Xander made his way to his room to grab his stuff. After his near expulsion from the fleet, he was gracious to accept the new post as long as it paid. This mission to investigate a large planet was a routine one for him. Before working under Lieutenant Frog, he was one of the ground crews on the Viator IIs. His mission was to set up base camps along hospitable intersections of resources; eventually commissioned as Head Coordinator of Frontier Base Operations. The title gave him authority over all other ground crews deployed and the ability to requisition resources from the boat. It was a gilded bridle; there was little room for advancement and he wanted to captain a ship like his father before him.
His path into Frog was strange at best. While strip mining a newly discovered system with dozens of rich ice-balls floating around a blue star one of his ground teams had lost contact. They were followed by another and another until they started to drop out by the dozens in the same system. Xander himself decided to drop down to the planet and see for himself what was going on.
Taking his team of T.I.S.T. (Tactical Insertion Shock Troops), he landed on the surface of the closest disappearance and made way for their camp. The bulky suits they wore were designed to insulate the heat and use the body's own perspiration to lubricate it, eventually returning the salty residue back to the host. They also came standard with tracking and navigation systems due to the nature of the words "uncharted planets". Fortunately, they were made to tandem with their vehicles; snowmobiles for this mission.
Xander made an audible click that triggered the communication system. “Split shuttle. By the books now people. Look alive and stay alive, this might not be the last one of these we investigate so pay attention and save us time where we can.” Click. The shuttle took off vertically and headed back to orbit. The dozen troopers ignited their engines and headed off in the prescribed direction.
"Camp 40 miles north; E.T.A. is thirty minutes," The voice of his second in command during the trip buzzed through his communication link. After a few more steps, his voice returned, barely audible: "Freezing my nuts off out here..."
"Thank you, Sergeant. And next time, be sure to click off the com link before you proceed to comment on the weather, over." Xander chuckled to himself, because he felt the same way. But being leader meant that you didn’t seem friendly at every opportunity. Besides, he had set his mind on their direction. The camp was barely visible up ahead, its thermocrete structures glowing a pale blue in the light of the day.
The camp was completely empty, no signs of anyone alive, no signs of anything! Only items left behind were the thermocrete structures. "Alright men, spread out and look for some signs of life." They all started to radiate out from Xander and looked, upturning many of the rocks, some even dug loosely into the snow. Xander decided to sit down for a minute and look around, try to piece things together...
No people, no signs of struggle, no items left behind... this means someone knowingly emptied the camp. But why would the men do it? They were getting paid to just sit here! No, they wouldn’t go trudging off into the wilderness without telling anyone. Losing communication out here could mean death fairly fast. It’s safe to assume they didn’t do this willingly. So something forced them out, what could do that?
Xander looked around again. The camps standard setup procedure called for the camp to be located inside a basin about ten feet deep to keep the wind at a minimum, but there was something about these man-made walls that didn’t add up... They were consistent until there were 2 large gouges in the wall to his right. He started over there and climbed as far as he could up the steep wall, to his surprise the tracks continued in a straight line out into the horizon. It’s almost too close to walk in this weather, but just far enough to call in for a vehicle.
He reached up and flipped up a panel above his shoulder. Turning a few knobs and reversing a few switches he heard the static start to fill his ears. "This is H.C. Xander, respond." The long range transmitted was a little less than state of the art but it got the job done.
"We read you Chief, what do you need?" The junkie who maintained the warehouse on aboard the scout shouted through the static.
"Please call me by my name and rank, understood? Respond."
"Yessir." Xander made a pause to demonstrate his point. "H.C. Xander. Now what is it you need?"
"I need the Arctic Transport Vehicle, and enough fuel for... I'd say about six days."
"That much, H.C.?"
"Better safe than sorry."
"You always did like those antique expressions, H.C. We can have it brought in from the local trade ship for this system. Maybe three days out."
"That will be fine, but I'm uploading our coordinates, have the nearest ship drop us enough supplies to last until the A.T.V. arrives."
"Understood, H.C., supplies inbound and E.T.A. is one hour on those supplies."
"Thank you." He clicked the com link off and closed the panel before they could respond. They would be camping here until the A.T.V. arrived. He didn’t mind much, but there was something in the air that told them something was wrong. Something would go wrong.
