Confluence, p.5
Confluence, page 5
The second sublevel briefing room was low lit by two pendant lights over an oval table of dark wood. Khattara stood at the head, and light reflected off her face as she surveyed fifteen faces seated around it. The room was a bustle of gear checks as the occupants settled in. There was a slight upward curl on her lips as her eyes traveled around the dim-lit room. Save one, she’d handpicked every member of her squad, the majority of which were third or fourth year. At the far end of the table, she connected with the gaze of a perfectly still Paavi, and her smile went flat.
“Everyone, settle down, please.” She paused for a moment as the room fell quiet. “In the exercise today, we’re gonna infiltrate twenty marks into this area of operation here.” Khattara turned and pointed to a map projection on the wall behind her. “We’ll overcome a team of equal size within the boundaries of the field, retrieve a data chip at their flag station, and return it here. The topography is rugged, with several deep ravines. Note the three canyons here, here, and here located inside our area of engagement.” She motioned on the map where the trio of channels cut in near parallel with the elongated rectangle of the combat zone.
“The ridge lines in this exercise are designated alpha, bravo, charlie, and delta. Delta intersects the outward boundary of the mission arena, and the drop back into the canyon below at the boundary intercept is too steep for rapid travel. As such, delta is not a viable path. Our enemy will likely deploy sentinels with rapid engagement teams positioned to intersect us at any of these points.” Khattara circled the areas where the ridges lowered on the far end of the range.
“We’re gonna advance with two teams. I’ll lead first team, and Khalson will lead team two.” Khattara motioned to a classmate seated next to Ryan at the far end of the table. “Bravo ridgeline has five points of egress, and that’s where team one’s headed. We’re gonna make our path through one or more of those five based upon enemy response at the point when we press them. However, before that, Khalson’s team two is gonna make double time up alpha and move around behind the objective on higher ground here. It’s imperative that team two effects a deep penetration and draws their attention. Based on the enemy’s response to Khalson’s engagement, my team will advance on two of the five points of egress off bravo. Multiple approaches and points of engagement will effectively thin them out such that one of us can infiltrate. Be patient. With team two knocking on their back door and team one in the front yard, they’re gonna have to make decisions on force allocations. Once they commit, it’ll create an opportunity to direct one of our teams in to secure the objective. So keep working them, and be ready for my call to advance on the prize. Any questions?”
A voice across the table from Ryan spoke up. “Yeah. What about the new guy? Can he even run in that robe?”
The room chuckled, and Khattara pinched her lips together. “Our new team member, as you have no doubt noticed, is a Paavi. Mr. Eylon will be with my team; I have a special assignment in mind for him. If there are no further questions, we’ll be departing from ready room seven in fifteen minutes. One last thing: The other team’s already out in the field right now. Their leader just sent me a note offering his condolences.” Khattara tilted her head down, but her eyes scanned the room, fiery and alert. “We move with quick and decisive action. We work together with faith in each other. We get it done.” She squinted and nodded. “Go now; be fierce.”
Khalson animated from the far end of the table. “Alright people, you heard the woman—ready room seven in fifteen. Dismissed.”
◊ ◊ ◊
In the ready room, Khattara discretely retrieved metallic restraints from her pack and tucked them into her back pocket. As others were securing their gear, she approached the Paavi. “Hey, got somethin’ for you.”
Ryan nodded and followed her to a locker. Khattara retrieved a heavy machine gun and shoved it into his hands. Before he could acknowledge, she reached into the locker and retrieved the weapon’s tripod. She turned to him, aligned the mounting pin into the base of the rifle, and shoved it into Ryan. After a pronounced click, Khattara smiled.
“Think you can carry this? I can give it to someone else if you’re not up to it.”
Ryan smirked as he held the one-hundred-and-eighteen-pound weapon; he understood the hazing ritual. “It’s a credit to the engineers that they could make such a weapon so featherlight. I’m honored to be your big gun.”
Khattara nodded. “Let me check you out on the weapon and authorize your voice print.”
She pushed on the tripod legs and released a catch lever. The arms folded out, and she pulled on them. Once they were locked, Ryan bent over and placed it on the ground. As he did so, Khattara slapped one handcuff on Ryan’s wrist and attached the other to the upper carry handle of the rifle. He was now effectively attached to the large gun.
Ryan’s head snapped toward Khattara. As she held his gaze, she spoke aloud. “Rifle mount secure to flooring.” The tripod system popped as explosive bolts cleated it into the concrete floor of the ready room! All heads spun around as Ryan jerked on the cuff. He noted the upper carry handle was formed as a solid piece into the rifle.
Khattara spoke again. “Rifle, emergency secure and deactivate.”
Ryan shook his head at her. “This is trusting your team? Don’t do this.”
As the others smirked and began to file out of the room, Khattara grimaced. “I take no pleasure from this. It’s for your own good. I’m sorry.”
As the empty room grew quiet, Ryan whispered in English, “Swear to gods, if you say I told you so…” He took a deep breath and looked down at the response message flashing on his wrist. “What’d I just say?”
