Why had it picked her? Because she fed it? Would it wander off when it woke up and got hungry again? She would miss it.
She looked at Doc who was staring at it. Tracing the scars and looking at the paws.
“That is one incredibly dangerous and tough creature,” Doc said. “I don’t know how intelligent it may be, but those scars, the musculature, the claws, the fur pattern, the ears, and the forward-facing eyes show this is a tough, possibly very old, and dangerous predator. It may seem affectionate now but it must be canny to have survived this long. I doubt we know all the predators in this world or their motivation.”
“Or it is pretty clumsy, or trusting,” Leonessa said tracing one of the scars. She felt no fear of it.
“No,” Doc said. “If it was clumsy or trusting it would be dead. More scars are to the front of the body than the back meaning it was facing its opponent instead of trying to escape. Notice the number of scars on the head and shoulders. I would say it fights things bigger than itself. Certainly didn’t get those from the rat things or it would have more scars on its arms.”
“Do you think we might be in danger,” Leonessa asked, not feeling in any kind of danger.
Doc came closer. Leonessa saw an ear twitch in Doc’s direction but it did not tense up. Reaching out Doc brushed his hand across its head. It raised its head to look at Doc and then put his head down and closed its eyes.
“Hmmm,” Doc said continuing to pet it.
Most of the crew were asleep but when they woke up, they would want to pet or look at Felix.
“I don’t know,” Doc said. “Our suits will provide a good level of protection from fangs and claws to be sure so I wouldn’t worry too much. You need to rest. Do you need a sedative?”
Leonessa shook her head. She felt more relaxed. “I’ll try to get some sleep. Thanks Doc.”
Doc nodded. “Head removed successfully I think. Sleep. I will do the same but let me know if you need something to help you sleep.”
Leaning her head back, Leonessa was asleep in less than a minute. With Felix using her for a pillow she felt more relaxed and at peace. She could do this.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
The Rendezvous
The grav tanks were massive beasts, part assault shuttle and part armored fighting vehicle. They lacked the over powered drives of a true spaceship but were well armed, well shielded and had plenty of room for a reinforced platoon of combat droids. One of Luke’s sentient droids piloted each one and they could go from orbit to surface and back.
A tank platoon of three grav tanks was an impressive force and had enough firepower to destroy a small city.
With Jeremy and Amanda remaining onboard ship to coordinate support, and to gather more information, Luke, Gray, Musashi and Brita rode down in the same tank. Gray gave Luke a hard time about so many command elements in a single transport and while Luke agreed with Gray, he kept Brita on the same tank anyways.
Luke looked at Brita in her Ultio style battle dress. Luke had to admit she wore it well and the black armor with red strips was intimidating. She looked like the droids did, or like Luke. However, a tight beam communication network monitored her facial expressions. When Luke looked at her, it looked like she was wearing a glass helmet and he could see her facial expression and eyes while others would just see a faceless helmet. When they left the safety of the tank, their armor would transform in color to match their surroundings.
Brita was grinning and couldn’t seem to sit still as she sat there clutching her rifle in the rack beside her. Her grin was infectious, and she shared it with Luke.
“Attention transports,” Bizzen Orbital Command broadcast. “Please identify or we will be forced to take hostile action.”
“Attention Bizzen Orbital. This is Commander Luke Kishi,” Luke said and generated a credential request to transmit. “I am an authorized Shoka, in pursuit of a mission. Our destination is being transmitted to you along with our credentials.”
“Standby Shoka Mercenary,” Bizzen control said. “Destination and credentials received. Authenticating.”
It did not take long.
“Credentials accepted Shoka,” Bizzen control said. “However, we recommend you redirect to a different port. Your destination is not standard port.”
“Will this be a contested landing then?” Luke asked wondering if he should have considered a fight with planetary control, a fight he was unlikely to win.
