Children of Steel Read online

  "Too bad there isn't any breeze tonight or we'd probably be able to smell it." I stopped scanning the camp and turned my attention to the military compound, "You know, those towers are all automated, I bet it really doesn't take a big force to hold this place."

  He looked at me thoughtfully, and then smiled, "and we've seen a lot of troops heading in the opposite direction."

  "I bet once the shooting starts, they won't even think about trying to take back a place like this either." I said thoughtfully. I motioned the others up then and gave them a quick summery of my ideas.

  "Well," said Brasile, "The main installation isn't fortified against any kind of outside attack, it should be pretty easy."

  "Okay, let’s do it then!" I smiled at them and everybody smiled back. The idea of rescuing prisoners was always a popular one, unfortunately in this conflict there had been too few to be saved.

  We took all of the remaining explosives, about fifty pounds worth, and started out by placing charges on the six towers closest to us. That would open up an escape hole for the prisoners should our efforts fall short. Next we circled around to the far side of the installation, sunrise was now only thirty minutes away and the false dawn was already beginning to rob us of cover.

  There were only four sentries on duty in the compound, two at the front gate, and another two at the gate to the camp inside. We were able to find and identify all of the external sensors pretty quickly. Finding an area that was covered by only one camera, we started in, the other sensors were easily bypassed or avoided. On my signal one of my troops shot the camera out with her silenced rifle, and the rest of us then charged down to the fence and in less than twenty seconds had bypassed the sensor strands and cut a hole. I then sent Hess and Jan to take out the two at the front and Brasile to get the two at the back. Grabbing my last troop I started sneaking around the buildings and we placed the last of our charges on the most likely looking ones.

  Hess and Jan caught up with us then, and we took cover as the charges on the towers started blowing.

  The camp's lights and alarms all went off at once and people started running out of doorways just as the buildings we had mined started to explode. There had only been enough charges to cover about six of the structures so we quickly found ourselves in a firefight with about thirty of the enemy troops. Kay our sharpshooter was picking them off from her position on the rise behind them, and Brasile had a good flanking position as well. With the remaining four of us concentrating fire from the front, it didn't look too good for them. But I was still surprised when they started waving a white flag.

  "Hold your fire!" I called over the comm circuit.

  "You sure you don't want us to just finish them off?" Came back Brasile's reply on the comm.

  I looked at the buildings that they were still holding, if they retreated back into those they could hold us off for hours, and I still had no idea which one was the control center. "No, let's take 'em prisoner. I don't want to sit here all day. Be careful though everybody! I don't want to fall into any traps.

  "Throw down your weapons and stand up with your hands on your head!" I called out, and watched carefully as they complied. "Okay, now march single file over to the perimeter fence!" I again watched as they followed orders.

  "Kay," I spoke into the comm, "If they try anything, cut 'em down."

  "Sure thing Sir," she replied quietly.

  "You two go and start a building to building search," I pointed to two of the three with me, "Take it slow and careful, if you're not sure toss in a grenade or something okay?"

  "Yes Sir!" and they started off across the grounds.

  "Cover me Hess, I'm going to check these guys out," I said as I started cautiously over towards the prisoners. There were actually about sixteen of them and none of them looked like real soldiers, about what you'd expect for a prison camp detail I guess. I checked my watch; it was still about four hours until the main forces were due to hit.

  "Okay, who's in command here?" I growled at them. "Keep your hands on your head!" I yelled and pointed my rifle as one started to raise his hand.

  "I am sir," he said putting his hands back. "I am Colonel Ulm of the Work Camps division. I run this camp."

  "Unn Raj," I heard the Corporal's voice on the comm, "We got people starting to come out of the buildings and they're headed this way."

  "What are they?" I asked,

  "Looks like a real mixed group from here, both Hum's and ani's. Mostly ani’s though. Any orders?"

  "Not yet," I turned my full attention back to the Colonel. "Okay Colonel, is this all of your staff?"

