Ghost Company

by Richard Turner

  Cole jogged along as best he could with Maclaren over his shoulder. He had tied a tourniquet on Maclaren’s arm and given him a shot of painkillers. With the amount of blood the man had already lost, it would be touch and go if he were to survive. Cole had already passed the torn-apart remains of a Marine and hoped he wouldn’t find any more. The trail he was following was streaked with blood. Up ahead, Cole could hear a desperate fight. He glanced down at the tracker in his hand and picked up the rescue beacon’s signal. Rather than bumble blindly into the firefight, Cole decided to first help secure the missing flight crew and then join the fight.

  Sheridan ejected his spent magazine and jammed a full one home into his rifle’s housing. He looked over his rifle’s sights and spotted Sergeant Celms and his men standing back-to-back. Several dead Chosen soldiers were near them along with two of the giant birds. A couple of dozen meters away, Komada and a couple of his men were trying to extract one of their own from the beak of one of the beasts. Sheridan stood and looked around trying to see if there were any Kurgan officers still left on their feet. He spotted one, a young lieutenant with a banner in his hands. The Kurgan looked perplexed. Chosen soldiers were firing at each other while giant birds of prey lunged and tore at his surviving men. Sheridan wanted the fight to end so he could get a grip on his people. Without any remorse, he killed the Kurgan officer and then trained his sights on the beast holding one of Komada’s men in its beak. He pulled back the trigger, sending a burst of fire into the bird’s neck. It let go of the injured man before keeling over and falling face-first to the muddy ground. All around him, the firing died down.

  “Komada, to me,” called out Sheridan.

  Komada ran over. He was breathing heavily and looked as if he were ready to throw up. “Yes, sir.”

  “There aren’t any Kurgan officers left alive. Try and see if you can get the surviving Chosen soldiers to surrender to you. I know it’s a long shot, but it’s one I think we should take.”

  Komada nodded. At the top of his lungs, he called out, “Men, my name is Komada and I am a Chosen citizen like you! I am calling upon you to lay down your arms and listen to what I have to say.”

  Aside from the moans of the wounded, the jungle went quiet. Through the smoke, a female Chosen warrior appeared. She wasn’t very tall and her skin was as dark as Tarina’s. She walked toward Komada with her rifle trained on his chest. He lowered his weapon and held out his hands.

  “Why should we trust you?” asked the woman.

  Komada smiled. “Because I am a Chosen citizen who has seen the truth, that is why.”

  The soldier was wary. She asked, “Are you Kelshan or Khynisan?”

  Komada continued to smile. “I am Khynisan. I believe in the word of the lord as it was written a millennium ago.”

  The woman lowered her weapon. “My name is Corporal Kopar, and I’ll listen to what you have to say. However, if I think you are lying to me, I’ll blast your guts all over the ground.”

  “There will be no need for that. Tell me, Corporal, what planet do you come from, and have you heard of a woman called Kitan and her struggles to open our hearts to the truth?”

  Cole stopped in his tracks the instant Eskola spun around and pointed her pistol at his heart.

  “Easy does it, ma’am,” he said. “I’m on your side.”

  “Where are the others?” asked Eskola, lowering her weapon.

  “That’s a good question,” replied Cole as he laid Maclaren onto the ground next to Colonel Wright. He dropped to one knee to check on the Marine and cursed. The man was dead. He stared up at Cole with his eyes wide open. Cole closed the young man’s eyes and stood up. He looked around; aside from the Chosen dead strewn about in front of the fallen log, there wasn’t a soul in sight.

  He wiped the rain from his face as he keyed his helmet mic. “Captain, this is Cole, are you still with us?”

  “Yeah,” responded Sheridan. “Where are you?”

  “I’m with the flight crew. The Colonel looks in rough shape. We’re going to need immediate evac off this godforsaken planet.”

  Wendy had been listening to their conversation and responded, “Got it. I’ve been tracking you and have your position inputted into our nav computer. ETA to your location, five minutes and ten seconds from now.”

  “Thanks,” said Cole.

