Heart of a Peacekeeper

by Angela Verdenius

  The lycats happily went down into the roomy shelter, well used to being down there at different times when Des thought there might be trouble.

  Once the room looked normal again, Des went into the holding bay and got into single-seater pilot vehicle, she pulled out of the holding bay adjoining the house and flew back to the Enforcer Building.

  Yucel and Raf looked up in surprise when she walked in through the back entrance.

  "What's wrong?” Raf got up from his desk.

  At a glance Des could see that he had the murder files open and was running a listing yet again against known outlaws, as well as having a program running with statements gathered from the tavern workers and patrons.

  "I have a bit of info. The mystery box is geological scanner of some kind, and before you ask, I don't know why it was here or what elements it was scanning,” she replied. “Come with me back to where we found it, I want to see if I can notice anything we might have missed during the daylight hours."

  "Geological scanner?” Yucel scratched his head. “Never seen one like that."

  "Yeah, well surprises happen every day. Where's Chas?"

  "Doing a fly-over on the north side."

  "Tell him to do a fly-over on the same area we were attacked."

  Surprised, Yucel looked at her, but at her scowl, he blinked and contacted Chas, giving him the directions. Once it was done, he turned around to look at her. “Boss, what's happening? Have you got news of some kind?"

  "Not really. Just a gut-feeling. Stay on alert, scan the skies. It may be nothing. Raf, come on."

  Leaving the Building, they strode through the lit streets, traversing through the night life that also walked the street, coming in and out of the taverns and businesses.

  The cleared area where the warehouse stood was barren. Walking around it, Des instructed Raf to walk in the opposite direction. They circled, passing each other, studying the ground. Making the circles smaller, they eventually met in the middle.

  "Nothing,” Raf announced.

  "Hell. I was hoping for something.” Rolling her shoulders, Des stared up at the night sky. One ship flew overhead, and she recognized it as a settler's craft.

  Chas's voice came through the communication receiver in her ear. “Nothing out here, Boss. All's quiet."

  "Righto. Guess it's better than hell exploding in the area, but..."

  "Something would be better than nothing?"

  "Probably not. Better for nothing at all to happen. Maybe whatever was happening is already over."

  "You don't sound so sure."

  Without commenting on it, Des said, “Come on back home. Continue the fly-overs.” She turned to Raf. “I want to speak to the technicians. Let's go."

  Raf touched the communication receiver in his ear. “Yucel, could you save those files for me? I don't want to lose the data, and I may not get back for a little while."

  Silence greeted him, and Des frowned.

  "Yucel?” Raf queried.

  A crackle came through. “Not picking ... you're fading...” The crackle stopped and silence came from the head microphones.

  "Uh-oh,” Raf said.

  "Not again.” Des touched the communication receiver in her own ear. “Chas? You reading me?"

  "Not ... Coming in...” A last crackle and silence.

  Annoyed, Des lengthened her stride. “The communications is bloody gone again! Not a good time."

  "Is anytime a good time?” Raf asked wryly.

  She glared at him, and he shrugged, but his grin was unapologetic.

  Together they went to the big building that housed the communications systems for the whole settlement and beyond to the far reaches, where the communications systems for the next settlement boundaries took over.

  The main office was quiet, which wasn't unusual. It was late, just striking midnight.

  "Hello?” Raf called.

  When no one answered, he went through the door in the back of the room.

  Des looked around at all the paraphernalia in the big office. Most of it was beyond her. Several big screens showed, depicting communications systems of some kind.

  "Des?"

  "Yeah?” She swung around.

  Raf looked grim. “The technicians are dead."

  "What?” Quickly she strode past him to stare into the room beyond.

  The technicians were lying on the floor and in their chairs, wherever they'd been when someone had come in and shot them in cold blood. Surprise was still evident on a couple of the faces, while one looked horrified.

  Squatting down beside the closest body, Des felt his arm. Cool, but not cold. Still flexible, though starting to stiffen. They hadn't been dead for long, maybe twenty or thirty minutes.

