by GARY DARBY
Without hesitation, Dason ran up the rocky channel. He hadn’t gone ten meters, when from the shadows, someone hit him in a flying tackle and drove him to the ground.
He was about to fight back when his assailant hissed, “Dason!”
Nase had him in a solid grip but in an instant let go and pulled him up. “The others with you?”
“No,” Dason returned, “it’s just me. The others are back in the cave.”
“How did you—” Nase started and then stopped. “Never mind. Back here.”
Trotting, Nase led Dason into a smaller side gully. They rounded a corner into a carved-out section. Shanon reached out to him and they clasped hands in a tight grip. “Are you okay?” Dason asked in a soft voice.
She nodded. “Yes.”
Dason looked around. Granger and Shelby lay nearby, both appearing injured. To one side Dason saw the body of Bianca lying flat and still on the ground. Brant and Doctor Stinneli knelt on one knee beside her.
Swallowing hard several times, Dason couldn’t help the glistening that formed in his eyes. Wiping at the grimy sweat that rolled down his dirty cheek, Dason tried to speak, but the words choked in his throat.
Besides, what good would words serve at a time like this? They had lost their leader, the head of their family and words alone wouldn't ease his pain.
He took a faltering step toward her only to see Bianca push herself up on one elbow.
She peered at Dason with one eye. “Is this your idea of a rescue? One scout, one stun-gun, and being chased by dozens of hostile aliens?”
Chapter Fifteen
Star Date: 2443.062
Unnamed planet in the Helix Nebula
Dason couldn’t move, he just stood there, his mouth gaping. Sputtering, he choked out, “You’re—not—”
Bianca sat up and waved him over. With a silly grin of relief, Dason hurried to kneel on one knee beside her.
Slathered over one side of her blistered face was a thick layer of BurnBalm and InstaHeal cream. A thick gel-like patch covered her swollen and closed left eye.
“We don’t have much time,” she began, “report, scout.”
In a rapid voice, Dason explained. “TJ, Sami, and Alena are still back in the cave with the Kerebs. I led the big aliens here, hoping that they would cause enough confusion for you to escape.”
With a slight nod, Bianca said, “Good plan, and by the sound of things, it’s working. Help me up, we’ve got to get out of here.”
As Dason handed out several spare comm sets, Bianca snapped out rapid orders, “Get wired up, but no comms checks, we don’t want to attract attention to ourselves.
“Brant, you and Nase help Granger, he may have a broken ankle. Doctor Stinneli, you have Shelby. Dason, you and Shanon take the point, and I’ll cover our six. We’ll make for our scouter craft.”
She waited while everyone emplaced cheek and earpieces. “Everyone wired in? Okay, let’s move.”
Dason pulled out his spare L-gun and handed it to Shanon. The two trotted with light steps through the high-walled sandy gorge to the cleft’s mouth and took up covering positions. Seconds later, the other scouts straggled in behind them.
Bianca moved up next to Dason and peered at the disruptor and laser beams that crisscrossed the tree line below. “We’re in luck, the fighting seems to be moving away from us.”
Dason remarked to her. “I have to admit I’m surprised that the Gadions held their own against a much larger force.”
“Isn’t that a shame,” Shanon remarked in a clipped tone.
“Yeah, isn’t it,” Dason responded.
“But good for us in that it keeps them preoccupied,” Bianca returned. She tapped Dason on the shoulder. “Okay scout, get us out of here.”
Dason motioned to the right. “Hug the cleft wall until we get to the ravine,” he instructed. “We’ll use it for cover.”
Bianca nodded and motioned for the rest to follow Dason and Shanon. With Shanon covering with her outstretched weapon, Dason led the group to the rounded outcropping.
Quietly they slipped through the bushes until they reached the ravine and dropped down to the gravel bed. The chest-high earthen walls sheltered them from any eyes that might be looking their way.
Slowed by the two injured scouts, the group slogged their way up the wide arroyo. After a few minutes, the sounds of battle wound down until only an occasional laser blast sounded in the valley.
