Not Dead Yet

by Dennis Young

  Studies have found a plethora of well-adapted wildlife, though much of it may not be immediately visible to the casual observer. Most animals in the desert portions are sedentary during daylight hours, coming out only at twilight to hunt or forage. The fauna ranges from hearty cactus-like plants to low scrub and brush. In early spring, during seasonal rains, a brief growing period of approximately sixty days creates great competition for food, mating, and prey.

  Birds comprise much of the wildlife in the Outback; predators, scavengers, and prey. Insects grow to large size and are highly competitive and aggressive. Arachnids, similar to Olde Earth sand spiders, are among the most prevalent. Most mammals are small-to-mid size, but a few, such as the wild dingo (so named from similar animals on Olde Earth) can reach thirty kilos.

  Archeology and geology research groups have reported attacks by packs of dingos. humans venturing into the Outback are cautioned to travel well-supplied and never unarmed.

  Over the last thirty years, bandits have been harassing travelers on occasion. This has caused the Theian Marines to set up monitoring stations to aid would-be adventurers and combat the bandits when necessary.

  Tourism is becoming a large part of the Outback economy. This is another reason for the Marine presence.

  * * *

  Bird One arrived. Abie, her co-pilot Will Thomas, and Jamal Orlando, Eng/Tactical, gave the team hugs all around, then showed off the assault ship’s new toys.

  “Cabins have all been upgraded.” Abie stood at the briefing room screen, pointing out the changes on the schematic. “They’re shielded, and all have a spy tap to detect rogue comm trying to enter or exit. We’ve got two extra screens at TacOps and a new encryption system that’s proprietary.”

  “You mean covert,” said Briggs, sitting with Dosu and Rory as usual.

  Abie grinned. “Yeah, that’s what I said. We’ll download to your HCS systems once we’re on the way.” She changed the screen to an exterior view. “10mm wing miniguns have been replaced by 50 calibers. Slower rate of fire, but a lot more punch. Hellbores are now cryogenically cooled, so we can fire longer bursts. We’ve got one loaded with AP, the other with HE. And extra ammo on board, just in case.”

  “You’re thinking this group we’re going after has something big?” Talice nodded to the screen. “That’s some serious firepower, not that it wasn’t before.”

  Abie shrugged. “They got here from Crius somehow, Captain. Any ship with the capability to carry a dozen or more passengers has to have some defensive capability.”

  “Their hangar is large enough for a ship the size of Bird One, plus a couple of turbocopters,” added Mac. “Or maybe even out-of-atmo-capable fighters.” She glanced at Talice. “Bet Scarbach nearly had a coronary when he saw the bill for all this.”

  “That’s another thing,” said Abie. “It’s not his ship anymore. We bought it, Will, Jamal, and me. Created a private corporation and financed it late last year. Bird One is all ours now.”

  “Good for you. So are you raising our prices?”

  A small chuckle made its way around the table.

  “You get a discount,” replied Abie. “But we want it all up front.” She grinned.

  Talice nodded. “What else? You’ve got a shelter in one of the hardpoint externals, right?”

  “Two, just in case. And additional ordnance. And thirty days of supplies.”

  “Yeah, if we’re supposed to capture these people, we’ll need it.” Talice looked around the room. “Questions?”

  There were none. Abie cleared the screen and moved to the side where Will and Jamal stood.

  “Okay, let’s go over some particulars.” Talice took her place at the screen and activated the overhead view of the target area. “Open your dossiers and take a look at the pics. These are Nemesis operatives we think escaped the Crius operation. It’s likely two or three are higher-ups, and the rest are admins and flunkies. Two are former Marines, and there are three women involved, one of which is a trained assassin. We’ve designated the three main targets and the woman assassin, Alpha, Beta, Charlie, Daisy. No smart-ass comments, please.”

  Numerous eye-rolls passed around the table.

  “When we’re in the air we’ll talk details. I want this ship moving so our comm is hard to track, Abie’s upgrades notwithstanding.”

  “That’s another thing, Captain,” said Abie from the corner. “The ready room is shielded, too. And TacOps.”

  “And the cockpit, right. Good work. Okay, questions for now?”

