The Colony (2 page)

“
Just double check the calculations. We may not be able to see, but we should be fine once we hit soil.” Jack replied, resting either knowing they would land in one piece.

“
Yes sir.” Avery replied, tuning to review his calculations of the colony's beacon.

“What are you talking about? Didn't you guys verify working equipment?” Bailey asked.

“
Yes...of course. They were coming in loud and clear.” Chandra replied.

“
How can that be? Their com system dropped just like that? And you are still picking up their beacon?”

“
Yes sir. It's coming in crystal clear. Looks like they are planning to drop within feet of the colony's beacon.” she replied, turning to verify her statement once more using a set of blue-screened computers.

“
Alright,” Bailey said, looking through the hardened glass which lay out in front of the pilot's chair, exposing a swirled-blue planet below them. “Just keep your ears glued to the com. Lieutenant Strong knows how to take care of himself. We'll wait it out, for now.”

“
Yes sir.”

“Alright men, listen up.” Jack said, their chopper having finally touched down on the drenched soil of Tanilia Moon.

“
You'll have to speak up, we can't hear you over this fucking rain that we're about to march in.” Bronson said loudly.

“
Yea, I hear you,” Jack replied with a bit of a grin. “We're all going to get a bit wet, it's why we make the big bucks,” he added, bringing a chuckle throughout the group. “Bronson, you take Twiggy and Avery, head straight for the beacon to have a look see. We'll prep the chopper for an emergency lift, just in case, then we'll catch up to you.”

“
You got it boss.” Bronson replied, relishing in the role of calling the shots. Even if it was temporarily, and two a group of merely three.

“
Renaldo, you get on the com and try to touch base with our people in orbit one more time. Wesley and I will reset the systems for takeoff.”

“
Yes sir,” Renaldo said. “But I'm not sure it will do a lot of good in this atmosphere.”

“
It won't,” Bronson commented, the reinforced rear hatch of their chopper opening slowly to expose the thickest rain any of them had ever seen. “But fuck it.”

Two tears in a bucket.
Jack thought, nodding to the three men who were departing into a mess of falling water.

Two tears in a bucket. A saying that had stuck with the man since the first Sky War. It had been coined by his XO, Lieutenant Masterson, and had carried them through some of the toughest of times. Times when friends were falling around him to their deaths, almost as quickly as the rain fell on this very day.

Whenever his unit had been up against it during that first war, his XO had pushed them through it with the same phrase.

Nobody knew what it actually meant, and most questioned if Lieutenant Masterson himself actually knew. Still, the catchy words strung together was often times enough, and had forever been etched into the mind of Jack Strong.

Sealing the hatch once more, Jack turned to the remainder of his group. Renaldo and Wesley.

“
Nothing doing sir.” Renaldo said, still unable to gain a clear link with their ship in orbit.

“
Alright,” Jack replied with a nod. “Record a message to let them know we were unable to make contact because of the rain, then put it on loop. That way, if we get hung up for some reason, they won't come in here guns blazing,” he added, turning to watch the rainfall hammer down through the shatterproof windshield of their chopper. “Cause it's looking pretty damn calm to me.”

“
You got it boss.” Renaldo replied.

“
Wesley, grab the must have supplies. A few rations, a bit of extra ammunition,” he said, turning back to Renaldo. “And you may want to fetch a thermal scope so we can see in this shit.”

“
Already got one attached.” the proud sniper commented with a smile.

“
Way to be one step ahead,” Jack replied, his confidence in the soldier verified. “We move out in five.”

-

“I got nothing on thermal.” Renaldo said, his oversized rain suit of solid green seeming to engulf nearly half of the length of the sniper rifle which he pressed his eye to.

“
Alright, keep moving up,” Jack said, motioning Wesley to the front. “I'll be right behind you. Renaldo, cover our six.”

“
You got it boss.” the sniper replied, turning to use his thermal on their backside.

“
Up ahead. I can see a large door.” Wesley said, his two machetes strapped down to his thighs as he held a semi-automatic rifle in hand.

“
That's the spot. Should be where our beacon is, along with the rest of the team,” Jack said, rain showering down around them in the deserted gravel lot of the colony. “Let's check on these people, tell them to answer their damn radio and then get the hell out of here.”

“
There's no power.” Wesley said, the group reaching the large door, which was nearly nine-feet in height.

“
What?” Jack replied.

“
I mean on the door. There's no power. I got the Earth Defense override code right here, but without power I can't punch the damn thing in.” Wesley replied, his voice barely able to penetrate the thundering sound of rainfall.

“
Ah shit,” Jack replied, just as tired of the falling water as those in his group. “Try knocking, but do it loudly. Let them know you're an Earth Defense soldier.”

Rather than reply, Wesley began to hammer the flesh of his fist into the thick steel of the door, casting a deep and throaty echo for several hundred yards.

“Got something!” Renaldo said, kneeling as he began to watch the thermal scope with intensity.

“
What is it?” Jack asked.

“
I dunno LT, but it was moving quickly.”

“
Bronson's group?”

“
No. I only saw one heat signature, and it was hauling ass.”

“
Keep your eye to the scope,” Jack said, turning to Wesley, who continued his loud knock onto the door.

