Peacemaker: The Corona Rebellion 2564 AD

by Gordon Savage

  Colt glanced at the battlefield display in his helmet and turned slowly around, scanning the space port with his video camera. Primarily built for private spacecraft, the field had everything from cabin cruisers to yachts and passenger liners, along with small craft hangars, scattered maintenance buildings and warehouses, the tower, and the subspace relay building. As he rotated, men and women in civilian clothes began coming out of the buildings and from behind the scattered spacecraft.

  Colt narrated for his long-range transmitter, “The landing craft is in position, and I’m getting battlefield imagery, but it doesn’t look like we’ll need it. The rebels are coming out of cover with their hands in the air.” At that moment the battlefield image flashed. “Whoa! What was that?” Another flash caused Colt to shout into the loudspeaker, “Hit the deck. Incoming.” He dove for the ground, noticing that the rebels were looking around in confusion.

  Before he could yell at them again, the ground twenty meters in front of him erupted in a shower of flames and asphalt. Several marines were lifted into the air and thrown outward. Colt jumped to his feet and dashed toward the downed marines.

  As he ran, another explosion rocked the tarmac. This one came from the subspace transmitter building. The walls blew out, spraying shattered brickwork, and a rolling cloud of flames and black smoke lifted the roof into the air. It slammed to earth only meters from a private yacht.

  A third, muffled explosion followed, and a dense cloud of smoke billowed up between two rows of buildings. It rapidly spread across the area where the flashes had originated, obscuring the scene in the battlefield image. Suddenly it made sense — a smoke screen. Colt started running toward where he had seen the flashes. “Peacemaker Zero One, max stun on where those flashes came from,” he ordered to the landing craft. Simultaneously, the powerful stun beams sprayed from the landing craft, ionizing the air enough to be visible and saturating the target area.

  “Still some hostiles left,” Colt said into the long-range transmitter. “They’re trying to use a smoke screen to get away.”

  Just as Colt charged into the smoke, a squad of marines fell in with him, weapons ready. Rounding a hangar, one of them yelled, “Down!” Colt was still on his way to the ground when a rocket propelled grenade flashed over him. The explosion erupted with a cloud of flames, dust, and smoke that rained shrapnel and brick fragments.

  Looking up he saw an obscure shape flying through the smoke-filled air coming right at him. He turned to run, but a blow from behind slammed him to the ground, knocking his breath out, and something massive landed on him. His armor and personal shield kept him from being crushed, but the weight was so heavy that even augmented he could barely twist to see the mass of twisted metal lying on top of him.

  He heard a brief exchange of blaster fire. Then a pair of armored boots appeared out of the smoke and dust, “Commander Colt, are you all right?”

  “Yeah, get this damn thing off me.”

  “Hey, guys, over here!” The smoke cleared enough for Colt to see the squad of marines running toward him. With all of them lifting and pushing, the wreckage easily slid off him. He rolled out of the way and looked back where he had been. The marines were lowering what was left of an expensive Bentley Asteroid cruiser to the ground. “Thanks, men. Did we get them?”

  “No, sir. They got away while we were blinded,” Gunnery Sergeant Royer said.

  He held up the mangled remains of Colt’s blast rifle. “I’m afraid this thing is toast. At least you still have your hand gun.”

  Colt checked to confirm that the blaster was still attached to his armor. Then he called the landing craft, “Peacemaker Zero One, do you have our quarry on the heat sensors?”

  “No, sir, the smoke seems to have obscured them.”

  “And you haven’t seen any heat sources leaving the area?”

  Lieutenant Camarotte’s voice broke in addressing the sensor operator on the landing craft, “Girard, reprocess the IR data from right before the smoke screen started. Up the gain to pick up anything out of the ordinary.”

  “Good thinking,” Colt acknowledged over the radio.

  “Sirs, I have six very dim targets entering the next hangar down across from you through the middle door and disappearing from contact.” Girard said.

  “Sergeant Royer, get after them. I’m sending backup to join you, but don’t wait.” Camarotte said.

