Taming a Planet (Trapped in Time Book 2) (14 page)

• • •

Johnathan and Dot flew south and fought the easterly wind blowing up the cliffs. They would climb and the winds would blow them several miles inland where they would then begin a shallow dive back to the cliffs to repeat the process. It took ten days to arrive over the southern lands that had been invaded by the Destroyers the previous year but they continued moving east along the shore line. They would land at night on hills and take off again the following day. A hundred and fifty miles up the coast, they saw the Destroyer Scout Ship under full sail moving west. It was stopping every fifteen miles to launch boats to explore the beaches and lands beyond them for settlements.

“You should go back and tell Andy they’re coming.”

“What are you going to be doing?”

“I’m going to continue to scout their activities and find a place where we can ambush their shore party. The wind will be with you so you’ll make it back to the community in half the time. Send a scout back immediately so I can let him know where to send the Archers.”

“How will you do that?”

“Once I see the scout arrive, we’ll start fires at the ambush site. Our Fliers will arrive ahead of the Scout Ship. Tell the archers to bring a supply of tar pouches to get the fires started.”

“Jonathan, don’t get into trouble.”

“Whatever do you mean?”

Dot grabbed Jonathan’s face and kissed him fully on the lips, “I don’t want to have to find a new lover.” John touched his lips where Dottie had kissed him and watched her fly off to the west. Darn, he had no idea she felt that way. She called him her lover and he had never touched her. Perhaps he should. He thought about it and decided that he would stay aloft in the winds and sleep intermittently in the top of trees. She was right.

Sleeping on the ground was not the safest thing to do on this planet. If he had to go down, he’d do it in a clearing where he could see trouble coming from a long way off. He saw the Scout Ship drop anchor and he looked for the tallest tree in the forest next to the beach and flew in toward the highest branches. He came in against the wind and furled the Glider just as he arrived at the tree. He pulled the retract cord and the wings folded back. He fell three feet into the tree and grabbed a branch. He completed putting the glider into its case and settled in to watch the Destroyers as they moved toward land in their small landing boats. Within a week, John knew their tactics as well as they did. This was not going to be easy. They were well disciplined and their organization was impeccable. Their advances had overlapping fields of fire and they moved like a well-oiled cutter rod. The Fliers should arrive within another week. He needed to decide the best strategy to meet them.

He flew west the next morning and found the site for the ambush. There was a large clearing about four miles inland from the beach where the ground was dry and the tropical trees had not yet taken root. He flew back to the Scout Ship and watched it sending boats onto the shore. It would remain there for a day and move to the next site. It shouldn’t be long before the Fliers arrived. Five days later, he saw the single Glider moving toward him and he smiled. He circled above the forest until Dottie flew in and he yelled, “Follow me. How far are behind you are the warriors?”

“They’ll arrive the day after tomorrow.”

“We need to prepare the ambush site prior to their arrival.” John flew to the clearing and took the glider down. He retracted the wings and slid the back pack off as he pulled his gun and turned 360 degrees. Nothing moved and he continued to scan the tree line for any movement.

Dot flew overhead and searched the ground below for predators. The forest was thick around the clearing and it was almost impossible to see anything inside the trees. She eventually flew in and landed beside Jonathan. They put their gliders back into their packs and moved cautiously toward the tree line. The giant trees towered above them John picked one that was slightly leaning into the clearing. “Cover me, Dot.”

“Got it.”

John put his hand gun in its holster and pulled the heavy cutter. He extended the blade to its full twenty foot length and slashed a notch into the huge trunk. He then cut down into the notch from the backside of the tree and it crashed down into the clearing.

While John cut the trees down, Dot killed more than fifteen raptors and one of the new giant predators. As soon as the two Archers would leave for another three about four hundred yards away, a massive number of predators swarmed the ones that Dot had killed. The two Fliers cut down ten giant trees and dropped a tar pouch into gouges cut into the huge trunks. They then waited for the wind to blow through the clearing and they ran along one of the trunks and released their gliders. They lifted into the sky and headed west to meet Andy at the cliffs.

