“Sir?”
“Tell your boys to escort Professor Franks to us before he chews through his suit.”
Cook laughed. “Aye, sir.”
Stone turned back to the Merkiaari and stared at it, hatred blazing in his eyes.
* * *
29 ~ Welcome to Hell
Hostile Territory, Unnamed Planet, Border Zone
Given the option, Gina would have named it Nightmare. The name for the planet had come to her after she repulsed the latest attack by another flock of rat bat things. Not an hour went by that she wasn’t attacked by something; man eating slugs, strangle trees, rat bat things, and god knows what else seemed to home on her like ship killing missiles chasing down a Merkiaari battle wagon. Maybe she smelled tasty to them; pheromones or something. Maybe her deodorant had failed. Whatever it was, the planet was an absolute nightmare, hence its new name in her mind. She couldn’t wait to get back to Warrior. At least she was closer to achieving that after finding her objective yesterday, but what was it she had found? That was the real question. She wasn’t quite sure.
It was a small settlement, very rural and frankly primitive, not like a real town or city at all. It was certainly not a modern installation by any stretch of the imagination. There were few electronic emissions leaking from it. That might be by design, but she couldn’t tell. One interesting thing was that most of the settlement’s buildings were dug into the hills like bunkers on the front line of a battlefield, and the entire thing was guarded by strangle trees. Guarded might be too strong a word; they were trees after all, not sentient beings. She didn’t think they were. Perhaps protected was a better description. The trees certainly did that, and quite effectively too. She had witnessed an attack by a pack of something-or-others that she had no name for, but reminded her of wild dogs. The trees had made a meal of them. The entire pack was fertiliser now.
Surrounding the strangle trees was a wide area devoid of vegetation like a dry moat, not that anything was dry on this soggy planet. It was obviously kept clear by the settlers for a reason, and it made her consider firing lanes and fields of fire, but she saw no evidence of weapons able to make use of such things. The moat could just be there to help detect incoming attackers. Anything approaching had to cross the empty area and then get through the strangle trees before it could munch on the settlers.
She had mapped the entire place last night, circling around and studying it from all sides in the dark. It didn’t impress her more in the full light of day than it had last night. Her processor estimated only a few hundred inhabitants could be living there based upon the fields within the strangle tree perimeter, and sensors indicated none were Merkiaari. At least, none had come within sensor range yet. They could all be staying underground in the hidden part of the settlement, and staying off her grid, but why would they? They weren’t exactly shy creatures. The last attack had been fended off by the trees and a few brave souls with long spears: none had been Merki, and none had carried modern weapons. Those blood thirsty aliens surely could not resist a battle?
It was the nature of the inhabitants that intrigued her the most about all this. She recognised them from the conference room aboard Warrior. They were Kate’s Greys. There had been no sign of the reptile or gorilla aliens they were briefed about; no Merki either. She didn’t know what that meant. The other kinds could all be out of sight, or they simply hadn’t landed in the first place. There was no way to know without approaching the settlement and simply asking. She was getting to that point about now, the point of decision.
She had been on planet over seventy-two hours now and didn’t know much more than when she had started. A satellite had finally come online yesterday and allowed her to report in, but her report had been severely lacking and she knew it. She had reported what she knew; precious little though it was, and had recommended they not send James or his team down yet. She needed access to the settlement before she would sign off on civs making a landing. The native life forms were hostile in the extreme, all of them, even the trees! That was bad enough. She wouldn’t risk them meeting up with Merkiaari too.
At least the news from Leviathan was good. Stone had found the crew dead, but plenty of Merkiaari still alive but in hibernation. They were going to cause the Council conniptions when news of that bombshell reached them. The obvious solution was to simply take the ship’s reactors offline and let them all expire, but doing that would be a war crime by Alliance standards despite the victims being Merki. The only other answer was maintaining them in hibernation indefinitely. Professor Franks was all for keeping them alive and reviving them one at a time for study. That way, those in his field would have an almost unlimited supply of subjects for years to come. It was his opinion that the ship should be repaired and taken to Sol. Gina knew that would never happen even if sufficient repairs could make it mobile again, something she doubted. There was no way the navy would sanction a ship full of Merki being allowed into the very heart of the Alliance. It just wouldn’t happen.
