Hogar watched in fear and astonishment as his teammates, the praetorians under his command were falling all around him. He noticed Olin as he was stabbed by the stakes to the ground and five others as well, as stakes went through their shoulder blades and helmets. He knew that Maurka and Wingulf were dead, if not by the trunk that hit them then by the stakes that fell on them. He started running forward together with two other praetorians that were with him and also managed to escape the first set of traps. One of them didn’t reach far as he went straight through a hole and stabbed himself on the stakes placed on the bottom. He never noticed the second one dying from the arrow that flew from some hidden trap he just noticed the arrow that stabbed him in the arm. He turned for a second as he heard himself touching a trip wire. As he did he noticed the branch carrying spears rushing toward him from the back and as he tried to avoid it he went straight in to the one coming from the front. The two traps hit him one after another each stabbing him with three spears across his body.
He heard himself utter a gurgled scream and felt blood filling his mouth.
Before he died he noticed a strangely dressed human rising in front of him and smiling.
Then darkness took him.
The entire Dacarian platoon was dead in less than a minute. Two of the Dacarians managed to survive the wounds of the stakes that stabbed them one of them even survived the tree trunk that hit him. But they lived just several seconds more as Kelly and Anderson cut their throats.
After spending a moment to check the dead praetorians the nine human soldiers started moving quickly towards their next objective. They moved fast knowing that the escapees would soon run in to the second Dacarian team.
Eshmunkhilletz was the first one to notice the Lacarian soldier turning. He was pointing towards the front and indicating that he heard something. He looked at him and the three other humans and spoke in a language that sounded like human language. He understood some of the words so he knew that it was a language that was spoken by his people at least some of them in the past. It seemed that he was indicating that he heard a scream from the front.
He turned towards Isco.
The blonde haired man smiled.
He was the best one with languages among the four humans. He spoke fluently as best as he could the language of the Sicas, the Illians, Mags, Lantians, Acadians and several other races.
“He says that he heard a Dacarian scream.”
The name made them all freeze.
The group had twelve members when they started the run but they lost two along the way. They had wounds that were mortal and couldn’t keep up. The Illian died first and the Mag just shortly after took his own life knowing he would slow them down. As he remembered the powerful creature he honored him. The Mags were a brave race, one that lost their war just as the Illians had lost against the Dacarians. According to the stories both wars were fought a long time ago. He also remembered the stories about how his ancestors came under the Dacarian foot. He remembered the teachings passed on from the first slaves to come from Carthage, from Hanno. They didn’t come to this world but to some distant world up there in the stars where the gods reside.
He also knew that some of the races spoke of a time in the past when humans walked among the stars and fought the empire to a standstill. They were great stories but they were just legends told from desperate slaves. And yet they gave him hope.
As he looked in to the eyes of Isco, Bairrfhionn and Flavius he knew that they hoped too.
And there was something in the way the Lacarian and the Sica watched them. The Sica was short for Sicarian. The alien watched them with his dark eyes and always stayed silent.
The group stopped by the small stream for a moment to take a breath. They knew that they had to move forward and to reach the big river ahead that the Illians were calling Arges. If they could pass it then they could hide in the deep jungle on the other side. There were legends spoken about other escaped slaves that managed to cross it and live in relative freedom from the Dacarians on the other side. He hoped that it was true because as he watched the others he knew that they were running out of strength.
“We have to move. We have Dacarian patrols trailing us and if we slow down they will catch us.”
If Acura the Illian leading them was to be believed they were close. Considering that two of the Illians were among the ones that attacked the camp last night and Acura was one of them he was hopefully speaking the truth. He looked at the power rifle he had in his hands. He took the weapon from one of the guards. They all had weapons. Acura and Odan had the strongest weapons considering that they could kill a legionary in full armor with two or three shots. He knew that his weapon could do it too but he didn’t know how to fix it to the strongest setting as the dacarians did. One of the Lacarians checked the weapons after they escaped and he guessed that he set them right but he hoped that they wouldn’t find out. If they could escape without fighting again it would be best. But as he watched his companions he knew it was a small hope and getting smaller with every passing moment.
Isco was speaking with the Sicarian who in turn was trying to speak with one of the Lacarian soldiers.
After a second Isco turned and looked at him.
“Gokar- he indicated the Lacarian – is sure he heard a scream ahead. He says it was far at least two of our hours away in distance. He claims he could hear that far. The Sicarian believes him and so do the Illians. They say we are fifty stadiums from the river.”
Eshmunkhilletz smiled at the distance as he knew that it was just a guess considering the different languages but whatever it were it was still several hours away.
The rest of the group all dressed in torn rags slowly stood up and started moving forward.