They arrived at the end of the long range of foothills and landed. Dot started a fire and poured a small amount of tar on it. The black smoke rose instantly and they sat down, opened one of their pouches, and munched on some dried meat. John chewed slowly and said, “Dot, these warriors we’re facing are really well trained. They move forward in groups while others cover their advance.”

“They won’t be able to see us.”

“They’ll be able to see the red beams being fired.”

Dot’s eyes narrowed and after a moment she slowly nodded and shrugged as she said, “Then the rule of the day will be fire and drop.” Jonathan nodded and took another bite. He wished he had brought his bow. Seeing an arrow in flight wasn’t easily done. He looked at Dotty and saw she was thinking the same thing. They looked to the south while they waited for Andy to arrive with the community’s best warriors. Just before sunset, Andy flew in and landed on the cliff a hundred yards north of them. The three hundred archers following him began landing around the two Master Archers as Andy folded his glider and walked forward to them, “Have you found the site for the ambush?”

John looked at Dotty and then turned to Andy, “I have and we’ve cut down the trees for the fires.”

Andy stared at Jonathan for a moment, “What has you bothered?”

John shook his head, “Andy, these guys are good. They’re highly organized and they will be able to see the red beams being fired. I’m not certain our camouflage uniforms will be enough.”

Andy tilted his head and shrugged, “I guess we’ll find out. Some of us brought our bows. We’ll just have to adjust on the fly. I do think we’ll need the guns to take the ship.”

Jonathan shrugged.

Andy hoped Jonathan was wrong but he started to worry about the coming fight.

T
he Leader of the Deck Watch Team stared at the beach where the warriors had gone ashore and wondered if they had found anything of interest. He glanced at the slaves cleaning the deck and saw them start working harder as he stared at them. Good, they knew not to get lazy on his watch. He sat down on a chair at the rear of the large ship and leaned back. He glanced to the north and almost fell over backwards. He jumped up and saw huge plumes of smoke rising above the forest. He ran to the Commander’s cabin and knocked. He waited and heard, “Enter!”

He opened the door and yelled, “Sire, you should come look at this!”

The Commander pulled on his shirt and left the female slave in the cabin. He walked out and the Watch Leader pointed to the north. The Commander turned and saw the huge plumes of smoke rising in the distance. His eyes narrowed and the Leader asked, “Do you think it’s a wildfire?”

The Commander stared at the plumes and shook his head, “No; the smoke plumes are separated. If it were a wildfire, it would just be one giant smoke plume. It looks like someone is attacking a community inland about twenty miles north of here.” The Leader stared at the plumes and the Commander said, “Fire the recall rocket.”

“Our troops won’t get back to the beach until after nightfall.”

“I know that. We’ll bring them on board in the morning and set sail for that location. We should arrive shortly after midday tomorrow and we’ll send them ashore to see what’s going on.”

The Watch Leader went down to the main deck and pulled a rocket out of a barrel and stuck the pole it was on in a three foot container. He struck a match and lit the rocket’s fuse. He stepped back and the rocket blasted out of the container and flew high into the atmosphere. It released three small balls that exploded with massive retorts. The Commander looked at the Leader, “Let me know when the troops are back at the beach.”

“Yes Sire.”

• • •

Harmony stood by Andy and watched the giant trees burning. She shook her head and was thankful the wind was down or the entire clearing would have been covered in smoke. When the smoke began to die down, archers would pour tar on the flames. Harmony shook her head, “You will be careful!”

Andy smiled, “Careful is my middle name.”

Harmony smiled, “These warriors are well trained and have been doing this for more than a hundred years. Just don’t give them a shot at you.”

“I’ll do my best, Love. Oh look, here comes Dottie.”

Dottie came gliding in and landed next to the clearing. She folded up her glider and ran over to Andy, “The Destroyers are moving out of the forest and back toward the beach.”

Harmony looked at Dottie, “Will they arrive before nightfall?”

“No, they’ll be lucky to get back by midnight.”

