"Lovely," Butler said. "Blood-sucking cannibal vampires."
"They are efficient," Lee said.
"You sound like you approve of them eating their own dead?" Green said. "You're one loose screw away from losing all your marbles."
"Is it better that we pump our dead with harsh chemicals, put them in boxes, and bury them in the ground?" Lee asked. "We fill the world up with boxes of toxic waste that cannot be reabsorbed by the earth."
"You're a morbid dude," Adkins said.
"The dead fleas give strength to their living companions. Their desiccated bodies will be easier for rodents to devour, leaving little waste. I may not want to be treated this way after my own death, but I can admire the efficiency of nature's path on this world."
"Don't be spouting that eastern religious shit at me," Chavez said. "I'm going to live forever."
"Me too," Adkins said. "I want to live forever."
"Are they waiting for us to come out of our shell," Mercer asked. "Or formulating a plan to use against us."
"I don't know," Dean said. "They're animals. I doubt that they can strategize."
"But we don't know that for certain," Ipsish said. "I heard them chattering. It could be communication."
"If they're intelligent, why would they attack us?" Butler asked. "Why eat another intelligent race?"
"Maybe because we are interlopers, aliens on their world," Lee said. "Perhaps it is just their way. We cannot hope to understand their culture."
"I don't think bugs have a culture, professor," Adkins said. "You read too many books."
"And you read too few," the Asian Demolition expert said with no hostility in his voice whatsoever.
"All we can do is wait," Dean said. "Maybe they move on, maybe not. Either way, we can't do anything more than keep fighting to stay alive."
"Or maybe more," Chavez said. He was lying next to the bank of batteries that powered the cargo hauler. "It's just an idea, but if we work it right maybe we can move this thing to that cave LT was headed for."
"What are you talking about?" Dean asked.
"The batteries aren't completely dead, right?" Chavez said. "And you can drive this buggy with your armor's controls. So, why don't we just ease along, keep moving and using the cargo hauler as cover."
"You mean crawl to the caves with a cargo hauler on our backs?" Bennett said sarcastically. "We're still three clicks out."
"The batteries won't last that long," Butler said.
"They might if we're going slow," Chavez said. "It's better than just lying here."
"He's right," Dean said. "Excellent idea, Chavez."
The cargo hauler's battery levels were almost in the red on Dean's TCU, but moving the vehicle slowly would stretch their capabilities. They still had rough terrain to roll over, but as long as they could remain in the defensive formation and sting the flea creatures if they got close, they might be able to make it to the cave. It would be a grueling crawl, but they were Force Recon, they didn't shy away from a task because it was difficult.
"Get ready to crawl, people," Dean ordered. "We're moving out!"
Chapter 38
It took two hours to crawl three quarters of a mile toward their destination. The battery finally died and the platoon was still two hundred yards from the cavern Dean had selected for their base of operations. The only question left was how they were going to close the rest of the distance to it. They were all exhausted from crawling in unison for so long. The fleas had attacked the cargo hauler twice on the journey, forcing the platoon to stop and defend themselves.
"What now?" Adkins asked.
"We're so damn close," Green said.
"Should we just make a run for it?" Mason asked.
"No," Dean said. "We could form up and hold off the creatures on the ground but it would only take one of them to land on top of us and scatter the formation. What we need is a distraction."
"We have plenty of explosives," Cox said. "I rig up a bomb and throw it as far away as we can get it. When it goes off we high tail it to the cave."
"That might work if we had cover," Dean said.
"So send me," Buwana said. "I can sneak up to the cave, then radio back when I'm set. When you make your run, I'll cover you with my rifle."
Dean thought about the plan. The sun was getting low and the last thing he wanted to do was spend the night huddled under the cargo hauler.
"You think you can make it to the cave without them attacking you?"
"Piece of cake," the South African sniper said. "Move slow and low, you know the drill, LT."
"Alright, we'll cover you if things go wrong. But you take your time," Dean said. "No unnecessary chances."
