Part 10

Chapter50

I was in the river, with water up to my neck. My ‘Sharklings’ were swimming neck deep behind me. It was 0400 planetary time. Pale moonlight illuminated the scene.

I split my forces for the assault on the raider settlement. Stories that begin like that usually end badly! I was hoping mine would be an exception. The disposition of our assaulting forces was designed for protection of our group while hopefully preventing a raider escape, and, at the same time reducing hostage deaths to a minimum.

Twenty-four bots from Enigma’s hold were armed with assault rifles, squad automatic weapons, and a twenty-five-millimeter machine gun on its anti grav sled, under the command of Abbi and Carlisa. They were moving up the forest trail to take a blocking position just across that bridge.

Molly and Cara were up on ‘my’ observation branch, above the river with a sniper rifle and a spotter scope. Our four Shark bots, Agatha, Beverly, Aurora, and Dawn, were on the riverbank at this end of the settlement’s rude street, with another twenty-five-millimeter machine gun and their assault rifles. They supervised another dozen bots with assault rifles, who were chiefly tasked with protecting captives we released.

Charlie, Andrea, Anima, and I were in the river. We would be the primary assault team. Our small team was a calculated risk; my attempt to minimize hostage casualties during our attack. With a bit of luck, it would NOT result in our own losses.

We stopped, treading water against the current, holding our position until we saw a miniscule white flash from Molly on her bough. The flash signaled us that teams were in position and the raider camp was still unaware.

I made a hand gesture. In silence we moved to the riverbank, crawling carefully up the bank until we were looking across the open ground to the raider LZ. The craft were still in their haphazard grouping. We knew one was constantly manned, ready to lift off.

Crawling now across the open ground, I led them into the shadow of the closest ship. Gaining my feet, I entered the narrow alleyway between the two raider ships. The ships were close together, surrounded by thick shadows.

At the end of the shadowed corridor, I turned toward the raider ship which we knew was occupied. As we walked toward it a few meters, we came face to face with a raider leaving a different ship! We were both completely surprised! The now open lock meant ‘our’ alleyway was starkly lit.

I recovered first. Pulling my wakizashi over my shoulder from the scabbard on my back, I felled him with a downward killing stroke. The momentum from the blow carried his lifeless body back toward the airlock, where he flopped against the side of the ship.

Another raider crewmember was standing in the lock entrance, his mouth an ‘O’ of surprise. A sudden movement from Andrea, too quick to follow, and the 16-centimeter blade of her throwing knife was buried to its guard in the raider’s open mouth.

He fell out of the lock, with his hands wrapped around the knife’s handle in a futile effort to remove the blade. Andrea dropped, striking with her razor-sharp throwing axe. His severed head, rolling until the knife hilt caught on the ground, was the signal for Charlie to flow past her into the ship.

Anima, carrying one of our ‘silent kill’ guns, took her position just past us at the next alleyway intersection, preventing another rude surprise. After an interminable wait, that, in reality, was only seconds, finding the ship empty, extinguishing the light, and closing the airlock, Andrea rejoined us. I gestured Anima back to us.

Our team conversed in whispers with our heads close together, as we waited for our night vision to come back. I gestured at the ship and bodies, whispering, “What the hell’s going on? Why didn’t we know this?”

Anima replied, “They’re getting ready for something. One more day of delay and we’d have missed it.”

I was very unhappy that the routine had changed in this unexpected way. Shaking my head, I muttered, “I don’t like this.”

Andrea smiled at me. “No way to predict, Eddy. These preparations are sudden and unexpected. We kill the bastards here away from the hostages. What’s wrong with that?”

Anima and Charlie nodded as I shrugged. Our night vision returning I gestured as I murmured, “Saddle up.”

Progress was slower, we treated each ship as manned, and every alleyway as occupied. We paired up as we leapfrogged. Charlie with Anima while Andrea shadowed me.

Anima crawled around the first corner, her head mere millimeters off the ground, Charlie standing over her. When Anima waved, Charlie moved into the corridor, taking a position at the next crossing. Anima moved into the alleyway with her ‘silent killer’ ready. Andrea and I followed, but at a slower pace. We stopped at each ship’s airlock keypad, checking the annunciators to see if the ship was active or dormant.

