by Danny Loomis
Burbank and Wells, both built like their nickname, stopped on either side of Two Eagles. “You look good as ever, Cap,” Burbank said, giving his hand a squeeze.
“You gonna rescue us from this slave driver?” asked Wells. “He keeps expecting us to do work, of all things.”
Two Eagles gave a shrug. “The Lieutenant said something about punishing you and me for our past sins, and gave ‘em to me as team leaders.”He waved a hand. “Okay, you’ve said your hellos. Now beat it, will you?” They both hurried away, whispering to each other.
Irish shook his head. “Good to see some things don’t change.” He gestured towards the open ramp. “Lead the way, Staff. And give me the lowdown on what’s been happening.”
“Not much with the Scouts. Grant’s request for a squad to do some training was the first really solid assignment the platoon’s had for a couple months. Our upper management kept saying they had special missions for us, but nothing came of it. Hope you got something for us, man.”
“That I do. Also got some tidbits for the Erebus crew. So if you don’t mind, let’s do our briefings at the same time.”
Willy stuck his head around the hatch leading to the bridge. “About time you got back here.” He and Shag stepped through, shaking Irish’s hand while they did so.
“Hi, guys. Thought I’d better drop in. Got too bored down on Eire. You found anything for us to do in space?”
“We came up with some ideas,” Willy said, waving towards the small table on the starboard side. “Why don’t we talk about it? I’m sure you’ve got some goodies to discuss, too.”
For the first few minutes, Irish was updated on the condition of the Erebus. To include repairs done to the corvette.
“Took longer than we thought it would on the front ramp of that beast,” Shag said. “Had to replace the entire set of bolts holding the gasket in place.”
“But it got off all right, didn’t it?”
“Yeah, and left for home. The other ship headed for the other side of the system,” Willy said. “Complained it was too busy ‘round this end of space.”
Irish leaned back with a nod. “Good. That’s one less thing to worry about. Any messages from Grant?”
“Hah. You could say so. Told us ‘good job’ and to tell you to quit playin’ around, and get busy. Seemed to think you’d probably be going out on missions down on Eire, rather than act like a liaison.”
Shag lifted a hand. “I happen to disagree with him on that. First of all, he wasn’t here and didn’t know what you were really doing. Plus from what we’ve heard on the airways, that Banshee thing was super effective. Seems to have resulted in an increase in recruits.”
“Thanks, Shag.” He looked at Two Eagles. “I’ve got a training job for your folks and a few other missions, once you get some snipers trained. Simple missions at first. But I guarantee it will get a lot more interesting later on, and far more than your normal busy.” He handed him a data cube. “Here are the particulars. Once you and your squad are ready, take the shuttle and head on down. Sergeant Nolan is a good co-pilot, and knows where you’re going. Questions?”
“What’s with the load of shoulder-fired missiles and grenade launchers?”
Irish shrugged. “Even though we’re supplying them with information on how to mass produce them, I thought a few to whet their appetite wouldn’t hurt.”
Two Eagles laughed. “You haven’t changed a bit. If a little is good, a lot is even better.”
“An’ while you folks go do that Shag and me’ll be busy keeping the boss entertained doing another mission that Grant wanted done,” Willy said. “We have to do a complete geo-mapping of the system.”
Irish scratched his head. “A geo-what? Never heard of that before.”
“Once you put enough spatial coordinates into a computer and tie it in with planetary coordinates, you can get a detailed program that lets you stand in one place on Eire and be able to tell exactly how far away an object is in space. Even when it’s moving fast, long as it’s in the matrix of data you put in the computer.”
“Why do we need this information? Sounds like overkill to me.”
Willy shrugged. “Y’got me, but Grant says do it, so we do it.”
Irish brightened. “That would let us complete our other mission at the same time. We’d be able to scout out the security set-ups for each of the ship building docks out here.”
Shag sat up straighter. “We gonna go blow something up?”
