We took to the path that led around the side of the mountain. I led the way. As a Grunta, I had excellent balance and didn’t suffer from vertigo by looking down. In fact, Gruntas didn’t suffer from motion sickness of any kind. It was one of the reasons we made respectable pilots.
The pathway around was carved into the rock, and several sections had gone into disrepair after its initial construction. From a short distance, I used a blaster to make room for my shoulders where parts of the path had fallen away. The journey around the mountain took four hours. As a plateau began to come into view, I held out my hand for everyone to stop.
"Let me get a look at the situation. If there are guard towers, we may have a hard time reaching that plateau.", I said.
I moved slowly around a corner until I had a full view of what lay before us. I zoomed in with the blaster scope on the single tower that sat on the outcropping. Two guards could be seen sitting in chairs, leaning over a counter.
Two additional guards stood by a cavernous doorway into the mountain, and another two stood on the edge of a landing field that was nearly a kilometer long.
I returned to the others. "We are going to need all five blasters up here. I will lie out front on the pathway at a point where I have some protection from the mountain, but a clear shot forward. The four others with their blasters will be lying behind me. I will show you how to use the zoom on the scope. We will line up the shots I will need from you. After you take that shot, just wait for me to finish up. Don’t fire any more, as I don’t want to take an ion bolt in the back. When I finish, we can move forward."
Jallis, Garmon, Layda, and Riga followed me farther up the pathway. I picked out spots for each of them to lie and then gave instruction on setting up for the single shots that I wanted them to take.
When the shooting placements and instructions were complete, I moved forward, setting up for a firefight in the position I had chosen. I was largely exposed, but distant enough that a hit would have to be precise to take me out. I looked back, and each of the others signaled that they were ready. With a wave of my hand, the action began.
Five ion bolts impacted the plateau areas the Talisan guards held. The two guards beside the doorway both exploded from direct hits from the guns of Jallis and Layda, while Garmon’s shot impacted the ground just in front of the landing field guards, spraying them with debris. Riga's bolt fell short while my first shot took out a tower guard. The second guard reacted before my next ion bolt left the blaster tip of my rifle.
With no further shot at the tower, I turned towards the landing field guards. They were in the process of recovering their composure. The first guard exploded as the second dropped to the ground and fired an ion round back in our direction. I exchanged several more rounds with the Talisan before the guard that had been in the tower began to take shots at our position.
Our advantage of surprise had passed, and we were now confronted with two blasters that were firing from superior positions. Each strike by our opponents moved their aim closer to our location. After two shots that went low, a third shot found its mark in the rock just above us. The shattered rock shrapnel pelted each of us. The injuries were minor.
Garmon began firing at the tower. His aim was less than accurate. One of the bolts he had fired struck a piling that held up the guard tower. For a moment the metal turned a bright red and then sagged. I took careful aim at the same spot and was rewarded as the tower leg blew apart. With a similar shot to the other near leg, the hut at the top of the tower dropped, throwing the remaining Talisan out the front and onto the ground below. As the guard pushed himself up to his knees, I placed a precision bolt into his chest. The remaining guard stood and sprinted towards the doorway into the mountain. I missed on all four attempts at the running target.
I stood and spoke. "Let’s go! We have to get off this pathway now! There could be more of them coming out that door at any minute!"
The last hundred meters on the pathway seemed to take forever to transition. I couldn’t understand why the Talisan guard had not returned. Had the other miners reached the ore loading area? Was there a firefight going on just inside the doors? We would find out soon enough.
As we reached the edge of the plateau, I had the others spread out into a skirmish line. The five of us with blasters led the charge forward. When we reached the doorway, I slowly peered around the corner. Blaster fire could be heard from within.
I spoke. "Stick close together. I want coverage of all angles before we move forward. Don’t shoot first unless you have a clean shot. Some of you without blasters, go out and clean up those bodies out there. If a ship happens to be on its way in, we don’t want to scare them off before they land."
We slowly moved inside the doorway and down a short hall. A group of Talisans were crouched near a short wall, looking over and down at the fighting below. I had Jallis and Layda lie on the floor and take careful aim. On my signal, three ion bolts left our weapons and impacted two of the three Talisans. The third was disabled by the spatter from the others. I took careful aim and finished him off.
When we arrived at the railing, I could see blaster fire coming from and entering a shaft where the conveyor belt normally carried mined ore. The Talisans had the Feldons pinned down.
I pointed to a position farther down along the short wall. "Jallis, you, Garmon, and Layda take up a position there. Lay down fire in and around that group of Talisans to the left. What is your name?"
A Feldon who had picked up another blaster replied, "Todak."
I continued, "Todak, Riga and I will take up a position over here and fire upon that group to the right. That should allow the others to break out of that shaft."
Positions were taken, and on my signal, bolts from our six blasters began to impact the areas in and around the Talisan guards. As quickly as their firing down the conveyor shaft ended, the other Feldons charged forward. The Talisans realized the mistake of diverting all their fire too late. Their positions were overrun, and the fighting came to a quick end.
