Walking an Endless Path Pt. 03

"We're going there next. Do you know where they are?" Bennett asked.

Joe closed his eyes and pointed where he recalled feeling them.

"Well, that's not the most accurate description, but if it's all we have," the SEAL said as the thump of automatic weapon fire came from the hall.

"We're creating quite a pile of corpses out here. Can we get moving?" Grey barked.

"They're close by, or they were," Joe choked out.

"Lieutenant! Rodriguez reports they have completed the installation but are encountering significant resistance while returning to the carrier. At least two Mediators with augmented armor. They're pinned down."

"Let them know we're on our way," Grey called out.

Hack and Slash maneuvered Joe out of the room and rushed down the hall in the direction he suggested, checking each room. When they got to the last one, they found the children. Like Joe had been, they were in a cell with its gravity disabled. Tosh rushed to the controls as Joe looked through the glass at the still and tiny beings strapped into a mesh net. He counted twenty. Three were still unaccounted for.

"The children in the room are alive. Unconscious but alive," Tosh said. "There are three in the next room that... I'm sorry, Joseph. They're dead."

"We have to move people!" the lieutenant yelled from the hall.

"Get them out!" Joe said hoarsely as he looked in at his children in the mesh. Tosh opened the door and slipped inside to collect the mesh. It carefully threaded a tentacle through the top of the mesh, coiled its tentacle to make a tube with the fabric, and carried them all out of the room wrapped up protectively. They slipped into the hall and rushed back to the main corridor leading to the landing bay. Three SEALs took out the rampaging Kel-Fahr in the aisle with sniper shots. The group moved forward as quickly as possible until Bennett raised his fist. Everyone froze.

"What's that?" Bennett asked as he pointed down the long hallway. A distortion was moving towards them rapidly.

"Gravity wave! Brace yourselves!" Tosh cried out, and three more tentacles shot out of its body to press against the corridor walls and cradled the children closer to its body.

Hack and Slash lifted Joe to the center of the corridor, but the SEAL team had to fend for themselves. The wave passed, and the sailors were tossed forward, up, sideways, and down, but none lost hold of their weapon. A Kel-Fahr in Mediator armor hiding in a side corridor was launched into their midst and bounced the lieutenant off his feet. Tosh caught him around the chest with one of his tentacles as he flew by. The Mediator tumbled and crashed against the far wall... in the middle of their group. The Kel-Fahr in the suit began to scream in rage and twisted to reach its feet. Its armor plating was in place, so the SEALs had no weapons they could use at close range without hitting one of their teammates.

"Remember the bird that stole my fish on Ello?" Joe blurted.

Hack and Slash dropped Joe and brought out their weapons in one swift motion. The Mediator got on its feet and lifted its weapons but caught the dual plasma arcs from the two Tik before it could fire. Fisher and Bennett dove for cover as the arcs burned through the armor. The plasma jetted slightly out the back of the Mediator, then the Tik shut down their weapons and swooped down to pick up Joe.

"You didn't DROP me LAST time!" Joe barked. The Tik made quiet little squeaking noises as they moved to pick him up once more, but he just pushed them away.

"You okay, Lieutenant?" Fisher asked, running up to see the officer, who was being set on his feet by Tosh.

"Just some bruises. Let's get moving before another wave hits," Grey said, and the team moved out at a trot. Joe kept up as best he could before finally accepting assistance from the two Tik.

They reached the landing bay, and Bennett saw the two Mediators moving around in the large chamber. "I knew we should have taken them out when we had a chance."

Grey frowned at him and looked at Joe. "Can your friends do that cutting torch trick again?"

Joe looked at the two Mediators at opposite ends of the bay. "The space is too open. They'd never get close enough. The last time was luck."

Grey looked grim. "We'll get our people first."

Finding them wasn't difficult, and it didn't take long as they were close by. The two Mediators that had them pinned down were carving the corridor up with their arc weapons. Fires erupted and were put out by the struggling suppression systems.

"They've gone mad!" Bennett said quietly.

"Yes," Joe whispered.

Bennett looked at the man. The others did as well. Everyone went still. "How many of them?"

"Just those who survived."

Joe looked like he'd aged twenty years at that moment. A weariness clung to his soul. "I was going to take all of them into death, but two were killed nearby and broke my concentration," he croaked. "Death would be preferable to this."

Bennett shared a guilty look with the Lieutenant.

