“Boss, Demon One.”
“SITREP, Tara,” Hex said as the CASPer landed on the shore.
She came back a second later. “GenSha forces stalled at maximum effective range. They’re starting to withdraw by forward sensor readings, but we haven’t seen a visual confirmation.”
“Are you in contact with Jessica?”
“Negative. Klatk says they are fine and moving to the surface.”
Hex sighed. At least she was still alive. “Got it. Moving to your location now. Maintain 100 percent security until we have confirmation that both the Selroth and GenSha forces have withdrawn.”
“Copy, Boss. Demon One, out.”
Hex walked down the shoreline to where Plec waited. The Altar cocked his head to one side. “Impressive, Hex.”
“Thanks. What are you making those charges with?”
“Whatever we can find,” Plec said. “Most of these are not very powerful and some work better than others.”
Hex chuckled. “Let’s get you hooked up with our ammunition and see what we can do to make them better. We’re going to need every advantage we can cook up.”
A burst of static erupted in his ears and disappeared as the dampeners kicked in. “Hex, you read me?” Jessica’s voice was calm and sure, like always.
“Copy, Bulldog. Looks like you missed the party,” he said. “Probing attack, multiple prongs. They’re testing our defenses and looking for weaknesses, but their attack was disorganized and clumsy.”
“Did they find any weaknesses?” Jessica asked.
“We can tighten up a few things, sure. I’m most worried about the river,” Hex said. “Did you get what you wanted?”
“Almost, Hex. Bring your armor commander and your squad leaders to the command center. We need to talk about how we’re going to skin the cat.”
“Copy, Bulldog. Moving now. Break.” Hex released the transmit button and pressed it again. “Demon One, Angel Two, and Angel Seven—get to the command center. Maintain security and surveillance.”
“Demon One, roger.”
“Angel Two, roger.”
“Angel Seven, roger.”
Hex turned and headed back in the direction of the colony walls. Up the slope, he watched Angel Seven rocket into the sky, spin on one axis, and descend effortlessly to a thin wall before executing a similar jump in the direction of the command center. All in all, Hex knew that Hak-Chet’s attempt to help Jessica could have been an entirely different story. Tara and her combat-proven tank platoon were a no brainer. The fresh cadets in the CASPers were a different variable. He didn’t have to flip over to their internal frequencies to know they were excited and believed themselves to be combat veterans. Their exuberance would fade the next time the GenSha and the Selroth attacked. A probe was a probe. The GenSha’s mercenaries barely entered the effective range of the Altar’s weaponry. For all they knew, the Selroth mercenaries hadn’t even deployed.
Wherever they are.
An icy chill ran down his back. “Bulldog, Hex, on private when you can. Over.”
He kept bounding back to the colony and decided to go farther up the slope. A probing attack either tested a defense, or emplaced an offensive unit for a future strike by way of diversion. The hard, exposed rock faces of the low hills made scrambling in a CASPer nearly impossible, but doing so saved fuel. As he moved up the slope toward a small escarpment, Hex felt the cooling system kick in to lower his rising body temperature. Sweat dotted his forehead as he reached the escarpment.
“Hex? What are you doing up there?” Jessica called. There was no doubt she could see him trying to get to the top of the ragged ridgeline.
Hex flexed his knees and primed the jump jets for a maximum leap to the top of the three-meter tall escarpment. “Checking our six, Jess. The Selroth mercs didn’t probe us.”
“Bukk walked me through what the Altar reported. They think they won.”
Hex laughed and went ahead with the jump. A gust of wind along the ridge wobbled his CASPer mid-flight, but he compensated easily and landed on a house-sized boulder with a flat enough surface for him to stand. Across the river from the Altar colony, to the south and west, a series of ragged ridge lines rose and fell in craggy poses like dolphins chasing the bow of a ship. Each ridgeline worked progressively higher, with snow-capped mountains dominating the distant horizon. Below, the immediate valley looked arid and empty. Behind him, there was a series of significant rolling hills. Among the scrub brush around the hills, he saw nothing moving. There were too many dead spaces where the mercenaries could be hiding.
