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Jenny walked beside the hovering stretcher, her hand on the chest of the Trooper laying on it, to calm him. As they walked, she whispered what she hoped were comforting words. "We caught it in time. You're gonna recover. I'm right here." The Trooper still trembled, but his breathing was not as ragged.
They had stopped for a short lunch break, only taking time to get their food out and take care of other needs before intending to eat on the march. By this time, Jenny was beginning to understand the enormity of their task. It was Gariel's intention to get in 25 miles before making camp for the night. This meant pushing at a steady pace with very few breaks.
One of the Troopers had sat on a mossy log to change his socks. Suddenly he yelled, swatting at something on his ankle. "Wandering Spider," said Brendan worriedly, "otherwise known as the Banana Spider. Bad luck, mate. They usually only come out at night." In an instant, the venom treatment kit was in his hand. First, he used a suction cup to pull as much venom out of the wounds as possible. "These buggers are very aggressive and often bite multiple times by the time you notice the first bite," he went on calmly as he selected a vial from the kit, inserting it into a type of hypo-pen. "Fortunately, they do make an anti-venom for it." He stabbed the hypo into the man's calf above the wounds. "Now we'll bandage this, put you on a stretcher and elevate the leg to slow the spread of the poison. We can only hope you don't have an allergic reaction in addition to the other symptoms."
The man had been strapped onto the stretcher. They pulled out a bedroll to put under his leg. He had trembled and twitched with muscle spasms for nearly an hour, but Brendan had told her, that if he made it past a half hour, there was nothing more to do but keep him hydrated and let him rest, until the poison worked its way out of his system.
Before they had set out again, Gariel reminded his Troops of the consequences of inattention and once more emphasized the importance of vigilance.
It was nearly 4 p.m. when they paused again. Jenny had been on some long and difficult hikes, but nothing had prepared her for this. First of all, unlike the calming redwoods of her native California and beautiful Sanglarka, the jungle was never silent. Things seemed to be constantly stirring from the various insects who buzzed and clicked and reptiles that slithered, swishing through the underbrush, to the various wildlife, such as birds, monkeys and large predators. It felt like there were eyes constantly bearing down on them. And she never felt the urge to pee, as she was sweating out every drop she drank.
The man had finally sunk into a restless sleep and she turned the watch over to Nona. She drank another half bottle of water, grabbed some rations and ate standing. She knew if she were to sit down, she would probably fall asleep.
"We'll be at our projected campsite in about an hour," Burt told her as he was about to walk by and noticed her standing there. "Can you manage it?"
Jenny nodded tiredly. It felt like even that was too much effort. "Setting up the campsite will be a little more complicated than you may have experienced even with all of the hikes you've been on," he said. "In addition to setting up tents, and all of that, we also need to see to a defense perimeter and coordinate multiple night watches. We're going to rise soon after dawn, before the real heat sets in to give ourselves a bit of head start tomorrow, since we will also have the morning rain to contend with. At the end of that day we will set up our first semi-permanent camp while we send the bots out to reconnoiter. Once we have more intel, we will make some decisions. This part of the Amazon basin is crosshatched with rivers and streams. We may decide to do part of the trip on the water to speed things up and take it a little easier on our forces."
She later wouldn't be able to remember exactly how she got through it, except that she called on her breathing exercises to distance herself from the pain, heat and exertion.
When they finally arrived, they set up camp in a little clearing. According to the information they already had, they were far away from any of the native tribes, so they wouldn't risk any cultural or biological contamination. Jenny hoped that none of this conflict would affect any humans in the area. The Groga already had so much to answer for.
Bob was busily assembling his bot army. Burt and Gariel were setting up the command tent and the Troopers went about setting up the rest of the camp. Jenny, her Guards and Tarafau would all be bivouacking together in a small cabin-sized building, complete with cots, chairs, a curtained space with a porta potty and a small table.
