Falkirk and the rest of the group proceeded to outfit themselves with armor and weapons. There was a wide variety in the group, not because of any order, but because of personal preference. The spectrum of TG-10’s, flamethrowers, and assorted other weapons would allow for an effective response to any threat. After this quick session, Carlisle proceeded to lead the group to a hangar, housing a reasonably ordinary looking Concorde II. Falkirk was instantly suspicious.
“This is the most versatile aircraft in the world.” Carlisle said, an air of mystery to the claim.
“What? It looks like an ordinary Concorde II to me.” Valmont replied.
“Let me take you aboard, as see if you change your mind. I have a feeling that you will.” Carlisle retorted.
The group, fully clad in armor and weapons, proceeded to board the aircraft. The stairs leading up to the door were narrow, difficult for the group to climb. Going up one at a time, they entered the plane. Falkirk was first, surveying the area normally reserved for passengers.
Instead of the normal rows of seats, there were a dozen chairs mounted to the outer walls of the aircraft. All had straps, clearly restraints for the personnel that they were designed to hold. Besides that fact, there seemed to be nothing unique about the aircraft, a fact that disappointed Falkirk. Then, Carlisle began to speak.
“Ladies and gentlemen, then S-1, the first ground-launched aircraft capable of breaking the atmosphere and going into space.” Carlisle claimed, grandly.
“Wow!” Falkirk heard Valmont say from the front of the aircraft. “Alan, get up here and take a look at this cockpit!”
Falkirk brushed past the rest of the group, and into the cockpit. Not only were there all of the controls that a standard plane would have, but additional controls for vertical acceleration; use in space. The plane was more like a space shuttle than a jet, Falkirk decided. Then, a flash of inspiration hit Falkirk.
“Lieutenant, what is the cargo capacity of this plane?” Falkirk asked.
“Well, it’s not so much the volume, but the weight being transported. Say over a dozen metric tons and you might be in trouble.” Carlisle said.
“Could we possibly fit a good sample of the alien ship into here?” Falkirk asked.
“Well, I’m really not sure. This aircraft is still in the testing stages, and final load capacity really hasn’t been finalized yet. I’m sure that you could fit a decent sized sample.” Carlisle said.
Falkirk gave Valmont a knowing look. Valmont nodded his head, and Falkirk did at nearly the same moment.
“Can we borrow this plane for, say, twelve hours?” Valmont asked.
“Gentlemen, if you two are thinking of flying this plane yourselves, I can’t allow you to. You need a pilot trained in upper-atmosphere flying, and he should be here tomorrow morning.” Carlisle said, protectively.
“Captain Valmont and I are both certified in upper-atmosphere flying. We’ve been over twenty-five miles up in our test piloting, and I promise that we won’t take her any higher than that.” Falkirk said in a reassuring voice.
“Well, assuming that you are certified, I was instructed to give you full access to our equipment. Just be careful, this plane is still in the testing stages!” Carlisle said, looking a little bit happy that her hard work would finally see the light of day.
Valmont and Falkirk moved into the pilot’s and co-pilot’s seats, respectively, while the others took seats in the back of the aircraft. Carlisle, after helping the other members of the unit into their seats, quickly exited the aircraft, shutting and sealing the door behind her. A minute later, the plane lurched up, pointing at a forty-five degree axis towards the far side of the hangar. Then, Falkirk looked towards Valmont with a worried look.
“Scott, aren’t we under a mile of water?” Falkirk asked worriedly.
A second later, a section of wall split open, and a large concrete tunnel was revealed. Falkirk could see water splashing into the tunnel from the top; clearly, it led to the surface of the ocean. Falkirk and Valmont were slammed back into their seats, and Falkirk heard a roar that sent chills down his spine.
Not the roar of a jet engine. The roar of a rocket.
The plane lurched forwards from the pad that had been holding it earlier, leaving nothing but a dark streak on the concrete floor.
The plane was screaming towards the surface now. Falkirk watched the digital speedometer tick past one hundred, two hundred, three hundred. The plane shot out of the tunnel, and into the darkness of the night. The trail of flame coming from the engines winked out, the rockets cutting off and the jet engines coming on, pushing the plane the rest of the way to it’s cruising speed, close to two and a half times the speed of sound.
Falkirk watched as Valmont turned the plane towards the Middle East, Egypt, more specifically. The plane, and its crew, were about to have a close encounter of the third kind.