Socar looked at his com system again. He tried to establish communications with Hogar several times during the past hour but each attempt ended in failure. He knew that Hogar was in the back but the lack of communication meant trouble. Hogar’s group was tasked with the elimination of the small band of Illians standing close to the river. He knew that he managed to eliminate them without much trouble but as time passed and there was no contact he worried that there might be another team of Illians somewhere out there. He and his men were close to the slaves, he was sure they would run in to them at any moment now so he tried several times in the past few minutes but there was no answer. He thought of sending couple of praetorians to look for him but his scouts reported that the slaves were close.
He would have to look for Hogar after he dealt with them. He reported his suspicions to the other teams and a shuttle was already prepared with a team that would search for them.
The eighteen praetorians arrayed them self in a semicircle covering every angle of the track on which the escaped slaves were moving.
Rivers heard the report from Jenkins and Doc who were the first ones to set eyes on the second Dacarian platoon. They also reported that the escapees were almost here and would be intercepted before he and his men were in position.
“Sir requesting permission to engage in case you don’t make it in time.”
Rivers thought for a moment.
“Negative Doc. We need the element of surprise.”
He knew that this decision meant that some of the escapees would probably die but he knew that the safety of his men and the mission were first. He wanted to save these eleven but their lives were not as important as the mission he had and the lives of his men.
He urged the rest of the team forward and they all increased their pace.
Mago stopped for a moment and as he did so did the rest of the group. All except for the two Illians who didn’t hear and continued forward for several more seconds.
Isco was the first one and the Sicarian just a moment later to notice the hidden Dacarians ahead. As they did they immediately opened fire. The two Illians tried to hide but were quickly cut down. One of the Lacarians was also hit and he fell down screaming in pain and soon after him so did Bairrfhionn. As he took s
helter among the trees he noticed the Sicarian fighting hand to hand with one of the dacarians that came from the side and he noticed two more coming from behind him. He fired and caught one in the upper body. His armor protected him from the first shot but the second one penetrated and the hated creature fell down dead. The second one opened fire and he felt a stab of pain in his left hand.
As he fell he noticed that they were surrounded. Four of them were already dead and as he watched he noticed Isco falling with a wound to his left leg. Two of the Dacarians were dead but there were plenty more coming from all sides.
He noticed Eshmunkhilletz firing at one Dacarian at point blank range before being toppled down by another. He stood up and pulled out a sword the strange looking blade that all Dacarians carried and looked at one of the Dacarians that were approaching.
The Dacarian smiled as he noticed the blade in his hand and shouldering the rifle he pulled his own. As he approached he lunged at him knowing it was better to die in battle then as a slave.
The Sicarian watched the human he knew as Mago lunge at the taller Dacarian praetorian. He was amazed by the bravery of the three surviving humans in the group. He managed to kill one of the praetorians and he threw the other one away from him before he confronted the one he thought to be their leader. But he never got the chance to fight him.
As he took a moment to watch Mago he heard a strange sound. It was obvious that the praetorian heard it too. A moment later the head of the praetorian that was confronting Mago simply exploded and so did the head of the praetorian standing over the other human.
Before the others could react two more dacarians fell dead from wounds to their chests and soon the entire forest around him exploded as humans using projectile weapons approached the confused Dacarians from all sides. As they did they seemed to strike perfectly with each shot. The surviving humans, Illian and the Lacarian lunged at their opponents but before they could reach them the praetorians were dead. The only one alive and with wounds to his stomach and legs was his opponent.
He noticed one of the human soldiers watching him and nodding. He nodded back. He watched them in amazement as they spoke among themselves and checked the dead bodies of the praetorians for life signs. Three of them went straight to the praetorian that was alive and dragged him towards the nearest tree.
Socar watched with horrified eyes as in just a moment his entire team was cut down and then he was dragged by three of the attacking humans.
They pinned him to the tree and before he could react one of them stabbed him with a knife in to the wound to his chest. He screamed as the searing pain hit him.
“Who are you?”
“How many Dacarian troops on Arcadia?”
The human was speaking to him in Latin but it was as if he was struggling with the language. He heard the human repeat the question again and he felt him stabbing him once more.
He screamed again. But even as he did he noticed their strange equipment and weapons. As he did he noticed his wound and the projectile expelling weapon one of the humans was holding. As he looked at it a memory of a briefing received four cycles ago came to him. It was a briefing about the weapons that the humans on their home world were using.
It was a projectile weapon.
“It can’t be. This is not possible.”
But even as that thought came to him he knew that the human asking the question was not from this world and deep inside he knew that the mission failed.
“I won’t tell you anything.”
Rivers looked in to the eyes of the Dacarian in front of him as he heard his last words. He knew that his wounds are mortal. He also knew that he spoke his last words.
“You won’t but someone else will.”
Then he cut his throat.
Dark blood started flowing from the huge wound and the Dacarian toppled. Few moments later he was dead.
As Rivers turned, he noticed Singer and Doc giving first aid to the wounded. As he scanned the area he noticed that four of the slaves were dead and the fifth one was close as well. Three of them were of the creatures that attacked the camp the previous night and started this mess.
