Rescue Abbott!

Pinpricks. That is what the stars looked like this far out in space. Little pinpricks in the fabric of reality. Fleet Admiral Mason looks out of the front view port of his command battle cruiser the CSS Moses. 1

How long had it been since he has been on planet... any planet? 6 months? 7? Geeze... has it been that long? The Fleet Admiral gazed out the view port at the battle cruisers floating in formation around The USS Moses. His crew was ready for anything... anything at all, or so he thought. 2

The Brotherhood of Targ have become an infestation in the galaxy, and they need to be wiped out. His Colonial Marines were just the men to do it too. 3

The communications system came to life... 4

"Jared Rick to The CSS Moses... come in Fleet Admiral Mason"5

The Fleet Admiral hit the transmit button. "This is Fleet Admiral Mason... whatcha got Rick?"6

Rick was aboard his fighter craft. The sleek little fighter felt comfortable and familiar to him. The controls seemed to come alive in his hands. Rick had been recently promoted to the rank of Commander and been given charge of several squadrons of deadly Fighters. 7

Rick was new to the responsibilities of command, but he was rapidly growing accustomed to the role. 8

"Hey Fleet Admiral... I am about three thousand clicks out... no sign of them yet... but I know they are out here. I can feel it,"9

The Fleet Admiral had learned over the last several years to trust Rick's "feelings". They seemed to be more accurate than some of his best on board computers. 10

Rick looked carefully out into space... and checked his readouts again. The Brotherhood of Targ had been reported as being active in this quadrant for some time. Surely they would not have just left... would they?11

Suddenly a blip appeared on the screen... Targ Minds dead ahead! Uh oh... that meant trouble. The fighter was a fast ship and highly maneuverable. But it gained that maneuverability at the expense of armor, and heavy weaponry. 12

The fighter was equipped with an on board cloaking system. But somehow the Targ Minds seemed to be able to sense the ships even when cloaked and transmit that information to other Targ units. Directly beyond the Targ Minds, Rick could see the planet the Brotherhood of Targ were busy infesting. The planet that once had a colony of humans... 13

They had lost contact with the colony two days ago. If there were any colonists left they would need to be rescued... if not they would be avenged! 14

BOOM! 15

"What the..."16

Rick looked over to his right where a fighter exploded. Beyond it was the Winged Targ who destroyed it. 17

"Rick to fighter squadron... pull back and regroup around the battle cruisers!"18

Rick peeled off to the right. His fighter responding instantly to his touch on the control stick. Rick got off a couple shots as he passed the winged bug and noted with satisfaction as the "Bug" exploded into a hundred million little pieces. 19

Rick was in trouble and he knew it. The warning indicator was buzzing in his console. He was about to run out of cloaking energy, and the winged bugs were catching up fast. The buzzer went from flashing yellow to flashing red. That's it, no more cloak. 20

The flyer directly behind Rick's fighter watched as the fighter faded into view. The winged bugs outnumbered the fighters at least 5 to 1. They were doomed. 21

Rick pushed his throttles forward, trying to get every ounce of speed out of the small ship that he could. Rick was not afraid to die. He knew it may happen any day. Every Colonial knew that. 22

Suddenly a shot came flying from behind hitting Rick's fighter in the back. The fighter began to make all kinds of sounds indicating a may day. Rick pressed a bright yellow button releasing a bright light temporarely blinding the pursuing Targ unit behind him giving him enough time to eject out of his fighter inside a small round cockpit ejector craft. Inside Rick watched as he began to fall into the planets atmosphere. Rick pulled off the radio, "This is Commander Rick, I am crashing into the planets surface, I repeat I am crashing into the planets surface. "23

Aboard the command ship, Fleet Admiral Mason hit the intercom switch. "This is the Fleet Admiral Mason... Cody Abbott do you read?."24

"Captain Abbott here... what's up?"25

"Captain, get your men ready... we will be planet side in less than an hour."26

"Roger that ... Abbott out."27

Captain Abbott looked around the room. The intense eyes of his company of rangers looked at him eagerly. 28

