by C. R. Daems
"Yes, sir. And afterward?"
"Have the pilot rendezvous with Douglas. We may need you, but I won't know where until the Gurk show." I left Haber and the others and bordered the shuttle.
"Back to the palace?" Douglas asked.
"Yes. You can drop me off and then find yourself someplace out of sight to watch. A little advance notice wouldn't hurt," I said, already considering how best to deploy the Guard.
* * *
"I can't believe one of the Omoms would consort with the Gurk, and worse, an outside group to overthrow the rightful ruler of Blackwood. Like Sanaz, I was designated by the Omoms when I was a child to fill the position of Holy One, as is our tradition," Nastya said after hearing the earlier events and my conclusion. Her daughter, Heydar, Elijah, and I sat in her private study. "And you expect Colonel Prakash to come here? Why?"
"To kill me and ensure you resign. He will believe the rumors. That his assault on the skimmers killed ten Black Guards, that I have five at the site—whom he will have dispatched troops with orders to kill—and that I'm left with only five Black Guards. I'm sure he and his supporter have some story why they had to storm the palace to free you and why I killed you and your daughter."
"Mother!" Sanaz grabbed Nastya's hand and her face paled as her eyes darted to the door.
Nastya put her arm around her. "Captain Sapir is quite capable of defending us, Sanaz. She has been briefing us on what she believes Colonel Prakash plans to do and why, not what will happen." She kissed her daughter on the forehead. "What are you planning, Captain Sapir?"
"That depends on what he actually does. So far, we cannot prove he was responsible for the man with the bomb or the attack on the skimmers. He needs to demonstrate aggression toward you by storming the palace. If he does, I can engage him and his troops. That will give you cause to arrest any that survive." I spoke of survivors mostly for Nastya's sake, as I doubted there would be any. They would be wearing combat gear, and we would be shooting to kill.
* * *
While we waited, I had Elijah distribute eleven Guards in ones and twos in the empty offices and rooms along the main corridor before the army guards arrived—what they didn't know they couldn't divulge. I kept four Guards in the Holy One's area: one each with Nastya and Sanaz and two to guard the entrance.
Heydar chose to stay in the Holy One's area to better direct his troops. He was rightly concerned that the Gurk might shoot first without warning. He had been very specific that the Holy One didn't want them to resist the Gurk if they tried to enter the palace.
I had installed video feeds capable of hearing and seeing activity in the main hallway, and each army guard had a headset to communicate with General Heydar. We had our Mfis loaded with HEIAP rounds.
Now all we needed was for the Gurk to cooperate.
* * *
Two marine combat shuttles from the Crouching Tiger arrived at the downed skimmer location with all systems in passive mode and stayed circling the area at fifty thousand meters. Even with the systems in passive mode, the five Guards' heat signatures were plain to see.
"Sergeant Haber, this is Lieutenant Sutton from the Crouching Tiger. Colonel Berger sent me to referee your coming disagreement with the Gurk. I understand they might be planning to send combat shuttles to an Mfw contest."
"We'd appreciate the help, Lieutenant. Your riot shields are very nice, but I doubt they are adequate against a combat shuttle's weapons."
"I wouldn't recommend you hide behind them. We'll give you enough notice to find better cover," Sutton said, and the connection went silent.
An hour later, Sutton broke the silence. "Party time, Sergeant Haber. I have two army combat shuttles approaching from the north. You may want to find that cover we discussed," he said, his voice rising with excitement. He watched as the little red dots, heat signals from Haber and the other Guards, began moving apart, making it harder for the approaching shuttles to target them. The shuttles came in slowly, spaced a hundred meters apart. By now the red dots looked to have found some cover, since several were partially or completely hidden from view.
"Get ready to go active," Sutton said as he began a slow descent, waiting for the shuttles to prove friendly or hostile. He received ready acknowledgements from the second shuttle and smiled with his hand on the engine's throttles.
"Bogy one is firing with machine guns," said the electronic counter measures operator into the open mike.