  “I’m going to tag along to provide video, but this is your mission, Gunny. I'll catch up in just a second,” Colt responded.

  Before following the squad, Colt trotted over to the Bentley. Inside, the cockpit was completely demolished. “Invincible, did you get all that?”

  “You sure know how to make an entertaining video, Gus.” Captain Wessler responded.

  ###

  By then the smoke had dissipated. The hangar across the tarmac had only one personnel entrance, and it was in the middle of the building. Royer hand-signaled to the squad to spread out and surround the building. He and Colt dashed to the hangar and hugged the front wall. Crouching down, they moved toward the personnel door. When they reached it, Royer twisted the handle, yanked the door open, and jumped back.

  Immediately a blaster bolt rasped through the opening, striking the hangar across the way. The blast was powerful enough to take out a large piece of the wall and the front end of the flyer parked inside. “Damn!” Royer hissed. “That was heavy duty.” He keyed the squad frequency, “Delta Squad, the rebels have an anti-spacecraft blaster. Keep out of the open as much as you can.” He returned to Colt, “Even this armor with shields on full can't stand up to that. What are we dealing with here?”

  “I don't know, but these buildings are mostly sheet metal. I think we'd better move.”

  Almost immediately Colt heard another blast, but this time inside the hangar. From the back of the building Corporal McCloud reported over the radio, “The rebels just blew out part of the back wall and are coming out of the building. Hey! They're wearing armor.” A second later he added, “Uh oh, that guy is wearing a power pack and carrying an anti-spacecraft blaster. Pascal, Reubens, on my command shoot with me for the muzzle. Three. Two. One. Fire.”

  Colt and Royer started for the far end of the building. They heard the simultaneous blaster bolts from the other side. Then McCloud reported, “We got the muzzle of the blaster. It won't be of any use. Uh oh, here comes another one!”

  This time there was the sound of a heavy blaster firing. Colt could see the flash and the resulting explosion in the battlefield display. A moment later McCloud announced, “That was too close. Gunny, we need to call in the heavy artillery.”

  Royer halted at the corner of the hangar and signaled for Colt to stay back. He called the landing craft, “Peacemaker Zero One, we need some heat on these guys?”

  “We're moving into position now,” the pilot responded.

  Signaling Colt to wait, Royer checked around the side of the building. Then he dashed across the opening and plunged behind the cover of the next hangar. After rechecking between the buildings, he flagged Colt to come ahead. Colt followed Royer’s lead and dove for cover as soon as he had crossed the gap. A bolt from a hand blaster struck the ground right behind him. Colt jumped to his feet and raced away from the corner of the building. When there was no further blaster fire, he stopped to check the battlefield image. “Corporal McCloud, I'm seeing three bright spots as well as the six dim images in my display. Can you tell what's going on?”

  “I see three people in civilian clothes with their hands on their heads. Could be hostages.”

  “Peacemaker Zero One, did you get that?”

  “Yes, Commander, we'll hold our fire.”

  Even though jogging was faster in the augmented armor than men on foot could run, the potential of hostages held the squad back, pacing the rebels as they ran between the hangar rows.

  As they jogged, Royer called the platoon leader, “Lieutenant Camarotte, can we get somebody on the ground in front of them? Maybe borrow a flyer?�
��

  Colt checked his battlefield image. The rebels had reached the end of the hangars. They paused briefly and then dashed across the open space to a warehouse, dragging the three civilians with them. As soon as they were inside, they vanished from the imagery.

  Colt and Royer rounded the corner of a hangar and the warehouse came into view. They ducked behind a cargo module parked between the hangar and the warehouse. Royer called for the rest of the squad to stop. “Spread out and surround the building. Keep out of sight from the warehouse and keep your eyes open. Watch for snipers in the second story windows. When you’re in position, call in.”

  Crouched behind the cargo module, Colt took in the situation. Royer shook his head, “The more I look at this, the less I like it. I get the feeling it’s an ambush.” He looked at the sky for a moment. On the tactical channel he transmitted, “Lieutenant Camarotte, if the backup has commandeered a civilian flyer, tell them to get on the ground and come on foot. Peacemaker Zero One, be sure your shields are on full.”