Another arsenal of blasters was found, with another two dozen being distributed among the freed Feldon miners.
I gathered the leaders together. "We have complete possession of this mine, but we have no ship. Follow me to this forward room. There is a chart on the wall that shows the other mines in this vicinity. I think it best that we leave a team here to assault a freighter if one comes in. The rest may want to march on these other mines if possible. You have the manpower necessary to take over any one of these other mines. We haven’t seen any comm gear here or in the guard towers or on any of the guards for that matter. There is a good chance that our overthrow here is not known. The Talisans were weak in their security. I can only guess they never thought an uprising would happen."
One of the Feldon leaders spoke. "Give me ten blasters and a hundred men, and I can liberate any of these mines. It will take us a half day to trek through the jungles, but with a little surprise, we can take out the guards and liberate more weapons."
I replied, "This chart shows that there are five mines in this area. If each has a thousand miners, we will need to transport five thousand people off this planet. The holds on those ore ships can be pressurized and environmentally controlled. If we can take control of one, we could fly all five thousand out at once."
Jallis spoke. "Let’s say we do make it out. Where would we go?"
I smiled. "Effica. The Talisans raided it over a year ago and took everyone. The infrastructure has been stripped of some of its machinery by salvagers, but the planet is still livable. If we take five mines, we should end up with a hundred blasters. That would be a deterrent for the slavers to come after us. At least for a while."
The Feldon leader spoke. "It is settled, then. We will split into five groups. Divide the weapons evenly. If anyone takes a mine with a freighter, they will travel to each site to gather the others."
The Feldons split into four large groups. Our group of twenty remained, keeping two blasters. The ot
hers departed, going down a trail that led off the mountainside and into the jungle. We made camp in the mine where the conveyor belt ended.
Jallis said, "Those are smelters down there. The high-grade lead ore is loaded on those freighters after the slag is cleaned out of it. They pump it up through that shaft over there as a hot liquid. I saw cooling vats where blocks can then be loaded on autopallets to then load on the freighter. It looked like the warehouse up there was nearly full. A freighter has to be due to pick this stuff up."
After six hours of searching the mine for anything useful, a runner came in from the landing field. "A ship is coming down!"
I picked up my blaster and headed to the loading bay doorway. As the massive freighter began to settle, I grew nervous that there were no guards visible on the plateau.
I turned back to Jallis. "Get a couple of people in those Talisan uniforms and stand them out by the door. If the pilot of that ship gets spooked, we have lost everything we fought for today."
Two Feldons were quickly dressed in the uniform parts that we could find that had not been shredded by ion bolts. We hurried them out to the doorway of the loading bay. The side of the freighter opened up, revealing the eight cargo holds within. Five Talisan guards then emerged. Each held a blaster.
When the guards reached the halfway point of the two-hundred-meter walk to the loading bay, they stopped. One of the guards pointed towards the half fallen tower, another towards our phony guards at the doorway.
I yelled, "They’ve made us! Cut them down!"
We began firing, taking out two of the guards as two others turned back towards the freighter. The third lay on the ground. Our decoy guards scurried inside as blaster fire pounded the rock walls in and around our location.
I again yelled, "Target those two who are running!"
The third guard rose and sprinted for the open ship. Jallis fired a round into his back as I managed to wing one of the other two.
I jumped to my feet. "Come on! Everyone! We have to take control of that ship!"
I sprinted out in front of the others and dove onto the ground as I took careful aim at the injured guard. His exploding torso told of a perfectly aimed shot and kill. The remaining Talisan guard then disappeared into the freighter.
I rose and again sprinted toward the open doors. One by one they began to close. As I reached the forward doors, the last two began closing. A blaster bolt kept me from boarding. The remaining guard had taken a strategic position. As the door lifted and the guard and I traded ion bolts, Jallis ran past me at full speed, diving into the cargo hold and ending his run behind a storage container. After I exchanged rounds with the Talisan, the guard gave up its position and moved back down a hallway towards the bridge. I slung the blaster over my shoulder and jumped up to take a grab at the closing door. It had lifted just out of my reach.
I yelled up into the opening, "Jallis! Take that bridge before they lift off!"
I stepped back as the giant loading door continued to close. I could hear the reverberations of the ion engines coming online. I clenched my teeth in denial as the freighter began to slowly lift from the ground. At five meters up, it began a turn that would take the nose out over the jungle.
I spoke under my breath. "Come on, Jallis! You can do it! Take this ship! Take it for all of us!"
As the ship continued to lift up from the landing field and turned farther away, my heart sank. At twenty meters up, I sat back on the ground, looking up in disbelief. Having a ship was life or death for the thousands of miners on Telfor. I had failed to execute at the moment I was needed the most. I leaned back, letting my head bounce on the hard rock of the landing field as the freighter began to move out over the jungle.
Then it happened: the ship nosed over. The front section of the freight dropped quickly, slamming into the jungle below. I stood and began to run as the tail end of the massive ship still hovered over our heads.
