Wanderer - Echoes of the Past Read online

  “I know. We have to leave him for now. If the operation is successful we’ll recover his body later. Alpha — move up.”

  Dash moved up with squad Alpha, moving from cover to cover despite the all clear. Long years of experience had taught him to always be careful. Tassalt appeared by his side.

  “Sergeant, I have to question your tactics. Risking yourself to recover the heavy weapon, and then using not just one but three Raptors. Your men could have cleared the threat without resorting to using the Raptors at all.”

  “Commandant, I will not justify my actions while in the field. Once this operation is over I will be happy to discuss every detail with you. Until then please restrict yourself to observing.”

  Tassalt didn’t reply, but Dash was sure he’d just picked up another black mark. He didn’t care. Not while the operation was live and his people were in danger. Not for the first time, he wondered what he had done to deserve a political officer as bad as Tassalt.

  *****

  “Dozer, how’s it going?” Dash asked over the radio.

  “Good so far. Only light resistance.”

  “Great. We’re just outside a large room. Scans show more than a hundred people inside. They’re bunched together, but if they’re armed we’re gonna struggle to deal with them. There’s no way around without backtracking an awful long way. It looks like you can come at them from the side.”

  “Hang on…”

  Dash waited, knowing Dozer would be studying his display.

  “OK Sarge, we can be in position in two minutes. Hold tight till then.”

  “Will do. Warn your troopers these might not be pirates. If they’re prisoners I don’t want any accidents.”

  “I’ll tell them. Dozer out.”

  Dash brought the troopers he led up to speed, issuing the same warning about prisoners. The mission had two main aims — to close down the pirate operation and to free any civilians. The last thing he wanted was civilian casualties on the hands of those he led.

  Dash had his men deploy near the doors, then waited for Dozer to confirm his men were in place too. Explosives were set on both sets of doors — Dash didn’t want to give any warning if the doors turned out to be locked. He started the countdown.

  “Ready in five… four… three… two… one… go!”

  The explosives blew the doors apart. The first of Dash’s troopers were through within seconds. As they spread out more followed them into the room. Dash waited tensely, but no shots were fired.

  “Room looks clear…” came the first report. “Seems to be all prisoners. Everyone is on the floor, hands on their heads. Sweeping for trouble.”

  “Thanks,” Dash replied. “Everyone stay sharp. There might be enemies hiding amongst them.”

  Dash entered the room, scanning it carefully. His men were spreading out around the edge of the room, carefully covering the prisoners. So far there was no sign of trouble.”

  “Everyone stay where you are,” Dozer called out. “We’re here to get you out, but we need to be sure there’s no pirates hiding amongst you. If you think there are please raise your hand. Don’t worry, we’ll keep you safe.”

  No hands went up, but Dash wasn’t convinced anyone would risk signalling.

  “Stay sharp,” he warned. “I’m going to call this in. We need to change our plans.”

  He switched to the command frequency.

  “Command, this is Sergeant Dash. Do you copy?”

  “Reading you clear, Sergeant.”.

  “We’ve found prisoners, somewhere over one hundred. Adults and children. We’re checking for enemy agents amongst them now. Request updated orders for escorting them clear.”

  “Please hold…”

  Dash watched his men scanning the prisoners as he waited. They remained on the outskirts of the room, ensuring that if they had to open fire they wouldn’t hit each other. The civilians had no such safety, and rightly looked worried. Finally he received a reply.

  “Sergeant Dash, this is command. No prisoners survived the raid. The pirates killed all prisoners before we could reach them. Proceed with the existing plan.”

  Dash paused, stunned for a few moments, before angrily replying.

  “Command, did you not read? We have recovered prisoners. Request updated plans.”

  Before command could reply another voice cut in.

  “This is Commandant Tassalt. Orders received and understood. Out.”

  Tassalt stepped up to Dash to speak, but was broadcasting over the general channel so all the troopers would here.

