Bombardier - The Complete Trilogy

by SD Tanner

  “Use grenades.”

  Firing from both sides, they were tearing whatever it was into smaller pieces. Some were so badly charred they fell onto the floor, but other parts were already reforming into the tiny spider creatures he’d seen in space. None of the Navigators or Trachans were wearing armor, so they were vulnerable to attack.

  “Samson, get some Boms on the left side of this building. I’m gonna punch a hole to get the survivors out. Run them to the shaft.”

  “Roger that.”

  Having used the last of his grenades, he threw himself at the wall to his left. Pulling back his arm and forming his hand into a fist, he began pounding at it, feeling it crack under the impact. Navigators and Trachans joined him, pulling at the fabric of the wall. Piece by piece they widened the hole and began pushing people through it. Leaving them to escape, he made his way to the rear of the group, stomping at the small critters scuttling across the floor. He’d used all of his ammunition on the pulsating mass, so all he had left was his strength. When the last of the survivors had made it through the hole in the wall, he turned to join them.

  Running between the two squads, the people headed towards the emergency platform. Critters were emerging from the building, chasing them along the street. More of the squad were behind than ahead of the running survivors, crushing the small critters under their heavy boots.

  It would be hard going dragging people up the spiral tubes to safety, but it was better than staying in an underground city full of tiny critters. When he came back, he would bring the Bombardier Army and rescue anyone else left alive.

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN:

  Dead Weight

  (Ark Three)

  “You should wait for the rest of the fleet. We’ll be there in two days.”

  Slumped in the command chair on the lead BattleRig, he was strumming his fingers on the arm. “No way, Tank. There could be hundreds or over a thousand of our people trapped down there.”

  “You have no experience fighting critters on land. Hell, you’ve barely got experience fighting them in space.”

  “Oh, so this where you want to draw the line. I didn’t have any space battle experience either, but I won the engagement against the navs.”

  There was a brief silence and then Tank said, “Casey agrees she lost that fight.”

  “You spoke to Casey?”

  “Only by radio.”

  “What did she say?”

  Tank snorted. “Aside from admitting defeat? She said Dunk Two is tearing Earth apart. He’s retesting and executing anyone with even a hint of enemy DNA. He’s also got some new tech that lets him send ships and BattleDroids through space.”

  “Is it a wormhole?”

  “She might have a soft spot for me, but even she has her limits. All she’d tell me was he has BattleDroids and he can send them anywhere.” Pausing, Tank drawled, “Buuuut, it’s what she didn’t say that was useful. She said he’s only sending ships and droids, but not navs. I don’t think it works for anything biological.”

  “How many BattleDroids has he got?”

  “She wouldn’t say, but I’m guessing not enough to pilot every ship.”

  “How big is her fleet?”

  Tank chuckled. “Just how good do you think I am? She’s was never gonna tell me that, but she agreed to take Mariana to CaliTech.”

  Relieved she would be taken care of, he replied, “You’re good enough. Where’s Mariana now?”

  “We sent her to Ark Command in an automated pod.” Sighing loud enough to be heard through his headset, Tank added, “She also agreed we need to shut down this war between you and Dunk.”

  “Why does she care? She’s the Commander of the Navigators. Isn’t this her job?”

  Sounding surprised, Tank replied, “Maybe, but she knows as much about war as you do. It’s all theory with you kids. All she’s ever done is run a police force on Earth and exploration in space. Fact is, Ark, the critters are back and we don’t have time for you and Dunk Two to argue over which of you has bigger balls.” Hearing his war described that way annoyed him, but he said nothing, waiting for Tank to continue. “You need to bury this shit.”

  “I didn’t make the first strike.”

  Tank’s deep gravelly voice grew louder and more forceful. “Yeah, ya did. It’s a question of perspective. What you saw as a rescue, Dunk Two took as an attack…and he has a point. You can’t go around shooting up someone’s crib without them taking it badly.”

  “Do you have a point?” He asked, realizing he sounded like a petulant child.

  When Tank spoke again, his voice had taken on a patient tone as if he were talking to a naughty child. “Casey and I think you need to talk to the Dunks.”

  Finally unable to control his irritation, he snapped, “Who the hell are you two? My parents?”

  “Hell no, you’re more trouble than all of my twenty-two kids put together. I don’t want you to negotiate with the Dunks. Casey can get you safe passage to Earth so you can kill them.”

  “Did Casey agree to that?”

  “She agreed to give you safe passage to Earth.”

  It sounded as if Tank was using his relationship with Casey so he could reach Earth, but she had no idea he was planning to kill the Dunks. As usual, Tank was playing both sides, lying to one and manipulating the other. Although he agreed with killing Dunk Two, he still didn’t want to kill his brother.

  “I’m sick of having this convo with you. I’m not killing Dunk Three.”

  “If it comes down to you or him, which will you choose?”

  It was a stupid question and his contempt was clear in his tone. “I won’t let Dunk Three kill me.”

  “Then you’ll have to kill him.”

  Although Tank couldn’t see him, he shook his head. “You talk about murder as if it’s nothing.”

