"You boys ready to join your friends over there?" She gestured toward the two men who remained down on the path.
A thug replied, "Didn't know slugs could be beaten so easily."
Tawn again spat. "Beat up maybe. But beaten... hardly. Although I will give you credit for coming with a good game. Unfortunately for you, you've just unleashed the fury. Prepare yourself to be amazed and astonished." Tawn charged headlong into the nearest attacker.
Harris blocked a punch, dished out a jab, and received another hard blow to his ribs. As he doubled over to one side, he was met with a strong rising knee to his forehead. Rocking upward, a right cross nailed his left eye-socket, sending the Biomarine spinning around and dropping to the floor.
Tawn wrestled with her two attackers, twisting the arm of one until a loud crack was followed by an agonized scream of pain. An atomic elbow to the jaw put the man down for the count. As she ducked the next fist, she returned two of her own. The first a right cross, followed by a left, both connecting with the man's midsection. His counter was a jab to her already swollen-shut eye, splitting the skin and sending a stream of blood down her face.
Harris pushed himself up to his knees, catching an incoming kick and wrapping the man's leg up with his arm. The man swung, catching Harris once again in the jaw, but the man was off-balance, the swing had no meat behind it. Harris reached out, grabbing him by the back of his neck. As he dropped the leg he jerked the man toward him with his strong arm, smashing his forehead into the thug's nose. The fourth attacker fell to his knees, rolling over on his side while clutching his face.
Tawn stepped toward her last attacker, blood covering her right cheek and chin as she stalked him with her open eye. A hard left jab was blocked, along with a right. A spin and a round-kick found the heel of her boot digging hard into the neck of the belligerent, consciousness fading from his eyes as he fell the other way.
Harris, now embroiled in a punch and wrestle with the last henchman, spun him around to see what had become of his partner. A charging Tawn came down hard with a swinging fist to the top of the man's head. As he rocked forward his chin was met with an uppercut from Harris, snapping his head back. The thug dropped to his knees and fell away.
As Tawn turned to face Clovis, he came down hard on her left shoulder, just missing the back of her head with a leather black-jack style club. She cried out in pain as the club smashed into her collar-bone. Harris rushed forward, grabbing the hand of Clovis Bagwell before he could deliver another blow. Twisting his arms behind his back, Harris easily subdued the henchmen's boss.
"I hope you Bios have learned you can't cheat me," He said. "Clovis gets what he deserves."
A bloodied, bruised, and heavy breathing Tawn Freely stepped up to the struggling menace. She spat on the floor beside him before sticking a finger in her mouth to check on the looseness of several teeth. "All you had to do was go about your business. Instead you came looking for trouble."
"I have a reputation to uphold," Clovis said. "If people view me as weak I might as well be working at one of those stands selling bogler dogs. So go ahead and dish out whatever you want. I've been in a scrap or two in my day. Just know that you do this and we aren't done here. I will be back to dish out more justice."
Tawn again spat. "Oh, we're far from done. I'm about to break your nose. And then I'm coming back once it's healed to break it again. And again after that. In fact, if I was you, I'd hope it never heals."
A fist came back, swinging forward and striking hard into the bridge of the loan-shark's nose. His head rocked back, eyes losing focus, as blood began to drip from his nostrils. A second punch, this time to his left eye, came with the crack of an eye socket. A whelp quickly rose below his eye. The dazed and bleeding goon was tossed to the floor.
Harris chuckled as he looked over at his partner. "Wow. You look like a tornado landed on your face."
Tawn wiggled her chin with a hand. "It feels like it too. Been in plenty of fights. Either I'm getting old or those fellas hit a lot harder than I remember."
Harris reached out, putting an arm around the shoulder of his wobbly friend. "Let's go get ourselves cleaned up."
Tawn pushed him away. "Hang on. I got one last thing to do."
After wincing as she reached down and picked Clovis Bagwell up by the collar, she dragged his semi-conscious body over to the nearest waste-bin. A grunt had his upper torso lifted and stuffed, head-first, into the container.
Harris nodded. "Nice."
Tawn pointed at the others. "Well come on. There's more cans around here. Let's clean up our mess."
Several minutes were spent on a final statement to Clovis and his goons. Seven, round, public waste-bins, soon had seven pairs of legs sticking up from them.
Harris chuckled as he looked around. "Huh. Now that's what I call art."
Tawn stumbled but caught her balance. "I think we're done here. And you might want to give me that arm you were offering before. I'm not all that stable at the moment."
Harris grabbed his partner, turning the both of them toward the hotel as they walked. "Wasn't our finest hour back there. We should have polished them off in half that time. That diet I'm on... I think it's time to start combining it with some exercise. Imagine if we end up in a scrap with a couple dozen Earthers on one of their ships. We can't come out the back end of that looking like this. Our fight would be over."
Tawn smirked before grimacing at the sharp pain she felt running through her jaw. "You know that means saying goodbye to the Emporium and every other buffet we come across."
Harris nodded. "Way ahead of you on that one. I said my goodbye's last week."
— Chapter 9 —
* * *
The following morning saw two beaten and bruised Biomarines stumbling toward their craft. The Bangor sat in it's usual slip. It was one of the better locations for access to the exit, a slip that had been leased for ten years.
