* * *
“We’ll see you at the compound,” Sandra said, looking up into Jonah’s eyes. “Don’t disappoint me and get yourselves killed.”
“We’ll try not to,” Jonah said with a smile. “Of course, the enemy will have a say in that.”
The company was on the banks of the great river, waiting for their transport across. Sandra had the other three of the team she was commanding standing behind her. The twelve who made up the colonel’s main party stood behind him. All had on their combat gear, skinsuits of impact armor with web gear over the top, helmets on, and faceplates down. Everyone also carried their large backpacks. Over it all was the active camo covering, the most important piece of equipment for a stealth unit.
Everyone had their coverings on passive, not using any of the power reserve that active sucked up. Still, the members of the party were hard to make out in the shadows of the forest, even when one knew exactly where they were standing. During the day, the covering would convert and store solar energy. Something they’d added were Ghillie suits for all. After hearing about how the Kalagarta had penetrated into enemy territory with coverings of their vegetation, they thought it a good idea to do the same. But Sandra, who had her own suit, had suggested the idea of the signature sniper camouflage. The Kalagarta had provided the netting, made up of the high carbon content fiber strands of their herbivorous spider-like creatures. In fact, the Kalagarta had grabbed hold of the concept of the suits and made their own versions, which left their hands free.
The skinsuits would harden on impact, stopping all but the highest velocity rounds. They could handle several seconds of rifle-level lasers, spreading the beam and the heat over the entire the suit until penetration was achieved. They would protect the Humans against the fire of the Xlatan riflemen. Against heavy lasers, they’d do nothing. Only by making use of good cover would the Humans survive. In most cases, the Kalagarta didn’t even have that advantage.
“Our rides are here,” Ivan said as the shadows of several large canoes came up to the bank, the paddlers grabbing branches to hold them in place.
Jonah had wondered why an amphibious species had developed river craft so much like Eastern Amerind war canoes, but the Kalagarta traded things that couldn’t survive in the water, so they used the large canoes to transport them. The invaders had started blasting them from the air whenever they saw one during the day, so the Kalagarta had resorted to using them only at night.
The main party would go across the river and work their way to the rocks that were to be their entry points. Sandra’s team would move to the mouth of the creek, then insert by water. If everything went well, they would be at the compound in two days.
Charley shrugged his shoulders, as if to say, ‘when had anything gone well since they had arrived on this world?’
Four to five Humans got into each canoe, along with five Kalagarta to work the paddles. The darkness had fallen quickly, and the river looked like a pitch-black mat stretching into the distance, the deeper dark of the forest on the far bank forming a backdrop. In a couple of weeks, that part of the lowland forest would no longer exist, but they’d be able to take advantage of it tonight.
The Kalagarta were masters of their craft. They dipped their flat paddles into the water and moved them without a sound. There was a slight phosphorescence behind the canoes, but not enough for anyone to see unless they were right on top of the party. In a couple of sweaty, anxious moments they were across the river, then moving east along the bank.
Jonah checked his helmet HUD, noting the time passing. Twenty minutes and they were again being pulled to the bank by tribesmen on dry land. Several hundred Kalagarta were gathered under the trees, softly croaking to each other. The colonel could make out some words, but he wasn’t about to ask the tribesmen to speak up.
Kalaprax and Xebraferd came shuffling out of the dark, and the other Kalagarta moved out of their way.
“Are we ready, Human?” asked Kalaprax, his eyes glowing slightly in the reflected light of his night sight.
“The colonel and his people are always ready,” said Xebraferd with a croaked laugh. “We could learn much from them.”
“I don’t want to learn much from aliens,” growled the North River Tribe war chief. “I want to kick them off our world.”
“You’re wearing one of the camo coverings they taught us to make,” said Xebraferd, hunched over as he glared at the other war chief.
“As soon as we finish this mission, we’re gone,” Jonah said, trying to head off a confrontation between proud chiefs, something they definitely didn’t need right now.
“That would probably be best,” said Kalaprax.
Xebraferd started to move toward the other chief. Jonah reached out a hand and put it on the tribesman’s chest, shaking his head, a gesture the Kalagarta had seen many times before.
“We have a long way to go,” Charley said, patting Xebraferd on the back.
“Then let us get moving,” said Kalaprax, turning on his heel and walking away.
“They have suffered much,” said Xebraferd as soon as the other chief was out of hearing range. “Still, he had no cause to insult those who are here to help. We do not stand a chance without your people. His pride blinds him to that fact.”
And even with our help, you’re probably doomed. But what else can we do but try?
The war party, four hundred Kalagarta and thirteen Humans, walked through the night. According to the plan, this wasn’t the only war party on the march. There were over fifteen hundred Kalagarta making the approach on other axes of advance. They were staking everything on this attack. It was a wise decision, since failure here meant the rest would be relegated to the status of targets. Still, failure would mean the massacre of the warriors of most of the local tribes.
