“She was actually scheduled for decommission next week,” said Wyatt, “but the admiral thought you could use her.” Then, sensing the group’s apprehension around him, he added, “She’s solid though, I’ll give her that. These old Newbern class freighters were never built to win any beauty contests, they were built to stay in the sky, and they were nothing if not reliable.” He regarded the vessel. “I guess what I’m saying is, don’t be too quick to judge her. She may not look like much, but she’s got it where it counts, ya know?”
Link grinned as a pair of crewmen directed a Sand Tiger up the freighter’s boarding ramp and into the cargo hold, its wide, armored frame and tall, knobby tires all but filling the confined space.
“That your call?” Lee asked
“It was,” replied Wyatt. “I figured you guys might need some decent wheels when you touch down on Myrick 4. Who knows what you’ll encounter, so you might as well be loaded for bear.”
“Appreciate that,” Lee noted, turning for the ship. “Alright everybody, wheels up in five.”
“Thanks for everything, Chief,” Danny said, extending a hand to Wyatt.
“Don’t mention it fellas. Just do me a favor and double-time the return trip, alright? First round of Scotch is on me when you get back.”
“A marvelous idea indeed, ma friend,” Hamish agreed. “Don’t start without us!”
“Wouldn’t dream of it, Big Man,” said Wyatt. “Now you guys get outta here.”
Once inside the freighter, Link and Hamish made their way to the cockpit to assume their familiar positions while Lee and Danny took seats in the passenger compartment to go back over the final details of Lee’s extraction plan.
“Flight, this is Jester,” Link spoke into his headset at the helm. “We’re ready to make like a tree down here… what’s your status?”
“That’s generally referred to as ‘green status,’ Jester” Reiser responded through the comm, and the group perked up at the sound of his voice.
“Hey Doc,” Lee replied. “What brings you up?”
“Since the admiral, Noll, and Ryan couldn’t be here, we felt it was only right that someone with a familiar face be here to send you guys off. Everyone sends their regards, though.”
“We?” Lee asked.
“Yeah,” said Reiser. “Dr. Reynolds is here beside me up in flight control.”
Lee flashed a look at Danny, and while the dim cabin lights overhead made it tough to see much of anything, he could’ve sworn he saw Danny blush.
“Copy that,” Lee chuckled.
“Listen Lee, for what it’s worth, I’m sorry about all of this,” Reiser admitted. “I swore in the beginning that the five of you would never see the field, and I hate that this is how it ends.”
“Yeah, well, don’t go writin’ the epitaphs just yet, Doc,” Lee laughed, trying to sound upbeat. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we’ve got a little errand to run. Don’t worry though, we plan on gettin’ back in plenty of time to drink up the rest of your stash. Understood?”
“Understood,” Reiser responded, audibly relieved. “Eight-Two,” he announced over the freighter’s clunkery, labored awakening. “Green status is confirmed… the pylon is yours. Safe voyage and happy hunting.”
Chapter 28: Stealth
Two hours later, Lee felt the faint rumble of inertia through the deck plates under his boots as their cargo ship exited hyperspace and began its sub-light approach toward the fourth planet in the system. Having targeted an adequate landing zone on the way that would put them roughly 60 kilometers out from the compound’s perimeter, Hamish entered the final LZ coordinates into the Nav-Com while Link eased gingerly off the throttle, hopeful that a slow and steady cruising speed, combined with a leisurely flight path and the vessel’s obsolescence, would keep them from warranting much attention from below.
“Unknown vessel,” the comm crackled, as the green planet ahead slowly crept into view. “This is the Alystierian base Myrick 4-Alpha. Identify yourself and state your business here.”
“So much for low profiles,” Danny muttered.
“Uh yeah, Alpha, this is the… uh…” Link paused, remembering that, for all the planning they’d done, they’d never actually discussed a name for their ship. Then, seeing his navigator’s frantic attempts to get his attention, Link turned to Hamish who mouthed a suggestion.
“Bite me,” Link grunted. “I’m so not saying that.”
“Why not?” Hamish’s lips persisted. “It’s timeless!”
