Damnation, page 27
part #3 of Forgotten Vengeance Series
Ahead of them, the mark came out of the shadows and into view. Hayden froze.
The woman ran toward them. She was completely white, with long white hair and white eyes with no visible pupils. She appeared to be naked, but she had no genitalia. It was as if she were wearing a skintight suit of some kind. But there were no seams. No wrinkles. No sign it was a suit.
“Hold your fire!” Caleb shouted.
“Cal…” Hayden frowned. “...do you know her?”
The Rapture whined behind them and blasted forward toward the opening. The woman kept coming toward them, her bare feet slapping along the wet stone.
“Caleb, what is this?” Hayden asked.
A loud bang sounded at their backs, followed by a sudden flash and deafening roar that shook the entire space, the concussion throwing them to the floor. It knocked the woman down too, tossing her backward, flames momentarily reflected in her milky white eyes.
Hayden looked back. The Rapture was gone, replaced by a fiery, mangled mess of wreckage.
He pushed off with his hands, shoving himself back to his feet at the same time the woman pulled herself back up.
She resumed her sprint toward them, her mouth open in a shout.
“Ruuuuunnnnnn!”
60
Caleb
Caleb picked himself up, still rattled by the force of whatever had destroyed the Rapture, and even more shaken by the ghostly white woman screaming at them to run.
He had seen her before, of course. In the Collective as an avatar of Nyarlath. But this wasn’t the Collective. And she wasn’t an avatar. While he couldn’t be sure she was living and breathing, she was definitely real.
And she was on their side?
Or at least on Nyarlath’s side. Even if Vyte had regained control, the Ancient wouldn’t want her forces killing him before he could set her free. He wasn’t so sure about after, but he hadn’t gotten that far yet. He still had to survive long enough to reach her prison. He still needed to figure out how he was going to kill her.
“Ruuuuunnnnn!” the woman shouted again.
Caleb glanced at his HUD. Two of the Org Marines were down and wouldn’t be getting back up. Three more were injured and slow to get back to their feet, while the rest were nearly recovered.
Caleb’s tactical was changing too, revealing the first of the targets the woman was yelling at them to flee from. He had no idea what kind of enemy they were. Xaxkluth? Trife? Norg? Something else? Only that they were gaining on the woman and there were a lot of them.
“Let’s go, Marines!” Caleb snapped through the comm. But which way? Clearly not the tunnel Ishek had advised.
I didn’t know.
The woman closed on him, pointing to the left. “That way!” she said, changing her direction to lead them. A moment later, energy blasts began screaming down the tunnel, the light of them revealing the Norg soldiers giving chase.
“Go, go, go!” Caleb shouted, the bolts splitting through the Marines, hitting their combat armor and digging into the plates. Most of the blasts didn’t get through the protection, but a few did. Two more Marines fell.
Caleb’s shields flared as a few of the shots hit his Skin. He turned back to face the tunnel, gathering energy in his hands and firing back. His defense was joined by the booming cracks of Hayden’s revolvers, twelve rounds echoing in rapid-fire. The combined attack dropped nearly a dozen Relyeh, but it was barely enough to make a dent.
“Follow her!” Caleb shouted, breaking into a run. He was behind the rest of the Marines, who had decided on that course before he gave the order. Only Hayden was still standing there, quickly reloading and emptying the second batch of rounds into the oncoming storm.
“You’ll burn through your ammo in less than a minute like that, Sheriff,” Caleb said.
“Just keeping you covered, Colonel,” Hayden replied. He turned and ran with Caleb, staying beside him as they managed to get out of the attackers’ line of sight.
Thirty Marines had disembarked from the Rapture. In less than a minute, only twenty-four remained. It was a painfully factual count Caleb tried not to think about as the entire group sprinted into one of the adjacent tunnels. trailing the strange woman through the humid starship. The stone composition wasn’t new to Caleb—he had been on a similar Relyeh ship before—but its presence here was. The damnation was supposed to be at least partially organic, a living ship. But this thing was inert material.
