Promised One
Guardian War #1
By Axl Briar
Copyright 2011 by Axl Briar
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Chapter 1
The sun blazed overhead. A cloudy haze, bringing the hope of fresh rain, drifted across the peaks of the Serrania de Baudo range. These low lying mountains were covered in rain forest like the swampy Atrato Valley below. It was January, during one of the two dry seasons in the pacific lowlands of Columbia. High on the side of one peak was a rocky outcropping. Concealed along it was a strike group.
Major Javin Cox, Special Operations, touched lieutenant Bowski on the shoulder and pointed down into the valley as they peered over the rock. He nodded and hefted his rifle back into position. Strict silence had to be maintained.
In the valley center about 10 klicks away, surrounded by thick foliage and sitting beside the flowing Rio Atrato a grouping of opaque domes glistened in the sun. It was the Toad nerve center on Earth.
Javin raised oil-lens binoculars, trying to get a closer read on the enemy. A clear view was blurred by heat waves shimmering in the moist air. He wiped the sweat from his brow above peculiar black eyes, silently cursing the mud smear it left. His dusky brown hair, grown long and shaggy out of his military crew was caked with mud along with his damp jungle cammos. His slight but strong frame was tired and sore from hiking.
It’d taken twelve days to get this close. Slow crawling, silent moving, and creeping under the jungle canopy avoided detection. They’d done well in spite of the rain, heat and humidity; in spite of low rations and living off the land. Javin couldn’t shake the feeling they were being watched. Was it just paranoia? If they’d been seen, they’d never have made it this far.
He stared up at the sun. It’d be nice to have some cloud cover. A huge storm would be even better. On the ground they could handle the downpour. It would hinder the Toads in the air.
It was just three months ago the Toads had come -- three months which seemed an eternity for the human race. Finally the age-old question had been answered. Are we alone in the universe? No! There were others.
The Toads were a race that looked as their name implied. Humanoid in form, they averaged around six feet tall with sleek rubbery skin. No hair, dark green backs, lighter green fronts, and large eyes. Their heads were flat and oblong. Sinewy arms and legs were lined with whip chord muscles allowing them to move almost faster than the eye could follow. The guess was they were descended from amphibians. One thing wasn’t a guess. They were hard to kill.
When they arrived, they arrived with vengeance. Civilian or soldier, woman or child, it didn’t matter, they just killed. Humans quickly learned it was Us or Them.
Their first surprise strike left earth’s civilization virtually defenseless. Every military installation was decimated. Now it was a guerilla war. Military commanders of all stripes and nations were in hiding with whatever forces they could muster. Underground organizations were fighting back however they could.
The Toads didn’t want subjugation, didn’t want tribute. They simply wanted Earth for themselves.
Now they were launching systematic drives, rounding people up. Javin was still trying to blank the memories. The word “humane” didn’t register. There was no comprehension of mistreatment. Humans were simply vermin to be exterminated without doing too much damage to the planet they’d claimed.
Javin had been in Quibdo on some R&R when the Toads had invaded. He’d ditched the jeep after two close calls with Toad aerial patrols and moved through the jungle on foot to join up with his ops team at their base hidden in the San Jorge Valley. They’d been fighting the ‘War on Drugs.’ None of that mattered now.
While in the city, he’d overheard some of the Caucano Indians who lived in the Atrato swamps telling their city brethren that the Toads had built their ‘fortress on earth’ on their land. Normally those Indians kept completely to themselves and were the ones Javin had tried to interdict from hauling the raw coca out of that region. He knew he had to do something with the intelligence. Communications were either down or being monitored. Transcontinental transportation was non-existant. It would fall to him to do something if he could.
Javin had thought long and hard as he'd hoofed through the jungle back to his base. By the time he'd arrived he had a plan. After two days being back a nagging feeling told him he had to move now. As he’d learned from countless missions, he didn’t ignore the feeling.
No sooner had he gotten his people beyond the base perimeter into the jungle than a Toad aerial patrol swooped in and hit the base with pulse cannons. Javin and his team had barely gotten clear with the few support stragglers who’d decided to come along and help with the ‘package,’ a suitcase nuke Javin carried on his back. Most of them had made it the 12 days to where they were now, overlooking the Toad base.
He unconsciously touched the chest pocket where his lucky marble sat and continued to study the compound.
Javin put the binoculars down and rubbed his neck. His unease was getting worse. He’d never been wrong about something like this.
Should they abort?
They’d never get this close again.
He crept down the line to where his team waited. Only his team would make the final run into the valley. The rest would wait on the ridge. He’d thought about using those remaining as a diversion for about a minute. It wouldn’t work. The Toads would figure it out. It was best the Toads had no idea anyone was close. Besides, the support people weren’t combat hardened, just company clerks and file boys who’d gotten out with his team.
They’d keep their heads down until Javin’s team had done its work. Then it wouldn’t matter. The compound would hopefully be destroyed. The nuke on Javin’s back would see to that. He'd have done his part. It would be up to others to carry on and make of it what they could.
The nuke had been sent down for another mission, one planned from before the Toad attack. It had been intended for a strategic deniable ‘hit’ against a group of terrorists using drug money to finance their operations. It would have been assumed the terrorists were playing with nukes and made a big mistake. Now the bomb had a different target.
Without their command center Javin hoped the Toad invasion would falter, giving humanity a chance to regroup and fight back.
They couldn’t turn back.
Huddled underneath some thick growth his team waited. Four men and one woman had fresh mud caked over every exposed part of their bodies, masking odor, minimizing heat signature, dulling surfaces. They weren’t sure what Toad sensors picked up. Any electronics except the nuke had been left behind. They did everything they could to blend in. It seemed to be working . . . so far. Except that bad feeling which kept gnawing at Javin.
He knelt and gestured for his Second to help offload the pack. Two others came forward and helped slather fresh mud on him and the pack. He was used to the smell.
Once re-caked, he re-shouldered the pack.
Javin had been assured the nuke wouldn’t go off until armed.
Right.
The tech who’d instructed him also said the power source was shielded.
Shielded enough?
That tech was dead. Fallen into a jungle sinkhole he should have seen. Sloppy. He hoped he hadn’t been sloppy in his instruction. Javin would find out soon enough.
Setting the timer wouldn’t be a problem. He’d already decided if they made it close enough, he’d give his team time to get clear then set it off manually. He didn’t want
the Toads to find and disarm it.
Javin looked at his team, paused then reached into his pocket, pulling out his lucky marble. His Second smiled, knowing what it meant. The small milky-white sphere with wriggly-grey veins felt warm in Javin’s palm. Clenched in his fist it gave comfort.
Whatever worked.
Javin tilted his head to Second, held up one finger. Take point. The man nodded. Javin pointed out one more. You next. Then touched his chest and glanced at everyone to make sure they understood. The next two he pointed to either side, splaying fingers, thumb holding the marble against his palm. Fan out. The last knew he was Tail.
Second moved to the rocky escarpment and slithered over. The next followed. Javin moved slow, easing gently over the outcropping. No sense jiggling the nuke too much.
He landed light on the mulch then ghosted into the foliage.