Besides, Stone’s team had discovered more than just a bunch of sleeping Merki; he had found where the dead aliens had come from and that put a different complexion on things. The Leviathan might actually be one of the fabled Merkiaari colony ships that scientists all over the Alliance debated endlessly. The dead aliens appeared to have been captive workers; collared slaves for want of a better description. They had all died when the ship’s jump field collapsed and caused the hull breach. No doubt Tait, being an opportunistic arsehole, had grabbed a sample of the frozen corpses, hoping to sell them and perhaps the ship for salvage as well.
The point was that Leviathan wasn’t like any colony ship ever dreamed of by the Alliance’s wildest imaginings. It was a Merkiaari baby factory; not that the Merki had babies. They were genetically engineered creatures and were born or hatched fully grown... spawned maybe? Whatever. Professor Franks was delighted by the discovery. It confirmed many theories apparently. Much of the ship was dedicated to manufacturing more Merkiaari. Those large open spaces that commander Groves had theorised did exist, and they contained huge factory complexes. There were vast vats and growth chambers for creating new generations of Merki as well as factories to produce the equipment they would need to set up new colonies. Thankfully it had all been shut down long ago by someone before abandoning ship.
Gina up-linked to the satellite and viewed the area from orbit. She was looking for any sign that the Merkiaari had ever stepped foot on the planet, any sign at all. She found nothing, again. She ordered a real time thermal scan. There was plenty of trace, but nothing to indicate anything the size of a Merki troop. The Greys were little guys, and their IR signature was pretty distinctive especially when she could easily confirm with visual sightings. She had their stats firmly locked in now; they couldn’t be mistaken for other life forms anymore. Electronic emissions? The satellite cycled through its available sensors and data gathering tools obediently, not caring that she had asked the same questions of it many times now. There were very low level electrical readings within the dwellings, on the order of solar powered light fittings. There were no high energy devices in use at all. They either didn’t have any here, or they were all unpowered right now. Unlikely. There was no evidence at all of high tech in use within the perimeter. Electromagnetic readings were still zero? The satellite reported back within seconds. Nada. Motion then... there was lots of movement, but it meant nothing. She could see the settlers with the naked eye moving about and working the fields.
She dropped the satellite link and watched things visually at X4, munching her chips. It was her last packet. She savoured the chorizo flavoured treat and frowned, trying to decide what to do. She couldn’t stay here forever. She needed to access the settlement, or leave her mission incomplete. She didn’t want to do that. It wasn’t simply pride in her work, though that played a part, it was knowing that if she left the job undone someone else would have to do it. That meant Kate, or Stone, or both.
She could just approach an
d hope she had time to react to whatever happened. That wasn’t something she would normally ever consider doing, more like something Kate would try, but she was out of ideas. Besides, she wouldn’t get through the strangle trees without a fight; she would have to hope the aliens would be intrigued enough at the sight of her to invite her in. She didn’t know how they dealt with the trees, but they must have a means of herding them or controlling them. She had watched and hadn’t seen anything like that, but it made sense. They must leave the perimeter at least once in a while to keep the moat cleared if nothing else.
She finished her chips and sucked her teeth thoughtfully. The people she could see working in the fields seemed peaceful enough. She saw no weapons. She supposed the hoes or whatever the tools were called could be used as weapons in a pinch, but she didn’t feel threatened. She felt sort of sorry for the little beggars working so hard in the drizzle. It was miserable out, but then it always was here. She didn’t know what they were attempting to grow, but it must take a lot of work to keep the fields drained in constant rain. Maybe that was another reason for choosing hilly country to settle, not just for defence. The ground would drain naturally downhill.
