by Art DeForest
A short distance away, Lieutenant Cooper watched their antics with a soft knowing smile on her lips. “They are a remarkable pair.” she thought, “and thank the heavens they found us before the invaders did..She wasn’t sure what they were going to find as they headed up river, but she was sure that if they survived the ordeal uncaptured, that Alex and Keisha would be a big part of the reason why. Snuggling into her own cover, as she drifted off to sleep she had one last thought, “Tomorrow the hunted, start hunting.”
Hunter’s Vengeance
1
Alex Hunter crept stealthily upstream, trying to approach the town of Carlson Springs without being seen by the ever present patrol ships. Behind him was a group of individuals, none of which he had known a week ago. Keisha Wilson, his partner, ally, girlfriend? was following close behind him with as much stealth as Alex himself could manage. She was followed by seven soldiers of the Planetary Security Force. The PFS was the military arm of government for Alex and Keisha’s home planet of Plentiful.
Alex raised his arm abruptly calling the small force he was guiding to a halt. The low rumbling noise of a scout ship was growing louder as it came close to their position. The group immediately spread out seeking brush or trees to hide under while simultaneously pulling out their military issue camo covers to throw over themselves. The camo covers doubled as a body heat reflecting survival blanket and as such did a very good job of hiding them from infrared detectors.
The ship continued its approach. Alex wasn’t terribly concerned until the scout slowed down and started a slow circling search pattern that seemed to be centered right on top of them. His belly clenched in fear as it spiraled out to about one hundred fifty meters from their hiding spot and stopped. The ship started to descend for a landing and Alex knew they’d been detected somehow. He looked around frantically for an escape route. The only cover nearby, however was the brush and trees along the edges of the creek. He had no idea what to do next, when Lieutenant Cooper started issuing orders. “Head upstream quickly but quietly. Stay low. Alex take the lead, go two hundred meters or until you find a good spot for an ambush if need be.” She said in an urgent tone.
Alex sprinted up the creek channel looking for a high spot where he could set up with the large caliber rifle on his shoulder. He needed someplace that would give him a clear view back downstream. He passed up a couple likely spots, wanting to put as much distance as he could between his group and the soldiers he was sure would be coming from the scout ship to investigate. A couple hundred meters from their starting point, Alex found an excellent vantage point on the embankment, right where it made a u-turn in its meandering course. The creek curving back on itself like that had left a narrow point of brush covered land surrounded on three sides by the creek bottom.
He and Keisha quickly clambered up the steep slope to the point, rising two meters above the creek. Once on top Alex took off his backpack and faced back the way they had come. Taking a prone position, he laid his rifle on the pack and nestled the stock into his shoulder.
As he did this Keisha performed similar actions, laying down beside him, a rifle of her own pointed back downstream. Once their camo covers were in place, they settled in to wait. Alex was still surprised that Keisha was carrying the weapon. She was forced to kill one of the invading soldiers a few days ago in order to save his life and had been very reluctant to carry a weapon since. It was Alex’s guess that the strong female presence of Lieutenant Cooper had something to do with her change of heart. Plus, like most on the planet of Plentiful, she was tough and resilient. It seemed that bouncing back from rough times was almost a planetary pastime.
She had claimed the rifle as one of many disparate kinds of guns they had found among the several empty homesteads they had checked during their trek back toward Carlson Springs. Enough weapons to equip all nine of them with at least one weapon. Hand guns for the most part since the long ranged weapons most people used were of the powered particle beam variety. These types of weapons had been rendered inoperable by the invaders somehow, just like all the other powered devices and even the power grid in and around the town.
The soldiers below them took up positions on either side of the narrow creek as close to the banks of the channel as they could without losing cover. Alex desperately hoped that the invading soldiers wouldn’t investigate too closely. If they were forced to shoot to defend themselves the opposing soldiers would know, at least roughly, where they were and probably flood the region with troops.
He was scanning the creek bottom with his scope, searching for any sign of pursuit when he spotted the reason this particular scout ship had decided to stop and investigate. Cursing himself mentally, he whispered to Keisha “Dammit, they have a line of motion sensors cutting across the creek channel and I missed it!” His face was dark with self recrimination. “Don’t beat yourself up.” Keisha whispered back. “Nobody can see everything.” Alex remained silent but the scowl remained on his features.
Thirty tense minutes passed as they waited for their adversaries to find them. Alex was starting to relax a little when he spotted movement at the limit of his vision back down stream. One of the invading soldiers came slowly into view. The man moved somewhat casually towards them. He wasn’t using the surrounding cover at all and though he seemed to look around at the terrain, he never seemed to look down. As a matter of fact, as Alex looked at the soldier through his fifteen power optics he actually saw him step on a track one of his companions had inadvertently left behind. “Thank the heavens for casual incompetence.” he thought to himself.