  “Sergeant Dash, maybe you haven’t been in this situation before. We are fighting a deadly enemy, one that is ruthless and will stop at nothing. We need the support of the general population. The reports are already written, as are the press releases for general consumption. Realising they were going to be overwhelmed by our forces the pirates slaughtered all the prisoners, then tried to flee the base.”

  “But these prisoners are…”

  “These prisoners are an unfortunate distraction,” snapped Tassalt. “We can’t have them around to contradict the official story. They need to die.”

  “What?” Dash was furious now. “You can’t be serious! We came here to help these people, to save them. Not to kill them!”

  “God save me from idealists,” muttered the Commandant. “No sergeant, we came here to avenge their deaths. Unfortunately the pirates haven’t obliged by sticking to the script.

  Now, I’ll make this simple for you. I’m going to aim my rifle at the prisoners and count down from five. If you haven’t opened fire by the time I reach zero I will, and you will be up on charges of treason. Once you, or if necessary I, open fire I expect to see all of your men following suit. Anyone failing to do so will also be up on charges.”

  Tassalt raised his rifle, taking several steps forward and sighting on the prone prisoners.

  “Five… four…”

  Dash stood numbly, unable to believe what was happening.

  “Dash! Snap out of it!” Dozer sent on a private channel.

  Dash raised his rifle, hands shaking and still uncertain what to do.

  “Three…”

  Dash’s stomach and mind rebelled at the thought of killing the innocent civilians, but he could sense that his troopers were looking to his lead. If he didn’t fire then most of his troopers wouldn’t, and they’d face charges of treason. He had no doubt they’d be found guilty and that would mean not only their deaths but the death of at least one person close to them. His own family would be facing the same punishment.

  “Two…”

  Tears started to flow as Dash sighted on the prone prisoners. He couldn’t do it, but he had to. For the sake of those who followed him, and their families, he had no choice.

  “One…”

  Choking back a sob Dash pulled the trigger. The rifle bucked against his shoulder and his target dropped to the ground, already dead. Dash just stared, struggling to take in what he had done. The troopers did too.

  “Good call Sergeant,” Dozer called over the general band. “Bastard had that coming. What the hell do we do now though?”

  Dash stared at the dead body of the Commandant for a few more seconds, mind whirling, then he pulled himself together. He was committed now. Killing a fellow officer was a treasonous offence. Killing one of the political officers was far worse. Dash already faced execution. Nothing more could be done to him. But now many members of his family would suffer. He looked at the troopers around him.

  “I’ve committed a treasonous act,” he said. “You all have a choice now. Either you take me in, and kill the prisoners here, or you follow me and we try to save them. You must understand that following me will mean cutting all ties with your families, for the immediate future at least. We will have to be dead as far as the Empire is concerned. If anyone wants to take me in do it now. I won’t hold it against you.”

  No one moved for several seconds, then one of the troopers called out “Hell no!” over
the open channel. Soon it was being repeated by every one of the troopers. Dash raised his hands for silence, which took several seconds to fall.

  “I’m proud of you, all of you. Now, we need to make sure these prisoners are clean — any pirates are still going to try and nail us. We also need to work out how to disappear. How to get us and these prisoners clear. Squads Alpha, Bravo and Delta take care of the prisoners. Charlie and Echo watch the doors. Remember we need warning of any of our troops approaching as well as pirates, though I don’t think anyone else touched down in this area. Foxtrot, you’re on recon. Find out what’s immediately ahead of us. Dozer, over here please.”

  Dash smiled proudly as his troopers moved to their assigned roles. The prisoners looked exceptionally nervous after seeing their rescuers gun down one of their own number, but seemed to be keeping it under control.

  “You picked them well,” Dozer sent over a private channel.

  “I know. Now I need to keep them alive. Any ideas?”

  “Yeah. We need to get to the hangar still, and find two ships. One to get us all out on, one that we can set to overload. If we report a major firefight first they’ll assume our bodies were destroyed by the blast.”

