“How’re you doing Bibi?” Kayla asked, and saw with pleasure that her Ranger was looking almost bored.
“Can’t complain,” Bibi said. “Except there’s this weirdo running around trying to convert everyone to her religion.”
“Persistence in the salvation of souls is a Godly virtue,” Thandi shot back.
“Oh, so are you godly now?” Bibi asked.
“That’s not what I said. Why do you have to twist my words to win arguments?”
“I dunno. Why do you have to make shit up to support your claims?”
“Feeling good about the climb?” Kayla cut in quickly.
Bibi shrugged and gestured to the cliff. “This is a limestone fold cut out by glaciation. You can tell because there are smaller formations on the other side of these hills, which I assume were formed by sedimentary deposits. An immense river would have run through here until the rain patterns shifted and the temperature rose, leaving that relatively modest canyon we crossed.”
Kayla thought about this for a moment. “I’m kind of jealous you know more about my home world than I do, to be honest.”
“Yeah, well, you should read more.”
“And what does that have to do with the climb?”
“I mean, look at this rock here,” Bibi said, and snapped a piece off with her fingers. “Soft and full of holes. This thing will be a stepladder to the top. See that giant crack?” She pointed to the dark, jagged line that ran all the way to the top. “Stick close to that, and we’ll have no problems.”
Kayla gave her arm a squeeze and moved over to Ray. “Hi there, Lance-corporal. Requesting sitrip on fireteam bravo.”
Ray gave her an unimpressed look, then started to tick items off her fingers. “Everyone’s healthy, fed, has water, and ammo. Everyone has urinated and defecated. And if you call me that while we are on the wall, I will throw you straight off.”
“Are you allergic to responsibility or something?”
“Yes—fully diagnosed by a medical professional. Actually, authority in all its forms. Fascism is a state unnatural to human beings, and must be resisted wherever possible.”
Kayla blinked in surprise. “Okay… and yet you decided to spend most of your life in a military organization?”
Ray smiled. “Armies are unnatural extensions of illegitimate states. However, so are vast collections of alien superweapons—it’s a compromise I felt was justifiable. Anyway, I can contribute my skills without participating in the system’s hierarchy.”
“I would love to know more about how your mind works, but right now I’ll settle for messing with you whenever I can get away with it.”
Ray craned her neck as she scanned the cliff towering over them. “Thousands of feet. Lots of time for regret before you hit the bottom.”
Kayla left her with a wink. “How’s my favorite ass-kicker doing?” she asked Tian.
Tian looked solemn, and didn’t react at first. “I’m okay. How’s it looking?”
“It looks good,” Kayla replied. “We have total surprise for a few hours. Enough to get up there.”
“Great.” Tian fidgeted with her weapon strap for a moment. “Hey uh… I just wanted to say I’m sorry about losing my shit the other day. On the VennZech building.”
“It was a tough moment.”
“I’m supposed to be able to handle tough moments, and I didn’t. I think I just wanted an excuse to start shooting, after… you know… Kes.”
“Sure. I think everyone felt a bit of that. Luckily Ray was keeping an eye on you.” Kayla grinned.
Tian smiled back. “Yeah, I guess. I don’t hold any grudges.”
“Look at it this way. You won’t need any excuses once we get up there.”
Tian’s smile turned dark, and her eyes sparked with fire.
“What’s up Lyna?” Kayla asked the last woman in the group.
“I’m good,” she replied distantly.
This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.
Kayla didn’t like the sound of that. “Where’s your head at?”
Lyna gave her a focused and slightly impatient look. “On mission.”
Kayla wanted to give her a pat on the arm, or some encouraging words, but she stopped herself. The Ranger didn’t need it. She was the type of woman who buried her anger deep inside, then let it out explosively. With the loss of Kes and other Rangers, she had more than enough fuel for the fire. Right now, the only thing Lyna wanted was to be left alone to prepare for the ordeal ahead.
Kayla gave her a nod, and stepped away as her radio chirped.
“All Viper call-signs, jump off in fifteen mikes,” the senior lieutenant said. “Report readiness.”
Kayla waited for a space in the chorus, then keyed in. “Viper two-one, all set.”
The advance began quietly. While a fake message went out on the VennZech radio about a bear sighting between the hikers and the mountaintop, a drone confirmed nobody was checking on the cliff face. The Rangers dashed to the wall at several locations and began the laborious climb.
