When Eagles Dare

by Doug Dandridge

  “I’ve got an idea,” he said after scanning into the compound for a moment. “Don’t get yourself killed before I get into position. Then we’ll see just how good a sniper you are.”

  * * *

  “Get your ass back here, Avgust!” Major Charley Thapa yelled, taking a shot at a Xlatan who’d shown his head for a moment. The shot missed, and Charley took a deep breath and said a mantra of calm.

  “I’m coming, Major,” the big man said, running back in a crouch and rolling over the barrier they’d been covering behind.

  “You took too long, your big bastard,” Charley admonished, taking another shot, this time hitting a Xlatan. He didn’t think he’d hit anything vital, nor had he achieved penetration, but he’d forced the other Xlatan down for the moment.

  “I had to make sure I placed them properly,” the Ukrainian responded in his thick accent.

  “Doesn’t do us much good if you’re lying out there wounded. Or dead.”

  “Just watch.”

  A fusillade of lasers came in, burning into the tough alloy of the concrete and steel blast barrier on the edge of the landing field. The field was behind them, the buildings of the processing plant the barrier protected were ahead, and in that space were several piles of logs waiting their turn to be turned into pulp and product.

  “They’re moving,” Charley said, looking over at the other mercenary.

  “I see them.” The air above them was seeded with scores of microdrones, feeding their views to the helmets of the mercenaries.

  The images weren’t all that clear, not with all the smoke. Still, the men could see the blurry heat images of the Xlatan moving. The beings were cautious, moving in a manner that kept cover between them and the Humans. Three were heading for one of the log piles, two more for another. A smart move on their part, and it was going to bite them.

  “Now!” Charley ordered.

  Avgust triggered the charges he’d planted, four of his precious remaining six. Each carried a pound of the most powerful crystalline chemical explosive known to Humankind, along with some accelerant provided by the Kalagarta. Both log piles exploded upward, propelled through rising balls of fire.

  The Xlatan were slaughtered despite their body armor, crushed by the heavy logs that flew into them or landed on them.

  “I’ve got two more, sir. Where do you think I should place them?”

  Charley shook his head. Like all demolitions experts, the Ukrainian really only got joy from blowing shit up. As long as he made good decisions about where those explosions were located, the major didn’t really care how much of an explosives nerd he was.

  The roaring sound coming from the north sent a shiver down the major’s spine. He’d heard that sound before, and it was never a good thing.

  * * *

  “We’ve got a problem here, Colonel,” Charley’s voice came over the comm.

  As far as Jonah could see, they had more problems than they could handle. So what was another one?

  “What do you have?” he asked his second, looking over at Joey and seeing the grenade hanging at the end of a blurry appendage. Jonah waved his own grenade, then hit the button on the top with three quick taps, arming it, then tossing it toward the three Xlatan that were his targets. Joey’s left his blurred area, flying through the air toward two more of the aliens. Jonah’s got there first, hitting the ground and detonating on impact. The grenades had an ounce of the same explosive Avgust was using. The rest of the quarter pound device was the trigger and hard alloy that formed the fragmentation component. The weapon exploded in a ball of spreading fire, engulfing the Xlatan. Two came flying out of the blast zone, armor on fire, while the last was slammed forward into the barrier they were sheltering behind to bounce back into the ground that was aflame.

  “What do you have, Major?”

  “A damned Tortantula, Colonel. It just strolled out of that damned circular building. What the hell is it doing here?”

  Jonah stared ahead in shock. Their intelligence had said nothing about one of the massive killing machines being on the planet. No one had spotted it, including the Kalagarta who’d escaped from the compound. It’s the thing they were being fed to, Jonah thought, angry at himself for missing the signs.

  “Can you take it out?”

  “Maybe. Possibly. Probably not. You know the damned things have hard natural armor. And this bastard has strap-on armor. If I was willing to bet, that armor is the best its employers could provide.”

  “Stay out of its way until we can figure something out.”

  “I’ve got something figured out, Colonel,” Avgust’s voice said over the comm.

  “I’m not going to have you commit suicide,” Charley growled.

  “I agree. Keep your distance until we can come up with a way to ambush it.”

  “That might be hard to do, sir,” Charley said, his voice shaking. “I don’t know how, but it seems to have seen us, and it’s moving really fast right at us.”

  * * *

  Kevin Graham came out of his blackout, his blurred vision barely able to pick out his surroundings. The pain in his lower body was enough to make him cry out. He looked at his inventory and groaned as he saw that his pain medication store was empty. A scan of his systems confirmed his worse fears. With most of his lower intestines not working, as well as having non-functioning kidneys, his still intact biology was starting to fail to the poisons that weren’t being cleared from his blood.

  What the hell is that? he thought, seeing a large blurry object moving in the center of the compound. The heavy weapons specialist attempted to clear his vision. It improved slightly as he squinted, but he still couldn’t tell what it was. That it was large and moving meant it was probably trouble. Which meant he needed to do something about it while he still could.

