No one said anything for a moment, before Honecker started slowly, “I don’t know if the rest of you noticed something odd about how the Gath reacted to our moves. Yes, they reacted, but very slowly, and they didn’t seem to innovate at all. Simply followed our lead, then countered.”
General Green looked at Honecker for several moments, then nodded, “as if this was all new to them. As if they had little background in military tactics. Yes, I noticed that. What are you suggesting?”
Honecker continued, “perhaps they haven’t engaged in warfare before, they may be neophytes. If so, then if we continually change tactics they’ll be caught short nearly every time. Or, we can just repeat what proves successful and expect the same response as before, at least for a time. It even took them some time to learn to keep their ships shielded and switch to missiles; something obvious with their early losses.”
Admiral Lundblad chuckled softly, “here we are, a race steeped in thousands of year of constant warfare, undertaking a war against a ‘peaceful’ race. Ironic, isn’t it? Under different circumstances, perhaps we could have become friends.”
As the meeting ended Admirals Honecker and Sixkiller left together, heading back to their quarters for a brief rest before the scheduled planning session. "How's Sage?" Faud asked, "I hear she lost most of her platoon and was wounded herself."
"Not bad," Tom answered, "burns on her left arm and left side causing some pain, but she's up and around. Probably fit for duty in a couple of days. At least OK physically. The losses shook her up pretty bad, though. She doesn’t want to talk about it, and just sits looking out the port."
"I hope she doesn't blame herself," Faud responded, "they stepped into a meat grinder when they tried to take those hangers. I hear, though, that Quanah is quite the hero. Took out two Gath ships himself, and came up with the tactic for slipping through their shields. You should be proud of him; of both of them," he added.
Tom nodded, "I am. Quanah's disappointed, though. He thought he could get at least one more, but lost the chance to become the first ace when they switched Gamma squadron to the ground assault. Plus, he lost two ships in his squadron. On balance, though, his squadron was probably the most effective in the fight. They brought down a total of eleven Gath ships, which is better than any other squadron."
The two walked along for a distance without speaking.
"Is Sage up to having a visitor?" Faud finally asked.
Tom nodded and smiled, "probably do her good. She's pretty despondent. Why not stop by for supper, about eight or so?"
Below, on the planet . . . .
The underground headquarters building on Santa Clara was crowded, people coming and going in a constant turmoil. For the last several weeks they had been in daily, covert contact with the Earth fleet, being careful the transmissions weren't intercepted by the Gath. As of last week, when the fleet had arrived, the concern with detection was at an end; now it was the effort of providing as much detailed information on the Gath and their installations to the fleet as possible.
Kevin had little sleep during the last few days, which was also true of his key staff members, Tom Ford, and Colonel Lopez. Now that the operation against the Gath moon base had been a success emphasis had changed to Alpha 2 itself, which required more information of Gath dispositions. While considerable information was already in hand more detail was essential, and they had very little time. There still remained extensive underground facilities scattered over the planet that were too well camouflaged for detection from above. Of particular concern were the hidden hangers where Gath ships were concealed.
That was the core of the current discussion. The Earthforce couldn't consider a ground assault against the mainland until they had full control of the air, and that depended on depriving the Gath of hanger facilities. Attrition through direct combat wasn't an option; the Gath ships appeared technically superior to those of the fleet, making air combat a bloody operation. Their air combat on the moon had led to unacceptable losses, with the decision to limit themselves to bombardment of hangers and surface support facilities for now, denying any Gath ships launched the ability to return to their home base.
While Jeff and the few Torgai on the mainland had provided considerable information, they were just too few and lacked equipment for precise coordinates. Therefore special teams with mapping equipment would be sent down from the fleet to supplement their activities, which would require Torgai guides; stripping the islands of most of their Torgai auxiliaries. Since the Gath had dramatically increased their ground patrols in recent days, protection was also needed for their mapping teams. At Kevin's request a marine contingent would be sent by the fleet to bolster the island's defense and provide the required protection for the mapping team on the mainland.