* * *
Falkirk cut the engine to the plane. Swooping through the air like a silent raven, the plane’s lading gear softly caressed the runway that Falkirk and Valmont had left only twelve hours ago. It was still dark in the sky, although the sun would be rising soon. Just after 4 AM, Middle Eastern Standard Time, thought Falkirk, checking his watch. The unit had to move quickly, there was no time to spare.
“Alright everyone, let’s get moving!” Falkirk yelled. The group took off their seatbelts, scrambling out of their seats, and donning their weapons and armor. After the plane stopped moving, the group descended the ladder, first Velez, then Simon, Dunn, Martinez, Ericson, and finally Valmont. Falkirk was the last, observing the spectacle of the crash scene that was the alien craft.
It dominated the rest of the base. The commander’s office, living quarters, and mess hall were all crushed under the bulk of the ship, or incinerated by the exploding jet fuel tanks. The ship looked to be at least two hundred feet in length, and perhaps fifty feet wide at its widest point. The only evidence that a military base had even existed previously were the remaining runway and hangars.
“Everyone, pair up. That means one group of three. Simon, Dunn, you’re with me. I want Valmont and Martinez together, and Velez and Ericson. We don’t know what to expect, but I want everyone in combat readiness at all times. I don’t want anyone getting themselves killed. Watch your own back, as well as that of your partner’s. Understood?” Falkirk yelled.
“Yes sir!” Came the booming reply.
Falkirk, Simon, and Dunn ran forwards, using the burnt out hulks of the buildings as cover to close in. They approached the alien ship quickly, the fleshy mass still intact.
Falkirk tried to use the claws on the armor to dig through the tough flesh, but quickly realized that using the claws was futile. The thick flesh was simply too durable.
“Step back, Captain, I’ve got this one covered.” Dunn said.
Falkirk stepped back as he watched the pilot light on Dunn’s flamethrower go on. The large gun spewed pressurized jelly, and as the flame licked the stream leaving the gun, a wave of heat swept outwards. The lance of flame stabbed out from Dunn’s location, melting and burning through the skin like a hot knife through butter.
Very quickly, the skin revealed the odd yellowish metal that could be seen at other locations around the ship. Keeping the pressure on, Falkirk saw that Dunn’s wave of flame was melting through the yellow metal, which began slagging off, running on to the pavement. After a few seconds, the metal was sufficiently weakened and a small hole, big enough for a person to enter, was created.
“Dunn, I want you to cut through other parts of the craft, for the other groups. Simon and I will advance, you stay with the last group.” Falkirk said. Dunn nodded, and ran to meet up with the other group. His flamethrower lit up again, revealing portions of the darkened airbase.
“Simon, let’s go. Be ready for anything.” Falkirk said, stepping into the small hole.
Jumping down into the craft, Falkirk realized that the crash must have forced a portion of the alien ship under the surface. Falkirk looked up, and saw Simon jumping down into the hole as well. Weapons ready, the two treaded lightly but slowly towards the interior of the craft, the vision provided by their armor allowing them to see walls that would normally have been invisible in the dark.
Looking at the patterns of the walls, Falkirk found that the ceilings were very low, almost too small for the two to get through. The walls were made out of the same strange yellowish metal as on the outside of the craft, except the walls had an almost polished look to them. Falkirk and Simon continued down the hall in silence, until reaching an intersection. The intersection led two ways, one was very small, that only a small child could fit through by walking, and certainly not two full-grown men in body armor.
Falkirk gestured to the right, the way that was not so cramped. The two continued walking, so absorbed in their surroundings that Falkirk did not even realize that he had an object in his path until he tripped over it.
A solitary figure, no more than a foot and a half tall was picking itself up. Falkirk stood back up, looking at the oddly shaped alien. It looked towards the two men, and emitted a high-pitched shriek, the armor’s sound dampers protecting Falkirk and Simon from permanent hearing damage. It was very difficult to make out, but it appeared that the alien had two swordlike blades extending from its elbows, in place of where a human would have forearms. The only part of the alien that did not seem to be made out of a black chitinous material were its piercing yellow eyes. The alien appeared to be bipedal, and seemed to have a movement style and range of motion similar to that of a human. The face had no distinguishable features, and the head above the eyes was flat, tapering back into a point, as opposed to the rounded dome of a human head. The alien looked as if it were designed to be an effective predator.
