Monkey Sword Fight

I take six men with me. My gut is telling me why Walters hasn’t reported back, but I don’t listen to it. I don’t want to think of that possibility.

Yet it seemed like the only one. The gray ooze from the nest egg dissolves a ship’s hull directly under it, give them access to the inside. And along the edges of this new hole it fuses the hull with the nest egg, keeping the vacuum of space away from the ship’s interior. They then slip inside without the sensors detecting them. Once a nest egg hits your ship, your only chance is to get off before they get aboard.

And my gut is saying we’ve missed that chance.

We slowly make our way down the corridor towards Bay 3. Our flamers are out, ready to unleash a fiery death on anything in our path. There’s a noise. We all stop, listen closely. It sounds like a human in pain. We round the corner and we see Walters on the ground. He’s missing one of his legs. The trail of blood coming from the door tells us he dragged himself from the cargo bay. He looks up at us, his eyes full of pain.

He starts to talk, his voice cracking in pain. “In the bay…hundreds of them…We have to leave… Leave now…”

I motion for three of the men to come up. “Take him to the Medical bay. Check back every five minutes. Understand?” They nod their heads. “Good. Now go.”

They go over and carefully lift and carry Walters away. He’s mumbling incoherently now. There’s enough in the med bay to make sure he makes it until we get to a real doctor. I look at the three men I have left with me. A look of unease is on their face.

I flick my wrist and the com channel opens up.

“Command, do you read?”

Sasha responds. “This is Command. We read you.”

“The Scarabs have broken through the hull. Walters in the med bay. We need to pull everyone out right away.”

“Copy that. Where have they broken through at?”

“Cargo bay 3.” There is no response from Sasha. “Is everything O.K.?”

“That’s the shortest path to the remaining escape pods.”

“I know. Have everyone head to the Command Deck of the Med Bay. I’ll head to the Command Deck and we’ll go as a group to get the rest at the Med Bay. Peters out.”

I flick my wrist and the com channel closes. I motion for my remaining men to follow as we make our way around the cargo bay.

Getting the civilians off the ship was easy. They all understood the severity of the situation and what was at risk. The harder part was getting the rest of the crew on the same page as I was.

“They want to do what to the ship?”

“You heard me Sergeant.” Walters is a good man. He’s a younger man, came into the Navy after they made the changes. He may be new blood, but he acts and thinks like the old.

“They just want to throw the ship away? What about reclamation missions. We have yet to loose a ship that we weren’t able to reclaim later. We have no evidence that they can launch new eggs from ships.”

“I know the level of success the reclamation missions have had Walters. The decision is not mine to make.”

“Did you even try to talk to them about it?” Walters was trying my patience.

“No, I did not Sergeant. Its not my position to question a superior’s orders, nor is it yours. Do we understand?”

“Yes sir.” Walters walked away, visibly unhappy with what the task I gave him. Not that I can blame him. The natural reaction to ‘Prepare for an self-destruct.’ is ‘Why?’.

Not that I don’t agree with him. Out of the 20 ships that were abandoned due to Nest Egg hits, 18 have been recovered within 3 months of loosing them and the remaining two are scheduled to be reclaimed within the next month. Each time the Scarabs were all dead by the time the reclamation teams arrived with no evidence of new eggs being launched.

And while the Captain’s motives seem noble, I have my doubts. There is no evidence to support that the Scarabs are capable of launching nest eggs from ships.

Then there’s the nagging feeling I keep having that the Captain has other reasons for wanting the ship destroyed. However orders are orders and I have to follow them, regardless of how grim they are. And so does Walters.

So the evacuation of civilians went off with no problems. I called Sasha and Walters along with several other privates to assist me in preparing the ship for destruction. And that’s where I sat waiting for Walters to report.

“Has anyone seen Walters?” I ask the group in front of me.

Sasha’s small voice responds. “He was checking the the escape pods near Cargo Bay 3″.

“Did anyone go with him?” Uncertain murmurs fill the room. I see Sasha shake her head. “Dammit. All of you grab some flamers. I have a really bad feeling about this.”

I take another deep breath. I hate dealing with Command. I reach out, open the door and take a step inside the command deck.

