by Mark Iles
“The fact they left on foot suggests two things. One they have no craft left, or they know any ships they did have would be blown out of the sky immediately. We have total air and system superiority at this moment in time. Thankfully the attack on Mantis destroyed most of their fleet and we’ve since found a lot of their other ships dead in space, their crews apparently starved to death. This suggests they haven’t been able to rebuild their fleet as yet, which for us is a good thing.”
A tall, well-built, tough looking regular officer raised his arm, “You say ‘as yet’, Sir. Does that mean you’re expecting them to do so quickly?”
“Not if we can destroy this base, and then what others they may have. But if they’ve already been harvesting then yes we can expect them to rebuild fairly quickly. The trouble is we don’t know what their industrial capacity is. As to where the bugs from this base have gone, or why, we have no idea. It may be they have another facility we don’t know about, or it could be another reason entirely. Whatever it is, we have to track them down and eliminate them. Captain Dillon?”
“Yes Sir?”
“That’s your job. You’re to take the remains of your century and the seventh, plus replacements, that’ll give you two hundred men to work with. Once you know where they’re going you either destroy what you find or you call for backup. Got me?”
“Aye, Sir,”
“Major Kramer,” the general turned to the officer who’d raised his arm, “that enemy nest still needs to be dealt with. I want you and your regulars to sterilise it.”
Selena looked Kramer over. She knew instinctively the general had given him the main mission because the regulars lost face from their failed attack, and he wanted to give them the opportunity to reclaim it. That’s exactly what she would have done too, if she were in his place.
“The second section of the Penal Corps will be held back in reserve, just in case either Captain Dillon or Major Kramer runs into trouble,” he continued. He minimised the glow stick, turned it off and popped it into a breast pocket. The hologram disappeared moments later. “That’s it for now, good luck to you all.”
*****
Selena took her time reading through her orders, then she briefed the men and ensured the eight skimmers they’d been assigned formed a line immediately behind each other. Singh and Arthur were to lead in the first craft, with her and Kes in the second while Braxis brought up the rear. At her command the skimmers lifted and set off, following the tracks of the enemy through the trees. As they did so a small object dropped away from the lead craft. It stopped and hovered just about the ground, and then slowly moved ahead of them.
“Arthur, what was that?” Selena asked.
“A bee, I thought it would be a good idea if we used it as a tracker,” he replied, “just in case. It should be able to follow them in the dark, and any mist or fog too.”
“Good plan. Okay, let’s go.”
*****
About an hour after they’d set off there was a blinding flash behind them, followed by an ominous rumble as a dark cloud of smoke rose rapidly from the direction of the nest.
Selena immediately called a halt and the craft hovered a few feet above the ground. She tried to contact the general but finally gave up and said, “Nothing from the nest, I can’t raise them at all. Hang on...” She listened for a moment, touching her earpiece. Then she blanched and pursed her lips, breathing out through them noisily. “The enemy booby-trapped the last nest! All the troops there, command included, are gone. So apart from those back in the city, we’re all that’s left.” She touched the earpiece again, listened and then added. “Thankfully the general left Colonel Matthews in charge and was on his way back to the city. His skimmer’s gone down but there’s a rescue team on the way.”
“Orders, Ma’am?” Kes asked, loudly, looking straight at her.
“We carry on with the mission, of course. Now at least we don’t need to worry about any Manta from the nest sneaking up on us, or the FOM regulars stabbing us in the back. We carry on, find out where these bugs are going and mince them. Capulet City has enough troops to defend itself in the meantime, and there are a lot less bad guys to worry about now.”
*****
“These trees are getting thicker,” Singh reported. “Even with the tracker we’re going to need boots on the ground.”
“Arthur,” Selena began. “Have you any idea where the enemy might be going?”
“Not a clue, Ma’am, although I’d suggest they’re not just running. They’re going somewhere fast, so they are working to a plan.”
Fourteen hours later Selena called a halt. “That’s it for today, let’s find a spot and take a breather.”
“Are you sure about this?” Kes asked quietly. “The General won’t be happy.”
“He’s probably in hospital and won’t be in a position to give a shit. The men need a proper rest, they’re exhausted and tired men make mistakes.”
With four skimmers hovering protectively over them in a square, the rest of the vehicles settled into a corral. While guards manned the weapons on each skimmer Selena made sure the men were fed, watered and then got some sleep. After inspecting the vehicles she had some of the fragrant casserole a kind soul made up for them all, then climbed into her sleeping bag laid on the grass and under the open sky. Staring at the familiar stars from her childhood she was soon fast asleep.
*****
Selena was awoken by an insane yelping, which turned to a deafening banshee scream. Fighting her way out of the sleeping bag Selena snatched up her machine gun, just as long knee-high dark shapes leapt over the skimmers and ploughed into the stirring men.
