Kraa-Ki knew she had been lucky. Without the storm, one of a ferocity and duration she had experienced only a few times in her life, she and her packs would have been bottled up on the other side. It hadn't been easy, the losses had been heavy, but now it was over.
Once the flat-faces had been overwhelmed Kraa-Ki had ordered all Kraa packs, except those few designated to remain to continue to harass the flat-faces, to cross the pass under cover of the storm. Many had been lost to the sky-lightning, and others to the raging blizzard and deep snow, but many had succeeded in reaching the cover of the forest here on the eastern slope. She had been one of the first to cross and had waited in the tree cover as the remaining packs crossed, at first in a steady stream, but now reduced to only a dribble. As soon as each pack arrived they were sent on their way to disperse in the safe areas that had been designated. Leaving some packs to watch for late-crossers, she herself had now started the long trip to the lowlands.
While she had succeeded in overwhelming the flat-faces blocking the pass, Kraa-Ki realized her own defeat. She had been driven from her home territory into the largely unknown east. The losses to the Kraa packs had been huge; nearly three quarters of her packs had either been destroyed or seriously depleted; but it was ended for now. She would no longer attempt to challenge the flatfaces. She had lost much of what she had gained over the years, and been forced to do what her ancestors had done many years before when overwhelmed by the Torgai; retreat to an area safe from attack. Here, far from the flat-faces, the Kraa could live in safety and regain their strength, and Kraa-Ki's plans for incorporating the Torgai into the packs could be brought to fruition.
True, the village of captive Torgai was lost, and many of her Kraa-Torgai had been killed during the battle, but she had managed to bring over a dozen male and twenty female Kraa-Torgai to safety. That would have to be enough. It meant that it would take longer than planned, many years longer, but someday either she or her daughters would return. Well, she had patience.
December 24, Year 20 - late morning
Colonel Gardner sat tiredly in a field chair against one wall of the command tent. It was quiet except for the low conversation of the two communications specialists watching the screen. From here Sophie could see the screen as the view scanned the pass and the adjoining area. Glancing out of the open tent flap, Sophie could see where the scoutplanes were parked, still mostly snow covered, but some sitting with an isolated look where they had been cleared and readied for flight. The roar of what little ‘makeshift’ snow removal equipment they had clearing the landing strip was a continuous background sound.
Only hours before the sky had begun to clear and the last flurries had ceased, with the sun shining down on a white, windless wasteland. The piles of equipment and the tents appeared as mounds buried beneath the three feet of snow, with drifts in places reaching to their peaks. But the paths shoveled between the mounds were bustling with activity. At the high pass the snow had largely stopped during the night, and the sky had cleared by sunrise, but with the storm continuing here the scoutplanes and VLVs had remained grounded until several hours later; perhaps days for the scoutplanes with the time needed to clear a runway.
Before the storm struck new forecasts of its strength and duration came in, but it was too late for evacuation. Sophie had made a frantic last minute attempt to send two VLVs to remove the blocking force at the pass, but they were turned back by the storm front. All they could do was wait for the storm to end.
Sophie was exhausted. She had hardly slept during the three days and nights of roaring wind and blowing snow. In hindsight, even if the storm had lasted only a single day, that would have been too long. Several hours after the storm's arrival at the pass the Kraa had attacked the blocking force in overwhelming strength. They had come in the darkness and under the cover of the storm from all directions. While possibly they could have repulsed a frontal attack, they could not withstand an attack form all sides; particularly when supplemented by laser fire from the slopes.
By 5:00 AM, less than two hours after the attack had begun, the final message had arrived. A request to target firing by the Israel directly on the pass, on the coordinates of the defense positions. The pictures of the mountain pass transmitted from the Israel this morning told the story; a scorched bare landscape with no sign of activity.
As soon this morning as possible a VLV had been sent to scan the area around the pass for any life, but none was found. The record it observed was now being projected on the observation screens the two communications experts were watching.
The area below the pass, under its blanket of snow, was quiet and seemed deserted, with the only sign of life tracks of Kraa crossing after the snow had ceased, with the top of the pass where defense positions had been burned down to bare rock by the fire from overhead. Below the areas burned bare the snow depth was estimated at nearly two meters with drifts twice that. The landscape was deserted.
Only on the eastern side of the pass had the Israel detected signs of large numbers of Kraa, and while it had shifted its fire to that area, any concentrations rapidly dispersed. The latest reports indicated there were no longer concentrations making suitable targets and firing had ceased. The attempt to block passage of the Kraa had failed.
Sophie felt both tired and drained of all emotion. She had been in the military nearly 25 years, and the events of the last few days had hit her harder than any in her experience. She had seen wars, battles, and loss of life. Units she had commanded had at times suffered heavy losses; but this was different. The loss of nearly thirty five people under her command was devastating. And the loss of Captain Murphy was also a personal loss. Kevin had been more than just an officer in her command. She had been grooming him to take over command when she retired and looked at him almost like a son.
