The Centauri Surprise

by Alastair Mayer

  “Carson won’t talk, I’ve seen his type before. Stubborn.”

  Reid had to agree. “All right, then bring the young guy too.” There were other ways to make someone talk. The younger man was the better bet, the other one had looked even tougher than Carson.

  Before the man could reply, there came the distant roar of an aircraft, or a spacecraft leaving atmosphere. Reid looked up, wondering if Carson had somehow gotten a message out. It was unlikely, and even more unlikely that someone could respond that quickly. He looked up, scanning the skies beyond the scattered clouds. There were a couple of bright dots, moving too fast to be aircraft. He hoped the planned UDT vs Space Guard wargames hadn’t started yet. He had wanted to observe those. Oh well, the pyramid was more important right now.

  “What are you hanging around for?” Reid told the man. “Go get them.”

  As the other turned to leave, there was a shout from one of the men at the doorway. “Hey, I think this might be it!”

  Reid turned to look. “What have you got?”

  “This recess,” the other said, pointing to a rounded square recess amidst the other carvings around the doorway. It was skillfully worked into the design so that it wasn’t obvious unless you knew what you were looking at. “Does your stone fit it?”

  CHAPTER 47: INVASION

  Alpha Centauri System

  THE PLANNED TRAINING exercise began with a display of precision navigation, as ten UDT Space Force cruisers dropped out of warp thirty AU beyond a point midway between Alpha Centauri A and B, less than half a million kilometers apart from each other. They had coordinated their final jump from somewhere nearby, within the orbit of Proxima Centauri, to achieve that. Their next step was a series of smaller, cautious jumps toward Kakuloa, with the intention of rendezvousing near Kakuloa’s smaller moon, Mahina’uku, before the final assault.

  A Sawyers World Space Guard picket, Ophion, detected their gravitational signature a half-hour later, and immediately jumped to Sawyers World, broadcasting the information to the waiting Space Guard patrol squad. Those ships then warped to the vicinity of Kakuloa, splitting into smaller groups.

  The UDT fleet, meanwhile, had also jumped to their rendezvous at Mahina’uku. They weren’t ready for what came next.

  Two ships of the Sawyers World Space Guard caught the incoming UDT force by surprise, taking out the UDT ships Talon and Warlock in a simulated attack. The Space Force hastily mounted a counterattack, knocking the Guard ship Phorcys out while the other, Galene, managed to escape to warp.

  The UDT Space Force ships then split up. Vigilant and Vulcain took up synchronous orbit above the equator north of the Southern Continent. Two other pairs split off into low orbits, with Scorpion and Antares in a polar orbit, and Sirius and Tonnant taking up a low equatorial orbit. The final duo, Viper and Velociraptor, vectored to enter and land in an area of the Southern Continent that would be grassland if Kakuloa had had any grass, but instead was a plain of low scrub vegetation that filled a similar niche.

  The Scorpion and Antares, in polar orbit, ran into trouble over the northern icecap. Three Space Guard ships, Thetis, Dynamene, and Cymodoce came from apparently out of nowhere and strewed orbital mines in their path. The orbital mines were, of course, small simulators for training, and programmed to avoid impact if approached too closely. Instead, they simulated a detonation that would have filled the path of another spacecraft with pellets, at a minimum destroying its sensors and potentially puncturing its hull.

  Antares was taken out almost immediately. Scorpion returned fire, but it was ineffectual, and the ship succumbed to the simulated mines in short order. Four down, six to go.

  On the other side of the planet, the UDT Space Force was faring better. The cruisers, Sirius and Tonnant, had spotted the Space Guard ships first and laid down heavy simulated fire. The Guard ship Galene, which had joined the equatorial group, was crippled. The SSGS Pherusa got a few shots off and then warped out to a predetermined rendezvous. The third Space Guard ship, Glaucus, managed to put up a fight long enough for the Thetis, Dynamene, and Cymodoce to perform a daring out-and-back millisecond warp jump from polar orbit, placing them at the battle scene where they deployed the last of their mines on a high speed trajectory toward the Earth forces. And then there were four.

