Citizen X - BP01 Page 22

  Kennedy's body stayed upright for a couple of seconds as muscles contracted in position, then fell over as the muscles relaxed. He would live, technically, for perhaps another minute while blood poured out of his ear and eye socket, but he was essentially dead when he hit the ground.

  Sydnee lay where she had been all along and stared in horror at the scene. This was the first human death she had witnessed. Combat training was intended to prepare a military person for this event, but the first death was always a shock. She stared at the lifeless body for what seemed like minutes.

  Chapter Nineteen

  ~ Mar. 5th, 2285 ~

  Staff Sergeant McKenzie had witnessed the death and scrambled over to Kennedy's side. He felt for a pulse on the side of Kennedy's neck but knew there was no chance even as he checked. Even if Kennedy hadn't died almost immediately, they had no doctor or access to medical facilities. He would certainly have died before they could get help.

  Sydnee shook herself mentally and crawled over to Kennedy's body. She removed the thermal blanket from his backpack and, working together with McKenzie, wrapped the body in it.

  As they finished, McKenzie said on Com 2, "What do you want to do now, ma'am?"

  "There's nothing we can do. We'll just leave him like this for now. I'm sure we have a few body bags on one of the supply sleds."

  "I mean about the platoon, Lieutenant."

  "The platoon?"

  "Yes, ma'am. You're next in line for command."

  Sydnee was taken completely by surprise, but she tried not to show it. She wasn't a Marine and had never anticipated being expected to assume command, so she hadn't given any thought to commanding the platoon before that moment. But she was now the senior officer— in fact, the only officer. The Academy taught cadets deemed worthy of command that when they found themselves in command, they must always act decisively and never allow subordinates to see any signs of indecision.

  Sydnee's field combat training was limited to the summer of her third year at the Academy, but she had studied every major battle fought by Earth forces. She quickly formulated a simple plan in her head.

  Sydnee took a deep breath and said, "Yes, Sergeant, that's true. Well, we can't just sit here and let them pound us to pieces, so we'll have to take the fight to the enemy. I'm switching to Com 1."

  On Com 1 Sydnee said, "Listen up, people. Lieutenant Kennedy is dead and I'm taking command. I don't know about you, but I'm tired of sitting here on my arse while they pound on us, so we're going to take the fight to the enemy. Our armor will protect us from lattice and laser, so once we start moving we keep moving so they can't target us with mortar or RPGs. We're going to execute a breakout along our entire front line and attack with a Highland Charge towards the western half of their front line. That's the side on our left flank. That might make some of their front line break ranks to reinforce their defense on that side. Then, when I give the word, we pivot and head for the eastern half of their front line. They have us outnumbered about four to one so don't spare the ammo. The more we put down on our charge, the easier the mop up will be. Are you ready?"

  A chorus of "Oo-rahs" filled Com 1.

  "Then we go on five. Let's put our games faces on."

  Sydnee pulled up the icon given to her by the four-four-three and posted it on her helmet's outer SimWindow. The evil-looking human skull would continue its maniacal laugh on the front face of her helmet until she cancelled it.

  "Ready? One, Two , Three, Four, Five."

  As Sydnee said 'Five,' every Marine jumped to his or her feet, leapt out of the trench, and began racing towards the enemy. Some Marines were playing a soundtrack of a maniacal laugh at full volume, while others were simply yelling for all they were worth with the volume on their chest plate speaker set to high. All had the animated icons showing on the faceplates of their helmets and they appeared every bit a frenzied horde from hell. Lattice rounds bounced off their armor while laser hits were absorbed and dissipated. The Marines kept up a steady rate of fire as they ran towards the enemy.

  As the charge began, the rebel forces tried to use their RPGs on the charging mass. Some fired directly at the Marines while others fired into the air as they had practiced. Neither tactic was truly effective. The RPGs fired directly at the Marines mostly passed over their heads or through their ranks. The ones fired into the air were so off target as to be completely ineffective.

