Rare Collar for Toni
B
eing
from
Chicago
where
brutal
humid
summers
weren’t
unheard
of,
Toni
still
had
never
visited
a
tropical
jungle
she
planned
to
revisit.
The
life
forms
on
Talaith
Glain
were
ickier
than
most.
Carnivorous
amphibians
the
rule
with
a
mish
mash
of
poisonous
reptiles
that
made
the
brainzuccor
of
Dzeta
Terra
seem tame.
She
rarely
joined
a
crew
corralling
bad
guys.
As
the
commanding
marshal
responsible
for
the
greatest
swath
of
the
outer
galaxy,
she
supervised
from
the
air,
strategized,
and
profiled, but her team was spread thin.
So
she
found
herself
in
the
hot,
muggy
dinge
on
a
hover
backing
up
her
two
least
experienced agents. Not her favorite pastime. Nowhere freakin’ close.
I
used
to
be
a
scientist.
Now
I
sweat
and
get
eaten
alive
by
critters
that
would
scare the piss out of a Tyrannosaurus rex.
She
stared
at
her
readings.
For
a
criminal
this
guy
ran
in
too
straight
a
line.
Wasn’t
right.
“Kory, cross check these readings. Find any other EM sources?”
“Your
ground
readings
match
my
sensors,
Captain.
There
are
no
others
for
three
hundred kilometers.”
Bloody caca! This isn’t right.
Toni
looked
over
at
Croyw
on
her
left
and
Diniwed
about
thirty
meters
to
her
right.
They
were
in
textbook
position,
assault
rifles
raised
to
their
shoulders.
They
had
spent
a
decade
patrolling
their
own
worlds,
but
so
far
the
tone
of
the
marshal’s
service
hadn’t
clicked in them.
Hadn’t found their juju.
What
they
did
now
was
a
lot
different
from
chasing
punks,
fighting
mercenaries
who usually carried twice the fire power.
If
these
two
weren’t
already
scared
pissless,
I’d
send
them
farther
out
on
the
flanks. Chances are I’d be the one they’d end up shooting.
Toni
hung
her
rifle
from
her
shoulder
for
a
second
while
she
snapped
closed
her
armored vest. With the heat she’d put that off to the last second.
She
was
no
expert
on
this
jungle-slithering
shit.
She
led
a
team
in
the
fringes
of
Earth
Union’s
territory
because
she
piloted
the
fastest
ship.
Not
because
she
was
a
badass cop. Never shot at people for a living.
But this didn’t feel right.
“Kory, fly a twenty kilometer loop. Let’s see if you pick up anything different.”
“Aye, Captain,” the ship’s persona responded.
A
few
moments
later
the
hum
of
Kory
Mae’s
gravity
drives
passed
overhead,
but
there was no catching a glimpse of her through the thick canopy.
Toni
motioned
for
Croyw
and
Diniwed
to
stand
fast
as
she
studied
the
changing
telemetry. The back of her neck crawled as she discovered the tiniest anomalies.
“Heads
up,”
she
said.
“The
area
is
networked.
That
bastard
didn’t
land
here
by
accident.”
Toni caught Diniwed’s expression. Her eyes were as big as lemons in the pale light.
All I need to do is scare these two more. Or get them killed.
She
wished
Lieutenant
Profiadau
led
this
crew,
or
was
at
least
with
her.
He
wouldn’t have let them float into a trap.
Toni
scanned
the
canopy.
No
way
Kory
was
going
to
be
able
to
drop
a
cable
through it.
“Croyw? You have any sky above you?”
“Negative, Colonel.”
Toni
grinned
at
a
stray
thought.
Did
her
younger
crew
ever
feel
weird
that
half
of
her marshals addressed her as captain, while others used her EUSA rank?
“I have a tad of a spot, if Kory can find it,” Diniwed reported.
“Kory?”
“I’m on it, Captain.”
The
seconds
passed
slowly
as
the
ship’s
hum
changed.
Rivers
of
sweat
tickled
Toni’s
scalp
under
her
helmet
and
flowed
down
her
sides
in
irritating
challenge
to
do
something.
The
dot
representing
their
quarry
moved
farther
away,
but
Toni
was
convinced
it
was
an
electronic
ruse.
Even
if
the
gunrunner
was
moving
away,
let
him.
He
wasn’t
going
to
go
far.
No
passage
off-planet
without
exposing
himself.
The
EUSA
is
patient,
with a long reach.
“Damn! Did you see that?”
Both agents said, “What?” screeching over each other on the com.
“A blip. We’ve got a mine coming. Croyw! Get over to Diniwed. Now!”
“Kory? Where’s that cable?”
“I
believe
I’ve
located
the
break
in
the
canopy,
Captain.
