Grendel Unit 1: Bad Day at Khor-wa Read online

  Frank read the words aloud, "Unification Intervention Forces."

  He bent down to inspect the man's weapon and saw the action switch was set to STUN. "Oh no," Frank whispered. "Oh God, oh no."

  At the other end of the alleyway, Vic cut around the corner quickly, wanting to get out of the funnel to the building as fast as he could. He moved with his pistol in front of himself, keeping it at eye level, ready to shoot anything that came into his view. He bent low to move forward and felt the warm metal of a gun barrel press against his right cheekbone. "Do not move, Captain Cojo," the voice attached to the weapon said.

  A bright flashlight snapped to life only a few inches from his eyes, blinding him instantly. Vic involuntarily squeezed his eyes shut, expecting to hear the pop! of a gun that would splatter his brains across the wall, but instead, all he heard was the fast rush of boots across the ground as several more men surrounded him. "Sir, lower your weapon!" someone shouted.

  Vic didn't move. He was squinting and trying to gain some sort of vantage on his enemies, to see if he could manage to shoot any before they finished him. "Don't do it, Captain. You are being detained by Unification Forces on charges of treason."

  He turned to look into the light and said, "What?"

  Another man's voice, a more familiar voice, called out above the others, "Stand aside. Let me through."

  Vic turned and cocked his head, trying to identify where the voice was coming from. "General? Is that you?"

  "It's me, Victor. Put down your gun."

  Vic dropped the weapon and held his hand up to shield his eyes, trying to peek through his fingers, "What the hell's going on here?"

  "You disobeyed a direct order. Killed one of my men. Violated the sovereignty of a planet. I advise you not to say another word until you speak to an attorney."

  The soldiers moved in to scoop up Vic's gun and grab him by either arm. Someone else yanked off his gear belt and pulled out his earplugs. He could now see the ship and the throng of armed men. Vic struggled against them, "Where's Yultorot? He has to be nearby!"

  "Stop resisting!" one of the soldiers shouted. They yanked his hands behind his back and held them tight while applying a set of cold handcuffs. Vic winced as they clamped down on his wrist bones.

  "The asset has been secured on my vessel," Milner said.

  Vic looked at him in confusion until he saw S'bal's slithering, fish-faced form slide up beside Milner and say, "General, if that's all you'll be needing of me, I'd like to go."

  "That's the asset!" Vic shouted.

  S'bal rolled his eyes and held out his webbed hand toward the General, who nodded and said, "Of course." Milner reached into his uniform shirt pocket and removed a plastic credit slip. He handed the slip over to the Cryndian and said, "Don't spend it all in one place."

  S'bal flicked the slip with his webbed fingers and smiled, "Nice doing business with you." He glanced at Vic with a sinister smile, "See you around, human."

  Vic broke free of the men holding him to go after the fish, even with his hands behind his back, trying to kick and bite, but the soldiers fell on him swiftly and beat him across the head and shoulders until he fell to his knees.

  "Don't be so childish, Victor," Milner said. "The asset today is the target tomorrow, and vice versa. That's how this game is played."

  "You son of a bitch," Vic huffed, looking up at the General. "You want to use that murdering fanatic as an asset?"

  Milner shrugged, "Yultorot is like all the rest. He can give us a dozen important targets and do us more good in the field than in some prison. I told you, I've been doing this job longer than you have been alive. You should have done as you were told. Now, you'll have to pay the consequences."

  Vic was lifted back to his feet by his captors and struggled to get as close to the General's face as he could, "I hope you burn in hell for this. I hope the dead souls of all those children drag you down where you belong."

  The General sniffed and said, "Grow up. You're going to have a long, long time to think about all this, but at least you'll be around people you know. You've put almost as many people in Gratersfield Penitentiary as you did the morgue."

  The soldiers cranked Vic's arms behind his back until he cursed and pushed him away from the General before he could respond. They were taking him to the ship. Vic's mind reeled as it tried to catch up to what was happening when he heard the far away whine of what sounded like a thruster failing. He looked up in the air and said, "No way."

  Flame sputtered out of two jetpacks attached to Monster, strapped to his body to support his massive weight but unable to compensate for the rapid way he was careening toward the planet's surface. His space chute was shredded and the wind whistled through it as he dropped, almost as loud as the Mantipor's yelling.

  The soldiers scattered to get out of the way of the four-hundred pound meteorite, and even the guards holding Vic had to stop and watch as Monster collided with the ground. An enormous cloud of dust kicked into the air on impact, making the ground under their feet ripple and shift. Monster shot to his feet and tore off the jetpacks, snarling ferociously like an animal at the sight of his captain being restrained. "Let… him… go!"

  "Take that thing down," the general ordered. "Non-lethal."

  Two of the nearest soldiers fired at Monster, sending electrically charged probes through the air as fast as bullets that stuck in the fur of his arm and side, sparking with energy. They probes sizzled and sparked, sending waves of bright blue current through the creature's body, making him roar in pain. Monster tore out the probes and lunged at the nearest solider, grabbing him by the face and tossing him at the others like a bowling ball.

