Libor: Katana Krieger #2

by Bill Robinson

  Almost on cue, every light on the ship went out. Emergency lights flickered slowly to life, glowing dimly on whatever batteries they had. Using their infrared systems, the Marines moved to the hole, Gradishar and Dobson popping through onto the higher deck.

  This time, the deck was not deserted. Weapons fire greeted them, not well aimed in the darkness, but in a six foot wide passageway, accuracy is not essential. Dobson laid down return fire, as Gradishar tossed a grenade blindly at their adversaries, then joined in with his rifle.

  Jackson and Upchurch reached the deck as the grenade briefly lit the passageway, outlining a group of aliens, armed and firing. Two more Marines, Little and Liske, managed to get part way through the hole, floating half on each deck, firing blindly at the flashes 60 feet away.

  Jackson hurled two more grenades and the resistance ended. All nine Marines gathered at their end of the passageway, then briefly turned on their helmet lights.

  Four Libor bodies floated at the far end, a red mist, blood mostly, rising like a fog through the space. Spent shells floated all about them. Tony grabbed the nearest and held it up to his light.

  "Stupid. Safe ammo, not armor piercing, useless against us. Sergeant, quick recon please."

  Flanagan took Jackson with him and floated toward the bodies. Tony didn't like the look of what he saw. Flanagan confirmed his impression.

  "The hatch is rigged with explosives. We'd have taken casualties if we'd have come through this way."

  "Roger, gunny, we need to get one more deck up. You prefer my location or yours?"

  "I've got Jackson with me, we'll set up here."

  "Affirmative." Tony preferred that answer himself, the hatch to the next deck was at his end, and likely booby-trapped. Jackson set to work placing the charges, the team got into position, and Tony hit the detonator.

  He'd half expected them to realize what was going on and place explosives against the floor where the charges were, but those fears were unnecessary. This time, Gradishar and Dobson encountered no resistance, and the nine were quickly and uneventfully floating on the final deck. They'd seen this identical picture many times, seen their Recon unit pass down the passageway with the Senator.

  Flanagan gathered the squad, but before they moved, the hatch which they all knew led to the wardroom opened slowly, and an empty hand, three large furry fingers and a thumb, poked slowly out, followed by the rest of the it, hands up, classic surrender.

  Upchurch and Jackson moved down the passageway, motioning the Libor toward the wardroom. It complied, never lowering its hands. Inside they found 22 Libor, all at the far end, all with their hands up. One word bright across the fluid big screen: Surrender.

  "Commander," Tony spoke while shaking his head in disbelief, "are you seeing this?"

  "Affirmative. I don't get it either. Prepare to search the ship."

  Chapter 12 – On the Ground

  Up a tree. I am up a tree. Big tree, trunk actually a half dozen four foot wide snakes of wood, bound together, swirling together, massive tree that even I, the forest girl, find impressive. No idea how I got here or where I am.

  I ache, my head is pounding, my heart is beating way too fast, my mouth feels like it hasn't had a drop of water in months.

  I'm sitting on a large branch, three foot wide branch, my back against another, equally impressive, piece of wood, surrounded by tons of smaller branches and a few million leaves, each flat, almost maple-ish, and bigger than my hand.

  Then to add to my discomfort, the tree starts talking.

  "Captain, relax, you're safe."

  How the bad words can a bad word tree know I'm safe?

  "We're 20 clicks or so north of the base, no sign of pursuit. Get some sleep, we'll move at sundown."

  My mouth knows what the tree expects for an answer, even if my brain is disconnected. I croak out one word.

  "Aye."

  "Oh." The tree just won't shut up. "There's water in the container behind your back."

  My hand reaches and finds a plastic bag, full of water. Nice tree. Helpful tree. I drink it all in a couple gulps, despite its unusually bitter taste, then fall asleep in the welcoming arms of my new leafy friend.

  Chapter 13 – In Orbit Around Libor Prime

  Tony Palmer decided to gather all 16 of his Marines together before moving out and systematically surveying the ship. The Libor in the wardroom he allowed to lower their hands, but not to leave the area, or touch anything important, assuming he knew what was important.

  He and his two sergeants were at the table, putting together their search parameters.

  "Let's start with this deck, sweep it clean, then post guards at the ends of the main passageway."

  "Aye, sir, how about...."

  Flanagan never finished the sentence. The ship rocked, hard, the Marines and Libor who were floating at that moment didn't feel it, but saw the ship rotate slightly around them. Everybody connected to something was thrown violently away.

  "Palmer, Yorktown under attack. Get your men over here on the double, I've already ordered the assault ship to detach without you. Move your ass, mister."

  Another vibration seized them all before Tony could answer.

  "Roger, moving."

  Flanagan and McGregor had already taken the initiative and their units were heading for the hatch, leaving the two sergeants and their boss a moment to contemplate their captives.

