The Gates of Hell

by Chris Kennedy

  Moore quietly agreed but didn’t respond. She was already thinking of ways out of this mess. They were down to just their arm blades and whatever was stored in the leg compartment of their CASPers, which was inaccessible for now. She was sure the first command once they landed, if they were still in one piece by then, would be to exit their CASPers. She had as long as the flight took to decide if that was the time to fight.

  * * *

  Intergalactic Haulers Transport Stone Mountain, Zaotov-3 Orbit

  Sloan went to his office while they waited for the frigate to approach. He had his crew running extended sensor sweeps of the system. It didn’t make sense for there to only be one frigate in the system. He grunted as he remembered the frigate Spartan’s team had taken in the Trua system. That was a lone frigate, too, but they’d had orbital defenses to help there.

  He read over the information he had about the model of the frigate approaching them and was confident they could take it out, but it could definitely hurt them if they didn’t disable it with one shot. Lieutenant Commander Aruan and Commander Wilson were working together on a firing strategy, given the frigate’s course and probable position when they’d have no choice but to fire.

  The benefit of knowing exactly what was coming was they knew where the fusion plants were. In most battles it didn’t matter, because targeting anything that specific was nearly impossible. In this case, though, the Stone Mountain was in a fixed position in orbit. The frigate would have to be very careful if they fired, or risk hitting the planet—which, Sloan hoped, was still prohibited.

  Of course, he thought, given that there are no contracts at the moment, these people might not care about the letter of the law.

  With nothing else to do but wait, he went back through recent contracts the Intergalactic Haulers had completed to try to figure out who might be so pissed off that they’d gone to so much trouble to draw them in.

  * * *

  Zaotov-3 Surface

  The dropship flew for about ten minutes, which matched the mapping she’d stored from their fly-over. She didn’t have a good picture of the area thanks to the storms, but now that she’d taken time to examine it more closely, it looked like what used to be a settlement.

  They felt the dropship starting its approach, and once again the ship took what seemed like unnecessary and jerky turns.

  “Hey, LT, can we get captured by someone who knows how to fly next time?” Snider asked.

  “I’ll see what I can do just for you, Specialist,” Moore responded, which gave everyone on the team a chuckle. Good. Keep your spirits up. This isn’t over yet, she thought.

  The dropship hit the ground hard, jarring them all in their CASPers. She estimated they would all probably be dead or suffering from broken bones if they’d actually been loose in the cabin.

  Without being prompted, she unhooked her CASPer, and the rest of the team followed suit. They stacked along the sides of the hatch at the rear of the ship like they were going to come out into a combat zone, which they were.

  “If you’re thinking of trying to fight your way out, I’ll remind you that you’re outnumbered and outgunned,” the man said over their comms.

  “If you fight like your pilot flies, I like my odds,” Moore snapped.

  “No one else has to die today.”

  Moore frowned. That didn’t sound like a merc.

  “What do you want from us?”

  “The major will explain everything if you’ll come out without a fight.” The confidence in the man’s voice was wavering. He seemed to be begging them not to fight.

  Moore wasn’t much in the mood for talking after seeing two people she considered family killed, but they didn’t have much choice. She figured they could probably get at least one or two of them clear, but even if the pilots were amateurs, ten CASPers against her five meant some of her team would die. Still, she felt the balance of power tipping.

  “Okay, open the door, let’s talk.”

  The hatch of the dropship opened, and she got a good, close look at what they were up against. The squad of CASPers arrayed around the dropship, the same ones she’d seen before most likely, were a motley crew. An assortment of Mk 5 and Mk 6 CASPers stood before her, and all of them looked like they’d seen better days.

  She led her team slowly down the ramp and took the opportunity to get a good look at their surroundings. They’d landed in the middle of the settlement she’d seen on the fly-over video, and it was a mess. Behind them was the wreckage of a frigate-sized ship, but it had been there for years. There was no way it was the Valdosta. The only structures that looked remotely sturdy were two pre-fabs that had been set up on top of the rubble. Even they were barely serviceable by her standards.

