The Damned Trilogy

by Alan Dean Foster

  In spite of the fact that the majority of actual combat was restricted to obscure or outlying areas, there were casualties among the civilian population … from heart failure, shock, and cerebral hemorrhage. Wais physicians (those who were not themselves paralyzed by circumstance) were kept busy tending to their own kind.

  Soratii’s team successfully wrested control of Ulaluable’s northernmost shuttleport from its defenders. If they could hold the place, it would allow for faster and safer resupply from orbit. As their first important conquest, the achievement cheered every member of the invading forces.

  Ranji’s group received the news as they were skimming in attack formation toward their designated target, their skids and floaters tearing along just above the ground at maximum combat speed. Since their attention was concentrated on sensors and weapons systems, their cheers were silent ones.

  Once more those close to him took his silence and otiose expression for quiet determination and resolve. It would have shaken their confidence not only in their Unifer but in themselves had they been able to see the pain and uncertainty that raged within him.

  Tormented by unceasing doubt and confusion, Ranji left necessary decisions to subordinates like Weenn and Tourmast. In the absence of direction from above the group’s flexible command structure allowed them to skillfully guide the battlegroup through rugged mountains toward its target. Ranji’s continued silence as they neared the high, narrow valley which had been selected as a staging area for the actual attack began to concern them, but they said nothing. By now their Unifer was famed for his moodiness;

  Underground lines fed power from dozens of different sources to the main distribution center, which lay on a fertile plain between the nearest conurbation and the mountains. It was decided to attack late at night. Despite a thousand years of military development, ordinary darkness still offered soldiers a certain amount of cover which strategists and planners were pleased to take advantage of at every opportunity. The absence of notable geological features in the vicinity of the target rendered a stealthy approach impossible anyway.

  Ranji found himself hoping that the majority of the complex’s defenders were Massood. From what he knew of the psychological makeup of the Wais, actual operations were probably being run by local Hivistahm.

  Any formal defenses were probably of recent installation, since, like any other civilized Weave world, Ulaluable would have been ill prepared for a serious assault. In that respect resistance might be less well organized than it had been on Koba or Eirrosad. The downside was that they had to continue to advance, since they as yet controlled little territory and therefore had precious few places to retreat to.

  He didn’t doubt that the complex’s defenders were prepared to extend greetings to any uninvited visitors. Since sheer cliffs and steep gorges offered some protection even from modern weapons, they would anticipate an assault from that vicinity rather than the open plains of the south, though they would doubtless be alert to an attack from any direction. Local geology allowed little leeway for subtle strategies.

  The outcome would be determined by whose fighters were the more skilled, the more determined, and by what sort of weaponry the defenders had managed to put in place.

  Whoever they were, boldness was not their hallmark. When Soratii’s squads first sortied from the foothills they met intense fire and promptly withdrew. Had Ranji been in charge of the complex’s defense he would have followed up with immediate pursuit and counterattack, if only to test his attackers’ strength and resolve. Those inside the distribution grid’s perimeter did no such thing. In classical fashion they chose to sit behind their screens and sensors and weapons and wait for the next hostile move.

  Probably not many Humans, then, he decided, feeling a little better about the situation. He smiled relievedly, suddenly realized what he was doing, and glanced around the interior of the command skid to see if anyone had noticed the unnatural, un-Ashregan expression. No one had. Everyone was concentrating on work or conversation. In the future he would have to be more careful. Assuming he had one. And if he did, what would it be as?

  If naught else the long journey outward from Cossuut had given him ample time to think. He had arrived on Ulaluable with a vague notion of what he wanted to do. All that was lacking now was a means for carrying it out without getting himself or any of his friends killed while integrating his intentions into the little matter of the battle he was expected to direct. Surely a simple enough task.

  The practical knowledge he’d acquired on Koba, Eirrosad, and even Omaphil enabled him to probe the enemy’s defenses with few casualties. Though hastily installed, they were substantial and deadly. Soratii’s people encountered and reported the presence of photic charges, heat- and shape-seeking missiles, and intelligent explosives, in addition to an aurora dome which would instantly short out the components of any approaching vehicle, not to mention microwaving its inhabitants. The complex was going to be difficult to approach, much less capture.

  In the attackers’ favor was the fact that on a civilized world such installations were not constructed with an eye toward defense. Most of the distribution complex was located aboveground, buildings and facilities arranged in an aesthetically tasteful but exposed star pattern with typically lush Wais gardens burgeoning between. The defenders would also be hampered by the need to keep the grid functioning while simultaneously fighting off any assailants.

  Ranji knew that in order to have any impact he would have to move fast. As Ulaluable’s defensive command identified the invaders’ targets, they would proceed to rush reinforcements to those areas. He had no intention of being stuck in the mountains for a long siege. Whatever he finally decided to do would be executed with speed.

  Exhilarating, this independence of mind, he mused. Exhilarating, and addictive.

