The Lion's Hunt: Part 6

Click Here for Part V or Click Here to Start From the Beginning.

PART VI

The team’s canisters slowly filled with luminous rain as Commander Vyuum slumped onto the largest nearby rock. Olin’ couldn't have noticed the Commander's weariness before, perhaps too wrapped up in the idea of Commander Vyuum, the war hero than Etom’Vyuum, the Kurin. The weight of expectation must have been immense, Olin' thought. And to hold onto that responsibility for decades, there were so few commanders that lasted even half as long.

All Corporal Lawal had seen from Commander Vyuum on this issue was the duty not performed, but it was a misinterpreted decision that the Commander had to make. Realising that pressure, Olin’ now pitied Commander Vyuum and their burden of leadership. Sharing news of the team’s failure solved nothing right now. And trapped on the Surion homeworld, being a nuisance to their adversaries was strategically sound. That had to be the direction of Etom’s focus now. Of course, Olin’ realised that the Commander didn’t need their authority challenged. Especially by one given an opportunity they might not deserve. So instead of pressing the matter, Corporal Olin’Lawal took a seat next to Commander Vyuum and began cleaning their armour too.

Etom’ and Olin’ sat in silence for a time as they helped each other clean their gear. Just by taking that seat, the Corporal seemed to understand the situation better. Maybe the sort of insight they showed did highlight command potential, Etom' thought. Etom’ had commanded many soldiers that displayed the intuition required for leadership, but having potential meant little if the Gods did not will it. In this war, they rarely had.

Perhaps the Gods wanted more for Etom’ too. If the Commander had wanted away from field operations that taxed the mind, body, and soul, higher ranks had been available for years waiting for the Commander to claim. Taking one of those positions would mean not wearing armour that bonded to the skin, adding years to an already withering body. It would mean breathing air first-hand instead of cycled through the filtration system of a suit of armour that could suckle the life force from its host. It would mean being away from the front lines and not having to so frequently watch officers, soldiers, and friends lose their lives. But it also meant sending thousands more to their deaths simply by having so many more under their command. Etom’ was a soldier. Accepting a position higher than commander would mean not soldiering, and Etom’ wanted action. Wanted to look the enemy in the eye, so, time and again, opted against offered promotions. But the Commander had a natural talent for calculating the many possibilities of war that very few possessed. What Etom' couldn't shake was the thought of what had happened to the missing squad that hadn’t made it down to the cavern. If they had died, the Commander could rest a little easier. Etom' held little responsibility for the lost teams. They each had their commanders leading them, but those commanders, Laal’Fysun, Heiyan’Khul and the missing Ital’Parek, were all dear friends, and Etom’ had a hand in choosing those in their ranks. Their deaths would weigh heavily on the Commander, whether they ought to or not.

After spending time cleaning their armour, Commander Vyuum and Corporal Lawal used the rest of the time they had retrieving the bodies of the soldiers that had died during the mission. They then carefully placed those bodies on the platform they’d ridden into the cavern. They used the bloodstained grey tarp to cover the bodies alongside the other deceased Kurin soldiers that rested. Olin’ then counted the corpses again. Thirteen dead soldiers in total. This wasn’t getting any easier.

Etom’ knelt before the bodies and prayed prayers the Commander knew would be better told by the absent Rekla'Kyuul. They wished safe passage for their souls across the Bridge of Serenity and prayed for infinity under the sun. Olin’s respect for Commander Vyuum, for Eton’Vyuum, grew as they spoke the prayers with such peace and reverence. It was yet another side to the hero that Olin’ hadn’t seen before.

In truth, Etom’ wished Rekla’ had been here to recite the prayer. The Lieutenant had always been more comfortable with their faith. In Rekla's absence, the Commander had to perform the task, repeating the intonation and cadence used a hundred times before when blessing the dead. Etom' regretted the simplicity of the manipulation. Saying the words in a practised way would evoke an emotional response for those that heard them. At this point, this long into the war, the words meant far less for Etom’ than they did for anyone else that heard them.

The Kurin had been known to lose entire platoons as they attempted to claim the bodies of just a few fallen soldiers. That compassion had played against the Kurin on many battlefields on many worlds. And while they understood that they could never win this war with such imprudent tactics, there was no way to know what awaited them above. Returning these bodies to the surface served little purpose. They would likely need to maintain their mobility, and carrying their deceased comrades would undoubtedly hinder that, endangering them further. It was a disturbing decision to have to make, and not one any commander would want to come to, but the dead had willingly given their lives. Wherever they rested their bodies, their souls would know eternity under the sun.

With the blessings complete, Etom' rummaged through the pack of deceased commander Heiyan’Khul. The armour of the fallen soldiers was well into the process of devouring their bodies. It wouldn’t matter soon. In half a day or so, the bodies would experience the most powerful of cremations as the fire from the planted explosives consumed them. Commander Vyuum fished out Heiyan'Khul's detonator. Fortune struck as the detonator's screen indicated that the device had already been programmed and synced with the explosives in the corresponding elevator shaft and was ready to fire. Etom' pocketed the device and hoped their luck would hold.