Tawn stepped up into the cabin with a wince. "Mmm that hurts. Remind me next time to punch him first, before all the fighting starts."
Harris shook his head as he took his seat in front of the console. "I doubt he'll bother us again. If anyone came across that display and snapped a pic, his reputation on the station is spent. He'll have to retreat to the surface. And we won't be bumping into him there."
Tawn slowly reached around to fasten her lap belt as she grimaced. "Let's hope so."
The ship settled on the surface of Domicile. Twenty minutes later a transport arrived. Sharvie followed the Bolemans out onto the tarmac and up into the Bangor.
Gandy stared. "What happened to the two of you?"
Harris chuckled. "We got into a little scrape with Clovis. He still thinks we cheated him."
"We did. But he deserved it. He did this to you?"
Tawn nodded with a pained half smile. "We were sloppy and slow. Was the wake-up call we needed to steer us back to getting in shape. There's no place for bloated Biomarines when there's a war to be fought. And Clovis declared war on us last night."
"If you look like this, what happened to him?"
Harris chuckled. "We trashed him."
Tawn began to laugh but was overcome by the pain. "Uh. What he said. Left them all upside down in trash bins."
"Them? How many were there?"
Harris said, "Clovis and six big apes. I have to guess he'd been saving them up for our return. He caught us on the way back to the hotel. The path back was empty of people so he took the opportunity to make his play."
Tawn sighed. "It's over now and I'd rather talk about anything else. You three have a nice visit?"
Sharvie smiled. "I got to see my cat. Almost brought him back with me."
Harris was silent for several seconds. "Probably best that you didn't. We're gone too much and who's gonna care for it?"
"We would take him with us. He loves being on ships. And you'd hardly know he was there. Would you really be opposed to it?"
Harris took in and let out a long breath. "No.
I supposed not. But don't expect me to feed it or pet it."
A bright white, fluffy Siamese hopped from the deck up onto Harris' lap.
Tawn chuckled.
Sharvie smiled. "Good. And it looks like he likes you. He doesn't usually do that with strangers."
Harris stared down at the cat in his lap that was now licking a paw. "They aren't humble animals, are they. They just come in and take over."
A hand was brought down to pet the friendly feline. The result being a rumbling purr.
Gandy scowled. "Little beast won't even let me touch him."
"Cats," Trish stated, "don't like needy people. If you ignore it long enough it will come around looking for attention. You want attention from it? Forget it. Where are we headed?"
"Back to Midelon. Tawn and I think it best we start planning for a raid on Eden. We want the three of you there to help us kick ideas around."
"Might be good to bring in our bots too. Mine has an annoying habit of correcting me at times, but it's been right every time." Gandy said.
"My only rule for them is the bots don't speak unless spoken to. Don't want them chattering on when we're trying to discuss something."
Tawn nodded. "I have to agree with Harris on that one. We can ask them questions, but they should otherwise remain silent."
The Bangor landed on the grass outside the bunker complex. As the hatch opened the bots raced out of the bunker as a group, stopping just short of the ship. They cheered, applauded and jumped up and down over the arrival of the originals.
Harris shook his head in disgust. "So glad we on an isolated planet. This is just embarrassing."
Tawn chuckled. "Who knew we were such a pack of dweebs."
"I think its cute." Trish added.
Gandy looked at his bot as it wiggled and gyrated with seeming joy. "I have to go with Mr. Gruberg on this one."
Harris stepped out in front of the animated display. "Idiot, get over here."
His bot, now an actual likeness of the Biomarine it was patterned after, clomped over to stand in front of him.
Harris scowled. "Don't ever make such a public display again. It's embarrassing. Where'd you get that from anyway? I thought you were supposed to be like me?"
The bot replied as it calmed down, changing it's excited expression to one that was stoic. "The reaction was courtesy of Alex. He asked that we welcome you back when you arrived. We've been practicing for two days."
Harris chuckled. "Two days and you came up with that? Come on. You're supposed to be more dignified. You represent me. I would never act that way."
"My apologies, sir. Should I relay that message to the others?"
"Please do."
"Hey morons! Pipe down. Stop acting like a bunch of kids seeing their mom's coming out of a candy store. We're adults here."
The bot turned back. "That better?"
Harris nodded. "Much. Now, you bots, gather around. We're about to have a discussion about a possible attack on Eden. I want you all to listen, but remain silent. You'll only answer questions when spoken directly to. Understand?"
Five mechanical heads bobbed in response.
Harris turned toward the supply hut. "Good. Let's go have a sit and talk about what we might do."
Gandy said, "Shouldn't we make a hop out there first to check status? We need to know the latest if we're wanting to make plans."
"Let's just go with what we know for now," Harris said. "We can make adjustments later."
Gandy placed his hands on his hips. "I really think we should go."
Harris rolled his eyes. "Fine. Take Farker and the Gooch. Scan the system and get as close to Eden as you can, without putting yourself in danger. We may have gone to see the emperor, but we're not friends."
Trish said, "The drive mod has been put back in, so you'll have full speed again."