Dason didn’t know if that meant that the fight was over because one side or the other had won, or because the skirmish had moved away from them and was now out of earshot.
They came to a place where the dry creek bed turned toward a V-shaped gorge that led up into the hills. Dason took one look and motioned for Bianca to come forward.
He gestured toward the dark defile and said, “That’s the quickest way up to the plateau where the scouters are, but that’s going to be a pretty tough climb for our injured.”
Bianca surveyed the rise in the incline and let out a sigh. “Yes, but we need to get to those scouters. We haven’t come that far. If either the big aliens or the Faction come looking, it won’t take them long to find us.”
With slow steps, the group trudged up the shadowy slit. The incline became steeper to the point that, though Granger tried valiantly, he could no longer hobble along, even with help.
Taking turns, Dason, Nase, and Brant carried Granger piggyback up the increasingly sharp slope. Their labored breathing echoed off the narrowing walls, while their heavy steps sent the occasional rock or dirt clod careening down the hill.
The gradient steepened, and they reached a point where they had to dig fingers into the earth to gain traction and pull themselves and their injured comrade upward.
The incline gave way to a sharp rock facing, and Bianca called a halt. Studying the small cliff, which had a large outcropping that resembled a bulging nose, she said to Dason and Brant, “Granger can’t climb that. We’ll have to rig a rope sling, and pull him up. Agreed?”
“Yes ma’am,” Dason answered and started pulling out his thin, but strong nylo-rope.
Bianca turned and ordered, “Brant, Nase, you climb to the top. Toss the rope down, we’ll sling Granger and then Shelby. You pull while we push.”
Using cracks in the rock wall for hand and footholds, Brant and Nase scaled the six-meter-high wall. On top, they leaned over and dropped one end of the line to Dason.
With practiced hands, Dason slipped the rope under Granger’s armpits and tied a double knot in the end. Granger reached up, grasped a handful of line, and nodded.
While the two above pulled, Dason, with the help of Stinelli and Shanon, lifted Granger up as high as they could. With his backside to the wall, Granger slid up the facing until he reached the top.
Using the same method, the group raised Shelby up the wall, followed one by one by the others until only Dason remained.
The rope came snaking back down the cliff, and Dason started to place it behind his backside in a modified chair sling when Shanon’s head appeared over the outcropping.
“Dason,” she called in a breathless voice, “hurry, we’ve got Jakuta up here, and they’re closing fast.”
Gritting his teeth, and with Shanon and Nase holding tight to the rope, Dason started pulling himself up the cliff. He hadn’t gotten far when Shanon screamed, “Dason! Behind you!”
Dason swung around to see a dark figure aiming a disruptor straight at him. Without thinking, Dason threw himself to one side just as the disruptor blasted apart rock and dirt in a fiery plume of grit and sand.
Not hesitating, Dason swung himself the other way as a second scarlet beam blasted apart the rock cliff’s base.
From above him, Dason heard a sharp crack! Fractured rock, blown apart by the powerful disruptor beams, gave way.
In horror, he looked up to see the rocky protuberance, with Nase and Shanon still holding onto his rope, crumble and slide downward into the gorge.
In a desperate attempt to
save himself, Dason lunged to one side, but it was too late, the rockslide caught him and carried him down the incline.
Somehow, like a body surfer, Dason managed to keep himself somewhat on top of the dirt and rock wave in spite of the pummeling he took from chunks of rock and dirt.
The dirt wave swept down the steep slope before the mass of rock and soil came to rest in a cloud of choking dust.
Dazed by his ride, Dason lay on one side with one arm and a leg half-buried in the rock pile. After several minutes of digging he managed to extricate himself from the rubble.
He rubbed at a tender spot on his head and stared at bloody fingers. Woozy from the blow to the head, he struggled to stand. A nearby soft moan caused him to turn and make his way toward the sound.
A darkened figure rose from behind a large boulder followed by the sound of rocks being tossed aside. “Nase?” Dason asked in a hesitant tone.