Link disabled his mic. “Yeah,” he huffed, “because timeless is a fat-ass old man telling me to ‘Name My Own Price!’ for airfare on late-night TV. That’s timeless… friggin’ sellout.”
“Unidentified vessel, please respond.”
Hamish slammed his arms together over his chest and swiveled his back to his friend.
“Seriously?” Link said aghast. “You’re actually gonna pout over this?”
“I don’t pout—”
“Oh, obviously!”
“Unidentified vessel...”
Link shifted in his chair. “Listen, there’s no need to get your kilt panties in a bunch just becau—”
“Regimental, thank ya very much,” the Scot corrected, “and I frankly don’t give a damn what ya name this wee little dingy of a ship! Maybe something nice and quaint like, ‘Millennium Falcon,’” he mocked with fingered quotes. “If memory serves, that was a giant piece of shite too, so it’s perfect now, isn’t it?”
“Okay, first off—”
“Unknown vessel, you have 10 seconds to identify yourself and state your intentions, or you will be fired upon. 10… 9—”
“Oh for the love of nerds everywhere!” Danny erupted from the back. “I don’t care if you call this piece of junk the U.S.S. Sanford & Son, just do it already before they blow us outta the sky for being idiots!”
“Uh yeah, Alpha, sorry about that,” Link jumped back to the comm. “We’re experiencing, um, technical difficulties with our communications systems up here. This is the cargo ship…” He grimaced. “Enterprise. We have an appointment with a longstanding client of ours for some high-priority merchandise. Promise it won’t take long, then we’ll be out of your hair , over.”
“Copy that Enterprise, specify your cargo please.”
Remembering Ryan and Noll’s advice that any smuggler worth his salt is always reluctant to the last to identify his cargo, Link tried to stall.
“Uh, negative, negative Alpha. With respect, this client is actually paying us a rather large sum to keep that kind of information on a ‘need to know’ basis, over.”
“Enterprise, you are to specify your cargo or prepare to be boarded. The choice is yours.”
Link’s face lit up. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Alpha! That won’t be necessary. The client’s name is, um… Hefner?” he blurted with the first name that came to mind. “Mr. Hugh Hefner. Yeah, he’s a bunny farmer out in one of the border systems, and we’re cutting him a deal on some supplies. You know… particle accelerators, moisture condensers, Real Dolls… stuff like that.”
“And when are you expecting your buyer?” the comm insisted.
“Oh, that won’t be for a few hours, Alpha. We needed the extra time to set up our product demos for testing, and you know how it is with those inflatables,” he chuckled. “Damn tricky business, those things, I’ll tell ya… and that’s before you even add the lubricants! One misplaced hose and those rubber heads blow clean off, and then what? You’re stuck with a big fat mess of frayed plastic, and synthetic hair, and pink goo, and it’s a total nightmare because…”
Glancing over his shoulder, Link saw three grossed-out stares gawking back at him. “What?” he offered with a blank stare of his own. “I read an article about it in—”
“Thank you for your cooperation, Enterprise,” said the comm. “You’re cleared to proceed.”
“Thanks Alpha. Enterprise, out.”
Swiveling his chair back to the collection of disgusted looks behind him,
Link said nothing as an awkward silence fell over the cabin.
“What?” he shrugged. “Seriously, I read an article once in—”
“Nope,” Lee cut him off. “Believe me when I tell you Link, there ain’t a word in the English language strong enough to describe just how much I really don’t wanna know.”
“No really, I was j—”
“Don’t care!”
“But—”
“Dude!”
****
Several minutes later, the ship pierced through the final layer of cloud cover and swooped around to begin its descent toward the planet’s breathtaking emerald surface which, even under the moonlight, was exactly how Noll had described it.
Topographically defined by its vast blanket of lush forestry, the landscape was capped with a series of immaculate green highlands, the hills of which seemed to explode through the night sky with their boundless and vibrant array of trees and natural vegetation. Towering pines, sweeping mangroves, prickly palmettos, plus tens of thousands of other plant species ranging from knee-high ferns to hundred-foot oaks lined the scene for miles on end, sailing as high as the jagged peaks of the northeast, and descending all the way down to the marshy subtropical lowlands of the south.
