Jessica turned and looked past Bukk to the small half-circle of light at the surface longingly. “Hex, we’re heading down now. Map function is on. You’re in command. Out.”
* * *
“Copy your last, Peacemaker. Good luck.” Hex locked his CASPer’s communications system on the remote beacon and toggled the frequency to listen. The Tri-V mounted in the center of his console separated into two smaller, rectangular feeds. The top one was a roving function from Jessica’s slate that mapped and analyzed the cavern as she moved. The bottom one keyed a video feed from Demon One, and he saw Tara’s face as she set her vehicle for combat operations. Watching her, he felt a bit like a voyeur and a bit like an asshole for thinking beyond Maya’s loss so quickly.
What else am I supposed to do? He snapped the video link off just as Tara looked in the general direction of the camera. Where is your head, Hex?
Hex blinked the thought away and looked back at the horizon. The tall dust plumes were moving north. Above the Tri-Vs, a series of lights blinked from red to green. The Victory Twelve was overhead and available. “Victory Twelve, this is Hex. Do you read? Over.”
<
“Roger, Lucille. Jessica set the beacon and is mapping a cavern. Lock onto the frequency profile and download as frequently as you can. Isolate the profile for search and rescue. Over.”
<
Hex closed his eyes. “Roger, Lucille. We’re prepared to meet them. Track the beacon and isolate the feed in case of emergency. Out.”
“Victory Twelve confirms. Out.”
Hex reared the CASPer up and moved toward the southern wall of the Altar Colony. Sensors engaged, Hex pushed into a clear area and jumped. Clearing the wall easily, Hex landed with practiced ease and bounded forward from the colony to the south 100 meters before his radio came to life.
“Boss, this is Demon One. What are you doing?”
“Reconnaissance,” Hex said. With the colony behind him and slightly higher on the slope, his radar and velocity sensors could sweep the oncoming vehicles and check for any airborne systems. “Moving forward to max engagement range. I can see them better up close.”
Tara came back immediately on a private, direct laser channel. “Negative, boss. You’ve got a platoon of tanks and two squads of CASPers depending on your leadership. What happens when you catch the Golden BB, huh? Get your ass back in line, or fire a drone to see what you need to see. Got it?”
Hex stood with the CASPer’s arms at its sides for a moment. Sensors painted a picture of the oncoming attack. Forty vehicles, minimal infantry and no air support. Direct laser ranging put them at a little more than 9,000 meters away. Communications frequencies were quiet, too. The mercs were professionals; that he could tell by sight alone, and it steeled him to action.
“Demon One, Boss. Moving now. Count 40 inbound vehicles, negative on air support. Over.”
“Roger, Boss. Get back in position. They’ll be in artillery range in 30 seconds, and Altar batteries are prepared to fire, right Plec?”
A new voice came on the frequency. “Command batteries are at your disposal Demon One.”
Hex turned and bounded toward the colony using his legs more than his jump jets. As he bounded to the wall and prepared to clear it, he looked down the fallen, rusting torso of the Raknar. A plume of water erupted skyward.
Mines!
“Command! Status report on the river!” Hex yelled into the radio and adjusted his final jump to stay outside the colony walls and changed direction toward the shoreline.
“Enemy contacts at the outer ring,” Plec said. “Negative contacts along the Raknar hull.”
Bullshit! The mines wouldn’t have gone off if—
Hex slid to a stop five meters from the waterline as a second, and then a third, mine exploded. He tapped on the mapping function and saw Jessica proceeding down into the second level. The data feed continued to populate and he saw the word limestone appear and disappear as the feed ran along the raw data. A shiver ran down his spine.
Not mines! They’re trying to clear an aquifer! If there was water underground, there had to be a connection between the underground source and the Choote.
