Exodus: Empires at War: Book 05 - Ranger

by Doug Dandridge

  “We’re just waiting for the signal, Major,” said Goldman, understanding that the man was feeling impatient, and knowing that if they jumped too soon they might spoil the element of surprise for the other operations. He looked back at the man in his one ton combat suit, which weighed even more on this world. The suit was powered down, as were all the suits in the two companies of the rump battalion the Major commanded. It was only moveable at this point using the low powered emergency actuators that allowed the wearer to move the suit at a slow human walking speed. They didn’t want powered up suits possibly giving them away before the attack could be launched.

  The Major nodded, his heavy particle beam rifle gripped in both oversized metallic hands. The weapon was also powered down, and the unit’s com net was not active. Everyone was tuned into the planetary command com, and would know the same time as he did when they had a go.

  “Oscar Charlie Delta November Niner,” came the voice over the com, followed by a burst of covering static as the jammers came online all over the planet. The Major’s suit powered up, along with his rifle, and he ran out of the tunnel with scores of other heavy troopers on his tail.

  As soon as they had cleared the tunnel Goldman moved to the entrance and looked down into the once peaceful valley. Now particle beams and lasers reached down into that compound, followed moments later by hyper-v rockets that streaked like rays of light down onto the landing field, destroying the parked shuttles and aircraft. Soon after the compound was swarming with large figures in combat armor. That was what the rocketmen were waiting for, and a quartet of nuclear tipped rockets flew into the compound and exploded with fusion fury, each detonating with forty kilotons of destructive power, sweeping away most of the Ca’cadasan infantry.

  The heavy infantry troopers took to the air, sliding down the side of the mountain, just above the surface, moving at high speed and shooting at anything that moved. The compound was overrun in less than a minute, and Goldman’s men moved in after them to plant demolition charges to take out the bunkers.

  After striking their primary targets all of the units in the attack, an entire heavy infantry division, moved on to secondary and tertiary targets and took them out. With sunup they were still on the offensive, but the enemy had sorted through the targets and was starting to hit back. Jammers and obscuring dust hid some targets, and the general assault went on for almost a week before the heavy forces were bled out.

  Goldman watched one of those attacks come back, men in battered and damaged suits, moving slowly as they tried to conserve energy. The slump of their suit shoulders showed an attitude of defeat. The Captain counted the suits and was shocked to see that only a third of the reduced company was returning. Behind the men mushroom clouds reached into the sky, the signs of kinetic hits that had hammered the attack.

  “We’re retreating from here,” said the Major who had at one time commanded almost four hundred troopers, and now had a little more than thirty. “We’re ditching the suits.”

  Goldman nodded his head, a sinking feeling in his stomach. The attack had shot its bolt, and even though more people and materials were coming through the wormhole, from now on it was again hit and run and guerilla tactics.

  Chapter Fifteen

  In peace, sons bury their fathers. In war, fathers bury their sons. Herodotus.

  AZURE, APRIL 12TH-APRIL 22ND, 1001.

  “When are we going to go to where daddy is?” asked Benjamin as they sat down to breakfast.

  How the hell do I answer that? thought the older sister. I don’t even know where dad is, or if he’s even alive.

  “I want daddy,” said the six year old, tears rolling down his cheeks.

  “I know you do, Benny,” said Rebecca, reaching across the table to pat his hand. Benjamin pulled his hand away before she could touch him. Such a little shit. He cries for our parents, but doesn’t want to be treated like a child.

  “I say give it another week,” said Rebecca, hoping she could play that another week card as long as possible. With luck I can keep him going for two weeks, maybe even a month. But when it came down to it, she was in charge, and she would make the decision on whether to leave here or not. The surroundings were comfortable, they had plenty of supplies, and they weren’t in danger from the life forms of the planet or the Ca’cadasans. Until that changed she really didn’t see any need to trek cross country to their refuge.

  And besides, none of the rest of the family is there, she thought as she speared a piece of roast beef with her fork. Except for the possible exception of her father, the rest of the family was dead, at least all of those who were in on putting together the refuge.

  Benjamin looked like he didn’t like the answer, but he continued to eat. Rebecca was happy as long as she didn’t have an argument. She knew she was in charge, even though she didn’t know what she would do if he decided to buck her authority and set off on his own. Stop him, that’s what. To do otherwise was to ensure his death. There was no way he could survive in the wilderness by himself.

  The next day they were out in the park. Rebecca insisted that they stay under the trees as much as possible. She had no way of knowing how well the surface was masked from space. It was surely less than it had been. It had been weeks since they had seen any friendly aircraft, or even the signs of an air to air battle, an indication that her side didn’t have any air power left. Which itself was an indication that her side was being beaten, and badly.

  Some aircraft did appear overhead early in the morning, coming over the mountains and flying high above the village. Rebecca and Benjamin hid under the benches, hoping that the craft would fly over quickly and be gone. That hope was shattered when one of them flew back over, low and slow, checking out all the open areas of the village.

  “We need to move,” she told Benjamin, grabbing his hand and pulling him to his feet.

