The Black Guard

by C. R. Daems

  "You miss the point, Captain Gasparo. Our responsibility is only to keep you from being rescued or assassinated. You think this a game; we think this just another contract. We have nothing to prove, and there is no bonus for killing people or getting killed," I said, wondering if mercenaries like him lamented those killed following his orders or trying to free him. I wondered about Tzadok and Dobrin but not Hada—she felt every injury to those under her command.

  * * *

  "Do you think they have abandoned roadside ambushes?" Rickard asked as we rode to the Tribunal building that morning. Two weeks had passed since the last incident.

  "I doubt they have given up the idea of freeing Gasparo. Judging by what I’ve read about him, his organization has been in place for ten years, and he’s considered a good leader and has a loyal command. That would suggest they will try again. The question is how smart are his lieutenants? Although their last attempt failed, I would say a road ambush is their best opportunity. The Tribunal building will have too many people in it when Gasparo is there, and they can’t afford to kill a lot of people freeing him. That would enrage everyone in the Alliance and result in the Halo navy having ’find and destroy’ orders." I paused for Rickard’s comments. When he only nodded, I continued. "But those in command might not be good strategists. Rather than use the first disaster as a learning experience, they may dismiss the idea and attempt a riskier solution.

  * * *

  It was shortly after lunch and the trial had just resumed when my Mfi flashed, vibrated, buzzed, and flashed red from Corporal Markov, who was monitoring the first floor entrance. "Captain, a large number of men with Mfws just stormed through the front entrance. They are wearing protective gear. They’ve killed or wounded the security guards. I killed one maybe two before I retreated into the far courtroom on the first floor. Two chased me in—they’re dead."

  "Await further orders," I said, and switched to an open channel to keep everyone appraised of what I was doing. "Lieutenant Elijah, take Sergeant Mintz’s team plus Private Volpe and Corporals Polak and Alpert along. Distribute them among the three administrative offices. Keep the office people in there with you. Let’s see if they can dig you out. I don’t think they want to indiscriminately kill civilians. But just in case they may, I’ll let them know I’ve moved Gasparo; therefore, he could be in any room. That should make them reluctant to use explosives but not gas, so make sure you have your gas masks."

  "Yes, sir," Elijah said and proceeded to make assignments as her team rushed to gather their equipment. "Volpe, Reti, with me in office admin three. Mintz, you, Polak, and Haber in admin two. Cerff, you, Alert and Volpe in admin one."

  Just then my Mfi alert went off again, this time from Private Krebs guarding the second floor hallway.

  "Captain, I can hear fighting coming from the first floor security area."

  "Lieutenant Elijah is on the way. Secure the hallway for her." I clicked on to Private Toch’s channel, who stood guard in the second floor waiting room. "Private Toch, you have hostiles coming up the stairs. Secure the stairway as you retreat to CR-1."

  As Elijah and her teams rushed out the door into the magistrate’s hallway, I raised my voice.

  "Sergeant Catz, take Captain Gasparo, Ganz and Nadel into CR-3 next door. There is a trial going on; hold everyone inside and keep our prisoner quiet." As they left, dragging Gasparo between Ganz and Nadel, I continued. "Corporal Behr, you’re with Corporal Toch and me in CR-1. Colonel Rickard, take your pick."

  "You’re putting a lot of civilians at risk." Rickard’s voice sounded worried and concerned.

  "You think they will be safer running in panic through the building with our intruders and us firing at each other. In the rooms, they can hide behind things," I said as we exited the room and made our way into CR-1. The Justices had just entered when we arrived.

  "Everyone, I shouted. Remain where you are. The building is under attack by friends of Captain Gasparo. You are safer in here than out there where you could get trampled to death in the panic, or shot by Gasparo’s friends, or us shooting at them," I said as Toch rushed through the door slamming it behind him. I waved for him to take up a position on the right side and Behr the left. "In case any of you disagree about staying, it is not an option. We will shoot anyone that tries to leave."

