“Alright, Aaron. Keep us posted about your route.” Aaron heard Amelia through the well hidden bead in his ear. He could not feel it anymore; before he felt it ever so slightly jostling around, but now it felt like it had fused to his ear canal. He stepped over the dry crumbling log which laid across the unmaintained road. His foot landed in wet snow, melted below the now bright sun. The white, fluffy snow was traded for a brown, reddish, semi-solid mush which flowed down the rocks on either side.
A flock of Eckzahn scouting drones flew repeating patterns around the long, thin convoy heading up the switchbacked road, making sure they screened ahead for ambushes and any hiding spots in the small ravines and ditches. Aaron looked back, the “light” Eckzahn tank slowly drove right through the log, crumbling it into a thousand pieces. The big blaster cannon that stuck out from the small turret was raised upward, away from any friendlies. Whatever resistance they may come across would barely justify the small Anti-personnel missile pods on the top of the tank, which could seek out targets and change their trajectory mid air. The low key sensors that poked out from every angle caught the bright sun and reflected back right into Aaron’s eyes.
He continued walking, and scanning the far hill tops. He could hear Eckzahn Atsokn troopers behind him around the tank laughing and joking around. In between their cackles, he could hear music softly playing. From the tank he presumed, it sounded like a wheezing organ interpreted by long howl-like words. They seemed pretty content in their security. Why wouldn’t they be? There was no one here. They hadn’t come across anyone in hours, this was becoming little more than a glorified hiking trip.
“Chase, get your sector.” Aaron said sternly realizing the new private was looking at his feet.
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.” Chase said, standing up straighter.
…
Around the bend, Aaron spotted a small makeshift Eckzahn FOB. It consisted of a perimeter of parked vehicles, with a grounded Varlet AV in the center. There was a tangible relief in the air, their morning patrol was over.
As they approached the flattened plateau on the side of the road, he noticed no real initiative of the Eckzahn troopers and their attached EDA counterparts. Emplaced guns and launchers were manned, but none were paying too much attention. Near the center of the FOB the Varlet started its engines as soon as the last crate was taken off it. Each of the four engines fired simultaneously, throwing the now exposed wet dirt in every direction. The engines moved like independent legs which turned as the Varlet rose above the camp, each firing their blue exhaust to turn the vehicle to face down the mountain. Now, 15 meters above the camp, it slowly made its way down the gradual mountain slope back in the direction of the base.
“Shtop” an Eckzahn sergeant confronted Aaron’s lead EDA squad. He waved the tank behind them on, which had not stopped along with the humans. This was standard for mixed Eckzahn and EDA patrols. The EDA gathered alongside the makeshift checkpoint along the road as the Eckzahn part of their patrol contingent strolled into the FOB. The wolf officer in charge of Aaron’s EDA platoon walked up to the gate and stopped. The regular Atsokn troopers waved him in, but he declined, instead opting to stay with his platoon.
“Sergeant.” Lt. Ránsonn, the gray furred wolf, greeted Aaron’s human squad leader with surprisingly good English.
“Sir.” saluted Sgt Murphy, an older man with a few grey hairs in his otherwise black beard. He seemed to respect his officer’s decision to stay.
Once fully assembled and everyone was accounted for, they were let into the now crammed encampment.
Aaron took off his ill-fitting helmet that had been designed for a canine skull, and sat down in the snow along with his squad. He took a sealed ration from his pack. They still had another patrol planned for the day, going up further into the mountains, and he would need the strength. His squad followed suit.
He spotted his sergeant along with the other squad leaders speaking with Lt. Ránsonn. They saluted, split up, and his sergeant quickly turned and headed straight for Aaron.
“We are Oscar Mike in 30.” Sgt Murphy said. “Better get some rest now, we’ll be setting up our own bivy tonight”.
“Fuck” and other audible expltitives and groans caught Aaron’s ear.
“Don’t the damned wolves know it’s cold as balls out here?” someone behind Aaron blurted.
“That’s what your woobie is for. It's just one night. We’ll get transport off the mountain tomorrow.” The Sergeant replied, obviously not thrilled with the situation either.
“So the guys with fur get their own personal heating vests, while we’re stuck with some blankets and gloves.” Chase whispered next to Aaron. Aaron ignored him, took off his gloves and ripped the packaging, revealing dark brown, cracker-like food.
