Galactic Division - Book Two: Initiation

by J E Loddon

  “Casper?” I called into the comm. No response. “Casper?!” I called again, a little bit of panic edging into my voice.

  “What’s up Milo?” he asked. “Are you at the drop pod?”

  “Not yet,” I replied. “Just wanted to check, uh…, in, I guess.” I almost said ‘check you were still alive’, but realised that probably wasn’t what they wanted to hear. “Are the Matan following you?” I asked.

  “We’re not sure,” he admitted. “We’re moving pretty quickly, and they’ll be cautious in case of an ambush, so we’re probably pretty far ahead of them. There’s a big swamp across this area,” he continued, “So we can’t get directly South, we’re having to follow around the bank of it. It’s too thick to travel through. Let us know when you get to the pod.”

  “Sure thing,” I replied. I felt better knowing that they weren’t in immediate danger, but it sounded like circumnavigating the swamp might mean they would struggle to get to my position, once I was at the pod.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  After another twenty minutes of rapid travel, I made it to the clearing where the drop pod had landed. I approached cautiously. I was well out in the open now, and felt very exposed. I had no way of knowing if someone or something lay in wait hidden behind the wreckage, but I needed the cover it would allow me, so I had to just get to it. I summoned the last of my stamina reserves, and sprinted towards it, sliding into the shell as I reached it. I readied my gun, and listened hard. No sounds, of any kind. It didn’t seem as if there was anyone around, but I had to remain vigilant. I took out an energy bar, and ate it quickly, whilst clutching my rifle tightly. I was there, at least, but it was gonna be a long wait.

  I got my comm out. “This is Milo,” I whispered into it.

  “Casper,” the whispered reply came. “Did you make it to the drop pod?”

  “Yeah,” I whispered.

  “Any problems?” he asked.

  “No, no sign of trouble,” I informed him.

  “Good, good,” he replied. “Hey, Milo?” he asked.

  “Yeah?” I said.

  “Why are we whispering?” I rolled my eyes, and clicked it back off.

  I surveyed the wreckage of the pod. I could see that the reason the landing had been so rough, and the seating frame had tipped, was because it had landed nose first into a large rock. It had hit to the Starboard of the nose, so the momentum had lifted the Port side up, then slammed it down. That impact had shattered the strut fastenings of the seating unit, and it had bounced over onto its side. We’d been really lucky. The previous pod landing had fooled me into thinking that the landings weren’t so bad. This gave me a reality check. It could have been significantly worse. I wondered how many Division soldiers had been killed by pods landing in large bodies of water. In theory, the pilot specifically released the pod such that the trajectory shouldn’t take it towards any large lakes, or seas. There were so many variables, though, that he couldn’t account for. Things like wind shear, especially from the height at which you were dropped, meant that actually, you could end up anywhere. We, for example, had landed very close to the swamp. Whilst that most likely wasn’t deep enough to have drowned us, It wasn’t impossible.

  Another, and possible even bigger danger, was being dropped right on top of the target. Imagine landing right next to an unknown enemy stronghold, and having to struggle to get the hatch open, not knowing that an enemy force was standing right outside waiting for you. That was if their anti-air defences didn’t get you first. Supposedly, because the pod wasn’t powered, it was very difficult to hit it from the ground, as most known surface to air defence weapons were based around locking onto power sources. We didn’t know the full extent of our enemies technological arsenal, though, so that could be entirely inaccurate.

  I dug down back in the pod again. I glanced around nervously. The previous position had been far more defensible than this one, and I cursed myself for not having done what I was originally told. I could have kept the hostiles at bay for a while with grenades and gunfire, falling back at the same time. At least then, I’d have had the chance of getting support from the others. ~In the pod, I could be approached from all sides. I only had to cover the hatch at the rear of the pod, of course, but that didn’t mean the whole pod couldn’t be blown up by someone from any other direction. Plus, I had nowhere to run to if someone did approach the hatch. I’d just have to stay crouched there, unloading gunfire into anything that tried to get in.

  Worse still, the rest of the squad were miles away from me. I was completely isolated, as opposed to partly isolated. I let out a long, deep breath. I’d tried to be clever, and I was paying the price for it. I considered my options. A thought occurred to me. I could go and crouch in the bushes at the edge of the swamp instead. I’d have a fair bit of cover, and I could keep watch on the pod from there. If anyone approached the area, they’d certainly be drawn to the pod. If they entered it, I’d just need to launch a couple of grenades through the hatch, and blow them up inside. Could I do that though? I wasn’t convinced by my ability to aim a grenade into such a small opening from that distance, any more than I was that I could even bring myself to do it. I’d come face to face with the enemy, and I hadn’t been able to pull the trigger.

  No, I’d stay put. The reason I was in the mess I was in was because I hadn’t listened to orders. I’d also have to get past my reluctance to fire my weapon at the enemy. I didn’t want to kill anyone, that wouldn’t change. If I wanted to stay alive, though, and protect my team mates, I’d have to do what was necessary.

