This Forsaken World Chapter 18
Commander Devin Crowe
As I approached the entrance to the flight deck I stopped to grab an oxygen mask from the rack in the hallway. Once the mask was secured I cycled the pressure door and waited for a green light to open it. Stepping through I sighed in relief at something familiar to me, the sight of dozens of AFS-1 fighters being repaired and re-armed.
Aviation mechanics, technicians and ordnance personnel were prepping the spaceships for combat, the task made that much harder after all the damage we'd sustained during the fight in Earth's orbit.
I noted my squad-mates were gathered around a table by the squadron equipment lockers. As usual Sledge was there and I had to note it was funny how he spent more time with us then his own bomber unit. I moved to join everyone and was greeted with warm smiles and friendly claps on the back or shoulders.
"Welcome back boss." Angel said, leaning back against one of the lockers and giving me a grin. The rest of the group seemed to perk up at my appearance Sledge in particular was the most excited to see me.
"What took you so long? I was getting gray hair waiting for you."The large man stated, crossing his well muscled arms over his chest, the action making him seem intimidating and emotionless. I knew better, Sledge was one of the nicest guys I'd ever met, he just didn't show it openly.
"I hate to break this to you big guy but you already had gray hair. Getting old sucks doesn't it ya old geezer?" Angel said teasingly.
"Hey who you calling old?! I'm still young enough to whip all ya young-lings." Sledge growled, attempting to spear the red head with a menacing glare. The look seemed to utterly fail as she started to laugh. "Anytime, anywhere, bring it!" Angel giggled.
"Alright enough we've got some work to do here. Jewel, I got permission to give you a battlefield commission, your now a Commander and in my absence your the squadron leader." As she was about to protest I held a hand up. "I don't want to hear it, I was assigned as the X.O. Of this boat, you think I was happy with that?! You got it easy." I growled and she backed down, resuming her position against the lockers and staring at the ground.
"Right, next order of business we are being assigned as the rear guard. Our orders are to be combat ready to engage any enemy ships that approach us. Sledge as usual your squadron is being attached to ours, guess I can't get rid of you no matter how many times I complain." I cast a glance at the bomber pilot and he nodded his head in confirmation.
"Hey boss what happened with that hot little vampire chick you caught?" Raptor asked, shifting uncomfortably as I turned my gaze on him. "She's being held in my quarters for questioning. If any of you say anything inappropriate I am going to kick your ass here and now." Raptor almost visibly flinched at that and took a step back.
"Now that everything is out of the way, how we doing?" I indicated the fighters being repaired nearby.
Doom stepped forward and waved Vixie over. The squadron crew chief jogged over and gave me a brief salute. "What's up?" She asked, using a small rag on her belt to wipe grease from her hands.
"What's the status of our combat readiness?" Doom asked, placing his hands on his hips. I turned towards the pilot and shook my head.
"I could have done that, I didn't want to bother her you numbskull." I snapped. Everyone burst out laughing at this as Doom's face turned red and he shifted uncomfortably in place.
Vixie giggled before responding. "We've got five combat ready and re-armed. We're still working on loading ordnance for the sixth. As far as repairs go six out of our eleven are cleared for action. I do hope if you take your fighter out you don't bring it back stuck together with an enemy ship, we had to pry them apart, took us almost two hours. We did manage to study the alien fighter though and we discovered a lot of interesting things." The mechanic rummaged through her jumpsuit pouches before pulling out a pack of cigarettes and lighting one to smoke.
"Like what?" I asked, leaning against the table and watching her carefully.
"Well they use a propulsion system that makes no sense, it doesn't have fuel that we can tell or even a power source. I can't really explain it but if we can reverse engineer the design we'll never have to rely on solar power again. Unfortunately the ship you crashed with is so badly damaged I wasn't able to do a lot with it." Vixie used her cigarette again before shifting her stance so she was resting one elbow on a hip.
"There weapons appear to be super heated chunks of metal. I'm not sure why they use this but it saves on having to craft bullets like we use. There able to envelope the projectile with a form of plasma prior to launching. This allows incredible velocity in space which normally would defy all logic since the lack of oxygen would snuff out the heat but the plasma acts like a shield of sorts." The mechanic saw our confused expressions and sighed in irritation.
"Think of it like our slip stream drive, an energy field envelopes our ships and allows fast speed without danger of impact. This is similar but the impact is instead increased not canceled out. If you can't figure out things the way I just explained it your a lost cause." Vixie watched us carefully to gauge our understanding.
