“In position!” she shouted.
Rsach turned to his right and raced toward Ven. “Hit what you can, Vresh! Fire!”
No sooner had her first round tracked toward the sleds, then the Veetanho infantry scampering alongside and past the vehicles opened fire with auto-rifles. But only some of it was aimed in their direction. The Peacemakers ducked behind any cover they could find, and they heard the sound of deep shouting voices and random weapons fire coming from the base of the hill they’d been on a couple minutes before. Tall, thick bodies seemed to be pouring out of the shaft they’d traversed and were spreading out. Some of them were shooting at the Veetanho.
Rsach turned and felt bile rising in his throat.
Gods! Here come the GenSha too!
Vresh fired again and again. She managed to drop several Veetanho mercs illuminated in the headlights before she had to duck to avoid the bursts from their auto-rifles. Rsach whirled to see the outcome and saw, for the first time, how fortunate they were in their choice of terrain. The hill they’d climbed stood apart from the nearby hills and was exceptionally steep, with a good deal of exposed rock spread throughout a forest that thinned as they climbed higher.
Compared to the rolling, gentle hills and thick blanket of forests surrounding it, their particular hill wasn’t a good place to defend. It was exceptional. The high ground gave them considerable advantage, and the rocky terrain and thick tree trunks made perfect shields. If they could make it higher and find a defensible position, they’d be able to draw a bead on anyone coming up the hill.
The Veetanho, even in their sleds, would be unable to mount a significant charge without having to close on the GenSha position, and there was no way they could make it up the steep incline in a straight shot at the Peacemakers. Rsach deduced they wouldn’t want to do that and had logically deployed their infantry. The sleds would remain behind in a fire-support position.
The GenSha below them were also limited to an infantry-style attack. The Veetanho and the GenSha were suited for the terrain for different reasons. The Veetanho could keep low to the ground and scamper effectively up the slope. While not as fast, the GenSha were exceptionally agile on mountainous terrain and would undoubtedly find a way to advance under considerable fire.
Against infantry, the Peacemakers’ best chance was to use the terrain against their foes. There was also the chance, albeit a small one, that the two forces would engage in a crossfire and thin each other’s numbers. If the battle raged enough between the mercenaries and the GenSha, the Peacemakers might be able to get high enough that extraction was a possibility—assuming there was anyone out there to extract them.
One thing at a time, Rsach.
“Vresh! Try and push the mercs down the hill toward the GenSha!” he called. As he approached Ven, Rsach drew his needler and took up a position behind a stout tree trunk. “Put your head down and climb as fast as you can, Ven. Get up the hill, find a firing position, and cover me. Got it?”
Ven nodded. “You got it, Boss.”
The Duplato re-slung his rifle and did as he was told. His head down and all of his limbs moving, Ven accelerated up the steep hill. Rsach knew the needler wouldn’t do much damage to anything from that distance, but it could still hit the mark and force targets to take cover. That would have to be enough to hold the GenSha back until Ven found a position. At the Academy, they learned covering fire techniques and maneuvers called bounding. A typical bound was to take no more than 10 or 15 seconds. Rsach realized that almost twice that time had passed. He drew in a quick breath to shout to Ven when he heard the Duplato’s voice.
“Peacemakers, on me! I’ve found our position.”
Rsach looked over his shoulder. “Vresh! You first!”
She laughed. “You’re going to hold off the GenSha and the Veetanho with your needler? Get your slimy ass up the hill, Rsach!”
He bit back a response, holstered his needler, and scampered up the hill. About 100 meters up, he found Ven guarding a notch in the hillside surrounded by boulders. Another 100 meters past that, he could just make out the shapes of stone ruins, barely illuminated in the fading moonlight. As pre-dawn twilight brightened the horizon, Rsach could clearly make out the summit of the hill a few hundred meters above their current position. Exposed rocks guarded the notch on both sides and rose up to a ragged V about three meters above Ven’s head. While not ideal, it would be a suitable position to defend.
