ARMS Harris' Revenge

by Arseneault, Stephen

  Bax looked back with a genuine pursed smile. “Thanks, Goober. And best of luck to you as well. Make every one of those pellets count. And when the Earthers come, get yourselves out. Don’t worry about me.”

  The base frequency of the Earther comms was loaded into Farker. Several tests of Bax’s comm encryption had a decode scheme up and running. Whatever comms would happen between Bax and the Earthers would be heard on the Bangor.

  A jump was made to Eden space with the Bangor snuggled up to the aft of the Fargo.

  “Hope this works,” said Tawn.

  Harris nodded. “As long as they don’t try to stop her, it will.”

  A comm came in to the approaching craft. “Fargo, state your return business.”

  Bax replied, “I have new orders from the emperor. He wants increased production at the mine and I’m being sent back to oversee it.”

  The comm was silent for several seconds before a new voice came online. “Miss Rumford, we were told you wouldn’t be returning.”

  Bax laughed. “Yeah, well, go tell that to Tallis. He decided my skills would be put to better use here on the ground than rotting in some torture prison. I wholeheartedly agreed with him. It’s time we ramped up our production and our security. No more mishaps and no more acts of sabotage. I’ll be calling in my most trusted staff to get this all rolling.”

  “We’ll have to confirm these plans.”

  Bax nodded. “Go ahead. But know they are an unhappy lot back on New Earth. We’re behind schedule. So comm if you must, but be prepared for the unpleasantries. And I’m sure they’ll want to know more about your recent failed assault of the Domer colony. Makes me think you have some double agents down there in the ranks. How else would they have known about that raid?”

  The voice was again quiet for several seconds. “Let us know if you need any assistance with meeting your new quotas.”

  Bax smiled. “Thanks. Will do.”

  The comm closed.

  Harris looked at Tawn. “She’s too good at making that stuff up.”

  “Yeah, we already knew that. Question is, will they comm back to New Earth to check?”

  Harris gave a half smile. “They have about seven minutes to decide that. If you detect a wormhole opening, we’ll know what’s coming.”

  The Fargo pushed out flames as it plummeted through the hot atmosphere of the planet Eden. Tawn powered up the railgun circuits.

  “Fifteen seconds,” Harris warned. “Ten… five… breaking off. Open up.”

  As the Bangor slowed dramatically, the autofeeders of the twin railguns whirred to life. The unsuspecting destroyer began exploding debris as the tungsten pellets ripped into its hull and out the other side. Seconds after the first shots, the massive ship began to drop from its position at two kilometers altitude.

  Tawn said, “That was easy. Wish they would all just sit still like that.”

  Harris looked at the nav display as he turned the Bangor toward the mine. “I’ve been wanting to do this since we found out Bax weaseled her way into that claim. Not much of a revenge since we’re now doing this for her.”

  Tawn chuckled as she worked the targeting grid. “Yeah, I have to admit I was looking forward to getting even too. This isn’t quite as satisfying now that she’s on our side.”

  Harris shook his head. “About that, I still think we have to be careful around her. The old Bax, DDI agent or not, was all about herself. Her acting isn’t so good that she could hide her selfish side. Bryce Porter and Cletus Dodger can testify to that. She had no problem leading them to their deaths at the hand of New Earthers.”

  Tawn half scowled. “Yeah, I still think about that a lot. I’m sure she’d say she had no choice, but I have to think otherwise. Of course, we’re no angels either. How many Earthers have we killed since this all started?”

  “You can’t make that same comparison. We killed soldiers who were out to kill our people.”

  Tawn shrugged. “In the grand scheme of things we’re just a couple thugs for the other side.”

  “For the right side. We have no problem leaving them alone if they leave us alone. That’s not the world we live in. Baxter made her choices. Good or bad, they were hers. She owns the outcome.”

