We're on the hunt again. This time only half the group: me, Esco, Will, Itami and Forn. Everyone else in my C1-2-2D4 platoon is either wounded or infected. As it turned out later, the sick people explored the area south of the shuttle and there all five of them caught this alien infection, which is why now those who are unable to walk are suffering, covered with some strange green round spots on the skin.
Fortunately, modern medical equipment and treatments can help people recover from any disease. However, due to the lack of energy in the shuttle, the ninth will have to use only anti-infective drugs, and they do not guarantee one hundred percent survival of the sick. We can only hope that they will soon develop immunity on their own and return to duty without unpleasant consequences for the body.
We, in turn, put breathing masks on our faces due to the fact that we found out that the virus entered the bodies of our guys through airborne droplets. It will be safer and more effective not to lose fighters in the form of ninths at the moment so that we can complete our current tasks of hunting alien animals to the fullest.
While exploring one section of the jungle, guess what? The rain was still continuing and, apparently, was not a natural phenomenon of nature, but most likely was some kind of anomaly. It can't rain forever, right? What little soil we saw was gradually washed away right before our eyes, exposing tree roots and bedrock with clay.
We, while exploring the jungle in search of the local inhabitants of the planet, meanwhile started a casual conversation among ourselves.
"Who was Ashwani?"
Esko asked out of curiosity. It was strange to hear this from him, especially knowing that Esko was his best friend. At least they were friendly as two recruits who ended up in our regiment and helped each other in every way they could.
"Green."
Will answered somewhat sadly, pushing aside the bushes and soaking his puddles in dirty water.
"On the eve of being sent to Kanasis, he was transferred to our regiment. He still had a lot to learn... now he was gone."
"Hey! Don't say that, he just disappeared."
The signalman Itami objected to Will's words.
"Not just disappeared, but disappeared from everyone else's memory,"
Will answered.
"Do his relatives know that he even exists, that he exists? There is nothing even about him in the database. Nothing! When we returned to the shuttle, all his equipment was also gone, the rifle that fell out of his hands remained. He disappeared from reality, practically died!"
"Yes, we understood."
Said Forn, calming the angry Will with gestures.
"And it's clear that some shit is going on here. It's better to hope that he's alive somewhere, it'll just be easier."
"Who has it easier? You?"
Will flared up.
"All sorts of crap can happen here! It was not enough to believe in the supernatural!"
"Quiet."
Esko said suddenly bending down and taking out binoculars.
"Someone is moving."
"Spread out."
I ordered. Although there are other types of plants here, our camouflage allowed us to blend in with nature; in other words, we had excellent camouflage. Meanwhile, we grabbed our weapons tighter and merged with the foliage of the local jungle, trying not to make unnecessary sounds. For the first time in two days we found someone in this dirty jungle and it was exciting for us.
«Finally we will see animals in this world...»
I thought, expecting to see at least someone on this planet.
Through the noise of the rain and night vision devices, we saw several silhouettes resembling people dressed in rags. It seems that these humanoid creatures were intelligent and could wrap themselves in clothes.
«Is it really civilization?»
I was surprised. Five creatures dressed in gray and brown fabrics and with primitive edged weapons in the form of a spear and sword in their hands made their way through the jungle. Only two men owned these weapons, and among them were two women and another person whose gender was difficult to determine.
Although this is a different type of intelligent being, it was quite possible that here, on the contrary, men had long hair and looked like women, and women, on the contrary, but I am more accustomed to calling these creatures by their proper names.
«It's unlikely they'll be edible.»
I immediately discarded the thought of hunting them.
"Natives."
Itami said over the connection, holding binoculars in his hands.
"They're still coming."
More humanoids also appeared in our field of vision, this time wrapped in white steel robes, armor, it seems, with cold weapons in their hands such as swords and spears at the ready. There were many times more of them and it seems they surrounded the first group we noticed from all sides while we watched from afar.
«Well, now we have definitely confirmed the existence of civilization on this planet.»
I thought as I continued to watch what was happening.
