The mouth of the tunnel had collapsed completely, with what looked to be debris several meters thick. Dust was still rolling off of the collapse, and those standing closest to the area were covered in a fine layer of red-black soot.
“You really brought down the house,” K’Tran said as he knelt at Jesse’s side, helping him to sit up, and eventually, stand, one arm around his back to support his weight.
Jesse gritted his teeth through the pain. “Any more guards?”
“So far, the other tunnels are clear,” K’Tran replied. “But that won’t be for long. We’ve got to get moving, soon.”
Salga appeared through the crowd, her feline eyes looking him over, falling on his wrenched shoulder. “I think it’s dislocated,” Jesse answered the unspoken question.
The Kleezha drew closer, and began probing at his arm and shoulder as gently as she could. The touch still made Jesse wince. She rested a hand on his back, nodding. “Dislocated, all right,” she confirmed. Her gaze shifted slightly off to one side of the cavern. “What’s that?”
Jesse followed her line of sight. At the same moment, the Kleezha grabbed his arm and wrenched it up and back. The sound of the pop it made brought waves of nausea back ten-fold, and it was all Jesse could do to keep from vomiting. His mouth opened in a wordless scream and his eyes blurred from the tears that suddenly welled to the surface.
Salga looked at him sheepishly. “My apologies. If I hadn’t distracted you, you might have resisted my attempt to reset your arm.” She ran her hands along his shoulder once more, and Jesse fought the urge to push her away this time, but she withdrew with a satisfied look on her face. “I believe I was successful. It will be sore for some time, but you will be able to use it again soon.” She chuckled. “I had to do that for your father once. Same arm too.”
She stepped back, and smiled her wolfish smile. “Of course, I’m the one who dislocated it at the time.”
Jesse bit his lip as he fought his way through another bout of nausea. “Remind me to never piss you off.”
He hobbled over to Raychel, who had helped Kebbe to his feet. Seeing him approach, she ran over and embraced him. Jesse could not help but wince as she hugged him a bit too much enthusiastiasm. She pulled back, looking up at him. “Thank you for that. Are you okay?”
“I think I’ll live.”
Before any more could be said, Driggers reappeared. “My people are alerted, and they are not happy,” he said.
K’Tran strangled a groan. “Well they can slap our hands when we get out of here. Did they say they’re sending any help?”
“They said they will send help, but they can’t guarantee they can get here before Boke sends reinforcements in.”
“Then we need to improvise and get everyone out of here on our own. Any ideas on how to do that?”
“There’s a transport bay down tunnel three,” One of the men who had fought in the tunnel said. “Ore haulers and such. Should be able to carry a good number of people, but I’ve got no idea how well guarded it is now that this place is on alert.”
Jesse nodded, noticing that a sizable crowd of men and women had joined them, looking for direction. “Then that’s our best bet. Let’s get everyone organized, and make sure that kids or wounded are the first ones out. I know that K’Tran and I should be able to commandeer two of the transports, but we’ll most likely need more than that to get everyone out of here all at once. I don’t want to leave anyone behind to wait for a return transport. We all go together. Once we’re out of here, hopefully we can meet up with the resistance fighters on the outside.”
He looked around. All eyes were locked on him, some nodding in quiet agreement. No one seemed to have any better ideas forthcoming, and were looking to him for leadership. Reluctantly, he knew he had to accept their unspoken nomination. “Let’s move it people,” he said “We’ve got a lot of people to transport and no time to do it in.”
Wordlessly, they disbanded, moving about to get the most critical prisoners ready to transport. K’Tran fell in step beside him as they started for the tunnel that would lead them to the transport bay. “Looks like you’ve been elected to lead the revolution.”
“Great, just what I always wanted. Following in the footsteps of George Washington.”
K’Tran smirked. “Just don’t let it go to your head . . .General.”
***
Arigh Boke was finishing breakfast on the seaside veranda of his island home when the call came in. He activated the tabletop holo and the quarter-size image of Arvane Scarab sprang into view. The security chief looked as troubled as Boke had ever seen.
