Exodus: Empires at War: Book 05 - Ranger

by Doug Dandridge

  * * *

  Three days later they were at the village, half way to their refuge along the new path. Rebecca had been hopeful on the final approach, but still cautious. Now she had a feeling of hopelessness, and was glad she had made that cautious approach.

  Smoke was rising over the village, which had been the home of almost a thousand people. There were homes that had been smashed flat, and structures that were still mostly intact. She recognized the signs of a place that had been taken quickly, without much of a fight. The enemy had taken this place, and had hit it hard enough to make what they thought of as the roaches to scurry.

  “You think there’s anyone there?” whispered Benjamin, laying down beside her in the cover of the jungle.

  She zoomed in with her glasses and swept the couple of kilometers she could see across the area that had been clear cut and isolated by nanotech. She could see where plants from the jungle were creeping into that area, a sure sign that the nanites had been destroyed by high level EMP. She swept to the north and saw movement, then zoomed in to see a couple of plantimals crawling along on their walking roots toward the village. In an hour they would by at the final fence, which probably didn’t work as well.

  She looked for another hour, while Benjamin squirmed next to her. “Keep a watch, Benny,” she had to say periodically. He would nod and gain some semblance of alertness, holding tight onto his sonic weapon. She was really concerned that something might sneak up on them while she was concentrating on where she wanted them to be. But she had to make sure that village didn’t still contain the creatures who had visited it.

  “Let’s go,” she said, getting up and taking a quick look around them. She had her particle beam pistol out, and the mag rifle hanging around her neck. She hoped there wasn’t anything that needed the particle beam to put down, but she wasn’t ready to discount the possibility.

  The fence was easy to cross, no longer functioning as an electromag barrier, now just dead wires. Rebecca pushed one down and pulled another up, letting Benjamin cross first, then she squeezed her own less than adult body through. It was a quick run to the wall of the nearest building, a residence that reminded the child much of her own. She looked around the corner, up the avenue that led away for several tree lined kilometers to where she knew the center of the village was located. Most of the trees, of Earth stock, looked to be in good condition. She could see a couple that had fallen across the road, probably blasted by weapons fire.

  They passed several houses that had completely collapsed on themselves, fire blackened plasticrete with alloy beams sticking out at all angles. Doors had been blasted in on many otherwise intact houses, some windows were broken, some outward, some inward. There were some structures with no apparent damage, their doors ajar or completely open. There were some blood stains on walls and the walkway, and the heat scaring of beam weapons. The one thing that was missing were bodies.

  Then it’s true, thought Rebecca, her gaze constantly moving across her surroundings. The bastards eat us. They came in here, wiped out this village, and harvested it.

  The village was laid out like most, with rectangular blocks framed by streets and cross streets. There were probably a little more than two hundred dwellings, most of them the rounded structures favored on this world. There were parks with playground equipment, playing fields, or just shady spots to sit taking up whole blocks, or even double sized areas, scattered around. As they neared the center the blocks changed to businesses, small store fronts, markets, all the things that made a village a living entity.

  Rebecca stopped Benjamin from running into the central square. It seemed deserted. There was no movement in the park, and the village hall seemed empty. It also looked like a warzone, with many downed and scorched trees, holes in walls, burned out aircars. Rebecca replayed what must have happened in her mind. The screaming people running for cover as enemy transports came out of the sky. Rockets and beam weapons coming down and striking buildings, aircars, and some of those running screaming people. Militia and armed citizens firing back, taking a small toll while totally outclassed by the firepower of the opponent.

  “This place is dead,” she whispered, looking for signs of human life and finding none.

  “Doggies,” said Benjamin.

  Rebecca turned to see a pack of feral animals, reverted in almost no time to a wild state, coming across a park toward them. She knew that to Benjamin they looked like animals to play with. To her they looked like wild animals looking for a quick meal. She pulled her own sonic from its vest pouch and aimed it at the dogs. As she pulled the trigger the dogs whined, howled and turned around to crouch away with their tails between their legs.

  “Why did you do that?” asked Benjamin, looking up at her with an expression of shock on his face.

  “Listen to me,” she said, crouching down to bring her eyes to his level. “This isn’t like the place we came from. Things are dangerous here. Those dogs were feral. They looked at us and only saw food. I didn’t want to hurt them, but I also didn’t want them to hurt us.”

  Benjamin nodded his head, still looking unhappy with her decision.

  “Let’s see if we can get cleaned up some, and maybe a hot meal,” she said to her brother.

  A crack from above took all focus off of seeking comfort for the moment. A sextet of tiny dots moved high in the sky, the shock wave of a hypersonic wave radiating outward from them. She didn’t know whose aircraft they were, but was willing to bet they weren’t friendlies.

  “Down,” she told her brother, grabbing him by the shoulder and pulling him to the ground. Puffs of smoke appeared around the aircraft, moments later the cracks of the explosions came to their ears. Some other aircraft came sweeping in, and the original craft went from level flight to the darting, circling motions of a dogfight.

