Opening moves symbiote w.., p.1
Opening Moves (Symbiote Wars Book 2), page 1
Copyrighted Material
Opening Moves Copyright © 2024 by Variant Publications
Book design and layout copyright © 2024 by JN Chaney
This novel is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either products of the author’s imagination or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living, dead, or undead, is entirely coincidental.
All rights reserved
No part of this publication can be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without permission in writing.
1st Edition
CONTENTS
Don’t Miss Out
Previously in Symbiote Wars
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Epilogue
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To Sheellah.
PREVIOUSLY IN SYMBIOTE WARS
James Sutton was just an average 18-year-old, no different than many kids right out of high school—he couldn’t afford college and didn’t really know what he wanted to do with his life. But when his sister, Holly, went missing, he found out he was living in an urban fantasy. An alien really did land in Roswell, New Mexico, and the US has been supporting the aliens—and has been supported by them in turn—ever since. Will Johnson, the local sheriff, knew all about the alien Yarlees though, having been involved with them, and the pair went off in search of Holly.
Holly had been taken by the Cowlees—the enemies of the Yarlees in their civil war—and while James and the sheriff were able to recover her, along with some other people captured by the Cowlees, the Cowlees became aware of not only the Yarlees, but also of the fact that Humans make good symbiotic Partners for them. They wanted to conquer Earth… just as soon as they could find it.
With war imminent, Holly’s parents sent her—along with her Partner—to one of Earth’s embassies on the planet of Salchan, the home of Earth’s advanced jungle warfare course. When Holly killed one of the largest predators on the planet with only a knife, she was made a member of the local indigenous tribe, who asked her to lead them through the Terran jungle warfare course. They had heard their Human allies were going to war, and they wanted to participate.
Meanwhile, Sutton and Johnson flew to Cowlee space to watch for any operations that might target Earth. Although they were able to stop a fleet that was proceeding to Earth, a stealth ship followed them back to base, and the Cowlees now know where Earth is. An attack can be expected at any moment…
1
HANGAR, MOONBASE ALPHA
“You let a Cowlee stealth ship follow you home,” General David Sutton said as he glared at Lieutenant Colonel Will Johnson. “Now they know where we are!”
James Sutton—the general’s son—watched as his partner opened his mouth and then closed it again as if he didn’t know what to say. James didn’t, either. They’d been as careful as they could—had taken every precaution—yet their safeguards had been for naught.
Johnson sighed. “Sorry, sir,” he said finally. “We tried to keep them from following us, including destroying a stealth ship that we did find trailing us, but we obviously missed the second one. We’ll go back out and try to run him down as soon as we can get the ship rearmed.”
“I’ve already sent someone after them, and there’s little chance you’ll chase them down with the head start they already have.”
Johnson shrugged. “Little chance is better than no chance, and it needs to be stopped. If we can assist… Who’d you say you sent after it?”
“I didn’t, but I sent Richardson, who was already out there and ready to go.”
Johnson winced. “I understand about him being available, but surely you know that I’m better than him, right? With James, we’re also a better crew than what he’s got. Don’t you want us to go out and back him up? I mean, we’re here, and we’re ready. We just need a quick rearm, and we’re good to go.”
“Richardson should be able to handle this. Sneak up from behind and kill a stealth ship. It’s not a hard mission.”
“But, sir! We’re talking the safety of the planet! I wouldn’t leave that solely in anyone’s hands… especially Richardson’s.”
“I know you two haven’t always gotten along, but this is something he is capable of accomplishing.”
“No doubt, sir, and it’s even more likely if you send two ships out. It takes a hunter to find a hunter. With two ships tracking it down, not only are we more likely to find it, but we have a better chance of killing it, too.”
“Why are you so adamant about going?”
“Three reasons, sir. First, we led the Cowlee ship here. It’s our fault, and I want to rectify it. Second, you may have complete confidence in Richardson, but I don’t. Even if I did, two versus one is much better odds than one on one; that’s just simple math. And finally, there are a number of ships that have recently appeared in Shirgan. We stopped the first mission that was going to come this way, but that group is bigger, and a single ship is unlikely to be able to stop it. As soon as the info on where we are gets back, they’ll be coming.”
General Sutton turned to James. “And what do you think?”
“Everything he said is true. After we blew up the battlecruiser—”
“You what?”
“Blew up the battlecruiser,” James repeated.
