ARMS Jebwa Atrocity

by Arseneault, Stephen

  Sharvie shook her head as they drove. “We’ve usually passed a half dozen people out walking or in their fields or something by now. This is creepy.”

  Harris replied, “Must all be in a grand meeting or something. Probably trying to determine what to do with all this blue sky.”

  “The weather here is always nice.”

  “It usually clouds up and rains for about an hour in late afternoon.”

  They pulled to a stop in front of the government building.

  Sharvie frowned. “I don’t like this.”

  She followed Harris and Farker as they walked the hall into the meeting chamber. “See, nobody here either.”

  Several cats were roaming about the meeting room. One had been slaughtered and hung beside a door.

  Sharvie grimaced. “Who would do that! And you got blood all over you. You backed into that dead cat.”

  “If it’s still bloody, then whatever happened must have just happened.”

  “That’s horrible!”

  “Power is still on.”

  Sharvie shed a tear for the slain animal. “They’re all gone, Mr. Gruberg.”

  “Let’s head back to the ship. We’ll do some scans and see if we can find them.”

  As the vehicle pulled out onto the tarmac, a freighter dropped through the sky, landing fifty meters from their shuttle.

  The pilot stepped out. “No one at the control station?”

  Harris shook his head. “Nor in town.”

  “Anyone here that can sign for this cargo?”

  “What’cha got?”

  “A large order of parts and a handful of miscellaneous items.”

  Harris waved him over. “I’ll sign.”

  “You have credentials?”

  “You carrying those for Mr. Morgan?”

  “I am. You Gruberg?”

  “That would be me.”

  “Since there’s no one here, I guess you’ll have to do. Is that blood?”

  Harris nodded. “Backed into a slaughtered animal down there. Not sure what to make of all this yet. The pacies always did refuse to defend themselves.”

  “Well, I don’t want to get caught up in whatever’s going down here. I’ll just be on my way. Give me a hand and I’ll help transfer the cargo.”

  Fifteen minutes later the small freighter was lifting off.

  Harris said, “Let’s get up there and see if we can figure this out.”

  Sharvie worked the sensor controls as Harris flew the shuttle. “I’m not seeing anything Human. Tons of cats on the outskirts of town.”

  “Nav display is showing some meteors or other debris coming down as fireballs. Let’s check it out.”

  As the shuttle moved closer, Sharvie said, “Thousands of pieces.”

  Harris zoomed in on a fireball with one of the forward facing cameras. “Burning up completely, whatever it is.”

  Sharvie stood with a look of horror as she worked another camera.

  “What is it?”

  Sharvie slowly shook her head in disbelief. “It’s the pacifists… I think.” Tears began to roll down her face as she looked at a floating body.

  Harris growled. “What the…? Somebody spaced them. All of them. We have to get back to Midelon.”

  A jump was made, followed shortly thereafter with a landing. Harris hopped out, hustling over to the supply hut, where the others were sitting.

  “They killed the pacies!”

  Tawn returned a confused look. “What? Who?”

  “Had to be the Earthers. All twenty thousand pacies. Took them up and spaced them all. Left them to fall back through the atmosphere and burn up so there’d be no evidence.”

  “You sure?”

  Sharvie stepped forward, tears flowing. “We saw them… the bodies. Just over twenty thousand. All dead and floating in orbit. They were still in their robes and wearing their sandals.”

  Tawn scowled. “All of them?”

  Harris nodded. “We scanned. Nothing left but a few farm animals and thousands of cats.”

  “What are we gonna do?” Gandy asked.

  Harris gestured toward the shuttle. “We have the parts. We’re gonna repair the Bangor and we’re gonna go kick some Earther ass. There’s no reason for what they did. Those people weren’t hurting anyone.”

  Tawn shook her head. “Senseless act. Right up their alley. Harris, come on. Let’s get those parts while they get to work.”

