The Tetra War_The Katash Enigma

by Michael Ryan

  She looked up into my faceplate as if I was hard of hearing. “I can see that.”

  “Yet you still offered me…oh, never mind. I’ll stand.”

  “As you wish, sir,” she said with a snotty look.

  I remained standing in front of her desk for thirty-five minutes.

  “It’s rebooting now, sir,” she informed me. “One more minute…almost…okay.”

  Then she stood.

  “You’re leaving?” I asked.

  “I need to use the facilities.”

  “Couldn’t you have done that…oh shit. Never mind, I’ll wait.”

  “You don’t have to be rude, sir.”

  I waited another twelve minutes. “You’re back,” I said after she sat.

  “Yes. Now, please, can you repeat your name?”

  I repeated my name and gave her the appropriate identification numbers.

  “Yes, I see you now. You’re in field hospital number seven, sir. Slot two hundred and fourteen. Your doctor is…let me see, oh, Dr. Veerington. You’re tentatively scheduled to be released in two days, sir. Shall I transfer you a map so you can find your way?”

  “I’m. Not. In. The ho…never mind. Where does it say I’ll be sent on the third day?”

  “Oh, that’s easy. The Twenty-Eighth, sir. You’re going to be in the First Platoon, Charlie Company, of the Twenty-Eighth Battalion. Shall I forward you a map of where they’re billeted, sir?”

  “Please.”

  “On the way, sir. Is there anything else I can help you with?”

  “No,” I said, “but thank you for your attentive service.”

  “It was my pleasure.”

  The following morning I was brought up to speed by my new company commander, Captain Jaysolder.

  “You’ll be heading up First Platoon, Lieutenant,” he said. “We’re all a bit shorthanded. You’ve got six pairs of sniper teams under your command. Three are intact pairs, including Sergeants Vestale and Velesment, whom I understand you’re accustomed to working with?”

  “Yes, sir. The other three?”

  “Patched together. Four of them have worked together, but the other two transferred over last night from the One-Twenty-Second. It’s going to be a rusty machine for a few days,” he answered. “I glanced at your record, Ford. I don’t see any problems with letting you run a bit autonomous. Frankly, there’s not a damn thing I could do if you marched off and never came back.”

  “You have a temporary partner for me?” I asked with hesitation. I wanted to work alone, but the sooner I had all the working variables of my new situation, the better.

  “Yes, she’s due in the next hour,” he said. “I’ll make sure she finds you. Our MST is not until oh two hundred, so take some time and get acquainted with the platoon. Welcome to Charlie Company.”

  “Sir,” I said.

  I found Abrel and Mallsin.

  “About time,” Abrel said. “I thought you’d gone on leave.”

  “Thanks for saving my ass,” I said.

  “You’d have done the same for me.”

  “Maybe. Depends on whether you’d been mean to Mal that day.”

  “He’d be screwed,” she said. “He’s been a grouch lately.”

  “He’s always a grouch,” I pointed out.

  “Some days are worse.”

  “With us all.” I wanted to find out if they’d heard any news, but I hated to bring up a depressing topic so soon into our little reunion. I made small talk for a while, and then Abrel mentioned they’d been called into an HQ meeting with Major General Cullisizzst.

  “You’re joking,” I said.

  “No,” Mallsin said. “He’s telling the truth. I couldn’t believe it myself at first.”

  “He wanted to know about the muldvarps, the Katashie, the Grem prisoner, and Callie,” Abrel said. “I suspect there’s some secret in that cave.”

  “The good thing is that it means Callie’s safe,” Mallsin said. “I mean unless we lose.”

  “Then she’d be just as bad off,” I said. “So I think she’s the safest she can be. Tell me more about this meeting. I’ve never met Cullisizzst, but I know he’s sat in on a few boards with Balestain. He’s probably the highest ranking officer on the planet.”

  They went over the entire story with me the best they could recall. I asked them to repeat a few details, and eventually a picture formed.

