Merkiaari Wars: 02 - What Price Honour

by Mark E. Cooper

  He was roughly a hundred metres up slope from the stream, hidden among dense trees and undergrowth. Until now he had been heading steadily south toward his own lines using the terrain to keep hidden. There had been no sign of the others sent north with him, and considering the terrain, he doubted he would find them. He could only hope they had been picked up.

  Newlove kept his breathing low, and peered through the underbrush at the enemy in the valley below. He badly wanted to run away, but he couldn’t. They were up to something. He wished he didn’t know that, but he did. That meant it was his duty to find out what they were doing. He watched those huge monsters in their camp and loathed them. This was all their fault. If they hadn’t stopped right there where he could see them, he might have been kilometres to the south by now.

  With his pistol in one hand, and a ration bar from his emergency survival pack in the other, he watched them going about their business. He was fascinated when one of the monsters said something to his companions and they all laughed. Merkiaari laughing? He wondered what they found amusing. Their language was a mystery, but laughter was universal. Merki humour, the mind boggled.

  The patrol eventually moved out again.

  Newlove watched them until they were hard to see clearly before he dared follow. He was no match for even one of these troopers on the ground, let alone a score of them. He kept his distance. He was satisfied with catching glimpses of them moving through the trees. Had he known where he was going, he might well have discarded his plan as foolhardy and scurried over the ridge into the next valley, but he didn’t know. He didn’t know the Merkiaari were on the return leg of their patrol, he didn’t know they were in contact with their First Claw. He hadn’t thought that far ahead.

  All the rest of that day, he followed them up the valley as they performed their sweep. He had a vague notion of using his transponder to lead the cavalry right to them, but first he wanted to know the location of their camp. It couldn’t be too far, he reasoned. As he tried to negotiate the slippery slope, he stumbled and fell. He tumbled down the hillside, and fetched up hard against a tree. Cursing under his breath, he quickly scrambled back under cover. He was sweating and panting fearfully when he finally had time to look for the enemy. He peered ahead then moved to a better vantage.

  “What the…?”

  They were gone. Newlove hurried forward in a panic cursing his stupidity all the while. He had let them get too far ahead, and now he was risking detection to catch up. Fool, fool, fool! He reached the last place he had seen them, and hunkered down trying to think. They weren’t in sight, and there was nowhere for them to hide. The valley was quite open along the river. They couldn’t have gotten that far ahead, certainly not far enough to lose him like this. What did that leave?

  Upslope?

  He turned and surveyed the ground looking for signs they had passed that way. At first he despaired of finding anything, but then he remembered how big they were. He scurried upslope checking out the trees, and sighed in relief. Above his head, he could make out fresh claw marks on the bark of a tree. He could easily visualise one of the troopers slipping and grabbing the tree for balance. He had done the same hundreds of times on this journey. Checking the ground for tracks, he confirmed they had taken to the heights, but why? There was only one way to find out.

  He began climbing.

  Newlove hugged the dirt when he reached the crest of the ridge. He didn’t want to be silhouetted against the sky for all to see. The troopers were making their way down the far side of the ridge moving rapidly and no longer interested in a stealthy patrol of the area. That said to him they were confident of their safety. They must be close to support from their own side. The problem was, he couldn’t see any evidence to support that. The valley below his hiding place was a mystery to him. It was filled with so many trees that the canopy became one solid shroud hiding everything below. He watched them for a few more minutes then carefully followed them under that green blanket.

  As before, he kept low moving from one patch of good cover to another, always keeping his quarry in sight. In this way he was witness to something that chilled him.

  He eased himself flat to the ground, and crawled down slope until he was in danger of losing his cover. The patrol disbanded as he watched, and lost themselves among their fellows, but he didn’t care about that. He had other things on his mind. For as far as he could see the valley ahead of him was filled with Merkiaari and their equipment. He counted hundreds of gravsleds sporting the ominous silhouettes of twin barrelled pulsers, and knew there must be hundreds more further on that he wasn’t close enough to see. There were thousands upon thousands of enemy troops in the camp. It was more like a full blown base than a camp.

