The Revenant: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Hunter's Moon Book 2)

by Walt Robillard

  “Not for sale. Either you leave or we call a merc over and pay him to beat you while we watch. Now go!”

  Kel tapped his chin. “Care to put money on it?”

  “No,” said the pilot. He stepped forward, putting a gun against Kel's head.

  Kel darted to one side, and the blaster bolt from the sub-compact sailed across the landing pad of the hangar, blasting into a tangle of struts. There was a pop from the strike, followed by a burst of sparks. Kel had the blaster in both hands, rotating it back against the pilot’s wrist until he had it in his own grip.

  “See, you're not supposed to miss!” Kel shot the pilot between the eyes, snapping the man's head back, sending skull and brain matter onto one of the crewmen.

  The one who had been speaking to him launched into action, throwing a flurry of strikes aiming to knock Kel for a loop so she could get the gun. Kel responded by first ducking, then kicking the woman's legs out to sweep her from her feet. Kel reversed direction, kicking back into her face. Her head flicked to the side, blood and a few teeth splashing against the far wall. She brought her head back to center, ready to bring the fight to Kel, but ate a blaster bolt to the brain for her trouble.

  The last crewman pulled a combi-axe off of one of the sides of the craft. Kel whirled, aiming the blaster pistol in line with the man's torso. He never got to pull the trigger. His attacker's head exploded in a dazzling spray of violence that left Kel covered in gore. The attacker slumped to the deck, the combi-axe falling beside him.

  “Nice shot. A little messy, but nice.”

  “Thank you,” Kat said “It's nice to be recognized for my skills.”

  “My raven beauty, if it weren't for all the blood, I wouldn't spend a day here without you,” Kel teased.

  “Are you finally practicing your pick up game on me?”

  “And what if I am? Is it working?”

  Kel got up from the deck, wiping off crew chief slime. Wagging his hand to clear some of the mess, he stormed to the cockpit, attaching his cell-com to the console. “Tolin, Yu, you're connected to the shuttle.”

  Tolin squelched into the earpiece, “Pulling the logs now.”

  Kel used the time to get the bodies away from the ramp. He removed the poncho he was wearing, exposing the same flight suit as the rest of the crew. He went to the side of the ship where there was a cargo crate that just over a meter long. He popped the latches to kick open the lid. “Guys? I'm looking at a crate containing several canisters of what is definitely not colabrium. Looks to be some sort of liquid or gel suspension. Two of them are missing. Is there anything in the logs to indicated what this stuff was?”

  “Nothing like that in the logs. But let me see if I can get into the ship’s ICOM. Maybe they have something more in depth,” Yu chimed in.

  Kel poked the glass, tapping it twice with his finger. He turned away from it to look out of the access ramp. The back of the ship had been facing part of the dome. The only way to see in was to be directly in line with it. Kel guessed they didn't want anyone to see what they were doing, even if they were just sitting.

  Two taps sounded behind him. He dropped to a knee, picking up the compact blaster from the floor. He saw nothing at the back of the ramp. Something made a swooshing noise beside him. He scanned the canisters, a vague feeling of dread filling his stomach. He clicked the glass once, then twice. There was a tap once, then a second tap hard enough to crack the glass.

  Kel slammed the lid shut, re-latching the seal. “Guys!”

  “Kel, we just sliced into the main ICOM onboard the freighter. We have a problem!”

  “Keep trying, Kat. We need to get over there, especially if Lasher doesn't know about the evil goo. ”

  “We need to be careful, Kel,” she said, emphasizing the word need.

  “This is going sideways fast.”

  “Doesn't it always. I called Beth. She's approaching the back of the ramp with some friends. Don't shoot.”

  Kel crouched beside several stabo-cans latched to the wall, his sub-compact aimed at the door.

  Beth stuck her head in. “One coming in, don't shoot.”

  Kel stuck his weapon in his belt. “Why is it you talk like a merc?”

  “I spend a lot of time leading mercs around,” the girl said in a manner that was way too friendly for the circumstances.

