by Terry Mixon
Talbot gave the man a wide grin. “When we have women like them in our lives, we have either the choice of accepting them as they are or having them forced down our throats. Gentlemen, I recommend that we just accept what’s going to happen. Kelsey is smart and tough. She’ll come through this intact. So will Julia.”
Brave words aside, Talbot really hoped that his wife knew what she was doing this time. If she got into a fight with people capable of taking out marines in powered armor, one unlucky hit could obliterate her, and that would kill him too.
9
Julia watched her doppelgänger through the drone feed and growled. The woman was just standing there like an idiot. Didn’t she realize that the potentially hostile force was going to be on them in just a few minutes?
“What the hell is she doing?” she demanded of Corporal Boske over the command channel.
“It looks like she’s making friends,” the corporal said dryly. “Doesn’t she just pick the damnedest times to do that?”
“I think using the term friends is perhaps a little early,” Julia muttered. “It certainly seems like they’re not going to give her weapons back, so maybe they’re checking to see if she’s telling them the truth about the incoming force. How far out are they?”
The corporal made a show of checking her implants by putting her fingers to the side of her head, no doubt implying that Julia could’ve done exactly the same thing herself.
That was annoying. Why couldn’t people just answer her damned questions?
“It looks like they’re about five minutes out at their current pace. I doubt that’s going to hold, to be honest. If I were them, I’d send out scouts to make sure that the camp is clear, or to at least figure out where all of their potential targets are located.
“I’d also slow the main body down and spread them out a little bit. Those two hills they’re coming up on would make for a great ambush site, as you well know, since you suggested using them for exactly that earlier.”
Julia pinched the bridge of her nose and counted slowly to five. “Are you saying that they’re going to send people up to make sure that the hills are clear? Did I just put a bunch of our people into danger?”
The corporal turned to face her. “Highness, when you’re in command of a military action, everything you do puts someone in danger. Do I think that they’re going to send people up on those hills? Yes, I do. Is that going to put our people in danger? Yes, it is.
“Now, the key is that they can’t completely search those hillsides. As long as our people have found good hiding places, that’s not going to be a serious problem. In fact, it’s going to put them in a good position to ambush the enemy scouts, if that’s what we decide to do.
“If worse comes to worst, their scouts are going to find our troops and the fighting starts right then. Our people won’t be in any danger from people carrying primitive weapons. As Colonel Talbot told me privately, the real worry is that they may have advanced weapons capable of damaging our powered armor.
“If they’ve ever fought the Rebel Empire version of Imperial Marines before, then they’ll have dealt with the type of armor that we have. It may have been a long time since they’ve had to face that kind of thing, so perhaps I’m worrying about nothing, but I’m not going to be taking unnecessary chances. If they engage, we come down on them like a hammer.”
Julia split her attention between her doppelgänger and the approaching force. The people inside their old camp had spread out and formed a defensive perimeter, seemingly watching for danger.
A minute later, she grunted when the approaching forces sent riders toward the hills that she’d selected for the marines. Corporal Boske had been right, and now things were getting a lot more dangerous. It looked like a total of three riders were headed toward one of the hills, so she supposed it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.
In fact, the larger force was slowing down and curving off to the left so that it would pass around both hills. That was probably to limit their exposure. It meant that the oncoming forces would circumvent both hills and come on the camp a little bit to the side of their previous path.
Coincidentally, the forces inside the camp had dispatched one of their number to go to the same hill. That was going to put forces from all three groups in the same place at about the same time. It would be interesting to see if everyone could avoid contact with everyone else.
Corporal Boske made an announcement over the general marine frequency. “It looks like we’re about to make contact with the larger group. Everyone on the hills, keep your heads down and avoid being spotted for as long as you can. If we can hold out until the main force rounds the hill and engages the group at the camp, we might be able to keep ourselves hidden.
“Snipers, be ready to cover the colonel. If it looks like she’s in danger of being attacked by the people around her, those two guards behind her are your primary responsibility. If the woman she’s standing next to decides to make a move, I have no doubt the colonel can handle herself. Your job is to make sure that no one sticks a sword through the boss when she’s not looking. Weapons free at your discretion.”
With that, Boske closed the channel and turned to Julia. “This is where we get down to brass tacks, Highness. Once that larger force engages—which I have no doubt at this point that they’re going to do—it’s going to be our job to take them down a notch or two. Once we go rushing into their center, our people on the hills will pin them against the camp. That should leave only one direction for the larger force to escape.
“You’re pretty fast with that Raider armor, so when we start moving, I want you to dash around the hills and be ready on their other flank. It’s going to be your job to plug that last exit point. If they try to run, that’s going to be the direction they go.
“Stun anybody that comes your way, no matter which side they’re supposedly on. Under circumstances like these, it’s best we figure out who’s a friend and who’s not when the shooting is over. Any questions?”
