Maniacs The Krittika Conflict

CHAPTER 8



Liu looked surprised to see Mason walk through the door with two new faces that were clearly fighters. Mitchell was still complaining as he knocked back the local root based soda.

“This is Liu and our pilot Mitchell.”

“Vincent Hughes,” he replied, and reached out and shook their hands.

Viktor stayed back and seemed to care little for instructions.

“That’s Viktor.”

“Both these guys signed up?”

“What, Liu, you doubted I’d come through?”

“No, Captain, I just wasn’t sure you’d find anybody crazy enough to sign on.”

“Maybe not in a p-ssy place like this,” muttered Viktor.

Kaper wanted to disagree, but he could see Viktor was not a man to cross.

“So what now?” asked Viktor. “We taking this fight to the man?”

“No, no need. He’ll come to us.”

“He turned, strode over to the bar, and pointed for a drink.”

“This is no time to be drinking,” insisted Hughes.

Viktor ignored him. The others looked to Mason to do something, but he knew he could not risk causing a rift among such a newly formed team.

“Can I have a word with you a moment, Captain?”

“Yeah, sure, Liu.”

They stepped outside beyond the hearing of the others.

“This is no good. We’re going into one of the most dangerous jobs of our lives and taking on newcomers we know nothing about.”

“Tell me we have a choice?”

“What?”

“You’re telling me what isn’t ideal. I’m asking you what can we do different?”

Liu didn’t have any answers.

“Can’t just call for backup on this one.”

“Maybe we can. Put out a bulletin and try and get some of our old contacts on board.”

“Old contacts? Near enough everyone who has ever worked with us is either dead or retired.”

“But it’s got to be worth a shot?”

“We can try, but in the meantime, we need to get down to the job. Come on, time isn’t exactly on our side.”

He led Liu back inside where the rest of them were awaiting his command, except for Viktor who had settled down with his drink.

“Here’s the deal. Volkov is gonna come for us with whatever he can muster. We are going to hold here in the town where we have cover and the support of the locals. When he comes, we’re gonna offer him peace, or give him the gun if he refuses.”

“That’s it? That’s the plan?” asked Erin.

“What else would you do?”

“Seems a bit basic. Hunker down and wait for him.”

“Sometimes the simple plans are the best ones. Mitchell, I want you back at the ship to help Wizard with his repairs.”

“I ain’t no mechanic.”

“No, but it’s either you or Liu goes, and you suck with a gun.”

Viktor chuckled to himself in the corner. Mitchell took offence, looking to Mason to do something.

“Hey, don’t look at me. Learn how to handle yourself, and I’ll stop ragging you for it. Now, when you get back to the ship, I want you to send Hella our way with all the extra ammo we have. We’ll need her here in the fight.”

“What about protecting the ship?” Liu asked.

“Fact is it can’t fly, and once we’ve taken all the weapons and ammo, there really ain’t much that can be robbed. We need to amass all our firepower here if we expect to have a hope in hell.”

“Your sympathy is overwhelming,” Mitchell murmured.

“Come on, man up. You got clipped. It happens.”

“And who’s fault was that? I should never have been in combat.”

“Well, maybe you wouldn’t have been if you didn’t get the ship shot up,” said Liu.

“You mean I shouldn’t have saved all your asses?”

Mason jumped in between them and stopped them from coming to blows.

“Hell of a crew you have here,” said Viktor.

Mason shook his head in disbelief.

“Look, we’ve got a big fight on our hands and the chance of a big payday. Let’s work together and get this done. Mitchell, take Mily back to the ship and get to work helping Wizard. The rest of you, it’s time we started planning this defence!”

Mitchell winced as he got to his feet and rushed out from the bar to do as ordered, cursing words as he did.

“Kaper, I need that map of the town!”

The barman jumped to their assistance and brought over a tabletop projector. He hit the on switch, and it displayed a metre square overhead map of the town.

“So, which direction are they going to be coming at us from?”

“Volkov’s mansion is to the east way past Avery’s place. He has the militia base nearby. That’s where he’ll come from.”

“Assuming he hits us head on.”