  Off to the side she saw an old AA missile vehicle, which had probably been what took out the dropship. The missile rails were empty. That was good. She saw at least fifteen CASPers littered around in various states of destruction, so at least her dropship pilot had taken some with him.

  “So where’s this major of yours?” Moore asked.

  “In there,” the man responded, and pointed to the better-looking of the prefab buildings.

  Good, now I know which one of you is in charge, she thought. She was tempted to order her team to attack and destroy the building the major occupied, but part of her was curious. She checked the readout on her CASPer, and the air outside was breathable, but it wouldn’t be pleasant.

  She took a step toward the structure, and the three CASPers with arm-mounted MACs pointed them at her. “No funny business,” the man warned.

  Funny business? What is this, a bad movie? Moore thought.

  “Stay near the dropship; that might be our ride home,” she told her team on the squad-net as she walked toward the structure. It only took ten steps in her CASPer to get there, but she wanted to spend as little time in this atmosphere as necessary.

  “You’re not seriously going to go in there?” Corporal Mack asked.

  “Yes, Corporal. I want to know what’s going on down here. Maybe we can end this without anyone else dying today.”

  She put her CASPer into standby mode and popped the canopy. The first bite of the acidic atmosphere hit her throat, and she winced. She quickly climbed down and jumped the last bit to the ground before she went into the building and shut the door behind her.

  Tentatively she took a breath and was relieved to find that the air inside was more tolerable, though not perfect. The furnishings were sparse, and everything had a purpose. She saw a small transmission dish, which would be how they kept in touch with the ship in space. She also saw what she recognized as a jamming device, adding to the already harsh conditions of the planet to stop them from communicating with Stone Mountain.

  There was a man behind a desk, on which several slates were propped up. From where she stood, he didn’t look like a CASPer driver. He couldn’t be more than 20. To her, he was just a kid. She didn’t miss the fact that there was a projectile pistol sitting on the desk within easy reach.

  “Welcome to Zaotov, Lieutenant Moore.”

  She raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms over her chest. “Right. Who are you, and what do you want?”

  “Major Jeremy Palmer,” he said as he stood and extended a hand.

  She glanced down at it but made no move to shake his hand. “What do you want?”

  He sat awkwardly and tried to project an air of confidence, but Moore saw straight through it. This boy was out of his depth, and he knew it. “We have what we want, you and your team.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Okay, kid. Why are we here? You went to a lot of trouble to get us here, now what?”

  “Now we wait. Once Vengeance has disabled your ship, I’ll get further orders.”

  Moore couldn’t help but chuckle and shake her head. “You’re out of your element, kid. Look, have your friends outside go away; we’ll borrow your dropship and leave. You get to live. It’s a win-win. I don’t know who talked you into this stupidity, but if y
ou tell me who they are, I’ll go slap them for you, free of charge.”

  Jeremy burst up so quickly, his chair toppled over. He snatched up the pistol and pointed it at her, thrusting it like a knife to accentuate his words. “I’m the one with the gun, lady! So shut up! One word, and my team will mow your CASPers down!”

  She grinned. She’d gotten through what Jeremy was trying to be to what he really was. He sounded like a street thug trying to steal her pocket credits. The hand that held the pistol was shaking. This kid had never seen real combat.

  “Why don’t you put that down, Jeremy,” she said smoothly as she walked forward. She just needed to close ground a little bit to get the advantage. “I’m unarmed, right?” she asked and uncrossed her arms to hold them out to the side.

  Indecision was painted on his face like a neon sign. Whoever had put him up to this had told him it would be easy. Moore intended to make it anything but.

  She smiled and folded her hands behind her back, using the opportunity to click the emergency transceiver in the small of her back twice. Her team would be on alert, ready to move if things went sideways. With that transmission, they would be selecting their targets and positioning themselves to attack. They had to hope their skill would balance out the numbers.

