The Last Hero (8 page)

“Yes, sir.”

“Let’s move.”

The three assassins stalked their prey carefully. They crawled flat on the ground where their suits made them look like slow moving piles of dirt and rocks. Not a sound was made. The helmet and suit even dampened the sound of their breathing and pounding hearts.

The journey to the enemy position felt like it took an eternity, but there was no room for error. If any of the enemy got a message out, they all would certainly die, and their mission would fail.

Trent reached his point first. It took Simms and Gabriel another five minutes to find a clean line-of-sight on the targets. Trent spoke to them softly with the aid of CAL.

“I have confirmed three hostiles. Switch to single shot. I want as much of their bodies left over for autopsies as we can manage. Gabriel, you have the ugly one sitting down. I want a head shot on him. I’ll take the ugly one by the tree and will take him out with a head shot. Simms, the other ugly one is yours. Take him out with a round to the chest. You two read me?”

“Yes.”

“Roger that.”

Trent slowly raised his MRG. CAL placed a crosshairs on the visor, which moved with the barrel to show exactly where the shot would land. He maneuvered the crosshairs directly on the unsuspecting soldier.

“Do you have your targets?”

“He’s dead, he just doesn’t know it,” Gabriel answered.

“Cold as ice.”

“On three. One, two, three...”

Instantly, the back of Trent’s target’s head exploded into a mist of blue blood and bone tuned into powder. The other two suffered similar fates.

CAL announced,
All hostiles eliminated. Area clear.

***

“Major, nice work. You have the first confirmed enemy kills of the war. Congratulations,” Jones said. Trent stood over his kill with his MRG resting on a shoulder.

“You’re right. I’d like some patrols around the perimeter. We’re going to be here for a little bit. I don’t want any surprises.”

“Already taken care of, sir.”

Gabriel walked up to Trent’s side. All three stared down at the blue spattered dead Bearcat.

Gabriel commented, “Hey, sir. Why did you want Lieutenant Simms to kill his with a chest shot?”

“I wanted to see what his brains looked like.” He turned to Jones. “Captain, get the medics up here to start autopsies on these stiffs. CAL can walk them through the details. Be sure they upload the data into the sub-space transmitter. The Fleet at Alpha Gate will probably wet their pants when they see this information.”

Gabriel still looked intently at the headless soldier, who lived up to its unimaginative name. Thick fur covered every square centimeter of the body. Even without a head, the creature was over two and three-quarter meters tall. Their hands consisted of four massive fingers with retractable claws. The head on the one Simms had killed reminded him of a lion without a mane. It didn’t have a mask, indicating they could breathe the atmosphere.

After deep thought, Gabriel finally commented, “Does anyone else find it a little unnerving that so far two out of the three intelligent species in the known universe look like cats?”

Trent said, “That is something to think about. I’m not sure I like that idea.”

“What do you think they were doing all the way out here, sir? Some kind of long range patrol,” Gabriel asked.

Trent turned away from the body to survey the rest of the temporary camp containing scattered gear and hanging animal carcasses. He walked over to one of their weapons leaning against a tree, taking it into his hands.

It was a huge rifle that appeared to fire a projectile around the size of a 50 caliber round. He shuddered to think what a hit from the weapon would do to a person.

“I don’t think this was an official op. It kinda looks like a couple of guys out hunting for fun. Hopefully, with them so far out, it will be a while before they’re missed. We need to get moving soon.”

He handed the rifle to Simms.

“Give this to one of the techies to break down. Learn what we can. I want this and the autopsies done in thirty.”

***

After burying the dissected bodies and the enemy’s gear, the warriors of Earth, having just savored their first taste of alien blood, fled the scene of the first victory in the war with renewed vigor toward the heart of the enemy.

Anxious to make up time lost during the delay, they pushed themselves harder than before.

They had met the enemy, and he was to be feared.

So were they.

Chapter 11: The Base

T
he base was in the middle of an open plain. The Bearcats understood the principle of creating a killing field around fixed positions. From Trent’s vantage point in the tree line five kilometers away, he couldn’t see any approach offering a bit of cover. Any attack would have to be an open advance.