"How do we stop these two?" Fisher asked. "We have to clear a path for Rodriguez, Masters, and Halsten... and Mac," he added as he looked over at Tosh. Grey looked around the corner and saw at least two dozen dead Kel-Fahr on the hall floor.

"Anyone have any more food?" Joe asked. The energy gels increased his energy levels, but he was still exhausted and mentally worn out. The SEALs went through their pockets and presented an assortment of small protein bars and liquid energy packs. He accepted it all and ate as quickly as he could. Bennett handed him a small canteen, which he used to wash down the dry food.

"What's the plan?" Lieutenant Grey asked.

Joe reached into a tear in the wall and gripped a broken metal strut. He wrenched a four-foot section free and hefted it. He had himself an excellent pry bar. As the others watched, he jumped around the corner before the SEALs or the Tik could stop him. "Tell them not to shoot me," he said over his shoulder.

Joe walked up behind one of the Mediators as both took heavy fire from the three pinned sailors. They were aiming high to keep from hitting him. So, the message got through.

He jammed the end of the strut in the waist joint and heaved as hard as he could. There was a terrible cracking sound, and the suit was breached. He took a deep breath, pushed the pry bar deeper into the crack in the armor, and felt it squish through the Kel-Fahr inside. The suit immediately went offline.

He felt the impact of the slap and went flying through the air to slam into the corridor wall. He slumped to the floor and watched the remaining Mediator walk towards him. It seemed intent on beating him to death. That would certainly work.

Mac was suddenly behind it and pulled its feet out from under it. It went down hard on its face. Joe hoped it had been sufficiently damaged to stay down, but it began to gather its arms under itself to turn over. Mac looked at Joe as it realized it hadn't thought of what to do next.

Hack and Slash dropped on the back of the Mediator and burned through the armor to kill the Kel-Fahr. Mac released its legs and pulled back.

The three SEAL members rushed up to join the others. "Everybody good?" Grey asked as Hack and Slash lifted Joe back to his feet and returned to carrying him. "Everyone except hero boy here?"

"It worked," Joe grumbled.

"We still have to get past the remaining two Mediators in the landing bay, and I don't like your plans," Grey growled at Joe.

They double-timed it back to the landing bay and saw both Mediators had moved to the exterior entrance. They might make it to the troop carrier, but their way out of the bay was still blocked.

"Tosh and I could draw them away from the opening, and you could fly out at maximum acceleration."

"Mac! I'm carrying the children!" Tosh exclaimed.

"I'm sorry. I thought you would want to share that experience. It was most exhilarating to take the Mediator down when it attacked Joseph!"

"An experience which was almost the last in your brief life!"

"I believe it's the almost part that made it so exciting!"

"Mac! Tosh! No more suicide missions, please!" Lieutenant Grey said sharply, and the two Tik went silent.

Everyone left their feet for half a second as the ship dropped from beneath them momentarily.

"We need out soon, LT!" Rodriguez exclaimed, nervous about being in a large structure when it fell from the sky.

"I'm aware—"

The loud staccato buzz of a chain gun could be heard outside the landing bay. The Mediators literally went to pieces as they watched.

"That's an M230 on an Apache!" Halsten exclaimed with glee, and the others nodded happily as they ran for the troop carrier.

"Lieutenant Grey!" General MacAvoy's voice came through their radio.

"Yes, sir!" he replied.

"Are you all in one piece? Were you successful? Did you make the delivery?"

"Yes, sir! We're on our way out now! Thank you for the assist!"

"The Tik notified us that Joseph successfully took the Kel-Fahr mostly out of the picture. What's left is going to take time to mop up. They've asked for our help in that effort. We need as many of the Kel-Fahr troop carriers as we can get."

The SEAL team climbed onto the carrier's deck, and Hack and Slash left Joe with them. Slash slipped into the booth and began touching controls. They saw other troop carriers come online and lift from the deck all the way down the bay as all the outer doors opened along the ship. Grey smiled.

"We're bringing some with us."

"Lieutenant! The ship is opening a Gate! It... it's over the base in North Dakota. You need to get out of there and take that ship down!"

"Who's flying the ship?" Bennett asked aloud.

"They probably had the course laid in and ready to go. I heard Tyreen giving those instructions. They might even have the weaponry on automatic. They're going to crack the Earth's crust under the farm. We have to go NOW!" Joe yelled.

Slash had the carrier out the landing bay doors in an instant, and they looked back to see a stream of flying platforms following them out. Further back along the Blade of Eshen, more carriers shot free from the ship and turned in their direction. All were slaved to the controls of their vehicle.

