It took her a couple of days going north to again pass the small valley which housed the enemy base. She wasn’t sure if it was still there, but she wasn’t about to take any chances. Because of that she worked her way a day to the west, then back north, depending on her inertial navigation device to keep her aware of her location.
At one point, when she was across from the northern end of the valley, she heard what sounded like fighting in the distance. Climbing to the top of the hill the sound increased, the faint pops of explosions. Though she stood there for twenty minutes, she couldn’t see anything, and the sounds faded away minutes after she arrived at the top. Fighting meant humans, since the Cacas wouldn’t be fighting themselves. She thought for a moment about heading that way, then dismissed the idea. She didn’t know who those humans were. They might be deserters like the ones at the refuge, people who had just haplessly wandered into trouble. And they might be getting their asses kicked, a good chance considering what was in that valley.
Rebecca climbed back down the hill and continued north, walking around a couple of large stands of plantimals on the way. She was finding walking through the jungle becoming easier and easier. Her eyes automatically picked out the threats along the way, and she moved around them quickly and quietly. She was also sure that there was not much of a Caca presence in this part of the jungle, or their new allies. The combat had to have drawn most of them away.
Later she would realize that her arrogance had led her astray. Something that looked like a hell hound came running out of the jungle in a charge. She knew it was one of the new aliens from the survival suit on its body, as well as the bigger brain case. The creature would have had her if not for the strangle vine that came up from the ground and wrapped around one of the alien’s rear legs.
Strangle vines were not plantimals. They were definite members of the vegetable kingdom of the planet. And the plants they were attached to, fertilizer trees, were not strictly carnivorous. What they were was an opportunistic form of vegetation that caught small animals and dragged their bodies to the boles of their roots, where the rotting creature provided fertilizer. The creature it had captured was a little too big for it, something the nonsentient plant could not help. It simply attacked things that caused the ground to shake near its vines.
The alien creature ripped at the vine with a front paw, its claws slicing through the vine in four close locations. The part still attached to the tree fell to the ground and slithered away, while that which held the leg of the creature unwrapped and dropped limply to the jungle floor. The creature looked back up at Rebecca, its mouth open in a snarl as it crouched down to spring at the frightened child.
Rebecca fired the particle beam directly into that snarl. The beam of fast moving protons incinerated the head in an instant, and the rest of the creature dropped with twitching nerves to the ground. She looked around, wondering if the creature had company, hoping that it didn’t. The vine had given her a chance against this one. She wasn’t sure she could handle two or more of them.
As soon as the thought passed through her mind she was on her way, taking off in a jog, her eyes searching for any threat. What she saw was a pit of darkness in the forest. Running over she saw that it was a small cave in a rock formation. Voices came from behind, and without hesitation she dropped to the ground and crawled into the opening, shivering at the thought of what might lair in the cave. Nothing attacked her, and she slid backwards until she was a meter in, her pistol aimed toward the light of the opening.
The voices came closer, sounding like something growling and spitting, an animal sound that she had heard before. They were snuffling around the entrance to the cave, sniffing, taking up her scent. The entrance went dark for a moment, then the light came back.
They’re not animals, she thought. They have weapons, and I’m a helpless target here. The light was blocked again, and Rebecca knew she had to do something. She aimed and fired before the creature could do anything. The particle beam struck the rock at the top of the cave, and she brought it down into the creature.
The smell of burning flesh and fur flooded the cavern, and her skin burned from the steam that filled the air. She knew that the cavern was now blocked, at least for the moment, and only for the moment. The rest of the creatures would get their dead companion out of the way in an instant, and she was sure they wouldn’t line themselves up for another shot. An explosive device down the tunnel might be their next option.
Rebecca started scrambling backwards frantically, hoping that she would come to some kind of bend or expansion that would allow her to get under cover before a grenade came at her. The sounds at the dark mouth of the small cave were those made by something trying to pull the body out of the way. Then the opening was again a source of light, and Rebecca knew the body had been removed. She fired another shot from her pistol, then moved further back.
Panic gripped her as her legs came out into open space. She couldn’t tell what it was, a short drop in the cave floor or the opening to a much larger cavern. She knew it didn’t have to be a long drop to hurt her on this heavy gravity planet. One of her hands gripped a hold on the side of the cave to keep her from going any further. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she thought of her options, getting shredded in the cave or possibly falling to her death. The voices outside rose in volume. She didn’t know what they were saying, but she was sure that it concerned her and wasn’t an inquiry into her health.
A shadow fell across the openning, and she fired her pistol again. This time the recoil of the particle beam pushed her back, and she dropped the pistol to try and get another handhold on the rock. All she succeeded in doing was dropping the pistol. She couldn’t stop the slide, and soon only her upper chest was still supported on the floor while her legs kicked in the open air. She missed the grab, the hot pistol slid into her, and the next thing she knew she was out in the air falling, a short scream bursting involuntarily from her lungs.
