Northwind
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
21 April 3054
“I’ve come to realize just how difficult it is to find a smuggler on the capital world of an interplanetary nation.” complained Logan. “Even if it’s a pretend one.”
Rohan took a sip from his coffee. “We need to get to Georgia or Comarty City. We’re not going to find off-planet transportation in a city without a spaceport.”
“Without Craig and his skills, we’ll not be able to find the repair parts we need for the mechs.” said Doc. “What a pinch we’re in.”
The group had found some shelter from the police squads hunting them by hiding out on the campus of Londonshire Polytechnic University. With its own security force to police the campus, the city cops didn’t bother with it, leaving only the ConsInt soldiers here to search for the Rangers. Better odds by far of avoiding detection and arrest.
A disturbance outside quickly caught the attention of the paranoid Rangers. Five or six students in paramilitary garb were hassling another student who was carrying a number of newspapers. They pushed her down, knocking the papers across the ground. The headline read “Dark Rangers Murder Prisoners.”
“Woah, what’s going on?” said Logan, getting up. He walked outside and picked up one of the papers.
The girl had been restrained and was being beaten up by the others. One broke off and grabbed the newspaper from Logan’s hands. “Don’t read that. It’s censored.”
“By whom?” asked Logan.
“By the Skye Protection League of LPU.”
“College flunkies of the Conspiracy.” said Logan. “Let her go.”
“Yeah, and how are you going to make us?” The rest threw the girl onto the sidewalk and moved around Logan.
“Logan, what are you doing?” muttered Rohan, who with Cowboy and Doc stood up and headed outside.
Logan glanced at each Leaguer in turn. He then glared back at the first. With blinding speed, he drew his pistol and centered it on the forehead of the lead Leaguer. “Now, we can be reasonable or you can be dead. Your choice.”
The other Leaguers backed off. As they backed up, they bumped into the other three Rangers.
“Going somewhere, I hope.” said Rohan with menace in his voice.
“Let’s get out of here, Joey. This isn’t worth it.”
“Uh,” said Joey, the leader. “We’ll leave now.”
“Good.” said Logan, lowering the gun. Joey took off and ran.
Rohan helped the girl to her feet. She was bruised and her glasses had been broken, but she was otherwise uninjured. “Are you alright?”
“I’ll live. This isn’t the first time I’ve had to deal with the League.”
“Let me guess, ConsInt pays them off to keep dissident groups on campus in line.” said Cowboy.
“Bingo. My friends and I run an underground newspaper. We print the stuff no one else is allowed to.”
“You should be more careful what rumors you believe.” said Logan, finally reading the paper. “You may find yourself playing O’Malley’s game, instead of being an effective voice for the opposition.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“The prison was empty.”
“How would you know?”
“I scanned it myself from The Nightmare. Those sensor logs would clear our names.”
The girl went white when she realized who Logan was. Rohan moved behind her to prevent her from running.
“We’re not going to hurt you.” said Rohan. “O’Malley probably leaked that story to people like you to cut off any chance that the Rebellion would help us.”
“Why should I believe you?” said the girl. “It’s not like you’d actually admit to committing a war crime.”
“We’re not murderers.” said Doc. “We’ve just been screwed over by an elaborate trap set for us by O’Malley. Ryan Steiner wants us dead, and he’s willing to go to great lengths it seems to make sure we end up that way.”
“Why don’t you let the Rebellion judge for themselves about us?” suggested Michelle, joining the group.
“You say that like I know where they are.”
“Surely, you know someone who does.” said Michelle. “We’d like to meet them.”
“That may not be a good idea.” said Cowboy.
“This Rebellion may be our only chance.” said Michelle. “We’ll just have to hope they’ll believe us.”
“It’s a good shot.” said Rohan. “Remember that some of Yuri’s people work with them. They might vouch for us.”
“I’m willing to gamble on it.” said Logan. “Take us to your friends.”
