Merker's Outpost

by I. Christie

  If he's faking it, he isn't now.

  Cautiously peering around a corner of stacked boxes marked rations, she found another soldier slumped atop a crate with his jacket rolled up as a pillow. It was a Malu. They were not always what they appeared to be, asleep or inattentive. They had eyes in the back of their heads, was the rumor. The crate he was on was marked with the symbol for cannon.

  So, they have left some weapons here. If I use the stunner, everyone will hear it. Stealth and nondetection is the plan.

  Harriet went back around the crate to locate more soldiers. A six-armed drago was snoozing with his six arms draped around him. He was snuggled between crates. With a quick hand, she lightly tapped a patch to his forehead. As Harriet made her way to the next guard, the sound of movement caused her to spin around, dropping to her knees with her stunner pulled. Captain Zohra had her hands held up showing she held no weapon. Harriet figured she did not need one in close quarters work. Carol was pulling herself out of the service tunnel. Harriet signaled where the cannon was and signed the species of the soldier that was on top of it. Captain Zohra grinned and nodded she understood, and then disappeared around the crate. Carol and she finished off the other two then came back to where Captain Zohra was leaning far into the crate inspecting the contents. The figure that had been resting on top of the crate was laying unconscious on the deck with four patches on him; two on the back of his hands one on his nose and one on his pointed chin. Harriet filed that away for future use.

  "Bloody moon!" a muffled voice cursed.

  "What's wrong?"

  "This one has a motion device on it. It's also armed with a timer set for 0400 tomorrow. If they forget to send someone down here to reset the timer, everyone in here is a gonner." She straightened up and continued to look around inside and outside the crate, probably for any traps. "We'll need to take it with us and move it topside so I can set it off…a day early." She sniffed the insides of the crate. "Smells like they got the big bang in here too." She found where they placed the explosive, Tricom. Small packages were stuffed in the cannon's barrel along with material to keep the dampness out. Since it would not add one iota to the explosion without the small powder that turns Tricom into the fireball it can become, Zohra guessed the intention was to hide it. But from whom? Them? Well, the lack of powder indicated they were not intending for it to go off at 0400 - unless some one was planning on sneaking down here to add the powder. But she knew why they were here and 0400 tomorrow was premature for the battle to begin. She imagined Alan still had more troops to deploy. So far, she and Carol had kidnapped twelve and dumped them into sleep chambers that had no life support system in the locked room, so even if they escaped the sleep pods, they would have to have breathable air long enough to find a way out of the locked storage room.

  The three women began to carefully lift the cannon out of its box.

  "This thing can be heavy," Captain Zohra whispered between tight jaws, as three of them struggled to lift the cannon out of the crate and put it on the ground. Harriet quickly closed the crate and Zohra and Carol lifted the sleeping form back onto the lid.

  Maud appeared on the other side of the service panel that slid open. "The tunnel is still clear," she reported, "but I hear activity on 5th level south elevator."

  Captain Zohra nodded, "The busiest elevator. It's close to crews quarters. Sounds like the metrasoldiers have something planned for that area. They could either be blowing it or taking it over for themselves until Alan gets here. We'll need to do a recon in the area."

  "While you're moving the cannon, I want to look for the moBots and disable them...or as many as I can," Harriet informed the others.

  "I will assist my Mistress."

  Captain Zohra nodded. "Good." Keep her out of trouble. "That malu, remove the tabs from the back of his hands last. Okay, let's get this over to the tunnel. You have a bot, Maud? Right."

  Grunting from the strain, they all lowered the cannon into the tunnel onto the bot.

  "When you're finished here…return to base," Captain Zohra directed before she stepped into the service tunnel.

  "Aie, aye, Captain," Harriet returned automatically, her attention on the multitude of boxes and crates that she would be going through.

  Captain Zohra turned for a brief moment to stare at the empty space that Lady Harriet had moments before filled, and then hurried after Maud and her bot as they moved around a corner. Irritated with herself but not knowing why, she refused to think any further about the unfamiliar feeling Harriet's reply gave her.

  ***

  **

  Harriet moved to the first crate, deciding to tackle the largest first. A quick inventory of the contents, recording it verbally and with helmet camera was made and then Harriet moved on to the next, hoping they could get most of the place inventoried before the next shift of guards arrived.

  "Ah, here we go," Harriet whispered as the second crate had what she was looking for. She popped off the cover of the control panel of the moBot and removed its most vulnerable part, showing Carol what needed to be done to damage the pad so it was useless without major service and replacement. She was gambling that Alan did not have a fully serviced repair shop on any of his ships, or many spare parts. To be sure, she made sure other parts of the bot were damaged.

  In one stan hour, they found twenty-seven moBots, and other equipment that would be a good idea to leave useless. Harriet was determined to decommission as much of the weapons as possible, but more importantly, the moBots.

