by Michael Ryan
The incoming round nearly took my head off.
A Dreki in a guard tower fired another missile.
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The guard wasn’t a soldier and had no backup. I stood perfectly still and allowed the projectile to pass the point of no return, which took no time at all, considering how short the range was. I dropped to the ground and rolled once. When I came back up, I fired a homing HE followed by a KE. I assumed they’d do their job and took off after Callie.
Callie saw the messages from Avery but ignored them.
She was busy targeting a Dreki who’d fired a couple of missiles at her. Her antimissile flares had taken care of the incoming threat. The altitude at which she was traveling was too high for her to safely kill the flying beast, but the creature was tiring. It was apparent it couldn’t climb higher or go much farther while carrying her weight. While the beasts were efficient killers, they were also lightweight compared to the dino-lizards she’d faced on Purvas.
The moment her altimeter showed they were only twenty meters off the ground, she fired a fifty-round point-blank burst into the pekasmok.
The Dreki pet crumbled into a pile of bloody fur, and she hit the ground rolling.
A pair of guards opened fire with a tripod-mounted machine gun. The weapon had multiple barrels and appeared to be firing jacketed munitions. Callie had read about antique armaments from Earth and Purvas that used a small explosive load in each round instead of sending bolts or slugs down a shaft electrically or magnetically, like a Gauss or coil-gun. She let a few hundred slugs bounce off her armor before she launched a KE missile that went through one of the guards, and then switched to her coil-gun and put an APA round through the chest of the second operator. She ran to the machine-gun nest and sent out a message on the shared comm. “I’ve secured a foxhole with a serviceable weapon.”
“I’m headed to you,” Avery said. “Mallsin?”
“I’m headed out, Avery,” Mallsin said. “I’ve got him.”
“Status?”
“He’s hurt, but alive,” she answered.
“We’re good out here. Keep him safe,” Avery said.
Callie tossed the bodies of the reptiles out of the foxhole.
A group of purvasts ran from the cover of the closest building and jumped into the hole with her.
“I swear I want to kill one of those fuckers,” the first one said.
“I swear I want to kill two or three,” the other agreed.
“You guys think you can operate this?” Callie asked over her external speaker.
“Yes, sir,” one of the purvasts said. “I studied antique weapons in university and played around with old machines when I was a kid.”
“Try not to shoot our guys,” she said. “Okay?”
“Roger that, sir,” he said, and loaded a new belt of rounds into the gun.
I sent Callie to an overwatch position again.
While none were flying around us at the moment, we might not have killed all the pekasmok in the area. I ordered her to watch the sky for threats. “Live ones or metal ones,” I reminded her. “We have no idea if there are any inbound.”
I took off towards the last building on the grounds. “Veetea!” I shouted.
“Sir,” he yelled from behind the cover of a small wall.
“That building, the one with the green door,” I said, pointing. “Do you know what it is?”
“Never been in there,” he said. “We’ve always assumed it was their headquarters.”
“So no people in there?”
“Never have been that I was aware of,” he answered.
“Roger that,” I said. I shot a high-explosive round at the door. The wall around the explosion collapsed. I dove behind a small pile of rocks and brought my sniper rifle up into position. A flurry of grenades came flying from the building, but it was apparent whoever had fired them wasn’t a soldier. They landed harmlessly on the ground in no particular pattern.
“Callie, can you see anything?” I asked.
“I’ve got sights through that hole in the building, but nothing but smoke and dust.”
“Roger. Keep an overwatch, but if we can, I’d like this one alive.”
“Huh?”
“Humor me,” I said.
“Sure.”
“Mallsin?”
“Here,” she answered.
“Ask Abrel how they communicated with him,” I said.
“Hold one.”
I scanned the area around the camp. Nothing threatening appeared. Fires continued to burn where we’d used explosives. The machine-gun crew fired a few thousand rounds at a window. They hit whatever they were shooting at. Nothing returned fire.
“Avery,” Mallsin called.
“Go.”
“Abrel says there’s a weird-looking rodent alien. It’s short, has a funny nose, and can interpret. I killed one that was torturing him,” Mallsin said. “But Abrel says there are at least two more.”
“If he’s secure, come give me a hand. I want to capture one if we can.”
“On the way.” She made it to my side in under a minute.
“Callie, we’re going to move to the building. If you must take a shot…well, try not to kill any rodent things. I’d like a reptile alive, too, if we can.”
“Understood.”
Mallsin and I launched ourselves across the compound at full speed using our jet assists. At the corner of the building we slowed and surveyed. Nothing fired at us, so I took stock of our resources. “We don’t have any stun grenades or gas rounds,” I said. “I don’t think command ever expected us to do anything except kill.”
“Why bother trying to capture it?” she asked.
“We won’t know until we do,” I answered. “If we kill it without asking, we won’t know.”
“I’ll shoot their knees.”
“As a last resort,” I said. “I’d like them alive and unharmed.”
“Seems generous of you,” Mallsin said. “They tortured Abrel.”
“I know,” I said. “Look, let me see if I can get any intel. If not, you can do what you want.”
