Militia Up

by J. L. Curtis

  “I don’t know what we’re walking into, but pistols aren’t going to be my method of choice.”

  “Didn’t the colonel say something about not using armor?”

  “He did, but I don’t give a shit. I know you’ve done an airdrop before, feel up to another one?”

  Grayson grinned, “A HALO, hell yes!”

  “Let me go talk to the warrant. But I’d best start suiting up.”

  He got up and climbed into the cockpit, noting that Boykin had reconfigured one display to show three different views of sensors. Before he could ask, she glanced at him, “This is probably the vehicle. It’s approximating the chip track in both course and speed. The other two diverged a while back. According to the trackline, the only thing out this way is the Perez compound.” She pointed to her nav screen, and a blinking object, “Big enough field for a shuttle. At these speeds, be there in fifteen segs. How do you want to play this?”

  “I’m thinking airdrop us in armor. From altitude. You could overwatch and take care of anything we don’t see.”

  “Good enough. You’ll have to go off the ramp on my call. I’m darkship, emcon anyway, so at forty k, nobody will hear or see me. That would give you… a… call it four seg drop. If they are landing there, I can kick you out while they are on approach, and you’ll land about the same time they do.”

  “Sounds like a plan. I’ll go suit up.”

  “You’ve got nine segs then I open the hatch.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  Fargo bolted down the ladder and started stripping off his grays as he hit the deck. He saw Grayson already had his suit kneeled, and was in the process of climbing in, smiling from ear to ear. He finished stripping, threw his clothes, boots, and pistol belt into a storage compartment above the seats. Scrambling across the decking, he knelt his armor, hoping to hell there was an undersuit in it. If not, it was going to be a bit uncomfortable, to put it mildly.

  Thankfully, there was an undersuit sitting on the pads. He quickly wiggled into it, then mounted the armor. Sliding in, he hit the hatch closure and felt the momentary disorientation as his mind and the AI connected. “Good evening, Captain.”

  “Cindy, emergency BIT, combat drop in… four segs.”

  “Captain that is not recommended.”

  “Troop in danger, emergency drop required. Connect to ship’s AI, please.”

  “Emergency BIT in progress, connecting.”

  “You up, Grayson?”

  “Yes, sir. Up and BIT good.”

  “WO?”

  “Five by. Skimmer is descending and slowing. IR shows a hot shuttle on the ground at the location. Estimated track for skimmer puts it landing adjacent to the shuttle.”

  “Shit. What kind of shuttle?”

  “Unknown. Depressurizing now, releasing clamps. Ramp in one seg.”

  “Copy.” He slewed his view to see the clamps retract on Grayson’s armor. “You’re free, Grayson.”

  “You too, sir. Lead on.”

  He thought for a second, “Grayson, I want you to go full stealth. I’m going to land no stealth directly in front of them. I’m going to free fall to minimum altitude then full braking.”

  “Aye, aye, sir. I’ll land offset to your right as you face them.”

  Fargo started slowly shuffling aft as the ramp cracked open and slowly went to full down. He got in position, called up the ship’s feed in his HUD, and felt Grayson come up next to him. “In position, WO.”

  “Go in five, four, three, two, one, now!”

  Fargo fell off the ramp, automatically swinging slightly left to make sure he separated from Grayson, visually verified the separation, and concentrated on the landing pad below him, saying a quick prayer, “Deity, keep Nicole safe, and let us rescue her without harm, if it be your will.”

  Cindy said, “BIT complete. All systems nominal. Stealth?”

  “Negative, Cindy. Deploy laser as soon as we land.”

  “Will do. Full power?”

  “Yes.”

  Two minutes later, Cindy said, “Switching to onboard cameras. Eighteen thousand feet to go. ETA one seg, thirty three.”

  “WO, you got us?”

  “Roger, high cover in place. Medium prob shuttle is Trader. And it’s hot. Skimmer ETA one seg.”

  “Copy. Grayson?”

  “Copy.”

  The seg felt like a div, until the armor finally kicked on the anti-grav, punishing Fargo with six Gs as it rapidly slowed the suit from about 170 miles per div to ten feet per second. He saw Nicole being dragged out of the skimmer by two men, with a small older man following them. He felt the laser deploy, and saw the carat pop on in his HUD as he concentrated on landing and staying upright. He saw the men looking up, and he assumed they heard the armor.