“Forgive me for interrupting your morning, Sir, but there has been an . . . incident in the mines.”
Boke leaned in closer to the holo. “Define incident, Mister Scarab.”
Scarab hesitated. He never hesitates. “We’re not sure exactly what happened. Details are still coming in, but several of the prisoners have begun to revolt. Quite a few of our men are down, and we registered an explosion not too long ago. I’m leading a team out to see what exactly is going on.”
Boke knew that no investigation would be necessary. Rather than play any games, he said simply, “Forster?”
Scarab nodded. “Most likely. I should have just killed him earlier.”
“Indeed you should have,” Boke hissed. He leaned even further forward, until his great bulk was practically sitting on the holo base. “Let me make this perfectly clear. I want this ended today. Not just Forster, but the entire mining operation in general. Too many liabilities are springing up. You dispose of Forster, his crew, and all the others. You lock them in that mine and then you bring the whole thing down on them. Then I want Forster’s ship torn down for scrap. I want no loose ends.”
For the first time since Boke had known him, what could have passed for a smile crossed Scarab’s stony features. “Mister Boke, it would be my distinct pleasure.”
“I thought it would be,” Boke replied. “I don’t want to keep you from your fun, Mister Scarab. Do what must be done.”
The holo-image of Scarab nodded curtly, then disappeared. Boke signaled his valet drone over. “Have my shuttle prepared and lay out something from my wardrobe. I shall be departing for Valhalla City within the hour.”
The drone acknowledged and wheeled off into the house. Boke leaned back into his seat with a sigh, eyes shut and enjoying the sun on his skin. Never should have bothered using prisoners to work the mines, he scolded himself. Been nothing but trouble from the beginning.
He rose and started into the villa. Today would be a fresh start. Scarab would put down whatever insurrection there was, and they would start over. After a few months, his people would rediscover the lost mine and this time, they would put drones to work extracting the Tydrium, relying only on a few sentient beings to oversee the operations. Yes, automation was definitely the way to go.
He would also have to review the customs policy for letting certain individuals visit Utopia. Confederation regulations specifically stated against such discrimination, but when you owned the planet, there was really very little the bureaucrats could do. And banning visiting bounty hunters had recently shot to the very top of his short list.
Chapter Eighteen
“You sure you don’t want to come along?” Kym asked as she, Podo, Morogo and the drones made their way through the chaos that was the resistance’s headquarters to where vehicles were waiting to take them to their separate destinations. “Rhasti has more than enough people to go after the objectives here planetside. I’m not really sure about taking up the ‘hawk by myself with an untested crew.”
“Most of Rhasti’s people are untested,” Podo countered. “Sure there are a few combat veterans, but most are just untrained people with a grudge of some kind or other against Boke. I’m not even sure that they all have valid reasons for doing this, other than to cause a ruckus. If we’re in the field with them, we may be able to keep them more focused. Besides, you know the ship’s systems better
than any of us, and you’ve handled her in combat plenty of times. Godfrey and Metcalf will do fine. You’ll do fine.”
Kym looked up to the Vor’na’cik standing over them. “I suppose you don’t have much to say on the subject?”
Morogo shrugged.
A shout from down the corridor made them all turn. Rhasti was coming toward them, with Mynx close behind. “Looks like our timetable’s been moved up,” he said as he neared, his eyes a swirl of mixed emotions. “Our man in the mine has been trying to get us details, but communications are sketchy. Seems your boys got tired of being pushed around by the guards and started something. Something big. The last thing he said was that the prisoners were rioting. Thought I heard an explosion just before he got cut off.”
Kym shared a look with Podo. “Sounds like Jesse and K’Tran, all right,” he said.
Kym agreed. She looked back to Rhasti. “What’s the plan now? Please tell me you have a contingency.”
“Your part of the plan stays the same. We need that command ship taken out or it will play havoc with us when we start rolling. One of the diversion teams is keeping to their mission, causing enough disturbances in the city to keep some of the security forces occupied there. The other team is splitting between joining the armory team, and commandeering enough vehicles to go in and assist in getting the prisoners out of the mine.”
