Hunter, Warrior, Commander

by Andrew Maclure

  She spoke briefly to Ti’rrk while both sheltered behind a bullet pocked wall, then broadcast: “All units, prepare for Ant reinforcements to join you. We are taking too many casualties.”

  A few moments later two Ants ran in to join her team. Both were armed with harness mounted heavy caliber KE weapons on their right and a large pulsed beam weapon on their left. They didn’t pause as they reached Sah Lee, Ti’rrk jumped out to join them as they ran straight on towards the hostiles, firing as they ran. Ti’rrk fired two rocket-propelled grenades in quick succession, then the Ants were over the wall and amongst the hostiles. Sah Lee and her team sprung up and flung themselves into the melee. As soon as she was over the wall Sah Lee felt a heavy blow to her chest and found herself lifted up and thrown back over the wall by a kick from the hind leg of an Ant. She lay winded for a moment, recovering quickly, she jumped up and scrambled over the wall in time to see the last two hostiles being dealt with, one by an Ant and the other by one of her soldiers.

  “What the fuck was that about!” she shouted at the Ants.

  “We came to support you Major Sah Lee.” one of the Ants said calmly.

  “Why did one of you attack me!”

  “You are our leader, we must protect you. It was dangerous, so I pushed you to safety.” the same Ant answered.

  “You nearly crushed my ribs! As your commander, I lead the attack. I will not put myself in any less danger than those I command. Got it!”

  “Yes, Major Sah Lee, but we cannot ignore our obligation to protect you.”

  “Ti’rrk, how does Bry’ak deal with this?” Sah Lee asked.

  “She leads the fight but always has an Ant soldier either side of her.”

  Sah Lee addressed the Ant soldiers. “You can fulfill your obligation by staying at my side. You will not attempt to prevent me from fighting. Do you understand?”

  “Yes, Major Sah Lee” the two Ant soldiers replied in unison.

  “Ti’rrk, request two more ranks of Ants behind us.”

  The Ant froze again, but almost immediately answered. “Bry’ak has ordered her entire force to come in behind to recover any tech that might yield information about Tk’ng Dach Rm’s activities and plans. She will send reinforcements at your request.”

  “Thank the Makers the Ants are here.” she muttered to herself.

  “The Ants tech recovery activities are unnecessary.” Sah Lee’s AI said to her. "I am scanning all working tech and recovering data before you encounter the outcast soldiers. There isn’t much left after your troops have cleared the buildings. Bekkreshan has just cleared a control core, all the systems have been reduced to scrap. It is unlikely that what the Ants can recover would be of any use.”

  “And what are you planning to do with this data?”

  “Whatever you wish. I am streaming it to Ker Din Ser Forn, but I will keep it for you to review of course. Organic memory is not perfect, and you have limited memory capacity, but I record everything that you experience so it will be available for you to review forever.”

  Anger flared in Sah Lee. “Why are you sending it to that thing?” she demanded.

  “You mean Ker Din Ser Forn? Because he is best able to make use of it. He has been tracking Tk’ng Dach Rm’s career for over a thousand years. He fears that if he continues unchecked, he will overwhelm the galaxy and cause great suffering.”

  “Why should he care? The People’s technology will protect them.”

  “A good question Sah Lee. If you consider all the facts, you will understand why.”

  “I haven’t got time to play word games with you. Send drones in to scout ahead.”

  “You would not bring the drones I made for you. All the Galactic Savior drones were disabled by electronic counter measures. Your stubborn insistence to no longer use any People’s technology, apart from me, hinders your ability to succeed.”

  “Shit!”

  After making sure the DNA scans had been done, and that gurneys were on the way for the two wounded soldiers in her team, Sah Lee sent Bynor to scout ahead and gave the order for her squad to move out. She felt hemmed in by the two Ants either side of her and only just tolerated the inconvenience of having one of them push in front of her every time they had to pass through a narrow gap or a doorway, but their added firepower and strong armor helped them make rapid progress through the buildings. Bynor did an outstanding job of scouting out hostile positions. She and her Ant escort, plus Ti’rrk and Kar Fen were unstoppable. The rest of her team followed through dispatching any surviving hostiles and scanning for DNA.