  Talice looked to Mac. Mac looked to Briggs, then Rory. Then the rest.

  “I think we’re about as ready as we’re going to be,” said Mac.

  “We lift at 0800 Hours tomorrow morning. Get your gear on board. Briggs, Dosu, and Jian are in charge of getting the ATVs loaded, Rory, Ollie, and Tooley get the weapons and HCSs in the lockers and secured. Niky and Bělinka, make sure your comm and trap detection equipment is stowed.” Talice passed her eyes around the room once again. “Let’s get this bird ready for action.”

  * * *

  Night came. All the cabins on Bird One were spoken for, but the team spent the evening at the barracks. Talice slung her hammock once again in the equipment bay after everything had been loaded. With four ATVs and other supplies, snug wasn’t even an adequate word. Abie had welded a small safe into a niche where Talice could stow her hand weapons and ammo. And her patches, S-H fluid, and whatever else might fit.

  She sat with her back against a crate, toying with the wristwatch commset from Fawkes, her thoughts drifting. Cooling air drifted from the open loading ramp.

  Briggs approached from outside. “Got a minute, Captain.”

  Talice nodded and motioned him to sit.

  “There’s stuff you didn’t say at the briefing.” Briggs lowered his bulk to the deck.

  “Once we’re in the air tomorrow, we’ll go over details. No need to until then. We’ve hashed this out pretty well for the last few days.”

  “It’s not gonna be easy, dragging people out alive who don’t want to go.”

  “We had a bit of that on the first rescue mission with Aya.” Talice grinned. “And Rory in his gladiator getup.”

  “We need to know how much leeway we have,” said Briggs. “We’ve got four targets. What about the rest?”

  Talice nodded again. “I’ve been thinking about that a lot. What’s your suggestion?”

  “Leave ’em be? If they’re admins like you say, what harm would it do?”

  “What if they want out? Want to come with us?”

  Briggs shrugged. “Then there’s a way to work a deal, maybe. Get their help.”

  Talice considered. “We’d have to infiltrate. Gorg Evans isn’t with us, and none of us have a clue about how to do that.”

  “Maybe if the others want out, they have intel about the targets they’d share for… safety.”

  “You mean immunity.”

  Briggs nodded. “Same thing.”

  Talice thought about it for a moment. “I thought we pretty much crushed Nemesis on Crius, but we were obviously wrong. I wonder how many more got out?”

  “Marines took what, over a hundred prisoners? Where are they?”

  “Good question. I have no idea. What are you getting at, Briggs?”

  He shrugged again. “I’m not really sure. Maybe there’s criminal activity going on in both sides.”

  “More likely politics. You know what this is all really about, right?”

  “Only what you’ve said. And yeah, it’s dirty.”

  Talice nodded slowly. “That’s why Mac and I negotiated this deal. No killing except in self-defense. Bring them in alive.”

  Briggs was quiet, then spoke softly. “What about negotiating with the targets?”

  Talice looked away, then chuckled. “Damn… that’s a good idea. Let’s talk to Mac about that once we’re on the way.” She smiled. “Good job, big guy.”

  “I just don’t like the idea of shooting someone because of thei
r politics.”

  Talice’s eyes drifted away, and she frowned. “You got that right.”

  * * *

  Bird One lifted from the training center two hours after sunrise. The hold was packed, the cabins full, except for Talice’s. She hung a hand-lettered “Come see me in my office” sign on the door.

  Talice ordered three low-orbit altitude passes, to get fresh vids and holos of the target area without being seen. Bird One’s cameras were more than up to the task.

  “Turbocopter.” Mac nodded to herself as she studied the latest vids, with Talice sitting at her side at the ready room table. “And a second on the ground, being serviced.”

  “What else?”

  Mac zoomed the screen in to full mag. “Something in the hangar, I can see a partial shadow. But like Abie said, it has to be big enough to have gotten them to Theia. How many is the question.”

  “Could be more than a dozen. Maybe twenty, hell, I don’t know. Dammit, this could be like the Crius rescue mission all over again.” Talice looked away, deep in thought. “Mac, what if we took a different approach? What if we can negotiate a settlement without firing a shot?”