Despite my feelings for the current state of Command, the Command deck itself still fills me with a sense of pride. No mater what disgraces the current leadership of the Navy brings upon itself, it cannot erase the things that we did before.

Sitting with his advisers is the Captain talking in hushed tones so that the rest of the crew could not hear them. They all look up at me as I enter the room. The Captain motions for me to come over to him. I acknowledge him and walk towards the group.

“Lieutenant Peters.”

“Captain,” I respond as I salute him.

“At ease Peters. They tell me you found a nest egg on top of our ship.”

“That’s correct sir.”

“I assume you know the standard procedure for this situation.”

“I do sir.”

“Good, because we’re deviating from it.”

“Excuse me sir?”

“You heard me. I need you to oversee the evacuation of the civilians. Once they’re gone we’re going to blow this ship up.”

“Sir, I have to ask why.”

“If I don’t, they’re going to launch out new nest eggs and there are civilized planets nearby. The results could be billions of deaths.”

“Permission to speak freely?”

“Denied. Peters, its no secret that you dislike me and what I represent. But your a good solider. I know you’re not going to risk the deaths of countless civilians.”

I want to say something. I really do. But I can’t.

“So your going to oversee the evacuation. Then your going to see that the self-destruct sequence is started. Then you shall see that the crew is evacuated before you leave yourself. Do you understand?”

“Yes sir. What about you and the rest of command?”

“We shall be leaving once the rest of the crew gets their orders. You are to start the evacuation immediately.”

Figures. You would leave when you’re needed most.

“Yes sir,” I tell him as sincerely as possibly.

“You are dismissed,” he responds, waving me away.

I make my way out of the room.

I wouldn’t mind him dieing like this.

Learning how to combat the Scarabs didn’t make it any easier. Their random pattern of attack infuriated our commanders. Combined with a time frame of less then 30 minutes between the nest egg landing and the planet being lost, there wasn’t much we were able to do.

Finally the leaders of our great Federation decided that the military in its present state was ill fitted for the demands of the current situation and started an emergency reorganization, taking out generals and captains with decades of experience and replacing them with yes men with questionable ability and a lack of background. My own captain at the time was giving an honorable discharge and replaced with cadet younger than myself whose only qualification for the position was a bureaucratic mind frame that the Federation was in love with. It was at this time I realized my chance of becoming a captain no longer existed.

At the same time the Federation called an emergency evacuation of the outer colonies and pulled back all our men. The end result was an apparent view of greater security and success; with less area to defend we were able to respond to the attacks quicker. When we were attacked that is. With the colonies being abandoned the Scarabs didn’t appear to have any desire to push any closer to the inner systems of the federation. Save for a stray vessel being hit or the odd mining colony we didn’t pull back yet, the attacks almost entirely stopped.

Pleased with its apparent victory, the Federation made the change permanent, and the once powerful Federation Navy became a bloated playground for a game of politics. They continued to ignore the every pressing threat of the advancing Scarabs, ignoring those of us who urged them that they were in fact slowly pressing closer.

And now I find my self standing before the doorway to the command deck; a place I have avoided as much as possible in the past. Inside I can just imagine how my captain and his yes-men are casually deciding the fate of the ship and its crew; their safety and escape are guaranteed as part of the new Federation Navy procedure. I imagine they’ll leave shortly after I speak to them.

But still, I am a member of the Federation Navy. It is my duty to respect them, their decisions and see that their commands are carried out to letter. As much as they may displease me, I’d only be tarnishing the memory of the those who came before me if I did not act as expected.

I take a deep breath and open the door.

Walking down the hall to the command deck, I can’t help but think of how much I’ve grown to hate Command. Feelings not suitable for a senior officer, I know. As a kid the only thing I wished for was to be able to fly in the Navy like my grandfather; be a Captain of my own ship and have a crew, fighting along side with them for the rest of my people. I joined the academy at the age of 12 and was on my first ship at 16. That’s when the Scarabs appeared.

They came after our outer colonies at first, past the normal patrols of the Navy. The first colony fell just hours after they sent their distress signal. I was stationed to a ship that was sent to patrol another nearby planet; by the time we arrived it had already been decimated. I got to see first hand what the Scarabs did.

