The Dogs of God

by Chris Kennedy

  The first stop after putting their things in the rooms was at a bar called PayDay. Chris knew one of the bouncers working there—he had been an older foster brother. He had reluctantly let her tag along to his self-defense classes. It was there she began learning to fend for herself. She briefly considered working in one of the bars or gambling places as security, like him. She decided to leave the system, instead, for safer mining or to join a military outfit. She was glad she’d chosen the latter.

  They found an empty table along the back wall and ordered drinks. Chris saw the one she was looking for and stood up to go talk to him. She glanced back at the three Bolts sitting at the table and was glad Yvonne had suggested they hide their lightning while on this mission. The glow of their lightning tattoos would have been an unwanted attraction as they tried to remain unnoticed.

  Chris walked up to the large Brontif standing near a roped off stairwell. The guard noticed the pistol strapped to her thigh and sized her up long before she reached him. He reached down and unsnapped his holster. At the last moment he recognized her face, stepped forward, and swept her up in a big, scaly hug. As intimidating as his size was, the grin he gave with a mouthful of sharp teeth would have been more than enough to keep anyone from approaching the stairs without good reason.

  “Chris!” Garn exclaimed. “What are you doing back on Darloog? I thought you were gone for good, not that I blamed you.”

  “I came back to find out what’s happening at the home,” Chris answered.

  Garn’s cheerful expression faded away. “That,” he said. “Narlong finally got what he wanted. He got the right magistrate elected last year. From there, you can guess what happened. Rumor is Shamayet moved back to her home system and took those remaining in the house with her. I haven’t seen her or any of the older youngsters in months, the few that could talk their way into here anyway.”

  “Her home system?” Chris asked.

  “Yeah,” Garn answered. “It’s probably for the best. The little ones she took in stand a better chance. There’s no credit to be made after school, unless you get lucky and land a job like mine, or work the mines. You know the mines aren’t safe, no matter what they pay. Besides, it always gets spent here in town anyway.” His long arm swept across, indicating the busy bar and the brightly lit businesses outside.

  Chris lowered her voice, looking around to see if anyone was paying more attention than they should. “Garn, I don’t think they left. I came back because of a message I received from Murline.”

  “What?” Garn asked. The big Brontif was clearly surprised. “Where are you going? To the home? You want me to take the night off and come with you?”

  “No,” Chris said, “I don’t want to raise suspicion yet. I’m here with a few friends, and we’ll find out what’s going on tomorrow, first thing. Besides, your boss might not like you getting involved. If Narlong is holding them—or worse, making them work those old sites on the back of the property—part of the profits are making their way from him to your boss.”

  “Yeah,” Garn agreed. He looked around and lowered his own voice. “You’re right, and once you work for Banth, you don’t mess with his credit flow. There have been a few guards and lower level management-type beings disappear. I’m not senior enough to warrant being disciplined; I would probably just disappear in an old mineshaft.”

  Chris said, “I wanted to come by, say hello, and see if you knew anything. If you hear something, you still know how to reach me and warn me.”

  “The way you and your friends carry yourselves, along with the weapons you’re wearing, even if I get tasked to help Narlong, I’m taking my time to get there,” Garn observed, glancing at her pistol again. “Even if there is no gun play, I’m sure you still have that quick snap kick, and one of your friends over there is as big as I am…so, no thanks.”

  Chris moved towards the front of the establishment. She glanced over at the three sitting in the back and nodded her head towards the exit. They got up to follow her out. Yvonne grabbed her clear-steel container, walked towards the front, looked left and right, and drank the rest of her drink in one long gulp. She put it on an empty table before scrambling after the rest.

  * * * * *

  Chapter Five

  Group Home, Karbot Town

  Darloog

  “That’s new,” Chris said. “This fence was not here when I left.”

  The trip from town had taken ten minutes. They exited the hovercab in front of a small store on the edge of town and walked the half mile to the edge of the property. In the distance, rolling hills led to mountains. Smoke could be seen rising in a single column of gray.

  Yvonne stepped close to the fence, reached into a cargo pocket, and pulled out a small device. She held it close, read the small screen, and pulled her hand back quickly.

  “Don’t touch it,” Yvonne said. “That thing has enough pop to knock Pailoth out for an hour or two. Whoever put this up spent some serious credit. Reckon who they are trying to keep out?”

  “Or keep in,” Zarmlon suggested.

  “I don’t know,” Chris said, “but you can bet good credit we’re going to find out. Come on, we’ll go around to the front. Act casual as we go by.”

  They walked another half mile, rounded a bend in the road, and walked the next quarter mile until they came to the entrance to the fence. It was at the end of a long drive Chris used to walk along with the other foster younglings to wait for the transport to take them to school. She remembered the walk back at the end of the school day was always shorter than in the mornings.

  Now there was a huge gate blocking the view up the drive. Two guards stood next to it. The guards watched the four of them for some time as they walked closer. Chris kept a close eye on them to see if they contacted anyone inside. They never lifted their personal comms or a slate to indicate they had. It was possible they maintained constant contact through an earpiece, but she doubted it.

