by D. J. Holmes
“Then he died nobly fighting for your people,” Johnston said, keeping his feelings to himself.
“And that is exactly why Councilwoman Rodriguez left when she did,” Johnston tried to explain. “She did see the writing on the wall. But she didn’t run to the Indians, she came to us. She has spent the last month back on Earth trying to convince my people and the rest of the Earth nations to allow Haven to democratically choose her future.
“If you remember my ship then you will remember my Captain, James Somerville? Well his full title is Duke Somerville of Beaufort. He and Councilwoman Rodriguez were married just weeks ago and so she is now Duchess Somerville. As far as I have seen, she is doing everything in her power to get the British government to send a force to liberate Haven. That is why we are here. She succeeded, and now her husband and the rest of the Royal Space Navy are on their way here to kick the Indians out.”
“Well, that might just change things,” the old man said. “Assuming it is true mind you.”
“You mean Councilwoman Rodriguez married that naval Captain who saved us from the Vestarian’s?” the old woman asked.
“Yes,” Johnston said.
“How romantic,” she replied.
“Oh give over,” the old man said to his wife. “We are in the middle of a war. It is not the time for romance, our very future is at stake.”
“Is it really true?” the old man asked as he looked back at Johnston with an earnest look in his eyes. “Is Ms. Rodriguez really coming back with a British army?”
“We’re here aren’t we?” Johnston asked. “We wouldn’t be here unless there were more soldiers following us.”
For the first time Johnston saw something other than despair in the eyes of the two old settlers. It wasn’t hard to figure out what it was. Hope.
“Maybe we will pack up and go to the Fredericktown settlement,” the old man said. “They will have food there and we can see our grandchildren.”
“Yes,” Alexandra said. “We can come back and fix up our home once all this fighting has died down. And we can tell everyone about Ms. Rodriguez.”
“Just be careful who you tell about us,” Johnston said. “The Indians don’t know we are here yet and we would like to keep it that way. It is for your benefit too, if the Indians hear you have met us they will scoop you up for questioning.”
“We understand,” the old man said as he nodded.
“In that case we better get going,” Major Johnston said. “Thank you for talking to us, your information will prove useful I’m sure.”
“Thank you Major,” the old man said. “We had lost hope for a while there. We simply don’t have the technology or manpower to fight the Indians, even if our young men are willing and eager. With your help, we might yet find a measure of freedom.”
“I hope so,” Johnston said as he shook the old man’s hand.
As they both turned and walked off back towards what must have been the remains of their house, Johnston got back into his power armor. “Ah, that feels better,” he said once he powered it up.
“Time to head out Sir?” Lieutenant Moony asked.
“I think so,” Johnston replied. “We have learnt all we’re going to learn and the Indians might send a patrol back here at any time to check up on the settlement. It’s time we got to Liberty to see what is going on with our own eyes.”
“We’re leaving in thirty seconds,” Moony said over the COM to the rest of the marines. “Finish up what you are doing. Samuels and Fisher, you have point.”
As the marines formed up and walked out of the settlement, Ferguson and Moony looked back to see the old couple standing at the door to their house waving. They both lifted their armored hands in return.
“I think that might be our cover blown,” Lieutenant Moony said over a private COM channel.
“I imagine so,” Johnston replied, “but at least my warning might make them hold off from telling anyone too much for a day or so. By then we will be long gone. With luck, by the time word reaches the Indians we will be ready to get off this rock.”
Chapter 15 – The Councilwoman
While my expertise as a historian lies in naval warfare, the last thousand years have also seen dramatic changes in the technologies used to wage ground combat.
-Excerpt from Empire Rising, 3002 AD
27th April 2467 AD, Haven.
The next day Major Johnston stood peering through the thick foliage of the Haven forest. With a thought, he told his combat armor to inject more stimulants into his body. He and his marines had been on the move since they had disembarked from the shuttle. Several hours ago they had reached the outskirts of Liberty. They were now about four kilometers away from the city and ten from the large Indian base that had been set up in one of the few clearings in the forest near the city. Johnston guessed that the Indians had used the clearing as a LZ when they had first come to Haven. Due to the lack of space they had turned it into their main base after that.
In front of Johnston there was a small clearing in the forest that formed a path between Liberty and the Indian base. They had come across signs of fighting in the forest. Broken trees, fragmented armor pieces, exploded ordnance and a semi intact walker suggested that the Havenites were putting up a fight.
From the look of the path, it seemed it was a patrol route for Indian soldiers in power armor. Johnston had his men spread out around the path, waiting for a patrol. He wanted to lay his eyes on the Indians himself to see how good they were. If the opportunity arose, he also wanted to capture a prisoner. It would be the quickest way to find out exactly what the Indians were up to.