  "Lt. Montran. You have some rapidly moving metrasoldiers heading your way. You have seven minutes to get out of there," Captain Zohra reported to her. "We can't back you up right now."

  "Bloody moon," Harriet hissed in her helmet. "Get the patches off those soldiers." Harriet waved to one side of the room while she headed for the other.

  Harriet was withdrawing her hand from a third sleeping guard's neck when the seal on the door startled her and the guard. Fortunately, the guard fell off the crate on the opposite side before he had seen her. Carol was crouched behind a crate within view of Harriet and she pointed at the service panel. Harriet cursed silently to herself, for it was still open. Harriet motioned Carol over to it then she also moved in that direction hoping the guards did not move from their own positions or they would be seen. The two guards remained out of sight as their visitors entered, treading with heavy boots falls that indicated they were wearing AEGs. Both women exited safely.

  "I removed three, did you get to all of yours?"

  "Yes, mistress."

  Harriet carefully reset the T & Ts they had moved earlier outside of the panel, and then followed Carol down the service tunnel. Carol took an unexpected turn at the second branch.

  Where is she going?

  The service panel door came open in front of Harriet and a concussion bomb dropped in. Without thinking, Harriet made a dive to catch it and toss it through the door that was closing. Rising quickly to her feet, she picked up the sounds of small arms fire around another bend.

  Carol!

  Harriet paused before bursting around the corner, knowing it was a perfect place for an ambush. Her red alarms were going off and she could feel chills rise along her arms. This was about the worst her alarms could get letting her know her life was in peril. The attack from behind was quick and not what she expected. She felt her body go limp, as she lost feeling, and then hands grabbed her and pinned her down, while another administered a drug that dropped a black curtain over her.

  Chapter 15

  Captain Zohra and Maud were lying on their stomachs in the topside dust, undetected to any scanners, as she and Carol had earlier proved, though Maud's two years of nondetection by the Black Rose was proof enough. They watched as Alan's soldiers slowly moved in the heavy atmosphere, forming up into nice tight little formations. If Zohra had a gun, she would have mowed them down.

  Zohra mentally laughed at the stupidity of the commander of these troops. He obviously did not think they woul
d be attacked on the planet's surface. In this case, they would not be because she did not want to take the time to oversee that many bodies to be dragged to a containment center. Besides, it would be fun to play with them for a while…and it would be worthwhile to see just what they were up to. The more they could learn about Alan's plans the better. Once captured, the soldiers were programmed to take their own lives and as many people around them, so it was easier to let some situations develop for a while. Alan's obsession with loyalty was leaving him with few willing to work for him that were not metrapeople. Again she wondered why the consortium had allowed his madness to escalate this far without arresting him. Lord Chaney had no pull with the consortium, or so she had thought.

  It was not until the general moved off the shuttle, that the signal was given for the troops to move into the city. Zohra chuckled to herself. As tough as they believed themselves to be, they were feeling the effects of the planets atmosphere and were not moving as snappy as she remembered them doing at Lord Chaney's training compound. Even their general was lagging. She was hoping one of them would fall, just to see what the reactions would be. It helps to know what frame of mind they were in.

  "Now, if they were my troops, I would have them out in this atmosphere working on maneuvers until they moved like they meant business," she muttered. "Guardian, are you monitoring their communication?"

  "Yes, but they are using a code. I am breaking it now."

  "Good. Give us a translation as soon as you can," Zohra gave Maud a signal that they could follow now. With Guardian's wonder wear, as she called it, Zohra was fast learning how Maud was able to avoid being spotted by the Black Rose patrols and covering any tracks, she may cause. The darker redish brown ground left no tracks and that was just as prevalent as the soft red.

  Bloody moon. They're gonna to be heading to the morgue.

  "Lt. Montran. You have some rapidly moving metrasoldiers heading your way. You have seven minutes to get out of there," Captain Zohra whispered to her. "We can't back you up right now."

  She wanted to remove leaders of Alan's group to see what would happen. They crawled to an emergency maintenance entrance nearby and reentered the city.

  "Which floor?" Zohra asked as she stamped her feet to remove any dust that may give her presence away. Small tubes from the walls of the elevator appeared, sucking the dust off their suits.

  "Seventh. Stop," Maud ordered the small elevator. They both crawled through the opening at the top of the elevator ceiling, squeezing into the bot space between the two levels. From there Maud took her to a larger maintenance area. From a storage space, she pulled out a net. "I've been saving this. Guardian has neuro stunners within the strands. It may or may not work on the metrasoldiers. We haven't had a chance to test it. But," she removed two blow tubes. "We have these. They are from their planet. This morning I lifted them from their supplies." Maud handed one to Zohra and carefully handed her one dart case. "Guardian tested them. They are not meant to kill. It knocks out their prey."

  "I would never have thought they did anything short of killing," Zohra reported cynically.