Rsach scrambled into the notch next to Ven. Breathing hard, he unholstered his needler and came up along the rocks.
“Vresh! Move!” Ven bellowed loud enough to hurt Rsach’s ears.
Rsach saw his friend leave her firing position and somehow sling her rifle as she rippled and contorted forward, using her pincers to race up the ragged hillside. As she did, a barrage of weapons fire from the Veetanho tore across her path. In response, the GenSha further down the hill sent a volley of wild gunfire at the Peacemakers and the approaching mercenary forces.
“They’re going to take each other out, or they’re going to fight over our bones, Rsach.” Ven raised his rifle to his shoulder and fired three quick shots down the hillside. Two GenSha toppled forward, dead.
Rsach couldn’t help but agree. He raised his needler and fired at two GenSha moving in the open. His rounds hit their targets, but the GenSha shook off the tiny bolts and kept climbing. The needler would have killed them at close range, but it was little more than a nuisance at that distance.
One of the GenSha looked back down the hill, shouted something unintelligible over the weapons fire, and pointed at the Peacemaker position.
Vresh reached their position and unslung her rifle. Leaning over the rocks in front of them, she fired again and again into the ascending GenSha. More weapons fire from the Veetanho lit up the hillside in a surreal moment when both sides seemed to stop firing and tried to ascertain what had happened.
“Cease fire,” Rsach hissed at his friends. “They’re trying to figure out what to do.”
“Should we keep climbing?” Vresh asked without taking her eyes away from her target.
“No,” Rsach said. “But we should try and get a signal out. Ven? You have one of those HF radio sets?”
Ven dug into a makeshift bag he’d slung over one shoulder. “It’s line-of-sight. Being in this notch isn’t going to help us any.”
Rsach nodded. “We’ll try the sky option when we get up higher. For right now, we’ll see if the GenSha are listening.”
“Why would they listen to us?”
“Because we know the truth, or at least I think we do. I think the GenSha are the ones who summoned the guild,” he said. “In the tunnel, Korvan said ISMC could manufacture any result it wanted. And Tyrn? A Jivool who suddenly turns on us?”
Vresh turned around. “What was that message only you and he saw?”
Rsach decided that nobody was going to care about a security breach when they were about to die. “Orders directly from Breka, suspending Selector Grektch’s directive and sending us straight to ISMC. We told you about the video of ISMC security forces slaughtered in a barracks, but I think the video we told you about was fake even though the Guild Master’s seal was on it.”
“A fake?” Ven asked as he worked an antenna onto the portable radio handset. “I know enough about your voice and mannerisms. You’re convinced.”
“I am, but I can’t prove it yet,” Rsach said dubiously. “I think we were set up—meant to die. I know Tyrn had a hand in it. What I’m not certain of is whether Breka directed him or was somehow used without his knowledge. It was his seal, I know that much. These negotiations were never meant to succeed, and we were sacrificial grilka. We’ll see if the GenSha want to talk to us. If not, well, we know what that means.”
“Stand or fall,” Vresh said as she reloaded her rifle and rolled over into a firing position just as the Veetanho infantry started to fire on the GenSha in earnest.
The hiss and flash of a rocket launcher illuminated the forest bel
ow them, then the ordnance slammed into the edge of the rocky ledge, sending the Peacemakers tumbling backward in a burst of dust, flame, and shrapnel.
* * *
Godannii 2
300 Meters East of Ruins
Gorn climbed up the ladder from the emergency access tunnel by vaulting several rungs at once, a rifle and a rocket launcher slung over his back. Breathless from the all-out sprint, he rose up to his full height and bellowed at the GenSha huddled around the hatch.
“Why aren’t you firing?”
All of them looked at him, then turned away. Gorn’s chest tightened in rage. He whirled left and right.
“Who is in command here?”
