by Mark Harritt
She knew that Rieci and Geonti were on the ground relieving themselves and walking around in preparation for the long trip, the mortars be damned. She opened the hatch and yelled down to them, “Rieci, Geonti, I need to talk about something with you. Can you come over to my mech?”
They stopped what they were doing and came over and scrambled up the side of the mech. Jennifer was prepared for it, but the quickness of it still amazed her. She locked the hatch open and sat at the top of the opening. She motioned for them to have a seat. They both sat in the hatch, their feet dangling in the hole. Rieci sat down facing the hatch door and Geonti sat at the bottom.
Rieci started, “What is it, Jennifer?”
She explained their options. She told them about her worries regarding the passes in the mountains. Then she explained the option of moving back into the canyons and going out along the valley below, and how it would be easier to move through that southern canyon. Then she paused, waiting for input.
Rieci looked at Geonti, “What do you think?”
Jennifer was surprised when Geonti actually started talking instead of replying with a shrug.
Geonti rubbed his beard, staring down at the foam in the mech.
He looked up at Jennifer, “When Rieci and I came into the canyons this morning, I really didn’t expect to see the sun set again. As it is, I’m impressed that you and Ai have kept us alive this long. I agree with you. I think the passes are probably being watched. I think they probably have pre-planned fire for effect on different target areas where they hope to slow us down. At least, that’s how Mike would have planned it out. My vote is that we take the route through the canyons. I don’t think they will expect us to go back that way.”
Jennifer wasn’t the only one surprised. Rieci stared at Geonti, “That’s the most I’ve heard you say in a while.” Jennifer knew that the ‘in a while’ started when they found Geonti’s fiancé in the Turinzoni base. She assumed that Rieci didn’t want to bring that up.
Geonti nodded, not answering.
Rieci looked at Jennifer, “I agree with your and Geonti’s assessments. I think they will be prepared for us in the mountains. However, I think there’s a better alternative than going back down into the canyons. I think we should remain on the ridges above the canyons, like Geonti and I did earlier. They might see us, they might not. If they figure out that we’re on the ridges, we’ll have cover if they fire at us from the canyons. The only problem we might have is if they put soldiers on the ridges, ready with anti-armor guns. But, I think it is a good plan.”
He paused, “Besides, I believe you should worry more about your child than us. We are soldiers, and are comfortable with the possibility of death taking us.”
Jennifer opened her mouth to say something, but she couldn’t think of anything, so she shut her mouth instead. Jennifer was humbled by Rieci’s advice.
Jennifer thought about what Geonti and Rieci had told her. It was good advice. She had been thinking two dimensionally instead of three dimensionally. It was a learning point for her.
“Thank you both for your suggestions and your faith in my analysis. I’ll talk to Ai and plot a course for us,” she told them.
With that, Rieci and Geonti climbed back down to the ground to walk around some more, mortars be damned. Jennifer didn’t know if she should admire their fierce, fatalistic view or not. Still, Geonti had told her that they hadn’t expected to be alive right now. That might partially be the reason for their fatalism.
She put her helmet back on, “Ai, I need you to plot a new course for me. We’re going back toward the canyons, but not in them. I want to go across the ridges that separate the canyons. And then we’re going out to the big valley below, and head south to that valley that cuts back east.”
Once again, Ai plotted a new route for them. She double checked the route against the topographical map. Mike had taught her early on to understand how to read a map, plot coordinates, and how to read the elevation lines to understand the lay of the land. Once she was satisfied, she told Ai, “Okay, that’s good. That’s the route we’re going to take. Lock it in. In the areas where we have more maneuver room, I want the mechs at least two hundred meters apart. We can still cover each other at that distance.”
“Roger, Jennifer, Wilco.”
She popped back out of the hatch and looked around. She saw Rieci and Geonti standing between their two mechs, talking to each other. She yelled down out of the hatch, “Are you two ready? It’s dark, and I think it’s the perfect time for us to leave.”
She saw reluctance in their body language. Rieci waved to her, and then he and Geonti exchanged words and clambered up to the top of their mechs.
Rieci dropped right back into his mech and closed the hatch, but Geonti paused before he pulled the hatch shut. He stretched his arms out and took in several deep breaths. Jennifer hoped that his reticence about being in the mech wouldn’t be a problem for them, but you never know. His claustrophobia could get worse. If that happened, he might want to ride outside, instead of inside the mech.
Jennifer waited until she knew Rieci and Geonti had their helmets on, then she did a comm check. She got a verbal thumb’s up from both of them.
“Okay, boys, hang on. I’ve got a route planned for us. Just hang out and enjoy the ride. Ai’s going to handle everything for you, including combat. I have your sensors open so that you can see and hear what’s going on.
“Ai, are you ready?”
“Yes, Jennifer. My systems are all green. The systems on the other mechs are also green. We are prepared for combat, and for travel.”
“Alright, engage the chameleon camouflage for the mechs. If we can slip by without engaging, then that’s what I want to do. If we can’t get past them without being fired on, then engage with the mech that has the best vantage. Can you handle all of that?”
“Yes, Jennifer, I can do that. The other mechs are also versions of me. They understand and will carry out your instructions.”
