by Jan Domagala
“Climb the hell where?” she asked looking around.
“Down, where else?” Kurt replied and he stepped over the edge grabbing onto a large, deep-rooted vine and said, “Well?, come on.”
“I’m not climbing down there,” Aswan said adamantly.
“Fine, stroke the nice pussy for us, while he’s eating you it’ll give us the chance to escape,” Kurt said.
“I’m climbing down, and I suggest you do too, sir,” Natasha said as she too grabbed the vine and followed Kurt over the edge.
The jungle floor vibrated with the beat of the onrushing paws of the gigantic octo-feline, and Aswan saw its approach, which made his mind up for him.
Quickly, he followed Natasha over the edge down the vine and his head just disappeared below it as the feline’s fangs ripped the air above it. A mighty roar reverberated throughout the jungle as the huge cat voiced its anger and frustration at losing such a tasty meal. Clawing at empty space above their heads the feline tried vainly to grab at the fleeing figures as they descended the cliff face.
“Riley how soon can you come pick us up?” Kurt asked as he hung to the vine.
“We’re en route to you right now Kurt, just hang on,” Riley replied.
Kurt thought, “Is their technology that good, or is he trying to be funny?”
“Riley added, “Kurt, you have a vehicle with seven hostiles headed your way. I suggest you find shelter the second you get off that cliff face.”
“You can see us?” Kurt asked incredulously.
“You’d be amazed at what we can see Kurt, now move your ass but keep your heads down and we’ll get to you as soon as we can,” Riley said.
“Keep climbing, they’re coming for us but we need to get down from here and find some shelter. There are seven Outlaws coming after us too so we have to move,” Kurt said to his travelling companions.
Quickly they moved down the cliff face conscious constantly of the danger inherent in any free climb.
*****
Tarkovic and six of his best men were on board an attack craft flying over the treetops.
“Scans have picked up three humanoid life forms sir,” said Gorac, the teams second in command.
“Give me their exact location,” ordered Tarkovic.
“Approaching three hundred yards sir, descending a cliff face.”
“Can we get down to the base of that cliff face?” Tarkovic asked the pilot, Savic.
“Taking her in sir, I should be able to put her down in a clearing close to where they’ll come off the cliff face but when we land we’ll have to hurry,” Savic replied.
“Okay, take her in. Now listen up, our target is the Prince. Marko wants him alive. Anyone else we find we treat like all the others we come across. No mistakes people, let’s get this done,” Tarkovic said.
24
Kurt was the first to reach the base of the cliff. Looking up he saw the other two descending, following him. Natasha was staying close to the prince keeping a watch over him and the prince, despite his obvious fear was quite an accomplished climber so Kurt knew they would be okay which gave him time to check out their immediate surroundings.
The cliff face was rooted to the bottom of a huge chasm that stretched out to either side for quite a few kilometres. Across from where he stood was the other side and the opposite cliff wall. Looking at the ground, he figured that at some point in this worlds’ history a river once ran through this area.
“Where to now?” Natasha asked as she climbed down to stand next to him.
Looking around Kurt spotted something, “Let’s check that out,” he said pointing to something his keen eyesight had spotted in the cliff face close to the base of the wall across from them.
“What the hell is that?” asked Aswan as he joined them.
“It just might be our salvation,” Kurt replied.
Up above their heads over the top of the cliff’s edge they saw an attack craft swoop down.
“C’mon, we have to move, our time has just run out,” Kurt said urging the two of them across the ravine floor.
As the trio ran toward what Kurt had indicated he looked up, saw the attack craft swoop around, and down into the ravine headed for their location.
“Make it quick you two, they’re coming in to land,” Kurt urged.
“How long do we have?” asked Natasha breathlessly as she ran.
“They have to land and then debark so we have a few minutes I’d say, but not much more than ten at most. We have to make it to that cave. If we can’t lose ‘em inside it we may be able to hold ‘em off so hurry.”
*****
“I have a visual on our targets sir,” Gorac reported as the attack craft entered the ravine.
“Take us in and land. Keep eyes on our targets, don’t lose them,” Tarkovic ordered.
Gorac said, “Sir, we have another ship coming in on our heading.”
Tarkovic looked at his second in command in total disbelief.
“Another ship? Where the hell did that come from? I thought we were the only ones around here,” he said.
“Do you think it’s someone looking for the Prince?” Gorac asked concern creasing his brow.
“Well we’d better make sure we find him first then, Savic, take us down there fast.”
“Shit, looks like the hostiles have beat us to it,” Vance observed as he read the scans as the forward section of the Pulsar approached the ravine.
“Can we get a target lock on that craft Artie?” Riley asked.
“I wouldn’t advise shooting that craft down sir. It would crash and the resulting explosion and subsequent debris would hinder your own landing,” Artie replied.
“What if we damage it a little?” Riley asked changing tack.
“If you damage the craft to bring it down it could crash and the result would be the same. We don’t have the firepower to totally vaporise that craft,” Artie said flatly.
“Okay Artie just get us down there as quick as you can,” Riley decided.
