Several red buildings on the hologram began to flash. “McCoy and Baker groups will converge on the casinos lining Del Mara Boulevard to disrupt operations there and cause enough of a disturbance as to mask our movements towards the comm center and armory.”
Rhasti’s demeanor became deadly serious. “Let me point out that this part of the raid is meant as a disruption. No one is to be harmed, if it can be avoided. There will be a lot of civilians in the area and we won’t be helping our cause if anyone gets hurt. If there is any gunplay, make sure your weapons are on stun setting only. We’re rebels, not terrorists.”
Leaning against one wall, the leader of McCoy team, a hulking gray-skinned Kleezha that Rhasti had introduced as Garss, spoke up. “Rest assured, if any civvies are harmed by anyone under my command, there will be . . . repercussions.”
Opposite Garss, seated at the table, a decidedly smaller human named Wetzel, who was leading Baker, looked less menacing as he said, “Yeah, My people will be, um—yeah.” He nodded meekly. “I-I’ll talk to them.”
Rhasti looked satisfied, if not a bit dismayed by Garss’ openness. He continued. “While this is going on, team Eccleston, which I’ll be leading, will go for the comm station, and Troughton and Pertwee will go for the armory at the same time.”
A slender, dark-skinned woman seated closest to the holo raised her hand. “We still have one problem. There are rumors going about that Boke’s got some kind of command-and-control ship parked in orbit. How are we expected to deal with that?”
Kym took a hesitant step forward, felt her cheeks flush as all eyes turned to her. “I’ll be taking care of that. I’m going to take my ship up and take out the command ship before they can block our signals or get any fighters off.”
“Our friend, Miss Tirannis here, and her associates,” Rhasti pointed out Podo, Morogo, and the two drones. “have friends who have recently been interred in the mines. They’ve agreed to partner up with us to insure their release.”
“One ship against a command cruiser?” another man asked.
For the second time that day, Kym found herself having to defend the Starhawk. She echoed her earlier decree. “She’ll surprise you.”
Turning to Rhasti, she added, “With the rest of my crew assisting in the assaults on the comm center and armory, I’m going to be flying solo, so to speak. If we were just cruising, I could handle her myself. In combat I’m going to need a few hands, particularly with nav and gunnery. Can you sacrifice a few people to help out?”
“I’ll go.”
The room fell silent. All eyes turned to the speaker. Godfrey sat in his seat, with his hand still in the air, and it was apparent to Kym that he was regretting having spoken up so quickly. Still he sat up a bit taller in his seat and focused on Rhasti, echoing his earlier statement. “I’ll go. By now Boke’s people have probably changed the security protocols on their hangar. I should still be able to get in with my customs clearance”
A murmur of approval rippled through the room. Kym locked eyes with Godfrey for a brief moment, saw the resolve in his gaze, and could not help but smile.
From next to Garss, the human guard they had encountered on their entrance, raised his hand. “I was a gunner aboard the Belleau Wood during the war. I might be able to help.”
Rhasti looked pleased. “Thank you, Metcalf,” He turned to Kym “Will that do?”
Kym looked to her two volunteers, who appeared nervous, but ready to go. “It should. I’ll let you know if I need more.”
Rhasti nodded, and looked out over the entire gathering.”Once we’ve taken the armory, Troughton and Pertwee will rejoin with Eccleston and head straight for the mines. Our people on the inside will be waiting for our signal to start disrupting things there. If all goes well, we should have sufficient man-power to overwhelm the security forces there and free the prisoners.”
“If we fail—if we cannot get to those mines—we are all dead. Boke will show no mercy to anyone. Those mines will become one giant graveyard for everyone involved.” He looked out at the assemblage of beings, and Kym knew he was wondering how many of them he would never see again. He surprised her then by smiling with that toothy grin of his. “So…let’s make sure we don’t fail. We go at early sundown. Gather your people and be ready. I’ll transmit more specifics to the individual teams as we get closer to go-time. Dismissed.”
