Ep.#9 - "Resistance" (21 page)

“How many are you?” the major asked. “How many cells do you operate?”

“There are four cells in this area. I have heard there are others elsewhere on Tanna, but the Jung do not allow communication between the few remaining pockets of civilization on our world.”

“The few remaining pockets?”

“Most of our world was destroyed during the invasion.”

“How many of your people were lost?”

“Several million. Our world was still sparsely populated. The plague that devastated our original settlements a millennium ago left only a few hundred people alive. They existed in small villages that were spread few and far between. Over the centuries, those villages grew into cities, then nations. When the Jung came, we had only just begun to reach orbit again. We were not prepared to defend our world against aggressors from space.”

“Then why did they strike with such force?” the major wondered.

“It is the way of the Jung,” Garrett said with a shrug. “I have heard similar stories from many of the men brought over from other worlds the Jung have conquered.”

“We experienced similar aggression on my world,” Major Waddell told him. “Had it not been for Captain Scott and the Aurora, my world would have suffered a similar fate at the hands of the Ta’Akar.”

“Then you and your people were fortunate indeed,” Garrett said. He laughed. “And now, I
really
want to meet this man.”

* * *

Jessica’s head throbbed in pain as she woke. She opened her eyes and looked around. Other than a small amount of light spilling out from beneath a door on the far side the room, she saw nothing but darkness.

It wasn’t only her head. It was her gut as well. She was nauseated. She figured it was from whatever they had used to knock her out in the hangar.

Jessica cursed herself for being taken so easily. She had been trained well, but these people also had training; of that she was sure. Using the hangar to store their shuttle, and using an airport out in the middle of nowhere, where no one would notice them coming and going, was smart. They had managed to capture Jessica and the other two, and had probably even loaded them into the shuttle, all from within the hangar. Then they had just rolled out and lifted off to disappear into the night.

Shuttles don’t just disappear,
Jessica thought.
They can be tracked, even when flying low to the ground.
She doubted the shuttle could have traveled far before seeking cover. Otherwise, the Jung would have intercepted them.
Unless, of course, they
are
the Jung.

It was a frightening thought, albeit an unlikely one. The Jung would have no need for a quick, covert getaway. They also would have no need to keep her and her companions from knowing where they were being taken.
Unless they
are
the Jung, and they are
pretending
to be the resistance in order to obtain information from her.

Jessica dismissed that thought as well. There were too many indicators to the contrary. The weapons they used, the way they moved… it was all straight from the spec-ops rulebook. If these people were the Jung pretending to be the resistance, they were really good at it.

Sooner or later, whoever they were, they would interrogate her. That would be when she would learn their identity. Two months was not adequate time for the Jung to learn enough about EDF special operations techniques to be convincing. In addition, from what they had learned from the Jung-controlled news broadcasts emanating from Earth, the resistance had only been in operation for about a month, which definitely was not enough time. Without having seen their faces or spoken a word with them, she was convinced they were not Jung. The question was,
Who exactly were they? Part of an organized resistance operating under the control of some global command authority? A local rogue cell of spec-ops regulars? Or another bunch of civilians, but with better training and equipment?

Jessica sat up slowly. She was lying on a hard floor, probably concrete. Her head spun as she came upright, requiring her concentration to overcome the sensation. It took nearly a minute but, eventually, the feeling subsided. She looked around the darkened room. It wasn’t a large room, maybe three by four meters. As best she could tell, there were no windows, and the room was completely empty.

Jessica managed to stand, though she was wobbly. She ran her hands over herself. She was still wearing the same clothes, except her belt, jacket, and shoes had all been removed. They had taken her backpack, and her pockets were empty as well.

She made her way to the door, gently testing the doorknob and finding it locked. The door felt solid with a metallic surface. She thought of rapping on it with her knuckles to see if it was, in fact, a solid door but decided it might be better not to alert her captors that she was awake. She placed her ear to the door but heard nothing from the other side.

Jessica got down on the floor and peered out under the door. The floors were smooth, definitely concrete. She could make out a hallway on the other side, but she could not determine its length or the position of her door in relation to either end of the corridor. She thought she could see another door across the hall and down a few meters, but stacked boxes in the hall blocked her view. She could not make out the feet of a guard, nor could she hear anything that would indicate that someone was out there standing watch over her. She wanted to call out to Synda and Tony to see if they were within earshot. She wanted to know if they were all right, but more importantly, she wanted to warn them of what might come.

No, better to wait, gather more intel about the situation,
she thought. She waited quietly, listening in the dark. Sooner or later, her captors would come for her. They would have questions, and from those questions, she would learn more, she would assess, and she would make further decisions.

Jessica sat on the cold cement floor next to the door, listening intently for any sound: a cough from another room, footsteps of someone pacing their own concrete floor, even a call for help. All she heard was the occasional drip of a leaky faucet somewhere in the distance. That much alone, however, told her they were at least somewhere that had indoor plumbing and a water source. The light from under the door was not from sunlight. It was electrically generated, so they were also connected to the local power grid, as a generator would be far too noisy, and most methods of portable power generation would be too easy to detect by the Jung. She heard a fan click on and felt fresh air being circulated into her room from on overhead vent. There was a small amount of suction under her door, as the air was pulled from her room out into the corridor. Wherever they were, there was an environmental control system.

Jessica thought for a moment. Most of the drugs they were taught about in special operations were fairly short-lived, so they couldn’t have traveled too far. That meant they were probably still in the general area of Winnipeg. However, this time of year, the weather was fair enough that heating or cooling would not be necessary. They were someplace that not only didn’t have windows, but couldn’t have windows. That meant either a bunker or underground. A bunker was too conspicuous. They would have been all but destroyed by the Jung early on. That left underground. They had to be underground. The Jung wouldn’t be underground, but the resistance might.

