Tales of the Federation Reborn 1 Read online

  “What are you all standing around here for scratching your asses?” he demanded at full bellow. “Get those trees off the damn road and move it now!” he snarled, pistol out. He pointed it at a kid and then to the tree. “I said move!”

  The kid nodded, clearly terrified as he hastened to obey.

  The colonel turned to look at Arkangel. “I'd hate to sully that white suit of yours,” he said snidely.

  “I'll go find a chain saw or something,” the civilian said as he climbed out of the truck and made a show of limping to the back.

  “Yeah, you do that,” the colonel grumbled.

  >}@^@{<

  Corgi had done his job well; he'd cut down several thick trees into a tangle. He'd cut them down on either side of the road to entangle them thoroughly; the girls could see the mess as they headed higher up the trail.

  Their alternate route made it harder for the jeep to get back. But they knew where he had done it, so they had taken the alternate route ahead of time. The jeep was heavily overloaded with people and parts however, so the batteries were slowly dying. “Come on baby.”

  “Should I get out and push?” Caitlin asked.

  “Don't tempt me. So don't tempt me,” Jo muttered, watching the battery charge gauge almost as much as the terrain ahead. She hoped and prayed they'd get over the next rise. It was downhill from there if her memory was right.

  Please be right she thought.

  >}@^@{<

  Ed came trotting back to the plane just as the jeep pulled up. “I heard … jeez, ladies! Looks like a bus!”

  “Don't start,” Jo growled. “The batteries are nearly fried,” she said climbing out of the jeep.

  “Then how we going to get home?” Corgi asked from where he was working on the avionics bay. “I've got the holes in the avionics cooling system patched. Pinholes,” he said shaking his head. “The rubber should be replaced. I've got electricians tape covering every centimeter just in case.”

  “Good. Hopefully it'll hold. Get this bird in the air. We'll provide fire support,” Dom said as the crew swung into action.

  “Covering our retreat? By daylight?” Jo demanded. “Dom, this thing will be a sitting duck!” she warned.

  “I disagree. She'll be firing back. Now quit bitching, start helping,” Dom growled.

  “Dom, there is a hunting cabin back that way,” Ed said, pointing off to the east. “I can lead the others there. If Jo can take the kids and light people, the rest of the able-bodied can hoof it there,” he said.

  “We can stage from there. It's …,” Jo frowned as she checked her tablet. “Damn it, not that one. East you said?”

  “Yes, north by northeast. It's got a landing spot nearby.”

  “How can you tell?”

  “Saw the circle and H mark,” the Neocoyote replied.

  “Oh. That might be …”

  “It's Edna and Orin's place,” Dom said from where he was working under the bird. “That's it here,” he said, buttoning the panel back up and locking it down. “Corgi?”

  “Almost finished here,” Corgi said, checking the voltage readings in the avionics bay. “Just making sure a chip or component didn't fry due to the excess heat,” he said.

  “Good call. Bearings are okay I think. Fuel pump,” Dom turned to where Caitlin, Patty, and Lumus were busy putting it back on. “Hey, do you know …,” Caitlin gave him a dirty look as she turned the wrench, tightening a bolt down. He grunted. “Okay, so you do know what you're doing. Okay,” he said, shaking his head.

  “Open mouth, insert foot,” Caitlin said, not bothering to look up as she finished putting the fuel pump in. Getting it back together had been a snap; nothing had been damaged to the pump itself, just the fuel lines and fitting.

  >}@^@{<

  A frightened and tired group cheered a few minutes later as the dark bird spooled up her engines and took off. Jo gave a thumbs-up as she ducked away from the dust and stinging wash. She and Ed then led the rest of the group to the jeep and to supposed shelter.

  “See you soon, niece,” Dom murmured, watching her with a camera until they were out of sight. He looked down to their stowaways. Corgi and the squirming puppies and kittens rode with the gunship, tucked into the small compartment recently cleared of canteens and gear. He did his best to keep the sleeping young content.

