Ghost Company

by Richard Turner

  Sheridan heard the sound of the fighter-bombers engines as they closed in on the mesa. He hurried to key his mic, “Black Knight, abort your run. I say again, abort your run.”

  It was too late. Sheridan looked up into the sky and watched in horror as eight anti-personnel bombs dropped down toward the ground. The blood in his veins turned ice-cold when he saw that a couple of the bombs were going to land very close to his position.

  “Get down!” hollered Sheridan as he dropped down behind the wall and hugged the rock for cover. A second later, the bombs hit the ground. A thunderous explosion shook the earth; dust, sand, and rocks showered down onto Sheridan. He felt the impact deep inside his chest. Sheridan waited until he was sure all of the bombs had gone off. He rolled over, brushed the dirt from his face, and peered over the top of the rocks. A thick cloud of dust hung in the air. Sheridan cringed when he spotted a tan clad dismembered limb of one of Komada’s men lying on the ground. He had no doubt that everyone trapped in the open was dead or soon would be.

  “Captain, are you still with us?” asked Cole in Sheridan’s earpiece.

  “Yeah, barely. Regrettably, I think we just lost half of Komada’s men to that airstrike. Where are you?”

  “I’m in the main comms bunker at the back of the mesa. We’ve got this place as secure as we can. I don’t see anyone moving around outside.”

  “Roger that. Stay where you are. When the smoke lifts, what’s left of us will make our way to your location. We’ll all hold up there until the cavalry arrives.”

  “See you soon, boss.”

  Sheridan sat back. He was tired and wanted a few seconds off his feet. He grabbed his canteen and took a long swig of cool water to soothe his parched throat. When he was done, Sheridan looked back at the Kurgan transport and thought of Tarina. At least she was still safe.

  “Do you have any idea how to work this thing?” said Tarina to Wendy as she picked up what looked like an anti-armor weapon.

  Wendy shook her head. “I only played with the Kurgan assault rifles. But it looks nasty enough to deal with that drone.”

  “Look around for whatever it is this thing fires.”

  “This could be it,” said Wendy, holding up a squat-looking projectile in her hands.

  “Try it.”

  Wendy slid the shell into the back of the anti-armor weapon and smiled. “Voila, it fits.”

  “What do you think the minimum arming distance on the warhead is?”

  Wendy shrugged. “Five meters maybe?”

  “I guess we’ll have to find out the hard way,” said Tarina as she turned on the weapon. The anti-armor launcher hummed as its battery power pack activated. As quietly as they could, they crept back to the crew compartment and peered around the corner at the side door.

  “Crap,” said Tarina under her breath when she saw the entrance was wide open. The robot was somewhere inside the ship, hunting them. She felt Wendy take a hold of her arm.

  “Don’t move,” whispered her friend. Her voice was tense.

  Tarina didn’t move a muscle. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw what had alarmed Wendy. The drone was climbing over a couple of stacked crates. Its targeting laser moved along the wall as it looked for the women. Tarina was thankful that the robot didn’t appear to have a thermal tracking device or they would have been spotted and killed. With her heart racing in her chest, Tarina watched helplessly as the hunter-killer’s targeting laser moved just a few millimeters above her head. She waited until the drone was looking down an adjoining hallway before ever so slowly moving her thumb over to the arm button on the launcher and switching the safety off. She took a deep breath to calm herself before turning on her heels and bringing up the weapon to fire.

  The robot sensed the movement and swung its turret around to engage the two women.

  Tarina fired first. With a loud whoosh, the projectile shot at the drone. In the blink of an eye, the warhead hit the robot and blew it apart. The sound of the explosion inside the compartment was deafening. Shattered pieces of debris flew everywhere inside the smoke-filled room. A leg from the drone flew past Tarina and landed on the floor behind her and Wendy.

  “Is it gone?” asked Wendy, not realizing that she was shouting.

  “I sincerely hope so. Please, lower your voice, Wendy, you’re yelling.”

  “Sorry,” replied her friend, a little more quietly this time.

