Extinction (17 page)

Once armed, they decided to head
directly towards the bridge. Seth figured Surgeon would be counting on his
assault, so he briefed Beast on Surgeon’s methods while they headed for their
objective.

Dig Site One

After walking a while, Daria turned to
Scan. “Where’s your corpsman? Every Recon team has its own.”

“Ours was killed on our last scouting
mission. Accident.”

“What happened? Where were you?” Daria’s
curiosity always got the best of her.

“Sorry, Doc, that’s classified. But it
was just dumb luck. No way for a soldier to die”, he said with mournful eyes.
His spikes pointed inward, which was the Trizite equivalent of crying.

Daria had found that many other races
were less apt to hide their emotions than humans were. Crying was considered by
many races to be a form of respect towards those being grieved for. It must be
nice to not have to deal with so much machismo, Daria thought.

“Hold up”, Bloom said as he took another
couple of steps forward. “I’m detecting a metal alloy of some sort. It doesn’t
register as anything known, but it is definitely different than the rock around
us.”

“Where is it? I can’t see any difference
in the face of the wall.” Davies was looking through his enhancement visor.

The visor could be set to thermal,
infrared, motion, or a combination of the three. All snipers and special ops
guys had them issued as a standard part of their gear.

“I’m trying to get an exact bearing.
It’s difficult, though. Most of my scans are being bounced off the wall.” Bloom
took another couple of steps forward and then shifted slightly to his right. He
approached the wall. “Here. This is the door.”

He pointed to what seemed to be a
section of rock just like the rest of the wall.

“Let me take a look”, Daria said, coming
up beside him, and eyed the scanner. “I see it, too, but where is it?” She
began to feel the wall with her hands and outlined the edges of what the
scanner said was a door.

“Team two,” Davies began, “we’ve found
something, although we’re not real sure what it is.”

“It looks like a door made of an unknown
metal, but we can’t visually distinguish it from the surrounding rock”, Daria
continued. “The scanner says it’s here but we can’t confirm.”

“We are at the back wall and awaiting
rendezvous with team three.” Emily’s voice came over the link. “Stand fast and
we’ll meet up with you in a few. Find out whatever you can in the meantime.
Out.”

“Wilco”, Daria replied. “Got any ideas?”
She addressed the question to her team.

“We could use a hand welder on the seams
to see if it opens it up”, Scan said as he rifled through his pack.

“Whoa, remember yesterday? We don’t know
what happened or what triggered it. They could have thought the same exact
thing.” Davies stepped in front of Scan just in case he didn’t heed the
warning.

“Good point”, he said as he placed the
welder back in his pack.

Bloom took a geological scanner out of
his pack and handed it to Fang. “Take this and perform a detailed scan of
everything fifteen meters to the right of the door. I’ll go fifteen meters to
the left. If it is a door, the triggering mechanism wouldn’t be placed too far
away from it.”

Fang took the scanner and began working
his way out from the door. Daria faintly heard him grumbling about a warrior’s
job was not to scan but to fight. “I have something. Metal of unknown type,
approximately…three point five meters up and one meter out from the right edge.”

Daria walked to where he was scanning. “Bloom,
look for an object with the same signature as the door at the same point on the
other side. It should be about one-third of a meter square.”

“I’m not getting anything over here”, Bloom
called back.

“Let’s get someone up there to take a
look at it”, Daria said, hoping for a volunteer. Who knew what would happen
when someone touched that panel.

“I got it”, Bloom said, approaching from
the other side. “Fang, give me a lift.”

“Now I’m a fucking ladder”, he said, with
what Daria thought was an attempt at a joke. You could never tell with those
guys.

Fang, who could almost reach the object
on his own, easily lifted Bloom closer to the panel. “I don’t see any
difference in the wall, just like the door”, Bloom called down.

“Wait. Put your hand back over the
object”, Davies said from behind his visor. “There. When you put your hand over
it, I get a slight change in the thermal and infrared ranges on my visor.
Someone give him a flare, it’s a pretty low heat source compared to a welder.”

