Kevin Clayton: Reeches

I touched down the ship into the dock of a station we had found hidden in an asteroid. We had come across it by chance while waiting in the asteroid field for Liwanu, a contact of ours, who hadn’t shown up. Max had entered the base through an emergency entrance to check it out. She had found a couple of bodies. She had also come across some reeches, which she managed to dispose off. We had just decided to blow open the dock because there was no power to open the dock door from the inside.
Max had wanted to move a little deeper into the structure before I blew open the dock with the ship’s cannon. While doing so she had stumbled upon more reeches. It was unclear for me what exactly was happening, but at some point Max had told me to blow open the dock. The moment I did so countless of reeches had streamed out of the station into space. I hastily flew the ship into the dock through the hole I had just shot in it, but apparently Max was alright; she had even been amused about all this.
I turned down the engines. Looking out on the dock I could see reeches sliding across it towards the hole, being sucked out into space. They fervently tried to crawl the other way, to no avail. I could see they were being sucked out of some other part of the station, through a door at the end of the dock, which was closing slowly.
With the door almost closed, some of the reeches being sucked out, got stuck between the narrowing slid and got crushed underneath the door. Some of the last ones through apparently managed to slow themselves down enough to prevent themselves from being sucked out into space because for a minute or so reeches were running around the dock in a weird panic, before they collapsed on the deck.
“Max, you’re okay?” I asked through the radio.
“I’m fine. Nice shooting.” Max said relaxed.
“Right. Where are you?”
“I’m next to the ship.”
“What? You’ve been on the dock?” I hadn’t seen her walk up to the ship.
“Could you open the airlock?” Max asked.
“Sure.”
“Thanks.”
I left the cockpit and waited by the airlock. It opened with a small hiss and Max stepped out.
“Hello,” she said with a smile.
“Have you seen all this?” I asked in a mix of surprise and irritation while Max donned her vest, “I thought there were only a couple reeches!”
“So did I. They’re dead now.”
“Where did they come from?”
“From a room deeper in the base, most of them at least. We can check it out. If you get your suit on, I’m going to get something to drink.”
“Okay.”
After visiting the toilet one last time, I put on my spacesuit. It was the suit I had gotten while in the Royal Marine Core. It wasn’t the best quality, but it was made to fit and it was armoured, which was harder to come by as a civilian. I grabbed my rifle, strapped some grenades to my chest. After thinking about all the reeches now floating in space, I added two spare magazines, a first aid kit and as many grenades as there were grenades straps on my suit.

“Ready?” Max asked when she returned.
“I’m ready.”
Max took a small assault rifle from the closet.
“Are there more reeches back there?” I asked with interest.
I had to wait for Max to put her helmet back on.
“Maybe, many probably chocked.”
“Let’s hope so.”
“I’m ready,” Max said as she walked up to the airlock.
“Okay let’s go.”

We stepped into the airlock and closed it behind us.
“You got your remote?” Max asked.
“Always, but I’ll leave it open.” Out here, I wasn’t too concerned for somebody stealing the ship.
“I found somebody’s spine in front of the control room over there,” Max explained while the airdock depressurized, “and in the control room there were more bones from someone else.”
“Maybe the reeches tore one guy apart.”
“Well yes they did, but the control room was closed with a reech trapped inside and there were spines and ribs in there too, so it wasn’t the same one.”
“Aha,” I exclaimed empty. “I do like the ship by the way, have you already looked inside?”
“Not yet.”
I pushed open the hatch and slid down to the deck. Near a dozen death reeches were spread across it.
“How many do you think I got?” I asked Max teasing while looking towards the hole in the door.
“Yóu got?”
“Well, I shot the dock.”
“True,” Max said clever, “but I do feel it was a team effort.”
“Let’s keep it at that.”
“I’m guessing at least a hundred.”
“We could sell them for meat,” I suggested.
“You can fish them out of space later.”
Max started walking towards the door at the end of the dock. You could still see some air vapour coming out from underneath it. All the reeches crushed beneath it had prevented it from closing completely.
“Doesn’t look like much pressure left on the other side,” I said.
“Ready?” Max was standing in front of the panel.
I quickly ran to the side.
“Go ahead.”
Nothing happened.
“Maybe there’s small hole in the dock somewhere.” Max suggested.
“What makes you think that?” I asked sarcastic.
With the dock now depressurized some safety mechanism was preventing this door from being opened.
“I guess we have to rewire it.” Max picked a multitool and proceeded to remove the cover of the panel. “This is going to take a while.”
“Take your time.”
The other ship in the dock was a certified UAP gunboat slash cargo hauler. In Therra space you would be shot on sight flying it. In these parts it was just awkward.
“It’s quite a ship.” Max said while continuing her work on the panel.
“Yes it is,” I said after turning back to Max.
“Do you know what it is?”
“Yes I do. It is a multi purpose fleet support ship, designation MPFS-D3. Or D4. Made exclusively for UAP navy and allies.”

“I did recognise it from somewhere,” Max said. “Just a moment.”
When these ships had gotten a little older and started to be replaced, some were sold to select organizations and companies; from there it had gone down hill.
“Got it. Here we go.” Max said as she pushed a button on the panel which was now hanging from the wall by some fires.
The door started to move upwards, very slowly revealing a small pile of reeches which were lying behind it. Carefully stepping in front of the opening it I could feel a strong draft. Considering we were standing in the vacuum of space there was apparently little pressure left on the inside, but an ECS was probably still pumping air into the station.
“I’ll remove reeches.” I started pulling carcasses away from under the door.
“I’ll help you in a minute.” Max said as she started working on the panel on the other side of the door. She was done only moments later.

