Chapter 6

We landed on Inglon very close to the place where the lost team had been routed. We did drop in a few miles away so that we could hopefully catch the opposition napping. The story was that the team had found a reference to an R&D (Research and Development) complex, so they were going to give it a quick look. The people on this side of the ocean did not build with the determination to have their constructs last through the ages, so there was a good chance that the complex would be in ruins and not have anything to tell the investigators. However, it was worth a look.

We landed early in the day, so we had plenty of daylight ahead of us. We landed on Inglon ready to fight or move, as the situation dictated. We were on an open plain, and we did not see any opposition, so we started out toward the R&D complex in a normal skirmish line according to doctrine. This involved First and Second squads moving in line abreast with Third squad in line behind as a reserve in case of trouble ... We stayed close to the ground so that we were less likely to be spotted. This was the technique known as following the nap of the earth.

It didn't take long for us to move into a wooded area, and this raised some complications. I finally decided that the lesser of two evils was to move just above the tree tops, dropping to near ground level when we came to open spaces.

We were about three miles from our target when the first shot was fired at us. It was hard to tell from my point of view where the shot had come from, but the AIs were polled over the special radio channel and the shooter was located. I directed second squad to investigate.

As expected for experienced troops, they drew their laser weapons and attempted to surround the lone shooter. The shooter saw one of the grunts and fired an energy weapon that utilized a visible red laser beam. This time, because the grunt was moving very slowly, the shot was accurate and caught the woman in the shoulder, blowing off her right arm. This was enough to raise the ire of the rest of the squad, so everyone began firing his laser at the shooter. Every shot hit, and every shot did absolutely nothing to affect the shooter.

As soon as I realized what was going on, I commanded the men to switch to their pellet arms. These .45 caliber pistols were plenty accurate enough at the current range, and the shooter was blasted to pieces. Anfon sent a grunt from Third squad to render first aid and to call for a medical pickup. The wounded trooper was picked up by transporter and on her way to the hospital within 20 minutes. It was not even necessary for the assisting trooper to stay with her.

I had Second squad cover me while Anfon and I examined what was left of the shooter. He was wearing some sort of robe that we could not understand the reason for. The weather was warm enough that he certainly did not need it for warmth, so it must serve another purpose. Then it dawned on me. I waved Anfon back a few steps and fired my X-ray laser weapon at the robe. NOTHING HAPPENED! There was the expected blast of smoke and dust when I moved my aiming point to the ground near the body.

Damn, the robe was an energy absorber! That was the great secret that I had hoped for. I immediately ordered all of the men to switch to their pellet weapons. With the AI's ability to lock the muscles in position, the pistol was as accurate as a rifle within it's practical range of 300 yards. All the user had to do was to select the target by looking at it, and the AI would take over to aim. Pulling the trigger completed the action. The user was then free to select another target. It was a foolproof as any such operation could be.

OK, we had some idea of who our enemy was, but we had no idea why he was trying to kill us. So far, up to shooting in self defense, we had done nothing to warrant being shot at. We still didn't know what the language sounded like, so it was going to be hard to question a prisoner, but I ordered that an enemy combatant be captured if it was practical. I also reiterated that I didn't want anyone to take a chance on being shot.

I could hear the squad leaders reinforcing my order and warning dire distress to anybody who was so foolish as to get himself killed! We advanced in the same order that we had used before, but everybody was even more careful to watch for more snipers. We were making slow progress toward the R&D complex when one of the squad leaders sounded off, "Sir, one of my men has found evidence of a firefight. Would you care to examine it?"

I radioed right back that I was on my way. It was a grunt in First squad who had spotted the burned tree trunk with the characteristic mark of a Galactic Rangers laser burn. There was no question of the source of the mark being one of our lasers. They were tagged to leave a signature like that. We must be getting close to the site of the massacre, so I had everybody drop down into the trees for better cover than what we had above the tree tops.

Dammit, I had walked us into an ambush! As soon as we dropped toward the ground, laser fire was directed at us from three directions: the front and each side. It was as if they were hoping that we would try to retreat. Was there a second ambush waiting for us?

My men were good, so there were almost no hits, even when we were caught by surprise like that. The few hits were very painful, but none were fatal. Believe me, I thanked God for that boon. A buddy spread first aid cream/pain killer, and they both returned to fighting.

I think our enemy was badly startled by the crescendo of shots from our guns. The screams of pain from our enemy began shortly thereafter. They made no effort to conceal themselves after that initial ambush. Obviously, they expected their robes to protect them from being wounded. The noise they made showed us how surprised they were. A few got smart and ducked for shelter behind trees, but most were not able to adapt to the change in conditions, so my people had a field day wiping out most of the attackers. Once they all got the idea of sheltering behind a tree, they would be a much more formidable enemy, but right now, most of them were sitting ducks!

The battle lasted less than 15 minutes as my Rangers caught up with the last of the enemy when they tried to run away. The robes certainly interfered with that effort as the running men tripped up on their skirts. Again, in the heat of battle, little or no thought was given to capturing an enemy. It was kill or be killed. The enemy lasers were relatively low power, so they did not start a forest fire, as one might expect. However, their lasers were strong enough to do considerable harm to bare flesh.

We regrouped and I sent Third squad back through the woods to see if they could trip an ambush. Before they left, I had each person don an enemy robe to try to protect them from the laser fire. Yeah, I had guessed right. Third squad did trip an ambush, but the robes protected them very well, and their .45s wiped out the ambushers. Well, they wiped out any that they could find. The squad stripped the robes from the enemy and returned to us in triumph. They were cheered as they returned to us.

We now had enough robes to provide one to every man in the platoon, including Anfon and me. We stripped off our outer clothing and donned the robes. Following that, we redressed in our battle fatigues and weapon. The robes were split with a knife so that they could be wrapped around legs before pants were pulled on, so except for the covering over the head, we looked like we were dressed normally. Hopefully, that would fool the enemy into doing something else stupid.

We formed our familiar formation and resumed our march toward the R&D complex. The first thing we came to was the remnants of a fence. It had been made of galvanized steel wire and looked like the conventional Cyclone fence from Earth. However, it was now rusted into near oblivion, despite the zinc coating. We pushed the shreds of the fence out of our way and continued on, flying with our feet just inches from the ground.