Hell's Hoplites - Book 1 - Thebes - 8 - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 -

Sol System - Mars

20 Miles East Of San Kapolla Mars

July 18th 2535 AD - 15:13 GMT

The Martian Desert was just as fucking hot as Jack remembered it. He hadn’t been in this part of Mars for nearly eleven years and was really glad he hadn’t been as he pulled the baseball cap down to the tops of his sunglasses to block out the brilliant rays as they bounced off the red sand of the desert.

Jack and Samuel had just gotten done raiding his stash for clothes and thankfully the two were close enough in size to wear what was in it. Now the two of them after leaving the Hoplite II several miles from where they were currently standing were going over the two dirt bikes that had been in the stash.

The pair of bikes were painted a mottle selection of muddy reds and browns to better camouflage them and as Jack stood looking about he heard Samuel roll the throttle on one of the bikes. The bikes were small and compact while they had powerful engines for their size they really weren’t meant for long distance travel.

Jack knew by the time they reached the small desert town of San Kapolla he’d want to ram a screw driver in his ears from the high pitched whiny rev of the bikes’ engines.

“Ready to go?” Samuel asked switching off the bike he had been tuning.

Jack nodded pulling off his ball cap and sliding a composite helmet down over his head locking it into place. Thankfully it was all one piece so he wouldn’t be inhaling the red sand of the desert for the next twenty miles.

Turning around he hopped onto one of the bikes and the two of them zoomed off in the direction of the small town.

By the time the two of them reached the small town they were both liberally coated in red sand and a few splotches of red mud where they had run across a few arroyos still leaking water.

The town of San Kapolla was actually bigger than Samuel remembered it being; when he had been there before it had been a small dusty town with a general store, bar, restaurant, HBT station, a used car lot as well as a smattering of houses, now it was fairly large sized. Among other things the town now boasted a Chevrolet Dealership and one of the large chains of department stores.

Looking like extras from a Martian western they managed to beat most of the dust off of themselves before entering the dealership. After entering the building Jack and Samuel stood there for several minutes while various salespeople walked past them, answered phones, got coffee, and filled out paperwork.

Getting irritated Jack finally grabbed a young kid in a mechanics uniform as he walked out of the bathroom.

“I need to buy a car,” Jack told him.

“I’m just a mechanic sir,” the young man told him.

Jack glanced at his name tag. “Not anymore Greg you are going to sell me a brand new Yukon Denali with all the bells and whistles,” Jack told him.

“I don’t know how to sell cars, sir, sorry,” he gulped.

“That’s fine you go get the manager,” Jack told him pushing him in the direction of the offices.

One of the salesmen had perked up at the mention of a 50,000 credit sale and came over to talk to Jack.

“Piss off,” Jack told him bluntly as he got within five feet. Looking at the salespeople that were now paying attention, Jack looked them over. “Look you bunch of pencil dicked jackal’s you just lost yourselves a sale, just because we look scruffy doesn’t mean we don’t have money. Now,” Jack said hooking his thumb in the direction that the kid had headed, “that kid mechanic is going to get himself a hefty bit of change from this sale, and I bet every one of you bastards treats him and the other mechanics like shit.” Jack paused. “So once again Piss Off,” he repeated.

Samuel looked menacingly at the salespeople who suddenly found something else to do again.

When all was said and done Jack and Samuel drove off the lot in a brand new 2535 Black Yukon Denali SUV at 15% under sticker price; with all the bells and whistles; except leather seats, Jack hated leather seats.

It didn’t take long for the black paint of the SUV to take on a red tinge after they left the dealership. While the roads in the still growing town were fully paved; the desert reclamation project hadn’t gotten quite into full swing so dust devils and winds blew clouds of red sand through the town constantly.

Jack’s next stop was the department store where he had to pick up clothes for the others; one of the things he really wasn’t looking forward to picking up at the store however was clothes for the girl.

Splitting up after a quick game of rock, paper, scissors, Jack found himself still doing the clothes shopping while Samuel got to do the food and essentials shopping.

Walking through the men’s clothing department Jack was admiring a rack of denim jackets; he’d already gotten at least a weeks worth of clothing for everyone and now he was getting a few extra items for himself; it was his money after all.

