Descent into Mayhem (Capicua Chronicles Book 1) (33 page)

“They’ll return shortly with more netting, and I’ve ordered those to be erected with spacers.”

“I trust your men when it comes to these things, captain. Although perhaps those nets on the hill should be spaced as well.” Tora declared.

The captain grinned and shook his head.

“That’s exactly what we won’t be doing, sir. If the site gets detected, we want them to focus on attacking the areas that appear like we made an effort to properly camouflage them. We’ll be placing decoy tents and heat generators in the space beneath the spaced nets, and that might give them the impression that the center-mound is nothing more than an empty mustering ground. We’ll even be marking the hill appropriately to that effect. We have little hope avoiding detection, so a decoy operation is the only other viable option.”

The colonel nodded and quickly banished all doubt from his mind. The plan probably wouldn’t work if Unmil nuked the spot, but there wasn’t much that could be done about that. The engineers’ logic was sound for anything less than the worst scenario, and worrying about that when so many other problems needed to be dealt with was a waste of time.

And time was getting more precious with every passing hour.

They entered the bunker’s access tunnel, its walls solidly reinforced with tree trunks laid on their sides and meshed in barbed wire. It was all very slapdash in appearance, but Tora was familiar with that spec of wire, knowing that its tensile strength, cross-section, and the design and placement of its barbs had been optimized for just that function. The logic was that, the more any nearby explosions shook the structure, the more those barbs would bury themselves into the wood and hold the bunker’s structure together.

As they reached the bunker’s prefabricated concrete heart, the colonel entered the tiny compartment reserved for the HQ commander and stowed his knapsack inside, and then he began to instruct his aides on how he wanted the War Room to be organized. By the time all tables, chairs, assorted placards, data-screens and communications equipment had been positioned, the injured cadet was back, somewhat cleaner than before and with freshly dressed bandages. Sighing at the chore but conscious that soon he would have no time at all, the colonel received the boy in his newly furnished office.

“So, cadet, what is the matter?”

The cadet spoke slow and carefully, laying out a story that surprised and shocked the old soldier. As he listened, Tora happened to remember the boy’s surname and was doubly surprised.

“Earthlings. I admit I wasn’t even considering that possibility any more. But this is good news, I think. If they have pilots inside their Suits then our plans might just have the effect we’re hoping for. And the enemy nukes disabled two of their Suits. This is very useful information indeed, cadet. I thank you. But how did you lose that prisoner?”

The cadet continued with his story, and as he spoke the colonel’s eyes began to narrow. That part of the story was more unpleasant to listen to, rife as it was with war-crimes, insubordination, mutiny and negligence, and with the assertion that some of that was presently on its way to Base Fido.

Armed with the newfound information, the colonel wrote up a detailed report, keeping the young cadet seated beside him for occasional prods for information. Haven showed up shortly afterwards to quietly read the report from the screen. Its content was enough to elicit a whistle of admiration from the soldier.

“When can I be evacuated, sir?” The cadet finally asked as they encrypted the report for sending.

“Next copter is fourteen minutes away and closing.” The major rasped, “Keep your pants on, boy, we’ll get you out.”

The cadet thanked his seniors and left in a hurry, leaving the two men to sit quietly inside the cramped compartment, each immersed in his own thoughts.

“Is it just me, or was that boy just plain desperate to get the hell out of here?” The major finally inquired.

“Isn’t just you. But don’t forget the cadet who shot him is about twenty minutes off.”

“What’s taking them so long?”

“Apparently peeled away from the road by mistake and had to forge a new path. They’ve got a seriously injured cadet with them. Apparently an amputee, and the leg’s no good for reattachment, it’s been separated from the body too long ...” he grimly observed.

“Poor boy ...”

“Girl. And young.”

“Shit! Couldn’t we have had the copter evacuate her?”

“You know we’re prohibited from flying beyond this point with what’s coming our way.”

The major gave his commander a look which told him precisely what he could do with that order.

“The pilots aren’t ours to order around.” Tora defended.

“We’ve gotta get us some of our own one of these days ...” the major sulked.

The officers returned to their duties until the distant rumble of rovers caught their attention. The revving engines intensified and then slowly died away. The officers looked at one another.

