Cole raised an eyebrow. “How many men are we talking about?”
“Three.”
“Some uprising?” noted Cole.
“Everything large had always started with something small.”
The sound of a UAV’s engine growing closer made Sheridan’s heart begin to beat faster. If it spotted them, they were all dead.
“Nobody move!” said Cole. Everybody froze. No one dared to even look up.
Sheridan closed his eyes and thought of Tarina. If he was going to die, he wanted to be with her. High above them, the drone flew over the top of the hills outside of the mine before turning sharply in the air, heading out to survey the savanna.
Sheridan let out his breath. “That was close.”
“Too bloody close,” added Cole.
“How come it didn’t spot us?” Berg asked.
“The mesh on the net dissipates our heat signature. From above, we probably looked like a bunch of lizards sitting around on the rocks,” explained Cole.
“Sir, what are we going to do?” asked Kruger.
“We’ll hunker down here for now,” replied Sheridan. “When they don’t find us with their drones, they’ll search the camp looking for us. When that fails, they’ll send out patrols on foot and in vehicles. That’s when things are going to get dicey.”
“If we stay here, they’ll eventually find us,” said Cole. “If we try to make a run for it across that open plain, they’ll find us. See where this is going?”
“I do and I don’t like it, Master Sergeant,” responded Berg.
“I think it’s time to ask for a lift out of here,” said Sheridan. “Kruger, get a hold of the Horizon and request an immediate evac.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Kruger.
“It’ll be a toss-up who gets here first, the Kurgs or our own people,” said Cole.
Sheridan pulled his pistol from its holster and flipped the safety off with his thumb. “Let’s hope it’s our people or we’re in for one hell of a fight.”
A bird with dark gray and white spots on it landed on a rock and turned to look over at Sheridan. He sat back and quietly watched the bird as it hopped down and picked up a small insect in its beak before flying away.
“That’ll be us if our friends don’t answer our signal,” said Cole as he handed Sheridan a cup of coffee.
“Nice observation, Master Sergeant. Anything going on below?”
“Nothing new since the sun came up. The Kurgans are still tearing the camp apart looking for us.”
“Some reconnaissance mission this was.”
“At least most of us are still alive, and we can report that not everyone is a mindless adherent to the Kurgan way of life.”
“Sir, you need to see this,” said Berg, who was on sentry.
Sheridan and Cole moved over to her. Formed up in neat ranks outside of their quarters were the human workers. In front of the workers was a Kurgan officer saying something to them. A civilian standing beside the officer translated his words.
“Damn, I wish I could hear what was being said,” observed Sheridan.
“Maybe we’ll all hear soon enough,” said Cole, pointing at the dirigible they had seen the night before as it maneuvered over to the line of shelters. When it was in position, an image was projected on its side. It showed the three men who had wanted to leave the Kurgan camp to find their families. They were on their knees with their hands tied behind their backs. A Kurgan officer with his sword in his hands walked behind the captives.
“Crap, this ain’t gonna end well,” said Cole.
“No, it’s not.”
A voice came over the speakers attached to the bottom of the balloon. “Citizens, last night some of you tried to leave the camp without permission. Information has been brought to our attention that these traitors are working with a group of human saboteurs. If any of you know anything about this, for the sake of your families, we expect you to come forward and tell us what you know.”
On the screen, the Kurgan officer stepped behind Thomas and raised his sword above his head.
“This is your last opportunity. If you know something step forward.”
Sheridan and Cole watched helplessly as the Kurgan swung his sword down, lopping Thomas’ head from his body. If Sheridan had been expecting anger and resentment to be shown by the human workers, he did not get it. Instead, the crowd stood quietly staring up at the image. It was as if they no longer cared for their fellow human beings.
“This is too horrible to watch,” muttered Berg as the Kurgan dispatched the two other men.