"Anything else?" Sledge asked. The mechanic stared at the ceiling which was well over a hundred feet above us. "There armor is made from scrapped metal or different types of alloy. Seems there construction is patchwork, most likely they gather whatever they can get there hands on and slap it together." I nodded my head at this.
"Yeah they use slave labor from the species they conquer. Recycling materials is what allows them to have such a huge fleet, they design for large numbers, not efficiency. That's probably why we can take them one on one or even in small numbers. Our fighters are naturally more maneuverable and faster. Those capital ships are still a bitch though, not sure how we can fight against them effectively." Everyone listened carefully as I spoke, each stuck in there own world of thought.
Vixie nodded. "Yep, our fighters and bombers are about the only good thing we have going for us. Although every pilot we lose is one less space craft we can field. A ship is only as good as its pilot. We lost roughly twenty five percent of our capacity during the siege." This was the first time I'd heard an estimated count on our losses.
"Wow, didn't realize it was that bad. What's the status of the carrier?" Fatigue was starting to get to me from the pain killers I'd been on and the pain was coming back in force. I took a seat on one of the nearby benches the squadron used for changing.
"Took a bit of damage but we can still hold our own in a fight. The destroyers on the other hand got there asses kicked, its gonna be a while before they can be used again." I nodded slowly as I took in the information.
"Well, guess we're just going to have to sit tight until we get to the Venus station. I imagine the reason its taking so long is because of the damaged ships?" I asked.
"Yeah some of them can only hold slip stream for a few minutes at a time so its kind of a leap frog system at the moment. Since we're rear guard its gonna take us a while to get there." As she was about to continue warning sirens went off all around us, red and yellow lights flashing above every entrance and along the walls and ceiling.
"All squadrons prepare for immediate deployment, enemy dreadnought is inbound on our position. Commander Crowe report to the bridge immediately!" The voice of the captain echoed from a number of speakers and everyone moved into action.
"Angel, you've got lead, I'll join you when I can." The red head nodded and made her way to the assigned fighter.
Shaking my head at the situation I moved as fast as I could towards the bridge. The timing was rotten, right as we were discussing the situation it was like someone found it a joke to attack at this particular moment.
Sergeant Victor Grimm
"Let's go!" I snapped at Evan as we attempted to block the windows with clothing displays, shelves, chairs and anything we could shove in that general direction.
"Lucas, I need you to make sure we have ammo at all times, gather together the right boxes and bring them over here, then I need you filling magazines while we fire. If we can't keep a constant stream of rounds heading down rage we'll get overrun. Do you understand?" The young man nodded and I shifted my attention to the store front.
"Evan aim at the legs of the runners in front, if we make them go down they'll trip up the infected behind them and buy us a few more minutes. I really wish you'd picked a different gun that had a magazine, the two you have will take too long to load." I grumbled, picking up a baseball bat and slamming it against the glass several times until it finally shattered.
Evan shrugged. "Sorry, this is what works best for me. I've got the two pistols if things get too bad. Here." He handed me the machete from the muscle car as he took up the hatchet.
"Right, well here they come, it's game time." I double checked my magazine before shouldering my rifle and taking aim down the sights.
The zombies were closing fast and the number was insane. Easily well over a thousand enemies were now filling the open ground before us. I was thankful the shop was so open with little to no obstructions to shield the enemy. So far only a handful of vehicles, a pair of dumpsters and a few small bushes and trees were in the way.
Evan began firing well before me since his weapon had longer range. I was forced to wait until I guessed the range was good and I started taking careful shots at the knees and calves of the zombies in front.
As my bullets slammed into the lower limbs the zombies fell hard to the ground and were trampled by those behind them. While the strategy was working to some degree, the sheer number of enemies closing in on us was almost too much for it to make a difference. As they continued to close the distance I began firing faster and faster.
"Reload!" Evan shouted as he dropped the hunting rifle and scooped up the lever action. Lucas proceeded to reload the rifle while my gun clicked empty. Luckily because of my choice I already had a few fully loaded magazines ready to go as I slapped a fresh one in place. Checking the breech and slot I chambered a fresh round and resumed firing.
The horde seemed endless as they entered the parking lot and I swallowed hard, the situation finally settling in.
"There are too many, we can't win this fight. Pick up whatever you can carry and head for the roof, I'll buy you time!" I yelled, standing up and emptying my magazine before slinging the rifle over my shoulder and picking up my shotgun.
Lucas scooped up as many boxes of ammo as he could and shoved them into a nearby bag he'd found. Before turning to run for the ladder leading to the roof he picked up some M.R.E.'s and a few bottles of water.