“We have to take an educated guess to some degree, Liu. We can’t account for all eventualities.”

They went silent, and he looked over to Viktor. He still sat alone with his drink.

“You want to get in on this?” Mason called to him.

Viktor shrugged his shoulders, got up, and dragged his chair over to join them.

“He’ll hit with a pincer movement from the north and south, with a minimal force from the east to draw our eye,” Viktor said.

“How’d you figure?” asked Hughes.

“Because he has help from within the Alliance forces, and that’s exactly what an Alliance officer would do when opposing a hostile town of militia.”

Mason could tell Viktor wasn’t any ordinary soldier, and he was curious to pursue the subject, but there was no time for it. Hughes seemed to be nodding in agreement.

“You think he’s right?”

“As much as I hate to say it,” he responded.

“Nothing from the west?”

“No, that would be over extending and cutting off their retreat.”

Mason was surprised to hear such military knowledge. Despite being a fighter his entire life, he was rarely involved in a stand up fight. Their team relied on surprise attacks and assaults that meant they could study their enemy’s positions before going in. Now they were almost on the other end of the scale.

“Okay, and we could expect to face up to two hundred armed fighters.”

Hughes recoiled in shock, but Viktor didn’t respond at all.

“So, ideas?”

“This how you do things around here, sit around and brain storm?” asked Hughes.

“Clearly you weren’t an officer,” replied Liu.

“What?”

“Someone has to plan an operation. Maybe you were used to just doing what you were told, but in this business, we are the officers, the generals, the grunts, and everything else.”

“So let’s try this again,” Mason sighed.

“Explosives,” Viktor answered.

“Go on.”

“This is a mining town. They must have tonnes of explosives lying around.”

“Yes, that’s a start,” Liu agreed.

“We’re in the middle of the town, do we want to blow the whole place to hell?”

“It’s a good idea, Hughes. We can set all kinds of charges that could even the odds,” replied Mason.

“And if we do blow a few shops apart?” asked Hughes.

“This isn’t a poor town. Get rid of Volkov, and we save them enough money to fund any manner of rebuilding within a month’s pay.”

Several hours went past as they debated the matter and had the locals gather all the supplies they could think of. Hella finally walked into the bar, grabbing the attention of both Hughes and Viktor.

“Where the hell have you been?”

“Nice to see you too, Captain,” she replied.

“No, really, you could have been here hours ago,” added Liu.

“Felix needed patching up, and Andrews was having a hard time working alone.”

“So you do engine work?”

“I do all sorts, Captain.”

“Really?” Viktor grinned.

She turned to the hulking man with a despicable look.

“Who the hell is this?”

“Best man you’ll meet on this world,” he responded, to the sound of groans from the others.

She strolled up to Viktor who seemed enthralled with her. She rested a hand on his thigh that made him smile. He looked up into her eyes and just as he did, felt the tip of a knife on his throat and froze.

“You’re the new goon, great. More to fighting than size.”

“Not my experience,” he whispered back.

She pushed the blade in just a little more so that she broke the skin and blood trickled down his neck, but it didn’t get the response she wanted. He didn’t respond to the pain and only smiled. He quickly grabbed the blade of his knife in his hand, without regard for the edge and threw her back. She was launched across the bar and into a tumble but managed to nimbly roll back onto her feet.

Hella rushed at him with immense speed and knife in hand, but his pistol was drawn and pointing at her head before she’d closed the distance. She leapt into a roll to get under the barrel of the gun, jumping up to him with her knife on his groin, but stopped as she felt the barrel of the gun on her temple.

“Enough!” Mason shouted.

They both lowered their weapons, and Hella stepped back.

“One big happy family,” said Liu, shaking his head.

Mason could see Kaper. He had heard everything and was behind the bar, stunned. He could see the man wondered if they’d hired the wrong people and condemned the whole town. The Captain got to his feet, scowling at the team while be paced up to the bar owner and his daughter, who seemed even more in shock.

“Don’t worry.”

“Don’t worry? Look at you. You’re a bunch of crazy people. You’re more likely to blow this town up and turn on each other than deal with Volkov!”