"All systems active!" Sutton said as the engines responded to his demand for power, throwing everyone into their seats. "Fire when ready."
Moments later, the right side turret began spitting twenty-five millimeter bullets. The shuttle that had been designated bogy one banked hard right after it was hit by the rain of bullets. Seconds later, the left turret began firing. Bogy two hadn't reacted as quickly and appeared to have suffered a crippling blow as it headed for the ground, trailing smoke and debris.
"I have a lock on bogy one."
"Fire."
"Missile away," said the weapons operator.
Sutton watched the missile streak toward the wounded shuttle, and then bogy one exploded. He turned toward the downed shuttle but noticed the red dots were already halfway there. As he watched, red dots emerged from bogy two, only to stop and disappear. He presumed this meant the Guard had killed those who had survived the crash and had tried to escape the shuttle before it exploded. He took one more pass over bogy one before landing near bogy two while the other combat shuttle maintained watch overhead.
When he exited, Sergeant Haber was waiting.
She gave a shallow bow. "That was good timing, Lieutenant. There isn't much to hide behind this close to the ocean. Those shuttles' guns would soon have shredded any trees we could find to hide behind, and our riot shields would only provide limited protection against twenty-five millimeter shells. And with the rate of fire from those guns, you don't dare peek out for a shot."
"Anyone left in the shuttle?" Sutton nodded toward the downed shuttle.
"They'll be roast meat if there are. We're ready to go if you are."
"How many left to deal with?" Sutton said as he waved them to enter the shuttle.
"I was told the Gurk's guard numbered around fifty. Our captain killed four and Corporal Toch two during introductions. We killed around twelve here, judging by the number in the downed shuttle, so I estimate a little over thirty," Haber said and then smiled. "They won't need our help with that few, but we should go anyway. Captain Sapir will want to see that we are safe."
* * *
I watched as two Gurk shuttles settled to the ground simultaneously, one twenty meters from the front entrance to the palace and one twenty meters from the rear entrance. They each disgorged fifteen or so Gurks in honor guard uniforms. Both pairs of outside palace guards immediately stepped away from the doors with their hands well away from the automatic weapons hanging from straps around their shoulders. One of the army guards even saluted the Gurk major as he approached. He smiled as the other guard opened the door for him.
"Check the rooms," he said as he marched down the hallway.
This would test the critical part of my deployment. With only one or two Guards in a room, they should be able to find hiding places to avoid detection—unless the rooms were given a thorough search. That would be illogical given the information Prakash had—only five or six Black Guards in the palace, and the army wasn't giving any resistance.
To my relief, the troopers weren't entering the rooms. One opened each door and the other gave it a quick glance without entering and then rushed to keep up with the group advancing down the hallway. Just short of the entrance to the Holy One's area, Major Gowad held up his arm and both groups of fifteen stopped.
"Captain Sapir, Colonel Prakash demands your immediate surrender. You are greatly outnumbered, and we are in combat gear and have military grade weapons with metal piercing rounds. You have five minutes to decide. Holy One, Colonel Prakash is concerned about your safety and knows you ca
n negotiate a reasonable solution when the Black Guard has gone. If they choose to fight, they will be putting you and your daughter's safety at risk."
He was using some sort of megaphone, as he could be heard anywhere in the palace and for some distance outside. A good strategy—we tried to save the Holy One, but the Black Guard wouldn't release her and chose to fight to the death, which is their tradition. If we did surrender, I had no doubt they would fire on us like they had the skimmers. And they would kill the Holy One and her daughter next.
"Lieutenant Douglas, are you in place?" I said into my Mfi after setting it to our prearranged frequency.
"Yes, Captain. I have three combat shuttles at your disposal. Sergeant Haber wants you to know they are all healthy and bored."
"The life of a Jax Marine and Guard. Those two Gurk shuttles are not to leave the party without my permission."
"They will be here when the party is over," Douglas replied with an amused snort.
I set my Mfi timer to twenty seconds and clicked on start.
At fifteen seconds, Corporal Preis cut the palace power and the lights went off.