The entire planet was bare of any kind of non-plant life. We couldn’t even find any remains. The only things we could find were the remains of the Scarabs, bugs that were a good two to three feet long, with what is the most vicious looking set of mandibles I’ve ever seen.

We soon found the foul honeycomb structure that transported the monsters there. It had landed in a field outside one of the colonial outposts. We slowly made our way up to the alien looking structure, unsure of what it contained. Once we were confident that it posed no immediate threat to us, we lowered our guard and took a closer look at it.

The structure was a rough sphere and its surface was covered in holes no bigger then half a foot that gave it a similar look to an over sized honeycomb. It towered over even the tallest men we had on our team; easily reaching ten feet tall. We would later learn that this was a small one.

As we came closer we became aware of the ooze. It had coated most of the ground around the nest egg. As we came closer, the thick gray ooze would stick to our shoes, making walking difficult. And the stench was overpowering.

We would later piece all the clues together as more reports came in. The object we found is what we’d start to call a nest egg, as the creatures appeared to launch them to planets in order to create a new hive out of it. They launch a group of eggs inside of the nest egg, and as they hatch, the eggs secrete the disgusting gray ooze. Once they hatch and crawl out of the nest egg they go on the hunt, eager to feed themselves. They leave no survivors or remains; devouring every part of a living creature, even its bones and teeth. Once their hunger has been satiated, or they run out of food, they burrow deep into the planet, forming a giant hive for them to live in.

Once completed a new form of the creature forms; an overly large and bloated version of its normal kin. Inside of it several different noxious chemicals form and react with explosive results when combined. Its lesser kin then creates new nest eggs to launch to new planets and back to other hives who can use some of the spare food that this new hive has found. How they know when and where to launch is a mystery, along with how such a creature would evolve into such a system.

Within weeks several colonies had fallen, without even a chance of fighting back. Then, as chance would have it a nest egg was launched to a planet where my ship had been docked for repairs and maintenance. It was here that our first real combat with the creatures would give us insight to use in the future.

There was no real warning. We got the distress call from the mining camp that was 30 miles out. We started to prep and within five minutes the creatures were here.

No one had ever survived one of their assaults, so none of us knew what to expect. They came at us in a huge horde, the individual Scarabs indistinguishable from the others. We fired into them as they came at us, our shots seemingly disappearing with no effect into the oncoming wave. Our excitement at being able to save this colony quickly disappeared as we realized we were vastly outmatched. Our minds quickly shifted gears from trying to save the colony to survival for us and the colonist.

We left the front line and fell back to where the escape ships were already being loaded. Upon hearing our weapons were useless against the advancing horde our commanders issued us to get the few flame throwers and try to hold them at bay with those. We reluctantly took our orders, fully aware of how close we would have to get to the beasts for the flame throwers to have any effect.

We spread out around the docking station where the ships were at. In my squad was Ian, a friend I had made back in my cadet days at the Academy. I could see the fear in his eyes, and without a doubt he saw the same fear in mine. We had yet to see the creatures attack anyone, but the horrific screams we could hear from those who hadn’t made it to the docking station in time could only signify a most gruesome death.

We held our positions. Every second we held out against the monsters was another civilian to get safely off this death trap of a planet. The creatures closed in on the docking station and came closer to us. I braced myself and prepared for the beasts. Ian on the other hand… Ian snapped and ran right into them, flamethrower blazing away. And surprisingly the creatures backed away for a moment; the fire repelled them away.

I froze. The idea of us actually being able to hold them at bay filled me with hope. I called for Ian to get back, but its was too late. Try as he might, Ian couldn’t hold them off from all directions and they crawled upon him and started to devour him alive. Within in 10 seconds I understood why we didn’t find remains; I saw my friend’s entire corpse devoured, bones and all. I froze in fear until I realized they were in range of the flamethrower.

I released a jet of flame out towards the creatures, keeping them at bay. I could hear the smaller shuttles behind me taking off. I could only hope that there was still a way off the planet for the rest of my squad and myself. The creatures were kept at a distance from me, but they started to surround us, we had to back up slowly towards the docking station to keep myself from being trapped. Before I knew it I was being pulled back inside of the station by my comrades.

