by Chris Hechtl
“Let's hope so,” Jethro muttered. “Let's definitely hope so.”
<)>^<)>/
Major Zedeal rushed to the scene when he heard a Horathian officer had been captured. She only gave her name and rank, one Captain Goddard.
He escorted her up to Colonel Harper, but she wouldn't talk. That was fine; given what they knew about what had happened in Fallbrook, she was up for a war crimes tribunal. They might use it as leverage, bartering to spare her life if she turned on her fellows.
Might being the operative word he knew.
<)>^<)>/
Major R'nz got the memo from Warrant McClintock. The Veraxin didn't recognize the name. He checked and was not amused that it had come from someone who'd just gotten their boots on the ground. “Damn smart-ass noobs who think they know more than the people who've been here,” he said, instantly rejecting the email without reading it further.
Chapter 60
“We need to do something,” Dana said with a shake of her head as she looked around her grim-faced staff for answers. None seemed to be forthcoming. Jethro's team was getting settled in. She was glad they were more or less acclimated. Now she needed a place to use them she thought.
“Air assets won't help much, ma'am. We can't use satellite systems to get them. This is a boots-on-the-ground situation,” her Veraxin XO said.
“I realize that,” Dana said. She didn't mention the Cadre. By now everyone knew they had some reinforcements, but they also knew it was a small amount. Their elation had swelled up and then deflated almost as fast as they'd gotten the news.
“You got nothing out of the woman?” Dana asked, turning to the INTEL spook.
Blake shook his head. “She clammed up and knows her rights. We don't have the equipment to take her apart here. And the medics won't give her truth drugs. We're stymied. I might have a few ideas, stuff like sleep deprivation or the reverse, put her under and feed her information or subliminals to get her to talk, but …,” he spread his hands in supplication.
“Right, no guarantee it will work. You need time. Okay,” Dana sighed.
“I did have one thought. Did you notice that none of the acts in the past several months have been by their armor?” Major Zedeal asked, looking around the conference room.
Dana paused and then cocked her head as she forced herself to think about that. Finally, she nodded. “I did, but it didn't occur to me to wonder why.”
“I think we've got them pinned down. I think we're on to something, but we can't find them. They’re near our search zone and don't want to expose themselves. All of the attacks have been with their conventional forces.”
“Ah,” Dana said thoughtfully. “And their militia assets. Don't forget them.”
“I haven't, ma'am. I think they've realized they can't face us in the field, which is why they are going the terrorist route. Their militia units have stopped trying to snipe us. We've got more cameras up, and we're a lot more aggressive about finding suspected saboteurs or bomb makers. Sniping with our sensors means they get maybe one shot off and then we're on them.”
“I know.”
“We've had two reports of knife attacks. We're working with local law enforcement on it.”
“Good to know.”
“But this all boils down to the enemy trying to get us to pull off our search,” the major said.
“Okay, okay, you've got me half convinced. Keep the coverage up then. But we can shift resources to cover the cities and towns.”
“Yes, ma'am. We have some more robots and sentry systems up,” Captain Dernigz said tiredly with a nod. He was being run ragged just like the people that worked for him. The pace was grueling, and it seemed never ending. He wasn't certain anymore if they were winning or losing. “And we've got some more short-ranged air drones up. Our teams are cracking down on suspected safe houses and even going door-to-door in some cases. I'd like to get some more forensic detection sensors into their hands.”
“Forensic …”
“GSR. Gun Shot Residue, ma'am. The same for chemicals in explosives, acids, that sort of thing. Get it into the hands of some of the troops, and they'll be able to run down the enemy easier.”
“Do that.”
“It won't help if they used a rail gun, but we can also check for blood,” the captain said.
“Do that too,” Dana ordered.
“Aye aye, ma'am.”