  “Let’s get the hell out of here and find Michael before another one of these things comes along.”

  Wendy held up two extra anti-armor shells and smiled. “After you.”

  Sheridan stood up and looked around. All that remained of Komada’s people were twenty-four stunned-looking men and women. Even Komada was speechless. Forty of his disciples were gone.

  A pained voice cried out for help.

  Sheridan brought up his thermal binoculars. He could see dozens of mangled corpses strewn across the ground. None of them seemed to be moving.

  “I know that voice,” said Komada. “It’s Kagar. He sounds severely injured. I’m going to help him.”

  “No, you’re not!” said Sheridan. “No one is going out there until I say so.”

  “But Kagar could die.”

  “The last time your people did something without being told, it cost you dearly. I warned you to listen to me and to take my orders. Now do so.”

  Komada bowed his head. “I am sorry that my followers became overanxious to kill their enemies. It won’t happen again.”

  “It had better not.”

  “But I don’t understand, Captain, why can’t we go and help Kagar?”

  “Because it is standard Kurgan practice to use wounded soldiers to lure people out into the open so they can be killed. Some Chosen soldiers may have survived the airstrike and are using your people as bait. We will wait awhile before venturing out into the killing field so we can linkup with Master Sergeant Cole.”

  “Where’s everyone else?” asked Tarina as she jogged over to where Sheridan was standing.

  He shook his head. “They’re all dead.”

  “What about the men I left to guard the ship?” Komada asked.

  “I’m sorry, they’re dead too. A Kurgan hunter-killer robot got them.”

  Komada closed his eyes and began to pray. Several of his followers walked to his side and joined him in prayer.

  “Where’s the drone now?” asked Sheridan.

  “We took it out with this,” replied Tarina, holding up the launcher.

  “I bet you miss flying, don’t you?”

  “You can say that again. I heard you talking with Komada, how long are we going to wait before pushing on?”

  “We’ll wait ten, maybe fifteen, minutes for the dust and smoke to clear before joining Master Sergeant Cole in the bunker.”

  Tarina lowered the launcher to the ground and looked up at the sky. The sun was beginning to fade on the horizon, turning the sky a pinkish hue. “I wonder how everyone else is doing.”

  Sheridan shrugged. “I have no idea, but if the Kurgans put up as tough of a fight as they did here, God help us all.”

  17

  Sheridan waved over at Cole as he led his people around a smoldering crater toward the bunker. Cole stood outside with his rifle cradled in his arms.

  “Is this it?” Cole asked, looking over at the downhearted group of men and women.

  “Yes,” replied Sheridan. “We found two of our soldiers among the heaps of Chosen dead. One died before we could move him. The other is missing a leg and an awful lot of blood.”

  Cole shook his head when he saw the wounded man’s injuries. “I’ll see if the folks here have anything they can give him.”

  “Master Sergeant, just make him comfortable. He’s not going to live through the night, so don’t waste any medicine on him.”

  “Got it.”

  Sheridan stood to one side while an MP guided his small band through the front entrance of the bunker. “How many people from the comms base are still alive?
”

  “Ten. But they’re badly beaten up.”

  “The MPs?”

  “Three dead and five wounded. Mostly light wounds, so they’re still on their feet.”

  Sheridan couldn’t help but notice that Cole’s eyes lingered on Wendy for a few seconds as she walked by. He could see Cole was happy she was alive.

  “So, what do you want me to do with this lot?” asked Cole.

  “Keep them together under Komada and place them in reserve. Have the base personnel stand down, but not before they establish comms with higher. Between ourselves and the MPs, we should have enough to hold this position until relieved.”

  “I’ll work out a duty roster for the evening. I doubt our Kurgan friends will be back, but you never know.”

  “Thanks,” said Sheridan, patting Cole on the shoulder. For a brief moment, he thought about bugging his friend about his growing fondness for Wendy but decided it could wait until they were safely back in their camp.

