"This is New Roanoke. Where is Captain Quincy Maurice?"
"Let us just say that he accepted—um…early retirement."
Dave looked around the room at the others. "What can I do for you, Captain?"
"You can surrender your arms and submit to the ISA."
"Sorry, but we don't get the paper, here. I've never heard of the ISA."
"The Independent Space Agency. The IIEA submitted to the UN and was dissolved, so we took over their mandate."
"Mandate — who exactly bestowed the authority on you?"
The voice on the other end changed. "I did!" It was Wilmington. "This is Mitchel, isn't it?" he demanded.
"That would be Mayor Mitchel."
"Now, that's funny, Sergeant. I hope you've enjoyed sitting in my chair, but it's time to get up. The IIEA are no longer a consideration. I'm self-employed now, and I've come back for what's mine."
"Oh, I get it…you are the ISA."
"Sergeant, you have a death grip on the obvious."
"Wilmington, your little enterprise here is finished. The clinic is gone, the E'meset are wise, and none of the rest of us here are going to help you start your concentration camp up again. Just go home."
"I have brought everything I need to rebuild the clinic. I couldn't care less how wise the savages are, and I don't need any of you who are down there. I have a whole new colony of devoted followers here with me. Those of you who do not interfere can live. The others…those who survive…will be turned out into the forest. I'm sending a shuttle down, Sergeant, and they had better not encounter any resistance. Do you understand?"
"Wilmington—"
"I asked you if you understand me, godammit!" Wilmington screamed.
Dave shut down the coms.
"Dave, which plan?" Kathy asked.
"You noticed he said he's sending a shuttle down, and not all four. That's because our landing strip out there can only handle one at a time. We have to intercept it the instant it stops and ensure Wilmington's mercenaries don't get into the city. We have to do this without damaging the shuttle.”
"What?" Nash jumped in. "Indra could blow the thing apart before it touches the ground from one of the towers."
"Nope, we're gonna need it."
"The shuttle?"
"That's right, you see if Wilmington can't get down here because we're destroying his shuttles, he'll just destroy the city from orbit. He doesn't want to; he'd rather not have to rebuild the city. You heard him, he has people with him. But he will destroy the city if he has to in order to get his mercenaries down here."
"Why then keep the shuttle in one piece?" Day’Ka asked, squinting at Dave.
"Because we're going to need it to get up to the Demeter before she can launch her missiles."
“So, you’re opting for the infiltration plan?” Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay asked.
“Opportunity, Colonel,” Dave replied. “We have the opportunity to take the fight to the enemy. Rather than wait to be invaded or bombed, we can end this today.”
Chapter 17
RAIDERS
Much of what Dave would employ in the execution of his plan were options and capabilities dreamed up for the GDP, the general defense plan, and implemented in the years following their initial victory over Wilmington. A significant part of that plan included the continued training of the members of the CDF and the maintenance of physical fitness, not just for the CDF, but the entire bio community.
The colonists knew that, should another threat come from Earth, it would obviously come from above. They knew that there was only one suitable place to land a shuttle which was the only craft the IIEA had big enough to put a sizable force on the ground with each landing.
The Fa lándzsa class deep space heavy cargo ships carried four shuttles, which could carry two hundred and eight personnel and all their equipment. The shuttle's weak point was its need for a smooth, level runway no less than four thousand six hundred meters long.
The colonists had very little time. Dave figured that the shuttle was already on its way down when they received the transmission from the Demeter. It was then that Lieutenant Colonel Lindsay ordered Indra to go to Def Con one...war.
As per the GDP, Indra ignited thousands of infrared smoke pots placed all around the city. He only fired those pots that were upwind of the city so that before long New Roanoke was masked from Wilmington's eyes in the sky. Indra also began multiple osculating jamming procedures designed to disrupt coms between the Demeter and the shuttle. It blocked all coms and COMde communications, but Ismay was still functioning in and around the city.