You
should
see
the
cable
about, now.”
Toni was busy looking for the mine though.
“I see it,” Diniwed cried.
“You two get your asses up there.”
“Yes, Colonel.”
Croyw,
the
dot,
was
practically
on
top
of
Diniwed.
Toni
realized
she
was
holding
her
breath,
but
didn’t
take
in
air,
as
she
waited
for
the
explosion.
Being
the
central
target,
the
mine
was
locked
onto
her.
She
couldn’t
move
toward
safety
without
bringing
the inevitable blast closer to them.
“You up that damn cable, Croyw?” she shouted.
“Just hooking up, sir.”
“You’re killing me, Croyw!
“I
hope
not
literally,”
she
added
softly.
“Kory!
I
need
a
plasma
blast
with
your
widest aperture targeted ten meters in front of me. Fire when ready!”
“Captain, that is awfully—”
“Fire, fire! Hold on Croyw!”
The
EM-field
should
disrupt
the
mine’s
stealth-shield
if
not
detonate
it.
The
energy
wave
flowed
over
the
thick
vegetation
flattening
it,
what
she
could
see
of
it
with
the
sky
falling.
Toni
gripped
the
con,
spread
her
legs
and
prepared
for
the
rush.
The
hover
washed
like a bitch.
She
picked
up
the
weakest
sensor
flicker
and
fired,
emptying
her
magazine
into
the
vegetation.
With
ass-smacking
luck,
a
round
ignited
the
mine.
At
least
it
wasn’t
on
top
of her, where it could have atomized her.
She
felt
as
though
she
tumbled
a
year
or
two.
Falling
still,
vertigo
told
her
to
keep
the
hell
down.
She
shook
her
head
and
snorted
against
the
wrench
of
the
burned
ordnance,
and
worse.
She
checked
her
parts.
The
bodily
ones
were
all
in
place,
but
she
had no clue where her rifle or the fragments of the hover were.
“Kory, do you hear me?”
She
wasn’t
surprised
her
com
was
shit
soup.
The
residual
energy
of
the
mine
would
disrupt
what
electronics
weren’t
fried.
She
pulled
her
sidearm
as
she
considered
her
resources
and
obstacles.
None,
and
a
man
who
sold
the
fanciest
ordinance
to
miscreants.
She
rolled
over
and
faced
the
point
of
the
blast,
peering
into
the
dissipating
smoke
and steam. The smell of cooked flora and fauna sickened her.
Hope none of that is my agents.
So
was
the
sonbitch
still
out
there
waiting
to
finish
her
off,
or
did
he
figure
the
mine
did
its
thing?
If
Croyw
and
Diniwed
survived,
would
they
be
down
in
the
next
fifteen seconds, likely to get blown away for their efforts?
Toni
pulled
her
computer
off
her
hip,
but
the
display
was
black.
No
surprise
there.
She tossed it.
If
her
people
came
down,
she’d
have
no
way
of
communicating
with
them.
They’d
as
likely
fire
on
her
as
the
sonbitch.
At
least
the
mine
would
have
disabled
any
other
surprises.
“I
got
no
sensors,
which
he
does.
So
he
can
see
me.
So
whadda
I
do
about
that?
Moving ain’t gonna help. It’s his advantage.”
Best option for the moment—disappear to sensors.
She
pulled
smoking
vegetation
over
her,
slowly,
as
she
kept
her
eyes
focused
forward. She stopped every few moments to listen.
A highly advanced ship floating sixty meters over my head and I can’t use her.
She
noted
a
scratching
noise
at
two
o’clock,
about
where
she
expected
Croyw
would
be,
if
she
was
alive,
or
Diniwed
if
she
had
repelled
back
down.
Nice
to
have
pals.
Now
they just needed to keep from shooting each other.
If
it
was
the
gunrunner—
Bad
thought.
She
hoped
he
wasn’t
as
lucky
as
she
had
been with the mine.
A blast tore a hole in the jungle to her left.
That answered that.
She couldn’t wait for the next one. His sensors would put it closer.
Left or right? Crap.
There
was
no
advantage
either
way.
Just
meant
her
relative
position
moved
nice
and
slow.
Closer
meant
his
sensors
were
more
accurate.
But
it
also
meant
less
jungle
between them camouflaging him.
She
leapt
up
and
sprinted
straight
ahead
in
as
tight
a
crouch
as
she
could
manage,
weapon
ready,
praying
she
got
close
enough
to
get
sight
of
him
before
bad
things
happened.
Another
burst
flew
over
her
head.
A
projectile
might
have
even
dinged
her
helmet.
Maybe her height saved her life. Toni felt the heat of another burst to her right.
The
idiot
moved
his
hover
into
the
clearing
made
by
the
mine.
