Chapter 6: Mercy for the Damned

Evan and his team locked down the area while they waited for reinforcements to arrive from outside the wall. Before long, another tankette accompanied by a buggy full of Valbarans came driving down the street. The little aliens eyed the dead Supermajors warily as they unloaded from their vehicle, a couple of them glancing over at the pair of Borealans who were standing guard nearby. Borzka was still holding the enormous biological rifle, and Tatzi was drenched in alien blood. She had picked up one of the chitin hammers, which would probably make a better weapon than her bayonet if they ran into any more of the things, which made for quite an odd sight.

Simmons went over to greet them, and Evan was once again surprised by the fact that their flock had no leader. There was no equivalent of a sergeant giving orders – all of the members were of the same rank and made decisions together. It was weird to have to address six people at once as if they were an individual.

“Never thought I’d see Spec-Ops dudes get pasted before us,” Hernandez said. He was standing beside Evan by the entrance to the warehouse, watching the Valbarans interact with Simmons. “None of us got a scratch – even Tatzi.”

“I guess the Bugs saw us as less of a threat,” Evan replied with a shrug.

“That, or there’s somethin’ to this ghost company shit,” Hernandez added. “I feel like Fleetcom is just gonna keep throwin’ us at problems until our luck runs out.”

“They will if it keeps working,” Evan chuckled.

Simmons seemed to be done with the Valbarans, and he ordered the team to regroup on the road.

“Right,” he began, addressing both his own team and the flock of newcomers. The little reptiles eyed the three Jarilans suspiciously, but they didn’t make any comments. “I just got a sitrep from the lieutenant. It looks like the plant has been mostly cleared of hostiles, and we can focus on hunting down the command center for this place now. Our job is to shut down production, preferably without sending the whole island sky-high. Jade,” he added, nodding to her. “We’re relying on you and your Jarilans to lead us there.”

“We’ll sniff it out, Sergeant,” she replied as she returned his nod.

“Alright, move out,” Simmons ordered. “And don’t let your guard down. Just because we’ve secured the area doesn’t mean there aren’t more critters waiting to leap out and stab you in the gut. There’s no shortage of places for them to hide in here.”

They separated into two columns, each one walking down one side of the twisting road, the two tankettes moving ahead of them as the buggy trailed behind. Evan paused to glance back at the scene of carnage. The three dead Supermajors were still lying in the street – it would probably take a Krell to drag one of them onto a shuttle so it could be returned to the fleet for dissection. The tankette that they had killed was sitting beside them, its crew entombed within its hull. He had no idea how the Valbarans handled burial rites, but they’d hopefully send someone to collect them soon.

The Jarilans directed the convoy, pausing occasionally to sweep one of the little buildings, but they didn’t encounter any more resistance. As they skirted the base of another of the giant towers, Jade’s antennae led them to a familiar sight. There was a mound of earth covering a hole in the ground that led down into the darkness.

“Oh, great,” Hernandez grumbled as he aimed his rifle at the opening. “Three guesses where we’re fuckin’ goin’...”

“Got a Bug hole here,” Jade announced, Simmons jogging over to inspect it. “Looks like it leads down below the plant. Knowing the Bugs, that’s probably where all the control systems are going to be.”

“That’s too small to get the tanks through,” he sighed. “Okay, looks like we’re going spelunking. I want the Jarilans up front. The last thing we need is a squad of Drones taking us by surprise. The rest of you – check your flashlights and watch your fire. It’s gonna be tight down there.”

The two tankettes and the buggy kept watch outside while the two teams filed into the tunnel. This one was much narrower than the one they had used to get inside the compound, just large enough that a human could stand up straight. The Borealans had to duck to avoid hitting their heads, crouch-walking along at the back of the group. Borzka had finally given up the unwieldy alien rifle in favor of his XMR, but Tatzi was still carrying her hammer. At these ranges, it would probably be more useful, assuming she had the room to swing it.

Like the previous tunnel, there was bioluminescent moss clinging to the apex of the curved ceiling above their heads, serving as organic light strips to illuminate the passageway. As they wound deeper and deeper underground, Evan felt the temperature drop, the humid air starting to mist his visor to the point that its automatic heating element turned on. The walls here were just like the rest, coated in a layer of rigid resin that reflected their flashlight beams, sealing off the soil beyond.

“There were Bugs here very recently,” Jade warned. “The tunnel network should open up as we get deeper, so watch out.”

