Lokians 1: Beyond the End of the World (14 page)

“
Can we send an air strike team to blow
them away,” O’Hara asked.

“
Unlikely, whatever’s down there might
be destroyed or damaged, not to mention Lokians are clever; they
may be tunneling beneath the surface in order to hide their
signatures, or, perhaps, they’ve already acquired new tech to mask
their signatures,” she commented.

The ambassador walked away and spoke to the
admiral in private. A Thewlish conversation ensued. Nandesrikahl
tried to listen again; his concentration was evident, but
Ambassador Weh suddenly addressed the bridge.

“
Thewls, steel yourselves. Today we
battle the Lokians once more. We will disembark from the Carrier
and make our way to Marduk. We will land where the Lokians have
landed. It is probable that we will find suitable information to
help us along our journey, and so we must be successful. The
admiral will keep the Carrier in orbit and see that no more Lokians
arrive. We will disembark,” Weh announced.

With that, the helmsman gurgled for
clearance, and Admiral Yew turned his attention to O’Hara. “Will
you join the fray, Captain? I’ll send a strike force to search for
a sign of the travelers. Your assistance is welcome. This also
provides your crew an opportunity to learn about the enemy
firsthand.”

The captain looked at his crew. Determination
and excitement was plastered all over their faces, but he thought
about battle. None of them had ever fought, not for their lives,
and to fight aliens for their debut adventure was out of this
world. He glanced at the agents, too, but they had poker faces.

“
Of course, Sir. It’s our duty,” the
captain replied. “Anything we need to know before we join the
strike force?”

“
Korit will be the party leader. He’ll
provide any information once you all return to the Explorer,”
Admiral Yew replied.

The Human crew saluted the alien admiral. Out
of respect, he reciprocated the gesture. Then, they followed
Ambassador Weh out of the bridge, and filed into the elevators,
where looks of concern were partially masked by excitement.

Arriving on the Explorer’s quarters deck, the
Human crew met the Thewlian strike force. The largest Thewl any of
them had seen yet stepped forward.

“
Captain,” he asked.

“
Yes. I’m O’Hara.”

“
I am called Korit,” the Thewl spoke
with a deep, guttural voice.

“
Good. What do we need to
know?”

Before answering, Korit turned and walked
away. He motioned for the captain to follow with an all too Human
gesture; he half turned and moved his head. The Human crew quickly
jogged behind. Korit then came to a halt in front of a room.

“
Before you suit up, what you need to
know is the Lokians are almost never the same. What I mean is, they
constantly evolve and switch tactics. They have a super dense
exoskeleton, but our energy based weaponry usually cuts through.
Also, they aren’t affected by the environment, meaning they don’t
require air or pressure. Somehow, they regulate it all internally
via artificial organs. They are devastating and
fascinating.”

O’Hara nodded and turned to his crew, saying,
“Suit up, gang.”

****

Thewls wasted no time releasing from the
Carrier. Dozens of fighters—angular ships with stubby wings mounted
to cylindrical tubes, which revolved around the vessel—flew off
into space to set up defenses in the event of a Lokian, space
strike. Additional fighters accompanied the Explorer to Marduk for
backup.

There, ships pierced the delicate remnants of
an atmosphere. Marduk was a dark, desolate place covered in ice.
Hard winds thick with sleet and snow blew furiously. Several holes
in the surface were visible to the Explorer’s navigator.

****

Meanwhile, the Human crew and Thewlian strike
force suited up. Adams and Franklin decided to join the fray. While
the spec ops team wore their issued, battle attire, the two agents
wore something totally different. Adams and Franklin were decked
out in skintight neoprene. Their black suits were strapped with
belts and harnesses. O’Hara didn’t see any firearms.

“
What the Hell is that?” he
jeered.

“
Our gear, Captain,” they replied in
unison.

“
Listen, I can’t be babysitting you
two. You should stay behind,” O’Hara snipped.

“
Not a chance, Captain,” Franklin
retorted.