  I hunkered down, and waited. I was there a long time. At rough estimate, I’d say an hour. I’d gotten bored, and convinced that no-one was coming. Then, I started to hear some noises. From right back inside the pod, I couldn’t make out what it was. I went over to the hatch, and listened. It was… gunfire! I could hear gunfire. I listened intently, trying to work out where it was coming from. It was hard to be sure, but it seemed to be coming from the West, roughly the direction of the anomaly the others had been on their way to check out. I crept out of the pod, towards the sound of the gunfire. I sprinted across to the fringe of the swamp, so that the bushes could provide me some cover. I listened again. I tried to place the shots. There was what sounded like repeating shots, possibly our standard rifle. There was a much lower, slower repeating sound. There was also the intermittent crack, a much coarser sound, which I supposed could be Liberty’s confetti gun.

  I wasn’t sure what to do. I wasn’t scared, which was surprising. I could feel my adrenaline pumping, and I tried to calm myself so that I could think clearly. I’d been told to stay there. That had been a clear order. I’d chosen to ignore orders earlier, and it had caused a massive issue for all of us. Liberty could not, though, have foreseen this happening. They were clearly in a gunfight with the enemy, and they were a man down. I couldn’t just stay put, and not help. The fire sounded like it was a way away, and I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to get there. I had to try to get there quickly, whilst still being careful not to run straight into an enemy patrol. By the time I got there, the battle could easily be over. Then, potentially, I could be left on the planet. All alone. I didn’t, I realised, even have an extraction rocket. I should have thought to ask for one when they left me alone at the base of the hill.

  Without any further thought, I was off. I wasn’t exactly sprinting. My sore muscles wouldn’t allow that. Not for any significant amount of time, anyway. I was, though, covering ground as quickly as I could, moving towards the sound of the gunfire. It continued to go on, whilst the whole time I worried that it would suddenly stop. If that happened, I wouldn’t know who had won, and I in turn wouldn’t then know if I was running straight into the enemy force. The sounds gradually grew louder as I went. After a little while, I thought they had stopped. They hadn’t, but had become a little more intermittent. Were people down? On whose side? My fear returned, and I began to run faster. My legs began to pump furiously. I no longer felt the wei
ght of the rifle, or the pain in my back and shoulders. I began to breathe rhythmically, head straight, moving only my arms and legs in perfect harmony. I ran like I’d never run before.

  Suddenly, there was a massive cracking sound, followed by a long, loud, rumbling boom. The sheer volume of the sound stopped me in my tracks. It sounded like the world had caved in. I looked ahead, dumbfounded by shock. All I could see ahead were rocks and bushes. Then, smoke started to billow on the horizon. Something big had blown up. My mind raced. Had they called in the transport shuttle without me? Had the enemy destroyed it, our only chance of getting off the planet? I wasn’t sure what to do. Was it wise to run toward an explosion? It wasn’t exactly my first instinct. I stood for a second, gasping for breath. There was no point, I realised, in stopping now. Without the rest of the team, I had no way of getting off of the planet, so I might as well go out in a blaze of glory. I ran towards the smoke. As I started to get close, I could make out the sounds of intermittent gunfire once again. It was very close this time. I was almost on top of it. I was running towards a wide bush when I saw it rustling. At first, I thought it had been shaken by the explosion. Then, I could see movement in it. With nowhere to dive to for cover, I just fell to one knee. I considered my remaining grenades, but that had not worked well the last time. I lifted my rifle to my shoulder, ready to face whatever was coming towards me.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I recognised the patterned grey of the armour as soon as it emerged from the bushes, back towards me. I stayed in position, not knowing what might emerge from the bushes next. The figure turned, then hesitated as it spotted me. Once he realised who I was, Casper turned back towards the bushes.

  “I got Milo here!” he called out. He motioned for me to come towards him, his gun still trained on the bushes. One by one, the rest of the squad emerged, backing out through the branches.

  “Milo!” Liberty shouted, backing towards me, “I thought I told you to stay put?” I looked at her, speechless. She glanced over at the way I’d come from. “Is there any cover in that direction?” she asked.

  “Erm. Yeah, sure, there’s a lot of shrubbery, rocks. It’s quite dense in places,” I told her.

  “OK,” she said, still covering the bushes where they’d come from, “we fall back rapidly, from cover to cover. Antonia and Milo first, then they cover us.”

  I sprinted back to the next set of bushes with Antonia, then covered the retreat of Casper, Tasia and Liberty. We did this again towards a set of rocks, then continued to repeat it. We kept our focus, and followed Liberty’s instructions to the letter. We didn’t see any sign of the enemy, though. After a few minutes, the retreat slowed, and then Liberty told Antonia to start covering our rear instead, in case the enemy had come around a different way to outflank us. We continued to meet no opposition. Whatever the explosion was, it seemed to have slowed down the hostile force. I was full of questions. At that point, I still didn’t know if the explosion had been our extraction shuttle. The longer we kept up the retreat, the more convinced I became that it had been. Nobody suggested using an extraction rocket, despite the fact it was clear at that point that our only option was to abandon the mission. As we went, I tried to look on Casper and Liberty’s belts to see if they both still had their rockets. Eventually, I had managed to catch sight of both of them.

