Again she shook her head.
“Of course you don’t. It’s never happened here before. But I’ll let you in on a little secret. The Kurgans have plans for those people. It’s called Kahtak, and I bet you have no clue what that means.” Travis turned his head and flashed an evil grin at Tarina. “I’d pay good money to see what happens, but I’m not allowed to go. It’s for Kurgans . . . pure Kurgans only. The Chosen can’t even attend.”
Wendy kept her mouth shut. Travis was right, she had no idea what Kahtak was, but, by the way their tormentor was salivating, she had no doubt that it was not good.
“Back in line,” said Travis, pushing Wendy back with his truncheon. He was about to leave when he fixed his gaze on Angela. “You should ask her what Kahtak means. She knows. Don’t you, girl?” He laughed to himself, spat on the ground, and kept on walking down the line having fun at tormenting the helpless prisoners.
At the water station, Tarina slipped over beside Angela. “What was that all about?” she asked barely above a whisper.
“It’s nothing,” replied Angela. “He’s just messing with our minds, that’s all.”
“That’s a load of crap and you know it. He may be mad, but he knows something about you. I want the truth this time.”
Angela hesitated before nodding. “I’ll tell you and Wendy everything after supper tonight. Trust me, you aren’t going to like what I’m going to tell you.”
“By the way Travis was going on, I’m fairly sure that my days are numbered.”
Angela didn’t respond. She took her cup of water and drank it all down before moving back to the tunnel entrance to get back to work.
“What’s going on Tarina?” asked Wendy. “I’m scared.”
“Me too . . . me too.”
The women ate their meager meal in silence. The mood between them was somber as if they had all just come back from a funeral. None of them seemed willing to broach the topic of what Travis had been going on about. After placing their empty bowls on the food cart, they walked back to Tarina’s bunk and sat down. When they were sure that no one was paying any attention to them, Angela broke the silence. “I guess I have some explaining to do. First off, my name is not Angela, it is Kitan, and I am a citizen of the Kurgan Empire. Angela died two weeks after she arrived here. As I looked an awful lot like her, I assumed her identity. If we are to keep up this ruse, I must insist that you continue to refer to me by my adoptive human name.”
“Well, that explains a lot,” said Tarina. “But why did you not leave with the other Chosen prisoners when this was turned into a prisoner of war camp?”
“Because my best chance of escaping from here lay with people like you. Pretending to be Angela was my best hope for freedom. If I had never told you this, you’d still think I was her, wouldn’t you?”
“I was beginning to have my doubts.”
“As was I,” added Wendy.
“By Travis’ tone, I take it that he knows your little secret,” said Tarina.
“Yeah, he does but keeps the information to himself. He’s borderline insane. I think he thinks it’s hilarious that I would want to hide out amongst my enemies.”
Tarina sat up. “So do you consider Wendy and me your enemy?”
“At first, I was leery of all humans. I had been taught all my life that you were a sub-species and since you didn’t worship our religion that you were all infidels. However, as weeks turned into months in this hellhole, I began to see that we aren’t all that different. So to answer your question, no I do not see you as my enemy, just fellow prisoners.”
“That’s good,” said Wendy.
“How is that you can speak fluent English?” asked Tarina.
“I have an ear for languages. I was a teacher and taught Kurgan back home until I was arrested for killing my husband and sent here. It didn’t take me long immersed in your tongue to pick it up.”
Tarina looked her straight in the eyes and asked, “So what were you planning to do once we had escaped from here?”
“I would have told you the truth before we reached Terran space. All I would have asked for in return for helping you escape was that after you were safe, you reprogram the shuttle’s navigational computer to return me to my home world. I have two children there and I miss them terribly.”
“If you can’t fly it, how would you have landed the ship when you arrived at your home world?” asked Wendy.
“I don’t know. All I know is that I have to get home to my children. I would have bailed out when I was over land or something like that. Look, I really hadn’t thought that part through. But wouldn’t you try to reach your children if you were in my shoes?”
