While they waited for the intelligence team to produce something actionable, Urtiga and her fellow operators began venturing into the surrounding countryside in small teams. They carried concealed weapons, just in case, but there wasn’t a single mutant creature to be seen. To fill the time, the bored soldiers transformed the old workshop equipment into makeshift weight sets and began working out.
To Kayla’s delight, they even laid down rubber mats in a square and began practicing grappling. After some pestering, Christie reluctantly agreed to join her as a Jiu Jitsu partner, and with some mentorship from the unit women, they were soon rolling around, locking each other in chokeholds and armbars.
The women of Urtiga’s unit were quite different from the Mountain Rangers Kayla had been getting to know. Instead of a disciplined hierarchy they were a wild mob. They did and said what they wanted, though there was nothing lazy or thoughtless in their behavior.
When they weren’t training, working out, or maintaining their gear, they played chess, read dense theoretical tomes, or sketched pictures. One woman was even working on a novel.
An unknown sergeant sat Kayla down for an impromptu lecture on the merits of her actions in Caldera.
“You introduced the element of chaos, and unpredictability,” the sergeant explained. “An off-balance enemy is liable to make mistakes, which can be capitalized upon, got it?”
Kayla nodded, though she found the academic conversation difficult to follow.
“Always look for ways to interrupt the enemy’s decision-making processes through dynamic and unpredictable courses of action, got it?” The sergeant continued. “The more centralized their C-2 structure the more effective this can be.”
“C-2?” Kayla asked.
“Command and Control. Brain and nervous system effecting action through decision and co-ordination.”
Kayla rubbed her temple.
“Conversely, communicate with your own team,” the sergeant said, suddenly sterner. “Lone wolf shit is no good. You might answer to your platoon leader, but in this world your reputation is the only thing that matters. Don’t start building a bad one, got it?”
Kayla was grateful for the advice, though she wasn’t sure she understood everything she had been told.
The unit had only one officer—Captain Nazli—at the safehouse. She mostly listened to whatever the soldiers said—all of whom were sergeants or more senior NCOs—managing the support and logistics required to turn their plans into reality. Team discussions were free form, and everybody chipped in their opinion. While some arguments got heated, they always seemed to get on the same page in the end.
Their culture seemed chaotic to Kayla. Why did the organization allow them the scope to do mostly whatever they wanted? How had they earned so much trust? She interrogated Urtiga as much as she could, but got only short answers.
“It’s the Ranger Intervention Detachment,” Urtiga eventually admitted, while she worked on a disassembled rifle under Kayla’s fascinated gaze. “Or Raiders. But we rarely use that name. To you and everyone else, it’s just the unit.”
“Are you going with subsonic rounds?” Gucci interrupted as she reached for a multi-tool.
Urtiga glanced over. “Sure; nice and quiet. You’re taking that 6.5 millimeter, right?”
“Oh yeah,” Gucci held up a slender, bronze-colored bullet the size of her pinky finger. “These babies will punch a hole through any of those creature freaks.”
A cheeky smirk broke out on Urtiga’s face. “Would that be, like, a fist-sized hole?”
Gucci placed the round back on the workbench and sat back, a look of frustration on her face. “Thirty years. It’s been thirty years, and you still think that’s funny.”
“Because it’s still funny. And it will be, for all time.”
“Freakin’ infant.”
Urtiga laughed and returned to her work.
Kayla plucked up the courage to speak again. “So, the unit has the most elite soldiers in Valkyrie?”
“This isn’t a video game,” Urtiga chided. “Stop thinking about your level and focus on developing yourself. The badge you wear on your uniform doesn’t automatically bestow on you the ability to solve problems. You want to have more fun in this organization? Learn how to learn, and then never stop.”
Kayla nodded eagerly. Every day she spent with Urtiga, she learned something useful.
“I can tell we’re going to see you here one day,” Urtiga continued. “Our unit is pretty high-speed, sure, but it’s not the highest,” she said with a conspiratorial wink.
But she refused to say more, and Kayla gave up on further questions.
Eventually, the intelligence team was ready to present their briefing. Christie stuck a map on a corkboard, which she peppered with colored pins as soldiers crowded round to look, those at the front kneeling so their comrades could see. Urtiga sat on a table by the briefing team, watching expectantly.
Kayla stood at the back, craning her neck. She remembered one of the lessons they had taught her in Ranger school; make do with what you have. Why risk drawing attention by shipping in high-tech display hardware, when paper and plastic pins were available?
