by Chris Hechtl
“Right,” Boots murmured.
“Ed …”
>}@^@{<
“Oops, silly me, I forgot to load it,” the sergeant said, making a show of pulling the trigger. “Duh,” he said, laughing to himself.
“Bastard. This was a test all along,” Caitlin said as the sergeant loaded the pistol.
“My, you are a smart one,” the sergeant said scathingly. “Ordinarily I'd take you to the back and really teach you some manners,” he said, laughing at her expression of fear and loathing. “But, well, I'm not into flat chested broads, and the captain was pretty strict in the orders to execute you on the spot if you failed in this,” he said. He cocked his head as he leveled the weapon once more at her. “Sorry,” he said indifferently.
“You aren't sorry; you are a sick piece of garbage,” Caitlin said, jutting her chin up.
When the shot was fired, she flinched, but then a sense of confusion ran through her as the realization dawned that she wasn't dead. A second shot had the group scrambling for cover.
She heard hissing and looked at the yellow striped fuel line. “Quit shooting or you'll blow us all up!” Caitlin called out.
“Fuel,” the chimp coughed. “Good,” he said, struggling feebly.
The sergeant turned to look at her. He pointed the weapon in her direction but saw what she was looking at. That made him freeze fearfully.
“Pss,” a voice said across from Caitlin. She looked around then oriented on the voice. She saw cat eyes in the storm drain.
“Don't even think about it, bub,” the cat growled, pointing what looked like a flare gun at the sergeant. “You know what this is? Ah, I see you do. Good boy. I'd love to fry your ass, but I'm going to let you live if they walk,” the cat growled.
“You won't get far,” the sergeant snarled. “We'll hunt you down. You'll die running.”
“That's my choice. I won't die at all I bet,” Boots replied as Jo lifted a manhole cover off. She put her arm up through it, and then pointed down urgently to get Caitlin moving.
Caitlin didn't need further prompting. Before the soldiers and civilians could react, she pulled the Neochimp over to the manhole and dropped him through. “Sorry,” she said. She took her badge off, tossed it at the leak, and then dropped into the hole as well.
>}@^@{<
“After them, you stupid fucks! Someone find me a map to where this goes! They've got to come out of there somewhere!” the sergeant snarled as he started to move towards the open manhole. He could see soldiers running about. A third shot cut a soldier down, forcing the arriving reinforcements to cover as well. “Frack it!” he said impotently, pounding on a drum with the butt of his pistol.
“Don't! We don't need a spark!” a civilian said urgently. “We've got to get someone to shut the valves off and bleed off the fuel before it reacts,” he said.
“Frack!” the sergeant snarled, over and over. “Who's got a radio?” he demanded.
>}@^@{<
Jo, Boots, Ed, the Neochimp Arturo, and two other raiders managed to get out of the tunnels and to the dirt bikes. They doubled up on the bikes and ripped up the trails, startling a few people in passing. Caitlin gave one man a one-fingered salute in passing.
Jo saw the bird Caitlin shot to the bastard and snorted. It was purely by chance that they'd happened on the scene; she'd wanted to do a daytime reconnoiter of the base and a couple of promising tunnels Boots had found. She'd wanted to work her way into the fuel dump to steal fuel or plant a bomb but obviously that was out. Now the bastards would be looking for them.
The sewers were now out. They'd lay traps; they'd do anything to catch and kill them. But that was a problem for another time she thought as she hung onto Ed's waist for dear life.
>}@^@{<
It took two days for the group to cautiously make it to the family holdings. Caitlin confessed she'd given the pirates a bit about the Santini holdings. Ed had only grunted. “I had to give them something!” she said, shaking her head.
“Whatever, lady,” he said.
“Hey, she didn't shoot me. For that, I'm grateful,” Arturo said. He was battered but alive. “And she pulled my furry ass over to that sewer line and dropped me in. It hurt, but I'm here now.”
“Hey! We had something to do with it too!” Boots protested.
“Yeah, you did,” Arturo said. “Want a hug?” he asked.