By ten seconds, I predicted every Gurk would have switched on their night-vision goggles, and Corporal Volpe and Rong threw flash stars into the hallway and turned away.
At zero, the doors opened and I slid into the hallway with thirteen Black Guards, firing HEIAP rounds.
It was chaos. The Gurks staggered into walls and each other. The exploding stars would normally blind a person for fifteen to twenty seconds if you didn't rub your eyes. But with night-vision goggles many would have permanent damage—not that it mattered.
A few Gurks were firing hoping to hit something, and they were—their fellow Gurks. Others had pulled off their helmets hoping that would help—it didn't. And still others were running helter-skelter.
All in vain, as the Black Guard began shooting them. Bodies were torn to shreds as bullets ripped through reinforced armor plate and exploded into flesh and bone. The nightmare lasted only seconds but would be remembered for years. As quiet descended on the building, I heard two explosions outside and seconds later the fire of a shuttle machine gun. Then silence.
I rose and headed for the front door. "Lieutenant Elijah, check the status of our troops, see if any of the Gurks survived, and check if General Heydar's troops can get started cleaning this up. I don't think they will want our help," I said while I walked back to the Holy One's study where I had left Nastya and her daughter.
"Are you hurt?" Nastya asked, concern written on her face and in her voice. The two Guards were also staring at me. I looked down wondering if I had been wounded and saw my uniform splattered with blood and ... human matter.
"No, Holy One. The Gurk entered in Combat Gear with military grade weapons, capable of piercing metal and masonry. We had to respond in kind. They are dead."
"Colonel Prakash?"
"They are all dead. If you will excuse me, I'll get cleaned up." I left feeling numb, unable to believe I hadn't noticed how I looked and hadn't cleaned up before going to see Nastya and her daughter. I had done my duty—saved my clients and protected my family by my tactics—but it felt like butchery. I washed, changed my uniform, and meditated until my mind had quieted. When I entered Nastya's study some time later, the room was silent. General Heydar was there looking tired and pale. Nastya had her arm around Sanaz, but her gaze looked to be far away.
"General Heydar informs me that ... the entire Gurk security force is dead. Was that necessary?" she asked. It was an accusation of unnecessary force.
"Holy One, when you can quiet your mind, you will know it was the reason you hired the Jax. You knew Colonel Prakash would not submit without a fight. You didn't want the army to fight him and his troops. You didn't want Blackwood troops killing Blackwood clan. Now the problem is solved and you can blame the Jax."
"How dare you—" Heydar came out of his seat with his hand on his laser, but Nastya stopped him with a raised hand.
"She's right—"
"Mother, she's a murderer and accusing you of ..." Sanaz shouted, her smooth face tense with anger.
"No, my child. Captain Sapir is right. Unlike Colonel Prakash, she was not seeking revenge and did not like killing the Gurk. It was duty. Like her, I'm upset at the necessity of having to take human life and my mind is not at peace. And yes, I hired the Jax to do what I didn't want Blackwood to do—kill each other." She paused, again gazing off into the distance. No one spoke into the silence. I was content to wait while she decided on a path forward. "You believe there is an Omom plotting with Outpost for some purpose?"
"That is my assessment based on the colonel's actions. I believe their first attempt was to embarrass the Guard and use that to have you replaced. When that failed, Prakash planned to kill you and blame it on the Jax. It could just be a jealous Omom wanting your position, but I suspect it has something to do with Outpost wanting to create a Helix Alliance. A greedy Omom and a power hungry leader." I collapsed into a meditating posture, seeing Nastya close her eyes and sensing she would need time to digest what I had conjectured. She knew the Omoms and had been at Outpost for the meeting of the planet leaders.
"I agree, which means the threat is not over; however, I believe having the Black Guard accompany me to see the clans my serve the Omom's cause and be more dangerous than a potential assassination. Give me a few days to consider the situation. Thank you, Dragon Sapir, for your honesty."
My detail and I boarded the Crouching Tiger three days later, having negotiated a new contract.
