by Danny Loomis
An hour later one of the commo techs leaned forward, intent on an incoming message. “Sir, the attack has started in Brookhaven. We are visually linked with one of the shuttles.”
“Put it on the main screen, please. And see if we can get in touch with either Lieutenant Novak or Gomez.”
The picture from Brookhaven came on line, and the speaker came to life.
“Gomez here. We’ve just begun the attack. There’s only a battalion of Alliance troops, and we’re already overruning them. We expect the force from Vanport to arrive within the next few minutes. Our shuttles are in position to give them a welcome they won’t soon forget.”
“Careful of those Vipers, Lieutenant,” Stanton said. “Let them get nice and close before you shoot them up. You’ll only get one chance at them.”
“Yes, sir. Our Shrike missiles should eat them up from this close a range. Wup—here they come.” The Alliance shuttles arrived along with their Viper escorts. They turned towards the small airfield and made a pass over it before circling back for a landing. Just as the shuttles were on their final approach, eight Confederation shuttles appeared from beneath their cloaking shields and fired four shrike missiles each. Less than a second later ten of the shuttles and all of the Vipers had been turned into fireballs. Eight shuttles managed to land and disgorge their troops, which were brought under fire from Edoan troops that surrounded the field.
“Hot damn,” Lieutenant Gomez chortled. “I think the battle of Brookhaven is just about over.”
Stanton turned towards Ensign Wilbert who was urgently beckoning to him. “Sir, come up on Tactical eleven. We’re getting a signal from the corvette.”
“This is Command One,” Stanton said. “Go with your message.”
“This is Charlie One,” came a woman’s voice over the intercom. “We’ve observed movement of three battlecruisers into a low orbit. They are positioning themselves over Brookhaven.”
“I copy, Charlie One. Any ideas as to why?”
“Afraid so, Command One. I think they’re moving into bombardment range. Suggest you get your troops out of there soonest.”
A feeling like ice water ran down Stanton’s back, and he spun around to Ensign Wilbert. “Get word to Novak and Gomez. Tell them to pull everyone out or dig deep if they’re unable to. They’ve got some enemy artillery headed their way, from space.”
Seconds later Lieutenant Gomez was back on the line. “Understood, Command One. We are disengaging now, and moving in to pick up as many as we can. Please go to tactical frequency…” A searing light erupted from the center of Brookhaven on the monitor, as primary laser fire from all three battlecruisers lanced down from space, followed by multiple explosions as capital missiles impacted with the ground traveling at speeds in excess of three thousand kilometers an hour. Before the shuttles could react, they were caught in the blast force. The visual signal was mercifully cut short.
Tapping furiously at her keyboard, Ensign Wilbert vainly attempted to contact anyone in Brookhaven. “All commo out, sir. Units either destroyed or disabled.”
Stanton tried to unclench his fingers from their death-like grip on the arms of the command chair. “How many commo units destroyed?”
“All of the ground units. Commo in all eight shuttles are offline. Not sure whether that means the shuttles are still serviceable.” By now her voice had begun quivering and shaking.
Stanton took a deep breath. “Steady, people. Let’s try and find out what we can. Ensign, contact the corvette. Can they give us a picture of Brookhaven from their location?”
“They say it’ll take several hours for them to be able to move to a proper angle to do so. On their way now.”
Pushing himself up, Captain Stanton moved woodenly towards the door. “I’ll inform Elder Enforcer Yoshida what happened. Keep trying on the commo, Anita. The rest of you stand down for now.”
* * *
Full dark settled over Vanport. Ian led his small force towards the center of town, the most direct route to the Wolfshead Division’s headquarters on the edge of the airfield. Only an occasional shimmer told of their presence. Ian was able to observe not only his three men through their tactical helmet links, but could see everything as if it was full daylight, using a combination of infra-red and passive night vision settings on his helmet.
“We’re getting close to one of their guard posts,” Ian said. “Keep a sharp eye. The attack on the airfield probably made them extra vigilant.”