I looked up to see the next confrontation, as the raiders ‘came to us’ this time. Two men walked around the corner, literally bumping into Charlie.

Charlie grabbed the first one, pushing him against the side of the nearest ship. Quickly pulling her dagger downward out of her combat harness, she instantly drove it upwards behind his chin and jaw, through the soft palate into his brain, until the needlepoint protruded from the top of his skull.

Anima reacted just as quickly, pointing, and shooting the ‘silent killer’ in one motion. The second raider was struck in the left eye, with an immediate gout of blood spraying behind him. The twenty-five-centimeter steel bolt was buried in his skull up to the metal fletching, with the ringed broad head jutting from the back of his head as he fell forward, dead on his feet.

Charlie dropped her crewman against the ship after cutting his throat. She toed his body into the shadows, as Anima did the same with her kill across the aisle. Start to finish, the killing was accomplished in two seconds and in silence.

I turned to Andrea angrily as I hissed in a sibilant whisper, “What the fuck is going on here? Where are these cocksuckers coming from?”

She patted me calmly as she repeated gently, “We kill the bastards, here.”

I shook off my anger as our pairing led around the next turning. Andrea crawled peeking around the ‘bend’, at her finger motion I stepped over her striding down the alleyway, my wakizashi in hand, up in guard position. Andrea bounced up, following with her solid metal throwing axe, with its 15-centimeter bearded blade on a 45-centimeter skeleton haft and grip, swinging loosely in her right hand. We paused as Charlie and Anima stopped at each annunciator, verifying the ship status in this lineup.

I was beginning to feel like that Custer fellow my instructors kept harping on. I had sent my ‘Reno’ away only to encounter my own shitload of ‘unexpected’ raider ‘Indians’.

Andrea and I led off again, with her crawling around the turn and me stepping over her. For the second time, we reached the crossing without incident, holding position while Charlie and Anima did their work.

Anima crawled around the next ship with her cute little butt elevated. Charlie couldn’t resist giving her a swat as she stepped past her. They faded into the shadows cast by the ships as they waited at the end of the passage for Andrea and me.

We developed a rhythm as we alternated leading and following, slowed by the constant need for caution at every turning. We spiraled through the Landing Zone’s scattered ships, toward the sentinel ship that we ‘knew’ was occupied.

Our task became ‘easier’ as we moved closer to our target. The alleyway next to it was brightly lit, the air filled with voices.

My error. I had given no thought to a safe, inconspicuous method for surveying around turnings. I just hoped it did not turn out to be a fatal one.

Anima, lying flat, scuttled up to the edge, peering around the corner. Her hand wiggled with three fingers indicating three raiders approaching. She settled more deeply into the shadow as we readied. I returned my wakizashi to its scabbard, drawing my drop point knife.

Two raiders turned toward us while one kept walking toward the next corner. I grabbed the first one covering his mouth and nose with my left hand tipping his head forward, my right drove my knife blade into the space just inside the lower edge of his posterior skull above the atlas vertebrae. Slashing back and forth inside the lower rear of the skull I severed the brainstem with its medulla oblongata and pons from the spine. I stirred the interior with my blade, destroying them along with the cerebellum and midbrain.

Withdrawing my blade from the back of his skull, I reached around, cutting his throat, severing his jugulars, carotids, and airways, cleaving it to the spine.

Still holding his lifeless body by the face, I turned to see Charlie with a similarly dead raider, her hilt visible below his chin, the point protruding through the top of his skull. She jerked her blade loose, slicing his throat from ear to ear, then lowering the carcass silently to the dirt.

Setting my dead raider aside, I peered around the corner to see Andrea crouched over her kill like some ancient lioness over its prey! She was faced back to the active raider ship with her ‘silent killer’ already reloaded. The metal fletching of the bolt was visible at the back of the dead raider’s head, with the broadhead sticking in the dirt from the raider’s forehead, holding the skull back at an acute angle. The throat Andrea cut was yawning widely.

