by Jim Laughter
“We’re receiving an emergency distress call,” Bigga answered. “It’s very faint.”
“Is it real?” Brittin asked. “Could it be a fake?”
“I don’t see how,” Buckner answered. “The transponder positively identified the Constance.”
“The Constance?” asked Brittin.
“Yes, why?” answered Buckner.
“Because, sir,” Brittin answered. “I saw the Constance just before we left Freewater. She had put in for repairs when I was at the Ops Center for CQ duty. She was scheduled to depart Freewater yesterday.”
Buckner stood up and stretched. This little training exercise had unexpectedly become a rescue mission. He just hoped the same Red-tail incursion that had apparently attacked the Constance hadn’t also destroyed the Alpha squad on their way to the moon. If so, that would explain their failure to complete their part of the training mission.
“Alright men,” Buckner began. “This exercise has turned real. Beta and Delta squads, prepare for emergency evacuation. Toopka, inform the transport pilot that we’re going active and will require him to fly us to the emergency site.”
“Yes sir,” Toopka answered and then turned to leave.
“Just a minute, Toopka,” Buckner said, stopping the man from leaving. “Also inform the transport medical staff to be ready for casualties.”
“Yes sir,” Toopka answered. He left the command center and headed off toward the transport staging area.
Stan stood up and inquired of Buckner what he and the rest of Gamma squad should do.
“You men stay here and monitor this equipment. Try to contact Alpha squad and fill them in on the emergency.”
“Yes sir,” Stan answered. “But what if they don’t respond?”
“Then assume they’ve also come under attack and are most likely already dead,” Buckner answered. Stan nodded. Buckner turned to leave. “I know Eagleman is your friend, Shane,” Buckner said. “But don’t let this cloud your mind. Stay sharp.”
“Yes sir,” Stan answered. “We will.”
An hour later Beta and Delta were loaded onto the transport. The transport comm officer tuned his emergency directional to the signal emitted by the Constance’s emergency beacon. He fed the coordinates into the navigational computer and relayed them to the pilot. A moment later, the transport lifted from the surface of the moon and headed north toward the downed freighter.
Watching from a bluff only a half-mile from the enemy camp, Delmar, Greenwood and Tip could not believe their eyes. It looked like the entire enemy contingent had fallen for the trick and were evacuating the campsite. Delmar was certain D.I. Buckner would not take everyone, so he fully expected to find at least Stan and a few others still in camp.
They watched the transport ship gain altitude then vector off to the north, soon to disappear from sight. “That’s our cue,” Delmar said. “Come on. It won’t take them long to get there.”
“And get the surprise of their lives,” Greenwood laughed.
The three men made their way back to the shuttlecraft that Greenwood had piloted at absolute ground level the last hundred miles of their trip. The flight reminded Delmar of a rollercoaster he had once been on, dipping and elevating over the rough terrain. Nevertheless, Greenwood sure knew what he was doing, and only once did the shuttlecraft skim the surface. “Sorry about that,” was all Greenwood had said, as if bouncing off the surface was supposed to be a normal part of flight.
Greenwood guided the shuttlecraft around behind the enemy position and landed behind a low ridge opposite the main communications array. It was their mission to attack the array and destroy it. Nothing fancy. It was Delmar’s hope that Stan and whoever else was in the comm center would be monitoring the emergency broadcast beacon and identification transponder and would not be watching the parameter for an invasion force.
The communications array looked like a super-sized satellite dish. Its base was set in concrete and steel, and Delmar could see what looked like bedsprings rods attached to it. Must be some of Stan’s handiwork, he thought. Cables unlike any Delmar had seen in the schematics of the array ran from the array back to the comm center and through an open window.
“More of Stan’s jury rigging,” Delmar said to Tip. “That guy could make a subspace radio out of two soup cans and a piece of string.”
Tip agreed then pointed at the comm center. Coming out the door was Bigga. He stopped to stretch a kink from his back and was just taking a bite from a large red apple when he looked up and saw Greenwood attaching something to the antenna array. Bigga took a couple more steps forward then realized what was happening.
