The Return of the Grey

by Robert Lee Henry

  She pointed to the screen and waved her hand. Steamsetter understood.

  ‘Oulte, pass through and keep going.’ The big man spoke softly into the receiver on the secure channel. ‘Break off contact. Swing wide when you are clear.’

  ‘Commodore Summers, acknowledge my rank,’ Celene demanded. ‘Recall your fighters and move your squadron back ten standard units. Any other action on your part will be considered in violation of Inner Belt decree. You do not want to join the Donnellian in this treason.’ There. A way out for the navy. Cede to my authority and all blame rests with the Donnellian. Refuse and you must master me to survive. Can you do that Commodore, what Comach could not?

  ‘Celestene D’Auvinery Celerion issues that command. I, Elsewise of Planteget, Scholar of the Inner Belt, confirm her claims and advise you to take heed of her compassionate advice. My identification codes follow.’ The Scholar lifted a small device to the comm. ‘Be advised, Commodore, there are matters in play here that go well beyond your understanding. Amongst these, preservation of your squadron holds little significance.’

  There, the best that they could do. A bluff. Maybe not enough if this commodore is deep in the intrigue, thought Celene. Control of the satellites lay with the squadron until it moved out of range.

  Steamsetter pointed to the screen. Nothing that she could see. She raised an eyebrow in irritation. Again he motioned with an added tap to the far corner. Small dots returning, sweeping around the myriad of the squadron. Four of them!

  ‘Commodore,’ she said sweetly. ‘I have two thousand craft like the four that just flew through your fleet.’ No bluff now. ‘And they are not down on the planet at this moment.’

  CHAPTER 111: END OF A MISSION

  The lander bucked in the atmosphere.

  ‘The idea is to set it down, not punch through the crust,’ said Bethane.

  ‘Then you take it,’ answered La Mar stepping away from the controls. Bethane was right. She had been going in too fast. Should have had Bethane at the controls anyway but her nerves were up and she thought that the piloting might settle them. Usually the first taste of action was enough but popping the satellite had been an anticlimax.

  Satellites were only strong in sets, where they could cover each other and overlap fields of fire. One on its own was not too tough. Geostationary, like they had kept this one, was easy, a blind spot built in.

  ‘Rhone could be anywhere,’ she had said to Trahern. ‘How will we find her? Will they give her up? What threat, what action will serve to convince them?’ All her questions except for the two closest to her heart. What have they done to her in the weeks, months, we have left her to them? And is she alive?

  The Grey did not spare her, answering them all. ‘We cover the whole planet. Finish at their stronghold. Where this all started. Our threat; we don’t leave without her or her remains. The action; whatever is required.’

  He had brought the whole Group into their night sky, thousands of new stars for those that looked up when their satellite flared. Stars became meteors as he dipped the craft in and out off their atmosphere, a great Weave of ships, the other cadres turn this time, PlanCon and the RARs set back to observe. Down he took them and the blast and roar of their passage filled the night skies over half the planet. ‘Like the Rim,’ one of the Amazons behind her had said in awe.

  Their demand rolled with the night across the planet. ‘Deliver up the Amazon Rhone.’ The threat he left to her to voice and she had used it to cut protestations short when contact had finally been made. ‘We will not leave without her. If necessary we will sift her ashes from yours.’

  Fierce words. Words hiding the prayers behind. Oh Rhone. Be there and be alive. I can’t burn children in their beds, not even for you. But there was one that could and he was above her now, and her voice carried that certainty to the listeners below.

  Capitulation had been rapid.

  Now they were on their way down to get her, as Trahern had surmised, at the Ag planet’s concealed stronghold.

  ‘It could be a trap,’ Quartermaine had warned.

  ‘Worth the risk if there’s a chance of getting her back alive,’ she had answered. And for the children also, she had prayed and still did.

  ‘We’re down,’ said Bethane.

  So light a touch that La Mar hadn’t felt it. ‘Drop the ramp,’ she commanded. ‘Marines out, line both sides of the approach right up to the doors.’ Bethane had placed them on a hard surfaced roadway only thirty metres from a wide pair of steel doors set in the middle of the sloping face of the squat cement pyramid. The building was lower and broader than La Mar remembered, with heavy metal shutters over what had been shadowed embrasures on her tapes. New work, she concluded. Probably fortifications. ‘Get men up alongside those shutters, Mancine.’ She didn’t have to tell her crew to target the building. Their guns had been on it through most of the descent.