  The other squads were making good use of their Ant reinforcements, moving quickly through the settlement and casualties had dropped to zero. They pushed on clearing out buildings with resistance falling off as they got closer to the more heavily built structures tucked into a recess in the side of the solid rock outcrop. The front line grew shorter as they moved forward, and the line of soldiers started to close up. Sah Lee called a halt until her troops formed a solid line. Although they were down to one hundred and thirty-two, the line only extended for about two hundred meters from one wall of the recess to the other. The single-story buildings had merged into one at this point. Via Ti’rrk, Sah Lee ordered the Ants to drop back and form a second rank behind her troops, ready to be called in if required, keeping Ti’rrk beside her. She ordered the troops forward, moving slowly and keeping in line as much as possible. They moved forward a few meters unhindered until in a sudden coordinated attack, outcast hostiles attacked from doorways and windows, then fell back, drawing battalion troops into rooms with barricades and protected firing positions. These hostiles were different from the multi species they had encountered until now. These were a single species of large, thickset reptiles. Not as big as Kar Fen, but bigger than most of the battalion soldiers. They all wore dark gray body armor and carried heavy caliber KE or powerful particle beam weapons. They fought in a disciplined and determined manner - but so did the battalion troops. Galactic Savior troops had the benefit of better field armor, but the more powerful weapons the hostiles used balanced out that advantage. Sah Lee quickly saw that if they took cover and swapped grenades and gunfire, this would become a battle of attrition with an uncertain outcome, but at best her troops would suffer heavy casualties.

  “Ranks of two - attack!” she broadcast on the mission comm link.

  The soldiers arranged themselves into two staggered ranks. They each threw a grenade into the hostiles position then moved forward at a run, their concentrated fire pouring into them. This was a high-risk strategy. If the hostiles had the firepower and the time to deplete the soldiers field armor before they reached their positions, they would rip the advancing troops to pieces, but if the troops reached the hostiles positions intact, their momentum would carry them right into the enemy to engage in close combat with blades.

  Sah Lee raced across to a partially barricaded doorway firing her GSA20 with Ti’rrk at her side pouring heavy caliber rounds into selected hostiles targets, depleting their field armor quickly so that the particle beam pulses from Sah Lee’s weapon punched holes right through them. “I’ll lead.” Ti’rrk said and crashed through the doorway, scattering hostiles with her speed and bulk, turning her head to decapitate one of the hostiles with her mandibles. Sah Lee dropped her GSA20 and pulled her hunting knife from its sheath and sweeping it into a hostiles throat, aiming for the vulnerable point in the body armor that was almost always to be found there. This time though, her blade thudded to a halt before penetrating the armor.

  “Remember what Kar Fen told you about large reptiles? They often have a weak spot in their armor just below the end of the mandible.”

  Without answering she pulled her knife up to stab the reptile at the end of its mandible, but it hadn’t been standing waiting for her to work out where to stick her knife. It swung its KE weapon round and hit her on the side of her head with the end of the stock. She saw it coming so did her best to roll with it, but it still rattled her teeth. The reptile ha
d a long curved blade in its claws and swung it towards the vulnerable point on her throat. Before it reached her, Powerful black mandibles clamped around the reptile’s neck and ripped through the body armor and cervical vertebrae. As the headless body slumped to the floor Ti’rrk said “Come on Sah Lee, stop toying with then, there are more hostiles to kill.”

  Chapter One Hundred And One

  Final Push

  Sah Lee turned and saw Bynor struggling with two of the reptiles, his right hand on the throat of one, which was scrabbling at him with both hands trying to loosen his grip. His left hand was holding the wrist of the other hostile which held a long curved blade identical to the one she had narrowly avoided being stabbed with. She moved towards the trio to intervene, but a huge reptile got there first and clamped a wide jaw full of long, razor sharp teeth onto the head of the hostile with the blade, pulling it up and backwards. It slashed across the hostiles throat and chest with its forearm and a sharp claw tore open the hostiles body armor. A second slash resulted in a spray of red. White bone and internal organs showed. Kar Fen dropped the body to the floor and turned toward Bynor and the other hostile. Still holding the other hostile by its throat, Bynor had pulled his blade out and thrust it deep into the armpit of the hostile he was holding, twisting it as he pulled it out, then into its neck behind the back of its jaw. He released his grip and the dying hostile slumped to the floor.

