by R. L. Wolf
"I am Gunslinger Colton Cyness. You are trespassing on Imperial Chartered Gunslinger territory and are in violation of the Imperial Neutrality Act of 5124. Under the authority of the Emperor, I am placing you under arrest, drop your weapons and surrender."
The Caelum lifted their weapons and fired. A barrage of compressed-air rounds struck Colt in the chest. The outer covering of his duster burned away, and the interior flex-armor glowed red. He was lifted off the ground and thrown back twenty feet into the snow. The snow sizzled and melted under the heat of his flex-armor. Colt lay on the ground, staring up at the clouds, dazed and unsure where he was.
“Fire!” yelled Toran.
Colt's team unleashed a hail of gunfire on the attacking army. The soldiers didn’t even bother moving for cover—their armor had never before been penetrated. The soldiers advanced on the Gunslingers position, firing another round of missiles that chewed into the surrounding rock like dynamite.
Garth remembered something an instructor had said and shifted his fire, and instead of aiming at the center of mass of the target, he aimed at the armored helmet’s faceplate. The round struck and shattered through the faceplate of a Caelum with the rank of Squad Leader on the side of his helmet. The Squad Leader's head snapped back, and he fell back into the snow.
"Aim for their faceplates," yelled Garth. "It's their only vulnerable spot."
The boys shifted their aim, and four more soldiers fell in the snow. The remaining Caelum realized they weren't impervious to Gunslinger armor-piercing rounds and retreated for cover.
Colt was still lying in the snow looking up at the clouds, and thinking the one on the left looked like a bunny rabbit. Garth and Austin appeared, looking down at him.
"Are you injured?" yelled Garth.
"Bunny," said Colt, trying to see around Garth. He was blocking the view of the bunny.
"Carry him," ordered Toran.
Garth picked Colt up and threw him over his shoulder and ran after Toran, heading higher up the hill to the next position. Toran led the team to another outcropping of rock and then moved them off to the left flank. The Caelum would be watching the rock and wouldn't expect the fire to come from the flank.
Garth propped Colt up against a tree and waved his hand in front of Colt's eyes.
"I'm okay," said Colt, rocking back and forth on wobbly legs.
"The next time you try to arrest the invading army, could you tell us first," said Toran.
"Did I do the wrong thing?" asked Colt.
"No, Chief," said Toran. "You did exactly the right thing. You stood your ground fearlessly in front of an army of armed men, that's your role on this team. Just tell us first next time."
"I don’t think I like my role," said Colt.
Toran laughed. "We need orders, what's next?"
Colt looked around at the new position. The trees were a bit thicker here, and the snow was piled in drifts against the side of the trees.
"I'd like to try the rocks thing again," said Colt.
"They will be expecting that," said Toran.
"Exactly," said Colt.
Colt laid out his plan, and the boys quickly moved into position and waited for the Caelum to arrive. They didn't have long to wait. The Caelum stayed out of the open and went from tree to tree, just as Colt had expected.
He jumped up on the rock and again declared the invaders under arrest for trespassing on Imperial Neutral Territory. The Caelum didn't pay any more attention to the strange Gunslinger this time either and fired. Colt didn't wait around and dived behind the rocks for cover. The barrage of missiles impacted the rock, and debris rained down on Colt.
Toran and the other three were waiting, buried in the snow next to four trees they thought a most likely position the soldiers would use for cover. The four boys jumped up while the Kesune were busy engaging Colt and fired at nearly point blank range into the faceplates of the Caelum Battle Armor. Four more of the invaders fell to the Gunslinger attack.
Captain Serai listened to the casualty report coming in over his radio. He hadn't expected to encounter resistance this far from the Gunslinger Camp, but it was only one team, and he knew they didn't have communication with their Camp. This impetuous Gunslinger team was alone and outnumbered. Yet…they had already killed nine of his men.