  The old man grabbed Nicole around the throat, pulling something from his pocket, as the other two pulled weapons from under their jackets. The armor crashed down, splattering the rock that made up the landing pad, as he put the laser cursor on the man’s head. He keyed the external speaker. “Release the woman.”

  The old man cackled, “You’re gonna be in so much trouble. Armor isn’t allowed. Besides, by the time you can get out of that, I can do anything I want with her. You move, I kill the puta.

  Fargo projected, lightly touching Nicole’s mind. It seemed fuzzy for lack of a better term. “Nicole, can you hear me?”

  “I… Ethan? Wha…”

  “You’ve been stunned, I need you to drop, be a dead weight.”

  “Now? M’kay.”

  He saw her sag, but the carat never moved from the man’s head as he triggered the laser. The head exploded and the body and Nicole slumped to the ground together.

  “Nicole! Nic, answer me, oh Deity, please answer me.”

  “M’cold. And wet. My… head…”

  Grayson and Boykin both said, “Shuttle is lifting.”

  Fargo glanced over, then back at the two men, now frozen with their hands halfway up, “Drop your weapons and prone out, now!”

  They did so, and he said, “Grayson, clear the skimmer.”

  Grayson walked over, rapped gently, well as gently as one could in armor, on the cockpit, and he heard Grayson order someone out. Another man came out trembling and with a wet spot in his crotch, as he went prone as soon as he was on the ground.

  “Cover me, getting out.”

  Just as he started to pop the hatch, he heard Boykin say calmly, “Shuttle is confirmed Trader. And it’s firing on me.”

  Fargo smiled ferally, “Weapons are free, splash it.”

  “Rog.”

  He quickly dismounted, moved the weapons well away from the two men, and rushed to Nicole, gathering her in his arms.

  She looked up at him muzzily, “Wha happened? Where?”

  “You got stunned and kidnapped. We rescued you.”

  “M’kay. Don’t feel so good. Tired. Thank you later.”

  Fargo smiled softly, “You’re alive, that’s what counts. I didn’t lose you.”

  “Not gonna happen.”

  A boom interrupted him and he looked up to see an explosion and a trail of fire heading toward the horizon. He heard Grayson’s PA, “The warrant got the kill. She’ll ground in five. Give me a thumbs up if the chief is okay.”

  Fargo gave him a thumbs up, and sat down, cradling Nicole until Boykin landed.

  Inquest

  Boykin grounded and came down the ramp in a rush, her bright red hair matted to her head, sweat rolling down her face, and sweat stains showing on her flight suit where the straps had held her in the pilot’s seat. “Is she okay?”

  Fargo looked up, “Thanks to you, yes.”

  “The blood?”

  “Not hers,” he motioned with his head, “His. I took his head with the twelve mil laser.”

  A Cheshire cat smile crossed her face, “Oh, most excellent!”

  “You took out whatever that ship was?”

  “Yeah, confirmed Trader shuttle, and it was armed. When I lit it u
p, it fired on me. ORBCON might be a bit miffed at me right now.”

  Fargo cocked his head. “Why?”

  She grinned, “Well, I might have been a tad late IDing myself. I was a little busy for a couple of minutes. Oh, and the cavalry is on the way.”

  “The cavalry?”

  “ORBCON broadcast a grounding order and put out a kidnap in progress alert. GalPat was, shall we say, less than pleased to be the last ones to find out.”

  They were interrupted by the whine of a grav sled, and a shouted command, “Hey, what the hell are you people doing? You, freeze. Nobody move.” A large Hispanic looking male, running to fat came into the lights of the landing pad, a pulse rifle at his shoulder and finger on the firing stud.

  Before Fargo could say anything, Grayson’s external speaker said, “You might want to drop that weapon and hit the ground, Sport. Mine’s bigger than yours.”

  The man swung the rifle toward the sound, then gaped as Grayson dropped the stealth on the armor. “On the ground, now!”

  The rifle clattered to the ground, and the man proned out, mumbling under his breath.