  "They must have plans to use them or they would not have brought them. We must limit their killing. It will change the energy on this planet and Guardian has been working very hard to a make it free of that type of energy," Maud reminded her.

  "The only reason he may be able to keep it that way is because there isn't any living creature we know of that wants to colonize this place," Zohra returned tersely.

  "Well, then you should be relieved because once this situation is taken care of, you won't find yourself being reassigned a post here to keep off trespassers," Maud told her with a grin.

  "Goddess. Bite your tongue. Two years is long enough…though, the Lair's quarters aren't so bad…and not having to put up with Guardian's nasty surprises…" Zohra gave an aggravated sigh, "Come on, lets go spring a trap."

  ***

  Maud and Zohra waited on the seventh floor for the general and his entourage of lesser officers to finish their inspection of soldiers that were not busy with Alan's business. In their visors they watched the general check the troops that stood ramrod straight in front of their new quarters. Obviously, they were planning on staying a while.

  Not going to be a long stay, fellas. We're not even going to let you unpack.

  Finally, he dismissed the group and headed towards the elevator that would take him and four other officers to the command center where others were waiting for him.

  "This is it," Zohra whispered.

  They could both hear the elevator activated. They watched in their visors the progress of the general. The elevator passed the floor intended and since the elevator did not register floors on a panel, the occupants had to believe that the voice command was being obeyed. When the doors opened, the general and his four officers stepped out automatically, not noticing where they were since all the floors intentionally looked the same. The ceiling opened with the metrasoldiers reacting quickly to the sounds above them; however the net shot down, out and over them, holding them secure as it tranquilized them into unconsciousness. Bots rolled out from their storage areas and assisted in dragging the men back into the elevator to be taken to their special holding cells. They would be held in stasis chambers until Guardian's allies arrived to safely remove their chips and then send them back to their own planet, hopefully believing they woke up from a nightmare.

  Zohra studied the chamber and area to make sure it was as secured as Guardian assured her. Her tests against the failsafe were showing it was a standalone security system and would give an alarm if those in the chambers were in danger or going to be released.

  "Captain!" Guardian's voice startled her. "Carol and Lt. Montran are in trouble. They have been taken hostage!"

  "Bloody moon!" It's been too easy. It was bound to happen. "Let's have the picture!" she directed crisply.

  Maud and Zohra leaned over the desk monitor in the small security room near the stasis chambers, watching as both women were being dragged off in different directions by soldiers in different uniforms.

  "Damn! Alan's group has Carol and Chaney's troops have Lady Montran. We can't let them leave this outpost. Guardian, locate both their ships."

  "I can prevent the shuttle from landing or intervene if they should try to transport down," Guardian offered.

  "Good. Do it. Whichever one goes topside is priority."

  For the next few minutes it was tense as Chaney's soldiers dragged Lt. Montran to their part of the city and Alan's soldiers dragged Carol to the command center and stood around waiting, probably for the general and his advisors.

  Pictures appeared showing Lady Montran's interrogation. Zohra's eyes hardened and Maud cursed when Lt. Montran's hand was broken. Her interrogator did not waste time smacking her around. After twenty minutes of silently watching as the interrogation moved to beatings Zohra broke the silence.

  "Where's Carol?"

  "Topside." Guardian replied and a picture appeared. Alan's soldiers and Carol stood outside as one of them was communicating with his boss. Zohra noted the neurolock around her throat. The good part was she was wearing Guardian's suit. Normally the spoils of the victor was removing the hostage's valuables and keeping them. But, these were metrasoldiers. Would they remove whatever they thought valuable without asking Alan?

  "Their ship is on the other side of the planet. They are speaking directly with Alan," Guardian supplied.

  "Let's hear what they're chatting about," Zohra ordered.

  "…General Lare or his staff."

  "Who has Montran!"

  "Lady Chaney's security. They wish to trade her for our prisoner.""

  "Montran is to be turned over with no marks on her! Do you hear me? Only on that condition...unmarked and alive! She must be fully awake and coherent when you exchange her. If she is ruined in any way, fry the metrabitch and Chaney's soldiers! You hear me?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "Well, do it! Out!"

 
The soldier nodded to the others and they reentered the city. They met another small group of Alan's soldiers, waiting in Com-C of the city. The soldier was not wearing command bars or anything indicating his rank, but by the way he handled himself, Zohra knew he was an officer. He contacted Chaney's guards and the negotiations began.

  "He's stalling for time," Zohra muttered.

  Maud agreed. "Chaney's guards want information from Montran but, by the looks of it, they aren't going to get it. For her sake, I hope they realize it's a waste of time."

  "That guy that's doing it, likes what he's doing too much. His nick name is Painmaker," Zohra explained grimly. "He'll keep her until the last minute. With the medibot, they can break every bone in her body and still be able to repair her in time to hand her over to Alan's deadheads."