The Bad Company Read online

  Capples took charge and directed the four to clear one suit at a time and then the first into the suit could expedite unhooking the others.

  Do you need more manpower? I have a platoon up here itching to get into the fight, Kimber asked.

  Soon. We’re expanding the perimeter now. Get this, these are different Podders than the others and the two factions are at war, Terry explained.

  Kimber mulled over what the colonel had said. They’re both shooting at us, then. Is there anyone here who doesn’t want to shoot at us?

  Before Terry could answer, Auburn appeared and started to climb into the hole. “Where the hell are you going?” Kimber asked abruptly.

  He caught himself as he was hanging halfway over the edge. “I’m in charge of logistics and our resupply is right there.” Auburn pointed with his off-hand, almost losing his grip on the edge. “I’m going to see what we have and start the distribution. So what if we’re in the middle of the shit? That’s when our people need the supplies the most.”

  He looked determined. Kimber had encouraged him to get enhanced because she didn’t want to watch him grow old and die. He didn’t want that either, so he went into the Pod Doc. He wasn’t military and never would be. He had been a rancher. So he became master of the supply chain.

  That had been seventy years earlier. He had his job and that helped the warriors do theirs. He took his logistics job seriously because he still had no intention of carrying a rifle. Auburn reasoned that if he didn’t contribute in the way that worked for him, he’d be on the outside looking in. A long life as an outcast wasn’t what he had in mind when he agreed to get enhanced.

  “Let me go, Kim. It’s what I need to do,” he told his wife. Kim felt the vibrations of the mechs under her brother’s command. Each vaulted into the cavern. Kae headed into a tunnel and opened up with his mech-sized railgun. The others took their positions around the can.

  “Do your thing, Auburn,” she told him with a smile. His white teeth gleamed against his dark skin, before he let go, turned, and slid into the cavern. He was running before he hit the bottom. He looped around the wing to get to the can’s aft access door.

  Auburn cranked the doors open to find the canister chocked full of supplies. Water trickled out between the crates and out the door to disappear into the dry dirt of the cavern.

  Two warriors appeared behind Auburn, their backs to him and their weapons aimed into the darkness. Cory rushed past with Ramses by her side.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  The War Axe

  Micky San Marino stood in the engine compartment and reveled at the power that his ship generated. Gravitic drives for normal flight. The gate engine that established a wormhole while simultaneously stabilizing the event horizon for a smooth transition from normal space.

  So much power at his command. The power got the ship into trouble and the power helped it escape. The engines themselves were located centrally within the hull to minimize the risk of damage to irreplaceable components. Becoming stranded in deep space was a death sentence.

  Commander Suresha waited. She was in no hurry. Everything on her end was humming right along even with half her people chopped to Blagun’s structural repair teams.

  A movement in a side alcove drew both their attention. Clodagh Shortall walked out, carrying Wenceslaus and lovingly stroking his head. When she saw the captain and the commander, she dropped the cat. With a yowl, the good king landed on his feet. He continued to berate her in the language of his people, until he saw that he was being watched.

  He faced the captain, stood on his back legs for a moment, batted the air with his paws, and bolted.

  “CLODAGH!” Micky yelled and started running. Her eyes shot wide and she took off after the cat.

  The captain stopped and turned back to Suresha. “You knew about this,” he said accusingly.

  “I don’t follow,” Suresha said, pursing her lips to whistle before pointing at the engines. “These could be the best performing engines in the whole fleet!”

  She bobbed her head excitedly.

  “Of course they are.” The captain didn’t look where the department head was pointing. “Clodagh brought that cat aboard, didn’t she?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but I suspect there may have been some complicity with elements, not me, in regards to the feline nature of a certain crew member’s affinity where work always come first for a place that we call home…”

  Micky held up his hand, signaling for Suresha to stop. “What is that? You’re just stringing words together that make no sense. A simple yes or no would suffice.”

  Suresha refused to look at the captain, puffing out her cheeks as she kept her mouth shut.

  Micky started to laugh and then stopped. “I almost destroyed the ship today,” he said, turning serious. “But the crew saved her, because we don’t just have the best engines, we have the best crew in the fleet. So, if Clodagh wants to keep a cat, that’s fine. Tell her to keep the little bastard out of my quarters.”

  Suresha shook her head just enough to tell the captain that she wasn’t going to do that.

  “Off my bed, then?” he negotiated.

  She didn’t move.

  “Fine,” Micky conceded. “Is there anything you need from me to keep the engines humming?”

  “Whatever the ship ran into? Please, don’t run into any more of that. We need to repair a few of the gate emitters before we can gate out of here. The engine is fine, but the emitters are located on the hull. But they should be repaired within a day. I’ve dispatched two bots to make the repairs, then another day aligning and testing. We’ll have full gate capability two days from now.”

  “Next time, start with that,” Micky said, smiling. He headed toward the door, looking over his shoulder as he went. “I wasn’t blowing smoke when I said we have the best crew in the fleet. I honestly believe it because we have department heads who lead from the front.”

  ***

  Commander Oscar Wirth studied the display in his office located next to the main fabrication area. Data from the canister was being transmitted continuously. He was reading the damage reports and gear statuses.