  "All that survived, that building you destroyed over there had another six in it, and I don't know what you did to my four guards on duty."

  "Where's the command center?"

  "It's the building your men are checking out," he nodded with his chin in its general direction.

  "Fine, now what is the purpose of this camp?" I was scanning them over carefully. A few seemed pretty nervous about the whole thing. I made sure I had my rifle on full auto in case anybody tried anything. They all looked at me as I flipped the selector.

  "You're not going to execute us are you?" the Colonel started shocked, "We're prisoners!"

  "Just answer the question," I growled, "Your side is the one that goes in for executions."

  He looked a little nervous for a second, "The present purpose of this camp is to provide workers at the factory inside the camp."

  "What do they make?" I asked curious.

  "Computer chips, and optical equipment. Nothing dangerous, just thing's we need for our economy."

  "And war effort too, right?" I stated bluntly, at least it didn't sound too bad.

  "Sir, you should take a look at this!" Came Tran's voice over the circuit, "I found skins in the commander's office, Cat skins!"

  "What's the name on the door?" I asked.

  "Colonel Ulm," she replied angrily.

  "Colonel," I said flipping my visor up so he could clearly see what I was, "I've just had an interesting discovery reported from your office," I stared at him, "Any last words?"

  "What? Those were from escapees! You can't execute me, I'm a prisoner!"

  "Watch me," I said coldly and zapped him right there in front of his people. I started at the head and just cut straight down, "Any other junior taxidermist's in the group?" I looked at the others; one in particular wasn't looking too well at all.

  "Maybe you?" I asked and started to point the gun at him.

  "No please don't, I haven't killed anyone!" he was looking desperate.

  I was aware of Brasile coming up behind me with several others; I guess they were from the camp.

  "Soldier, please don't shoot that man!" I heard somebody say behind me.

  It was like being struck with lightning, every strand of fur stood up on my body, my tail went rigid and started to quiver. I knew that voice.

  "Cassy?" I turned around and let my rifle point at the ground. I looked at the female Leopard standing with Brasile. Her coat was pretty ragged and she was thin as a rail, but it was her alright!

  "Raj?" she asked peering at me through half closed eyes, dull from malnutrition.

  "Cassandra!" I yelled and grabbed her, "I thought you were dead!" I hugged her for all I was worth.

  "Raj, please! Not so hard," she gasped, then as I eased off, "I didn't think I'd ever see you again either! It's been really bad; a lot of us didn't make it this long."

  I turned and looked over my shoulder at the prisoners lined against the fence; both Hess and my Corporal were keeping an eye on them now. "So why shouldn't I shoot the rest of them?" I asked snarling.

  "Please Raj," she said quietly, "let the others here decide what to do with them. But as to George over there," she pointed to the man I'd had been thinking of shooting next. "He was one of the better ones and helped a lot of people survive, including me."

  "You, George," I motioned to him, "Come here!"

  He walked over very quietly.r />
  "In a few hours all hell is going to break loose, if you got any family I suggest you grab them and go hide in the woods."

  He looked at me.

  "You're free to go," I said quietly, "You saved her life, so I'm giving you yours. I suggest you take it." I then called out on the comm and told everyone to let him pass.

  "Thank you both, very much!" he said, and then took off running like the devil himself was after him. Maybe he was.

  "What happens in a few hours?" asked Cassandra as I started walking to the command center with my arm around her. By now the other former prisoners had picked up the discarded weapons and were searching the new prisoners. Some they weren't treating too gently either.

  "Brasile, you're in charge out here. Tran go join Kay and keep an eye out for the enemy." I unkeyed the mike on the comm circuit and turned back to Cassandra, "In four hours the main forces are going to start their landing. The ships are probably entering orbit even now."

  "How many do you have with you?" she asked looking around as I sat down in a chair by one of the security consoles. I pulled her down onto my lap.

