Cole awoke with a start when Beatrice came burst open the door. “Snrk- Wha? I'm awake!”
“You finish those reports like I asked?”
Cole rubbed the stubble on his chin and said, “Bit early, isn't it?”
“Its after noon.” She opened the window blinds and let the air in while Cole winced.
“They're done. Mostly.”
“Well they better be done by twenty-one hundred hours, or we won't be able to file them until next week.”
“Relax, we are still getting paid on time.”
“Yeah, but we won't get reimbursed for damages until you file that padwork.” Beatrice set some coffee by his desk.
“Thanks.” He waited till her back was turned before pouring some of his liquor flask in the mix. He went to work looking busy. “So whats our next job?”
She handed him a datasheet with the relevant mission contracts highlighted on it. “Slim pickings, I'm afraid. Unless you want to butt head with the clans again.”
“Noooo thank you, good madam. I want something nice and dull.”
“You know that outfit you signed up with a while ago, Sparrow's Stormcrows?”
“Yeah. Our commander on that OP was a complete jackass. Had us off chasing in the wrong direction, fifty klicks from the target. Those poor boys got their eggs scrambled.”
“Well don't feel too sorry for them. Other than garrison duty, this is the only contract I could find. And you know how garrison duty pays.”
He reviewed the terms of the contract. “They want us to do what, exactly? Round up a posse and go chasing after this guy? What did he do?”
“I dunno, but he must have pissed someone off. Basically said we could either scrap their mechs or let em surrender, but either way, no salvage on this one.”
“Damn. Well, guess its their unlucky day. He flipped through the contract. By the looks of it, we ought to catch with their pants down. Outnumbered, outgunned, should be easy pickin's.”
“Don't jinx it. Finish that paperwork, cause were shipping out tomorrow.”
*
Jesse said, “Are you sure about this commander?”
“Never been more sure of anything in my life.” The data core on one of the omni's they'd purchased had a ghost image, they'd wiped the drive a couple times but they had managed to extract the most recent mission data from the magnetic resonance. The data showed there was a star league aerospace bunker somewhere on this planet, right under the Davions noses, not far from terra. The cache could be worth millions, maybe billions. He'd already stripped the ECM gear from the recon mechs he'd picked up off of eli, that alone should be worth several million to the right buyer.
Jesse said, “I'm just saying, isn't it kind of odd they would leave that data just sitting there on one of their old mechs? Those facilities looked pretty advanced, it doesn't seem like something that they would let slide...”
Sparrow, who was feeling ahead of the game, was in no mood to argue about it. “People make mistakes. Clans are no exception. Why don't you keep your mouth shut and work on earning your callsign?”
Hawk said, “That kind of talk is bad for morale, roadkill. You want us to go back to calling you stool pigeon?”
Jesse gritted his teeth. He hated that name. They'd gotten in a fight in a bar in Solaris, and Sparrow was losing, badly. Jesse called the police and they'd all spent a night in cell. It wasn't the name that bothered him, it was the implication, like he couldn't be trusted. “No sir.”
This stretch of the planet was dry, but there was life on this planet. It wasn't a dead world, far from it, life abounded here. The problem was that the bacteria here had grown too virulent, the world was too primal, too feral. You needed life support and air filters to survive for more than a few hours here, and the terrain was dangerous, as were the plants and animals. Still, the atmosphere was breathable, and with proper medical attention and antibiotics somebody could survive here for weeks or even months at a time.
They weren't alone. Several aerospace pilots were along for the ride, pulled off of their normal duties and shoved into several APC's they made their trek across the expanse. The desert made good cover for the base. Hawk hardly noticed the protrusion until they were nearly right on top of it. When they reached the blast doors it seemed like they had been buried under years of dirt and sand, and for a minute he wondered if the codes they'd pulled from their intel would work. The doors shuddered, then began to pry open, when Jesse breathed a sigh of relief.
Inside, Sparrow was like a kid in a candy store. “There must be dozens, no hundreds! We're going to have to make more than one trip! We're finally going to be rich!”
Jesse smirked. They were never exactly poor, but ever since he'd been forced to support his uncle sparrow in his unsuccessful coupe inside his own family, they weren't exactly living the high life either. They still styled themselves as nobility, but ever since they'd been kicked out of the family, they had lost a great deal of prestige.
Sparrow radioed the aerospace commander. “How long until you boys are set up?”
“Four hours, give or take.”
“Four hours?! I've seen pilots scramble in less than fifteen minutes! Whats the ****** holdup?!”
“Its not that simple. Most of these are rookie pilots, they barely know how to handle their aircraft. Many of these machines were manufactured in different sectors of the galaxy, labeled in many different languages, with different operating systems. Some of them might not even work. They all need to be refueled and prepped for launch, which takes time. We need to take inventory, then our pilots need to be briefed and spend some time in the simulator rigs we brought with us to familiarize themselves with their machines.”
Sparrow was disappointed, but he kept his cool. “I want these machines to have lift off in three hours, understand? Anyone who's not out by then can hitch their own ride home.”
“Yes sir.”
After two hours of waiting, Raven had taken some time to go outside and stretch. She caught two pilots sitting there playing cards, and she lost her temper. “You there! What are you doing?”
They stood at attention. “Sir! We were just, uh, playing cards, sir!”
“Your pilots, aren't you? Why aren't you sitting in the cockpit of one those fighters over there? We are prepping to leave here in less than thirty minutes!”
“Sir, we are only jr. cadets, we are not authorized to fly without permission..”
