Read Grendel Unit 2: Ignition Sequence Online
Authors: Bernard Schaffer
Grendel Unit 2: Ignition Sequence (11 page)
Hill pulled his way across the cockpit until he was close enough to Frank to put his hand on the man's arm and
said, "Not too long ago, I heard you talk about a captain you respected because no matter what, he would find a way to win. Do you remember that? A captain worth fighting for. A captain worth dying for. Remember?"
Frank nodded.
"I listened to that because I knew if I was ever going to lead Grendel, I needed to be that kind of man. That kind of leader. Well, here it is, Lieutenant. I'm not letting that bastard Yultorot win. The two of you are going to find him and make him pay. Is that clear? You will make him pay, and we will win. All of us. Because no matter what it takes, this team refuses to ever surrender!"
Frank felt his eyes stinging with tears as he nodded and said, "Roger that, sir."
Hill pointed at Buehl and said, "Now get out of my chair and hurry down to the cargo hold. We don't have much time."
Frank watched the captain flip upside down to slide himself into the pilot's seat and activate the emergency restraints. Hill grabbed the controls with both hands and said, "I'm setting a course for your little planet, Bob. I hope whatever is living down there doesn't mind unexpected
visitors." Hill looked up into the mirror and said, "Well? What are you two waiting for? Get going."
"
Good luck, captain," Frank said quietly. Both he and Buehl stood there silently, looking at Hill as he worked the controls.
"I'm going to accelerate toward the planet with the remaining fuel we have. You will both have
a limited jump window. I'm diverting all the ship's remaining systems to the engines and life support. I'm going to do my best, boys, but it's going to be by the skin of your necks. Make it count!" Hill said.
Frank
tapped Buehl on the arm and waved for him to follow down the corridor. They were quiet as they navigated the floating field of clipboards and data discs as they crossed the corridor, making their way toward the cargo hold. Frank grabbed his gear bag out of the rack and yanked, freeing the straps from the dozens of other gear that had come loose and was now pinning the bag to the wall. He pulled it close and pushed himself with both feet from the shelving unit, floating through the void like a man pushing off of the edge of a pool, aiming for the incredibly small doorway at the opposite side.
The ship was eerily silent, save for the metallic ding of a dozen loose items bouncing off of the walls and windows.
Buehl grabbed the lip of the door with the tips of his fingers and pulled, forcing the door to open. They swam up to the door blocking the cargo hold, each of them with a strap from Frank's gear bag in their hands, using it to stay together. Frank opened the bag and pulled out the first tightly bundled suit and handed it to Buehl, silently telling him to put it on. The air was too thin to properly breathe, let alone speak, and they wouldn't have comms until they fastened their helmets to their suits. Buehl undid the bundle and quickly crawled inside the loose black suit, sticking his arms and legs through it and zipping it all the way up to his neck. He gave Frank the thumbs up and Frank did the same, and the moment he dropped the helmet down over his face and sealed it, he heard the familiar buzz of radio transmissions. It was Captain Hill, saying,
"Mayday, mayday, broadcasting on all Unification channels. We are going down. Two survivors will be launched from these coordinates. Send rescue immediately, I repeat, send rescue immediately."
Frank touched the side of his helmet and said, "Captain, we're suited up."
There was a slight pause, but then Hill said,
"We're approaching the planet's atmosphere. Prepare to launch."
Frank
and Buehl both buckled their gear bags to their harnesses and clutched the door's frame, waiting nervously for it to open. "Units are in position, captain," Frank said.
"Good luck, gentlemen,"
Hill said over the comm.
"Hey," Frank said quickly, looking up at Buehl as he clung to the cargo doors. Buehl nodded, and Frank took a deep breath. "I just wanted you to know, you made me proud to be a Grendel today.
Me and Bob both." Frank felt his eyes burning and said, "You meet us down on the planet, whatever it takes, all right?"
"Hooah,"
Hill said into the comm.
The
door flew open and both of them were sucked into the cargo bay, bouncing against the floor before they were coughed into space, spinning in the air as they tumbled toward the bright blue planet beneath them. The planet's gravitational pull was so strong, Frank worried his helmet might tear off. In that moment of panic, Hill's voice came through, clear and confident, saying,
"Control to jump units, you should be entering the upper atmosphere now. The bright blue blur you've been seeing now has some color to it, I imagine."
Frank looked down and saw that he could make out c
ontinents and mountain ridges below, and it was like the entire planet was hurtling toward them. "Roger that," Frank said, forcing the words out of his mouth. "We are on course for chute deployment in three seconds."
"Good,"
Hill said.
"Remember what I said. You find that bastard and make this count."
"
I promise," Frank said, raising his head into the merciless wind just in time to see the bright streak of light across the sky as the ship burst into flames, trailing long funnels of black smoke. There was a bright flash in the sky like a meteor and the explosion rippled through Frank's suit like a shockwave, sending him spinning end over end, with the comm channel in his helmet blaring nothing but static.
There was a loud pop
and he was jerked upwards so hard that he thought his shoulders might dislocate, but then he was covered a large shadow from his parachute deploying and his decent became a long, slow glide down through the sky. Pieces of the old ship burned to cinders upon entering the atmosphere, falling like a thousand small comets.
The ancients of Earth would have called the debris shooting stars, but these are not stars,
Frank thought.
Just the flaming embers of a ruined ship and a brave man's body.
Frank saw whole fields of trees emerge beneath him, their tops swaying slightly in the planet's light breeze.
It was a vibrantly-colored place, filled with sweeping hills and meadows. There was a wheat field ahead of them, and Frank pointed at it to show Buehl that was where they should land. Both men pulled their chute's straps to the right, gliding gently toward the site.
The
ir backpacks released small jets of compressed air to slow them, easing them down onto the long, rolling waves of green grass that sparkled in the sunlight. Frank unfastened his harness and pulled off his helmet, then mopped the sweat from his face. Neither he nor Buehl spoke as both of them numbly went through the routine procedure of opening their gear bags and setting up emergency beacons, small boxes with a long antenna that would broadcast a distress call and their location. Buehl looked up at the sky and took a deep breath, glad to be on the ground and able to breathe clean air, despite everything that had happened. "How long do you think before someone finds us?" he said.
"Not long," Frank said. "When General Milner finds out his son has been killed, it won't take him very long to find us at all."
The Grendel Unit Series Continues
Grendel Unit 1: Bad Day at Khor-wa
Grendel Unit 2: Ignition Sequence
Grendel Unit 3: Fight the Power
Grendel Unit 4: Any Means Necessary (COMING SOON)
Also read: Grendel Unit
and Far From Home: Sun Hammer 2 (Suicide Planet)
Bernard Schaffer is the author of multiple books that span a wide variety of genres, including modern American literature, police procedurals, and science fiction westerns. He has worked on several projects with famous authors such as Harlan Ellison, Alan Dean Foster, and Bill Thompson (the editor who discovered Stephen King and John Grisham). In 2011, Schaffer founded KAS, a select group of independent authors that donates proceeds to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.
Recently, he collaborated with J.A. Konrath on two books that feature Konrath's best-selling Lt. Jack Daniels characters, and ones from Schaffer's own Superbia series.
Aside from writing, Schaffer is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area and the proud father of two children. He is a decorated police detective and expert in narcotics distribution.
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