“Aleksandr, go look!” Leduc said.
A look of dread spread across Aleksandr’s face. He crawled in the slick grass as slowly as he could manage with his rifle hooked into his arm. His head was tilted sideways to present a low profile. Reaching Xinhu he paused and the pair whispered a moment. He crept forward as slow as he could manage while still moving.
“Gah! You dumb shit!” Aleksandr called back angrily. He swatted Xinhu in the face as he sat up.
“What is it?” Crow yelled from the rear of the column.
“Stupid son-of-a-bitch. Don’t you know what that is?” Aleksandr said. His fingers poked and prodded at Xinhu who lay on the ground confused and scared.
“No! I don’t!” He squealed back.
William ran up with Crow and Selim. Each had a weapon at ready as they crested over the small rise. His heart was beating fast and his eyes dilated from the adrenaline. The taste of metal was in the back of his mouth.
The alien, as Xinhu had seen it, had four legs, a dark black snout, and was covered in shaggy grayish white wool. The alien, so foreign to a man born on an asteroid, was a sheep. The trio couldn’t help but break into a smile.
The next question became how could they eat it.
No firewood was about and no one wanted to eat it raw, yet. They tied a thin piece of electrical wire around its neck and led it slowly behind. It seemed not to mind and bleated occasionally as it stopped to graze. They learned in a short distance that sheep are not prized for their intellect.
Xinhu walked at the rear of the column embarrassed about the entire ordeal. He tried to explain himself at first. Eventually he gave up and watched the strange beast.
The land around them was covered in thick emerald green grass. The hills were low, gentle, and peaked with a rubble of white stone. It was a land touched by man, but barely scratched.
The shining object was an alloy spire. It was driven into the ground with a terrible impact. Chambers and hollows ran all the way to the peak, five meters off the ground. Vito studied it and proclaimed that it was a terraforming capsule, spreading grass seed as it dropped from orbit.
They came above a small rise and found the shepherd. The shepherd was a young boy, barely six years old, and scared. He wore wool trousers and a heavy wool sweater. He had been engrossed in a flexible tablet and hadn’t seen the group. He sat on the ground and stared up at the rough looking men around him. His name was Saul.
After a brief conversation he led them back towards the sea. They were continuing on in the same direction as they had been. The boy said little and eyed them warily.
The group followed the boy to a larger flock of sheep. They edged nearer to the sea. They came to their destination. A group of low structures, weather worn and tarnished with age, sat near a crumbled pier. A rough corral filled with sheep sat near the edge of town. A thin two rut road wound its way south.
William called a halt. “Everyone relax. Sebastien, Vito, we’re heading into town.”
The road troubled him. He hadn’t expected to run into people, or a settlement. Where did the road go? He walked in silence behind the boy.
The place was old. Most of the buildings had no roof or windows. It looked like someone had moved out long ago and only recently came back. The walls nearest the sea were battered and beaten from the storms.
They came to a large building with bundles of thin sticks stacked outside. The boy entered first followed by William with Sebastien bringing up the rear.
It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. The room smelled of grain and cooked meat. A tall man stood as they entered. As Williams eyes adjusted he saw that the man was old, very old.
“Who, who are you? What do you want? Saul come here,” The old man spoke with force in his voice.
“My name is Midshipman William Grace, of the United Colonies. This is Dr. Vitomir Kovac and Warrant Officer Sebastien Villeneuve of the UC Marines.”
The man opened his thin lips as if to speak. He blinked and sat down hard. “Oh my,” the old man said. He tapped his fingers on his trousers.
William smiled. “We’re in need of food and water, can the rest of my crew come down?”
The old man nodded. His eyes were unfocused and his mouth still slightly open. He seemed to be thinking. Heavily. With a slight nod he snapped out of it and stood back up.
“I’m David, this is my grandson Saul,” David said in a loud voice. “I can give you what you seek but then you must leave.”
William turned to Vito. “Wave the rest down.”
Vito nodded and walked back outside.
“We’re not a danger Sir,” William said. He wasn’t sure how much to divulge about his situation. He imagined the man couldn’t quite figure out how he came to be on that planet.
David looked William in the eye and held his gaze. “No, you’re not, but if you’re here when they arrive they’ll shoot me.” He looked down at Saul. “And him too.”
“Who are ‘they’?” Sebastien said.
David looked between the two men.
“Where are you from? What do you want?” David asked angrily.
William glanced at Sebastien. The Marine was impassive and looked bored. Sebastien returned the glance and walked back outside.
“We’re from Terra, Earth. We came here on a mission to get this planet to sign the Covenant and put a halt to an illegal refining operation.” William decided to stick with honesty. He knew they were here for the right reasons.
David looked confused. “How? What? But you look half dead!”
“Yes, we’ve been working to only look half dead.”
Vito walked back into the dim room.
“Mr. Grace, the men are waiting outside,” Vito said.
“Dr. Kovacs, take a moment to explain our mission to David.” William turned to David. “My men are starving. We have little to trade, but we’d like one of your sheep.”
David nodded slowly and directed Saul outside to help. “Go. I’ll not let hungry men stand at my doorstep.”
