by GARY DARBY
Standard operating procedures called for the non-communicating scout to remain at his or her last-known location and wait for the team to reestablish physical contact.
“Team, stop your target stalk,” Dason ordered. “TJ may be in trouble. Everyone head for her grid coordinates and make it fast.”
Obeying his own orders, Dason went into a trot, while he tried to rouse TJ on the communicator.
After several minutes, Dason pushed through a stand of rain-soaked foliage into a large clearing. A rustling to his left caused him to turn to see Nase and Shanon step around a clump of tall foliage crowned with gray pods.
“See or hear anything?” he asked.
“Negative,” Shanon replied.
Sami appeared on the clearing’s far side and gave the scout signal for close on me. The three jogged over to their Path Finder.
Sami jerked his head to the right. “Over here.”
Following Sami, they entered another clearing, this one smaller than the previous. Sami knelt and gestured toward various spots on the ground. “Bad news: trampled grass, bushes bent over. Good news: no blood.”
Dason spotted something metallic in the short grass. Reaching down, he held up his find. “TJ’s cam.”
Shanon voiced the unspoken fears. “Doesn’t look like it’s a communication failure.”
Dason nodded and turned in a full circle, eyeing the multicolored foliage in all directions. He twirled a finger in a tight little radius. “Let’s do a three-sixty.”
The others quickly fanned out in a circular search pattern.
Dason scoured the ground looking for any sign of what happened to TJ. He hadn’t gone far when he heard Shanon over the comms, “I think everyone needs to come see this.”
Her tone caused Dason and the others to break into a sprint. At a run with Nase and Sami close behind, Dason found Shanon kneeling over something on the ground. She stood and motioned to where she had just knelt.
Dason stooped down to get a better look. What he saw caused him to suck in his breath. “Blood!”
“So much for the good news,” Sami offered in a dry tone.
Following the trail, the four novices went a short distance before Nase called everyone’s attention to flattened and crushed grass. “Someone dragged something big through here.”
“Yeah, and take a look at this,” Sami gestured downward with one hand.
Dason trotted over to where Sami stood. “Boot prints,” he breathed. Following the line of tracks, Dason could see that the prints led off through the jungle along the crushed grass track.
Studying the impressions, Dason had that same tingle-like feeling in his gut that he had had just before the Chameleon Coug attacked. Something was wrong.
With a grunt, Sami commented, “Since when did XT beasties start wearing boots?”
“They don’t,” Dason responded. Looking at his teammates, he muttered, “What is going on here?”
“It’s obvious,” Nase declared. “Someone took TJ.”
“Okay, but why and who?” Shanon asked. “This place is supposed to be off limits during field exercises. Other than us, only mission control staff and instructor scouts are allowed in during training exercises.”
“Yeah, supposed to be,” Sami replied while he scanned the immediate area with a nervous expression.
Dason gathered the others around him. “Based on TJ’s last call, she found the XT, but if we can believe this, someone in turn went after her.”
Whistling off-key at Dason’s remark, Sami murmured, “Not good, folks. Not good at all.”
Nase knelt to study the tracks. He looked up at Dason. “Change in modus operandi.”
“And just what does that mean, oh wise one?” Sami retorted.
“It means,” Dason explained, “we change our mission. Someone’s snatched TJ and we’ve got to find her.”
Shanon glanced around at the others and asked, “Do you think this is some trick or ploy by the instructor scouts?”
“That’s it,” Sami replied with a snap of his fingers. “They’re ploying with us, trying to mess us up.”
“Maybe, maybe not,” Dason answered.
Nase stood and gestured. “Follow the trail, find out.”
“I agree,” Dason answered. “Our mission target will have to wait while we sort this out. And we alert the authorities.”
Shanon asked, “Emergency call-out?”
“Yes,” Dason replied. “But I don’t think we should wait for them. TJ may be in real trouble. Shanon, you start the call-out, but stay behind us, and keep it quiet. I don’t want anyone to hear you.”