  Their distressed parents waved goodbye and then took off to follow the others to dubious safety.

  “I think we need to give our Horathian friends a send-off as we go. Just to put them on notice and to give our people time to get away,” Dom said.

  “I'm with you, Dom,” Caitlin said from the front seat.

  “Good, feeding you target information now. Don't miss,” Dom growled as he started punching up the targets at the tree blockade.

  >}@^@{<

  The colonel swore as he saw the bird take off over the tree line. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up as his cursing stopped and his training and instincts took over. When he saw the bird orient on them, it was all the confirmation he needed. “Take cover!” he bellowed over the roar of the bird's engines. When they turned to a scream, he didn't look back.

  >}@^@{<

  “One firing pass, then we are out of here,” Caitlin said, flipping the safety off as she dipped the nose and pulled the trigger.

  Her chain guns ripped up the gravel road as bodies flew into the ditches and fled into the tree line. Trucks exploded in flame. She aborted her fire the moment the second truck erupted, then banked the jet into a turn and took off for home.

  >}@^@{<

  Arkangel spat leaves and debris as he climbed out from under a log he had taken cover under. “Damn it!” he swore.

  The colonel glanced his way and then back to the departing bird. He shielded his eyes to try to get a read on its direction, but it quickly faded out of sight as it rose into the sky.

  “Call General Busche. Let her know what happened. Someone call the spaceport. Get me a radar track on that bird's heading. We need to run it to ground pronto,” the colonel said, one foot propped up on the log the man in white had ducked under for cover.

  “Definitely,” Arkangel growled, brushing himself off with his hat. “This was my best suit!” he said indignantly.

  4

  “Where the hell did they get the parts?” the colonel demanded, pacing the floor in Brigadier General Busche's office. “How? Was the bird only lightly damaged? Did those idiots mistake a malfunction?”

  “I'm wondering the same thing,” the general said, eying Briggs.

  The man in white spread his hands apart in supplication and then returned them to his cane. “Don't look at me! I was with him the entire night,” he said, pointing to the colonel.

  “He's right,” Colonel Paulings said grudgingly. He hadn't had time to get cleaned up, nor had the normally napper man in white. Something in him was pleased to see the usually fastidious man reduced a little. “And they did take a potshot at him on the road,” he admitted.

  “I see,” the general said, knitting her fingers together. “Well, it seems we have a common enemy, Mister Briggs,” she said.

  “Yes, ma'am. I want them as badly as you do,” he said. “Perhaps more,” he said, fingering a hole in his coat.

  “Perhaps,” she said, eying him. “They have to be getting their parts as the colonel said. Where is the question? And the fuel? Ammunition? We need information, which means intel.”

  “If we could have gotten our hands on that bird … if Rox had sat on it instead of letting Dorner and Ryo try to fly it in …,” the colonel muttered, shaking his head in disgust. “To let it slip through our hands …”

  “And be used against us. It was a bit of luck that it broke down on the way here,” the general said.

  The colonel turned to stare at her. She snorted. “What, you think it was coming here for an errand of mercy?” she scoffed witheringly.

  He shook his head slowly.

  “I deduced they'd targeted the spaceport as a logic
al striking point. Hitting us here would have forced us to come in to another location. There are few air strips with a long enough runway, and none have the basing facilities like those here. They certainly don't have the fuel!” She shook her head. “No, the spaceport and soldiers guarding it were the real target. My question is, did they have a ground component as well? They had to have; I noted the reports of a jeep leaving the area.”

  “We saw one in the hills,” Arkangel supplied. “It headed up and east though, not towards the plane.”

  “Interesting datum but not concrete proof they weren't involved. Still, we can send a patrol to investigate, which we will. For now, I want to tighten security on the base. If we can't take that bird intact, I want it shot down, which means I'm ordering SAMs to be moved forward. I want them deployed around the perimeter of the spaceport and tied into its systems. I also want them to have their own radar and lidar systems set up.”

  “That's going to play hell with our schedules, ma'am,” Colonel Paulings warned.