Once Jenny had settled in to her small space in the cabin, she decided that she should go to the command tent, but, if she was honest with herself, she was exhausted, she didn't have any clue how much use she would be. She had no battle experience and she had competent advisors, but she couldn't just sit and wait for all of the decisions to be made even though she knew, in this case especially, she was leader in name only.
Burt and Gariel were studying a large map of the Amazon basin on an air screen when she arrived. She and her Guards pulled up chairs and waited for the others of the tactical team to arrive. It felt good to sit in the relative cool of the tent. Gariel had explained to her that they deliberately had no air conditioning in the tents, although they had the tech to do so, since they needed to acclimatize themselves to the heat, if they were to survive this trek.
Tarafau, followed by Bob, Juan, Aliki and Brendan strode into the tent. Soon after, the squad commanders entered, reporting that the camp was set up and secured and the watches had been put into place. The men were currently eating and would be on stand-by for instructions.
"OK. Let's start with Bob," said Gariel.
"The bots have been deployed in pairs into the most probable areas. They are in complete camouflage mode and are employing heat and sound sensors. Their programming is set up to eliminate beast and critter sounds as well as anything that isn't man-shaped. They are streaming constant reports and we'll know the moment any of them encounters troop sized numbers."
"Great," said Gariel, his beard twitching mildly. "Aliki, have you checked out the local waterways to see how many of them might be a path to our potential destinations? And have you checked out the watercraft?"
"Yes, boss," Aliki replied amiably. "We have a lot of options, depending on what the bots tell us. The boats are shipshape and watertight. How many of your men know how to handle watercraft on a river?"
"Easily half of them," said Gariel confidently. "We had a mission not long ago that required them to navigate similar boats. And Brendan, have you set up our little 'surprise'?"
"Easy as pie." Brendan's eyes sparkled with mirth. "Thanks to Lizzie, they won't know what hit 'em. At least, not until it does."
"Those MDPs sure made all of this simpler. But I don't want any of you thinking this is going to be a walk in the park, like our last encounter. Even if these Groga are as mindless as the last bunch, there are way more of them and they may have tech we haven't anticipated," Gariel intoned seriously, looking from face to face.
"Bob, when should we start receiving reports from the bots?"
Bob scratched his head. "Hard to say. It all depends on how far out our friends have camped. At the widest point, the jungle stretches across 1,200 miles and covers over 3 million square miles in dense rainforest with few clearings. It's also crisscrossed with multiple waterways from small creeks to wide rivers. At this point we're only about 200 miles in and most of that was because of the hovercraft. It's a lot of area to cover, even flying over the canopy. If our luck holds, we could hear by morning. If not, we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed that we can pull this off before they head out of that portal."
"Then, there is nothing to do but wait, for now. All our resources are organized, and we can be on the move with 20 minutes notice. Get some rest while you can and stay hydrated. I know I'm being repetitive, but you'll be glad you took my advice." And Gariel looked pointedly at Jenny.
Jenny shrugged. She knew that her concern probably showed on her face. She wouldn't neglect herself. As an experienced hiker, she knew the importance of both rest and hydration and in this heat where you sweated water out nearly as fast as you could take it in, it would be doubly important.
She looked at the map stretched out in front of her. They had specifically blown up the area that featured the rainforest. It was vaster than she had realized. Stretching across 9 countries in South America, it appeared to be about half the size of the entire United States. The proverbial needle within the haystack didn't even start to describe the near impossibility of their task.
She hoped that clever use of technology would give them the edge they needed to find the Groga and implement their plans to find the portal, prevent the defeat of yet another culture and allow them to infiltrate, find and defeat the Groga and their allies once and for all. Piece of cake, right?
The mess crew had brought food into the command tent and the team ate quietly, each lost in their own thoughts and plans. When Jenny rose to head to their tent to get some rest, Lyra, Nona and Mynn got to their feet and followed her out to her tent.