  Down on his stomach, Colt crawled to the corner of the cargo module. He stuck the top of his helmet out just far enough for the camera to get a shot of the warehouse. A flicker in the battlefield display caught his eye. At that moment the heat source flared and a blaster bolt ripped through the cargo module – anti-spacecraft blaster. The hole it left was only centimeters above his head. He quickly rolled away from the end of the module. Another blast ripped the bottom of the module where he had been.

  Royer shouted, “Let’s get out of here.” He and Colt dashed for the hangar, keeping the cargo module between them and the warehouse. Another blast ripped through the middle of the module as they turned the corner of the hangar.

  “Commander,” Royer said, “If he wants to, that shooter can take out this whole building us with it.” As if in answer to his statement another blast ripped into the hangar. “That was too close! Keep moving!”

  As he ran, Colt said, “I think that’s what they want. They want to make sure no one is watching what they do next.”

  “But we have battlefield surveillance,” Royer replied.

  “The landing craft can’t see what’s going on inside the building,” Colt responded.

  Another blast ripped through the hangar.

  Royer pulled up. “You’re right, sir.”

  At that moment Corporal McCloud called in, “Gunny, I’m hearing fire from the warehouse. Do you need support?”

  “Someone is shooting at us with an anti-spacecraft blaster from a window on the second floor. See if you can take him down, but don’t become a casualty yourself,” Royer said.

  Colt looked at the battlefield image and turned back toward the warehouse. “The heat source in the window has disappeared,” he said. Being careful to stay behind cover, he ran back to the wreckage of the cargo module and dropped to the ground. As he watched, the delivery door at the end of the warehouse rolled up. As soon as there was enough clearance, a large van pulled out. Colt reached for his blaster, but it was missing. He quickly looked around and saw the blaster lying a few meters away. It had come loose when he rolled out of the way of blaster fire. He started toward it, but Royer reached it first and tossed it to him. By the time Colt got back to the corner of the module and could see what was happening, the van was almost out of range. Royer started to take a shot with his rifle, but Colt touched his arm. “Hostages,” Colt said. He then called Lieutenant Camarotte, “Lieutenant, your display should show a cargo van that just left the warehouse. It may have the rebels aboard. Can you release the landing craft to follow?”

  “Will do, Commander. Peacemaker Zero One, did you copy?”

  “Yes, sir. Do you want us to take it down?” Camarotte said.

  “Don’t fire on it unless in self-defense. There may be hostages aboard. Do you have a tractor beam?” Colt asked.

  “No, sir. Not this model. The Invincible does have a light tug for salvage operations.”

  “See if you can get it,” Colt replied.

  Captain Wessler broke in over the long range radio, “I’ve been following what’s going on. The tug is being scrambled now. It should be down in fifteen minutes.”

  Royer immediately called his squad, “Delta Squad, converge on the warehouse. Don’t let anyone leave until we can confirm they aren’t the rebels. Be alert for heavy weapons.”

  Colt watched the pursuit in his battlefield display. The landing craft had no difficulty keeping up with the van. The speed governor on the van kept it at two hundred kilometers per hour, but it quickly crossed the open space around the spaceport. Once over the city, it headed for the commercial district. Before the tug could reach it, someone aboard the landing craft reported, “Six men in armor just bailed out of the van.”

  The battlefield display in Colt’s helmet switched to live video and showed six armored rebels using personal field drive units to descend to the ground. As soon as they touched down, they ran inside a parking structure and disappeared from view.

  The van continued straight ahead, apparently on autopilot. Colt switched over to the video from the tug as it swooped down on the van and hauled it in. Overpowering the van’s field drive, the tug returned it to the spaceport and held it on the tarmac while a marine squad guardedly approached. There were no hostages.

