Prophet and the Blood March (Prophet of ConFree) (13 page)

"What's that?" Scout asked. There was movement outside the camoed craft. It looked like an Outworlder male in ragged civilian clothing, wearing an A-vest and hauling an SG. He headed into the ship, brushing aside a flap of camo.

"Over there," Doggie said. Another eyemote had spotted a second male, on the opposite side of the ship, inside the forest. He appeared to be a Cyrillian, urinating against a tree, an SG dangling from his shoulder. He also had an A-vest, and was clad in well-worn hiking gear.

"Sentries," Doggie said. "No cloaking. Perhaps they're not worried about being bothered. Or perhaps they’re a low-tech outfit."

"I want to learn a great deal more before we drop," the Prof said. "Why are they here? Yes, it's a good hideout, but what do they do here? It's a long long way from any juicy targets. Let's give the eyemotes a bit more time. But first, send one into that ship."

The eyemote floated into the ship through the open entry ramp. It had been a luxurious personal ship, a luxury yacht for some poor fool who had ventured too far from home. The pirates were not much for housekeeping – the aisles were littered with trash. The eyemote was about the size of a mote of dust and was invisible to the naked eye. It floated into the cockpit – one scruffy young hostile had his feet up on the instrument console, watching a sex vid on a little d-screen. Along the main aisle and into a large plush salon, a fourth pirate, covered with tattoos, was sitting at a table eating hot rations. The eyemote labeled him H 04.

Further into the ship the eyemote slid between a sealed door and hovered up near the ceiling, revealing an ugly scene. A female Mocain was bending over a luxury bed that contained a pale young naked female, face down, wrists tied behind her, legs strapped to the bedposts. It was clear from her skin's faint glow that she was a Bright.

"This is so much fun," the Mocain girl said, gleefully. The eyemote recorded the sound clearly. The Mocain was bald and had no eyebrows. Her ears were covered with silver earrings. She was wielding a shockrod in one hand, speaking to a male pirate who stood beside her. He was of uncertain ethnicity but had long dirty hair and was unshaven.

"Monk said don't hurt 'em," the male objected.

"I'm not hurting, I'm just playing," the Mocain said. She allowed the shockrod's laser spot to roam lazily over the captive's buttocks, then activated it. The Bright convulsed and cried out.

"She's crying, but still won’t talk," the Mocain said. "Stupid bitch." The eyemote highlighted two more naked Bright females, lying to one side of the bed on the floor, trussed up like animals.

"You'd better ease off or Monk is gonna have another fit," the male said.

"I'm not scared of him. He just wants all this alien stuff for himself."

"Delta, that's it. We move, now," the Prof said. "Bird, prep to launch. Delta, board."

"Oh no. No, no, no." That was Bees. She sounded stunned. "Those wonderful Brights. Stripped and tied up like pigs. How can they do that?"

"Don't you worry, Bees," Ice said. "We're going to kill them all. We're going to spit in their faces and slit their throats and then cut their heads off. We will have our revenge!" I quickly revised my earlier suspicion that Ice had gone soft.

We hurried into the Phantom, recovered our weapons, and took our places. My blood was running ice cold in my veins. Imminent murder – yes. I knew the feeling. We were going to kill a lot of folks before exchanging thoughts with any Brights. But that was all right. I didn’t mind killing subhumans. After all, the Prof had said it: Do the right thing!

The Phantom dropped from the
Vampire
with a bang that rattled the ship. Crack of doom, I thought. Bird headed the
Ruthie
to Bliss, full speed into the future, fully cloaked, carrying a whole squad of murderous Legion crazies, A & A, armored and armed, sinister black Legion armor with the Bright emblem lasered onto the skin, a white hand with the Bright lightning bolt weapon superimposed over the hand. Bees wore an actual Bright A-suit, glowing white armor, but the Legion had installed a cloaking unit, so she would be just as invisible as the rest of us once we touched down. Blackie barked once. He was coming with us.

The
Ruthie
was our angel of death, as lovely and thrilling as you could get. And, once we touched down and starburst on the surface, she would be on call for whatever we needed. One little whisper from us and she would strike without mercy, unleashing hell on our enemies, no questions asked. Invisible, invincible, irresistible, and final, she would blast the foe to ashes and glide calmly over the battlefield, seeking more prey.

