“Robbie can hardly walk back to our camp Mark, and to leave him here could bring about the deaths of our new friends, we need to construct a stretcher to carry him.” Susan said.
As this was obviously the best remedy to Robbie`s problem, they constructed a stretcher using some of the blankets they had brought with them, and the farmer slipped out of his makeshift house, for the sounds of the Aldebran troopers had faded away long ago, and he cut some stout but supple branches that they could use to support the blankets.
Malic had been resting, but his eyes were full of anger, suddenly he jumped up and stood over Susan, who was tending to Robbie. “This is all your fault, if you had not been so clumsy they would never have got on to us. You endangered all of our lives, and Mr Jenson may not even survive the journey back to our camp.” He exclaimed angrily.
Mark moved between them and quickly stomped down hard on Malic. “Welcome to my old world, and if you, or anyone else, thought that we were off on a boy scouts trek, well we are not, we embarked on a dangerous patrol. One that just got even more dangerous, so quit griping and ready yourselves for a fast exit, for as Andreas told us, we sure cannot stay here, the sun will soon be up and we must be well on our way by then.”
Susan and Penny threw angry looks at Mark, for they felt sure that he included them as well, and not only Malic, who now felt a little guilty at the way danger had affected him.
“I am sorry Ms Summers, I had no right to say those things, I guess I am just plain scared.” Malic said apologetically. “Captain, it will not happen again, that I promise you, and I state before these witnesses that you can rely on me to act much better in the future.” Malic said sorrowfully.
Mark accepted Malic’s apology, however, now he had to speak quietly to his wife, to soothe her ruffled feathers.
“Susan, I am sorry if my words angered you and Penny, but I had to kill all signs of censure, we cannot afford to fight amongst ourselves, especially now.” Mark explained.
Susan allowed a smile to appear on her face. “No, Mark, you were right, I did see this as a merry jaunt, and it could have been except for my own clumsiness, but I still intend to accompany you on your missions, if you will allow me to, and I promise you that I will not let you down a second time.” Susan replied apologetically.
Mark took Susan into his arms and kissed her. “Enjoying your honeymoon Darling?” He asked.
“Well it is different Mark.” Susan replied with a wry smile.
One hour past quickly and the return journey to their camp was about to commence, and Mark had some final instructions for them. “Listen up everyone, while I explain how we are going to commence our return to camp. I will take point; walking twenty feet ahead of the stretcher team, which initially will consist of Susan, Penny and Ricardo, as for Richard, initially he will be tail end Charlie. I know that it will be particularly hard for the stretcher team, but for the first few hours Richard and I need to be either at the front of our group looking out for the enemy, or bringing up the rear.” Mark explained before turning to Ricardo Malic.
“Ricardo, you will have to hold onto the front two poles while the two women grab a pole each at the rear. Keep your eyes firmly on me Ricardo, if you see me stop, then you stop, if I drop to the ground you do likewise.” Mark ordered. “All of you, there is to be no talking, unless it is absolutely necessary. When one of you needs a break from carrying the stretcher, signal Richard who will take over from you. We will not be stopping to rest until the sun begins to rise, we must get far enough away from here if we are to survive.”
No one argued, for they knew that there was no other way to ensure that they all returned to their camp without incurring further injuries, or even the death of one or more of them, they simply sat and waited the order to move out. Andreas had been covertly watching for any sign of movement coming from the Aldebran camp, when he was satisfied that they had all given up the search and returned to their tents, he informed Mark that it was safe to leave.
“Thank you Andreas, we will not forget your help, and I will repay you in kind, should you ever need our help.” Mark assured their new friend, and taking his hand shook it.
The ordinary Aldebran people did not shake hands; it was not a custom of Aldebra. In any case even if it were, they would normally be too tired, that or too wary, for who knew when ones neighbours would be taken in for questioning. However, when the others also shook his hand he realised that it was an Earth custom, and one that he decided that he liked.
Their last sight of their new friends was when they stopped to wave goodbye to them, then they moved off along the narrow animal track. The sun would be rising in three hours’ time, when it did so those carrying the stretcher would be exhausted, this Mark knew, he had to find them a place to lay up in, a place that their searchers would not easily find. The return journey to their camp would be a long trek, carrying Robbie, by the time they reached safety they would be truly sick of survival rations.
The early morning temperature was a little cool, although for the stretcher bearers that would soon change. The planet`s smaller moon was overhead, however not much of its light penetrated down to the forest floor. To get around this problem they were using their night vision goggles, this allowed them to move quite rapidly along the narrow animal track that they were following, or that is, as fast as the stretcher bearers could manage. Mark was walking ahead and as he turned a bend in the trail he saw a squad of troopers lying in wait for them, thankfully their bodies were lit up by the infrared system built into the night vision goggles, he could also hear their voices, they were only just audible but they were there. He immediately stopped and knelt down, a small shaft of moonlight was coming through the trees ahead of him, and he could see the glint of the moonlight reflected off a Phaser rifle, the Aldebran model appeared to have been produced in a shiny reflective metal, fine for the parade ground but hardly suitable for battle, Mark slowly retreated back to his team.