  Chapter 7

  Governor General Remarque turned out to be a small man. The top of his head barely reached Colt’s chin; still, he dominated the room. “Have a seat, Commander,” he said, shaking Colt’s hand. “I’m sorry you had to wait. The wedding ceremony ran a little long.”

  “That’s all right, sir. It gave me time to get out of my armor and make sure I only had minor dings,” Colt said as he took the indicated chair.

  “I heard you were nearly crushed. I’m glad to see you’re alive. With your help we have the rebels from the spaceport in custody. Unfortunately, they destroyed the subspace relay and all the other subspace transceivers while they held the port. What exactly happened, anyway?”

  Colt described the battle. When he mentioned the RPG that was fired into the Bentley, Remarque asked, “Why the Bentley?”

  “We think they were targeting the transceiver. As you know, sir, the Asteroid is a high end private cruiser — a small yacht really. That particular Asteroid had its own subspace transceiver, and the rebels apparently hadn’t yet destroyed it.”

  “What about the rebels who got away? How did they manage that?”

  “Once the rebels dumped their armor, they just walked away in the crowd on the street, and no one noticed them.”

  “What about those hostages at the spaceport?” Remarque asked. “Were they part of the rebel force?”

  “That’s what we were wondering, sir. They haven’t been able to give us a really satisfactory answer. They claim their supervisors told them it was business as usual. Their supervisors claim they said no such thing. My guess is that the rebels made the calls that got them on the field just so they would have potential hostages.”

  “Any good news?”

  “Yes, sir. We were able to get positive DNA samples from the rebel’s armor. The Admiralty database matched six former military men and women. Their names are in the report on your desk. Interestingly, there is no record of them being on Corona, but I don’t imagine that would be unusual. There’s no reason to keep track of everyone who passes through. However, it does suggest that they’re mercenaries.”

  Remarque nodded. “True, the only people who have to register are the ones who want to become citizens. Mercenaries sounds a little ominous though.”

  “Strangely, none of the rebels we captured seems to know anything about the other six. I’m not sure whether they’re really ignorant or are just doing as they were told.”

  “I suspect it’s irrelevant,” Remarque replied. “We won’t be holding them to interrogate them. They’ll all be sent home — without their weapons, of course — as soon as we’ve identified them and slapped their hands. Of course we’ll keep them on record so they can pay
restitution after this is all over.”

  Remarque changed the subject. “Was anyone hurt during all this?”

  “No one was seriously injured, sir,” Colt answered. “One marine broke an arm and several of the rebels were struck by flying debris, nothing that won’t respond to medical treatment.”

  “Good.” Remarque looked at the report on the wall screen. “One thing I have noticed from all this is that the rebels have pretty well cut us off from the rest of the Republic. They even ripped the transceiver out of my personal yacht.”

  “That seemed to be one of their objectives,” Colt agreed. “I’m sure that if you have anything that needs to go out, the Invincible can relay it. And I imagine we have enough parts to replace the spaceport transceiver or cobble something together to replace it. Let me check on that.”

  “I’d appreciate that,” Remarque said.

  He dropped his gaze from the report and looked at Colt. “So far there’s been very little bloodshed from this rebellion, and I’d like to keep it that way,” Remarque said. “But it’s time to end it. I’ve put out calls to both sides for a truce and a peace conference. I’d like to see a strong navy presence.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Also, I’m formally requesting the navy to provide the transportation to pick up the various leaders from all parties. I want to let everyone know we’re serious about stopping this useless rebellion, and having the navy on hand to keep the peace should show that.”

  “That sounds like our job all right,” Colt agreed.

  “Good. Mr. Wallace, my executive secretary,” he indicated the pale man standing beside the desk, “will provide you with the names and locations of the leaders who need to be picked up.”

  Colt nodded, “We met over the comm circuit when the Invincible first called down.”

  “Good, as soon as we have the details worked out for the conference, we’ll send them to you. In the meantime, First Landing has been secured. If your men and women need shore leave, they’re welcome to come down.”

  “Thank you, sir.” Colt stood and followed Wallace to the outer office.