Buwana moved to the front of the cargo hauler, and then turned on the stealth mode of her battle armor. It was almost as if she vanished. Dean could see her name on his TCU display, but her reflective stealth armor made her nearly impossible to see if she moved slowly.
"Let her out," Dean said to Adkins who was covering the front of the hauler.
Dean kept the big HA specialist's video feed in the primary position of his TCU viewer. Buwana was a professional in every sense of the word. As the sun began to set she crawled across the remaining distance so slowly that the huge fleas didn't seem to notice.
"Cox, you got that explosive charge?" Dean asked when Buwana's designator reached the edge of the cavern.
"Yes sir, it's actually a string of flash bangs," he explained. "Sort of the most powerful fire cracker ever devised."
"Excellent. Give it to Green. Once I give the order, Green chucks the bomb as far as he can. When it goes off, we haul ass. Once we're in the cavern, I want a static line across the mouth of the cave. Every gun hot. That's Talon, Beak, Static, Venom, Engage."
"Yes, sir," the platoon said in unison.
A minute later, Buwana's voice whispered through Dean's TCU.
"I'm in place. You are go for extraction."
"This is it, platoon. Last one to the cave is bug food."
"That's not funny," Green said, just before he threw the flash bangs.
The ordinance hit the ground almost forty feet from the cargo hauler, and the six flash bang grenades went off in one-second intervals. The first booming explosion sent the nearest fleas jumping away. The platoon's armor protected their hearing, although their audio feed was cut completely. They all knew better than to look at the grenades, but the flashes lit up the hillside that led to the grotto. Dean followed Chavez, rolling out from under the cargo hauler and sprinting up the hill.
Dean was almost to the cave, sprinting well ahead of the HA specialists and Demo team, whose heavy armor and gear slowed them considerably, when the first shots rang out from the cave. Buwana was laying down covering fire, and Dean turned, raising his rifle to add to her barrage, but instead of shooting he was forced to dive out of the way as a flea came hurtling toward him. He rolled to the side, firing his weapon into the creature's rotund body. He could see the powerful hind legs up close, flexing like a bow to fire an arrow at a target, only instead of an arrow, the legs flung the flea, now bleeding from several wounds, flying over the cave and up the mountainside.
Mercer sprinted past Dean and into the cave just as another of the fleas came crashing down on Buwana. Dean wanted to scream in rage as he jumped to his feet and continued firing at the hideous creatures, but he forced himself to stay calm. The HA specialists were almost to the cave and Dean quickly moved backward, keeping up a steady rate of fire until the platoon could form up in the mouth of the cave.
The grotto wasn't deep, just a hollow in the side of the mountain. Four HA troopers filled the entrance, with two in reserve. Their auto canons sprayed out flechettes in a hail of death that held the fleas at bay, but for Buwana, it was too late. Dean's visor switched to low light automatically, casting the entire cave in a green glow. When his view swept through the grotto, Mercer was butchering the flea that had gotten in on top of Buwana. The sniper's designation was flashing red, which meant
her injuries were severe.
"Ipsish," Dean ordered. "See to Buwana. Staff Sergeant, we need you on this firing line!"
It only took the Close Combat Specialist a few seconds to respond, but when she got to the static line of Heavy Armor she was covered in green blood. Dean had to switch out his magazine for another and then stepped up behind a specialist holding the line as soon as Lee finished refilling two of the HA utility canons with more belt fed ammunition.
"They're falling back out of range," Green said.
"It’s about time," Chavez said. "They can't be too intelligent if they just keep rushing to slaughter."
"We hold this line," Dean said. "If they start doing something different, you tell me immediately. I've got to check on Buwana."
Dean walked slowly toward the delicate-looking South African. She was on her back with her eyes closed peacefully, but the designator still blinked red.
"How is she?" Dean asked.
"It's hard to say," Ipsish said. "She has several broken bones. Her right shoulder, some ribs, perhaps even her pelvis. Her armor is helping. I've given her some morphine, but she needs a doctor."
Dean nodded then toggled his TCU comms link to the command frequency monitored by the Valkyrie.
