Spinward Fringe Broadcast 14

by Randolph Lalonde

  "I apologize, Admiral," Remmy said with a resigned nod. "You know, I was hoping one of you came up with a better way overnight. I get the plan, I get the need, and I hope we beat the odds, but I was also hoping for a miracle."

  "We'll have to make one," Minh-Chu said. "We've done it before."

  "That brings us to our Wing Commander," Admiral Rice said, her mood lightening a little. "We daredevils and white-knucklers are all ready to make the mad run and dive for the people of Haven Shore. We're transmission dark until we get the signal, then we'll swarm that island. I don't think they'll know what hit them."

  "Good, it'll be a pleasure to see you work," Admiral Rice said, turning to Jake then. "Are your squads ready, Admiral Valent?"

  "I have two hundred nine drop troops in encounter armour ready to go. We are some of the most intimidating bad asses you'll ever see," he said, recalling the sight of the gathered troops the night before. It was a nearly even mix of Nafalli and humans in heavy armour. He and Remmy would command them, and Jake wanted to be at the front, but would do his best to stay somewhere in the middle, running tactics instead of firing his weapon most of the time. "Alaka has his ideal team as well, we're confident that the Order won't have a chance on the ground. Guided Zip rounds will be used so it'll be hard for them to use our people as living shields."

  "Are you sure everyone in your group has the capability to leave once the operation is at an end? My worry isn't shock and awe, it's their chance of escape," Admiral Rice asked.

  "Each suit can carry its occupant and one more. It's unlikely anyone will have much trouble getting to low orbit for rapid pickup," Remmy replied. "Admiral."

  "Good. The Phase Seven Fleet is standing ready for the last part of this operation," she announced. "We've managed to fine-tune every system we could while we've been waiting and watching here. I wish we could afford to take the pressure off the Merciless while it provides a distraction, but we have to remain in position while people are being lifted off Tamber. As for our little resistance group down there, they've managed to install our software in nearly half of the automated systems on the ground. The surface cannons are still operational, but Captain Vega reassures me that the 'bots under their control will be able to take them out in under ten minutes. I'm afraid this hasn't come without sacrifice. Shamus Frost's nephew has been taken into custody for murder and is awaiting a public trial. We expect his execution will follow this afternoon. Most scenarios end with him being shot and killed the moment the invasion alarm sounds. We expect Frost will break from the mission in an attempt to rescue him, so we can't trust him to do his part."

  "You shouldn't underestimate him," Jake said. "He knows what's on the line, here. Frost will do what he's been ordered to, even if it means losing his nephew. If Nigel is anything like his uncle, he might get himself out of trouble. I'd put platinum on it."

  "I hope you're right, Admiral," Jessica Rice said. "We won't be able to communicate with the people on the ground until the mission is running."

  A buzz went off on Jake's command and control unit. It was the alert that he had to get to the muster point. Remmy, who got the same alert Jake did, and Ashley, who had an alert telling her that she had to be at the helm in five minutes, looked to him. "Good luck, everyone. It's time for us to get ready," Jake said, looking to Ayan. He caught her looking worried for a moment and winked. "We'll see you on the other side."

  "Good hunting, everyone. We're signal dark in five minutes, so if you need any last-minute details or clarifications from me, now is the time," Admiral Rice said.

  It took an effort to turn away from Ayan's image as she smiled at him a little, she was worried. On his way out of his quarters he grabbed his heavy long coat and put it on. The weight was reassuring.

  It was time to embrace the soldier side of him. It wasn't hard, it never was, but Wheeler made it even easier. Jake had seen the video of Ayan's apartment, the staged or fabricated lie about her enshrining the corpse of Ayan Rice. He didn't care if that was real, it didn't matter if Wheeler went to the trouble of finding that corpse. He'd used the image of it for theatre, propaganda. The walk from his quarters to the lift that would take them down to the loading bay where his invasion force waited was a blur, he was barely aware that Remmy was there, keeping up with his long strides silently until they were inside. That even, rolling anger was back, like an old friend that he'd learned to manage, and he realized he was clenching his jaw when Remmy glanced at him. Jake spared him a nod, then looked straight ahead, catching his reflection in a polished horizontal strip on the wall. Jake's eyes were cold to the core. His broad face was set, ready to be aggressive, holding a rising tide of rage back.

