Ugly Part 11

11

‘Flight Command, you want me to fly a Colonel to this moon, and take care of him while he is there. I am a pilot not a marine guard. Please do the needed re-assignment. I won’t do it.’

‘No, Commander Ian. This is not a volunteer mission. This is a misson given to you by the Admiral. The person in question is his wife; Colonel Martha Marlin. She is impressed with your works and credentials. And she wants you on that flight. So pack up and see you on the Launch bay. And if you are thinking of having insurbodination, I can arrange for you the cell in the Brig. But take note, you will shared with ‘Mad Dog’ Jones. We just got hold of him on Alpha Moon Q2. He is deu for transfer to the Prison Colony.’

I know, all of us knew him well; ‘Mad Dog Jones’ is a lunatic with an overgrown body of over seven feet and a brain of a scrambled animal in him when he is mad or shall we termed as angry. And most times, he is so no one likes him or worked with him. But he is a good surface man, in combat and also in suicidal missions. He will rush and attack anything you tell him. And for some reason, he normally comes back with only a few scratches or a minor wound. He is a miracle to have in those conditions.

‘350Alpha Flight 234 taking off now. This is Ugly in command. Over.’ I got my confirmation from Flight Command and looked at my co-pilot, Pilot Timothy Lane also fresh from the training and now holding me as his idol as I hold the joystick. ‘Pilot, your gauges needs some attention. Please focus on them, and give me a rundown on their readings.’

Tim as I called him now, is reading those markings for me, and I am punching in my coordinates. Its going to be a three hour flight to the moon, and we have the passenger in the coach and some large cases in the Holding Bay. I did the initial flying and then handed over to Pilot Timothy. This guy is weird in my books, as he is peeking at me and giving me the body scan, as if he never seen a flight suit. I wonder if he is measuring me for other purposes. I am off the seat now to talk to the Colonel who is probably bored now. There she is in her seat facing the Holding Bay and reading a book. But there are a pair of PK-325 on her lap and they are nasty bastards in this pressured cabin.

‘Morning, Colonel. May I joined you if you are not too busy? Pilot Timothy is taking the flight now.’ She motioned me to sit next to her and not across her. I am not one to argue as she probably thinks I am scanning her if I am sitting across her. I mean she is rather pretty for her age and neing Intel, she probably knows my profile well. I saw down next to the seat next to her and she offered me one of the PK-325. I looked blankly at her for the reason to hold a cocked handgun in the cabin. I am sure we are not playing Russian Roulette now.

‘If anyone comes through that Holding Bay, just shoot first, ask later.’ I looked at the doorway to the Holding bay and remembered the two large cases. I nodded my aknowledgement, and strapped in the belts. We can never tell if the cabin is de-pressurised, I could be suck out into space. And then the Colonel chat with me on my last few months of life in the Carrier. Probably she is filling up some missing space in my profile. We spoke at length and finally the comms from Timothy saved me. I unstrapped the belt and hopped off my seat.

‘Your sidearm, Colonel?’ I handed her the PK-325 and went back to the cockpit and to Timothy’s stares as I grabbed my joystick.

Upon landing, as I was leaving the 350Alpha, I saw a squad of Marines at the Holding Bay door as its lowered down. The two cases were rolled out and move onto a roller platform. Then it was pulled by two Marines to the Tube Transport. Then it hit my mind; there is a penal colony on Alpha Moon 2, and those in the cases could be prisoners. And one of them is Mad Dog Jones. I saw the Colonel coming out and she handed over the PK-325 to the nearest Marine Officer. Then she walked towards me and said; ‘We will be here for overnight. Joined me for dinner at 2000hrs. I will be in my assigned quarters. Confirm with Lieutenant Anne at 326.’

‘Welcome Ian. Please come in.’ I was greeted by a lady dressed in a green silky gown, and she is radiating a very captivating smile. I felt so awkward in my uniform although its a clean one. Here I am in the Colonel assigned quarter, and about to have my dinner. I obliged her invitation with a courtesy befitting the officer rank, and was told to be of my own personal. Dinner was a simple meal furnished by the cooking section and there was the pleasant wine from a well known year and winery.

‘Ian, I invited you today to thank you for helping my son to be what he wanted and not what his father wanted. He fought for the positing to Combat and his father obliged him with the temporary command of your squad. When he was injured, his father let him know the danger of being in Combat and moved him to 350Alpha. He dread those flying and wanted to go back to Combat. He got me to fixed his request without the father’s knowledge until it was done. Joan’s father ...oh, you did not know. Joan or Hot Stuff is the daughter of Admiral Francis Pierre, Carrier Four; helped to convince the old man. So he is in your command on the request of the father. And I am here to thank you for making his dream possible.’