“Wait,” Sami began, “Thorne, you do realize that if you order us to abandon our SLC mission, we chance ‘Failed Mission’?”
He eyed Dason for a second. “Of course, since you’re the team leader, the fault will be on you, we’ll just be following orders.”
Dason eyed the three who stood waiting for him to answer. He felt a profound weight pressing down, a mental and emotional, even a physical burden.
The ghost of his disgraced father raised itself, and he felt paralyzed; a blankness filled his mind, and he just stared at his teammates, unable to think, to act.
Before, he had just been a team leader, leading a team of novices on a hike through the jungle. There had been danger, yes, but this was different.
Now, he was in command of a team facing a life-and-death situation, and it was up to him to make the decisions that might save or lose that life. How many times had his father dealt with this very situation?
No doubt countless times and until Veni he had succeeded each time. But something different had happened on that fog-shrouded world, something that he hadn’t encountered before. Or had he committed the crimes and—
The Scoutmaster’s voice came through clear and sharp in his mind, forcing him away from his bleak thoughts. Your father is not on this mission.
Dason shook himself, throwing off the mental blankness. His speech became firmer, deeper. “Fine, Sami,” he responded. “If that’s what it comes down to, so be it, I’ll take full responsibility.”
He took a deep breath to steady himself. “Scouts don’t leave their teammates behind and I’m not going to leave TJ.”
Unblinking, he looked Sami in the eye. “If I did, I would never feel right about wearing the Scout Arrow ever again.”
The four teammates looked at each other with only the buzzing of insect like midges to break the silence.
In a firm manner, Dason asked, “So, what’s your answer?”
Shanon stepped next to Dason and declared, “I’m going with Dason to get TJ.”
Nase nodded while saying, “I’m in.”
The three looked at Sami, who shrugged in answer. “Okay, okay, I’ll go. No need to get all dang-fangled noble on us, Thorne.”
“Good,” Dason replied. “The way I see it, we now have two missions instead of one. First, we find and extract TJ from whoever has her and turn them over to the authorities.
“Second, if we can, we still do our job and locate the XT for observation and cataloging.”
Sami, who had turned away, now spoke up while pointing at the tracks. “Could be that in doing either of those, we accomplish both.”
Dason tilted his head toward Sami. “What do you mean?”
Sami knelt and ran his hand close to the mushy ground. “These prints sink into the ground much deeper than the others. Either this fellow is one hefty banana or he’s carrying something.”
“Like TJ maybe?” Shanon asked.
“Like TJ maybe.”
“Then what’s this flattened area where it looks like someone is being dragged?” Dason asked.
Sami smiled at Dason. “Not a ‘someone’.”
“The XT!” Dason exclaimed in sudden understanding.
“Kudos,” Sami rejoined. “Hope that didn’t frazzle your brain. It is a bit of a warm day.”
Dason gave Sami a nod of approval. “Good work. So these guys grabbed both TJ
and the XT. We’re still going to have to change our modus operandi to go after these people, and I am more than open to suggestions and ideas.”
“Modus, schmodus,” Sami yelped. “What are you talking about?”
“Latin, Sami,” Shanon explained. “Means mode of operation or how you do business.”
She made a gesture toward the boot prints. “In this case we need to alter our methods or how we go about our business because we’re now going after a different type of target.”
She glanced at the others while saying, “And something we don't train to pursue—humans. Humans, I might add, who aren’t afraid to hunt and bag other humans.”
“Thank you too much for the explanation,” Sami replied. “Are you saying that these people have been after us ever since we walked off the scouter?”
Dason frowned and shook his head. “I don’t think so. I mean, why would anyone want to stalk us? We’re just novices on a field exercise; we don’t have anything that anyone would want.”
Nase, who had been examining the broken track and listening to the conversation, now spoke up, “It may be what TJ saw or did.”
All three turned to Nase. “Meaning?” Dason asked.
Nase pointed at the trail. “This could be the work of XT poachers. TJ got between them and the Xee or saw them take the animal. Before she could transmit and report, they grabbed her.”
