Princess Rescue Inc (6 page)

The
command hummer took that moment to appear through the portal. He had one brief,
agonizing look at the shrouded figures inside as they flew through the air...
only to sink and slam into the edge of the cliff and then down... down...
down...

Someone
was screaming, he wasn't sure who. Together the two men scrambled on their
hands and knees to the edge of the cliff. He looked down to see the hummer
broken on the rocks below. He stared, numb once again.

“Don't
think anyone survived that,” Max said looking over their shoulder.

“We're
going to try anyway. Gunny you’re up!” Ryans called looking over to the rappel
team. The gunnery Sergeant had his gloves on; he hooked into the winch then
tossed his line over the cliff behind him. He looked at Ryans and gave thumbs
up.

“What
the hell, let's go!” he said dropping backwards over the cliff. The winch began
to play out. The line jerked as the Gunny bounded off the cliff face, going
down it as fast as he could.

“What
the hell are we going to do?” Perry asked, stunned and thrown off balance.

“Everything
we can,” Ryans answered. The vortex was now over ten meters from the cliff and
had sunk by forty meters towards the crashing waves below. Its descent was
speeding up. There was less lightning, but what there was of it tore up the
face of the cliff, raining dirt and debris down on the rocks and the broken
hummer below.

“That
truck's going to get smashed to ribbons,” Max grunted.

“No,
I got through,” Patterson said quietly. Ryans turned to see Patterson near the
edge holding the backup radio transmitter. “Just as they transited, there was a
clear spell. They got the message but it was too late for the Colonel. Damn.”
She shook her head, looking drawn.

“Not
your fault, Patterson. Sometimes shit happens and people get caught up in the
works,” Waters sighed waving to the others. “All right people, what is this a
Sunday supper? Get your acts together. Crisis mode people!” he yelled. People
shook out of their horrified shock and slowly moved off.

“I'm
at the site, no survivors.” The Gunny panted over the radio net. Ryans looked to
Perry, but the young man was wide eyed and frozen. “Roger that Gunny,” Ryans
said softly touching his throat mike as the second man rappelled down the cliff
face. “Take five then try to find a path to get what you can out.” He looked
over to Waters.

“Waters,
we're going to need a path down there to salvage what we can. I'm not even
going to try hauling stuff up that cliff in this storm,” he said. He shook his
head at the spray pounding the men below.

“Which
reminds me, it may be closing the barn door after the horses are out, but get
someone to set up a lightning rod or three to protect us before that damn storm
hits. And I think we best set up base camp here,” he said and then he waved.
“If that's okay with you LT?” he asked turning to Perry.

Perry
grunted then blinked. “Huh? Oh, yeah,” he mumbled and then nodded. He was still
a little shaken at the loss. “Perimeter guard, high ground, salvage what we
can, bury the dead,” he said, pulling that from rote memory. He nodded. “Carry
on.” He moved off.

Ryans
watched Waters studying the lieutenant then turning an appraising look on him.
Their eyes met and Ryans brow rose in silent query. Whatever the Sergeant saw
he seemed to approve of after a moment. He nodded slowly. “Aye sir,” he said.
He nodded and then moved off at a brisk pace.

“Who
the hell packed all the soap? What's that damn box?” Gunny asked tossing a box
of dish detergent down to the ground. “Seriously, soap people?” he asked
disgusted. Apparently he wasn't a morning person. He looked around at the
group. Morning had dawned cloudy and overcast. It had rained so the plateau was
slick and muddy.

“I
told you and I told you, grab the important shit. Food, pongee bait, water,
parts, medical supplies. Fuel, coffee, beer. What the hell are we going to do
with that?” He kicked the offending box.

“Well,
we're going to put it in one of the dishwashers I hope,” Sue said picking up
the offending box. “That is if a certain moron doesn't spill it all over the
damn place. This stuff ain't exactly growing on trees around here you know,”
she said sarcastically giving the Gunny a dirty look.

“Seriously
Doc? Who brought a dishwasher?” Corporal Lewis said from the bumper of a truck
she was sitting on. She spooned at her MRE. “And it ain't like we can't just
chuck this when we're done with it,” she said, putting actions to words, and
then licking her spoon clean.