A bright flash flared off to the north about a kilometer down the shore line. His visual systems overloaded, and Hex blinked in the sudden darkness of his cockpit as the displays slowly rebooted and came back to life. Sonuvabitch! He turned toward the explosion and saw a large cloud of dust and debris continue to rise. Anti-artillery radars in the Altar command center screamed a warning of incoming fire. His external displays came to life to see a barrage of 60 artillery rounds descend on the Altar compound. Defensive weapons engaged them in a hail of bullets and laser fire, but the damage had already been done. He’d let the defense focus solely on the GenSha’s attackers and left the river, especially its hidden tributaries, virtually unguarded and undefended.
Of the initial burst, seven rounds made it through the defenses and impacted the colony. As they did, a portion of Hex’s Tri-V display winked out. He looked down and froze. The mapping function, and the relay beacon to Jessica, were gone.
* * *
In the cavernous mines, transitioning from Level One to Level Two reminded Jessica of an elementary school field trip to a fire station. As a kid, the highlight was the fireman’s pole to get from the sleeping quarters to the garage in the least amount of time possible. On Earth, for humans, it made sense. On Araf, the Altar built their vertical columns and passageways with the electrical conduits hanging down the center to give them the maximum range and clearance to climb up the available sides. Wrapping her arms and legs around a wire system coursing with gods-knew-how many watts of power stolen from the Raknar didn’t seem like the best idea. Of course, neither did having to jump a full meter and a half to get to the conduit in the first place.
“You’re sure this is safe for me?” Jessica asked Bukk. “Touching it isn’t going to kill me right here before we get anywhere with this mission?”
“Is that what you want?”
Jessica shook her head. “Of course not. I just—”
“You want to know you are safe. I understand that a third-level soldier tried to kill you, and that our queen enacted immediate punishment on the guilty party. Do you really think anyone else wants to kill you?” Bukk nodded toward the vertical tunnel, and his soldiers easily shot down the walls to the next level 20 meters below. “Is that why you walk in the rear, so you can see us and plot our deaths in your defense?”
Jessica shook her head. “No, I...you have to see it from my perspective, Bukk.”
“I have, Peacemaker. Dishonesty is not something easy to see. You are right to feel insecure because of what happened on the surface. Klatk put my squad in charge of this expedition as a show of respect to you. Your security is paramount, even though you may not believe that.”
“There’s a human saying, Bukk. Actions speak louder than words. Do you understand?”
Bukk swiveled his head toward her and said nothing for a moment. “I see your point, Peacemaker. Your own actions are key here, too. I’ve promised your safety and you have no other way down than the conduit in front of you. Will you trust me?”
It’s not like I have much of a choice.
Jessica tightened her backpack’s straps and attached a small strap between them across her chest. The conduit looked to be the size of a large wound rope, the kind she’d climbed during her VOWs years before. The 20-meter deep tunnel was a full three meters wide and the conduit hung in the exact center. There was no other way to get there than to jump. She shuffled back two steps to gain clearance, took a long, powerful stride forward and leapt into the tunnel. Her hands found the flexible conduit and to he
r instant relief there was no shock of electricity. To her surprise, the conduit’s covering was as slick as a greasy pan, and she slid uncontrollably down until she was able to wrap her legs around it and use friction to slow her down. She looked up at Bukk and saw his mandibles approximating a chuckle. Under control, she slid down the conduit to the second level.
The air seemed heavier and smelled moist. In several places, water ran down the limestone walls. The tunnel itself was no different than the one above in design, but the dimly lit chambers above paled in comparison to the warm, brightly lit tunnel around her. Against one side of the tunnel rested hexagonal-shaped chambers with 12 internal compartments the size of shoe boxes. The chambers were a meter high and roughly a meter in length as they lay across the tunnel floor. Each unit hummed with electricity and warmed the air in the immediate vicinity.
Jessica put her hand on the first unit and felt the strong vibration. Bukk appeared over her shoulder, and she turned. “How many are down here, Bukk?”
“The brood is over 7,000 in number, Peacemaker.”