  ***

  Two divs later, the landing pad resembled a circus more than anything else. Both Fargo’s and Grayson’s armor knelt where they had been left, as GalPat security, planetary security, and assorted cats and dogs milled aimlessly about. Nicole had been lifted out by skimmer to the Palace and was under the care of Dr. Vaughn, in the infirmary. She’d partially recovered, enough to bitch at Fargo for getting blood on her good dress, and that had prompted a laugh and a hug from Boykin. Women. Never understand them in a million years, Fargo thought at the time.

  The four men that had been subdued had been put in flex restraints, and flown somewhere by planetary security for further questioning, after multiple vids had been taken by the GalPat investigator and security investigator. Finally, Grayson was allowed to put the armor back in the shuttle, and Boykin clamped it in. Fargo was curious, but refrained from asking, figuring it wasn’t the time or the place.

  Boykin had been questioned, and he saw a data cube come off the shuttle. He guessed that would also include his suit data, since he’d never dropped the link to the ship. She was still smiling a little bit, and he remembered that feeling. I fought, and I won! I’m alive and my enemy is dead. I know I should mourn them, and maybe later I will, but right now, I’m alive!

  An argument caught his ear, and he turned to see Colonel Zhu in an argument with a heavyset local in a planetary security uniform, “I want his ass. He killed one of the leading members of a founding family. He’s not getting away…”

  Zhu interrupted, “He prevented a kidnapping. The man, Perez,” Zhu said, jabbing a finger at the body still lying on the pad, “Had a gun to her head and you’ve heard and seen the recording.”

  “But that could have been faked!”

  “Oh bullshit. Those systems are locked down. They cannot possibly be faked.”

  “He killed…”

  “Enough! He killed somebody that needed killing. Period. He’s GalPat’s, not PLANSEC. If I were you, I’d take a hard look at how many other bodies might be out here that you don’t know about. If, big if, you come up with anything, bring it to the inquest.”

  A burly sergeant came up, “Sir, we found two boys, tentative ID is Perez sons. They were in the house, and both of them are high as hell on Synth. What do you want us to…”

  The Planet Security man said, “Load ‘em up. We’ll question them in Capital. Make sure they are in separate cells. No law givers, no medical treatment, no one visits. Totally sequestered.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Fargo walked over to where Boykin was looking up at the side of the cockpit, seeing a gouge in the airframe, he whistled, “That was close!”

  Boykin bounced on her toes, “Yep! I made the mistake of letting the bastard get a head to head on me. That was one of his first rounds.”

  “Would that?”

  “Would that have killed me, you bet your ass. I saw the flash and jerked right. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be standing here, and Wizard would have been the flamer not him.”

  “Nice reactions!”

  “That’s why I’m a shuttle pilot. Did I hear them saying something about other bodies?”

  Fargo sighed, “Yeah, the colonel intimated there might be other bodies buried out here.”

  “Interesting. I was doing a multispectral scan when I was coming in, and there are some awfully regular rectangles in that vineyard over there,” she said, pointing to the vineyard behind the pad.

  “Did you tell anybody?”

  “Not yet. Think I should?”

  “I’d tell the colonel, privately, or maybe show him. You can replay, right?”

  Boykin waved a hand airily, “Any time. If you’re curious, I can show you the shoot down.”

  He nodded. “That would be interesting, I’ve never seen an actual one. Is there much to see?”

  She laughed. “Hell, I’m not sure. I was a little busy about then.”

  Grayson ambled over, “What a cluster. Idiot wanted to know why I didn’t try to save, Perret, Perez, or whatever. Told him it was kinda hard without a functional brain attached. Wanted to know why I didn’t notify planet security. He didn’t get the fact that I work for you and GalPat, not him. Egotistical little…”

  Colonel Zhu came striding over, obviously angry. “Mount up, Grayson. I need to talk to these two.” Grayson looked at them, and Fargo nodded. When Grayson was on the ramp, he turned on Fargo, “What the fuck were you thinking? Do you know how this is going to be taken?”

  Fargo bristled, “Colonel, one of my people was taken. I got her back. Sorry I had to kill him to do it, but she is much more valuable than he was. We don’t leave people…”

  Zhu cut him off, “Fucking armor? We’ll never hear the end of this. You’ve irreparably harmed our relationship with the Director.”

