Uncle nodded in agreement. 'Quite simple really, commander. On occasion it is time for a cleanout of the rot. This is just the trigger point that identifies those amongst us who are not really team players. Those that are out for their own gain at the cost of others.'
Michelle touched his elbow. 'And you are here, Bob, because you are one of the good guys. The Games Board and the public like and admire you.' She pointed to the other two, and then herself. 'Whereas we are not so. We are the cleaners and we do the tasks that must be done to protect everyone, including you as the commander of Haast.'
A tiny chill ran down his spine and he found his mouth dry as he realised that even if he was one of the good guys, his own people would destroy him in a heartbeat if it was necessary for their cause.
'So, you all have my back, huh? OK, let's go see the brigadier and Mr Suzuki.'
Uncle looked the commander in the eyes and sent him a laser message. 'You and I have been through an awful lot of shit, boss, from me as a ragged-arse corporal when you were a green-tinged second lieutenant until now. Don't worry about the countess and big bird here. I really do have your back.'
Bob allowed himself a little smile, knowing full well that the cyborg would tell him - then give him a few extra seconds to make his peace -if he was about to let him die.
Haast spoke up. 'Your camouflage systems are not required here in the boarding bridge. Rose Foxtrot is aware of all of us and I cannot detect any recording or watching devices from our ship or the Games Board.'
They entered and cycled through the airlock to be met by Daisuke Suzuki and Wardah, wearing ship suits, and accompanied by a magnificent giant otter ACE. Daisuke introduced everyone and, lastly, the two ACEs, who as soon as the standard humans had started to walk towards the transport capsule started a high speed conversation.
'Nice to see you again, Haast. Rose is most interested to see what you saw of the alien predator on Storfisk. She has seen the files you sent me, but wishes to experience the evidence of your senses, especially the smell of the creature.'
The eagle looked across at the silver-furred otter. 'And indeed it is good to see you again, Madeye. As the others converse, I shall link into Rose. I don't think that Commander Thompson is too happy about these events and that he is just now learning what this is about.'
Madeye gave her old friend a very human shrug as they moved into the capsule with the others. 'Well, he is probably going to be even less impressed when he learns about our little game, eh!'
The doors closed as the seats enfolded their charges, including the otter and the eagle, and the capsule accelerated to high speed, going straight across the Hauler. Minutes later it decelerated hard and the doors opened on a stark utilitarian domed room with the brigadier and his small party entering from the opposite side.
The otter and the eagle looked at the dragon and moved across the floor to introduce themselves.
'I see you, Tengu,' Haast said. 'Your name, please, and may I inquire what generation you are? Please forgive me, but your type is spoken about quietly, although rarely met in the flesh as it were.'
The quiet, refined voice of the Tengu answered, with a small nod of his armoured head. 'And I see you, Haast and Madeye. 'It is my pleasure to meet you both. I am Andreas, commander of the Q3.'
Madeye whistled. 'Shit! They are not pissing about, are they! The latest version. I shall serve with you with honour.'
Haast smiled and nodded his head, then said to Madeye, 'Where can we all link to Rose?'
She pointed as a piece of the wall folded out for them to jack their datalinks into the Hauler.
Roger Mortlock looked up at Uncle and solemnly shook him by the hand, double-grasping Uncle's right wrist as he said, 'I was very sorry to hear about Lorraine, my old friend. Indeed, it was a great shock to learn of her total death because the Soul Saver life continuation had been denied her. I do wish you had contacted me, Graham, I could possibly have done something about that. I sent a few messages to you, but obviously you did not get them.'
Uncle looked down at his one-time commander when he had first been a private soldier, then a young corporal serving for the administration, and felt a pang of guilt that he had not returned the brigadier's messages at the time, but also a flare of anger over what had happened to his wife.
'Thank you, sir. That is a most kind sentiment. Yes. 'Itwas a bad thing.'