  Moving fast, she gestured to Raf to circle around the front of the building, while she moved through to the back. He obeyed, moving with fast, quiet efficiency.

  The main communications room was smashed, the graphs and main scanners broken, smoke drifting from the ruined consoles. The emergency systems were destroyed. Another technician was lying dead in front of a console, a broken mug near her hand. She'd been shot in the back.

  And scalped. The skin along her back was slit open, exposing her spine.

  The killer or killers were in the settlement, and possibly still here.

  Meeting Raf at the back, Des filled him in on what she'd found while they returned to the Enforcer Building.

  Yucel turned around from the communications system he was fiddling with. “What's going on? I thought the technicians had this fixed?” Catching the expressions on Des and Raf's faces, he stopped. “What's wrong?"

  "The technicians are dead.” Grimly Des moved to look over his shoulder at the scanner. “Where's Chas's pursuit craft?"

  "Scanners are all out. The technicians are dead? Who—"

  "Our scalper is back,” she replied. “Can you contact anyone on the emergency scanner?"

  "No. Just like what happened when you were attacked out there by the outlaw fighters, everything is dead. Jammed, I think, by something. I can't find a fault here, and the emergency scanners and communications should have kicked in."

  "They won't work.” Crossing to the weapons cabinet, Des unlocked it with her hand print and drew out a manblaster. “Everything is smashed in there.” She turned to the two men who were watching her. “Grab weapons. Yucel, put the communications system on an alert to the Enforcer Buildings in Sharver, Calton and Merder. They're our nearest contacts."

  "But you just said our communications were down—” Yucel began.

  "Protocol. Regardless, the signal must be on-going in case by some miracle, communications are somehow re-established. Do it."

  Quickly Yucel keyed in the message, one that would repeat over and over, but even as Des turned away to slip an extra stungun into her jacket pocket, she knew it would be useless. No one knew what was happening, no one would suspect anything was wrong in Tyron. Peacekeepers didn't contact other settlements unless it was warranted. Tyron and its settlers were on their own, with no communications to the outside world.

  But there were other ways. They weren't completely isolated. All they had to do was get someone in a spaceship to travel to one of the other settlements. She didn't want to send any of her own men, not when she might need them, but a settler was out of the question, too.

  "Raf, I need you to go to Emory and get him to head for Sharver in his pursuit craft. Tell him to inform them of what has happened, and to scan our settlement and surrounding areas."

  Raf left at a run, but no sooner had the front door slammed behind him than a whining noise, followed by a roaring, sounded.

  Manblaster in hand, Des wrenched open the door to see Raf staring towards the end of the settlement. Following his gaze, she saw that the docking bay was a burning inferno. The space crafts exploded, bits of metal flying through the air.

  Five fighters streaked overhead, one of them sending a rain of laser bursts at a craft that was soaring just ahead of it.
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  "Chas!” Raf yelled. “They're after him!"

  Scanning the street quickly, Des flicked a glance back up to see the pursuit craft explode in flames. Her heart clenched.

  "They got him!” Raf fisted his hands. “They killed him!"

  Yucel stepped out behind them, but they didn't have time to do anything but duck as another fighter came down, soaring through the streets at full speed, making the peacekeepers cover their eyes to avoid the dirt kicked up in the wake of it.

  Des pushed the sick feeling inside her at Chas's death aside. Now wasn't the time.

  A heavy noise vibrated through the air, and they looked up to as a huge craft, slow and ponderous, flew overhead.

  Crouching down in the shadows, Des watched as it headed towards the area where the warehouse had been.

  "Damn,” she whispered. “I knew there was something about that bloody place!"

  People were spilling out of the taverns, some pointing to the burning ships in the docking bay, others staring at the heavy machinery ponderously flying towards the other end of the settlement.

  "Get those bloody people back inside!” Des ordered Raf. “Yucel, go and get Emory, Marcel and Orde, though no doubt they're on their way."

  A loud explosion shook the night, and Des saw a settler's spaceship blast apart as two outlaw fighters swooped down upon it, all lasers firing.

