The Commander

by Kevin Groh

  Carter smiled because he had expected the question. »We leave the door to the prisoner wide open so that they don’t even get the idea of going upstairs. And if the others fire at them from the outside before they come in, they’ll be very careful when they take the hostage out. So you should be able to aim well.«

  The plan seemed solid, so they were all happy with it. As Jane climbed the stairs with Jimbo, the other five gathered around Carter.

  »Is it wise to go off with so many? Shouldn’t we leave more guards behind? If they’re really coming up with a team ... I mean, they’re contenders. I’m sure they have a lot more to offer than we do.«, Henry worried.

  Carter looked at him: »It doesn’t matter how much they’ve already experienced. In a battle with little equipment, only those with better tactics have the upper hand. These guys look like spoiled and self-absorbed assholes to me. That means they won’t consider us a threat and won’t give us much thought, let alone effort. And that’s exactly what we’re exploiting.«

  They left the building and Carter saw Kelly sneaking around between some houses nearby. He looked at his bracelet and activated the position markers for the six members of the attacking team.

  »We split into two teams of three to cover more ground. If any of you see anything, don’t fire! We’ll need to stay undetected on this mission. If you see anyone, let us know. If even one shot is fired, they know where you are.«

  Carter would go with Tim and Tom, while Rod led the group with Urma and Henry. They pulled out their rifles and unfolded them. They were real assault rifles with special stun ammunition. They marched off and remained in radio contact. Since they had not been given helmets on this mission, they had to speak quietly. It was broad daylight, so camouflage was difficult. They walked between the narrow rows of houses and were prepared for every movement. When they reached the road, no one was there. Carter took advantage of the moment and threw himself on the ground to roll in the sand and dust. Since he was pretty sweaty, some of it stuck to him, giving him a decent camouflage. The other two did the same and advised Rod’s team to follow their lead. At medium range, they saw four enemy units running across the path. They wore black uniforms and were clearly visible. He shook his head.

  »Carter to defensive team: Watch out, the enemy has entered the zone. Four targets, black uniforms.«

  »Copy that. We’re already waiting for them.«, it came back from Gina.

  He waved Tim and Tom and they hurried over into enemy territory. From that point on, they moved methodically. Carter took the lead and walked in front, Tim stayed in the middle and kept an eye on the roofs and Tom formed the rearguard and covered their backs. Apart from a few crickets and the quiet sound of their fighting boots in the dust, they heard nothing. Carter stepped to the corner of a house and peeked left, right and up before rushing into the adjacent alleyway. Every house opening was a threat and he pointed the weapon into it as they passed.

  Rod reported: »We have seen one. On the roof diagonally in front of us. What should we do? If we sneak past, he’ll probably see us.«

  Carter and his team leaned against the wall as he spoke. »Can you enter the house he’s standing on?«

  It took a moment and then Henry said: »Yes, the doorway is in his blind spot. What if there’s someone in there guarding the entrance?«

  Carter replied: »They don’t have enough people for that. Be careful, but it’s very unlikely that they’ll leave one of their eight people to guard an empty house. Sneak in, walk up and quietly take the guy out. Don’t get caught!«

  Just as Carter was moving on, Nambur reported: »I saw the enemy. They sneak through the streets and gradually approach the base. Shall we surprise them?«

  »No. The longer they take, the more time we have to look around unnoticed. Stick to the plan. Let them get through to the hostage.«

  The moment Carter led them past a small house, he heard a noise. A gurgle. He peered through the window and saw an enemy closing a bottle. The guy talked to his bracelet.

  »Oh Gutter, honestly, why am I standing guard here at this house? They are newbies! They don’t come here anyway. They all surely protect the hostage. Nobody dares to come over to us.«

  Carter smiled at the twins and sneaked through the entrance. He grabbed the guy from behind, disarmed him, muted his radio and held the gun to his head after he had brought him to his knees. »Tell me where your guards are!«, Carter demanded.

