Once landed, Trevor led Major Forest and a squad of soldiers toward the buildings on the western edge of the outpost. As he moved, he noticed signs hanging from or fallen in front of the various structures built against the mountainside. While time and damage had eroded the images and letters, he did not need to be able to read them to recognize retail signs.
Yes, this place had once been a shopping center or something of the kind; most recently it served the purposes of the Chaktaw and their quest to eradicate humanity from the planet.
He came upon Corporal Brewer and his three-man reconnaissance team huddled behind debris from the broken perimeter wall.
"Small arms from inside, sir," he reported and pointed toward one of the 'store' fronts that suffered from burn and explosive damage. "Not sure how many."
"Okay, let's check it out. Corporal, keep your team here to cover us, the rest of you follow me, we're going to get close enough for a look."
With his assault rifle held ready and its bayonet gleaming in the sharp afternoon sunlight, Trevor weaved the squad around destroyed vehicles and dead bodies, approaching the occupied building. When they neared the gaping hole where a front door once stood, Chaktaw rounds zipped by his nose and forced the unit flush against the front fascia.
When the shooting slowed, the new Emperor peered in through what might have once been a window. He saw movement back there in the shadows but had to pull back when enemy fire ricocheted off a stone support pillar a few feet in front of his face.
Trevor turned to Nina, his hand held open, and said, "Throw Cam."
Nina produced a softball-sized device from her utility belt and gave it to him. Tiny lenses covered the gray and black sphere.
Trevor took a deep breath, concentrated, and then leaned in again. He hurled the round object into the destroyed building and retreated just as Chaktaw rifles tried to kill him again.
Major Forest held a monitor about the size of a portable video game. She cycled through the available camera angles until she found the picture offering the best tactical analysis.
"There. In the northwest corner. Four of them."
To Trevor's surprise, the Chaktaw hiding in the building did not wear their usual camouflage ponchos. However, he recognized them all the same from his meeting prior to the Battle of Five Armies when the alien commander offered a merciful death to honor the human army's courage.
Just as he remembered, their heads differed from men in that they had big puffy cheeks with wiry hair, almost whiskers. Their scalps lacked any hair in the center. Instead, strands of fibrous thatch circled the edges of their skulls.
The group of four hid in a corner behind overturned furniture and a stack of food stuffs, armed with rifles that fired bullet-like pellets from a magnetic rail gun.
"What do you think?" Nina asked.
He raised his radio and transmitted, "Flight Two leader, you copy? I got some bugs that need to be squashed."
The radio hummed, "Copy ground team, exterminator en route."
"Marking target," Trevor radioed and casually flipped a grenade spewing gray smoke in front of the store. He then moved the squad away.
One of the AATCs banked around and dove. The white and red missiles under its short wings glinted in the sun like talons on a bird of prey.
When they reached cover, Nina said, "I'm surprised you're going to waste missiles on four Chaktaw."
"For these guys, we use a hammer on an ant if we need to. I hate these fucks."
One of the Skipper's rockets shot out and arrowed into the remains of the building, actually flying in the open front door and detonating inside. A muffled clap preceded a bubbling ball of brown and black smoke that poured from the interior.
Trevor immediately waved his men forward and inside, meeting no resistance.
The missile strike ignited a few small fires but the main obstacle to searching the room was the dust left over from the ceiling collapse. Like others on the team, Trevor covered his mouth and nose with his hand, wishing he had brought a mask.
He ordered, "We're searching for anything that could lead us to their main base."
"You find nothing. We burn good."
Trevor shot around at the sound of an alien voice to see two of his men dragging a Chaktaw survivor from the rubble. The thing smiled, apparently happy that humanity would find nothing of use at the destroyed outpost.
Trevor, however, reacted more to the creature's speech than the substance of what it said. It surprised him to hear a Chaktaw speaking his language, albeit in a rough fashion. The Chaktaw—or Vikings—he had fought at Five Armies used translation devices to communicate.