  With a thought, his armour deployed, covering his body in horizontal slats. The faceplate on his helmet displayed a holographic death's head - clean and white, its eyes tilted so they had a dark, cruel gaze - and he decided to retract it for the moment. Remmy did the same. "The Merciless will get us there," he reassured Remmy and himself. "Then we'll get our people."

  "Aye," Remmy replied.

  The transit car stopped. Jake let himself picture Wheeler's face, recall the beauty of Haven Shore, and then he allowed a fact to enter his mind for the first time since he heard it the day before. Stress killed Stephanie Vega's unborn child. It was almost too much, a sneer he'd never seen on his own face pried a corner of his lips open and when the transit doors opened he took a long stride forward.

  All the frustration and anger he carried overtook Jake. He knew it was toxic, but that was logic talking. In the moment it felt good to be furious, like he could ride it to his enemies through any hazard and rip them apart. It didn't just make him feel alive, but immortal, and Jake embraced it.

  The assembly of humans in heavy armour, stout and tall Nafalli alike below in their hundreds, all marked with the MERCILESS logo large on their backs under a silver skull was all he needed as an audience. He raised his arms, bumped against the railing and roared, tensing every muscle in his body, emptying his chest, then inhaling in a gasp as he did it again. The Nafalli joined him right away, filling the launch bay with a sound that reminded him of lions, humans adding to the intimidating cacophony on the second aggressive bellow.

  Gripping his rage, he addressed them. "Today we will be Merciless! Our people are trapped down there. The Order has already murdered some. They have tried to disgrace our Queen! We will take our people back, and when the Order gets in our way, and they will," he grinned eagerly, "We will ruin them. I know you've been waiting!" he pointed at one of the Nafalli in the front below him, his armour was like a sleek second skin that covered his fur with a black gloss, turning its fur into metal spikes where it stuck up on his back. "You've been waiting!" he looked to a human in heavy armour who nodded, raising her rifle, the lights on the side of it flaring. "We've all been waiting to get right into this fight. They took our home, took the people we pledged to defend, now it's time for them to pay. Now it's time for horror and mayhem."

  A collision of anger and sadness took place behind his eyes, and he closed them for a moment, rallying. This would clear his head, it would turn that fury down so he could take the mission on without getting half or more of his people killed. For the last time, he raised his voice, pouring his rage into his words. "The man in charge here, Wheeler, likes to make videos. Let's give him something to record! No one wearing an Order of Eden mark survives! This is war without mercy! Fleet wants me to do this my way! No quarter will be given! This is horror! This is violence! This is merciless!" He looked down at a huge Nafalli who had his staff half raised and threw his fists up, roaring one more time. The two hundred and nine soldiers below joined in immediately, and when his lungs were empty, his head was clear. All he felt was grim determination.

  Six

  The Delicate Quiet

  * * *

  The Shard was the last building put up in Haven Shore. It made sense to Frost that the Order of Eden put their headquarters inside, displacing everyone who was settling inside.
The hospital was cleared, its private landing pads were repurposed for Order ships. A new Order staff was brought in so they could treat Order of Eden personnel, while a temporary hospital was set up in a sublevel of the Everin Building for Haven citizens. The medical personnel there weren't allowed to have advanced technology like nanobots or intelligent medications. All that was taken by the Order, so the best advice you could follow about health care if you were a Haven citizen was to stay healthy.