They had been watching the path for the last three hours and Johnston was very aware that his eyes were threatening to close over from exhaustion. Even an enhanced special forces marine can’t stay awake forever, he reminded himself.
The next COM message sent a shot of adrenalin through his body, waking him up. “I’ve got movement up ahead,” one of the marines reported.
Johnston checked his HUD, the marine in question was further along the path towards the Indian base. It must be a patrol, he thought.
“No one move,” he ordered. “Let them come to us. We’re only going to attack if the odds are in our favor. We need to be able to take them out quickly and get out of here fast. Samuels, double back into the forest and join the rest of us.”
“Yes Sir,” Samuels said. She was the marine who had spotted the incoming Indians, Johnston had sent her a klick along the path to give them an early warning of any activity.
“Here they come,” Moony said as the Indians came into view around a turn in the path several minutes later.
Perfect, Johnston thought as he saw there were only ten Indian soldiers. We can take them.
“They look wary,” Moony said and Johnston had to agree. The soldiers looked like professionals and they were panning their weapons around as if they expected an attack at any moment.
“Get ready,” Johnston said. “We will wait until they get right in between us. I want the first soldier alive, Beckworth and Harte, take out his legs. The rest of us will dispatch the others.”
As the marines acknowledged his orders, Johnston watched the Indians get closer. When they were a little over three hundred meters away, all hell broke loose.
An explosion erupted from right under the feet of the lead Indian soldier. It blew his power armor into the air. Even before it hit the ground, the loud thud of several gauss cannons could be heard from the forest. Two Indians took rounds right in their sternums, shattering their frontal armor and the soldier within. The gauss cannons were quickly followed by the sounds of other weapons Johnston didn’t recognize. However, their results could be seen among the Indian soldiers as some form of explosive round burst against their armor.
Whilst the element of surprise allowed the Havenites to take out three of the Indian soldiers, the rest reacted quickly. Within seconds of the first explosion the remaining seven soldiers had taken cover by the edge of th
e path and they were mercilessly pouring fire into the side of the forest they were under attack from.
The result of their much more accurate fire was felt almost at once as the fire from the Havenites dropped off. One gauss cannon fired again, hitting an Indian soldier. The return fire from the Indian plasma rifles quickly silenced it.
Just when Johnston thought the battle was over, more than fifteen human heads popped up from the other edge of the path. Zooming in on one of them Johnston saw that the man was lifting himself out of a hole that had been covered over with soil and branches. As soon as they were on their feet they charged towards the Indian soldiers.
The Indian who had been watching their flank mowed the Havenites down. Yet too many had seemingly appeared from nowhere for him to react fast enough. In the blink of an eye five of the Havenites got close enough to attach something to their targets. As soon as they did they burst into the thick foliage and out of Johnston’s sight.
Many of the Indian soldiers didn’t realize what had just happened but as the Havenites ran past them they poured plasma bolts into them, cutting them down. Then, as the Indians ran out of targets, silence descended. It was short lived however; the five devices on the Indian soldiers detonated, blowing the soldiers and their combat armor into pieces.
Right on cue, the fire from the Havenites within the forest picked up again. The two remaining Indian soldiers found themselves overwhelmed and despite trying to return fire both fell to the ground injured or dead.
As soon as they hit the floor a number of unarmed humans appeared out of the forest. They picked up the plasma rifles the Indians had been carrying, and then turned and ran in the direction they came from.
Strange, Johnston thought. I guess they are not retreating into the city.
“What do we do now?” Moony said once the Havenites disappeared.
“We get out of here,” Johnston replied. “This place is going to be crawling with Indian troops in minutes.”
Johnston opened a map of the local area on his HUD. If not the city, where would I run to? He asked himself. Here, he thought, mentally tapping a valley that ran between two large mountains. If the Havenites want to get away from the city and the Indian base they will likely go through here.
“Check your maps,” Johnston said. “We’re moving to sector six forty-five. Double time, we need to clear the area fast.”
As he spoke, Johnston bounded away from the path, deeper into the forest, and the rest of the marines formed up beside him. He angled away from the area he thought the Havenites would be in. He didn’t want to accidentally stumble across a group of them. Any weapons fire would attract the Indians. Then, after several kilometers, he angled back towards the valley he wanted to get to.
*
Three hours later Johnston was once again waiting patiently amongst the thick Haven forests. This time he was hoping that whoever ambushed the Indians would come across his path. Without combat armor, they were no doubt making much slower progress and he had allowed half his men to shut down their armor and take a nap nearby. The rest were silently watching for any sign of movement.