* * * * *
Private Jefferson sat on top of one of the thermocrete structures, patiently looking out at the horizon, awaiting an enemy that might never come. The drop ships had given them each their own blankets and food, but that never kept a man warm at these temperatures. He looked around to check if anyone was around to witness him in the act. Satisfied at the silence around him, he pulled his arms back into his suit and felt around for his canteen. He opened the lid and reached it to his mouth. The liquid washed over his tongue and he immediately felt the spasm across his neck and shoulders.
Good old alcohol, just like the ancients used to make. It wasn’t hard to figure out the process, and using modern know-how making it was easier than anyone imagined. He silently whispered to himself, "It's funny how some things never change, how we wish they won’t change and they do, and how when we wish they wouldn’t change and they always do. This stuff has killed more men than smallpox I'd wager but man it keeps you perky at sub-freezing temperatures.”
He squinted off into the distance and saw two minute lights inching its way towards the camp, very slow to him, but then again on this planet he couldn’t relate sizes very well. “What’s this now?" Jeff cycled through all of the different filters to identify this new presence coming towards them. Definitely not Terran, the things were burning classical fuel sources; so difficult to transport that humanity left them back millennia ago. "H.C. Xander! Incoming vehicle of some sort! Did you order backup?"
* * * * *
Xander was awakened by the guard that yelled out to him late in the night. Something about a vehicle, but that was absurd; they weren’t expecting the supplies for another three days. He donned his suit and stepped into the cold. "What is it now, Jefferson?"
"Sir, you gotta see this!"
Xander looked at which direction he was facing, and started to walk over to the crest of the snow wall that would allow him his view. It was so cold, what he wouldn’t do for some of that alcohol ancient text talked of. Enough to clear a frozen artery in a split second they said. Although it has been known that Earth exaggerated heavily, he would like to try himself. He reached the crest of the hill, and found himself staring at the two large gouges in the side of the wall again. He climbed up over one and turned on his magnification.
The vehicle of some sort trundled along, but it was too dark to make out any details, he turned on his thermal imaging and found it emitted large quantities of heat. "There hasn’t been a Terran vehicle powered by combustion in over three millennia! What in the blazes of hell is that?" He could distinctly make out two sets of treads and a large metal box of some sort sitting on top of that.
Xander flicked on his com to all of the suits, he was aware no one except him and Jefferson were wearing theirs, but he spoke a command instead of an order: "Code Stranger!" Immediately, the base was a bustle of commotion as men struggled to get into their suits and subsequently deactivate the alarm. Many met him outside at the treads and witnessed the oncoming vehicle.
"Listen up men; this could very well be what had wiped out the last crew. If it is, I want you all to be ready! Grab your weapons and gear, we will fight them and if we live, we will run before more of them show up. I want all medium and light rifles up front near me, long range and snipers, take positions on top of the thermocrete structures." The men left to get their gun and gear, eventually taking positions where they were told.
When the vehicle finally arrived, they were ready. It was massive! At least ten meters across and at least that tall, it opened forwardly and they got their first glimpse at the people in the vehicle. Night vision showed several dozen hunched over figures clad in some type of armor, more rubber than anything, designed for absorbing shock rather than repelling it. Anatomically, they looked like humans, except for the posture, but their language sounding nothing like a humans. Silent clicks and whistles passes between the ranks, perhaps they were summing them up. Determining how to do the job they were sent to do.
Xander recalled a piece of information from his old training school. They once captured an Aspha Miner ship, it had almost no lighting and the controls seemed to glow. That was the distinct signature of Aspha technology. And what he was looking at right now was just that. These people-no, creatures-were responsible for the ghosting of almost half a thousand men and women, and he was damned if they would claim another one tonight!
One of them barked a command, and several others jumped to obey, they started out of the ship and marched towards the crew. Xander flicked the switch and whispered, "Snipers." Instantly, the front four fell backwards, taken by the blow. The other nine or so stopped in their tracks. "If the big one says anything else, take him down."
But he didn’t say anything, he raised and arm and the creatures started to charge, gaining speed as they did. Xander tried to fire his weapon and kill the thing giving orders, but just as the round got within a foot of the boss, a wave of purple splashed out in all directions from the point of impact. Apparently, it was a one way door, only controllable from the inside, or perhaps outside with clearance. That was not his concern, the horde of angry miners was.
"Open fire!"
