"I'm sorry," Esma said on a private link to Dean. "I wanted to help."
"It's not your fault," Dean said. "Buwana gave her life for the platoon. That's all any of us can hope for."
"Get on board and I'll get you back to the ship. You've earned some R&R."
"We can't go back yet," Dean said. "We have to return to the colony."
"Why?"
"Those creatures had a hive there. We have to drive them out. There might even be survivors."
"Alright, get your platoon on board and we'll move."
The tires came off the cargo hauler, which was scratched from the hook-like claws of the fleas, and stained with their blood. Dean watched as his men carried it back into the transport and then strapped themselves in.
"We're loaded and ready," Dean told Captain Dante.
It was unnecessary since the cargo area had cameras and the pilot was undoubtedly watching. One of the vast benefits of remotely piloted craft was the freedom to have as many feeds going as the Operator wanted. In traditional vehicles, only so many vid screens and instrument gauges could be included in the small cockpit. Captain Dante would have multiple screens of information and a VR headset that would mimic actually being in a cockpit, despite the fact that the insertion craft had no piloting controls. It was a sleek box, no windows, no wasted space. A cargo area, engine, and weapons, that was all the craft needed to carry out its job.
The trip from the cave where the platoon had taken refuge back to the colony took only a few minutes. It was hard for Dean to believe that they had only been on Newton Six for one of its forty-hour days. Total time on planet, according to Dean's chrono, was forty-seven hours and thirty-nine minutes.
"There are creatures in the big barn, Wolf Pack," Captain Dante said. "Let me make a few passes to clear it out for you, over."
"That would be greatly appreciated, Control. We stand ready once you finish, over."
Dean had already sent up his own display of the colony, with the infested barn designated so that Captain Dante had no trouble finding the right building. The platoon could feel the small ship banking and diving, but since the auditory blast was in a register they couldn't hear it was impossible to know how the fleas were responding. Dean's TCU could tap into the ship's controls, including the cameras, but he was too tired to care what was going on. He wanted to help anyone that had survived the horror of the giant fleas, and then he wanted to sleep for a week. Even just sitting on the bench in the transport craft felt somehow luxurious after almost two days spent in the cave. The danger of the mission had passed, but he still felt on edge. Even the Valkyrie felt like enemy territory with VA Hamilton in charge.
"It looks clear, Wolf Pack, I'm setting you down about a hundred yards from the structure, over."
"Sounds good, Control. Thanks for the ride, over."
"I'll stay on station until you give the all clear," Dante said. "The auditory blast should have scattered the bugs, but watch your six just the same, over."
"Will do," Dean said as the transport settled onto the ground. "Wolf Pack, out."
The ramp lowered and the platoon came charging out, weapons ready to blast anything that moved, but the colony was empty. There were a few dead bodies, their skin shriveled and stiff, laying in the abandoned streets.
"Compass," Dean said, giving his platoon direction and trying not to notice the empty space where his sniper should have been. "Staff Sergeant, take Private McCallister's slot."
"Why didn't she ride back down with the transport, LT?" Chavez asked.
"That's a good question, but it'll have to wait until we're back on board the Valkyrie. Platoon, let's move."
They went into the barn slowly. The interior was mostly shadows and gloom. Their battle armor filtered out the stench of dead bodies, but there was no way to hide the grisly sight that seared itself into their memories. The desiccated corpses of the colonists were mixed with the carcasses of horses, pigs, sheep, and cows. Nearly the entire floor of the barn was covered with the dead.
"Good God," Cox said.
"No one could survive this," Mason said.
"We don't know that," Dean said, while setting indicators for each of his troops on his plot and sending it to the platoon. "I want a perimeter around this building. One HA on every corner and two at the door. You see something, you speak up immediately. Otherwise no chatter."
"Yes sir!" the HA specialists said.
"It's possible the fleas carried the colonists back to this barn," Dean said. "But it’s more likely that this was the designated emergency area. We have to check every body, and search for a bunker or shelter of some kind. It's probably down below the floor. Let's move the humans out into the street. Pile the animal bodies to the side of the barn to be dealt with."
"You heard the man!" Staff Sergeant Mercer barked. "We have a job to do. Let's get it done."
Moving the bodies was a ghastly job, but the corpses were mostly intact. Without any fluid in the bodies they were much lighter than Dean expected. He helped the specialists under his command clear the barn until they found what they were looking for: a thick metal door with a complex locking mechanism and an intercom.
"LT!" Cox shouted. "We found it."
"Looks like the shelter is intact," Lee said as he scrolled through the touch screen controls. "Air and temperature readings are in the green."
"Good," Dean said. "Let's see if anyone made it inside before the creatures attacked."
He pressed the green transmit button on the intercom and spoke in a commanding voice.
"People of colony Epsilon. This is Lieutenant Blaze of the EsDef Recon platoon Wolf Pack. The creatures that attacked your colony have been dispersed. You are safe. Do you copy, over?"
For a moment there was silence, and Dean's stomach tightened in anger as he thought about the senseless waste of lives all around him. Then a voice spoke through the small speaker.
