Harris asked, “We have a way in?”
Tawn sighed. “Straight up through here.”
“If you’re not comfortable, we can move further down and do this exercise again.”
“It’s not that,” Tawn replied. “We still have to deal with them snapping pics every day. We get spotted in that close and they’ll be all over us before we can run.”
“Simple then. We don’t get caught. I brought three cans of matching spray this time. You should be able to blend our blind right in.”
Tawn nodded. “Let’s go then. Before I talk myself out of it.”
Harris followed the slug down the steep terrain of the back of the ridge. The map from the scanner was used to navigate their way forward.
“Four hundred fifty meters… this is gonna be a picnic for you.”
Tawn half smiled. “Let’s hope so. Should have a clean shot at that conveyor motor. It’s been running for two days now.”
As they crawled up the back side of the close hill, a ship began to descend from above them.
“Crap. Pull that blind over us.”
Harris reached into his pack, retrieving the blind and unfolding it.
Tawn said, “Just pull it over us. We don’t have time to spray it.”
The immense ship came down to hover just above the crown of the dome. A dozen winch cables were dropped from the ship down through an opened door in the crown.
Tawn shook her head. “That’s an ore pick-up.”
Harris pulled his scope and zoomed in. “How good a shot are you?”
“What are you proposing?”
“We’re just under five hundred meters to the mine edge. Another five hundred across to the dome, and then a kilometer to the crown. You think you can hit a cable from almost two kilometers?”
Tawn thought for a moment. “Hmm. I’ll take that as a challenge.”
“You wait until they have whatever container they’re picking up almost up to that ship and then pop that cable. Could cause a real mess down below.”
“I like the sound of that.”
“You have a shot from right where we’re at?”
Tawn stared through her scope. “I believe I do.”
Harris chuckled. “Wish I could see inside that dome. That would be an entertaining vid to send back to the Retreat.”
“Check the grounds for me. Make sure there won’t be any surprises when I’m ready for the shot.”
“OK, but wait for me to finish. I want to watch this.”
“You’ve got thirty seconds.”
Harris scanned the areas between their hideaway and the Earther ore freighter. “Looks clean. I’m ready when you are.”
“See that tightened cable? First one is coming up.”
“I feel like I’m spotting at some range competition.”
“Give me quiet…”
A fifty by ten by twenty meter container lifted out of the top of the dome. Tawn took her best aim. The cable snapped and the container dropped back through the open whole.
Harris nodded as he gazed through his spotter scope. “Nice.”
“Wasn’t me. Never pulled the trigger.”
Harris glared. “You let Emma steal the shot?”
“That, or it just snapped on its own.”
“No. That cable was a beast. Could have held three times that without issue.”
Tawn smirked. “Since when are you a shipping expert?”
“Had a couple early deployments as the defense squad on a freighter similar to that. Those hoist cables are meaty suckers. Hey… looks like you get a second chance. Another one just tightened.”
Tawn took aim.
Harris said, “Don’t hesitate this time. You don’t want that slug stealing your glory again.”
“I got this, now shut it.”
The container began to emerge. Tawn squeezed the trigger on her rifle. Harris reacted to the familiar whump of a plasma round exiting the tip. The cable holding the container snapped.
“Nice. That had to be yours. Take that, Emma Costa. You’re competing against a level four now.”
Tawn grinned. “We got a third one coming up.”
Seconds later, as she was squeezing the trigger again, an instant before the familiar whump, the hoist cable on the newest container snapped.
“That one you?”
Tawn sighed. “Nope. She scored another one. She’s either a spectacular shot, way better than me, or she’s in close like we are.”
“Wait. I thought they were going all the way to the south end?”
“They were.”
“Then they shouldn’t be there yet. They would have at least another hour to go.”
Tawn scratched the side of her head. “Yeah… that doesn’t make any sense.”
“Play back each of those shots through your scope. Zoom in as tight as you can. Tell me what you see.”
Tawn complied. “On the first one… cable snapped. Number two… hmm. Small puff of smoke from that plasma round. And the third… nothing again, just a snap.”
Harris shook his head. “That’s not right. Those cables wouldn’t break.”
A voice came from behind the blind. “Hey, idiots?”
Harris looked back. “Bax? How’d you find us?”
“You monkey brains got yourselves tagged on the first camera you came across. Lucky for you I had my guy sitting at the monitor when you showed. Don’t worry, it’s been erased. Nice job finding the blind spot here, but sloppy on getting caught to begin with. I thought you snipers were more thorough than that.”
Tawn scowled. “Yeah, well, I’ve been out of practice for a bit and I’m having to drag the chump around with me.”
Bax gestured toward the dome. “Nice shot on that second cable. Impressive from this distance.”
“I do what I can.”
Harris asked, “What happened with those other two?”
Bax grinned. “You like that? I had one of my guys insert a charge into each of those cables when they were installed on that ship. My investigation is gonna show inferior steel used in the construction. I had the contract for the retrofit. Unfortunately for whatever Earther schmo built those cables, the data will show they took a shortcut. All planted info of course.”
