13 Degrees of Separation (85 page)

“Got it?”
Blizzard asked.

“Yeah
but... Not here,” the girl said nervously. She turned, nodding to the others as
they moved off into the night.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Moreta
provided an intel briefing, using a map she'd drawn on the tablet as well as a
mock up of the town she and Cali had made out of rocks, sticks, and plastic
pieces the shuttle replicator had created for them. When a few of the Neo's
couldn't grasp the idea of the model they had them kneel at eye level and look
at it again. A few caught on or at least pretended to do so. Bengali commented
about looking down on a valley from a ridge line. This finally got through some
of the more stubbornly thick headed ones and they caught on. The elder sighed
and then laid out their plan.

“This is
going to be different. Always before we have hit from darkness, or from the
cover of a storm. Now the enemy is wise to it, they stay awake during these
times and are on higher alert. But they cannot be on alert all the time, even
they need to sleep. So, we will do something bold...”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Using the
cover of a drainage trench Moreta had pointed out, they moved in small groups
as close as they could to their target. A pair of cloaked snow leopards crept
out, they moved slowly in the daylight under their cloak, unsure that this
would work. They tried to avoid moving their heads and moving from cover to
cover, theirs was an imperfect cloak at best, relying on cunning and speed to
get them into striking distance.

Which was
exactly what they did. When one bored guard turned the corner to take a leak
Sabu tore his throat out with his taloned claws. The man fell to his knees,
clutching at his throat. Sabu propped him up there and moved on.

His
sister Shanti killed the second guard and the way was clear. She carefully
checked for the cameras she'd been taught to look for. When only two were found
she smiled and decloaked under one, pointing up to it. Her brother snarled and
pulled her behind cover.

When the
signal was given by team two who were providing a distraction attack, team one
broke into the giant farm building the pirates were using to store their
precious shuttle. A klaxon alarm blared until Bengali shot it out. A pair of
techs came running putting parka's on. They were quickly dealt with. The group
broke down under the stern guidance of the elder. She ordered them to take what
they had on the lists and move on quickly. The elder set her remaining stock of
explosives to cover their tracks. She made it out of the building just as the
rear guard of pirates realized that they had been duped and turned on the
shuttle building. Rounds stitched the ground near her as she zig zagged around
snow covered equipment and then dived into the ditch. She grinned and palmed
her implant, with a coded thought she sent the activation charges. She covered
her ears and opened her mouth in anticipation, knowing better than to look.

“We got
it didn't we? Didn't we? Where the hell is it?” a soldier said, moving
cautiously to the elders position.

“Shit
Mick! Check this out! They screwed with the shuttle!”

“Ah man!
The boss is going to have our balls! How the hell... Wait what's that?” one
soldier pointed to a strange green block. The rear guard arrived at the
building just in time for the charges attached to the fuel tanks of the shuttle
to go off. The elder grinned as the explosion rocked the area. The echoing boom
and two hundred meter high fireball made the Neos stop and gape and then cheer.
She smiled her feral smile and got to her hands and knees and began to crawl
towards Blizzard.

“I may be
getting too old for some of this but not that!” Moira laughed, flicking her
ears to her granddaughter. Blizzard returned the laugh.

Pyotr and
some of the other bears complained about carrying the weight. Bengali snorted
at their amused charges of racism. He shifted the 200 kilogram package he had
on his back meaningfully. Pyotr looked his way and then snorted. “There better
be some vodka in all this or someone's in trouble,” he growled.

“At least
spring is finally coming,” another bear said, nodding to a flower stubbornly
poking out of the snow. “Sort of like us isn't it? Clinging to life, thriving
against the odds?” the bear asked, rubbing the blond patch of fur on his chest.

Pyotr
snorted, eying him. “Who asked you?” he growled, plucking the flower and then
eating it. He tossed the stem over his shoulder and kept going.