  He sighted in through his telescopic sight, trying to aim for a weak point. His vision continued to blur, and he finally had to settle for aiming center mass. When he thought he had the best shot he could get, he pressed the firing stud, sending the powerful laser beam into the target. He kept it on target for a full three seconds, the best he could do, before his vision blacked out again and he sank back into unconsciousness.

  * * *

  “Hold on a second, Ahmed. I’ve got a priority target inside the compound.”

  “I’m almost in position, Sandra,” the other mercenary said, disbelief in his tone. “If I don’t do something soon I’m going to have to back off.”

  “This is important. If we don’t take this thing out it’s going to slaughter our people.”

  And what in the hell is that damned thing doing in there, she thought, watching as it walked purposely toward something she couldn’t see. It could move very fast for such a large creature. And from what she’d heard, the Tortantula was as deadly a being as existed in this Galaxy.

  She took a shot, right into the body of the creature. She couldn’t see the strike, but there appeared to be no damage to the armor it was wearing. A second shot let her know that she wasn’t doing anything by shooting at it. If she’d had Sarah’s rifle, too far away to be of any use, she might be able to get some penetration. Though she seriously doubted it.

  “Okay, Ahmed. I’m back on track. First shot in three seconds.”

  * * *

  “We have more of the Kalagarta moving to the north,” Lrator said, looking over at his NCO. “You hold this position while I take half our people up the berm to stop the natives.”

  The sergeant acknowledged, and Lrator dropped behind the berm and hurried to the north in a crouch, four soldiers running along behind him. The officer wondered when the natives would get the point that there was no way they were going to take this compound. An explosion four hundred yards away, on the other side of the compound, reminded him that the Kalagarta weren’t in this alone.

  * * *

  Ahmed let out a sigh of relief. He was in position behind the Xlatan, within thirty yards. It had taken some minutes to get into this position, low c
rawling across a thirty-yard stretch of open ground. He’d wanted to cover on the side of a building until he’d found Kalagarta tribesmen were trapped in the structure, and there was no way the mercenary was going to use the poor slaves as cover. So he was back on open ground, in prone position, his weapon to his shoulder and ready to fire.

  “Taking the first shot, now,” Sandra called out.

  The head of one of the Xlatan rocked back, the round striking him in the faceplate. The being fell from the berm and landed on his back, still moving, but obviously no longer conscious.

  Ahmed took his shot, hitting another Xlatan in the back of the helmet. There was no way he was going to achieve penetration, but the force of the hit was sure to cause some damage.

  Two of the Xlatan turned his way, trying to bring their weapons to bear. One decided the threat from outside needed covering and started to turn. It was a rookie mistake, taking him out of the fight against the threat on the inside while making no possible difference against the shooter outside.

  The one who’d decided to try and fight the inner threat triggered his laser, sending a beam into the ground a few yards to Ahmed’s right. The Xlatan swung his beam further to the right, indicating to the Human that his enemy had no idea where his target was. Still, with enough time and luck he could hit Ahmed. He decided he didn’t want his opponent to have the time or the chance of spotting him.

  A burst to the faceplate knocked the Xlatan back. Ahmed wasn’t sure if he’d achieved penetration, but the Xlatan was currently out of the fight.

  A round cracked over, Sandra taking her next shot. The Xlatan had already ducked and held his rifle up to use its sights to try and find a target. Ahmed sighted in carefully, then put a burst into the back of the enemy’s helmet, knocking him unconscious.

  “The rest of them went to the north,” he reported back to the sniper. “No telling when they’re going to come back.”

  “I’m coming in,” Sandra said, “and you’ll have some friends coming over the berm any moment now.”

  Within a minute Kalagarta were swarming over the berm, weapons clutched in their hands. They fell on the downed Xlatan, pulling off armored gauntlets and faceplates and stabbing them with poisoned weapons. In moments it was over; the downed Xlatan were dead, many in postures caused by muscles forcibly contracted by the poison. The Kalagarta started into the compound, croaking out their war cries.

  “I don’t think they’re going to last long like that,” Sandra said, coming over the berm.

  “Then we might as well take advantage of their sacrifice,” Ahmed said, turning to jog after the natives.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Thirty

  “Call your creature back,” Hotaru demanded, staring at the being that was known in the compound as the Boss.

  “I can’t,” the large creature said, staring at the light-reflecting blur of the ninja. “It’s not under my control. Once it left its habitat it’s under its own control.”

  “Then I guess there’s no longer a need to have you around,” the ninja said, letting the rage and sorrow at the loss of her husband have free reign.

  “Now don’t be hasty,” the boss stammered in a deep voice. “That’s quite some impressive tech you have there. Better than I expected from Humans.”

  “We aren’t as primitive as some of you believe.”

  “That’s obvious. It’s also obvious that you personally have some well-developed skills. You could go far in our organization.”

  “I am a warrior, as was my husband,” Hotaru said, taking a step forward. “Like I would sign on with a bunch of scumbag murderers like you.”

  “Too bad,” the alien said, reaching quickly into his desk.

  Not quickly enough. Hotaru sprinted forward, leaped into the air, and landed on the desk, her blade sweeping out and catching the creature’s wrist as it rose with the pistol. Hand and pistol went swirling through the air to smack the wall.

