Stand or Fall (The Omega War Book 4)

by Kevin Ikenberry

  Rains smiled at her. “Sorry about the mess. I’m sure they’ll be okay in a little bit.”

  She blinked and stared at him. Her smile returned and lit up her face. “You think?”

  “They will. My name is Jackson. What’s yours?”

  “Josteen.”

  Rains nodded and grinned wider. “Pretty woman like you doesn’t need guys like these.”

  Josteen blushed and glanced over his left shoulder. Jackson heard the outer door of the bar clap shut behind him. A cold breeze rushed over his neck, and he swore there was a collective inhale from the rest of the bar.

  “Put your hands where I can see them, Rains.”

  Rains sighed. On the bar next to him was a fresh shot of whiskey. He didn’t raise his hands or turn toward the voice. “I just wanted a drink.”

  “Three counts of assault say different.”

  “Try self-defense,” Jackson snorted. He tentatively reached out for the whiskey. There was no response from behind, so he grabbed the glass and slowly brought it to his lips. “The guy with the Mohawk swung at me first. It’s gotta be on the security cameras.”

  “I don’t really care,” the voice needled.

  Rains tossed the shot into his mouth and swallowed. The whiskey burned on the way down. He hated tossing back good whiskey when it should be sipped and enjoyed. He didn’t have time. He was aware Josteen’s eyes were on him. He winked at her and turned around slowly.

  A small, white-furred Veetanho dressed in the blue coveralls of a Peacemaker stood two meters away with a small, but deadly, laser pistol trained on his chest. Her coal black eyes stared through him. “You’ve had your drink, Rains; it’s time to go.”

  Rains shook his head. “No. You see? I just met this young lady behind me and—”

  The Veetanho sprang forward, grabbed him by the left ear, and rolled him over her hip to the ground before he could finish the sentence. Impact with the floor drove a sharp burst of air from his lungs and stunned him for a half-second. Rains glanced around the bar wildly. None of the Humans moved. In the corner booth, a large, bald man with morphogenic tattoos all over his face shook his head and rubbed his eyes.

  Rains looked up at the Peacemaker. “You can’t do this to me! I’m innocent!”

  “Tell that to all the other people you’ve beaten up for no reason, Rains.” The Peacemaker reached down and grabbed him by the collar, dragging him out of the bar. “We’ve had enough of you.”

  Rains thrashed, never taking his eyes off the pretty Josteen sitting shell-shocked at the bar. “I said you’d never take me alive! Don’t make me hurt you!”

  The Veetanho pushed through the bar’s door and dragged Rains into the squalid street. Rain fell in huge, splattering drops. Rains relaxed a bit, but the Veetanho didn’t stop dragging him until she’d reached an alley twenty meters away. She slung him into the alley so hard his head thumped off the crumbling, brick wall of a tobacco shop.

  “Ow!” Rains rubbed his head. “You didn’t have to do that, Vannix!”

  “Shut up, Jackson,” Vannix said. “You’re AWOL, and I’m supposed to bring you in, not help you get a date from yet another female you’re going to let down.”

  Rains frowned as the rain ran down his face. “That hurts, Vannix.”

  “It should,” Vannix said as she holstered her pistol and stared down at him. “Like I said, dumbass, you’re AWOL. The Guild doesn’t like that too much. Selector Hak-Chet, himself, sent me here to get you. I’d like to get off your planet as soon as possible.”

  “I’ll bet you would,” Rains said and immediately regretted it. He and Vannix had been training partners for the last three years. She was the closest thing to a friend he had, but with a Veetanho general in orbit over Earth demanding the surrender of every Human mercenary company, he knew her discomfort all too well. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. I understand.”

  “Get up, Jackson.” Vannix extended a paw, which he took and stood. “It’s time you got your shit together. The Guild needs you.”

  “For what?” Rains snapped. “Hak-Chet sold me that shit three years ago, and I still ain’t got a clue what he meant.”

  “So, you went AWOL to try and get some sort of validation?” Vannix shook her head. “You’re dumber than I thought, Jackson.”

  “Fuck you, Vannix.”

