As he got closer the damage became much more apparent. They really tore the damned thing up, he thought, seeing the holes with melted edges on the tail, and another on a fan that had been totally shredded. The canopy was still in place, though he could see a couple of holes through it as well.
He moved over the short wing of the car, forced by the narrowness of the road to clamber over the wreck. He could see the body of the pilot inside, not moving, and he sure the man was dead. Until that man raised a hand and motioned him to the forward most hole in the canopy.
“Who are you?” asked Cornelius, putting his mouth to the hole after taking a quick look around.
“I’m, Major Joseph Goldman,” said the man in a hushed voice, coughing at the end of the sentence. “And who am I speaking to?”
“Sergeant Cornelius Walborski, sir. I’m a Ranger.” Goldman, he thought, recalling Rebecca’s last name. It couldn’t be. “What were you doing up here?”
“Looking for my daughter,” said the Major, hacking up some blood as the last word left his mouth. “Maybe you’ve seen her out in that damned jungle.”
Cornelius looked up and waved at Rebecca, motioning her forward. “Can you raise the canopy, so I can get you out?”
“The canopy’s stuck in place,” said the Major. “I think the last couple of particle beam blasts fused it shut. And I don’t think I’m going anywhere anyway. The last hit threw pieces of plastisteel into my back and shoulders. I think it shredded my spine.”
Rebecca came running up and climbed over the wing of the car to plop down beside Cornelius on the top. “Daddy,” she screamed out as she looked into the car and saw her father.
“Quiet,” hissed the Sergeant, his eyes darting around. He knew the enemy would be here to investigate this car soon. He kind of wondered why they weren’t here already.
“Hi, Princess,” said the Major in a soft voice. “I am so happy to see you alive.”
“I lost Benjie,” she said, tears in her eyes.
“I know. Not your fault. You’re alive, and that’s all that counts.” The eyes shifted to the Ranger. “What are you bringing her up here for?”
“I have a mission, sir. And your daughter agreed to lead me to a place from which I could strike the enemy.”
“New orders then, Sergeant,” said the man after a hacking cough. “You are to take her down from here and get her to safety.”
Sir, I…”
“That’s a direct order, Sergeant. Do you understand me?”
“No, sir,” said Cornelius, realizing that the man did have the rank, but not the position to countermand his mission. “You are not in my chain of command, sir, and cannot give me a lawful order to ignore my mission orders.”
The Major shook his head, coughing again. This time flecks of blood appeared on his lips. “I don’t think I’m going to make it down from here to press charges.”
“They wouldn’t do any good if you could, sir,” said the Ranger. “My orders come directly from the regional commander, who is a brigadier.” Cornelius’ ears perked up as he heard fans. “They’re coming,” he said, looking at Rebecca. “We need to go.”
“We can’t leave you daddy,” cried the child, pressing her hand against the canopy. “We’ve got to get you out of there.”
“There’s no way to get this canopy open, Baby,” said the Major. “You got to get out of here before the monsters arrive.”
“We could burn through with the particle beams,” she protested.
“There’s not enough time,” said Cornelius, looking up to the sky. “And if we do a rush job we’re just as likely to kill him.”
“He’s right,” said her Dad. “Go. Now.” The man coughed, then locked eyes with the Sergeant. “They can’t take me alive. I know too much information, and if they can get it out of me it will be a disaster.”
Cornelius looked at the largest hole in the canopy, then pulled a grenade from his side pouch. “Here,” he said, pushing the grenade through the hole. “It’s the best I can do.”
“Thank you. I’ll take some of the bastards with me.” He glanced at his daughter. “Go now, Honey. Do what the Sergeant says.”
Cornelius grabbed the arm of the child and pulled her off the aircar. She resisted for a moment, but didn’t have a chance against his strength. She gave him an angry glare and let herself be led away into the night. The Ranger hurried her along for fifty or so meters, then led her to a pile of rocks off the road that gave good cover.
