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Tarkel Jungle

March 15, 1984 RE

It was two days after the Southern Alliance had decided to make that rather sloppy attack against us and we had left that outpost and some confused tourists behind. Things were still pretty tense. The situation had been made even worse yesterday when one of the soldiers whose weapon had jammed on her during the fighting had discovered one of her bullets was a little too large for her gun. The Colonel had ordered an ammunition check which had taken a few hours to complete. Frankly, I was surprised they had managed to go through all the cartridges and shells as fast as they did. It was discovered that at some point some bullets and other little things had changed sizes. We only lost about one cartridge worth of ammunition and one gun was too large for any of the ammunition we had available to us. The Colonel was actually able to get two more bullets for his overlarge pistol though. I also had my team check out equipment rather than just standing around and watching the soldiers. There was only one piece of equipment that had grown and it still functioned perfectly fine. Still, the Colonel was not pleased to find out that any of the bullets had grown since he could not afford to have us stop and check ammunition everyday.

Things did not improve today either. About two hours after we set out this morning it started to rain. It was well into the afternoon now and it was still raining. It was not a light rain either. I would call it more of a torrential downpour. The already poor trail that we were following became even worse as the dirt under our feet quickly turned to mud. It was hard moving around like this and I had to wonder how hard this was for some of the furrier members of our team. If the rain soaked into their fur it would be like adding a few extra pounds of weight to their bodies. When I looked over at Tracy she seemed to be doing alright, in fact, she seemed to be taking this even better than I was.

My team must have been moving much slower than I thought we were. The Colonel signaled his troops with a twitch of his tail and before I knew it I was picked up and placed on Tracy's back while the other members of my team were picked up by the Colonel's other troops. The pace picked up noticeably and I apologized to Tracy for being such a burden. In response she said, "Don't worry about it. You should have seen what they put us through during Hell Week. Compared to that, this is nothing."

I had my doubts but I did not voice them. There was only one problem for me now. Tracy was thoroughly soaked. Whatever had mutated all of those animals a thousand years ago had improved the overall smell of anthros, but it had done nothing about the smell of wet fur. I thought it wise not to comment on Tracy's odor at the moment. She seemed to like me and I didn't want to ruin things by insulting her about something she couldn't help while she was carrying me on her back. We continued on like this until the scouts found a good place to settle down for the night on some high ground with some moderately good cover.

It was a cold and miserable night. Having been on expeditions in weather like this before I was prepared for it. Some of the other members of my team were being cared for by the troops. The Colonel could not have them coming down with something. The ancient humans may have been able to eliminate most major diseases, but one still needed to guard against other ailments that came from not properly taking care of oneself. I noticed that it tended to be the scalies that were taking care of the members of my team that needed the help. That was probably a sign that they did not like how some of their companions smelled at the moment any more than I did. I smiled at that and as I laid down to sleep I just hoped Lockwood and the SA forces that were no doubt following us were having even more problems than we were.

Serandale River

Tarkel Jungle

March 18, 1984 RE

Three days and one tourist outpost later we found ourselves at the banks of the Serandale River. It had been raining almost nonstop and nobody except for the water loving creatures among our group were that happy. We planned on crossing the river later, but first our scouts had to do a bit of hunting. They were not foraging for food though. What they were looking for were enemy scouts that were close enough to us to see where we would be making our crossing. Col. Miller did not want us being caught out in the open while we made our way across the river.

It only took about an hour before our hunters came back with a few catches. The Colonel himself had gone on the hunt despite what I thought were a few subtle objections from those under his command. As it turned out the Colonel returned without a scratch on him and two enemy soldiers draped over his shoulders. I doubt they knew what to do when they saw a ten foot tall jaguar bearing down on them. Me, I probably would've pissed my pants. Besides the two that Col. Miller had captured there were three other prisoners brought in. There was a brief interrogation where it was found out that there were ten scouts keeping watch on our position. I was a little surprised at how fast the interrogation was going, but I discovered the prisoner that was speaking was a pretty young guy that had been conscripted into the Dalgan army against his will because he lived in this jungle and they needed guides. It also helped that the shortest person present in the interrogation area had been an eight foot tall water buffalo with muscles on top of muscles. The poor kid must have been scared half to death.

I thought the Colonel would have sent out somebody to take care of the other five scouts that were supposed to be watching us. The Colonel just glared at me and said, "They've already been neutralized." I took that to mean not every scout he and his hunters had run across had been taken captive. Without their scouts that meant we should be able to travel a little further up the river and cross it without the SA forces noticing. Or we should at least be able to make it most of the way across the river before they finally caught on to what we were doing, especially in this rain.