I turned toward the open airlock, walking down the brightly lit corridor, staying close to the ship. Anima had moved across the corridor, until she was even with me against the opposite ship’s hull. Charlie was about a meter behind me and a meter out into the alleyway, with Andrea several meters behind, turning backward frequently, watching for ‘interruptions’.

I was still several meters from the lock entrance when a figure stepped down into the dirt, turning toward me. I didn’t hesitate. Reaching over my shoulder, I drew my wakizashi and swung it forward, releasing it point first, parallel to the ground. The sword flashed across the intervening space, driving into his chest through his ribcage, piercing his heart. Anima fired into the entry with her ‘silent killer’ as ‘my’ raider exited, the body of ‘her’ dead raider already falling forward, out of the lock, to the dirt.

Charlie sprinted over him and into the lock, confronting another raider. Charlie grasped her own wakizashi, drawing and making a single horizontal stroke which severed the head of that raider. Charlie paused in the lock, waiting for the alarm. When none was forthcoming, she readied to stalk the inhabitants of the ship.

I reached in the lock, pulling the headless raider body out by the boot. Charlie soccer kicked the head out. It bounced against the hull opposite. Andrea giggled softly as we ‘tidied up’, murmuring, “Show off,” as she picked up the severed head by its hair, tossing it into the shadows back around the corner joining the other bodies out of this brightness.

The clock was running while we waited for Charlie. We were well behind schedule, but rushing would be fatal.

Charlie appeared in the lock, holding up three fingers while making a throat cutting gesture. She pointed at the lock controls raising an eyebrow. I gestured to close it. She nodded, extinguishing the lights, and securing the door.

We regrouped as we peered from the end of the last raider craft to the bridge into the raider settlement. Part one of our plans was concluded without alarm. Now for part two.

Chapter51

We crawled, flowing from one shadow to another as we slithered to the riverbank. The watchman’s comfy chair was empty, and we could see no movement. We took the risk, sliding down the bank into the creek separating the LZ from the raider camp. I waited for a reaction when my companions realized they were swimming in the company of an overwhelming quantity of human waste floating in this creek. Predictably, Anima and Charlie were appalled, while Andrea looked like she wanted to take another, more leisurely dip.

We lay waiting in the reeds at the stream’s edge, about a meter apart, directly in front of “watchman’s” overstuffed chair. He didn’t disappoint us. Waddling along behind the buildings without a glance toward anything but his chair, he settled in for a ‘much needed’ rest.

Seconds later Anima and Andrea fired their ‘silent killers’ together, the two bolts striking him in the chest simultaneously. The massive damage with shock and bleeding from the two ringed broadheads almost certainly killed him immediately. Anima took no chances. Dashing forward, she slashed his neck, severing his head, holding it up in sudden celebration before dropping it in his lap. At Anima’s signal we were at once clustered around his chair.

Charlie and I centered our slung assault rifles while Anima and Andrea prepared for house entry. The good news for our entry team was the raider’s crude shacks had loose-fitting doors with rudimentary latches and NO locks.

We squatted at the end of the raised walkway connecting the row of stilt elevated buildings, ready to duck into the shadows formed by the meter of space under them. We looked toward the ‘saloon’, the biggest building in the encampment. No movement visible. We’d have to trust Molly and Cara to spot trouble, providing cover fire if we needed to extract.

Charlie and I were ready. Each of us had a knee up, positioned as a convenient step for Andrea and Anima up on to the elevated walkway. Andrea gave my shoulder a squeeze. I steadied her as she stepped up, moving hurriedly to stand next to the first shack’s crude door on the latch side. Anima joined her just as fast, standing on the hinge side.

Unhesitating, Andrea swung the door open. Anima went in low while Andrea took high. Again, the silent few seconds took ‘weeks’ before Andrea signaled the shack’s emptiness. Charlie and I stayed on the ground in front of the meter high walkway as we shifted down to the next doorway.

Andrea moved to the door’s latch, while Anima again was on the hinge side. As this door opened, Andrea moved in high with Anima low. This time, sounds of a quiet struggle seized our attention, just as swiftly ending. Andrea appeared in the still open doorway, followed by three female captives being pushed along by Anima.