“Neither of us has any children, but I guess we would do the same,” Tarina replied.
Wendy asked, “Can you explain what Travis meant by Kahtak?”
Angela nodded. “It is a bloodletting ritual.”
Tarina’s eyes widened. “It’s a what?”
“It is a ritual that goes back centuries. For a Kurgan to become a member of the Old Guard, the Empire’s most elite and veteran soldiers, he must have dipped his blade in the stomach of his enemy. I’m assuming that you and all the other people earmarked by that colonel are going to be sacrificed so that new warriors can join the ranks of the Old Guard. I’m sorry.”
“Not as sorry as I am.” Tarina could hardly believe what she had been told. It was barbaric. She was an officer, not some animal that could be led to the slaughter to appease some ancient tradition.
Wendy reached over and put a hand on Tarina’s shoulder. “This is horrible. We can’t let this happen to you.”
“I don’t plan to die.”
“It’ll all come down to timing,” said Angela. “Hopefully, the Inspector General gets here before they come for you.”
“I don’t plan to stick around to see who gets here first. Tomorrow night, I say we take our chances. I’d rather die trying to escape than be gutted by a Kurgan blade.”
“Me too,” added Wendy.
Angela hesitated. She had waited months for the right people to come along; however, now she seemed unwilling to take the risk.
“We’ll go with or without you,” said Tarina. “If you want to get home to your children, I suggest that you come with us.”
Angela nodded. “Tomorrow night it is.”
“I think it would be wise to end our conversation,” suggested Wendy. “One of the guards is looking our way.” With that, they split up and went back to their own bunks.
With a growing sense of resolve in her heart, Tarina laid back on her bed and closed her eyes. In her mind, she saw herself frolicking on the beach with her lover, their bodies were intertwined while the warm water of the Pacific Ocean surged over them. With a smile on her face, Tarina drifted off to sleep. For the first time in ages, she dreamed about her life with Michael and how much she missed him.
Chapter 23
The setting sun cast long, dark shadows across the bleak desert terrain. Michael Sheridan could not remember a time when he had felt so hot and tired. He had trained in the deserts of Nevada, but it hadn’t prepared him for the broiling hot temperatures on Klatt. His desert camouflage uniform stuck to his sweat-soaked skin. He had already gone through four liters of water and still felt thirsty. He couldn’t wait for the sun to dip below the horizon, allowing the planet’s surface to cool. Behind him, his small band of Marines kept pace. No one complained or asked for a break. Everyone knew what was at stake. What were a few days of discomfort compared to the deprivations that the prisoners in the mines would have suffered?
“Drone,” called out Cole from the rear of the column. As one, the Marines dove for cover under any rocky shelter they could find. A couple of seconds later, a large UAV flew overhead and carried on out into the wastelands.
Sheridan waited close to a minute before crawling out from under a ledge and peering up into the cloudless sky. The drone was nowhere to be seen. Thankfully, the rocks, heated by the sun, masked their bo
dy heat. It would be harder to hide at night when the temperature would drop to near freezing. With a wave of his hand, Sheridan took the lead once more. He was aiming for a mesa a few kilometers away; he hoped it would give them a good view of the mine.
Two hours later, in the dark, Sheridan brought up his hand. His team stopped, dropped to one knee, and raised their assault rifles to their shoulders. As quiet as he could, Sheridan moved forward on the top of the round, flat mesa. He could see the bright lights from the mining camp illuminating the horizon. It took him less than a couple of minutes to find the ideal spot for them to establish their base camp. Rain had long ago carved a deep crevice into the rock that was wide enough for Sheridan to climb down inside. There he found a small cave. It was ideal as it would provide them with protection from the heat and hide them from prying eyes. He hurried back and brought his people down into the cavern.
Cole ordered Urban to dig out a small camera from his pack and had him leave it at the entrance to the cavern. He camouflaged the device before joining everyone else down below.
“What can you see?” Cole asked.