Georgia
Northwind
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
22 April 3054
Morgan Llwellyn stepped off the train in Georgia, followed by Logan and the others. The newspaper girl cursed her misfortune as she did so, having been “appointed” by her comrades to take the Dark Rangers to meet their fate with the Rebellion.
Her friends were far too intimidated to refuse help to the Rangers. And some friends they had turned out to be, cursing Morgan with the task of taking the five most wanted fugitives on the planet into the heart of the enemy’s camp to take them to meet with a real member of the rebellion, assuming she could find them.
“Don’t feel so bad, Morgan.” said Michelle. “Consider this a grand adventure.”
“You know I’m missing classes for this.”
“You’ve reminded us several times, thank you.” said Rohan. “We appreciate your sacrifice.”
“I’m sure you do.” she said sarcastically.
The group headed out onto the streets. It was raining heavily that day, but several taxis were waiting. Morgan flagged down two and directed them to an old bar in one of the rougher sections of town.
The trip took forty minutes, during which time the fees racked up. Logan, however, had ample money to pay the fares. Thus they found themselves at the front door to one of the seediest places Morgan had ever seen.
“They call this area Exiletown. Most of these buildings are occupied by drifters and refugees that have nowhere else to go.” Said Morgan. “Kyle’s bar is one of the few businesses that stays in the area, but it has to keep a low profile since its owner is wanted by ConsInt.”
She let Logan take the lead into the bar. He strolled on in like he owned the place. No one paid the new arrivals much attention, more intent on drinking or watching the tri-vid on the wall. Morgan tried to make herself as small as possible, not an easy task with Rohan’s small stature as competition.
Someone at the bar however did notice the new arrivals. He stood up and walked over to Logan.
“We wondered when you were going to show up, Captain Logan.” growled the man. “You’ve made quite a mess of things.”
“Don’t tell me you’re buying into O’Malley’s bullshit as well?” retorted Logan. “I would think this rebellion was smarter than that. Maybe that explains why you needed us to begin with…”
“I ought to....”
“You’ll do absolutely nothing, Nathan.” said a voice, a woman’s voice.
Walking up behind Nathan was a very beautiful woman, with short red hair and piercing green eyes. His eyes darted to the renkesu ring. Logan remembered enough of Kurita culture from his upbringing in Rasalhague to know what it meant.
“And you are?”
“Call me Justice. I work with Nathan. Things are in a bit of disarray here. It seems O’Malley pulled a fast one on all of us.”
“You’re telling me.”
Coming up from the basement was a man who’s face bore ugly scars. Logan recognized him immediately. “Agent Libereux!”
“As Nathan implies, you’ve been expected.” Said Javier. “But things are more complicated than you know.”
“O’Malley has my mechs.” Said Logan. “And my men.”
“And he has ours and the weapons cache is still intact.” Said Justice. “Come. We have much to discuss and this is not the place. Even in a bar full of people loyal to our cause.”
Justice led the Rangers to a back room. Nathan and Javier followed behind them. Morgan felt Justice’s piercing gaze.
“Blindfold them.” ordered Justice. Logan was about to protest. “Cool off, Logan.” snarled Justice in response. “While we might trust you or Rohan, we can’t take any chances. Your other companions are unknown to us. We have to keep our headquarters secret from you.”
The group was blindfolded and led through a passage. Logan could tell it led downward for a while and then sloped back up.
After about thirty minutes, the blindfolds came off. They were in an office. The chair behind the desk was turned away from them.
“So who’s in charge of this outfit?” he said to Justice. “You?”
“I am actually.” Said the Nathan. “My name is Nathan Bairn, although sometimes you’ll hear me called ‘Bum.’ That’s my nickname since I frequently work undercover as a street person.”
“Bum, Justice, so what do they call you, Sho-sa?”
“I don’t have a cute nickname.” Said Javier disparagingly. “I’m just Javier.”
“Did you let our guest know they’ve arrived?” asked Nathan.
“He’s coming in now.” Said Javier.
Logan turned to see Craig. “What are you doing here?”
