The PFC at the point position held up a fist, and the others scrambled for cover into the underbrush. Jenks listened as the lance corporal slowly and cautiously moved forward and then knelt beside the point man.
“What is it?” he asked.
“We got six or seven of those squid things up ahead.”
“What are they doing?”
“Right now, nothing. Look,” he said in a low voice.
Jenks and Ellenshaw joined the two, and their eyes saw the same thing as the marines’.
Six of the Wasakoo were standing and slowly pouring water from large shell-like carriers over their exposed skin. The water seemed to revive the creatures.
“They must rehydrate their skin after so long out of the water. Could be a point we could use if we ever find ourselves stuck here,” Charlie said as he adjusted his glasses.
“That’s real comforting, Doc,” Jenks said, shaking his head.
“Just a point.”
“More of them,” the point man said as he eased farther back into the bush.
They saw a group of at least sixteen more of the Wasakoo join forces with those already reviving themselves in the clearing ahead. These newcomers did the same as the first group. They doused their exposed, scaly skin with water. Charlie didn’t know if it was salt water, but he suspected it was. The entire group was heavily armed with spears and knives. Several had bows made from what looked like the spines, or quills, from some exotic sea life. The arrows were made of the same. The sharkskin pants they wore were reflecting the overhead sun, and it looked as though the heat was dehydrating these creatures at a fast rate.
“Listen,” Jenks said.
As the small rescue became still and silent, a hundred of the Wasakoo joined the group. They repeated the same process as the first two sets.
“They must have had a rendezvous set up to refresh themselves,” Charlie Ellenshaw offered.
“Too many to take on even with our weapons. They could overwhelm us before we did enough damage,” the lance corporal said as he pulled on the arm of the point man. “Come on, we can’t sit here and wait them out. Let’s find another way.”
The twelve men easily moved off to the left to try to make their way around the large group of Wasakoo. As they moved off by at least three hundred yards, they stopped as another group of the sea creatures broke into a clearing ahead of them. This was the largest group thus far. Over two hundred of the aggressive species sat and stood while soaking their bodies with water. Weapons were casually laid at their sides, and the men watched as even these soldiers from a strange world seemed to joke and prod at each other. They were like fighting men from their own dimension as they joked and glad-handed their fellows.
“They have no natural fear,” Charlie again said.
“Look, Doc, if you’re going to give this National Geographic narration all the way in, why don’t you just walk over there and get an interview?” Jenks asked in exasperation. “Just stop teaching for an hour or so, will ya?”
“Sorry, Master Chief — hard habit to break.”
“One thing is for sure, they are slowly making their way to that mine up there. They’re just taking their time in their search. He’s right; they have no fear of anyone interfering.” The lance corporal turned and faced both Jenks and Ellenshaw. “The doc here may be right; we could use that to our advantage if the need arises.”
“I agree,” Jenks said. “They have no fear whatsoever and that could be a break for us. They don’t know we’re here.”
“I suspect the natural senses they use in the sea don’t translate that well to land. As you can see, these creatures are outright miserable in this environment,” Ellenshaw explained.
Jenks was tapped on the shoulder and binoculars thrust into his hand. He was confused at first but saw the marine pointing.
“That must be the mine entrance right up there,” he said.
Jenks adjusted the glasses, and then he saw what the marine was seeing. The reinforced mine opening was only a quarter of a mile up. That was where the Wasakoo were heading. As he studied the entrance, he could swear that he saw movement at the mouth of the mine. He cursed as he saw a small child appear and then just as quickly vanish. He lowered the glasses and turned to face the others.
“It looks like the drone told the truth. They’re in there.”
“Well, we know where we have to go; sitting here isn’t going to get the job done,” the lance corporal said as he easily stood and then gestured the men farther to take a path that would lead them around the company-sized group of Wasakoo.
If the small rescue team had the use of the drone, they would have seen a far more chilling sight ahead, as over a thousand of the sea creatures were coming up the mountain from the opposite side.
The battle for Compton’s Reef was drawing near, and Jenks, Charlie, and the ten US Marines were outnumbered two hundred to one.
His crew was having a hard time with damage control and the attackers. As men fought to extinguish the chemically enhanced blazes erupting on all decks of the enormous missile cruiser, they were harassed and killed by Wasakoo who had used the speed of their boats to attach themselves to the railings and fight their way onto the main deck. Second Captain Dishlakov had abandoned the bridge and was fighting alongside his men. The battle had been raging as they sped in a wide circle in Peter the Great’s battle to protect Simbirsk. They were losing.
He was momentarily thrilled to see Shiloh as she steamed a closer-in circle around Simbirsk. She was also ablaze but seemed to be fighting well.
“Captain, we are running low on forty- and twenty-millimeter ammunition,” his new XO said as the man took quick aim and fired his Makarov pistol into the upturned face of a Wasakoo as it sprang over the railing. Dishlakov patted the man’s shoulder.
“Then get knives, wrenches, and fuel oil. We fight this ship until she can’t fight any longer.” He took the young man by the sleeve. “We must give Simbirsk all the time we can.”
As the officer moved off, Dishlakov looked around and knew his ship couldn’t last much longer. The bulk of Peter the Great would survive because the Wasakoo had no meaningful way of sinking her, but the attrition upon his crew was growing to a level that they would be expended long before the great battle cruiser gave up the fight.
More of the manta rays burst from the sea and climbed skyward, their long wings crushing the air as they rose. Ten of the ray-like beasts came on, and soon their riders were launching more of the explosive devices that struck and burst open. Their brightly flared results started more intense fires. Dishlakov fired into the sky, as did others. Three of the creatures crashed into the flaming deck, where they and their riders were quickly dispatched by the crazed but lethal defenders.
More of the flying mantas burst from the sea, only this time they were larger and carried more than ten of the Wasakoo on their backs. The rays slammed into the upper deck just aft of the number-three missile launcher. One of the Wasakoo, injured from his jump from the back of the ray, limped over and then slashed at the aluminum cover of the missile hatch. Too late, Dishlakov and others saw the creature as he dropped something into the well where one of the Burn missiles was housed. The Wasakoo was struck down as their bullets ripped into its body, but they all knew it was too late. The Burn missile exploded in its launch tube.