America's Galactic Foreign Legion - Book 3: Silent Invasion (8 page)

“Yes, sir,” said the team leader. “What are
you two doing in the dark by my tank? Sir!”

“I am supervising my mechanic as he checks
the fluid levels in all your engines,” explained Private Wayne.
“This Green is one of our top mechanics.”

“Sir, usually we take care of our own
maintenance,” said the team leader. “It is not necessary for you to
be snooping through my engine.”

“I will decide if it is necessary!” said
Private Wayne. “Usually you tankers are so drunk with vodka that
you do not check anything. That is why we are here. And when I want
your opinion, I will ask for it!”

“Yes, sir,” said the team leader.

“Your tank seems to check out fine,” said
Private Wayne. “I commend you for that.”

“Thank you, sir!” said the team leader.
“Thank you very much.”

“Carry on,” said Private Wayne, as they
walked away.

“You sounded just like a damn officer,” said
Corporal Washington. “I was even scared of you.”

“I had higher rank a long time ago,” said
Private Wayne. “I had forgotten what it was like to yell at someone
like that. It felt good. I am feeling all sentimental.”

* * * * *

At dawn, the spider tanks blew apart. Engines
exploded first. Then turrets were tossed into the air. Legion tanks
rolled across the fence line and slaughtered the Arthropodan
infantry. After a few minutes, it was over. A few spiders survived
by running to the forest, but not many. I radioed our success to
Headquarters. General Kalipetsis replied, “An Arthropodan space
weapons platform just changed its orbit and will be over your
location in about fifteen minutes, Take appropriate evasive
action.”

“Can’t you do anything about that?” I asked.
“This sucks.”

“We are trying,” said General Kalipetsis. “We
were caught off guard. I did not think the spiders would use a
strategic weapon against ground targets. Sorry about that.”

“Why not? We do it all the time,” I said. I
then switched to company frequency to talk to my men. “There is a
ridge two miles south of here. You have fourteen minutes to run
there for cover or you will die. Abandon your tanks and heavy
equipment and run like hell. The armored car will be leaving in
three minutes. If you are injured or too fat to run, hitch a ride.
Move!”

As we approached the ridge, the whole
campsite behind us exploded as the Arthropodan space weapons
platform bombed our abandoned tanks. As the space platform scanned
for more legionnaires, the United States Galactic Federation
Stealth Starship Shenandoah targeted the space platform with
nuclear tipped missiles. The destruction was complete. An escort
starship missile cruiser was targeted and destroyed, too.

* * * * *

The peace negotiators skipped breakfast and
were sitting across the table from each other in emergency session
even before the sun was up past the trees.

“Your provocations never cease,” fumed the
Fleet Commander. “You expect there will be no response to your
surprise attack?”

“Next time I tell you to stay out of a
disputed area, do not just blow me off,” said General Kalipetsis.
“And do not be so blithe about smuggling in tanks and armor in
violation of the treaty.”

“Your vicious and unprovoked coordinated
attacks on the ground and from space constitute a war crime,” said
the Fleet Commander. “If war starts, you will be held
responsible.”

“You were the first to use strategic
weapons,” said General Kalipetsis. “All I did was react
appropriately.”

“Act appropriately?” said the Fleet
Commander. “This I am hearing from a general whose Legion has even
nuked your own city.”

“I did not nuke Finisterra,” said General
Kalipetsis. “Your space weapons platform bombed ground targets in
direct violation of the treaty. It deserved to be blown out of
orbit.”

“So you admit to having a stealth starship
that has been attacking our shipping all along?” asked the Fleet
Commander.

“I admit nothing of the kind,” said General
Kalipetsis. “We may have one or we may have many stealth starships.
Our fleet is prepared and eager to meet your aggression head
on.”

“I am reasonable even if you are not,” said
the Fleet Commander. “I will pull back my fleet if you do the
same.”

“Agreed,” said General Kalipetsis. “The
fleets can withdraw to different hemispheres.”

“I will make it so,” advised the Fleet
Commander, giving orders to an aide. “My fleet will stay in the
Northern Hemisphere, while yours will stay in the South.”

