Like spectral figures, Sheridan’s group walked quietly through the fog clinging to the riverbank. Spread out, Sheridan and Agnar were in the lead while fifty meters back Cole brought up the rest. If the first two bumped into the enemy, the remainder would still have a chance to escape. Moving only at night, they had left the safety of the mountains and worked their way through the low-ground until they came to the river. Although the water was near freezing, Sheridan led them across to the far bank and away from the Kurgan forces. Rather than risk dumping her in the cold water, Agnar had carried Hollande on his back.
Wet, tired, and soaked to the bone, they were fortunate to find an abandoned cabin to sleep in during the day. Regrettably, there wasn’t any food to be found in any of the cupboards. Before the sun came up, they sat down and finished off the last of the meat Agnar had cut from the side of the bear.
“How far do you think it is to the capital from here, sir?” Obermman asked Sheridan.
“It’s difficult to tell,” replied Sheridan, gnawing on a piece of dry meat. “I think it’ll take us another two to three days to reach the outskirts of the city. That’s the easy part. Getting in without being shot by the Kurgans or our own people will be the hard part.”
“Why’s that?” queried Garcia.
Cole explained, “We don’t know where our forces are located. I, for one, don’t want to blunder into a minefield or a pre-registered kill zone. Also, even if we make it all the way to our lines, we don’t know any of the passwords. In short, everything to date has been easy compared to the next few days.”
“I don’t want to die out here,” moaned Tartov. “There has to be a way in.”
“There is,” said Sheridan, tiring of the PO’s constant whining, “We just have to find it.”
Andrews asked, “Sir, do you think we might run into any Kurgans before we reach our lines?”
“If we don’t, I’d be amazed.”
“Okay, enough chatter,” announced Cole. “Andrews, you’re on sentry. Everyone else get some sleep. We’ve got a long march ahead of us tomorrow, so get what rest you can.”
Sheridan leaned back against the wall and felt a shiver run down his spine. He couldn’t decide if it was from the wet clothes that clung to his body or something else from deep in his psyche warning him to be careful. Either way, he wished it would go away. Tired from the day’s exertions, Sheridan soon drifted off into a fitful sleep.
A hand touched Sheridan’s shoulder.
Sheridan reached for his rifle and sat straight up. He blinked his eyes a couple of times to clear the sleep from them.
“Sir, you need to see this,” said Cole as he helped Sheridan up onto his feet. They felt like cold blocks of ice. He stamped his feet to get the circulation flowing again. Sheridan joined Cole over by an open window.
“Keep low,” warned Cole.
Sheridan edged over to the window. It was light outside. He checked his watch and saw that it was nearly eleven in the morning.
“What’s up, Sergeant?”
Cole handed Sheridan his binoculars and told Andrews to guard the front door. “Sir, take a look back toward the Kurgan rear echelon and tell me what you see.”
Sheridan rubbed his tired eyes and then brought up the binoculars. Although it was far away, he could just make out transport vehicles dropping off people in an open field. A minute later, they boarded a Kurgan ship. As soon as the last person was on board, the large cargo bay doors closed and the craft took off and flew straight up into the cloud-covered sky. A horrible feeling of dread seeped into his body. He lowered the binoculars and looked over at Cole. “Those were humans, weren’t they?”
Cole nodded. “It was hard to tell from this distance, but they looked to me like civilians being loaded up into those troop transporters.”
“Why the hell would the Kurgans take civilians off Derra-5? In my studies, I never once came across anything like this. They generally ignored the human populations on the planets they invaded during the last war. I read dozens of history books at school, and I don’t ever recall reading a single passage about population resettlement. After the ceasefire, we had to pick up those settlers trapped on the Kurgan side of the Disputed Zone as they wouldn’t allow a single person on board their ships.”
“Sir, you don’t think they’re gonna eat them, do you?” asked Andrews.
Sheridan shook his head. “No, Andrews, contrary to what you may have read, the Kurgans do not eat people.”
“Mister Sheridan, I read this book in which they describe how the first colonists taken on Hobart-11 were butchered and eaten by the Kurgs.”
