1…2…3…4…
Closing his eyes, Security Chief Mark Shepard was taking deep, controlled breaths, going through his usual pre-combat rituals, when the shuttle pilot’s voice broke the silence.
“Approaching LZ. Prepare to move in two minutes.”
He looked to his right, and one of his squadmates, David Anderson, was muttering the N7’s Oath under his breath. “With this rifle, I will not kill for glory nor malice. I will not kill for tyrants nor dogmas. I will kill only when it’s right, when others threaten the safety and prosperity of our nation’s people…”
He smiled. Every time he heard it, he couldn’t help but look back to when he and Anderson graduated from the N7 program twenty-three years ago. Good times…
Meanwhile, his other two squadmates, Zaeed Massani and Shun Leng, were sitting before him, as silent as ever. Indeed, they were never fond of using pre-combat rituals to clear their mind and anchor themselves in the present, nor of using anything to fuel their determination to complete mission objectives.
But for this one, how could he not?
“Promise you’ll save my daddy. Please, promise me he’ll come home safe…”
“Bring him home alive. Oh please, bring him home…”
Closing his eyes, he huffed through his nose. Rick, if you’re still breathing, don’t you dare die on me. Yes, his good old friend just had to be a stubborn bastard and volunteer to fix that failing seismic detector. And on the way back, Rick’s shuttle just had to get caught in one of the countless sandstorms always raging across this planet. He sighed. Without any weather satellites in orbit, the sandstorms were nearly impossible to predict. And in all likelihood, Rick was already dead, along with the entire repair team.
But he had to try.
He couldn’t abandon the corpse of any colony citizen to rot amidst this world’s endless dry, rocky steppes. And most importantly, he did not want to imagine the look on little Jeff Moreau’s face if he ever had to tell him that his father was dead…
Momentarily, he looked back to when he was Jeff’s age, to when those ECPD officers had told his mother the bad news, and to when she had locked herself in the bathroom, sobbing and wailing for hours. He huffed through his nose.
Indeed, no child deserved to lose a parent.
Anderson asked on the private text channel between them.
He stirred.
“Landing in thirty seconds,” the shuttle pilot said. “Ready up.”
“Gentleman,” Mark said, standing up. “That’s our queue. Ready up.”
“Fucking finally,” Zaeed said, standing up, “let’s do this.”
“Agreed,” Leng said, doing the same.
Soon, the four were facing the shuttle’s rear embarkation ramp. Eventually, the shuttle finally landed. The ramp lowered, letting sunlight spill into the shuttle’s interior…
And then he and his squadmates stormed outside, into a seemingly endless landscape of brownish-red drylands, abound with clusters of monolithic, rocky outcroppings. Above, the sun was shining at its brightest. Already, the accompanying escort drones were forming a perimeter around the area, ready to provide air support if needed. And his HUD displayed a surrounding temperature of sixty-five degrees Celsius.
Hot enough to kill him within hours without his E-suit.
Ahead, he spotted the crash site, the wreck of the repair team’s shuttle. Behind it lay a trail of churned-up earth littered with chunks of debris.
“Mission control,” he said. “We have found the crash site. Searching the area now.”
“Roger that.”
“Let’s search the crash site,” he said. He looked at Anderson. “Anderson, you’re with me.” He looked at Zaeed and Shun. “And you two, cover our flanks.”
Without hesitation, he and Anderson checked the flaming wreck, whilst Zaeed and Leng watched their flanks. Within it, there were no signs of any survivors. But what about the cockpit? He searched it and found only the shuttle pilot’s burned, mangled corpse.
Momentarily, he closed his eyes and gritted his teeth before huffing through his nose. Another lost. But who? He pulled out his combat knife, cut open the chest section of the dead pilot’s suit, then removed the man’s dog tag. On it read the name Logan Barns.
What kind of man were you, Logan? In Logan’s right hand, he found a pocket-size holo-projector. He grabbed, then turned it on, only for it to display a pict of Logan, a woman, and a little girl in the Sequencer’s recreation deck.
