Blood on the Water

by Mark Hildebrandt

  Agitation was begging to show in Optio’s body language, “What do you mean the Third doesn’t exist. That’s impossible. The Third has existed for eight hundred years.”

  “That is the point. Look, James is from a universe that diverged at right angles from ours two thousand years ago. In his universe the Empire fell and was overrun by barbarians. This place, these mountains are not a military base; they are a park. That is why he has been here, and knows the terrain, but in his world, there is no Third and no Empire. Both collapsed fifteen hundred years ago.”

  Slowly Optio’s face displayed a hint of understanding. I think I understand. I read a science fiction novel when I was in non-commissioned officer school that had a similar story. It was something about giant insect like monsters coming from a portal in a cave. The portal was supposed to lead to earth’s future. Is it kind a like that?”

  Cassandra had come to admire Optio for his leadership, but this was proving more difficult than she expected. “Not exactly. I’m talking about parallel universe not time travel.”

  “Optio! Optio! Check the team communication channel.” Drusus hollered from the shelter. “Atticus says there is a craft approaching.”

  Optio put the communicator ear bud in place and started for the cliff face where the plane and airstrip were barely visible beyond Phelps Lake in the moonlight. James looked at Cassandra and said, “Come on let’s go see what is going on.” He took her hand and they followed Optio. At the edge of the precipice they could see a light slowly descend and apparently land at the airstrip. After only a few minutes the ship turned and took off. Shortly after it was airborne a second light approached on an intercept course from the southeast. Two quick bursts of light were visible, emanating from the second craft. The beams struck the first craft, and it exploded into a fireball over the high desert plane.

  “Well that’s it” Optio said. “Looks like vacation is over. It’s a good damn bet that craft dropped of a Senate surveillance team.” Optio then knelt next to Atticus, “What do you see on the long-range night vision scope? That airstrip is surrounded by nothing but sagebrush. There is no place to stay out of site. I need a good count for the size of the team, headed this way.”

  Atticus silently stared into his scope for a few moments, before he answered, “Optio I count ten. They surveyed the area, looked this way and are now collecting gear unloaded from the plane. It appears they are headed this way.”

  “Very well. You stay here until relieved. I want you to watch that team, if any of the ten breaks off from the group I want to know about it. You got it legionnaire?”

  “Yes Optio!”

  Chapter 27

  - Marvelous toys -

  Optio turned and headed back to the shelter with James and Cassandra following close behind. In a calm but decisive voice, Optio began barking orders into his Decum communicator. “Teams, One, Two and Three muster at the shelter ASAP. I want everyone in full battle dress; weapons loaded, and gear packed in fifteen.”

  James hollered to Optio, as he and Cassandra were struggling to keep up, “Are you sure they are a Senate team and not members of the Third.”

  Without slowing, Optio turned his head slightly and said, “There is no doubt it is a Senate team. The Third has orders to keep all craft out of this area, and that is why the transport ship was destroyed after takeoff. It is just too bad, they couldn’t have gotten it before it landed.” As soon as the last word was spoken, he turned his head forward and picked up the pace.

  Back at the shelter, it appeared to be pandemonium, but James had come to know better. It looked like a theatrical production during scene change, people running helter skelter in random directions, but in fact everyone had a purpose and everyone an assigned task. While standing and watching the chaos, his trance was broken when Optio approached, “You two better get your gear on, check your weapons and get ready to move out. I hope you remember how to use the night vision. I’m going to try to contact Josephus and let him know the situation.”

  Optio wasn’t gone long, and the expression on his face when he returned, did not convey good news. “What’s up Optio,” Cassandra asked, “Is Josephus sending a ship?”

  “The little bastards must have brought a jamming device, because I can’t get a signal. Those things are heavy and cumbersome and only have a range of about fifteen miles. Maybe if we get farther away we can get a clear signal. I’m pretty sure they will leave it at the landing strip.

  Optio pulled out his holo-map and turned it on. We need to find a more defensible spot, one with a clearing where an extraction ship can land. He then looked at James, “You said you have been here. Do you know where this trail goes?” He said tracing the red line on the three-dimensional display with his finger.

  James studied the map for a few seconds, “I think so. It appears to follow the same route as the one I hiked last summer. It parallels the stream up to the tree line, which is about hear,” he said tracing an imaginary line. “As I recall there are some meadows off to the right of the trail in this area, but as you can see it is not very flat.”

  Optio’s gaze tracked the path up the mountain valley James was indicating, “No, even if there aren’t any trees, we could never land an extraction ship on that slope.”

  “What about up here?” James asked pointing to a saddle like area near the top of the mountain. “If you are looking for a flat spot without trees to land a craft, this should work.” The area, James pointed to, was a large flat space where the trail crested the mountain and started down the other side. One sheer cliff rose on the northern edge giving it a saddle like appearance. “It is well above the tree line and there is nothing up there but rocks and last season’s un-melted snow. Not much cover, but it is the high ground.”

  “Excellent,” Optio said. “That should do nicely, and it should be far enough away from that signal jammer to allow a call.”

