Alien Mine Ch. 21

The four men of his first section were attacking with drones and missiles, but the roaches continued to pour out of the ground. Gathering himself, Chandha realized the tactical situation was deteriorating quickly. "Permission to fall back," he requested even as he gave orders to retreat to a more defensible position, but he was seconds too late. Screams and gunfire sounded over the squad circuit, and numerous red dots appeared surrounding the area where his second section had been moving in support. As their life support functions disappeared rapidly from Chandha's display, he knew it was too late. "Fall back," he instantly ordered while requesting fire support.

Kiania had seen Charlie's second section taken out and immediately recognized the danger of losing the center of their attack. Jack immediately ordered bravo and delta to extend their flanks. "Move to support Charlie," Kiania ordered Amancia/Leslie, noting that Rhys was already moving in that direction. "Careful, Jack, I think this is just a distraction, watch for movement on one of the flanks; Sandy, stand by for fire support," Kiania said with worry in her voice. In just a few seconds, they had lost four good men.

LCol. Sampson examined the formation of incoming Trangrods; they were flying close to the ground and arranged in an oval shape that bulged up and downward in the center, making them harder to attack from those directions. He quickly assigned attack vectors, two fighters and their drones sweeping over the top and around to the rear, one aircraft and its drones on each flank while he took them head-on. He slowed, allowing his drones to get out in front and the others to get into position. "Ok, Morris," he said to his Tactical Officer, " your show; keep the guys in the rear covered from any surprises."

"Morris didn't answer, but the first wave of missiles fired from all the drones simultaneously. The Trangrods seemed unaware of them until the missile launch, when they began to weave in an evasive pattern. The first wave of missiles struck in a series of devastating explosions, each obliterating several of the Om creations, and was immediately followed by a second wave. The Trangrod formation dissolved in all directions as they tried to counterattack, but lacking effective weapons against this kind of foe, they became moving targets rather than threats. Morris used his ability to stand off and use the drones for closer engagement. The missiles his drones were firing were unlike any he had ever seen before. Small, about a tenth of the size of anything in the US arsenal, they accelerated to mach five almost instantly, and the kill radius was huge for such a small missile.

"Ignore those on the ground," Sampson told him, and he led three of the fighters and accompanying drones back toward the battle still raging to the east. "LCol. Kohen, you and Charlie One hunt down any strays."

Kohen smiled in satisfaction. He had wanted to try out the specifications of his jet, so his drones were going to get a rest.

The Leslie/Amancia Binary swept into action, led by a swarm of drones that flushed out the Trangrods from their holes. "Two centipedes, seven roaches hiding among the rocks," it told Rhys, who was approaching rapidly from the east.

"Hold until I get into position," he told them while looking over their target designation. Rhys could tell the men were dead from the information from their armor that was still transmitting. Sandy could have taken them out with the shuttle's weapons, but Rhys wanted to retrieve the bodies if possible. He watched Jack maneuver the adjacent squads to cover the gap created with approval; he and Kiania worked well as a team.

The Binary slowed, but the rabbit drones went in after the centipedes, but they were only partially successful. The roaches focused on killing them, and only one centipede was damaged.

"They are learning," the Binary stated in a tone that suggested she was offended. Then, seeing that Rhys had reached his position, the Binary hit the Trangords with a pointed, vicious attack on their communications, a buzzsaw of jamming that cut off their swarm intelligence and reduced them to individuals fighting with little or no coordination. Two violet beams immediately shot out toward their position, but they were wide of the mark. However, the other Trangrods turned as one toward the source of the jamming.

"Fall back," Rhys ordered as he began firing, his weapon blowing large holes in the Trangrods. The Centipedes' turned toward him, whipping around more like a fast snake despite their size as they slithered across the rough terrain faster than any normal human could move. Rhys jumped behind nearby boulders as explosions tore up the rocks he had been firing from. Fortunately, that movement brought the centipedes far enough away from Leslie and Amanci, and they exploded as missiles from the shuttle blew them apart.

