by Dain White
“Captain, have you been to Merriot before?” asked Pauli. “I’ve been at Olympus of course, but I’ve never been way out here.”
“Son, there aren’t many places in this little galaxy I haven’t visited at this point. Gene and I have dropped here many times, though never really for fun. We were mostly here picking up merchies for escort duty.”
“You gave us some shore leave a few times, Dak” Gene added, as the lock cycled open. A slight puff of warmed, moisture laden air hissed out and immediately crystallized in the bitter cold, like a cascade of sparks lit from the arc lights around the lock.
“I did? I must have missed the party. Was it fun?”
Gene laughed in response, adding “Well, there was beer.”
“Heck”, I chimed in, “Nothing is bad, if there’s beer.” Everyone laughed. The lock was filthy dirty, grimed with dust into every crevice. We crowded in and waited through the cycle. The moisture in the thickening air around us froze into traced arabesques across the hard surfaces of our suits.
The inner door opened, and even with the defroggers running full tilt, I had to pop my helmet before I walked into something – and immediately regretted it.
“That’s pretty fresh air.” Captain Smith said through eyebrows that appeared to be empirically frowning. “Now I remember why I didn’t give myself shore leave.”
I laughed, despite the smell of… cheese and rust? I couldn’t really put my finger on it, but it smelled pretty nasty. The concourse ahead of us opened up into multiple floors as the dome opened up. What daylight that filtered through the dust-etched polycarb of the dome faded away in the haze of the inner space. Everything was covered in dust, every bit as grimy as the lock. To be fair, the further we walked in the better it looked, but it was completely different from the sterile locks on Luna Freeside.
“So we just stay in our suits then?” Pauli asked.
“Well, there’s racks for rent ahead here on the left if I remember”, replied Gene, “but I don’t think we’re going to be here long enough to get comfortable.”
“How long are we going to be here?” I asked. Even with beer, a man has his limits.
“As long as you folks want, just as long as you want to be heading back in orbit in an hour”, the captain replied. He flashed us a look. “We’re only in-system for about 6 hours, but I’d rather have some room between us and the creepy-crawlies that live down here.”
Well, at least I wasn’t the only one being paranoid.
*****
My handset jolted alive in my pocket, as the fourth round of ‘protoquila’ was being set out.
“What is it son?” Captain Smith asked, as I dove into my pocket.
“Janis, sir, one moment”, I replied, and loaded the screen. What I saw didn’t give me a warm fuzzy feeling. “Sir, we may not want to be here much longer. Janis just popped a message about us on the local Unet.”
“Is that so?” he replied thoughtfully, shot glass paused dramatically. “What does it say?”
I gave it another look. “Sir, it doesn’t refer to us specifically: ‘Delivery ready for Merriot carrier. Standard contract, with bonus for swift completion’”, I took another small gulp of the rancid diesel fuel that passed as tequila around here and felt my innards start to liquefy.
“How is that about us?” he asked, and added with a shocked look, “and careful with that son, that’s supposed to be the chaser.”
“Tequila as the chaser?” I cringed. “What are we chasing?”
“MORE TEQUILA!” cheered Yak and Shorty in unison, slapping the table with tears rolling down their faces.
Gene had one of his inscrutable frowns set, and glowered at his pint of beer while something repetitive that sounded like a trip hammer making cymbals blasted across the PA, accompanied by some angry twerk screamed incoherently about ‘…the morning light’. I was starting to get more than a little bit blurry.
“What sort of timeframe do we have?” the captain called across the table. Someone behind me started screaming something in a language I couldn’t recognize. I stared at the defocused jumble at the bottom of the screen and tried to make sense of it.
“Um”, I replied, trying desperately to focus.
“Better take just another sip of that rocket fuel son, and steady those nerves.” He smirked across his coffee cup at me with a wink.
“Sorry sir”, I blathered. The blur at the bottom of the screen shifted, and the font size increased automatically as Janis tried desperately to help, but my eyes were closing.
