Chapter 3: Timberland

I glanced at the secure comm screen when it beeped. I frowned at the encrypted message but it was one I had created and knew by heart. I stood and crossed to do a little checking and almost cussed. Not only was there several teams already on the planet but someone had hacked the system and deactivated my snoops. I checked the sats and looked around before heading back to my bedroom.

I lived on a ridge and underground but someone had recon sats up over me. I stripped and washed before slipping into a new dark camouflage combat suit. The weapons rig was old and well worn and I caressed the belt as I put it on. I was comms and electronic surveillance unlike the others in my team, that did not mean I did not know how to fight, the best had trained me.

I turned at an echo beep and moved to the small corner section. I watched as a shuttle approached my ridge and dropped down in the small clearing at the crest. I smiled and flipped a switch, “Enjoy the comm black out assholes.”

I typed in a few commands and knew the recon sats had just died. I climbed the steps and came out behind a huge old evergreen. I slipped into the woods and started for the shuttle. I moved slowly before kneeling behind a thick tree with heavy hanging branches. I glanced at the point man as he went past me way too fast. The second and third man followed like ducks in a pond.

As the fourth and last man in this team began to pass he turned his head and looked straight at me as I aimed. I fired as his eyes widened and the crack of the round was the only thing heard. I shifted as the team stopped and knelt and shot the third man through the back of his head. I shifted again as the point man and the second man spun.

My next round went through the second man’s throat as he searched for me and then I shot the point man as he went prone. I dropped and began to crawl to the east using a slight gully and after a couple hundred meters stopped. I listened for several minutes before moving out of the gully and turned to crawl to the northwest. I moved into a depression as a small flock of huge butterfly birds drifted over.

I saw the team a moment later, they were watching every tree or bush. I moved very slow and changed the setting on my rifle so the rounds were subsonic. This time there was no crack as I shot the rear man providing security. Of course he made sounds when he fell but I was already squeezing the trigger again. I took the third and fourth man as they went to the ground.

I waited and lay still for long agonizing minutes. I grinned when the third team emerged and murmured to myself, “All this for a comms specialist.”

They were spread out and moving slowly but would pass by me. I waited until they had gone by before taking them, one, two, three four. I waited several minutes before turning to crawl towards where I knew the shuttle had to have landed. I moved slowly where the perimeter should be. I killed the first hidden sentry when he lifted to look over a branch.

The second was a halfway around the landing site and up in a tree. The round that killed him also knocked him off the branch so he crashed to the ground. I did not move and waited for the last two, I knew they would be searching for any movement. It was ten minutes before they moved and I had them. I shot the first in the back of the head and the second between the eyes.

Before their bodies hit the ground I was up and moving. I went through the shuttle hatch with my rifle up and shot the crew chief and the engineer as I kept going. I went straight through and up before stopping at a door as I heard the engines start. I put six tiny plastic disks on the door before I stepped back. The door shimmered before suddenly shattering and I went through with my rifle ready.

I shot the copilot as he spun with a pistol in his hand and then the pilot as he grabbed for his pistol. I moved forward and reached out to shut everything down before leaving. In the transport area I grabbed a screen from the crew chiefs station and counted names. I dropped it and walked out and headed back to my home. I looked around and sighed before grabbing my bag and leaving.

With the sats down I had a little time before someone decided to put a kinetic strike on my home. I moved through the alien forest easily since I had lived here so long. It was dark when I reached the ridge I needed. The cave was behind a curtain of vines and I started cutting them away. I moved in carefully with my rifle ready incase a Jabberwocky was waiting.

The hover jeep was where I had left it and I started reattaching power leads and the power supply. I tossed my bag in the other seat and slid in behind the wheel. I grinned as it started up and slowly lifted before moving forward. I stopped just inside the opening and opened a panel on the dash.