“That was fast,” Colt said.
She held up a hypo-spray. “Somnolene. He’ll be out for at least four hours.”
Colt turned to the others. Gesturing as he spoke, “Juneuil, you take the one on the west end. Buchanan, take the one next to him. Leslie, since you have that hypo, take the one with the heavy blaster. You can get to him in spite of the energy pack he’s wearing. I’ll take the one on the far end. Check your watches. Hit them in one minute from my mark … Mark!”
The four spread out and moved forward quietly through the brush. Colt came up behind the man on the east end just as he turned his head to call down the line, “What’s keeping Mike?” Then he saw Colt. His eyes opened wide and he started to swing his blast rifle around.
Colt brought his blaster into view, pointing it right between the man’s eyes while holding the index finger of his left hand to his lips. He reached out with his left hand to take the blast rifle away. As he was motioning the man to lie down, he heard a grunt from his left. Ensign Leslie had taken care of the heavy fireworks. Then a yelp and the rasp of a blaster broke the quiet. The bolt had been fired skyward, but it was enough to alert the other search teams. They all dove into the deep grass. A moment later he heard Leslie whisper, “We’ve got all these guys secured, sir.”
Colt focused his attention on the carrier. It started turning in their direction, its two forward cannons swinging ominously toward them. “Take out the carrier’s guns,” he shouted to Leslie.
From his left Leslie fired two quick blaster bolts from the heavy blaster. Each one took out a cannon, leaving blackened petals of metal in their place. The carrier slewed around and headed for the other searchers on the ground, the crew doors opening as it set down. The two groups scrambled aboard the carrier, climbing over each other in their panic.
“Sir, they’re getting away!” Buchanan shouted.
“Let them. We can’t stop them without destroying the carrier, and we don’t have the manpower to guard them.” Colt turned to Leslie. “Ensign, hit them with a couple of low charges when they get airborne to let them know how vulnerable they are.”
As the carrier took off Leslie got in two quick shots, the wide-spread charges coruscating harmlessly off the closing crew doors. Then the carrier turned away at high acceleration. When it paused a few kilometers out, Colt said, “One more low charge amidships.”
The charge sparkled across the closed troop doors. The carrier immediately accelerated away, ducking behind a ridge.
As the team trotted back, Colt reviewed the situation. It didn’t look good. Whoever had sabotaged the Clermont had the foresight to send a cleanup team. They would certainly be back with a bigger team to finish the job and soon. The crew and passengers needed to get farther down the mountain and under heavy tree cover quickly. The IR sensors wouldn’t be as effective if the quarry were in the trees.
He spoke into his communicator. “Tony, get everyone on their feet. We need to move out.”
Colt half-slid, half-ran down the side of the gully, coming to a stop at the bottom. Hargety stormed up and planted himself in front of Colt. Hargety angrily demanded, “Sir! What is going on? The Royal Navy is supposed to be supporting peace talks, and you can’t even keep us safe getting to them!”
“Mr. Hargety, unfortunately we don’t have time for discussion right now. Our immediate need is to get off this mountain.”
Leslie walked up. “Sir, the prisoners have been secured.”
Colt turned to her. “Thank you, Ensign. Take another crewmember and bring up the rear. Keep an eye out for any returning air or ground troops.” He raised his voice. “Buchanan, you’ve got point again. Find us a path these civilians can handle and take us down. Saddle up, people.”
“You can at least arm us,” Hargety grumbled.
“No, Mr. Hargety, leave the military functions to the military. Right now we need to move out.”
The group straggled down the gully, grumbling. Where the gully finally broadened out and joined the valley, Buchanan found a well-worn trail. A few minutes later they entered a deep forest. The heavy leaf cover looked to be thick enough to shield them from sensor detection, so Colt called a halt.