“The Aldebrans have left a small squad of men; they are obviously there waiting for us to stumble upon them, should we have been in hiding somewhere and are now attempting to escape.” Mark whispered to his team.
“Have they seen us?” Susan asked anxiously, moving up to her husband to find some comfort in this new nightmare world which she had demanded to share.
“No I don`t think so Susan, luck is edging our way. Maybe they have not been issued with such expensive equipment as these night vision goggles.” Mark replied putting a hand on her arm to try to reassure her that all would end well. “We will have to go a different way, I saw a track just twenty yards behind us, it will take us out of our way, but better that then have to fight our way out, for that would alert the rest of the troopers to our presence.” Mark replied.
They all agreed with these sentiments and so Mark led the way back along the track to the even narrower and rather overgrown track that went off at a tangent. And they soon found that it took them well away from the enemy troopers. An hour later and all three stretcher bearers were in need of a break, so Mark reluctantly stopped in a small clearing.
“OK everyone, take a ten minute break.” Mark said and was not surprised to see the stretcher immediately laid down.
Robbie had somehow fallen asleep while being jostled along the narrow trail, Mark assumed that it was because of the amount of blood he had lost, that and the pain from his wound had left him exhausted. They all glanced over at him, a little envious perhaps, however, none of them would want to change places with him, not if it meant taking his wound as well. The ten minutes were soon up and Mark could see that the stretcher bearers were not looking forward to resuming the trek.
“Richard, will you help Ricardo at the front of the stretcher, a fourth pair of hands will ease the load on our stretcher bearers, we will do without a tail end Charlie. I will relieve you in one hour when you can take up point duty.” Mark said and then looked towards the other three members of his team.
“I am sorry that you three are having
to take the bulk of the work, but as I said earlier, point duty is important, and we need someone with experience up front, just in case we chance upon another squad of Aldebran troopers.” Mark said apologetically. Penny Rider and Ricardo Malic simply nodded, only Susan smiled at his apology.
The going was uneventful; they spooked a few deer but did not come upon any Aldebran troopers, at least now they were heading towards their waiting transport.
Chapter Eight
A New Player
An aging freighter, the Genesis, arrived unseen near to the planet New Caledonia, on board were members of the Genesis cult, along with their leader Magnus Smart, but it did not go into orbit about the planet.
“Captain, I suggest that we land on the smaller of the planet`s two moons, from there we can then scan the planet while we decide on our next move.” Smart said to Captain Isaacs, an aging spaceman who had converted to this new cult after seeing all the troubles that had begun because of human contact with alien races.
“Helmsman, take us down to the moon`s surface, land in the middle of the crater that we can see in the centre of our forward view screen.” Isaacs ordered before turning to his leader. “From there Sir, we will be able to scan the area around the Ark`s landing site, we should soon know how they fared.”
By coincidence, the Genesis landed not 500 yards away from the spot that the North Wind had previously occupied, and for exactly the same reason. The first thing they saw was not the scattered remains of one broken starship, but four starships plus the broken Ark, which Smart immediately saw was mostly intact. Only one fact brought him even a small amount of joy, the fact that the Ark would never lift off again.
“It would appear Captain that the transmission from the colonists was correct, all of the colonists might well have survived the crash, something has obviously gone wrong with our plans. Before we return to Earth we must make good our mistake, we will cleanse the planet of all the sinners. I will also need one of the crew taken alive to extract from him, or her, the reason why the ship survived the landing virtually intact, then I will send the sinner to hell to atone for his sins.” Smart declared angrily.
He now turned his attention to the Aldebrans. “It seems that Earth is not the only planet that breeds sinners, we must also speak with one of the aliens, then we must add them to our list of beings that require our special type of chastisement, they too will have to be eradicated, but not until after we have located the surviving colonists.” Smart said grimly.
The communications officer Mabel Smits now spoke. “Excuse me for interrupting Sir, I am listening into the local radio communications, the new comers, they are from the planet Aldebra. It was indeed fortuitous that you had all the known alien languages added to our computer banks.” Smits said interrupting the conversation between her leader and her captain. “From what I have heard so far Sir, it appears that the Aldebrans are also searching for the colonists, and that they also intend to wipe them out.”
Magnus Smart smiled, and a new plan of action came to him. “Captain, we will search for the colonists, and then we will lead the Aldebrans to them. After their battle, we will launch our attack upon the survivors to cleanse this Eden of all the sinners.”
“Sir, is it not odd that the colonists have not once mentioned the Aldebrans in their communications with Earth, as the aliens are attacking them?” Captain Isaacs asked quizzically.
“I can only suppose that the communications are not originating from the colonists, but from the Aldebrans.” Magnus Smart replied. “Which means that there is no way of knowing just how many of the colonists did in fact survive the crash landing.”
“That makes sense Sir.” Smits said. “At least one of the drones flying above the planet is putting out a mass of jamming; I do not think that the colonists would have anything powerful enough to punch through it. We can only hear the Aldebrans because their ships are outside of the jamming zone.”
