The Bad Company Read online

  Terry clenched his jaw and nodded. He picked the dog up and cradled him to his chest as he left the hole and joined Char.

  “I see,” she said, still sitting on the ground. The hammering of the earth told them that at least one mech was coming. Terry handed Dokken to Char, and then bent low to pick up her and the dog.

  He grunted as he worked his way upright.

  “By all that’s holy, TH, you’d think I weighed a ton!”

  Terry smiled down at her. “I think I’m just getting weak in my old age.”

  Dokken laid his head on Char’s chest and closed his eyes.

  Kae and Cantor pounded up to them. Kae stopped and Cantor continued a few steps down the hill, raised his railgun, aimed, and fired a shot every few seconds.

  “One shot, one kill,” Cantor said through his suit’s speakers. Kaeden leaned down to relieve his father of his burden, but Terry shook his head.

  “Cover us,” he ordered, and he started hiking uphill.

  Kae walked backward, staying between the enemy and his parents. He fired occasionally, but the Tiskers appeared to be tired of this fight and were leaving the humans to their own.

  Maybe the Tiskers were tired of dying. The battlefield, which the Bad Company had been dropped in the middle of, carried a blue sheen from the amount of blood spilled.

  “I wonder how many stalk-heads died today?” Kaeden asked.

  “A lot more than should have, and someone is going to answer for that,” Terry promised.

  Unnamed Corner of the Pan Galaxy

  “I’m not sure you understand my position, Mister President,” Nathan explained, trying to remain calm.

  “I paid for service. Give me service!” the small humanoid alien raged.

  “The fight appears to be different than you led us to believe. Such a material change of condition alters the contract,” Nathan said slowly, enunciating each word.

  The president interrupted him.

  “Shut up!” Nathan added, the muscles in his cheeks flexing as he fought to keep from yelling. “When Colonel Walton cleans up that mess on Tissikinnon Four, I’m sending him and his people to you, so you can see the people you tried to send to their deaths. I pray for your sake that you’re more convincing with him than you’ve been with me. You had best start practicing your lies now to improve your delivery. Then again, an acceptable alternative may be to pay whatever Terry Henry Walton tells you to pay after the mission is accomplished.

  “However, he may prefer to take payment out of your hide. He already said he was going to burn your palace to the ground, so you’ve got that to look forward to.” Nathan touched the screen to sign off before the weasel-faced president could reply.

  Nathan rubbed his temples before pulling a Pepsi from his refrigerator. He rolled the cool can back and forth over his forehead. Nathan hadn’t told the president that his daughter was down there, with Terry Henry, in the middle of another man’s war.

  He knew that she was well-trained and enhanced to a high level, but he still worried. A couple slugs to the head could ruin anyone’s day.

  Maybe he would send Terry to renegotiate payment once the Direct Action Branch ended the Tissikinnon Four war.

  If there even was a war. Nathan couldn’t be sure of anything, and Terry was overdue with his latest report. He drummed his fingers on the table.

  Nothing to do but wait.

  Tissikinnon Four – Firebase Gloria

  “Christina? Christina!” Cory shouted.

  After the explosion, Christina had unconsciously changed back to human form. Blood streamed down her face and from her ears. Cory held Christina by her shoulders and gently shook her.

  Cory put her hands on Christina’s neck and massaged gently. “What happened?” she asked.

  “Hilltop go boom,” Cory replied as the woman’s pupils danced in her head.

  “Very funny,” Christina mumbled, closing her eyes and trying to relax to let her body heal itself.

  “Where the fuck did that thing come from?” Marcie growled. Praeter and Duncan had launched their micro-drones and were scanning the enemy lines. “Well?”

  “Nothing yet, ma’am. Their pieces must be way in the rear,” Praeter reported. Artillery pieces. Something that the Bad Company had been told didn’t exist.

  “They have some serious hardware out there. How come we can’t see it?” Marcie wondered.

  No one had an answer. Most were still working through the ringing in their ears from the near-miss that almost took the top off their hill. At least it had created a crater that they could use for cover if need be.

