by M. D. Cooper
Rika stifled a curse; getting angry wouldn’t help her now, and she shouldn’t have been surprised anyway. Disarming her as much as possible was a logical move on the part of the Niets. Smart. For once. She continued her assessment.
Rika gave a soft laugh.
Over the next half hour, she assisted Niki in finding a power source—a weak, but consistent magnetic field in the deck beneath them. They tasked the final nanoprobes to build a coil to tap the magnetic field using copper from her charging cable and threading it through a small hole they’d bored in the deck underneath her back.
She harbored no illusions that they would.
LOST
STELLAR DATE: 10.12.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Intersection 48th and Bridge Street, Memphis, Kansas
REGION: Blue Ridge System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
“Shit!” Chase swore as Potter confirmed that a stealthed ship had broken atmosphere at an opportune time, and was already on the far side of the planet from the Marauder vessels.
Before Chase could shout ‘Yes!’, Lieutenant Colonel Alice joined the conversation.
He forced himself to take a deep breath.
Alice replied, a steely edge to her voice.
Chase clenched his jaw. He wasn’t certain he believed Alice, but this wasn’t the time to take her to task—especially with her being in nominal command of the battalion.
Alice’s words made sense on the surface, but he wondered if it really was better to move to the spaceport. It was clear across Memphis, and it would take some time to get the B’muths over there.
Still, he couldn’t countermand her, and he figured it would be wise to be in the same room as the woman when she was making her decisions—if for no other reason than the probable need to knock her unconscious and take command of the battalion.
A trickle of sweat ran down Chase’s temple, and he wished he could remove his helmet to brush it aside.
Chase gave a vehement nod in the shade beside a kitchen appliance store.
ORDERS
STELLAR DATE: 10.12.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Hornton Space and Airport, Memphis, Kansas
REGION: Blue Ridge System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
Alison snapped to attention as Lieutenant Colonel Alice entered the Nietzscheans’ former CIC at the spaceport.
The woman was one of the few non-mechs in the Marauders, and the only one in the command other than Leslie. The other non-mechs were mostly engineers, pilots, and ship crew. So far as Alison was concerned, each and every one of them were fully-fledged members of Rika’s Marauders—they bled oil just like the mechs.
But not Alice.
Everyone knew that she was a plant sent from Marauder HQ to keep an eye on them and make sure that Rika remembered she worked for the Marauders, and not Tanis and the ISF.
Bullshit, Alison thought. Rika works for Rika. But everyone knows she’s taking direction from Tanis.
That was the scuttlebutt, at least. It was ISF intel that had enabled the Marauders to launch an attack on the Sepe System. Following that, Tanis had reached out to Rika with the information that the Blue Ridge System was all but undefended; a ripe target within Nietzschea’s borders.
Of course, any goals here were secondary, now, what with Rika’s capture by the Niets. Alison was beside herself with worry—along with the rest of the Marauders.
She’d heard Lieutenant Fuller and Staff Sergeant Chauncy talking about how they should just abandon Kansas—and the Blue Ridge System entirely, if needs be—to go after Rika.
The sentiment was one she shared wholeheartedly.
Still, Chase hadn’t made the call to leave, so she would bide her time. But if the captain said the word, she’d pack up in a heartbeat.
No matter what the lieutenant colonel says.
“Sergeant,” Alice said loudly in the otherwise empty room while glaring at the holotable showing the layout of the spaceport.
“Yes, Colonel Alice?” Alison replied, turning toward the woman.
“I need you to find the fastest, interstellar-capable ship in the spaceport. Something maneuverable that we can use as a pursuit craft.”
“Ma’am?” Alison cocked an eyebrow. “Is there something wrong with our fleet?”
Alice looked up from the holo and met Alison’s gaze. “Yes. It’s a Nietzschean fleet, and they’ll be looking for it. We need something they won’t suspect, that is able to effect a pursuit and breach. You find the right craft and pick two fireteams to come along.”
Alison’s estimation of Alice shifted slightly. This woman is going to lead the rescue of Rika? That was something she could get behind.
“Yes, ma’am!”
“And, Ali
son,” Alice said, taking a step closer, her eyes darting around the otherwise empty CIC. “Keep this to yourself. We think the Niets have breached our comms somehow—it was how they got the drop on Rika. The company commanders know we’re doing this; Chase is onboard.”
“So verbal orders only?” Alison clarified.
“Exactly, Sergeant.”
Something about Alice’s voice didn’t seem right, but a gut feeling didn’t warrant insubordination, so Alison nodded. “I’ve been inventorying the ships here, while we wait for things to settle down. I was curious if there are any Niet-owned ones that we could seize, and I found one that may fit the bill. It’s a corvette-sized vessel. Interstellar-capable. It may be a bit small for yourself and nine mechs, but it has weapons, decent shields, and it can pull a hundred gs in a pinch.”
Alice nodded as she looked over the ship that Alison had pulled up on the holo. “You’re right about it being tight for ten. What if we cut that number? Can you assault a Nietzschean ship with just one fireteam?”
Alison barked a laugh. “Don’t you recall Sepe? I only took two fireteams for a dreadnought; one will be plenty for a tin can full of Nietzschean brass running with their tails between their legs. All we have to do is free Rika, and she’ll tear them limb from limb.”