“Fair enough,” she said.
“Follow me,” I said, and moved back toward the hole I’d blown in the building. I extended my flexi-cam and scanned. The main room was empty, but there were two doors on the only interior wall I could see. I moved into the structure with my coil-gun at the ready. I jumped and rolled to the left, and Mallsin moved along the right ready to shoot. I turned my exterior volume to full blast. “Come out and you won’t be harmed.”
I waited a moment and then repeated my message.
The door opened slowly.
A short, bizarre-looking creature walked into view. It held its empty hands in front of its body and said, “I’m only a servant of the Grem. Please don’t kill me.”
“Is there anyone else?” I asked.
The creature nodded in the universally recognized gesture for yes and pointed his clawed finger at the other door. “The base commander.”
“You can speak their language?”
“Yes.”
“Tell the commander he has thirty seconds to exit unarmed.”
“It’s a she. The base commander. A female Gremxula. I will relay your message.”
The creature opened its mouth and appeared to speak. I waited, ready to fire an HE through the wall.
A moment later the door opened.
The base commander was of a slightly smaller stature than her guards. She wore a uniform with brightly colored decorations. After taking two steps from the door, she turned toward the interpreter. He listened for a moment and then looked at me with what appeared to be tired resignation.
I fired my jetpack and dashed across the room.
“Run!” I messaged Mallsin.
I scooped the furry alien into my arms and ran toward the wall. I lowered my shoulder as we hit the exterior partition, and we burst out of the building. I curled into a ball with my captive shielded from t
he explosion I knew was coming.
A massive shock wave blew over me, along with a ball of fire.
The command building exploded into the sky, and pieces of furniture and dead commander rained down on us.
“Avery,” Callie said.
“I’m okay. Mal?”
“I’m good,” she answered.
“That was fun,” I said. I looked at the creature I’d shielded. As far as I could tell, it appeared to be in shock, but was still alive. I carried it to the building where Abrel had been rescued. The rest of the newly freed captives had gathered around him.
“Abrel,” I said.
“I’m alive.”
“I can see that,” I said. I held up my captive. “Did you deal with this beast at all?”
“Yes. It can speak with the lizards. It’s a good catch,” Abrel said. “Don’t leave me alone with him.”
“Roger,” I said. “You’d be doing him a favor if you killed him, so don’t.”
“Sir,” he said.
“Golvin, Abrel…” I looked at my friend. His condition reminded me of a wounded animal. “What did they do?” I asked him.
“You don’t want to know.”
I looked at the gathered crowd. “Where’s Dr. Edwards?”
“Dead,” someone said.
“Sergeant Veetea!”
“Here, sir,” he answered.
“I want to be moving out in under an hour. Gather everything of value. Get a detail to toss the bodies into the river, and burn the place to the ground.”
“Sir,” he said.
We left the compound an hour later.
Not too bad for men who had been off duty for years.
The troops who’d survived our rescue mission numbered eight hundred and twenty-seven.
My army command was growing.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Go to the battlefield, light armed and heavy armed, and strive with your wealth and lives in the way of Versus!
~ Holy Writs of Vahobra, 67:82
To march a group that numbered over eight hundred to a set-point three hundred kilometers away in under three weeks was impossible. For one of us in armor to reach the first set-point where Major Zalator would be waiting, we needed to separate.
The major and his group would be at the second set-point on day sixty. It wouldn’t necessarily be the end of the world to meet them there. The reality was that I could track them down before the second month passed, but if I was going to separate from Callie, Veetea, and the rest, it made sense to do it sooner than later. I decided to give myself a couple of days to consider what option was better.
We split the group of rescued prisoners into five companies to roughly match the existing ones from the first group of rescued slaves.
Newly promoted Major Veetea led Golvin Company.
Hozzen Company was led by Major Danielson, a mixed-race Gurt who’d been snatched from Purvas only a year and a half before during an incursion into the Biragon to fight rebels and terrorists.
With my approval, Veetea assigned leaders to companies Iguana, Jules, and Kast.
I put Callie in charge of Golonist, our rodent-like prisoner.
The muldvarp spoke passable Common English and seemed resigned to its new fate. Callie had strict orders to keep Abrel and Mallsin away from it. I wanted my friends to get justice, but killing our prisoner would hurt everyone in the long run. Having a way to communicate efficiently with the Drekis was a significant breakthrough.
Undoubtedly, I’d be given medals I neither wanted nor deserved, but army ways were the same regardless of the flags on the uniforms.
On the third day of our march I decided to take the risk of separating from the group. If I headed towards the set-point at my own pace, I could reach Major Zalator before he disappeared for another thirty days. The time we’d gain as one force, instead of two groups wandering separately, seemed to be a reasonable trade-off.
Callie was apprehensive.
Traveling by myself wasn’t the best practice, which was precisely why I didn’t send her alone. If Callie and I moved together, we’d be leaving Mallsin as the lone armored unit with the group. She was competent enough to lead but too emotionally raw to leave with the prisoner.
