Spartan Valor

by Toby Neighbors

  I saw the Vena hunter in the dazzling light of the flare. It threw it’s hands up over it’s large eyes. The hunter was no where near our trap, but I sprung it anyway. The bundle fell to the ground with a thump and I jumped from the limb I was sitting on to the vine holding my pack. The vine wasn’t taut, and it gave way as I grabbed hold of it with both hands. I fell halfway to the ground without slowing at all. Finally the vine seemed to catch above me, and I slid the rest of the way to the ground.

  Pain boomed up from my feet. I nearly dropped to my knees, but managed to keep my feet by holding onto the vine. My back tried to spasm, but my adrenaline was pumping, and I was able to ignore the pain as I took hold of my assault rifle. The hunter was turning to flee, but I brought my aiming reticle to his legs and fired.

  The rifle boomed like thunder, and the alien fell to the ground. The strange, canine-sounding screams made goose bumps pop up all over my body. I rushed forward and swung my rifle like club. The stock hit the Vena’s long face and knocked the poor creature unconscious. I looked at the hunter’s legs. One foot was just gone. The leg ended in a bloody stump several inches below its knee.

  “What do you need?” Gloria called out.

  I glanced over my shoulder. She was beside the contents of my pack, looking down anxiously.

  “Toss me something to tie around his leg,” I called.

  She snatched up a small bundle of paracord. I quickly wrapped it around the hunter’s leg several times. Nearby was a stick about twenty centimeters long. I stuffed it between the paracord and the alien’s leg. Then I turned the stick, winding the cord around the leg extremely tight.

  “You want quick-clot?” Gloria shouted.

  “Not yet,” I answered, hoping we wouldn’t draw more hostiles to our position.

  I pulled open the alien’s supply pack. It was a small satchel fastened to a belt around the alien’s narrow waist. I assumed it was made out of the skin of some type of creature, but I couldn’t identify it. Inside, I found food, more ammunition for the forearm-mounted weapon the Vena used, and what I had hoped for — the healing paste.

  I took the paste, which was a thick dollop, wrapped in soft leaves, and smeared it onto the stump. The bleeding had slowed considerably, thanks to my tourniquet, and I pressed the leaves across the open wound. When I glanced back over my shoulder, I could see Gloria looking concerned. She wasn’t sure if she should stay where she was, or come to my aid.

  “Toss me the gauze,” I said. “Then push the supplies off the limb. We’ve got to get out of here.”

  “Roger that,” she said, throwing the roll of gauze to me.

  I wrapped the alien’s leg quickly and tied the gauze off. Then I looked at his forearm. The weapon was simple enough. A barrel ran down the forearm toward the wrist, with a thick leather cuff underneath. I unfastened the cuff and pulled the weapon free. I had expected to find a compressed air tank of some kind, but there didn’t appear to be one. And I didn’t have time to search for it. Instead, I shoved the barrel of the alien’s weapon into my pocket and pulled the creature onto my shoulder.

  When I turned around, Gloria had just reached the ground.

  “Grab Aurora’s rifle and follow me,” I told her.

  “What about our supplies?”

  “I’ll come back for them.”

  I hurried into the forest. I didn’t have to go far before the darkness overcame the light from the flare. It was laying on the ground sputtering, and the trees cast dark shadows. I slung the alien into a clump of bushes and turned around.

  “Keep him quiet,” I said. “We need him alive, but if he tries anything, don’t hesitate to kill him.”

  “Okay,” Gloria said.

  She looked shaken, and I couldn’t blame her. We had run all sorts of training scenarios in Basic, but nothing like shooting a prisoner on an alien world. I turned and sprinted back to the clearing. In my mind, I thought I would snatch up my pack, dump the rocks, and stuff my supplies back inside. Instead, after I unfastened the straps on my pack, I tried to lift it. Pain ripped through my neck, and my back seized up like a combustion engine with no oil. I staggered, gritting my teeth to fight the overwhelming pain.

