The drone Ducky had been firing at then took another direct hit from rebel fire, and it spun into the ground with a squeal and a piercing whistle. It crashed into the ground about fifty yards in front of Jed’s hiding spot, and the explosion sent a shudder through the air that stunned everyone for a moment.
Ducky stared at Eagles for a moment, and then both warriors began laughing and Ducky slapped the salvager hard on his shoulder—his way of thanking the strange man for saving his life. Eagles just laughed and laughed, green slobber running down his face, before deciding to rejoin the fight.
The moment of victory was short-lived. Jed turned away from the remnants of the TRACER explosion just in time to see three of Ducky’s men instantly vaporized in a shower of laser light and smoke, and a fourth cut cleanly in half by a phosphorescent round that hit him in the hip as he ran for cover. The suddenness and brutality of it all stunned Jed into closing his eyes for a moment, but the images of death and destruction seemed to be burned into his retinas. Closing his eyes changed nothing; the hellish assault on his senses continued. There was no escape. The land had become a killing field, and men were dying to his left and to his right.
Jed had almost despaired of any of their lives being spared when, as suddenly as the attack had commenced, the firing coming from the attacking Transport craft stopped, and the remaining drones retreated and disappeared from view.
The smoky, mercurial haze sat low upon the ground. Small fires in the low brush crackled and hissed, and added more smoke that clouded the battlefield and stung the eyes. Jed found himself looking around dumbfounded—like everyone else in the rebel group—when a loud, amplified voice trembling with bass blasted over the battle scene.
“Attention rebel militia currently engaged in illegal combat with lawful Transport administration authorities! Pay strict attention to the following commands
“Give up Jedediah Troyer, alive or dead, and you will all be allowed to depart unhindered. I repeat: Give up Jedediah Troyer, alive or dead, and you will not face immediate death and/or capture.
“If our attack commences again, you will almost certainly be killed—and in the unlikely event that you are captured, you will be tried according to Transport law. If you do not face execution for your crimes against the people, you will face rehabilitation and resettlement to the frontier cities.
“This area is surrounded. There can be no escape. We have airships and ground units moving in on your location. Give up Jedediah Troyer and you will be allowed to depart unimpeded. You have sixty seconds to comply.”
(16
CAPTURED
Pook, Ducky, and the surviving resistance fighters were using the sixty seconds to reload and to prepare themselves for the renewal of the fight. It was obvious to Jed that Pook had no intention of surrendering. He and his team would battle to the death. There were no heroic speeches. The music did not build amid flashbacks to better times and shorter odds. No debate prevailed upon the stage. The men and women of TRACE simply went about their preparations as if living or dying were something completely outside of their control—and thus none of their concern.
Seeing the inevitability of defeat, and torn between competing duties and affections, Dawn finally succumbed to Billy’s wishes and began pulling at Jed’s hand, wordlessly making known her intention to sneak him off the battlefield toward the Amish Zone. Her orders came from the SOMA himself, and she had every intention of keeping Jed alive and getting him to his destination.
Jed watched all of this as the seconds ticked by, knowing that he alone had the power to save these brave men and women.
That was when he decided.
It wasn’t a conscious thing. He didn’t spend minutes pondering the different options that were available to him. He’d seen enough. Enough good people had died.
For what? For a poor farmer boy?
It was all too much to take in anyway, so he acted. Dawn had told him his brother was alive and leading the rebellion. How was that possible? And the Amish do not fight! He felt like he was in a bad dream, and that he couldn’t wake up. At the same time, he hadn’t slept or had anything to eat since… when? It was all too confusing. What he did next was more of an involuntary reflex than a decision.
Jed shook his hand loose of Dawn’s grip, climbed to his feet, and walked out into the open field with his hands up.
“I am Jedediah Troyer! And I surrender!”
Pook sputtered and then shouted. “What? What the hell? Jed! Somebody grab—!”
Jed kept walking, and picked up his pace, making sure he was out in the open and easily identifiable. “I am Jedediah Troyer, and I accept the terms of surrender!”
A drone appeared and zipped toward him until it came to hover about fifty yards west of his position. A thin red beam lit the ground in front of Jed, scanning a few feet left to right before moving up and coming to rest squarely on Jed’s chest. Ducky and his men raised their weapons again, ready to reengage on Pook’s order, but everyone could see that it was too late. The drone could fire in a thousandth of a second and Jed would be dead before they could return fire. There was no way they could take the drone out fast enough to save him.
“Damn you, Jed!” Pook shouted, just as Transport foot soldiers appeared in the distance, moving their way inward from three different directions.
“Rebel forces! Follow these instructions and you will be permitted to depart safely. Leave Jedediah Troyer and exit the area to the south. If your forces move in any other direction, you will be engaged and terminated. Lower your weapons and move to the south immediately. You have thirty seconds to comply.”
Pook’s hand went up, and he commanded the rebel team to break contact and move out. Weapons were lowered and the team began slowly backing out of the area, heading south as instructed. It was obvious that Pook didn’t trust Transport, but he had no other option. Retreat was the only way the team might live to fight another day. Transport wanted Jed, and it seemed like they wanted him alive. The government wanted him so badly that they were willing to let an armed resistance group escape when it could have been destroyed. Pook shouted to his men to stay alert, to be ready in case the Transport offer was a trap.
Billy tried to pull Dawn away, but she wasn’t having it. She dropped his hand and shook her head. “I’m staying with Jed. No matter what.”
Billy reached out to Dawn again, “But Dawn—”
“No matter what!”
She turned her back on Billy and walked out with her hands raised. Transport troops were moving in now, and Billy reluctantly turned and joined the retreating rebel force as Dawn joined Jed. He watched over his shoulder as Dawn and Jed were surrounded.
Dawn slowly put her hands behind her head, showing Jed by her actions what he should do to make sure that no Transport goon with an itchy trigger finger was going to shoot them.
As the soldiers arrived, those that were not involved in capturing the suspects moved outward to set up a defensive perimeter. Their training made them wary of a counterattack, but they seemed confident that the battle was over. Two soldiers grabbed Jed and pushed him roughly to the ground face first, then began zip-tying his hands behind him. The two troopers did not speak.