Tawn tilted her head. “How were you able to pull that off?”
“By getting myself into a position of trust. Which you two were extremely helpful with.”
Harris looked back at the freighter. “Why aren’t they hoisting any more?”
Bax shrugged. “Too much to clean up? Don’t know. I’m sure I’ll be getting called back any moment to deal with the situation. I’m thinking we’re gonna send that ship back to have all the cables checked and replaced. Will probably take a week. That sound good to you?”
Harris laughed. “I’ve got no problem with that. Oh, and thanks for tagging me with that tracker.”
Bax smiled. “And thanks for destroying it. Had you not done that I could have stopped you before you revealed yourself to the camera. But I guess you know what you’re doing out here, so…”
“Just don’t try to sneak stuff on us like that,” said Tawn. “Makes you look suspicious. If you feel the need to keep track of us, please ask us and give us a valid reason as to why.”
“Fair enough. And before I go, please take out that conveyor. It’s causing me unneeded stress.”
Bax’s comm signaled an incoming connection. “Yes, I saw that. Will be right there to handle it, General. Bye.”
Chapter 12
_______________________
Tawn lined up a shot at the motor control box. To the tune of a whump, bits of metal flew in all directions, and was followed by a distant crack. Two additional shots split the motor casing, while a third tore into its windings.
Tawn slid backward as Harris lowered the blind to level. “This setup isn’t half bad. Gives us a bit more room under here. I can almost sit upright.”
Tawn shook her head. “It’s a problem. If we have to run we leav
e evidence of this hole we had to dig out.”
“Hadn’t thought of that.”
“It’s called training. Never let them know you are there and never let them know you were there. Makes that mission and future missions a lot easier. Don’t give them anything to look for.”
“Speaking of that. I know you said these rifles are special and don’t leave a beam or trail between the firing tip and target—important for not being seen—but how is it the damage at the other end isn’t identified as a plasma strike?”
Tawn replied, “They’ve done something to it that makes it look different. Don’t know what, as that’s getting into the physics of it, but I can say it takes two full seconds to recharge between shots. Your repeater is ready in about a third of a second.”
“I’ve seen the damage a sniper rifle leaves. Looks the same to me.”
“Instead of a typical plasma burn, they look more like an explosive device was set off. Probably why Bax has been successful at pinning it on sabotage. How the designers pulled it off I couldn’t say.”
“Never heard about anything like that. How long have we had them?”
“These were new to our side in the last few years of the war. They were designed for clandestine work. The Earthers don’t have them.”
Harris said, “We have any other targets to hit today?”
Tawn shrugged. “Might take a shot at one of those diggers. Think it best we wait a while though.”
Harris rubbed the back of his neck. “One thing I don’t get… why aren’t they changing their patterns? Why not do things differently if their important equipment keeps getting blown up?”
“They’re Earthers. Orders come down from the top. They’ve been told to do something a certain way and they’ll keep doing that until specific orders come down to do it differently. That’s the way the Earthers operate.”
“I knew they did that on the battlefield. Didn’t realize it was empire-wide. Must keep the emperor busy answering menial questions.”
Tawn shook her head. “At some level they have designates who are responsible. Those are the people who get rewarded when things go right and executed when they go wrong. And since the Earthers think dying for their emperor is righteous, they have plenty of volunteers for those positions.”
Harris chuckled. “Glad we were born into the right side of this war.”
Tawn set her rifle to her side, rolled over and clasped her thin-gloved fingers together up under the back of her helmet.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m relaxing, you idiot. I just drove for twelve hours and then we did all this. I’d like to get some shut-eye, if it’s OK with you.”
Harris rolled up on his side, putting his free hand up in the air. “Fine. Take a nap. Don’t need a partner who’s being all grumpy.”
“Can you face the other way or lay back or something?”
“Why?”
“Because I feel like you’re staring at me. It’s creepy.”
Harris rolled onto his back. “Again with the grumpy.”
Four hours passed as Harris stared up at the top of the blind. An alert beeped on Tawn’s bracelet.
“What was that for?”
“So I wouldn’t oversleep. Pop us up and let’s do a target check.”
Seconds later, Harris was looking through his scope. “Conveyor is off. Still working on the motor. You want a digger, we have a line on two of them.”
“Any patrols forming out there?”
Harris scanned the area. “None that I can see. Wait… I see Bax.”
Tawn rolled over, pulling up her rifle and looking through the scope. “That must be the general she’s walking with.”
Harris chuckled. “He looks like an overweight stump. Short and round.”
“So he looks like you?”
Harris smirked. “Yeah. I guess he does. A bit more exaggerated in his proportions than I am, but similar in shape. Although most of mine is still muscle.”
Tawn turned with a sarcastic expression. “You keep telling yourself that.”
“Hey, when the time comes for action, I won’t have a problem keeping up. Besides, the ladies like a guy who’s jolly.”
Tawn laughed. “Jolly? Where do you keep coming up with these from?”
“Just trying to keep it entertaining, that’s all.”