One of the GenSha harrumphed and shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess it would be you, now, Gorn. Bith Sundo isn’t here and—”
Gorn’s hand darted to the Peacemaker’s silver combat sword at his hip and came up in a fast draw across the insolent GenSha’s throat, sending a gush of blood pouring down his tactical vest. The hapless trooper clutched at his throat, a horrified look on his face, then fell back with a thud. His legs kicked on the ground weakly as he died.
Gorn wiped the blade on his fatigues before turning to the others. “Wrong answer!” he barked. “Anyone else want to give it a try? Now, who the fuck is in charge? Why aren’t you firing?”
“Sir,” an older GenSha in a bloody tactical vest said, stepping up but obviously keeping well outside the range of Gorn’s blade. “We followed Saul Kotur out here when the alarms went off and the Peacemakers escaped their holding cell.” He pointed up the hill. “Saul is dead about 20 meters up that hill. We do not know whether the incoming fire came from the Peacemakers or elsewhere.”
That stupid young fool. I told him to stay behind the infantry!
Gorn clenched his jaw shut and nodded. “The Peacemakers escaped and are up the hill? How many of them?”
“One is dead.” The GenSha pointed to the ravaged bodies on the ground about 10 meters away. “There are two Jivool, there. One of them has a Peacemaker vest on.”
Gorn studied the bodies and recognized them immediately. The obese shape of Korvan Di Mobiar lay off to the side. He still showed signs of the severe, even wonton, torture Gorn had ordered, but it had been his arm getting blown off by a mortar that had probably been what killed him. The bloody limb lay a few meters off. Gorn rolled the Peacemaker over and recognized the name on the vest—Tyrn. He seemed to have avoided most of the mortar fire, but there were three small holes in his chest that Gorn recognized as being from a needler. He spat on the ground between the two bodies and turned again to the older GenSha.
“So, three are still alive? And who’s firing up there on the other hillside?”
“Veetanho mercenaries,” the GenSha said, pointing toward the glow of several intense headlights a couple hundred yards off. “Probably a platoon supported by two sleds. And there’s a mortar battery supporting them. Several of our group have moved forward in that direction and taken cover, and they are prepared to defend the area. There have been several exchanges of fire in both directions, but nothing significant.”
“Are the Veetanho firing on the Peacemakers or on us?”
The GenSha shrugged. “Both? It’s hard to tell. We think they’ve radioed for reinforcements, that’s why they’ve stopped firing.”
“Why aren’t they pulverizing us with mortars?”
“I don’t know, sir,” the old GenSha said, “but I’ve already thanked our ancestors for that little blessing.”
Gods help me.
“They haven’t radioed for reinforcements,” Gorn growled. “We’re still jamming most of their radio traffic. They’re wondering what to do. We need to shut comms down completely.” Gorn spat again, this time toward the Veetanho. He dug into a pocket and pulled out an earpiece, placed it in his ear, and tapped it on. “This is Gorn. Full communications spread. I want the entire fucking spectrum jammed with so much noise no one can operate.”
“The whole spectrum?” a bewildered voice responded.
“Yes. How fast can you do that?”
The voice paused. “It will take several minutes to start the generators and adjust the equipment.”
“Do it as fast as you can. Nothing gets out. Even our own communications. I will handle this attack. Let the other section leaders know what to do.”
“At what power level do you want the emitters to operate?”
Gorn swallowed and bit back the anger that rose with each question. “As high as it can go.”
“You must understand that by doing so we make ourselves—”
“I don’t care!” Gorn howled. “Do it now!”
He tapped the earpiece. The Veetanho began to fire down the hill toward them, and he saw muzzle flashes and hot rounds flying through the air between the Veetanho and a position further up the hill. Several of the GenSha cowered and tried to press their bodies further into the dirt. Gorn stood up straight and turned toward the fire.
“Where are the Peacemakers?”
“About 100 meters shy of the ruins,” one of the GenSha replied. “On our holy ground.”
Gorn snorted. The ruins and whether or not they constituted anything holy was debatable. He stared into the darkness and tried to judge where the Peacemakers might be. For their part, the Peacemakers were smart. Either they were moving quickly up the hill hoping for an extraction—which would never come—or they’d wisely chosen to cease fire, regroup, and see what was happening around them.
