Grumbling and embarrassed, Ben climbed to his feet and walked back to the others. “Alright, it won’t let a blade pass, which means it will stop skeeters and kants. Even a Krall probably can’t stab us through that crap. But they don’t need to stab us if they can simply blow a hole in us.”
Without warning, he whirled and pulled his pistol to fire point blank at the prone dummy. The WHOOSH-BLAM startled them all in the enclosed space. The dummy slammed back into the wall and rebounded.
Lunging at his gun hand as he appeared about to fire again, Mirikami shouted, “Stop you idiot! A ricochet might kill someone.”
“Oh, Sorry,” the man said, allowing Mirikami to push his hand down. “I didn’t think about that.”
“Ben, that was stupid.” Deanna said, accompanied by angry remarks from the others.
Dillon picked up the dummy. “There’s no hole.” Walking to the corner, he picked up a flattened soft nose slug from the floor.
“Wow.” That came from a man who had identified himself as Cody Masters. “Those suits are bullet proof?”
“Don’t get too excited. Dillon, raise the fabric and check underneath.”
There was a deep indentation and cracked plastic where the slug had hit.
“That’s what I figured. You might survive, but not unscathed from deep bruising or broken bones. And that was not an explosive or armor penetrating round.”
“I apologize again, Captain.” Ben looked sheepish. “I know you promised to help us, and this will. But it isn’t enough to save us.” Now he sounded dejected.
“Ben, this is only a defensive item,” admitted Mirikami. “It’s intended to help keep you alive longer and give you a chance to go on the offense. If any one of us kills a single Krall, it can save all of our lives.
“Get fitted for a suit here, and then I’ll escort you through our dirty tricks department. We may have some things you will want to use.”
By the time he had given them a tour of the explosives, grenades, mines, remote booby-trap triggers, quiet cross bows, pneumatic dart shooters, and a couple of one shot mortar tubes, they were much less depressed as a group.
Next, he sat with them to spell out some of what he and Dillon were planning, and offered them a part in working with them. Alternatively, they could take the weapons offered and defend themselves on some completely different terrain. He was a bit disappointed but not terribly surprised when a dozen men and women chose to stay well away from the ridge, where Mirikami intended to draw the Krall. Six of them didn’t even to say where they intended to go, but asked if they could have some grenades and mines.
Deanna and three other volunteers agreed to participate in the Captain’s schemes, and stayed behind when the others left to put in more practice time on the firing range.
Mirikami sent Thad and Dillon to check on the two last minute projects while he taught his combat volunteers how the various devices worked and what they could do. That occupied a couple of hours. He told them about Thad’s new proposal for concealment, which he admitted was risky, but probably less so than how Mirikami had previously intended to wait for and ambush the Krall. They were willing to take the risk with him, they said.
Mirikami joined Thad and Dillon in the machine shop in late afternoon, working out details of the final innovations they had planned. It was well into the evening when Aldry Linked in and raised hell again. She scolded Mirikami and Dillon for not sticking to the dinner schedule of one final large meal for the two men. Maggi confessed to having gotten so involved in the planning that she forgot the time.
“Gentle Men,” she reminded them, “This is the last high protein meal and nasty drinks you have to endure. Then an early night of drug induced sleep while your temperatures peak and the alterations really start to activate. You have to have that meal digesting or else you will steal the fuel and resources from your other tissues.”
“Yes Mam.” Mirikami replied. “I’m headed to the dining room now, with Dillon. Then we will go to our quarters to sleep. I feel like hell anyway, and I think I have something wrong with my nose or sinuses. It keeps dripping, and I’ve sneezed several times.”
“Congratulations, you probably have the first head cold in your life.” Aldry told him. “By morning or noon tomorrow your suppression drugs will have been excreted; assuming you keep your fluid intake up. Then your immune system should fight that cold off in short order. By day after tomorrow, on Testing Day, you should be feeling more energetic and more comfortable in the heat outside.”
Maggi pushed them, literally, off to the dining room where she had Chief Steward Walters setting their table in the same alcove.
They were struggling to put it all down when the Captain got a breathless Link from Cal Branson. When Mirikami heard what it was about, he asked him to hold, and then had Jake include everyone at the table.
“Sorry Cal, I brought more people in on the Link with us. Start again please.”
“We found Carltron and Blythe. The Katusha’s spotted two signatures under the flooring of the firing range, on the right side where the movable targets are located. I’m told this range was built for the Krall’s youngest novices when the Maldo clan lived here. There’s five to ten feet of space under the artificial terrain and fake hills and boulders.”
“How can you be sure it’s them?” Mirikami asked.
“Oh, we didn’t know at first Sir, just that there were definitely two separate signatures down there, and using a process of elimination of who it could be. There was a concealed access door that is apparently locked from the inside, set in the floor behind one of the boulders and covered in artificial Kobani grass.” He explained.
“But there’s no doubt now that it’s them. When the Primes tried to pry up the door, the Blythe woman called up to them and tried to make a deal before opening the door for them. Claims she was forced to keep Carltron’s secret and to have sex with him or be sent out for Testing. She confirmed that he had been taught how to use the computer by a K’Tal, and their second one shared the other one’s data base.”