  Another five fighters swooped though the night sky, laser fire sending the settlers scattering amid screams and curses.

  Very much in danger now of being trampled, the peacekeepers stood back against the wall as people ran past them.

  "Do something, you useless bastards!” One man shouted as he ran past them. “You're the law!"

  Ignoring him, Des looked from the fighters to the heavy machinery. “Change of plan. Raf, go and round up the others, send them out to foot scout the area. Meet me back here in twenty minutes. Yucel, get inside and secure everything. Delete all files to the backup system for security. Stay around here if you can, and we'll all meet back. Now go!"

  Raf and Yucel ran in opposite directions, while Des hurried down the darkened verandah. The street lights had been shot out by the fighter crafts, giving her some cover. Keeping her eyes on the machinery, she nevertheless noticed that the fighters had veered off and were circling the skies.

  No communications with the outside areas, and no way to get into the skies without being shot down. The settlement was under siege.

  * * * *

  Simon awoke with a jolt. Blinking up at the dark cabin ceiling, he wondered what had disturbed him. The corridor was quiet, the only sounds that of his friends sleeping—the odd snore, a cough, someone murmuring briefly in their sleep.

  His bunk felt empty. In such a short time he'd gotten used to sleeping with Des, her warm, soft body snuggled up to him. ‘Twas probably what had woken him from such a sound sleep.

  Turning over in the bunk, he was just drifting off to sleep when his private viscomm on the desk let out a quiet beeping.

  Wondering who could possibly be trying to contact him, he got out of bed and padded across to the desk. Sitting down to hide his nakedness from view, he flicked the switch and was surprised to see Creed's grim face.

  Immediately the disquiet he felt intensified. “Des is all right?"

  "I was hoping you could tell me,” Creed replied tersely. “I didn't know you'd left the settlement as well."

  "I left not long after you. And what do you mean, you were hoping I could tell you? I spoke to Des several hours ago."

  "She was okay?"

  "Aye. Why, what ‘tis wrong?” A cold chill went through Simon. “Have you heard something?"

  "I wish. I got the signal that comes to me whenever she puts her lycats into the shelter beneath her home. I can't contact her, or the Enforcer Building.” Creed's face grew darker. “Not even my own brother, Moresby, is contactable."

  "Communications are down again?” Simon's mind worked fast. “Des said they'd had trouble with the communications systems. Have you contacted the Sharver settlement?"

  "They tried to raise the Enforcer Building with no success."

  "Hell! You don't think ‘tis something to do with this mystery ship and the murders, do you?"

  "I don't know.” Creed's mouth thinned. “I'm waiting to hear back from Adin in Sharver. He's sent a pursuit craft out to scout around and find out what's happening."

  "I'll see if I can raise her,” Simon said.

  Creed looked at him for a few seconds, then said, “This is my private contact line. No one but Des and other hunters know it. Use it if you hear anything."

  "Aye.” In a hurry to find out more, Simon quickly traced the link and added it to the internal list. “Thanks."

  "Remember, whoever hears anything first contacts the other."

  "I hear you, Creed."

  "Good.” Creed nodded tersely and cut the link.

  Unable to establish a link with the Tyron Enforcer Building, Simon yanked on a pair of pants and ran down the corridor to the platform lift. The disquiet inside him was escalating, worry gnawing at him.

  There was one way he could find out what was happening. Hopefully ‘twas just simply that the communications system was down again, but remembering what had happened last time the systems went, he feared the worst.

  In the control cabin, he linked onto the peacekeepers private frequency. Immediately he recognized Adin's voice talking to Benel, the peacekeeper obviously on his way to Tryon in a pursuit craft.

  Leaning back in the chair, Simon listened. At first they were discussing the trouble with the communications system in Tyron, but when they mentioned that the radar screening of the surrounding area of the settlement was also cut, he heard the sudden tension in Benel's voice.

  "You're sure you can't pick up any crafts around the settlement?” Adin cursed. “It's like what happened when Aiken and then the others were attacked!"