  The Veetanho grinned at him. “That’s it. Act like a child. That’s only going to make it worse when I get you to Kleve.”

  Rains squinted at her. “Not Luna?”

  Vannix looked around. Seeing no one else out in the cold, December rain, she said, “We’re not there anymore. That’s all you get.”

  Rains blinked. Having General Peepo and her band of angry aliens threatening Earth was one thing, but having the Peacemakers withdraw from their consulate on Luna, where they could have overseen the situation was something else entirely. “What do you mean that’s all I get?”

  “You’ll be briefed when we get there.”

  Rains shook his head. “No. You need to tell me what’s going on before I get on a transport, Vannix. Hak-Chet’s already told you what the mission is. If he wants me that badly, he knows I’m not going to move another centimeter until you level with me.”

  Vannix flared. “Look around you, Jackson! Your planet—your people—are under siege by the Mercenary Guild. Do you really think they’re going to sit here and take it? Don’t you wonder where the Four Horsemen went? They are preparing for war, and it’s not going to be one of those brushfire conflicts we can simply stomp out by ourselves. This is serious, and our mission has direct consequences.”

  “Keep talking,” Rains replied.

  “Not here,” Vannix said. “You want more, come with me to the ship. Even out here in the gods-damned rain, there might be listening devices.”

  “It’s Memphis! Even Peepo and her cronies wouldn’t touch this place.”

  “That’s not it, Jackson.” Vannix stepped toward him. Her eyes blazed, but her voice was low and firm. “Think about it from my perspective. I’m not wanted here because I happen to share the same genetic makeup as that murderous bitch in orbit. The only thing keeping me alive right now is the fact I’m a Peacemaker. I’m fairly proud to be one, too. You, on the other hand, don’t seem to like anything about it. You feel like you’re owed everything just because you graduated from the academy. You want things handed to you on a platter. Yet here you stand, without your uniform, without your sidearm, and without your damned shield, trying to act like something you’re not. Sitting in bars and hitting on everything with a heartbeat is not in the Peacemaker Creed.”

  Rains grinned. “What if it was? I mean, I could always write that into my oath.”

  “You’ve already taken your oath,” Vannix grinned. “And, while you technically can edit your oath of office at any time, it still has to be approved by the guild master.”

  “You don’t think Rsach would like it? I mean, do the Jeha hit on everything with a heartbeat, as you so indelicately put it?”

  Vannix said nothing. After a moment, her serious countenance broke, and she laughed. “Gods, you are such an idiot, Jackson.”

  “Can I go back in there and get Josteen’s number?”

  Vannix shook her head. “No. I think you’ve done enough damage to that young woman and her friends. Speaking of which, we should get moving before they come looking for you. I’m only willing to put on a show once.”

  Rains smiled at his friend. “You didn’t have to do that for me. I mean, you could’ve put me on the ground a little less forcefully and all. How long were you watching me from outside?”

  “For the last thirty minutes,” Vannix replied. “Josteen and her friends came by at just the right time, you could say. Best five hundred credits I ever spent, really.”

  Rains felt his jaw open. “Seriously?”

  “Yes,” Vannix laughed. “Though I am reasonably sure they didn’t plan on getting their asses kicked by a scrawny Human like you.”

  Ra
ins stood six feet two inches tall and was built like a linebacker. “I’m not scrawny. I mean, if I’m scrawny, what are you? I’m like two feet taller than you.”

  “I’m a Veetanho, so your comparison is unnecessary,” Vannix said, but her grin faded. “What matters is that I am a Peacemaker, as are you. Nothing else matters to me. I hope you come to see your position in the same light sooner rather than later.”

  Rains reached into the back pocket of his jeans and pulled out a slim, black, leather wallet. He opened it, revealing the platinum Peacemaker shield he’d cast, in the Peacemaker tradition, for himself. “You’re wrong about something. I have my badge, Vannix. That makes me a Peacemaker, too.”

