The Tactics of Revenge thc-4

by T. R. Harris

  The orbital crews came and went, and it was easy to identify the Travess crews by their distinctive uniforms. But what made the recon especially gratifying that morning was the witnessing of the module supply transport arriving at the security gate. It was a large black truck with sixteen wheels and easily measuring twenty meters long. It moved through the gate without fanfare and pulled up next to one of the large recharge shuttles.

  There was a flurry of activity as crewmembers offloaded the contents of the truck, placing the oblong metal canisters on a conveyor belt that delivered them into the ship. These had to be the energy modules Jym spoke of.

  As Tobias watched the activity through a palm-sized spyglass, he figured this only made sense. He was sure the modules have to be come in a variety shapes and sizes to accommodate the various makes of starships coming and going from Zinnol, so each job would require a new supply of the appropriate units.

  This could also be their way into the compound.

  Tobias made a call on his secure comm device to the JU-224 and told Riyad to rent a transport as soon as possible and then to meet them at the eatery. His plan was to follow the supply truck to its origin and figure out the best place to affect a hijacking.

  Sherri and Tobias sat nervously waiting for Riyad to arrive, hoping that he would get there before the truck left the spaceport. Their hopes began to fade when they saw the huge truck making its way toward the security gate — and still no Riyad. The Juireans were arriving the next day, so they only had one crack at this.

  The truck passed through the gate and turned right, heading south past Tobias and Sherri. The two Humans stood on the sidewalk outside the restaurant and watched their best chance of rescuing Adam speed past.

  And then Riyad pulled up to the curb. Sherri and Tobias flung open the doors of the small transport and jumped in. Riyad sat at the controls, grinning. “What’s up?” he said, not sensing the urgency.

  “Follow that truck!” Tobias yelled looking over his shoulder in the direction Riyad had just come from.

  “What-”

  “That truck — follow it. Hurry!”

  Riyad shoved the center joystick forward and twisted it to the left as he did so. The transport surged ahead, making a sharp U-turn in the middle of the street. Another transport on his side of the street nearly hit him, but instead swerved onto the sidewalk and slammed to the front facade of the restaurant Sherri and Tobias had just left. Glass and pieces of plaster cascaded down onto the transport, nearly covering it completely. Half a dozen creatures ran out of the building in a panicked rush.

  By this time, Riyad had sped off in the opposite direction, snaking his way between other vehicles until he was only about twenty meters behind the huge truck. The massive vehicle was easy to stop, not only from its length but also its height. Once he was in a comfortable location behind it, the three Humans began to relax.

  “So what’s in the truck?” Riyad finally asked.

  “With any luck, it will be us tomorrow,” Tobias answered. “It’s a supply truck for the energy modules. If we can intercept the one restocking the Travess ship for the Juirean run, then we can load it up with our equipment and drive right up to the front door of the recharge shuttle. After that, it shouldn’t be too hard to overpower the crew and take over the ship.”

  “That sounds like something that can work — if the hijacking isn’t reported first.”

  “The offloading of the modules takes about an hour from what we’ve seen. We should be at the Juirean ship by then.”

  “Still, it would nice to have a diversion down here on the ground that will give us some leeway.”

  “What do you have in mind?” Sherri asked Riyad. She had been around him long enough to know that Riyad didn’t throw out a hypothetical like that without already having a plan.

  “My ship, The Secura.”

  “What about it?” it was Tobias’s turn to ask the questions.

  “Once we get Adam and rendezvous with Jym, we probably won’t have an opportunity to come back down here to get it before all hell breaks loose. So let’s use it to cause a diversion as we’re leaving.”

  “Go on,” Tobias said. “I kinda see where this is goin’.”

  “We have Kaylor set up a remote control so we can have it launch — and then crash the ship into the recharge spaceport. That’ll cause such a mass of confusion down here that nobody will know what’s going on for days or weeks. And we’ll be long gone by then.”

  Tobias looked back at Sherri sitting in the backseat of the transport. “Damn, that would really help out,” he said.

  Sherri nodded. She knew that Riyad was a master at staging spectacular events — you might call them — and she also knew he didn’t give a second thought about the death and destruction his diversion would cause. But both he and Tobias were right, however: it would buy them extra time as well as effectively cover their tracks.

  “Let’s do it,” she said. “After all, this is war.”

  Chapter 36

  They followed the large truck for a good forty-five minutes before it pulled up to a massive row of buildings at the south end of the city. There were five structures, each easily twenty stories tall and with towering smokestacks jutting even higher from their roofs, white smoke or stream billowing out of each one.

  Beyond the wire security fence, the Humans watched as the black truck joined a half dozen others just like it near the buildings; they also saw nearly a hundred of the much smaller ground-based supply trucks, like the ones that had arrived at their two ships the day before. Apparently the large black trucks were reserved for the orbital recharges, which required larger and more numerous energy modules, plus the storage equipment for the highly radioactive containers.

  Along the way to the energy facility, Tobias and Riyad easily spotted four or five decent ambush points for the hijacking. The plan was simple. They would get a second rental transport and station Kaylor in it as a lookout for when the black truck passed along the route. Then Riyad’s rental would be used to block the path of the truck at a designated point away from inquiring eyes. The SEALs would then descend on the vehicle and secure the target. Next, they would transfer the weapons cache to the black truck and all pile in for the journey to the spaceport.

