Out of the Black (Odyssey One, Book 4) (3 page)

“SIR! WE’VE GOT reports across the entire city, those things are everywhere!”

Brigadier Potts growled. “Tell me something I don’t know.”

The over-excited lieutenant had the decency to look abashed at his outburst, which did unfortunately little for Potts’ mood. He had alien invaders all over the city and the fact that he’d actually had twenty-four hours’ notice pissed him off even more.

They’d had time to set up an emergency command post, using the old
Intrepid
aircraft carrier that had been parked on the coast of Manhattan Island for over a century. It seemed like a decent enough place to set up, given that they needed a central location that could be defended. It was an old hulk, nearly two centuries old, but it had been kept up and they had room to spare.

As far as military armor went, the
Intrepid
was an antique, but what an antique.

“Sir!”

“What is it, Sergeant?” Potts glanced to where his Command Master Sergeant had appeared.

“Final reports from spotters, sir.”

“And?”

“One hundred eighty-three targets, in city.”

The general grimaced, but nodded. “Thank you, Sergeant.”

“Yes sir. Sir?”

“What is it?”

“We’ve got field reports from the crash sites splashed by the
Odyssey
,” Command Master Sergeant Rigand told him. “Looks like they saved us at least a hundred other bogeys before they went down.”

“And probably tore up more of the damned city than the friggin’ aliens have in the process,” Potts snarled, and then forcibly relaxed. “Any signs of survivors from the ship, Sergeant?”

“No sir, but I put in a note on the boards and got a reply from CONCOM. Word is that they abandoned ship before the
Odyssey
hit the sky, sir.”

“Abandoned ship? Someone was running those guns.”

“Yes sir. Captain Weston went down with her.”

Potts sighed, shaking his head. “Damn shame. He was a good man in the war. I fought under more than one sky he made friendly.”

“Yes sir.”

“Alright, we don’t have time to worry about what we’ve lost. From what intel says about these things, if we slip off the ball, we’ll lose everything. If we can’t clear them out of the city, I’m authorized to call in a tactical hit. Let’s not make that my only option, right, Sergeant?”

The Command Master Sergeant paled slightly, but nodded fervently. He’d seen a lot of shit in his time in uniform,
but he’d never seen an American officer . . . or a Confederate one . . . call in a nuclear strike on any city, let alone one on the home continent, and he wasn’t about to see it happen now.

“We’ll wipe those fuckers out, sir. Guaranteed.”

“See that you do, Sergeant. To the last,” Potts said simply. “To the very last.”

NACS
ODYSSEY
, COMMAND HABITAT

ERIC OPENED HIS eyes in the dark and licked his lips as he lay against the floor of the inner section of the habitat.

Well, at least I’m not walking on the ceiling anymore
.

The last thing he wanted to do was to move even a quarter of an inch. But as pleasant as lying there in the dark sounded at the moment, Eric sucked it up and rolled over to his knees. Getting to his feet this time was easier, but still sucked. He paused and leaned against the wall, willing the habitat to stop rotating around him while trying to ignore the sheer irony of that thought.

Should be a security station just over here somewhere
. . .

He felt himself along the wall, making his way back up the curve of the habitat. The security locker wasn’t hard to find. It was the double reinforced door with a lockout that wasn’t working because the power was out. Eric popped the door access panel and confirmed quickly that it was indeed dead as the proverbial doornail.

He pulled his suit power and wired it into the door long enough to get the computer to reboot so he could put in the code. It only took him three times to hit the right numbers,
which Eric figured wasn’t bad given that he was seeing triple at the moment.

Have to remember to hit the middle one
.

The door hissed open and he lurched in, trying to walk at an angle without stumbling like he was drunk.

It was all worthwhile, however, when his hands touched something familiar.

Hello, beautiful
.

CENTRAL PARK

I SHOULD HAVE stayed on the street! At least there was decent cover there
.

Her service piece was long since empty and Lyssa didn’t even have a single dropped target to her name, but she sure as shit had a few pissed off ones. She chalked those up in the win column, since if they were chasing her they weren’t chasing anyone else, but it was a weak claim of victory.

She was winded, tired, and her strength was flagging, but she kept pumping her legs and ran toward Central Park West. Luckily, she supposed, she had one hell of a path to follow. The big ass cylinder that fell out of the sky had wiped out a few acres of trees, giving her room to run with some cover when she needed it.

She broke out of said cover, however, and into the street, somewhat to her surprise. The area was strewn with rubble, a few shattered cars, and almost completely gridlocked, but there was something very good to see as well. Lyssa bolted with one last burst of speed and ducked behind the NYPD SWAT vehicle, collapsing to her knees under cover as a familiar figure grinned down at her.