"I do not see any way to wait for this to clear and still maintain our schedule," Lucky said. "We will have to find another way."
Jason slammed the facemask back down in disgust. "Let's go ... no point in wasting time watching the yokels," he said, reversing their column order and taking point. He led them back down the way they'd come and was consulting the map he had projected on his facemask when the proximity alarm on his armor sounded. Up ahead to the right was just a sliver of something much hotter than the surrounding buildings peeking around a corner and showing up on the thermals like a bright flare. He keyed the team channel and made sure the others spotted what looked like someone lying in wait. "You guys see that up ahead, right?"
"Yes."
"Affirmative."
"Let's close up ranks. I want you both close enough to grab or blast them if they try anything when I walk by," Jason said and slowed down so the other two could crowd up behind him. It wasn't a smart tactic, as a single explosive round or trap could take out the whole team, but Jason thought it was a minimal risk for the thirty seconds it would take to see what was hiding up ahead.
As soon as he walked by he could see a shadow try to press itself even further into the corner before Crusher, apparently having formulated a plan of his own and neglecting to tell the others, shot his arm into the corner and pulled out a squealing, struggling little Veran.
"You'll want to be quiet unless you want us to toss you into that melee behind us," Crusher said. The Veran stopped struggling immediately, but Jason could see the two smaller arms moving up as he thought Crusher was too distracted to notice. He walked over and pushed the plasma rifle against the alien’s midsection.
"We know all about your smaller arms there, friend, and how sneaky you can be with them," Jason said. "Put them down or we'll kill you here and move on."
"I wasn't doing anything," the Veran protested. "I had an itch."
"Looks like all Verans are sneaky, underhanded little thieves," Crusher said, pulling his captive in close and baring his teeth.
"No need for that sort of prejudice or threats of violence," the Veran protested, still struggling a bit. "You grabbed me, remember? I was just trying to get back home without getting caught up in the fighting."
"Is there somewhere we can talk that isn't out in the open?" Jason asked.
"Yes! Good idea to get off the streets right now," the Veran said enthusiastically. "Just through that sub-basement entrance. It's where I was actually heading when you interrupted me."
"Lucky, you first," Jason said. "Crusher, keep a tight grip on our new friend."
They carefully moved back across the street to the short, narrow flight of stairs that led down to the dark maw of the basement entrance. Lucky moved confidently down the steps, stopping at the door and reaching around to grab something before they heard a sharp snap.
"I have disabled the antipersonnel trap that was set up in the doorway," Lucky reported. The Veran began to wheeze as Crusher squeezed his throat at the news. "I will clear the rest of the room. Standby."
It was another forty-five seconds before Lucky called the all clear and they moved the rest of the way into the basement. Jason could tell right away that this wasn't where the Veran was calling home, but it also looked like it didn't see much activity from anyone else.
"So where is your home?" Jason asked. "Nobody has been staying here for quite some time." All he heard in response were some wet gurgles. "Go ahead and give him enough slack to breath, Crusher. Actually, just drop him ... if he runs go ahead and shoot him." A moment later there was a light thud and some fevered gasping.
"You have a strange way of saying 'hey, thanks for the help,'" the Veran complained.
"Oh, was that doorway mine you led us into supposed to be helpful?" Jason asked.
"Helpful to me," the Veran muttered before getting kicked by Crusher. It wasn't a hard kick, but for the diminutive alien it still elicited a sharp grunt.
"What's your name?" Jason asked, waving Crusher back a few steps and offering the alien one of his water bottles.
"Why?" the Veran asked while suspiciously sniffing the water before taking a drink.
"I'm going to be honest; we could use a local guide right now," Jason said, deciding to go for broke. "You seem to have been able to thrive down here by yourself so I'm sure you know every corner and crack in this city."
"Why should I trust you?"
"We have a Veran on our crew," Crusher said. "He could vouch for us if you'd like."
