When Eagles Dare

by Doug Dandridge

  “I’m thinking they must have headed back to base,” Jonah said, still staring at the scene on his HUD as the drone settled to the ground. “They’ve been up here all day, and they had to be low on fuel. But they’ll be back. Probably not tonight, but early. Sunup?”

  “That would be my guess.”

  “Then I want us up and on the way two hours prior to dawn. We can use that crevice you found to hide us.”

  “I don’t like the idea of rappelling down in the dark,” Charley said, pursing his lips, “but I also don’t like the idea of getting caught out there while we’re still getting people into the queue. And we’re going to have to stagger at least one group.”

  “That will be me and Joey,” announced Jonah, looking around the cave. “Right, Joey?”

  “Yes, sir. Whatever you say.”

  “He’d probably say that if you asked him to jump into a fire with you,” whispered Charley.

  He probably would, Jonah thought, a smile stretching his face. Of course, no one could see it through the oxygen mask and all the insulated swaddling over his face. He’d be more than happy when they got to a point where they could see each other’s faces again. Humans communicated through expression as well as sound. They could get by, such as when they talked over a comm network, but it felt more real when you could see the face of the person you were talking to. It was still just too cold here, and without their breathing masks, they risked anoxia.

  “Well, we worked well together on the way down here,” Jonah said, looking over at the young man, who was lying on his side now, and from his lack of movement apparently fast asleep.

  “Oh, to be young again,” Jonah continued, shaking his head.

  “You’ll be asleep just as fast,” Charley said, “if you don’t let yourself worry about things you can’t do anything about.”

  As far as Jonah was concerned, that was the definition of a leader. They had to think of everything that could go wrong, then figure out how to deal with it. Even if there wasn’t anything they could do about it.

  “Sleeping isn’t the worst part,” he said, looking for a place in the huddle on the floor that might allow him to soak in some warmth. “It’s waking up and discovering what you hurt the day before.”

  Charley laughed at that. They were both getting old, and this was a young person’s game.

  Maybe it’s time to start a CASPer unit after all, Jonah thought, considering how much more comfortable it would be riding one of those into combat.

  * * *

  Mmrash had an uneasy feeling as the gunship came in to land at the compound, its brightly lit landscape contrasting with the inky blackness of the surrounding jungle. The fans on the craft were whining at a high pitch as they sent air down to support the lowering craft. Otherwise, there was no sound in the cockpit. Even the normally talkative pilot kept his mouth shut, and the commander thought the male knew something bad was going to happen.

  But he hasn’t sent anything ahead, the commander thought. Mmrash had been sitting in the cockpit all day, and the lesser male hadn’t had a chance to send any kind of message. Or had he?

  The craft touched down with a bump, and the pilot quickly started flipping the switches to shut everything down, starting with the engines.

  “Go get something to eat,” Mmrash told the pilot, rising from his chair and hunching down to get through the door to the troop compartment.

  “Are we through for the night, sir?” the senior sergeant asked, hope in his eyes. Several of the males were asleep in their seats, not even the change of sound in the engines causing them to wake.

  “I think so,” Mmrash said, his tail flicking in a motion of agreement. “Take your men to the eating hall, then get to bed. I’m sure we’re going to be going out again early tomorrow.”

  Some of the males who had been sleeping opened their eyes at the words ‘eating hall,’ but then they groaned at the reminder they might be going out again the next day.

  At least they will, the commander thought, moving through them and heading out the lowered walkway to the rear. The boss hadn’t told the soldiers to get the intruders or not come back.

  “The boss…”

  “I know,” Mmrash said, holding up a hand to silence the messenger. Might as well get it over with, he thought, putting a lower right hand on his sidearm. He wasn’t about to go easy. He pulled a small vial from a pants pocket and removed the brush, walking toward the administration building. Painting a couple of claws on his upper paws, he smiled as he thought of the surprise whoever tried to control him would have when those sharp weapons penetrated their skin.

  The guards at the door nodded to him, and neither made a move to take his weapon. It was a good sign the boss hadn’t given orders about him.

  The secretary wasn’t in. The door to the boss’s office was ajar, and the commander’s sensitive ears could detect movement within. Something thumped on the desk, followed by cursing in a tongue he couldn’t understand.

  “Is that you, Mmrash?” the being in the office roared.

  “Yes,” he replied, again feeling uncomfortable, worrying about the creature’s mood. He flexed his upper paws, looking at the extended claws that were showing the sheen of the substance he’d painted them with. He might still die if the people in charge of the operation wanted him dead, but their factor on this world wouldn’t see it happen.

  “Get in here and tell me how it went.”

  Mmrash set both of his shoulders, then walked into the room. The boss was sitting behind his desk. There were no weapons in evidence, which didn’t mean there wasn’t something aiming at him right this moment. If there was, there was nothing he could do about it but prepare himself to launch an attack.

  “Didn’t get them, did you?”

  “How did you know?”

  “Because I’m not an idiot,” the boss said, his small red eyes looking out of a snarling face. “You’d be prancing in here like you’d won a major battle if you’d captured or killed them, instead of walking in like you’re going to your doom.”