  Getting past the guard at the gate was another matter, and would have to be improvised. Yet as the trio of Humans drove back to the spaceport, they were all feeling confident that the minor details could be worked out on the fly. With Riyad’s plan to crash The Secura into the spaceport, all they needed was the time get off the planet without the alarms going off. After that the beings on the surface would have no way of telling that the black truck had been hijacked. They would simply assume it had been destroyed in the crash.

  The rest of the day and night was spent preparing for the operation. Kaylor was able to fashion a device that would allow him to control The Secura remotely, as least for basic maneuvers like lift off and then a sudden descent straight into the OASG. The crash would be spectacular, and leave an area easily a kilometer square in total ruin.

  Rutledge and Tindal avoided their still pissed-off Lieutenant and concentrated on filling two crates with all the weapons and ammunition they had aboard both ships. They threw in a few MK’s and flash rifles, yet the bulk of their firepower was in the form of good old fashion Human armament, comprised mainly of the Heckler amp; Koch MP7A1’s and the 4.6X30mm hollow-point rounds they used. Just for good measure, they also included a few of their trusty M4A1’s. Old habits die hard.

  The night was spent in restless anticipation of the coming day. Sherri, Kaylor and Jym had difficulty falling asleep, but not so the SEALs and Riyad. They had been through so many battles in the past, that this part of the operation was second nature to them. They had been trained that sleep was also a weapon, and that a well-rested soldier was an awesome asset to have in battle.

  Eventually the new day dawned, and whether they had slept well or not the night before, the thrill of adrenalin now
took over the team.

  It was game time.

  Chapter 37

  As it was with most plans devised by the SEALs, the first part went off without a hitch. The black truck passed Kaylor’s position as planned, and the SEALs were able to stop it and subdue the driver without too much drama. The single driver had no idea what was happening, lacking the entire concept of why his truck would ever be the target of a crime in the first place. The creature had obviously never spent any time in Detroit….

  He complacently submitted to the hijacking.

  The weapons were soon stored in the cavernous rear section and Kaylor joined them all for the ride to the spaceport.

  The driver of the truck was a Prime who stood about two meters tall — about normal for the majority of races in the Expansion, and with features not unlike Riyad’s with his full beard. They found a Travess uniform inside the truck and Riyad changed into it, pulling the hood up over his head. The driver had not been wearing a uniform, but Riyad figured he’d deal with that fact later if it came up.

  With the rest of the team hiding in the back, Riyad pulled the huge truck up to the security gate. The bored guard glanced up at the cab and called out, “You will be assisting with the offload this day?” The tone was more one of idle curiosity rather than a serious inquiry.

  “They are short-handed this day, so yes, I have to help.” Riyad mumbled, so as to not draw too much attention to his voice.

  The guard did not comment, but simply pressed the release button allowing the gates to separate. He didn’t even watch as the huge truck rumbled past, but rather returned to his seat next to the other guard, who was engrossed in the screen of a datapad sitting on his lap.

  The next stop would be at the only shuttle in this part of the spaceport baring the Travess colors. True to her word, the dispatch clerk for the other company had sent her company ships off on other assignments, leaving the Travess ship the only one available to meet the Juirean.

  In the back of the truck, the SEALs and Sherri geared up. Their weapons carried suppressors, which would dull the sound of firing, but not mask it completely. They would have to move fast once the recharge crew gathered around the rear of the truck for offload, possibly using their superior strength to subdue the crew rather that with gunfire. There were still other orbital crews around the area, just not members of the security-cleared crews.

  Tindal and Rutledge crouched near the rear of the truck, anxious for the time when the door would open wide. They heard the latches unhook, and then a shaft of light burst into the truck. The door swung wide, and both of the SEALs jumped to the ground, aiming their weapons from their cheeks at the startled aliens surrounding them.

  No one moved, until one massive creature with light green skin stepped forward, a grin on his face.

  Tindal’s eyes grew wide. “You! What are you doing here?” he blurted out.

  “I said I was transferring,” replied the creature Tindal had referred to as The Incredible Hulk two days before. “But I should be asking you the same question. And are these weapons you brandish?”

  Tobias and Sherri had also jumped out of the back of the truck and taken up flanking positions next to the two SEALs. The other aliens had noticed the weapons and had moved to hide behind the massive green creature as best they could.

  “Look, we don’t want to hurt anyone,” Tindal said. “All of you just move quietly and quickly back inside the shuttle and there’ll be no trouble.”

  Lornius looked over at the other three Humans standing at the rear of the truck, yet his eventually locked on Tindal. “Hurt anyone? I am not afraid of you, weakling. And I do not recognize your weapons.”

  “Friend of yours?” Tobias asked, leaning in closer to Tindal. “Remember, we don’t want to use our weapons unless we have to. Deal with this.”

  Tindal nodded, and then flung his MP7 over to Rutledge. “Hold this for a minute, Chief.” He then looked at Lornius and smiled, a grin so wide, bright and toothy that its meaning was unambiguous to the hulking alien.

