Chapter 25
..[ JACY ]..
She didn’t want to think about the fact that Kacy’s group had been within that twenty-kilometer diameter area. Seeing her all beaten up and bloody wasn’t a sight she wanted to have in her head. She would do everything in her power to stop that from ever happening. She was powerful enough that she could offer a modicum of certainty that she could keep that promise if the need ever presented itself.
They had learnt a few things from the Mbelisaf. She wasn’t sure what the name stood for. It could the village, the local tribe, the local region, or even the whole species as a whole. The colonists would figure out that. She had more pressing issues to deal with.
The hundred kilometer diameter area was roughly where the seat of power of the religious group was. It also had the largest city-like city they had seen on the continent, maybe even the whole planet. None of the villagers had ever been to the city before. They called it Relina. The scientists had had their seat of power to the south of the village. It was no more. Jacy assumed that would be the ruins they had spotted in orbit. She wished they had known that before distributing the groups. They could have send two maybe three more groups to that area. Then again, if they were so easily taken out by a religious sect, how advanced could they have been?
The shuttle stayed high above the city to keep the locals on the ground from seeing them. They scouted as much of it as they could before landing two kilometers outside the city in the early hours of the night. They would use the cover of darkness to perform their operation. If everything went to plan, they would be in and out in under four Hours.
The city proper stretched for three kilometers in diameter on average, with the encampments surrounding it increasing that to five kilometers. At the center of it was what had looked like a large cathedral to Jacy. She would need to get close enough to tell. Being night, it might not be that easy though.
The first thing they noticed upon landing was the failure of the Comms. No signal could go anywhere, not even to the person next to them. It confirmed the theory that there was a jamming field and it was responsible for the loss of communication with the other three groups. The fact that they had not noticed the first time the shuttle landed meant that it could be switched on and off. It was very possible they might be dealing with a technologically advanced civilization after all.
Jacy check that her nanobots and bioaugments were working fine. They were designed to work even under jamming fields, but it never hurt to check before she threw herself in front of an unknown enemy.
There were one-sixty of them on the ground, together with two Mbelisaf. One of them was a translator while the other would help them ask the right questions. It had taken a lot of convincing for the local leader to allow them to join the operation. The helper still couldn’t understand most of what they said, it had been only two Days after all, but he had proved quite good at approximating what they asked.
They made short work of the two kilometers to the edge of the camp. A minute later, three scrambling natives were brought out to the group. It took over ten minutes to get the information they needed. Jacy hoped it was right and not bogus. They left two crew with them after knocking them out. They would keep them out for the next three hours and forty-three minutes. She had her Comms counting down the time; it was relented useless by the jamming field, the least it could do was show her the time.
The first piece of information they earned was about a target higher in the hierarchy of command who would know precisely where their comrades had been kept. It was a fact they were housed in the central building. The encampment was a loose formation of tents arranged in lines and circles in no particular order. Not that she could see. Moving over hundred people through it undetected proved to a much difficult task than first anticipated. Even with all the drunkedness.
After having to knock out another trio of drunkards who had stumble into them, Jacy had the group split into teams of six and keep two teams in sight at all times. She stayed with the translator and the helper as they made the way to the officer’s tent. There were noises inside as they approached, sounded like he was spending the night with at least two other people.
They creeped along the walls, making sure to keep out of sight and out of the light. On the backside of the tent, Jacy and two of her crew cut an opening and moved in. She couldn’t believe why they would only guard the front. They were steeped in the shadowness of the tent, a sheet separating them from the copulating party. She could tell there were four from the shadows thrown on the sheet. One of the others signaled that three were facing away with the fourth facing their way. On her signal, they quickly moved out, shooting the on-looking person who also happened to be their target first. The others soon after.
One of the others picked him up and moved back out and continued towards the central building. Two more crew were left inside. There were groups being left all over their route. Of the one-sixty, only forty would make it inside the building. Their boots were squishing through the mud created by all the soldiers tramping the soft earth all day. It must have rained recently too. The purpose of the soldiers, Jacy didn’t know, and it wasn’t the right time to be asking such questions. Maybe after the operation.
The transition from the encampment to the city proper was obvious. There were signs of a rudimentary wall under construction and the streets themselves were paved with stones. Their soft thuds turned silent completely. And she was thankful for Mativo’s insistence on that attribute of their combat shoes. The streets were dimly lit from the lights of the houses and the occasional patrol guard. But there were several centuries separating their skills, and at the three hours remaining mark, the building came into view.
Of the little she could make out, it was a huge thing made out of carved rock mostly. She was sure the carvings on the walls depicted some of their victories over the scientists group. From the eyes of the victors, naturally. The tops of the walls were edged with figures of animals she couldn’t properly make out. And on top were high arching rooftops. Of what they had seen from orbit, it had the shape of a shortened capital T. And they were at that short end.