  “There’s intel in that cave that Command wants badly,” I stated.

  “And the lizards want to stop them,” Mallsin added, “just as much.”

  I had a firm grasp on the fact that behind all that rock, there was information possessed by someone or something that was pivotal to both sides. But I had no clue what the intel might be, or even what party possessed it.

  “I think the Katashie,” Mallsin said.

  “Maybe,” I agreed. “But it could be the combination of a live Dreki and three muldvarps.”

  “Speculation at this point is useless,” Abrel said. “We know everyone wants to get in there.”

  “Speaking of getting into something,” Mallsin said. “How jealous is Callie going to be about your new partner?”

  “She’s not that jealous.”

  “Bull,” Mallsin said. “I remember when we were–”

  “Never mind that,” I said. “It’s only temporary. And I haven’t even met her yet.”

  “It could end up being a dude,” Abrel said.

  “Jesus, I hope so,” I said. “That would make my life easier.”

  “You just said she wasn’t that jealous.”

  “I was lying.”

  My new partner showed up less than an hour later. Of course, she was sexy, intelligent, and a badass. You might wonder how I knew all of this so quickly, and the reason is because one of the many protocols when forming new teams was an exchange of public profiles. Hers had vacation pictures. I hated profiles like that, but I couldn’t keep myself from looking; one of her vacation spots had been a topless beach.

  “Abrel, Mallsin, meet my new partner, Lieutenant Grossman.”

  “A human?” Abrel said.

  “Yes, and call me Lori,” she said. “Please.”

  “Hi, Lori,” Mallsin said. “You fought on Earth?”

  “Yes,” she said. “I was in the Guritain Specialized Drop Infantry right out of the gate. I fought in the Brazilian Campaign, the Peru Invasion, and several missions in the Gulf that were so secret I don’t even know where we were. I was transferred to Purvas near the end of the war.”

  “You fought in the Biragon?”

  “Only briefly,” she said. “I lost my partner a few weeks in. I was given some time and nearly quit the force. I was pretty shattered.”

  “But you came back?”

  “Sure,” she said. “I had nothing else on my résumé. I was good at killing and soldiering. When the lizards showed up, I was renewed with hope that I could live a useful life, and here I am.”

  “Here you are,” I said.

  “So,” she said, “let’s hear your stories.”

  Mallsin started talking, and Abrel and I listened. It was easier that way, and Mal knew as much about my relationship with Callie as I did. Maybe more. I guess women talk about different shit than men. If you asked me what size underwear Abrel wore when he was in civvies, I’d look at you funny. But with Mal and Callie, it was like they had no secrets.

  “Whoa,” I said when Mallsin started telling a certain story that involved fresh strawberries and a smuggled can of whipped cream. “Callie told you that?”

  “Of course,” she answered. “I forgot you two were listening. Lori, here’s a private channel, let’s leave the Neanderthals to themselves.”

  When we were alone, I said, “So Mallsin told you about that night in Voluntoropolis?”

  “I have no idea,” he said. “Let’s watch a game and pretend we have a couple of beers.”

  “Sure,” I said.

  I fell asleep during the half-time show of a long-forgotten soccer ga
me and didn’t wake up until my one-hour-prior alarm went off.

  Less than two hours later we were crawling through mud along a low ridgeline. Command had picked a spot they thought would give us a shot at a convoy route that was delivering supplies to the front. We settled in and waited.

  “I love the stars here,” Lori said.

  “I hadn’t noticed,” I replied.

  “Look at your rear camera.”

  “Okay. You’re right. Beautiful,” I agreed.

  “You miss your partner?”

  “My wife,” I corrected. “Yes, but I’m happy she’s safe.”

  “I’ve been transferred around so often I forgot how many new people I’ve met,” she said. “If I call you John or Verberstan, I’m sorry.”

  “No sweat. If I call you Callie, the same thing applies.”

  “You’ve been married a long time?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “Okay.”