  The team moved with a mission to bring their fighting ship back online. The myriad of parts were unpacked, identified, and laid out for installation. Trish and Gandy worked like machines on the repairs while Sharvie, Tawn, and Harris were their gophers. Four and a half hours later, Trish shoved the railgun limiter circuit back in-line.

  “Done.”

  “Power it up.”

  Trish pushed several buttons. The gauge on the console read “23,” with the big M illuminated.

  “Twenty-three megajoules. Wanna see what it will do?”

  Harris nodded as the hatch closed and the Bangor lifted from the ground. “You people better strap yourselves in.”

  Gandy slowly raised a hand. “Uh, should we split up and some of us follow in the Gooch, just in case?”

  Harris looked back with an irritated expression. “Couldn’t have prompted for that before?”

  Tawn shook her head. “Just put us back down.”

  The Bangor returned to the surface and the transfer was made. A comm was opened to the shuttle.

  Harris said, “You should be seeing what I’m seeing.”

  “We got it,” replied Tawn.

  Trish said, “Make sure the security-lockout is off.”

  “It’s off. Rails are powered on and the pellet is in the breach.”

  Before the Bangor exited the atmosphere, Harris pulled the trigger. A fireball shot forward as a bright streak.

  “First test is positive.”

  Ten minutes later, after a run out into space, the ship slowed to a stop fifty kilometers from its target. “Here we go. Pellet loaded… and…”

  The Bangor shook as the tungsten round was propelled to nearly half the speed of light in a thousandth of a second. Dust exploded up from the surface of Midelon’s lone satellite.

  As the dust began to settle, Tawn said, “Wow… just wow. That crater is twice the size of the last one. What’s your status?”

  Harris looked over the console. “Everything is green. I think we’re good for a multi-shot test.”

  Trish said, “Do us all a favor and do them one at a time first. Maybe three or four in succession.”

  The next minute saw four new craters created on the moon’s surface. “All indicators are still green.”

  Tawn said, “Put it on auto. Let’s see what we’ve got.”

  Harris made the adjustment. “Hold on to your britches.”

  The Bangor shook violently and began to move backwards as a steady stream of hypervelocity pellets emerged from the rails.

  Tawn raised her eyebrows as she watched the results. “Whoa.”

  The comm feed from the Bangor shut down. The shuttle moved in close.

  “Harris? You still with us?”

  “I am. We lost power. No smoke this time though.”

  Trish said, “Good. The new breaker must have worked. Go to the panel back in the bunkroom. Next to the console there. Open the panel to the right and flip the breaker back on.”

  Twenty seconds later the Bangor came back to life. “Done.”

  Trish replied, “Run a check on your console. If everything is green you should be back to where you were.”

  Harris sat. “All looks good.”

  Trish smiled. “We at least have manual. The circuits and feeds can handle the discharge for that.”

  Harris took a moment to review the devastation left by the weapon. “This has got it all over a plasma cannon.”

  Tawn said, “We take this out to Eden, are you prepared to unleash a firestorm? The Earthers may declare war on us.”

&
nbsp; Harris nodded. “Let them. They can’t touch us here.”

  Tawn replied, “They can rebuild, you know.”

  “Let them do that too. We’ll just follow up with another assault.”

  “They still have twice the standoff range we do.”

  “Won’t matter. We can handle what they’re dishing out long enough for us to get within range and take them out. And with the slight speed advantage we have now, we don’t have to worry about them catching us.”

  “You seem confident.”

  “More angry than confident.”

  Tawn sighed. “Let’s go back, get some food in our bellies, and then discuss this between all of us. That mine at Eden isn’t going anywhere in the next few hours.”

  Harris returned a scowl. “You set on that order of business?”

  “I am.”

  “I’ll see you back on the surface, then.”

  Lunch was had and the discussion began. Twenty minutes into arguments being laid on both sides, a decision was made. Tawn and Harris would attack in the Bangor while the others safely watched from the Gooch with Farker.