  It was, in my mind, a worst-case scenario. I needed to move quickly, but that was impossible with the injury to my neck. I had never felt so weak in all my life. The best I could do, was drop to my knees and pull rocks out of the bag. It took several minutes before the pack was empty enough for me to dump the remaining contents.

  I stood up, reeling a little from the pain. I turned to start loading my supplies, when an arrow glanced off my helmet. I staggered a little, and another arrow flew past my head. I dropped to one knee, raised my rifle, and emptied the magazine in a rage.

  Chapter 30

  One of the Fae who was shooting arrows at me fell, but the others jumped back behind cover. I had not known the small aliens to fight so sensibly, but they were obviously learning to fear our weapons. Wood flew in massive chunks, and two small trees toppled under my angry barrage. As soon as my rack locked back in the open position, I hit the release that allowed the magazine to drop out of the weapon. I grabbed a fresh one and rammed it home just as two of the simian creatures appeared from the jungle and flung their spears at me.

  All I could do, was dive to the ground. Both spears flew over me, and I returned fire. I thumbed the indicator to three-round bursts and fired once at each alien. One died. The other fled. I crawled back toward my supplies. I stuffed the Sharps LRRG and the bundles of ammo into the pack, followed by the battery packs, our water, and rations. I had to fire into the forest again as another Fae appeared for a moment, dashing across to the fallen archer and snatching up the dead creature’s weapon. I loaded another magazine, stuffed our med-kit into my pack, and left everything else.

  Getting to my feet was difficult. My mind tried to bypass the pain, but my muscles simply didn’t respond. I staggered, nearly fell, and got control just as an arrow flew past me. I returned fire, but the flare sputtered out so I couldn’t see my target. Running was impossible. I lumbered away, my assault rifle in my right hand, one shoulder strap of my pack in the other. I didn’t want to drag my pack, but I had no choice. I expected to feel the pain of an arrow slamming into my back at any moment, but I escaped unfazed — thanks to my armor.

  “It’s just me,” I said as I lumbered to where Gloria waited.

  “Are you hurt?”

  “Just tweaked my back a little,” I said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Gloria was blind in the darkness once more, and I was in no shape to carry the Vena captive. So we hunkered down in the thick bushes. The hunter moaned occasionally, but didn’t wake up. I was hurting too bad to fall asleep, and Gloria stayed by my side. I kept watch through the night, but the Fae didn’t follow us. I supposed they weren’t keen on facing our weapons in the dark, and I couldn’t blame them. Still, it was a relief when the sun came up.

  “What’s our next play?” Gloria asked. “You want to get some rest while I keep watch?”

  “No,” I said. “We have to rouse the hunter and find out where they’ve taken Aurora.”

  “Are you in any kind of shape to fight?”

  “Sleeping won’t help me,” I said. “I need to get up and get moving. Hopefully the muscles will loosen up as we go.”

  I checked the bandages on the alien’s severed leg. It was remarkable what the Vena healing balm could do in a few short hours. The wound was still open in places, but healing had clearly taken place. We untied the tourniquet and shook the alien to wake him. I made sure my helmet’s translation mode was activated. When the hunter looked at us, I held one hand up.

  “Easy, don’t do anything rash.”

  The helmet emitted a series of barks and growls. The hunter spoke, and my helmet projected the translation.

  WHAT YOU WANT?

  “We need to know where you took our friend two nights ago?”

  NEVER TELL YOU.

  “Then you’re no use to us,” I
said, raising my rifle and pressing the barrel against the alien’s forehead, between the large eyes.

  “Orion!” Gloria said in shock.

  I had no intention of killing the alien, at least not until I convinced it to tell us the information we needed, but I didn’t want the hunter to know that.

  WAIT, the hunter said

  “Tell me where you took her?”

  CAN’T TELL, CAN SHOW.

  “Fine, but if you try anything, she will blow your head off,” I said, pointing at Gloria.

  The hunter looked at her with wide-eyed fear.

  “What did you say?” Gloria demanded.

  I muted the translation program on my Command Helmet before answering. “Just that you would blow his head off if he tried anything.”

