by TS Hottle
A loud pop released the drogue chute. The mains billowed out above her and snapped her seat out of freefall. Her restraints slackened and retracted into the seat, which fell away. Suicide angled the chute to deposit her in the lagoon Sky Devil had suggested.
The rescue shuttle picked her up twenty minutes later. She had escaped the controlled crash of her Interceptor with little more than a few bruises and faint nausea from getting slammed around by the artillery and the ejection seat.
Across from her, another flyer stared at her, cradling his handless left arm. A bloody pressure bandage covered the stump.
"That must have hurt," she said.
The flyer shrugged. "This? Cut myself shaving. Saw you auger in on that artillery battery." Now his accent sounded natural, almost a whaler accent, but rougher. She knew it, Demeter being two planets out from her native Tian. "Nicely done, Lieutenant."
"Good thing they took your left hand," she said, then cringed as he looked over the stump.
The flyer laughed. "You'd have a point, only I'm a leftie. So, my handwriting is going to be illegible until they grow this back or slap on a prosthetic." He held out his good hand. "Lieutenant Commander Quentin Austin, Silver Squadron aboard the Nimitz. Call sign Reaper."
She shook his hand. "Lieutenant Cui Yun, Black Squadron, Hancock. Call sign Suicide."
Austin's eyes widened. "Wow. The famous Suicide. And Akrad Izumi's widow to boot."
"You knew him?"
He grinned. "My old CO was his wing man before they kicked her up to captain. And I was wing leader for Gold Squadron on the Hancock when he served." He looked her over. "He talked about you all the time. He'd be proud of you, Loot."
"Please. Call me Yun."
"Yun. My friends call me Quen." He stood. "And you saved most of my squadron from that battery. So, now you're my friend."
She immediately liked this Reaper. "I'm honored. Quen."
12
JT pulled himself gingerly from under the runabout's dash. The twin motors whined to life beneath both ends of the vehicle. It took some effort for him to pull himself to his feet. A sheen of sweat covered his face, but he grinned.
"The farther you get from civilization," he said, "the easier it is to jack a car. Suicide, you want shotgun?"
Suicide pulled off her helmet. The smelly thing had no use other than deflecting slugs. "I want you to sit in the back with Lady Jayne. You look like you're about to collapse."
"I'm fine."
"No, you're not," said Mitsuko. "In the back. That's an order. Lieutenant."
He climbed into the back of the vehicle. Partlow helped Jayne Best in from the other side, then slid in next to her.
Suicide put her helmet back on. "Austin, give him your helmet. Partlow, keep your weapon visible so these two look like prisoners."
JT handed Partlow his helmet. "Careful. Still smells like puke and blood."
"And yet no HUD," said Partlow. "We really are in the boonies."
"With any luck, we'll be out soon." Suicide slid behind the wheel, waiting for Mitsuko to strap in. "First, we have to get out of District Nineteen."
They drove out the way they came, no one giving them a second look. JT stuck his head out the window to look up at the sky.
"Austin," said Suicide, "what are you doing?"
"Looking for drones," he said. "And getting pretty dizzy."
"You're bleeding internally. Sit down and let Partlow look."
"I'll check the other side," said Mitsuko.
Both gave up after five kilometers of Walton's abandoned roads. By then, they had arrived in the village where everyone had given them the evil eye before. This time, the residents scattered and pulled windows and doors shut. Suicide chalked it up to their stolen armor and possibly the security decals on the runabout.
"Killing that clone won't stop Jez." Jayne Best's voice came out weakly, barely above a whisper. "She has more… More… She has more."
"Madam Best," said Mitsuko, "please relax. We'll get you help as soon as we get clear."
"You have to destroy… She has a…" Jayne's eyes rolled up into her head, and she fell limp.
"Still has a pulse," said JT. "A weak one, but she's alive."
"What about you?" asked Suicide.
"I'll pass out on the ship." He held up his KR-7, finger outside the trigger guard and safety in place. "Just get me a clear shot when we run into bad guys."