  ***

  “Nice job, Kimber,” Terry told his daughter. “It’s too bad we won’t be able to stay for long.”

  She twisted her mouth as she nodded. “Remember the Maginot Line? A monument to man’s inability to adapt to modern warfare.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

  Char chuckled as she stood gingerly on her newly healed legs. Dokken was curled up by her feet. Terry looked at them both, before making eye contact with Cory. He tipped his chin toward the dog. She hurried to the big German Shepherd and kneeled by his side.

  Cory’s eyes glowed blue. They had for over a hundred years, ever since she healed the vampire Akio. He carried special nanocytes, as did she. The two mixed and blended, giving her the ability to light up the night, even when she didn’t mean to.

  She carried sunglasses to cover her eyes at night when they couldn’t be seen. In the middle of the day? It didn’t matter. Like now. Her eyes were a beacon that radiated calm to all who were near.

  Like Dokken. He relaxed under her touch.

  “Broken ribs,” Cory said as she ran her hands over his sides. “Scrapes and cuts.” The blue of her nanocytes appeared beneath her hands as she healed the worst of Dokken’s injuries. When she finished, her head sagged and shoulders hunched.

  Ramses kneeled next to her and draped an arm around her shoulders. She took a deep breath and together, they stood. Dokken opened his eyes, and took in his surroundings before getting his paws underneath himself and pushing upright. He wagged his tail and dog-smiled. He stood on his back legs and put his front paws over Cory’s shoulder as if the two were preparing to dance.

  With one massive lick, he splattered Cory’s face from chin to forehead. She tried to move away, but he had her. He moved in for a second lick.

  She dodged back and forth, until Ramses stepped in and gently pushed Dokken down. He ruffled the dog’s ears.

  I like you. I got stuck with that one, Dokken told Cordelia, pointing with his eyes toward Terry Henry Walton.

  Cory leaned down to eye-level. I need you to take care of him. He will do anything for us and usually that means sticking his neck out. I need you to keep him safe. It’ll be our secret.

  Char stood next to Terry. While he surveyed the battlefield and raced through a series of tactics to implement to achieve mission success, Char watched her daughter and the German Shepherd. Cory had made another friend.

  They said that she never met a stranger, because they all became her friends.

  ***

  “This is a shit show,” Terry lamented.

  Dokken appeared at his side and leaned against him.

  “Hey, boy! I’m glad you’re all right,” Terry said without looking down. He dropped his hand to Dokken’s head and scratched behind his ears. “Team leaders, up!”

  Kae hurried up, still in his mech suit, and took a knee so he wouldn’t tower over the others. Joseph and Petricia both moved in. Marcie, Auburn, and Kimber stood to the side. Timmons, Sue, Aaron, and Yanmei rounded out the leadership team. Terry waved for them to follow him.

  Christina joined the group. Terry nodded his approval.

  He moved to a small depression on the side of the ridge where they weren’t so exposed.

  “We need to start over,” he said without preamble. “We now know that everything we were told is wrong. Our mission was supposed to be simple. Remove the
Tisker leadership. We were to land behind their lines and take care of business. Without the military leadership, the premise was that the soldiers would be spared and peace would be restored.

  “Hotheads. We were to knock off a few upstarts hiding behind an army. As it was, the landing coordinates were boned. We get dropped off right in the middle of the army with no idea where that supposed leadership might be. Has anyone seen any Crenellian forces? Small humanoids, look like that cheesedick president?”

  Everyone shook their head.

  “We need to find those fuckers, too. So. We need to pause our combat operations and collect intel. Since there’s nothing like hearing it from the horse’s mouth, Timmons, I need you to take your team and Christina and capture a Tisker. He? She? Needs to be healthy. Capture it without hurting it, if you can. Kaeden. I need your unit’s drones expanding a three-hundred-and-sixty-degree perimeter. Go as far as you can and find me something that looks like a headquarters. If not that, then let’s find the heavy artillery. The War Axe can drop a few surprises when they come by with a resupply. Auburn. Can you handle setting that up?”

