Lieutenant (The United Federation Marine Corps Book 3) (10 page)

Ryck turned to see a large, broad-shouldered middle-aged man asking Cpl Howell the question.  Howell silently pointed to Ryck.  The man caught Ryck’s eye, then strode over, with a younger man who just as big and carrying a cricket bat, one step behind.

“Supervisor Sukito.  I’m in charge here,” he said, a smile on his face and his hand out.

Ryck took the hand and shook it.  He was surprised the man had to ask who was in command.  Ryck had his bars illuminated, and anyone who went to the movies or watched the holos should recognize Marine, Navy, or Legion ranks.

“Second Lieutenant Ryck Lysander, sir.  We’re here to evacuate your group.”

“Yes, about that.  Can you tell us what’s going on?  We got the emergency beacon, then some garbled message about an attack before all communications were cut off.  Did the French start up again, or maybe Soldiers of God?”

“You didn’t get any information on what was happening?” Ryck asked.

“Nada.  We received the beacon, and company policy is to take refuge until we receive a recall.  Whatever it was, it sounded bad, though, for the few moments we had a connection,” the man said, seemingly completely at ease.

Ryck looked at him, then at his sidekick.  He looked physically fit and moved like a man who could take care of himself.  Yet he was back in the deeper chamber with someone who had an air of a bodyguard about him.  Mr. Tahoe might be filling the billet of village idiot, but at least he was out there at the entrance to the mine, ready to defend the others, even if from friendly forces.

“Supervisor Sukito, Peterbund has been attacked with the population essentially wiped out by capys.  A Navy ship has been destroyed, and our mission is to rescue any surviving civilians before we abandon the planet,” Ryck said without preamble.

The supervisor looked stunned. 

“Capys?  Impossible.  They’re imbecilic eating machines, nothing more,” he sputtered.

“Not the capys you settlers have been killing.  These are larger, soldier varieties.  We don’t know anything about them, but we have a few images of them attacking your fellow settlers.”

“We’ve got all 36 here,” Joshua said over the P2P.

Ryck nodded, but didn’t reply.  He was waiting for Sukito.

“I really find that hard to believe.  As far as leaving here, I think I need those orders from my superiors back at company headquarters,” he finally said.

“I’m not sure you heard me.  Peterbund has been emptied.  Everyone back at your headquarters has been killed,” Ryck said as he got closer to losing his patience.

“Someone must have survived.  I’m going to convene our branch council.  I’ll get back to you with my decision,” Sukito told Ryck, turning away.

Ryck reached out and grabbed the man by the shoulder, spinning him back.  The bodyguard, who had to be Sukito Junior, took a step forward, but wilted under Ryck’s glare and stopped.

Ryck knew the man had to be in a state of shock, but there was no time for him to baby the pompous fool.

“You are not going to convene anything.  You are not going to wait for orders from your company.  This planet is under interdiction, and as the senior Federation representative here, I am in complete control.  What I say, goes.  And what I say now is that you and your people have five minutes to be ready to move out.  Do you understand me?” Ryck said, his tone leaving no room to doubt his resolve.

Behind him, both Joshua and Howell stepped up to flank him, lending their physical support.  The supervisor gaped like a fish out of water, looking from one Marine to the other.

“Uh, well, of course.  Let me get everyone ready.  You have to realize this is quite a shock.  Capys, you say? That’s hard to believe, but if you say it, well—”

“I do say it, and I’d suggest you quit explaining and get your people together.  We’ve got an extremely tight schedule, and none of us want to be left behind.”

Supervisor Sukito started to say something else, but evidently thought better of it and turned to get his people together.

“What a piece of brown,” Howell muttered.

Ryck totally agreed.

“Sgt Timothy, Sgt Ariana, come here,” Ryck passed on the command circuit.

Both squad leaders ran up within seconds. Ryck pulled the two, along with Joshua, aside.

“What state are the civilians in?  See any problems?”

“Doc Camp is checking them out,” Joshua told him.  “I saw a couple of oldsters and at least half-a-dozen kids.  It’ll be slow going if we walk.”