“Swords!” Selena shouted, dropping her gun as she grabbed the Katana from the ground next to her sleeping bag. The long blade swept into the night and glinted in the light of the twin moons. The last thing she needed was her men firing blindly into their own ranks. A dark shape before her raised itself as if out of nowhere and stretched towards her face. The creature stood on rear and middle legs, a set of paws from a third and front set reached for her as it opened its jaws, revealing shark-like teeth dribbling with pendulous strings of gluey saliva. Jumping to her right Selena swung the mighty blade in a hissing arc down to her left. It connected with a solid thunk and then slipped through whatever she’d hit. There was a gibbering scream as something monstrous dropped to the grass, where it scrabbled insanely for a moment and then stilled.
“Lights!” she bellowed skipping backwards, her eyes dancing in all directions with her sword held ready in both hands. As the hovering skimmers illuminated the whole area Selena bulked, it couldn’t be…Creatures that resembled a cross between some form of long, hip-high six-legged rabid dog and a very wide cat blinked black eyes that were almost lost in short dark fur at the sudden light, then they turned tail and ran, bounding easily over the circle of skimmers and sank back into the night-cloaked forest.
“If anyone has an idea what those were,” Kes gasped. “I’d like to know. I’ve never seen anything like that before”
“Monsters from the past,” Selena replied, shuddering and still unable to believe her eyes. “They’re lenars.”
“Jesus, that’s all we need,” Kes said, eying the one Selena had cut clean in half.
Selena wiped her blade and looked at him. “When the colonists first came here these things tore them to pieces. We knew nothing about them initially, because they have a low heat signature and so weren’t picked up by thermal imaging. They sleep during the day, digging deep into the ground and covering themselves when the sun rises, and so the flybys didn’t spot them. They diurnal, but prefer to hunt in the dark.”
Selena told them about the unfortunate first explorers who had decided to camp right on top of a whole pack of them. She remembered being told at school that all the others found was blood, pieces of bone and their equipment. She was silent for a moment, then added, “That’s why Capulet City’s perimeter defence was kept, to defend us against them, while other worlds t
hat didn’t face such threats soon changed the standard base design.”
“So how come we weren’t warned about them?” Braxis asked, looking about nervously
“Because we thought we’d killed them all off,” Selena replied. “No one’s seen them for centuries.”
“Christ, their blood stinks,” Braxis observed, one hand holding his nose.
“Yeah, as I recall it’s something to do with a defensive mechanism.” Selena shuddered again, as she cleaned her blade. “Not that I can imagine them having any enemies for long. When we were at school we were taught they usually attack in packs, but they’ll also fight to the death on their own if they’re cornered.”
“Great, what else do we know about them?” Singh asked.
“They’re clever, and were known to sneak into houses at night,” Selena replied. “They took people from their beds so silently the others in the house could be sleeping right next to them and yet they wouldn’t hear a thing. The first anyone knew about it was when they woke up next to blood-soaked bedding. Countless times the lenars dragged young children from their cots then yammered outside, waking the rest of the household. When the distraught parents ran out to look for their children, they ran smack into packs of them. Nobody could figure out why they only took one person at a time, although some speculated it was a damn effective terror tactic. It’s also why there were no dogs on Capulet for a long time. The lenars liked eating them. In fact they specifically went for houses that had them, so dogs came to be seen as bad luck. A fair few have been imported since, but even so…”
“That suggests a high intelligence,” Arthur said, cleaning his machine gun, hand weapon drawn and by his side.
“Oh, like I said they’re clever. Our people became so terrified of them they even poisoned their farm animals and let them loose in the forests outside the city, in the hope the lenars would go for them. The settlers would rather have starved than meet a horrific death at the jaws of those monsters. It worked too. The lenars died in their thousands, although several were still killed by the perimeter defence over the following years. They caught on quickly, but it was too late the poisons decimated them. Their raids and numbers gradually ceased and we finally hoped we’d killed them all.
“They’ve not been seen for centuries, although there was always a chance that a few might still exist somewhere.” Selena shook her head to clear it of the horror. “But, for them to be this close to the city?”
Several troops collected the lenars’ carcases and dumped them a short distance away, playing their beam weapons over the bodies until they were reduced to ashes, but still that harsh hot metallic smell lingered.
“A word?” Kes asked, sidling up to her and handing over a cup of hot coffee.
“Sure, Kes, what is it?”
“Something’s been bothering me.” He took a sip of the beverage and blew gently at the steaming surface.
The scent of hot coffee reached Selena, stomach grumbling, and she took a sip of her own drink. “Like I said, what is it?”
“Apart from shortly after the reinforcements arrived the Manta haven’t attacked us, why not?”
“Perhaps they were conserving or building up their numbers.”
“That’s exactly my point if you think about it. We know they had the numbers. There were thousands of them at the nest we attacked, remember? When we assaulted it they just swarmed out and came at us in waves so thick you couldn’t even count them. On top of that they obviously knew how to get into Capulet, yet they didn’t until they had no choice.”
Selena frowned. “You’re right, that doesn’t make sense. They only attacked when they needed to divert our attention, when they made their escape.”
“So, we’re missing something, and whatever it is I’ve a feeling it’s really important.” Kes said, reaching out to touch her arm. “Are you okay? You look a little peaky.”
Selena pulled her arm back and quickly stepped away, looking at him in confusion. “I’m fine, but what are you doing?”
“Sorry, I didn’t mean anything by it.”
