The lieutenant had resigned from his position in the SGLE and joined the underground movement to help restore the system to the way it was before the invasion. They were against common people having a say in government, as well as allowing them to bear arms, which might help them to rise up and demand changes. They were also against regular people being able to go where they pleased, when they pleased, on Tretra.
Was Sergeant Jonny Iffland actually against all these things? Not really, but if it would help him gain some rank, and maybe favor with the next system president, then sure. Anything to get out of driving a ground hauler, thought the bored, ex-Ground Defense Force commo NCO. Glad to be out of a hauler and no longer working for civilians, he had been given his old service rank back when he joined the movement. He was starting to second guess this whole thing, though, when he realized how far people were willing to go. It didn’t sit well with him.
The three pilots were all former members of the Ground Defense Force as well. They had chosen that branch of service long ago when they attended the Academy, because they were from prominent families in politics and business and had no interest in leaving the planet. They weren’t exactly the best mech pilots around, and for two of them, it had been over a year since they had operated a mech, but they were loyal to Commander Fritz and the movement.
Sergeant Iffland looked back at his screens and did a double take. The radar showed a ship descending toward the farm, and it wasn’t scheduled to be there. It had to be a rescue attempt for the two prisoners held in the house. The prisoners were alone in the house, with no guards posted inside, something the sergeant had argued about, to no avail. The lieutenant had reminded him who was in charge when he brought it up.
Iffland stood and grabbed his comm. “Mount up! A ship is landing out front, and it isn’t ours!” he yelled before he ran out the side door. He was able to get a call through to the security teams before he dove into the rear building. Yep, Jonny thought as he scrambled for his gear…another bad decision. At least it wasn’t an ex-girlfriend that did me in. I should have kept driving haulers. It was his last thought as stray railgun rounds tore through the building…and him.
The pilots stood up abruptly, one of them knocking the small table over. Cards flew as they sprinted to their mechs while railguns fired outside. The lieutenant looked around and ran for the heavy hauler, up front near the barn doors, that had been used to bring the mechs to the farm. He climbed into the cab and ducked down between the controls and the front seat. The floorboard quickly became soaked when he heard the sounds of battle.
* * *
Evelyn sprinted around the farmhouse and saw the walls of the building coming apart as Gunny and Twiggy had the troops in their crossfire. About half the enemy combatants were down. Three of them had managed to get to one of the downed mechs and were using it for cover as they fired at Gunny. Gunny’s mech was taking some damage from the laser rifles, and it appeared that one of the mech’s leg joints had locked.
Evelyn was behind them so she took careful aim, then fired a sweeping burst from her rail gun that went through the soldiers and hit the mech they were using for cover. She didn’t want one of the rounds going past them and hitting Gunny. Their lasers stopped firing.
Twiggy and Gunny were able to wipe out the remainder of the troops that had come out of the building. It was over by the time Sergeant Clyde and his troops came through the busted gate. Using a four-soldier stack, they entered the front door of the farm house and cleared the living room. From there it was just standard room clearing tactics until they got to the back rooms.
Both doors were locked from the outside with hasps and locks that had been attached to the outside of the door frames. Clyde took one look at them and nodded to the private beside him. Private Lilkton, a Caldivar, held up a massive arm and extended three of his claws. He rolled his neck a little, and with a shrug of his shoulders, he turned and punched the door frames, ripping the wood apart where the locking mechanisms were attached on both doors.
Corporal Narooth, a Yalteen standing over seven feet tall, kicked the first door in and ducked as he went inside. Shortly after, they escorted Rinto and the boy out the front door and onto the porch.
Rinto held the boy against him with his good arm and squinted up at Evelyn’s mech. She turned down the outside lights and spoke to them through her external speaker, “You’re safe now, Milton.”
Her brother’s face lit up as he recognized his sister’s voice, even through the speaker. “Evelyn!” he exclaimed. “I knew you’d come get me. I knew it! I told him, too, when he was taking me away. I told him! That’s when he hit me and hurt my lip, so I bit him on his hand really hard, and he hit me again. I woke up here.”