  One of the guards opened the door, took two steps into the entrance, and was thrown back into the room as multiple pellets slammed into his chest and tore holes in the far wall. The other guard backed away from the open door, holding his rifle at ready. Just then five men rushed in with Mfws swiveling in a search of opponents. The guard got off one shot before three bullets raked his body. His one shot hit a heavy-set man, who was obviously wearing body armor from his lack of reaction.

  "Hand over Captain—" a tall man began just before my laser burned through the middle of his face. Standard Guard rules of engagement for our present configuration—one Guard on the right, one in the center, and one on the left—meant Toch would begin killing the right-most opponent, Behr the left most, and I would start in the center. The five men and a sixth who stepped into the doorway died in rapid succession before they could identify and target one of us as we were using lasers—bullets would have made noise and given general positional information.

  Reports continued to come in over my Mfi from the ranking Guard in each room. The Mfi was able to queue the incoming communications and deliver the highest priority first.

  Sergeant Cerff in admin-three: "Two entering admin-three. Both dead. Gas bomb exploded. Two men entered with masks. Both dead."

  Senior Sergeant Mintz in admin-two: One man entered door. He’s dead along with one standing behind him in the hallway. Gas bomb exploded. Two more dead."

  Lieutenant Elijah in admin-one: Someone ordering the men to guard the administration doors but not enter. Probably heading down the hallway toward the courtrooms."

  "Elijah, prepare your team to take the hallway on my command," I sent, anticipating they hadn’t left a large force to guard the offices, thinking no one would want to leave the safety of the rooms.

  Senior Sergeant Catz in CR-3: "No activity."

  After a few hysterical outbursts from my captive audience, silence. The building seemed to be holding its collective breath.

  "Let Captain Gasparo go or we will start killing civilians," a man’s bass voice shouted through the partially open doors.

  "I hope you don’t kill your Captain in the process. You caught us by surprise, so I’m afraid you are going to have to check each room. I’ll give you a hint. He’s not on the first floor," I shouted, just imagining the leader’s frustration. What should have been an easy hit-and-run had turned into a nightmare with at least seventeen dead plus their losses at the security entrance.

  "Just give them Gasparo. He isn’t worth the lives of all these people," Heflin shouted, which caused shouts of agreement.

  "Let him go, and we’ll leave. No one else has to die," The man outside the door shouted.

  "How can I be sure?" I shouted, then switched to an open channel on my Mfi. "Lieutenant Elijah, prepare your team to take the hallway and the security area five seconds after we begin our attack on the waiting room. Then the security area and the first floor. Sergeant Catz, your team and mine will take the waiting area. Leave one person to watch Gasparo. We will begin on my signal with flash stars."

  "You have our word. And the word of Captain Gasparo, who is an honorable man," the bass voice shouted.

  "Give me a moment to check with Captain Gasparo," I said, and set my Mfi to ten seconds on an open channel and hit start. Toch and Behr began to creep towards the front doors as I worked my way towards the back. All the Mfi flashed as the ten seconds elapsed. Toch and Behr stood and simultaneously hurled flash stars and turned away, eyes covered. I covered my eyes and counted to five. When I opened them, Toch dashed towards the door and dove through with Behr only a second behind him. Gun shots erupted from the intruders, since the Guard would be using lasers, a
nd bullets were coming through the doors and hitting the walls as they fired wildly, still unable to see clearly.

  By now anyone in the back hallway would be distracted by the noise. I jerked open the door, shot the man standing there, looked down the hallway, noted several others, threw a flash star, and slammed the door. After a count of five, I opened the door and slid into the hallway on my back and began selecting targets. I chose the two with weapons raised in my direction, shooting in bursts but fortunately waist high. Then I shot the two who were rubbing their eyes to clear them. I rose and began running down the hallway. At the intersection, Corporal Alpert was watching the door to the waiting room and Private Krebs the rear hallway. Reflexively, his Mfw sung toward me.