“Did the Primes make a deal with her?” Mirikami asked.
“No. Carltron apparently woke up when he heard Blythe shouting through the heavy door. He claims the woman entered all ten of the names to be selected at one time, just out of spite because they could go live on the ship and she couldn’t. His defense is that he would never have done that because it was too stupid. It would reveal their secret.”
“Ha!” Maggi exclaimed. “That part rings of the truth. He was careful to keep the secret for at least four years, and if Blythe had entered just one or two names this time, it wouldn’t have been noticed. It makes more sense that Blythe might have done the deed.”
“Well,” Cal said, “It doesn’t matter now. None of the Primes will let either of them see another sunrise if they can get to them. Their problem is that the door was designed to withstand Krall training, which was never as tame as the target shooting we do, in neat lanes using frangible rounds.”
“I understand Cal, but the Flight of Fancy complement is out of it now.” Mirikami instructed. “You found them; now let the injured parties resolve this on their own. It’s a grudge to settle, and it will get violent.
“Please keep all of our people back a safe distance and let us know what happens. However, I want the four Katusha’s back on the ship for study and in our safe care now. I have a use for them in two days, but I need to turn in early so I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”
“Yes Sir. Branson Out.”
The next day they learned the Primes had used maintenance shop torches to cut the hinges on the access door. Then at least a hundred of them took turns firing buckshot rounds by the thousands through the narrow crack for a couple of hours. The shots ricocheted around in the confined space. At first, there was heavy return fire, but that died away after ten minutes. Finally, the riddled and mangled bodies were found and tossed outside for the kants and wolfbats to pick clean.
36. Crap Shoot
Mirikami and Dillon were still feeling some effects of their fevers, but less that the day before, were grateful to have a normal portioned breakfast. While eating, Mirikami ordered the first of the weapons Bob and Neri had made for him stored in the shuttle cargo area. They planned multiple trips today, setting up as warm a reception for the Krall tomorrow as possible.
Accompanied by the four volunteers that would work with Mirikami and Dillon, Thad with Jorl’sn as pilot, flew out to the truck park area, leaving some “presents.”
Next, the shuttle hovered at the top of the ridge, then at each terrace as they unloaded material and someone to work with that. The last place they landed was at the most frequent Krall shuttle parking area. They were counting on the Krall following what had become a pattern of behavior.
The six combatants and Thad stayed behind to set up their four additional locations, while Jorl’sn flew the shuttle back to the ship to ferry out what had become three separate small teams.
The three trips for the other dozen selectees landed them in the different locations where they had decided to make their stands. They were given the additional equipment they had decided they could use. Most of them had their hopes pinned on actions at the Ridge to save them all, but naturally formed a backup plan of their own if that failed.
The machinists, Bob and Neri, spent some time with the other three groups to explain how to set up and trigger the mines, and with use of dummy grenades how to arm and throw those, and the count of five before they would explode. After that, he left them to decide how to set up their own positions.
Tomorrow morning the humans would all be ordered out of the dome by Telour’s warriors shortly after daybreak. The humans would be free to travel by any means they chose, on foot, by truck, or by halftrack to where they would fight. Having the use of a shuttle was a first for them, and gave them additional time to get ready without having to spend the night outside.
The Krall shuttle would arrive in late morning, following a flight from their main compound. The warriors, if novices, normally embarked in trucks or halftracks right away, selecting which area they wanted to search first by scent trail.
Mirikami decided to give them a good scent trail in the morning. He spoke to Thad, who agreed to help. He Linked to Noreen, whom he knew was in the dome observing them at work on the ridge.
“Noreen, I want you to ask for donations of old dirty clothes from five or six particularly grimy looking Primes. Some of the former miners don’t appear to be clean freaks. Offer them clothing items from the ship in exchange. I want their unwashed clothes.”
“Alright Sir.” She sounded unsure of the request.
“Hold onto them and pass them over to Thad when he comes in today. In the morning, he’ll drive a truck out here with those clothes dragging from a rope in back, leaving a scent trail for the Krall to follow, and then fly back with Roni. Put them in a closed bag to hold their ripeness overnight.”
Noreen sounded relieved once she understood the purpose. “I was afraid you were going to wear them for moment,” she laughed.
“No. I don’t want their odors anywhere near us,” Mirikami chuckled in return.
Aware that the more experienced warriors usually flew out in their shuttle to land where aerial observation suggested would be the best place to start the hunt, he arranged for a second truck to be driven today to the base of the ridge. He had it “hidden” behind some large rocks. Parked trucks or fresh footprints were clues, of course, and implied the fastest and most efficient location to earn points.
Unlike a simple one-point kill of an unarmed human, the hunt allowed more points for prey that fought back, particularly if they fought smart and well, or were difficult to locate. The outcome was never in doubt, merely the length of time it took and the number of points to be earned by individual warriors.
By late afternoon, both Dillon and Mirikami were fever free, and finding that the day didn’t feel as oppressively hot as usual, and they had a feeling of energy that didn’t wane as they worked in the higher gravity, staying more or less constant through the day. The mods were apparently starting to work.