The CASPer’s onboard sensors were fully engaged, and Hex let them run for a full 30 seconds before replying. “The GenSha and their mercs never passed more than a few hundred meters into the maximum effective range of the Altar rocket defenses. When they did, the Altar fired at them with mixed results. Tara’s tanks fired a few rounds and hit their targets. None of the CASPers engaged the GenSha. The Selroth attack failed to get into the underground tunnels, but I’m worried about the damage. If they were simply trying to widen the hole for a future attack, we’re going to be fighting on two fronts.”
“Roger. What do you see up there?”
“Nothing.” Hex turned off the sensor suite. “Given the terrain, if I were their mercs, I wouldn’t be in this valley either. There’s at least a half dozen others they could use for cover and concealment back here. We really need air support, Bulldog.”
“What about Victory Twelve? Have Lucille get some imagery for us.”
Hex wanted to slap himself. “I didn’t think of that.”
“Call her up, Hex,” Jessica chuckled. “She’s your ship.”
For the time being, Hex finished for her silently. He smiled. “Roger, Bulldog. As soon as she’s in range.”
Jessica replied, “We may not have time, Hex. Record it and auto-transmit. We’re going to break into the Raknar.”
He spun the CASPer and engaged the long-range cameras. Jess and a party of CASPers stood by the fallen Raknar’s helm. “Roger, Bulldog. Moving.” Hex stabbed the record transmission button. “Victory Twelve, this is Boss. Mark position and gather imagery in all spectrums centered on the Altar colony for 30 kilometers. Add multispectral filters and correlate the data. Direct transmit when complete. Boss, out.”
Hex scanned down the slope below and identified a landing point. With barely a blink of hesitation, he jumped into the air. Mid-flight, he looked down at the picture of him and Maya mounted in the cockpit and smiled. For the first time in weeks, being alive felt better than the alternative.
* * *
“What was that?” Kenos seethed into the radio connection. “You promised an attack, not a tentative distraction!”
The Sidar hissed. “You promised us a defenseless colony. The Altar have significant artillery, and your Peacemaker’s deputized forces seem quite formidable.”
“You have numerical superiority and never bothered to deploy your forces!”
“The Altar have a significant terrain advantage.” The Veetanho mercenary chimed in. “We understand their layouts now. The Selroth and GenSha remain unconvinced and do not wish to deploy forces in direct combat.”
Kenos stroked his jaw. Their apprehension was not unexpected. Having a dedicated and well-funded mercenary force to fight their wars for them made the governments complacent. Unlike the mercenaries, the governments could be manipulated. Mercenaries needed to be paid. “When can I count on your attack?”
“When the time is right,” the Sidar hissed. “Reconnaissance is necessary.”
“The GenSha have an airstrike package standing by. They want an assurance the Consortium will replace the vehicles lost.” He heard the sneer in the Veetanho’s voice.
Kenos nodded to himself. Of course they would want their assets replaced. “Let the GenSha know their costs will be covered upon the successful completion of this operation and the agreement they signed.” Anger crept into his words, and he closed his eyes for a moment to compose h
imself. “Ensure the GenSha understand their role.”
“Noted, Administrator.”
“You agreed not to use my—”
“And you agreed to give us the autonomy to act in our best interests instead of those of our initial contractors. That your contract supersedes theirs strips you of your privacy, Administrator. A keen eye would notice. Perhaps they already have?”
Kenos sat forward. “What do you mean?”
The Sidar hissed, “Suppose the Peacemaker Guild is aware of your plan and they’ve sent a human to be a sacrificial lamb? Maybe they believe she will be forced to act in a non-Peacemaker way to solve the conflict. You would be defeated, and they could write her failure off as a typical human response. The Guild would feel satisfied about keeping humanity at the fringe. The less they can infiltrate the Galaxy the better.”
Kenos laughed. “You’re assuming the Peacemakers would want a public relations nightmare. They do not want their precious reputations tarnished, Leeto. Of that, I’m certain. What matters is that the Altar are defeated, and we are in a position to best influence further negotiations.”
