by Sid K
Sthykar took out his pistol, flicked off the safety and handed it to Jalant. “This is a Starfirian pistol. It has ten bullets. Take it and hide behind that tree.” Sthykar pointed to the big tree on the left. “Keep it aimed low at the ground and when the dogs come running, open fire, but only after I fire—not before.”
“I have never done this before…”
“And you won’t live to do this again if you don’t follow my orders,” Sthykar said as he went to the big tree on the right and set his rifle in firing position. “My rifle has longer range, so I will fire first. You hold fire till after that.”
“How do you know they will come from here?” Jalant asked.
“Dogs are dumb; they will run straight at us,” Sthykar said. “Now no more talking. I hear barking getting closer. I can make out two distinct barks, two dogs. Get ready.”
Sthykar had picked a tree that had the added advantage of having its trunk split in two directions with space in between just wide enough to position his rifle in. He switched his rifle to ‘single shot’ and waited.
The barking got closer and closer. All three moons were out on that night, but so were the clouds. Now the red moon, then the green moon and then the blue moon would shine their faint colorful light through the openings between the clouds.
The barking increased. Sthykar heard footsteps behind the dogs, but he had to concentrate on the dogs first.
The dog trackers realized that their dogs had started barking excitedly and deduced that their prey was close. They let loose these dogs of war.
Dogs ran straight towards the trees where Sthykar and Jalant hid. Sthykar could take the shot now, but he knew Jalant wouldn’t make it at that distance, definitely not in the dark. The barking dogs came closer and closer. Sthykar fired one shot and one dog was blasted.
Jalant startled and jumped, stepped out slightly from behind the tree and started firing his pistol at the remaining dog. His first two shots missed. The dog was getting closer. Jalant panicked; he completely gave up the cover of the tree and started taking one shot after other at the second dog. He hit the dog on the seventh shot, but fired one more even after the dog had gone silent.
Suddenly there was a continuous burst of automatic fire aimed at the scientist. Jalant screamed as he was hit with multiple bullets, fell back and died on the spot.
Sthykar aimed at the sound of the incoming fire and let loose one round from his rifle. Another shout and a thud of a body falling to the ground.
Sthykar glanced Jalant’s fallen body. Poor man, he thought. If he had kept his calm and had not come out in the open, he would have lived. Sthykar could have shot the second dog as well, but the scientist had no battle sense, had lost it completely and paid dearly for it.
Sthykar looked out front into the woods again. He had shot one dog tracker, but two dogs almost always meant two trackers. Someone else was lurking in the woods, patiently waiting.
Sthykar had taken only single-bullet shots. It was very hard for even an expert marksman to place a sudden sound at a particular location. But if two shots were fired in succession, a sharp ear could guess where the sound came from. Thus, Sthykar believed he was still invisible to the second dog tracker; just like that man was invisible to Sthykar.
Sthykar switched his rifle to full-auto mode. At the first sound he was going to empty half or even a full magazine.
A few long moments passed.
There was no sound, but Sthykar could sense in his gut that someone out there. Sthykar made no sound either. Kneeling absolutely still, his finger on the trigger, his eyes scanned across the length of his peripheral vision and his ears were alert for the faintest of sounds.
Perhaps the man was crawling around to flank him. But Sthykar remembered there were too many leaves and twigs on the ground; even an experienced crawler would make a faint noise in this silentest of the nights.
Sthykar decided to make a play. He took his grappling hook from his belt using his left hand and threw it over his head to about fifteen feet to his right side.
The hook hit the ground hard.
Instantly a barrage of shots came into that location. A few bullets even ricocheted off of the steel hook, making a clanking sound.
Sthykar had the man now; he turned his rifle at the direction of the firing sound, squeezed the trigger and held it for the next few seconds till the entire magazine was empty. He heard a couple of shouts and then a sound of someone tumbling over a branch and falling.