  “Er. Where are we heading to?” I asked eventually.

  “The pod,” Liberty replied. “Wait, is it safe? Milo, tell me you didn’t abandon it cos you were under attack?” she asked, panic in her eyes.

  “No, no,” I assured her quickly. “I came to help you guys out when I heard the gunfire.” A look of relief crossed her face, then she looked at me with a serious look in her eyes.

  “That’s the second time you haven’t followed orders, Milo,” she said. “That’s not acceptable. If I tell you to do something, you do it, do you understand?” I winced at the harshness in her voice.

  “I’m sorry,” I said, “I couldn’t stay there. I couldn’t abandon you guys.”

  “Milo, I know why you did it. But you have to follow orders. Even if you don’t think the orders are right,” she said, though her voice had softened.

  Arriving back at the pod, we fanned out, trying to cover all directions.

  “This is stupid,” Tasia called over to Liberty. “We’re sitting ducks out here.”

  “There’s no space for the shuttle to land, either,” Casper chimed in.

  “OK, keep going,” Liberty commanded. “We keep going East, til we find a suitable extraction point.”

  We kept moving East, through more rocks, though considerably less bushes. The sun was starting to go down, and the shadows were lengthening.

  “We need to find somewhere soon,” Tasia called to Liberty. “It’s gonna be a lot harder for the shuttle to find somewhere to come down once it’s dark.”

  “OK,” Liberty called back. “The first area big enough for the shuttle to come down, we send up a rocket.”

  It didn’t take long to find a suitable area. We clambered over a low ridge and slid down into what seemed to be a dry swamp. Casper didn’t wait for orders, he immediately grabbed his extraction rocket from his belt, sprinted towards the middle of the swamp, and thumped it down on the ground. Within moments, the rocket shot up into the air at rapid speed, off into the upper atmosphere. The rocket had been designed to have no visible trail to make it harder for the enemy to spot. It was still pretty light out though, and if there were hostiles following us, they’d most likely be looking in our direction.

  “OK, let’s get over the ridge on the South side of the swamp,” Liberty called out. “We dig in back there whilst we wait for the shuttle.”

  We clambered over the ridge, and down into a pile of rocks. They were of reasonable size, and provided a minimum of cover from all directions. We didn’t have to wait long for something to happen. Unfortunately, it wasn’t the shuttle that arrived first. Four enemy soldiers appeared on our side of the ridge, approaching from the direction of the pod. We took up firing positions, waiting for them to come within range. They spotted us before that happened, though, and they dropped back a bit behind the curve of the ridge.

  “Slight problem,” Antonia said. She had clambered up to the top of the ridge. “There’s four more, perched behind the ridge where we entered the dry swamp.”

  “Keep them covered,” Liberty called to her. “They can’t cross that swamp without making themselves easy targets.” Suddenly, the sounds of gunfire filled the air, and dust and stones skipped up around Antonia’s position at the top of the ridge.

  “They can cross it if they keep me pinned back with gunfire,” Antonia replied. Liberty cursed.

  “Casper, join Antonia up there, help her keep those hostiles from crossing the swamp. We’ll keep these others from rounding the ridge.”

  Nothing happened for a while. Everyone was out of effective range of each other, with a reasonable amount of cover. We were going nowhere, having to stay there waiting for the shuttle. The enemy, for whatever reason, didn’t seem in a rush to flush us out.

  “The longer this goes on for, the more advantage it is to us,” Liberty pointed out. “We’ll run out of ammo before they do, so only fire when necessary. We just need to stall them.”

  Before long, several more enemy soldiers joined the ones around the curve of the ridge to our West. They stopped for a few moments, then disappeared of to the South.

  “OK, this could be a problem,” Liberty muttered.

  “They’re flanking us,” Tasia said. “We’re gonna end up being surrounded.” Casper looked up, scanning the skies.

  “Come on,” he whispered to himself.

  After another couple of minutes, there was movement to our South. The soldiers who had moved to flank us were advancing on our position, and because of the rocky terrain, could move much closer to us than any of the other groups.

  “OK, be ready with the grenades,” Liberty said to me.

  “I’m not ver
y good at throwing them,” I said to her. She sighed.

  “Casper?” she said. “You’re probably in a better position up there anyway?” He looked across at where the enemy soldiers were approaching from.

  “No,” he replied. “We’re ridiculously exposed up here!” He tapped Antonia, then started to slide down the ridge towards us. “We can’t stay up there,” he said apologetically.

  “If we don’t stay up here, those other soldiers are gonna have a free reign to cross the swamp,” she hissed down.

  “It’s too exposed up there,” Casper said, shaking his head. “You’ll get shot down before that’s even an issue if you don’t get down.” Antonia sighed, then started to slide down.