William stepped outside to find the Marines and Soldiers spread out around the small compound. The Naval staff stood near the bundles of sticks eying up the sheep.
“Tero, Xan, give this young man a hand. He’s going to help you pick out dinner,” William said with a smile.
Crow walked up to William with his rifle cradled in his arm. “Not much here Grace, a bit of shelter, whoever lived here didn’t stay long.”
“I noticed,” William said as he pointed to the road. “Can we get someone to go down that road a bit? I’d like a bit of warning if anyone comes.”
“Already on it, Kerry and Corporal Leduc are going to head out as soon as they drink their fill.”
“Water?”
Crow nodded. “There’s a well a block down. And Sir, there’s other people here, kids, women.”
William nodded. He had expected as much. He walked down to where Crow had pointed to get a drink. How was he supposed to get off without incurring Civilian casualties? He needed to know what they were up against and soon. Hun, Sa’ami, Outlaws, Pirates, Jumpers… He’d let Vito do some talking.
Sebastien walked back onto the street and nearly bowled over the small child Saul. He looked down at the child and saw curious eyes looking back up to him. He looked down for a moment and started walking.
The town was silent but was in use. Worn trails edged around the corners of buildings where the grass was tramped to mud. A pile of sheared wool rested beneath a cracked roof. Buckets were stacked near an old well.
The boy followed the augment through the town. Sebastien would normally toss a ration bar and divert the child away. This time he had nothing. “What do you want?”
Saul looked to the ground and shook his head.
Sebastien waited a moment longer and walked around towards the sheep corral. He looked back at Saul. The boy looked down again. A recollection of a moment past flashed through Sebastien. He recalled his dreams and stopped. “Come here.”
The boy shook his head slowly. He looked small in his wool.
Sebastien knelt down slowly before the boy and held out a hand.
Saul took it with his cold gritty finger. He looked up at Sebastien and bounced himself against the augments leg.
“Let’s go for a walk,” Sebastien said.
The crew saw a most peculiar sight as the augmented Marine walked in silence through the crumbling town with a small child holding his hand.
Several of the women came forward and stuffed a rough stone oven with a few bundles of sticks. It lit quickly and raged briefly before finally dying down. The sheep was laid onto a large stoneware slab and stuffed into the oven.
The small town slowly began to perk up as children and women poked out from the ruins. The smell of woodsmoke rolled over the town mixed with the tang of burning fat. The crew stayed in position around the town, but all eyes were on the roasting sheep.
“Meat. Real meat. I haven’t had real meat in years,” Vito said as he eyed up the roasting sheep.
“I was ready to eat it raw, so this is an improvement,” William replied. “What did you learn Mr. Diplomat?”
“He’s just a shepherd, says that men came a year ago, brought gifts, medicine, nanites, and just asked to setup a refinery. Then they needed more people so anyone who could work was rustled into the town near the refinery. Now everyone outside works to feed those running the refinery. Seems they have kindly hijacked the system and forced out the old council.”
William scratched his chin. “Did you see his hands?”
Vito turned from eying the sheep and looked at William. “His hands? Well, no, I don’t think I did.”
“No calluses, and his fingernails were clean,” William said. He leaned forward and pulled a slender shoot of roasted meat and popped it into his mouth.
“Clean?” Vito looked back to the building. His face wore a curious look. He paced slowly back and entered once more.
The smell of the roast teased the starving men. Even Sebastien was eying up the silent oven. A pear faced young woman stood guard near the entrance after seeing William “sampling” the roast.
William wondered how the women and children must see them. They were unshaven, dirty, stunk, and carried weapons. On top of that once they learned he was going to shake things up a bit, well, it might not be pretty.
Vito emerged once more. “He wants to talk to you. Seems he was on a council before.”
William nodded and eyed up the smoking oven. “Save me some.”
“Just the bones!”
William found David standing in the corner near two rough hewn chairs. He beckoned for William to sit. “Your Dr. Kovac told me of the Covenant.” He licked his lips and paused a moment. “It seems preferable to be seen as equals instead of being exploited.”
“Is that how you see yourselves?” William asked carefully.
Davids eyes pleaded. “You don’t know how it is to watch your wife die in childbirth because you have no antibiotics, or to watch your second wife die to the same thing. Or watch children curl up and cry when the harvest is bad. All we have is stories of what the world once was, dreams. Someone comes and offers us medicine in exchange for working in a refinery…” He let the words trail off.
“And what of your children? Born into toil and slavery?” William countered.
David sighed and put his head down. He looked like the tired old man they had seen before. “They come twice a month to get the sheep. They will be here tomorrow midday to get them.”
William watched as David tore the words out. “Why are you telling me?”
“I wasn’t going to. I’d make you leave, tell them once you were gone and let them hunt you.”
“Instead you risk your family and countrymen. Why?” William asked. A chill ran over him.
“I’ll not be the man who damns my children to a life of servitude, we were proud men once.”
“We’ll see no harm comes. Now, how many are there?”
William left David with his conscience and found Crow eating. “Did you save me any Sergeant?”
Crow handed William a tallowy piece of hot mutton without saying a word. He was too busy eating.
