Exodus: Empires at War: Book 05 - Ranger

by Doug Dandridge

  Cornelius unstrapped the launcher and the munition’s tube from the body and placed them on his own, then started walking down the hollow, plotting what path he would take to the target.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  The surest way to prevent war is not to fear it. John Randolph.

  AZURE. MAY 26TH, 1001.

  Even a fairly short fall on a heavy gravity planet like Azure could cause great harm. One longer than short could result in death. All this went through Rebecca’s mind as she fell, her arms flailing in the air. She fell at almost fifteen meters per second per second. That meant she fell a little more than a second.

  The next thing she knew water was coming up over her head, and she couldn’t close her mouth or stop the scream fast enough to keep from taking a mouthful of liquid into her lungs. She sputtered and coughed, then forced her mouth closed before she could pull more liquid in.

  The water was extremely cold, obviously sourced from either a spring or ice, and there was a current. She fought against it while trying to get her bearings. Striking out for the surface, she broke through just before her lungs forced her to take a breath. She sucked in air and coughed up water, then looked around to see if there was any kind of shore.

  I guess I can forget about getting that pistol back, she thought, only darkness around her. A boom sounded from above, one of the alien grenades that would have shredded her if she hadn’t had fallen. Something else dropped into the water twenty meters from her, and she started swimming away from it as fast as she could. The explosion was muffled by the water, and she thought it must have dropped fairly deep into the underground stream.

  Rebecca floated for a moment, considering her options. She could try to swim against the current, or she could strike out perpendicular to the current and hope there was a shore. From that point she could try and find a way out. Or she could go with the current, hoping that this stream would eventually break the surface. That could happen soon, or much later, or possibly not at all.

  Deciding that the best choice was to go with the flow, she spread out into a back floating position, letting the current pull her along. She was not sure where she was going, but it had to be better than back there with those aliens who wanted to kill her. To kill all humans.

  The current was not all that fast, Rebecca estimated three to four kilometers an hour. If she could look at her inertial navigation system she might be able to get a better handle on her actual speed. Since she couldn’t do that, she at least could hope it would let her know where she was when she got out of this underground river. Her internal implant clock of course still worked, and she could tell how long she had been floating.

  After a little over three hours she was starting to feel the effects of hyperthermia, despite her survival suit. The shivers started at first on a small scale, then progressed until her whole body was shaking. Her nanites were boosting her metabolism, helping to stave off the effects, but mostly submerged in almost freezing water there was no way her body could fight it forever.

  A little later, when she was just about to give up hope, she saw some light ahead. It was faint at first, just allowing her to see a few meters in the direction she was traveling. It grew a little brighter a minute later, along with a slight rumbling sound. And she noticed that the current was speeding up.

  I’m about to find out how this thing comes to the surface, she thought as the rumbling grew louder. And I don’t think I’m going to like the answer.

  She could see that the current was getting stronger, the sign that the water was being forced through a smaller opening than the stream she was in. The rumbling grew louder, and she was sure there was a waterfall in her near future. She tried to remember if she had seen any in this general region, but the only ones she was familiar with were small.

  She tried to delay being fired out into the open, struggling to stay up and maybe grab onto the wall over the opening. The area was now lit up, not quite to the level of daylight, but enough to see. The struggle ended quickly as the current pulled her under and out into the stream of water plunging from the opening.

  Her vision was obscured by the water around her. Still, twisting and turning within the waterfall, she caught glimpses of the sky and the jungle. She really wasn’t ready when she struck the pool. Her velocity and the stream of water above her pushed her down till she hit the bottom, a covering of small rounded rocks that had been eroded away from the action of the falls. The water falling into the pool kept tumbling her along the bottom, and she started to get really scared that she might not make it to the surface. Finally she had been tumbled far enough away that she was out of the fall, and she fought her way to the surface, sputtering as she broke out into the air. She took in a deep breath, then another. She wiped the water out of her eyes and turned, looking up at the cliff from which the falls erupted. It was at least two hundred meters tall, and the falls came out of an opening a little over a hundred meters up. Rainbows formed in the mist around the pool, which was about thirty meters across and continued on in a stream that flowed away into the jungle.

  Rebecca looked around for about a minute, trying to decide which bank of the stream she wanted to end up on. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye as she was turning to look at the opposite side. Something big was sliding into the water, and turning quickly she caught a glimpse of a big head with an array of sharp teeth sticking out of the sides of the long muzzle. It fell into the water with a splash, then started for her with a powerful swish of its tail. It dove, then came up next to her with its mouth opened wide. She had time for one scream before it grabbed her in those jaws.

  * * *

  Cornelius had been walking for several hours, covering as much distance as he could from the massacre. He had the means to complete the mission on his back, but really wasn’t sure how he would be able to approach the enemy base. As a single Ranger he wouldn’t have the option of fighting his way through if he was discovered. His chances were better than average that he could sneak through. Or maybe that was just wishful thinking, considering these Hunter things that were out here now.