  When they were close enough to speak, Chris said, “Could you help us out? My friend here,” she indicated Zarmlon, “found out she has a cousin in the foster home that is supposed to be around here somewhere. Do you know where it is along this road?”

  “There ain’t no purple younglings here,” the one closest said. He was short and wide. The Bwintfor were a race of light-grey humanoids from a system one gate day away. They were not known to be the brightest beings in this part of the galaxy.

  The guard standing with him was a human. He gave his partner a stern look. “He meant there ain’t no foster home around here, so there ain’t no younglings. Maybe you have the wrong road.” The last was a suggestion more than a question.

  “You might be right,” Chris said. “That’s what we get for trying to save a little credit and getting dropped off at that store.” She turned back the way they came, and the other three turned with her. No one said a word until they were well beyond the sight of the guards.

  “What is the plan?” Pailoth asked.

  Zarmlon said, “We could have taken those two. I don’t care if they did have rifles.”

  “I should have punched him in his crooked teeth,” Yvonne added. “Ol’ snaggly-toothed joker lied right to our faces. I hate a liar.”

  “We go back to the shuttle,” Chris said. She had a determined look on her face. “We’ll gear up, battle armor and everything. We’re going through that gate and up to the house. Narlong is going to answer some questions. He just doesn’t know it yet.”

  From the store, they caught another automated transport to the starport. The shuttle was as they’d left it. While the crew was suiting up in the light battle armor, Chris made a direct call back to Salvage System.

  Direct video calls using the Galaxy Network were extremely expensive. It was akin to ancient Earth’s first face-time capabilities. No one knew exactly how the Galaxy Network was able to stay linked through Alter Reality from star system to star system. The Bith would not reveal the technology behind it, and they charged exorbitant prices for it.r />
  Clip appeared on the screen. “Chris, what’s up? How is everything going?”

  “So far so good, sir,” Chris answered, amazed her first attempt at a direct call worked. “There is a new high voltage fence around the entire property and armed guards at the front gate.”

  “That’s good?” Clip asked. “Your idea of good and mine are clearly not the same. What can I do for you?”

  Chris smiled. “Well, sir, rumor has it you’ve tapped into satellites orbiting planets before. Can you get me some images of the property so I know if they have positions set up along the drive? Plus, I want to get a look around the mine site.”

  “You heard that, did you?” Clip asked with his own grin. “I can neither confirm nor deny that. But seriously, Bahroot could take a look easily, though you don’t need him to. In the weapons locker is a black box. Inside you will find three small drones and a slate as their control and viewscreen. They should all be charged; if not, there is a cable tucked into the inner lid.”

  “Thanks, sir,” Chris said. “I knew about the modified weapons with the extended charges and larger magazines; I didn’t know about the drones.”

  “They should be good for about two hours flight time each,” Clip said. “If you don’t need anything else, I gotta run. Lots to do when you’re left in charge of a ship.”

  “We should be good, sir,” Chris said, “thanks.” The screen went blank as she signed off. Drones. Nice, she thought.

  “Yvonne, got a little something for you,” Chris called out as she reached for the box.

  * * *

  Zarmlon stood with her hands on her hips, looking at the vehicle that brought them back to the store parking lot. “I can’t believe you bought it.”

  “The commodore said I had use of the credit in the account for whatever I needed,” Chris said with a shrug. “I need a large transport hovercraft. That one is big enough for all the young ones. There were twenty beds when I was here last. That will hold forty passengers. We may need it to get them to safety.”

  “What if we find we don’t need to move any to safety?” Pailoth asked.

  Chis answered, “Then Salvage System will donate it to the home, care of President Harmon Tomeral.”

  “Nice,” Yvonne called out from within the transport. She was sitting in the driver’s seat with the small slate on the dash.

  Zarmlon pulled her helmet off and ran a hand over her mohawk. “I don’t know what to think about your homeworld, Chris. The guy at the used vehicle dealership didn’t bat any of his eyes when four beings in tactical armor paid outright for a used large transport. He wasn’t surprised at us or what we were wearing; he was surprised you were paying for it outright.”

  Chris shrugged. “He was hoping for payments with a crazy interest rate.”

  Yvonne called out to Pailoth, “Turn it on so I can sync up.” After a minute she said, “Ok, I’m ready. Put it on the road, Pail.”

  The drone looked impossibly small in the big Withaloo’s hand as she put it down. It wasn’t much bigger than a large flutter flyer on Salvage, or large butterfly from Earth. The four blades spun up and it hovered waist high, awaiting instructions. Chris was surprised it was so quiet. Silently it rose and slipped out of sight over the trees.

  The helmet for the light battle armor had a visor that slid down into place. It wasn’t like the full helmet and permanent face shield of the heavy armor, but it did have the ability to pull up visuals on a translucent screen with the small control pad on the inside of the wrist. Chris typed in the code and was able to see what Yvonne saw on her slate.

  It took a moment to get used to the dizzying speed, but she recognized the driveway. She watched as the drone made its way to the main gate. Yvonne zoomed in on the gate lock. It had a small keypad control. She could see the two guards standing close together in conversation.

