by J. L. Curtis
Colonel Keads returned the salute, “Impressive, Captain. Shall we inspect the troops?”
“Yes, sir. Company! Open… Ranks!” There was the usual shuffle as the company opened ranks and Nicole marched forward, datacomp in hand, “Chief Sergeant Levesque is my recorder, sir.”
“Very well.” He led off with Palette slipping in front of Fargo as they marched toward the first platoon. He stopped at Horse, conducted a cursory inspection and said, “Interesting guidon Captain. Is that supposed to be a Slashgator?”
Fargo stepped around Palette, replying, “Yes, sir. The company adopted it as their symbol. If you’re familiar with the Ghorka…”
“Oh yes. I was trained by a Ghorka CSM many moons ago. I do note the gray uniforms appear to be new, good quality, and I see people wearing rank badges and knives.”
“Sir, these are all Ghorka personnel and former GalPat soldiers, under contract to Grey Lady Security. Per their induction, they all retain their last rank held on active duty. The knives are kukris, and part of their culture. They were allowed them on active duty also.”
Palette hissed, “Damn Grey Lady scum.”
Horse just smiled at Palette, who physically recoiled away as the Colonel said, “Very well.” He continued trooping the line until midway through the third platoon, “Kulbir? My God, it is you! And a warrant officer, no less!”
Warrant officer Kulbir Gupta smiled, “Looks like you’ve done pretty well for yourself, sir.”
Keads stuck out his hand, then pulled Gupta into an embrace, pounding the smaller man on the back “This is the man I owe everything to. Without his training, I’d be long dead.” Stepping back he continued, “This is pointless. These people are obviously inspection ready. Let’s stop this nonsense, and move onto the rest of the inspection. Kulbir, would you please escort me?”
The warrant looked at Fargo, who nodded, “With pleasure sir. And how is Margaret? And Sampson and Paulette?”
***
Fargo finished the little range scenario the GalPat troops had set up, watched two more fire teams go through it, then walked back to the weapons building. He grabbed a bulb of coffee, and started into the office, only to stop, “Oh, sorry. Didn’t mean to interrupt.”
Warrant Rai looked up from the bulb he was rolling in his hands, “Oh no problem, Captain. The armory inspection is already complete. We got a satisfactory. By the way, this is Warrant Hagan, I trained him as a puppy. He has no taste, he likes the old North American bourbon.
Warrant Hagan, crinkled his large moustache, “Can’t stand that crap the Ghorks like. I’m old school.”
Fargo grinned, “Middle America? Kentucky?”
Hagan unfolded from the chair as he smiled, “Oh yeah. CinciLouisville. Done a few things, ended up in ordnance. Liked it. Usual stuff here, Cap’n. Dirty guns, too much lube. Can’t have a bunch of no count militia get a better score than a GalPat Armory.”
Fargo hid a smile as he shook his head, “Guess I need to make these folks work harder, don’t I?”
Rai and Hagan both laughed and Hagan said, “Still won’t get anything more. Ain’t gonna say shit about that armor you got in the back room, either.”
Fargo nodded, “Well, if you will excuse me, I think I need to be elsewhere.” Picking up his coffee bulb, he exited to quiet laughter. He stepped back into the hallway to hear a sharp female voice and headed toward the back room.
As he stepped through the door, he saw Major Palette reaching for one of the stacked boxes saying, “I need to check this for contraband.”
Raakhi, Niak’s wife, all four feet ten inches of her, reached up and slapped Palette’s hand away, “No, this is community food for year. You no touch. What we have is none of your business.”
He saw Rakkhi’s other hand resting on her knife and wondered if Palette knew how close he was coming to getting his throat cut. Palette growled and started to reach for her as Fargo stepped forward, “I wouldn’t Major, not if you value your life. She’ll cut you in a heartbeat and you won’t survive it. If you hurt her, you won’t survive that either.”
Palette rounded on him, “I’m doing my job, Captain,” he spit.
“Really? Looks to me like you’re prying into private things you have no right to. This may be part of the weapons building, but it’s not weapons. That ended at the hall door. Now, I’d suggest you leave before you really screw up.”
