Authors: Ken Pence
The morning was soon upon them and they dragged out of bed and Robert got some badly needed coffee. Cassandra had delivered two suits in their sizes and they hurriedly dressed and buckled on firearms and fighting knives. Transportation was provided to the shuttle. The loading platform beside the ship looked oddly deserted but five minutes later, a utility vehicle drove up, and two men started unloading assault weapons, portable rockets and explosives. There were no troops in sight.
Cassandra. Troops?
[Headed your way.]
Robert heard a thump thump sound and looked up to see a dozen robots marching his way, two abreast. They stopped beside the piles of weapons. The two men from the utility truck stood there with their mouths hanging open.
[I do not trust unscreened soldiers. These robot soldiers are quantum linked to my sister while under your command. Just think what you want them to do. There will be no time lag.]
Robert concentrated on the soldiers.
Distribute and check the weapons and make sure they are safe and functional. You are to protect these ships and authorized personnel.
The robots looked fairly humanlike but were two meters tall and seemed strong as hell. They moved smoothly without the artificial walk seen with so many previous automatons. They moved over to the stacks of weapons and two briefly scanned it and then started handing out the weapons. The robots checked the slides and sights while making minor adjustments. They checked magazines and adjusted sights. One robot looked at several demolition charges and then held one up and switched on a light. The light changed frequency. The robot set the charge gently on the ground and moved like lightning over to one of the two utility truck drivers. A second robot slid into the utility truck and drove it off. It detonated two hundred meters away but the blast threw chunks of debris almost to their location. The man held by the robot struggled to get out of his grasp. The second man lurched to get to his shoe and another robot shot him between the eyes when he bent over. He crumpled to the ground.
[The man being held has fingerprints on an explosive device set to explode and cripple your ship. It is set for 11am when you would be on the ground picking up armaments. Tod evidently has leaks at his end too. I will trace the contacts of these men. I suggest you go now and move up the meeting an hour.]
In an untested ship...
[In for a penny – in for a pound]
Robert laughed.
What about this guy?
[He was recently delegated to the work crew assigned as an assembly technician. He would know the layout of the ship but not all the details of its abilities. He has been here a month. I am concerned there were no high-ranking officials here to see us off. I will look into it. This man will not talk. What do you want to do with him?]
Twlise?
Twlise walked over to the man. “I do not like people trying to kill me or my man.”
“You alien cunt. I think…” he said.
Twlise pulled her Glock and shot him in the lower abdomen and then both knees.
“I’ll never talk…” the man gasped.
“I know,” she said and flipped him over on his stomach and holstered. She pulled out a razor sharp boot knife, carefully measured down the man’s spine, and then shoved the knife in – partially severing his vertebrae between the cervical and thoracic regions.
She flipped him on his back and watched him gasping for breath. “I want you to die slowly. You will bleed out slowly like the piece of filth you are – never having accomplished anything toward your mission.”
Robert gave a silent order and his eleven remaining robots boarded the shuttle following Robert and Twlise. He had determined after their kidnapping that Twlise could pretty well take care of herself and was not someone to be…underestimated.
Robert climbed into the pilot’s seat and strapped in, as did Twlise. He called control to move them down toward the tremendous airlock on the railed carriage.
“Is the emergency cleared? We had a warning that explosives had been placed in and around your ships. The warning said they had called Earth and had some experts nearby and enroute.”
“The emergency was created by Earth operatives who had placed the explosives. They are both dead and an armada of Earth troops will arrive shortly to place this planet back under their control. Contact my ship and she will update you on the division the Earth corporations and governments plan to make of Mars two months from now. Please unlock and depressurize. We should be back from Earth in a few hours.”
“What? You can’t just give us a message like that and leave. I won’t…”
“You will unless you want to repair your dome. Are you retarded? Get Grace Müller and contact the Cassandra.”
“This is highly irregular,” said the control attendant.
“Yes it is. Depressurize.” Robert said.
“I will not…” said the control attendant.
Robert started counting from five. “Four, three, two…” The airlock began to depressurize. Robert knew the shuttle had no weapons and wasn’t sure ramming the airlock would even accomplish his goal without damaging the ship.
The outer lock door finally slid open and the shuttle was accelerated along the launch rail. The linear motor had the small shuttle moving at considerable velocity and it easily rose into space. Cassandra had plotted the minimal route to get them to the abandoned airstrip in less an hour using the bias drive. They engaged the Hall Drive to get away from Mars. The bias drive turned on automatically at the plotted course. The stealth features added to the field kept the craft from being spotted on sensors. Robert knew the shuttle would be visible as soon as it came in for an Earth landing – he only hoped that Tod would have the materials and LeEck and Latima would be outside like planned.