  He stopped for a moment and glanced at his map, then looked up and checked his area yet again. The run in with the big carnivore was still spooking him. Normally, when they moved as a unit, quiet as they were, carnivores, even when they stumbled up on them, tended to run. They weren’t willing to take on a number of large animals with unknown capabilities. But again, he was a single soldier, and therefore a target most of them would take on without a second thought.

  This looks promising, he thought, tracing his finger along the map up into the mountains. It would give him line of sight to the enemy base, though it was still out of effective range of the chemically powered rocket. That was a mistake, he thought of the weapon. If they had carried the kind of hyper-v rockets that regular units deployed for antitank and antiaircraft use he wouldn’t have had this problem. Those things had maximum ranges of a hundred kilometers, and could cover that distance in less than a second. As long as it was powered down it wouldn’t have been detected, and he could have powered it up in seconds before launching. Instead, he had a weapon that required him to get within twelve kilometers of the target at maximum range. It would go in low and slow as compared to a modern weapon, and he would only have the one shot.

  So maybe I can get up in the mountains and then climb down over here, he thought, looking at a proposed route. Then I will have to cover this jungle back to the plains. He shook his head as he looked at that path. It would be easier just to walk through the jungle on a straight path from here, but they were more likely to be watching that approach, if they were still looking for any intrusion after wiping out his company. Always assume that the enemy is watching, he thought, remembering the lesson they had pounded into him in Ranger school.

  In fact, he thought with a start, there were eyes on him right now. Cornelius folded his map and put it back into its pouch, trying to move slowly and not give his knowledge of being observed
away. Getting up from his crouch he started to move, keeping his rifle at the ready.

  He had only taken a dozen steps when something jumped out of the jungle ahead of him. At first he thought it one of the aliens, then breathed out as he saw it was a hell hound. Of course one meant there were others, maybe more than he could handle at once. So he did the thing he was sure would discomfit them the most and ran at the creature at full speed, yelling at the top of his lungs.

  The hell hound yelped and leapt out of the way, and Cornelius was past it in a moment. The yelps and barks of other creatures sounded from the jungle, the pack sounding off its displeasure and coming together to attack the prey that was trying to get out of its trap.

  Cornelius ran flat out, keeping his eyes peeled for any threats that might get in his way. Unfortunately, he couldn’t watch everything at the same time, and he missed the vine that rose up from the ground and caught at a leg, sending him sprawling ahead. He landed and rolled back to his feet, the vine still wrapped around his leg and pulling. His first thought was that a plantimal had attacked him, but his nose didn’t catch the scent of the creatures.

  A trio of hell hounds came crouching in, baring their teeth and growling. Another vine rose up from the ground, but the hell hound it targeted avoided it with ease, and then tore into it with its teeth. With that it turned its attention back to its future meal.

  Cornelius pulled his long blade from its sheath and sliced through the tentacle. There was no splash of caustic liquid like from a plantimal, and he guessed it was vegetation, though from what plant it sprouted from he had no idea. The first of the hell hounds leapt in, hoping to take advantage of his inattention. He saw it coming and swung his blade into the chest of the creature.

  It gave a short yelp that was interrupted as the blade reached its lungs. Walborski slanted the sword up and it ripped out of the creature’s back, cutting it into two unequal pieces. The head and chest flew over his head while the rest of the body fell at his feet. There was blue tinted blood everywhere, and the smell, unlike terrestrial fluid, was almost stomach turning.

  Cornelius jumped back to his feet, yelling and waving his Wakizashi. Another beast appeared, backing up the two that were already facing him, and he thought he heard another moving through the brush at his side. He saw the plan, and his respect for the creatures grew. Three were keeping his attention on them, while one set up for the attack. One of them hadn’t followed the instinctual plan, and had been selected out of the gene pool. Of course, if they kill and eat me they might die, and then the entire pack would probably die out. For some reason that thought did not bring any comfort to him.

  Suddenly the ears of the beasts perked up and they raised their muzzles, sniffing the air, whimpering. The one in the brush jumped out and landed among his pack mates, growling. It was the largest of the pack, the leader, and it obviously had decided that the pack needed to be elsewhere. With a last growl it took off into the jungle, the other three at its heels.

  Something’s coming this way, and the boys wanted nothing to do with it. Which means I need to get my ass moving as well.

  Cornelius took a quick look, then ran in the general direction the hell hounds had taken off in, sure that they would have determined the direction the threat was coming from. He jogged thirty meters into the jungle and crouched down behind a large tree.

  Seconds after he stopped he heard harsh voices coming from the place he had just occupied. He didn’t understand the language, but the voices were familiar enough. Hunters. He didn’t think he had left anything behind that would have told them he was there. Except a big flippen hell hound body that has obviously been cut in two by a modern blade. He looked down at his suit and cringed internally at the blood all over his body. He might not give off much scent, but the damned blood sure would.

