Crap, Richard said. I can’t see any better than the cats. Battle computer, switch to radiation filter.
Compliance, came the reply.
The view from his filter changed. Richard saw the white outlines of the cats on his radiation filter. He supplemented the visual information from the radiation filter with his passive scan. Only five of the cats had been stupid enough to enter the smoke. All the others had stopped or turned around.
Running forward, Richard engaged the five foolish cats with his phase rod. While the cats were not completely blind in the smoke, they did not see Richard until he was almost on them. He killed two before they even got a chance to defend themselves. The third cat tried to claw Richard across the chest, but it missed. Richard swung his phase rod at its head. He did not miss. The cat’s head exploded.
The fourth and fifth cats each bit into one of Richard’s legs and began dragging him underground. Before Richard could counterattack, Jumper grabbed one of the cats by the throat and Tika grabbed the other. The pups werte shifted into the void. They pulled the cats and Richard back towards the surface. The cats released their holds on Richard just as he cleared the ground. When he materialized, he fell to the ground. The cats momentarily chose to ignore him. They turned their attention to the pups tearing at their throats.
Acting instinctively, Richard swung wildly with his phase rod. His blows connected with the heads of both cats before they could do more than give the pups a few superficial scratches. Richard thanked his lucky stars he’d hit the cats instead of the pups. He’d gotten lucky. Although Jumper and Tika were bleeding profusely, a quick scan by Richard confirmed their wounds were not life threatening.
Richard grimaced as he stood and put weight on his legs. Both of his ankles as well as his thigh throbbed with pain. Richard felt warm liquid running down his legs and collecting in his boots. If not for the rigidity of his battle suit, Richard felt sure he would have fallen.
Battle computer, Richard said, see what you can do about my wounds. Give me something for the pain. I’m about to pass out.
Compliance, said the battle computer.
A cool liquid injected into Richard’s veins. His head cleared, and the pain subsided.
How much Power do I have? Richard said.
Five percent, came the reply.
How long will the smoke last? Richard said.
Initial calculations are the smoke will dissipate by fifty percent within three minutes, said the battle computer. Visibility will be about five meters by that time. Calculations are based upon the current wind speed of two kilometers per hour.
Richard summoned twelve more smoke canisters and two more sonic-field generators. His Power reserve went down to three percent. Running to the extreme perimeter of the effective range of his current sonic generator, Richard activated one of the new ones. He dropped it in place. He ran back to the other side of the perimeter of his first sonic generator and activated the third generator. Richard smiled. He now had a defensive position almost four hundred meters long and two hundred meters wide.
The pups followed Richard wherever he went. Thankfully, they stayed out of his way. Once the third sonic-field generator was in position, Richard turned to the two pups. Using a set of growls and emotions, Richard did his best to speak to the pups.
He said, “Speak. Sheba. Come here. Safe.”
The pups looked confused.
Richard repeated the words again while trying slightly different inflections with his growls. The pups continued to look confused until Tika suddenly got an expression of understanding on her face. She raised her head and gave a loud howl. Almost immediately, Jumper joined her with a howl of his own. Richard felt strong emotions emanating from both pups.
Hoping for the best, Richard reloaded his M63 with a new isotopic battery. He threw two fresh smoke canisters in a section where the smoke was starting to thin.
Some cats are running out of Power again, said the battle computer. You will have a ten second window while they recharge.
Richard looked at the pups and gave a cough that he hoped sounded like the one Sheba used when she wanted them to stay. Without waiting for a response, Richard ran forward until he could get a clear shot at some of the cats whose yellow dots were beginning to flash. While the smoke did not affect his aim overly much thanks to his radiation filter, the materialized cats were attempting to us some of the larger boulders in the area for cover. Richard used his passive scan to pick out a group of ten materialized cats caught in the open. He fired at their outlines on his radiation filter. Several of the cats dropped unmoving to the ground as the rest scattered. Three cats foolishly entered the smoke in an attempt to make a counterattack on Richard. None of the three cats made it out alive.
Behind him, Richard heard the pups continuing their howls. He heard several echoing howls from the direction of the adult females and their young. As Richard monitored his heads-up display, he noticed the female dolgars and their young slowly moving in his direction.
Shifting his attention back towards the lava river, Richard noticed the two groups of adult males had disengaged from their attack. They were now running back towards their mates and their young. From what he could tell, the force of adult males had been reduced by about twenty-five percent. A group of six hundred or so cats were close on their heels. Another six hundred or so cats seemed to be forming to make an attack on a second front.
The battle is far from over, Richard thought. Cats are arriving faster than we can kill them.
With only three percent Power remaining, Richard had a feeling his part in the battle was about over.
I don’t have many options left, Richard thought. I’ve created a safe haven for the dolgars. That’s about the best I can do at the present.
Although low on Power, Richard refused to do nothing. He’d spent too long in the marines to sit idle when he still had the ability to fight. Staying inside the effective range of the sonic-field generators and screened by the smoke, Richard continued moving around and firing at any flashing yellow dots on his heads-up display. Slowly but surely, his one-kill-here, two-kills-there methodology began taking its toll on the cats in his vicinity.
