Outlaws: Assignment Darklanding Read online

  He ditched the thought and slid on one leg, popping back to his feet like a professional athlete as he reached his destination. Turning, aiming, firing three times in rapid succession, he ducked down and darted to another structure.

  The mercenary raiders were good. They understood what he was doing and bounded forward in squads and fire teams to block him.

  Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, he thought as his enemies surrounded him with an impenetrable perimeter.

  Movement blurred the swirling A19 to his right. Someone tackled him from his left. He hit the ground hard. Any soldier, human or otherwise, in combat armor weighed two or three times that of a grown man, depending on the model and the natural size of the operator.

  Thad tucked his right hand close to his body to protect his blaster and reached out to slow his fall with his left hand. He tried to roll but got smashed instead. Two more of the goons jumped on and started throwing knees and elbows at his exposed body parts.

  He twisted to avoid direct strikes when he could. He hit one in the throat with the barrel of his blaster and wished he had time to reload. Armor defeated the throat smash. He lacked the leverage to transfer sufficient force with the strike. Throat punching normally worked a lot better.

  “Hey,” he grunted. “I need to reload. Give me a minute.”

  One of them laughed—in a seriously unfriendly way—while the other beat him like a rented mule.

  “Balls! Do I owe you guys money?”

  The largest of his three assailants stood, cocked back his right arm, and dropped his elbow down with the full weight of his body behind it.

  Thad felt the hammer-like blow to his head. The world blurred. He felt himself getting tossed around. Someone took his blaster.

  The beating ended.

  A tall shadow stood over him.

  “I’m losing patience with you, Sheriff. Next time, I’m taking the Raven’s Haven kids and your head.” The mercenary leader’s voice sounded strained.

  Airships lifted off, climbing higher than when they had come in. As quickly as the confrontation had begun, it ended.

  Thad went to his ship. Amanda had Ryan sitting up as she applied a pressure bandage to his head. Children straggled in from the storm, gathering at their feet. Some cried, others stared at nothing in shell-shocked silence. Some of the older kids clenched their fists and glared at Thad.

  “Leave him be,” Amanda said. “He didn’t cause this.” The way she looked at Ryan, Thad thought she blamed him despite her words.

  Thad opened and closed his hands, convinced he had broken all of his fingers during the fight. Pain throbbed through his head and he tasted blood. “Did either of you know the old sheriff?”

  Amanda tried to stifle a snort, before starting to cry.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: White Skull

  Sledge had learned how to fly small vehicles, especially the requisitioned kind, during training in a previous life. He surprised his instructors, none of whom took the time to think about where he had grown up or what ranchers did in this day and age. He could fly fixed wings, helicopters, and freight-hauling dropships before he received his driver’s license. He had learned to drive tractors and combines before he was eight. And just like his brothers and sisters, he was in the saddle before he could walk.

  The motorized T-glider didn’t have much power and was at the mercy of wind gusts and updrafts. He had launched from the mesa of Darklanding and dropped roughly into Transport Canyon what felt like an eternity ago. All he wanted now was to make it to rock bottom.

  Sand and other debris sprayed against the pseudo-glass window. The tail end of a night storm slammed the tiny craft side to side and up and down. The motion grew worse the closer he came to the ground. Michael “Sledge” Hammer whistled an old song as he worked the controls.

  The struts made contact with the blood red sandflat, slamming him forward in the seat as he relaxed his grip on the controls just enough to keep from digging a hole in the red grit with his tiny ship.

  Ungwilook’s A19 storm possessed an ominous appearance down there. It was as though the atmosphere was a living creature that had withdrawn its wrath and was now settling down to eat.

  Raven’s Haven was a typical frontier settlement operating without a license. The first thing Sledge had done after arriving on the planet was to get a list of all such places. He located thirty-seven through official records, rumor, and confidential informants.

  After Dixie gave him the tip about Ruby, he had checked two others. Raven’s Haven was the last possible place he could find Ruby based on Dixie’s information.