The Captain called his lieutenants and outlined a plan to deal with the Gunslinger team. He was obviously dealing with a highly trained and experienced team of the finest Gunslingers, it was time to end this.
"We are going to flank them," ordered Captain Serai. "Two platoons will split up on the right and left, and the other two will come up just behind them so they can't retreat. It’s a classic pincer attack and can’t fail."
The lieutenants moved off to flank the Gunslingers. The Gunslingers would probably set up another ambush, but the flank platoons would crush them in the center.
Captain Serai was listening as his lieutenants maneuvered their men into position. He looked up just in time to see the five Gunslingers come up out of the ground fifty feet in front of him. The Captain dived to the left as two of the four men he had kept with him fell to the ground.
Cursed ancestors, thought the Captain. The Gunslingers had hidden and waited for the main force to walk right past them. The Gunslingers continued their silent charge, and the Captain had no choice but to run and leave the two remaining soldiers to guard his retreat. He glanced back, but the Gunslingers were already gone, and his other two men were on the ground, blood pouring from their helmets.
The Captain cursed his luck. This was no ordinary Gunslinger team. He must have dropped right on top of one of their specialized combat teams. Who were these five Gunslingers that were so easily taking apart his Company? The Captain was deciding what to do next when the radio erupted in shouting.
"Their behind us,"
"Regroup. Regroup."
"Where are they?"
"I just lost two."
"I don't see them."
"Move left, I need cover fire."
"They're on me."
"They got the Lieutenant."
"They're ghosts."
Captain Serai screamed into the Com-link for his men to pull back to his position. He needed a better plan; this wasn't working.
Colt ran along the deer trail where the snow was trampled by deer moving through the forest in search of food. Wes had been raised in the mountains on Corvus and when the snows first came, had taught Colt and the others how to use the deer trails. They were using them now to move quickly around the confused invaders.
"We keep moving," said Colt, taking a knee during a quick rest. "I want to put two miles between them and us while we plan the next attack. They will go slow now, and I bet they stay together."
"Yeah," Toran agreed. "They won't break up into small teams again that we can get to, the next time they will come at us in force."
"Let’s use that," said Austin. "And I know where."
The boys moved out at a run.
Captain Serai ordered his men into a column. The soldiers were spread out at five-foot intervals in a staggered formation. He would be able to react to attack from any direction now. He only needed to move cautiously. The Gunslinger team was still alone and a long way from their camp, but there was no telling when they would choose to head to the camp and get reinforcements. The Captain needed to take the airfield before their ships could take off.
Captain Serai walked behind two of his soldiers. He wasn’t going to walk on point, but his men needed to see him up front. The men were rattled at how efficient the Gunslingers were.
The forest was quiet. Perhaps the Gunslingers had headed to their camp. The column of Caelum came to a one-mile wide open area on the side of the mountain. He had known this was here, and there had been some discussion about whether the west approach was best because of this barren patch. They could have dropped on the other side of the open area, but that would have exposed them during the drop to be seen from the Gunslinger Camp.
&nbs
p; Commander Arius, the Destroyer commander, had decided that the risk was acceptable, and Captain Serai would just have to cross this vulnerable spot as quickly as possible. The Captain opened a Com-link and spoke to his remaining lieutenants.
"If I were them, I would set up sniper teams while we are out in the open. Keep your heads down and don't expose your faceplates to their fire," ordered the Captain.
He led the column out into the open area, his head kept bent, so not to give the Gunslingers a target. He was about half-way across the clearing when he heard an explosion further up the mountain and glanced up reflexively, along with most of his soldiers. The crack of gunfire sounded, and four of his men fell to the ground.
"Curse these Gunslingers," shouted the Captain, lowering his head. "They set up that explosion so we would look up and give them a target."
The Captain re-ordered his men to keep their eyes on the ground. Another explosion sounded, but the Captain, and his men kept their heads down.
"That will only work once, Gunslingers," the Captain muttered to himself.