  We’re still in this thing, she thought, watching the fight and having no idea who was who. There were several bright flashes that appeared where aircraft had been, the vehicles being blown from the sky. The explosions happened to what she thought were craft of both sides.

  It looked like an equal fight. Until a number of craft exploded, ending the fight, and the remaining craft, three of them, all flew off in a straight line.

  They control the orbitals, thought Rebecca, clenching her fists in frustration. It had been a fair fight until the ships in orbit had joined in.

  “Let’s go clean up,” she said, helping Benjamin to his feet. She felt as depressed as she had for days, and felt like her feet were made of heavy elements as she walked back up the street, looking for a likely house. A couple of blocks off the main square she found a likely looking one that didn’t have any apparent damage. The door was ajar, which partially explained why it was not damaged. The enemy had been able to get in after the owner came out to see what was happening, or to fight what he knew was there.

  The house was in good condition inside. As soon as they entered the lights came on, showing that the crystalline matrix batteries were still functioning, since the normal power grid had been down for almost a month now, if not longer. Rebecca searched the house after telling Benjamin to stay put in the living room. It looked as if it was still occupied, most things in their places, some clothing still out, over chairs, on the floor.

  She came to one room that must have belonged to a child of about Benjamin’s age. There were stuffed animals on the shelves, both fanciful and representations of real beasts. The bed was made with a spread depicting a popular football team from the capital. Rebecca felt her chest tighten and tears stream down her cheeks as she thought of the young person who had once lived here, and had probably become food for alien monsters.

  “There’s water,” she told Benjamin as she walked back into the living room. “Why don’t you take a shower, and I’ll get some food together.” The pantry and food preserver she had checked had been full, enough food to last the two of them for a month. There had to be more food in other houses, and she was starting to think that this might be just the
place to hide out. After all, this place had already been checked out by the aliens, and she didn’t see any reason for them to return. And the family hideout was still at least four days journey through a dangerous environment, one that tried to kill them on a daily basis. There was no family there waiting for her anyway.

  When Benjamin was out of the shower and dressed in a clean robe she set the cooker and got into one herself. She luxuriated in the hot water, taking her time to relax. She had checked the house power and water levels and knew that she had plenty to waste. The clean feeling was something she had almost forgot about. Memory was coming back, and the feeling was wonderful.

  Minutes later she was sitting down with her brother eating a delicious meal of stew beef, vegetables and potatoes. Both ate double portions. Rebecca didn’t need to urge Benny to eat more. Both had lost weight during their journey, walking through a jungle that required more than double the daily calorie intake of civilized living, especially within a heavy gravity field. Later they watched some popular entertainment shows and a movie.

  Rebecca felt really tired. It was probably partially due to the feelings of relaxation from the food, cleanliness, and most importantly, the lack of tension from being in constant danger. She carried Benny to the child’s bedroom and tucked him into bed, then retired herself to the adult room, which contained a house control board. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was in a deep sleep. The dreams came, some remembered on waking, some not. The best one remembered had her at home with her family, and no invasion by aliens out to kill them all. When she woke up and realized it wasn’t true she started to cry again.

  Several nights later they were in the nearest park, looking up at the tens of thousands of bright stars. Both were wearing clothes that fit, and were as relaxed as they had been since the word came that the Ca’cadasans were on the way. After several days of exposure to sonics the dogs had started to leave them alone, and Rebecca had left some dog food out for them as well, and some cat food in places where the smaller animals could get to it but not the canines.

  “What’s that?” asked Benjamin, pointing up at a moving light in the sky.

  Rebecca looked where he was pointing and noticed that there were several of the lights. Some were blinking and moving quickly through space. These she thought were vehicles moving through the air. The others, moving much more slowly, must have been out in space, in orbit around the planet. The one he was pointing at was one of the slow moving ones.

  “That’s a spaceship,” she said in a flat voice, knowing exactly whose it was.

  “I hate them,” said Benjamin, a look of pure anger on his face.

  The bright dot flashed, then flared, then expanded in a wave of light.

  “Get down,” yelled Rebecca, grabbing Benjamin by the shoulder and pulling him to the ground, then shifting them both under the bench. The entire park was washed in a harsh bright light that cast deep shadows everywhere. The light brightened for several seconds, then lessened for an equal time and faded away.

  “What happened?” asked Benjamin, eyes wide.

  “It blew up,” said Rebecca in a hushed voice.

  “Did I make that happen?” asked Benjamin, his eyes getting even wider.

  I wish you did, thought Rebecca, shaking her head. But at least one of the bastards got hit by something that was bad for its health.

  Chapter Fourteen

  War does not determine who is right - only who is left. Bertrand Russell.

  AZURE. MARCH 12TH – APRIL 10TH, 1001.

  Rebecca had found it more convenient to just bring food from other houses they had explored that were more or less intact. The house still had power, and water, and she really saw no reason to leave. She wondered if that was just because she feared the jungle. If she was just rationalizing that they were safe because they were now comfortable. They had now sat here for over a month, and except for some sightings of high flying aircraft and ships in orbit, they had not seen any sign of the enemy.

