Warlord

by Mel Odom

  Unconsciously, Jahup touched his face and neck, then caught himself and put his hand down. “Captain Gilbride cleared me for duty.”

  Sage nodded and shifted his attention to Halladay.

  “Field promotion,” Halladay said, and nodded to Jahup. “I pushed through the paperwork on your new buck sergeant a few hours ago because you’re going to need him in the field with you.”

  “Sir,” Sage said, “no disrespect intended, but if you’re going to send me where I think you are”—he nodded at the holo of the river area—“that’s not a place Jahup needs to be.”

  Halladay opened his mouth to say something, and Jahup did the same, but Leghef beat them both.

  “Master Sergeant Sage,” the Quass stated, “my grandson has already visited this location on the Yeraf River with you.”

  “I understand that, ma’am, but things have changed. With Zhoh in as general of the Phrenorians here on Makaum—”

  “It is even more imperative that we do something to destroy the arsenal that lies in wait there,” Leghef said. “I do understand the dangers, Master Sergeant, and I admit that I am loath to risk my grandson on such an expedition.”

  “Then keep him here,” Sage suggested.

  “I can’t,” Leghef said. “He would only follow you.”

  Sage glanced at Jahup. “Not if he wants to keep those new stripes, he won’t.”

  The boy’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Sage had almost expected him to strip off the chevrons and offer them to him.

  “His new rank isn’t going to buy his loyalty,” the Quass said. “You already have that. If I were to order him to remain behind, he wouldn’t.” She paused. “The colonel and I talked about this before Jahup’s promotion, and before you walked into this room. My grandson is going with you because it’s the best place for him to be. You need him in this endeavor, Master Sergeant. Only the two of you have seen this place, and if something happens to you—well, we need redundancy for the operation.”

  “Ma’am—” Sage remembered the last time he and Jahup had gone out to that part of the jungle. They’d barely escaped with their lives, and they hadn’t been trying to take down a Phrenorian stronghold at the time.

  “In fact,” Leghef said, raising her voice, “I made the argument to Colonel Halladay that he keep you at the fort rather than send you off to attack that weapons depot because I felt you would be better assigned here attending to the troops. No one else has the experience you do with what we’re going to face in the next few hours.” She grimaced. “I certainly don’t think Zhoh will wait any longer than that.”

  Sage barely kept himself silent. The assignment to stay at the fort wouldn’t have sat well with him, and all of them in the room knew it. Going out into the jungle was dangerous. So far Zhoh hadn’t made a move against the fort or the sprawl.

  Leghef nodded. “So you can appreciate our dilemma.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Sage replied, and he could see her point as clearly as he could see she wasn’t about to give up on it.

  “The bottom line,” Halladay said, “is that you and Jahup have both been there.” He leaned in, touched the holo, and lit up the hidden access hatch that opened into the underground complex.

  Several bright dots manifested on both sides of the jungle.

  “This is from the latest satellite imagery,” Halladay said. “Those bright dots are Phrenorian troops and sec drones.” He tapped the holo image and stats blinked to life. “There are thirty Phrenorians and ten assault drones on either side of the river on patrol. Getting past them will be difficult.”

  Drawn into the situation, Sage studied the troop placement. “How did we get this sat intel? The Phrenorians have been more or less invisible to us with the cloaking they’ve put into place over that area.”

  “We have Huang to thank for that,” Halladay said.

  “Huang’s crossing the line,” Sage said.

  “As I understand it, he crossed it earlier when he sent people in with you to get Throzath. I talked to him. He’s all in on this. The way he looks at it, his people are at risk even if they try to sit this one out. I agree with him.”

  Sage did too, but he didn’t say that. If Zhoh and the Phrenorian Empire did make their bid to take control of Makaum, they wouldn’t settle for anything less than everything.

  Fort York and its personnel had to find a way to prevent that from happening.