*****
“Pauli?” I called across the table, as his eyes defocused and his head started to slip. Gene looked up, a concerned look on his face.
“Is he okay Dak?” Gene called over, pointing at Pauli. I shrugged, and kicked at Yak under the table. Catching his eye, I motioned at Pauli. He took a look, and raised an eyebrow at me.
“Give Pauli a shove, would you? I think he’s had enough.” I yelled across the empties scattered across our table, while digging for my handset in a thigh pocket.
Yak leaned over and slowly, with surgical precision, poked a finger deep into the meat under his collarbone. Pauli yelped, suddenly sitting upright. Shorty laughed her good natured laugh, and went on trying to explain something to Gene. It started to sound like a bar fight was breaking out behind me, but Yak didn’t seem concerned. I wasn’t going to worry about it until someone knocked over my coffee.
I flipped open my screens and Janis’ report was instantly on deck. I scanned it, snorted, and gave Gene a look. “Get some coffee into him would you Gene? I need to make a call.”
“Aye Skipper”, he replied, waving for attention from our server. I trundled out from behind the booth, and made my way towards the exit.
“Janis, report”, I asked, once I had reached a point where I could hear myself think.
“Sir, I am tracking multiple communications at this point about our arrival at Merriot Base--“
I cut her off. “Thanks dear, how much time do we have?”
“Sir that will depend on what course of action you would like to take.”
“What sort of threat are we talking about?”
“Sir, there are 46 lightly armed individuals en route, arriving at your position in 87 minutes.”
“Are they coming overland?”
“Some are, sir. Others are suborbital, on ballistic.” She paused briefly. “Additionally sir, I am aware of a covert heavy gun emplacement that has line-of-sight to the blast pans.”
“Can you do something about that?”
“Sir, I can.”
I gave this a little thought. We weren’t too far away from the Archaea, but that meant there were unfriendly natives here with us now. The sound of breaking glass inside the bar carried through the walls.
“Janis, we can’t just destroy it.”
“Yes sir. That would have a very negative effect on our reputation in this system.”
“What are you planning?”
“Sir, it will not pose any threat to the Archaea. I took the liberty of fully energizing our plating and performing all pre-flight checks.”
“Very well, my dear... I’ll call in the fire and put out the dogs. We’ll head out right away.”
“Please be careful sir.” Her voice was very soft, with a tone of concern I don’t think I’ve ever heard from her. I pressed through the crowd at the door and wormed my way back into the roaring warm dark of the bar. It looked like a fight had broken out, but was winding down at this point.
Poor Yak looked like a kid that didn’t get a present for his birthday. Shorty was sitting quietly, but both her and Yak looked like they were ready to pounce. Gene was holding a steaming cup to Pauli’s face, but from the looks of it, it was too little, too late.
“Yak, can you carry him?” I gestured at the geek.
“I can drag him by a boot, I guess” he replied with a smirk.
“That’ll do. Last call folks. We have company coming, and it wouldn’t do to be ca
ught somewhere other than safely aboard the Archaea, if you get my drift.” I leveled my serious eyebrow alongside my concerned eyebrow, just in case they didn’t get the point.
Our table was awash, but Yak dutifully finished his shot and turned it over, setting it down with a click loud enough to hear over the PA. Jane scooted out of the booth, and hauled at Gene to help him out. Yak stiff-armed Pauli ahead of him out of the booth, lifted him to his feet, and propelled him towards the door.
*****
I wasn’t anyone, going nowhere. My stomach was vaguely hurting, but I couldn’t see very well. Shapes were blurry, nothing… everything was… I was blurry...
*****
“Captain, please take point sir”, I said while reaching out to help steady Pauli. The crowd outside the bar had grown now that the Sol had set, and what little light there was seemed to come mostly from dusty neon and door lights. I stepped around a stumbling drunk that clearly didn’t notice me.
“Having trouble seeing over the crowd?” he laughed down at me, with a wink.