On the mainland . . . .
Jeff lay concealed in the dead grass overlooking the compound. It was broad daylight, but Jeff and the three Torgai were so well camouflaged they would have been invisible to any passing Gath patrol. They had moved into their position before first light, and wouldn't leave until after dark. From where they were they could see the Gath moving among the buildings, and vehicles entering and leaving the compound.
This facility, located near New Athens, was the largest Gath facility they had so far found, and from the amount of traffic Jeff thought it might be the location of the Gath headquarters; at least it was unusually well protected. Additionally, within a radius of a kilometer Jeff and his team had located three underground hangers. Lacking equipment to precisely document the sites, Jeff had noted their location as well as he could from the nearest landmarks, and as soon as they could safely leave they would head back for the foothills and have Sula send that information to the islands. Hopefully the scanners aboard the motherships could pinpoint the precise coordinates. Jeff's team had been out of contact with Sula for over two weeks, and it would take several days to return from this deep penetration of the Gath controlled territory.
While they had been out of contact, they still knew the fleet had arrived. Overhead last night, and the night before as well, the Earth ships had been visible. While not clustered as with the arrival years before, still so far he had located eight lights following an orbital path. It brought back to Jeff memories of the night on the hillside nearly thirty years before where, with his adopted family and the surviving Torgai, he had sat watching the group of orbiting lights. Many of the new colonists brought by that earlier fleet had become his good friends; he had fought with them against the Kraa, and later against the Gath. But most of them were dead now, although all of his adopted family, except his adoptive father Eric Moffa, remained alive on the islands.
At the same time Jeff and his team lay watching, Gath-Tuk-1 and Gath-Tuk-2 were meeting with their military staff in the underground headquarters going over the information still being received from the moon base. The news was not good. While the moon base was still able to report back, they were sealed underground with the humans having control of the surface. Attack ships from the human fleet, and bombardment from the orbiting motherships, had destroyed everything above ground and sealed all the entrances.
Now, Gath-Tuk-1 and Gath-Tuk-2 and their staff were in the process of assessing their current status, and how to prepare for the attack on the planet they knew was coming.
CHAPTER 4: Kraa Alliance
(Early July, Alpha Year 52): Kevin and Colonel Lopez stood under the trees watching the troop carriers settle into the clearing. As each craft came to rest wide doors opened on each side and armed marines rushed out, taking position with weapons raised. Soon the last of the seven shuttles was on the ground, several attack ships hovering overhead. Waiting until the ships emptied, they walked slowly out from the shelter of the trees and approached a small group that had gathered behind the protecting ring of troops, several from that group walking out to meet them. As they reached each other Kevin reached out to shake hands, and introduced himself and Colonel Lopez, saying, "its a pleasure to meet you, Captain.
You may not realize how big a pleasure."
Then, looking over at the marines who still had their weapons raised; "the area's secure, you can put your men at ease."
Captain Fuller turned and called out a command, and the marines lowered their weapons and moved back toward the shuttles. Beaconing Captain Fuller and the others to follow, Kevin led them to the stairs to the nearby underground headquarters, saying, “we might as well go to where we’ll be more comfortable.”
A few minutes later Kevin, Lopez, Fuller, and several others sat in the underground headquarters building going over the plans. "I'll be staying here with about half the company, the rest we've broken into teams to support the equipment specialists," Captain Fuller began. "I've assigned Lieutenant Sixkiller to oversee the teams on the mainland," he added, introducing the woman in uniform who was seated next to him. "As soon as possible we'd like to start the transport and get started, hopefully before the Gath react to our landing. Are the Torgai scouts ready?"
Kevin nodded, "yes, we were told you wanted to move fast, so they're assembled and ready to go. As are our interpreters." Then motioning to Colonel Lopez, who called one of the colonists and a Torgai into the room.
