Clidepp Requital (26 page)

"He'll be in touch as soon as he finds something for us. He was almost salivating when I agreed to let him have the Raider ship."

"What will he do when we fail to give him a ship?"

"I told him we might never find it, but he wanted the deal anyway. Maybe we can get him some old hulk that was impounded for smuggling or something."

"But he'll have to come to the border to get it."

"Of course. I didn't promise we'd deliver it."

"Then I guess we just sit back and wait. Whether your contact comes through or the
Denver
comes to get us, we're getting out of here— eventually. What's his name, by the way?"

"The name he's using is Melorriat. He knows me as Tallaggio."

* * *

Sydnee was used to activity, and sitting around wasn't to her liking. The corridors on all four levels of the Marine habitat were always busy with runners racing from one end to the other, so she began to use one of the weapons containers for that purpose. As the Marines were doing, she would run the twenty meters from one end to the other, then stop, turn around, and run back. She always felt better after an hour of running and looked forward to a hot shower. Once dressed, she'd relax by relieving the watch officer and then sit in the command chair on the bridge. She happened to be in the bridge when an alarm sounded at the engineer's console.

"Captain, the temperature outside the ship is rising rapidly," Lt. Barron said.

"How high is it?"

"Fifty-eight point one-three degrees Celsius."

"That's still well within the acceptable range. Lt. Olivetti, your opinion as a volcanologist?"

"It might simply be the release of pressure through a steam vent."

"Might?"

"I can't know for sure unless I go outside to investigate. But venting is common in dormant volcanoes, and there have been no other signs of volcanic activity."

"No one goes outside until the temperature stabilizes. If this thing is preparing to blow, I want us ready to take off immediately without having to retrieve people first."

"Aye, Captain," Olivetti said.

"Lt. Barron, monitor the temperature closely. Lt. Caruthers, be prepared to lift off at a moment's notice."

"Aye, Captain," both men said.

Then it was simply a matter of waiting and watching the gauges. In addition to the temperature, Barron was closely watching the toxicity levels outside the ship. If they jumped appreciably, it was another sign the volcano might be coming to life.

"Dormant volcanoes vent gases and heat from time to time, Captain," Olivetti said. "It doesn't mean it's going to erupt. In fact, sometimes it acts as a release to keep pressure from building up beneath the cone."

"And venting doesn't mean it's
not
going to erupt, so let's keep a close eye on things. Do you have an alternate site for us if we have to leave here?"

"I've found a couple of possible locations. One is in a deep valley high in the mountains. The images show no sign of sentient life, but there are numerous animals. There might be hunters, or the animals might even be domesticated, requiring herders to watch over them."

"And the other?"

"A desert location. It's all sand, but it's incredibly remote. However, we'll stand out like a large black bug on a bowl of oatmeal."

"The holo-projectors can cover most of us, but parts will still be exposed. Good job, Lieutenant, but keep looking. There has to be another ideal place like this one but with less danger from nature."

"Aye, Captain."

* * *

Fifteen days after making contact with Melorriat, an encrypted message arrived for Tallaggio. The com chief put the message in Blade's queue and notified him.

"I've heard from Melorriat," Blade told Sydnee a short time later. He claims to have found a generator in excellent condition. He wants to meet again at the same place."

"Is that wise? The police might be watching that area now because of all the dead bodies you left lying around last time."

"It's been weeks, and the police don't like to travel in that area anyway." With a slight smile he added, "They seem to think it's too dangerous."

"Okay, I'll defer to your judgment on that issue, Major. When's the meet?"

"I arranged it for tonight, three hours after sundown."

"Okay, I'll notify Lt. Weems to be ready. The same-sized team as before?"

"Yes, I'll take all eleven of my people. I'll leave one at the MAT to watch for trouble like before. If the scum starts gathering, they can use the topside laser weapon to convince them to leave long before we get back to the ship. The other ten will accompany me to the RP."

Sydnee nodded. "Good luck, Major."