She watched his face go beetroot for a moment and then shrugged it off. “Forget it. There’s something else I need to talk to you about. Kes, it’s insights like this that’s made me recommend you for promotion. You’re wasted as an NCO.”
“Say what?” Now it was Kes’s turn to be surprised. “I’ve already been promoted, I’m a Staff Sergeant, remember?”
“You’re bumped to Lieutenant, with immediate effect. I spoke to the Admiral about it before we left and I received confirmation from him this morning, hence why I made us a little late for the general’s briefing. When all this is over you’re going back to Hades Prime, for Officer Training.”
“With respect Ma’am, you can shove that. I’m not going back to that hellhole where we did our basic training. Selena, I still have nightmares about it. The answer is no.”
“You think I’m giving you a choice, Kes? This is the Penal Regiments. Our numbers are depleted and we badly need men like you to replace the officers we’ve lost. So tough shit, it’s a done deal. When you complete the training you’ll have a command of your own. I’ll miss your ugly screwed up mug, not to mention the awful ginger hair; but that’s the end of the matter.” She paused. “What is it, Singh?”
He saluted and handed her a message tablet. She looked at the small screen. “Damn.”
“Something important?” Kes asked.
“Just confirmation that Kramer and his men, plus our other section and the colonel, are all dead. The whole area is nothing but ashes. The general’s ordered us to carry on with the mission, as I thought he would.” She handed the tablet back to Singh. “Tell the men we move out at daybreak.”
*****
None of them slept well for the rest of the night. The lenars slunk through the trees just outside the light, their growling and gibbering rose and fell, turning to sudden eldritch screams which caused everyone to scrabble for their weapons and take up defensive positions. As daylight came the lenars finally fell silent and the troops were beyond exhausted.
“Do you think the Manta have had any trouble with those things?” Singh asked, as the seniors met for a briefing before moving on.
“Let’s hope so,” Kes replied. “Captain, the men are tired, they didn’t get much sleep. I’d like to suggest they take turns sleeping on the skimmers while we travel, with guards posted on each side of the craft.”
“Good idea,” Selena agreed. “I want all meals cooked on board during their rest periods. That way everyone gets fed without disturbance. Arthur, anything you can do about the lenars?”
“Not at the moment, but believe me when I say I’m thinking about it.”
“Think faster.”
That evening they came across a battle scene showing the Manta had indeed fallen foul of the lenars. A scorched and trampled area of the forest was filled with dead Manta and lenars. Selena ordered four skimmers to land while she investigated.
“Jesus, what a smell,” Arthur observed, kicking one of the dead lenars which had its jaws locked around a Manta limb.
“By the look of it, Ma’am, your local nasties came unstuck,” Singh observed.” The Manta took them apart, although it cost them dearly by the look of it. How many do you think the Manta lost?”
“Hard to say,” Selena replied, glancing at the alien bodies. “At least fifty or so, but that’s not nearly as many as the lenars.”
“Well, it’s fifty less for us to kill,” Singh replied. Boarding his skimmer he waited for Selena and then they all moved on.
The trees grew taller as their journey progressed. Arthur reported his bee had gone missing so, despite her misgivings, Selena had no choice but to order the skimmers to drop below the tree-line. She knew full well they daren’t lose sight of their target’s tracks in the vehicles lights.
Selena tried to keep them going through the night, their transport’s lights and cameras picking up the tracks, but several times the lenars leapt from bra
nches directly into the skimmers, creating chaos and death. Eventually she bought them to a halt and called her officers and NCO’s together.
“Enough,” she said. “They’ve caught on. They know we have to fly below the branches. We’re going to need a strong force on the ground, with the skimmers providing covering fire from above. I know it’s not ideal but unfortunately I don’t see us having any other choice, we can’t risk the transport.”
“The men aren’t going to be happy,” Singh replied.
“The Captain’s right,” Kes interjected. “We’re fighting them on their terms. We either fly above the trees, where they can’t get at us yet miss seeing the Manta if they go into hiding, or we have a large force on the ground that’s sufficient to deal with them while the skimmers provide air cover. It’s a long walk home guys, so we need to look after the skimmers.”
“Okay,” Selena said, “I want a pilot and four in each skimmer, plus any wounded and those resting. Six hours each stint, those on board cook the meals for each crew. Everyone else walks, and eats during their rest period.”
An hour later the lenars struck again, but as they leapt from the trees they were met with a hail of fire that tore them to shreds. Not one soldier was injured and Selena noticed a dramatic improvement in morale. “See, I told you they were pussy cats,” she murmured, with a smile.
It was sunset when the ground erupted in front of the troops, the lenars boiling into their midst. Instantly the troops formed a solid defensive ring around them, those on the inside using their swords on any of the creatures within the circle, while the troops on the outside used their heavier weapons on the creatures that leapt from the trees or raced over the ground towards them. More and more lenars came, yet not one reached their ranks. The skimmers overhead joined the battle, beam and projectile weapons smashing through the foliage. The fighting went on and on. More of the creatures slunk out of the shadows and raced towards them, lips drawn back to reveal slavering jaws. Then quite suddenly it was all over, and an eerie quiet filled the forest.