  “Good. Maybe now you’ll start acting like one,” Vannix said. Her grin returned. “Let’s go.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Four

  Peacemaker Guild Tactical Operations Center

  Kleve

  The business of a guild master never ended before the official end of the day, and Hak-Chet knew Rsach’s calendar remained crammed with appointments and official business. Outside of the merc pits of Karma, there was no place in the galaxy busier than the guild’s operations center. Having been on Luna for nearly six months, Rsach had been isolated from the daily grind of operations by the members of his council. At the forefront of the galaxy-wide Peacemaker effort, Rsach’s responsibilities pressed harder than ever.

  Hak-Chet wasn’t worried the Jeha could handle all the pressure of daily operations; instead, Hak-Chet and the Council cared more about what could be done to stop General Peepo and the Mercenary Guild’s calculated move against Earth. Having Rsach slink away unnoticed from Luna hadn’t been easily accomplished, yet with their guild master safely secured, the Guild’s apparent lack of action played directly into Peepo’s hands, which was exactly what Rsach wanted.

  Hak-Chet knew his role well. For the last twenty Earth years, as Rsach grew in responsibility, their friendship outside the bounds of the Council had grown as well. There were days, though, where even the guild master needed a break before the day officially ended. Hak-Chet pushed through the heavy, ornately-carved teak doors into the central chamber. Surrounded by advisors, Rsach looked up, and a glimmer of hope ran across his features. The Jeha’s body rippled like a rogue wave.

  “Selector Hak-Chet, is there a problem?”

  They’d been friends for much longer than any of his other four advisors could imagine. Mired in discussions of supply, logistics, and materiel, Rsach needed a lifeline. His use of their long-held code phrase almost brought a smile to Hak-Chet’s face. “I’m afraid so, Guild Master. My apologies for the interruption.”

  “We will reschedule, Honored Ones,” Rsach said with a wave of a dozen of his many limbs. “Please see the Chief of Staff to do so, before you leave the building.”

  It took a few moments for the collected advisors, two Cochkalas, a Flatar, and an elSha, to gather their briefing materials and leave. Hak-Chet kept his face straight despite the palpable relief on the guild master’s face. As the logistical advisors shuffled from the room, Rsach grandly gestured Hak-Chet forward. “Come in, Selector. I trust you bring news?”

  Hak-Chet stepped forward, bowed formally at his high waist, and held the position long enough to let the doors to the guild master’s chamber close behind him. Confident they were alone, Hak-Chet looked up and smiled. “Long day, old friend?”

  “Spare me from logisticians and intelligence specialists, Hak-Chet.” Rsach sighed and sagged back into his specially-made chair. “I trust you have news and are not here to simply save my sanity?”

  “A little of both, Master Rsach.” Hak-Chet moved into the chamber and took a seat in front of the guild master’s desk. “We’ve located Jackson Rains. I’ve dispatched his training partner, Vannix, to fetch him.”

  Rsach sighed. “Any idea why he went AWOL?”

  “I have many ideas,” Hak-Chet said, “but I’m guessing he’s mad we commissioned him privately and made no media announcement about him. He likes the limelight. There could be other reasons, but I’m reasonably sure he’ll respond to what I’ve asked of him.”

  Rsach nodded. “One out of three isn’t bad.”

  Hak-Chet laughed. Jessica Francis and Nikki Sinclair were the first two Human Peacemakers, and both performed in an exemplary manner. Jackson Rains would come around, too, especially when he learned what they had in store for him. “Indeed, old friend. Nikki continues her mission. There’s not much to report aside from what you’ve seen in the official channels. Jessica, though, has deployed forward to New Persia.”

  Rsach nodded and looked across the room out a small window. Beyond it, the red-yellow sun of the Kleve system sank into the distant horizon, bringing dusk and nightfall to the surface. “You know she’s going to be enraged, right?”

  “Yes, Master Rsach. I expect her to determine Drehnayl is, in fact, behind the attack, and I expect her to take action.”

  Rsach rumbled. “In what way? We can’t risk an all-out confrontation with the Mercenary Guild at this juncture.”

  “I know that, and so does she. Until the Four Horsemen make their play, our position is best held where it is.” Hak-Chet exhaled slowly.

  “You’re implying she won’t take direct action against them?” Rsach asked.