The man was good, Sthykar thought. He had managed to hit the hook, but he wasn’t elite. Knowing what sound to shoot at and what to ignore was as much a part of becoming a sharpshooter as hitting the target just by its sound.
Sthykar threw away his empty magazine and attached a new one. He slowly walked out from behind the tree and leaned over at Jalant’s body. The scientist was dead, had been the moment he had fallen. Sthykar closed his eyes, gave him an army salute and then started running towards Colonel Jontvyk’s position.
chapter 17 – the firefight
09/08/958
Sayett got up early that day. A handful of guards were talking and walking about. They saluted him when they saw him, and he acknowledged them. There was still an hour remaining till the general alarm would ring for everyone. There were only a few washing facilities in the office and it would get crowded when all the guards got up. Sayett brushed his teeth, shaved and took a quick shower. He dressed and went out of the building to a nearby restaurant for breakfast. Sayett wanted some quiet time to think about these events and the raid they were going on.
For the first time after a great many years Sayett had that feeling in his stomach, that combination of excitement and anxiety, which made him eagerly anticipate the coming action, as well as wish that it did not have to be this way. The raid itself wasn’t the problem for him, he had been in many shootouts in his long work life as a national detective. It was Slyntya; more than a Constellar, she was the wife of a great friend and he felt personally responsible for her. Ensuring her safety was the highest priority. He wished Colonel Sthykar was with them to lead the raid, nevertheless he knew that this was the course of action the colonel would have prescribed. As Sthykar had told him once, ‘when in doubt, attack’ and that is exactly what Sayett was determined to do.
Sayett finished his omelet and coffee and walked back to the SPASI office. As he entered the top floor, a couple of junior detectives were giving out the general alarm by walking amongst the sleeping guards while ringing alarm clocks as loudly as possible.
“Send them into the parking lot as they get ready,” Sayett said to the detectives. “Nobody lingers around here.”
Sayett then went back down into the parking lot. A few SPASI guards had already arrived and he sent them out to bring back the trucks they had parked in the streets the previous night. As the clock ticked towards 9 AM guards started hurrying down, ready in their uniforms and with their submachine guns. At quarter to nine, all of the SPASI guards had congregated in the parking lot.
“Listen up,” Sayett shouted over their conversations. “Everybody in the trucks, now! We leave at nine sharp. I will explain the mission and the location on our truck radio intercom.”
The guards rushed to the trucks and within five minutes all of them were inside. Sayett got into the first truck along with a SPASI guard who was the driver.
“We will be in the lead,” Sayett said to him.
“I like that. Where to?” the driver asked.
Sayett took the radio transmitter for trucks’ intercom from the dashboard and spoke in it. “Guards, some of you might have heard the rumors of a SPASI team getting ambushed and four of our fellow SPASI men getting killed. Well, that is true and that was my team. Four of my SPASI guards were shot and we are going to get those bastards who did it.”
Sayett waited a moment; he heard some murmur from behind in his own truck. He let the fact sink in and then spoke again.
“Now you will be yearning for revenge but we cannot be
rash here,” Sayett said. “I want justice more than anyone else because I was there; I saw them die close to me. But during the skirmish, a Constellar was kidnapped. Getting her back is our highest priority and we cannot risk injury to her due to any recklessness on our part caused by the rage. So I expect that all of us will carry out the raid in a cold and disciplined manner.”
The driver nodded. There were no voices from radio. Sayett hoped that determination would replace anger. He did not say anything further as he looked at his wristwatch for the next few minutes. Just a few seconds before nine o’clock he spoke again. “Alright, to Coldwoods.”
The driver turned the key in the ignition and with a loud roar, the engine came to life as did the engines of the trucks behind them. His truck exited the parking lot and headed to the national road, followed closely by the rest of the trucks.