“Medical bay!” The major declared.

Driven by curiosity, the pair momentarily left matters in the lieutenant-colonel’s hands and passed by medical bay, where the arriving rovers had finally rolled to a stop.

The medical bay was located opposite the Unmil’s expected axis of approach, the common wisdom being that men previously injured in combat probably wouldn’t appreciate first-class seats to the forthcoming battle. It bracketed the copterpad along with the war-material deposit, the setup following a classic “bullets and bandages” philosophy. This allowed an incoming logistics copter to touch down with its most common cargo destinations only fifty meters away. The downside of that logic was that any missile strike against that deposit would probably leave the bay roofless at best. No solution was perfect, of course.

The rovers rested unguarded beside the bay’s low-set roof, its occupants loitering at the building’s entrance or already inside. The soldiery smartly saluted the colonel as he entered, their expressions grim. He heard screams from inside one of the compartments.

That’s my cue
, he thought, and duly entered.

The first thing he came upon was a naked leg cleanly cut a palm above its smooth knee, the limb having been discarded on a hospital cart like surplus gear.

Petite foot
, he thought, swallowing his horror.

Its owner lay on an evac cart, thrashing about madly as orderlies tried to tie her down for transport. She was a beautiful thing even in her distress. Two soldiers leaned against the opposite wall, both of them as dirty as hogs in a sty. The male cadet, his bandages brown with dry blood and grime, kept his eyes fixed on the cadet as she screamed. As someone who came from a family of naturals, Tora had seen those eyes many times before. They were Sanpaku eyes. If one could see the whites of a man’s eyes below their irises as well as beside them, those eyes were saying that their owner was at the end of his rope.

It was the most telling sign of mental fatigue he had ever known.

In a gesture of familiarity and comfort, the girl beside the cadet had her arm draped over his shoulders. Her serene demeanor said much about her mettle.

He approached the pair and they straightened at his presence.

“At ease.” He said, shaking their hands, “Is this your comrade?” He asked, turning towards the struggling figure.

“Yes.” The girl answered, “Laser did this to her.”

“I see. Your name?”

“Sergeant-cadet Hannah Arakaki, sir”

“Arakaki? Wouldn’t happen to know a Lieutenant-colonel Dale Arakaki, would you?”

Her expression hardened a little before becoming impassive again.

“Yes, sir. He’s my uncle.”

“Ah, yes, I would have expected greater similarities between the two ...”

“
Twice
removed, sir,” she added.

The colonel smiled, liking her for disliking his second-in-command. He watched quietly as the orderlies finally managed to sedate the amputee and then turned to the boy.

“And you must be Toni Miura.”

The cadet’s three-corner eyes fixed onto his senior’s and held them unblinking for a while. The expression conveyed nothing, yet the colonel began to feel a little unsettled.

“Yes, I am, sir,” he finally replied, “I expect a cadet named Ian Templeton spoke to you, sir.”

“That’s right, but let’s not worry about that for now. The next copter is coming in within the next half-hour to evacuate you three –”

“I never said I wanted to leave, sir.” The boy quietly interrupted, puzzling the colonel.

“I see ...”

“The copter was leaving when we arrived. Tried to wave it down but it just kept going. I thought I saw Ian there, but I’m not sure ...”

“He was on the last copter, all right. As I said, all that can wait for later, first you’ll receive treatment and then you’ll be evacuated.”

“I arrested him, he helped the prisoner escape ... and then Ray –”

“That’s enough Toni,” Hannah interrupted gently, “the colonel doesn’t need to know that now. I’ll see to it that he’s treated, Sir, although what he says is true. Toni arrested Ian because he believes he helped the prisoner escape. The prisoner, Kaiser’s his name, then entered our camp and cut our mate’s throat.”

As the colonel heard her speak he slowly began to suspect he had blundered. He had made that very same mistake more than thirty years ago, when he took the words of a soldier to be true without speaking to the other party involved. A sergeant had stood at court-martial for that error, although thankfully there had been no conviction. He had promised himself he would never again be
impregnated through his ears
, as the saying went.

Oh well, I did it again
, he realized, and cursed his own foolishness.

Turning to Dennis, he found the major observing him with an amused expression. He appeared to be saying that it wasn’t yet too late.

