Neptune's Massif (28 page)

“Yes, Ellie?”

“We aren’t going to survive this are we?” the young woman asked.

“No, probably not,” Rick replied.

She was silent for a minute. “I love you, Rick.”

“I love you too, Baby. We’ll get plenty of time to tell each other that over and over again. This trip will take us at least eight days. Stand by for hyperspace interface.”

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C
ombat Theater 'Astra'

Raptor
Damocles

City of Elysium, Defense Control Center

New Talos System, Carnius Sector

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C
indy was sitting on the steps of the defense control center enjoying the beautifully warm Talosian morning. She was beginning to think about sneaking up to the roof to do some sunbathing when she noticed a young girl of about nine or ten years slowly walking toward her.

“Ma’am, can I talk to you?” The young girl asked, hesitantly.

Considering what the little girl must have been going through over the last few weeks, Cindy thought this must border on the heroic. The little girl was cute, and to draw attention to herself like this would have been an invitation for very bad things.

“Of course you can, sweetheart. What can I do for you?” Cindy replied.

The little girl quickly finished her approach, making the guards behind Cindy nervous. Cindy held up her hand to indicate all was well to the guards, they may have only been Marines, but they treated Cindy and her team like some kind of royalty.

“Ma’am, my grandmother is the person in charge of this place,” the girl indicated the building behind Cindy. “She hasn’t been home in over a week. Three days ago, some soldiers took my daddy and mommy away. They told us not to go anywhere or do anything until one of them returned. My older sister, Tams was beaten up really bad and is really sick and we don’t know what to do. Could you help me find my grandmother or my parents?”

Cindy knew from the girl’s words that the girl’s sister had most likely been beaten and worse. “Yes I can, sweetheart, but if your sister is that sick, maybe we should try and help her first?”

“Okay, but she’ll be mad at me for bringing you to our house. She told me to stay away from soldiers and to hide if I ever saw any. But you don’t look like the ones that came to our house, you look like a goddess, so you can’t be evil like those others,” the girl said.

“Thank you, sweetheart. I think you’re very pretty too. May I ask what your name is and where you live?”

“I’m Cami. We live out in Crystal Falls. I had to take the train to get here.”

Cindy knew the Marine patrols hadn’t made it that far out yet, so it was still considered a hostile area. “Wow, that’s a long ways to go by yourself. My name is Cindy. How would you like to ride with me in my ship and you can show me where you live?”

“You have a space ship?” The girl asked, wide eyed.

“Yes I do; that one over there, on the grass.” Cindy pointed to the
Damocles
resting on the grass in the small park in front of the building.

“Wow,” Cami said, her voice full of awe.

Cindy put her hand to her ear to activate her comm with the rest of her team. “Jerry, Sasha, stay here and help the Marines. Shannon, Lissa and I are going to make a short trip out to Crystal Falls; I’ve received a request for assistance from a civilian. Lissa, please get the
Damocles
ready for a short flight. Shannon, could you ask Colonel Taris for the use of a medic? We have the autodoc on board, but that might not be enough. Tell him to wear his armor.”

Cindy received confirmations from her team as she stood. She offered her hand to the little girl and said, “Shall we go?”

Cami took the offered hand, excited now with the prospect to fly in a real-life spaceship.

“Have you had anything to eat this morning, Cami? It’s a long trip from Crystal Falls, you must have left very early.”

“No Ma’am; I haven't eaten. I had to leave before anyone else was up ‘cause they would have stopped me from going,” Cami replied.

“Well, we can’t have that! Once we get aboard, I’ll get you some breakfast, Okay?” Cindy offered.

Cami nodded, now that they were getting closer to the spaceship, it was a lot bigger than she first thought. “What are those?” She asked, pointing to a land rail.

“Those are land rails. We use them when we need to go someplace on the ground very quickly and can’t use the
Damocles
.” Cindy indicated the ship. Movement caught her eye, and she turned to see Shannon and what Cindy guessed to be the medic, running for the
Damocles
from the security center. They were being followed by two burly Marines in full combat gear. Cindy felt the girl tighten her grip on Cindy’s hand as she too saw the running people. “It’s okay, Cami. No one will hurt you, I promise. Those men are the good guys, they won’t hurt you. How about we get that breakfast I told you about?”