  Sheridan said, “There’s clearing about one hundred meters from my location. I’ll have Sergeant Celms secure it as an LZ.”

  “Sir, can you send some men to help move Colonel Wright to the LZ?” asked Cole.

  “I can. Give me a minute and I’ll have Komada dispatch two men to your position.”

  “Sounds good, sir.” Cole ended the conversation and looked down at Eskola. She was resting on the wet ground next to Wright. Tears filled her eyes.

  “Not to worry. We’ll have you out of here in no time, Captain,” he said, trying to reassure the exhausted-looking Eskola.

  “I’m not worried; I’m relieved. I thought we were going to die today.”

  Cole winked at her. “Not a chance. We didn’t jump into Kurgan space for no reason.”

  “Thank you, mister?”

  “Cole, Master Sergeant Alan Cole at your service, ma’am.” He held out his hand in greeting.

  Eskola shook his hand. “Pleased to meet you, Master Sergeant Cole.”

  Cole let go of Eskola’s hand and looked down at Maclaren’s body. He felt a pang of remorse in his chest. It wasn’t fair that the young man was gone. To die in battle was something Cole could rationalize, but to be killed by an animal somehow didn’t seem right. He shook his head to clear his mind before prepping the body to be carried back to the ship.

  22

  The overpowering stench in the crew compartment was a mix of wet clothes, body odor, and blood. The wounded lay on the floor or were strapped into the few collapsible stretchers they could find.

  “So what’s the count?” Sheridan asked Cole.

  “One MP, Private Maclaren, is dead,” replied Cole. He sounded tired. “Another MP has a broken arm and minor lacerations to his face. Komada lost two soldiers to the birds and another to gunfire. He’s the only one of his people not wounded. Sergeant Celms and I have done what we can for the injured, but there’s only so much combat first aid can teach you. We really should have brought a corpsman with us.”

  Sheridan nodded. “We won’t deploy without one in the future. Everything happened so fast. I guess I screwed up and forgot to ask for one.”

  “Captain, we screwed up. I should have known better as well.”

  “How many Chosen warriors volunteered to join us?”

  “Nineteen, some of whom are badly wounded.”

  “Nineteen! I hadn’t expected so many to come with us.”

  “I’m not sure how many more of the severely injured Chosen will make it back to Illum Prime. I’ve had them all disarmed and moved the NCOs away from the privates, just in case one of the corporals gets cold feet and tries to incite the others to take over the ship. Sergeant Celms’ men are watching over the NCOs until we arrive back at our camp.”

  “A wise move.”

  Cole lowered his voice. “Sir, if we hadn’t been there, I’m positive Komada and his people would have happily lined up the other Chosen soldiers and shot them in the back of the head for being heretics.”

  “I’m not so sure. He seems to have changed.”

  “Sir, a leopard doesn’t change its spots and neither will Komada. We’ve seen what Chosen soldiers can do and it’s not nice. I’m not sure if we’ve just given him nineteen more soldiers or nineteen more religious fanatics.”

  Tarina walked into the compartment and tried not to look down at the slick coating of blood on the deck. She looked around, saw Sheridan, and joined him. “Wendy’s in the cockpit keeping an eye on things. With the ship on autopilot, there’s not a lot I have to do until we reach Illum Prime.”

  “And when will that be?” asked Sheridan.

  “Nineteen hours an
d a bit. Do you know where Colonel Wright and Captain Eskola are resting?”

  Sheridan pointed to a closed door. “We’ve set them up as comfortably as we could away from the remainder of the wounded.”

  “Thanks, I just want to say hi and see how they’re doing.”

  Sheridan gently placed a hand on her arm and looked deep into Tarina’s eyes. “Wright’s hurt something awful. I know how much you and Wendy respect him. You should be aware that he may never walk again.”

  Tarina rested a hand over Sheridan’s. “I know, but I still want to see him.” She walked away and opened the door. Inside, Eskola was asleep in a chair with a blanket draped over her body.

  “Hey there, did you come to see me?” said Wright, sleepily.

