A Matter of Honor (Privateer Tales Book 9) (29 page)

"Oh fine," she said.

We heard a significant amount of rustling and the muffled voices became much clearer.

"What? Do you hear it now?" Peraf asked, obviously annoyed.

"Yishuv settlement, come in please," I said holding the transmit button down.

"Did you hear that?" Merrie asked. "Who is that? Can you hear us?"

"Yishuv, this is Captain Liam Hoffen,
Hotspur
, we read you. Please acknowledge," I said.

"Who are you?" Bedros asked.

"Descendants of your founder's home world," I said. "We understand you're under siege."

"It's a trick," Peraf said. "The Ophie have figured out how to trick us."

"Don't be stupid," Bedros said. "The Ophie cannot speak our language and they know nothing of our founders."

"Captain Hoffen, do you have offensive capability?" It was the woman, Eliora, who asked the question.

"Yes. We're traveling light, but we should be able to help. We need you to take a defensive posture and hold on," I said.

"We can't get more defensive than we are, Captain," Eliora responded.

"If those Ophie gain control of your blaster turret that would change," Marny said. "I recommend disabling it if you are unable to keep it manned."

"See, it's a trick," Peraf said. "They want us to give up our only means of defense."

"That's asking a lot," Eliora said. "That turret is the only thing holding off twelve hundred angry Ophie."

"If they can fire a blaster rifle, they can certainly use your turret," Marny said.

We heard a muffled exchange. Apparently, they'd thrown something over the crystal transmitter/receiver.

They finally came back a few minutes later.

"Are you able to render assistance?" Eliora asked.

"Yes. We're seven hours out. Hopefully, we'll be able to communicate at that time," I said. "Also, we'll be wearing blue suits that cover our bodies completely. We'll look pretty alien."

"Do you mind, Captain?" Jonathan asked.

"No, go ahead," I said.

"Merrie, this is Jonathan, a fellow engineer. I have a request," he transmitted.

"Uh, what is it, Jonathan?"

"Have you recorded any of the Ophie speech?"

"No," she said. "Wait. Some. Why?"

"I have access to translation software. With a long enough sample, we might be able to communicate at a rudimentary level with the Ophie."

"Just kill them," Peraf said.

"Not if we have any other choice," I said before Jonathan could respond.

"I can replay a small snippet," she said. "I have maybe twenty minutes of a conversation."

"That would be very helpful," he said.

"Anything else?" I asked.

"No, thank you," Jonathan said.

"We'll be monitoring this communication device," I said. "Please hold on. We'll be there as quickly as possible."

"Thank you, Captain Hoffen. One final thing, would you share with us how large of a force you're bringing?"

"We'll drop three," I said.

"Three hundred? You're a Godsend," Bedros said.

"No, Mr. Bedros, three people," I said. "It will be sufficient, we'll have air-support."

"I believe you've underestimated the situation," Bedros said. "The Ophie are quite large and there are over a thousand of them."

"It does sound like a lot," I said. "We'll be trying to minimize Ophie casualties."

"This is insane," Peraf said and the transmitter was covered again.

"Maybe I shouldn't have answered that last question," I said.

Tabby swatted at me and grinned. "We'll have to work on that."

The next few hours seemed to drag on as we heard no updates from Yishuv. Finally, when we were an hour out, we heard the cover being removed from the device.

"Are you still there?" Merrie asked.

"Roger that," I said.

"Our turret has been run over," she said.

"Do the Ophie control it?"

"They do. So far, they haven't mastered the controls and we're trying to mount a sortie to take it back," she said.

"Merrie, listen to me. Can't you cut the power from it, overload the battery or something? You just need to hang on for an hour, we're almost there," I said.

"Holy buckets! Of course, the battery! I'm so stupid," she said.

"Amon, with me, now!"

I heard a door close.

Half an hour out, we finally dropped from fold-space, fifty thousand kilometers from the beautiful planet, Ophir. It looked drier than Earth, the standard by which all interstellar colonization was decided. Only a third of its surface was covered with water, but as far as planets went, it was a jewel.

