“Well...since you asked. I could really go for a shower and pizza. A beer would be nice, too.”
“Make that two of us.” Trent chuckled. “Tell you what, Sergeant. When we get back, the pizza and beer are on me.”
“A good reason to get off this Godforsaken rock.”
“Hold up, Sergeant.” He came to a stop, looking off into the distance dominated by numerous peaks radiating countless shades of red. They could be the Colorado Rockies in the summer if not for the red.
“Look out there. What do you see?”
She shrugged. “A bunch of funny colored rocks. Why? What do you see?”
“Your view is too narrow, Sergeant. What we are looking at has never before been seen by human eyes. Of all we have accomplished as a species, no one has ever seen this gorgeous view. Not until we came and saw it. I think that’s pretty awesome.”
“I see what you’re saying, sir. But honestly I would trade it all for a shower, and some beer and pizza.”
He laughed as he said, “You know something, Sergeant? So would I.”
The last of the column passed by shortly after they stopped to enjoy the view. Before turning to catch up, Trent glanced back to see Corporal Bitter far behind the group.
“Sergeant?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Why is Bitter dragging ass? Is she sick?”
“I don’t know. She hasn’t said anything...but she has been acting a little odd, now that you mention it.”
“CAL, give me a complete medical evaluation of Corporal Bitter.”
The message he received was not what he had been expecting.
You have got to be joking.
“Sergeant, we have a bit of a problem. I fully admit that I never saw this one coming.”
“What is it?” she inquired.
“It would appear the Corporal is...how shall I say...with child.”
Despite the camouflage, Trent could see the wheels spinning.
“That ensign we caught her with.”
“It would appear so. Though the paternity of the baby seems to be bit of a moot point, wouldn’t you say?”
“Yeah, particularly since when he pops through Alpha Gate he will have a nine year old kid waiting for him. And to him, it will have only been a month.”
Anna will be about twenty herself.
“I bet few people will be as shocked as Bitter was when she figured it out, or will be if she doesn’t know. I’m guessing that she didn’t see this in the cards.”
“What does that mean?”
“Remember what I said about personnel files being incomplete back on the Commerce?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, since you’re her sergeant, I can tell you. You are granted full access to her file.” He grinned. “Before coming along this adventure, the Corporal here was married...to a woman. She’s a lesbian, at least that’s what her file says. This is why just because I read her file, I couldn’t have seen the thing with the ensign coming. People are more complicated than files.”
“I see your point,” Roth said as Bitter caught up to them.
Trent said, “Oh, Corporal Bitter.”
“Yes,” she sucked in and exhaled a deep breath, “sir.”
“We need to have a little chat about the birds and the bees.”
The confused look Roth imagined was now on Bitter’s face caused her to burst out laughing.
***
With the mountains firmly behind them, the unit again dove deep into the cover and protection offered by the forest. CAL estimated another hundred kilometers remained, but moving more cautiously this final distance would take the longest to cross.
Midway through the third day beyond the range, Trent was running point when CAL flashed a warning.
Alert: Movement ahead.
Without pause, he stopped and knelt down. He held a fist in the air, signaling the others to do the same.
“CAL, full scan on the movement.”
In a forest full of life, this process repeated itself dozens of time. Warning, stop, scan, and then proceed after CAL determined it was just another mindless animal. Trent expected the same result this time.
Scan complete. Enemy position ahead. Proceed with caution!
With his fist still in air, Trent changed the sign, ordering everyone to take cover, quietly sending forty-eight slightly blurred images moving behind rocks, trees, and bushes.
“CAL, ping the unit to let them know we have enemy contact. Ping Captain Jones, Sergeant Gabriel, and Lieutenant Simms to meet me up front.”
Three blurs cautiously made their way to Trent, where he waited behind a large boulder.
“What’s the situation, Major?” Jones asked.
“CAL says we have three Bearcats up ahead, about eighty meters. It doesn’t appear as if they know we’re here.”
Simms asked, “Should we try to sneak around them?”
Jones said, “I don’t like that idea, Major. They might run into us later. If they see or hear any of us, all they have to do is call it in to their base.”
“Agreed, Captain. We take care of them here and now while we have the advantage.”
Gabriel asked, “Should we take one alive?”
“We can’t handle prisoners. We’ll save that objective for the assault on their base. Here’s the plan.”
Trent took a moment to consider his options, which were few. He drew in a deep breath and released it.
“Captain, you stay here. Keep everyone quiet and under cover. Carefully arrange a defensive position just in case. Have a squad ready for rush support in case I call. Gabriel and Simms, you’re with me.”
“Sir,” Jones interrupted, “shouldn’t I lead the attack? It’s unorthodox for the commanding officer to leave the bulk of the unit behind to lead a small raiding party.”
“I appreciate your objections, and you’re right, this isn’t by the book. Nothing about this mission is by the book. I want to get a look first hand at the enemy to see what I can learn about them.”
“Understood, sir. We’ll have your back.”
