Chapter 286.5 (TerraSol)

The 20th Lesser Most High of the Augmented Mobile Infantry was nervous. His troopships had gotten through the planetary shield around Terra, although his aerospace assets had been blown apart, and managed to land next to a forested valley. According to his map it was someplace called Iron Fence, a place called Some Verdant Doom.

Maybe?

He snorted and double-checked his map. When the ships had gotten in close a spy, pretending to be a diplomat, had transferred planetary regional data to the Fleets, but to be honest, the 20th LMH wasn't sure about the map.

The whole area was marked as "Off Limits" to Terrans, especially Digital Sentiences.

But his instruments before his ships had hit so hard had shown high electrical activity as well as what looked like some kind of massive facility built on the river that had carved the valley out.

During the push to the valley he had ignored the various Terran villages that his men drove by inside of his armored personnel carriers, massive 2,200 ton vehicles with two levels, six tracks, armor a half-meter thick, capable of carrying a hundred troops as well as allowing them to fire outside of the armor of the vehicle, which could move a rate nearly as fast as a walking Lanaktallan. The upper level was crammed with every type of weapon needed, from mortars to artillery to point defense to rapid fire laser cannons to tribarrel plasma machineguns.

There was no reason to attack the villages. As soon as he could help drop the defenses, he could leave and the Military Fleet could planet-crack this miserable place. Sure, the last handful of aerospace fighters had been hitting the town and villages, trying to give close combat support to the AMI units, but then it had all gone wrong.

The six hundred aerospace fighters had raced for the valley, each Lanaktallan pilot eager to be the one who disabled the facility.

And had gone silent within seconds.

Six other AMI units had entered that forest and promptly gone silent.

Now he was at the edge of the valley, his infantry vehicles behind him parked in a parking lot, and he was looking down. He couldn't see the river, but the valley, well, it gave him a slight case of the creeps.

The trees were green, standard yellow sun chlorophyll cell structure to turn UV light to sugars, thick cellulose trunks. The branches were a little strange, but Terra had a stiff gravity well, so it wasn't too strange.

It was the mist. That's what was bothering him. The entire valley was covered in patches of mist.

He raised the macro-binoculars to his eyes and scanned the valley again. He could see the gap in the forest where the facility was located as well as the shimmering of the facility's shields, but no roads, no river, nothing. Places where white smoke was streaming up, and a large line of white and black smoke only a mile or two into the forest that formed a huge line. The only gap was where his unit was supposed to sweep into the forest and attack the facility.

It looked quiet.

Mo'ovO'ot lowered the macro-binoculars and chewed on the cud in his cheek pouch for a long moment. Something about it bothered him.

"We are ready to begin the assault as soon as you get aboard the Indomitable Mobile Armored Infantry Delivery Individual Occupation Transport System," his executive officer stated.

"I am not sure that is the best idea," Mo'ovO'ot said. He reached back to his flank cargo carrier and removed a drone. He programmed it to follow the treeline and not enter the forest and launched it.

"Why?" his XO asked.

"Because the communications are full of nothing but empty air. Not even static or jamming. Just empty," Mo'ovO'ot said. "Have our communications specialist check the bands. All of them."

"Yes, Most High," his XO said, clopping back aboard the heavy infantry assault vehicle.

Mo'ovO'ot stared at his screen as the done swept off to the east. He could see where his commander peers had ordered the heavy vehicles into the forest by the big gaps they'd left. After a few miles he turned the drone around and it swept into the forest.

It immediately disconnected from his line of sight laser communication.

Mo'ovO'ot looked at the barrier in front of him. It was a series of poles, waist high on a Lanaktallan, with a chain through the holes. It was obvious it was to keep Terran vehicles from entering the forest that the facility was located in, but he couldn't see anything beyond that.

He sighed and trotted forward to the trail that led from the huge parking lot to the forest. When he got within a few steps of the trail itself the hologram that had scared him bad enough he'd tried to shoot it popped up.

