Cartwright's Cavaliers (The Revelations Cycle Book 1)
Page 25
“You got it, boss.” Hargrave turned away from the cold air to begin organizing their departure.
“And you aren’t staying?” Jim asked Splunk.
“No, go…
“Okay,” he said and reached in to scratch her ears. “We’re going to the stars soon.”
“Like, stars…
“Me too,” Jim agreed. The transport was now a tiny point of brilliant light as its fusion-powered engines worked to thrust it into orbit. Soon it was lost to him. He turned and went inside.
* * * * *
Chapter 25
“Combat configuration, Miss Paka!”
“Aye-aye, Ma’am!” Paka activated the intership public address system. “General quarters, set Condition One, I repeat, set Condition One. Transition to the Morphut system in twenty-nine seconds.” Paka, the Executive Officer of EMS Pegasus, watched her boss closely for signs of what other orders might be coming. Being a high-ranking officer aboard the most powerful warship in the human merc companies was challenge enough, but being an alien made it even more so. Still, she considered herself both lucky and among the elite. Her ship’s Situation Controller, or SitCon, waggled its tentacles at her, confirming the order complete. “Condition set,” she told the Commander.
“Very good,” Alexis Cromwell said and settled back slightly in her chair as the clock reached fifteen and continued counting down.
“Any reason for the extra concern?” Paka asked. She adjusted the goggles over her emerald green eyes. The light was too bright, but it almost always was for a Veetanho.
“Nothing really,” Cromwell said, her eyes narrow with concentration on the ship’s status board as the count passed five, “and everything.”
“Transition in three,” the engineer spoke over the 1MC, or ship wide intercom, “two...one...” There was a jolt, and Pegasus was again in regular space.
“We have potential bogeys,” the sensor tech yelled almost immediately.
“Launch ready-alert drones,” Paka ordered, “shields up!”
“Bring us about and away from the transition point,” Cromwell ordered as the alert claxon began to chime repeatedly. “Azimuth 125 relative, attitude 0! Make our acceleration five gravities.”
The alarm for combat maneuver and high G acceleration sounded as Pegasus spun and began to burn her engines, hard. A squadron of four interceptor drones and their controller flashed from one of her three landing bays and immediately took up protective covering positions around their mothership. Despite the size and power of Pegasus, she was vulnerable to enemy drones, especially at the relatively slow delta-v the ship retained when making most transitions.
“Give me situational scans,” Cromwell ordered. “What’s going on?”
“Multiple contacts,” sensors replied, “none of them are under power. I have sporadic energy signatures. If I had to, I’d say we’re looking at the remains of a fight.”
As Pegasus accelerated to get maneuvering room, her shields intermittently flashed as the ship collided with debris. Most were small, the size of a bolt or a coffee cup, but others closer to that of an entire drone. The shields would flash crimson, and a tiny shudder pass through the ship’s hull at those impacts.
“Do we have any active threats?” Paka demanded.
“I’m not getting any attempted target locks,” the sensor tech finally relented.
“Whatever happened here, we missed it,” Paka told her commander. Cromwell looked around the bridge at the eyes of various races regarding her. They all had the same unspoken question in them. How the hell had she known?
“What about planetside?” the commander asked. “Is the Wathayat installation on Crig answering hails?”
“Nothing,” Commo confirmed.
“Keep up the attempt. Navigation, set a high G course to Crig. I want a solution that lets us bypass and run for the stargate.”
“High gravity course to Crig, aye; solution to include option to bypass and run, aye.”
“Send the alert drones ahead to the planet to scout. Orders are to only fire if fired upon.” Paka acknowledged the orders. “I’ll be in my wardroom,” she said as the acceleration fell off, the ship changing orientation to follow the new course. “Let me know the minute there is any response from Crig – or any information at all about the situation down there.”