Palette growled again, then stomped back down the hallway to yell at Warrant Hagan. Rakkhi grinned at Fargo, “Ekavir, why you spoil all my fun?”
***
Fargo and Colonel Keads stood outside the weapons building, sipping their bulbs of coffee. The colonel turned to Fargo, “You know, you’ve got probably the best militia in the galaxy here. I wish I could convince about half of them to move elsewhere on Hunter, if for nothing else to strengthen the other militia companies. We’ll be leaving shortly, there’s no point in continuing this charade here.”
Fargo smiled, “Thank you, Colonel. You know I didn’t have a damn thing to do with this. I’m just the token officer.”
Keads laughed, “Well, they obviously respect you. That’ more than I…” He was interrupted by his wrist comp with an alert tone. Punching the acknowledgment he said, “Keads, go ahead.”
“Dispatch Colonel, I’ve got an emergency comm from Thomas and Bakkar. They are taking fire ,and requesting support over at Delhi on that honor killing pickup. Ack?”
Keads growled, “Dammit! Acknowledge.” Turning to Fargo, he asked, “Can you put a reaction force together in less than an hour? If we have to fly back to White Beach to pick up our personnel…”
Fargo yelled, “Jiri! First Platoon reaction force. Soft armor, live fire support to GalPat. Delhi.” He turned to the colonel, “Give me fifteen minutes, and I’ll have you a team ready. I need to grab my gear.
Operations
Fargo could smell the heat on the outside of the shuttle as it burned back down into atmosphere. Whoever was driving was damn good. They’d done a max boost to get high, and supersonic as soon as they’d loaded. He was still pissed at Nicole for tagging along, but she did have a point. He didn’t speak any of the Hindi languages, and she spoke all of them.
All they knew was that the two GalPat troops and a magistrate were pinned down near the square in Delhi. There had been an honor killing of a daughter of one of the local powers, which was strictly outlawed on Hunter. Apparently, the Patels had brought in two different sects to work their lands, and love had jumped the sects.
The colonel had accompanied them, along with Major Palette and Warrant Hagan, with the major now waiting in GalPat battle armor. The shuttle came in hard and fast, the aft ramp pointed away from the direction of incoming fire as a flat female voice called possible shooters in the two story building facing the plaza and the trapped men.
“Ten seconds to grounding,” the loadmaster called as the aft ramp started down.
First Platoon deployed quickly from the aft ramp, followed by the colonel and warrant, as the major slowly clomped down the ramp. As soon as Palette was down, the colonel called, “Okay Boykin, lift and hold. You’re weapons tight.”
A laconic, “Roger,” came back as the ramp started up, and the shuttle lifted. The colonel and warrant hustled toward their troops, as Fargo deployed First Platoon in an urban combat spread. His intent was to get behind the building with the shooter or shooters, and root them out at close range.
Yash, the sniper, and Kamadev, his spotter, were looking for height to provide overwatch as the rest of the platoon, Horse in the lead on one side of the street with two squads, and Adhit in the lead of the other two squads, bounded down a side street that would bring them behind the two story building where the shooters were. Coming to a cross street, they rotated and moved down it quickly.
Stacking up at the corner, Fargo moved forward, peeking around the corner at knee height. He keyed his comm, “Can’t see the back door, blocked by a building, but we know there is an alley between them. I see
two windows that face us. Nothing in either window. Two choices; bum rush as a group, or split and half go one more street over to cover from that side.” Fargo thought for a second, then said, “Naik, take your half of the platoon, go one more block. We’ll cross and hold, until you’re in position.”
Naik replied, “Horse is riding. On me.” He charged across the street at a dead run, sweeping both sides of the street as he went, closely followed by the rest of the troops. Adhit nodded at Fargo and moved swiftly but quietly across the street and into cover by the houses as they edged forward until he was just back of the alley. Fargo eased forward until he was two feet behind Adhit.
As Horse called in position, he heard Nicole’s soft, “Shit. Look at that asshole.”
