Fast Current timed herself well for the second round of RPG. Just as the second RPG was about to land next to her, she stopped moving and curled herself up, exposing her outer top shell to the fragments, while the soft neck and the head were tucked under her belly, shielded from the blast. A Bodar molted many times as it grew from a hatchling to its adult size. That was the most common way for hard shelled animals across the universe to grow. Each time a growing Bodar shed its old shell, the new shell underneath wouldn’t harden for many weeks. Since the new shell needed to be larger than the old shell, but had to grow from underneath the old shell, it would be soft and squishy for many weeks as it grew larger than the old shell before it started hardening. During this time of growth, a Bodar in its home planet was very vulnerable to predation. That was the reason that a juvenile Bodar spent a long time in underwater nursery.
It was only after the final molting of a Bodar, that they could join the Bodar society as an adult and given proper responsibilities and full combat training. Till that time, a Bodar was considered a juvenile and spent most of its time in training inside water bound nurseries. The final molting was not just a rite of passage to adulthood, but it was also the time when a modern Bodar received a lot of the technological accoutrement of the Bodar civilization. One of those was the outer shell hardening treatment. The treatment only made sense after the final molting, because all other shells would be discarded. Hardening the shells before that would be worse than a wastage. Hardening a juvenile’s shell that had to molt would mean that the shell would not be able to crack and make way for the newer shell emerging from underneath. It would literally squeeze the juvenile and suffocate it to death.
Bodars, since early on in their civilization have applied materials to their shells to try and give them extra hardness and strength, without adding too much weight. Primitive Bodars used to apply a thin layer of primitive cement, made from beach sand and limestone to their shells and as their technology advanced, so did the materials that were applied to their shells. Primitive Bodars had applied shell hardening for functional reasons, to give them an edge over predators in their fight for survival. As the brain power of the Bodars increased and they became the apex predators on Bodoni, shell hardening was no longer about survival but had become ingrained as a cultural artifact. It was part of the rite of passage that made a Bodar an adult.
A modern Bodar with their advanced technology coated their shells with a millimeter-thick titanium-ceramic alloy which was transparent, since shell hardening was as much of a fashion statement as anything else. This thin alloy didn’t add any significant weight, and allowed some amount of water and oxygen to pass through it to ensure that the shell wasn’t deprived of those. The shell of a Bodar may have been hard and made from dead tissues, but it still needed some amount of hydration and oxygen to keep its structure intact. The transparent coating on their shell gave a mirror finish texture to the shell of a Bodar, making them look like some computer-generated monster. The most important thing was that the titanium-ceramic coating gave the Bodar shell an added strength of almost half a centimeter-thick steel plating.
That didn’t mean that a Bodar was immune to an RPG. RPGs with their shaped charges were designed to punch through inches thick steel of a battle tank. A direct hit on a Bodar would easily punch through the shell of a Bodar and blow it apart. These weren’t however guided RPGs. Those were sophisticated munitions, which even before the alien invasion was hard to get for most, other than the military. These were simple unguided RPGs in use for over two hundred and fifty years since the Second World War. This RPG design was simple to make in a basement, and was used by everyone from warlords to ganglands who usually had access to low tech hardware.
After the alien invasion, as the production system had collapsed most of humanity had increasing fought the Bodars with these simpler weapons which were easier to produce. The thing about unguided RPG was as the name suggested, you couldn’t guide them after you launched them. Since the Bodars had excellent vision, and very fast reflexes, they could observe the RPGs being launched and quickly move away from its impact site. They couldn’t however move away fast enough to evade the shrapnel impact or the pressure concussion of the explosion.
That was the reason Fast Current curled up and presented her hardest part of the body – her reinforced shell to the nearby RPG impact. The shrapnel bounced off her shell causing no damage to her, but pressure wave from the impact was another story altogether. Bodars evolved as predators in the sea, and like most Earth based sea predators, changes in pressure was an important tool in hunting. They carried that pressure sensitivity when they moved to land, using the changes in air pressure and the tiny pressure waves that transmit through the ground to detect both prey as well as danger. The Bodars had extremely sensitive pressure sensing nodes spread across their entire body as well as on the tip of their feet. It was like the pain of a human tearing off his eardrum from an incredibly loud sound, only amplified many times over.