“For starters, if anyone tries to sneak up on us, I’ll see them coming,” replied Urban as he moved his finger along the screen of a small handheld tablet. He adjusted the picture until it gave him a thermal image of the world around them. A small rodent ran past the camera; its warm body showing up against the cold rocks.
Sheridan asked, “What about the mining complex?”
Urban moved the camera around. “I can see several buildings and an entrance that is guarded by a couple of Chosen warriors.”
Cole said, “I’ve never seen this type of surveillance camera before. How long are the batteries in your monitor good for?”
“Forty-eight hours. I’ve also got several spares with me just in case we need them.”
Cole nodded. “Okay, I’ll make up the duty roster. You’re on first. Make sure that the monitor gets handed off to the next person on shift along with a quick lesson on how to use it.
“Yes, Master Sergeant.”
Sheridan lowered his pack to the ground. It felt good to have the extra weight off his back. Aside from his water, rations, and ammunition, he was also carrying a spare radio, batteries, and several anti-personnel mines. He took a seat on the cool, rocky floor, dug out his canteen, and took a long deep sip of hot water. He swished it around in his mouth for a minute before swallowing it. At least being out of the sun, their water would cool down and make it more drinkable.
“Hey, sir, hand me one of the anti-pers mines,” said Cole.
Sheridan opened a flap on his pack, grabbed hold of one of the mines, and gave it to Cole. The device was the same size as a baseball and made to look like a rock. Once activated, it would lay silent until it detected movement nearby. If the mine took the motion to be of something the size of a man, it would launch itself up into the air and explode sending hundreds of ball bearings into its intended target. “Where are you going to place that?”
“Near the camera. Just to be on the safe side.”
“Good idea.”
“I know, that’s why I came up with it,” replied Cole with a wink.
Sheridan propped up his rifle on his pack before moving from person to person checking their feet and seeing if they had any other problems. If they did, they hid them well. Although tired from the march under the hot sun, everyone’s spirits were high. Sheridan made his way back to his pack, rummaged around for a ration, and opened it. He sat down and took a sip from his canteen.
“So, sir, what’s for dinner?” Cole asked, taking a seat beside his friend.
“Same as breakfast. Next time steal something more than beans from the quartermaster.”
Cole shrugged. “Food is food. Besides, the boxes were marked as being something else. Pasta meals, I think. This must be someone’s idea of a cruel joke.”
They sat and ate their meals in silence. Both men were deep in thought.
“Sir, something is coming in to land,” said Urban as he made his way to Sheridan.
“That’s a big bastard. I wonder what it is?” Cole asked, looking down at the monitor’s screen.
“That’s a Kurgan troop transporter,” said Sheridan. “By the looks of the size of it, it could easily hold five hundred soldiers.”
“Sergeant, you had best make note of when and where it landed,” Cole said. “The task force is going to need to know about this. They don’t want to try landing on a hot LZ.”
“Yes, Master Sergeant,” replied Urban, inputting the info into his monitoring device.
“Make sure whoever is on next knows what you have done so there’s no confusion later,” added Cole.
Urban nodded and walked back to show Toscano the information. He found her helping Private Snow, the Marine comms specialist, take off his heavy pack.
Sheridan and Cole resumed sitting on the cool floor.
“Sir, do you still get those dreams of yours?” Cole asked.
“No, not recently. I did after Tarina was first reported missing. However, as you were right to point out, I hit the bottle a little too hard and the dreams stopped. I’ve been so busy and tired these past few days that I doubt I dreamt at all.”
“So what does your gut tell you? Is she still alive?”
Sheridan sat there for a few seconds before answering. “My gut tells me that we and everyone else involved in this operation are in great danger. If that was an Imperial Guard transport, then they have arrived far earlier than initially expected. As for my heart, it speaks loud and clear to me. Tarina is somewhere in that mine, and I intend to get her and as many of the other prisoners out alive.”