  A cold wind blew across the plateau, stirring up the sand. Sheridan stood at the entrance of the bunker and looked over the battlefield through his thermal binoculars and shook his head. The mangled remains of close to four hundred Kurgan and human bodies lay silent. Sheridan felt nothing for the piles of dead. He had learned long ago to detach his feelings or he would have gone mad by now. Off to the left, Sheridan saw something moving among the corpses. He froze in place, worried that there could be a Kurgan soldier still alive among the dead. A few seconds passed before he spotted what he was looking for. Instead of a man, it was a Taruk, a large wild dog-like animal that scavenged the deserts of Illum Prime for something to eat. The smell of dead flesh had attracted the animal up onto the plateau. The thought of it eating from the bodies of the fallen sent a shiver down Sheridan’s spine. He lowered his binoculars and brought up his rifle to his shoulder. Sheridan turned on the weapon’s night vision sight and set the targeting laser on the Taruk before pulling back on the trigger. With a startled yelp, the beast tumbled to the ground with a three-round burst through its chest.

  “There’ll be more out there,” said Cole as he walked to Sheridan’s side. “About an hour ago, I heard them howling to one another.”

  “I know they’ve got to live, but I can’t stomach the idea of them dining on the dead,” said Sheridan.

  “Neither can I. But we’d be a right pair of fools to go out into the night when we don’t have to.”

  Sheridan nodded. It was better to wait for first light before venturing away from the bunker. “Pass the word to the sentries to hold their positions. However, if they spot a scavenger, I want it shot.”

  Sergeant Roosa walked toward the two men. “Sir, I’ve been able to reach New Illum.”

  “Thanks,” replied Sheridan. The sergeant was so tired she looked as if she were about to fall asleep on her feet. “What’s the word from higher?”

  “The capital was hit hard. The divisional command staff were killed in the initial missile attack. A new headquarters has been established under Brigadier General Romano. The person I spoke to said that house-to-house fighting is still ongoing only a few hundred meters away from the HQ. An Army brigade has just landed outside of the capital and is already in contact with the enemy.”

  “Any word on relief?” asked Cole.

  “We’ve been ordered to hold our position. A Marine regiment is on its way to reinforce the capital. A rifle company will be dispatched to relieve us once the fighting dies down in New Illum.”

  “Thanks, Sergeant,” said Sheridan. “Now go and find yourself a quiet spot and put your head down for a couple of hours.”

  Roosa saluted, turned around, and shuffled her leaden feet as she searched for a place to sleep.

  “Captain, if the Kurgans put up a good fight elsewhere, we could be here for days,” pointed out Cole.

  “Yeah, we could be. I suspect this place is stocked with food and water, so there’s no danger of dying of hunger or thirst out here.”

  “Sir, it’s those mounds of dead I was thinking of. Come sun up, the smell around here is going to be something awful. I suggest we let Komada and his people cremate the Kurgan dead while I take some of the MPs and bury ours.”

  “Good thinking.”

  Cole winked. “I know, sir, that’s why I’m not an officer.”

  18

  After days of non-stop rain, the floor of the jungle had turned into a soupy mess. Colonel Wright looked up at the cloud-leaden sky and wondered if it was ever going to stop. Wright’s uniform was covered in mud. He was soaked to the bone and growing tired. Wright absentmindedly ran a hand over the whiskers on his dirty face. The unexpected sound of leaves rustling right in front of him startled Wright. He dropped to one knee, brought up his pistol, and took aim down the narrow game trail. With a loud grunt, a pig the size of a pony appeared out of the forest. Wright had seen a handful of them since crash-landing on the jungle-covered planet. He moved to one side and lowered his gun as the pig led a couple of her piglets down the muddy path. The pig had four long razor-sharp tusks protruding from its jaw and was covered in a greenish-grey fur. If left alone, Wright had learned the pigs ignored anything that wasn’t a threat to themselves or their offspring.

