First Strike by - (reading e books .TXT) 📕

the side of the Avenger. “Sorry about that. But I can assure you that we’re on your side.”

“Get down from there and show me some ID,” ordered the irate man.

Thirty minutes later, Tarina found herself in General Gruber’s office. Wendy had stayed with the Avenger in case something happened. All she had to do was push the autopilot. The craft would start automatically and jump her back to their transport ship.

“Miss Pheto, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” said Gruber, chewing on the end of an unlit cigar. “I hope you’re here to tell me that several Marine divisions are right behind you.”

“Sorry, sir, I’m only here to gather intelligence,” replied Tarina as she handed the general a copy of her orders. He took them and passed them straight over to his chief of staff to read.

“Can you at least tell me if fleet knows that we’re giving the Kurgans a bloody nose down here?”

“Yes, sir, they are aware that you are still fighting the enemy. However, before they do anything to help you, I suspect that fleet will want to know what is happening on the ground. That is why I was dispatched to Derra-5.”

Gruber sagely nodded while his chief of staff excused herself from the room to dig up all the information she could. “So, Miss Pheto, which outfit do you belong to?”

“Triple-Three Transport Squadron,” answered Tarina.

“Yeah, and I’m the Commander of the Marine Corps.” Gruber looked over at his sergeant major. “Does she look like a transport pilot to you?”

Sergeant Major Trang chuckled.

“That’s what I thought; damned Special Forces. Well, for once I’m glad to see one of you prima donnas. While you’re waiting for whatever it is Colonel Robbins has gone to dig up, could I offer you a cup of coffee?”

Tarina smiled. “I’d love one, sir.”

An hour later, General Gruber personally escorted Tarina back to the Avenger. In her absence, it had been ringed by a platoon of soldiers and several teams of air-defense gunners with launchers held in their hands in case the enemy decided to probe this part of the city with a drone.

Tarina handed up a bag to Wendy jam packed with maps, reports, and as many computer drives as she could carry.

Gruber shook Tarina’s hand. He stepped forward until he could look deep into her dark brown eyes. “Miss, you have to tell them folks back at Fleet HQ that we need help and we need it sooner rather than later. The Kurgs have been oddly quiet the past couple of days. They’re planning something big. I can feel it in my bones. The problem is I’m not sure that we can hold out much longer.”

“Sir, I’ll pass on what you’ve said word for word.”

“I can’t ask for much more than that. Godspeed, Miss Pheto.”

Tarina was about to climb up into the cockpit when she paused for a second. “Sir, could you move the people away from the sports arena?”

“Sure, but why would I?”

“Sir, I’ve just had a thought. It’s risky, but I bet a battalion-sized landing craft could just about fit in there.”

“I bet it could,” Gruber added, grinning.

With that, Tarina climbed up into the cockpit, locked her helmet in place, and closed the canopy. The ship’s engine sprung to life. With a quick salute at the general, Tarina applied power to the thrusters. Swiftly, the ship lifted up into the sky. When it was one hundred meters above the ground, Tarina engaged the jump engine. Instantly, the craft was gone.

Gruber stood looking up at the stars. For the first time in over a month, he felt his spirits begin to rise. Perhaps they were not going to be left by themselves to delay the enemy for as long as possible before being overrun. Surrender was not in Gruber’s vocabulary. He turned to face his sergeant major. “Dan, let’s get those people at the sports arena relocated before tomorrow evening.”

“Will do, sir. Do you think she’ll be back?”

“Of course she will. You know the Special Forces community. They’re a bunch of glory hounds. They’ll be back alright, and they’ll take credit for saving the whole damned planet.”

Chapter 30

A thick bank of ice fog hid the Kurgan positions. Even with thermal imaging binoculars, Sheridan knew that he would have to wait until the sun came up and burned off the mist before he could get a clear view of what was going on. His stomach rumbled. He handed off the binoculars to Garcia, crawled back, and slid down the back of the hill to join Cole and Roberts by their fire. 

Cole gave Sheridan a warmed-up ration. “So what could you see?”

“Nothing, absolutely nothing,” was his reply.

“Give it a couple of hours,” said Roberts optimistically. “There are no clouds in the sky. It’ll be a cool day, but you’ll soon be able to see for kilometers.”

Sheridan looked up and saw nothing but bright blue sky. Letting go of his frustration, he opened up his ration pack and dug in. It was a concoction of greasy sausages and tasteless potatoes. Sheridan did not care; he was hungry and he ate his meal with gusto.

A bird sang out. It was Garcia giving their warning call. Sheridan tensed, drew his pistol and flipped the safety off. Together with Cole, he made his way up the hill to where Garcia was on sentry.

“What’s up?” Sheridan whispered.

Garcia handed him the binoculars and pointed to a group of refugees who had gathered in the open.