  Waiting around was not a good idea, so he started moving, his eyes constantly searching for threats. He wanted to just run as fast as he could away from this area. It was a sure thing the Hunters wouldn’t move after him at full speed. They would be tracking by scent, and looking for native threats themselves. But running full speed would probably run him into something he didn’t want to bump into. So he forced himself to go at a walk, making sure his feet fell on the ground cover that wouldn’t leave a trace.

  His ears picked up the sound of running water, and he headed that way, knowing one of the best ways to throw a scent tracker off his trail. He couldn’t hear pursuit, but he was sure it was there. And then suddenly so was the stream, a fairly deep pool that led into a more shallow wider rush over rocks.

  He jumped into the pool. His suit would repel most substances. In fact, most of the blood had already rolled off the face of the survival suit. A dunking in water removed what was left. He came back to a stand and walked into the shallow area. Which way to go? he thought, looking up and down the stream. Upstream was the choice, as he thought the enemy would guess he took the easy route. He ran up the knee depth water, trading the noise for the chance of getting out of sight before the Hunters got to the stream.

  The Sergeant walked a couple of kilometers up the stream. The seal of his suit was pretty good, and the only water that reached the inside of his boots was what had come through the tears in the garment. It still sloshed around down there, but it was a comfortable wet, not cold at all. He found a bank that was mostly rock, something that wouldn’t show his passage very well as the spray from the stream kept the stone wet.

  Cornelius continued up the stream for five kilometers. The stream narrowed and got deeper, and the sound of falling water came from ahead. Soon he could see a hundred meter tall column of water falling down a two hundred meter tall cliff. There were multiple rainbows in the air, formed by the sunlight shining through the mist rising from the falls. Cornelius stopped for a moment, looking up at the beautiful sight. The colors were a little off from his perspective, the result of different sunlight penetrating a slightly different atmosphere.

  Something caught his ear, a sound that penetrated the roar of the falls. It took him a second to recognize the sound of a scream, cut off suddenly. He ran forward, not sure what he was doing. His primary task was to get away from those who might be after him, while at the same time getting within firing range of his target. He still continued ahead, coming through the foliage to see the deep pool that the falls were dropping into.

  At first he only saw the large creature in the center of the pool. Then it rolled over and he saw the human form it held in its jaws. Those jaws were clamped down on the chest of the human, and he didn’t see how the person could survive.

  It's fucking huge, he thought, trying to take in the scale of the river carnivore. Its blue tinted fur glistened in the sunlight, making him think it was mammalian, not a reptile. Its large, flat tail slapped the water, an indication that it was an aquatic creature.

  It went under, then came back up, its victim still struggling in its mouth. Damn, it’s still alive, he thought watching that human struggle. Now he noticed that the human had a military class survival suit on, something that might have allowed him or her to survive the attack, so far. That made up his mind. Mission or no, he couldn’t stand here and watch another human being killed and eaten by that carnivore.

  He raised his rifle to his shoulder, then lowered it as the creature kept rolling in the water. There was too much chance of hitting the human. So he dropped his rifle on its strap and started forward, drawing his long blade. It almost struck him as funny on the run. He was a soldier in a technologically advanced army, and here he was charging forward with a sword in his hand. In fact, he had recently been using blade weapons much more than his firearms.

  Hitting the water he dove forward. Unfortunately, the missile tube on his back and the rifle hanging from his strap added water resistance, and he didn’t knife forward like he had planned. It took a couple of powerful kicks and some arm motions to get to the creature. He dove down and came to the animal from underneath, jabbing the Wakizashi up into its body and slici
ng away.

  The animal went into a frenzy, releasing its victim and trying to twist around to get at its attacker. Cornelius pulled his blade free and thrust it in again. The water around him was cloudy with the blue blood of the animal, but the Ranger could tell he had yet to strike a killing blow. He pushed it in again and again, while the jaws of the beast closed around his leg. As a last resort he turned and brought the sword down on the head of the creature, cutting into the area around its left eye and partially blinding it.

  The creature released him, and he brought the blade up into the soft area underneath the lower jaw. The blade sank deep into the animal’s head, going through its mouth and into its brain. The creature spasmed in its death throes, tossing Cornelius away like a child. He kept the grip on his sword and held on as it ripped out of the animal.

  Cornelius came to the surface sputtering. He had swallowed some bloody water during the battle, and now he coughed it up. The animal floated belly up near him, and at first he couldn’t see the person he had committed himself to rescuing. Then he spotted the human, sitting on the shore looking at him with a horrified expression on, her?, face.

  “Thank you,” said the person, standing up as he waded ashore. “I thought that thing had me.”

  Walborski found himself looking at a child, her long black hair, soaked with water, flowing down her back. She looked up at him with wide blue eyes. He thought she must be between eleven and fourteen, and he wondered how someone her age had gotten out here in the jungle.

  He looked back at the beast, floating with the current down the stream, and knew they couldn’t stay here. “We need to go,” he said when she started to open her mouth to say something. “You can tell me your life story when we’re safe.”