It felt like she had no sooner laid her head on her pillow than Tarafau was shaking her awake. "There's news," he said. "We're gathering in the command tent."
Her Guards were already on their feet. They strode back across the encampment. Inside the tent the air seemed electrified. All heads turned to Jenny and her escort.
"I don't know what the odds are, but the bots have found them. About 135 miles as the crow flies, or the robot, in this case, and they don't even appear to be covering their tracks that well. They're well away from any native villages and appear to be going about their business without a lot of urgency. The portal appears to be in the center of their camp. If we travel upriver, instead of whacking our way through the jungle, we could be there in a few days. That doesn't leave us a lot of time for planning." Bob said as they seated themselves around the map.
We have less than a week before their deadline, if our intel is accurate," said Gariel gravely. He turned to one of his commanders. "Disassemble the camp and assemble the troops outside in an hour. We should have our travel plan completed by then."
The commander nodded curtly, turned on his heel and left.
"We'll be traveling by boat during the day as long as the light lasts, and we'll camp long enough to get some sleep at night. I want this council in one boat, so we can plan as we go. In the meantime, Aliki, which of these waterways will get us there the fastest all in one piece?"
Aliki grinned. "Well, boss, with the boats Lizzie so generously provided us, we can use this waterway here." He pointed to a not-so-wiggly blue line that extended from where they were to the big red dot someone had put over the area where the Groga were camped.
"It's a fairly straight shot, as these rivers go, and we should be able to make the trip with only a couple of stops each day. Be sure to remind everyone to use their sunscreen. The reflection of the sun off of the water can cause some really nasty sunburns and there will be little shade during the trip. In a few places the trees shelter the water from the sun, but those are few and far between.
The watercraft are an adaptable design. We tweaked them and now they're like river tour boats you may have seen. They will hold about 24 people each, not counting the pilot. This means eight troop craft and one command craft to hold all of us. They should be fast enough to get us where we're going in two days with rest in between.
I'd like to recommend that every trooper is armed for a potential fire fight, although, if that happens, we are going to be hard pressed to defend ourselves, or so anyone watching would think. However, as an added precaution, we'll be deploying Bob's handy little bots along the river route, following us as we travel. Anyone lurking in the undergrowth on the banks will have a nasty little surprise waiting above them.
Jenny, in addition to your Guards and Tarafau, I want you to keep your bot next to you in the boat. We want to keep you safe."
Jenny found herself more than a little annoyed at this "keep Jenny safe" thing that had been going on since her fight with the three workmen in her house that day. It seemed like, since she had experienced two encounters with the enemy and come off not much the worse for wear, they would trust her to take care of herself. On the other hand, she guessed it was more about the importance of her position as Gatekeeper. She earnestly wanted to tell them she could take care of herself, but she knew their intentions and their reasoning were sound.
Gariel thanked Aliki and looked at Burt. "Have you transmitted our findings to Lova?"
Burt nodded. "I have all of the bots set up to transmit all of their intel to Sanglarka, in case they see something we may have missed. I would like everyone to use mindspeech as we travel. I want to be as quiet as possible. Sound carries farther on water. The engines of our craft are quieter than most, but I don't want us yelling back and forth to communicate."
Gariel turned to Bob. "Do we still have access to those handy little flying nanobots? It worked so well as a distraction last time and if the trackers were activated on them, we would be able to track any strays, not to mention as they go through the portal and we end up fighting them."
"Yes, although we don't have enough to handle the numbers we'll be facing. I replicated as many as I could while we were in Sanglarka. But any distraction is better than none. If we are strategic on how we use them, we should be able to take advantage of their special talents.
Also, if we can get one on someone going through their portal, it might give us a clue as to the frequencies or coordinates they are using. I'm hoping they're using some sort of transmitter to key up the gate. If that's the case, we should be able to quietly liberate one so we can send one or more of them to the Alliance to examine."
"Agreed," said Gariel, his heavy brows furrowed. "And we should have more information available as we travel. OK. Get your gear. I'll meet with the Troopers and we'll head out."