  Tarina turned her head. Tears filled her eyes when she saw Wright lying on his side on a stretcher. A blanket covered his body. He had an IV attached to his arm. “How are you doing, sir?”

  “I hope those tears aren’t for me, Tarina?”

  She wiped her eyes and smiled. “I’m just happy to see you alive.”

  “If it weren’t for you and your people, Andrea and I would be dead right now.”

  “Sir, it wasn’t just us. Someone from the squadron detected your rescue beacon. Without that, we would never have found you.”

  “Still, you had to take all the risks associated with a ground rescue inside enemy space.”

  “I would never have forgiven myself if I hadn’t tried to bring you home. You never gave up looking for Wendy and me when went we went missing.”

  Wright grinned. “I guess with my injuries that I won’t be doing gymnastics for a while.”

  “Sir, medical nanotechnology has made incredible advances in the treatment of spinal injuries in the past fifty years. I bet we’ll see you back in action in no time.”

  Wright motioned for Tarina to get closer. She knelt on the floor beside him. “Your people gave me a sedative and I’m beginning to fade. In Andrea’s shirt is a disc. It’s important that you send the data contained on that disc back to the fleet ASAP. It may provide information on how the Kurgans were able to jam our detection capabilities.”

  “I’ll send it right away.”

  Wright fought to keep his heavy eyelids open. “Thanks. I think I’ll get some sleep now. See you back at the fleet.” In seconds, Wright was in a deep sleep.

  Tarina got to her feet. As quietly as she could, she lifted Eskola’s blanket and retrieved the disc. She held it in her hand for a moment before tucking it in a pocket for safe keeping. Tarina exited the room and walked straight to the cockpit where she found Wendy chatting with Cole. They were sitting side by side.

  “I hope I’m not interrupting,” said Tarina.

  “Not at all, Captain,” replied Cole. “I was just checking on how long it will be until we reach Terran space.”

  She saw through the lie and smiled. “Unless things have changed, we should be safely inside the fleet’s area of operations in the next six hours.”

  “That’s what Miss Sullivan said.”

  “I bet she did.”

  Cole gave a mock salute to the two women before leaving.

  Tarina dug out the disc and handed it to Wendy. “Please make a copy of this and then transmit the data on the disc to the fleet as soon as we’re in range.”

  “Sure,” replied Wendy.

  “I know it may be none of my business, but you and Master Sergeant Cole seem awfully close these days. Is there something going on between you two?”

  Wendy shook her head. “No. Not really. We talked about it a while back but decided to remain friends. No offense, but I live with you twenty-four-seven. It’s nice having a guy I can talk with from time to time.”

  “That’s how things started with Michael and me. For years we had a bit of a rocky relationship. Now look at us.”

  Wendy shrugged. “Who knows how things will turn out in the future? For now, I like the arrangement we have and don’t see the need to change it.”

  Tarina slid down into her chair and checked the controls on her flight console. Everything was operating as it should be. Although the ship was Kurgan, she and Wendy had added several Terran computers and comms devices to help them manage the vessel.

  “Wendy, when you send the data from the disc, let the fleet know we’ve got a lot of severely injured personnel onboard. We’re going to need a team of doctors and medics, along with a squad of Marines, waiting for us when we get back home.”

  “Can do.”

  Tarina Sat back in her chair and thought about her relationship. Could she and Michael ever just be friends after what they had been through together? She doubted it. They were too deeply in love. He had risked his life on several occasions to save hers. Tarina knew in her heart, for them, it would be all or nothing.

  23

  “That should do it,” said Sheridan as he watched the last of the new surveillance towers secured into place.

  “It’s hard to believe that we’ve only been back three weeks and the size of the camp has quadrupled,” said Cole, wiping the dirt from his hands.

  “If we’re given any more Chosen deserters, we’ll have to move into permanent quarters in the capital.”

  “No such luck. You and I, sir, are destined to sit out the rest of the war babysitting Komada’s growing flock of disciples.”

  Sheridan chuckled at his friend’s gloomy attitude. “How many Chosen deserters do we have in the camp now?”