We watched the images from the eyemotes, glowing from an E-screen over the aisle.

"Look at that," the Prof said. "There are several groups of these pirates on the move, and see what this group has got." The eyemote hovered over a little column of four armed civilians. They had prisoners accompanying them: two female Brights, hands tied behind their backs, slave collars around their necks, the collars tied together with a long wire. The Brights were barefoot but wore light colored pants and sleeveless vests that looked like part of a uniform. The Brights stumbled along as they walked.

"They're headed for that ship," Doggie said.

"Scout, Nitro, Ice, Smiley, that's your target," the Prof said. "Scout, you're element leader. You'll be dropped off to ambush them as they head for their ship. Kill three of the pirates, capture one for later interrogation. Free the Brights, call for pickup, then rejoin us at the ship with the Brights. The rest of us, me, Doggie, Bees, Prophet, Saka, we target the pirate ship, kill the sentries, enter, kill the pirates inside but try to save one for interrogation. Then free the Brights. After we learn more, we can decide about tracking down the rest of the pirates that appear to be wandering around out there. But first we've got to find out what in Deadman's name is going on. Is that plan acceptable, Doggie?"

"Not bad, Prof, but I'd suggest Smiley come with the main group 'cause we may need the manlink to settle any disagreements in the ship. Or with overflying Mocain fighters. Send Saka with Scout's element," Doggie said.

"Of course. How foolish of me. Perfect. All right, done."

Δ

"Visors down, check weapons systems," Doggie ordered. We were slicing through Bliss's skies now, fast and low, a ghost ship full of armored aliens, cold black armor, hot crimson faceplates, armored fingers resting tenderly on infernal weapons. We did the weapons check. We were getting closer. My heart felt like it was going into overdrive.

"Glory to God in the highest," Bees whispered in our ears, "and on earth peace to all of good will. We praise You, we bless You, we adore You, we glorify You, we give You thanks for Your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father. We do Your will.

"O glorious Prince of the heavenly host, Saint Michael the Archangel, come to our aid, defend us in this day of battle against the rulers of the world of darkness, be our safeguard against the wiles and wickedness of the devil, may God rebuke him, we humbly pray, and do thou, O prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God cast into hell Satan and all the other evil demons who prowl through the galaxy seeking the ruins of souls.

"We do God's will. We are His holy soldiers, battling evil to free His sacred angels from the clutches of Satan. Saint Michael, we pray you stand by our side and strengthen our arms and our hearts as we smite Satan and his evil minions. Swing your invincible flaming sword at the foe, and strike him down where he stands. Saint Michael, grant us victory, victory or death, over the evil. May God's will be done!"

Bees was one scary girl. She had enough faith for all of us, I guess. She was convinced that the Brights were angels. I wasn't sure about that, but they sure looked like angels. And acted like angels.

Δ

"Element Scout, activate cloaking, decar and commence operation," Doggie ordered. The
Ruthie
was sliding soundlessly through a dark tangled forest of tall trees growing out of a rotting wet undergrowth. The assault doors rapidly popped open and Scout, Saka, Ice and Nitro dropped out the doors, right into the future, into whatever was to be. The insertion site was perfect: The four pirates and their two Bright captives were headed directly towards it. It was late afternoon, but the sky was clouded over and a cold mist had settled over the forest. The doors snapped shut and we shot upwards, then darted off just over the treetops towards the camfaxed pirate ship.

What could go wrong? The latest count showed four sentries outside the ship, uncloaked, armored only with A-vests, armed with SG's or E's, and five hostiles inside the ship, uncloaked, no vests, various weapons scattered around the ship. The five of us would be fully cloaked, armored and armed. We should be able to slaughter them easily. But I knew things never worked out that way, and the best ops plan normally starts to fall apart the instant the first shot is fired. Yes, we were invisible to them – but any one xmax shot, even if fired wildly at unseen assailants, could rip into our armor if it chanced to hit at the right angle, and kill us dead as hell. So it was extremely important that we kill them as quickly as possible.

