Chapter 15

There was a definite buzz on the bridge of the Rebecca. The mission to liberate Woden was underway at last and the crew were clearly keyed up for the challenges ahead. In contrast, Ben wasn't focused on the battles to come, but rather was still trying to come to terms with the appearance of Thomas and Elizabeth.

"Come on, Ben! You can't begrudge us sneaking onboard for the trip — you wouldn't have these ships if it wasn't for us," asserted Thomas, still doubtful about how Ben was taking their elaborate trick.

A broad grin suddenly broke out on Ben's face and Thomas and Elizabeth breathed a sigh of relief.

"I can't believe you managed to pull the wool over my eyes," said Ben, "come on, who else was in on it?"

"We had to convince Ben Jr. to provide some additional crew for the harvest ship, but he thought it would be good to have someone get one over on you. He said something about it being a good lesson for you, that it would remind you not to get too big-headed," laughed Thomas.

"Yeah, but the biggest thing was convincing Elise not to tell you what we were up to. I approached her to ask if she would be willing to transport us aboard without you knowing. From her initial response, you'd have thought I was planning the crime of the millennia!

"I tried to explain that there was no danger to you in what we were doing and that you would probably be delighted to see us when we sprung our surprise, but Elise was having none of it. She said we were disobeying one of your direct orders and there was a danger that others might follow our example. Eventually we wore her down, but she's one stubborn girl, I can tell you!" said Elizabeth.

Ben was pleased to see how happy Thomas and Elizabeth were. The bags under Thomas' eyes were testament to the amount of relentless work that both of them had put in over the past few weeks. Ben decided that they deserved the chance to recharge their batteries before the really difficult work began.

"You know, Elise has a point. You have disobeyed a direct order and I can't just let that go. If I do, every Tom, Dick or Harry will think it's okay to do the same thing and discipline would go out of the window. No, you need to be punished for your actions," said a suddenly serious looking Ben. "I sentence you to forty-eight hours confined to your quarters. Don't let me see you again until you're completely rested."

It took Thomas and Elizabeth a moment to realise that Ben was smiling again and that his 'sentence' was really a way to get them to relax. Elizabeth rewarded him with a hug and Thomas simply shook his head before his twin took his hand and dragged him out of the door to the bridge.

"They look as if that's just what they need, you handled that very well indeed" observed Sarah.

"I know, both of them have worked really hard," replied Ben. "Now, down to business ladies and gentlemen. We need to run some trials with the Adam to make sure everything is as it should be and then we have to explain to Callum what a jump is. We can only spare one day for this before we start the final journey to Woden.

"Leona, open up a channel to the Adam. Nathan, plot a course that will let us test the new ship's capabilities before we start hopping around the galaxies!"

Carson sat motionless, the night-vision goggles on his head allowing him to follow the progress of the four Zytol who made up the patrol. The patrol made a circuit of the bubble greenhouses every one and a half hours and that had given him enough time to slip closer to his objective to see what they faced.

His skills in moving silently through the scrub had stood him in good stead and he found a spot where he could watch what was going on inside the greenhouses. The Zytol seemed to be gathered in the large central bubble and Carson counted close to forty of the beasts. That meant his group was evenly matched, but he reminded himself that they still had the advantage of the individual shields.

Now the blue group was waiting for his signal to launch its attack. Carson's plan was a no frills affair — a simple matter of getting as close as they could and then laying down as much fire as possible.

The Zytol patrol passed and Carson waited a few minutes to let the creatures move further away. When he was sure it was safe, he used the hand-signals they had been taught to urge his various squads forward. The thirty-two Wodenites crept through the night without making a sound, the adrenaline really pumping through their veins now.

It was slow, painstaking work to move in the darkness without alerting the Zytol, but some twenty minutes later they were up against the bubble wall of the main greenhouse. Carson signalled to the four squads on his right and they circled the bubble until they were approximately ninety-degrees from Carson's position.

The plan was that the two groups of four would lay down a cross-fire of sorts in the hope that they could inflict the maximum amount of damage before the Zytol could respond.

Squad members were busy rigging up small charges that would blow open a hole big enough for the Wodenites to pour through to engage the enemy. Others already had stun grenades in their hands, ready to throw as soon as the bubble was breached. Night-goggles were raised so that the light from the charges and the grenades didn't blind their wearers.

"Charges in place, Lieutenant," Carson heard in his earpiece.

"Okay, back everybody. Stand by, Stand by." he whispered in reply.

The squads retreated and fell flat on their faces, waiting for the explosives to do their job. When the charges blew, there was surprisingly little noise, nothing more than what a firecracker might make. Carson's response was immediate.

"Go! Go! Go!" he yelled into his throat mic.

The squads were on their feet in an instant, some of them hurling their stun grenades through the still swirling smoke from the explosive charges. Louder explosions now sounded and the squads dropped their night-vision goggles into place before stepping through the hole in the greenhouse wall.

