“Slow down a bit, Walborski,” said McAllister as he hurried up to his point man. “We want to make sure they don’t lose us.”
Walborski nodded, then picked his way through the jungle at a much more comfortable pace, checking his basic compass and the map on his wrist to make sure he was on the proper heading.
Cornelius could feel the ambush as he passed through it. There was nothing visible, but he could feel the eyes on him. He waved his hand in the air and flashed signals to the watchers and his own men, then continued to move a hundred meters further on. At that point he raised his hand back in the air and ran his finger around in a circle, signaling the squad that they had reached the rally point. The ten Rangers gathered in a circle, watching the jungle on all fronts.
And there they waited, for about two minutes. They knew the ambush had been set off when the jungle to their rear erupted with the sound of thirty rifles and grenade launchers. There was a small flurry of return fire that fell off quickly. Cornelius’ team led the squad back through the ambush zone, the other team behind his. Large bodies lay everywhere among the shattered vegetation of the jungle. Cornelius checked each alien as he came to it. One was still moving, and the Corporal put a round through its head to stop all motion.
“All clear,” called out McAllister, and the rest of the platoon rose from their hiding places and made it into the kill zone. Men started to loot the bodies of anything that might have intelligence or military value.
“Let’s move out,” said Lieutenant Schwarz, walking among the men. “Let’s get out of here before they send reinforcements.”
Cornelius reached into his survival suit, fingering the ring on its chain around his neck. He took a quick look at the bodies, adding the one he had just put down to his total, thirty-one. All for you, honey, he thought, visualizing his late wife. Now it’s time to save my ass for you, Devera, he thought next, stepping out into platoon point, moving them perpendicular to the path they had taken to come here. Minutes later the ground shook underneath as objects came down into the jungle they had occupied, and worked their way along the path they would have taken if they had continued out the way they started.
* * *
“They are demons,” hissed the battalion commander, looking around him at the bodies of armored males. “They move like shadows through this jungle, and strike like cowards from that darkness.”
The General looked at the distraught male as if he were mad. What the hell do you expect them to do when we control the skies and orbits? he thought.
“It was more of these Rangers,” complained the lower ranking male. “The survivors of the compound described them to me, how they moved like blurs and never missed when they fired.”
“Did you find a track of where they went?” asked the General, already sure of the answer.
“After they ambushed their pursuit they disappeared without a trace. Isn’t there some way you can track them from space?”
The General thought about that for a moment, closing his eyes and calling up their best representation of the planet’s surface on his implant. The world was still a mass of jamming and particulate matter in the atmosphere. The average temperature had gone down by six degrees, and would go down much more within the year. He zoomed in on the local jungle and switched the view to infrared. Again the picture was blurry, but there were some dots of heat on that view. Actually quite a number of them, considering the mass of animals and plantimals even in this portion of the jungle that had been partially cleared by all the noise of combat. He looked at one of the dots, which was actually a hundred meters of plantimal swarm. Even the trees had a slight heat production adding to the mix.
“We really can’t track them under the canopy,” said the General, giving a head shake of negation. “Are the chemical sensors working at all?”
“Not really. For some reason these Rangers don’t show up on the chemosensors, not like the regular humans.”
Because they have been genetically altered, thought the General, looking down on the one body they had recovered from the enemy, lying on a stretcher. Or at least what was left of one after a particle beam struck the soldier. The General was still amazed at the plasticity of the human genome. His own people had once tried to engineer their form, with disastrous results. Now it was forbidden. And there was no desire to improve the slave species. That would just make them more of a threat to their masters.
“We will try to get you help, Battalion Leader,” said the General, turning to start back to his vehicle, his security detail falling in around him. “We are expecting some special trackers.” Who have already gotten to the system, he thought.
“Do you mean, Maurids?” asked the Battalion Leader, his voice a mixture of awe and fear.
“That is exactly what I mean,” said the General. And the creatures were something to be feared.
The General thought about the humans on the flight back to his headquarters. They were a problem that needed to be eliminated from the surface of this world. His problem. They had killed almost a hundred million of them, most of the population. The ones left were the most dangerous, the survivors of the evolutionary pressure that war brought. And then there were those who kept coming to the planet despite the total naval blockade.
The word from above was that the humans had somehow developed wormholes that allowed them to move from one planet to another without passing through local space. He didn’t understand how they opened these holes, or how they got them to where they needed them. All he knew was there had to be one on the planet, and he needed to find it and take it out if he was to win this battle.
“They’re here, my Lord,” said an Aide, running up to the aircar as it came to a complete stop on the landing pad.
“I will meet with their commander, immediately,” he ordered the Aide, walking toward the bunker entrance a hundred meters away.
He had only been in his office for a few moments when the Aide let him know that the commander of the special trackers was outside. “Send him in.”