“Well,” he decided, thinking hard, “so you’re not really interested in leaving, are you, Toni?”

The cadet’s eyes widened slightly, and then he gave a short nod.

“No sir. I faced one of these Suits personally, and I know none of you are ready for what’s coming.”

“Not entirely true, but I’d appreciate your input anyway.”

With their more seriously injured patient temporarily out of the way, the orderlies began to focus on the task of redressing the cadet’s injuries.

As he watched them work, marveling at the injuries and how they had already begun to knit back together by themselves, he received a call from his second-in-command.

“Colonel, the time you wanted? You’re not going to get it. The Unmil successfully captured one of the captains and has set off with him in hand. I suspect it has ceased to harass the companies and is returning to the trail, and I expect it will be arriving at Fido within the next four or five hours.”

“I see.” He breathed, “I guess that was all for naught. Tell the boys to remote-detonate, clump together and standby for evac.”

“Standby for wha–”

“EVAC!” The colonel roared, angrier by the second, “Do as I say. I’ll take care of the rest. Understood?”

As soon as he was certain that the fool understood him, Tora turned to his old friend.

“We’re about to get into some aggressive negotiations with the next copter pilot to arrive. I expect you to do your best, Dennis.”

“You can expect the worst ... I mean, the best of me!” He answered with a sly grin.

Base Fido, Nature’s Day, 20
th
of June, 2771

The boy opened his eyes, startled by the gentle prod.

“Sorry for the rude awakening, boy,” Tora said gently, “but if I let you sleep you’ll miss all the fun. I have a few questions ...”

Still groggy after only two hours of sleep, the youth blinked and rubbed his eyes vigorously.

“Understood, sir. Ask away.”

Consulting the list they had compiled as the boy slept, he began to ask the questions, writing brief annotations of the answers as he did so.

What had the Unmil pilot been wearing? What language had he spoken? Had he managed to observe the interior of the Unmil Suit’s interface cavity? Had there been a hydraulic interface of some kind? What weapons had it used? What were those weapons’ natures, rate-of-fire and destructive capabilities? How fast could the Suits run and for how long? Was there some insight as to their intentions? Had anything he or others had done managed to damage the Unmil’s armor?

The boy answered all questions more articulately and in greater detail than Tora would have expected, his brow furrowing occasionally as he thought hard or tried to remember some detail of the preceding days. The information he provided was more much detailed than Ian’s, and the colonel was greatly surprised by the fact that the boy had actively sought his enemy out and engaged him while armed with what was clearly outdated weaponry. Unlike with Ian, there were no soft whispers in his mind as he wondered at the speaker’s motivations, courage or honesty. The Miura boy was easy to read, and he was possessed of a natural aggressiveness that the colonel greatly admired. The cadet probably hadn’t yet realized how unusual his behavior had been, nor how risky. That gave him a thought.

“Grew up on a farm, did we?” He asked.

The boy’s eyes widened slightly and his head turned to the side like a curious hound, the question catching him unawares. Tora grinned and tried hard not to laugh.

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Ahuh, pretty obvious.”

“Sir, may I ask a question?”

“Go ahead. After the number I’ve asked you deserve one yourself.”

“Why hasn’t Sueli been evacuated yet?”

“Sorry about that, but we had to divert that copter to evacuate comrades from the Dogspine. With the wind rising and the enemy between us and them, our window of opportunity is closing. All non-essential personnel will be evacuated from here over the next two hours and she’ll be among the first to leave.”

“What happens after those two hours?”

“You know what will happen.”

The boy’s expression became pained and then thoughtful.

“I saw those Hammerheads beyond on a dirt road. Is MEWAC here? I need to report to them.”

“Those are EWAC Suits. MEWAC’s in bits and pieces out on Lograin’s airfield, awaiting evac to Leiben. You should be with them, and since you’ve already answered me as best you could, you soon will be. Especially since you have a sliver of poison on its way there. There’s something not quite right with that boy, is there?”

“Sir, that’s one way to put it. His mind’s a mystery to me, but he
is
dangerous. That much I know for sure. EWAC, right? Is there any chance they’d loan me a Suit?”

The colonel smiled.

“Loan an injured cadet from another outfit an operational Suit? I think not.”