It only took a moment to gather the few things she left on her bunk. She considered the MDP one of the big compensations for the choice she had made. No heavy backpacks or luggage when she traveled. She knew Bob would love to get his hands on the scientific principles that made them work, even if he would never be allowed to reproduce them for Earth consumption, at least until Earth technology caught up.
The Troopers were already formed up in the now empty clearing. By the time she had walked over to stand beside Gariel, her cabin had disappeared into someone's MDP and you could barely tell they had ever been there.
When the last were assembled, Gariel sent to his Troopers, "Who are we?"
In one mighty mental voice they replied. "We are The Troopers of the Dimensional Alliance, dedicated to protecting the weak. We defend the right and the liberty of all beings by the grace of The Creator of All."
"What is our creed?"
"Peace is our first priority. True to the cause of freedom and faithful to our companions and our mission."
As they stood at attention, mental voices reciting with conviction and power, Jenny really looked at them for the first time. They all appeared to be no different than any soldier she had ever seen. She remembered as a kid, her dad in his uniform. He always looked like a superhero to her. He too, had that light in his eyes that told her that his convictions were deep, and he did what he did to protect their family and the families of all of her friends.
These men and women were diverse in so many ways. All humanoid, skin colors ranging from the slightest tinge of green to every racial skin tone on earth. She did not doubt that they varied also in other ways that couldn't be seen by her, but the one thing they all had in common was that fervor. They believed intensely in those words.
"We go once again into the unknown as we have so many times before. We cannot allow the incursions of the Groga to continue. Our force is smaller, but each of you have been hand-picked for your ability to work as a team and make intelligent individual decisions as they are required. As we travel on the river, you will receive your orders and instructions. We are the shield of the dimensional gateways. There will be no welcoming victory parades for us. We serve those who do not know us and who may never realize the sacrifice each of us have chosen to make for their protection.
I would trust every single one of you with my life and the lives of those I hold dear. You are my brothers and sisters. We would not harm the Groga or their allies, if they would attend to their own business, but we cannot allow them to continue to harm innocents for whatever reason. We go to victory, regardless of the outcome, either to conquer the Groga or to find ourselves in the arms of The Creator of All Things."
At that point he held up both hands and they began to sing softly. It reminded Jenny of the Gregorian chants her mother had been fond of. The deeper voices harmonized with the higher voices in such perfection that the air vibrated. Jenny couldn't understand the words, but it made her feel peaceful and there was an ascending warmth and joy emanating from the chorus.
"It is a prayer," Tarafau sent to her. "They are petitioning The Creator of All Things for victory over evil in the multiverse and in their hearts. They are giving thanks for the abundance of life and beauty. They are asking for strength and courage. They are also praying for the Groga, that they will have a change of heart, that they might not have to destroy them."
As the music stopped the vibration hung shimmering in the air for a moment. As one, all of them, including Tarafau and her Guards, extended a fist in front of them and placed them on their heart. Jenny and the rest solemnly copied the gesture. After a moment of complete silence, one of the commanders sent. "To the boats by ranks."
The ranks peeled off one at a time and they walked to the water's edge where the boats had been tied. At no time had the Troopers marched in unison while in the rainforest. They made less noise when walking at a staggered pace as they would have if just hiking with a group.
Once Tarafau had handed Jenny into their boat and she had seated herself, she got Lizziebot out of her MDP per instructions. She didn't have to brief Lizzie, as she had access to the same stream of information that the other bots had, plus her own connection to Sanglarka and Jenny's phone. Lizziebot also was linked to the "bug" Burt had installed in her hand. Part of her programming was that if Jenny was in a situation that the bot couldn't get her out of, the bot was to immediately report to Sanglarka for further instructions.