“Negative Shoka,” Bizzen said and Brita breathed a sigh of relief. “Facilities at that location are non-existent and there are safety concerns since it is not a well-maintained facility. There may also be security concerns because planetary command does not maintain authority personnel in that region.”
“Copy Bizzen control,” Luke said. “We are prepared, and will accept all risk. We will proceed unless contested.”
Bizzen control was silent for several seconds as the operator likely conferred with a higher-ranking officer.
“Copy Shoka,” Bizzen said. “You are cleared to proceed. Good hunting.”
“Copy Bizzen control, Luke out,” Luke said and looked at Brita.
“Does this always happen?” she asked.
“I usually don’t land my tanks on heavily populated worlds,” Luke replied with a shrug. “It’s never been an issue, actually.”
Brita nodded as she looked around. Luke knew she had several view screens up and displayed by her InnerBuddy because there wasn’t anything worth looking at in the tank.
“He likes to be low key on populated worlds,” Gray said, his face also appearing as if behind transparent glass.
“So why now?” Brita asked. “These tanks are impressive but not something most civilians on a civilized world will see.”
Gray chuckled, “Probably because nobody expects it. It isn’t his modus operandi as Nelson would say.”
“This isn’t overkill?” she asked.
Gray smiled, “Is there such a thing? I would classify this as a reasonable show of force.”
“I don’t know,” Luke said with a smile. “Let’s just say they are my security blanket until I know what we are dealing with. If this is an ambush, then this is likely to be the last thing they expect me to arrive in.”
Brita nodded but her grin didn’t fade. Luke stared at her. She had been in Special Ops. Was she always like this during a combat drop?
Slipping through the atmosphere nothing shot at them, or targeted them, or even came close to their flight path. There were few airborne contacts in the area. The city itself looked like deserted ruins, with rare scattered spots of light and Luke watched the view screens on his InnerBuddy as the tanks came down. Sensors showed bipeds occupied a nearby derelict space ship and there were several other groups in the area, but nothing appeared threatening. No target locks or anti-aircraft weapons emplacements. Silent and uneventful.
Spiraling down to the pavement, the tanks then glided toward the down ramp. The main turrets pointed in different directions, with one watching the derelict spaceship, the others watching other arcs. The occupied ship was a basic design, hundreds, if not thousands of years old.
“First platoon out and lead the way,” Gray ordered and the first tank edged up to the ramp going down. The back ramp dropped and a platoon of battle droids moved out, led by a droid commander named Butler, he looked like a close relative of Gray.
The battle droids moved in a loose formation, scanning for traps or anything that might endanger the tanks following behind them.
“Detecting life forms,” Gray said. “No heavy weapons or anything more effective than light small arms and melee weapons. They are in the ship but aren’t coming this way.”
“Carry on," Luke said. “If they attack, I would prefer to use minimum force.”
“Aye sir,” Gray said and transmitted his commands.
Finally, they reached the bottom.
“Objective ahead,” Gray said. “No life forms detected. I am detecting low level radiation in the area, con
sistent with plasma weapons. Small arms. Someone fought a battle here not too long ago.”
“Acknowledged,” Luke said, watching the sensors and screens. There wasn’t anything significant here and Luke couldn’t hide his disappointment.
“We are here,” Gray said.
“Shit,” Luke said, not surprised there was nothing here. “Get me a perimeter.” The ramps dropped and Gray deployed second platoon while first platoon took up positions. Luke followed first platoon off with Brita close behind. Weapons ready. Musashi remained quiet, following closely behind Luke like a shadow.
Nobody was here. Just garbage. Luke had expected something, an encampment, a ship, a structure, some sign of intelligent life. Instead, there was absolutely nothing.
“Where were the plasma scorches?” Luke asked and Gray pointed over to the right.
Luke saw the burn marks and tried to calculate the angle and direction they had come from.
“We are too late,” Brita said.
Luke stood in the location Suresh had given him and looked around. Nothing but trash. Luke would still bill the Topa for coming here. The bastards had tricked him; he was willing to bet the Topa were laughing it up.