Together we dragged off the reeches which were lying directly under the door,
“Okay let’s try it” Max said after I kicked away the last loose body parts.
The door slowly inched its way down, which gave us enough time to clean some chunks from its underside before it hit the ground. It seemed to close nicely. Max tested once if it would go up, which it did, before closing it again.
“Excellent.”
We climbed over the reeches stacked directly behind the door and proceeded through the corridor littered with more of them.
“This tunnel leads to the hatch on the outside,” Max explained as we passed a small entrance on one side of the corridor, “Just so you know.”
I followed max down through a few the corridors until we reached a dark room. I pressed a button on my helmet which pulled down a pair of night vision goggles in front of my eyes.
“I forgot to grab mine from the ship,” Max said annoyed, “Again.” “Here most of them came from. I tried to close the door but it’s broken. It made a lot of noise and woke the reeches inside. See anything?”
“A lot of death reeches.” I said.
“They must have suffocated. You take the point.”
“Sergeant.” I said obedient.
Max laughed, “You have the night vision.”
I slowly walked into the room. Behind me, Max turned on her suit lights. By the looks of it, this was a storage room. It seemed to be about half the size of the dock. Different crates and barrels were stacked throughout in separate rows with death reeches scattered between them. It was completely dark, though my night vision displayed a bright spot on the other side of the room.
“I can see a light on the other side.”
“I see it to,” Max said.
We walked through one of the alleys to the other side. About halfway the room the alley ended. I halted as I stared into one corner of the room. Max came up beside me.
“Are you getting this?” Max asked. I wasn’t.

After I turned off my night vision, I was looking into a mountain of broken glass, illuminated by Max’s suit lights. It rose up to a few meters high against the back and side wall. Around it and emerging out of the pile here and there, lay several white oval shaped balls.
“Well that explains the reeches,” I said to myself.
Transporting reeches was very illegal. This of course doesn’t mean it didn’t happen, and this had probably been the plan here. Something went wrong, who knows what.
“Those are all dead or they would have hatched already.” I said while pointing at the cocoons lying in the glass.
“Well you’re the expert.” Max said.
It was a joke; My squadron was once volunteered to fight in a reech war. It was the second biggest reech war humanity had ever fought.
I was stationed on the planet Custodian for an eight month tour with my squadron. Custodian was a complete desert and considered uninhabitable by most standards. It did feature a great number of small oasis scattered across the planet. The oases and the active atmosphere had puzzled scientist until a huge biomass was discovered underneath the surface of the planet. This biomass supplied the oxygen to the atmosphere and it also supplied nutrients for the oases on those few points where it lay close to the surface.
At some point a reech had set foot on the planet. We were told they were feeding of the biomass underground, and they were doing well on Custodian, really well.

This was the start of my fifth month. I was currently transporting troops to a forward base. They were Therra troops, but we were all part of an international coalition. What fighting Reeches came down to for my squadron, was doing supply runs from the fleet above and on-planet troop transports, like this one. I was flying solo. It was the standard in this campaign for my squadron. Because flights were short, co-pilots were less of a necessity. It also allowed for a much higher mission rate because with the amount of pilots practically doubled the ships could be flown in shifts. The shifts were ten hour ones. Your shift only officially started the moment you entered a pre-flight briefing. It also wasn’t uncommon for you to be given a three hour mission half an hour before ending your current one. This led to the shifts being erratic.
I landed the ship between steep peeks next to a small oasis. A small camp had been set up within it. I opened the intercom and lowered the cargo ramp.
“Base 359. Have a good one.” I knew the reeches were located a few hundred miles to the east, so the troops, embarking here, probably wouldn’t see any action, but it was important to keep some observation posts throughout these mountains to prevent reeches from moving back into an area which had already been cleared.
I walked to cargo deck to see if everyone had cleared out. The last Therra soldier was just walking of the ramp. As I walked out behind him, just to get some fresh air, the heat of the planet hit me in the face, like it frequently did. I could see the long line of troops as the started moving towards the camp. A couple had an exhausted look on their face but most looked okay. Many were talking and joking with each other or just checking their gear. Few of course really liked it here. Most were away from family and friends for long periods and their job was probably a lot less comfortable than mine, but most of these Therra forces seemed to be getting by alright; and so did I.

The last men joined the trail towards the base. I stared at the oasis and the steep cliffs of the mountains around it as the troops made their way up. After taking the last sips out of my canteen, I walked back into the ship. I activated the radio while strapping into my seat.
“Command this is Eagle 23. Come in.”
“Eagle 23 this is Eagle command, go ahead.”
“Command, dropped of the troops at base 359.”
“Excellent Eagle 23. Standby.”
“Standing by.”
It took a while for them to figure out where to send me next.

“Eagle 23, you are to pick up a Tallarian artillery position, crew and equipment, and transport them to a location to be specified later.”
“Roger.”
“Sending coordinates.”
“Coordinates received.”
“Okay, good luck Clayton, over and out.”
I took off, turned towards the base and made a low pass across it before pulling up just enough to clear the steep mountain behind it. After inserting the coordinates into the navigation systems I checked the map where we were going. The position was probably going to be moved eastward, seeing how far away it was from the front. I activated the autopilot and sat back.
The war had been an easy one for most, supply was adequate, and although there were exceptions, casualties in battles with the reeches were low. The reeches had been discovered over a hundred years ago, on what was then a distant planet. They lived in huge colonies and seemed to display some organized group behaviour. However, little research was done on the animals at the time, partly due to their remote location.

