Wings of Steele - Flight of Freedom (Book2) (56 page)

He left the scarred and battered helmet sitting on the rock like some kind of odd memorial, it was of no use to him any longer. It had done its job. Divine providence had seen fit to rip him from death's bosom and toss him to safety, albeit none too gently. But, he reasoned, had there not been a break in his visor he would have died a quiet death, slipping into fatal hypoxia. And he had probably been quite close as it was. A broken arm was a cheap price to pay for life. Now if he could only find Lisa safe, he and the mystical powers that be, could stay on friendly terms.

Feeling overheated from lying in the midday sun in the dark suit and helmet, he knelt at the water's edge and slurped the cool, fresh water from his hand, dousing his head and neck thoroughly to cool himself. Standing slowly, he unzipped the flight suit to his waist.

By his guesstimation, since she had ejected first, Lisa should have come down a little farther south of his position, maybe a little further east - inland. The tree line stood about a half a mile from the beach, the rest open flat grass and sand. His artificial eye zoomed in as he scanned, hoping to see some sign of her. He stopped and listened, hearing only the sounds of nature, the waves washing ashore, the breeze and an occasional bird. No man-made sounds... he didn't know why he expected any, there were no signs of life on the first continent until they ran into Boney's farm. Hmm, that was a thought, keep an eye out for a farm. He headed south along the coast.

■ ■ ■

Hovering on anti gravity about fifty feet off the surface of the ocean, the sleek, black frigate, Revenge, was using its sensors and downward looking cameras to scan the depths of the water. Using MRS,
Magnetic Resonating Sensors,
they located a fairly large section of the Remora in three hundred feet of water. The 3D imaging showed the canopy missing, and an empty cockpit. It was evident both seats had ejected from the craft before it crashed. Other pieces of it were scattered for some distance across the floor of the ocean and they followed the direction of the debris trail. They eventually found an empty ejection seat three miles farther down the coast, a half mile off the beach, in about a hundred feet of water. 3D imaging showed the seat was empty.

Brian looked up from the images on his screens. “Any way for us to tell if that's the front or rear seat?”

“No, sir.”

Brian sighed, “Dammit, where do we go from here?”

“Zulu One, to Revenge...”

Brian keyed the comm, “Tell me you have some news, Zulu One.”

“Yes, sir. A downed ejection seat in a heavily wooded area. No occupant.”

“
Can you put down anywhere, Zulu? Check out the area?”

“
Negative. Closest clearing is nearly four miles away.”

“
Anything on thermal IR?”

“
We've seen a few things, a couple fairly sizable. Nothing humanoid though. A side note, we did see a few farms and ranches about six to ten miles north of here.”

Raulya pulled up a map grid with the Zulu's current position. “Lieutenant? The Zulu is five miles inland from the coast and five miles north. I think that may have been the back seat, and the one here is the Captain's seat.”

Brian nodded, “Jack would have gotten her out first... You're probably right; this one is much closer to the crash site.”

“
Red Leader to Revenge, we have bogies in the air...”

“
Move to intercept, Red Leader...” Brian slapped the red button on his console and the klaxons blared through the missile frigate, bathing her corridors in flashing red light. “All hands to battle stations!”

“
Copy that, Revenge. They're low and slow - no ident ping, we'll intercept in a little over sixty seconds.”

Red Flight passed the nose of the Revenge within sight, about a mile off. Looking like a formation of comets, the Cyclones flashed past in a blink, headed out over open water.

■ ■ ■

The radio call from Boolie Hutthorn was short and full of static, but sounded urgent. “Let's go, Missy,” waved Nevin.

Lisa had no problem keeping up with his quick, stilted gate as they headed back to their skimmer. “Where are we headed?”

“
We're calling everybody back in, we're headed to the shore.”

“
Did they find something?”

“
They found a helmet and some wreckage... But it's more about the ships they've been seeing...”

“
Ships? What kind of ships? Wait, helmet?”