Simon laughed at the tiny creature, walking over to it. Lifting his foot and bringing it down quickly, his heel crunched through the alien, the actuators on his leg armor aiding in the crushing. The remains of the alien lay on the floor, landing with a sickening splat.
Falkirk couldn’t keep his laughter in. Simon chuckled, both feeling relieved at the discovery of the nature of the alien “threat”. Then, a shrill shriek, like the one that previously emanated from the now-dead alien echoed across the hallway. Then another, and another. The number seemed infinite.
“Oh shit.” Falkirk said quietly.
The two men ran back to the intersection, where they had a method of retreat back to the surface. They then saw thousands upon thousands of the tiny black aliens rushing towards them in a frenzy. Falkirk and Simon’s TG-10’s lit up, spraying a wall of ten- millimeter explosive and serrated shells into the alien horde.
The serrated shells did little good, lodging in the armor of the aliens, or simply bouncing off. The explosive rounds did little as well, the aliens seeming to have an almost unnatural resistance to the shock of the explosions. The mass continued towards them, little more than twenty feet away now, and closing quickly.
“Fall back!” Falkirk yelled, dumping the explosive ammunition and reloading it with hollow-point rounds as he ran. Simon jumped out of the opening that they had made in the ship, and Falkirk followed.
“Put some incendiary rounds in!” Falkirk yelled again.
Falkirk finished reloading and set the gun to fire at its maximum rate, spraying round after round into the mass. The hollow-point shells seemed to have a drastic effect of the aliens; those with rounds stuck in their joints were having their limbs and heads sheared off by the mushrooming effect that the shells gave. However, the hundreds of aliens that still remained began to claw their way up the metal and out of the opening.
Simon finished loading his incendiary rounds, and pointed his gun down into the opening. The incendiary shells lit in midair, streaking into the chamber and creating a veritable furnace inside of the alien ship. The aliens roasted inside of their chitinous exoskeletons, smoke coming out from their insides. Falkirk and Simon jumped back down into the opening and picked off the last few aliens that remained.
“Tom, did you notice that?” Falkirk asked.
“Notice what, Captain?” Simon responded, using proper command etiquette. “Those last few aliens didn’t retreat. It would’ve made sense for them to retreat and regroup; mount another attack. I have a bad feeling that there’s something worse in here than those little aliens.” Falkirk said.
“You might be right, sir. Do you think we ought to get the other groups and all go in together?” Simon questioned.
“I think that we have a better chance of finding whatever that thing might be more quickly in separate groups. We don’t have a lot of time, and we need to cover as much ground as possible here.” Falkirk said authoritatively. Simon nodded, agreeing.
The two walked back down the hallway that they had been proceeding down before, coming to a large hole in the floor. Falkirk and Simon looked down it. It appeared to be an eight foot drop, and Falkirk felt that the shock absorbers in the armor could handle the drop. The two jumped down into the hole, Falkirk first, and Simon following. They emerged into a large room, but before they could examine the room, Falkirk felt fear grip his heart, and his blood turn to ice.
A single mammoth alien stood, at least fifteen feet tall. While it had relatively the same physical attributes in proportion to the smaller aliens, this one had pink eyes, creating a much different effect while looking at the alien. Falkirk and Scott proceeded towards the large alien. It didn’t appear to be reacting to them, but they kept their TG-10’s at the ready.
As he walked closer, Falkirk felt a burning sensation inside of his brain. Suddenly, and image of Melody appeared in his mind. She was dead, her corpse being consumed by maggots. Falkirk’s pain grew worse as he continued towards the alien, and the image of Melody was replaced by a new image, an image of himself being crucified on a cross made out of guns. His eyes felt washed over, and he could barely keep his balance. Falkirk continued closer, no more than twenty feet away now. His headache screamed at him, at the limit of his tolerances. Another image came, an image of the earth being destroyed. It was literally torn apart into chunks, exploding, and condemned to the depths of space. Falkirk screamed, and ran at the massive alien. After getting within five feet, he stopped, as did the pain in his mind. Something was not right.