  Time seemed to slow down for Sydnee. All around her, lattice rounds were bouncing off armor, creating a blizzard effect of spent steel rounds, while the laser shots emanating from both sides in the conflict created a sort of surreal light show.

  A bit more than halfway across the open plain, Sydnee yelled, "Wheel right!" Everyone suddenly pivoted and began racing toward the other half of the enemy's front line. Sydnee's prediction had been correct. Rebel soldiers on the rebel left flank had deserted their positions to reinforce the western end of the line. The second move by the Marines caught them by surprise, and when they stopped to reverse direction they became easier targets for the charging forces.

  As the Marines reached the three-quarter point in their charge across the open area, the rebel line before them began to crumble. Many of the rebels, seeing that their weapons were having no effect on the Marines, jumped up and deserted their positions, dropping their weapons as they ran towards the rear in search of safety from the charging forces. The rebel diehards simply died hard, still firing their weapons as Marines overran their positions and ended their fighting days forever.

  Being outnumbered four to one meant that the Marines weren't looking to take prisoners, but they allowed the fleeing rebels to continue their flight unmolested as they mopped up the ones along the entire front line who continued their fire. Marines were professionals but not saints, so a few may have taken some relish in dispatching a part of the rebel force that had been chasing them for days and had killed their commanding officer. When the firing on the front line ended, a couple of Marine squads on each end of the line mopped up the rebels still firing from their positions on the flanks, while the remainder of the Marine continued their charge toward the rebel rear positions until they reached the mortars.

  As the scout had reported, there were only two mortars set up, and the stockpile of fresh rounds found nearby was pitiful by any measure. It was understandable why the earlier use had been so judicious. The destruction of the stockpiles in the three clearings at the rebel camp had to be responsible for the lack of ordnance and ammunition.

  "Lieutenant Marcola?" Sydnee heard on Com 2 as she stood looking at the mortars.

  "Marcola," she said.

  "All resistance has ended, ma'am," McKenzie reported.

  "Did we get hurt bad?"

  "We lost two, both from hits by RPGs. No other injuries, thanks to the armor."

  "Who did we lose?"

  "PFC Pineta and Private Hotaling."

  Sydnee had spoken to Pineta a couple of times but only knew Hotaling from having seen her during interdiction stops."

  "I'm saddened by the loss of two fine Marines. I suppose we should be grateful it wasn't worse. Did we take any prisoners?"

  "Negative, ma'am. Those who didn't run away wanted to fight to the death. At least that's the way it seemed to us."

  "Okay, Staff Sergeant. Let's wrap it up. Collect all the enemy weapons and place them in a pile so we can destroy them with a Corplastizine charge before we leave. Then load our three dead onto the oh-gee sleds. We're not leaving them here for scavengers. We'll find a place to bury them far enough from here that the Yolongi won't disturb them but where we can recover them at a later time."

  "Aye. Ma'am. What about the enemy dead?"

  "How many are there?"

  "My tally is sixty-three. I guess about a hundred ran away."

  "There's nothing we can do for them. Leave them where they are. If the rebels want them, they can come get them. They have several shuttles."

  "Aye, Ma'am. We're on it."

  McKenzie starte
d issuing orders and Marines near Sydnee picked up the mortars and ammunition and headed back towards the clearing. Sydnee tagged along, trying to develop a plan for what to do next. Ordering the charge had been easy. She believed it was what Kennedy had been trying to do, although he never should have removed his helmet.

  As Sydnee reached the clearing and saw the Marines piling up the weapons, she hit on a plan.

  "Staff Sergeant McKenzie," she said on Com 2.

  "McKenzie."

  "I've decided we shouldn't destroy the mortars and ammunition. Load them on one of the sleds instead."

  "Aye, ma'am."

  "Bravo-Leader, this is Charlie-One."

  "Go ahead, Charlie-One."