The creatures themselves were indeed humanoids very similar to humans with some distinctive features. This means those who were dressed in rags, since their faces were visible in contrast to the seemingly soldiers of the medieval pre-space era, and it seems that this was the case. There was a civilization of the medieval era here, which means there was a possibility that they might have gunpowder weapons, which could bring us a lot of problems considering that we currently cannot afford protection in the form of a combat spacesuit.
I noticed unnaturally pale skin in the first group of natives, and green spots on their faces; it seemed that I had seen something similar in the ninth group on the shuttle.
«Are they infected too?»
I suggested. Watching the first group, I realized that there was something wrong here. The five natives behaved as if they were hiding from someone, and the native soldiers in armor were in the open, apparently trying to find someone.
"The pursuit."
Esko noted, looking through the sniper scope of his rifle, and then added.
"They are surrounded. "
Taking a closer look through the bushes, I noticed how skillfully the aliens in white surrounded the first group. They deliberately created sounds of activity to lure fugitives to the areas of the jungle they needed, and they did it very well.
The fugitives themselves did not pose any threat to us, and judging by the fact that they were running away, they had done something wrong to the local authorities, that is, they were criminals.
"Is there something wrong."
Said Forn, taking out a bioscanner on which data finally began to be displayed.
"The device started working, but... there are many, many of them here. "
A little later we began to notice even more aliens in white armor. There were dozens... hundreds of them and they were all chasing these five unkemptly dressed fugitives, who in turn were terrified and it was visible on their faces. They knew that they were being pursued, but they did not know where their pursuers were and this frightened them.
And then came the climax. They were suddenly squeezed into pincers, instantly cutting off all routes to escape. The pursuers appeared in full view of the fugitives, approaching them from all sides. One of the fugitives, in a panic, looking around the environment, held a spear in his hands and tried to scream and attack one of the closest pursuers, but as soon as he did this, he was immediately killed... killed very quickly.
"Did you see this?"
Itami asked quietly with a hint of surprise.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
"I didn't even notice the blow. How did it do this?"
We've all seen it. The native in white, who killed one of the fugitives, extremely quickly struck with his sword, splashing out a clot of blood from the body of the panicked native. One of the natives screamed in fear and tried to run up to the murdered man, but another native stopped her and somehow tried to console her, holding the girl in his arms, and the white soldiers seemed to verbally abuse the fugitives by stepping on the corpse of the murdered native and burying her in a heap of dirt.
«Here's your first damn contact...»
I sighed sadly and decided not to help the fugitives. We didn't need them. In general, it is best not to violate any Republic military protocols related to contact with primitive intelligent life. These are decades of strict regime, even if we were on a completely different planet, but if we get out of here, the Supreme Tribunal will remember this to us.
At that moment, a couple of native soldiers passed next to us, literally a couple of meters away, without noticing us because of the camouflage, our silence and the noise of the rain around us. A minute later we disappeared from their sight and were able to breathe a sigh of relief.
«It was damn close. Shit! We must not make contact.»
"We need to return to the shuttle and inform the lieutenant about the natives."
I told my soldiers. The bushes, that is, we stirred and walked slowly towards the shuttle, trying not to squelch our feet in the dirty water. Everything should have gone smoothly; we moved, maneuvering between trees, bushes, huge roots and boulders, but suddenly moving through the vegetation and patrolling natives, we found ourselves surrounded by them.
There was no escape route in sight to slip unnoticed through the native soldiers surrounding us. They blocked all escape routes with their mere presence. I motioned to lie down and become a bush to wait for them to leave, but something was wrong.
There were more and more native soldiers around us. They communicated in their primitive language and hung around us with no intention of leaving. It would seem that they caught the criminals, what do they want now? They're not going to set up camp here, are they? This is hardly possible considering that they have nothing but weapons and bags.
Now one of the natives, communicating with one of the soldiers, simply involuntarily took and pointed his sword directly at us, and now they began to gradually squeeze us into a ring, one might say into a very tight ring.
They knew that we were most likely unusual bushes and somehow these natives were able to detect us. There is only one way to get out of such a situation, and I didn't like this method because it threatened me with fifteen years of strict regime somewhere on Mimas.
«Shit! I hope they won't judge me for this...»
I hoped, deciding on one action.
