by Eric Thomson
When they finally got back to the barracks, well after the rest of the Kashdushiya had gone to bed, they found it dark. Even Daran had succumbed to the lure of a soft cot after so long on a hard mat. They didn’t bother with another shower, and Zack fell asleep with Lora’s scent still strong in his nostrils.
The next two days were surreal for the ex-Marine. He’d not had a day off in so long that he didn’t know what to do with himself. The limited recreational facilities didn’t particularly appeal to him, sex had its limits and of course, there was no leave to be granted, never mind taken.
Instead, he spent a lot of time shooting the breeze with the silahdars of First Company. The Nelvans, once you got through the almost xenophobic mindset, were pretty much like any other humans, although he had a hard time getting their strange humor and he suspected that they gently laughed at his apparent cluelessness.
He was almost relieved when the regular garrison duty cycle resumed on the third day. At times, it was getting hard to remember that he was a slave, far from home. The fire within that demanded vengeance was still alive, but it wasn’t quite as hot anymore, or as bright.
Like Lora Cyone, he didn’t have anyone or anything back home, but here on Danjor, he had her, he had his company, and even a decent if somewhat inexperienced commander. All in all, an improvement over the last time he’d worn a uniform if you forgot the fact that he was owned by a nonhuman intent on profiting from his property.
*
The demonstration, when it finally occurred, was not quite anti-climactic, but it didn’t give Decker the same feeling of accomplishment as when he’d taken First Company through a successful battle run. They’d worked so hard and so long to satisfy the Atabek’s exacting demands that it had seemed almost too easy to put the Fifth Orta through its paces before several dozen sets of eyes, not all of them grouped in symmetrical pairs.
That night, a special meal greeted them in the mess hall, a token of their owner’s satisfaction. Decker would have preferred a wee dram of single malt, but he kept his ungrateful thoughts to himself.
Training returned to the regular routine the next day, and they waited, but weren’t quite sure for what. An air of expectation hovered over the base, and it wasn’t until three days had passed that Daran called the command group to her office.
“The Atabek has been offered a contract for our services.” She seemed flushed with pride. “The bidding has pleased our master, and it will be profitable indeed. Shipping is being arranged, and we should be ready to move in two weeks’ time.”
“Any details about the contract?” Decker asked.
“The Gwangar of Chuluk, from a world called Garada, has an infestation problem his household troops can’t manage.”
“Bug hunt?” Zack groaned inwardly. His last one had been enough for a lifetime.
“I don’t know what that means,” Daran replied, and he realized that the term didn’t translate well into Danjori.
“What’s the nature of the infestation?”
“A species calling themselves the Shrehari have decided to establish a colony on Garada and they refuse to recognize the Gwangar’s sovereignty.”
The Commonwealthers around the table looked at each other in astonishment. It was a long way to the Empire.
“Is it wrong,” Decker finally said, “that my first thought was about capturing as much Shrehari Ale as I could?”
Twelve
“Charming.” Zack wrinkled his nose at the stench as he led his company down the transport ship’s ramp and onto a cracked, undulating tarmac.
“What is?” Tran Kidder looked around at the dismal sight of a crumbling spaceport. “All I see is a place that seems to have gone from barbarism to decadence without the intervening stage of civilization.”
“Everything.”
He shrugged, something that wasn’t exactly easy since he, like all of the silahdars, was lugging everything he owned on his person. The battalion’s vehicles, small in number to begin with, carried the second and third line supplies.
Native Garadans observed the disembarking troops from a distance, many of them armed and twitchy. If they didn’t look like something that reminded the humans of mutated frogs, then he had no idea how to describe them adequately.
Mala Daran and Jase Resson had met with the Gwangar and his advisers earlier that morning, returning with instructions, intelligence and not much in the way of help.
A fifteen-minute march over the edge of the landing strip, through a bare field and across a broken roadway brought them to an enclosure surrounded by a high earth berm.
“It’s an old Chuluk army camp.” Resson trudged beside Decker, as heavily laden as the rest of them. “That’s about the extent of what they’re willing to share. We’re on our own for nearly everything else.”
“Why am I getting the feeling our dear Atabek was a little too quick in accepting this contract?”
“Pessimist,” Resson smirked at his friend. “Just because the place smells like a sewer, looks like a dump and the locals are about as friendly as crocodiles with a toothache doesn’t mean things aren’t hunky-dory.”
“So says you.” They walked through the single opening in the berm and Decker’s disgust went into overdrive. “I think I’ll bivouac my company on the outside of this cesspit, thank you very much, XO.”
“Nothing doing. First order of business is fatigue parties to clean the place up. We need a base camp near the spaceport, and this is it.”
“I think I’m going to have a talk with my recruiting sergeant to see how I can get out of this chickenshit unit.”
Resson laughed out loud, drawing strange looks from silahdars just as disgusted as Zack.
*
“Let me see if I have this straight: after they got their scaly asses whipped by these Shrehari, the Chulukians just buggered across the mountains and haven’t been back?” Decker stared at the map projection. “It means their intel is months old. I’d say we need some serious recon before we go for a nature hike.”