The ceiling was lost in darkness but his helmet sensors penetrated the darkness and showed him nothing but old, decaying ceiling. The floor above was still solid but Luke would not want to place any ships up there without grav support.
Then Luke looked down and saw a pack. His mind froze. He had first thought it regular trash. It had the emblem of the Orange circle and red eye of the Jupiter Alliance. The contents had been removed and the pack itself had been sliced open and discarded. “Jupiter Alliance” was below the emblem.
Picking it up, Luke looked around with new eyes.
“What is it?” Brita asked coming over and looking at what he held. “Oh shit! What is THAT doing here?!”
A lot went through Luke’s mind as he tried to process it. The tattered pack was not old. It was not covered with the mold and grime like everything else. The plasma scorch marks were fresh and there were no bodies.
“Gray,” Luke said while his heart beat faster. “I want a complete perimeter sweep. I want forensic information on what happened here.”
“Commander this is Sky-Eye,” Jeremy said from the Leonis Ultio. “I’ll start collecting the droid camera information and running it through the processors up here. Is that really a Jupiter Alliance backpack?”
“Yes,” Luke said. They would be patched into the droid cameras and his helmet cam. The computers would be able to re-assemble the entire area and display it the way it was before the droids had trampled any evidence.
“I want to know who was here and where they went,” Luke said, holding the torn backpack and looking around, trying to figure out what was going on. The battle had occurred a day or two ago based on the radiation decay. It had taken the Leonis Ultio a month to get here. What game were the Topa playing?
Luke and Brita looked around.
“Found another backpack,” Brita said. “This one has a name written on it I think. If ‘Bebchuck’ is a name.”
Luke nodded and then walked in circles around where the first pack had been found, spiraling out, looking for any other clues. Some of the battle droids did the same, working around Luke and Brita, filling in gaps, or following specific clues.
Luke took his helmet off after a brief check. His implants would keep him safe. He smelled the air. It smelled old and nasty. Something was rotting not far away and there was a tangy acidic smell in the air.
“Gray,” Luke said. “Get some DNA sniffers and check for traces of humans.”
“Aye sir,” Gray said. “We have one of them on the tanks.”
Luke returned to the coordinates Suresh had given him and stood there looking around.
“Once you’ve gotten what evidence you can, setup a perimeter and let’s make camp. I want defensive positions prepared. Anyone approaching is not to be harmed unless they approach shooting.”
“Shall we send down the rest of the battalion?” Amanda asked.
“Negative,” Luke said looking around and trying to imagine what humans from the Jupiter Alliance had been doing here and why they had lost a pack. Or was it trash, taken from somewhere else? Were the plasma burns related? “Keep them in reserve and on standby.”
“Aye, aye Commander,” Amanda said.
“Nelson,” Luke said.
“Go Commander,” Nelson said.
“Deploy the frigates, formation delta. Maximum caution.”
“Aye, aye Commander,” Nelson said.
“Why Delta?” Brita asked.
“The Frigates are fully capable of holding a small human crew. If something bad happens to the Leonis Ultio, any one of the frigates can evacuate us from this system. I’m just making sure all my eggs are not in one basket.”
“You think they might attack the Ultio?” Brita asked.
“I don’t know who ‘they’ are yet so I don’t know what their goal is.”
“I’m getting human DNA traces,” Gray reported. “There were definitely humans here. I’m also getting Tonkan, Brazat and Sussak traces as well.”
“Tonkan?” Brita asked.
“Not native to this area as I recall. They have an empire a couple of months away I think. This far out they are probably mercenaries. Human sized, bipeds, tough, somewhat skilled. One of the more warlike members of the Conglomerate. They are from a higher gravity world and like heavy armor and plasma weaponry. Not real cunning fighters but not incompetent.”
