Chapter 26: Escape from Death
Year of Hell, Day 159
Cali D’Kara
People’s Liberation Army
Lagos, Arcadia
Stardate 2256.08.08, 15:47hours
When Cali looked over the ruined city from her high perch, she saw Fevarian, Faleen, and Necrophage troops withdrawing to the east, giving up territory they sacrificed so much to capture. In the distance, she could see a flicker of activity in the Grimanche camp. At long last, the Toxoids were being turned loose…
“Ladies, we’re in the endgame now.” Cali told her fellow Night Witches. “Get ready to run.”
While the Night Witches made preparations to abandon their high-rise observation post, Cali picked up her radio and called Moka.
“Stellaris 1-2, this is Stellaris 1-1. Come in, over.”
“1-2 here.” Said the voice of Moka. “What’s the situation, over?”
“The enemy is getting ready to send in Toxoids.” Cali said. “How are the evacuations going? Over.”
“We’re about halfway done.” Moka replied. “C-2 is putting as many civilians as we can through the escape tunnel. Still about ten thousand civilians who want to evacuate. Over.”
“Understood. My team is heading back to the tunnels. Over.” Cali said.
“Use the entrance in the subway.” Moka told Cali. “The enemy captured the Joan of Arc memorial, so we had to collapse the tunnel entrance below it. Be safe, over.”
“Good copy, 1-1 out.” Cali finished the conversation.
The Night Witches packed up their equipment and vacated the high rise. Pushing through the ruined city streets, Cali decided to take a shortcut through a residential neighborhood. This way, they would return to the tunnel network in short time.
Hinata, Mulan, Kyra, and Alya split up, waking down either side of the street in pairs. As the team moved, everyone kept their weapons levelled at nearby houses, just in case there were combatants lying in wait…
“White flag! Left side!” Alya shouted. “We’ve got civilians in that house!”
Cali looked and spotted a modest bungalow. A frightened-looking woman was waving a white banner from a window, screaming for help.
“I heard there’s a way out of the city!” Said the Frenchwoman. “Please! I have two children in here with me.”
Kyra waved to the other Night Witches.
“Secure the house!” Kyra ordered. “Mulan, get on the roof and keep an eye out for the enemy.”
Cali, Kyra, Alya, and Hinata entered the civilian’s house and found three people: a mother and two small children. The young ones were too terrified to move, hunkered down in a makeshift shelter made out of mattresses.
“We can get you to the escape tunnel, but we’re going to need to move quickly.” Kyra told the panicked mother. “Can your kids move on their own or do we need to carry them?”
“They’re so afraid; I don’t think they can move.” Said the mother, a woman named Rosalie.
Cali got onto the radio and called for help. Moriarty picked up her message and assured Cali that reinforcements were being sent in her direction.
“More of us are on the way.” Cali reassured Rosalie. “We just need to…”
“EVERYONE GET DOWN!” Mulan shouted from the rooftop. “The Cruiser’s gonna light us up!”
Mulan jumped down from the roof and entered the house. The Night Witches found the basement steps and hid below ground level, dragging Rosalie and her children along with them. Cali ran into the front yard and looked up.
The Imperial warship Last Talon was taking action for the first time in this battle. Its many turret-mounted weapons were swiveling around to face the besieged city.
A moment later, there was a series of deep thudding noises. The reverberations caused Cali to jump in fright. The Last Talon opened fire! Kinetic Artillery weapons roared like tornadoes, sending massive shells toward the city. Cali threw herself to the ground and put her hands over her head.
Thud. Thud. Thud.
Cali felt mild shockwaves in the air, but nothing that resembled an impact. Cali dared to look up.
“Airburst rounds?” Cali said to herself.
The Kinetic Artillery shells were loaded with explosive warheads that detonated almost two thousand feet above the ground. But no shrapnel rained down upon the city of Lagos.
Instead, a dense fog was billowing across the sky... slowly descending toward the ground.
A fog... A cloud... A...
“GAS GAS GAS!” Cali screamed at the top of her lungs, running back into the house. “CHEMICAL ATTACK! GAS GAS GAS!”
