The Collected Lancer Volume 1

by Troy Osgood

  Keying in a code, Harrow opened the weapons locker and passed out our armament. We each got a standard Expeditionary Forces blaster rifle, a Carlysle T200, and a blaster pistol, a Carlysle P320. I already missed my trusted Sig.

  Once we were checked out, armed and good to go, Harrow rearranged the line. Gilbert and Treuto were in the front. Harrow and Sweet, then myself, then Fortin and Carleton in the back.

  “Ready,” Harrow’s voice asked through the helmet comms.

  She got a chorus of affirmatives, one “let’s get this over with” from me and a hoot from Treuto. Satisfied she signaled the cockpit.

  I felt the air pulled out of the hold as the door slid open. The vacuum around the asteroid claimed it and anything not strapped down. The ship shook as the pressure also pulled at it. I knew the pilot was adjusting the thrusters to help keep the ship level on the surface of the rock.

  Without a word, Gilbert and Treuto jumped out the back and onto the asteroid.

  Neither of them floated off into space so I knew they had activated their boots weights. No gravity and since none of us were given flight packs, we had to do something to increase our weight to keep us firmly on the rock. 2E infantry were given special boots that could be adjusted as needed to provide that extra weight and still allow us to move.

  Our normal gait and run were affected of course, but a small price to pay to not float off into space.

  The activation timing was always tricky. It got better with practice. Too soon and you could trip as you left the drop ship. Too late and you’d be a couple feet higher off the ground before activating.

  I paused when it was my turn, took a deep breath, and jumped out the door.

  Landed just fine.

  I caught Harrow watching me. She had been wondering how rusty I was going to be. This showed her that there wasn’t much rust on me at all.

  Or I had just gotten lucky.

  She turned away and I started to follow.

  I looked out across the surface of the rock. Nightmarish was an accurate descriptor.

  Jagged spikes of rock grew everywhere at odd angles. Large cracks covered the surface. The land rose in hills, fell into valleys. All lined in sharp and serrated rock.

  This was going to be fun.

  *****

  An hour of running and we were there.

  I knew I was out of shape but I was proud of myself. I managed to keep up.

  Harrow kept a steady but slow pace. She wanted the team to be combat ready when we got to the facility. Or maybe she was compensating for me. I liked to think it was to keep us combat ready.

  Gilbert and Treuto were on point, ranging further ahead. It was comms silent for the run. We avoided most of the valleys and hills, as well as the major rock outcroppings. Gilbert was transmitting a map back to Harrow on the best path to follow.

  I got some quick glances at the rocks as we ran past. The edges were razor sharp, serrated. Just brushing one would be enough to cut through the suits we wore. One small tear and it was game over.

  Working in open space like this, planets with no atmosphere or deadly environments, was always dangerous. One false step and you’d be done. I’d seen that happen too many times. You had to be extra careful, senses heightened to the dangers, but at the same time cognitive of everything else around you. Especially if you were in a combat situation.

  It wasn’t just running from cover to cover. It was running to cover, keeping low enough to protect your tanks and suit but at the same time not scrapping either, getting to the cover and hoping it was big enough to cover your entire body including the tanks. Also hoping not to get the lines from tank to helmet snagged on anything. And finally hoping not to slam the tanks too hard against the cover when you ran behind it.

  And the boots. Couldn’t forget the boots. Always had to make sure you didn’t damage them somehow.

  We made it across the asteroid to where Gilbert and Treuto crouched behind some cover. It was essentially just another outcropping of the jagged spikes of stone, but thick enough to hide behind. They kept far enough back from the sharp edges to not cut their suits or their tubes.

  The team gathered around and Gilbert pointed past the outcropping.

  “Just over there,’ he said.

  Both Harrow and I moved to look over the rocks. Her helmet turned towards me quickly and if I had been able to see past her visor I was sure she was giving me a very dirty look.