  The guy was stubborn: »I ain’t telling you shit, you fucking recruit! My friends will kick your ass!«

  Carter smiled and nodded to Tim, who turned his comms up loud. Less than ten seconds before Rod had contacted them and he was still talking.

  »... was a piece of cake. The idiot cleaned a spot from his rifle in peace and quiet and didn’t pay attention to us at all. I took him out. No noise. We’re moving forward now.«

  Tim switched back to quiet and Carter said to Rod: »Wait a minute.«, then he looked at the opponent again. It was a chubby, red-haired, freckled guy with an arrogant facial expression. It was exactly the expression that the privileged had put on every day of their spoiled lives. Carter said: »Tell me where the others are. I’ll stun you, but if you still want to be a stubborn motherfucker, I’ll just leave you out in the blazing sun gagged and tied up. Then you can piss your pants until someone finds you. I also take a few photos for your comrades and the entire base. Everyone should know how you excelled as a security guard.«

  The guy seemed to panic and gave in almost immediately. Carter transferred the positions of the opponents to the team’s map. »Here you go, Rod! We now know the enemy’s positions. Sneak up to the other scout and eliminate him. We do the same. Then the resistance is easier to break afterward.«

  »All right, we’re on our way.«, Rod confirmed.

  Leena gasped: »Carter! They approach the building and have discovered Kelly. Nambur was taken out and we keep our heads down. We wait until they lead the hostage out and then we initiate the trap.«

  »Very well, let them be confident.«, Carter gave back and put a stun dart into the aspirant’s shoulder. »Everything is running according to plan! I thought these guys were better ...«, Tom said almost disappointed.

  »Don’t let yourself be tempted to carelessness! They can still finish us off.«, Carter warned the two.

  They left the building and now that they could see the positions of their enemies in real-time, they no longer had to look around every corner. They quietly moved towards the position of the second scout on their side of the zone. It was a woman. She walked from house to house and occasionally looked into one. She seemed much more concentrated than the last guard. Apparently, they had noticed that two of her people had not called back in. Carter signaled the twins to rush around the block so they could go for a pincer attack on the enemy. He watched the guard’s movements motionless. Once he almost had been detected, but his dirty camouflage hid him from the eyes blinded by the sun. Rod meanwhile reported that they had taken out the second guard and were now heading for the building with the hostage. Tim and Tom appeared behind the enemy and sneaked towards her in the shadow of an alley. Carter slowly moved towards the opponent, but at that moment an old wooden shutter slammed shut two meters next to him, creaking loudly.

  What happened then seemed to run in slow motion. He knew the woman would see him in a second and he didn’t hesitate. He sprinted off and relied on his team to do the right thing. As soon as the foe saw him, she pointed her rifle at him and fired. Carter rolled away and he felt the wind and the slight vibrations of the stunning darts as they buzzed past him and hit the ground. Just in time, he made it around the corner behind a house wall. Two weapons were fired during the brief cease-fire, so synchronous that it sounded like one if you couldn’t hear the fine difference as they had learned in training. He looked around the corner of the house and saw two stunning darts stuck in the guard’s body, one in her thigh, the other in her hip. When the woman tilted forward like a wet sack and landed with her
face in the dust, Carter saw only Tim and Tom standing there with their rifles up. He stepped out and nodded to them approvingly. »Good shot.«, he praised. The two of them bumped the weapons against each other and went back into position behind him.

  He radioed that the fourth guard was down and they were now moving in the direction of the hostage as well. Meanwhile, the enemies seemed to have reached their prisoner, as the defensive team was getting ready to fight. Carter trusted them to do their job and kept his head in the game. The opponent’s hideout was different than theirs. It was a square, two-story house on a small town square that represented a free area around the building. They would be seen in any case. Carter liked to think about what Leena would do in those moments. He played through possible scenarios of how the enemy could proceed. They should know by now that their scouts had been eliminated. If he had to hold the position, he wouldn’t put all four defenders in this little house. In the square they would be as easily attacked as the assailants, so that was out of the question. The points on the map showed the enemies in the building, but his instinct hummed like a beehive.

  »What do we do, Commander?«, Rod inquired.

