The Terran Mandate (25 page)

He grinned and hunkered down as he ran
to the carrier. He grabbed the hatch and said, "Don't miss," then
slammed it shut and pounded it twice. Bullets plinked against the skin of the
carrier as she and Dekker stared at the closed hatch.

"Let's go," he said. He
clutched her arm and pulled her to the front of the carrier. As they strapped
in, he could see Terran Guard soldiers less than fifty meters away on either
side of the carrier as they worked their way towards the last stand of Marines
at the rear of the communications center.

Lt. Simmons jammed the throttle forward.
The turbine screamed to life and the tires kicked an arcing shower of sand into
the air behind them as the carrier crawled up the slope of a dune. They leaned
forward against their harnesses as the carrier crested the top and pitched over
the steep backside. She grappled with the control grip as the carrier swayed,
practically swimming through the sand and away from the Marines of Bravo One
Nine, First Squad.

Her lip quivered and tears streaked down
her face as she sucked in a sharp breath before letting out a profane whimper.
"Fuck."

Escape

Its turbine whining with the strain of
full power, the carrier scurried down the back side of the next dune, hidden by
the folds of sand hills stretching out from the communications complex. Once at
the bottom, the transmission spooled up to grind the wheels into the sand and
climb the next hill. The wheels spewed a trail of sand into the air as the
carrier clawed at the dune like an animal fleeing its hunter. The turbine and
drive shaft wailed with a strained chord, out of tune with each other,  as if
cyring out,
"I'm trying. I'm trying to take you away from them. I'm
trying to find my way back to the endless sea of desert ground where we can run
and run. And I am so tired. I'm trying."

Strapped into the driver's seat, Lt.
Simmons strained to keep her grip on the throttle as the carrier heaved and
groaned against its suspension.

When Preston's com panel ripped loose
from its straps and slammed onto the deck of the rear compartment, Dekker said,
"Ease up, Lieutenant." He looked over his shoulder to see the panel
sliding across the deck. "Our cargo isn't secure."

"After this last dune,"
Simmons said, anger biting through her words.

Dekker fought to watch the monitor in
front of him as his head jolted to the side when the carrier dug through a dip
in the dune's slope. The stabilizers on the rear camera were fighting to keep
the image from bouncing around on the monitor but the buildings of the complex
bobbed and weaved while swarms of Terran Guard troops crept closer to the few
remaining Marines huddled in the center compound. A constant billow of smoke
from their weapons floated across the ground as they fought to hold onto the
last moments of the attack for as long as possible. Dekker cringed as seconds
were counted by the crumpling and pitching of his Marines dying at phase line
Alamo. He had told them all the same thing. He couldn't help wondering if any
of those dying on the monitor in front of him were among those who understood,
or those who were just following orders.

Maybe Lane had been right. Maybe it was
just about orders. Maybe decisions were best left to those who had been
appointed to make them. Dekker gave himself a moment to let that thought float
through his mind as the Terran Guard mowed down the last of his Marines holding
out in the compound. Then he tossed it aside and covered it over with the will
that came from what he knew was right. He ignored the thought, blinding out
everything except the reality of his battalion disappearing before his eyes.

He had nothing left except a decision
that put him and Lt. Simmons in an uphill battle where everything had to go
right - and probably wouldn't. His only solace was that the Paladin faced the
very same fight. Whether or not losing his Marines was worth that chance was
another thought he buried deep and covered over with the growing weight of his
will. Many thoughts would have to be put in graves before this was over.

He reached forward to press a button to
switch the display, his finger bobbing in the air from the vehicle bucking as
it dug towards the dune's peak. He thought to close his eyes as he gave up and
latched his hand onto his knee. Unable to look away, he watched as the Terran
Guard ran past his fallen Marines and stormed into the communications building.
Moments later, they trotted back out. Some ducked into the other two buildings
while others lay down at the far side of the compound. Dekker flinched as the
communications building erupted in a burst of flame and smoke, shreds of wall
and equipment raining into the sky.

"We'll need to find a good position
to align the signal as soon as possible," he said, still straining to be
heard over the turbine and the carrier's frame creaking with the exertion of
climbing the dune.

"I need a minute," Simmons
said.

"For what?"

"I just lost my best squad. I need
a minute."

