by Jake Bible
“I know you will,” Parveet said. “But is it enough?”
“Give us until the engines have been repaired,” Chomps said. “We go down while Stony stays up here with Spotz and gets the Jethro up and running again. If we aren’t making progress by the time the ship is able to limp us out of here, then we retreat and call SBE. Let Jennings make the decision on whether to bring in UEC or not from there.”
“We don’t know if the Dorso has what we need to fix the Jethro, do we?” Parveet said.
“Not yet,” Stony said. “I have the SpecCom squads doing inventory for me, but that’ll take a while. I really should look for myself.”
“We need to tether the ships closer,” Lucky said. “Connect them then seal off bulkheads in the Dorso so we have room to work.”
“Should I tell Axson to pilot us over?” Wan asked.
“Yes,” Parveet said. “We get the Jethro and Dorso connected, see what the status of salvageable parts is, then work on a plan of attack, or no attack, from there. Everyone clear?”
“Yes, Boss,” they replied.
“Then get to work,” Parveet ordered. “You know what you need to do, so do it.”
***
“May I have a minute, Jay?” Torn asked as Parveet was about to sit down in her chair on the bridge. “Privately?”
Parveet sighed then patted her growling belly. “Sure, Bee. We can grab some grub and go to my cabin. I should catch a couple winks before I start getting inundated with data. Axson?”
“Yeah, Boss?”
“You good with getting the Jethro to the Dorso without me?” Parveet asked.
“You’ll only get in the way, Boss,” Axson said.
“I’ll take that how you meant it,” Parveet said and laughed.
“I appreciate that,” Axson said. “Now, stop bugging me.”
“Come on,” Parveet said to Torn. “Grub then gab.”
They left the bridge and made their way to the mess hall in silence. Parveet kept glancing at Torn, but the ambassador only gave her a vague smile.
When they had trays of food, and were almost to Parveet’s cabin, the colonel stopped and faced the ambassador.
“This talk is going to be a two-way thing, Bee,” Parveet stated. “I’ll listen to what you have to say and you’ll listen to what I have to say. Maybe we’ll meet in the middle.”
“You’ve been very adversarial, Jay,” Torn said.
“Welcome to the real Jala Parveet, Bee,” Parveet said. “In my job, being adversarial is what keeps me and mine alive.”
“Yes, but I believe–”
“Don’t care,” Parveet said. “I really don’t. You’re here for a reason and it has nothing to do with the UEC budget or whatever official crap you want to spout. You’re on the run. I know it, you know it, hell, Jennings knew it. Do you know why the Jethro is the way it is, Bee?”
Torn was about to reply, but Parveet shook her head as they reached her cabin. The door slid open and they stepped inside.
“Take a rhetorical hint,” Parveet continued when the door was closed. They walked to the small table and sat down. “We break more rules and regulations than any other entity in the UEC military division. Me and mine hold to a code of honor and ethics that has zero place in social morality and absolutely no place in the military hierarchy. We live by our rules because the work we do demands that we break rules or die. We live for the work, Bee. And we are the goddamn best at it. The progress made in the outer reaches is because of us and politicians may debate that back on Earth, but out here, there is no question.”
Parveet took a bite of food and nodded.
“Now. Your turn,” she said around a mouthful of rectangle gray.
“The Torns have received a lineage death sentence,” Torn said.
“I guessed that,” Parveet said. “Tell me something I don’t know.”
“Okay. Fine,” Torn said. “I knew it was you. I came to the outer reaches to find you. If anyone could understand what I’m going through, it’s you, Jay.”
“All those tears in your cabin were what? Bullshit?” Parveet asked, taking another bite of rectangle.
“No, those were real,” Torn said. “Until last month, I thought you were dead. Then the trial began at the same time your dossier fell across my desk. I’d heard of you, of course, but had never paid attention to any intel that came into my office until I realized I was going to have to flee to the outer reaches or possibly face execution. So, I opened your file and saw your picture. Truly saw it and it was like the air had been sucked out of my lungs. It was you. It was Jay.”