It was interesting watching how the soldiers handled our first water crossing. The otters, alligators, crocodiles, and other aquatic creatures on this expedition waded into the water first. I realized they would be keeping watch for underwater threats while we made our way across the river. There was a dock a little further down river but we figured the SA would have most of their forces around the dock to try and ambush us their. This section of the river happened to be shallow enough for us to walk across but just barely. By the way our aquatic companions were fanning out in the water I could tell they were also there to catch us if we were swept off our feet by the current. Considering that the water was waist high to me and the fact that it only takes a couple of inches of swiftly flowing water to sweep a person off his feet, it was very likely that someone was going to need some help when we crossed that river.

As we started making our way across the river with our bags held above our heads I had reason to believe that I was going to need some help across this river. It felt like I was going to slip and fall at any moment. Their were a few startled yelps as people lost their footing and were swept downriver before being intercepted by one soldier or another. I was just grateful we did not have to do this under fire. This was going a little to well in my opinion. If this were a movie this is where something would happen. We were stuck in the middle of a river, it was pitch black outside due to all of the clouds, and it was raining so hard that I could not see more than ten feet in front of me. Fortunately, preparation and chance were on our side this time around. The river crossing was hard and something that I don't look forward to repeating in the future, but other than that it was fairly uneventful.

The scouts had managed to find some pretty good cover on the far side of the river and we made camp there. It was the first time we had found a relatively dry place to camp in a long time. Most of us spent a good portion of the night trying to get the mud out of our boots, fur, bags, guns, and wherever else mud had managed to find itself, which was everywhere. My boots were supposed to be mud-proof. This was not my first expedition though. It takes a civilization hundreds of years more advanced than my own to produce boots that mud can't get into under conditions like these. Some of the members of my team that did not have the same amount of experience I did had more than a few complaints about false advertisement.

Tarkel Jungle

March 20, 1984 RE

The rain had finally stopped yesterday afternoon. Now it was hot and humid, unusually so for this time of the year. Sweat was pouring out of my body and I was happy to see that someone had had the foresight to refill our water supplies while it had been raining. We were certainly going through our water fast enough now. Tracy was sticking close to me and a few other members from my team making sure that we stayed hydrated. Once again the age and physical condition of my team was coming into play. This weather was a real danger to some people and Col. Miller was not taking any chances with my team.

That little slow down did cost us. It was about midday when I heard the first gunshots. I was surprised that none of the soldiers had shown any signs that we were about to be attacked. They reacted fast after we were attacked though. I was pushed, well, more like tackled to the ground by Tracy. That was pretty much how all of my team members were treated and there is no gentle way of being tackled to the ground, especially when the one tackling you is over two feet taller than you are and has muscles that are solid as a rock. The breath was knocked right out of me while Tracy practically laid on top of me while searching for targets to shoot back at.

I could not see much with Tracy right over me but I did manage to see something I wish I could have avoided. One of our soldiers, a leopard, took a bullet through the chest just a few feet away from me. As the bullet exploded out of the soldiers chest blood went everywhere, including on my face. After that experience with the battle dragon I would have thought something like that would not faze me too badly, but I had been traveling with that soldier for some time now. I did not know him too well but I think everyone in our group had begun to feel a little attached to one another by now. Seeing someone die right in front of my eyes felt even worse since I actually knew the persons name.

I wondered why they had attacked in the middle of the day. "Because it's the best time for them to attack," Tracy responded. I had no idea I was voicing my thoughts. "The SA may not want to see anthros exterminated, but they don't care much for anthros either. They still don't allow any anthros in their armed forces and I doubt they have any with them now. No offense Larry, but humans have pitifully bad night vision. If they were to attack at night there are more of us that would be able to see very well even without the assistance of night vision goggles. We would be able to take them apart at night and they know it. So, a daytime attack makes perfect sense," Tracy explained to me.

As she finished there was a loud explosion. Tracy bared her fangs in a threatening manner and said, "Damn, they're using grenades. Looks like they've decided they'd rather just get a few of you rather than none of you." Then she started dragging me along on the ground with her to a place that looked like it would provide a little cover from an explosion. In a dense jungle like this that did not take long. Tracy signaled that I needed to stay put and be quiet. Then she stalked off into the jungle and practically disappeared before my eyes. I doubted Tracy would leave me alone for long unless she wasn't that far away. The first time that I heard weapons fire come from the direction I had seen Tracy disappear in even I was surprised. I could only imagine what it was like for the soldier that had just been shot at.

It was starting to become apparent to even me that this attack was beginning to tip in our favor. Since the surprise of the initial attack had worn off the superior training and equipment of the Caressean forces had definitely tipped the odds in our favor. I may not be an expert in military tactics, but it seemed like this should have been a hit and run attack. The SA had more troops in the area than we did and it seemed like they should have been content with whittling down the number of soldiers on my side. Instead, they appeared to be trying to capture me and my team now. It was not like they were rushed for time right now. There was still about a month between us and our destination. As expected, the fight died down after a little while. The SA had probably suffered more causalities than they could afford and were pulling back for now.

