The Return: The Conglomerate Trilogy (Volume 1)

by William S Frisbee Jr

Leonessa wondered what Srakka were.

  A loud thump shook the tower.

  “We’ve just been attacked,” Daley transmitted. “Missile just shredded the carrier and most of the platoon. I have about a squad of effectives left. We are spreading out and returning fire. Looks to be Srakka.”

  “Jangal hires Srakka,” Nelson sent. “It's a trap!”

  Musashi stepped forward and with a single motion drew his sword, slashing down on Jangal. Luke drew his pistol with his left hand while dragging his slung assault rifle off his back and into the ready position with his right.

  The Mashgol fell apart in a display of sparks.

  Leonessa struggled to unsling her weapon but a quick glance at Brita showed her weapon was ready. Pulling the unfamiliar weapon into her hands, she wished she had been as fast and sure as Brita.

  The avatar of the Mashgol, just a pile of expensive scrap now. Jangal was likely far away, well protected and hidden.

  “It’s a trap,” Luke said to Leonessa. “Gray has picked up a squad of heavily armed mercs coming our way and our backup has been blasted.”

  “Fiddle sticks,” Leonessa said and Luke stared at her, those words giving him pause.

  “What did you say?” Luke asked and Leonessa paused, wondering if she had said something wrong.

  “Fiddle sticks?” Leonessa said. “Do we have an escape plan?”

  “They just inserted a missile into your car,” Daley said on the team communication channel. “I’m being pushed hard by about two squads. This is not a good escape route.”

  “Out of here quick,” Luke said and turned to the door estimating the squad of Srakka was almost there. “Enemy squad inbound. Not sure if there are others in the area.”

  “About ten in the squad,” Gray said over the team link.

  “Thank you,” Luke sent bolting out the door and running down the hall with Musashi right behind him and trying to get in front. Brita and Leonessa were right behind them.

  * * *

  Luke made it to the main room just as the mercs entered. He should have expected this, demanded a more neutral meeting area. Most sentients were not stupid enough to fight with a Shoka unless they had to. Well, maybe that wasn’t true.

  A short burst from his assault rifle cut down the first two mercenaries, and the others took cover outside. They were armored bipeds, almost indistinguishable from humans in their armor and basic mannerisms. The biggest obvious difference was their legs were thicker than normal humans and the helmet was larger.

  “Brita rear guard,” Luke said. “Leonessa stay close to Brita.” Hopefully Brita would keep her safe. Brita knew what she was doing and Brita had full combat modifications. Musashi was also confident enough to let her join the planet side team but had expressed concerns about Amanda and Jeremy. Brita was a Spec Ops officer, she knew the score.

  With Brita watching the hallway they had just run down, Luke took cover behind a counter. Everyone else, including the proprietor that had met him, had cleared out. One of the mercs popped up and began spraying the top of the counter forcing Luke to duck down. Another merc stood up and prepared to throw a grenade when Musashi placed a single round in the grenadier’s forehead.

  The grenadier fell back and Luke heard screaming then a loud pop. Pink strands shot out and coated the windows where the shooter and grenadier had been. Another mercenary started shooting through another window. Brita and Leonessa remained in the hallway, with Brita watching the doors behind them and Leonessa trying to get some shots at the Mercenaries now clustering around the windows.

  “Shoot below the windows,” Luke said and fired short bursts into the wall below the windows. Yelling and screaming indicated hits as his rounds penetrated the walls and most likely the bodies of the armored Srakka. Luke hoped any civilians had fled the area when they saw the Srakka coming.

  Luke fired a burst and moved and Musashi did the same. The return fire cut through the walls and toward the locations where Musashi and Luke had been. The Srakka weren’t amateurs.

  A grenade sailed through the shattered window and landed behind the counter. Luke swore when it popped, spraying the area with pink sticky strands. Luke triggered his countermeasures and an acidic aerosol sprayed out in a small cloud, causing the sticky material to harden into a brittle brown substance, easily shattered with minimal force. The aerosol was standard Ultio issue.

