17

[Note: This is not a "sexy story". It is a mix of WW II "The Great Escape" and Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Achipelago"... set in outer space)

Chapter 16: The Last Stand

One week later.

Took:

The War Captain, the Whisperer and I had managed to evade detection for several days after our botched attempt to enter the spaceport. The War Captain decided it would be too dangerous for us to make another attempt, and we relied on his assessment.

"So what should we do?" I had asked.

The War Captain advised that we should go to ground for a few days, and then figure out a way to get access to a transmitter so we could get help from the League. Where we would find such a transmitter and how we would get access to it was left undiscussed. For now, our main priority was evading capture.

Teams of Redcaps were on our trail. Every time we would hide out in some basement or attic, we would only stay a short time before the War Captain, looking outside and perhaps seeing something we didn't, would say it was time to go. More than once we heard the sounds of sirens right after we made such an abrupt departure. It was impossible to tell how the War Captain knew that pursuit was closing in, but he seemed to have that talent. We were all nervous because we knew that no one, not even the War Captain, was infallible.

I was a nervous wreck. The Whisperer showed no emotion. The War Captain merely looked grim.

We evaded pursuit for about a week, often staying just one step or less ahead of the Redcaps. They had so many teams combing the area, that it was difficult to keep from being spotted.

Finally the War Captain pursed his lips and made a decision. "It's time for us to leave the city."

"I don't think we'll be able to get on mass transport," I said. "And even if we steal a vehicle, there will be checkpoints."

"Which is why we have to walk out, through the countryside."

"The countryside," I said. "And where are we going?"

"A town called Kermeda," said the War Captain.

"How far away is that?"

The War Captain pursed his lips. "70 Sluromiles."

70 Sluromiles. In the snow. And we were already exhausted.

"We don't have enough provisions to get there," I said.

"Then we'll hunt for food," said the War Captain.

"And what do we do once we get there?"

The War Captain paused. "We go to ground."

In other words, there was no plan. Even the War Captain had run out of ideas.

Or had he? Perhaps a tactical retreat was the best thing to do. Sure enough, the War Admiral had done it enough times to prove the tactic valid in some situations. But perhaps we should discuss it further-

"Let's go, then," said the Whisperer bluntly.

Debate over.

We made our way out of the city on foot, constantly watching for patrols. We headed west, and in two days came to the bank of a large river.

"We must cross," said the War Captain.

I looked at the wide river. If we swam, we would surely freeze to death.

He paused. "There may be a bridge farther to the south."

We started walking again.

Suddenly we heard a sound in the distance. On the horizon, I could see a dot getting bigger.

And there was no cover on this windswept plain.

"Start digging," said the War Captain sharply.

We started digging furiously as the sound got louder. From the sound of it, it was a patrol plane of some kind.

As it got close, we climbed into the hasty holes we had dug in the snow and covered ourselves up, leaving only a little space for air.

The patrol plane swept over us. We could hear the noise of its engines quite clearly now.

We waited a moment, and then the plane swept away. The sound started to dissipate.

A few moments later, however, the sound grew louder. It made another pass over our position, and then another, and then another.

I heard someone getting up. "You can get up," I heard the War Captain's voice say. "They've found us."

We found no avenue of escape, so we started a fast march to the south. If we could get to a forest or terrain which might allow us to hide before pursuit caught up to us, there was a slim chance we might escape. But ahead all we saw was a flat plain along the river.

The patrol plane followed us in a lazy pattern.

"They're not firing on us," I said.

The Whisperer said nothing.

"There will be shuttles here soon enough," said the War Captain calmly. "We need to find cover or escape by then."

"How long do we have?" I asked.

"Perhaps thirty minutes," said the War Captain.

I looked at the horizon. There was no sign of a way to escape.

Sure enough, almost exactly thirty minutes later, several shuttles came into view on the horizon.

There was still no way to escape. The War Captain stopped walking, and so did the Whisperer and I.

"I wonder how they found us," the Whisperer said conversationally.

"We had no time to cover our tracks," said the War Captain.

Our footprints! I hadn't even thought of that.

"But that wasn't enough," said the War Captain. We watched the shuttles close in. "They probably have satellites scanning every inch around the city, watching for movement. With our limited assets, and their overwhelming manpower and technology, we never stood a chance."

The shuttles were getting very close.

