by Mel Odom
Sage scanned the storage bay numbers, looking for the one where Vekaby’s companions had said they’d taken delivery of the weapons.
“Bannyad locks,” Pingasa said.
“That doesn’t mean anything to me,” Sage told him.
“Expensive locks. Hard to break.”
“Is that going to be a problem?”
“No, but I’m going to make it look easy and I want you to know it’s not and that you should be impressed. Very impressed.” Pingasa knelt in front of the unit and dug into his chest pouch.
Sage stood guard with his hand on his Roley underneath the cloak. The spidersilk material shifted slightly as a gentle wind gusted. Sage breathed the thick air through the slight crack he’d left open in his faceshield. The humidity had risen and it smelled like rain. It was getting on toward one of Makaum’s rainy seasons.
Lightning flickered across the sky, and rolling thunder followed shortly after. Sage’s faceshield told him that the temperature was starting to drop, which could mean storms, but he already knew that because he felt the cooler air cycling inside his helmet.
An alarm suddenly screamed.
Pingasa stood and grabbed his bag. “That wasn’t me, I swear. I barely touched that thing.”
Grabbing the corporal’s arm, Sage pulled the man into motion back toward the jungle. “Move!”
6198 Akej (Phrenorian Prime)
Zhoh stood under guard in the sec office as the lieutenant watched the computer clerk sift through the starport’s files. Cheapdock did a lot of business, and there was a massive amount of files. Some of them, probably like the storage bay where the weapons were kept, were not accessible to every Green Dragon officer.
The sec office was large, filled with sec screens that watched over the starport. A big map at one end of the room showed the locations of the sec guards and accompanying drones. Zhoh’s warriors stood in a group under the watchful eyes of the guards.
The lieutenant was growing impatient with his lackey’s inability to sort out the problem with the identification Mato had presented at the gate.
The being at the computer station shook his head. “There is a problem, Lieutenant Fu, but I cannot isolate it.”
“Perhaps there is not a problem,” Mato said. “Perhaps the problem lies in your software.” He acted calm, but he put a note of rising irritation in his voice. “I cannot be held here for long. I have responsibilities. If I am not back to my unit soon, I will be missed.”
“That is not my problem,” Lieutenant Fu said, raising his voice as well. “The security of this spaceport is my responsibility.”
So far, Zhoh held himself in check. They had not been relieved of their weapons, merely detained.
The security alarm shrilled to life out on the starport.
Lieutenant Fu watched as one of the screens at the front of the room shifted over to another location. In the shadows in front of the storage bay where Rangha kept his illicit goods, two cloaked shadows pulled back and ran.
Lights tore away the night, chasing the two fleeing figures and Zhoh noticed the armored boots of the Terran Army.
Energized by the security breach, Lieutenant Fu glared at Mato. “Those men tried to break into your unit! When I brought you in here, I put that unit on immediate lockdown! Why are those people out there?”
“I don’t know,” Mato replied.
Cursing, Fu turned to his guards. “Lock these people down! I am going to find out what is going on!”
Zhoh knew that was not going to happen. He unfolded immediately, drew his patimong, and cleaved the lieutenant from crown to jaw with one blow. Blood and brain matter flecked the screens and the computer officer.
Even as Zhoh unlimbered his Kimer pistol, his warriors exploded into action. Particle beams, lasers, and solid rounds filled the air. The Green Dragon sec men fell in pieces.
Mato crushed one guard’s face and skull with his primary and shot another with his particle beam weapon, vaporizing a large hole through his chest.
Zhoh only had time to kill one more guard, who managed to wound Lieutenant Yuen in one of his lesser arms, before the fight was over.
The alarm continued to shrill and the comm on the computer called for attention. One of the warriors had shot the computer operator in the back. His clothing and his flesh smoldered and set off a smaller smoke alarm.
“Which way?” Mato asked.
“To the storage bay,” Zhoh replied.
Doubtless, Mato knew that many sec guards would be closing in on that area, but he asked no questions, simply led the way out of the security office.