Shanon gave a little gasp. “Poachers!”
“But” Sami sputtered, “kidnapping? XT poaching gets you a penal moon for several years. Kidnap someone and they get hurt or killed? You could end up atoning with your life.”
Shanon replied in a hard tone, “And a witness to that is the last thing poachers want around.”
“Not good,” Sami responded. “So very not good. But we need to beat feet and we’re burning daylight. And I suggest that we not try to follow that trail in the dark. Too many places where we could be on the receiving end of something nasty.”
“You’re right,” Dason acknowledged. “We need to move.”
In a crisp voice, he ordered, “Sami, Path Finder, follow the trail. Nase and I will flank you on the left and right. Shanon, cover the rear and start the emergency call-out.”
Before they moved out, Dason cautioned, “They have at least stunners, and maybe heavier hardware. Long-knives against laz-guns or sniper lasers aren't fair odds.”
“Not to worry,” Sami answered in a snarl. “We know it’s not fair, but we’ll go easy on them.”
Sami shifted his torso-vest and strode down the beaten path. Motioning to the others to take up station, Dason trotted over to the right of Sami. The jungle felt even less safe than before because somewhere nearby were renegade human beings who had abducted a novice scout.
For half an hour, they edged through the jungle. Though their Life Sensors could register humans, its limited range wasn’t much use against a sniper sitting two or three hundred meters away with a scope on them.
They would use the little device but depend more on their eyes and ears, and the hours and hours of training doing slow sneaks and stalks through this very jungle.
Dason softly queried Shanon, “Anything on the emergency call-out?”
“No. Not a peep. Grolson did say setting twelve, right?”
“Right. Keep trying.”
A few minutes later, Sami spoke low over the comms, “TL, got a hit on the LS. Human. Faint, at the extreme detection range, and about thirty degrees to my left.”
“Understood,” Dason murmured. “Nase, investigate the reading, be careful and stay out of sight. Sami and I will continue on the trail.”
Dason then ordered, “Sami, ease up another ten meters and wait. I’ll parallel you.”
“Roger,” Sami whispered.
Dason turned to Shanon. “Hang back, keep transmitting, I’m going forward.”
Seeing her nod, Dason leaned low to the ground and with silent footsteps moved through the jungle. A few meters on, Sami moved out of the foliage so that Dason could see him and hand-signaled, “Take cover.”
Dason stepped back behind a bush and went to ground. He peeked through the foliage and saw Sami ease his way through some stringy brush and then disappear behind several fallen trees.
Several anxious minutes later, Sami whispered through the communicator, “Nase, freeze! TL, twenty meters ahead. Rondy. Burned-out tree.”
Dason understood Sami's message. Sami had seen something ahead, and he didn’t want Nase to run into it, and Dason was to meet him at a fire-damaged tree.
The soft, mossy earth damped Dason’s footfalls as he crept forward. Carrying his field knife in one hand Dason slipped from bush to bush, trying hard to blend in with the natural foliage.
His camouflaged scout uniform helped, and so did the dirt and leaves that now clung to him.
Dason spotted the burnt shell of a forest giant that had fallen victim to a lightning strike. Sliding around a clinging bush, he started to raise his head when a human hand grabbed his ankle.
In a flash, he brought his knife up only to feel his ankle squeezed twice in rapid succession.
Glancing down, he saw Sami smiling at him. Dason had to admire Sami’s woodcraft; he had gone right past the camouflaged youth and hadn’t seen him.
Sami jutted his chin toward the burned-out tree. Together they crawled up to the splintered log.
“Take a look,” Sami whispered. Being cautious, Dason raised himself up until he could see what lay on the other side.
His eyes widened, and his breath quickened. Resting on its belly landing pods in a large jungle clearing sat a gleaming gray space cruiser.
And the path they followed led straight to the craft!