The rations were made for wolves, but by now Aaron has grown accustomed to the different tastes. He broke off pieces and ate them without issue. The same couldn’t be said for others in his squad. They forced the food down either way, they knew they needed the calories. The rations were perfectly fine for humans to eat, and even contained more protein than most human food, which Aaron used to great results in his early days in the EDA. However, the taste left much to be desired.
While he ate Aaron couldn’t help but look at the drones which had been delivered by the Varlet just feet away. This would be good to ask Madde about the next time he saw her. They were bigger than what Madde or other drone operators carried with them. These had engines like the Varlet, but smaller, about the size of the small wolf’s head standing next to them.
That wolf was quite small now that he looked closer, probably shorter than he. Her muzzle was a quite bright red, contrasting with her otherwise light gray fur. She was holding some tool, going around the three drones, making small adjustments as she yapped orders at another wolf. The bigger wolf left to fetch something. She was left struggling to prop up the drone to get underneath it.
Aaron got up and helped her pick up the drone. It was heavier than he expected, now he understood why the small wolf was struggling with it.
“?????” the small wolf said, as she got something that looked like workshop legs and put it under the drone. Aaron gently put it down. The small wolf tapped a few times on her Ismount as Aaron started to leave, “Thank you.” the Ismount echoed her translated word.
“?????” Aaron said back. Surprised by the human’s ability, her pale yellow eyes opened wide. She took a longer look at him
“You’re Madde’s human friend … right?” she asked.
He stumbled for words after she mentioned Madde. Had she talked about him to other Eckzahn? “Uh … yeah, w-we often go on patrols together.”
The small wolf looked at him with a hardly noticeable smirk and got back to work. Aaron traced back his steps to the drone. “Wolves can recognize each other’s scent, you can't smell her on me right?” Aaron asked in a hushed tone.
She chuckled, “I'm not a wolf, I'm a coyote. And no, you smell very much like a human.” She continued insouciantly setting up the drone, “I’m glad to have met you, though. Madde did say you were nice. Glad to see she was right!”
Aaron panically looked around to see if anyone was listening, “We’re just friends” he mouthed, before quickly getting back to his squad, who was by now noticing him lingering near the drones.
“Smooth.” Chase said from behind him as he sat down. Worried, Aaron looked back to see him smirking.
“No-” Aaron tried to say.
“No one’s judging, buddy.” Chase said, followed by some laughs from the group. Knowing it was useless, Aaron shook his head, continuing to eat his crackers.
…
Walking down the winding road again, Aaron’s squad was near the rear of the column. More of the same from that morning, covering their sectors on the look out for anything but trees and snow. As they got higher and higher into the mountains, the snow became thicker. Thankfully though, the tanks left a decent path to walk though.
Amelia kept buzzing in his ear the whole time. Really, he was glad for the distraction. Hours upon hours of nothing but walking could drive anyone crazy. She could talk endlessly about seemingly anything, even though he could only answer in whispered monosyllables every now and then.
“... So, Sparty is absolutely obsessed with Jeremy Brett’s portrayal of Sherlock Holmes. I mean, you probably noticed, what with him being an overly polite, condescending, pipe-smoking beanpole.” she continued from her recounting of her and Spartacus’s favorite movies. “One night, the base’s library was showing one of the Robert Downey Jr Holmes movies, and I decided to take him along. And he looked downright offended. I mean, I was afraid he was gonna throw his friggin popcorn!” She chuckled. “He ranted to me the entire way back to our cabin about how much he hated it. How RDJ looked nothing like the character, because he’s too short and has messy hair, how bombastic action destroys the spirit of Sir Doyle’s original vision, all that. I tried explaining to him that Sherlock Holmes is a nearly 150 year old character, and they had to switch something up so he doesn’t get stale, but he would have none of it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so angry.” She laughed heartily, sighing wistfully.
Aaron stifled a chuckle. It was funny imagining the stoic deer getting so worked up over his favorite human character getting mischaracterized in a schlocky Hollywood movie. Amelia seemed to have an endless supply of stories starring the deer.
“You seem to spend an awful lot of time with him.” Aaron whispered once he was a good few steps away from his nearest ‘comrade’. There was a good five seconds of silence. Aaron smirked.