“Could be. And we’d probably need more explosives from the rebels. Those docks are big.”
“Hm. Not so sure we’d need more,” Shag said, tapping the table. “Lemme do a little research before you bring a potload of stuff up here we don’t really need.”
Willy’s eyebrows drew together. “Not enough explosives? Heh. Like the Captain says, a little more wouldn’t hurt.”
Irish shook his head. “My God, you’d think I was a mad bomber or something.”
He looked around the table.“Anything else? Okay, then let’s cover logistics.”
Next morning Irish watched from the pilot’s seat in the Erebus while the shuttle lifted away. “Good luck, Scout Two,” he called. A double-click was his answer. The shuttle disappeared into cloaking mode, leaving him with a sense of regret. If only he could be in two places at once.
“Not this trip, Skipper,” Shag said. “You got some things to do up here before y’can go back down and have fun again.”
He smiled. “You’re right. And on that note, let’s get with it. This mapping is going to take some time.”
* * *
“Circle it once more,” Shag said, intently studying his monitor.
“Again? I’m starting to get dizzy going ‘round and ‘round,” Willy complained.
“Yeah, but during that last circuit I spotted an additional sensor array, didn’t I?”
Irish moved the ship forward and up before the next trip around the construction dock. He hadn’t realized how large these were. Ten rings encircled the almost-finished battlecruiser, each ring a hundred meters thick. The rings were attached by four bands, equidistant from each other. They were, in effect, the corridors through which personnel and equipment were moved.
Shag gave a shake of his head. “Glad that mean-looking fish isn’t done yet. This is the closest I’ve ever been to a battlecruiser. Hope I don’t get this close to one that’s operational.”
“If the exhaust bells on those Cherenkov engines are any indication of size, we’re lookin’ at monster engines here,” Willy said.
“That they are. Moves that hunk of metal pretty fast, too,” Irish said.
“How many sensor platforms we spotted so far?” Willy asked.
Shag glanced at him. “Eight, I think. Plus eight laser and missile defensive systems.”
Irish quirked an eyebrow at him. “What’s with this thinking bit?”
“Because I just spotted another one, so there might be a couple I haven’t found yet. That’s not all, either. They’ve been making hourly passes ‘round the whole shebang with a shuttle.”
“Hm. Okay, one more circuit and let’s head for the next dock.”
Five long days later, they settled back onto the asteroid that had become their base of operations in the system. Irish gave a sigh, rubbing his eyes. “That was too much like work, guys. At least we were able to break up the monotony of logging coordinates by checking out each of the construction docks when we were in their neighborhood.”
“That was also boring,” Shag said. “Each one of those places was the mirror image of the next. I think the only difference was in the time the security shuttle made its circuit for each of the places.”
“Gonna be tough sneaking into those joints,” Willy said with a shake of his head. “Maybe an all-out attack would get through, but from their defenses I’d say it’d take at least a dreadnought to do it.”
Irish finished shutting the Erebus down, and yawned.
“Maybe. Let’s get some chow and think on it some more later. Don’t know about you two, but this repetitive work wears me down faster than sneak-n-peek missions.”
“You still goin’ back down to Eire in a couple days?” Willy asked while unbuckling.
“Once we verify we’ve got all the coordinates plotted, I’ve got some other things that need taking care of on Eire.”
“What’s more important than blowing up the docks?” Shag asked, ambling ahead of them towards the cubicle their kitchen was in.
“Making sure recruiting efforts for the rebels pick up, for one. Another is coming up with a workable plan to destroy the factory that’s making artillery for the Alliance. Hopefully we could coordinate our attacks.”
Willy collapsed into a chair. “Only if we’re able to accomplish the impossible and blow up those docks.” He waved a hand at Shag. “Hey, bring me a cuppa coffe, would you?”
“Only if you pull first watch,” he said, bringing three steaming cups over to the table. “That way I can catch up on the latest computer game I’m designing.”