“To hell with it,” she sighed. She was going in.
She pulled on her pack and took up her rifle. With sensors trawling for threat, she made her way out of cover and into the open. No one reacted at first. They weren’t expecting visitors obviously. She tried to watch everything at once with multiple windows open on her display. She was tense, anticipating Merkiaari troops popping up with their gauss cannons ready to blast her, but nothing like that happened. She was in the centre of the moat when the settlers noticed her. She paused, wondering what they would do. She didn’t approach closer, reasoning they would feel less threatened if she gave them time to check her out. She was probably the first Human they had ever seen after all. Some of the little aliens approached the perimeter warily, but they stayed out of strangle tree range she noted. Even they were wary around the homicidal trees.
Gina raised an empty hand. It was a universal gesture of peaceful intent right? She was sure she’d read that somewhere. An empty hand was no threat. Maybe. The little aliens didn’t seem to take it that way. Some of them ran away, while others backed up. She cursed under her breath. She didn’t want them scared of her.
Computer: initiate full spectrum security scan, maximum range.
>_ Sensors: full spectrum sweep in progress.
Gina felt a little better when the runaways came back with more of their kind, but no Merkiaari appeared with them. Maybe there really weren’t any down here. That would be incredible good luck if true. It would make things so much tidier and allow the boffins to come down before they started bitching too loudly.
>_ Sensors: threats detected.
She froze, but before she could learn what the threats were, hostile red icons started peppering her display. The aliens started shouting at her and waving their arms. She spun on her heal. Her hand flashed down for her pistol and she started servicing targets as quickly as her sensors identified them. The rat bat things were swarming again. What was it with these things? This time she didn’t let them close enough to bite her. She became her own anti-aircraft battery potting them from the air as they approached. She was economical with her shots. A single round was overkill for these things, but she couldn’t do much about that. Each hit turned them into a brief puff of red mist on the air. She holstered her pistol after the last one died, but the aliens were still agitated. They were waving and pointing toward the trees. Gina frowned at them and directed sensors that way.
She saw the pack of doggies and turned to run. The settlers were doing something to the strangle trees. Torches? They were going to burn the trees? No! The trees were reacting to the heat of the flaming brands. Their tentacles were recoiling, opening a way for her. She checked her sensors again; the pack would cross her path and cut her off before she reached safety. She could outrun them she was sure, but they would get inside the perimeter right behind her and slaughter the Greys.
“Not on my watch!”
She stopped and took up her rifle. She shot the first few doggies in the lead, hoping to turn the pack or deter it, but the survivors took no notice. She went to war then, knowing she had to take them all down. On full auto she laid down a barrage fit to make even Stone envious. Doggies went down tail over nose, others leapt high in the air hit in the ribs and legs. She piled the bodies up, but there were always more. Her rifle ran dry; she let it drop and hang from its sling. No time to reload. They were nearly on her. She pulled her pistol and gave each one a three round burst, reloaded on the fly with the only mag she hadn’t stored in her pack—no time now to regret that decision—and selected full auto. She emptied the pistol into the snarling pack, spraying fire in a wide arc and killing a quite few more, but she was out of time.
Computer: Melee mode now!
The world slowed as her perceptions sped to meet the threat. She grabbed for her combat knife as one of the biggest doggies in the pack rammed her head on, its fangs going for her throat. She flew off her feet grabbing the thing by the scruff to keep its teeth out of her flesh, and stabbed its chest over and over as rapid as a pneumatic hammer. It screamed and yelped each time she punched the knife into its body, struggling to get away, but it finally lost the fight to blood loss and fell limp. She rolled out from beneath the carcass just as another beast snapped at her face. She punched it, feeling bones and teeth crunch under her knuckles. It went away.