“Andrews, the book you read was wrong, completely wrong. Look, the Kurgans think we’re a lesser species. We don’t adhere to their religious beliefs, and that makes us less than them in their eyes. Just like some religions on Earth won’t eat certain foods because they have declared them to be unclean, the same goes for us. They may be carnivores, but I can assure you that we are not on the menu.”
“Watch the door,” said Cole to Andrews, ending his part in the conversation.
Cole asked, “Sir, if the Kurgans are ambivalent to the colonists, why are they taking them off the planet?”
“I don’t know, but I’m sure it’s not a good thing.”
“Sir, we need to let our forces in the capital know what is going on.”
Sheridan sat down on the floor and made an entry in his journal. “Sergeant, if anything happens to me, please make sure that these notes are handed over to someone in the intelligence section.”
“You can hand them over yourself,” replied Cole, tapping Sheridan on the shoulder.
The next night after eating a quick meal, Sheridan led the group out into the dark. The batteries on their night vision gear had died days ago. Snow soon began to fall, making it hard to see more than a few meters in the distance.
Sheridan, like everyone else, was feeling the biting cold. He snugly wrapped his thermal blanket over his shoulders but kept his hands free in case he needed to use his assault rifle.
They were making their way through a lightly wooded area, using the trees for cover, when Agnar suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Sheridan, in the dark, almost walked straight into the Marine on point. “What’s up?” he asked, his voice no louder than a whisper.
“Sir, I heard something directly in front of us,” reported Agnar.
“What was it?”
“Not sure. It sounded like talking, but I can’t be sure.”
The sound of a terrified scream, followed by a gunshot, tore through the dark.
Cole ran over and joined Sheridan.
Two more shots rang out.
Sheridan turned to face Cole. “Sergeant, keep everyone back here out of sight. I’m going to take Agnar with me and see what’s going on. If we’re not back in five minutes, find a way around these woods and keep moving toward the capital.”
More gunfire.
“Sir, perhaps I should go,” offered Cole.
Sheridan shook his head. “Sergeant, I need you to shepherd our people to safety.”
“Be careful, sir, it sounds like there’s more than one person out there.”
Sheridan nodded. He tapped Agnar on the shoulder and told the big Marine to follow him. With his weapon held tight into his shoulder, Sheridan warily advanced in the direction of the sound of a woman weeping somewhere in the cold darkness.
Voices called out.
Sheridan froze; they were speaking Kurgan.
“What are they saying?” whispered Agnar.
“Something about unbelievers getting what is coming to them.”
With his mouth turning dry with fear, Sheridan continued to advance. He could feel the adrenaline surging through his veins. He fought to control the feelings in his body. Turning back wasn’t an option.
A couple of seconds later, Sheridan slowly dropped to one knee beside a tree. Just up ahead in a small clearing were three dark shapes moving about. It was hard to tell who or what they were.
One of the shapes reached down, grabbed ahold of something and hauled it up off the ground. A terrified woman cried out, begging for mercy.
Sheridan’s blood turned cold when he heard one of the enemy fighters suggest that they should rape her before they killed her. Confusion filled his mind; Kurgans didn’t care for humans, yet he could clearly hear what they were saying.
“No!” screamed the woman as she was thrown to the ground.
“Damn it,” muttered Sheridan. He had hoped to avoid contact with the enemy, but he knew he couldn’t leave a helpless civilian to be violated. Sheridan looked over his shoulder at Agnar. “We need to help that woman. You take the one on the right and I’ll take the one on the left. I want the son of a bitch in the middle taken alive.”
Agnar nodded.
“Now,” said Sheridan as he stood up and walked out into the open. He set his weapon’s sights on the chest of his target and fired off a three round burst, as did Agnar. Both enemy fighters dropped to the snow-covered ground, dead.
The third soldier was bent over tearing at his victim’s clothes when his comrades were gunned down. He had left his rifle on the ground. Suddenly, seeing two men advancing toward him, he reached for his weapon. He was too slow. Sheridan fired, hitting him in the shoulder. A second later, Agnar stood above him and brought his gun down onto his head, knocking him unconscious.