“Pity. I think I know how to kill it.”

The colonel’s eyebrows raised at the bold statement.

“Care to explain how?”

“Something the Suit’s doing is causing our weapons to fail, making them not work the way they were made to. But a few days ago I saw a hammerhead drop a grenade as it retreated, and it detonated below the Unmil and sent it flying. That seemed to shake it up a bit. So I thought; if a small, well-placed grenade can do that, just imagine –”

“– what a bigger bomb can do, right?” The colonel finished for him, “a sort of mega-mine, am I right?” He added.

“Not quite, sir. Mines can certainly do some damage but their effectiveness depends on the enemy getting close enough. Maybe it will, or maybe it will find some other way around. What I think is, all Lasers are direct line-of-sight weapons, right? But grenades are by their nature indirect fire weapons. And this terrain must have some sweet spots where units may hide behind cover and do some serious throwing. So I was thinking that satchel charges could be improvised and thrown –”

“...and shot down by those Lasers’ automatic firing capability. That –”

“No. There is no automatic fire capability if the Suit’s on its back. I discovered that when I fired on Kaiser’s Suit as it was lying on the ground that time. My missiles weren’t powerful enough to get the job done, but heavy satchel charges thrown at it while it’s incapacitated will get through and do serious damage, I think. Those mines would be useful if they could be remote-detonated, though. Then it doesn’t have to step on them; the shockwave alone would be enough to make the Suit hit the deck, and then our Suits could finish up.”

The missing element to Dennis’ plan suddenly appeared and slid into place. They had only gotten as far as the remote-detonated minefield that EWAC was emplacing over the base’s south-eastern perimeter. Until then he had been betting on the possibility that the Suit would happen to wander close enough to one to get the grand-prize, but here was a chance to elevate the kill probability to something respectable. Dennis unglued his back from the prefabricated wall and peered at them with a smile.

“Looks like we’re gonna need to do a little more of that combined-arms crap.” He rasped.

The colonel turned to the boy.

“Incidentally, how’s your throwing arm?” He asked.

“I’m a leftie, sir. It’s just fine.” The boy replied, death in his eyes.

The colonel liked what he saw there.

*****

Colonel Brunn Pienaar grinned from ear to ear as he listened, nodding curtly every time a particular point was made. The commander of EWAC appeared to be anything but an engineer, and Tora liked that about him. He was also game for the audacious plan.

“That sounds awesome! You know, every time EWAC goes on campaign you people never seem to know what to do with us. Usually you guys think we’re here to dig you a bunch of trenches, right?! But we are a combat arms by our own right; we even fight as infantry or armor if there’s no alternative. And now there
is
no alternative.”

“What about the cadet’s request?”

“We can do that. Two of our Suits are on their asses; their drivers popped their fuses and have already been evacced to Lograin. He can take one, and if you have someone else trained to drive a Suit, he can take the other.”

Tora knew of one other, and made a mental note to ask for her assistance. Nodding to Pienaar, he bid his counterpart a momentary farewell and set off with his vice-commander in tow. Making a decision, he turned to Dale.

“Do you know a young woman by the name of Hannah Arakaki?”

The lieutenant-colonel appeared surprised by the question.

“Indeed I do.”

“And do you know where she is?”

“Well, I presume she’s still grinning like an idiot at her father’s manse. At least, that’s what she was doing the last time we met.”

The colonel pursed his lips.

“Well, that’s not quite up-to-date ...” he remarked, and then he explained.

“Oh lord ...” Arakaki exhaled, struck mute for a moment. His face then began to harden.

“Where is she?” He asked through gritted teeth.

“Before I answer, I’d like to make something clear. She may be your niece or thereabouts, but she’s MEWAC personnel first in my ledger. And as you may already have noticed, I wasn’t born with a silver spoon stuck up my ass, so I don’t care much about aristocrats’ special dealings with one another. If I need to use her, I won’t hesitate to give the order. And if you resist me on this I’ll have you in cuffs and out of the way, seeing as up to now you’ve been about as much use to me as a well-trained monkey. And you won’t be evacced either; you’ll sit in a room until we’re either victorious or smears on the ground. Understood?”