Tracy emerged a couple minutes later. I could tell she was still on the lookout for any sign of an enemy presence in the area. As I opened my mouth to say that I was happy to see her she raised a finger to her lips to indicate that I still needed to be quiet. Her claws were fully extended as if she was expecting a fight. She was not going to get caught by surprise two times in one day. The SA soldier that jumped out from behind a tree found that out the hard way. Tracy was running toward him before he had even fully emerged from behind the tree. She raked her claws across his face before he had the opportunity to point his weapon at her. What a tiger's claws can do to a person's unprotected face does not bear describing. I was surprised that a person could still be alive while his face was in that condition, but Tracy quickly put an end to it by snapping the man's neck. And with that, the battle was over for the day.

The aftermath was not as pretty as our last battle had been. Three other soldiers besides the soldier I had seen shot had been killed. Four of my scientists had been injured. If two of those soldiers had not taken the brunt of the blast from the grenade I heard earlier there would probably be four dead scientists right now. Three of the four injured scientist only suffered mild injuries, but the fourth was not so lucky. One of his legs had been blown straight off by the explosion and somebody had barely managed to stop the bleeding before he could bleed to death. The only good news about that injury was that the person missing a leg was already one of the people that had to be carried, so this would not affect our mobility.

Col. Miller made sure that we moved and moved fast before we set up camp for the night. Even I had to be carried to keep up with the pace that the Colonel set. I am not sure how far we traveled but I would be amazed if the SA troops could have matched the pace the Colonel set. Colonel Miller also had new sleeping arrangements starting tonight. Since it was now obvious that the SA did not intend to capture all of my team he was now having at least one or two soldiers share the same tent as the scientists on my team. In most cases that actually meant that the members of my team were sleeping with the soldiers. We all had different sized tents and there was no way a nine foot tall anthro was going to comfortably share space in a tent that was designed for a six foot tall human or anthro. Personally, I was moved into the large command tent with the Colonel himself. Even at his size it was large enough to be shared with three of his subordinates.

I was the smallest addition to Col. Miller's command tent. The other three people in the tent were easily recognizable. One was the purple eyed dragon guard I had seen earlier and next to him was his lion partner. It was a little uncomfortable sleeping in the same room with someone that had hospitalized me once and I think the lion looked a little uncomfortable as well. I was relieved when I saw that Tracy was the final person in the tent. That caused me to wonder if she had been invited in here just to make me feel better about the sleeping arrangements. It would have been uncomfortable sleeping in a tent with a bunch of guys that were so large they made me look like a child.

Even though the Colonel's tent was spacious it was still a slightly tight fit for all five of us. I was placed in between the Colonel and Tracy while the dragon and the lion slept feet to feet with us. Everyone feel asleep before I did. I was still thinking about the things that had happened today and I did not feel like sleeping. Then I discovered that the Colonel was not a totally peaceful sleeper. He had a habit that I would consider more annoying than snoring. His tail was waving about as he slept and since I was so close to him I was swatted in the face by his tail on a few occasions. It did not seem right that such a furry object should be able to sting like it did and his tail eventually forced me to retreat as far against Tracy as I could get. Her tail was much more docile than the Colonel's.

I should thank the Colonel. It is much easier to go to sleep while trying to avoid an angry tail than with images of people with their faces torn off and dead comrades floating around in my mind. The only thing I felt like I had to worry about now was Tracy rolling over on me in my sleep.

Tarkel Jungle

March 21, 1984 RE

I woke up the next morning when Tracy sat up. "Morning Larry," she said when my eyes fluttered open. "I hope you weren't trying to take advantage of me in my sleep."

The position I was in was a little awkward to explain. Even though she was smiling in amusement it was hard to keep my face from reddening. "Sorry about that, but Colonel Miller's tail doesn't seem to like me that much. It was either sleep against you or risk getting beaten to death in my sleep."

"Don't blame me for your actions Dr. Sanders," Colonel Miller said in a tone of voice that made it hard to tell if he was just joking. I began to wonder if he was as defensive about his lashing tail as some people were about snoring in their sleep. By the look he gave me I would have to say he was and I filed away a mental note not to poke fun at him for his little habit.

It was a little earlier than when we usually wake up and when I started looking around questioningly the Colonel said, "We have a lot of work to do today Dr. Sanders and I'm not talking about a trek through the jungle. After yesterdays little show I've become convinced that we need to deal with the SA forces in the area as soon as possible. We came entirely too close to losing some of your team members and we simply can't let them continue to operate in such a careless fashion." Everything about Col. Miller, from the tone of his voice to the position of ears, indicated that he was a predator on the hunt. I just wondered how devastating a blow he was prepared to deal to the SA tomorrow. To me, it looked like he was prepared to tear their collective throats out.