* * *
"Is part of the Black Guard's evolution negotiating contracts?" Colonel Berger took a sip of his wine. He seemed amused.
"Dragons have no trouble with duty, Berger, but I hear some have trouble with tradition." Captain Blatt looked serious. "And this is not the first time for Sapir. I think she's safe this time since it's what the Jax wanted, an alliance."
"How? I'd imagine the Black Guard is hated on Blackwood," Berger said, frowning.
"We are, and that is the reason Nastya terminated the prior contract. She thought having the Guard accompany her on her visit to the clan would be taken negatively and play into her opponent's agenda. She decided to confront the threat directly and called a meeting of the senior Omoms. There, she informed them of my suspicions about the collusion with the Gurk to have her killed. And then said if further attempts on her life occurred, she would hire the Black Guard to investigate."
Berger choked on his wine. "That has got to be the threat of the century: you either cease your plot or I'll send the most blood-thirsty Black Guard on Jax after you." He held up his hand. "Sorry, Sapir. I know you are anything but blood-thirsty, but you have to agree that from their perspective, you just slaughtered fifty elite security guards and are reported to have killed a lot of people at Lanzhou, New Kief, and Halo." He looked to Blatt, who nodded agreement.
Even I had to agree. After each assignment it had taken weeks and sometimes months—not to absolve myself, but to convince myself that my opponents had given me little choice and my actions were not made out of hate or for glory and gave me no pleasure.
"I agree, Colonel Berger. She then used that to justify contracting a Jax cruiser in Blackwood space as necessary to protect Blackwood from further Outpost interference. Of course, that also reinforced her threat to call me back if necessary."
"I think the JCC will be pleased with the outcome. It not only blocks Outpost from forming an alliance, but also may lead to systems like Safort, Haven, Kaycia, and Chancel contracting with us. I imagine the JCC will give Blackwood and any others a very favorable rate," Blatt said.
* * *
When I arrived back at Sasser Mountain, Hada was—to my disappointment—on another assignment. We had discussed my feeling uncomfortable around civilians, and she had agreed to help me on our next after-action leave. This last assignment hadn't helped. It had reinforced my detachment from everything except duty. When not working with the third phase candid
ates or teaching the whip, I spent my free time in meditation. That kept me from obsessing over what couldn't be changed, what couldn't have been avoided without worse consequences.
Commander Wexler waited two weeks before calling me to his office to discuss my after-action report. He might have been very traditional, but he was also very perceptive and realized that at first, I wasn't ready to discuss it.
"Sit, Sapir," Wexler said after I had performed the ritual bow. "I imagine you are the only one not happy with the outcome. The JCC got what they hoped for, I'm pleased you had no losses, and your detail considers you a seer or a miracle worker, depending on who you talk to. I know you are at peace with the assignment but are troubled with the reputation you are getting as a heartless and ruthless killer. I've talked to a lot of people, and everyone who knows you considers you sensitive and compassionate."
"Yes, sir. I don't want the Guard to be considered heartless killers who enjoy killing. Neither I nor anyone I've had on assignment with me enjoys killing. We all feel the deaths we cause in the course of doing our duty. They are just following my orders."
"Yes, that is the problem, isn't it—them following your orders makes it your responsibility." He stared at me, watching as I nodded agreement. "But you too are following orders: mine. And I'm following the JCC's orders. We all share in the outcome. I have come to agree with Hada's father: so long as we don't kill out of hate or in pursuit of glory or pleasure, we are living our lives as honorably as we can in support of our country.
CHAPTER FIVE
Heibei: They aren't what they seem
I was looking forward to Hada's return and the socialization of Rivka. It was long overdue. The Guard was my family and I was at peace with my life, but someday I would be retired from the Guard and it would be nice if I were ready for the transition. And it wouldn't hurt to have a life outside the Guard, some activity that provided a diversion from duty. Time flew by between my duties helping with the phase three candidates, teaching the whip, working out with whoever was available, meditation, practice on the firing range, and reading. Life was good and I was at peace.