The crew was there, Riley and the wild boys, too, though their numbers were down a bit.
“Where’s the rest of the kids?” said Jolo.
“Lost a few. Got nabbed by Hazuki,” said Riley.
George, Hurley and Koba came up and patted Jolo on the back. “I see you brought some party favors,” said Hurley.
“Yes, indeed. Y’all ready to go hunting?”
The plan was simple, go to the crippled BG Cruiser and get Katy and anyone else they could save. Jolo and the crew would all go, each carrying two guns: one for themselves and another for any of the women willing to fight. Jolo guessed more than a few would have some training. He also needed pilots. Korley, Riley and some of the older boys would stay in hiding for now and only fight if Hazuki or a mech came right to their hiding place.
George led everyone through the main corridor, then to the stairwell the skinny man had showed him days before when he went to the cage and rescued Jolo and the crew.
Jolo went up first. He got near the top and stopped, and peeked over the edge. A hundred meters away, the black boat sat on the flat ice, two mechs standing guard, one on either side.
“Okay,” said Greeley, “I’ll take them.”
“What, you get two?” said Jolo.
Greeley just glared at him until Jolo started grinning. “Okay, big man, but I’ll back you up.”
“Jolo, if we get Katy back, and we get the Hazuki’s stash, how are we going to get off planet?” said George.
“I’m thinking on it,” said Jolo. “Earlier I saw one of the BG boats disappear. How you reckon that happened?”
“That isn’t possible.”
“No, it ain’t. Oh, and before that they just sort of appeared. One second no BG boats anywhere, and a second later I got two all over me. How you figure that happens?”
“Let me think on it and we’ll talk later.”
“If this thing goes sideways y’all stay put. Hurley, I’m talkin’ to you!” Jolo said, then followed Greeley up the stairs.
Jolo and Greeley laid down on the ice hoping the mechs wouldn’t see them.
“One thing I cain’t figure. How come the mechs ain’t got guns?”
“Cause they hadn’t needed them up to this point. They were made to defeat one foe: the Fed.”
“Good thing we ain’t Fed,” said Greeley.
“Good thing we ain’t got Fed guns. Alright, go do your thing.”
Greeley stood up and stretched, checked the M-16, then Betsy, then stared walking straight towards the big, black boat. Jolo watched Greeley and smiled. The man in the green battle suit walked towards the BG warriors like he was taking a stroll in one of the core world parks. Jolo trailed him at a distance.
The mech on Greeley’s side of the boat spotted him and moved out a bit to protect the ship. The other warrior went to Greeley’s left and another warrior jumped down from the ship and headed to Greeley’s right. Great, now there were three, thought Jolo.
Greeley stopped, took a knee, and fired two quick rounds at the closest mech. It fell onto the ice. The other two jumped high into the air, aiming for the man in the green battle suit. At the same time, a hatch under the ship opened and two battle bots zoomed up into the dark sky.
Jolo started running forward. Considered calling George on the comm, but stopped and fired two quick rounds at the nearest bot. It changed trajectory, but kept coming. Meanwhile, the two mechs landed twenty meters on either side of Greeley. He took down one, but couldn’t get to the other one in time. Jolo fired at the big mech from thirty meters and it fell, but by then the two bots were all over Greeley.
They streaked upwards, just out of sight then came flying back in at a crazy angle. Jolo and Greeley were back to back waiting for the bots to come down. The first one buzzed past, its laser cutter burning a hole in the ice as it passed by, taking off the tip of Greeley’s boot. He yelled in pain. But Jolo took the bot out with the Colt as it tried to gain altitude again.
The next one flew in from the opposite side, it too, trying to cut Greeley in half. They go for the strongest, the man in the battle suit, first, thought Jolo. It came down and Jolo pushed Greeley out of the way with all of his strength and Greeley flew across the ice. And suddenly the bot was coming straight for Jolo.