“
We can handle ourselves. This isn’t
our first ro-de-oh,” Adams added with an eerie laugh.

They then looked to each other and whispered
something before grinning at the captain. O’Hara was pensive, but
the agents proceeded to the loading zone. Once Phoenix Crew was
fully prepped, they also made their way. Arriving just behind the
agents, they exchanged pleasantries with the other members of
Korit’s crew. Everyone waited impatiently for the green light.

“
There’s only one way to do this, we
have to land on the surface, and use their tunnels,” the red giant
explained.

The bay door slowly rose to a half open
position. As a result, a violent flurry of snow pelted the
crewmembers. Some of the Humans ducked to stick their heads out.
All they saw was a blanket of white.

“
We can’t see anything here that even
resembles buildings. They must have been buried by the ice,”
Fitzpatrick yelled.

“
They’re beneath the surface, honey,”
Becker snipped.

Even fully suited and speaking through their
comm. units, yelling was required over the raging storm. Sleet
peppered their visors as the Explorer hovered over the area pock
marked with holes. Martinez called everyone together for a last
minute inspection of their gear.

“
I’d check your gear, too, but I don’t
know what the Hell to look for,” he joked with the
Thewls.

Their equipment wasn’t vastly different from
Human gear. Due to their thick, membranous skin they were naturally
insulated and resistant to a variety of environmental hazards, yet
the frigid temperatures were too much for skin alone, so they wore
black suits fashioned from an Element-115 alloy mesh; a few plates
protecting their vitals reflected the loading zones lighting.

****

On the bridge, Thewls scanned the drop zone.
Only moments passed before they detected the safest, entry point.
The artificial shaft was close to a mile long. Oddly enough, it was
growing in length. Though scanners still didn’t detect life signs,
it was evident that whatever was creating the tunnel was twelve
feet across and had the ability to cut through dense ice and rock
at a rate of one foot every twenty seconds. After deciding it was
unsafe to send a clustered crew down a single tunnel, they opted
for a variety of entry points.

****

During the selection process, the Humans were
provided a rundown of weapons technology.

“
Most of what we use boils down to
condensed gasses and sound frequencies. Our weapons reflect this as
well. Sidearms are similar to your handguns, but much wider due to
the length of our fingers, and they don’t shoot bullets,” one Thewl
explained as she held up her gun. The end of the barrel looked like
a steel claw with four points facing each other, at the center was
a small protuberance. “A gas canister is placed in the rear of the
barrel and activated by the trigger. This action releases a current
of electricity into the canister, ionizing the compound, and
quickly releasing a small portion of ions at an incredible rate of
speed.”

Others carried rifles similar in design to
the sidearms. A safe assumption was that they boasted greater
accuracy, fired more rapidly, or fired for a longer duration before
needing to exchange a canister.

“
Some of us use sound emitting guns
called
bostas
,” Korit added. “They look like metal boxes
with handles and rods sticking out of the front. The rods conduct
electricity like a bolt of lightning and project forward something
like thunder. A wire mesh binds the rods and keeps the sound from
backfiring, but they’re mainly close range weapons. No sense
bringing them along.”

As the largest of the Thewls, Korit carried
the largest of the weapons.

“
What the fuck are you carryin’,”
Martinez asked.

“
Miniaturized version of the plasma
cannons on ships.”

“
God damn….”

The thing was shiny black and roughly the
size of an old, helicopter mounted, fifty cal. Korit handed it to
Marty, who was shocked by its weight. It was surprisingly light, a
result of the Element-115, alloy structure. On top of that, it was
connected via some corrugated tubes to a pack on the alien’s back,
which contained gas, bypassing a need for bulky canisters.

A voice erupted into everyone’s ear,
“Lam-Yung, here, Junior Strategist…we spoke on the bridge. I
located the best point of entry. You’ll need to split up. I also
located a few other points of entry, so you won’t have to move
clustered together. Be ready to disembark.”