  “Very funny,” she replied.

  “I wasn’t joking. He tried to kill me once already, and maybe he missed on purpose last night. But I’m not taking any chances. If he doesn’t take us directly to where Aurora is being held, I won’t hesitate to do whatever it takes to get the truth.”

  “Are you sure that’s a good idea?

  “Have you got a better one?”

  “We could go back to the Base Camp and get help.”

  “Captain Rigel sent one person to rescue you. Do you really think he’ll send more for Aurora when her own squad left her in the hands of the enemy?”

  “I don’t like this,” Gloria said. “It’s like we’re caught in a bad dream with no way out.”

  “I can give you my helmet,” I said. “It has GPS and can lead you back to the Base Camp.”

  “You know I won’t do that. I won’t leave you or Aurora behind.”

  “So, let’s go get her.”

  I turned the translation app back on and leaned down close to the hunter.

  “I used your own medicine on your wound. It’s healing. You can have a life, but only if you take us to where our friend is being held. Do you understand?”

  I UNDERSTAND.

  “Good, how long will it take?”

  THREE DAYS.

  “Now, see…there you go lying to me,” I said, grabbing the alien’s throat. His arms came up, the long fingers wrapping around my arm, but I had too much leverage for the alien to break free from my grip. “It only took you one day to deliver her and return here, so don’t lie to me. If we don’t find her before dark, I’ll kill you. I’ll do it really slowly. Got it?”

  The Vena nodded, and I released my hold on its neck. Gloria picked up the pack. I took the alien’s hand and pulled it up onto its one good foot. I had to wrap its arm around my shoulders and hold its wrist with my left hand. I kept my right hand on the handle of my rifle as we shuffled along.

  To my surprise, we didn’t run into any other aliens. Every half hour we stopped for a few minutes to let the hunter rest. I could sense his pain, but fortunately for me, the tension in my back and neck eased as the day wore on. I stretched at every stop, and Gloria massaged my neck a couple of times. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt a kind touch, and I savored every second of it.

  By mid afternoon, we were on the outskirts of a Vena village. Our captive had explained that Aurora was being held much the same as I had been. I left the hunter with Gloria and got as close to the village as I could get. It was a much larger community than the village I had been held in. The structures were larger. Some even had a second story. I spotted Aurora in a cage close to the center of the village. There wasn’t much movement from the aliens, but three warriors stood near the cage.

  Part of me wanted to charge in. I knew we could catch the aliens sleeping. If I could get Gloria up into a tree with a clear field of fire, she could use the LRRG with explosive ammunition and take out the structures one by one. I could mow down the aliens as they came out to see what was happening, but it was too great a risk. We could attack, but the chances of surviving were very slim. I moved that option to the back of my mind as a last resort, and returned to Gloria.

  “Well?”

  “She’s there,” I said.

  “So how do we get her out?”

  “I’m not sure,” I admitted.

  “We don’t have a lot of light left,” Gloria said. “I won’t be much use in the dark.”

  “Even if you had a helmet, we wouldn’t be able to outrun the Vena at night,” I said. “We either have to find a way to trade with them, or kill them all.”

  “What about him?” Gloria said. “Maybe they would give us Aurora in exchange for him.”

  “I’m afraid he isn’t worth enough,” I said.

  “So make him more valuable,” Gloria said.

  “How am I supposed to do that?”

  “Tell him something they want to know. Then you aren’t just trading him, you’re trading information too.”

  “That’s a good idea,” I said, nodding in approval.

  “What are you going to tell them?”

  “How to survive the apocalypse,” I said. “Stay here, I’ll be back soon.”

  My helmet didn’t have advanced optics the way Auroras did, but it could filter through the light spectrum and pick up an infrared beam. It only took a few minutes to follow the beam to a tree where the laser designator was hidden among the branches. I went back where Gloria waited and we took the hunter to see the object in the tree.

  “That’s a guidance system for an air attack,” I said. “Do you understand?”

  NO, the captive said.