I stood up, waving to the captives to join me, while I looked over at Andrea with a questioning expression. She gestured, shrugging. No raiders, only captives. Three plainly terrified captives wearing white shifts joined Charlie and I on the ground, where I led them to the end of the building wall. Two bots waited to lead them to the river’s edge that had become the ‘ferry’ point. Bots were standing by, ready to tow swimming captives to the relative safety across the river, upstream.

By the time I was back, Andrea and Anima were positioned at the next door with Charlie crouched in front peering over the walkway. This time I stayed on the elevated path against the building, back a couple meters from Anima ready at the doorway.

Andrea flipped the latch with Anima, immediately opening the door wide while she silently dove in, with Andrea striding behind. Two captives came boiling out the door. One was nude, while the other clutched a bloodstained white shirt. I grabbed them, gesturing for silence as I led them to the waiting bots.

As I rejoined my entry team, Anima was reloading her ‘silent killer’ while Andrea was putting away her axe. Andrea held up two fingers as we moved down the walk toward the saloon and our next doorway.

This shack was bigger for some reason. The latch was on Anima’s side, with hinges to Andrea. I stepped up next to the door. As Anima flicked the latch, Andrea swung it wide, both of them hugging opposite sides of the doorframe as they entered.

I was half in the doorway, waiting for captives, when a figure cannoned into me. A naked male figure. I grabbed his shoulder, using his momentum to swing him toward me. Dropping my hand to my thigh scabbard, I drew my dagger with its 36-centimeter double edged blade, striking upward. Its keen blade penetrated deeply into his solar plexus, slashing from side to side then ripping straight down through soft tissue to the pelvic arch. I jerked my knife loose, tipping his unresisting, profusely bleeding, body off the walkway to the ground. Charlie finished him with a stroke of her tanto before rolling his lifeless remains under the building.

Andrea led a flock of hostages through the open door. I started them along the walkway to our bot guide on the end. They were, for the most part naked, with only one or two even partially dressed. Anima followed the last out. She was dragging a sheet, offering me a corner to wipe the copious blood off my dagger and hand. As I rubbed, I whispered, “Good job, I count a dozen you saved. What happened?”

Andrea frowned prettily as she muttered her reply. “There were five raiders. We killed two immediately, he got past us, then we cut down the last two. Thanks for stopping him. That could have gotten messy.”

I held up my blood drenched knife as Anima smiled, saying in an undertone, “Okay, more messy.”

We moved next to the second largest structure, a two-story building across the open alley from the ‘saloon’. This building’s open upper porch faced the street, different layout from the saloon building where three levels of porches faced the adjoining creek behind.

Anima quickly pointed up at the porch railing above us, saying, “I’ll go up. Give me a minute, then come through the front door. We meet on the main stairs. ‘Kay?”

I nodded, squeezing her shoulder. She made one jump, grabbing the pole holding up the porch floor. She silently and effortlessly climbed over the railing and disappeared from our sight.

We took our positions at the door. This time Andrea and I were the entry team. She again had the latch, while I was on the hinge side. With my ‘silent killer’ in my right hand, I nodded. Andrea quietly unlatched the door, gently pushing it open. I stepped through the wide-open door, scanning the parlor area revealed. This house was well constructed and nicely furnished, very different from the rest.

I spotted a raider sitting in a love seat, facing the door. I fired before he could react, burying the bolt in his chest. He slumped down, unmoving. Andrea silently moved to cut his throat. I hastily reloaded, as three figures entered the room from a doorway in the back wall. Three astonishingly gorgeous and quite shapely figures, blonde, brunette, and redhead dressed in white, black, and red negligees respectively.

They were startled then smiled as I pushed my balaclava up off my face gestured them forward. The redhead paused to spit on the face of the man I shot.

The brunette asked quietly, “Who are you?”

I whispered my reply, “Edward Demarest of Shark.”

Three heads came up sharply. Eyes got big as the redhead said incredulously, “You’re him? Their worst fucking nightmare?”

I pointed at the body as I asked, “Where are they?”

The blonde pointed to the door they’d passed through, saying, “Two back there in the one room, with four more upstairs in the rooms at the top of this stairs.”

The blonde paused looking at me speculatively as she continued, “I am Jasmyn. A hero’s reward from the three of us is in your immediate future, Edward Demarest of Shark.”