They were guards standing at the huge door leading inside and others moving left and right around the building. They took refuge behind what appeared to be a house for a high official. All its windows were without light. She contemplated going inside and trying to get information from them for a few seconds, before chasing the thought away and turning to the prisoner they already did have.
He tried to scream when he came to but was met with a punch so in time not even a sound escaped. And she injected him with the silencer nanobots. They worked the same way as the translator nanobots, but instead of making one express themselves in English, they made them stay silent. They were risking a lot by interrogating him so close to the guards. She gestured for a way around to the helper. He asked him, but they got nothing in return. She went for the balls and increased the heat considerably while directly staring at his eyes. She looked at the helper and signaled him to try again. He gave them a direction.
They followed him to a lighted area near one of the corners were the short hall of the T met the top. For five minutes, they stood in wait as the guards passed and passed again. Then a delay in guards and he was hurrying across with them hot on his heels. On arrival to the corner, he opened an unnoticeable door and quickly slipped in. Amazingly, thirty-seven of them slipped in without any alarm being raised.
They were in a corridor, rough stone walls and floor. And their guide was already moving forward again. Soon they came into what appeared to be the laundry room. There were piles of clothing on one side, with huge baskets on the other. The middle had raised stone benches. From there, they began to descend the stairs at the opposite side for two floors before coming into another corridor. Leaving the stairs, they took a left turn and walked for tens of meters before arriving to two huge doors. He stood their hesitantly. When prompted, the translator said, “Holy, sacred.”
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Jacy took a deep breath before pushing at the doors, then applied more force to them when they didn’t bulge. They moved slowly, silently and opened into a eerily lit room. She walked in allowing the others to walk in after her, with the guide being forced in. The doors closed as silently as they opened, with no signal that they had locked themselves. The group had been reduced to nineteen in number, they would have to make it to where the others were held and back without leaving anyone behind anymore.
They began crossing the room to the other side. They were walking on some kind of path running the middle of the room. To her left, the room was showered in white and yellow lights barely reaching the path. The source appeared to be actual electrical powered lights. They illuminated fairly human-like figures appearing to stand up high in the walls they were engraved in. They had rays moving from their hands to the floor.
On the right, the room was steeved in red shadows, all the creatures there appeared similar to the ones appearing in stories back on Earth of demons and devils. Horned, winged, tailed creatures with sharp jagged teeth and long claws. Their bodies were sheathed in simmering rays.
Three quarters of the way into the room, the guide veered to the right. Naturally, prisoners go to hell. And moved one of the tapestry hanging from ceiling to floor. A door behind was revealed, and he started patting his pants.
“We need keys,” the translator finally said. She could have guessed that.
One of the crew removed a tool box from his utility belt and went to work on the door. Thirty seconds later, the locked clicked and the door slowly swung open. The guide moved and they followed. A flight of stairs took them what felt like a half floor before there was a door in front of them. The stairs turned one-eighty and continued down, but the guide stood there.
After a minute of unintelligible gesturing, Jacy had the silencer nanobots removed. “We meet guards now,” the translator said for him.
“Twenty,” the translator said after she had looked at the helper imploringly.
She set two crew on the guide and set her pulse gun to lethal. The group followed suite. After a breath, she slowly opened a crack and waited. And not because of the smell coming out of wherever the door led to. Then peeked inside.
It was a yellow lit short corridor and then a turn left. The light came from the turn. She moved in quick, getting along the rough dirt wall and creeping closer to the turn. The corridor appeared to be dug out of the ground rather than laid in in stone like the rest of the building. It was back to soil beneath the boots again. She could hear small echoes of conversations and snores. And other sounds she wasn’t sure what made them.
She peeked over once the group was settled in. The corridor was empty, with three derelict doors to the right and another four to the left. There were two torches, fire torches, at the corner of the corridor. The corridor turned right, and she could see what she assumed were bars to a cells on the far wall. She moved and the group followed. Edging to the right of the corridor.
The smell was definitely coming from the seven doors on the corridor, she pitied the pour soul who found themselves in the cells this side of the prison. She could see inside the cell as she reached the end of the corridor. Thankfully, it was empty. An unfamiliar individual might alert the others, and if it was one of their own then they would be going through a lot more than just being locked up. The smell was getting worse.
She could hear the voices clearly, she counted three distinct footsteps and four different voices. Four to seven potential guards. She signaled her group what she thought. Two others suggested nine instead. Either way, it was time. When they began, there would be no stopping until all twenty guards were down. She counted down from three, and then they moved.