* * *
Colonel Sthykar ran through the woods at a moderate pace. He did not want to alarm his friends at the ridge by coming in charging. As he was running, he heard very faint noise of running footsteps behind him. Apparently the shooting back there had attracted the attention of more gunmen. They were coming after him, but were behind by a significant distance. Sthykar took out his radio and said ‘Rats’ over it. The message was received by Colonel Jontvyk on the other end.
“Alright, Sthykar is coming in,” he said to Dentar, Hayett and Karyett.
“Is he being followed?” Hayett asked.
“Seems like it. He said ‘rats’.”
“Let’s get ready,” Karyett said.
They had taken up the position on the ridge a few feet from each other, but now they moved further apart. Jontvyk put his ATR on the top of the hill and squinted down into the dark. Dentar, Hayett and Karyett readied their hunting rifles as well. All of them looked at the woods with keen intent. The light from the moons was not sufficient for them to make out anything but all of them were excellent marksmen who could shoot at the sound. About ten to fifteen minutes passed without much happening.
“Howdy, friends,” Sthykar startled them from behind. Jontvyk turned around fast; Hayett and Karyett almost twitched. Dentar, for his part, swung his rifle around in panic at hearing a voice from the behind.
“Sthykar…” Jontvyk said. “How did you get to our backs.”
“Didn’t want to be in your line of fire,” Sthykar said lying down besides Jontvyk and placing his ATR on the ground. “I flanked you.”
“We knew you were coming,” Karyett laughed. “We weren’t going to open up on you.”
“You move like a ghost,” Hayett said. “In all my time in the Jungle Army, I never knew anyone who moved through a forest that swiftly yet silent.”
“Let’s get ready,” Sthykar said. “I was hearing faint of footsteps. I left them behind but they will catch up.”
“So what is going on in that compound?” Jontvyk asked.
“Some big villainy, if a man I stumbled upon is to be believed.” He quickly summarized for them what scientist Jalant had told him about the machine that the Ranxians had constructed, its alleged capabilities and their plans.
“I can’t believe a weapon like that exists,” Dentar said.
“Regardless,” Sthykar said. “This is a criminal organization that we have stumbled upon. They are armed, they are ready to commit murder and they already have.”
“Want to call our backup here?” Jontvyk asked. “Muftar, Felptar and the rest are at the ridge behind us.”
“Not unless we need them. I doubt more than a dozen are coming after me, and Muftar and company will be our saviors if we get flanked from both sides.”” Sthykar said, “
The running footsteps got closer.
“Fire when you hear them near the bottom of the hill,” Sthykar whispered. “Colonel Jontvyk and I will hold while you three take your shots first. With your single shot hunting rifles one shot is all that you will be able get off before bedlam breaks out.”
“We are ready,” Dentar said.
Then they waited.
The eight Ranx gunmen sent by Montex had stopped running now. They were puzzled by not hearing Sthykar’s footsteps anymore.
“Do you think that other man is hiding?” one of them asked.
“Let’s go some more and then turn back,” another said, “We have to carry the dead bodies back to the compound.”
They kept walking as the talked—right into the trap that Sthykar had set for them. In a few minutes they were stepping through the woods towards the hill on which Sthykar and his friends were waiting. One of them stepped on a stack of dry leaves and crunched them under his boots.
Dentar and Hayett opened up with their hunting rifles at the very same moment and at that very same person. Karyett fired second taking out a second gunman. Then Jontvyk let loose with his ATR on full auto, gunning down a third man.
Sthykar was tracking the sound of two different sets of footsteps. He shot at the first sound with a single shot, hitting the target right in his chest. Then he quickly flipped his ATR to auto and unloaded most of his magazine into the location of the second sound; a body fell to the ground.
Then as Sthykar had predicted it was pandemonium in the jungle. The three remaining Ranxian gunmen panicked and fired their rifles every which way. Sthykar and Jontvyk attached new magazines and let loose in the general direction of the firing sound. Karyett, Dentar and Hayett also loaded bullets into their rifles and fired off to add to their perceived strength. No one could see anything except for some rifle flashes; and the shots rang out in the forest as the bullets ricocheted off the tree trunks.