"Suit up men... it's time for some payback!"29

His men hooted and cheered as they ran for their battle armor and weapons. Abbott loved his rangers... their dedication and willingness to wade into wave after wave of giant Targ bugs just for the chance to smear a few more into little grease spots on the ground never ceased to amaze him. 30

He had to admit he found the extermination of the entire Targ race a pleasing thought. 31

Abbott watched his rangers suit up into their model 300 battle armor. A typical Ranger would stand nearly seven and a half feet tall in his battle armor. Captain Abbott mounted his Goliath. 32

The huge armored assault walker was effective against both ground and air targets. Its twin 30mm cannons and rockets would make short work of nearly any Targ they came across. 33

Captain Abbott looked across the squad bay. Nearly a hundred Rangers, two dozen or so flamers in their flame resistant armor, and another dozen Avengers were ready for battle. Abbott smiled a grim, wicked, and entirely frightening smile... this is what he was BORN to do. 34

They get on several dropships and landed on the planets surface in a town near Ricks last known location. 35

Captain Abbott and his Rangers spread out. The town was like most other little colony towns. A few small buildings. Mostly living quarters, storage spaces and a few administrative offices. The town reminded Abbott of an old west ghost town from some of the ancient earth film he had seen from time to time. 36

There was one main "street" running through the center of town with about a dozen buildings on each side. He was not crazy about his men dropping right into the center of a Targ infested town. From the drop ships the town looked quiet. No signs of the Targ 37

Abbott's job is to find Rick and find out just how bad the town had been infested, find any survivors, secure a location and wait for reinforcements. Once they arrived to secure the rest of the town they would radio for the drop ships and, as they said in those old west films, get the Hell out of Dodge!38

Abbott scanned the town with his motion tracker... nothing. Not a thing. He didn't expect much movement, but nothing?39

Abbott motioned for the man closest to him, a strapping young private about the size of a truck, to activate his tracker. The young fella did and a few seconds later motioned to Abbott he was not getting any movement either. 40

Abbott and his troops moved from building to building, rifles at the ready. Nothing at all. No blood. No bodies. No sign of struggle. Its like everyone just got up from what ever they were doing and left. Abbott and his men checked the remaining buildings to find exactly the same thing, which is to say ... nothing. 41

Abbott was ready to radio Fleet Admiral Mason and report his lack of anything in the town when one of his men waived an armored hand in his direction to get his attention. Abbott jogged over to the ranger. The ranger pointed silently to the dirt in front of him. Abbott kneeled down to get a closer look. Tracks. Almost hidden but still evident. And it looked as if someone, or something took great care to hide the tracks. There were two sets, one definitely human, and the other most definitely BUG!42

The tracks were mostly wiped out but he got a sense of the general direction they were heading. Abbott signaled his men to join him and they slowly followed the trail. The trail terminated about 100 meters outside of town. They terminated directly into a sand dune. Great... just great. Now what?43

Abbott was about to signal for his men to regroup in town when he noticed something. The landscape in which they were in was desert. Lots of sand, rock, boulders, and sand dunes. And in this desert the wind was blowing gently in the light of the setting sun. This caused the sand to move... all except for the sand on the sand dune. 44

Abbott cocked an eyebrow, removed an armored glove, and bent down to grab a hand full of the sand from the dune. Hard. It was hard! Not soft sand at all but some kind of armored shell or small bunker designed to LOOK like sand! 45

Just then a small hatch about 3 feet wide and 5 feet tall popped open right between Abbott's feet! Abbott jumped back, startled and raised his rifle. He pointed the weapon into the hatch. He saw a small stair case leading down into the darkness. 46

It was not the stair case that got his full attention though... it was a man who had an assault rifle pointed right at him!47

"Great... just great... "Abbott muttered to himself... 48

He looked at the Colonial uniform and read the name insignia... it read..... Marvin Saucer.49

"Who are you?" he asked eyeing him up and down. 50

"I'm Captain Abbott of the Colonial Rangers. Are you the only one here?"51

"No. There are others down below."52

"What happened?" Abbott asked. 53

"The Targ hit us. We had over 200 colonists in this town, but now there are less than 20 of us left. One of your own crashed landed nearby and found his way to us. He is badly injured.54

