Osdal (Harmony War Series Book 3)

by Michael Chatfield

  The painkillers made him woozy as he walked towards the camp.

  The Chosen laughed and commented, and more in air cars cajoled around, yelling and shooting. Mark was their night’s entertainment. Randomly they’d fire at Mark or hit him with an air car, sending him crashing to his knees.

  He got up and continued on.

  The continued to hit him, and yell insults, and some gathered metal dust in buckets and poured it on him. He couldn’t look for a time when they did that, and had to shake his concussed head else the dust would get in his eyes and start scratching them away.

  He had learned the lessons about what to do and not to do with metal dust on Earth. He stumbled on, blind with pain and the occasional metal dust cloud.

  Soon the Chosen lost interest and a few flew on.

  Mark continued his walk, and found out that at some time he’d bitten into his tongue.

  But I’m alive - and they’re gonna fucking regret that.

  ***

  Caroline heard the shooting, she heard the yells, and she felt it as Mark was ripped out of the shack from beside her.

  She had no more tears as she heard the Chosen playing with Mark. She heard something hit an air car. She went outside, she didn’t want to, but Mark had been nice, and she didn’t want him to die alone.

  Mark was tied up to the back of an air car, and the chosen were milling around. He’d hit another air car and was out cold. The Chosen made up their minds, and the air car took off, dragging Mark away from the camp.

  She heard a gunshot some minutes later, and other air cars went out there to go and watch their entertainment.

  Mark got up; she couldn’t believe it; she was sure he was dead.

  An air car hit him from behind, just as they had done with Ellie.

  No, not again, why does everyone die around me? She watched as Mark got up and walked on, bullets hit the ground around him and he walked on, other air cars hit him down, yet every time he got back to his feet and kept walking.

  He ignored them as if they were nothing but a bad wind.

  Caroline felt herself chanting for him as he stumbled on defiantly, half alive and wounded badly.

  Other camp workers watched Mark’s progress. The Chosen were also watching with interest and joking.

  Caroline wasn’t joking, she was gripped by the sight before her. Mark should have been crying on the ground and begging for death with those injuries. He cried out in pain as he hit the ground again.

  Then he got up again and continued walking. Mark had made his peace with death, he would die or he wouldn’t, but he wouldn’t give these bastards the satisfaction of killing him.

  She felt resolve harden in her. She had thought him as a protector, for his muscles and those dark eyes which watched the Chosen when they didn’t know it.

  But his strength wasn’t his body; it was his determination. Pure and utter anger and hatred pushed him forward. She wondered what had happened to him to make him this way.

  Maybe nothing happened to him, but he was just done watching others suffer. She didn’t know when her thoughts changed from hoping the Chosen would give him a quick death, to her silent encouragement.

  ***

  Niemi didn’t think she had wanted to kill so much. She knew which Chosen she would take out and in what order, and her magazines were ready but her finger stayed off of the trigger.

  Only Mark’s words kept her scanning instead of killing.

  Ko took a pained breath, just watching through his spotting goggles. Niemi knew he wanted to kill the bastards as badly as she did.

  She glanced to Mark’s side, they were up on an abandoned floor of Mining City Twenty-One’s towers. They’d been watching Mark and the Chosen, and figuring out how to best mess up the Chosen’s defense. Mining City Twenty-One was the chosen’s biggest area of operations, and no one but Chosen lived in the city.

  They had figured out valuable intelligence and they had a good idea where the powered armor was being stored.

  Still, Niemi wanted nothing more than to be allowed to pull her trigger and cut down Mark’s tormentors.

  She could see his side profile and it was bad; he was covered in cuts all over his upper body, and the back of his shoulder showed the white of bone underneath. His hands were mangled as were his arms. He was covered in blood and the red metal dust. Niemi had got metal dust into more wounds than one would back on Earth, it was one of the most uncomfortable experiences she had ever suffered through. She rubbed her arm subconsciously, a nasty scar running down her forearm.