  Hak-Chet shrugged. “Against a full MinSha combat fleet, it is reasonable to think even she will back down.”

  Rsach bristled, his limbs rippling in agitation. “No, you know she will not back down, Hak-Chet. Why would you say that?”

  “I’m merely giving you an opinion, Rsach. I don’t think she will back down, but we’ve sent her alone and virtually unarmed to find a MinSha fleet,” Hak-Chet said with a sigh. “Honestly, Jessica is very much on her own this time. I’m not sure what she will do in that situation.”

  Rsach chuckled. “Put yourself in her...shoes, Hak-Chet. You know her better than any other advisor in the Guild. Say she finds Drehnayl’s fleet. What does she do?”

  For a long moment, Hak-Chet was silent. There were many options to consider, and he scratched his pointed chin idly as his mind ran through the options. “The Mercenary Guild is conducting what can only be called terrorist attacks against the Human colonies of the outer rim. They put a price on Jessica’s head. When she was on Weqq, she didn’t know any of this. She called for support, and, receiving none, she acted against the Human mercenaries. When that news gets back to Earth, it may have complications we haven’t foreseen, but that’s not part of this discussion. Jessica would call for support and continue to observe. The only reason she was unable to do this on Weqq was because Raleigh Reilly used electromagnetic spectrum interference to maintain complete control over a tactical situation. The MinSha have no such policy. Jessica, then, would observe and call for support before engaging.”

  Rsach stared at him for a long moment, then coughed. He took a breath, and the cough became a deep, booming laugh that shook the room. Doubled over, Rsach placed several limbs on the desk and pushed himself upright. He smiled wide, a hideous expression on his face, and shook his head and upper body. “As the Humans tend to say, you are full of shit, old friend.”

  “What did you say?” Hak-Chet gaped.

  Rsach took a great wheezing breath and continued. “You are full of shit, Selector. You know damned well Jessica Francis may call for support, but she’s going to charge into the situation and do her damnedest to close it out.”

  Hak-Chet nodded. “I hope Jessica wouldn’t charge into things, but Araf? And Weqq? She knew the risks, and she still went after them.”

  “And she knew what was at stake when she went after the Humans on Weqq,” Rsach said. “She did call for support, but she took action. I expect her to do the same in this situation, Hak-Chet.”

  “As do I, old friend,” Hak-Chet said dejectedly. “You knew this before you asked the question. May I ask why?”

  Rsach sat back in his chair. “The head of the Mercenary Guild has assembled a force larg
e enough to threaten Earth. All the Human mercenary companies that could left the planet and will rendezvous somewhere in the black. The time for their counterattack is coming, but Peepo holds the upper hand. She will try to chip away at Human tenacity by preying on weaker colonies like New Persia. She believes Human resolve will crumble as lives are lost. I believe she underestimates them. And, I believe her underlings, especially Major General Drehnayl, will underestimate Jessica’s resolve and her ability to fight. I further believe they will underestimate her ability to create new allies.”

  “She will call for support, though,” Hak-Chet theorized.

  “No, she won’t,” Rsach said. There was absolute certainty in his tone, and Hak-Chet knew it to be true. “I’m counting on her not calling for support unless she really gets in over her head, and I’d like to think her Selector would make sure such situations are rather difficult for her to find.”

  Hak-Chet chuckled. “Of course, I did so, Rsach. That’s why you let me train her in the first place. You know she won’t let us down.”

  “It’s not us I am worried about,” Rsach said. “Letting down her planet and the Human mercenary companies that will fight for that planet are the greater concerns. The faster she finds and eliminates Drehnayl and her fleet, the better for us all.”

  Hak-Chet nodded solemnly. “There are far too many targets for us to pinpoint Drehnayl’s fleet. Jessica will have to find them herself.” Peacemaker intelligence sources, already stretched thin, had so far proven ineffective.

  Rsach sighed. “Indeed, old friend.”

  “And what of her father?” Hak-Chet asked. “Has there been any word?”

  Rsach’s features grew darker than the Selector imagined possible. “We need to talk at length about his situation, Selector. I’m concerned.”