Eight other magnetic accelerator guns and four high-velocity magnetic accelerator rifles began to discharge rounds as fast as they were designed to. The rounds from the guns glanced off the thick armor designed to repel large pieces of rock and other pieces of earth. Only the rounds as big and as fast as the ones being emitted from the snipers penetrated the armor, and they were quickly running out of ammo.
"Snipers, aim for the biggest! Others aim for the unguarded spots, lets see what happens then!"
The largest ones continued to fall, and the front lines started to drop dead as Xander and his team poured icy rounds from their guns. But they were too late in figuring out the tricks. The truck that brought them in was apparently built with guns, and fired its forward lasers, liquidating the tops of the thermocrete, and one can only assume the fates of the snipers. The horde of miners continued to gain ground on them, and once in range of hand to hand combat, Xander ordered a retreat.
He drew his gun back and prepared the bash ones face in, but another got up behind him, and knocked him over the back of the head. Colors swirled and nothing seemed to have a definite shape any more. The colors darkened, eventually fading into a single black.
* * * * *
Xander stirred and felt the relative heat wash over his face. What was the source of the heat? He had no idea. He looked around and gathered intelligence on his surroundings. He was in some kind of holding cell; around him were six survivors from the encounter and several others he didn’t recognize. Xander struggled to his feet, his ankles almost buckled under the new weight, but that was quickly forgotten. As far as his eyes could see in this near pitch black, were other humans. Some leaned against walls, some sat against rocks, and others slept.
A siren caught him off guard, and he dropped. Lowering his center of gravity and cutting his height in half. All of a sudden, crackers rained down around him. Looking up he saw the large holes in the ceiling where they dumped the food-like substances. It smelled terrible, but it appeared to be edible. Assuming that if they wanted them dead, they would have killed them all with the truck's guns, it wasn't poisoned. He gathered up about ten wafers and started to chow down. He got as far as the seventh cracker when someone confronted him.
"State your name and rank!"
"Xander, your boss. What’s your name?"
"Colonel Yedi, sir! Sir, are you the H.C. Xander?"
"Yup, and forget ranks, I don’t think they mean much anymore around these freaks."
"Agreed, so, what are you doing in this lovely vacationing spot?"
"Was looking for you, and guess what, I found you! Now, tell me something, how high are those holes there you think?"
Yedi looked up and studied the roof. "Oh, I'd say about twenty, twenty-five feet. Why do you ask?"
"And where are the controls to these gates?"
"Over there." Yedi pointed to a large box with a glowing button, similar to the multitudes he saw in their vehicle the night of his capture.
"Any weapon cache you can locate?"
"Nope."
"Okay, let me think of something, a plan or something. I don’t know. My head is killing me!"
"I'll be over there when you need me." Yedi pointed to a large boulder, waited for a reply, and after receiving a nod, started over there.
"What have you gotten yourself into now, Xander?" His head was splitting at its base and thinking of nothing better to do; he finished his meager meal and started to dream. Of an ancient place where the sun beat down harsh and slaves toiled day in and day out. A few soldiers carrying bronze spears kept the peace. And off on the horizon, was a massive, glorious pyramid, reaching for the sky. Up it seemed to climb, reaching for salvation, for the heavens, for freedom...
He awakened to a large rush of cold that seemed to start at his head and wash over him. Down his body it paralyzed, and afterwards made him feel heavy and uncomfortable. All around him people held out bowls and several yelled at him. He was shocked, confused. Jumping up he saw that he was sitting under the water distributor. He walked away to where Yedi said he would be, no longer thirsty at this point.
"What happened to you, Xander?"
"I uh... had an accident."
"I can see that. You think of something yet?"
"A human pyramid."
"You’re crazy."
"Maybe, but just enough to get us free. Watch this." Xander clamored up to the top of the boulder and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Everyone! If you want freedom, listen to me!" Many of them had been in here for weeks, so of course, at the offering of freedom, they leapt to obey. "I need you all to get me up to that hole in the ceiling." Several laughed at this point, others talked amongst them about how crazy he was. "We are gonna make a human pyramid!"
"That’s crazy!" One person announced, "You want us to get you up there?"