“Holy cow!” he shouted, then turned and ran back into the comm center.
Without a second thought, Greenwood set the timer on the explosive he had just attached to the communications array then hurriedly began to climb back down the frame of the array. Delmar, Tip and the rest of the attack force bolted through the door of the comm center only a moment after Bigga had disappeared inside. They caught Stan and Bigga still trying to unpack their weapons from the locker they had secured them in after the emergency evacuation.
A moment later, a loud whoomp sounded outside. Dark black smoke enveloped the communications array. Of course, Greenwood had not used an actual explosive charge, but only a smoke bomb. At the same time, Delmar reached over and threw the power switch on the console, shutting down the array.
“Looks like you boys are out of business,” he said to Stan and Bigga. Then he looked over at two other men from the attack crew. “You Red-tails hungry?” he asked. “We got a couple of hotdogs here fresh off the grill.”
“Yeah, and one of ‘em has an apple in his mouth,” Greenwood said. Big’un opened his mouth and let the apple fall to the floor where it rolled over next to Delmar foot.
Stan and Bigga looked back and forth at each other, then at the weapons pointed at them. A moment later, other members of Gamma squad were marched into the comm center and seated on the floor along with Stan and Bigga.
“How?” Stan started to ask.
“We don’t answer questions from our food,” Delmar quipped. “So you boys just sit there, be quiet, and enjoy the show.”
At about the same time the communications array was going up in smoke, the Beta and Delta transport was homing in on the emergency beacon of the Constance. “Do you see her anywhere?” Buckner asked the pilot.
“No,” he answered. “According to these readings, she should be right here.”
“Can you set us down in that clearing?” Buckner asked, pointing at a large clearing a hundred yards from their current position.
“Sure thing,” the pilot answered. “But unless they crashed behind that ridge and their transponder was thrown clear of the wreckage, we should be able to see them by now.”
“I know,” Buckner answered. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
The pilot set the transport down in the clearing. Buckner, Toopka, and Brittin exited the ship and started making their way back to the supposed crash site. They surveyed the area and could find no trace of a crash. Buckner and the other men walked back into a box canyon of the rocky terrain.
Using his wrist transmitter, Buckner called back to the ship. “Are you sure this is the place?”
“According to the signal, you are standing about ten feet from the crash,” the comm operator on the ship answered.
Buckner looked around but there was no sign of a downed ship. Suddenly, Toopka called out, “Over here, sir.”
Buckner walked to where Toopka was standing over what appeared to be a large ice chest. Attached to the chest was a note. Inside the chest were three bottles of soda pop and the emergency broadcast beacon and transponder of the Constance. The note read: Busted, boss. Please bring this chest and the transponder back to camp with you. My friend on the Constance will need it when we get back to Freewater. By the way, we’ve already destroyed the communications array. Stoddard. P.S. Get Toopka and Brittin to carry the chest. You’r
e getting to old for this stuff.
Toopka and Brittin read the note and turned to Buckner who began to laugh, which caused the two trainees to join in with him.
“Well, don’t just stand there,” Buckner said. “Open up those sodas and let’s drink a toast to the victors.”
Buckner reached down and started to grab one of the handles on the ice chest. What am I doing? he thought. I have my orders. He turned and started back toward the transport. “You’ve got your orders,” he said. “You guys bring that chest.”
“Yes sir,” both men answered.
So, with a soda in one hand and the chest between them, Toopka and Brittin followed their drill instructor back to the transport ship.
That evening all of the squads were together again. Stoddard declared Alpha squad the victors. “More importantly,” he said, “I’m taking your nice transport ship as spoils of war. Beta, Delta, and Gamma are welcome to use our old ship for their ride home.”
Both a cheer and a moan rose up from the assembled forces. Alpha was cheering because they were going to ride home in comfort. The other squads were moaning because they had lost their position, their focus, and now their comfortable ride home. It was going to be a long flight back to Freewater.