  "Leave ‘em." Tony read their minds and answered their question before it was asked. "Unlike them, I don't want the blood of defenseless anythings on my hands."

  The sergeants didn't reply, simply followed their men out the hatch. Tony took one last look at the Libor and dove after them.

  On Yorktown's bridge chaos was quickly transformed into action.

  "Where'd they come from?" Shelby couldn't believe that four ships could sneak by McAdams.

  "Coated, sir, they're coated with that white stuff."

  Yorktown shuddered under a second laser barrage. Rains was in her ear, telling her no damage reports yet.

  "McAdams, return fire, lasers only. Get me missile lock but hold until my order."

  "Firing, sir, missiles targeted and ready at your command."

  They were a damn fine crew, Katana had them sharp and smart, and she was going to keep them alive for her captain. A third shot snapped her back to reality. The Marines were still extricating themselves. Too slow, way too slow. The assault ship was docked, ready for acceleration, why weren't they?

  "Tony," she was yelling into the mic now, "get back here, move! Machado," the one engineer on a bridge station at that moment, "the second they're all in the airlock, close the hatch and get that ship off of us. Don't wait for me to tell you."

  "Aye, sir."

  She saw his hands on the screen, setting up the prelims. Shelby needed to do something, keep working, so she talked at engineering.

  "Powell, we're going to nine gees in less than a minute."

  "Aye, Commander, we're ready when you are."

  "Garcia, as soon as that ship is detached, go, don't wait for me either."

  "Aye, sir." She was going to say something else, but another blast of laser energy shook the ship and the pilot's hands flew across her controls.

  "Commander," Rains this time, "we've lost one life support pack, thruster quad 12 reports down."

  "Thank you, Rains."

  On her screen, the last Marine, which she knew was Tony, flew at high speed into Yorktown. The hatch started closing before he was quite all the way in, but it didn't matter.

  "Garcia, go!" Perez yelled the order, even though Garcia's hand was already in motion.

  Maria's fingers stabbed into her panel, horns ripped through the air, 10 seconds to maximum acceleration.

  It was going to be close. Ten seconds might not be quite enough for the docking collar to open completely, but Shelby was willing to accept any damage if it helped them get underway.

  Luckily, they'd chosen to attack with Yorktown's nose pointed the rig
ht way. She wasn't facing the sun, but she could accelerate in concert with the planet's gravitational pull and orient herself precisely on a time optimal course.

  Nine gees slammed everyone back into their couches, no breath left and no breathing for a few tense seconds. They'd take 30 seconds at nine, then cut to six for as long as they could take it before settling in at whatever speed was necessary to leave their pursuers behind.

  "McAdams," it was hard to talk, but she needed an update, "report."

  "Sir, enemy at four gees on our six. When we lower to six gees, we'll be 100 clicks ahead and nearly 5,000 kph faster. Unless they do something, we'll be 100,000 clicks ahead at the jump. They've spread out. Route ahead appears clear, but they could be hiding anywhere."

  "Roger that, get the Marines up here to help when we take our first break."

  "Aye, sir, I miss them."

  "So do I, Lieutenant, so do I."

  They would be at high gee for nearly 18 hours before reaching the jump point, unless something got in the way. Shelby Perez settled in the for storm to come.

  Chapter 14 – On the Ground

  The tree woke me up. It called my name and I came to surrounded by night. Only this time, by the time I had stretched my legs, my head had cleared and I knew it wasn't actually the tree talking.

  "Mr. Ramos, good evening. What's the plan?"

  "Your backpack is wedged in the branch right above your head. If you need help climbing down, let me know, otherwise, I'll see you on the ground and we can figure out our next step."

  "Roger that, see you below."

  It doesn't take me long to find my pack, put it on, check that the rest of me is properly attired, then clamber down the oversized branches to the forest floor. Four unshaven Marines in dirty green are waiting for me. Ramos hands me another container of water, which I gladly drink.

  "How'd I get here?"

  He laughs. "We carried you, actually, Odoms there carried you mostly."

  "Thank you." Odoms is a mountain of a man, I still don't envy him carrying me 20 clicks.

  "We're hoping," Ramos starts again, "sir, that you have some means to figure out where we are."

  I unhook my pack and extract my pad. It's at 40 percent charge, I'll have to remember to hook it to the solar charger before we sleep again. I go to the aerial photos, select one with the base and some surrounding forest, then turn the pad toward the Marines. They join me.

  Ramos identifies the building where we started, where they crossed the fence, a path that they intercepted, the offset they took so they wouldn't be caught on the path, the creek that they took the water from, and, finally, within a click maybe, where we are.

  We also spot what appears to be a farm and farm house another 30 clicks or so to the northeast.

  "What do you think, Lieutenant? Target? We're not going to blend in with the general population, but that might be a decent spot to set up a radio and get indoors for a day?"

