Wings of Steele - Flight of Freedom (Book2) (62 page)

“
Close it up!”
he called out. Knowing Fritz would sleep soundly for some time in the infirmary recovering from the surgery to close up the gashes in his side; Jack felt safe leaving him behind.

With Jack silently thumbing over his shoulder, Dooby took the hint and relinquished his place at tactical for the Captain, sitting on the cockpit floor between the seats. Steele buckled in, glancing over at Maria sitting in the pilot's seat, “Fire it up, lady, let's get this show on the road...”

Looking nonchalantly over her shoulder at the packed interior, she pressed the ignition button, lighting the engines, having already completed her pre-flight. “We're a
tad
over capacity, Jack,” she commented sardonically, initiating the anti-grav system. “Think it'll get off the ground?”

“
You want me to fly it?” he asked, inputting the destination coordinates into the navigation system.

“
No, no,” she countered, “I got it. I was being facetious.” She glanced at him out of the corner of her eye, “But then again, you knew that didn't you.” It wasn't a question and she wasn't expecting a reply, taxiing the Invader to the main runway, the lights of the field coming on as darkness fell, the stars making their appearance.

“
Course laid in.” He reached forward, flipping a short row of switches, “
twilight beacons on...” The landscape came alive with color and light, the stars still visible. “You'll need full anti-grav, full flaps and about half power...”

“
Just what I was thinking,” she replied, adjusting the flaps and leading edges, spinning the anti-grav up to full power, which would normally lift the ship into the sky all on its own. It could only hover at about ten feet. “Y'know, I was just thinking, I hope we have enough room to land...”

“
We'll be lighter on fuel. Hit it.”

She shoved the throttle forward, the engines roaring, two-hundred feet of flame trailing behind. From the far end of the runway, the Invader screamed past the tower, slowly gaining altitude, using almost all of its three mile length, clearing the highway by what seemed like feet, then actually flying as Maria applied more power, retracting the extra lift surfaces and shutting down the anti-gravity system. “Whew,” she sighed, “that was a little scary...”

■ ■ ■

The ASP tower officer on duty saw it first, coming across the field of tall grass on the far side of the highway toward the facility, its lights illuminating the area ahead of it. “Tower to all sentries, we have a vehicle north of the highway, inbound...”

“Copy tower, eyes on... One hover vehicle, looks like three civilian occupants...”

The soldiers at the north gate illuminated the vehicle with a spotlight as it crossed the only cleared section of the highway, a choke point. As soon as the flood of light hit the old flat-bed skimmer, the driver slowed, coasting to a stop over the pavement, raising his hands above the windshield, as did the two passengers, to make it clear they were unarmed. Closely following the sentry's instructions to leave the vehicle and approach on foot, hands above their heads, they were admitted through the gate.

■ ■ ■

Having stayed late at the Air and Space Port to keep abreast of the unfolding events, Boney was surprised to hear someone had asked to see him in person. He was immediately suspicious of their intentions.
Who even knew he was there?
But the soldier accompanying him down the corridor assured him the men were unarmed and that there would be soldiers outside the room should he need it. “They said you would need one of these,” said the Corporal, handing him a small piece of digital gadgetry. “I pulled it from our medical bay.”

Boney raised his eyebrows, scrutinizing the small unit. “A scanner? For what?”

“No idea,” said the soldier opening the door to the conference room for him.

The three men rose from their seats at the table and briskly saluted him as the door closed behind him. “Prime Minister...”

“Gentlemen, “ he said apprehensively, “what can I do for you?”

They dropped their salute in unison and the man on the left spoke, extending his left arm, palm up. “If you please, sir,” he nodded at the scanner.

Somewhat warily, Boney passed the unit over the man's forearm, the scanner chirping from the EFID chip,
Electronic Forensic Identification,
implanted in his arm. A full-color photo ID immediately appeared on the screen. Studying it briefly, he looked back up, having instantly recognized the emblem on the screen. “You're a Peacekeeper..?”

The man stuck his hand out and they shook. “Yes, sir. Lieutenant Ean Marboul, 26
th
District...”

Boney motioned to the other two, “Are you all...” They held out their arms and he scanned each in turn, both Peacekeeper Sergeants, one from the 26
th
District like the Lieutenant, the other from the 44
th
District. “Oh my...”

The Peacekeepers were family men, forced underground during the fighting to protect their families who had become targets marked for harassment or assassination. There were many others like them, who knew all hope had been lost, who withdrew to preserve family and friends, shepherding small scattered groups. There were just as many that had gotten their families off-planet, staying behind to do what they could, now wondering what had become of their loved ones. For some of them it had been a year or more since they'd said goodbye. Were they safe? Hijacked? Sold into slavery? Since the loss of all communications, there was simply no way to know. The only thing they could do now was their job, waiting for the day when they could come out of hiding and rebuild their lives. The story of the Princess' appearance had spread quickly, and to the Peacekeepers, it appeared the day of retribution had arrived.

“How many are in your network, Lieutenant?”

“
About two-hundred-fifty, Prime Minister. But we're connecting with more each day. And we may be able to bring new recruits. People that we trust, that have helped our families and our investigations.”

“
That's a far cry from, what, almost five-thousand on this continent?”

“
Yes, sir. But we do have a bit of an advantage that we didn't have before...”

Boney cocked his head, “What's that?”