  Speaking in a deadened tone, Tanks’ next words froze his strumming fingers so that they hovered above the arm of his chair. “You just killed two hundred Boms, thirty Trachans and twenty thousand navs. Don’t be coy about this, Ark. You already have blood on your hands.”

  Shock quickly turned to anger, making him reply sharply, “You’re willing to go a long way in any direction to kill off Dunk’s regime.”

  “And you should too. War isn’t a game, son. It’s a filthy business with no clear winners, only a change of command.”

  He didn’t want to kill Dunk Three, but suspected Tank might be right. While even one Dunk remained, they would never be rid of the regime. Where he’d only wanted to stop Dunk Two, bringing him down had already cost more than twenty thousand lives with more to come. A part of him wanted to bring his people back to Tracha and call it a done deal. If he did that then he’d just wasted thousands of lives. Whether he liked it or not, he was committed now or their deaths would have no meaning. He had to stand on the podium at CaliTech declaring Dunk’s regime over, otherwise he’d never be able to live with himself. The war he’d started was taking on a life of its own, hurtling towards an endgame like a runaway train.

  “How do I get to Earth?”

  “By automated pod. Casey will guarantee you safe passage.”

  “And once I get there?”

  “Kill the Dunks and she’ll surrender, but only to you. It’s not really a surrender, just a change of command.”

  “How do we get close enough to launch me?”

  Tank sounded tired when he replied, “Well, that’s the problem. Dunk Two has extended his control. We’ll have to fight our way in.”

  Before he could even think about the craziness of firing himself to Earth in an automated pod, he still had to rescue the survivors on Tracha. “We’ll talk about this later. I still need to clear the critters on Tracha.”

  “No, we need to do that. The small ones are tough to kill and you need more troops than you have. Just wait, Ark, we’ll do it together. Casey will only swear allegiance to you, so I can’t afford to lose you.”

  “Not you?”

  Tank’s harsh laught
er echoed through his headset. “Like I said, I’m not that good.”

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN:

  Old Friends, Shared Enemies

  (Granger)

  Crouching behind the window of a building, he held the visor to his eyes again. He was ten miles from CaliTech, hiding inside of a long abandoned communications tower on top of a small rise. At this distance, he shouldn’t need to hide, but scanner drones had a knack for popping up without warning.

  The Navigator had kept him hidden inside of his barracks for two days. Dressed in full Navigator gear, he’d been handed off to another friendly, joining a squad headed into the city. It hadn’t been difficult to slip away and go back to the outlands. Now he had a problem. His son and Joan were still trapped behind the walls of CaliTech and he had to find a way inside.

  With him were three other men, all dressed in camouflage. He didn’t have a plan to get inside of CaliTech where he would come out alive. Sighing, he took the visor from his face, shuffling on his rear until he was leaning against the wall next to the broken window.

  His brother-in-law, Eric, flicked his head at him. “Maybe we can hook up with rebel navs.”

  “I don’t see how. They don’t know who one another are.”

  “Maybe if we just break in they’ll help us once we’re there.”

  Shaking his head, he studied the darkened visor in his hand. “Being picked up by that woman was a fluke. I’ve got no guarantee we’ll meet the right person.” Trying to expel his anxiety, he sighed deeply. “I was on my own last time. This time I’ll have Joan and Charlie with me.”

  “With us, Granger. You’re not alone.”

  Nodding to Eric, he gave a faint smile. His brother-in-law’s commitment to his family never wavered, even if it put his life at risk. “I think I should go in alone. If I fail then you can try again later.”

  Eric snorted cynically. “It’s a bad life when the odds are so tough we assume we’ll fail.”

  Moving until he was under the window again, he lifted the visor to his eyes. It was part of the Navigator gear and he didn’t really know how to use it. At this distance, all it could do was give him a fuzzy view of the walls surrounding CaliTech. He wasn’t even sure why he was bothering with it. Maybe he hoped if he stared at the wall long enough inspiration might strike. As he lowered the visor again, he thought he caught a glimpse of something moving fast along the ground about five miles ahead. Fiddling with the buttons on the unit controlling the visor, he zoomed in on the movement.

  A man was sprinting through the forest and behind him was a Navigator. Where the man was obviously running for his life, the Navigator was loping behind him, appearing to take his time. A hunt was on and the Navigator was dragging it out.

  “Eric, get over here with that sniper rifle.”

  “Whatcha got?”

  “Man on the run from a nav.”

  Lowering the visor, he pointed to where the man was running. “Any chance you can take some shots?”

  “At what?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Shoot about a mile out. Just don’t hit the runner.”

  As he stood, Eric looked up at him in surprise. “Where are you going?”

  “To get the runner.”

  Leaving Eric to distract the Navigator, he jogged down the crumbling stairs. Parked next to the narrow building were the ATVs they used for emergency travel. He and Eric had brought two other men and three of the four-wheel vehicles with them. Tucking his hunting rifle and visor into the saddlebag at the back, he checked he had extra rounds of ammunition. He couldn’t shoot and ride at the same time, but if he managed to grab the man then he could be the gunner.