0306 Hours Zulu Time
Sage knew they couldn’t outrun the sec lights even with the assists from the hardsuits. His mind raced, trying to figure out their best exfil route.
“Top, I’m sending air support and ground support your way,” Halladay said. “Blue Jay Twelve and Fourteen are two minutes away.”
“That would be a waste of time, sir, and a diplomatic nightmare. We don’t have any authority here. This starport is Green Dragon territory.”
“They’re running drugs and guns out of that place,” Halladay said.
“Can you prove that? Or are renters simply abusing their storage privileges?” Sage followed Pingasa around the corner of the nearest building as two Green Dragon sec guards opened fire.
Bullets chewed holes in the plascrete wall and a laser burned a meter-wide swath from the corner, leaving slag running down to the ground.
Watching Kiwanuka’s overlay on his faceshield, Sage saw both sec guards go down to her armor-piercing rounds. Chunks of armor blew out from their chests, showing where the bullets had gone. Sage knew that the Green Dragon Industrial Trade was a purely criminal corp, so he didn’t sweat the body count. Those men wouldn’t have hesitated to kill his people.
He hated the fact that he hadn’t been able to uncover the secrets in the storage bay. There probably wouldn’t be another chance.
“Top!” Culpepper called. “We’ve got incoming!”
Glancing back at the corporal’s position, Sage spotted three powersuits headed their way in long, loping strides, cutting off their retreat.
“Time to come down, Kiwanuka,” Sage said. “We’ve got to find a new exit strategy. Corporal Culpepper, close it up. Noojin, Jahup, in with the group.”
The three joined Sage just as Kiwanuka dropped to the ground a meter away. The lead powersuit fired a short-range missile that struck the rooftop where Kiwanuka had been. Plascrete shattered and a ten-meter section of the wall toppled free to land on the ground nearby.
“Move!” Sage shouted, and led the way back down the aisle between the rows of storage bays.
Figures swept around a building fifty meters in front of Sage and ran toward him and his team. He pulled the Roley up and prepared to fire, then got slammed to the ground as another short-range missile hammered the ground behind them.
A crater opened up and threw a landslide of plascrete rubble and dirt at them, covering the whole area in a haze. Knocked from his feet, Sage skidded for several meters and watched as the approaching group got blown from their feet in a near miss as well.
Rolling to a prone position, Sage pulled the Roley to his shoulder and took aim at the man in front of him. Before he squeezed the trigger, he recognized Captain Zhoh GhiCemid seventeen meters away.
“Wait!” Zhoh had his rifle pointed at Sage’s head.
“Hold your fire,” Sage told his people.
“Those are Phrenorians,” Culpepper argued.
“We’re not fighting Phrenorians on Makaum,” Sage said. Yet. His aim never wavered. He opened his faceshield. “You know who I am.”
“I do,” Zhoh replied. “When I saw Terran Army armor, I expected it to be no other being.”
The powersuits came nearer. Kiwanuka turned aro
und and fired at one of them, putting armor-piercing rounds through the pilot’s head and shoulders. The powersuit lost coordination and fell, taking down the one following closely behind it. The third one sidestepped his companions and laid down a barrage of fire that filled the air with bullets and explosives.
Choked by the roiling dust, Sage coughed and closed his faceshield again, letting the hardsuit filter out the impurities.
Two of Zhoh’s warriors opened fire on the powersuit. Hammered by bullets, the pilot retreated. He paused only long enough to help the other survivor to his feet.
“I suggest we work together,” Zhoh said. “Our chances of getting out of this will be better.”
Behind him, three of his warriors laid down suppressive fire to hold the Green Dragon bashhounds at the other end of the aisle at bay. But holding a position wasn’t going to work for any of them and Sage knew it.
“Agreed. We work together to get out of this,” Sage answered over the team comm so his people would know what was going on.
Culpepper opened a private channel. “You’ve got to be kidding, Top! You can’t trust Sting-Tails!”