I was about to reply something incredibly intelligent about proper force projection and squad support, when Pauli fell to the ground in front of me and Yak’s hand patted me on the shoulder. My railer was out of my holster before my palm had a chance to start to sting from slapping the grip.
I pushed past Gene, who hadn’t made the connection to what was happening, and noticed out of the corner of my eye that the Captain had also drawn his sidearm. I faced down three mercs that came out of the crowd to our side, while Yak covered two more from the other side.
“Are you Captain Smith of the Archaea?” a bald merc asked, holding a chemser casually pointed down at the dusty plating of the passageway.
“I sure am! Are you boys here from Xanthe?” He broke out a winning smile and after holstering his gun, reached out casually to shake his hand. The merc looked confused and reached out his hand automatically, and the captain followed through with a solid straight right to the neck.
I had already made up my mind to punch someone tonight, so this was working out perfectly. The merc nearest me got his knee broken from a solid side kick, and before he could hit the ground, I had followed it up with a straight right of my own into the crotch of the man on my other side. He collapsed with a strained, far-away look in his eyes – but I was already pivoting, sweeping the butt of my railer against the fingers of the man swinging his chemser towards the captain.
The toughest man alive doesn’t like his fingers smashed, and this guy was no different. Before he realized I had his attention, my boot was buried so deep between his legs I thought I’d need surgery to remove it. I kicked his rifle across the plates into the growing crowd and spun around, planting another solid boot to the head of the crawling, crying merc at my feet. The other merc was starting to recover, but I put him out of his misery with a sleep-inducing knee to the side of his head.
Yak had two mercs at his feet, and another by a back brace, using him as a weakly protesting blunt object to bludgeon the final merc unconscious against the wall. Captain Smith and I stepped to help, but there was no need. He neatly whipped the man around and pulled him close, smashing him full in the face in a perfectly executed Liverpool Salute.
“We good…?” Captain Smith asked with a smile.
*****
I didn’t feel… my stomach hurt… and my mouth was full of dust. I spit and choked, and tried to open my eyes, but they wouldn’t focus. I could tell that I was being hauled up off of a very dirty floor, which seemed to drag endlessly below me, but nothing seemed real, like it was filmed through thick, fractured crystal. I felt my eyelids grate closed through dust as I slid back into the dark.
“Pauli, wake UP!” It was Shorty. She was here? I was so dizzy. My eyes couldn’t focus.
“It’s okay Jane”, the giant said, as he lifted me off my feet. I giggled, despite an overwhelming crush of nausea.
*****
“Jane, take point please. We don’t need the greatest pilot in the galaxy to start collecting bullets”, I suggested quietly through gritted teeth. Pauli was only semi-conscious as best, and dragging his toes at worst.
“Will do, Yak,” she replied quietly, and then keyed comms. “Captain, I’ll take point for a while, if you don’t mind.”
“That’d be great Jane. I’ll take over dragging Pauli’s boot.” We all laughed, except Pauli. Poor kid was dealing with a fresh coating of protoquila on the inside of his helmet; I can only imagine how it must smell. Captain Smith relieved me of my burden, and I took a proper over-watch at the rear, with the gear.
We had exited the dome from the opposite side from where we entered, and other than the initial small group of heavies, we hadn’t made any new enemies. Jane was currently leading us through the tight corridors and spaces through and around and over the outbuildings and minidomes, always trying to keep the main dome in sight, and to our right.
As we moved, I kept my image amps up, and sighted in on nearly every possible nook and cranny I could see. I knew it was only a matter of time until I saw someone, and I was determined to live the creed, to shoot straighter than my enemy who is trying to kill me.
“Yak, it looks like a pretty open intersection ahead. Should we cut through this block here and try to go around?” Jane asked on comms.
“That works for me Jane. I’ll post up here. Let me know when you’re ready for me to move out.” I took a lean on the corner, facing the direction we came from, but set far enough back that I couldn’t easily be seen from the opposite direction. I wasn’t too concerned about being seen, anyway – with our suit mimetics on, we were about as thoroughly camouflaged as we could get. As long as we sat still, we were ghosts.