  »What do you see?«, Carter asked him.

  Rod said: »The house is in the middle of the square. If we just run at it, we get shot. But how else are we supposed to get in? Is there any way we can lure them out?«

  Carter thought for a moment, but he was sure that in this exercise it was not allowed to undress the unconscious opponents and disguise in their equipment. He was still bothered by the insecure feeling that something was wrong. He stared at the map and the dots. They were all in there, but why didn’t that calm him down? »Wait, I’ll think of something.«, he said to Rod. He imagined them running towards the building and then being shot down from the front and back. But there was nobody behind them anymore. But it seemed strange to him that two of the points hadn’t moved an inch in the last few minutes. Could it be ...?

  Carter spoke to his bracelet: »Look around the area around the square! I have a bad feeling about this.«

  He led the twins through the alleyways between the houses, so they could not be seen from the marketplace. After half an hour they met the other team. Rod saw them coming and said:

  »There’s nothing here, but that was obvious. The dots are all in there.«, he pointed to his display. But Carter was still restless. He climbed up a wooden ladder and looked over the edge of a roof. As he had suspected, two enemies were creeping back to back along the roofs that were connected by wooden beams. They searched for them. Carter warned the others and they pondered how that was possible.

  He said: »I knew something was wrong. The dots didn’t move. They must have found out how we tracked down the scouts and took off their bracelets.«

  Rod sighed: »And what now? We can’t reach them unnoticed. And even if we get them out of the way somehow, the guys in the building know we’re there, and they destroy us if we even put a toe on the square.«

  Urma asked: »And if we split up again? We attack the two on the roof and you storm the building from the other side at the same time. They’ll look in our direction and won’t even notice that you’re coming from somewhere else. Divide and conquer. It’s a saying on Earth.«

  »We can forget silently here anyway without better equipment.«, Tom said disgruntled.

  His brother added: »And we won’t get through without sacrifices anyway.«

  Carter battled his brains, but all his ideas seemed too risky in their current situation and would perhaps lead to even more losses.

  While they were thinking, Jimbo reported: »Jimbo to attack team! Our trap snapped, but the guys were ready for it! We caught one, but the other three shot Kelly and Gina and took off with the hostage!«

  »Fuck!«, Henry cursed because now they had no more choice.

  Carter said: »We have to act immediately while they’re still on their way with the hostage. If they support these four here, we will be done. We’ll do it, as Urma suggested. Rod, you three approach the roof guards and take them by surprise. Try to stalk as close as you can before you attack them. We rush to the other side of the square and as soon as we hear any noise, we charge. Let’s go!«

  He and the twins hurried through the narrow alleys and watched as they came to a slightly wider entrance to the marketplace on the opposite side. Carter ordered the defenders not to pursue the hostages. They were in an inferior position. After informing Rod that they were in place, they prepared their rifles and got ready for a sprint. Rod said: »We are right below them. In the house, there is a staircase to the roof. We attack as soon as they’re close enough. Do me a favor and don’t screw this up now, okay buddy?«

  After about three minutes, which were excruciatingly long for Carter, they heard a tumult. They didn’t wait for anyone to report but ran like crazy towards the lonely house where the hostage was. As expected, shots were fired from the top window of the building towards Rod’s team, so Carter and the twins could enter without resistance. He gave hand signals to follow him on the stairs. He glanced up and saw the prisoner sitting on a chair, tied up and gagged, watching attentively the two aspirants shooting wildly out of the window. One of them had to cool his magazine and Carter signaled the assault. He and the twins stormed up the last steps hoping the enemy would not hear them until it was too late, but the prisoner saw them first and made a muffled sound. That was enough for them to turn around. One widened his eyes in surprise, the other shot immediately and hit Tim right in the chest. Tom caught the other one by the arm and Carter made a big leap to the window and knocked down the last guy with the rifle stock before shooting a dart into the rear of the lying enemy.