Suicide wanted to tell him to go to sleep. He might not wake up, though, and she had no interest in adding another bullet locket to her collection. Nor did she want to make one for Mitsuko or Tishla. She especially did not want to make one for his mother.
She tried raising the Goldeneye, or rather the Tachi. The text on her palm read No Service. They would be on their own, at least until they could get a signal from Samueltown.
At thirty clicks out, Suicide discovered the true capabilities of the giant maw plants. One of them leaned down and tried to bite at the runabout.
"Are those things intelligent?" asked JT. "I mean like a dog or something?"
"They have to have some type of sensory," she said, dodging into a patch of creeper vine. "Whether they know if we're friendly or hostile, I'd say they know we're protein. That's all they care about." Her palm tingled. As she jerked the runabout back onto the road, she looked down at her palm tatt.
"Please acknowledge. Boolay."
She looked over at Mitsuko. "Are you getting this?"
"PO Franks is pinging me," said Mitsuko. "Text only. I can't raise them."
Suicide pulled over and tapped out "Acknowledged" on her palm tatt's keyboard. "No voice or video."
It took a couple of minutes, but Boolay eventually responded. "Head to border checkpoint on old Samueltown Highway."
She tapped back "No navigation," to which Boolay wrote "Stay on current road. Head northwest."
"Let's hope the border isn't heavily guarded," said Partlow. He looked off toward two of the meat-eating plants. They fought with each other. "Wish we had a flamethrower."
Suicide re-engaged the motors and started down the road.
The creeper vine and giant carnivore plants gave way to wild growth, scorched fields, and brown, rotting vegetation. Failed genetic experiments, Suicide guessed.
Juno had to have put out an alert by now if they realized her team had escaped the hospital with Jayne Best. Moreover, Jez Salamacis would not take kindly to the destruction of one of her clones. Suicide had no idea how she used the clones. She had heard rumors and hints of resurrection technology, but most of them turned out to be conspiracy theories and wild speculation.
"Company," said Mitsuko, slipping her last fresh magazine into her KR-27.
Three security runabouts rolled toward them from the border checkpoint up ahead. "I see them. Austin, how are you doing back there?"
"I'm fine." He sounded a bit weak.
"Liar. Duck down and take Madam Best with you. Partlow, how's your ammo?"
"Running low, boss," the Spec Force chief said.
Suicide reached down beside her seat without taking her eyes off the road. She tossed a magazine over the back of the seat. "Use it sparingly. I don't think these guys are the stadium security they've been using."
"They'll probably spend some credits to beef up security after we leave."
"Hey, I'll take security by obscurity any day, as long as I'm the one they're trying to obscure from."
Two of the black runabouts flew past theirs as though Suicide had been a tourist. The third, however, pulled over, its armored driver flagging her.
Suicide slowed to a stop even with the other vehicle. "Four people escaped from Bennaville. Found the two in the back trying to sneak into the creeper fields."
JT popped his head up. "Hey, where're the Gelt women?"
Partlow reached over Jayne Best and smacked JT. "Quiet, prisoner!"
The driver, face obscured by a helmet similar to Suicide's, nodded. "We can take them off your hands if you need to get back on p
atrol."
Suicide studied the other runabout through her visor. She counted three inside, all armored. At this moment, she really wanted a Navy energy pistol, even a Gelt shock pistol. She could disable them without having to worry about the armor. As it was, a gunfight would probably draw the other two runabouts back. "I have orders to take them to the checkpoint. They'll question them there."
"You sure? They set up a roadblock. The raiding party killed one of our guys out in the creeper fields and took his cart."
Really, Jez? Thought Suicide. Are you guys so cheap that you couldn't invest in some drones or train these yokels better?
"Closer than Bennaville. They might have jumped out on foot."
"I dunno. That Jefivan priestess they kidnapped wasn't in too good of condition. The Lady Jez herself wanted her reduced to tissue samples."
I should shoot you for that alone. "Well, that's what I'd do if I knew they'd made off with my vehicle."
The driver saluted and drove on. Suicide mashed the accelerator pedal. "Be ready. They're probably going to fire on us when we get in sight of them."
