Birthright: Battle for the Confederation- Consequence (11 page)

              "You always have a plan," Web replied.

              "I did have to blow up a building to clear a path in, though.  You can't see it, but there's a ring of anti-aircraft batteries around this facility.  The building I leveled to get myself caught and tossed in here opened up a corridor to the northwest."  She pointed in the indicated direction.  "It'll come over that building and land in the yard.  It will barely fit, so we need to keep the prisoners just inside the doors until it's down.  Mithus is taking care of opening the doors now."

              "Go do what you need," Web said instantly.  "I'll be fine here.  In fact, I promise to not go anywhere quick."

              She nodded and blew him a quick kiss before getting up and running across the yard.  Mithus was standing in one of the two doorways, rifle from one of the fallen guards in hand as he waved the senators through.  Halley joined the commotion and Web lost track of them as he grimaced while bracing himself against the wall and slowly raising himself to a standing position.

              Mithus had blown the locks off the doors and shot the single Priman guard inside the corridor.  He knew the large indoor prisoner gathering space was just a few steps down the hall and had ordered all the senators into it.  The three that he and Halley had recruited to help were living up to their promises, directing traffic and acting as lookouts while everyone ran past into the space.

              Halley ran up to Mithus and he offered her the other guard's rifle, which she accepted and checked over.  "How's it going?" she asked.

              "I could use you down the corridor a bit at the intersection to relieve the senator down there," Mithus began.  "He's doing ok but he won't be stopping anyone that comes looking."

              "Got it," she replied, then took off.

              When she arrived, she saw the senator being thrown against the wall by a guard who hadn't noticed her arrival.  He turned and swung at her with a big haymaker of a punch.  She blocked down with her left hand, then slid forward, dropping her rifle and wrapping her left arm up against his right shoulder, his arm trapped in an arm bar against her as she pushed down on his tricep with her bladed hand.  As he was forced over forward at the hip, she brought her right hand up to chop him in the throat, sending him to the ground in a heap.

              "Hello Senator," she said cheerily as she retrieved the rifle.  "Want to go home today?"

              "Who are you people?" the man, young for a senator, asked.

              "SAR operatives from Confed, sir," she replied.  "Can you keep an eye on this one for me so I can head down the hall a bit?" she asked.  She offered the man her rifle as she grabbed the sidearm of the guard she'd just knocked out.  He hadn't been carrying a long gun, but the pistol would do just fine in the confined spaces of the building.

              "What do I do?" he asked.

              "Just point the rifle at him.  Stock up to your shoulder, finger outside the trigger guard unless you plan to zap him.  He gives you any trouble, either shoot him or just use the stock to brain him and he'll go back to sleep for a while."

              With that, Halley jogged down the hallway to keep an eye out for reinforcements, wide eyed senator watching her leave.

              She jogged carefully, because she was finally feeling the effects of exertion on her battered body.  Her improperly-healed gunshot wound from Web's capture had been a problem since the beginning, and the harder she pushed herself the more it hurt.  She could press on through a lot of it, years of training and simple mind over matter going a long ways, but there was a point at which the body simply stopped cooperating like she wanted it to. 

              She jogged with a stitch in her side, uneven gait giving way to a slight limp which caused her leg muscles on that side to lock up some as well. 
I need a vacation
, she finally admitted to herself.

              Web braced himself against a reinforced frame in the corner of the yard's wall as the transport slowly drew overhead, wind from the engines whipping the air into a fury below and causing a low grade dust storm.  He recognized the design but hadn't ever seen one in real life.  It was a medium transport; two decks, short and stubby and to his eyes resembling something that was dead and bloated, but he'd never been very partial to Priman designs anyway.  Like all their ships, it was smooth and silver with no exterior ports, though the almost chrome-like sheen of the finish had faded into a scuffed silver after years of use.  A quick once-over and he realized it was going to be very close quarters for the two hundred plus senators they had with them.

              The transport hovered overhead now, subsonic thrum from the repulsors pounding at Web's brain.  A handful of blaster shots splashed against the hull in futility; Web couldn't see where they'd come from but they stopped quickly.

              Finally, the ship settled onto the ground.  He looked at the exterior wall of the closest building and saw that one of the sensor blisters on the ship had rubbed a furrow all the way from roof to door height as the ship had descended.  Wasting no time, Web staggered as fast as he could towards the boarding hatch as it swung inward.  Flying a Priman ship was going to be fun.

              Halley rounded the corner, gimpy leg doing its best to make her look tired and weak.  She passed the young senator, who had the Priman guard standing against the wall with his hands on his head, senator a safe distance away with rifle pointed at the guard's center mass and finger on the trigger.

              She staggered up to Mithus, who lifted an eyebrow at her gait.

              "They say injuries build character," she offered, not wanting to elaborate.

              Mithus simply nodded, having suffered through his share of wounds in his service to Confed as well.  "Your transport just landed and Web is already inside.  I hope he knows how to fly it."

              "Between him and the AI controller we'll get out of here," she assured him.

              She heard a commotion; yelling, increasing in volume from the direction of the senator and guard.  The Priman was yelling something at the senator and the younger man was yelling right back.             

              "Senator!" Halley yelled.  "Tell him to shut up; he's just trying to distract all of us.  You're in charge here!"

              "He won't be quiet!" the senator yelled without turning around, knowing enough at least to keep his eyes on the guard.

