He knew the group that took Ham would send reinforcements.

  He’d just hoped to have more time.

  CHAPTER 25

  Caleb’s attention briefly remained on the angled front of the oncoming APC before his eyes shifted to the control display on his right. While the turret on top of the vehicle had been designed for manual operation, or at least gunner-assisted operation, it did have an automated setting that could be enabled by the driver. He would need to mark the targets on a radar grid, but that wouldn’t be much of a problem at all. And since the other APC likely believed the one he was sitting in had to be empty, he could turn them into a fireball before they knew what hit them.

  Yesss. A fine plan.

  Caleb ignored Ishek. The people in that APC were descendants of the colonists who had fled Earth on Pathfinder. The people he was supposed to protect. He’d only shot the two soldiers because they’d left him no choice. It had been kill or be killed. One hundred percent self-defense.

  He’d tried to talk to them. To defuse the situation. He didn’t understand why they were so hell-bent on killing him, but he had to assume they had a good reason. The only other option was that they’d all gone insane.

  They have to be insane. They shot one of their own to get to you. You didn’t have a choice then, and you don’t have a choice now. They’re too close. If you try to run, they’ll see you.

  “I do have a choice,” Caleb replied. “And a plan.”

  A terrible plan.

  “We’ll see.”

  “Alpha, do you copy?” a voice said over the APC’s comms. “Alpha, are you there? This is Delta. We’ve got eyes on your ride. We’re two klicks out and closing fast. Do you copy? Over.”

  “They sound like perfectly normal, sane soldiers to me,” Caleb said, countering Ishek’s argument that they were crazy.

  We’ll see.

  He reached for the radio, activating his end of the channel. He could fake a decent accent.

  He hoped.

  “Delta, this is Alpha. I copy. Damn, I’m glad you’re here. This routine cleanup has turned into a real mess. Sarge and the rest of the bulldogs are unresponsive, their vitals in the gray. They’re all dead.” He did his best to sound panicked while smirking in response to his quick thinking to throw in the unit’s nickname, which he’d guessed from the stencil on the chassis.

  “Alpha APC, this is Delta. Who is this?”

  “Me?” Caleb said, glancing around the front of the APC. He spotted a tablet resting on the seat opposite him and scooped it up. “I…uh…I…”

  “I need you to calm down, soldier,” a gruff voice said through the comms. Caleb assumed it was Delta’s commander.

  “Y...yes, sergeant.” The tablet interface requested his biometrics or a passcode to enter. He tapped the passcode option. While he didn’t know the password the squad leader had set for the device, he didn’t need it. Every piece of software used by the various Space Forces for the generation ship program had a backdoor accessible via a master root password. As one of General Haeri’s most trusted assets, he knew that password. “I…I’m trying. I just…I didn’t expect…”

  He quickly entered the password, unlocking the tablet and navigating to the active duty roster, which at first only showed him the team he’d encountered outside. The commander was Sergeant Larone Tyson. Not the most British name he had ever heard. Corporal Emily Campbell. Private Ho’chin Sun. Private Samuel Jones, and Private Kelsey Nelson. Looking at the picture of Private Nelson, he couldn’t have been more than a hair over eighteen. And he had killed himself rather than talk to Caleb. He flipped to the rest of the roster, quickly noting it was only twelve pages long. This group didn’t have all that many soldiers.

  “I need a name and rank, soldier,” the sergeant growled through the comms. “Now.”

  I told you this was a terrible plan.

  Caleb navigated the list until he found someone who sort of looked like him, or at least someone he could pass as through night vision filters. “Corporal Darren Hicks, Sergeant!”

  “I’m going to need your identifier, too, Corporal. You have ten seconds to comply, or we’ll have no choice but to consider you compromised.”

  Compromised? Caleb wondered silently.

  It seems they might have dealt with a khoron infestation in the past. That explains a lot.

  How do they know I’m carrying a khoron?

  Maybe because you aren’t from this planet.

  Neither is Ham.