* * *
Cornelius came back to awareness with the sound of something moving behind him. He opened his eyes, and found that he was lying at the bottom of the hollow he had fallen into. He did a quick check of his aches and pains and didn’t think there was anything broken. That was the good news. The bad news was still the movement behind him, from the sound of it getting closer, and on this planet that was never a good sign.
At first he wanted to pull his sword, then remembered that it had been in his hand when he fell. There was no Wakizashi in sight, so he had to think he had dropped it along the way. With that realization the Sergeant moved his hand slowly to the hilt of his combat knife, sheathed on his belt. The scent of caustic acid came to his nostrils, something he had smelled before. Plantimals, was his thought as a shudder ran up his spine. Some species of the predatory creatures used an injectable acidic poison on the spines of their tentacles. His suit would protect his body, but not his face, back of head, or hands, as he didn’t have his gloves on. His system and nanites could withstand some of the poison, but an overload would start his proteins digesting so the creature could suck up his nutrients through its tentacles.
Cornelius rolled forward and over, away from the plantimal, coming to a stop facing it with his knife in his hand. The blade was made of the same material as his longer sword, and boasted the same kind of edge. He was ready to attack the questing tentacle with the knife, then get his ass out of here.
What met his eyes was not a single plantimal, but a score of the creatures, all creeping along the ground at him. Five were within reach, a dozen tentacles each waving in the air. Cornelius sucked in a breath, knowing that he was totally screwed.
A tentacle whipped in, and Cornelius intercepted it with his knife, slicing easily through the tough limb. It sprayed fluid from the severed tip, and some hit Walborski in the face with a burning sensation. He covered his eyes, knowing that getting that stuff in them would blind him, and then he really wouldn’t have a chance. He started pulling and pushing himself away from the cre
atures at the same time.
A tentacle hit him on the shoulder, bouncing from the hardening impact armor. Two more poked into his chest with the same result, while more of them struck his right leg. One wrapped around his leg and jerked. Another wrapped, and the pair started to pull him toward the advancing plantimals.
The Sergeant flipped the knife to his left hand and sliced at the two that had him by the leg, while grabbing at an exposed root behind him and pulling himself back. The knife sliced through the two tentacles, adding more spurting fluid to the air. As Cornelius cut through the last tentacle grabbing at his leg another wrapped around his knife arm. He pulled at the tentacle, his only accomplishment fighting his own attempt to pull himself away.
A loud growl rumbled from behind Cornelius. A paw came over him and planted on the ground near his head. He looked up to see the underside of a large blue furred animal standing over him. Another paw came into view, striking at the tentacle that held his arm, sharp claws severing the limb.
The beast roared again, then stepped back out of sight. Jaws closed on Cornelius’s arm and clamped down with enough force to cut into his arm, if not for the impact armor of the survival suit. He was jerked back as the carnivore tried to claim him for its meal against the plantimals. Cornelius, for all his augmented strength, felt like a child in the grip of the half ton creature.
This thing is sure to kill me, he thought, planning how he was going to strike. He gripped the knife tightly in his hand, the member shaking with tension. He knew he had to strike quick and true or this thing would kill him. The Sergeant twisted around, catching a look at the face of the creature that had gripped his other arm. The head was as big as a large bear’s, with a much wider maw. Two ice blue eyes glared at him. That was all the time he had for a look. The knife came down just where he wanted it to. The point hit at the crown of the skull, and the ultra-sharp blade sliced through fur, muscle and bone like they were thin cardboard. If Cornelius was right on his guess about anatomy it should have penetrated into the brain of the creature. In a terrestrial animal it would have sliced into the Corpus Callosum. But he sure didn’t know Azure neuroanatomy.
The animal roared and reared back, opening its jaws. Cornelius held onto the hilt of the knife for dear life. A normal blade would have been ripped from his grip regardless. The double edged monomolecular blade tore free, cutting its way out through the face of the creature in a spray of blue blood.
The animal swatted at Cornelius with a claw filled paw. Cornelius caught the paw on his left forearm, the claws failing to penetrate his suit, but still rocking him with its force. He swung his knife at the animal’s throat, slicing in and through the windpipe that was a separate structure from the digestive canal. The roar turned into a gurgle, and the carnivore stumbled forward. A pair of plantimal tentacles came in over Cornelius and went for the throat gash, attracted by the scent of native blood. They must have injected poison into the creature’s bloodstream, as it collapsed immediately with quivering muscles onto the ground.
Cornelius tried to get out from under that half ton of flesh and bone, rolling away. He almost made it, almost. It came down on his legs and trapped him in the prison of its flesh. The plantimals began to attack the dead or dying beast, sinking their tentacles into its flesh while pulling themselves closer.
Something stung Cornelius in the leg, where he knew there was a cut in his suit from the claws of the Hunters he had fought earlier. The sting turned into a flash of agony, and he knew he had been penetrated and injected with the caustic poison of the plantimals. His head swam as the poison spread through his body, and he felt his strength leaving him.