“How well do you think we’re going to do fighting them and the Green Dragons?” Sage spotted a nearby aisle that headed to the jungle to the north, behind the last row of storage bays.
Culpepper cursed.
“We go north.” Sage pointed at the aisle so there would be no mistake. “We head into the jungle and try to fight our way back to the river.”
Zhoh clambered to his feet as well and saluted Sage with his sword. “Fight well, Sergeant.”
“You too,” Sage responded. He waved to Noojin and Jahup. “See if you can find us a way out of here.”
The two Makaum recruits dashed ahead. At least two rounds slapped into Jahup, partially turning him around, but he didn’t appear injured as he sped up to catch Noojin.
Sage and Zhoh followed the two and Kiwanuka hung back so she could cover the Phrenorian captain. As they emerged at the other end of the aisle thirty meters behind Noojin and Jahup, Sage took up a position at the aisle, knowing the bashhounds would overtake them and trap them out in the open. He readied his weapons.
“What are you doing?” Kiwanuka asked.
“Buying time,” Sage replied. “If they catch us out in the open without fallback positions, they’ll cut us to pieces.”
“I’ll stay.”
“No, Sergeant, you won’t. I’m depending on your sniping ability to give me time to reach you. Now go.”
Kiwanuka went and the rest of the soldiers followed her. Culpepper protested almost inaudibly, but he knew Sage was right. As he passed, he slipped Sage two claymores.
Sage shoved the claymores into the ground just inside the aisle and activated them. He shortened the Roley’s stock so he could maneuver it more easily in close quarters. Then he waited and hoped he could buy his people—and himself—enough time to get out of the death trap they’d stepped into. He watched the end of the aisle as shadows from the approaching bashhounds filled it.
6217 Akej (Phrenorian Prime)
“What is the sergeant doing?” Zhoh watched the human as he ran back toward the storage bays, surprised at how Sage stopped at the end of the aisle they had just come through.
“A foolish thing,” Mato replied. “He’s going to get himself killed.”
Zhoh stopped, remembering how the sergeant had stood up alone to Velesko Kos and his guards in the nightclub in Makaum, calling Kos a murderer to his face. That had been impressive, worthy of a warrior, worthy of glory.
“Come on, triarr.”
Zhoh took a fresh grip on his patimong and turned back to join Sage. “Go, Mato. That is an order. Get the warriors set up so they may defend the sergeant’s retreat and mine when the time comes. Work with the Terrans.”
“You’re going to get yourself killed.” Mato’s pheromones smelled like metal, indicating his apprehension.
Excitement filled Zhoh as he thought of the coming battle. It would be glorious. He should have considered the tactic of slowing down their pursuit himself. His respect for the sergeant grew. “I have no intentions of dying today. Go.”
THIRTY-ONE
Outside Cheapdock
North of Makaum Sprawl
0311 Hours Zulu Time
Sage watched the Green Dragon sec guards fill the aisle, confident that their quarry was still running for the jungle. Behind him, Zhoh GhiCemid rushed back toward him, and for a moment the thought crossed his mind that the Phrenorian captain was going to attack him.
Then Zhoh ran to the opposite side of the aisle and took up a position holding his sword and pistol. His lesser hands filled with grenades.
“This is a daring move, Sergeant,” Zhoh said.
“We can’t fight a running battle on all fronts,” Sage replied grimly.
“So we hold them here as long as we can, then fall back?”
“Yeah. I’ve got anti-personnel munitions set up here.”
“So we will soften them up and then go on the offensive?”
The mention of we surprised Sage only for an instant. Zhoh was, after all, experienced in combat. He would appreciate the effort. “If we let them get out of there and surround us, we’re dead,” Sage said.
“Agreed. We kill these opponents until we can kill no more or until our people are in position.”
“Yes. Good luck, Captain.”
“We do not need luck,” Zhoh said. “In this, we are in our element.” His synthetic voice included a hint of pride and anticipation.
Sage waited till the bashhounds were halfway down the eight-meter-length aisle. “Take cover, Captain.”