Closing his eyes, he took a deep breath, then turned off the holo-projector. Likely, Logan’s wife and daughter were waiting alongside the other loved ones of the missing repair team, back in the colony shuttle port. And inwardly, he shuddered at the thought of how they’d react to his death.
“Mission control,” he said, “we have found the shuttle pilot. Unfortunately, though…he’s dead, and we’ve found no signs of any other survivors.”
“Acknowledged. But continue searching the area. The others couldn’t have just disappeared.”
Exiting the wreck, he huffed through his nose. “Continuing search.”
Where are you, Rick?
Undoubtedly, the other survivors had left the shuttle, likely to avoid the surrounding flat, open terrain. In such terrain, they’d be easy prey for the sandworms infesting this planet. In their position, he’d find shelter somewhere with shade, where the sandworms couldn’t get him.
He scanned his surroundings, and soon, he spotted the entrance to a narrow mountain pass. Approaching it, he glanced at the ground, then found a set of footprints and drag marks.
“Over here,” he said.
Anderson approached him. “What have you found?”
Zaeed approached next. “Well, would you look at that?” He let out a weak laugh. “Bet you a thousand credits that the other ran off into the canyon? Perfect shelter from the bloody worms.”
“It would be the wisest decision,” Shun said.
“Then it’s settled then,” he said. He looked at Anderson and Zaeed. “Anderson, Zaeed, you’re with me.” He looked at Shun. “And Shun.”
“Yes?”
“Stay behind and guard the shuttle,” he said. “Secure Logan’s body for transport, and keep us updated if anything happens.”
Shun nodded. “Understood.”
Mark gestured for Anderson and Zaeed to follow. They nodded, then followed him as he went towards the entrance to the mountain pass ahead. Along the way, he spotted more footprints and drag marks.
And even a few patches of dried blood.
That can’t be good.
“Mission control,” he said, entering the mountain pass, “we’ve just picked up a trail on the other survivors. It seems they were looking for shelter inside a nearby mountain pass.”
“But?”
“But one of them might be injured,” he said, “in critical condition.”
“Proceed with caution,” said the mission control operator. “This planet still has so many undocumented species.”
“Understood,” he said. “Just in case, send one of the drones to scout ahead.”
“Acknowledged.”
Just then, one of the drones flew overhead, scouting the area beyond with its sensors. If it detected anything, it would relay the information back to his squad, updating their mini-maps. On and on, they followed the trail, and the further they progressed, the denser their surroundings grew with wildlife. Everywhere he looked, he spotted clusters of brownish-red vegetation. And often, some creature was cawing, screeching, or roaring in the distance. Several times, he even caught something staring at him from a nearby bush or ridge.
Where are you, Rick? Give us a sign.
Soon, the trail went cold. Scanning his surroundings, he couldn’t find any footprints, drag marks, or any clue as to where the survivors might had gone.
“Trail’s gone cold,” Anderson said, “what now?”
He sighed. If he were in their situation, what would he do? How would he survive? They couldn’t have gone far. So perhaps he should grab their attention.
“They couldn’t have gone far,” he said. “If they’re taking shelter somewhere close, then maybe they’re close enough to hear us.”
“So let’s make some noise,” Zaeed said. Pointing his rifle skyward, he fired twice.
With a thought, he maxed out the volume on his helmet’s speaker. “This is Security Chief, Mark Shepard. If anyone can hear me, come out. We mean you no–”
A fist-sized rock fell from above and landed right by his feet. And quickly, he and his squadmates aimed their weapons above, at where the rock had come from.
“Don’t shoot. Don’t shoot.”
Instantly, he recognized the voice. It belonged to one of the bodyguards sent to accompany the repair team. “Rylov? Is that you?”
“It’s me, Chief,” Rylov said. “Come on up here.”
He nodded, then spotted a nearby trail, leading up to the cave in which Rylov and the other survivors were taking shelter. Was Rick among them?
Soon, they entered the cave and he spotted Rick slumped against the wall, his suit bloody with a piece of wreckage still lodged in his shoulder.
