Neptune's Massif

by Ben Winston

  “Ops is online, Damocles. Please define your blurb.”

  “I received a personal request from a ten-year-old civilian for immediate medical assistance for her sister, as well as assistance in locating her parents and grandmother. We are currently in route to her home to render the medical assistance. Her home is located in the Crystal Falls area of Elysium. Please inform Guardian that this civilian has been positively identified as the granddaughter of Dame Galla of House Camilla. She says her parents were taken three days ago, and her grandmother has been missing for a week. From her description, the girl's older sister may have been assaulted by the enemy. The girl was searching for her grandmother when she approached me.”

  “Understood, Damocles. What assistance do you require?” Operations replied.

  “Any information you can find as to the where-abouts of the girl's relatives. Also, could you have a medical shuttle on standby? We might run into more than just this one woman once we get down. This area is without power and may need more assistance than we can give,” Cindy asked.

  “Negative on the medical team, Damocles. We’re stretched too thin as it is. However, I can get a shuttle load of supplies on the list to come down once you give me a drop location. I’ll begin a search for those people you requested and let you know if I find anything.”

  Cindy cursed under her breath. “Roger, ops. We’ll let you know once we have it all figured out. Damocles out.”

  “We’re ready to land, Major. I found a couple of things we should investigate once we’re down.”

  “Okay, but priority goes to the wounded. Activate defenses once we’re down. We’ll worry about what you’ve found once we get the girl taken care of. Now, where do we want to land...”

  “What the hell is that?” Zonk asked, pointing.

  Razor turned to look at the descending ship and his eyes narrowed. “That,” he said, “is our ticket off this rock. Go get the rest of the boys, I’ll stay here and see what kind of troops they have. It looks like they are landing near that matriarch-bitch’s place.” He noticed that his underling hadn’t moved, but was still watching the ship. Razor backhanded the idiot. “Get moving shit-head! We might have to move fast!”

  Zonk picked himself up from the floor and headed out the door. Razor picked up his laser rifle to watch the group through the scope. He hadn’t powered up the laser, just the scope. He also didn’t notice the turret on the top of the craft pointed directly at him. ‘Must be some new kind of shuttle,’ the man thought. ‘I wonder if the pilot’s female? It’ll be a long trip to where ever we decide to go.’

  On the bed directly behind him, the two young girls he and Zonk had been using lay unconscious and bleeding. They had passed out about an hour ago, but that didn’t stop the men.

  “Shit! They only brought five people out here? This’ll be easy! Maybe we’ll have time to grab some of our 'toys' to take with us also!” Razor chuckled in anticipation. “Yes, this ought to be very easy.”

  Combat Theater 'Astra'

  Raptor Damocles

  Crystal Falls, Elysium Suburb

  New Talos System, Carnius Sector

  “Major, our landing is being watched. I have the Damocles keeping an eye on those weapons signatures I found earlier and one of the men is watching us. There are four in that room, two adult males and two children,” Lissa told Cindy via the comm.

  “How far away are they?” Cindy asked.

  “Approximately two-hundred and fifty meters to the south. Damocles has locked onto them, but line of sight passes through the children behind them. They are bringing that weapon to bear, but are not powering it up. I would say they are using its telescopic sight to observe us.”

  “Okay, everyone into armor. Shannon, Zion, grab that emergency stretcher in the back. We’ll bring the family on board and treat them here until we can assess the situation. Lissa, good work, and keep me posted on our friends’ activities. Cami, honey? I need you to stay here with Lissa until we can get your sister and brothers. Can you do that?”

  “Who’s Lissa?” Cami asked.

  “She’s the very pretty woman on the other side of that door. She is a very good friend of Shannon and mine. Do you think you can stay here and keep her company so she doesn’t get scared?” Cindy asked.

  Cami raised an eyebrow at Cindy, “I'm young but I'm not a baby, Major. You must have seen the bad men nearby and you want me to stay here where it’s safer. Yes, I’ll stay, but you have to promise to just tell me things from now on.”