“You came here for my protection?” Parveet asked. “I don’t have that kind of power.”
“Except you do,” Torn said. “You so do. The UEC is terrified of you, Jay. To the extent that they have a contingency plan in place if you were to ever go rogue.”
“Sweet Jesus,” Parveet said. “I have a contingency plan?”
“Not just you, but for the Jethro,” Torn said. “They’d rain down every command ship they have on you and yours.”
“Great,” Parveet said. “So you come here, draw attention to me and mine even more, and now I get to sit and wait for the attack?”
“No, no, nothing like that,” Torn said. “I spent every chit of political capital I had. I called in every favor. I emptied my entire bank account and physically bribed anyone I could to get here under the pretense of a budget committee audit. There are layers upon layers of protections in place. If I go down, then twenty percent of the UEC bureaucracy goes down with me. I’m persona non grata, but I’m free.”
Torn looked about the cabin.
“Well, sort of.”
“You don’t plan on leaving,” Parveet stated.
“I would prefer not to,” Torn said. “But I understand if you want me gone because of my deception. SBE should be safe enough. At least for a while.”
“Okay, okay,” Parveet said. “I’ll think about it.”
“You will?” Torn asked.
“I will,” Parveet said. “No harm in entertaining the idea. I can guarantee that Jennings is already running the cost/benefit ratio for SBE keeping you on board. Whatever he comes up with will be useable for the Jethro as well. So, until we return to SBE, you are safe on the Jethro.”
Parveet laughed as she took a third bite.
“What’s so funny?” Torn asked.
“We could easily die against this xeno threat,” Parveet said. “I’ve never seen an alien adversary like this. This ain’t no xeno safari hunt. We’re gonna get in the shit for real this time.”
“Oh,” Torn said and pushed her tray away.
Parveet pushed it back.
“Nope,” Parveet said. “No baby crap here. You eat when you can, you sleep when you can, and you contribute to the overall good of me and mine when you can. Those are my terms. Nonnegotiable.”
“Okay. I can live with those terms,” Torn said and picked at her food with her fork. “Do I really have to eat this?”
“Yes,” Parveet said. “Take a look around. You’re in my cabin now, but later when you’re in the mess, they’ll all be watching you.”
Torn looked doubtful.
“Trust me,” Parveet said. “They’ll be watching your every move. They already are.”
“Okay, fine,” Torn said.
“Oh, and Bee?”
“Yes?”
“When you’re ready to cut the shit and give me the full truth, you let me know.”
Torn paused mid-bite.
“You’ve been ladling out truth when you feel like it,” Parveet continued. “I get that. The tear show in my cabin on SBE was real, but it was also just that, a tear show. This admission now is real, but it’s only part of why you’re here. Not pushing, since you have zero leverage while on the Jethro, but I’d appreciate the full story sooner rather than later.”
“I…uh…”
“Eat. Think. Be ready.”
4.
“We need those drop sh
ips, Stony!” Schroeder shouted over the comms. “I can’t get my people down to the planet without all of them!”
“Yeah, I know!” Stony shouted back as he stood in Dorso’s engine room, fully suited since there was no atmosphere, and stared at the chaos before him. “But I need at least one ship to ferry parts from here to the Jethro. You’ll have to make do with what’s left.”
“That means SpecCom will be down two,” Schroeder said. “You know how mad I get when I’m down two drop ships, Stony.”
“Two?” Stony asked.
“Axson wants one on the Jethro’s hull at all times so he can have some maneuverability himself,” Schroeder said. “Just in case.”
“I get that,” Stony said. “If those xenos are half as bad as we think they are, then planning for just in case is a good idea.”
“Not arguing with the idea,” Schroeder said. “I’m arguing with the fact that the Jethro is connected to the Dorso now, so you and your techanics–”
“Techanics. I like that,” Stony said.
“Whatever. You and your techanics can use cargo loaders, hover lifts, and rollers to get parts from one ship to the other,” Schroeder said. “My SpecCom soldiers can’t ride a hover lift down to Hrouska.”