“Nothing against your people,” Podo interrupted. “But I’d bet good money that Jesse and K’Tran are already working on that as well.”
Mynx glared at him over Rhasti’s shoulder. “You make it sound like your people are some kind of supermen.”
Podo favored her with a grin. “No. They’re just that good.”
“Which is why they got stuck in the mines in the first place,” Mynx shot back.
Before Podo could rise to the taunt, Rhasti silenced them both. “Regardless, there’s still a lot of people to get out of those mines, and there may not be enough available transports on site to do that, so we’re still sending in help. Maybe they won’t need it, maybe they will.”
“What do you want from us?” Podo asked.
“I’m going to go after the comm center myself. I’ve got a small team assembled to help me get in if there’s resistance, and I’ll need your drone’s help with establishing an uplink and working through any security protocols there might be in their systems.”
Bokschh canted his head. “I will serve to the best of my abilities, if it will help the oppressed of this world.”
Rhasti looked to Podo. “I know you were supposed to be coming along to the comm center, but I’d really like it if you helped out with the diversion and armory assault. Right now, that’s the most crucial part of the plan, and I’d like to have as many people with combat experience out in the field. And not to diminish your friend’s contributions,” he pointed to Morogo. “but he’s not exactly the greatest orator. People are going to need some direction. No offense.”
Again, Morogo replied with a simple shrug as if to say Don’t worry about it.
“We’re doing a lot of talking and not much doing,” Mynx chimed in, impatience dripping from her voice.”
Rhasti shot her a glare, but nodded his agreement. He started down the corridor, and Kym had to rush to keep pace. “We’d better get moving. With your friends stirring things up, this whole world’s going to get real crazy, real quick. We’ve just got to make sure that it goes our kind of crazy.”
“Sneaker, go with Podo and Morogo,” Kym instructed the drone. “Keep them safe.”
She shared a quick look with her friends. Podo grinned. “Don’t wreck Jesse’s ship.”
“Of course not. I break it, I’m the one who has to fix it.” She paused long enough to give them each a quick hug. “Be careful.”
“I make no promises.”
“Oh, I’m getting all misty eyed,” Mynx interrupted. “Come on boys, there’s a fight to be had, and I don’t want to miss out on the fun.” With another exchange of looks, they followed the woman down a side corridor.
Kym followed Rhasti into a lift that carried them up into a vehicle shed on the surface. The truck that she and her friends had arrived in was now occupied by Rhasti’s people, who helped Bokschh into the cargo area. Rhasti opened the passenger door to the cab and began to climb inside. “I hope your friends know what they’re doing. I wouldn’t want to get to the mines to find everyone we’re fighting for dead before we got there.”
“Don’t worry about Jesse and K’Tran. If I know them, they’ll be on their way out before we’re even close to done with our parts of the mission.”
Rhasti looked introspective. “I hope you’re right.” He forced a small smile, and raised a hand to wave. “Good luck.”
Kym returned the wave. “You too.”
Before she had finished speaking, the truck sped off into the sunlight. Turning, she saw Godfrey and Metcalf waiting beside another vehicle, and ran to join them.
***
They met surprisingly little resistance as Jesse and K’Tran lead the rest of their fellow inmates through the tunnels. Every few minutes a small contingent of guards would appear, but were repulsed by the overwhelming numbers arrayed against them, regardless of the fact that most of them were unarmed, sickly, or children. The prisoners had the advantage of their pent up anger at their unjust incarceration and brutal treatment over the months, and in some cases years, at the hands of the guards.
A brief firefight broke out once they entered the vehicle bay, but again was routed just by the sheer numbers. Any maintenance techs at work quickly fled to avoid being caught up in the crossfire and soon Jesse and the rest had the area to themselves.