<)>^<)>/
Jethro noted the beggars along the fence protecting the spaceport and surrounding area. He saw the occasional skiffle bands on the streets corners of the Capital City, many with a hat or mug begging for change. They play makeshift instruments out of household items they salvaged. One guy had a violin made out of some sort of box with advertising on it. It grated on Jethro's ears. He would have paid the guy to give him the blasted thing except he didn't have the local currency. All of his Federation credits were electronic. He made a mental note to find a way to get them out into real coin and coins at that. The paper currency wasn't worth toilet paper it seemed, he noted. Coins were used or bartered. If he wanted to eat in a civilian restaurant or something, he'd need to get cash.
Those considerations were for later he thought as he completed the circuit and returned to the spaceport. He had other things to be concerned about he reminded himself.
<)>^<)>/
General Drier was not happy, and his senior staff knew why. He had a mixed reaction to the loss of Captain Goddard. He was not happy, not with the losses she had sustained, most of them in the evac period according to the observers he'd had in the woods to the south.
If the enemy's radio reports were accurate, he'd lost an entire company in one night. None of his people had made it to their fallback positions. Not one. That didn't bode well for future ops; his people knew it and were now scared. Hell, he'd lost half his observers in that night too.
Another more pressing thought gnawed at him though. He was worried if she was captured alive she'd give up his location. In fact, she knew the locations of most of the bases. “I should have never let her go,” he said, shaking his head over and over.
“It was a risk, sir. She is … was our best field commander outside of Captain Zhukov. The gamble to free up his forces seemed good at the time,” Major Noveletto said.
“I know. What bothers me are the risks involved, ones I'm only seeing now in hind sight. I screwed up in not gaming out what would happen if she'd been caught,” the general growled. “She knows too much, as much as you and I,” he said.
The major blinked and then nodded slowly.
The general grimaced as he pulled up the base's blueprints. “If we have to, I want our people out the door. Out the back door preferably,” he growled, tapping a finger on it. “I wish now we'd built more than one. And I wish I'd given you the time to make that back door a hell of a lot further way,” he said.
“Yes, sir, I know. We did what we could with the resources and time we had on hand,” the engineer said.
“I know that. You did what you could; I'm not knocking it,” the general said.
“Thank you, sir,” the major replied with a relieved nod.
“We need to go over the fallback plans. See any input she had, anything specifically related to Angela and rewrite them. Just in case,” the general said. He shook his head bleakly. “I should never have allowed her to go on that damn op. I know we needed leadership on it but …,” he grimaced. It was over and done with now he knew.
<)>^<)>/
Captain Goddard was of two minds about her custody on the enemy hospital ship, Colonel Harper. She liked that she was warm and that she was safe from being eaten by the Neos. But she couldn't help but shiver when she saw a black Neocat walking with crutches past the big window next to her closed door. The Neocat checked the sentry robot near her door and then turned eyes on her before the sentry told her to move along.
“Out of the frying pan and into the fire,” Angela murmured, trying to put the sight of the Neo out of her mind.
Kiki grimaced. There were prisoners on the ship; she knew it. She checked each out to see if she recognized them. This one was different though, female, but not someone she recognized.
“Ready for another round?” the orderly asked, checking on her.
“I think so,” she said as she stretched a bit.
“I know it'd be easier with an exoframe, ma'am, but you look like you are doing okay with crutches,” the orderly said as he came over to check her out.
“I am. The floor isn't too slick. I need to watch certain areas,” she said, looking over her shoulder back the way she had come.
“Yeah, watch some of the hallways, especially if one of the robots have just gone through and cleaned it,” the orderly said. “We can get you on an exercise machine after lunch. You still don't want to soak?”
Kiki wrinkled her nose at him, ears back. “I'm a cat, what do you think?” she demanded.
He snorted. “Just checking. Some cats love the hot tub,” he said.
“Pass,” she drawled as she went back to her rehabilitation therapy.
