The Feeding of Sorrows

by Rob Howell

  “Excellent. Brand new ones. I can crack their operating systems without a problem. Hold on while I prep the commands.” I set it up on the sweeper. “Things will be easier if you turn them on in safe mode. Do you know how?”

  Steele nodded. “I do. I had one.”

  “Good, put in the battery and…” I poised myself over my sweeper. “Now.”

  She turned it on. I ran the system override command, and about fifteen seconds later, I had securely synced the phone to the African Queen and the Maquonese satellite network. We repeated the steps with all the comms Jackson brought with him.

  “Okay, they’re secure. My firm’s encryption isn’t impossible to break, given a certain amount of time, but it’s unlikely anyone in-system can do so within several months. Plus, the only way the Zuul will see the transmissions is if you’re really unlucky, and they fly right through a beam to a satellite.”

  Steele started turning the comms off.

  I smiled. “That’s wise. Also, I’ve set them up to only accept return data when someone sends a specific security code. There’s no access to the GalNet, GPS, or anything else, though. You can use them to send data to the satellites, but not much more.”

  “Got it.”

  “I’ve partitioned off a section on the satellite network to store that data until it’s retrieved. It’ll be hard to find, but the more space you use, the easier it becomes.”

  “Yes, sir. Can we send them pictures? We’ve taken a bunch of the base, including weapon emplacements the Zuul have been setting up.”

  “Good question. Yes, you can send pictures, but don’t send long video recordings if you can help it.”

  “Got it. And no one can communicate back to us.”

  “Not without the activation codes. I’ll leave them for Edmonds to find when he gets to the Maquon system, assuming he plans to come here and do something.”

  “He’ll do something,” asserted Steele.

  “Yeah, I expect so. We should upload everything you’ve got before doing anything else. Just in case.”

  Jackson took a comm, synced it with the binocs, and uploaded everything. While he did that, I monitored the signal to make sure the emissions stayed tight.

  “Done.”

  “Good.” I glanced down the hill. “The sooner I get down there, the sooner I can go.”

  Steele glanced at Jackson. “Hell, we’re coming with you, sir. Like I said, we’ve got food for a couple more days, and we were just heading back because there wasn’t much else to do out here.”

  “Are you sure?” I asked.

  “Ain’t nothing but a thing, sir.” Jackson grinned. “A shitty thing, but if you can’t take a joke…”

  “You should never be a merc in the first place.”

  “That’s what my momma said.”

  We covered ourselves with lotion so we could stay in the densest part of the underbrush. Several times, we thought we heard something moving about. We froze, but didn’t see any Zuul as we made our way to the floor of the valley. According to my pinplant’s inertial sensors, we were within 700 meters of the base.

  “Let’s try it here.” They halted as I brought up my sweeper. “This’ll work. I’ve got a good signal on the base networks, both the Zuul’s and the Foresters’.”

  “Good. What are you doing now?”

  “I’ve set my sweeper to record and analyze all the data. Assuming the Foresters’ network hasn’t changed, I can penetrate it without a problem. I already have the security keys.”

  “What’ll that tell you?”

  I shrugged. “Whatever shows up.”

  “Oh, right, you never know.”

  “Exactly.”

  “And the Zuul?”

  “I’m hoping to make my sweeper completely fluent in their comm protocols. Gotta speak the language.”

  “How long will that take?”

  “I have a bit of a Rosetta Stone. Combine that with what I got from the dropship, and it hopefully won’t take too long.”

  “Then what?”

  “I’ll get what I can about the encryption and security protocols. They’re different from ours.”

  “All you’re doing is gathering as much as you can, so we could go at any point?”

  “I suppose. The longer we’re here, the better.”

  Jackson shrugged. “Might as well stay here all night.”

  “Yeah,” agreed Steele. “I don’t want to climb those rocks in the dark.”

  “That’ll work perfectly.” I started my search routines. Once done, I looked at Jackson. “We’ve got a bit of time while my sweeper does its thing. You said something about weapon emplacements. Show me.”