Blade and his ten people were positioned on rooftops and in the shadows around the RP for an hour before the meet time and were getting antsy when Tango-Two reported that someone was approaching the park.

"It appears to be the same individual as last time," Tango-Two said. "At least he walks the same way."

"Is he alone?" Blade asked.

"He appears to be. No, wait. There are three individuals behind him."

"Are they with him?"

"They seem to be hanging back. It's impossible to tell if they're with him or tailing him."

"Keep an eye on them. Alpha Team, be ready. This may turn into something more than a simple meet."

"The contact has reached the RP," Alpha-One said. "The tail seems to be holding back."

"I don't like this," Blade said. "Everyone hold positions until we know what's going down."

It was about five more minutes before anything happened.

"The tail is moving towards the dog," Alpha-One reported.

"Tango team, do you have eyes on anyone other than the four near the RP?"

"Tango-One. I see no one else within a thousand meters."

"Tango-Two. Confirmed. Nothing else moving in the streets around the park."

"Tango-Three, confirming. There's no one else in the park or on the streets surrounding it."

One by one the other Tango spotters confirmed that no one else was on the streets around the park.

"The tail is still moving toward the dog," Alpha-One reported. "They looked determined."

"Alpha Team, weapons on ready. I don't like the looks of this."

"The tail has reached the dog," Alpha-One said. "They seem to be arguing. The dog is trying to pull something out of his cloak. It's a pistol. Tail-One has grabbed it. They're fighting. Tail-Two has a club. He's beating the dog. The dog is down. Now all three are beating him with clubs."

"Alpha Team, drop the tail."

Light flashes emanated from four different directions for several seconds. The three attackers stopped beating the contact and fell to the ground, unmoving.

"Alpha team, this is Sierra-Leader. Move in."

Quickly, but cautiously, the Alpha team moved towards the RP.

"Damn," Blade said as he reached the prone body of his contact. Melorriat appeared to be unconscious. "Flight Jockey, do you read?"

"Flight Jockey reads you five-by-five."

"Have you been monitoring?"

"Affirmative, Sierra-Leader."

"We need you here."

"Affirmative. Will lift off as soon as Beta-One confirms the hatch is closed and locked— confirmation received. Lifting off."

"Tango team, come to the park on the double."

Less than thirty seconds later, Weems was gently touching down in a grassy area as close to the RP as possible. As Beta-One opened the hatch, the Alpha team began carrying the four bodies into the ship. As soon as Sierra-Leader, the Alpha team, and the Tango team were aboard, the ship lifted off and disappeared into the blackness of the night sky.

"Strip the bodies of these three jokers," Blade said. "I want anything they have that might identify them. Timmons, pictures and prints. Padu, check the clothes for IDs. Collect everything they have."

"No personal effects," Padu said after going through all the clothes. "Not even any labels or money in the clothes. Each of them was carrying a small lattice weapon of the same make and model, in addition to their similar truncheons. They might be one of the Clidepp Military Secret Police goon squads."

"Lieutenant," Blade said on the com channel, "When we're halfway across the ocean, stop and hover a couple of meters above the water. We have some food for the fish, or whatever they have on this planet."

"Roger, Major." Weems said.

"I found this in the contact's pocket," Padu said, holding out a view pad, "plus some money, a wallet, and a bunch of assorted junk."

"Give me the viewpad and save everything else in a sealed pouch."

Blade looked at the viewpad and scowled. It was locked with a password. He slid it into a pocket of his cloak and removed his helmet, then sat down and tried to relax his taut muscles.

An hour later, Weems halted the ship so the three bodies could be jettisoned. As the hatch was closed and locked, he applied power and the MAT surged forward again.

Roughly fifty-two minutes later, the MAT was linking up with the CPS. As the final connection link was made and the airlock seal was certified, the hatch was opened. Two Marines with an oh-gee stretcher rushed in and picked up Melorriat, then strapped him to the stretcher. They hurried out with the unconscious Yolongi and headed for the sickbay in the habitat. The only corpsman on board was waiting and immediately began examining Melorriat.