Cali ran into the basement, where the Night Witches were already donning their gas masks and putting on rubber gloves. Alya and Hinata were desperately scrambling to save the children by forcing them to wrap towels around their heads. Rosalie did not have a gas mask, and instead she wrapped her face with a tee-shirt. Cali donned her own gas mask, and once the seal was airtight, she double-checked the children, making sure the towels were snug around their noses and mouths.
The radios carried by each soldier suddenly crackled.
“All callsigns, this is C-2.” Said the voice of Moriarty. “A chemical attack is underway. Don protective equipment immediately, then withdraw to a safe area and decontaminate as needed.”
Then a harsh noise came from above. The two children looked up, their heads wrapped in towels.
“Mommy, it’s raining!” One of the children gasped. “We need to collect the rainwater!”
“That’s not water, Gabriella.” Said Rosalie. “We need to stay inside.”
“Everyone take slow, easy breaths.” Cali advised. “We’re about to get gassed. Keep your masks on; keep your faces covered. Don’t touch anything liquid.”
Hinata screamed through her mask.
“Here it comes!”
A dense fog started to enter the basement, flowing down the staircase like a slow motion waterfall. At the same time, the fog also started seeping through the wooden floorboards and into the basement. Cali watched in horror as the dangerous gas swirled around her head. She took a slow breath that seemed to echo in her gas mask. She was acutely aware of a strap tangled in her hair.
“Whatever it is, it’s not caustic.” Cali said. “It’s not burning or irritating anyone, is it?”
Everyone shook their heads. A moment later, Moka’s voice emerged from Cali’s radio:
“Stellaris 1-1, this is Stellaris 1-2. My team is on its way to you, but we can see a squad of Grimanche soldiers down the street. They’re gonna hit you before I can get to your position. You need to mount a defense and you need to do it now! Over!”
“FUCK!” Cali shouted. “Those toxoids are probably immune to the gas.”
“Night Witches, get upstairs and take up defensive positions!” Kyra ordered.
Kyra, Hinata, and Mulan sprang to their feet. Alya tried to stand, but staggered. The young Russian was hyperventilating.
“Guys... I don’t feel good.” Alya said through her gas mask. “It’s like every muscle in my body is starting to cramp.”
“Nerve agent! It’s a nerve agent!” Hinata said. “Volkova! Tighten your mask, now!”
Alya reached up to check the seal on her gas mask. When she realized it was not airtight, she swore loudly and then tightened the straps so much she drew blood from her scalp.
The Night Witches scrambled upstairs. The house was saturated with nerve gas, limiting visibility. Mulan overturned a loveseat and positioned it next to the largest window in the living room, creating a firing position.
“I can see a squad of Grimanche soldiers.” Mulan reported, her voice muffled by the gas mask. “Nine of them coming up the road, they see us!”
“Light em up!” Cali ordered.
Mulan, Alya, Kyra, and Hinata took up positions at the windows and doors, firing on the Grimanche as they came. The toxoid soldiers were much larger than Humans, standing at almost two meters in height. Grimanche were not able to survive in Arcadia’s atmosphere, so they wore bulky enviro-suits that restricted their movements. As soon as they came under fire, the Grimanche returned the favor with acid-based weapons that splattered dangerously across the battlespace.
In seconds, chaos was unleashed as weapons fire tore the house apart! Wood, plaster, and metal rained down on the fighters. Kyra spotted several enemy soldiers attempting to flank the house. They ran around to the kitchen and fired on them through the windows. As the women moved, they kicked up the dangerous gas, which seemed to be growing less and less dense with each passing moment. Cali tried to engage the enemy, but her eye implants were so badly damaged that she was effectively nearsighted. The best she could do was fire blindly at vague shapes in the fog, unsure if she was hitting anything.
Down in the basement, the racket of gunfire caused Rosalie to scream:
“Stop! Stop! Please stop for the love of God!!”
Kyra pulled away from her firing position, looking at her rifle.
“Malfunction!” Kyra yelled above the gunfire, voice muffled by her gas mask. “Hua! Cover me while I fix my weapon!”