  Systems and supplies were checked before a comm was opened to Bannis Morgan.

  Harris said, “We just wanted to inform you of what’s going on.”

  “What did you do out on Jebwa?”

  “We didn’t do anything on Jebwa. We got there and the pacies were all gone. Found out later they had all been taken up and spaced. All twenty thousand. Every citizen. What have you heard?”

  “What I heard is that you are responsible. The freighter pilot said you were acting suspicious, you had blood on you, and you stole the cargo he was delivering.”

  Harris returned an angry stare for several seconds as he digested the news. “We weren’t acting suspicious. We were wondering where they all were. And the blood was from a dead cat we found butchered in their meeting hall. It was hanging and I backed into it. As to the cargo stealing, how can you steal what belongs to you?”

  Bannis held up a hand. “Don’t shoot the messenger. I know it wasn’t you. But the media has already sent a crew out there and have come back with footage.”

  “That fast?”

  “That fast. Images of you, Tawn, Trish, and Gandy are being shown non-stop. It’s already being called the ‘Jebwa Atrocity.’”

  Harris frowned. “Not like we could go back home anyway.”

  “You can’t go near the Retreat anymore either. The DDI has several ships parked out there on a permanent basis, specifically looking for you and your crew.”

  Harris’ frown turned to a scoff. “Let them look. We’ll be over at Eden solving our problem there. This Jebwa incident has to be the work of the Earthers. Probably still mad about the pacies’ time on Eden.”

  “Whatever the cause, the DDI now has firm orders to bring you in. As does every law enforcement agency at every outer colony. Will likely follow on the truce worlds. So I would look for all your supply deals to fall apart there.”

  Tawn said, “Mr. Morgan, you have to use your influence to shut this story down. It’s a lie. We didn’t do it.”

  Bannis let out a long sigh. “Unless you have evidence of that there’s not much I can do. The pacifists here are in a feeding frenzy over this. Even though claiming to be non-violent, they want your heads on a pike.”

  The comm was closed and a new one opened to the Retreat. A similar conversation was had with the colonel. He was understanding, and believed in their innocence, but there was nothing he could do to assist any further without putting himself and the colony at risk. The comm was closed and Harris turned with a dejected look on his face.

  Sharvie said, “Maybe the recording device will have some conversation evidence on it?”

  Harris looked at Farker. “Open a comm to Alex, please.”

  The familiar image appeared. “Greetings, Harris. I was expecting happiness, but I see forlorn faces. Has something happened?”

  Harris nodded. “The pacifists on Jebwa were murdered and the authorities on Domicile think we did it. We need evidence that it wasn’t us. Have you finished the decryption of the recorder we sent you?”

  “I have another 12 percent to complete. Why?”

  “Can you search through what you have for any references to Jebwa?”

  “One moment.”

  Harris turned to the others. If this batch doesn’t have anything, the next one should.”

  “Jebwa is mentioned in three conversations. The first is in reference to the pacifists being moved out there. The remaining two appear to be jokes about joining the pacifists on Jebwa. Is there anything more specific you are looking for?”

  “Yeah, like orders telling some captain to round them up and kill them.”

  “I am sorry, Harris. There doesn’t appear to be any records indicating any such activities. Perhaps it is included in the remaining 12 percent?”

  Harris sat back and waved a hand. “No. There would have been more than one reference. We have another recorder we’ll be picking up shortly. Maybe we’ll find something on there.”

  Harris closed the comm. “Let’s just go and get this over with.”

  Tawn shook her head. “This is big. I say we wait until morning.”

  “What difference will that make?”

  “It will hopefully let you calm down some. And I’d rather go at this fresh just in case it turns out to be a prolonged engagement.”

  Harris huffed. “Fine.”

  Trish stood. “Gandy and I aren’t done with level four. We should head in there and finish up so we can all advance.”

  “Yeah, the Earth seems to be in disarray,” Gandy said. “I’d say another war is brewing. Big war, I mean.”