The three Ranxian gunmen didn’t bother to reload and retreated as fast as they could. Sthykar and friends waited a few moments till their sounds went silent in the distance.
“Colonel, let’s go back to the cabin before they get backup,” Jontvyk said.
“Right,” Sthykar said. “We will pick up Muftar and company along the way.”
Rifles clutched in their hands, they descended the hill.
chapter 18 – the rangers’ gambit
Sthykar, Jontvyk and company picked up Felptar, Muftar, Kartar and Nyk from the second ridge and headed back to the cabin. They radioed ahead telling Relkyett to expect their arrival and about the firefight that they just had. Once at the cabin, Relkyett opened the door with his ATR in his hand.
“Everybody alright from our side?” he asked.
“All eight of us are back without any injuries,” Colonel Jontvyk said as he entered.
“Eight? You forgot Sthykar,” Relkyett said.
“You can ask him how he is doing,” Jontvyk said putting his rifle on the big table in the room.
“I am alright,” Sthykar said getting inside, “but those men are not. They are big time villains.”
“I think it’s about time that you explain in detail what you stumbled upon in that compound,” Dentar said.
“Right,” Sthykar said, “Relkyett, assemble everyone around the table. Don’t worry about the lookout for now; they are too far behind us.”
Relkyett went to collect everyone in the house. Sthykar took a seat near the table, put his rifle on it and sat back with his eyes closed. Within a couple of minutes all fifteen of them had assembled, a few pulled up chairs for themselves, as the rest stood in silence with everyone looking at Sthykar.
“Friends, I don’t know if you have heard of the Storm Maker Weapon,” Sthykar said. “Have you?”
The rest of them shook their heads in a negative.
“Our Secret Arms Workshop was working on making a machine that could possibly create storms, hurricanes and tornadoes,” Sthykar said. “It was called the Storm Maker. The Narducat Empire was working on a similar idea; they called theirs the Winds of Wrath. But when we had the treaty with them, these artificial storm-making weapons was one category whose further development was banned with a mutual agreement.”
“A Storm Maker? They can do that?” Jontvyk asked.
“It never happened,” Sthykar said. �
��They were just experimenting when the treaty went into effect. But I stumbled onto a scientist in that compound who said that was what these villains were working on: creating the storm maker weapon.”
“That is impossible,” Relkyett said.
“I don’t believe it,” Pelyett said.
“That scientist could be lying,” Kartar said.
“I would be delighted if he was,” Sthykar said. “But let me tell you, there was no lumber mill there. They had a maze and a big tower inside that compound. And they have tens of men armed with automatic rifles. Does that sound like just another criminal syndicate or a far more devious organization?”
“What are we going to do?” Felptar asked.
“Can we storm them?” Symptar asked. “I mean we have army officers here and the rest of us are competent marksmen as well.”
“We don’t have the authority for that,” Muftar said.
“No, but the town police does,” Nyk said, “Why don’t we call them.”
“They are hardly going to believe such a fabulous story on the phone,” Jontvyk said. “Right colonel? They will think we are school boys playing practical joke on them.”
“You are right, Colonel,” Sthykar said to him. “Worse would be if the town police showed up at that compound by themselves. Those are Ranx Rangers; they would easily defeat the police. No, we will all have to show up at the police station to make them believe us.”
“What are we waiting for?” Tulkar said. “Let’s go to the town right now.”
Some of them moved around, perhaps with the idea of leaving. Sthykar stood up from his chair and loudly said, “No!” Everyone turned abruptly towards him.
“They sent one team after me,” Sthykar said, “We dispatched those men at the ridge, but they could have more lurking in the woods. If we leave here in the night, we risk getting ambushed. We won’t have the advantage of hearing them coming, either.”