Chapter Sixteen
Star Date 2433.056
The Planet Alistar
Sliding back down, Dason whispered, “Nase had the right idea. Only a poacher ship would be sitting in the middle of the preserve.” He inhaled deeply. “With armed and dangerous poachers.”
Grim-faced, Sami remarked, “Yeah, they went hunting for XTs and trapped TJ instead.”
Sami stuck his head up again to scan the clearing. “Don’t see anyone moving around, could be they’re out trying to round up more Xees for their haul.”
He tilted his head down at Dason. “So, Mr. Team Leader, how do we get TJ outta there without one of us gettin’ a blaster hole through the middle?”
Dason joined Sami in surveying the scene. “Doesn’t look like they’re getting ready to take off,” he observed. “The airlock hatch is open.”
“Sure, but you know that could change right quick,” Sami replied. “They probably left the flight controls in emergency punch-out. With a pilot that knows what their doing, she could lift in ten seconds.”
Dason pulled Sami down beside him with their backs against the mossy log. “What do you think, Sami? Any ideas?”
Sami scratched his head while saying, “Other than charging in to rescue yon fair damsel? Sorry, but no.”
“No one’s answering our call-out,” Dason muttered as if thinking aloud, “we don’t have time to make for the control center and yell for help, and those poachers aren’t going to sit there forever.”
Picking up a twig, he twirled it around while he thought and then dropped it to the ground. In a decisive tone, he declared, “Which means it’s up to us.”
He reached to tap his comms and stopped. “You know,” he commented to Sami, “it’s just possible that the bad guys are monitoring our comms frequency and listening to every word we say.”
Sami raised his eyebrows at Dason’s statement. “Possible,” he acknowledged. “But do we have a choice? It’s not like we can send carrier pigeons back and forth.”
“No,” Dason stated. He queried through the communicator, “Shanon, anything on the call-out?
“Negative, TL.”
“Understood. Stop transmitting. Team up with Nase. Nase, where are you? Do you see the cruiser?”
“Roger,” Nase whispered. “Left side of c
learing, five meters in. Two individuals nearby. One male, one female. Walking towards the craft carrying a small I-Tyger. Orders?”
“Stand by,” Dason replied, “Shanon is moving to your location.”
He glanced over at Sami and sighed. “Not much in the scout manual to cover a situation like this, is there?”
“Nope,” Sami grunted. “And I don’t recall doing any fieldwork on this sort of thing, either.”
Sami rose to peer over the fallen log’s craggy top. He reached down and tapped Dason’s shoulder, signaling for him to take a look. Dason poked his head up.
Stepping from the forest, two figures appeared, an older man and a young woman. Between them, they hefted a web sling. “Must be the two that Nase saw,” Sami whispered.
Just then, two men came from around the far end of the vessel and waved to the incoming party. Dason whispered to Sami, “Check out the hardware.”
Sami groaned in response. “L-guns, and they wear them like they know how to use’em, too.”
When the two parties came together, both men started gesturing into the jungle, and then back at the ship.
“Can you hear what they’re saying?” Dason asked.
“Too far,” Sami whispered. “But they’re sure worked up over something.”
Putting her burden down, the lissome woman listened and then threw up her hands in apparent disgust at what she heard. Her short, brown hair bobbed as she spoke loudly, but her voice didn’t carry far not enough that Dason or Sami could make out her words.
“Methinks that’s madam boss,” Sami observed.
“Methinks you’re right,” Dason replied.
The young woman extended a hand toward the web sling, and two men picked it up and carried the I-Tyger into the ship. A minute later they jogged back down the ramp.
At a quick walk, the young woman led the party towards the trail that Dason and Sami had followed.
“Oh, oh, here they come,” Dason whispered.
Dason and Sami melted into the bushes and waited, holding their knives tight as the renegade poachers came closer.
“Geez, Bianca,” a man began, “how wuz we supposed to know she was part of a team? Mitch and I don’t know nuthin’ about Star Scouts. The only time we wuz even near’em was when they chased us off Franson’s Planet.”
