The radio was helping a great deal. The HAM radio allowed them to keep in regular contact with each of the bases and with the Ianua Imperium. He listened in and reported in regularly, every evening weather permitting. His radio operator dutifully used a hand crank to keep the radio battery fully powered.
And this was the night. They finally had to go ahead to move in.
~~~^~~~
A half hora before the appointed time, everyone was up and ready. Snipers were set to cover the entry team. He'd originally wanted to do the strike during a storm but the enemy would take more notice of people coming in and out of the castle. The doors would be shut and most likely locked. Also, visibility would have been poor, which meant the snipers would have been next to useless.
Instead, they timed the assault at noctes . The snipers confirmed they could take out some but not all of the guards.
The short-range team radios were polled. Everyone was in their jumping-off positions. He cleared his throat and then hit the microphone transmit key.
“Snipers execute. I say again, execute, execute, execute,” he said.
There were a series of soft but distinct putt sounds, then the distant sounds of falling bodies, one from the battlements. Apparently, all that target practice all annus long was paying off. He'd find out if they got their shots in one-shot, one-kill later.
“Breach team execute. I say again, execute, execute, execute,” he said, voice level but his body quivering with barely suppressed excitement.
The eight-man maniple moved forward as one group, half in a crouch up the partially cleared road to the gate. There was no alarm yet; the gate was down, the portcullis up. They moved into the inner door and then the point man breached the gatehouse.
A flashbang lit the window slits and the legatus could just barely hear the sounds of weapons fire. “Gatehouse level 1 clear,” a voice whispered.
“Secondary team execute,” the legatus growled.
~~~^~~~
Shane bypassed the entrance to the keep and instead went into the side kitchen door. It meant a bit more exposure but so far so good. No alarms.
His team followed him. Each time he stopped at a corner, they gave him a pat on the shoulder. He then hand signed and then moved out to the next point.
They found a sleepy lad in the kitchen with the night cook. Both were securely gagged and bound and stuffed in a pantry.
They then came out in the magnum praetorium and swept it corner to corner and then moved on.
~~~^~~~
Once the breach team cleared the gatehouse, they swept the battlements and towers in the outer curtain wall. Any fallen bodies were dragged to the shadows where they would be less noticeable.
Meanwhile, Legatus Zane brought his team in and then into the hall. Team 2 went up while Team 3 split into three fire teams. One fire team swept the ground floor of the keep while another went down into the castle basement and dungeons to find the prize.
~~~^~~~
Shane did a quick peak and noted a guard at the end of the corridor. His movement must have been noticed because the guard called out testily.
He rounded the corner and lifted his rifle and fired two shots in rapid succession, dropping the startled guard. But he heard a bellow and turned to see a quartet of men coming out of a room. All were in a state of undress. He fired into them but one managed to get the heavy ironwood door shut as rounds pounded into it.
He pulled a flashbang and pulled the pin, then rolled the cylinder under the large gap under the door. He heard the cylinder clatter and then go off with a loud bang, its light shining through the gaps in the door panels and around the door jam.
He slammed his shoulder into the door, but it was locked from the inside. He took a step back, fired a pair of shots into the lock, and then gave it a hard kick. The wood around the door lock disintegrated. He stepped through and slammed one man with a knife with the butt of his rifle and then shot two more trying to recover from the flashbang. A third was crying on the ground with his hands to his face. Shane's rifle butt put his lights out for him.
~~~^~~~
Shouts and the sounds of a bell woke the castle staff but it was too late. Anyone armed who didn't immediately drop their weapons was shot. The assault team performed a brutal winnowing of the castle.
Within the first ten minutes, they had found the hostages and freed them. “Objective secure,” was reported first over the team radios and then over the HAM radio.
They found the armory before the enemy did. After that all the enemy had were whatever light arms they had available. Most were limited to a blade of some sort, no real challenge to soldiers armed with military grade rifles and the proper training on how to use them.
Once the castle was in their hands, the legatus had the staff secured in the hall. Team 2 did another sweep while two of his fire teams checked the bodies for survivors.
He pulled one fire team off of Team 1 and brought them in to check the former hostages. They put them in the kitchen, segregated from the prisoners. The fires were stoked to warm them up, and they were fed from the evening stew pot and bread.
The former prisoners had bandages from scars and open wounds on their wrists from wearing the manacles for so long. Even though they were gaunt and looked terrible, they were tearfully joyful and willing to help find and rescue the princess.
