Not Dead Yet

by Dennis Young

  “Was it that bad?” Tooley finally asked, as the lights of the ship came into view.

  Talice shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. But good or bad, we still have a job to do.” She glanced at the young man. “Check in with Briggs, and if there’s nothing left to do, get some rest. I have a feeling, things are going to start moving in a serious direction come morning.”

  Talice was out of the ATV before it stopped rolling. Up the ramp, stopped by her safe and grabbed a patch, then made her way to the head. She was shaking as she closed the door.

  Damn, I changed less than twenty-four hours ago, didn’t I? I know Babs told me stress will make the meds less effective. Fucking bugs just sop every bit of moisture, still. I can’t drink enough anymore, it seems.

  She sat, waiting for the C-12Ultra to calm her. Finally stood and made her way out, looking for Mac. She found her in the ready room with Abie and Jamal.

  “Good news,” said Mac, nodding to Jamal. “Bird One is ready to go. Give the word.”

  Talice stood behind Abie with her hands on the pilot’s shoulders. “Well done, and I mean that sincerely, all of you.” Talice was making “we really need to talk now” motions with her eyebrows.

  Mac finally noticed. “You’re off duty, both of you. 0700 is coming early tomorrow.”

  Abie and Jamal rose, nodded to Talice, and entered the cockpit. The hatch closed as Talice sat.

  Mac looked over her shoulder to make sure the hatch was sealed. “That bad, huh?”

  Talice took a breath, then another. “We need to finish this, and I know how. I met with Jance, and she’s… if not willing to cooperate, at least won’t get in the way. I made a deal, apparently.”

  Mac shook her head. “Apparently? Did you sign anything?”

  Talice shrugged. “I didn’t tell her our secret regarding the sex-traffic connection, but I gave her a hint. Now she’s thinking about it. She’s smart enough to at least give it consideration.”

  Mac sat back, thinking. “Okay. What was your deal?”

  Talice paused before her answer. “Nothing that will affect this mission or the team at all. Something… personal. Maybe a way to bring this all to a real end.”

  “That sounds foreboding.”

  “Yeah. It is.”

  “So what’s the plan? As discussed?”

  Talice nodded. “We take out their eyes in the sky, then land at the front door and deliver our ultimatum. If we have to, we go in and dig them out.”

  “Including Jance? Not likely.”

  Talice took a breath again, searching for a bit of calm. “Look… we don’t have time for anything else. The batteries will be gone in a couple of days. We’ve got to finish this now.”

  Mac looked deep into Talice’s eyes. “You up for this? You’re looking pretty pale.”

  “Yeah, and you’re pretty shitty looking, too, lady.”

  They grinned together.

  “Get some rest, Princess. I’m gonna do the same.”

  “Want me to walk you to your cabin? Tuck you in? Did you bring your teddy bear?”

  They laughed, then hugged.

  “First light, Mac. Then we drop the hammer. And see if we can catch Jance with a bit of luck.”

  “Mission first, Talice.”

  “I know. But I mean it, Mac. I’m ready to level the place if it comes to that. I’ll take my chances with Fawkes before I let anything else happen to this team. I’ve got two deaths on my conscience, and I won’t have anymore. We’ve been stupid long enough.”

  * * *

  Bird One lifted with the sunrise. Jamal had rigged a temporary seat where Will’s copilot position had been. Tooley took it, sitting to Abie’s right, ready to assist with controls as necessary. “I was a turbocopter pilot my first year in the Marines,” he had said to Talice. “Some of the terminology is the same, and I’ve flown two-seater fighters as a trainee, so I’m your man.”

  Talice agreed, watching from the hatch as the ship rose.

  “Half the thrusters are out, so just getting off the ground is tricky,” said Jamal. Bird One tilted, leveled, almost did a nosedive into the dirt, then steadied. “See what I mean?” Jamal grinned.

  “Turbine One is only at fifty percent,” said Abie over her shoulder to Talice. “That’s the port side. So I have to throttle back Number Two for balance. Port minigun is out, but we cut a couple of small slots in two of the cabins, so Briggs can stick his SmartGun out and give us some cover.”