“What are we going to do, sir?”
Gorn unslung the rocket launcher and pointed with the barrel up the hill. “What are we going to do? We’re going to exterminate those wretched Peacemakers once and for all. They betrayed us to ISMC, and they’ll die for it. Once they are gone, ISMC will learn the gravity of their mistake. If they win this fight, they will give no quarter. Our wives, our children, and everything we know will come to an end. We take away the Peacemakers, then we execute every last one of the ISMC vermin on this planet and every other world they’ve spoiled with their filth and corruption. We will eliminate the threat once and for all. It ends here!”
The GenSha that had not already taken up positions facing the Veetanho cheered as they shook their rifles and pistols over their heads.
Gorn’s mind worked quickly. There were 40 or more GenSha out of the shaft and more on the way. With his hands, he split the crowd into three groups.
“This group to my left will move toward the Veetanho mercenaries and hold their fire for as long as they can. The center and right groups will move up the hill one at a time. Once the center group has a firing position, the right group will move up alongside them. We will march up on the Peacemakers in this fashion.”
“What if the Veetanho attack us?” the left group leader replied. “Should we attack them?”
“If they attack you, we will come for them. Likewise, if the Peacemakers appear to pin our attack down, you must move around to their flank and support us.”
“And where will you be, honored Gorn?” a voice asked from the center group. Several GenSha murmured and shrank away from the voice, but it was unclear who asked the question.
Gorn laughed. “I’m going to be in the center of the attack, you little shit.” He hefted the rocket launcher and loaded one of his last two HEAP rounds. “I dare the rest of you to follow me. Before the sun comes up, we take back our lives and our freedom! Now somebody show me where those wretched Peacemakers are dug in.”
Two GenSha charged forward, their eyes burning with battle fury inspired by their brave leader.
Gorn followed them as they charged up the hill, his eyes trying to pick out any movement in the pre-dawn darkness. In the lull of battle, he heard the distant hiss of a needler, and then the two troopers ahead of him yelped in pain.
One of them turned to Gorn.
“There!” he shouted over a burst of Veetanho weapons fire. “Straight up in that rocky notch in the hillside.”
Gorn moved forward fearle
ssly, stomping up the hill like some avenging deity. A few seconds later, he spotted the rocky area where his trooper had pointed. With a menacing grin, he thumbed the rocket launcher’s safety off and sighted in on the Peacemakers’ position. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.
The hiss and flash of light filled the forest around him, nearly blinding him through his tightly shut eyelids. The subsequent detonation was particularly gratifying, but he wasn’t finished yet.
“Move up!” he shouted to the GenSha moving through the forest on either side of him. He heard the staccato thumping of a heavy, repeating weapon from somewhere over near the Veetanho side of the combat zone, and he saw the blue flashes of light as blasts of energy ripped through the forest, coming from a position a couple hundred meters to the southwest.
“Kill them all!” he roared.
* * *
Godannii 2
The Ruins
Explosions rocked Hr’ent awake, and he sat up with a start. He yanked the PK-40 instinctively from its holster. His eyes darted left and right, searching the darkness. He rose quickly from the tall grass to steady feet and peered through the arched window of the stone wall where he’d lay hidden. And then a realization hit him like a hammer.
No pain.
He sucked in a deep breath of air, felt a couple of pinches here and there in his muscles, and then let the breath out slowly.
He felt good—invigorated. There was some stiffness in his extremities, but otherwise, he felt fine.
“Thank you, Hak,” he said under his breath as he stared down the hillside where a gun battle raged. A second cluster of mortar rounds slammed into the hillside about 300 meters below him and to the east. There were trees between him and the eastern side of the hill, but they were sparse, and he could see all the way to the bottom. The muzzle flash of an assault rifle on single shot caught his eye. He peered through the darkness and saw two Jeha and a Duplato moving quickly up the slope.
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