Dekker studied her face as she stared
through the windshield. Unable to push the throttle any further, she twisted
her hand around it instead. She fought with the control grip, yanking it with
reflexive instinct to keep the vehicle from toppling over. He recognized her
expression as one he had worn many times as she tapped a growing well of anger
to overwhelm the urge to stop and let the ocean of everything else wash over
her. He had to let her do it, too. That ocean was endless and once awash in it,
there was no return.

For his part, that ocean was somewhere
in a place called the Highlands, and his escape had been a decision. Whether or
not it had worked - he still didn't know.

The crest of the dune loomed in front of
them, but Simmons kept the throttle jammed forward. The carrier reached the top
and leapt over the crest, flying low over the slope as it dropped down below
them on the other side.

"Ease off!" Dekker yelled. He
reflexively kicked his feet, trying to use rudder pedals that didn't exist to
stabilize the vehicle as it yawed. He clenched his teeth, bracing for the
vehicle to land and tumble sideways. "Lock it up."

The vehicle hit the sand at a quartering
angle and leaned to the side far enough for the bottom of Dekker's door to
scrape the ground. Simmons jammed the throttle back and slammed the control
grip to the side to turn into the landing. Both Dekker and Simmons slammed
forward against their harnesses as the back end of the vehicle rose up,
threatening to flip over. The back end hung in the air and then slammed back
into the ground. The front wheels came off the ground a few feet and then
dropped back into the sand as the vehicle rocked to a stand-still.

Lt. Simmons let go of the throttle and
the control grip. Panting, she asked, "Did you say 'lock it up'?"

Dekker cleared his throat. "Uh,
yeah, I guess I did."

Simmons smirked. "What's next, are
you going to tell me this is unsat?"

"Lock up that unsat trash,"
Dekker said, a smile creeping across his face.

Simmons chuckled. "I never thought
I'd miss boot camp," she said. She leaned back and stared at the roof,
letting out a long breath.

"It was pretty simple and all made
sense, I suppose," Dekker said.

"None of it made sense,"
Simmons said. She shook her head, as if clearing her mind. "But it was
simple enough."

"Ever notice," Dekker asked,
"how everything you really need to know comes from basic?"

"Like recon and surveillance?  The
really useful stuff came later."

"Well, sure. For me, it was
infantry leadership training. That's not what I mean."

"You mean how to think."

"Improvise. Adapt. Overcome. It's
at times like this when those words mean the most. This is when their true
meaning comes to light."

"We still have a mission. I know
that, sir. But I still need a minute. We're tighter in recon than most."

"What is that mission,
Lieutenant?"

"You're just not going to give me
that minute, are you?"

"The mission."

Simmons pinched her nose and closed her
eyes. "We need to establish the uplink and fire the STI after the Paladin
has lured the Second Brigade into its track."

Dekker smiled. "No." He spoke
slowly, letting each word linger. "What is your mission?"

She opened her eyes and looked at him.
Her eyes flickered and the her face went slack. "That they shall not
perish," she said.

"That's right. And there are very
few of us left to perish. You lost a squad. I lost a battalion. And the Second
Brigade is bearing down on the Pyramid. We really only have one enemy
left."

"The Old Scrolls?"

"No." Dekker turned off the
camera display on his monitor and watched the image fade until all he could see
was his own ghost of a reflection in the screen. "The only enemy left is
extinction."

Arrival

Lt. Simmons eased the throttle forward
and angled the control grip to maneuver the carrier up an incline of hard
packed dirt and onto a flat shelf behind a ridge overlooking the Paladin's
position next to the Pyramid.

Dekker dialed in the frequency for Major
Walker and activated the sampling system to create the encryption keys for his
next transmission. The center screen on the radio console flashed a yellow
banner while it calculated the keys and then flashed green.

"Two Bravo Delta, Two Bravo Delta,
this is Enforcer Six, over." Static hissed in his headset as he counted
the seconds ticking by. "Two Bravo Delta, Two Bravo Delta, this is
Enforcer Six, over." He started counting again as the hiss resumed.

The Paladin's voice sounded like his was
talking through a tube, but it was strong enough for Dekker to hear over the
whine and creaking of the carrier. "Enforcer Six, Two Bravo Delta Actual,
five by five, go ahead."