Without letting go his hand, Roger Mortlock looked deeply into the cyborg's eyes, seeing the levels of tech, but also seeing the man's seething anger. He nodded as he let go of Uncle's hand, and turned to Bob and Michelle. 'Well, Commander Thompson. Tell me of what you know?'
Bob felt his anger rising about having been so badly manipulated, realising that the whole thing was a charade largely because he had honestly believed that his time as a real independent commander of a carrier had come.
'A predator created by the octopoids is currently down on the Haulers' continent, prowling amongst the herbivores. In which case, what the hell are we doing here, way the hell out in the system about to fight a mock battle!'
The brigadier looked up at him, holding his angry gaze, and slowly nodded, feeling a little sorry for the man. 'So you believe you can justifiably feel aggrieved that your fight against Berkut is a false one. Is that it, commander? Or are you just angry at being manipulated? You are a smart guy, a good honest leader. You do tend to let a few too many of your feelings show, but as a person who has studied the art of conflict for a long time, I have to say that, to date, your battles have been bravely fought and with a certain amount of flair.'
Bob growled. 'Is that a statement or a series of questions, brigadier?'
Roger Mortlock gave a small grunt and then a wide, beaming smile which reached to his eyes. He clapped Bob on the upper arm and gave it a little squeeze. 'My jolly good friend. This whole wonderful toybox of ours is one gigantic charade. Always was and always will be. It's always about money and power. I don't know what the octopoids use for currency, but I bet you a dollar to a pinch of goatshit they play the same games. The trick here is to ensure that those under our charge have the best possible time of it.'
He rubbed his hands together and continued. 'Yes, there are a bunch of nasties on the planet. We suspected that they were coming, but did not know where. That is why the command of Berkut was given to me weeks after the carrier had got here. Now, you see that dragon over there? He is the commander of two companies of Q3. What you might not know, Bob, is that each one of those Tengu is inhabited by an individual human mind. Each of those minds are martial fanatics. Each has trained and fought, in some cases, for lifetimes. They fought hard just to become the most elite troops I have ever known. So we have plenty of capability to deal with what is on the planet.'
Bob slowly nodded. 'Yeah, OK, I buy that, but why are they not down on the planet killing the predators? Oh! Hold on, I see, you are waiting for information. Uncle, you said that it was time for a cleanout. So there is a human connection to all of this? Shit! Another Infant-style fuck-up!'
Roger smiled again, saying, 'Now you get the picture. Good. Yes, we fight the lovely little scrap on the nasty windy mountainous moon below us and then when the timing is right, Rose gathers us up and those who are killed or maimed by our punch-up get loaded, heroically, into a mechanical chassis so they can carry on fighting; any spare equipment or craft that we need are already here onboard Rose. We identif y the connections, find the craf t that brought the predators here and clean up the lot. It's a good plan, but it is also full of barbed hooks which is why you and I are here.'
There was a sudden commotion amongst the ACEs with two of them running towards them and Haast actually flying. At the same time, Wardah spoke rapidly: 'Quickly! You have five minutes to get off Rose! There is an emergency and she is preparing to leave the system. Quickly, this way!'
Bob was about to ask questions, so she grabbed his elbow and roughly pushed him towards the capsule whose doors were opening. He looked over his shoulder to see th
e brigadier and his party also running towards their capsule.
The doors to the capsule were closing, even before Bob was seated, as Uncle grabbed him, forcing him down on the floor.
'Seal your suit now, commander.'
As he thought about it, the suit sealed with its helm forming up out of its collar, covering his face and automatically setting the air supply. The acceleration of the capsule was severe, shoving him up against the seat base with Uncle who had locked himself against the wall and held him firmly, so he did not slide further. Looking across, he could see that Haast had enfolded Michelle, protecting her.
There was a second when the acceleration ceased which gave Uncle just enough time to scoop his commander off the floor and hold him tightly against him as the violent deceleration occurred. The doors slammed open and they stumbled out of the capsule and into the airlock.
As they cycled through, Bob finally managed to ask, 'What the fuck is going on?'