No fucking way, he thought, grabbing at the body of the creature above him and pushing, trying to pull his lower body out from under it at the same time. It seemed hopeless, no matter how much he tried he could only pull himself out a centimeter at a time. I won’t give up, he thought, picturing Devera in his mind, then Katlyn. Neither of them would have wanted him to quit. He gathered his courage and his strength and pushed with his arms while he pulled his legs. He started to slide out, until the plantimal tentacle penetrating his leg pulled back. With a grunt he pushed harder. Something tore in his leg muscle, and through the pain he pulled harder, until with a supreme effort he pulled himself out from under the animal.
Cornelius lay there for a moment, catching his breath, then crawled a couple of meters away from the carnivore and the feasting plantimals. He looked down at his injured leg, seeing the discoloration of his flesh through the slices made by the Hunter’s claws. The smell of the acid reached his nose, and he almost coughed from the caustic odor working its way into his lungs.
Got to get out of here, he thought, seeing the plantimals continue to scramble over the animal, though some tentacles were definitely questing his way. They hadn’t given up on him yet. He crawled a little farther, then stopped to treat his wound, his head still spinning from the poison.
Cornelius reached into his belt medical kit and pulled out a small syringe. He injected the contents into the exposed flesh of his leg, then pulled out a small sprayer and sprayed a mist over the skin. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting the combination of nanites and drugs go to work. His head started to clear as they added their attack on the poison to what was already in his system. Shaking his head he opened his eyes and took another glance at the slowly advancing plantimals, then staggered to his feet and wandered away.
Ten meters farther he saw something metallic laying on the ground. He almost whooped with joy as he saw it was his sword, and he picked up the blade and held it out while returning the knife to its sheath. He looked along the way but couldn’t spot his rifle, and was pretty sure it lay on the side of the hill, or up near the top where he had fallen. He was not about to go back up there at this time. The enemy might still be up there, and he wasn’t sure any of his side was still around.
Instead he walked away from his personal battle against the wildlife of the planet, stumbling every couple of steps from fatigue and the poison in his system that was still being flushed out. After walking a hundred meters he found a place where he could cover and rest for a little while, a small depression with roots overhead. He checked for threats, then backed into the hole and let himself relax, at least his body, while keeping his mind and senses alert. About a half an hour later he had noticed the effects of the poison were gone, and a look at his leg showed that the punctures and slashes had mostly healed.
Thinking about his next move he determined that staying in this area resting was not an option. There was still a mission to perform. If any of the company survived he needed to help them. If not, then it was up to him. He was only one man, he knew that. But one man in the right place had been able to perform miracles in the past.
To perform the mission he needed something other than his sword. As formidable as it was, it was not want he wanted to take into a firefight. With that in mind he started climbing back up the hill from the hollow, his ears straining to catch any sound. He heard nothing, not even the sounds of the normal wildlife that would be expected. He climbed at a slow rate, both to minimize his own noise and to make sure he missed nothing that might be a threat.
At the top of the hill he found some cover and crouched, again listening for any signs that something was up here. After five minutes he decided there was nothing here, unless the Hunters were waiting in ambush for him, which he thought unlikely.
Still walking cautiously he moved among the dead. He recognized many of them. Others were a total wash, their identifying features or uniform tags obliterated by weapons’ fire. The worst were those hit by particle beams, the fast moving protons that hit with stunning kinetic energy that converted to biomass destroying heat.
Not having time for a complete search and body count, he couldn’t find every body. But his preliminary count seemed to jive with his belief that the company was a total loss. Weapons there were aplenty, and he soon had a working rifle and plenty of ammo, as well as a half doze
n grenades. What he didn’t have was one of the special weapons he needed to take out the target. He found one of the men who had been equipped with a launcher, but the weapon and the package the special came in were both gone. In fact, he couldn’t find a launcher or a weapon in the area.
Cornelius thought about that for a moment. Without a warhead he was not likely to be successful on the mission. If he headed back to base no one would question his giving up on the mission. But dammit, they all died in vain if I don’t finish this. And I would die for no reason if I tried it.
Finally making up his mind he moved back down the hill to the hollow, determined to make it back to the base to at least let them know what had happened. There was still a line of sensors to penetrate, but one Ranger actually had a better chance of doing that than a large group. And if he stayed low and in the shadows he increased his chances of getting back.
Everything changed after he had walked a hundred meters of the hollow. He came across the body of a Ranger, with several holes in his suit showing how he was killed, by hypervelocity rounds fired by a heavy mag rifle. The shape pointing up from over his shoulder had Cornelius shaking with excitement. He glanced at the name tag and saw that this man was not a designated rocket launcher gunner. But there it was. Cornelius turned him carefully over and his breath caught in his throat and he saw that it was not just a rocket launcher on the man’s back. There was also the insulated cylinder like those used to carry special munitions.
It can’t be, thought Cornelius, popping open the container for a second and seeing the intact munition. I can still complete the mission, damned if I can’t. With that thought came the ambivalent feeling of conflicting emotions. He could complete the mission, on the outside chance that he could penetrate the enemy defenses and get to a launch point. In doing so he would reduce his chances of getting out of here and back to the woman he loved. Duty was a higher calling than his own life though, and he had no doubt that he would try to complete the mission.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 05 - Ranger Page 29