  “One hundred and ninety-eight. I heard we are receiving an additional fifty to sixty in the next couple of days. When the war started, they used to choose suicide over surrender, now they seem to be coming out of the woodwork.”

  “Cheer up. I have it on good authority that during my father’s visit tonight he’s going to promote Sergeant Celms and present him with the Silver Star for Valor. He’s also going to tell us what lies ahead for Komada and by extension, us.”

  “I’m crossing my fingers that we’re posted off this rock and given a new assignment. Perhaps there’s a newly formed marauder battalion out there that needs a seasoned command team.”

  “That would be nice, but I’m afraid that is nothing more than wishful thinking. My spy says we’re tied to Komada’s hip for the foreseeable future.”

  “Would your spy happen to be a fleet captain and have a K as the first initial of his last name?”

  Sheridan nodded.

  “I take it our existence is still a closely guarded secret?”

  “Yes. As far as the rest of the fleet is concerned, we don’t exist. They still think the deserters are being rounded for processing here on Illum Prime before being sent back to Earth for interrogation.”

  “Lucky us.”

  “Come on, Master Sergeant, let’s see what the cook has prepared for supper and change into some clean fatigues for my father’s arrival.”

  At precisely nineteen-hundred hours, three ships landed in the desert outside of the camp. Two of the vessels carried Marines who set up a perimeter around the landing strip, while the last held Admiral Sheridan and Captain Killam.

  Michael Sheridan met his father at the entrance to the camp with a crisp salute. “Good evening, sir, it’s a pleasure to see you again.”

  The admiral returned the salute. “It’s good to see you again, Michael.”

  “If you’ll follow me, sir, the camp is formed up and ready for inspection.”

  After the inspection and a blessedly short speech to the Terran and Chosen soldiers on parade, Admiral Sheridan promoted Celms to Staff Sergeant and presented him with his medal. A private dinner had been laid out for Cole, Killam, Michael, and his father so they could talk in private.

  “Sir, you’ll have to forgive the cook, he doesn’t have a well-stocked galley like you do on your ship,” said Michael as four plates of stew were placed on the table.

  “Looks and smells delicious,” replied his father with a smile.

  Aside from the admiral’s ever-present, close protection detail, the four
men were alone in the tent.

  “Hey, this doesn’t taste too bad,” said Killam as he shoveled a fork full into his mouth. “I’m going to have to pay you more visits in the future.”

  “Please don’t, sir,” countered Cole. “It took me an hour to get the new arrivals formed up. It would appear that parade square drill isn’t something the Kurgans practice very often.”

  Once their meal was finished, Admiral Sheridan looked over at his son. “I’ve read your after-action report on the rescue mission and was impressed with Komada’s willingness to put his life on the line to secure the surrender of those people in Ka-11.”

  “Sir, as I wrote in my report, I believe he did this so he could add more followers to his cause,” replied Michael. “I’m not disputing that it took guts to do what he did. I wouldn’t have stood up and left myself vulnerable. Komada did it because it benefited him.”

  “Michael, even though the Kurgans gave us a bloody nose last month, things are happening back on Earth that will affect every man and woman serving in the Sixth Combined Task Force,” said the admiral. “That includes you and Komada’s people. I can’t get into specifics right now as I haven’t been fully briefed myself. Admiral Oshiro will be arriving to personally brief me at this time tomorrow evening. Suffice it to say, our time here in the Illum star system waiting for the enemy to come to us is about to come to an end.”

  “We are receiving ship and personnel replacements at a rate I never thought possible,” added Killam. “It’s taxing the staff to keep up on everything.”

  Michael’s pulse picked up. He knew it could only mean one thing: they were going over on the offensive and his father was going to lead the operation.

  Killam continued. “Captain, in anticipation of future tasks, I want you to organize Komada’s people into a rifle company. I have asked the staff to find me lieutenants and NCOs with a working knowledge of Kurgan. The first of these advisors will be here no later than noon tomorrow. I’m not a Marine, so I won’t get into the weeds with you. I trust you to do what is right. Time is of the essence, you need to get Komada’s people ready to fight as a team, sooner rather than later. If you catch my drift.”