Chapter 3

The small shuttle settles on the ground with a thud. The breathing tube falls from Cassandra’s mouth for the third time during the flight, she was trying to get used to it but so far was not doing well. Fully suited she was practically undistinguishable from the other two female soldiers, a small name tag on her left breast the only real difference, the helmet’s visor too heavily tinted to make out features.

Her rifle over her shoulder she gets up and starts helping with the heavy equipment. Ready for the doors to lower, two soldiers ready with their guns poised for any problems with the unloading.

Twelve soldiers stand on the moon’s surface 10 men and 3 women. The shuttle slowly lifts on its way back for the next load, another 8 men and the rest of the equipment. An estimated 2 hour round trip.

“Set up a gun first, if they come in large numbers we don’t have the firepower without one.” Cassandra wasn’t suited to being a sergeant, explaining her orders was something she knew she shouldn’t do but with little experience at the role she coped the best she could.

The gun was up in under ten minutes, the men worked fast showing their unease about being too conspicuous without some heavy firepower.

As the shuttle touches down for the second time most of the crates are open and the generator purring away providing power to some bright spot lights and ready to power the equipment hastily being set up. All 20 of them working hard, some concentrating on the infra-red cameras, others putting up the tents that they would be sleeping in, one soldier preparing to cook the dinner, a small gas stove boiling some water, the second gun is also ready.

Cassandra goes to the shuttle crew and confirmed they were ok to launch, in twenty hours it will be back with some of the scientists to go over the sensor records along with some more soldiers to form a search party to head into the research base Asphodel for a preliminary report on the damage and if any supplies were salvageable.

After poking at some food Cassandra heads out to the edge of the camp, with her rifle beside her she sits looking into the darkness, mountains were silhouetted against the strange glow of Jupiter behind them. The spotlights comforted her little as it reinforces the distinction of their camp from the rest of the moon. A small fragile bubble ready to be popped. She leans back stretching her arms out behind her to support herself. The sky was black with thousands of stars twinkling, the space station still visible, it would move out of sight in a couple more hours, geo-stationary orbit still problematic with Jupiter exerting so much force.

She closes her eyes trying not to think how she left the moon last time. She didn’t understand the reason for them coming back, what threat did a moon full of primitive creatures waving swords pose towards the earth. But the governments weren’t going to let this discovery be neglected and the four space stations were launched. The following 3 would reach the moon in the coming months once a base was established.

She opens her eyes and looks around, a shift in lighting of the moon caused the mountain side to ripple, her eyes adjusted to the darkness again and she saw the ripple was more of a stream cutting its way down the mountain, between and around the rocks.

She grabs the rifle and settled its scope at the movement. Through the eye piece she can make out shadows of the familiar movements of galloping aliens. Scrambling to her feet she ran into the camp and raised the alarm.

Within seconds spot-lights start sweeping through the darkness, two streams of aliens spotted crossing the landscape. Everyone stands watching with riffles raised, the range too great to start taking shots. The gun posts manned, sights swaying at the head of the approaching columns carefully assessing the range. The radio operator was giving constant updates of what his riffle scope revealed. The cook stands by his stove, the plates half washed, his rifle moving between the two lead aliens.

Cassandra positions herself on a crate resting her rifle on a stack next to her, letting the end carefully trace the head of the first column she had seen. They reach the maximum range of the riffle but shooting too soon would just waste ammo. Soon the big guns will start roaring and then they would see if the aliens would retreat or if they would have to open fire.

The aliens travel at high speed, galloping like gorillas on all fours, their flattened pieces of metal that they used like swords attached to their backs, not in any kind of sheath but simply tied in place with string that would be ripped apart leaving the sword with no place to go but into the soldiers. The columns that approach the lights ware roughly 10 aliens wide the first 50 wearing simple armour made of sheets of metal attached with straps, the hundreds following were naked.

Bullets start tearing into the crowd, some hitting armour the ringing loud, others hitting the aliens flesh, shots to the heads taking them down, those in the arms seem unnoticed and any to the legs slow them down, they move out to the sides as others ran past. Grunts can be heard from the lead and instantly the column widens now running fifty wide with more space between them than before.

The front line now filled mainly with unprotected aliens although it would still take multiple shots to the torso to take most of them down.

Cassandra had opened fire, aiming at the flanks with the gun post taking out the centre. She still couldn’t see an end to the aliens although there was no longer movement on the mountain side suggesting there was an end.

“Gunners keep to your assigned targets, radio op give last report and take up the grenade launcher, they are approaching the mine field.” The battle was focusing her, she knew what was needed, if both guns focused one group the other would swarm them. They had another 30 minutes before reinforcements would be parachuting into the area, landing the shuttle would not be possible and extraction was out of the question.

One front line entered the mine field and the anti-personnel mines took out multiple clusters but the mine field was nothing more than a scattering of a couple of dozen mines around the camp. Only three or four mines were between each group of aliens and they barely slowed the advance. Now 100 yards out the, two groups were beginning to meet, the swarm advancing like a wave.

Cassandra believes she can see the end, only a couple of hundred more but the gap is closing quickly. Grenades start to blow holes in the ranks and smoke meant Cassandra lost any sight of how deep the aliens were. The gunners swapped to their riffles needing the faster aiming to keep with the wide angle.

With another clip empty she glanced skywards as it hit the floor and another clicked in place. The shuttle was above them almost within range for a jump. With her gun reloaded, her focus went back to the aliens. Fifty feet separated her from the closest, by the time it hit the ground the new closest was only 48 feet away.

Climbing onto the higher crate she is now firing down on the approaching aliens that had slowed. She briefly thought they were hesitating, that their will had been broken but then she saw the reason for them slowing. Their weapons now held high meant they dropped to only one arm helping them gallop.

There was a thud beneath her shaking the crate. She looked down and piece of metal one had been using as a sword was poking out from the crate that now had its side smashed out, blood smeared over the handle section was dripping onto the ground. She looked up following where the sword must have come from, in its path lay a soldier his neck torn open, metal strands that were meant to protect from slashes of the swords were ripped out and blood was pooled around the body.

The alien was still approaching, again on all fours. As she sights the alien and squeezes the trigger the crate beneath her gave way. She sees the bullet tear open its shoulder as she falls through the air. She hit the ground and is dazed by the impact despite the helmet. Staggering to her feet she managed to take up her rifle just as the alien fist connects with her helmet sending her flying backwards into blackness.

The soldiers hadn’t jumped from the shuttle, there was no point, the aliens were too close. Instead the bay door opened and they rained bullets down. The aliens stunned by being attacked from above launched their weapons at the shuttle, several hitting the body work, three making it through the door way, two sailing over the soldiers heads embedding themselves into the metal ceiling. The third slices through the stomach of a soldier, the metal of the suit at the back doing a better job than the front at stopping it it brake through but is lodged firmly in place.

With a sheet of metal in his stomach he staggers forward and falls through the door way, he was dead almost instantly and the parachute opened to soften his fall.

The aliens scatter dragging bodies with them, at least one carries a headless body away while the head was in the arm of another.