Chapter Twenty
Deagle>gss.3703.775.fwtb
HasselFarm>gss.bv.er
Subject: almost finished
Dear Mom and Dad,
Only one month to go! Yesterday we returned from a series of training flights. I already told you about our last exercise where my squad wiped out the communications array and captured D.I. Buckner’s transport ship. This time they took us out on a transport to another nearby moon that has an atmosphere. In route, they drilled us on the suits and we got our time down to ten seconds! Then in the middle of the night, the alarms went off and by the time I opened my eyes I was already suited. Several of the guys thought it was just another drill until their ears popped and their faceplate snapped shut! After five minutes, the all-clear light came on and D.I. Buckner came in and told us to take our suits off and service our equipment. Later we found out that it really was a drill but done with hard vacuum as an incentive!
Once we arrived on the moon, we had to set up our camp from scratch. We had it assembled and operational in a couple of hours. It was that or live in our suits, and none of us could stand the smell! We drilled in low gravity maneuvers. It was interesting! The motion of the unit as we tried to march was really something. We finally got the hang of it and almost managed to stay on the ground. It wasn’t as much fun as when we took out the communications array, but we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.
Then we went to a firing range set up in a giant crater. They allowed us to use full power blasters, and boy can those things make a hole! Next they gave us the long-weapon. After working over the targets a quarter mile away, they catapulted boulders overhead and had us shoot them, or at least at them. It was like skeet shooting, only the targets were as big as trucks! I hit three out of five and was able to qualify as marksman on this range. D.I. Buckner was pleased.
The next exercise involved trying to overrun another emplacement of trainees. Stan did some kind of monkey-business with our main transmitter and used it to send out a scrambling signal that confused the other unit. We surprised them completely! I’m sure glad he’s back with Alpha squad.
Well, that’s about it for now. We’ll be going out on our final training trip soon, this time to a small planet farther out. I’ve enjoyed your letters because they are so newsy with just everyday stuff. Take care and I’ll write when we get back.
Love, Delmar
Early summer finally arrived. Agnes made her daily vigil to the computer. Robert found her standing in front of the fireplace reading the letter from Delmar. Looking over her shoulder, he was able to read it, and when they finished they hugged each other. They were just beginning to prepare lunch when the phone rang. Agnes answered and was soon talking excitedly. She hung up and turned to her husband.
“That was Daren!” she said excitedly. “RoseMary has gone into labor!”
“Well then, let’s go!” Robert replied. The two of them put the perishables away and ran for the ground car.
Arriving at the Sabeti farm, Agnes hurried into the house with Daren who had been watching for them from the front porch. Minutes later, they came out with RoseMary between them. Robert saw that the baby had dropped since he had last seen her and was causing her difficulty walking. As soon as she was comfortable in the back seat, Robert turned the ground car onto the gravel road and raced for town.
At the hospital, aides helped RoseMary inside and generally took over. Agnes was glad that she and RoseMary had visited the hospital the previous month and learned what would happen. Daren hurried to a changing room where he scrubbed and put on a sterile gown. A nurse escorted him to the expectancy chamber to be with his wife. Agnes and Robert made themselves comfortable in the waiting room.
As usual the magazines were, in some cases, years out of date. Robert even found one issue that was older than the hospital itself. He wondered where it had come from. Agnes went back out to the car to get her extra knitting bag and brought it inside. She was halfway through her second piece, and Robert was considering a career reciting the articles he had been reading, when a nurse came into the waiting room. “Mr. and Mrs. Hassel?”
“Yes?” they both replied in unison.
“RoseMary just delivered a healthy baby boy!” the nurse announced. Agnes squealed with delight and hugged Robert.
“How are they? Are they okay?” Agnes asked.
“The mother and baby are fine,” she answered. “But we thought there for a while that we were going to lose the father,” she finished with a chuckle.
“When will we be able to see them?” Robert asked, amused by the nurse’s comment.