  “Kat says you have friends.”

  “They're here to take care of the bodies. This is Mr. Cole, Mr. Joshua, and Ms. Carlyle,” She gestured behind her. Kel expected to see some of her school teachers by the way she addressed them. He didn't expect three of the largest Zheegan he had ever seen cresting the side of the ship.

  One of the trio had painted accents along her eyes as well as the ridges leading into the armor she was wearing. “Carlyassa. Pleasure to make your sight to me. Bethayell say you need help with bad man people. We help you.”

  “I'm happy for the help.” Kel turned to Beth. “How much is this going to cost me?”

  “Nothing. It comes out of Lasher's expenses,” she winked.

  “How is a kid your age this savvy?”

  “Doseidos is a rough place. Play rough or die. There's no playing dead,” Beth said flatly.

  “Makes sense. Coming or staying, Beth?”

  “Coming. Team Baby Doll on the move.”

  “We are not called team Baby… how did you even know about Baby Doll?”

  “I'm a kid. I get into everything.”

  “Boys?”

  Yu came over the radio. “Wasn't us!”

  One of the male Zheegan with white eyes stepped in front of Kel. The nictitating membrane blinked, unnerving the former crime lord. “We pull the dead. We go now.”

  “Thank you, Mr. Cole. You're an alright guy.” Kel reached under his poncho to pull out an identical helmet to the ones the pilots wore. He locked it in place, firing up the HUD. “Kat, I'm moving to the Sink. You coming?”

  “Give me a minute to close up and make my way to you.”

  Beth ran to the ramp, hitting the switch to raise it. She kept the side hatch open so Kat could make her way in.

  Ten

  Lasher walked beside the lanky hard hat-wearing foreman for a meeting with the one the miners referred to as Big Brother. The vacuum slam of the pressure cooker that Fluff was operating did nothing to take away from the heated intensity of the argument the two Chen VIPs were having. The argument stopped briefly as the two men watched the elevator float to the bottom of the shaft.

  A single man in a camouflage uniform under a skel-frame stepped from the lift to walk over to the two men. He raised his hand to wave, ending the motion by pointing at Fluff. A small drone whistled from somewhere high overhead, and struck the Doom Cat in the back. It exploded in a blue energy wave terminating in a burst of sparks. Fluff fell to the floor like a statue that had been knocked over. The colabrium sifter nearest to the mech also immediately stopped working, a descending whirring noise coughing its way to silence.

  Workers and foremen alike threw up their hands in surrender. The newcomer held up his own hand, finger extended directly at Lasher. “So you're what all the fuss is about? You don't look like much.”

  An explosion of wet sand and muck sent the workers scattering. A Kangal mech took several steps into the entrance chamber, ducking into the space. A targeting beam of three lights searched the space until finally converging onto Lasher's chest. “Target identified. Orin Lashra.”

  “Who the hells do you think you are?” the foreman asked.

  “Name's Kilmartin. Ms. Chen hired me to find a lost asset. I have reason to believe it's here. I also have reason to believe that this man and his team knows where to find it.”

  “We know who you are, merc,” The foreman yelled. “I mean to say, who do you think you are entering our operations area without telling us or asking permission to do so?”

  Lasher picked up on the foreman's speech. He had lost the trademark Xang accent typical of their expats. His Trade-2 was more even and cultured, with
only the barest hint that he was a not a native speaker.

  “I work directly for Chen. I don't answer to you,” the newcomer said.

  “And we don't answer to Chen,” Big Brother replied.

  “Either way, I'm taking this man into custody to collect on the bond the Seven Seats offered for him. I figured, since I tracked my target here to the planet, I could kill two birds with one stone.”

  “That's not going to happen.” the skinny foreman replied.

  “He and the machine in the poncho are coming with us,” Big Brother added.

  “You didn't even know who they were until now. Besides, I have the guns, the mech, and the will to use both.”

  Both Chen laughed. They stepped in front of Lasher, Big Brother absorbing the targeting beam aimed for the fugitive. He unzipped his jump suit, stepping from it with the barest of kicks to free it from his boot. He was wearing ornate armor under the suit. While his girth was still considerable, the armor added an unexpected element to the increasingly dangerous situation.