“I mean, yeah, we work together a lot,” Amelia explained quickly, all her whimsy gone. “Sparty has the most experience out of all of us with alien tech, and he helped me develop algorithms for Eckzahn systems. And I was kinda his guide when he first joined. This was only a few months after the Invasion, you see, most people saw other aliens as no different than the wolves, so he wasn’t very trusted. And I vouched for him, and taught him English and all that…” She trailed off, probably realizing she’d shared too much. Aaron could almost hear her blushing.
“That was awful nice of you. I’m sure he appreciated that.”
“Stones and glass houses, Corporal Ludwig.” Amelia said more confidently.
“Hey, did I say anything?” Aaron whispered with a smirk.
“Just… don’t say anything to anyone. I’m not sure how the others would take it.”
“Hey, keeping secrets is kinda my day job.” He chuckled, then mentally cut the connection, realizing the others were approaching.
Aaron looked at his Ismount, they were getting close to the trailhead. The plan was to split up, the vehicles cleared the main road and push whoever into the woods, and send bodies up the trail to flush any FEM out. He could see the routes and positions of both teams, and highlighted areas to search along their way identified in advance as potential places to hide.
When he heard a grumbling buzz, he looked up and saw a pair of drones. The same drones that he’d helped that coyote with. Passing him, the engines slowly faded away over the hill. Looking briefly at his Ismount, the drones were roughly following the unkempt trail marked on the tablet.
As they got to the trailhead, there was a sign. It was worn, but he could still read “Barr Trail” he whispered out loud.
“You’re turning onto Barr Trail? Got it.” Amelia said over the bead. He looked at the other column staying on the main road.
“Would be nice if we could have tank cover on the trail.” Aaron said to Chase who was walking just in front of him. He looked back confused “Yeah, why don’t they just send a whole ass ship down the trail? That would save us a lot of time.” sarcastically doubling down on Aaron's absurd statement.
“Vehicles are on the main road and you’re going up Barr Trail?” Amelia asked.
“Yeah”, Aaron responded to them both.
The squads up ahead had already left a clear trail. The path started switchbacking, the man in front of him would disappear around a corner concealed by trees and brush, seeing only their icon on his visor.
One of the drones above suddenly turned, then raced back toward the trail from its regular sweeping pattern. Reaching a point about fifty meters ahead it stopped and began a slower circling motion.
“Contact front.” Aaron heard Sgt Murphy say over the Eckzahn comms. He rushed around the switchbacked trail’s corners. He saw the friendly markers stopped and gathered on the tight trail up ahead through the trees on his visor. He pushed through his EDA comrades with their blasters pointed down the trail.
There were two civilians, a man and a woman. Their arms were raised high in the air. There were Eckzahn troops trying to climb the steep hill and search for any other potential threat, while one approached the two and grabbed the two rifles half-buried in the snow. Aaron looked the two up and down. He didn’t recognize them from the FEM base, although he’d only been there for a short time.
“What’s going on?” Amelia said quietly through the hidden bead, “Wait, don’t answer that.”
“Keep your hands up, and step up to us,” Aaron’s squad leader said calmly but sternly. Aaron tried to get a step closer to him, perhaps Amelia could hear what he’s saying.
“We tracked deer here, I swear. Nothing more.” the man stated as he stepped carefully into the tracks made into the snow.
“Stop” the sergeant stretched out his hand, “Corporal, search them”.
Aaron put his blaster on his back, and he stepped up to the man. An Eckzahn trooper stepped back onto the trail and aided Aaron in searching them. The wolf patted the woman down, his large paws going through her coat, inadvertently pushing around the smaller woman from the mismatch in strength. He sniffed the air around her, kneeling down to get a better angle, making her visibly uncomfortable.
Aaron opened the man’s coat and found more layers, “We live just a few miles down the road. I saw a buck on our property and shot it, I musta’ve hit it wrong because he made it across the road.” Aaron felt the inner pockets of his jacket and pulled out four extra bullets. He threw them on the ground and kept looking.
“What is this all for? Hunting isn’t illegal now, is it?” the man asked, visibly more agitated.
“???? ?? ?????!” the wolf behind him said sternly, which made him second guess his loose lips.
Aaron looked for any signs of FEM affiliation, something blue, a piece of cloth or anything else. He could probably hide it from the others if he was subtle about it. He felt some plastic bag, and took it out. It was some homemade jerky. He put it back.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
“We shouldn’t have anyone in your area” Amelia said, with noticeable stress in her voice. “Let me, uh get back to you”.