"There are over five-hundred people in this room; a few dozen feet shouldn’t stop us!" People’s expression seemed to lighten as he brought this to their attention. "Ok, I’m gonna go stand in the middle, people lift me up, then someone lift them up, and so on until I'm up there!" He ran out into the middle just underneath the large hole.
He was suddenly uplifted by four men. He shook uneasy but maintained his balance. He took another lurch up, as the men holding him were now being carried by nine men. Speaking words of encouragement, the next level of sixteen men appeared. "One more layer, guys!" And sure enough, the next level of twenty-five appeared. But the structure started to buckle, the humans started to get weak and tired. "Help us!" Just when it seemed about to fall, the rest of the people gathered around them and started to throw themselves into the center of the thing and added support. Some even climbed up into the thing to give their aid. Once everyone crammed into the thing, he lurched up another two levels; it was a thing of beauty from his view. "Wow, when we work together, look at what we are capable of..." All that was left to him was a few steps towards the edge of the ground, the ex-roof to him.
He maneuvered around the rocks and found his way down the slopes. They were very jagged, as if hastily carved from rock. But he avoided any real damage and sought out the control to the large iron gate. A few minutes of quick snooping and he found the panel. Years of digging holes had reduced the Aspha ingenuity to that of a mole. They were so sure of their structure that they didn’t even place any guards. But they didn’t count on Terran ingenuity. The stuff that has caused the destruction or enslavement of almost every system they came in contact with. He found the button and instantly ran into a force field.
"Just great... I get out and prepare to spring my men, and this happens!" He sat down and just as he did, the sounds of footsteps came from around the corner. Xander quickly hid behind a large rock. The Miner came around the corner and passed through the force field. He hit one of the smaller buttons and a large bucket maneuvered itself over the hole, pouring out more crackers. Satisfied that his job was done, the miner pulled out a small bag of something and raised it to his mouth. He crawled into a sitting position in the corner, breathed in a bit, and then passed out. "Perfect, indeed!"
Xander grabbed the largest rock he could carry and dragged it over to the miner. He brought it up and crushed his enemy's head in. Satisfied with the squish it made, similar to smashing a watermelon against the ground. He removed the rock from the alien's face and picked up the body. Holding it to his chest he started through the wall of energy, and it let him pass through. Slamming his fist down on the button, the gates opened and men poured out. While they started with the commotion he girded himself in his enemy's armor and took his weapon. It was a double headed pick-axe. He slammed one end against the rock but it didn’t break off. He tried several more times to no avail. He then slammed it against the machine that held them all captive and one side broke off with ease. He took the disembodied spike and thrust it into his belt.
Struggling to the front of the mass, he distributed orders to find armor and weapons. Two miners came running up to meet the freed mass...
* * * * *
Frockore was talking to his friend and fellow miner, Schtim. They were assigned to make sure the large drill that stood to his right remained working. And it was an extremely uneventful job. They filled the time with talking of what they would do with their next payment. He was in the middle of talking about getting himself some death gas, a potent drug that was used to create euphoria of sorts, when Schtim's eye caught something. He grabbed his pickaxe and started at a jog in the opposite direction Frockore was facing. Frock had no idea what was happening but didn’t want to be left out of some excitement; he grabbed his pick and started after his friend.
The humans had escaped! And one of them was wearing miner's armor! Schtim brought his pick around to his right, cocking his elbows, prepared to jam the point into the human's side. But just before he could release his energy in the blow, the human brought his axe down with lightning speed. A speed almost unholy! The demon human drew the pick from his friends head. Fearing for his own life, he started back and made for the alarm built into the drill. He was almost there, almost when he felt an immense pain shoot from his chest, he looked down to find out what was wrong with him. He felt a protrusion from his chest. It was a spike of some sort, but that was no longer his concern. Falling to his knees, he looked around the damp dark room, regretting that his life was entirely meaningless to the universe. He left no offspring, no great achievements; no one would remember his name. The human stood before him now, looking him in the eyes. He pushed him back and all the energy that used to be in him failed his muscles now. He fell onto his back and felt the last vestiges of life flee from his ruined corpse.
* * * * *
Xander had Yedi and another one of the captives, a large man gird themselves in the armor. "So, the revolution has begun, we have the element of surprise and the methods to kill. You two wait here and guard the unarmed people while I go and do a little recon."
"Sir. Yes, sir!"
"I suppose ranks do count now, don’t they, Colonel?"
"Hell yes, sir!"