  THIRTY

  Tactical Command Center

  Fort York

  2355 Hours Zulu Time

  Halladay looked at Sage. “We’ve got some ideas regarding how best to destroy the complex but we wanted to run everything by you. See if you see something we haven’t.”

  Sage stuck his hands into the holo and blew up the image. “We don’t know how big the stronghold is inside.”

  “Big enough to house a lot of munitions and vehicles,” Halladay said. “Otherwise there’s no reason to put it there. Once you get in place at that stronghold, you can set up ground-penetrating radar beacons that will give us a better idea of what you’re up against. You’ll also need to carry in a mobile netlink to give us access to the GPR units.”

  Sage nodded, turning it over in his head as he scanned the image.

  “The location, below the water level, is going to work for us. The radar beacons will enable us to find pressure points where we can use the location against that base.”

  “To flood the stronghold. Let the water do the damage.”

  “Blowing a hole in the riverbank is a start,” Halladay agreed. “Drain the river water into that area and take out whatever war machines they’ve got hiding there. That might not take out the amphibious vehicles, but it will knock down what they have on hand. If you can find ordnance to put into play, so much the better.” He looked at the image. “They made a mistake locating their stronghold there.”

  “Not if we never managed to find this place,” Sage pointed out. “It was well hidden, and we got lucky finding it.”

  “We did, and we’re going to make the most of it.”

  “Any overland approach we make is going to be spotted,” Sage pointed out. “The Phrenorians will button that place up fast.”

  “Or boil out of there like ants,” Kiwanuka said. “Getting away won’t be easy for a small unit.”

  “We won’t be able to take in many troops,” Murad said. “This is going to have to be a surgical strike.” He frowned. “Most of the soldiers we take with us probably won’t be coming back. Those sacrifices will give the soldiers who remain behind a chance against the Phrenorians. That’s not going to be easy either.”

  Sage rubbed his chin, and stopped when his fingers encountered the nanite membrane. “We’re going to bring back all of the men that we can, Lieutenant. We’re not planning on throwing lives away.”

  “I didn’t mean that we were, Master Sergeant. I’m going with you, so I’m not inclined to act foolishly.”

  “We get in if we can, and we get it done,” Sage said. “Then we return to the fort. We’re going to have plenty of fighting to do here.”

  “Not here,” Leghef said.

  Sage glanced at her.

  “Colonel Halladay and I have agreed that trying to hold the fort might not be possible. It’s too big a target, and we can’t know how badly compromised it is.”

  Sage knew that was true. They’d already seen evidence of Makaum civilians tasked in support roles who were anti-Terran.

  “We’re working on getting people organized,” Leghef said, “those that will listen, and have them regroup in bands out in the jungle.”

  “Once you start moving people,” Sage said, “you’re going to push the Phrenorians into action. There’ll be no hiding.”

  “We need to get civilians out of harm’s way,” Halladay said. “The Quass has already been getting word out to people that will listen to her.”

  “Unfortunately, even after today’s events,” Leghef said, “not all of them will believe the Phrenorians are our enemies
.”

  “Or they’ll throw in with the Phrenorians in the expectation of mercy.” Jahup sounded bitter. “The people are already divided over this war.”

  “After today,” Leghef said, “some of them will see things differently. The attack in the north sector has shown them that. The Phrenorians showed no mercy to anyone caught in the streets there.”

  “Throzath got his weapons from someone among the Phrenorians,” Sage said. “I brought him in because I wanted to expose that network. Having that knowledge will help show that.”

  “We will get the information from Throzath,” the Quass said. “I have someone seeing to that now. Once she has the story, and she will get it, we can let more people know how the Phrenorians have been working against us. And how some of our own people have betrayed the majority of us.”

  “Understood. Getting that story from Throzath isn’t going to stop the Phrenorians.”