I dropped down from altitude as soon as I neared the position. It had been built on top of a steep peak to keep it safe from reeches when they were still in this area. A person was waving at me with both arms as I came into visual range. There wasn’t enough space next to the position to land the whole ship. So I just lowered the ramp and really slowly manoeuvred the back of the ship on the edge of the peak. This wasn’t easy. I waited a while for someone to come into the ship and walk up to the cockpit but it didn’t happen. I couldn’t just leave the controls at this point. The auto hover might work but I wasn’t going to try. The problem was everybody’s radios had their own encoding standards, so it was often hard to get in touch with foreign units. It could be done, but it was a hassle because it had to be rerouted centrally to the right unit. I decided flick on and off the ships lights a couple of times; they would get the message. After a minute the cockpit door was carefully opened.
“Come on in. I didn’t get you on the radio.”
A Tallarian soldier slowly walked in without saying a word. She looked worried.
“Hello soldier. I’m lieutenant Clayton.”
“Hello sir.”
“I’m here to pick this position.”
“Yes sir.”
“Are you aware of this?” It would explain a lot.

“Yes sir.”
“Well tell your commander to load up everything,” I ordered. “I’ll keep the ship steady.”
The soldier moved her wrist to her mouth and started talking.
“He wants us to load up everything like this.”
She paused to listen.
“Yes, he’s saying he’ll keep the ship steady.”
After another pause she turned to me again.
“My commander is asking, how long can you hold the ship here?”
“How long do you need?” I asked the soldier.
“How long do we need?” The soldier spoke into her wrist.
“Forty five minutes?” The soldier said carefull.
“No problem.”

A full hour later a man stepped into the cockpit. From what I could gather from the cockpit they hadn’t started packing beforehand.
“Were ready,” He said. “I’m sergeant Desai.”
“Good day sergeant. I’m lieutenant Clayton”
“We didn’t know you would be coming so early.”
“It’s alright. Did you secure the cargo?” I asked.
“Good enough.” We didn’t have a cargo master. Our bad, normally I could do it.
“Okay, just have nobody sit anywhere near it, for safety.”
“Will do.” The sergeant said. “Where are you taking us?”
“I don’t now yet, have to ask command. Just get everybody strapped in. I’ll bring up the ramp in half a minute.”
”Yes sir.” He left the cockpit.

After bringing up the ramp I very slowly ascended while opening a channel to command.
“Command this is Eagle 23, come in.”
“Eagle 23 this is Eagle command, go ahead.”
“Command, I picked up the Tallarian position.”
“Excellent Eagle 23. You are to drop them of at the Tallarian ship the Newport, I say again, the Newport, currently in orbit.”
“The Newport, Tallarian. Roger that.”
“If you want to, you can inform them they are going home. The Tallarians are pulling out.”
“Really?” I didn’t know that.
“Yeah, it was all over the news a day ago.”
“I’ll tell them, Eagle command,” I said relaxed.
“Roger that Eagle 23. Over and out.”
We didn’t get much news through, but I did know the war was unpopular in many places. Even in our squadron there was a lot of debate concerning the reasoning behind the war, and it was hard to disagree with many of the arguments, but I was surprised the Tallarians were backing out. I wondered whether the soldiers in the back knew any of this. At this point the ship was still slowly ascending. I opened the intercom.
“Ladies and gentleman of the Tallarian forces, we have just taken off and are now en route for the Newport in orbit. At his point no exact ETA can be given. You will be informed about this at a later point in time. In addition my commander has asked me to inform you of the following very important message,” I left the perfect pause, “You are going home. I say again, you are going home.”

There was a short silence before an unbelievable roar went up from the back of the ship. It even made me feel excited. I increased the speed and turned the ship skywards.

“CTC this is Eagle 23 of the Royal Navy, requesting a flight plan to rendezvous with the Tallarian vessel Newport.”
“Royal Navy vessel Eagle 23 this is Custodian traffic control, please send your vector.”
“Roger that CTC, sending my vector now.”
They would generate and then send me a number of waypoints with an RTA for each.
“Royal Navy vessel Eagle 23 this is Custodian traffic control, sending flight plan for rendezvous with the Tallarian vessel Newport.”
“CTC, flight plan received. Thank you.” I transferred the flight plan to the navigation system and activated the autopilot again.
“Eagle 23, please be advised there is heavy traffic at the Newport.”
“Roger that CTC.”
“Over and out.” I could tell they were busy.
The flight plan guided us straight out to space and then via a very high trajectory across a pole towards a point on a low orbit on the other side of the planet. I opened the intercom again.
“ETA with the Newport 31 minutes.”

Half an hour later I couldn’t get through to the Newport. On the scanner I could see countless other ships surrounding it.
“The Newport is swamped with ships trying to dock. We will have to wait.” I explained over the intercom. “This could take a while.”
My shift would be over in an hour. I leaned back.

“Newport this is Eagle 23 of the Royal Navy, come in”
“Eagle 23 this is Newport, go ahead.” Finally, I had made several attempts in the last half hour.
“Newport, I’m transporting a squad of Tallarian soldiers and equipment, requesting permission to dock.”
“Does your ship have the ability to use a standard docking port?”
“Yes, but I’m also carrying a large artillery piece, so I need a dock.”
“We don’t have any docks free; you’ll have to wait in line.”
“How long is this gonna take?” I asked polite.
“Hard to say. My guess, at least an hour, maybe more. Sorry man, were taxed.”
I had already been waiting here for almost an hour before I got a hold of them. There was nothing else to it.
“Very well. Can I drop of the squad at a docking port, deliver the artillery at a dock later.”
“Standby.”
This would be nice for the men and good for me. Out here I had to continuously watch other traffic and listen to a crowded radio channel; docking would give me a break.
“Eagle 23, you are cleared to dock at docking port 5A. This docking port is located on the port side, one third from the stern.”
“Roger that Newport. Over and out.”
I disengaged the autopilot and started to manoeuvre the ship towards the Newport. The Newport was a massive carrier. I opened the intercom.