  "I'm flying in now. I see the settlement and—shit!"

  Simon snapped upright in the chair.

  "What is it?” Adin asked sharply.

  "There's a huge bloody machine of some kind at one end, and some of the settlement is on fire!"

  A chill went down Simon's spine.

  "The docking bay is on fire, all the warehouses are destroyed!” Benel continued. “There're some craft in the sky and—” He cursed suddenly. “They're shooting at me! Damn it! Tyron's under attack and now so am I!"

  "Pull out of there!” Adin ordered sharply. “Get back to a safe distance! Once you lose the fighters, try and find out what you can and feed the information back to us!"

  The rest of the next few minutes was filled with the curses of Benel as he dodged the firing of the fighters, then he yelled, “I'm hit! I'm going dow—"

  A crackling filled the air, the sudden hiss of air, a whine and then a roaring sound as the pursuit crafty exploded.

  "Benel!” Adin yelled sharply.

  Silence for a few minutes as all waited tensely, and then Benel's said shakily, “I bailed. I'm hiding near the caves fifteen miles out of Tyron."

  "Stay low. I'll try and get help to you. Are the fighters still around?"

  "They've circled my craft and are now heading back."

  "Hold tight. Damn, if only I could contact Des and find out what the hell is happening!"

  That's exactly what Simon intended on doing, before he started channeling and alerting the peacekeepers to the fact that he was on their frequency, when by all rights he should have erased it, he set the scanners onto Tyron and narrowed the channeling field.

  "Des. Des, can you hear me?” Fear churning inside him, he tried again. “Lass! Can you hear me?"

  Carefully he channeled the communications, and on the scanner he picked up Tyron. Whatever Sonja, his friend Red's wife, had put into his controls, it certainly gave him access to areas easily, enabling him to bypass most blockers. He silently blessed the ex-pirate when Tyron came onto the scanner as a red blip, and he could see smaller blue dots
moving around it. Fighter crafts.

  Now if he could only contact her.

  What if the lass is dead? Oh God, mayhap she's not answering because she's dead! Heart beating an erratic tattoo, Simon desperately narrowed the channeling down until he suddenly heard heavy breathing, the dull roaring of something on fire.

  And voices.

  "Raf, did you get Orde?” Des demanded.

  "He wasn't there, but I saw his figure disappear into the smoke from the store across the road from him. He's alive in there somewhere. I couldn't find him.” Raf's voice was rasping.

  She's alive. Closing his eyes, Simon took a deep breath of relief.

  "Marcel and Emory?"

  "The Enforcer Building is half destroyed. They're near the back entrance, ready to run at the first sign of danger."

  "Good. Let's go and make plans."

  Fists clenched, Simon waited, knowing wherever Des was, ‘twasn't safe. Was anywhere safe? Probably not, but he had to wait until she was with her men in some semblance of safety. Then he could talk to her.

  Laser fire sounded, Des swore, and something exploded in the background. The breathing of Des and Raf sounded choppy as they ducked and possibly swerved, Simon couldn't be sure. Then he heard the blessed sound of the other peacekeepers.

  "Thank goodness!” Emory said. “I wondered if you'd gotten away safely."

  "Those bastards bombed my house?” Des snarled. “My lycats—"

  "No. Your place is untouched. I just saw the fires and knew you'd gone in that direction."

  "Speaking of fires, it's getting hot out there,” she said. “We need to make plans. Communications are down, the technicians dead. We're on our own—"

  "Nay,” Simon said abruptly. “Des, I've got you on scanner and communications."

  There was a stunned silence and then Des said softly, “Simon?"

  "Aye. I'm going to hook you up with the Sharver peacekeepers and let you talk to them."

  "I'd kiss you if you were here, trader, then I'd kick your arse for still having this frequency."

  He gave a small, worried laugh. “Later, lass, my backside is all yours. For now, you just keep your own pretty bum safe. You listening?"

  "You're so damned romantic. So—Bloody hell! Incoming!"