She pulled her hand away from the incubation unit and looked down the tunnel. “You have a tenth of that on the surface. The number doesn’t make sense.”
Bukk looked at her for a moment. “We expect to lose 50 percent before the end of the cycle due to complications from power. We will lose another 20 percent to environmental adaptation. We were promised a very different planet, Peacemaker.”
“I understand that, Bukk. Why move the brood down here? Your main power sources are on the surface. The solar panels and wind generators. Down here you have to move the power and that affects the wattage available, right?”
Bukk’s antennae nodded. “Solar and wind generators are unreliable in this atmosphere. Any significant disruption to the available power current kills our brood. Running power from the Raknar’s fuel cells augments what we struggle to pull in from the atmosphere.”
“Why not land your ships and slave the power from them?” Jessica’s voice trailed off. The look on Bukk’s face said it all. “You don’t have ships in orbit or parked some place?”
“No. Once placed, an Altar colony either succeeds or fails. In the event of failure, a ship is dispatched to collect the remaining colonists and equipment. The colony queen is executed, and the colonists return home as fourth-class citizens. We would rather die than fail.”
Jessica understood. Klatk did not want to fight, but there was no alternative. Diplomacy was not going to work, and with mercenary units involved on both opposing sides, fighting was a last resort as well as an acceptable way to fail—through death. Jessica’s stomach churned.
“You’re fighting as a way to respectfully fail.”
Bukk’s pincers quivered. “We fight to protect our brood, Peacemaker.”
“But, you sound like you’re expecting to fail.”
“We do not expect to fail.” Bukk said. “We expect—”
The tunnel shook, and a shower of dust fell from the ceiling. Bukk’s antennae whipped from side-to-side. Jessica looked at her slate and saw the transmission indicator blink red. “I’ve lost comms with the surface.”
Bukk looked at her. “We are under attack. The Selroth have attempted to gain access to Level Six via an aquifer. They were not successful, but Level Six is flooding. I will not be able to take you there until the pumps engage.”
Jessica grabbed her slate and tried to connect to Hex’s data feed. There was nothing. “We need to go.”
Bukk chittered at his soldiers, and they raced back to the vertical tunnel and disappeared upward. “Come,” he said. There was no way she could climb the conduit given the slick coating. She was about to protest when Bukk slung his weapon across his chest and motioned to his back. “Grab on, Peacemaker. I will carry you to the upper level.”
For a brief second, her mind thought of ants on Earth carrying more than their body weight, and she decided to trust him, again. Bukk stood against the circular wall and she climbed onto his back. He dug into the wall and immediately slipped, jostling her against his hard back. He dug another claw into the rock and looked over his shoulder. “Would you trust me, Peacemaker?”
Jessica snorted. “It’s not like I have much choice. You could easily leave me down here or worse.”
“Then we would have no choice but to fail, Peacemaker.” Bukk climbed the tunnel in the space of a few heartbeats, safely depositing Jessica at Level One. Bukk’s soldiers stood at the ready, rifles raised, pointing toward the cavern entrance. A solitary figure walked toward them in deep silhouette. Bukk stepped forward, in front of Jessica as if to shield her, and challenged, “Who goes there?”
“Mediator Taemin,” the figure said. “I understand you were unable to proceed beyond the second level?”
Bukk replied. “We are under attack. The Peacemaker wished to return to the surface to take command of the defense.”
“Oh, did she?” Taemin stepped close enough for Jessica to see the sarcastic smile on his elongated face. “I’m sorry, soldier, but the Peacemaker cannot command the defense. She and her...deputies are obligated to take all orders from your commanding officer. Nor can the Peacemaker or her deputies legally suggest a course of action to your commander. They are simply a token to be employed in the event of a military attack.
Bukk looked at her, and she sensed the question before it came out. “Technically, he is correct, Bukk. A Peacemaker cannot be in command of an operation when legal mercenary contracts have been engaged.”
Taemin grinned. “I see you did at least read the Union laws you try to step over, Peacemaker.”