I yelled, "Get out of there! That ship is coming down!"
Seconds later, the ion engines could no longer be heard reverberating as the back half of the freighter fell. The nose of the ship lay deep in the jungle. The center of the ship crashed hard into the edge of the plateau, holding the tail end of the ship up in the air. We continued to run.
As the frame of the great ship began to split in two, we emerged from under its shadow. The aft of the ore hauler then slammed into the landing field just behind us, sending a gush of wind and dust outward that bowled us over like a giant broom sweeping the plateau.
As the dust settled, I stood to take in the loss of the freighter. I walked toward the fractured center of the hull. The others followed close behind.
I stepped up into the open hull to survey the damage. The freighter would not fly again. Our method of travel off the planet was gone. I climbed into the wreckage and carefully moved down the heavily sloping floor toward the front of the ship. Several minutes later, I reached the front bay door that had previously closed just in front of me. I moved over to the hallway going towards the bridge and continued my trek downward. The others in my group followed close behind.
When I reached the bridge, the frontal viewports were smashed, with tree branches poking in where the large, transparent structures had been. I then heard a low moan.
Garmon yelled, "Over here! It’s Jallis!"
I made my way over to see a bloodied and beaten Jallis Karmea lying where the bridge deck met the front wall.
I leaned over. "Can you speak?"
Jallis replied, "I may have broken my back. The guard knocked me away just as the ship’s nose struck the ground. I could not stop him from forcing the captain to scuttle the ship."
I looked around. "And the guard? Where is he?"
Jallis raised a single finger toward the far wall. Layda spoke. "What’s left of the guard is scattered about over there. He got the guard."
I turned to Layda. "Check the ship’s infirmary. They should have a backboard in there."
Layda pulled herself up along the wall, climbing back up the hall toward where the infirmary would be. On a freighter, it would likely only be a closet, but the standard medical gear would be stored there.
Layda yelled back, "Got it! Coming your way!"
The backboard slid down the floor, banging against the wall to our left as it stopped. Jallis was gently rolled to one side and the backboard slid underneath him. When he had been let back and secured, I sent two of the Feldons off looking for ropes. An hour later, we emerged from the downed freighter with Jallis. I sat back on the landing field to contemplate our options. Our struggle for freedom had not ended well.
Chapter 11
The following day, a runner returned from one of the other mines. It had been fully liberated. The freed slaves were armed with the weapons that were available, and then sent out toward other mines. The jungles around our mine were full of liberated slaves.
I wondered how long it would be before the Talisans showed up with gunships. The fleet of converted ships they flew were not designed for planetary assault or policing, but they were far superior to the handful of blaster rifles that we now possessed.
Jallis was showing signs that he might recover sooner than expected; his early prognosis of a broken back was changing to one of a possible torn muscle. He would continue to be laid up for a while to come; however, it was an injury that would heal without surgical intervention.
After a short discussion with the others, I rose and climbed back into the freighter. I found myself standing on the bridge, wondering if the ship could somehow be made to fly, if only between mines. I stood at the captain’s chair, holding onto an armrest to keep myself from sliding down the deck.
I flipped the switches to power on the ion generators and was rewarded with a green symbol showing that they had come to life. I spun the chair around so that it faced the back of the ship and plopped myself down in it. I powered on the forward engines and was again rewarded as the front of the ship began to slowly lift.
After a ge
ntle session of coaxing the forward gravity thrusters, I had the ship sitting level, closing up most of the fractured fuselage. I pushed the nav stick on the captain’s chair to the right, and bit by bit I moved the massive ship until it was once again fully over the landing field. I then gently set her down.
Layda boarded and was soon standing behind me. "Can she be made to fly?"
I replied, "Go back and see if we have anyone with ship-welding experience. They would be able to answer that question. There are materials and machinery in the mine for welding, they use it for maintenance, but I don’t know if they are adequate resources for our purpose."
Layda nodded, turned, and left the bridge.
I slowly spun the captain’s chair around, looking at each of the stations on the bridge. I stopped when I came to the comm station. Was it possible? Could I make a comm call for help? Was Garrett in the area? Or would he even be capable of helping? I stood and walked the five meters to the comm station.
I tuned the equipment to the frequencies Garrett and I had used and began to broadcast. "This is Knog Beutcher, Garrett, are you out there? Garrett, this is Knog. Garrett, please tell me you are listening!"
The comm was silent for several seconds. "Knog, where are you?"
I let out a long sigh as I replied, "You are answering this call, so you must be nearby. We have taken over a mine and attempted to capture a freighter. The ship’s captain crashed it. Is there any chance that you can get to us?"
Garrett replied, "There is a single gunship up in orbit. I’m camped just outside of their sensor range. If I had the original Jess, I could take it out. With this one, I don’t have any weapons."
I thought for a moment. "Would it be possible to approach from the other side of the planet? If you could get to us, that ship is fast enough to outrun the gunship. Their ships and the weapons they have added to them are crude."
OMEGA Guardian Page 11