They placed their mines and remote activated equipment at widely spread locations along the terraces and ridge top, and spent much of the day carefully arming and aiming devices, and concealing most of them. A few devices were intended to be seen.
Dillon, in a flash of inspiration caused by the “pressures” of the previous day’s food and drink excesses, defecated and peed just inside a dark crevice, asking Frank Constansi, one of the volunteers, to watch for skeeters and wolfbats. He expected that smell would draw in a Krall for sure. He was being very careful to watch out for threats.
He wasn’t careful enough. Maggi was also watching from the dome, using one of several fiber optic video monitors installed for that purpose. She asked Jake to shift to infrared on one telephoto lens, to see into the shadow of the slightly cooler crevasse.
On an open channel, everyone on the team of six heard Maggi. “I hope you took some toilet paper Dillon. You might chafe your bottom out there in the heat.”
She enjoyed the startled look on his face as he backed deeper into the opening, tripping over his removed lower armor. Frank’s laughter was obvious as he turned to look towards the dome and doubled over, hands on knees.
Out of range with his transducer, he was helpless to send back an instant retort, even if he had one ready. He’d have to use the helmet com, and his helmet was off for the moment.
She loved that boy like her own and was terrified that he might die tomorrow. However, if she didn’t pick on him, he might realize just how worried she was. She couldn’t allow that thought to undermine his confidence.
Mirikami chuckled and shook his head. He couldn’t see Dillon up on the highest terrace, but the context was obvious. In fact, it sounded like a good attractant. He emptied his own suit’s urine collector in a long trail from near where the shuttle might land to the other side of the huge boulder. He looked overhead as he did this, seeing more wolfbats today than yesterday.
The wolfbats were smart enough to recognize the preparations, and had been circling high overhead all morning. From the direction of the woods, they had heard a couple of shots, with bats flapping up as dots into the sky from miles away.
Since communications security wasn’t an issue today, Mirikami asked the woods team what had happened using the helmet com set. It was simply a case of wolfbats getting too close for comfort in the treetops, and one of the people had taken couple of shots, but missed.
Selecting Thad’s channel, Mirikami asked, “Thad, you mentioned that the birds and squirrels in the forest can give you away. What about the wolfbats?”
Greeves answered, “In the woods a bat isn’t always obvious to us if they sit hidden in a tree. But you can bet the birds, squirrels and small animals know they are there. It will probably keep those creatures quieter, since the bats hunt them. It’s probably best if they see them to just leave them alone.”
“Are you willing to tell them that Thad? Or would you rather it came from me? I know you aren’t happy with them.”
“Ah crap. I’ll talk to them Tet,” he relented. “I have a few other tips I can pass along. They could bait their back trail with seeds or berries that’s hard to get into, say in tightly wrapped packages or boxes with small holes. The birds and squirrels that sort of food would attract will make a loud ruckus they could hear if a Krall passes close by.”
“Thanks Thad. Divide and conquer may benefit us too if the Krall split their forces. I wish them luck if they get a kill. What about the wolfbats over us? Will that give us away?”
“I don’t really think so. I noticed they circle even higher when Krall are around because they take well aimed pot shots at them. The bats generally orbit over the entire combat area, not knowing where the next meal will be. A Krall always leaves a body for the scavengers, and the bats know this. You might actually use them yourself as they follow warriors.”
&nb
sp; Thanking him, Mirikami resumed work on his two “special” traps.
Up on the ridge they made certain Jake notified them when they were in clear sight as they set their devices, raising an arm as a signal. They signaled with the number of fingers when they set a remote activated trigger, and set that as the activation code.
Then they made additional preparations in an area where they sincerely hoped the Krall would not think to look first. They had made careful plans to ensure Krall attention would be focused elsewhere.
Later in the day, using their helmet radios, the shuttle made a circuit of the woods, marsh, and river canyon, calling out and retrieving the three other teams.
Thad was quietly disdainful of the three smaller groups as they returned to the Flight of Fancy for debriefing; quiet only because Mirikami had asked that he be so.
He was angry because the other dozen selectees not only hadn’t chosen to cooperate with Dillon and Mirikami, but also had farther fragmented into teams of three, four, and five people. He thought this weakened their overall chances of a quick sure kill by not combining greater firepower. You won that day’s war if you killed a single enemy.
Five people, the remaining four Flight of Fancy volunteers and the companion of one of them, had elected to fight in the woods. They were planning to set mines along their back trail if the Krall tracked them by scent. They also had taken as many grenades as they could attach to their armor, along with two pistols each, rifles, and extra ammunition stores placed at several fall back locations.
Three people had chosen to enter the marshlands, to take advantage of the protection of the Smart Fabric body suits, and the fact that this hard to defend territory was normally ignored by the Krall in initial searching.
They intended to dig in, submerged in water up to their necks, protected from the irritations of swamp insects, and bites from leeches and crabs. There were fifteen-foot eel-like creatures that passed for snakes there, but they rarely were a threat to humans armed with guns. They had taken machetes for those, to maintain a quiet defense.
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