Fast Current staggered back to her feet, slightly shaken but fully in her senses. She swung her eye stalks back towards the direction of the RPG launch, hoping against hope to find the human that had launched the rocket still standing. She could still target her gun manually and take that human out. There was no one to be sighted in that direction. The human attacker had ducked behind cover. Fast Current knew that she was dealing with competent fighters, most probably what the humans called ‘trained combatants’. She had learnt that not every human was trained for combat. In fact, most humans were trained for functions other than combat. Only a small fraction of the humans trained for combat, and were called professional soldiers. This was unlike the Bodars, where every Bodar as a juvenile had to go through hunting training, even if some of them in their adult life were to primarily perform some other functions.
Fast Current kept one of her eye stalk roving constantly in all directions, anticipating the next round of RPGs to come from a different direction. She especially kept a vigil over the first spot from where the first round of RPGs had originated. If the humans made the mistake of reusing the same spot to launch the third round of attack, they would pay the price. The humans didn’t make that rookie mistake. The third round came from a completely new direction. In a split second, Fast Current estimated the ETA of the third round of rocket fire and determined that she would not make it in time to the cover before the rocket hit somewhere near her. She would have to weather this round as well, before she could safely dive for cover.
As Fast Current scampered towards cover, she turned one of her eye stalks towards her sister. Rising Tide hadn’t been as lucky as Fast Current. She was limping, which meant that one or more of her middle limbs had been hurt. She also seemed to be leaking fluid from her underbelly, so some shrapnel had lodged deep enough to cut through the cartilage on the relatively softer underbelly. The leak didn’t look alarming though, but Rising Tide was clearly dazed and had not noticed the third round of RPGs approaching towards them.
Fast Current unleashed something that curdled the blood of the most battled hardened human soldier – a banshee like scream. Only this scream wasn’t high pitched but deep and low pitched like that of large grizzly bear. It was loud and could be heard for tens of miles in the Badlands, and rumbling as if it came from deep within the stomach, which wasn’t inaccurate because the sound did come from deep inside the body of Fast Current.
Sound travels faster and longer in water, so the Bodars like many Marine animals had evolved to use it as an effective communication tool. Since lower pitched sound travels better through water, the Bodars primarily used lower pitched sound. Although not as prolific as the whales, who can make sounds that other whales can hear half way across the Earth under water, a Bodar could communicate with other Bodars using such banshee screams over hundreds of miles under water. Even over land they could keep in touch over tens of miles. The sound didn’t come from the ‘head’ of Fast Current, because it wasn’t a true head in that sense. It
came from inside the body, and out of the opening in the underbelly, which was the true mouth of a Bodar. The scream immediately alerted Rising Tide towards the incoming RPG, and she could take evasive action in the nick of time.
Once the Bodar sisters had reached the safety of cover, Fast Current gave a cursory inspection of Rising Tide’s injury and concluded that there was nothing to worry about, although her combat capabilities were diminished. It was clear that this hunt was over. Both the sisters had lost the use of all their equipment, although they could still use their guns manually. Fast Current might still have pressed for a manual hunt using nothing but their pincers, if she didn’t know that what she was facing were a band of well-armed and well trained human combatants. It would be foolish to try to hunt this band with nothing but their manual gun and their pincers. She had no idea how many combatants she was facing.
With a heavy heart and with a rising sense of disappointment, Fast Current realized that they had no option but to beat a hasty retreat to the sea, reach for their base and report the incident. There was always the other option of not reporting this settlement, going back to the base and coming back better prepared, but she dismissed that option almost as soon as it came to her. She and her sister would have to explain the fried electronics of their equipment to the hunt master, so the cat would be out of the bag anyway. The two sisters despondently made their way back to the sea.