  I don’t know. Perhaps they have sensors that can use to identify us.

  My plan is shot if that’s the case.

  How many times do I have to tell you it’s not a good plan?

  Can’t you shut down or something?

  I’m a khoron, not a computer.

  Then find some way to make yourself not a khoron.

  They seem to have an understanding of how a collux works. Perhaps they have a means to detect its presence.

  So shut your collux down.

  If I could do that, why have I been singing non-stop for the last five years?

  Give me something, Ish!

  We’re screwed.

  Let’s hope not.

  “HMSF one-one-three-six-niner-niner-four-seven,” he read from the Corporal’s profile on the roster.

  There was no immediate response from the second APC, leaving Caleb ready to bolt for the exit. Did the man in the other hovercraft know Hicks well enough to know he wasn’t him? He’d placed a risky bet to avoid having to fight his way out of this.

  Would it pay off?

  “Identifier verified,” the sergeant finally replied. “This is Sergeant Nadel. We’ve almost reached you. What’s your situation? Are you hurt?”

  Caleb exhaled his pent up tension, nearly forgetting to continue to sound disturbed. “Negative, Sergeant. I’m not injured. I…I’m not even supposed to be here. Sergeant Tyson pulled me from my bunk at the last second to drive the bus and manage the sync. He didn’t have a spare a-tac, so I’ve been holed up in here the entire time. Sarge said the detail would be a cakewalk, but it went sideways, fast. That demon bastard isn’t like the others.”

  “They’re all tricky and slippery little SOBs,” Nadel said. “Do you have a weapon, Corporal?”

  “Yes, Sergeant.”

  “Good. We’re approaching your position, meet us outside.”

  We’re screwed.

  “Outside?” Caleb asked. He had been hoping they’d let him loiter in the APC while they surveyed the scene and hunted for the escaped demon. Once they had gotten far enough away, said demon could have made a run for it, in the direction of the soldiers’ base.

  “Do you have primordial fungus in your ears, Corporal? Yes, outside.”

  “Sergeant, I don’t have a-tac.”

  “I heard you the first time. You won’t be out there alone.”

  “Copy that, Sergeant.” Plan B, Ish.

  It’s still almost as bad as Plan A.

  Almost? That means I’m improving.

  Caleb stood and scooped up the railgun. He carried it to the back of the APC and rested it against the hatch while he removed his SCACS overlay and stuffed it in a foot locker. There was no way he could play the part of one of them wearing the more advanced armor. He was still taking a risk that Delta could spot the minor differences between the newer and older second-skin and call him out on it.

  He waited until he heard the hum of the anti-gravity plates before opening the hatch and stepping back out into the jungle. Keeping his rifle cradled in his arms, he circled to the front of the vehicle and came to attention. He heard the second APC’s rear hatch opening, and then Delta unit was coming his way, headed up by Sergeant Nadel.

  “Hicks,” Nadel said. “Why the hell aren’t you at least wearing cammies over your second skin?”

  “Sergeant, I told you. Sergeant Tyson pulled me into this detail straight from my rack. He didn’t even give me a chance to piss, nevermind grab my cammies.”

  Nadel had a hearty laugh at his expense. “Well, isn’t that just like Larone. No matter. Take us to the site, Corporal.”

  “Sergeant, aren’t you going after the demon?”

  “Do you know which way he went, Corporal?” Nadel asked.

  “No, Sergeant.”

  “Then we need to get a look at the scene to pick up his scent.”

  “He’s clean, Sergeant,” the soldier standing behind Nadel’s right shoulder said.

  “Clean?” Caleb asked before he could stifle himself.

  “We can’t be too careful, can we Corporal? You haven’t got a slimy in your neck, do you?”

  That’s a base khoron. I’m an Advocate. He should show some respect.

  How did you avoid the scan? Caleb asked.

  I turned off my collux.

  You said you couldn’t—

  For more than a few seconds. I’m glad I timed it so well.

  If you hadn’t—

  We would not be having this conversation.