  Talice nodded, grim-faced. She looked over the patch-job in the cockpit. Most of the starboard side canopy was gone, covered with salvaged scraps from the crash-landing, spares, and a dismantled supply container. It created a blind spot. Talice knew Abie wasn’t thrilled, but under the circumstances and time constraints, Jamal and the team had performed miracles making the ship airworthy. She gave the cockpit crew one last look, exited, then went about seeing everyone else was in their assigned places.

  Mac was at TacOps with Nikolay at her side, monitoring the airwaves. He gave a thumbs-up from beneath his headset. Talice laid a gentle hand on his shoulder before moving downship.

  Briggs was in the rear port cabin, SmartGun mounted on a jury-rigged stand and wind whistling through the hole in the hull. Ollie was with him, ready to assist. She nodded to them and moved on.

  Rory, Jian, and Dosu were waiting in the deployment area with the ATVs. Talice would go in with them, the rest of the team providing cover as necessary. As if the Hellbores in Bird One’s nose weren’t enough.

  The ship rose. Crates and ATVs creaked with the movement. Tiedowns swung from their mounts, and the rumble of the engines reverberated through the hull and deck. Talice grabbed a handhold. They could be shot down again in a heartbeat, but she knew they had a chance. For a bunch of flunky administrators, these Nemesis people have put up a hell of a fight. Never make an accountant mad, I guess…

  She couldn’t stand the suspense, so she headed back to the cockpit, entered, closed the hatch, and braced herself against it, watching.

  Bird One nosed up, higher. The camera balloon grew quickly on the screen, then in the air ahead. It was painted in light colors, and Talice could imagine it being almost invisible from just about anywhere, above, below, or even flying through the area.

  “Coming in range, Captain.”

  “Take it out, Abie, then get us down as quickly as possible. Safely.”

  “Copy that!” Abie lined up the sights. A red circle appeared on the targeting screen, locked in place, and scrolled data.

  “Firing.”

  Bird One trembled. The patch-job shook and rattled. The balloon disappeared in a puff of smoke.

  “Down!” Talice hung on as the ship banked hard right, circled, then again, and drifted down the last twenty meters on what thrusters Abie had at her command. They settled, bumped, bounced, then settled again. Talice’s feet actually left the floor on the bounce.

  “Good job, now keep the guns hot.” Talice exited to TacOps.

  “Comm, Niky?” Nikolay nodded. Talice held a hand for a headset, and Mac passed it to her.

  “Give me their frequency. I want this ship-wide and on external speakers, too.”

  Mac worked her controls, then turned with a nod.

  Talice took a breath. “This is the captain of the assault ship sitting outside your front door. Your eye in the sky is gone. We’ve taken out your aircraft and weapons, not to mention half your main building. Our orders are to take you alive, but those orders are also subject to my discretion regarding the tactical situation. If you don’t understand what that means, I’ll explain. It means if I drag your dead bodies back and say you resisted, my commander will be okay with that.

  “So the choice is yours. Surrender, and I give you my word you’ll have safe passage back to the authorities, where you can plead your case in a court of law. Resist, and I promise, there will be nothing left but food for the dingos when we’re done firing.”

  She paused for effect, then continued. “Come out with your
hands up and empty, or we open fire. No negotiation. You have two minutes to decide. Out.”

  Talice switched to the cockpit. “Abie, lower the ramp.” Switched again. “Rory, stand by, we’re going in, two minutes. OpCom, big guy, for real.”

  She tossed the headset on Mac’s panel and headed downship.

  Mac’s eyes were big as saucers as she followed Talice with her gaze.

  CHAPTER NINE

  Where do We Go from Here?

  (Part Thre)

  Put an End to This

  “Build your opponent a golden bridge to retreat across.”

  Sun Tzu, “The Art of War”

  Two Minutes Later…

  Talice counted off the final seconds.

  “This is Edmund, inside the building. Don’t fire, I’m coming out.”

  Talice ran back upship to TacOps. Mac handed her the headset as she slid to a halt. She shucked her helmet and pressed the receiver to her ear. “All of you, Mr. Edmund. Or we take down the building.”

  “We need to talk—”

  Talice clicked to Briggs. “Big guy, give them a one-second burst into the top floor.”