They started down the river. At one point Jenny had trailed her fingers in the water beside her, but Tarafau had reached out and grabbed her hand firmly, pulling it out of the river. "You don't want to do that. The water seems peaceful, but my research..." and he trailed off, nodding out to the river. Jenny's eyes widened as she saw coils of something very large undulating alongside the boats. It appeared to be as long as the boat and thicker than Tarafau's thighs.
It was no trouble after that to keep her hands well inside the protection of the boat.
The river curved to the right or left as they went, sometimes drifting them under canopies of trees that blocked out most of the light, but mostly they were exposed to the baking sun and the dense humidity that permeated the rainforests of the Amazon basin. It would have been completely quiet, if it weren't for the various calls, hoots, whistles and sometimes roars and shrieks that emanated from the vegetation that surrounded the river. The boat's engines made almost no sound, and no one spoke aloud, as instructed.
They didn't stop to eat, relying on prepared rations stored in their MDPs when they were hungry.
Jenny watched the bank slip by. It would have been hypnotic, if it wasn't for the fact that each stretch of bank held new and interesting things to see, or that they were on their way to a battle where many might possibly be seriously injured or lose their lives. Jenny would have found the trip almost pleasant, with the exception of the buzzing insects, some of which were not deterred by the insect repellent and the overpowering heat.
All heads were covered with brimmed hats, but that only shaded their faces from the sun. It did nothing to stop them from sweating until every hat was ringed with sweat around the headband, even soaking out towards the brim.
The boats had been equipped with a kind of porta-potty cubicle. Unlike other public toilets of this type, there was no terrible smell. Waste was simply evaporated with no telltale odor or dumping it into the river. One blessing at least. This meant that they didn't have to stop the boats at all on their journey until night fell, since each had been provided with rations in their MDP.
They wouldn't travel in the dark. Night was when most of the big predators came out, especially on and along the river, and lights on the boats would give them away to anyone who might be watching.
The first day passed with no incidents of any importance. They had seen wildlife as they floated past the banks faster than Jenny had expected. These weren't speed boats, but they were way faster than they could have walked. The fastest pace they could sustain on the march was about 3-4 miles per hour. The boats covered 25 miles in that same amount of time. Since they weren't going "as the crow flies", they had a lot more than the 150 or so miles to travel, but they would still reach their destination in a couple of days, since they didn't have to make any stops except to sleep.
Jenny found herself wondering how they could go so far without refueling. Burt explained, "We aren't using standard fuel, such as you understand it. These boats could go a year or more without having to pay attention to fuel. If we have issues at all, it won't be because we need to look for a service station."
Jenny had to let herself be content with that. Her mind was far too focused on the impending mission to wrap her head around dimensional science. It was hard enough to mentally prepare herself for a new experience she had never coveted. Of all of the adventures she had imagined herself pursuing, going into battle against alien beings in a jungle had not been on the list.
The morning of the second day, Jenny assiduously applied her sunscreen, jammed her hat on her head and left with Lyra, Nona, Mynn and Tarafau in tow. Lizziebot hovered beside her as well. She was on print speech mode to comply with the no verbal speech orders. When she would speak to Jenny, her digital face would disappear, and a text readout would replace her smiling face and those intense blue eyes.
During the previous day, once she was finally able to relax, Jenny had amused herself by asking Lizzie questions about the things they saw. Lizzie was a fount of information. She had noticed, after awhile, Lyra, Nona and Mynn were peering over her shoulder as well to see what Lizzie had to say. The tiny pop-out touch keyboard that extended from Lizzie's chest made it easy to have a silent conversation.
The forest around them was noisy. The birds and creatures of the forest greeted the day with loud contact calls, bird-song, shrieks and what almost sounded like laughter. And, of course, the insects contributed buzzing and something that sounded a lot like the little drones Brendan was so fond of. Jenny really didn't want to see the insect that made that noise.
The Trooper who had been bitten by the Wandering Spider had since recovered, but Jenny still was very careful to not sit or stand too close to the vegetation where they were known to hide. Burt claimed that snakes wouldn't attack people unless you frightened them, but Jenny still couldn't repress a shudder when she heard the dry, rasping sound of a snake or lizard slithering through the underbrush.