“Left front building, second floor,” Blade said. “Two troops eyeballin’ the street.” All of them froze in place. Now they drifted to the same side of the avenue as the guards and silently worked their way past. Two more blocks and they passed the security point altogether. A small figure detached itself from the building in front of them, obviously in ignorance of their presence.
“Hey, Two Eagles,” Blade whispered.
The figure dropped into a defensive crouch before recovering. “Damn, man! You just gave me a heart attack.”
“Vacation’s over, Sergeant,” Ian said. “You got a place we can talk that’s a little more private than the middle of this street?” Without a word Two Eagles turned and moved back to the building he’d just vacated. Once in the basement, he turned on a small lantern and gave all of them a big grin. “It’s good to see you guys. Were you the ones who attacked the airfield?”
“Pointy led a raid on them. Blade and the fireplugs came along with me to find you and Brita.”
At mention of her name, Two Eagles’ face became hard as stone. “They tortured us quite a while, Ian. Hurt her pretty bad. Had to put her in a stasis chamber until they could ship her back to a better equipped hospital, I think they said. Anyway, they’ve got her in a high security building about a klick from here.”
Ian felt his lips draw back from his teeth in a snarl. With difficulty he controlled his rage. Not now. Don’t lose it while on a mission.
“Let’s scout it out. Blade, give that spare rucksack to Two Eagles.”
Two Eagles donned helmet and ghillies. He checked the magazine of the needler to ensure it was full, and headed south at a cautious pace, the others following. Thirty minutes later they crept inside a small shop next to the three-story department store converted into a headquarters for one of the brigades for the Wolfshead Division.
“Blade, take a recon of their perimeter,” Ian whispered. “Meet you back here in one hour. It’ll be close to dawn by then.”
Ian turned to the Fireplugs after Blade disappeared through the door. “You two locate a place we can hide during the day. Be back here in less than an hour.”
After everyone left, Ian flipped up his face shield and sighed deeply. So close. She was almost within his reach. He crawled over to where Two Eagles sat with his back against a wall and offered him an energy bar.
“Not sure when you last ate. Sorry I don’t have any beefalo steaks.”
Two Eagles hungrily wolfed down the bar and nodded his thanks when Ian gave him another. “How’d you know what we have on Dakota? Not many folks even know we’re members of the Confederation yet.”
“Done my homework,” Ian said. “You guys took a bunch of beefalo embryos with you when you left earth.”
Two eagles finished the second bar. “Right now this tastes just as good. By the way, what’s with the stick you got slung over your back?”
“It’s kind of like a badge of honor the Enforcers gave me. I’d have left it in barracks, but it’s the best in-fighting weapon I’ve ever used.”
“To each his own,” Two Eagles said with a shrug and tapped the hilts of his two knives.
Ian gestured towards the brigade HQ. “You tried to get in this place yet?”
“No. Just found out two days ago where they were keeping her. I was trying to figure a way to get her out of there, but couldn’t come up with anything survivable by myself.”
“How about with five?”
“Yeh, think I have a way. We leave two outside, one clears the baseme
nt. The other two very quietly sanitize the rest of the building. All three floors.”
“Sounds plausible as anything else. Once we get in a safer place, we can brief up the other guys.”
By sunup they were settled in a small apartment complex almost one kilometer from the brigade headquarters.
“Listen up while you eat,” Ian said. “We’re going in to the brigade HQ tonight to see if they still have Sergeant Weiss there. We’ll need two on the outside, covering all sides of the building so they can kill anyone trying to get out, and warn the rest of us if anyone’s coming in. Fireplugs, I’ll leave that to you. Use tac two frequency. Blade, you take the basement. Look for Brita, plus any other intel that might be useful to the rest of our forces. Two Eagles and I’ll do the same on the first through third floors. Everyone in the building is to be killed. We’ll exit by the north door, and make our way back to the shuttle.”
“Why kill everyone?” Blade asked.