“
The black kind...” The Skimmer spun around, followed by the others, winding their way quickly out of Glitter Canyon, heading for the two hour run to the coast. Nevin tapped the digital readout on the dash, “We'll need to stop in town or at the farm and fill up, we're running low on juice.”

Lisa was still tightening her harness, “Nevin, I don't understand...”

“It runs on FloJuice, darlin', we need to stop and fill her up. The other boys are probably low too...”

“
No, not that,” she waved, shouting over the engine. “The thing you said about
the black kind.
What did you mean?”

“
Pirates or miners... either way, if they find your brother first, it won't go well for him.”

She understood the dangers of pirates, but... “Miners? Why would
miners
be dangerous?”

“
I'm assuming your brother's probably a strapping young lad, just the type of man the miners look to recruit...”

“
Recruit? He's not going to want to join...”

“
Their form of recruitment doesn't offer a choice,” interrupted Nevin.

■ ■ ■

Lieutenant Mike Warren switched to an all-hail channel, keyed his mic and broadcast his UFW identity as Red Flight screamed in on the two intercept targets, “Identify yourself or be shot down,” he ordered.

A UFW military ping winked on from each of the two unidentified ships. “Friendly, hold fire! Hold fire! We're UFW Army transports!”

“Copy Army...” Mike pulled the throttle back and lifted the nose on his Cyclone and climbed to a new altitude, followed by the other members of his flight.
Crap. I really wanted to shoot something up... “
You might want to leave those pings on, Army... Where are you boys headed?”

“
To a mine facility on the Second Continent. We have a report of miners trapped in that facility.”

Mike turned Red Flight back toward their search grid. “Understood. Good luck, Army.”

■ ■ ■

The Revenge coasted mere feet off the surface of the beach at the water's edge where they encountered a ground skimmer which disappeared into the trees.

Brian stared at the big screen, searching the tree line for any signs of movement. “Is he still out there?”

“
Aye, Lieutenant,” nodded Raulya. “About fifty feet inside the tree line, at the marker.” An open red diamond appeared on the big screen to mark the location. There was a small flash and a
ping
on the hull of the ship that was barely noticeable. “And we're still taking small arms fire from him.”

Brian scratched his head, “What the hell? What's the deal with this guy?”

Ragnaar turned in his seat, “It is possible he does not know who we are...”

“
So you shoot at anyone you see? That's just not neighborly.”

“
We
are unmarked,
Lieutenant. We do not know what his previous encounters might have been...”

“
Yeah I get it, Lieutenant,” grumbled Brian. “But I don't want to put anyone out on the beach to get shot at... and I don't want to hurt the guy. He's probably just a local... Any way we can contact him?”

“
They're using local short wave radio,” replied Raulya. “I can see the signals but I have nothing I can broadcast with down on that frequency. It's very low tech... probably very old.”

“
Probably like my uncle's HAM radio, back home,” noted Brian. “Hmm... anybody got two cans and a string...?

“
A
what?”

“
Never mind,” he sighed.

“
Zulu One to Revenge...”

Brian keyed hi mic, “Talk to me, Zulu One...”

“You've got ground units headed your way.”

“
You want to be more specific Mr. Fidos?”

“
I count twelve; private hover-craft type vehicles headed your way, with two or three occupants each. Small arms only, but they seem to be in a hurry. They're scooting along at a pretty good clip, should get to you in a couple minutes.”

“
Ahh, terrific,” grumbled Brian, “Our little sniper out there called his friends. All I want to do is ask him a few questions and move on, dammit...”

■ ■ ■

“Stop shootin' at it, Boolie!
Stop shootin' at it...! Hutthorn, can you hear me?!”
Nevin dropped the mic because he needed both hands on the controls as they raced towards the beach. “Dammit, Missy, he can't hear us.”

“
What's he shooting at?” shouted Lisa.

“
Somethin' big and black caught him out in the open. He should just be runnin', those patrols can't catch us in the trees.”

“
What are
we
gonna do?”