“There are no docks free at the Newport. We are going to dock at a docking port so you can get off the ship.”
I located a docking port about a third from the stern. Four yellow lights where on, one on each side, so this must be the 5A. After docking the ship and cutting the engines I walked back to airlock and opened it. Sergeant Desai came walking up to me from the cargo deck.
“You’ll have to unload the big stuff later. Everybody is trying to get back at once, there just aren’t enough docks.”
“Will do. What’s the hurry?” Desai asked.
“I’ve have been asking that myself.” It was a surprise the Tallarians were pulling out, but they didn’t seem to be wasting any time, and we were helping them! “Maybe there’s another war.”
“That’ll be it.” Desai said with a grin. “It’s good to be out of this place though,” he said relieved.
“I guess so.”
“Don’t get me wrong, I hate these animals. I fought them on Perusa. You know in the cities?”
“Yeah.” I had heard of it.
“But this thing here. It’s just…It’s just too pointless for me. There’s nothing here!”
“Let the reeches have it.” I suggested cheerful. It was a popular opinion among many.
“Exactly,” Desai said smiling.
The fact was, this planet was a complete wasteland, with no current or planned human settlements, no eco system. The reeches were actually the first animals this planet had ever seen. The plants which made up the oases hadn’t even evolved on this planet.
“Well at least you guys are out of here it seems,” I said to change the topic.
“Thank you sir. I’m sure you’ll win without us.”
“We‘ll be fine.” The Tallarians contributed, or had contributed, a huge force, but in comparison relatively few ground troops, so the impact would be manageable.
Or so I thought, I wasn’t a general.
“I’ll get the men,” the sergeant said and walked back to the cargo deck.

Once the reeches had caught Humanity by surprise, when a decade after their first discovery, a much larger reconnaissance mission discovered reeches on other planets in the same region. This of course suggested interstellar spacefaring capabilities, intelligence, technology and a complex organization. For years, any missions into the region were strongly opposed out of fear of provoking a Heinleinesqe interstellar war with the Reeches, until eventually human colonization started to border their territories and some careful research was conducted.
The first real research in the advanced overmind controlled hive species, which the Reeches were believed to be, quickly concluded it was all not the case. No queens, overminds or any advanced technology has ever been discovered.

After all the Tallarian soldiers had left, I closed the airlock and returned to the cockpit.
“Newport this is Eagle 23 of the Royal Navy, come in.”

“Eagle 23 this is the Newport, go ahead”
“I just dropped of Tallarian troops at a docking port 5A. I still have some heavy equipment which needs to be unloaded at a dock.” Maybe they would let me jump the line.
“Understood Eagle 23, I see here, your ship has already been added to the queue.”
“Roger that Newport. Requesting permission to undock.”
“Eagle 23 this is Newport, you have permission to undock.”
“Roger that Newport. Over and out.”

In time several alternative theories were developed, to explain the reeches’ spread to different worlds. It involved meteors, spores caught on solar winds, but as research intensified, one novel way of colonizing another world was discovered. It involved being taken there by humans for research or other purposes and then escaping captivity.

After undocking I moved away from the carrier and waited again.
Over the years reeches had popped up on various other planets. Usually they were removed before they could adept to the new environment, if they managed to survived at all, to pose a threat, but in some cases, where there was a beneficial environment or they were left unchecked for a long time, they became a real danger.

“All ships, all ships, this is the Newport. Steer clear of the Newport immediately. There will be outgoing fire towards the surface. I say again, steer clear of the Newport. There will be outgoing fire towards the surface.”
My ship was already more then a kilometre away from the ship. On the scanner I could see other ship quickly changing course.
“All ship in vicinity, proceed to an orbit above 219 kilometres. Steer clear of the Newport.”
I turned the ship so I could see the Newport from the cockpit. Projectiles were being fired towards the planet.
“All Eagles this is Eagle command, all available ships are to move to sector 19D, priority 1. Troops here are in need of immediate evac.”
Meanwhile on the scanner I could see other ships starting to move towards the planet. I braked the ship and dropped from orbit. What the hell was going on?
“Command this is Eagle 23, I’m heading for sector 19D. ETA twenty one minutes.”
I still had the artillery piece in the back, but there was room enough left for a lot of troops if need be.
“Roger that Eagle 23, report back when you arrive in sector”
The last piece of the ride was a tough one. The ship shook as it descended into the atmosphere. Sector 19 was located near the south pole and normally not my area of operations. I had to slow down the ship as the atmosphere got thicker.
The reeches had been confined to the southern hemisphere because the band around the equator was too warm for anything.

When I came into range of the sector the emergency channel started going crazy. I had hardly ever heard the emergency channel being used in the months before. The basic message came down to this: lots of reeches, request for evac. This was extremely unusual. The reeches had never been a match for us.

