Crusade For Vengeance (Dark Vengeance Book 2) (32 page)

When everyone was settled, Hanna stood and took a deep breath.  “Again, thank you all for coming.  I appreciate this isn’t easy for most of you, but we’re all here for Valerie, if for different reasons.  I know most of you, but also some of you haven’t met before today, perhaps we can start by just introducing ourselves.  I’m Hanna, Thief, Hacker and currently Boss of this territory’s gang.  Valerie means a lot to me and my goal is to get her back.”

She waved to Shannon, who paused for a moment before speaking.  “Major Shannon Forlani, commanding officer of Shadow Company and Valerie was, sorry, is my best friend, I’m also here to get justice for those killed in the name of power.”

Shannon waved for Hans to go next.  “Captain Hans Benz, Shadow Company, air support.  I owe Major Carter my life.”

“Captain Pavel Vobruba, Shadow Company, Third Platoon.  I also owe Major Carter my life,” he paused, “and I also want Justice.”

“Private Chao Button, Shadow Company, First Platoon.”

“And?” Shannon asked pointedly when he stopped.

“Aanndd, I’m a recruiter for the Rebellion and she’s my cousin.”  He jerked his thumb in Julianna’s direction.

“Julianna Sazia, Rebellion, Zeus Cell leader and yes, he’s my cousin.”  Hanna expected the similar, joking tone Chao used, but Julianna was completely serious.  She looked at the man beside her, it was fleeting, but there was something there.

The man looked around at the group for a moment, he was older than any of those not treated with Life X.  If Hanna guessed, she would say only Chao and maybe Shannon had more years on him.  After gazing consideringly at them he sat back.

“William Baccurin, founder of the Rebellion, author of the Free People’s Society and also known as Billy Bacc.”  The intake of breath was clearly audible in the silence that followed.  It seemed no one had anything to say.

“That has well and truly got me back for not telling you about the Major.”  Chao’s comment to his cousin broke everyone out of their shock.

Whether by design or happenstance, Hanna wasn’t about to say, but whatever it was Shannon sat almost directly opposite the Rebel leader and she leaned forward.

“Billy Bacc.  That is a surprise.”

“Do you know what L.I. would give to know he was here on Olympus?”  Pavel said.

“Not as much as you would think.”  Shannon said shaking her head.

Billy leaned forward as well, his big arms resting on the table and his eyes narrowed.  “What do you mean?”

Shannon cocked her head.  “I think you know, don’t you.”

“I suspected certainly,” he rumbled.

“I don’t know nor do I suspect anything, so could someone please say something.”  Hans pointed out dryly.

After looking at Billy for a moment longer, Shannon leaned back in her seat.  “The official policy for one William Baccurin, the most wanted man in human space, is to shoot on sight.  The unofficial policy, known only to those unit commanders most likely to actually meet him, is to make sure he walks away.”

“What?  Why!?”  Arlene exclaimed almost in unison with Pavel’s “You can’t be serious!” and Chao’s laughing “Oh that is so funny it has to be true.”

Shannon held up a hand and her command silenced the Devils.  The Rebels took their cue from their leader and stayed quiet.  Hanna looked at Deni who only shrugged in return.  Feeling somewhat forgotten, Hanna sat down again and decided to let them figure it out amongst themselves.

“That’s one of the reasons I’m here,” Shannon told them.  “When I was given command of the Company it was one of the top secret standing orders I was given.  With it came a briefing pack, including two instances where Major Carter saved Baccurin’s life.  Once by diverting us away from the group he was with and by not pulling the trigger when she had him clearly in her sights.”

“When was the second time?” Billy asked.

“Chengdu, fifteen years ago.”

“Wasn’t that the arms shipment we were sent to recover?” Chao asked frowning.

“That’s the one,” Shannon confirmed.

“I remember.  The Major grabbed my rifle and went running off.  She said the guy got away before she could get a bead on him.”

“She lied.  The Major was following protocol where it pertained to one William Baccurin.”

“You’re lucky then, Billy, because if it wasn’t for those orders, you’d certainly be dead.  She doesn’t miss,” Chao’s tone was light, but his meaning wasn’t.