Daria handed Bloom a flare and ignited
it. As he placed it closer to the object, a keypad became visible. “Well, I’ll
be damned”, Bloom whispered. “I’ve got a keypad of some sort here. It kind of
just appeared out of nowhere and disappears when I take the flare away from it.
Must be heat sensitive.”

Emily and Wilks arrived with their teams
and Daria gave them an updated report.

“And judging from the width and height
of the door, not to mention the height of the key pad, whoever built this must
have been pretty big”, Daria said with a smug look. “Probably right-handed, too,
considering the placement of the keypad.”

“Someone has been doing their homework”,
Emily replied. “They must have a much higher body temperature, too, in order to
activate that device.”

“Actually, el-tee,” Daria began, “I
understand that we don’t know anything about the biology of this alien species,
but I really don’t think that anyone could get their body temperature as hot as
a phosphorous flare. I would guess that this is some sort of security measure.
After a catastrophe or security lock down, the only way in would be to
superheat a secret panel to reveal its location and controls.”

Emily looked a little embarrassed by being
so obviously wrong about her conclusions. She nonetheless continued without
skipping a beat, “Has anyone tried the flare on the door?”

Bloom looked at Daria and they shrugged
in unison. “Uh, we were just about to”, Bloom said from his perch.

He moved the torch towards the door and
sure enough, the seams showed through for the first time. “Well, I’ll be”, he muttered
again.

“What did I tell you about that?” Wilks
said to Bloom. “For a damned linguist, you sure don’t ever say much original.”
Looking around at the non-recon faces, he felt he should explain. “Bloom always
says, ‘Well, I’ll be.’ It gets real annoying after years of hearing it. And
being a linguist, I expect a little more variety of speech from him. Wouldn’t
you?”

“Linguist, huh?” Emily said. “Can you
decipher or even guess at what the symbols are on the keypad?”

“I’ve been trying, ma’am. I think that
five of the twenty-five keys are real and the others are just diversions. I
don’t know why; it’s just a feeling.”

“I thought I was the only empath here.”
Scan laughed. Trizite laughs sound like gurgling mouthwash and usually brought
laughter from others, even if the joke wasn’t all that great. This time it
didn’t.

Daria opened her medical kit and pulled
out a small spray can and handed it to Bloom. “This is a cellular tissue
adhesion spray. It will bind itself to tissue on the cellular level to stop
bleeding and bind cuts and tears on injured skin. It will detect tissue, even
dead tissue, and bind with it.”

“Ah.” Bloom understood. “This panel was
protected by the rock when the explosion occurred so any cellular tissue left
from the last user might still be on the keys. When I spray this on it, it will
bind with the leftover cells and show us which keys are used for the door.”

“Right. Just about every species leaves
some cellular residue on an object when they touch it. We’re always shedding
cells, every second of every day. I just hope that whoever made this did too.”

Bloom sprayed the mist onto the keys and
moments later the binding action began and a small film built up on ten of the
keys. “So I was off by five”, Bloom defended himself. “Question now is, what
order are these ten pressed?”

“That is assuming it was the same code
for everyone who used this door.” Wilks spoke up. “If every user had a
different code, there would still be cellular residue on all the keys from
different people hitting different keys.”

“Normally I would agree with you”, Emily
began, “but this would seem to be an emergency panel of some sort. It wouldn’t
be accessed daily so any residue we find should be a limited amount.”

“I think that maybe we ought to also
think about whether or not we want to open that door right now, even if we can
figure out the code”, Davies said through a mouthful of a protein bar. “If
there were enough supplies inside whatever this is, it’s conceivable that
whoever built it is still in there. And they were totally protected from the
explosion yesterday by all this rock. In fact, they may have triggered the
explosion themselves.”

“Bloom, try to figure out the code.
Wilks, put together an assault plan for entry after we’ve figured this thing
out”, Emily ordered. “I’m not discounting your theory, Davies, but we have to
know. I’d rather chance it with only fifteen possible casualties than bring
more people down who could possibly get it as well.”