The figure jerked up. “Dason? Help me, Shanon’s under this pile.”
Dason stumbled over rocks and debris to find Shanon pinned almost from her shoulders down under a heap of large, rounded stones. “Shanon,” he implored, “hold on, we’ll get you out.”
She swallowed several times and in a throaty whisper said, “Hard to breathe, hurry.”
Like two maniacs, Dason and Nase pushed and flung rocks away, in a desperate attempt to get the oppressive weight off Shanon.
Despite their frantic efforts, Shanon’s head slumped backward; her mouth gaped open, and only the whites of her eyes showed.
“She can’t breathe!” Dason ground out between clenched teeth. “We’ve got to get her out now!”
He and Nase redoubled their efforts, until they had a space wide enough for them to reach in and grasp Shanon under her armpits. Pulling with everything they had, they managed to get her shoulders and chest clear of the rocks.
Dason popped open his med kit, pulled out a thumb-sized oxy canister, and pushed the finger-sized tubing into Shanon’s mouth. He squeezed her nostrils and lips together to prevent the oxy from coming back out and activated the internal regulator.
Oxygen began flowing into Shanon’s lungs. While Dason held the tiny container, Nase kept pulling rocks away until he had her completely freed from the crushing weight.
Several minutes later, Dason changed out oxy-canisters while Nase began chest compressions. As he did, Dason scanned her torso vest’s body diagnostics, let out a relieved breath and said, “She’s coming back, you can stop.”
Coughing and sputtering, Shanon took several deep breaths and opened her eyes. With a broad smile, Dason pulled the oxy-tube out before leaning over and brushing away dirt and dust from her eyes and mouth.
“Welcome back. You had us really worried there for a few minutes.”
Shanon gave Dason a weak smile, licked her lips, and said, “I had me really worried there for a while.”
She reached out a hand to Nase and Dason. “Thanks.”
Both Dason and Nase squeezed her hand, with Nase saying, “You’re most welcome.”
She tried to sit up, but Dason put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down. “You need to stay put for a few minutes.”
Pulling her water mouth tube around, he ordered, “Get some water into you.”
He then asked, “Any bones broken? Insides—”
She cut him off with a quick hand wave, swallowed, and then said, “Other than being a bit flatter, I’m good now.”
Dason gave her a quick smile before turning to Nase. “Do a quick recon, see if you can find out what happened to our shooter and see if there’s more of them around.”
Nase pulled himself to his feet and disappeared into the deepening gloom. Dason tapped on his comms and said, “Captain Ruz, this is Dason.”
There was no response, so Dason asked again, “Any scout with Captain Ruz, please respond.”
Again, no reply. Dason asked Shanon, “Before we got hit by the slide, had the big aliens spotted the team on top?”
She took a deep breath and said, “I’m not sure, I was mostly watching you, but they were headed almost directly at us when we first saw them.”
Dason glanced up the gorge that they had fought so hard to get up. His shoulders sagged, and Shanon reached out to him. “You’re thinking the XTs got them.” she stated.
He met her eyes with his own frank stare. “Fraid’ so. If they were able to answer, I think they would have, don’t you?”
She ran a hand over her mouth and blinked hard several times. “I guess that’s true,” she murmured.
Easing back on his haunches, he wiped at his dust-covered face with the back of his hand. His shoulders slumped and he hung his head.
They had gotten so close to escaping and reaching the scouters!
Shanon put a hand on his forearm. “It was a good plan. A brave plan. You did your best.”
Dason nodded gratefully before he said, “Want to try and sit up?”
“No,” she replied. “I want to stand up.”
Dason shook his head. “Nope, sit first, stand after.”
She wrinkled her nose at him but let him ease her to a sitting position. A few minutes later, from the gloom, Nase appeared. Kneeling on one knee, he handed Dason a dusty L-gun while saying, “The fellow that used this on us won’t be using it again.”
“Call me heartless,” Shanon muttered, “but that doesn’t make me sad at all.”