“Command this is Eagle 23, I’m approaching sector 19.”
“Eagle 23 this is command, excellent. Where are you now.”
“Command, sending my coordinates.”
“Coordinates received, standby.”
A few seconds of silence went by.
“I’ll need you to pick up a patrol near your location. They’re threatened to be overrun.”
“Roger. How many men, what equipment? I still have an artillery piece on the cargo deck.”
“Ehm, one platoon, infantry.”
“I can do that.”
“Excellent, sending you their coordinates”
“Received, I can be there in five.”
I made a sharp turn and dove down towards the surface.
“Roger that Eagle 23. We’re patching you through to them.”
Some static and beeps came over the radio before it went silent.
“Hello,” I said somewhat reserved. “Hello, this is Eagle 23 of the Royal Navy.”
“Reading you Eagle 23,” Someone replied almost bored.
“I’ve been ordered to pick you up.” I could hear gunshots in the background.
“Copy.”
“I’ll be there in four minutes tops.”
“Copy. We’ll hold here,” the same person said with disinterest.
“Roger that. Keep this channel open.”
“Affirmative.”
It would be hard to get in touch with them again if they closed it. While hearing loud orders being yelled and the sounds of gunfire over the radio, I could see a huge dust cloud in the distance. I pushed the ship lower and passed over the front of it. In the front of the massive cloud I could see rows and rows of reeches running forward. In front the rows were loosely interspaced, but further back their ranks were packed and the dust they kicked up quickly became too thick to see through.
If the patrol was facing anything like this I doubt they would have enough bullets.
I opened the cannon bay and deployed the only cannon the ship had. A co-pilot would have been nice in this situation.
“I’m nearing your location.” I shouted in the radio. The gunfire started to sound more intense.
“Copy, we hear you, Eagle 23.”
I flew into a valley, underneath me I could see reeches running in the same direction. According to the map the patrol was located somewhere further down this valley. On both sides mountains sped by as I steered the ship through. I spotted the platoon on a small plateau halfway up a mountain lining the valley. Hordes of reeches were crawling up from the valley floor towards them.

“I see you. Hold on.”
“Affirmative.”
The patrol had formed a line along the edge of the plateau and was engaging the reeches below, but the reeches had already reached the plateau and were coming up along the sides. In response the troops were now moving from the edge overlooking the valley, to the back of the plateau to engage the reeches coming round. I turned the ship towards the plateau and lowered the ramp at the same time. I kept my speed to the last moment, before braking full by pulling up, which made the ship descend fast; smacking it onto the plateau maybe a little too hard.

From the cockpit, I could see the men peel off the line one by one and running to the back of the ship. On the other side of the cockpit, which was facing up the hill, I could see reeches coming down towards the ship. I switched the cannon to manual. While looking into a monitor displaying the cannon’s sight, I swung it upwards towards the mountain and started ploughing through the few reeches there. To the front of the ship two guys were still defending the side of the plateau, allowing others to retreat. At some point one of them turned around and started running for the back of the ship. Seconds later the other one was jumped by several reeches, which started streaming onto the plateau. The cannon was primarily an anti-ship cannon and was therefore located on the top of the ship; the minimum elevation didn’t allow me to shoot these reeches, so there was little I could do.
A single reech started sprinting after the man already running. He was overtaken right next to the cockpit and fell down on the ground. The reech started biting down into one of his legs while clawing into the man with its long back limbs. Somehow the man managed to turn himself on his side and shoot the reech. I could see he was heavily injured; blood was streaming from his leg and his face was mauled open. Other reeches were moving in. As they jumped on top of him there was a crackle of the radio.
“Ready for liftoff, Eagle 23.” The person on the other side said cool.
I opened the VL thrusters to full and took off. While slowly circling round, waiting for the ramp to close, I could see small groups of reeches tearing apart several bodies on the plateau and further down the slope. Suddenly this war wasn’t so okay anymore.
With an uncomfortable weariness, I turned on the radio.
“Command this is Eagle 23, come in.”
“Eagle 23 this is command, go ahead.”
“I’ve picked up the patrol. I’m seeing reeches moving through the valley in a southern direction, and many more moving eastward on the plain to the north of my current location. There could be thousands.”
“Roger that. That’s why we’re here. Transport the patrol to base 9.”
“Base 9, Roger that.”

I headed for base 9. The whole trip there I was in a bad mood, but I didn’t know why. I felt like being angry at this whole war; those guys being dead, the reeches, this war going the wrong way, everything, and I felt completely justified at going along with this. I even was seriously pissed about that piece of artillery still being in my cargo bay, it was a problem.

“Base 9 this is Eagle 23, requesting permission to land.”
“Eagle 23 this is base 9, you have permission to land.”
Base 9 was one of the larger bases on Custodian. I touched down the ship at a central landing pad and lowered the ramp. Somewhere I knew what I was doing to myself, but I didn’t want to stop. I got out of my seat, pretended I was doing fine and walked back to the cargo deck. The soldiers said nothing as they walked off the ramp, some visibly injured. They were probably all bred soldiers; Hannith military, the distant way their commander had sounded on the radio throughout this thing.

I looked at the artillery piece and some ammo crates still standing in the cargo bay. I really didn’t feel very well. As if something was billowing up inside me. I walked back to the cockpit irritated, sat down and opened the radio.
“Command this is Eagle 23, come in.”
“Eagle 23 this Eagle command, go ahead”
“I dropped of the patrol and am currently at base 9. What do you want me to do?”
“Excellent, Eagle 23. We need you to make a last pickup.”
“Command, I’ve had a long shift and I still have this artillery piece in the back.” I wondered where this was all coming from.
“This is only a small group, four of five people. They returned from an OP to a base which has already been evacuated. The reeches are still more then an hour away, but they need to be picked up.”
“Roger that, command.” I started feeling a little better. At least I had something to do.
“Sending you the coordinates.”
“Coordinates received.”
“Return them to base 9. Good luck. Over and out.”