The Veran stared up at Crusher as if he were completely dense. "What the ... so you assume that I'll just take the word of some random Veran you happen to have with you? That's more than a little offensive ... your Veran could be a complete lying ass head for all I know."
Jason choked off a laugh at how his implant had decided to translate that for him while the others simply nodded in agreement.
"He does have a point, Captain," Lucky said.
"Forget about who else is on our crew," Jason said. "What do you want that you think we'd have for trade?"
"When you say 'crew' I'm assuming that you have a ship nearby."
"Possibly," Jason said evasively.
"I want passage off this planet," the Veran said, folding both sets of his arms across his torso.
"That's not practical right now for a few reasons," Jason said. "Could we work out a trade for the promise of future payment?"
"We might be able to work something out. If you leave supplies and a transponder I can use to contact you with the promise that you'll find a way to get me off Vyrt, I'll be willing to provide some limited tour guide services, but the quality of service will be proportional to what you're willing to give. My name is Jer-An, by the way." He pronounced it more like 'Jur-Ann' but Crusher couldn't help making the obvious comparison.
"Jerran the Veran," he said, laughing as he deliberately mispronounced the name. Jason even had a small chuckle himself before he looked and saw the livid expression on Jer-An's face.
"NOBODY CALLS ME THAT!!" he screeched before running up Jason's back, climbing with all six limbs, and launching himself through the air and landing with his legs on Crusher's shoulders, straddling his face. He was holding on with his two smaller arms and raining blows down on Crusher's head with the other two.
Crusher, his voice muffled by the small Veran body covering his face, was flailing about the room trying to dislodge Jer-An while the smaller alien was still wildly punching and screaming unintelligibly. Jason just stood there, dumbstruck, as a scenario he couldn't have possibly predicted was playing out in front of him. Lucky, logical as always, walked over and pulled one of Jason's sidearms off his belt, making sure it was a stunner and not a plasma pistol, and shot the still-berserk Veran in the back. The caterwauling stopped immediately and Jer-An fell off of Crusher's shoulders to land in a heap on the floor.
"Nice catch, champ," Jason said with disgust. "We still need him."
Crusher looked over with a wild look in his eyes and rushed at him. Jason braced, ready for another fight, when Crusher pulled up short and snatched the water bottle from his hand. He was spitting and making gagging noises while using the entire bottle to flush out his mouth and nose. Still retching, he handed Jason the bottle back.
"What the hell? You used one-third of my water to wash your mouth out?" Jason asked.
"You stick your face down there," Crusher snarled, pointing at Jer-An. "I don't think he's bathed in years and I don't even want to think about what horrors those pants have seen."
"You should not have opened your mouth to scream," Lucky pointed out.
"Let's just drop it," Crusher said with one more gagging sound and a shudder. Lucky handed Jason his stunner back as Crusher continued to stomp around and mutter curses.
"Why didn't you just use your own weapons?" Jason asked.
"Why should I use my own energy when you're carrying a perfectly workable weapon on your belt?" Lucky asked. Jason just rolled his eyes and reattached the weapo
n with a metallic click.
"What happened?" Jer-An asked, slurring his words as he sat up and rubbed the shoulder where he’d landed.
"We had to stun you," Jason said. "I apologize for that, but you attacked my friend over there and didn't seem to be calming down anytime soon."
"I attacked him?" Jer-An asked, completely confused. "That doesn't seem very smart."
"What's the last thing you remember?" Jason asked. With any luck, the side-effects of the stunner would have smoothed over the entire incident.
"I remember we agreed to terms for my help, but you never said specifically what you could offer besides a promise of later passage," Jer-An said. "What could have possibly prompted me to attack a Galvetic warrior?"
"A simple misunderstanding," Jason said, waving it away. "Nothing to worry about now. Shall we get down to specifics?"
"Sure," Jer-An said, eyeing Crusher nervously. "What is it, exactly, you need?"