  “We knew exactly who he was,” Big Brother said. He reached behind him, taking an ornate mask from his belt. It had no lenses or slits for sight. Red accents came from the forehead to streak down the sides of its surface. The slow ascent from belt to face with a switch from one mask to another, brought everyone's attention to the massive heavy blaster pistols strapped to his legs. “I'm Twin Thunder Mountain, a member of the Steel Devils. You're out of your league, merc. Stand down or be put down.”

  There was a moment of uncertainty for Kilmartin. Lasher took the opportunity to run from the chamber, drifting out of sight around a corner.

  “You going to let him get away?” Kilmartin asked

  “There's nowhere for him to go,” said the foreman in the hard hat.

  “So this is still a thing, then?”

  Hard Hat dropped it from his head. He flicked his hand in an upward motion causing a cargo box at the end of the room to open. He pulled a set of armor from the box, similar in form and fashion to Twin Thunder's. His voice took on a digital haze from the silver accented mask locking into place over his head. “I'm Silver Scorpion, a member of the Steel Devils. As we are both working with the Chen, it seems we are at cross purposes when we should be working together. Lasher and his team have been gifted to us as prey. You will not take this from us. However, we can work together to secure them. When we have them bound and locked, we can assist you in gaining information from the crew to track your bounty. Is this acceptable, or will we use both of you for target practice as a warm up to hunting our quarry?”

  Kilmartin shifted his attention to Doom-Snuggle. Ennix seemed to pick up the physical cue. “The RIM-IV is in a low powered state after the ion strike. It has a shielded personality matrix and back-up battery. Unless there have been significant upgrades to its chassis, this mech will remained powered down until such time as we take steps to activate it again.”

  “Thank you, Ennix. That was very helpful. Alright, Devils, we can work together to bring in Lasher. After that, I get to use them to acquire my target.”

  The Chen shuttle landed outside the entrance to the giant hole. It was easily a hundred meters across with a railed-off cargo elevator.

  “I can see why everyone calls this the Sink. What are we doing?” Kat asked

  “The shuttle you are on was in contact with someone identified as 'Silver', according to the log. It's due for a pick up any time now so we should be good,” said Yu over the channel.

  “What's with the other ship?”

  “That's the merc we talked about. Kilmartin. He's after Savoya. He probably thinks that Lasher can lead him to her.”

  “Truveau and Castillo were the only ones to know where she went,” Kat offered.

  Yu huffed through the comm.“Kilmartin probably doesn't know that.”

  “Fine. Either way our friends are in trouble.” Kel made a cutting motion with his hand. “Humming Bird six-eight-six to Silver. We're here to pick up the next load.”

  “This is Silver. It is a nice change of pace to have you on time for once, although I don't recognize your voice. Where is Robert Yun?”

  “Drank some of the local water,” Kel said. “He wasn't looking so good. I'm the alternate. Huang Lau.”

  Kat cut off the comm. “When did you start speaking Trade-9? Is there a Huang Lau?”

  The grin across Kel's face beamed through his visor. “The Chen have two shuttle teams on Doseidos. Huang might have had real good luck at the bar the other night. Also, there might have been something in his drink.”

  “This is Silver. Stay on station. We will call for you shortly.” With that, the comm shut down.

  “Do we wait? Tolin, what's going on?” Kat asked.

  “Seems that Silver doesn't know all the crews by voice. He checked you against one of the crew logs. They also checked on Kilmartin. He must be down there right now, which isn't good for our friends.”

  Kel finished the landing procedures, angrily thumbing through his console. “This is getting better by the minute.”

  “You're going to get us all killed!” one of the miners that Lasher had encountered protested.

  “I will not. Take everyone to the elevator,” Lasher ordered.

  “If they see us not working, Big Brother will beat us.”

  “They're hunting me, not you. They'll be grateful that you move out of their way. Less confusion for me to hide in.” Lasher gestured for the elevator.

