Fire and Steel

by Gavin Magson

  “Rather you than me.” Harric looked up from the floor and almost jumped when he saw the anger on Duke’s face. “Sorry, I saw no point in lying about it. Yadriel is paying all involved a handsome sum; he has no intention of paying so much to see you, or any of your crew, dead.”

  Chapter 14

  Spring had long since vanquished the winter storms and snow no longer blanketed the city in its thick, white coat. Miles relished the sunshine streaming through the window in front of him, though he could not help but feel frustrated at the boredom he had suffered for far too long. Miles rolled over onto his right side, as far as he could, so as to get a better look at his squad, or what remained of them anyway.

  The room was spacious enough for the doctor and her four nurses to tend to the men, when needed, but only with the three beds in close proximity. Rex had made it out lightly, only a pierced lung, internal bleeding, and enough shrapnel in his shoulder to warrant a replacement joint. Jerry, to add to his list of troubles from the slums, had lost his left leg below the knee, which the doctor had since amputated further to better fit his prosthetic.

  Miles had been prepared for death and thrown himself at their attackers with no thought of saving his life. He had panicked at first, waking with no sight, but a nurse had managed to calm him with sedatives before he tore out any of the tubing running through his body. Blind in both eyes he had been the first to receive their augments, although he was still waiting on his left hand. The doctor had spent the longest stabilising him; it was all news to Miles when he had been told, his memory was riddled with substantial gaps.

  A knock on the door behind him and the draught of air as it was opened could only signal one thing; Rine had arrived. It had surprised him when Miles was told that Rine would visit today, the look of worry on the doctor’s face suggested he should be on his best behaviour. Miles lowered himself onto his back, grunting as his tubing and stitches pulled at his healing skin.

  “It is good to see you back with the living, Miles. I trust that your men are closer to being back on their feet than last I saw you three.”

  “I cannot honestly remember your visit, all I know is from what the nurses have told me. I must admit it left me curious; why did you save us? The cost alone of the medical treatments and prosthetics could hire you a dozen men, or more.”

  Rine continued to stare into Miles’ eyes, his face remained expressionless as, Miles presumed, he mulled over the answer.

  “My business’ expansion has been costly, both in manpower and credits; far more than I originally estimated. Seven is a lost cause, I’ve not the men left to push for control, and, now that the winter is behind us, Six could soon follow suit. You and your squad have shown you are more than worth your wages and are invited to return to action when you are fighting fit, should you wish to stay in my employ. Despite what you might think about my motives I’d like to assure you that whether you return to Seven or not is entirely your choice.

  “However, in return for the treatment I would ask that you meet with the leader of a mercenary group I have hired to revitalise the fight in Seven. If you can talk him through what you experienced whilst there it would be of great benefit to my cause. The losses have been extensive, which required the sourcing of additional fighters. I would also ask your opinion on whether a further two hundred men could see out this war, without it dragging into next winter.”

  “Two hundred men? Are they all under the same command?” asked Miles.

  “Yes, Boden Shaw leads them. I am told that they operate in squads of ten, with most having worked together for a decade. They do not come cheap, but for the price comes a considerable arsenal that I have been assured will make short work of the slums.”

  Rine’s face broke into a half grin whilst Miles unleashed a muttered tirade of curses, some that left a nearby nurse blushing. Only once the man’s sudden irritation had passed did he look back at Rine.

  “Boden Shaw will raze Seven to the ground with two hundred men. You’ve nothing to worry about him eliminating all threats; I’d worry about whether there’d be any civilians left to buy your produce.”

  “I have had to make a lot of promises and deals, some of which cost more than mere money, to powerful men and women in order to ensure that what has been happening in the slums remains contained and not investigated.

