Harry Heron: No Quarter

by Patrick G Cox

  “The two we want are still here and may be on the surface. If we capture them, we might win some points with the Board. Heron and O’Connor won’t expect a small raiding party.” He stopped when he suddenly became aware of the angry stares of the men around him.

  He wondered why the Fleet had turned the weapon on the tree creature that had stalked them. He had been watching the defenders and had seen Heron. He had also seen him turn and direct someone else’s attention to the tree, and had dismissed it as unimportant until the Royals’ field piece blasted the damned thing just as it sent its snare toward them. He couldn’t help but wonder why Heron would save his life and the lives of the very people who were out to get him.

  The Commander just stared at him. “You may have noticed we haven’t exactly had a great deal of success capturing those two on the ground or in orbit.”

  “Whatever,” huffed Barclay, and he stomped off in the direction of the transport barges.

  “THE FLEET IS HERE!” ANNOUNCED A MIDSHIPMAN, who hurried over to Lieutenant Commander Dalziel. “The DGK and her battle group have arrived, sir.” She paused for breath. They’ve launched their landing barges. Dragon’s message says they’ll be with us in thirty minutes.”

  “Thank heaven for that.” Bob Dalziel focussed his ranging optics on the distant enemy position. “They must have received word as well. They’re pulling back. Find Major Ryan. He’s over in the Alpha sector. Tell him negative pursuit, and to stand by for reinforcements.” Looking round, he spotted Harry. “Mr Heron, over here, please.”

  “Aye, aye, sir.” Harry joined the Lieutenant Commander.

  “As you heard, we’re about to get reinforcements. Tell the command posts. When you’ve done that, I’ve another job for you.”

  THE ARRIVAL OF THE LANDING BARGES AND THEIR STRIKE fighter escorts brought an immediate change. Several units of the Consortium forces surrendered and others withdrew to their hidden base.

  Bob Dalziel stood with the landing force Marine Major observing the enemy.

  “They’re preparing something. They have drawn their troops into a defensive perimeter, but it doesn’t look as if they’re planning to stay long.”

  Dalziel nodded. “Looks like they’re planning to evacuate it. How long before your people can get here in the sort of strength you need to disrupt this little exercise?”

  “We need another hour to bring up the weapons to crack this place. What have you got in mind?”

  “I want to know what they have here. It must be important to have this level of screening, garrison and support from their fleet.” He activated his link. “Lieutenant Sci’Anatha?”

  The Lacertian appeared near an outcrop and strolled toward the human pair. “You wish to speak to me, Commander?”

  “Ah,” Bob Dalziel said with a casual air, attempting to cover his surprise. “I didn’t see you there. Are any of your people able to get close enough to this base to find out what they are doing there?”

  She considered. “We have reached the entrance, Commander, but we cannot go within.” Hesitating, she added, “Have you not asked the Navigator or the Sword Wielder? They will hear the brain of this place, and may tell you what it thinks.”

  “Of course. Damn. I should have thought of that.” He activated his link. “Mr Heron, what is your location?”

  “At our base, sir.”

  “Get a transport and join me — make that an aerial. I need you here as soon as possible.”

  The Marine Major rubbed his chin. “Mind telling me what that was all about?”

  Bob Dalziel grinned. “Let me put it this way: our Mr Heron has an unusual ability with AI systems. He can hear them.” Seeing the sceptical look, he explained, “He was fitted with an internal link, but something has changed it in some way, so now he is more or less a mobile node of any AI he’s near. I’m hoping he can link to this one sufficiently enough to tell me what it is doing here.”

  “CAN YOU HEAR IT, HARRY?”

  “Aye, sir, but it is a strange system. It does nothing concerning navigation, and only a small part is running the base. It seems largely about some accounting function, trading in currencies and something related to the ownership of companies.”

  “Odd. Why would they have something like that here?”

  “Commander!” The Marine Major’s voice was sharp. “Their people are pulling out. There go the first transport barges!”

  “We must leave, sir!” Harry listened again. “They have set some devices to destroy this facility, a fission weapon, they called it.”