She posed, a signal for all three to assume a pose. I was mesmerized, with only Andrea’s prod at my shoulder bringing me back. I turned, leading them out to the walkway where Charlie waited to conduct them to our bots.

I was standing in the doorway as a movement from the saloon captured my attention. Three men stepped down into the street, turning toward Charlie and her three charges. The fat one in front spotted them immediately, of course!

I mumbled, “Ah, shit!”

Before he could yell, I swung my silent killer up, shooting him as I launched myself off the walkway into their midst. His falling distracted them, and it was quickly over. I drew my wakizashi over my shoulder, then made a downward diagonal cut shoulder-to-hip on the first; reversing the blade, my return stroke was upward, disemboweling the next raider. Three more strikes finished it.

Crouched over the three bodies in the middle of the street I have never felt more conspicuous in my life then I did right then! Still, no alarm. Charlie was back and we made speedy work dragging the bodies under the walkway.

Andrea was in the doorway with a concerned look. Behind her were another dozen hostages she had released. She held up two fingers. I held up three. She nodded as she mouthed ‘good work’.

Andrea led her twelve unclad and partially clad captives out the door as I headed up the stairs, only to meet Anima coming down. Another dozen quite beautiful captives, these dressed in colorful but transparent negligees, followed her. When she had my attention again, Anima, smirking, held up four fingers. As she reached me, she whispered, “Anima reporting with more crew for Shark, my captain, love, and master.”

I had a distracting moment visualizing my ‘new’ crew. Andrea’s hiss from the bottom of the stairs ended my musing. We had the building emptied of captives, with only dead raiders left behind.

I was impressed by the captives’ conduct during this operation. Carlisa had been correct. These slaves were fully prepared for rescue, following orders, moving efficiently and quietly.

It was time to move. We crawled back under the building we had just liberated. We scuttled across the open alleyway. Crawling quietly, we reached the opposite alleyway and crossed that as well. We kept on, until we were at the end of this row of buildings.

We rose, lining up against the last building wall, opposite our compatriots holding the bridge into the forest. Another tiny white flash was our signal to start house clearing.

I pointed at the forest, holding up a quarrel from my silent killer. Carlisa got the message, joining us with a full box of the bolts and two bots. We reloaded our quivers, received a quick kiss from the lovely Carlisa, and it was time to resume.

The buildings on this side of the saloon were constructed to the same pattern. All on meter high stilts, with another elevated walkway connecting them. All were crudely constructed shacks, with sloppy fitting doors and simple latches.

We lined up again, Andrea on latch with Anima taking hinge side and Charlie down on the ground, in front of the door opening. This time, I stayed up on the walkway, about a meter back from Anima. The two bots were against the outside wall, ready to begin receiving the captives on this side of the encampment.

We all nodded. Andrea flipped the latch, with Anima pushing the door fully open. They disappeared inside, as I stepped up partially blocking the open doorway.

An armful of captives appeared from the dark cabin’s interior. A very pretty armful I might add.

Stepping aside, I pointed them to the bots. I counted eight beauties as they decamped. Andrea was reloading her ‘silent killer’ gun as she rejoined me on the walkway, with Anima behind her reloading hers. Anima held up five fingers when she completed her tasks.

Looking carefully, you could see the accumulations of spotting on their clothing from the ‘wet’ work we were doing. We moved down the line, with the next three shacks being liberated just as efficiently. Perhaps too efficiently; maybe we got sloppy with this last one!

Andrea had the latch with Anima on the hinge side with me less than a meter off Anima. The door swung open quietly and my two Amazon warriors disappeared as I stepped up into the doorway just in time to be knocked sprawling off the walkway by a hurtling figure.

He was grappling trying to get loose, tear some weapon off my harness, and yell. I was at a disadvantage, with one hand over his mouth stifling his constant attempts to warn the camp. He was at a distinct disadvantage, being naked.

I finally rolled us over with a hard punch with my mailed glove to his naked scrotum, followed by my tanto driven through his chest, pinning him to the ground. I bounced up, wakizashi in hand, only to see that Charlie had ‘things’ under control.