“That's
Pyotr, Russian to the heart, no soul,” the other bear sighed and moved on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

'Commodore'
Patterson snarled, hands on the desk in front of him, gripping it as if it was
a lifeline. He felt he was swinging over an abyss and wasn't sure where he'd
gone wrong. It was a simple thing, his first command, his first conquest and
first major step to flag rank. He had been Admiral Cartwright's chief of staff,
a captain until he'd been frocked for this command.

Admiral
Cartwright had seized upon the idea of taking and holding Antigua when they had
picked up word of the prize, Patterson would seize their assigned objectives,
covering his ass and keeping the door open in case the prize was a rumor and
nothing more. From the look of things and how badly they were going his last as
well.

They'd
done so well! They'd had the planet under their boot in minutes and yet now...
He rubbed his brow and sat back, angrily flopping down into his chair. He had
planned this carefully, pitched it beautifully to the Rear Admiral and his
staff so skillfully. A simple job, with minimum resources they could take an
entire system and cleanse it of the hated alien and Neo filth. They would blood
their troops, training them and indoctrinate others to the cause all at once.
After all, Kathy's World had few visitors despite its' location, and since it's
climate was in an ice age the people were hardy survivors. Most of the food was
grown on the equator, seize that and hold the high ground and it was all over
for them except the dying.

There
were also reportedly thousands of Neos on the planet, anthros that kept to
themselves and thus would be easy targets for his men. Sport, hunted prey, only
they had turned the tables and his men were now the hunted.

He didn't
understand it. It just didn't make sense, how they turned the tables so
effectively. They were crude, grubbing in the mud, yet they were winning! He
had started with two thousand soldiers, all trained in various degrees. Granted
most had never seen combat, but all had the minimum training. It should have
been
easy
for them to pick off the flea infested creatures they were
after all little more than animals!

But no, and
now here he was. He'd drafted some of the ship's personnel to fill in his gaps
but the ship's captain had flatly refused any more after the last fiasco. They
had none to spare the bastard had said coldly. None to waste he'd pointed out.
Patterson snarled again in memory of that cold contempt. The bastard didn't
know what he was going through! He was safe, sitting on his bridge watching the
world spin below without any idea of the real world events going on! Sure hind
sight showed him all the things they'd overlooked. Losing a shuttle and its'
crew was bad enough. Casualties in the town had been worse. But it was the
shuttle that could spell doom for him, such things were not to be risked.

What was
he going to do? He thought, rubbing his brow again and then sitting back with
an angry sigh. He had to do something, but what? Obviously the sensors were
next to useless, the Neos were ghosts, blending in with the other animals on
the planet. Turning some of their people was out, none had come forward with
news despite offers of a reward and threats of reprisals.

Yesterday
his field commander Brinth had instituted firing squads for those who spoke of
the Neos. The first six had been dispatched with ruthless efficiency but
instead of cowing the resistance the crowd had watched the traitors deaths and
turned accusing eyes on their liberators! Maddening!

He wasn't
sure what to do, but he had to do something. This was turning into a fiasco. He
knew he couldn't paper over any of the mistakes, the blasted captain was logging
everything for further review by higher. This was supposed to be a learning
experience after all, training for other worlds. No, he thought, with the
coming of the spring the Neos would be dealt with. He turned and angrily
punched in an order to the surveillance department to map any large contacts.
If his men couldn't strike them from the ground he'd use his shuttles or drop
rocks on their heads.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They
created a cover of branches and then dug the shuttle out carefully, making sure
they limited their activity to safe periods. The shuttle itself was military
grade and therefore was designed to hide from orbital arrays. But they were
careful to only work on the little ship when the pirate freighter wasn't overhead.
Over the next week Cali, Moreta, and Moira installed their purloined parts and
readied the assault shuttle for her coming mission.

It wasn't
plug and play of course, many of the pieces had to be smuggled back to the
surviving machine shops to be rebuilt or remanufactured. It was maddening to
do, and downright scary for all involved. The last thing they needed was for
some pirate to catch the illicit transfers.