Fargo took a second to figure out what she was talking about as Palette came lumbering up the street in battle armor and keyed his PA system, “You in there, you are surrounded. Throw out your weapons and surrender. There is no chance of escape. If you do not throw down your weapons, I will fire on you with my weapons in ten, nine…”
Fargo made an instantaneous decision, “Go, go, go! We’ve got to get to the back door before they do.” Adhit took off at a dead run, getting a couple of yards lead on everyone else in the two squads. Fargo, huffing along, saw Horse and his squads pounding up the alley from the other side of the building, and he said, “’Ware crossfire.”
Adhit got to the door just as it flew open and a figure emerged, there was a bang and Adhit dropped to the ground. Fargo had his rifle up ready to fire, but as he started to press the trigger, Horse, kukri out, yelled something and cut down hard. The man slumped and Horse hacked at him again, grabbed something and charged into the building. Fargo yelled into the comm, “We have building entry in the rear, do not, repeat do not fire into building. We are clearing from the rear.” Fargo glanced at Adhit as he went by, hoping he was just stunned, “Medic up. Adhit is down at the rear door.”
Fargo and Ganju paired up and cleared the lower floor, room by room, only to find it empty. Fargo heard a couple of shots from the second floor, but he couldn’t be in both places and had to trust Horse and the others to clear it. He heard a weird noise like someone screaming a prolonged “Nooooo”, followed by what sounded like amplified retching and sobbing.
He and Ganju finished the first floor, and Fargo jumped up the stairs, not knowing what he would find. As he cleared the landing, he could see Horse standing near the front windows, head down. Fearing he was also injured, he bolted down the hallway, not bothering to clear any rooms. As he approached Horse, he said, “Angel six.” Horse merely nodded, and Fargo saw that Horse had his kukri in his right hand, blood dripping from it. “Are you hit, Naik?” he asked.
Horse turned slowly, “They tried. The armor worked. That should be me at the back door, not Adhit. He was always proud he could outrun me.” Fargo glanced around the room and saw three headless bodies, trails of blood going toward the broken out window.
Fargo said, “We don’t know that Adhit…”
Horse said dully, “Adhit is dead. I saw the bastard shoot him at an upward angle, and blood blossom in the helmet.” Waving his arm, “These do not pay for Adhit. There is one more head that I will take.”
Fargo said gently, “Let’s clear for now.” Over the comm he said, “Building is secure. We are exiting the rear, and will come around the north side.” He led Horse back down the stairs, out of the back door, noting Adhit was no longer lying on the dirt. He saw nothing but anger in the faces of the other troops. Looking at Nicole, he saw tears in her eyes as she shook her head sadly. It suddenly hit him that he’d lost another troop.
He saw red and charged around the side of the building, looking for someone to kill. As he cleared the front, he saw four heads laying in the street, one of them a woman. Ignoring them, he continued toward Colonel Keads, who was standing with a short, fat, dark skinned man who was berating him for the vicious attack on his property.
Fargo slid behind the man, locked an arm around his neck and started drawing his kukri, only to feel someone pinning his arm. He looked over to see Horse, smiling, “No, this one is mine. Release him please.”
Fargo dropped his arm, stepping back, as Horse walked around in front of the man, “Patel, your life is forfeit.”
Patel gibbered at Horse, then turn to the colonel, “You cannot let this scum talk to me this way! I am a property owner and rich man! He has killed four of my employees and he should be owing me money for their lives!”
Colonel Keads looked at him curiously, “Patel, you brought this on yourself. I just got a dump of your file, and the cooperative’s files. You were banned from emigrating to New Mumbai due to your actions on Earth Four. Somehow, you got a contract for Hunter, which specifically prohibited you from bringing more than one sect with you. You lied, somehow kept the two sects apart on the trip out, probably with stasis. Warrant tells me you’ve set the one sect up as basically slave labor, again contrary to the cooperative paperwork. Then you apparently approved the honor killing…”
“It’s my right! I own…”
Horse stepped closer, his smile getting bigger, “No, I own you. One of mine died, now you are forfeit to me. Colonel, may I?”
Keads rubbed his chin, turned to Warrant Hagan who nodded slightly, then turned back, “Yes, but first we must gather the heads of the two sects here. Captain, can you make that happen?”