The sun was on the horizon by the time they reached the rocks. If time hadn’t been of the essence, Jonah would have called for everyone to lay low until night fell again. On the off chance the Ravagers were coming, they didn’t have the time. It would be a tiring two days, with little in the way of sleep. The Humans had the reserves to handle a couple of days without sleep. The primitives should as well.
“There is the first of the gullies,” said Kalaprax, pointing ahead at the dark crevice which was still in complete shadow. “We can move fairly quickly through it for about four miles. At that point we will need to move across open ground until we get to the next one.”
“Sounds like a repeat of our adventure in the midlands,” Charley said, looking at the gulley, then scanning the area.
The region looked much like a blasted moonscape. No living vegetation for miles on end, all the way to the horizon. There were numerous stumps cut close to the ground, branches scattered about, and even a covering of dead leaves. Almost perfect camouflage for the people to move through. An intact forest would be better, but they weren’t about to get it so close to the center of the Invigorate processing.
The party came down from the rocks and moved quickly into the gulley. It was about ten feet deep, with a lip of dirt held together by root mats on the west side. The line of warriors moved down the gulley, keeping under the cover of the lip. With their Ghillie suits, they’d be hard to spot, even to someone directly overhead.
A couple of hours into the march, they heard the whining sound of a shuttle overhead, followed seconds later by another. One continued on, obviously not looking for them. The other circled overhead for a few moments, raising the anxiety level of everyone in the gulley. It must not have seen anything, though, because it continued on, heading to the west.
“This would be a bad place to be if they fire some incendiary rockets at us,” Ivan said, pulling up his helmet visor to take a swipe at the sweat on his face.
It’s damned hot out here, Jonah thought, following Ivan’s procedure and only succeeding in spreading the sweat around. Pulling an absorbent rag out of his gear and wiping his face met with more success. His face was dry for a couple of minutes, until the swe
at started flowing again.
“Everyone watch your water,” he ordered, pulling out his own canteen while he wondered if they’d have enough. The Kalagarta had to be suffering as much as the Humans were. They weren’t showing any sign of it, which meant they were either tougher than he thought, or they’d figured out some way to preserve their water. That they didn’t sweat went some way toward explaining that, but it wasn’t the whole answer. Maybe Ivan can find out what they have going for them when this is over.
Cheung Xou was at the front of the line, stopping every fifty yards or so for a couple of seconds to push a probe into the ground and pull it out again. He would then reinsert it fifty yards further on.
“What is your man doing?” asked Kalaprax, looking at the large Chinese mercenary.
“He’s testing to see if the enemy put sensors in this gulley.”
“I do not think they have in the past,” said the North River Tribe war chief. “At least they were not waiting for us when we came into the open near their compound.”
The Kalagarta continued to look as Xou continued his work. “I think the invaders are not as good warriors as you are. They have similar machines to you, but they do not use them as well.”
That made sense to the colonel. Humans had been fighting among themselves for thousands of years and had evolved the principles that led to victory. Or at least to not being an easy victim. One of the principles was to assume if you’d thought of something, the enemy might have as well. If they hadn’t, and you wasted a little bit of effort, no harm done. If they had, and you didn’t make the effort, you could get burned. Being burned in a military situation often led to death.
“Are your people going to do okay with water?” asked Charley, who had noticed the same thing the colonel had.
“We will come to a small spring-fed pool tonight. We can drink our fill and fill our bags.”
“What about the warriors who don’t have a spring in their path?” Jonah asked, not willing to believe every route would have convenient water.
“They will just have to carry more water,” said the Kalagarta leader, not surprised at all by the question. “That means less food and fewer weapons, but if they get there, what does it matter?”
A couple of hours later one of the shuttles flew overhead, maybe a mile to the west, on a heading for the compound. Minutes after the second shuttle flew over, passing overhead a mile above. The war party covered up again, but the shuttle had little chance of spotting them. That might not be true for those moving in the open, but from what the war chiefs had said, they’d be moving at an extremely slow pace, carrying their camouflage with them. If one was spotted and destroyed, the others would carry on.
Except that something’s different this time, Jonah thought, looking up into the sky after the shuttle had passed. We’re here, and the enemy knows we are. Which means they’ll be more careful in their search patterns. If they find one of the Kalagarta parties, they’ll be on heightened alert status.
The party moved through the day, covering half the distance to the compound. At one point they had to leave the gulley and move across a half mile of open ground. It took almost an hour, groups of three or four going over in a hunched position, falling to the ground to total stillness for a few minutes until they were sure the whistle of a shuttle wasn’t coming their way.
White Eagle had to admit the amphibians had the making of very good guerilla warriors. If they were properly equipped and trained in the use of that equipment, they’d play hell with the Syndicate. The problem was, there was no supplier, and the Kalagarta had only been able to acquire weapons in small quantities, and at the cost of many lives.
They continued moving several hours after the fall of darkness. When they finally settled down, the members of the war party ate their only large meal of the day, cold meat and some grain cakes washed down with water. As promised, they’d come to a small spring with a run off forming a tiny creek. They’d start the next day with a full load of water. The leaders would worry about getting enough for the way back if necessary.