  "Ma'am, the last of the rebels seems to have passed our position. They're running like Lucifer hisself was after them. I bet they don't stop until they reach their original camp."

  Sydnee chuckled. "Understood, Charlie-One. Bravo-Leader out."

  "Lieutenant," Sydnee heard McKenzie say on Com 2, "we just found a large cache of food supplies about fifty meters behind their front line."

  "Great. Let's put a hot meal together." Looking up at the sun, she added, "It's just about lunchtime."

  "Here, ma'am?"

  "Yes, I feel as though I haven't eaten in days."

  "But what about their fighters, Ma'am? Won't they send them to attack this position?"

  "I don't think we have to worry about them, Staff Sergeant. They had us pinned down for hours. I expected their fighters to show up and blow us away, or at least try to bring the cliff face down onto us. The fact that they didn't has to mean just one thing. They don't have any rockets left."

  "Unless they were holding them in reserve."

  "We were the greatest threat they were likely to find on this planet. They would have used them if they had them. We can thank Lieutenant Kennedy's raid on their camp for that."

  "But what about their lasers?"

  "They didn't have a clear shot at us while we were in the ravine against the cliff wall."

  "But we're exposed out here now."

  "True, but even if they show up, I don't think we need worry. We've just seen how totally ineffective the small arms lasers are, and I suspect the same would be true for the more powerful lasers on the fighters. Even a ship's laser array can't harm a MAT, so I don't think we have to fear the fighters if they have no rockets left."

  "Aye, ma'am. I'll get my people working on a meal."

  "Bravo-Leader out." As Sydnee uttered the sign-off, she was surprised that she had adapted to command of the platoon so quickly. Must be the training, she thought.

  * * *

  "A rout?" Currulla said, his lips contorted in anger.

  "Their action wasn't expected," Suflagga said. "They charged our position like unthinking wild animals."

  "A child's domesticated Flommbo will defend itself if trapped and in fear of its life. Didn't they teach you that in the military?"

  "If we had had fighters, we could have wiped them out. We just didn't have the necessary ordnance."

  "No, I think it was the necessary leadership that was missing. You should have been out there with your people instead of being holed up here unable to see what was going on and give timely orders. You call yourself a military leader?"

  "I remind you, we were fighting the best the Spaccs have to offer. I don't know what such an elite fighting force was doing on a destroyer in this backwater area, but I can't be expected to beat Space Command's finest troops with farmers and hotel clerks who run from danger."

  "And what will you do now when they come after us again?"

  "What? They're not going to come after us again. They've been running away for days."

  "Running away? Space Command's elite fighting force? I'll remind you that they could have killed us all while we slept that first night, but instead all they did was destroy the ordnance and supplies we removed from the Abissto and then withdraw."

  "They killed our sentries."

  "Avoiding detection until their mission was complete was probably a necessary part of the operation. I'm beginning to think they wouldn't have harmed anyone if you hadn't posted guards around the supplies. They tried to withdraw without harming anyone else, but your pursuit eventually cornered them and they had no choice but to fight."

  "Then what makes you think they'll come after us now?"

  "Did you kill any of them?"

  "Yes. I received reports that at least thirty were killed."

  "Thirty of forty-two? And twelve of them routed your troops?"

  "Well— the reports may have been exaggerated."

  "If you managed to kill any of them, we might see them again very soon. You've probably heard that military people get very angry when you kill their comrades— a sort of honor code that makes them consider their comrades as brothers."

  "If they come at us, we'll defend ourselves."

  "With what?"

  "The ones who ran away will eventually return here. If they're cornered, they'll fight, just like a domesticated Flommbo."

  "But what will they fight with? We have no ordnance and our force is made up of 'farmers and hotel clerks,' to use your words."

  "I'll whip them into shape and we'll use rocks and clubs for weapons if we don't have enough guns."

  "I'm sure that will be most effective against Space Command's elite troops." Currulla turned his back on the military man and walked away without seeing the enmity in Suflagga's eyes.