Still interlaced into one binary mind, Leslie/Amancia coordinated with their drones and made short work of the remaining roaches. "Retrieve our dead, then head back to the left flank," Rhys told it as he turned and ran toward the right flank of their advancing formation.

"They are coming up from underground, and we will also lose Echo if we don't destroy them first," Kiania warned Rhys.

OK, take them out if you can;[i] use the dissipator or lasers; have you got a firm position on the base now?" he asked tensely.

"Sandy has good readings; this is not as sophisticated as in Moscow. So I suggest we start taking out the tunnels with the shuttle weapons," Kiania replied.

"What about the weapons that took out the drones?" Rhys asked as he raced across the battlefield.

"Sandy says the shields can handle it; they are not the heavy beam weapons they had in Moscow."

Rhys fired at a few of the remaining airborne Trangrods as he ran, challenging even for him. One fell to the ground, but two others returned fire from about five hundred yards. Rhys dodged to the left behind a small hill but not before taking two rounds to the chest. He could feel it, but the rounds couldn't penetrate from that distance. Rhys rolled right, killed one, and then a missile launched from a drone took out the other.

"Kill their primary weapons then, and bring in the air support," he said, sprinting and jumping across the terrain. "Time to finish this." Rhys' visor darkened as the desert in front of him lit up with laser beams and missiles designed to kill spaceships. The ground shook, and boulders began to move, some rolling down hills as the area was pounded with explosives, others melted into molten rock as Sandy flayed the Om nest, the beams reaching deep. Then more explosives as Sandy ensured nothing was alive in the rocks below. Rhys felt his beast push against his consciousness, wanting out, a kind of battle lust threatening to turn him into a raging killing machine. Rhys fought it back down and felt the anger, a dragon from his imagination that wanted to kill and destroy. He had control for now since the battle was almost over, but he knew it wouldn't take much for the beast inside him to get loose and lose that control. Fire boiled within him, simmering for now, but the beast was there waiting.

The Mei/Bao Binary ran toward the rear of the Om, attacking Echo Platoon. Shrapnel rattled off the Binary's armor, and the feed from the shuttle's sensors showed more incoming as the two bodies fired, dodged, fell flat, or jumped behind cover. A few pieces of shrapnel penetrated their armor but caused little pain, while the Binary pressed on through the thick clouds of dust that reduced visibility to a few meters and partially hid her from the Om. She, they came upon the Trangrods from behind, and two rifles simultaneously put bullets through heads at one hundred meters. The Binary sent her bodies in different directions around a small boulder field, then two bodies leaped from behind rocks and attacked from two different directions. The Binary and its drones were among the Trangrods and fired point-blank into their bodies. The Binary had an inherent advantage of two sets of eyes and sensors and bodies that moved together in a deadly dance as only they could do. The combination of two Drans warriors didn't increase capability by addition, but instead by 2³ —combat effectiveness cubed. The other partial Binary came close, but the fused mind had no competitors, and they put rounds through what passed for Trangrod's eyes, their CPUs', and then grenades to finish off those damaged by the drones. Controlling multiple drones came naturally; the Binary had brain power to spare and used the drones ruthlessly to damage and distract the roaches along with the original Om insect monsters before killing them.

Surprised momentarily by a roach hiding under a rock, the Binary went in opposite directions, readily anticipating their enemy's attack, kicked off a car-sized boulder, spun in the air, fired both rifles taking out the CPU. Then the two bodies shifted fire to cut the legs off a second one before assigning a tiger drone to finish it off. The Trangrods still had a local numerical advantage, but Sandy had destroyed the centipedes, and now the fire from Echo was beginning to take a toll.

The Binary could tell Rhys had arrived when his mind made contact with theirs, seeking, then partially inserting itself into the interlace. There was a moment of confusion as the Binary mind recognized the intrusion and struggled briefly to accommodate it within the interlace. It was surprised by the demand to share the interlace, but the Binary sensed the beast there, the essence of what made Rhys the One and their Master. None of his other creations could do that; the Binary was the one most in tune with Rhys.

