Duty and Obligation

by Sean Benjamin

  “There are two doors on the outside of the structure for entering the building. These are located in the cross-section at the bottom of the U. There is the main entrance through which all foot traffic goes. This entrance is composed of two sets of double doors. The other door on the outside is a large roll-up loading door that is the entrance for that large open room for staging supplies, food crates, construction material, and similar items, so this staging room has a large roll-up loading door on either side. These two roll-up doors are always locked and only opened to move large items into the staging room from the outside or from the staging room into the courtyard. The prison has one guard tower located on the top of the cross-section. It is as wide as the cross-section and looks down into the courtyard on one side and down on the main entrance on the other side. Two guards are in the tower at all times. Across from the main entrance, about fifty meters to the north of the prison building, is a parking lot for the staff. There are usually thirty or so vehicles in the lot during the day shift. We don’t want anyone to get outside the prison and make a run to their air cars in the parking lot.”

  She flicked her hand again, and the display changed to a diagram of the interior. “We tried to get someone hired at the prison two weeks ago but no luck. There are few job openings as the pay is good and nobody ever gets fired. Apparently, you have to know someone to get hired there. It seems half the staff is related to each other and jobs are handed down within the family. This layout is from memory of some prisoners recently released. The cross-section of the U is the admin area with offices for the hierarchy, employee locker rooms and showers, storage areas, and an armory. All are located on the second and third floors. No prisoners are allowed there. The bottom floor is the mess hall, visitors’ room, the main-entrance lobby for all visitors to come through, interrogation rooms, and the like.”

  Tactical had been moving her pointer around the display in concert with her briefing. Now she put it on the fence at the open end of the courtyard. “All prison cells are located in the two wings. Standing at the fence looking into the courtyard, the women prisoners are in the wing on the left on the third floor. Males are on the other two floors on the left and on all three floors in the right wing. Cells are small and house four prisoners each. All guards are male. According to our prisoner informants, being assigned to the women’s section is the best duty and is based on seniority. Once the guards get assigned there, they stay there. Lots of fringe benefits.” Tactical looked at her audience now. “Apparently, the power structure in the prison knows what is going on there and couldn’t give a damn as long as the employees stay happy.”

  Everyone shifted at the last two comments. Although she never talked of it, everyone knew Killian O’Hare and two male kids had been held there long ago and one of them had died. O’Hare showed no reaction as she sat at the briefing table and calmly listened to the brief.

  Tactical continued. “All guards are armed with sticks, shockers, and shooters. Only the guards in the tower are armed with rifles. All guards are quick to employ any of these weapons if they feel the need so the element of surprise will be short-lived. The guards all wear blue uniforms and the prisoners wear yellow jumpsuits. Admin personnel and the prison’s higher officials wear business attire.

  “You all have the jail layout in the individual briefing packets and are to memorize it at your leisure.” She paused and then added. “I define your leisure as being in the next ten hours.” She flicked her hand twice, and the display returned to the first setup showing the jail and the surrounding area. Another hand flick and arrows appeared on the display. “Now for the sequence of events. Logan, Predator’s assistant ops officer, with three operatives are already in Longwall. They have three tasks—recon the area, get hired at the prison, and wire the bridge over the Sluice River with explosives. They did a good job on the recon, couldn’t get hired, and will wire the bridge the night prior to our attack. The pre-attack actions are on track.” She now nodded toward Baby Doll and Cody, leader of Nemesis’ death squad sitting on the couch. “Baby Doll and the six members of the Nemesis death squad will leave for Bolindale after this brief to join Logan’s group and participate in the first phase of this operation.