It isn’t stone. It’s a secretion from the creature that is the ship, similar to the secretions of the xaxkluth. The damnation and the xaxkluth are from a related genetic pool. A damnation begins as a larva placed on an iron-rich, super-dense asteroid. It develops over hundreds of your years. In the beginning, it creates a hollow in the asteroid to protect itself. Over time, it expands beyond the hollow and begins to secrete layers of protection beyond its confines. Eventually, the body of the damnation expands past the protective secretion, overtaking it and growing on top of it once it has reached a mature stage. The mind and organs remain in the center of the original asteroid, protected by everything it has built outside. That’s the simple version, anyway.
Caleb was thankful Ishek had kept it simple.
They reached a Y-junction in the tunnels. The woman leading them came to a stop, so the Marines did the same.
“Bravo and Charlie, cover our tails,” Caleb said. “Alpha.” He pointed to one of side of the Y. “Delta.” He pointed at the other. The groups of Marines moved into position while he approached the alien.
“Caleb Card,” she said. Caleb noticed her teeth were a single uniform shape both top and bottom rather than individual enamels. Her voice had a slight strain to it.
“I never thought you were real,” Caleb replied. “Who are you?”
“Nyla,” she said. “A genesis of Vtye and Nyarlath.”
“Genesis?”
“Creation. The beginning of what Father believes to be the perfect deity.”
“Deity?” Hayden said. “As in, god?”
“Father believes your kind responds well to idols. That they make humans easier to manipulate and keep under control. I was designed to be Earth’s new goddess. The perfect evolution of humankind. It’s a design I reject.”
“You have a choice in that?”
“My father isn’t as perfect as he thinks he is. He never realized how Mother could subvert him through me.” Her eyes glowed slightly. “We have to keep moving.”
“I need to get to Nyarlath,” Caleb said.
“Yes. But Father is trying to stop us. It won’t be easy to reach her, Caleb Card. But with my help you might.”
“How do we know we can trust you?” Hayden asked.
“You don’t have any other choice.”
“Fair enough.”
“This way.” She broke away again, heading down the right-side passage of the Y.
“Knuckle-up, Marines,” Caleb said. “Let’s go.”
They all moved to follow her, continuing down another long corridor at a run. They traveled nearly three full minutes before she stopped at a four-way junction, looking at the different paths.
“None of these are clear,” she said. “You need to fight your way through.”
“Can you fight?” Caleb asked.
“Can. Yes. Will. No. I’ll guide you as Mother wished. I won’t fight back against Father.”
“Did we seriously come all this way to get caught in the middle of a family dispute?” Stacker said from his place with Alpha. “This is why I’m iffy on having kids.”
“Oh, is that why?” Gray asked.
They looked at one another with light smirks on their faces.
“Which way is the most direct?” Caleb asked.
“That way,” Nyla replied. “But it’s also the most well-defended.”
“Norg?”
“Yes. And Norg hybrids.”
“Organic and machine?” Caleb said. “Like you?”
She nodded.
“Are there any Intellects on board?” Hayden asked.
“No,” she replied.
“At least our luck isn’t all bad.”
Caleb’s tactical began to light up, showing the mass of the force coming from the straight ahead path as well as the still-numerous enemy coming at them from the other corridors.
I think the sheriff spoke too soon.
61
Hayden
Hayden finished reloading his revolvers, tucking them into their holsters and switching to the rifle on his back. He leveled the gun, running at the front of the Marines beside Caleb. Gray, Tora and Stacker composed the rest of Squad Alpha and were close behind.
“Stay sharp,” Caleb said, his voice commanding through the comm. A natural leader, more so than Hayden believed himself to be. “Don’t start shooting until I give the order and do your best to conserve ammunition.”
The entire group slowed as the enemy forces drew closer. Hayden noticed Nyla sink back as the inevitable showdown approached, putting herself in the middle of the Marines. She clearly didn’t want to be shot in the firefight to come, but Hayden had a hard time believing she had no way to protect herself.