  Amid smashed and fallen trees, he could make out a pair of huge troop ships. They were covered in tree branches and camouflage netting little different from that used by grunts throughout the Alliance. In fact, the entire base was concealed by the forest canopy and the cunning application of netting strung between the trees. Done properly it was very effective in shielding ground targets from air attack, and he should know. He’d lost count of the number of times he had attacked such targets aided by spotters on the ground.

  Those ships… he couldn’t understand how anyone could have landed such a monster in a congested valley like this one undetected, let alone two of them. Not while the task force kept watch from orbit. There was no way… understanding dawned like an explosion in his head. They had landed before the task force arrived not after, or rather they had crashed before the task force arrived. The Shan military had opposed the Merki landings with salvos of missiles launched from surface and underground installations after the fortresses in orbit failed to stop them. The landers here must have been damaged, and forced down on their way to Masaru. By the looks of them, they would never fly again, but that was unimportant. What mattered was that he had found Merkiaari reinforcements and the Admiral was unaware of it.

  He had to give warning.

  Newlove fumbled for his transponder, and was about to activate it when he realised he was being watched. He looked fearfully around, trying to find the source of his sudden unease… there! A pair of eyes were watching him from the undergrowth. They blinked and seemed to disappear for a second, but then they were back still watching. He pulled his pistol and—

  “I wouldn’t do that were I you.”

  He gasped in shock, and nearly pulled the trigger.

  * * *

  “I wouldn’t do that were I you,” Gina said, from directly behind the pilot.

  Newlove started, turning to look back. “How… where did you come from?”

  “No time for that now, Flight Lieutenant,” she said, and gently moved his pistol aside so that it was no longer pointed at Varya. “He’s with me.”

  Gina signalled to Varya, and the tracker slinked out of the shadows on all fours. She shivered a little, seeing the way he moved. He came out of cover like some great cat, like a predator with his head close to the ground between muscular shoulders and stalking his prey. It was only his harness, studded with spare ammo and power cells, that clashed with the image of a wild cat intent on dinner.

  “Varya, this is Flight Lieutenant Newlove. You should call him Gary.”

  “Honoured.” Varya’s whiskers and nose twitched as he gathered the scent of this new human. “Why should I call you Gary?”

  “Because it’s my name,” Newlove said.

  Varya blinked. “Ah yes, I keep forgetting. Humans have so many names, Gary Newlove. I am simply Varya.”

  “Honoured to meet you. Were you looking for me?”

  “You and your friends, yes. You are the first still alive we have found.”

  Gina studied the camp while Newlove got to know Varya. Her team was already circling it in pairs so that they might make the fullest report they could to the General. Shima and Varya had been a godsend. Shan were unbelievably good at tracking. Viper sensors were good, better than any she had ever used, but
even they had limitations. They couldn’t find something that was not in range. Shima not only could find someone out of sensor range, she had done it with apparent ease. She tracked Newlove down with nothing but her nose and hunting skills. Varya said there were very few people the equal of Shima despite her eyes. When all Shan were born hunters, it was very high praise indeed.

  Gina wished she dared go active on her sensors, but it was too risky. Although it was hard to do, even viper sensors could be backtracked. She didn’t dare take the chance that her emissions would give her team away. The General needed to know exactly what he was facing. Being discovered before then was unacceptable. With that in mind, she had ordered her people to keep constantly updating TacNet as they went along. In that way, the General would get at least some information should they fail.

  “May I?” Gina held out her hand for the transponder. Newlove surrendered it, and she opened the case. “Hmmm. I think I have a use for this… if the General agrees.”

  “Yes?” Newlove said.

  “What would the Admiral say if I asked her to nuke this valley from orbit?”

