Invasion of Kzarch (14 page)

“It seems they still don’t suspect anything,” Bloody Jack commented lightly.

The general merely gave a deep-throated growl.

Of their own violation, Bloody Jacks lips spread into a thin smile.

Oh, the general may have agreed to it, but to have his own forces ambushed…? Without suspecting anything? Yes, indeed, he was
unhappy
.

Of course, it had actually been Bloody Jack’s idea; the
general’s
had been a simple offer: He’d allow the pirates to loot the towns of anything remaining, without attempting to stop them, and the pirates would then leave.

Hardly impressed by the deal, Bloody Jack had offered a counter-proposal. The general would help him destroy the Marines, and
then
he’d leave.

To complicate both of their problems, they needed to get everything done before the Marine reinforcements could arrive and mess things up. So the general had to resort to the only plan he had ready, that would make sense to send the Marines on… and had ended up having to send a large portion of his own forces along.

While the general had no problem with sending the Marines into the trap, he certainly would’ve preferred to avoid having to send any of his
own
people in. Unfortunately, he hadn’t been successful. But he had still gone through with the plan; which had made Bloody Jack worry about a betrayal… so he insisted on the general accompanying him while the ambush took place. Of course, he had pushed for that in the first place, but the chance of a double-cross made him press for it all the harder. He had even allowed the general to carry bombs with him, set to a deadman’s switch, so that he’d have some insurance of his own.

And yet, with all the conditions, including placing a considerable part of his forces in danger and even himself as well, the general had still gone through with it.

The pirate chief had to wonder why.

“Tell me, general, why
did
you agree to all this?”

General Val’gor looked up from the display, as the symbol depicting the Kzarchian and Marine forces edged forward slightly to their target.

“Why? It’s simple enough: So that I can lead the planet.”

“…I don’t quite follow,” said Bloody Jack slowly, although he was beginning to get the picture.

“The United Federation has
failed
Kzarch, pirate. They barely sent any help whatsoever, at our time of need. Kzarch needs a
new
direction, and
I
shall provide it.”

“Ah.”

Warming to his subject, General Juan continued. “You see, if I waited for the Marine reinforcements, the people may well not realize how they actually
failed
us. But on the other hand, if
I
control the planet when they arrive, the people will support
me
. Then, I’ll be able to inform the Marines that Kzarch feels that it has no choice but to declare itself independent from the United Federation, due to its failure to protect us.” He gave a broad, if thin-lipped smile.

“They’ll have no other alternative but to leave. And then I’ll be able to declare myself as
king
of Kzarch, and begin rebuilding the planet, to
my
vision.”

“You know, even if Kzarch remained part of the United Federation, you could easily have been voted in as governor, based on your military leadership in time of war,” Bloody Jack pointed out mildly.

General Val’gor sneered.

“Hah! That would never suffice. Maybe,
if
I could convince the others of the First Family that I should be elected, I
might
become governor. But I doubt it. They certainly showed not the slightest interest in having me as one before, fobbing me off with the job of ‘Commander of Kzarch’s Military Forces’. Turns out that was their mistake.” The general grinned wolfishly.

“It was a pointless job before, but with the situation as it is now, I’ll be able to use it to seize power. And if they try to stop me…” The general made an expressive gesture across his throat.

“In any case, if the Marines get rid of you, there’s no way that they’d leave quickly. They’d stick around, and would be reinforced by officials from the United Federation, to ‘help’ Kzarch. There’s no way they would allow us to keep to our customary ways of doing things. Certainly, they won’t allow me to stay as governor for more than the limited nine years.”

Bloody Jack snorted mentally. Oh, yes, the ‘customary ways’! Utter corruption and abuse of power would be a far more accurate way of putting it.

But with all that the general had said, the pirate captain finally understood him, and why he was doing what he was.

As the general turned back to the display, Bloody Jack’s face flickered into toothy smile.

The general was a megalomaniac.

Oh, a mild case, so
far
, but quite definitely a megalomaniac. From his long career as a pirate and associations with them, Bloody Jack could recognize the signs more accurately than a trained psychologist.

It
did
rather explain why the general had been so easy to manipulate, if ‘manipulate’ was the right word for helping someone do what he wanted to do anyway. But that was the point, wasn’t it?

General Val’gor was predisposed to believe
anything
that would allow him to get or achieve what he wanted. Even if that meant trusting nasty, treacherous,
backstabbing
pirates. His reasons were obviously either delusional, justifications, hypocritical or just plain idiotic.

In short, an utter
fool
,
Bloody Jack thought coldly, smugly, his face now a mask.

It hardly made a difference
now
, of course. Still, Bloody Jack rather found himself looking forward to things…

Bending to look at the display, as it let out a beep, Bloody Jack saw that the Kzarchians and Marines were finally in position.

He gave a nod to the pirate at the com.

“Send the order to attack.”

***

Frank wondered when the other shoe would drop.

They had just about reached their destination, and would be launching their attack within a minute.

But where the hell were the
pirates
?

Surely
they had detected them by now…

“I really,
really
don’t like this…” he muttered to himself.