  In a fit of anger, Lornius rushed forward, his massive arms leading the way, no fear or uncertainty in his charge. Tindal let him come, and at the last moment, slipped to his left while lashing out with his right fist. The blow caught the larger alien under the right arm pit, issuing forth a tortured cry of pain from The Hulk. Lornius twisted toward Tindal, just in time to catch another powerful blow across his chin. He blinked several times as a dull look crossed his face. And then Tindal — not wanting to delay the inevitable any longer — moved in closer and raked his right elbow across the head of the already disoriented creature.

  Lornius’s eyes rolled back in his head and he tumbled over backwards, landing in a cloud of light red dust in front of the other shocked members of his crew. By the time the reality of The Hulk’s defeat had dawned on them, Tobias and his team had moved up and began to force crew back toward the recharge ship.

  In a moment, they were all inside, with Kaylor and Sherri now standing guard while the SEAL’s and Riyad returned to the truck to offload the weapons and ammunition. They each took a side of the crate and pulled it off the truck, stepping around the now-still hulk of green alien lying on the ground.

  “That must have felt good,” Rutledge said as he and Tindal carried the crate past the body.

  “Almost better than sex, Master Chief. Almost.”

  Soon both crates were on the recharge ship and Kaylor had moved to the pilothouse with Riyad right behind him.

  “Any word on the assignment yet?” he asked the alien.

  “I’m checking. I don’t see anything yet.” Kaylor scrolled through a number of the screens so fast that even Riyad was impressed. He stopped at one. “Excellent! Here are the instructions for approaching a Juirean ship. I was very worried about this part of the plan. I now have a guide-”

  He stopped abruptly as a transmission came through on the comm channel. It was a digital transmission of considerable length. Kaylor keyed the board for the message to be displayed in Belsonian, his native language. He began to read.

  “Here it is. It is a contract, and with instructions to proceed after module-loading to the Juirean battlecruiser now entering orbit. It has worked! The plan has worked!”

  Riyad grinned. “Did you have any doubt, my friend?”

  “Yes, of course I did. Jym even calculated the odds at less than twenty-percent for success.”

  “He did? And yet you’re still here with us, as part of the Team.”

  Kaylor was silent for a moment, yet his eyes glowed with a brightness Riyad had not noticed before. “You are correct. We fight alongside the Humans now, come victory or defeat.”

  Riyad placed a hand on Kaylor’s shoulder. “Glad to have you along, Kaylor, and your little friend, too. Now let’s get Jym airborne and prepare for the destruction of The Secura. Our day is just beginning.”

  Chapter 38

  Jym expressed gushing relief when he received the call from Kaylor instructing him to take off and proceed to the waiting point in orbit above Zinnol. And then once all the weapons had been secured and the alien recharge crew stripped of their uniforms, tied up and locked away in the aft cargo hold, Kaylor began the liftoff sequence. They would start out on chemicals, and then transition to gravity drive once they reached an altitude of about twenty kilometers. After that, it would only be about two minutes before they would be back in space again.

  Kaylor began the approach maneuvers long before the Juirean ship was even visible. The procedure called for a lineup a hundred kilometers out, and with no deviation allowed; the Juireans needed ample time to analyze the approaching vessel to determine its credentials. Once competed and verified, the Juirean sent out a transponder beam that Kaylor was to follow precisely to the docking port.

  Tobias, Sherri and Riyad were now in the pilothouse of the shuttle, dressed as best they could in the Travess green and orange uniforms. The uniforms the two men wore fit fairly well; Sherri on the other hand was having trouble breathin
g in hers — the cut of the outfit did not allow for Human female breasts.

  “It’s time, Kaylor,” Riyad said. “Let’s do it.”

  Kaylor took out the small control box he carried in his utility pouch and turned it on. There was a small joystick and monitor screen on the box, and Kaylor began to operate the controls with skill.

  “I’ve activated the chemical drive,” he narrated, watching the screen on the box. “Gaining altitude, now at five kilometers — as you Humans measure it. That should be sufficient. We would not want any defense utilities to have time to counter the attack. Beginning the descent.”

  Riyad peered over Kaylor’s shoulder at the tiny screen. All he could see was a representation of the surface of the planet and a tiny white dot above it. The dot moved abruptly, angling back toward the ground. It was over in a second.

  “Impact. On target,” was all Kaylor said.

  “Good,” said Lt. Tobias. “Now they have a lot more to deal with down on the surface than just a hijacked supply truck. Let’s get ready to rumble.”

  Kaylor looked back at him; Tobias stopped the line of questioning with his raised hand. “Let it go, Kaylor. Just let it go.”

  Chapter 39

  All five Human team members were now suited up for the coming assault. Since they would be going up against energy weapons, they chose not to wear the normal military tactical gear, including flak jackets. Instead, they began with Adam’s single-shot diffusion shield outfit. This was a tunic that had been fitted with dozens of wires forming a mesh. If struck by even a level one bolt, the charge would dissipate along the wires, greatly reducing the effect. However, if hit, the wires would heat up and melt, making the suit good for only one shot.