Xander managed a smile, he had an untold number of miners working a big operation on the planet they tried to colonize, and now he was trapped who knows how far below the surface with the things. What was he going to do, how was he going to get himself out of here, much less the rest of his men? This was going to be one hell of a day.
His path into Frog was strange at best. While strip mining a newly discovered system with dozens of rich ice-balls floating around a blue star one of his ground teams had lost contact. They were followed by another and another until they started to drop out by the dozens in the same system. Xander himself decided to drop down to the planet and see for himself what was going on.
Taking his team of T.I.S.T. (Tactical Insertion Shock Troops), he landed on the surface of the closest disappearance and made way for their camp. The bulky suits they wore were designed to insulate the heat and use the body's own perspiration to lubricate it, eventually returning the salty residue back to the host. They also came standard with tracking and navigation systems due to the nature of the words "uncharted planets". Fortunately, they were made to tandem with their vehicles; snowmobiles for this mission.
Xander made an audible click that triggered the communication system. “Split shuttle. By the books now people. Look alive and stay alive, this might not be the last one of these we investigate so pay attention and save us time where we can.” Click. The shuttle took off vertically and headed back to orbit. The dozen troopers ignited their engines and headed off in the prescribed direction.
"Camp 40 miles north; E.T.A. is thirty minutes," The voice of his second in command during the trip buzzed through his communication link. After a few more steps, his voice returned, barely audible: "Freezing my nuts off out here..."
"Thank you, Sergeant. And next time, be sure to click off the com link before you proceed to comment on the weather, over." Xander chuckled to himself, because he felt the same way. But being leader meant that you didn’t seem friendly at every opportunity. Besides, he had set his mind on their direction. The camp was barely visible up ahead, its thermocrete structures glowing a pale blue in the light of the day.
The camp was completely empty, no signs of anyone alive, no signs of anything! Only items left behind were the thermocrete structures. "Alright men, spread out and look for some signs of life." They all started to radiate out from Xander and looked, upturning many of the rocks, some even dug loosely into the snow. Xander decided to sit down for a minute and look around, try to piece things together...
No people, no signs of struggle, no items left behind... this means someone knowingly emptied the camp. But why would the men do it? They were getting paid to just sit here! No, they wouldn’t go trudging off into the wilderness without telling anyone. Losing communication out here could mean death fairly fast. It’s safe to assume they didn’t do this willingly. So something forced them out, what could do that?
Xander looked around again. The camps standard setup procedure called for the camp to be located inside a basin about ten feet deep to keep the wind at a minimum, but there was something about these man-made walls that didn’t add up... They were consistent until there were 2 large gouges in the wall to his right. He started over there and climbed as far as he could up the steep wall, to his surprise the tracks continued in a straight line out into the horizon. It’s almost too close to walk in this weather, but just far enough to call in for a vehicle.
He reached up and flipped up a panel above his shoulder. Turning a few knobs and reversing a few switches he heard the static start to fill his ears. "This is H.C. Xander, respond." The long range transmitted was a little less than state of the art but it got the job done.
"We read you Chief, what do you need?" The junkie who maintained the warehouse on aboard the scout shouted through the static.
"Please call me by my name and rank, understood? Respond."
"Yessir." Xander made a pause to demonstrate his point. "H.C. Xander. Now what is it you need?"
"I need the Arctic Transport Vehicle, and enough fuel for... I'd say about six days."
"That much, H.C.?"
"Better safe than sorry."
"You always did like those antique expressions, H.C. We can have it brought in from the local trade ship for this system. Maybe three days out."
"That will be fine, but I'm uploading our coordinates, have the nearest ship drop us enough supplies to last until the A.T.V. arrives."
"Understood, H.C., supplies inbound and E.T.A. is one hour on those supplies."
"Thank you." He clicked the com link off and closed the panel before they could respond. They would be camping here until the A.T.V. arrived. He didn’t mind much, but there was something in the air that told them something was wrong. Something would go wrong.
* * * * *
Private Jefferson sat on top of one of the thermocrete structures, patiently looking out at the horizon, awaiting an enemy that might never come. The drop ships had given them each their own blankets and food, but that never kept a man warm at these temperatures. He looked around to check if anyone was around to witness him in the act. Satisfied at the silence around him, he pulled his arms back into his suit and felt around for his canteen. He opened the lid and reached it to his mouth. The liquid washed over his tongue and he immediately felt the spasm across his neck and shoulders.