With that, she opened a command channel
and began giving a report to the base’s commanding officer. She tried to push
the feeling of doubt she had in her orders to the back of her mind. This was
the first time other people’s lives depended on her judgment. Two of her
closest friends were affected by that decision.

Aboard the
Vanguard
– The Final Test

On their way to the bridge, Seth and
Beast had found two other students hiding out from their instructors. The two
had been in a raiding party of five but got ambushed near the birthing
compartments. One instructor was disabled but the other two took three students
down shortly after.

“You two, take three grenades each.”
Seth handed them three from his belt and Beast reluctantly gave up three of his
own. “I’ll explain the rest on the way to airlock one.”

~

Surgeon sat on the bridge and keyed a
secure channel to his other instructors. “Has anyone captured Cadet yet?”

All three responses were negative. Four
instructors had been incapacitated so far while eight students were still left
somewhere in the ship. They could have used the internal sensors to find them,
but that would have been cheating.

“Are you sure he’ll come here?” Blaze
asked. “I feel kinda bad sitting in here while the others are taking the heat.
Blanch and Rachet had to carry Boomer to the infirmary after they accidentally
blew out his knee. Thank God for our ortho-regenerator. ”

“You mean you’re bored and would rather
be out there were the excitement is”, Surgeon said to his peer. “I know what it’s
like to be young, but don’t worry, if he hasn’t been captured yet, he’ll try
for the bridge. This kid is a mirror image of me when I was his age.”

“I hope you’re right. I’d hate to have
sat this whole thing out for nothing. You really think that we need three of us
in here, though? It’s one guy.” Blaze was just trying to make conversation at
this point.

“No, I just wanted your handsome face to
keep me company while I waited”, Surgeon retorted.

“No more taking showers with you.” And
with that, Blaze went back to monitoring the latest holovid movie from Earth.

Well, he’d be the first to go once Cadet
got here, Surgeon thought. Ah well, might as well let him learn a lesson.

Just then, the aft and forward lift
doors opened, causing two instructors to jump to their feet while Surgeon did
the opposite and dove for cover. Instincts being what they were, he never
argued with them before and just reacted to what his body told him to do.

A flash grenade sailed onto the bridge
from inside each lift. The two standing instructors were momentarily blinded
while the two students dropped down from the service hatches inside the lifts.

Once on the bridge, they both released
their stun grenades. One instructor had shielded his eyes reflexively from the
first grenade and was able to see the outline of his oncoming attacker. He
feigned to the side and placed an outstretched forearm into the student’s
throat, causing him to flip backwards and land on his stomach.

The student landed on his own grenade,
which went off underneath him. The blast lifted him off the ground about half a
meter and he slumped on the deck.

“Get him to medical”, Surgeon ordered.
Although it was only a stun grenade, at point blank range it could kill.
Luckily, the specially designed uniforms that everyone on this ship wore were
made to protect against shrapnel to some degree. However, Shorty had an
abdominal wound that needed to be tended to immediately.

The other grenade stunned the instructor
who was nearest the second hatch. Even as Surgeon ordered the medical
evacuation of the student, he was over the operations booth railing and taking
down the student who was now fumbling with his third grenade.

With a grip on the student’s throat and
his wrist in a painful joint lock, Surgeon queried, “Where is Cadet?”

A gasping noise was all that the student
could manage before passing out. He had hit his head on the deck during
Surgeon’s attack and was unable to hold onto consciousness any longer.

Just then, Surgeon heard a whoosh of air
from behind him and rolled to his feet to face the sound. The forward airlock
was opening and a grenade was coming from it. He pulled the limp body of the
student in front of him and allowed it to take the shock of the grenade.

Before he could push the body away,
Beast was doing it for him while simultaneously lifting Surgeon off the deck
with one hand. Surgeon kicked Beast between the legs with all his might. Beast
crumpled to the floor with a smile and groan of ecstasy.

Shirkas had a pleasure center between
their legs that when stimulated, brought their sexual organs out of the dormant
state that they usually resided in. The sexual organs were where a belly button
on a human would be and were always hidden inside the body for safekeeping.

