The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (67 page)

“They are my lord. They are already following and encircling them and the first three cohorts from the second legion are ready to attack as soon as we know the location of their base. I’ve also ordered the penalty squadrons to go deeper in to the jungle. They have the order to exterminate them on sight just as you ordered.”

Kobark rose and looked at the praetorian prefect.

“Our plans are starting to unfold my friend. Soon this world will be just one more peaceful colony of our empire.”

“Yes my lord.”

Kobark stood up and prepared to leave the room sand signaled the prefect to follow him.

Marak didn’t object knowing deep inside that when his father had a need of him he would be called.

He watched the next fight with more interest remembering the lesson his father had just given him.

                                                   Chapter Five

Arcadia Star System

The team moved swiftly, constantly watching for signs of any pursuit. For the first two hours it seemed that everything was going fine but then the first bad news hit them. The scouts reported noticing several teams of Dacarians moving towards them following a group of slaves that were also escaping in their direction. The problem was that they were moving from all sides. It was obvious that the Dacarians landed several teams using their shuttles upfront and as the pursuers positions were revealed it seemed that several teams were coming from the city as well. Rivers sent the snipers to the rear to shadow the followers and see if they’d picked up their trail. So far it seemed that they hadn’t but considering their movements it was obvious that they would soon.

He looked at Anderson and gestured him to come forward as his second in command saw him.

“What do you think?”

“We are screwed either way I see it. There is no way to avoid them, not all of them.”

Rivers knew Anderson was right. He thought for a second and then thought of the group of escapees the Dacarians seemed to be following. They were moving straight away from the camp and moving fast. As for the way they were escaping it didn’t seem like they knew where they were going. They were going deep in to the jungle towards the marshes and one of the large rivers that seemed to be separating civilization from the wilderness on this world. It was a river Rivers hoped to avoid considering the several predators that lived in its waters. They weren’t reptilian not like the crocodiles back on Erath, but several kinds of fish that were a mix between a shark and a crocodile very much alike to the kinds of animals that inhabited Earth’s oceans in the cretaceous period maybe even before that.

And they were also heading toward at least two hunting teams that were coming from that direction. He remembered Jenkins report about them. The first team had fourteen, the second eighteen legionaries and they were armed to the teeth. At the time he turned his team away from them moving back to base but now it seemed that their way was cut off. The Dacarians unintentionally were cornering him and he knew that if the situation didn’t change they would have to make contact. He was hoping to avoid it but looking at the way the situation was worsening with each passing moment there was no way to avoid eliminating some of the Dacarian teams. It seemed that the first two teams were the best choice considering the number of legionaries trailing the escapees from the other sides. The first two teams were the best option for a quick action.

“It seems that we will have to make contact. We have to leave this territory. I remember Doc saying several of the attackers were with the escaped slaves as well.”

Anderson looked at his commander. The strong black seal seemed to take a moment to think and then he smiled.

“Yes I think he said at least two were with them.”

As he watched his commander he couldn’t stop the smile appearing on his face. He and the major went a long way back and he instinctively knew what Rivers was planning.

As Anderson smiled Rivers smiled as well. The moment they’ve been dreading and anticipating was here.

“I think we should help our new friends a little. We use them and trap their pursuers. Tell Doc and Jenkins to move ahead I want them to shadow Alpha and Bravo while we prepare to meet them.”

None of the soldiers said anything. They all knew their jobs and one by one they all started moving. Even before Rivers mentioned the location where they would trap the two unsuspecting teams of legionaries they all knew the location and the plan. It was something they planned well ahead and prepared in the first few weeks of the mission. They had fallback positions everywhere, they examined the terrain and prepared traps and as the decision was made they all started moving as one. The Dacarian legionaries were expecting an easy kill but they were about to learn that they got more than they bargained for.

Hogar and his team moved quietly across the thick jungle terrain. The fourteen legionaries knew of the group of slaves that moved towards them and were part of the several teams that were hunting them. He smiled at the thought. It was the right word even though the group had four humans, a Sicarian and two Lacarian soldiers among them according to the report. They had weapons that they probably took from the guards as they made their escape from the camp but they were no match for him and his men. They were members of the praetorian legion, the personal legion of the governor. He wasn’t part of the Al Mach clan and neither were his men, but they all were accepted in to Kobark’s personal legion after the Sicarian campaign. It was a great honor and proof of their value as warriors. He respected his opponents but he also knew that they were not in any condition to resist him or the other groups hunting them. Ten teams in total were going after this group and two more that were going towards the Mnaghuska or as the Illians called it Arges, the great river behind him that marked the beginning of the true wilderness of this world. He and his men had already eliminated a group of several Illians that were waiting close to the river, most probably for the escapees that were even now being shadowed.

He regretted that they were not a part of the larger hunt, the one that would bring the legions to the rebellion’s base but he had his orders and he would follow them.

He turned and signaled for three of the praetorians to move forward in scouting position. The teams that were following the slaves from the opposite direction informed him that the slaves should be close. Those teams were too far away to be of any use. They were just the bait in a sense making the slaves move towards him. It was a plan that was executed in the past and it always worked.