              "Would you just club him then?"

              "Really?" the senator yelled, voice cracking a bit.

              "Yes," Halley replied, "you'll like it.  Just do it; I can't hear myself think!"

              She saw the senator flip the rifle around and jab the Priman in the forehead.  The guard sunk to the ground, groaning softly enough that only the young politician heard.  He stood up and looked guardedly at Halley, still not sure what to do now.

              Halley gave him a thumbs up and a smile, then turned back to Mithus.  "We'll follow you."

              Web sat in the pilot's seat, working his way across the panel.  The Primans were humanoid just like him; most of the layout looked generally familiar.  Control yoke, throttle, engine readouts, though he couldn't read what they were saying.  As long as the displays showed something he figured it was good enough to get going. 

              He heard a commotion behind him and realized that not only did he not have a weapon, but he wasn't going to be winning any hand-to-hand fights either.  He turned around and was relieved to see Halley standing in the hatch, a young senator in tow. 

              "You have this thing figured out yet, Web?" she asked simply.

              "The broad strokes.  Same as anything that flies; pull back on the yoke- trees get smaller.  Push forward- trees get bigger.  Everything else I'll figure out as we go."

              Pilot humor, Halley thought with a sigh.  She couldn't help but grin, though, as she turned to leave.  "The senator is going to stay up here with you in case you need anything.  Mithus and I are going to clear the ship and get us ready to lift.  I'll signal when we're ready.  After that, just do what you have to.  Remember, leave on a northwest heading and stay low below the AA batteries for a couple minutes."

              She turned to leave and caught the slightly uneasy look on the senator's face as he sat down next to Web in the co-pilot's chair.

              Web offered a hand for the man to shake.  "Commander Web Exeter, Senator.  Nice to meet you."

              "Senator Thyatt," the man replied, glancing around the flight deck with a hint of nervousness.

              "First time up front in a ship like this?" Web asked.

              The senator only nodded, and Web could tell the poor guy was in the middle of the transition from adrenaline rush to shock and a crash.

              Web made a point of looking around at the panel and all the displays in front of them, then leaned over to look conspiratorially at the senator.  "So many buttons and switches.  And they really expect us to know what they all do?"  He shook his head and smirked as he heard the senator's sharp intake of breath.  It was a little mean, but you took your fun when you could at times like this.

              Halley ran back to the forward hatch, having just finished her sweep of the transport.  No stowaways, and most of the politicians were cooperating and just following her lead as she got them all ready for a rocky departure.

              Mithus was at the hatch, hand on the control panel.  Something about the look on his face gave her pause, though.

              "Are you not coming with us?" she asked, getting right to the point.

              Mithus shook his head.  "The people I was captured with weren't in this camp.  They were good folks who fought hard, and I promised myself I'd find them.  I suspect they're still on-planet, but most likely in a dedicated military facility.  I think you, me and Web ended up here because we were of interest to them, but the rest of the people I was with are just regular ground pounders.  I'm going to find them."

              Halley could see the conviction in his gaze and nodded.  They weren't on the same mission, weren't required to back each other up.  Besides, what he was talking about was definitely a worthy cause and she had Web to help her with the rest now.

              "Good luck," she said simply, and raised her hand to her eyebrow in salute.  He did the same, then turned and dashed down the ramp and into the swirling dust of the courtyard.

              "Web!" Halley yelled up the corridor into the cockpit.  "Let's go!"

              Web didn't waste any time.  As soon as he heard Halley's voice, he gunned the repulsors and the ship rose quickly, the collective stomachs of the ship's occupants following at a distance.  Nothing to be done about that, though.  As soon as he cleared the roof, he cut in the regular drives and accelerated away to the northwest, following the path the ship had taken inbound.  He saw a few knocked-down rooftop relays, dishes and antennas, evidence of the ship's transit.  After a few minutes the city started to thin out and he was able to both descend lower while increasing speed more. 

              As they raced away at high subsonic speeds, Halley clawed her way through the rocking ship up to the cockpit, dragging herself into a jumpseat and buckling herself in.

              "Is this turbulence pilot-induced?" she asked skeptically.

              "Haha," Web replied.  "Priman sensors are excellent.  I need to damn near scrape the belly of this bucket on the ground to give us even a shot at avoiding detection.  Best bet is to get near a spaceport and join the upstream traffic.  Sure, we won't be part of the queue, but a single transport heading to orbit from the middle of the countryside will stand out like you in a bathing suit on a beach.  Now, we mess ourselves in with the rest of the traffic, at least we have a chance.  We just pick any direction and hit the hyperdrive, figure out the rest later."

              Halley only grinned at the way he managed to squeeze in a compliment while he detailed their escape plan.

              "You didn't arrange for the Ninth Fleet to be waiting for us by chance, did you?" Web asked.

              Halley's grin faded.  She hadn't had time or really the inclination to tell Web about Senator Dennix's betrayal of them and Avenger.  That would have to be the next thing they talked about.

              "No, and funny thing, Web; there's a hell of a story to go along with that."

              "Looking forward to it," he replied, most of his concentration now on the approaching spaceport.  "Let's see if we can start by just blending in."

              Web slowed the transport to normal approach speeds and climbed to join in with the other traffic that was starting to appear as ships converged on the spaceport.  Some were following arrivals that took them down to landing pads, while others raised their noses and headed for orbit.  Web joined the latter group.