  The miners looked unsure. Their composure was similar to a herd unwilling to leave an enclosure when the pen was left open, lest they get eaten by the wolves beyond. Freedom was always frightening to those not willing to fight for it.

  “While you're trying to figure out how to get in less trouble, what can you tell me about the Steel Devils?”

  Another of the miners stepped to him. “They’re Triad Enforcers back in the Xang. Experts in killing. They’re enhanced by the Second Sight. Very dangerous. Why do you ask this?”

  Lasher was hesitant to answer. “Two of our caretakers said they were Steel Devils.”

  The woman who’d spoken placed both hands over her face. “There is no hope for us then.”

  “So you don't work for the Chen?”

  “We are here to work off our debt for crossing,” the woman said amid a face full of tears. “A new and better life for us in the frontier once our debt to them is paid.”

  The info Tolin received suggested the Chen were taking fifty members of the cartel to act as miners. He had figured them for members of the crime family, not indentured servants like the ones they were planning to rescue.

  One of the local miners got Lasher's attention. “We're just here for the paycheck. If you say that we'll be safer up near the lift, that's where we're going.”

  “Take everyone with you. Things are going to get complicated down here.” Lasher said.

  The group left, scurrying up the passage back to the entry chamber. The woman who had told him about the Devils took a moment to stare back at him. She nodded her respect on her way out.

  Lasher walked the length of several passages, gauging which had weak points he could exploit in the Way. The fissure Silver Scorpion had found earlier was easy for him to focus on, but he wanted to make sure that he found several other soft spots in the dig he could use to slow the other team down. It was only a matter of time before they came down here looking for him.

  “It's strange that I can hear your footsteps but it's like you're not there. It’s like listening to a bot walking,” Lasher whispered to one of the corners.

  The head of the woman who had spoke to him earlier poked out from hiding. Although her appearance was female, her voice definitely wasn't. “Lasher, my name is Romeo and I'm here to get you out.”

  “And who sent you to do that?”

  “We have a mutual friend in common, although you might not believe that. We were monitoring the Chens' activity when we heard that they were about to slip the noose over you, so we came to help. T
hat Kangal mech and your friend being down for the count makes things slightly more difficult.”

  “And who is 'we'?” Lasher asked.

  “We’ll have time for that later. The Steel Devils met us at the intersection. They sent all the workers through the mine entrance to be lifted out on a waiting ship.”

  The thought of the Steel Devils taking the miners anywhere left a worried knot tangling in the back of Lasher's skull. “At least they won't be in the way. What did you have planned?”

  The woman produced a cloak from her pack. “I have an optical camouflage poncho with me. I was going to pretend to be you while you hide. After they left chasing me you could just walk out.”

  The mongrel huffed. “You're a little short to pretend to be me.”

  The image of a short, dust encrusted woman blurred, shifting shape until she became a dirt-encrusted Lasher. “Is that a knife in your belt at the back of your shirt? If you could show it to me, I just want to make sure I get it right.”

  Lasher's eyebrow went up in surprise. “Okay, color me impressed, Romeo. How good are you at adapting on the fly?”

  “I'll keep up.”

  Lasher moved up to the bend in one of the intersections, dropping to his belly. He motioned for his doppelganger to set down next to him. They dropped the poncho, activating the camouflage function. “That's a little unnerving.”

  “Do you want me to change?” Romeo asked.

  “Nah. Let them be confused.”

  “Madame,” Romeo said unexpectedly, “I've made contact with the asset. We're preparing to extract as soon as the route is clear.”

  “Who are you talking to?” Lasher asked.

  “My partner. She's on station ready to pick us up when we're done here.”

  “Sounds good. Can you give me the relay to patch into my people?”

  Romeo pointed at him.

  “I'm not going to tell you how strange it is having me point at me. Any station this net, this is Ruckus-1-4, over.”

  Kel excitedly broke into the comms. “Real good to hear your voice 1-4, this is 1-1. I assume you're broadcasting on wide band due to the stone?”