I almost threw up my wine but I kept it well behind my lips. So I have two Admiral’s brats in my squad. And now I got the mother of one making me drink expensive wine. I am sure she did not do it for her son. And that came just about now.

‘Ian, I asked for you personally as escort because I wanted to feel safe here. I know there are guards but I feel safe with someone I can trust my life with. And that’s you. Today, you helped me transfer the convict  ‘Mad Dog’ Jones. I came along to get intel on his behaviour. I am going to interview him tomorrow, on his requests and I want you to be there. To guard me.’

This is more crazy than I thought. Me as a prison warden or personal guard is not in my list of assigned duties. I wanted to get up and tell her I am the wrong guy, but I had to listen her on speak more of the two madmen. Mad Dog as we all know is a lunatic and he is detain for killing his last commanding officer in one of his rage. As for Jack “Ripper’ Lon was one of the best combat pilot before he was pulled off duty for being too reckless and killed his wingman who refused to partake in his massacre of pilots who has ejected out of their crafts. The courtmartial found them guilty and sentenced them to hard labour on this penal colony. They are housed in the same row of cells for the hardened criminals.

Anyway, the after dinner affair was disturbed by a video call on the private line. I excused myself during the call, and climbed into the 350Alpha to rest. Its safer than my current assigned bunk.

The next day, we found ourselves in the doorway to Block D. Its a rectangle building with three levels  which housed the administrtion and security office. Its also the the place where we will do the interviews. The interview will be carried out in the top level in the main Conference Hall. ‘Mad Dog’ Jones was led in with two prison warden’s and locked into his seat which is screwed onto the flooring inside the Conference Hall. The wardens’ left him on instruction by the Colonel, and I was made to wait outside the door like the rest. I went to the nearest glass view to see the world outside but all I could make out was rectangular buildings with their open yards filled with the inmates protected by a higher than the top level walls around us. I was told  outside the walls, the land was filled with hostile creatures big and small. And they congregate outside these walls as they can scent the prey here; flesh for their appertite. Every now and then, the prison wardens do their regular exterminations but they find its more difficult to reduce the numbers each time. So its safer to stay within the walls then outside.

So we all thought its safe after all to be behind the walls. Even the condemned needed protection from the wild or untamed creatures.

But the untamed nature of men cannot be understood that easily.

I saw the Lion flying in with cannons blasting, and he is not hitting the guns position but the far end wall. He is blasting it to weaken it, was my thought and it was proven right. Then the missiles came onto the walls from the Lion, and I saw the sections of the walls crumbled like dust. Before even the dust has settled down, the local inhabitants were swarming in. They come in allsizes and shapes but they shared one desire; flesh of the place.

The lucky ones are the inmates on the yards; they awas no time to feel any pain when you are torn apart in seconds. Then the guards who tried to reach the enclosed areas which by now was sealed by the Prison system in a lockdown situation. Then the yards were filled with the local creatures who looked more like insects but they are large ones too, as big as a Man. They swarmed onto the doorways which are now sealed with two layers of doors as expected in a lockdown situation. Due to the design of the Penal Colony, each buildings are separated by narrow covered tubes, but in the current situation the tubes are sealed too. This is called an isolation containment in case of riots or breakouts, the blocks affected are cutoff from the rest. So the marines can focus on the troubled areas and not get spread out. In the current situation, all the buildings are in lockdown including the one I am in.

I rushed back to the Conference Hall to see the Colonel still talking to the convict. I whispered into her ears and she got up to followed me out. We went to the Governor’s office nearby and discussed the situation. According to him, of the seventeen blocks in the Penal Colony, five has been breached by the hostiles and the survivors are not known. It seems that the double door is no protection as some of the insects are capable of overriding the electronic locks. This is only verified by the system monitoring and it puzzled the Governor, who prior to this, assumed the insects are just low level life form. It seems that they are capable of intelligence and new assessment to be made on these creatures. I asked for the headcount here and armoured situation.

There are thirty personnels here eccluding us the new arrivals, which made thirty three persons here, and only armed persons are the five guards, of which two are with ‘Mad Dog’ now. There is a cupboard of ten PK-325 and ammo, but that is their only armoury. I asked for the 350Alpha, and was told its still parked in the adjacent building in the Launching Bay. And it I am expecting any ducts big enough for me to crawl through to the other building, I could forget that request. Or some secret tunnels for the Governor to escape in situation like these, it could only happened on the hologram screen or e-fiction. This is the real stuff now.