  “Hell no I should think. Why, is that what you plan to do?”

  Gina shrugged. “No point. She would say no. So we go with Plan B.”

  “What’s Plan B?”

  Gina smiled crookedly. “I set the transponder to tight beam a signal, Sutherland launches all your friends to home on it, and they blow the crap out of this valley.”

  Newlove grinned. “Good idea.”

  Varya handed Gina the cleaning kit he used for his blaster. The little toolkit was basic, but adequate for her needs. Transponders were omni-directional long range beacons. With a few adjustments they could be made to transmit a tightly focused signal less likely to be intercepted, which would defeat the purpose of a beacon designed to lead rescuers to a downed pilot, but would suit Gina’s purpose perfectly. With luck it wouldn’t be detected by the enemy. She finished tinkering, and replaced the back cover. Varya put away his tools and the three of them waited.

  Not long after they settled down to wait, Cragg arrived slithering through the underbrush on his belly. “We have a problem.”

  “No shit, Cragg,” Rutledge growled, joining them from the opposite direction. “You have a flair for stating the obvious.”

  Cragg brightened. “Hey thanks, Sarge.”

  Rutledge scowled at the mockery. “They’re getting set to move out.”

  Gina frowned at the transponder in her hand. “Any idea of time scale?”

  Cragg shrugged then shook his head. “Sarge?”

  Rutledge pursed his lips and peered at the encampment. “Could be any time. No way to know for sure, but it won’t be long. My guess is a couple of hours. What have you got in mind?”

  “I’ve been tinkering with this thing,” Gina said, and showed Rutledge the transponder. “I’ve set it to transmit a tightly focused homing signal.”

  Rutledge’s interest quickened. “Nice, very nice.”

  “We have to deliver it before they move out.”

  “But if they move…” Newlove began, but then his eyes widened. “You can’t mean it.”

  The three vipers just looked at him silently.

  “That’s crazy,” Newlove hissed. “You’ll never make it!”

  Gina shrugged. “It’s the only way. We have to put this where it will do the most good. Inside one of their vehicles would be best. Somewhere out of sight. We can’t just leave it here in the valley. They might move out before the strike can be laid on. We’ll have lost a great chance to hurt them.”

  Newlove was still in shock at the sheer audacity of the plan. “Yeah I know, but who’s gonna go in?”

  Gina frowned at him. “I will of course.” She noticed Rutledge watching her. “What?”

  Rutledge shrugged. “Two of us would be better.”

  “Good idea,” Cragg said quickly. “I’ll watch your back, Gina.”

  “I meant me,” Rutledge growled testily.

  “You’re both crazy,” Newlove hissed.

  Varya’s ears flicked, and his jaw dropped in amusement. “To me they sound very sane, but it should be me that goes. I’m quicker and… how do you say… hard to see?”

  “Stealthy?” Cragg offered. “It means sneaky or hard to catch.”

  “Yes, that is me. I can be very stealthy. Especially at night.”

  Gina shook her head. “I’ve made my decision.”

  “Fuentez…” Rutledge began. “Captain, you’re not thinking this through. You have two of the best trackers alive right here, and both of them are Shan. You know how well they blend in, but have you seen how fast they can run on all fours? I have. Shima and Varya have the best chance of getting the job done, and getting out in one piece.”

  Gina hesitated. “A compromise then. Shima and I will do it, and the decision is not open to debate.”

  Rutledge snapped his mouth shut.

  “Gina—”

  “No, Martin. I’m in command and the decision has been made. I won’t risk sending both of our trackers in there. We can’t afford to lose both. When the others get back to us, Varya will lead you all out of here. We still have three missing pilots to find.”

  “Three?” Newlove said sickly. “Only three?”

  “Sorry. The others are dead. You’re the first we’ve found that the Merkiaari didn’t get.”

  “Oh God… they were my friends. I led them here to die.”