Willy snorted. “Man, you’re so full of hot air. Not sure which ends farts most, your mouth or your ass.”
Irish straightened, eyebrows raising. “That’s it. Willy, you’re a genius. How’d you ever think of that?”
“Huh?” Willy’s mouth gaped open. “What’d I do now?”
“Just came up with an answer for destroying those docks. Shag, since Willy thought of the solution this time, it’s your turn to verify we can really do it, plus check the overall timing of it.”
Willy and Shag looked at each other, then back at Irish. There he went again. Whenever inspiration struck, it meant more work for them.
* * *
Irish trotted up to the camouflaged entrance of the rebel base, giving a double-tap on his helmet’s commo. A rectangular opening appeared next to a large rock that snuggled against the base of the boulder-strewn ridge. He studied the opening while entering. Nicely camouflaged.
A grey-haired woman walked over. “Captain Shannon? I’m Aileen, head of Information Services. Brian asked me to meet you. He’s tied up in a meeting for awhile. Thought you might like to inspect our anti-propaganda efforts while you’re waiting for him. If you’ll follow me?”
He shrugged while tagging along behind. The planet didn’t revolve around him, or anyone else. Shouldn’t expect everyone to be eagerly awaiting his arrival. He shuddered at the thought of people treating him that way.
They entered an office with eight desks arrayed around the room, each with someone earnestly talking into a mike. Aileen put a finger to her lips and proceeded to a small office at the rear.
“Welcome to the Information Center,” she said. “Please have a seat, Captain, and I’ll give you a quick briefing on our efforts to date.”
“Thanks for seeing me, Ma’am. I appreciate your being able to talk to me on such short notice. I’d only left word a couple days ago I wanted to meet with you.”
“No problem, I assure you. We have gotten busier ever since you brought the new communication equipment. Expanded from two operators to eight.”
“How’d the ultra low frequency radio help?” Irish asked, growing more interested.
“In the past when we tried to broadcast the truth to counteract the lies being spread by the Legislaturists, our repeater stations would be located and shut down fairly rapidly. Now, we can put one on top of a mountain and beam ultra-low frequency signals to it. This is bounced off satellites and covers the entire world with its signal. Much safer, and can’t be traced.”
Irish looked out the door of her office. “From the activity out front, you must have more than one station in operation.”
Aileen smiled. “Yes, thanks to one of the Confederation soldiers that just arrived. Apparently he’s a communications expert, at least for us he was. Showed us how to send out several news messages on different frequencies by splitting the signal. In fact, we’re almost ready to broadcast on television.”
Brian walked in, a smile on his face. “Thanks for greeting the good Captain, Aileen. You give him an earful of what you’re doing here?”
She blushed, eyes sparkling. “Yes I did, Sir. And thank you for thinking to have me go retrieve him.”
“It was a pleasure.” He patted her on the shoulder. “I wanted to make sure he knew what an important job you were doing. Now, though, I need to steal him away. Do you mind?”
They’d just exited the Information offices when Irish had a thought. “I didn’t see any Long Range Scouts-LRS-around. They out on a mission?”
He shook his head. “No, just got their first trainees. They should be busy for several days with them. Glad you didn’t need a ride back from the Erebus. I heard you were going to bring her down this trip. How’d it go?”
“Better than I thought. Snuck in and out like a ghost. It’s a treat having a ship that big you can creep around in without anyone noticing.”
By now they’d entered Brian’s office. “Like a cup of tea?” he asked.
Once seated, Brian toasted him. “Here’s to success. And speaking of that, we’ve had a huge uptick in recruits from the Burundan continent over the past couple weeks.”
“Not just from the Banshee thing, I’ll bet. Sounds as if Aileen’s department is having a field day being able to broadcast around the world. That ultra-low frequency system is paying for itself in ways we didn’t think about.”
He nodded. “It also helped some of the fence sitters make up their minds when we changed our name to ‘Freedom Party’. We’ve almost doubled our forces, which causes us growing pains. Have to verify the newbies aren’t spies, and train a potload of ‘em who don’t have a skill that isn’t readily usable.”