“Agreed,” said General Kalipetsis. “For
now.”

General Kalipetsis immediately gave orders
for the Legion Fleet to change orbit. There was a large window
behind the conference table. General Kalipetsis watched spots in
the sky with fascination. It was like the sky had the pox.
How
odd,
he thought, walking over to the window to get a better
look. Now the General could see thousands of spider paratroopers
dropping onto Camp Alaska. He turned on the Fleet Commander. “What
is this?” he shouted.

“You started a provocation even I cannot
stop,” said the Fleet Commander. “The Emperor himself ordered that
I take Camp Alaska to create a buffer between the Legion and our
oil fields. The Legion is ordered to withdraw to Finisterra and to
the New Mississippi River or face annihilation.”

“This is an outrage!” said General
Kalipetsis. “You can’t do this.”

“I already have,” said the Fleet Commander.
“You are badly outnumbered. The outcome of this little skirmish has
already been decided. You lost. Do not worry. All peace negotiators
will be allowed to leave on the Legion shuttle parked at the
airstrip. We will arrange a prisoner exchange later.”

* * * * *

“Hey Guido!” called out a spider guard from
the checkpoint across the fence from the Legion guard shack. “I am
going to do you a favor!”

“Oh?” asked Guido. “Excuse me if I put my
hand on my wallet while you are doing me this favor.”

“I am serious,” said the spider guard. “You
do not have much time. Look up in the sky.”

Guido first looked both ways down the
streets. Then he looked to the sky. “What the hell is that? If it’s
a training exercise they are going to drift to the wrong side.”

“It’s an invasion, Guido.” warned the spider
guard. “You need to get out of town fast, or you will be killed or
taken prisoner. Because you have taken the money of so many of our
marines, I suggest you not be taken prisoner.”

Corporal Tonelli gave that some thought. He
dropped everything, and ran like the wind for the airstrip. He had
seen the general’s shuttle land earlier, and hoped to catch the
last flight out. Guido just made it, throwing himself into a seat
right next to General Kalipetsis.

“You sure screwed things up good this time,
huh General?” commented Guido casually, as he lit a cigarette.
“Yep, you really screwed the pooch big time.”

“When you do right nobody remembers,” replied
General Kalipetsis. “When you do wrong, nobody forgets.”

* * * * *

I ordered the armored car destroyed. Then I
led one hundred legionnaires south through the forest toward
Finisterra. We got about forty-five miles away before we stopped
for a rest. It was well into the night. Spider helicopters could be
heard looking for us, flying a grid pattern. As long as we stayed
under the cover of trees, we would be safe. It started raining, as
it does every day in the North. That negated some of the spider
technology being used to locate us from the air and space. The
spiders would have to put troops on the ground and find us the
old-fashioned way. Unfortunately, they had plenty of troops, and
they knew which direction we were hiking. About a thousand spider
marines waited for us between here and Finisterra.

* * * * *

Wolves hunted in packs. When a scout found
prey, he howled, signaling the pack to join him.

A herd of spiders, a thousand strong, was
attempting to move at night through forest marshland. The spiders
were strung out over a long distance, winding through the stumps
and trees. It was stupid to attempt such a move at night. But herd
animals never were too bright. The darkness would conceal the
attack of the wolf packs.

The pack leader answered the call of the
scouts. The smell of humans was on the wind, too. Humans gave off a
foul, dirty smell. They were camped to the north. Both spiders and
humans were dangerous, but there was something about humans that
made the pack leader nervous. He hated humans and had no problem
killing them. But he also had an instinctual fear of mankind,
ingrained by millennia of evolution. Caution was needed in dealing
with either humans or spiders. The packs would probe the spider
herd at its thinnest flanks.

The wolf pack leader was driven by hatred of
spiders. It was a hatred recently learned. Spiders shot and killed
wolves on sight. Even females and cubs had been lost. An
instinctual need for revenge was something new in the DNA of New
Colorado wolves. Perhaps human geneticists were responsible when
the planet was seeded with wolves. Perhaps evolution took place
naturally. It did not matter. The trait was there, and the wolves’
fury had been building.