Though her brother was talking really fast, something he did when he was excited, Evelyn heard every word. “Who hit you? Do you know his name?” she asked Milton.
“I don’t know his name. He was a soldier,” Milton said, a little deflated.
“I sure as frost do,” Rinto said. “It was that same Lowantha fella that tried to break into Harmon’s mech at the competition. He was the one that grabbed me, anyway. Him and his buddy tied me down and took my arm, too.” Rinto held up the remains of his mechanical arm.
“Are you ok?” Evelyn asked, zooming her cameras in on his arm.
“Sure, I’m fine as dust,” Rinto said, straightening a little. “Of course, that fella with Lowantha won’t be until he gets some new teeth. I busted him one good time with my arm before they took it.” Rinto grinned. “He was spittin’ pieces all the way here, and kept threatening to do me; it didn’t matter what Fritz said.”
“One of them did talk funny,” Milton agreed as they stepped off the porch.
Time slowed as Evelyn heard the distinctive sound of a railgun firing rapidly. Everyone near the porch ducked as Sergeant Clyde pulled Milton down and covered him with his own body. Evelyn spun to see the mech with the missing leg’s railgun arm up and firing at JoJo’s scout mech.
A scout mech does not have the same amount of armor as the standard war machine, and pieces were coming off the mech as JoJo staggered backward. Evelyn raised her arm, zeroed in on the prone mech, and fired her own railgun. While her arm was coming up, she saw a larger mech dive across JoJo and start taking the brunt of the enemy rounds. Time started to flow again as her rounds penetrated the mech and its railgun stopped firing, its arm locked up in the air.
Evelyn raced toward her friends and saw Gunny’s mech land beside their two downed mechs. She got to them and saw Gunny’s hatch pop open. He climbed up, out, and jumped down, not bothering to climb. She began unhooking herself as well.
Twiggy was able to control his mech enough to sit up, reach over with a claw, and roll JoJo’s mech off its side to its back. With one hand, he attempted to unhook and pop his hatch so he could climb out. It wouldn’t open.
Evelyn ran over and saw Gunny finishing the emergency manual process to open JoJo’s cockpit. She helped him pull JoJo out. JoJo was bleeding profusely from a wound on her right thigh, and one of her arms was gashed pretty badly. Evelyn felt herself lifted out of the way and looked down to see the blue hands of a Yalteen moving her.
The platoon medic, now that she could get to her, quickly placed a compression bandage on JoJo’s leg and injected nanites near the wound. She did the same for the wound on JoJo’s arm. She then inserted a needle to replace the lost blood with a self-compression bag from her medic’s kit. She taped the bag to JoJo’s chest. A self-compression bag did not have to be elevated, as it forced the liquids into a body without the need for gravity.
Evelyn, remembering Twiggy, turned to see Gunny helping Twiggy out of his mech. Twiggy was holding an arm to his chest, and the medic went over to check on him. A railgun round had slammed part of the mech against it, snapping it. She could see the grief on his face as he looked over at JoJo, unconscious.
Gunny turned to her. “Mount up, ma’am, we have to get out of here before their reinforcements arrive. I
can guarantee they know we’re here.”
Evelyn watched as two of the security platoon members carried JoJo on a stretcher toward the gate. She and Gunny used the remainder of their railgun rounds and turned the house and the building where the soldiers had exited into piles of rubble. They were able to destroy the back half of the barn the same way before they were out of rounds. Evelyn’s last round blew the back tires off one side of a mech hauler.
Several minutes later, Evelyn boarded the dropship and the ramp came up on it. She watched as Private Hroth pushed a button, and she heard the bridge blow just before the ramp closed. Over to the side, the medic tended to JoJo. Lieutenant Evelyn Stacey closed her eyes, satisfied, as the dropship rocketed toward space.