Their previous bickering suddenly muted, the group marveled at the strikingly natural beauty that surrounded them.
“Wow, reminds me of the Everglades back home,” Danny noted, eyeing the endless, webbed network of winding waterways and tear-shaped islands that defined much of the planet’s low-lining countryside.
Listing lazily toward a field that Lee had identified on the map as being isolated enough for their purposes, Link brought the ship to rest amid a large clearing of windswept sawgrass before shutting off its engines and lowering the boarding ramp. Once outside, each of them collected their respective gear as Link fired up the Sand Tiger and eased it out into the open.
“Alright everybody, listen up,” Lee began, inspecting the palm-sized GPS device he’d removed from his vest. “Right now we’re about 58 klicks from the base, which is just south of here. Assumin’ that the scans we ran from orbit are accurate, we oughta be able to use the Tiger to get within four klicks of the perimeter, but then we’re on foot from there.”
“Hey Hamish,” Link said, pointing to the ground with the barrel of his sniper rifle. “Keep an eye out for the snakes. They get crazy huge in places like this.”
Forever phobic of such creatures, Lunley’s eyes bulged. “Danny?” His voice trailed off. “You grew up in a place like this, so tell me he’s joking. We’re not in danger of being eaten alive by some giant, man-eating reptile, right?”
“Sorry, Big Man,” Danny replied, fighting to keep a straight face. “But if the wildlife on this planet is anything like back home, it’s true. Burmese Pythons are no joke. They like to use streams and small waterways as guides in and out of their territory, and if I’m not mistaken, I think I saw a creek about a quarter-mile back that way.” He pointed across the clearing. “Seriously, though, Hamish, I wouldn’t give it much thought. Just make sure you shuffle your feet when you walk, that way if you happen to run into one, you’ll kick it rather than out-and-out step on it. The usually just slither away after that… usually.”
Darting his eyes around him—the Harbinger’s barrel alert and at the ready—Hamish shuffled hastily through the grass to the Sand Tiger, hopped in, and slammed the door securely shut as his friends snickered beside the vehicle.
“Oh, sod off and let’s go already!”
****
The trip to the Alystierian base took just under two hours, a fairly decent time given that the final three miles had to be taken on foot through some pretty heavy brush and swamp. Arriving there just in time to see the early streaks of orange glisten on the horizon, they took up their position at a treeline overlooking the light-speckled compound in the valley below.
Surveying its layout through the green tint of his night-vision goggles, Lee counted a total of 18 primary structures, plus another dozen warehouses and ancillary buildings, none any younger than three decades based on the level of rust and weathering on their grimy exteriors. Add that to the overgrown state of many of the facility’s alleyways and dirt roads, and it was pretty easy to see how a place like this could’ve fallen off the radar.
“What do we got?” Danny asked, resting flat on his chest next to Lee.
“Off the bat, quarters are pretty cramped, so we’ll have to be careful,” Lee noted, eyeing the tightness of the gaps between the buildings. “But on the upside, I doubt they’re even usin’ 50 percent of this place. The entire back half of the compound is dark, and several of the buildings in zones three, four, and five show minimal, if any, sign of power.”
“Security?” Hamish chimed in.
“Looks like eight guards workin’ on a 10-count, two-by-two, counter-clockwise rotation around the perimeter, with other guards posted up in isolated pockets around key portions of the base—barracks, armory, etc.—though I’d venture a guess that the big cinderblock building at the heart of that cul-de-sac is the command post.” He pointed to the compound’s center structure. “I’ve seen some movement out of the communications array up top, plus most of the lights are on. That and it’s got far and away the heaviest concentration of security around it.”
“Which is?” Danny inquired.
“Four guards at the entrance and two at the exit, plus your perimeter rotation.”
“Don’t forget about Sparky up in the guard tower,” Link added, squinting an eye through the scope of his rifle.