"Wolf Pack to Valkyrie, do you read, over?"
"We have you Wolf Pack, five by five, over," said a man's voice that Dean didn't recognize.
"I need an ETA on evac. I have wounded that require immediate assistance, over."
"That's a negative, Wolf Pack. You are to hold your position until we have a solution to the colony problem, over."
"Command, I have wounded personnel. I repeat, Wolf Pack has wounded personnel. Request immediate evac, over."
"Lieutenant Blaze," crackled VA Hamilton's voice. "Your orders are to wait for our scientists to discover a way to repel the indigenous creatures on Newton Six. We will not waste fuel or resources making multiple trips to the surface, over."
"Admiral, Corporal Buwana is gravely injured. Please send assistance to our position immediately as per EsDef regulations. We are a field unit requesting assistance. I repeat, this is Force Recon platoon Wolf Pack on Newton Six. We have casualties and request assistance from our designated ship in orbit, the EsDef Valkyrie, over."
"This is Captain Dante, I'm preparing to launch the insertion drone to your position Wolf Pack, over."
"Belay that, Captain," Hamilton snapped. "Lieutenant Blaze has his orders. We will radio when we have completed the assignment and are ready to retrieve your platoon. Valkyrie over and out."
The line went silent and Dean stood in the grotto that had fallen quiet around him. He wanted to scream but he didn't want the platoon to see him reacting with anything but calm determination.
"We rotate watch," Dean said. "Get rations while you can. I want someone monitoring Corporal Buwana at all times. We may be here a while, people, so settle in. Three HA at the entrance at all times. Two-hour shifts through the night. If anyone falls asleep on duty they'll have me to answer to. Let's make sure our ammunition is topped off and keep your weapons locked and loaded."
"Yes, sir!" the platoon answered.
Dean opened a private line to Staff Sergeant Mercer. "No help from the Valkyrie."
"I know, we all heard the transmission. Someone up there turned on the all-frequency broadcast."
"I hope to hell they were recording," Dean said. "I never thought I'd have to fight my commanding officer to help with a wounded trooper."
"Yeah, that's some cold shit," Mercer said. "Hope I'm around when it comes back on her."
"If it does," Dean said.
"It always does, LT. Never fear. VA Hamilton has a day of reckoning in her future."
Chapter 39
The night on Newton Six lasted almost twenty hours. The fleas huddled together for warmth, invisible in the darkness since the planet had no moon. But Dean watched the vile creatures on his thermal imaging camera feed. They stacked up, piling in on one another, glowing in the darkness like an orange sun as their combined body heat radiated out into the night.
Buwana died just before sunup. The sniper armor could stop a bullet, but the heavy flea creature had landed on her from over a hundred feet in the air. Her crushed body simply couldn't recover without assistance, and her blood pressure dropped from internal bleeding until her heart finally gave out.
"Lieutenant," Drevon Cox said as he gently shook Dean's shoulder. "She's gone, sir. I'm sorry."
Dean had been napping beside the injured sniper. When he opened his eyes the personnel designator that showed Buwana's name and rank shrank down, glowing a sickly shade of green.
"Oh, damn," Dean said. "She never woke up."
"At least she didn't suffer."
"That's true. She saved us. We'll make sure she gets home to her people."
Dean got to his feet and shook his head. He wanted to take off the battle helmet and rub his eyes, but he refused. They were still in a combat zone, and removing armor in front of his platoon would set a bad example, no matter how much his face itched.
"What are the fleas doing?" Dean asked.
"They're moving," Chavez said. He was one of the three HA specialists on guard duty. "Sun's about to come up and they're milling around like cows out there."
"Feeding on their dead," Adkins pointed out. "Sick sons o' bitches."
Dean toggled the command frequency again. "Command this is Wolf Pack, do you read, over."
"We have you Wolf Pack, five by five, over."
"Any progress on repelling the indigenous life forms? The sun is coming up down here and they're showing some aggression, over."