A thin woman entered, staring intently at Irish. He gave a start and surged to his feet. “Lenora, is that you?”
She rushed into his embrace. “Oh, Ian. I’ve missed you. Missed you.”
When Irish raised his head, Brian had left them alone in the room. He gave Lenora a closer inspection. Dark blonde hair cut close to the head, thin to the point of emaciation. “Damn, Sis, I always told you not to skip your meals.”
She stepped back, a smile breaking through the grim look he’d seen at first. “About time you got back. I was devastated when you left without me. That’ll teach me to get too sick to travel.”
At his urging they sat. “We expected you on the next flight, until we found out the Legs had imposed travel restrictions for ‘persons of interest’ off-planet.”
“Lots of folks were caught and imprisoned at the embarkation points. We got word the crackdown was coming. Moved into the woods, which became a big adventure for me. Until–“
Irish took both her hands. “I know. But the time for grieving is past. Now, I promise you, I’ll find and kill the scum involved.”
Her lips thinned, the hard look returning to her face. “I tried. Damn, how I tried. They’re out of my reach at the moment. You take care of the head, and I’ll keep killing off the body of the beast.” She shook herself and tried to smile. “Enough about that. Tell me more about your adventures since you left.”
Ten minutes passed before she stood. “I’ve got to go. Another mission tonight for my group. Take care, brother.”
Irish was still staring after her when Brian entered. “Glad you got to visit with her. What do you think, now that she’s an adult?”
He shook his head. “Not the best way for her to grow up. Definitely not the sweet, trusting girl I left. I wish she’d been able to get away when I did. All the anger and suffering I saw in her eyes could fill an ocean.” Irish shook himself. “In the meantime, I need to find out if you had anything in the works for the construction docks. We started making plans to destroy them, but I thought we’d better bounce the idea off you first.”
“Go for it. Those ships are too close to being finished. Once done, it would be a lot harder to throw the Legs out of power.”
“We’ll be making an effort in the next couple weeks to take care of them,” Irish said, a tingle of satisfaction coursing through him. “Along that same line, what about the artillery manufacturing plant? Any plans for that?”
Brian leaned his elbows on the table. “Yes, as a matter of fact. We want to wait until later to try that. We’d dearly love to take the plant over, rather than just destroy it.”
Irish drained his cup. “In that case, I’d better get with the LRS squad and update them. Plus, I have a special request of your Intel section, if you don’t mind.”
Brian handed over a data cube. “Already done. The names of those who killed your parents, and the units they’re now in are here. You think a week’s time is enough to take care of this?”
“Brian, you might be the boss of the Freedom Party, but you’re also my friend. I’ll never forget this…”
“Oh, put a cork in it and get on with you,” Brian said, raising his arms. “You’d think you wanted a favor or something the way you gush sometimes.”
EIRE, CITY OF GALWAY (Day +52)
It had been dark for several hours when the shuttle ventured into the northern suburbs of the city of Galway. “Set it down on that five-story building straight ahead,” Irish said. He shifted around again, uncomfortable in the co-pilots seat. Much preferred flying the shuttle himself.
“You got it, Sir.” Nolan slowly lowered them onto the rooftop without a bump.
Two Eagles led Irish off the shuttle and to the roof’s edge before kneeling behind the meter-high wall that ran around the roof. Both were clad in ghillies, leaving their helmets uncovered. Two Eagles had squirreled his set away as had over half the squad. They were all of the same mind. Why get rid of a tool that could still be used in certain circumstances. He flipped up his face shield and sniffed the air. “Y’know, that Nolan character has a faster learning curve for flying than anyone I’ve seen.”
“Thank God for that,” Irish snorted. “I’d rather walk than have one of the Fireplugs fly us.” He scanned the ground below, then the fire escape on the side of the building. “Haven’t seen one of these since I was a kid.”