Evan fired the last of his bullets in the lever action and picked up the hunting rifle, sprinting towards the ladder and making his way to the rooftop.
I was carefully selecting my targets, trying to get maximum damage for each bullet. Lucas finally made his way to the ladder and I cursed as the zombies reached the window.
Slinging the now empty shotgun over my shoulder I drew my pistol and backpedaled through the store firing as I retreated. The infected were throwing themselves, literally, through the windows and impaling themselves on displays and table legs as they attempted to rush me.
Snapping off round after round my gun clicked empty as the chamber locked back and I slid it into my thigh holster. Turning around I barely made it to the roof access as the zombies converged on my position.
Below me I felt something grab at my boot before I pulled away and I started to climb to safety. Once out on the roof I sighed in relief and slumped down on the concrete slab. I didn't have to worry about being chased as the zombies were incapable of using the ladder and while we were safe for the moment, we were effectively trapped with no escape.
Standing up with a grunt of effort I moved to the roof access and looked down. Dozens of snarling faces roared and screamed as I came into view and they began to climb over themselves in an attempt to get closer.
"Wow, there sure are a lot of them down there. Next time let's get on the roof 'before' they swarm us." Evan said with a sarcastic note.
"Yeah piss off private. We might as well get comfortable, we're going to be here a while. I just hope Hank made it to the Depot. The sight of armored vehicles rolling down that road with heavy weapons and dozens of Defense Troopers would make my day right about now." I said, taking a seat and leaning up against the roof edging.
Lucas as in the process of unloading the bag contents he'd brought with him onto the ground. He had collected enough boxes of ammo to put up a decent fight as well as water and a number of the food packs. I was surprised he'd been able to carry all of that weight up the ladder but I wasn't going to stare a gift horse in the eye...at least I thought that was the saying.
Tossing one of the packs to me I grinned as the sun reflected off the silver packaging. A bottle of water joined the pack and I settled in for a long overdue meal. It had been hours since we'd had anything to eat or drink and I was feeling the effects on my body. While living in an apocalyptic world we'd become accustomed to not having regular meals, we were still supplied enough daily to get us through a fight.
Looking at the food package I felt a tingle of joy surge through me and my mouth watered. Maple Pork Sausage Patty, number 17 made in 2019. One of the last meal packs to be created before the Consumer Virus (Con-V) had struck the population. After the virus spread the vast majority of manufacturing companies had shut down and the military had been restricted on there meal supply to specific bases. Distribution had been all but halted and emergency rations were taken into effect as opposed to standard issue.
"I got pork sausage, what did you get?" I asked Evan as I opened my package and started going through the contents.
"Vegetable Crumbles with Pasta in Taco Sauce, yuck...want to trade?" The private asked, extending the MRE to me.
"Oh hell no, this is like striking gold, you ain't getting your dirty paws on it without a fight. You keep your nasty vegetables away from." I pulled the food close to my chest like I was protecting it and Evan chuckled.
"I got Creamy Spinach Fettuccine." Lucas informed us. I shook my head slowly.
"Man did I get lucky. Now all we need is an umbrella to shield us from the sun and we'll be good. I really wish we still had some grenades, one toss down that hatch and we'd clear out a good chunk of the zombies." Using the word chunk in reference to a grenade was funny to me but neither of the other two picked up on it and I sighed.
"We still have one." Lucas said, fishing the last surviving grenade from the city battle out of a pocket. "What the...I thought Hank had that. Well done!" I reached out for the grenade and the young man tossed it to me underhanded.
Catching the explosive I sat it down beside me and began to dig into my food with much anticipated excitement. The food was delicious, unfortunately I choked on the grub as Lucas made a face.
"Man this tastes like toilet paper!" The younger man said, his face twisting into a look of pure disgust as he spit out the white paper in his mouth.
"That's because it is you dumbass!" Evan said, laughing hard. I recovered from choking and leaned back against the half-wall once more.
"Ya know, we're trapped on a roof, surrounded by undead zombies and facing an alien invasion from space and somehow we're still having a good time and laughing. Seems like no matter what life throws at you, there's always something to laugh at. Thank you for that Lucas." The other man finished picking tissue paper out of his teeth and pierced me with a scowl.
"Yeah, yeah...glad you enjoyed it." Lucas turned back to his food packet and rummaged around trying to find the actual food this time.
I stared off into the distance admiring the view of the sun on the horizon and smiled to myself. Life sucked, but it still had its good times. I sincerely believed we would overcome any hardship we would face and either prevail or die with a smile and a gun in our hands.
This Forsaken World could kiss my ass!