"That must be Rick!" "Can you travel?" Delta asked. 55

"Not very far. Some of the injuries are pretty critical. Have you got a medic with you?"56

Abbott turned to his right. A huge corporal was standing there waiting orders. 57

"Corporal, have the Rangers fan out... defensive positions. Get a communications grid on line and get in contact with The Fleet Admiral. Let him know we found Rick along with 20 others we are going to have to hold here until we can get a drop ship in here to move the wounded. Have the medic report here immediately!"58

"Right away sir." the corporal replied, and turned and began issuing instructions to the other Rangers.59

A few moments later the Rangers were set up in a defensive perimeter. They used scrap metal, broken down vehicles, and what ever else they could find to set up a moon shaped barrier between them, and the most likely area where the Minion forces would attack from... the town. 60

Abbott squeezed his massive bulk down into the hole where Marvin had been hiding. It was a small underground bunker made to house maybe a half dozen people from the storms that sometimes happened on this plant, but now there were over 20 people huddled inside including Rick who was too injured to even talk. 61

A moment later the medic arrived and began working on the most critical of the injuries. He moved from person to person assessing how bad each person's injuries were and treating them accordingly. His bedside manner was not great, but his medical skills were excellent. He worked quickly. 62

Abbott climbed back outside and looked around. He called for the Corporal he had spoken to earlier. 63

"Yes sir?" The corporal asked.64

"Status report Corporal." Abbott ordered. 65

"Sir, the perimeter is as secure as we could make it. We have set up barriers as best we could, and have Rangers standing watch in 4 hour shifts. We have set up a communications terminal We had momentary contact with Fleet Admiral Mason. They are engaged in heavy combat. With the damage they are taking, and the heavy fighting it will be some time before they can get a drop ship to us. We may be here a while sir."66

"Thank you Corporal. When the Sergeant comes back from patrol have him report to me." Abbott instructed. 67

"Yes sir". 68

The Corporal went back to resume his watch on the perimeter. 69

Abbott looked off into the distance... the sun was setting. 70

He looked around at his Rangers. The Colonial Rangers were the elite. The best of the best. Big massive men who’s training was so intense that many died during the first week. 71

Abbott thought back to his days as a trainee. Him and Rick went back a long way together. A long way. He hoped his friend was alright. 72

Abbott turned back to the west and watched the last rays of the sun disappear behind a distant mountain. 73

It would not be long now. He felt eyes watching him from a distance.... hungry, blood thirsty eyes.74

Captain Abbott took a long breath and held it a moment. He closed his eyes a moment and mentally prepared himself for the battle he knew was coming. 75

It was dark now. And they mostly come at night... mostly.76

Marvin looked at Abbott.77

"How long have you been doing this?" he asked. 78

"The war?" Abbott asked. 79

Marvin nodded. 80

"Longer than I can remember." 81

Marvin began to feel for Abbots lifestyle. He was a trained killer and Marvin was only a engineer. He was about to strike yet another conversasion until something caught his eye.82

The next thing Marvin knew he had been knocked down to the ground by Abbott's huge, heavily muscled arm and he was standing over him firing his rifle in full auto mode!!!83

A split second later Abbott's rifle was answered with the roar of more rifles as the Colonial Rangers leaped to their leader's side.84

The look of pure white hot rage on Abbott's face was frightening. 85

The Targ had finally arrived... and they arrived in FORCE!86

Abbott knew that the situation was not very promising. There were simply too many Targs, and the rangers were caught out in the open. 87

“Shit!” Abbott muttered to himself. 88

Abbott quickly punched up a map of the settlement on his vid screen and scanned it quickly. There at the edge of the map was a bunker. Not a military bunker, but a bunker designed to survive harsh weather systems. A place where the colonists could evacuate to in the event of a natural disaster. 89

It resembled an old Earth silo, but shorter. Inside was a large circular area with various work stations set up, and a cat walk went all the way around the top wall with gun ports every few feet. It wasn’t perfect, but it would have to do. 90