  Mac sat back and sipped tea, thinking. “If we could do it, great. How we could do it is different.”

  “Convince them they have no choice?” Talice shuddered.

  “The classic ‘offer they can’t refuse’, right?” Mac snickered. “Works great in the movies and vids, doesn’t it? Look, we need to stay on plan. We’re all so uncomfortable with this political crap, it’s got us trying to explain our way out of it. That’s a good way to get someone killed.”

  “They’re trying to blackmail councilmen with information everyone already knows. You and I know there’s likely more to the story than that, and my guess is, the Nemesis people know it, too. That’s what they’re really holding over the councilmen’s heads. That’s why they want these people dead.”

  Mac shrugged. “Like Scarbach said. Yeah, I agree, and if Scarbach knows it, you can damn well bet Fawkes does too. So why wouldn’t he tell us?”

  “Hole, card, just like we have. He won’t play it if he doesn’t have to. Look…” Talice drew closer. “If we turn these people over to the Marines, they can talk to the city prosecutors to cut a deal. Get the real info on the councilmen.”

  “Voters don’t care if the councilmen have business interests in the Fourth Sector.”

  Talice nodded. “That’s why the real issue has to be brought out. Nemesis is dead, for all practical purposes. So all that’s left is the possible involvement of the councilmen in the sex trafficking. The people in this survivor group probably had nothing to do with that part of the organization. Dammit, Mac, the only reason I agreed to do this is, if these councilmen are dirty, they deserve to go down!”

  Mac made a sour face. “The District Attorney’s office might not like that. Especially if they’re politically favored to the councilmen’s reelection.”

  Talice considered for a moment. “Good point. Damn, this could blow the council to pieces. Fawkes has pull with High Command. He…” she paused, then continued. “Colonel Vicker is retiring next year. Fawkes has been recommended as his replacement.”

  “Wow. So Fawkes will be part of High Command, third in line. That’s some serious clout.”

  “And the last thing High Command wants to see is a city in political turmoil. It could spread. Quickly. It’s got to be cleaned up now.”

  Mac sat back. “So we’re back to where we were. Take everyone alive, if possible.”

  Talice nodded and blew a breath. “I want a full recon of the target site once we’re down. We can’t make a mistake and have this turn into a furball. We’ve got ten days. Let’s use it wisely.” She paused. “I’m sure glad I’ve got you around to bounce this stuff off of.” She gave Mac a quick hug, then drew back. “How long since you were out of that chair?”

  Mac waved a hand. “Too long for you, probably. Let’s see if I can get up and you can walk me to the head.”

  Talice stood. “Okay, but I’m not going in with you to hold your hand.”

  They laughed. Mac stood. Talice took her hands and guided her slowly around the corner.

  * * *

  Abie took Bird One through a full-orbit descent, making sure they broke the sound barrier on the opposite side of the planet from the target area. She put the assault ship into a slow, low-power glide, and they made the last fifty kilometers on thrusters at treetop level, then set down twenty kilometers out, behind a series of forested hills. She backed the ship under an outcrop, settled onto the landing pads, and cut the power. Then glanced over her shoulder at Talice, who had watched the whole procedure from the cockpit jumpseat, simply awed.

  Dawn was still three hours away, and Talice called the team together at the base of the loading ramp. The air was cool and dry. It was late Autumn in the Southland continent, and Talice was glad for small advantages. Everyone was armed, armored, and supplied, ready to go. Mac would monitor at TacOps, as usual.

  “We’ve got almost twenty kilometers to hike. No ATVs, no Bird One, just our feet. We’ve got three hours to do it in, so let’s get started. This is recon only, nothing more. Briggs and Rory will be Team One and lead, Jian and Ollie are Cover One. Cover Two is Dosu and Nikolay. Bělinka and I are Team Two, with Tooley as our second.”

  “Just like old times, except for the new guy.” Briggs gave a grin, and Tooley waved a salute back.

  Talice continued. “Once Team One is in position, Niky will get his comm equipment up. Mac has our route loaded and will send to our Headup.” She paused, taking in the team one at a time. “We have ten days, so there’s no hurry. Let’s make sure our intel is correct, then we can plan whatever follows. Questions?”