Nevin glanced over his shoulder, checking on the column of skimmers trailing behind them. “I'll tell ya when we get there...
hold on!”
The skimmer catapulted off the dunes bordering the beach and became airborne, Lisa feeling light in her seat, thankful for the safety harness.

The feeling was akin to the first drop of a roller coaster. “Whooaaa...!” She grabbed for the strut of the roll bar and her carbine with her free hand, as it levitated off the floor. “Fuck! Slow down, you crazy old man!”

Nevin grinned,
“Yeehaa!
Gets the heart pumpin', don't it?” The skimmer dropped smoothly, flatly to the sand, bouncing like it landed on jello, shooting out over the water as the old man cranked the controls to the left, obviously in his element, the vehicle swinging south in an arc.

“
Holy shit.” Lisa caught two skimmers abreast of each other shoot off the dunes behind them, watching them complete the same maneuver she had just experienced. In any other circumstance it probably would have been fun. As it was, she was too busy trying not to be scared to death. A brutish looking gray ship passed over their heads with little more than a rumble, moving in the same direction at several times their own speed. In a few seconds it angled left, disappearing over the treetops paralleling the beach.

“
Well, they know we're comin'.”

Lisa's heart was pounding and she was struggling to push back the edge of panic that was creeping up in her stomach. “Nevie, my carbine won't even scratch something like that...” The adrenalin flooding her body was making her buzz like a caffeine overdose and she was fighting her
fight or flight
reflexes, trying to stay in her own skin. The beach and parallel tree line arced gently and she was fixated on the beach ahead as it gradually revealed itself.
“Holy fuck! Holy fuck..!” s
he yelped, her body going rigid. Her foot reached for the non-existent brake pedal at the same time Nevin yanked the throttle back past the zero mark to apply the braking blowers.

The other skimmers quickly slid up next to them, coming to a stop in a group, everyone staring at the long black ship that was hovering inches off the sand, less than a mile ahead. “Where's Hutthorn, Nevie?”

Nevin was studying the beach, tree line and ship with his scanners, adjusting the magnification. “I don't see him... All I see is some wreckage lying on the beach.”

A spike of clarity worked its way through the panic Lisa was fighting against. “My ear thingie...” she said, frantically patting herself down, “where's my ear thingie?” She knew it had to be on her somewhere;
she just had to have it.
She dug through her pockets and pouches.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

VELORIA, SECOND CONTINENT :
THE NOSE KNOWS

“
Has our little friend stopped taking pot shots at us?”

“
Aye, sir. Maybe he's run out of charges?”

“
We can hope...”

Raulya turned in her seat, “Invader from the Freedom on final approach...”

“What is this, a convention?” Brian nodded, “Alright, have it set down on the beach. Where are our little friends?”

“
A mile north on the beach, just sitting there...” replied Ragnaar.

“
Comm signal coming in... it's garbled...” The signal broke and fractured as it came in stuttered bits and pieces.

“
Can you clean it up?”

“
It's not us, it's them. Nothing I can do with it.” Raulya broadcast a reply, informing the contact their broadcast was not received.

“
StOopid mud...” the signal cracked, “can yOou hear me now?”

“
Better. Who are you?” asked Brian.

“
WhOo are
you?”

Brian snorted a chuckle, “We asked you first...”

“LisAa Steele...”

■ ■ ■

“It's my people!” shouted Lisa, “Let's go!”

“
Are you sure?” called one of the ranchers. “We've seen unmarked ships before...”

“
I'm positive! The Commander is my brother's friend; it's the ship they found hidden at the Air and Space Port.”

Nevin was studying the Invader that had just landed on the beach alongside the black frigate. “Something coming down the boarding ramp, Missy... looks like an animal...”

“Lemme see, lemme see...” Overexcited, Lisa snagged the scanners out of his hand, adjusting the dials to magnify and focus. “Oh my God, it's Fritz! We gotta go!” She dropped into her seat waving them ahead. “C'mon! Let's go, let's go!”

“
What's a Fritz?” asked Nevin, sliding down into his seat, none too quickly.

“
Jack's dog... he can help us find Jack.”