by George Olney
That didn't make Weykhaz feel any more relaxed. He hadn't lived this long by getting casual in enemy territory. Neither had the other two. The three men continued their silent study of the headquarters at the same calm, unhurried pace.
#####
On a higher ridge a good deal further back, the three women were conducting their own study of the night's target. Maev and, probably, Grete could have gotten further forward as easily as their men, but that kind of stalk was completely beyond Frenchy. All three knew that. In their case, a close approach wasn't necessary. They would only have to get up the hillside. The men were going in first to eliminate sentries. They were the ones that needed the detailed view. It was generally agreed that, with the human element out of the opposing force, Frenchy's lack of field craft wouldn't be a problem on the final leg of the night approach.
Frenchy studied the hill and wondered just what in the hell she'd gone and gotten herself into now. This was like something out of a Rambo movie, she decided. Not her cup of tea at all. She was more at home in bars and on the stage, not belly down in the dust, not-so-calmly planning a night attack on a bunch of bad guys.
As her eyes studied the cup in the hillside and the hidden entrance to the smugglers' headquarters, she had another thought. If all the gang was going to be there tonight that meant the woman would be there also.
Good. She wanted to meet her again.
She turned her head and glanced at Maev, engaged in her own study of the hill. Once again, Frenchy thought of the screams in the warehouse bay. Maev was the one hurt, but there was something between the smuggler’s leader and Frenchy. She remembered what the leader had ordered her men to do to Maev and then her. Torture, rape and infection with escetepus. How could one woman casually order that done to another?
Frenchy felt an involuntary shudder run through her body. Invasion of her body followed by invasion of her self. The woman had told her men to do it, knowing exactly what she ordered. There was going to be a reckoning for that, Frenchy promised silently.
And a reckoning for what they wanted to do to Earth, too.
Then she realized she was going to be one of the people saving her world. It was a pretty good feeling, now that she thought of it. After that, she went back to studying the hillside with a few less jitters.
A moment later, Frenchy said quietly, "They're coming back."
Although none of the three could see any movement on the smaller ridge in front of them, the other two didn't question Frenchy's comment. They had too much proof of her growing mental powers and her ties to Grae. If Frenchy said they were coming back, they were coming back.
"Well," Grete said in a soft voice, "as they are now done in their work, so are we. 'Tis my judgment we also have seen our fill, my ladies. Shall we remove ourselves to our mounts?"
The other two slowly gathered their gear and, joining Grete, inched back from the crest of the ridge until the hillside was no longer in sight. Carefully standing up, they walked slowly back to their gorts, scanning the surrounding countryside as they went. Finally, they reached the overhang under which the six gorts were tied.
As she reached to her saddle to get her canteen, Grete remarked, "It appears a straightforward, if dangerous, venture we are embarked on this night. Art nervous, child?"
Frenchy thought for a moment before answering. "Yes... and a little scared, too."
Maev found herself a seat on a small slope in the shade under the overhang, where she started to investigate the contents of a trail ration. "Good thing," she said. "Wouldn't want you around if you weren't. People that don't get scared are either crazy or dumb. Getting scared is your body's way of getting itself ready for action."
"Then I ought to be really charged up by tonight," Frenchy laughed. "Are you telling me you're scared, too?"
Maev made a face and looked pensive for a moment. "Frenchy, I'm not crazy. Not dumb, either. I'm scared, just like you. Don't let it bother you. You'll stop being scared when things start happening."
After a few swigs of water from the canteen Grete offered, Frenchy handed it back and, drawing her ax, went through the slashes and counters she'd learned from Grae. She'd practiced irregularly since he'd left and she felt a little rusty.
That wouldn't be good tonight.