“They’ll be in their room in about half an hour. I’ll come get you.”
The Hassels thanked her and returned to their seats. Agnes tried unsuccessfully to resume her knitting while Robert just stared out the window.
The clock seemed to stop while the eternal half-hour crept by. Eventually, the nurse returned and led the Hassels to RoseMary’s room. They entered quietly and saw RoseMary propped up in bed holding a little bundle while Daren knelt beside her. Both parents were misty-eyed and the signs of fatigue were obvious in RoseMary’s features.
Peeking inside the blanket, the Hassels saw a little pink wrinkled face. The baby cracked a tiny yawn for their benefit and then snuggled down deeper into the blanket. Robert and Agnes voiced their congratulations to RoseMary while Daren saw them to the door.
Later that evening Agnes again sat at her desk and gathered her thoughts for what she would say to Delmar.
HasselFarm>gss.bv.er
Deagle>gss.3703.775.fwtb
Subject: re: almost finished
Dear Son,
We received your latest letter today. Just after we got it, the phone rang and we ended up taking RoseMary and Daren to the hospital. She delivered a healthy baby boy! Daren is staying in the guest quarters at the hospital tonight and we will take them their car when we visit them tomorrow.
Summer is finally here and the crops are growing well. We have a new colt since I last wrote to you and another one due any time. Dad is getting around without a limp now and it’s good to see him strong again. A group of neighbors are coming by later this week to help put a new roof on the equipment shed. I’m glad Dad isn’t going to try to do it by himself.
Your training trip sounds like it was quite an experience. When I had my training flight, one of the girls accidentally disabled the food synthesizer. As a result, we had nothing to eat except compressed meat product for a week! We had a contest between us girls and a flight of men trainees on the firing range. They were good but we beat them by two shots.
Well, I better go to bed. Tomorrow is going to be busy. I’ll send you pictures of the baby as soon as they are ready. Let us know when your graduation is schedu
led. We want to be there. Take care and write soon.
Love, Mom and Dad
P.S. Daren and RoseMary named their son Del-Robert.
∞∞∞
The transport was barely clear of the atmosphere when Buckner had the unit circle up so he could address them.
“Okay, listen up,” he said to the assembled trainees. “First off, I want to tell you that we are going farther out on this training flight than we told you.” A groan swept through the unit. “Instead of the planet in the Freewater system, we’ll be landing on an uninhabited planet a few systems over. It should take us three days to get there, so make yourself useful on this ship or D.I.A. Stoddard and I will exercise our creativity.”
A hand went up in the back. “Yes?”
“Sir?” began the trainee. “Why did they change our destination?”
“The reason for the change,” Buckner explained, “is because of recent incursions by Red-tails near Freewater. The service needs to use our usual training planet as a staging area for the combat troopers. We were transferred away from the incursions so we could train safely.”
The compartment had grown quiet at the mention of Red-tails. “Any more questions?” Buckner asked. The group remained quiet. “All right, I’ll brief you shortly before we land. Dismissed.”
Two days later the trainees assembled around their drill instructor. “All right, listen up!” Buckner said as the hubbub died down. “We’re going to be landing this afternoon and I want you guys to be ready. This exercise is a practice deployment on the surface. Have you been going over your equipment?”
A chorus of ‘yes sirs’ greeted him in response. “Good,” he said. “On this maneuver you are going to be using field-strength weapons. Be careful. I don’t want to have to fill out paperwork on anyone.”
The tension eased as laughter broke out. “That’s better,” Buckner said. “I don’t want you too tense for this one. I want D.I.A. Stoddard to go over your squad assignments.” He moved to the back wall and let his assistant take over.
“Okay, here we go,” Stoddard began. “Squads one and two will secure a perimeter around our landing zone. Squad three will create a defensive fence around the ship while Squad four sets up the communications and field command. You will have ten minutes before the ship lifts. If you aren’t ready, tough. Each man will carry his own field rations and supplies. An enemy force will be trying to breech your position fifteen minutes after landing. Any questions?”