  “Keep your hands out where I can see them!” Jeremy shouted and shook the pistol at her.

  She shrugged and let her arms fall to her sides. “There, better?” Just a few more steps, she thought.

  “What’s your status down there, Major?” a voice asked from the comm system in the room. Jeremy glanced over at it and gave Moore the opening she needed.

  As soon as his eyes left her to look to the side, she leaped over the desk at him. She used her left hand to push his right hand to the side just as he pulled the trigger twice. The shots were loud in the confined area. She followed through and tackled him. Because of the chair that had fallen behind him, they both landed awkwardly and rolled.

  She stayed in contact with him to prevent him from getting room to turn the gun toward her. They fought for control of the pistol, but she managed to get into position to knee him squarely in the groin, which took the fight out of him long enough for her to get the pistol and roll away from him.

  She came up to one knee and aimed at his chest with the pistol in both hands. “You move, you die.” It was only then that she felt the pain in her left shoulder. The sonofabitch had shot her.

  * * *

  Upon hearing the two-click signal from Lieutenant Moore, the team got ready. Corporal McKnight had already assessed the situation and marked targets for each of the troopers. Primary objectives were three CASPers with mech-sized laser rifles that could be taken and used. For himself, he selected the nearest mech, which had two K-bombs.

  The Intergalactic Hauler troopers wandered a bit away from the shuttle.

  “Hey! Stay where you are!”

  “We’re not used to standing still; just stretching our legs, so to speak,” McKnight responded.

  “Yeah, well…stop it.”

  “Okay, okay,” he said. He checked, and everyone had managed to get into position. The odds were still against them, but experience could trump firepower in the right circumstances.

  Seconds later two shots rang out from inside the structure, and they jumped into action. The element of surprise was on their side. They knew something was about to happen, but their captors thought everything was under control.

  McKnight left everyone else to their jobs and focused on his own. He ran toward his target CASPer and extended his arm blade. The Mk 5 CASPer he was after was slow, and the trooper inexperienced. Before the old CASPer could even respond, McKnight drove his sword through the cockpit, killing the occupant, and snatched the K-bomb belt from the mech.

  He caught one of the enemy CASPers bringing a MAC to bear from his peripheral camera and turned with the enemy mech still skewered on his blade. He used it as a shield as the enemy unloaded. If the occupant of that CASPer hadn’t been dead before, he definitely was now.

  Around him, Snider, Mack, and Horne had been successful in disarming their targets, and all now held laser rifles. They’d disabled the CASPers they’d taken them from and fired with full effect at the still-standing enemies.

  One of the reasons the Mk 5 and Mk 6 CASPers hadn’t lasted was they were vulnerable to laser fire. The Mk 6 was slightly better, but only if the coating was maintained, which it obviously hadn’t on these mechs.

  In less than two minutes, the battle was over, and only the Haulers were left standing. Everyone but McKnight had taken some damage. “Status!” he demanded over the squad-net.

  “Took a few MAC rounds. Nanites are working on it,” Snider grunted. “I love to hate these things.”

  “Left arm’s out. Mechanical issue,” Horne answered. “Otherwise, all good.”

  “I don’t…” Corporal Mack sounded weak. “Shit…got me in the back. I’ve locked my legs to keep me up, but I’m not going anywhere.”

  McKnight frowned. He could hear the pain in Mack’s voice and knew he needed a medic, but they were a long way from help. “Keep an eye on them. I’ll secure this hunk of junk,” he said as he walked around the dropship.

  Snider triggered the speakers on his CASPer. “All clear, LT.”

  * * *

  Intergalactic Haulers Transport Stone Mountain, Zaotov-3 Orbit

  “Captain, we’ve got a transmission from the planet. It’s Lieutenant Moore,” Commander Wilson said from the door of Sloan’s office.

  Sloan pushed himself out of his chair and onto the bridge. He pointed up, indicating to put the comm on speakers. Lieutenant Mitchell nodded.