“Hang on, why would the government protect him?” Hans asked.

“This can’t be right,” Arlene interrupted.  “They don’t just let us walk away.  I’ve lost friends, a lot of friends and none of them are coming back.”

Sighing, Shannon shook her head.  “It’s only good for him,” she nodded to Billy.  “Everyone else is to be arrested or shot as any other terrorist.”

“Why would they do that?  I don’t understand,” Arlene’s tone was almost pleading.

“Hope.”

To Hanna’s surprise, it came from her left.  It Deni was speaking so quietly it was almost inaudible, but everyone heard it and turned to her.

“It’s hope,” she said more strongly.  “They want us to hope the Rebellion can change things.  Hope they can make it better for us.  With hope we continue to go to the factories every day, we ignore starving children, we look the other way when people are beaten to death in alleys.  With hope we get on with our lives, not knowing it’s a fabrication to keep us happy and docile.”

When she finished there was silence again and it occurred to Hanna, out of the people sitting at this table, looking to change the way of life in the Pantheon, less than half of them lived that life.  Five grew up without knowing hunger.  They hadn’t seen their father die and his body lying there for days because their mother was too high to notice.

It was an abstract concept for them, it wasn’t real.  Julianna dedicated her life to the Rebellion, faked her own death and made everyone who loved her think she was gone for the cause, but she still hadn’t lived it.  Chao followed his cousin because he too believed, if for different reasons.  Shannon, Hans and Pavel were good people, Hanna could see that, but did they really know why Billy Bacc fought?

She could see some of it sinking in to the Privileged.  Standing Hanna cleared her throat as she tried to find the right words.

“Thank you.”  They looked at her in surprise.

“Thank you,” she repeated.  “I can’t, we can’t, say that enough.  You don’t have to be here.” Arlene looked at Hanna sharply and was about to interject, but was stopped by Billy’s hand on her arm.  “The five of you are not here because you have lived a hard life, seen and experienced things as children, no child should have to.  You’re here because you have chosen to do so, as it’s the right thing to do.  Thank you.”

“She’s right,” Billy said.  “As trained officers, who will live far longer than many of us, we will ask you to lead and you will meet a lot of resentment by those you’re trying to help.  They’ll see you as the embodiment of those we’re fighting and resent you.  I’ll say this now, so you know it from the very beginning.  We appreciate you fighting beside us.”

He met each of their eyes and nodded respectively to both Deni and Hanna.  She felt the pride well up inside of her and the blush warming her face.  Hanna saw out of the corner of her eye the same reaction from Deni.

“Now that’s out of the way,” Billy said.  “Perhaps you would introduce yourself Arlene and Hanna can continue the meeting.”

Nodding Arlene looked around the group.  “Arlene Hall, Rebellion, Zeus Cell Intelligence Officer.”

“Deni, Driver, Scout, sometime Thief and expert pulling-Hanna-out-of-the fire person.”

“Thanks, Deni.  You forgot to mention ego-deflator as well.”

“They’ve met you, Hanna.  I’m sure they assumed that.”  The gentle banter triggered a relaxing chuckle around the group, probably as Deni intended.

“That’s the introductions out of the way and we all know who we are.  The question is, where each group stands and what we can do to help each other.  I’ll go first again.  The gang will stay here and I’ll be handing over the reins to a guy called Hopwood.  He’ll run the territory with the remit of building up the infrastructure.  He’ll also keep close ties with the Rebellion, should they wish to continue the relationship.

“Deni and myself will be going to Blaze.  We have a secure route, it’s slow, but it’ll get us there safely.  We have much better resources there.  If you think I’m a good Hacker, wait until you meet my mentor,” she smiled impishly.  “He’s better.”  There were a couple of raised eyebrows, but no one disputed her.  “With his help we can Hack the Spectre and gain access to the clearances we need to locate the Rock.”

“What’s the Spectre?” Julianna asked.