  Yvonne flew the drone down the long, winding drive. There were no guard posts along the route. The woods opened up to a large yard. It was much the same as Chris remembered. There were several pieces of equipment for the younger ones, and an open area on one side of the large home for warball, or any other outdoor game the older young ones played. The other side was the large garden, now overgrown.

  Chris called out to Yvonne, “Take it straight north from the back of the house. There, where the hills start. The mine openings are near the smoke.”

  “I’m on it,” Yvonne called out.

  Pailoth and Zarmlon were silent. They were watching the view from the drone on their visors, too. Once again the view was dizzying as the drone reacted to the commands and flew quickly towards the rolling hills. Once there, Yvonne slowed it to almost a hover.

  A pile of old support beams was burning. Near the opening of the largest mine shaft, several guards could be seen. Two tall, skinny beings picked up a large beam of recently cut wood and placed it on a small transport, then walked it into the opening of the mine.

  A few seconds after they disappeared from sight, a box transport came out of the opening. Walking beside it were two obviously young beings, their fur covered in dust and grime. One of them walked towards the guards. The guard raised his rifle menacingly as if to strike the youngster. The being reeled back and ran back to the slow-moving transport. Once it was beside a storage container, the two began shoveling its contents into the larger container.

  “That’s it!” Zarmlon said. “You seen enough Chris?” She checked the load in her magazine and slapped it back into place.

  Chris nodded. “I have. The orphans are being abused as free labor. It’s not like they could hire anyone to work in those mines. They were shut down years and years ago. Everyone knows they are not safe. Yvonne, bring the drone back to the house over the new road cut out to get back there. I want to check it.”

  “Moving now,” Yvonne called out.

  “How are we getting the transport through that gate?” Pailoth asked. “We are bringing every youngster out of those mines and away from that place.” The look on her face was pure anger and determination.

  Zarmlon chimed in, “You know, even if we take the guards out, the gate will still be locked. We capture them, and they’ll refuse to unlock the gate. We wound them, they won’t do it; we kill them, they sure won’t.”

  Chris looked up for a moment, then looked over at the two Bolts standing before her. “We open it with a drone.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter Six

  Group Home, Karbot Town

  Darloog

  Zarmlon had a huge grin on her face, easily seen through the visor on her helmet. Chris shook her head and looked back at Yvonne as she tried to control the drone flying above the gate and the guards. Pailoth had a firm grip on the two head rests in front of the seat she occupied. Zarmlon was driving the transport. Kind of.

  “Stay on the road!” Yvonne shouted when she was jostled. “It’s not like I’m flying a drone with barely enough lift to stay airborne or anything.”

  “It’s fine!” Zarmlon laughed. “I’m getting the hang of this thing.”

  “Slow down,” Chris ordered. “Let them be confused about the transport as long as possible. Yvonne, when they step away towards us, land that drone on the keypad and blow it. Are you sure you have enough explosive compound on it?”

  “Oh, yeah,” Yvonne confirmed. “It’ll blow the lock apart, and some of the gate, too.”

  “Good,” Chris said. “Once it blows, we bail out and see if they want to be reasonable, or fight it out. Zarmlon, make sure you put this thing in park or whatever. We don’t need it drifting down the road while we handle the guards.”

  Zarmlon held up a hand with her thumb up. “Roger that.”

  “Get both hands back on the controls!” shouted Pailoth. “I have been in combat several times and survived. You are not taking me out in a transport crash.”

  “I’ll launch another drone as soon as possible,” Yvonne said, going over the plan out loud. “Won’t the other guards hear the explosion?”

  �
��I’m planning on it. If not, the camera malfunction will alert them,” Chris answered. “When they come to investigate, we’ll be in position in the woods and ready for them.”

  According to the plan, Zarmlon piloted the transport up to the turn into the drive. Both guards appeared confused. The human shouted at them and gestured with his rifle. Yvonne had activated the privacy tint before letting Zarmlon into the driver’s seat, so the guards couldn’t see in through the clear-steel windows.

  After seeing no movement from the transport, the guards eased around the front of the vehicle with their weapons not quite at the ready position. When they were around the front, Chris gave the order, “Now, Yvonne!”

  Yvonne flew the drone down to the keypad slightly to the right of the meeting point of both gates, turned it at an angle, and when the small magnetic landing struts locked onto the gate, it was positioned perfectly. She set it off with a touch on her wrist controls. The explosion was surprisingly powerful from the small amount of compound attached to the drone.

  The locking mechanism and parts of both sides of the gate blew up the driveway in pieces. One side of the gate swung inward, off balance, as both guards got on their feet from where they dove behind the transport. Before they could gather their thoughts, Chris and Pailoth were standing outside the transport door with their rifles aimed at the guards’ heads. Zarmlon exited the vehicle shortly after.

  Knowing they had no chance, the guards dropped their weapons and slowly raised their hands. Zarmlon picked up the rifles and tossed them into the transport. She quickly searched the guards, pulled a pistol from a hip holster on the human, and added it to the rifles.