Cami still looked uncertain, but nodded in acceptance. Cindy led her into the ship and into the crew area. “If you sit there, I’ll get your food. Why don’t you tell me more about your family?”

Cami did as Cindy asked, while Cindy got her a nice pancake breakfast from the replicator, Cami told her about her family.

“Tams is seventeen and was thinking about joining the academy. She wanted to be a fighter pilot before the bad men came. Blane and Helon are six, Mommy always said they were going to make wonderful administrators one day. Just like Grammy Galla. Both of them are really smart for only being six and know lots of stuff about the family and history and things. I always thought that stuff was kinda dull, but I still had to learn it. Grammy said it was very important for us to know our family heritage.” She stopped there and began to literally shovel the food Cindy had gotten her into her mouth.

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Shannon had arrived and the four climbed aboard. Shannon introduced the C.D. (Combat Doctor) as Captain Sparks. Sparks was a female, and a very kind looking person. From the brief introduction it was hard to imagine this woman trying to operate on a fallen soldier while ignoring the enemy fire flying past her head.

The other two men were Corporal Mlas who had skills as an engineer. Since Crystal Falls was not a ‘cleared’ area, and was known to be one of those suburbs without power, Mlas was assigned to the team. He was also from that area, so the residents might recognize him.

The other man, Private Zion, was also from the area and knew most of the residents. These two would serve as guards for the team and as a liaison to the people of Crystal Falls.

Zion sat down immediately across from Cami. “Little Cami? I remember you. The last time I saw you though, was when you were a baby no bigger than this,” he held his hands apart. “You’ve grown quite a bit. Gotten pretty too!” He winked at her. The girl blushed, but seemed to relax more at his words. Zion looked at Cindy, who was sitting next to Cami. “Major, it is very important that we find this girl's grandmother and mother. Dame Galla is the Matriarch of House Camilla. It was believed that her daughter, Sharoan, would be her successor.”

“If she was a House Matriarch, wouldn't she have been at the conclave?” Cindy asked.

"Not necessarily; House Camilla was more involved in the civil defenses that it was politics. If I remember correctly, Dame Galla had very little time for the political aspect of her duties. House Camilla was strongly allied with Houses Rodan and Bellthoria. They generally spoke for the House in conclave," Zion replied.

"So, if you're from this area, does that make you a member of their house?" Cindy asked trying to understand.

Zion smiled but shook his head. "No Ma'am, although I was a member of House Rodan, geographical location is not a good indicator of political allegiance. When I joined the Corps, I surrendered my House affiliations.

"However, Dame Galla or her daughter would go a long way to restoring the leadership of the city. We really need to try to locate them."

“I think I better call Command; if nothing else, they can help in locating the girl’s parents.” Cindy turned to Cami, “Cami? This is my good friend, Shannon. Would it be okay if she stayed with you while I go make some calls? I think the Doctor might want to scan you to make sure you’re okay inside.”

The girl paused her eating long enough to look at Shannon and Sparks closely. Finally, she nodded to Cindy and resumed her eating.

Cindy got up and entered the cockpit. “How are we doing, Lissa?”

“Just fine, Major. We are holding position over the Crystal Falls area; I am scanning for any weapons or unknown energy signatures. We should be able to land in a few minutes,” the Lissa replied.

“Cool, thanks.” Cindy then touched her ear piece again, “Joker Three to Dealer, request ops assistance with a blurb mission.” A blurb mission was the term used to describe a mission that the Raptor team undertook on its own, such as a rescue or humanitarian mission.

“Ops is online,
Damocles
. Please define your blurb.”

“I received a personal request from a ten-year-old civilian for immediate medical assistance for her sister, as well as assistance in locating her parents and grandmother. We are currently in route to her home to render the medical assistance. Her home is located in the Crystal Falls area of Elysium. Please inform Guardian that this civilian has been positively identified as the granddaughter of Dame Galla of House Camilla. She says her parents were taken three days ago, and her grandmother has been missing for a week. From her description, the girl's older sister may have been assaulted by the enemy. The girl was searching for her grandmother when she approached me.”