Sheridan could feel his blood begin to boil. He tried hard to suppress his growing anger, but each new atrocity the Kurgans perpetrated made him hate them and their brainwashed human allies even more. He turned his back on the camp and looked over at Cole. “The evac shuttle can’t come soon enough for me.”
“I hear you sir,” Cole said. “I hope they flatten this place when the fleet arrives.”
Chapter 47
With his hands clasped behind his back, Admiral Robert Sheridan paced the deck of his flagship. He glanced up at the clock on the wall and saw that task force led by the Ark Royal was due to end its jump in just over ten hours’ time. With him, he had the carriers Constellation and Kiev. Admiral Sheridan expected to arrive behind Mors-5 one hour before the Ark Royal ended her jump, so they would already be in place to support her if the Kurgans took the bait and sent their ships to destroy her.
Killam walked over and handed the admiral a note.
Robert Sheridan read it over once and nodded. It was an intelligence update that indicated that something had happened on Mors-4. The intercepted message was not clear as to what had happened. The Kurgan general commanding the garrison on the planet had ordered his forces to be placed on high-readiness status. It was assessed that the Kurgans did not know of the pending assault and that this was related to something else.
“I guess my son and his people have been spotted,” said the admiral to Killam.
“It looks that way,” replied Killam, trying not to sound callous.
Commander Roy looked up from her duty station. “Admiral, the Horizon has received a request for immediate evac from Mors-4. Her captain is asking for permission to launch a shuttle to pull the reconnaissance team from the planet.”
Admiral Sheridan took a deep breath and looked at the clock on the wall. Everything was dependent on secrecy and surprise. If he let the Horizon launch a rescue mission and it failed, it could jeopardize the entire operation. If he did not, his son could be killed. He clenched his hands tight behind his back.
“Sir?” asked Roy.
Admiral Sheridan looked his aide in the eyes. “Tell him from me that he is not under any circumstances to attempt to pick up the reconnaissance team from the surface of Mors-4.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied and quickly typed the admiral’s response.
Killam stepped close. He quietly said, “Sir, are you sure? The Horizon’s skipper is a good officer; he can get your people off the planet before anyone is the wiser.”
Robert Sheridan shook his head. “No. My order stands. Five lives versus tens of thousands. I won’t risk the lives of everyone in the fleet just because my son is down there.”
Killam stepped back. “Aye, sir. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to my duties.”
The admiral nodded and went back to his pacing, knowing that his son was facing death and he had just stopped his only means of escape.
Chapter 48
“Anything?” asked Sheridan, growing concerned that they had not heard back on their request for immediate evac.
“No, sir, nothing,” replied Kruger.
“Are you sure that it’s still working?”
“Sir, I checked the equipment myself. There’s nothing wrong with it,” said Cole in Kruger’s defense.
“Okay, it’s been almost six hours since we sent our request, we have to face the possibility that we’re on our own,” said Sheridan.
<
br /> “Why would they abandon us, sir?” asked Berg.
“I don’t know. The Horizon could have been destroyed by an enemy ship,” replied Sheridan.
“Or they could have been told not to come and get us,” added Cole.
A worried look crept across Berg’s face. “Why would they do that?”
“There are a dozen reasons why,” said Sheridan. “Rather than worry about that, I think its time we looked at how we’re going to survive until the invasion fleet gets here.”
“There’s really only one viable option available to us,” said Cole. “We need to hide in plain sight.”
“Great minds think alike,” responded Sheridan. “As soon as it gets dark we’ll sneak into the camp, break into a building and lay low.”
“And what happens if they find us?” asked Berg.
“We’ll worry about that when it happens,” replied Cole.
“I’d rather just get into a firefight and get it over with,” said Kruger.
“Well, you’re not the one making the decision, I am,” pointed out Sheridan. “Now get some rest. Master Sergeant Cole and I will keep watch until nightfall.”
Cole took the binoculars from Kruger and made himself as comfortable as he could among the rocks. Sheridan checked the comms gear one last time before moving over by Cole.
“I told you it was working correctly, sir,” said Cole.