The best point to launch an assault was on the far side from where he surveyed the area. From there, the base was only two kilometers outside the tree line.

With the visor on maximum zoom, he conducted a detailed recon of the enemy fortifications while creeping along the tree line. Fifteen gray dome shaped buildings made up the compound, but he couldn’t determine what their function was.

His observations gradually discovered the enemy didn’t expect an attack from the ground. Their defenses against such a move appeared minimal. A simple fence, similar to a chain link version from Earth, enclosed the area. Four heavy weapons placements that appeared suitable for anti-personal use guarded the four corners on towers. The bulk of their firepower rested in a healthy allocation of anti-aircraft lasers and missile batteries pointed toward the sky in the base’s center. A reasonable posture if you are confident your forces control the only gate capable of reaching the planet.

Nothing Trent found on the recon overly concerned him. The fence and heavy weapons would be taken care of in the first seconds of battle. What gave him pause was what he couldn’t see.

For all he knew, the field around the base contained untold numbers of mines that CAL couldn’t detect. Or once they attacked, the Bearcats might deploy near invincible robots to do their real fighting for them. An unknown enemy presented an untold number of possible problems. He didn’t know how to plan for such contingencies.

With the day’s recon work completed, Trent walked back into the camp established a kilometer deep into the forest furthest from the base. He looked for Simms, finding him by the sub-space transmitter he and a team of techs had assembled. The transmitter had a comical appearance of a square box with a rod that looked a lot like a penis sticking out at a forty-five degree angle. 

“Simms.”

He glanced up at the major and stood.

“How was your walk, sir? Find anything interesting?”

“Well, let’s say I gathered a good amount of intel...but I didn’t find the silver bullet. Here’s the data, get it uploaded.” He handed Simms a flat oval crystal.

“Silver bullet?”

“You know, a simple way to take them out. Like one shot into a fuel cell and the whole place erupts.”

“Ahh, I get it. Yeah, that would have been nice.”

“How is the link going? Are we going to be able to connect with the relay the
Commerce
left at the entry gate?”

“Don’t see why not, I’m almost done. We should be able to transmit tonight.”

“Good, I want that info out of here as soon as possible so we can start the attack countdown. I don’t like being out here without support. It’s time to get the Fleet in the fight.”

“Sir.” The voice came from Thomas, standing a few meters behind Trent. He turned.

“Yes, Lieutenant?”

“When you’re done there, may I show you what we have from the sensor array?”

He looked back at Simms, “Anything else for me?”

“Nope.”

“Fine work, thanks.”

“Yeah Simms, good work playing with your
unit
.”

Simms said, “Like you would even know what to do with one.”

Trent ignored their verbal sparring. He followed Thomas to a small dish pointed at the sky. Captain Jones watched the monitor.

“What do you have for me, Captain?”

“It’s been slow going. We’ve had this thing scanning the space around the gate ever since you left, and we still aren’t done, won’t be till morning. Wish we could pump up the power.”

“Too risky, we can’t afford for them to pick up the signal. What’s it found so far?”

“I think I’m looking at a small battle group.”

“What do you mean? Can you get any detail?”

Jones’ transparent head shook no.

“Not only am I handicapped by the low powered passive scan...but I have no reference to compare these images to.” She highlighted one of the ships on the screen. “For all we know, this could be a battleship or a family vacation oriented cruise ship. I do have one piece of good news though.”

“Oh, yeah. What’s that?”

“After this battle, we’ll have reference.”

“That’s good to know, Captain. All we have to do is live till we can use it in the next battle.”

***

The sun’s rays peaked over the horizon, showering Trent as he stood by the fully assembled transmitter. All of the officers joined him.

“Is all of the data uploaded?” he asked Simms.

“She’s ready, Major. Just hit this button, and the signal will be shot to the sub-space link relay and through the gate to Alpha’s link.”

Trent said, “It all comes down to this then. Once the signal is sent, Fleet will acknowledge, and the forty-eight hour countdown begins. Simms, since everything is dependent on your tech skills, would you do the honors?”

“Christ,” Thomas blurted out, “you mean we came all this way and success or failure rests on his ability to know what the hell he is doing. If I had known that, I might have found something else to do today.”

