“Mark, I think that we should only attack the Aldebrans in defence, if they leave us alone then we should leave them alone.” Bishop Marley declared boldly. “I am also unsure as to the wisdom of your going along Mark, our people are relying upon you to see us through our ordeal, if you were to be captured it would put the colony in jeopardy.”
“Bishop, as far as the Aldebrans leaving us in peace we both know that is not going to happen, we know the reason why they have come to this planet, to murder every single colonist and to dispose of every trace of the Ark in the depths of the nearest ocean. They have not travelled this far to sit on their hands; they are far too scared of their emperor to even consider such a thing.” Mark replied vehemently. “And as far as my going with the teams, I would have thought that you would have wanted it, I am the most experienced person on the planet and I am not going to order others to risk their lives while I remain here where it is safe.”
“I am sorry Mark, I know that I handed over command of our defences to you, but as your spiritual leader I insist that you follow my lead on this, please leave things lie for a week, then we will discuss the situation again.” Bishop Marley stated so firmly that Mark felt compelled to follow his lead, at least for the moment.
“If you insist Bishop, but will you at least allow Richard and myself to lead a small reconnaissance party, just to map out the Aldebran camp? Then, if we are forced onto the offensive, we can respond quickly and without any loss of life due to poor intelligence.” Mark requested.
Bishop Marley was quiet for a moment, his desire was to seek a peaceful solution, not to provoke the Aldebrans, so he was seeking a compromise that would not alienate Mark Summers, someone appointed by himself to organise their defence against a dangerous alien planet, finally he found one.
“Yes, I will agree to that Mark, but whenever you are near to the Aldebran camp, you must only move during the hours of darkness. That way you are less likely to encounter any of the Aldebrans, and as you say, you should then be able to return here without loss of life.” Bishop Marley replied. “And you are only to fire in self-defence Mark, please do not start a war that is totally unnecessary, retreat if there is the slightest chance of an altercation between you and the Aldebrans.”
Mark noticed how hard Bishop Marley had resisted calling the Aldebrans their enemy, which they undoubtedly were, for to do so would go against his belief that every nation, even an alien one, would see reason and offer the hand of friendship, if they were only given a chance, rather than use warfare as their default reply.
Mark had to leave it there, and that night he and Richard Rider got ready to lead a small party of four other colonists through the dark towards the Aldebran base camp. Penny Rider and Susan Summers both knew how handle a Phaser rifle, having learned how to fire one while still on Earth, They had also learnt some unarmed combat moves from their husbands, so they approached the two men before Mark asked some of the male colonists to join them on the patrol.
“Mark, Richard, Penny and I insist on being part of the team, we are not Victorian housewives who stay at home while our men go off to war, we are 23rd century colonial women who can fight just as good as you men. In any case, if you run into trouble we want to be with you, I refuse to be widowed before my honeymoon has even started.” Susan declared boldly, and behind her Penny Rider nodded fiercely, her chin up and her face full of determination.
Mark knew that this was one battle he could not win, so he smiled and nodded. “Ok Susan, Penny, you two are included in tonight’s patrol. However, the going will be hard and I will not compromise one inch. Marines Susan Summers, Penny Rider, collect your weapons, you will also need a water flask, some survival rations, your survival blanket, and do not forget your Lifestraw, we may be away for longer than we planned, should the Aldebrans get on our trail.”
Susan and Penny went off to collect their gear, both, if not actually happy to be going to war, were willing to be a part of their husbands` mission, to fight beside them for their lives and the lives of their friends.
The other two members of the team were Robert Jenson and Ricardo Malic, Malic was one of the colonists who had lost their partner. Mark had spoken quietly to Malic, so as to ensure that the man`s grief did not explode when they arrived at the Aldebran base, and Malic had assured him that he would hold his anger in check, until such time as he was ordered to let it out.
Bishop Marley was very happy when he heard that the two wives were going on the patrol, because he calculated that Mark and Richard were less likely to put their lives at risk, as they were accompanied by their wives.
They moved out one hour before sunset, with two of the colonists volunteering to drive them half of the way to the Aldebran base in the two smaller tracked vehicles, and then to drive the vehicles back to base. They would return to the spot in 72 hours’ time, to take the team back to camp. The headlights of the vehicles had been taped over, permitting only a narrow strip of light to show the way. However, Mark`s team and the drivers all wore night vision goggles, curtesy of Commander Lu-Song. His squad had intended to use them to make their task all the easier, except that their emperor ordered them to go in during the hours of daylight.
The drivers were constantly changed, every two hours; to ensure that there were no accidents before the mission had really started. They drove slowly through the night, finally arriving at the drop off point just one hour after the sun had risen, and at a point where the density of the trees had lessened some, to drive any further risked them being heard by an Aldebran patrol, or even spotted by one of the Aldebran drones.