He looked back to the team. They were all looking at him for answers. In the past, the Boss had always dealt with such matters. It was his time to step up now as much as he didn’t like it. He turned around and responded to Kaper in a calm voice of a volume that could be heard by all.

“You’re a family here. Not just you and your daughter, but the rest of this town, right?”

He nodded in response.

“Okay, and despite the fact this town works together, it’s not always fun and games, is it? Tell me you never argue about anything?”

Kaper was thinking about it and couldn’t answer.

“You see! Our crew is just the same. We’re dysfunctional. What do you expect? We’re expected to risk our lives for a living on a regular basis. We get the job done. That’s what we’re paid for, nothing else. We aren’t paid for our manners, not for keeping our language clean.”

The barman was thinking it over carefully and looked at his daughter, remembering how Mason had saved her. Viktor broke the silence, burping as he sipped back on his beer. Mason could not help but smile.

“We aren’t perfect, nobody is. You might have wished for the proper authorities to do the work for you, but they don’t care. We’re here, and we’re willing to risk our lives for an amount of money that is sizeable, but not worth dying over. It took a lot for us to except this job, and we were within hours of leaving you to deal with this yourselves. Now we’re in, and we’re not perfect. We don’t have much in the way of gentlemanly conduct.”

Kaper reached down beneath the bar, and Mason’s instinct was to think he was reaching for a gun. He carefully pulled his pistol from its holster, holding it ready to respond, when Kaper’s hand came back up with a tankard of ale and presented it to him.

“I really pray you are everything we hope you are. And while you are working this job, feel free to drink here at no charge, but I won’t have such terrible language used within these walls in the presence of my daughter and the rest of our customers.”



* * *





“This isn’t working!” Mitchell hollered.

Lubrication fluid burst out over him. He spat it out and tried to keep it out of his eyes. He pulled himself across the floor and sat back against a sidewall, staring at Wizard who had given up too.

“The fit isn’t right here at all.”

“What, these a*sholes given us the wrong part?”

The two of them looked at the new coil they were trying to fit, and the old one that was in two parts and lying on the deck where Andrews had stripped it.

“This for the wrong engine?” asked Mitchell.

They both were quiet, trying to figure it out.

“You think Mason getting us into this job is a good idea?”

“I don’t know, Mitchell. You have been to town and seen it all. I’ve just been here. All I know is the price, and it’s dangerous.”

“Come on, man, you were at the briefing.”

“Yeah, and it just seemed like another job to me.”

“Another job? We’re talking about facing several hundred trained soldiers, and we have no ship to rely on to get us the hell out of dodge.”

“Like things usually go perfectly? Way I see it, we didn’t choose to be here, and we’re here till these repairs are complete. Rest of the crew may as well work and get us some money.”

Mitchell fell silent. A moment later Andrews had a moment of clarity as he stared at the coil they were trying to fit.

“It’s a different part.”

“I know. I’ve been telling you that for the last ten minutes!”

“No, it’s the right model for this ship, just newer than our blocks here. I bet they’re a new model. Can’t be a whole lot different.”

He got to his feet and staggered over to where the twisted parts of the old coil lay, picked up one of the fragments, and returned to Mitchell.

“Look, the basic component is the same. It’s just this reinforcement ridge that has been added. We cut that off, and the baby will slide right in.”

“You sure about this, man? I mean right now we can go back and maybe exchange it. We start f*cking with it, and God knows.”

“Come on, when have I not known what I was talking about?”

“Maybe if you’d spotted this damage a little earlier, we wouldn’t be on this shithole planet at all.”

Andrews shook his head in disbelief.

“When we talked about this mission, you were all too happy to be working for that ten million credits.”

“Well it’s easier to like the job up until you get shot,” he replied.

“Fetch me the tools I need to get this job done, and maybe you can be in the air before you know it.”

“Mason has got us in for the long haul here. We might be airworthy tomorrow, but we ain’t going anywhere.”

“Don’t know about you, but I’d at least like to have the option.”

“Yeah, yeah, all right. I’ll get you the tools. Don’t break anything now while I’m gone.”