Mulan ran across the house and took Kyra’s place, firing out of the window at a pair of Grimanche soldiers hunkered down behind an overturned car. Cali’s radio crackled:
“Stellaris 1-1! We’re on the scene!” Said the voice of Moka. “Hold the line for just a few more seconds! We’re engaging!”
The gun battle expanded throughout the neighborhood as Moka brought more Resistance fighters into play. The hulking forms of the Grimanche lumbered through the toxic fog like nightmare creatures. One of them fired an acid weapon into the house, causing Cali to dive for cover as the caustic liquid splattered through the living room!
“I’m hit!” Mulan screamed. “Someone help!”
The teenager stumbled and fell over, vanishing into the swirling layer of poison gas on the floor.
“I’ve got you!” Hinata cried out, grabbing onto Mulan. “Shit, that looks bad! I’ve gotta put a tourniquet on your arm, Mulan. Sorry, this is gonna hurt, like, a lot!”
While Mulan screamed in agony, Kyra made a radio call:
“C-2, this is Athena 1-4! Stellaris, Athena, and Hatchet squads are taking contact in the residential neighborhoods. Athena 1-5 and Athena 1-2 are both wounded! Request immediate medevac! Over!”
Almost as soon as Kyra was done speaking, the voice of Sarim den Iridar broadcasted over the radio net.
“All Scyldari teams, this is Paradox 1-1 Actual. We have an Emergency Code Zero. Codename ‘Helen’ is W.I.A. Break all contacts and converge on Athena squad with all possible firepower. Paradox Actual out.”
“Paradox 1-1, this is Paradox 2-1.” Replied an unknown voice. “Responding to Code Zero. MEDEVAC inbound. Mark the evac zone with red smoke. Do not reply. Paradox 2-1 out.”
“Athena, Stellaris, did either of you hear that!? Over.” Iridar said over the radio.
“Affirmative!” Cali replied into the radio, then she shouted at Kyra. “Acharya! Put red smoke in the street!”
Kyra nodded and unholstered her grenade launcher. She chambered a red smoke round into it and aimed out of the window. Meanwhile, Cali spotted three people on the floor: Hinata was kneeling over Mulan, tying a tourniquet around Mulan’s right arm. To her horror, Cali saw that Alya was lying on the floor. Her gas mask had slipped partway off. Alya was twitching, convulsing, and foaming at the mouth. Cali knelt down to help…
“It’s too late for her!” Hinata snapped. “Cover the back door and let your niece in!”
Moka had arrived, bringing Hatchet Squad with her. They were wearing full protective gear: gas masks, heavy overcoats, rubber gloves and rubber boots.
“How many casualties do you have?” Moka asked.
“Two wounded soldiers, plus three civilians in the basement.”
“Mulmangcho, check the civvies in the basement!” Moka ordered. “Chen, triage Cali’s wounded. Xiao! Give us covering fire!”
Cali let out a low whistle that was completely muffled by her gas mask.
“You’re starting to turn into a leader.” She remarked.
“Not my choice.” Moka replied. “Just doing what I can.”
Then Moka held up her radio and said:
“The Scyldari are sending a vehicle for us. Is anyone dead? Sorry, but the situation’s fucked. If any of your people are dead, strip their weapons and gear. We have to leave the bodies behind.”
Cali started to say no dead only wounded, but Mulmangcho returned to give a report of his own:
“We’ve got four KIA: One Night Witch and three civilians.”
There was no time to ask questions like how or why. There was only evacuation. Alya’s weapon and radio were both seized and carried away. Her body was hastily moved into a corner of the living room. At the same time, the noise of gunfire outside suddenly intensified. The Scyldari had arrived.
Even with her damaged eye implants, Cali could recognize Iridar’s squad on sight. A second squad of Scyldari Special Forces, who had fought their way to the scene from a different direction, linked up with Iridar’s team. Cali could not see any faces, since everyone was wearing gas masks.
Moka and Kyra picked up Mulan and carried her between them. Under covering fire from the Scyldari team, the Night Witches broke contact and left the battle, leaving the dead behind and taking their wounded with them…