Taking a seat next to Maev, Grete watched Frenchy thoughtfully for a while. The girl was improving with her ax. In fact, she was as good as a normal warrior. Grete decided this was the right time to bring up another subject. There were things Frenchy needed to know for tonight. "Lass," she called out, "cease your slaying of phantoms for the moment. I judge that a legion or more has fallen to your weapon since first you began your attacks. There is a subject we must review before we undertake the destruction of yon minions of evil. Come, sit next to me and Maev and I will endeavor your enlightenment."
Frenchy decided this was a good time for a break, since she was feeling more at home with her ax again. Bring on the bad guys!
Maev tossed her a thick cloth to wipe away perspiration and she sat next to Grete to towel off, gratefully accepting another drink from the proffered canteen. Grete began, "When we fare forth tonight, it will be as part of a team, each to their own job. Remember I spoke of the fact that Tribal couples do combat in pairs, the man to the point and the woman covering. That is a function Grae will expect and you must accept and fulfill."
Something a little irrational was bothering Frenchy about that situation. "Grete, why is the woman always behind the man. Doesn't she ever lead?"
Grete smiled at her. "Lass, lass, there is no leading and following between man and woman among the tribes. Can you lift Grae as easily as he does you?"
"No," she said slowly.
"Likewise you cannot swing his sword with his speed and endurance. Your ax is uncommon in that few Tribal women use such weapons to fight. Have you noticed neither Grae nor Weykhaz use longarms?"
Frenchy suddenly realized Grete was right. The only time Grae used a rifle was to hunt. "Okay," she said, "I think I see where you are heading."
Grete nodded. "Man and woman do combat as a team I said, and a team I meant. Our men have a liking for close engagement of an enemy. They use a bolt pistol when longer reach is needed, but generally eschew such modern conveniences in favor of sharp steel."
She smiled like a mother looking at a mischievous child. "Daughter, if our men be such fools as to want to be eyeball and nose with a combatant, it falls on the more sensible sex to keep them from the full harm of their folly."
Maev laughed. "That's one way of putting it. Frenchy, bottom line is that the guys are the heavy hitters. The girls screen the sides and the rear. Separate functions, but each one is necessary. It's an ancient system, and it works. A Tribal couple, fighting together, can handle three or four times their number of single opponents. Two up front, the back is open. Two in back, and you get nowhere. I've fought alone and I've fought in a Galactic style group with mates on either side. I prefer the Tribal way. Better chance of coming home.
"Must be something from your home world," she said as she grinned, "this male or female on top thing. I prefer my guys on top, but that doesn't mean they're any better than I am. It just means they're right here." She patted her stomach.
"Is sex all you think about?" Frenchy asked with a broad smile.
"Of course not," Maev said, her nose in the air and her dignified voice a parody of an offended matron. She waved the ration in her hand. "Sometimes I think about eating."
That turned the smiles to laughter.
"Tribes just don't think about which sex is running the show, "Maev added. "Galactics do, but we don't.
"Too damned independent," she giggled.
Frenchy nodded her understanding with a smile. "So what do I do?"
Maev spoke up. "Leave him enough room to use his weapons, but never let him get too far ahead. Grete and I will be using spring rifles, so we have a range advantage over you in an open area. Your bopper is a pretty good weapon to cover close places like
that headquarters as long as you watch the spread of the blast. Just keep anyone from getting behind him. Let him worry about anything in front or in his reach. I'll be doing overwatch on Evan and Grete will be with Weykhaz."
Frenchy grinned. "Short form is: If I see something, blast it?"
Grete smiled back. "Well said and to the point! Maev has done this sort of louse hunt many times and I... I am less a virgin in battle than I would wish. It is Grae's mission, so he will lead. Either Maev or I will always be in sight of you, so worry not about your own back."
Frenchy broke in with another smile. "Just make sure my stud finishes this thing in condition to make you a grandmother, right?"
"Why," Grete said with a prim expression, "I had never such a thought!"
All three laughed.