The sound of fans were clear now, and a moment later the troop carrier was over the Major’s aircar. A spotlight stabbed down, illuminating the scene below. A second aircraft circled by higher up, visible by its strobes. The first craft circled, then started down for the road about twenty meters to the south of the downed car. It hovered above the road, and a pair of Ca’cadasan infantrymen jumped from it to the road. The troop carrier slid over just a bit and two more soldiers came out of the other side to the ground.
As soon as all were on foot they started toward the aircar in single file, about five meters between them, the first reaching the car while the last was still stationary. The first climbed onto the car and stared in at the occupant, soon joined by another of the Cacas. The second started to work at the edge of the canopy, then reached into a bag to remove some tools. Something flared, what looked like a laser cutter.
With a suddenness that seemed to catch everyone off guard the canopy exploded outward. Both Cacas were blown into the air. One landed on the road unmoving, while the other pitched over the edge of the road and fell screaming into empty space. A moment later a particle beam stabbed down from the covering aircraft and hit the aircar. It exploded once again, really accomplishing nothing but destroying the body of the already dead pilot.
Rebecca leaned into the Ranger, crying, and he put an arm around her. The troop carrier came back down, shining its spot on the car. The two troopers still on their feet went to their injured compatriot and picked him up. The troop carrier touched down on one side and the two healthy troopers got the injured one aboard, then jumped in themselves. As soon as they were aboard the ship jumped back into the air, circled once, and headed away, followed by the gunship.
Rebecca stepped from behind the rock and stared at the burning aircar that had contained her father. “We’ve got to go,” said Cornelius, putting an arm around her and leading her away. “They might return, once they get that injured one back for medical care.”
She looked up at him, the tears glistening in her eyes. “I want to kill them. I want to kill them all.”
“You won’t be able to do that now,” said Cornelius, shaking his head. “But eventually? I’ll try to get you back to civilization, and then you can work on killing them all.”
* * *
Twenty minutes later another aircar was over the sight of the crash. It came down low on the north side of the carnage, and this time the forms that jumped from it were not Ca’cadsans in combat armor. Instead, four long lean forms jumped out and landed on all fours, immediately sniffing the road.
“A human went this way,” said the leader in his growling native language. “Maybe more than one. But I only have the clear scent of one.”
“How far ahead?” asked the youngest and least experienced of the Maurids.
“A half an hour, maybe less,” said the leader, looking around at his teammates. “I want this human, these humans. So let us push on and bring them down, quickly.”
The other Maurids gave head motions of acceptance, then followed the Hunt Leader as he went into the loping run of his people, thirty kilometers an hour, a pace they could keep up for hour after hour. The only thing missing was the hunting howl that their ancestors used to tell the prey they were being hunted, and that they would not get away. They had learned as civilized beings that it didn’t pay to let the hunted know you were there until it was too late.
* * *
“Something’s coming,” hissed the Ranger, grabbing Rebecca by the arm and pulling he
r past him.
She was still in a state of shock, not really able to think about what was happening now. The image of her father trapped in his aircar still dominated her thoughts, as did the sound of the explosion that had taken his life.
“Get down behind those rocks,” said the Ranger, drawing a blade with each hand. The long blade was in his right hand, the commando knife in his left, and he crouched down in some shadows near a large rock.
Just a few seconds after he had gotten under cover the dog-like creatures appeared in the moonlight. Rebecca watched them, then realized that if she was seeing them, they sure as hell were seeing her. One pointed her way, and four sets of jaws opened in toothy smiles as they charged her.
As they passed the rock the Ranger was sheltering behind the long blade came out and hit the forward leg of the lead Hunter. The monomolecular blade parted the fabric of the survival suit and went through the muscle and bone of the creature’s leg like an ax blade through a small branch. The beast yelped and went down, and the Ranger moved into the open with both blades flashing.