Immediately, Anderson went to work, inspecting him.
“Anderson,” he said, “tell me. Is he okay?”
“He’s alive,” Anderson said, checking him, “but not for long. We need to get him back to the colony hospital now.”
“Do whatever is necessary,” he said.
Anderson nodded, then got out and unfolded the portable stretcher on his back. After helping Anderson secure Rick to it, Anderson turned on its inbuilt mass effect field generator, and then it rose into the air, levitating.
“Chief,” Chun said on the squad comm-net. “Chief.”
“What is it?”
“Bad news,” Shun said, “the drones just detected a fast-approaching sandworm. They’ll try to hold it off. But still, we have no choice but to extract somewhere else. Sending you the new coordinates now.”
He sighed. “Understood.”
“Over and out,” Shun said.
“Well, god damn…” Anderson said.
He faced his squadmates and the shuttle crash survivors. “We need to move.”
They nodded. Exiting the cave, he took a moment to study the map on his HUD, and apparently, the new extraction point was in a flat clearing about one kilometer to the northeast.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.
“Follow me.”
For the next half hour or so, he led them toward the new extraction point, going through a winding series of narrow passes, and up several trails near the canyon walls.
But then a few rocks fell from above, clattering to the ground. Something let out a low, wet growl, then a series of clicks. Immediately, he whirled around and aimed his rifle at the noise…
Only to spot a monstrosity.
Vaguely bat-like, and as big as any man, the four-legged creature was perching atop a rocky protrusion in the nearby cliff face. Its four eyes were empty and soulless, and its three-jawed maw teemed with razor-sharp teeth. Staring at him, it let out an ear-splitting screech that echoed throughout the entire canyon.
As soon as it did that, dozens of its kind screeched as well, then rushed out of the nearby caves before barrelling towards them.
He opened fire into the onrushing horde, shredding dozens of the creatures into bloody messes. “Anderson, to the extraction point. Move.”
Zaeed opened fire as well. “Come here, you bastards!”
Anderson nodded, then lead the remaining survivors toward the extraction point, with one drone providing them air support, cutting down hordes of the creatures with its twin-linked auto-canons and missile launcher.
Meanwhile, he tapped into his biotics, then hurled a singularity into the oncoming mob. It tore dozens of the creatures off their feet and held them in the air.
And without hesitation, Zaeed tossed a frag grenade into their midst. It detonated with an ear-splitting boom, brutalizing dozens more into scraps of meat, bone, and entrails.
But they just kept coming.
He and Zaeed whirled around, then rushed ahead, towards the extraction point. Behind them, the creatures roared with fathomless hate.
“How in the bloody hell did these things slip past the drone's sensors?” Zaeed asked.
“Don’t know,” he said. “I don’t care. Let’s keep moving.”
“Chief, Zaeed,” Shun said, “Chief, you need to get over here now! The drones have detected another incoming sandworm!”
Inwardly, cringed. Could this day get any better? “On it.”
“You heard him,” Zaeed said. “Let’s fucking move it!”
Soon, they burst out into a clearing in which the shuttle was waiting. In the distance, drones were hammering the incoming sandworm with missile barrages and storms of auto-canon fire.
As he and Zaeed sprinted towards the shuttle, the creatures followed.
“We could use some damn help here,” he said.
“Understood,” Anderson said.
“Got it,” Shun said, and then he, Anderson, and one drone unleashed a storm of covering fire into the onrushing horde. Within seconds, they shredded or blew apart dozens of the creatures, littering the ground with their body parts and entrails.
Meanwhile, he and Zaeed sprinted towards the shuttle, panting. Off in the distance, the sandworm spat a glob of acid at one of the drones and it crashed to the ground in a booming fireball.
Every second, the sandworm tanked countless missiles and autocannon rounds. But still, it raged on, spitting globs of acid at the drones swarming all around it.
But then it looked directly at the shuttle and charged.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Zaeed said. “Let’s go!”