  "Just the squad, we were sent to take out a local sensor array. After that we came down here to stir up some trouble, I sure didn't expect to find a prison camp, or even you!" I started kissing her then.

  "Oh that feel's nice," she smiled at me, "But I don't think this is the right time. Plus I'm really not in the best of shape right now," she smiled again.

  "I don't care," I grinned myself. "But you're right; I've got you so I can wait a little longer." I started looking at the displays. The gear was all still active, so I started seeing what could be used to scan outside the walls. The automated guns on the towers would only face inside of course, but their cameras would scan outside as well.

  "So how did you end up here?" I asked keeping my arm around her and not letting her off my lap.

  "When we were hit on Trundle, they came in such a large force that there was no way we could resist. Once we surrendered they took those that they thought they could use." She stuck her face in my chest then, "and they killed the rest!" She finished quietly. "It was terrible Raj, the things they did, and the things we had to do to survive. I did a lot of things I'm not proud of, believe me."

  "Hey, as long as it kept you alive, I don't care what it was okay? I mean that, whatever you had to do is alright with me." I kissed the top of her head again. "You know you've got a nice little case of ringworm here?"

  "Yes silly," She laughed, "I know all about it. It's one of the things they keep circulating around the camp to keep us depressed. They kept our claws cut to nubs as well, and threatened to pull fangs if you didn't behave."

  "Ugh, what about the Colonel?"

  "You mean the one you tried to cut in half with a rifle?" She frowned at me. "Yeah he was a bad one alright, so were a lot of his staff. I really don't think many of them will be alive come tonight. A few like George will survive though; he didn't like some of the things that were being done. Felt that if we were dumb animals like everybody said, then they had a responsibility to treat us better."

  "I'm surprised they let him live!" I said shocked.

  "He kept his mouth shut around the brass, believe me, he does have a family and didn't want them to go hungry.

  "So how did you end up in a special ops combat group?" She looked questioningly at me, "I thought you were assigned to a transport?"

  "Well, about the time you got grabbed I was on a survey. The Astra got in battle someplace else and had to go straight to dry-dock; I guess it took a beating. Anyway things went bad on the survey and we weren't rescued for quite awhile. When I heard about you, you can imagine what happened. Then I volunteered for the worst thing I could find and this was it."

  "You couldn't have been too bad," she snuggled a little bit, "I mean you're still among the living!"

  "Only because my friends stopped me before I went too far," I admitted, "I was pretty bad there for a while though, did some pretty nasty things myself."

  She looked into my eyes for a while then, "I don't know Raj, you look okay to me."

  "Wait till you hear the stories the troops tell," I winced, "I even deserve a few of them!"

  "Sir! I have a truck approaching on the road!"

  "Damn!" I keyed the mike back on, "How far, and what's it got?"

  "Look's like five minutes max and I'd say it was empty."

  "Okay, get everybody under cover. If they come within range, open up on them. If they just see the damage they may think nobody's around, so don't show yourselves."

  They didn't come near however, as soon as they saw the six destroyed towers; they backed up and took off. That was fine with me; I sure didn't want to have to defend this place.

  "I guess we've talked long enough, I better go see about holding this place until we can get some reinforcement's here," I got up and sat her back down in the chair. "What condition are these people in? Can any of them fight?"

  "Oh, they'll fight, don't worry about that Dear! They'll fight!"

  We did manage to set up some defenses. It didn't take long to get the guns out of the towers and break into the small local armory. There were about five hundred prisoners in the camp, and I had arms for about seventy of them.

  The only trouble we had though was when a copter flew over to check us out. We weren't able to shoot it down, but we did hit it. Shortly after that our forces’ main attack started, and I managed to raise one of the command ships on our radio. After hearing our situation they promised us some more troops and told us to sit tight.