  We peered through the underbrush and Jackson pointed out the SAMs, quad MACs, mines, heavy rockets, and other fortifications.

  “The doggies are serious.”

  “Yeah. At first, we were trying to figure out a way to get in. We’re pretty sure they got a bunch of prisoners in the eastern barracks.”

  “Going to rescue them?”

  “That’s what I was thinking.”

  I looked at the approaches and defenses and blew my breath out. “That wouldn’t be easy.”

  “That’s why we ain’t done it.”

  “You’d have to get in, then get out with hundreds of people. Are they all Foresters?”

  “No,” said Steele. “The families who lived in base housing are in there too.”

  “So, you’ll have some kids and noncombatants.”

  She nodded.

  “Once you get in, can you arm the ones who know what they’re doing?”

  “I don’t know sir.” Jackson pointed at a low, heavy building. “There’s the armory.”

  “It’s at least two hundred meters from the barracks, along condensed streets.”

  “Yeah.”

  “If you can get weapons, do you think you can take the base?”

  “I don’t know that, either. No idea how many they got in there.”

  “So, you might only be able to break them out and get them into the jungle.”

  “Yeah.”

  “How much food did you say you have?”

  “I get it, I get it. My momma’s son is a cherry el-tee.”

  “Don’t stress, Jackson. You’re supposed to see if you can figure out a way to get them out. The doggies are smart, so there may not be a way without risking the lives of the prisoners.”

  “The spook is right, el-tee.” Steele shook her head. “If we had better odds or if there weren’t any noncombatants or if we could do something with them after we got them out, it might be different.”

  Jackson glanced at her. “You’ve been thinking that all along, haven’t you?”

  “Crossed my mind, but the spook is right about that too. Officers are supposed to think about that stuff. We’re supposed to make sure they don’t do anything stupid.”

  “And my momma’s boy realizes this would be stupid as hell.”

  “Yeah, probably.” I pulled back deeper into the underbrush. “Make sure you report all that to Edmonds. He might have ideas about how to get them out. At the very least, he needs to know not to hit that building with a missile.”

  Jackson nodded and activated one of the comms.

  I sat against a tree with my sweeper on my lap.

  “Are you staying up all night?” asked Jackson.

  “As much as I can.”

  He snorted and reached into his pack. “Take this.”

  “An energy shot? Here?” I put it into a pouch where I could easily get to it later.

  “I grabbed a bunch when I was rummaging around the PX.”

  “Sure am glad.”

  “He’s not the dumbest cherry el-tee I’ve ever seen.” Steele smiled at him.

  I chuckled and dove into the data. The Zuul hadn’t changed the Foresters’ security, so I got into their servers easily. I set up a series of meters on my pinplants showing the sweeper’s progress with the Zuul network. Then I took the energy shot and turned
my attention to what I had traveled to Maquon to discover.

  I didn’t find any evidence of the massacre. I did, however, find several security vids showing a bunch of captured Zuul. I pulled all of them down, so I could review them later. As they transferred, I glanced at the metadata.

  That’s interesting. Someone has accessed the files in the last month.

  Last time someone had looked at those files had been…never. The Foresters had recorded the footage as a matter of practice, but never reviewed it. Until now. Years after their creation, someone had looked at the files after the Zuul got here.

  The Zuul were looking for this. They wanted more evidence. I wonder what they thought now. Did they know they’d been played for suckers?

  I appended my thoughts and notes to the data Jackson had sent up already.

  As I kept working through the files, the energy shot wore off, and I fell asleep. At about four the next morning, my sweeper woke with me with an urgent alert.

  “Jackson, Steele…” I hissed. “Get moving.”

  Jackson uncoiled, his GP-90 ready. “What is it?”

  “A dropship just lifted, and its sensors are active. It’s going to find us quickly.” I tapped frantically on the sweeper pad. “Get ready to move.”

  “They’ll send patrols out to help.”