"There's another group of offworlders about four-point-five kilometers slightly north and east of here," Jason said. "It'll likely be a small group, well-armed, and not interested in engaging the locals for any reason."
"Oh, that bunch," Jer-An said with a nod. "What do you want with them?"
"We have some business with them that you don't need to know about for your job," Jason said in a pleasant voice.
"That's where you're wrong," Jer-An disagreed. "If you go in there, cause all kinds of trouble and then leave, they will find out whomever worked with you and make them talk."
"If we're successful they won't be around to cause any more trouble," Jason said. "We're only asking for a discreet approach to their location. We'll handle everything from there."
Jer-An tapped his chin with his long fingers, considering the offer. "I'll still want your promise that you'll find a way to get me out of here," he said finally.
"Done," Jason said.
"But because I don't believe you'll keep that promise, I'm going to want some other, more tangible items," Jer-An said. "First, I want a portable slip-com unit. I also want some of the weaponry I see you carrying around."
"Here," Jason said, handing him the plasma rifle he'd been carrying. "Anything else?"
Jer-An's brows went up a notch as he reached out for the weapon. "An armored vehicle?" he asked hopefully.
"If we had one of those we'd be using it right now," Jason pointed out.
"Just some rations and a water filtration unit then," Jer-An said.
"Done," Jason said, standing up. "How long until we can leave?"
"Follow me to where I stay," Jer-An said. "I'll need to grab some stuff, but I know a shortcut that will make the trip quick and safe."
Chapter 14
"Captain, the only way I can get a portable slip-com unit is to take an antenna from one of the Twins," Twingo said. "Our fabricator isn't capable of manufacturing that part."
"Do it," Jason said. "We won't need them anytime soon and they each have two." The semi-intelligent drones that were in launch bays along the Phoenix's backbone, referred to as the “Twins” by the crew, weren't often used but they were exceptionally outfitted, including a pair of redundant slip-com systems each.
"I'll get on it now," Twingo said before killing the channel.
"My engineer is working on your com unit now," Jason said as Jer-An was collecting an odd assortment of gear and putting it into an over-the-shoulder bag.
"I heard," Jer-An said. "Thank you. That makes me slightly more inclined to trust you."
They had followed Jer-An from the basement to a narrow passageway that seemed to take them to the next building over. From there they had to squeeze down a vertical shaft via a rusty ladder anchored against the wall into a cramped chamber that had a heavy blast door that could be swung up and latched to seal off the tunnel.
"This place used to be a machine room," Jer-An explained as he saw his guests looking around. "Backup generators and water pumps, mostly. I stripped the machinery down to trade or repurpose and now I stay down here where it's safe. Not too many people venturing into the lower levels these days."
"Why not?" Crusher asked in alarm. His dislike of cramped spaces, and especially underground cramped spaces, was legendary.
"The buildings are beginning to fail," Jer-An said simply. "Surely you noticed all the recent collapses on your way in."
Crusher actually let out a pathetic whine as he looked around the cramped space, no doubt thinking of being trapped by hundreds of tons of debris if the building overhead decided to give up the fight.
"Don't worry," Jer-An said with a laugh. "This building has a hardened alloy structure, not duracrete. Not only that, but there's a way to escape from this room that doesn't involve climbing back up that shaft."
"Your shortcut?" Jason surmised.
"One and the same," Jer-An said, still smiling. "Give me a hand with the bed."
Jason grabbed one end of the small bunk and slid it across the room to reveal what looked like just a steel plate the previous machinery would have been mounted to. Definitely too heavy for him to easily lift. Jer-An walked over to the other side of the room and slid a cable/pulley winch across on a track so that it was over the plate. After he'd let out some slack he slipped the hook through a ring on the steel plate and began to pull.
Once the plate was at about a forty-five degree angle Jason could make out a rough-cut tunnel under it leading out of the small machinery room. The jagged edges of the opening led him to believe that Jer-An had likely done this over many years with simple hand tools.
"You do this yourself?" he asked.