  “I know. But better to adapt then to lose a shuttle with a load of goods or people,” the general said.

  “Well, there is that indeed, ma'am,” the colonel agreed with a reluctant nod.

  “No plan survives contact with the enemy,” the general said.

  “Yes, ma'am. We'll have to coordinate our people, ma'am,” the colonel warned. “Too many of them will be trigger happy after this incident. And we only have so many to go around. They can't be everywhere,” he warned.

  “A trap? Lure them into a location and hit them?” Mister Briggs suggested slyly.

  “Thank you for your suggestions, Mister Briggs,” the general said, eyes snapping to him. “We'll handle this situation from here,” she said, resting her hands together in front of her and nodding her chin to the door in dismissal.

  “Anything I can do to serve,” the man in white said, knowing he was no longer wanted. He didn't want to press his luck. “Good day, madam,” he said, touching his temple as he picked up his hat. His back itched until he was out of the building and with his assistant again.

  “I don't trust him,” the colonel growled softly.

  The general snorted. “I don't either despite his enthusiasm and being human,” she answered. “But unfortunately, we need him.”

  “Yes, ma'am,” the colonel replied.

  >}@^@{<

  Under the cover of a light blizzard, Dom used one of his helicopters to extract the rest of the people at night. Jo had been tempted to have him leave her and a select group behind, but he'd nixed the plan with a warning of patrols in the area. “Thick as thieves,” her uncle said, shaking his head. “This place is swarming like ants after a company picnic. Time to get out of dodge,” he stated.

  “The jeep?”

  “Leave it under cover. There is no way to recharge the batteries, and we can't risk someone driving it back to the lair,” Dom ordered.

  “Damn it,” Jo muttered as Ed helped the last group on board. “Okay,” she said, climbing into the chopper.

  “Maybe we'll get it back. Maybe not,” Dom said as he pulled back on the collective and took off.

  >}@^@{<

  Once they were settled into campsite, Dom sat the adults down and quietly explained the situation. Every single one of them agreed to help. All of them had lost someone they had known. Patty had lost her parents as well as her mate.

  Those with the proper skills were ferried in small groups to the lair. Others were distributed with friends in the bush cabins throughout the countryside.

  A week later The Lady was repaired, and they were ready once more. Their second mission went better. They took out a convoy of troops moving between two towns, twenty kilometers away. The group had been in the middle of a narrow valley, easy pickings for The Lady. The hills allowed the gunship to be screened from the radar both in and out.

  Caitlin performed two strafing runs to be sure she'd gotten them all before she'd turned the bird back to base.

  But the mission had run through an alarming amount of fuel and ammo in the process. “Bullets don't grow on trees! Or missiles!” Corgi complained when he noted the aircraft was almost dry.

  “We know.”

  “What if you'd run into something on the way back? Did you think of that?” the Neodog demanded.

  “Actually, no, we didn't,” Dom said thoughtfully. He winced. Caitlin did as well. “I guess we didn't think it as through as we'd thought.”

  “My fault, Dom, I wanted to get some revenge and got carried away,” Caitlin admitted.

  “We were both in the bird,” Dom said. “You flew fine.”

  “Quit patting yourselves on the back!” Corgi snarled. After a moment, he shook his head. “Like talking to a wall,” he muttered, stomping off.

  “He'll get over it,” Dom said. “I'll throw him a bone or something,” he said.

  Caitlin stared at him then giggled. “You'll throw him a bone?” she demanded.

  Dom blinked then guffawed. “You know what I mean,” he said, taking his cap off, slapping it against his thigh as he rubbed the back of his head with his free hand before he put the cap back on.

  >}@^@{<

  “This is unacceptable,” the general said, looking at images of the wreckage. “We need to take this aircraft out, not capture it, take it out. I'm done playing games.”

  “Yes, ma'am.”

