AMP Private War (16 page)

Daniels soon returned and sat back down in his chair. "Got the location Sir."

I thanked him and turned my attention back to Ribin with a smile. "When is this departure celebration to occur next?"

Ribin licked the Credish from his fat fingers. "I am hoping it is this journey, if not then it will certainly be the next. I will know when I arrive if there are a number of ore pilots parked and waiting."

I then stood and held out my hand. "Mr. Ribin, I thank you for your time and my men apologize for any inconvenience we have caused."

As he shook my hand I could feel the grease from the Credish soaking into my pores. Daniels stood along with us while giving me a confused look.

I turned to the guard in the room and spoke, "Could you escort Mr. Ribin back to his ship with all courtesies bestowed to a guest? He must be on his way and we are keeping him from his duties." The guard nodded and smiled.

"Oh, and Mr. Ribin, I hope you will be discrete about our little encounter here. The Milgari do not like unusual circumstances and I would hate for it to jeopardize your position as ore pilot."

Ribin again looked nervous and then replied. "I will not tell a soul Mr... Sir." He smiled as he left the room.

Daniels then spoke. "What gives Sir, if you don't mind my asking?"

I then explained that we would be taking down a freighter that would be hauling precious gems from the entire region. Daniels was soon sporting a big grin. I followed Daniels to the Bridge and explained our new plans to the Captain.

Jarrod replied. "Nice work Grange. You should have been an interrogator!"

I responded, "All I saw was a heavy man who looked hungry. The Credish did the rest!"

We let Ribin go until his ship was just at the end of our sensor range. After following him for two weeks he arrived at the immense freighter that was parked in the middle of nowhere. A Milgari battleship and cruiser sat as escorts beside it. The 26 small ore ships that made up a ring in front of the massive freighter told us that the departure celebration was scheduled to begin.

Ribin unloaded his haul and then joined the other ships, completing the ring. With two Raiders at our disposal the capture of the freighter would be as easy as they came. I turned to Jarrod with my thoughts. "If we wait until their celebration has concluded we can hit that ship without their involvement. If those other pilots are like Ribin, they are just innocent pawns of the Milgari. We can take out those warships as they are moving."

Jarrod nodded his head. "I was thinking along those same lines Don. The Colonel was very clear about us always looking to minimize any collateral damage. We want these people out here to one day be or friends. You make that a tough sell if you are killing them for no good reason."

We parked and waited for the celebration to begin. There was no visible sign of anything grand. Jarrod's comm officer eventually tapped into their comm channel and the pilots could be heard talking about the various things that each had heard over the prior year. New pilots were welcomed and those that had passed on were given a somber sendoff speech. When the giant freighter began to move the pilots all ended their conversations and headed for home. Their grand celebration was merely a chance to converse with others.

We tracked the freighter and its escorts for a full day before launching our assault. The Colonel barked out commands, "Higgins! King! Get your squads ready and staged, and get those transfer tubes set up. Those two warships should be offline in a hurry. After that we hit the freighter. She's big and will take us some time to clean out. Grange here tells me that our boys back at the Delta site found two stowaways that were trying to get their ships restarted so they could steal them back. We can't afford that on this one as this freighter is the mother-load!"

The Hunter and the Helix accelerated well past the position of the freighter and her escort. The turn was made and they charged in head first. The freighter immediately dropped from light-speed and began a zig-zag pattern in an attempt to make her difficult to board. The Hunter and the Helix met the battleship and cruiser escort with their cannons ablaze. The two Milgari ships were soon disabled and then annihilated.

The two Raiders caught up to the freighter, initiated their inhibitor field generators and clamped themselves onto the freighter fore-deck. Breach tubes were extended and the Marines stormed the massive ship. I returned to my locker on the Swift and retrieved my AK. Frig was sitting in the cockpit.

Frig spoke, "Sir, do you really think it wise for you to be storming in there with the others. You are still recovering from your injury are you not?"

I wriggled my shoulder. "Feels fine. And you should know by now that I will go stir crazy sitting back and watching on a monitor."

I grabbed a backpack full of clips and grenades and smiled. "Time to go have some fun!"

I turned and exited the Swift. A quick jog placed me in one of the breach tubes and I was soon aboard the freighter with the Marines.

Daniels was leading the Helix squads. "Grange! I thought you might show up. Go with Sergeant Meyer and her group. You will be cleaning out the docking bay, maintenance and engineering. I hear you are familiar with the layouts of those. And Meyer! Keep that man out of trouble will yah! We don’t have the facilities out here to patch him up."

I turned and headed down the hall following Meyer and her squad of seven as Daniels took the remaining assault force towards the Bridge. I jumped as the concussion and thud from the ion bomb could be felt. We were now on conventional weapons for at least the next ten minutes.

