The Fifth Reich: Beyond The Stars

by J Palliser

  "Yes," Sonya replied, disappointed.

  "Okay. Well, the bomb is wired to a life monitor that is hooked up to the yoke. If it dies, the bomb explodes."

  "Oh... I see," Sonya said, trying to think of something else. The ship took off and headed for space. "We can get you some clothes to wear though," Ari'a said as she eyed Sonya's nude body.

  Sonya blushed with embarrassment. She had been naked so long that she had completely forgotten. The ship reached the edge of Praxis III's atmosphere. A crew member brought Sonya some clothes and Ari'a left for the bridge. Sonya thanked him and pulled the simple gray spacer jumpsuit on. It was far too big, but it had to cover the yoke frame. She declined the boots, preferring to go barefoot.

  Instead of the bridge, the crew member took Sonya to a cargo hold. Apparently, he was the resident ordinance expert, and Ari'a wanted him to look at the bomb. First he had Sonya pull down her jumpsuit. Then he had her lie down on a cargo container and he started examining the bomb on her back. Sonya felt the ship enter gravity-drive through the container.

  After consulting the smart-pad and inspecting the device for several minutes, he decided that he did not have the expertise to safely defuse the bomb. He did explain to her and Ari'a that Sonya could go to the bridge, as the bomb was very small.

  "How small?" Sonya asked. "Well, it probably wouldn't even exit through your chest. It's a wide dispersal explosive, and burns very hot. It's basically designed to kill the wearer and no one else."

  "What about just disabling the life switch thingy?" Sonya asked.

  "Sorry," he replied. "I wouldn't risk it. The fleet has some real experts. Maybe they can help," he said with a shrug. "Alright, bring Sonya to the bridge. We'll rendezvous with the fleet soon," Ari'a instructed him. By the time they made it to the bridge, the ship was exiting gravity-drive.

  The flagship of the Makovian fleet was an old Victory-class Destroyer. Sonya was no expert on capital ship design, but the flagship looked to have been substantially modified from the other ones she had seen. Also present were trio of the famous Makovian Dragons, five Nova cruisers, and about half a dozen smaller support ships.

  The jumpsuit that they had given Sonya was several sizes too big so it would fit over the yoke frame. She had to roll up the sleeves and legs to make it fit better. Somehow she felt more self-conscious about her exposed collar and cuffs with the jumpsuit than when she was naked.

  Ari'a contacted the flagship and gave General Ha'atu an update. The three Dragons and one of the Nova cruisers disappeared into gravity-drive. Sonya wondered how she was going to save Casana as she played with the D-ring on her cuff.

  37

  Thirty-Six

  Casana shuffled down the hallway towards Nevis the Bren's ship. One Wraith and three guards were escorting her. One of the guards was an ex-soldier of the Reich, and had served during the Centurai war. Chai'bat had hired quite a few former soldiers as mercenaries. This was great news for Casana. She had made lots of "friends" during the war.

  From the ceiling, a Makovian landed on the Mandalorian. The two guards in front of Casana turned and brought up their pulse rifles. Pulse rifle fire from the one behind her washed over the one on the left. Before the other could react, he was stunned by another ex-soldier from behind.

  Two more of Casana's allies came up from behind her. Their assistance wasn't necessary. The Makovian was staggering to his feet, the Wraith's helmet in his hand.

  "Fucking bucket head! I practically had to rip his head off to get this thing off," he said as he let the helmet clang to the floor. One soldier freed Casana's arms and feet, while the others moved the stunned bodies and dead Wraith to a storage room. They took their comms, and stun-cuffed the live ones.

  "What about Sonya, my Katana, and this thing on my back?" Casana asked the ex-soldier that had been escorting her as they finished hiding the evidence.

  "We got some people working on the Katana, Casana. Raven took Sonya to her ship and blasted off almost immediately. As for the frame, we are going to take care of that now. If you can take a deep breath for me?"

  Casana silently cursed Raven for taking Sonya out of her grasp so quickly. She knew that she couldn't do anything to help her friend. While she held her breath, he slid a thick durasteel plate between her back and the bomb.

