I had been down in the canyons before, but that had been on a hover sled. Descending with my weak leg would be more difficult. I stopped just as the ground began to slope.
Don’t focus on it , I told myself.
The canyon was wide, the ground sloped down over slick rock with a few narrow ledges. I could get down, even if I had to sit on my butt and scoot. But it was terrifying to think of falling. If I let myself, my imagination would run wild with images of my body tumbling down into the deep canyon. So I forced myself not to think about it. Instead, I got down on my belly so that I could see over the lip of the canyon and across the desert plain.
“Staff Sergeant, what’s your plan?” Jordan demanded.
“I’ll lead them to the canyon,” I said.
“And then what? We should move to cover you.”
“Negative—don’t give away your position. We want them to think that we’re down in the canyon.”
“Why?”
“Because we aren’t there,” I said. “They can waste time looking for us down there.”
“You’re going to get killed,” she insisted.
I was desperate to detect a note of concern in her voice, and it was there…only I didn’t know if she was worried about losing me because she cared or because she didn’t want to face the Orcs without me.
“I’ve got a plan,” I said. “Hold your position.”
“Staff Sergeant,” Trip broke in, “I’ve got three groups moving your way.”
I could see the battlefield from the video feed displayed on my HUD, but it didn’t look real. Smoke was still obscuring much of the ground, but there were three groups of Orrkasi troopers moving toward the canyon. There wasn’t much cover, but they were moving in a leap-frogging manner, with two groups searching for me while the third group moved forward.
“Can you tell how many there are?” I asked.
I knew it was possible to zoom in on the video feed being transmitted by Scout 2, but I didn’t want to take my attention away from my targets. I had spotted the blocks of discarded plastic explosive. I could set them off with a blast from my laser rifle, but only if I could see them. Fortunately, the smoke was rising straight up into the air, and the Orcs would have to pass through it to find me.
“Looks like two groups of ten,” Trip said. “And one group has eleven troopers.”
“Roger that,” I said.
“You can’t fight thirty Orcs,” Jordan insisted.
“I can if I get lucky,” I said. “They’re spooked.”
“Just get out of there, Staff Sergeant. Killing a few Orcs isn’t worth losing your life.”
And there it was. I knew she felt something for me—at least, I had hoped she did. I could hear the concern in her voice, and my heart told me it was concern for my safety. Still, I couldn’t just run, not when I still had a tactical advantage to exploit. So far, we had gotten lucky at every turn on Leonis B. In the desert, with almost no cover, the large-bodied aliens were at a disadvantage. I had made them pay on more than a few occasions. It was the strength of the guerrilla fighter; my fewer numbers and smaller body made me a harder target to find and kill, even if the enemy had greater numbers and superior firepower.
“They’re moving into the smoke,” Trip said. “I’m losing them.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I’m ready.”
“Ready” wasn’t exactly true. I had a plan, but if things didn’t go exactly as I envisioned, then I could be in real trouble. The plastic was just short of a hundred meters from my position. It was the sweet spot where my weapon was in range but their plasma rifles weren’t. Of course, if they came running out of the smoke, I wouldn’t be able to stop them before they were in range. But my observations of the Orrkasi on Leonis B had changed my view of the aliens. Before, they had always seemed like ferocious monsters with no concept of fear. But those engagements had been in urban settings. The Orcs were dangerous fighting in the streets, with plenty of cover and clear firing lanes. They almost always found a way to get close in those engagements, but on the open plains of the desert, I could keep my distance. And they had learned to fear me; it was obvious, even in their caution approaching through the smoke. The Orcs were afraid, and that was the biggest advantage I could exploit.
They came through the smoke like ghosts. At first I could only see traces of the big aliens. They had broad bodies, round bellies, and square heads. Their jaws were wide, and pointed teeth protruded from their thick lips. Their shoulders and arms looked like a professional bodybuilder, but there was no narrowing at the hips. The Orcs were fat through the belly, hips, and thighs, yet they could move with surprising agility and speed. In terms of strength, no human could match them. In hand-to-hand fighting, we were like children taking on adults in their prime. And the Orcs had no qualms about using their powerful jaws and sharp teeth to rip our fragile bodies to pieces. I had seen it firsthand, and the images still haunted my dreams.