"So what do we do now?" I asked.

"Do?" said the War Captain.

"What's the plan?" I said, getting desperate, as I watched the shuttles move into position to land.

"There is no plan," said the War Captain. He started to dig in the snow around him.

"What are you doing?"

"If I'm going to die, I'd like to take a few of them with me," he said, building up the snow around him, as if that would protect him from blaster fire.

"And what if we surrender?"

The War Captain gave a mirthless smile. "We're marked for death, remember?"

"There must be something we can do!" I said. "I'm a Took, and Tooks never give up!" I turned to the river at our backs. "Let's swim it!"

"You'll freeze to death before you get halfway across," said the War Captain.

"At least we'd have a chance," I said.

"I don't think so," said War Captain Emmett North.

"Why don't you at least try?"

The War Captain turned to me. "If I'm to die, I want to take a few of them with me," he repeated.

The shuttles landed in different locations around us, about 300 feet away. Troops started to disembark. We lay prone behind our makeshift fortifications, blasters drawn.

The troops formed a ring around us. It looked like a platoon, maybe more.

"I'm sorry," said the War Captain suddenly.

"For what?" I asked, startled.

"Sorry I couldn't be him," said the War Captain.

I didn't know how to respond to that. We watched the troops slowly approach, blaster rifles raised.

"You've got nothing to apologize for," I said. I raised my blaster and got ready.

The Redcaps advanced. They didn't even bother asking for our surrender. They intended to kill us, plain and simple.

The ring closed in... 250 feet.

Our blasters could be aimed effectively up to about 70 feet. It wouldn't be long now.

200 feet.

So this was it. The end. I couldn't believe it!

180 feet

I cast a quick glance at the river. As a last resort, I decided, I would jump in.

150 feet.

I heard a noise on the horizon.

100 feet.

Another shuttle approached.

Louder now, closer.

No, it wasn't a shuttle, but a small transport.

The troops stopped advancing. They seemed to be confused.

The transport landed outside the zone where the shuttles had parked. Several figures exited.

They calmly made their way through the Redcap lines unmolested.

Obviously, these were backup units.

But they didn't look like Redcaps. For one thing, they were in civilian clothes. And there were only three of them. Were these senior government officials? We was too far away to see them clearly.

The three went up to a Redcap officer. They had some kind of discussion with him. It seemed to be very animated.

And then... nothing. The three started walking towards us. As they got closer I could see they only had blasters, and even these were holstered. But I grabbed my blaster and aimed cautiously.

"Hold your fire!" said the Whisperer, in the loudest voice I had ever heard.

He stood up. I waited for him to be cut down and then, when nothing happened, I stood up myself, where the War Captain already stood.

"Took your time in getting here, didn't you?" said the Whisperer hoarsely.

One of the newcomers just looked at the Whisperer. "Better late than never," said the man, whose name I would later learn was The Silencer, the most legendary bounty hunter on all of Grafton II.

There were three of them. I learned, much later, that two of them were the Whisperer's brothers, called The Silencer and the Ken Pilot. As I've mentioned, the Silencer was reputed to be one of the top gunslingers on Grafton, the mercenary-high-speed-quick-reaction planet. The Ken Pilot was reputed to be one of the best pilots, and an incredibly accurate shot as well. I had heard of the Silencer by reputation, but at the time I wasn't familiar with the Ken Pilot. Neither did I know third person, a woman, whose name was Annie Oakley, but from her name I should've guessed that she was a gunfighter too. She smiled gingerly and tipped her cowgirl hat at us.

"So what's the situation?" The Whisperer asked.

"I offered them terms of surrender."

"And they didn't accept?"

"No."

"Whose surrender?" I asked.

"Theirs," said the Silencer dismissively.

The Whisperer looked over at Annie. "Why did you bring her?"

The Silencer looked irritated. "I told her we could handle it."

"Handle it?" I said. "There's at least 50 men out there."

The Silencer didn't even look at me. "They gave me a minute to persuade you to surrender."

"That's nice," said the Whisperer. And then he seemed to actually laugh! And then he said, "Are you ready?"

A gunfight! Just the six of us against 50 redcaps! I gulped. "I guess so."

The Whisperer looked at me coldly. "I didn't mean you, sheep. You're useless. When the shooting starts, try to stay down, and maybe you'll live."