  “Fission weapons?” The Lieutenant Commander turned away. “Get our people back to our camp. Now. Pull back. We don’t have a lot of time before this whole place is blown to hell.”

  “SHIP’S IN DROPOUT IN LOW ORBIT, SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE.”

  “Show in Command display. Sound action stations. Alert the Goethe, Foch and Ariadne. Engineering to stand by. Navigation, plot intercept.” The orders flowed from Captain Haakon aboard the DGK.

  “Sir, two frigates, one transport. Identified as Consortium. They’re just clear of the atmosphere.”

  “Navigation, set a course for intercept. Link to the frigates. I want to cut them off before they can insert reinforcements for their people.”

  “Shuttles coming from the surface, sir. Six large troop carriers.”

  “So that’s what they’re here for. Interceptor Group, prepare to engage. I want those barges disabled. Weapons, target the transport.”

  Watching his display, the Captain tapped the armrest of his chair. This close to the atmosphere and the targets he dared not risk a micro transit. Even the smallest error by any of the ships — his or those he was pursuing — could bring disaster. The targets were moving, matching velocity with his ship and staying just out of range of his weapons. He watched as his interceptors met a squadron launched by the enemy.

  “The transport’s done a micro transit. He must be desperate or very determined. He’s made a flying recovery of four of the shuttles — there they go. Damn. I want those remaining transport barges captured.” He thrust himself out of his seat. “Send the frigates after them and the interceptors. Navigation, get us back to the Dragon’s position.”

  The Navigator executed the commands. “That transport was well handled, sir. He took a hell of a chance to pick them up. Did you see the heat signature? He was inside the atmosphere when he took them aboard. No wonder he couldn’t wait for the other two.”

  “You’re right, Hans. A risky manoeuvre.” The Captain frowned. “They must have had someone on one of those shuttles they had to recover. Let’s hope we can find out who when we talk to those we’ve captured.”

  THE GROUND TREMBLED BENEATH THEIR FEET.

  “Damn.” Bob Dalziel shook his head in disbelief. “They really meant to destroy everyone and everything, didn’t they?”

  The Marine officer nodded. “Just as well young Heron tipped us off.” He indicated a rising column of smoke in the distance. “It must have been close to the surface.” His expression changed. “Everyone down! Here comes the shockwave!”

  Harry felt the hot breath of the wind as it passed. It brought back memories of the sensation that followed the firing of a large cannon, though this was more like a sudden squall of wind presaging a storm. He looked in the direction of the distant Consortium base and stared at the rising cloud atop the towering column of dust and smoke.

  “Thanks to you, Harry, we’re alive to watch this from a safe distance. Otherwise, we’d be in bits and pieces tumbling around in that mushroom cloud.”

  “What is that weapon, sir?”

  “You’ve never seen a fission bomb? No, of course not. That, Mr Heron is an old weapon, but probably one of the nastiest that mankind has ever come up with.”

  Harry considered this, watching the cloud towering on the skyline. “I see, sir.” In his opinion, the plasma projectors and particle beam weapons fell into the same category, but he held his peac
e. “Permission to begin the evacuation, sir?”

  “WE’VE DETECTED A NUCLEAR DETONATION ON THE PLANET, sir.”

  Captain Rafferty frowned. “Is it on the surface? Anywhere near our camp?”

  “Negative surface, sir. It is at a hundred metres below the surface. From the signature, looks like a range of mining galleries and levels. About thirty miles from the camp, sir.”

  “Are our people near it?” Not waiting for a reply, he said, “Get me Bob Dalziel, pronto.”

  The communications officer scrambled to get the link. “Lieutenant Commander Dalziel on link, sir.”

  “Bob! We’ve detected a nuclear event down there, about thirty miles from you. Any of our people involved?”

  “Negative, sir. We had sufficient warning and pulled our people away. Afraid we’ll get nothing out of there though. They did a thorough job of it. Everything is gone, and there’s nothing but a bloody great crater where their base was.”

  “Well, that’s someone else’s problem. Suggests they had something there they definitely wanted hidden.” The Captain frowned. “How about radiation?”