◊ ◊ ◊
A few hours later at the top of bravo ridge, Khattara whispered into the mic on her neck. As team two was progressing off alpha ridge, she directed her team to hold position. A few ticks later, when team two should have hooked back toward the objective, they fell silent. Khattara continued to note the time, and there was no word from team two. Five minutes passed. She grimaced with the knowledge that sufficient time had elapsed to re-establish comms for reasons of rough terrain or equipment-related failure.
She lowered her head and transmitted with a dispassionate voice. “Team two is lo-comm, no joy. Rear engagement failed. We drive the opening. Check your board for pairing and updated assignments. Be fierce.”
Khattara split her remaining team into pairs and entered their assignments into her command tablet. On her mark, they would all advance down bravo ridge on four separate paths.
As her team traveled across the slope, there was no evidence of opposition. What Khattara didn’t know was that half the other team facing her consisted of snipers, and the balance on the back side of the objective were combat engineers. They had deployed out to the site the day before in preparation for the exercise. Khalson’s team two had been eliminated instantly within a dense field of simulated mines and explosives. Khattara’s remaining team was walking into the crosshairs of multiple snipers.
Her data tag chimed as a “tag-out” just as the soldier next to her indicated he too was a simulated casualty. A crackle over the general exercise frequency broke radio silence; it was the opposing team leader.
“You know, it’s a shame your people had to run all the way up here for you to learn a painful lesson. Well…least they got some exercise before gettin’ tagged out. Better luck next time, Khattara.”
Khattara seethed, but before she could respond, there was a transmission from central monitoring.
“This is Operations Control. All teams maintain radio discipline. Exercise in progress.”
The opposing team leader responded. “Negative. The mission’s over.” He chuckled in the background. “It was over before they knew what hit ‘em.”
Khattara’s head was down and shaking as central responded.
“Negative; the op is still hot. Operative tags on both sides continue to ping in play. Cease transmission.”
At that moment, a robed figure was scurrying up a sheer rock face and nearly atop delta ridgeline.
◊ ◊ ◊
Khattara jumped off the nose-high transport as it was landing on the pad and made haste to the briefing room. As the door flew open, she saw her Uncle Bayhden and the Paavi chuckling together by a small table. On the surface in front of them was the objective data tag. As she approached, her uncle took note and smiled.
“Well, team leader, that was brilliant! You beat stacked odds against you. Sending the Paavi out in disguise is exactly the tactic I was hoping you’d embrace. This is the stuff of great covert ops. You know, I had a feeling about this pairing. Please, carry on.” With that he made a quick salute and moved out a side door.
The room fell silent. She approached, dropped her gear bag, and plopped down into a chair. They stared at each other for a moment, and she shook her head.
“How’d you do it?”
“The Goddess looks after me.”
“That didn’t answer the question.”
Ryan thought for a moment. “Delta ridge.”
“My orders were to avoid delta.”
“Yeah, well after you stapled me to the floor, I assumed those orders weren’t for me. As it turns out, the other team thought the same thing about delta; nobody was watchin’. It worked out this time.” Ryan’s lips pursed, and he squinted slightly. “Don’t ever attempt to restrain me like that again.”
“Is that a command?”
“It will be if your uncle finds out what you did here.”
Khattara grimaced, and her chin lifted level.
Ryan’s eyebrow rose. “Oh, do I sense a little anxiety?”
Khattara asked sheepishly, “What exactly did you tell him?”
“I told him my delayed departure was a ruse we cooked up together.”
Khattara swallowed. “I…I’m not sure what to say.”
Ryan frowned and shook his head. “I dunno; you could start with an apology for bolting me to the floor. Perhaps an acknowledgement that it won’t happen again? Or maybe even a ‘thank you’ for covering the mission and your ass with the cover story…certainly all good options.” The two stared at each other for a moment before Ryan’s face relaxed back into an easy smile.
Khattara’s mind was pawing through recent events and struggling to make sense of them. She was never one to yield, but in this situation, she knew she’d done wrong.
Before she could speak, Ryan added in a low, soft tone, “You possess a remarkable capacity, perhaps more than you know.” He nodded at her. “But never leave someone behind.”
Khattara continued to stare at him, and her mouth opened slightly. The last words struck deep to her core. The back door flew open, and other members of their team began to stream in. With steady, wide eyes, she glanced over her shoulder at them and then back to Ryan. There was low chatter as the others saw the objective on the table. One voice carried over the chatter. “Well, there ya’ go; apparently you can run like hell in a robe.”
Ryan glanced at the mob, and his smile widened. Looking back into Khattara’s gaze, he winked at her.
4
Lessons Learned
Many heads snapped toward her, and she saw the recognition in their eyes. They had anxiously awaited her arrival, and several agents moved toward her.
Khattara pulled the thin fabric of a camouflage neck wrap up over her nose and swayed gently in light turbulence. She glanced at her wrist and noted the time of mission start. Glancing through a small round window, her eyes confirmed the dawn’s early glow. She tugged slightly on the straps of her pack and momentarily slung her rifle over shoulder. With hands free, she reached for a thick canvas strap hanging down from a ceiling rail at the forward command station of the compartment. With her other hand, she grabbed the side door release and firmly rotated the bar downward. A flashing light and audible alarm indicated the large side panel was sliding aft, and a loud rush of wind through the initial crack confirmed its travel. Crisp air howled through the single cabin of the troop transport, affectionately called a “duster.”