The team looked ahead and saw an enormous mirror hanging in the sky surrounded by silver Tik. "That's our exit!"

"The Blade is MOVING!" Fisher called out.

They looked up and saw the nose of the ship touch the enormous Gate it had opened and push into the swirling blackness.

"Can we go faster?" Joe asked.

"Why is that Gate so hard to look at?" Halsten asked.

"It's not using the new equation Professor Bobrov made for the Gate technology. Those Gates are very unpleasant to go through. I've been through... many," Joe replied.

They raced up to the mirror and shot through. The Apache helicopter came through just behind them and veered off to the right. Joe followed it with his eyes, saw the farmhouse in the near distance, and felt it pull at his heart. Looking up, he saw the nose of the Blade of Eshen poking through into the space above the Think Tank.

Dozens of the carriers shot through the Gate behind them, and Slash guided them to a landing in one of Karl's fields. Joe knew his dad wasn't going to be happy about that. Strangely, that thought made him smile, and he felt slightly better.

"We can't wait any longer! Weapons are coming online in the Blade!" Tosh called out.

The silver Tik keeping their Gate open slipped back to Earth and snapped it shut. Then, they scattered as quickly as they could.

"The MicroGate is still open and receiving the signal from the package. Light it up, Mr. Halsten!" Lieutenant Grey called out, and the SEAL pulled a remote from his vest and prepared to flip open the trigger.

There was a massive thump, and the platform suddenly plummeted from the sky. The Blade had begun its attack.

The remote bounced along the carrier's deck, knocked free of the man's grip when he was slammed to the floor by the gravity wave.

A tentacle shot out and snagged the remote. Mac looked at it and back at Joe.

"Flip the red cover up and push the button!" Bennett cried out.

The Blade fired a second wave, and the carrier began tumbling out of control. Mac was slammed to the deck and sparks squirted out of several ports, but it kept a grip on the remote. It looked at Joe again, flipped up the cover, and pressed the button as it slid over the edge of the carrier's deck into the open air.

A flare of light shot through the Gate around the nose of the Blade, and it shuddered violently. The black Gate collapsed, shearing off and blasting forward the huge section of the Blade's nose on this side.

Slash struggled to restore the gravity field as the platform tumbled toward the ground below.

Tosh released its grip on the deck and flew free, the children protected in the mesh held in its tentacles. Joe saw it flying towards the farmhouse.

Hack was squealing loudly, and Joe thought it was odd for a Tik to scream as it fell from the sky. His little burst of energy from the food was done, and his grip on the carrier railing was slipping. He glanced over to take one last look at the house. He hoped his Mom and Dad were safe. He wished he could tell them how much he loved them. How thankful he was that his Dad had saved him from the Ello. How grateful he was for the love his Mom had lavished on him. He looked to the west and wished he could hug his sister one more time.

Something glinted in the sun, and suddenly, a swarm of silver Tik shot over the carrier, latched their tentacles around the limbs of the SEALs, and raced away from the falling ship.

A few tumbles later, Slash finally gave up on the carrier and shot out of the control booth. Hack grabbed Joe's left arm, and Slash snagged his right as they fled from the falling platform.

But they'd waited too long, and there was nowhere to go. Looking up, the sky was filled with falling debris from the Blade's nose section. They'd never get out from under it in time.

Hack chirped, and Slash tweeted back. They shot downwards towards the Think Tank.

Mercifully, Joe blacked out.

Chapter 31

"Papa!"

"Papa! Wake up!"

Joe cracked open a gritty eyelid and tried to focus on the voice he heard.

"Papa! Papa's awake!" Little tiny hands patted his cheek.

"rrrr- rray?" Joe croaked. He could feel Ray's joy in his mind that he knew his name. Of course, he knew Ray's name. He could feel it in the music. Ash was nearby, her pretty tones bringing him peace. She was also pleased to know he was awake. He relaxed and closed his eye again.

Tap, tap, tap. A little hand on his cheek. The eye opened again.

"BanBan wants to talk to you," Ray asserted, holding something in his tiny hand.

BanBan? "okay."

The small body crawled over his face and shoved the earpiece into his ear. There was a spike of pain, but it was gone quickly.

"—can you hear me?"

It was Director Bannon's voice.

"yes... I can hear you."

"Thank god! You're buried under tonnes of alien metal and debris, but we are making progress. We weren't sure where the Tik took you when they dove for the Think Tank. Now that we have your position, we'll get to you faster. Hang tight."