“I kind of stumbled upon the Rebellion by accident in Londonshire. I figured it was a lead worth following up, so I was late heading back to the hotel. When I heard about the attack, I went straight back to my rebel friend, who had me brought here.”
Logan turned back to Javier. “So what else do you know?”
“We know the rest of your team’s been captured, but that’s clearly no secret to you either.”
“No, we found the place they’d been kept all shot up, our mechs and our men gone.”
“I can’t account for your mercenaries at present, although they’re probably in ConsInt headquarters. I do know they brought your mechs in yesterday by train and they’re being kept at the First Conspiracy staging area near the spaceport.”
“Somehow O’Malley’s been one step ahead of us since before you arrived. This has all been one elaborate trap.” Said Justice. “The prisoners, the weapon cache, all moved mere hours before you made planetfall. They knew you were coming.”
“And they knew where my men were hiding. And where we were hiding at the hotel in Londonshire.”
“Sounds to me like you have an informer.”
At that, nearly all the Rangers drew their weapons at once. Rohan aimed at Michelle, Logan at Craig. Only Cowboy and Doc stood by idly, joining the rebellion present in their surprise.
“I wonder now where you’ve been on this time.” Said Logan to Craig.
“She joined us from that group of infiltrators led by an O’Malley plant.” Said Rohan. “We shouldn’t have trusted any of them.”
“This is getting us nowhere.” Said Justice angrily. “And if we start turning paranoid on each other, it’ll only help our enemies.”
“This isn’t your affair.” Said Logan. “Lower your weapon, Rohan.”
“You have the wrong man, Logan. She’s the traitor.”
“We don’t need this.” Said Nathan standing up. He drew his pistol and aimed it at Logan. Justice and Javier followed suit. “Lower your weapons or we’ll gun down the lot of you.”
At that, Morgan who had been quietly whimpering the back behind Doc and Cowboy let out a wail of terror. “That’s enough.” Barked Doc. “Logan, Rohan, put them down before you get us all killed.”
Logan lowered his pistol, as did Rohan. “This isn’t settled. You’re right, Nathan, we have an informer. And until we find out who you’ll not be able to trust us and we’ll not be able to do what we came here to do.”
“You’re about impotent at the moment anyway.” Said Nathan, returning his pistol to its holster. “The Conspiracy has your mechs.”
“And they have over half their personnel…those that are still alive anyway.” Added Justice.
“So let’s talk about how we fix that.” Said Logan sternly.
Defiance Industries
Hesperus II
Skye March, Federated Commonwealth
22 April 3054
Joshua stood in the center of the battlefield, a literal giant overlooking the holographic field at his feet. Below him, he could watch the battle between the new Defiance mechs and their lethal Omnimech opponents.
He still felt a little embarrassed to have been beaten by Daisaku, admittedly his equal in piloting and gunnery, but not in tactics. He knew he’d underestimated Daisaku’s skill, as well as his trickery. But along with that embarrassment was a feeling of pride. He now knew he had chosen very well in promoting Daisaku to command the new 2nd Star Swords regiment.
The door to the holochamber opened and Gwen limped in. Joshua still retained an image of a capable “perfect” Gwen, and seeing her disability tended to be a reminder that she was still human after all. Her therapy had gone well, and it was unusual to see her walk with the limp. Like everyone, she had her good and bad days.
“How’s the battle coming?” she queried.
“The new Fifth Battalion’s managed to repel Ryan’s first attack. Damage to the new Defiance mechs was heavy, and they lost a few, but the lines held. Ryan lost one Omni and was driven back. Right now, he’s regrouping and trying to rethink his strategy.”
“Kou’s a good tactician.”
“I’m a little surprised you didn’t volunteer your new command for this little test run.”
“Ryan’s First Battalion would be the better test and you know it. Besides, they need the morale boost more than Third.”
“So tell me, Kommandant, who do you think is going to win?” queried Joshua.