He fired the Colt, heard the distinctive sound of lead compressing into alacyte, but the red laser didn’t go out. The bot was ten meters out now and there was nowhere to go but down. Jolo ducked, thinking maybe this would be it, but then BAM. The bot was thrown off course, landing a few meters off. The red ocular receptors were unlit and the laser was off. It had a big hole in its black shell, smoke coming out, but Jolo shot it with the Colt again just in case.
He looked back and there was George with his M-16. “How’d you know?” said Jolo. “I didn’t have time to get you on the comm. Shite hit the fan kinda quick.”
“Your heart rate reached 140.”
“You’re monitoring my heartrate?”
“Yes, among other things. By the way your electrolyte level is down and you are vitamin D deficient, but otherwise fine.”
“Marco?”
“And Merthon.” George smiled.
“How’s the foot?” said Jolo.
“Just a dang scratch is all,” said Greeley. There were red drops of all over the dirty ice topped with the ends of four bloody toes. Jolo grabbed Greeley’s leg and got a good look. “Four toes are a little shorter than the rest. But I think it’s probably an improvement. You had some abnormally long toes.”
“Do it,” said Greeley.
Jolo took the med kit from the right leg of Greeley’s suit, sprayed the bloody toes down with disinfectant, then popped open a tube of simskin. “You ready? This don’t feel good.” Greeley nodded and Jolo squeezed the simskin onto the wounded toes. It closed the wound and filled in the gap where the armor got cut off. Greeley groaned and cursed under his breath, then jumped up and started limping towards the two black boats.
“Come on,” he growled.
The black boat was still leaning to one side, but there was no way in. Jolo could see a seam toward the front where the third mech had come from, but there were no outer access points. Greeley held up his grenade launcher. “No!” yelled Jolo and George together.
“Greeley, you and George watch the ice. I don’t want Hazuki to jump us,” said Jolo. Then Jolo walked around the ship, his hand touching the alacyte, like he did with the Argossy. He jumped on top, found another hatch, but again, no way to open it from the outside. On a Fed boat there were always several different access points from the outside. He laid down on top of the boat with his ear on the cold metal.
Nothing. Were they gone? he wondered.
Then he remembered Merthon’s instruction and he closed his eyes and focused, his whole mind concentrating on any subtle sounds that may come from inside the ship.
And then he heard a faint rhythmic sound, almost like music. He refocused and he realized it was someone crying. Humans were inside. He crawled back to the top hatch and lightly knocked. He waited again with his ear to the hull of the ship.
All was quiet for a few moments and then tap tap tap. This was followed by the unmistakable BOOM BOOM BOOM of a mech running through the ship. More crying.
Jolo stood up, yelled down to Greeley. “Put a grenade in the engine.”
“George, watch for the mech.”
Greeley put two grenades in the port engine, black smoke billowing out. He started toward the starboard but the lower hatch opened and out came the mech. George and Greeley opened fire and it fell before it could take a step.
Jolo knocked on the hull again. This time the top hatch opened and Katy’s head popped up. Jolo ran to her and pulled her out and they stood on the top of the Cruiser and held each other for a moment.
“You okay?” said Jolo. She looked healthy, her skin supple like she’d had food and water. But her eyes were tired. She smiled and held onto him.
“Yeah. I’m fine now.”
“Did they hurt
you?”
“No. They wanted our baby.”
“They ain’t gettin’ it.”
“George, come here and open this thing up.”
George jumped up onto the Cruiser, went down into the ship and a moment later the rear hatch came down. Jolo picked up Katy and jumped back down onto the ice. “Got a present for you.” He handed her an M-16.
There were about twenty-eight women inside.
“This is Jolo Vargas,” said Katy.
“The pirate?” said a woman so big she looked about ready to give birth any moment.
“Relax. He used to be a Federation gunboat captain,” said the pilot of the Alexxus.
“You okay?” said Jolo.
“You left me,” she said.
“And you look well fed. You a pilot?”
“I can fly just about any Fed or merch vessel.”