"What?"

"We both should stay down," said the War Captain. "They know what they're doing."

The Silencer nodded slightly.

I had to ask. "How can the four of you can take on 50 Redcaps?"

The Silencer shrugged fractionally, as if the question was of no consequence.

We heard a harsh whistle blowing ahead of us. A signal. The Redcaps started to move in.

-and suddenly the Graftonites were diving to the ground and opening fire.

Their blasters shouldn't have been effective at this range, but they were, partially because the enemy was all bunched up together, and partially because the Graftonites were top shots.

The Redcaps started to fire back, but it took them precious seconds to realize that they couldn't aim effectively at prone targets 70 feet away. They started to kneel down, or crawl forward, firing wildly in the hopes that a stray bolt would hit.

Blasterfire sizzled all around me. I tried to fire back, but at this distance I wasn't sure I'd hit anything.

Some of the Redcaps, yelling wildly, started to charge. The Silencer, The Whisperer, Annie Oakley and the Ken Pilot mowed the first line down, but they kept coming.

Some Redcaps got close enough to get accurate shots. One of them aimed at the Silencer while he was busy shooting someone else.

Without pausing, the Silencer swung his body around, finished shooting the Redcap he was aiming at, and killed the Redcap aiming at him, while rolling his body a third time to avoid another Redcap aiming at him.

The rapidly ducking and dodging Graftonites confused the Redcaps, who kept trying to establish a steady aim. The Ken Pilot purposely dodged around one Redcap, so another Redcap accidentally hit his comrade instead. The Silencer was like a blur. And Annie Oakley was dropping Redcaps at a rapid rate.

And then in seconds... it was over.

The field was littered with bodies. In the distance, we could see two Redcaps running away. The Silencer calmly waited a few seconds, as if counting to ten, and then shot the two distant Redcaps dead. I guess he wasn't happy about the treatment they had inflicted on his brother.

Incredibly, I was unharmed. The others were also unhurt, except for the Whisperer, who had been grazed by a blaster shot in the arm.

"Clumsy of you, little brother" said the Silencer, even as he moved to bandage the Whisperer's arm.

"Clumsy of him?" I said. "There were over 50 of them!"

"They were only Redcaps," said the Silencer dismissively.

"What?" I said. They had been professionally trained soldiers!

The Silencer turned to the Whisperer. "Do we have to rescue him too?"

When we got back to the transport, I was in for another surprise: we found none other than Clifford Croft waiting for us.

"You got the message out," I said stupidly.

Before Croft could reply, the Silencer spoke.

"We can handle all the obvious questions later. Right now we'd better leave and get off-planet before they realize what's happened," he said.

20 minutes later, we were in space.

And then, four days later, we were on Errata. I was free. Free!

Chapter 17: How Did Croft Do It?

Several days earlier:

Croft:

I lay on the rooftop with my badly twisted ankle, as the two Slurian guards looked at me, their blasters drawn. One of them said in Slurian, "Shall we take him back for interrogation?"

"No," said the second, and I saw he was an officer. "Our orders are to eliminate him on sight."

He actually smiled as he saw the terror on my face as he aimed his blaster.

"You can't do this," I said, struggling to sit up.

"Why not?" said the Redcap Lieutenant.

"Because I'm on the territory of a foreign government."

The Redcap looked confused. "What do you mean?"

"When we dropped down onto this rooftop, we dropped down into the Rurrian embassy compound."

The Redcap laughed. "You think that's going to help you?" He pointed his weapon more steadily at me. "Who's going to stop me?"

"Uh, actually, they will," I said, pointing.

The Redcaps heard a shout behind them. There were now two more guards on the rooftop, with blasters drawn.

Only these guards wore the uniforms of Rurrian marines. And their weapons were pointed at the Redcaps.

"Hands up!" they shouted.

The Redcap dropped his weapon, giving me a look of pure rage.

My flight of escape hadn't been entirely so random. I knew

exactly

which roof I had landed on.

Inside the Rurrian embassy compound.

My escape wasn't quite as easy as it sounds. The Rurrians, while not a puppet government of the Slurians, did have an alliance of sorts with the Slurians, and they didn't want to risk their mining deals they had with the Slurians.

However, I had low friends in high places in the Rurrian government. Two interstellar phone call later, I found myself in the office of the Director of Consular Affairs at the embassy.