  Several other hostile’s bodies lay scattered across the floor of the large room they were in. A long table had been turned on its side to partially block the door they had entered by, and chairs were thrown into the corners. Apart from Ti’rrk, Bynor and Kar Fen, four of Sah Lees troops were in the room with her. She pointed to one of her soldiers: “Scan the hostiles for DNA, the rest of you forward with me.”

  Kar Fen took four quick steps to the closed door that led out of the room and gave it a powerful kick in the center. The door buckled slightly but held fast.

  “That’s a sliding door. The dent is going to make it difficult to open.” Sah Lee’s AI told her.

  Sah Lee shook her head. “Shit!” she said under her breath. “Has anyone got anything that might open the door?”

  “Yes, everyone out the way we came in.” Ti’rrk said.

  They all started to move towards the door. “You heard her, move!” Sah Lee called out.

  Ti’rrk was last out and called “Take cover.” She spun round and fired a rocket propelled grenade at the dented door.

  As soon as rubble stopped flying through the door and with her ears still ringing, Sah Lee sprung up off the floor and looked though at the hole in the wall where the dented door had stood. “Forward!” she called out as she led the way through.

  Five hostiles lay on the floor of the corridor, knocked over by the concussion from the grenade. Their field armor had protected them from the blast and debris, but they were disoriented by the explosion.

  Bynor, Ti’rrk, Kar Fen, Sah Lee and one of the soldiers behind them each leapt onto one of the prone hostiles and dispatched them quickly. Sah Lee paused as she withdrew her knife from the neck of the hostile. She had killed enough when hunting and was eager to kill outcasts - but in a fight. This felt wrong, killing a sentient being with a blade when they were laying helpless and unarmed. She felt almost ashamed for what she was doing. Her mind jumped back to her first farun kill with Tef Dor, just before going to University. When she killed the farun, her tears mingled with its blood. But that was three years and a lifetime ago. She shook her head and stood, looking round at her team. They didn’t seem to share her feelings. At least, they didn’t show it. But maybe she didn’t either.

  She looked up and down the corridor they stood in. There was no one else in sight either way but she was aware that if they pushed forward through the door a few meters to their right, hostiles could come along the corridor and attack them from behind. She had to make a decision. She recalled something from the leadership training she started before leaving for Forness Two - ‘They who hesitate are lost. Sometimes a bad decision is better than no decision.’

  “Bynor, get that door open and check it’s clear. If not, Kar Fen leads, then me.” She pointed at two of her troops, “Fet Al, Brayen, protect our rear when we get through that door in case any hostiles come at us from the corridor.”

  The door was controlled by a simple retina scanner. Bynor slipped his backpack off and pulled out a small device that he held over the scanner. The wait for the door to unlock and open seemed like an eternity, but in reality, took just over a minute.

  “I could have opened that for you without any delay.” Sah Lee’s AI told her.

  “Yes, OK you’re a bloody genius. We’ll stick with old fashioned methods thanks!” she snapped back at it. “Shit, I’m sorry.” she apologized. “I know you’re trying to help, but I want to do things by myself and my team. I don’t want to go through life getting an advantage from Peoples technology.”

  “I understand Sah Lee. I’ll wait for you to ask in future, unless any of your team’s lives are in danger, then I’ll do whatever has to be done.”

  “My team’s lives? What about mine?”

  “Of course, Sah Lee. If ever your life were in danger, I would do what I could.”

  The door slid open and Bynor held a thin flexible metallic arm round the door with a camera on the end linked to his AI. A burst of fire smashed the flexible arm, and a grenade flew through the door into the corridor.