Three hours later Paka knocked once and entered, as was the standing order for any senior staff. Alexis Cromwell was strapped into the chair behind her ornate and very out-of-place-looking desk, hands on the greenish wood, staring vacantly off into space. Anyone who saw the commander for the first time in one of these states would have thought she was having a seizure. She shook occasionally, her eyes open and staring, and her mouth moved but no sounds came out.
The door behind Paka slid closed with a “snikt” sound, and he stood waiting. He hoped it wouldn’t be long; there were only five minutes before they needed to resume acceleration or begin braking, but after a couple of moments Cromwell shook hard once and pulled her hands away from her desk. She smoothed her hair and blinked several times.
“What do you have, Miss Paka?” she asked.
“The drones reached Crig, ma’am.”
“No base?”
“Correct,” she said. “There are numerous bombed-out locations; Tactical believes based on the residual radiation that the weapons yields are likely nuclear in origin. No radio communications established. We can only assume no survivors.”
“Understood. Orders are to continue the run for the stargate. The contract is terminated. Send message drones ahead. One to the Mercenary Guild informing them of the status here, and one to the nearest Wathayat-held system with the same information.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Paka said and turned to go. Then curiosity got the better of her, and she looked back. “Ma’am, may I ask what you think is happening?”
“A sign, I fear,” she said, shaking her head. “A sign of what is ahead.”
* * * * *
Chapter 26
The ice-cold Coca Cola was just as good as the first time he’d tasted it, over half a year ago. They were sitting at the same table where he and Hargrave had sat then, meeting with Eugene Treadwell for the contract they’d just completed. His second-in-command raised his glass of wine in salute. Jim smiled at Hargrave and returned the salute with his cola.
Karma was on the route back to Earth, so Jim decided they would stop along the way. Besides being a center of merc activity, home to a dozen notorious pits, it was also a great place to purchase munitions and supplies. Traveler had suffered minor damage in her battles, so Captain Winslow was taking the opportunity to perform repairs and refill his missile magazines.
“I am pleased to see you return, Jim Cartwright.”
“I am glad to return, Peepo,” Jim said as the owner of the merc pit approached.
“News of your success, and the return of Cartwright’s Cavaliers has spread all over Bartertown. Likely throughout the Union. Those raiders were well known. You have done their many victims a great service.”
“And we were well paid for it,” Hargrave joked.
“As you should have been,” Peepo agreed. Jim grinned. The job had put 11.5 million into the Cavaliers’ coffers. Already, back on Earth, the logistics teams were busy activating another company of troopers, preparing two more dropships for operation, and more APCs. He hadn’t taken a single credit for himself; it all went to paying shares to the company members and activating new forces.
Hargrave left to use the bathroom, leaving Peepo and Jim alone. A moment later they got another visitor.
“Tasteful, meat...
had no idea where she’d gotten it, but he suspected that, somewhere in Peepo’s Pit, a patron was looking at his empty dinner plate in confusion. The little Fae used her razor-sharp teeth to excise a chunk and chewed happily. As he watched his friend eat, Jim became aware Peepo was staring at her.
Peepo slowly reached up and lifted her goggles, revealing the Veetanho’s reddish eyes. She examined the Fae, leaning even closer.
“Jim Cartwright,” she said. “What is it you have here?”
“Her name is Splunk.” Peepo gave the Fae a serious examination.
“Splunk, is it?” she asked.
“Splunk, yes...
“It is intelligent?”
“Sure is,” Jim confirmed.
Once they made orbit around Karma, Jim had accessed the Galnet and did a search on Splunk and the Fae. In all the thousands of species and races listed, the Fae weren’t shown.
“It is an interesting creature. Will you sell it?”
“No,” he said without even thinking about it. Splunk glanced up at him as she continued to tear pieces out of the steak.
“I have a friend who studies new sentient species. They will take excellent care of her, and will give you a million credits.” Jim blinked in amazement.
“She’s my friend,” he said with finality.
“I understand,” Peepo said. “Well, good luck on your next contract,” she added, and just like that, she was gone.