“They’re checking out the conveyor. Wonder what’s on that truck.”
“I think we’re about to find out.”
The duo observed as large steel plates were removed from the vehicle.
“They’re shielding it,” said Tawn. “Gonna weld those together to protect it. So much for taking out the motor.”
“You hit that belt and it comes to a halt also. Plenty of parts on that conveyor that will stop it if damaged.”
A voice came from behind them. “You in the blind, don’t move…”
Tawn pulled her Fox-40.
“Rumford sent me. Just listen, as I only have a few seconds. They’re boxing the vital parts of the conveyor. You’ll want new targets. Focus on the diggers for a couple days, and then the transports. Rotate targets if you can.
“The Earther investigators are preparing a report that says they think the damage is coming from snipers. These hills may soon get flooded with patrols. If you see groups of guards forming up, be prepared to evac. That’s all. Good luck.”
Harris shook his head. “I sure don’t like the fact that these people can just walk up behind us.”
Tawn sighed. “Our mission here on Eden might be at an end. Kind of surprised it took the Earthers this long to change tactics. I know I said they are slow to change, but I’ve been shocked by their behavior to date. Bax must really be fouling them up in there.”
Harris looked out through the flap. “We have diggers at nine and eleven. Take your pick.”
“I’ll take the far one at eleven. After, we’ll observe for about thirty seconds and collapse again.”
Harris asked, “How we gonna handle watching for guard squads forming up?”
“I guess we’ll have to pop up every half hour or so for a quick check.”
Harris scanned the mining areas. “What we need is a disguised camera we can set out permanently to make observations through. I don’t like this popping up and down stuff. We’re just begging to be discovered.”
“We have a couple cameras in the APC.”
“Why aren’t we using them?”
“Didn’t think we needed to. Wasn’t anticipating the need for a constant watch.”
Harris chuckled.
“What’s so funny?”
I was just thinking about how bored I’ve been between shots. Had I known we had cameras I’d have brought them out just for that. While watching Earthers work isn’t five-star entertainment, it sure would beat staring at the top of this blind for hours on end.”
Tawn nodded. “I could see that. How about this. We take out a digger, lay low for an hour, and then one of us goes back to the APC for the cameras.”
“I’d be more than happy to make that effort. Where in the APC are the cameras kept?”
“Passenger side, almost to the back hatch, under the bench.”
“Fields all look clear. You’re free to take your shot.”
Tawn lined up the vehicle that was grinding away at the eleven o’clock reference angle. A single round exploded a hydraulic junction, sending sprays of fluid into the hot Eden air. The digger’s mighty blades fell silent as all pressure was lost. Workers started scrambling to stop the leak.
Harris nodded. “Nice. That will take some time to repair.”
“I think Emma just shut down the digger at nine.”
Harris moved his scope. “Flames again. We should do flames next time. Nothing like damage that yields more damage.”
Tawn shook her head. “We don’t have a shot at the fuel controls from this side. We can do that to a truck next time if you like.”
“I like.”
Seconds later, the blin
d was lowered to level and an hour of waiting began. When the alert went off on Tawn’s bracelet, Harris was eager to get to work.
He popped the blind up, opened the flap, and the Biomarines scanned the grounds for activity.
“No patrols forming up,” said Harris. “Can I go?”
“Give me a sec. No need to rush.”
Harris chuckled. “No need for you maybe. For me this is vital to maintaining my sanity.”
“OK. Looks clear out there. Stick to the path on your scanner. And keep your eyes peeled for patrols. Just because we haven’t seen any forming up doesn’t mean they aren’t out there.”
“That’s a six hour hike back to the vehicle. You sure it wouldn’t be better for us both to go?”
“For what purpose?”
“For the purpose of us not being separated in case there’s an emergency.”
“Like you falling in a hole or something?”
Harris chuckled. “Wouldn’t you want to be there to see that?”
“We’ll have to cover over our hole here.”
“We can dig it out again when we get back. Not hard to do. I just think it’s better if we stick together.”
Tawn nodded. “OK. Let’s get this going, then.”
The blind was broken down, folded up, and stowed. They filled the hole and double-checked the area for signs of Humans having been there. There were none.
After a six hour hike back to the APC, two hours were taken for sonic showers followed by a quick meal. Another six hour jog had them back at the starting point. Harris began to rake sand out of the hole as Tawn made an effort to place the cameras.
“OK. They’re set. Give me the blind and I’ll arrange it.”
Harris pulled it from his pack.
Tawn said, “Don’t think we’ll need the matching spray this time. Putting it right where it was.”
Several minutes of adjustments saw the blind back in place and its crew inside. Harris connected the camera feeds to his scan device.
“I have connections… and images.”
“You should be able to pan and zoom with either one.” Tawn lay on her back with her fingers clasped behind her helmet.
“You taking another nap?”
“Yep. I need my beauty rest. And if you make any remarks about that, I’ll beat you to within a millimeter of your life and then shove you out where the Earthers can find you.”
ARMS Jebwa Atrocity Page 11