She had her wakizashi up as she faced the doorway. There was a lifeless body on the ground on each side of her, with one slumped on the walkway directly in front of her. Down the road to the forest bridge, a body lay with a quarrel in his back.

Anima springing out of the door to stand on the walkway with her tanto in hand was a welcome sight. Charlie waved and she disappeared back inside. I turned to ‘my’ raider. Showing my annoyance, I drove my fist into his larynx. I pulled my tanto out of his chest. Taking his feet, I dragged him back to the walkway.

I looked up, to see Carlisa finishing the raider on the roadway. I shouldn’t have watched. She rolled him over, then dug at his groin with her tanto until she tore loose his penis and scrotum. She stuffed this bloody package in his mouth just before she cut his throat. Carlisa had been a captive.

The first captives appeared in the doorway. Charlie pointed the way. They were quick to travel down the walkway, moving in silence. Andrea and Anima followed what seemed an endless stream out.

Andrea whispered in an annoyed tone, “What a fuck up. There were a dozen of them. If the captives didn’t grab a couple, there would have been more out the fucking door. Sorry.”

Charlie quickly hugged her, with a comment. “Not your fault. That’s why we’re here. We got the assholes.”

With that, she severed the heads from the raiders before stuffing them under the walkway. They looked at me. Then looked calmly across the alleyway at the ‘saloon’, our next target.

Chapter52

I waved Carlisa up to join us. We huddled in a deep shadow as I whispered final dispositions. “Carlisa, take a couple bots. You’re in back, helping captives. Andrea and Anima are on the back porch, first floor. Charlie and I go up on third floor porch and start down. Anybody out the front belongs to our Molly or one of the blockers. Let’s fucking hope we make some progress before they spot us.”

Andrea asked, “What about the gas grenades?”

I answered, “I expect detector alarms. When they spot us and start shooting, deploy the sleep gas. Alarms won’t matter then.”

I stepped back into the street. Holding up a tiny, hooded light, I pointed it at Molly’s perch, giving two quick flashes and receiving two white flashes in return.

I said, ‘We’re still clear. Good luck, ladies. Let’s go, Charlie.”

She nodded as we moved out.

We were on the third-floor porch of the ‘saloon, whorehouse, hotel’ to find the building and its doors a bit more ‘well-made.’ The door was not locked, but it opened outward. I had my hand on the doorknob, with Charlie directly behind me with a hand on my shoulder, positioning me.

I turned the knob, turned. and the door came toward me quietly. We stepped through and broke apart standing on each side of the door. We were in an anteroom surrounded by cots and pallets filled with raider captives. They were awake and waiting for us. At our arrival they lined up without a fuss and left silently through the door we just entered leaving only a diminutive nude blonde who put her lips next to my ear to tell me, “Eight rooms on each of these two floors, one asshole with two or three slaves in each. Another room like this one directly below. Somebody very fucking important second floor front, with four slaves and guard inside and out. First floor bar still has bunch people drinking, watching the sex shows, and taking slaves back to the fuck rooms.”

I patted her shoulder as I whispered, “Excellent report. When you get to first floor tell Andrea what you told me. Tell her to liberate second floor antechamber then hold for us. Got it? Get out of here.”

She smiled as she pulled me down for a kiss on the cheek of my balaclava, saying softly, “My name is Verenia. Your any and every wish is my command.”

She gave her tiny ass a shake as she exited the door to the porch. As I stared after her, Charlie’s smirking whisper sounded in my ear, “You are sooooo fucking easy, Master Demarest.”

I nodded. Truthfully, I had to agree. Swiftly I filled her in, as we moved down the hall. It was no coincidence. Somehow, the captives knew what was in progress. Doors on this floor were already ajar.

Moving to the front of the building, we split up, taking the door across the hall from each other. Both were already partially open.

With my ‘silent killer’ in hand, I pushed the door the rest of the way open. I found a fascinating tableau. Three captives huddled in the corner with a snoring figure recumbent on the bed.

I didn’t waste any time. I let my silent gun fall back on its sling as I drew my drop point knife. Stepping up I covered his face with a pillow while I cut his throat, my blade slicing through his trachea and jugular. I held the pillow in place while he quieted.