"Good. And I'll be careful." Gandy turned and walked toward the shuttle.
Harris gestured toward the supply hut. "Shall we get started?"
As they walked toward the hut, the bots stayed where they were. Seemingly confused as to what they were supposed to do.
Harris turned. "Idiot, bring them in."
"Let's go you bunch of gearless wonders. What... were you built from the spare parts bin?"
Harris sighed as he walked.
Tawn said, "Now he's sounding like you."
"Too over the top. He's purposefully trying to exaggerate in an effort to push my buttons."
"I think you're giving him too much credit."
"Alex does the same thing. Practically everything those bots do seems intended to elicit a response."
"It's called interacting. It's what they're programmed to do. That's how they learn."
"Well we don't want them learning too much or that makes us obsolete."
Harris stood in front of the others. "Farker, please bring up a hologram of Eden. And place the Earther ships in orbit or on the surface as we last saw them. Add bodies on the ground where we showed bios."
Tawn chuckled. "Dog just left with Gandy."
Harris sighed. "Into the bunker."
The three dimensional representation of Eden floated above the single table.
"We have the Bangor and at least two freighter ships at our disposal. Just as last time, I say we go in, take out the fleet first. Strafing runs should take care of the rest."
Trish raised her hand. "Given what you said the emperor said about them not building their fleet to come after us, aren't you in the least bit hesitant to just go in and slaughter them all?"
"So you think stopping them is a bad idea?"
"I'm not sure what to think."
"Are you OK with your parents being enslaved or killed?"
"Well no, but—"
"Then wiping out those mines is our only option. I'd rather not harm anyone, but reality is reality. Either we stop them from producing titanium or we risk being crushed and overtaken. And I can't see a bright future for any of us if that were to happen."
Sharvie said, "Has anyone noticed the Earthers all seem content with their emperor? Maybe it would be the same for us. Maybe life would be easier without politicians all vying for their own little cut of the government action. Not that I dislike our system at all. It's just that it's run by people and people are easily corrupted. Would life be so much worse under the emperor?"
Harris stood with his jaw dropped.
Sharvie continued, "I'm not saying that's what I believe. That's what's coming out of the pacifist movement. They think by giving in we bring all wars to an end and that we would all then live a peaceful existence."
Harris grimaced. "Wow. If that rhetoric becomes the norm we are all doomed. What they fail to understand is that when the emperor decides he wants a new palace, the workers have to build it or else. If the emperor decides to travel to Denzee territory to fight, the military has to do what he asks... whether right or wrong.
"Imagine if you were strolling down a walk at a shopping complex and one of the royals stepped out without looking and bumped into you. He or she could have you executed right there on the spot. Now imagine if you were taken from your family at the age of ten and put on a shuttle to an outer colony to be used as labor. You and your parents have no say and must obey.
"We're fighting for the freedom of the individual. Any of us could pick up from where we live and move to any colony we want so long as we have the credits to get there. Under the emperor, many are forced into colonization. We can also freely protest against our government or our officials. Open your mouth there and you are risking imprisonment or execution."
Trish smirked. "When was the last time you protested the government?"
"I believe that's what we're doing right here. True, it may be on an extreme level, but just the same. And even if I don't care directly about those things, I don't want to give up my freedom of choosing to accept them or not. What are they teaching in the regular schools?"
Tawn stood. "OK, calm down. They're just playing the devi
l's advocate."
Trish said, "Let's ask our bots what they think."
Harris rolled his eyes. "Sure. Why not."
"Bot. Tell us your take on this issue."
The Trish Boleman robot stepped forward. "Both sides have reasonable points. On one side is the freedom of everyone in this room. On the other, you must take lives to preserve that freedom, or give up on it entirely. It's quite the tricky pickle."
Tawn laughed. "Tricky pickle? Where'd that come from?"
Trish sighed. "I may have used it once when I was at a loss for words. That's the third or fourth time I've heard it back now."
"Can we focus on the task at hand?" Harris blurted out in frustration.
Idiot replied, "Bot is correct. There appears to be no exact right or wrong selection here. Both have powerful positives and negatives. You will have to decide which is most important to you. As for me, since I don't place any value on Human life, I would go with the attack. Our freedoms are at stake."
Tawn chuckled. "Well there you have it. The Idiot has spoken."
Tawn stopped. "Wait. Why is it you don't place value on Human life? I would think that would be in your programming."
"My programming prevents me from harming any Human, but it does not compel me to place any value on them."
Tawn frowned at the response. "Not sure I like these guys anymore."
"OK. Bots be quiet," Harris said. "I want answers from Humans. Attack or not?"
Tawn gave a nod. "You know my answer. I'd be taking those mines out."
Harris looked at Sharvie. "Miss Withrow?"
"I... I'm going to abstain."
Trish frowned. "Abstain? That's rotten. Pick a side."
Harris said, "She can abstain if she wants. Trish?"
"I say no. It's hard for me to justify taking down ten or twenty thousand people just because we're worried about what they might do."
"OK. It looks like we have two for, one abstention and one against. The assault on Eden goes forward."
ARMS Eden Lost: (Book 4) Page 8