Page 27 of Resolution
“Five guys need a big house,” he said with a grin.
“Never mind we’re used to living in a barracks,” Trent teased from where he was putting the finishing touches on a tent.
“I’ll get used to this fast enough,” Zach assured them as he walked by with an armful of sleeping bags.
Dinner was simple fare, eaten by the light of handlamps, and the group retired to their various sleeping arrangements fairly early. Anticipation was high for the next day when the house would be ready and the group could start unpacking the other containers. A lot of work lay ahead to make the site habitable and get at the gear Jeff wanted.
He couldn’t sleep, thoughts preoccupied with Melly and what might be happening to her. He tried reaching out to her again with the subaural com even though he knew there was no chance she was in range and then kicked off his covers and rose. He holstered his blaster and made his rounds of the camp. Trent was on guard duty and they exchanged a few quiet words before Jeff activated his enhanced night vision and walked into the field where all the cargo containers sat like unopened presents.
He found the one he wanted and wasn’t surprised to find Cody already there.
“Couldn’t sleep either?” he asked as he walked up.
“I want my heavy duty tactical drones up and flying tomorrow,” the cyborg said with determination. “I can initiate a search pattern in the vicinity of the offworld signal we keep getting flashes of on the scanners.”
“I appreciate the support,” Jeff said. Cody had work lights rigged up so he joined in with the methodical unloading of the container until he reached the items he was seeking. Pulling out the crate with a victorious grunt, he carried it to where Cody sat working on the drones and unpacked the contents.
“Command isn’t going to send reinforcements,” Cody said after he glanced over and saw Jeff’s prize was their interstellar coms unit.
“I realize that but I need to let them know what the true situation is here on Randal Four,” Jeff replied, examining and setting aside various components of the modular system. “And maybe give us some intel, tell us who we’re dealing with here once I upload the language fragments Melly found and the data you gathered after hacking the Glastine network.” He worked in silence for a few more minutes then said, “I wish I’d never taken her there. I shouldn’t have involved her. If I hadn’t dragged her along, she’d be safe here tonight.”
Cody set aside his drone to give Jeff his full attention. “Hey, man, don’t beat yourself up. Doc wanted to go, she volunteered to go and if she hadn’t been there, Tamsyn couldn’t have gone in and planted my bug so I could hack them. We learned a fuckton from your undercover mission. I’m as worried about her as you are but we’ll get her back, I promise. That’s what we do. That’s who we are.”
Jeff clenched his jaw. “I will never forgive myself if anything happens to her. She isn’t a soldier, she’s not trained for this kind of thing and I didn’t protect her.”
“Doc’s smart and she’s fighting for her planet and her people.”
Jeff gazed into the night. “You know what I want to do right now? Instead of assembling this damn com and sending in a report? I want to go over there to crate fourteen, crack it open, put the damn flyer together with my bare hands and fly off to find her.” He switched his focus to Cody, staring at him. “Yeah, I know it’d be a fool’s flight right now since we don’t have any idea where the enemy took her but I need to be in action. Not sitting here on my ass while she’s in enemy hands.”
“I feel you, brother. I’d be the same if it was Tamsyn. We’ll find her and when we do, whoever the bad actors are won’t know what hit them. Need any help with the com?”
“I’ve assembled this same model about a thousand times, as you know, so I’m good.” Jeff kept his attention on the task and after a moment Cody returned to his new drones.
Around two in the morning Cody was able to launch his first flight of the tiny robots, which were about a thousand times more capable than the ones he’d been operating since they landed. After that he went to bed. Jeff had finished the com assembly and sent his first, long com about what was happening on Randal Four, including uploads of the alien languages Melly had found. He knew a reply would take hours, even at the speed which military interstellar communications traveled these days so he sought out his sleeping bag and forced himself to close his eyes and quiet his mind.
* * *
The next day was busy. Zach initiated the barn module, only grinning when Jeff reminded him they weren’t going to start the cycle for any of the farm animal embryos currently held in stasis for a long time, if ever. Jeff received a reply to his com report. It felt wrong to be out in a field in the open listening to a classified communication, but the house wasn’t done perfecting itself yet and he trusted his group.
“You and your men certainly have put yourselves in the eye of a storm, captain.,” his commander’s holo said, standing incongruously in the middle of a wildflower patch. “I think the Sectors can count themselves lucky you’re there but unfortunately it’s not so rosy for you. There won’t be any exfil possible. The solar system is completely interdicted with robo sentries to enforce the ban with lethal force if necessary.”
It was what Jeff had expected and had indeed told Melly at one point this would be the case. Still, there was an odd hollow in the pit of his stomach at hearing Commander Ironside state the case so bluntly. In Jeff’s branch of the service they never left people behind. This situation was a wild exception to the rule of course.
“The first sample of language you sent has been positively identified as Chimmer, which is concerning. It does serve to make your theory about the alien origin of this outbreak appear to be the most plausible. The second sample was harder to identify but I kept pushing and eventually was told the only place it’s ever been seen before is in a hush hush top secret operation on the far side of the galaxy where the Mellureans are involved. I’m trying to get you more details but there’s a black hole where this issue is concerned. I may have to get someone with more gravity involved. At any rate, for what it’s worth, he did give me a name—Khagrish —and I got the distinct impression these are pretty nasty fuckers.”
As Jeff. Had said to Melly so long ago, the Khagrish were a known alien race of scientists the scuttlebutt in the teams held was working for the Chimmer. The story had in fact become almost an urban legend among the ranks but now here he was, faced with the actual ‘mad’ scientists holding his wife prisoner. It was tantalizing to know there was more intel on them but locked up tight where he couldn’t benefit from it. If the Mellureans were involved, it must be touchy. He was frustrated but really, what would knowing the details of the other operation do for him? He was dealing with a small group of the Khagrish, presumably, operating on Randal Four on their own, backed in theory by the Chimmer. It didn’t necessarily mean the Chimmer were here in any significant numbers. They were one of the Mawreg’s more efficient client races, high tech and close with the ultimate enemy. They carried out missions in support of the Mawreg’s stated goal of eradicating humans from the galaxy, which this outbreak certainly had potential to do, judging by the havoc and disruption created here.
Ironside’s holo leaned closer. “I’m not going to even try to tell you how to proceed, Captain Pearson. I’ve known you long enough to have utmost confidence in your judgment and discretion. You’re the local commander, you make the calls. Obviously we have to stop these Khagrish and it would be best if we could gather intel on exactly how they created this outbreak and what their next plans might be. I leave it to you to proceed as you see fit. I’ll expect regular reports. May the Lords of Space stand with you for all our sakes. Ironside out.”
“Anything you can share, captain?” Cody asked when Jeff rejoined the group striving to assemble the flyer.
“No reinforcements, no exfil. Nothing new there. I have complete discretion to act as I see fit.” Jeff shrugged. “As if I wasn’t going to do that anyway but it’s nice to have the official go-ahead. The alien languages have been identified as Chimmer—never a good thing to have them in the mix—and a bunch of bad actors named the Khagrish. No other detailed intel on them but I’m sure you’ve all heard the scraps of gossip and barracks talk.”
“Fucked up scientists, what more do we need to know?” Zach said.
“Fucked up eggheads holding my wife hostage,” Jeff replied. “Let’s get this damn thing finished.”
The task took most of the day and Les McDaniel was invaluable in completing the job. He had mechanical skills and knowledge at a high level and Jeff was glad to have him on board. He’d been discussing maintenance he wanted to do on the APC’s while there was downtime and showed himself to be the kind of guy who couldn’t sit and wait to be assigned a job. He went out and identified a need and filled it.