  “Every day at 0800 local time, an air truck leaves the prison with prisoners bound for the courthouse or to be released in town after serving their time. At 1630 local time, that same air truck leaves the town with prisoners collected from the town’s two holding cells and from the courthouse and returns to the prison. Travel time is thirty minutes each way. Baby Doll’s team has already rented an air van. They have painted it appropriately to represent a plumbing company. Her team, with Cody and his people, will use that van to follow the prison vehicle back to the prison. They will pull up behind the prison van just after the van gets to the prison entrance. The van’s guards will be concerned with getting their prisoners out of the van and into the prison plus the need to check in the new prisoners collected from the holding cells. Our team will unload three people dressed appropriately in front of the main entrance and stand behind the prisoners as they form a line for entering the prison’s main entry.

  “Timing is critical here. As the plumbing truck stops at the main entrance, our assault force in three armed shuttles will come in from the south hugging the Sluice River and using the greenbelt for cover. The shuttles will be in contact with the people at the plumbing truck. On command, the plumbers will start a fight with the prisoners from the prison van. Once that is put down, Cody, in the back of the plumber’s truck will detonate the explosives at the bridge. I want to stress everything is event-driven, not time-driven. We don’t know the exact time the prison van will arrive back at the prison. Baby Doll’s people will be in contact with the shuttles as they follow the van back to the prison and the shuttles are closing on target. If we have to, we will slow down the shuttles en route to make the timing work. Be prepared to adjust on the run.

  “The fistfight will draw the attention of the tower guards. After that, the bridge blowing up will draw attention of everyone to the northwest. At the moment of the fistfight, the shuttles will depart the river and head directly to the courtyard from the south. The bridge detonation will happen once the fistfight is stopped. The bridge going up will be the first indication to the prison people that their normal day is at an end. They will react. The shuttles need to be landing in the courtyard then. The courtyard should be empty as the evening meal is being eaten. If there is anyone there, they will have to get out of the way or get run over. Landing will be one forward, two back. Outlaw shuttle up front, Nemesis on the left, and Predator on the right. The two back shuttles will land directly on the fence and near the wing doors. Crashing the fence should cut the power to it and that should set off some sort of alarm to add to the general confusion. The priority of targets for the front shuttle’s weapons are the guard tower and the large cargo door that opens into the courtyard, while the back two shuttles have the doors on either wing. Guns will fire on command. I don’t want premature shooting to draw their attention away from the blown bridge. Once shooting commences we need overwhelming fire superiority. The courtyard is open terrain that our people have to start in and get across. Without covering fire, our assault teams could get hammered if the guards act fast enough. We are counting on firepower, smoke canisters, and surprise to get our people out of the courtyard and into the building.

  “We have to neutralize the tower and punch through the three doors. Upon landing, a death squad from each shuttle will disembark. Predator’s team on the right side and Gunfighter’s on the left. Gunfighter’s people will have the wing with the women’s cells. Once inside the wing doors, there are stairwells to the two upper floors. The assault teams will split up and move through the three floors toward the admin spaces at the bottom of the U.

  “While this is happening, Baby Doll and the other two plumbers will get in the prison through the main entrance along with the returning prisoners. In the confusion, it should be easy, and th
ey can always say they are too scared to stay outside. Cody and his team have the cross-section. They will leave the vehicle once the crowd is inside. Their job is to blast through the large roll-up door from the outside and support Baby Doll and her team. They have to leave people at the outside doors to ensure nobody gets out the front doors to the parking lot located north of the jail. The ground floor has the mess hall which will be full of prisoners eating. We have to secure that to keep the prisoners from running around in the middle of the fight, getting in the way. I hope the officials do the securing for us as they don’t want prisoners running around either. Standard prison procedures call for the prisoners to be locked down in place in case of a disturbance. Hopefully, that is exactly what happens. We shall see.”

  Tactical scanned the room. “Questions about the broad operation?”

  One of the shuttle pilots spoke up. “What are the planetary defenses that the shuttles will face on the way in and way out?”

  “None. Never have been any. The planet is well within the Goth sphere of influence and is not important enough for anybody to attack. The government has local security forces but no military at all on the planet.”