"There's no word from the xenobiologists, Lieutenant." This time it was Captain Ortega speaking. "The commander is quite displeased that one of the creatures you captured did not survive the journey up, over."
"We didn't have a lot of options, sir," Dean said, trying to keep his voice calm, but wishing he could tell the vice admiral exactly what she could do with her displeasure. "I did have an idea though. You might try using auditory attacks. They seem to respond to loud noises, over."
"Loud noises, I will pass on your advice, Lieutenant."
The line went dead without the usual "over and out" which really didn't surprise Dean. Nor did the sarcasm he heard in the executive officer's voice. Both Captain Ortega and the vice admiral seemed to think he was a bumbling idiot and that his entire platoon was expendable. Sniper Buwana had died because they refused to send a transport down to pick up his troops. The arrogance and pettiness of it all had seared Dean like a hot iron. He could feel the calluses building up on his consciousness.
"What's your orders, LT? Butler asked.
"We hold this position, platoon. Hopefully the Valkyrie figures out a way to repel these blood-sucking fleas and we can go home. Until then, we hold tight."
The waiting stretched another twelve hours, but finally in what constituted the early afternoon on Newton Six the radio feed in Dean's TCU came to life.
"Wolf Pack, this is Command. Do you read, over?"
It was Captain Dante speaking over the command frequency and Dean felt a spark of hope just hearing a friendly voice.
"Command, this is Wolf Pack. We read you loud and clear, over."
"Wolf Pack, we are launching a recovery transport. Your suggestion was right on the money. The big brains discovered the creatures have large, sensitive auditory systems. Luckily they could dissect the specimen you sent up that expired in transit. And then they tested various wavelengths on the live one. We'll be broadcasting the sound, but it's outside our own ability to hear. Drives the fleas crazy though, over."
"Best news I've heard in days, Command. We are anxious to put these creatures on the run. Should I retransmit our position, over."
"No need, Wolf Pack. I have your position locked in. ETA twenty-eight minutes, over and out."
"The cavalry is on its way at last," Dean said.
The platoon all cheered except for Staff Sergeant Mercer,
who was sitting beside the body of Buwana. Dean felt a sense of relief that his first mission had been successfully completed, but there was no joy in his heart. They should have had proper support, and zero casualties.
"Pack up, people, make sure we have everything we brought with us."
They were all lined up at the mouth of the cave when the insertion craft came swooping past. The flea creatures had feasted on their own dead and had spread out around the entrance to the cavern, but the reaction as the ship approached was almost comical. Some dropped to the ground, rolling and driving their heads into the dirt. Others jumped away, frantic to escape the auditory blast. Dean knew that he wasn't supposed to be able to hear the sound, but his mind made up for the lack by imagining a high, keening tone.
"Whatever they're doing, it works," Green said.
"It doesn't kill them?" Adkins said.
"No, the tree huggers don't want to see the blood suckers dead," Chavez said. "That would be cruel."
"No more than what these monsters did to the colonists, or their own dead," Butler said. "Where I'm from, if a dog attacks a person it gets put down."
"Not our house, not our rules," Dean said.
"And sometimes our own rules get swept away," Mercer said coldly. "We have to grin and eat the shit they feed us."
"That's the job," Dean said. "We have our issues, but we will conduct ourselves with honor and discipline. No one from this platoon acts out, is that clear?"
The soldiers all said, "Yes, sir!" even Staff Sergeant Mercer, who had murder in her eyes. Dean knew that she and Buwana had been roommates on board the Valkyrie. Both women were generally quiet and reserved, but he could see that a deep friendship had bloomed between them. Mercer's battle armor was still stained with the blood of the flea that had injured Buwana.
The transport craft made two more passes before it settled down below the slope of the hill the grotto was in. Dean led his platoon down to the ship, his HA specialists carrying the body of their fallen sniper. Staff Sergeant Mercer made sure the body was secured in the troop compartment of the ship, while the Demo team hooked a new battery to the cargo hauler and drove it down to be reloaded on the transport.
We Are The Wolf (Wolf Pack Book 1) Page 21