The team was still twenty miles from their destination, the final part was to be done on foot, after four hours of walking they stopped to rest up, apart from Mark and Richard they were all exhausted by the long drive followed by the long walk. They set off again just two hours before sunset and were almost upon the Aldebran base when Mark called another halt. Exhausted once again by their trek, they built a lean-to shelter well off the track that they had been following, the shelter being well hidden by the springtime vegetation, they would complete the final section of the trek the next morning. Mark planned to rest up near to the enemy base, moving in after sunset to seek out any weak points, they would then begin their return journey, which would mean another night spent under the stars before being met by their transport and taken back to their own camp.
All went as they had planned, nearing the Aldebran camp without even a sign of a watchful sentry, their first sight of it was the row upon row of tents, as for the Aldebran farmers, they were sleeping under the forest trees, in dugouts or under lean-to shelters similar to the one they themselves had slept under during the daylight hours. Keeping well away from both camps they approached the four alien starships which were lit up by their landing lights, which threw a cone of light around the ships. Mark and his team though travelled in comparative darkness, they moved along the narrow gully that Richard had used when he had led his team against Lu-Song and his squad. The other four members of the team had not experienced this way of life before, however the night vision goggles aided their progress; even so they had to move carefully to ensure that they did not bring attention to their team by tripping over the natural hazards that littered the gully floor. Luckily, there were not too many natural traps in this section of the gully, the way being mostly flat and easy going and the first of the massive ships loomed before them; it was the troopship. They now took of their night vision goggles, for the amount of light coming from the starships meant that it was impossible to use them. Ahead of them they heard voices, Mark could hear two sentries lamenting this mission, complaining about the lack of bars and women to spend their off duty hours in. Richard noted the position of the starship on a map he had prepared back at their own camp, then they moved further along the gully, towards the next starship. It was now that Susan tripped and fell to the ground, her weapon cracking against a rock, the sound breaking the silence of the night, ringing out loud and clear, to Susan
even more so, who swore silently at her own clumsiness. Thankfully, she had only winded herself, and Mark helped her to her feet, however, everyone was startled and suddenly afraid, searching the brightly lit ground around the enemy starships for signs of the enemy, it was now that they heard voices and then they saw two sentries coming towards them. Mark and his team were in comparative darkness down in the gully, even so the sentries would soon be able to see them in the light reflected off the far side of the gully.
“I am sure that I heard something, Rylee.” The first sentry assured his comrade.
“It was probably just an animal Tomas, the earthmen are too busy cowing beneath the ground to dare to come to our camp.” Rylee replied sounding both bored and tired and wishing that his spell of night sentry duty would finally be over.
He was annoyed that he had been chosen for this task, his duty being to constantly walk around the large freighter, just in case an earthman appeared, it did not appeal to him for he wanted action.
“That was not an animal, it was rifle striking against rock, I am going to call out the guard.” Tomas declared and he then did so. “Call out the guard, we have intruders.”
His voice rang loud and clear, especially for the six colonists down in the gully Mark warned everyone of possible trouble, ordering them to keep silent he led them quickly back the way they had come, keeping to the darker side of the gully. Mark was heading for a side gully that they had just passed, one that would lead them towards the forest, but also towards the Aldebran farmers. Their pulse rates increased, especially those of Susan and Penny, what had seemed to be going smoothly had suddenly taken a turn towards disaster, maybe even towards the death of one or more of them. Susan berated herself for a fool, why had she insisted on coming along, Mark had been trained for this life, she had trained to run a farm not to fight a war.
From behind them came the sounds of pursuit, and these were echoed by the sentries around the troopship moving forward towards them, luckily, the gully that they were now in edged to the right, where the forest jutted out towards it. From behind them came the whistling sound of Phaser fire, and then the explosions when the powerful energy bolts hit their target, a large rock that resembled a kneeling man exploded into small pieces.
This mistake by the Aldebrans gave Mark and his team some much needed time, but this ended when a whistling bolt of energy narrowly missed Penny Rider who almost fainted in fear. Richard was close behind her and her took her arm and hurried her on, giving her no time to think or to faint, only complain at the pain caused by her husband`s tight grip.
As soon as they entered the outermost edge of the forest Mark and Richard stopped running, while urging the others on they prepared to give covering fire to their comrades, using two large trees as shields they returned the fire coming towards them. The others though would not see these two men take the brunt of the firefight so they also stopped, but further into the forest, and joined in the battle. This amount of whistling energy bolts passing near to the chasing troopers resulted in the Aldebran troopers also moving back into cover, up until now they had thought that they had been chasing after a group of farmers intent on stealing anything not screwed down, now they realised that it was a contingent of the earthmen, the same ones who had routed their spearhead force, troopers who had been well trained against insurgents.
Mark chose this opportunity to get further away from their enemy, and moments later they were all running through the forest, large tree trunks giving them more shelter, and these took most of the powerful energy bolts that tore amongst the trees, seeking a more human prey. Just then a scream cut through the sounds of battle, Mark turned to see a jagged piece of wood sticking out of Robbie`s body, he rushed back to his wounded friend and put an arm around him to assist him, he almost gasped in amazement when Susan appeared on the other side of their friend to help the badly wounded man along. A grim smile appeared on Robbie`s face.