Five minutes later, they did exactly that. Suicide raised the window and skidded to a stop with the driver's side toward the blockade across the road. She turned to see JT tumble from of the runabout and help Jayne Best out. Mitsuko and Partlow exited the passenger sides, Suicide following suit.
Bullets smacked into the driver's side. Fortunately, Jayne now leaned up against one of the wheels. Partlow helped JT to his feet and checked the magazine of the younger man's K-7.
"Twelve more shots. Make them count." He brought his KR-27 up and aimed across the runabout's roof. JT managed a three-point stance, more for balance than aim, it seemed.
Suicide and Mitsuko brought up their rifles over the hood. Suicide began painting targets at the checkpoint and fired randomly. The smart bullets hit home, causing armored soldiers to flinch. So untrained. Even Navy pilots had to take bullets in armor to get used to it, especially in space where movement could cause friendly fire to suddenly turn hostile if one drifted into the path of one's own shots.
JT's shots did not seem to hit anything. He soon used up his magazine. Partlow and Mitsuko both fired accurately Mitsuko seemed to enjoy making the locals dance as she fired at their feet. Suicide heard someone on the other side cry out, "Hold your fire." She put her hand up and told her people to do the same.
A soldier with no helmet walked out into no-man's-land. "I have a message from Chief of Staff Salamacis." He stopped at the midpoint between the checkpoint and the runabout and placed a small device on the ground. He then backed away.
A hologram flickered to life and rotated to face Suicide. "Commander Cui, if you surrender Jayne Best to me and leave Compact space, I will let your people go. I won't even report Lady Yamato's treason to her uncle, the King of Bonaparte. Please give the sergeant your response."
Suicide met the soldier's eyes. "You the sergeant?"
"Yes," he said.
"You may want to stand back." She pulled her KR-7 and pumped three rounds into the holoprojector. Jez Salamacis's flickered out of existence. "That's my response."
The sergeant turned and ran back to his line. "Fire!"
Partlow dropped him with a head shot. "I'm running out of ammo."
"Me, too," said Mitsuko.
"Been out," JT chimed in.
"We're not surrendering," said Suicide. "Keep firing. We'll fight them hand-to-hand." She glared at JT. "Except you. Shield Madam Best."
Mitsuko emptied the rest of her magazine, taking out a few soldiers by hitting their visors. She then dropped her rifle and pulled her sword. "Bring it."
Suicide and Partlow kept firing. Just as her magazine gave up its last round, a roar filled her ears. Looking up, the beetle-like shape of Goldeneye appeared, still sporting the name Arcanum on its belly. The ship turned and gave the squad manning the checkpoint a blast of its jets, knocking a few soldiers off their feet. Through the cockpit window, Suicide could see a woman in Sapper garb, probably the one Mitsuko called Franks. Boolay, his chimp-like visage hovering over the pilot's seat, wave his furry arms in the air, his face contorted the way it did when he hooted with laughter.
The Goldeneye rotated, its loading ramp coming down. Several Sappers stood at the edge, waving them in. Suicide pointed, yelling, "Go, go, go."
Partlow helped Jayne Best to her feet, but she fell once more. JT pulled himself up and gave her wobbly support, enough for Partlow to grab her around the waist. Mitsuko rushed around the other side and grabbed JT, helping him walk straighter. By now, Partlow had picked up Jayne and put her into a fireman's carry.
Suicide watched as the Goldeneye dumped countermeasure chaff onto the checkpoint. She came around the runabout and charged up the loading ramp. The ramp began closing as soon as she had both boots aboard. The Goldeneye had already lifted several meters by the time the ramp closed. Standing with her hands on her knees, she took stock of her team. Mitsuko had already shed the local armor, as had Partlow. JT had collapsed onto the deck and had his forearm across his eyes.
"I feel awful," he said.
"You look awful." Suicide caught the eye of one of Mitsuko's people. "Your squad have a medic?"
"Already set up shop in the ship's infirmary," said a woman in gray camo, a type that would change colors with its surroundings.
"Get him up there. He's bleeding internally."
"What about her?" The Sapper pointed at Jayne Best.