  Occasional missile exchanges produced a lot of noise and flame but no serious damage to either side, as antimissile weaponry obliterated projectiles in midflight. Beam projectors were held in reserve, since the use of such advanced devices simultaneously exposed their positions to enemy sensors and return fire.

  The extended, cautious firefight that occupied the daylight hours witnessed much sound and fury but nothing in the way of advance or retreat. The Massood and Hivistahm defenders soon realized that their attackers wished to capture and not destroy the distribution complex, and were able to conduct their defense accordingly.

  The slightly sloping plain that halted at the base of the mountains was sliced by several mostly dry gullies, watercourses designed by nature to drain the foothills in the rainy season. An intent Ranji had begun studying them through magnifiers from the moment of his group’s arrival. Now he left his position near the front of the command skid and moved to stand next to his adjutant, Birachii.

  “I’ll need a floater.” He poked at the luminescent, hovering representation of what in ancient times would have been called the battlefield, his finger tracing one particular topographical feature until it came to rest among several pinpoints of blue light. “It looks like this one squad’s made some real progress. I’m going to check out their status.”

  “Your pardon, Ranji?” Birachii eyed him uncertainly.

  “I said, I’m going out. To have a look around.”

  The sub-Unifer hesitated. “I ask excusal for making exception, Ranji, but you’re the group commander. If you’ll just tell me what you want, there are many on board or outside who are much more expendable than yourself and who’d be glad to go in your stead.”

  “Thanks, Birach, but I have to do this myself. See, I’m not just going out to survey the terrain. I have it in mind to reconnoiter an idea.” He turned. “Jhindah-ier will be in charge until I get back.” Birachii didn’t try to hide his surprise. Though a perfectly competent officer, Jhindah-ier was a member of the pure Ashregan contingent and not one of the modified.

  “It’s bad procedure.” Ranji found his friend’s concern touching. “And not in keeping with the teachings of the Purpo
se.”

  “Birach, ever since we were children we’ve been noted and promoted for doing the unexpected. I’m just taking another step along the same old trail. Don’t worry. I just want to confer with the squad leader. I have every intention of returning to supervise the rest of the attack. Now stop mooning at me like a lovesick youngster and requisition that floater.”

  XIX

  Intelligent shells dueled in the airspace between the mountains and the distribution complex, darting and feinting, occasionally annihilating each other in spectacular bursts of high explosive. Others released enervating gases, which were as quickly rendered harmless by receptor-seeking neutralizing bonders. Rapid-mutating biological agents had not as yet been utilized, since they had an awkward habit of infecting those who employed them as readily as they did those they were intended to incapacitate.

  Set afire by explosives, much of the flora proximate to the combat zone blazed hellishly around Ranji as his floater shot down the canyon he’d chosen. The coniferous forest which coated the rugged mountain slopes had been turned into a crackling, snapping inferno. He ignored the conflagration. The lightweight field armor he wore kept him cool and comfortable while supplying him with fresh, filtered air.

  Just ahead a giant tree exploded from the heat, showering him with flaming splinters. The floater rocked slightly but stayed on course as he continued to descend, hugging the bottom of the canyon tight enough for the air-repulsion vehicle to send droplets flying from the debris-laden rivulet that coursed muddily below.

  Then he was out of the foothills, screaming through the steep-sided gully. Smoke from burning plains grass and scrub formed dense red-brown clouds which settled in the gully, choking off forward vision and forcing him to rely on instruments.

  Informed of his intentions, the scouting squad was waiting for him, hunkered down on both sides of the narrow, soot-filled stream. As he neared the shapes that materialized out of the gloom, he carefully brought the floater to a halt. Gravel crunched beneath the craft’s landing struts as it settled to the ground.

  Something scrabbled through the muck under his boots. Looking down, he saw a dark green multilegged shape desperately scrambling for the perceived safety of shallow water. Some kind of local reptile or amphibian. For a single pure instant unsullied by war or confusion or self-damnation the universe stopped. In it nothing moved, nothing existed save for him and the single poor mud-dwelling creature beneath his feet whose misfortune it was to have found itself caught up in the maelstrom of a higher confrontation. He thought of Itepu.

  With the toe of his boot he gently boosted it over the last obstacle in its path and watched until it had found obscurity beneath the water’s soot-laden surface.

  His instruments indicated three troop skids and half a dozen escorting floaters strung out in line down the winding canyon. That was the best the gully would permit. If it narrowed any further, they would have to begin advancing vehicles in single file. The Ashregan squad leader had properly concerned herself more with avoiding enemy detection than concentrating firepower.

  She was understandably surprised that battlegroup commander Ranji-aar, the Field Unifer, would expose his valuable person to such conditions.

  “Greetings, honored Unifer.” She was short and petite even for an unmodified Ashregan, but there was strength in her greeting and in what he could see of her face through the protective visor. “Do you wish to take personal command of the squad?”

  “Not at this time, officer.” He peered impatiently past her. Regular troops were staring in his direction, unable to restrain their curiosity. Among the modified who were present he recognized the Sub-Unifers Tourmast and Weenn from the Eirrosad campaign. He’d be able to work with them. “You have under your command a young sub-officer named Saguio-aar?”