A group of one hundred or so cats took up a blocking position and tried to stop the females and their young from gaining the relative safety of Richard’s sonic defenses. Fortunately, the males returned in time to counterattack. They easily scattered the cats’ blocking force. Under the watch care of the males’ rearguard action, the adult females and their young entered the smokescreen and the safety of the sonic-field generators.
Chapter 28 – Relief and Rescue
____________________________________
The male dolgars formed a defensive line against the large force of cats charging from the lava river. The dolgars were outnumbered six to one, but the males tore into the cats without hesitation. Like any fathers protecting their families, the dolgars fought fiercely and without regard for their own safety.
A couple of hundred meters behind the lead party of cats was another three hundred who were still materialized. Richard could only guess they were waiting to relieve cats in the first wave as their Power ran out. Another thousand meters behind them was a second wave of six hundred cats. It seemed to Richard those cats were preparing to maneuver around the dolgars’ right flank.
Richard didn’t need to look at his Power reserve reading to know he could do little against the cats that were already shifted into the void. The male dolgars would have to handle them. However, he gave a wry smile as he thought about the second wave of cats. Being out of range, those cats had not bothered shifting into the void. They were vulnerable.
Battle computer, Richard said. Give me the specs for half a dozen cluster rockets and a portable launcher.
Compliance, said the battle computer with its standard reply.
Using the specs from his heads-up display, Richard summoned the rockets and the launcher. Richard’s Power reserve went down by two percent.
This had better work, Richard thought. I only have one percent left. I’ll probably need that for more smoke canisters before this battle is over.
Quickly pulling out the meter-long rockets, Richard slid the first one into the launcher.
Battle computer, Richard said using command voice. I want you to take over the guidance systems. Detonate the rockets above the group of cats I mark. Target the six spots with the highest probability of causing the most casualties. As he spoke, Richard used his heads-up display to highlight the second wave of cats which were now moving to flank the dolgars.
Compliance, said the battle computer.
Richard thought of the destructiveness of the rockets. His battle computer had brought up the specs for a K12 man-portable launcher. In a typical heavy infantry unit, four K12s were attached to the backs of two soldiers in each squad. Squad and platoon leaders often used the back-packed K12s as a poor-man’s version of artillery. They used the K12s to provide close range, indirect fire support when needed. The K12 was a versatile piece of equipment. It could be used to fire anything from magnetic-field anti-armor solid shells to a low-yield tactical nuke if the need arose. The specific launcher the battle computer had chosen was the free-standing, hand-operated unit. Each of the six rockets Richard had summoned was packed with anti-personnel scatter bomblets. A scatter bomblet was a marble-sized bomb filled with compressed J22 plastic explosive. The concussion from a single scatter bomblet had a kill radius of a half a meter. The twenty-five hundred scatter bomblets in a single rocket could saturate an area a hundred meters long and twenty-five meters wide. In theory, a bomblet could land in every square meter of the target area, thus insuring absolute destruction of non-armored targets. Richard made a silent vow to never be on the receiving end of such an attack.
Wasting no time, Richard placed the butt-end of the launcher on the ground and fired the first rocket.
Boom!
As soon as the first rocket cleared the end of the launcher, Richard reached for another. He fired the five remaining rockets in rapid succession. He fired without aiming other than to make sure the rockets were pointed in the general direction of the target. He had confidence his battle computer would insure the rockets reached their proper destination. While his current battle computer wasn’t Nickelo, it was still an advanced piece of AI designed specifically to work with a wizard scout. Richard had no doubt it could perform its duties adequately.
Without waiting for the first rocket to hit, Richard dropped the launcher and took off running for the line of male dolgars. The three hundred cats that had been in reserve were starting to shift into the void. They were already beginning to replace cats in the first wave that were running out of Power. Staying well behind the line of dolgars, Richard began firing at any materializing cats foolish enough to get in his line of sight. While he did not kill all that many, Richard was not unpleased. His potshots appeared to be screwing up the cats’ replacement strategy. It was turning into chaos more so than an organized relief-in-place maneuver. Although Richard couldn’t be certain, he thought his tactic was taking some of the pressure off the dolgars’ frontline.
Richard felt an emotion of concern to his rear accompanied by a series of howls. He backed up until he could safely turn around without exposing himself to attack. Turning, Richard saw his smoke screen was starting to clear in a couple of sections. Several of the adult females were howling to get his attention.
Richard cursed silently. Without the smoke to visually blind the cats, the sonic-field generators will be useless against an above ground attack.
While he hated to desert the males, the females and young were the priorities. Richard started running in the direction of the thinnest part of the smoke screen. Just then, Richard heard a loud blast followed in quick succession by five more. He did not turnaround to look, but a glance at his heads-up display showed the cat’s flanking force had been decimated by the rockets. Only a few score of the original six hundred cats in the flanking group remained. Richard smiled. The rockets had worked better than he had expected.
When Richard reached the area of the thinnest smoke, he threw out a fresh smoke canister. Just then, another set of howls on the other side of the perimeter caught his attention. Several dolgar pups were howling in the vicinity of another section of rapidly thinning smoke. Richard obediently ran to their location and threw out a new smoke canister.