  Mmrash stared at the being. The boss wasn’t an intelligent-looking individual. In fact, he’d never seen one of his kind who was. But the Syndicate would never have put an idiot in charge of an operation like this.

  “I’m not going to have you killed,” the boss said, waving a finger his way. “Not yet. I think your people might not agree with me having you executed.”

  That was most probably correct. All of his soldiers were members of his clan, and all had sworn in clan ceremonies to be loyal to the commander no matter what. There was always the possibility the Xlatan soldiers would rise up and slaughter the boss and everyone who stood with him. They were the strongest military force on the planet. That they would all be killed by the Syndicate wouldn’t enter their minds.

  “I want you back up there before the sun rises,” the boss said, waving the finger in the air. “I know you can’t do much in the dark.”

  Actually, we probably could, the commander thought, but he wasn’t about to tell the boss that.

  “But I want you up there, and I want you to find them. Either them, or their bodies.”

  “We don’t even know how many of them there are,” Mmrash said, wondering how he’d decide he’d gotten them all.

  “Well, there probably aren’t as many of them as they had on that shuttle to start with,” the boss said, snuffling his nose in the way of his people to emphasize his point. “I doubt they’re going to split up, no matter their circumstance.”

  Mmrash stared at the boss, not sure he believed the being actually thought that. It was a militarily expedient tactic to split off a smaller force to lure a pursuer away. Still, he would use the boss’s belief to cover himself. As long as he brought back some Human bodies, who was to say there were or weren’t more of them out there? And if he hit them hard, the few survivors wouldn’t dare to show their faces here.

  “I’ll see to it, boss,” he said, his tail swishing in agreement.

 
“See that you do. Now get some rest, because when you go out tomorrow, I don’t want you coming back without some evidence that you got them. Understood?”

  Mmrash walked out of the administration building with a feeling of great weight taken from his shoulders. He wouldn’t be killed for his failure after all. At least not yet. He looked down at his upper paws and raised them. Now he’d have to scrub them clean before going to bed tonight. It wouldn’t do to accidentally scratch himself or someone else. The poison on them acted almost instantly. I wonder if the old bastard knew about the poison, he though. If he had, he wouldn’t make it into the boss’s office tomorrow.

  “What’s the news?” asked Major Grolrror, his female second-in-command and the administrative officer of the force.

  “I want every shuttle on the base ready to lift two hours before sunrise,” he told the major, pointing at the hangar, “and enough soldiers to fill up all their compartments.”

  “That won’t leave us with many people here,” the junior officer replied.

  “Then these other offal the Syndicate hired will have to take up the slack,” Mmrash said. “If anything happens while I’m away, you know what to do.”

  The tail of the major swished with agreement. If the commander and all the soldiers with him were lost on this mission, the rest of them were to grab what they could of the Syndicate’s technology and get home with their loot. And if they had to kill everyone else on the base to cover their tracks? Well, sometimes that was the cost of doing business.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Six

  “Have you checked out the bottom?” Jonah asked, looking down the shaft in the rock that seemed to drop into infinity.

  “There’s a fairly smooth bottom,” Charley said, setting his rope to go down first. “A couple of openings onto a small ledge on the cliff wall. Two and a half miles total.”

  Jonah nodded. The shaft was ten yards wide at this point, and eight at its narrowest. It looked like a volcanic pipe, but was probably of some other, unknown origin. The best part about it was the way it shielded them from observation from the air. The enemy could cruise back and forth out there all day and never see them.

  Once they were at that next ledge, they could go down the wall to the ledge system that was called the midworld, which was a completely different ecosystem than the canyonlands or the plateau above. They’d be able to hide and rest on that system, which covered several hundred thousand square kilometers.

  Jonah stepped back a moment and looked up into the clear night. Millions of stars shone in the sky, along with numerous nebulas. They were closer to the galactic core here, and the stars were much closer.

  * * *

  Such a beautiful universe, the colonel thought, shaking his head. And his job in it was to kill other intelligent inhabitants. Maybe it was time to retire. If they could pull this mission off, everyone would have a good payday coming. He and Charley would get the largest shares, and he already had enough in the bank to stretch out for an early retirement. If he became an explorer, though, working for one of the newly organized mining corporations, he could continue working, and in a much safer environment.

  “Let’s do this,” he said, stepping forward and slapping Charley on the back. “See you at the bottom.”

  Charley smiled, then stepped out into space, taking a short jump that took him ten yards down the shaft.

  Jonah and Joseph would be going last, repeating their evolution of the day before. In a half hour, there wouldn’t be a Human left on the ledge. Shortly after, they’d be too far down for a casual look to spot them. He could only hope the enemy didn’t find a reason to land here and take a closer look. In that case, there’d be no place to hide, and his team would be destroyed as they tried to work their way down.

  Charley waved his light, indicating that he was placing the first step and starting on his way down to the next stage.

  “Get going,” Jonah ordered the next mercenary, Eric Menendez.

