End of the Innocent

by Clark Graham

  The general thought for a minute. “I can put you at a watch post. It will be small but you can see out of it.”

  “We were mapping out your defenses when we got hit. It was in preparation for our final assault to take the mountains.”

  That concerned the general. “When will this assault take place?”

  “Soon. I do not know the timetable for it but they were in the final planning stage. I am surprised it hasn’t already happened. My only guess would be that they are gathering more forces.”

  “Do you know where they will attack us from?”

  “I am just a masters’ mate. My job was to scan the mountains to find your positions and report it back to headquarters. I have no knowledge of their plans. Our commodore is as arrogant as he is reckless so I think he will attack head on to gain the most glory for himself.”

  The general was smiling to himself. “What can you tell us of the weapons we captured? We have some from the wingtips of the plane and some handhelds.”

  “The ones on the wingtips are ten times more powerful than the handheld ones. We call them blasters but the technical term for them is ‘directed energy pulse guns.’ The ones from the wingtips run off of the airplane’s power and will be useless to you unless attached to a powerful battery pack. The handheld ones will last a week of use before they require recharging

  “I see,” said the general. He was already making mental notes to get men who knew about batteries up there to figure out how to power the weapons. If a small one could bring down one of those airplanes, then a big one could bring down lots of them.

  Gaffe was led to his new quarters and the next two were brought up for questioning. They started the same way that they did with Gaffe so the enemy would think they were the first to be questioned. Neither one of those men were the least bit helpful. They were taken back down to their cells.

  After talking with the prisoners, General Borist gathered men who knew about battery power together. They examined the ship’s power source and were able to salvage one of those batteries from the downed aircraft. They rigged up a charging station to be able to recharge the batteries of the handheld weapons.

  They figured out that three of the wingtip blasters were still usable. The other one had been too damaged. So the good ones were put in stands that could swivel and attack incoming airplanes. The one was powered by the salvaged battery, the other two were hooked up to a bank of tractor batteries. The defenders would pack more punch when the attack came.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Plains of Santeria

  Things were not going well for General Dermal and his men. At first they had gathered food from the bunkers, as much as they could carry. Now that they had been walking a long ways, and had been joined by other bands of stragglers, they were out of food and having to live off the land.

  Dermal’s army had grown from the three of them to over thirty as he led his men towards the mountains. At first they had relied on friendly farmers to supply them with food, however one had not been so friendly and had called the invaders on them.

  Dermal’s men hid the best they could, but the Empire sent planes to strafe their position and killed three of them and wounded another six, two of them badly. The wounded were slowing them down by having to be carried.

  Now they had reached the rock gardens. This was a large stretch of boulders leading up to the back of the mountains. It was easy to hide in there so the small army was not as exposed to the prying eyes of enemy planes.

  They traveled during the night and hid by day to lessen the possibility of being seen. They were now out of food and near the end of their endurance. The one hundred mile march had taken months. They had been shot at and strafed by planes, sniped at, and had run into an enemy patrol once. Luckily it was a small patrol.

  The general was contemplating the situation. He could send hunters out. There was game in the mountains, but there were also enemy patrols that might hear the gunshots. The enemy had heard his last broadcast about making their way to the mountains so were heavily patrolling the foothills in and around the rock garden.

  He was at a loss of what to do when Dar snuck over to him. “Sir, someone is coming.”

  The general signaled his men of the danger. It could be just another group of stragglers, or it could be a patrol of the enemy. The general could take no chances. His men had their guns out and were ready.

  A ragtag group of men sneaking between the rocks came around one of the boulders.

  “Halt, who goes there?” the general demanded.

  The group of men quickly spread out and got ready to fire when one of them called out, “don’t shoot them Jaz, it’s our army.”

  Jaz poked his head up and looked around, “Well, I’ll be! I thought you were all dead.”

  The general’s men relaxed, but the general didn’t. “Who are you?”

  “I’m Jaz and these are my men. We are part of the rebellion. We are seeking out enemy patrols to attack.”

  The general motioned them forward. “I am General Dermal. We are trying to get to the mountains but are having trouble ducking enemy patrols.”

  “At least we have one thing in common,” Jaz joked. He had at least fifty men with him. Several of them were trained soldiers.

  “How many patrols are there?”

  “We have taken out three patrols, and captured some of their weapons. The weapons only last about a month and then they stop. It helps to have equal firepower. I only have five working enemy guns currently so I want to attack another patrol before they stop working to get some more. The resistance is so strong in these parts that they have doubled and sometimes tripled their patrol size.”

  “What are you doing so close to the mountains?”

  “This is where the enemy is,” was Jaz’s simple explanation. “They moved over here after the battle of the bunkers. It was like they knew you were trying to get to the mountains. Their patrols rounded up hundreds of your men. I have seventeen and they have come in handy in a fight. We try to figure out where the enemy will come through, and set up an ambush. The only problem is if we don’t succeed in killing them all and some get away, we get strafed for the next two days.”