"We've come with peace."
I stood up, raising my hands up, and the natives reacted quite unexpectedly, frightened by the bush that had come to life and began to speak.
They pointed their weapons in my direction and did not move, passing messages to each other. At this time there were more and more natives around me. Looking at them closely, I realized that they were somewhat similar to European knights, as if they were from the Middle Ages. I didn't see their faces, white armor hugged their bodies tightly and it seemed they were some kind of elite of elites, acting effectively and unitedly as a fighting brotherhood.
My guys sat next to me and silently continued to pretend to be bushes, not daring to repeat my actions after me. At that time I went out into an open flooded area and was surrounded, pointing all kinds of native weapons in my direction. I lowered my hands and one of the native soldiers stood in front of me holding a short blade in his right hand with its tip down.
"Frutext?"
He said questioningly.
"Hi again."
I said and instantly more swords and spears were pointed in my direction.
«Crap! They may mistake me for a forest dweller, if there are any, and let me go, but if they don't believe me... but how can I convince them of this? Shit!»
At that moment, one of these knights pointed his sword in my direction, seemingly challenging me.
"Provoko te ad monztrum duellium!"
He said proudly, continuing to hold a one-handed blade in my direction, ready to pierce my body with it at any moment.
I just lightly took my pistol out of the holster, just in case. It seems that my manipulations with a small metal but heavy object somehow made them laugh and did not alarm them at all.
They were already starting to laugh, apparently thinking that in front of them was some kind of easy prey with a useless piece of metal in their hand. They even brought the same five prisoners here, who were also very surprised to see the bush come to life.
"Dryadi?"
One runaway woman exclaimed in surprise, but after the spoken word she was hit on the head, causing her to fall into the mud and groan in pain, holding the sore spot on her head with her hands.
The native knight in front of me was still holding his sword and was ready to kill me instantly, but he was apparently waiting for my first blow, and I, in turn, did not dare to strike it.
«What a mess I am... first contact and they challenge me to a duel. We'll have to kill them all so as not to cause culture shock in the future...»
I aimed my pistol at the native, raising the muzzle of the pistol in his direction. At first the locals didn't understand what it was in my hands, and then they started neighing like horses.
"Khorrendz haeretiguz kvam ridsulus est! Ahahahahahahahahaha~!"
But the knight opposite was not laughing. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and growled angrily.
"Sunt tsognatai mayhai?"
The native said angrily.
«If only I understood you, guy...»
I breathed in disappointment, but the next moment, without any warning, he quickly attacked me, trying to strike me vertically with his blade from top to bottom, and at that moment I simply squeezed the trigger and made the first the shot merged with the noise of lightning.
The native barely had time to swing his blade, but it flew past, missing some centimeters in order to hit me. The sword fell from his hands, drowning in dirty water. His face was not visible, but I clearly heard him wheezing, clearly trying to understand what had just happened.
His left hand reached to his chest where a huge hole gaped from where blood flowed in a stream, rapidly coloring his snow-white armor scarlet. He tried in the last moments of his life to stand on his feet, but in the end he simply could not do it, falling backwards into the dirty water and no longer showing any signs of life, not trying to move and not making any sounds.
He died.
All the natives around me froze in place. They all seemed shocked by what they saw, especially the fugitives. One of the native soldiers with a spear ran up to the deceased and sat on his knees checking the dead man. After the examination, he raised his head and said gloomily:
"Mortus..."
Apparently, he confirmed the death of his relative, after which all the natives made sharp shudders, clearly angry.
"Guys, there are strange customs here."
I said with a gesture of my left hand indicating commands.
"Mercilessly..."
"Rro-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o~!!!"
Before I had time to finish speaking, the native soldiers rushed towards me, yelling madly. At that moment, the rest of the bushes came to life, raising the barrels of small arms and opening fire on the attackers.
The sound of the crackle of shots no longer merged with the lightning, and the tracer and haze from the shots were hidden among the dense vegetation. Dozens of native soldiers fell instantly one after another with mortal wounds in their bodies, screaming and writhing in the mud in pain and bleeding.