“Sir, they’re men, just like us,” said Agnar, looking down at the man he had just laid out cold.
Sheridan stood there shaking his head. “I know I heard them speaking Kurgan.” He bent down and took a better look at soldier he had shot. There was no denying that he was human, but he was wearing a white camouflaged uniform and carrying a strange-looking weapon.
“Please don’t kill me,” whimpered a woman lying facedown in the muck.
Sheridan ran over and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. “We won’t harm you. My name is Second Lieutenant Mike Sheridan. I’m here to help you.”
Slowly, the woman turned her head over and looked up at Sheridan. Her face was covered in dirt. She looked to be no more than twenty years old.
“Are you with the soldiers in the capital?” she asked.
“No, we’re not,” replied Sheridan, helping her up onto her unsteady feet.
With tears streaking down her face, she tried pulling her torn clothes together. It was then that Sheridan noticed that there were other bodies lying facedown in the snow. He counted six men and women. All had been shot dead. He gritted his teeth in anger.
“Sir, what do you want to do with this one?” asked Agnar, pointing down at the unconscious soldier.
“Quickly tie him up and then put a dressing on his wound. We’re taking him with us.”
As soon as they were ready, Sheridan led the young woman by the arm while Agnar carried their prisoner over his right shoulder.
Cole saw them coming and stood up. “Sir, you were cutting it fine. Another minute and I was gone.”
“Sergeant, please have Private Garcia look after this woman,” said Sheridan.
Cole was surprised to see a terrified and disheveled woman standing behind Sheridan.
“Jesus, sir, what happened back there?”
“I’ll tell you later. We’ve got a Kurgan prisoner with us, and he’s human. I need you to lead us all away from here. Pick a route that takes us deeper into the woods. Find us a good spot that’s well off the beaten track. I want to interrogate our prisoner and find out just what the hell is going on.”
Thirty minutes passed before they stopped. Cole made sure that Andrews and Obermman were on sentry before telling the rest of the party to rest.
Agnar dropped their prisoner on the ground and then pulled the gag from the man’s mouth. The injured man winced in pain.
Sheridan and Cole moved over by the detainee.
“Water?” said Sheridan in Kurgan, holding up his canteen.
The man’s eyes instantly widened. His mouth fell agape. “Are you a believer?” asked the astounded man.
Sheridan shook his head. “No, not at all.”
“But you can speak the word of the Lord. Only true believers are taught the word of the Lord.”
Sheridan paused for a moment. He wanted to make sure that he didn’t mess up what he was saying. “I’m an officer and was taught Kurgan at school. Who are you, and why are you speaking Kurgan?”
“My name is Kyrad and I speak the language of our Lord.” The man looked at Sheridan’s dirt-covered face. “And you’re lying. I don’t believe that an unbeliever was taught the words of the Lord at a human school.”
“But you are human, not Kurgan.”
“Blasphemy!” It was as if the very thought repulsed the prisoner. “I am a chosen citizen of the Kurgan Empire. I am not a non-believer like you. I am Kurgan.”
Sheridan handed the man his canteen and then translated the conversation for Cole.
“I don’t get it; why does he think he’s one of them?” pondered Cole.
“I don’t know, but the Kurgan Empire isn’t homogeneous. They have other species as citizens, so it’s not inconceivable that they made humans part of their empire.”
“Sir, I thought you said that they looked down on us as being a lesser form of life.”
Sheridan glanced at their prisoner. “This man clearly is a convert to the Kurgan religion. If he and others like him were indoctrinated into Kurgan’s culture, I suspect that they might now be seen as equals.”
“Where the hell does he come from?”
“I don’t know, but I intend to find out.” Sheridan knelt down beside the prisoner. “Okay, Kyrad, I accept that you are Kurgan, which planet do you come from?”
“Kollos,” replied the prisoner, handing Sheridan back his canteen.
Sheridan wracked his brain trying to think if he had ever heard of a planet called Kollos. “Kyrad, where is Kollos located in the empire?”
“It is just on our side of the ceasefire line. It had another name at one time, but after liberation it was renamed in honor of one of the Lord’s disciples.”