“What about that truck out there?  That could hold the kids and anyone else who had problems.  Can we ask someone for the key?” Ryck asked.

Joshua held out one hand.  The key dangled from it.

“Done and done.”

“Damn, staff sergeant.  That’s why you get the big bucks,” Ryck said with a laugh.  “OK, then how about—”

“Lieutenant!”  Cpl Saul, Second Squads Second Fire Team leader shouted, running into the chamber.  Another Marine followed him, breathing heavily.

The new Marine had no helmet.  His monocle display was pushed to the side.  That was enough to identify him as a recon Marine. 

What’s he doing here? Ryck wondered.

“Sir, you need to hear this,” Saul said excitedly.

“Sir, Staff Sergeant Hills, Fourth Recon Battalion.  We’re your eyes and ears for this AO.  To make a long story short, the capys are on their way, and they’re close,” he gasped between breaths.

“Here?  What’s their ETA?  How many of them?” Ryck asked.

“Don’t rightly know sir.  They didn’t show up on any of our sensors.  If we hadn’t been in their path, we’d never have seen them.”

“You saw them?” Ryck asked, confused.  “With your eyes?  But your sensors never picked them up?”

“That’s right, sir.  We saw them plain as day, but nothing registered.  We tried to raise you, but all the comms were out, so I took off running to get here before them.”

Recon had some mighty high-speed, low-drag electronics.  If their sensors couldn’t detect the capys, then nothing Ryck had would, either.

“How far did you run?” Ryck asked.

“About 20 minutes.  Maybe seven or eight klicks.  From what I saw, they looked slow, so you’ve got another 15 minutes, 30 max.  The rest of the team’s supposed to be flanking them, but without comms, we can’t find out where the capys are.”

“Joshua, give the key to the truck to Abbas.  He worked construction before enlisting, so he’s driving it.  I want you to be in charge of getting these people out of here.  Five minutes.  Everyone out of this mine and moving.   You two,” he said to the two squad leaders, “spread out your Marines.  I want them where they can kick butt to keep the civilians moving.”

Within moments, shouting broke out as the Marines turned into shepherds.  A baby started crying, and a number of civilians started protesting.  Ryck ignored them.  His Marines could take care of the situation.

Inside the salt dome, he had no connectivity.  But he’d downloaded the route to the LZ, and he went over it.  There was a route from the mine to the LZ, taking two paths.  The dump truck should be able to handle it, Ryck thought.  Unloaded, it would rise up a little higher, clearing the one or two hedgerows between the two locations.

“Staff Sergeant, where was the last location  you had the capys?”

The recon Marine, who was rapidly regaining his breath, pulled down his monocle, then tapped over the coordinates.  They appeared on Ryck’s display. 

It wasn’t good, but it could be worse, I guess, Ryck thought.

It all depended on how fast they moved.  From where SSgt Hills had them last, if they angled to their right, they could cut-off the Marines and civilians.  If they came straight for the mine, Ryck thought they could reach the LZ, and if the Storks were on time, they could be gone before the capys could get there.

“Joshua, get these people out of here.  I’m going to the entrance to raise the company.”

He spun around to leave when the supervisor rushed forward and planted himself in front of Ryck.

“Lieutenant Alexander, your sergeant here is trying to tell me we can’t bring our vitals.  Will you please correct his thinking?”

Ryck looked over to where two young men had attached hover clamps to one of the barrels.  It hovered six inches above the deck.  While the barrel was essentially weightless, it still had mass, and maneuvering it took care.  If it got going too fast, it could get out of control, and even a gentle turn would be out of the question.  Something like that would slow down the movement to the LZ.

“I believe Sgt Ariana, is correct.  You can’t take it.  And the name’s Lysander, not Alexander.”

“But you don’t understand,” he protested.  “Those are our vitals.  Without them, the company can’t calculate out how much each of us have left to fulfill our contracts. For those who are employees, we need that for our bonuses.  You may be technically in charge, but GKN will hold you responsible once all this blows over if the vitals don’t make it back.