"Delta, activate cloaking, decar and commence operation," Doggie said. A burst of adrenalin shot through my veins as I hit the cloaking. The assault doors snapped open. I leaped out with the others into a dark afternoon, forest, good cover. The Phantom shot away from us, perfectly invisible. I followed the dotted red path that Honey had projected onto my faceplate to show me the magic road into my future. And that's how I thought of it – a magic road, leading to the future, where anything could happen. Just don't step off the road, I told myself. I could see the others as dotted white silhouettes, starbursting to their positions, each following their own magic road to violence and death. They were quite invisible to the rest of the world.

We were at the ragged tree line now, facing an open area, swampy ground. Honey pulsed the target red for me to see it: the
Golden Summer
, camfaxed in another forested area past the swamp.

I splashed into the swamp, almost waist deep. Don’t think I had forgotten about my visions – those damned weird reeds were all around me now, moving in a light breeze, under that dark sky. A light rain began. My heart was pounding. Any moment now that Mocain fighter could zoom past me overhead. That was a DX dream – it was going to happen! And it was why Smiley was with us, with his manlink. Firepower!

Something popped out of the swamp, spraying me with mud, and scaly tentacles snapped around my right arm. What the… it was an ugly creature caked in mud, not too big, whipping out more tentacles to settle on my right leg. I brought the butt of my E down and smashed at it until it released its grip and slid under the oily, silty surface of the swamp. Another creature vaulted out of the swamp, spraying mud, attacking me from the left, lashing at me with its tentacles.

"Delta, Prophet," I said. "I'm under attack from some little tentacled swamp creatures. No worries, just smash them with the butt of your E and they fall off. Just want to let you folks know." I smashed at the second swampie until he fell off.

"Thanks, Prophet," Doggie said. "Get to your target." Honey showed me the four sentries, deployed in the forest around the camfaxed ship. Mine was pulsing red. They didn't appear to be aware that sudden death was stealthily approaching them.

I was out of the swamp now, entering the forest that surrounded the ship. I stalked that sentry through the trees like a bloodcat going after a mumpup. He was in an A-vest, holding his SG loosely in the crook of one arm, swatting flying insects away from his face. I settled down behind a tree, E pointed at the target.

"Prophet in position," I reported.

"Bees in position."

"Just a mo – all right, Smiley in position."

"Prof in position."

"Tenners, Doggie in position," Doggie said. "On three, fire on hyperdart. Ready, one, two, three."

I blasted my target with the hyperdarts, exploding his head in a bloody eruption. He fell instantly, limbs askew, into the undergrowth. Aside from a muffled buzzing, the darts were silent.

"Bees reports target down."

"Prophet reports target down," I said.

"Smiley reports target down."

"Prof reports target down." Excellent! All four targets down at once, and no counter fire.

"Delta, Doggy. Good. Now we move on the ship. Go."

I wondered if that was all they would say about me when I got shot down. Target down? It was not much of an epitaph. But I guess it was enough for a soldier of the Legion. We were all expendable, weren't we?

Δ

The ship's main entrance ramp was down, and the doorway wide open. These pirates were a trusting bunch. We crept in, on total alert, tingling in anticipation, E's still set for hyperdart as we wanted to avoid broadcasting our activities until the last possible moment. Five targets, four marked for death and one for life. But now it was kind of free form, as we stealthily entered the main corridor and stepped into the wide cockpit. Two targets were there, Outworlder males, a young guy on duty in the pilot's seat with a sex holo and the tattooed fellow we had seen earlier in the galley. This time he was standing by the duty pilot with a dox, laughing at the holo. An SG was propped against one wall. Tattoo wore an A-vest but the duty pilot had nothing. It looked like our main problem here was going to be to avoid shooting each other.

The Prof and Bees took positions by the open cockpit door as Doggie and Smiley and I lined up against one wall facing the two targets. Blackie was outside the ship, cloaked and on guard. The two pirates were completely unaware of our presence.

"Oh shit!" a comset on the instrument console crackled to life. "We're under fire! Ambush! Ah! Ah my God I'm hit!" The broadcast abruptly cut off. The two pirates were stunned. The duty pilot answered the transmission.

"Mobile Three, Base!" he shouted. "Say again, mobile, what’s the sit?" There was no answer.

"Mobile Three, Base. Answer! What is your situation? What the hell's goin' down, respond please!" But there was no response.