Galen held Karen’s hand to help her dismount. “You’re on.”
“Why me?” she asked.
“We’re here for logistics. You’re the logistics officer, and you’re a woman, and this enclave is a matriarchy. I’ll stand to your left and act like you’re in charge.”
“Okay.” She reached inside her combat vest and turned her personal communicator back on. Galen clipped his to his helmet and angled the sensor forward and turned it on.
Galen said to Sevin, “You coming?”
“Nope. I’m the only one accustomed to driving this thing on this planet; it takes some getting used to. I’ll make sure it’s still here when you come back.”
Galen faced the building and stood to Karen’s left. Koa and Tad stood behind them, and on Karen’s initiative, the group ascended the steps.
The main door was flanked by a guard on each side. Thugs, really, wearing street clothes with a bit of an upgrade. No rips or tears, clean, no stains. The men were tall, Galen’s height, with square faces and broad shoulders. The one the left had a brown goatee and mustache, the one on the right, a three centimeter horizontal scar that started on the left cheek and ended at the ear lobe. The guard with the facial hair moved his right hand inside his jacket and used his left hand to pull the jacket open enough so that Galen could see a holstered side arm.
The other guard said, “What you doin’ here?”
Karen said, “I’m here to see Zora.”
“Queen Zora,” corrected the guard.
The main door had a steel plate bolted over its old wooden frame. The cover slid back from inside and two eyes peered out from a narrow slit. The cover slid shut, and then the door opened a crack. “Who do you think you are, coming in here uninvited? What makes you think I don’t have nothing better to do than talk to you?”
“May we come in?” Karen said.
“No, we can talk just fine right here on the porch. You got no business coming inside my house. You come on up here wanting something, but you need to come here stepping correctly. You need to show me some proper respect.” Queen Zora opened the door some more and stepped forward, coming within a centimeter of Karen. Zora was tall, almost Galen’s height, and she was thick. A reasonable amount of body fat adhered to an otherwise muscular frame. She wore a white sleeveless vest and orange body-hugging, seamless pants that ended at her ankles and led into flat-soled synthetic material slippers. Her hair was pulled back into a high, braided pony tail, its black braids accentuated by several small jewels, some diamonds, the rings that held them weaved into the hair.
Karen said, “We’ll need organic fuel and natural food. I have a list.”
“Honey, I don’t care about no list. Now you get on out of here before I lose my mind.”
Galen said, “We’re from the Jasmine Panzer Brigade. We have over two thousand soldiers who need food and fuel.”
The Queen looked toward Galen. Her eyes twinkled. “See, that’s more like it. A proper introduction to smooth things over. Two thousand soldiers, you say. Maybe we can offer them more than food.”
Karen said, “And we need to put in a tap line to the sky factory.”
“Sure, sure, we can work something out. Any of your men need to meet some girls, bring them on over to my town and we’ll take good care of them.”
Tad said, “We’ll see. Depends on what kind of girls.”
Queen Zora said, “Working girls. Young ones, but they know their business. They know if they don’t please a man they taste the back of a hand.”
Koa said, “Anything to help a soldier unwind?”
“We got it all. Hooch, smack, weed, meth, whatever you please.”
Karen said, “Thank you for sharing that information with us. Now, turn around and place your hands behind your back.”
Queen Zora stepped forward and barged right into Karen, forcing her to step back, one foot on the top step. Galen drew his pistol and pointed it at the chest of the thug on the left; Tad had already disarmed the thug on the right and had him face down, arm twisted behind his back.
Koa said, “You are under arrest.”
“Who do you think you are? You people aren’t arresting nobody. You people aren’t getting out of here alive!” Queen Zora shoved Karen down the steps. Just as Karen fell, Zora’s face disappeared, a gaping six centimeter hole lined with smoking flesh, bone and brain matter in its place. A bullet bounced off Galen’s back plate, so he shot his thug and turned and went down the steps to help Karen get back on her feet. Sevin moved from the skimmer’s laser to the driver’s seat. Tad broke his thug’s arm and dashed down the steps and into the skimmer and got control of the laser. Koa crouched and descended the steps to jump into the skimmer, a burst of light machine pistol fire from the front gate’s guard shack passing above his head. One round hit his helmet and skewed it a bit clockwise. Galen shoved Karen as she got in, and then he had to leap to get in because Sevin was already raising and rotating the skimmer.
Tad sent half a dozen laser bolts into the front gate guard shack. They burned through it completely. Sevin sent the skimmer leaping over the wall and skimmed at high speed down the street, then took a right and then a left.
“Where are we going?” asked Galen.
“Side street. Parallel to the main boulevard.”
Then a left and a right, back onto the main boulevard, fifty meters from the toll booth. Trucks were parked to block it, but Sevin revved the blowers and leapt over the booth. Back on the main road out of town, he set the throttle to cruise at 90% maximum speed.
Galen removed his personal communicator from his helmet and shut it off, then signaled the others to turn off theirs too. Satisfied he said, “Well, you wanted a war, you got one.”
Sevin grimaced. “I got something for my troops to do now. Give some of the new guys a chance to cut their combat teeth on these clowns.”
Tad said, “How long before they get organized enough to present a threat?”
Koa said, “I’d give it about two weeks. First they have a lot of in-fighting amongst their enclaves to settle.”
Tad aimed the laser to the left and set it to low, and then sent a steady beam into an opium field, setting it on fire. “That should help them get organized.”
They turned off the paved road onto the dirt road. Sevin slowed the skimmer so it would throw up less dust.
Karen said, “That city has a lot of people in it. They could overwhelm us.”
Koa said, “The population is almost two hundred thousand, but we can’t view them as a single entity. There are five major criminal enclaves competing for power. There are also some decent people who will be glad to see the criminal organizations dealt a blow. And the individuals in the crime enclaves, they’re mostly concerned with where their next high will come from. And the abused and exploited people, once their masters are dealt with, they won’t bother anyone. And most importantly, the air factory company. They won’t be too upset if we clean up that town.”
Tad said, “We’ll defend for a while and let them whittle down their own numbers. Then, offense.”
Galen said, “Well I’m sure we’ll have the tunnel done before we switch to offense. I’d like to take the heavy tank company back there for a little visit.”
Sevin turned off the dirt road and deliberately meandered in wide, sweeping arcs a kilometer across.
“You lost?” said Karen.
Sevin looked over his shoulder. “No. Just don’t want to leave a straight trail of blowout for them to follow. Can’t make it too easy for them.”
“I don’t think they’re that smart,” said Tad.