  Ignoring her I concentrated on the facility that was about three hundred feet away. The walls were tall, about twice the height of a terran building. The Tiat were taller than us, a couple feet on average, and for some reason they liked very high ceilings. This resulted in the floor to floor of their buildings being almost double that of a Terran building.

  Harrow had a pair of imagers and spent a couple minutes studying the building. From here I couldn’t see much without some form of magnification, but there didn’t appear to be any patrols or guards or surveillance equipment.

  There had to be something. The Tiat were many things but stupid was not one of them. The remoteness of this place was very good security itself but they wouldn’t rely on just that.

  “Launch the eyes,” Harrow said.

  Sweet crouched down, reaching behind him. Under his tanks was a square container. He pulled it off and opened it up. The insides were padded, most of the space padding. A wristcomm came out and he pulled it on, hitting the buttons to activate it. Next he carefully pulled out a small tube. It was only about three inches long and an inch in diameter. There were small jets attached to front and back ends, at least that’s what I thought they were.

  He set the tube on the ground and hit a button on the wristcom. The jets kicked up a small amount of dust from the asteroids surface and the tube rose into the air. It settled at a height of twenty feet or so and sped off towards the facility.

  “Next gen drone,” Sweet said as I watched the small tube disappear to the eyes. “Full range scanning, all spectrums.”

  A small screen appeared in my heads up display and I realized I was seeing what the drone was seeing. Neat little device. I wondered how much one cost and how I could get my hands on one. Could come in handy. I’m sure it would be illegal to own one but that never stopped me. I had a good collection of Expeditionary Forces gear that was illegal for civilians to own.

  The drone moved fast, the image changing rapidly. I was surprised how wide the camera on the thing was. I’d expected a small picture but what I saw was big. Could see the edge of the building come into view. The wall we saw had no doors, no openings of any kind. The roof of the one story structure had running lights and painted markings. A door was off the second story building. No windows.

  The roof was a landing pad.

  Good security. No openings except on the top and so far only that one. A ship would need to land on the roof to access the entrance

  The drone did a quick run around the entire building and the full roof.

  Just the one opening.

  “That makes it easy,” I said and got a couple chuckles.

  Harrow glared at me.

  One way in didn’t mean one way out. That’s what explosives were for. Just had to hope that what we had for explosives was enough to get through whatever the walls were made of.

  Worry for once we were inside.

  *****

  We ran across the open space one at a time.

  Cover was provided from behind the outcroppings, all weapons pointed towards the Tiat facility. Gilbert went first, followed by Treuto. Fortin was next and then they sent me.

  I felt exposed and I was. Any Tiat on top of the building would see me. The distance wasn’t that great but it wasn’t close either. About a five minute run from start to when I slammed tight against the wall. No shots had been fired at me and none had been fired back.

  The ground was rocky, the footing unsteady. The trek to the facility had been done carefully, making sure of each footstep. Not this time. This was a quick and wild run
. Just get to the wall as fast as you can.

  I waved my arm indicating that I was there safely.

  Sweet followed. He ran quickly. I saw his foot land awkwardly and he fell. He rolled along the ground, scrambling to get up and protect his suit and tanks. Sweet lay there for a minute or two, unmoving. I looked at Gilbert and Fortin, unsure what to do. Should we run out and get him?

  But he finally sat up. Slowly, carefully.

  With greater care he finished his run, coming to a panting stop next to Fortin who quickly looked Sweet over looking for rips or tears. Finding none, Fortin flashed the thumbs up.

  Sweet waved his hands to signal the next runner.

  “You run like you dance,” Fortin said with a laugh.

  We all chuckled. Treuto grunted and hooted ending with a repeating squeak that I assumed was laughter.

  “Not you too,” Sweet said to Treuto, causing the Europan to squeak with laughter even more.

  Some private in-joke that they didn’t bother to share. I didn’t ask.

  Carleton came next and made it without incident. Sweet muttered something that no one caught.