* * * * *

“Why are we moving at night?” asked the
spider marine team leader. “We should have camped before
nightfall.”

“We will camp soon,” replied the spider
marine commander. “I did not want to camp at our last stop because
there were too many wolves in the area. Their howling is
unnerving.”

“It is too wet to camp here,” argued the team
leader. The mud was up to his knees. “We can not camp in this
muck.”

“Then the human pestilence cannot camp here
either,” said the commander. “We will have them trapped, too.”

“Don’t be so sure,” said the team leader. “I
think humans like mud. Have you noticed their flat feet? They
evolved with those flat feet so that they won’t sink on muddy
ground.”

“You might have something there,” said the
commander. “Their constant need to consume water is probably
because they evolved from slime that crawled out of the river.
Their flat feet helped them live in the swamp.”

“We can not attack if we are strung out like
this,” said the team leader. “You said we kept moving to get away
from the wolves, but they seem to be closer than ever.”

The marine commander gave that some thought,
deciding the team leader was right.
The wolves are following us,
and on both sides! Maybe they are just curious.
“Perhaps they
hope to scavenge our discards.”

“If we are attacked, how will we defend
ourselves?” asked the team leader.

“We outnumber the human pestilence ten to
one,” answered the commander. “Don’t be silly. The Legion cannot
attack under these conditions. If anything, the forest affects the
human pestilence even more than it does us.”

“I am not talking about the human
pestilence,” said the team leader. “I am worried about the wolf
packs.”

“You fear attacks by dumb animals?” asked the
commander. He had not even considered that possibility. Now that he
mulled over their situation in a new light, however, their position
seemed untenable. “Do not be ridiculous.”

“There have been rumors,” said the team
leader. “Attacks have been documented.”

“Isolated incidents are not to be feared,”
said the commander. “It is but the whisperings of females and the
timid. We are a modern army and a force to be feared. We have
automatic weapons, grenades, night vision technology, and air
support. Let the wolves and human pestilence fear us.”

“I am wet, cold, rained on, and stuck in the
mud. I do not feel all that intimidating,” complained the team
leader. “We need to find dry high ground and set up camp soon.”

They heard loud screams and hisses from the
rear of the long column, followed by wolf growls and automatic
gunfire. Then silence. More shrieks of terror could be heard, this
time up ahead, followed by a chorus of thousands of wolf howls all
around their position. Spider marines opened up in both directions
with automatic rifle and machine gun fire. Every shadow and
imagined movement drew rifle fire. Then there was silence as
marines reloaded.

There were more screams in the darkness as
spider marines got picked off by small packs of wolves. The marines
began to group up. It did not help. The grouping increased
isolation and disunity, and the marines were rushed one group at a
time. There was no command and control between the small squads of
spiders. Grasping that, the commander got on the radio and ordered
the battalion to form a united perimeter, and to set up the machine
guns for intersecting fields of cover fire. The sounds of violent
death in the darkness only intensified.

Rustling of underbrush to the commander’s
left startled him to the point of immobility. The quickness of the
bear-sized wolf allowed the commander only enough time to put a
forearm up in self-defense. The huge black hairy monster bit
through the commander’s arm like it was a twig. The commander was
torn apart in seconds. Wolves were everywhere. The team leader
tried to climb a tree. The smooth cedar bark covered by moss and
high branches was not conducive to climbing, but he inched up
anyway. A large wolf leapt up at the team leader, snatching him
from the tree and shaking him like a rag doll. Death came
quick.

* * * * *

By dawn, spider parts and equipment littered
the forest marsh. The mud was discolored red from blood.
Legionnaires listened to the horrifying carnage during the night.
Hours later, six spider marines stumbled into camp and begged to
surrender. They seemed in shock. I told the spiders to keep their
weapons, and let them follow us to Finisterra. As we walked, no one
talked much about what happened last night, or about what might
still happen if we did not get out quick before the sun set again.
No one there would ever be able to forget.