  The rifleman nodded, attached his safety harness to the rope, secured it in the clasps of his gloves, and kicked off.

  “Keep a close watch, ladies,” the colonel ordered his two snipers.

  “I’m keeping a close watch, Boss,” Sandra said, holding her long-barreled rifle close.

  Sarah Cohen nodded, holding her large anti-material weapon at the ready.

  If the enemy came, he wanted the people most able to hit them from a distance up here, which meant the two snipers would be going down almost last, just before Joseph and himself. He and the young Sioux had two of their supply of multipurpose rocket launchers. If the enemy showed up before they were all in the pipe and on the way down, he was willing to give up his own life as well as those of the other three if that’s what it took. If they landed after everyone was on the way down and happened to look down and see them, there was really nothing he could do. Maybe send up a rocket, but that might not work well, either.

  “Next,” ordered Jonah, clapping Ujjal Singh Grewal on the back. The big man was carrying a heavy laser that was normally a crew-served weapon, though he had little trouble handling it himself. The Sikh secured himself and went down while Jonah watched, wondering if he should have detailed him for last.

  I can’t have it both ways, he thought. The big man with the weight of his equipment didn’t make the best climber, and the sooner he was down, the better.

  It went on for a half an hour, with people going down, and ropes being passed to Charley at the bottom, until it was time for the snipers. Sarah went first with her heavier weapon, and Sandra followed.

  “You ready, Joey?”

  “Born ready, Colonel,” Many Bears said, securing himself to the rope.

  I hope the damned nanites do a better job holding today, he thought. They couldn’t afford to lose any more of the steps. Without them, the trip downward would become much more difficult. But landing two of them on one increased the chances of an adherence failure.

  Can’t be worse than Ujjal or Avgust, he thought as he watched Joey wave his light. Either of those two probably weighed as much as Joey and himself together, another good reason for sending them down early.

  Jonah kicked off from the side just as the faint whine of an aircraft came to his ears. The sun was starting to rise, and soon the ledge would be fully lit. Not that it would help them any in the pipe, which would remain totally dark past the small lit area at the top.

  Jonah landed on the step, Joey still on the rope and keeping station with one foot on the support.

  “You secure?” the colonel asked as he attached his own safety harness to the rope below.

  “Colonel, I may be new to this company, but I know my business.”

  “Doesn’t hurt to make sure,” Jonah said, sending the signal up to detach the rope from above. It fell past him, dangling from the end in his hand.

  A light flashed from below, letting him know they had that end, and he let go. It would be passed all the way down to Charley so he could continue his descent. It took about five minutes to send it down through every hand, and then Charley started off, followed by everyone else. It didn’t take long for every team member to advance another step, he and Joey a little longer than the rest.

  Next time we’ll bring more climbing gear, the colonel thought as he landed beside Joey once again. The step came down as they huddled close to the wall, the colonel pulling it so it would miss them by a yard. The problem with bringing more gear was the weight. They were already limited to what they could carry, and the heavy clothing they needed for protection up here reduced that limit even more.

  And so it went for another hour.

  “I’m down,” Charley said. “Keep them coming.”

  “Quiet,” Jonah hissed into the comm. “There’s light at the top of the pipe. Everyone hug the rock and stay still.”

  Jonah was cursing to himself as he watched the light beam sweeping the walls above. It was a powerful beam, and he wasn’t sure they wouldn’t be picked out on the wall if i
t advanced far enough. It swept closer and closer. Whoever was up there seemed to know their business. It felt like only a matter of time before they were found, and Jonah prepared himself to hang back and fire at whoever was up there.

  “If I fire, everyone start moving down.”

  “Not me, Colonel!” Joey exclaimed, getting his own weapon ready to fire.

  “You, too, son. If I can’t keep them busy myself, I don’t think you’re going to add much to the mix.”

  “But…”

  “No buts. If I start shooting, I want you rappelling down to the next step. And keep going until you hit the bottom. Understand?”

  The young man nodded. Jonah couldn’t see his face through the coverings, but he knew the other mercenary had to be frowning.

  All they could do now was wait and hope whoever was up there would give it up as a bad job.

  “I’ve found an opening down here,” Charley called out.

  Jonah looked over at Joey, then looked down. “Let’s go.”

  * * *

  It was still dark as pitch when the squadron of shuttles left the landing field. There were five of the craft, the gunship and four lightly-armed transports. They weren’t the only aircraft on the base, but they were the only ones capable of reaching the altitude at which they were going to resume their search.

  Mmrash sat in the copilot’s seat, as he had the day before. A team of ten warriors sat in the troop compartment. The four remaining shuttles carried nose lasers and firing ports for the soldiers inside, if needed. They also carried a team of ten warriors, giving him a total of fifty dismounts. He could also pull the copilots from the other craft, but he preferred to leave them in place so they could back up the pilots and use the defensive weapons of the craft.

  “Ship One. You’re to go up to the plateau and move along the edge. Ship Two will position itself to cover you.”

  The acknowledgements came back immediately as the disciplined flight crews answered.