  That left just Harrow. She had volunteered for the hardest run. She would have no cover. From our angle we couldn’t provide any covering fire without stepping away from the building’s wall. We couldn’t even see if any Tiat appeared on the roof until they started firing on Harrow.

  We saw her stand up, step away from the cover, and start her run. She ran smoothly, a straight line. A steady pace. She got to the wall. No one had fired on her.

  She took a couple steps away and looked up towards the roof of the building.

  “Let’s do this,” she said.

  CHAPTER TEN

  Climbing in zero G is as easy as it sounds.

  Turn off the boots and pull yourself up the rope. Easy.

  Just don’t let go or you’d float away.

  Climbing in an environment with low gravity isn’t as easy as it sounds.

  The low gravity worked against you. Instead of climbing carefully, you could go too fast and end up overshooting. Your own momentum would keep you moving up. Too slow and you’d go nowhere.

  *****

  Sweet seemed to be the bag of tricks guy for this op. Every operation I’d ever been on had one. It was the guy that carried all the extra miscellaneous equipment. Stuff that you knew you’d need and stuff that you didn’t think you’d need but ended up needing it. And you never could figure out how the guy stored all that gear.

  He pulled out a grapple line from somewhere and stepped back from the wall. Estimating the distance, made some adjustments to the grapple, and fired. The hook shot out at a little bit of an angle, trailing the rope behind it. We couldn’t see it from where we hid tight against the wall and couldn’t hear it land or catch either. Only knew it had caught when Sweet pulled on it and the hook didn’t fall.

  Giving a thumbs up to Harrow he let the rope fall against the smooth side of the Tiat facility.

  Harrow pointed at Sweet, Treuto and then myself. The three biggest people.

  Six foot, two hundred pounds, I was a big guy. But the other two were much bigger. Treuto was average for a Europan, which put him at close to seven feet. Sweet was about six or so inches taller than me, wider and heavier.

  Sweet and I looked at each other, wondering who would be the first up.

  That was not a fun job. You were basically a sitting duck to anything that was at the top of your climb, with no way to defend yourself. Second person up had at least the first to provide cover if needed.

  “Rock, paper, scissors,” I asked.

  Sweet laughed.

  Treuto grunted and held out his hands. With a flick, three long climbing claws extended out of his wrist. About six inches long with a slight curve at the front and serrated edges, they looked and were sharp. The Europans lived in icy caves, the claws on their hands and feet helped them move through those caves.

  “Put those away,” Harrow ordered.

  With another grunt and what looked to be a shrug, Treuto resheathed the claws.

  “Sweet, you first,” Harrow added.

  “I would have thrown rock,” Sweet said passing me with a smile.

  Grabbing the line with two hands, he set his left foot against the wall.

  “Scissors,” I said and Sweet gave a soft curse.

  Hand over hand, setting each foot solidly against the smooth wall, Sweet made his slow way up the wall. His blaster rifle hung by it’s sling and he kept his body angled so the weapon would not bang against the wall.

  Finally making it to the top, he paused before reaching a hand over the wall. There was no weapons discharges that we could see, no noise from Sweet through the comms, so we assumed it was safe enough. One hand on the wall, the other still gripping the rope, Sweet swung a leg onto the top of the wall. Pulling himself the rest of the way over, Sweet disappeared.

  “Clear,” his voice said through the comms.

  My turn.

  I grabbed the rope in both hands, pulling at it. Adjusting the weight of the boots, I pulled myself up by my hands. One over the other, a bit at a time, feet flat against the wall for stability. At the top I reached over the wall, my fingertips gripping. The wall was only about eight inches thick, if that. I looked over the top. No body laying down, no weapons. Sweet hadn’t been ambushed and killed. I could see him crouching about five feet ahead, weapon to his shoulder and pointed at the one door.

  Hoisting myself up, I swung a leg over the wall, and let myself slide down to the roof. The parapet was only about a foot high. Not that far. Pushing myself up, I pulled my weapon around and pointed it at the door.