The ship pulled close to the first hole,
hovered above it then fully opened its hatch, allowing the crew a
safe drop. Four crews of five men and women, Thewl, and Human, were
arranged by Korit. He mentioned it was only twenty feet straight
down before the angle of descent stabilized.

Apparently, twenty feet wasn’t much for a
Thewl, but it was a big drop for a Human, so the crew tied off to
some hydraulic beams and repelled using jump cord. The procedure
was repeated at the other three holes, where Adams and Franklin,
who had joined another mixed team, simply leapt, no cord or
anything.

As soon as O’Hara hit the ground, he cut his
cord and inspected his team. Nandesrikahl, Martinez, and two
Thewls, a man, Jun, and a woman, Sura, made up their squad of five.
Immediately, they flicked on their gun lights and hurriedly made
their way down the icy tunnel.

Jun made some gurgling sounds then more were
heard coming through their comm. units. “This trip should only take
about ten minutes then we’ll be coming up behind whatever’s making
this tunnel.”

“
A Lokian,” Sura remarked.

“
What? A fuckin’ drill bug,” Marty
clamored. “Hey, if we take it out, how do we keep goin’ forward? I
mean, this thing is tunnelin’ towards somethin’, ya’
heard?”

“
Good question,” O’Hara replied. “What
do we do after we kill it?”

“
We have our own tunneling instruments
aboard the ship. We just need to kill this thing,” Jun said. “Once
all the Lokians are dead, we can figure a way to reach what they’re
looking for.”

Minutes passed while the crew steadily jogged
downhill. As Jun continued onwards, the captain watched closely how
the alien kept calm. He knew he needed to do the same for his
men.

The dark tunnel revealed little as swaths of
light bounced off frozen crags. Martinez and Nandesrikahl released
gasps of awe. Soon after, a strange vibratory sound grew audible.
The Human crew held their breaths. Thoughts of danger plagued their
minds.

Matters worsened when the whole tunnel shook.
Then, Fitzpatrick insulted Adams over their comms. O’Hara set his
jaw, gulping with anticipation. The ominous blackness beyond the
aliens brought a sense of dread.

He knew everyone else was just as scared, and
wanted to say something motivating, but Jun threw a hand in the
air, indicating they halt. He then signaled to turn off the lights.
Darkness enveloped them, but someone moved forward a bit; boots
clomped over stone, kicking rocks.

Jun whispered to the crew, “Slowly move one
step at a time. As long as we move more than a foot every twenty
seconds, we gain on the tunneler, so there’s no need to rush. I
know it’s dark, but this tunnel’s clear all the way to the
beast.”

“
Roger that,” Martinez
whispered.

Agonizing moments ensued during which the
Humans’ deep breathing sounded over their march. Finally, Jun
spotted something ahead. A large mass emitted sparks from its
front.

Errant lighting caused by the shiny flakes
produced enough illumination to spot the crewmember directly in
front of the next, and a second later, everyone noticed the leader
came to a halt. The churning sound of stone grinding echoed.

Meanwhile, in another hole, Swain, Zakowski,
Imes, and two, Thewl women, Flem and Ton, were progressing through
a similar scenario. In their icy corridor, the team kept their
lights on as they trudged. While the Humans gawked in amazement at
the smooth, crystalline walls, they were too scared to say anything
unnecessary, yet they heard Adams mention a Lokian on the move.

Fortunately for Swain’s crew, an uneventful
trip ensued for the better part of twenty minutes, but before they
reached the end of the line, sounds of battle erupted. Worrying for
their friends, and thanking the powers that be for their safety,
they found an opening into a large, underground chamber. There,
they all perched at the end of the tunnel, gazing out at a small,
abandoned colony.

Humans and Thewls shared glances. While they
waited to hear back from their compatriots, they scrutinized the
architecture. Buildings looked like a plethora of rocky, gray
hills, but smoothed. Oddly, there was light emanating from an
undetected source. Either the light itself was soft blue, or it was
the reflection from the ice, which had taken over a great portion
of everything visible.

“
Where are the Lokians,” Zakowski
whispered.