“We can’t afford to take too much time before engaging the enemy.” Daran’s lack of enthusiasm wasn’t lost on any of them.
“Why’s that?”
“The Atabek gets a bonus based on how fast we do the job and, of course, the longer we stay in the field, the more supplies we consume, meaning the costlier the mission.”
Decker snorted derisively.
“That’s what I love about private sector soldiering: profits trump common sense. According to the locals, the Shrehari haven’t been spotted anywhere south of this place.” He put his finger on a spot that supposedly marked the presence of a ruined fortress. “I suggest we move up a forward element to here, and if the fort’s still usable, we make it our FOB. Then we send out the drones and maybe some patrols. After we know what the Shrehari are up to, we bring the rest of the battalion north of the Gandabeg Mountains. I just wish we had thopters. They would have saved us a lot of time.”
“Too expensive to ship.”
“Profits again, eh, Jase? Let me take First Company and set up. Offload the trucks and transport us there. It’ll take maybe eight hours. If we do it on foot, it’s more like three days. Since time is of the essence, I’d say it’s the only sensible thing to do.”
The other company commanders nodded their agreement, both in terms of sending Decker and his men first and using the few vehicles they had. Zack didn’t know whether it was because they trusted him to do a better job of recon than anyone else or because they were glad their own companies wouldn’t be taking point.
“Very well.” Daran nodded reluctantly. “It shall be done as you say, but I will bring up the rest of the battalion, company by company, while you reconnoiter. We don’t have time to wait for results. Resson will remain here with the personnel we don’t need in the main body. Everyone else will move north within the next thirty-six hours. Decker, you will leave as soon as possible.”
“I’d like to take Cyone and some of her folks with me to pr
epare a forward headquarters for you.”
“Very well. If there’s nothing else, you have your duties.” Daran clapped her hands once, dismissing them.
*
The fortress was a dismal place, looming over the surrounding countryside like a malevolent pustule. Hewn from granite, its stones still stood guard over the mountain pass centuries after the natives had forgotten how to build such massive structures.
The trucks, after a long trek across the Gandabeg range and over a raging river, had deposited First Company and the advanced headquarters crew at the base of the hillock, leaving the silahdars to trudge up the last bit.
“As FOBs go, this isn’t actually so bad.” Cyone looked around the cobblestone parade ground fronting the keep. “We don’t have much to do other than site the heavy weapons and put out the observation posts.”
“I’d best be about it then.” Decker walked through an opening that may have once held a door and into the base of a semi-ruined tower.
He looked around at dank walls streaked with fungus and dissolved minerals. For all he knew, the locals probably found the wretched atmosphere congenial. Decker most emphatically didn’t.
“We’ll set up headquarters here.”
“Not in the keep?”
“I don’t want to run across a wide open space to get to the walls if ever we’re under fire. Strike that. When we’re under fire.”
“Makes sense. I guess that’s why you’re the company commander, big boy. Not sure our Boss Lady would approve, though.”
“She won’t stick around long enough to care.” Decker walked back out into the watery light of day. “I’ll bet you two things: one, she’ll be on the next convoy up the pass and two, the moment everyone’s here, she’ll head for the field to hunt herself some Shrehari.”
“Shouldn’t we try to find them first?”
“You’d think so, wouldn’t you?” He shook his head. “But now that we’re here and nothing’s shown up on those sorry excuses for sensors we got, I think I’m not going to use the drones just yet, in case the buggers spot them and decide something’s up at this old pile of rocks. I’ll have Tran send a recon patrol to the top of that cliff over there. They should be able to see twenty, maybe thirty kilometers without being spotted.”
“Daran might not like that.”
“She’ll take what she gets.” He waved at his platoon leaders, calling them together. “If she decides it’s time for the drones when she arrives, at least we’ll have two companies defending this place, which will make me feel a whole lot better.”
Cyone looked at him curiously, worry lines creasing her forehead.
“You really don’t like this, do you?”
“Ever had the feeling you’re on an operation that’s about to go down a black hole?”
“Sure. It happens to all of us over the years.”
“The feeling I’ve got is worse than that, and it’s not just because this planet is a depressing hunk of crap populated by the most useless sentients I’ve ever seen.”
“Aren’t you the cheerful one?” She patted his arm. “Do you need a hug?”
“What I need right now is way more than a hug. A heavy Marine battalion group with assault shuttles would do nicely, thank you.”
Cyone laughed softly.
“And here I thought you’d say you needed a good session with Mama Lora.”
“Later. Business first.”
The platoon leaders clustered around them, waiting for his orders, Tran smiling because he’d overheard her last few words.
*
“This place is easily defendable, commander.” Decker walked Daran around the walls, showing her what he’d set up. “We have a good field of fire all around, and the walls are so thick and dense that they’ll hold off anything short of heavy artillery.”
“What about the recon?”
“I’ve got an observation post on top of the cliff there.” He pointed into the distance. “They can see up to fifty kilometers across the savanna, past the next big river. So far, nothing in sight, not even large animals.”