Toni
slammed
to
a
stop, emptied a clip, before leaping for new cover.
She
lay
as
flat
as
she
could,
face
ploughed
into
the
remains
of
burned
vegetation,
afraid
to
move
to
reload.
She
waited
for
the
counter
attack,
and
the
pause
that
would
allow her to make her next move.
Seconds passed.
What?
Instead,
she
heard
the
whine
of
a
gravity
drive,
sputtering,
and
the
loud
thump
as
the
transport
fell
to
the
ground,
and
the
thud
and
grunt
as
the
man
aboard
it
was
flung
ass over undies.
Toni
lurched
to
insert
a
new
clip,
rose
and
ran
tangentially
toward
her
target,
scanning for the bastard she really, really wanted to blast. There was nothing but green.
She
made
it
into
the
untrampled
forest
before
she
found
a
fat
tree
trunk
to
hide
behind. After catching a quick breath, she peered around the tree, listening.
“Damn.”
She retreated behind her cover and gasped for air.
I’m getting too old for this crap.
Behind
her
she
saw
a
glint
off
a
metallic
cable
dropping
from
the
sky,
where
the
jungle had been handily cleared by the mine.
Right into the man’s sights.
“Hold fast,” she screamed at the top of her lungs.
A
spray
of
projectiles
mowed
the
vegetation
down
around
her,
but
she
had
found
a
good, solid protector. Still, she slid down the trunk, waiting for another volley.
She
didn’t
have
to
wait
long.
She
squinted
through
the
shards
that
filled
the
air,
anticipating
the
angle
the
fire
originated
by
the
deep
nicks
in
her
friend’s
hide
above
her.
When
the
explosions
stopped
Toni
hurled
herself
forward,
sprinting
crazily
through the broad leaves that ripped at her face.
New rounds filled the air and Toni threw herself to the ground.
I am really too old to do this kind of thing. What would my surgeon say?
With
the
new
quiet,
she
was
back
up,
sprinting
parallel
to
the
point
he
had
fired
from seconds earlier.
I’m playing Russian Roulette with a full clip.
When
a
new
burst
splattered
the
jungle
to
the
right
she
veered.
After
a
ten-meter
race she lurched to a stop, held her breath to listen.
Oxygen is overrated.
She squinted, feeling as much as listening for her gunrunner.
There
was
movement
in
the
vegetation
directly
in
front
of
her
and
she
lit
the
area
up,
dropping
her
empty
clip
and
reloading,
emptying
that
one
and
a
third,
before
she
dropped to the ground to listen.
All
she
could
hear
was
the
hum
of
the
Kory
Mae
somewhere
above.
Slowly
a
new
hum returned.
Insects.
If
that’s
what
they
called
them
on
this
planet.
They
bit
all
the
same,
whatever
they
were called.
No return fire.
She
decided
to
take
a
chance
at
exposing
her
position
to
communicate
with
her
team.
She
fired
two
quick
rounds
up
through
the
canopy,
which
would
be
stopped
harmlessly by the ship’s shields. Another two quick rounds after a pause.
Come save my butt, girls.
The minutes passed.
Be patient. Wait. Wait for your backup.
“I’m not patient! Never will be,” she snarled.
She rose and stalked forward, veering a bit left. Ten meters, twenty meters.
He should be right here.
Another five meters.
A
muffled
sound
practically
at
her
feet
almost
provoked
her
to
empty
her
freakin’
last clip. Instead she squatted down and looked into the foliage.
“Don’t shoot. I’m done.”
He
chucked
his
rifle,
and
threw
a
sidearm
several
meters
into
the
jungle.
She
waited,
until
he
cursed
and
threw
another
he
pulled
from
inside
his
body
armor.
Still
she didn’t move, holding him in her sights.
“Last one. Really,” he said, shrugging.
Toni
didn’t
stand.
She
did
a
little
squat-walk
to
get
under
and
past
the
leafy
thing
between
them.
The
man
had
a
projectile
mark
trailing
up
the
center
of
his
helmet
that
probably
knocked
him
cold
for
a
moment.
There
were
another
four
projectiles
embedded in his chest armor. He bled from a wound in his thigh.
Toni mumbled, “Damn good shooting. Didn’t know I was that good.”
“Go
ahead.
Gloat.
The
maneuver
that
got
my
little
booby
trap
is
what
did
me—
Oh
my
God,”
he
interrupted
himself
as
Toni
stood
up
in
front
of
him.
“What’d
they
send
after
me,
some
genetic
battle
mutant?
Done
in
by
a
two-foot-tall
runt.
What
are
you,
ten years old?”
“You sure are rude, considering I have a gun leveled at your freaking ugly face.”
© R. Mac Wheeler 2017