  “No,” Leghef agreed, “it won’t, but it will sway some of my people, and it will make more real the threat the Phrenorians pose.” She glanced at Kiwanuka. “In much the same respect Sergeant Kiwanuka’s success in finding the assassin who killed Wosesa Staumar will aid our efforts to appeal for more help from the Alliance. Both of those endeavors will enable us to open multiple fronts in the discussions that are being made now regarding what is to happen between the Phrenorian warriors and Terran soldiers here on Makaum.” She returned her gaze to the holo. “That’s why your mission tonight is so critical. We have to take away whatever advantage that stronghold poses.”

  Halladay nodded. “Agreed. So we have a little time and luck on our side.”

  “Zhoh will move quickly,” Sage said.

  “He already is,” Leghef said. “According to some of the people I’ve had watching the Phrenorians, General Zhoh has already sent a contingent of warriors out there.”

  “Probably pilots and drivers,” Halladay said. “They’ll be gearing up to bring those vehicles online as soon as they’re given the command.”

  “Why hasn’t that command already been given?” Sage asked.

  “The Phrenorian Empire is working through diplomatic channels,” Halladay answered. “You and I both know that ‘Phrenorian diplomats’ are as rare as unicorns. In the end, the Phrenorian Empire is going to do what they want to, meaning they will attempt to take Makaum, but the Alliance is negotiating with them.” He paused. “The decision has been made to withdraw our troops from the planet.”

  Anger ignited in Sage and he barely kept himself under control. “We can’t just leave these people here, sir.”

  “That’s not what I want either, Master Sergeant.” Halladay’s command tone kicked in a little. “What I’m telling you is that the Makaum Oversight Committee under Chairman Finkley is negotiating terms of Terran military withdrawal as we speak. That’s the only thing holding the Phrenorians back. They want to put a good face on this if they can. The Quass has asked for asylum for the Makaum people.”

  “They’re not going to get it,” Sage said. “The Phrenorian Empire won’t let that happen.”

  “It’s not just about the planet and its resources,” Kiwanuka said. “The Phrenorians are going to want slave labor as well.”

  “I know,” Halladay said. “That’s why we’re going to act. I signed on here to protect these people. We’re going to do that. The oversight committee and General Whitcomb aren’t going to like that.”

  “Best-case scenario,” Sage said, “the Phrenorians agree to let us pull out and leave a skeleton crew of Terran soldiers behind to facilitate the asylum. They’ll make us take most of our soldiers and our weapons offplanet first, then allow a few Makaum people to transport out also. But at some point, they’ll shut down the removal efforts and keep most of the people here as slaves to procure the resources they want. They’ve done that before.”

  “I’m well aware of that, Master Sergeant,” Halladay said. “Which is why we’re going to drown that munitions encampment. If we are allowed to provide asylum for the Makaum people, which I don’t think we’ll get to do, we’re going to level the playing field as much as we can.” He took a breath. “After that, we’ll just have to see.”

  “We are, as I believe your people put it,” Leghef said, “between a rock and a hard place.”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Sage agreed. “You are. But you’re not there alone.” He looked at Halladay. “Have you passed this mission on up the line, Colonel?”

  “I have not,” Halladay said. “This is being written up as an expeditionary recon acting on rumors we’ve recently gotten from in-country intel. When things go badly at the stronghold, which I assume they will since that’s what we’re planning on, you’re simply doing your best to rout Phrenorian troops who have broken the treaty we have regarding this world.”

  “Command will see through that,” Kiwanuka said.

  “I think, in the end, what we do at that stronghold is going to be a pittance when weighed in with everything else that’s going wrong tonight,” Halladay said. “If Command discovers that I knew about the Phrenorian stronghold longer than I claim to have known in the parameters of this mission, they could just as well applaud me for waiting as long as I could. In the end, we didn’t choose this war. The Phrenorians did. We’re just making the best of it that we can.”

  “Yes sir.” Sage turned his attention back to the holo and concentrated on the problem at hand. “We could take four fireteams overland into the area. Heavy weps teams. Sniper teams. And we’d have to have at least one demo team to blow the river wall along the stronghold.”

  “Take Corporal Culpepper,” Kiwanuka suggested. “He’s the man you want when you want something obliterated.”