The soldier kept heading up the creek bottom at a leisurely pace, getting ever closer to their position. Alex’s pulse tried to quicken as he eased off the safety on his rifle. He calmed himself with a couple deep breaths and dropped into the zone of complete concentration it took to be an accurate long range shooter. He was so focused on the target that he almost jumped when Keisha lightly touched him on the arm and silently pointed. Looking the direction indicated, he saw another invader approaching. This one was on top of the creek embankment walking parallel to his fellow in the bottom.
Motioning to herself Keisha indicated that she would cover this new target. Two things happened almost at once. The man on top of the bank suddenly jumped and yelled trying to swing his assault rifle around. He wasn’t pointing it at the creek bottom however. A fact which probably saved the man’s life. What he was trying to get his sights on was the streaking form of a brushbuck doe as she raced across a nearby field from her bed in the underbrush. Alex and Keisha both wanted to chuckle as the soldier lowered his weapon and tried to still his racing heart. They watched in anticipation as the man straightened up and put his fingers to his throat mic. He talked quietly for a moment. Alex and Keisha were too far away to hear what he said, but nodding his head in acknowledgement of some order, he immediately turned around and headed back downstream. The soldier in the creek bottom quickly followed suit.
Forty five minutes later, the scout ship lifted off and resumed its patrol. As the sound of the ship faded into silence Alex and the rest regrouped in the river bottom. “What the heck just happened?” asked Lieutenant Cooper. Corporal Jenkins, her second in command chuckled. “I was close enough to hear that guy talking on his radio.” he said as he slung one of the invaders own assault rifles back onto his shoulder. “Apparently they have motion sensors out and they are constantly being set off by the local fauna.” He grinned and threw a thumb back over his shoulder. “Apparently dumbass back there spooked something and they all figured that was what caused the sensor to trip.” Alex hung his head sheepishly. “It was a brushbuck that he jumped. I saw the sensor from back there.” he said indicating the spot he and Keisha had occupied moments earlier. “Sorry I missed it the first time.” he said.
Lieutenant Cooper gazed at him intently for a moment. “No harm done...this time, but if you had warned us that motion sensors were a possibility, we could have all been on the lookout.” Alex nodded, still stari
ng at the ground. “Yes ma’am. I’ll keep that in mind.” Keisha was trying to think of something to say in Alex’s defense when the lieutenants hazel eyes turned on her. “You too Miss Wilson. I assume you knew about these sensors also?” It was Keisha’s turn to hang her head in shame.”
“You are not some damsel in distress. You are quite capable and I expect you to start using some initiative. Understood?” Keisha nodded. “Yes ma’am.” she said, trying to put some backbone into her response. Looking back over to Alex she asked, “Do you think we will have to deal with more of these sensors infesting the whole distance between here and town?” Alex pondered a moment before responding. “I don’t think they will be deployed thickly.” he said. “The first time we encountered them they appeared to have just seeded a line of them across a patch of forest, kind of like an invisible fence. Looking around it appears they’ve done the same thing across the creek channel.” He paused a moment in thought. “I don’t know how far apart these sensor lines might be. They probably haven’t got an unlimited supply. Keisha nodded in agreement. “Very well,” said Lieutenant Cooper “we’ll keep on as we have until we lose the light. Proceed with utmost caution we don’t want to be spotted again.”
++++
Commander Walsh rubbed his face in frustration. Three days had passed since the local troop transport had been found and he still hadn’t had any sign of the people from the transport. Even more frustrating was the fact that the two “ghosts” as he called them in his head, who had killed so many of his men had apparently joined up with this military force. The thought of the havoc this combined group could create made him shudder just thinking of it. Fortunately, it appeared that the entire group had headed east towards the capital city. Walsh sneered mentally at the thought. “If you could call that motley collection of dirty iron and concrete a city.” he snorted in derision.
Having these trouble makers depart his area of influence however, caused the Association’s worst fear, that of discovery by planetary authorities, to come to the forefront of not only his mind, but the mind of his commander, Colonel Sampson. The commander had been furious at the lack of results Walsh’s search of the hills east of town had produced. The discovery of the transport vehicle and it’s bound and gagged guards had pushed that fury into near panic. “Your incompetence has cost us days of production commander!” he had raged. While incensed that the colonel was trying to blame him for the actions of a few locals, deep down inside he also understood the colonels fury.
It turned out that the vein of irisium on this mudhole of a planet was much larger and richer than the system scan taken by their reconnaissance drones had shown. This one vein alone could provide shielding for perhaps a third of the Guederian Association’s projected expeditionary fleet. There was just no way they could mine that much before being detected by the local authorities. As it was, the colonel had already felt it necessary to halt mining operations and start the process of pulling the boring drone out of the shaft. The mother ship was busily refining the ore they already had. The raw rubble was itself too heavy to take with them, so they needed to refine as much as possible before they were forced off world. Large plumes of dust could be seen emanating from the mother ship as the nanites in the factory fabricators went busily about their jobs taking what they needed for replication and what they were programed to harvest and discarding the rest.