  “No problem,” he replied. “When and where?”

  “As soon as possible. We burned through a week’s worth of ammo in a few hours. We’ve gained nothing, and we’re already seeing empty magazines.”

  “We’ve gained something,” Marcie offered. “We gave them one hell of a bloody nose.”

  “They’re using old-fashioned slug-throwers, and we have railguns,” Terry said, not trying to dampen Marcie’s spirits, but to keep things in perspective. “I admire their courage, but they’re going to change tactics soon, and I think it’s going to be raining artillery. Not just a few rounds here and there, but it’s going to level this area. We’re going to get blown apart, and we’re all going to die if we don’t keep moving. Auburn, set up a resupply drop in the valley between the two ridges about ten clicks to the north-northeast.

  “Kimber, I need you to move your platoon near the resupply point and set up a long skirmish line to protect that valley. Move out as soon as it’s dark. We’ll stay here and keep them occupied. Aaron, take your people and move ahead of the platoon. Show them the way.”

  “If my math is correct, that leaves us with you, Char…” Terry hesitated as he pointed at the remaining faces and tapped the air in front of his face. “That’s about sixteen of us to make it look like all of us.”

  “Don’t forget the mechs.”

  “Indeed.” Terry pursed his lips and looked at Petricia’s still unfired railgun. “That’ll work.”

  “Let’s get to it. Build me an intel picture of what we’re up against. I hate killing front line guys. They’re just following orders, so let’s find the ones giving the orders, and then we’ll introduce ourselves.” Terry patted his Jean Dukes Special.

  Colonel Terry Henry Walton carried the pistol that could end wars.

  On board the War Axe

  Auburn’s image filled the screen. Commander Oscar Wirth and Captain San Marino watched as the Bad Company’s logistician detailed the supplies that were needed.

  Oscar checked items off the pad he carried. The canister was already filled with most of what Auburn ordered, but there was an issue.

  “I can send you the mechs or I can send you ammunition. I can’t send both,” Oscar explained.

  “Terry’s not going to be happy,” Auburn replied, “but I think he’ll understand. And then we need a second canister prepared, just in case.”

  “That’s the problem. We don’t have a second can. But I’ll order the construction of a second and third as soon as we sign off. It will take a few days before the next can is ready and a few days after that for the third one.”

  “We’re going to be down here with our asses hanging out,” Auburn said, looked off-screen, grabbed the camera, and the image blurred. A muffled explosion sounded from nearby. “Hang on.”

  After two more explosions, Auburn held the camera away from his face as he lay sideways on the ground. “Getting a little hot here, so I figure we’ll be moving soon. When do you think you can make the drop?”

  Oscar looked to the captain. Micky looked at the ceiling for a moment before answering. “Thirty-two hours.”

  Auburn whistled. “I better let you go. Earlier would be better. I’ll tell Terry the bad news.”

  The screen went blank. Oscar felt like crap. The captain slapped him on the shoulder. “Go do your thing, Commander,” Micky told his department head. “I need to get this ship moving.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Tissikinnon Four

  The darkness was nearly absolute. The moons orbiting the planet were small and reflected very little light. Four was at the far edge of the Goldilocks Zone and received less light and warmth because of it. Three was at the closest edge of the zone, but had never developed life. The aliens from Four had established a settlement there with the help of their spacefaring neighbors, the Crenellians.

  The current conflict came about because the Crenellians expected access to Tissikinnon Four for mining operations as payment for their role in helping the Tiskers into space. The Tiskers had balked at their part of the deal, even though from what Terry had seen, the Crenellians weren't going to strip mine the planet, only dig underground and reclaim the area as they finished.

  “How in the hell did they negotiate a contract like that?” Terry wondered.

  “I suspect a lot of show & tell, pointing and grunting, with the Crenellians simply writing down what they wanted and the Tiskers accepted, having no idea what they agreed to because they received weapons!” Char sneered.