He sprinted and sprinted as fast as could toward the shuttle’s open entry ramp. Meanwhile, the remaining drones unleashed enough firepower to level a small building to dust, hammering the sandworm with torrents of auto-canon fire, with one missile after the other.
But still, the maw charged on.
Soon, he and Zaeed finally reached the shuttle and scrambled inside.
“Go! Go! Go!” he said, and soon the shuttle rose into the air, the entry ramp rising as the rear door closed. Finally, the shuttle zoomed off.
And he let out a relieved sigh. “Great work, everyone. Now, let’s get back to the colony.”
“Oh, fucking absolutely,” Zaeed said.
“Yes,” Anderson said. He let out a relieved sigh. “I think I’ve had enough of the surface for one day.”
Shun nodded. His helmet let out a sharp click, and then he began to have a private conversation with Zaeed. As they did that, he checked up on Rick. Now, he was unconscious, his face pale and teeming with cuts and bruises.
Briefly, he looked back to the last Launch Day celebration on the Sequencer, on the colony ship that brought everyone to this world.
“Just one year left to go,” Rick says.“Once the ship arrives, it’ll be a new beginning for all of us.” Rick stands up from his chair and raises his pint. “To no more poverty. To more stinking overcrowded cities.”
He and the others around the table stand up and clink their pints to his. “To no more poverty.”
Rick laughs. “Seti’a prime. Here we come!”
“Hang in there, buddy,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper. “Jeff and Sadie need you.”
In the colony shuttle port, at the front of a small crowd, Governor Hannah Shepard took a deep breath through her nose. Be present. Focus on what’s happening now. The more you think about him, the worse you’ll feel.
For the past few minutes, she had been waiting here, along with the loved ones of those caught in the shuttle crash. But god, every one of those minutes might as well have been an hour. No matter how hard she tried to still her mind, her heart kept pounding in her chest. Again and again, she imagined her husband suffering some horrible death – from getting mauled by this world’s wildlife, to getting lost without any hope of rescue.
Yes, she had faith in his abilities. Before he retired, he was one of the greatest N7 operators to ever live – the commander of the legendary Onyx Squad. But still…
She shook her head and exhaled. Where are you? Against her wishes, he had insisted to lead the rescue mission to save any shuttle crash survivors.
To fix her mistake.
But in the end, she had relented. He had always been as resolute as a mountain, and no words could have convinced him to stay, to let those under his command save the shuttle crash survivors.
But hopefully, his damned stubbornness wouldn’t get him killed.
To her left, she spotted Sadie Morreau kneeling in front of her son Jeff, probably trying to prepare him for the worst-case scenario.
She gulped. One day, would she have to do the same for her boys?
“Mommy?”
The voice snapped her out of her reverie and she looked down only to see her youngest boy, John, tugging at her pants.
“Mommy, where’s daddy? Where’s daddy?” John asked.
“You said daddy come,” said her other son, Luke. “Where’s daddy?”
She took a deep breath. How am I going to explain this? Facing them, she knelt to their level and put one hand on each of their shoulders. “Daddy’s coming, boys. Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be just fine. Okay?”
“Did a sandworm eat him?” John asked in a fragile voice.
“Oh, no, no, no,” she said. “Your daddy is way too smart to let a sandworm eat him.”
“Then what happened?” Luke said. “Where’s daddy?”
She took a deep breath. She had to give them some kind of explanation. But what? Damn it.
Soon, an incoming comm request appeared on her HUD. She answered it. “Yes?”
“Incoming shuttle detected. ETA five minutes.”
She ended the call, then spotted the shuttle approaching in the distance. Around her, so many were fidgeting or whispering amongst themselves. Their apprehension practically radiated through the air.
Finally, the shuttle landed. Its rear door opened. And when the exit ramp lowered, her husband stepped outside.
She sighed, and her limbs felt lighter. Oh, thank god.
Soon, Anderson, Zaeed, and Shun followed him, along with Rylov, dragging a broken and bloodied Richard Morreau atop one grav-stretcher.
