keep moving.”

“Alright, its your call.  We’ll go downs James’ tunnel,” Ryan decided.

I was a little concerned, as the tunnel just didn’t feel right.  It was a fatal funnel if something were to try to kill us.  We had no escape routes, or any cover.  We’d just have to trust in our armor.

“Phil, you’re on point,” Ryan said.

Phil entered the dark hall and turned on his flashlight.  He had his SG-13 ready in case of trouble.  As a team we moved down the narrow hall, with no end in sight.  The path would occasionally turn slightly, making some sort of trail to somewhere. 

Then we finally saw light.  It was more of the bluish orbs. 

“Take it nice and slow.  We don’t know what’s over there,” Ryan said calmly as we lessened our pace.  We all turned off our flashlights as we drew nearer.  As we came within a few meters of the lighted room, I saw an armed soldier walk by.  He did not look down the hall at us, but it meant the room was under watch.  I looked back at Ryan.  He pulled out his combat knife, and motioned me to do the same.  I did so, and held the knife firmly in my hand.  He signaled to move in. 

As I entered the room there was a guard to my immediate left and right, plus the guard who had been walking around.  I plunged the knife into the man on the left’s throat, one of his only unarmored areas.  Kicking him over I saw Ryan taking out the door guard and Cassidy knifing the patrol.

They had hardly had time to scream before our team had neutralized all three.  Their weapons lay unused on the ground.  Their assault rifles were quite short in comparison to the longer barrel of the AR-27 and other rifles in service.  They also used a bull-pup design for the magazines. 

“I take it this facility has some significance to the UED if they have guards here,” Ryan pointed out.

“I agree, we should stay sharp,” Nevin said.