As the three praetorians signaled that all is clear ahead he and the rest of the men started moving forward.

While those thoughts went through his mind he wasn’t aware that this time the game was changed and that he was following the real bait and that this time he and his praetorians were the prey.

Jenkins observed the praetorians that were fast closing in on the position where the SF team laid their trap. He smiled as he thought of the surprises that would be waiting for the Dacarians upfront. The trap was simple and deadly. The seals used their training to create a trap from the resources that were available to them here and considering the density of the jungle there were plenty of options to choose from. As he watched the Dacarians moving in to the killing field he smiled and wondered which one would be the first to die.

Rivers observed the first three Dacarians entering the kill zone. They were the three scouts Jenkins reported but as he watched them he noticed that they were moving casually, not really expecting any trouble. Considering that their prey was still at least three hours away he guessed it was to be expected. He noticed one of the scouts signaling back and soon the rest eleven legionaries moved forward. They were big each more than seven foot tall and they were carrying an impressive array of weapons. As he watched them and their armor he noticed that it was different from the armor of the ordinary legionaries or the guards. He remembered his briefings and he smiled inside as he knew that their opponents were Praetorians. They were the Dacarian best and they were up against the human best.

He arrayed his team around the trap zone in covering positions that would give them overlapping fields of fire. And the kill zone in itself was impressive. He and his team had had one and half hours to create it and when you give a group of seals that much time and they know you are coming…it was a bad choice. The idea came from Doc. He used to be a green barrette before joining the seals. The Dacarians were entering into a kill zone created from nature’s own weapons.

One of the Dacarians noticed the place where they had lit a small fire and set their trap. He smiled as he noticed him signaling the leader and turning back and poking into the ashes looking for clues. The fun was about to start.

Hogar saw Olin picking the remains beside the fire and then poking in the ash.  He started moving towards him when he noticed the small cord that was hidden in the grass moving towards the ash.

“Stop!!!”

But even as he called deep in his mind he knew it was already too late.

Olin raised his head as he heard the shout and as he moved his hand he touched the wire. He tried to rise but at the same moment a big trunk, a huge tree that had to weigh at least half a ton slammed in to two of the praetorians standing just several meters away from him. The praetorians went flying in to the air and as they did Olin knew they were dead or gravely injured. He realized that he must have touched some trip wire but as he turned he was sure that he wasn’t the only one. A large arrow one of several went flying toward him and he ducked to the ground in an effort to avoid it. But even as he did he knew that it was in vain as small wooden stakes started falling from the treetops at incredible speed. He felt at least four striking him just before the fifth went through his head.

Hogar watched in fear and astonishment as his teammates, the praetorians under his command were falling all around him. He noticed Olin as he was stabbed by the stakes to the ground and five others as well, as stakes went through their shoulder blades and helmets. He knew that Maurka and Wingulf were dead, if not by the trunk that hit them then by the stakes that fell on them. He started running forward together with two other praetorians that were with him and also managed to escape the first set of traps. One of them didn’t reach far as he went straight through a hole and stabbed himself on the stakes placed on the bottom. He never noticed the second one dying from the arrow that flew from some hidden trap he just noticed the arrow that stabbed him in the arm. He turned for a second as he heard himself touching a trip wire. As he did he noticed the branch carrying spears rushing toward him from the back and as he tried to avoid it he went straight in to the one coming from the front. The two traps hit him one after another each stabbing him with three spears across his body.

He heard himself utter a gurgled scream and felt blood filling his mouth.

Before he died he noticed a strangely dressed human rising in front of him and smiling.

Then darkness took him.

The entire Dacarian platoon was dead in less than a minute. Two of the Dacarians managed to survive the wounds of the stakes that stabbed them one of them even survived the tree trunk that hit him. But they lived just several seconds more as Kelly and Anderson cut their throats.

After spending a moment to check the dead praetorians the nine human soldiers started moving quickly towards their next objective. They moved fast knowing that the escapees would soon run in to the second Dacarian team.

Eshmunkhilletz was the first one to notice the Lacarian soldier turning. He was pointing towards the front and indicating that he heard something. He looked at him and the three other humans and spoke in a language that sounded like human language. He understood some of the words so he knew that it was a language that was spoken by his people at least some of them in the past. It seemed that he was indicating that he heard a scream from the front.

He turned towards Isco.

The blonde haired man smiled.

He was the best one with languages among the four humans. He spoke fluently as best as he could the language of the Sicas, the Illians, Mags, Lantians, Acadians and several other races.

“He says that he heard a Dacarian scream.”

The name made them all freeze.

The group had twelve members when they started the run but they lost two along the way. They had wounds that were mortal and couldn’t keep up. The Illian died first and the Mag just shortly after took his own life knowing he would slow them down. As he remembered the powerful creature he honored him. The Mags were a brave race, one that lost their war just as the Illians had lost against the Dacarians. According to the stories both wars were fought a long time ago. He also remembered the stories about how his ancestors came under the Dacarian foot. He remembered the teachings passed on from the first slaves to come from Carthage, from Hanno. They didn’t come to this world but to some distant world up there in the stars where the gods reside.