"You speak my tongue? Now this is interesting."
"Yes. Some us learn you words so we can order you around when you defeated."
Nina pulled one of her twin pistols and put it to the creature’s head.
Trevor held his hand up to stop her. "No. No. Wait a moment. This is very fortunate."
"I didn’t think you liked prisoners," Forest said and appeared eager to do the dirty work.
"Oh, I live and learn, sweetheart. I’m sure our friend here—our buddy who can speak our language—I’m sure he would be happy to tell us about their main base, wouldn’t you?"
Nina holstered her gun and said, "We have people, I mean, the old Trevor…he sometimes had people interrogate prisoners. I’m sure they’d be happy to do it again."
"Good. Take our friend back to Thebes and discuss the matter with him. See if you can find out who beat us to the punch here, too."
As the soldiers dragged the prisoner away, the Chaktaw said, "Fromm will destroy your city! He is coming for you. He is coming!"
"Did you say, Fromm?" Trevor stopped them. "Force Commander Fromm? I remember that son of a bitch."
Fromm had been the name of the Viking commander at Five Armies; the one Trevor had killed then held his body toward the heavens to announce humanity’s resurgence.
"He will destroy you."
"I’ll tell you what, buddy, what’s that tradition of yours? Oh yeah, if you tell me where your main base is, I’ll allow your people to surrender and die peacefully. How’s that?"
The Chaktaw did not reply, but the look in its eyes suggested surprise at Trevor’s knowledge of its customs as well as indignation at the idea his people could ever be defeated.
"Take this thing away," Major Forest ordered. "Turn it over to Intel."
Trevor watched them go and said, "I think I’m starting to like this. This is almost fun."
---
According to Major Forest, the 'old' Trevor placed an emphasis on decoding the languages of the enemy factions. This resulted in a certain number of translators capable of understanding—to some degree—enemy conversations and transmissions as well as providing for the vigorous interrogation of prisoners.
As a result, Nina’s people knew that the three-legged duck-billed aliens Trevor called "Plats" or "Platypuses" actually went by the name "Duass." And as they had discussed when planning the spring offensive, those aliens had established a colony along the coast of a lake Trevor named "Erie"; the name it held on his Earth.
Trevor did not know if the town the Duass occupied was of their creation or had existed prior to the invasion, but from aerial reconnaissance photos he saw more conventional buildings—not sprouting from mountains or built into cliffs—made from a variety of materials and surrounded by a network of cobblestone streets.
A few weeks ago white snow covered those streets and the huge lake sported a sheen of ice. However, a rise in temperatures eroded both, leaving puddles on the streets, and the countryside a shade of soft muddy brown.
Based on his experiences back home, Trevor did not expect the Duass infantry to pose a challenge but he respected the capabilities of their War Skiffs. The vehicles resembled wooden, motorized boats on wheels with an energy-firing deck gun capable of melting through the toughest armor.
To take the town, Trevor marched west with a small, mobile force that he sp
lit into three groups totaling two hundred soldiers.
Major Forest commanded Combat Group One with three squads tasked to draw the garrison out and to the north. The land along the banks of the lake in that area was covered in forest and brush which would help hide her numbers and limit the Duass’ War Skiffs.
Combat Group Three included five more squads, some fast-moving armored vehicles, and five Skippers under the control of General Gronard to act as a reserve.
Trevor decided he wanted to conserve aviation fuel and air-to-surface missiles for an all-out assault on the Chaktaw main base once located. Therefore, the Skippers should remain grounded except as a last resort.
Combat Group Two, under Trevor's command, would lead the main assault with eighty men once Nina created a diversion to the north, which began on a warm but overcast March morning with her order, "Mortar teams, open up."
Explosive shells lofted from their positions inside an evergreen forest then crashed down on the outskirts of the town Trevor had designated "Erie Coast." The first volley crashed into a short perimeter wall constructed of a plaster-like, tan material that existed more for style than defense and easily shattered.