  “I see,” the general replied. “I know how getting strafed feels. What are you doing for food?”

  “Are you out?”

  “Yes, have been for a few days.”

  “Some of my men come from nearby farms. We are getting supplied by them. It is a matter of using it before the enemy gets it. They have been giving farms away to the collaborators. Those are men who graduate from their reeducation classes.”

  “Yes, we met one of those collaborators,” the general said. “I need food for my men. Do you have enough to spare?”

  “Yes, I will send some of my men to get it. The rest will wait here. I will also take the wounded off your hands. I have a place to treat them. We have a barn nearby, which we have turned into a hospital.”

  “Very good. I will also need my troops back. You should come with us to the mountains. We can use all the men we can get.”

  Jaz bristled at the thought of losing his trained troops. They had been a huge service to him in the last ambush on the patrols. “I need those men. They would be of more use here than hiding in the mountains. The army has abandoned us. We are the only ones fighting back.”

  “And what will you accomplish? What if you kill ten, twenty or even a hundred? What if you kill a thousand? The enemy comes from a multitude of planets. Don’t you think they will just send more men? We have a chance to defeat them in the mountains. We can cause them real pain and drive them back.”

  “The army cannot win this war by hiding; you proved that at the battle of the bunkers. It only took them three hours to destroy you. It is better that you break it into many small parts and take the war to the enemy.”

  The general wasn’t getting through to Jaz. He said, “Those are my men and they are coming with me when I go.”

  Jaz didn’t say anothe
r word but walked off. When the general noticed Jaz a little while later, he had gathered his men and the wounded soldiers and he was leaving. Jaz didn’t take the soldiers with him; letting them stay with the general instead.

  A few hours later some of his men came back with the promised food. One of them admitted, “Jaz is a headstrong man. He told us not to bring the food to you, but we ignored him.”

  “Thank you so much,” Dermal said. He was very grateful. His men would eat well that night.

  Jaz’s men soon went down the hill to rejoin their group.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Andrenees Mountains

  Greten peered over the rocks. He had his binoculars and was looking down the hill at a group of men who was making their way up the slope. In the gathering light of dawn, he could just make them out. Hal had been sent to get Lieutenant Morrett. The company had been sent to the western side of the mountain and sat just outside one of the entrances to the tunnels.

  “More stragglers, Sir,” Greten reported in.

  “How many, do you think?” Morrett asked as he tried to focus his binoculars on the approaching men.

  “It’s a large group of about fifty.”

  “They will be cold and hungry when they get here; have provisions and blankets ready for them.”

  “Yes, Sir .”

  Groups of stragglers from the battle of the bunkers had been coming to the base of the mountains all month. They had all reported encounters with the enemy patrols or aircraft. It had been a hard journey and many had been killed or captured along the way.

  Hal resumed his position at his watch post and started scanning the hillside. He saw some more movement off to the side. As he focused on it, his blood ran cold. “Sir, there is an enemy patrol. They are on a course to intercept the stragglers.”

  The lieutenant looked down and saw the two groups only a hundred yards apart. They were both making their way through the rocks and boulders that made up the mountainside. The groups were not aware of each other but they were both going to stumble into each other soon.

  “What do we do, Sir ?” Greten asked.

  “There is nothing we can do; even if we run down there, we will never make it in time.”

  Suddenly the hillside lit up with green flashes and gunfire. The gunfire wasn’t coming from the stragglers’ group, but from just beyond them. Just as fast as it started, the fighting ceased.

  “What was that?” the lieutenant asked.

  Several of the men had now trained the binoculars on the area of the fighting.

  “Sir, there is another group down there. It looks like civilians,” Hal reported.

  “Sergeant Greten, take your squad and find out what happened,” Morrett ordered. He didn’t like the idea of armed citizens but this time it just may have saved many lives.

  Greten gathered his men and started down to where the fighting had taken place. General Dermal’s group was there first.

  The general looked around and saw ten dead enemy soldiers. Several of Jaz’s group lay dead also, including Jaz himself.

  One of Jaz’s men came up to the general. “The patrol was stalking you. Jaz got in between them and your men during the night.”

  “He saved my life after all of the harsh words we had.” Dermal was devastated that Jaz had been killed. He looked down at the corpse with sadness.

  “He lived for killing the invaders,” the man said. One could hear the emotion in his voice. “It was what he did.”

  “What will you do now?”

  “We will choose another leader and continue the fight. We have ten more enemy weapons now; we will be good for a while. You had better get your men out of here. The airships will be here soon. There are soldiers coming down the hillside to help you.”

  “What about the dead? Aren’t you going to bury them?”

  “There is no time. The airships will be here soon. Hurry, you must leave.”

  The general and his men made their way up the hillside. They met Greten and his men coming down. The two groups made their way to the relative safety of the tunnel entrance.