  Another pilot asked, “Do the Longwall police or anyone else have air assets to attack us or help them jump the river?”

  Tactical shook her head. “No, there are no air assets in the immediate area. The nearest such assets are mining company shuttles and they are at least fifty klicks away. We will be gone long before they can be brought into the area.”

  Tactical scanned the compartment. Nobody else had a question. Hawkins stood up and Tactical took his seat. He spoke with his command tone. “Time for some last thoughts here before we break for a meal and then into our unit cells.” He scanned the compartment and stopped briefly on every face in the briefing. “First off, now that you have heard the brief, I want to emphasize this mission is strictly voluntary. I know I said that in the earlier tasking message to all of you, but I want to make it clear. This mission is cleaning up some personal history and getting some personal justice. Regardless of the outcome, this mission will not change the situation here in the Badlands one damn bit so if anyone wants out, nothing will be said. Make sure your assault teams know that. They can walk away from this if they desire with no blowback from any of us.” He paused and switched topics. “Everyone on this mission is wanted on several planets for a variety of serious crimes. If any of us were brought before a court that person would be found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment or death, depending on the planet. Now, having said that, none of us have done what many of the men on the staff at that regional jail have been doing on a routine basis. We have not tortured prisoners for fun. We have not abused women in a variety of ways. We have raped nobody ever. We have not tolerated anyone among us who has done those sorts of things. I have had three incidences on the two ships I have commanded when activities like that have occurred. In each case, the perpetrator was executed immediately. Well, we are going to carry that brand of justice to Bolindale. Their little party has been going on far too long. That is partly my fault as there was always something else to do. Well, it’s time to right this wrong.

  “You have the names and description of the four guards we have already identified as guilty. Logan has confirmed they are still at the prison on day shift. We will kill them on sight and any other guards identified by the prisoners. We are also after the prison hierarchy. They have allowed and tolerated this situation for years. No mercy here. We aren’t going through all this so we can give somebody a stern talking to and a timeout in the corner. We are in killing mode. We will also explain to the survivors that we will be watching future developments. They need to see that change is required, and they had better make it happen.

  “One last thing. We are doing this for payback. That includes payback for the townie who died in prison. He was wounded, and we always thought he died through lack of medical attention for his wounds. His name was Jonah Kincaid. If that name is familiar, Jonah was the younger brother of Kit Kincaid, captain of Prairie Dog. She was in the merchant fleet when this all happened, but we contacted her later and told her the story. She lost her immediate family in the massacre of our mining camp and then lost her brother later in jail. That is why she hates the Goths. You all know she has been our friend and our ally for many years. We are doing this for her too.” He looked around the compartment. “Anyone got anything?”

  Rafe looked the group over as they remained silent. Tactical stood up. “Let’s do a time hack.”

  After the briefing, the crowd went for a meal before breaking into individual cells to cover each of their own small unit actions within the broad brief. Blondie walked next to Baby Doll, and they got a table together in the officers’ mess.

  “Can I ask a question?” Blondie inquired.

  “You just did, but you can ask a second one too.”

  Blondie looked around at who was in earshot and then leaned in toward her companion. “How did you get Killian and the one townie out of that prison?”