  "Captain, the hallway’s clear. Lieutenant Elijah and her team are on their way into the security area," Krebs said, then smiled

  "Corporal Alpert, get ready to open the waiting room door," I said as I approached with Krebs following. At my nod, he jerked open the door, and I stepped through and to the right, he followed to the left, and Krebs took a position in the doorway. The room was in chaos. A group of twenty or more people were huddled together on the floor in the far corner—presumably people who had been waiting there when the intruders arrived. A number of bodies lay on the floor—presumably dead. Corporal Toch had risen to a kneeing position and was firing Mfw pellets; Corporal Behr lay near him, not moving. In front of CR-3, Sergeants Catz and Nadel were also using their Mfws. By now, the intruders’ eyes had cleared enough to identify the shooters, and they were focused on the three Guards while trying to back down the stairs and having no place to hide.

  I began shooting at anyone that looked to be returning fire. With the combined fire from the six of us, it became a slaughter and the intruders broke and dashed down the stars—into Lieutenant Elijah’s team. The encounter lasted less than a minute. When I looked, Alpert was sitting on the floor holding his ribs. Toch, Catz, and Nadel were functional but looked to have been hit at least once.

  Then I felt the pain in my chest and right leg. Bullets seldom penetrated our body armor, but that didn’t mean they didn’t do damage and couldn’t disable or even kill given the right distance and place—like the head.

  My Mfi lit with Eljah’s face. "Captain, the first floor is clear. We killed four of the shuttle pilots who were in the security area, but one got away. Orders?"

  "Clear the first floor of any non-tribunal personnel. When you’re ready, I’ll send down the ones from the second floor," I said. I then contacted the Lion Heart, the Jax cruiser orbiting Halo.

  "This is Captain Olmert. How can I help you, Captain Sapir?"

  "We just had an encounter with Captain Gasparo’s friends. They apparently arrived here on shuttles that came from a cruiser somewhere in Halo space. One of those shuttles just left the tribunal building. In all probability, it will make a rendezvous with that cruiser. I wonder if you might locate that cruiser and reprimand them."

  "I wouldn’t mind. My commandos are bored and could use a diversion. I’ll let you know how our discussions go. Anything else?"

  "Yes. I have several Guards in need of medical treatment. Would you mind sending a shuttle for them?"

  "You’ll have one within the next two hours with medical support." Olmert cut the connection. I had Sergeant Catz replace Sergeant Ganz, who had been guarding Gasparo and who had medical training. Then we began an inspection of each Guard member on the second floor. Everyone, including me, had multiple impact bruising. In addition, Corporal Toch had a compound fracture in his left arm, and Sergeant Nadel had two fractured ribs.

  "Sir, looks like Private Krebs has sustained critical damage to his intestines. He appears to have caught three bullets in close proximity which has resulted in one or more ruptures. I can’t do anything here. He’ll need the medical facilities on the Lion Heart. Except for our body armor, he’d be dead. I’ve given him medicine to slow down his overall metabolism. He should make it if they get him up there within eight hours," Ganz said as he stood. Just then, Justices Ulises, Maull, and Heflin appeared.

  "Did you have to kill them all?" Maull asked, more as an accusation than a question. Her face twisted in pain as she waved her arm to include the dead bodies scattered around the waiting room floor.

  "Yes," I said—the short answer—understanding she and the others were in shock. Their faces were pale and their eyes continuously darting around the room like they expected more trouble. They were used to hearing about crimes and violence, not to being there while it happened and not to seeing its ugly consequences.

  "You’re murderers and should stand trial for this—" Heflin began shouting, but Ulises silenced him with a hand.

  "Innocent people could have been killed when you engaged them, and that’s all you have to say, ’yes’? Did you think of that?" Ulises asked like the others, wanting to assign blame as they tried to come to grips with the carnage.

  "No." I said, walking towards courtroom CR-3 with the three following. "Ganz, wake up our prisoner." Ganz had sedated him to keep from giving away his presence. Ganz knelt down and gave Gasparo an injection and a few minutes later, I pulled him to his feet.

  "What’s happened? Are you releasing me?" He swayed, still groggy from the sedative. I grabbed him by the arm, half supporting and half pulling him through the door. In the waiting room I walked him in and out of the dead bodies and stopped at the stairs, littered with still more dead. He had remained silent. The three justices had followed us in silence.

  "Is your freedom worth this, Captain Gasparo?" I asked. He didn’t answer for a long time.

  "No. No, it’s not. Did you have to kill them all?"

