Weekend Special Short Tales California 2.3 Chapter 13

 13.

I had blasted like four of them buggers before I saw the mother. I had described them at the close range, they are freaking horrendous to look at. It will be in my nightmares for some those sleepless nights.

“Shoot the head!” Sergeant Booker had joined me on the left side. “Gaping at it won’t kill it.”

I had leveled my rifle to add to the shots fired by the Sergeant. The huge alien head burst out when our combined shots took off the right side of the head. It went down on its limbs and formed an obstacle in the corridor. I was then pushed by the Sergeant who had overtaken me to climb onto the dead mother and used that vantage point to shoot at the smaller aliens that were everywhere in front of us on the walls and even at the ceiling.

“Shoot them, Navigator.” Sergeant Booker called out. I took on after him but he had jumped ahead. I saw others had followed me and was running the corridor.

“They are retreating.” Tom called out when he pass me. I had reached the flooring of the corridor and looked down at it. The gooey mess on the flooring was on boots and some on the leggings but it did not burn through. That was good but the flooring was slippery.

“Watch me go!’ Jerry had run forward and then slide on his feet while shooting at the aliens. He reached the end and then stopped.

“It’s the Mother fucker!” Jerry turned to retreat and was impacted through the back of the head by the huge mother alien when its front right leg slammed into Jerry’s head.

“You bastard!’ Tom had rushed forward with the rifle firing. He emptied the clip on the huge alien bringing it down to the flooring but he was overwhelmed by the smaller ones. He was soon buried under the hordes of the aliens.

“Damn you, Tom.” Sergeant Booker had stepped away from the carnage, and went for the opening at the corridor to the hangar.

“Move it all of you. We could be next.” Sergeant Booker ran for the shuttle. I was close behind and followed by Benz, the Lieutenant, and Dickson. Hagar had run on ahead and was calling for the droids which were on the deck of the ship. I saw only Huginn and assumed the worse had happened to Muginn. Hagar got the rear doorway opened and the team went in but not the Sergeant.

“Lieutenant, take the flight. I am going to our fighter craft.” Sergeant Booker detoured off. I grabbed the Lieutenant to stop her joining the Sergeant.

“Leave him be. We got other tasks.” I called out to the Lieutenant and she hesitated. I was to push her in when Hirohito called up from inside the ship. It was his cue for us to get in. The Lieutenant relented and we climbed in. It was all works then. I took my station and then the ship went up when the hangar doors slide opened. We flew upward to the skies.

If only I knew then, or suspected it was so.

The Sergeant had reached the other ship and climbed into the cockpit of the ship. He was not going to check the system for he knew the ship was not able to fly. It was under maintenance to repair its flight engines, and that was on hold during the attack. He knew the ship was loaded with a full rack of missiles, and that was what he was aiming to use. He armed the missiles and then navigated the ship to move on its wheels to face the storage area. In there was the fuel cells and engine parts with the extra missiles.

“Say my goodbye to you now.” Sergeant Booker flipped the cover on the switch to fire the missiles. He leaned forward to check the trajectory path when he was attacked by the small alien in the cockpit. The alien rushed at the Sergeant who had blocked the attack with the left hand, and then grabbed the tentacle before he tossed it to the rear. He then grabbed the joystick on the console to aim the missiles. He pressed the trigger and watched the missiles streaked off in sequences. He heard the alien in the ship retreated with loud shrieks.

“Eight ought to do it.” The eight missiles streaked out. The missiles impacted there and the subsequently triggered off the fuel cells. The explosion was huge and spread to the lower levels. The flooring at the hangar collapsed and buried the lower levels.

On the ship TF99-9, Hirohito looked at the consoles when the ship pierced the atmosphere. It was getting dicey with the heat exchanger compromised but he had to get past it. He called out to Benz.

“How are we doing?”

“I am relaying he shields to the starboard where the heat is most intense. I have re-connected the coolant there.” Benz was rushing to the engines section at the rear. He had seen the sparks there and needed to get that fixed or they will be dropping back to the surface. He crouched there and examined the plating there. He saw the crack and knew it will go if he does nothing on it. He took out the sealant and applied it generously there.

“You will hold or I will see you ….” Benz swallowed his words. He was overly concerned to be upset at the ship machinations. He did not see the bolt that flew out with the impact on his left shoulder. He fell down holding his wounded shoulder. The bolt had gone right through and the blood was flowing there.

“Benz, are you alright?” I saw the drop in pressure on the engine and called the Engineer.

“Ja. I will fix the pressure.” Benz pushed himself up. He staggered to the area where the bolt had ripped off. He saw the damage was more extensive and moved back to his console. He recalibrated the power distribution and got the ship soon spewing its thrust to get clear.

“Ja, it’s done.” Benz replied to me. He then placed his hands on the console to steady himself. The blood was still flowing. There was a medical kit near him but he ignored it. He knew that his journey was to end.

“Ja, Tiffany.” Benz addressed the ship by its given name. “We may retire together.”

At the bridge, I heaved a sigh of relief when we hit past the atmosphere. Hirohito was into action and looked for the cargo of ours. He sighted it and piloted the ship towards it.

“Hagar, secure the link. We are going to get the cargo to be delivered.” Hirohito called out. I was out my station and rushed to the Engines. I saw Benz seated on the flooring with his right hand over his wound. I grabbed the medic kit and crouched by the recalcitrant German officer.

“Nein, don’t waste your effort. I am past the need to live on.” Benz stopped me. “Let me go with the ship.”

“Benz, we are not done yet. I will get you to the Shuttle. I will get you out.” I reached the Engineer but he was not moving. He pushed me away.

“Go and leave me alone. I still have to get the engines ready for the next re-entry.” Benz looked at me. “Do leave me now. Take the others to the shuttle.”

It was not a choice.