  Throwing one leg over the seat, he started the engine, riding down the low incline. The vehicle skidded in the mud and he struggled to hold it under control. The surrounding forest was dense in some areas, but muddy tracks had been carved through it. Bouncing over the rocky ground, he headed in the direction he’d last seen the runner. Above him, the crack of gunfire let him know that Eric and the other two men were providing cover. They couldn’t stop a Navigator, but they might at least distract him from hunting the man.

  It took him ten minutes to be close enough to where he thought the man had been headed. He was on the edges of the houses that circled CaliTech, hidden inside of the forest. Bringing the ATV to a stop, he flicked off the engine, listening for sounds of movement. All he could see were low bushes and trees creating a gloomy canopy. Insects were buzzing, flitting from one bush to the next. Beneath his boots, the soil was damp and slippery. The distant crack of gunfire was muted by the trees.

  Unsure what to do next, he was about to leave when he heard a loud rustling to his left. It wasn’t accompanied by the typical whir of Navigator hydraulics, but the noise could have been made by an animal.

  Renegades only survived by helping one another, and without even thinking, he called out, “Hello? I’m a friendly.”

  The rustling sound grew louder until the figure of a man came crashing through the bushes. With his head down, he was dressed in a Navigator tracksuit, unarmed and sweating profusely. Turning on the engine of the ATV, he shouted, “Hop on.”

  Without looking at the man’s face, he called over his shoulder. “Gun in the saddlebag. Spare ammo on the other side.”

  The man didn’t hesitate. Pulling the weapon from the bag, his elbows jabbed his back as he checked it was loaded and ready to fire. Turning the ATV back the way he’d come, he glimpsed familiar Navigator armor moving through the forest. The man was standing on the footrests of the ATV, firing at their pursuer. Pulling further away, the crack of gunfire was coming from the communications tower. Taking his hand from the handlebar, he waved at the window, indicating they needed to pull out.

  A Navigator couldn’t track three ATVs, meaning he or she would need to decide which to follow. That meant the other two could either get help or mount an attack. Eric and the other two men clattered down the stairs, throwing themselves onto the ATVs. The vehicles split away in different directions, giving their pursuer three targets. A Navigator could keep pace with an ATV, but he continued speeding through the forest away from CaliTech hoping they’d give up.

  Finally, the man behind him batted his shoulder. When he slowed the ATV, he leaned into him, shouting in his ear. “He’s not tailing us. He’s headed west after one of the other ATVs.

  Puzzled how he knew what the Navigator was doing, he twisted to look at the man. He was wearing the visor he’d left in the saddlebag. Covering half of his face, all he could see was a strong jawline and perfectly straight teeth.

  “Guide me.”

  Turning the ATV westward, he increased his speed, bumping through the forest. Every so often, the man batted his shoulder again, pointing him in another direction. Eventually, he shouted, “Slow down.”

  Riding in the direction he was last ordered, the man stood on the back of the ATV, firing into the forest. Not wanting to distract him, he maintained his speed, waiting for his next instructions. Eventually he could hear the sound of an ATV near him, but the man was still standing on the footrest, continuing to fire.

  Seeing the other ATV, he slowed even further. The man stopped firing, sitting heavily on the seat behind him. Joining the other ATV, they rode further away from the outskirts of CaliTech. The third ATV joined them and they pushed on until they were at least thirty miles from its walls. It was only once he felt they were a safe distance that he waved at the other riders to stop.

  Climbing from the ATV, the man also dismounted. Still wearing the visor, he was scanning the area. After waiting patiently for him to finish, he asked, “Are we clear?”

  “Yeah, we’re good.”

  It was only then that the man pulled the visor from his face, giving him a wide and boyish grin. To his surprise, he was the man who’d saved his life so many times that he felt like a brother. For the first time in months, the nagging anxiety that filled his every waking moment disappeared. Without thinking, he stepped forward, giving the man
a warm hug.

  When they broke away from one another, the man still wore his wide grin. “What goes around comes around, eh?”

  Wearing an equally happy smile, he nodded. “Who are you?”

  “I’m a rebel nav.” His brow furrowed. “But I got caught.”

  “I’m not surprised. You were taking some serious risks.”

  The man shook his head, waving his hand dismissively. “At some point you either give up or get real.” Putting out his hand, he said, “I’m Parker.”

  “Granger.”

  “What happened to the woman you were with?”

  Looking towards the outskirts of CaliTech, he sighed. “She’s behind the wall with my son. I have get inside.”

  Grinning broadly, Parker winked at him. “Me too. I’m going to be a Bom.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN:

  Dead If You Do

  (Granger)

  Over the past week, he’d gotten to know Parker pretty well, only to discover the man was borderline batshit crazy. He was obsessed with becoming a Bombardier, but had failed the psychological profiling. After returning to one of the renegade hideouts, he’d sent a request for more volunteers to break into CaliTech with him. Parker might be nuts, but he was a man with a plan. Right now, he was holding court, preaching to the sixty or so men and women who’d responded to his call to arms.

  Standing inside of the large room of an old office block, Parker’s muscular build was framed by the broken asphalt and trees showing through the glassless window behind him. The setting sun was briefly warming the room, adding an odd brightness to the weathered and lean faces watching him.