Falkirk looked back, and saw Simon, on the floor, writhing in agony, crawling away from the alien and the pain that had invaded his mind. Falkirk saw two more of his unit enter the room, Ericson and Velez. Ericson ran forward to help Scott, and as he did, Falkirk heard him scream over the radio. The screaming suddenly stopped, but Falkirk didn’t have time to think; he knew that he had to stop this new threat. Falkirk climbed the leg of the large alien, and, standing in a joint of the armor, he wheeled back, slamming his power-assisted fist into the head of the large alien.
A piece of the alien’s head shattered, creating a small hole. Falkirk shoved his
TG-10 into the hole, setting the gun to auto-fire. He pulled the trigger, jumping out of the way as the gun expended round after round into the brain of the large alien. The hollow- point rounds in the gun entered the head of the alien, causing the head to puff out like a balloon. Looking away at the last possible second, Falkirk was thrown to the ground by a massive shockwave that shook the entire alien craft.
The other three members of the unit arrived just a second later. Falkirk walked slowly over to where Ericson’s body lay, and lifted up the helmet. The inside of the helmet was covered with bone and bits of brain, indicating that his head had exploded. Falkirk fought a wave of nausea and lifted up the headless body.
“I want you to get rid of all of the alien bodies that you can’t carry with you. There’s no way that we can get this craft in the plane, so Velez, get back to the plane and contact the Egyptian government. Tell them that we want this ship marked, cut into pieces, and sent to the Pentagon by noon. Understood?” Falkirk ordered.
“Yes sir!” came the response. The rest of the group rushed off to collect bodies for experimentation. Falkirk was left carrying what remained of Ericson’s body, until he got Valmont to help him with the body. Falkirk struggled with the body, climbing up and out of the hole. However, something was on his mind, more than just the climb.
“Alan, you can’t let this get to you.” Valmont said, noting Falkirk’s discomfort. “Oh, the fact that I fucked up big time and now one of my men is dead?” Falkirk replied sarcastically.
“It wasn’t your fault, man.” Valmont reassured him. “Then whose fault is it?” Falkirk asked.
“It’s nobody’s fault. Ericson knew the risks, and that’s why he joined. That he died was an accident. It’s been done, and it can’t be undone.” Valmont said.
“Look, I’m the leader. If somebody dies, it’s because of a decision that I’ve made. As soon as I got through that field, I should’ve ordered everyone else back. The fact that I was disoriented doesn’t change the fact that Ericson is dead. I should’ve had that clarity of thought. I guess this says that I’m not really qualified to be your leader anyway.” Falkirk said, setting the body down in the back of the plane.
“Don’t second guess yourself, Captain. There’s always going to be should haves in life, but you’ve got to go with what you feel and what you know. Otherwise, I don’t know how you can get up in the morning.” Valmont said.
“I’ve never told anyone about what happened to me when I was shot down back during the Palestinian conflict. I was interrogated for days. They would put drops of water on my tongue to torture me, to give me the taste of water, but not enough to keep me from being dehydrated. I nearly cracked under the pressure, but before that happened, a Marine battalion managed to get me out. What I’m trying to say is that, you’re going through the same kind of thing right now. You’re suffering, I know, but you will make it through. Nobody’s expecting you to be a superman, we all know that you’re just like us. Everyone in this unit, though, knows that there could be no more honest, or decent man to lead this unit than you. Ericson may have died, but his sacrifice will probably save millions or billions of people, and I know that if he were alive right now, he would thank you for giving him the opportunity to be a part of this group.” Valmont said.
The two friends hugged, Falkirk feeling fortunate that he had someone as good as Valmont not only under his command, but also as a friend. The rest of the unit was returning to the plane, the light of dawn appearing just over the horizon behind them. The members of the unit reboarded the aircraft, each walking past Falkirk in turn. They looked at him, not with a look of blame, but a look of respect. Falkirk swelled with pride at the caliber of the people in his group. Falkirk spoke before going up to the cockpit.
“Well, we suffered our first casualty today. It probably won’t be our last, either. I just wanted you all to know how I feel. There’s no one that I would rather have at my side while staring death in the face than the five of you. I know that you all feel the same way, and that’s what makes us strong. That is all.” Falkirk said, hesitating before finishing.
Falkirk was barely aware of the takeoff of the plane, lost in his thoughts. Valmont said something to him that seemed distant, and that Falkirk couldn’t make out. Falkirk asked him to repeat what he had said.
“I asked you if you wanted to fly back, or if I should.” Valmont said, smiling. “I think you’ve got it under control. Take her home, Captain, take her home.”