"Good to see you again,
Major," he said.

"You too, Colonel. It's been too
long." Dekker's heart thumped with pride. The words rang out to him from
across time, the first words he had heard that let him believer he had made the
right decision.

"What's the plan?" Major
Walker asked.

"Right. We're en route to our setup
for the STI shot. I don't have a time estimate, but the Second Brigade still
has a battalion loose,  so I'm guessing they won't start moving against your
position until they reorganize."

"How did it go over there,
Colonel?"

Dekker considered telling him the truth.
The Paladin was entitled to that much, but it wouldn't help him in the coming
mission. "It was a cakewalk."

"Glad to hear it. I haven't heard
anything from my listening posts, so I think we still have some time. Let me
know when you're ready and we'll back them right into a corner."

Dekker looked over his shoulder at the
contraption they still had to connect, untested, and fire blindly according to
a time table pulled from a hacked console in the heat of battle. "It's not
quite that simple, Major," he said. "We need you to put them in a
specific target area on a hard clock."

The radio hissed. Dekker eyed the
console as he waited for the response. "I see," Walker said.
"Well, if it was easy, they wouldn't give us combat pay. How long?"

"About an hour . I'll have a time
hack for you in a bit."

"That's a little short. The Second
Brigade needs to be show up within the next half hour if we're going to make it
a date."

"I hear you. I'll be in touch
shortly. Dekker out."

He flipped off the transmitter and asked
Lt. Simmons, "We ready?"

Simmons eased back the throttle, letting
the turbine settle into a hissing whine and unbuckled her harness. "Let me
call the boys in and then we'll get this thing set up." She tapped her
headset. "Badger Second, Badger Six, do you read?"

"Lima charlie. We were beginning to
wonder if you were coming back." She eyed Dekker and let out a quick
breath. "Badger First is down. We're all we have left."

A wisp of wind sent a sheet of sand
scuttling across the ground while she waited for the response.
"Understood. We have your bearing. On our way."

"Hurry," Simmons said.
"Badger Six out."

Dekker unbuckled his harness and opened
his hatch. As his heart settled back from the urgency of their flight, he
started to feel the ache in his lower back. He groaned as he eased his leg out
of the foot well and onto the dismount step.

"Sorry for the ride, sir,"
Simmons said, straining to hide a smile.

"We got out in one piece. Good
ride," he said. He pulled his other leg back with his hand and a twinge
shot up through his back. Stifling another grunt, he swung out of his seat and
stepped down off the carrier.   He stretched and leaned forward, bending
forward on one knee and then the other to stretch out his muscles. He stretched
his neck to either side as he strode towards the ridge, his pulse quickening as
the tip of the Pyramid appeared just over the crest.

As he took the final steps to the crest,
the Pyramid revealed itself in the valley below, its pulsating blue glow
visible even in the mid-day light of the Shoahn' sun. He estimated it was at
least a kilometer away, maybe more, as he made a mental note to check the range
with his plasma rifle.

The Paladin's Cats standing between him
and the Pyramid in three lines of four, forming an echelon firing line. With
the Pyramid to his north, they faced off to the east on his right, the lances
painted underneath their cockpits pointing towards the expected avenue of
advance from the Second Brigade. Scanning the horizon from the line of Cats to his
far right, he saw no sign of their approach. That would have to change soon.

He tapped his headset. "Two Bravo
Delta, that's a fine looking assembly sir."

One of the Cats in the center line took
a step forward. Even at this distance, Dekker heard the thump of its foot
crushing the ground, along with the whirring servos and the snapping of
compressed air conduits. The Cat stepped forward with one foot and back with
the other, turning towards him. It repeated the cycle of forward and backward
steps three more times until the Cat was facing directly towards him. The frame
jerked as the control systems stabilized the frame and then it eased down into
a crouch.

Looking at the canopy, all he could see
was the sun glinting off its polished surface, but he knew the Paladin was
looking at him now. Something he had not felt in a very long time welled up
inside of him. Dekker stood at attention and snapped a hand salute.

Time stopped and let him stand on the
moment's edge of forever to soak in a universe that stood still. The past fell
away and the future turned quiet so that all that existed was the moment. The
battle to come was now the only battle there ever was or ever would be.

Even so, it never occurred to him it
would be their last.