“I know but I had to look at it myself,” replied Sheridan. “It kind of gives me closure.”
“Whatever,” said Cole, shaking his head. “Any idea when the invasion force will be arriving in orbit?”
“Nope. They wouldn’t tell me so we couldn’t be tortured for the information.”
“Brilliant logic! Which officer came up with that one? You know, sir, that’s never stopped someone from torturing a prisoner before. These Kurg bastards, if they got their hands on us, would probably torture us for the sheer fun of it.”
“Your pessimism is showing through again.”
“Don’t you mean realism?”
Cole picked up the binoculars and looked out over the mine. “Looks like the search is over. Their heading back to the mine.”
“I wonder what their next move will be.” Sheridan turned his head and looked up at the cloud-covered sky. It looked like it was going to rain again. He could not see a single drone in the air. The only thing aloft was the dirigible, which the Kurgans had moved over the open pit mine. A steady stream of propaganda bombarded the men toiling below.
“Sir, look,” said Cole, nudging Sheridan.
A large transport ship slowly descended through the clouds and landed. Right away, trucks with loads of ore packed away in large black plastic boxes were driven over and loaded into the cargo bay of the Kurgan ship. A cordon of well-armed Chosen soldiers guarded the vessel. Overhead, a couple of UAVs flew a combat patrol.
“I guess they don’t want anyone to mess with their ship,” said Cole.
Sheridan was about to say something when he heard a sound that chilled his blood. He slowly turned his head and froze when he saw a Kurgan robot raise up its square metal head from behind a jagged boulder and look into their hiding spot. The machine’s cameras looked like cold, soulless eyes examining a potential victim.
It was over. They had been found.
Sheridan swiftly brought up his pistol to fire. He was too slow. Alerted to their presence, a drone flew over the hill, locked onto their position and fired off one of its missiles. In less time than it took to blink, the missile struck home. With a deafening boom, the warhead exploded.
Sheridan felt himself flying through the air. He landed on his back outside of their hiding spot and found that he was looking straight up at the clouds. Sheridan’s chest felt as if it had been kicked by a mule. He struggled to breathe.
Three seconds later, another missile hit home. Rocks and sand flew skyward.
With a painful moan on his lips, Sheridan rolled over and took in a deep breath of air. Rocks began to fall all around him. He raised a hand to protect his face.
Incredibly, Master Sergeant Cole ran out of the swirling cloud of dust that had been their patrol base. His body was covered with a fine layer of dust. He grabbed Sheridan by the arm, hauled him to his feet and began to run.
Sheridan struggled to catch his breath. He was sure that he had broken a couple of ribs in the blast. “Where’s the other two?” he asked Cole, his voice was raspy.
“Kruger’s dead,” replied Cole. “I couldn’t find Berg.”
Together they hobbled to the bottom of the hill. When they saw a dozen Chosen soldiers running at them, they stopped, dropped their weapons and reluctantly raised their hands. They were trapped.
The first soldier to arrive brought his weapon up and struck Cole on the side of the head, knocking him to the ground, unconscious.
Sheridan stood his ground and looked the Chosen warrior in the eyes. With a defiant look on his face, he said in Kurgan, “Coward.”
The man hesitated. He had never heard of human soldiers speaking Kurgan. From behind him, another soldier ran forward. He had not heard Sheridan speak. With a look of utter contempt in his eyes, the warrior hit Sheridan across the face, sending him tumbling to the ground.
“Stop it!” yelled a Chosen sergeant. “Tie them up and bring them to Captain Kingen.”
Sheridan saw Cole rolled over and his hands bound. A second later, he felt himself being roughly manhandled. It was the last thing he recalled before passing out.
Sheridan shot wide awake. His heart was racing in his chest. He blinked his eyes a couple of times, trying to focus on the blurry image that filled his eyes.
“Don’t try to move,” said a voice in Kurgan. “You’ve broken a couple of ribs and bruised a couple more.”