“Police
that garbage marine,” the Gunny said absently.

“Good
point, but FYI, we do have a dishwasher, two of them actually,” Sue pointed to
the science vehicle and the hab trailer. “I for one have better things to do
than KP duty all day long. We're not going to be able to eat MREs all the
time.   We're going to need to find something local to live on if
possible. The TV dinners aren't going to hold out forever you know,” she said.
She gave them both a look.

“And
that crate?” the Gunny asked tossing a thumb back to the crates in the back of
the truck.

“It
says here it's a CNC Gunny,” Lewis said picking her trash up. “Oh I heard of
that...” She wrinkled her nose.

“It's
a fabricator. We've got three different types plus the parts for them and plans
for others,” Ryans said coming around a truck. “Good job Lewis, we're recycling
everything. Plastic goes in the blue bin after you rinse it off. Once we make
sure it's clean we can melt it down and re-use it in the fabricators,” Ryans
explained, giving the red haired corporal a polite nod.

She
looked down at her trash in surprise. “Oh, ah... okay.” She looked a little
confused then shrugged. “Whatever you say,” she muttered. She moved off before
he or Gunny thought of something for her to be doing.

“We
grabbed everything we could Gunny, everything handy and then some. Doc here
grabbed what came to her mind, medical supplies, blankets, shampoos and stuff
like that right Doc?” he asked, smiling to Doctor Sue Carter. Sue nodded. She,
like most of the others was trim and fit, a hard woman used to living off the
land. She'd had enough experience in Africa after all.

“I
had them send all the soap up too, also toothpaste, videos, pillows, decks of
cards, paper; just about anything I could think of. They can live without it
for a day or two. From the looks of things we're going to have a long wait for
a resupply. That's also why I packed seeds and farm equipment. The farm animals
were on that ship that got delayed though,” Ryans said and then scowled.

“Ah,”
the Gunny nodded thoughtfully, mentally digesting that. Okay so the kid knew
some tricks. “It's better to have it and not need it than not I guess.” He
nodded again as the thought sank in. “Bitch to move in a hurry though sir,” he
said gruffly.

Ryans
smiled. “That's a project I was going to speak to you or Master Sergeant Waters
about. Since Waters is out on scouting patrol, it falls on you for now. If
you've got any people... oh say, not busy...” he rubbed at the side of his nose
and smiled a half smile. “You could have them oh, say begin organizing this loose
stuff into various piles. Let’s say, critical, good to have, and non-critical.
That way we can get to the most important stuff in a hurry while the chaff can
damn well wait.”

The
Gunny's face flickered in what some would call a smile of approval. “I've got
just the layabouts in mind sir. I'm on it,” he said. He left whistling.

<==={}------------>

Herod
turned at the war cry behind him. Lightfoot was about done in, she gasped,
breath ragged. He patted her flank, listening for the farrup but not hearing
it. He nodded turning in place. His eyes caught sight of Richard's severed head
on a pike and he scowled.

Terror
gave the refugees renewed strength to scream and run, dropping what little they
had left. Herod motioned to his son to go with his mother and sisters as the
blacksmith turned to face his foe. There, he saw, the one with long blond
braids in his hair and beard. That one was the leader he realized. The man
pointed to the refugees and gloated.

They
weren't in bow range yet but soon would be. He had to do something he thought,
turning. He grabbed a spear from a desperate Cooper. Cooper didn't even
struggle, just letting him take the spear as he ran on away from the terror
behind them.

“Father!”
Hector cried out. Herod turned in place. “Take care of your mother and
sisters,” Herod ordered gruffly, voice thick with emotion. He pulled his hammer
out and set the spear like a lance. He had a plan, one that might work. Already
arrows from the enemy were in flight. He kicked the tired Lightfoot into a
charge. “Hiya!” he yelled, setting the spear, couching it like a lance.