While she had never mentioned it to Kevin, she had once met his father, Colin, when he was a guest lecturer at the University she had attended. Their conversation had been brief, but she had avidly followed the elder Murphy's career as he organized and led the first colonization effort years before. This had been the initial source of the bond she felt for the younger Murphy, one of the factors that had led to her selecting him for the expedition.
Intruding into Sophie's thoughts the building roar of a landing VLV brought her to attention. That would be Takai arriving from New Athens; what she had been waiting for. Glancing at her watch, Sophie got to her feet, zipped up her coat, and picked up her hat. The other VLVs should be nearly ready for takeoff for the pass. As soon as Takai landed she intended to take personal command of the retrieval expedition, the attempt to find and remove any bodies they could find. Or rather, with the heavy fire that had been directed at the pass, more likely body parts.
January 10, Year 21
The winter sun warmed New Athens, which, far from the higher altitudes, seldom saw snow. Even in mid winter the temperature rarely dropped below freezing and today was unseasonably warm, almost shirt sleeve weather. Things were returning to normal, the activity slackening at the airport now that most of the stockpiled supplies and support staff had been ferried back from the advance base. The remains had been collected from the battle site and that morning a mass funeral held, although most of the remains were unrecognizable. Not only unrecognizable, but burned so badly identification wasn’t possible..
The advance base would still be retained for use by drones and scoutplanes, but with a reduced force. While the Kraa appeared largely gone it was still necessary to guard against their further use of the pass; either by scattered packs left in the west, or return of any packs from the east. Drones would be used for maintaining a continuous monitoring of the pass, weather permitting, and, although lightly armed that was adequate to halt passage of single packs or small groups.
Someday perhaps a permanent solution to the problem of Kraa crossing from east to west could be found, such as unmanned permanent heat and motion sensing weapons mounted on the overlooking cliffs where Kraa could not reac
h. But that was for the future.
Takai continued down the sloping walk toward the shore. He could have driven, but walking helped him marshal his thoughts. There was really no good reason to inspect the shipbuilding activity but he needed the time away from the office, and it provided the opportunity to see the colony activity at first hand.
It took time to put the last several day's events into perspective. The loss of so many soldiers was a serious blow, but in perspective the Kraa losses were estimated to be in the thousands; perhaps over half the total Kraa population. With the Kraa now on the other side of the mountain range New Athens had a breather, and he intended that full advantage be taken of the situation.
The good news this morning had brightened his day. Two members of the blocking force had been located in the foothills nearly 100 kilometers below the pass, and brought directly back to New Athens. Both were alive and well, at least as well as could be expected after over two weeks in the frigid weather with little food or cover. Apparently, according to their report, Captain Murphy had ordered all the remaining troops to attempt to break out from the defense position under the cover of the storm only minutes before the Israel's laser strikes were scheduled to begin. Once they had gotten free from the perimeter they had encountered no Kraa; it appeared they had all been engaged in the mass attack. Either that, or they had passed in the near zero visibility of the storm and dark. The two had escaped separately but had come upon each other in the tree cover below the tree line.
For several days they had worked their way down the mountain, and only yesterday had been sighted by a scoutplane that had been drawn to the area by their emergency beeper.
Now what Takai had to do was get the colony moving again. Concentration on the Kraa in the last year had seriously slowed their progress and they had to make up time. Within a year a resupply force of three ships should arrive with both equipment and over 1,000 new colonists, and with their arrival two new satellite villages would be established, one upriver of the river delta to support the lumber industry planned for the wooded river valley, and a small one on the coast south of the river to use as a base for mining some of the raw materials found in that area. But before the construction started the sites had to be readied and thoroughly surveyed, and all of that took time.
It was unfortunate that the only significant ore deposits found as yet had been so far south, but it was imperative that at least some limited mining be started. They needed both minerals and petrochemicals, and findings in the past year were minor, limited by the restriction of exploration teams resulting from the Kraa danger. Now they could expand that work.
Takai knew they couldn't discount the Kraa; particularly now that it was evident what was being done with the Torgai children. They were incorporating them into their packs, giving them the ability to use the weapons of the colonists. With the melting of the mountain snows next spring the pass would again be open, and even if monitored and they were successful in developing and installing weapons for blocking passage, they could only partially limit that passage. Further, Takai had every expectation that the Kraa would locate other places where they could cross. But he also believed the Kraa had learned a lesson for now, and that for the next few years at least any raiding parties would be small.
Additionally, with the increased number of Torgai scouts they could now deploy their ability to detect intruders and respond was much improved. Thermal and visual sensors were effective, but couldn't match the sensitive noses of the Torgai when it came to detecting Kraa.
At the Torgai village . . . .