The creature that passed through the doors walked on all fours, its four paws touching their pads to the floor. The creature massed about a hundred kilograms, making it much smaller than a Cacada. But it moved with the grace of a true hunting predator, unlike the too civilized Ca’cadasans who had not been top predators for over a thousand of their long lived generations.
Whipcord muscles moved under an orange striped hide that was one variation of the species coloration. A long tooth filled muzzle pointed up at the General, while almost glowing predator’s eyes looked into his.
The creature stood up, rising to its two meter height. The paws unfolded into hands and feet, every one of the five digits on each four jointed member sporting the stub of a claw.
“My Lord,” hissed the creature in a sibilant voice.
“Prime Hunt Leader Sybalis,” said the General, giving a head nod of greeting. “You know why you and your people are here?”
“To hunt down enemies of the Empire,” said the being, whose race called itself Maurids.
“To hunt down their hunters,” growled the General, pointing to a holo that showed a human.
“They look very weak to this one,” said the Hunt Leader.
“Most of them are weak, though all are intelligent and cunning. But the ones you are to seek are much more dangerous. Stronger and faster than the norm.”
“Still, you wouldn’t have us here unless you thought we could hunt and kill them,” said the being, extending the claws on his hands and running one across the desk. The claws, which were the creature’s original equipment, augmented with monomolecular coverings, dug deep furrows into the hard alloy of the desk.
“There is a great complication,” said the General, scowling at what once had been the smooth surface of his desk. “These special humans have no scent. Or at least nothing distinctive.”
“That, is a complication,” said the creature. “Still, we will find a way to track them. Give us a week to get used
to the local jungle.”
The General stared wide eyed at the creature. It was bordering on insolence for a subject race to make demands. But such were the Maurids, an arrogant race despite being conquered. At one point there had been great discussion about ending this species. It had been decided that they had value to the Empire. “From what I understand, your planet is the most dangerous in the Empire. Surely this planet should not be a problem for you.”
“And from what I have heard this planet is almost as dangerous as my homeworld. And it has different dangers, as do all worlds. If we just go thrashing around in an unknown jungle we will accomplish little.”
“Very well,” said the General, not really liking his answer, but seeing no other choice when dealing with the headstrong creatures. “But at the end of the week I want you and your people to be in that jungle hunting down this enemy. I have already lost too many males to them, and can ill afford to lose too many more.”
“Yes, my Lord,” said the creature through a toothy grin, dropping back to all fours, his hands folding back into paws, heading for the door. The creature turned his head as he reached the portal. “Please be sure that all information you have on these humans is made available to myself and my officers.” With that he loped through the door and down the hall, while the General stared open mouthed at the Maurid.
Chapter Seventeen
All war is deception. Sun Tzu.
AZURE. APRIL 28TH – MAY 5TH, 1001.
“Alert,” called out the house alarm, at the same time as it sent the warning through to Rebecca’s link.
The child opened her eyes, groaning as she saw the time display. The sun would be coming up in three hours. She was tempted to turn over and go back to sleep. But the house kept blaring the alarm in her mind, compelling her to get up.
“There’s something moving out there,” said Benjamin, sitting on the living room couch and looking at the holographic screens that were lined up in the air.
Rebecca looked at her brother in disbelief. He was normally the one that slept like a rock, while she was on knife edge alert. She could tell by the look on his face that he was scared, and she wondered if maybe a nightmare had woken him first, just before the alarm went off.
“Show me the threat,” she said to the house computer, which she had linked into once she had figured out the system. The house was powered up, with solar panels recharging the crystal matrix batteries with which the dwelling was so abundantly equipped. She thought the owner of the house must have been a preparationist, being ready for anything that might happen. Then the Cacas had come to town and he had probably been cut down in the fight that developed here.
One of the holos expanded, showing a few shadowy figures moving through the dark in blurs of motion, then stopping and blending in till they were almost invisible. Another holo switched places with the first, showing more of the figures. She couldn’t tell what they were, but they didn’t look like Cacas to her.
The child played with the Star of David on the chain around her neck. She said a quick prayer, wondering if the God her parents had taught her about was really there. She had been told many times that they were God’s chosen people, but to her eyes she really couldn’t see how he was living up to that promise. He didn’t seem interested enough to let us keep the Earth, she thought. Or to keep the aliens away from this place.
The fourth holo screen came up, and Rebecca was beginning to wonder with a feeling of anxiety how many unknowns were out there. The fourth holo showed her something different than fleeting shadows. It showed her the monstrous creatures she was trying to avoid. The horns sticking up from the helmets were too distinctive to miss.
“We have to move, buddy,” she told her brother as she jumped up from the couch. “Get in your suit and grab your boogie bag.”
Benjamin nodded without saying a word, his frightened eyes letting her know that he understood what was going on. The Ca’cadasans were here, and they needed to be elsewhere.