  The undamaged Guard ships regrouped at a prearranged rendezvous point, then split up to deal with the UDT Space Forces in synchronous orbit. By this time, Vigilant and Vulcain were ready, and managed to take out Pherusa and damage Dynamene before succumbing to the combined attack.

  With no support available from space, the two UDT landing craft, Viper and Velociraptor, by now on the ground, were forced to yield to the Amphitrite and the remaining mine-layers.

  The final score: UDT Space Force 5, Sawyers World Space Guard 10.

  CHAPTER 48: PYRAMID OPENED

  GARRETT GRUMBLED A bit as he approached the tent. There was no way the prisoners they’d left there could get away. Even if they managed to stand up with their hands all cuffed together, there was no way they could break the ties, and even less chance they could get far through the jungle like that.

  Holding his rifle at the ready, he used the barrel to push aside the tent flap. A sudden jolt of electricity spasmed his muscles, and he felt the rifle being jerked out of his hands. He couldn’t move to resist and was still wondering what happened when he collapsed to the ground.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Carson stepped away from behind the tent flap where he had waited to jab a shock dart into anyone entering. They weren’t really designed to be hand-held, but Dundee had shown him how to use them that way. Dundee himself now held the rifle he’d snatched from the guard. Carson shot a quick look around the outside of the tent, and, seeing nobody else, safed and pocketed the other dart he held.

  He stepped back into the tent. Garrett was lying on the floor, still twitching as the dart discharged its battery in pulses. “Okay, get that out of him and tie him up,” he said to Finley. “And make sure you do a better job on him than they did to us.”

  “No worries,” Finley said, following Carson’s instructions.

  “So,” Dundee said. “One down, but we’re still outnumbered, with only one rifle and a bunch of darts. What now?”

  Carson grinned. “What else would we do when we’re outnumbered and outgunned? Attack.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Back at the excavation

  As Reid placed the talisman in the socket, he heard a slight rumbling, grinding sound. The door seemed to vibrate sightly, but did not rise.

  “What’s supposed to happen?” one of Reid’s men asked.

  “There should be a door panel that slides up. Maybe it’s just jammed with all this dirt.” Reid gestured to two of his men. “You and you, get something to pry this up with.”

  The two came back a few moments later with a shovel and a pick, and set to work wedging them into the tiny gap which had opened at the base of the door.

  Reid reached up again with the talisman. “Get ready to pry it up.” He inserted the talisman. “Now!”

  As the door groaned and vibrated, the two leaned into their levers, pulling and prying. Reluctantly, the door edged its way up, slowly at first, then, as some point of friction was passed, quickly rising about twenty centimeters before jamming again.

  Then all hell broke loose.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  This was the opportunity Carson had been waiting for. With one of the fake “Anderson Territorial Police” men secured back at the tent, that left—as far as anyone had managed to count—just five others. With Reid and two of the men in the trench, none of them with weapons beyond a couple of shovels, the group was at its most vulnerable.

  That still left two men on guard with rifles, and they had to be dealt with. Dundee had the rifle he’d taken off the tent guard, but using it would instantly alert all the others. Carson couldn’t be sure that the men in the trench were unarmed. They may not have their rifles, but Reid almost certainly had
a pistol. Their best bet was to take out the two riflemen with stun darts and relieve them of their rifles. They could then cover the other three.

  Dundee had taken up a position where he would be able to cover the trio in the excavation. Carson and Finley had carefully crept around either side of the trench, each coming up behind one of the guards.

  Carson saw Finley in the trees behind his guard and caught his eye. He gestured to the pit where Reid was ordering the two men with shovels to start prying up the door. Would Finley understand? When the door started to open, that would be the point of maximum distraction. Finley gave a gentle nod, not wanting to attract the guards’ attention with movement. Carson just hoped that Finley had truly understood.

  “Get ready to pry it up,” Reid’s voice came from the trench. This was it! Carson held his shock dart at the ready, checking that it was armed, and crept closer to the guard.

  “Now!” Reid said, and Carson lunged forward, driving the dart into the small of the guard’s back.

