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“Your clothes were ruined. Remember? River brought over a bunch of stuff she thought would fit. I’ll get it. You stay here and check your messages. Maybe there’s an explanation for this.” He didn’t believe that for a moment. Rin was right. This had to be Douglas’s doing.
He dashed off, but even at his increased speed he didn’t make it back to her before Rin howled in fury.
“That asshole! That stupid, arrogant popinjay on a power trip!”
Axe grabbed the entire bundle of clothes and rushed back downstairs. “What happened?”
“Lieutenant fraxxing Douglas happened. He knew I was injured and unavailable, but he sent me messages, anyway.” Rin’s voice was tight with barely controlled rage and her hands shook as he pointed to her comm unit. “According to him, my reckless behavior and disregard for his authority put the entire project at risk. He has therefore decided to end the project early. All personnel, equipment, and test subjects will depart the planet later today. Given my ongoing resistance to his authority and disregard for security procedures,” her voice dripped venom at those words, “arrangements will be made for my transport at a later time. That son of a starbeast has basically cut me out of the program and used our argument yesterday to blame me for everything he’s doing. The rat bastard.”
“And now two of the hawks are missing.” Dread sank its claws into his guts and twisted as he considered what Douglas might be up to. None of the answers were good ones.
Rin paled. “What’s he done to them?”
“Get dressed and meet me outside. We can figure this out on the way.” He left before Rin could say anything else. It would take him a few minutes to get their ride ready, and the clock was ticking.
“What the hell is that?” Rin demanded, her voice almost drowned out by the low rumble of the twin engines.
Axe pulled her in for a quick kiss and then handed her a helmet. He waited for her to put it on so they could use the built-in mics to speak instead of yelling. Once she fastened it in place, he pointed at their ride.
“It’s a sky-sled. I use it to transport raw logs to my shop and deliver finished products to town. Hop on and strap in. We don’t know how much time we have.”
She bounded up the ladder and sat down in the jump-seat he’d unfolded along one side of what he considered the cockpit. The vehicle was basically a metal platform welded to a pair of air-bike chassis with the controls for both bikes rerouted to a central dashboard.
“Okay, I’m secured. Let’s go!” she said.
Axe had already leaped on board without bothering with the ladder and had them in the air in seconds. Amun and Hera rose with them, both of them screaming battle cries that needed no translation. The hawks were as pissed as their two-legged partners.
They talked through the most likely scenarios on the short flight to the IAF camp. They both agreed that Douglas was using her attack as an excuse to cut the mission short and return to civilization. He’d been unhappy about the assignment since the decision to come to this planet.
What they couldn’t work out was what had happened to the two missing subjects. They’d returned to camp safely and should have been secured in their cages. If they’d released themselves to go flying, their link to the others would have faded gradually with the increased distance. They’d just vanished, and the other subjects didn’t know where they’d gone.
“I think Douglas saw the drone footage and realized I hadn’t told him everything.” Rin sighed loudly enough he heard it over their comms. “But that doesn’t explain why he’s packing up so quickly. All he had to do was send a report back to base. They’d believe him, and it’s not like there’s some way for anyone to swoop in and take the subjects away from the military. They’re too well-guarded.”
That’s when it hit him. “Guarded from you. Yes. What about from someone on the inside?”
Rin stilled for several seconds and then burst into a string of curses before saying, “That has to be it! He’s taken two of them and is going to sell them to the highest bidder. That explains why he’s scrambling to leave. He needs to make the deal and disappear before anyone figures out what he’s doing. Fraxxing bastard. No wonder he didn’t want to come to Liberty! It’s the only location we considered that doesn’t allow ships to enter the atmosphere without proper clearance.”
That made sense. Because of the various threats against the colony and its citizens, access to the planet was carefully controlled and monitored. Whoever his buyer was, they were likely blacklisted and wouldn’t be able to even approach the planet. “He’ll do the exchange outside this system, somewhere no one is watching.”
“We can’t let him leave.” Rin sounded frantic.
“We won’t. Like you said, Liberty’s air space is carefully controlled. Give me a moment, I’m sending a message to Edge and a few others. They’ll arrange for a lockdown of all traffic on and off the planet.”
“Ask for backup, too. I can’t see the lieutenant letting us ruin his plans without a fight, and his men are all loyal. I wondered why he wanted to pick his own team for this. Now I see. He’s planned this since the beginning.”
Axe relayed both requests and heard back immediately. Shutting down all traffic wasn’t a problem. Getting to the camp in time to help would be an issue. Most of the colony’s weapons were stored in bunkers. Apart from the rangers and a few other exceptions, none of the citizens carried firearms of any kind. The Vardarians preferred blades, and the cyborgs were weapons themselves. Going up against armed soldiers with bladed weapons was too risky, and it would take time they didn’t have to get everyone armed and organized.
“Get there when you can. I’ll try to delay and distract the asshole until you show up.”
Edge chuckled. “Sure you will. And when it goes to hell you’ll wade in and kill them all before we get a chance to join the fun. Kick ass and stay alive, my friend. We’ll see you soon.”
My friend. Despite everything, the words made Axe smile. He had more friends than he realized.
They were two minutes out now, close enough that with his enhanced optics he could see the camp was already partially dismantled. Men hustled here and there, some packing, others loading a military-style shuttle bearing IAF markings.
“Fraxx. They’ve already brought down a shuttle. That will make things trickier.” And a lot more dangerous. That was a military shuttle, which meant it would be armed and hardened against weapon fire. It also represented a chance for them all to escape, and there was nothing more dangerous than an armed adversary who thought they had a chance to get away.
“Do you know how to fire a blaster?” he asked.