Abbott keyed his headset microphone and instructed his rangers to began falling back in a leap frog formation to the bunker. Immediately and with great precision the rangers began to fall back, raining death on the charging Targs as they went. But the Targ were gaining ground quickly. The smaller Targs plowed in to the rangers, and rangers began to die. The larger Targs were hardly a hundred yards off now. 91

It seemed like it took forever to get there, when in fact it was only mere minutes. Squad by squad the rangers took position inside the bunker on the catwalk. The injured were carried inside first. Abbott was the last to enter the bunker… but then the first problem made itself known. The door was rusted… in the OPEN position. 92

The bunker door was massive. Easily 10 feet tall and 15 feet wide. A huge metal ring hung on the inside. Normally a tractor or other piece of machinery was hooked to the ring to pull the door shut, but the rangers were all on foot. And there was not a single piece of machinery capable of pulling the door shut was in sight. 93

Abbott grabbed the ring with both hands; he set his feet firmly in the dirt and squared his shoulders. He focused his mind until the sounds of gun fire faded from his ears and put himself in a Ranger Trance as he has been trained to do. 94

Abbott HEAVED himself against weight of the door and PULLED. His power armors internal workings screamed as the suit multiplied Abbott's strength over and over again. 95

Seconds passed and the door didn’t move. The veins and tendons stood out on Abbott's neck and his face turned purple. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth and stars swam under his eyelids. The Targ were nearly in striking range when it happened... 96

The door gave out a long mournful groan and there was a loud popping and creaking noise that was nearly as loud as the gun fire and the door moved a fraction of an inch... then another... and another... and another. The door was closing! 97

The Targ screamed as they saw the door closing. They were not going to be denied their prey without a fight. They pushed on, climbing over the bodies of other Targ as they neared the bunker! 98

Abbott kept pulling on the door as it gained momentum. Another few seconds and the door would be closed, but the Targ had arrived! Abbott saw them coming but did not relinquish his grip on the door ring. If he let the door stop now he may never get it moving again in time to keep them out. He quickly calculated in his mind how long he could live once the Targ were on him before his body gave out and he died. It was not long enough. 99

The first of the Targ reached Abbott and he prepared himself for the pain that would result from the slashing and stabbing he was about to endure. He looked into the soulless black eyes as the bug lunged at him. 100

BOOOMM!!!!!! 101

The bug just EXPLODED!?! What the hell?102

At that moment Marvin appeared at Abbott's side with his rifle in hand. Over and over again his rifle fired at approaching Targ, but she already had two strikes against him. 103

One: His rifle was a sniper rifle, which meant it was very powerful but did not fire volumes of fully automatic rounds like the Ranger's rifles. 104

Two: he was just one gun. While the Rangers above were hosing down bugs by the hundreds, the angle from which they fired from the above windows did not afford Abbott the close support he needed to finish the job and lock the door! 105

Marvin backed up as Abbott moved the door, staying close by his side. Finally the door closed with a thunderous metallic BOOOMMMMM!!! 106

Marvin turned to look at Abbott and found him lying on the ground breathing heavily. he rushed to his side and put his hands on his chest and immediately jumped back with a yelp. His power suit was scalding hot! he reached around to the small control panel on his right arm. he manipulated the controls quickly with his nimble fingers and turned the power down to the lowest setting before the suit exploded. 107

he unbuckled his helmet and removed it carefully. Abbott's face was red and covered in sweat and blood trickled from his mouth. He was unconscious. 108

"MEDIC!!!"109

A moment later the last surviving Ranger medic appeared at his side. He quickly plugged several cords into the side of Abbott's power suit and took some readings from the suits internal sensors, and breathed a sigh of relief. 110

"He's unconscious but he's ok." he said. "The suit will bring his body temperature back to normal and inject fluids and nutrients into his blood stream. He basically just needs to sleep it off."111

Marvin echoed the medic's sigh of relief. 112

Patrick waited patiently for his orders. He was sitting in an orbital dropship and watched the readouts on his control board carefully. 113

Abbott's team has taken cover in a weather bunker, but seemed to be safe for the moment... what was left of them. More than half his rangers were wiped out in an ambush. 114