  The last of the Rumford Mine buildings were scattered across the landscape. Hundreds of survivors scurried back and forth in the intense heat. The Fargo remained on the ground as half a dozen new Earth warships raced their way.

  “We have to go,” said Harris.

  “Ten seconds and they’re gonna be all over her.”

  A general comm went out over the Earther channels. “Get down here! We have injured!”

  Tawn slowly shook her head as the Bangor angled away from the chaos. “She’s not leaving.”

  Harris winced. “She feed us a load of crap? Did we just let her go for no good reason?”

  Tawn clenched her hand in a fist. “I told you we had no way to verify anything she said. Now I’m pissed.”

  Harris replied, “Worse, she knows about our stealth and our base at Midelon.”

  “She’s still there. Not running. You said she was headed to New Earth when you caught her?”

  “That’s what she said.”

  Tawn pulled back her head. “Was she flying in that direction at least?”

  Harris thought. “Well, no. But you don’t have to be when you’re going through a wormhole. You can be headed anywhere.”

  “That’s true, but nobody does that. If you’re heading to Domicile, you head toward Domicile before opening a wormhole. Doesn’t make any difference travel-wise other than you might have to turn back that way once you go through. So which way was she heading?”

  Harris rubbed the back of his neck. “Now that you mention it… Domicile.”

  Tawn smacked her forehead. “You know, sometimes you’re a mental midget. She just played us back there.”

  “Explain why she volunteered us taking out her mine then. That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “Doesn’t make sense unless you’re trying to keep yourself from taking a beating. She couldn’t care less about that mine or those people. She probably just strengthened her ties with the Earthers by staying there and claiming to help.”

  Harris said, “Then explain the broadcast she made about following orders of the emperor. How’s she gonna get away with that if they go check?”

  Tawn shrugged. “Maybe she had those orders before you caught her? Who knows. What I do know is she’s definitely a double agent. And probably working both sides.”

  Harris shook his head. “So just that quick we’re back in the ‘we hate Bax’ club. She does know how to get under your skin.”

  A wormhole opened and the Bangor slipped through to Midelon space. A forty minute ride had the small freight-shuttle landing just outside the bunker.

  Sharvie was sitting out on the grass with the others.

  Harris was the first to hop out. “I see the AI released you. Learn anything new?”

  “I did, but I can’t talk about it. What happened at the mine?”

  Tawn said, “We destroyed it, but Bax turned herself over to the Earthers. We think she was serving us all a load while she was here in an attempt to save her own skin.”

  Gandy shook his head. “That girl knows how to lie. Everything she said made sense to me.”

  “She’s good at what she does,” said Harris. “At least that mine is done for.”

  “They can’t rebuild it?”

  Harris stared. “Of course they can rebuild, but it’s not functional right now. Which is the part of all this we don’t get. She must have her own purpose for letting it be destroyed.”

  Gandy asked, “So what’s our next move?”

  Harris looked over at Tawn. “I think we go back to Domicile and see if we can get a meeting with the admiral. If restarting the war is what he’s interested in, we should be able to sniff that out.”

  “Or get our throats cut,” Tawn said. “Tell me how we test his motives? I don�
�t think we’ll be using any of the interrogation techniques we’re used to using. Might not go over well with a DDI admiral.”

  Harris turned to face Sharvie. “Alex have any more suggestions for tech updates we can do? Our stealth might be compromised with the Earthers now. Anything to make us less visible? And wasn’t he… or it… working on an evaluation of our shielding? Anything come of that?”

  Sharvie faced the dog. “Farker, can you show us Alex?”

  A hologram image floated above the dog.

  Tawn frowned. “Almost can’t see him in the daylight.”

  Alex said, “Archibald’s projectors are working at maximum. I’m sorry, Tawn. The hologram equipment was not made for outdoors.”

  Harris asked, “Any research breakthroughs for us?”

  “Yes. Improvements can be made to both your inertial dampeners and external plasma shielding with minor adjustments. Both technologies rely on a set of frequency tables that are largely linear in scale. Calculations reveal a number of frequencies that will allow improved fields for each.