  “It’s going to see us,” said Benjamin in a shaking voice.

  Rebecca looked up to see the aircraft hovering over the playing field where they had been spending their time. She was pretty sure there was nothing there that would give their presence away, but there was always the chance. This isn’t the time to think about this, she thought, pulling Benjamin along as they ran for the nearest building. They crossed the street and headed for the door. Looking over her shoulder she caught a glimpse of the aircraft rising up and starting to turn their way.

  “In here,” she hissed at Benjamin, pushing him into the shop and closing the door behind them. The room started to light up, and her hand reached quickly to strike the control switch before it could finish. She pulled Benjamin down behind the wall below the store window and held him tight.

  Please, don’t have seen us, she thought, knowing the craft was now hovering over the park they had just occupied. If it hadn’t seen them on the way here they were probably in the clear. But she wouldn’t know that until they left. She kept holding onto Benjamin, trying to calm herself while keeping him from squirming away. Any moment she expected the door to open and a three meter tall alien to come stooping through.

  Rebecca pulled her mag rail pistol from its holster, letting go of Benjamin for a moment to check the charge, all the while wishing she had brought the particle beam pistol with her. She wasn’t sure her little peashooter of a mag pistol would do more than alert the Cacas that she was there, while of course pissing them off.

  The time ticked by and nothing happened. Rebecca was not sure what to do. They can’t just be waiting for us, she thought, trying to decide what to do. Finally she decided to wait for safety’s sake.

  “I need to use the bathroom,” said Benjamin, reminding Rebecca that her bladder felt very full at this time.

  “You’re just going to have to go in your pants. Just like I will.”

  “I have to do number two,” said the boy, using the age old code word for defecation.

  “Go ahead,” said Rebecca. “We can’t move from here, buddy. Or the bad aliens might see us.”

  Moments later
the smell of feces caused Rebecca to gag.

  “I’m so sorry,” said Benjamin with a cry.

  “Don’t worry about it,” said Rebecca, feeling her own bladder release and warm fluid run down her leg and pool under her. “We’ll get cleaned up later.”

  Rebecca broke out what few rations she had, a packet of crackers, and gave Benjamin half of them. That didn’t help with thirst.

  “We need to get some water, buddy,” she said, motioning for him to crawl across the floor beside her. She cringed the entire trip, fearful that the aliens would come to the window and look in to see them crawling. And then they would be dead.

  We made it, she thought as they reached the doorway to the back of the store. Once through and to the side they got to their feet and made their way to the bathroom. The sink provided all the water they could drink. After satisfying their thirst Rebecca went back to the doorway. She looked across the main storeroom and couldn’t see anything in the park outside. It was starting to darken, and she was sure that nightfall was not far behind.

  As soon as it was really dark she led Benjamin to the back door and through the alleyway. They went the hidden ways back to their house. She saw nothing to indicate that the aliens were still around, but thought it better to not take chances.

  After checking out the house she realized that it was safe. The windows were set to opaque, and there was no way someone outside could tell they were home. She set the security systems and made sure that one of the particle beam pistols was at hand. From now on I have to make sure one of these things is on me at all times.

  “Get cleaned up, buddy,” she told Benjamin, who had an unhappy look on his face. She knew how he felt. She didn’t like having the filth of her own elimination on herself either. The hot water of the bath felt good, as did the clean clothing. After putting the dirty clothes in the washer she got dinner together. They ate in silence that night, while she thought over the wisdom of staying in one place for too long.

  * * *

  Major Joseph Goldman really didn’t care about the promotion, or the elevation to the position of regular Imperial Army officer. He was in charge of an engineer battalion that had approximately the same number of soldiers as the company he had once commanded. He had been told that he would receive more soldiers, but had yet to see them. And all the time he still had the worry about his children, who he hoped were still alive, though he had no way of knowing.

  “Careful with that, Ferguson,” he told the engineer who was plugging the cylinder into the frame. The woman nodded, then turned her attention back to injecting the negative matter into the magnetic field that kept the wormhole gate open. The wormhole expanded a bit as negative matter pushed against it.

  “Give me a minute before you inject any more into it,” said Goldman, looking at the control board. He made some adjustments, and the framework around the hole expanded as well. He checked the parameters, then signaled for the next engineer to add more negative matter to the field. When it was finished it would double their transport capacity to and from the planet, which couldn’t hurt their efforts.

  Goldman looked around at the huge chamber they had cut into the rock. They were over three kilometers under a mountain. To the north another of his teams was cutting a tunnel through the rock, the flare of lasers burning into the hard material, while machines scooped up the molten strata and funneled it away. It was quite the complex they had erected here, starting to work as soon as it was known that another wormhole was on the way. The Major had not seen the wormhole come down to the surface, but he had been there soon after. Some people had already come through before they started the expansion from personnel gate to cargo portal.

  “This looks like quite the setup,” said a voice from behind, and Goldman spun around and snapped to attention. “At ease, Major,” said Lt. General Hannah Demkowski, the military commander of the planet. “I almost feel safe here,” said the officer.