Uncle answered tersely. 'In a minute! The instruments on the door are showing hard vacuum inside the access tube and the air is being sucked out of this airlock at a hellish rate. When we are through, we all run. Haast, power up your antigrav. I shall tow you.'
Seconds later they were sprinting across the access tube as Haast lasered an emergency override to the outer airlock door on the carrier's hull. Just as they arrived, the door opened and the four boosted themselves across the expanding gap of the disengaged access tube and into the waiting open airlock.
The outer door closed and air rushed into the lock and a moment later the inner door opened.
The other three ran past him as Bob marched around the corner and onto the bridge, finding a hive of activity in progress. He climbed into his command pod, which was already operational, to see Nick watching him from the 21Cs' pod and Haast quickly being pushed out of the Haulers' docking bay. Nick nodded and gave him a wink.
'You are late but at least you are correctly dressed, commander,' Nick commented. 'Mind telling me what is happening?'
'Looks like we are being launched a little earlier than planned, Mr Warne.'
'Really!'
Nick climbed out of his pod and walked across and leaned into Bob's pod and murmured, 'Next time you go off ship without telling me, I shall boot you up the arse. OK! We did not know where the hell you and that bloody snooty countess of yours were. I don't give a flying fuck what you are up to or where you are going, but you bloody well tell me. Agreed?'
Bob looked into his old mentor's eyes and nodded, wondering if he should tell him the whole story. 'Yes. Sorry. That was a bit rash of me. Are we OK?'
Nick's face twitched with a tiny smile. 'Of course. What did you expect? Everyone is standing to.'
Nick then turned, speaking loudly: 'Helm! Give us a five kilometre separation from the Hauler as quick as you can when the locks are disengaged.'
Bob tapped his comms screen on Haast's icon. 'OK, big bird.
What happened?'
Haast looked out from Bob's screen and answered. 'Madeye, me and the Tengu commander were talking about things and Glint and Basalt came up in the conversation. Madeye asked if I knew where they were headed and if they were due back for the 200-year celebration on Storfisk as she was keen to see them again. I answered with the coordinates of the system and planet they were travelling to in order to study Urchins. Glint had given them to me as I had asked him where they were going and would I be allowed to see the information on the Urchins when they came back. An instant af ter I gave them, Rose Foxtrot broke into the conversation.'
Bob felt his heart sink as Haast continued. 'She yelled that they were going to the wrong place and they should have been going to another system close by. She said she should have told them herself instead of trusting the information to Angelito to pass on. Rose then gave what sounded like a little sob and softly said that they were probably already destroyed as that place was known to have the creatures that hunt Urchins. There had been a massive concentration of Urchin breeders on the planet and none known to have escaped from that system. I can only conclude that Rose is going to attempt to rescue them.'
Bob groaned. 'Oh, shit. This is really, really bad. As soon as we can see Berkut, get me a secure comms link to the brigadier.' He reached out and touched the ship-wide comms icon. 'Crew. This is the commander. Due to a rescue mission needing the assistance of the Hauler, we are now deployed a little earlier than expected. As far as I am aware, we will continue as planned in the morning. Stand down, all of you
not required on duty. Bridge out.'
He clambered out of his pod and walked across to Nick Warne's. 'Mr Warne, please take the ship to the original designated coordinates above the planet at your leisure. As soon as you are able to pass control to Major de Ruyter, then please come find me for a private briefing.'
He then turned on his heel and walked into the intelligence suite, plonking himself down in a chair to wait for the great eagle to finish whatever he was doing. As he sat, he could feel the ship's attitude change and the distant rumble of the rockets coming online. Tapping his wrist, the large personal screen rolled up out of its slim housing and came alive. He tapped the commands for the ship's exterior cameras and af ter a few seconds found the image of the Hauler under full power blasting its way across to the edge of the nearest Lagrange point. He then searched for Berkut and was just in time to watch the capture of a large, lumpy cylind rical container which was pulled down into an external bay. He zoomed up on the container just as Haast turned to him. Looking up, he lasered a question: 'What's that for, Haast?'