Chapter 3
Reverse Persistence Hunt
Summer of 2197
Badlands of Cappadocia, Turkey, Earth
Kyle’s heart sank as he saw the two demons make their way back to the sea. He was not despondent for his small expedition team, but for the hundreds of civilians hidden in the caves. Their failure to kill the two demons may have signed the death warrant for all those helpless people. Once in the water the demons were safe, and they would surely make their way back to their base and report back. It would only be a matter of time before the demons returned in numbers to investigate the caves. It would be a slaughter. Even if all the people hiding in the caves were to leave right now, they would not get very far. There were children, old and the sick amongst them. It would slow them down. Even if they managed to hide somewhere nearby, the demons would be able to find them easily with their sniffers.
“Damn! Damn! Damn! We need to stop those demons getting into the water!” Kyle shouted in frustration, addressing no one in particular. Pvt. Perez was crouched next to him, holding the RPG launcher, with which he had just fired. He had a guilty look on his face. “I am sorry that I missed, sir.” He said despondently.
“Not your fault Gustavo. Your shot was pretty good. Can’t expect to score a direct hit with these unguided RPGs from such a distance. We did wound those bastards, but not enough. If it is anyone’s fault, it is mine. I did not foresee this situation. The demons never retreat, at least not so easily. I did not consider the possibility of the demons retreating to alert their base, when we were laying out the ambush. I should have done so… stupid of me!” Lt. Kyle Hanks replied, extremely annoyed with himself.
As Kyle finished speaking, he heard the hurried footsteps of two of the Turkish resistance fighters running in from the position, from where they had fired their RPGs. One of them excitedly shouted. “Allah be praised, we beat the demons back. We have been saved by Him today!”
“You haven’t been saved for God’s sake. Can’t you see?! Those two demons slowly crawling behind the rocks are making their way to the water. Once they reach the water, we cannot stop them from reaching their base and reporting back. They will come back in numbers and slaughter every man, woman and child hiding here. We have just doomed every poor soul hiding inside those pathetic caves!” Kyle shouted at the man in frustration. Then almost immediately he decided that what must be done, must be done.
“Özgür, did you hear what I just said?” He asked over the radio.
“Every word of it Lieutenant. We are all fucked, aren’t we?” The normally reserved Turk didn’t bother to mind his language over the open channel.
“Yes, you can say that again Özgür. Since we are all fucked in any case, we might as well go out in a blaze of glory, and try to give the civilians a fighting chance. If we gather all the fighters we have and assault those retreating demons, we might be able to slow them a bit. If we are lucky we might even be able to injure the demons enough to prevent them from reaching their base quickly. If the civilians start running immediately, they might have an outside chance of fleeing far enough not to get caught when the demons return. What do you say? Could you ask the resistance leader?” Kyle asked over the radio.
Before Özgür could reply, another voice spoke up – the resistance leader himself. “This is Adnan lieutenant. Allah has given you a strong heart and a noble soul to so willingly martyr yourself for the sake of our people. You have our word that when you are shedding your blood for us, we will not find a single one of us lagging behind. We will fight shoulder to shoulder and then spend an eternity together in Jannat after we have achieved martyrdom. I will ask Nargis, my wife to guide the civilians out to the next refuge immediately. I will personally lead our fighters out through the northern exit, and intercept the demons. All the fighters who are outside, can follow Lieutenant Hanks.” The resistance leader said.
Kyle took a deep breath. He wasn’t sure about the prospect of spending an eternity in heaven with Adnan. He wasn’t even sure whether Allah would allow him to enter Adnan’s Jannat, he wasn’t a Muslim after all, but he understood the sentiment. As a child he had always wondered how the heroes in his war stories felt, as they charged out for one last battle facing a certain death. Guess he now knew. He spoke resignedly over the radio. “All right men. There is no special tactic in mind. Join up with me, and we follow the demons at a distance. Keep your head down. The demons can still fire their weapons manually. We will wait till Adnan and his men intercept the demons, and then we attack together. They from the front, and we attack from behind. Adnan, give us a heads up when you begin your assault.”