"I understand it went badly," Sydnee said as Blade sat down in her office.

"It couldn't have gone worse. I didn't know what was going down with the contact and the three men following him. I didn't know if they were together or what, so I held my team back. When they started beating him, we were still under cover, but I ordered my people to take the three attackers down. The contact was already unconscious when we reached him."

"What about the attackers?"

"We figure they were Secret Police. We dropped them off."

"Where?"

"In the middle of the ocean. But we were humane. They were already dead."

"Well, thank goodness for that."

Blade looked at her in disbelief, until he realized she wasn't serious. Then he burst into a wide grin. "You continue to surprise me, Captain."

"Because I don't have compassion for three men who tried to beat a fourth to death?"

"Because you continue to prove how wrong I was about you in every way."

"It's happens, Major."

"Not to me. At least not very often."

* * *

The Yolongi known only as Melorriat continued to cling to life for four days following the beating. On the fifth day, his heart stopped beating. The corpsman explained that his death was most likely owed to the skull damage and especially to the brain, which had swollen considerably and on which he had worked daily to drain off excess fluid.

"Sorry, sir," the corpsman said to Blade. "I tried everything I know, but what we really needed was a neurosurgeon experienced in Yolongi physiology. I've never studied health care for this species, and I'm just a Hospital Corpsman First Class."

"I know you did your best, Doc. I wish I'd had a chance to talk with him."

"He never really regained full consciousness. He seemed to be staring at me a few times, but his eyes weren't focused and didn't move about. I put it down to sub-conscious delirium."

"Did he ever say anything?"

"Only one word, over and over. I think he might have been referring to his wife or perhaps a lover."

"Do you remember exactly what he said?"

"Uh, I entered it into the medical log." Picking up a medical viewpad, he tapped the touchscreen a few times, then handed it to Blade. 'Willownisa,' the viewpad said.

"Willownisa?" Blade repeated.

"That's what he kept repeating."

"Okay," Blade said, handing the viewpad back. "Stick the body in the freezer for now. We'll dispose of it the next time we go out on a mission."

"Sir, are we going to get off this rock?"

"Yes, son. I can't give you a date, but we're going home."

"Thank you, sir."

"My corpsman said he repeated 'Willownisa' a few times," Blade said to Sydnee. "I entered it into the Clidepp information database, but it found no direct matches. It did, however, suggest some possible near-matches. And, among other things, Willonnissa is the name of a small city on the southern continent. I checked the surface-mapping images file and learned there's a major reclamation yard there for spaceship parts."

"And you believe he was trying to tell us we have to go to Willonnissa?"

"It may be that, or perhaps it was just the last thing he was thinking about, and it kept replaying in his damaged brain. Or, it might be as our corpsman thought, that it's simply the name of a wife or lover."

"Are you suggesting a mission to Willonnissa?"

"It seems like a real longshot, but it's all I've got. If there's no useable generator there, then we'll just have to sit here until we're rescued."

"I'm already tired of sitting around. I don't want to sit here for another month, or two months, or longer. When do you want to leave?"

"Five minutes ago."

"I can't arrange that, but I'll start working on it."

"What's to work on? We just jump into the MAT and go."

"Your contact RP was only two hours away by MAT. The southern continent is about twelve hours away by MAT. And that's if Willonnissa is on the northern coast."

"It isn't. It's down near the southern coast."

"Then make that eighteen hours by MAT."

"I see your point, Captain. I'm used to being in space when we launch our missions."

"Yes, here we have to fight our way through the atmosphere the entire way."

"Couldn't the MAT climb above the atmo and then drop back down over the southern continent?"

"Yes, but the problem is potential visual identification. If the MAT is observed, the Clidepp military will be on it before it can land. The CPS, even considering it's much larger size, is far better equipped to avoid detection because of all our hull sensors and the fact that we have an entire bridge crew working to conceal our identity."

"I see."

"And— if we are discovered and challenged, we can fight. The MAT is really just a ferry. It's almost indestructible, but it wasn't designed to participate in battle."