The Orrkasi troopers were moving slowly through the smoke, their small eyes searching for me. I could only see one group. They were still being cautious. I changed my focus to the block of plastic explosive closest to the group. Unfortunately, they weren’t right on top of it. Still, it was possible to scare them away. I had done that before using the explosives salvaged from the armory. If not for the armory’s emergency ejection capabilities that made it a large escape pod full of weapons, our encounters with the Orcs on Leonis B would have been vastly different.
I knew how to fight and was busy putting everything I knew to good use. But eventually, their numbers would tip the scales in their favor; I had no illusions about that. Death was coming for me. I could feel its rancid breath on the back of my neck. It was cold despite the heat of the desert and my heavy armor suit. Fear threatened to paralyze me, but my training kicked in.
The LAR didn’t have a true scope. It did have an aiming reticle: just a square tube mounted on top of the assault rifle. Inside the tube was a piece of safety glass with a dot in the middle. I put the dot right on the brick of plastic explosive. My hands were trembling, so I pushed my weight down on the rock that formed the edge of the canyon. I breathed out slowly and waited to inhale, letting my body relax—then I stroked the trigger. The laser blast moved at the speed of light, and in the bright sunshine it was invisible. The explosion that resulted, however, was spectacular.
The blast erupted in a ring of fire that blew back the smoke for an instant, allowing me to see the damage to the Orcs. Four were close enough to the blast that it ripped their bodies apart, and three more were knocked senseless. I saw the entire squad knocked off their feet before smoke once more obliterated my view. Rocks that had been launched skyward by the blast fell like the wrath of an angry god before the plain settled again. I could hear the Orcs barking and howling like a pack of wild animals, but there was fear in their yelps, and that sound brought a smile to my face.
“Van, was that you?” Jordan asked.
“Affirmative, LT,” I replied.
“I can’t see anything,” Trix complained. “There’s too much smoke.”
“They’ll retreat soon,” I said, hoping I was right.
The truth was, I had no way of knowing what the Orcs might do. I knew they were scared and rightly so. My bombs had been effective, and I had the advantage of knowing where they were while the alien troopers didn’t. But their officers—if the Orrkasi had officers like we did—could still order them forward. And while my first blast had worked to good effect—better than I had hoped, really—it had also covered the other block of plastic explosive in smoke. If I had to shoot at it, I would be firing blindly. Maybe I would hit, but it was more possible that I would miss. And shooting would give away my position, possibly bringing the Orcs down right on top of me.
I hit the release and popped out the battery in my LAR. It still had charge but was down to less than half power. I replaced it with a fresh power pack, then fished the detonator out of my pocket. I didn’t have to see the IED to set it off. And while I couldn’t be sure that it would cause any damage, it would still frighten the remaining Orcs. I pressed the button and heard the blast. The smoke billowed in thick pillars, and I was reminded of a story in the Bible in which God led his people through a desert using a pillar of smoke by day and one of fire by night. I couldn’t help but wonder if the smoke I was seeing—thick, acrid, and likely dark enough to be seen a long way off—was anything like that ancient story.
“They’re doing something near the transports,” Trip said.
“Your plan is working,” Jordan said, a note of triumph in her voice.
“What about the Orcs in the smoke?” I asked.
“No sign of them yet,” Trix said.
“One of the transports is lifting off,” Jordan said.
I glanced at the video feed in the lower righthand corner of my HUD. It was small, the details hard to make out. But I could still see the Orrkasi troopers that had been held in reserve guarding the other two transports.
“Maybe it’s going to rescue the others?” Trip suggested.
“It’s too dangerous,” I said. “They can’t risk losing a ship. For all they know, I’m sitting over here with a missile launcher waiting to take them out.”
There was a moment’s pause as we waited to see what the Orcs would do. The transport moved away from my position and out of the video feed that I was watching.
“Can you see it?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Trip said. “I’ve got eyes on the transport. It’s swinging wide of our position and heading northeast.”