“Then we had best get a move on. I’d hate to think that the task force is going to arrive too late to help anyone.”
“My thoughts exactly.” Sheridan drew his bayonet from its scabbard and ran his thumb along the blade’s edge to see how sharp it was. “We’ll get a few hours rest and then make for the mine. I need to know what is going on in there.”
“The others?”
“They can stay here. If we are killed or captured, Miss Toscano can still help the invasion force do their job.”
“If there is anyone left to help.”
“We didn’t come all this way to watch our friends be butchered like animals by the Kurgs. As long as I have a breath left in my body, I’m not going to let them kill our people.”
Cole nodded. He pitied any Chosen or Kurgan warrior who got between Michael Sheridan and his girlfriend. It was a fight they could never hope to win.
Chapter 24
“All right listen up,” said Colonel Wright to his assembled personnel. “We’ve only got one chance to make this work, so split-second timing and precision will be vital throughout this phase of Trident Fury. I volunteered this squadron because I have faith in each and every one of you to do your job and do it well. I know some of you may feel that we haven’t had the time to adequately examine the enemy base and its capabilities and others have already voiced their concerns over the lack of rehearsal time. Well, folks, you’re all right, but I don’t care. We’re launching in an hour, so pay close attention to the XO’s mission brief.”
Lieutenant Colonel Tolinski walked in front of Wright’s Avenger jump ship and raised up a remote. The lights in the launch bay dimmed. A second later, a holographic image of a small planetoid appeared. Tolisnki zoomed in on the Kurgan listening station. It looked like a large metal ring. There were numerous towers and antennae spread out along the surface of the rocky asteroid. The only visible weapons were a couple of missile launchers dug into the top of a nearby hill.
“Ladies and gentlemen, the Kurgan base is our target. It is located on a small rocky planet that the fleet has designated as GX 111. As you can see, the base is lightly defended with only a few anti-ship missiles. However, just because we cannot see any more weapons, we should not discount the fact there could be more hidden from view.”
“Ma’am, how old is this image?�
� asked one of the pilots.
“It is almost forty-eight hours old. I strongly doubt that the Kurgs could have substantially altered their defense posture in that time.”
“No more questions until the XO is finished,” said Wright, his tone told his people to keep their mouths shut.
Tolinski glanced at her watch. “In exactly fifty minutes from now, I along with my wingman, Captain Zhang, will begin our jump to GX 111. We will arrive there twenty-three hours later. Both of our Avengers will be carrying electromagnetic pulse bombs which we will deploy above the Kurgan base. Once that is done, we will jump back one-quarter of a million kilometers so that we won’t be caught in the electromagnetic wave created when the bombs go off. It is anticipated that these two devices will be sufficient to destroy or at the very least cripple the Kurgans’ ability to call for help or defend themselves.”
She brought up a new image of four teams of two Avengers each. “Thirty seconds later, Colonel Wright and the rest of the squadron will destroy the listening station. Your ships will all be carrying a single Mark V torpedo, specially modified to fit underneath of our vessels. Your targets have already been inputted into your Avengers’ computers. Unless something catastrophic happens, you should be over the target for less than a minute. Once you’re done, there shouldn’t be a soul left alive to report what has happened.”
Wright stepped forward. “Once we have flattened that Kurg base, we will all RV with the XO. Our lift home will be waiting for us there. Don’t be late as you won’t have enough fuel left to make another jump. I can’t stress this enough, the success of the rescue mission on Klatt is riding on our ability to eradicate that listening station. Folks, I don’t intend to let the task force down, and neither do you.”
A chuckle ran through the nervous flight crews. It was Wright’s standard line letting everyone know that there was only one outcome possible and defeat wasn’t it.
Tolinski turned off the holographic projection. The lights came back on. She looked over at Colonel Wright, who nodded back at her. She clapped her hands in the air to get everyone’s attention. “Pilots and navigators, to your ships. Technicians, begin your last minute flight preps. This mission is a go.”
Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) Page 13