  Another grenade sailed through the window and snagged Musashi, then two more grenades flew through, one landing in the hallway to snag Brita and Leonessa. Musashi and Brita both triggered countermeasures.

  “Hold fire,” Luke sent on the team link. “Play trapped.”

  Because of Brita’s proximity Leonessa could benefit from Brita's aerosol.

  Another burst came through the walls but it was high and Luke recognized it as an attempt to draw return fire. Nobody took the bait. Several other bursts came through. Some a little lower. Leonessa yelled in pain and Luke saw red.

  “Leonessa has a minor wound,” Brita sent.

  “Got a drone in your area,” Gray said. “You have six mercs still alive outside. Looks like one is wounded and one is all caught up in sticky. I’ll be there shortly.”

  “Copy that,” Luke said and patched into the drone. It was back a way; small and hidden watching the mercs as they stood up and peered into the windows. Luke calculated where they were, his InnerBuddy updated his display with a ghostly view of their location. “Musashi, you start on the left, I will start on the right.”

  Luke’s InnerBuddy bracketed the targets for Luke and Musashi.

  “Copy that,” Musashi said. Luke took aim and matched what he was seeing with what the drone was seeing. His InnerBuddy linked with the drone view and his weapon sight to show him on the drone’s display the path his rounds would take. A red line pierced the first mercenary and a dotted line indicating Musashi’s weapon path pierced another one. Holographic ghosts of the Srakka appeared in front of Luke, hiding behind the walls and below the windows.

  “3, 2, 1 FIRE!” Luke said and he and Musashi opened fire and cut down the mercenaries. Shooting through the walls and adjusting their fire based on telemetry from the recon drone.

  The remaining mercs were slaughtered.

  “Leonessa’s been wounded,” Brita sent. “Left arm wound. Minor.”

  “Copy that,” Luke sent, wanting to check on her.

  “Thanks Gray,” Luke said when they could see the mercs were no longer a threat.

  “You are going to have company,” Daley sent. “At least one squad of attackers is peeling off and they don’t want to play with us anymore. I don’t have enough warbots left to keep them busy. Sorry.”

  “Copy that,” Luke sent.

  “Counter recon drones are in the area,” Gray sent. “We lost a pair of recon drones between the garage and your location.”

  “Crap,” Luke sent. “Copy that. How far out are you?”

  “About to shoot our way through the garage. We will pick up Daley on the way and leave two squads to hold the escape route. We will fly the carrier to you with a screen of droids.”

  “That carrier is our only escape route,” Luke sent.

  “Yea,” Gray sent back. “I know. I’ll keep it safe. It is where I’m sitting; you think I would risk my fat green ass?”

  Luke smiled, Gray would not hesitate to risk himself.

  “Let’s go people,” Luke said to Leonessa and Brita.

  Musashi was already moving into the concourse and picking a position where he could pick off the reinforcements.

  Leaping out a window and then rolling behind a big planter Luke barely missed being shot by the Srakka coming up the road. Quick, lethal shots marked Musashi’s handiwork. A quick peek showed they were about two hundred meters away and behind cover. Besides the oncoming Srakka, the street was now empty of civilians. Several Srakka bodies lay crumpled in the street where Musashi’s pinpoint accuracy had dropped them.

  An explosion followed by a dramatic increase in fire fro
m the direction of the garage as Gray’s reinforcements had arrived.

  “Hold position there,” Luke said to Brita and Leonessa. “Friendlies will be here shortly.”

  Alarms wailed. A local broadcast indicated the local air was being contaminated. Luke winced hoping the locals were immune or could otherwise protect themselves from the regular planetary atmosphere. There had to be emergency procedures for accidents. Several soft plastic walls dropped over storefronts to protect them from the atmosphere. Some of the planters also had plastic umbrellas pop up and then slide down to cover them in what looked to be an air tight bubble.

  Luke’s warbots broke out of the garage and pursued the Srakka who were now caught between Luke, Musashi, Brita, Leonessa, and the forces commanded by Gray. The warbots were accurate and lethal, just like Musashi. They decimated the Srakka in seconds and the survivors threw down their weapons and holding out their hands from their bodies in the universal sign for surrender. When the first ones were not shot, then others surrendered.