Colonel Sampson had also taken the precaution of changing the focus of the heavily stealthed pulse sattelite he had in geosynchronous orbit over the mining operation to a point as far east of town as he could without risking detection of the pulse itself. The pulses of EMP that the satellites could issue were one of the major technological innovations that the Association had invented. Conventional EMP spread in all directions when initiated. The Association’s pulse was directional and could be focused into beam if needed, in order to take out targets with precision at long range. As such, there was very little detectable energy signature outside its area of effect. There was some however, and they dare not bring it to bear too close to any potential detection apparatus.
They couldn’t however, continue to pulse ground vehicles as they came to investigate. This would only draw a larger response as the actual and greater threat was perceived. Commander Walsh sighed as he made the decision to halt the search for the military people and the local thorns in his side. Instead he redirected his troops to reinforce the river valley east of town in order to deny access to foot based ground troops that may try to further invade the pulsed area seeking intelligence. He thanked the Great Intelligence that hadn’t happened yet.
2
Alex lay prone, scanning the edge of town through his scope. He couldn’t see any movement other than a little dust and debris blown in lazy circles by an errant breeze. From his vantage it looked like the town had been abandoned. He and Keisha were using the last of the daylight to scout for patrols and sensors that may alert the invaders to the group's presence. “I don’t see any sign of movement.” he commented. “Me either.” replied Keisha. “What get’s me is that I don’t see any signs of sensors either.” Concern was plainly written on her features. “My thoughts exactly.” said Alex. “If it were me, I’d have a sensor fence all the way around this place.”
They continued to scan the town until the light became too dim for further inspection. The only thing even moderately interesting had been a dead brushbuck lying in the middle Main street, the main east west corridor through town. Alex’s only concern was that whoever had shot the animal had just left it to rot and wasted a lot of good meat. That just irritated him. Returning to the other’s, they shouldered their gear, preparing for the sneak into town. Camo covers draped over them, they started the stealthy crawl to their destination. Alex had them headed towards the militia building that stood not too far away on the outskirts of town.
The trek across the open greenbelt that surrounded Carlson Springs took almost two hours, since they had to belly crawl through the high grass with only a few trees interspersed here and there. There was a gusting breeze that surged now and again forcing them to clutch at their camo covers and keep themselves concealed. After the long arduous crawl, they finally came up beside a red brick building at the edge of town. Alex peeked around the corner and tried to see any signs of danger. With no streetlights and no night vision equipment, all appeared clear. Back down to a belly crawl nevertheless, they started slowly across Main street to the next building they could shelter behind.
Alex went first. He stayed low, trying to give a good example of caution to the others. Once he was across the street and in the relatively safe spot beside a produce warehouse, the next person started the crawl. In this case that was Corporal Jenkins. His solid presence and unflappable attitude was a great comfort to all of them. He made his way across successfully as did Keisha who was next in line. Pfc Ciner was next. He was halfway across, not far from the deer carcass when disaster hit.
A gust of wind channeled and concentrated by the funneling action of the buildings hit Ciner and tore the concealing camo cover from the top of him. He raised up, scrambling to retrieve the cover before it blew away when the crack of a distant shot rang out. Ciner was spun to the ground where he lay writhing in pain. Keisha was the first to respond. Her family had been part of volunteer fire departments and ambulances going back to her great grandfather’s time. She had taken advanced courses in first aid and field emergency medicine throughout her childhood because that’s just what they did. The genetics that insisted on caring for the sick and injured kicked into overdrive
Keisha’s attitude instantly became that of an emergency health care provider. Focused on her patient and surroundings. She scrambled at the fastest belly crawl that Alex had ever seen, heading back to the wounded man before he could mutter a single syllable of caution. Corporal Jenkins was right behind her, moving almost as fast. Alex unslung his rifle and started scanning down the street where the sound had come from.
Keisha reached Private Ciner
and immediately started assesing him. “Shoulder” Ciner managed to grind out when she got there. She couldn’t see very well and quickly dug into the ever present first aid kit that had ridden her hip ever since she and Alex had left her aunt and uncle’s house. She quickly produced a thick trauma dressing from the kit. “We need to move, now!” Corporal Jenkins whispered urgently. “Just a second.” said Keisha calmly. She quickly inspected the wound, mostly by touch in the dim moonlight, before slapping the trauma dressing on it. She placed Ciner’s hand on the dressing, whispering, “Push on that as hard as you can” Her hand flashed to her kit once more, coming out with another trauma pad and a roll of gauze. With practiced precision she rolled him slightly towards her and placed the trauma pad on the much larger exit wound and set about wrapping the gauze around the shoulder and both trauma pads, securing both in place and slowing the bleeding.
By this time Lieutenant Cooper had scrambled to their position from her spot at the end of the line. She scanned the night alertly. “Move, we have no more time!” she hissed urgently. Keisha efficiently tied off the knot. “Go” she said and instantly Jenkins started pulling the man’s good arm towards Alex’s position. Corporal Cooper grabbed Ciner by the belt and helped as best she could. Ciner did his best not to scream.