Good old alcohol, just like the ancients used to make. It wasn’t hard to figure out the process, and using modern know-how making it was easier than anyone imagined. He silently whispered to himself, "It's funny how some things never change, how we wish they won’t change and they do, and how when we wish they wouldn’t change and they always do. This stuff has killed more men than smallpox I'd wager but man it keeps you perky at sub-freezing temperatures.”
He squinted off into the distance and saw two minute lights inching its way towards the camp, very slow to him, but then again on this planet he couldn’t relate sizes very well. “What’s this now?" Jeff cycled through all of the different filters to identify this new presence coming towards them. Definitely not Terran, the things were burning classical fuel sources; so difficult to transport that humanity left them back millennia ago. "H.C. Xander! Incoming vehicle of some sort! Did you order backup?"
* * * * *
Xander was awakened by the guard that yelled out to him late in the night. Something about a vehicle, but that was absurd; they weren’t expecting the supplies for another three days. He donned his suit and stepped into the cold. "What is it now, Jefferson?"
"Sir, you gotta see this!"
Xander looked at which direction he was facing, and started to walk over to the crest of the snow wall that would allow him his view. It was so cold, what he wouldn’t do for some of that alcohol ancient text talked of. Enough to clear a frozen artery in a split second they said. Although it has been known that Earth exaggerated heavily, he would like to try himself. He reached the crest of the hill, and found himself staring at the two large gouges in the side of the wall again. He climbed up over one and turned on his magnification.
The vehicle of some sort trundled along, but it was too dark to make out any details, he turned on his thermal imaging and found it emitted large quantities of heat. "There hasn’t been a Terran vehicle powered by combustion in over three millennia! What in the blazes of hell is that?" He could distinctly make out two sets of treads and a large metal box of some sort sitting on top of that.
Xander flicked on his com to all of the suits, he was aware no one except him and Jefferson were wearing theirs, but he spoke a command instead of an order: "Code Stranger!" Immediately, the base was a bustle of commotion as men struggled to get into their suits and subsequently deactivate the alarm. Many met him outside at the treads and witnessed the oncoming vehicle.
"Listen up men; this could very well be what had wiped out the last crew. If it is, I want you all to be ready! Grab your weapons and gear, we will fight them and if we live, we will run before more of them show up. I want all medium and light rifles up front near me, long range and snipers, take positions on top of the thermocrete structures." The men left to get their gun and gear, eventually taking positions where they were told.
When the vehicle finally arrived, they were ready. It was massive! At least ten meters across and at least that tall, it opened forwardly and they got their first glimpse at the people in the vehicle. Night vision showed several dozen hunched over figures clad in some type of armor, more rubber than anything, designed for absorbing shock rather than repelling it. Anatomically, they looked like humans, except for the posture, but their language sounding nothing like a humans. Silent clicks and whistles passes between the ranks, perhaps they were summing them up. Determining how to do the job they were sent to do.
Xander recalled a piece of information from his old training school. They once captured an Aspha Miner ship, it had almost no lighting and the controls seemed to glow. That was the distinct signature of Aspha technology. And what he was looking at right now was just that. These people-no, creatures-were responsible for the ghosting of almost half a thousand men and women, and he was damned if they would claim another one tonight!
One of them barked a command, and several others jumped to obey, they started out of the ship and marched towards the crew. Xander flicked the switch and whispered, "Snipers." Instantly, the front four fell backwards, taken by the blow. The other nine or so stopped in their tracks. "If the big one says anything else, take him down."
But he didn’t say anything, he raised and arm and the creatures started to charge, gaining speed as they did. Xander tried to fire his weapon and kill the thing giving orders, but just as the round got within a foot of the boss, a wave of purple splashed out in all directions from the point of impact. Apparently, it was a one way door, only controllable from the inside, or perhaps outside with clearance. That was not his concern, the horde of angry miners was.
"Open fire!"
Eight other magnetic accelerator guns and four high-velocity magnetic accelerator rifles began to discharge rounds as fast as they were designed to. The rounds from the guns glanced off the thick armor designed to repel large pieces of rock and other pieces of earth. Only the rounds as big and as fast as the ones being emitted from the snipers penetrated the armor, and they were quickly running out of ammo.