I didn't stand idle either, I shot everyone I saw. My helmet automatically marked targets, and I simply shot at the natives as if I were in some kind of shooting range. I shot until the first clip in the magazine was used up.
"Cover me, I'm out of ammo!"
I shouted to the fighters and the bushes began to surround me while I was reloading my pistol.
At first the native soldiers tried to attack us en masse, but seeing how we were killing them one after another, they began to flee and not to say that it was a stampede, rather a sure retreat. We couldn't afford for them to escape and inform their rulers about us. Otherwise, the military tribunal will give us an even longer sentence for this bloody first contact.
"They must not run away! Kill everyone!"
I ordered my guys.
Even though many of the natives had already hidden behind trees and bushes, the bioscanner could still see them perfectly. Our night vision devices clearly painted the silhouettes of the natives in our helmets, thanks to which we continued to kill them without any problems while targeting them.
By the way, the bioscanner showed that they were trying to organize themselves, gathering in groups. I didn't look at the bioscanner screen for too long, and therefore continued to shoot those who were still trying to approach us.
"Sir, behind!"
Forn suddenly shouted behind me.
I turned around and saw how one of the native soldiers, having somehow miraculously survived after several hits to the body, was about to stab me with a sword. He raised his blade to strike from top to bottom, but the next moment a spear got stuck in his throat, splashing out scarlet blood, after which he choked and fell face down, splashing into the dirty water.
Looking at the killer of the native soldier and my savior at the same time, I realized that it was one of the fugitives. The alien's face was very similar to a human one, and therefore I clearly saw some hope in his eyes.
He tried to say with all his appearance that he was on our side. Behind him I saw four more of his relatives. It seems they were abandoned at the beginning of the firefight, but instead of running away they decided to help us by joining the battle.
Itami at that moment turned the barrel of his rifle in their direction and was about to kill them, but I stopped him in time.
"Stop! Don't touch them!"
"Understood."
Itami answered, turning the barrel slightly to the side and killing several native soldiers who were trying to attack the fugitives from behind.
"Lancon."
One native girl said something.
"Get down!"
I indicated with a gesture with my left hand that they should bend down and they, it seemed, understood me and did so.
The native soldiers seemed to have no intention of ending, turning this patch of jungle into a bloody grove. There were also shooters among them, and arrows began to fly in our direction, crashing into tree trunks or falling straight into the water.
They could not shoot at us by shooting arrows through the vegetation at random. Even though we had good equipment, it did not cover all parts of the body, which means we could be seriously injured and it was better to kill them right now, otherwise losses could not be avoided.
"Esko, kill the archers!"
"Understood."
Esko accepted order and began killing archers with targeted shots to the head using a sniper rifle.
"Itami, contact the shuttle! We need reinforcements!"
"There is no connection!"
«Not this!»
I got angry.
Already hundreds of corpses were shrouded in the dirty waters of the flooded jungle. We managed to shoot about half of them. After we shot an impressive number of natives, they decided to retreat, and we spent our ammunition to finish off the survivors groaning in agony.
At this time, the fugitives clung to Will as if he were the biggest bush of all of us. The natives muttered their «dryads» and «lancon» and something else in their own language. They were greatly frightened by the corpses of their relatives, they were terrified, and the males, yes males, they cried.
At that moment, stepping aside, I decided to show my face to the natives. Having first removed the bush from my head, and then the breathing mask along with the glasses, I exposed my human face. One guy was surprised and said a word in his own language as if asking:
"Anfrop?"
"Yes. Anfrot."
I answered them. At that moment they ran away from Will.
"Zu dryad? Anfrop?"
The white-haired girl said with some anger.
«So what do we do with them now?»
I thought meanwhile.
"Just don't tell them that we come in peace."
Will said cheerfully, reloading his rifle.
"After what we did here, we no longer came in peace."
"I know."
I answered.
Even though the four natives were crowded together, moving away from us, apparently afraid, one girl decided to approach me. Her face was pale and covered with green spots, her eyes were gray and her hair was black.
"Alza."
She said, pointing at herself with her hand and hope in her eyes.
«Hmm... it seems she said her name...»
I thought and also decided to introduce myself, pointing my palm at myself and saying my name:
"Boris."