  “I’ve never seen anything move so fast,” the boss hissed.

  “Then it’s fitting it will be the last thing you ever see,” Hotaru said, sweeping her blade accurately through the neck of the boss. At first it appeared she had missed, as the head still sat on the shoulders, then the body of the boss collapsed, and the head slid off and landed on the desk, staring up at the ninja.

  “You are avenged, husband,” she declared, sweeping her blade through the air to rid it of the blood.

  Now there was a battle to return to and a fearsome monster to kill. She wasn’t sure how she was going to do it, but she knew fate would offer her the chance.

  * * *

  “Our fire is doing squat, Colonel,” Charley called out over the comm.

  “Join the club!” Jonah shouted into his comm, firing a series of bursts into the body of the monster. Nothing was penetrating. Maybe if we had lasers, the colonel thought, wondering not for the first time if his choice of weapons for this mission hadn’t been a mistake.

  A series of bright flashes erupted over the body of the Tortantula, followed by the pops of the micro-grenades. The creature let out a roar, stopping in place as its armored head swept the area looking for its tormentor. The grenades seemed to have done no damage to the monster, but its reaction showed something had happened to it.

  The Tortantula seemed to have trouble locating the Humans. Jonah wasn’t sure how good its eyesight was. Probably not as good as Human vision. They were said to have an acute sense of smell, which wouldn’t help with exact target acquisition. It caught sight of a Xlatan soldier and charged toward it, in its rage going after something it could see.

  The Xlatan fired its laser dead center into the spider-like creature. The Tortantula ignored the strike and grabbed the Xlatan. It ripped an arm off the Xlatan, then another, and tossed the dying body away.

  Other Xlatan opened fire, now going after their attacker and ignoring the Humans. Beams struck all over the armor, none penetrating, though in places the hard covering glowed red with heat exchange.

  “They’re not having any better luck,” Joey said, reloading, then firing again.

  And we’re going to waste our ammo on something we can’t hurt, Jonah thought, trying to come up with a plan to take the killing machine out before it killed any of his people.

  * * *

  A bright thick beam struck the creature on the side, then dropped down to a leg. The Tortantula roared again, turning toward the beam, which was coming from some distance outside the compound.

  “Good job, Kevin,” Jonah said over the comm. He’d wondered where the heavy weapons specialist had gotten to.

  The beam held onto one of the Tortantula’s legs, burning through armor and appendage, and sending the great spider into a stagger. The beam winked out, and the creature stared out into the distance, looking for the being that had just hurt it.

  Another string of grenades exploded across the armor of the monster, and it roared again. Turning, it caught sight of its tormentor and charged, staggering slightly to the left as it tried to use its missing leg. Amobi tried to get another magazine into his weapon, but he wasn’t given the time. The Tortantula lifted the blurred form of the Human into the air, and suddenly there were a pair of blurs, dripping bloody intestines to the ground.

  Kalagarta started to flood the area, firing their bows and throwing spears at the Tortantula. Of course nothing penetrated the body. One got through the mouth opening, sticking into the flesh, and the colonel waited for the huge carnivore to fall over from the effect of the powerful poison.

  That didn’t happen, and the Tortantula grabbed the closest Kalagarta and ripped the warrior into two pieces.

  “Last mag!” Joey shouted.

  Jonah had one more left. Each mag contained two hundred of the ten-millimeter rounds. They were able to carry considerable amounts of ammo for their magrail weapons, but the load wasn’t unlimited, and the colonel was beginning to think there wasn’t enough ten millimeter in the universe to take out the creature before them.

 
The Xlatan were all firing at the Tortantula now. They’d seen the creature kill one of their own, and no longer trusted it to fight on their side. Unfortunately, their light lasers seemed to do little more than enrage it. Maybe if it weren’t in the armor? But Jonah could think of no way to get it off the creature. Maybe if Sarah was still alive, with her heavy anti-material rifle. He couldn’t imagine anything other than thick vehicle armor standing up to that. But she was dead, and as far as he knew, her weapon was also gone.

  The Tortantula tore another Kalagarta apart. The rest of the doughty warriors seemed to be without fear, continuing a rain of arrows, spears, and darts, but to no avail. The Tortantula continued with the slaughter.

  “Avgust,” Charley yelled, “get your stupid ass back here!”

  The Ukrainian didn’t answer as he ran silently toward the Tortantula, which at first didn’t seem to notice him. His stealth field made him difficult to detect, but the creature had good motion vision and a 360-degree view; even a blurry form could be noticed. Fortunately for the demolitions specialist, there was a lot of movement. Xlatan trying to get away, shooting at their erstwhile ally. Kalagarta trying to break off their attack and get away from the thing slaughtering them.

  The big man looked like he was going to get to the creature untouched, until the Tortantula spun around and two of its arms reached out, grabbing the Human and jerking him into the air.

  Jonah aimed and fired, trying to damage at least one of the arms holding his man, and watched as his rounds bounced uselessly from its armor. A couple of other mercenaries were shooting at the other arm with the same null result. The arms started to move apart, and Avgust cried out into his comm.