“They
don't know the Peacekeepers are still here.”

The Prime Minister knew full well he was referring to the infiltrators still residing on the planet. “Do you know who
they
are?”

Lieutenant Ean Marboul smiled darkly, “Yes, sir. And they have no idea they're being watched.”

Boney pursed his lips, “How perfectly appropriate...”

■ ■ ■

Mine 02 had been easy to find in the dark, the flood lights set up by the engineers to continue working through the night shining like a beacon in the blackness below. Finding a suitable landing zone however, proved a little more difficult. They settled on a stretch of road a couple miles away illuminated by the ship's twilight beacons. It was a little rougher than they had anticipated but it worked well enough. The terrain was level enough to use the anti-gravity system to coast back toward the mine over the rocky field, before setting down near the Army shuttle.

The soldiers pitched in as the Marines began unloading medical supplies, food and water from the Invader, crammed from floor to ceiling in the stern of the craft.

The soldier standing next to the command tent extended his hand to the approaching man dressed in Army fatigues with Space Service rank pips on his collar, “Sergeant Wellenir.”

“
Captain Steele,” replied Jack, shaking his hand.

“
Navy,” he nodded, “hey, you're the guy everybody was searching for...”

“
That's me,” admitted Jack, casually, “they found me...”

“
Right before the Volkens ate him for lunch,” commented Lisa sarcastically, walking past with an armload of supplies.

The Sergeant shot her a glance before redirecting to Steele, “What's a Volken?”

“I'll tell you later,” waved Jack. “So update me, how are we doing?”

“
Pretty good actually. We should have the entire mouth open by morning,” he pointed. “I think some of the equipment they buried might still be operational...”

“
What about the miners?”

“
We sent a hover-probe in, there's still more trapped farther in. There are a few unstable areas that need to be shored up before we can get to them. We need the mouth open and the equipment clear before we can do that.”

“
How many miners are there?” asked Jack. “Do we know?”

Wellenir screwed his face in distaste, “About four-thousand..”

“Holy crap,” muttered Steele. “How many are out so far?”

“
About nine-hundred. My corporal has been keeping a roster.”

Jack looked around at the open tents, “That doesn't look like nine-hundred...”

Wellenir shrugged in his armor, “Yeah, there's been a steady stream of families showing up, picking them up and going home.” He pointed to the left of the mine in the canyon, “See all those tents over there? Families waiting. They come and check whenever we pull a new group out. Probably won't be any more till after we finish the shoring job though.” He took off his helmet and scrubbed his short hair with his fingers. “We have to check the offices in the morning too; a couple guys mentioned there might be someone trapped up there...”

Steele's jaw tightened. “I want to be included on that, understand? You don't go in without me...”

“Sure thing, Captain, not a problem.” He popped his helmet back on his head, “Have you heard anything from our other shuttle, sir?”

“
We caught a message about ten minutes before we landed. Mine 01 was wired but had failed to detonate. It's completely open, equipment parked in the entrance like here. It was too dark for them to start, so they're going wait until daybreak.”

“
They've got floodlights just like us, why are they waiting?”

“
The Lieutenant had some concerns about booby traps and he wants to proceed carefully, defusing everything before they enter...”

“
Lieutenant's a good engineer,” replied Wellenir, “he knows his stuff. His team will do it right.”

■ ■ ■

Boney sat down at the table, motioning to the Peacekeepers to do the same. “Please, sit.” He motioned out the window of the conference room and a soldier opened the door, leaning in. “Corporal, would you mind bringing us some water, please?”

“
Yes, Prime Minister.”

“
Gentlemen,” began Boney, wiping some unseen dust off the table in front of him, “what if anything do you know about any illegal mines operating on this continent?”

The three men glanced curiously at each other before the Lieutenant spoke. “There are none...”

“Really...” muttered Boney, his eyes glazing over, staring off at the wall. “There is a fuel carrier that shows up at my farm...”

“
We know,” said the Sergeant from the 44
th
District.

Bony refocused, “How do you know?”

The Peacekeepers looked at each other again, the Lieutenant speaking, “Yanno...”

“
My son, Yanno?” Boney interrupted his eyes narrowing.

“
Yes, sir. Yanno Marconus is a Peacekeeper.” He watched the stunned Prime Minister lean back in his chair and gave him a moment to process that bit of information. “He's a Regional Detective that operated out of the 29
th
District. The 26
th
District was part of his region and I saw him in our station quite often... we've worked together on many occasions.”

“
Hellion, I never had any idea,” Boney said vacantly.

“
You're son is extremely good at what he does. He felt it was best you not know...”

“
My other son...?”

“
Is not a Peacekeeper.”

“
Oh thank the stars...”

“
But he
does
know that Yanno is.”

Boney thumped his fist on the table, “For the love of the Ancients,” he groaned.

“It was for your protection,” replied the Lieutenant stoically. “And since the appearance of the Princess... er, Queen” he corrected, “and your new position, we felt it prudent to improve your security detail...”

Boney's eyes widened, “My security detail?”

“Yes, sir. We realize the soldiers are skilled and efficient, but we decided an extra layer of protection would be most desirable. These are trying times, Prime Minister, and while I believe the worst is behind us, I don't for a moment believe it's over. There are twelve Peacekeepers in place near your farm. Your son is briefing the Army detail as we speak, so they are aware of our presence. We can also provide important local intelligence and communication.”