  “For the moment quite low, but it’s set off a lot of earthquake activity. I’d like to get our people off here ASAP.”

  “I’ll talk to Captain Haakon and get back to you with the distribution. Make a start on getting set for immediate evacuation.”

  Chapter 34 – Breakthrough

  The survivors of the Leander disembarked in the DGK’s large hangar deck, their battered barge work stained and in need of repair among the cruiser’s near pristine craft. Lieutenant Orloff saluted the Lieutenant Commander who met them. “Navigator Lieutenant Orloff and party, sir, transferring to this command.”

  “Willkommen.” The Lieutenant Commander returned the salute. He noticed the Lacertians emerging from the barge. “Ah, so these are the Lacertians who have been with you.” He indicated a group disembarking on the other side of the hangar from a shuttle surrounded by Marines. “Our guests over there will not be pleased to see them.”

  Lieutenant Orloff followed his gaze. “I expect not. Frankly we aren’t too happy to see that lot here either. I hope you’ve got some good holding cells for them.”

  “Don’t worry, they will be well guarded.” The Lieutenant Commander glanced round. “Is everyone here? Sehr gut! Come with me, please. We will get you signed in.”

  Harry watched as a sullen file of Consortium prisoners shuffled past. Ferghal gave a sharp intake of breath. “Harry, look — there! That man, he is one of those I saw in the access panel for the network node of this ship when they sabotaged it during our training cruise.”

  Ferghal stepped forward and confronted the man. “Hey, you there. I know you. You and your friend sabotaged this ship when we were last aboard her.”

  The man stared at Ferghal then at Harry. The whole file came to a stop, and everyone stared at Ferghal. He was only getting started. “Yes, I remember you well. You pretended you could not speak English, yet here you are among English speakers. What do you say now?”

  The man scowled. “You’ve got me mixed up with someone else.”

  “Ich weiß ganz genau, wer Sie sind,” came the voice of the Lieutenant Commander. He summoned the nearest guard. “Keep this man separate. He is a traitor and a deserter.”

  The man grabbed the nearest person and threw him into the guard then dove among the group from Leander. What he intended he alone knew, but he made the mistake of going for Harry, whose fist caught him a stunning blow on the side of his face. He staggered and turned with a snarl of rage, his second mistake as Harry’s uppercut lifted him off the floor a few inches. His eyes glazed and he crashed to the deck unconscious.

  “Ouch.” Harry shook his fist to ease the throbbing pain. “His jaw was harder than I anticipated,” he said with wry humour, nursing his throbbing fingers.

  Ariadne looked at the fallen man, then at Harry. “That was some punch,” she said in an awed voice.

  “You had better get your hand seen to by a medic, Herr Heron,” said the Lieutenant Commander before he ordered the removal of the man Harry had knocked out.

  Ferghal watched, half amused by Harry’s felling of the man and half annoyed with himself for allowing it to happen. “Good milling there, Harry. A bit showy for the ring though.” He grinned and clapped Harry on the back. “You need to wrap your hands for the bare knuckle work, as you should know!”

  THE EVACUATION OF NEW EDEN MEANT A REDISTRIBUTION of survivors to the relief squadron since the damaged frigates could not support their full complements during the transit back to Pangaea and the repair facilities they needed. The Leander officers were assigned to the DGK for the journey, and Harry and Ferghal were assigned to Navigation and Engineering.

  Ferghal arrived at the Engineering Office to hear the Commander venting his anger.

  “Der verdammt Glasfiend! He listens to no one. You cannot reason with the man.” He paused, reining in his anger. “Der Käpitan is correct though. This infernal machine will make it possible to see through the Consortium screen. He wants me to work with this maniac to solve the problems with power surges and feedback loops.”

  A lieutenant noticed Ferghal, and cleared his throat to get his attention.

  “Ja? Ach, Mr O’Connor. You are assigned to my branch?”

  Ferghal saluted. “Aye, sir. I am ordered to join your department, sir.”

  The Lieutenant Commander hesitated, and the other officers watched him, bracing themselves for a volatile response. Then he smiled. “You still speak no German?”