Now, Evan was feeling a little of Hernandez’s claustrophobia, the weight of millions of tons of dirt bearing down over his head. They finally reached a kind of junction, the passage widening a little as it split into five different tunnels.

“Jade?” Simmons asked after a moment.

“Second to the right,” she said, gesturing down one of the passages with her upper arm. “It reeks of alarm pheromones down here.”

They turned, continuing on. Evan noted that the winding nature of the tunnels made it impossible to see very far in either direction. There were no clear sightlines. One thing that he could see were the cables that trailed along the left wall. They were packed into fleshy bundles, more like intestines than anything familiar. If he had to guess, these were probably data lines of some kind. If the Bugs used biological computers, then it might not be a stretch to imagine that their entire information network could be organic – with nerves instead of wires and neurons instead of transistors. As they rounded another bend, he noticed some kind of gooey pustule on the ceiling. A shiver crawled up his spine as he saw something within the jelly-like blob move. It was tracking him as he walked down the tunnel.

“Hey, Jade?” he asked. “What’s with that booger on the ceiling?”

“It’s an organic camera,” she replied.

“It’s watching us...”

“That’s what it’s there for, yeah.”

“Well, who’s on the other end?” he added as he moved beneath it.

“There’s no way to know,” Jade explained. “They know that we’re here, in any case.”

As they rounded another bend in the tunnel, they came across a door that was built into the right side of the passage. It was a panel made from earth and resin that matched the wall around it, following the same curve, but there was a distinct indent that picked it out. To its left was another blob of goo. Jade and her companions seemed drawn to it, and she raised a fist, readying her weapon.

“Fresh alarm pheromones coming from this side-room,” she warned.

“There’s something in there,” Aster added, taking up position beside her.

“Stack up,” Simmons ordered, the team putting their shoulders to the wall. “Jade – whenever you’re ready.”

She raised a hand to the fleshy blob beside the door, and it quivered at her touch as though it was alive. Her eyes narrowed like she was concentrating, the thing wobbling a couple more times, then the panel slid open. Half a dozen Marines rushed inside, their XMRs shouldered, finding themselves in a small dugout that was being used as a storage room. It was piled with small crates made from uneven resin, stacked high against the walls. Standing in the middle of it all, illuminated by the flashlight beams, were a dozen cowering figures.

“Whoa, whoa!” Jade exclaimed as she reached out to lower the barrel of the nearest rifle. “Hold your fire – they’re just Workers.”

Evan could see them now, one of the aliens rising to its full height, wringing its hands nervously as it looked up at Jade. They were small creatures, no more than four feet tall, their builds far stockier than those of the more lithe Drones. Their upper arms were more heavily built than those of their counterparts, with hands that sported a pair of wide fingers like the blade of a shovel, presumably used for digging. The lower pair were much smaller and more dexterous, designed for delicate work. Instead of autumn camouflage, their carapaces came in varied hues, shades of blue, orange, and green glittering under the flashlight beams. They peered at the Marines with wide eyes – more confused than afraid.

“So what?” Simmons asked, confused by her protest.

“Workers are harmless,” Jade explained. “They’re not combat forms. In fact, they’re incapable of harming us – it’s not part of their genetic blueprint.”

“What are they doing in here?” Hernandez asked, keeping his rifle trained on them.

“Hiding,” Jade added. “They’ve probably been conditioned to get out of the way if there’s a fight going down.”

“Again, so what?” Simmons continued with a dismissive shrug.

“They’re surrendering, Sarge,” Brooks said warily. “We aren’t supposed to kill non-combatants, right? They ain’t armed.”

“There’s no such thing as a Bug non-combatant,” Simmons replied sternly. “All Bugs exist to perform some function in the hive. Even if they’re not wielding a weapon on the front line, they’re fixing vehicles and machinery, they’re manufacturing munitions. Our orders are to kill on sight.”

“There are no civilians,” McKay added, nodding in agreement with Simmons. “Why do you think we can be so loose with RoE? They can’t surrender – they don’t even understand the concept.”

“But ... we can’t just kill ‘em,” Hernandez said, lowering his XMR. “Look at ‘em – they’d be shittin’ their pants if they were wearin’ any.”

“That didn’t bother you when we massacred all those farmers a few days back,” Simmons chided.

“Yeah,” Hernandez admitted, hesitating for a moment before looking to Jade. “But that was before...”

“What do you propose we do with them?” Simmons continued. “You want to take them prisoner? Read them their fucking Miranda rights?”