“The GenSha and the Selroth will not be happy with your actions, Administrator.”
Kenos shrugged. The very human gesture looked odd on his Cochkala frame. He caught himself and felt soiled by approximating humans. “I do not care. Have the GenSha launch their airstrike.”
“Reconnaissance.”
Kenos growled, “No. Strike the Raknar. Render it inoperable, and the Altar will fold. Then, we deal wth the Peacemaker and her benefactors.”
* * *
Jessica watched Hex run down the shoreline in his CASPer, the late afternoon sun glinting on the mecha’s dark, tactical-gray skin. Deep Oogar claw marks remained, and she wondered how long they would stay or if the scars on his heart would fade first. As the CASPer’s cockpit opened, she looked at his face and decided he looked better than before. A brief shot of operations cleared the minds of most mercenaries in an instant—they craved the action to make them human. Hex wanted a different life with Maya and with the idea torn asunder, he returned to the most basic rules of mercenary life. Action meant life. Inaction bred demons.
He met her eyes. “Hey Bulldog? I show Tchrt One descending from orbit to our position. I’m still waiting for Lucille’s information.”
She nodded. Kenos would, of course, want to survey the damage firsthand. Taemin seemed all too interested in keeping the administrator abreast of every development in the colony. Kenos would likely attempt to convince Klatk and her colony to fold as he ascertained the situation on the ground. Knowledge was power, after all. “Come on, Hex. We need to talk Phase Two.”
He shook his head. There had been no such phase, and he knew it. But making it up as they went was only going to go so far.
Three other humans approached from the colony. Two were women, one with longish blonde hair, and the other with short, black hair. Off to one side, a lanky kid with a buzzcut ambled with a bouncing stride that reminded her of a classmate from high school. She shook off the thought as they approached, and she locked eyes with the blonde woman, first searching and then confirming she’d seen the woman before.
“You’re a long way from the bar,” Jessica said. She stepped forward and extended a hand. “Jessica Francis.”
“Tara Mason.” The blonde’s hand was warm and dry. “I’m in command of four tanks from Death On Tracks.”
Jessica curled a lip under. “You guys were pretty torn up at Essex Five, if memory serves me right.”
Tara’s eyes grew distant. “I’d rather not talk about it.”
“Deal,” Jessica said. The relief in the tank commander’s eyes was palpable. Bad contracts and shitty combat planning was the death knell of too many human mercenary units. There were some damned good ones, even outside the Four Horsemen, but too many found an early and unfortunate end. Most died as a result of poor leadership and cowardice in the face of the enemy—like Death On Tracks displayed.
Does Hex know?
Jessica turned to the young man and wondered if he was old enough to operate a CASPer. “Jessica Francis.”
“Neal Kirkland.” The young man’s handshake reminded her of shopping for fish in Seattle. He looked at her and immediately beyond her. From his accent, she figured Edinburgh, which matched his pale complexion. The smile that crossed his face looked like that of a child.
She turned to the young Japanese woman who shook her hand tightly. “Kei Howl. It’s nice to meet you, Peacemaker.”
Behind the three mercenaries, Hex climbed down from his CASPer and jumped about a meter to the dusty ground. He walked up to them, and his eyes looked clearer than in the Luna hangar 10 days before. Jessica closed the distance and hugged him without a word. They separated after a few seconds.
“You’ve met my team?”
She smiled. “Yeah.”
Hex looked at them. “Jessica, I mean Peacemaker Francis, and I go way back.”
Jessica nodded. “We do, but we don’t have time for embarrassing stories. Even the good ones.”
Hex chuckled and crossed his arms. Gods, he looks like his father.
She shook off the thought. “Okay. You guys set a good defense earlier, and that’s a great start. But, when those bastards come, and I mean both colonies and their mercenaries, what you set won’t work. We have to change that. As we do, I’m going into the Raknar. We need every advantage we can leverage.”