  Normally I would have been upset that I couldn't just go looking for trouble, but for once I was happy with the situation. The rest of my squad kept looking at me with disbelief, as I told them to relax, take it easy, and just keep their eyes open for any trouble.

  Maybe it was the idiot grin I had plastered on my face?

  Out of the fourteen prisoners that we had taken, only four survived. I didn't ask the former prisoners what they did with them; I felt that was their business. The four they left alive we kept locked up however, I didn't want to take any chances.

  Our reinforcements showed up about six hours after the invasion started, we got four squads of light infantry, one of which had a couple of handheld mortars. So I was fairly confident about the military situation. They also airdropped some supplies, and those with medical training among the former prisoners started treating everybody who needed it.

  They never did come and try to take back the prison camp. We were there for ten days while the battle raged around the planet. We lost our four squads three days later when the area was declared secure. They set up a field hospital here though, taking advantage of the number of doctors that had been among the prisoners, so a lot of the walking wounded ended up on the perimeter keeping their eyes open, in case anybody did show up.

  The battle ended quicker than a lot of us expected. Once they saw that they were going to lose, they turned on their leaders and executed them all, quite a few of the population suicided too. Then they surrendered unconditionally. The drop ships came in to pick us up four days later. The ice that was caked on the landing gear answered my question as to where they had hid out during the battles.

  Each unit was going back to its own frigate. I waited for the second trip myself and walked with Cassandra up the ramp. I hadn't let her out of my sight once since I had first put my arms around her, and had no intention of starting now.

  "Uh excuse me Raj," said the drop ship's navigator, he was the same Wolf WSO that had welcomed me when I had first signed aboard. "But the freed prisoners are going back on one of the transports."

  I looked at him real carefully and he started to get real nervous, "Excuse me Toumey," I said slowly, "allow me to introduce my mate Cassandra."

  He looked even more nervous then, "I don't think the Captain's going to like this!"

  "Let me worry about that!" I purred, and dragged a surprised Cassandra past him and into the ship. I found us a sect
ion of shock webbing that was unoccupied.

  "Did I miss something?" she asked looking at me, "Just when did we become mated?"

  "When I saw you were still alive," I smiled putting my head in her lap. The ship was almost empty, so I took advantage of the extra room and stretched out. "Do you think I could possibly stand the thought of losing you again? Once nearly killed me."

  "Don't I get a say in this?" she asked, "How do you know there isn't someone else?"

  "Of course you do, and I sorry if I hurt your feelings by assuming that it was a yes. As for somebody else, just tell me who and I'll see that he gets a proper burial when I'm finished with him." I peeked then to she if she was smiling, she was.

  "I bet you would too!"

  "Of course, so do I get an answer to my proposal?" I looked up at her then.

  "Yes and yes!" she leaned over and kissed me again. "If you're willing to take me when I look like this, I'd be a fool to pass it up!"

  "Ah, a few pounds and you'll look fine."

  "What about the Captain? What'll he say?" she asked worried as we lifted for the Falcon.

  "He'll say yes or else!" I growled.

  When we got to the ship the Captain actually met the shuttle, I was totally surprised, but I tightened my grip around Cassandra. He saw that and smiled at me, "Congratulations, I'm glad to see things worked out so well for you. Now grab your gear, I want you off this ship in six hours."

  "Excuse me," I asked shocked, "Sir?" I added hurriedly.

  He laughed at my expression, "Mated couples aren't allowed in special ops Raj, not that I expect this unit to be onboard after our next stop. I also have a feeling that several members of the crew aren't going to be happy to see you suddenly pulled from circulation, one especially."

  I thought about that, I guess that Aruba pretty much had considered me hers.

  "Anyway," he continued, "I don't want the crew to see the 'Terror of Falcon Block' walking around besotted, they'd be laughing too hard to do anything. So I got you a berth on one of the transports, the Captain was more than willing to cooperate. Good luck Raj, we'll all miss you!"

  I saluted, and went to collect my things with Cassandra in tow.