Four more explosions echoed across the snow, and the Captain heard a roaring sound. The destroyer’s engines were out of action for several weeks; it couldn’t be his ship. Had the Gunslingers discovered them and launched an attack? The ground started trembling. He turned his back to the opposite wood-line and looked up at the sky, searching for ships.
"Sir, the mountain is moving," said one of the soldiers next to him. The Captain stared at the mountain, his eyes taking a moment to understand what he was seeing, and then realization hit him. The Gunslingers hadn't been trying to trick them into looking up; that had just been a bonus for them. He had gone too slow and given the Gunslingers the time they needed to set up a trap.
"Avalanche, run!" screamed Captain Serai to his men.
The Captain ran for the trees, and his men followed as thousands of tons of snow roared toward them. He could feel the snow around his legs moving, and he had to struggle to stay upright and keep running. He passed the first trees just as the wall of snow moved past. The Captain couldn't see. The air was thick with clouds of the swirling white death.
He stopped running and looked back, three of his men were still with him, but the rest were gone, buried under the avalanche of snow. The mission was a failure. His family would feel this dishonor for generations.
"You are under arrest," said a voice.
The Captain spun around and faced four of the Gunslinger devils that had destroyed one of the finest Caelum infantry companies.
"Remove your helmet," ordered Colt.
The four Gunslingers held their weapons pointed at the four remaining Caelum. The Captain removed his helmet and dropped it on the ground.
"I surrender," said the Captain.
"Now remove your Battle Armor," ordered Colt.
"We'll freeze," said the Captain.
"You won't freeze if you're dead," replied Colt, as he pulled back his battle hood.
The Captain looked at the face of the Gunslinger that had defeated him. He was just a boy, one of the students. He had been crushed by a team of students. The Captain stared into the boy's eyes—they were dead and empty. A sickening feeling came over the Captain as he stared into those soulless eyes. He had seen pictures at the Officers Academy, studied them, studied their tactics. But it wasn't possible, they had been defeated three-hundred years ago.
The uniform the boy wore, it was very similar to the ancient Cettise uniform, but everyone had just assumed the Gunslingers were only mimicking the ancient Cettise. The Captain looked closely at the boy's features, the dead eyes, the broad shoulders, his impressive height. There was no doubt for the Captain. He was looking at a descendant of the brutal Cettise that had conquered the galaxy.
"Hurry it up," ordered Colt.
The Captain unfastened his armor and dropped it on the ground, his soldiers following his lead. He was marched by the young Cettise team for about a mile when the fifth member of their team appeared from the forest. That was the one that probably detonated the explosions. They walked for another several miles when an army of Gunslingers met them on the road, led by the one the Captain knew was the Marshal General.
Captain Serai looked at the eyes of the other Gunslinger students—they were all dead and empty. Many the students had the features of the Cettise. The Captain understood then, his fate had been sealed from the moment he dropped onto the planet.
"You've been building a Cettise army," accused the Captain.
"You are guilty of invading the Neutral Territory of the Gunslingers," said the Marshal. "Deputy Hargrath, hang them."
Deputy Hargrath pushed the prisoners under a tree. The Captain scanned a hundred sets of eyes staring at him, dead and unfeeling. These were Cettise young. He remembered the stories in his history textbooks. The Cettise had had brutal training camps for their young, producing unstoppable super soldiers. This wasn’t a Gunslinger Academy—this was a Cettise Youth Training Camp. How could this even be possible? The Cettise were genetically programmed to act only when given orders by the Emperor. If the Fox Emperor had not been killed, the Cettise would never have been defeated.
At that moment, before the world went dark for the Captain, a thought occurred to him—were these Cettise still following the last order of an Emperor that had been killed three hundred years ago?
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Sanon Town
The porch of the dining cabin vibrated from the stomping of boots inside. The students were in a frenzy, many of whom were standing on top of the benches cheering at the top of their voices.
“They’re enjoying themselves,” said Colt.
“You picked a good movie,” replied Cora.