  But that was just a small wound, and most of Mark’s body was cut open in some way.

  Niemi looked to her nose, where there was an infographic on Mark’s augments.

  They were working all out to keep him conscious and moving. They’d stopped most of the blood loss and were focusing on producing more blood. The brain bleed was stopped and they were finishing up dealing with the swelling. His spine was also being fused back together with a nano-mesh.

  She would have been surprised by the number of augments in his body at any other time, he was a lot of cyborg. Right here and now she was thankful he had them all, and understood why he’d pushed for them to get the same augments.

  He needed three months of best rest and EMF medical care, but Mark moved on.

  “Fucking legend,” Niemi said.

  “Fucking right,” Ko agreed, his voice harsh.

  Niemi could feel their pride in Mark. She knew she couldn’t do that, just Trooper on, even after all of that. Another round hit the ground ahead of Mark.

  Niemi didn’t know if Mark didn’t see it, or didn’t care, but he kept going.

  This is what it means to be a warrior, to be a fucking Trooper, she thought, making sure she recorded everything.

  Chapter 29

  Mining City Seventeen

  Osdal Actual, Osdal System

  7/3267

  Moretti accepted the message as soon as it came in from Niemi.

  “Holy shit,” he said, breathless as he watched Mark come flying out of a shack, hitting the ground and writhing.

  “Something up?” Dominguez asked, her voice tight and tense. She’d been that way since Mark had left.

  Moretti turned on his sound canceller and sent her the file.

  Her face went stony at the images. Both of them watched Mark as he trudged back into camp. The air cars broke up, bored with Mark’s defiance, and as one rode past, someone leaned out and hit Mark with a sun stick in the back of the head.

  They laughed and pointed as Mark dropped onto the ground, convulsing.

  There was silence in the room. Mark stopped convulsing and Moretti thought that his heart might burst with tension.

  A woman moved to Mark and she checked his breathing and pulse. Three others gathered Mark up and carried him into the shacks. The chosen were heading back to Mining City Twenty-One; it looked like their shift was over.

  “They were just having some end of shift fun,” Dominguez growled and hurled a surface into a wall. “The fuck are we even doing?! Sitting here, sleeping in big old fucking beds and he’s out there getting dragged across this fucking metal planet, shot at and beaten to fuck!” She voiced what Moretti felt.

  “I think it’s time we started a rebellion,” Moretti said, accessing his implants. He focused on one thing: Emilie Castillo’s implants.

  Chapter 30

  Oort Cloud Refinery Seventy-Seven

  Oort Cloud, Osdal System

  7/3267

  Eliese looked around the restaurant, a hush had come down over the place as the view screen’s volume was increased.

  “Again, it looks like we have received a video from an anonymous source connected with the disappearance of the Dudayev family. It was believed that they went to Osdal Actual to work in the strip mines around the mining cities on Osdal Actual,” the reporter said, their face grim as they looked into the pickup.

  “I have seen the video and it is being released onto the net. I ask that
you all download the video so that it might never again be erased. I expect that myself and my crew will not be around much longer to report on the factuality of this report, but dammit someone needs to!” The reporter lost his professional calm.

  “Alright, so you know all of that stuff about people being tortured and shit in Masoul, how it was all the companies making it up and lying to us… Well, guess what, that was all Harmony. The Dudayev family wanted to go to Osdal Actual and work to aid Harmony. They hated the companies, Mr. Dudayev lost his ship four times on a hard graft with just him and his girlfriend at the time. See, Tim didn’t want to bring kids into the world until he knew that he would be free and clear of his debts, he didn’t want his kids taking them over. Lucky for him, Harmony came in and debt disappeared. He and Natalie were overjoyed, and they’d found a good claim! Every asteroid miner’s dream!” He paused to bring himself together and continue the story. Eliese could see it was hard on the man, but she didn’t know why.