* * * * *
Chapter Twenty
Salvage Title came through the Tretrayon system gate with its crew at battle stations. Harmon had learned that lesson entering his home system the last time. To his relief, there were no immediate threats showing on the sensor screen.
“Sir, I don’t detect any threats,” his tactical officer informed him.
“Thanks, Adam,” Harmon said. “Bev, power down the cannons, would you?”
“Yes, sir,” the weapons officer acknowledged. “Powering down.”
“Can you call Windswept for me?” Harmon asked his comms officer.
“Yes, sir. Coming up now.”
“Harmon!” Evelyn said, looking up at the main screen at him from the bridge of Windswept.
“How did the mission go?” Harmon asked. “How are they?”
“They’re fine,” Evelyn answered. “Rinto is back on Joth, with a squad of Joth Militia for security. My brother is safe with my parents and a platoon of Joth Militia as security.”
“What? What’s wrong?” Harmon asked, sitting forward in his seat. He could tell something was going on by her expression.
“We almost lost JoJo,” Evelyn said quietly. “They had three mechs in the barn. Her mech got shot up pretty badly. If we hadn’t had a medic right there with us, she would have.”
“How is she now?” Harmon asked. “Is she going to be alright?”
“She’s out of critical condition,” Evelyn said. “She smiled and gripped Twiggy’s good hand today. Ship’s doctor says that’s a good sign.”
“Good hand?” Harmon asked. “What do you mean?”
“Twiggy was wounded,” Evelyn said. “He put his mech in front of hers as she was being hit. He saved her life doing it. He has a broken arm, but other than that, he’s fine. Of course he won’t leave her side.”
“Are there any other injuries?” Harmon asked.
“No, that’s all,” Evelyn said.
“Who have you told?” Harmon asked. “Do the admiral and the presidents know?”
“No, unless the Restore Movement let it be known,” Evelyn answered. “Though I doubt they’re going to want the public to know that their candidate was involved in kidnapping and blackmail.”
“True,” Harmon admitted. “I’m about to call the admiral…and the system president.”
“Ok,” she said. “We have some maneuvers and training to do with the other ships. We’ll get what we can in while you travel in-system to Tretra. Talk to you later.”
“Comms…get me the admiral,” Harmon asked.
Moments later Admiral Timerton was on the main screen. He was seated in the conference room on the Tretrayon Defense Fleet Flagship Tretra’s Pride. Harmon hadn’t been gone from the system for too long, but he could swear the admiral was a little greyer around the temples and had lost some weight.
“Captain Tomeral,” the admiral said. “Welcome back.”
“Sir, it’s good to be back,” Harmon answered. “We need to talk.”
“By all means. How soon before you’re in orbit?”
“Right at four days, but sir, this can’t wait,” Harmon replied.
“I see,” Admiral Timerton said, a concerned look on his face. “Now? Or would you like me to convene some of the leadership here, and we’ll video conference it?”
“Yes, sir, let me get my beings together,” Harmon said. “Give me a couple hours to get the right beings over here. We acquired a few more ships, and I have skeleton crews on them.”
“I see that,” the admiral said. “We can use them.”
“There are more coming,” Harmon offered. “Not our ships, but ones contracted to fight for us. I’ll fill you in during the call.”
“Looking forward to it,” the admiral said. “The ships you’ve leased to us are going through their paces. The crews are getting used to them. There are definitely some differences compared to Tretrayon ships, but as far as I’m concerned, the differences are for the better. More powerful missiles, and those cannons…amazing.”
“I hope you have your engineers and the right beings in the industry working on building the missiles from those blueprints,” Harmon said. “What they have on board is all they have for now.”
“It’s a priority for the system president, as well as both planet presidents,” the admiral said.
“Nice,” said Harmon. “Speaking of which, I think they need to be in on this call.”
“Really?” Admiral Timerton asked, taken back. “That bad? I’ll make sure it happens. You better make it three hours so they can rearrange their schedules.”
“Roger, sir,” Harmon said. “Salvage Title, out.”
