The Aurigan Republic

Chapter 14

For the next week, AG spent his time in solitude as he digested all the info he gathered. He learned that the conflict on the planet was much worse than he had anticipated. A civil war was inevitable and, unless the government forces could suppress the rebels, the situation would get out of control very quickly. He was a mercenary who was used to picking one's battles. While pay could often be a deciding factor, certain risk factors could make a seemingly lucrative offer appear a terrible decision. AG knew that he had made questionable choices in the past. He still had regrets about those decisions while also being grateful he managed to come out of those situations in one piece. Being thrown into a war was a different matter, especially when one was on the side of the side most considered the weaker side.

It wasn't exactly rare for mercenaries to participate in wars. If anything, wars promised more opportunities and better pay than peace times. However, a mercenary would carefully weigh the pros and cons before they commit to these contracts. AG was not in a similar situation. First, he had no contracts, so there was no guarantee he would be paid handsomely for achieving certain conditions. Secondly, he was on the side of the underdogs. Mercenaries rarely lived long if they wanted to be heroes because heroism and mercenary work simply didn't mix. Thirdly, his equipment was suboptimal for his situation and he had little to no reliable Intel on his own side. He was hard pressed to know the full strength of the rebels, resulting in his inability to plan for the future.

To make matters worse, AG was with women and children who lacked any training. They were hardly backups he wanted if things got bad. The week went uneventfully, which puzzled him. He knew that it didn't take much for the government forces to locate them. It also didn't take much time for them to send planes against them. The fact that nothing happened was more worrying for him. AG did admit to himself that he was just restless. After the adrenaline-packed month during his raids of the town and escaping from professional soldiers with women and children, staying in a cave with nothing to do gnawed at him from within. He had already lost count of the number of times he checked his weapons and ammo. He was unsure how much longer they had to stay.

The women worked hard on keeping the children distracted from their troubles. They didn't want the children to sneak off where they could get killed. After experiencing the c*****e, the children did become much more behaved. They rarely cried and kept to themselves unless one of the adults organized some activity like singing or word games. The leader of the group was confident that they couldn't be heard. Given how deep they were, their sound couldn't reach the entrance where some random passerby might hear it. At this point, everyone needed a morale boost given that they all lost loved ones in the attack. Most of them knew that they wouldn't even get a chance to see the bodies of those loved ones ever again.

With them still in a precarious situation, no one thought about grieving. They still had too much on their plate, like survival. Despite there being supplies, there was a finite amount and no amount of rationing could sustain them indefinitely. They had to eventually leave the cave and that would be when things got more dangerous. They also couldn't afford to wait too long because rationing weakened them and, the longer they waited, the weaker they would be. If a fight did await them, they would ideally fight sooner rather than later. Of course, the idea of them being a group capable of fighting was ridiculous. Other than AG, the others lacked any weapons to speak of.

The cave had food and supplies but no weapons were kept there. AG suspected that the locals didn't get a chance to stock those in the cave. Weapons and ammo took extra care to store. He knew from experience that poor storage could cost lives and there were enough deaths already. It also didn't help that the government attack happened without warning, catching the locals completely off guard. The combination of circumstances made matters extremely unfavorable for the underdogs and he just happened to be on their side. Even if he hit a target with all of his bullets, AG was quite certain that he could do little to turn the tide of an engagement between trained government soldiers and his group.

In the meantime, the woman leader, who introduced herself as Jessica, had been busy locating friendly forces. There was a chamber dug at the highest point of the cave where it had the best reception. Using fairly primitive radio equipment, she tried to see if she could receive any messages. Any interception could shed light on the chaotic situation in these rural parts of the nation. She admitted that she was hesitant to send anything out. They were dead the moment their messages were intercepted by government forces. Following the last attack, they had no way of pinpointing where the government forces were located. To send messages out blindly could be the last mistake they ever made.

Unfortunately, her efforts had yielded very little progress thus far. There were bits and pieces that proved useless unless she could get a bigger picture. The intercepted messages came from both rebel and government forces. It was obvious that the government forces weren't making the progress they wanted. She could infer from what she gathered that the guerilla tactics utilized by the rebels had proven to be a challenge for soldiers trained for warfare against other soldiers. This bit of information did bring a smile to her though. Jessica often updated AG on what she learned but they both agreed it wasn't enough. As their supplies dwindled, they had to leave the safety of the cave. There was danger outside but they preferred to go down fighting than starve to death in the cave.

Once the supplies were estimated to last only a week with strict rationing, Jessica and AG called for a meeting. All the adults were present and they had a quick vote on what to do. Given the circumstances, the vote only lasted a few minutes. They decided that AG would head out with three other members and they would be exploring the immediate vicinity. If there were no hostile forces, they would make their way to the town. They suspected that the government forces had likely burned the town down but they could get lucky with supplies. Jessica revealed that it wasn't uncommon for the locals to stash some food and supplies underground for emergencies like storms and other disasters. If they could dig up those supplies, it would buy them more time to venture further out.

On the night following the meeting, AG, Jessica and two other women headed out under the cover of darkness. While AG brought along his firearms, the women were only armed with the combat knives AG had on him. The knives weren't impressive in a firefight, but the forest and darkness could at least give them a fighting chance. They quietly circled around the cave, stopping often to listen for any sounds of human footsteps. Once they were certain the coast was clear, the group moved slowly towards the direction of the town, unsure what awaited them there.