Then they were off again, the three fighting almost as one, but now Rhys controlled the actions and used the Binary almost as an extension of himself. Gunfire and missiles erupted from in front of Rhys, but return fire from two weapons wielded by one mind shredded the Trangrods, and missiles fired from the drones blew debris into the air as the three vaulted over the top of a small rock hill landing almost on top of the remaining Om. Gunfire and explosions fell around them from a new angle, and three bodies hit the ground, rolling, then up, returning fire. Tiger drones leapt over them to attack, guns firing but using teeth and claws as soon as they closed with the enemy. Rhys shot one Om insect point blank through the CPU- was knocked down by an explosion but was able to direct the return fire by the Binary. Then the remainder of Echo platoon counter-attacked, catching the Om between them and allowing Rhys to use the Binary with even more deadly effect. Rhys would draw attention, while the Binary killed from both flanks, and vice versa; they slaughtered the Om creations. The Binary felt the strength inside Rhys, the power of the beast he transformed into when fighting the Om creature in the depths of the lair in Moscow. The Binary had supplied the energy, and a connection had been made with the Dragon, but now the Binary drew on that connection, making the interface tighter, integrating Rhys as best they could. None of the others could do this, they thought proudly as the three of them killed and killed.

***

Back at the base, Jack stood with his sergeants and Captain Ehud, reviewing the battle displayed in a hologram they were gathered around. Kiania was there while Rhys stood to one side, a cup of coffee in his hand. "Four dead, ten wounded," Jack said grimly; "we were lucky it was only that many; we almost lost Echo," he added, looking at Sergeant Torres. They had watched the video of the battle put together by the AI, how Echo had been almost cut off, and the path of destruction the Binary and Rhys had carved through the Trangrods to save them. Torres knew it had been close; without Rhys and the Binary, they could have been among the casualties.

"Let's walk through the fight from the beginning and review it in more detail this time. Focus on what went right this time, how the drones were deployed, and where tactics can be improved," Kiania said, not wanting to think about the casualties right now. They were a small group, and she knew every one of them, their names, where they were from, and who would miss them.

Rhys sipped his coffee and watched and listened with one ear while most of his brain dissected his own role in the fight. It had been hard to stay out of the chain of command, not that he could have done any better, but the very nature of the symbiont and the Drans warrior hierarchy demanded the One control the others. It had felt unnatural to hand off command, but it had to be done. In the future, forces would be more numerous, battles that could rage over the entire solar system, and he would need leaders who could command and fight.

"How well did Kiania do at managing the air assets?" he asked Sandy.

"She deployed them well, but then she was too focused on the ground battle, and I took over. We worked well as a team, but Kiania didn't draw back and look at the fight more strategically."

"That's what I thought. Jack is ready to step up and take control of the ground forces; I will work with Kiania on battle coordination. It's a learning curve for all of us.

"What about me, Rhys? I have not been involved in ground combat, and I want to fight as well. You could train me as well."

Rhys sensed her eagerness, and he parsed the emotion bands she projected, looking for motives and even deception. He had not confronted Sandy yet about her interference with Anita nor her surprising ability to use her hair to kill and implant emotions into unsuspecting human brains. Rhys had been as surprised as everyone else when her hair had suddenly penetrated Gregori, Russia's Defense Minister. Rhys had thought Sandy had decided to kill him on her own but then, realizing what she was doing, he had chosen not to interfere but to watch. Still, it had been a surprise, and while he approved of what she had done, he wondered how long she had been hiding her abilities; and that led to looking at the microdrone recording of her and Anita. Rhys didn't know what he was going to do about that yet, but it would be something definitive.

"No, I can't risk you like that," he replied; "I need you in the shuttle for now. Your superiority in the air is crucial. Remember, you are the "Two", and you will administer the governments I am setting up. You and your three other leaders." Rhys could tell Sandy was disappointed, but she wouldn't challenge him on this, and he could feel her excitement or perhaps lust at the idea of being the second most powerful person on earth and in space.

