Escape (Blackout Book 2), page 9
Jackson marched up behind his escort. What did the first Keteran say his name was? Zethon? Zefon? No, it was Zeron. He tapped the man on the shoulder, but the guy didn’t notice. He kept trying to reason with all the soldiers packed around the warehouse entrance. He didn’t turn around.
Jackson stabbed his forefinger into the man’s shoulder without success. He started to lose patience. The soldiers surged toward Zeron and threatened to surround him. This couldn’t go on. The battalion should be orderly and collected and ready to move, this close to their deployment time.
He almost turned away when he spotted a weapon hanging from Zeron’s belt. He snatched it, flipped it over in his palm, and fired twice into the air. A startled cry went up from the crowd, but they didn’t quiet down. If anything, they got even more agitated, and their voices rose to a frenzied pitch.
Jackson had seen enough. He pointed the weapon at the warehouse’s metal roof. He fired twice, and the shots zinged off the slick surface. The noise shocked everyone into silence. The soldiers whirled around to see what hit the warehouse—the weapons storehouse, no doubt.
In the silence that followed, Jackson drew himself up and bellowed over the crowd. “I am your new battalion commander and I order you, on Tollin’s authority, to line up here and form ranks.”
He pointed to one side. The effect was instantaneous. The soldiers sprang for the spot he indicated. They collided with each other in their haste to carry out his order. He stood aside and watched them arrange themselves as neatly as he could hope.
Zeron also stood aside and watched. Silence descended over the spot. Except for the racers whizzing back and forth and other divisions getting ready to deploy, Jackson didn’t hear a sound.
When his troops got into position, he paced up and down in front of them. He became aware of the weapon in his hand, but he didn’t put it away. “Now listen up, you men! We’re deploying into battle in one hour and none of you has a weapon. I realize that must be why you were all so disorderly, but the only way we’re gonna be ready in time is if we do this according to Hoyle.”
He checked their reactions. None of these hooded Keterans had ever heard of Hoyle, but they didn’t even flinch. This kind of leadership must be exactly what they were waiting for.
“I’m going into the warehouse. Zeron here will send you in one after another, at thirty-second intervals. I’ll issue each man with weapons and additional fuel cells. My assistants here will give out supplies and equipment. Once you get your gear, you leave the warehouse and come back out here. You take your place in rank and don’t move until the whole battalion is supplied. Is everyone clear on that?”
No one said a word. They must not be in the habit of answering, ‘Yes, sir’ when asked a question, but no one questioned or argued.
Jackson turned to Zeron. “You heard me. Send them in one after another at thirty-second intervals, and make sure they reform ranks in an orderly fashion when they come out.”
Zeron did answer, “Yes, sir,” so maybe these freaks weren’t so hopeless after all. Jackson would be very surprised if Tollin took untrained troops into battle without at least some discipline. He wouldn’t be much of a Votek if he did.
Jackson, Quort, and Woolzi went into the warehouse. It quickly became obvious what they had to do. One side of the building contained racks of identical weapons that all the other soldiers in the New Cooperative Army carried. Stacks of fuel cells sat next to each weapon.
Racks of loaded backpacks filled the other side of the warehouse. Soldiers out on the base carried these. Jackson cursed Tollin inwardly for assigning him to the one unprepared battalion in the whole army. That couldn’t be an accident.
It also wasn’t an accident that Tollin had separated him and Roy—again. Jackson made up his mind to find Roy in the battle. He didn’t give a hoot about the outcome. The chaos would probably give him a chance to locate Roy, and keep him near, too.
Jackson went to the weapons rack as the first soldier entered. He spent the better part of the next hour handing out weapons and fuel cells to the whole battalion. Quort and Woolzi issued backpacks to everyone.
Jackson got so engrossed in his job that Zeron surprised him by coming up to him. “That’s everyone supplied. Word is coming down from Tollin to move out. We’re on the Ehiri with Gablin Company.”
Jackson pricked up his ears. Roy’s was Gablin Company. He nodded. “Load ‘em up. We’re right behind you.”