“Sir, I’m confused,” Artie said surprisingly.
“Confused how Artie? I wasn’t even aware you could get confused,” Riley stated.
“Sir the reports state that the Outlaws use reclaimed equipment and tec and improvised weapons,” Artie said.
“That’s correct Artie, what’s your point?” Riley answered.
“That attack craft is relatively new with upgraded tec and weapons systems. Sir, it’s state of the art, how is that possible?”
“I have no idea Artie and we don’t have the time to ponder it now but I agree it does give us something to think about,” Riley said.
“I’ll say,” exclaimed Vance adding “Where the hell did a bunch of scumbags like these Outlaws get their hands on a state of the art attack craft, you know it can’t be good Cap.”
“Sir it’s not just the attack craft. My recent scans have given the same results from the complex too.”
“Oh shit, that can’t be good,” Torres said.
“What the hell have we got ourselves into here Cap, do you think Sinclair knows about all this?” Cooper asked.
“I don’t know, look, let’s just find who we came here to find and get the hell back to the Pulsar. Once we’ve done that we can try and figure this thing out,” Riley said trying to get the Team back on track.
“I’ll keep running scans as I monitor your progress sir’s to see if I can learn any more about what’s going on here,“ Artie said.
“Okay people, we hit the ground running, Artie give us whatever covering fire you can,” Riley said.
“I will do what I can sir,” replied the AI.
“Okay people, this could get rough but it’s what we signed up for so get your game faces on. Artie, take us in,” Riley said and the team simply nodded their heads in agreement.
It was time to go to work.
Kurt reached the cave entrance first then ushered Natasha and Prince Aswan inside. Standing in the entrance he watched as the attack craft swo
oped in to land like some huge bird of prey.
“We’d better get ready, here they come,” he told them.
“Are you planning to shoot it out with those guys?” Aswan asked a little fearful.
“If we have to, yes,” Kurt replied not diverting his attention from the attack craft.
“Wouldn’t it be better to continue inside this cave and try to lose them?” Aswan persisted.
“We may have to stand and fight here sir. There’s no guarantee we could lose them inside this cave, we might even find ourselves trapped in here. In my opinion, it would be better to stand and fight. We have a position here that has good cover, it’s easily defendable and we have help on its way so, this is our best option,” Kurt said as he watched the attack craft touchdown.
One by one, the Outlaws exited the attack craft. They waited until all seven of them were together then they started forward toward the cave entrance.
“Here we go,” Kurt said as he took out his Sig and jacked the slide.
25
Tarkovic waited for his team to exit their attack craft. Once they had all gathered at the base of the exit ramp he said, “Remember our orders, the Prince is not to be harmed. The other two, we kill.”
Nothing else needed to be said, they knew what they had to do so they began to advance on the cave entrance.
Having left their makeshift weapons behind in the attack craft they were now all armed with Magarov T9 pistols strapped to their sides in holsters and Remm assault rifles which they held up to their shoulders aiming down the barrels at the cave entrance ready to fire as they moved forward.
“When you pick a target, open fire. I want this done as fast as possible, I want the Prince captured and the other two dead before that other craft picks its landing spot so double time it people,” Tarkovic said and the seven of them began to jog forward, their assault rifles still aimed, unwaveringly at the cave entrance.
*****
“Okay these guys are on a time table here, they obviously know about our reinforcements so they want to end this quickly,” Kurt said to Natasha who was by his side peering around the cave entrance.
“What do we do?” she asked.
“Stop them of course,” he replied, “Pick your target and open fire. You start at the left and I’ll start at the right and work your way toward the centre,” he added as he took aim.
“Are you serious, shoot them in cold blood?” she snapped not believing what she was hearing.
“Did you see what those bastards did to the passengers on that cruise ship? Unarmed civilians, who didn’t stand a chance, hacked to death like so much meat. Of course I mean kill them before they kill us,” Kurt replied angrily. They didn’t have the time for a philosophical debate on the merits of self defence against a violent enemy, they needed to stop the advancing Outlaws.
Kurt turned back to the cave entrance, took aim once again and fired.
*****
Tarkovic and the team saw the muzzle flash of the gunshot but they were too slow to react. The pulsed plasma bolt struck the Outlaw on the extreme left of the line up in the centre of his head blowing it to pieces as it dropped him to the ground, dead.
“Return fire!” shouted Tarkovic as they all dropped down on their stomachs, their rifles still aimed at their target and they began firing small controlled bursts, to conserve ammo, at their target.
A barrage of pulsed plasma bolts battered the cave entrance pulverizing rock, blasting it to nothing as the Outlaws fired.
“Keep firing and advance in pattern Alpha,” Tarkovic said communicating via a battle com channel so that only his team could hear his hushed words.
Immediately the two outside men on the line got up and sprinted a few metres closer to their target as the rest of the team continued to give them covering fire. The two runners dropped to the ground, started to give cover fire as the rest of the team got to their feet, and ran to join them. Once they arrived, the whole manoeuvre would begin again, repeating like this until they had reached their objective.