Glancing around, he waved at the Marine squad nearby, to move a bit to the right. They were almost ready…

Then a Marine’s voice blared over the com channels; Frank recognized it as one of the scout Marines.

“I’m detecting a force moving in on us! Six hundred or so strong!”

“I
knew
I didn’t like this!” the lieutenant groaned to himself, then snapped a channel open to the Colonel John’son, the other officers, and Platoon Sergeant McKain.

“Sir, I recommend we halt the mission, at least until we deal with the incoming force.”

“Of course!” the colonel snapped. “All officers, get your men ready for an attack to the left! Prepare to stagger fire!”

The entire force scrambled to reform, in order to protect its left flank.

“McKain, why are there so few of them?” Frank asked over a private channel.

“We
expected
them to act piecemeal, sir.” Despite his supposedly explanatory words, the sergeant’s tone was heavily dubious.

“Yeah, sure.” His tone would’ve been more sarcastic if the lieutenant hadn’t been too busy getting the units by him formed into a defensive line.

At that point, the first shots started coming in, a mixture of exbys, energy shots, and good ol’ fashioned bullets.

“Hold fire!” Colonel John’son cautioned. “Don’t waste your shots! We’re probably going to need every one of them! Wait until you can spot ‘em!”

Despite his order, the Marines began opening fire.

“
What
-”

“We can spot them with our sensors, sir.”

“Ah. Right. Everyone, keep an eye out for where the Marines are firing on! If you spot anything, open up.”

Frank was firing rapidly with both wegs, reserving his exby rifle and its limited amount of shots. Most of the other Marines were doing the same, although Kate and her heavy team, in the center of the formation, were only firing an occasional shot.

After almost two minutes, the pirate force finally came into view, meeting the volley of Kzarchian shots with a barrage of their own. People fell on both sides, but the better prepared and settled Kzarchians were taking a heavier toll on the pirates than the pirates were of them.

Inevitably, the pirates broke.

Targeting the last few ones, Frank managed to bring another one down, and hit two more, before a com channel interrupted.

“Sir!”

“Javer?”

“There’s another two groups coming in, one from the right, and one from the compound! They’re both about five hundred strong!”

“I
knew
I
really
didn’t like this.” Then, upon opening his com channel to the colonel, “Sir, I suggest we retreat immediately.”

“Retreat? Why are you sugg-”

Filling him in, Frank took another shot at a pirate attempting to sneak closer. The ever-cautious colonel had no trouble making his decision.

“You’re right. We need to get out of here
immediately
.”

The colonel opened the ‘all units’ channel.

“Everyone, prepare to retreat! Officers, organize your units. We’re leaving in thirty seconds, so move it!”

Thirty seconds wasn’t much, but everyone had had plenty of experience in retreating by now, and all knew the situation was serious.

“Lieutenant, get your heavy squad to provide cover.”

“Yessir. Kate, hit any large group!”

“Yes,
sir
! Let’s get ‘em, boys!”

SIAMs began launching irregularly, a heavy squad member firing whenever he managed to locate a target group that was sufficiently dense.

***

“They’re retreating.” Bloody Jack sounded mildly reproving.

“What’d you expect ‘em to do?” the general grunted back.

“Honestly, I expected them to have retreated earlier,” the pirate said with a shrug. “At any rate,
my
forces aren’t getting the job done. The first one was supposed to have held the Marines and your forces’ attention until the other groups made contact. Ah, well. Can’t say I’m surprised.”

“Are you going to send in your other gunboats yet?”

“Hmm… No. I want them, or at least their heavy squad, thoroughly distracted before they get called in. Otherwise they probably won’t be able to accomplish much. Too much covering fire.”

“Mmph.” the general agreed.

Eying the display, General Val’gor added, “Your other forces better start moving soon. Or there’ll be a large enough gap for them to escape.”

Bloody Jack raised his eyebrows.

“Trust me. My people know what they’re doing. And if they mess up, I’ll shoot them. Fear of death always makes a good motivator.”

“True.”

They both watched the display.

***

The entire force was beating a fighting retreat, often resorting to a backwards leapfrogging. Despite their best efforts though, all three pirate groups were keeping pace. Although they were now mostly staying out of combat range, they remained near enough to cause regular problems.

“Sergeant Javer, are your scouts seeing anything?” Despite how bad the situation was, Frank was sure it was going to get worse.

“Not yet, sir,” came back the calm voice of the s-squad leader. “But I think we’re going to find something soon.”

Lieutenant Harsmith grunted, and fired at a sensor reading. Changing the channel, he called on his platoon sergeant.

“McKain? What’re you thinkin’?

“Really not liking this, sir. They gotta have other forces around here
somewhere.
And considering the way they herding us…”

“Maybe, but it’s not like we have much other choice. Unless you can think of away to break through…?”

“If we use the heavy squad to blast a way through… No. Probably wouldn’t work, and we can’t afford to use up too many missiles. Especially since their gunboats haven’t shown up.”

“And speaking of which, where
are
they?”

***