  “General Dermal, we thought you were dead,” Lieutenant Morrett said. He was so glad that some of the men made it through but especially the general.

  “It was a near thing, but I made it. How many of my men have arrived here?”

  “Not many, Sir , not many at all. You may have just come from one bad situation and gotten yourself into another. We are expecting a massive enemy attack at any moment.”

  “I need to talk to your commander as soon as possible,” the general said.

  The conversation suddenly stopped as the dark ominous airplanes arrived. They flew around in circles just out of blaster range. Greten hustled General Dermal and his men inside the tunnel and to safety.

  The lieutenant watched the planes fly around.. They didn’t seem to find a target. One of them landed on the ground and dispersed twenty troops as the other planes kept circling. The troops put all of the dead in body bags and piled them in the plane and then took off. It was a quick, efficient operation.

  Everyone breathed a sigh of relief as the enemy left, especially Jaz’s freedom fighters who were hiding in the rocks.

  Hal led the new arrivals through the tunnel system to where the army was. It was a two day trek. The tunnels went off in every direction from the western slope. It was designed to fool any enemy attacking from that direction. There was no map of it so those coming in had to be guided through it or they would never find their way. There was no water or supplies on the side of the mountains so everything had to be packed in.

  Morrett and his men stayed there four more days waiting for more stragglers. None arrived. It wasn’t a surprise as the enemy had increased his patrols in the area and there were always planes flying around, after the ambush of their patrol.

  The captain had been guarding another of the west side tunnels and he noticed that the trickle of stragglers had stopped too. He ordered his men back to the eastern slopes to prepare for the enemy’s attack.

  Chapter Eighteen

  East Coast of Santeria

  It was a calm summer day and Pethran had planted all of his fields, even the new ones he had been given. He also had new chickens, not the kind found on the planet, but new, large meaty birds that also were prolific egg layers that the aliens had given him.

  Life was very good for him, except for the loneliness. The only one that seemed to even talk to him was the food agent who was sent once a week to collect the eggs and meat. They would have a long conversation before the man left on his way. Lately there was a new food agent; he never learned what had happened to the last one. He was escorted by ten soldiers on his rounds and the agent seemed too busy to talk.

  After the agent’s weekly visit, Pethran settled down to watch the new picture radio that the aliens had given him. They called it something else, but that was what Pethran referred to it as. When he had gotten settled suddenly his door burst open and nine armed men came bursting in.

  “What is the meaning of this?” Pethran screamed.

  The tallest one of the men held a gun to Pethran’s head. “Don’t make me shoot you, collaborator.”

  “Collaborator? What are you trying to say? I fought and I got captured. How am I a collaborator?”

  “You graduated from their reeducation program. They have given you the land all around because you produce food for them. You are guilty of collaboration.”

  “What choice do I have? I either go through reeducation over and over again, or I graduate and they let me live at home. Did you get captured? Do you know what it’s like?” Pethran was yelling despite the gun in his face.

  The large man put the gun down. “No, I don’t know what it’s like. All I know is that you live very comfortable with gadgets we never even heard of before the invasion.”

  “I lost my wife in the invasion, one son was kidnapped by them, and the other fights against them in our army. I don‘t know if he is dead or alive. What more d
o you want of me?”

  “The freedom fighters need food if we are going to win this war against the enemy. You will supply food to them to prove your loyalty to the cause,” the large man said.

  His troops started emptying out the refrigerator and going through the cupboards.

  “I don’t have to do anything of the sort. I have lost my whole family to the cause. You need to leave now. You are nothing but a bunch of thugs and thieves. We have laws and it has never been allowable to break into a man’s home and steal his things. Is this your new freedom? Are you the law unto yourselves?”

  The large man pushed the muzzle into Pethran’s forehead. If he was expecting a meek coward he was soon disappointed. The large man hit the floor when Pethran threw an upper cut punch straight to his jaw. Pethran snatched the man’s gun up before the large man could respond. One of the other men turned to shoot Pethran but Pethran shot the man first. Two of the others scrambled out of the house at the first sound of gunfire.

  The others started spreading out, but Pethran was pointing his gun at the man so he dropped his. Someone shouted that a patrol was coming and all of the other men ran out of the house except for the tall man Pethran had knocked out and the man he shot.

  Half of the patrol surrounded the house while the other half made their way carefully inside. Pethran had his arms up. The wounded man was braced against the back wall. The tall man was out cold.

  “What happened here?” demanded the master of the patrol.

  “I was attacked. I managed to knock one out and grab his gun to shoot the other one. There were several others but they fled. They are just bandits although they claim to be freedom fighters.

  The master looked at the two men and then called for a medic on his radio. “We have had reports of a group of bandits calling themselves freedom fighters. They are not fighting us, but are stealing things from the farmers around here. Nobody has stood up to them until now. I commend you.”