Back in the boats, they began their journey again. This time, however, instead of sitting in silence most of the way, Gariel began to relay the reports of the bots, broadcasting via mindspeech to everyone in each boat. They were nearly there. They would pause in their trip about halfway through the day in a clearing about a half day's march from the nearest Groga sentry. The bots had plotted a map of the occupied area, including marking out the location of the portal.
While in the clearing, all would put on their battle armor and ready their arms. Jenny was relieved to discover that the battle armor was actually air-conditioned and treated in such a way that casual surveillance methods such as radar would not detect them on their approach.
They had issued Jenny something that looked like a blaster out of a space opera. After demonstrating its use, they had been impressed with her accuracy. She was no sharp-shooter, to be sure, but her dad had taken the kids out to the weapons range fairly often to teach them gun-safety and to be sure they could defend themselves that way. Jenny had never chosen to own a gun, but she knew one end from the other. She could hit a target, but she wasn't sure how accurate she would be when she was running or when the target was moving too fast.
Gariel told them that the bots had also determined that the portals did work via a device. These devices had been issued to each of the platoon commanders. The first part of their mission was to acquire one or more of those devices, preferably without alerting the Groga of their presence. The second priority would be to discover what dimension the portal was pointed at. Once they were able to provide Alliance scientists with a device to study, they would attempt to discover how far the enemy portal network extended, and what, if anything they could potentially do to disable it once and for all.
The final push would not be limited to the Troopers in their party. Assuming the dimension being attacked was in the Alliance interdimensional network, a suitably large army of Troopers would be waiting for the Groga when they emerged through the portal on the other side.
It all sounded so simple and logical to Jenny, like they just couldn't lose. Maybe it wouldn't be as bad as she had imagined? But Tarafau squashed that thought like a bug.
"It's as good a plan as we can have, but we all know that there will be contingencies we didn't plan for. What are our fallback instructions?"
"We will establish a command post a hundred yards or so from the Groga camp. The hovercars will be stationed there. If things go bad, get back to the command post and fill those hovercars or use one from your MDP. They are programmed to take you to a safe place where you can reconnoiter. Each of us have accepted Burt's bugs. If you get lost, find a quiet spot and stay put, if possible. We will not leave anyone behind, if we can help it.
All of our decoys and distractions are in place and everyone has received their orders. We will start infiltrating the enemy camp as soon as we are in range. The bots have marked all of the sentries they could find and have left us the schedule of the guard changes. Each sentry point has two guards and they are armed with blasters as well as com devices to alert their command post of anything untoward.
Stage 1 will be to wait until a change of guards, put the new guards to sleep with a bite from our nanobots and take over their posts. We will steal their uniforms and go looking for the portal devices. Preferably we would like more than one device. It will be high priority to preserve one for examination by our techs at Alliance headquarters."
Bob twitched and added wistfully, "Any chance I can be in on that?" The look of suppressed eagerness almost made Jenny laugh.
"We'll have to see," Gariel said with an amused twist to his mouth. "Your clearance for tech may take a bit. They're pretty careful with that. Tech pollution in the early days of the Alliance was the cause of more than one failed culture. That kind of infection can cause so many more problems than it solves and in some cases it has proven disastrous." He held up his hand to forestall Bob's objection.
"We know you are trustworthy, and we know that your intentions are good, but despite that, there are protocols we must follow. As a veteran of Earth military, I know you understand."
Bob nodded; a bit chagrined.
"Jenny, do you have anything you would like to add?"
Jenny's head jerked up. She had been so wrapped up in the instructions and her jumbled feelings about the impending conflict that the question blind-sided her. She thought a moment, then nodded her head.