  “No way, Sergeant,” Caleb said out loud.

  Nadel pointed into the thicket. “Ladies first.” The other members of Delta laughed.

  “Sergeant, are you sure? I don’t have a helmet. I can barely see.”

  “You can thank Sergeant Tyson for that when we see him,” Nadel said. “Let’s go.”

  That was a cold thing to say, even for me.

  Caleb couldn’t argue with Ishek or Nadel. He guided Delta squad back through the jungle, pretending to see even worse than he did, occasionally tripping and stumbling as he led them slowly back toward the scene.

  “Pick up the pace, Corporal. I don’t want to be out here all night,” Nadel complained.

  “You have a hot date tonight, Boss?” one of the other soldiers asked.

  “Yeah, with a demon. I aim to succeed where Tyson and his squad failed.”

  “That shouldn’t be too hard, judging by Hicksie, here.”

  Delta squad started laughing behind Caleb.

  Are you sure you don’t want to kill them and move on?

  They’ll just send another unit out here if I do. We’re sticking to Plan B.

  B as in bad.

  Caleb returned to the scene of the ambush, pausing when he reached Privates Ho and Jones, the two soldiers he had shot. “I didn’t see all the action,” he said. “It looks like the bastard shot them.”

  “With one of our guns,” Nadel added, crouching between the pair. He turned his head toward the shelter. “SOP would be to hit the target with a Ramrod. That tent should have been incinerated.” Straightening up, he looked to the hole where the explosive had hit the jungle floor. “The strike was good. It tossed the tent nearly ten meters.”

  “It looks that way, Sergeant,” Caleb agreed.

  “What the hell kind of material survives a blast like that?” He made his way to the shelter. Without power from the mule, it had lost its rigidity, making it seem a lot weaker than it really was. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Have you, Corporal?”

  “No, Sergeant.” He pointed to the open flap. “It appears to me the bastard got out of the tent.”

  “Sure does,” Nadel agreed. He pushed through the thicket until he came across Campbell. “Ooh. Campbell was pretty. That outcome sure isn’t. She must have gotten tied up with the demon to end up cheesed like that.” He turned his head, scanning the area nearby and locating Private Nelson. Moving to him, he shook his head. “Killed himself before the demon could infect him. Smart kid.”

  That’s dumb. Khorons do not infect people. We can only control one host at a time.

  You and I know that, Caleb replied. It appears this group doesn’t.

  I’m more confused than before.

  Me, too.

  Nadel needed a couple of minutes to locate Sergeant Tyson. “There you are, Larone. Same fate as the kid. But it looks like our demon removed your power pack. Why?” He turned to Caleb. “It looks to me like Alpha did everything by the book, and it still got them killed.”

  “I don’t understand, Sergeant,” Caleb said. “Where did the demon even come from?”

  “Dunno. Perimeter scouts came across him earlier today, along with a prisoner who turned out to be clean. They managed to nab the prisoner, but needed backup to engage him. Standard procedure. Like Larone said, it should have been a cakewalk to sneak up on him and blow him to smithereens. He’s got gear I haven’t seen before. It seems Crux is improving his tech while we’re hiding scared in the jungle. If you ask me, we need to go on the offensive. Make a move now, before we’re discovered.”

  So they’re in hiding. Interesting.

  Caleb recalled the duty roster. Less than two hundred soldiers. They seem to be the remains of a defeated military.

  That doesn’t seem to realize it’s been defeated.

  “Sarge,” Caleb heard one of the other Delta members say through his helmet’s comms. “We just got a call back from base. They said they found Hicks asleep in his rack, like you suspected.”

  Uh-oh.

  CHAPTER 26

  Sergeant Nadel’s eyes shifted toward Caleb, unaware that his hearing was good enough to pick up the chatter through the soldier’s helmet comms. Before any of Delta team could react, he lunged at the man, punching him square in the helmet. His fist cracked the faceplate and sent the sergeant sprawling to the jungle floor. Caleb sprinted by him, taking cover behind a big tree as the rest of Delta opened fire. Bullets tore at the trunk of the barrel-belly. He shifted direction, using it as cover as he scrambled away into the darkness.