  “After you, madame,” said Wright with a bow to the animal as it passed him by. The pig let out a grunt at Wright and kept on going. When it was out of sight, Wright stepped back onto the slick trail and carried on. His shoulders ached from the narrow straps of the heavy pack he carried on his back. Wright hadn’t seen any Kurgans since they had crash-landed, but each night he heard their drones flying unseen above the jungle canopy. He suspected they were using their thermal cameras to try and find them via their body heat. With less than an hour to go before the sun began to set, Wright picked up his pace. He jogged the last kilometer back to the rocky, tree-covered hill where Andrea Eskola waited for him.

  When he reached their hiding spot, a cave which reached back several hundred meters into the hillside, Wright reset a couple of booby traps he had built to stop anyone or anything from sneaking up on them while they slept. As soon as he stepped into the cave and out of the rain, Wright’s spirits buoyed. He had grown to despise the incessant rainfall and was looking forward to sitting next to a nice warm fire while he dried out.

  “Is that you, Colonel?” called out Eskola from somewhere in the dark.

  “Yes, it is,” he replied.

  Eskola limped out of the shadows and lowered her weapon. “Like you always say, better safe than sorry, sir.” Her left leg was in an improvised leg brace made from several branches, held in place with torn pieces of Wright’s flight suit.

  “I agree. How’s your leg treating you today?”

  “Not too bad. Most of the swelling around the knee has gone down. But, it still hurts like hell to carry any weight on it.” Several days earlier, Eskola had tripped in the mud and smashed her knee on a jagged rock, dislocating it. She asked, “How did it go out there?”

  Wright slid the heavy pack off his back. “I got your favorite.”

  “Don’t tell me that we’re having snake meat for supper—again.”

  “Afraid so.”

  “Sir, we’ve been here five days and we’ve eaten nothing but snakes. Isn’t there anything else out there we can eat?”

  “Sure, but they’re all way too big. If I didn’t get it with my first shot, it would be on me before I could get off another, and I would end up as its supper. Besides, snakes are plentiful on this planet and they taste like chicken to me.”

  “I guess beggars can’t be choosers. Colonel, did you manage to retrieve anything from the crash site?”

  Wright shook his head. “It’s gone. The swamp must have swallowed it up.”

  “Damn,” muttered Eskola. “The batteries in the rescue beacon will only last another couple of days, so if our people haven’t picked up our signal, they never will.”

  “I know, but it’s not all doom and gloom. There’s still the Kurgans. They’re out there somewhere
. If need be, I’ll pay them a visit and borrow a power source from them.”

  Eskola smiled. “Yes, there is always that.” She bent down to pick up the bag only to have Wright grab it first.

  “My turn to cook. I’m thoroughly soaked and want to dry out while I make us our supper.”

  After their meal, Wright and Eskola sat near the fire to ward off the damp night air circulating throughout the cavern. Neither of them said a word for the longest time as both were lost in thought.

  It was Eskola who finally broke the silence. “Colonel, I need to know, what are our chances of getting out of here alive?”

  Wright looked into his navigator’s hazel eyes. “First off, we’re damned lucky to be alive. When we jumped, we didn’t have an exit point programmed into the navigational computer. If we hadn’t come out of our jump inside this planet’s atmosphere with a damaged engine, I’d say our chances of being rescued were pretty good. But since we crashed our ship into a swamp, the odds, unfortunately, are stacked against us. I’ve been thinking about the probes we launched just before we were attacked and I’m fairly certain that the Kurgans jammed our scanners and most probably our comms as well. If they have that capability, they might also be blocking our rescue beacon’s signal.”

  Eskola fought back a tear. Her voice quivered with fear. “Sir, I don’t want to die out here.”

  “And you won’t. If I know our people, they’re looking for us right now. I would never give up looking for any of them and I doubt my XO will give in without exhausting every option available to her.”

  The thought of Lieutenant Colonel Tolinksi leading the hunt for them made Eskola crack a faint smile.

  “That’s better,” said Wright. “Now let’s get some rest. Tomorrow, I’ll set some new traps and see if I can’t catch us something other than a snake to eat.”