The Hunters moved so quickly that the child couldn’t believe it. Until she saw the Ranger move. He blurred as he stepped and slashed. The creatures slashed at him with their claws and missed, and another went down with a severed spine. One caught him on the left arm for a superficial wound, and then fell with a cut throat.
The last beast backed off, then turned to run. With a yell and a sprint the Ranger was on it, driving his short sword into its back and ripping it out in a welter or gore.
The Ranger stopped in place, panting, his lungs expanding and contracting quickly. He looked at the creatures he had killed, then bent down and wiped his blades on the exposed fur of one of the creatures.
“This one’s still alive,” called Rebecca, pointing to the one missing a leg that was trying to struggle up onto its remaining three.
The Sergeant walked over to the surviving creature, holding his long blade at the ready. The creature grimaced in pain while trying to swat at him with its remaining front leg. He kicked it in the chest and knocked it over. It got back to its feet, then continued on into a bipedal stance, trying to pull a weapon from a holster. The short sword licked out, and the creature suddenly had no forepaw to grip its pistol.
“When are you expected back?” he asked the creature in English, then switched to Ca’cadasan, surprising the alien.
“I will not tell you, human,” growled the Hunter.
“I will kill you if you don’t.”
“Please. You will kill me anyway, and I deserve death for my failure.”
The Ranger nodded, then slashed the creature’s throat with his blade. It gagged on blood, falling to the ground, trying to draw a breath and failing. After a couple of tries it stopped breathing, and its mouth fell open in death.
“Help me get these guys off the road,” ordere the Ranger, grabbing the hind legs of the one he had just killed and slinging it over his shoulder. In minutes they had all the creatures and pieces of them off the road, and the Ranger was busy stacking rocks on the bodies.
“Will that really hide them from the Cacas?” she asked, looking at the four small cairns.
“Probably from the Cacas,” agreed the man. “From these things? I think not. But hopefully we will be long gone before more of them show up.”
The Ranger walked her along the road for another couple of hours, until she recognized the area round them as familiar.
“This is where you will want to climb down,” she told him, looking over the edge.
“Not in the dark,” said the Ranger, shaking his head. “Not an unfamiliar climb. Morning.”
He looked around, then headed for some boulders leaning against the wall of the mountain. He looked back there and waved her over. “We’ll eat and rest here. There’s a couple of hours left till daylight.”
Rebecca nodded in relief and proceeded him into the hollow area made by the rocks and the cliff. She tried to shake off the numbness she still felt that had nothing to do with the cold.
“Eat something,” ordered the adult.
“Not hungry,” said Rebecca, shaking her head.
“Eat something anyway. You need to keep your strength up. I know you’ve been through a hard time tonight. Hell, the last couple of months.”
She was about to tell him he didn’t know what hard was, but seeing him playing with the ring on its chain froze the words in her mouth. Of course he knows what it’s like. And he fought his way through it to become a warrior. She sniffed at that thought. I’m just a child. An older child, but still a child.
She sat there for a moment, wishing that the man would speak, would say something to get her mind off of herself. But he wasn’t cooperating. So she decided to ask him what was on her mind.
“I’ve never seen anyone move that fast in my life,” she said, looking up at him. “I mean, when you killed those aliens. They were as fast as anything I’d ever seen, until you attacked them.”
“Augmentation,” was his single word answer. When she continued to look at him he shrugged his shoulders and spoke on. “They improved my internal systems, even my genes. But it comes with a cost for most.”
“Premature aging, right,” said Rebecca, still young enough that she really couldn’t imagine making it to thirty, much less two hundred and so.
“Normally,” agreed the man with a smile. “But I was told I had an unusual genome. Something about maybe having some genetic connection to the Imperial Family. So the premature aging might not be a problem.”
“And if it is?”
“Then I still get to be a superhuman for a hundred and sixty or so years,” he said with a laugh. “Still a great trade off in my opinion.” The man looked away, obviously thinking, then back at her. “Not that I really expect to see my thirtieth birthday. So anything after that is gravy.”
