“Richard, how do we know you’re not some clever Aug trying to deceive us?” the man replied.
“I’m not an Aug!” Richard yelled back with emphasis. “Surely you can tell by my voice that I’m human!”
“You might be who you say you are, or you might not. What is your current location?” the man asked.
“I’m about forty miles south of the Canadian boarder on the eastern edge of Glacier National Park.”
“You are too far east for us to safely reach you. You’ll have to go west to Chief Mountain if you want to meet with us in person,” the man said.
“Yes,” Richard replied.
“Okay we’ll see you in an hour on the eastern slope of the mountain. If you are who you say, then you’ll be able to reach us,” the man replied.
“I’ll be there!” Richard replied in a confident tone as he put the radio in his pack. Then he gently nudged Dakota with he heels and directed him westward. Dakota neighed and then started galloping along effortlessly while Richard kept an eye out for patrolling Augs.
When they reached the base of Chief Mountain, the trees slowly thinned out and Richard tugged gently on Dakota’s mane.
“Okay buddy, let’s take it slow,” he said as they started their ascent. Dakota’s hoofs dug into the loose soil and with each step a cascade of dirt and rocks tumbled down the slope behind them.
“Good boy,” Richard said in a soft encouraging tone as they continued up the windswept slope. The sparse vegetation slowly gave way to a few patches of snow as the sound of Pika’s barking echoed through the thinning air.
“You can stop anytime, we’re high enough,” Richard said after checking the digimap. Dakota took a few more steps, and then paused when he reached a small flat depression. After Richard jumped down, Dakota turned his backside into the wind and flattened his ears back as sporadic gusts of wind blew his mane around.
“I wonder where they are?” Richard remarked after scanning the hillside with his binoculars. Dakota flicked his tail and pawed at the ground signaling his displeasure with the locale. Richard looked around for another minute, and when he spotted a column of eight tanks approaching from the north. They were driving slow, delicately maneuvering their way up a narrow roadbed that ended not far from where Richard was standing.
“Let’s go,” he said after climbing up on Dakota’s back. Dakota slowly crossed over to the old roadbed and then paused when he saw the large metal beasts approaching.
“It’s okay, they are on our side,” Richard whispered in Dakota’s ear while patting him. Then he turned on his pulse rife in case they were not. The lead tank came to a stop a few hundred yards away and Richard waited to dismount until he saw a young scruffy looking man hop out of it and wave. Richard jumped down and then cautiously walked towards him, keeping one hand on his pulse rifle.
“Hello, it’s nice to meet you Richard,” he said as they shook hands. “I’m Captain Mitchell Walker of the 163rd cavalry regiment of the Black Horse Troopers. It’s an honor to meet you sir. I am sorry we had to ask you to come all the way up here, but the Augs can be very tricky and will stop at nothing to capture or kill us.”
“Have we met before?” Richard asked, taken a back by the man’s overly friendly demeanor.
“No sir, but my men and I are at your service,” the Captain offered.
“I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else?” Richard replied.
“You are the same Richard who led the attack on the Augs’ production facility in Great Falls aren’t you?”
“I led the assault team, but how do you know about that?” Richard asked in a surprised tone.
“We have several Satcom radios that we use to communicate between our unit and some of the more remote clans. On occasion, the Augs’ communications cross over onto our frequencies and we can listen in on what they are saying. The day you destroyed the production facility, we were able to hear some of the action as it unfolded. It was the first time I have ever heard panic and confusion coming from the Aug’s command structure. You really shook things up down there, and we want to join up with your tactical team,” Captain Walker offered.
“I appreciate your support, but I don’t have a team. In fact, there were just four of us who pulled off the attack on the production facility, and two of them didn’t make it back,” Richard admitted.
“Darn it, I was hoping we could join forces,” Captain Walker said with a sigh.
“How many are in your unit?” Richard asked.
“There are a few hundred of us left from Troop E of the 163rd, plus we have a couple hundred volunteers that help us on and off.”
“Troop E? I never heard of it, where were you stationed?” Richard asked.
“We were training out of Fort Harrison down in Helena when the mandate for augmentation came out. Most of the soldiers were willing to have the operation until a classified memo surfaced that revealed the implements were not benign. At that point, I realized this was not just a soldier enhancement program, so I showed the memo to my commanding officer. He claimed the memo was nothing more than a practical joke and demanded that I have my troops augmented as scheduled. I pretended to follow his orders while I informed my men about the truth. The night before we were scheduled for augmentation, we seized all of the military hardware on the base and headed north with it. By the time the commander realized what had happened, we were long gone, and they didn’t have any way of chasing after us. We had taken all twenty-four brand new GDLS tanks, fifty-two crates of Raptor XR600 pulse riles, and a few crates of grenades for good measure. The pulse rifles were a special treat, as they were an unissued high-powered prototype, and we stole them all,” Captain Walker said with a twinkle in his eye.
“So your whole Troop went AWOL?” Richard asked.
“As members of the National Guard, we have sworn to defend our country from all threats, both internal and abroad. I think we can all agree that the Augs represent an unparalleled threat to our nation and beyond,” Captain Walker insisted
“I agree completely,” Richard replied. “You have no idea how relieved I am that your unit defected and that there are so many other humans still alive. We were beginning to think we might be all that were left.”
“Well I’m happy to say there are still a few of us hiding up north, but it’s been a hard fight. The infectious mosquitoes have prevented us from attacking the Augs to the south. That’s why we were so excited when you took them by surprise and destroyed their facility,” Captain Walker said with a grin.
“I don’t understand why the Augs haven’t brought in more troops and firepower if they know about your existence,” Richard questioned.
“After the Augs gained control of the planet, there was no need for a large military infrastructure because they do not wage war on their own kind. The truth is, the Augs have been waging a war of attrition, letting their mosquitoes and mother nature do the dirty work for them. Why would they risk lives and resources if all they have to do is keep us isolated?” Captain Walker said in a matter-of-fact tone.
“Do you have an assessment of what military force they do have in the area?” Richard asked.
“Yes, we know the Augs were well prepared to defend the production facility against a full scale attack, but we could never get far enough south to reach them because of the mosquitoes. Based on recent radio intercepts and what we have seen in the field, they have a few dozen GDLS tanks and a half-dozen Lockheed mobile rocket launchers. We also know they have been moving some of their assets northward ever since you attacked the facility. In an effort to stop them from reaching our settlement to the north, we have come down to repel them,” Captain Walker revealed.