“Sergeant, we’re going to engage a target in the morning.” William took an amazing bite. Now he knew why Crow hadn’t spoke.
“Sir?” Crow asked with a mouthful of shredded meat.
“Get Selim and Sebastien, we’ve some planning to do.”
The briefing waited for a few delicious minutes while the men ate. Mutton, normally not a treat, was the finest feast any of them could imagine. For a few it was the first real meat they had ever tasted. The salted rye porridge they ate with it didn’t garner the same praise.
“It sounds like a Company size force of mercenaries or contractors came in a year ago. Started out plying them with nanites, medicines, tablets, and the people ran the stamp mills and the low level refineries. They’ll be here tomorrow with a truck to get the sheep,” William said.
“How many?” Crow asked.
“Normally three, but on occasion six.”
“Weapons?” Selim said as he picked his teeth.
“Small arms, sounds like assault rifles, no body armor.”
“Drones?” Sebastien asked.
“He didn’t know, I think this is a milk run for them.”
“Did he mention anything about the VTOL or if they heard of a ship crashing?” Selim asked.
“He hasn’t heard a peep. Here’s the catch. We can’t let these people be the target of a reprisal. There was no opposition when the mercs came in, there’s been zero violence from either side. If we’re going to change that we need to make this count.” William looked at each of the men around him. “We hit them, kill them, make it look like it happened away from this town and move fast.”
“Where?” Crow asked.
“The Capital, Redmond. That’s where the elevator and the refinery are. We run the truck into the town and hide out. There’s nothing in the countryside, we’d have nowhere to run. But the capital is about 40,000 people with refineries everywhere. We can strike from there.”
“Why’d he tell us all of this?” Sebastien asked warily.
“He used to be a politician of sorts, a councilor or some such,” William replied.
“What’s he get out of this?” Selim asked.
“The future of his world, or his own political station. Either way it works to our advantage right now. I think he’s looked at who is the big dog, it was the Mercenaries and eventually it’ll be the UC. I’m going to leave the tactical details to you gentleman. Let me know how I can help.” The only thing nagging him was who were the Mercs working for?
William sat back and watched as the Marine took the lead with the Soldiers adding in some details. In a few short minutes the plan of attack was laid. It would be a simple ambush, a crossfire of deadly efficiency. The main goal was to eliminate the opposing force before any word would get out.
The naval personnel were to be behind each of the professionals. They would provide a bit of extra cover fire. Xinhu wanted the Beretta, bad. He reluctantly relented when he was told they wanted to save the truck. The orders went out and the guard was to be set at sunrise.
The sheep was devoured down to a bony white sheen. The rye porridge, not so much.
William awoke in the shelter of an old windowless building. The morning crawled as he awaited the arrival of the truck. The thin road was watched by every eye except the civilians, who were kept with the old man. William sat with Tik and Von Hess on the edge of the North flank. His knee still wasn’t back to normal, he was “in reserve”.
The road led to a circular drive near the corral. The Marines were stationed nearby with the Soldiers at a 90 degree angle. This would provide a flanking shot. The goal was to catch them as they dismounted without damaging the truck.
Shortly before noon the slightest hum of an electric motor came over the hill. William felt his chest tighten and his stomach rumble. This wa
s different from anything he had ever felt in the Navy. This was close, visceral, intense, and it hadn’t even begun.
Over the hill came a truck with paneling on the rear. It had a small cab with a sheet of corrugated metal for a roof. It looked painfully old and was streaked with rust. Inside sat three men shoulder to shoulder in gray uniforms. Three slender rifles were perched in the window behind them.
William tensed as he watched them bumble down the hill. This was it! He stole a quick glance at Tik and Von Hess, they both looked relaxed as they sat with rifles held close.
A second louder whine chattered over the sound of the first. A small armored vehicle followed behind by about a hundred meters. It was a black stubby thing with wheel covers and a set of racking for drones. A single autocannon turret rose like a blister on the roof. It lacked any semblance of grace, a creature of pure violence.
“Shit,” William said as he grabbed the stubby Beretta.
CHAPTER NINE
Firefight
The truck pulled slowly into the circle drive. The sheep bleated and stirred as the truck pulled near. The APC stopped at a quartering angle on the road.
William lugged the heavy launcher until he was crouched behind a cracked concrete wall. His heart was pounding, not from the exertion but from the adrenaline. He held the only weapon that could touch that APC. Now he had to wait for everyone else to fire.
The high backed cattle truck lurched to a stop in a ragged creaking bounce. A single man stepped out and looked about the corral. He spoke to the others and everyone stepped out. The driver sauntered to the bumper and slapped a single nanite patch onto his arm. A look of serenity flowed across his face.
Sebastien sent the first round. It shattered into the throat of the driver in a single, simple, dark hole. The man slouched forward and crumpled onto his knees as if in prayer.
Projectiles cascaded down from both angles of the ambush and knocked the two men to the ground. The sheer volume of impacting bullets caused each man to dance raggedly on the way down. They were dead before they even started to fall, let alone hit the ground.
Trial by Ice (A Star Too Far) Page 12