It wasn’t much, but it was a start.

* * *

“This is the place,” Major Waddell stated as they reached the plateau. He checked his watch. “They should be arriving shortly.”

“I am curious how you knew of this spot,” Garrett stated. “We are well beyond the usual trails frequented by my people.”

“This is where we landed,” Loki told him.

“Landed?” Garrett asked. “You mean the ship that is coming for us, it has been here before?” Garrett seemed worried.

“What is wrong?” Major Waddell asked.

“I have seen the flash your ships make when they depart. Do they make such a flash upon their arrival as well?”

“In this case, yes.”

“If your ship was detected arriving at this spot before, it is possible the Jung are watching for its return.” He looked around, trying to scan the surrounding mountains without being too obvious about his intent. “This could very well be a trap, Major.”

“We did not arrive by ship,” Major Waddell explained. “We descended to this spot by parachute.”

“They call it a HALO jump,” Loki added. “High altitude, low open. In our case, really high altitude.”

Garrett’s expression went from concern to confusion.

“Our ship jumped into low orbit over your world. We jumped from there and made most of our descent by free fall.”

“Impressive,” Garrett said. “And quite dangerous, I might add.”

“We should take cover along the side of the plateau,” Major Waddell suggested. “We do not know how closely the shuttle may jump in.”

Major Waddell and Loki moved toward the edge of the mountaintop clearing, taking cover along the rocks and shrubs just below the edge of the plateau. Garrett signaled for his men to follow, all of which took similar positions alongside them.

“This maneuver you speak of,” Garrett began as he settled in next to the major, “jumping in, how does it work?”

“I couldn’t begin to explain it,” Major Waddell admitted. “It is far beyond my level of education.”

Garrett looked at Loki.

“Don’t look at me,” Loki said. “I just know how to operate it.”

“But, how is it used? What type of range does it possess? How many ships do you have that are equipped for such operations?”

“Perhaps you should save your questions for the captain,” Major Waddell told him. “Even if I knew the answers to your questions, I would not be at liberty to discuss such details.”

“Not even with a friend?” Garrett said, offering the most sincere smile he could muster.

“Not even with a friend.”

“It was worth a try,” Garrett said, shrugging his shoulders. He lay flat on his stomach on the ground, his eyes barely able to see over the edge and across the plateau. “I have never traveled from this world,” he said, his eyes drifting upward toward the evening sky. “Have you been to many worlds, Loki?”

“I’ve been to a few,” Loki said. “Yours is the only one I’ve seen in the core.”

“The core?”

“That’s how the people from Earth refer to this part of space,” Loki explained. “Actually, I think they refer to this part of space as the ‘fringe’.”

“Why is that?” Garrett wondered.

“Something to do with which worlds had been fully settled at the time of the plague or something.” Loki laughed. “Surprisingly, Josh is more up on ancient Earth history than anyone I know, other than the captain, of course.”

“Your captain, he is a wise and educated man?”

“I guess so,” Loki said. “I never really asked him. He seems to know everything about Earth history. I think I remember hearing that he studied it in school or something.”

“A man who remembers history avoids repeating it,” Garrett said.

“Or uses it as a tool to guide him,” Major Waddell added.

“True as well…”

Garrett was interrupted by a thunderous sound and a sudden flash of light accompanied by an intense shock wave of displaced air. Garrett’s eyes widened, as did those of his men, as they stared at the jump shuttle that had just appeared only ten meters above the plateau and was now descending smoothly toward the clearing in front of them.

“My God!” Garrett exclaimed.

Dust and debris flew in all directions as the shuttle’s thrusters blasted the surface below them to slow their descent. Less than a minute after it had appeared overhead, the shuttle was touching down on the plateau, its cargo ramp opening at the rear. Before the ramp was fully deployed, armed men began jumping off the ramp onto the ground. Six men, all clad in Corinari combat armor painted in camouflage patterns, hit the ground running as they spread out in all directions and took up cover positions to protect the shuttle from attack.

Major Waddell flashed a colored light at the cargo ramp in a predetermined pattern from their position alongside the plateau. The light caught the attention of the squad leader standing by the aft end of the shuttle, who immediately signaled for the major and his party to approach.

Major Waddell and Loki rose from their positions, as did Garrett. The squad leader approached them in a crouched run.

Garrett’s men also rose from their cover, following their leader onto the plateau. The Corinari troops spotted them, immediately turned, and took aim at the group of armed men, unsure of their intent.

“Sir!” the squad leader called out to the major, noticing the confrontation that was forming. “Is everything all right, sir?”

Major Waddell saw the reaction of his men, taking pride in their response. Garrett’s men also raised their weapons. “Everything is fine, Sergeant,” he assured the squad leader. The major turned to Garrett. “Your men must lower their weapons,” he instructed Garrett in no uncertain terms.

“Of course.” Garrett turned toward his men and signaled them to stand down. “My men will not be coming with us?”

“I’m sorry; I cannot allow that. I only have permission to bring you. Even that is considered a serious risk, no insult intended.”

“Of course,” Garrett said. “How do I know that you will return me to my world after our business is concluded?”

“I can only offer you my word,” Major Waddell said, looking Garrett in the eyes. “I will do everything within my power to make sure you are returned to your world.”

“Sir?” the sergeant asked, wondering about the delay.

Garrett looked at the Corinari troops. Their movements were purposeful and efficient and spoke of considerable training. The ship that sat before him, although average in its appearance, fascinated him. He looked at the major and smiled. “I would prefer not to HALO jump as my method of return.”

“I don’t blame you,” the major agreed.

Garrett turned and barked orders to his men, who immediately lowered their weapons and backed away, settling back into their original positions along the edge of the plateau. He turned back toward the major. “Take me to your captain.”