Keeping
the people who worked in the slave shops in the dark about what they were
machining was also hard. They had to know they were working on something to
fight back, but not what. It was tempting to tell them, terribly tempting but
the threat of one of them being caught and tortured for the information was too
just too possible, too scary to ignore. A single breach in security could tear
her tissue paper plan all apart. Not even the couriers knew what they carried.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When
Blizzard asked where the fuel would come from the elder snorted. She pointed to
a nearby river, swollen with melt off. “There. Over the centuries I have drawn
water from the river now that the ice has melted and spring has sprung. It was
such a hassle melting snow before,” she said shaking her head. Cali nodded.
That task had fallen to her when she wasn't too busy. The elder had fretted
over their power, worried that its' signature could be detected by the ship.
“We take the water and split it into its components and that is the fuel we
need.”

“Ah,”
Blizzard replied. It was a measure of how far her education had come that she
understood that. She was proud of herself for that.

“I wish
you wouldn't be going though,” the priestess murmured.

The elder
flicked her a glance and then waggled her ears in humor. “And just who would
fly the shuttle? Only I can do that properly.” she said. She could finally do
what she'd been trained to do, what she loved to do, fly. She had no intention
of letting any talk her out of this role. No, not now, not ever. Her understudy
was good but she had no experience. Besides, only she could work the weapons
built into the craft.

They had
been a hassle. She'd carefully checked each missile, even tearing each down to
make sure nothing had rusted or broken over the centuries. One missile had had
a nest in it, she'd cleaned it out and run diagnostics on it. The read outs had
read clean but she'd mentally assigned that missile as a last reserve just in
case. The last thing she needed, hell they needed was a misfire.

“I know,”
the priestess sighed in defeat.

“Are the
others ready?” the elder asked, changing the subject. The priestess nodded.
“they are drilling?”

“When
they can. We have them dispersed so spying eyes will not spot them,” the
priestess replied.

“Good,”
the elder said nodding wisely. Her people were learning she thought with
approval. A herd or caribou had been struck the night before, most likely from
orbit. A shuttle had done a strafing run on a group hiding in a narrow gorge,
they'd been wiped out with nowhere to run. Fortunately it hadn't been anyone
critical to their end game.

“Are you
ready little one?” the elder asked, turning to Cali. The girl nodded grimly.
She was their only other pilot. She'd trained hard for this role and was ready
and eager. It was time for the ultimate payback she thought with savage glee.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pyotr
belched and then rolled his shoulders. He had a bandolier of ammo packs across
his chest. He adjusted it and then bounced a little, not so much in youthful
eagerness for battle but to make sure nothing jostled loose or made noise. When
he was satisfied he settled down and looked over to where the elder was
sitting.

There was
a twinkle in her eyes. She held her old spear but had a pulser in her lap. What
little body armor her shuttle could provide had been handed out to those who
had the most dangerous and vital of missions. Of course none could fit the
bear, Pyotr thought. He watched her ears flick in amusement and a soft smile
touched her lips. “What's so funny?” he asked.

She
snorted as a white fox looked up from where she had been checking her needler.
The elder waved for her to finish up. “Nothing, just a little wool gathering.
You remind me of a fat Chewbacca,” she said, grinning.

“I do?
Old boyfriend?” Pyotr asked suspiciously.

“Not
quite,” the elder chuckled getting to her feet. She turned and climbed through
the flight deck hatch. It was past time she got her own end of things going.
Her eager copilot probably had it already done twice but it never hurt for her
to be sure she thought.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cali
grinned from the copilot seat as they finished the preflight. She was nervous,
the elder could smell her excitement and fear, it was fortunately not nearly as
strong as the scents wafting up from the other compartments. The shuttle was
full, stuffed with the Neos of team one. Three had checked out on the
improvised breather's she'd made. Hopefully it wouldn't come to that.