Trent had grown tired of their bickering. On the eve of battle, he felt it was time to clamp down on discipline.

“That’s enough, Thomas. I know everyone is bitchy because we’ve been trapped in these suits forever. Hell, I doubt I’ll ever get my sense of smell back. But your attitude isn’t helping. We go into battle in two days. Simms here just might save your life.”

Thomas lowered her head. “I’m sorry, sir.”

Simms smiled like a playground toddler who just got his sister in trouble with Dad. Trent sensed this and sought to even the score between the two.

“The same goes for you, Simms. Thomas here could be the only thing standing between you and certain death in a couple days. Now carry on. Both of you start acting like soldiers.”

Simms pressed the button. The box hummed as the light on the tip of the rod blinked. They stood there watching and waiting, no one moved nor said a word. Save for the clicking sound of some kind of bird on a branch overhead, the area remained silent. After a few minutes, they received their confirmation.

“Break huddle.”

“That’s it. Half our mission is already a success. I want all squad sergeants and officers to report to me in fifteen minutes over by the rocks. Simms, see to it that all of your equipment is disassembled and completely destroyed.”

Trent walked away with Jones keeping pace at his side.

Jones said, “I was wondering how long you were going to let those two keep going at it.”

“They’re starting to get on my last nerve. Maybe once we are out of these suits and cleaned up, they’ll realize they have the hots for each other. And then they can just get it over with on the ride back to break the sexual tension.”

“Oh, it’s that obvious. I thought I was really perceptive.”

***

The requested attendees gathered before the pile of rocks around Trent. A bundle of trees provided the group with shade, which under normal circumstances would have been appreciated. Inside their climate-controlled suits, the shade made no difference.

Standing firm, Trent did his best to speak in a manner that portrayed a command presence.

“Listen up. The Fleet has received the intelligence we gathered. In less than forty-eight hours, an armada of warships will jump through the gate nearest the planet. They are coming through with guns blazing. The moment they appear, we’ll launch our attack on the base. Our objectives are to prevent the base from aiding their ships in orbit, capturing intact enemy tech, and securing a live prisoner. CAL, bring up the base diagram.”

On each visor of those attending the briefing, there appeared a 3D depiction of the base and surrounding terrain. Different points flashed as Trent referenced them.

“As you can see, we have a lot of open ground to cross. Our approach will begin from the tree line closest to the base. After sunset, we’ll start a slow belly crawl. We’ll spread out along the length of this wall, about eighty-five meters, in three lines. This will help disperse the distortion our suits cause. We’re going to take over thirty hours to reach our attack positions about two kilometers from the trees. Be damn sure CAL is searching the ground directly ahead of you for mines.

“When we reach our attack point, we hold until the Fleet attacks. The plan of attack is as follows. Alpha squad, you take out Tower A. Don’t stop firing grenades until it’s destroyed. Echo, you do the same with Tower B. Bravo, Charlie and Delta, use your grenades to blast the hell out of the gate.

“When those objectives are complete, Alpha take cover behind this building and destroy Tower C. Echo head for this building and destroy Tower D. The rest follow me to the center of the compound. We’ll take out their laser and missile batteries, and capture this building, which is my best guess for their command center. Alpha and Echo, when all towers are down, start search and kill operations. We go until all enemy opposition is eliminated. Again, try to secure enemy tech and live prisoners.”

Sergeant Gabriel raised his hand.

“Yes, Sergeant.”

“Ummm...not to sound pessimistic but...how the hell are we supposed to capture one of those things?”

Several of the others nodded.

“I don’t want anyone to place themselves or others at undo risk trying to take a prisoner. Use your heads. I suggest that you don’t even try until there are only a couple left. Then, blow their fucking knees off and hands off if that’s what it takes to disarm them.

“Listen, it’s important that you be ready to think on your feet. We are the first. After our attack, others will learn from what we do. And they’ll be the better for it. We, however, are afforded no such luxury. Now, if there are no more questions...go brief your squads. We move out in forty. I want us in position by nightfall.

***

That night, forty-eight creeping blurs emerged from the forest, inching toward the teeth of the beast.