With further to walk, the men took what Frenchy judged to be another hour to get to the overhang. Each of them went to their gorts for canteens and other things as soon as they arrived. Weykhaz looked up and studied the overhang as he went about stowing his distance lenses on his gort. "This isn't enough cover," he said to the group at large. "We're too exposed. Grae, is there someplace else close by we can use until tonight?"
Grae, now lying propped on his elbows next to Frenchy, nodded. "About ten minutes back where the gully forked. If we go up the other fork, there's an undercut that makes for a pretty big cave. It has a broad opening but it’s closed further back. We can get far enough back under the rock that nothing will spot us from the air. It's out of the direct line between the Port and the hill, too. I don't think anyone will swing over far enough to pass over us."
Weykhaz pursed his lips thoughtfully. "Sounds good, not that being out of the way will mean anything. Someone can always be coming from another direction, you know."
Grae smiled. "Agreed, Master Cautious, but I'm happy if we're screened from the most probable avenue of approach."
Weykhaz snorted. "Humph! Cautious, now! If we had time, I'd make you eat those words, you insolent pup!
"At any rate," he continued," everyone take care of whatever you need to do. Let's go to Grae's cave and lay up for the day."
Frenchy decided Grae's hide-out looked like someone had taken a giant scoop and cut into the gully wall sideways, digging out a half-moon shaped depression that was very deep. The further part of the depression was dark, but the part she could see was irregular and rocky, with several shelves and varying levels to the floor of the almost-cave. Grae was right. Once inside there, they would be hard to spot from any direction.
Further investigation revealed that the back of the cave wasn't totally open. Several rock walls jutted out into the main area, breaking it up into what resembled rooms in the back. The gorts were unsaddled and tied in the open area near the front, but still under cover. Grae got water for the animals while Weykhaz and Maev got them secured and took care of their feed. The other three started a fire in the largest of the "rooms" and began preparations for lunch.
Grae took a minute to walk outside the front of the cave with Weykhaz. "Looks like you can barely see the reflections of the firelight in the back. I think we're pretty well hidden from snoopers."
Weykhaz carefully studied the weak, intermittent glow in the rear of the cave. "Hard enough to see in daylight," he agreed. "With screens up, we'll get warning of anything approaching. I doubt anyone could see that glow unless they were looking."
Grae chuckled. "Father, if they get close enough to see the fire glow, we're in trouble anyway!"
Weykhaz nodded with his own answering chuckle, "I have to agree, son."
After a moment, Weykhaz's expression changed. Now, with everyone else in the back of the cave, seemed a good time to bring up another subject. They had started to walk back to the cave, but the older man put out his hand and gently grasped Grae's shoulder, halting him. "Before we go back," Weykhaz began," tell me... how are you feeling?"
Grae knew what he meant. "A bit confused, but I get the impression for the first time that things are going right. I know what I have to do and so do you, but once it's done, it won't be an end. Not now, not with Frenchy."
Weykhaz chuckled again. "Handful, isn't she?"
Grae ruefully shook his head with a grin. "Talk about not knowing what you were getting into! Binding her was an accident. I got her out of trouble one night and followed Custom - for whatever reason, I can’t remember. Brain dead, I suppose, because the idea doesn’t make sense to me when I look back on it and the way I was then. I will admit I felt something for her I didn't recognize or understand at the time. I told myself all I wanted was a little sex when I took her, and she looked like she needed a way out of the hole she was digging for herself. I wanted a woman’s companionship for a while and I was going to help her a little in return. I told myself I could just pick her up, get her back on her feet, then let her go her own way once I got somewhere civilized and could honorably unbind her.
“So much for what seemed like a good idea at the time,” he added dryly.
Weykhaz smiled reminiscently. "It didn't take me long to find out just what I'd latched onto when I took your mother, either. When I first saw her, I knew I wanted that woman for the rest of my life. She hit me like a thunderbolt then and still does. No two days have been the same since."
Grae agreed with a wry nod. "I know just what you mean, Father. Same here. In any case, I like Frenchy and, more importantly, She likes her."