“What the fuck was that all about?” Jim wondered as he took a sip of his Coke.
“She, knows...
“Knows what?” Jim asked. Splunk finished her steak and began licking her dexterous fingers clean. She apparently didn’t have anything more to say.
“Where’d Peepo go?” Hargrave asked as he walked up. He’d gotten a sandwich from one of the autocookers on his way back from the bathroom. Splunk immediately took notice. “You keep your thieving hands off my dinner,” he told the Fae.
Jim opened his mouth to tell Hargrave about the exchange, then closed his mouth when he thought better of it.
“She had other things to do,” he said. “So, let’s look for another contract.” In the end, Splunk got the better part of Hargrave’s sandwich.
* * * * *
Chapter 27
A year had passed, as well as three contracts. Jim had managed to lose one CASPer per contract, despite his best efforts and nearly constant training. The first was on a recon contract supporting a heavy assault. His suit was hit by an EMP that knocked out all its electronics. The second contract, he was disabled by multiple hits of medium-powered lasers. None of them penetrated to injure him, but the damage eventually rendered the suit combat-ineffective. The last contract was on the world of Topsol, their first assault mission. They were tasked by the Otoo to retake a petrochemical refining installation from an elite Jivool merc unit.
The attack was Jim’s first HALD, high-altitude, low-deploy, jump in a CASPer. He drilled in the simulators all the way to Topsol to be ready for it. Despite all the training, he ended up nearly having to order Hargrave to allow him to lead the assault
“You only land successfully about half the time,” his mentor reminded him.
“It’s a hot drop; we’ll need every suit on the ground. With only two full companies in the drop, it’s sketchy at best.” Jim argued his point strenuously.
“Exactly, I don’t have the manpower to babysit you.”
“Then don’t,” Jim finally snapped. “Damn it, am I the company commander or a mascot?” Hargrave had jerked in response to that as the accusation hit home. Jim regretted it right away, and Splunk had looked up from where she’d been trying to subvert the lockout on the meat locker in the Commander’s Mess aboard Traveler. The Fae looked between them curiously.
“Okay Jim,” Hargrave finally agreed. “But damn it, be careful.”
The HALD was the second most frightening event in his life, right behind the protracted tank battle on Kash-Kah. He and the rest of his First Platoon were dropped from Phoenix 1 at just under one hundred miles above the surface as the dropship executed a steep, powered climb, effectively firing them at the planet below. Topsol was rated Human Nominal with a thicker-than-normal atmosphere, so his CASPer was fitted with a faring to shed heat. The ten CASPers burned in, accompanied by twenty decoys – nothing more than thin ceramic alloy weighted shells that provided extra targets for ground defense.
He rode down in the preprogrammed part of the drop in a constant state of terror. Just like all the previous regular deployments, Splunk was nestled in the suit with him. When they’d first buckled him into a suit for a contract after Kash-Kah, Splunk had snuck into the suit. After that, he stopped trying to keep her out. On the drop to Topsol, Splunk climbed up from the more spacious thigh area shortly after they were ejected from the dropship. She seemed to sense his fear, and nestled against his chest. He felt her there, nuzzling his flabby belly and trilling. In moments, he’d calmed down. He was still terrified, but the fear wasn’t threatening to overwhelm him.
At the preprogrammed altitude, the faring was blown away by explosive bolts and he had control of the suit for the last ten miles. It was done at that altitude to ensure the troopers didn’t deploy weapons too soon in violation of Union law. The night sky was alive with lasers crisscrossing the sky trying to take out the attacking Cavaliers. With the discarded four sections of each trooper’s faring added to the dozens of decoys, the entire platoon came through without a scratch.
The ground rushed up, and Jim used the jumpjets as judiciously as he could. To his joy, he set the suit down with the perfect amount of remaining velocity, the knees bending to absorb the impact.
“I did it!” he crowed in the cockpit.
“We, land...
“Yep,” Jim said as he activated the suit’s normal ground operations programming, and they began to regroup.