“The tunnel has a slight bend up ahead,” Caleb said. “We need to get to it first.”
He sprinted forward, the Skin carrying him faster than the rest of the Marines could run. Hayden was a few steps behind him, but the serum he had taken—combined with his combat armor—gave him almost the same advantage. Tora was only a step behind him, with Stacker two steps behind her.
They reached the bend before the Relyeh, able to use the slight curve to gain cover. Hayden leaned out, eyes landing on the forces coming their way. The front line were regular Norg. Squid-faces in simple robes, carrying energy weapons.
“Let’s hit them hard,” Stacker said.
“On my mark,” Caleb replied. He waited a few seconds as they positioned themselves to create layers of fire without hitting one another. “Now!”
They swung out from around the corner as one, each of them firing rifles at the Norg. Stacker and Gray were carrying plasma, and their bolts illuminated the corridor, making it easy to see the bullets Hayden fired, the slugs striking exactly where he aimed. The Norg began to fall, cut down by the barrage. They retaliated moments later, but it was already too late. Hayden ducked back behind the wall as the return blasts whipped past them without harm.
“Nice work, Alpha,” Caleb said.
Hayden noticed Nyla had come up behind them during the volley. The other Marines were close behind.
“Cal, we’re getting boxed in from behind,” Hayden said, looking at the grid on his HUD. “If we stay static, they’ll get us in a crossfire.”
“Roger that, Sheriff,” Caleb replied. “We need to keep pushing forward. I’ll draw their fire, you back me up. Keep the line moving. We have to get to Nyarlath.”
“Pozz.”
Caleb was still for a moment, then he rounded the corner, moving to the center of the passage. The enemy began shooting immediately, their blasts lighting up Caleb’s shields as he absorbed their fire.
Hayden and the others swung out from their positions, unleashing their firepower. Bullets and plasma bolts tore through the lines of Norg, cutting into them as Caleb rushed forward, still taking massive fire. Hayden knew from experience the Intellect Skin would only have enough stored energy to take a handful of seconds of such heavy abuse.
He charged ahead, staying right behind Caleb. A few wayward shots caught his armor, sinking into the plates and leaving gouges behind. He continued shooting as he approached, cutting down three of the Relyeh as he closed the distance.
Gunfire behind him added to the chaos and noise, the rest of the Marines trying to slow the advance of the enemy from behind. Hayden’s rifle clicked empty, and he dropped the magazine, grabbing another and loading it to resume shooting. Tora overtook him in the corridor, HRG laying waste to the Norg on Caleb’s right side.
Caleb reached the Norg, pushing into them without slowing. He was too close now to shoot, forcing them to use their staffs as electrified melee weapons. They grunted and squealed as they tried to hit Caleb, who began punching them with equally powerful hands. Hayden started choosing his targets more carefully, squeezing off single rounds that punched through the Norg’s tentacled faces and dropped them one after another.
Their line continued to move forward, the shooters behind Caleb keeping the enemy off-balance. A quick check of the tactical showed Hayden the Marines at the rear acquitted themselves well, keeping the enemy’s rear assault from becoming too well organized.
And then it was over. The ranks of Norg ahead thinned out, the creatures left alive turning and running. It surprised Hayden to see the Relyeh act with a mind toward self-preservation. He had rarely seen it before.
“Come on,” Caleb said, urging the Marines forward in pursuit. He broke into a run, the rest of them trailing him down the corridor toward another junction.
Caleb turned to track the fleeing Norg before suddenly pulling up. Hayden’s mouth was open, half a second away from warning him that the retreat might be a trap. Caleb obviously agreed.
“Nyla?” Hayden waved her forward. “What’s the second most direct route?”
“That way.” She pointed left. “We’d have to backtrack.”
“Sergeant Gray,” Caleb said. “Take the rest of the Marines that way.” He pointed down the corridor they were on. “I need you to buy us some breathing room. Try to get the enemy to follow you. If they don’t, come up behind them and hit them like they were trying to hit us.”