  Sand and other debris, some of it local trash and some of it parts of the train wreck, had been thrust against the foundations of the temporary shelters by the night storm. He looked at the sad buildings and wondered how long they had been there. Like most worlds designed to be pillaged and forgotten, he suspected they would be here until the end.

  Doors and natural points of cover such as corners and loading docks were marked with evidence of blaster and kinetic weapons. He didn’t bother looking for bodies or blood. There was one street that divided the residences and more utilitarian structures, although he didn’t see much difference between the two. At the end of the road was a science building.

  A caravan of ground vehicles powered by simple combustion engines arrived. Work crews climbed down from the high-wheeled vehicles. Children rushed toward them.

  Sledge slowed his pace, hoping he could draw out the moment. Once they saw him, tensions would rise. There was one particular group of individuals that interested him. A man and a woman, probably scientists, stood over Sheriff Thaddeus Fry, who sat on an all-purpose storage crate holding an ice pack to the side of his head. He wore bandages that weren’t new, but seemed to have been well cared for and clean since his injuries.

  Sledge enjoyed the family reunions for as long as he could. Before he knew it, he was standing over the sheriff. “Looks like somebody rolled you,” he laughed.

  Thaddeus saluted him with one finger.

  “I didn’t expect to find you here. What’d you do, piss off the locals?”

  “I’d like to see how you do against a squad of ground pounders in full exoskeleton armor,” Thaddeus said.

  Sledge did a three-point check of his tactical gear without having to look. First, he touched the butt of his blaster where it hung in his thigh holster, then the extra charge magazines clipped to the back of his belt out of sight, and finally the short-barreled blaster hanging down his back under his coat.

  The sheriff looked at him, realizing what type of elements he carried. Sledge hadn’t wanted him to know he was ready for war, and was always ready, but such was life.

  “You travel pretty well-heeled for an SI,” Thaddeus said.

  “I do.” Sledge nodded. He looked around, assessing the terrain and where he would move if an attack came. “Nothing I have on me will stop armored grunts.”

  “What branch did you serve in?” the sheriff asked.

  Sledge ignored the question. “You should have tried negotiation.”

  The sheriff laughed and winced at the pain this caused. “I tried that. This is what negotiation looks like on Ungwilook. Let me ask you a question. I know special investigators for SagCon are well-informed. What can you tell me about my predecessor?”

  Sledge laughed. “That’s not really part of my mission here. And I don’t think you want to hear it anyway.”

  The sheriff stood, leaned forward, moving more smoothly as he warmed up his joints and got past the pain of his wounds. “The leader of these outlaws claims to be the brother of my predecessor. No one in Darklanding wants to talk about them, so I haven’t got a good feel for what I’m dealing with. The mercenary leader that has been raiding this town has a personality that would get somebody a surprise gift of explosives. But just knowing he’s a jerk doesn’t help me much.”

  Sledge didn’t want to be involved in local drama. Everyone he met, and even people who knew him, misjudg
ed him. He was more than just a brute. “Do you read?”

  “It’s been a while,” the sheriff said.

  “That’s what I figured. I grew up on a ranch with less technology than this backward planet. I mean, we had what we needed, but it was a simpler life. Spent a lot of nights watching herds of cattle and whatnot. Read some books.”

  The sheriff yawned. “Good for you. Is this going to be a long story?”

  Sledge shook his head in disappointment. He hoped the man could be a kindred spirit, somebody who knew what it was like to always be the heavy. Maybe Thaddeus Fry was an intellectual at heart, but it was looking like the man didn’t appreciate literature. Sledge loved to read. He learned a lot about places and people and what happened when you put the two together. The story of the last sheriff was pretty common, but also classic.

  “The sheriff before you was called David Rings. His little brother is the guy who kicked your ass,” Sledge said.

  “I know his name. Also checked his rather uneventful military record. People tell stories, but there’s no real information on why somebody blew up his office. My office now.”