"You have created quite a situation for us," said the Director, pouring a cup of gauche. "Would you like a cup?"

I shook my head. The steaming brew concoction was not my choice of liquids.

"Normally we would turn you over to the Slurians," said the Director, matter of factly. "But it seems the Second Deputy Minister of Defense does not want this to happen. I'd be curious to know how he came to owe you a favor."

"It's a long story," I said.

"I'm sure it is," the Director sighed. "In other circumstances we would smuggle you out. But the Slurians have surrounded the embassy. We won't turn you over to them, but I don't see how you can escape. And you

can't

simply stay here," he added pointedly.

"Does your hospitality extend for four days?" I inquired.

"Four days? I suppose so," said the Director. "What will happen then?"

"I'll leave," I said simply. I had made two interstellar calls; only one of them had been to the Rurrians.

I spent the next few days inside. I knew the Slurians were surrounding the compound, and didn't want to give them the slightest excuse to snatch or even snipe me. The embassy staff was nervous, but I exuded confidence.

Four days later my ride arrived--a small transport, landing right in the courtyard.

The Silencer, Annie Oakley, and a man I didn't know stepped out of the transport, ignoring the Rurrians who were running around shouting.

"Right on time," I said. "How many men did you bring?"

"We're all here," said the Silencer.

"What did you mean? I told you to bring the troops!"

"Just tell us where he is, Croft," said the Silencer.

"Well, I don't know exactly where-"

"You brought us all the way here and you can't tell me where my brother is?" said the Silencer, getting a dangerous glint in his eyes.

There were shouts in the background. "We'd better get out of here," said Annie.

We climbed into the shuttle and I explained the situation rapidly, even as the man I hadn't been introduced to initiated takeoff. I later learned he was the Silencer's brother, known as the Ken Pilot.

"If we could tap into the Redcap network, maybe I could find out-"

"We wasted all this time getting here, and I'm not going to waste any more," said the Silencer. He landed the shuttle in the middle of a major thoroughfare, not far from the embassy. I could see Redcaps scrambling through the street to greet us.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

The Silencer moved to the shuttle's door. The other man went with him. "Wait here," he told Annie. He and the other men stepped out the door. After a few seconds, Annie, her hands on her pearl handled blasters, followed.

What followed was carnage. I heard sounds of massive blaster fire, screams, and sirens. Five minutes later the Silencer, not even sweating, returned, as the other man escorted a Redcap in at gunpoint. Annie brought up the rear. I saw the Redcap was a Captain.

The Silencer put the muzzle of his still warm blaster to the man's head. "Where are they?" he asked, in that deadly voice of his.

"I... I don't know," said the Redcap, in Slurian.

"Translate," said the Silencer.

"He doesn't know," I said.

The Silencer tensed on the trigger.

"Wait!" I said.

"What's the problem?" asked the Silencer. "We'll get you another one."

"You may not be asking the right question." I spoke to the Redcap in Slurian. He spoke rapidly, now eager to help. He gave me his datalink, and told me the appropriate codes to press. I studied the readouts for a few seconds.

"Well?" said the Silencer coldly. Intellectually I knew his blaster wasn't pointed at me, but I broke out into a cold sweat.

"Just give me a few more seconds," I said, reading rapidly. Then, "The latest intel has them fleeing the city on foot to the east. Forces have already been dispatched to intercept them."

"How old is that last report?" the Ken Pilot asked..

"30 minutes," I said grimly. They had a head start.

The Silencer looked at the prisoner grimly, and then, lowering his aim, shot him fatally in the chest.

"Hey!" I was no big fan of the Redcaps, but that was excessive.

The Silencer ignored me, moving to the pilot's console.

I strapped myself in, and Annie sat next to me.

"He's very angry about how they've treated Martin," said Annie. "I think he's going to kill every Redcap he sees until we get Martin back." She glanced worriedly at his determined expression. "And maybe more after that."

"Who's the other guy?" I asked, gesturing to the copilot seat.

"That's David, John's brother," said Annie, referring to the Ken Pilot.

"And that's all you brought? Why didn't you bring anyone else?" I said.

"David and John felt they could handle it. They didn't even want me coming, but I insisted," said Annie. She looked at me. "You look terrible. How have you been doing, Clifford?"