I took off and flew to the coordinates. Apparently we were falling back on the whole front in this sector. I didn’t feel so angry anymore. I still felt things were wrong. Yesterday, I didn’t care at all if we would stay or go; now I minded we were pulling back. Maybe it was because now we were losing and people had died, I didn’t know exactly.

When I arrived on the coordinates the base itself had already been moved. In a rocky landscape I could see the vague outlines one some sandy patches where tents had stood or portable shelters had been lifted off. In the centre of what was once the base, a thirty people or so were gathered on the ground, some were lying down. I looked around were ships could possibly have landed in vicinity of this base. About a klick from where the people were standing there was a suspiciously smooth surface, large enough for most ships. As I landed between the rocks I could see the demolition marks of the explosives used to carve out this landing zone.
I waited a minute on the back of the ramp for the troops to move to the ship. When none seemed to be coming, I started heading their way.
What were these people waiting for? I was tired. My shift had now taken fourteen hours and here I was climbing through the rocks on some godforsaken planet to tell some people, needing evac, they are supposed to move to the ship.
After a few hundred meters I could finally see the group a little further away. Eight people were lying on the ground on stretchers. There seemed to be a lot going on.

“Could you please move us to the ship?” A guy on a stretcher asked patient but firm to a man standing next to him.
“Look,” the man said angry, “why can’t they get the ship over here? They don’t give a fuck about us, leaving us here in the first place.”
He turned to me as I approached the group.

“What’s the hold up here?” I asked already annoyed.
“Who the hell are you?” He asked.
“I am the pilot of that ship over there and I am send here to pick you up.”
“But, we have injured people here,” Another person interrupted critically. I could certainly see that.
“Well, you will have to carry us there.” The guy on the stretcher attempted.
“You,” the man said angry, pointing at the guy, “Stop ordering us around! You’re not in command here.”
The guy on the stretcher had MEC unit markings on his uniform. I couldn’t place the rest of the group. They were all from the same military though. I felt the same frustration I experienced earlier billowing up inside of me. I so didn’t need all this stuff.
“Who’s in command here soldier?” I asked tired.
“I am!” the man said. “Why don’t you go back to your ship ‘royal navy’, and land it here.”
“The ship doesn’t fit here. If it did I would have landed it here.” I really started to loose my temper. This wasn’t like me at all.
“The Therra ships land here all the time,” Another person said.
“Commander, maybe we should go.” One of the soldiers carefully suggested.
“Call for a Therra ship,” the commander ordered me.
I was eager to give this man a clear lecture on the situation, but somewhere I knew I instead needed to get a hold of myself. I took a couple of deep breaths.
“Look people, we do have to go.” I said only a little more relaxed, “and this is the ship which is here now.”
Without waiting for a response I turned to the soldier who had just suggested to the commander we should go. “You pick up this side,” I told him while pointing at the stretcher with the MEC soldier.
After a little hesitation, he walked over. I moved to the other side, we picked up the stretcher and we started walking.
We had moved only a couple of paces when I heard the commander behind me shout.
“Okay people let’s move out,” he ordered the rest of the group. What an asshole.

“Nice job,” the soldier on the stretcher said. “I’m Leandro.”
“Well we couldn’t wait here all day because some commander simply decides he doesn’t want to go with this ship.” I said. I was still pissed. “What’s wrong with these people?”
“They’re people, lieutenant Clayton. That’s all.”
“I’m sick and tired of this shit.” I really was. This day had gone on too long.
“You sound just like them, lieutenant Clayton.”
“Whatever. I’m doing my job here, ain’t I?” I said angry. “You should be more grateful.”
“Royal Navy right?”
“Yes.”
“Doesn’t the Royal Navy give natural education? Like psy control.”
“Yes we do.”
“Did you like it?”
“I was allowed to skip it, I already had it as a child. Satisfied?”
“Good for you, lieutenant, but you don’t sound like it at all.”

“Fuck you.” I didn’t need this.
“Just making an observation, lieutenant.” Leandro said with a smile.
He was right of course.
“I know.” I felt awful just admitting it. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Something’s wrong with me.”
“What’s that?”
“I don’t know. It’s just this day.”
“Never had this before?”
“No. Maybe when I was a teenager.”
“Don’t worry about it, it’ll pass. You’ll be fine.”
I was already feeling better.
“Thanks Leandro,” I said sincere.
“You should read up on it some more. Do you ever do?”
“Not since I was a child.” I had only paged through the manual I received during my training in the Royal Navy.
“That’s not smart, but seriously; read some.”
“I will. I guess it’s just the war going like this, some people died today, and then there’s all this other stuff,” I said out loud. “Never mind.”
I looked back and saw the rest of the group following us. We would reach the ship in a couple of minutes.

“Put him down over here.” I told the soldier, carrying the front of Leandro’s stretcher, once we reached the end of the cargo deck.
“Take care Leandro.” I said as I stood up.
He nodded once.
“Have the rest put the injured over here,” is said to the soldier, “and give me a heads up once everyone is on board.”
I headed to the cockpit and powered up the engines.