“You could, but it’d be a short ride,” Stony said and laughed.
“STONY!”
“I need the drop ship because it’s ten times faster to go from engine room to engine room,” Stony said. “I load parts out this huge hole I made in the Dorso’s hull to the drop ship. The drop ship takes off, flies fifty meters, hooks up with the Jethro, dumps the parts, then comes back for more.”
“Float them,” Schroeder snapped. “Float the parts. Hook lines to each and shove them out your hole. Reel them in like goddamn fish.”
“Shit,” Stony said. “That ain’t a bad idea right there.”
“Then use it!”
“I just might.”
“Hey, Stony?” Chomps said over the comms. “Sorry to interrupt you two, but you can have the MPT when we’re done with it.”
“What good is a mech planetary transport to me?” Stony said. “Those awkward things have almost zero maneuverability.”
“Come on. It has some. The thrusters aren’t that bad,” Chomps said. “But, what I’m saying is load up the MPT and float that between ships. Use it like a giant cargo container. It’s bigger than any drop ship. Way bigger. And you can float it and reel it in like Schroeder suggests.”
“There!” Schroeder shouted. “Done and decided!”
“Let me run it past–”
“STONY!” Schroeder roared.
“You’re gonna have to compromise on this one, Stony,” Chomps said.
“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Stony said. “But, hey, Chomps?”
“Yes?”
“If you send the MPT back up here after landing, then all the mechs will be stranded down there on the planet,” Stony said.
“We’ll call it back if we need it,” Chomps said. “We’re mechs. You know, the first word in Mech Expeditionary Unit? We’re kinda the big guns, so I think we’ll be good.”
“You hope you’ll be good, you mean,” Stony said.
“Ain’t no hope in Hell, Stony,” Chomps replied. “And we bring the Hell.”
“Are we done here?” Schroeder barked. “Can I get all my drop ships back now?”
***
“You are set and ready, pilots,” Hawker said, giving each mech a thumbs up sign as she walked down the middle of the mech hold in the MPT. “If anyone needs to go pee, it’s too damn late.”
“Son of a butch,” Shock said.
“Shut up,” Gore responded.
“Thanks, Hawker,” Chomps said. “Mechs are ready for transport.”
“Then off you go,” Hawker said as she walked down the loading ramp, pulled her tablet from her belt, and swiped at the screen. “Bon voyage!”
The loading ramp raised and locked into place, plunging the mech hold into complete darkness.
“You sure a central LZ is a good idea, Chomps?” Roar asked. “They hit us all at once and we may not be able to handle it.”
“If we can’t handle an attack with all six mechs in the same LZ, then that means nothing the Jethro has can handle this planet,” Chomps said. “We drop into one LZ, take whatever the xenos throw at us, kick the ever-loving shit out of those xenos, then secure the LZ for SpecCom and Morisaki’s crew.”
“Still feels backwards to me,” Roar said.
“That’s why Chomps is in charge,” Giga said. “You getting cold mech feet, Roar? No good if our point mech is getting shaky.”
“Hell no, I’m not getting shaky,” Roar said. “Just thinking it all through. I’ll be good to go when we hit dirt. Don’t you worry, Giga, this bitch will destroy the point.”
“Is that a thing?” Shock asked. “Destroy the point?”
“It is now,” Roar said. “Hooyah.”
“Hooyah!” the other pilots responded.
“Pilots, prepare for deployment,” Hawker’s voice rang out over the comms. “In three, two, one! Godspeed!”
The MPT was ejected from the Jethro and aimed at an angled trajectory for atmospheric entry, the autopilot making minute adjustments here and there. The vehicle hit the planet’s atmosphere and instantly became a ball of fire as it plummeted towards the surface.
“Chomps!” Wall yelled.
“What?” Chomps replied.
“After we secure the LZ then what?” Wall asked. “We heading out to find the Dorso’s pod or what?”
“That’s a good question,” Shock said. “How long do we have to babysit the SpecCom folks before we get to start hunting?”