“Ladies and Gentlemen, you’re probably wondering why I asked you all together here.” The joke did nothing to lighten the mood. “All right, it appears someone doesn’t want us to reach the conference. If they were one of the two groups onboard, they were willing to sacrifice their own people. So, unless you have a suicidal bent, whether they were yours or not, you can’t be very happy with them. You’ll also notice they came looking for us. I’ll leave it up to your imagination as to whether they planned to take us alive. At the moment we’re out of their reach. The tree canopy will prevent their sensors from detecting us for a while, but I expect them to pursue us on foot as well as maintain an aerial watch. Our best bet is to get off this mountain and to a settlement before they find us. The nearest settlement is Sykesville, but if they really want us, they’ll be waiting for us when we come out of the trees. Birchland is almost as close, but it’s in the trees.”
Hargety interrupted, “Birchland is also over a steep ridge, not down an easy to navigate valley.”
“Interesting that you’d know our position so well, Mr. Hargety. You’re correct. Getting to Birchland will take more effort, but it also will be safer.”
“I’m not about to climb another mountain.”
“You’re certainly welcome to continue down this valley to Sykesville if that’s your desire, Mr. Hargety.”
Several other voices chimed in with comments such as, “I don’t want to climb” and “I’m not wearing the right shoes for it.”
Colt continued, “However, anyone who goes down this valley does so without weapons. It should be safe enough as long as the saboteurs aren’t interested in killing you.”
“Now wait a minute!” someone shouted.
“Look, we don’t know what their purpose was, but I don’t think these guys want us to talk to anyone anytime soon. I believe we stand a reasonable chance if we head to Birchland, but I’m not about to give up weapons to someone who might turn them on us. You have a choice, go with us or go unarmed.”
Interlude
“Mr. Quan is here, Ms. Phillips,” the receptionist announced on the intercom.
“Send him in.”
Quan looked flushed, and he was out of breath. He strode rapidly across the room toward her desk. As soon as the door clicked closed he said, “We may have gotten a reprieve. I just heard that the Invincible was blown up.”
“What?” McKillip surged upward from her chair. “That’s horrible! Do you know how many people were on the Invincible?”
Quan looked unimpressed. “I heard it was over a thousand.”
“More like forty-five hundred! What happened?”
“We’re not sure. Space traffic control said they lost radio contact with it and the shuttle Natchez Belle around eight this morning. When they checked the volume with sensors, there was a cloud of ionized gas and nothing else. The governor general’s yacht has been dispatched to get a closer look.”
“The governor general? I should have been read in.” McKillip sputtered. “After all, I am the defense minister, and that sounds like hostile military action in our space.”
Quan glanced at her display wall. “Are you hooked into the defense net here?”
“No. It’s not officially secure.”
“That might explain it. Check the news stream.”
“ … Once again, we are getting reports that say the HMS Invincible has disappeared from sensor coverage,” the reporter said. “There has been no official confirmation. Stay tuned for more news as it becomes available. Now back to … .”
The local GNN link was just starting on a repeat of the story, but they had no more information than Quan had been able to give. When they switched to a reporter who had dredged up irrelevant facts about the Invincible and her crew, McKillip closed the link. She rose from her chair. “
Looks like I need to get back to the ministry office and find out if anyone actually knows anything.” She looked at Quan. “Did you have anything else?”
“Just that we need to take advantage of this.”
McKillip gave him a hard look and grumbled, “I suppose you’re right. You figure something out while I check in with the ministry.” She walked out of the office, leaving him standing by the desk.
Quan pulled out his communicator and flipped it open. “I need instructions,” he said more to himself than to the communicator.
Chapter 12
The trip off the mountaintop produced a few mishaps. About an hour after they started, Falconetti tripped over a log and went sprawling. He landed badly, breaking his right arm. Colt called a halt from the forced march to give everyone a chance to rest and to take care of the man’s arm. One of the marines used an auto-adjusting splint from the first aid kit to lock the broken bones in place. Falconetti complained vehemently, but they moved on.