More shells hit a yard area as the shots walked closer to and then struck a two-story rectangular house made of the same material as the wall and topped with a terracotta-like roof that splintered and collapsed on impact.
A gaggle of unarmed Duass ran—or, rather, wobbled on three legs—from the structure and an alarm sounded across the villa.
---
Trevor and his squad commanders remained hidden on the far side of a ridge to the east of Erie Coast. The returned Emperor lay on his belly and surveyed the town through a telescope-like device. A distant thump-thump…thump-thump drifted to his ears from Nina's bombardment.
Built on a well-planned grid, the Duass town—more like a villa--stretched a good mile and a half north to south along the shore and another half mile inland. Four north-south streets served as primary thoroughfares. Additional connecting streets and alleys made moving from one end of town to the other easy.
Along the lake stood a series of docks with bubble boathouses. The Duass maintained a small fleet of rectangular fishing vessels with most in port when the attack began.
Trevor consulted an aerial photograph and then looked to the center of town. There he saw a four-story building with battlements and guard towers holding heavy gun emplacements. Bordering this citadel were what reconnaissance suggested to be a barracks and the Duass’ version of a motor pool.
Check points covered the main approaches to the town and he spied a few Skiffs parked on the streets. As Nina's bombardment continued, more of the war vehicles appeared as did soldiers, all moving toward the northern perimeter.
"Good, good," Trevor mumbled to his officers.
The man at his side, Captain Pickering, said, "They’re taking the bait."
Trevor counted more than one hundred enemy fighters and a dozen War Skiffs through his spyglass.
"Too bad for them."
---
A War Skiff rolled past a collapsed building on the northern side of town. Its big, thick wooden wheels clunked and scraped as they rumbled through the debris of the destroyed house. Duass infantry fanned out to its flanks in preparation for a counter-assault.
"Rocket teams! Forward!" Nina Forest ordered.
Two teams of two men hustled to the front of the woods with bazooka-like launchers.
Plasma spat from the gun on the War Skiff's deck. The stream of energy hit the tree tops above the attacking humans. Several big limbs fell and crushed two soldiers.
Cries of "help" and "medic’ were drown out by swooshing rockets as the anti-armor projectiles raced toward the target. The missiles hit, but at maximum range. They scratched, even splintered, the outer hull but it remained in action.
Major Forest commanded, "Damn it! Fire! Open Fire!"
Three more War Skiffs appeared from the city. Those wheeled vehicles joined the first and served as shields for three dozen enemy infantry creeping toward the human lines. At the same time, Nina saw more Duass soldiers attempting to flank her position.
---
Trevor’s force faced a handful of infantry on the east side and one War Skiff blocking the primary entrance, but the perimeter wall was low enough to jump easily.
He purposely held his short-ranged artillery in check to conceal the strength of his assault. Instead, his troops moved forward with four attack buggies leading the way followed by two transports with one squad each and the rest following on foot.
The War Skiff saw them coming over the ridge. It fired and blasted the buggy next to Stone’s. It flipped and rolled knocking two of the three men onboard out of the fight.
Anti-armor rockets from the other buggies drew a bead on the Skiff and launched. Several missiles missed and slammed into the small, house-like buildings on the east side. One scored a significant hit on the Skiff’s front wheels, blasting out a chunk and changing its shape from a circle to a crescent.
Duass small arms fire joined the Skiff as well as ping-pong ball-like grenades, disabling one of the troop transports and forcing its passengers to disembark early onto the open killing ground between them and the town.
"The plan’s falling apart, sir!" Pickering, driving Trevor’s assault buggy, panicked.
"No plan survives contact with the enemy, soldier," Trevor shared a military truth. "Keep moving forward! And for God’s sake keep firing that machine gun!"
The trooper in the back of Trevor’s buggy heard the command and fired full throttle. The bullets struck a number of defenders as the vehicle moved close enough to see the dull glint in the Duass’ eyes.