Meyer was an attractive middle aged blonde. Her warm smile and innocent face did not match her harsh voice. "Grange! Get your ass behind Marvis and Dell. I don’t want you getting your butt shanked again while in my squad. You want to tag along with us then fine, but if I find you are freelancing I’m sending you back to the Helix. We function as a team here and our first priority is to move as a team and get our jobs done without losing anyone. There are no replacements this far from home!"

I nodded and fell in line at my designated position. Meyer was the first to poke her head into the docking bay. All appeared quiet. She took five steps and ducked behind a container. The next Marine was then waived through the door.

Meyer took half of the squad to the right while the half I was now with moved to the left. We stopped under a stairwell that went up to a crosswalk. As we stared across the bay I suddenly heard movement from above. I instinctively rolled on my back with my weapon aiming up.

Two Milgari then leapt from the rail onto the two Marines beside me.

Ak-ak-ak-ak!

The Milgari immediately to my left slumped over onto the Marine being attacked. The second Marine was not as fortunate. The Milgari drove his wrist spikes hard into the Marine’s shoulders and then began to beat him violently with its arms.

Ak-ak!

The second Milgari slumped to the floor.

Dell yelled out. "Pucket’s down! Fall back into the hall and let’s get him back on the Helix! Meyer, this is Dell, we are taking Pucket back to the Helix, will return ASAP."

Meyer acknowledged with a flip of two fingers from across the bay. As we turned back towards the door a second assault came.

Three Milgari crewmen, armed with long sharp crate poles made their move. Marvis turned to fire as the first of the screeching Milgari reached him.

Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!

"Arrrrgh! Gaw!"

Ak-ak-ak!

A crate pole was protruding from Marvis’ back where he had been run through. The Milgari attacker was dead as Marvis slumped over in pain.

A second pole narrowly missed my head as a crewman heaved it in my direction.

Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak! Ak-ak-ak-ak!

The two remaining attackers fell silent. We again turned our efforts towards evacuating our fellow squad members. Marvis’ condition was critical as the crate pole had punctured his left lung. He began coughing up blood just before losing consciousness.

When the team reached the breach tube I turned back towards Meyer and the others. When I arrived at the bay I pushed the door open slowly and peeked in. Meyer and her team had made their way to a far corner. I could see movement behind a stack of crates in front of them.

"Meyer! Grange. The crates in front of you have movement behind them. Too dark to see how many."

Meyer responded. "Roger Grange. We’ve have been working our way towards them. Where is the rest of your team?"

I replied, "I’m sure they will be back soon enough Sergeant. I’m going to work my way around to you."

Meyer came back with an agitated voice, "That’s a negative Grange! Get back to your team and don’t go anywhere without them. And Grange! Don’t piss me off by sticking your neck out on your own. We play by the rules here and I’m the one making the rules!"

Meyer’s attention was then turned back towards the crates in front of her. She was preparing to assault the stack of crates when a screech was let out. A species that we had not encountered then sprinted across the deck, screaming as it ran.

Ak-ak-ak!

The creature fell silent. Meyer turned to the Marine who had fired. "Clark! Who told you to fire! That was a slave not a Milgari. They are not a threat!"

Clark looked out at the dead slave. "Sorry Sarge, nerves got to me. Won’t happen ag…"

Three Milgari then sprang from a crate behind Meyer and her team. The first to reach the Marines was carrying a meat clever. Clark’s head suddenly rolled out onto the deck as the Milgari took its first swing. Before shots could be fired the two remaining Milgari, who were wielding knifes, were on top of two other Marines.

Meyer pulled out a .45 caliber handgun for close combat. Three more Milgari then leapt over the crates she had been watching and raced towards her now turned back. I busted through the doors in a sprint.

Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak! Ak-ak-ak-ak! Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!

The Milgari behind Meyer dropped to the deck as my bullets ripped through their bodies.

Meyer turned back.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The three new Milgari were dead. When the fighting had ended two more Marines were injured with knife wounds, contusions and stab wounds from fist beatings and wrist spikes. I continued to sprint before diving on the deck in an attempt to slide out behind the stacked crates. When I came to a standstill there were three more slaves huddling in fear. The docking bay had been cleared.

I coaxed the slaves from their squatting positions while Meyer and her team began to evac the injured Marines. "Grange! You do everything I ask you not to! But thanks for catching my back. Dell and his team are in the hall out there. I’ll be taking Dithers and Wells with me and joining him to finish our mission. I’m trusting that you will take our guests there aboard the Helix for some questioning. It should give you something to do to keep your nose out of my business."

I gestured with my gun for the three alien slaves to move forward. Back on the Helix I took them into the conference room and began to ask questions. Before sitting down I asked the guard with me to get four glasses and a pitcher of water. He complied.

I gestured for the three to sit across from me. They were shivering in fear. I laid my gun on the floor beside my chair and sat down with a smile. "Welcome to freedom!"