“I think they are coming up from the south-east side of the valley,” Lieutenant Moony reported. “My infra-red sensors are detecting some life forms. My targeting computer suggests they may be local animals but they are moving too uniformly. I’d guess the Havenites are masking their heat signatures as well as they can.”
“Wake the others,” Johnston said. “I’m moving to head them off. I will confront them alone but be ready to back me up if I need you.”
“Understood,” Moony said.
Once Johnston got in front of the approaching group of Havenites he ducked down behind a thick tree trunk and sat perfectly still. Within minutes his armor’s sensors picked up a couple of humans carefully stalking past him. Scouts, Johnston thought. A few minutes later the main group of Havenites came into view. There was one man in what looked almost like a small combat armor suit carrying a gauss cannon. The rest were a rag tag lot of men and women, some in torn and worn military uniforms, others just wearing civilian dress. Many didn’t appear to be carrying any weapons.
When they were a stone’s throw away Johnston jumped up. He held both arms in the air as a sign of peace. The Havenites jumped back in shock. The soldier with the gauss cannon raised it towards Johnston but stopped short of bringing it to bear on him.
“Who are you?” he shouted.
Johnston activated the release button on his face armor. It slid back, revealing his face. “My name is Major Johnston of the Royal Marines. I have been sent to Haven to assess the situation and make contact with any groups resisting the illegal Indian occupation. I presume I have found who I am looking for?”
“Why should we believe you?” the soldier asked. “I can just blow you away and take your weapon. I’m sure we could make better use of it than you.”
“You are welcome to try,” Johnston said. He was ready to dive back behind the tree he had been hiding behind at the first sign the Havenite would fire on him. The Haven soldier may have fought regular Indian soldiers before but he didn’t know just what he was facing in a special forces marine.
“But then you would lose the chance to really hurt the Indians. I am here to help you and prepare the way for a British invasion. My government intends to kick the Indians out of Haven,” Johnston explained.
“So what do you want with us?” the soldier asked.
“I want you to take me to whoever is in charge of this outfit. There are many things we need to discuss,” Johnston said.
“And how can I trust you?” the soldier said warily.
“Because,” Johnston began as he gave a hand signal to his men. In less than a second seven marines appeared all around the Havenites, plasma rifles leveled at their targets. “If I wanted to kill you I would have already. Or, if I wanted to follow you to your base and attack it instead, we’d still be in the forest watching you. As you can see, we can sneak up on you any time we want.”
The Havenite soldier who was in charge looked around at the British marines for a few seconds and then lowered his gauss cannon. “Ok, I guess,” he said. “You can come with us to meet Councilwoman Pennington.”
“Good,” Johnston said. “You may lead on.”
*
For another hour the group tramped through the forest up the valley. At some unspoken signal the Havenites turned ninety degrees to their left and climbed the side of the valley towards one of the mountains. After another hour of heavy going a large cave appeared in front of them that looked as if it went straight into the heart of the mountain. There were large trees everywhere and the cave entrance was completely invisible from above.
“You are based in here?” Johnston asked.
“For now yes,” the lead soldier said. “We used to move around a lot, I’m not sure how much longer we will be here for.”
Thankfully, the cave entrance was large enough for Johnston and his men to get into it with their combat armor on. However, after one hundred meters it narrowed. Seeing the problem, Johnston exited his combat armor.
“Moony, Reynolds and Harte, you are with me,” Johnston ordered. “The rest of you can stay here and guard our combat armor. I want two of you on watch at all times. The rest of you can take a well-earned rest.”
Twenty meters further down the passageway it widened again. Once Johnston ducked down to get through the last narrow section he looked up to see a cavern flooded with light. There were powerful lights attached all around the cavern walls, making it feel like they were all standing in daylight. The cavern itself was thronging with people, some looked military but the vast majority looked civilian. The many children that were running around suggested that this was more than just a military base.
As the rest of their group split off and went to greet people they knew, the soldier that had been their escort turned to Johnston. “Councilwoman Pennington has set up an office further up the cave. This way,” he said.
/> Johnston saw what he meant as they approached the back of the cavern and another small tunnel appeared to go deeper into the mountain. Two soldiers, in armor similar to the leader of the attack on the Indians, stood guarding the tunnel. Both tensed as they saw Johnston and Moony approach in their British uniforms.
“They are British marines,” their escort explained. “They have come to speak with Pennington. I will vouch for them.”
“Very well,” one of the guards said. “She has been waiting for your return.”
Once past the guards, they walked down several meters of dimly lit tunnel before it too opened up into a small chamber. A desk with a woman sat behind it dominated one side of the chamber. The other side had a number of holo projectors with a number of other men and women examining them. A quick glance told Johnston most of the holo projectors were displaying maps of Liberty and the Indian army’s base.