The commander had just followed me into the cockpit, when there was an incoming message on the radio.
“Eagle 23 this is command, come in.”
“Command this is Eagle 23, go ahead.”
“Kevin, where are you now?”
“At the base.”
“Base 9?”
“No, I’m still at the evacuated base. There are thirty troops here, they’re now boarding, some of them are injured, eight on stretchers.”
“Thirty people?”
“A rough count.”
“Excellent. Eagle 15 spotted another unit near your location, Hannith again. They are in the way of the reech retreat. Eagle 15 has just made a pickup but Liara says she’s maxed out. She’s reporting there still a hundred or more on the ground with reeches upon them. They need extract now; Hannith military already gave up on them, so if we don’t pick them up nobody will.”
“Understood, do you have coordinates.”
“Eagle 23, sending coordinates.”
“Coordinates received. I’ll get over there. Can you arrange for alternative transport for these troops?”
“Roger that Eagle 23, I will arrange for Eagle 15 to pick them up after she returns.”
“Do we have a radio connection?”
“We’re working on it.” This meant no.
“Roger that Command. Over and out.”

The commander was still standing behind me.
“Commander I’ll need you to get your men off this ship. Another ship will pick you up.”

“You can’t do that!” The commander responded immediately.
“You’ve heard my commander; I’ll need the space to pick up these men. Men who are actually threatened, right now, by the reeches coming this way, while you have enough time left to wait for the next ship.”
I proceeded to open the intercom. “All passengers, you are all ordered to disembark from this ship immediately, another ship will come to pick you up shortly. Please leave the ship as quickly as possible. Lives depend on it.”
I rushed past the commander to the cargo deck to make sure they were leaving. Fortunately most were cooperative and were already busy moving the injured back out. I probably was the most assertive officer they had had in a while. Their own commander had followed me from the cockpit.
“Captain, listen to me,” he said, “You don’t even have enough room for a hundred men.”
I knew. I just didn’t want to waste time unloading the artillery piece. If there was time, a hundred Hannith forces could do it faster than these people, otherwise I could unload it midair.
“Get off the ship, commander.”
“Captain, think this through.” The commander urged.
I really had no idea what he was aiming for. Meanwhile the last people were walking of the ramp.
“Suit yourself,” I said to the commander, who was still behind me, “I’m taking of in ten.” I turned around and headed back to the cockpit.
Even before I sat down, I pushed the thrusters open a little. I figured the roar of the engines would speed up the commander’s decision making. After strapping in, I engaged the thrusters and took off and made a sharp turn towards the coordinates. The mountains raced by as the ship tore through the air. From the mountains I emerged on a plain only a minute later. I had crossed this plain earlier this day when picking up the other Hannith unit.
It had been a bit of a surprise, when the Hannith had indicated they would support this war. The hannith had donated, the actual word used, a division of troops to the effort. They had brought little support along because the Hannith government had envisioned their use as shock troops to be used in the nests underground.
The ship sped across the plain with an ominous dust cloud appearing on the horizon. As I approached it I noticed the coordinates lay a good distance behind the advancing front of the reeches. This didn’t look good.
I passed over the front and steered for the coordinates. There seemed to be a small hill on the plain in vicinity of the coordinates. I circled the hill but didn’t spot any troops; the reeches were already crawling over it, although most went around.
“Eagle 15 this is Eagle 23, come in.”
“Eagle 23 this is 15, go ahead.”
“Liara, I cannot locate the Hannith forces you spotted. Command ordered me to pick them up.”
“They’re located on a high dune on the plain. I can send you the coordinates.”

“Please do; I think I’m there now but I can’t detect any troops.”
“Sending coordinates, Eagle 23”
“Coordinates received.” They were the same as I received from command. “I’m on location I do not have any visuals on the ground. The place is overrun with reeches.”
“They couldn’t have left,” Liara said. I wasn’t suggesting they did.
As I circled the hill closer I could see a couple of bodies being torn up by small groups of reeches. I suddenly started feeling bad again as if grey clouds had suddenly moved into my mind. I felt myself sinking away into something. It was the same rotten feeling like earlier this day. The only difference was I could now see myself doing it. A part of me actually noticed how peculiar this was, considering the fact I had been feeling pretty okay only moments ago. Was I letting this happen?
According to the manual I was blocking off a part of the world because I didn’t want it to be there. This in turn was causing side effects in my central nervous system. One of these side effects was this uneasy wrong feeling in my mind and body. It was actually caused by me attempting to block off certain input, but I was incorrectly attributing it to the input I was blocking off. This made me believe, incorrectly, I was feeling bad because of the stuff I didn’t want to be there. Understandably this motivated me to continue this activity, keeping the feeling, and the twisted loop it was trapping me in, intact.
The moment I realised what was happening it was over; the rotten feeling itself was still present for a moment, but it instantaneous lost its grip while a clarity started running through my mind. I laughed out loud as I saw something, so seemingly real, evaporate in seconds. These people were dead, Boohoo.
Looking down I could see the reeches still tearing on a couple of them on and around the hill in small groups while lone reeches were running around on the hill in small patterns. I suddenly realized there weren’t near a hundred troops being torn up, only ten or so.
“Do any of the troops in your ship still have a radio connection?” I asked Liara.
“Standby.”
Maybe the reeches were dragging them along, but from what I had seen earlier and what was happening now, that didn’t seemed to be their thing.
“I have one of them in the cockpit. They can’t reach anybody.” Liara said over the radio a little later.
“Roger that.”
I wondered what the other reeches on the hill were doing, just running around on it; Why weren’t they trying to join in on the fun or move along with the rest of the masses.
“Liara, can he give me their locations.”
A male voice spoke over the radio, “They’re down, sir.”
“Do you have their locations?” I asked again.
“Afirrmative, transponders are all located around, 19D 320068 dash 5417826.”
“Roger that.” That’s where I was right now. “How many transponders?”