Wizard scout, said the battle computer. I recommend you go to your lowest-level stealth shield and refrain from any scans except passive. You only have one point three percent Power reserve. If you can refrain from using additional Power, you can recharge one percent every fifteen minutes. That may be just enough to continue summoning smoke canisters on a continuous basis. This battle could last a long time.
Nonsense, Richard said. We’re winning. The dolgars are still outnumbered, but they’re holding their own. The cats don’t seem to like to attack unless they have six to one odds. I think they will withdraw soon.
That is a negative, wizard scout. The male dolgars are even now beginning to withdraw into the safe area of the sonic-field generators. Look at the lava river area. Enemy reinforcements are arriving in mass.
Richard looked at the upper part of his heads-up display.
What the hell? Richard gasped. There are thousands of them. Are you freaking kidding me?
That is a negative, wizard scout, said the battle computer. I have no sense of humor. I am not kidding you.
Richard didn’t reply. He was too busy trying to grasp the enormity of the situation. At least two thousand cats were assembling near the lava river. More were materializing as he watched.
“Crap!” Richard tried to say aloud. The tubes in his nose and mouth did not allow him to do justice to his curse.
How many dolgars are left? Richard said.
There are seventy-six males left. There are an additional three hundred and nineteen females and young, wizard scout. Four of the males left when the battle began. I estimate a forty-six percent probability they were messengers sent to request assistance from some unknown location.
Richard stopped asking questions. It was all he could do to run around and keep the smoke screen thick enough to dissuade the cats from entering the sonic area.
As he ran around throwing smoke canisters, Richard occasionally came upon various adult dolgars. From their emotions, Richard could tell they were dubious and cautious of him, but at least they were not hostile. Richard thought that was good. A look at the now nearly three thousand cats gathered at the lava river told him there was already enough hostility out there to last a lifetime.
During a brief moment of respite, Richard found himself near Sheeta who was conferring with two large males. For all intents and purposes, Sheeta looked like a general giving instructions to his commanders. Richard glanced at his heads-up display. He noted the positions of the dolgars. The males were spaced out in a thin perimeter protecting the females. A small group of males were massed in a position near Sheeta.
A quick-reaction force? Richard wondered. How intelligent are these wolves?
They are dolgars, wizard scout, corrected his battle computer. As for intelligence, my calculations indicate they are slightly above human intelligence in several areas.
One of the males communicating with Sheeta must have noticed Richard staring at them. It growled and took a step forward with hackles raised. An emotion hit Richard making it obvious his eavesdropping was not welcome. The male revealed its finger-long fangs in a vicious snarl. Sheeta gave a low growl. The male backed down, but Richard could tell from the fire in his eyes that the male was not happy.
Looking at Richard, Sheeta coughed, “Go.”
Richard went.
After another fifteen minutes spent replenishing smoke canisters, Richard became bored with the repetitiveness and resentful of the Power usage. It seemed whenever he finally got his Power reserve built up to two percent, he was forced to use half of it to summon more smoke canisters.
Isn’t there something I can summon that will keep this area obscured longer than three minutes at a time? Richard said growing increasingly frustrated.
Yes, wizard scout, said the battle computer. I can provide the specs for dozens of items that can do the job. However, all of them require more than one or two percent Power. The feline force now numbers four thousand five hundred and seventy-two. I calculate it will be only a few minutes before they attack in force.
Richard sighed. If he could build up just a few percent Power in his reserve, he could summon more rockets. But, he was using every bit of incoming Power to summon smoke canisters. If he stopped summoning smoke canisters, the cats would be able to see inside the sonic area above ground. If that happened, the dolgars would probably be overrun all too easily. As it were, the cats were becoming ever bolder in making quick raids to test the perimeter anytime he allowed a section of smoke to thin.
He remembered Chief Instructor Winslow back at the Academy saying there would be times when he would wish he had just one more drop of Power. This was one of those times. In spite of his marine training to never give up, Richard was starting to lose hope.
Apparently, the dolgars were losing hope as well. The youngest of the pups had been herded into the center of the effective area of the sonic-field generators. A score of the adult females encircled them to hold the pups in place and to provide a last line of defense. The remaining adult females and most of the older adolescents were moving to join the males on the outer perimeter.
During his tactical training at the Academy, one of the instructors had discussed a cavalry officer from Earth’s old west. The officer and over two hundred of his soldiers were surrounded by a superior force of American Indians. The officer and his soldiers made a gallant last stand, or so the story went, but they were wiped out to the last man. As Richard watched the dolgars, he got a vivid impression they were preparing to make their ‘last stand’.
Richard put a fresh isotopic battery in his M63 and replaced the battery in his phase rod as well. He figured that was about the extent of preparations he could do with his current Power. Richard looked around and tried to pick out a spot to make his ‘last stand’. Joining the frontlines with the males was out of the question. He knew he wouldn’t last a minute on the outer perimeter with no Power.
Wizard Cadet (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 2) Page 33