In less than a minute they were in their suits, sitting on the couch and pulling on the boots that would seal to the lower legs. Rebecca had put both suits into the house fresher, where the nanites had repaired all damage to the garments. She had also found plans for military style suits in the house database, and had worked those improvements into the coveralls. They now boasted military grade impact armor and a layer of almost perfect reflective surface that would hold off light amp for several seconds. There was also an outer layer that was active camouflage, helping to blend them into their surroundings.
Rebecca made sure that her particle beam pistol was charged and ready, then strapped the belted holster onto her waist. Benjamin now had the mag pistol and its holster, while both had sonic stunners strapped to their left forearms. Without a word they both grabbed the backpacks they had waiting, their boogie bags, and shrugged into the straps.
“You ready?” asked Rebecca, looking at the holo screens. She could see the Ca’cadsans on one screen, and from the buildings in the background she could tell they were about three blocks away and moving in their general direction. “Stay close to me and do what I do.” Benjamin nodded again, his eyes wide with fright. She looked once more at the screens, wondering where the human figures had gone. Then she had no more time for viewing.
They went out the back door of the house and moved through the alleyway, in the general direction of the village border and away from the aliens. They made their way a block. Something moved in the shadows between two houses, and Rebecca pulled her pistol and took aim, holding her breath. A large cat came sauntering out of the shadows and she let out her breath. Then the cat looked behind, hissed, and took off.
What came out of the shadows next was her worst nightmare, and it was followed by another. Rebecca tried to fade back into the shadows of the house she was near, glancing over at Benjamin and hoping he was paying attention to her. He wasn’t. He was staring in terror at the Ca’cadasans, then took off in a run that attracted their attention.
Both of the Cacas swung their weapons to track the boy, ignoring the girl they had probably not seen. They yelled out something in a guttural language, then one raised his rifle to his shoulder.
Rebecca pulled the trigger on her pistol and swung the beam across the two aliens. The first was hit in the side before he could fire, the beam eating into his armor suit and vaporizing a good thirty kilograms of his tissue in a catastrophic hit. The second got off a shot with his mag rifle before the beam swung into his left arm. The hit didn’t kill, though it essentially destroyed the arm, and the creature fell to the ground with a roar of agony.
“Benjamin,” yelled Rebecca, not really caring about noise after the sound of the short firefight. She turned to see a small form lying on the ground. Running for him, her mind panicking, she lost awareness of anything else going on in the alley. She reached him, praying to her God that he was alright. That prayer died on her lips as she saw the large wound in the back of his head. With a cry she knelt down and turned him over, her vision blurred with tears. The exit wound was worse, the entire front of his skull blown outward. She knew the brain was completely gone, and no modern medical tech would bring him back.
A voice barked from behind, and Rebecca froze, sure that she was under the muzzles of many of the Ca’cadasans who had been attracted by the sound of the fight. There was no way she was going to get out of this. They would kill her, especially since she was the only one who could have killed their comrade. With that thought in mind she made ready to turn and fire, determined to take as many of them with her as she could.
Just as she was about to make that move she was interrupted by the sounds of muted gunfire, shouts, screams and a few distant explosions. She turned to see the half dozen Cacas in sight falling to the ground, each bleeding from multiple wounds. Some were already dead, a few were severely wounded. More shots sounded, and those Cacas would never rise again.
Humans ran through the alley, all wearing survival suits that were shifting patterns to
blend in with the buildings around them.
“Are there any more humans here?” asked one of the men, running up to her in what almost looked like a sped up vid.
“They killed my brother,” she said, unable to say anything else.
“I’m very sorry,” said the man. “And it looks like you killed one of them, and wounded another.” A shot sounded, and the man looked over to see one of the other humans standing over what had been the wounded Caca, his shouldered rifle pointing down. The man turned back and grasped Rebecca’s upper arms. “I need to know, are there any more humans here?”
“No,” she said in a choked voice. “Just me and my brother.”
“Did you live here?”
“No. We walked over a week through the jungle from where our aircar came down. Then we found this place and just tried to survive.” A wave of guilt washed over her, and she started crying uncontrollably. “We should have left weeks ago. My family had a place we could go, and Benjamin would still be alive.”
“And then you might be dead in the jungle,” said the man, shaking his head.
“Sergeant Cummings,” said a brown skinned man, walking up to the pair. “Is this the only survivor?”
“As far as we know, sir,” said the man. “She said they came here out of the jungle and made themselves at home.”
“I’m Lieutenant Froshman,” said the other man. “We’re Imperial Army Rangers, here to make life hard for the Cacas, and death easy. Where did you get that weapon?” he asked, looking at the particle beam pistol. “And that suit?”
“The pistol was in the house we were staying in,” she said, trying to get control of herself and wiping her eyes with a cloth she pulled from her pocket. “The house computer had plans for a military survival suit, so I programmed the refresher unit to make ours over.” She looked back at the body of her brother. “It didn’t help us though.”
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 05 - Ranger Page 23