The overhead canopy of leaves grew thicker as they descended, cutting out a significant amount of light. Sunset almost caught them by surprise. About the time Colt noticed the light turning orange, Buchanan reported a wide spot in the trail that looked suitable for camping. Civilians and military worked together to set up camp, although not without some conflicts. Several times Colt or Orsini had to step in to prevent a a fight from breaking out.
The conditions were rough and emergency rations weren’t exactly gourmet cooking. However, Colt judged that the heavy tree cover would safely hide a small fire. He hoped the warmth of the fire would sooth brittle nerves. The trip down from the tree line had taken most of the afternoon, and he had faced a steady barrage of complaints. The loyalists wanted to know why the navy had let them down. The separatists wanted to stop and be picked up by what they believed to be other separatists. Even some of the navy crewmembers complained about not being ground troops.
“I don’t know, Gus,” Orsini commented, cradling the mug of coffee to warm his hands. “I can’t shake the feeling that Hargety is trying to stir up trouble with the rest of the diplomats. It’s like he wants to start a fight.”
Colt lunged to his feet. “You may be right, Tony. At least, he’s managed to start a fight.” He nodded toward a group around another fire. Mackiewicz, one of the loyalists had just swung a left hook at Hargety, sending him sprawling. “Sergeant Jiracek!” Colt bellowed, heading for the fight.
Jiracek got to his feet immediately. Bringing two sailors with him, he trotted after Colt toward the battle. Before they could get there, Hargety got up and charged the other man. He came in at chest level, throwing his arms around Mackiewicz and driving him to the ground. One of the loyalists tried to drag Hargety off. A separatist spun him around and hit him in the jaw. Almost immediately several other punches were thrown. The ensuing melee involved almost all of the colonists, before the military arrived to break it up.
Several minutes later while Colt and Orsini pulled the last of the belligerents apart, Colt heard the sound. An armored troop carrier was descending into the woods nearby, coming down and crushing the brush in the last clearing they had passed. The troops would be on them in minutes. “Everyone, take cover. Now!”
He signaled for the crewmembers to spread out. Then he pulled out his blaster and dropped behind a boulder. Listening intently he heard three more troop carriers descending. That meant they would be outnumbered by about eight to one if all the carriers were full. He signaled for some of the crewmembers to cover them from behind and then settled in to watch the trail.
Moments later a single man wearing camouflaged fatigues walked into the clearing. His blast rifle was slung and his pistol was holstered. He stopped with his hands in the open when Colt shouted, “Stop right there!”
“Ah, Commander Colt, it’s good to finally catch up with you. You made surprising progress today ,considering you were herding a bunch of civilians. You’ve been an admirable opponent, but now it’s over. You must realize you’re completely surrounded. It’s time to surrender.”
“No chance!”
“Oh, come now, Commander. Try to fight us and no matter how poorly my troops fight, some of your charges will be casualties.”
“If we don’t fight, all of them will be.”
“To the contrary, if you surrender, your charges will all be taken home, safe and sound. I admit you and your crew will have to be imprisoned, but you’ll be well taken care of.”
“Why should we trust you after you destroyed the Invincible and tried to kill us?”
“Those were both regrettable lapses by my colleagues. They’ll be facing suitable charges when the new government takes office. As to why you should trust me …” A bright, blue-white flash and a clap of thunder signaled a blaster bolt that cut straight down through the trees, striking the ground near the center of the clearing. Bits of burning debris cascaded down through the freshly opened hole in the canopy. “If I had wanted you dead, you’d already be dead.”
Colt stood up and signaled for the rest of the group to get up as well.
“A wise choice, Commander.” A dozen rebels in camouflage stepped out from behind trees on the other side of the clearing, pointing blast rifles at the diplomats and crewmembers. “If you’d be so kind as to deposit your weapons in a pile over here.”
Dubrovich, who had accompanied Hargety, walked into the clearing using the same trail the rebel leader had used. He had a military communicator in his hand. It wasn’t hard for Colt to figure out the fight had been a deliberate effort to distract the navy personnel so Dubrovich could get away from the group and call for reinforcements.