“I know you will. Here’s their position.” Trent used his finger to draw the plan in the orange tinted dirt. “I want you, Gabriel, to approach on my left, about ten meters away from me. Simms, I want you to do the same on my right. CAL will keep an open link between us so we can coordinate. We’ll call our shots and fire at the same time. If all goes well, they won’t know anything happened until they’re dead. You got it.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Let’s move.”
The three assassins stalked their prey carefully. They crawled flat on the ground where their suits made them look like slow moving piles of dirt and rocks. Not a sound was made. The helmet and suit even dampened the sound of their breathing and pounding hearts.
The journey to the enemy position felt like it took an eternity, but there was no room for error. If any of the enemy got a message out, they all would certainly die, and their mission would fail.
Trent reached his point first. It took Simms and Gabriel another five minutes to find a clean line-of-sight on the targets. Trent spoke to them softly with the aid of CAL.
“I have confirmed three hostiles. Switch to single shot. I want as much of their bodies left over for autopsies as we can manage. Gabriel, you have the ugly one sitting down. I want a head shot on him. I’ll take the ugly one by the tree and will take him out with a head shot. Simms, the other ugly one is yours. Take him out with a round to the chest. You two read me?”
“Yes.”
“Roger that.”
Trent slowly raised his MRG. CAL placed a crosshairs on the visor, which moved with the barrel to show exactly where the shot would land. He maneuvered the crosshairs directly on the unsuspecting soldier.
“Do you have your targets?”
“He’s dead, he just doesn’t know it,” Gabriel answered.
“Cold as ice.”
“On three. One, two, three...”
Instantly,
the back of Trent’s target’s head exploded into a mist of blue blood and bone tuned into powder. The other two suffered similar fates.
CAL announced, All hostiles eliminated. Area clear.
***
“Major, nice work. You have the first confirmed enemy kills of the war. Congratulations,” Jones said. Trent stood over his kill with his MRG resting on a shoulder.
“You’re right. I’d like some patrols around the perimeter. We’re going to be here for a little bit. I don’t want any surprises.”
“Already taken care of, sir.”
Gabriel walked up to Trent’s side. All three stared down at the blue spattered dead Bearcat.
Gabriel commented, “Hey, sir. Why did you want Lieutenant Simms to kill his with a chest shot?”
“I wanted to see what his brains looked like.” He turned to Jones. “Captain, get the medics up here to start autopsies on these stiffs. CAL can walk them through the details. Be sure they upload the data into the sub-space transmitter. The Fleet at Alpha Gate will probably wet their pants when they see this information.”
Gabriel still looked intently at the headless soldier, who lived up to its unimaginative name. Thick fur covered every square centimeter of the body. Even without a head, the creature was over two and three-quarter meters tall. Their hands consisted of four massive fingers with retractable claws. The head on the one Simms had killed reminded him of a lion without a mane. It didn’t have a mask, indicating they could breathe the atmosphere.
After deep thought, Gabriel finally commented, “Does anyone else find it a little unnerving that so far two out of the three intelligent species in the known universe look like cats?”
Trent said, “That is something to think about. I’m not sure I like that idea.”
“What do you think they were doing all the way out here, sir? Some kind of long range patrol,” Gabriel asked.
Trent turned away from the body to survey the rest of the temporary camp containing scattered gear and hanging animal carcasses. He walked over to one of their weapons leaning against a tree, taking it into his hands.
It was a huge rifle that appeared to fire a projectile around the size of a 50 caliber round. He shuddered to think what a hit from the weapon would do to a person.
“I don’t think this was an official op. It kinda looks like a couple of guys out hunting for fun. Hopefully, with them so far out, it will be a while before they’re missed. We need to get moving soon.”
He handed the rifle to Simms.
“Give this to one of the techies to break down. Learn what we can. I want this and the autopsies done in thirty.”
***
After burying the dissected bodies and the enemy’s gear, the warriors of Earth, having just savored their first taste of alien blood, fled the scene of the first victory in the war with renewed vigor toward the heart of the enemy.
Anxious to make up time lost during the delay, they pushed themselves harder than before.
They had met the enemy, and he was to be feared.
So were they.
Chapter 11: The Base
The base was in the middle of an open plain. The Bearcats understood the principle of creating a killing field around fixed positions. From Trent’s vantage point in the tree line five kilometers away, he couldn’t see any approach offering a bit of cover. Any attack would have to be an open advance.
The best point to launch an assault was on the far side from where he surveyed the area. From there, the base was only two kilometers outside the tree line.
With the visor on maximum zoom, he conducted a detailed recon of the enemy fortifications while creeping along the tree line. Fifteen gray dome shaped buildings made up the compound, but he couldn’t determine what their function was.
His observations gradually discovered the enemy didn’t expect an attack from the ground. Their defenses against such a move appeared minimal. A simple fence, similar to a chain link version from Earth, enclosed the area. Four heavy weapons placements that appeared suitable for anti-personal use guarded the four corners on towers. The bulk of their firepower rested in a healthy allocation of anti-aircraft lasers and missile batteries pointed toward the sky in the base’s center. A reasonable posture if you are confident your forces control the only gate capable of reaching the planet.