Harmon looked over at Clip and Zerith. They had watched the exchange with the Tretrayon Fleet admiral. They, like Harmon, were ready to exact a little vengeance on Commander Fritz and the whole Restore Movement.
“We have three hours to plan something,” Harmon said, sitting back.
“That iss plenty of time to come up with something, now that we are in-ssysstem,” Zerith said as he patted several pockets, looking for a snack.
“Frost yeah, it is,” agreed Clip. “Jayneen’s all over this thing. I bet she pinpoints Fritz within ten minutes. She’s mad. I mean really mad. She said nobody does that to her family’s family. She has this thing about children. You know how women can get.”
“I can hear you, Clip,” Jayneen said through the overhead speaker.
“I know,” Clip said, grinning. “That’s why I said it.”
“Jayneen?” Harmon asked. “Can you let the four associates and Marteen know they’re needed in the conference room in an hour? We need to get on the same page. I have some ideas.”
“I’ll let them know,” the AI answered. “By the way, I’ve pinpointed Commander Fritz. She’s located in the Karuth Mountains.”
“Great,” Harmon said. “Just great. Don’t tell me. She’s holed up at The Plateau, isn’t she?”
“She is,” Jayneen answered.
“How many?” Harmon asked.
“A lot,” Jayneen answered, understanding his question, even though Clip and Zerith had no idea what they were talking about.
“This is not going to be easy,” Harmon said. “I wonder if it can be done, or if we just wait her out?”
“Somebody better tell me what the frost you’re talking about!” Clip exclaimed.
“It iss very confusing,” Zerith admitted as he started to peel the shell away from a bright yellow nut he found in a cargo pocket. “Very.”
Harmon was honestly surprised Clip didn’t know about The Plateau. He was always reading about historical events, places, and inventions. He smiled and taught Clip something.
Forty minutes later, Harmon looked across the table in the conference room at Clip, Zerith, all four of his original Leethog crewmembers, Big Jon, and Marteen. Marteen looked frazzled and worn out. Hank and Stan, the Leethog brothers, sat beside each other with big toothy grins, goggles pushed back on their heads, and whispered to each other while casting glances at their mates. Both Kyla and Vera had looks on their faces that let Harmon know they would find out what the brothers had been up to on the trip through the gates in the Dalgit frigate. He wasn’t sure he wanted to know.
“Alright,” Harmo
n began. “In about two hours, I have to tell the admiral, the system president, and both planet presidents about the kidnapping and attempted blackmail. When I tell them, I want to have a plan ready to execute as soon as we arrive in orbit around Tretra.
“They went too far,” Harmon continued. “Entirely too far.”
“They need to get what they desserve,” stated Zerith. He had an entire bowl of dried blue fruit in front of him, and his hand reached up without thought, selecting and tossing pieces into his mouth.
“We didn’t anticipate them having mechs,” Evelyn said. She was on the bridge of her ship, Windswept, attending the meeting through video link, with Twiggy and Gunny standing beside her. “We…I didn’t pick them up on my sensors. They were completely shut down in the barn.”
“There was no way for you to know,” Harmon said. “We’ll be ready for them this time.”
“Jayneen?” Harmon asked. “Pull up what we have, please.”
A large map appeared on the screen on the far wall. The same map was on the main screen of Windswept’s bridge. It showed several mountains and deep valleys around them. At the center of the map was the tallest mountain, its top flat like a plateau. There was a military installation on top, made of stone and steel. There were three towers on it, a landing pad nearby, and several large buildings within the walled compound.
“That’s The Plateau,” Evelyn said.
“No!” Marteen said. “Is that where she is?”
“Aw, hell,” Twiggy said. “She’s gonna be harder to get to than a chinto colt in the center of the circle.”
Harmon knew he was referring to the herd instinct to protect the young that wild chinto were famous for. It was a task so dangerous that it wasn’t attempted. Even ranchers with domesticated chinto waited until the young chinto were half grown before they attempted to cut them out of a herd for sale or branding.
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