The infrared smoke and jamming were working quite well. So well that Indra could not see the shuttle as it circled and lined up for its final approach, which was only possible because Indra had intentionally not ignited the smoke pots that would hide the runway. The craft became visible to everyone as it flared and touched down. It was then that Indra smoked the tarmac.
In the GDP they had anticipated that the pilot would not expect the harbor facilities to be open to receive them. So, the pilot would taxi the shuttle as close to the city as possible and toward the cargo receiving bays where the massive doors were just the thing to admit a force en masse once they were blown open.
Their GDP had been planned correctly; the pilot did just as anticipated. The fore and aft cargo doors of the shuttle opened and the heavily armed and respirator-clad mercenaries began to flood out.
From where Dave was hiding, he was able to identify the assault team commander. His was the only uniform with red stripes around his upper arms. Dave saw him the instant he bolted from the shuttle's forward cargo door and made the one-hundred-eighty-degree turn and ran for the city, rallying his men to him.
Over Ismay, Dave said, "Roll, Peter." From camouflaged depressions dug into the ground on either side of the runway, all twenty-two remaining PCs pulled up and parked in a herringbone pattern on the runway. Their drivers jumped out and ran for cover.
Dave watched the merc commander as he stopped in his tracks. He'd seen the vehicles pull onto the tarmac. They not only blocked the shuttle's exit, but also prevented reinforcements from landing. Dave watched his face as the realization hit him that he'd walked into a trap.
The merc commander had no coms with his detachment of mercenaries, the shuttle, or Wilmington, so his best plan was to continue to execute the mission his troops were trained for, and currently committed to. Their first objective was the city's large cargo bays. Their huge, roll-up doors were the only place where the walls of the city could be breached without causing massive damage. Once the exterior cargo doors were blown, he and his men would storm inside, use the cargo air locks, and enter the populated portion of New Roanoke. There were but two hundred fifty meters separating him and his merc force from those bay doors.
None of this was difficult to have anticipated. This was the only path left open to an invader once the harbor was denied them.
Initially, the mercs from the rear cargo hatch of the shuttle spread out to secure the perimeter. When the soldiers who exited the front of the ship caught up with them, all fifty-two re-formed, and headed toward the city's loading docks, running like demons.
Dave allowed the lead element to advance to within one hundred meters of the side of the city, then he said over Ismay, "Execute Paul."
From a hundred meters east, and parallel to the mercs’ line of advance, a whirlwind of bullets from seventy automatic rifles fired by bios, SUBs, and E'meset So torrie ripped into the mercs, and instantly half their force fell dead or wounded. The remainder, without slowing, pushed on toward the bay doors, returning fire from the hip. They threw regular smoke grenades, but the SUBs could see through the cloud.
The mercs were fifty meters away when the city's loading bay doors jerked open. From the dark depths beyond rushed the entire contingent of the CDF, led by Nash, straight into the mercenaries, bayonets fixed. Simultaneously, hundreds of E'meset So torrie leapt from the roof of the city landing directly
into the confused mass of mercs. The seventy bios, SUBs, and E'meset So torrie who had engaged them from their flank now sprang from their trenches, out of the foliage, and rushed the enemy.
It took only seconds for the remaining mercenaries to throw down their weapons and surrender.
“Dave, this is Nash. It’s all over.” Nash reported.
Dave was among the seventy flankers who had rushed forward to end the fighting. Once the prisoners were lined up, he saw the merc commander standing to one side, wounded with a bullet through his right shoulder, and panting heavily into his mask. Dave walked up to him, and the man looked up. "You Mitchel?" He was a large, Asian man, perhaps thirty years old. He spoke perfect English.
"Yeah."
"This defense your idea?"
"Yeah."
The man shook his head. "They told me you were a sergeant wearing a major's oak leaf."
"I was a master sergeant. I got a battlefield promotion."
"Well…whatever officer made that decision had his shit together."