"Why are my kids in the debris?" Joe growled.

There was a sound like a chuckle at the other end. "Your parents fed the kids when they arrived at the house, and they've been clamoring to get you since then. They are perfectly adapted to moving through small spaces, can carry communication devices, and, better yet, can talk, which was a startling development. They were perfect for the job. Most of the children are still with your parents. There are only five in the debris field."

Joe reached out with his mind. Ray, Ash, Trib, Layla, and Dunc. They all hummed back at him as they made their way closer, and then the rest of his children joined the connection. His Mom and Dad were there too, surprised but present. They must be holding some of the children.

They felt him, and their concern flared when they felt how weak he was. Dunc arrived at Ray's side and pushed something against Joe's lips. Chocolate. He'd brought a chocolate bar. Joe thanked Dunc as he munched away on the bar. Once he'd swallowed the last of it, he cleared his throat.

"Where am I?" he asked Bannon.

"In the big sauna. Strongest structure in the Think Tank. Hang in there, son. We're coming."

Joe smiled and let his mind slide back into unconsciousness as his children's song soothed his mind.

-=-

It took another thirty hours for the rescue squad to reach him. The children had to return to his parent's side as the area was dangerous to be in with the Tik carving their way through the debris.

Tragically, they found Hack and Slash at the opening of the vault door. With no power remaining, they'd held the door closed during the fall of the destroyed ship section. Unfortunately, outside the vault, they weren't protected and were crushed by a huge structural beam of the falling ship. The same girder that partially collapsed the sauna. When they extracted him on a stretcher, Joe saw the dead Tik under the rubble. The sight hit him hard, and sobs racked his body until the pain took his consciousness.

They found Mac jammed between two trees in a small grove, damaged but alive. Tosh was delighted, and the two talked incessantly about their good fortune to have been chosen for the mission.

Between sessions in the new EZ Bake oven they brought in for him, Joe was placed in a ward with the recuperating SEAL team. None of them walked away from this mission without at least one broken bone. They were fortunate to have been on a craft in freefall when the gravity pulse hit.

Joe was surprised to find Sergeant Armstrong in the ward, wearing a cast from his ankle to his hip.

"What happened to you?" Joe asked when he was wheeled into the room to take the bed next to the man.

"Slipped on a bar of soap in the shower," the Sergeant growled.

"WHAT?" Joe barked in surprise.

"Nah, I wish it was that glamorous. During the initial attack, I tripped on the front porch stairs of your folks' place."

A medic looking at Joe's chart snorted. "After he pushed your parents to safety back inside the house, he leapt off the porch to tackle a Mediator. It got a shot off, hitting the sergeant's leg, but he took the Mediator down and fired three bullets at point-blank range through its face plate, killing it. From the ground, he shot and killed a second one. The lad's a hero!"

Joe's eyebrows climbed, and Craig scowled.

"Thanks for saving my folks," Joe said quietly.

"You know they're OUR folks too. It's true. We adopted them," Craig said, squirming uncomfortably.

Joe grinned, and Craig finally smiled back and nodded.

The medic pulled the curtains back, and the SEALs looked over.

"What the hell! I was specifically told this was a high-class establishment, but now we're stuck with civilians and Army?" Bennett complained.

"Hey, at least my injury came from actual combat, not just falling off a glorified serving tray!" Craig barked back.

Hoots and laughter filled the room, and Joe felt... better. These were good people, and they liked him. Maybe... maybe he was worthy of being liked.

-=-

Weeks passed, and the societies of Earth trembled as the truth was finally disclosed. We weren't alone, and none of them looked like us. The fundamentalists rabidly raised their heads and promptly had them shot off or arrested. No patience was left in the world for those who refused to accept what was plainly before them.

Amateur footage of the Blade of Eshen pushing its way into Earth's airspace, the effect of its gravity wave weapon, its ultimate destruction, and the subsequent crash of tonnes of alien ship parts onto a farmer's field in North Dakota went viral in hours. The clip was dissected frame by frame by reviewers all over the world. It was initially refuted as very imaginative computer-generated animation. These arguments began to weaken as seismic readings in the region confirmed two large, anomalous spikes. More telling was the mountain of twisted metal and other unknown materials still in that field, guarded by the very real US Military. All of the world's news agencies ran follow-up stories and confirmed the veracity of the initial video. Still, few details were offered as a special Presidential statement was being prepared. Similar addresses would be made by all of the world's major nations simultaneously.