  The thick smoke rendered formalities extraneous. She responded with a thin Ashregan smile. “Your brother’s on the second transport skid, sir. If you would like him brought forward, I can …”

  “No. Just making sure of my information. What I would like is for you to resume your advance, officer.”

  She eyed him evenly. “We’re very exposed here, sir. The situation could become … active.”

  He met her stare without blinking. “As you may have heard, Unifer, I’m not exactly a desk soldier. I expect things to get active. As a matter of fact, I’m kind of counting on it. Someone has to strike first.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I’ll let you know if I have any suggestions. In the meantime this is still your squad. I await your actions.”

  She turned and snapped orders to a subordinate, who cocked his head once to the side in the Ashregan gesture of acknowledgment and began relaying directions via the communicator hung around his neck.

  An instant later troops were scrambling to activate floaters as the three skids rose into the smoke-filled air. Ranji turned his own vehicle over to another soldier, opting instead to join the squad commander on board her craft.

  The group resumed its cautious advance down the winding channel, sensors wide open and feeling for anything that might smack of enemy defenses. Instruments showed small rapids ahead, and air-repulsion units thrummed a little harder as one vehicle after another surmounted the cataract, bouncing slightly at the bottom.

  There was clearer air ahead, and a revelation which Ranji had suspected from the careful study of available maps but which could only be confirmed by on-site observation. The gully did indeed negotiate a course all the way from the mountains to the foothills through the distribution complex itself.

  “Camouflage up!” snapped the Squad Unifer. Combined with the drifting haze from the many fires, the diffusion units would help to conceal their presence.

  They were close enough to see Weave attack sleds rising from within the enemy compound and accelerating northward. Much nearer still, tall, slim pylons quivered with energy, their presence marking the boundary of the aurora dome. They pulsed like firebrands on the skid’s sensor screens.

  Unaffected by such artificial constraints, the gully marched on, wending its way into the heart of the distribution complex. In the rainy season it probably ran full, Ranji decided, an impressive torrent filling the cut currently occupied only by a dirty trickle.

  The complex had been designed to facilitate specific functions, he knew, of which defense against an extra-planetary assault was not one. Its hastily installed aurora dome would have been set up to stop an attack by skids and floaters. Air-repulsion vehicles. That traveled above-ground.

  The technology of modern warfare had become so complicated that sometimes the simplest things were overlooked in the rush to defend against the highly advanced.

  If they went in single file on minimum power, it was just possible they might be able to avoid the center’s defenses. There would be some downward leakage from the dome, but unless he was completely mistaken about its style of construction their field armor should be able to slough off its effects.

  That was essentially what the squad commander proposed. Having long since worked out the details and come to the identical conclusion, Ranji let her ramble on until the time came to bestow his blessings on the plan, which he did without hesitation. After all, their initial aim was the same: to slip safely inside the enemy’s defensive perimeter. It was only afterward that their objectives would diverge.

  Her subordinates expressed quiet enthusiasm for the plan. Visions of triumph and rapid promotion filled the minds of those gathered in the command skid.

  “If we can do this,” one of them murmured, “we can change the whole thrust of battle.”

  Truer than you can know, Ranji thought approvingly.

  Of course, the stratagem which had gradually been gathering strength inside him ever since they’d left Underspace might be doomed to failure. His attempt to implement his intentions might well result in the death of Saguio and all their friends in addition to himself. He wouldn’t live long enough to shoulder the responsibility of failure.

  B
ut he’d waited and stalled and delayed long enough. It was time to act. Consequences would remain forever unforeseen unless he forced the issue. With a little luck he might be the only one to die. He could hardly dare countenance the possibility that he might succeed.

  They were working out the line of approach when he vouchsafed an objection. “I hate to point this out—” The Sub-Unifers and their commander looked up at him. “—but there’re too many of us.” He stirred the hovering projection with a finger. “No way will we be able to slip three transport skids and half a dozen floaters inside unobserved.”

  The squad leader glanced at her second-in-command, then back at Ranji. “What do you suggest?”

  “The success of this little sortie rides on surprise, not numbers. I think we should go in with the most compact, toughest unit we can condense out of your squad. Nothing against the other troops, but to me that means every soldier who hails from Cossuut. They’ve had the same training, they know what each other is likely to do in a given situation. We’ll have less firepower but better control over it.

  “Furthermore, those of us who hail from Cossuut have Human stature if not facial features. If we’re spotted inside, the defenders may hesitate before challenging us, a delay of judgment which could prove crucial to our success. Our moving at night can only contribute to their confusion.”

  “Those who don’t participate in the initial attack can be held back as reinforcements or in the event cover is needed for any eventual retreat.” She waited for him to finish.

  “I want you to take every non-Cossuutian soldier with you on two of the skids and four of the floaters, assume a position halfway back up the gully, and wait.”