  No one asked for the view screen to be turned off or down, people were riveted to it.

  “So Tim and Natalie got married, they worked that claim, they got their tokens and they started a family. The claim ran dry as they always do, but Tim and Natalie had a plan. They were going to Osdal Actual, and they were going to be miners for Harmony.

  “Harmony had given them so much freedom, and they wanted to give back.” A picture showed on the screen of Timothy, a man that looked to have had rough times but was smiling, genuinely happy as his little boy and girl stood between him and Natalie. You could see the excitement in their faces.

  “This is the last known picture of the Dudayev’s.” The reporter paused, his features hardening in a way that made Eliese’s scalp dance and a cold sensation go down her spine.

  “Until now.” It seemed like everyone in the station was watching the broadcast.

  A video played, and it was grainy, but Natalie and Tim were carrying their family’s belongings, and the kids ran in front of a Chosen patrol, eager to see outside the tower.

  The Chosen started barking at Tim and Natalie.

  Tim and Natalie were apologetic, bowed under the weight of their family bags.

  Then, out of nowhere, a baton struck Tim Dudayev in the face.

  “Holy shit.” Someone’s shock made their voice weak. Others looked away, but Eliese kept watching.

  Natalie screamed out but she was pulled back, and then there was no sound. Tim and Natalie’s kids stopped starting at the landscape outside and the boy and girl rushed back, and the Chosen clubbed them down, laughing as they went sprawling.

  The reporters face came back, and there was noise off-camera.

  “This is what we invited in Osdal. This is what we allowed ourselves to be. It’s time that we stood up and stopped fucking complaining about the extra credits we get a week. I will not show what these animals proceeded to do. Somehow, the person that gave us these videos got a recording from none other than Emilie Castillo, Luke Choi’s personally appointed Lieutenant. The scene is graphic and despicable. I could only wish that the Dudayev family had died quicker and faster,” the reporter admitted. The yelling in the background was louder.

  “This may have been the first time, but it was not the last. Some of you may have heard of Mark Victor, the man from Bandit Corporation Two, the people that are offering steady jobs out around Oort Cloud Refinery Seventy-Seven. These Harmony fucks tried to rape his friend, and he killed them - as any rapist should be killed - and you know what they did? This!”

  The screen cut out, and it showed Mark in a camp being pulled out by the feet and tossed around for entertainment. The Chosen, those fucking jackals, were laughing, enjoying watching as he hit an air car.

  Eliese’s breath caught in her throat, surely he was dead.

  Then Mark was getting up from the ground, and the image resolved and there was a pained gasp through the crowd. His once strong body was a bloody mess.

  It showed Mark being hit by an air car and shot at before cutting to him getting to the camp and being hit in the head. People who wore clothes as if they were curtains rushed to his aid as the Chosen drove off.

  “He took a stand against these bastards, and I choose to stand with him,” the reporter said. The noises became urgent and someone fired a gun.

  “Turn that shit off, grab that Earther fuck!” someone yelled, and Chosen moved to grab the reporter.

  “Fuck Harmony, fuck them all!” the reporter shouted, and the Chosen’s batons came out and flashed as they hit the man. He yelled out, the noises turning shocked faces into hard lines.

  “Bout time we shoved these fuckers out,” an old regular said, standing. “Thanks for the coffee Betty, I’ve got some Chosen hunting to do.”

  In that moment, Eliese knew that he was speaking for all miners. They were a rowdy bunch, but they looked out for one another. Kids were a rare gift. Mark had stood up for one of his crew members, Tim and Natalie had done nothing wrong.

  Out in the edge of Osdal, system justice was quick and clean. Murderers, rapists, child touchers, all of them were hunted down and thrown out of an airlock. Osdal Actual might let that kind of shit happen on their planet, but the miners wouldn’t let it happen to their people.

