He saw as Jean rushed to get into position, ordering her team to spread out. She would provide any cover she could from some higher ground, although with this many places for the enemy to hide, her job was almost suicidal.
The teams stayed fairly distant from each other, so as to prevent susceptibility to grenades or suppressed fire. David stopped next to a fairly large boulder, with his back against it. Up ahead were too many rocks, and walking through them blind would�ve been reckless. He took from his belt what looked like a small round ball, and hurled it over the rock. A few moments later, it landed, and he started messing with his implants again.
The ball was a digital eye that gave him a full 360-degree view of the environment ahead, with heat signature readings and electrical impulse signals. All soldiers carried electronic implants in them, and this little gadget could detect those within a hundred meters.
Since he was only fifty meters away from the device, it showed on his digital map both him and about 15 of the other AGF�s near his position. He gave William the signal to take point, and waited as he and his men rushed silently by.
David was about to give N�tn�see the go signal, when alarms flared in his helmet. According to his ThreatDar, the location of the source was right where he stood. The ThreatDar was only set on a horizontal plane, though, and could not show where a target was elevation wise. He looked up, and saw it just before it disappeared:
A jet-black ship, fairly small, with almost no armaments. The Sharkfang. In an instant, the little craft disappeared.
�All teams pull back. Mission abort, repeat, RTB.� David hated leaving a mission, but there were more dangerous things afoot. As the soldiers rushed back, William and N�tn�see approached him.
�Not to question orders, sir� N�tn�see asked, �but may I ask as to why we are abandoning our mission?�
David told them about the Sharkfang.
�Aw shit,� breathed William. �That thing�s a spy plane, isn�t it? They�ve found us, haven�t they?�
�I�m afraid so, which is why we need to get back to base immediately. I�ve already sent the signal to our ride to get us, and it�ll be there when we get to the extraction point. Let�s go.�
They ran, and soon caught up with the other soldiers. Jean cursed at herself, having just gotten into the perfect sniping spot. The teams all pulled out and headed for the formation of rocks where they had began this mission not five minutes ago, and waited. The dropship�s engines roared, then went dead, as the Actigrav guided it down slowly to the ground. It hovered half a meter above the dirt, and all twenty-nine AGF�s hastily hopped on board.
When they landed back at what they had called home for the past few weeks, a private stood at attention at the landing pad.
�SIR!� He shouted at David.
�Yes, private? What is it?�
�Admiral McIntire orders for your immediate counsel, sir. Please follow me.�
David had expected this, and followed the private obediently. They entered the base, and walked through several hallways until they were deep within the facility. The private stopped outside the Admiral�s door at full attention, and gestured for David to enter. He walked inside, and removed his helmet.
McIntire rotated his chair to face David, killed a com link, and extinguished his cigar.
�You want to tell me what excuse your sorry ass has for aborting a mission?�
�Sir! A new threat has risen that demands your immediate attention, sir!�
�And what the hell might this threat be? We needed that rocky plain scouted, damn it!�
�Sir, while on our mission we spotted what we are quite sure is an enemy spy plane. I aborted the mission because I believe that the enemy has discovered our hiding location.�
�Bullshit. Any craft that those idiots would try to send here would�ve been seen long ago by our satellite surveillance systems. Care to explain why we didn�t see it?�
�It was another Sharkfang, sir. The same craft my team and I used to return from Terrana Six on our last mission, sir. It has capabilities of being able to pinpoint-jump long distances instantaneously, and it was only above us for under three seconds. They could�ve entered a blind spot, where for a few seconds none of our satellites were looking.�
The Admiral went silent. His eyes were locked with David�s, still breathing heavily.
�Since something of this measure doesn�t have time for clearance and investigation, I�m going to have to take your word for it. But by God, soldier, if you�re wrong, you�ll be Court Martialled if I don�t murder you myself. Go back to your bunker, you�ll be receiving orders soon. You�re dismissed.�
�Thank you, sir.� David turned on his heel, and left the room in silence. He was sure that the ship he had seen was a Sharkfang, and he was pretty damned sure he had actually seen one at all. Still, the nagging what-if thoughts of if he was wrong nagged at him. The whole base had to be scrubbed, all of the dropships reconverted and sent back into orbit. The whole process would take nearly twelve hours with everyone on full shifts, and would be an expensive waste of fuel if he was wrong.
But if he was right, he would be saving the last free survivors of Earth.