The three looked on with confusion in their eyes. "I said welcome to freedom. You are no longer slaves of the Milgari Empire. You are free citizens of whatever world you have originally come from. My name is Grange, Don Grange. I assume each of you have names?"

It soon became apparent that the slaves were all female. The one seated in the middle spoke as the two on either side of her clung to her arms. "I am Missa, this is Tara and Bezith."

I nodded and continued. "OK, well, we are Humans. What species are you?"

The guard returned with the glasses and water. I poured four glasses and then pushed three across the table at our three huddled guests. I picked up the glass and began to drink and gestured towards the others with my free hand. The three slaves each slowly reached out and took the glasses into their hands. They began to drink.

I continued, "So, we are Humans and we are at war with the Milgari. As I said, you are now free citizens. If you help us by answering my questions, I will attempt to help you in any way I can. Is there a planet you are from? A system?"

The center slave placed her glass on the table. "My name is Missa, we are Thulians. Our planet Thules was overrun 12 years ago by the Milgari. My sisters and I are slaves of the warlord Grakus. He commands this sector. We were selected from our world and were in transit to his ship at Barithia."

"Barithia is the headquarters for this sector. We were told it would be a high honor to serve in his bath. He has many wives and we will… were to be their personal slaves. We were working in a factory that assembled environmental systems. My sisters and I were on a team that achieved the highest output at the factory. From that, we were selected for this position."

Missa continued, "Our sister Mira? Will we be able to see her body? There are traditions on our world that we would like to keep. The Milgari have not allowed them for the 12 years of occupation. We would like to grieve in our own way if possible."

I turned to the guard with a request that Mira’s body be brought aboard and that one of our med techs should do their best to clean her wounds. When ready she would be placed in a room where her sisters could perform their ritual. The guard nodded and then turned and left.

I spoke, "We are sorry for your loss. Sometimes the innocent are casualties of war. We make every effort to minimize those casualties but we are only Human… err… well, we are prone to the same errors as everyone."

I pursed my lips to show my solemn concern.

The sisters thanked me for my kindness and for our sacrifices to win their freedom. We were unsure of what to do with them as their world was under control of the Milgari. They could not go back. I made the offer of freedom and citizenship with the Nation of Defiant. Each would have a job, a place to stay and wages. If at some future time their world was freed from the domination of the Milgari, we would make every effort to return them to their home.

I asked the sisters to be patient as we cleared the freighter and told the guard to see to their needs. I returned to see Meyer in engineering where the room had just been cleared.

Meyer spoke, "We ran into heavy resistance on this one. That’s 14 crewmen in this area alone. I’m wondering if this barge is going to be loaded with them. It’s a big boat, but most of these systems are automated. If you follow me we are now headed to the Bridge. They have yet to breach the door. Crewmen keep showing up in the main hall at the worst times. We will be securing that hall and all the rooms along it."

I followed Meyer towards our new mission.

Meyer gave her orders, "Dell! You Grange and Henning take the left side, we’ll go right. Check every possible place for hiders... vents, boxes… every possible place. And keep tight with your formation, I don’t want to be dragging your sorry carcasses out of there later."

The first three rooms were cleared in short order. The fourth room was a bloody mess of Milgari bodies. Those who had been killed in the hallway had been dragged in and stacked in a pile.

As I turned to leave the room I thought I saw movement. "Dell. I’ll catch you in the next one. I’m going to check this pile. I thought I saw one of them move."

Dell and Henning moved on to the next room. I stepped over to the pile and began to poke. The blood soaked floor made for a slippery base.

I poked the body on top of the pile with the barrel of my AK. It was dead as one of the three lobes on its head had been blown open and the brains inside scattered. I took a step towards the next and my right boot slipped across the floor. Before I could catch myself I had fallen and was lying in the Milgari blood. It had a foul stench to it, something akin to garlic and onions from back on the Grid.

I stood looking at my side in disgust as the Milgari blood dripped down the side of my combat suit. I then proceeded to prod the stack of bodies. When I came to the last body on the stack I looked for wounds, none were evident. I poked at the body with the barrel of my AK. It did not move.

As I started to turn towards the door, something in my head told me that something was not right with the last body. I stopped and again poked at it with my AK. In an instant the creature sprang to life and grabbed the barrel of my gun.

Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!

I pulled the trigger, but the rounds did not find their mark.

The Milgari then grabbed me at the hip and pulled me onto the stack with him, screeching as he pulled me close. In the blood I had no footing and soon found myself wresting for my gun. The Milgari pounded his fist against my helmet and then against my ribs. I winced in pain as I tried to maintain my grip.

In a single writhing move the AK was ripped from my hands and I was thrown onto the floor face down. As I rolled over the Milgari sat upright with my AK and pulled the trigger.

Ak-ak!

A round grazed my inner thigh. I shuddered as the next rounds were fired.

Ak-ak-ak-ak-ak!

The Milgari fell silent. Dell stood in the doorway with a smoking barrel.