“One of our secondary missions is to create confusion in their chain of command. Having a brigade HQ get wiped out will cause a major pain in their ass. Any other questions? Then let’s get some sleep. We’ll leave an hour after dark.”
By late afternoon a major storm front moved into the city. When full darkness fell, Ian’s group stepped out into gusty winds and a downpour of rain that wouldn’t be letting up anytime soon. They made good time to their objective, moving easily under cover of the storm. They still wore their ghillies as camouflage, but mostly as rain gear. The fireplugs located sniper positions for themselves on roofs of buildings catty-corner to the brigade HQ, which gave them good fields of fire on all approaches. Once satisfied with their emplacement, Ian gestured the others into the building.
External guards had entered the building, huddled just inside the two entrances to escape the downpour. Blade entered through the rear, Two Eagles and Ian the front. All four guards died with two needles fired into the throat of each before having the time to react. Blade glided down the stairs, needler questing ahead. Two Eagles led Ian upwards, both of them drifting like smoke.
Ian and Two Eagles reached the second floor, split right/left and began checking each of the offices. The center portion was filled with cubicles divided by shoulder-high partitions. Four of the offices along the sides still had occupants even at this late hour. Each one died soundlessly with a knife slipped between the ribs or across the throat. Desks were searched, and data cubes collected.
They met back at the stairs. Ian gave a thumbs up and led the way to the next floor. Half of it was a storeroom while individual sleeping quarters filled the rest. Ian checked the storage room while Two Eagles visited each bedroom, killing a total of seven men as they lay sleeping. Joining him at the last room he’d entered, Ian was in time to see him cutting off the dead man’s ears. Two Eagles looked back at him, flat black eyes revealing no emotion. He stuffed the ears into a pouch that already looked full. With a deep shudder, Ian turned and crept up the staircase. One more floor. Ian felt the skin tightening across his face.
Most of the third floor was taken up by a medical clinic. At the far end two guards sat in front of what looked like a high security prison cell. These guards, however, were still alert. Not going to be a walk in the park like it had been so far. Ian slipped to his left.
Both he and Two Eagles were halfway across the room when a door behind Two Eagles opened, bumping him. Instantly both guards brought their machine pistols up, searching the room with heightened intensity. Ian shot the man coming through the door, and watched as Two Eagles shot one of the guards in the face before the other threw his pistol at Two Eagles and followed it up with a devastating roundhouse to the side of his head. Rolling with the punch, Two Eagles came to his feet with a knife in each hand.
The guard drew a knife 25 centimeters in length and swung a backhanded blow at Two Eagles, who barely avoided it by somersaulting to the left. Pressing his attack, the guard slashed through the ghillies and cut a shallow gash across Two Eagles’ chest.
By now Ian had unlimbered his staff and bared its blade. Without any ceremony he threw it, spearing the guard in the back. Two Eagles scrambled up and cut his throat.
Two Eagles staggered to a chair and collapsed into it, panting loudly. “That was one tough soldier,” he rasped. “Another second and he would’ve had me.”
“Let’s look at that cut,” Ian said, peeling Two Eagles’ shirt away from the gash which still bled freely.
“That’s my job,” a feminine voice said behind him. Ian spun around and brought up his needler, finger squeezing… “Hold it,” Two Eagles barked. Ian eased up and scanned the room for any other figures besides the white-clad nurse who stood in the middle of the room.
“This one tried to help Brita and me. I promised her she could live.”
“In that case she’s got my promise, too,” Ian said. “Could you help Sergeant Two Eagles one more time? He seems to’ve run into a meat cleaver.”
The nurse stepped briskly forward, picked up several items from the table next to Two Eagles and began dabbing at the eight centimeter gash. “Not too deep. Mostly just cut the skin. It’ll be painful for awhile, but if you keep it covered and well-bandaged you should be all right in a few days. Especially if you get some regeneration treatment. Should only be a day or so, in that case.”
Ian searched the rest of the rooms while she finished bandaging Two Eagles.