  “Reinforcements must not be nearby,” Gray sent on the team link. “We have about twelve Srakka prisoners. The area appears to be clear.”

  Luke sighed in relief and stood up, scanning the area. He saw the droids moving down the street collecting the prisoners led by Daley and Puller, the commander of the reinforcement platoon.

  It looked like a war zone. There was a fire in one building and it was being smothered by a fire suppression system. There was smoke everywhere, and a mist was being released into the air, probably agents to counteract the outside atmosphere.

  Luke headed over to check on Leonessa.

  The Srakka had been caught in the sticky web worked his hand free and draw his pistol.

  “Watch out!” Brita yelled bringing her weapon up as the Srakka aimed at Leonessa.

  Luke heard the warning and saw the Srakka moving out of the corner of his eye. Luke leapt forward to place himself in the way where is better armor would help. The angle was wrong to bring his rifle to play as everything moved fast. To Luke it was like slow motion as he tried to bring his weapon to shoot the Srakka while blocking the mercenary’s shot at Leonessa.

  Three shots rang out, one from the Srakka, one from Musashi and the last one from Brita. Anyone listening might have assumed it was just one shot.

  Luke felt something hit his chest plate and push him back, his chest felt cold and the numbness began to spread. Luke stared down, confused as his feet stopped working and he tripped over them. He was wondering why his body was not responding when he slammed into the ground and fell into darkness. He could still hear but it made little sense.

  * * *

  “Luke is down,” Musashi said sprinting over to Luke. “Luke is down!”

  Leonessa stared at Luke in surprise, blood was pouring out of a hole in the side of his armor. Brita rushed over to Luke and the other warbots sprinted over and formed a perimeter.

  The Srakka’s round had pierced Luke’s armor and cut through his lower rib from the side.

  “This is bad,” Musashi said, checking the suit diagnostics. “The round pierced one layer of armor and lacked the ability to pierce the other side so it ricocheted around in there. It clipped the spine at least once. His nano’s and implants are working to keep him alive, without them he would be dead.”

  “I am sending the assault shuttle to your location,” Nelson said. “Get me an open area.”

  “Copy that,” Musashi said.

  The carrier arrived and Gray leapt out scanning the area. A medical robot, boc, was right behind Gray and came to assess the situation.

  Leonessa couldn’t stop staring at Luke. That could have been her. She wished it had been.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Evac

  “Hang in there, cupcake,” Elena said. “You can’t die on me now. You know how much trouble it was to find you?”

  “Elena,” Luke said, every part of his body screaming in pain. “Please don’t make me go on living without you.”

  “I need you to live,” Elena said.

  “No,” Luke said, death would be so much easier. “Life isn’t worth living without you.”

  “Live,” Elena said.

  “Please no,” Luke cried out, why couldn’t he just die? Why did she insist that he suffer without her?

  “An atmospheric biological has infected him,” a voice said. “He needs to hang in there and fight it.”

  “I don’t think he wants to,” Brita said. “Please Luke. We need you to stay with us. Fight it.”

  “That is one incredibly nasty virus,” the voice said.

  “Please,” Elena said. “I need you to live.”

  “I don’t know how,” Luke said to the darkness. “I want to die and join you.”

  “If you die you won’t be joining me,” Elena said. “I need you to live.”

  “I don’t know how to live,” Luke said. He could feel himself slipping into death. It would be welcome, it would end the pain.

  “I will teach you how to live and be happy again. Fight Luke. Live! Please.”

  “I want the pain to end,” Luke cried.

  “You can’t know pleasure without pain there, cupcake,” Elena said. “LIVE!”

  “Please?” Luke begged.

  “No,” Elena said. “You promised me and you have never broken that promise.”

  Luke screamed in anger, fear, and loneliness. He would not break the promise now.

  * * *

  Luke was exhausted. He could not remember being this utterly drained before. His entire body felt heavy and numb as he cracked his gum covered, sticky eyes to look at the ceiling.

