Trident Fury (The Kurgan War Book 3) (7 page)

The warrior held out his hand. Barely above a whisper he said, “Water.”

Sheridan gave the man his canteen. He held it for the warrior as he took a sip. “You speak the word of the Lord. How do you know our language?”

“There isn’t time to explain. Who are you, and what are you doing out here?”

The warrior coughed up blood as he struggled to catch his breath. “My name is Sergeant Kaladas. We were on a scouting mission when our ship’s engine failed. We were pulled into orbit by the gravity of this planet.” The man took another sip of water and coughed. “We were lucky to survive our landing.”

“Are there any other survivors?”

“No. The animals got everyone else.” The man let out a wet, bloody cough. Sheridan helped him to wipe the blood from his lips.

“What were you scouting for?”

“Perlinium.”

Sheridan translated the conversation for Cole.

“Makes sense,” said Cole. “This is a quiet region of space. They could set up a mine here and no one would be the wiser. It’s not the first time the Kurgs have done this on our side of the border.”

Sheridan went to ask another question but saw that the warrior was not breathing; his eyes wide open. He reached over and closed them. He let out a tired sigh, stood up, and looked around. It was time to leave.
 

Moore waved over at Sheridan. “Sir, I think I can pry the ship’s computer free. Should I take it?”

“Yes, and be quick about it. I want to get out of here as soon as possible. All this noise will undoubtedly have made some of the inhabitants of the forest quite curious.”

Cole asked, “What do you want to do with the bodies?”

“If we had the time, I’d cremate them. However, we don’t, so we’ll just leave them where they are and let nature deal with them.”

The march back to the shuttle was slowed up by the wounded Marines and the need to avoid any predators. In the night sky, directly above them, hovered their UAV keeping a watch on the surrounding woods for any sign of movement. The more they trudged through the forest, the more curious Sheridan became about the dead officer. He suspected that the Kurgan was an engineer sent into Terran space to find uninhabited planets that could be exploited for their natural resources. He began to wonder if this were a sign that Kurgans were having a hard time keeping up with the voracious fuel demands of their fleet. But why send an officer from their elite Imperial Guard? His thoughts were interrupted when Lance Corporal Moore brought up a hand to stop the patrol.

“What’s up?” Sheridan asked.

“About one hundred meters shy of the shuttle craft is what looks like a family of large herbivores. I can’t tell how many of them there are from here.”

Sheridan waved for the UAV operator to move to his side. He took the controller and studied the picture on the screen for a minute. There were eight large animals with four smaller ones. His blood turned cold when he saw a small pack of predators making their way through the woods toward the plant eaters. If they spooked the larger animals and caused them to stampede, there was no way to judge the damage the tank-sized creatures could do if they struck their ship.

“That doesn’t look good,” said Cole, studying the picture over Sheridan’s shoulder.

“I’m open to suggestions.”

“Get the shuttle to take off and move to the alternate LZ to the east. It’ll add a klick to our trip, but I’d rather hike the distance than be trapped down here for who knows how long until another ship is sent down. Whatever we’re going to do, sir, we need to do it fast as the sun will be coming up in an hour or two, and that’s when the larger predators begin to stir.”

Sheridan nodded and relayed the order to the flight crew. A minute later, they all heard the sound of the shuttle’s engines as it flew over them and headed to the new pick-up point.

“Lead on and pick up the pace slightly,” Sheridan said to Moore.

They hadn’t gone more than a hundred meters when they heard a loud bellow from the direction of the herbivore pack. As one, the patrol froze in place and turned their heads to look behind them. Another creature cried out in fear, followed right away by several more.

Sheridan knew in that instant that the predators had struck. He was going to tell Moore to push on when he heard the sound of animals crashing their way through the forest. The noise grew louder by the second.
 

“They’re coming this way,” cried out Cole.

Sheridan took a quick look around and saw that there was no high ground around they could seek refuge on. There was only one thing they could do, he yelled, “Run!”

The patrol turned and sprinted as best they could through the woods. Uninjured Marines wrapped their arms around their injured comrades and helped them keep up. Behind them, the sound of the terrified animals charging through the underbrush filled the air.

Sheridan had an idea. He stopped in his tracks, brought up his rifle to his shoulder, took aim at a tree about fifty meters away, and fired a high explosive grenade at it. With a loud explosion, the tree split apart from the blast and toppled to the ground. If he thought the noise and light would make the animals turn and run in another direction, he was sadly mistaken. The pack was fixated on one thing—survival. He lowered his rifle and ran after the rest of the patrol. He had almost caught up with Cole when the world around Sheridan seemed to explode as a large three-horned beast burst through the forest. He glanced out of the corner of his eye as the massive creature, followed closely by a couple of smaller ones, ran straight past him. Sheridan never saw the tree root that caught his right foot and sent him tumbling to the ground. He rolled over and moved to one side just as another herbivore ran right over the top of him; its enormous feet barely missing his head. Just when it seemed the last of the giant beasts had passed him by, their tormentors burst through the woods. They had long snouts filled with razor-sharp teeth. The predators were covered in feathers and ran on their two hind legs. Sheridan watched as one tried to pounce on one of the smaller herbivores, only to be struck by the tail of a larger beast, sending the attacker flying off into the dark.

In a matter of seconds, it was over. Sheridan could still hear the wild melee going on somewhere in front of him, but for now it was safe where he was. He sat up and reached for his rifle. He was about to get up when he realized that it was quiet. Not even the omnipresent swarms of mosquitos could be heard.
 

He was being hunted.

Sheridan reached down with his thumb and changed his rifle’s setting from safe to full auto. As quiet as he could, he got up to his feet and looked around. He couldn’t see whatever it was that was stalking him, but he knew it was out there waiting for a chance to strike. Sheridan activated the thermal sight on his weapon and moved around slowly trying to acquire his target. He wasn’t sure if the creatures were warm or cold blooded. He just hoped that they showed up in his sights.