"Welcome to Some Verdant Doom Historical Park and Hazard Zone," the holographic human said. It repeated it in several languages. "Please stay on the path, do not leave your tour group. If it is after dark, the Iron Fence government admits to no responsibility for any injury, death, or other type of trauma you may receive."

The hologram vanished and Mo'ovO'ot chewed his cud for a moment, staring.

Something about that just sounded... ominous. Yes, ominous. That was a good word.

He thought over his data, a slight headache behind his rear right eye as he considered it.

The aerospace fighters crashed and I can see thick black smoke coming up which means they're still burning since black smoke is an artificial object burning, he thought to himself. He closed his eyes to gather his thoughts, feeling almost like he was straining somehow. I can see where the other armored personnel carriers entered the forest as well as a line of black smoke, with the only gap in front of me. That means the vehicles in the other units are inside the forest burning.

It took a long moment, during which he began to sweat, but he made the connection.

It's a trap, he decided. He looked at the vehicles. Modern systems but no longer networked together. The Military Fleet had determined that nearly 11% of all vehicles and vessels had been lost to the damnable Terran Electronic Warfare entities.

It's a trap. I have orders to destroy the facility. It's a trap, but I have to destroy the facility, he thought to himself for several minutes, the thought circling itself over and over. There's a high amount of electromagentic energy in the forest but its a trap but I have to destroy the facility but Terrans are extremely adept at electronic warfare so it's a trap but I have to destroy the facility.

Finally he made a decision.

He gestured to his XO, who came trotting out.

"We go in on foot from here," he said. He pointed at the smoke. "There is a ridge or some other terrain feature or emplacements that destroyed our allied units. We will follow the Terran trail as far as it goes and then make a decision."

The XO nodded.

"Ensure every soldiers has his radio, his comlink, his datalink, and his weapon's and armor's network link turned off."

The XO nodded again.

"Twenty man squads, one heavy weapon per squad, and make sure the network link is shut down and not able to be remote activated," Mo'ovO'ot ordered.

His XO slammed both fists against the armor of his chest and trotted back into the transport to deliver the orders to runner who would go vehicle to vehicle to give the orders.

Mo'ovO'ot had heard of troopers getting murdered by their own armor by the Terran electronic warfare specialists, even heard of the Terrans managing to overheat the comlink or datalink implant to the point that it killed the Lanaktallan it was implanted in by boiling his brain.

Maybe that's what happened? he thought raising his macro-binoculars and scanning the forest again. Some of the smoke was starting to go gray.

He had to admit, it was a pretty valley, but something about it really made his bowels feel loose.

Finally, his troops were gathered up. All two thousand of them, his entire Battalion of Augmented Mobile Infantry. The XO came up and saluted again.

"Ready to move out," he said.

"I will lead," Mo'ovO'ot said. He hefted his dual purpose ion/neural rifle and checked it. Network link off, helmet link off, still on safe but fully loaded.

His XO nodded, looking at the forest and not feeling anything beyond fatigue at the idea of clopping along for twenty or thirty miles.

Still, Mo'ovO'ot was the Most High, not him, so he'd follow Mo'ovO'ot's orders.

Less than twenty feet down the trail and it got quiet and silent. Mo'ovO'ot trotted around a corner and was proud of himself for not screaming when another hologram popped into existence.

"Remember to disable all electronic devices. Tour guides, check everyone for electronic devices. Please ensure that no electronic devices are being brought into the historicasl area. The planetary nation entity of Iron Fence assumes no guilt or responsibility for any injury sustained for anyone who does not abide by this warning," the hologram said, then vanished.

Mo'ovO'ot turned to his XO. "Pass it down the line. Remove all power sources."

"You are not believing the Terran hologram, are you?" this XO asked.

Mo'ovO'ot nodded. "I am. They seem very serious about this. Terrans are strange but one thing all psychological estimates agree on, they are highly individualistic and prize independent action. A warning like this is almost antithetical to a Terran, so it must be important."

His XO looked doubtful but nodded.