  Cindy chuckled, “Sorry Cami, you’re right. I promise, no more treating you like a baby.”

  Cami hugged Cindy, but everyone clearly heard her say, “Adults!” as she did. Cami went to introduce herself to Lissa while Cindy put her armor on.

  Mlas and Zion were double checking their armor while Sparks was setting up a link to the autodoc from her combat suit.

  Cindy was just putting on her helmet when Lissa called her again. “Major, one of the men that was observing us is running to a building a few blocks over. I think he’s going to get re-enforcements.”

  “Damn! Gimme a display of the surrounding area, including all the life signs and those you’ve identified as hostile by their ID tags.” Cindy ordered. “Guys, we may have a problem.” She stood over the holographic display on the table. “This large group of people over here must be where that guy is heading. What is that place, some kind of community center?”

  “That’s exactly what it is, Major. It’s also the power distribution node for this area. We will have to go in there if we want to restore public services. If that place is full of hostiles, I’m damn glad I didn’t just head over there,” Mlas said.

  “I don’t think that all of them are hostiles. I think some might be civilians. Lissa, give me a comm to Colonel Taris.” Cindy ordered.

  “Taris here. Find some trouble, Major?”

  “You could say that. We don’t have an exact count yet, but I would guess we have about thirty hostiles that have taken an interest in our ship. Do you think you can spare a platoon for a couple of hours?”

  “When you took off I woke up the reserve platoon and stuffed them into a shuttle. Where do you want them?” Taris asked.

  “Are you getting our data feed?” Cindy asked.

  “We are now," Taris replied.

  “Good, I’d like them to be dropped here, behind the community center." Cindy indicated the area on the hologram so the Colonel would see it. "Once these idiots realize we are not the easy targets they think we are, they are going to try to get back to that center. I want your troops to move in and secure that center once the hostiles move out. We should be able to catch them in the open. But I think you should know that there seems to be civilians in there as well. Condition unknown, but I have a feeling it won’t be good,” Cindy explained.

  “We’ve landed, Major,” Lissa said.

  “We’re on the ground, Colonel. Get your guys here ASAP. I have a feeling this is going to happen pretty fast,” Cindy finished.

  “They’ve already left. ETA zero-five. Good luck, Major," Taris replied.

  After closing the connection, Cindy turned to her team. “Okay, let’s go.” They left the Raptor through the large doors at the rear. As Cindy passed by the weapons locker, she clipped her pulse rifle to her suit and grabbed an assault shotgun. She worked the action once to pump one of the three-inch, double-ought-buck shot magnum loads into the chamber. With a malicious grin, she followed the rest of her team out the back.

  “Whatcha got, Razor?” Brodin asked.

  Brodin had been the one placed in charge before everything went to shit. He had ordered his platoon to hold the community center, but had placed two-man guard posts at various places around his perimeter. He collected the comm units after the order not to use them, except in case of emergency, had been ignored. He was losing control of his platoon and he knew it.

  “I gots us a ride off this rock. There is only five that got off that ship, ifin they left the pilot
on board, then they only have six people. We can take the ship,” Razor replied.

  “I’ve never seen a ship like that before. What kind is it?” Brodin asked.

  “Who cares? It’s big enough for everyone and it has a hyperdrive. What'er we talkin' for?”

  “Hold on a minute. That thing is armed,” Brodin said, examining the Raptor through the rifle scope. “Maybe it’s a new type of shuttle.”

  “Are we gonna sit here all day, or are we gonna get outta here? Shit, Brodin you gonna get us all killt ifin we jus’ sit here and gab about it!” Razor said impatiently.

  “Fine, you want it so damn bad, you can lead. Zonk, you and Pick take first squad and head over behind the house opposite the bitch’s place. Razor, you take second squad and move up next to the door. When those five come out, kill them. When the shooting starts, Zonk and Pick will rush the shuttle. Now, move!” Brodin ordered.