  “I see movement,” she said. She transferred a picture to me.

  “Nice eye,” I said. I switched over to Abrel and Mallsin’s comm. “Check out sector four dash eight.”

  “Roger,” Abrel said. “It looks like a heavy transport.”

  “That’s not what the intel said to…hold one…Versus.” I switched to the all-platoon comm. “Heads up. That’s not a standard logistical run.”

  “I’ve got a heli coming over the ridge behind me, sir,” a corporal said. “Check that, a squadron.”

  <>

  “Avery,” Mallsin said in haste, “there’s something not right out there.”

  <>

  <>

  “Incoming,” an officer in the Third Platoon relayed over the all-company comm.

  “Versus,” someone else said. “We need to call in support.”

  “Keep this channel clear of chatter. Dammit, we’ve got enough problems. Third, I need you to move a click north.”

  “North, north?”

  “No, not real north,” the captain said. “Were you born yesterday?”

  “I only landed two days ago, sir.”

  “Set your compass to HQ. And get off this channel.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I looked at my pop-ups to determine which ones I could shut down. I was adjusting the ones I needed to pay the most attention to when another warning appeared, highlighted in bright red.

  “Golvin! It’s going to be a long night.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

  ~ King James the VI & I of England, Scotland, and Ireland

  Our forced adjustment from attacking a logistical convoy to defending against an assault by seasoned troops escalated until local time three a.m. By four a.m., both forces had approached the limits of their ammunition, and we entered a lull in the fighting. Not unexpectedly, both sides had been grossly unprepared for what the night had brought.

  I sent a private message to Charlie’s company commander. “Sir, are we getting a resupply? Or should we prepare to retreat?”

  “We don’t retreat,” he answered.

  “What I meant…are we considering an advance to the rear?”

  “Not yet. A squadron of helis is about to lift off with a resupply. I don’t know yet if it’s coming to the Sixty-Fourth or us.”

  “Roger,” I said. “I have one KIA and a red. I’m taking the other eleven snipers to Hot-Rock Ridge.” I sent him a pic. “I circled an area I like, sir. Could you advise the rail-cannon batteries if there’s a shift in the enemy’s movement?”

  “Will do, Avery. Good luck.”

  “Sir.”

  I opened the platoon comm window in my DS and notified the eleven soldiers under my command. “We’re moving out. I’m going to send a map with a loosely defined area, but it’s up to each team to decide where to set up.”

  “Mission parameters?” a corporal asked.

  “Level three after oh five hundred thirty,” I answered. “Before that, let’s be patient. We may not get a resupply…”

  “Roger, sir,” he said.

  My group followed me away from Charlie Company. We threaded through trees and crossed a small stream. A burnt-out TCI-Armor suit was in my path, and I stopped momentarily. The soldier had self-destructed, but it was evident that massive injuries had precipitated the decision. I kneeled to see the damage up close. A telltale hole in a slightly melted thigh plate told the tale: a round similar to our armor-piercing APA had been the kill shot.

  I tagged the spot on a map and got back to my feet.

  “Where’d this shot come from?” I asked Abrel.

  He turned slowly in a circle.

  “My guess,” he said, “is that cave.” He pointed his finger, but also sent me a picture.

  I focused in on the spot. “Looks like a good perch, although once you see it–”

  “Sticks out like a purple dragon.”

  “A purple dragon?”

  “Exactly,” he said. “Something you don’t see every day.”

  “Okay. I was going to say a nice pair of tits.”

  “I hardly notice those anymore,” he admitted. “Too common.”

  I switched out of our private comm and told the team we were going to check out the cave. The hike up the ridge required following a rough switchback trail. The entrance to the cavernous sniper perch required climbing up a steep section of a rocky cliff. It wasn’t accessible from above or from either side. As much as I’d have just as soon climbed up first than send someone else, correct protocol dictated I send up one of the corporals.

  “Corporal Jennings,” I said.

  “Picking on humans, again,” he said, “sir.”