"I have learned something important today about myself and about our cause," she began, tentatively, weighing each word carefully before she said it. "I don't know for sure why my aunt Lizzie chose me to do this, but I do know that I am on the right side of this conflict. I know we are doing what is right and I know that we stand for something important. It is comforting to me to know that my associates in this cause feel as I do. I too would rather never harm another living thing in my lifetime, but I cannot sit still when I know that others are being wrongfully attacked, killed and enslaved, for whatever reason. I admit I am afraid, but I am consoled by the fact that I can count on every person on this team and I want you to know that I will not hang back when the time comes to fight."
All faces turned to her in what appeared to be alarm. "You are with us as our leader. We will not have you engage the enemy. If I had my way, you would be at the command center in Sanglarka," Gariel said bluntly, but without heat. "You are precious to the Alliance. Your task will be to oversee the command tent and coordinate information as it comes through the communications network. Tarafau, Nona, Lyra and Mynn will also be with you to assist you and protect you. I thought you understood this."
Jenny gaped. She didn't know how to reply to this. Not fight? Be protected? There it was again. She did not want to appear sullen, but Gariel had just sucked something important right out of her. She had to sit in the command tent while everyone else was risking everything?
Tarafau put one hand on her shoulder. "Each person on the team has their part to play. Will you not choose to do your task?"
When he put it that way, it made her sound selfish and petulant. Slowly she nodded at Gariel. "I will do my part. I promised it and I will not go back on my promise, but I don't have to like it."
Gariel nodded and went on, detailing the various posts and tasks of the platoons of troopers and the techs who would be running the various decoys and distractions. Jenny realized there would be a lot more going on in the command tent than she thought and that Burt, Bob and Gariel would also be with her in the command tent, so perhaps it wasn't as much of a big deal as her mind had made it at first.
When they arrived at the clearing, they disembarked, and the watercraft were installed back into the MDPs. They set up camp and made their preparations. Each of them went about their various tasks without fuss or comment, having been thoroughly briefed during their time on the water.
Even knowing she would not be in the middle of the action; Jenny's stomach was churning. By tomorrow morning, they would be fully engaged with the enemy. By tomorrow morning Jenny realized that her life would have changed even more than it already had, for good or ill.
They took their march once again, through the dense canopy and undergrowth of the forest. Jenny thought, as she hiked with Tarafau in front of her and her Guards surrounding her on either side and to her rear, that somehow time had sped up as they approached closer and closer to the Groga camp.
All at once they were halted and Jenny realized they must be at their command post. The Troopers were already assembling the barracks and the command tent. One group of them were parking hover cars on one side of the area, the cars' camouflage shielding in place, so that they were difficult to see visually or with any kind of detection equipment unless you knew where they were. Everyone was in armor and had weapons at their belts and strapped to their backs. All in all, the scene was somewhat like the science fiction movies she had always been fascinated with.
She noticed the command tent was ready and she decided she might as well get to work. There were no more inspiring speeches or even quiet discussion as all was put in readiness. Everyone knew their duty and, if they needed to communicate, mindspeech was the order of the day.
As she entered the tent, she noticed that the map above the conference area had changed. Now it was a real time aerial view of the Groga encampment. The camp lay about 1,500 yards away from their command tent. It was laid out like the spokes of a wheel, tent-like structures, similar to their own radiated out in neat lines from the center. In the center was a large clear space that looked like it was probably used to assemble their army. On the side of the wheel closest to their own camp was a large tent that had soldiers coming and going, clearly the command center of the Groga forces.
At the top of the inner cleared space of the wheel was an area labeled on the map as "portal". It might as well have been an empty patch of ground, as there was nothing to even indicate it was there. It didn't appear to be guarded, probably to avoid drawing attention to it, but Gariel had explained to them during the briefing that it had been identified by the bots in their fly-over, after having observed troops coming and going through it. The portal seemed to go to more than one place at once. They had to assume devices controlled the destination.