“With pleasure,” Fargo growled. Keying his comm, he said, “First Platoon, in pairs. Locate and bring leaders of both sects here, now.”
Ten pairs of grim Ghorka fanned out through the town. Twenty minutes later, eight men and women stood nervously in front of the colonel, along with Patel’s richly dressed and perfumed wife and two children. Patel’s wife was in shock, obviously not understanding what had brought her and her children down to the level of the common people.
The colonel had been busy on his datacomp, in addition to talking with the warrant. Major Palette having gone back to the shuttle, which was now sitting in the plaza with weapons ports open.
With one last entry on his datacomp, Keads looked around at not only the eight standing in front of him, but the fifty or so curious individuals who were standing nearby. He said, “Boykin, gimme PA.” With a pop, the shuttle’s PA system came on, and Keads said, “In accordance with GalPat standards, Patel’s cooperative is now found in violation of contract. Said contract is null and void. As the de facto approver of the honor killing of one Fathi Khanna, he is guilty as an accessory to murder. With the death of militia member Adhit Rai, he is guilty of accessory to murder of a peacekeeper. I hereby sentence him to death, to be carried out now in the presence of both sects.” Nicole took over the PA and repeated the decision and sentence in two different Hindi dialects, to make sure everyone understood what was happening.
Turning to Horse, he said, “If you would be so kind?”
Smiling, Horse raised his kukri and sliced three times, caught Patel’s head as it flopped free, and held it up with a cry of triumph. Keads turned back to Patel’s quivering wife, “You will be sent back to Earth Four, along with your children. Your lands will be split equally between the two sects you imported in violation of the cooperative agreement. You will be allowed one hundred pounds of lift apiece. You have four hours to collect what you would take.”
***
Fargo stood on the bank of the freshet that tumbled down from the Green below the Enclave, staring morosely at the funeral pyre built on the edge of the water. First fucking mission and I get one of my best troops killed, lucky shot or not. I never should have taken this damn position. I don’t ever want to write another letter to a wife or mother. I still cannot believe Ujjwala hugged me and said Adhit had died with honor, and I wasn’t at fault. He felt himself shaking in anger, and was surprised to feel a hand on his elbow. He glanced over to see Nicole standing next to him, a single tear rolling down her cheek.
“It’s not your fault Ethan, there was no way to know that would happen, or t
hat it was even possible for someone to die that way. Freak accident is what it was. The one perfect angle that round had to take to glance off the plate, and slide up the seam to his head.”
Fargo tasted her emotions and knew she believed exactly what she was saying, but that didn’t ease the pain, “No, he died because I put him on point. That should have been me. I can’t do this, I just…”
The priest and Aadi, Adhits’ son marched down the bank to the pyre. Aadi, all of thirteen standard years old, touched the first torch to his father’s funeral pyre. He turned to Fargo and offered the torch, as Horse and Lal took up two other torches. He hesitated until he felt a gentle push from Nicole, then took the torch and went to the unoccupied corner of the pyre. The three of them simultaneously touched their torches to the pyre, then he followed Horse and Lal in extinguishing the torch as the pyre’s flames grew.
He went back to stand by Nicole, thankful that the winds were blowing away from them, as the fire leapt higher and higher, until Adhit’s body was consumed. The priest continued his prayers as the fire burned lower, as Nicole translated that the family would now go into eleven days of mourning. Fargo wondered how long his mourning would take, as he added Adhit to his list of dead troops…
***
Nicole turned to Fargo at the door of the Copper Mug, “Can you, would you stay with me please?”
He looked down at her, “What?”
“I don’t want to be alone. Not tonight. Please, just to sleep.”
“Nicole, I…”
“Please. I don’t want nightmares tonight, please.”
Fargo sighed, “Only sleep.”
An hour later, Fargo lay on his back, Nicole’s head on his shoulder as she murmured softly in her sleep. He was doing every blocking exercise he could think of to not read her thoughts, cussing himself for getting into this bag of worms, and thinking, No, just stop it. This can’t end well. Stop frikkin thinking. Just go to sleep. Imagine it’s Canis or Cattus next to you. Just stop it!