“Can’t the Jarries come pick them up?” Evan suggested. Hernandez gave him a grateful glance, glad of the support.

“There are millions of them on this moon,” Simmons replied. “Where are they gonna house them? There aren’t enough ships in the fleet. How are they gonna feed them? Private Aster,” he added, turning to one of the Jarilans. “Can these things even survive outside of their hive?”

“No,” Aster replied, her gaze wandering between Jade and Simmons as though she was trying to decide which side she should take. “We saw what happened when we tried to recondition them back on Jarilo. All it did was frighten and disturb them. We ended up just putting them back to work because it was what they wanted. It’s what they’re made for.”

“Bugs aren’t Jarilans,” Simmons declared, addressing the dissenters. “Don’t make the wrong kinds of comparisons, and don’t let yourselves get all misty-eyed over the enemy. The Bugs on this planet have been engineered from the genome-up to kill anything that isn’t related to them. These ones might not shank us, but the moment we leave, they’re gonna turn all of the systems that we shut off right back on again.”

“If they’re responsible for this facility, then they’ll be single-minded in its maintenance,” Cardinal conceded. “They’ll try to repair any damage that we do to it.”

“Is there a problem here?” one of the Valbarans asked from the tunnel outside, her musical voice distracting the team.

“No,” Simmons replied, giving his squad a few moments of silence to voice any further objections.

Evan looked to Jade, but all she did was shrug.

“They’re right,” she sighed. “These Workers are probably more agitated by being prevented from carrying out maintenance than by having guns pointed at them. I wish there was another way, but we didn’t create this situation.”

“We’ve been held up long enough,” Simmons said, stepping to the front of the firing line. He aimed his XMR from the hip, holding down the trigger, a few of the Marines backing up in surprise as he emptied his magazine into the bunched-up Workers. The resin behind them shattered like glass, soil pouring through the holes to partially bury the dismembered bodies, their alien fluids pooling on the floor. “Come on,” he said, pausing to reload as the heat from his coils made the air around them shimmer. “We have a control room to find.”

They ventured deeper into the maze of tunnels, encountering no resistance save for a few stray Workers who were quickly cut down. The Jarilans led them to another door, but no matter how much they fiddled with the blob – which Evan had since learned was a kind of pheromone-based scanner – it wouldn’t open.

“Step aside,” Tatzi said, her head brushing the ceiling as she marched forward. The squad cleared some space for her, and she raised her hammer, swinging the heavy chitin head at the obstacle. It hit the door with enough force to shake it in its frame, ringing it like a gong. There must be metal under the soil and resin. With a few more earth-shaking hits, it finally dented, then caved in.

The Marines and Commandos poured into the room, Evan sweeping the chamber with his XMR. This one was far larger than the last, the domed ceiling rising some ten meters above his head, a large cluster of glowing moss clinging to its apex. It had been hollowed out of the earth and coated with resin, forming a kind of artificial cavern. The ground was covered in strange, irregular towers made from orange resin, each one reaching about shoulder height. They kind of looked like slimy filing cabinets. Their vaguely rectangular surfaces were covered in pustules, not unlike the camera that he had seen watching him in the tunnel. The mucous-green, gelatinous blobs were affixed to the tower’s surface seemingly at random, some of them wobbling and shifting as though they were alive. Organic cables trailed from them, sinking into the soil at their bases like the roots of a plant.

There were a few Workers milling about, standing beside the strange towers or walking between them. They looked up as the newcomers disturbed them, not even attempting to flee or protect themselves, and they were quickly gunned down. A stray slug hit one of the towers, shattering the resin. It severed it about halfway up its length, and to Evan’s surprise, it was full of what looked like offal. Guts spilled out onto the ground, fluids pooling as though the thing was bleeding.

“Organic computers,” Aster explained, making her way between them. “This must be the control center for the plant.”

“Can you shut it down?” Simmons asked, resting his XMR over his shoulder as the rest of the team fanned out to secure the room. The Valbarans were small enough that they could only just see over the towers, stalking between them like raptors as they hunted for more Bugs.

“They’re using a pheromone language that we don’t speak, as well as a programming language that would probably be even harder to decipher,” Jade replied as she approached one of the towers. She let her PDW hang from its sling, Evan watching as she examined the strange monolith. He expected her to reach out and start pressing the pustules like buttons, but her arms remained at her sides. “I’ll see what I can do, but no promises.”