“How in heaven’s name did you do that?”
“We disassembled our nuclear missiles, built bombs out of them, and strapped them to the back of the ship. Well, mine was on the back of it, anyway, but the Kaltans—” Johnson shook his head at him, and James stopped. It took all his self-control not to laugh at how far his dad’s jaw had dropped.
“I—” General Sutton’s mouth opened and closed a couple of times, and then he tried again. “I’m not even sure where to go with that—especially since I have a feeling there’s a lot more to the story—but I’ll bet you two violated an awful lot of rules and regulations.”
Johnson shrugged. “I was qualified to do all of it—well, almost all of it—in the past. Even if my qualifications might have lapsed in the interim, it was something that needed doing, and we got it done.”
The general frowned and—if possible—his face got even redder than it was before. “I have a feeling that if my son was qualified to disassemble nuclear weapons, I’d probably be aware of that.”
“True, sir, very true. He isn’t qualified, but he was operating under my supervision for most of it.”
“Just most of it?”
“Well, we were pretty short of time—just like we are now, as a matter of fact. We’d be happy to brief you on all of it when we get back, but wouldn’t you rather we go out and help Richardson chase down the Cowlees and prevent their return?”
“Yes, I’d like to send you out to do that—”
“Outstanding, sir. I’ll go get—”
“I wasn’t finished,” General Sutton said, his voice flat. “Yes, I’d like to send you out. I’d also like to throw you in the brig.”
“For what, sir? For destroying a battlecruiser with a stealth ship? For single-handedly stopping an invasion force? For destroying a depot site that could have been used for assault groups to get here? Am I getting warm with any of them?”
“You blew up a depot, too?” General Sutton asked, directing the question to James.
“Yes, sir, but that one didn’t require us to do much other than deliver the code that Suzie developed. One quick spacewalk—”
“Which you weren’t qualified to do.”
“Not true, sir,” James replied. “I went through a pretty extensive training program to get him qualified for spacewalks.”
“When, exactly, did you do that?”
“While we were hiding out from the cruisers that attacked us for blowing up the battlecruiser. Good thing, too, because I was able to help save the colonel when he had issues rejoining the ship after we programmed the depot to blow up.”
“You. Saved. Him.”
“Well, I helped. He probably didn’t need it, but on the off chance he did, I was there and quali
General Sutton held up a hand. “Just tell me one thing.”
“Sure, sir.”
“How much of this are you making up, and how much actually happened?”
“Zero percent is made up. It all happened.”
“And you are now qualified to spacewalk?”
“Yes, sir. I was pretty bad at first, but after three days of drills—”
“How close are you to being qualified to pilot a stealth ship?”
“Pretty close, I think.” James looked back at the ship. “I completed the ground school syllabus and am probably safe to solo. I operated the weapons system in combat, so I’ve got that qual, although I’m probably not ready for dogfighting yet.” He tilted his head as he thought. “Probably seventy-five percent or so?”
“Closer to eighty, I would say.” Johnson nodded. “Maybe eighty-five.”
The general’s jaw fell again. “In one mission? Eighty-five percent?”
“What can I say?” Johnson asked. “We were out there a while, and the kid worked hard.”
General Sutton shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but get your ship rearmed and go give Richardson a hand.”
“Yes, sir,” Johnson said.
The general turned and walked off.
James replied. “I don’t think he knows what to do with us,” James said as he watched his father stalk off.
Johnson chuckled. “He never has. He’d love to string me up, but he knows I get things done, even if he may not like the methodology.” He paused and then added. “In peacetime, I’m a liability, but in a war, I’m good to have around.”
“Good thing war’s coming, then. For you, anyway.”
Johnson shook his head. “War is never a good thing, for me or anyone else.” He winked. “But it does do amazing things for my career.”
MAIN BASE, SALCHAN
Holly Sutton raced up the stairs to the jungle warfare classroom, with twenty-nine of the indigenous tribesmen right behind her. Her massive Bengal tiger—bonded to her symbiote Kim—led the way, taking each flight in two massive bounds.
The extra hours of work she’d put in conditioning herself to the planet’s heavier-than-Earth gravity helped her stay ahead of them… until one of the Salchese behind her climbed onto the railing and started ascending on the outside of the staircase, using the railings as they would the vines in the planet’s jungle. One made it to the third floor just ahead of her—Kahlder, the leader of the Salchese tribesmen—but she passed him again as he climbed over the railing.