Sheridan tried to stand but found that his hands and feet were tied to the chair he was sitting in. His eyes finally focused. Standing right beside him was a Kurgan officer. Sheridan recognized the rank on his collar as a captain. The Kurgan stood about two meters tall with reddish-brown leathery skin. He had a short snout with intricate markings on it that Sheridan had never seen before. His body was covered with gray armor from the bottom of his feet all the way up to his neck.
Aside from the officers he had killed in combat, Sheridan had never been this close to a Kurgan in his life. He looked around and saw that they were not alone. There was a human civilian in the room with them. He was tall, with broad shoulders and a thick red beard on his round face.
The Kurgan moved to Sheridan’s left and checked the flow of liquid from an IV bag that was hung from a metal pole. The IV was dripping slowly, feeding liquid into Sheridan’s left arm.
“Don’t worry, Captain Michael Sheridan, I haven’t drugged you,” said the Kurgan in passable English. “It’s simply saline with a couple mild sedatives added to it to take the edge off the pain.”
“How do you know who I am?” asked Sheridan, surprised to hear the Kurgan speaking English.
The Kurgan looked down at Sheridan. “It was quite easy to do. When you were brought to me, Mister Dalton did a retinal scan of your right eye. I then checked it against your fleet’s personnel files, and it told me who you are and more importantly, who your father is.”
Sheridan tried to mask his feelings. If the Kurgans had access to the fleet’s personnel files, he wondered what else they had knowledge of. “If you know who I am, why don’t you tell me who you are?”
“My name is Captain Kingen, a loyal officer in the Armed Forces of the Kurgan Empire and the human man by my side is Jack Dalton.”
Sheridan looked over at Dalton. “Where’s your Kurgan name, Dalton?”
“I don’t have one, at least not yet. My family and I were taken from Illum Prime and moved to a re-education camp on Kodama in the Krall system. As I had once run a mine, I was selected to come back here and help oversee the mining operation here on Mors-4.”
“You’re nothing more than a traitorous collaborator.”
Dalton
shook his head. “You have it wrong, Captain. I have a family to worry about.”
“How did you find us?” Sheridan asked Kingen.
“It was purely by accident. When we could not find you hidden in the camp or out on the plains, one of my junior officers suggested sending a couple of patrol robots up into the hills to look around. I was about to cancel the mission when one of them stumbled upon your hiding spot.”
“Give that Lieutenant a medal for ingenuity,” said Sheridan sarcastically.
“I shan’t waste your time asking you what you were up to. Incredibly, most of your looted equipment survived both missile strikes. You are configured and equipped as a reconnaissance detachment. Why they would risk the son of an admiral on such a routine assignment is lost on me. Surely, there are other officers of lower stature who could have been given this mission.”
“Just unlucky I guess,” replied Sheridan. “Is the man I was captured with still in one piece? Your goons gave him quite the beating.”
“If you mean Master Sergeant Alan Cole, then yes, he is all right, for the time being,” said Dalton. “He is currently being held in another room. Unlike you, he does not understand Kurgan, so unfortunately a Chosen sergeant was left alone to interrogate him.”
The thought of Cole being at the mercy of a Chosen soldier filled Sheridan’s heart with dread.
“We also caught another one of your team members,” said the Kurgan. “Private Berg was found trying to make a run for it. She barely made it a kilometer across the savanna before she was captured by one of our patrols.”
“Where is she now?”
“I do not waste my time with the females of your species,” explained the Kurgan. “I gave her to the Chosen to do with her as they please. Some of them have not had a female in months.”
“You bastard!” snarled Sheridan as he pulled at the ropes, trying desperately to escape.
“Save your breath and your strength. I don’t care what happens to your comrades. You’re the prize here. You’re going to be sent for re-education and then inserted back into your fleet as a double-agent and you won’t even realize that you’re working for the greater good.”
Colossus (The Kurgan War Book 2) Page 21