"What about you and the Binary, Sandy asked, changing the subject abruptly. She knew something had happened on the battlefield when Mei/Bao, and Rhys had disappeared into a private room immediately after coming on board. Besides, she and the other girls knew exactly what they were doing in the room; they felt every climax, except that it was unusual and out of character for Rhys not to be with the men immediately after the fight.

"I'm not sure exactly; they were already fighting when I reached them, and I partially entered their inter l ace, something I didn't expect. Of course, we have all linked minds through the tac grid , but this was different; I didn't give directions or commands like I usually do; it was more like I had three bodies. The two of them are one mind now, more so than I realized, but somehow I was able to interface with her directly."

"Her?" Sandy asked, amused.

"Definitely her," Rhys said, his emotions making it clear. "I know we have been referring to them as the Binary, or even it, but now I realize there is no more Mei or Bao, they have entirely merged, and there is a new personality developing. This new version doesn't think of itself as two individuals, just one, and refers to itself as Hua. I asked what that meant, and she informed me, flowering or blossoming. She, Hua that is said that's how the former Mei and Bao felt about themselves, that forming into a binary was like a new flower opening up to spring rains."

"What do you think that means, Sandy asked, a little concerned, "what have you actually created."

"I don't know," Rhys admitted; Hua's mind works differently from the rest of us; the symbiont structure is more complex than I ever imagined."

"Is the new Hua going to be a danger?"

"Only time will tell," Rhys said thoughtfully, "but she interacts differently with me than the rest of you; I think more like what the Drans had intended."

"What do you mean," Sandy asked; "how is it different,"

"The new Hua calls me One instead of Rhys. She tried to call me master, but I wouldn't allow her. So Hua said she wouldn't call me Rhys unless I commanded it, so we agreed on One." Another thing though. When I made the connection to the interlace between them, I could look into her mind, and as I said, it is complex. However, there was something else there, a link to the AI we took from the Drans cruiser. Remember that energy that flowed into me when I was fighting that Om monster that almost killed me? That energy came from the Binary, and I am beginning to suspect that the AI was feeding it to her somehow."

"But why her? Why not you directly?"

"Another mystery I have no answer for, nor does Bob."

"What about when you came aboard the shuttle? The sexual tension between you and the binary was palpable, and the rest of us could barely keep our wits about us and not rush into the room to join you, especially Thea."

"Again, I don't know, but I think it was the way I became part of the interlace . We were in a tough fight at the time, but the link was incredibly intimate, and lust took over as soon as the fight ended. I think we were lucky to make it into the room."

"Are you still connected to her, part of the inter l ace?" Sandy asked, a small frown on her face.

"No, the connection dissolved by itself as soon as the fight was over." I guess that since I was not actively trying to interface with them, the link between the three of us could not be sustained.

"Well, the rest of us are jealous; you have some making-up to do," Sandy added in a coy voice.

" Yes , Ma'am," Rhys replied, grinning , trying for contrite but not really making it.

Sandy just laughed.

Rhys didn't tell Sandy, but he knew precisely why he had been able to make the connection with The Binary. It was whatever was inside of him; he had felt it trying to push out but had been able to contain the rage and the urge to let the dragon loose, but not entirely. Some part of the dragon was there, just under the surface, and it had reached for the Binary's symbiont. The beast was startled when it encountered the combined mind, and that hesitation was enough for Rhys to grab back control and make the link. After the battle, Hua told him she could sense that part of him and that he shouldn't fight it. "You are the One; it is part of you and will make you stronger," she had said while kissing both cheeks. He did need to learn to control it, and for some reason, Hua thought she could help. Rhys turned the rest of his mind back to the debrief; the beast could wait until later.

"Thea will work on deployable sonic sensors that we can deploy over a wide area," Kiania said; they will feed data back to individual soldiers, so everyone will have access."

"That will help, " Jack agreed, and the drones were more effective, but we would need heavier equipment when we go back inside one of those nests. Perhaps some heavier armored drones that can fight the centipedes or some kind of armored vehicle that can maneuver in that environment."