He took more than one weapon for himself, and an extra helping of fuel cells. He made sure Quort and Woolzi got plenty of weapons, too, and they all took the standard-issue backpacks.
Outside, they found Zeron directing the battalion into one of the giant Radicals. The ship’s engines kicked up clouds of dust. Activity all over the base escalated to a fevered pace as all the soldiers, pilots, and officers raced to deploy.
Jackson, Quort, and Woolzi followed the battalion onto the discharge ramp. Zeron had his hood off so Jackson could see his thick-set features. He waved the men out of the discharge ramp to the ship’s interior.
Jackson strode over him. “Where’s Gablin Company?”
“Deck Fifteen.” He walked away and left Jackson to his own devices.
It took the trio some time to figure out how to navigate this strange ship, but in the end, they found a stairwell between decks. Jackson kept glancing behind him. He expected at any second that someone would come along and bust him for doing something he shouldn’t, but no one came. He was battalion commander now, whether he liked it or not. If anyone was going to be doing any busting, it would be him.
On Deck Fifteen, he found Gablin Company packed into the corridor, all talking at once. They jostled and argued and tried to organize themselves into some coherent order.
The instant Jackson set foot on the deck, a high-pitched whistle shrilled over the company. The soldiers charged for the nearest wall and flattened their backs against it in perfect silence.
At the far end of the corridor, Roy strode down the ranks, scowling like anything. He examined his troops with narrowed eyes. For a guy who’d spent his whole life manning a gun on Militia ships, he certainly took to command like he was made for it.
Then again, he’d seen enough commanders of his own to know the drill. All he needed was a riding crop to slap against his leg, and he’d be perfect.
“Utis tells me we’ll arrive at the Hinn encampment in less than twenty minutes,” Roy rumbled. “You men will stand at attention until then. There will be enough time for you to run around like headless gotters when the shooting starts. Until then, you’ll maintain military discipline and display the dignity of your station. Is that clear?”
A rousing chorus of, “Yes, sirs” greeted this announcement. Jackson had to admit he was impressed.
“He commander,” Woolzi peeped in Jackson’s ear.
Roy heard him and looked over. He frowned when he saw Jackson. Then he nodded to his division chief and jerked his head to one side. He led Jackson to a door that led into someone’s quarters. Quort and Woolzi followed.
The minute they got inside, Jackson and Roy put their heads together, whispering fast. “Any idea where we’re going?” Jackson asked.
“These shitheads keep all their secrets under lock and key,” Roy replied. “No one knows the destination coordinates except the pilot—and Tollin, of course. Any clue how the hell we’re gonna stay alive down there?”
“Did you see Tollin’s face when he found us here?” Quort cut in—not in a whisper. “He was furious that we survived the journey to the base. He wants to kill us.”
“As long as he isn’t on the ground directing us where to go, we can stay together,” Roy countered. “We just deploy our battalions near each other. Then, when the shooting starts, we give ‘em the slip.”
“Good plan,” Woolzi chirped. “Shooting starts we not find each other.”
“It won’t be easy,” Jackson agreed, “but we can give it our best shot. It’s better than the alternative.”
“I have a better idea,” Quort growled. “Once the shooting starts, we turn around and find Tollin. We rip his head off, steal one of these ships, and make for Urval.”
“Nice idea,” Woolzi replied. “Which ship his? You recognize?”
“That dipstick won’t be within a hundred miles of the battle,” Roy added. “He’ll be sipping diomitas on his couch in the Asibi Mountains while we take gunfire for him.”
“We’d never be able to seize one of these Radicals, anyway,” Jackson replied. “A racer, maybe, but not one of these.”
“Too bad we don’t have the Blackout to fly away in,” Quort muttered.
Jackson almost said something else, but at that moment, an ear-splitting alarm deafened the friends. Roy’s division chief barged in without knocking. “That’s the deployment order! All battalions to the discharge ramp!”
Jackson shot out a hand and gripped Roy’s shoulder. “Find me! I don’t care what it takes. Just find me.”