  “I like it. Simple and effective. Assuming there are any ships in the hangar of course.”

  “If not then we’re all dead anyway! We’ll just have to think of a way of dying that still destroys our bodies. Talking of bodies, we’d better drag the Commandant along with us. If they find his body with imperial issue bullets in it they might start asking awkward questions.”

  “True. Get two of the men to drag him along. We can’t do much about the blood he’s left behind, but even if they figure out it’s his they’ll assume he was wounded and we took him with us.”

  “Sergeant, prisoners are clean,” reported one of the Troopers.

  “Great,” replied Dash. “We need to get them moving. Dozer, that’s your department. Use Alpha and Bravo to shepherd them along.”

  “I get all the best jobs,” grumbled Dozer.

  “You shouldn’t be so damn good at them then,” Dash shot back.

  With the prisoners taken care of Dash moved out with the rest of his men, aiming to reach the docking bay as quickly as possible.

  Chapter Nine

  20 years before…

  “Looks like our luck has finally turned,” Dozer said.

  Dash nodded in agreement. They’d made it to the docking bay with only minimal resistance, and had found several ships that hadn’t launched. Two were close by. One was a small but fast looking cargo ship, the sort used to run blockades where normal smuggling wasn’t an option. The other was a larger freighter. Neither seemed to have any guards. In fact it seemed that most of the pirates had already abandoned the base, or were out fighting the imperial fleet.

  “Dozer, take Foxtrot and Echo and secure the freighter. We need it set to blow.”

  “Yes sir.”

  “Alpha, Bravo — secure the cargo ship. We need it ready to leave in five minutes. Charlie, Delta — we need a gun battle. Warn the prisoners then open fire as if you’re tackling a large force. Keep going till I tell you to stop.”

  Some of the troopers looked confused but they all did as asked. Once the rolling thunder of gunfire was ringing out Dash called up the command circuit.

  “Command, this is Sergeant Dash. We have reached the docks but are encountering heavy opposition. We are pinned down near a large freighter. How long before reinforcements can reach us?”

  “Wait one Sergeant… no one else has penetrated anywhere near as far as you have yet. You need to hold out for ten minutes, maybe fifteen.”

  “What? I don’t know if we can! Tell them to get a bloody move on!”

  “Will do Sergeant, but you need to hold. Command out.”

  “Good job we aren’t really under fire,” Dash muttered, having made doubly sure the connection was closed. “All right, cease fire everyone. Round up the prisoners and get them on board the cargo ship. We need to be gone in four minutes.”

  Ideally he’d wait until the ship was secured before sending in the prisoners, but there wasn’t time. Alpha and Bravo squads would have cleared the airlock and the areas beyond. The two squads escorting the prisoners would need to sweep the rest of the ship.

  “Dozer, we leave in three and half minutes. Get a move on!”

  “Aye Sir, I’ll stop admiring the artwork,” came the reply. “Ship seems empty. We’re in the engine room now, setting them to overload in ten minutes.”

  “Make it five. Otherwise we’ll be taking out some of our own troops.”

  “Not technically ours any more but… all right. That’s cutting it bloody fine though.”

  “I know. Get back here as fast as you can.”

  Dash followed the prisoners as they were rushed into the cargo ship. With two and a half minutes to the deadline his men confirmed they’d secured the flight deck and were preparing to launch.

  “Great. Alpha, hold the flight deck. Bravo, help Charlie and Delta sweep the rest of the ship. Make sure the engine room is secure in particular. I don’t want any unpleasant surprises.”

  He paused, trying to work out what he might have forgotten. There wasn’t anything he could think of.

  “Dozer, two minutes and we go whether you’re on board or not.”

  “On our way sir, about to leave the… holy shit!”

  Rolling gunfire came over the radio and from outside the cargo ship. Dash rushed back to the airlock. A large-bore turret high up the docking bay wall had opened up and was spraying the other freighter’s airlock with heavy-duty rounds. There was no way Dozer and the two squads could risk leaving, they’d be cut to shreds.

