Before I could begin to argue for an equal share of the responsibilities, Frost pointed towards the ground. “Hop down and find yourself a soft, shady spot, Sir. You are junking up my post.”
I selected a side of the rock that cast a morning shadow. After flinging several dead Fergie bodies back out into the field, I settled into a fetal position and was soon fast asleep. I awoke to the hot midday Targ sun beating down on me; the environmental system in my suit had kept my temperature constant. I sat up and looked at two Gonta soldiers working on another laser tower. They had shed their suits in an attempt to stay cool, as their suit systems no longer functioned.
Frost looked down at me from up above. “Three hours, Sir. Not bad. I just swapped out with York; Goddard is sleeping just behind his rock. I think the shade is better over on this side now, if you want to move over here. I know the suit is taking care of the heat for you, but no sense in running down our power packs if we don’t have to. We may need these suits to last us for more than the week or so they are designed for.”
I replied, “Well, hopefully we will only have three more days until the Gonta ships arrive.”
Frost squatted in an attempt to get closer as she looked down. “I’ve got news for you, Sir. These suits, they only function if they have power. The more systems that are being actively used, the faster that power drains.”
I looked up with an expression of mild confusion. “Well, how were we able to spend all that time with the Duke without changing out our packs?”
Frost smiled. “We were in a friendly environment, Sir. The suits weren’t constantly drawing power to keep us cool. Environmental, gravity assist, and in-combat hardening are the three big power hogs. All three of those were used sparingly. The captain has his engineer working on constructing sunshades for his men as well as for our positions. We will be the last to be outfitted, Sir, so move over to the shade and save a bit of power for later. I have a feeling that tonight is going to be more intense than last night was. And tomorrow night may be even more so as they learn from their failed attempts and try new things. Get some rest, Sir. We are going to need it.”
I slowly stood to a stiff back and legs. I wondered if the captain had taken note of my old man’s waddle as I walked to my new spot. I checked the power draw as I sat down in the shade. It had quickly dropped by 40 percent.
I grabbed a nutrient bar from a side pocket on my suit and popped open my mask. The searing heat felt like I was suddenly thrust into an oven. As I quickly chewed on the bar, I looked around at the captain’s men. Most had found shade of their own and were sleeping, although I wasn’t sure how. The 110-degree heat was stifling.
Another four hours passed before I awoke. York was poking me in the side and grinning. My first reaction was to attempt to wipe the sleep from my eyes. My gloved fingers banged on my closed face shield in my failed attempt.
York chuckled. “That still cracks me up every time I see someone do that, Sir. The subconscious wakes up first and tries to do what has become habit for you every morning. Still good for a laugh, though.”
I replied, “Just glad I can keep you entertained, York. Any good news come our way while I was sleeping?”
York squatted down as she talked. “The Gontas have seven laser towers up now. That is all they have. The Fergie won’t be coming straight at us anymore. At least not after the first few minutes, when they figure out those lasers won’t allow it. If I was to guess, we will see them coming in holding up some sort of shield in front of their eyes after that. I suggested to the captain that he move at least three of those towers out to our perimeters so that we can lase at different angles if need be. Might make it a little more difficult for the furries to cover up.”
I stood and began to stretch in an attempt to break the stiffness that still held my body in check. York shook her head as I twisted and turned while making almost every grunting noise possible.
York spoke. “Sir, you should have a packet of potassium supplements in your side storage. Take one and keep up the drinking of fluids from your helmet spout. Give it an hour, and you should begin to loosen up. Overwork your system and things get out of balance. That stiffness is your body’s way of telling you to watch it or else.”
After taking York’s advice, I again sat down on the ground. “How is it that you chose to be a warrior, York? Most of the time you act so calm and collected, while Frost up there seems like she is always on fire.”
York replied, “We are all wired differently, Sir. Each of us has to find that mentality that allows us to deal with war. With Frost it’s being hyperactive. For me? I don’t know, I try to remain calm, but sometimes I get a rage that just takes over my reasoning. I think you’ve seen me do that more than once, Sir. From what I have seen from you, Mr. Grange, you just charge ahead, regardless of the prospective consequences. For Goddard over there, well, he’s still young, so he’s figuring it out as he goes.”
I spoke. “Have I told you how much I appreciate you being on the team, York? You keep bailing me out of impossible situations. One could not ask for a more reliable team than you and Frost.”
York replied, “Aw, now you are just making me blush, Sir. But I do appreciate the compliments. And you have shown yourself to be worthy of those bailouts.”
Frost leaned over the rock from above. “What? We have a lovefest going on here, and I wasn’t invited?”
Small talk consumed the remainder of the daylight hours as we awaited the next night’s onslaught. As York had predicted, my stiffness had slowly diminished as the potassium in my blood balanced out my kidneys’ ability to retain or remove the fluids in my body, erasing the remnants of the prior night’s fatigue. I looked out across the field of dead and still-dying Fergie. Many of the corpses had already begun to bloat and swell from the hot afternoon sun. I wondered how long it would be before my suit’s filters were the only thing keeping out an otherwise overwhelming stench of death. Night was again coming, and I was not looking forward to it.