  "Yes, sir, I think that's the only logical place right now, but we shouldn't stay more than a day, we shouldn't stay anywhere more than a day. I'm thinking zig zag, staying generally toward the north."

  I look at him, at my scraggly men. A Marine Force Recon unit, the most highly skilled warriors in the human universe, and I'm betting, in the non-human as well.

  "No, Mr. Ramos, I'd prefer you think about convincing anyone following us that we're doing exactly that, while we actually circle around and head back toward the base."

  "Excuse me, sir, but what's the point?"

  "Rescue the Senator, if we can. Borrow a ship if we need to? More options, at any rate, and, maybe, that's the last place they'll be looking for us."

  "Yes, sir." I'm sure he was thinking getting me clear was the top priority. He just learned different, and I've put him back in his element. "Weese here is our best cover man, he did a fine job of making sure no one followed last night, he can make sure they think we're somewhere we're not."

  Weese, shorter and leaner than the other three, nods.

  "It'd be my pleasure, ma'am."

  "Alright then, let's roll."

  I put my pad into my pack, and heft it back on, but not before I remove my sidearm, a nutrition bar, and my night vision binocs. The Marines, smarter than us swabbies, packed night vision goggles. I'll have to use mine when I can spare a free hand, mostly trust what nature gave me.

  Once again I wiggle my toes in the soft soil, then follow Ramos into the wilderness.

  Chapter 15 – Toward the Jump Point

  Yorktown tracked inbound, heading for the jump point. The enemy, still pacing them, still accelerating at only four gees, dropped steadily behind. Shelby Perez had teased them, settled Yorktown in at 4.5 gees, an acceleration she knew they could match or exceed, then watched as they did nothing. It convinced her that a trap was set somewhere in the empty space ahead.

  "Nothing, sir. Sensors clear."

  It was the 30th or 40th time McAdams had answered the same question with the same response, she had to be as tired of it as her temporary skipper was, yet Shelby continued to ask it. If she had Katana's hair, she'd have ripped it all out by the roots.

  And yet, the hours ticked by and nothing happened.

  They neared the sun, started their jump prep, shifted every system they could to silent running, readied every weapon, had eight Marines helping with sensors on the bridge, including the ever on point PFC Dobson. No one saw anything.

  "Engines to standby."

  "Standby, aye." Garcia sounded as tired as everyone else felt. If they had known how boring the trip was going to be, they'd have gotten some sleep.

  Shelby Perez entered her authorization code into the computer, watched the lights turn green.

  "Jump authorized."

  "Jump in 60 seconds." Garcia avoided a countdown, simply watched her instruments.

  And then they were 140,000,000 clicks from where they started, across the Libor system in a cluster of large asteroids, motionless except to mimic the natural orbital velocity of the rocks around them.

  "McAdams, that was far too easy. They let us go. Any ideas why?"

  "Sir, I have no idea. It's as if they were herding us, making sure we jumped."

  "Agreed. If you figure it out, let me know."

  "Aye, Commander, aye."

  "Garcia, Powell, make sure we're silent, then get some rack time."

  Two tired ayes came in response.

  Chapter 16 – On the Ground

  The first 10 clicks, maybe even the first 15, were not a problem. I had to deal with the stifling heat and humidity, but at night it wasn't that different from home. The next five were agony, but I managed to keep up. The me that was laying face down in the creek we were crossing at 20 clicks was not the me I wanted the Marines to think they were marching with.

  Someone strong, someone who turned out to be Gunnery Sergeant Odoms, picks me up like a rag doll and sets me gently down on the far side of the stream.

  "Thank you. Sorry about that, give me a minute and I'll be good to go."

  "Obviously, Captain," Ramos is standing over me while I dangle my bare feet in the cool flowing water, "you are not fully recovered from the drugs they dosed you with. Odoms can carry you for a while."

  "I was okay with being carried when I didn't know I was, but I'll be damned if I let myself be thrown over someone's shoulder when I'm wide awake."

  "You can't keep up, sir, and we can't leave you behind."

  "I know where we're going, I can get there on my own. I won't be far behind."

  "No, sir. Sir, a few years ago, my unit commander took a pound of shrapnel to the knee pulling my ass out of a hole I never should have gotten myself into. He's never got full use back, he can't do spec ops anymore. I owe him my life, and it cost him what he loved the most. He took me aside before we left on this mission. He made me promise to get you home to him. I'm going to keep that promise, Captain."

  Frak.

  "I'll ride piggyback under two conditions. One, no pictures. Tw
o, you never tell Carl you told me what you just told me."

  "Agreed, sir."

  I make myself feel better by taking Odom's backpack and then I ride like an idiot for two hours. When we stop for water at the next creek, I decide it's time for me to stand on my own two feet.

  "I'm ready to hit the ground again. Thank you for the assist, gunny."