  Terry had chosen the project because he didn’t like people making a deal and then backing out when it came time to fulfill their part of the bargain. He wondered if the contract that he’d seen was real. Everything else seemed to be a lie. He gritted his teeth.

  “What if the Tiskers are the ones we should be fighting for?” Terry asked. Char rubbed his shoulders. They were tight, not from combat or lack of sleep, but from carrying the burden of the entire Federation, to fight for the innocent and bring them justice.

  “There’s all kinds of wrong going on here. I think when we get to the bottom of it, we’ll find that these two systems deserve each other,” Char suggested.

  Terry looked into the darkness. Even with his enhanced vision, it was tough to see anything. He could barely see the warriors from Joseph’s tactical team, and they were less than ten meters away.

  The darkness made the distant flashes stand out. “Drop a rocket on their ass!” Terry shouted to the mech unit. “TAKE COVER!”

  The warriors planted their faces in the dirt and covered their heads, hoping they didn’t get their asses blown off.

  Four rockets screamed into the night, milliseconds before they heard the whistle of the incoming rounds. The shells shattered the night’s calm in an instant, reshaping the landscape around them from barren to cratered and torn.

  When the short barrage ended, Terry lifted his head. Char was safe by his side. The darkness had returned. Explosions in the distance signaled the arrival of Kaeden’s rockets. The secondary explosions said they hit their target. More explosions racked the enemy unit followed by a fire that burned out of control.

  “REPORT!” Terry ordered as he stood, pulling Char to her feet before dusting himself off.

  He heard the others checking with their people.

  Miraculously, no one was injured. Marcie picked her way carefully across the broken ground.

  “They know where we are,” Marcie stated the obvious. “Time to move?”

  “I think so. Rally the troops and get on your way. You take point, and Char and I will hold down tail end Charlie.” Terry paced as he thought, hands clasped behind his back. He carried his pack with his Mameluke sword behind it and his pistol. He had left his whip on the War Axe.

  He had carried the whip for a long time, but figured it was due to be retired. He wanted to put it on display in his office. The weapon that he
and Char had used to help them defeat Marcus, the greatest of the werewolves.

  A Jean Dukes Special. Micro-drones. weretigers. Mechs. A Pricolici. Railguns. werewolves and vampires. Rockets and swords.

  Terry ran through the inventory of the arsenal that they brought to the planet surface. None if it mattered if he didn’t know where to aim. He had an incomparable fighting force at his command, and he would get them all killed if they ran out of ammunition, ran out of places to run.

  He needed the intel, and for that, he needed the patience to wait for his people to do as he had asked, bring back those bits and pieces of information that he could use to paint a picture from which he could determine their next steps.

  I’m hungry, Dokken said, bringing Terry back to the present.

  “Here you go, buddy.” Terry reached into his combat vest and pulled a big chunk of beef jerky. “I’ve heard bistok tastes like bacon.”

  If all you ever have is bistok, anything different is good, the dog replied.

  “Words of wisdom, right there. If every day were Christmas, it wouldn’t be Christmas.”

  Dokken looked up at Terry. He smiled at the German Shepherd. “We need to get the fuck out of here,” Terry said.

  My thoughts exactly, human, Dokken replied.

  “Mine too, dog.”

  ***

  Timmons looked at his hostage capture team—Sue, Shonna, Merrit, and Christina. “Sue and I will stay in human form, while I think we need our werewolves to guide us through the darkness, use the Etheric to find a lone enemy, and bring him in.”

  Christina relished the opportunity to change into her Pricolici form. She was pleased with her decision to join Terry Henry Walton’s expedition to the far reaches of the Federation. Exporting justice, they’d said. Sounded good at the time. Sounded even better when she was turned loose on an unsuspecting enemy.

  Timmons could see the look on her face. She was happy. He’d seen the same look on only two other people as they prepared to go into battle. Terry Henry and Marcie. They were at home in the chaos and horror of combat, preferring it over the drudgery of day-to-day life.