  “The inertial dampener should benefit from a 2.2 percent reduction in field reaction time. That should mean a less bumpy ride when moving through the atmosphere and a slightly improved turning radius when at speed. Tests reveal a 3.4 percent improvement to the plasma inhibitor field of your shields. Both solutions may be implemented with a minor update to your system software.”

  Harris nodded. “Can you make that happen?”

  Alex replied, “The new frequency values have been incorporated.”

  “Just like that?”

  Alex smiled. “Just like that, Harris.”

  “Do you have any other improvements in the testing phases?”

  “Many.”

  “Can you say what they are?”

  “I’d rather not until I have sufficient resultant data. Do you have any further requests?”

  Gandy said, “How about our speed? Any way we can go faster on standard drives? And our stealthiness. Any way we could improve that?”

  Tawn nodded. “Good thoughts. Which reminds me, if we manage to see the admiral, we should ask about getting the skin coating on the back of the ship fixed. I’d like us to have just as small a signature when we’re running away from someone as when we’re approaching.”

  Harris huffed. “What we need to ask the admiral is how we drive the Earthers away from Eden. Every day the colonel and the others are there is one day closer to them being out of food. Time is running out.”

  Tawn pointed at the Bangor. “Let’s go, then. Trish, Gandy, and Sharvie, follow us out in the shuttle. You can take it to the warehouse and see if any work has been done on the last Banshee.”

  Before they piled into the ship, Trish asked, “The admiral… you’ve never told us who he is or what your connection is.”

  Tawn sighed. “I guess we’re all far enough into this it doesn’t matter anymore. Harris and I were approached by the DDI to come out here to the truce worlds to spy. At first we were just supposed to set up trade routes with truce world colonies, on both sides. That quickly morphed in building Fireburg.”

  Gandy said, “Wait… we’re working for the DDI?”

  Harris replied, “Sort of… they made the updates to the Bangor and funded all our early purchases. That all kind of came to an end when we built the first dome—the financial support, that is. Anyway, we really haven’t had any direction or help since we first went out to Eden. We were definitely expecting some direction. I have a hard time believing what we did was what they wanted us to do.”

  Gandy frowned. “If what Baxter Rumford said was true, it makes sense. Everything we did out there would only enrage the Earthers. Maybe that’s what the admiral wanted all along. And he put Miss Rumford out there so we had that physical enemy we could see and plot against.”

  Harris said, “When you get back to the warehouse I want you to be careful. If the admiral has decided to pull the plug on our operations, that could include you. Watch your backs.”

  The Bangor was soon rocketing upward.

  Tawn asked, “So how do you propose we get in touch with the admiral?”

  Harris smiled. “We go right to their complex and ask for him.”

  “And what if the politicos are looking for us? Before we land we should check for any outstanding warrants.”

  Harris nodded. “Not a bad idea. We should look for the same on Trish and Gandy.”

  “And if we find any warrants on them?”

  “We open a comm and send them back here. They aren’t deserving of jail. Us… probably. But not them.”

  As the Bangor neared Chicago Port Station, they conducted a check for warrants. All records showed as clear.

  Harris looked longingly at the station as they slipped past her toward the planet of Domicile. “I tell you, I could use a week in the hotel and some binge-ing at those buffets.”

  Tawn nodded, glancing down at her credit store. Several presses later a scowl appeared on her face. “Check your store. Mine’s been drained.”

  Harris looked. “Two hundred forty-six credits? Great. Now how do you suppose that happened?”

  “You think the admiral did this?”

  “He’s the one with the means. I doubt the Earthers would be so brazen as to do that to accounts here.”

  Harris pulled the Bangor to a stop. A comm wormhole was opened to the Retreat. A quick check verified the resettlement fund account to be intact.

  A separate comm was opened. “Trish? You and Gandy check your credit stores. Ours have been drained.”