He nodded to Kelly who was most fluent in Latin and the big man stepped forward.
“Can any of you understand me?”
At the sound of his voice the surviving escapees turned. The three surviving humans looked with amazement at them as if seeing gods. And the same could be said about the rest of the strangely mixed group.
The strange tall furred creature wearing a torn uniform stepped forward.
“I can. Who are you?”
Kelly looked at the strange looking creature in front of him. His greatest hope was that one of the humans would understand him. And before he could answer one of the humans the one that Doc was helping also stood up and came close to the alien.
“I can too. Who are you?”
His accent was almost right and his Latin was fluent unlike Kelly’s and the creature.
“I’m Kelly. The others you see are Rivers, Anderson, Jenkins, Doc, Singer, Gordon, Luis and Flint. We are Earth Federation Army Special Forces.”
As he introduced the rest of his team he pointed to each man.
As he said the name Earth he noticed all five looking at them.
“Did you say Earth?”
The question came from the creature.
Kelly looked at him for a second and nodded.
He could see the alien and the Sicarian as well looking at him with eyes sown with suspicion. The humans were watching him with a look that showed disbelief.
“The stories, the legends…Hanno it is all true.”
Isco couldn’t believe what he heard. All the legends his people spoke of were true.
The Sicarian stepped forward as well.
Gokar watched the smaller human with disbelief. He was a Macassi, and he knew that the alliance planned to contact the humans. He even knew that they sent a fleet to their world to help them develop faster. Was it possible that they reached them and then sent a team here?
“Did the fleet reach you? Do you have any news about the Lacarian Alliance?”
“What Alliance? We destroyed a Dacarian fleet launched from here.”
Before the Macassi could ask another question the Sicarian stepped forward.
As he did all humans watched him with eyes that showed respect but also suspicion they all knew about the ancient history and the way the Sicarians betrayed the Alterans. They knew that a Sicarian helped them but that didn’t mean they could trust them. Not yet anyway.
“Do you know of your past?”
“All of it.”
“Kelly we have to move and move fast. We have an opening but if we don’t move we might lose that window.”
He understood the urgency.
“We have to move now. We can talk later after we are out of danger.”
Rivers pointed to Singer and Gordon to help the wounded humans. At the same time Doc and Jenkins disappeared in to the jungle once again.
The rest of the now larger group started moving forward. As they did the humans shared with the surviving escapees some of their MREs.
The group moved slower because of the wounded but they were still able to reach the river in two hours. As they did they noticed no sign of pursuit.
Rivers stood on the river bank looking at the water and the Illian who showed that it was waist deep. He turned and noticed the blood on the wounded humans. He knew that it would attract the hunter fishes that lived in these waters.
“We will have to pass fast and use grenades to ensure there are no surprises lurking in the water. Tell Singer and Gordon to prepare, they are going first.”
Anderson nodded and signaled the two seals and the two wounded humans.
Singer and Gordon stepped forward. As Anderson and Rivers threw the grenades the four men entered the river. Flint was in front constantly watching for any danger and as they passed the zone in which the grenades would have effect he threw another
two and he could hear the explosion and the geysers of water rising behind them. Several large strange looking fish could be seen floating in the river and the predators that were attracted by the blood turned their attention on them sensing easier prey. It took them almost twenty minutes to get across the mile wide river and that was not counting the five minutes break at the small river island in the middle. By the time they passed they were exhausted but they took no break instead kept on moving increasing the distance between them and their pursuers.
Chapter Six
Arcadia
Arcadia Star System
Angora watched as the groups from the last raid slowly came in to his camp. He was surprised by the large number of slaves that came with them. They were mostly Illians, but there were also a large number of humans, several Sicarians, Acadians, Lantians, and even soldiers form the Lacarian Alliance. He knew that a ship was landing carrying prisoners and he guessed that they must have been captured on the Lacarian front. As he watched them he remembered the first time he saw a Lacarian on this world. It was more than twenty five cycles ago. They were so confident then. As he watched them now he knew that their fortunes had turned. The last cycle each prisoner from the races compromising the Alliance said the same. The Dacarians were unstoppable and advancing on all fronts. He knew it was just a matter of time now until that alliance fell before the juggernaut that was the Dacarian Empire. As he watched the humans move inside he wondered if there was any hope in waiting for their descendants to come. He knew of the Alterans and their wars with the Empire. The couple of thousand surviving Ksand, the small group that represented the last surviving members of what was once in the past a great race that called this world their home spoke often of that time. And so did the Sicarians and many other races, they all mentioned those ancient times. They said that a group of Alterans retreated to their home world and that they would be back one day. As he looked at the people coming in he wondered if that day would really come. Because as the years passed by that hope was getting smaller disappearing more and more with each passing day and he feared that it would be gone soon.
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