  “We came from the sky,” I explained. “That device points our bombs to your village.”

  WHAT IS BOMB?

  I pulled the lever on my rifle, and a brass jacketed slug popped out. It flipped through the air and I caught it. Holding the small round up, the pointed tip and angular shape was clearly dangerous.

  “This is a bullet,” I said, pulling the barrel of his own weapon from my pocket. “You know bullets, yes?”

  The alien nodded.

  “A bomb is like a really big bullet, dropped out of the sky.”

  I squatted and the hunter slumped down beside me. Using what was close at hand, I gathered a few leaves and set them in a pile.

  “Your village,” I said, pointed to the leaves.

  I held up the bullet and showed it dropping down into the leaves. Then I made an explosion sound and scattered the leaves. The alien looked at me with wonder.

  YOU CAN DO THIS?

  “My people can,” I said, then pointed up at the laser designator. “That device shows the bomb where to go. It’s pointing at your village.”

  The alien pointed up into the tree. HURTS VENA?

  “That’s right. Now, we’re going to offer your village a trade. You for our friend. In return, we want safe passage back to our people.”

  WHAT ABOUT BOMB? The hunter barked.

  “That’s up to you,” I said. “Without that device, the bombs can’t find you.”

  The hunter nodded.

  “Are you sure that was the right information to give them?” Gloria asked.

  “No, but I don’t feel good about the Fleet bombing their villages.”

  “That’s above our pay grade, isn’t it?”

  “Yes, it is,” I said. “But who’s to say they wouldn’t have found the laser designators on their own. All I’m doing is saving someone’s life.”

  “But what if we end up losing more Marines because we have to fight the Vena who survive the bombardment?”

  “Look, there’s no easy answers here. I can’t predict the future. Saving this village might very well be the worst thing I could possibly do. But our radios won’t reach back to the Base Camp. There’s no one here to give us orders or make the decisions for us. All we have to go on is what we were trained to do. And we were trained not to leave anyone behind.”

  “I’m with your Orry. I just don’t want to make a wrong move.”

  “Neither to do I, but we have to do something. We’ve come this far, we might as well see it through.”

  “Alright, let’s do it,” Glor
ia said.

  The light was fading as we took our captive by the arms and led him toward the village. We didn’t go far before we were seen and soon, almost the entire village was alerted. Nearly a hundred warriors surrounded us. Gloria and I kept our weapons on our captive. It was terrifying. My helmet was translating questions among the warriors, but none were directed toward us. After a moment, I saw the crowd in front of us part and what I could only surmise as the village elders approached. Unlike the other warriors, each of the elders carried a long Gral quill. Some used theirs like canes as they hobbled forward, while others held them like sceptors.

  I had forgotten about my own quill. It was tucked into my armor belt at my hip. An empty magazine loop was the perfect size to hold the quill. I pulled mine out and held it as the elders spread out before us. They laid their quills on the ground and sat down. I joined them, sitting down and laying my quill in front of me. My rifle hung from the strap around my neck, but I didn’t hold it. Instead, I kept my hands on my knees.

  “My name is Orry,” I said, letting my Command Helmet translate my words.

  The warriors around us looked surprised, but the elders were calm, more guarded.

  WE ARE THE VENA, the elder directly across from me spoke. WHY ARE YOU HERE?

  “We came for our friend,” I said, pointing over toward the cage where Aurora was held.

  SHE IS A SACRED CAPTIVE.

  “I want her back,” I said.

  ONLY THROUGH DEATH MAY SHE BE SET FREE.

  “I disagree,” I said, before I pointed to the wounded captive. “I have your hunter. We will trade him for our friend.”

  IT IS NOT POSSIBLE.

  “I understand. But before you decide, you should know that I have shown him something invaluable to your people. Not just your own village, but all the Vena in this part of your world. This one can keep your people safe. If you do not trade with us, we will kill him.”

  IF THAT IS YOUR WAY, the chieftain said.

  I turned to the wounded hunter. “Tell him what will happen to the village if you don’t show them where the laser designator is hidden.”