  * * *

  Within an hour, the tent formerly used for a CP had been erected and misting devices had killed all insects inside. Those that managed to sneak inside as people entered or left dropped to the ground within seconds. The Marines were able to cook the food in the open, then bring it into the tent where everyone could remove their helmets to eat without having swarms of insects trying to crawl into their ears or up their noses. Sydnee had searched the database and found an entry for preparing the Lampaxa Vorheridine. It stated that the reptile was safe to eat if its poison sac was first removed. Sort of like Terran Blowfish whose ovaries and liver must be removed for food preparation, Sydnee thought. She'd tried Blowfish once while at the WCI. It was tasty but not worth the chance of dying if it wasn't properly prepared. The process for preparing the Lampaxa Vorheridine seemed like a safer bet.

  Sergeant Booth followed Sydnee's directions for removing the head by cutting it off at least six centimeters behind the eyes and then sniffing the trunk to see if the poison sac had been broken while killing it. The database said there would be a smell like ammonia if the poison sac had been punctured. It seemed okay, but after skinning a small sample, he processed it through the alien food analyzer. It came back as perfectly safe for human consumption, so he set about skinning the rest of the nearly twelve-meter creature and began slicing it up to become part of their meal. A couple of Marines, including the one who was attacked, passed on the offer to try some, but that was understandable. The rest of the platoon came back with statements that it tasted a lot like pork sausage and sought seconds or thirds.

  "What next, ma'am?" Staff Sergeant McKenzie asked. "A nap, perhaps?"

  Sydnee looked at him but couldn't tell if he was joking or being insubordinate, so she let it slide. "No, no nap. At least not yet. As soon as we've eaten and relaxed for thirty minutes, we'll pack up and head back the way we came."

  "The way we came, ma'am?"

  "Yes, but we'll avoid the swamps and jungle as much as possible. There's no need to hide anymore. It didn't work the first time anyway. They've found some way of tracking us. When we leave here, our destination is the cave where we laid up for several days. We'll spend a few more days there while we prepare for the next stage."

  "Which is?"

  "Still in planning, Staff Sergeant."

  "Aye, ma'am."

  * * *

  "What's so urgent?" Currulla said to Suflagga as he entered the command shelter.

  "They're headed this way."

  "Who, the Spac
cs?"

  "Yes. We're picking up signals from the motion sensors we dropped a few days ago."

  "Dammit. They're probably coming here to wipe us out for killing their people. How many are coming?"

  "We seeing thirty-nine separate signals, but that can't be accurate because our people killed thirty. Perhaps they were reinforced."

  "Or perhaps your trained soldiers lied. They were probably too busy running away to get a true picture."

  "I lost a lot of good people in that fight," Suflagga said angrily. "Don't dishonor their memory."

  Currulla was about to say something in response, then thought it better that he hold his tongue. Instead, he asked, "How many did we lose?

  "We don't know yet. We won't know until the survivors all get back here. Some of your farmers scattered in every direction when the Spaccs counterattacked. We may lose even more of them to this planet's wildlife because I was told they dropped their weapons when they fled. So far, the shuttles have located and picked up about fifty, but the others seem to run and hide when the shuttles approach. They might believe the shuttles are manned by the Spaccs."

  "Wonderful. When do you think the Spaccs will arrive here?"

  "I don't know. I would have expected them to make camp after their victory because we know they hadn't slept all night."

  "If they didn't sleep last night, they'll have to rest up before they attack."

  "Yes," Suflagga said. "That gives us at least a day to prepare.

  "Not that we have anything to prepare with."

  * * *

  The platoon was able to make much better time on the trip back to the cave because they weren't trying to hide their trail. The scouts were out all the way, checking the trail ahead and guarding the rear.

  At one point Alpha-One contacted Sydnee to report finding a strange piece of electronic equipment. Sydnee had her hold position until they reached her.