“I’ll answer, if you don’t mind, Hanna?” Shannon said and she nodded for her to continue.  “The Spectre was a top secret R&D project.  It is so classified, I shouldn’t even know about it.  In the confusion following Furioso, I was given access to all of Major Carter’s files.  It’s one of those blunders that happen from time to time,” she paused.

“The Spectre is a next generation stealth bomber, due to its unique shielding and adaptive armour it is, as near as we can make, to being completely undetectable.  Designed for deep penetration behind an enemy fleet, it has the smallest anti-matter reactor ever built and can sustain itself, and its small crew of four, for possibly years at a time.  The last data the Legion has on the Spectre shows, the ship being fully equipped with the most advanced weaponry ever devised by humankind.  With that weaponry, coupled with its stealth systems, the Spectre is capable of destroying a battleship before they knew she was even there.”

“And the Major stole it?”  Chao said smiling appreciatively.  “Now I see why you thieves like her so much.  That ship must be worth more than the best robbery in history.”

“Where’s the ship now?” Billy asked.  “I can’t imagine it would be easy to hide.”

“On Blaze,” Hanna answered.

“Yes, but where?”  Julianna asked.  “We’ll need a ship to get to it and ships need co-ordinates.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, we’ll take an aircar,” Deni said with a smile.  “It’s on the planet, not floating around in the system.”

Julianna put her head in her hands.  “Why do I think that every time I hear something more about Valerie Carter, I can’t see there being anything more astounding and yet there it is.  She parked an anti-matter reactor on a planet and this is after the Furioso disaster?”

“She assured us it was perfectly safe for at least ten years.  She put in place a plan for it to be neutralised well before then, if we didn’t return.”  Deni interjected.

“Let’s not worry too much about that now, Julianna,” Billy said.  “That ship could be a massive help to the Rebellion and we can deal with getting it off planet later.  OK, Hanna.  That’s your situation and what you can offer.  What is it you need?”

“An assault team to take the Rock.  The Crew we have on Blaze are good.  They were some of the best people on the planet and then trained by Valerie.  Now they are the best, but we don’t have the numbers, experience or the equipment for that kind of Job.”

Shannon leaned forward.  “That’s where we come in, I guess.  I have a hundred of the best combat soldiers you will ever see, along with twenty-four support personnel, like Captain Benz here, who are all personally loyal to Major Carter.  After what happened to her, they’re all out for blood and more than willing to support her in whatever she chooses to do.  Equipment wise, I can guarantee we will be able to leave with our Helos and standard weapons, including our Devil FPB Armour.  With a bit of planning, I’m confident we will be able to bring enough additional weaponry to outfit a full battalion.

“What we need are two things, protection for those of my troops who have families.  We need guarantees they will be taken care of.”

“I can take care of any in Zeus,” Hanna interjected.  “Hopwood will make sure they’re looked after better than our own.”

“We’ll cover the rest,” Billy said confidently.  “A hundred or so families won’t be a problem.”

“Thank you,” Shannon said with a nod.  “The second thing is transport out of the system.  A standard freighter capable of carrying six Helos and a couple of Scarab class shuttles would do, but a modular one would be better.  With that, I can have the additional weaponry and it will make our exit less noticeable.  If I do it right, no one will know we’re gone until after we’ve cracked the Rock open.”

Julianna looked at Billy before answering and he nodded.  “We can supply a modular freighter.  How soon would you be ready to go and where would you want the pick up?”

“I’ll need to nail down a few details, but the broad strokes are, the freighter will collect a Forward Operating Base Module out of Midgard and pick us up here in the system.  I’ll arrange a mission out to one of the Boundary systems and tag your freighter as the delivery system.  The module will look like any other cargo container and it’s standard procedure to use civilian ships, so any one will do.  FOBM’s are generally well stocked and with my clearance, I’ll be able to add some extra’s without raising any flags.”

“OK,” Billy said.  “We’ll handle transport and arrange the details directly using Julianna and Button as our conduit.”  Shannon nodded in agreement.  “We’ll have some of our fighters sent to Blaze by a different route,” he looked at Hanna.  “Can you arrange a safe place for them to stay in Inferno and a way to take delivery of their equipment?”