"Cap, here you go," Marny said handing me a blaster rifle. "I replaced the grenade charges with crowd control. Won't be a lot of help for a thousand, but if you need to stick a handful of lizards together, it'll do the job. Wear this nano-blade. It will cut right through them. We're going to have to put them down quickly if they get on us. Finally, FBDs.

Marny handed me a pile of small flash-bang disks. Our suits would synchronize with the loud sounds and light flashes.

"I don't know what affect they'll have on Ophir natives, but let's hope they're sensitive to either light or sound. Otherwise, we're going to end up having to kill a whole lot of them," she said.

"Jonathan, did you get anywhere in translating their language?"

"No. I'm afraid Yishuv settlement has cut off communication with us," he said.

"First order of business will be taking out that turret," Marny said. "It's the only thing that I have any concern with and we can't afford to fire on its given position.

"Once we're on the ground, we stay in line of sight with each other. I don't want anyone getting trapped," Marny said.

"Drop on the turret first?" I asked.

"Aye, Cap. After that, I'd just be making up stuff," she said.

"At least you admit it," I smiled at her and placed my helmet on.

"Entering atmosphere," Ada's voice came over the comm.

"Better get in position," Marny said.

Tabby and I followed Marny down to the starboard entry hatch and pulled the armored door open. The pressure barrier became the only thing between us and exiting the ship.

"Cap, you've got point. Tabby, you've the number two slot. I'll follow," she said. "I'll mark the turret as quickly as I can."

"Ada, give us a flyover when we get there, would you?" I asked.

"Can do, Liam," she said. "We're close, I can see smoke on the horizon."

As we approached, the scenery beneath us was gorgeous. The trees were lusher than those we'd seen on Mars, although shorter with a thicker canopy. I wondered what type of star fed the vegetation. We were approaching a tall, rocky mountain and I finally got my first glance at the settlement. A small city rose from the forest, totally surrounded by a stone wall.

As we approached the city, the carnage was immediately obvious. At first, it was only thick, reptilian creatures. When we finally neared a fallen gate, the battle became obvious. Dead humans were strewn everywhere, most dismembered with their heads caved in.

"It's horrible," I said and my mind skipped to Big Pete. If we'd lived here, he would have been at the wall defending us. I reached out and steadied myself on the door.

Marny's steady voice cut through my fog. "Cap, get in the moment. Tabby and I need you."

I sighed. She was right and it was our time now. Our goal was to keep from slaughtering the invaders so we'd have a better chance of brokering a peace, but I was having a difficult time working with that.

"I've got the turret," I said. It had swung around and a gaggle of Ophie gesticulated wildly as a shot fired wide of the ship. My AI illuminated the turret on my HUD.

"On my six," I said and leapt from the ship.

For a moment, I simply free fell until I remembered how to activate the grav-suit. It was the same as using arc-jets. I bent my knees and leaned in, speeding toward the ugly bastards on the turret. I pushed my blaster rifle onto my back and pulled the nano-blade. We were going to be in close quarters and I didn't want to spray Tabby or Marny.

When I landed, an Ophie jumped into my path and swung his club. My blade effortlessly cut through him and I kicked his corpse aside. Whatever compassion I'd felt on the ship was long forgotten after seeing the debauchery at the gate.

It was at that point I turned into a machine, slicing, kicking and firing my pistol from my left hand. In a few short minutes, I'd cleared the turret of Ophie.

"CAP!" I finally heard Marny's voice over the comm.

"What?" I asked.

"Don't do that! You have to listen to your comms," she said.

"You were talking?"

"Yes. I'm not sure it was such a good idea bring you down here."

"I'm good, Marny," I said.

"You just slaughtered forty Ophir," she said.

I couldn't focus on that. Not now, at least. "What's the play, Marny?"

"Jonathan, tell Yishuv we've gained control of the turret. If they want to send someone up we'll turn control back over to 'em," Marny said.

Movement caught my eye and I saw a small woman sneaking along the inside wall of the city. I wasn't the only one who saw it, as a lizard-man had caught her movement as well.

"Marny," I said and highlighted the woman in my HUD as I took off in her direction.

"Go, Liam. Tabby, stay with him," Marny said.