She made eye contact with Urtiga, who winked back at her. The woman was wearing a smug expression and looking excited.
Zhang stepped in front of the map. “Okay ladies,” she began, “what you’re seeing here is a layout of all animal attacks over the past ten years. These reports were particularly difficult to get ahold of since these communities have no central law enforcement authority, and we’re talking about hundreds of individual stations. But that’s enough bragging about all the hard work my team put in while you were sat around polishing your guns.”
Laughter filled the room.
Zhang gestured to the pins on the board. “The pink, orange, and red colors mark three-year time segments of animal attacks, and with the blue, purple, and black, we have overlaid the new incidents that we now understand to be kidnappings. I think you’ll agree there’s a clear progression outward from an epicenter, here, close to the mountains.
The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
“With Gold squadron’s help, we’ve been able to identify several of the Helvet Special Forces now operating in Rackeye. A thorough review of their records has revealed that they have not been present at their assigned posts for nearly ten years.” She glanced at Kayla. “Which would be approximately the time the animal attacks began.”
A wave of muttering filled the room. Some of the Raiders adopted angry expressions. Kayla made eye contact with Urtiga, who flashed her a grim smile.
But she didn’t care that she had been right all along, or that nobody had listened to her. All that mattered now was that their task force was going to hunt down Rayker and put a stop to her horrific plans. No matter what dark corner she and her soldiers had hidden in, soon she would be dead. Kayla knew that even if she didn’t pull the trigger, she would at last stand over the body. Then her father, and all the colonists who had died over the years, would be avenged.
“Unfortunately,” Zhang continued, “it looks like our theory about the origin of these aggressive creatures was wrong. “This new information indicates that Rayker may have been responsible from the beginning. Our new theory is that she must have brought some kind of deadly viral agent onto the planet to transform the local wildlife into the monsters that were attacking the colonists. And there is a lot worse to come.”
Urtiga tapped the table she was sitting on. “It’s an interesting theory. Shame it’s wrong.”
“The problem is,” Zhang said, without even acknowledging the comment, “there’s no unusual traffic or infrastructure in this area. It’s in the middle of nowhere. If Rayker and other Helvets are based here, we have no idea how they are getting in or out.”
“So how can we be sure that there is a permanent base out there?” Gucci asked.
“Private Barnes here,” Zhang gestured to Kayla, “was in contact with a significant person of interest at this site. He didn’t give away too many details, but it is clear he was working in an advanced research facility, with a high level of security.
“And these sheltered rich kids were happy to go along with bioterrorism?” Gucci shook her head. “Something’s not adding up.”
Urtiga stuck her hand in the air. “Oh, I know—pick me, miss.”
Zhang again ignored Urtiga. “There’s no Jotnar bioweapon in our records that could do something like this, and Intel is working around the clock to track down the most cutting-edge research projects the Helvetic League is funding. But they likely have merged top secret research with some kind of Jotnar discovery. In any case, after their initial plan failed, it seems clear that they needed to recruit scientists with much broader knowledge to expand the project. Obviously, young people are easier to manipulate, so—”
“Stellan Uncenti, experimental fusion engineering,” Urtiga said as she held up a hand and tapped one of her fingers, then moved to another. “Ashkan Yevgenn—ancient linguistics. Julie Syranna—geological mapping. Nastia Ignatova—computer engineering. Please, Zhang, explain to us how that kind of expertise helps terrorists grow bioweapons?”
Zhang rubbed her eyes and turned to Urtiga with a look of subdued anger, as murmurs filled the room.
“That’s a question I’d like to hear answered,” a woman said to general agreement.
Zhang held up her hands. “This is a briefing for verified intelligence, not for baseless speculation and guesswork.”
“In this case I think my guesses are as informed as yours,” Urtiga retorted as she crossed her arms.
“Alright, everyone settle down.” Another voice pierced the hall, and the small crowd fell silent.
Kayla caught sight of the speaker, Captain Nazli, at the back. She hadn’t spoken loudly, but the other Raiders watched her patiently.
“Urtiga,” the captain said, “say your piece, and then let Zhang finish her briefing.”
Urtiga nodded and jumped up from her table. “In my opinion, Allana Rayker did not just spend ten years infecting and mutating animals—she’s been exploring. She needs so many different scientists, because she has discovered a complete installation, buried beneath the surface of this planet.”