Even if humans and Shirkas were
genetically compatible, sex with a Shirka would kill most humans. It was
violent compared to human standards. During their courtship dance, females
would repeatedly hit the pleasure center between the male’s legs in order to
make the sexual organ come out of dormancy.

In short, kicking a male Shirka between
the legs effectively crippled them as much as it would a human. Of course,
Beast was having the equivalent of a human orgasm, but nonetheless he was on
the ground and out of the way for a while. And most likely embarrassed as hell,
now that he had a huge bulge in his shirt.

Surgeon dropped next to Beast almost
immediately, which was still a split second too late as Seth was already
throwing his first kick in that direction. It was stopped by Surgeon’s face,
which lurched backward at the impact.

“What took you so long?” Surgeon asked
before he leapt forward in a diving roll aimed at Seth’s ankle. His hand made
purchase and he took Seth’s ankle with him as he completed his dive.

Seth came off his feet and landed on his
face with a thud. Another broken nose—he was pissed now.

“I figured I’d let the old man take a
nap before I attacked. I knew you’d need all your strength.” He was face to
grinning face with Beast as he pushed himself up off the deck into a standing
position.

He was clumsy in a pressure suit and
wished that he could get out of it but that would be impossible right now. He’d
be easy game while fumbling with the suit’s pressure seals. Instead, he threw
his last grenade at Surgeon.

Out of reflex, Surgeon hit the deck
rolling and was surprised when Seth came rushing without regard to the
impending explosion. “Getting sloppy, old man. I didn’t arm it”, Seth exclaimed
as he pounced on Surgeon from behind.

An elbow came up towards Seth’s rib cage
and he decided that he no longer wished to be out of his suit. The suit was
rigid to repel the continuous attacks made by floating space debris one
encountered while in space. Debris the size of a pebble had been clocked at
several hundred kilometers per hour. A thin suit wouldn’t last too long in some
regions of space.

Supersonic pebbles weren’t Seth’s main
concern right now but the suit was holding up quite well to Surgeon’s repeated
blows. In fact, Seth figured that he could sit there and get hit all day and
not even be winded by it. He held his current position, hoping that his
adversary would soon lose steam.

When that avenue seemed to lead nowhere,
Seth decided that it was time to end it. Each boot on a pressure suit was
equipped with magnetic soles for space walking on a ship’s hull. He used both
hands to wrestle one of Surgeon’s to the deck. Seth stepped on Surgeon’s hand
and initiated the magnetic lock. He heard several metacarpals in Surgeon’s left
hand start to creak as the boot adhered to the deck plating without regard for
the flesh and bone pinned beneath it.

Surgeon didn’t even cry out in pain as
he felt his bones being bent to near their breaking point. Instead, he wrote
off his left hand and began to reach for the belt on Seth’s suit to pull him
down to the deck. Seth easily swatted his hand out of the way and drew back his
free foot.

“We can end this now or I can kick you
until you’re unconscious.” Surgeon nodded his agreement to his captor’s terms
and slumped back onto the deck.

Seth tapped his comlink once to open a
channel to anyone still conscious on the ship. “All hands, this is Cadet. I
have captured the bridge, along with Surgeon. I’ll flood the entire ship with choline
succinate gas and paralyze everyone on board unless I receive an unconditional
surrender from all remaining hostile forces.”

A long pause and then a reply came
through the comlink from Ace. “After situation confirmation from Surgeon, we
will comply.”

Surgeon looked up at Seth with respect. “C’mon,
let’s all go have a beer. They’re on me.” And then to Seth, “Now will you get
off my goddamned hand?!”

Seth released the magnetic boot and
helped Surgeon up, who in turn pinched Seth’s broken nose. “You didn’t have to
break my hand. You could have just said ‘please surrender.’ But noooo, you
couldn’t play nice, could you?”

“Let’s get you to sickbay and find out
how everyone else fared.”

With a look towards Beast, Surgeon said,
“So, should I get you a cigarette or do you just want to be held?”

Seth had no idea what Surgeon meant by
that. He also thought it odd how Beast was smiling. He would have been crying
after a hit like that.