  Baby Doll stopped sorting out her food and took up the story. “We actually didn’t get them out of prison. After the ore plant fight, there were five of us left, two wounded. We took care of the wounded first, especially Tactical. That took a couple of days to get out of the area and to a doctor who would help. Then we had to find Killian and the townies named Harold Depaul and Jonah Kincaid. That part was easy. The media told us where they were and that they would stand trial for their actions. It turned out that while we were moving in one direction to get to the doctor, the mining people had moved their three prisoners in the opposite direction to Longwall and the jail there. The jail was built by the Strasberg Mining Corporation for government use so was bigger and better than some local hellhole. We left our two wounded with the doctor, and Rafe, me, and a townie named Tas Majico went to get our people back. The government and the mining people were looking for us, but I guess they never figured we would show up in Longwall. Media reports had them still searching in the area where we had lived and carried out our raids. The authorities assured everyone we were just stupid delinquents who would be caught soon enough. Due to their miscalculations, we actually had an easy time getting around the town. Rafe got a job with a local company doing food delivery to the prison. He rode out there every other day and dropped off boxes and crates in the commercial staging area in the big room next to the main entrance. We learned about the prison layout from his trips. We couldn’t see a way in. We had our hand-carried weapons but nothing else. We were just three dumb kids with no experience at this. We put together about fifty plans but none of them would have gotten us into the place yet alone in and out again. Then Rafe was on the foodstuffs truck when it made a late delivery. He saw the daily van return to the prison from the town. He saw them unload prisoners. We didn’t watch the prison on a regular basis for fear of being spotted so we didn’t even know they did a daily van run. The plan became to watch the van and ambush it on the way back to the prison from town. We had to wait to see if Killian, Jonah, and Harold were on the air van before we could hit it, so we watched the courthouse every morning to see if they were unloaded from the van. They unloaded prisoners in the back of the courthouse, but everyone was kinda lax about it. There had been no attempted prisoner breakout in many years, so the guards were never very vigilant about keeping a lookout, so they were easy to watch without attracting attention. We did learn there were always three armed guards. Two rode in front of the van and one in back with the prisoners. Also, the prisoners wore hand and leg irons.”

  Baby Doll shook her head slowly as the memories came back. “We sat on our asses for a week watching the courthouse because we thought that was the only way we would know if they brought our people to the courthouse. Then we read in the damn media that two of our group would be in court the next day for pretrial procedures of some sort. They were celebrities. The kid desperados avenging their parents. That news report is also how we learned Jonah had died.
The media reported it as death from his wounds, but we never believed that. I had seen Jonah hit in the fight. It was bad but recoverable. They just didn’t want to make the effort. Anyway, the authorities thought both of the survivors had been kids of the mining camp that had been leveled by the Goth shuttle. Just as well, our traveling group was known as troublemakers always stirring the pot wherever we went so keeping Killian out of that line of fire was a good thing. Another good thing about it was the media interest. The government saw it as a good opportunity to show the justice system was fair and honest. They went through all the hoops for preparing the trial. Of course, both would have been found guilty, but the publicity ensured the government or the mining corporation couldn’t just shoot them out of hand and throw their bodies down an old mine shaft.

  “We had a plan to ambush the van on its way back to the jail. We swiped an air car and a bicycle and went out on the road to the prison. We set up on a tight blind curve with the air car stopped in the opposite lane facing the direction the truck would be coming from. We put some bends in the bike frame and laid it down in front of the air car. It looked like a car coming from the prison had hit a bike rider. Tas took the role of distraught driver, and I was the hapless victim. I laid on the ground on the edge of the road with him kneeling over me. We each had hidden shooters. Rafe was hiding on the opposite side of the road. We put the car just slightly on our side of the middle of the road. We didn’t want to block the van’s lane as that would be too suspicious, and we needed the car for our getaway so couldn’t have the van smash it head on. The van would naturally drift toward the center as it took the tight curve, and we hoped it would clip the car and then stop. That was exactly what happened. The van came around the turn, a little faster than it should as the driver was in a hurry to call it a day; he put a good glancing blow on the car. The driver stopped just past the car and the front passenger guard got out, leaving his door open. The guard came around the front of the truck and looked at the damage to his left front side. He then walked toward us. Rafe came out of the debris heaps and moved to the passenger’s open door. He shot the driver and climbed inside the cab. Tas and I shot the guy coming toward us. Rafe looked through the window to the back and got a big surprise. There were three guards back there. Due to the publicity, two extra guards had been added to escort the media darlings. We didn’t scout the courthouse that morning because of the extra media there. We just assumed everything would be the same. Another mistake by us.”