"Are the monsters gone?"
It was the voice of a child, and Dean felt tears sting his eyes. All his life he had been comforted by loving parents who made him feel safe. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like for the children of the colony when the monstrous flea creatures attacked.
"They're gone. It's safe to come out. I promise."
The door to the shelter popped open just an inch, with air hissing out. Cox and Lee heaved the heavy metal trap door open and Dean saw children gathering at the foot of a long stairway.
"It's okay," Dean said. "Are there any adults down there?"
"No, it's just those of us from the academy. Professor Baxter and Head Mistress Vaughn went to help defend the colony."
"They didn't make it," Dean said. "No one did except you. I'm sorry. It might be best if you stay down there and wait until we can finish cleaning up."
"Our parents were out there," a girl said.
Dean guessed she was twelve or thirteen years old. Everyone else seemed younger, and there were only a few as old as the girl.
"We want to see them," she went on.
"The creatures fed on their bodies," Dean said. "You may not want to see it."
"We have to. We have to know what happened."
"Alright," Dean said. He toggled his comm link to the open frequency that would be heard by his platoon and by anyone listening on the Valkyrie and any other colonies close enough to pick up the broadcast. "Command, this is Wolf Pack, we have survivors. I repeat. We have survivors in Epsilon. Looks like they're all children. We await your orders, over."
"Wolf Pack this is Command. We read you and will respond once we coordinate with the other colonies. Render aid as you see fit, over and out."
Dean led the children outside. Then his platoon continued to move the bodies out into the street. The children found their parents, and cried over them, grieving and dealing with their fear the only way they knew how. There were questions and stories to be told. Dean moved his platoon into a defensive formation around the children.
Eventually orders came down that th
e children were to be taken to Theta Colony, and the nearly forty orphans were loaded into the transport and taken across the spine of the giant Sifter to Epsilon's sister colony in two trips. Colonists returned on the second trip from Theta, taking over the work of burying the dead. They would rebuild the colony and set up the auditory deterrent system to keep the giant fleas away from the human settlements.
Most of the colonists were incredibly grateful for Dean's platoon. EsDef had come through for them, and even though one colony had been nearly eradicated, children were the life blood of any colony world. Most had survived and would grow up to have children of their own, populating Newton Six until it became necessary for the people to look for a new home among the stars.
The ride back up to the Valkyrie wasn't as rough as the trip down, and as soon as the transport ship docked with the space vessel, Dean sent his platoon to their quarters to shower and sleep. Dean followed them, but made a point to search for Private McCallister, who wasn't waiting in the docking bay, or in section B.
Dean had removed his TCU but still wore his battle armor as he made his way across the connecting corridor to the primary arm of the ship. He was greeted by Major White and Captain Ortega as he stepped through the airlock.
"We were just coming to get you," the major said. "You should have reported to the bridge as soon as you came on board."
"That is protocol, Lieutenant," Captain Ortega said. "The commander and senior officers are waiting to debrief you in the Operations room."
"That's where I'm headed," Dean said. "I was curious as to where Private McCallister ended up."
"She has been detained," Major White said in a tone that could only be described as triumphant.
"What? Why on earth would she be detained?" Dean asked.
"For disobeying a direct order," the Major said. "You're little remote jockey tried to hijack a transport ship."
Dean didn't say another word. He couldn't believe what he was hearing, but he also couldn't believe the attitudes of the senior officers on board the Valkyrie. A warning flag was beginning to wave in the back of his mind and he felt more like he was being led to a firing squad than a debrief. In the Operations room, every seat was taken except for Major White’s and Captain Ortega's. Vice Admiral Hamilton was busy typing something into her tablet when Dean was escorted in, but the cold looks on nearly every face in the room confirmed his feeling. He was finally back in their world and it was time for the witch hunt to begin.
Chapter 40
“Lieutenant Blaze, please sit," Hamilton said without looking up.
Dean found his chair at the far end of the table. He could see his face on the vid screen on the far wall behind the vice admiral, and he guessed that it was also up on the wall behind him. Either way he knew the debriefing was being recorded and that he needed to be careful.
"Debrief 28601, for EsDef report forty-seven. This interview is being conducted by Vice Admiral Linda Hamilton, Commander of the E-S-D-F Valkyrie. In attendance are the senior officers on board. Subject is Lieutenant Dean Blaze, Recon, and the actions of his platoon while on Newton Six, Epsilon Colony. Let's begin. Lieutenant, can you give us an overview of the events that transpired on Newton Six?
"I can," Dean said.
"Very good, please do."
Dean took his time. He was careful to mention radio traffic between his platoon and the Valkyrie, but not the substance of those conversations. He outlined the facts of the mission, nothing more, being careful to keep his opinions and feelings about the mission, objectives, and outcomes to himself.
"Lieutenant," Hamilton said, after Dean's outline of the mission. "Was it not clear that weapons were not to be used on this mission?"
Dean felt as if he had been punched in the gut and did his best to keep a straight face but he knew he had failed.