In relative silence, the crowd dispersed, some speaking quietly amongst themselves. Kym made her way through the crush of beings until she caught up to Rhasti, who was in hushed conversation with Garss. They finished speaking, Garss nodded acknowledgement to Kym, then headed for the door. Kym crossed her arms, and canted her head at Rhasti. “So—McCoy, Eccleston, Baker and Pertwee teams? Didn’t think Doctor Who carried this far out into the galaxy.”
“Some of those ancient video dramas prove that Earth wasn’t as primitive as some of the other races thought it was,” Rhasti favored her with a mischievous grin. “I’m particularly fond of one called Firefly.”
“A renaissance man. Nice.” She fell into step with him as they made their way to the command center. “So, who do you have on the inside that you’re trying to get out?”
Rhasti kept his gaze straight ahead when he replied. “My brother and his bride came here for their post-marriage celebration. They weren’t here a day when I got a message from Lorou that Vash had gotten into some kind of altercation with the law. Vash is kind of a hothead, so I wasn’t too surprised to find that he had gotten into trouble. I thought he just needed money, but she said it was worse than that. When I asked how bad, she never replied. I tried for days to get through to either of them, or someone here who would be able to help. All I got was that there was no one by their names on record of ever having been here, even though Lorou’s transmission originated from their hotel.”
“I came looking for them after that. Hit dead end after dead end. No one, not even the Mandasi Consulate could help me. Then I started uncovering stories of others that came here to play and never returned. None of our people on the inside have come across any Mandasi who even match their descriptions.”
He came to an abrupt halt, causing Kym to backpedal. He kept his gaze ahead of him, his posture rigid. “I don’t hold much hope that they’re still alive. Still—”
He turned to look at Kym, and she could see his dark eyes were moist with pent-up tears, but there was a dark determination within them as well. “I’m doing this for them, whether I ever see them alive again or not, and for all the other poor fools who got themselves shipped off to those damnable mines.”
Pausing, regaining some form of composure, he smiled at her again. “I appreciate everything you’re doing, especially in letting your drone go with me to the comm-center, but the rest—no one expects your people to go into combat.”
Kym gestured down the corridor to where Podo and Morogo were conferring with some of the others. “Our friends are in those mines. There’s no way we were going to let your people take all the risks to get them out. Besides, Podo and Morogo probably have more combat experience than most of your teams. If you’re truly going to be going into those mines, they’re the ones you want leading. And once my team takes out the command ship, we’ll be back to provide air support.”
“You’re that sure you’ll even be able to get close enough to the command ship?”
Provided using the cloaking device doesn’t drain our power and leave us dead in the water before we get to the command ship, or worse, blows up the ship, she thought. To Rhasti, she smiled and replied, “Pretty sure.”
Her answer appeared to satisfy the Mandasi. “I need to prepare,” He put a hand on her shoulder, letting it linger a moment longer than was just casual, and his toothy grin held something warmer. Then he was gone.
Kym wandered throughout the crowds until she found Godfrey and Metcalf standing over a console, looking over schematics of the Galadorn cruiser. Godfrey still looked nervous, but Metcalf was talking a mile a minute. “Never went up ag
ainst one of these during the war,” Kym heard him saying. “But we did tangle a time or two with the older Khataraa-class destroyers. Pretty comparable in most respects.”
He looked up at Kym’s approach and favored her with a nod. “I’m guessing you’ve got an ace up your sleeve. From what Godfrey’s been telling me, we’ll be at a considerable disadvantage as far as size goes.”
“Let’s just say that they won’t see this coming,” she replied, then looked at Godfrey. “Thank you for volunteering.”
Godfrey shrugged. “Since I’m the reason you’re here, figured I owe you one. Plus, we’ll probably need my security clearance to get into the hangar. Boke’s people may most likely have changed any of your clearances by now.”
Kym smiled at him. “We’d better get going. Our end of the party starts early, and we surely don’t want to be late.”