  Gina knew exactly how he felt. “Sergeant Rutledge?”

  “Captain?”

  “Inform the General of what I intend, and make sure he’s aware of what’s coming his way.”

  Rutledge nodded. A moment later his eyes went vacant as he contacted General Burgton using TacNet. His comm might be tracked, but TacNet was secure.

  Hours later, Rutledge led the team over the ridge to wait. It hadn’t been said, but everyone was thinking that Gina’s self imposed mission was suicide. She thought they might be right. As soon as they were gone, she went into action. Crawling through the underbrush, she found an ideal position to watch while Shima took the transponder into the Merki camp. She would have been invisible if not for Gina’s knowledge of her position, and her low light amplification. Shima’s pelt blended so well with the shadows, it was like watching the night itself slink toward the camp.

  Gina had her rifle panning across the camp looking for threats to her friend, but Shima had made her promise not to fire unless she was absolutely certain she couldn’t deal with the threat. They both knew that the mission would be over the moment Gina fired. She was determined to give her friend every chance to deliver the package.

  She watched the Shan scientist turned warrior moving around the edges of the camp. Shima needed a way in that gave her maximum cover, and the chance to move undetected. They had discussed the placement of the transponder before Shima set off to deliver it, and had decided the best place would be one of the larger transporters. The combat gravsleds were out. The crew might notice if she put the transponder in the cockpit or gunner’s position. The transporters were another matter. No one would stumble upon it if Shima could secrete it amongst all the supplies in the cargo area. The problem was, she would have to penetrate the camp deeper than if she simply chose the closest gravsled. The sleds had been placed near the perimeter where they could be used in place of fixed defences in case of emergency. Worst of all, was the state of the Merki’s preparedness to move. They were getting ready to advance on Charlie Epsilon and points south. That meant instead of a camp that was settling down for the night, Shima had to contend with one that was a hive of activity.

  Shima froze as the huge form of a Merki trooper walked by within touching distance. Gina had her rifle up and targeted on the Merki’s head, but she didn’t fire. He hadn’t seen Shima who was on her belly watching him intently. A few seconds went by before Shima moved out again. When she did it was awesome. Gina gasped when her friend went into a sprint from a standing start. One moment she was on her belly
watching the retreating figure, the next she was streaking across the open space ahead. Shima was just a blur of speed.

  Gina lost her the moment she moved, and then found her again just in time to lose her as she hid behind a pile of crates—munitions if she was right. She watched the pile for a few seconds, and only realised Shima had gone when she noticed movement further on. She quickly panned to the new location and zoomed in. She caught another glimpse of Shima, but then she was gone again.

  Gina shook her head in admiration. What a viper Shima would make. She switched to thermal imaging, and found Shima just as she went to ground. There were troopers all over the place. They were easy to see using thermal imaging. Shima stayed still for the longest time yet. Gina was beginning to wonder if her friend had lost her nerve, but no, she was stronger than that. Like all Shan, she hated the Merkiaari with a passion. Her father had died early during the current incursion, and there wasn’t a day that went by that Shima didn’t remember him. She often told stories about him. Tahar sounded like an amazing man. Gina wished she could have known him.

  Shima was close to her goal, but things were happening in camp. Gina watched as a section of gravsleds on the perimeter fired up, and began moving off to the south. Following them were hundreds of troopers just then falling in for the march, while others boarded the Merkiaari equivalent of APCs. Shima was aware her time was running out. She took one hell of a risk by moving into the open.

  Gina cursed as her friend almost ran straight into the back of a sentry. Shima rose to her hind legs, and pulled her beamer. Gina targeted the sentry but waited for Shima to fire first, but she was hesitating. Shima holstered her weapon, and eased back from her enemy. Two paces back, she went to her belly and crawled under the armoured flange of a parked gravsled. She was taking a hell of a risk. If someone fired up the gravsled’s systems while she was underneath… Gina shuddered preferring not to think about it.