Even though her stomach was roiling, Julia nodded, slapped her helmet into place, and locked it down. “I’m ready.”
And ready or not, she’d be acting in just a few minutes because there was no backing out now. It was showtime.
Jared was considering the impending fight at the crash site when a soft beep through his implants preceded a change on the virtual display. Actually, changed was the wrong word. It had expanded its perspective and now showed him a much larger area, including another set of scarlet dots that were crossing the map.
These were beyond the outer edge of the drone’s range, which momentarily confused him. A closer inspection revealed that it wasn’t the drones at the original campsite at all. These readings were coming from the drones accompanying the second half of the ready response team.
A swarm of additional red dots had entered the map behind the marines, who were sprinting toward Kelsey’s position. He watched as the new arrivals seemingly turned in place and began racing away from the marines, heading directly toward the building where Jared and his people were hiding.
Cursing under his breath, Jared opened a link to Talbot and Roche. “We’ve got trouble. It looks like another force has found our trail and is trying to backtrack us. Based on how fast they’re moving, I think they’re probably on horses, which means that the ready response team isn’t going to be able to help us.”
Even before Talbot responded, Commander Roche raced up to the virtual table and stared down at it, his expression worried. “It looks like this force is almost as large as the one that’s attacking the camp. How do these people have so many troops ready to fight?”
“Whatever the answer is to that, it won’t be good,” Jared assured him.
Talbot came on the channel. “I’m taking a look through the drones now. They’re on horseback, and they look a lot like the other big group. While I’m only guessing, I think that the two sets are probably part of the same organization, based on the style and details of their a
rmor.
“The ready response team can back us up, but they’re going to arrive after these people have a chance to attack. Even moving at full speed, I think it’s going to probably take them twenty or thirty minutes past the arrival of the new people to get back, if we order them to turn around right now. They’re almost directly between the camp and us. Bad luck, that, though if they’d been a little faster, we wouldn’t even have any warning that these guys were coming.”
“Princess Kelsey and the others have half the ready team already,” Roche said. “We should bring the second half back to help us.”
“I think you’re right, Commander,” Talbot said. “If the force they have isn’t enough to stop the group at the camp, then we’re not going to stand a chance if a group of similar size attacks us. We’re short on rifles, even though most of the marines have pistols. We’re also short on ammunition. We could really use the extra support.”
Jared thought furiously, comparing the benefits of sending the marines on to help his sister versus bringing them back to protect the Fleet crewmen, scientists, and other marines.
It wasn’t really a hard choice, though it made his stomach churn a little bit when he realized that there was only one viable option. He was going to have to bring them back because his force wasn’t nearly as able to defend itself as Kelsey’s.
“Have them turn around,” he ordered. “We’ll have to hope that we can take care of our problem before the ready response team arrives, but they should be able to settle things if we haven’t.”
“Order sent. Should I notify Kelsey that her reinforcements aren’t coming? Or should I just tell Corporal Boske and have her keep that information to herself for now?”
That was a no-brainer as well. “She’s focused on the negotiations. She doesn’t need to be distracted by what we’re doing. It’s probably better if she doesn’t know that we’re under attack, so that she can focus on her own issues.
“Tell Boske to make sure that the information gets to her as soon as the fighting there is settled. It shouldn’t take her and her marines long to repulse the initial attack and have some breathing room where she can pass on what’s happening here.”
Jared looked around the basement. There were two stairwells leading up to the main level, such as it was. Other than those and the ramp, there were no other ways in or out of the large basement.
“How are we going to handle this, Talbot?” he asked. “Are we going to keep our people inside the building, or are we going to move them outside and form a perimeter?”
Talbot chuckled darkly. “Kelsey made me watch a bunch of prespaceflight vids that involved mounted forces attacking stationary groups of people. They’ll have a level of mobility that we can’t match. If we put our people outside, they’re going to hit us from every side.
“As things sit, the building is secure. I’ve got marines stationed at ground level, and they can shoot through the windows at the people racing around the building. The only access they’re going to have directly to where we’re hiding is through the ramp. I have marines there to hold the line and keep them out.
“If all the enemy has is primitive weapons, our unpowered armor is probably going to be enough. We’ll likely take some casualties, but we’ll win. If they have any hidden surprises, things could get ugly fast.
“Our best option is to hold them off as best we can until the ready response team gets back. I can handle the tactical details, but you’re going to have to figure out what strategy you’d like me to implement. I’d recommend talking first and shooting second.”
It wasn’t as if Jared had a lot of options to choose from. “Set up the defensive perimeter like you said. I’ll try to talk to them. If they start shooting, we’re going to shoot back. I don’t want to start a fight, but if they do, we’ll end it.”
“No dice,” the marine officer said. “If they shoot the messenger, we can’t afford to lose you, Admiral. I’ll do the talking.”