Mitchell staggered to his feet. He had almost forgotten about the pain in his ear now for all the sweat dripping from him. Without any climate control, the ship was like a sauna.

“Goddamn you, Mason, sweating my ass off for this job.”

He passed through the engine bays towards the cargo hold where their power tools were held. The table in the middle of the room was still filled with cards and empty cups from their game. For a moment, he wished it could be all over, and they’d just be continuing that game.

“Some things just ain’t worth the money,” he said to himself.

He went to the racks of equipment and pulled out a cutter when he noticed a shadow cast over him. His heart almost stopped, and he turned to see three armed men stood on the ramp of the ship.

“Felix Mitchell, you are under arrest.”

He looked at them for just a moment, and then turned and ran as fast as he could. Two lasers smashed into the bulkhead, and the men pursued him. He reached the cockpit, slammed the blast door shut, and sealed it. The three men began hammering on the door, but he knew they didn’t stand a chance of getting through.

Mitchell collapsed down against the doorway. He didn’t even know what they wanted, but he knew it couldn’t be good.

“Mitchell, we have a warrant for your arrest! Open this door and come peacefully!”

He’d been in enough trouble in his life to know he didn’t want to go with any authority. He had spent time behind bars, and he couldn’t bear to do so again.



* * *





Mason grabbed his glass, lifted it in gratitude to the barman, and took a sip. He had a simple policy against drinking when on a job, but it would have been rude to refuse. As he did so, his comms unit crackled, and Mitchell’s voice sounded out.

“We’re under attack. We have f*cking intruders aboard. I repeat…”

They heard laser blasts over the comms as it cut off. Mason’s face turned to stone as he realised their vulnerable ship had come under attack.

“This is Mason, what the hell is going on?”

The comms was silent until Mitchell finally replied in a calmer tone.

“Three guys got aboard. They’ve got guns, and they say they have a warrant for my arrest.”

“All right, stay calm Mitchell. Listen to me carefully. I need to know everything about these guys.”

“Just get here and sort them out!” he screamed.

“We’re coming, but I can’t guarantee we’ll make it in time. So do what I say.”

“All right,” he said in a quivering tone.

The comms went silent again for a moment, and the crew in the bar waited with baited breath to hear the news. Only Viktor seemed to show little care and continued with his drink as he had done before.

“They’ve got dusters like the Sheriff wore, and badges.”

“Right, you hold on tight. We’ll sort you out.”

Mason leapt to his feet.

“Liu, Erin, Hughes. You work on securing the town’s defences. Viktor, you’re with me!”

“Finally some action!” he replied.



* * *





“I ain’t coming out, and you can’t force me!” Mitchell yelled.

He looked through the small piece of reinforced glass of the door that divided them.

“I am Deputy Rondel, and this here is a warrant for your arrest. Now you can either come peacefully, or this is gonna be messy!”

Mitchell shook his head.

“I haven’t done anything that gives you the right to come after my ass. Whatever charges you’ve made up, I ain’t biting!”

The Deputy studied the door carefully. They both knew the weapons they carried couldn’t get through it. One of the others stepped up to Rondel and spoke.

“We aren’t gonna get through that.”

Mitchell smiled. “That’s right, boys. Blast doors. My friends with big guns are on the way. When they get here, you better be long gone!” Mitchell shouted and broke out into laughter.

“His buddies are in town. We got twenty minutes maximum to get him out,” said Rondel.

“I can’t see how that could be possible.”

They all went silent for a moment, and Mitchell was delighting in their loss, but the smile was wiped from his face with the Deputy’s next words.

“When we came in, I saw some parts on the ground and work being done; tough for a single guy to work on a ship like this. Probably at least another guy on board, find him!”

“No, no, it’s just me here, you hear!”

Rondel pointed for his two colleagues to sweep the ship. Mitchell knew it wouldn’t be long until they found Andrews. He lifted up his comms.

“Mason, you need to get here quick!”

“We’re on our way!” the call came back.