  “The slums residents have, in the most part, relocated or returned to Six, easing the burden on wherever they had fled the slums for. Despite a handful being daring enough to enter Seven Konar now has the issue of severe overcrowding in Six. Six’s overpopulation cannot go on for much longer, as no one is looking to expand or rebuild Six whilst there is still uncertainty over when the conflict will end. I need this to end soon, otherwise no amount of deals will keep my actions a secret.

  “Of course, all this would be for nothing if Seven was left a wasteland. The rebuild cost has exceeded the estimates I provided to… that doesn’t matter, what does is that Seven is dealt with swiftly, and in a manner that reduces any more property damage. Boden has been instructed to keep collateral damage to a minimum, with heavy financial penalties should he allow his men to be reckless. I have no other way of keeping him in line.” Rine seemed uncertain in his own words but made sure his voice never faltered; Miles wondered if what Rine said was more to reassure himself than the mercenary.

  “Financial penalties? Threat of imprisonment, torture, or death would do little to tame Boden, should his blood lust overcome him. I’ll happily advise him on how to tackle Seven, since I owe you that much for life, but I want to be involved; I can’t allow Boden to be left unchecked out there. As for my squad, I cannot speak for them. I’ll talk to the men privately when they are awake. Do you have a timeframe for when your next offensive will begin?”

  “He has already left Troy and should be here within the next four weeks, providing there are no issues in transit. Your help will be greatly appreciated, especially if it helps regulate the damage. Tell your men I was asking about them; I would like them to know that I am not as cold a man as my reputation would claim. I have to return to my work, but I will be in touch when Boden and his men arrive. There is another visitor to see you, who I believe is a little anxious ahead of this informal meeting; go easy on her. Until next time, Miles.”

  Miles gave the man a short nod and watched him leave. He noted how the nurse, her name lost to his fuddled memory, who had spent the conversation changing the dressing on Jerry’s leg, finally relaxed with Rine gone. Miles was not afraid of Rine, since he had little cause to fear most men, but he could not deny that the man had a ruthless reputation that, despite saying it was not all true, left most to walk on eggshells around him.

  He waited patiently, since his body was not yet ready for long periods of standing, and continued to look out of the window at the foot of his bed. Now that snow no longer flittered past his window he had enjoyed, for want of a better word, a sprawling view of Sector Four from the outskirts of Three.

  Miles did not know the city well, and only knew what it was he looked at after asking Doctor Wilton during one of her infrequent visits. The doctor had come as a surprise, since Miles estimated she was in her late twenties; his previous experience with doctors had all been far older, and considerably more male, than she.

  Emma, as she preferred, had been sponsored through her training by a generous scheme which one of Rine’s numerous companies offered to a select few candidates each year. Miles had filled in the blanks as best he could, since Emma had seemed hesitant to talk further about her affiliation with the man. As Miles had not left the room for the four or so months he had been a patient of the doctors he did not know just how many patients she had, nor whether they were all, in some way, affiliated with Rine.

  The door opened once more, and Miles caught a brief snippet of conversation as Aiko stepped into the room. Before she could close the door behind her Miles heard mention of his name from his doctor, but her words were lost to him before Miles could make any sense of the
conversation.

  “I am sorry that I’m not more presentable today, had I expected guests I would have spruced up the place and told my men to hide the gorier wounds.” said Miles.

  His attempt at humour did nothing to improve the haunted look upon Aiko’s face, he did not see so much as a flicker from her sorrowful eyes. Miles had only met Aiko a handful of times, with the last being close to half a year previous. She had been on the thin side back then, not to his personal tastes but beautiful nonetheless, yet Aiko had lost enough weight that Miles was sure he could see the outline of her orbital bones through her lightly tanned skin.

  “I’m sorry that I did not visit sooner, Miles; I just couldn’t bring myself to see the suffering you have endured for me. I am sorry, truly sorry, for the injuries of you and your men, and for the loss of your equipment and weapons; we were only able to salvage some personal belongings when we extracted you. If I had known that all this would come from asking you to search for Ajax I would have done it myself.”