Later that same day, Beast asked Surgeon
how he knew about something so secret in Shirka culture. Mating rituals were
never and would never be discussed with outsiders. It would take an extremely
hard and focused hit to produce the effects that Surgeon had. It was not by
accident that he had accomplished what he did.

Surgeon had been a close friend with
Beast’s brother. Beast and his brother had come from the same litter and shared
a special bond that was deeper than usual for Shirka littermates. After his
brother was killed in battle, Beast took his spot on the team. It was Shirka
custom for brothers to finish each other’s missions if one was unable to
complete it himself. And although Beast was not a formal member of the
Coalition military, he had a distinguished record of battle and the general thought
that he would be the best last-minute replacement for the dead soldier.

Surgeon smiled as Beast stood waiting
for an answer. “One night, your brother and I were in a bar on Solis III. Some
human purists were talking shit about your brother. We just ignored them at
first but then they had to go and get physical.” Surgeon paused.

Beast leaned in towards Surgeon with
anticipation. Surgeon continued. “One of the purists threw a beer bottle, which
hit your brother on the head. It didn’t even faze him. He slowly got up and
turned towards the much smaller man.

“That guy must never have seen a Shirka
up close before because his eyes almost popped out of his head when he realized
that he was picking on someone almost three times his size.

“The guy threw a couple of punches at
your brother, which he took in the face without even flinching. The purist
resorted to bar room tactics and kicked your brother square in the crotch as
hard as he could. Nothing, absolutely nothing. No flinch, no wince, no bulging
eyes. I couldn’t believe it.

“Apparently the guy couldn’t either
because he tried again. And again, nothing. I thought that your brother must have
been wearing a protective cup or something. Well, he finally laughed and with a
slight flick of his wrist, he backhanded the stupid purist across the room.

“Of course, the fight didn’t stop there.
His friends decided to come to his aid and your brother and I finished them
off. When it was over, I noticed that we both still had our beers in our hands.
That guy was lucky that your brother had one hand occupied, otherwise you know
what he would’ve done to him.”

“You still haven’t explained how you
know about…” Beast paused and looked around to make sure that no one was
listening. “About how to stimulate our sexual organs.”

“Well,” Surgeon said with a sheepish
grin, “I was pretty drunk at the time. So when we finished the bar fight, we
turned to each other for a toast. Like I said before, I figured your brother
was wearing a protective cup or something. So as a joke, I reared back and
kicked him with all my might right in his balls. Of course, you don’t have
balls but I didn’t know that at the time.

“He went down fast and I couldn’t
understand it. I thought maybe that other guy was so drunk that he wasn’t
kicking as hard as I thought he was. Or maybe that I could kick harder than I
thought I could.

“I knelt down by your brother and he was
moaning. I thought that I had really hurt him. Then I saw him grinning from ear
to ear. Shirka pain maybe? No, I had seen that before but never this. Never had
I seen a Shirka smile so broadly or deeply. He was REALLY enjoying himself.

“He looked up and grabbed me by the neck
and told me to get him back to his quarters immediately. I did and there he
explained to me what I had done.

“By accident, I had hit his pleasure
center. And now that I know where it is, I never hesitate to use it when I have
to.”

Beast looked at Surgeon for a minute and
then allowed a small grin to play across his face. “It was the best sex I’ve
had in a while.” Surgeon collapsed on the floor with uncontrollable laughter.
That was the best joke from a Shirka he ever heard.

“I assume that my brother told you of
our customs and secrecy surrounding our rituals.” Beast stopped grinning.

“Of course. And don’t worry, I may use
that little technique but I would never tell anyone about it. I swear.”
Surgeon’s laughter had stopped and was now replaced with a look of utter
sincerity and respect.

“Thank you”, Beast replied before
rejoining the party and celebrating their victory.

Meanwhile, Seth was asked to recount the
tale of how he took over the starship, not to mention the war game story.
Midway through telling the tale of his most recent victory, the general walked,
no, floated into the mess hall. For a man of his size, grace just wasn’t a
fitting description but no other word could describe how he always seemed to
get where he was going without even moving or making an effort to get there.