  They listened to the com unit every night, being careful not to transmit and give away their own position. Every night they heard the very brief transmissions of military units, every night fewer and fewer of them. It was obvious that the enemy was winning the battle for conquest of the planet. How could it be otherwise, when they controlled space, and could bring in reinforcements any time they wanted. And the humans were isolated.

  “Why don’t our ships come?” asked Benjamin as they listened.

  “I wish I knew,” said Rebecca, frowning as she listened to the com for the casts that came about every quarter hour through the static. She didn’t want to tell him why she thought aid had not come. Because maybe the Empire was getting its butt kicked and didn’t have anything to send to a mere developing world.

  For almost two more weeks the transmissions lessened, and Rebecca’s heart fell with the scarcity of human military transmissions, until finally came the night when there was nothing on the military com net. She went to bed that night feeling totally hopeless. Her world had lost, utterly and completely. She started thinking again about heading for the sanctuary that her family had established just for this possibility.

  The next week she spent getting together what they needed for that trip. She gathered weapons, ammunition, battery packs, rations, pheromones, everything she could think of. She put together multiple boogie bags and set them up at the different compass points of town. By now the jungle had encroached on the former clear area around the village, and scrub trees and bushes had grown up in abundance. Some of the vegetation had encroached into the village itself, and on several instances she had found plantimals feeding on Earth trees, and in one case a dog.

  Rebecca was determined to keep the village safe for her and her brother as long as possible. She had found several particle beam weapons while searching the village, along with a number of proton packs and crystalline matrix batteries that fit the weapons. She spent several days walking around the perimeter of the village and burning out the invasion of the jungle.

  The angry child derived great satisfaction in watching the red beams vaporizing the weird creatures that were the plantimals. They writhed and hooted and tried to get away as she burned into them. Not a one got away, and soon the perimeter was cleared, at least for a few days. She shuddered as she thought about facing a jungle full of those creatures again, so once again she delayed their departure.

  Then one night the com erupted with a loud, clear transmission. It was the Sabbath, and though they weren’t Orthodox Jews who would rest for an entire twenty-eight hours, still they observed the spirit of the thing.

  “Oscar Charlie Delta November Niner,” said the voice over the com. The signal, according to their com, was coming from scores of sources and rotated around them.

  “What’s it mean?” asked Benjamin, looking up from the book he had been reading through the reader interface.

  “I have no idea,” said Rebecca, shrugging her shoulders. “But it must be important.”

  An hour later they got an idea what it meant, as the ground rumbled underneath for over a half an hour. She could tell by the alternation of vibrations, both in strength and in duration, that it was not a single event. At the same time deciding to risk a look outside she left the house, and the sight in the sky that met her eyes was truly amazing.

  The red of particle beams reached into the heavens, or back down to the ground. Bright pinpoints of light appeared in the heavens, at times blossoming into the expanding light of massive explosions. Flashes also flared on the horizon toward the capital. Benjamin joined her outside, his face showing his fright.

  “What’s happening?”

  “I think we’re striking back. I don’t know how, or with what. But there’s definitely a battle going on.”

  “Will they chase the bad guys away?” asked Benjamin, reaching over and grabbing her hand.

  “I don’t know. I hope so.” She really didn’t believe that. She did not think her world’s military could have stash
ed enough away as a reserve during the first battle for the planet. Yet there was a serious escalation here, more than she would have felt possible.

  The next morning the sun was a fiery orange ball in the sky, the result of the dust that had been kicked up through the night. Rebecca led Benjamin to the nearby playing field, where they had a clear look at the sky. They sat on the small bleacher that occupied one side of the field and watched the sky.

  A short time after sunup something exploded in the sky, the explosion reaching their ears as a dull boom. The sounds of fighting echoed from the nearby mountains, not telling them exactly where the fighting was, only that it was close.

  “I want us in our survival suits, now,” she ordered her younger brother.

  “You think they might come here?”

  “They might, and I can’t tell you which side they’ll be on. So I want us ready to go at a moment’s notice.”

  Benjamin nodded, and they both headed back to the house they occupied and made ready. Then it was back to the park where they could get the best view of what was going on, as sorry as that vantage was. By nightfall nothing had approached the village, and Rebecca decided it was safe enough to retire to the house, hoping that is anything did arrive in the night it would make enough noise to wake them up.

  * * *

  Captain Joseph Goldman swept the valley with his glasses, making sure that he was far enough back in the cavern to not reveal his position. In the valley below there was a fortified camp of the invaders, with bunker like constructs that were barracks and storage buildings. There was a landing field in the center of the base, with a score of aircraft and shuttles arrayed along the edge.

  Not really smart to put your base on the low ground, thought the Captain, shaking his head. He thought if the aliens had studied human history they would know better, and he was glad that they hadn’t.

  “We’re ready, Captain Goldman,” said the officer in the heavy infantry armor in the tunnel behind him. “All of my men are in place.”