“Yes, sir,” Gray replied.
“Sir, let me go with h—?” Stacker asked.
“You took an oath,” Caleb said. “This isn’t about personal relationships.”
“Yes, sir,” Stacker replied. He looked over at Gray. “Don’t die on me.”
“You either.”
Gray moved away, the other Marines following her.
“Nyla, can they track us?” Caleb asked.
“The Skin’s energy signature is loud.”
Caleb pulled the cowl away from his face. There was no visible sign he had turned off the Skin, but Hayden knew he wouldn’t have needed to free his eyes otherwise.
“You aren’t trackable?” Hayden asked the alien woman.
“No,” Nyla replied.
Hayden studied her closely, her pupil-less eyes and flat expression making her nearly as challenging to read as Max. She had come out of nowhere to save them, and he wasn’t sure if he believed her explanation. Both the Axon and Relyeh were expert manipulators. Was she part of one of Vyte’s more elaborate traps?
“Colonel, I thought you said the air in here was toxic?” Stacker asked.
“Ishek can filter out the excess nitrogen for me,” Caleb replied. “I’ll be fine.” He motioned back down the corridor. We’ll backtrack and take the left corridor. Hurry.”
They headed to the left, running the fifty meters back down the passage. Hayden watched his HUD, tracking the enemy as they reached the junction behind them and turned right, following the larger group of Marines.
He heard gunfire echoing in the distance as they started down the other corridor, running at full speed. Hayden finally realized why Caleb had split Sergeant Gray and the others from the group. She was a clone, but not an older, stronger model like Stacker and Tora. She and the others just weren’t capable of keeping up with the pace Caleb was setting.
The gunfire quickly faded into the distance. The connection to the rest of the Marines over the combat network faded with it, leaving the system to readjust to only four members. It worried Hayden to leave so many behind and under attack, but he also recognized the need. It wasn’t just Proxima they were fighting to save. Nathan and the others were back on Earth trying to recover the interlink, and if needed, protect it. Every second was valuable. Every action essential.
They reached a break in the passages, entering a room with an Axon device set up inside. A simple platform with a control terminal placed in front of it.
“What is that?” Hayden asked.
“Axon teleporter,” Caleb replied. “It can take us just about anywhere on the ship. Can it take us directly to Nyarlath?”
“It will get us close,” Nyla replied. “Step onto the platform.”
“Wait a second,” Hayden said. “How do we know this isn’t a setup? You could teleport us into space.”
“It doesn’t work like that,” Caleb said.
“Okay, then into the middle of a hundred xaxkluth or an entire nest full of trife. The point is that we don’t know her, Cal. Vyte’s fooled us before, and we’ve paid a high price. Too damn high.”
“Sheriff, I know what you’re thinking. But she’s on our side.”
“How do you know that?” Tora asked. “Our top two most dangerous enemies created her. To help us? Really? I’m with Hayden on this one.”
“We wouldn’t have even gotten in here without her help,” Stacker said. “Nyarlath isn’t our enemy right now, Vyte is. If she sent Nyla to help us, I say we accept the help. We don’t have time to argue.”
Nyla moved in front of Hayden. “I’m not working against you, Sheriff Duke,” she said.
How did she know his name?
She lifted her hand toward his face. “May I touch you?”
Hayden looked at her hand. The flesh was pure white, though he could see almost human-looking veins running beneath it. “Why?”
“So you’ll trust me.”
Hayden looked into her eyes. He saw himself in them as a faded reflection. He also saw something else there. Emotion. Sadness. Compassion.
“Pozz,” he said softly.
She put her hand against his face. It was softer than he might have guessed, and it made his cheek tingle when her fingers brushed lightly against it.
Suddenly, he wasn’t looking at Nyla.
He was looking at Natalia.
“Nat?” he said.
“We always knew it would end this way, Hayden,” Natalia said. “That one of us would die before the other, fighting for what we believed in. For our shared dream.”