Officially the vehicle was designated an EL-5, but multiple fans and vectored thrust caused considerable dust when hovering over loose terrain, hence the common name. The frontline transport was designed to move an entire squad rapidly over short distances, but for the mission today, this duster held an army of one.
She glanced up as a small red light mounted high on the forward bulkhead changed to a flashing green. Khattara stood with knees bent and retrieved her rifle to the ready with barrel tilted slightly downward. Dark-brown irises surrounded by rings of violet danced back and forth in survey of a training range that extended out well beyond the horizon. The flashing light turned solid green, and the duster’s nose pitched up as it slowed into a low hover.
Go time.
Khattara’s eyes focused upon the terrain just below and timed her leap from the open doorway. The automated vehicle paused only momentarily for her egress, and Khattara turned her head to the side as it powered up to depart.
She’d been dispatched from the main campus of the Centauri war college out into the adjacent training grounds, many of which extended out several hundred miles. She was inside a portion of Sector 6 that generally consisted of steep foothills situated at the base of a high-elevation mountain range. The area was heavily forested with old-growth trees, and much of the terrain under the dense canopy was bare dirt.
In the exercise today, Khattara was outnumbered and on her own. She’d come to embrace a purity and freedom in working alone; it was, after all, how her path had begun. Today she could move more quickly, and the operation required reliance upon only one being.
Much better this way.
She was thankful for the break as a mission leader. The last operation had been a dumpster fire that was saved by a Paavi, no less. She drew a long crisp breath and savored the glowing light on the horizon. Knowledge of preparations from elsewhere around the kingdom invaded her thoughts.
In nearly every civilized corner, a revelry was brewing in preparation for the coming Royal Day. Legions were fluffing and pressing their formal best and making tea cakes. The Centauri warrior looked out upon the vast, wild expanse, and she clenched her jaw. Menacing thoughts of the annoying Paavi, along with the pageantry and protocol of Royal Day, swirled through her mind, and Khattara shook her head. She drew in another deep breath of crisp morning air. She closed her eyes, held still for a moment, and exhaled slowly. Beams of light streamed over the horizon as dawn broke. The corners of her mouth rose into a smile, and her eyes opened into the glare of a new day.
This is where I belong.
Khattara was one hundred and seventy-two miles inside enemy territory. She was surrounded by many others already afoot in the hunt for her. She was accustomed and, like countless before, they would all be denied.
In this advanced dev ops exercise, three squads had been detached in pursuit of Khattara. Her mission was to evade capture or simulated termination as she made her way out of the area. The aggressor squads had been provided the location of Khattara’s entry point. She knew as she stood on the high ground at dawn that they were coming at her from every direction.
For the hunters, the exercise embodied more than a mission. They all knew Khattara Menduvalli’s reputation and the legacy she carried. The hunter teams were composed of handpicked, highly trained individuals, and all of them were motivated to take her down.
Khattara’s focus turned inward; she drew strength from a certain history she’d survived.
Be of shadows and wind…Takers are coming.
As the whine of the duster faded in the distance, Khattara looked off the canyon ledge with bardthol eyes. She’d chosen this ridge as her point of insertion because it provided an elevated vantage point for anything coming in either direction up or down the small river winding below. She scanned the entire area looking for any movement. Watching from above for hunters snapped her back in time to dark moments from a distant past.
◊ ◊ ◊
The pre-teen eyes of Princess Khattara danced around and surveyed in silence. She was tucked four stories high on a crumbling concrete ledge above a nameless street. The derelict building had originally housed residents from the now lawless planet of Shorcanton. She didn’t know the name of the street; it’d been lost long ago in a war that had ravaged the world. She wasn’t even aware of the name of the planet and wouldn’t be until far later. Knowledge of names at that moment in time was meaningless; survival demanded knowledge of approaching danger, escape routes, and hidden passages. Warlord and gangster forces operated with impunity here, and Khattara had already witnessed the Enforcers and Takers patrolling relentlessly. She’d seen others captured; the memory of their cries haunted her sleep. From her present perch, she could see anything coming, and no less than four paths behind her led to safety.
The young princess had lost track of the exact date, but it felt as though several weeks had passed since she’d been marooned in this savage place. A constant focus on evasion and survival had distorted normal perception; in fact, she’d been on the run for more than a year. Filthy and starving, she hugged tattered knees for warmth. As rain began to patter down and form puddles in the ruins on the street below, a deeper cold permeated her core. Amidst the cadence of tapping drops, her mind drifted into the realization that no rescue was coming; she was lost and forgotten. Her former life had evaporated, and she even began to question her own memory. Had she constructed a royal past in her mind as a pleasant narrative to distract her from the nightmare of the present? Or perhaps it was a desperate fabrication to provide some hope of rescue?