****
The abandoned MCAS El Toro airfield near Irving, California wasn’t easy to see from orbit but the shuttle went down over the Pacific and then flew with the scramjet engine at Mach 10 over the ocean. They approached the airfield and hoped the shockwave would disorient the troops he knew were waiting. Cassandra applied the bias drive field – inertialess and the ship stopped next to the tractor-trailer sitting on the 2,400 meter runway which was still in marginal condition. LeEck and Latima came running out of adjacent cover shouting that it was a trap as the robots leapt down the loading ramp of the shuttle…
The shuttle was jamming all radio communications except the quantum-linked comm. The robots threw open the rear doors of the tractor-trailer and were fired on immediately from positions around the runway. It looked like there may have been more soldiers positioned near the end of the longer runways as their thermal images showed many running toward bodies – still a long way away. Luckily, they hadn’t expected the shuttle to land on a third of shorter runway. The robots returned fire and shot two attacking soldiers in their heads. Another soldier came out holding a pistol to Tod’s head. A robot shot him under the ear in a way that severed his medulla and kept him from having a reflex shot. He collapsed as Tod, LeEck, and Latima ran for the shuttle. The robots team lifted the three large containers from the trailer and had them into the shuttle in less than a minute. A stream of vehicles was tearing across the concrete toward them. A missile was fired at the shuttle but was shot out of the air with concentrated fire from the robots. Some fifty-caliber rounds hit one of the robots and literally cut it in half. The robot toppled to the ground and just kept firing.
Several of the assaulting vehicles were in flames but others kept coming. Helicopters could be heard coming closer and a fighter came in and fired its twenty-millimeter cannon in what must have been a warning pass. The robots fired four ground-to-air missiles at the jet. It started dropping flares and taking evasive action to keep from being blasted out of the air. One helicopter was ‘lucky’ enough to attract one of those missiles and it exploded. There was a 300 kw laser blast that could only have come from the YAL-3 aircraft. It hit the side of the shuttle and an unlucky robot who, unfortunately was fried. It didn’t even warm the surface of the shuttle however. Everyone was aboard except the robot on the runway and he shorted his power cell as a vehicle went past. It destroyed him AND the vehicle.
The shuttle took another laser hit, lots of machine gun fire, and two missiles as it gained altitude. The missiles shook the shuttle but didn’t even dent it. The new metacrete had proved it’s worth.
Robert turned flight control over to Cassandra and walked back to talk with Tod, LeEck, and Latima.
“Hi Tod. Glad you made it. Did you really get everything I needed?”
“I did but I thought we were goners. A vehicle pulled in front of us as we started to enter the field. Soldiers entered the back, and one got in with me up front. I thought we were doing okay ‘til I saw how much ordinance they prepared to throw at you. Then you dive in early and do some magic stop. How the flip did you do that? Then robots from hell…bet that frosted their ass… I told our employees last week to get out of the country and I think most of them made it. Couldn’t believe all that ordnance missed us?”
“It didn’t miss us…a new material forms the fuselage thanks to a few ideas from Professor LeEck here. How are you Professor?”
“I am not sure my heart can stand any more excitement. I’m good. I assume we are enroute to Mars. How is…ah…
How are you
?” the professor said in Lesman as he saw Twlise.
Twlise gave Professor LeEck and Chief Latima a big hug and kiss on the cheek. Latima acted like he didn’t approve but you could see his face grinning like a mouse with a vat of cheese.
“Almost there professor. We will be there in a few minutes. Lighter gravity will make you feel like superman. Latima. What did you think of our departure?”
“Departure? Is that another word for battle? It was good. I like your
robots
. I am glad they were fighting for me. Your military was outclassed but their tactics were okay. I would not want to fight them in an even fight.”
“Never fight if you are equal because you may only win half of the time. Speed and surprise are essential. The Earth forces had a good battle plan but they forgot to consult me.”
Latima laughed. “I suspected you were a warrior when I first met you – then you showed me. I knew you were a warrior and then you awed me and won without a fight. I came here and saw a different way of fighting and you impressed me. I saw you ambushed and outclassed and yet you defeated them easily – I pledge myself to you. Guide me and I will serve you,” he said and bent his head and placed Robert’s arm on his shoulder.
LeEck nodded and whispered. “This is our old way. You have a loyal follower.”
Robert was touched. He knew some of what the chief had done on LesMa. He waited ‘til Latima raised his eyes and said, “I pledge to you, Service Chief Latima, that I will never sell your life cheaper than mine and I will fight by you and for you while I live.”
Chief Latima’s eyes glistened. You rarely get to work with a person who will ever pledge their life with yours but that is what battle mates do – that is the bond that holds warriors together. They really don’t fight for anyone but each other. Occasionally you will get to fight for a true cause under a worthy commander.
Twlise was touched too and hugged Robert. “What is next?”
“Earth has saboteurs on Mars. We have to install these armaments on a new – larger ship and stop an invasion. I am unclear how to do that yet. I hope a period of learning from Cassandra will help you help me.”
“Invasion?” said Tod, LeEck, and Latima.
“Earth has sent a task force of ships that will take over Mars and Titan. They have railguns, powerful lasers, and plan to drop asteroids until I give them the bias drive. They already have plans to divide up the solar system and then invade LesMa. I will not let it happen but I don’t know how to stop them.”
“We need to see this new ship of yours,” Professor LeEck said.
****