  The man spasmed and jerked into a rictus from the shock, a grunt escaping his lips as he collapsed. Carson was ready and grabbed the rifle from his hands as he fell. On the other side of the trench, Finley had managed the same.

  Below them, Reid had startled at the sudden unusual sounds from above, and jerked away from the door. He looked wildly about, dropping the talisman and reaching for his pistol.

  There was a sharp BANG! followed by Dundee yelling “Freeze!” A geyser of dirt at Reid’s feet showed where Dundee had aimed.

  Reid ignored the command and dived to his right as he pulled his pistol free, snapping off a shot at Dundee as he hit the ground. The other two men had dropped their tools, one diving for what little cover there was in the corner of the trench, the other dropping to one knee and fumbling at his waist.

  Carson didn’t wait to see what the man would pull out. He swung the captured rifle up to aim, just as two other shots sounded, one from Dundee and another from somewhere behind Carson. What the—?

  Reid yelled in pain. Carson took a quick step sideways, putting a tree between himself and where the other shot had come from. Had he miscounted the guards? The man Carson had aimed at stopped what he was doing and held his hands out away from his body. Reid was lying on the floor of the trench, his left hand clutched over his right forearm which was bleeding from where a bullet had grazed it. His pistol was on the ground a meter away.

  “Cease firing!” Reid yelled, pain evident in his voice. “You assholes are in a lot of trouble, shooting a police officer!”

  “We’ll take our chances with the real police,” Carson yelled back.

  “They’re not real cops, they’re Velkaryans,” a familiar but unexpected voice called from behind.

  “You!” Reid gasped out between clenched teeth.

  Carson spared a quick glance back. “Rico?”

  “We thought you might need some help,” Rico called back. “Roberts is bringing up the rear. I run faster.”

  Another shot rang out. Reid had taken advantage of the distraction to grab his pistol. Several shots sounded in reply, and Reid went down again, his right shoulder a bloody mess.

  Rico was down too, cursing. Carson couldn’t see where he’d been hit. The other Velkaryans had not had a chance to act.

  “Kick those weapons away and lie down with your hands on your head.” Carson ordered them. It had been many years since Carson had taken anyone prisoner at gunpoint, in his army days, and he tried to remember the drill. The main point was to not let them near weapons, and not to get any of your own men in your line of fire.

  “I’m bleeding out here!” Reid said.

  “Tough!” Carson said. That was the least of his worries. “Rico, how are you doing?”

  “I’m fine,” he called back. “Bastard just winged me.” The pain in his voice suggested otherwise.

  “Okay. The rest of you,” he called to the others, “the sooner you cooperate the sooner your boss gets medical attention. You, the one in the corner, get up, keep your hands up, and walk backward up the slope out of the trench.”

  The man scrambled to his feet and cast a hesitant look at Reid. Reid glowered and muttered at him, “Just go.”

  The man raised his hands and backed up out of the trench, stumbling a bit on the uneven ground. As he reached the top, Rico stepped forward and tied his hands. Carson saw the Rico’s sleeve was blood soaked.

  “Rico, take care of that.”

  “As soon as we have these guys under control,” he growled.

  They followed the procedure with the next man, leaving Reid still in the bottom of the trench. Just then, Jackie Roberts came out from the brush, breathing hard.

  “You started the party without me,” she said between gasps, and then “I have got to start spending less time in zero gee.”

  “You should have RSVP’d,” Carson said. “We would have waited.”

  “Next time,” she said.

  “Jackie, see if Rico needs help. Alex, with me,” Carson said, gesturing to him. Finley came around the trench, handing his rifle to Roberts, then joined Carson down in the trench with Reid.

  “What now?” he asked.

  “Keep your spare dart ready. I’ll tend to this guy’s wound, but if he even looks like he’s about to try something, zap him.”

  “Got it.” Finley pulled the dart from his pocket and armed it. Reid followed the action with his eyes, his glare hostile.

  “All right, let me see it,” Carson told Reid, who turned to let him look at it.