'I'd say that it contains a half-company of Tengu with equipment which would consist of weapons, rations and micro-aircraft. Would appear that the brigadier is thinking ahead. I am a little surprised that Rose did not send us both the other half of the Tengu contingent, but then again that may have been a little difficult to explain away to the Games Board. And I have your link to the brigadier open.'
Bob nodded his thanks and waited for the image of Roger Mortlock to appear on his screen.
Seconds later, it did, so he sent a laser message straight into one of the brigadier's eyes. 'Seems that Basalt is in deep shit. You know anything about it?'
'No, I am not privy to any of that research. Bit mad if you ask me, but then again Basalt is so well known and so wealthy, the ship and crew can pretty much do anything they please.
You do know that there is a connection between the brothers and Rose, don't you?'
Bob frowned. 'No?'
'Baron Willy der Boltz and Major Michael Longbow are brothers separated shortly after birth. Willy went to one part of the distant family as a der Boltz, owner of who knows how much manufacturing capability, and Michael to another part of the family who were modest engineers. Rose is a very old aunt in the Boltz family and probably the only one of them who will ever become a Hauler, as by all accounts she really was, and is, a good honourable person. Neither of the men know of the connection with her. That is why she took off at such speed. I wonder what the Hauler orbital Angelito will make of it ... but if Michael and crew are hurt, or, Hades help us all, killed, I would think that Angelito's days as a sentient are numbered.'
'So we are bang smack in the middle of plotting and machinations which could become unstuck?'
The brigadier looked very serious as he nodded. 'I am afraid so, commander. Bit of a baptism of fire for your first command, eh, Bob. You probably wished for a nice simple quality battle. Not going to happen.'
He watched Bob grimace as he continued speaking: 'Right. We have work to do and the Games Board must not become aware of it. Basically, we need to knock the hell out of each other, but minimise losses of craf t or people. We have four days of punch-up and then I believe it best that we make our way back to Storfisk under our own power. Berkut can do that journey in eight days and knowing the specs of Haast you will only be a day behind. Only problem is, we will have totally exhausted our fuel water. We will have to take additional water from the moon below us.'
'How are you going to explain the Tengu to the Games Board?'
The brigadier smiled. 'Did not have to. Rose let them out immediately after we grabbed the container and took it into the hangar, while we had our own contingent of monitors looking the other way. If you look, you will only see the Games Board airship now. No doubt having to brake hard as their velocity is probably relatively high having been spat out at speed.'
Bob let himself smile at the thought of the Games Board's discomfort. 'So what is the plan to minimise damage while we are firing munitions at each other?'
'I am sending you the specs. Uncle knows about this sort of thing for ammunition. Give him this file. We don't tell our pilots or assault crews, but we doctor the rounds. Basically, they will punch into anything they hit, but vaporise instantly leaving a nice smoky hole but hopefully not a great deal of damage underneath. Oh, and have Uncle set the damage assessment systems onboard the aircraft to simulate critical failures if those dummy rounds hit vital systems. With his equipment he can do that remotely. And I will advise my crews that it is better to maim than kill.'
'OK,' Bob responded, 'we will do the same. So we just let the battles unfold, then hope like hell we have enough firepower to deal with whatever is on Storfisk afterwards?'
'Yes. Let us plan for all contingencies and hope that Rose Foxtrot gets back in time to pick us up. But I doubt it very much, unless she has jump-drive capabilities that I am unaware of. The coordinates of the star system in which Basalt is located is five days at full power for Rose, plus another day down through the Lagrange points, then find them -or not -and get back here. No, we are on our own. If she gets back here, even after the fastest of journeys, we will be on Storfisk.'
Ayana
Haulers Territory on Storftsk
Ayana was resting high inside the huge baobab tree, waiting and staring out into the darkness. Sven was down inside the tree, using their astronomical equipment to watch the Hauler orbital Angelito.
Onyx Javelin Page 21