  White ceiling, Medlab. He tried to remember what had happened. Oh yea, must have been shot. Still alive. Damn. He could half remember his conversation with Elena and squeezed his eyes closed to stop the tears. She had been so close; her presence had been like warm comforting sunlight, he missed her voice and he could still feel her presence.

  “Hey there Sunshine,” Leonessa said. “Welcome back.”

  “Hmmmm,” was all Luke could manage. His energy was returning slowly.

  “Considering how much damage the round did I’m surprised you are still with us,” Leonessa said. Brita and Musashi came into Luke’s view.

  “How long?” Luke asked.

  “Less than a day. Slacker,” Musashi said without sympathy or concern. “If you are done lying around maybe we can get back to work?”

  Luke found the strength to give Musashi the finger. Musashi smiled.

  “You should be fixed by noon,” Brita said. “Apparently you got a contagion when your suit got pierced. Your weakened state let it wreak havoc in your system.”

  “Leonessa?” Luke asked looking to her arm.

  “Minor,” Leonessa said. “I got the same contagion but my nano’s and natural defense weren’t even challenged.”

  “Great,” Luke said. “I have defective defenses.”

  “Thank you,” Leonessa said softly and placed her hand on his shoulder. Her hand was warm and Luke liked it there. “You saved my life.”

  “You’re welcome,” Luke said trying to downplay it. Uncomfortable with her being in his debt. “Don’t think you owe me anything though. I was just trying to evaluate the penetration of their side arms and my armor. Field tests are very important. If you insist on paying me back, buy me dinner or something.”

  Everyone laughed but Leonessa’s eyes never left his.

  Luke felt his strength returning. He looked down at his body lying in the healing tank, hidden by the reddish and gray streaked sludge. His head and shoulders were the only thing elevated out of the tank and visible. He could feel the sludge covering his shoulders, neck and arms. It would peel itself off when it was done.

  “Did I miss anything?” Luke asked.

  “Bizzen control has been trying to reach you,” Nelson said entering the room. “They wish to confirm our status as Shoka and insure you can still claim privilege.”

  “Anything inter
esting?” Luke asked.

  Nelson shook his head. “We have heard nothing more from Jangal. He has gone into hiding it appears.”

  Luke shrugged, which did not hurt as much.

  “Shall I patch them through?” Nelson asked.

  “Sure,” Luke replied. “No visual though.”

  “Shoka Luke this is Bizzen orbit control,” a voice said. “We seek to confirm your status as Shoka. If you unable to confirm we will have complaints and legal action to apply against your vessel and crew.”

  “Bizzen Orbit Control,” Luke said. “I’m alive, well, and confirming status. Shoka status remains in force. I will review my crew’s actions and notify you if I deem anything to be outside my protection. We were attacked and forced to defend ourselves. I will provide you with recordings within the week.”

  “Thank you, Shoka Luke,” Bizzen Orbit Control said. “Advise as needed. Ending transmission.”

  “Luke out,” Luke replied.

  “How do they know it is you?” Leonessa asked.

  “Conglomerate communication gear,” Luke said. “It authenticates, encrypts, and verifies. The communication gear can read my identity and will work anywhere in Topa controlled systems. Same authentication system they use with banks and network access.”

  Leonessa nodded. “What now?”

  “Nelson?” Luke asked. “Did you find any slaver enemies of Jangal who use Tonkan mercenaries?”

  “Two actually,” Nelson said. “If they are not enemies, then they are at the very least rivals. One has a link with the Chonkan patrol service as they provide communication equipment to the patrol.”

  “Bingo,” Luke said. He felt the healing sludge peeling itself off his head and shoulders and dropping into the bed. “Get me more information. I want compound locations, potential holding areas, defenses and anything else you can get.”

  “Authorized spending limit for information?”

  “Seventy percent of our treasury,” Luke said which was a sizable amount. “I’m not leaving any humans in Mashgol hands. Also file a complaint against Mashgol slavers in general and request a license to commit violence against them for their hostilities to humans.”