Patrick went over his equipment carefully. His rifle was slung and secure in its place across his back. He double checked the straps that held it in place. In Patrick's line of work stealth was critical, and the Targ could hear a loose bit of equipment a hundred meters away. 115

Patrick loved his rifle. It was the single most advanced hand held weapon in the fleet. Not only was it a high powered sniper rifle, but with the touch of a few key command buttons he could bring down a devastating nuclear strike. 116

The power was overwhelming at times. 117

Patrick's primary function was tactical rescue operations. Which means that if Fleet Command called him, someone important was in deep trouble. 118

And it seemed that this time nearly EVERYONE important was in deep trouble. 119

Patrick's orbital drop ship was also a marvel of Fleet Technology. Equipped with the most advanced stealth equipment in the galaxy it could evade nearly every detection device known to man. However, get too close to an "Targ Mind" and every Targ in the sector would know he was there.120

The ship was designed to accommodate anywhere from a one man operation to a 25 man team. If he had to he could even load a Goliath into the storage compartment, but it wasn’t often that Patrick's operations needed that kind of hardware. 121

Patrick's fingers flew over this control panel and the entire console lit up like an old Earth Christmas tree. He scanned all his ship's readouts, and every thing appeared to be performing at 100%. 122

He reached for the control stick and flicked a switch with his thumb. A moment later a light on the console lit up green giving him authorization to launch. Unlike most fighter ships, Patrick didn’t use verbal communication over the radio. Radio waves can be picked up by outside influences. Instead his transmissions were typically lights on his control panel sent in code that would appear as nothing more than useless electronic garble. 123

Patrick activated his flight controls, and took the throttle in one hand, and the stick in the other. 124

The stealth ship lifted from its landing pads and rotated 90 degrees to face the launch tube. He loved this part. Accelerating from zero to more than six times the speed of sound in a matter of seconds was always a blast! 125

When the ship was in position and facing the tube Patrick pushed his throttle to full power and pressed a button on the side of the throttle that triggered the launch thrusters. 126

30 minutes later Patrick had completed entry into the atmosphere and was skimming the surface at over 1200 miles per hour. As he neared the town where Abbott's team was he slowed to just under the speed of sound, and dropped to an altitude of only 6 feet. Once the town was in sight he activated his cloaking device and his ship vanished from sight. 127

Patrick circled the town a couple of times, but nothing was moving. This was not surprising. One of the reasons the Targ were so effective is because typically the victims never knew the Targ were there until it was too late.128

Patrick located the bunker and set his ship to hover over it. Nothing betrayed the orbiters presence except a slight humming noise if you listened carefully enough. He activated the cloak on his power suit and then opened the bottom hatch and jumped out. 129

Ten feet below his ship Patrick landed silently on the bunker roof. He opened the top hatch and announced his presence to the Rangers below. The last thing he wanted to do is appear in front of them like a... well... like a Ghost... and get hosed with automatic gunfire from a bunch of startled Rangers!130

Once he was through the hatch Patrick deactivated his cloak and shook hands with all the surviving Rangers. 131

Most of these men he knew well from the command ship. Others he knew only a little, but they were all brothers in arms. 132

"Patrick!!!" Someone shouted from behind him. He recognized the voice as Abbott's but before he could turn he felt a pair of huge arms wrap around him and felt himself lifted into the air in a nearly painful bear hug! 133

When he was finally put back on his feet Patrick turned and looked up into the grinning face of his old friend. They embraced again 134

"I'm here to bring you guys home" Patrick said135

"Right, Load up the wounded first!" Delta replied.136

The wounded were loaded into Patricks ship and it became very obvious they would need another drop ship.137

"Let one of my Rangers take the wounded back in your ship. We will wait for him to come back." Delta said138

"Sounds good to me" Patrick replied.139

The wounded were loaded and the ship shot into spac. At the time The Targ was ready to attack the bunker one final time. 140

"Get ready men! Here they come!" Delta shouted.141

The Targs second wave had arrived and everyone started to fire.142

“Patrick! How about that rescue shuttle?!?” Abbott shouted. 143

“On it’s way! It should be here any minute!” Patrick shouted back over the roar of gun fire. 144