Along with a body bag atop another.
“No…” she said, her voice just barely above a whisper.
Everyone rushed to welcome their newly-returned loved ones. The paramedics rushed forward as well, towards Richard and the body bag. But she remained still, watching Sadie and Jeff approach Richard, along with another woman and her daughter approaching the body bag. Soon, Sadie covered her mouth and her eyes widened when she saw her husband. She let out a choked sob, whilst Jeff remained silent, just paralyzed. And soon, the woman and her daughter burst into tears, wailing, their chests heaving with tortured sobs.
This is all your fault. She couldn’t stop staring at them. Yes, this was all her fault. Damn it, if only she had done something to get those weather prediction systems up sooner. If only…
She gritted her teeth, then huffed through her nose. Stop. Just Stop. Now, she couldn’t afford the luxury of giving into despair, into self-loathing. The whole colony needed her to always be her best.
“Daddy! Daddy!” John said, rushing towards Mark, the moment he took off his helmet. Luke followed his brother.
Mark kneeled on one knee, smiling, and spread out his arms. He embraced John and Luke in a warm, tight hug. “Ah, come here you two.”
“Did you killed it, Daddy?” Luke asked. “Did you killed the monsters?”
“Did I kill any monsters,” Mark said, correcting Luke. “But yes. Me, Anderson, Zaeed, and Shun had to kill many, many monsters to save your uncle Rick.”
“Is he okay, Daddy?” John asked. “Is he…Is he dead?”
“Uncle Rick will be okay,” she said, approaching Mark. Her gaze met his, and she smiled. He smiled back, and a warm, soothing sensation bloomed in her chest. Oh, how she loved seeing him smile, being so warm and loving to their boys. She wanted nothing more than to pounce on him and shower his face with kisses. But not now. Not in front of everyone else. She looked down at John. “He just got hurt, and the doctors are going to make him all better.”
“Oh…uhm,” John said. “Okay, mommy.”
Once more, she looked back at Mark, and in his eyes, she found that familiar passion that always left her breathless. Yes, he wanted alone time too. She smiled, then nodded.
He nodded back. “Hey, Anderson, Zaeed, Shun.”
“Yes, Chief?”
“Go ahead and put your gear back in the armory. I’ll join you soon.” Mark’s squadmates nodded.
“Meet me by the entrance,” he whispered into her ear before kissing her.
Smiling, she nodded, and then Mark joined his squadmates in the armory. Soon, as she and her boys were waiting by the entrance, Mark returned, smiling.
“Ah,” he said. “It’s good to be back.”
She smiled. “It certainly is.”
“Let’s head home,” Mark said. She nodded. Then she and her family headed towards the colony’s main square. Underground, the colony was situated close to a system of aquifers and subterranean rivers. However, above, sunlight shone through a vast armor-glass dome, and the colony’s network of ventilation shafts kept the surrounding temperature livable.
Five years ago, when she had first stepped foot on this world, it had taken the constructor bots months to carve out the space in which this colony resided. And now, she couldn’t help but feel proud of what it had become.
She smiled. Yes, one day, this colony would become a glorious capital, one to rival cities like New Washington back on Earth, or Olynsia on Grissom’s World.
Soon, they reached their prefab in district five. After its VI recognized her face, then unlocked the front door, they stepped inside. Momentarily, she sighed. Ah, finally. Now, she could have a moment alone with her husband. But first, she had to keep John and Luke occupied.
“Boys?”
“Yes, Mommy?” John asked.
“Do you two want to watch an episode of The Sword of Qaaro?” she asked.
“The Sword of Qaaro?” John asked, his eyes wide. He jumped. “YES! Yes, Mommy, yes! Put it! I love The Sword of Qaaro!”
Meanwhile, Luke just smiled.
“Alright, alright,” she said, chuckling. Yes, John’s joy was so contagious. “Just settle down.”
With a thought, she turned on the holo-screen in the living room, then put on an episode of The Sword of Qaaro for her boys. Every day, she and Mark allowed them to watch at most three.