I landed in front of the woman, who couldn't be over sixteen or seventeen stans old. She pulled up in surprise and then dropped to the ground, cowering. I clipped the nano-blade to my belt and pulled my blaster rifle from my back, leveling it at the advancing Ophie.

"Kid, get up! We're here to help, but you're too exposed," I said.

Tabby landed next to me and we boxed the woman in behind us against the wall. A group of Ophie approached. I could easily take them all, but I couldn't guarantee one wouldn't slip by before I did.

Tabby fired at an Ophie who leapt toward us with club raised. I clipped a second who followed suit.

"We need to cut the power," the young woman yelled behind me.

I couldn't respond as the Ophie continued to advance. Both Tabby and I were conservatively in triple-shot mode, avoiding full-auto in an attempt to reduce casualties, but they had no fear. Two dozen more Ophie closed in on us coming from nearby buildings.

"Cover me, I've got to get her outta here," I said.

Tabby stepped forward, switching to full auto and lay down a fusillade of blaster fire, the forward rank of Ophie dropping as she did.

While she was laying down fire, I slapped the rifle onto my back, spun around and grabbed the young woman. We sailed upward out of the Ophie's reach.

"I'm clear, Tabbs," I said, turning to make sure she didn't get stuck. I was relieved when she popped up from the group closing on her.

"Cap, drop her off and get back here. We've trouble brewing," Marny said.

"Copy that," I said.

"We're right behind you, Liam," Ada said.

I turned in the air and flew toward
Hotspur
. The sound of the old turret firing caught my attention and I spun around. It was firing into a group of lizard men trying to breach the Keep. I turned back and flew through the pressure barrier.

"Are you Captain Hoffen?" the girl asked, her voice quavering as I set her down.

I pulled my helmet off and smiled. "I am. Welcome aboard. You must be Merrie."

I heard noise behind me as Mom appeared in the small hallway that doubled as an air-lock.

"Go, Liam. I've got her," Mom said.

I pulled my helmet back on and dove from
Hotspur
.

I twisted around while falling, and oriented on Marny. A flash from the hillside told me she was taking fire.

"Marny, what's the play?"

The air above me blistered with a blast from
Hotspur's
top turret and the location on the hillside where the flash had initiated, exploded.

"They're amassing. We've got to stop them or we'll have to respond with
Hotspur
," she said.

I was still on the edge of not caring what happened to the Ophir. I knew it was the wrong feeling, but I couldn't help it. Their singled-minded focus on murdering the settlers had struck a chord with me and I wanted to respond in kind.

I pulled up next to Marny and Tabby, who were floating just above the Keep's turret. My AI counted eight hundred Ophie roiling around just past the range where the turret could fire at them.

"Have you made contact with Yishuv settlers?" I asked.

"Just the gunner," Marny said.

"What about them?" I asked, pointing to a trap door that had opened atop a narrow building next to the wall. A lithe woman with a sheathed sword on her back and a thickly muscled man holding a hammer had just emerged onto the roof.

"No, that's new," she said.

"I'll see what's up," I said. "Maybe they have some ideas."

"Aye."

I set down on the roof a couple of meters from the two and held up my hands to show that I meant no harm. Even so, the woman crouched defensively, resting her hand on the hilt of her sword. The man, however, didn't react.

I pulled my helmet off and the woman visibly relaxed. A wave of rancid smells hit my nose that was so overpowering, I choked. I breathed in slowly and stood up straight holding my hand out.

"Liam Hoffen," I said.

"Eliora… and this is Amon," she responded, reaching past my open hand to grasp my wrist.

"Are you in charge?" I asked.

"Yes," she said.

"A woman. She was outside the keep," the man said stepping forward.

"If you're asking about Merrie, she's safe," I said.

He sighed.

"Any way to run these guys off without simply killing them all?" I asked.

"You could do that?"

"We're holding back," I said.

"The Ophie have only four weaknesses, under their jaw, beneath their ribcage, their groin and their Achilles," Eliora explained. "They have a difficult time seeing long distances, which is why they continue to advance. They cannot see your ship, nor can they see your crew floating above the turret."

"But, they were shooting at us," I said.

"The rifle they have has an optical scope," she said.

"Had. Our ship returned fire on the position of that rifle and it is no longer operational," I said.