“What am I looking for?”

“Sir . . . sorry, Sheridan, take a close look at the man in a long blue parka and dark green toque.”

He adjusted the glasses and focused in on the man Garcia had pointed out. His stomach knotted when he saw Andrews, the man who had turned on them, chatting with the refugees. “What the hell is that slimy bastard up to?” 

Garcia said, “I can’t be sure, but I thought I saw some of the people point back toward Eve’s camp. I think he may be looking for us.”

“Jesus, we can’t let him get his hands on Eve. I won’t allow it,” Sheridan said firmly.

Cole reached over and placed a hand on Sheridan’s arm. “We won’t. He knows all of us, but he’s never laid his eyes on Roberts.”

A minute later, without Tammy by his side, Roberts whistled a tune as he ambled back toward Eve’s camp. On the hill, Sheridan, Cole, and Garcia lay silent watching as the two men made their way toward one another. Only one, however, knew what was about to happen.

Eve saw Roberts and waved to him. Roberts took a quick glance around. His quarry was nowhere to be seen. He quickly brought up his finger to his mouth, telling Eve to be quiet. His heart quickened the instant he spotted Andrews walk into the camp. He placed his hands in his pockets, his right hand wrapped tight around his silenced pistol.

With a smile, Andrews dug into his pockets and pulled out several tubes of high energy protein snacks. “Good morning, folks, I’ve been looking for some friends of mine. I heard that they were seen in this camp in the past day or so. If you could help me find them, I’d be willing to give you one of these snacks.”

“What did your friends look like?” asked Eve.

“I can’t rightly say. However, you’d recognize them if you saw them. I heard one of them has a dog with him.”

“If you don’t know how they look, how are they your friends?”

Andrews smiled. “Okay, you got me. They’re friends of friends.”

Roberts stood back, trying to look like he belonged there.

The old man who had petted Tammy by the fire sat up and looked at the food in Andrews’ hands. “I saw a dog. The people you are looking for were here last night.”

Andrews knelt down and gave the man one of the snacks. “Where did they go?”

“One of them is standing right over there,” replied the man, pointing over at Roberts.

Before Andrews could draw his concealed pistol, Roberts was on him. With a swift kick from his right foot, he sent Andrews tumbling to the ground. In a flash, he ran over beside the traitor and sent his foot as hard as he could into the man’s head, knocking him out cold. With his heart racing in his chest, Roberts reached down and disarmed Andrews, tossing his two concealed guns into the woods.

The unexpected sound of a pistol’s hammer cocking right beside his head made Roberts freeze in his tracks. 

“Hands up,” warned a man behind Roberts. “Now, slowly turn around and don’t try anything foolish or I’ll blow your brains out all over the snow.

Roberts gritted his teeth; he should have anticipated Andrews working with someone. He cursed his luck. Roberts turned around and saw a man dressed in dirty civilian clothes pointing a pistol at his head.

“Who are you? And don’t lie.”

Although deep inside his guts had turned to jelly, as calmly as possible, he replied, “My name is Roberts, and I’m looking for my younger brother. I thought this man was going to attack that old man, so I stopped him.”

The man shook his head. “You unbelievers can’t lie to save your lives.” He stepped back from Roberts and raised his gun to fire. 

The attack, when it came, even surprised Roberts. With a loud snarl, Tammy dashed from her hiding spot in the woods and leaped up into the air, clamping down her jaws on the man’s outstretched hand. He howled in pain and tried to reach down with his free hand to take hold of his pistol so he could kill his attacker.

He never made it. Roberts drew his concealed pistol and fired twice into the man’s skull, killing him. His body dropped to the ground. Roberts walked over, grabbed Tammy by the collar and pulled her back from the dead body. “I told you to stay.”

Tammy canted her head to look up and barked at her friend. “Yeah, whatever,” replied Roberts.

Eve walked over with a look of consternation on her face. “You had best go. I’ll see if I can get rid of the body. If not, I’ll say it was a robbery gone bad. Either way, you don’t want to be here when the Chosen come looking for their men.”

“Thanks,” said Roberts. He patted Eve on the arm and then walked over to Andrews’ prostrate body. He got down on his knees and threw the body over his shoulder. With a grunt, he got back on his feet and began to jog away from the camp and back to where his comrades were waiting for him.

“Tie him up and gag him,” ordered Sheridan.

“I never thought to see him again,” said Cole. “What do you want to do with him?”

“We’ll interrogate him when he comes to. Until then, we’ll continue to keep watch on the Kurgans and try to determine what they’re up to.”

Andrews woke up a short time later, but Sheridan ignored him. Tammy sat patiently in front of the prisoner and growled menacingly if he tried to move. As the day wore on, it was evident that the enemy was