  James hardly let Optio finish his thought before he continued, “Just so you know, there is nothing up there but broken rock, most of it ground fine by the weather. If we are waiting for rescue and that team shows up, there won’t be any place to hide.”

  Optio smiled and for the first time his smile was full of teeth. “Good!” he said grinning, “You said this is the high ground, I concur. If that Senate team wants us, they will have to charge up an open treeless hill while we shoot down. Anyone fool enough to do that against this Decum deserves what they get.”

  With that Optio put away his map and turned his attention to his men. He instructed everyone to set the biosensors at maximum, and monitor the team communication channel closely, but do not use it unless necessary. “Team One, scout the trail up to the saddle, don’t get to far ahead. You damn better stay on my sensor scope, or I’ll come up and shoot you myself. Move out.”

  He turned to Team Three, “Get over to the face of that cliff, take two of the large guns, and monitor the threat. Make certain none have broken off and tried to flank us. Once they enter sensor range fall back. I don’t want them to get a fix on you. They are using the same equipment as we are, so they will see you the same time you see them. If you can get a clear shot as they approach, take it. Understood?”

  “Yes Optio.” Roared through the cabin.

  “Team Two you’re with us.” He turned to Cassandra, “I hope you like moonlit strolls.”

  Cassandra, James and Optio began the hike to the saddle with Team One far in front, Team Two following, and Team Three watching the cliff face. The night was so clear, and the waxing moon so bright, following the trail was easy even without night vision. In complete silence they walked through the dense forest.

  In the relative calm, James practiced with the various heads-up functions integral to the helmet. He found he could adjust the boost on the night vision assist, in small increments, between ambient and enough enhancement to make it bright as daylight. Then he examined the biosensors. All the team members were displayed on the heads-up two-dimensional map as glowing blue figures. He could fo
cus on individuals or zoom out to display the entire team. A line was displayed on the map showing the limit of the sensor range. The further from the cliff face they traveled, the dimmer the blue silhouette for Team Three became, finally fading completely once the line crossed and they were out of range.

  After a couple hours of silent travel, Atticus’s voice was heard over the team communications channel, “They are at the trees around the lake”, he said. “They have taken cover in the rocks beside the trail,” he continued with a slight chuckle, “because now there are only nine. I got one.”

  Optio paused, as did the rest. “Are you sure?” He asked.

  Before he could answerer, Pompeius’s voice was heard, “He did, I’m sending the image on the video channel. It was a clean gut shot at almost two thousand yards.”

  James looked at his heads-up display, and saw a night vision image, one that was obviously being transmitted from Pompeius’s helmet. He also heard Cassandra, “Hey Optio, my heads-up display just went blank. What gives?”

  “Give me a moment, and I’ll look at it.” He said still intently watching the video Pompeius was transmitting. It showed an image of ten bright humanoid figures moving slowly up the trail near Phelps Lake. There was a sloshing sound and almost at the same time, the lead bright humanoid form exploded. Pieces of still warm human flesh glowing in the infrared night vision flew hundreds of feet in all directions.

  James felt bile back up in his throat. Those bright spots, scattered all over the ground, were once a human being. He had just watched someone being killed. The thought settled on him like a dead weight. All the sudden this didn’t seem like a dream any longer. People are being killed, and it didn’t take much to realize what he just witnessed, could be his fate as well.

  “Damn nice shot Atticus how come you can never do that on the range.” Optio said calmly. “Now I want you to keep a close eye on that team, and stay off the communications channel, but let me know when things change.”

  “Why did you block me Optio?” Cassandra demanded.

  “We will discuss it later, Dr. Vespus, but for now, we need to keep moving. Saddle up,” he called out.

  Cassandra took a deep breath preparing to give Optio a piece of her mind, but James stepped between the two shook his head, and quietly said “later, let’s go.” He could tell she wanted to have it out with Optio, but his intervention seemed to have worked. She slowly let out the breath, nodded and turned her attention back to the trail.

  Once the moon set, about two, the teams were forced to use night vision to keep moving, and by four they had reached the tree line. Optio ordered a halt and told Team Two to take a break. Everyone slumped to the ground grabbing water bottles in the process. They had been walking for almost six hours; all of it up hill and this was their first break. Optio moved over and sat next to James, “Dr. Woodman, I assume there is no water on top of that saddle, is there?”

  “As I recall there isn’t. There may still be snow up there, but if not, there is a high mountain lake a little way down the other side.” James was pretty sure there would still be some winter snow left. Even though it was the middle of summer the snow in some of these passes didn’t go away until the middle of August, just before the fall storms started rolling in once again.

  While everyone was quietly sitting, Optio took out his communicator. He was getting a weak signal and tried to make a call to Josephus. The call went through, but the signal strength was clearly inadequate. James watched the holo image flicker. It was the kind of picture pixilation he had become accustomed to seeing on his high definition television when trying to view channels with weak broadcast signals. The only significant difference was that at home the pixilation was planar, simple polygons, on Optio’s communicator it formed three space polyhedrons. The effect was mesmerizing.