As the mission progressed, he started to hope he’d make it through the attack without a scratch. His platoon assaulted their assigned avenue of attack, breaching the Jivool defense perimeter. The ursoid race used exoskeleton suits with strategic armored plates in combat and preferred to close to point-blank range and brawl. Unfortunately for them, that tactic didn’t work with the well-armed human CASPers. They were absorbing horrendous casualties as they charged the Cavaliers repeatedly. Jim was about to try and reach their command circuit and ask the defenders to surrender when one dropped onto his suit from an overhead gantry.
He spun, trying to dislodge the bear as it clawed at his suit. He got ahold of its arm and yanked, sending it crashing into a building in a shower of masonry. Unfortunately, it had managed to grab the suit’s control pack, and it shredded the armor with its steel-reinforced claws, tearing loose the module and taking it with the Jivool as it went airborne. His controls shorted out in a shower of sparks, and he crashed down on his face.
“Oh no,” he moaned and desperately tried to regain power, “not again!” The suit’s nominal AI wasn’t responding through manual input or through his pinplants. The damned Jivool had ripped out the suit’s main computer, and likely damaged the backup as well.
“No, fight...?
“I know, I’m upset,” Jim said and tried using hand sequences to activate the emergency backup power. Nothing. “We’re dead in the water.” Splunk wasn’t just trying to get out from under Jim, she was working around behind him. Then he heard and felt the interior access panel to the electronics pack open. “What are you doing?” he asked her. Only a chirping trill of contented Fae came back. “Splunk, this isn’t the time to mess around!”
There was a snap and he smelled ozone. He was about to yell when the lights came on again, and amazingly, he had control! The AI wasn’t there, but haptic feedback systems were working. He put a left arm under him and leveraged upwards. The cameras were alive too, enabling him to see that the Jivool was still alive – and pointing a weapon at him
. Jim squeezed his left thumb and pinky together and prayed. The back mounted laser snapped up and fired, nearly cutting the enemy in half. Surprised he was still alive, Jim got the suit to its feet.
“Better, Jim...
“It sure is,” he agreed. “How did you know what to do?” But Splunk wasn’t interested in talking anymore; she was back in the roomier thigh area and nestled in.
After the assault was over and Jim was out of his suit, he met with his platoon leaders to discuss the mission debrief, then returned to the landing zone where Adayn was tending to his suit. She looked both annoyed and confused.
“Sorry about the suit,” he said as he approached. Splunk was with her, perched on the suit’s shoulder and eating, as usual.
“What did you do to it?” Adayn asked.
“Jivool ripped the brains out.”
“Yeah,” she said, “I noticed that. I mean how’d you do this?”
“What?” he asked and climbed the gantry. Behind the suit he could see that not only was the suit’s computer control module damaged, it was completely gone. There were a few computer memory and program chips that were mounted in a secondary box, usually used to control the software on the HALD. They’d been removed and patched together where the computers used to be. “Huh?”
“Yeah, exactly,” Adayn said and looked at him through slitted eyes. “You cobbled this together in the middle of an assault?”
“No,” Jim admitted. “I didn’t. She did.” He hooked a thumb toward Splunk who was happily enjoying the meal she’d recently purloined.
Word quickly spread of the incident with Splunk even while Jim met with the Otoo to settle the contract. Hargrave was already there, and Jim didn’t like the way things looked. His friend and mentor looked pissed.
“What’s the score?” Jim asked.
“Cracked Crab there can’t pay us.”
“What?”
“Yeah, they admitted they didn’t expect us to be quite this successful.” The contract was for twenty-three million credits, contingent on 100% successful taking of the installation. There were extensive lists of damages that could be caused by the assault and deductions from the contract payment based on those damages. It was the reason they’d elected for a HALD assault, effectively dropping right into the Jivool’s midst. The plan had worked so well that none of the listed facilities were damaged, leaving the Otoo owing the entire fee.