To his relief, Aaron failed to find anything that would lead them to Beaver Creek. “They’re good, Sarge.”
“Thought as much,” Murphy nodded. Most of the EDA and Atsokn troopers had turned away, realizing the two civvies were not a threat.
“Get outta here,” The Sergeant grunted, waving them away. “And stay home for the rest of the day.” The couple dropped their hands, sighing in relief.
“Can we have our rifles back? We got licenses.” The man said.
“Benny, leave em be. We gotta count our blessings.” The woman spoke up for the first time.
“No. For everyone’s safety, you will be leaving without them.” Murphy said matter of factly.
Aaron walked over to the man and handed back the loose bullets.
“Oh great, thanks”.
“Martinez, Taylor, grab those rifles. Hold onto em”. Without a word the two grabbed the rifles and put them over their shoulders.”
“??????? … .Tvo civilans are coming dovn ze hill. Let zem pass, ve haf already searched them.” the young Wolf lieutenant echoed over both the radio channels.
…
After another hour or so of patrols, Aaron’s squad rotated into the lead. The small encounter with the hunters kept everyone vigilant.
“Good news!” Amelia’s sudden voice startled him. “Well, hopefully good news. I confirmed that we haven’t sent anyone on that trail you’re on. We dooooo have an observation outpost to the north, but from the looks of it you will follow the main roads and won't even go near it.”
Aaron let out a sigh as a response, which anyone around would have interpreted as fatigue.
The next few hours were quiet. If it weren’t for the intermittent buzzing drone sounds and occasional order or two barked, this could qualify as a decent winter hike. The uniform and armor were warm enough, and the sun beamed down on them between the tree cover.
Before long, Aaron took his turn as the pointman. He looked around the now slowly weaving trail to see an unmarked fork in the trail, with tracks leading up the smaller of the two routes.
He looked at the unmarked trail, his visor’s compass displayed the Eckzahn symbol for north right above it. He stopped.
“Those look fresh,” Sgt Murphy knelt beside him. “B-1 to 1-1. There’s a trail not marked on the BOTR with prints. Advise.”
“Halt, I will observe”, the voice of the wolf lieutenant came over the comms. He hurried his way up to the front, passing a few of his EDA troopers.
“Not one of ours, I don't think,” Murphy said as the wolf caught up to them, “don’t stop c’mon, make a perimeter” the sergeant waved the column forward. They did so, with Aaron’s squad staying put at the fork.
The wolf officer pressed a button on his Ismount, and began speaking Siglunes. No doubt talking to some higher command. Aaron could only hope that they would stay on the trail, but stood near the lieutenant to listen in anyway.
“We follow tracks, Ennar blatoon will endefour down trail” the wolf officer uttered the words Aaron feared, “Drone will look ahead”.
Aaron’s gaze met his sergeant’s, and he quickly took point and started up the even narrower trail.
“North we go,” he muttered to himself, knowing Amelia would pick up on it. What followed was an intense silence. Was it five minutes, or fifteen? He could only hope that she heard him.
The tight trail weaved through small openings in the trees and through a ravine. The short trees dripped melted snow down the sharp rocks on either side. Another long and narrow 100 meters lead the trail onto another dirt road. Aaron stopped at the edge of the trees, looking down both ways of the road, waiting for his comrades to catch up.
There were tire tracks through the shallow snow, exposing the dirt underneath. This wasn’t the road they came up the mountains on, and those weren’t wheeled tracks of the Eckzahn tanks. They were much thinner, and in single rows.
“Bikes” his sergeant walked out onto the road with less regard “which way though.”
“That way” Chase said pointing north, “my cousins and I used to ride motocross in the mountains all the time. You can tell by the tracks, they’re pointed that way” he points north again.
Lt. Ránsonn walked out onto the road, and having heard the conversion was getting frustrated with the humans’ lack of initiative “Go north, what are you waiting for!”.
Aaron crossed to the far side of the road. Aaron could hear the Lieutenant speaking in Siglunes behind him. Something about reporting that they are going north, and requesting drone support to scout ahead, and for more help to head to their position.