The thought of being eaten alive turned Sheridan’s mouth dry with fear. Facing an enemy in battle was one thing, but being hunted by a creature that wanted to devour you alive was another thing altogether. Tension gnawed at Sheridan’s insides. A couple of seconds had passed before he saw a bright green shape moving slowly through the woods trying to get around behind him. He followed it through his sights until it came to a complete stop. He watched it lower itself as it prepared to charge him. Sheridan knew that he had mere seconds to bring it down before it was on him. He placed his weapon’s reticle pattern dead center of the predator and began to take up the slack on his trigger. The attack, when it came, still managed to surprise Sheridan.
 

With a loud hiss, the creature charged out from behind a giant fern and leaped up into the air with the razor sharp talons on its feet aimed straight at Sheridan. He pulled back on the trigger and fired off a long burst into the attacking predator. The rounds tore into the beast’s exposed stomach and came out its back. Sheridan turned and moved to one side as the monster landed on the ground precisely where he had been standing a second ago. The creature let out an angry hiss and turned to look over at Sheridan. He was stunned to see that it was still on its feet. Without aiming, he emptied what was left in his magazine into the predator. Blood and feathers flew as the bullets ripped the animal to pieces. Its eyes rolled up into its head as it tumbled to the forest floor. Sheridan, still expecting it to be alive, edged forward and kicked the carcass with his foot. When it didn’t move, he let out a breath and rushed to change the empty magazine on his rifle for a full one.
 

The buzzing from the mosquitos returned. Sheridan had never been so happy to hear them in his life. He took their return as a good sign. He turned his head and listened. In the distance, he could hear the noise of the larger animals running through the forest beginning to fade. He took a quick look around to make sure that he truly was alone before heading off after his teammates.

It took less than a minute before Sheridan ran into Cole. “What kept you?” asked his friend.

“I tripped over a root and then found myself being eyed as the main course for one of the raptors,” replied Sheridan, remembering the term for the creatures. “Where is the rest of the patrol?”

“Moore has them. We came out in a clearing, so Moore’s guiding in the shuttle as we speak. Come on, sir, let’s get the hell off this planet.”

“I couldn’t agree more, Sergeant.” With that, they jogged to rejoin their comrades. Minutes later, the shuttle closed its side door and began to lift off into the star-filled night. Exhausted, Sheridan sat back in his chair. The adrenaline that had been keeping him going was starting to fade. He reached into his pocket and pulled out the slender tablet he had found on the dead Kurgan. He turned it over in his hands. Sheridan had never seen anything like it. He read the lettering on the back of the device and saw that it was a gift from the Kurgan’s father to Lieutenant Kulon on the day of his commissioning in the Kurgan military. A small pang of remorse came over Sheridan. He had never thought of his enemy as having a family. To date, he had only seen them as cruel and sadistic opponents who had started a war that had already seen hundreds of thousands of casualties on both sides. He put the tablet away and closed his eyes. It did not take long for sleep to wash over his tired body.

Cole saw his friend begin to fade, smiled, and reached for a headset to drown out the loud snoring he knew was seconds away.

Chapter 6

Heat, hotter and more oppressive than anything Tarina had ever felt in her life rushed inside the cramped landing craft the moment the doors slid open.
 

“Get out and form up in three ranks,” barked a Chosen sergeant at the prisoners.

Tarina and Wendy moved outside. Overhead, in a cloudless sky, the late afternoon sun baked the sand and the rocks at close to fifty degrees Celsius. They were already sweating by the time they joined their comrades.

A grizzled-looking Kurgan officer with several deep scars down his face stood on a platform, staring down at the assembled prisoners. He moved over to a microphone and spoke. His voice was instantly translated. “I shan’t welcome you here to Klatt as this is where you will remain until you die. My name is Commandant Kodan; it is my job to make sure that for however long you remain alive, I get the most out of you. You are alive for one reason and one reason only: to mine perlinium. The day you stop working is the day you die.” With that, the Kurgan officer turned and strode off the platform.

Wendy and Tarina glanced at one another, exchanging a worried look.

“You will follow me,” ordered the sergeant. He led the new group of captives toward a tunnel dug into the side of a rocky hill. As soon as they stepped inside, the temperature seemed to drop twenty degrees. For several minutes, the Chosen warrior steered them through a maze of tunnels until they came out into a large cavern. There were several Chosen soldiers standing there holding whips in their hands. They stared at the newcomers.
 

The sergeant raised his hand and yelled, “Halt.”
 

The cold, uncaring expression on the faces of the men with the whips frightened Tarina. They looked like they were used to dishing out pain with little or no remorse for their actions.

“I can only echo what the commandant has told you,” said the sergeant. “You cannot escape. Even if you could, you would be dead in a day or two on the surface of the planet. Work hard and you will be treated fairly. Work poorly and my men will make your life a living hell.” As if to reinforce his words, an emaciated man in rags was dragged from a side tunnel and thrown on the ground at the sergeant’s feet. He stepped back and made room for two of his men to work. They uncoiled their whips and before the poor wretch could plead for his life, they began to take turns flogging him to death.

Tarina cringed each time the whip made a sharp cracking sound as it cut through the air. Beside her, Wendy struggled not to cry.

In a matter of minutes, it was done. The man was dead and blood covered the ground where his body lay. “Let that be a lesson to all of you,” said the sergeant. He turned and snapped his fingers. A man with long, greasy hair and a thick red beard dressed in what was left of his Marine Corps uniform walked over to the warrior. The sergeant announced, “This man will be your group supervisor. You will answer to him and he in turn answers to me. Your lives are now in his hands.”