  Reid’s forearm had just been grazed, but the other bullet had hit his shoulder, near the end of the collarbone, and it was a mess of blood and torn flesh. Carson couldn’t make out an exit wound. He might be just missing it with all the blood, but the bullet could have hit the humerus or the clavicle, breaking the bone and disrupting the bullet. It must hurt like hell, and Carson had to admit grudging admiration for how stoically the man was taking it. At least the blood wasn’t spurting.

  Carson tore off his sleeve and wrapped it around the arm over the wound, as best he could given the awkward location, and cinched it tight.

  “Aaugh, shit!” Reid gasped.

  “Sorry, but that will hold it for a while. There’s a medkit in the tent. Get up.”

  “What happened to my other men?” Reid asked as he struggled to his feet.

  “Stun darts. They’ll be fine once they wake up. Sore muscles for a while though. Where’s the talisman?”

  “I dropped it when the shooting started. Back there in the dirt somewhere. Can I get this taken care of?”

  “All right. Alex, you and Dundee take him up to the tent and treat that. Roberts and I will make sure the others are secured and then I’m going to look for that talisman.”

  “What are we going to do with these guys? We need to call it in.”

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  With the other Velkaryans secured and Dundee and Roberts left to cover them, Finley and Carson, accompanied by Rico, escorted Reid back to the tent.

  “How are we going to call it in? They smashed the radio, and we don’t exactly have omniphone coverage out here,” Finley said.

  “Carson managed to get some kind of signal out,” Rico said, “That’s why Roberts and I are here. The rest of the cavalry will probably be along any minute, but Jackie didn’t want to wait.”

  “Yeah,” Carson said. “A special addition to my omni after someone tried to hijack my autocab.”

  They reached the tent and Carson found the medkit. “Okay, Rico, let’s see the arm.”

  “What about me?” Reid said.

  “Screw yourself,” Rico said. “You’re lucky I don’t put a few more bullets into you. I owe you.”

  Carson looked from one to the other of them. “You guys know each other?”

  “Yeah,” Rico said. “We ran into each other on Earth.”

  “I should have made sure you were dead,” Reid said between clenched teeth.

  “Enough!” Carson said. “Rico, yo
u’re still bleeding. Let me get this sleeve off and put some quick-clot on it.”

  He sat Rico down and, with the scissors from the medkit, began to cut away his blood-soaked shirt.

  He got the sleeve off and examined the wound. It was nasty. “That must have hit bone. Does it feel broken?”

  “Nah, but it hurts like a son-of-a-bitch. But it makes me feel better to know that Reid must feel worse.”

  Carson reached into the medkit for the quick-clot, and as he did so, Reid sprang up, pushing Finley aside with his left arm, and dashed for the tent door.

  Finley and Carson scrambled up and after him, but when they reached the flap, Reid was nowhere in sight.

  “I’ll go after him,” Finley said.

  “No, not alone. He’s wounded, he probably won’t get far.”

  Carson went back to patching up Rico as best he could with the medkit. At least he had stopped the bleeding, but it needed more attention that Carson was equipped to give it.

  As he finished wrapping the bandage, they heard the sound of helicopter rotors from overhead.

  “I hope that’s our ride,” Rico said.

  ∞ ∞ ∞

  Back at the pyramid

  It was. The helicopter, actually a high-speed, variable configuration, twin-rotor aircraft that bore a distant resemblance to a century-old Osprey V-22, hovered above the pyramid site. Several armed troops wearing Space Guard uniforms were rounding up the Velkaryan prisoners, and another was talking to Roberts and Dundee.

  One came over to them as Carson, Finley and Rico approached. “Mr. Finley,” he said, addressing Alex. “Are you all right?”

  Carson and Rico turned to look at him. Carson guessed the connection, but Rico wouldn’t know. The latter turned to Alex and said, “You must have some powerful friends.”

  “I suppose so,” Finley said, and turned to the Guardsman. “Yes, thank you. I’m fine, but my friend here needs medical attention. There was somebody else, the leader of this group—” he gestured at the Velkaryans who were being rounded up “—but he escaped.”