  The marines were almost in place when the doors screeched open, the last man struggling to the wall, stiff-legged, shoulders hunched in his suit. Tollen, realised La Mar. How did he get out there? Then all her concentration was on Rhone. Halting, bowed, Rhone’s steps made the old marine’s look like a ballet. They have hurt her!

  ‘If she falls, we will fire!’ She hadn’t meant to speak that thought. Trahern confirmed the order, a murmur in her headphone. In her mind two thousand arming buttons clicked forward. No! I didn’t mean it. But she couldn’t explain or correct. To do so would show weakness to the enemy and her own people. Oh Rhone, please. If you love me, stay on your feet.

  Tears fell to mark her friend’s tortured progress. Sorry Rhone. Sorry that we couldn’t come sooner.

  The Amazon was half way to the lander when the shutters to the left of the doors ran up with a clatter. The marines dropped and aimed. Two jumped to Rhone, caught her up in their arms and ran for the ramp. A third scuttled backwards behind them as cover.

  The bore of a light cannon slid out of the shadows of the embrasure. La Mar could see the smiles of the men manning it. Safe behind a thick plastron bubble.

  ‘Halt,’ boomed out an amplified command from the building. The marines ignored it. ‘Halt or we fire.’

  Standoff, thought La Mar. Four coming up the ramp but the rest are still out there. ‘Halt,’ she commanded.

  ‘I can take out the building.’ Trahern in the earphone.

  She pushed the chin mike up. ‘No. The marines are too close.’ Think fast, she told herself. You have to control everyone here if you are going to save anyone. ‘They chased us off once. They think that they can do it again. That will give us time.’ Time for what? Think!

  ‘Suits,’ she said to her crew. The embrasure limits that cannon’s field of fire. Give them the lander and scatter. Go to ground until we can be picked up. Command Trahern not to fire. Has to be fast. Can we do it?

  Movement in the shadow of the embrasure stopped her heart. NO!

  A marine slowly stepped out into the light coming through the thick screen, waved to the startled men inside with one hand and stuck the other down the barrel of the cannon.

  Tollen! You beauty!

  ‘Sergeant. Stay where you are. The rest of the squad back on the lander. Do nothing Trahern.’ She was spinning, discarding her head phone as she spoke, reaching for her suit. ‘Bethane, once they are on, swing the ramp to the other side. Lift with it open. Like the last time.’

  Dedrin helped her with her suit, slapped the rocket pack on her back. ‘They’re on,’ came the call. The floor shifted as she straightened up.

  ‘Hold on,’ she heard Bethane advise then the force of the lift bent her knees.

  She drove up and forward into a clumsy jog. Past a collapsing Rhone. Through the angry marines and down the open ramp. Time to dance, she thought as she dove into the night sky.

  *

  Now this must really look stupid, thought Tollen. Motors were whirring and he was being lifted up and swung side to side. Trying to shake me loose. No fear of that, he had his arm jammed prop
er. The door was more of a worry, if the idiots ever thought it through, and he tried to keep his weapon lined up on the opening. They bounced him and he swung the boltgun up to aim at their faces. He laughed when they pulled back. Ha. Better get serious old man. These could be your last seconds. Yet he couldn’t help smiling. Makes a good story. Not a bad ending.

  He saw the reflection of the lander cross the plastron as it lifted. Good on you, La Mar. The commander had grasped what he was doing immediately. A few more seconds and they would be clear. The shaped charges on his belt would finish it. No exchange of hostages. Like Dawsy and his old squad when they went out after the Ships. It would be a good way to go.

  ‘Sergeant. Ready to release on my count. Five, four …’

  What? La Mar? He craned his head back. Rockets. Low to the ground, coming fast. I’ll be damned! He opened his hand and twisted his arm free.

  ‘One.’ She hit the screen two footed beside him. He had one last happy look at the men inside reeling back and they were off.

