Chapter 35: Time to Go

Chapter 35: Time to Go

The last scout arrived precisely twenty-one minutes and forty seconds after Paulie and Mursk had originally sent them out, the last royal guardsman to return reporting that they had encountered no promising signs on their brief escapade.

That was alright however, as one of the other winged mendagoonians had indeed spotted signs of active power use in the near distance. One of the large stacks nearby had active lighting, and more importantly it had seemed to have an active transmission tower on the roof that could be just what they needed.

Paulie poured over the captured images once more, Mursk and Jakiikii standing to one side, Hauxsu, Lach and trooper Eyme on the other. All together they represented one little team in the larger group of assembled soldiers and royal guardsmen, almost thirty of them in total. Of the injured troops, only one was hurt too badly to move on their own, two other soldiers had volunteered to carry their injured comrade via a stretcher that had been pulled from the downed gunship. A sort of comradery that was inspiring to see even in the midst of the situation they all found themselves in.

“Are the troops ready to move out?” Paulie asked Mursk.

Mursk made a gesture for yes.

Paulie nodded and then waved a hand, “Okay, get your things in order. We are moving out.”

There was a small sound from Jakiikii, a sort of subtle grumble, but other than that he was met with still silence. They walked together as a group towards the larger gathering of aliens, Commander Slallm was standing there with his blazer gun sung across his camouflage chest rig. He looked over towards Paulie and his group as they walked up and then blinked.

“Are the charges set?” He asked the alien.

Slallm nodded then seemed to think twice. “Yes, they are. But I am still not happy about it. It will certainly give whoever is nearby a good kick in the teeth, probably collapse this whole shit-hole too.” The man’s frill fluttered as he gestured at the dilapidated factory that they were still inside of.

Paulie smirked slightly. “Yeah, no great loss there huh?”

Commander Slallm’s face split on its strange three-way jawline. “Yes. No great loss to us, though the landscape of this desolate place will be forever improved by the removal of such an ugly thing I would think.”

Jakiikii spoke up, “Oh it’s not so bad once you look around a bit. I have stayed in worse places than this, at least it has all four walls and a roof.” She paused, her six eyes roving over the assembled troops. She spoke a second later, “Well, I will go and start scouting a path.” Turning two eyes towards Hauxsu and Mursk, “Hauxsu, will you help coordinate overwatch on my position? I will have to go dark for the cloak to work. So you likely won’t be able to follow my pathing exactly. But stay as close as you can safely.”

The insectoid alien waved two arms in agreement, their power armoured frame shifting slightly as they readied their wings for use. Those large membranes fluttering slightly in the stagnant air of the old building.

Paulie tore his focus from the genuinely interesting sight and back to Commander Slallm. “Okay. It is now or never. The path out of the building is clear of direct threats, though I think we should go out of a side exit as we discussed a few minutes ago. The front of the structure nearest to the crash site is likely being watched." Slallm nodded again. They were all in agreement, though Paulie could have just told the man to follow his directions, it was much easier to work with him and use his experience rather than try and fight against him.

The last few preparations were made and the final checks were done. Paulie drew his revolver and suddenly wished he had a rifle. Looking around he saw the profusion of various alien weapons, ‘Make that a machine gun.’ he said silently to himself. He cleared his mind, easier to do now that the parasite had been suppressed by the miracle pills he had gotten from the duigong healer. He took three deep and calming breaths, closing his eyes as he did so as he tried to drown out the muted noises around him.

When he opened them he realised that Jakiikii was gone, likely cloaked and already moving to scout a safe path through the dense industrial sprawl between them and their new target. He frowned, he hated it when she went off on her own like that. But objectively he knew she was likely far safer out there on her own than he was with all the troops arrayed around him. For one, he was a big target.

And she was literally invisible.

He chuckled at that as Mursk made a noise. “We are moving, stay low as you can Paulie.”

“I can crouch.” He said.

Mursk looked up at him as he did so, a twitch of his antennae making it seem as though he wasn’t so sure. “Hmm. Well, do your best.” The autotranslator droned following his chattering reply. The man seemed unconvinced as to his posture change, admittedly Paulie was a very tall man, even in comparison to other humans. Compared to many of the shorter and decidedly diminutive aliens he had met he towered over them like a man over children.

He hunched a little more and heard a snicker from trooper Eyme. “You look like a goorf trying to fit in a box.” Paulie frowned, he knew what a goorf was now, he hadn’t the first time Jakiikii had called him one. It was a small, scaled creature with a wide body that seemed to act like a cat, or perhaps a mischievous dog.

He could picture one of the small fluffy lizard-like creatures trying to jam itself into a cardboard box. He must seem just as silly, trying to hide in a crowd of veritable midgets compared to him. He stood again, hunching a little but not nearly as egregiously as he had been before. The crowd moved along the interior edge of the factory structure in a neat double file, those in front covering every few meters for those farther back. Everyone was on edge, they had already gotten into one small scrap, and if the scouting reports were true they would likely get into many more before the day was out.

After a few more moments they reached a small inset hallway that led to some doors. They had been sealed closed like the front entrance had been, but they had been opened at some point recently. Small molten droplets of metal had been sprayed out from where somebody had shot the locks off the chain that had held them closed. Two of the mendagoonian royal guards gripped the doors and pulled them aside. Guns raised and tensions flared, but no incoming fire slashed through the opening to strike at them. The outside was deep in the shadow of the surrounding structures, a sort of all-pervasive gloom that made Paulie swallow a hard lump in his throat at the thought of being trapped in the dark.