I followed Eliora's gaze up to where
Hotspur
was gliding past us a hundred meters up.

"They also have particularly acute hearing," Eliora said.

"Oh. That's interesting. Marny toss an FBD into the crowd over the wall. Eliora, don't look over the edge… and it's going to be very loud," I said.

"Aye, Cap. Fire in the hole."

I caught sight of the small disk fluttering in the breeze as it fell into the middle of the largest group of Ophie. I'd forgotten I'd pulled my helmet off, but fortunately, the mass of Ophie blocked most of the blast of light and much of the sound. Even so, I had to blink my eyes rapidly to clear the momentary blindness.

"Frak. Helmet," I said as I pulled it back on.

There were floating dots in my vision, but I didn't think I was permanently impaired.

When I looked back down, the impact on the invaders had been profound. More and more of the trampled field became visible in the area where the disc had fallen as a sea of Ophie clawed and pushed to escape the vicinity.

"What was that?" Eliora yelled, having instinctively placed her hands over her ears.

"Hold on, Eliora," I said. "Nick, did you see that?"

"Yup. We're on it. Give us three minutes and you need to get those civilians inside," he said. "This is going to be extremely annoying. Oh, Merrie said to tell Amon she's okay."

"Marny, you have it out here?" I asked. "I'd like to meet the locals."

"Aye, we're good. I'm having some trouble convincing the gunner to go inside.

"Eliora, we need to get you and your gunner inside," I said.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Our ship,
Hotspur
, is going to try to drive the Ophie off and my partner requested we get you inside," I said. "Trust me, we need to comply."

"There is a lot of fear, Liam Hoffen. It will be difficult if we go inside," she said.

"Distrust of us?"

"Yes. Understand, we've lost almost half of our settlement to the Ophie this year. Now, you show up with all this technology. People are frightened," she said.

Eliora flinched as I pulled the blaster rifle from my back and handed it to her. I then pulled the pistol from my chest and handed it to the man standing beside her.

"Amon, is it?" I asked.

He looked at me with confusion, accepting the pistol and nodding his head affirmatively.

"You have my weapons and I'm going to take my helmet off," I said, doing so. With my helmet in my left arm, I released and pulled my earwig from my right ear, peeling it off my cheek bone. With a vac-suit, the earwig was redundant and I needed to gain trust as quickly as possible.

"Nick, can you get Merrie a comm setup?" I asked.

"Yup," he said.

"Amon, if you'll allow it, I'll give you a way to both see and talk with Merrie," I said.

"Okay," he said.

He flinched as I reached for his head but allowed me to mount the earwig.

"I know it feels weird at first. All you have to do is talk to Merrie and she'll hear you," I said.

He stumbled a moment and I reached out to steady him, pushing the pistol's muzzle so it wasn't pointing at my leg. "How about you take your hand off that trigger?"

"Merrie? Is that you?" he said. "I can see you, too. Yes. We'll go inside."

Amon turned and lowered himself into the open trap door. I followed him down, although I used the grav-suit to allow me to float. Between my prosthetic foot and holding my helmet, I wasn't about to negotiate the rudimentary ladder.

"What's the meaning of this?" I recognized the voice and turned toward the older woman.

"Captain Liam Hoffen. You must be Councilwoman Peraf." I stuck my hand out to her and smiled.

She pursed her lips and grudgingly accepted my hand. I looked to the man standing next her. "And you must be Councilman Bedros."

He more readily accepted my proffered hand.

"What can you tell us?" he asked.

Before I could say anything, a siren started wailing outside. Even with the stone walls to separate us, the noise was almost debilitating.

Peraf and Bedros started gesticulating wilding and shouting at each other, although I couldn't make out what they were saying.

Finally,
Hotspur
moved off our position and the sound became almost bearable, only to return a moment later and move off again.

"WHAT IS HAPPENING?" Bedros yelled, having positioned himself in front of me.

I'd have preferred to wait for
Hotspur
to get further away, but the man was distraught.

"SCARES OFF OPHIR," I yelled back and waited to see if that mollified him.

"WORKING?"

"I'LL CHECK."