Chapter 8
The Gonta captain spoke. “Expect new tactics tonight. Think about what you would do if you were in charge out there. Take those thoughts and decide how you would then defend against yourself. You can probably expect whatever that is to happen tonight. The Fergie will want to claim victory over the intruders for themselves. When the Harget arrive, likely tomorrow, we can expect politics to enter their side of the battle.”
York replied, “Captain, if it was me, I would move all my forces to one side for a massive all-out assault. They have the numbers to probably overrun us. They almost accomplished that a couple of times last night. We might want to set up a signal for partially pulling forces from one side to the other if that happens.”
The captain nodded. “We have had that strategy under consideration, Sergeant. I will have the major coordinate with your team for what that signal might be.”
As the captain turned back to his troops, I spoke to my team. “Anything at all that you guys can think of, no matter how crazy it sounds, just spit it out. When we have a good short list of possibilities, York, you can run them over to the captain. Any defense we come up with won’t do us any good if our backsides end up exposed because of a Gonta weakness.”
The final hour of daylight was spent hashing out every ludicrous strategy we could come up with. Our defenses always came back to doing exactly what we had done the night before: just mow them down before they could get to our perimeter.
Goddard spoke. “Sir, we have that Gonta shuttle sitting there in the middle of the compound with those laser towers built around it. Now, we can’t risk flying it without it becoming fully infected by that virus. But, we do have a powerful power system sitting there that we could possibly tap into. We should ask the captain if that shuttle has an ion cannon, and if there is any way to extract it and get it up on one of those towers.”
I replied, “I like that, Goddard. Bigger ion bolts means more Fergie dead at a greater distance.”
Goddard shook hi
s head. “I was thinking more along the lines of a defense against one of those big war machines. Several of those heavy plates on a tracked vehicle and they could roll right in here, Sir. These blasters and those light lasers would do nothing to stop them.”
I turned my attention to York. “Go run that option by the captain, York. We could use the extra firepower if it can be done.”
York returned several minutes later. “They have a team working on it now, Sir. The captain said he appreciates our ingenuity. That was an option they had not thought of.”
I replied, “Did they clue you in as to a signal should a one-sided assault happen?”
York nodded. “You will hear long, sharp whistle blasts. One for north wall, two for east wall, three for south wall, and four for west wall. We are on the south wall, Sir. If you hear three blasts of that whistle, you can expect a Gonta soldier or two up on those rocks with you.”
At that moment a thought occurred to me. “Frost, walk out on that field and bring us back a Fergie who is injured, but still alert. I have something I want to try.”
After several minutes of searching, Frost returned with a live Fergie soldier. His back had been broken by the concussion of a nearby ion bolt strike. Frost held him up by the fur on the back of his neck.
Frost spoke as the Fergie soldier snarled and flailed his partially working arms. “Got this one, Chief. I don’t know what you have in mind; his back’s broke, so he can’t do much except try to bite us or maybe call us bad names.”
I looked at the Fergie. “You, my friend, are going to give us a little information.”
Frost spoke. “I don’t think he is going to talk much, Sir. Remember that one last night? They would rather die than tell you anything.”
I lifted up my arm pad and programmed its speaker to emit an audible tone. “He won’t have to say anything to us, Frost. Let’s just follow his reactions.”
I set the tone to begin at a low frequency and slowly work its way up. At five kilohertz the Fergie continued with the same snarl that it had come with. By fifteen kilohertz the tone was almost imperceptible to us. Then, when the frequency hit almost forty-two kilohertz, I got the reaction I was looking for. The Fergie began to squirm uncomfortably. As the tone continued to increase, in an audible range that was beyond our ability to hear, the Fergie began to shake as if in severe pain or shock.
Frost spoke. “That is creepy, Sir. How did you know to look for that?”
I replied, “When I was a kid, one of my neighbors had a pet montag. This was before they were outlawed due to being flagrant disease carriers. It was a little animal like these, only it was hairless and lumpy. It made a purring sound when you massaged its belly. Well, one of my friends—he was kind of a nasty kid—he figured out that high-pitched sounds drove that montag nuts. He used to torment it every chance he got. I wanted to kick his ass over it a few times, but he was twice my size. Anyway, that kind of stuck with me, and the talk about a whistle for a signal made it pop into my head.”
York spoke. “I don’t remember any such animal.”
I replied, “It was a fad that came and went in a couple months. We had just begun trading with a new world, and an importer brought them onto the Grid. They were expensive, so only the affluent sections could afford them. We lived in one such section before my father was betrayed. Anyway, only about a thousand made it on the Grid before they shut the imports down and confiscated those that were already there.”
York shook her head. “Hairless pets just seem a little disturbing to me. Everybody loves fur, but lumpy skin, that is creepy, Sir.”
I shook my head as well. “I agree that it was a hideous-looking creature. But when you rubbed its belly and it began to purr, it got this stupid, happy expression on its face that just made you smile. You are right, though; it was kind of creepy, but irresistible at the same time.”
Frost nodded as she held up the Fergie. “OK, so what do I do with this guy now?”