“Good.” Then Jolo turned to the group. “We don’t have time for long explanations. Know that I want us to get off this planet and back to our worlds, wherever they may be. But right now we need to get to safety. Hazuki thought the mechs would stop us. I imagine now he’s hunkered down to protect his weapons stash. But don’t be fooled. BG reinforcements are surely coming and we’ll need to be ready. But right now we need to get out of here. We’ve got a hideaway down in the old mall. If you can walk then come. If not we’ll try to carry you.”
So Jolo led the group out of the Cruiser and headed across the ice to the hole. Two women couldn’t walk so they rode in the carryall. But about fifteen of the women could carry a gun and knew how to use it. Five others were pilots. All of them had some crew experience.
Jolo walked with Katy at the back of the procession. “Don’t leave me again, Jolo,” she said.
“I won’t,” he said, but he knew it was a lie. That was exactly the thing he might have to do.
“You know I love you more than anything,” he said to her.
“Yeah, that’s the fourth time you’ve said it.” She smiled at him and gave him a hug. He held her for a moment then stared out past the big black ship to the place on the ice where the other ship disappeared.
Black Hole
Things were quiet for the next few hours. Suddenly Riley’s hidey hole was an odd mix of ragged boys, pregnant women and Jolo’s crew. The women were used to living in comfort and suddenly they were in a large, dirty room with little light and no place to sit. They leaned against the walls or laid down and tried to make the best of it.
Katy came up to Jolo and held his hand. “I know you got a lot on your mind. But the women need food.”
“Hazuki has pulled back so we might be able to get some from the hotel.” So Jolo sent Koba, Greeley and a few of the older boys to see if they could get into the hotel and steal some food. They came back with several boxes of Fed rations.
Jolo also put Korley up near the main entrance in the mall with order to fire his weapon only if a mech had lifted the metal sheet and tried to break in. Any humans breaking in should be led deeper into the back where Greeley was waiting to grant them a sweet, merciful release from the bonds of the Queen.
Once the women were settled it was time to plan the next move. Jolo got the crew together, along with Riley and the pilot of the Alexxus, named Risa. “That battle gear looks familiar,” she said to Greeley with a smirk. They all were sitting down around a small fire in the corner of the room.
Greeley grinned, and stood up in the light so everyone could see the suit. The chest armor had four bullet marks, the arms were scratched and dented, and part of the right boot was missing. The whole thing was covered in dirt and dried blood, which looked kind of brown on the green suit. “You want it back?” he said.
“We’re here to talk about what we’ve got to do,” said Jolo. “First we need to kill Hazuki and all his men and gain access to the armory. We couldn’t beat him before, but now we have weapons and greater numbers.”
“Where is it?” said Greeley.
“If there were no ice it’d be down the street aways from the mall, in a government building, ground level in a big vault. I’ve been close to it via the underground tunnels, but that way will be guarded with everything Hazuki’s got.”
Jolo looked at Koba, who was already grinning. “Can you make another ice driller? Maybe we can get in from the top again?” said Jolo.
“Yeah. If Hazuki is pulling his men towards the vault, maybe I could get a look at the Argossy and the other ships. There’s got to be a smallish thruster I could use somewhere,” said Koba.
“Riley, can you take George and Koba to the shipyard?” said Jolo.
“Yeah, sure, but I don’t know what you are gonna find. They been takin’ ships for years and years, just stacking them up in a big underground hole. They didn’t tie them down nicely in a hangar, more like they just dumped them up in a big junk pile.”
“Well, the most recent ships should be on top,” said Jolo.
“Koba, you get me a working drill so we can hit from the top like we did the hotel. George, you make sure the Argossy is ready. We need to have the escape ships good to go so we can load the weapons and get out of here. If there are any fighters, we’ll need those, too. The Argossy, some kind of merch hauler, and a few fighters would be great.”
“I wanna go with them,” said Risa. “The bastards took my ship and I’d like to find another one with some firepower.”
“Alright. Y’all go now. Stay low and try to avoid Hazuki.”
“The graveyard’s on the other side of the mall from the big vault, so hopefully we’ll be alone,” said Riley.