The sound of the battle was deafening. Guns roared, Targ screeched and screamed, but then came another sound… a most blessed and wonderful sound! It was the sound of an armored shuttle’s landing jets firing as it made its approach! 145

Patrick chanced a glance upwards and saw the source of the blessed sound.“Wooo HOOOO!!!” whooped Patrick. 146

Abbott pumped his massive fist through the air in triumph and shouted above the roar “Fall back!! Everybody fall back!!!” 147

The soldiers began to fall back towards the shuttle in a leap frog style formation. The shuttle pilot quickly set the auto pilot for a “evac dust off” that could be activated from the gunner’s station, and quickly made his way up the small ladder that was positioned behind the pilot’s seat. 148

The gunner’s station was a small bubble above the pilots station, and from the inside the gunner could trigger a pre-programmed evacuation route while providing cover fire from the craft’s twin 42mm cannons. 149

The pilot quickly took his station behind the gun controls and thumbed on the targeting system. Instantly the system came to life and began tracking Targ targets. The pilot turned gunner smiled to himself as the twin cannons came to life, providing much needed cover while the survivors rushed up the drop ramp. 150

The intercom crackled to life. Its was Patrick. “GO GO GO!” Patrick shouted over the intercom. With a ping of regret at not being able to stay longer and deal out more doom upon the Targ, the pilot hit the evac control, and the ship’s engines came to life. 151

The ship lifted on its thrusters while simultaneously rotating on its axis to turn its nose skyward. The main engines kicked in and the ship rocketed skyward, leaving a trail of burnt Targ corpses in its wake. The ship was leaving the atmosphere moments later with its breathless survivors huddled in the cargo bay. 152

24 Hours Later153

Abbott yawned and stretched in his bed. It felt really good to be back in his quarters upon the Command Battle Ship once again. 154

Abbott allowed himself one more good stretch and then flung the covers aside and headed for the shower. Thirty minutes later found him dressed in his dark grey fatigues walking briskly to the officer’s galley to grab some chow. 155

He filled his tray until it was almost over flowing and sat down at a table in the corner, smiling at the mound of food before him. 156

Abbott was savoring his first bite when Patrick plopped a similarly laden tray on the table across from him. He looked up at his friend and smiled as best he could through his mouth full of food. 157

The two friends ate in silence for a time, and when finally both trays were empty of all but plates, the two friends looked upon each other. 158

Patrick spoke first. 159

“We almost lost you man. That was a near thing. Too near.” Patrick struggled to keep the emotion out of his voice, but failed. 160

“Yeah,” Abbott agreed. “way too close. If it wasn’t for you I’d be…” Abbott’s voice caught in his throat. 161

Both men struggled to regain control of themselves. 162

Finally Abbott grinned at Patrick and clapped him hard enough on the shoulder to bring tears to bring most men to their knees. Rising to his feet Patrick eyed Abbott’s empty tray. 163

“You aren’t done eating are you?” He asked with a mischievous grin. Abbott smiled back at his friend. 164

”Hell no, I’m just getting started!” Laughing he picked up his tray and hurried after Patrick who was already refilling his own tray with morning goodies. 165

Moments like these were to be treasured. Moments with friends, brothers, fellow warriors. The war was long from over and times like this were rapidly becoming far too rare. 166

Outside, the pin pricks of light continued to twinkle uncaring of who the dominate species in the galaxy was. 167

Epilog168

The infested Zombie withered in pain as the mind of the Targ commander forced its way into his. 169

“No master, please! It hurts!” the zombie hissed. 170

“You have failed” the mind of it’s master echoed in his own. It sounded like a hundred bass drums sounding at once. Pain resonated through his entire being with every word, every syllable. 171

“Another chance master! Please, give me another chance!” 172

The zombie thing could feel its master’s mind pondering this for a moment. 173

“You will not fail us again.” And suddenly the master’s mind was gone from his own. The pain lessened, if only slightly, but he knew from previous encounters with his master that it would be days before it was gone completely. 174

“No master, I shall not fail you again” it whispered. “Not again… I will not fail.”175

“Hunt them. Kill them, or we will kill you.” The master’s mind voice was only a whisper now, like a shadow in the dark. 176