I replied, “About all we can do is put him back. Just go—”
Before I had a chance to continue, Frost had bashed the Fergie against a rock and flung him back out into the field. When she turned back towards me, I had a blank stare on my face.
Frost spoke. “What? Were you expecting me to go out there and lay him down gently, Mr. Grange?”
I sighed. “No, it’s still a little shocking to me, that’s all. Let’s pass this info on to the captain and see if he can make use of it.”
Goddard spoke. “Sir, as a precaution, why don’t we set that frequency on our arm pads. If the Fergie break through, it might be all we have to hold them off.”
I looked at Goddard and replied, “Awesome, Lieutenant! Best we be prepared for that eventuality. If the storm assault comes tonight as the captain predicts, we might just need it.”
I sat on my rock looking off into the distance as the orange-red sun slowly slipped over the horizon. The few scrubby plants that existed poked up through the hundreds of thousands of dead Fergie that covered the landscape. The high clouds reflected a pink brilliance that lit up the rest of the sky like a fairy-tale land.
As the darkness approached, my helmet night vision began to kick into gear. The heat of the day lit the land as the darkness of night took over the sky. We soon saw the first movements on the horizon.
York yelled out as the word spread over the compound. “We have incoming!”
Seconds later the phizz sound of the laser mounts firing signaled that the first wave had begun.
I spoke with a loud voice. “Remember, wait until they get to midfield to open up. We can’t waste any rounds!”
The air was soon filled with the buzzing sound of Gonta blasters firing and the whump, whump, whump sound of the ion bolts detonating amongst the hordes of Fergie attackers. Again, I found that a defensive stance went against my instincts. I had the desire to charge out and take the fight to the enemy with York and Frost by my side.
The first wave came and went with tens of thousands of Fergie slaughtered on the killing fields before us. When the assault had come to an end and the last of the Fergie retreated, we took note of the unusually long time that passed before the next wave began.
Five minutes into the new wave, two whistle blasts could be heard.I yelled over our continued fire, “York! You and Frost move left! Goddard and I will hold them here!”
As Frost hopped down to the ground, I got a sudden feeling of foreboding. I was alone on my rock. Thousands of Fergie were coming my way. I wondered if I would perish right there on that rock, overrun by our furry little enemies.
Goddard yelled out, “I don’t know what you have going on over there, Mr. Grange, but you best be pulling that trigger!”
After shaking myself back into reality, I yelled back and squeezed my finger. “On it, Lieutenant!”
For the next forty minutes, the Fergie conducted a heavy assault of the east wall of the compound. Several times a number would make it past the Tantric walls only to be mopped up by the Gonta engineering crew that was tending to the laser towers. When the second wave had ended, the captain had placed estimates at nearly five hundred thousand Fergie dead in the single assault. The piles of the dead were beginning to become a hindrance to the Fergie attacks.
Frost soon returned, tossing several cases of ammo packs up onto our rock.
Frost spoke. “Geez, what a waste of life, Sir. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I don’t have a lot of empathy for those who are looking to kill us, but that slaughter out there is just almost unthinkable. Even for someone who doesn’t have much of a conscience, like me.”
I replied, “Are you turning soft on me, Frost? Are you telling me you have a heart in there?”
Frost continued, “I’m just saying that I have been in some nasty, bloody, horrifying battles, Sir. This slaughter here, this is a first.”
One of the Gonta engineers yelled out, “We need assistance over here to raise up this cannon! Anyone with a strong back who can be spared!”
York was
the first to hop down and jog towards the Gontas. As Frost turned, I grabbed her by the arm and pointed out towards the fields.
I spoke. “Nope, I got this, Frost. You stay here. I may not have the endurance you have, but I have the muscle. Take a break and get a few minutes of rest.”
I was soon on a winch line, pulling with everything I had. York was made the anchorman due to her overpowering prosthetics. The ion cannon from the shuttle was slowly raised and permanently welded onto a mount on top of the tallest tower. A command chair was fastened to its side, and controls placed on a panel in front of the chair. The ion cannon would need a gunner.
With the weapon secured on its perch, I spoke to the captain. “Meecha, who is going to be manning that thing?”
The Gonta captain replied, “We don’t have gunners on our ships, Mr. Grange. Sergeant Heavus has volunteered to go up there and to do his best.”
I looked back at my rock and then at the captain. “One of my crew spent time in a gun mount. I believe that with a few minutes of practice, she could make best use of that cannon for us. If you can give me a replacement for her up there on that rock with me, I would like to offer up her services.”
The captain looked at his Gonta volunteer and then over at Frost. “Have her come to the chair, Mr. Grange. Sergeant Heavus will stay to conduct any required maintenance. I will send a Gonta Marine to your position.”
I returned to a waiting Frost. “I have a new task for you, Sergeant. I want you in that chair up there. We need a gunner who can make maximum use of that weapon. I know you had said at one time you had spent a tour in a gun pod, so get up there and make us proud.”
Frost shook her head. “Sir, that was back when I first joined the Corps. I haven’t fired a cannon like that in thirty years!”
I replied, “You are the best option we have, Frost. The Gonta ship weapons are all automated. They don’t have gunners.”
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