(eng) L. Bret Mills - Alliance Marines 02 by Battle Born

Author:Battle Born [Born, Battle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 32

Senari Settlement, Badlands, Gelt Homeworld.

Eli grabbed her ear again. When she turned her head, he motioned toward the rear. Her face streaked by tears, eyes wide and unfocused, she didn’t move but simply stared at him. He’d seen this same reaction in new recruits, facing the reality of battle. But the enemy was just over the ridge and they were pushing their luck. If they remained any longer, they would risk capture. This time, however, they wouldn’t be able to escape death

The young Gelta was still sobbing and unable to focus. Eli wanted to slap some sense into her, but he was too little. Besides, it was something he could never do. No matter what the circumstances, he couldn’t injure his rion. Quickly, he took his leash from around his neck and tied the end to her wrist and moved toward the rear. When she felt the tug, she seemed to come out of the trance long enough to stumble along behind him.

After they’d travel a ways, he turned and indicated for her to lean down.

Without changing expression, she squatted in the grass. “It answers some questions, doesn’t it?” he said after he had stepped between her knees.

Still dumbstruck, the Gelta didn’t reply for several beats. “Why?” she finally said. She wasn’t sobbing any longer, but tears were still streaming down her cheeks.

“That energy missile came from somewhere near here,” Eli said. “I’d say we just witnessed Seeth retribution.”

Zoiy glanced in the direction of the downed craft. “What could they possibly hope to accomplish by coming to this planet?”

“Building up out here in preparation for an attack on the population centers would be my guess. I’ll admit crossing space millions of light years from their bases would be a big gamble, but if it works, they could destroy the homeworld before the Gelt military has a chance to react.”

Zoiy pushed to her feet. “We’ve got to warn the authorities.”

Eli asked the most obvious question. “How? If we could contact anyone, wouldn’t we have already done it?”

“We’ve got to do something,” she replied, her voice was stiff and strained. “People are dying. Maybe we can find enough equipment in the village for you to rig a communication device.”

“It could be possible,” he said. Then, he remembered the children. “But, we aren’t alone.” he nodded pointed back down the trail. “Those kids are scared, hungry, and tired.”

The light was quickly fading and the young Gelta was becoming a dark outline against the sky. “You’re right, but any chance we have of survival is in the village. We’re out of food; and unless we go back to the underground stream, we’ll be out of water by tomorrow.”

“Let’s go back and talk to them,” Eli said. “Maybe there’s another village or house or refuge nearby.”

The children were exactly where they’d left them, huddled together in the scrub plants near the side of the path. Zoiy squatted and began asking them questions in their native language, but repeated their answers in Gelt like she mulling it over.

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