  He looked out and saw one of the two roof guards lying down on the square holding his leg, which was strangely bent. The other guard lay unconscious on the roof beside equally motionless Henry, while Rod supported Urma, who limped. Carter frowned. He looked at the hostage and shouted irritatedly:

  »Why did you scream? That almost killed us! Idiot!«

  He stepped up to the man, loosened his shackles and pushed him down the stairs. Banes ordered them to leave every fallen comrade lying because you couldn’t carry dead men around in real combat. They met Rod at the edge of the square.

  »What do we do now? There are only three of us left. Urma snapped her ankle and can’t walk properly anymore.«, Rod explained.

  Carter turned to the hostage and said: »We have to get out of here before they get back with their prisoner. You and Rod support Urma to make it go faster. Make yourself useful. Tom and I will watch your backs.«

  He asked the defensive team in which direction the enemy liberators had disappeared. Leena said they hurried east, so Carter had to take the western bow. He ran ahead, Rod and the hostage supported Urma and Tom followed. At times they almost carried her.

  As he had hoped, they did not encounter any enemies on their way and they reached their base without incident. He ordered Tom to take the liberated man up to a room and then asked Leena to take care of Urma. »That didn’t go as badly as we thought, did it?«, Jimbo asked.

  Rod replied: »There aren’t many of us left, but there aren’t many of them either.«

  Leena came in and said: »Well, but since we’ve lost our hostage, we’ve got to defeat all the other enemies to win.«

  »There are only three left. We’ll make it.«, it came confidently from Rod. Carter asked Jimbo what exactly had happened. He explained that the guys had walked through the entrance hall as planned with the hostage in their midst, but one of them had been constantly looking up so they couldn’t shoot. Then the prisoner had stumbled and bumped into one of the four, whereupon they had the opportunity to hit one of them. »I have no idea how the guy stumbled. There was no obstacle, he walked safely and with his legs apart, and there was nothing else to see. He must have stumbled over his own feet. Before they got out, I could have sworn he winked at me.«, Jimbo said.

  Rod shrugged his shoulders and replied: »Of course he d
id, after all, he escaped you.«

  But Carter had a thought, and when Tom came down the stairs and told them that the man was left in the first room relaxing on a bed, he said louder than necessary: »To win, we have to take out the three remaining opponents. Rod, you take all the remaining teammates and go hunting! I’ll stay here with Urma and see if our guest heard anything about their tactics when he was with them.«

  Leena asked: »Shouldn’t someone else stay here with you? What if they come back to finish us off? Then you would be completely alone ...«

  »But I am only one man and you are on the move. This is the only place they know where we could be. If they only find me here, you can ambush them.«

  He put a hand on her shoulder: »I can manage here. I have a plan. If I hear anything from that guy up there, I’ll get back to you.«

  Rod nodded, grabbed his rifle and grinned: »Let’s go chase some officer candidates!«

  They disappeared through the entrance and quickly they were gone. Carter ignored Urma, who was sitting on a chair with her eyes closed. She was no help anymore. He climbed up to the liberated soldier’s room. He sat quite relaxed on the bed there, fiddling with something as he entered the room.

  »How are you?«, he inquired.

  The man replied: » Quite well so far. It wasn’t exactly pleasant to stay in the same position all morning, but otherwise, they ignored me for the most part. That was also absolutely fine with me if I had to be honest. These people are really terribly arrogant and convinced of themselves. You can’t imagine how amusing it was to see their bewilderment when they were gradually being taken out. That was you, wasn’t it?«

  Carter leaned at a table when he replied: »That’s right, I’m the commander of this team.«

  »I saw that right away. You carry this authority that distinguishes a leader.«, the former prisoner said a little hypocritically. Carter didn’t like the way the man talked at all.

  »Did you hear how those idiots planned to proceed? After all, the building wasn’t exactly big and very clairaudient.«, Carter wanted to know. The man didn’t keep the eye contact up for long and said: »No, unfortunately, I can only guess, I’m sorry. Apart from the fact that they sent a team for liberation and left one behind for defense, not much strategy was recognizable. You may have noticed that aspirants have a tendency to overestimate themselves.«