  The can landed without issue, but afterwards, it had been perforated repeatedly by something. Some of the water stores were impacted, some of the food. The ammunition was fine, like Char’s nine-millimeter, whose cartridges were contained in a double-walled metal container.

  The biggest question surrounded the rockets, which took up a third of the can because of the excess packaging around them. The armored suits needed them as the only long-range engagement weapon in Terry Henry’s arsenal.

  Auburn had directed that they would take less food to make sure they received a full stock of rockets. Oscar refused to do that, so he used pre-packaged food as stuffing between the weapons.

  He was dismayed at the loss of water. A number of the bulk containers within had been penetrated and were leaking. Auburn ordered water as if there were no potable sources on the planet.

  Oscar had no idea what was available on the planet. “I need to be more involved with the planning,” he told himself. He had met with Auburn before the Bad Company launched, but he hadn’t fully embraced the forward thinking it took for an operation in unknown territory, surrounded by hostile forces.

  “If we didn’t have to make that run, the ship wouldn’t be broken and water wouldn’t be leaking out of my canister,” he said. Oscar ran a finger over his screen. “Are we going to get my can back?”

  He shook his head, believing that the canister had become a permanent fixture on Tissikinnon Four. He hoped none of the other equipment would join it.

  Poddern

  The four mechs holding the perimeter opened fire together. They fired, advanced three steps, and fired again.

  Kelly stood in her powered, armored suit atop the can and fired slowly, but steadily, turning in a circle. The other three working to free the next suit ducked their heads and covered their ears.

  She stoppe
d firing and quickly unlatched the next suit. Fleeter crawled in, laying on her face as it buttoned up behind her. Gomez took the next one.

  By the time he was in, Fleeter was crawling unsteadily to her feet. Together, they finished preparing the last suit, even standing it up to make it easier on Capples.

  He climbed in and started the diagnostics process. Kelly moved to the front of the can, aimed, and fired. With one jump, she vaulted into the cavern.

  “Reporting for duty,” she said using her suit’s external speakers.

  “Join Praeter and watch his back,” Kae ordered. On the heads-up display within the helmets, the other suits were detailed by who was in them. It made coordinating effortless.

  Kae directed Gomez, Fleeter, and Capples into similar backup roles. Kelly followed Kaeden into the tunnel, moving deliberately, scanning, looking, and firing when needed.

  ***

  Cory had put one hand on her father’s leg and one on her mother’s forehead. With a great effort, she helped their nanocytes to hasten the healing process.

  Char’s breathing slowed and her eyes cleared. Terry flexed and stretched. Ramses had his arm wrapped around Cory’s waist. He held his railgun in the other hand, looking for enemies at the edges of the cavern.

  Terry Henry Walton stood up straight, clenching his fists. “I hate getting shot,” he declared.

  Char looked at him with one raised eyebrow. “I’m pretty sure that goes for all of us,” she said. They turned to see Auburn working his way toward them through the rubble.

  “We lost some water, but everything else looks to be intact. We can set up a chain and move the supplies out of the hole. It won’t take too long,” Auburn told them.

  “Joseph,” Terry called. The vampire and the Podder had moved to a cavern wall away from two open tunnels. They looked to be hanging out.

  Joseph leaned around the tunnel saw the dim lights from a mech in the distance. He brushed himself off and walked confidently toward TH.

  As he approached, they saw that he’d been riddled with Podder slugs. Dried blood left spots and trails all over his body. Cory’s eyes drooped, but she reached out to help him regardless.

  He smiled and intercepted her hand, turning it over, and kissing the back softly. “No, my dear. I’m fine. Time heals all wounds, or so they say.”

  Petricia had been crouching between the Podder and the wall. They didn’t see her until the blue alien moved, at which time they saw that she’d also been shot, and more than once.

  She stayed behind the alien as it approached, leaning its stalk-head closer to Joseph.

  “Looks like you have a new buddy,” Terry said, but not in a harsh way. The Podder’s shell was dinged and scratched from all the slugs that had hit it. Its stalk had been damaged from other impacts.

  Cory started to climb up the alien’s shell, but Ramses held her back. After a short argument that ended with a kiss, he helped her up. The alien remained still as she put her hands on the worst of the wounds.

  Joseph tapped the creature’s shell.

  Cory moved her hand swiftly from wound to wound, giving a measured amount of herself to each, healing none of them completely before moving on. The blue glow of her eyes dimmed and then her lids fluttered closed. Ramses had been ready and caught her as she rolled off the alien.

  Joseph smiled and stopped tapping. “It was like looking at something through a heavy fog, and all of a sudden, the fog lifts. I can hear Bundin clearly now. That’s his name. He expresses his appreciation for the relief. He said the injuries were causing him extreme pain.”

  “They can feel pain?” Terry asked.

  “Yes, they are very sensitive. The neck and tentacles are mostly one nerve bundle that funnels sensory input to the brain. When you shoot what you call the stalk, it causes them so much pain that they expire. Not blood loss, not organ damage, but the agony of the injury is what kills them.”