He kept trotting down the path, stopping when another hologram popped up and pointed at something. It took Mo'ovO'ot to recognize what he was seeing, realizing it at the same time the hologram informed him.

"This is the first siege line that was established by the Earth Defense Force. These fighting positions were manned for nearly eight years as the Some Verdant Forest was cleared of the Imper Ghosts," the Terran said. "With heavy electromagnetic shielding and virtually no electronics beyond their weaponry, the men and women of the Earth Defense Force manned this fighting line to hold back the Imper Ghosts and prevent them from making another rush even as fighting raged around the Earth during the Second Interdimensional Invasion of Terra."

"Why are you listening to this?" His XO asked, making him miss what some of the hologram said.

"Because something bothers me about this forest," Mo'ovO'ot answered.

"Abandoned approximately 217 Pre-Diaispora once the Imp-Line was created," the hologram said. "Please move on to the next historical point."

Mo'ovO'ot trotted forward, looking around and stopping, pointing out something to his XO.

"That's a tank. Look at it," Mo'ovO'ot said.

The XO looked, frowning. The tank looked like it had suffered an internal detonation. There was a suit of unpowered armor half out, the helmet turned so that the visor was visible, showing a skull inside the helmet. There was dirt and vegetation on the tank, the paint was all missing, but the endosteel alloy was still bright and shiny.

"So?" the XO asked.

Mo'ovO'ot sighed. "Why would the Terrans leave a tank in the forest for so long that it looks half sunken into the sediment?" Mo'ovO'ot asked. "Why haven't they recovered the body? Terrans place great value upon their deceased."

The XO made a non-commital gesture. "Who knows with primitives?"

Mo'ovO'ot sighed. "There's just something..." he sighed again. "Let's go."

He trotted a little further, going around the corner, when he saw it.

Something, out of the corner of his eye. It looked at first like a Terran, a two-dimensional Terran made of splotchy and flickering whitish static, then it flickered to look like a Lanaktallan. When he looked again, it was gone.

"Spread out," the XO ordered.

"Countermand that! Stay on the trail!" Mo'ovO'ot snapped.

Several Lanaktallan had already jumped the low chain fence as soon as they heard Mo'ovO'ot's XO's order. They stopped, turning and looking at their squad leaders who were making come back motions even as more Lanaktallan jumped the chain further down the line.

They climbed back over and for a second Mo'ovO'ot could swear he saw a two dimension staticy Lanaktallan reach for one of his troops.

"Did you see that?" he asked his XO.

"Static on my visor from the high EM activity here?" the XO said.

"Perhaps," Mo'ovO'ot grumbled, starting to trot deeper into the woods.

There was another open space a mile further. The hologram popped up.

"Here can be seen where World War One fortifications were repurposed from historical interests into the Second Line. Tankers of the Nay-toe Fourth Combat Force assaulted from this position, although initially they were forced back, they gave the Fourth Combat Force enough time to dig in and deploy anti-Emp devices. Six months of grueling combat would then ensue as Earth Defense Forces would attempt to push the Empshades back to the breach," the hologram said. "Please move to the next historical location."

"Now we know why the tanks were there. The Terrans fought someone and turned this into some kind of preservation park," Mo'ovO'ot said.

"Terrans are known to hold onto history," his XO said, trotting after Mo'ovO'ot.

The next one popped up, but all it was was static. Same with the next two.

"This trail is winding through the forest. We would get there faster if we went through the forest," the XO said.

"I disagree. Something about all of this bothers me," Mo'ovO'ot said.

"We are over three hours behind. We need to disable the facility," the XO said.

"Take ninety percent of the men, make a direct line for the facility. I will escort the rest down the trail," Mo'ovO'ot said.

The XO nodded, relaying his orders. Mo'ovO'ot watched as the troops moved into the woods, then led his two hundred men further in. They were all grumbling about how the others would get there first, but Mo'ovO'ot still had that weird feeling.