“He check in yet?” Lee asked, tracking the watchtower’s spotlight, which bounced from building to building.
“Thirteen seconds ago,” Link replied. “I’ll tell you when he checks in again.”
Lee gave him a cursory nod and started the timer on his watch.
“Okay, what’s the play?” Danny concluded. “Daylight is almost on us, so if we’re gonna do this, we’ve gotta do it now while they’re still running a skeleton crew, and we’ve still got the dark for cover.”
“Agreed,” said Lee. “We start with the command post.”
Link’s expression flashed with incredulity. “Way to go for the gusto there, Top,” he muttered.
“Sorry, fellas, but none of these other structures look fortified enough to house a holding cell, and some of them are so old and run down, they look like they could collapse with a stiff breeze. If Mac is here like we think she is, that’s where we’ll find her. The key to this is gonna be stealth. That means suppressed fire all the way, understood?”
They nodded.
“Alright,” Lee went on. “Link, as usual, you’re the eye in the sky throughout. Danny and I will maneuver around into zone six and cut the fence there.”
“Why six?” Danny cocked an eyebrow. “They’ve got security in that area, whereas over in three or four we’d be free and clear.”
Lee dismissed the suggestion. “Yeah, but out of all the active zones, six gives us the lightest resistance, plus Link can still see us from his nest, which is gonna be crucial. Link,” he turned, “once we’re through, we’ll need you to bird-dog security for us goin’ in, but especially comin’ out of the building. If this thing goes off the rails when we grab Mac, these guys are gonna come out of the woodwork like cockroaches, which means we’ll need you up here, primed and ready to lay down cover fire from on high while we make a break for it.”
“That’s a lotta guys, boss, and I’m not exactly perched up here with Hamish’s favorite new toy,” Link answered, scanning the ground for loose foliage or anything else he could add to his ghillie suit. “Mine’s bolt-action, remember?”
“I know,” said Lee, “but the bulk of the personnel are gonna come from the barracks, and that’s literally on the other side of the compound from where we’ll be. So theoretically, with a little luck and a decent head start, we oughta be able to beat their response time.”
“Theoretically?” Link grumbled.
“It’ll be fine,” Lee assured him, wiping the sweat from his forehead as the sting in his cuts returned. “You just worry about settin’ up shop with a clear line of sight on the east side of that building, alright? Besides, if this thing blows up, and Hamish does his job, trackin’ us will be the least of their worries.”
“I like the sound of that,” Hamish grinned. “What do ya have in mind?”
Returning to his goggles, Lee spied a tarmac and a trio of hangars to the west. “Feel like makin’ something go boom today?”
Hamish clasped his hands in delight. “Always!”
“Good. A tarmac means ship traffic and ship traffic means refuelin’. Refuelin’ means a fuel depot. The woods over there look to be pretty thick, so circle back in that direction and wait for an opening. Once it’s clear, get in, find the depot, plant your bomb, and get out. After that, I want you to double back to the rocks at the foot of this hill to help Link with the cover fire if we need it.”
“When do ya want me to blow the tanks?”
“If this goes off without a hitch,” said Lee, “not until we have Mac and are well on our way back to the ship, but be ready with your finger on the button anyway. If Danny and I are discovered, we’ll use the explosion as a diversion to keep everybody busy while we’re hopefully makin’ our escape.”
“Why don’t you see how much of their air support you can take out while you’re at it,” Danny added, turning a suggestive eye to Lee. “Every little bit helps, ya know?”
“That’s the idea,” Lee agreed. “But even still, there’s no way we get back to the fenceline without hittin’ resistance, which means the two of you need to be ready to shoot anything and everything that stands between us and it. We’re gonna be haulin’ ass at that point, and stoppin’ to fire a halfway accurate shot won’t exactly be on the to-do list.”
“Don’t sweat it, Top,” Link assured him. “We gotcha covered.”
“One more question, Lee?” said Danny. “Once we’re inside, it’s just us. Any thoughts about how you plan on dealing with internal security?”
Mako (The Mako Saga: Book 1) Page 43