Raven pulled out her laser pistol and fired it at the table. “If your not up and moving and into those cockpits in the next five minutes, I'm going to burn a hole through you skulls and use them to go bowling!”
They all waited listlessly for time to pass. Raven got suited and took Jesse out by the front of the entrance to run perimeter patrols, just to keep him busy. Sparrow had tried to take a nap in his cockpit, but he wasn't having much luck. Hawk radioed him, giving him a wave from his cockpit. “Got a minute, commander?”
“I suppose. What is it.”
“I've been thinking about what Jesse said.”
“Jesse's a good kid, reminds me of my father.”
“Didn't you kill your fa-” Hawk remembered his place and held his tongue. “Uh, what I meant to say was, the kids got a point. I mean, I know people make mistakes and all, but that Eli looked like he ran a pretty tight ship. I think he knew what he was doin'.”
Sparrow sighed. “Yeah, you're right. I'm starting to get that feeling again.”
Raven came running up to him, “Prep the flight deck! We got company!”
Hawk said, “Aww, shit!” He patched into the bases alert systems and activated the air raid sirens.
The aerospace commander, who had been lecturing in front of viewscreen, said, “Damn it! Alright, class dismissed! Move-Move-Move!” Thirty pilots scrambled onto the flight deck and began climbing into their canopy. “How much time do we have?”
Sparrow looked at raven who held up ten fingers, made a fist, then held up two more while her cockpit slid down.
“Twelve mechs, closing fast. I want those fighters out of here yesterday, understand?”
“Understood.”
Sparrow said, “Hawk, go outside and see if you can buy us some time.”
“What do you want me to do?”
“I dunno, parley, trade, surrender, just give us a few more minutes!”
Recruit Jennings, who had been sitting in his cockpit reading a girlie mag, jumped up out of his seat when he heard the siren. “Commander, whats going on?”
“We're prepping for launch!”
“I don't have my flight partner here, what should I do?”
“Takeoff!”
“Roger!”
He have his fellow cadets the thumbs up, then motioned to the hanger doors.
Hawk had taken his mech outside. “This is Sparrow's Stormcrows. Incoming company, please identify yourselves.”
Cole hit his comms, “This is Cole's Cavalry. Be advised, we are to treat all forces in the area as hostile. Surrender your mechs and you will not be harmed.”
Hawk said, “What kind of bullshit-”
Sparrow cut him off on the comms. “Be quiet, you jackass! They are sitting on eight heavies, at least!”
Sparrow addressed Cole, “We are sitting on about two hundred million worth of star league aerospace equipment. What do you say we split it with you, fifty fifty?”
Cole thought he saw a radar ping off in the rear distance. He quickly turned to look, and though he might of seen another mech hiding over the bluff behind him. He looked at his radar again, and the ping was gone. “Am I being watched?” He thought. “You're looking at twelve mechs. You're intel says you only got four, and right now, I only see one. Look, why don't you call it quits, Sparrow? You had a good run, had some tough luck. In three days we can all be back at outreach laughing about it over a beer. I might even have a spot for you on my team...”
“Like hell, Cole. We may not have much but these mechs are clan tech. Its going to cost you more to pick a fight with us than you're going to get out of this contract, I can guarantee it. Sixty-Fourty, your favor that's my final offer-”
They were both interrupted by the sound of the bunkers self destruct sequence activating. “Thirty seconds and counting… twenty-nine… twenty-eight...”
Crow moved his Puma towards the blast bay doors next to hawk. “You son of a bitch! There's no reason to blow us both out of the water!”
Yet another voiced appeared over the comms. “Commander Cole, you will finish you're mission as you have been instructed.” The ping showed up clearly now, and with magnification on his rear view Cole could the mech observing far in the distance. “The terms of your contract are quite clear, you are to apprehend them or destroy their mechs. You waived the right to all salvage, as per the terms of your agreement.”
Sparrow said, “Eli? Is that you? You son of a bitch! You're playing both sides! Cole, don't listen to him, Eli is a clanner!”
Cole cut his comms. He looked visibly pained as he reviewed the terms of his contract in his mind. Four light mechs, no salvage, at that price? He knew it was too good to be true, and breech clause would likely bankrupt him. “...Sorry Sparrow.”
Sparrow tried hailing them again. Hawk said, “They're not responding.”
“Hawk, I want you to exchange fire with their command lance, see if you can get them to follow your Dasher. The rest of will stick together and head towards to forests to the north. We will rondevous at at nav point gamma, where we will reschedule our dustoff. Move it Stormcrow's!”
Recruit Jennings heard the countdown and panicked. He started hitting random buttons flipping switches, trying to remember his training to prep for launch. He set his throttle and taxied onto the runway while the rest of the pilots ran through their preflight checklist. He and his friends Rando and Carle were stationed closest to the hanger doors, if anybody stood a chance of making it out alive, it was them.
He exchanged nervous glances with Rando, then closed his eyes and punched the throttle. “Three...Two...One...” The whole world seemed to explode as he went flying through the blast doors and up into the air. He let out a yell, then a shout as he realized he was still alive. He turned around to see carly crashing against the top of the blast doors on her way out, followed by Rando, who trailed behind him screaming over the comms. They both made it out to see the armored cluster beneath them turn into tiny little dots as they passed over the horizon.
Hawk risked a glance back at the bunker as it lie in ruins, then fired off his laser battery at the Bushwacker that had taken the lead. “Come and get me you bastards!”
*