"It was my understanding that the colonists wanted as little interference with the ecosystem on Newton Six as possible," Dean said.
"That was not my question," the VA said, her eyes narrowing. "I gave very clear instructions that you were not to engage the creatures. Yet you carried on a running fire fight that lasted for two days."
"We were under assault from the creatures that had massacred the residents of the Epsilon Colony. Had we been allowed to egress with the creatures that were captured within the first hour on planet, defending ourselves might not have been necessary."
"Your orders," the vice admiral said, making it all too obvious that his own answers were irrelevant to her, she had her list of condemning questions and she was going to ask them all, "were to capture two of the creatures alive. But one of the beasts was dead when it arrived on board the Valkyrie. Wouldn't you consider that a mission failure?"
"No," Dean said. "We had no way of knowing if the sedatives we were using would have an effect on the creatures, nor any way to ascertain the health of the beasts. We accomplished our mission to retrieve two of the creatures as efficiently as possible."
"Once you had captured the two animals and shipped them into orbit, why did you not take shelter in the colony?"
"It wasn't safe."
"You instead felt that running away was a better option than utilizing the structures that were all around you for protection."
Dean had to bite his tongue not to argue that he hadn't run away. He wanted to put a gun in the vice admiral's hands and ship her to the surface of Newton Six. Let her face even just one of the giant fleas and hear what she had to say about the matter. But he couldn't let his temper get the best of him. He had been trained to answer every question in a debriefing with cold, factual, emotionless responses.
"The colony structures did not offer safety from the animals," Dean said. "I took my platoon to a safe location to await further orders from the Valkyrie."
"How can you be sure that the structures in Epsilon weren't capable of sheltering your platoon?"
"Because none of the colonists survived."
"According to your report over three dozen survived."
"Those were children who had been taken to the colony shelter, which, I also pointed out, was where the creatures had nested to feed on the colonists after their attack."
"But would it not have been wiser to take shelter in one of the many buildings nearby? You could have taken refuge and waited for orders without firing a single flechette."
"That is inaccurate," Dean said. "The structures in Epsilon Colony are made of prefab fiber board. They have a limited tensile strength. The indigenous creatures destroyed many of the buildings simply by jumping on them. And my platoon was being swarmed by hundreds of the creatures all at once. Our only hope of survival was to make our way to the foothills where we could use the caves to hold the creatures off."
The questioning went on for three hours. The vice admiral dissected every decision Dean made on the mission. He nearly lost his mind when Hamilton implied that Buwana's death was his fault, but he managed to keep his head. He was tired, filthy, and exhausted, but his commanding officer didn't care.
"Lieutenant, I find your explanation for this mission and its failures to be insufficient. I believe we have no choice but to return to Sol where Lieutenant Blaze can be formally charged with disobeying direct orders, dereliction of duty, manslaughter for the death of Corporal Buwana, and conduct unbecoming of an officer. Does anyone object?"
The room was silent and Dean was seething. He had never dreamed of being court marshaled. Suddenly his entire career was in jeopardy and he couldn't understand why. Nothing the vice admiral did made any sense to him whatsoever.
"Your platoon will be confined to their berths for the duration of the trip home. As an officer, if I have your solemn pledge to honor the sovereignty of this vessel and to remain only in section B, you will be allowed to maintain the freedom of movement. But be warned, Lieutenant, if I find that you are undermining my authority, or disobeying the orders I am giving you, I will have you shackled and confined. Am I making myself clear?"
"Yes, ma'am," Dean said,
his voice husky with anger.
"Do I have your word that you will abide by my ruling."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Then you may return to B section. Please note that your rights and privileges have been revoked outside that section of the ship. Meals will be delivered to your platoon, so there is no reason to leave your designated area. You may go."
Dean stood up, but didn't salute. It took all of his control to walk out of the room without attacking the smug-looking vice admiral. As soon as he opened the door to the long corridor he heard the chatter erupt behind him. Hamilton's sycophantic officers were congratulating her for putting Dean in what they thought of as his place. In their eyes she had gone to battle with a Recon warrior and soundly defeated him. But Dean knew it wasn't a real fight, and that the outcome had been preconceived well before he had ever even returned to the Valkyrie. What he didn't know was how things would play out went they returned to Earth, but he knew one thing. He wouldn't go down without a fight. He had played by the vice admiral's rules on board her ship. But if they went at it again, he wouldn't hesitate to get bloody.
Chapter 41
Captain Esma Dante was in the corridor. Dean wasn't sure, but he thought that perhaps she had been waiting for him. He started to speak to her but she shook her head. Dean closed his mouth, and the pain of rejection made his chest constrict. He suddenly wanted out of his armor and off the ship so badly his eyes watered. There was no way to explain how his world had suddenly flipped upside down, but nothing made sense any more.
"Keep walking," Esma whispered. "And stay on your side."
He did as he was told, unable to keep his head from drooping.
"We intercepted the messages from Newton Six," she whispered. "Hamilton will surely forge new ones to make you look bad. I'll get the originals to you... somehow."
We Are The Wolf (Wolf Pack Book 1) Page 22