Roy nodded again. The next minute, they were outside. Jackson, Quort, and Woolzi raced for the discharge ramp. Gablin Company, Tradi Company, and dozens more gathered there.
Bodies crushed Jackson, and jostled him so he couldn’t move. The noise of hundreds of voices made orders and even conversation impossible. He grabbed onto Quort and Woolzi to stop them from getting swept away in the confusion.
All too soon, the hatch wheezed open to reveal a densely packed Keteran city. This wasn’t the city where Jackson and Roy had crashed in the Severance. This was somewhere completely unknown.
11
Liri skimmed the racer over the desert where the Blackout lay, stricken and immobile, in the distance. “Stand ready to deploy.”
Yajak scrambled over his supplies so he wouldn’t see what was going on outside the cockpit window, and it was just as well for him that he didn’t. “Twenty life signs on the ground,” Lana reported from across the flight deck.
Liri frowned at the readings. “Damn scavengers. They’re stripping the ship!” She gunned the throttle and streaked forward. “Arm your ejection block.”
Lana did something on her console, and the block initiated around her. A signal came through Liri’s instruments. Gunner initiated.
Liri wheeled over the Blackout, and a spray of EM blasts sprayed the racer’s underside. Liri yanked to port to avoid the shots, but they still clipped the hull and tossed the craft sideways.
Yajak toppled into the bulkhead and crashed to the floor. “Hey! What are you doing?”
“They aren’t scavengers! They’re Hinn!”
Liri ripped the racer back to starboard, and Lana slammed her coupling to aim for the ground. She pounded a cruel barrage at the people beneath the racer. “Hold on, folks!” Liri bellowed. “We’re taking these assholes for a ride.”
She twisted the helm so hard the engines screeched. She twirled right and left, over the Blackout, and back the way she came. She flew so fast and in such maniac circles that the enemy below couldn’t hit the racer.
Lana snarled through her teeth and rained holy terror on the Hinn. Liri peeled the racer back to port before the intruders could correct. Lana mowed them down from behind and cut half of them off at the knees.
The next second, the remaining Hinn got themselves together and turned their weapons on the racer. Liri ripped the helm to starboard, and Lana’s fire skittered across the packed dirt. “Hold her steady, damn it!”
“Don’t you dare hit the Blackout!” Liri yelled over the noise.
Yajak stared through the cockpit window, too aghast to look away. “What does it mean? What are we gonna do?”
“You wanna man another ejection block like a big boy?”
Yajak swallowed hard. “Uh…no.”
“Get your shit together,” Liri barked over her shoulder. “You’re going down on the ground.”
“Down on the ground? Are you insane?”
“If you wanna get out of here alive, you’ll get your shit and go down on the ground.”
“What for?” he shrieked. “I can’t go down there with Hinn all over the place!”
“Liri!” Lana thundered. “To port! Now!”
Those words acted on Liri’s reflexes. She slammed the helm hard to port, and the racer screamed the other way. For a second, the Blackout’s hull protected the racer from enemy fire. That gave Liri a moment’s reprieve to spin the racer back into position so Lana’s coupling pointed straight at the Hinn.
Liri gave the helm the slightest twitch to starboard. The racer wheeled into view, with the remaining Hinn armed and ready to fire. Lana swung her coupling up and opened fire just as the Hinn unloaded with their own weapons.
Dozens of shots exploded in the center, but the racer’s guns overpowered the Hinn’s efforts. The explosion flashed back on them, and their bodies hurtled aside. They scattered, unmoving on the ground.
Liri didn’t relax an inch. She wheeled to port and backed the racer up to the Blackout. “Get out, Yajak!” she yelled. “Get out now!”
Yajak gaped at her in horror, but Liri didn’t have time to reason with him. Fortunately, Lana understood Liri only too well. She ripped her hands from the couplings and sprang aft.
She rushed Yajak and shoved him toward the rear hatch. “Move! Now!”
She practically pushed the poor boy out of the ship. He scrambled to get his controller. The moment the racer touched the ground, he lifted his gear off the flight deck and steered it outside.