  “Hard to be safe anywhere, ma’am,” said the Major. “Our only real safety lies in them not knowing we’re here.” And that had been a task in and of itself, shielding the electronic and heat emissions of this base. A couple of kilometers of rock had been helpful, but not sufficient. They had to use hundreds of kilometers of superconducting wires, with thousands of further kilometers of nanite infused microcables to completely shield the electronics and lead the heat off to a nearby river. And that had taken some care as well, since they couldn’t dump all of the heat into the river at one point without leaving a big look here sign that could be seen from space.

  “And if they know we’re here, they just drop a big penetrator on us,” said the General. “God, but I hate fighting without control of the orbitals.”

  But there it is, thought the Major, nodding. When a penetrator could be dropped that had the ability to go through the crust into the magma, then nothing built by man or nature was safe.

  “It’s ready, sir,” called back Ferguson.

  Goldman waved at her and checked the board, making sure everything was online. He looked back at the General. “Permission to send the signal through, ma’am.”

  “Permission granted, Major,” she replied, looking at the five meter wide by four meter tall mirrored surface. “Let’s get as much here as we can, while we can.”

  Goldman pushed the panel over the send commit. He pressed down and waited for the reply. For the immediate duration the wormhole was one way only. While it wouldn’t harm two objects passing through at the same time, the problem arose when one came out on the other side while the other was still passing into the hole. Then there were two material objects trying to occupy the same space at the same time. At the minimum the two objects would fuse together, really a bitch if they were two people. And the maximum? Subatomic fusion, which could be a real disaster for the people on both sides of the hole.

  “Reply has come through, ma’am,” he told the General.

  Moments later people started coming through. At first scores of naval personnel, then the first of hundreds of big boxes of equipment. Followed by hundreds of soldiers in medium combat armor. The new arrivals were waved to different parts of the cavern, then into tunnels that would take them to control rooms or staging areas, depending on the unit’s function. Goldman estimated a couple of battalions of the infantry had come through before a different kind of troop came forth, these in light armor and carrying heavy packs on their backs and more equipment in their hands. Goldman saw the insignia on their armor, crossed shovel and pick, and almost danced for joy as he realized they were the engineers he had been promised.

  A battalion came through, and the Major visualized in his mind what it must have looked like in the chamber on the other side of the wormhole, as soldiers and spacers were lined up to go through the gate.

  The next unit through was not in armor, though they shouldered packs every bit as bulky as the armored troopers who had come through previously. Each man, and they were all men, carried a duffle in one hand and a peculiar looking rifle in the other. Each man walked confidently, and they moved quickly despite their burden. That was when the Major noted the Ranger flash on the left sleeve of each man.

  “Those are the boys I’ve been waiting for,” said the General with a smile.

  One of the men in the line noticed the General and he came hurrying up, dropping his duffle and rendering a hand salute. “Lt. Colonel Su reporting, ma’am,” said the officer. “First of the Three Eighty-Seventh Rangers.”

  “And the rest of the regiment?”

  “They’ll be coming right after us, ma’am,” replied the muscular officer.

  “Major,” said the General, turning toward Goldman. “I have an assignment for you and about a dozen other residents. From what I understand, you have some knowledge of the wilderness of this planet?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” answered Goldman, wondering where this was going.

  “Then I want you to bring Colonel Su and his men up to speed on the planet. What they need to look out for. And what
they might be able to use to hurt the enemy.”

  “I’ve only done a bit of hunting ma’am,” said Goldman, not sure what he could accomplish in helping the Rangers. “And some camping with the kids.”

  “And that’s more than I have done, or as far as I know any of the regulars. I want you to put together a course on the wildlife, then guide them on a couple of missions.”

  “Can he keep up?” asked the Colonel with a frown.

  “It’s your job, Colonel, to make sure he does. You men need to work together. Meanwhile, I’ll try to locate some local pioneers to work with you out in the brush. I would like your regiment to begin operations in three days. The sooner we start teaching these bastards that the surface of this world is not where they want to be, the better.”

  Goldman went fuming back to his quarters, which also served as his office. Why the hell did I get this kind of duty. Those men can take care of themselves just fine, without me having to show them how. When he got back to his quarters he followed orders, and got together some interactive lessons on the planet that he downloaded to a number of nodes that the Rangers could learn off of.

  As he walked into the area that had been set aside as temporary headquarters for the special ops troops he was struck by the equipment they had unpacked and stowed away. All of it looked primitive, no armor, no electronics. Generalized optics, strange looking rifles and grenade launchers, even some rocket launchers that looked like little more than telescoping tubes with basic sights on top.

  A senior NCO was field stripping one of the rifles, and Goldman stopped for a second to look it over.

  “Is that chemically powered?” he asked, looking at one of the magazines that was filled with paper wrapped tubes.

  “Yes, sir,” said the Master Sergeant, holding up the receiver for the officer to see. “We don’t take anything into the bush which might give us away by its electronic signal.”