  Gandy looked. “Fifteen credits! I’ve been robbed!”

  “Mine’s the same,” said Trish. “Almost empty. What do we do?”

  Harris said, “Were you planning on buying anything?”

  “We have to eat!” Trish snapped back. “This won’t even get us one meal.”

  “I can transfer you a hundred credits, but not much more.”

  Sharvie could be heard in the background. “I have some saved. I can share.”

  Gandy looked at his credit store in disgust. “How’d they do this?”

  Harris asked, “When was the last time you checked?”

  “Mmm. Probably before you picked us up last. Haven’t had the need to look since then.”

  Sharvie said, “If someone hacked your accounts I might be able to figure out who. Cyber tracking is… was… kind of what I was into.”

  Gandy asked, “You were a hacker?”

  Sharvie tilted her head one way and then the other. “Yes and no. Was more of a hobby. I never did it for money, but I made plenty of contacts who did. Some owe me some favors. I’ll see if I can cash those in. I just can’t mention that the DDI might be involved. They’d probably all go running.”

  Half an hour later the Bangor was landing on the tarmac outside the massive underground DDI facility.

  Tawn looked over the nav display. “This doesn’t look right.”

  Harris replied, “Where are all the ships? There were a couple dozen parked here last time.”

  Tawn nodded. “And no security. Not so much as a comm to ask for our identity. Nobody rushing out to meet us.”

  The ship settled and the hatch opened. Harris stepped out onto the concrete.

  “There’s nobody here. At all.”

  Chapter 26

  _______________________

  “Uh, look at those signs out toward the roadway,” said Tawn. “For lease. This whole place is empty.”

  A short walk had the Biomarines staring at a large sign that hung next to the main building entrance.

  Tawn raised her comm bracelet.

  Harris asked, “What you doing?”

  “I’m contacting that channel.”

  A voice responded. “Lightus Corporation leasing. How may I be of assistance today?”

  Tawn said, “I’m looking at a property with a reference number of L257. What can you tell me about it?”

  “Oh, that’s an excellent property. It’s available at a
very affordable price due to its unique underground architecture. It was originally constructed as an operations center for part of our military. We had a temporary tenant in there for about six months. It was empty for several decades before that, but has always been well maintained.”

  “Who was this tenant?”

  “I’m sorry, I’m not at liberty to say. We keep our clients’ information in the strictest of confidence. I had hopes they would be a long-term tenant, but they up and closed up shop over a weekend. That was about two months ago.”

  Harris tapped into the comm. “Look, this is a matter of vital importance to the security of this planet and all her citizens. We need to know who was in there.”

  “My apologies that I cannot assist you with this. However, most of that information should be readily available from your district government office. They would have to register and pay taxes and fees just like everyone else. That office would be the best place for you to begin. Can I show you the property?”

  “Did they leave it clean?”

  “Impeccably so,” the voice replied. “Our normal crew was disappointed we didn’t have work for them. Most tenants leave at least a modest amount of cleaning to be done. This tenant was on the ideal end of that cleaning spectrum. I believe it’s the first time the security deposit was returned in full. Are you sure you’re not interested. As I said, it’s in marvelous condition. And it’s ready to move in.”

  Tawn said, “Thanks. We’ll be in further touch if we have any interest.”

  Before the leasing agent could respond, she closed the comm.

  “I do not like the looks of this at all. That was not a DDI facility they were marching us around in.

  Tawn glanced over at her partner. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”

  Harris hesitated to answer.

  Tawn rolled her eyes. “You were thinking about food, weren’t you.”

  Harris chuckled. “I can’t help it. Has been eating away at me ever since we talked about the buffet while coming in. Anyway, I think better on a full stomach.”

  Tawn waved toward the Bangor as she turned and walked. “Let’s get you filled up so you’re able to brainstorm for us. You’re no use to me if you’re walking around like a hungry two-year-old.”