It's a trap, he kept thinking. He'd seen ancient tanks still overgrown, seen body armor still inhabited by skeletons, seen fighting positions manned by the ancient dead.

He knew that humans would waste soldiers to retrieve the body of a deceased soldier.

So why were those dead left there? Why haven't the Terrans retrieved them? he wondered.

"CONTACT!" sounded out up and down the line. Immediately afterwards came weapons fire. Mo'ovO'ot turned and saw that there was flickering white two-dimensional human forms rushing at the fence, hitting it and throwing sparks from an invisible field. Some of them screeched, jaws open wide to reveal the forest behind them.

Before he could countermand the orders several jumped the fence to engage the flashing, flickering figures with their weapons.

"Get back on the trail!" he yelled.

Before two of his men could get over the fence the flickering figures touched them.

They dropped.

Inside the visor he could see a grinning Lanaktallan skull. Bare, fleshless.

A grenade went off and Mo'ovO'ot saw the fence slump, two of the thick posts the chain was threaded through shorting out and throwing fountains of sparks.

Mo'ovO'ot hadn't even known that the posts were electronic.

Mo'ovO'ot saw those flickering white things flood into the path, lunging at his men. Where they touched, Lanaktallan troops slumped.

Alarms started howling and Mo'ovO'ot saw some kind of battlescreen come up on the other side of the hole in the fence, coming up with a crack that threw six of his men to the ground, two of them on the other side of it.

A hologram appeared.

"Remain calm and move to the next historical stop. There are protections there that will..." the hologram said.

Someone shot through it, narrowly missing Mo'ovO'ot, disrupting it.

Another field came up, this one on Mo'ovO'ot's side of the breach on the wall, cutting off twenty of his men. The flickering forms fell upon his men and he saw them collapse. Someone threw another grenade and part of the fence collapsed.

More of those flickering things swept in, falling upon the Lanaktallan troopers, who collapsed.

His Sixtieth Most High moved up, motioning at the few Lanaktallan remaining to come forward.

There was only a handful. Counting himself and the 60th, only eight.

"What's happening?" he asked.

"I do not know," Mo'ovO'ot said, swallowing thickly. He nudged the rocker and pulled a piece of stimcud in his mouth, chewing it.

"What are they?" the Sixtieth Most High asked.

"I don't know," Mo'ovO'ot said. He motioned. "Quickly, men, follow me."

He broke into a gallop, hurrying, until it opened up into another wide area. His few remaining men clustered up close, all of them facing outward, nervously clutching their rifles. The weapons fire was slaking, the screaming was getting less and less.

Mo'ovO'ot realized he could see the facility. It was old, worn, and had an energy field around it. There was the gleaming of metal here and there and Mo'ovO'ot could see the river flowing past the facility.

The hologram appeared.

"The Some Verdant Forest was the longest battle of the Second Dimensional Invasion of Terra. The Electromagnetic entities were able to hold off the might of Terra for nearly eight years. As you can see, the facility was never retaken, instead an electromagnetic shield was put up. Even then, Emp Shades managed to escape the facility and into the forest," the hologram said. "The further away from the master breach, the weaker they are. Electromagnetic radiation from the sun also weakens them. While you may see...."

It stopped speaking and turned to the Lanaktallan and stared.

"Emergency services are unavailable. Please remain within the historical area for your own safety," it said. "Emp-Shades are lethal to this dimensions biological beings and are capable of entering electronic systems."

It vanished.

"What will we do?" the 60th asked.

Mo'ovO'ot turned and looked at the forest. He turned off his light enhancement then opened his visor.

It was dark. He could see flashes of white in the forest, flitting between the trees. Sometimes it looked bipedal.

Other times like a Lanaktallan.

"We will wait for daylight," he said.

"And hope."

"For what?" his 60th asked.

Mo'ovO'ot thought carefully again, wracking his brain. "We hope that the Earth Defense Force still guards this place against whatever an Emp-Shade is and that they rescue us."

Out in the forest a Lanaktallan screamed.

It cut off suddenly.