Almost an hour had passed when the last of the Kurin soldiers returned, confirming their packs empty of explosives. By that time, their canisters were brimming with the luminous blue liquid they hoped to take with them. The soldiers collected their bottles, then moved to the only usable elevator platform and climbed aboard. There should have been four platforms available, but one had been destroyed. The controls of another had been sabotaged, and the bodies of their deceased comrades were on the third platform. The sooner they conjoined teams returned to the surface, the more chance they had of not dying down here too. However, before Etom' could join them, there was still one order of business that needed attention.

It had taken just over ten hours for each platform to get from the surface of planet Surius down into the cavern. And each explosive in the elevator shafts was paired with their respective detonators. All Commander Vyuum had to do was press a few buttons on the two held detonators, and those explosives would link to a single device. That was easy enough, but Commander VYuum also had to consider how long it would take for their platform to return to the surface. And how long it might take for them to find a way off the planet. Those variables dictated how long the countdown needed to be. There was little expectation that a Kurin transport would be waiting to collect them when they surfaced. And there was no way for the Kurin armada to know which platforms the teams would be on or if they would be on any. It would be impossible to send more ships to each platform without being seen on radar and attacked. It made more sense for the soldiers to commandeer a Surion vessel if they wanted to escape, but how long might that take? Etom’ figured it might take an hour or two to find and secure a ship but didn’t want to leave them with no time to find one. They would also need time to clear the area. Making it to orbit would also take time. Twelve hours on the timer felt right, Etom’ finally decided. Don’t stand around thinking about it. Get to the surface, find a ship, and make it to a safe orbital distance before the festivities began. That was it. The Commander set the controls and turned to Lieutenant Kyuul for the last detonator to link the rest of the explosives together.

Perked up by the prospect of heading home, Rekla’ pulled out the last detonator retrieved from the Arms team’s Lieutenant, Imey’Eda. Rekla' was ready to program the device as Commander Vyuum had, but the Lieutenant realised that programming the device would be impossible with the screen shattered. Rekla’ had known the state of the detonator but played off its importance as the trigger still functioned. Lieutenant Kyuul now had to show their superior the detonator and had no idea how the Commander would respond.

Rekla’ sheepishly opened a palm and revealed the state of the detonator to Commander Vyuum. A long continuous jet of air vented from the Commander's antler filters as rage in the Commander grew. Etom' might have shouted curses towards the heavens or kicked any inanimate object unfortunate enough to be near, but what would it solve? It was already done, and there was no going back.

The Commander allowed their emotions to settle, and the angry streams of air jetting from the antler vents calmed to a slow rhythmic pulse. What could be done about this situation, and how might it have happened? No soldier had rested properly since this mission had begun. They had travelled for over a month in four small starships to the Surion homeworld on ships only made for short journies. The vessels also had limited capacity and weren't built to be manned by crews of eight. Four was their standard number, so members of each party had to sleep in shifts cramped next to each other. The size of the ships was an advantage, though. Their size meant they might be viewed as ordinary space debris when they got within range of the planet. If they stayed on course, hidden in the shadow of the Surion moon, the orbital scanners wouldn't see their approach. All they had to do was pick up enough speed then cut all non-essential power as they exited the shadow.

The plan had worked. The Kurin ships had made it reasonably close to the planet without detection. They only had to bring the power back on and decelerate for planetary entry. Still, during the entire journey, none of them had rested well. Could this lapse in judgement have come from sleep deprivation? They had been at this a long time, and most days as a soldier lasted longer than they did for civilians. If anyone else had made the mistake Rekla' had, Commander Vyuum would have rung them out. To inform a senior officer of an issue with such delay seemed almost intentional. The thought of it caused the Commander’s agitation to grow again, but Etom’ quickly squelched the feeling. Rekla’ couldn’t have done this on purpose. Perhaps tiredness was getting to all of them. Even the Commander was feeling it, but after decades, sometimes going weeks without a decent night’s rest, a few nights deprived of slumber was nothing new to them. Whatever had caused the Lieutenant’s lapse in judgement, the detonator screen was broken, and there was nothing they could do about it. But even now, neither of them quite understood the depths of what the damage to the detonator meant.

Corporal Olin’Lawal watched as Imey’Eda, the Arms team’s Lieutenant, hopped down off the platform and joined the conversation between Commander Vyuum and Lieutenant Kyuul. Moments passed, and though all the soldiers on the platform watched on, only Corporal Lawal noticed the almost imperceptible drop of Commander Vyuum's shoulders and the subtle change in their posture. The moment Corporal Lawal had seen this, they knew the mission had hit an unavoidable snag.

Click Here for Part VII