They followed the tire tracks down the road for a while, now on the trail of someone, the mood of the patrol changed. What felt like a pointless adventure had turned into a hunt. Aaron could feel himself more dutifully watching his sector, making sure to look into the trees and behind rocks. The flatter road allowed them to make a more cohesive watch, but they were now more exposed.
“Aaron” Ameliea’s much more serious voice startled him again. He lowered his blaster slowly after being startled.” y’know that outpost I mentioned earlier, well you’re headed right for it.”
Oh great, Aaron thought to himself.
“I just told them to get out of there. But If you continue down that road, at the pace you’re currently at, they might not have enough time to clear everything out. I need you to stall. Doesn’t matter what, just give us like thirty minutes.”
Chase took point, the others playing catch up. A smaller Fjalir scout drone raced past them, followed quickly by another. They headed down the road flying low, just a few feet above Aaron’s head. The Eckzahn Atsokn squad behind them must have put them up. Aaron picked up his pace. He didn’t know where this base Amelia spoke of was, but those drones would find it before he did.
As the drones became dots in his vision, Aaron strained to keep his eyes on them.
“?????” Aaron heard over his radio from one of the drone operators, The Eckzahn word for “Made contact with potential enemies, investigate".
“Let’s go!” Aaron’s sergeant started to pick up their pace, the rest of the column followed suit. For several hundred meters they quickly made their way through the snow covered road. Every step Aaron dreaded what the drones found. Was it the base Amelia was talking about? What else could it be? He wanted to ask Amelia, but it was too risky to contact her.
Aaron heard a rumbling engine noise behind him. He looked back and saw two Eckzahn Hraun APCs. Lt. Ránsonn yelled from behind “M?ke way”, and waved everyone to the side.
The Eckzahn APCs were purposefully designed for offroading, the tires effortlessly dug into the road and carved through the snow raced past them. When they neared the circling drones, the doors popped up. Atsokn troopers poured out and pointed their blaster into the woodline, and started yelling something. The small rounded turrets pointed in that same direction.
When he got closer, Aaron saw the origin of the tracks they were following. There were a group of five humans on their knees, hands on their heads. Some of the Atsokn troopers were searching the surrounding area, while the others were inspecting the dirt bikes parked in the snow.
He looked at their faces. Like the hunters, he didn’t recognize them from the Beaver Creek, but couldn’t be sure. They were young, younger than him. The oldest, a big, jock-looking guy, looked no older than nineteen. Seeing him and the EDA, they seemed relieved somewhat. Perhaps they believed they’d never get an ambassador to the wolves.
“Hey you!” The jock shouted, looking in Aaron’s direction, “Tell these dogs we ain’t done nothing!”
Aaron looked around. Their bikes were neatly put away. A few feet from them laid a joint, the hot ashes quickly melting the snow around it. This was good, Aaron thought. Not only did these dipshits probably not have a permit for their bikes, but also had illegal drugs. This would make for a perfect distraction. Maybe even if he was harsh enough, he could even push them into the FEM’s arms.
Aaron picked up a small backpack and started picking through it. The rest of his squad had caught up by then, “Corporal, Private search them.” Aaron’s Sergeant pointed to the five kids. Chase and another corporal started to shake them down.
Aaron pulled out blue electrical tape, and inspected it. Perfect, he thought. His sergeant walked up to him and Aaron handed over the tape, “FEM colors, chief”. Aaron heard a scoff behind him.
“Yeah, it’s blue, asshole. You gonna shoot the fuckin’ sky next?” One of the kids, a tall skinny blonde teen, sneered, “My dad works construction, rebuilding from the Invasion and shit. I help him, and I kept that from a job.” He stood up and started taking wide steps up to Aaron, reaching for the tape.
Aaron thought of just telling the boy to stop, then recognized the opportunity fate had laid before him.
“Sorry, kid.” he thought, inwardly wincing.
Aaron struck the kid’s nose with his blaster stock. He fell down on his ass, his hand clutching his now bleeding nose, howling in pain.
“You dog-walking motherfuckers!” The jock snarled, approaching Aaron with clenched fists. Chase aimed his blaster for the muscular teenager, giving Aaron a quick look of shock. The other kids were getting up, shouting and cursing with all the ill-advised bravado that growth spurts and teenage hormones provided. The EDA were shouting back orders and threats, blasters aimed, shock batons flaring, a few shoves and grapples already occurring.
Aaron had to fight hard not to smirk. “Bingo.”