“Well that suits us; we would not want news of our arrival to get out.” Magnus Smart said.
“Sir, if the colonists moved far enough away from the area that they must be hiding in, they too would be able to contact Earth.” Smits then said.
“No they will not be able to Mabel, for we would stop them and maybe, soon, we will also prevent the Aldebrans from calling home.” Smart said thoughtfully. “But thank you for that information.”
**********
Down on the planet, the sun has risen above the far horizon, and with its coming the temperature had risen a little, however it could hardly be termed a warm morning, but that suited them in their present condition. They had been walking away from the Aldebran camp for six hours, taking a break whenever Mark felt it was safe to do so. His team was exhausted, after being awake for twenty four hours, as was Mark, so he decided to lay up so they could all get some sleep, they would move on in the late afternoon, if the situation allowed.
With one member of the team on sentry duty, the rest caught up on some much needed sleep, Mark had just taken over his one hour watch when he heard a quiet buzzing noise coming from above the tree tops, an Aldebran drone was out searching for them. One hour later and he saw a much larger craft pass overhead; it was the special operations starship using much more sophisticated equipment than that aboard the drone, had they been walking it would certainly have found them. As it was, hidden beneath their lightweight survival blankets, their body heat was not seen by the craft`s scanners, even sitting up Mark had pulled his around him to hide himself away.
It was now that the Aldebrans began their ground search for the alien commandoes, as they decided to call Mark and his team. With almost two hundred troopers to call upon the commander could afford to send out a dozen teams of ten men. Along the wider trails they used armoured tracked vehicles; along the narrower trails they either used two man motorbikes or foot soldiers landed far inside the jungle by the North Wind. With the latter method the teams took food with them and they would wait in likely locations for the alien commandoes to come to them, staying out until the following morning at which time the North Wind would pick them up. All of these methods were very effective against easy targets, such as rebelling farmers, and Oshiro was positive that they would prove to be equally effective against the aliens.
Mark heard them well before they came near to his team`s position, the loud diesel engine of a large tracked vehicle, and t was making heavy weather as it moved along the trail which had narrowed one mile back. The motorbikes would have been more suitable for this part of the forest; however they were all being used elsewhere. The Aldebrans had not progressed beyond diesel engines for their vehicles, they had not seen the point of investing in a much cleaner alternative, in any case, the upper classes of Aldebra lived in the hills surrounding their cities, the pollution did not affect them, it knew its place, amongst the workers of the planet.
When he had been a marine it would have been a simple task for Mark to take the vehicle off the troopers, with his well-trained squad of marines to back him up. With two women and two men, only one of them having any military training, it would be highly dangerous.
“Wake up all of you.” Mark whispered while shaking Richard who woke quietly and then took over the waking of the other team members.
“We have company, keep quiet and they will pass on by, however, train your weapons on the Aldebrans, but do not turn them on, not until I tell you to.” Mark ordered.
Susan immediately reached out for her husband, and Penny Rider did likewise for her husband. Mark looked at the two women and Ricardo Malic, he knew that they were afraid, his job was to ensure that they did not panic, that could get them all killed. Robbie looked through the greenery, searching for their enemy, even he had his Phaser rifle ready to use. They could hear the Aldebrans talking, they obviously did not do covert, this fact made Mark relax, for this squad of troopers to endanger them would mean that the fates had turned badly against them. Then the diesel engine shuddered to a halt. For a moment Mark feared that the craft th
at had flown over them had somehow found them with its sophisticated scanners, but his fears were suddenly put to rest.
“Any of you who needs to take a leak, do so now, I am not stopping on the way back to base, I am badly in need of a drink to wash away this planet`s smell from my throat, it stinks something awful.” Sergeant Reefer ordered. “The rear five men first, the rest of you keep an eye open for the alien commandoes.”
The doors at the rear of the vehicle opened and five troopers stepped down from the armoured carrier, with no need to be shy they did not move off the track, although fear perhaps of what might be lurking there might well have kept them out of the undergrowth. Two minutes later and the other four men, plus their sergeant, replaced them. Had they known that six Phaser rifles were zeroed in on them, they would not have been as calm as they relieved themselves. Soon the vehicle was gone, how the Aldebrans hoped to find his team operating like that Mark could not say, but one thing was certain, they could easily find the new base of the colonists by simply following the trail that they themselves had used. It would be quick and simple driving along the wider of the trails, especially in an armoured transporter. When they got back to their new camp he would have to find a way to hide the narrow trail that led off the wider main track from any motorised searchers.
**********
However, the Aldebrans were not the only ones looking for them, perched upon the smaller moon was the old freighter Genesis, but when the moon dipped below the planet`s horizon the freighter would lift off and take up orbit above the downed starship. Thankfully the Genesis only possessed low tech scanners and cameras, all of which were aimed at the forest, searching for the colonists. Unseen during the day they went over every square meter of the forest, searching for light shining off the colonists` solar-powered photovoltaic panels, for Phaser fire, for anything not to do with nature. During the hours of darkness their ship slowly crossed the sky looking like a regular star, looking for any signs of camp fires or electric lighting.