  Terry looked down and sighed. Nearly every Podder he’d killed had been because of shooting its stalk. He’d tortured them to death. No wonder they fought like demons, forcing him to kill even more of them.

  “Then why did they attack us in the first place?” Terry asked through clenched teeth.

  “They thought we were a new Crenellian attack. Bundin holds no grudge. They did what they thought they had to, and we did what we had to. Now we know better.”

  “I wish I had his sense of logic. I’m going to feel horrible for who knows how long. Thanks for making me feel like shit, but that’s not what I wanted to ask.”

  Terry walked forward to check on Cory. She was asleep in Ramses’s arms. He’d positioned himself behind the Podder, so none of the tunnels had a direct view of them, just in case the aliens fired their slug-throwers in the can’s direction. Terry saw Char’s pistol on the ground.

  He picked it up.

  TH turned back to Joseph. “Do we fight our war above ground or underground?”

  “Good question,” the vampire replied. He communicated with the alien without having to tap. Cory’s nanocytes sped up the healing process, and also aligned their thoughts to allow Joseph to better understand what the alien was saying.

  Joseph continued, “Bundin says that everything on this planet happens underground. If we want to talk with the Podders, it would be down here. If we want to find the Crenellians, down here. If we want to accomplish any of our mission objectives, that will be done down here,” Joseph explained before adding helpfully, “At least we won’t be on the receiving end of more Podder artillery.”

  “That answers my question,” Terry said, before looking at Auburn. “We’ll unload the can, resupply and rearm down here, and will conduct the next phase of the operations in these tunnels.”

  Kimber, bring everyone into the cavern. This will be our launching point. Tell everyone to say good-bye to the sun, Terry ordered.

  ***

  Kaeden had the path he’d taken mapped to his HUD. He could find his way back, at least for now. Kelly had his back, which gave him confidence as he moved forward.

  There had been some resistance initially, but the Podders had fled when they realized the mech was impervious to their attacks.

  Which made Kaeden even more cautious. The Podders had huge artillery pieces that they’d used against the Bad Company. He expected the enemy wasn’t retreating, but were reorganizing around heavier firepower.

  The suit was not too much bigger than a human. The driver’s movements were mirrored and magnified. There was no exposed skin. He was completely protected, unless an artillery round slammed him into the wall. A certain amount of kinetic energy could be blocked and absorbed, but beyond that, the suit’s wearer could be subjected to stresses beyond what the body could survive.

  In those cases, the suit would double as a coffin.

  Kae held up his fist, and he listened. Kelly took one more step and froze. The Podders didn’t make any noise when they moved, but something was making noise up ahead, the sound of leather being dragged against stone.

  Kaeden inched forward, until he reached the next intersection. Even though he had the suit on the highest light magnification, he couldn’t see anything. He switched to IR before he leaned around the corner.

  Ten meters away, a mob of Podders were pushing two small humanoids before them.

  Dad, I think we’ve found a couple Crenellians. It seems like the Pod is trying to use them as shields.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Once the fighting started, Marcie had grabbed Aaron, Yanmei, Christina, and their four warriors and headed out, looking for an alternate entrance to the caves and tunnels below.

  She fumed at the situation, understanding every bit what Terry Henry Walton was putting himself through.

  She heard the withering fire from within the cavern and then it was silenced by an enfilade from the Jean Dukes Special and the werewolves’ railguns.

  Marcie chuckled to herself. “Say ‘hello’ to the Bad Company, bitches.” She reached into the Etheric, drew power from
it, and let the landscape before her ghost through the mists.

  The dimension fed power to her nanocytes and gave her strength with which to see, see that the Podders registered as almost nonexistent. The enhanced members of the company burned like beacons in the darkness. And far down the valley there was something else, a different presence.

  “Follow me!” Marcie called and started to run, using all of her enhanced strength to accelerate to an inhuman pace. Railguns cracked from the cavern behind her, quieter as the distance increased. Aaron and Yanmei sprinted. Jones growled as he encouraged the others to pick up their pace.

  The four warriors had been enhanced on the ship in transit from Earth to the Dren Cluster. They were unpracticed at extreme speed running, but what they lacked in experience, they made up for with sheer determination.

  Marcie pushed as fast as she could go, not bothering to look over her shoulder. With her enhanced hearing, she could hear them all. She enjoyed nearly vampiric speed, with the strength of a Werebear and refined vision to see more sharply into the Etheric. She trained every day, her mind and her body. She sparred with anyone who would face her.

  She was fearless, but understood Terry’s challenge to win without fighting. “Someday, you may be at peace with your enemies. Make sure you can look them in the face, and not down on them.”

  Honor. Courage. Commitment. The three words that Terry had preached for all her life. He sold everyone he met on the premise of those three words.

  Fight with honor, in a cause worth fighting for.

  Initially, she couldn’t embrace the fact that the Force de Guerre had been split up, one half to create the foundation of the FDG, a Federation-sanctioned special military force. The other half was the Bad Company, a mercenary outfit. Fighting for money, but also fighting to expand the Federation.

  Each client presented a new opportunity to increase Federation influence and security. Nathan wanted Tissikinnon Four to be at peace with its neighboring system so both planets would expand the buffer to the unknown.