  "Again!" Milner shouted.

  Two more soldiers fired, their probes sinking deep into Monster's neck and chest. The enormous beast dropped to one knee but he roared and fought through the pain, lurching forward and swinging at the nearest soldier. The man's body cartwheeled across the grass and smashed into the alley entrance. "Let him go!" Monster bellowed.

  A half dozen soldiers threw themselves in front of Vic and raised their rifles, the red dots of their sites painting the Mantipor's blackened and scorched fur. "Switch to lethal measures," Milner said.

  "Stop!" Vic cried out. "Big Man! Stand down, please. That's an order."

  Monster skidded to a halt, looming high over the terrified soldiers, glaring down at them with red, furious eyes. General Milner walked around to Monster's side and raised his sidearm, firing two electrical probes at point blank range at the Mantipor's face. Monster groaned as electricity circled his head and his eyes rolled back into his skull. The great beast staggered and finally collapsed backwards, unconscious. The air stunk of singed hair and ozone.

  Milner shut off his weapon and said, "Find restraints big enough to hold him and drag his sorry behind on board. Since he wants to be with you so badly, he can go to Gratersfield too for all I care."

  Vic watched them dig the probes out of Monster's skull and cursed at them, telling them to be careful, even as the soldiers dragged him away. His boots left trenches in the mud as they forced him up the ramp onto the general's ship. They yelled at him and threatened him to get him to stop struggling, but Vic fought them the entire time until they finally had him on board and threw him into one of the flight chairs. They strapped him down with restraints and pulled tight, cinching him down until it was all he could do to breathe.

  Sitting across from him, just a few feet away, was a short, pale-faced man with hollow cheekbones and a receding hair line. The man watched Vic and the guards nervously, and his eyes kept shifting from side to side, as if he expected to be attacked at any moment from any direction.

  The entire group of soldiers struggled to load Monster aboard the ship, rolling him to the back of the ship. The cargo doors hissed open and the lot of them heaved the Mantipor up onto the hydraulic lift.

  The man sat staring at the ground, mindlessly biting his fingernails. Vic saw that they were scarred and discolored from Kero
gel burns. Vic shook his head and let out a hollow laugh, then turned toward where Monster lay, "Hey! Wake up, Big Man. I found him. Come sit on him until you hear his bones break."

  The man did not respond.

  "You're a dead man," Vic said.

  The man's eyes fixed on Vic momentarily, flaring with contempt, but he remained silent.

  Vic sat back and said, "Look at me."

  He did not move, except to nervously bite on his thumbnail, chewing at the ruined skin as he waited for the ship to take off.

  "Yultorot, look at me."

  The other man finally lifted his head from his wet nail and said, "I am looking at the face of a lifelong prisoner who will never be free from this moment forward. What could you possibly have to say to me?"

  "Someday, we'll meet again. That's when I'm going to kill you."

  Yultorot snickered and waved his hand at Vic, "Perhaps you do not understand your circumstances. I will not waste my time arguing with an idiot."

  "Just remember," Vic said. "Someday, I'm going to remind you of this conversation, right before I choke the life out of you."

  Yultorot rolled his eyes and looked away, unmoved. When General Milner came aboard, he said, "General, can I sit up front with you? This man is bothering me."

  General Milner waved for Yultorot to join him and looked down at Vic, "Save your strength, Victor. You're going to need it."

  Vic laughed slightly. "You know what's funny, General?"

  "What's that?"

  "For the first time in all the years I've known you, I actually believe the words coming out of your mouth."

  The General slammed the door shut and Vic looked back at Monster, seeing the Mantipor roll over on his side and take a deep breath, snoring loudly. Vic leaned his head back and closed his eyes to try and get some rest.

  The Grendel Unit Series Continues

  Grendel Unit 1: Bad Day at Khor-wa

  Grendel Unit 2: Ignition Sequence

  Grendel Unit 3: Fight the Power

  Grendel Unit 4: Any Means Necessary (COMING SOON)

  Also read: Grendel Unit: Sun Hammer 2 (Suicide Planet)

  About the Author

  Bernard Schaffer is the author of multiple books that span a wide variety of genres, including modern American literature, police procedurals, and science fiction westerns. He has worked on several projects with famous authors such as Harlan Ellison, Alan Dean Foster, and Bill Thompson (the editor who discovered Stephen King and John Grisham). In 2011, Schaffer founded KAS, a select group of independent authors that donates proceeds to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.

  Recently, he collaborated with J.A. Konrath on two books that feature Konrath's best-selling Lt. Jack Daniels characters, and ones from Schaffer's own Superbia series.

  Aside from writing, Schaffer is a lifelong resident of the Philadelphia area and the proud father of two children. He is a decorated police detective and expert in narcotics distribution.

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  Grendel Unit: Bad Day at Khor-wa

  Bernard Schaffer


  Published by Dia de los Toros Publications

  Edited by Laurie Laliberte

  Copyright 2013 Bernard Schaffer

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. No reference to any real person, living or dead, should be inferred.