"Snipers, aim for the biggest! Others aim for the unguarded spots, lets see what happens then!"
The largest ones continued to fall, and the front lines started to drop dead as Xander and his team poured icy rounds from their guns. But they were too late in figuring out the tricks. The truck that brought them in was apparently built with guns, and fired its forward lasers, liquidating the tops of the thermocrete, and one can only assume the fates of the snipers. The horde of miners continued to gain ground on them, and once in range of hand to hand combat, Xander ordered a retreat.
He drew his gun back and prepared the bash ones face in, but another got up behind him, and knocked him over the back of the head. Colors swirled and nothing seemed to have a definite shape any more. The colors darkened, eventually fading into a single black.
* * * * *
Xander stirred and felt the relative heat wash over his face. What was the source of the heat? He had no idea. He looked around and gathered intelligence on his surroundings. He was in some kind of holding cell; around him were six survivors from the encounter and several others he didn’t recognize. Xander struggled to his feet, his ankles almost buckled under the new weight, but that was quickly forgotten. As far as his eyes could see in this near pitch black, were other humans. Some leaned against walls, some sat against rocks, and others slept.
A siren caught him off guard, and he dropped. Lowering his center of gravity and cutting his height in half. All of a sudden, crackers rained down around him. Looking up he saw the large holes in the ceiling where they dumped the food-like substances. It smelled terrible, but it appeared to be edible. Assuming that if they wanted them dead, they would have killed them all with the truck's guns, it wasn't poisoned. He gathered up about ten wafers and started to chow down. He got as far as the seventh cracker when someone confronted him.
"State your name and rank!"
"Xander, your boss. What’s your name?"
"Colonel Yedi, sir! Sir, are you the H.C. Xander?"
"Yup, and forget ranks, I don’t think they mean much anymore around these freaks."
"Agreed, so, what are you doing in this lovely vacationing spot?"
"Was looking for you, and guess what, I found you! Now, tell me something, how high are those holes there you think?"
Yedi looked up and studied the roof. "Oh, I'd say about twenty, twenty-five feet. Why do you ask?"
"And where are the controls to these gates?"
"Over there." Yedi pointed to a large box with a glowing button, similar to the multitudes he saw in their vehicle the night of his capture.
"Any weapon cache you can locate?"
"Nope."
"Okay, let me think of something, a plan or something. I don’t know. My head is killing me!"
"I'll be over there when you need me." Yedi pointed to a large boulder, waited for a reply, and after receiving a nod, started over there.
"What have you gotten yourself into now, Xander?" His head was splitting at its base and thinking of nothing better to do; he finished his meager meal and started to dream. Of an ancient place where the sun beat down harsh and slaves toiled day in and day out. A few soldiers carrying bronze spears kept the peace. And off on the horizon, was a massive, glorious pyramid, reaching for the sky. Up it seemed to climb, reaching for salvation, for the heavens, for freedom...
He awakened to a large rush of cold that seemed to start at his head and wash over him. Down his body it paralyzed, and afterwards made him feel heavy and uncomfortable. All around him people held out bowls and several yelled at him. He was shocked, confused. Jumping up he saw that he was sitting under the water distributor. He walked away to where Yedi said he would be, no longer thirsty at this point.
"What happened to you, Xander?"
"I uh... had an accident."
"I can see that. You think of something yet?"
"A human pyramid."
"You’re crazy."
"Maybe, but just enough to get us free. Watch this." Xander clamored up to the top of the boulder and shouted at the top of his lungs. "Everyone! If you want freedom, listen to me!" Many of them had been in here for weeks, so of course, at the offering of freedom, they leapt to obey. "I need you all to get me up to that hole in the ceiling." Several laughed at this point, others talked amongst them about how crazy he was. "We are gonna make a human pyramid!"
"That’s crazy!" One person announced, "You want us to get you up there?"
"There are over five-hundred people in this room; a few dozen feet shouldn’t stop us!" People’s expression seemed to lighten as he brought this to their attention. "Ok, I’m gonna go stand in the middle, people lift me up, then someone lift them up, and so on until I'm up there!" He ran out into the middle just underneath the large hole.