An Eckzahn trooper leg swept the biggest one, throwing him violently to the ground, then knelt on him with his full weight. Aaron restrained the teen closest to him, wrestling him on the ground with an arm twist without any further violence.
“Anyone have cuffs, zipties?” Sgt Murphy asked, himself on top of one of the teens.
One by one the kids were pacified, some more willingly than others. An Atsokn trooper pulled out an Eckzahn tie gun. He placed it at the clasped hands of the teens and pulled the trigger. A tough plastic band wrapped around their wrists and closed itself off.
“We didn’t do anything!” the kid Aaron had hit cried, blood now covering half his face, “We just wanted to get away and chill… maybe smoke some, but that’s it!”
“Can’t do shit any more man…” another kid chimed in.
“Do you haf a permit for your ve-hic-els?” Lt. Ránsonn bent down and asked him.
“What? No, they’re bikes.”
“They are motor-ised are they not?”
“They’re utility vehicles, you don't need a permit for them.” the jock retorted, now recovered from his slam.
“Are you an expert on new vehicle laws?” Sgt Murphy, now knelt beside the teen he restrained, said.
“My dad is a cop in the city, unc. I know what I'm talking about.” Aaron’s sergeant shook his head and rolled the kid he restrained over and sat him up.
“You must haf a permit for these ve-hic-les”, Lt. Ránsonn scolded down to the teen. Aaron backed away from the group and picked up the backpack which had started this whole mess, and began searching it again.
“?ron” the soft voice startled him. He jumped and turned his head to see her standing close to him. Her face was of an expression he had not seen from her before. A mix of concern and disappointment.
“W-when did you get here!?” Aaron asked quietly.
“I came in the Hraun.” her eyes stayed locked onto his. Aaron quickly felt his gut drop. He turned away and busied himself with searching the bag.
“Are you oh-kay?” Madde crouched down next to him.
“I’m good.” Aaron replied quickly, overly analyzing each object. He felt her icy blue eyes continuing to bore into the back of his head.
“Why hit him so hard? He-he is young, he know not better.”
Aaron scoffed. “This ain’t exactly the first time we roughed up a civvie.”
“Yes. Them. Not you.”
Aaron’s hand froze inside the backpack. He felt her get closer. Without knowing, his head was bowed in shame. The kid he’d struck was taking it pretty well, save for moaning every now and then. He could feel his hateful eyes behind him, as powerful as the wolfess’s gaze of concern.
“You did what you had to,” He reminded himself “with any luck, you also scored the FEM some eager new recruits.”
Madde stretched her hand to hold Aaron’s shoulder, then thought better of it, given all the eyes on them. He went over to where the rest of the EDA were emptying out the backpacks, laying out granola bars, water jugs, playing cards and a football like they were cops on a drug bust. He subconsciously went as far away from them as he could.
“Goddamn, Aaron,” Amelia buzzed in his ear, a mixture of shock and strangely, sounding genuinely impressed. “Did they give you a PHD in ‘jackbooted asshole’ at the EDA Academy?”
Aaron bit back the angry response in his throat. “It worked, didn’t it?” He growled in a whisper. “Are the guys out of there?”
“Almost. With all the time processing little Hell’s Angels is gonna take, they got time to spare.” There was a pause. “Nicely done.” Aaron said nothing.
After another 15 minutes of searching and playing 20 questions with the kids, Sgt. Murphy ordered the EDA to release them. They hadn’t done anything really wrong, they just had some unlicensed motors and weed. Lt. Ránsonn was decidedly not happy.
“They broke the law! They shood be rebreman-did!” He grumbled.
“They weren’t hurting anyone, chief,” Murphy shrugged. “We’ll confiscate the motors and the joints, have a couple of my guys watch ‘em, then have one of the nearby patrols give ‘em a ride. Let them off with a warning.”
“They insult us! Call us ‘dogs’!” Ránsonn growled.
In what Aaron thought was an almost stupid display of defiance, Sgt Murphy took a step to the towering wolf.
“You wanna give the FEM more easy recruits, be my guest… Sir.” He said dryly. The canine said nothing.
After leaving behind two EDA privates to watch the now untied kids, the patrol went on.
“Alright… they cleaned the place up, didn’t leave anything behind. They’re already two clicks out, tracks covered up.” Amelia sighed in relief in his ear.
