Here Comes Earth: Emergence (25 page)

All
in all it had been a pleasant and thought provoking evening.

We
were in yet again some type of outdoor market; people were clearly making
transactions of some kind. Some goods were being exchanged but it still felt
more like a giant tea party than it did a marketplace.

In
one sense the Stigerian people didn’t really know how to respond to us because
we didn’t have bioware; without it they couldn’t identify us or sense us
coming. We would walk through the crowd, if you could call it a crowd, and
experience the normal shuffle and accidental bumping of bodies.

Tunica
seemed to have a slightly easier time, probably because with her bioware other
people both sensed
and
saw her coming.

The
Coridians, however, also had bioware and it caused the Stigerians to act very
differently; people made way for them.

The
Stigerians didn’t lower their eyes or bow or show any other signs of
subservience but just the same the deference was there.

When
I finally realized that we weren’t going to get a true Stigerian response as
long as Toni was with us I asked her to accompany some other members of the
team as they were spreading out on foot across the city. She understood. I
think.

Tunica
was introducing us to a merchant or friend that was sitting at a small round
table outside of what I would swear was a coffee shop. Maybe it was because
alien males were slightly effeminate and he was sitting at a small round table
that I had a sudden vision of a French street café. Anyway he seemed politely
interested in where we came from and didn’t try to sell me anything.

I
had just mentioned that I recognized the soft music coming from the café and that
Tunica actually reminded me of the girl in that Chevy van; she was in mid-laugh
when a searing sliver of light shot out from between her breasts. Her face
registered not pain but confusion as she looked down at the already dying flame
that was coming from the charred nickel sized hole in her chest.

She
hadn’t hit the ground before a similar hole was burned squarely in the middle
of Dr. Tanaki’s chest.

There
was no time to think and I grabbed Julie’s arm and dragged her to the ground
with me. All hell was breaking loose around us. People were dropping like flies
and I had no idea who was shooting at us.

I
knew we were being shot at because you could hear the little burps that must
have been the plasma bolts being fired from some type of gun but I still
couldn’t see who was doing the shooting.

Just
then an unbearably brilliant flash of light came from the end of the valley and
was accompanied momentarily by what sounded like a massive sonic boom. I
realized immediately that this was originating from several miles above the
city just about where we’d landed our ship.

I
truly thought we were going to die. You see the visualizations in the movies of
an atomic blast; light so intense that you see images through your eyelids. We literally
bounced with the shock wave that must have broken every piece of glass in the
city and in the small moment separating the shock wave and the firestorm the
only thing I could think of was pulling Julie’s arms and legs tighter
underneath me.

The
heat wave arrived but didn’t melt our skin away. I looked up and through the
afterimage still blurring my vision I saw that there was no mushroom cloud.

No
one was left standing. Correction; less than a hundred yards from us someone dressed
in black was staggering back to their feet. I couldn’t make out exactly what he
was holding in his left hand but it sure as hell wasn’t a First-Aid kit.

I
have always been blessed to make quick decisions; events don’t paralyze me. I
quickly pulled some glass from Julie’s hairline and checked to make sure she
was ok and then urged her along with me as we crawled away from the gunman at
an oblique angle.

We
had just reached the closest building in our path when my earpiece chirped and
I heard the sweet voice of
Iron
Jaw
issuing instructions. “Ok everybody listen up. Our
communications may be compromised so use only for emergency. We have three
gunmen on foot inside the city boundaries acting independently of each other. Able
Team, I want you to help shepherd all our civilian team members to the side of
the city we designated south. Find a structure to secure everyone in but do not
announce your position. Baker Team, form a defensive front between that side of
the city and the gunmen’s most likely approach. Charley Team, take those
bastards out. Reynolds out.”

∆∆∆

Shit.

Major
Reynolds and the rest of the military team had given us what I thought was a
pretty standard speech just before we disembarked from the ship. It included
procedures for getting lost or getting hurt. It also included the arbitrary
appointment of directional coordinates.

Shit.
Shit. Shit.

Our
designated point of rendezvous and sanctuary was due south. The problem was we
were on the ‘north’ side of the city.

I
knew that we weren’t totally alone; there had been other team members
relatively close to us when the shooting had started… if they were still alive.

From
the corner of the building I looked back to find our stalker. I was just in
time to watch him lob some type of explosive into the area we’d just crawled
away from. The blast was accompanied by a few screams and I ducked my head as
debris rained down around me. As I raised my eyes three people – I couldn’t
tell if they were Stigerians or Earthers – stood and ran.