“Wes picked it, Pa never let me watch movies, so I didn’t know what to choose,” replied Colt, glancing in the window at the raucous inside. He caught the occasional glimpse of the flickering images of the movie on an old portable screen.
The Marshal had given Colt the choice of which movie they would watch, a reward for the defense of the Gunslinger territory. Wes had picked Gunslingers at the Battle of Sorano, and Colt agreed.
The movie was based on an actual event that had occurred two hundred years ago when the Raunian Setnai army invaded the colonist's land. Five Gunslinger teams had held for one-hundred forty days against overwhelming odds before being over-run. The movie was now at the final scene, and the students were jumping up and down and cheering for the bravery of the last deputy still alive. The deputy stood over the body of his fallen Gunslinger, swinging his rifle at the invaders. The scene faded to black as the deputy fell over the body of his Gunslinger. The students fell silent, and there wasn't a dry eye in the dining cabin. Garth wiped his eyes with Austin's shirt, but Austin was busy wiping his eyes with Toran’s shirt and didn't notice.
The Marshal stood and walked over to stand in front of the screen as the credits rolled. "Bring your cross-country skis to roll-call tomorrow morning for a twelve-mile hike before breakfast," said the Marshal. "Until then you are on free-time, and I believe the cook has prepared a treat of chocolate and marshmallows.
The students rushed to the trays Deputy Hargrath was laying out on the serving table. The Marshal left the students to their treat and headed outside. Colt and Cora were still on the porch talking when the Marshal walked out. He stopped for a moment and raised a brow at the two young Gunslingers. The Marshal sighed.
“Is this going to be a problem?”
Colt had no idea to what the Marshal was referring, but Cora understood immediately.
“No, sir,” replied Cora. “We’re equal rank, and I know the mission comes first.”
“We’ll see, young lady,” said the Marshal. “Pack your team up, I’m sending you and Brock’s team off-world on an assignment.”
“Really?” asked Cora, her face lighting up.
“Go on, get moving. I want you ready in an hour.”
Cora gave Colt a quick peck on the cheek and rushed off to collect her t
eam. The Marshal had to suppress a laugh. Colt looked like his legs were about to buckle under him.
“I need to see you and your team in my office.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Colt, his face still bright red
The Marshal stepped off the porch and headed toward his office while Colt tried to remember how his legs worked.
"What do you think he wants?" asked Wes, licking chocolate off his fingers.
"Guess we'll find out," answered Garth.
Colt knocked on the door of the Marshal's office and waited.
"Enter," called the Marshal.
Colt opened the door, and his team followed him into the cabin. A long table occupied the center of the room, stacked with books and folders stuffed with paper. Colt recognized some of the papers as the tests they had taken in class last week. The boys walked around the long table to the desk at the far end of the room where the Marshal was sitting. Big fluffy chairs sat in front of the Marshal's desk. Wes headed toward one of the chairs.
"Don't you dare," warned the Marshal, and Wes stopped in his tracks. "Look at your hands and faces, you could have at least washed the chocolate off before coming."
The Marshal pointed at an open door off to one side of the room—it was a washroom. The boys headed over to wash their hands and faces before returning to the Marshal's desk.
"Hands," ordered the Marshal. The boys held their hands up to show the Marshal. "Okay, have a seat." Wes was the first to flop down in one of the fluffy chairs. "Colt, you and your team are about to discover that staying alive on the battlefield is far easier than the next challenge you are about to meet."
"Sir?"
"I received a message from the Emperor. I'm going to read it to you."
Our most beloved Gunslinger Cyness. We are grateful for the dedication you demonstrated as you upheld Our law, and brought to justice those responsible for the unsanctioned attack on Our Imperial territory. We elevate you to Our Most Favored Gunslinger. We hope that when your studies permit, you will come to Our court so that We may look upon you. We have dispatched an Envoy so that We may more fully know Our Most Loyal Gunslinger.