She turned to face Zhang’s narrowed eyes. “She’s happy to take the children of the Helvetic elite hostage, because she has discovered the Jotnar Ghost Fortress, and thinks she can take on the whole League.” She glanced back at Kayla and winked again. “After all, the old guard is weak. A new conqueror is needed, to build a new empire.”
A chorus of laughs and scoffs broke out, but Urtiga stood her ground. “We rely too heavily on the navy’s planetary scans,” she insisted, “but we have been grossly underestimating the possibility that a much more advanced site could have been missed.”
“It’s a myth!” a woman jeered.
Urtiga raised an eyebrow. “You’re a myth, Kali.”
“So, are there supposed to be Jotnar here right now?” Gucci demanded. “How can you justify an alien presence on this world without any of the colonists suspecting a thing?”
“Maybe they did die out,” Urtiga replied. “The existence of the fortress doesn’t mean any of them made it here. But Rayker has kidnapped around two hundred people in a matter of months, which means she has the real estate to house them while she mutates them. A giant new Helvetic installation on Caldera is not something that could have been built in secret. But anyway, based on our past experience with these creatures, I’d say Rayker is now one hundred percent capable of taking over the entire planet.”
There was silence as everyone took this in.
Zhang stepped forward again. “In any case, it is clear that we have a location to track down. Presumably somewhere remote, but not too far from the farming plain.”
Kayla cleared her throat and cowered as dozens of impatient eyes turned on her. “Um…” she managed, “I found something that I think might be helpful.”
“Spit it out girl, we haven’t got all day,” Gucci said.
“Well, I saw a rock in the girl’s office. The girl who talked to Weslan. I mean… in the university.”
“You saw a rock?” somebody said, while a few chuckles ran through the small crowd.
“I mean a crystal. It grows in the mountains near here. Weslan must have smuggled it out of this lab, or fortress, or whatever.”
Gucci nodded as she considered this. “That makes sense. Whatever tech the Jotnar’s secret base is hiding would be expected to attract some negative attention. You’d want to be prepared to fight, so you’d go to the most defensible spot. You’re not sticking yourself in the middle of a flat plain if you don’t have to.”
“Nobody lives in the mountains,” Zhang pointed out, “so without missing person reports, that widens the search area to thousands of square miles.” She glanced at the map and sighed heavily. “Our current epicenter contains the mouths of several major valley systems, branching off into hundreds of possible locations.”
“Yup,” Urtiga agreed. “Sucks to be us.”
There was a period of silence as the soldiers struggled with the problem until Kayla worked up the courage to speak again.
“Let’s go talk to the people in the area of the epicenter you found,” she suggested. “See if they remember any Helvets passing through.”
“It’s sweet that you’re trying to play with the grown-ups,” Gucci said. “But seriously—you want us to ask random people if they remember a bunch of Helvet explorers from ten years ago, who probably stopped in one or two villages max? That’s a needle in a haystack.”
“Didn’t hear your great idea, Gucci,” Kali said.
Kayla glanced at Urtiga, who didn’t react, so she continued. “If a Helvetic military team passed through that area, I guarantee they would remember it. They would be talking about it for years.”
“Sorry to burst your bubble,” Gucci shot back, “but Helvet Special Forces do not walk around with their flags and unit badges sown onto their jackets. Well, maybe some of the insecure ones do,” she said, to laughter. “But they would have made a serious effort to blend in.”
“And they would have failed,” Kayla said with absolute conviction.
“Uhuh, and what makes you so sure of that?”
“They have no idea who we are, and they don’t respect us. They wouldn’t have been able to hide the way they talk and act, because it’s such an important part of their identity. And that would have stood out to the farmers like a rustle in the grass stands out to a deer.”
Gucci fixed her with a skeptical stare, which Kayla returned without blinking. Finally, Gucci nodded. “Okay. Maybe you have a point.”
“Cool. So, here’s what we’ll do,” Urtiga said, stepping forward. “We can’t have whole squads running around asking questions; that’ll draw attention. I’ll take Kayla and Zhang, and we’ll head over to that area and see what we can find out. The rest of you can start working on environmental reconnaissance of those mountains. Let’s start mapping some of the terrain, figuring out what the ground is like to operate in. I’ve got a good feeling we’re going to be heading up there. Kali, you talk to Jack, and figure out if we can get some kind of logistical support network going—we might need to arm up, or be prepared to evacuate casualties. Questions or Comments?”
There were none, and Urtiga made eye contact with Captain Nazli, who gave her a curt nod.
“Then let’s get to it.”