  “Yeah, they’re setting a trap.” I noted the pattern of the active sweep. “They’re going to herd us to the east.”

  “Let’s move then. Straight up.”

  “Hold on.”

  “For what?” snapped Steele.

  I completed the program, sent the execute command, and stood up. The sweeper echoed the pattern of the dropship’s active sensors on my pinplant map.

  “Finally,” she hissed.

  I let Jackson lead us up. He climbed a steep rock, then helped the two of us over it.

  “Shit, the active sensors just went over us. They might have seen us.”

  “We should’ve moved faster.” Steele glared at me.

  “Only reason there’s a ‘might’ in your statement is because of what I did. It’s probably best if we all shut the hell up.”

  “Whatever.”

  Jackson stopped with his fist raised. Then he pointed to the west with four fingers.

  A Zuul patrol.

  He waved us to some particularly deep underbrush. We slithered around some trees, still making progress out of the valley.

  The patrol came close enough for us to hear them sniffing around. All three of us had our GP-90s ready. Then their footfalls began to fade.

  I glanced at the others. We slowly released our collective breath.

  My pinplant pinged again. The dropship had turned around and was coming back for another pass.

  “Find cover, Jackson. It’s coming back.”

  “Ain’t much to find.”

  He tried, and we crammed next to a pile of stones behind several trees.

  Suddenly the dropship accelerated into a strafing run. It screamed overhead, ripple-firing a rocket salvo along the ridge about a hundred meters to our east. The rockets were incendiaries which ignited a fifty-meter-long stretch of the well-watered jungle.

  “Let’s go,” hissed Jackson.

  He led us swiftly out of our cover, aiming for the hill just above the fires. We got to within twenty meters. The heat wasn’t unbearable, and more importantly, the crackling fire covered the sound of our footsteps.

  However, the fires lit the jungle in flickering shadows. I almost fired at half a dozen trees and vines I thought were Zuul mercs.

  When we actually ran into a troop, I froze for a second, thinking it was yet another vine.

  Jackson didn’t hesitate. He ripped a three-round burst into one, then plowed into another before the doggie could raise his launcher. They disappeared into the night.

  Steele didn’t hesitate, either. She, too, put a three-round burst into a Zuul before diving for cover.

  The last Zuul and I stared at each other for a second. He started to raise his launcher, but I jumped into him, forcing him to keep the barrel pointed at the ground. He fired, and the rocket burned past my leg and caromed off the rock.

  I jammed my elbow into his snout, once, then again. He fell back, firing another rocket past me. The back blast pushed me away, and I tripped. The Zuul rolled over, bringing his launcher down as Steele fired three more 10mm rounds that sent his snout, ears, and body parts flying in several directions.

  I heard Jackson fire another three-round burst.

  I tried to get up. I put weight on my leg and promptly fell. I tried again, but Steele pushed me back down.

  She opened their first aid kit, pulled out the burn cream, and slathered it onto the burn.

  I nearly yelled in pain, but somehow, managed to keep it to a whimper.

  By the time she applied a self-sealing bandage, Jackson showed up. Something seemed wrong, but I really couldn’t tell.

  She jabbed a painkiller into my leg. Jackson helped me up, and we started moving as fast as we could.

  The painkiller seemed to take two years to take effect, but once it did, I could move fairly well on my own. At least as fast as Jackson, who I now realized was limping and had a gash along his arm.

  “Dropship’s coming back,” I hissed.

  We collapsed into a small depression. The dropship fired another series of rockets, again about a hundred meters to our east.

  It flew over us so closely it seemed like we could touch it. It banked over the valley and headed back to the shuttle pad.

  “Go,” hissed Jackson. “Run.”

  We did the best we could. By the time Maquon’s F0III-a star rose, its light filtering oddly through the planet’s particulates, the CAS and dropships were circling closer to the base.

  We found something darn close to a cave and took shelter in it. We bandaged Jackson’s wound, wrapped his ankle, and stared out over the valley. Occasionally, we’d see one of the Zuul aircraft, but by now they were over a klick away.