Chapter Seventeen
The solution that had eluded Jesse all throughout the previous night presented itself the next morning, just after what was loosely termed as breakfast. It was Raychel, or rather, the pudge-faced guard who had been harassing her the day before, who provided the opening.
They were crowded into one of the main caverns, where work assignments were handed down. Jesse and K’Tran had picked up their drills and were wandering around, looking like they were trying to find their work details, when they heard Raychel cry out.
“Just leave him alone! He can hardly stand, much less do any work!”
Spotting her across the cavern, Jesse could see that she and Kebbe were both on their knees with four guards standing in a loose circle around them. A few others were scattered among the prisoners, all of whom had stopped what they were doing, and were watching the incident.
For his part, Kebbe looked no better than he had the day before. He was doubled over, and it was obvious by the way he was gasping that he had the wind knocked out of him. Raychel was shielding him with her own body. One of the guards grabbed her by an arm and jerked her to her feet. Pudge-face sneered and moved in close to her. Too close.
“Whatsa matter, Sweetheart?” Pudge was almost nose-to-nose with her. “We not friends anymore?”
Raychel struggled to free her arm, but the guard was having none of it. If anything, he tightened his grip. Jesse could see her wince in pain. Still, the look on her face was one of pure defiance. “Just leave us alone.”
Jesse shot a sideways glance at K’Tran, who caught the look and nodded. He started towards the confrontation, while Jesse took a long walk around, passing through the crowd, then turning and making a beeline for Pudge, who was moving in so close to Raychel now, he was practically inside her clothes.
“You shouldn’t be so hard, Darlin’” Pudge was saying. “You’ve got a long time down here. Making some friends might do you some good.”
The others laughed at the way he said friends. No doubt the kind of friendship he was referring to was the last thing Raychel would want. He reached out a dirty hand and caressed her cheek. She squirmed as though she had received a mild shock.
“Come on, Love,” Pudge chuckled. “You be good to us, and we’ll be good to you.”
K’Tran sidled up beside Pudge. “I’d say it’s in your best interests to let the young lady alone.”
The chamber went tomb still as the guard slowly turned to face the older man. His hand slid to his side arm. “And why would that be?”
K’Tran shrugged. “Just saying it might be detrimental to your health.”
Pudge gave a derisive snort. “You saying you gonna hurt me, old man?
“Not at all,” K’Tran replied, and gestured over Pudge’s shoulder. “But he will.”
Pudge turned, and all color faded from his complexion as he came face-to-face with Jesse, who gave the man a curt smile, jabbed the tip of his mining drill into the his belly, and pulled the trigger. The blast lifted Pudge off his feet and sent him flying across the cavern.
The other guards, stunned by the suddenness of the assault, reacted too slowly. Jesse swung his drill by its handle at the guard holding Raychel, catching the man across the side of the head with a sickening crunch. Raychel dove to the ground, throwing herself atop Kebbe to shield him.
K’Tran threw his drill at the nearest guard, who caught it across the face and tumbled over backward. In the same motion, K’Tran reached down and grabbed the guard’s weapon from its holster, and fired two quick shots into the remaining of Pudge’s men.
Two guards that had been part of the crowd now began to fight their way through the masses. K’Tran tossed the weapon to Jesse, who deftly caught it and fired on the two before they could bring their weapons to bear.
Jesse looked around at the gathered prisoners, some of whom stared dumbly at what had transpired. Others took the cue and began pulling whatever weapons they could from the fallen sentries. More men were beginning to pour in from some of the side tunnels as an alarm began to shriek throughout the cavern. The emboldened prisoners began assaulting them as they appeared, realizing that though unarmed, they had the advantage of their greater numbers. They began using anything they could find as a weapon, quickly overwhelming Boke’s security men.