“Understood,
Damocles
. What assistance do you require?” Operations replied.

“Any information you can find as to the where-abouts of the girl's relatives. Also, could you have a medical shuttle on standby? We might run into more than just this one woman once we get down. This area is without power and may need more assistance than we can give,” Cindy asked.

“Negative on the medical team,
Damocles
. We’re stretched too thin as it is. However, I can get a shuttle load of supplies on the list to come down once you give me a drop location. I’ll begin a search for those people you requested and let you know if I find anything.”

Cindy cursed under her breath. “Roger, ops. We’ll let you know once we have it all figured out.
Damocles
out.”

“We’re ready to land, Major. I found a couple of things we should investigate once we’re down.”

“Okay, but priority goes to the wounded. Activate defenses once we’re down. We’ll worry about what you’ve found once we get the girl taken care of. Now, where do we want to land...”

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“W
hat the hell is that?” Zonk asked, pointing.

Razor turned to look at the descending ship and his eyes narrowed. “That,” he said, “is our ticket off this rock. Go get the rest of the boys, I’ll stay here and see what kind of troops they have. It looks like they are landing near that matriarch-bitch’s place.” He noticed that his underling hadn’t moved, but was still watching the ship. Razor backhanded the idiot. “Get moving shit-head! We might have to move fast!”

Zonk picked himself up from the floor and headed out the door. Razor picked up his laser rifle to watch the group through the scope. He hadn’t powered up the laser, just the scope. He also didn’t notice the turret on the top of the craft pointed directly at him. ‘Must be some new kind of shuttle,’ the man thought. ‘I wonder if the pilot’s female? It’ll be a long trip to where ever we decide to go.’

On the bed directly behind him, the two young girls he and Zonk had been using lay unconscious and bleeding. They had passed out about an hour ago, but that didn’t stop the men.

“Shit! They only brought five people out here? This’ll be easy! Maybe we’ll have time to grab some of our 'toys' to take with us also!” Razor chuckled in anticipation. “Yes, this ought to be very easy.”

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C
ombat Theater 'Astra'

Raptor
Damocles

Crystal Falls, Elysium Suburb

New Talos System, Carnius Sector

––––––––

“M
ajor, our landing is being watched. I have the Damocles keeping an eye on those weapons signatures I found earlier and one of the men is watching us. There are four in that room, two adult males and two children,” Lissa told Cindy via the comm.

“How far away are they?” Cindy asked.

“Approximately two-hundred and fifty meters to the south.
Damocles
has locked onto them, but line of sight passes through the children behind them. They are bringing that weapon to bear, but are not powering it up. I would say they are using its telescopic sight to observe us.”

“Okay, everyone into armor. Shannon, Zion, grab that emergency stretcher in the back. We’ll bring the family on board and treat them here until we can assess the situation. Lissa, good work, and keep me posted on our friends’ activities. Cami, honey? I need you to stay here with Lissa until we can get your sister and brothers. Can you do that?”

“Who’s Lissa?” Cami asked.

“She’s the very pretty woman on the other side of that door. She is a very good friend of Shannon and mine. Do you think you can stay here and keep her company so she doesn’t get scared?” Cindy asked.

Cami raised an eyebrow at Cindy, “I'm young but I'm not a baby, Major. You must have seen the bad men nearby and you want me to stay here where it’s safer. Yes, I’ll stay, but you have to promise to just tell me things from now on.”

Cindy chuckled, “Sorry Cami, you’re right. I promise, no more treating you like a baby.”

Cami hugged Cindy, but everyone clearly heard her say, “Adults!” as she did. Cami went to introduce herself to Lissa while Cindy put her armor on.

Mlas and Zion were double checking their armor while Sparks was setting up a link to the autodoc from her combat suit.

Cindy was just putting on her helmet when Lissa called her again. “Major, one of the men that was observing us is running to a building a few blocks over. I think he’s going to get re-enforcements.”