Both men knew he was referring to a woman present only in spirit and mind. Weykhaz continued, "But we're straying from my real question. What are your intentions now?"
Grae shrugged. "That lies in the future. Once this is behind us, if Frenchy still wants me, we can make a life together. I'm certain She wants it that way. I think Frenchy does too. That's good enough for me."
"Is that what you want?"
Grae's answer was firm. "Yes."
Weykhaz relaxed. Something important was now settled. "Good enough. Let's go see if they've gotten around to fixing lunch, yet. Stamping out escetepus infections makes me hungry."
A little later, five of the six were sitting in a circle on the ground just under the overhang that created the cave. Grae was in the middle of the circle, sculpting a model of the hill in the dirt. The bright light of early afternoon shown clearly on his work – the reason they were out there instead of further back in the cave. Grae wanted everyone to see every detail of the plan. Being fully prepared was worth the minor risk of exposure. They were protected from overhead, but could still be seen if someone flew by at just the right angle. Just to be on the safe side, he kept the telltale from one of his surveillance screens where he could see it easily.
Finishing his work, he gave the model a final pat. "Okay," he said, "let's get started. Frenchy, the rule in a combat brief is to ask any question you have, no matter how dumb you think it is. Every question has to be answered and every detail covered before we leave here. Everyone else has been through one of these things before, so that was something you needed to know. If you wonder about anything, feel free to ask, okay?"
Frenchy nodded her understanding. She was fascinated with the process of getting ready for tonight's attack. She never realized there was actually a set system for preparing to kill somebody. Grae, for instance, was showing a side of himself she’d never seen until now. His normally relaxed attitude was gone, replaced by the brisk professionalism of an instructor teaching a vital subject to attentive students.
Interesting.
Frightening when she thought about it, but interesting.
Grae began his briefing. "I've been all over this hill in the last few days. Once before, they had a security screen better than mine. Not this time. Ours can handle what they have. I'd be dead now if they didn't work. Our screens will be covering our approach tonight."
Pointing out three small dimples in the hillside around the headquarters entrance, he said, "These are the only sentry points, also where their anti-air guns are located. They're what shot you down, Evan. All three position
s are shielded electronically and command linked to the security system inside the headquarters. Take one out and the other two, as well as the central desk inside the hill, are warned."
"That's why you haven't gotten in, yet," Evan commented.
Grae nodded. "Yeah. I have some detonite, and I was thinking of blowing all three points and the door simultaneously until you all showed up. Now I think we can keep from alerting the headquarters a little longer by eliminating the sentries before we blow the door. It has to be blown. It's heavy alloy and it'll take too long to cut. When it blows, we get inside fast, while they're still disorganized."
Weykhaz grunted. That was about the only thing one man could do, but it wasn’t good. There were too many things that could go wrong and leave a single attacker exposed, vulnerable to destruction by the security systems inside the hill. He was glad he and the rest were here, now. The boy was on a damn suicide mission until he was stopped. It was Grae's right, but that didn't mean Weykhaz liked it.
Nobody asked what his original plan was once he was inside, and Grae didn't want to explain. His old plan was brutally simple. There was a two pound tectonite warhead from a missile resting in one of his saddle bags. It was enough to destroy the entire cavern and all in it. Once inside, he was going to detonate it by hand.
Now he had help and he wanted to live. Things were different and he was glad of it. Frenchy, I love you, he thought.
Pointing to a diagram drawn in the dirt, Grae continued. "This is the layout I got from Locar. If it is accurate, there is only this cross tunnel before we get to this large area at the end of the entrance tunnel. There are offices in back of the large area, but I’m sure a good many of the smugglers will be in the rooms off the cross tunnel. I think the large area is for transshipment storage of Somnolent. Father and Evan, you carry the detonite and set your charges far enough in to collapse the side tunnels and keep them off our backs, but no more than that. We don't want to damage the main tunnel.