  Whoah! If her arm hadn’t been around his waist he was sure that his stomach would have been left behind, suit or not. Up and away. Now I know what a bullet feels like. That thought went straight the next time they turned, that’s how fast it felt. They spiralled up, catching then passing the lander. Tollen waved with his free hand, the other clenched in a death grip behind his back on La Mar’s belt. This is great! They arced over to swoop into a great loop, spun through a few more spirals then flared to hit the ramp. Too soon for Tollen. He slid into suited legs laughing. Tried to sit up but was flattened as the lander accelerated. He slipped his hand from La Mar’s belt and popped his helm.

  ‘Keep clear of that cannon,’ he heard her say. The bitter tone shocked him until his eyes followed hers to the Amazon huddled against the far wall.

  ‘They wouldn’t dare!’ said one of the other Amazons.

  ‘That lot in the bunker would. See what they have done to our Rhone,’ answered La Mar.

  Tollen caught La Mar’s shoulder and pulled her over. He tapped his own belt. ‘Left my armour pliers down the barrel, jammed across. They won’t come free.’

  ‘Fly over. Slowly,’ ordered La Mar. ‘Tollen’s spiked the gun.’

  The flash lit the inside of the lander. Must have had the place loaded with ammo or fuel. That’s more than just the cannon. No one spoke. A gentle buffet rocked their bodies. Bethane must have let us feel that, he realised. The movement brought the big Amazon’s head up.

  ‘Shit La Mar. About time,’ said Rhone.

  CHAPTER 112: RANGERS REUNION

  Alizane followed the three Far Rangers into the main hangar. The call lifted all their heads.

  ‘Oulte!’ Only halfway out of his craft and across the hangar yet the newly arrived Ranger had recognised his commander. It came almost automatically to cadremen to search out their fellows.

  Not so much for Alizane anymore, not since the sweep through the Gap. Certainly not since his refusal to go against the Ships. Blues avoided his eyes, something he welcomed. But to see this, the joy of these men.

  This one path of yours is lonely, old friend, thought Alizane. If he had any regret that was it. The loss of camaraderie. For all the rest he would gladly hang. And it might come to that. Refusing to go against the Ships, that should be death here in the Guard. And now on top of that crime he had another. Can’t refuse one order then use another as an excuse. The Inner Belt wouldn’t care anyway. He would have to pay for destroying one of their craft, killing a personage of the ascendant lines and who knows how many advisors and toadies. It made him smile. Not too many people this side of Belt had done something like that. Only one other and he was proud to be in her company, if only for a short time.

  ‘Zammit, Chris! Did the Rim spit you out? To tough to chew or just a bad taste?’ The Ranger laughed as he ran toward them, boots crunching on the cement.

  Servicemen turned from their work to watch. Everyone was interested in this man’s news, the news of the Group. Alizane wondered how he had earned this privilege, to be included by Oulte on this errand. Maybe the bit of flying they had done together was enough to bind them for a time. More likely it was pity.

  ‘Couldn’t touch us,’ said Zammit. ‘We flew right through.’

  ‘Shit you out, did it? Indigestible.’

  ‘Whatever,’ said Oulte reaching out an arm to the other’s shoulder. ‘Time for our tales later. It’s your story they want now. We go up to command.’

  Alizane fell in behind the brown backs. They walked quietly through a dark section of tunnel and past two marines who nodded to them with grim smiles.

  ‘Why didn’t they let me transmit?’ asked the new arrival. ‘Is it because of them?’

  No need to name the ‘them’. A full Inner Belt fleet was pretty impressive. Celene had ordered the Commodore to bring the remainder of his force through the Passage. Maybe she expected that many but no one else had. A full Inner Belt fleet. ‘A big hammer’ as old Thomas had said. The Ranger would have come down behind them.

  ‘Yah. By now they would have all our channels monitored,’ answered Oulte.

  ‘Is there a problem?’ asked the Ranger. ‘I saw ion clouds and wreckage out the Rim side.’

  ‘That’s the Gold’s work,’ said Chris tipping his head back over his shoulder.

  The Ranger turned, eyes wide, halting them all on the stairs.