  “I wouldn’t say that it has been a good time for me and my men, but Ajax was one of us and we don’t leave our own behind; we would not have stood by if you had put yourself in harm’s way to search for him. Believe it or not Jerry is actually rather fond of him new leg, since it doesn’t ache when the nights are cold, and I have become used to the new eyes. If I wanted to I could describe the hairstyle worn by the woman in the top apartment of the building three streets back.”

  Aiko turned from Miles to follow his gaze and let out a quiet chuckle at his claim; she could not even tell if there was a person in the building he spoke of.

  “We are soldiers of fortune, Aiko, injury and, unfortunately, death are an occupational hazard that we have to accept. I know it must be difficult to talk about but have you any more information about what happened to him?” asked Miles.

  Aiko stayed staring out of the window, taking in the sight that Miles had spent several months using to focus in his new eyes and familiarise himself with how they operated. Despite the angle at which she stood preventing Miles from directly seeing Aiko’s face, he could, with ease, focus on the window pane, magnify the image, and watch the tears that formed in her hazel eyes.

  “He’s dead, of that I have no doubt. The crater near where we found you and your men is centred on his last known location, and, I’m told by those who I have asked advice about such devastation, was caused by a single ordinance strike delivered from a small aircraft. Despite how surprisingly organised the numerous manufacturers and their hired muscle were, there is no doubt in my mind that they are not to blame for the bomb that killed him and numerous men from both sides.”

  “Ordinance? I struggled to believe it could be anything but that at the time, the explosion was terrifying to behold; it would certainly explain how I was able to see the explosion so far away. Have you any leads on who might be responsible for the attack?”

  “Actually, that is one of the reasons that I came to see you here.” Aiko turned back, making no attempt to hide her tears as she wiped them away with her jackets sleeve. “I’ve tried to make sense of his last moments, I’ve spent weeks staring at that damn recording and watching him race through Four. I know he went to Henry Steel’s mansion and spent over an hour there, before heading to Seven. What doesn’t make sense is that he must have been in a hover to have got there so quickly, but his tablet was either switched off or its transmission was blocked the entire time. Even a politician’s armoured hover isn’t designed to do that; I can’t understand why he went off the grid for that long.

  “What I do know is that Henry Steel had already left on his honeymoon prior to Ajax’s visit to the mansion. I’ve yet to find someone who knows that the mayor was anywhere but off world on the day that Ajax died, which only leaves me with more questions. The problem is if I start asking questions of a mayor I’d likely not live long enough to find out the answer. Ajax had never even stepped foot into that area of Four, so what reason would he have to be there?”

  “This would be the man who married Ajax’s friend, Ilya?” Aiko nodded, and Miles noted how her eyes tightened at the woman’s name. “If they were off-world on a honeymoon, I cannot think why Ajax would visit the mayor’s home, especially since he spent so long there. Have you managed to retrieve anything from his tablet, any of his received calls or messages?”

  “I’ve tried everything I can think of to get access to those, but I can’t find a way to get the information. Ajax’s tablet was heavily modified to prevent his calls or messages being intercepted, otherwise he probably would still be rotting in prison. If I wanted to know what was on his tablet I would need to know who sent it to him and access their tablet or get my hands on the encrypted data itself. I tried hiring someone to break into the data centre in Three, but no one seems to be willing to take on the job.”

  “Have you any names of the employees that work there?” asked Rex.

  Miles rolled over to look at his compatriot and was greeted by a weak smile. Miles had not had much chance to speak to either Rex or Jerry over the several weeks since he had become lucid, mostly due to them either being fussed over during the day or asleep once the nurses had finished all their check-ups. He had believed the man to be asleep until Rex spoke.

  “I’m sure that I could find my way into acquiring a list of employees, failing that I definitely know a couple of our temporary employees who would happily sit outside for a few days to log those that come and go into the building.” answered Aiko.

  “Are you thinking of grabbing someone and persuading them into giving us Ajax’s data?” asked Miles.