I picked up my helmet from the table where I'd placed it and pointed at the pistol I'd handed Amon. He handed it back to me. Placing the helmet on provided instant relief from the noise and I lifted off the ground and shot up through the still open trap door in the ceiling.

My HUD showed Tabby and Marny spread out, slowly flying over the interior of the city.

"Marny, what's our sit-rep?" I asked.

"They're scattering," she said. "We still need to do a building-to-building search, but the city is mostly clear."

"What do you need from me?"

"We're good out here. Jonathan is manufacturing sirens for the residents and bots to do building inspections," she said.

"Perfect, I need good news."

I flew back to the room where I'd left the Yishuv leaders.

"Well, it's a mess out there, but there aren't any indigenous visible," I said. "We don't know how long that will last, but we're working on defenses."

"What kind of defenses?" Peraf asked.

I pulled my helmet off and once again the smells assaulted me.

"Initially, we're concentrating on clearing the buildings and restoring the fallen gate," I said. "Our ship will provide sufficient defense in the meanwhile."

"We should introduce our hero to the people," Bedros said.

The look Peraf shot Bedros could only be described as venomous, but I really didn't care about their internal politics.

"Of course," she said.

The scene I walked into was appalling, the conditions squalid. Hundreds upon hundreds of people were crammed into a great hall where there was barely enough room. Again, the smells were initially overwhelming and I longed to pull my helmet on. As I scanned the room, I saw wounded, dead and dying. It was horrific.

"People of Yishuv," Peraf called from the stairs where we stood looking out over the great hall.

A hush fell over the hall and all that could be heard was that of groaning and whimpering of the wounded.

"Our prayers have been answered. Our ancestors have sent a rescue mission to bring us home," Peraf said.

I looked over to the old woman, having no idea where she was going with the announcement.

"Standing next to me is Captain Hoffen who has brought a powerful space ship that will destroy the Ophie," she said.

A cheer erupted from the crowd below as many of them rose to their feet.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

"Giving the people what they need," she said. "A hero."

I looked over the crowd who'd quieted down, obviously looking to me to say something.

"Thank you, Yishuv. The indigenous Ophir have been driven off and we are working to secure your city," I said, which caused another cheer to erupt. I held my hands up to help calm them down. "I can see that there is great need as I look out over this crowd and ask that you appoint representatives to help work with my crew."

"When can we go outside?" a man's voice from the crowd asked.

"We haven't cleared all the buildings, but there are no Ophir in the streets," I said. "Going outside would be at your own risk."

"Captain Hoffen has important work to do and must get going," Bedros stepped forward. "We will provide updates as quickly as possible. For now, rest comfortably in the understanding that Yishuv has been saved."

"You just couldn't help yourself, could you," Peraf said.

"Oh stop it," Bedros snapped back.

"We need to talk," I said, interrupting their bickering.

"Of course," Bedros said and walked back toward the small room I'd initially found them in.

"Amon, Eliora, would you excuse us?" Bedros asked.

I raised my eyebrows at the request to remove their lead security person.

"I'd think you'd want to have Eliora stay," I said. "Much of what we're discussing will have a security component to it."

"Won't you provide protection?" Peraf asked.

"For a short time, yes," I said. "You've made a number of assumptions that I'd like to clear up."

"Such as?" Peraf asked.

"Eliora, why don't you stay," Bedros said.

Eliora nodded.

"We're more than happy to have been able to push off the invasion, but we're not here to take you anywhere. I assume you're aware of the fact that your people were abandoned on this planet centuries ago by the corporation Belirand," I said.

"That is one of several legends," Bedros said. "You're saying you know this to be true?"

"I am. I'm not ready to get into all of the philosophical implications, but from my understanding, it's an indisputable fact."

"Go on," he said. He didn't look pleased to have the information.

"In a campaign to expand humanity's reach into the universe," I said. "Belirand, funded by four cooperating nations on Earth sent a colonizing mission to this planet. What the colonists didn't know was that continued contact with Earth was contingent on a number of factors, one of which was no sentient life being discovered."

"You're saying the Ophie are why we were abandoned?" Peraf asked.

"Yes. I can't speak directly to the reasoning behind that, but we believe this is essentially the truth."