There was only our ship left, and the entire complex was sealed. The Scarabs were already crawling over the top of the sealed space port, We were going to make one last attempt to fly out. We quickly got the remaining civilians onto the ship and made preperations to launch. Just a minute before launch the lights in the space port went out; the power had been severed. We could hear the backup generators start to whirl to life, and then just as quickly started to sputter back to death. God only knows what happened to them.

We sat in the darkness for several minutes, no one sure of what to do. Then the crackle of the ship wide intercom broke the silence; it was our Captain. She informed everyone that she only had one option to get us out of here, so to brace for impact. I felt the ship’s engines coming online and it hit me what the she intended to do. I grasped the seat I was sitting in and closed my eyes as the ship lifted from the ground and tore through the ceiling of the docking station. I quickly felt the odd sensation of zero gravity for a second before the artificial gravity kicked in.

We had made it out alive. With first hand combat experience now. This is when things changed.

Darkness surrounds me. Scattered throughout the endless black are countless pinpricks of light reminding me of my insignificance.

I take a deep breath. I hate EVAs.

I slowly turn myself around and face the ship. Another breath and I grab a one of the ladder’s rungs next to the airlock’s door. I pull myself up to the topside of the ship.

“I’ll be damned,” I mutter to myself. A quick flick of my wrist and my com device turns on.

“Control, this is Peters. I see the problem.”

“We read you Peters. What do you see?”

“Its a nest egg.”

200 feet ahead of me, right in the middle of the ship, is a large honeycomb-like structure.

“That can’t be. They’ve never been seen this far. Are you sure Peters?”

“I’m looking right at the damn thing. I’m pretty sure.”

“Shit. Did it breach the hull at all? Our sensors are still down.”

“I’m not sure. I’d have to get closer to tell. It looks like it hit right above Cargo Bay 3.”

“We’ll get it sealed then. Do you see any movement?”

“Negative.” Something catches my eye. A glob of sickly gray ooze floats away from the egg, hitting the hull of the ship and slowly dissolving the metal.
“Hold that command. It looks like its oozing.”

“We don’t have time for a burn then. Peters, get back inside.”

“What about the egg?”

“We’re working on a plan.”

I hear the click of the com channel being closed. I stare at the egg a moment.

I don’t want to die like this.

I climb back down the ladder back to the airlock. I flick my wrist again.

“Sasha, open the lock.”

The airlock door slowly slides open. I grit my teeth and make the small leap from the ladder to the open airlock. Past the glass panel separating me from the rest of the ship I can see Sasha’s small form operating the controls that will let me back in.

I don’t want her to die like this.

I’m snapped out of my daze by the faint hiss of air filling the airlock, muffled by my suit. Sasha looks up at me and smiles as glass doors slide open. I walk through them and start to unhook the suit’s bulky helmet. Sasha is quickly at my side to help.

“You got back quick. What was it?” she ask once the helmet is off.

I stop and think a moment. They didn’t tell me not to say anything. On the other hand it almost goes without saying in these types of situations. Standard procedure and all that bullshit.

“Sam? Is everything O.K.?” I can’t escape her eyes.

“Sasha, it’s bad. We got hit by a nest egg.”

Sasha’s pretty face twists in fear. “What? No.”

“Sasha… I’m sorry.” I can’t find anything else to say. How I wish I was better with words.

“I…I don’t want to die Sam. Not like that.”

“I won’t let them touch you. I swear.”

The irritating buzz of the com summons Sasha back to her controls.

“This is Control. Has Peters returned?”

“Control, this is Airlock 3. Peters has returned and is removing his suit.”

“Copy that. Tell Peters he’s to come up to the command deck as soon as he’s done there.”

“Will do Control. Airlock 3 out.” Sasha’s gaze returns to me. “Sam…”

“I meant it Sasha. They won’t touch you. You understand?”

Sasha timidly nods her head, fear all over her face.

“Listen Sasha. You can’t tell anyone until the Captain says something. O.K?”

Sasha nods her head again.

“Good. Now help me out of this suit. We can’t have Command waiting around all day, can we?”