  Chapter 31

  Gold Runner,

  Oort Cloud, moving to Osdal Actual Osdal System

  7/3267

  Felicia was sitting in her cockpit when she got a message from one of her good drinking buddies. She watched the same broadcast as Eliese.

  She forwarded it on to the rest of her crew, white hot anger curdling in her stomach. She had never had children, but a number of her crew, both former and current had children, and most of them named her as an honorary grandmother.

  She berated them for calling her an old lady, but when those little ones gathered around and listened to Grandma Felicia tell a tale of her and the Gold Runner, those were some of the best moments.

  She thought of them as she watched the video that showed the Dudayev family get struck down by the chosen.

  “Kale, take over will you.” She needed to break the video to the rest of the Bandit Two original crew in her hold.

  Haas, Jerome Sasaki, Dooks and Kojo were sitting in the hold. Their faces were hard as they looked up to her.

  “There’s a video circulating about Mark,” she started, softly.

  “Yeah, we know, Niemi got the video,” Haas said.

  Felicia felt the hair on the back of her neck rise and her spine chill, some part of her animal instinct making her back away as she took in the eyes of the others. There was murder in those eyes.

  “What are you going to do?” She was suddenly alarmed. She didn’t want this to be her last run, she needed to get back to the Oort cloud, regroup and figure things out. They couldn’t charge right in.

  “We’re going to burn Harmony to the ground,” Jerome said.

  She wanted to tell them to come with her back to the Oort Cloud, but the words died in her throat. She’d lived long enough to know when an argument was dead before it started.

  “We’ll get you to the processing station. I’ll see that you get to the ground. I can’t promise anything else.”

  “Get us down there and we’ll do the rest,” Haas promised.

  Chapter 32

  EMFC Reclaimer

  Oort Cloud, Osdal System

  7/3267

  “Well shit, it looks like they did it,” Domashev said, looking through the various networks that the carrier was linked into.

  Courts had been ordained in the asteroid mining facilities within hours, and the Chosen were pulled out and the people decided their fate. Not many of them survived as people learned what kind of monsters the Chosen were. People that would have been dismissed out of turn were now coming forwards.

  The rage was building in the asteroid rings and production had ground to a halt.

  There were stations here and there that were still under Harmony control, few of them willing. Only in the Elekt secto
r were people standing with the Chosen. Their Chosen had largely come from the asteroid rings.

  However, the Chosen there were burning their uniforms and donning space suits. The asteroids were no longer under the control of Harmony and all of that anger was focused on Osdal Three, Osdal Actual and the stations around them.

  “All of the carriers are on alert and half of the Troopers are active,” Conti reported looking around the table. There was only Nerva, Conti and Domashev in the room, and they were in effective command of the fleet.

  “The teams report they need a few more weeks to get the final measures underway. I think that it might be a good idea to move in on the routes we’ve picked,” Nerva said, looking to Domashev and Conti.

  If they were spotted as the fleet moved in from across the Oort cloud, then the jig would be up and Harmony would know they were out there. If they pulled it off, then they could be right in Harmony’s back yard when their sensors went down.

  Of course that’s even if half of our plans go in the right direction.

  “They have three weeks, then we’ll be over Osdal Three and Actual,” Domashev said, and Conti nodded in agreement.

  “Very well, I’ll send the messages,” Nerva promised.

  Chapter 33

  Tower

  Earth, Sol System

  7/3267

  Dalia burst into Nivad’s office as he was looking over the reports from the hundreds of analysts and machine learning software that had gone through the implants, and the wealth of information that the Masoul agent had found and transmitted from Osdal.

  One screen showed a person in a steel chair, and if you squinted you might have thought that the man had a similar appearance to Harper, one ex-leader of Masoul’s Harmony.

  Well, you would be right. Nivad had got the man secured in a facility in Landing City Masoul, once it had been cleared. His people were not only looking for more information on Harmony in the facility, they were using it as a place to question the higher-ups that were captured.