“Nase,” Dason said, “Shanon and I believe that the Jakuta captured Bianca and the others. They’re not answering my hails, what do you think?”
Nase turned his head toward the hill’s crown and studied its undulating outline. “The aliens were closing in,” he said, “when that rock gave way.
“With the shape that Granger and Shelby were in, I doubt that they could have outrun the XTs. From what I saw, it was pretty open on top so I don’t think they could hide, either.”
He turned back to them, said frankly, “And since they haven’t responded on the comms, I think it’s reasonable to assume that the Jakuta caught them.”
To Dason, Nase’s statement was like the slamming of a door. Final and hard.
Shanon murmured, “Let’s just hope that they won’t hurt them—or worse.”
“I don’t think they will,” Nase said. “Remember, they captured several of us before and didn’t harm anyone, including me, though I admit they weren’t particularly friendly.”
“Yes,” Dason answered in a dark tone, “but that was before humans started shooting at them. They may not feel quite so kindly now.”
No one spoke in reply to Dason’s gloomy assessment.
“So, what now, TL?” asked Shanon.
Dason gestured up the gorge. “We can try and make our way back up the hillside and search for our comrades, or make for the scouters.”
Nase shook his head and said, “From what I saw there were a lot of Jakuta up there. If they captured Bianca and the others, I’m pretty sure that they’ve either found the scouters or will before we get up there.”
His disconsolate stare at the ground was Dason’s way of acknowledging Nase’s statement. He raised his head and motioned at the dark valley. “Then we make our way back to the cave.”
He glanced up at the sky where the first stars had started to twinkle against the nebula’s murky backdrop. Frowning, he said, “But that means a night march and from the looks of it, none of us are in real good shape right now.
“We don’t know if those other Faction goons are alive or not, but, like you said, we do know there’s a lot of Jakuta in the neighborhood.”
He picked up a small pebble and toyed with it before he dropped it to the ground. With a little start, he realized that he was mimicking Bianca when she had struggled with a tough decision.
Making up his mind, he ordered, “We’ll find a spot to hole up for the night; get an early start in the morning.”
Shanon nodded in an approving manner. “I agree. I’m not sure we’d be able to do much good tonight.”
She leaned a little closer. “Besides, you’ve probably used up all your luck for one day. If you were a cat, you’d be short a couple of lives about now.”
Dason gave her a wan smile but didn’t reply. Instead, he turned to Nase with a questioning look. Nase responded with a little nod, saying, “We’re not in the best shape to take on night hunters. Let’s review the situation in the morning. Daylight may give us a different perspective.”
Dason scanned the line of prominences that rose to their left. “Let’s follow the hill’s base, see if we can find something suitable to lay up for the night. But no more transmissions. If those other Faction goons are around, let’em guess at what’s happening.”
“What about Sami and TJ?” Shanon asked.
“They’ll hold tight in the cave for now,” Dason answered. “I’ll contact them in the morning, let them know the score.”
The three made their way in the growing darkness, following the hill’s rounded base. Shanon was stiff and sore, but she managed to keep pace with Dason and Nase.
For half an hour, the three made their way along the high knoll’s foot. In the last of the twilight, Dason spotted a ledge like recess in the hill’s rocky exterior, some five meters above the valley floor.
They clambered up the hillside, checked to make sure the little grotto wasn’t occupied before they slipped under the overhang.
Dason waited outside for several minutes, to make sure no one was on their back trail before joining Shanon and Nase inside the small rock cleft.
While the three shared a field ration, they compared notes. “We thought the Faction had murdered Bianca,” Dason explained. “It took every ounce of willpower we had not to come charging across the valley to take revenge.”
Shanon shook her head in replying, “From the way she fell, I thought she was dead, too. But she started moaning, and I realized that the Gadion must have had his weapon on low laz and directed it slightly away from her.”
“That was a slick piece of work, TL,” Nase commented, “getting the XTs to do the heavy lifting.”
Dason ran a hand through his hair and sat back against the rock wall. “In all honesty, it seemed about the only option we had. Got lucky, I guess.”