"Yes," Dave said slowly, "she certainly does. Now, Commander—"
"Duìzhǎng,” the merc officer interrupted. “It's Chinese for captain… I was a captain in the Chinese People's Liberation Army," the man told Dave, and winced in pain. "I considered myself one of the best trained military men on Earth. I quit the CPLA to make real money with these mercenaries. Now, I'm defeated my first time out, and by a sergeant."
"Master…sergeant. Now… Captain, how many men remain on that shuttle?"
The merc officer said nothing.
Nash, who had been by Dave’s side stepped up to the merc officer and said, rather loudly, "Captain, in just a moment I'm going to rip that mask off your face, and all your merc buddies here, whose loyalties are bought, are going to watch you die in agony, gasping for breath in this atmosphere. Then, I’ll ask the same question to this guy standing right here. I'm thinking he is going to sing like an opera star. And you…you will have died for a man who sent you down here with a bunch of poorly trained, ill-disciplined, juvenile delinquents to take on highly trained and experienced professionals on their own turf. Time, I think, for you to consider what's best for number one."
The man looked from Nash to Dave then smiled. "Yeah, okay. There's the flight crew, that's three, and the load team, that's another three. They all have pistols."
"Will they defend the shuttle?" Dave asked.
"Hell, I don't know. They were ordered to drop us off and return. I guess they see they can't take off, and they saw what happened to us. I don't know what they’ll do."
"I want you to come with me and order them to lay down their arms," Dave said. "Do that, and I'll see you get treated with something we call La Vat Ay. It will instantly stop your pain and have that shoulder fixed by tomorrow."
"Yeah…right, and a home on the beach in Hawaii."
"He’s not kidding," Nash said, his voice as serious as death.
The merc captain approached the rear cargo hatch and shouted, "Stand down in there! This is over, come on out."
Once all six were outside, Dave approached the fellow with the four stripes on his shoulder straps. "You the pilot?"
The man just nodded.
"Can one man fly this thing?"
"Why?"
"One man, can it be flown by one man?"
"No. Two at a minimum. You planning to fly her back up?"
Dave just stared at the pilot.
"Then you'll need three. A pilot, a flight engineer, and someone who knows how to dock this big bitch with the Demeter."
"You volunteering?" Dave asked.
"One condition. Once I get you there, you release me to go immediately to an escape canister and get out. Because succeed or fail… I can't see you getting off the Demeter alive."
"Will your engineer volunteer as well?"
"Arnold over there is my engineer; he would go, I'm sure. But honestly, Major, he's scared to death, and I don't think he's functioning on all thrusters right now."
Dave looked over his shoulder and shouted, "Talme!"
"Yeah, Dave?" Zolna shouted back as he trotted up.
"You, this guy, and I will be executing phase Mary. Get our gear and let's go now."
Just then, Le'ha walked up behind Dave. "You will take my little Talme from me?" There was fear and anger in her voice.
"Le'ha, I promise, promise, he'll get back to you."
"Talme is good father to my children and they sud…they love him much. I did not fully realize until you called his name…but my love of him goes very deep. I thought I would never love again. But I love my little Talme. Dave…you must bring him back to me. I know you understand how I hurt already."
"Le'ha, he will get back to you, you have my word."
She nodded, then bent down to look into Dave's eyes. She squinted a moment, then she took hold of his upper arms, and as she did, tears filled her eyes. She looked up just as the tears fell. "Dave, I will remember Ourinco's place in the sky this moment the rest of my life." Then she hugged him and kissed his forehead before walking slowly away.
Nash had overheard this and approached, “Dave, let me go with you, leave Talme here.”
“No, Nash. Last time Talme and I got to sit it out. He and I have talked this over, and he’s coming. You stay here,” Dave smiled and added, “That’s an order.”
As the three men entered the shuttle, Le'ha knelt and kissed Zolna, imploring him to be careful. "Of course, my Mesli," he replied, using the E’meset word for honey. Le'ha then rose and looked hard at Dave. She slowly lifted her right hand and extended her fingers. Dave stopped to look at her and waited for Zolna to pass him and enter the shuttle.