Lana attacked the weapons locker behind the flight deck. She took out five of the biggest cannons she could carry, along with every fuel cell in the locker. She lined it all up against the Blackout’s hull.
“All done?” Liri called.
“Done!” Lana replied. “Get up there!”
“What’s going…?” Liri didn’t hear the rest of Yajak’s question. She punched the throttle and soared over the Blackout. She took up a position over the discharge ramp, where she could keep an eye on Yajak.
Lana swiped her hand toward the ship. She’d make Yajak understand in no uncertain terms what he had to do. Liri didn’t envy him in the slightest. He had the hardest job of all.
She pulled up scans of the area. Any second now…
Lana squatted down next to her weapons, and her hands worked over them in a rapid whirl. She double-checked the fuel cells in every one of them, and pocketed as many others as she could stow on her person.
Liri made another sweep of the desert. She didn’t see anything, but that meant nothing. The Hinn were after the Blackout, the same as Tollin was. Of course they were. Anyone would want to nab a Legion vessel that blundered into their territory—or near it.
The Blackout could turn the tide and throw the advantage to one faction or another. The Hinn would be stupid not to take that chance to nab the ship.
Liri checked the racer’s fuel supply. It was down to 60%. She ought to land and fuel up before the…
A screech jerked her attention back to the scanner. Her stomach dropped as five Primal-class fighter craft thundered out of the Yundri Mountains to the north. They sprang straight up, and then banked to skim over the desert.
Here they come.
Lana jumped to her feet and grappled her biggest gun to her hip. It was too damn big for her to lift it to her shoulder. She turned to face the Primals barreling in to attack.
Liri executed a quick command on her console and switched the ejection block to her own station. She reconfigured the coupling to her left hand, and the helm and engine controls to her right. These racers weren’t designed to be manned by one person, but she’d dealt with worse.
Down on the ground, Yajak scrambled to get his mat of supplies shifted onto the Blackout’s discharge ramp. He kept casting petrified glances over his shoulder at the oncoming enemy. The noise distracted him, and he tripped and fell more than once.
Lana yelled something at him, and he hustled to get inside the ship, but that was nothing compared to what was in store. The Primals pounded across the miles. They opened fire long before they reached the Blackout, but by then, Liri was ready.
“Come on, you sons of bitches,” she whispered to herself.
She had one ace in the hole. The Hinn wanted the Blackout for themselves. They could destroy her, Lana, and Yajak with one well-placed shot, but they wouldn’t do that. They wanted to get rid of the friends without damaging the ship.
Liri drifted lower to the ground right in front of the Blackout’s discharge ramp. She dropped the racer to within a few feet of the ground. She could just make out Lana through the very edge of the cockpit window.
Lana backed as close to the discharge ramp as she could get, too. She trained her weapon outward, waiting for the inevitable confrontation. The Hinn catapulted to the site and wheeled behind the Blackout. Liri took the chance and opened fire.
She punched at the first Primal, but her weapons only deflected off the buffer guard. The shot ignited all their wrath, and the other ships joined the battle. Lana shot one blast after another at any Primal that came within range. She whirled right and left, firing as fast as she could pull the trigger.
Liri kept up a steady bombardment, but the racer couldn’t make a dent in these big ships. She stole a glance down toward the discharge ramp.
Yajak darted out, carrying one of his reconstitution packs in one hand and a welding torch in the other. He barely showed his face when one of the Primals unleashed a hellish volley. The dirt right outside the ramp erupted, and Yajak darted back inside.
“Come on,” Liri muttered to him. “Grow a pair and get to work.”
Lana sidestepped into position and fired up at the ship. She yelled something over her shoulder, and Yajak tiptoed outside. Liri made sure he got outside before turning her attention back to the battle at hand.
The Primals twirled and pivoted in all directions. Every time she thought she had them in her sights, they swung behind the Blackout to hit her from behind. Her console read: Buffer Guard: 55% strength. This fight wouldn’t last long. She had to come up with some other strategy.