  “Major, our friends have split into two groups. I think they are trying to surround us. One group is moving up toward the door to the house you are now in. The other group is across from them and will end up on the other side of the Damocles.” Lissa reported. "They did not leave any guards behind. I think they are trying to capture the ship."

  “This might take a few minutes; the boys are scared out of their wits and we just found the wounded woman.” Cindy paused to think, “Have the Marines made their drop yet?"

  “They just hit the ground. They haven’t entered the community center yet,” Lissa replied.

  “Okay, I’m gonna give our friends out there something to occupy their time while the doc gets the woman ready to move. How many weapons do they have that I’ll have to worry about and where are they?”

  Lissa took a moment to reply, “Two laser rifles and one pistol. The rest seem to be armed with clubs and knives, barbarians. None of them are wearing armor, one laser rifle is with each group, while the pistol is with a smaller group that seems to be holding back.”

  “Hmm, the group that is holding back must be what they have for a command section. I’ll try not to get too far away from the ship, but I’m going to try to draw them off. Once Shannon gets everyone back on board, close the ramp in case these idiots get lucky,” Cindy replied.

  “One thing I think I should mention, Major. The two children that were near the original observation point are in critical condition. The men were abusing them very badly. We need to get to them soon,” Lissa added.

  “Understood,” Cindy replied tightly. Children. These bastards deserved no mercy.

  Cindy began feeling a cold rage building up inside of herself. These bastards used those children for whatever sick shit they could think of. Well, Cindy could think of a few things of her own. She walked back to the main room of the house, to the big drape-covered window next to the door. She could see the shadows of the men outside through the window. She thumbed the safety on the shotgun off and slowly pressed it to the back of the shadow on her right. She punched through the window with her left hand, grabbing a man by the neck at the same moment she squeezed the trigger on the shotgun. She used every ounce of enhanced strength the armor gave her to crush the man’s neck before she stepped through the window.

  She jacked another round into the shotgun as she turned to face the rest of the men. Her rapid and brutal assault shocked the men into inaction; Cindy took advantage of that.

  A smallish, rat faced man was next to her; she dropped the barrel of the shotgun to his crotch and pulled the trigger, once again at point-blank range. She managed to dispatch two more of these child-abusing bastards before a laser bolt struck her armor in the side. She spun to face this new threat.

  Her armor could absorb the energy from a few laser bolts before taking damage. However, she needed to drain that energy off or the suit could go into a critical overload. She engaged her jump pack and rocketed across the ‘street’ to the other group of men. The shotgun leveled at the man holding the laser rifle. The man managed to fire off two more shots before he was blown in half by the shotgun. Both of his hasty shots missed Cindy. She didn’t notice the men behind her trying to grab the rifle from one of the fallen men she had already killed. Nor did she hear the guns on top of the Damocles start firing. She did grab the man next to her first target by the neck and shoved him through the wall of the building, breaking his neck in the process. She spun, cocked the shotgun and blew out the chest of one man as he tried to run away.

  She tossed the empty shotgun over to the ramp of the Damocles, unclipped her pulse rifle and ran after the men, occasionally firing into them. At one point she used her jump pack to surprise them as they rested behind a house. She didn’t even realize that the men had run past the community center.

  She didn’t care that they didn’t seem to stop. On they ran and on she chased them; killing one or two every time they tried to stop for a rest. She had no idea how long it had been, nor how far they had gone. She ignored the calls on her comm as well as Shannon calling to her mentally. All that mattered to her was killing these miserable, child-molesting bastards.

  Her quarry broke from cover, but this time they didn’t run, instead, they both dropped to their knees, their hands behind their head in surrender. Cautiously she walked up to them. They were both panting hard; one was trying to throw-up. There were only the two left.

  “What the hell are you?” one of the men managed to gasp out.

  “Pissed.” Was all Cindy said, as she kicked him in the head; the audible sound of his neck snapping was the last sound his buddy heard as Cindy brought her gloved fist down on top of his head; crushing his skull.