“Good God,” mumbled Sheridan.
Cole asked, “What is it? What’s wrong, sir?”
Sheridan struggled to comprehend what he had just learned. “Sergeant, at the end of the last war, there were star systems on both sides of the border that had once belonged to the other side. As part of the ceasefire agreement, we dispatched fleets of ships to withdraw our people from the Kurgan side of what we now call the Disputed Zone. They did the same for their colonists. I’m beginning to think that we weren’t told the whole truth. This man is living proof that not everyone was brought back across our side of the line.”
“To be honest, sir, when Tartov told us his story about suspecting that there was a traitor onboard his ship, I thought he was full of crap. However, after seeing this man with my own eyes and hearing what you have said, I have to wonder how many of these people have been infiltrated into our military.”
Garcia walked over. “Sir, the woman is dehydrated and has bruises all over her body. She was probably abused for quite some time before you found her. I’ve given her something for the pain.”
“What’s her name?” asked Sheridan.
“Kelly Green.”
“Watch the prisoner,” Sheridan told Agnar. He walked over to Kelly and saw that she was nibbling on a cracker; there was an IV in her arm. “Kelly, how are you feeling?”
“Fine, thank you,” quietly replied the woman.
Sheridan knelt down next to her. “Kelly, I’m sorry about the people who were killed by the Kurgans. What were you doing back there?”
“I was looking for my younger brother, Eric. We were all looking for loved ones who had gone missing.”
“What happened?”
“We were detained by some of the Chosen.”
“The Chosen?” asked Sheridan, having never heard the term before.
“That’s what those traitors call themselves. They marched us away from the ref
ugee camp and into the woods. There were more of us at first, but they took turns taking some of the people out, abusing and then killing them. Oh God, I thought I was going to die.” Tears welled up in her dark brown eyes.
“It’s okay, you’re safe with us. Do you have any family back in the camp?”
Kelly shook her head. “My father is back on Earth visiting relatives. My mother was shot by a Chosen fighter on the first day they arrived. She tried to stop some men who were attempting to take my brother and several other young boys away.”
“I’m sorry,” said Sheridan, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.
“Lieutenant, the Chosen have Kurgan officers with them, but they did nothing to stop the rapes and the killing. They told us that their officers told them they could do with us as they please.”
Sheridan turned his head back toward their prisoner. Hate filled his heart. He stood.
“Look after her, Garcia.”
Cole saw the cruel look in Sheridan’s eyes and placed a hand on his arm. “Sir, I know what you’re thinking, but he’s a prisoner and under our protection. He may be a murderous thug, but we’re Marines and we follow the laws of war, even if, from time to time, we don’t agree with them.”
“What would you have me do with him, Sergeant?” asked Sheridan, instantly regretting his tone. He took a deep breath to calm himself. “We can’t drag him along with us, and we can’t leave him. If he’s found, he’ll tell them that we’re out here, and they’ll come looking for us.”
“Sir, I don’t know what we’re going to do. All I do know is that if you take matters into your own hands, your men will think that they can too, and that’s when discipline falls apart. You’ve earned the right to wear a gold bar, now exercise some leadership. The right thing is quite often the hardest thing to do.”
Sheridan knew Cole was right. He wasn’t thinking straight. “Agnar, tie our prisoner up. He’s coming with us. You’re responsible to keep our prisoner alive.”
“Yes, sir,” responded Agnar. With a smile, he tied up and gagged their captive.
“What about the woman?” queried Cole.
“She’s coming with us at least as far as the refugee camp. Perhaps there’s someone there who can look after her.”
“If not?”
Sheridan let out a deep sigh. “I guess she’ll have to come with us to the capital. I’m not leaving her alone out here with these Chosen murderers.”
A sound as loud as a thunderclap going off above their heads suddenly filled the woods.
Everyone instinctively ducked and looked about trying to see where the noise was coming from. The night sky turned as bright as day as Kurgan rockets streamed from their launchers at the capital. Joined seconds later by hundreds of artillery pieces, a deadly barrage rained down.
The enemy’s preparations were over. The fight for the city had just begun.
11