  "Yes. What did you or they expect? They were trying to kill us so we returned fire—" I stopped when Rickard came walking up the stairs.

  "They killed or seriously wounded all the security guards they encountered. They didn’t take prisoners," he said with disbelief.

  I continued. "Your friends were wearing body armor, so we had to shoot for non-protected areas like the head. Shooting them in the legs wouldn’t have stopped them shooting. And you don’t wound people you shoot in the head. They greatly outnumbered us, so we couldn’t afford Guards to watch prisoners if they had surrendered. They would have had to surrender en masse, which they didn’t." In reality, the Guard’s response was too fast and deadly for them to make that decision, I mused. "This is not a game to the Black Guard. We would die to the last man or woman before we surrendered you. Your people chose to engage us; we did not seek them out."

  "Justice Ulises, I will plead guilty, and make a public statement to my friends not to make any attempt to free me." Gasparo said, but continued to stare at me. "You would have let all those attendees die to keep me."

  "The Jax are not servants. We are hired for a specific purpose defined by our contract. To meet that commitment, we will give our lives. In this case, we were hired to keep you alive for trial, but failing that, to keep you from escaping. We were not hired to protect the Justices, the participants in your trial, or the occupants of this or any other building. Had that been stipulated, the contract would have required participation of the Jax army." I looked to the justices. "Having said that, when it does not interfere with our contract commitment, we attempt to protect those around us."

  "You could have gotten hundreds killed—" Heflin again.

  "But we didn’t. In fact, I believe there were only a few bystanders wounded. If we had let people run ’to safety,’ I submit many would have been killed. And, if you want to assign blame, blame Captain Gasparo’s friends. We didn’t shoot the bystanders." I left Nadel and Markov to guard Gasparo and went down the steps to check with Lieutenant Elijah. I found her with Corporal Reti, who had medical training.

  "What’s the damage, Elijah?" I asked, hoping to hear good news. One death was already a disaster as far as I was concerned.

  "Moderate. Lots of black and blue bruising, some that need to be x-rayed, and one torn artery in the wrist. We stopped th
e bleeding, so she will be all right. They thought their comrades on the second floor had the building secure." Elijah smiled. I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding.

  "Good work. Identify those that need medical treatment or further evaluation. Captain Olmert is sending a shuttle for our wounded. It should arrive within the hour."

  * * *

  The next week was a whirlwind of activity. Ulises was anxious to get things wrapped up and the Black Guard gone. Captain Gasparo pleaded guilty to piracy under a plea agreement to expedite the trial and went on Halo television to ask his supporters not to make any attempt to free him. Five days later, he was delivered to the Halo penal institution and our contract terminated.

  * * *

  "Unlike the Justices, I couldn’t feel sorry for those that attacked the Tribunal. They killed eight of my security guards. The two that survived only did so because of your speedy resolution of the situation. They would have died if they hadn’t gotten to the hospital when they did," Rickard said, giving me a small bow in gratitude. "I’m glad Justice Ulises hired the Black Guard. Gasparo would have escaped otherwise. My security personnel, by necessity, see protecting the Tribunal differently than the Guard. They would prefer to capture the intruder and would worry about protecting others in the area. That makes them slower and vulnerable."

  "That’s true, Colonel. The Jax forces are not meant to replace existing personnel. We are an emergency force available for unique events that the government isn’t equipped or doesn’t want to handle," I said, and smiled. "Besides, we leave, and any criticism can be directed at us."

  He nodded. "Yes, some will criticize you for not taking prisoners and jeopardizing the people in the building because you wouldn’t allow them to leave the courtrooms or offices. But, I think your actions saved innocent lives." He bowed and left me to board the shuttle for the Lion Heart.

  * * *

  On the trip back to Jax, Captain Olmert invited Lieutenant Elijah and me to have dinner with him, his senior staff, and Colonel Vogel. They had followed the shuttle that escaped the Tribunal building to the backside of Halo where a light cruiser was in orbit. The commandos boarded the cruiser and easily subdued the crew. It had been a great training exercise for the ship’s crew and the commandos, and I got the credit for having relieved the boredom.