In the middle of one fray was Salga, who was a one-woman dynamo of her own. Despite her advanced age, the Kleezha stood guard over a group of huddled children. She held a sentry aloft in each clawed hand, swinging their limp bodies around like clubs as she used her spiked tail to continue up-ending others who rushed at them. Jesse paused to watch the display, fascinated, and glad for once to be an observer, rather than a recipient, of Kleezha wrath.
In the middle of the ruckus, Driggers appeared as if by magic at Jesse’s side, shouting over the din. “What are you doing? My people aren’t ready yet!”
Jesse spun and fired a blast over Driggers’ shoulder, dropping a guard that was coming up behind the older man. “Better contact your friends and tell them that we decided to move their timetable up,” he shouted back. “No time like the present.”
He raised his confiscated laser pistol and blasted at one of the sirens overhead, silencing it. Driggers cursed and ran off into the chaos.
The prisoners were beginning to gain the upper hand, their superior numbers quickly overwhelming the guards. K’Tran appeared at Jesse’s side, blood oozing from a gash over one eye and another running the length of the bicep on his left arm, but the wounds looked to be superficial. “You’re hurt,” Jesse observed. “You’re bleeding.”
K’Tran’s grey eyes swept around the cavern. “Ain’t got time to bleed,” he replied.
For the most part, the guards in this cavern were subdued, but several of the prisoners were staked out at the entrance to a side tunnel, firing weapons they had appropriated. Jesse and K’Tran rushed over to assess the situation.
“Plenty of reinforcements coming this way,” one of the men shouted to Jesse as they approached. “We’re not going to be able to hold them for long.”
Jesse looked down the tunnel, dodging as a blast just missed his head. Guards were swarmed about halfway down the run, and he could see more coming up behind, some carrying more heavy duty weapons. They looked to be massing for a rush.
“We need to buy some time to get the kids and wounded out of here at least,” K’Tran said.
Jesse looked around, and spotted an abandoned drill lying nearby. Grabbing it up he ran back to the tunnel. “Cover me!”
Without waiting for a response he ran several meters down the tunnel in the direction of the oncoming sentries, and immediately began firing into the roof of the tunnel. K’Tran and a few others were at his side now, laying down fire and keeping the troops at bay. Chunks of rock, began to fall from the ceiling, but not enough to block the way.
“This is going to take too long!’ K’Tran shouted as the opposing blaster fire became more intense. “You may need to rethink this plan.”
Jesse looked around, spied a sizable notch in the side wall of the tunnel, and turned the drill on it, blasting out a larger gouge. He shoved the
drill into the opening, and popped off the access hatch to the power supply. Ripping out a number of wires, he began twisting them together until the drill began to give off a steady, ominous whine, the power pack starting to glow.
“Got to get clear.” He said as he rejoined the defenders, taking a blaster from K’Tran and rejoining the firefight. “Fall back! Hurry!”
The others did as instructed. One man caught a burst in the shoulder and went down. K’Tran tossed Jesse his pistol, and helped the man to his feet. Jesse held back, firing away with both weapons as the others made their way back to the tunnel. The fire was becoming more and more intense as the guards started to press forward. The whining from the drill became louder.
Jesse stepped into the center of the tunnel, firing in a wild, sweeping motion, then turned and sprinted back after the others. Laserfire flew all around him. He could feel the heat of several bursts as they screamed past by centimeters.
He heard the blast as the overloaded drill finally detonated, followed a moment later by the shockwave. He threw himself forward, the shockwave that followed lifting him off his feet and propelling him through the air. He twisted in mid-air, not wanting to land face-first, and hit the ground hard. Pain like an electrical jolt shot through his shoulder as he hit and rolled several times before coming to a stop.
He kept his eyes shut for a long moment, fighting off waves of nausea that rolled through him with the pain in his shoulder. It took a while for his vision to focus when he did open them. He wanted to tell everyone around him to stop jumping up and down before realization hit that it was still an after-effect of the trauma. He closed his eyes again, holding them shut tight for several more seconds. When he looked again, he was startled by what he saw.
The Starhawk Chronicles: Rest and Wreck-reation Page 12