  “How long are we staying out?” Tooley.

  “Three hours out, no more than twelve hours of recon, if we can help it,” replied Talice. “We’ll rest in turn as needed. Don’t forget, we’ve got to hike back, too, so conserve your energy. Ready? Okay, let’s keep our visors up and suit power on minimum. I’ll let you know when to check your maps. Let’s go.”

  The team marched away. Mac motioned to Talice from the loading ramp.

  “Before you get three hours away from us, how you doing?”

  “About what, Mac?”

  “Your bugs, Princess. You’ve still got ’em, right?”

  Talice grimaced and nodded. “The C-12Ultra is doing the job. My suit reservoir is filled with S-H, I have a fresh patch on and three with me. And three extra bottles of S-H. Jian has a patch, too, just in case.”

  Mac nodded. “Aside from that, how are you feeling? Seriously.”

  Talice stopped to think. “I’m thirsty almost all the time, but that’s not really anything new. My skin is dry. Hell, Mac, what do you want me to say? I’m alive.”

  “I want you to say you’ll keep your mind on the mission and no hero stuff. Like you said, this is recon only.”

  “Okay, if you promise me you’ll get Jamal or Will to walk you around while we’re gone. And I’m gonna ask them when I get back.”

  Mac nodded. “Fair enough. Look, none of us has been in the field for nearly a year. Take is slow. Ease back into this and everyone will be okay.”

  “As long as one of those turbocopters doesn’t drop a grenade or three on us.”

  “Which reminds me, I’ve got the drones prepped. They can be there in about thirty minutes if necessary.”

  Talice looked at the receding line of her teammates. “Keep one hot, just in case. Look, I gotta go, or I’m gonna need a map just to catch up.” She fist-bumped with Mac and headed out, almost tripping over absolutely nothing.

  * * *

  The target area was in a ravine, situated at a dried-up forking river bed.

  “Why the hell would anyone build a town out here?” Rory, with his visor still up, watching through his magspecs, about five meters from Talice.

  “The land shifted about thirty kilometers away and the river changed course,” re
plied Ollie, his visor still up as well. “Then weather patterns changed, and everything baked out.” He nodded north. “There are mines in the hills above the town, and occasionally prospectors still bring a little gold or silver out of them. Most of the year, the weather is brutal.”

  “If you’d read the dossier, you’d know this,” joked Briggs. Rory just snorted.

  “Talice, we’ve got movement at the hangar.” Jian, on All-Channel, watching on the sentry line.

  “Everyone, look sharp, visors down.” Talice lowered hers and activated the 10X mag. “Yeah, looks like they’re powering up one of the turbocopters.”

  “The other one…” Briggs voice in her ear paused, as he watched as well. “Yeah, they cannibalized one to get the first one going.”

  “They’re doing a systems check,” replied Jian.

  “That ’copter is at least twenty years old.” Tooley, on the ball. “Minigun on the port side door.”

  “Rory, give me a sweep of the town. Briggs, watch that turbocopter. Cover Teams, stay sharp, watch the perimeter. I don’t want anything sneaking up on us.” Talice paused, flipped up her visor. Bělinka, anything?”

  “Nothing, Captain. This area is clean.”

  Talice lowered her visor again. “Niky, report.”

  “Light chatter, all in clear. If they’re talking around the aircraft, it’s without comm and I cannot hear them.”

  “If that thing goes in the air, we retreat under the overhang. Copy all?”

  A chorus of “Huas” sounded.

  “I count ten active outside the buildings. None of the structures are hardened, with the exception of the hangar. There’s an auto-feeder on the three-story building in the middle, and a sandbag bunker at the west end of the street.” Rory. “Looks like another one at the southeast corner of the hangar. Hand weapons only at those locations, pulse rifles and a couple of carbines.”

  “Turbocopter is under power, not lifting.” Briggs. “It’s still connected to what appears to be a diagnostic panel on a maintenance cart.”

  “Talice, watch the hangar.” Mac, observing through Talice’s visor feed, back at TacOps.