*****
From inside the cave where Kurt had pulled Natasha back to prevent her from getting shot, he said, “Their pattern of firing has altered. They’re advancing on us, probably giving cover fire while two or more of them advance who then give cover fire while the rest catch up.”
“You can tell that just by listening?” Natasha asked in disbelief.
“Comes with experience,” he lied, his enhanced hearing helped to pick out the changing rhythm of gunshots. “The important thing is we’re pinned down in here now so we have no choice but to go further into the cave,” he added.
“That’s not what you’d expect from Outlaws though, is it?” Aswan said pointing out the other aspect of the tactic that had bothered Kurt.
“No, it isn’t, which means we’re up against trained soldiers which also means there’s something else going on here other than what we’re led to believe,” agreed Kurt.
“Looks like your theory about this place holding a secret is gathering momentum,” Natasha said.
“Unfortunately, yes, believe me I’d much rather it wasn’t,” Kurt agreed, “We can debate this later though, right now we need to move,” he added.
*****
The Pulsar’s forward section came in to land, hovered ten yards from the ground close to the attack craft whilst Riley and the team abseiled down from lines attached to an open hatch.
“Artie see if you can persuade those Outlaws from firing at our people,” Riley said as he hit the ground then released his line.
“Will do my best sir,” Artie replied then targeted the Outlaws lying on the ground with the forward pulse cannons. Firing on fully automatic the AI sent out a salvo of pulsed plasma bolts that stitched a line across the path of the four Outlaws prone forms. The two outermost Outlaws turned around and returned fire at the hovering craft almost immediately.
“Everyone down,” ordered Riley as he saw the Outlaws turn to fire. All four members of the Wildfire Team dived to the floor, arms outstretched before them with their Remm assault rifles aimed at the Outlaws.
*****
Inside the cave, Kurt was leading Natasha and Aswan deeper into the labyrinth of tunnels they found once they moved beyond the entrance.
“Sounds like our back up has arrived,” Kurt said after hearing the pulse cannons firing.
“Should we go back and help them out?” Natasha asked as they cautiously advanced deeper into the caves.
The light from the entrance seemed to recede as they progressed further into the cave. Kurt lit one of the torches they’d taken from the wrecked lifeboat to light their way.
“No, we continue,” he told her.
The torch beam illuminated the walls and it picked out a fork in the tunnel, “This way,” Kurt said as he led them toward the left.
Natasha followed by Aswan was close behind him as he took the tunnel on the left.
“Holy shit!” exclaimed Kurt as he pulled up short. What he saw astounded him.
26
Jared Saladar was on the bridge of his starship when it re-entered normal space through the hyperspace window.
“How do you want to play this Boss?” asked Mikal Danovic, the second in command of Saladar’s team. Danovic was half a head taller than his boss, and at almost six feet eight, he had slightly more muscle mass too but other than that, he could be mistaken for his older brother. They both had dark hair, dark eyes and the same swarthy good looks that endeared them to the women who they met when not on a mission.
“We go in, we rescue the Prince and as many of his entourage that are still alive then we get the hell out, simple really,” Saladar replied.
“That’s a bit sketchy on the details, mind filling me in on any, say, like how you intend on going in?” Danovic asked. This was a process they usually went through when starting a mission. Saladar was a gifted tactician and would have an outline of his plan but would wait to get a feel for the situation before setting off and making any m
oves. He often referred to his missions as being organic because quite often they would evolve as they progressed through it. One could never plan for every contingency for there would always be that unexpected element, a reaction to a certain action that no one saw coming and that was why Saladar seemed to make his plans up as he went along. He was actually reacting and adjusting to a situation that was fluid and if he tried to remain solid and stick rigidly to a game plan, he knew he would get people killed.
“Soon as I figure it out, I’ll let you know,” Saladar replied.
“Jared,” Danovic admonished.
“What?” Saladar asked turning to face his closest friend. He recognised that tone in his voice and he smiled, “You know how I work Mikal, as soon as I get some idea of what’s going on here I’ll know the best way to proceed,” he said which seemed to appease the other man. “In the meantime it’s best we stay hidden from any prying eyes. I’d rather do this as a ‘sneak in and go’ type op, rather than a full blown assault,” he added.
“Understood, let’s start with some scans to see what we’re up against here,” Danovic offered.
“Make them low level scans at first, I don’t want to alert them to our presence just yet, not until we have to.”
“Yes Boss.”
“That might be a bit of a problem Boss, we’ve just been scanned by that complex,” said Alexei Janovic who was piloting the starship and operating the ops station which incorporated sensors and comms.
“Right take us behind the nearest moon, anything that’s large enough to hide behind and do it fast before they realise who we are,” Saladar said.
The image on the forward viewscreen showed the Outlaws complex of reconstructed starships. As they watched, two attack craft left the outer docking area and turned toward them.
“Well guys, it looks like my idea of a ‘sneak and go’ op just went out the airlock. Get ready for a fight everyone,” Saladar said as he watched the attack craft come closer on full burn.