  Cursing Dash swung the Boomer he’d taken earlier off his shoulder and sighted, firing it as soon as was possible. As soon as the final Raptor was cycled he fired that too. A few seconds later screams and smaller weapons fire rang out and the turret fell silent.

  “Dozer, go now!”

  Dash dropped the empty Boomer and raised his rifle, spraying the area around the turret with rounds. Dozer and the two squads charged out of the freighter’s airlock and back to the main dock, then charged down towards the cargo ship. A counter on Dash’s display reminded him there were ninety seconds to his planned departure time.

  Dash held his fire for a moment, waiting to see if any further shots came from the turret area. None did. The two Raptors had done their work.

  The two squads charged into the cargo bay. Dozer followed them, grinning widely.

  “One minute to spare too!” he shouted to Dash, who just shook his head. As soon as his troops were on board he closed the airlock.

  “Everyone listen up, this is important,” he broadcast. “Every one of you needs to disable all external comms and feeds now. Command won’t believe we all died in an explosion if they pickup chatter, comms or homing signals from our suits. Disable the friend or foe signals too. If you aren’t sure how to do any of that then ask now. We only get one shot at this. Remember, this isn’t for us as much as it’s for our families.”

  After a pause as his words sank in he started to receive confirmations that each trooper had done as asked. Dash disabled his own.

  “Don’t forget the Commandant’s,” Dozer reminded him.

  Dash cursed. He had forgotten. He quickly went over to the Commandants corpse and disabled all electronics.

  “We ready to go?” he called over the radio.

  “Aye Sir, all prepped. Ready to lift off.”

  “Get us out of here then. Is that you Hotshot?”

  “Of course Sergeant. You wouldn’t trust anyone else to fly this tub would you?”

  “Definitely not,” Dash replied with a grin. “I’ll be up in the cockpit in a minute. Try not to shake me around too much.”

  They were in good hands. Cassie Ramirez had picked up the nickname Hotshot because she insisted on being the one to fly anything they ended up on which didn’t already have a pilot. She’d ev
en sweet talked shuttle pilots into letting her fly several times. She was damn good too. Dash had offered to sponsor a transfer to fighter pilot several times, but she had always refused. She enjoyed flying but loved serving on the ground too. Dash hadn’t argued too hard. Having Hotshot on the team had saved their backsides several times.

  Now it was going to save them again. Getting out of the hangar was going to be easy, the docking bay doors were still open. Getting away from the immediate vicinity of the station would depend on whether the base defences considered them hostile or friendly. Then they had to break through the chaotic space battle outside, reach safe distance to jump and somehow avoid being followed.

  As Dash reached the cockpit they were about to leave the docking bay. Before he could strap in the ship lurched forwards. Dash crashed into the back wall, his suit absorbing most but not all of the impact. His wounded leg flared up again.

  “Bloody hell Hotshot,” he complained.

  “Don’t blame me,” she snapped back. “Someone had the bright idea of blowing up a freighter before we had time to get clear! You’re damn lucky we weren’t smeared across the docking bay doors by that blast.”

  “OK, sorry. Well done.”

  Dash dropped into the copilots seat, quickly strapping himself in. Several other troopers were strapped in further back, manning the stations covering shields and weapons, sensors and engines.

  “Now we find out if we’re still classed as friendly,” Hotshot muttered.

  She started jinking the ship around to avoid offering an easy target. Dash studied the display in front of him. The base weaponry remained silent, either the defences were out of action or the ship still registered as being friendly.

  “Hotshot, how agile is this bird?” Dash asked. “Can we risk running past the big guns?”

  “Hell yeah! She’s a blockade runner. I’m not even scratching what she can do yet. She’s fast too. I’m not sure we could outrun everything out there, but there’s not much that could keep up.”

  “Great. I think we should head out through here…”