  Briggs chortled over the comm. The SmartGun erupted with a clatter of fire. Cries and screams were heard over Talice’s headset.

  Talice changed back to the Nemesis frequency. “As I said, everyone. Now.”

  “Okay, just… don’t shoot.”

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” said Mac softly. She laid a hand on Talice’s vambrace.

  Talice nodded, staring at the feed from Briggs’s Headup display. She watched as several people emerged from the front doors, hands in the air. Talice tossed the headset aside and ran downship again, swung around the side of Bird One and stopped between Briggs and Jian. She knew Ollie was covering, and Dosu in the driver’s seat in the ATV, armed and alert. Just in case.

  She took a step forward. “That’s far enough.”

  “Seven men, two women,” said Jian, his visor up. “One missing.”

  And Jance. Talice nodded. “Alright, Mr. Edmund. Is that all? Because as soon as we have everyone secured, we’re leveling all these buildings.”

  Edmund was a small man, balding, thin, and none too clean. “I… think so.”

  Talice lowered her visor. “Jian, Dosu, visors down. Check it out. Don’t kill anyone unless you have to.” She clicked on her external speaker. “My men are going in. If they so much as get a scratch, everyone here dies.”

  Edmund gestured. “Please, give me a minute…”

  “Jian, take him with you. Use him as a shield.”

  “Captain?”

  “Do it.”

  “Wait! Wait!” One of the women stepped forward, then turned to Edmund. “Tell Tonner to come out. These people are killers.”

  Talice smirked behind her visor. “How many other, Miss…”

  “I’m Portnoy. Tonner is my… partner.”

  Where do these people get their names? Talice nodded. “Then you bring him out. And anyone else in there. Now. You have thirty seconds.”

  The woman ran back to the entrance, opened the door and called the name. Jian followed and stood to the side, pulse rifle ready, waiting to go in.

  A ragged, obviously wounded man emerged, holding his crusty arm.

  Probably from the drone attack, thought Talice. “Jian, see to him. Get him in the ATV. Dosu, make sure the keys are out.” She clicked back to the speaker. “Good. Now is that all? No tricks.”

  Portnoy nodded.

  Talice said nothing about no mention of Jance. She had a pretty good idea what was about to happen. “Alright, all of you will be subject to a full search. And I mean full. We’ll do this one at a time—”

  “Captain, ship rising from behind the hangar!” Jian, sharp as always.

  “Jian, Dosu, go! Shoot it down!” Talice knew Jance had to be on board that singleship, and likely pulse rifle fire wouldn’t bring it down. If it did… too bad for Jance.

  Jian and Dosu ran, opened fire at a hundred meters, their HE rounds glancing harmlessly from the fighter’s armor. Return fire spattered aside, shredding a still-standing wall of the hangar, kicking up dust and scattering debris, but not really coming close to either man.

  The ship lifted, did a quick spin, and rose into the clouds. All the while, Talice and Briggs held the prisoners at bay.

  Talice clicked to the speaker once more. “So you were lying.”

  Edmund held his hands out pleading. “She told us if we said anything she’d come back and kill us all!”

  “Who? I want a name!”

  “Jance,” said Portnoy, when Edmund hesitated. “I don’t know her last name.”

  And that’s that. For now, thought Talice.

  “Please… don’t kill us. We just… we’re out of food, water, everything. We’ve been here for over sixty days, waiting.” Edmund again. “We surrender.”

  “This guy’s no merc,” said Briggs, on the internal circuit.

  Talice motioned to Portnoy and the other woman. “Over there. We’ll search and scan the men first, then the women.” She clicked to Mac’s channel. “Have Jamal bring out the med-scanner and his kit. We’ve got a wounded prisoner.”

  “You let Jance escape. You took a terrible chance with everyone’s lives.” Mac’s tone was not accusing, just a statement.

  Talice sighed. “I’ll explain later. For now, it was part of the deal.”

  “She might have killed Jian and Dosu, just for fun.”

  Talice knew better. “Not this time, Mac. We made a deal. One I didn’t realize at the time, but understand better now. Like I said, later. Right now, we’ve got prisoners to attend to. And the job is done.”