“Ma’am, if you don’t mind, we’re going to have to lock you in this side room for awhile. Someone will probably be here to free you within the hour.”
“Don’t worry about me, I’ll be all right.” she turned and looked more closely at Two Eagles. “I remember you. Weren’t you with that poor young lady that the miserable excuse of an Alliance officer raped and tortured?”
“Yes, ma’am. I want to thank you again for the help you gave at the time.”
“I only wish—well, what’s done is done I’m afraid. It’ll please you to know Major Vogel lost one of his testicles and had extensive damage to the tendons and blood vessels of his penis. It’ll be a long time before he’s able to rape anyone else, I can guarantee you of that.”
For the first time in days Ian smiled. “I appreciate what you’ve told us more than you’ll ever know. Major Vogel and I go back a few years in our disagreements. Unfortunately I was only able to scar him up some the first time.”
“Too bad you didn’t finish it then. Now both of you come with me, I’ll need your help.” She bustled towards the door the two guards had been in front of. “Look on the body of that big one, the one with the long knife. He was the only one with keys to the door.”
Ian gave her a puzzled look. “What…”
“She’s in there. That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
Within seconds the door was open. Both Ian and Two Eagles scanned the room for traps before they entered, and felt their eyes drawn to the coffin-like steel container in the center of the room.
“There’s a portable power source in the closet on the left,” the nurse said as she hurried to the casket and inspected read-outs. “It’s good for thirty-six hours of operation.”
As Two Eagles moved to the closet, Ian ran his hand over the top of the container. “I don’t know how to thank you for what you’re doing, ma’am…”
“For one thing you can call me Anna instead of that ridiculous surname. Medical Technician Anna Bernard.”
“Thanks, Anna.”
“You’ll find most Alliance military forces are not like the thugs of the Wolfshead division. In fact, not all of us agree with what our government is doing. But it is our government, and we’ll support it. Now let’s get this ready to transport, young man. And before I forget, please leave a bottle of water with me when you lock me in the closet.” Ian could only nod in agreement. He didn’t trust his voice at the moment.
Two Eagles reappeared with the power source and hurriedly attached the proper cables in the correct places under the guidance of Anna. Once finished, he
escorted her to the closet. Before locking her in, he handed her the pouch full of ears he’d been collecting for several days.
“Give these to whoever commands the Alliance forces on Edo. Tell him the Wolf declared war on these men. Now it is his turn.”
Within minutes the stasis chamber, Ian tried not to think of it as a casket, was moved down the stairs on its repeller field. Even though almost weightless, it still had mass that kept wanting to move straight ahead instead of going around corners.
Just before they reached the first floor, Ian chinned on his com set. “Blade, we’re coming down with the goods. What’d you find in the basement?”
“I’ll cue you in later, Irish. We’d better get outta here. From the sound of the radios I found in the basement, folks are concerned why no one’s answering ’em from headquarters.”
“Fireplugs, cover our exit. We’ll leave from the north side. Take the lead back to the shuttle. Straight a line as possible, and we need to ensure anyone who sees us doesn’t live to report it.” They came to the first floor, and Ian guided the casket towards the double doors.
“I’ll take rearguard,” Two Eagles said, trotting to a side exit and disappearing through it. Ian and Blade eased the casket out the door and towards the shuttle, seven kilometers away.
Dawn was less than an hour away when the exhausted team finally stumbled into the shuttle. The fireplug twins had been stretched to their limits by the number of patrols they had to avoid or ambush, to the point Blade had gone forward to help. A total of three patrols were eliminated in silence, fifteen men in all. A near impossible task against alert, well-trained soldiers.
“Let’s take a break before we head back,” Ian said. “Get some chow in you and clean up. Blade, come up front with me, will you?”
Once settled in the flight cabin, Ian looked at Blade expectantly. “The basement was full of commo gear. Looked like it was one of the major ground links with their space forces. Plus, the brigade intel section was situated there. All three of them.”
“Was?”