Holly ran through the indicated doorway without stopping, as she could hear the tribesmen behind her throwing each other out of the way, similar to the way the top crab in a bucket of the crustaceans is pulled back by the ones following it. The instructor waited to the right at the front of the room, so she grabbed the furthest desk in the front row and threw herself into it.
The tribesmen swarmed into the room but then pulled up short—they’d never seen a Human classroom before and weren’t sure what to do.
“Sit!” Holly ordered, tapping her desk.
The tribesmen then began fighting over who would be in the place of honor in the front row, especially the seat next to her. While she didn’t know most of the people, she could recognize which tribe they were from by the color of their fur. The local group—the Salchese—were dark green and a little shorter than Holly’s five and a half feet. The Belgae, who lived in the lowlands of the river valley were more blue-green and shorter, at only four and a half feet. The members of the largest tribe—the Keltese—were a lighter green and the tallest, with most of them able to look Holly eye to eye.
Two Keltese grabbed a Belgae that had almost made it into the chair next to Holly’s and threw him toward the front of the classroom. The instructor batted the flying man to the side but then turned back to stare at Sally, who sat next to him licking her lips.
“Stop fighting!” Holly yelled. “Stop it now!”
Whether the tribesmen heard her or not didn’t seem to matter. They continued fighting over the desks, and one of them—ejected from the scrum—slammed into Holly, throwing her out of her desk. She hit the wall and slid to the floor, blinking, as the tribesmen began fighting over her seat.
ROAR! Sally screamed from the front of the class. She pounced into the middle of the scrum, and her 700-plus pounds bowled over the tribesmen. She began swiping with her massive paws, and tribesmen flew through the air. Having cleared the area near Holly, she roared again, and the tribesmen all stopped to stare at her.
Holly picked herself up, brushed herself off, and straightened her desk. “Now,” she said, “we’re going to do this again, but with assigned seats.” She pointed at the ruins of the desk next to her, which was smashed to splinters when Sally landed on it. “You!” She pointed to the closest Belgae. “Clean that up. Kahler, bring a desk and sit there.” She moved to the next desk, which had been pushed to the side, grabbed it, and restored it to its prior position.
“Jahtar,” she said to the leader of the Belgae, “this is your seat.”
Holly moved to the next row. “Klepta, this is yours.” The Keltese leader opened his mouth—probably to dispute his position—and Holly yelled, “Now!”
Sally hissed at the tribesman, and he sat with a small nod.
“Now,” Holly said. “Each tribe will sit behind their leader, and they will do so in whatever sort of priority the leader thinks best. There will be no talking, fighting, or jockeying for position. I will have Sally take a piece out of anyone that even looks like they’re going to dispute it.” She glared out over the groups of tribesmen. “Do you understand?”
A few people muttered agreement or made some indication. “Bullshit!” she roared. “When I ask if you understand, you will all yell, ‘Yes, ma’am!’ Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” a few of the tribesmen said.
Sally let out a thunderous noise.
“Everyone will answer, and everyone will yell it, or Sally is going to start eating people!” Holly paused. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am,” more than half of the tribesmen answered this time.
“I can’t hear you!” Holly yelled. “Do you understand?”
“Yes, ma’am!” the tribesmen yelled.
“That’s still not very good, but we’ll work on it.” Holly’s gaze took in the three leaders. “Get your people seated. Now!”
She walked back and took her seat, and Sally dropped to the floor next to her. When the tribal leaders were seated—after lining up their people—Holly looked up at their instructor, Sergeant First Class Holmes. “I believe we’re ready now.”
2
MOONBASE ALPHA
“So what do we do now?” James Sutton asked, looking around the hangar bay.
“Well, we’re not going anywhere with what we’ve currently got on board, so we need the ship restocked and rearmed ASAP.” He flagged down a passing Dravanian.
“What’s up, sir?” the canid alien asked through his translation pendant.
“The general is sending us back out as soon as we can get our ship rearmed and replenished. What’s the fastest way to get that done?”
“What’s it need?”
Johnson chuckled. “Just about everything. Certainly, it needs missiles and countermeasures. Food and water, too—and not the shit that that you pawn off on the pilots that don’t know any better. We may be out there a while, and I don’t want fifteen cases of beef stroganoff.”