I can sit mighty still when I want. A slow scan from time to time, and with image and audio amps up, I wasn’t really too concerned. You’d have to be some sort of zaibatsu ninja to step to me, and even then you’d better have luck on your side.
“Yak, we’re holding about 50 meters down the corridor, at another intersection. Roll up”, Jane breathed in my ear.
“Rolling”, I replied. One last scan to make sure the shadows at the edges of my eyes were still just shadows, and I slowly stepped back into the darker shadows of the corridor. A quick glance behind me to make sure the way was clear, and I moved out. I had to trust that Jane cleared the way, and focus on the rear, but I stopped occasionally and scanned all around me, up, down, and sideways just to be safe.
The corridor we were in was little more than an access easement, with a multitude of pipes, cables, and other clutter scattered around and deeply drifted in dust. Overhead, streamers of dust blowing by made the cold stars above glitter and flicker, but they gave out just enough light to see by. I chinned my image amps to red, just in case. If my suit malfunctioned, I’d be night-blind back here.
“Jane, are you red-amped?”
“Of course, Yak”, she replied coolly. “Weren’t you?”
“I am now”, I admitted. Normally, I’d be king of the swagger, but Jane had a way of cutting through all that. I’ve grown to accept that I’m a man with faults, and just be who I am. It makes it a little harder for Jane to get any traction.
A quick glance behind me, and I was getting close. I should be close enough to see everyone, but I wasn’t able to. I took a moment to scan more slowly, and slow movement by a low stack of clutter caught my eye.
“Over here, Yak”, she called on comms. She was waving her hand slowly, beckoning me like an invisible snake.
“You guys are damn near invisible posted up like that”, I breathed. “Where are we headed, Jane?”
“Well, I’d like to cut across this open space here, and push a little further out from the dome and intersect the tether line about halfway to the pans.”
“That should work, but you know we’re going to be pretty exposed out there on this route...” I thought for a moment. “Janis?”
Her voice was immediate, and confident. “Yes Yak?”
“Can
you give me some sort of topo, or map of this area?”
“Absolutely Yak, it is on your screen now. I have overlaid my best guess as to the position of all hostile elements, and will update this as best as I can - though I am afraid my ability to predict their locations is thoroughly degraded by my lack of input.”
I understood completely, she wasn’t some Deus Ex Machina with infinite abilities, in this sort of environment, she was limited by the type of information she had available, and out here there wasn’t much for her to read from.
“I understand, Janis. We’re going to move a little farther away from the main dome, and come overland a bit to the tether.”
“Understood… I have plotted the lowest profile track with shortest distance to your screen.”
I chinned on the waypoint indicator to my visor screen, as Jane replied. “This looks perfect Janis. We’ll be aboard in about 30 minutes, depending on how fast we can haul Mr. Dead Weight Johansen here.”
“I’m nah de… way jawsin!” Pauli drooled incoherently on comms, before his helmet thudded back down on his shoulder plate.
“Poor little geek”, opined the captain mournfully. “His head is going to crack open later, and release the fury of a billion suns worth of pain.”
We all laughed, and moved out.
*****
I was completely out of my element. I didn’t have a gun, and there wasn’t anything that needed to be fixed. My tired bones were playing that old song, the one that starts with ‘you’re too old to do this’ and ends with ‘so that’s why you cry’, with some sort of twangy nostalgic riff on a steel guitar.
I was drifting, a bit.
We had left the relative safety of the outlying buildings and I helped Dak bounce Pauli between us as we made our way down a wind-scoured ravine slicing through a large exposed rock formation. The footing was awful, with a fine layer of grit scattered across an eroded and weathered sluice of shale, or possibly some sort of ancient mudstone. The wind was starting to rip across the plateau we were descending from, and howling over our backs as we skittered like bugs towards the twinkling blue lights of the tether.