  “Clear,” I said through the comms as I stepped away from the wall.

  The walls were a dull gray, flat. The roof, some kind of membrane, was the same color. Dull and lifeless. Also empty. Which was good.

  Crouching down next to Sweet, both weapons trained on the door, we waited for the rest of the team to climb up.

  *****

  Once up we quickly ran to the door. Harrow had us spread out, a V formation with the point facing the door. Each of us had a clean line of fire and enough space between us to make it hard to target more than one at a time.

  We made it without incident, again holding tight to the wall. Harrow and Gilbert were at the door, both crouched down and examining a keypad mounted next to it. We waited for what seem an eternity but was only a few minutes.

  Gilbert was the first in, followed by Treuto. Harrow held the rest of us back for a minute as we all slid down the wall to the open door. I could see inside the opening. There was nothing visible, just darkness. Treuto poked his big head out and waved a hand up and down. His version of the all-clear thumbs up.

  Harrow pointed, motioning at me to come closer.

  “You’re second behind Gilbert,” she said. “Since you know the way.”

  “This place is nothing like it was the first time,” I pointed out but knew it didn’t matter.

  “As the only one here that has ever been in a Tiat facility, let alone multiple like your record says, you’re second behind Gilbert.”

  I walked over to the door, Treuto stepping aside so I could enter. It was dark just past the door. The ceiling was probably three times my height, double a Tiats, and dark tiles. The walls were the same drab metal panels as the exterior walls. There was another door directly across from the one I had entered by. An airlock.

  Gilbert leaned against the wall, the keypad faceplate removed. He was fiddling with the wiring. The entire team crowded into the small space, feeling very vulnerable. When the exterior door closed, Gilbert opened the inner door.

  It slid open soundlessly into the wall revealing a well lit corridor that ran left and right with another door directly across. Gilbert stepped out and looked right, Fortin followed and looked left. Harrow and I walked across the hall.

  Touching the door with my hand I could feel vibrations.

  Carleton tapped Gilbert on the shoulder
, switching positions.

  He was getting better at opening these doors. Gilbert had this one open almost instantly.

  Harrow and I followed Gilbert into a large room. Judging by the size, it took up pretty much the entire upper level. And it was filled with machinery. Ducts penetrated the floor in multiple locations, connected to large units the hummed and vibrated.

  “Ventilation,” I said and the other two nodded.

  “Fortin, get in here,” Harrow ordered.

  A couple seconds later Fortin entered, looking around. The visor on his helmet was blackened so couldn’t see any expression. Aside from Sweet’s size, the others were hard to tell apart. In a squad where everyone wore the same armor, you started identifying people by the way they walked or held themselves. I hadn’t been, and wouldn’t be, with this group long enough to get to know them that way.

  I wondered if Harrow was using their names more often for my benefit.

  “Set one up.”

  With a nod, Fortin walked deeper into the room. He wandered around for a bit, looking at all the machinery, examining the duct work, before finally settling on a spot. I couldn’t see what he was doing, just that he took something off his vests harness. A couple seconds he returned, flashing a thumbs up.

  Probably set a homing beacon.

  Which meant the countdown had started.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  We moved quickly after that.

  I understood what Harrow was thinking. The engine room, as that was what it seemed, was a good place to set the bombs. If we couldn’t penetrate deeper, bombing that would pretty much destroy the facility. Place the bomb, start the timer, and see if could complete the rest of the mission.

  Same move I would have made if I had been in charge. Just didn’t like it now as I wasn’t a soldier anymore and I was heading down to the floor below the bomb.

  At the end of the hall was the stairs down. The door’s security was easy for Gilbert to bypass and we made our way down. Quickly and silently. The stairs themselves were a little awkward. Tiat were taller than us humans, the shortest would be a very tall human. The treads and risers were only an inch or two different but it was noticeable. Was that what it was like for the Storwoi that had recently been on the Nomad’s Wind?