  Tawn said, “You’re close to the end. I’d guess only a couple hours away.”

  Sharvie stood with a thumb pointed over her shoulder. “I’m gonna follow them in and just talk with Alex.”

  Tawn sat on a chair across from Harris. “Tough day. I know you were fond of them.”

  “I was fond that they were happy without abusing someone else to get that way. They just wanted to exist and be left alone.”

  Tawn returned a half frown. “In the long run they probably wouldn’t have been successful anyway.”

  “Why would you say that?”

  “Their education system. It consisted of meditation and a small dose of telling each other how things are done. We set them up for success, but they wouldn’t likely end up that way. If you hadn’t noticed, there were no kids. Another thirty or forty years and they’d have been nothing but a bunch of old codgers, probably in failing health, with a town around them that was collapsing because nobody knew how to repair it.”

  Harris let out a sigh. “They were happy though. At least for a while. And I think they were smart enough to have learned what they needed to do to keep going. As far as kids go, they could have had a steady stream of new recruits from Domicile.”

  Tawn shook her head. “Those kids coming out just want to be left alone. They wouldn’t come out here if they knew it meant having to care for a bunch of old people.”

  Harris asked, “You purposefully trying to bring me down?”

  Tawn chuckled. “No, just trying to calm you down. What happened was atrocious. Tomorrow we’ll make the Earthers pay for it. I just want you going in there with a clear head. Vengeance might bring parties to war, but it doesn’t make for good war-fighting.”

  Harris let out a single laugh. “What was that? Sixth grade they taught us that?”

  “I believe it was.”

  Chapter 20

  _______________________

  Harris downed the last of his breakfast.

  Tawn asked, “How you feel this morning?”

  “Better. You were right to make me wait. The lions of vengeance were roaring in my head yesterday. That would not have made for good decision making. Thanks for putting them to sleep.”

  Tawn nodded. “Well, you can wake them back up now. It’s time to even the score. So w
hat’s your plan? I know you’ve been thinking about it.”

  “We go in, straight for the command ship. If we can line up two of those ships we might even be able to take them out before getting fired at. After that we break away, try to lure one out and hit it. And we’ll keep doing that until there aren’t any left.”

  “What about the dome?”

  “When we have the warships out of the way, we go down and kill it. Two or three well placed rounds from those rails and the inside of that dome will be scrambled. Then maybe I strafe the pits a time or two.”

  “And the other mines?”

  “Then we can go after the other mines.”

  “OK.”

  Harris asked, “OK, what?”

  “Sounds like a plan,” Tawn replied.

  Harris let out a long breath. “You ready to do this?”

  Tawn smiled. “Don’t you know? I was born ready. Got the DNA to prove it.”

  Trish, Gandy, and Sharvie boarded the Gooch with Farker as Tawn and Harris manned the Bangor. Ninety minutes later they were stopped, just within view of Eden.

  Harris opened a localized comm. “This is it. You three go fetch that recorder and then come back here and wait. No going closer, no snooping. Give us four hours. If we aren’t back by then, you take that recorder back to Alex and come back to check for us right here at this time every day until you feel it’s reasonable to stop. Understood?”

  Trish nodded. “Understood.”

  Harris zoomed in on the nav display as the localized comm closed. “Four ships. Three more down on the surface, one at Fireburg, and a couple at other locations.”

  Tawn swirled the display around in front of herself. “Best we can do is two at a time. I could do a wide spiral before we take on the command ship. Might get lucky and clip one of the others.”

  Harris shook his head. “We don’t have the spiral shot. No autofeeder, remember?”

  “Hmm. So I guess we’re going straight in then.”

  Harris manipulated the display. “If we come in at this angle we’ll have a decent shot at this second ship. Ten degrees right and we have a third shot at this one. If it’s not already throwing everything it has at us.”

  “I like the looks of that. Make it happen.”