"I'd like you to meet Tom Ford, my assistant. Tom is one of the few left from the first expedition and has a good grasp of the Torgai language; in fact he lived with the Torgai for many years.”
“And this," Kevin continued, motioning to the Torgai, "is Hath-Boc, the Torgai headman. He won't be going, but has given all the necessary instructions to the scouts."
Captain Fuller looked curiously at the tall, silent Torgai, "I've heard of both of them of course. How well does Hath-Boc understand English?"
Kevin nodded, "most of the Torgai understand it pretty much, and Hath-Boc much better than the rest. He's lived with humans since 'first colony' days. He can understand nearly all of what you say, but can pronounce only some of the human words because of vocal limitations. In time humans can become almost completely fluent in Torgai, but the opposite isn't true. While it's not a full communication, it's good enough for most interactions. In fact,” he added, “your teams should learn some of the simple gestures, such as 'stop', 'go', or simple questions and answers; when in the field they may sometimes be without an interpreter and have to communicate on their own."
Captain Fuller nodded.
Kevin added, "I've assigned Tom to go with the teams to the mainland to help set up the operation, but as soon as Jeff Armstrong is located he'll handle the mainland operation for us; but unfortunately Jeff's been out of contact for several weeks on a scouting expedition. If possible, I'd like to have Tom go back with the shuttles when they return to the fleet if Jeff is back by then. He can help coordinate between the fleet and us down here."
"No problem," Captain Fuller responded, "we'll want to get the shuttles out of there fast, though. It may have to be on a later flight."
Kevin nodded, then, turning to Tom, "are the Torgai and interpreters ready?"
Tom nodded, "I've told them to assemble at the shuttles. They should all be there and ready to go by now."
Several days later . . . .
Half conscious, Sage could feel the bouncing motion, causing pain in her leg and chest. Her mind was drifting here and there, unable to focus; a state halfway between unconsciousness and wakefulness. Both her chest and her leg hurt, and her head was throbbing; it felt like someone was applying a hot poker to her leg. It was that pain that finally dragged her into awareness.
Slowly what had happened filtered back into Sage's mind. Her platoon had been divided into three person teams, each supplemented with the technician and a Torgai guide. To see how well it went Sage had decided to accompany one of the teams on its first mission, but before it could be completed it had been surprised by a Gath patrol.
It had been a short battle of which Sage remembered very little. It wasn't really much of a battle; they had been taken unawares and it was more a slaughter. The Torgai guide had been the first killed, and Sage had seen the others fall before she had blacked out. Now, bouncing along, she realized she was being carried over the shoulders of a Torgai, and by moving her head she could see through the moonlight filtering through the trees that ahead were two other Torgai.
While the pace of the Torgai was steady and smooth, each impact of its feet still caused a jolt which re-ignited her headache and the pain in her leg. She twisted in an attempt to get off the Torgai's shoulders, which caused it to stop and lower her to the ground. The two Torgai ahead stopped also, and one walked back and made several sounds and motions that were unintelligible to her, but which obviously meant to keep still. Then, two of the Torgai picked her up again by making a cradle with their hands, and running closely together to allow her to rest her back against their arms, started again along the path at the fast trot. The stride of the Torgai was long and smooth, and actually fairly soothing. It was only the constant pain that kept her from drifting off.
Sage wakened from a deep sleep. Shifting slightly, she found she was on the ground, wrapped in a fur robe. It must have been hours later, since the morning light was filtering through the trees. The first thing she saw were several Torgai moving around the clearing, and a small group of other Torgai crouching in conversation a short distance away.
One of the Torgai noticed she was awake and called out something to the nearby group, mostly shielded from view by bushes, and one of the figures immediately stood and walked toward her. It was clearly human, but wasn't one of the members of her platoon and was dressed like the Torgai guides. He even moved with the smooth, gliding walk she had noticed was characteristic of the Torgai. As the human reached her he crouched, Torgai fashion, and stared at Sage without saying anything. He was very tall and slender for a human, with a dark complexion, dark eyes, and slightly graying hair. He looked oddly familiar.