  “Wow, you’re pretty sharp. They teach you that in sheriff school?”

  “Ha, ha. We both know you actually have some training on how to conduct an investigation. I was a front-line soldier. We passed our prisoners off to the intelligence section.”

  Sledge wished he could start the conversation over. “All right, here it is. Sheriff David Rings had a brother by the name of Stacy. Stacy Rings didn’t like that name so he changed it to White Skull. There is, in fact, a long story leading up to that, but I don’t feel like telling it right now. Sheriff Rings and White Skull had been close, until they weren’t.”

  “Where did you gather your intelligence?”

  Sledge sighed. “I work for SagCon. Where do you think I got my information? I didn’t get it from the Company Man, if that’s your worry. Darklanding is an investment property. We have a file on it.”

  Sheriff Fry seemed to think about that for a moment. “I’m not calling him White Skull.”

  Sledge grimaced. “Call him Stacy and you’ll probably get killed. Course, you’ll probably get killed anyway. Because you’re stubborn.”

  “Why did you come to Darklanding?” the sheriff asked.

  “We covered this already.”

  “I’m out here in Transport Canyon investigating an act of sabotage that has cost SagCon billions of credits. You’re a special investigator for SagCon. Don’t you have an obligation to help me with this?”

  Sledge had seen this coming and let the moment draw out. “I can help.”

  “That’s it? No conditions?”

  “I am looking for someone. When I find her, that will be my number one priority regardless of what kind of mess you’ve gotten yourself into,” Sledge said.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: Title

  Twin moons looked down through a gap in the stormfront above Transport Canyon. The dense fog of A19 was finally starting to dissipate, though it gave an unreal quality to midnight. Ryan Gulliver was exhausted from hiding the children and helping the salvage operation. They’d already recovered a substantial amount of exotics and other minerals. It wasn’t as much as he had hoped, but it would fund their town for several months. He climbed to the top of a rock spire and set up his camera.

  “What am I doing up here?” he muttered. His hands felt like he was wearing mittens as he tried to set up the tripod. More than once, he had nearly fallen. He always wanted to be a photographer but never thought he’d get himself killed pursuing the dream. This night was the first time he had a chance for a decent glimpse of the hunt that so terrified the creatures of the canyon. Maybe this would be his chance to get a clear shot at the packs of Ungwilook wolves.

  He’d never seen a wolf clearly. About a year ago, he had taken a long-distance shot and caught a group of them running down something that looked like a herd of gazelles. Despite the campfire ghost tales, he believed they were just animals. Every ecosystem had predators. Their savagery was fascinating.

  For nearly an hour after he set up his telescopic lenses and fought to stay awake, nothing happened. His hopes rose when he saw a distant cluster of shadows running across one of the shallow streams near the edge of the canyon. He took several shots even though they were too far away to see clearly. Almost a minute after he saw them, he heard their distant howls and yapping.

  He took some pictures of the moons and the stars, then watched the transport lanes where ships queued up in the upper atmosphere before descending to the Darklanding spaceport. Commerce never slept. He took a few pictures, not excited about them, but understanding some people found them fascinating. Everybody liked big ships and shiny lights.

  One by one, ships peeled away from the normal orbit and pierced the atmosphere.

  Ryan started clicking as fast as he could, turning one of the cameras to video mode. At this distance, they were just specks of light, but they were moving fast.

  His heart beat faster. He keyed up his radio. “Amanda, I’m sorry to wake you.”

  After a long delay, she answered. “But you’re going to anyway, I see. I’m not really up for this tonight.”

  Ryan lowered his head and closed his eyes. She was drinking again. Every time White Skull came, she thought of David Rings and started drinking. She was a quiet drunk, wallowing in sadness and rarely lashing out with her anger.

  “Listen, Amanda. I’ve been taking sky shots and there’s something happening. A whole bunch of ships are pulling off the normal descent vector. There’s really only one place they would be going. I think the real salvage teams are arriving.”