  "We don't know for sure if that will save you, but the bomb is small and we think it will keep you alive if it does go off. We got a jamming device in place so they can't set it off too easily, but we don't know how long that will work either." He took a breath. "Now we're going to get the guy that designed that little number, and make him disarm it."

  "Thanks," Casana replied as she took off the heels, so she could walk easier. "How long till they figure out what were up too?"

  "Hard to say. None of them got off a signal, but we don't know how often the Wraiths communicate with each other. By the way, I'm Captain Breslin, formerly of the 53rd Special Ops, Waffen-SS." Casana took the pulse rifle that was handed to her.

  "Nice to meet you Captain Breslin." Casana frowned slightly. "Have we met before? I've met so many soldiers, I sometimes forget." She checked the power level on the carbine.

  "Nope," he replied with a smile. "But I defiantly know you by reputation," Casana returned the smile and added a wink. They were joined by six more confederates just before they arrived at the bomb maker's workshop. One of the Makovians in the new group told Casana that the Bren had taken off before they could retrieve her dagger.

  "Thank you anyway," Casana told her. "Thank you all for this. I'll make it up to all of you." "Forget about it," one of the humans said. "If it wasn't for you and the other woman, we'd all be slaves now." Several voiced their consent in his point of view.

  They split into two groups and stormed the workshop. The bomb maker, an elderly human, was relaxing on a couch, watching a holovid. He didn't seem particularly distressed at the pulse rifles pointed at him.

  "Ah, the Bren's mercs are dissatisfied with their employment," he said sarcastically. Then he caught site of Casana's naked form, and the rifle she was carrying.

  "Oh, a Kriegsmarine rescue party. Even better." He paused the holovid. "Just so you know, the Bren keeps this place monitored at all times." He pointed at a couple of holocams mounted in the corners. "So I don't think I'll be defusing that bomb anytime soon."

  That sent a serious hydro-spanner into the works. They needed some time to bribe/threaten/torture him into defusing the bomb, Casana thought.

  Major Breslin looked up at the holocams, then back at the bomb maker. "Don't you think that we know that? The people monitoring the security cameras for the whole building are with us." He turned back and waved at the holocam.

  The bomb maker's smile turned to a frown. "I see," he said slowly. He smiled again. "Well, my fee for diffusing the bomb on the woman is transportation out of here. Brens don't take kindly to betrayal."

  Captain Breslin considered this a moment. "Done," he replied. The bomb-maker had Casana lie down on a bench, and started working on the bomb. Ten minutes later, he was done. After reminding him that his life was forfeit if she died, Captain Breslin opened up the protective cage on the frame and ripped the wiring out.

  Casana felt her senses return in a rush. It was like a long anticipated orgasm. She felt so alive! Someone found an old model laser cutter and started cutting the frame off Casana's back. She was barely paying attention, still basking in her returned senses awareness. Once the yoke frame was removed, he carefully started on the harness, which was tight against her skin. When the heat from the cutter touched the harness, she yelped in pain. The soldier quickly apologized, and pulled the laser cutter away.

  "Forget about it," Casana said to him. "Let's get a ship, and get off this rock."

  "You don't want the harness cut off first?" Captain Breslin asked her. "Time enough for that later. I'd love to take out Chai'bat too, but you guys have done enough for me. I'll get him later."

  "Fair enough. What about him?" Captain Bresli
n asked, gesturing towards the bomb maker.

  "Hey! You said you'd take me with you!" he screamed in outrage.

  Captain Breslin ignored him, and waited for Casana's answer.

  "I guess he can tag along," Casana replied after a moment. "Find some stun cuffs or something for him, though." The bomb maker was restrained, and they prepared to go to the port and steal a ship. "You want something to wear?" Captain Breslin asked her, after he notified his other troops of the revised plans.

  "Nah, I'm fine," Casana replied with a smile. He paused a moment, as if trying to figure out how to say something delicately. "Um, Casana, you're kinda distracting some of my soldiers. Including me."

  Casana hadn't noticed the soldiers eyeing her. It was a part of life to her. As natural as breathing. A quick search of the workshop turned up nothing in the way of clothing. The group gave up, and headed for the port. With her cognitive skills, Casana took point.