“It could go both ways. Both of them are very good. Ryan’s company has the technological edge and a slight edge in numbers, but Kou has fortification to his advantage. The next battle has one guarantee; It will be a rout. If Ryan breaks Kou’s lines, 5th Battalion will fall apart in short order. But if he fails, the Dirty Dozen is too low on ammo for another siege like last time. Once their ammo bays are empty, Kou can take the Omnis apart.” Gwen looked at him expectantly.
“My assessment as well.” Said Joshua. “For all my fawning over you all those years, I never really gave your skills much thought. That was shortsighted of me.”
“Hence some of my frustration with you back then.” Said Gwen. “You shouldn’t be surprised that I’m very good at my job.”
“No, I shouldn’t. But you were right about me back then. You were just a pretty face to me, a trophy. I’m glad our relationship has evolved beyond that.”
“As am I. I’m a bit impatient for it to evolve to its next step.”
“Unfortunately, the rumors of the Dark Rangers running into trouble have proven true. It seems they wandered into an ambush and got their dropship destroyed. Now they’ve gone to ground and even the Conspiracy doesn’t know where they are.” Joshua let out his breath. “So Lisa will not be coming home anytime soon.”
“Beyond the personal, we’ve also failed to slow down Duke Ryan’s preparations. Have you considered other options?”
“No, Logan will come through. One way or the other.”
“You have a lot of faith in him.”
“He reminds me of me...or at least what I used to be like. Cocky, full of himself, driving blindly forward where angels feared to go, never once doubting that his skills and talents will carry him through.”
“That’s not the Joshua I remember. No, I remember all that being a show that you put on for others. Underneath was an insecure boy terrified of and frustrated with the disappointment of your father. You stepped up in the end, became more than he could have ever imagined. But you’re right, Logan is the same. The question is, will he step up or will it all remain just a show for others?”
“You already know what I think.” Said Joshua.
Joshua smiled and looked down. Ryan Smith and his Omnimech forces fell before a furious counterattack by Kou’s 5th Battalion. “Well, there we have it.” Commented Gwen. “Just as predicted. Let’s just hope in regards to the Dark Rangers that it’s your prediction that proves true.”
Georgia
Northwind
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
23 April 3054
The Dark Rangers and the rebellion together poured over all the information they had, trying to figure out where the Ranger prisoners might be. They also were collecting information together trying to locate the missing stockpile and the missing civilian prisoners that were supposedly at Napineo Prison.
“O’Malley played us.” Said Nathan, looking out an alley window as the sun began to come up on Exiletown’s streets. “He played us good. Now we’re the ones on the defensive, we’re the ones playing catch up, and reacting to his moves.”
“That was bound to happen sooner or later.” Said Javier. “Duke Ryan didn’t appoint him as head of ConsInt over all the other intelligence operatives that defected for nothing.”
Justice came down the stairs. “And he’s just made his next move. Turn on the tele.”
Nathan grabbed the remove and flipped on the tri-vid on the wall. Duke Ryan appeared on the screen.
“…due to the insidious nature of these crimes, we now call upon you, the people of Northwind to assist us in the capture of these war criminals. Please contact ConsInt at the number you see on the screen. Please…” Duke Ryan’s face faded only to be replaced by photographs of Logan, Rohan, Doc, and Cowboy. Those went off screen and were replaced by pictures of Nathan, Kyle, Javier, Gwen, and to everyone’s surprise, Justice.
“Well, he doesn’t know everything.” Said Javier. “He still thinks Gwen is on-world.”
“And he missed me and Michelle.” Said Craig. “Guess that doesn’t help any of us figure out who’s the informer.”
“O’Malley wouldn’t be so stupid as to rat out his own man.” Said Javier. “No, these are stock photos. Nathan has aged somewhat from this shot, which makes it a file photo from his service dossier would be my guess. Kyle’s is his mugshot when he was taken prisoner several months ago. The Dark Rangers photos, Gwen’s, and my own were taken by O’Malley personally on Dieron.”
“Which leaves Justice.” Said Kyle. “That’s the shot O’Malley showed me himself of you when I filed the missing persons report.”