“????? ????? 400 ????? ?? ” Madde’s voice came over Aaron’s radio, lacking the grace it had before. It was colder. There was a cabin down the road, the drones having picked it up long before it was in view.
“And not a moment too soon,” Aaron whispered to Amelia, breaking the connection.
Sgt Murphy requested a search of the building. Madde’s drones scanned it. As expected, there were no signs of life or electronic signatures.
“That doesn’t necessarily mean anything,” Murphy mused, stroking his beard. “The rebels have been getting better and better at masking themselves lately.” Lt. Ránsonn nodded grimly in assent.
Sgt Murphy quickly formed a breach and clear plan. He ordered the platoon marksman up on a ridge where he had a clear view of the house and good rock cover. The heavy weapons team snuck through the treeline, taking cover behind a fallen log, ready to sweep any fleeing stragglers. Aaron’s squad was to sneak to the treeline behind the cabin and use assault ladders to get to the upper floor. The remaining squad was to remain in reserve.
Starting with the top floor made sense. Fighting your way uphill is generally an ill advised move. One guy with a machinegun could turn a stairwell into a fatal funnel. And once you reach the top floor, the stragglers adopt the mentality of cornered beasts. They know they have nowhere else to go, and they’ll fight to the death.
Meanwhile, if you start from the top, they’ll retreat downstairs, and eventually try to flee through the front door; right into the waiting muzzle of an LMG. Simple and effective.
Aaron led the stack, climbing up the ladder, then sweeping the window with his blaster. As expected, nothing. Chase was next, and each took position. Chase took out a flashbang and nodded. Aaron bashed the window into tiny shards with his blaster’s stock.
“GO, GO, GO!” Chase barked, tossing the flashbang inside. It went off, the deafening boom sending dust to float lazily through the broken window. The two men went inside, the rest of the squad not far behind. Aaron’s weapon mounted flashlight swept the room. It was empty, dust particles dancing in the air. A rotting table, old plastic chairs and rusted out cans of beans completed the picture of the entire upper storey. The floor was littered with old bottles with faded labels of a beer company that went out of business long before the Invasion.
“Clear.” Aaron spoke. They quickly moved downstairs. Two armchairs faced an old fireplace. Chase went and ran his hand through the ashes. “Stone cold.” he muttered. Aaron made a show of running his finger over a desk. It came thick with dust. Damn. The FEM guys were good.
“No one’s been here in months. Years, maybe.” He proclaimed.
Chase cursed. “Fat waste of time.” he muttered.
“Not really.” Sgt Murphy shrugged, coming down the stairs himself. “Now we know where the FEM are not.”
Aaron was about to respond, when he noticed something shimmering on a small table. It stood out from the dust and rust like a sore thumb. It was a new beer can tab. Likely tossed carelessly after it was separated from the can and forgotten.
Shit. Not that good it seemed.
“Come on, as if the rebels would be stupid enough to make their base somewhere this exposed!” Chase grumbled.
“Not their base. But this would have made a great observation post,” Murphy mused. He looked around with his watery grey eyes. “Quite frankly, I’m surprised we didn’t at least find signs of recent occupation.”
Aaron shuffled in front of the table. No one had noticed. Good. Very slowly, he placed a hand behind himself and felt for the tiny tab. The sound of the metal grating against the old wood made him cringe. He dropped it down his sleeve just as the others turned towards the faint sound. He had to suppress a sigh of relief.
Lt. Ránsonn walked into the now open main door of the cabin. He sniffed the air. “It is a shame.”
“Sir?” Sgt. Murphy, the only one brave enough to question the wolf, asked.
“You haf poll-uted the scene with your scent. I could have perhaps conducted a more throu-oh inves-tigattion.”
“They’re not here Sir” he wiped the dust covered counter with his gloves hand and held it up to the Lt. The wolf nodded and began inspecting the seemingly ransacked mini kitchen.
“This is a fool's errand,” Sgt. Murphy muttered to Aaron as he walked up to him. “In Afghanistan there was no enemy to seek out. It was the land itself. Every time we got ambushed, or some pot shots were taken at us, we systematically searched every green zone, every complex but we never found anything.” Aaron looked into his gray eyes and saw them darting back and forth, not really looking back at him. “We stopped civilians and searched them, but even if we found weapons, they were just trying to survive among the chaos that they were living in.”