He was suddenly uplifted by four men. He shook uneasy but maintained his balance. He took another lurch up, as the men holding him were now being carried by nine men. Speaking words of encouragement, the next level of sixteen men appeared. "One more layer, guys!" And sure enough, the next level of twenty-five appeared. But the structure started to buckle, the humans started to get weak and tired. "Help us!" Just when it seemed about to fall, the rest of the people gathered around them and started to throw themselves into the center of the thing and added support. Some even climbed up into the thing to give their aid. Once everyone crammed into the thing, he lurched up another two levels; it was a thing of beauty from his view. "Wow, when we work together, look at what we are capable of..." All that was left to him was a few steps towards the edge of the ground, the ex-roof to him.
He maneuvered around the rocks and found his way down the slopes. They were very jagged, as if hastily carved from rock. But he avoided any real damage and sought out the control to the large iron gate. A few minutes of quick snooping and he found the panel. Years of digging holes had reduced the Aspha ingenuity to that of a mole. They were so sure of their structure that they didn’t even place any guards. But they didn’t count on Terran ingenuity. The stuff that has caused the destruction or enslavement of almost every system they came in contact with. He found the button and instantly ran into a force field.
"Just great... I get out and prepare to spring my men, and this happens!" He sat down and just as he did, the sounds of footsteps came from around the corner. Xander quickly hid behind a large rock. The Miner came around the corner and passed through the force field. He hit one of the smaller buttons and a large bucket maneuvered itself over the hole, pouring out more crackers. Satisfied that his job was done, the miner pulled out a small bag of something and raised it to his mouth. He crawled into a sitting position in the corner, breathed in a bit, and then passed out. "Perfect, indeed!"
Xander grabbed the largest rock he could carry and dragged it over to the miner. He brought it up and crushed his enemy's head in. Satisfied with the squish it made, similar to smashing a watermelon against the ground. He removed the rock from the alien's face and picked up the body. Holding it to his chest he started through the wall of energy, and it let him pass through. Slamming his fist down on the button, the gates opened and men poured out. While they started with the commotion he girded himself in his enemy's armor and took his weapon. It was a double headed pick-axe. He slammed one end against the rock but it didn’t break off. He tried several more times to no avail. He then slammed it against the machine that held them all captive and one side broke off with ease. He took the disembodied spike and thrust it into his belt.
Struggling to the front of the mass, he distributed orders to find armor and weapons. Two miners came running up to meet the freed mass...
* * * * *
Frockore was talking to his friend and fellow miner, Schtim. They were assigned to make sure the large drill that stood to his right remained working. And it was an extremely uneventful job. They filled the time with talking of what they would do with their next payment. He was in the middle of talking about getting himself some death gas, a potent drug that was used to create euphoria of sorts, when Schtim's eye caught something. He grabbed his pickaxe and started at a jog in the opposite direction Frockore was facing. Frock had no idea what was happening but didn’t want to be left out of some excitement; he grabbed his pick and started after his friend.
The humans had escaped! And one of them was wearing miner's armor! Schtim brought his pick around to his right, cocking his elbows, prepared to jam the point into the human's side. But just before he could release his energy in the blow, the human brought his axe down with lightning speed. A speed almost unholy! The demon human drew the pick from his friends head. Fearing for his own life, he started back and made for the alarm built into the drill. He was almost there, almost when he felt an immense pain shoot from his chest, he looked down to find out what was wrong with him. He felt a protrusion from his chest. It was a spike of some sort, but that was no longer his concern. Falling to his knees, he looked around the damp dark room, regretting that his life was entirely meaningless to the universe. He left no offspring, no great achievements; no one would remember his name. The human stood before him now, looking him in the eyes. He pushed him back and all the energy that used to be in him failed his muscles now. He fell onto his back and felt the last vestiges of life flee from his ruined corpse.
* * * * *
Xander had Yedi and another one of the captives, a large man gird themselves in the armor. "So, the revolution has begun, we have the element of surprise and the methods to kill. You two wait here and guard the unarmed people while I go and do a little recon."
"Sir. Yes, sir!"
"I suppose ranks do count now, don’t they, Colonel?"
"Hell yes, sir!"
Xander managed a smile, he had an untold number of miners working a big operation on the planet they tried to colonize, and now he was trapped who knows how far below the surface with the things. What was he going to do, how was he going to get himself out of here, much less the rest of his men? This was going to be one hell of a day.
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