<)>^<)>/
Marjorie walked the market, more for relaxation and light exercise than anything important at the moment. It was a rare change; before, you didn't go out if you could help it. Nip in and out of the market, then home where it was presumably safe. Things were slowly changing for the better. People were still on guard, but they'd helped take the fight to the enemy. Neighborhood watch groups had been formed to keep an eye on suspicious activity. They were finally being proactive about their own safety, something they owed to the Marines but more importantly to Jean Claude Debois for showing them the way. For his kicking them out of their apathy, she was bemused but also grateful.
She liked the way things were; the open air market felt exposed but strangely safe. Not like some of the reports of places further way. Though to be honest, Fallbrook had been clean and without incident; its fall had really shaken people up she knew. She had thought about going there, but it just goes to show, the old saying about the grass is greener … she shook her head as she checked the nearest booth's inventory. She sniffed at a pile of apples. They'd been miss-handled or had fallen from the tree; most had bruises and bumps. A year ago she would have bought them without a second thought out of desperation; now, she could afford to be a bit choosier.
No, she wasn't going anywhere. Her job was here, her family …. there was a lot more stuff to choose from. More foods and goods coming in despite the problems with the Horathians. Things were picking up.
She stopped to listen to some of the gossip, but most of it was a rehash. She nodded and moved on. She eyed a Neomutt Marine. The Marines were not half bad. They were a hell of a lot better than the Horathian pirates, like night and day she thought as she went to the next booth, this one closer to the Marine. She noted the Marine had a partner near, an elf. You didn't see that sort of thing with the Horathians. No way, no how she thought as she tested the rind on a cantaloupe.
Absently she heard Mister Debois on the radio in a stall. Debois asked again for people to step up with information on any caves they knew about. That made her frown thoughtfully and turn. It was probably silly but she couldn't help herself. “Say, did you guys ever check out the caves near here?” she asked the elf.
Lance Corporal Waters Darkly turned with a frown. “Excuse me, ma'am?”
“The caves. Over there,” Marjorie said pointing to where the Horathian base used to be beyond the hills and buildings. “They are in the hills there on the other side of their old base. Lots of trees and stuff. Some steep cliffs in a few places. The kids in the area used to steal hooch and go up there and get into trouble years ago,” Marjorie said with a slight blush. Her ear tips heated as she remembered losing her virginity in those caves.
“Um … ma'am, I didn't know that,” the elf said thoughtfully, turning to the wooded hills. “But I'll make sure someone checks it out.”
Marjorie nodded. “Good. Have a good day,” she said as she paid for the cantaloupe and then went about her business.
<)>^<)>/
“We've confirmed there are caves there. How we missed it though,” Lieutenant Liu said, shaking his head. “Ground penetrating radar from a distance is a subjective return at best. But we can see echoes. We're also getting some thermals that do not conform to natural sources.”
“So, they are there?”
“Something is there,” Major Zedeal said. “What, we don't know at this point.”
“Okay, so we need more INTEL.”
“Yes.”
“The question now is how do we go about confirming the lead without tipping the enemy off that we know they might be there?”
“Scout? We've got a RECON unit now …”
“It's risky. Let's see if we can use IR and passives to narrow it down in a series of passes as long as we're not being too obvious about it.”
“Okay. I don't know how much we'll get but any new information is good I suppose,” the lieutenant said dubiously.
<)>^<)>/
Bast got an idea when she noted the ships weren't using all of their sensor assets. There had to be a way for the enemy to recharge their suits, and they needed to see if her “hunch” was correct. So, since Jethro was busy, she wrote out an email and sent it to the brass, specifically the intelligence section. She signed it with Jethro's name and forwarded him a copy.
<)>^<)>/
Major Zedeal read the missive and then re-read it twice before he looked up. He was ready to smack himself in the forehead. “Why didn't we think of this sooner?”
“I don't know,” Lieutenant Liu said with a shake of his head. “We were too close to the problem to see it clearly, maybe?”
“Are we going to do it, sir?” Private Fowley asked, looking from one officer to the other.