“Killin’ the bastard, Hazuki, and gettin’ more weapons and checkin’ on the Argossy is all fine and dandy,” said Hurley. “But how we ‘spose to get off this God forsaken rock once we do all that.”
George started to speak, but Jolo cut him off. “One step at a time, Hurley. We’re working on it. Right now let’s just get Hazuki and get the weapons. That’s what we came for.”
After the meeting Katy went to check on the women and Jolo pulled George aside. “I met Evinrude Trant on the way to Macon. He searched for the power supply for years and never found it.”
“The Evinrude Trant, captain of the Arcadia?” said George.
“Yep.”
“So we have a power supply with enough juice to pull down a battleship. We also have Cruisers that seemingly appear and disappear.”
“What do you think?”
George went perfectly still, his head tilted slightly and his eyes an empty gaze aimed somewhere across the room. Jolo waited a full minute.
Finally, George looked at Jolo. “The only thing we know of that could explain this is a black hole.”
Jolo sat down, they were in the corner still, the fire burning low. George sat down with him.
“So the power isn’t here. But there is power,” said Jolo.
“Yes. The power source is not here, but it does exist and, via the black hole, is capable of impacting the Earth. Assuming our data is good and there isn’t a huge underground generator.”
“It’s like a portal?” said Jolo.
George nodded. “What is the trigger? What causes the hole to open? That in itself would have to be powerful, able to hold that window open, to control it.”
“The Queen,” said Jolo.
“She opens the portal and accesses the power to pull the ships down, to render the large engines useless.” He paused dead still, thinking. “The other end of the portal could be anywhere.” said George.
“Only one way to find out. And the power source on the other side needs to be destroyed.”
“When are you going to tell the crew?”
“I’m not. I convinced everyone to come to this shitehole. We already lost Barth. And now the only hope we’ve got rests on a wild hunch. That ain’t much of a plan and everyone looks to me for confidence. They trust me. I’ll tell them we can get the boats in the air. If I spill the portal theory then we may lose the women. And we need them to fight.”
&
nbsp; George nodded. “Yes. Odds of success—”
Jolo cut him off. “I don’t wanna know.”
“I will go,” said George.
“No. I got us into this mess. I gotta get us out.”
“No. You need to stay with Katy and the baby.”
Jolo paused for a moment. He stared into George’s glass eyes. George had a point.
“This is why I am here,” said George.
And somehow, even though the man wasn’t made of flesh, Jolo could see care and concern in his eyes, in his face.
“Katy and the baby need you,” said George.
“Thank you.”
“You wanna hug it out,” said George, smiling.
Jolo laughed. “That’s a Greeley joke.” Jolo hugged him and George just stood still and stiff as he always did. “The BG will send more ships soon enough. Wait for an injured ship to call to the Queen. She’ll open the portal for a few moments. And there’s your chance.”
The Lost Argossy
The next morning Jolo led fifteen well-armed humans to take out the synth Hazuki and all of his men. Koba had found a small thruster in the shipyard and he and Jolo burned a tunnel in the ice the night before that led down to the top of the Richmond-Parks Georgia State Annex Building #4.
It was only about a twenty minute trip from the parking lot to the annex if you hustled over the ice. But Jolo had a big crew and the hole out and the hole in only allowed one person at a time. Jolo came up first onto the ice, followed by Greeley. It seemed like it took forever to get everyone out. Jolo paced back and forth, urging them on in a quiet, firm voice, occasionally searching the sky and the space over the mall for black ships. They needed to be down before any ships came. All the women with him were Fed crew or officers and were either not pregnant or only a month or two in. All had volunteered to come.
Meanwhile George was leading Katy, Hurley, Riley, Risa and a few of the other pilots to the shipyard to be on the ready in a space worthy ship in case the power got shut off. George’s orders were to get them there then find the ground force and be ready to enter the portal if the Queen opened it.
The Jolo Vargas Space Opera Series Box Set Page 58