“You think it’s all going to go so smooth that we’ll hit the surface, secure the LZ, then just get to go for a hike?” Chomps laughed. “I like the optimism, but be serious. We hit that surface and all hell is gonna break loose.”
“I’m with Chomps on that,” Giga said. “I saw that thing move. It was primal.”
“How does primal pilot a drop ship up to the Dorso then?” Shock asked.
“You manage to wipe your ass,” Giga said.
“Nah, I just spray deodorant on my shit-slicked civvies each morning,” Shock said.
“That explains a lot,” Giga said.
“I saw the xeno too,” Wall said. “Primal don’t mean shit. We’ve stomped primal all over the place before. We’ll stomp it again.”
“Gonna go with Giga on this,” Roar said. “One was a bitch enough. We’re talking a whole planet of them down there.”
“Now I wish I was wrong,” Giga said.
“You are,” Shock said.
“Cram it, little dick,” Giga said.
“No peeking,” Shock replied.
The MPT shuddered and Chomps brought her display online. “Quiet. Get your game faces on. We’ve hit the lower atmosphere and we’ll be slamming down in a few seconds.”
She switched the vid feeds continuously until a loud klaxon rang out then she locked on the feed showing the surface racing up to the bottom of the MPT. Fire exploded from the landing thrusters and steam, smoke, and a massive cloud of dirt occluded the view right before the vid went dark. The MPT shook so hard that the pilots felt it inside their cradles.
“Roar!” Chomps yelled.
The loading ramp dropped to the ground and Roar was already grabbing her KYAG and running towards the bright sunlight that lit up the landscape outside. She skidded to a stop at the bottom of the ramp, her feet sliding in the thick greenery that carpeted the jungle clearing they’d landed in. She turned left, turned right, took a knee, and waved for the others.
“Clear!” she cried.
Giga, Wall, and Shock were next, each with their own KYAG at the ready. No need to have the weapons up at their shoulders since sighting was done by the combat tech built into their mechs’ systems. They swung the KYAGs from the hip and covered the entire area.
Wall took the nine o’clock position while Shock took the t
hree. Giga smacked Roar on the shoulder then took her spot as Roar stood and hurried forward towards the edge of the jungle.
Chomps and Gore came out of the MPT with Gore taking Wall’s spot while Chomps took Shock’s.
“A lot of green,” Gore said. “My display is hot with life.”
“Watch for movement,” Chomps said.
Shock took off at the three while Wall took off at the nine, spreading their coverage of the clearing. They each stopped as they reached the edge of the jungle. The entire clearing was fairly circular and approximately one hundred meters in diameter, giving the mechs plenty of room to move without tripping over each other. It also meant a lot of area to watch, but they’d worked with worse.
“Set,” Roar stated.
“Set,” Wall stated.
“Set,” Shock stated.
“We got this, Giga,” Chomps said.
Giga got up and sprinted around the MPT to cover the six.
“Clear and set,” Giga called after a couple of seconds. “Gore wasn’t kidding. This place is hot. Nothing but life everywhere.”
“What’d the planetary scans show?” Gore said. “It’s not all jungle, right?”
“Not all of it,” Roar said. “Some temperate forests, grasslands, and a few deserts closer to the poles. But this ain’t the planet that’s gonna bring outdoor skiing back.”
“Man, I don’t understand those old vids,” Wall said. “Falling down a freezing mountain. That’s stupid.”
“Looks better than the indoor clubs,” Shock said. “At least you’re outside.”
“Like you’ve ever been inside a ski club,” Giga said. “Your entire family’s income for a decade isn’t enough to afford a hot chocolate in one of those places.”
“Hot chocolate doesn’t cost that much,” Shock said.
“They have real chocolate there, dumbass,” Giga said. “Not the synth stuff they feed us. Real. Worth more than gold per gram.”
“Worth more than platinum per gram,” Roar said.
“Cut the chatter,” Chomps ordered. “I’m seeing movement on our eight.”
“On it,” Wall said.
He twisted and covered the eight o’clock position, his scanners running through the spectrums to get the best image of whatever was coming to say hello.