  “And you don't have an answer as to how—a trap obviously. But that's obvious. No, we need to make it harder for them to operate. We need to deploy additional radar sites so we can track this aircraft. Do so. We'll also need to …,” she frowned thoughtfully then nodded. “Yes. Contact logistics. They have been holding back the long-range drones to let us get all our people to the ground. I want the tasking changed. Get the drones to the ground and set up so we can look for this damn irritant and swat it down once and for all.”

  “Or catch it and the people flying it wherever it goes to roost,” the colonel said.

  “That is actually a good idea,” the general said wonderingly. The colonel was oblivious to her sarcasm, seemingly preening at the praise. “Get on that.”

  “Yes, ma'am.”

  >}@^@{<

  Dom sicked his people on recovering more of the aircraft and gear his family had left in the area as well as searching for more possible dropped pods. They only had enough ammunition for one to two more combat missions, so they would have to husband it wisely.

  “I'm telling you, we need to raid the armories. We need to hit them, steal some lasers or machine guns, and then use them,” Ed said.

  “I agree in theory,” Dom said. “But the armories are going to be heavily protected,” he mused. “The question is how to get in. And then once in, how to get it all out? Also, how to do it without someone blowing it to kingdom come?”

  “Preferably, you know, with us not in or around it at the time,” Jo said mildly.

  “That part I haven't worked out yet,” Ed admitted slowly.

  “Or how to deal with the reinforcements that will come over the hills to their rescue,” Dom added.

  “Okay, okay! So, it's not a well thought-out plan.”

  “It's not even a plan,” Caitlin said, shaking her head. “I know there are alarms in the ranger armories. But the ranger armories are almost completely useless to what you need for the bird,” she said.

  “I thought as much. Personal weapons, survival gear, stuff like that, right?” Dom asked. She nodded.

  “Damn it!” Ed snarled.

  “The armories we want will be on the spaceport grounds or near the airports where they are staging the drones.” Dom said. “They haven't deployed many of them, but we've received word that they are mixed, some armed, some not. Most have been deployed to the city.”

  “So, we need to knock them down.”

  “Knock them down without taking them completely out will be hard,” Jo said. “An EMP probably won't cut it,” she said.

  “EM …,” Caitlin wrinkled her nose. She looked to
Ed who shrugged.

  “Electromagnetic Pulse—what they used to help take back Earth during the First A.I. War,” Dom explained. “Electronics are vulnerable to massive amounts of radiation. Throw a really loud radio transmission directly at them, or oh, radar or something else and they go haywire. If you throw a really powerful pulse, it can fry the electronics.”

  “They fall down and go boom,” Jo said with a grin.

  “So …”

  “So, we can probably rig something up, or at least I think Corgi could give the right parts. But they might be shielded. And it'd mess with our own systems. I know damn well we can't make a directional EMP,” Dom said, shaking his head. “So, that's out.”

  “So we're back to the basics. Nothing fancy, knock them down, trap them, whatever it takes,” Caitlin said. “They can't have very many of the damn things. The more we take out, the less they can use against us.”

  “They'll direct them to us,” Ed warned.

  “They already are. There is a long-ranged drone orbiting around the spaceport in a figure eight. It took off yesterday and hasn't landed yet,” Jo said.

  “Seems like a nice target,” Caitlin said. Dom nodded.

  “We need to launch from the lair when no one is above us. How can we tell that?” Ed asked.

  “Telescope,” Jo said. Dom turned to her. “Remember the setup String has? We get a couple like it to go with it. Set them up, people to keep watch. They track the ships, and we map their orbital pattern, then we shape our movements in and out around it.”

  “They can change the pattern,” Caitlin warned. “We could slip up.”

  “A chance we'll have to take. They can't be everywhere, nor can we. But we do need to set up alternative lairs just in case we need to go to ground early,” Jo mused.

  “You work on that,” Dom said. “Kate, you and I are going hunting,” Dom said.

  “Why does she get all the fun?” Jo demanded.

  “Because, she's a better shot than you are,” Dom said. Jo frowned. He turned to her. “Don't give me that. I remember you kids playing that video game when you were younger.”