“Let’s go then. Engage the chameleon camouflage.”
“Roger, Jennifer.
The mechs started moving back down the hill. They didn’t go in the same direction that they came from, since they were going to move over the ridges instead of down into the canyons. Moving across the mountain, it was almost impossible for the giant mech’s not to kick scree down the rock face. Jennifer just hoped that the scree wouldn’t tip off the green men until they were much closer to the valley past the canyons.
Jennifer watched their progress on the map. If the leader of the green men had put all his men into the canyons, then it would be very rough night for them. Hopefully the leader of the green men was thinking two dimensionally instead of three like she had. She didn’t like the idea, but if she was going to use the radar, it would soon be time to do so.
Radar, if it wasn’t masked by terrain, could tell her exactly how many of the green men were in the valley. She would wait until they were on the ridge, though. It would be safer for her and the others that way. If they were among the green men, then it didn’t matter if someone noticed the radar. They’d be less likely to target areas with their own men with area of effect weapons like mortars. She wasn’t going to use the radar in the canyons, though. She wanted to know how many men the green men had left in the canyons, but she would have to wait. She didn’t want to give them advanced warning.
----------------------------------------------------
Chailt waited with his team, left behind to guard the box canyon. He didn’t know what he might be guarding it from, though. The mechs were long gone. He and his team had been the first soldiers in the canyon. Chailt had personally watched the mechs scramble up the back of the canyon, sending a rock slide of scree tumbling down the side of the mountain.
He did not want to be here. The box canyon smelled horrible. It was a mixture of charred bodies, blood, and rotting corpses. But, when the Shomcuer tells you to stay put and watch the box canyon, you stayed put.
“You
want something to eat?”
He turned to look at Prathus. He clacked his beak together several times, and then he shook his head, “Nah, I’m good for a while. Maybe in a bit.”
“How do you want to do the shifts tonight?”
Chailt ran both hands over his face, his leather like palms caressing his beak, “Well, there’s six of us, so four hour shifts, two on shift.”
Prathus looked at the back of the canyon, “Why the hell are we here. We should be up in the mountains looking for the mechs.”
Chailt nodded, “I agree, we should. I don’t think we’re going to find anything here except more bloated corpses.”
They both started as a rock came bouncing out of the fog. They whipped up their rifles and stared at the back of the canyon.
“What the hell was that?” Prathus asked.
Chailt scrutinized the back of the canyon, “I don’t think it’s the mechs. When they left here, there was a ton of rock that slid off that mountain.”
Another rock slammed into the ground, but from a different location. Then a rock slide hit the ground close to the second rock.
Chailt grabbed Prathus’ arm, “Get the team up, get the anti-armor guns in here. They may be coming back.”
Prathus ran back to their camp at full tilt. Chailt had a tense few minutes before his team showed up with the heavy weapons.
Karnakar was grumpy because he didn’t get to eat, “What, you boys couldn’t handle a few rocks by yourself, you had to disturb my dinner?”
Chailt pointed at the back, “There’s something going on back there.”
“You want to go check it out?”
Chailt looked over at Karnakar, “Are you kidding? Might as well just paint a sign on me saying ‘shoot me first.’ No, we’ll stay right here and if they come, we’ll take the bastards out.”
Chailt put Karnakar and Teolt on either side of the canyon opening, so they could hit the mechs with heavy fire if they came back down to the canyon. For the moment, though, the only thing they heard were rocks bouncing off the mountain to hit the canyon floor. No mechs came off the mountain for them to earn their bounties.
Chailt was tense with anticipation. He was puzzled, though. He still heard rocks sliding, but he couldn’t see what was causing the rocks to slide. The sound of movement shifted about them until, behind them, they heard rocks sliding. Chailt slapped Karnakar and Teolt on their shoulders, “You keep your eyes on the canyon.” He turned and walked past his team, listening to the sounds of scree and rocks sliding. Then a large chunk of rock slid off the ridge to slam onto the canyon floor.
“What the hell?” Chailt looked up. Then it clicked. Chailt cursed, “They’re on the ridge line! They aren’t coming through the canyons. They’re walking the ridge line above the canyons.”
“What do we do?” Prathus asked.
Chailt knew that his radio wouldn’t work in these canyons, so he pointed at Prathus, “You run back to battalion and tell them that the mechs are coming back through on the ridge. The rest of us are going to try and kill the bastards.”
Prathus wasn’t moving fast enough, so Chailt shoved him, “Run, dammit, they need to know. If we kill the mechs, we get bounties. If those mechs get out of here and we didn’t warn battalion, they’ll whip us bloody in the morning. Get your ass moving!”
Chailt turned to his team, “Keep up with me, damn you!” He ran away from the sliding rocks to the other side of the canyon, heading back toward the direction of the valley. Karnakar was on his heels with the other three. When they got there, they put their backs to the wall and looked up for the mechs.
“I don’t see anything up there to shoot at,” Karnakar growled, “What do you want us to do?”
Another rock hit the ground ahead of them. Chailt pointed in the area that he thought the rock came from, “Start shooting up there, and maybe we’ll get lucky!”