“Damn straight we are!” the major growled. “Let's see, General Murtough and most of the other ships don't have the sensors, but …,” his fingers flashed as he checked. “Ah hah! Just as I thought. Throat Slasher does. That makes sense since she's a warship, though I don't know what sort of resolution she'll get pointing her sensors at the planet. We'll find out I suppose. I'm ordering her to do an orange peel starting with our search area.”
“You think they'll pick up the neutrino traces under the rock?”
“Neutrinos go right through them unless they are properly shielded. Let's see if the enemy thought of that,” the major said with a nod. “I'll write a nice thank you to Warrant McClintock for showing us the obvious. He just got on my holiday list for life if he's right.”
“Better you than me, sir; I'm still gob smacked we didn't think of it and gnashing my teeth,” the lieutenant replied.
“Well, to be fair he didn't until now I guess,” the major said as he rapidly typed up orders to the colonel and the captain of the destroyer.
<)>^<)>/
“So, Throat Slasher has confirmed it?” Dana demanded later that evening.
“Confirmed two fusion reactor signatures—one right under our nose at the old Horathian base. It's on the outer edge in the wooded hills here,” the major said as he pointed to a section of the map. “We've talked to the locals; they confirmed that is where the caves are. The other is in the mountain range here. Throat Slasher doesn't have a good fix on that one so they are narrowing it down now.”
“So, right under our noses this entire time. Damn them,” Dana muttered.
“Well, since they're underground, they are already halfway to hell. I propose we send them the rest of the way there, ma'am,” Lieutenant Liu said.
“We can't. We need to be certain. A thermobaric round can only penetrate so far. If they've got air defenses, they could take it out, and we'd waste the missile for no return. We don't know if this place has any back doors, and given that it took a near miss from a KEW strike and its underground, I think they could shrug off anything Throat Slasher drops on them.”
“Not necessarily. They might have cave-ins
,” the major replied.
“True, but I don't want a maybe; I want to put them out of my misery for good. Which means, we're sending in RECON to sniff them out, then the warrant's people to finish the job.”
“Yes, ma'am. You know RECON might get torn up,” the major said. When he saw her expression, he nodded. “I'm passing the order on now, ma'am. We'll send them in on foot though.”
“Good. No need to tell the enemy we've pinpointed their location. See if you can shift the air cover to cover that site all the time in case they try to evac,” the colonel said.
“Now there is a nasty thought,” the lieutenant murmured.
<)>^<)>/
Pamplona shook her head. “You've got to be kidding me; we just get our asses on the ground and this falls into our lap? They didn't see it; no one said anything?”
“Yeah, how crazy is that?” Letanga said absently as he checked his suit over.
“Freaky,” Uraj grumbled.
<)>^<)>/
The first blizzard of the season forced them to wait for slightly clearer weather before sending the RECON team in. Colonel Harley denied Jethro's application to send his own RECON team in. “They are here for a reason, Jethro; we can't hold their hand,” she had said, ending the argument.
“It wasn't personal. Be careful,” Jethro said to Chege. Chege had nodded.
Sergeant Chege Sekibu knew he and his team had a lot to prove. He'd caught part of the warrant's argument. He knew the warrant had the field experience and combat time. He intended to get his own; after all, everyone had a first time.
Which was why he wasn't complaining as his team spread out by pairs and crept in from different positions on the invisible clock around the base. They were moving in under the cover of night, taking their time. Their gillie suits would handle most of their heat signatures, but not all since they had to vent somewhere or they'd steam bake themselves. They crept in slowly, avoiding the sticks and half buried branches while staying off the trails.
He'd taken the three o'clock, the most dangerous route in to the objective since it was a straight-on path from the old Horathian base. He recognized the signs of a path easily enough; he could see the dirt road someone had cut to get heavy equipment up the hills. It wasn't recent of course, but it was just one more clue that said they were on the right track.