Kayla, leading for two squads and a handful of Raiders, found her groove quickly. As Bibi had guessed, the climbing was easy. On the lower section, where the base of the wall was broken up by pyramid-like staggered layers, the teams climbed quickly. Foliage crowded ledges and grew out from small cracks. Even for amateur climbers it was easy, and Kayla didn’t bother chalking the route. She stopped occasionally to check on the team below, and exulted in the thrill of height. The landscape sweltered in the sunlight that warmed her skin, and the first hour passed almost like a dream. Climbing mountains to kill evil witches and save the world. What had she done to deserve such a life?
After two hundred feet, the wall became noticeably smoother and more difficult. More than once, Kayla pushed herself up to a new section, only to find no obvious handholds on the bare limestone. Comfortably hand-shaped buckets and deep cracks gave way to thin slivers, where flakes of rock had broken off the mountain. Sometimes, what seemed like her only option snapped away in her fingers. She also had to remind herself not to jump past easy, but time consuming sections; her responsibility was to find a path that the others could follow.
Halfway up they reached the vertical crack that ran to the summit, and stopped for a rest on a nice ledge. Everyone was shaking, as much from the dropping temperature as the adrenaline. A stiff breeze swept through the void, and somehow exaggerated the sense of height. Nobody spoke, and they didn’t wait for long.
From then on, Kayla hated the climb. Every glance down replaced her eager thrill with a sickening jolt. Every new handhold made her beg for it to be over soon. Her legs began to judder like the needle of a sewing machine, even on secure footholds.
A heavy thud broke the silence, but Kayla was too distracted to look around. Eventually, when she found a secure position, she scanned the wall. Everyone was climbing, but a slick trail of red had appeared towards the bottom. Somebody had fallen—though not from her squad. Whoever it was had obviously kept enough presence of mind during her plummet to keep from screaming. To alert the defenders at the top meant death for all of them. A few Pararescue medics were waiting below, but Kayla once again remembered why Rose had earned the nickname ‘Bunny’. A fall onto a rock had shattered her knee and leg, and even with the super healing potential of nanites, she had needed a month to heal.
Kayla pushed the grim thoughts out of her mind and turned back to her climb.
As expected, the crack made the going easier. Chunks of weathered limestone were stacked in irregular blocks that followed the great fold of the geological boundaries. Kayla kept an eye on her followers, and saw with relief that they all appeared to be maintaining the pace. Oddly, she was least concerned about the terrified looking Thandi. Her friend hated climbing, and heights in general, but she had also learned how to overcome her fear. That made her careful and methodical. Out of all the women on the cliff, she was the least likely to make a mistake.
Unfortunately, the same could not be said for one of the Raiders. Three of them were following the more practiced Mountain Rangers, but one had apparently grown impatient with being at the back of the queue. She had traversed a little way across to follow her own route, and was gradually overtaking those above her. Obviously an excellent climber, the elite soldier had either chosen to set an inspiring example to the weaker, impressionable Rangers, or show off. Either way, Kayla watched with dread as the woman’s stamina began to give out.
It was a tragedy that had taken hours to unfold. The Raider’s new route must have proven tougher than she had expected, forcing her to grip harder as she climbed. Even nanite enhanced muscles had limits, and Kayla’s own forearms were feeling weaker. But now, the woman below was stuck, and her attempts to complete a difficult move were failing. She kept trying to pull herself over a small overhang and lift her feet up to a toehold. But she couldn’t hang on, and dropped back to her tentative position.
Kayla scanned the rock below, and saw the escape. She could downclimb a little way—still a dangerous maneuver—where a traverse would take her back to where the Rangers were snaking up the crack. But she either didn’t realize she had the option, or it was even more dangerous than it looked from a distance. When she dropped back again, her eyes met Kayla’s, and shone with unconquerable determination. Her nostrils flared and she pulled once more. Muscles and tendons stood out like ropes on her arms while her jaw clenched with the pain.
She almost made it, but her hand slipped just as her foot brushed its anchor point. Again, there was no cry or shout—just eerie silence as the body shrank to a dot, then bounced twice off the cliff, before coming to rest. More dots rushed out of the tree line to meet it.
Kayla turned back to the route, and pushed herself upward. Whatever emotions the moment had caused her had to be suppressed for later. Instead, her inner critic kept up its constant narrative—warning her when she was being stupid, or scolding her for letting her attention drift. Mountains were dangerous places, and out of all the reasons for falling off one, arrogance was by far the most egregious. Unfortunately, it was also the most common.
One voice Kayla could not keep at bay asked if the entire assault was an act of arrogance that would be punished with all their deaths. Were the risks worth taking? Was there another way?
Kayla paused on a ledge and gathered the mental strength she needed to push back. It didn’t matter. The dice would roll, and regrets would be saved for the after-action review, if there was one.