Lost in Magadan: Extraterrestrials on Earth

A few minutes later, the remaining Russians were dead or running off into the snowy oblivion. Snap leapt down the pile of rubble to Davis lying below. Now that Davis had gotten his armor off, Snap could see the two bullet wounds.

“Shit, Davis. You look terrible.”

“Thanks to your terrible aim, Major.”

“Hey, I hit what I was aiming at. If not, you would be a cinder right now.”

They traded awkward glances and then looked toward Moore, who had caught the sizzling beam that was meant for Davis.

Davis shook his head, “That was meant for me.”

Snap applied pressure to the wounds with sterile bandages from a concealed first aid kit hidden within each of their armor suits.

“You’re lucky. The bullets lost most of their velocity when traveling through the alien armor,” Snap said, as he tossed a bloody bandage on to the deck.

“I don’t feel lucky, Major.”

“How did you know about that Ondagra sneaking up on me?” Snap asked, as he chemically cauterized Davis’ wounds.

“I saw him,” Davis answered.

“You could not possibly have seen him. He was nowhere near you, and he was on the other side of the rubble.”

Davis sighed, “Since you shot me, I have been having visions – hallucinations. I can see the alien that you shot.”

“Is he still alive?”

“Very much so. You hit him. Not fatal. He is back at his ship being patched up now.”

“How could you know that?” Snap asked, bewildered.

“I just know. I know that I know.”

Snap finished dressing the wounds and helped Davis put the armor back on.

“We’re not done yet,” Snap said, as he helped Davis over the mound of metal and crushed containers to meet the Impegi crew.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

Snap, with Davis by his side, approached Lightning Squad, who were gathering just inside the bulkheads of the Impegi. The wind was whipping through the fractured hull, carrying with it freezing snow. The newcomers were joined by Fabris and Catrix. The Impegi crew were wearing the same battle armor, which closely resembled the FALOS armor of Lightning Squad.

As he joined the group of soldiers introducing themselves to each other, he noticed that the Impegi crew had raised the visors on their helmets, so that their faces could be seen.

“Hello, I’m Commander Caliana Furier,” the woman with stunning ice-blue eyes said, in perfect unaccented English, as she extended her hand in the customary way.

Shocked by the sight of such an attractive woman in this desolate place, Snap stuttered, “Hello, I’m Major Morgan Slade.”

“This is Commander Forte,” Furier said, as she gestured toward the man standing to her right. “He was the, as you would say, CO of the Impegi.”

“Pleasure to meet you Sir. Major Morgan Slade,” Snap said, as he raised the visor on his damaged helmet.

“The pleasure is all mine, Major Slade. I understand your team is here to rescue us,” Forte said with a sarcastic grin.

“Yes, well, so far, the rescue mission isn’t going as planned,” Snap replied, with an emphasis on ‘rescue.’ “We have three down and one wounded,” Snap said, nodding his head toward Davis.

“Major, what is the extraction plan?” Forte asked.

“Commander, we have seven C-17 cargo planes en route. They can’t land, but supposedly, we can fly your jump shuttles up to them.”

“Huh, that sounds like a dangerous training exercise; more like a suicide mission in hostile territory, with at least two enemy AG fighters in the area,” Forte said with concern.

Snap took a deep breath, glanced at Furier’s ice-blue eyes, and said, “It’s not quite that bad. The Cargo planes are running optical stealth and have a battery of defensive weapons.”

“Our jump shuttles have chameleon mode,” Furier said with a smile. “That’s something working for us.

“Speaking of the jump shuttles, where are they?” Snap asked.

“Couple miles away, hiding. They can be here in a minute when we are ready to finish loading them up. When will the C-17s arrive?”

Snap looked at the display on his forearm. “About 20 minutes. Let’s finish loading the jump shuttles and get out of here.”

“Major, let me introduce you to the rest of my crew. Then we will load the jump shuttles.”

The two men walked up to the Impegi crew, who were mingling with Snap’s team, recounting events from the battle. As Snap shook hands with Genu, he saw out of the corner of his eye a Russian through a gaping hole in the structure three decks up. The Russian was pointing an RPG directly at Snap’s team.

Fuck. My visors up. No way to drop the visor and acquire targeting data before that asshole pulls the trigger. Hundred fifty yards away. Chances of bringing rifle to shoulder, manually targeting and firing before he can pull trigger- zero.

“RPG,” Williams screamed, and pointed up.