  * * *

  The day was filled with scans, questions, more scans, Jian and Dosu offering water and protein bars to the prisoners, further questions, blank stares from time to time, and at the last, a private talk with Edmund and Portnoy. Talice sat with them in the shade of Bird One, still in her HCS with the visor up, while the pair huddled in blankets before her. Tooley stood behind them alert and armed. Talice knew it was likely unnecessary, but the intimidation factor was unmistakable.

  “So you escaped from Crius, avoided the Marines on Theia, and sent threatening messages to the councilmembers in Anchor Prime? And you didn’t think the authorities would get involved?” Talice huffed. “You don’t seem to know how politics works.”

  Edmund shrugged. “We knew this place existed, was set up as a hideout, so to speak. Once we knew we hadn’t been tracked, we argued for ten days what to do. We were short on supplies even then, didn’t have any money and nowhere to spend it, even if we’d had it.” He drank water, then shrugged again. “Then about six or seven days ago, this woman Jance showed up. Set up defenses. Knew about the missiles and such.”

  Talice glanced over Edmund’s shoulder as Briggs and Rory emerged from the building. They caught her eye and gave her a thumbs-up. Talice nodded slightly in return.

  “I knew her from Crius,” said Portnoy. “Not well, and like I said, I didn’t know her last name. But she was… different. She knew things about Nemesis, took charge of the crèche. Saw to it the women weren’t mistreated, at least no more than she could allow and not come under suspicion.”

  “And your job, what was it?” asked Talice.

  “I’m a medtech. Or I was, anyway. I had to keep them healthy.”

  Yeah, healthy so they could keep giving sex for pay to Nemesis. Fuck you, lady. You’re no better than the rest. Talice was careful not to let her thoughts show in her face.

  “We had information on these councilmen,” said Edmund, obviously uncomfortable with the tension between Talice and Portnoy. “We thought if we could get some help from them, we could get back to Crius, or Eos. Anywhere but here.”

  “Yeah, your fuel cells were drained getting here, weren’t they? No transport, no supplies, stranded in the middle of the Outback. Not very good planning.” Talice kept her gaze with Edmund’s.

  “We w
ere just technicians. We knew the Marines were coming, and put together a plan to steal a ship while the leaders were fighting for their lives and their money. We knew they’d put us on the front line as soon as the security guards all died or ran off.” Edmund shrugged. “We didn’t have much choice,” he whispered, dropping his eyes away.

  Talice considered her next words. “Alright, as I said, we’ll take you with us and drop you off with the authorities. I gave my word, and it’s good. You’ll have your day in a court of law.”

  “Jance said you’d likely kill us. And if we didn’t do what she said, she’d kill us.” Edmund grimaced. “We decided to take our chances with you, because she’s… dangerous.”

  Talice nearly laughed. “Yeah, she is. We’re dangerous, too, but we’re not ruthless. Unless we really have to be.” She rose. “We’re going to finish up here and get headed back. It won’t be a comfortable ride, but it’s not that far.” She motioned for Briggs and Rory. “These gentlemen will get you settled in the ship. I have other business to attend to.”

  Talice headed up the ramp, stopped at her cabin and stripped off her HCS. She was shaking again. Sweating, too, which was unusual for her condition. She put it down to stress.

  She checked her patch and applied a new one, drank a bottle of S-H, went to the Head and splashed her face with cold water.

  Damn. I don’t understand this. Not normal at all, and I gotta get in touch with Babs. Something’s happening with this C-12Ultra, or maybe the bugs are just getting stronger. No time to worry about it right now, though.

  She made it to TacOps and sat with Mac, monitoring everything with the drones.

  Mac gave her a look. “You okay? Damn, Princess, what’s wrong?”

  Talice shook her head. “I don’t know. Need to talk with Babs as soon as we get back.” She motioned to Mac’s repaired hoverchair. “Got you rolling again, right?”

  “More or less. Mostly less. No hover, just wheels for now. It will need a full rebuild when we get to the Base. Which reminds me, are we headed for Northland Base or Anchor Prime?”

  “Marines,” said Talice. “I’m not about to turn these people over to the locals. Politics again.”