  The pain reliever started to fade, and I grabbed another from the kit. Jackson handed me a food bar.

  “Good thing that dropship missed us,” Steele said with a scowl.

  “Yeah,” I muttered.

  “What’d you do? I thought you couldn’t hack into the Zuul system.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Then what did you do?”

  “I didn’t hack into the Zuul system. I hacked into their GPS feed. Their scanners pull from the feed, so I shifted everything a bit.”

  “That helped.”

  “They fixed it.”

  “They know you’re out here? That we’re out here?”

  “I don’t know about that, but I bet the pilot was quite confused when he tried to land on the edge of the shuttle pad. I doubt they know what happened, but they recalibrated everything.”

  “Can you do it again?”

  “Maybe, but it won’t be as easy. And, they’ll likely figure out it wasn’t a glitch.”

  After a bit, we crept out of the valley. Painfully. We kept looking over our shoulders but saw nothing.

  A day later, we reached the aircar. It looked untouched, but I scanned for emissions, just in case.

  “I think we’re okay.” I made sure the GPS didn’t initialize as the car started, then I lifted us to the north. We reached the road.

  “Which way?”

  “My sergeant’s farm is on the opposite side of the base from Jeriasker.”

  “Good. Should we call him?”

  “Won’t he be monitored?”

  “I think I can deal with that. Here, Jackson, take the controls.”

  The el-tee slid into the pilot’s seat.

  I routed a call to the sergeant through a number of layers, which was easy to do since I had already hacked into the satellite network.

  “Hello?”

  “Sergeant Ryan?”

  “Yes, who is this?”

  “It’s Corporal Steele.”

  “Steele?! Where the fuck ar
e you? And what the hell are you doing calling me?”

  “I’m on a secure line. I’m in a Maquonese aircar about fifteen klicks away. If the Zuul aren’t around, I need a hot shower and some food.”

  “Three hot showers,” Jackson muttered.

  “Three hot showers.”

  “Well…” His voice carried a lifetime of cynicism and suspicion.

  “Call this making up for that time you put me on report when it was that dickhead Cox’s fault. Back when we were with the Berserkers.”

  He laughed. “He was a dickhead, wasn’t he? You know what he’s doing now?”

  “No, what?”

  “He’s in the cadre at West Rocks. McWhorter says the recruits call him Corporal Bag O’Dicks.”

  “That’s not really fair to nice, reasonable bags of dicks, boss.”

  He laughed. “We’ve been careful, and the Zuul ain’t really bothered us at all. I know they’re watching us, but mostly to make sure we don’t send a bunch of people in. So get your ass here, but stay low and come in from the north.”

  “Wilco.”

  The next morning, I stood by Ryan’s aircar. He had hidden the other one when he learned of its provenance and insisted on taking me back.

  “I can move around. They don’t want me shopping in Jeriasker, so if the Zuul ask, I can say I came to Okatasker to get groceries. Which, in fact, I need.”

  “Makes sense.” I turned to Jackson and Steele. “You coming?”

  They glanced at each other.

  Jackson turned back. “No, sir. We’re going back.”

  “You sure?” I asked.

  “Yeah, things might change. My momma’s son wants his regiment to know all it can.” He gestured toward Ryan. “And now I got some resupply.”

  “We’ve got a few others who want to help, sir,” Ryan agreed.

  I glanced at Steele, but the glint in her eyes answered my question. “Alright then, keep your powder dry.” I glanced up at the clouds. It was time for another burst of rain. “Especially here.”

  “We’ll keep our eyes open, and you make sure Edmonds reads what my momma’s boy sends him.”

  “Will do, el-tee.”

  Ryan dropped me off at the airport in Okatasker. I caught the next flight to Maqasker, and that evening, a taxi deposited me in front of the starport hotel. A different CPO grunted when he saw me.

  “Shuttle’s going up in a couple of hours. You want on it?”