The heavy maser tubes tipped up toward the top of the ridge, and then invisible energy slammed into the rocks above.
----------------------------------------------------
Rock exploded around them. Jennifer had decided to keep the speed of the mechs to a slow five kilometers per hour on the ridge, hoping to get further into the canyons before they were noticed.
“Ai, do you know where the shots are coming from?”
“Yes, Jennifer. With three mechs I can triangulate the sound of the anti-armor guns. I can hear the capacitors charging in the weapons. They are approximately at this location.”
It looked like the green men had left someone behind, but she still had no idea how many.
“Ai, can you engage them?”
“I can, Jennifer, but I cannot hit them. They are below the edge of the ridge.”
Jennifer fumed, “I really should have insisted on some kind of indirect fire weapon in the original design. Grenades would have been a damn good idea, but does anyone listen to the lieutenant? No, nobody listens to the lieutenant.”
“What, Jennifer?” Ai asked.
“Don’t worry about it, just bitching. Can they hit us?”
“Not directly, Jennifer, but they could cause the cliff face below us to break off.”
Jennifer frowned, “Well, hell, flip on the radar and go as fast as you can on this ridge and get us the hell out of here.”
With the radar giving them greater detail of the land ahead, the mechs sped up considerably. There was no hiding the fact they were on top of the ridge now, and she couldn’t take a chance that a rock slide would drop them to the valley below. Their only chance of survival lay in getting across and off the ridge and down into the valley as quickly as possible.
The ground trembled around them as the mechs giant stabilizers impacted against the ground. The mechs had to use their hands to help maneuver across the rocky ridge. After a few minutes, the intensity of the maser fire increased dramatically. The mechs were trying to stay away from the edge of the ridge, but that was becoming harder to do as the ridge narrowed.
She looked at the map. They were well past the junction now, but they had about a mile and a half ahead of them. Suddenly, she realized where she was. They had just run past the place where Murph had been killed trying to rescue Keisha. She looked at the map and cursed again. There was no gentle slope at the end of this ridge. Instead, there was a hundred foot drop waiting for them. It was something she would have noticed if she was more practiced with topographical contour lines. Hopefully she would live and learn from her mistake, but there was no guarantee at this point.
“Rieci, Geonti, are you still with me?”
“Yes, I am here,” Rieci answered.
“I am here also, Jennifer,” Geonti answered.
“Make sure you have your helmet strapped on. It’s going to be a bumpy ride here in a minute or so. We have to jump, and it’s a long way to the ground.”
She added a waypoint at the juncture of the cliff and the valley so that Rieci and Geonti would have a notion of when they were going to jump. Since her mech was in the lead, she would be the first one off the cliff.
The countdown was in kilometers, and she watched it hit 2 kilometers quickly. More of the heavy anti-armor guns had been deployed and she watched as explosions sent rocks flying and portions of the ridge slide away. There were less rocky outcrops this close to the end, so she stayed on the left side, away from where the masers were taking chunks out of the ridge. The mechs were being pelted steadily from the shrapnel created by the exploding rocks.
She was alternating between cursing and praying in pretty much a steady flow. She cursed the men shooting at them, and prayed that she hadn’t brought her unborn child and Rieci and Geonti to their deaths. The ridge was narrowing ahead. She started praying that this would end soon. She checked the countdown, and she was just outside of the 1-kilometer mark. More of the ridge exploded ahead of her, and she saw a big chunk of the ridge slide away. She had to leap over the break. Things were getting very precarious for her and the other mechs.
The last
thousand meters seemed to go much slower than the thousand before. She watched the last numbers dwindle, 300, 200, 100, and then things seem to speed up as her mech launched itself off the cliff and into the air. The threat display on her HUD explode with the imagery of red figures running on the ground below her. She was falling into a group of hundreds of men.
----------------------------------------------------
Fancheion was excited and upset at the same time. He was excited that he’d flushed the enemy from their hiding space among the geothermal springs, but he was upset that he’d put so many of his remaining men among the passes in the mountains. When Prathus came running out to tell Fancheion that the enemy were on the ridge, Fancheion had sent in all his anti-armor guns to deal with them.
The fog and the darkness played havoc with pinpointing the location of the enemy. He was still concerned and uncertain about what he was facing. The automatons the enemy used were built like the Cree robots that his people used, but seemed capable of so much more. He’d watched the feeds that had shown the enemy automatons fighting the robots. It was as if the automatons were alive, moving like biologicals. The hatches in the back of the enemy automatons seemed to indicate that someone was inside. That thought made him reel, the combination of human and automaton combined into one entity.
He pushed those thoughts aside, and concentrated on revenge for his Shaedur. He’d given the order to undermine the ridges with the masers. It was dangerous for his men, but it was necessary if he wanted to force the automatons to ground. If he could bring one automaton down into the canyons, it was possible, if there were humans inside, that the others would be forced off the ridge to rescue their fallen comrade. It was a slim hope, but he was gambling at this point anyway.
He looked up as the sound of the masers came closer. The rumble of a large rock slide sounded, echoing out of the canyon. He frowned. It sounded like the enemy automatons were coming toward them.