Dave shouldered his gear and was about to head inside the shuttle when he heard the one voice he didn’t want to hear. “Dave!” It was Kathy. “Tell me you weren’t going to leave me behind.”
“Mesli, I got this ship’s captain to join us, so I have the three we discussed―”
“Dave, I didn’t insist on coming just to round out your plan. Let’s go!”
She brushed past him and entered the ship. Dave knew when he’d lost. He just shook his head and followed her.
○O○
Kathy scanned the database with the assistance of Indra and downloaded all the information and necessary schematics she would need to perform as the flight engineer. Kathy had absorbed all the data before Dave joined them on the command deck and sat down in the co-pilot's seat.
In the pilot's seat sat the man with the four stripes. "Kathy, Talme," Dave said, "I'd like you to meet Captain Edward Pearson, the commander of the shuttle."
Zolna looked him up and down. "How do we know we can trust him?"
"Your name is Talme?” Pearson asked.
“Call me Zolna.”
“Well, Zolna, I want to live. So, I’m going to help you get up there in the hope you succeed. If you don’t get up, there’ll be zero chance. And your boss, here, is right; Wilmington will destroy you from space. He’s mad, out of his skull.”
Zolna stood and walked over to him as the captain was securing his seat restraints. "Captain Pearson," Zolna asked, "is there anything you want to tell me before we power up?"
Pearson looked into Zolna's face and a moment passed as he tried to figure out what Zolna was getting at. Then it hit him. "Oh…fuse switch nine, eight, six will disable the transponder if you're worried I'll send a warning signal to Wilmington."
"I'm not worried," Zolna said then reached into his pocket and removed a small electrical device. "Not anymore, anyway." He then looked at Dave and said, "Let's roll."
○O○
Zolna sat down and secured himself, performed a function check on his weapon, then looked up at Dave and Kathy, watching as they buckled in. That's when it dawned on him. His old fears from the past were not present. Of course, he feared for Le'ha and the kids, they had become his family, but he was facing this new danger with his heart steeled. No longer was he just concerned for his own life. He'd
found something greater than himself. He was protecting his family and his community here on Eya'Etee Ki Kee.
○O○
As they waited for the PCs to be rolled back and clear the runway, Dave called Nash over Ismay, "Listen buddy, Indra will monitor what happens up there. If this goes south, tell Indra to execute rocky road."
"Rocky road?" Nash asked.
"Yeah, I had charges buried under the runway that will crater its full length and deny its use to Wilmington's shuttles."
"Uh-huh," Nash said, "you guys just do what you have to do then get your asses back here."
As the shuttle departed the atmosphere and entered orbit, Dave listened as Pearson explained, "We'll execute one orbit then approach the Demeter in a docking orientation. At about ten kilometers, control will contact us to provide a link for computer assisted docking. They might ping our transponder for the code."
"Nope," Dave said without looking over, "they won't. Indra is still blocking all transmissions. They won't know we’re coming."
Kathy adjusted the electrical consumption of coupler seven, then asked, "What are the chances they will blow us out of the sky?"
Pearson laughed. "The Demeter is a cargo hauler, not a war ship."
"Yet, when she was here last time, she was armed with enough missiles to destroy every satellite in orbit around the planet," Kathy observed sarcastically.
"Those missile pods are carried like cargo. When needed, large support arms deploy them out into launch position. They are not integral to the ship's design."
"Okay," Dave said, "but she's still armed. Did Wilmington return with anything bigger than conventional warheads?"
"I don't think so; he's got the ship stuffed full with parts for another complete clinic. But just one of those missiles will vaporize this shuttle." That's when Pearson had an epiphany. "Bigger? You're worried he's going to attack the city, aren't you?"
"As soon as he figures out he can't land his shuttles there, he will launch an attack on the city and all the people living in it. There can be no argument," Dave said slowly.
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