Brazat were the ones who had originally colonized this world a few thousand years ago, and the Sussak were found everywhere.
“Also reading something else,” Gray said. “Doesn’t appear in any of our databases. It is odd.”
Brita looked at Luke.
“Odd?” Luke asked. “Get me a workup if you can.”
“I’ll send the analysis up to Sky-Eye for further analysis,” Gray said. “There isn't much of a trace on that. I’m tuning out most of the local bugs and other critters.”
Luke nodded even though Gray could not see him. “Acknowledged. Keep me posted.”
“Aye Commander,” Gray said.
Sitting down Indian style in the coordinates Luke listened and looking around. Why had the Topa sent him here? Did they know a battle would occur? Why couldn’t they have given him more information? What were they not telling him? Had the Soma been captured, killed, or driven away? How did the Tonkan fit into this?
Brita sat down on a nearby piece of concrete and looked at Luke.
Closing his eyes Luke took in the environment, listening, and smelling. Opening his eyes, he studied his environment.
“They weren’t here long,” Luke said. “No indication of a camp or perimeter.
“Nelson,” Luke said thinking. “Get me the race of those refugees who were attacked a few days ago, and more details on what that was about.”
“Aye commander,” Nelson said.
Brita sat to the side and behind Luke and took off her helmet, wrinkling her nose at the smell, a cough escaped. Her eyes watered because of the acrid chemicals in the air.
Luke looked at her. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Brita coughed. “Learning,” she said and Luke raised an eyebrow.
Brita shrugged. “Mark said to learn from you. The best way to learn from someone is to walk in their shoes.”
For several seconds Luke sat there and looked at Brita. He was not sure what to think. Brita sneezed. Was he doing the right thing? Should all of them be down here? He was supposed to be training them. Finally, he nodded.
“What do you smell?” Luke asked.
“Like a tomb I guess,” Brita said. “Old, unused. Lots of dust. Smells like something died not far from here, maybe acid rain from above is seeping down.”
“Good,” Luke said. “What do you see?”
“Lots of trash, covered with dust and grime,” she said.
“Is this
a place someone would make camp or just pass through?” Luke asked.
Brita spent time looking around. “It is not very defensible, too open. A sniper on the ramp could pick people off and report activity if they had some decent night vision. Too many ways to get flanked. I wouldn’t even build a camp here.”
“And?” Luke said looking around.
Brita’s eyes fell on the pack that Luke had put back where he found it. A smile touched Luke’s lips as he saw the gears turning in Brita’s eyes.
“We started our journey to come here over a month ago,” Brita said. “That pack has been here less than a few days if they were involved in the battle. There is nothing else here worth viewing. Did the Topa send you here to find a pack? How would they know it was here unless they placed it here before we arrived?”
Luke nodded, “Continue.”
“They provided minimal information. Why would they do that? Is Soma another name for pack? There is nothing else here. They didn’t give you a time to be here, but you came as fast as you could and, crap, the logic is getting twisted.”
“Good,” Luke said looking around. “I was worried I was missing something obvious.”
“Could we be too late?” Brita asked.
“I don’t know,” Luke said.
“Commander Kishi, this is Nelson,” Nelson transmitted on the general channel.
“Go,” Luke said.
“Turns out the refugees were human,” Nelson said. “They entered the system through a wormhole leading to a dark system and they were pursued by a small fleet of warships. Their vessel was heavily damaged, and they had suffered casualties. A Chonka patrol vessel intercepted them. The refugee vessel denied acceptance of hostility but the attackers did not. The attackers were identified as Caliphate. When the Caliphate warships attacked the patrol vessel and the refugees, they were beat back but the refugee vessel was nearly destroyed, with only a handful of survivors. Another patrol vessel took the surviving refugees and brought them to Bizzen. It turns out they landed almost where you did, up top. The Chonka patrol shuttle released them and departed. This occurred three days ago. A full report is being sent to you.”
The Return: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 1) Page 18