My best bet is to run across the distance between the buildings and get into the Launch Bay which is on the level above the ground. I calculated about 100 metres between the two buildings and up the level to the Launch Bay to the 350Alpha. Given the distance to cover, and the intruding insects, I am looking at about five minutes to ten minutes if delayed or forever if I am dead. So who will volunteer to go with me.I went out and spoke to the Marine Guards and they answer was expected. They are not volunteering, but they will go if I let them do so. I loved their replies as it makes me a bad guy. I wanted to pull straws on them, as I needed is only two men, but all five said they can go. It made sense if we failed there will not much to protect against. As I was deciding on my decision, I heard the call from inside the Conference Hall. Its ‘Mad Dog’ and he is volunteering.

We all stood at the dooray to the outside of Block D. There are six of us, armed in PK-325 and the the Marines with their PK 451 which is a re-design of the PK-450. Once the door was opened, we burst out into the open. There was welcoming reception as yet, so we ran. But before we can count the steps, we were set on by some hideous looking insects, the size of a house feline but has twin wings and a nasty snort with a stinger. It not only stings, it sucks the life out of you. The Marines put up a cover fire while I san on followed by ‘Mad Dog’. My compatriot is now armed with four sets of PK-325 and he is firing with one in each hand. He must be good or freaking lucky, as he seems to be dropping them like flies. I reached the Launch Building and punched in the codes. The double door opened and I jumped in followed by ‘Mad Dog’. I looked back at the Marines but they are not joining us. They are still shooting and are down to two guards now. ‘Mad Dog’ punched the ‘close’ button and released all his ammo on the closing door gap.

We are now alone in the Ground Level and its awfully quiet. I am wondering what has happened to all the crews and Techs. They can;t be all running out there in the yard, and I got my answer in the trails of blood. I saw their severed bodies in different locations and whoever did this must be big bad insects. Actually there was only one, and its standing in front of us now. Its standing on its hind legs which is long and its front legs have rows of sharp spines which are used to grip prey. It has a triangular shaped head with a large jaw and a large eye on each side that can see to the extreme of iots sight. It seems to have excellent hearing as its pickly ears are twitching to every move we made. The back of the body structure is the straight leathery wings and sleek body. and tagged with mini thorns on it, I kinda thought of it resembling a mantis I seen on some slides when I was in the classes, but this one is red in contrast colours. We seen some of them before and they are all poisonous in their bites or claw scratches.

‘Commander, do your run for the 350. I will divert the creature attention.’ I looked at the man and guess he is mad after all. If twenty over men cannot subdue this creature, how can you do it himself. But ‘Mad Dog’ guns is doing the introduction. He has his second pair of PK-325 in his hands., hammering at the creature. It went for ‘Mad Dog’ and he stepped back. He holster his PK-325 and picked up the barrel of fuel. It must had not been full but its still heavy for anyone to carry up, but ‘Mad Dog’ did it. He picked it up and threw it at the creature. The creature caught it in its front claws and was about to heave it ove the side, when ‘Mad Dog’ blasted it with his PK-325. The barrel burst into flame but its not stopping the creature. “Mad Dog’ by then has climbed into a loading lifter with its lift bars protuding out. He drove the lifter directly onto the creature, piercing the lift bars into the creature belly. But its still flairing its claws in the struggle to pulled itself off the bar in its belly.

It was then I was on the staircase to the next level. And I came to face with a small insects the size of a small rodent but this one is hovering at the top of the staircase. I took out and my PK-325 and said’ don;t waste my fragging time’. But it took my third shot to pinned the creature to the wall behind it. I opened the next level door and peeked out for any insects. There is none and I can see the 350Alpha. I rushed towards it and opened the craft door. I came to face a gun barrel carried by a guard.

‘Fly me off this place or I shoot you.’ I did not hestitate to push his barrel off my nose and climbed inside the craft. I jumped into the pilot seat and strapped in. Then I punchged the engine starting motions and the sweet sound of the engine rumbled to life. The guard wanted to jump into the co-pilot seat but I said no. I told him stand in the cabin behind as I am picking up more survivors. I got her to lift off and hovered above ground. Then I punched in the codes to open the deck door. This is an emergency codes to be used in the case of emergency. The upper sky view slide open to allowed me to move the 350Alpha up. I nosed up and open the rear craft bay door, and I dropped off one guard who is not strapped in with some loose luggages onto the launching deck. I landed at the top of Building D, and filled the craft with twenty seven personnel, including one pilot named Timothy.

Later I found out from the Colonel, ‘Mad Dog’ regretted his behaviour and he is always tagged by others for his character and body size, which he disliked. He admits he has a bad control on his emotions but he can;t explain it as he has autism in him. They found his body or what remains among a cluster of dead insects at the Launch Bay.