There was no more reason to delay, they moved out as a group. Walking down the side wall of the factory in the relative open for a few hundred meters before finally coming up to a large confusion of piping and rusted gantry-like walkways. It was here they took their first small pause, Paulie checked his ammo belt for the tenth time in as many minutes and Mursk stood at his side.

“You are stressed.” The alien said, it was not a question. Nor was it an admonishment, a simple statement it seemed. Even without the emotionless nature of the autotranslator, Paulie could detect no hint of any deeper emotion in the man’s body language or twitching antennae.

Not for the first time Paulie wondered what the strange alien was truly thinking in that moment, was he happy or sad.. angry or perhaps a little tired of it all? Their chitinous features gave nothing away, and even the dark pseudopupils of their eyes might as well have been pits to the abyss. He could not see them now anyway, the royal guard was wearing his powersuit’s helmet, the mirror-like blue visor blocking out what little facial expression Mursk might have been showing.

Paulie just shrugged as he answered the earlier statement. “Yeah, maybe a little. Look around, this is prime ambush material here. No matter which way you move or look there are nooks and crannies all over the damn place. There could be six rifles scoped in on us and we would never know till they started shooting.” Paulie said, his voice hissing as he tried not to shout in his frustration.

Lach spoke, “Well. Be that as it may, they are welcome to try. We have scouts following along the rooftops, Jakiikii is ahead somewhere and you have the best troops on the planet watching over your carapace.”

Paulie frowned and nodded. “Yes. But a small part of me still does not like it one bit.”

“Well. It was your idea..” Mursk started to say, but Paulie waved a hand at the man to shut up. Mursk made that low chittering sound that was him laughing. Paulie scowled slightly, then twitched as there was a low call to keep moving.

Commander Slallm had insisted to Paulie that he remain near the back of the group. ‘Operational asset security’ he had said. Paulie snorted slightly as he remembered the alien telling him that he was too big of a target to stick out in front.

‘You might as well be wearing a bright pink shirt and have a sign saying shoot me.’ the alien had told him. He was probably right, Paulie did not exactly blend into this crowd. Even crouching he was head and shoulders above most of the other aliens present. And far larger of a silhouette.

It didn’t mean Paulie liked it any better. He started walking again with the group, one booted foot in front of the other as they moved along the side of the building. It was huge, the wall seemed to stretch on into the far distance and even as they wound their way around obstacles he noted the disturbing lack of sounds and activity.

Usually when walking in an industrial zone, hell even down a regular city street, one would hear clanking.. banging, the sounds of life and people and daily life. Not so here, in this labyrinth of great rusted derelicts all he could hear was the sound of their footsteps, the low moaning of wind as it blew across old walkways and through abandoned towers. It was uncanny. The surrounding noises were filtered and caged till it was as if he were in a cave made of corrugated steel and dusty asphalt.

The air was filled with a sort of grim tension, as if the world was waiting for something to happen. That crushing heavy calm before a storm.

He gripped the butt of his pistol a little harder. There was a low boom in the distance, a flash of light and smoke preceding it then a sort of low roar that washed over them like a mountain collapsing in the far distance several heartbeats after.

Slallm yelled, “Someone tripped the detonation early! Move your sorry hides, the building could come down on top of us!”

Immediately they started moving faster, crossing the narrow driving way between the two structures that made the corridor they traveled as they moved farther and farther from potential danger. But even as they picked up the pace Paulie’s short hairs stood on end with a sort of intuitive warning of impending danger. A low groaning sound seemed to echo through the narrow artificial canyon they were trapped in, a deep base rumble that started to vibrate the air and set his nerves on edge.

It took him only a moment to realise what it was, he turned and looked over his shoulder back the way they had come. Eyes widening in surprise and a little fear as a seething wall of dust rose and then began to move their way. From the distance it seemed almost leisurely, but he knew in his heart that it was moving many times faster than they were in that moment.

The wall of dust and rending sound tore towards them, Paulie loosed a shout and the collective mass of aliens turned towards the frightful sight of their doom approaching. Commander Slallm immediately began ushering them towards the other side of the industrial apron towards a large structure. It looked marginally sturdier than the one they were watching collapse behind them, but it had the benefit of walls and cover. Something they were sorely lacking standing in the middle of the roadway as they were now.

The first one to the opposing structure reached a door, tried it and cursed loud enough to be heard over the approaching thunder, lifting their gun then fired a burst of searing orange lines through the door. Molten metal hissed and sprayed, their uniform smouldered from the burning flecks but they kicked the door three times till it opened with a screech of corroded metal.

Paulie was near the end of the group and began to sweat as they all rushed the opening en masse. The sound was getting louder and louder and he swore he could feel the ground beginning to shudder underfoot as he neared the doorway. He finally threw himself through it and then turned to slam one of the heavy doors closed as Lach closed the other. Moments later the roar turned to a cascading din, a sound almost surpassing words.

He screwed his eyes shut as a wall of force like the world ending smashed into and through him. A moment later the entire building shuddered and shook as a wall of dust and scattered debris smashed against it from outside. Something crashed into the door but it held, the force of the impact nearly throwing Paulie to the ground. A huge dent appeared on it just next to his left knee. Windows shattered and dust rained from the ceiling, but the walls held and Paulie slumped slightly against the door with a sense of relief a moment later.

The respite was brief as there were shouts from deeper in the structure that he did not recognise. Mursk’s communicator crackled as it picked up interference and Jakiikii raised her electron rifle into a ready position.

“I think we just woke the hornet’s nest.” Paulie grumbled as he drew his revolver.