“Acknowledged lieutenant. We will let you know before we begin our assault.” Adnan replied.
“Guys, there may be another way!” A female voice sounded over the radio.
“Who is that? Identify yourself over the radio before speaking.” Adnan’s voice replied.
“Sorry… this is Dana. Lieutenant, remember the strategy we were discussing last night? Adnan, I think you were also there when we discussed a hypothetical reverse persistence hunt chase. This is the ideal situation for such a chase. From the psychological profile of the demons that NATO had made, the demons should take the bait, especially now their deep-rooted hunting urge makes them particularly vulnerable. They had come here to hunt and are now beating a hasty retreat. It is not their pride that is hurt, although according to the psych profile I had read, the demons do have a certain amount of vanity. It is something else that might make them push aside rational caution and take the bait.
“The hunting urge is so deeply embedded in their instincts, and having come so close and then being denied a hunt, it is almost like having a handsome man in your bedroom, having taken your clothes off and about to have sex, when your mother walks into the room… oops, you are all men! Just reverse the imagery and think of a beautiful woman, and you get the picture! Right now, those demons still have an erection, but must be devastated that they are not going to be able to consummate it. Putting the bait out for a possible hunt will make them take irrational risks and decisions.” Dana said hurriedly and then added in a softer tone. “Guys, let’s not go out there with a death wish, because that is exactly what we will get… let’s do this smartly. Let’s not get ourselves killed, please!”
Adnan responded immediately. “I appreciate your sentiment Dr. Çalık, but there is no other way. We cannot risk an untried and untested maneuver right now. The lives of hundreds of women and children depend on being able to stop or at least slow down those demons.”
“On the contrary Adnan, we have
nothing to lose and everything to gain!” It was Lt. Kyle Hanks who interjected. “I and Pvt. Perez will put ourselves as the bait. We are behind the demons and cannot block their egress in any case. We would have to wait till you begin you attack, and only then could we have added to the assault from behind. If the demons don’t take the bait, we can still join the assault… albeit from a different direction and in the open, which would do nothing for our life expectancy. On the other hand, if the demons take the bait then we may have a much better chance of stopping them, or at least slowing them down. Even if the maneuver doesn’t work out the way we planned, we would have succeeded in luring the demons away from the coast and further from the water, which should give the rest of your fighters a better chance at preventing them from reaching the water.”
“No Kyle, it was my idea. I should be going out as the bait! I am not much of a fighter in any case, so I am the most logical choice.” Dana shouted over the radio.
“Relax Dana, you cannot go out alone in any case, the run has to be done in pairs, and this is going to be a relay, so I have a feeling you may get your wish sooner than later. For the moment, I and Pvt. Perez are in the best position and best suited for the task… and since I am the commanding officer of this task force, so I get to make that decision any way! Adnan, do you have any issues if we try?” Lt. Hanks asked.
“No lieutenant. I wish upon you and your Marines the blessings of Allah. If the demons take the bait, we will support you till our last breath. Good luck.” Adnan replied.
“Özgür, you decide the way points and radio it to me and Gustavo. We will mark it on our map. Choose a circuit that is no less than twenty kilometers and no more than thirty kilometers long… and please find a changeover point that is really, really hard to notice. All our lives will depend on it.” Kyle instructed Özgür on the radio as he and Pvt. Gustavo Perez started to run uphill towards the ridge of a strange shaped mound. Then he added. “… and Özgür, you have five minutes to do it. Once we are sighted by the demons, we will have to go into radio silence. It is possible that the demons’ radio detectors are fried, and they cannot monitor our radio, but I would rather not risk it. I do not want to give the demons the slightest reason to be suspicious. Let’s hope they think we are a couple of unfortunate humans who are in the wrong place at the wrong time. Sorry that I can’t give you more time, but I was told that no one knows these Badlands better than you. If anyone can do this in five minutes, it is you.”
Game Reserve: Earth (Shaitan Wars Book 5) Page 6