“Back to their camp,” Jordan said.
“The Orcs are on the run!” Trix declared.
I couldn’t see them in front of me. The smoke was too thick, and fortunately they were retreating back the way they had come. When I picked them up on the video feed, I enlarged the picture and tried to count them.
“Eighteen,” I said.
“A few look wounded,” Jordan said. “They don’t bother with their dead?”
“No,” I replied. “Notice they aren’t even helping the ones that got hurt.”
One of the principles beaten into every TAC team member was the principle that no one was left behind, no matter how wounded or even if they were dead. We didn’t leave people behind. It wasn’t always possible, but that tenet had saved my life. I was dragged off the battlefield on Luyten C, mostly dead, before the surgical bots put me back together. Yet the Orcs left their fallen behind. I would have to hold my position and wait for the smoke to clear before I could ascertain if any of the Orcs left behind were still alive.
The retreating troopers made their way to the waiting transports. Nearly a third of their number had been killed, and I hoped it would be enough to keep them away. I watched their ships follow the same course as the first transport and then did some stretching exercises with my leg and back while I waited for the smoke to clear. At least a few of the Orcs were still alive; I could hear them whining before I could see them. When the smoke cleared enough for me to see, I started targeting the bodies with laser shots to ensure they were dead. A few were trying to crawl away, but I ended their suffering before climbing back up out of the canyon.
I looked back down into the canyon, which was a wide, V-shaped indentation in the land culminating in a valley between two cliffs nearly a thousand meters below the desert plain. I was glad that I wasn’t climbing out of that canyon. Just the thought of it made the muscles on my left side twitch. I didn’t have to run my hand over my side to feel the twisted flesh and thick scar tissue. It felt like I was trapped in clothing that was too small.
“I’m going to make sure the Orcs are dead,” I said.
“I wish there were a way to move them,” Jordan said. “They might make us sick.”
“Won’t they draw scavengers?” Trix asked.
I looked over my shoulder toward the oasis where I had slaughtered a squad of sleeping Orcs nearly two weeks ago. Their bodies still lay where I left them.
“If there are scavengers here,” I said, “they aren’t very big.”
“Or maybe they just don’t care for Orc,” Trip pointed out. “They might be an acquired taste.”
I was fortunate to have the heavy armor suit. It was more spacesuit than combat armor, but it regulated my body temperature in the desert heat. And more importantly, the helmet filtered my air, keeping the smoke, grit, and stench of decay out.
Moving among the dead, I had the chance to study my enemy. They had thick, gray skin that reminded me of an elephant or rhinoceros. They wore uniforms, but with no markings or insignia. The had long, strangely shaped knives that were forged to fit their large hands. Their plasma rifles were heavy and hard to wield. I could lift them but didn’t see much point in it. We had more than enough weapons of our own. Walking among the bodies, I didn’t see any breathing or moving. Most were staring up with dull eyes. I tapped a few with my rifle, but it was clear that they were dead.
Thirteen bulky bodies littered the plain, and I knew there were more lying closer to Hilltop. I felt a weight on my shoulders, as if an invisible hand were pressing down on me. After-battle fatigue was real, even when the battle seemed more like a training exercise. The Orcs hadn’t gotten close enough to put me in mortal danger, but I could feel the adrenaline draining away, leaving my body weak and shaky. I was in need of food and rest, but before I could make the climb back up to the crevice in the mountain that led to our basecamp, I had to make sure none of the Orcs might live to tell their companions what they saw. Just one trooper with enough strength to live a few more hours might see me climbing the mountain. I didn’t know if they had radio communications or if they could read minds from a thousand klicks away, but I didn’t want to give away the position of the sanctuary where the people I had come to think of almost like family were sheltering.
“Where are you headed, Staff Sergeant?” Jordan asked.
“Just making sure we got them all,” I replied.
I bent down and picked up the lone brick of plastic explosive that had been left undetonated. The blasting cap was shaped like a needle, and it pulled free of the explosive material easily. I put them both back into my satchel and trudged off to check on the dead.