“That’s not a standard issue FedCom uniform.” Said Rohan. “That’s a Star Sword uniform.”
“Hello, payday.” Said Logan. “So the unusually named Justice is in fact our quarry.”
“Excuse me?” said Nathan. “What’s this about?”
“We had a side job. Find someone very special and important to General Messer…his wife.” Said Logan. “And she’s been right here the whole time.”
“General Messer’s wife?” asked Kyle. “You?”
“Yeah, that’s me.” Said Justice. “That’s who I really am. And that’s also why O’Malley wants me so badly. He wants payback for my running a sword through his brother’s gut two years ago…” She chuckled. “Almost to the day, come to think of it. Yeah, I’m Lisa MacLeod of New Belfast, late of the 1st Star Swords.”
Javier stood up dramatically from his seat near the back wall. “Well, despite the revelation of our super-heroine’s true identity, what are we going to do about this?” He pointed to the frozen image on the screen, 8 photographs of the group assembled in that room.
“Lady Lisa, I think, has just given us exactly what we’ve needed.” Said Logan.
“Excuse me?” said Justice.
“I’m calling that number. I’m going to surrender us…and her. If O’Malley wants you so badly, he’s bound to show up. When he does, we’ll take him prisoner. Duke Ryan will bend over backwards to get his intelligence chief back and he’ll give us whatever we want.”
“He’s not that stupid.” Said Nathan.
“He just might be.” Said Javier. “Logan’s got the right idea. His thing with Justice…it’s personal. A vendetta. As Logan says, if he wants her badly enough…O’Malley’s breaking the cardinal rule of intelligence work: Don’t get emotional.”
“It’s still a long shot.”
“It’s the best we’ve got.” Said Justice. “Besides, if Duke Ryan thinks we’re giving him back, he’s going to be disappointed. Richard will join his brother in hell. I’ll see to that.”
“Now who’s letting her emotions get in the way?” said Nathan.
“I won’t let that animal hurt my husband…or my son.” Said Justice. “And he will. We already know what sort of man he is.”
“Yes, we do.” Said Logan. “Time to deal with the devil.”
“This is a bad idea.” Said Nathan.
“But you have no authority to stop us…unless you plan to threaten to shoot us again.” Said Rohan.
---
“ConsInt Fugitive Hotline.” Said the peon who materialized on the screen of the public vidphone. “Have you any information on the whereabouts of the war criminals?”
“Yeah, I am one of them.” Said Logan. “Get your boss and put his ass in front of that vidphone, soldier.”
The ConsInt soldier looked a little confused as he backed away from his vidphone to call to someone off in the distance. “Sir, I have someone here claiming to be one of the criminals. It looks like one called Logan.”
Richard O’Malley suddenly appeared next to the soldier. “Well, well, it is indeed. I’m a little surprised you called me yourself.”
“You have my men. I want them back. I know damn well it isn’t a bunch of line soldiers you really want. If you want to make an example of us, you want me and my officers.”
“That’s true.” Said Richard. “What are you proposing?”
“Let them go and you can have me.”
“Aren’t we just the gallant today?” said O’Malley mockingly.
“If you’re not interested…” Logan reached forward to disconnect the line.
At that moment, Justice stepped forward, allowing her face to come into the view of the vidphone’s camera. Logan looked up at her.
“Forget it, Logan. He’s not exactly known for keeping his word anyway.” She said to him. She hit the disconnect button and the line went dead.
“What the hell?” said Logan.
“This isn’t going to work.” She said firmly.
“If you just cost me…”
“Your men are probably dead already. Richard is as bad as his brother, worse in some ways. Robert was simply a madman, but Richard’s a fanatic. He’ll honor no deal. And he’s smarter than you give him credit.”
“This was our best shot.” Snarled Logan.
“I’m not your bargaining chip, Logan. What gave you the right to turn me into bait anyway?” snapped Justice.
"You were in support of this plan just a few minutes ago."
Justice said nothing, but turned and walked away in a rage.
“Now what?” asked Rohan.