As her boys watched, sitting on the couch, she and Mark stepped into the kitchen – where neither could see them. Momentarily, her gaze met his. He approached her, then started stroking her cheek with one thumb. And her heart fluttered. Her knees went weak. Just kiss me already!
And then Mark pulled her in for a long, slow kiss, holding her close. Eagerly, she leaned into it and wrapped her arms around his neck, humming in bliss. Closing her eyes, she melted in his arms, and for a moment, she was in heaven.
But soon, Mark broke the kiss, then rested his forehead against hers, looking deeply into her eyes.
“So…” he said eventually. “How are you feeling?”
She let out a weak laugh. “Relieved.”
“Relieved?”
“Yes,” she said. Briefly, she looked away, then sighed. “I know you’re not a man who can just stand by and do nothing when his friend is in danger. But please…”
Gently, he lifted her chin with one finger, then started stroking her cheek. “But what?”
“Don’t do this again,” she said firmly. She pursed her lips. “I don’t know what I or the boys would do if…if it was you in that body bag instead of…” Momentarily, she broke eye contact. She scratched her head. Who was that person anyway? “Instead of…”
“Instead of the shuttle pilot?” Mark asked. He reached into his pocket, then pulled out a set of dog tags. He handed them to her. “Instead of Logan Barns?”
“Logan Barns,” she said under her breath, trailing her fingers across the dog tag's surface. For a moment, she looked back to when his wife and daughter burst into tears and wailed at the sight of his brutalized corpse.
An icy sensation stabbed at her chest, and she let out a shaky breath. She pursed her lips, and her eyes welled with tears.
She had destroyed a family.
Because of her, Logan’s little girl would grow up without a father.
“I saw the way you were looking at his wife and daughter,” he said. “Tell me, are you…” Briefly, he looked away, scratching his head, as if contemplating the right words to say. “Are you okay?”
“I…” She gripped the dog tags tightly. “I’ll be okay. It’s just…”
“It’s just what?”
Closing her eyes, she exhaled. She gulped, then met his gaze. “That pilot died because of me. I sent him out there. I let Rick volunteer to fix that damn seismic detector, and now…”
“You don’t know what you’re going to tell his family?”
“Yes,” she almost shouted. She took a deep breath, and her eyes watered, shedding a few tears. “How am I supposed to look them in the eye, and tell them that it was my fault, that if I had only—”
“Sshhh,” Mark said, hushing her. He gave her a warm, tight hug, and eagerly she returned the gesture. “Hey, it’s okay. Governing this colony has never been an easy job. Every day, you carry such a massive burden. And you can never afford to show any weakness. But you know what?”
“What?”
Gently, he pulled away a little. With one hand, he cupped the back of her neck, then pressed his forehead. “As long as I’m alive, you’ll never have to carry that burden alone.” He kissed her, then stroked her cheek. “So whenever you’re overwhelmed, whenever you need to vent, never hesitate to lean on me.”
She smiled, then kissed him back. A blissful, euphoric sensation bloomed in her chest. What would I ever do without him?
“And oh…” he said, scratching his head. “About the mission, about how I stressed you out–”
“Mommy! Daddy!” John called, running into the kitchen.
Her eyes widened, and she knelt to his level. “What’s the matter, sweetie?”
“Luke keeps saying that Vaelar is stronger than Khalun,” John said. “But he’s not. He’s not.”
She rolled her eyes, then laughed. Kids and their holo-shows…
Mark smiled, then put one hand on John’s shoulder. “How about we watch an episode, and see just who’s stronger?”
John smiled, and her heart melted at the sheer joy in her son’s eyes. “Oh, yes! Yes, daddy, yes.” John grabbed his father’s hand, then led him toward the living room.
Mark laughed, then looked back at her, smiling. “Well, you coming?”
Briefly, she remained still. Didn’t she have a lot of reports to get through? A lot of messages to send to her colleagues? Work can wait. Yes, she would not neglect her family, not like her own father.
She smiled. “Oh, why not?”