Devil's Garden

They were all clad in jet black armour and carried bony white coloured rifles. Pointy helmets with unforgiving red eyes darted back and forth across the landscape. Looking for something, someone; as though they knew I was out here.
Twelve of them moved predictably down the valley on the one scantly used path which snaked its way through the thick undergrowth of some forgotten deathworld I had given up trying to pronounce. The plan began to come together; a little too easily though.

Back at camp in a briefing, some intelligence officer, whos name I didn't bother remembering; had stressed never to underestimate the abilities of this enemy in combat. Most of all never to get overconfident; these guys were ment to be as unpredictable as when a warp storm would disipate. So far this hadn't been the case at all.

Magnifying in closer I scanned each one of the warriors; in an attempt to determine which one the leader of the group was. They were all in very similar with no real obvious indications of rank, which was very different to most other opponents I had encountered. Didn't really need to worry about that too much, I was sure to find out very, very soon.
I'd managed to find a good position for this little ambush. Slightly elevated above the path I could almost see the whole body of each target as the walked in single file. In my job all I really needed was to see was the head; from the chest up preferably though. But there was something else out there in the jungle I needed to keep track of. Something I needed to keep out of my crosshairs for a change.

My heart rate slowly but steadily increased now. The first of the black clad warriors had now crossed a little imaginary line in my head which from experience I knew to prepare myself. Relaxing my muscles and controlling my breathing to a point where I became dead still. My mind was now totally focused on the black warriors.

The eleven seconds it took them to move down the path and for the second warrior in the line to step on a slightly disturbed patch of dirt seamed to take a lifetime. His other foot moved forward as his head scanning an area of jungle off to his left as he flexed his hand and then placed it back on the gun handle. Then as he lifted his foot off the disturbed patch of ground I calmly counted to three.

...1...

...2...

...3...

Instead of an almighty explosion that would envelope all of the enemy; before they even knew what hit them. There was a slight ting of metal against metal which was barely auditable before a small metal cylinder slightly larger than a frag grenade, popped up out of the ground to head height and hung there for a fraction of a second. Long enough for the third warrior to see it and realize his fate; and explode.

Again there was no deafening explosion but instead a short but loud bang as the spring mine detonated; shredding the face and neck of the third warrior before his cry of alarm made it out of his mouth. The second warriors fate was similar except he didn't see it coming. His upper back, neck and head were reduced to a shredded red mess.
Both warriors were thrown to the ground by the force; dead before they hit it. Then with astonishing speed and agility the remainder jumped, ran or dived behind the closest cover. With guns up they scanned their surroundings waiting for a hail of fire to errupt from the undergrowth surrounding them; but none to come. Not yet.
They held their fire and continued to scan for any signs of movement for a few minutes before, at an unseen order, they stood up and looked to be moving out.

My confidence took a small hit as I relized they must have a communication unit built into their helmets. Never mind. One last trick up my sleeve. One learned from years of experience and observation. The leader might not be adorned in gold or be yelling orders at the top of his voice, but their is one thing a leader does in this situation. Take control and act accordingly.
Any second now.

Knelt down beside both dead warriors was another warrior checking for any signs of life. The remainder were still on edge and facing out, scanning the surroundings. And then there was the giveaway I was looking for. One paricular warrior stood up and faced inward to face the ones who had only a moment ago been kneeling down by the dead. He looked at each one in turn as they shook their heads from side to side at him, and then stood their facing him.
The warrior then lowered his helmet and looked to breathe in heavily once, as though controlling his anger at the loss of a close friend. The warrior then looked to his right and most of the warriors in that direction started to move off down the path again. Then he looked to his left and the remainder of the warriors and he began to move off. This was also the only warrior who paused for a moment as they moved past the dead bodies.

Now for certain, my earlier thought was confirmed. His helmet was slightly different to that of the others. Most had a black helmet with a white mouthpiece or a complely white helmet. His was the only fully black helmet. Body armour wise, all had symbols and markings that I couldn't make sence of. One did have a white backpack but he was now dead. In most other situations I could have gone on the helmet alone, but there were usually other giveaways. Personalisation to weapons, armour, assessories etc., things that clearly denoted rank. But these black warriors were so similar. And for the plan to work had to be sure of who was the boss of this bunch.