“You’ve got me.” Said Logan.
Rebellion Hideout, Exiletown, Georgia
Northwind
Conspiracy Occupation Zone, Federated Commonwealth
24 April 3054
The rebel leaders plus the Dark Rangers had gathered for one large meeting. Together, they began to put together another plan. Nathan agreed with Justice’s new assessment that Logan contacting O’Malley was impulsive and futile but had likewise taken up the responsibility of figuring out what to do next.
“Ok,” said Nathan. “We have to go on faith with a lot of this. We must presume that the captured Dark Rangers are still alive. Given that there are only a handful of them, they could be held at ConsInt headquarters.” Nathan then glanced at Javier.
“After Justice and I infiltrated and broke one of our allies out of there, they’ve doubled their security sweeps. Getting in won’t be easy. It may be beyond us.”
Nathan nodded. “There are some other possibilities for our next course of action. We do know where the Dark Ranger mechs are likely to be. Given the number of mercenaries on-world at the moment, there are only a handful of storage and repair facilities not already occupied by one of them. O’Malley recently moved a number of machines into Hanger 7 at the Georgia Spaceport. Odds are good those are yours.”
“I’d rather have my men first and get the mechs later.” Said Logan.
“No doubt, but we may have to coordinate operations. O’Malley won’t leave those machines undefended once he knows you intend to get off-world with your rescued troops.”
“There’s still the question of the captured civilians that were supposed to be at Napineo’s Prison,” interjected Kyle, “and the munitions that were supposed to be there.”
“My guess is the munitions were a ruse all along.” Said Javier. “This was meant to be a trap. For us…for the Dark Rangers…or for whoever else decided to show up. The simple fact of the matter is Duke Ryan has a very tenuous hold on this planet. This very rebellion is proof of that. He has to keep the Highlanders happy or they’ll turn on him.”
“Or convince them that they’ll get little mercy at the hands of the FedCom.” Added Justice. “Attacks on Northwind itself by FedCom forces are helpful to convince them of that.”
“I hate being a pawn in someone’s little game.” Snarled Logan. “Fake munitions to draw us or some other saps here.”
“The prisoners are real.” Said Kyle.
“Yes, they are, which brings me to my next point.” Said Nathan. “Another option for where the Dark Ranger prisoners are is where the civilian prisoners were relocated.”
“And that is?” said Logan.
“Again, we don’t know for certain. But again going on a bit of faith here, given their numbers, there’s only a few places they could be held. They could be at Tara, but that seems unlikely given what Javier just reminded us. The Highlanders aren’t going to hold their own people. My guess is they’re here.” He pointed to a spot on the map of the city of Georgia that was laid out on the table before them. His finger pointed to a building complex in the northwest of the city: Georgia Penitentiary. He looked at the folks about the room. “Here’s my plan. We send a squad to infiltrate Hanger 7, disguised as laborers and workers, folks that are supposed to be there. Doc, as I understand it, you’re a former tech right?”
“Not entirely former, but yeah.”
“With Logan’s permission, I’d like to send you to lead that group. You can talk the talk and sound convincing to anyone who might be asking questions.”
“The rest of us move on the Penitentiary. O’Malley’s not so foolish as to not guess as we have, so it’ll be guarded…heavily. We’ll need all the people we can spare. Logan, Cowboy, Rohan, we could use the help, not that I think you’d say no given your people could also be there.”
“We’re in.” said Logan.
“Alright, now we just need a timetable.” Said Nathan. “It is presently 1000 hours. We need to gather the troops, the equipment, and so forth. Alright, I say we hit the prison at 1700 hours. We have seven hours to make ready.”
“Let’s get to it then.” Said Logan.
---
Javier departed quickly as the others made their preparations. He headed out into the streets and made his way to a vidphone. He quickly punched a number into the console. The screen flickered to life.
“ConsInt Fugitive Hotline. Have you any information on the whereabouts of the war criminals?”
“Yeah, I want to talk to your boss. Tell him I know where he can find Lisa MacLeod.”
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