Alice grinned. “Excellent. Get your best fireteam to the ship, and make sure it’s ready to go. I’ll inform Lieutenant Fuller that I’m borrowing some of his mechs.”
Alison saluted and left the CIC, feeling a bit uneasy about leaving without reporting in to Lieutenant Fuller herself. She was tempted to do just that, but he was clear across the spaceport, working with third squad to take out a final batch of Nietzschean holdouts. She didn’t have time to hoof it over there and give him the information in person, so she would have to rely on Alice to pass on the news.
* * * * *
“Fuck!” Chase swore.
Less than ten seconds later, Fuller was back.
Alison wouldn’t go off on her own. This is definitely Alice’s doing. Chase let a few choice curses for the woman flow through his mind. He didn’t know what she was playing at, but she’d picked the perfect time to make her move; there was no way Chase was going to send a team after her when Rika was missing.
“Can you reach them?”
Chase spun and paced across the room, feeling torn about leaving Alison in Alice’s hands while Rika was also missing.
“What’s wrong?” a deep-timbred voice asked from the entrance to the CIC, and Chase turned to see the ISF colonel, Borden.
“It’s that damn Alice,” Chase muttered. “She’s taken five of my mechs, and snuck off. Anyone I send after her could be someone I need to get Rika back.”
“Never liked her,” Borden ground the words out slowly. “But Alison is good people. I’ll go fetch them…and bring Alice back in shackles. You focus on getting Rika back from the Niets.”
Chase pulled his helmet off and strode to the ISF Marine, extending his hand. Borden pulled his helmet off as well, the two men’s eyes meeting.
“You’re sure?” Chase asked.
Borden’s usually stern expression cracked into a smile. “I beat Jenisa and Alison in a game of Snark; they owe me too many credits to let them off this easy.”
Chase snorted. “Well, we can’t let that ride. Lightspeed to you, Colonel.”
“And to you, Captain. You need to get your fleet after Rika; this world can take care of itself. It was going to have to, anyway.”
The ISF colonel turned and walked out of the CIC, leaving Chase to consider his words. The man was right; they wouldn’t have stayed around for long—but they also would not have left the people high and dry, at the mercy of any remaining Niets and whatever thugs would be crawling out of their hidey holes.
A snort came over the Link.
Klen’s tone was guarded.
AMONG THE MISSING
STELLAR DATE: 10.12.8949 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: The MacWood Building, Memphis, Kansas
REGION: Blue Ridge System, Old Genevia, Nietzschean Empire
“Dammit!” Kelly swore as rail fire tore out of the MacWood Building’s loading bay, spraying across the street and tearing into the adjacent tower. “Fucking Niets just don’t want to come out and play.”
Yig shook his head as the rail fire died off again. “We could hit them full force, but we’re not going to get into the building if we bring it down on their heads. We need some sort of distraction.”
“The Skyscreams are too far away, dealing with a bunch of Niets who still think shelling civvies is a good call,” Kelly said, leaning back against a low marble wall.
“What do we need them for?” Yig asked. “You want them to get all the glory?”
Kelly gave the fireteam leader a saucy wink—which he couldn’t see, with her helmet in the way, but she liked to do it just the same. “Well, we could get them to carry us up top and drop us on the roof.”
“So we have to fight our way down the whole building?” Yig shook his head. “Sounds stupid.”
“Well, we just drop down the lift shaft.”
“Or we go two blocks west and get into the maglev tunnels over there.” Yig gestured to a low building that was adorned with signs indicating the various maglev tracks and their destinations.
“There’s a dozen tracks down there; we need to start from the source,” Kelly shot back.
Yig chuckled.
“Great,” Kelly muttered. “Just what I need.”
“What? A ‘Muth not good enough for you?” CJ asked.
A coarse laugh
escaped Kelly’s lips. “Oh sure, a B’muth is great, but Crunch already thinks he’s saved my life twice. He keeps talking about the third time being ‘the charm’.”
“The charm?” Yig sounded confused. “The charm for what?”
“Marriage,” Cole said with a snicker as she took up a position near the pair, firing on a Niet who had peered around a building’s corner a block away. “Crunch has the hots for Kelly, wants to bed her with his new man parts.”
Kelly could only groan as Yig burst into laughter.
“Stars, I can’t wait to see this go down,” he said when he’d finally regained control of himself.
Cole snorted. “Was that an intentional euphemism? If so, well done.”
* * * * *
Five minutes later, Crunch’s B’muth lumbered around a corner, and came into view of the MacWood Building. The moment it was in sight, a pair of guided missiles fired from halfway up the building, streaking down toward the massive walker.
The missiles had barely left the building when point defense chainguns spun up on the back of the B’muth, destroying both in seconds.
Four more missiles streaked out from the tower, and the walker’s guns made short work of them too, shrapnel raining down on the street to the cheers of Kelly’s and Yig’s teams.
The four-legged machine pivoted, and its main gun lifted off its back, firing a trio of ten-kilogram slugs at the locations where the missile fire had originated.
The rail-fired rounds tore clear through the building—and the high-rise on the far side, as well—before arching up over the city.
the sergeant replied.