The cat's eyes went wide, and his ears went back. “You'd squish me. Pass,” he hissed, brows knit in annoyance.
“Thanks anyway,” the Neochimp said with a slight smile. The cat sniffed.
“So, finally saw the light?” a familiar voice rumbled. Jo turned to see Dom coming into the hunting cabin. “I caught part of that. You gave us up?”
“Not by choice, Dom. They knew someone was flying choppers in the area. You got too cute by cutting the radar at the same time.”
“I should have known. How'd they figure it out?” Dom asked casually as he went over to the coffee pot and poured himself a cup. “Damn, it's cold! And it's cold out there! Frost tonight, surer than shit, mark my words. That means snow is coming soon,” he warned.
“Great,” Ed muttered.
“They had partial overhead coverage,” Caitlin explained. She pointed up. All eyes followed her finger. “They had ships overhead that saw your birds and reported it.”
“And probably a couple patrols in the hills no doubt,” Ed muttered. “The question is, how much do they know?” he asked.
“I'm pretty sure they already knew it was you, Dom, or someone with Santini Air. She had a list of people missing on the base. They've taken notice and started mandatory counts,” she warned.
He nodded. “Good to know. Good to know we can't stay here much longer. I'll spread the word to move out. I'll need a list of players involved before you go. People you know are good, those working with them, and the enemy names. Anything you've got,” he said.
“I'll do that and more. But I want in,” Caitlin said.
He eyed her. “What makes you think you can sign up with us just like that? You could be a plant,” he said casually, leaning against the counter and crossing his arms.
All eyes fell on the red head. She shrugged. “Dom, you know me. You know I'm out for justice. I can't get it with those bastards in charge. I see it as they are breaking the law,” she touched a bruise on her cheek, “even though they told me they make the law now,” she said. “I plan to … help them see the error of their ways,” she said, “one way or another.”
“We all hang together or we shall hang separately,” Ed muttered.
“True,” Dom agreed.
“Besides,” Caitlin said with a mischievous grin. “I work cheap,” she said.
Dom threw his head back and roared with laughter. That got the others chuckling in relief.
>}@^@{<
“We've got to be smart about how we do this. Fuel, parts, all of it,” Jo said after they ran the last inventory. The lair was coming together. People were not allowed to huddle in misery; everyone had to work. Jo divided the leadership of the base up with Kiyagi and some of the others. They each had a department and a list of projects to work on.
If someone couldn't do anything useful, they could still clean the caverns, move gear, or mind the kids. Everyone contributed, even the kids; the ladies made certain of that. And anyone who wanted to learn on the job was taken in and became an apprentice. Kiyagi had four people helping her run wire.
Dom nodded. “The worst thing is parts and ammunition,” she said. “We can make or steal fuel if we have to. Parts are hard to come by.”
“We can steal ammunition if we have to,” Ed said.
“True, but not all ammunition will work in the guns of this bird,” Jo said, shaking her head.
“Also true,” Dom agreed.
“By my count we've got two, maybe three missions before we're bone dry. That is if we don't go overboard or run into Murphy's gremlins on one or more of them.”
“Count him in to
work his mischief,” Dom sighed. He wasn't just a pilot; he was also an engineer. Murphy was an old foe.
“If we get lucky, big if there,” Jo stressed holding a finger up. “We might hit four or five targets as long as they are close by. But the closer we fly to the lair the more likely they are to pinpoint it.”
“Damn it.”
“So, we have to make the missions count. I think I know the biggest target. We hit it; we screw them up good,” Dom said, pointing to an old and very well-known mark on the map.
The others stared at it. Corgi grunted. Ed nodded slowly. “It'll certainly put them on notice.”
“It will at that. Most of the planet's hydrogen comes from here. We knock that out, and it'll blow the surrounding area to kingdom come.”
“And a lot of innocent people too, Dom,” Corgi murmured softly.