“I sure did not sign on for this when I first boarded the Ark, I guess I didn`t read the small print.” His voice coming out in gasps of pain as they attempted to put space between themselves and their pursuers.
Richard, Penny and Malic had stopped their retreat and turned to fire their weapons at the Aldebran troopers, once again making them move hastily back into cover, and allowing Mark and Susan to carry Robbie further away to safety, if the gods were with them. They were now moving between the lean-tos of the Aldebran farmers, although they never caught sight of any of the occupants who knew better than to interfere with the military when they were firing, for the troopers never minded who their target was, friend or foe. Phaser bolts were once again whistling all around then, how none of them struck home Mark did not know. However, when all thought of escaping without loss of life was abandoned, an Aldebran farmer appeared out of the ground before Richard and Penny, who were leading the team, and he silently beckoned them down into his makeshift house.
As the humans entered the trench, a young boy began to rid the ground leading off from the animal track of their footprints, along with any spots of blood from Robbie`s wound. Mark was full of admiration for the bravery, and the lad`s eyesight, shown by the young lad, who could not have been more than ten years in age.
The house was built within a small but deep trench, which allowed them all to stand upright, but was completely hidden from view, for it was off the animal track and hidden by the spring vegetation. The trench was part of a gully that ran away from the makeshift house, however, the next section of the gulley had a fallen tree lying in it, so it could not been seen. Mark supposed that as it rained quite a lot that the house would be constantly flooded, however on closer inspection Mark found that the floor of their house had floorboards, they had been set six inches above the bottom of the trench so that any rain that fell would flow away along the trench, there was even a narrow gap at either side for any water to escape down. The farmer was called Andreas, his wife was Maria, his daughter was also named Maria and his son Adonis and on learning the names of their new friends Mark introduced each of them to the farmer`s family.
Moments later Adonis re-entered the trench and seconds after they heard the Aldebran troopers running along the narrow animal track, an officer was shouting out orders, but soon the sounds faded into the distance. Mark then introduced his friends to the Aldebran family, and after they had all greeted one another Andreas spoke.
“The troopers are lazy parasites, once they find that their quarry has eluded them, they will return to their tents to sleep. In the morning they will once again search for you, but they will use their technology to do it for them, their drones and the spacecraft, they do not like to use their feet, they tire very easily.” Andreas said scornfully. “However, you should ensure that you are well away from here before dawn, for they may well search the houses near to the trail looking for signs of you.”
“We will be well away by then my friend.” Mark assured their host. “Andreas, I would readily repay you for your kindness, but I imagine it would be dangerous for you to possess items from Earth?” Mark said in broken Aldebran.
“I need nothing but your thanks Mark, but as you say, anything left here of Earth would mean a death sentence for all of my family.” Andreas replied grimly.
While Mark had been talking to Andreas, Susan and Penny, with the assistance of the two Marias, were tending to Robbie and now Mark joined them, and after a word with the others he looked at his friend.
“Robbie, we need to operate on you, I will have to pull out the piece of wood and then sew up your wound, don`t fret I have done it before, and in worse surroundings, and with our medical kit you will be all right.” Mark assured his injured friend, with more confidence than he felt, for the wound looked to be bad.
“Do it, Mark, just get this piece of wood out of me before it decides to sprout leaves.” Robbie said with an attempt at humour.
“Ok then Robbie, Susan will you clean the wound up using half of the small bottle of antiseptic cleanser that you will find in
the first aid kit.”
When the wound was clean, Mark was ready and he injected Robbie with a local anaesthetic to help numb the pain when he operated and then sewed up the wound.
“Ricardo, Richard, hold our lad done while I extract the rather large splinter.” Mark instructed, then he turned to Robbie. “Even with the injection this might hurt a little Robbie, but it will not be for long.”
With Ricardo and Richard holding Robbie down, Mark took a firm hold of the large splinter of wood and pulled it out. Robbie screamed in pain, but his cries were muted, for Andreas had anticipated this and had put a hand over his mouth. The pain did not last long, for as Mark had anticipated, Robbie had fainted.
“We are lucky, it missed any of his vital organs or blood vessels, all I need to do is to stitch up the wound.” Mark said thanking god for sparing his friend`s life. “He should be OK after resting up a while. Ok then, Susan will you first clean the wound up using the other half of the antiseptic cleanser.”
Luckily, the team had brought some medicinal supplies with them, and after stitching up the wound, Mark bandaged up his friend.
One hour later, noticing that Robert was awake Mark checked on his wound. “Here you are Robbie, take these pain killers, it will make the journey back a little easier, we have already given you a large dose of antibiotics.” Mark said.
“Good, I like things to be easy.” Robbie said, trying to raise a smile, and failing.