“Understood.” He replied, his cold eyes saying, however, that he didn’t understand at all.

The colonel sighed.

“She’s in medical bay, sleeping in one of the cots. Wake her gently, alright? She’s had a bad week.”

But the lieutenant-colonel was already on his way.

It was difficult, sometimes, deciding on the right thing to do. He could have kept his mouth shut about the cadet, but his old habit of keeping his closest subordinates in the loop had taken over, and suddenly there was one more variable to consider.

Sighing at his foolishness, he gave Dennis his orders and set off to medical bay once more.

His fears were laid to rest as soon as medical came into view. Tora crossed paths with Dale as the lieutenant-colonel marched in the opposite direction, alone and with a redness in his cheeks that the crimson sun could not entirely explain. He didn’t raise his eyes, preferring instead to curse the cadet he’d just left in a way that no family-member rightly should.

Tora smiled and entered the building.

He found the girl sitting stiffly on the cot she had been sleeping in, her arms just as crossed as her legs were. She turned her eyes towards him, and he momentarily saw her wrath there.

What in the hell are they feeding cadets these days?
, he wondered as he put on an apologetic smile.

“My apologies, cadet, but I wasn’t aware of the family feud until I had spoken the words. Although I’ve come to find this current generation of soldiers tends to resolve their family disputes by running off to the army.”

“With due respect, Colonel, I didn’t run off.” She objected, “I am here with my father’s blessing. As for the rest of the family, they were not a factor in this decision, nor will they ever be one despite their foolish ideas.”

“My apologies, cadet, but I am not here to meddle in your personal affairs. What I am doing here is offering you and Cadet Miura the possibility to participate in an act of divine vengeance. Are you game?” He asked with a wolfish grin.

The cadet slowly unthawed, and she uncrossed her arms as the full weight of the proposal came to her attention.

“We ... we can kill it?” She asked uncertainly, her blue eyes darting towards the compartment door beyond which Toni rested.

“You can try. There are two Hammerhead Suits that EWAC will be making available for you, although the only weapons you’ll be using are still being put together by their personnel. They have six drivers who have never dealt with this thing before, so I have some expectations from your side. Get it?”

“Got it, sir.” She replied, licking her lips.

“You are to get off your rears and meet up with the EWAC section right now. You can find them two hundred meters further up the road. They’re expecting you, so don’t waste their time.”

He turned to leave and then changed his mind. Turning once more to the cadet he gave a parting shot.

“And tell that Miura something for me. His situation with the Templeton boy will be infinitely improved if he manages to kill the Unmil. That bakemono’s destruction could make the difference between a medal and a firing squad. Understood?”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Good ...” he smiled his thanks and set off once more, mentally thanking Dale for being an idiot.

There was nothing more dangerous than a highly motivated soldier, and he felt he now had two instead of just one.

The next jaunt in his preparations took him to the war-materials deposit, where EWAC personnel worked on the improvised weapons to be used in the coming engagement. The deposit was made up of three separate compartments that curved around a common area. The first was a small room dedicated to assorted detonators and fusing systems for EWAC personnel, whilst a larger had been dedicated to small and medium caliber ammunition for the ROWAC force, along with hand-grenades and anti-armor munitions. The largest compartment, however, housed the astonishing consignment of explosives that had been dedicated to the construction of the path and the setting of booby-traps. Several tables positioned at the center of the common area were surrounded by combat engineers, and soldiers kept entering and leaving the largest compartment, carrying heavy brown sacks over their shoulders. Those sacks were being fitted into large backpacks while the remaining personnel installed the fusing systems.

A captain who had been overseeing the operation approached him and saluted, proving to be yet another EWAC captain whom Tora wasn’t familiar with.

“Sir, Captain Van Dyke, Sir. I command the Fortification Section, sir.”

“FORTSEC, right. That’s the name of your Hammerhead section, isn’t it?”

“Yessir. I’m overseeing the preparation of the charges, sir.”

“Drop the sirs, alright Captain? You don’t want you to tire yourself out before the fighting begins. But I would like you to give me an idea of how these charges work, if you don’t mind.”

Momentarily miffed at the colonel’s comment, the captain nevertheless showed the frog-swallowing talent needed in an officer and guided the colonel to the nearest table.