  People were running everywhere. At first Casana thought that they were all looking for her, but they all seemed surprised that she was carrying a pulse rifle and was free. Unfortunately, none of them survived to explain what was going on.

  Ten more joined the group in a storage warehouse, which was the last building before the port. Across the open landing pads, Chai'bat's soldiers had set up a defensive position in the port operations building. A firefight was already in progress.

  Captain Breslin got an update from one of the soldiers that was already there. "There are fifteen of them on the roof, with more inside," he told the Captain.

  Casana heard several ships taking off behind the enemy, and all the landing pads she had seen were empty. A new sound erupted, the deafening staccato of an K-2 repeating pulse cannon.

  "Shit," she muttered. Casana looked at the pulse rifle in her hand. Not that she would sprint across 150 meters with a pulse cannon shooting at her. She heard more curses from her troops. They felt the same way about charging one.

  "Hey, what's in all these?" Casana asked, waving at the stacks of cargo containers around them.

  "No weapons, mostly food, clothes, medical supplies, spare parts, and electronics," someone replied. Casana hadn't really expected to find a container of rocket launchers, but it was worth a try. She peeked back across the landing pad. "Hey, somebody give me a grenade," she shouted.

  Someone passed her one, and Casana set down her rifle. She took a deep breath, concentrating on her senses. While 150 meters was an impossible throw for most humanoids, it wasn't all that long a throw for an Arcadian. What she was planning was a little more complicated than just throwing it towards her enemies, though.

  When Casana was relaxed, she pulled the safety pin on the grenade. As long as she held the clip, nothing would happen. She released her grip and let the clip pop off. Still, she held the grenade. Several soldiers became fidgety.

  Casana suddenly popped up and threw the grenade. She was back down in less than a second. The cannon rounds took a little over a second to come through the window. She laid on the floor, eyes closed, the grenade exploded midflight less than a meter from the gunner, killing him and destroying the repeating pulse cannon.

  The moment the grenade exploded Casana was at another window with her pulse rifle in hand. One shot, one kill. Two shots, two kills. Three. Duck and move back to the other window. Hear everyone else start shooting. Four shots, four down. Five down. Everyone in the ops building was ducking down.

  "Cover me!" She yelled and jumped out of the window, running across the open landing pad. About half way across rifle fire started back up from the ops building. With agility augmenting her speed, the guards weren't able to track her fast enough. Firing from the hip, Casana shot another guard on the run. With 30 meters to go, she fired several shots into a window.

  Casana leaped through the shot-out window and tried to land in a forward roll. That's when she remembered that she was only wearing the durasteel harness, and couldn't bend her torso into a roll. Casana landed in a painful skid, and crashed into a table. A guard was huddling under a window, clutching a pulse rifle. After staring at the naked woman for several seconds, he started to bring his rifle to bear on her.

  Cursing at her own stupidity, Casana rolled half-way over and shot the guard. She climbed to her feet, and noticed she had a long cut on her left breast and side. Ignoring it, she rushed into the next room, and killed another guard.

  Following her senses, Casana found some stairs to the roof. Only four guards were still shooting back from there. She took out three of them before they even knew that she was there. The fourth one turned to try and shoot at her, and was taken out by one of her friends in the warehouse. Casana almost stood and waved to them that the roof was clear, but remembered that most soldiers tend to shoot anything that moves. So instead she went to clear the rest of the building.

  After taking out eight more guards downstairs, Casana found a comm-badge and told Captain Breslin to come on over. While waiting for him and his men, she went to the opposite side of the building to look for a ship. There were none left.

  "Casana, do you know that there is a battle going on in orbit?" Captain Breslin asked her when he arrived. "No," she replied puzzled. Captain Breslin, her and a couple of soldiers went to the roof to get a better look. One of them brought some macrobinoculars, which he passed to Casana. She looked up, and sure enough, saw the bright lights of a Victory-class Destroyers pulse cannons. Casana noticed several smaller dots that were rapidly getting bigger. "Shit!" She looked at Captain Breslin. "Drop-ships," she explained to him.