  “What’s your status, Lieutenant?” Sloan asked.

  “Situation pacified, Captain. Corporal Mack needs a medic pretty badly. The rest of us are a little banged up, but we’ll survive.”

  “What the hell happened down there?”

  Moore summarized the engagement, highlighting the loss of their dropship and Specialist Freeman. “I’m in their command building, if you can call it that, with control of their radio and the jamming equipment. I’ve got their ground commander at gunpoint.”

  “Well done, Lieutenant. We’ve still got a bit of a situation up here. Any idea what this is all about?”

  “No idea, sir. The ground commander is a damn kid. I don’t think anyone down here knows what’s going on. We’ve got control of their dropship, too, though I’m not sure it’s safe to fly out of the atmosphere.”

  “Understood. Hold your position, Lieutenant. I’ve got this frigate to deal with.”

  “Yes, sir. We’ll be standing by. Moore, out.”

  Wilson grinned at Sloan. “Told you she’d handle it.”

  “So you did,” Sloan said as he pulled himself into his command chair and strapped in. “Our turn, I guess. Time to engagement window?”

  “They’ll be in the optimal position in about 30 minutes, sir,” Aruan responded without taking her eyes from her station.

  * * *

  Zaotov-3 Surface

  Jeremy sat, then leaned back against the wall as Lieutenant Moore finished her conversation with Captain Sloan.

  “So what are you going to do with me?” he asked.

  “That’ll be up to Captain Sloan, once he deals with your friends up there. Want to tell me what this was all really about? What the hell are you doing here?” she asked and leaned back against the table.

  “Not exactly safe on Earth, in case you haven’t heard. Not that the almighty Intergalactic Haulers give a shit about Earth,” he spat.

  She flinched as if she’d been struck. “Are you joking? Look, kid. I don’t know what line you’ve been fed, but we’ve rescued and recovered more Human mercenary companies than you could ever imagine.”

  “Sure, that’s what you tell everyone. Then you peddle the technology to the Mercenary Guild so they know how to beat us! That’s why Earth is doomed! That’s why my parents are dead!”

  Moore tilted her head a
nd examined Jeremy for a moment. “How long have you been out here waiting, hoping one of us would come by?”

  He shrugged noncommittally and focused on the ground. “A few months, I guess.”

  “The ship up there too?”

  He nodded.

  “Son, the war is over. The Horsemen came back to Earth and put a stop to it…well, I guess you could say the Peacemakers put a stop to it. But it’s over. There’s a cease-fire in place. We were there before we came here.” She felt sorry for him now more than anything. He’d been fed a line by someone with a grudge and believed every word of it.

  “You’re lying! The Guild won! He said so!”

  She shook her head gently and was about to tell him more, but the comm device came to life again. “Dammit, Jeremy, answer me! What’s the status down there?”

  “That your boss?” she asked.

  He nodded again.

  “What’s his name, son?”

  “Captain Duke,” he answered. She could tell he was starting to doubt his decisions, and not just because she was holding the gun.

  She activated the comm device. “Captain Duke? This is Lieutenant Nancy Moore of the Intergalactic Haulers. Your people down here have lost.”

  “What? That’s impossible! Where’s my nephew?”

  Moore raised her eyebrows and looked at Jeremy.

  “I’m here,” he said loud enough for the pickup to hear him.

  “I’ll destroy your precious transport, then come down there and kill every last one of you personally if you harm one hair on his head!”

  “I doubt that very much, Captain Duke. He’s bruised, but otherwise fine. If you want this boy and the other kids back, that’s fine, but you need to stand down and give up this…whatever this is.”

  “Never! I’ve made it my life’s mission to track down Snowman and the rest of your little band of traitors and make you pay for losing Earth!”

  “Earth isn’t lost,” she said calmly. “The war is over—well, in a cease-fire at least. Enforced by the Peacemakers after the Four Horsemen came back to Earth to liberate it.”