Jared’s initial impulse was to argue, but he knew that Talbot was right. The marine officer could talk if the strangers were willing to negotiate. If all they wanted to do was fight, Talbot could handle that, too.
He really hoped they could deal with the people coming at them because he didn’t want to distract Kelsey at this critical moment. She had enough on her plate as it was. She didn’t need to be worrying about the rest of them. That, after all, was his job.
Well, if everything went to hell, at least he’d keep these new people from racing in to attack his sister while she was already engaged. Even the marines in powered armor she had with her might not be enough to save her if that happened.
Now he had to hope that he could pull this off without losing any of his people to the Terrans he’d hoped to save.
10
Kelsey stood beside the warrior woman, trying not to let her impatience show. Beauchamp was waiting for word from the scout she’d sent out. As soon as the man arrived on the target hill, he was going to discover that the large force had circled around and was coming in from their left.
The larger force was also sending scouts onto the hills, so it was entirely possible that the man wouldn’t report back at all. She didn’t think the marines who were on the hill would allow that to happen, but it really depended on the situation. They’d keep to their concealment, but if the scout groups came face-to-face, she suspected that they’d stun everybody and wait to sort it out later.
And that was as it should be. The fewer deaths they had in this confrontation, the better the chances she could play friendly with both groups. Just because they were at odds with one another didn’t necessarily mean that her people needed to be taking sides. If that didn’t work out, she still hoped to have enough time to make an informed decision about who her allies would be.
A few minutes later, even as the main group was just about to come into view of the camp, the scout on the hill signaled. He was using a mirror to reflect the sunlight and reporting in via some kind of code.
It wasn’t Morse, but Kelsey thought it was very similar. Maybe some type of encrypted form of code that could pass information in a similar manner. If each set of flashes represented a very limited set of words, then it was likely that they could pass messages quickly.
She vaguely remembered that the wet navies of prespaceflight Terra had done something similar. Ships would use lights to signal one another when radio transmissions wouldn’t be advisable. They had short code groups that could transmit specific meanings from a limited playbook of options. Perhaps that’s what this was.
She recorded everything and would study it when the space and time to do so presented itself. If nothing else, it would give Carl and the scientists something to argue about while they marched.
The larger force was roughly sixty seconds away from being visible at the camp when Beauchamp got confirmation of everything Kelsey had said. She could tell that’s what had happened because the other woman began cursing in a low monotone.
She turned to Kelsey and glared at her as if this was somehow her fault. “It seems that you weren’t lying after all. My scout has confirmed the rough numbers you gave and said that they are coming in from our left.
“As you indicated, they outnumber us three to one. With them this close, it’s unlikely that we’re going to be able to escape an engagement. While our horses are rested, they’re right on top of us.”
The woman smacked a fist against her armored thigh. “Dammit. I’d hoped to avoid meeting them at all. My warriors are good, but they’re not good enough to win a fight at these odds.”
“If I was convinced that we could be allies, I’d be willing to lend you a hand,” Kelsey said quietly. “My people can tilt the balance in your favor. I just need you to be honest with me. Who are you people, and what are you doing here?”
The other woman chuckled sourly. “We don’t exactly have time for that sort of thing, but I’ve already told you my name. We came to salvage what technology we could. We gather what we can
from the ruined megacities, but the residents there always force us back out. We thought we could pick up something useful without having to fight for it this time.
“One of our enemies controls this area. We call them the horde. They’re vehement foes of my people. They blame us for what happened to Terra, and I suppose when it comes right down to it, they’re not exactly wrong.”
Kelsey considered that. “Since we don’t have much time left, what exactly did your people do to piss them off? How could you possibly be responsible for what happened on Terra so long ago?”
The other woman smiled grimly. “My ancestors were part of the general resistance against the System Lords here on Terra. Over the years, decades, and centuries, they increased the level of guerrilla warfare to the point to where the System Lords eventually had enough. They bombarded many of the cities and killed this world in everything except name about a century ago.
“The horde and other groups like them loathe and fear us because they consider us responsible for the deaths of so many people. I don’t believe they cared for the System Lords any more than we did back then, but they chose to live as pampered prisoners rather than fight for their freedom. Now we’re all the same, living in conditions that would have likely horrified our ancestors.”
The woman made a gesture toward the pinnaces and the tents. “Our goals have not changed. We still hope to defeat the AIs, and we had hoped to recover useful military equipment, but that’s not going to happen now.”
Kelsey allowed her smile to widen. “I think that’s something we can work with. At this point, we need to have a chance to sit down and talk this through. That’s not going to happen with the horde trying to kill all of us.”
The woman gave her a grim look. “You need to be warned. The horde has access to advanced weaponry. They won’t tolerate an intrusion by what they consider forces of the AIs. They’ll see you and your people as that, in case I wasn’t clear enough.