A line of Duass soldiers ran out from behind the War Skiff and raised their rifles.
"Faster! Faster!" Trevor shouted. "Mow the bastards down!"
A heavy bolt of plasma flew over the buggy. The energy from the ordnance crackled as it missed their heads by two feet. Trevor and Pickering felt the heat as it passed.
"OHHH SHIITTTTT!"
The buggy hit the line of wobbling infantry knocking some skyward, others to the side, and a few underneath. That, in turn, destabilized the car sending its two right wheels airborne which hit the side of the War Skiff.
The assault buggy teetered at a ninety-degree angle on two wheels with the engine roaring amidst enemy bodies flying all around. The soldier in the rear fell out; Trevor felt the g-force strain his safety harness.
After skirting the Skiff, the buggy came to rest against a one-story structure thirty yards behind enemy lines, its right wheels stuck up and Trevor hanging from his safety belt.
A shield of dust kicked up by the impact blocked his vision but he heard the fire of Duass energy weapons peppering his vehicle as well as the wall it rested against. Then he heard a roar; a human battle cry. The Duass energy bolts stopped firing in his direction.
"Sir! You okay?"
Pickering stood by the buggy with a bloody gash across his forehead and the way he favored one shoulder suggested dislocation. Yet he worried first about his leader.
Stone felt his safety harness unlatch, then gravity pulled him down but Pickering's uninjured arm steadied him. Once free of the wreck, Pickering directed him to cover.
Trevor’s senses slowly rebooted. Pickering had moved him next to the crashed buggy. They were behind the War Skiff and the other Duass defenders. To their west was a passage between a line of buildings—an alley—leading to the villa's center.
"Why am I not dead?" He thought aloud.
Pickering answered by tapping his shoulder and pointing toward human infantry engaging the Duass defenders in close-quarters combat. Yes, several of his men lay dead in and around the main entrance, but the defending line had broke.
Trevor staggered to his feet and shouted, "Rally the squads and push forward!"
---
Nina fired her two pistols, killing a pair of enemy soldiers at the forest rim, ending yet another half-heart
ed attempt to flank her force.
At the center of the battle, three Duass War Skiffs held sway over the open ground between the forest and the town. The splintered and burning remains of a fourth sent a plume of black smoke into the air and covered the battlefield in an oily odor.
"What are they waiting for?" She said but no one could hear because the constant racket of small arms fire, Skiff plasma bursts, and outgoing rockets filled the woods.
She had expected to make a hasty retreat, but the Duass appeared content to trade shots. Nonetheless, she had drawn the enemy to the northern perimeter, exactly as instructed.
---
General Gronard’s voice transmitted over Trevor's radio, "Major Forest has their full attention. She’s got about sixty fighters and three Skiffs taking pot shots at her. They don’t look like they are going any where any time soon."
Trevor glanced around at his re-constituted attack force.
"Good. We’ll be at the citadel in a few minutes."
---
Gun fire, plasma rounds, and anti-personnel grenades shot back and forth between the human troops in the forest and the Duass soldiers and War Skiffs at the northern perimeter.
Despite the shots blasting around her and the lethal energy beams from the War Skiffs cutting apart the forest, Nina felt pleased. She even smiled.
While the battle appeared a stalemate, that served her purpose. She merely had to keep the Duass' attention while--Nina’s smile faded.
The War Skiffs, still firing, rolled backwards, retreating toward the town. The infantry they covered did the same. In fact, the entire Duass line disengaged.
"What the..? Morris! Wilson! Move your squads forward. We can’t let them pull back!"
Nina ordered two rocket troops to her side and charged from the forest in pursuit of the larger, better-armed-but-withdrawing force. Energy from a War Skiff’s main gun hit the muddy ground in front of her. The shock wave knocked the Major skidding through the mud and singed her battle suit.
Beyond Armageddon: Book 03 - Parallels Page 32