  It didn't take him long to get inside The Shard. The damn thing was easy to find; a black and grey spike sticking up from the edge of a cliff, and the soldiers guarding the main entrance at its base didn't expect someone with a high-end stealth field to walk in. The heavy suit Stephanie brought him was just such a thing, and it felt like power armour. The containment cells, of which there were few, were near the back of the building, isolated from the rest. The slanted transparent metal gave everyone in that section a view of the jungle below and the shoreline in the distance. To anyone trapped in one of those cells it presented a clear message; if you somehow get through the transparent side of your cell, one step would take you a couple hundred metres straight down. Enjoy the view.

  Frost would have liked that message if he wasn't there to rescue his own nephew and Tammy Dermen. He'd seen the pair flirting every night after their long work days came to an end. Nigel was kind to her at first, helping her adjust to the new reality of life under the rule of the Order of Eden, but something else started blooming. Samantha, a latecomer to their group, tried not to let on that she was jealous, but Frost caught it. There wasn't much denying that there was a little triangle forming, and Nigel did what you ought to do in that situation; nothing. Whether it was because he didn't know that either of the women were interested, or because he truly was wise beyond his years, he didn't get romantic with either one. Tammy got more attention, but he treated her like a friend, and Samantha was welcome to join any conversation or watch old holovids on the crappy public display frame.

  The night after Tammy's name was put up on the Order of Eden Traitor Board, Samantha cuddled up with Nigel, and Frost didn't say anything, he just shook his head and rolled over. He was starting to like Tammy, who was surprisingly good at keeping her head down and listening to everything around her. When the occupation started she took a day to sulk, then she started to look for a way to fit in. It was Nigel who told her; "Everyone's in shock right now. We're all trying to figure this out. We don't want to turn on Haven, but we don't know how to live outside of the system the Order's brought down on us without starving or getting shot. We don't know how to make the best of the Order's system now, either, so don't worry about not knowing what to do or how to be, you're just like the rest of us."

  If Frost had to pick a moment where Tammy started to like Nigel, that was it. Watching her try to find a solution to that problem; how to survive during the Order of Eden occupation without betraying Haven, was interesting. Instead of accepting that it was impossible, she actually approached it like it was a puzzle she could solve, and she found some impressive ways to do it.

  A job came up. She was to assist in the construction of the garden in the main square then help maintain its cleanliness. Tammy didn't complain, instead she got to know absolutely everyone she could on that crew and when it was done she listened to the conversations of people as they passed through the space or sat around. The things she picked up from Order of Eden personnel sometimes proved valuable. The difficulties they were having accessing the primary security settings on Haven Shore was one piece of information that made an important part of their escape plan viable.

  After trying to access the security systems for Haven Shore and failing, the Order attempted to shut all the security systems down. The best they could do was put them on standby behind an Order of Eden computer. All of the Haven Shore systems were still ready to operate, including the evacuation systems, they just had an Order system installed alongside it that was running. That was from a conversation she overheard between two complaining information systems technicians while she was polishing the side of a planter.

  Frost took a liking to her and was often surprised at how similar she was to Ashley. Yes, there were physical similarities, they'd be nearly perfect matches for each other if it wasn't for the second skin disguise Tammy wore, but there was also a similar lisp, their laugh was the same, their voices were indistinguishable, and they seemed to have the same reserve of kindness.

  With an eye on his in-helmet tactical system he moved through the containment area near the middle level of The Shard. Frost had no idea which cell Nigel or Tammy were in, but he saw the soldiers, eight of them, who were ahead of him in the broad hallway. Their DNA profiles were pre-loaded, so he'd be alerted if his scanners picked them up. If the Haven Fleet security systems weren't on standby, they would have already detected him, but the Order used portable volumetric scanners to defeat cloak suits, and the armour he wore accounted for that.