Thorvald
saw the one brave fool coming at them on an exhausted
branack
and
laughed. “This one is mine,” he snarled motioning the others away. Bowmen
avoided targeting the lone warrior in favor of cutting into the refugees with a
rain of arrows.

Herod
smiled grimly as the leader rushed out to attack. It wasn't Herod's plan to
fight him though, just delay, he thought as he swiftly moved the spear up from
under his arm to over his shoulder for a throw. The other man ducked
instinctively but Herod's aim was true. Instead of hitting the human he'd
targeted the beast. The raider's
branack
screamed as the spear cut into
its throat. It toppled over onto its rider's leg pinning him there as it pawed
and kicked. Its life blood sprayed the ground around it.

Herod
had no time to grin in triumph as he spurred Lightfoot on. He pulled his belt
knife and flicked out, severing a set of reins while dodging a surprised blow.
The knife cut another set before he stabbed it into a
branack
's throat.
Then he pulled his hammer.

He
felt stabbing pain in his right thigh and howled as a man twisted a sword tip.
Herod turned, raised the hammer. The man's eyes went wide in fright. He disengaged
but he was not the target. The hammer came down on the raider's mount, crushing
its skull. Herod turned, Lightfoot danced as the other
branack
fell. He
felt the brave, noble
branack
huff and then cough. He turned once more
in place. “Come on then!” he bellowed in rage. “Have at thee!” he said raising
the hammer defiantly.

Herod
managed to fell four more of the beasts before Lightfoot gasped and fell
herself, done in by exhaustion. As he tried to kick free he saw a shadow and
turned just in time for the war axe's shine to catch the light of the morning
and then cut into his throat. Then there was no more.

<==={}------------>

“Damn
that's impressive.” Ryans said, looking at the gas giant rising over the
horizon. It was a gorgeous thing, bands of green, gold and orange shimmering in
the atmosphere. He shook his head in wonder. “I'm betting Doc McAngus is going
to shit a brick when he sees that,” he observed and grinned. McAngus had missed
the bus and was probably a little put out about it.

“Yeah
think?” Lewis commented as she shaded her eyes with one hand to look at the
giant planet. “We're in a binary star system, on a planet orbiting a gas giant
with loads of other moons and stuff around, and not a clue where we are. Yeah,
I think he's not going to be happy about missing the bus.”

Ryans
checked his phone. “From what I can tell, we've got a twenty-two hour day. It's
not bad,” Ryans said.

“Yeah,
but the rest of the orbital mechanics will be fun to figure out,” Lewis replied
waving to the sky. “Are we in perigee or apogee? What season is this? We're
obviously in a one Gee field, or there about. Close enough so we can't really
tell the difference.” She bounced up and down a few times.

“Spoilsport,”
Ryans grunted.

<==={}------------>

Doc
wandered over to the knot of people standing around. Apparently the patrol was
in, from the look on the Master Sergeant's face something was up. She came
closer, listening in as the Master Sergeant made his report to Perry and Ryans.

“Humans?”
Sue echoed in stunned disbelief. The rest of the crew began to babble. Ryans
held up his hands as those within earshot immediately stopped what they were
doing to come over. Some immediately started voicing denials.

“Just
a minute folks lets hear what the Sergeant has to say,” he said. He turned to
the Sergeant as the babble died away. The Sergeant had a deadpan expression on
his face. “Continue please Sergeant.”

The
Master Sergeant raised an eyebrow to Perry who nodded. He cleared his throat
and then continued. “All right, we were checking along the coast looking for a
water source or animals or more vegetation and spotted a group of people
running hell for leather toward the mountain pass.” He pointed in the indicated
direction. “The morning fog was thinning out so we hit the deck and watched them
pass. But they weren't alone.”

He
grimaced. “A bunch of riders on some funky six limbed critters came out of the
fog and cut the rearmost down with bows. It was nasty, no quarter,” he said
grimly as he shook his head. “The others further away took one look and beat
feet, dropping gear and anything slowing them down. They headed off to that
narrow trail up there.” He pointed to the hillside. “One guy charged the
raiders and targeted the alien mounts. He cut down about seven before they
killed him. The riders took off the way they came.”