  “No, you’re up.”

  “Hell.”

  “Just be careful.”

  “Can I fire a missile now?”

  “No.” He knew the answer; a missile would give away our position for kilometers in every direction. But sometimes, a soldier just needed to vent. “I doubt there’s anyone in there, or we’d have taken fire already. But,” I added, “be careful anyway.”

  “Sir,” he said.

  He began climbing. The other half of his sniping team followed him up, a sergeant named Voostond. The rest of the platoon took defensive positions. Some scanned the valley below, and others remained focus at the opening in the rock above us. I listened in on the pair’s comm.

  “To the right. Move.”

  “At the left. Ready.”

  “Moving.”

  “Behind you.”

  “I’ve got nothing.”

  “What’s that shadow?”

  “Nasty. It’s a dead lizard.”

  I broke into the conversation as fast as I could. “Run!”

  “Golvin,” Abrel said. “Fucking rookies.”

  The explosion was huge, as I knew it would be. Wounded Drekis used themselves as booby-trap bombs all the time. Humans had a hard time remembering that lizard command had no problem leaving injured soldiers in the field, sometimes for weeks, just to have the opportunity to take out a JFUA troop. The practice was counterintuitive to humans, and it was common for them to stumble on “dead” lizards only to discover they weren’t corpses.

  Jennings’s icon went black.

  Voostond’s went red.

  “Abrel, Mal, get up there. Maybe we can save the sergeant.”

  The pair moved swiftly. “The rest of you lock down, camo on,” I ordered. I scanned the valley for threats, but nothing fired at us. Random explosions weren’t uncommon, but neither were roving troops of Drekis looking for targets of opportunity.

  Abrel spoke first. “He’s not going to make it, Avery.”

  “Okay,” I said. “Do a quick recon and get the hell out of there.”

  “I got a heli,” Lori said.

  “A loner?”

  “Roger. Movin
g in this direction.”

  “Abrel, get out of there now,” I ordered.

  <>

  “We’ve got incoming from the valley floor and the heli,” a sergeant announced on the platoon comm.

  I leapt off the trail and dove into a crevice behind a jutting rock formation. I was concealed from the shooters below me in the valley. “Take cover,” I said over the platoon comm. “We’ve got enemies targeting us from the sky and the ground.” I had a limited field of fire looking downward. I scanned for targets while keeping an eye on the approaching heli-jet.

  “I’m fifty meters to your left,” Lori said. “I can see a squad of light armor moving in the trees. Should I bother?”

  “Hold one. Let’s wait and see if a bigger target shows.”

  “Roger,” she said. “You want to tag team that heli?”

  “It’s a difficult shot,” I said, but at the same time I was a little excited about the prospect.

  “Avery,” Mallsin said, “don’t expose yourself to unnecessary risk.”

  “Gotcha. Are you guys clear?”

  “Yes, we have eyes on a platoon of light infantry and the heli-jet.”

  <>

  The heli-jet was holding off in the distance and firing at us randomly and sporadically. I wondered if the pilot was working in tandem with ground troops to create a diversion. I focused on the Dreki squad. Their movements seemed slightly unnatural for soldiers not wishing to get shot.

  I wanted to make sure nobody had an itchy trigger, so I started to issue a command to everyone to hold their fire. “Let’s not take any–”

  Too late.

  An inexperienced corporal couldn’t help himself and killed a lizard that was simply too tempting for him to resist.

  This was by design, and the corporal was dead a moment later.

  “Hold your fire,” I said over the platoon comm. “We need to move off this hill in an organized fashion. The heli fed the trajectory of Corporal Eronstojz’s shot down to someone on the ground.”

  Another icon went black, and we were down to eight. The lizards already knew we were on the ridge, so I risked opening a sat-comm channel to bounce a message off the Kuznetsov. It was unlikely to allow the lizards to pinpoint my exact location, and I needed air support or we’d be dead anyway.

  “Go,” a disinterested private said.