There were several vehicles in the bay, most of which were small two-man Antares security flyers. The bulk of the big transports were the Capissen Thirty-Eight haulers that Jesse and Kym had spotted that day by the lake. Up close, the vehicles were even sketchier-looking than from a distance. Battered and beaten, the six-meter long, four-meter wide gondola floated along on anti-gravs and was pushed from behind by a single-person crew cab seated atop two massive turbines. Most were in various stages of disrepair and therefore unusable. Three did look to be in working order and K’Tran quickly set about checking to see if they were in good enough shape to use. After a cursory inspection of each, he hopped down from the last one with a satisfied look on his face.
“It looks like these are the best we’re going to get,” he said. “Controls look pretty standardized, so they shouldn’t be too hard to control. The cargo areas are big enough that we could probably squeeze everyone in in one trip, provided they do all fly. I wouldn’t trust them for a long haul, and we shouldn’t go higher than a meter or two off the ground once we’re in the open, but they should do.”
“And provided no one hits the cargo release for the underside hatches and dumps everyone out along the way,” a man that Jesse had come to know by the name of Bordner said, only half-joking.
“That would be bad,” Jesse conceded. He looked to the crowd. “Anyone here have any experience with vehicles like these?”
“I’ve flown something similar before I got thrown into this hellhole,” Bordner answered “I have a class-two rating.”
“You’re nominated,” Jesse said. “Anyone else?”
Two more stepped forward, a short dark-haired woman and a pale yellow-skinned Verba. Jesse hoped that they were as competent as they thought they were, or a lot of people might end up getting hurt. He pointed to Bordner. “You take the lead. The onboard systems should be able to guide you out of here. The two of you follow as close on his heels as you feel safe. Once we’re outside, we’ll regroup and figure out what we’re doing from there. And don’t stop for anything. Anyone tries to stop you or get in your way, you run them down. Understood?”
The three looked to each other for reassurance, before turning back to Jesse and giving an affirming nod. Jesse let out a breath. “Good luck. We’ll see you topside.”
The trio turned, each one
heading for their respective transport. K’Tran sidled up beside Jesse. “I thought we’d be piloting.”
“We are going to be taking one of those,” he pointed to one of the two-man security craft parked nearby, a sleek anti-grav vehicle with the pilot seated up front and a cannon mount just above and behind it. “We’ll follow behind to cover our escape.”
“Then I guess I better get it warmed up. You flying or shooting?”
“You get us out of here. I’ll work the gun.”
K’Tran nodded and ran for the flyer. The three Capissens were starting to fire up their engines, the roar of the turbines beginning to shake the cavern around them. One of them, the one the Verba had commandeered sputtered and died out. Jesse could see the pilots’ dark eyes flittering about the cockpit, scanning the controls as he attempted to restart it. At last, he reached beneath his seat, grabbed something and gave the console a whack with it. The engines caught this time and their roar joined the others. The Verba looked at Jesse, its trunk-like snout curling up in a goofy approximation of a smile.
Jesse waved to the pilot, then turned to the rest of the crowd, shouting above the clamor of the racing engines. “Let’s get these people loaded. I want anybody with a weapon travelling on the front and sides of the gondolas to ride shotgun. If it’s not one of us, you shoot it. Let’s move.”
They set about with an impressive efficiency, the most able-bodied beings aiding the sick, wounded and children in first. Within just a few minutes, the last of them were climbing into the vehicles. When everyone was settled aboard, Bordner started moving his Capissen toward the exit tunnel, giving Jesse a thumbs-up. Jesse returned the gesture as he climbed into the seat on the cannon mount of the flyer K’Tran had appropriated. Then Bordner opened the throttle and the Capissen took off toward the surface. The second transport followed soon after.
Laser fire erupted from one of the side tunnels, and Jesse saw that the guards had waited until they had amassed a large enough force to make an assault. The gunners aboard the last Capissen began returning fire as the Verba guided it toward the exit tunnel. Jesse powered up his cannon and swung it around to return fire as well. He heard K’Tran yelling over the commotion, waving the Verba onward. The Capissen finally leapt forward and disappeared into the darkness.
The Starhawk Chronicles: Rest and Wreck-reation Page 13