Zhoh ducked back around the corner of the aisle, his back pressed into the plascrete wall.
Sliding back into cover as well, Sage set off the first claymore. The explosion unleashed a maelstrom of depleted uranium pellets that hammered the bashhounds’ armor and broke their approach. The four security lights shining down into the aisle winked out in quick succession and pieces of transplas fell. The feed from Kiwanuka’s hardsuit showed she had taken out the sec lights and was setting her sights on the guards racing across the rooftops.
She shot one of the guards through the head and the man spun out of control as his momentum carried him over the edge. His corpse dropped onto the mass of confused bashhounds in the aisle.
Sage popped the two ParaSights from his armor and interfaced their vid links, allowing him to see the combat area from above as well. He set off the second claymore, this one packed with plasma, and hellfire pummeled the bashhounds that had pushed through their dead to resume the fight. The heat slagged their armor and the men inside died screaming.
Zhoh pitched grenades among the survivors and more plasma erupted in smaller pockets.
The advancing line stalled and broke. The bashhounds at the back began to retreat. Another sec guard on top of the storage bay to the left dropped over the side, wounded and flailing like a bird trying to take wing. Zhoh shot the man in the head before he hit the ground, quieting the screams.
Sage set off the remaining two claymores and added to the chaos and death toll. A mound of bodies choked the aisle.
“Sage,” Kiwanuka called.
“On our way.” Sage waved to Zhoh. “Time to go.” He turned and headed toward his team, locating them on the HUD. They had taken cover amid knee-high brush behind a natural depression that only provided slight cover, but slight cover was better than no cover. Zhoh jogged effortlessly at Sage’s side five meters away. Adrenaline pounded at Sage, dumping into his system. He accepted a tranq to level him out, to keep him focused. Too many things were going on around him and maintaining the links to the ParaSights was demanding. The tranq flooded through him, slowing things down and allowing him to be more attentive.
He would never have believed he
would ever fight alongside a Phrenorian.
Three crawlers carrying Green Dragon bashhounds roared out of an aisle between storage bays five hundred meters to the east. They flared out into a one-two formation and streaked for Sage and Zhoh.
Knowing they would never make the holding position with the others, Sage stopped and brought his Roley to his shoulder, cycling a gel-grenade into the launcher mounted under the assault rifle. He centered on the lead crawler, put the reticule over the driver’s head behind the windscreen, and pulled the trigger.
The gel-grenade sailed true, but the crawler climbed on a small rise and the explosive struck the vehicle’s undercarriage. The resulting blast lifted the crawler on its left side and took out the wheels. The crawler returned to the ground but the wrecked wheel assemblies dug into the ground and flipped the vehicle. Swapping ends and turning over, the crawler rolled to a stop and landed on its side.
The crawler behind the lead vehicle swerved to miss the wreck. One of the bashhounds in the back stood on the rear deck behind a squat, ugly weapon that Sage couldn’t immediately identify.
“Move!” Zhoh ordered. “Quickly!”
Evidently the Phrenorian captain recognized the weapon because he dove to the side. A heartbeat after Zhoh leaped away, Sage jumped as well, staying low.
A small sun erupted from the mouth of the weapon, struck the ground where Sage and Zhoh had been standing, and left a crater twelve meters wide.
Sage couldn’t believe the portable cannon could deliver such destruction. Dirt rained down over his armor and dust clouded the area, wiping away his own field of vision. He brought up the views provided by the ParaSights and got himself situated.
“Top,” Kiwanuka called over the comm.
“Still here.” Sage pushed himself to his feet as the first crawler closed on him. Small arms fire burned through the air around him and bullets ricocheted from his armor. He leveled the Roley and shot the driver through the head with a depleted uranium round, then dodged to the side.
Unable to get completely away, or perhaps the driver yanked the wheel at the last minute in an attempt to save his own life, Sage got hit by the front of the crawler and flew eight meters before crashing into the ground. His senses reeled, but the near-AI automatically compensated, hitting him with another stimpak that blocked the pain and cleared his mind.