“No drones?”
“Too easy to spot with the right gear. They’ll know something’s come across the Gandabegs looking for them.”
“The last sighting the Chulukians reported was on the far side of that big river, wasn’t it?”
“Sure.” Zack nodded. “On the map, it shows some nice open fields backed by hilly woodlands, just the kind of place to establish an agricultural colony.”
“These Shrehari, they farm?”
“Every species that moves beyond the hunter-gatherer stage does, commander. It’s a universal constant, just like the notion of profit and its corollary, living off someone else’s profit.”
“Then we must head for that area and inform them they owe tribute to the Gwangar. As soon as everyone is here, I intend to head out.”
He’d given up trying to explain the Shrehari mindset to her well before they landed on Garada. The Nelvan mentality just couldn’t grasp that some species were inherently tougher and more violent than they were.
“Are you leaving anyone at the FOB?”
“I thought I’d have your company stay behind. You’re already settled in and establishing a reserve is one of the principles of war, no?”
Decker nodded, an unexpected sensation of relief burning away his worst fears.
“Agreed. Having a decent force holding this place is a good idea so that you can fall back on something defensible if the enemy’s too powerful.”
Daran scoffed at the notion.
“I think we’re strong enough to handle a bunch of colonists. You’ve seen the native troops. We could probably topple the Gwangar and take over his kingdom with a single platoon.”
“Perhaps, commander, but I urge caution. As I’ve told you before, I’ve fought Shrehari outlaws in the past, and they’re superb fighters as well as being sneaky bastards. Don’t underestimate what you might find.”
“Noted.” Her dismissive tone hinted at irritation that he’d reopened the subject.
Ever since the Norik incident, their relationship had become less friendly, more formal. It was as if, deep down, she figured the ex-Marine would have been a better choice as commander of the Fifth Orta. Perhaps she felt threatened by that notion to the point of giving his advice less than her full attention.
At dawn, two days later, she led the main column out of the old fortress with a pair of drones flying ahead to scout out the terrain. Decker and Cyone stood on the massive ramparts and watched the battalion recede in the distance.
“You still have a bad feeling about this, Zack?”
“Daran’s not taking it seriously enough. You know how nasty the Shrehari can be, and yet she seems to think she’s going after Rekar tribesmen back on Danjor. It’s that damned Nelvan arrogance and the way they think the Kashdushiya is the be all and end all of soldiering.”
“Come on. I’ll buy you a mug of khavass.” She elbowed him in the ribs. “We’ll watch the feed from the drones for as long as it lasts.”
Which turned out to be only a few hours; after that, the regular radio check became their only link with Daran and the remainder of the battalion.
When nothing happened for the first forty-eight hours or so, Decker began to relax, wondering whether he’d been looking for trouble where none existed. Then his observation post spotted figures moving in the distance, along the mountain range, before vanishing out of sight but, as it turned out, not out of range. The first mortar rounds came whistling in shortly after that.
Thirteen
“Bugger the Gwangar of Chuluk and his entire race.”
Decker dropped to the ground by the wall as another mortar barrage came whistling in.
“A small infestation of Shrehari, they said.”
“Small if you’re a frigging division,” Cyone replied, hugging the hard ground beside him. “I wonder if Daran and the rest of the battalion are doing any better than we are.”
Gouts of earth and rock erupted further down the slope as penetrator rounds searched for silahdar bunkers. Fortunately, the Shrehari gunners’ aim had been less than precise, and the shells mostly missed the FOB. Without satellites, in the pea soup of Garada’s atmosphere, they had to work by sound ranging. Decker’s troops had shot down their drones the moment they’d appeared. The battalion’s own drones were long gone.
Three days had now passed since Daran had taken most of the Fifth Orta up into Shrehari-held territory to root them out. Decker, with his company and some of the battalion headquarters elements left behind in the abandoned Chulukian fortress, guarded the only available route south through the Gandabeg Mountains, and it was becoming apparent that the Shrehari hadn’t been idle from the moment the silahdars had shown up.
“Still no radio contact with the commander?” Cyone asked when the barrage stopped as abruptly as it had started. The Shrehari likely had the same supply problems as Decker and needed to husband their ammunition.
“Nothing since dawn. Nothing from the other elements of the battalion either. It could just be the lousy atmospherics. Our radios aren’t exactly up to Marine Corps standards.”
“Or they could have met an overwhelming Shrehari force,” Cyone replied somberly.
“I sure as hell hope not,” Decker rose, brushing the dirt off his battledress, “because if that’s the case, our sweet asses are next.”
“We’re about as well sited as possible.” She looked around at the thickly-walled ruins. “The only way in is uphill.”
“And the only way out is downhill.” His sour tone betrayed the anxiety he was trying hard to conceal. “If everything’s gone to crap, the evil buggers will have no problems keeping us bottled in until we surrender once we’ve run out of ammo and food.”
Decker shook his head angrily.
“The damned Atabek was way too anxious about showing off his newest toy. Getting some more intel about the opposition before signing a contract wouldn’t have hurt the profit margin a bit.”