  He ordered the troops into defensive positions. Casana reached out with her cognitive senses, trying to figure out who was in the drop-ships. Instead, she felt danger from the ground. Casana scanned the surrounding buildings, and saw guards taking up position in a building a couple of hundred meters away.

  "Friends of yours?" she asked Captain Breslin. Before he could respond, a pulse rifle round hit the wall below them. All four dived for cover and started returning fire.

  Captain Breslin called for more troops to the roof, and told the rest to find positions on the lower floor. Casana guessed that there were about fifty troops attacking her twenty or so. Not only were they out numbered, they didn't have an pulse cannon to mow down anyone foolish enough to try and charge across the open ground.

  Casana aimed and fired. Every shot was a hit, although not necessarily a kill. An enemy soldier was hiding behind a cargo container. He decided to stand and take a few shots. Before he even stood Casana fired. Her shot clipped the top of his helmet, sending it flying. He fell to the ground unhurt. He lost control of his bladder and tried to claw his way into the concrete.

  Still, there were too many shooting back. "Lutt," she heard Captain Breslin mutter under the rifle fire.

  "Where?" Casana asked him.

  "To the left, on the roof," he replied while shooting at the group of guards Lutt was in. With an evil grin Casana sought out the Major. He was tough to kill. For some reason he didn't actually get up and shoot often, but he did keep yelling into a comm. Casana shot a soldier than ran up to him. Probably a messenger, she thought.

  Casana turned to check out the drop-ships. The last one was landing, with all three on the far side of the ops building from Lutt and his guards. Casana rolled over next to Capitan Breslin, and left him in charge. Then she crawled to the stairs, and went back down to see who was in the drop ships.

  Several hundred troops had already disembarked from the ships, and taken up defensive positions. Her own soldiers were already exchanging tifle fire with the main group. About three dozen from each side moved to flanking positions. Casana held up the macrobinoculars to get a better look.

  Instantly, she recognized the uniforms of the Makovian Military. "Shit! Cease fire! Cease Fire!" she yelled. The few troops were close enough to hear her ducked back behind cover. She got on a comm and told every one else not to fire on the troops from the drop-ships. "Get me a white flag!" The soldiers started looking around for one. "Anything
white!"

  Someone passed her a white undershirt. Casana found a piece of scrap metal and attached the shirt to it. She waved the cloth in the window until she didn't hear anymore rifle fire. Tentatively, she stuck her head up. A Makovian officer was also holding up a white flag. He waved to her to come across. The naked Casana stood and climbed out of the window.

  They met in the middle. As he approached, Casana saw him checking her out. He introduced himself as Major Hax'in. "Casana Olan, Kriegsmarine," she replied. She could feel his surprise and joy. Before he could respond, she continued. "My troops are in the ops building, in a firefight. We could use some help."

  "Sure, Casana Olan," he replied quickly. He pulled out his comm, ordered two platoons forward, plus three squads to flank the enemy, and for the fighter cover to standby for coordinates. Casana got on her comm and informed Captain Breslin to expect friendlies from the drop-ships. Less than a minute later, the Makovian Military entered the ops building to re-enforce Captain Breslin's troops. Casana declined the safety of the drop-ships, and returned to the ops building. She was happy to see the Makovians carrying three K-2 pulse cannons into the ops building.

  The increased fire from the ops building, along with the three squads that were sent on the flanking maneuver quickly decimated Lutt's guards. When the Warthog assault bombers hit the enemy's position five minutes later, it was over. Once Casana made sure that the Makovian medics were working on her troops as well as the other Makovians, she went to find Captain Breslin.

  *** "Admiral. Sonya Mueller has a bomb strapped to her. Do we have time to transfer her to another ship that has a bomb disposal expert on board?" Ari'a asked.

  The Admiral frowned slightly. "A bomb? Unless she is in immediate danger, I'm afraid not. We need to attack as soon as possible, before the pirates escape. Now, get into position, so we can launch the operation."

  "Yes, Admiral," Ari'a replied as she closed the link. She turned back to Sonya. "Will you be okay a while longer, Sonya?"