There were nine guards, three moving along the cells, four sitting at a table engage in a game and two having a conversation at the other end of the corridor. It seemed to go both ways from there.
She moved fast, firing at the closest guard as she aimed at one in the far wall and firing again. A third shot when he seemed to be going down slow. Nine down, eleven left. She heard rushing footsteps from the far corridor, and she signaled her group to move fast. The guards would make it first but they needed to be as close as they could possibly get. It wouldn’t help to let them reclaim the corridor; who knew what they would to their comrades.
She discarded stealth and form and took off in a flat out sprint. Adding more power into her bioaugments. They couldn’t make her that much faster, but they considerably improved her stride and it could mean the difference between a near thing and a sure thing. Maybe she saw some of her crew in the cells? She wasn’t sure. But one of the guards made it from the right before her, they tried to get back but she sent an air punch right into their chest. It cost her some of her speed but that was a guaranteed ten.
She heard a lot of things crushed beneath her as she used the guard as a cushion for her turn, pulse gun already aimed. Two more had made it from the left side, but she left those for the others, taking the right wing. There were four more. Two fired arrows at her as the others drew their swords. She didn’t even bother with the arrows, they were off target. But she sent two shots at them to keep them from firing at her again. Then shot one of the sword wielders before turning the pulse gun to stun and shooting the last one.
She checked on them, still alive, and moved through the corridor to the end checking each cell. They were filled with prisoners but none of them were those she was looking for. She went to the left wing where she found six more bodies. And on the third to last cell, she hit jackpot.
“I’m very ashamed right now.”
“Why?” Jacy asked as she tried the door. Still locked. She turned to the corridor, “Which one of these guards has the keys?”
“Because you had to rescue me.”
“Would you rather it had been someone else?” she asked, watching Kacy squirm in place. She was celled with three others, all part of the crew.
“I would rather there had been no reason for rescuing.”
“We don’t always know what will happ—”
“Here.” She was handed the keys to the cells. Stupid Class Five civilization with no numbering. The door opened with the fourth key she tried. She handed the keys back before swinging the cell door open.
“Come on,” she gestured for Kacy to get out of the cell. “I don’t want to spend any more time than I have to in this place.”
Jacy moved out of the way as the other three walked out, nodding at her. Then Kacy approached hesitantly. When she was close enough, Jacy pulled her into a tight bodily hug. And she hugged her in kind. It felt nice to have her in her arms again.
A few minutes later, they joined the rest of the crew on the middle corridor. Everyone was accounted for. It was time to head out.
“Listen up, we split into groups of six and move through the whole building, killing every living person inside that isn’t us or the prisoners here,” Jacy said when she had their attention.
“What if there are innocents?” someone asked.
“No innocents,” the helper replied, prompting Jacy to stare at him in wonder. He turned to the translator then, “Picked a few words.”
That was something. In little more than forty-eight hours and he had picked up enough that he could follow a conversation somewhat.
“Any more questions?” No one said anything, just casting glazes at each other. “Okay then. Let’s move out.”
…
She looked back at the sprawling city, or at the very least the beginnings of one. All those lights, all those people. They slept happy, or maybe not, with the actions they had taken and the only excuse they had was that they were following orders of their superiors. Those were dead, and come tomorrow they would find themselves without superiors. Would others rise to take their places? Or would they disperse and go back to their homes? There was no telling what tomorrow would bring. They could only hope it would be in their favor.
Or maybe there need not be tomorrow. She checked her energy reserves; and stared at the city below her. She had enough, but just barely. It should be fine.
..[ MATIVO ]..
“What?” I asked in disbelief. “What do you mean they got captured?”
Jacy just stared at me. Like the question I was asking didn’t make sense at all. But it did. It was what she told me that didn’t.
“I should go back there and devastate everything,” I said as felt myself get angry, very angry. “Right after I give those that got caught a piece of my hands.”
It would have been fine if it had been a Class Zero, One or late Two civilization. But Class Five? No. Those natives didn’t even know what a gun was. And one of the groups had been stupid enough to surrender themselves to an unknown foe, all in the guise of a peaceful contact. Had I grown lax somehow? I thought I had improved things after the fights; clearly, I hadn’t done enough.
“You mean, a piece of your mind.” Now she could talk.
“No. I’ll not be talking to them,” I wriggled my hands in front of her face as I added. “My hands will.”
“You don’t need to do any of that,” she said.
“Why not? They both—”
“I already took care of things,” she interrupted firmly.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. The group that did it will never forget what happens when you take one of our own.” She then turned and stared at the display I had going in my office. “The ones who got caught will be going through a hellish Month. They will never forget what happens when they get caught.”