Comrades in Arms Read Free Page A

hold ‘em off long enough.” Rader heard another explosion, a sizzling sound, then a cry of pain from the Sarge—a high-pitched yelp that did not at all sound like the gruff, hardboiled man—then only static on the comline.
    Rader shoved aside his alarm and dismay, not sure how the survivors of his squad were going to get out of here, but they would keep pushing toward the objective.
    He, Coleman, and Huff fought their way into a large guarded chamber where the roaches made their last stand. The entrance hatch was sealed, so the three soldiers used their laser rifles to melt an entrance through the putty-like polymer metal wall.
    “This must be the place,” Coleman said.
    Inside the protected chamber, Rader and his comrades discovered row after row of polished black casings the size of coffins.
    “Giant eggs,” Huff said. “Look at all of them!”
    The soldiers opened fire on the casings, cracking them open and spilling out white and slippery humanoid forms with backward-jointed arms and legs, ovoid heads, and giant black eyes that were covered with a milky caul.
    So they were chrysalises, not eggs.
    With a high-pitched chitter, three Jaxxans lunged out from between the rows of black casings. When they hurled half-formed energy-webs, Rader dove out of the way, but Coleman was too busy shooting the chrysalises. The energy-web snared him, killed him.
    Huff began firing wildly at the Jaxxans. From their cover, the aliens formed another energy-web that shimmered in the air and came toward them. Rader dropped to the floor and took cover, rolling up against one of the tall black casings. He yelled a warning, but Huff kept firing even as the web encircled and disintegrated him.
    From his position of dubious shelter, Rader shot the two Jaxxans, then waited, listening.
    Moving in a scramble of excessively jointed arms and legs, another alien skittered forward to a split chrysalis and caught the albino, mostly formed creature as it slumped out of the cracked shell. Like a soldier holding a wounded comrade, the roach cradled the dying, half-formed creature in segmented arms.
    Rader rose to his feet, and the Jaxxan swiveled its head toward him, showing those large, black eyes like pools of sorrow. “Look what you have done!” Though the creature’s chitinous faceplates showed no emotions, Rader felt that the Jaxxan was giving him an accusatory glare.
    A red spot appeared on the Jaxxan’s forehead, and a laser blast cooked his encased head, exploding his entire skull.
    The Deathguard strode into the chrysalis chamber. From behind the helmet, which was no more readable than the alien’s face, the Deathguard looked at Rader, then turned back to the black cases. He began shooting them one by one.
    Rader’s implanted radio burst to life again. “This is Lieutenant Nolan with the reinforcement ship, closing in on the nesting asteroid. Two roach defenders got here before us. The asteroid’s overrun, but we’ll take ’em on! We don’t leave men behind.”
    Rader didn’t cheer the speech. He and the Deathguard were trapped in the chrysalis chamber. In the corridors outside, he could hear the ominous sound of hundreds of skittering legs—warriors that had been hiding deep inside the asteroid, and were now closing in on the chrysalis chamber. Rader joined the Deathguard, standing together as they shot the rest of the casings, knowing they didn’t have much time … knowing they weren’t likely to get out alive.
    At least he had a chance for some payback for his lost comrades. It was the only thread of hope he had to cling to. He wished he and Cody could have been here together doing this.
    The armored and silent Deathguard turned around and opened fire on the Jaxxan warriors that surged into the chamber. Sergeant Blunt had counted more than a hundred of them; to Rader, it seemed like a thousand. Sergeant Nolan’s reinforcements would never get here in time. The radio channel remained silent, no transmissions from the rest