  “Optio, I’m gla … ed. There seem … team … area”

  “Josephus, you are breaking up. The Senate team has brought a signal jammer. We are moving to high ground, send evacuation ship. I will try later.” Josephus image was breaking up, as was his voce. It was impossible to make out what he was saying. Optio decided to try once again and spoke slowly, “Moving to high ground. Send evacuation ship. I will try to make contact later.” The signal flickered violently and finally went dead. “I hope he can use the filtering, and facial translation equipment to make out what I told him.” Optio said with a trace of concern in his voice. “Because I’m not sure the signal will be much better when we get to the saddle. Maybe I can get behind the cliff face to the north, the granite might help block the jamming signal.”

  They sat at the edge of the tree line until the eastern horizon began to brighten. During which time, Optio recalled Team One so they could replenish their water supply. Then he sent Team Two ahead. “Get up top of that saddle, find the most defensible position. We may need to do a little construction, so pretend you are in the old time legion and get started. Varinius, you are pretty good at building things, take charge. Now go.”

  James had to chuckle discreetly to himself at Optio’s words. It was commonplace in the Roman Empire, he knew, for the legion to march all day and then be forced to build a new fortification each night when they stopped. The tradition may have been lost in his world but apparently not here.

  Suddenly Pompeius was calling on the communications channel, “I got another one.”

  “Oh, that was hardly worth the shot” Atticus called back, “Here comes the conformation Optio.”

  Once again, the video was not transmitted to Cassandra, and this time James did not watch, once was enough.

  Optio, noticeably worried about something, asked. “That’s pretty damn close, what’s the range.”

  “You’re right Optio, it was a sissy shot.” Atticus was heard saying, “It was just under a thousand yards.”

  It was still too dark to see Optio’s expression, but his body suddenly became stiff and a heightened anxiety seemed to be emanating from every part of him. “Team Three, get way from all exposed areas and get behind cover NOW!” The communication signal carrier clicked three time indicating acknowledgement.

  Shortly after an undefined “Holly shit” was heard.

  Optio responded “Stow that stuff men, get back to good cover and monitor the sensors. Let me know what is happening.” Again, three clicks were audible in the helmet speakers.

  James had noticed the members of Team One immediately tense and prepare for combat. In fact, the testosterone driven tension was growing thicker with every breath. “Optio what’s happening?” He asked quietly trying not to become infected by the others anxiety.

  “They were careless. Fortunately, all three are unharmed.”

  Before Optio could explain further Atticus’s, voice said, “They are at the base of the cliff and leapfrogging up the trail.”

  “Very well. Now listen to me,” Optio said. “There is a meadow approximately fifteen hundred yards up the trail. It has a clear line of site shot down to where the trail comes over the cliff. At that distance you will be out of biosensor range and should be able to get at least one good shot. Set up a shot and take out the first assassin to crest the hill. That will keep them pinned down for a while.” Three clicks were followed by silence.

  “What happened Optio?” James persisted.

  “They messed up. It is to be expected. They are young, got anxious and forgot to monitor distance and sensors.”

  “I’m not sure I understand.”

  “They were watching the Senate Team using high-powered night scopes and neglected to keep an eye on the biosensors.” Optio’s words did nothing to alter the blank expression on James’s face. “Look, Team Three had the high ground and infrared camouflage. They could see the Senate Team, but the Senate Team could not see them.” James began nodding understanding. “All of that changed when the Senate Team got within biosensor range, and Team Three became visible. That’s when they opened fire. Damn near got one of them killed. We will schedule some intensive refresher training
when this is over.”

  James continued staring at Optio, “I hope you get the opportunity.”

  Optio’s expression clearly said, why wouldn’t we? But he just shrugged and resumed, “Now all Team Three can do is try to harass the Senate Assassins, maybe bag another one or two while we get dug in. So, we might as well get moving.”

  Once the trail was cleared the trees, the going slowed. The ground had changed into a fine wet gravel making each step difficult. Millennia of freeze thaw cycles had ground the mountain rock into small pebbles. From the tree line to the top of the hill there were no rocks larger than a baseball. After several switchbacks, and about half an hour of trudging, they reached the saddle. “What a desolate place” James heard Cassandra say over his shoulder. She was right. The saddle was a couple square miles of rocky flat terrain. There were no trees, just a large mountain peak rising vertically for about two thousand feet a half a mile to the north. Cassandra turned once again, “That must be some peak, we are already at ten thousand feet and it still goes straight up for another two at least.”

  “I think that is the backside of one of the Tetons.”

  “That’s an odd name.”

  “It is what they are called in my world. The mountains are called the Grand Tetons. They are rumored to have been named that by French trappers, because from far out on the plane, the mountains looked like breasts.”

  Cassandra looked back but continued walking, “I assume the trappers were men?”

  “I got another one,” Atticus voice boomed over the communications channel, but changed to concern, “Damn, are you all right Gaius.”

  “Yeah, I just got spayed by some rock when that projectile hit”

  Optio then said firmly, “That’s enough. Team Three fall back. Don’t give them a target. Repeat don’t give them a target. Stay in the woods and fall back to our position.” His instructions were followed by three clicks.