  “Damocles, this is Williams. Sanction complete, returning to base,” she said in a dead voice. She turned and began walking back the way she had come, silence was her only companion.

  Chapter 13

  Combat Theater 'Astra'

  Star Dancer Command Center

  New Talos System, Carnius Sector

  “Admiral, there is a private call for you from Officer Lissa of the Damocles,” Mel informed him.

  “Thank you, please put it through,” Ian answered. He immediately knew something was wrong; Lissa wouldn't be calling him like this for any other reason.

  “Admiral, There’s a problem. Cindy seems to have had a mental breakdown,” Lissa reported.

  “What happened?" Ian asked. "Where is she now?"

  “She's sedated and in her bunk. Shannon is using her ability to try to help her. We caught the group of rebels that were in charge of this section of the city. They were trying to ambush us and steal the ship. It was obvious that they had been abusing the residents. Even the children had fallen victim to these men. Cindy said she was going to distract them long enough for us to get a wounded girl into the ship. Sir, she ambushed, stalked and killed every one of them. When she chased after them, we tried to call her back, but she didn't reply. Shannon tried to contact her mentally but said it was like she wasn’t even there. Her suit recorded everything, Sir. The last two men tried to surrender to her. She killed them and then reported the 'sanction’ complete.

  “She returned to the ship and allowed us to disarm and remove her armor. She appeared to be in a catatonic state, which is why we sedated her. Sir, according to article forty-nine, section twelve, Major Williams is no longer fit for command. According to protocol, I have already relieved her of command and reported the event to Raptor Command for review. I feel that, under the circumstances, the Damocles should return to the ship. The Marines have this area under control and are assisting the residents. Our presence is no longer required." Lissa finished. Ian could tell from her voice that she had not liked what she had been forced to do to Cindy.

  Since Ian knew Cindy was a very strong-willed person, something really bad had to have made her snap.

  “I understand, Lissa. Please bring the wounded back to the ship, but I still need you and the rest of the team in the city for the time being. Please tell Sasha that she has operational command since you’re a non-combatant.”


  “Yes Sir. I’m sure Shannon will want to stay with her. Since we are only doing a mop-up, would that be alright?”

  “Well, I don’t like the idea of leaving you that shorthanded, but I think you’re probably right. At least until we can get Cindy some professional help. Bring her and the child's family up here; then return to Elysium. I’ll want your team to co-ordinate with command to form aid stations through-out the city. Councilor Noren will be making an announcement, and we should have volunteers climbing out of the bulkheads. It seems we have a lot of medically trained personnel calling in too."

  “Understood, Admiral,” Lissa said. She listened to his words but his face registered only concern for his friend. He was dissembling; trying not to let this effect the job he still had to do. “Ian, she is a strong woman. We’ve all seen the horrors that have been inflicted on this population. No one regrets what Cindy did, but we are worried about the mental state that it caused in her. We will all be ready to testify on her behalf if criminal charges are filed.”

  “Thanks, Lissa. But you know that criminal charges cannot be filed against her for her actions. A Military Tribunal will be convened to assess her actions and possibly modify the regulations governing Raptor teams; but no charges can be filed against her for actions undertaken in a combat situation. The whole purpose for the Raptor mandates is to be able to make decisions like this without prior command approval." He sighed. “Please forward all the information you have on the incident so I can make a report to the Council.”

  “Yes Sir. You’ll have it before we get up there,” Lissa replied.

  “You did the right thing, Lissa: all of you have. Unfortunately, the job isn't over just yet. Bring her home and we'll get her the help she needs," Ian said. Lissa nodded her agreement and closed the connection.

  Commodore Belirus had overheard most of the conversation. “She’ll be alright, Ian.” The older man placed his hand on Ian's shoulder.

  “By the gods, I hope you’re right,” Ian said softly. “I'll be in my office, I have a meeting to prepare for, and I should send a message to my family. Please let me know when the Damocles will be landing.”