  Sage nodded. He remembered Culpepper from the assault on Cheapdock. The soldier also had an impressive amount of battlefield experience.

  “Sixteen soldiers aren’t many,” Halladay said.

  “We can’t have many, sir.” Sage stood and folded his arms across his chest. “Even sixteen might be pressing our luck to stay undiscovered out there, but I can’t see doing it with any less. Not if we want to succeed at this.”

  “We want you to succeed,” Halladay said. “Getting close to the stronghold is going to be problematic.”

  “When Jahup and I were there,” Sage said, “Zhoh arrived at the stronghold in a submersible. That’s how the Phrenorians are ferrying supplies and materials into that compound.”

  “I know,” Halladay said. “After you told me about that, I asked Huang if he knew anything concerning those operations.” The colonel smiled. “I wasn’t surprised to learn that he did. As it turns out, Huang has worked his way into supplementing some of the Phrenorians’ larders there. His people are providing offworld delicacies that are hard to come by on Makaum even in the bazaars.”

  “Something called yerendy was a favorite of General Rangha’s, I believe,” Leghef said. “I don’t know for certain what that is, but Uncle Huang told me it was served while alive.”

  “Yerendy is contraband on several worlds,” Kiwanuka said. “The Alliance still isn’t sure whether they need to be flagged as sentient and recognized as a culture because some of them have passed the mirror self-recognition test. Some behaviorists think the MSR doesn’t work uniformly because yerendy aren’t vain enough to care to see themselves.”

  Leghef grimaced.

  “Huang has a meeting place for the submersible?” Sage asked.

  Halladay reached into the holo and shifted the image. A digital readout kept track of the distance. “Here.” He stopped the image 34.8 klicks from the stronghold. “This is where Huang’s people have delivered cargo.”

  The site showed a wide spot in the river. Trees lined the banks on both sides and the current was so smooth it looked like glass.

  “That’s Ackurna,” Jahup said.

  “You know this place?” Sage asked.

  The young man nodded and his brow furrowed in thought. The nanite membrane gleamed and Sage made a mental note that the sheen on Jah
up’s coverings and his own would have to be reduced so it wouldn’t reflect. It wouldn’t show behind a faceshield, but he didn’t want to take chances.

  “We’ve hunted at Ackurna in the past,” Jahup said. “It’s a levee, built up over the years by the passage of the Yeraf River. It is dangerous there. The jasulild spawn in that place, and when they do, they’re constantly aggressive and have even left the waters in pursuit of prey.”

  Sage was familiar with the creatures after seeing one close up during the trek to Cheapdock. The one he’d seen had been over seven meters in length and three meters in diameter. They grew larger than that.

  “We’ve taken meat there during desperate times,” Jahup said. “In the end, hunters gave up on the area. The jasulild are too numerous there. When they can’t find enough prey, they eat each other. We haven’t hunted in that area in over two years.”

  “Huang’s intel indicated the same thing,” Halladay said.

  “That’s why the Phrenorians picked that spot,” Sage said. “The location provides natural barriers, the local hunter groups no longer go there, and it appeals to their sense of a dangerous environment. How do the shipments work?”

  Halladay flicked another spot on the holo and a smaller image sparked to life. This one showed two rounded submersibles, both of Phrenorian design with articulated arms attached fore and aft and along the sides.

  “The larger submersible is a Kinob-class, I’m told,” Halladay said. “Fifty meters long, it’s a troop transport the Phrenorians had designed by Tianysen weapons engineers after they took over the planet. You’d think with Phrenoria being a water planet and inhabited by undersea giants the Phrenorians would have already had submersibles. They didn’t. Now they have these.”

  “So we’ll need some people familiar with Tianysen weapons systems, including submersibles,” Sage said.

  “I already have them for us,” Murad stated. “One of the fireteam squads can double as a crew aboard the submersibles.”

  “The troop transport is being used as a ferry for the cargo,” Sage said. “What’s the second one? A gunboat?”