"Yes," Jer-An confirmed. "It took five years."
"How did you know there was something under there to get to?" Crusher asked, his curiosity overcoming his anxiety.
"I was part of a team that tried to come in and recover suspected cultural artifacts from the next building over," Jer-An said quietly. "It was a depository for two museums in neighboring cities. Everything was gone, of course, but the people who convinced us to come were adamant that the vault would have withstood against all that's happened here.
"I'm the only one of my team left alive. The gangs immediately fought it out over our ship, which of course was destroyed in the process. They then went about hunting us down one by one for sport or food."
"That's quite a story, Jer-An," Jason said with real sympathy. "What was your role on the recovery team?"
"Technician," Jer-An said as he grabbed a headlight and slipped it down over his smooth, bulbous skull. "I had no real interest in cultural treasures from other species. I was just there to keep the equipment running. Anyway ... we had detailed schematics of the buildings in the surrounding area as well as the local infrastructure. Once I found and dismantled my hiding hole here I found that this was three-point-six meters above one of the subterranean transit tracks."
"Ah," Jason said. "So the subway tracks were actually unmolested? Where I'm from they're sort of a shelter for vagabonds even when they were in use."
"Subway ... I like that," Jer-An said. "Short and to the point."
"Unlike this story," Crusher mumbled.
"It's almost over," Jer-An said indignantly. "You asked me, I didn't want to bring all this up. As I was saying ... once I figured out I was above the old transit tube I began digging away, mostly because I had nothing better to do than avoid being dinner for a few of the more feral species up there.
"When I broke through I was shocked to find it in pristine condition, but as I explored I began finding old tech diagrams and construction equipment. As it turns out our information was incorrect. The tube below us was part of an expansion project that was never finish before the planet was ... depopulated. It's sealed off from the rest of the system and nobody but me knows it exists."
"This is too perfect," Jason said quietly to Crusher and Lucky as Jer-An went about tossing a rope ladder down into the hole. "This means that even if the crew holding the netjere is smart enough to seal off subway access they won't know ab
out these tunnels. Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll take us right up under them."
"When have we ever gotten that lucky?" Crusher asked.
"Are you kidding me?" Jason said. "You just happened to grab the one being on this planet who knows a direct and unfettered way to get to the objective? That's pretty damn lucky."
"Oh yes ... I felt the soft, warm embrace of fortune earlier," Crusher said. "Oh wait, that was a filthy little Veran straddling my face, grinding his unwashed—”
"The point is," Jason said quickly as Jer-An popped his head back up out of the hole, "we have a direct line now and just gained an element of surprise."
"Are you three going to talk all night or can we get going?" Jer-An said from the opening.
"Let's go," Jason said, shouldering his pack and putting his helmet on. "By the way, do you still have the schematics of the surrounding area?"
"I've got better," Jer-An said. "The work crews left more complete and accurate drawings at the worksite near where you want to go."
****
"This is nice," Crusher remarked. "Most tunnels we've found ourselves in aren't nearly so clean. This one still even smells like new construction."
"It is a nice change of pace," Jason said. "Normally we'd be slogging through a sewer."
The tunnel they were in was pristine with walls sheathed in some dull alloy and a concrete track bed. The magnetic rails hadn't been installed yet so the journey was no more stressful than a stroll down a well-maintained sidewalk. Jason knew Lucky would be keeping a close eye on Jer-An for any sort of treachery so he kept the sensors on his armor scanning the surrounding area and his own eyes on where he was putting his feet.
It was a few kilometers before they came to a Y-junction and two more narrow tunnels split off from the main tube they'd been in. Without a word Jer-An took the right tunnel. Jason walked up and reached into Lucky's pack, pulling out a small black disc and depressing the button in the middle. He stuck it on the flat portion of wall between the two branching tunnels and hustled to catch up, watching as a green status indicator lit up on his helmet HUD.
Omega Force 7: Redemption Page 15