Only a few minutes later, they hauled Andrews up to the door of the cockpit. His face was bloodied where a pistol grip had been smashed into his face. Mitchell looked away.

“Mitchell!” Rondel shouted. “We came here for you. This man means nothing to us. Come peacefully, and he will not be harmed!”

He didn’t respond, but he heard them hit Andrews across the face a second time.

“Mitchell, you come here and look at your friend!”

The pilot edged to the window. He didn’t want to see, but he couldn’t give up on a friend. A gun was pointed to Andrews’ head.

“We will do whatever is necessary to take you into custody. That could include killing this man. His death will be on your hands, as he is of no interest to us!”

One of the men struck Andrews again, but it didn’t seem to change Mitchell’s mind.

“We haven’t got much time,” one of them said to the Deputy.

Rondel lifted his pistol and held it to Archibald’s leg.

“You come out or I fire, three, two, one.”

Light flashed and he fired. Andrews screamed in pain as the laser passed through his upper leg. Mitchell turned away and put his back to the door. He didn’t want to see any more.

“Mitchell! We have five minutes left. That’s all the time we need to finish your friend here. Next shot will be his other leg, then his arms, and then his head. It’s your choice!”

There was silence. Eventually Rondel rested his pistol on Andrew’s other leg.

“This is it, Mitchell. The other leg! Three, two, one…”

The door lock slid aside, and Mitchell pulled the door open. He looked down at Andrews who was reaching breaking point.

“Thank you,” he muttered through the pain.

Rondel reached forward, hauling Mitchell through the door and over the wounded Andrews. The Deputy stopped to deliver a message to the Archibald.

“You tell your Captain his pilot is being arrested for flying commercially while banned. Flying under the influence of narcotics, flying without logging flight plans with the Alliance, and negligence at the control of a vessel."

"Narcotics? What? I've been clean for years."

"Oh, yes, I almost forgot."

The Deputy quickly lifted up a metal syringe and plunged it into his neck before he could respond. Mitchell stumbled back as the drugs quickly took effect, and he was helpless to fight back.

"A terrible thing, flying under the influence of hard drugs. He’ll be shipped off world for sentence. Mr Volkov says to tell you that you can all leave here if you wish. Lay down you’re weapons, and you will be given safe passage to the nearest IPA facility.”

Andrews spat out blood before going eye to eye with the Deputy.

“You picked the wrong crew to tangle with, son.”

“No, you picked the wrong planet to come down on. Get your asses out of here, or you’ll be buried where you landed.”

They turned to move, but as they passed, Andrews took a hold of Mitchell’s arm.

“We’ll come for you, I promise.”

Mitchell grumbled but was out of it from whatever had been pumped into his system. The deputies hauled him away and out of his grasp. Andrews knew he was helpless to do anything else. He only took relief in the knowledge that Mason was on the way. He could hear their vehicle racing off into the distance, but it was another twenty minutes before he heard another approaching. Two sets of footsteps rushed inside, and he prayed they were friendly this time.

“Andrews? Mitchell?” Mason called.

“Here!”

The heat of the laser had sealed the wound, but it still hurt like hell. Mason rushed to his side to assess how bad it was.

“What the hell happened here?”

“They took Mitchell on a flying violation. A Deputy Rondel.”

“You fight back?’ Viktor asked.

Andrews turned and looked at the towering man he didn’t recognise.

“Who the hell is that?”

“Say hello to one of the two new crew we hired. This is Viktor. He’s a bit of a son of a bitch, but you’d be thankful for having him in a fight.”

Viktor smiled, appreciating the description. Mason reached down and hauled Andrews to his feet. He carried him to the cargo bay, sitting him down on one of the chairs where they had played their card game. The old hand was close to silence, despite his injuries.

"I shouldn't have left you without protection."

"Oh, quit that sorry bullshit. You couldn't know this would be their play."

Viktor looked down at his wound, lifting part of the ripped fabric of his trousers up to see where the laser had struck his thigh.

"I've had worse."

"That's really reassuring."

Mason leant over to look. "We're gonna have to get you to town."

"My work isn't done here."