Nothing Trent found on the recon overly concerned him. The fence and heavy weapons would be taken care of in the first seconds of battle. What gave him pause was what he couldn’t see.
For all he knew, the field around the base contained untold numbers of mines that CAL couldn’t detect. Or once they attacked, the Bearcats might deploy near invincible robots to do their real fighting for them. An unknown enemy presented an untold number of possible problems. He didn’t know how to plan for such contingencies.
With the day’s recon work completed, Trent walked back into the camp established a kilometer deep into the forest furthest from the base. He looked for Simms, finding him by the sub-space transmitter he and a team of techs had assembled. The transmitter had a comical appearance of a square box with a rod that looked a lot like a penis sticking out at a forty-five degree angle.
“Simms.”
He glanced up at the major and stood.
“How was your walk, sir? Find anything interesting?”
“Well, let’s say I gathered a good amount of intel...but I didn’t find the silver bullet. Here’s the data, get it uploaded.” He handed Simms a flat oval crystal.
“Silver bullet?”
“You know, a simple way to take them out. Like one shot into a fuel cell and the whole place erupts.”
“Ahh, I get it. Yeah, that would have been nice.”
“How is the link going? Are we going to be able to connect with the relay the Commerce left at the entry gate?”
“Don’t see why not, I’m almost done. We should be able to transmit tonight.”
“Good, I want that info out of here as soon as possible so we can start the attack countdown. I don’t like being out here without support. It’s time to get the Fleet in the fight.”
“Sir.” The voice came from Thomas, standing a few meters behind Trent. He turned.
“Yes, Lieutenant?”
“When you’re done there, may I show you what we have from the sensor array?”
He looked back at Simms, “Anything else for me?”
“Nope.”
“Fine work, thanks.”
“Yeah Simms, good work playing with your unit.”
Simms said, “Like you would even know what to do with one.”
Trent ignored their verbal sparring. He followed Thomas to a small dish pointed at the sky. Captain Jones watched the monitor.
“What do you have for me, Captain?”
“It’s been slow going. We’ve had this thing scanning the space around the gate ever since you left, and we still aren’t done, won’t be till morning. Wish we could pump up the power.”
“Too risky, we can’t afford for them to pick up the signal. What’s it found so far?”
“I think I’m looking at a small battle group.”
“What do you mean? Can you get any detail?”
Jones’ transparent head shook no.
“Not only am I handicapped by the low powered passive scan...but I have no reference to compare these images to.” She highlighted one of the ships on the screen. “For all we know, this could be a battleship or a family vacation oriented cruise ship. I do have one piece of good news though.”
“Oh, yeah. What’s that?”
“After this battle, we’ll have reference.”
“That’s good to know, Captain. All we have to do is live till we can use it in the next battle.”
***
The sun’s rays peaked over the horizon, showering Trent as he stood by the fully assembled transmitter. All of the officers joined him.
“Is all of the data uploaded?” he asked Simms.
“She’s ready, Major. Just hit this button,
and the signal will be shot to the sub-space link relay and through the gate to Alpha’s link.”
Trent said, “It all comes down to this then. Once the signal is sent, Fleet will acknowledge, and the forty-eight hour countdown begins. Simms, since everything is dependent on your tech skills, would you do the honors?”
“Christ,” Thomas blurted out, “you mean we came all this way and success or failure rests on his ability to know what the hell he is doing. If I had known that, I might have found something else to do today.”
Trent had grown tired of their bickering. On the eve of battle, he felt it was time to clamp down on discipline.
“That’s enough, Thomas. I know everyone is bitchy because we’ve been trapped in these suits forever. Hell, I doubt I’ll ever get my sense of smell back. But your attitude isn’t helping. We go into battle in two days. Simms here just might save your life.”
Thomas lowered her head. “I’m sorry, sir.”
Simms smiled like a playground toddler who just got his sister in trouble with Dad. Trent sensed this and sought to even the score between the two.
“The same goes for you, Simms. Thomas here could be the only thing standing between you and certain death in a couple days. Now carry on. Both of you start acting like soldiers.”
Simms pressed the button. The box hummed as the light on the tip of the rod blinked. They stood there watching and waiting, no one moved nor said a word. Save for the clicking sound of some kind of bird on a branch overhead, the area remained silent. After a few minutes, they received their confirmation.
“Break huddle.”
“That’s it. Half our mission is already a success. I want all squad sergeants and officers to report to me in fifteen minutes over by the rocks. Simms, see to it that all of your equipment is disassembled and completely destroyed.”
Trent walked away with Jones keeping pace at his side.
Jones said, “I was wondering how long you were going to let those two keep going at it.”
“They’re starting to get on my last nerve. Maybe once we are out of these suits and cleaned up, they’ll realize they have the hots for each other. And then they can just get it over with on the ride back to break the sexual tension.”
The Last Hero Page 7