  ‘They threatened us so the Specialist sicked the Gold on them. Took out their command,’ said Oulte.

  The Ranger shook his head. Wide eyes were matched by a wide smile. ‘Nothing by halves, heh Gold? Keep that up and Oulte might let you join the Rangers.’

  ‘We went too,’ said Zammit proudly.

  ‘Flew right through them. Am I right?’

  ‘Yah, but…’

  ‘There’re buttons on the controls for other things you know.’

  ‘It wasn’t like that.’

  That’s what I miss, thought Alizane. No wonder Nata liked a joke so much. The Rangers slapped arms and backs, including his, and turned back to the stairs.

  ‘The Specialist commands. Them and us both. Seems she is an Inner Belt princess or some such thing. Came in handy for us once the Gold took her opposition out,’ Oulte explained to his cadreman. ‘Don’t quite know what is going to happen now. Be good to have the others back. Where the hell are they anyway?’

  The Ranger was laughing and smiling again. Madder than me, thought Alizane, but wouldn’t you like to go into action with him beside you.

  ‘The Grey took them to get the big Amazon. The whole lot, except for us. Set the cadre to guard the Outer Passages and sent me in with the news. Didn’t half piss off the old man.’

  ‘How did he get that past the Commander?’ broke in Oulte.

  ‘Finessed him. Some old battle regulation. Maybe he and La Mar had it worked out. Who knows? Hard to tell with the Grey. Anyway, we came down to the Outer Passages with the Ships.’ The Ranger broke off to turn and stare again. ‘Damn fine, your Ships, Gold. Beautiful once the fear of their numbers wore off. You missed something there. To see them all.’

  ‘You were at the Passages,’ interrupted Oulte.

  ‘Yah. There we were, flying patterns below the Outer Passages, watching the Ships go through. Some of the cadres were out wide, screening the Arm. Not for fear of the Ships. More in case some freighter or miner came across conventionally. Didn’t want anything to upset the migration. That was the word. Anyway, as time goes by, more and more Ships go through, no problem and the screen gets wider. Finally when the last Ship passes the old man says ‘Well that’s it then’ but the battle light stays on. Seems that the Amazons had stretched all the way into the Ag sector.

  ‘The Group is currently within the sphere of action of an incomplete mission. Prepare to take your orders,’ says Trahern. Quartermaine says … well pretty much what you must have said when the sky came down on you on the Rim. But he goes along. No choice. The rule keeps the Group under battle command until the condi
tions change.’

  ‘Until the mission is completed or the Grey takes them out of the sphere,’ said Oulte.

  ‘La Mar with the Grey and a whole Battle Group behind her. I wouldn’t want to be that little planet now,’ said Chris.

  ‘Now is right’, said the Ranger. ‘They should be at it. Or it is all over. La Mar wouldn’t waste a second. They will be back in a couple of days one way or the other. With Rhone or her remains’

  ‘Hope that big walloper is okay. You know what the Grey is like once he starts shooting,’ said Zammit.

  ‘Probably Weave again. Did you see the tapes of the one he did when we first met the Ships? Thousands. Sorted PlanCon out though. No way the bastards could run.’

  ‘Rumour is that Gati did for Colda,’ said Chris.

  ‘Yah, permanent. Can’t say the mission was a total waste.’

  ‘Come now,’ said Oulte.

  ‘What Oulte? You think the Gold minds? Probably just beat him to it.’

  To be honest, I did consider it during the sweep of the Gap, thought Alizane.

  The Ranger caught his eye, read the thought then laughed. ‘Damn. It would take all of the Rangers all of their days to get in as much trouble as you do in a month. Oulte, you really should sign him up if the old man lets him live.’

  CHAPTER 113: WALKING TO TRACKA-DAN’S

  ‘No. I would have executed him yesterday except that I don’t want that lot to think that we are trying to appease them,’ said Quartermaine.

  ‘If that is your final judgment then it would be expedient in the circumstances to carry it out,’ said Elsewise. ‘Appeasement will be required.’

  ‘I’m sick of having my hand forced. First Trahern and La Mar. Now Celene.’

  There is where his anger lies, thought Elsewise. A powerful man, he is not used to being helpless in his own realm.