"Ours either, but something tells me we aren't leaving this world anytime soon. You need medical attention, and you aren't doing any work in this state."

"We used to leave men in your state to the enemy."

"And you wonder why I never signed up, Viktor," Mason said.

Mason grabbed the medipack and wrapped the wound quickly. There was little bleeding from the laser blast, but he needed to keep the wound clean during their journey. Andrews had little feeling or control in the leg. He hauled him to his feet and carried him over to the copter.

"Get the rest of our ammunition, Viktor."

"Would if I knew where. First time I've been on this hulk."

"Hey!" Andrews shouted. "Nobody talks about the Lady like that."

"The Lady?" he asked, looking around the ship. "Looks more like a well worn whore."

The two of them stopped and glared at Viktor.

"She's called the Foxy Lady, and if you expect to get off this world anytime soon, you'll start respecting her," stated Andrews.

"Wow, okay. Didn't think anyone ever got so attached to a lump of metal."

Mason pointed at the Griswold on his side.

"You put any value on that lump of metal, or would you sooner trade it in for something a little sharper?"

Viktor's hands shot down over the grip of the pistol protectively, turning it slightly away from them.

"Nobody touches my Martha."

Mason smiled in response as he protected the gun like his own child.

"Little sentimental there?"

"Me and Martha have been through a lot together."

"Now you know how we feel about the Foxy Lady."

Viktor drew out his pistol, which gave them both pause for concern, but he simply held it out in his two palms and looked upon his beloved Martha. It quickly sparked a world of memories. He finally looked up and around the interior of the ship. It was as weathered and full of character as his Griswold was. He holstered his pistol again and smiled. It seemed he found comfort in the ship.

"So this place is my new home?"

"If you survive the mission, and we get her flying again."

"Don't know about you, but I intend to survive to spend that ten mil."

"Five percent of," Mason reminded him.

"Yeah, yeah, of course."

Mason got the distinct impression he was not a man to be fully trusted, but he was also the best fighter they'd find who was willing to help.

"You think you can see yourself working with us?"

"You keep getting jobs that put money in my hand, and I can see this working."

Mason helped Andrews up into the copter.

"He's Alliance, isn't he, Captain?"

"How'd you know?"

"A gun like that, and you see his belt buckle?"

Mason looked back and could see a heavily worn steel hexagonal buckle. It was standard issue within the Alliance.

"Where on earth did you learn to recognise those two things?"

"I've been alive a little longer than you, Captain. You learn things along the way. He's not still serving, is he?"

"I figure he wouldn't be down here getting drunk and looking for work if he was."

Andrews grimaced. "I don't like it. Guy like that could really screw us over if he saw the chance to take us for everything we have."

"So he ain't completely trustworthy. That's the life we lead."

"The Boss would never have hired anyone like him."

"Yeah, well, if the Boss was here to help, maybe we wouldn't have to."

Andrews couldn't argue with that. Mason got down from the copter and headed for the lockers.

"Over here," he called for Viktor.

Viktor stopped as he sore VASI stamps on some of the ammunition crates. Then he turned to see Alliance ones beside them.

"You buy from both sides?"

"Doesn't mean anything to me, and it shouldn't to you either. You aren't fighting for anyone but yourself anymore, are you?"

He said nothing.

"So you still feel allegiance to the Alliance?"

He shook his head.

"Maybe I did once, but when your own boss shoots you in the back, it makes you think."

Mason suspected he meant it literally, but he wasn't going to pry.

"And yet you still wear that, and carry that gun."

"You think I'm gonna buy a new belt when this one still does the job? And Martha, nobody gets their hands on my girl."

"Well, okay, then."

He grabbed two of the boxes and pointed for Viktor to grab the others. They threw them aboard and climbed in. Mason rode the copter up to the entrance, hit the door close button, and raced out as the ramp began to lift. Andrews watched the hatch slam shut.

"That ain't gonna keep a determined thief out."

"I'd be more worried about scavengers stripping the metal," Viktor laughed.

Andrews looked over to Mason in horror.

"Let's hope we have a ship to come back to," he said.

"I'd be more worried about getting back with our lives."