If she had not taken a long, rattling breath, Suicide would have sworn she had died. "She's beyond anything we can do for her. We'll need to go someplace to get her help."
"Amargosa?" asked Mitsuko, straightening her Sapper uniform.
"No, Salamacis will follow us there. But I know a place off her radar that will help, one under Metisian authority."
"Where?"
Suicide shook her head. "Let me jump first. I'll tell you when we get there."
The Anna Khirovsky cast a shadow over the Goldeneye before anyone aboard saw her.
"That should have shown up on our scope," said Suicide.
"Looks like your people have stepped up their stealth capabilities," said Boolay, who squirmed, having to sit in a butt hugger.
That, Suicide realized, would have been nice to have during the Polygamy Wars. "Are we still Goldeneye or Tachi?"
"We are the Tachi," said Boolay. "Thought it might be an issue if we turned off the fake transponder code before we left."
Her hands flew over the holographic controls on her console. Ahead, she could see the forward projection drive dish blossom.
"Goldeneye," came Jez Salamacis's voice over the speakers. "This is Anna Khirovsky Actual. Surrender and prepare to be boarded."
She leaned over toward Mitsuko, who had taken the navigator's harness. "Run down to the infirmary and make sure JT's either sedated or has his anti-wormhole meds. This is going to be rocky." She tripped the ship-to-ship comm on her console. "Khirovsky¸ this is the Tachi. You are interfering with legitimate commerce on a Compact colony. We are here with permission of the government of Belsham."
She looked up and could see the outline of the Khirovsky growing above them.
"Cui," said Salamacis, "I know that's you aboard that ship. As long as you have Jayne Best with you, I'll make sure you and your friends never set foot on a Compact world again."
She decided to pipe the conversation down to the infirmary to let JT hear what she said next. "Does Tessa Dasarius know you just threatened her son? Or that you're sleeping with her boy toy, Leitman?"
Moments later, a kinetic rod streaked by close enough for Suicide to read the serial number on the side.
"Cui, your career is over if you don't give up Best."
She powered up the projection drive once the coordinates loaded into the system. "My career ended with the Polygamy Wars. Oh, and you're a civilian. You have no business calling yourself 'Actual' on a Compact Navy vessel." She pushed the holographic power slide forward. A wh
ite hole in space formed directly in front of the ship. The windows went opaque.
"I represent Presiden—"
Suicide pushed the main thruster control forward. That bizarre feeling from moving through multidimensional space swept through her. She did not feel nausea like some did, especially JT. The windows went transparent once more. Before her hung a dusty red planet.
"Mars?"
Suicide turned to see a pale and slightly green JT standing in the cockpit hatch. "No. Farigha."
Retroact: 419 IE
New Kirtland, Goshen Protectorate
"Black Squadron, Hancock Actual. Evacuate fire zone and be advised Boutros Ghali will be sending a kinetic strike down in five minutes."
A rod from God? Were they insane? Between Suicide's Falcon and the platoon of pinned-down Marines, a Goshenite artillery nest wrought havoc with both anti-personnel and anti-aircraft fire. How Deseret had allowed this group of unorganized rebels to lay hands on their planetary defense armories escaped her.
"Black Squadron," she called out, "Suicide. Bug out. Boutros Ghali sending rod from God in five minutes."
"Copy that," said Maddox, Sky Devil. "Black Squadron, all units acknowledge."
The rest of Black Squadron called back with their flight designations. Maddox completed the roll call with, "Black Leader, Black Two. All birds flying the coop." He paused a moment. "Why do I suspect you're not?"
"Just watching the firing arcs," she said. Something about the artillery barrages caught her eye, but she could not tell what immediately. The rebels clearly knew how to use slug artillery. Point it up in the air; try to arc the slug back down on the enemy. Triple A, however, posed a problem. Fire had been heavy, but she noticed slugs never hit her ships, only ahead of or behind them.
She flew south, away from the trapped Marine unit and the artillery battery. Turning a hundred eighty degrees, she dropped her bird like a stone, firing the atmospheric jets only thirty meters above the forest floor.