“That’s the dune I picked the rest up,” Liara interjected.
“One hundred twenty three,” the male voice answered.
I was missing bodies; lots of them.
“Can you patch me through to their comms.”
“Why?” Liara asked.
“I think they might be still alive. Patch me through to their comms.”
“Copy,” the Hannith soldier said.
“Allright Kevin,” Liara said amused, “Just a moment here, I’m plugging him in.”

“Kevin, you’re good to go” Liara said accompanied by a beep.
“Hannith soldiers this is Eagle 23 of the Royal Navy. I’m currently flying above your location. There are numerous reeches walking across the hill. Can you signal?”
I was still circling around it when, several moments later, on the other side of the hill, a number of rounds were fired in the air.
“I see you. Hold position.”
As I came around I could see a number of reeches feverishly digging in the ground in the area the rounds had come from.
“All forces, all forces, this Eagle 23 of the Royal Navy. I need immediate close air support on my location,” I transmitted over the emergency channel.
On my next turn around the hill I could see the reeches digging out a soldier; my bad. I could fire, but would probably kill the soldier as well. A big explosion from his location blew the digging reeches away. These guys were hardcore.
“Eagle 23, this is AT856 and AT345, inbound in three. Can you give a sitrep?”
“AT856, we have an unknown number of Hannith troops who have buried themselves on a dune, at my location. The dune is overrun with reeches. I need close air support before pulling them out.” I could order all the soldiers to dig themselves out now, but it didn’t seem feasible with the amount of reeches on the hill, not to mention the masses marching around it.
“Eh,” there was an understandable pause, “how long can they hold out?” AT856 asked.
“Liara, ask if the men have oxygen masks.”
“Negative, only gasmasks, sir” the Hannith soldier responded.
“AT856, not too long. The don’t have air and reeches are scouring for them” I said over the emergency channel.
“Eagle 23, this is AT856. Understood, we are coming your way.”

About two minutes later AT856 came in over the radio.
“Eagle 23, this is AT856 we are called off. We will not be able to assist.” There was an almost unnoticeable pause before they continued. “We are now changing course. Do you copy all of this.”
I looked at the scanner and saw the two ships maintaining their course in my direction.
“Roger that, AT856.”
A minute later the two craft arrived. They were small Therra troop ships able to carry a squad sized element. The doors on both sides of the crafts opened up as they came into range. I opened up the hatch on my ship as well.
“Hannith troops below, I will attempt pickup shortly, be ready.”

The two craft started circling the hill. From the doors of both craft men started firing. There were only few but they were making heavy casualties.
I put some more distance between me and the hill and pulled up the ship while disengaging the grav-plating in the cargo deck, dropping the cargo into the masses of reeches marching around the hill.
“Dig out, Dig out!” I yelled into the radio while the cargo dropped towards the reeches below. The artillery piece probably crushed a few. The ammo crates however left little to the imagination as a number of huge explosion wiped away scores of them. The smaller craft were visibly blown of course by the blasts. I pulled the ship towards the hill where dozens of men slowly rose out of the sand. The men in the Therra craft continued to pick off reeches between the Hannith troops with remarkable proficiency.
“Set up a perimeter.” An unknown voice barked through the radio.
By now I was descending the ship near the greatest concentration of Hannith troops, who were engaging the reeches as well. When the ship touched the ground it still had some forward speed with the ramp and the landing gear ploughing through the loose sand. After I increased the forward thrust and the ship slowed down, the gear started to sink down into the loose sand.
“Get in! Get in! Get in!” I yelled.
“Copy.” “All, fall back to the ship.”
With the gear sinking, I had to use the thrusters to prevent the ship from falling over to the right side on the unequal slope. The reeches on the hill had been thinned out dramatically, but now the reeches walking around the hill started to move upwards. I could see troops, alone or small groups fighting their way to the ship. The sound of gunfire was almost completely silenced by the ship’s thick hull, but all around me reeches were downed by the dozens, from the air and by heavy fire coming from behind the ship, where the Hannith had probably set up the perimeter. At some point I could see no more troops moving back to the ship. Moments later a Hannith soldier shouted an order over the radio, “Anyone not reached the ship, report.”
There was no response.
“Embarking, Eagle 23.”
“Roger that.”
As the Hannith forces moved into the ship the fire eased on the reeches coming up the hill and their advance quickened. At some point a couple of reeches crawled upon the cockpit and started smashing onto the glass in front of me, with little effect of course. Another Hannith soldier came in over the radio. “All aboard, Eagle 23.”
“Roger, hold on.”
I blasted off and the ship started ascending into the air. As I raised the hatch and started to make speed, one of the Hannith soldiers started yelling through the radio, “Slow down!”
After cutting the main thrusters, I reactivated the grav-plating on the cargo deck, before slowly accelerating the ship.
I was stunned for a moment, when the reeches, still smashing onto the cockpit window, were suddenly shot off while one of the Therra craft came round the front of my ship in a sharp turn. The lights on the ships blinked twice before the doors closed and both craft flew off. I returned the signal and circled the hill a last time. I was surprised when I saw only a dozen or so additional bodies being torn up down there.

“Command this is Eagle 23, come in.”
“Eagle 23 this Eagle command, go ahead”
“I picked up an unknown number of Hannith troops. No other survivors, returning to base 9.”
“Excellent, Eagle 23. Report in after you dropped them off.”
“Roger that command. Over and out.”

After dropping of the surviving Hannith troops, I was ordered to return to our main base, where my shift for today was over.