  Surprised, Ferghal shook his head. “No, sir. No German.”

  “Good. Very good! The Herr Doktor speaks little English.” He laughed. “Especially your English! Herr O’Connor, I have just the task for you.”

  “Aye, sir?” Ferghal noticed that the others were struggling to hide their amusement. “I shall do my best to meet your expectations, sir.”

  “You will, Herr O’Connor. You will.” Briefly he explained the task.

  “So you wish me to build a means to prevent this device from overloading the rest of the system, sir? May I see the machine?”

  “Naturlich.” To one of the Lieutenants, he said, “Take Herr O’Connor to the Herr Doktor’s workroom. Tell Glasfiend I will see him shortly, and let Herr O’Connor see the machine.”

  AFTER AN AWKWARD START, FERGHAL ENGROSSED HIMSELF in work, and soon had built a surge management unit to regulate the power flows created by Dr Glasfiend’s device. The doctor’s mercurial temper and passion for his work drove the group to despair and frenzied activity. Building the control unit and regulators involved a huge amount of work, but at least Ferghal could largely ignore the doctor for the most part, since neither of them understood the other.

  The scientist assigned to liaise between them shook her head as she watched the doctor stalk away, yet again frustrated by the blank expression Ferghal used whenever the doctor tried to browbeat him. “He does not know what to make of you, Herr O’Connor.” She hesitated. “And sometimes I think you pretend that you do not understand him.”

  Ferghal glanced up. “Sure, and with Frederick-Wilhelm’s help, I understand the doctor just fine.” Grinning, he added, “But if he knew that, I’d be deprived of your company.”

  She looked around, her expression puzzled. “Sie sprache Deutsch? Who is Frederick-Wilhelm?”

  Ferghal paused in his work and pushed up his visor. “Frederick-Wilhelm? The ship. He tells me what the doctor is saying. It is our little secret. The ship tells me what is said, and it checks my work as I do it.”

  “The ship talks to you?” Her puzzled expression mingled with disbelief. “But the ship is named Der Grosser Kurfürst. Wie sind — who is this Frederick-Wilhelm?”

  “Was that not the name of the Elector of Brandenburg?” Realising she didn’t understand his meaning, Ferghal shrugged and turned up the charm. “It is a secret that the ship and I are able to communicate, but I trust you
with this information. The Herr Doktor doesn’t know I understand him.” He winked and made her blush. Giving her his most disarming look, he added, “If my secret got out, I’d have to find who did the telling and teach her a lesson.” He grinned.

  For a long moment, she didn’t respond, but her eyes grew wide, and she smiled as she gathered the meaning of his tease. Then she laughed. “So all my translations — you’ve known what he’s been saying all along?”

  “I had to find some excuse to keep you nearby.”

  Ferghal’s Irish charm had just ratcheted up a notch. “You’re impossible, Herr . . . I don’t even know your name other than Herr O’Connor!”

  “Call me Ferghal.” He grinned. “He does get worked up over nothing, doesn’t he? He thinks me stupid, so I encourage him. It keeps him out of my way.”

  “Ferghal? Sehr gut. Call me Ingrid, please.”

  “Ingrid . . . oh, yes, please.”

  She laughed out loud at that bold response, and it took a few minutes to get back to the business at hand. “Okay, Ferghal, so what do you want me to do?”

  “Could you do all the tests and checks on the components and the interfaces as I complete the units? That will be a huge help — and keep the doctor off my back, please, Ingrid!”

  WHEN THE SCANNER AND ITS CONTROLS WERE INSTALLED, Ferghal reported to the lab, now converted to a control room for Dr Glasfiend’s system. Ingrid Groznic smiled a welcome and steered him to a monitoring station she’d set up. “We can watch from here in safety.”

  Glancing to where Dr Glasfiend and Lieutenant Commander Reuter seemed to be in a state of imminent eruption, Ferghal grinned. “Aye, best stay clear of them, and hope nothing fails!”

  “Is it likely? Everything tested perfectly, and you over rated quite a lot of it.”