He
reacted instantly and fired from the hip; his gun burped three times in quick succession.
Scarier to me than his reaction time was the accuracy of his shooting. He
didn’t miss.

Our
gunman started walking in our direction again and I looked around for anything
I could defend myself with. I grabbed a baseball sized piece of rock or building
that must have come dislodged and tried to figure out what possible good it
could do me.

I
looked over at Julie and almost panicked when I saw all the blood running down
the side of her face. Then I remembered the glass I had cleared and that scalp
wounds always bleed like crazy and look worse than they really are. She wasn’t
panicking and she calmly told me she’d be fine. In a way that I don’t think I’d
ever be able to explain to anyone she looked more beautiful right then than I’d
ever seen her. All I know is that I had an overwhelming urge to protect her.

I
looked around for another place to retreat to but the nearest other building
was across a large stretch of open ground. I doubted we could make it before
our assailant rounded the corner and gunned us down.

I
realized I was hyperventilating just as I saw the most amazing thing. From what
must have been a suicidal 30 yards behind him one of our military popped up
from behind a trellis and some broken chairs and started sprinting full speed
towards the back of the armed gunman.

It
was like time had slowed to a crawl; I was frozen in place.

20
yards.

I
think the gunman saw me; he stopped walking and stared in my direction.

10
yards.

I
had just recognized Lt Jerry Pearson from Major Reagan’s security staff; arms
pumping; totally focused on reaching the gunman before…

The
gunman must have heard him; he spun around and the gun burped. Lt Pearson’s
momentum slid his lifeless body to a stop just a few feet away from his enemy.

At
that same moment two things happened. I stood up and launched my rock – Julie
later told me I’d screamed a primal yell through the entire sequence – and
racing in from the left side of my vision was yet another one of our military
boys.

Every
athlete experiences rare moments of perfect clarity and perfect performance.
It’s almost like time was standing still as my arm projected the rock. I don’t
remember the wind-up; I don’t even remember the throw. I just willed the rock
to be there smashing up against the side of our assailant’s head.

I
never would have believed such velocity was possible and it could have been
lethal had it hit, but I missed.

It
did come close enough though to cause the little puke to jerk his head back and
throw off his aim – his plasma bolt missed Lt Henderson who pummeled him to the
ground and beat the holy snot out of the little bastard.

∆∆∆

There
were a lot of dead Stigerians. The Noridian attackers (that’s who we’d
determined them to be) had been indiscriminate to anyone in their path with the
exception of the two remaining Coridians on the planet. Captain Silva, Semi,
and her first
protégée were at the retreat leaving only Selika (the second protégée)
and Toni on Stiger.

In Toni’s case literally every living being
within a 100 yard radius of her had been slaughtered yet she’d never been
targeted.

Every Stigerian that worked on the same floor
that the Noridian captive was being held was massacred yet Selika was found
untouched, semi-hysterical in a corner.

It turns out that The Accord had some strict
prohibitions about Dynasty members killing each other off and although the
occasional ‘accident’ might be overlooked wholesale slaughter was frowned upon.

That
same prohibition however did not apply to non-dynasty, non-protected, planet
bound cultures like the Stigerians; or Earthers for that matter.

That
is not to say that open conflict against defenseless non-dynasty cultures was common
or accepted without cost. In galactic culture force, even when used against the
non-dynasty masses, was seen as a failure of leadership and carried a cost in
respect from other dynasties. It was only used when the best interests of the
dynasty were truly at stake. So although this slaughter was very rare it
wouldn’t raise any eyebrows and the Noridians weren’t setting any precedents.

To
me it seemed like a really fucked-up way to run a galaxy.

∆∆∆

Major
‘
Iron Jaw’
Reynolds
was very lucky to be alive.

The
Noridian weapons were apparently tied-in with their bioware such that they
‘saw’ targeting solutions instantaneously. He had been dodging obstacles at a
full run when a plasma bolt, surely aimed at him, had passed through something
(or someone) else first either deflecting or slowing it slightly. The result
was a deep flesh wound to the left side of his abdomen that had actually scored
a rib; which he promptly broke when he fell to the ground.

The
butcher’s bill for our side was horrendous.

One
hundred and eighty-three Stigerians and twenty-three of the Earth Team were
dead. There were a large number of wounded but the majority of them were
superficial, the results of flying glass or debris. With the exceptions of Lt
Henderson, whom they missed because of my rock, and
Iron Jaw
, whom they wounded, every one of
their targets suffered kill shots.