Tara squinted. “Into the Raknar? What are you expecting to find?”
“I honestly don’t know, but that Raknar has power available,” Jessica said. “If there’s a way to use it without taking anything away from the Altar breeding facility below the surface...”
“Jess? There’s no way to use a Raknar,” Hex said. “Even if you get it powered up, you don’t know how to fight with it unless they taught you in Peacemaker school.”
Jessica snorted. “They didn’t teach that, Hex. I’m trying to find an advantage, that’s all.”
“Just shore up our defenses and work the enemy into our killzones,” Kirkland said. “That’s what they taught us at school. We have better terrain. All we have to do is get them where we want them.”
“We do not have the combat power,” Kei said. “Channelizing the enemy isn’t enough defense. We need dedicated artillery.”
Jessica raised her hands. “Listen, people. We don’t have time to debate this. Hex? You and Tara set the defense and adjust the Altar stand-off weapons. Keep pinging Lucille for the reconnaissance data we talked about. You two,” she pointed to the young CASPer pilots, “I want you to place listening posts on the north and south sides of the colony as soon as night falls. That’s when we’ll try to get into the Raknar. Set your security at 50 percent and make sure people get chow. We’ll—” A flicker of eye movement from Kei meant someone was behind her and approaching rapidly, and surprisingly without a sound.
“Giving orders, Peacemaker?” Taemin’s voice came up from behind her.
Not now.
“Offering my consultancy,” Jessica said and spun to face him.
“I would hate to think you’ve asserted any type of command over these forces in direct violation of your oath,” Taemin said. “Perhaps we can discuss a replacement when Administrato Kenos arrives? I’m certain your Guild could have another Peacemaker on the ground within a few days at most.”
Hex spoke, “Alright, just like I briefed. Let’s make it happen.” The four humans moved away from her and Taemin. As much as she thought Hex nailed the delivery, being alone with the alien moderator, whom she wasn’t exactly sure of in the first place, left her quite unsettled.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to do, Peacemaker,” Taemin sneered, “But, you have failed to do anything to engage the opposing sides in direct dialogue. You promised an audience period after your injunction period ended. Given that the GenSha and the Selroth seem to have dissolved such an arrangement it would be prudent for you to meet them face-to-face, don�
��t you think?”
“Is that why Kenos is on his way here?” Jessica asked and immediately realized it was true. “You’ve set up a meeting with them, haven’t you?”
Taemin smiled, and it turned her stomach. “The Administrator attempted to contact you. His call for negotiations ended the previous incursion. You could have done the same thing if you’d not been chasing useless information underground.”
Jessica shook her head. “I received no such transmission, Taemin.”
“As I said, Peacemaker, you were underground.” The Caroon’s tone dripped condescension.
Her throat tightened as she raised a finger to point at his face, a clear affront to the Caroon. “You failed to tell me that when we made contact in the main tunnel. What else are you failing to tell me, Taemin?”
“I assumed you heard the transmission, Peacemaker. My apologies.”
You lying sack of shit.
Breathe. Jessica swept hair away from her face with a hand and tried to calm down and maintain her bearing. “Apology accepted, Taemin. We need to discuss what I did see down there. The Altar use the Raknar’s power source to stabilize their brood’s incubation system. Any attack by the GenSha or the Selroth against the Raknar constitutes a war crime. Children of any species shall not be harmed under any circumstance.”
Taemin paused for a moment. “You’re saying there is a brood below the surface?”
“That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
“This certainly changes the situation.” The Caroon’s thin eyebrows rose comically in surprise.
Jessica felt a surge of power. “You’re damned right it does!”
“The Altar are in breach of contract, Peacemaker,” Taemin said. “Under the articles of the Dream World Consortium’s charter, recolonization efforts, including mass breeding operations, must be declared to the Consortium and approved by unanimous action of the Board of Directors. The clause is under Article Three. Do you not remember it? The only exemption would be for operations intent on providing less than 50 children per breeding cycle. Just how many are down there?”
Peacemaker (The Revelations Cycle Book 6) Page 18