  Amanda swore bitterly. “I bet I know exactly who called them. I almost want him to take all the loot and get it over with. Maybe then he would leave us alone.” Static crackled across the line as she pulled on her outdoor gear. “I’ll start moving the kids to bunkers and disperse the rest of our salvage teams. In a best-case scenario, these thugs are going to put us to work. The way things have been going, I’m not sure we can expect the best-case scenario.”

  “You think we should go to Darklanding and appeal for sanctuary?”

  “I’ve already considered that. We don’t have the funds,” Amanda said.

  Ryan started packing up his gear. “Okay, I’m coming in.”

  Rather than answer, Amanda just clicked her radio receiver twice.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: Black Ships, Black Ops

  Thaddeus stood on a rock formation near Raven’s Haven. Sledge stood on his right. Ryan and Amanda, who he learned were the lead scientists of the original mission here, stood off to his left talking amongst themselves. Thaddeus had heard enough of their conversation to know they disagreed on whether or not they should stay or run.

  “There is nowhere for them to go,” Sledge said.

  “I think they know that but are hoping for some kind of option,” Thad said. “If you have more information on this White Skull character, now would be a good time to share it. Shaunte will be pretty bent out of shape if we lose an entire shipment of exotic ore. What I’m worried about is that this is something worse. Bringing in space-capable ships is a big deal. I’m not sure there’s enough exotic material on the floor of Transport Canyon to pay for that type of expedition.”

  “Amanda Preston was engaged to David Rings. His brother was a type to take things away in fits of jealousy, even if he didn’t want what he was taking. Maybe this time it was different, but they had a war over Amanda. If you ask me, I think it’s a bit psychotic that both Amanda and White Skull are still living in Transport Canyon. Maybe they deserve each other,” Sledge said.

  “Tell me the rest of it, please. I think you’re holding something back,” Thad said.

  Sledge raised a pair of binoculars to study the ships as they landed two kilometers away from Raven’s Haven. He talked without lowering them. “You know what, I agree with you. I don’t like White Skull either. Stacy Rings has a pretty violent streak. I’m not q
uite sure why you’re still alive. He’s big on extortion. Not afraid to get blood on his hands either. If he takes hostages and says he’ll kill them, then they are as good as dead.”

  Thaddeus lowered his voice. “I think we should consider a real evacuation.”

  “If you get Amanda to agree, I think that’s a good idea. Either way, we’re in for some rough times. I didn’t want to drag you into this, but I’m here to find Ruby Miranda. That’s the name she goes by, anyway. I’ll help you, but if I go down, you have to promise me you will find her and hold onto her until another agent from SagCon can get here,” Sledge said.

  “When we get back to Darklanding, I can help you round her up without too much trouble,” Thad said.

  Sledge started laughing so hard he bent over and held his knees. He stood up, then started laughing again. “Thanks. I needed that.”

  “You’re welcome,” Thad said dryly.

  “I’ve got good information she took off into Transport Canyon to get away from me. There’s a whole lot of reasons why that’s bad, but the fact that White Skull is ready to slaughter an entire town is even worse. So we stop him, we find Ruby, and then I’m done with this planet.”

  “Fair enough,” Thad said.

  “Don’t you have some deputies?” Sledge asked.

  “My deputy requested a leave of absence to handle a personal matter of spiritual development,” Thaddeus said.

  Sledge turned around and looked at him, surprise twisting his broad face. “Your deputy’s an Unglok?” He shook his head. “Now that you mention it, I do remember that. Didn’t really believe it. I hope you’re not expecting him back any time soon.”

  “What are you talking about?” Thaddeus had a bad feeling.

  “Sheriff, you really need to read some books. Every culture has its own version of a spirit quest. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty sure the Ungloks tend to get themselves killed to prove their worthiness to their society. Either way, it’s a lot different than running down to the cathedral to toss out a couple of Hail Marys.”