  An indicator in his Head's Up Display blinked rapidly as the soldiers stopped and opened a cell door. Tammy was in there. One of the armoured soldiers in dark green plate armour was tripped as she kicked his leg out from under him - her bare foot swiping his combat boot out from under him - and the soldier next to him nearly had her rifle taken from her. Frost laughed softly. These brain donor survivors were ready for this when they opened the door, and our Tammy's taking 'em on anyway. He thought to himself. A third guard smashed Tammy in the face with his rifle butt. "Settle down!" he barked.

  It made Frost's stomach tighten, and he ground his teeth while he watched them pull Tammy from her cell, roughly put cuffs on her wrists and walk her back to the main checkpoint behind him. The rifle butt split the skin over her cheekbone, and a little blood ran down the left side of her face. Her dark eyes were lively as she took her environment in from under a scowl. Her second skin disguise was gone, it was like watching Ashley get pushed around, and he wanted to start shooting. Any gunfire would set alarms off in the building, he would have to use another method when the time came.

  Then he realized they were going the wrong way. All the soldiers were departing, that wasn't the way it was supposed to go. They were supposed to get Nigel before they left the containment centre. He ran down the hall, watching his scanners look for Nigel's DNA, and he found nothing. "God dammit, where are you?" he said under his breath. He opened communications, using their hidden mesh network. "Anyone see Nigel? Is he on anyone's scanners?"

  "No," Stephanie answered. "No one's spotted him yet."

  "God dammit!" Frost cursed, punching the air. No one could see him, it was a great time to have a little tantrum.

  "Why? Where are you right now?" Stephanie asked, her tone a warning.

  "I set my wee bots on a timer so they'll do their part when the time comes, don't worry."

  "You're supposed to be in position so you can back them up," Stephanie said, repeating; "Where are you?"

  "In the cells, I'm looking at Dermen right now. They're dragging her out of here, right on time for the execution."

  "We knew this could happen," Stephanie said. "They're going to execute all their captives, not just Nigel. The others are probably in the storage centre under the town square, we haven't been able to infiltrate it."

  "Well, I've got Tammy here, so what do I do?"

  "Get out of there before the Merciless starts her run, you know that building will get hit," Stephanie told him.

  Staring at Tammy and the eight guards surrounding her, he considered his options. He could kill them and extract her, but it could screw up their timetable, or he could follow orders and retreat alone. He'd make it out of the building with time to spare and no one would raise the alarm. Would she? If Tammy actually got free, she could get away from the guards and hide in the building. There was a chance of that. "The soldiers guarding Dermen aren't the brightest reactors in the plant, if you get my meaning. She could get away and tuck in somewhere, they'll be looking for her in here while the whole building
comes down around their ears."

  "We need you to back up your bots, that part of the plan has to go right," Stephanie said.

  "It will, the Order doesn't suspect a thing," Frost replied. "The bots will do the deed, it'll be too late for anyone to stop them."

  "I hope you enjoy the ride to the square, these are the last minutes of your life. We're executing you today," the Third Soldier, the one who butted her in the face, said with far too much relish.

  "I didn't know what to do when the Order came, I hid, that can't be wrong," Tammy said, starting to weep. "I played by the rules. I did my job, I didn't get in anyone's way."

  "Man, if it were up to me, I'd put you in the trial for the obedience thing they have going and buy you," he replied. "A face like that is worth keeping around, but they're gonna nerve-burn you instead. You know what that is, right?"

  There were hundreds of ways to torture a human, and Frost thought he knew them all, but he'd never heard of that before. Checking his stealth status, he started catching up to the soldiers. They were about to get in the lift. "Yeah, I'll get her quick then get in position, don't worry."

  "Just think about it for a second, you could trip up the whole mission," Stephanie countered a little sourly.

  With great alacrity Tammy turned and tried to run. Two guards caught her, one by the arm, the other by her black hair. "No!" she screamed, planting her feet and fighting despite their grip. It was futile. Her feet slipped on the broad tiles as they started to drag her, getting a firm hold on each arm.

  "You know what nerve-burning is? How?"

  "I don't need to know what it is! It sounds like something a bully and a coward would invent," Tammy spat.