“
This is Lieutenant Jack Strong of the Earth Defense Marine Core. I am hereby instructing you to open the door, otherwise we'll have no choice but to cut through it.”

Several latches began to unbolt, each of them done so with caution by someone on the building's interior.

“I guess I should have threatened them with a cutting torch that we don't have.” Wesley commented, smiling at his XO.

“
Just ready your rifle and make sure it stays that way, at least until we find out what in the hell is going on.” Jack replied, prompting the soldier to shoulder his rifle at the ready.

“
Identify yourself!” Renaldo yelled, trying to keep the heat signature in his scope.

Both Jack and Wesley turned, realized their sniper had indeed seen something caution-worthy. But, moments after, the steel door began to creak open.

“Get inside.” Jack ordered, both of the soldiers under his command doing just that.

A frightened man backed away just a bit, noticeably malnourished.

“
I'm sorry,” Jack said, slowly pushing the rifle of Wesley away from the man's face. “We're Earth Defense Marines.”

“
You...you shouldn't be here.” the strange man replied in a shaky voice.

“
Again, we're Earth Defense Marines. Your colony hasn't answered any communication for at least two weeks. It's standard procedure to deploy a group of marines to check on you, and, well, we're that group.” Jack said, looking around the room, seeming nothing more than a dusty warehouse.

“
Where is everyone else?” Wesley asked, lowering his rifle, though hesitant at first.

“
Dead, mostly. A few of us were able to fall back here and hold position. But going outside of that door is suicide.” the man answered.

“
Dead?” Jacked asked, offering his full attention.

“
That's right. It's all on record, but you need to come this way. Quickly.”

“
You statement sounds military?” Jack asked.

“
I'm a retired general,” the man admitted. “Please, this way.” he added, leading the three soldiers to the rear of the building.

“
Anything on thermal?” Jack asked.

“
No, steel is too thick.” Renaldo replied.

“
Stop,” Jack said, halting everyone. “Listen, I've got men outside those doors and I've got no intention of leaving them. So you're either going to wait here and answer my questions general, or we're all going to take a trip back out into the rain to look for them.”

“
You can drop the general son, I'm not enlisted anymore. And I've got people too, hidden in the floor at the rear of this building and scared shitless. Most of them women and children. While I understand and respect the concern for your people, you'd be wise to give me the same. Otherwise, we're going to have a problem.” The general said bluntly.

“
Children?” Jack asked.

“
Please,” the general said, pausing as if to ask for compassion. “This way.”

“
You two stay on this door. Anything comes in not wearing our uniform,” Jack said, turning to look at both of his men. “You know what to do.”

“
You got it boss.” Renaldo said, reinforcing his statement by a bolt-action slide of ammunition to the ready.

Though a single building, it was indeed large. Meant as the central part of the colony, a government building, which doubled as a fallout shelter. No windows, and a single entrance.

“
I need to know why most of the colonists are dead. And I need you to carefully think through your words before answering, as I'm forced by Earth Defense code to report your answer directly back to my superiors.” Jack said.

“
Your superiors are of no concern to me,” the general replied with hesitation. “The real judge, jury and executioners are beyond that door.”

“
Who?” Jack asked, stopping the general for a moment with the strong grip of his hand.

Offering no reply, the general instead broke free of the grasp, lowering himself enough to begin lifting a large grating of steel. A portion of the floor, exposing ten survivors.

“Dear God.” Jack said, his emotions staggered as he caught sight of nine children, none over the age of seven. Each of them sitting in the small hole with a civilian woman.

“
This is all that remains lieutenant,” the general said, turning as he stood up once more. And the answer to your question is demons.”

“
Demons?” he asked with a puzzled voice.

Before a reply could follow, however, gunshots began to crack loudly in the background.

“Report!” Jack yelled, turning to hustle back to the entrance.

“
Earth Defense weaponry, but not ours. Bronson's group maybe?” Renaldo said.

“
Open it!” Jack demanded.

“
Lieutenant, wait,” the general pleaded, doing his best to catch up to the soldier in wait. “If the demons are outside, opening the door will seal all of our fates.”

Taking a moment to consider the pleas of a retired general, Jack began to think of his men in the rain. Gunshots firing wildly outside of the thick plating of the door.

“Open it.” he finally ordered, grabbing a small shotgun from his back and readying it with a single hand which held the weapon by the fore-end.

And with Renaldo laying prone, his scope to the door and rifle at the ready, Wesley slowly began to pull the door open.

Startling them all, Bronson nearly dove in, his body covered in a grimy mixture of blood and rain-drenched soil.

Twiggy staggered in as well, beginning to shut the door on his own. Or at least offer an attempt.

“Shut the door,” Bronson yelled, moving in to help his shell-shocked friend. “Shut the fucking door!”

“
Wait, Avery.” Jack said, starting to intervene.

“
He's fucking gone...in pieces!” Bronson yelled, never slighting on his attempt to seal the entrance. “Now somebody help me get this door shut!” he added, trembling hands working hard against the steel locking mechanism.

With the immediate help of both the general and Lieutenant Jack Strong, steel connected once more, forcing the horrors of the damning rain to remain outside.

“Oh fuck.” Twiggy commented, sliding down to a sitting position.

“
Someone is going to start telling me what the fuck is going on!” Jack said, pulling his shotgun back to the ready while adjusting his aim to the general.