Harmony looked at Andy, “They won’t attempt to board the ship at night. They’ll wait until sunrise and start bringing them back on board.”

Andy looked at John, “Tell the archers to stop putting tar on the fires at sunset. We’ll start again when the sun is up.” John ran out into the clearing to pass on the commands. Andy looked at Dottie, “Is your team ready to take the ship when it arrives?”

“We’ve trained to do it. I don’t know what else we could do to be more prepared. You just need to make sure the warriors they send in don’t turn around before night fall.”

Andy looked at Harmony and she said, “They won’t arrive off shore until after midday. It will take several hours to complete landing operations and they’ll have to walk through the forest to get here. They won’t arrive until after midnight, if they push it.”

“Do you think they’ll push getting here?”

“I suspect they might. However, if the forest is too thick, they’ll stop and continue in the morning.”

Andy looked out at the forest surrounding the clearing and shook his head, “They’d have to be crazy to push through at night. I suspect they’ll cover half the distance tomorrow.”

Harmony looked at the forest and shrugged, “If there are enough predators, I suspect you’re right.”

John walked up and Andy said, “Get the teams to start herding dinosaurs toward the beach. Use the whistles to get them moving.”

John nodded and went back out in the clearing. An hour later they heard the roars of the dinosaurs as they moved through the thick forest. Andy put his arm around Harmony, “Tomorrow night is when this will happen. We should get some rest.” Harmony nodded and walked over to a clear place on the ground and spread a canvas. Andy sat down beside her and opened his food pouch. He worried about the red beams being seen. He would call everyone together and tell them to fire and move. No long bursts; short shots and move. Andy sat with Harmony and forgot his worries as he leaned forward and kissed her.

The archers gathered around Andy at sunset and Mark came over from the other side of the clearing. Andy looked at them, “We are going to spread out in the forest and allow the Destroyers to move past us toward the clearing. Once they’re between us and the clearing, we’ll start taking them out from the rear. It is important that you only use short beam shots and move immediately. They can see where the beams are coming from and will fire if you stay in one place. The team going after the ship will head out at around midnight tomorrow night. Once we eliminate the ground force, we’ll go to check on the ship. Are there any questions?”

Mark looked around the group and said, “The underbrush is shoulder high. Some of you will go up in the trees and shoot at them from above once the battle begins in earnest. Stay behind the trunks and duck behind them immediately after firing.”

Andy nodded and said, “Get some rest. You’re going to need it once this starts.” Andy looked at Mark, “Assign the night watch teams to keep predators away. We’ll move out into the forest about midday tomorrow.” Mark nodded and began assigning the watch teams.

John looked at Dottie, “We should go to scout out a good place to glide out of here tomorrow night.”

Dottie nodded and smiled, “Lead the way.” John stood and started walking toward the end of the clearing. Dottie caught up to him and took his hand in hers. John smiled and felt his heart beat faster.

• • •

The Ship Commander stood on the back of his ship and shook his head. It was useless to give in to his frustration and curse the elements. Sometimes things worked out as planned and sometimes a low tide ruined everything. He glanced to the north and saw the smoke still rising in the distance but knew he might not arrive in time to see what, or who, was causing it. The landing boats were on the beach but there was more than a hundred yards of muck between them and deep enough water to launch them. The troops had tried to carry one out and the ones moving the boat had sunk up to their waist in the muck. He sat down in a chair and waited for the tide to change. He’d be lucky to get under sail before midmorning. Oh well, what can you do but sit and wait.

He looked out to sea and felt the breeze blowing west; at least that was in his favor. He smiled as he watched the warriors undress and pour water on their uniforms. Pulling them out was a task in itself. He looked at the Deck Watch Leader and said, “Come and get me when they begin moving.”

“Yes, Sire.” The Captain stood and went to his cabin. The Watch Leader didn’t like this omen. The warriors would arrive on shore close to dark…if something else didn’t happen to slow them down. That wasn’t a good thing. He looked up at the sky wondering if bad luck was following them. So far they hadn’t found anything for the following fleet to raid. He shook his head and spit overboard for good luck. They were going to need it.