“If they aren't out now, they aren't likely to get out,” Dom said coldly. “We can't not hit a target of this importance for fear of hurting people. Knock this out and they lose fuel for their ships and shuttles. Knock it out and they will have to find another place to land. Knock it out and the fuel for the vehicles and aircraft suddenly dries up.”
“Including the fuel we need to keep flying,” Jo murmured thoughtfully.
“The price we pay to get the job done. Like you said, we've got only a few missions in the bird. We might as well make them count.”
“But we can't just go in right off, Dom. We need to … to have a game plan.” Jo said, clearly exasperated. She looked to Caitlin who put her hands up. “We need to … to test the bird. Damn it, we've only flown her a few times! We don't even know if she can fire her weapons!”
“You haven't fired the weapons?” Ed demanded ears back.
“No. That's another project,” Dom sighed when accusing eyes were leveled against him. He put his hands up. “Ease off, folks; it's not like we had the right place to do it—not without Ranger Bob breathing down our necks if we'd done it!” he warned.
All eyes turned to Caitlin. She snorted. “He'd definitely confiscate it or would have if he'd known about it. We heard about the apparition in the hills but never saw it.” She shook her head.
Slowly Corgi nodded. Ed and a few cocked their heads thoughtfully then they nodded. They still had doubts though; he could see that.
“Jo is right, but she's also … wrong,” Dom said, shooting his niece an apologetic look. She cocked an eyebrow skyward. “If we blood ourselves on something light and tender, we'll get practice, but we'll let the enemy know we are here. They'll know we've got a gunship. The surprise will be gone.”
“Only if they get word of the attack,” Ed growled.
Dom nodded. “But we can't count on getting them all. We can't,” he said, shaking his head. “I wish, but I know better than to stick to wishful thinking. We've got to be realistic here.”
Ed grunted then nodded. He looked away for a long moment.
“Okay, so we need to plan to recycle everything,” Ed said. “I can show you how to recycle your brass,” he said.
“Which won't help us. The bird's Gatling guns fire caseless ammunition. It's sealed, but I got a round out and took a look. It's not metal. Some sort of composite to keep the weight down,” Dom said.
“Great,” Ed sighed. “We'll need to look into finding a way to cover the guns or mount new guns that we can service then,” he said.
Dom frowned and then nodded. “Good idea.”
“From that, we can also work on raids,” Ed said, clearly warming up to being on the hot seat. “We know where some stuff is. We can get in, steal gear, raid the ranger armories if the damn traitors haven't done so already,” he said.
“Agreed,” Caitlin said. “I think you and I can work on that one Ed. I know where the caches are in this area,” she said.
“Good,” Ed replied with a nod.
“I know we can make missiles,” K'r'll said quietly. They turned to the Veraxin. The bug was famous for making fireworks for communities. His family ran most of the firework shows on the planet or had up until the pirates had come and slaughtered most of them. “We make rockets for fireworks, right? Same thing?”
“The avionics to guide them? Wait, look who I'm talking to about it,” Jo said, waving her hands before she slapped her thighs hard enough to make the Veraxin freeze. “Okay, you got me,” she said.
“I was actually, um, thinking unguided to start,” the Veraxin admitted. “We can use fins to help guide them a bit but not much. And stealing stuff is a good idea. Guided is a tougher project—a lot tougher,” he stressed. “I know we don't make a lot of the parts we'd probably need. Not in great quantities,” he said, shaking his head in a human mannerism he'd picked up.
“He's right,” Corgi said.
“Don't rule anything out at this point,” Dom said. “But it's smart to start small. Start with what we know, drop it to the basics, and then once we've mastered them, build off of them.”
“We'll need lead time—time to get the materials, time to make the parts. Once the missions begin, they will look for the suppliers, Dom,” Caitlin warned. He looked at her. She snorted. “I'm a ranger, remember? I know the mindset during an investigation.”
“Right,” Dom grunted. That would mean they'd have to temper their enthusiasm for a while. Their urge to get some payback would have to wait a bit.