"Where am I?" Sage asked.
The figure didn't answer right away, as if trying to think of what to say, "safe," he said finally.
"My team?" she asked.
"Dead," he responded.
His words seemed stilted, as if he needed to sort out his thoughts before speaking. He continued to look at her in a curious, almost rude fashion. Suddenly it dawned on her where she had seen his face before. The holographic videos! She had seen the face dozens of times; in fact she had grown up with it. While many years older than portrayed in the videos, the face was clearly that of Jeff Armstrong!
She stared at him for several seconds before asking, "Jeff? Jeff Armstrong?"
He merely nodded, looking at her curiously, saying nothing.
"I've seen you before in your videos. Many times," she said, smiling, "it's like seeing an old acquaintance."
Jeff looked at her with a confused expression: videos? Years before many of the colonists, and the Torgai as well, as part of a commercial venture for the Alpha Foundation, had been recorded with holographic cameras, and the images sent back to Earth. The figures had been incorporated into adventure videos back home, which became a huge market. Jeff had totally forgotten the recording experience, and in any case was unaware of how the images had been used.
Saying nothing for several seconds, Jeff continued to stare at her, smiling slightly, then, "I'm sorry if I stare," after another short pause, "you're the first human I've seen or human voice I've heard in seventeen years."
The previous night a small group of Torgai, part of Jeff’s incursion to the west, had come across the trail of the mapping team while headed back from their mission to map Gath installations. They would have ignored the signs, assuming it was a group of Ta's Torgai, and continued on, but one of the Torgai thought he could detect that humans had been in the group, so they decided to follow. Out of touch for several weeks, they were unaware of the arrival of the mapping teams.
The three Torgai had just begun to follow the trail when they noted the smell of Gath also following the group. It was on a wooded hill a distance from one of the Gath outpost installations that they had located
the team, but it was too late, they were already under attack by the Gath. By the time they arrived the firing was over, and the Gath were sorting among the fallen humans and Torgai, engrossed in examining the bodies. Jeff’s Torgai, all armed with laser rifles, came up from behind catching them unawares, and they were rapidly disposed of.
There were one Torgai and five human bodies scattered around, but one of the humans was still alive. The Torgai picked up the wounded human and, taking the weapons scattered around, quickly headed away from the area; back toward where they were scheduled to rendezvous with Jeff and the other Torgai before returning to Ta’s village in the foothills. Once safely away they stopped long enough to stop the bleeding from the wounded human, then continued on. Several hours ago they reached the rendezvous location, finding Jeff and most of the others also there
Several days later. . . .
The Torgai village in the foothills was busy with activity, but was so screened by the heavy foliage that it was undetectable from above. Both the new Torgai from the islands and the mapping teams had been housed underground in new dens the Torgai had constructed, or in some cases had moved into the existing dens with Ta's Torgai. No structures were present above ground except some heavily camouflaged tents for equipment storage.
Still, knowing the Gath had heat sensing devices, a constant lookout was maintained for any Gath airships. If sighted, all would retreat to the underground dens. Actually, that was a rare occurrence; they were well beyond the area the Gath usually patrolled by air, and well beyond the range of Gath ground patrols.
Jeff, Tom, Sage, Sergeant Takaka, and several Torgai were seated or crouched away from the main camp going over the progress of the mapping teams. Not only had the team Sage had been with been caught by the Gath, others had been detected and killed as well. The Gath patrols were heavy and random, and now extended further east toward the mountain ranges than they ever had before; perhaps due to the expected invasion. Attempts to move beyond some of the nearby installations had been abandoned for now; the Gath knew they were here and were actively looking for them.
The Final Act: Book III: The Settlement Chronicals Page 5