“And what will you do tomorrow?”
“I’ll climb down to the valley and hit the Cacas. I think it’s a day they won’t forget.”.
“And me?”
“We’ll see in the morning. I’ll probably leave you up here, then come back for you.”
“And if you can’t come back.”
“Then it’s up to you to get back down from here. I don’t think the Cacas will be patrolling the mountain after the morning, so you shouldn’t have any trouble.”
“Could I climb down with you?”
“Do you have any experience in climbing?”
“No,” she admitted, shaking her head.
“Without experience, you’ll never make it. And I’ve got to get down that cliff quickly, before I’m spotted. No, it would be better for all of us if you stayed up here. You’ll be safer, and I won’t have to worry about you.”
Rebecca hung her head, trying to think of an argument that would keep her by the Ranger’s side. The next time she moved the sky was lightening, and she realized she had fallen asleep.
Chapter Twenty-seven
The power to wage war is the power to wage war successfully. Charles Evans Hughes.
AZURE. MAY 30TH, 1001.
Well, this is fun, thought Cornelius as he found his next handhold on the cliff. He only had a half dozen pitons, and no way to untie his rope from above him, so he was going without trying to use any kind of safety line. A slip was a problem. A major slip could mean plunging a couple hundred meters straight down to his death.
The Ranger could feel his skin crawl as he worked his way down. He was facing the cliff, the standard orientation for working down a rock wall, which meant he really couldn’t see behind him, except when he craned his neck to get a partial view. He didn’t know if someone was watching him, with their eyeballs, or possibly the scope of a weapon.
Cornelius shifted a foot after making sure his other three points of contact were steady. He was constantly aware of the extra weight on his back, his full pack, but most of all the launcher and the container filled with the munition. On a unit climb he would have left all of that weight
at the top, letting other men lower it in relays to the bottom. Instead he carried almost twice his battle mass down a cliff on a heavy grav planet.
He moved a foot, making sure that his boot toe was pushed into the rock, giving him a firm grip. He leaned back a bit, using the weight of that lean to build friction with his toes. It was really an unnatural position for those who weren’t used to climbing, and it still felt precarious to the Ranger who had some experience with it, though nowhere near expert status.
Maybe I should have left the pack at the top, he thought, looking down for a moment to gauge distance. There were about a hundred meters to go. He was more than halfway there. The Ranger forced himself to relax and go slow. Hurrying would increase his chances of falling, which would end the mission quickly.
He moved both his hands, one at a time, crunching up his body, then the feet, stretching himself out again. He almost laughed at the thought that he was like a worm crawling down a wall. He suppressed the urge and kept working his way down, praying that he wasn’t being observed.
* * *
Rebecca lay on the top of the cliff, her head over the edge so she could look down. It was not a comfortable feeling looking straight down a drop of over two hundred meters. At the bottom of that drop were hard rocks, body breakers for anything falling to them. A few bushes were scattered among them, a tree or two, one growing right up next to the wall, seeds that had been lucky enough to find a gap to exploit.
I’ve got to find a way down there, she thought, watching the man slowly moving his body down the face. She knew there was no way she could climb down that way, and the road ended at this point. She had never been further on, into the sloping rock fields that continued along the top of the cliff. Nothing showed on her map of that area. So maybe there was just something there she might be able to exploit.
She pushed herself back from the cliff and stood up, the feeling of vertigo this close to the edge almost overcoming her. Taking a few steps back made her feel better, and she turned to walk away from the cliff, angling to the north and the boulder field. At first it was an easy walk, though it soon led to some monsters that she had to squeeze between, climbing over a large flat one at one point. There were about fifty meters of boulders, then a slope that led to the east, away from the cliffs. She wasn’t sure if that’s where she wanted to go, but decided to take the approach of water and follow the path of least resistance.
Exodus: Empires at War: Book 05 - Ranger Page 34