  “Grenade! Take cover!” Sah Lee shouted, though she knew that only anyone close to the hole in the wall they had just come through had anywhere to go. A grenade in a corridor was bad. Very bad. As she dropped to the floor, a large multi-legged black shape knocked her to one side as it rushed past her. A second later she heard the muffled explosion of the grenade. Dreading what she would see she turned as she got up and looked at the spot where the grenade had fallen. Ti’rrk lay on her back not moving. “No!” Sah Lee shouted as she got to her feet.

  Ti’rrk’s legs waved, she shifted and twitched and flipped over onto her feet, turned to face into the open door and fired a rocket propelled grenade through it, then sprung to the side as the blast came through the doorway.

  “What… how are you still alive?” Sah Lee asked.

  “My field armor. I carry a much bigger field generator than you, it can absorb a great deal more energy than yours, but if you check my armor status, it was depleted a lot by the grenade.”

  A vertical bar popped into Sah Lee’s peripheral vision. Nine tenths of it were red. “How long will it take for it to recover full strength?”

  “About twenty minutes but it is still functional.”

  “Maybe, but you’d better stay at the back for a while. Everybody close up on me, Kar Fen, get right behind me.”

  “All set!” Fet Al yelled from the back.

  “Go!” Sah Lee ran through the door with Kar Fen right behind her. She stopped suddenly as she entered the small room. Kar Fen ran into her back and knocked her forward. Stumbling, she managed to keep her feet and glanced round. The rocket propelled grenade had devastated the interior and the scattered remains of a hostile decorated the floor. The largest piece intact was most of its upper body, without arms or a head. The door through the opposite wall had been blasted open. She ran forward with Kar Fen right behind her and the rest of the team following.

  They entered a large dormitory, with rows of three tier bunks. The first two were bent and distorted but still held in place by vertical supports connected to floor and ceiling. Bedding had been blown across the room by the blast, draped across the surrounding bunks.

  “Spread out and clear the room.” Sah Lee ordered, dropping down and peering across the floor under the bunks, looking for feet. Seeing none, she stood and joined her team checking the rows of bunks, alert for an ambush. They reached the end of the dormitory without finding any hostiles. “Bynor, Fet Al, check out the wet room.” she ordered. “The rest of you, cover the doors.”

  After a few minutes, the
two soldiers emerged from the wet room. “Anything in there?” Sah Lee asked.

  “Nothing that a high-pressure hose wouldn’t fix.” Bynor replied. “If they’ve got cleaning bots, they’re not very effective.”

  “I have been trying to get the central AI to cooperate.” Sah Lee’s AI said. “It remains loyal to the outcasts, even though their actions are in conflict with an AI’s normal ethics. I have forced it into dormancy and I’m uploading the personality to Ker Din Ser Forn. I am telling you this as although we won’t have any assistance from it, neither will the outcasts.”

  “OK. I’m not sure what that means to us though.”

  “It means that their security systems are all down. They have no video feeds so can’t see what we are doing or where we are, and all doors are now on default security. If we have a problem getting through a door, so will they. It takes away some of their advantages.”

  “Right, good. Well done.”

  Sah Lee hadn’t been contacted by any of the officers, which she hoped meant there were no major problems. Being the commander of a battalion was a lot harder than just having a squad to lead. She had no real control of the battle field and no idea what was happening to the rest of officers and their troops.

  She broadcast to all the squad leaders: “Unless you are in combat, hold your station and contact the squad leader either side of you. We need to form a line and when we move forward, keep to it. Ascertain if you are out of position and get your unit into line. When you are in position, notify your line commander. The scan of the buildings shows we are only a few meters from the rock face. There are no caves showing so we need one last all out push. We move forward on my command.”

  Confirmation of their readiness quickly came through from the from the squad leaders and officers. Using the mission comms, Sah Lee broadcast to the remains of the battalion. “This is the final push troops, remember that our objective is to take Tk’ng Dach Rm alive if possible, but I am ordering you, your prime objective is to stay alive. Ready your weapons, keep in line - forward!”