As much as I’d have loved to allow my friends their vengeance, the prisoner was too valuable.
I could have ordered Mallsin to go and find Major Zalator, but she was glued to Abrel’s side.
To force them apart would have been cruel.
Sometimes the best way and the right way are two different realities.
My first day of lonely trekking was uneventful.
I used the isolation to meditate.
My grandfather used to say that a good sign of maturity was the ability to be alone for days without anxiety. I’d like to believe I’d passed his test. Unfortunately, one of the benefits of the suit’s medical monitoring was the impossibility of knowing whether I was anxiety-free due to my wisdom and experience, or the fact that I received a constant flow of vitamin and mineral nutrients in my circulatory system.
In the end I decided it didn’t matter; I felt totally tranquil.
My mood changed late on the second night when I realized I was being stalked.
I’d pushed myself to move quickly, and with only four hours of sleep. I wanted to spend as little time apart from the groups as possible. I believed the sooner we attached the five new companies to the existing six, the safer we’d be. I’d have fifteen hundred and two people under my command, plus the prisoner. I’d made a personal promise to get Veetea and Maaly off the planet alive, but the reality was that I was committed to the entire group. Under existing Joint-Army Command regulations, I had an even more significant obligation to the prisoner.
Not to mention the knowledge the bastard possessed could shorten the war.
No pressure.
The beast following me was a giant insect, like a wasp.
Using night vision blurred some of the exact colors and shapes, but it appeared to be capable of hovering in place and changing colors to match the foliage around it. I briefly hoped it was benign and only curious about my presence, but during one of its movements, I could make out a long, sharp protrusion. If it had been merely defending a territory, it had no reason to continue following me in the dark.
Yet it did.
I entered a thick tangle of vines. My map to set-point Bravo-One was crude, so much of my plotting was guesswork. I wondered if I’d lost the creature, but when I entered a clearing, it attacked me.
It wasn’t alone.
Dozens of the flying insects hit my armor with their stingers. To my surprise, they continued to pummel me even though their attacks were so injurious to themselves they often died after shattering their barbs. I considered retreating into the creeping plants behind me, but I didn’t want to go backward. And I was also curious about at what point the warriors would admit defeat. I swatted one with a swift backhand. My armored blow killed it instantly, and the splattered insect dropped at my feet.
This enraged the others.
Or maybe the bugs released a pheromone on death.
I didn’t have a clue, but the air soon filled with over a hundred insects. They dive-bombed me relentlessly, each attack only injuring the aggressors. I continued my trek, ignoring their assault. It wasn’t until a good twenty minutes passed that the giant wasps finally abandoned their onslaught. The bodies of their dead left a trail for several clicks. I snapped a few pics of surrounding landmarks so we could avoid the area in the future.
The marauding hive posed no threat to an armored soldier, but except for me, Callie, and Mallsin, nobody was wearing even the most basic protective clothing. Thankfully, the Drekis had found barefooted slaves unproductive and easily injured, so at least my battalion had shoes.
Small favors.
If we marched into a hive of these insects, we’d lose a lot of men.
More uneventful days passed.
My favorite kind.
Drekiland was beautiful when you weren’t being preyed upon. Huge flowers bloomed along banks of streams. Fruit and berries were plentiful. Colorful birds and a myriad of small animals came and went, mostly ignoring my presence. I noticed claw tracks, but whether they were from the pekasmoks or some other beast, I couldn’t be sure. I came across a troop of large mammals. The group of twenty or so adults and scattering of juveniles were about the size of now extinct Earth chimpanzees and appeared to be intelligent.
The primates noticed me but didn’t investigate.
Perhaps they were vegetarians, or maybe they were smart enough to realize I was bigger and badder than them. Early humanoids, I thought. If I could only give them a message for the future, I’d have told them life wasn’t so bad without governments, wars, and taxes. Chances are near certain they’d have ignored me; some lessons are only learned once it’s too late.
Seeing them got me wondering why this planet had so much undisturbed nature. Why were chimps on Earth extinct, but on the warrior-lizard planet they had a pristine environment to thrive?
Then it struck me.
This planet was no more likely to be their home world than not. Why did I assume that just because they had slave camps here, that Drekiland was where they’d originated? Command had never claimed we were dropping on to their home planet, only that we were dropping to where they had an army.
I realized then that I’d made a lot of assumptions about Command, both in the prior Guritain form and the newer joint-force conglomerate I was currently serving.
It was Major Balestain who had helped disabuse me of many deceptions, and as I walked through the jungle, I remembered one of my meetings with him.
I had been on Talamz about a year earlier.
Pow was explaining the early alliance between the secret Tedesconian cabal and his government. The Chemeckos had not developed the Belkinotic drive, so all information they received about the Tetra War was filtered through Balestain. Of course the Guritains were portrayed as monsters and villains.
The reality was that we were.
At least from the Teds’ perspective.
“You see, young man,” Balestain said over a meal of roasted, butterflied paradeez steaks, “you can’t expect the purvasts who suffered from the plague you unleashed to see you as a hero.”