Eric and Hath moved slowly through the village observing the activity. The new Torgai had been provided dens from those that existed when this had been the much larger village of Suth, and with the new arrivals the Torgai population had nearly doubled to over 600. Ever since the newcomers had started arriving the village had been a beehive of activity. While the old dens were available they had deteriorated over the years and most of the furnishings were unusable. In addition, land had to be prepared for the crops needed to support the expanded population. Even for hunting many of the new Torgai needed training, many of the younger ones never having developed those skills.
Blending the new Torgai into village life posed many problems. From many clans and villages there was a wide variation in beliefs and customs that had to be worked with. A big plus, recognized by Hath and Barco, was bringing new bloodlines into the village. With the original limited population, and its restriction to a single tribe of a single clan, finding suitable marriage partners for the young Torgai had become a major challenge, making crossing taboo lines necessary at times. The new additions would considerably ease this problem.
Ta was a big help in blending the various factions. He had been the appointed leader of the new Torgai while in captivity, but immediately accepted the supremacy of Hath in the combined village. Sula, the apprentice shaman, was eagerly accepted as an apprentice of Barco. Gradually things were coming together.
A key step was agreement on what new manhood ceremonies should consist of. While such a ceremony had been customary among all Torgai, it differed greatly between the clans, but since now the dominant clan was that of Kraka there was general agreement that its customs should be adopted; but how and when to restart manhood ceremonies had still not been decided. In the minds of the leaders the original ceremony, fighting Kraka, was no longer feasible. The injuries and fatalities that resulted, and the impact on their limited population, was more than they could allow for now. But they all agreed some ceremony was needed to restore Torgai pride and to promote unity.
The loss of Cormo at the pass was a double problem. Not only had he been leader of the scouts, he had also been groomed to eventually replace Hath as the village leader, and there were few other candidates with his experience or background, especially any who had undergone the formal manhood ceremony. All the remaining candidates were of the younger generation, such as Hath's son Hath-Tarma, and had become hunters without the previous rigorous test.
Of course, there was always Hath-Boc. He had undergone the ceremonies but lost a leg, so had never formally been recognized as having passed. Well, that would have to wait. Now a new leader of the scouts would have to be appointed to oversee the training and operations.
CHAPTER 10: Kraa-Torgai
(December 22, Year 20): Kevin drifted in and out of sleep as he gradually wakened. Opening his eyes it was only blackness, and it was a moment before he remembered he was in the stuffy, crowded burrow. Behind him he could feel one of the Torgai pressed tightly against him shift slightly. They had been in the burrow since their position had been overrun, hiding from the Kraa. Crowded against each other in the confined space cold wasn't the problem; in fact, it was humid and warm from body heat. The problem was the fetid air, and the dull ache in his stomach from the lack of food. Water they had been able to obtain from melted snow, but food was lacking.
Finding the burrow had been a stroke of luck. When the Kraa overwhelmed their position Kevin had ordered his men to attempt to escape through the charging Kraa, and ordered laser strikes on their position. In the confusion that followed he and Cormo, the leader of the Torgai scouts, had scrambled up the side of the steep canyon protected by the driving snow. The slope of the canyon wall seemed free of Kraa; those who had occupied it having stormed into the pass with the Kraa attacking from the front and rear, and once up the slope they had left the chaos and carnage behind.
Part of the way up the slope they had stumbled over a fallen Torgai, who they first thought was one of their own force, but soon realized was one of the Torgai attached to the Kraa packs. The Torgai was still alive, and Kevin realized the importance of bringing him back to the settlement; a heavy load, but they had alternated carrying the unconscious Torgai during their escape.
Under cover of the storm they had managed to work their way along the slope bordering the pass, and down to the area below the pass, without encountering any Kraa; however, even if they passed wit
hin a few meters of each other they would have remained undetected.
But they could only go so far, the wind and driving snow was an almost impossible barrier, driving them to their knees. They wouldn't have been able to face it much longer when Cormo stopped at a large, largely snow covered boulder, and started sniffing before dropping on all fours. In a moment he started digging through the snow, soon uncovering an entrance leading to a small burrow underneath the boulder. Barely large enough for all three of them, they had crowded into the cramped space, and allowed the snow to again cover the entrance. There, protected both from Kraa and the storm, they had remained. Even buried as they were they could still hear the roar of the storm above which seemed to go on indefinitely. While there had been periodic lulls in the wind, when Kevin dug partway out to check the storm's progress he found it was still underway, and each time the wind would again build up.
Shifting his position, Kevin listened to the sound from above where the noise of the wind had lessened. Carefully working his way out through the shaft leading to the surface he removed more snow and poked the tip of his empty laser rifle upward through the hard snow crust until it broke the surface. Snow was still falling but the wind had abated with only periodic gusts. Pushing his hand upward to reach the surface, and gradually breaking off pieces of the crust to make a larger opening, Kevin crawled forward until he could see through the opening. Scraping more snow aside Kevin crawled forward until his head broke the surface. He could see, from the dim light, that it must be day, but the snow and gusts of wind obscured anything beyond 50 meters or so.
Resurrection: Book II: Settlement Chronicals Page 11