  “Seems the only option left, or at least the quickest one to hopefully give Aiko the answers she is looking for. Aiko, if you can bring us some names I am sure that Miles or I will happily track down the information, so long as you can be patient enough to wait until we are back on our feet.”

  “I fucking heard that, you arse.” muttered Jerry as he rolled onto his back. He continued to swear as Rex laughed at the man, but he soon stopped when Jerry caught Miles’ eye.

  “Thank you, all of you; you’ve done so much for me, and for Ajax. I will make sure that there are some credits coming your way, I would not expect you to do this for free. I’ll make it known that I am hiring for a surveillance job and get back to you when I have some names. Don’t rush into this, I know all of you have gone through enough in Seven and I want you to have enough time to heal before doing any more work in mine or Rine’s name.”

  Aiko walked up to each man in turn, wrapping her arms around them in a tight embrace and leaving them with a gentle kiss upon the forehead. Before she was done there were fresh tears running freely down her face, yet she did her best to fight through them.

  “I’ll be back when I know more. Thank you, again. Rest up and don’t pester the nurses too much.”

  The squad watched as she opened the door and stepped through, turning to flash them a half smile before it closed behind her. The men stayed quiet for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts about the meeting with Aiko.

  “I can’t see much good coming from delivering Aiko a history of Ajax’s tablet. At best there is nothing on there to directly upset her, except a lack of answers; at worst, he wasn’t the man she remembers him to be and it breaks her all over again.” warned Jerry.

  “That doesn’t matter.” said Miles, struggling to see Jerry past the large figure of Rex. “It’s what Aiko thinks she needs to help with closure, and Rex has offered our assistance with that. Ajax was, as far as I knew, a good man; I trust that there won’t be something on there that truly shocks her. I wouldn’t be surprised that this had something to do with the union, but I cannot figure out why he would go to the mansion whilst they were off-world.”

  “Maybe he was jealous and went there to set a trap for the mayor? I’m surprised we haven’t heard of a demolished manor. After what Ajax pulled off in Six it would not have shocked me that he couldn’t help himself from renovating the wealthier parts of F
our.” Rex let out a quiet chuckle at his own joke but got barely a smile from Miles as his reward.

  “No, I suppose something like that would not come as a surprise if Ajax was involved. However, I don’t think that Seven will get off as lightly as Six. I take it that you did not hear my conversation with Rine?”

  “Rine was here? No, I only woke up part way through Aiko’s visit.” answered Rex.

  “Most of our fellow mercenaries are in similar, or worse, condition as ourselves after a hard winter in Seven. Rine said that the fighting had stopped, for now, which has given back control to the surviving gangs and time to reinforce, regroup, and forge new alliances in the hopes of repelling the next offensive. Rine has decided that he cannot afford for the war to go on any longer and has hired two hundred mercenaries, all under one leader, to stomp out Seven once and for all.” Miles paused as he saw Rex’s face drop as the realisation of what his leader’s words meant. “Boden Shaw will arrive in Konar City within the next couple of weeks.”

  Jerry let out a stream of curses at the mention of the man’s name. This time Rex did not find the humour in his friend’s anger.

  Chapter 15

  “I don’t see why Aiko couldn’t have provided us with some weapons, it isn’t as if Rine’s organisation is short on guns.” complained Rex as he and Miles sat together in the near empty train carriage.

  Miles continued to flex his new hand, watching the synthetic skin wrinkle over the metal rods underneath; it was a convincing fake, the skin tone an exact match. The only part that stood out was the thin seam that ran around his wrist, where the hand was held on by a connector at the end of his stump.

  “From the sound of it Rine isn’t precisely flush with credits at the moment, especially if he has hired Shaw for a job like Seven. Besides, Six is practically back to how it was before we showed up to the party; it’s not as if we will have anywhere near the same trouble reaching the guesthouse as when we first arrived in the slums.” said Miles.