Sentries were posted, and everyone tried to get as much rest as they could. Putting sentries out was common sense, but if they were discovered, the Xlatan shuttles would rain fire down on them. Jonah dismissed those thoughts. There was nothing he could do about them, and he’d learned years ago not to entertain anxiety-causing worries that would rob him of rest. Instead, like the old trooper he was, he lay his head down on his pack and closed his eyes. The next thing he knew, the coming dawn was lightening the ground outside the gulley, which remained in shadow.
He felt rested and was satisfied his internal clock was working. Then he moved and felt every part of his body complain about the motions he had repeatedly made the day before, added to the hard ground he’d slept on. I’m getting too damned old for this, he thought. It might be time to think of retiring, if he made it off this planet.
* * * * *
Chapter Twenty-Five
“We flew around all last night, Commander, and didn’t find a damned thing.”
“Even checking the known village sites?” Mmrash asked, staring at the sergeant.
The commander thought for a moment after the words left his mouth. Of course, if they knew the Syndicate had located a village, they’d move. And even if they didn’t know they’d assume they’d been targeted and still move.
“Even that big damned village down by the river,” the sergeant agreed, his ears flicking in aggravation. “I put down a half mile from the location. The huts were still there, but it looked as if they’d moved everything that wasn’t nailed to the ground. All their smoking racks, cooking spits, even their weapon-manufacturing stations.”
“That was a risk, sergeant,” Mmrash said, his own ears signaling disapproval. “If there had been any lying in wait, they might have killed some of your squad.”
“No worries there, sir. We had all of our sensors on, and the shuttle was looking on from overhead.”
And that’s what has gotten over forty of my people killed since we took this job, he thought. Everyone in the Syndicate had taken the natives for granted, and forty of them had paid for their arrogance. His people had been better than the non-Xlatan overall, but the Kalagarta had been able to ambush some of them as well, including his now-deceased second-in-command.
Then the Humans came along, and I’ve lost over thirty people to them. He wouldn’t have believed that possible, but the Humans were good. Very good. Some of his people didn’t think they could come here, but he knew better. And if the Kalagarta had gone into hiding, he was sure they’d be attacking along with the Humans. By themselves, they really weren’t much of a threat to take the compound. With the Humans and their weapons, they might cause a lot of trouble for the operation. And if there was trouble for their employers, there was sure to be trouble for the Xlatan clan they employed.
“Get some rest, sergeant,” he said finally. The NCO hadn’t led his squad into disaster, and he’d come up with useful intelligence. “I want you and your people back in the air at first light.”
The ears of the other Xlatan let Mmrash know what he thought about that idea. As long as soldiers didn’t refuse a command, a good Xlatan leader let it go. In a species that couldn’t help but project their feelings to every other member within sight, certain conventions had been developed to keep them from each other’s throats.
“Lrator,” the commander called over the comm as soon as the sergeant was out of the chamber.
“Sir,” the new lieutenant replied, hurrying into the office.
“I want half the soldiers on alert for the rest of the night, and fifty percent ready every night after.”
“You think something’s going to happen?”
“You faced the Humans. What do you think?”
“I think they’re going to hit us here with everything they have. Possibly tonight, but more probably one of the next couple. If they’re still expecting the other company to arrive, they’ll move within the ne
xt couple of days.” Lrator looked down at the floor for a moment before continuing.
“And if their friends do arrive, sir?”
“No chance of that, Lieutenant,” Mmrash snorted. “The Syndicate made sure their contract was cancelled.”
“What if they come anyway?”
“Don’t be an idiot, Lrator. They’re money fighters, same as us. If no one’s paying them, of course they aren’t coming.”
“Yes, sir,” Lrator said in agreement, though his ears told a different story.
The new officer was a very intelligent member of their species, and Mmrash had learned years ago to ignore the opinion of idiots, while paying attention to those who could actually think. So he spent the next several hours worrying about what Lrator thought and wondering what he could do about it if the heavy troops did come. He concluded there wasn’t much he could do.
* * *
“We want to talk to the people in charge down on the planet,” Colonel Alexander Ramos said, sitting in the command chair of the Guadalcanal. Captain Chu had taken another bridge chair, letting the overall commander have the stage.
“I have orders to turn everyone away,” said the alien on the viewer.
Ramos wasn’t familiar with the being’s species. That wasn’t surprising, since there were so many different species scattered among the billions of stars. It had a roughly humanoid face, deep blue skin, and some kind of fleshy crest running down the center of its spine. Ramos had no idea if the creature was male, female, or something else, not that it mattered. This was a flunky, just an obstacle placed in his path.
“We’re not leaving until we talk to your boss. Understand?”
“You can sit there until you run out of food and air, for all I care, but you will come no closer to the planet.”
Ramos wasn’t sure why they didn’t want him talking to the authority on the planet. He could just ignore the frigate and transmit a message himself. He doubted they’d fire on his ship for such an action. The problem was, the authorities on the planet didn’t have to answer back.
When Eagles Dare Page 30