  Time for Plan C?

  “Shut up,” Caleb hissed, tripping over a tree root and tumbling into some vines. The thorns tore at his hands and face, and he cursed under his breath as he sprang back up, ducking behind another barrel-belly, bullets ripping through the surrounding vegetation. “How was I supposed to know they would check on Hicks?”

  You didn’t sell the panicked soldier very well. It left Nadel suspicious.

  “Because I don’t know anything about being a panicked soldier.”

  I’ve tasted your fear.

  “I said I’ve never panicked, not that I’ve never been afraid. There’s a big difference.”

  He burst from behind the trunk, moving perpendicular to Delta squad. Even with night vision, the density of the jungle made it harder for them to track him, and he managed to evade detection on his way to another tree. Pausing to listen, he could hear the unit spreading out, hoping to smother him before he could get away.

  He couldn’t afford to let that happen.

  Again breaking from behind cover, he kept his eyes on the ground ahead, watching out for roots and vines as he scrambled through the jungle. Doing his best to stay ahead of them, he expected the gunfire to resume at any second. When it didn’t, he still maintained his breakneck pace relying purely on spatial memory to remain aware of his relative position. A few minutes passed before he again came to a stop, but not because he was being shot at.

  Instead, he looked up as a light in the sky managed to push through the canopy like headlights through curtains. It reduced the level of pitch beneath the treetops as it passed overhead, the illumination fading almost as quickly as it appeared, leaving him shrouded in darkness once more. He still didn’t move, picking up a new sound he didn’t like.

  The crackling swish of movement through the brush about ten meters away.

  Caleb pressed himself against the tree trunk, waiting impatiently as the sound slowly approached. A quick glance revealed one of Delta squad cautiously moving in his general direction, rifle leveled.

  You can take him out before he knows what hit him.

  I’m not taking anyone out, Caleb countered.

  Even if it costs us our lives?

  We’re not there yet.

  The soldier continued toward the tree. As he moved in beside it, Caleb slowly circled around to the opposite side, remaining quiet and out of sight.

  “Delta, eyes in the sky reported a scout ship incoming,” he heard Nadel say through the soldier’s helmet comms. “We’re going dark.”

  “Sarge, what about the demon?” one of the others asked.

  “I think he’s long gone. Maintain your positions until I give the all clear. Radio silence starts now.”

  The soldier slumped back against the trunk of the barrel-belly, ordered to stand down and wait while the scout ship that had apparently passed over them scanned the jungle.

  An interesting turn of events.

  That’s one way to put it.

  Caleb stood on the opposite side of the thick trunk from the soldier. He could try to disable the man, but any change in his health would be synced back to Delta’s ATCS and reported to the others, which would now doubt bring them running. He didn’t want that. He needed to get away from the man. To keep moving.

  The overhead light appeared again, and even though he couldn’t see the craft itself this time, Caleb heard the hum of the scout ship’s engines. Obviously, it belonged to whoever these soldiers were at war with, no doubt searching for them. But why had it come here, now? Was it a normal occurrence? A strange coincidence?

  Because of the link to Pathfinder, he wanted to find out. But these people would never talk to him as long as they were convinced he was a demon, or at least infected by one.

  I resent that.

  Don’t worry, I have a plan.

  Of course you do.

  Caleb slowly dropped to all fours and began crawling along the jungle floor, careful to keep his hands and feet positioned on the spongy moss, which soaked up the sound of his movement. As long as the Delta soldier on the other side of the tree stayed there, he was sure he could escape.

  Slowly covering the ground, he had gone nearly five meters when he heard the soldier moving behind him. He paused, shifting his weight and tensing, ready to pounce if the man came into view. The muzzle of his rifle did, along with his shoulder. He froze when the overhead light again pushed against the canopy, this time pausing directly above the trees.