K'r'll not only knew how to make fireworks, he also knew where they could find most of the raw materials to make it in the field, though the processed materials were certainly far better to use. “You get me the right materials, and I can make missiles and bombs, anything that you want to go boom,” the Veraxin told them.
“Good to know,” Dom said with a nod of approval.
He was also proud of his niece and late sister for what they had done in his absence. They had moved as much as possible out of the spaceport. They'd kept a selection of common tools and parts in the spaceport, as well as the dirigibles that had been in the hangars, but every craft they could had been moved to outreaching areas.
They'd also moved fuel and personnel, evacuating them to the relative safety of the outback and small mining outposts. Once Jo had gotten to safety, she'd called Shi San Li in since the elderly Asian woman had wanted to help.
Two of the people they had managed to evacuate from the spaceport had skills or in one case, a rather precious item they could use. Shi San Li had a working food replicator the size of a breadbox, which would supply the group as long as they had raw material and electrical power to power it.
“This has been a treasured secret of my family for generations,” Shi said reluctantly, resting a withered hand on the box. “It makes good tea,” she said.
“We thank you for showing it to us and sharing its use,” Jo said kindly, bowing slightly to the woman.
“The food replicator is good, but it's not good for anything military. Don't get stupid; don't get desperate. If you do, it will burn out. I know a guy who did that with another one about, oh, seventy years ago,” Shi warned.
“So we have to use it for just food,” Jo said, shooting her uncle a warning look.
“Damn,” Dom muttered mildly.
“Oh, it's a little better off than that,” Shi admitted, stroking the device. “If you have the right feedstock, plastic for instance, you can make plastic parts. So we can make small plastic fittings or stuff.”
“That explains why you had those plastic bits and stuff all the time,” Jo said with a nod of acknowledgment to the woman.
“Nose cones,” K'r'll said. “Fins … yes, I can see the potential here,” the Veraxin said thoughtfully. He wiggled his mandibles in first-level appreciation.
“That, yes,” Shi said. “But we have to be careful not to trip the sensors. We don't want the electronic brain to think we're doing something illegal. It'll shut off or fry.”
“Okay. We can work with it,” Dom said with a nod. “Every little bit helps. And at the least we keep it out of the hands of the pirates.”
�
��Oh, most definitely,” Shi murmured.
3
Their first mission was a failure. Dom had planned it to be an opening move, a crushing one to hit the spaceport, blow up some shuttles, and make a statement. When the engines started to run into the red and the radiator pressure dropped fast, he shook his head. “Abort,” Dom snarled, looking at the distant lights on the horizon. He'd just seen a shuttle land too, but they'd been tantalizingly out of range.
“I told you we were biting off more than we could chew too soon, Dom,” Kate said as she guided the aircraft into a bank and pointed her back to the lair.
Within moments Dom tensed up. Then Kate started to realize how serious a situation they were truly in when alarms started going off all over the bird. It wasn't just the radiators for the engines; the electronics were overheating. “I think we've got a pinhole leak in the electronic cooling systems,” Dom muttered. “But it didn't leak into the avionics, bay, so count your blessings nothing has shorted out.”
“But it's still leaking, Dom; we need to get this bird on the ground. Now,” Kate urged, looking around for a safe place to land. Unfortunately, they were in a heavily wooded hill area. Nice flat pieces of terrain were in short supply.
Landing was even harder since it was night time. The long shadows threw their eyes off.
“It's in the left engine. That's where the heat is the worst,” Dom growled.
“Not there,” Kate muttered, still looking for a safe place to put the bird down. “Oops,” she muttered, pulling back on the stick.
“What?” Dom demanded.
“We just woke a group of campers. Heavily armed ones,” Kate said, swearing under her breath as she steered the bird away from the group.
“Son of a …,” Dom started to curse in an almost desperate voice.
“I'll put as much terrain between them and us as I can, Dom. Keep it together,” Kate urged.
“I'm trying, Caitlin, but it's not easy. This just isn't our night. Lady Luck is seriously on the wrong side here,” he growled.