She kicked and punched, stabbed and stomped like a dervish, her movements blurring with her speed. She didn’t hold back. She crushed bones with each punch, broke legs and ribs with her kicks. She made every move count. If she couldn’t kill she maimed, if she couldn’t maim she slowed her target down to give herself another chance to kill. She had never used her hand to hand training like this. Not even when the regiment was overrun at Charlie Epsilon. Now she did, and appreciated all those training hours in the sims.
Finally it was over. She stood there panting and covered in blood, most not hers. The Greys were still shouting and gesturing at her urgently to get inside. Time to go.
Computer: combat mode.
The world sped back up as she trotted between the strangle trees keeping a wary eye on those sneaking grasping tentacles, but the torches were working. As soon as she was inside the perimeter, the little aliens put the torches out and the trees let their tentacles down again. Nothing was coming in this way now.
Before she could even try to communicate with them, the aliens got excited again. What now? She followed the commotion and looked beyond the perimeter at another pack! This one didn’t attack them though. It was too busy fighting over the meat she had left out there for them.
“Wargs,” one of the aliens said. Its voice was surprisingly deep for such a small being. Had she imagined the disgust she heard in its voice? “The migration is very bad this year.”
Gina’s jaw dropped.
“Every year it gets badder... worser?”
“Worse, yeah.”
“Worse. The rains make them leave home, pass this way early. Not good.”
“No, not good... you speak English.” Oh well done, master of the obvious. “I mean how?”
“Come, I show you.”
“Wait!” she said to the little guy’s back as he headed for one of the dwellings. “Are there Merkiaari here?”
“No Merki. All dead now. Good they dead.”
She blew out a breath in relief. “Damn straight.”
“Yes, bastards.”
Gina blinked, wondering where he had picked up his English.
She let him lead her where he would, but her sensors were flagging the aliens as possible hostiles and giving her targeting data and priorities. All the red icons and information on her display was distracting as hell. She took a moment as they walked to deal with it. She ordered her processor to consider the aliens non-combatant civilians; their icons turned green and the targeting
data winked out. She looked around as they walked, taking everything in. Life here must be hard. She saw no children. All of the aliens looked the same to her. She couldn’t tell what sex her guide was; he might be a she for all she knew, but he was as adult as the others as far as she could determine going by size alone.
She ducked through the low door of the dwelling. It was sized for those living there of course, and followed her guide deeper into the hillside. The house had been dug into the hill, but the walls weren’t earthen; nothing so primitive. They were wood panelled, lustrous and smooth, obviously well cared for. She wondered if the wood came from strangle trees. It would serve those homicidal freaks right if the aliens used them to build their homes.
They entered a bedroom and Gina froze. There was a Human in the bed and he was an ancient. He must be the oldest man alive. He was so wrinkled and liver spotted with just a few wisps of hair left on his head she could hardly believe he still lived. He looked mummified! Her guide approached the bed quietly and gently touched the sleeping figure. He spoke rapidly in an alien tongue, and the old man’s eyes snapped open as he startled awake. Gina caught her breath. The eyes were so pale grey as to be almost colourless. She stepped forward into view as he tried to see her.
“At last,” he sighed and coughed. Her guide offered water and the old man drank. He said something in the alien’s own tongue and her guide replied rapidly the same way. “Lorak says you are a great fighter. He says you killed a warg pack with your bare hands.”
“With these,” she corrected patting her weapons. The old man nodded and winced. “Are you ill?”
“Dying,” he said matter-of-factly. “May I know your name?”
“Lieutenant Gina Fuentez, 501st Infantry.”
His eyes brightened with interest. “The 501st is still around then, that’s good to hear. You’re a viper?”
She nodded.
“I knew one once, a viper I mean. He’s dead now. They’re all dead,” he said sadly. “I am... was Private 2nd class Marcus Levitt, 3rd Faragut Airborne Strike Force. Do you know it?”
Merkiaari Wars: 04 - Operation Breakout Page 37