“Good. Tell us everything you know about the situation in the castle,” the legatus stated.
“We aren't leaving?” a lordling asked.
“Later maybe. For the moment, this castle is secure,” the legatus said. “And a storm is coming.”
The lordling nodded.
Chapter 45
The capital
The radio network relayed reports from the growing network of spies in the north. Detailed information began to come in, confirming some facts and nailing down where people were or weren't. There was no sign of Legatus Tycho and the others other than a general area where they had last been seen. There was also no news of their capture.
Given that news moved slow in the winter, they could take that as a good sign or not.
Deidra remained in the capital to receive the Terrans and remain in command. Eugene flew out to the border through the relay airports early in the morning. Deidra watched the plane leave, feeling a bit of trepidation over it.
She was all smiles when the report came in of the successful assault of Rasmussen castle. She couldn't help but feel ecstatic over the report from Legatus Zane that none of his team had been killed. There had been a couple of light injuries but nothing serious. She made sure to congratulate him and make a note to reward him later. She was amused by his stammered thanks.
She listened as some of the lordlings came on the radio to tearfully talk to their families. She felt tears prick her own eyes at the suffering some of them described. It hadn't been long, but it had been long enough.
~~~^~~~
Emory Duchy
Eugene arrived in the plane four bumpy hours after the flight. He spent the entire time clinging to the armrests, even through the entire bumpy landing. He was careful as he stepped off and down the slipper ladder. When he got to the icy stone, he turned carefully to find a familiar old man standing there. He shook hands with the duke, dismissing an attempt to bow or kneel. “It's too damn cold out for theatrics. Besides, we're family, sort of,” Eugene said.
The duke nodded.
“We're just passing through, but I've got a couple hours for a bite to eat while they service and refuel the plane,” he said with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder to indicate the ground crew. “And, I can show you some pictures and video of your grandniece,” he said with a smile as he hauled out a tablet.
“You can?” the duke said. Eugene keyed up the first image of the burbling baby. “Ah!” The duke took it and smiled. “My mate will love to see this too.”
“I brought prints too,” Eugene chuckled, pulling out printed photos.
The duke clapped him on the shoulde
r and then escorted him to the castle for a brief stay.
~~~^~~~
Duluth air strip
Akemi Ping looked over to her copilot, but he was just as scared as she was. It was pitch black, the landing strip was poorly lit, they were on fumes, a storm front was coming in, and they could already feel the gusts.
Oh, and they were at max weight capacity. The winds had eaten into their reserves. They had just enough to circle once more if they had to abort. Twice more would be pushing it. They had already tried circling twice.
“Okay, let's go for this,” she murmured.
She held her breath until both oversized wheels were down again. When her copilot Josh confirmed that they were down and locked, she felt relief. But the wheels added extra drag. The oversized tires made like additional sails under the craft. They needed to get down fast.
Well, not too fast, she reminded herself.
“Terrans are spoiled. Approach radar, altimeter, all the bells and whistles … I do wish someone had thought to add lights though,” she said as she lined up between the strips of oil pots burning in the night. Some were flickering badly. A few had gone out.
“This is crazy,” Josh muttered, clutching at the yoke.
“My bird,” she said, jiggling the yoke. He let go.
“Watch the throttles for me,” she said. “I'm going to need both hands here,” she said.
“Roger that.”
She detailed the flaps level as they made their final approach. When the bird went nose up, she corrected, then overcorrected and had to line up again. She was pretty sure she was still between the lines though so she had him drop the engine RPMs back to let them glide in.
The jolt came unexpectedly, bouncing them in their seats so hard she was glad they were wearing seat belts. If they hadn't, they would have been all over the cabin.
Josh let out a gush of air as the tail came down and he throttled back. Then everything went sideways as the left tire hit a rock under the snow. It turned the plane suddenly in that direction, dipping the left wing and raising the right.
Akemi had a brief instant to realize they were in trouble as the left wingtip went too low and crunched into the snow and then something spun them.
Fortunately, they had been moving at a slower speed than their initial landing speed, but it spun the bird and did something to buckle the landing gear under her. She dropped on that side and then skidded to a halt. The passengers and cargo in the back were jarred hard by the landing and unexpected crash.
“Well! That sucked!” Akemi said as she touched her head. “Everyone okay?” she asked looking to Josh and then over her shoulder.
Their flight engineer opened the door and stuck a thumbs-up through. “What happened?”