Ryck lowered his M99 and fired a long burst into the barrel, the two handlers diving to either side as it splintered. 

“They’ll know where to find me,” Ryck said as he turned to leave.

Any “vitals” would have been able to fit in a hard drive, and those could be transmitted as soon as they left the mine.  Something else had been in that barrel, not that Ryck cared.  He didn’t even bother to look through the splintered pieces, still held aloft by the hover clamp, to see what was inside.  It didn’t matter.

Ryck ran down the passage and out into the sunlight.  Immediately his comms lit up.

“Grizzly-six, this is Grizzly-two-six.  We’ve got 36 civilian pax
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, but we’ve got capys about to arrive at our position.  What is the status on a pick-up here at our objective?”

“Grizzly-two-six.  Say again your last.  You have enemy at your position, over?”

“Negative.  They are not here yet, but we expect them soon. They do not show up on any sensors, but we have recon eyes on them.  Please advise, over.”

“Wait one.”

Ryck stood at the front of the mine, looking out over the fields of wheat.  It seemed so peaceful. 

“Grizzly-Two-Six, we can get three Storks at your position in 30 mikes.  Will that do?” Capt Portuno asked over the comms.

Ryck looked at the track he’d created, showing the possible advances of the capy force.  Thirty minutes might have the capys right at the mine. 

“That’s a negative.  In 30 mikes, I expect this location to be hot.  Request the pick-up remain at LZ Diego,” Ryck passed.

“Roger that.  I understand keeping the pick-up at LZ Diego, but moving it up to 30 mikes from now.”

“That’s affirmative, Grizzly-Six.”

“Roger.  Keep me informed on any developments. Grizzly-Six, out.”

LCpl Abbas ran out of the mine and climbed into the truck.

“You can handle that thing?” Ryck asked.

“In my sleep, sir,” Abbas said.

Ryck sent forward the route he’d mapped.

“No matter what, you get that truck to the LZ.  You’ve got the countdown on your display.  You have to be there when our ride out of here shows up.”

“No problem, L/T.  I’ll get this beast there or die trying,” Abbas said as he powered up the truck and turned it around, dump bed facing the entrance.  PFC “Prez” Prezuluski jumped up into the bed, ready to assist getting people up into it.

The first of the civilians started trickling out.  A woman with two children in hand were Prez’ first customers.  Prez reached down and took the proffered children, one after the other.  The little blonde girl seemed excited, calling out “Truck!” over and over, running from one side of the bed to the other so she could look out.  The boy was not so sure, and reached out to the woman.  She tried to assure him, but he started crying, his face screwed up in righteous anger. 

“Ma’am, why don’t you hop onboard for now until we get more people in here.  He’ll be fine then, I bet,” Prez told the woman, who gratefully accepted his hand to be pulled up into the bed.

Ryck made a mental note of how easily Prez was interacting with the civilians. He wanted to make sure he mentioned that to him once they got back. 

More people, most escorted by Marines, came out of the mine.  Joshua was everywhere, getting them organized.  The man was a fount of energy.  He’d had plenty of experience running recruits, but this had to be of a magnitude more difficult than that.

Ryck toggled over to the dragonfly feed.  It was blank.  There was no connection.

“Sergeant Watson, what’s wrong with the dragonfly?  Do you have a feed?” he shouted at his squad leader standing 15 meters away.

“Uh, negative, sir,” Watson answered, hurrying over to Ryck.  “It just quit about a minute ago.  I’ve been trying to re-connect.”

“What was its last position before it went off the net?” Ryck asked needlessly as he pulled up the track himself.

A sense of foreboding came over him.  If the dragonfly had been taken out by the capys, then that might mean they’d shifted their approach.  They could be moving to cut off Ryck’s line of advance.

“Joshua, we need to move now!  The capys have changed their advance, and that might cut us off if we stay here any longer.  I don’t want any panic, but we leave now!” he said over the P2P.