"We will be neutralizing the sentries in about an hour from now," Gariel began, as the last of the command team arrived. "We have about 8 hours from that time to try and get as many of the portal devices as we can without being detected. The guards change again in 8 hours and we need to get Troopers in place before the Groga plan to launch their attack. The big distraction to allow our guys to sneak through the gate ahead of the Groga soldiers has already been prepared and we will trigger it after we have obtained the portal devices.
Once the last of the Groga attacking force is through the portal, our Troopers here will move to attack the few remaining forces and secure the Groga encampment. If all goes well, we will have neutralized the Groga forces deployed here and will be able to fortify this portal against any further incursions. They will no longer be able to use it to get to Earth.
Lova and her team will be streaming our reports directly to Alliance headquarters. They have twice the number of Troopers than the Groga assembled, and they are in readiness to immediately deploy to the dimension being attacked.
Bob, have you activated the first round of distractions?"
"Ready."
"Burt, are you ready with round two?"
Burt grinned evilly, "Ready and willing."
"So now we wait until we get the signal."
The view of the screen changed to a grid view of eight sentry posts. The Groga guards didn't seem all that attentive. They stood back to back, their weapons slung on their backs, looking almost disinterestedly at their surroundings.
"They have very good hearing," Gariel continued. "But their eyesight is questionable. I think they may have trouble with low contrast, especially in the shadows, based on past intel. This could work very much in our favor. As a matter of fact, one of our distractions is very much based on that assumption. Burt and Bob have passed their decoy and distraction strategies on to the Alliance troops back at headquarters, for which they were very grateful. You Earthlings have very devious minds. I'm glad you're on our side," he said grinning at Bob and Burt.
The two of them sported twin grins and fist-bumped to celebrate that praise.
Jenny smiled. Burt and Bob had made a real connection. You nearly never saw one without the other. Mynn had taken to calling them "BnB" and it had caught on with most of the team.
Gariel's face went serious again. "Jenny, I want you to monitor communications between Sanglarka and the Alliance. We need to coordinate these attacks very closely to be completely effective and to give us the least chance of casualties.
Tarafau I need you, Lyra, Nona and Mynn to watch the perimeter of our camp. Do not engage any enemy you see unless it is necessary. You three have access to the sleepy-time bots, as Bob calls them, and can deploy them at will. If they don't see you first, that will be our best strategy."
They immediately stood up and left the tent without looking back.
Bob interrupted. "What are we planning on doing with all the sleeping beauties we're creating? That sleeping potion will keep them out for at least ten hours, based on what your scientists know about their physiology and Xao Ting's suggested dosage. We can't leave them here and I think your current holding facility is full up."
"The council is still debating the final disposition of prisoners. Half of them are all for trying to rehabilitate them and put them on a non-gated planet that would be under their surveillance. The other half want to euthanize them and be done with it. Ingot is still unsure how the vote will go, but it has to be unanimous for euthanization. By the way, a bit of good news: You should also know that Guaray may not end up being executed. He has been very useful to the Council and they are considering also taking into account that his family had been threatened."
Jenny's heart swelled at this. The impending execution of Guaray had never been completely pushed to the back of her mind. She couldn't help but wonder how she would have reacted under similar circumstances and she knew that most of her fellow Guardians felt the same.
A small chime sounded from the split screen above them showing each sentry and all eyes were riveted. Two of the guards collapsed like puppets with cut strings, followed by another and another. Jenny wanted to hold her breath until the final pair of sentries collapsed.
A soft cheer went up from Burt and Bob and there were smiles all around as the Troopers came into view and dragged the sentries off into the underbrush. They returned, dressed as Groga and gave the thumbs up sign, one at a time until all were accounted for.
The viewpoint of the bots suddenly changed to a different set of bots atop the perimeter of the camp. Gazing down, it all seemed business as usual. Soldiers milled about, either set at different tasks or drilling or moving from one area to another in small groups or as individuals. Nowhere did anyone seem to be hurrying or excited.
"And now it begins," said Gariel.