The warriors now began to move down the path again. More spread out and checking the ground more often. Just what we hoped they would do. Most likely expecting their enemy to be predictable enough to try the same thing twice. But they haven't encountered the way we think before.
This type of ambush had been carried out so many times that it was second nature to us. The first booby trap was to see how they reacted and to give me a chance to figure out who was in charge. A unit of soldiers is usually shaken after a unexpected attack like that. Sometimes an experienced soldier might be more relaxed in an ambush compared to a fresh from training officer who might be unsure of what do do. Although a higher rank, he might not nessasarily be in charge.

I lined the enemy leaders head up in my crosshairs and didn't have to wait long before a pair of shredder mines went off. I took down the leader with yet another 'between the eyes' shot a split second after the mines detonated. Three warriors were blasted off the path, trailing blood and fragments of skin as the shredders did their job. The rest jumped into cover and I noticed a moment of hesitation as they saw their leader slump to the ground dead; a sudden attack and death of your leader would break most opponents who would fall back and regroup. But these didn't.
As the smoke cleared they acted obviously more shaken this time, scanning the surroundings but fear was taking hold. They knew they were being watched. They knew something could see them but they had no idea of where I was. To make matters worse the one which would have had the best guess was lying dead beside them.

A sudden hail of lasgun fire assaulted them from the shadows on either side of the path. A couple fell under the barrage but the rest were too fast. Pouncing into cover they began returning fire with deadly accuracy.
The once quiet jungle was now filled with the crack of lasgun and wizzing of deadly shuriken as the exchange of fire began. Undergrowth and sods of dirt were ripped up by the cross crossing of shots. I could see grenades arching through the air between the two forces before thumping to the ground and exploding. Throwing up masses of dirt, leaves and smoke. Branches were being blasted and ripped from truncks, plants were blown apart by fire and small tree's uprooted.
Slowly one buy one the enemy were shot down. The white on their armour not doing alot to aid concealment. Holding my fire so as to not give my position away, I noticed one of the warriors making guestures to a pair of other warriors. They nodded and started to move about as though they were planning something. The first warrior then stopped firing and appeared to be yelling inside his helmet, calling for reinforcements I guessed as I lined his head up and pulled the trigger. The warriors head snapped back as the bullet impacted with his head and caused it to explode within the confinds of the helmet.
The warriors now appeared to be disengaging and attempting to pull back. A couple would shoot while the rest ran back. They would then turn and shoot while the previously shooting pair ran back and so on. I put a bullet through the neck of one warrior as he turned to run, then one under his chin and into his head to finish him off. It had been a while since I needed two shots for one kill. A well aimed grenade blew apart a two warriors as they were running away. At the sight of this the remaining two turned and with amazing speed started to really run for it. I had them both in my sights but saw a brief flash of movement in the shadows up ahead in the direction the enemy were were running. Removing my finger from the trigger I saw four figures burst from some bushes and crash tackle the two warriors to the ground. After a short struggle a brief, helpless cry rang out before it was cut short. A moment later the four shadowy figures rose and darted back into the jungle.

***

Farseer Ulthiee surveyed the surrounding jungle as his warriors fanned out around him. One of his squads on a recon of this valley had radioed for support but contact was lost soon after. Upon arrival at the sight were signs of a struggle. Smoke still hung in the air. Blast marks in tree trunks still smoldered and shredded leaves littered the path. Blood splattered on the ground or occassional leaf was still warm.

But there was no sign of his warriors. Not even their bodies or weapons.

Ulthiee understood their fate immediately. He had seen it many times before. But the same mistake would not be made again. He knew that there were Humans present on the planet but was unaware that any were adept jungle fighters. Any further loss of his fellow kinsmen would come at a high cost to the Mon-Keh. He would make sure of it.

At the moment of that thought, a warrior in a long, hooded coat holding an ornate rifle materialized at his side from the undergrowth as if by magic. His cloak blending with the jungle.
Ulthiee turned to face him. There was no exchanging of words. Just a simple pulse thought between them and a nod from the mysterious warrior before he vanished from sight into the jungle.

***

In my new spot about a mile from the ambush sight I saw a warrior vanish into the jungle with such skill I could have mistaken him for one of us. I suddenly remembered the intelligence officer's words back at the briefing about not underestimating this particular type of enemy. He was right.

There was just the slightest hint of it; but after seeing that enemy vanish like he did - like I did. My old friend fear suddenly crept over me for a moment.