The Zytol didn't know what had hit them! Some staggered about, reeling from the effects of the stun grenades, but others did manage to get to their weapons and the odd flash of return fire jagged across the darkness of the bubble. It only took minutes however, for the hail of fire from the eight squads to cut them to shreds.

The volleys quickly fell away to be replaced with only intermittent single shots. Carson knew that there was still an element of danger and he took steps to deal with that.

"Second squad — forward to make sure none of them are playing possum. The rest of you — back outside and form a perimeter, there's still the patrol to deal with," he ordered.

There was no finesses about the way the Zytol patrol came crashing through the bushes to investigate what was happening. The Celestialite designed weapons that Carson's troops were using didn't make any noise, but the Zytol rifles did and several shots had rung out in the night, alerting the patrol.

Their approach was on the opposite side of the bubble from where Carson was lying, but he heard the guttural yelps as his troopers finished them off without any trouble. Two squad leaders arrived to report that the patrol was down and that the inside of the bubble was also clear.

A fine drizzle of rain began to fall at that moment and Carson thought it would be a good idea to get his group inside.

"Squad leaders? Form up on me please," he called out.

Once they were gathered around him he gave them their orders.

"There are still almost a hundred greenhouses that need to be checked out before we know that this place is safe. We'll move forward line abreast to make sure we search each one. The quicker we get it done, the quicker we can get out of this rain so we can get something to eat and grab some rest," he said.

An assortment of nods told him that the squad leaders understood and agreed with his caution — better safe than sorry was something that had been drilled into them all during their training.

The sweep took several hours and by the end of it they were dog-tired. The adrenaline had largely worn off and the focus and concentration required for the search were draining.

"Okay, we look to be clear. Well done everybody; that was a text-book operation, our first engagement with the Zytol and a resounding victory. Long may it continue! Squads one and six — you draw the short straw and take first watch. The rest of you get something to eat and then rest," ordered Carson.

Arnold was beginning to regret the choice he had made for a second target for the red group after their near disaster at the manufacturing plant. He had quickly scanned the Zytol locations on one of the computers in the tele-port station and opted for one of Woden's hydro power stations. The choice had been a hasty one and with hindsight he would have opted for something else.

He was looking up to where the plant was nestled against the mountainside, realising that it was potentially a strong position for the enemy to defend if the Zytol knew they were coming. There didn't seem to be any easy approach to the single bubble dome that housed the station's machinery.

"Can any of you see a route up the mountainside other than the road?" he asked his squad leaders who were gathered around him.

They had all been studying the rock, desperately trying to spot a way up that would provide some concealment, but all Arnold got by way of a response was shakes of the head.

By now they had been studying their target for more than eight hours and they were no closer to finding a plan of attack than they had been when they had marched to within sight of the station the night before. The sun was high in the sky and the heat made them sticky and uncomfortable.

"We could always try to approach it from the other side of the mountain — you know, climb up over the top and attack from above?" suggested one of the squad leaders.

"That would take us days!" moaned another, clearly not keen to have to undertake the arduous climb.

Their discussion was suddenly interrupted by the sounds of shots coming from the hydro plant. Arnold swung his head and cursed loudly. One of the troopers was lying in such as way as to allow the sunlight to glint off of a medallion that was hanging round his neck. His carelessness had clearly alerted the Zytol to their presence.

"That's blown any chance of a surprise attack — is anything ever going to go right in this campaign?" snarled Arnold. "There's nothing else for it, we either back off and look for another target or we put the New Woden shields to the test. What do you think?"

The squad leaders looked doubtful, despite the fact that they knew the shields were highly effective. Arnold could see that the idea of running forward while under fire didn't hold much appeal and he decided to take the initiative. Jumping up, he held his pulse rifle across his chest and began screaming as he ran up the road that led to the plant.

"YYYYYYAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!" he screamed, flinching as shot after shot pinged against his shield.

The remaining members of red group were stunned at their leader's sudden charge forward, but to give them their due, it only took a few moments before they too were on their feet and running up the steep road.

At first, Arnold was the sole target for the Zytol and thirty of them concentrated their fire on his zig-zagging figure. When the other thirty-odd red group troopers made their appearance, it was only natural that some of the Zytol switched their targets. Arnold didn't know it yet, but that fact saved his life. The warning alarm on his shield unit was sounding off shrilly and the power bar was deep into the red-zone. Arnold was screaming so loudly and was so caught up in the moment that he didn't hear the alarm.

Thirty Zytol troops focusing their fire on him all at once had seriously drained his shield, drained it beyond its capacity to quickly recharge itself. When the Zytol shifted their aim to try to kill the other members of the group, the intensity of the drain on Arnold's shield lessened and the unit soaked up energy from the sun. As it did so, the power bar slowly began to climb out of the red and into the safe zone once more. The alarm silenced itself and Arnold was oblivious to how close he had come to death.

The faster members of red group caught and then overtook Arnold. All of them were screaming now as they ran and the flashes from their rifles peppered the gleaming bubble above them.

The Zytol couldn't understand why their rifles were having no effect on the seemingly suicidal Wodenites that were charging towards them and they redoubled their efforts.