  “I got my troop back. That means more than anything else.”

  Zhu turned to Boykin, “And you… you shot down a shuttle, for Deity sake! What were you thinking? And how did you supposedly track an individual with an assault shuttle? That’s…”

  Boykin smiled at him and said quietly, “Star thirteen alpha, Colonel.”

  Zhu’s expression paled, his jaw dropped, and he literally backed up a step, “Ah, I… Load up. Return to the Palace. You are all restricted to the compound. Boykin, consider yourself grounded until further notice. A team from ORBCON is on the way down to debrief you.”

  She saluted, “Yes, sir. Oh by the way, Colonel, there are a number of suspicious depressions in the second and third rows of that vineyard over there,” pointing to the vineyard behind the pad. “You might want to have a forensic team take a look, you might find something interesting. I’ll squirt the picture to you momentarily.” Turning to Fargo she said, “Shall we, Captain?”

  Fargo nodded and they walked up the ramp together. Fargo stopped and hit the ramp controls, shaking his head in amazement. Grayson was already belted in and appeared to be asleep, head pillowed on his uniform in his lap. He climbed into the cockpit, “What did you mean with that code, WO?”

  She met his eyes, “I know what Hyderabad really is. And I figured you didn’t want to try to explain away how we did that. Plus he doesn’t need to know what this baby will actually do. And you never heard that code, understand?”

  He took one look at her icy green eyes, and said, “What code? I didn’t hear anything.”

  “Good. Strap in, I need to go pee.”

  ***

  A wan Nicole sat in the office, arguing, “Dammit, I need to go back to work. I’ve got to retrieve…”

  “No, you’re not going anywhere by yourself. And we’re damn sure not walking into that place to retrieve any Ferrets. Send a remote kill to them, and have them self-destruct. Sergeant Mahan will escort you to the Women’s Hotel to retrieve your stuff there, and you will come straight back here.”

  “Arghhh. Men! You’re all overprote
ctive assholes! I’m not defenseless…”

  Fargo tried to take her hand, “Nicole, I don’t want to lose you. I need you here to look at the data we’re getting. I…”

  Fargo projected, “I love you, dammit. I almost lost you. I don’t want to lose you. How much plainer can I make it?”

  She blew out a frustrated breath, shook her head, and finally smiled. “Since you put it that way, I guess…” She got up, walked around the desk and hugged him, finally kissing him gently on the cheek, then whispering, “I love you, too.”

  Boykin laughed from the door, and they quickly separated, both blushing. “Bout damn time,” she said. “Everybody knows you two love each other, so stop trying to hide it.”

  Fargo leaned back with a sigh, “How did the inquisition with ORBCON go, WO?”

  The Cheshire cat grin was back, “Once they understood the impact of what happened, and reviewed the tapes and vid, they were very apologetic. They didn’t even know that shuttle was in atmosphere, and have no idea where it came from.”

  “Isn’t that special.”

  She shrugged. “Not my problem. I got good data on it. Now ORBCON is looking all over hell and half of space for its mothership. Oh yeah, Ryerson is gonna be pissed. I blooded Wizard, and he didn’t. And she’ll go home wearing a zap for the kill.”

  Nicole asked, “A zap? That’s… not something I’ve heard before.”

  “It’s an outline of the type ship killed, or tank, or whatever. Wizard was brand new when she was dropped at Hunter. This was her first combat. So I’ll always be in her logbook with the first kill.”

  Fargo winced. “And that’s important to y’all, isn’t it?”

  “Well, that and this kill makes me an ace.”

  “Ace?”

  Nicole chimed in, “Five kills, right?”

  “Five airborne kills. And I just heard in the mess that they’d found sixteen bodies in the vineyard at Perez.”

  “Damn,” Fargo and Nicole said in unison.

  “And the asshole that showed up with the rifle? He was the overseer for the entire Perez operation. He’s singing like a nearcanary in a mineshaft. The two guards that surrendered to you both had slave chips embedded, and they found kill boxes in the main house and in the overseer’s house. Apparently that was how Perez kept control. Oh, and one other thing, GalPat found a drug lab hidden in the winery. Guess what they were making? Give up? Synth.”