You prick.
Jessica took a breath and composed herself before she turned to Bukk. “However, in the unique case of a contracted mercenary force opposing a civilian government operating in a peaceful setting, the use of force by one side constitutes a violation of the very same Union law I described.”
“Only if the planet is a Union world, Peacemaker. Araf is the property of the Dream World Consortium and is not subject to that law. That is likely why the mercenary forces have attacked. “ Taemin grinned. The motherfucker actually grinned at her.
“Bukk? Does Klatk report to your homeworld on a frequent basis? Do you operate at their discretion?”
“Yes.” His antennae twitched in a tic she knew to be confusion and interest.
“Your colony hardware, the walls and such on the surface, was provided by the Consortium was it not?”
“Yes, except for...except for the command center, Peacemaker.”
Jessica smiled and turned to Taemin. “The command center is the property of the Altar government, and Klatk acts as an entity of that government in contract with the Consortium and, therefore, is not subject to them.”
“That’s a very naive interpretation of the law, Peacemaker.”
Jessica looked at Taemin and started walking toward him. At his shoulder, as she passed him and headed to the surface, she said, “A loose interpretation is all I need to wage the defense, Taemin. I do not need your permission to defend this colony from a mercenary force, nor do I need your permission to defend them from the Consortium, the GenSha, the Selroth, or anybody else. If you cannot negotiate a peaceful solution, with my assistance, there is no other way than war.”
“Only if you have a death wish, Peacemaker.”
Jessica turned to him and shook her head. “These people are prepared to fight, Taemin. As long as they wish to defend what is theirs, I will be at their side and will exploit every advantage we find.”
Taemin’s mouth opened but nothing came out for a moment. “You intend to use the Raknar.”
“Whatever it takes to win.”
* * * * *
Chapter Fifteen
Hex vaulted his CASPer down the shoreline and heard Plec call, “Demon One, the waterfront is secure. Deploying depth charges now.”
Tara was busy, though. Each of the tanks facing the assaulting GenSha mercenaries maintained a steady rate of fire at maximum dist
ance. With the Selroth meeting significant resistance, the GenSha and their mercenaries inexplicably stayed back from the Altar colony. Given the distraction from the river, it would have been a perfect time for the GenSha to attack. Instead, their artillery harassed the colony’s defenses, but did little damage. Any vehicles that treaded deeper into the Altar fields of fire instantly became a target. The result was a long-distance standoff. Hex used the virtual lull to bolster the river defenses and push the Selroth back.
“Plec, Hex. I’m moving your way.”
“Acknowledged.”
Hex jumped again, the jump jets flawlessly carrying the CASPer down the slope to the shoreline. He turned and ran north. Plec and two Altar soldiers worked at a cart assembling and tossing small depth charges into the river, downstream from the Raknar. The intent was clear. Any survivors of the initial blasts would be destroyed where they hid. Plec hefted a charge into the river, but only maybe 20 meters into the water and it gave Hex an idea.
At the cart, Hex skidded the CASPer to a stop and turned on the external communication system. “Plec, give me six charges.”
The Altar worked quickly and loaded three of the depth charges into each of the CASPer’s hands. Loaded down, Hex stepped away from them and bounded toward the river as he engaged his external sensor arrays. The sonargraphic image of the shoreline appeared in holographic form and showed that he could bound into the water a good 50 meters and still find footing for the CASPer to land and jump again. Hex leapt into the water and leapt again. At the top of the second jump, he threw the left-hand bombs in a line down stream. As the CASPer slammed into the water and found the bottom again, Hex changed the charges in his right hand to his left, pivoted the CASPer and jumped farther downstream. For a second time, he threw the charges from the top of his jump, watched them arc into the water and erupt in thundering columns of water. As the CASPer descended, he drew the rail gun and watched for a target of opportunity in the river below
Peacemaker (The Revelations Cycle Book 6) Page 17