The rebel commander walked to the center of the clearing. “Ladies and gentlemen, give me your attention, please. We have four transports but they are all full of personnel. We’re going to leave one contingent here to watch over the rest of you while we take the others back home. That will take several hours and the crews have already spent a long day, so most of you will have to wait until tomorrow to be picked up. I regret the inconvenience, but you already have the start of a camp set up. If you’ll help my men, you’ll be comfortably set up in no time.
“Mr. Hargety, gather up whoever you want to go with you so we can get you out of here.”
He turned to Colt, “I regret that we will have to restrain you and your crew, Commander, but you understand we can’t afford to take chances with any of you.” One of the rebel troops stepped forward with an efficient looking set of shackles.
###
Darkness had settled in. The light from the campfire barely reached Colt, but he kept checking to be sure the guards couldn’t see him. Both of them were sitting by the fire, absorbed in conversation. The metal stake he was shackled to had cracked the rock it was embedded in. Straining to be quiet, he carefully worked the stake out of the rock. When it jerked free, he grabbed for it in midair, catching it just before it fell to the ground. The dangling cable had made enough noise that some of the nearby crew members glanced at him. He put a finger to his lips and checked the guards. Then he gathered up the cable.
Now came the tricky part. He made his way back into the shadows and over to Orsini who was nearby. Silently they both tried to free Orsini’s shackles, but the stake held. He checked the guards again and worked his way through the crew. With each crewman he was increasingly aware that at any second someone would notice him and alarm the guards. Petty Officer Juneuil was the last. He had to work his way out to her on his stomach. As with the others the stake held. He murmured, “Sorry. I have one more idea.” Keeping his eye on the guards, he worked his way back into the shadows.
He eased himself into a standing position and moved behind them, keeping well back. All the weapons that had been aboard the Clermont had been confiscated and carried out with the first group of passengers, the same with the communicators. The guards were the only ones left with weapons. Before long Colt realized that to get close enough to grab a weapon from either of them, he would have to come out too far
into the firelight. Someone would see him. He swore under his breath.
Frustrated, he knew the best thing he could do under the circumstances was to escape. He began to back away from the fire, feeling for obstacles. For a moment he wished he could get to his shoes, but the guards had them by the fire. Not having shoes worked in his favor. He immediately knew when his foot touched the smooth surface of the trail. Without taking his eyes off the guards he began to inch onto the trail as he continued to back up. In a few seconds he felt leaves on his cheek, and in a few more seconds he had put a bush between him and the campfire. He resisted the urge to turn and run. As he slipped further into the darkness, he raged at having to leave his crew behind. He began planning his strategy to recover them.
Forcing himself to take his time, he slowly moved away from the camp. The shackles on his ankles made it impossible to take long steps, but he continued to put distance between himself and the guards.
As his eyes adapted to the darkness away from the fire, he began looking for a place to get away from the trail. When he came to a gap in the brush on the right side of the trail, he slipped through and began feeling his way through the underbrush. Something furry and cold scurried across his foot. He barely contained a yelp of surprise. Within a few meters he had to stop abruptly at the edge of a cliff. In the darkness he couldn’t make out the bottom, but he could barely make out the branches of a tree several meters below.
He had started inching back toward the trail when he heard a piercing wail that sent icicles down his spine. The name banshee flashed through his mind. The largest predator on the continent was similar in appearance to an earthly cougar but slender and blindingly fast. It was known to hunt after dark, using its night-vision and speed to bring down much larger prey. It was also known for cleaning up its prey, rarely leaving enough blood to show that it had attacked. Its hunting shriek gave it its name. So far there had not been a reliable report of a banshee attacking a human, and remains were found of all the humans who had allegedly been attacked. Still the wail had frightening overtones, and he hesitated for a moment wondering if he should return to the campsite.
Peacemaker: The Corona Rebellion 2564 AD Page 8