“Hit something we shouldn't have,” Akemi summarized. “I think. We'll know for sure when we look. Get everyone out.”
“Will do,” the engineer said then got to work on that.
“I think we need to get out. In case there is a fire,” Josh said.
“Safe the engines. Shut everything down. There is a procedure for this,” Akemi stated.
“We shut it down in this cold, lines will freeze.”
“Deal with it later. I'd rather that than a fire,” she said.
“True,” he said as they got to work.
~~~^~~~
Eugene's plane was almost to the pass fort when they heard the radio news about the crash. “Oh, that's lovely. Deidra is going to have kittens.”
“The imperatrix is pregnant again?” the pilot asked, looking over her shoulder to him.
“No, but … you know what, it's an expression.” He shook his head. “Put an order out. No more night landings.”
“Ah …”
“I know, we're landing after dark. I mean after we get to the ground. No birds in the air in poor weather and no night landings.”
“What about the plan?”
“That … we'll have to figure out,” Eugene admitted. “On the ground .”
~~~^~~~
The capital
Deidra received the news of the crash. She was not happy and vented her anger to Sue and Charlie. Both nodded. “Trust me, Eugene knows the risks. We all do.”
“No he doesn't!” Deidra insisted.
“Yes, yes, he does,” Charlie insisted, catching her hands and holding them. “Him most of all, he's been in an air accident,” she reminded her. Deidra grimaced but then nodded. “And he went anyway.”
“Duty,” Deidra muttered, making it sound like a swear word.
“Duty. To the people, to family. He'll see it through.”
Deidra nodded.
“Still going to beat his ass later just for the anxiety he's putting you through?” Charlie asked with a grin.
“Damn straight,” Deidra growled as her lips puckered in a sour smile. The other girls snorted.
~~~^~~~
Max was not at all happy when he got the news. He was tired; he'd slept about two hours when he'd gotten the news in. He tiredly listened to the report twice before he issued orders to scramble his people and get the necessary parts moving in the right direction. Cecily saw him frazzled and insisted he wasn't going and he needed a break.
“You are being pulled in so many directions at once. I get you one night a week. You need rest,” she said firmly.
He tried to fight it, but she knocked him back on his ass and then wrapped herself around him. Before he knew it, he was asleep once more.
~~~^~~~
The Terran convoy arrived at the capital in a column along the plowed road. As they entered the city, it turned into something of a parade with people turned out on the sides of the streets to see them and wave.
Sergio and some of the other old hands excitedly commented about all of the changes they could spot. The new scientists muttered about the cultural contamination.
Doctor McEntire was clearly dismayed; he had wanted to study the natives in their “natural environment.”
Sydney Heart tried to explain there was no such thing. “The people here took in innovations and cultures that came through the gate and integrated them where possible. They also were keen to learn.”
“Then why are they so backwards and stagnant? Medieval? Why didn't they have gunpowder?”
“Because people knew about it but didn't know the recipe.”
“Oh.”
~~~^~~~
General Peroit couldn't shed Doctor McEntire or Mr. Yellowknife as he met with the queen. When he looked around and noted the absence of the king, she shrugged it off. “He's north on a military mission at the moment,” Deidra said.
The French general stared at her, shocked. “I'm disappointed he couldn't be here to meet us. He certainly had plenty of time to get things in order.”
“Some things take precedence,” Deidra replied in a cool tone of voice. She smiled at the others politely. “Mister … Yellowknife is it?”
“Yes?”
“You aren't an engineer or architect by chance?”
“Um, no, I'm a lawyer for the company. Why do you ask?”
“I was curious. I noted that the original team had a lot of crossover training. The new team does not and is … different,” she said slowly.
“Ah, well, there have been a few changes back home. The platform was hit with a hurricane, and well, it’s one reason things were delayed. And we had to accept UN partners,” the Native American stated.
“Ah,” she nodded thoughtfully. “And you, Doctor McEntire?”
“Yes?”
“I am not sure what a sociologist is or a cultural anthropologist,” she said, wrinkling her nose.
“I'm not sure we know either,” the general muttered under his breath in French.
“I … study cultures and sociology,” the scientist stated.
“I see. I'm curious how you intend to apply that here,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“All scientific findings have to be shared with my government and society.
That was made clear. You are guests in my country. I'll have someone brief you on our laws if they were not explained to you before you came here,” she said with a gracious nod to the lawyer.
The lawyer puckered his lips ever so slightly.
Hostage Rescue (Princess Rescue Inc Book 2) Page 59