Fingering the sleeve of one of the jackets he moved it aside to get a look at the one next to it and found himself face to face with a familiar individual with spiky blonde hair.

“Uh, hi,” the blonde said whipping around and running away.

“Oh no, not this time you bastard,” Jack dove through the clothing rack and came out of a roll on the other side racing after him. As they passed a store clerk staring at the two running men Jack tossed the girl a fifty credit coin. “Take that cart of clothes by the coat rack up front and I’ll be up shortly to pay for it,” he told her still running past.

The blonde haired man wasn’t that great at evasion and ran in a straight line from the back of the store to the front of it. He was fast as hell though and after a few minutes of constant running through the huge store Jack started to flag.

Dammit he’s going get away, Jack thought to himself as they raced past the cash registers and ran towards the bank of motion sensitive doors leading to the parking lot.

It seemed fate had decided to rear its ugly head in Jack’s favor; sort of. Just as the blonde was about to blast through one of the doors an old man in a motorized wheel chair came bursting across the entry way at a high speed angle.

The blonde was in the middle of a long legged stride when his foot caught in one of the wheelchairs thick spokes and he went sprawling. Not just head over heels but flipped completely upside down, cart wheeled several times, and slammed still upside down with his back to the now closed entry door.

Even as good of shape as Jack was in he couldn’t laugh and breathe at the same time as he dashed up and checked on the old man.

“You bloody whippersnappers always running around and hitting people; not looking where you are going,” the old man groused and pulled a cane off the back of his wheel chair and whacked Jack in the knee with it.

“Oh, shit, you old bastard,” Jack grunted from the pain and grabbed the cane from the old man and snapped it in half and handed back to him.

“Thank you for shopping at your local kiss my ass store,” Jack growled as the old man looked in astonishment at the thick hickory cane that had been handed back to him in two pieces.

“Old fart,” Jack growled limping over to the blonde haired fugitive as the old man wheeled himself away. Spike was laying half in and half out of the door and it kept trying to shut eliciting a grunt of pain from him each time it did so.

“Now,” Jack said pulling out a pair of handcuffs from a case on his belt and pulling his old bounty hunters badge and laying it over his shirt. “By the power invested in me by the planet of Mars and the Martian Marine Corps I hereby place your fugitive ass under arrest,” Jack growled slapping the handcuffs over his wrists and yanked the man to his feet.

“Not so tough without a gallon of orange juice to whack a person with are you,” Jack said to him.

“Ah, gee mister I just wanted to get away, why did you have to go an arrest me for,” the blonde whined.

Jack looked at him as if he were insane and then used another pair of handcuffs to cuff him to a support post by the shopping cart rack.

Re-entering the store Jack found where the girl had left his cart of items and quickly paid for them before he left pushing it and then handcuffed Blondie to the front of it.

“Make as much as a wrong breath and I swear I’ll jam this shopping cart up your ass,” Jack growled in irritation as he maneuvered prisoner and cart to the SUV.

“Who is that?” Samuel asked leaning against the rear fender of the SUV with the tailgate open and his own purchases already loaded.

“This would be the guy that bashed me in the face with a gallon of orange juice,” Jack told Samuel slamming bags of clothing into the cargo space of the huge SUV.

“I thought you had made him up,” Samuel said and Jack gave him the finger.

“Well I mean come on; we were supposed to believe some dude got the drop on you with a bottle of orange juice. We thought you had just been klutzy and spilled it on yourself,” Samuel told him.

A second finger joined the first.

“Okay, okay,” Samuel said raising his hands defensively. “I get the point,” he finished with a bad pun.

Jack loaded the last of the bags and slammed the tailgate shut then undid the cuff from the shopping cart then shoved Blondie into the backseat cuffing him to the “Oh Shit” handle over the door.

“You can put the cart away,” Jack told Samuel ramming it into his ankles.

“Hey, dick, that wasn’t necessary,” Samuel grumbled as he put the cart in the nearest coral.

“No it wasn’t, but it made me feel better,” Jack said starting the big engine and backing out.

“Whatever makes you feel better, just remember revenge is a bitch,” Samuel told him gleefully.

“Hey can I have some orange juice?” the blonde asked in a whiny voice.

“NO!” Jack and Samuel answered in unison.

“Okay you guys don’t have to be so mean,” the blonde said.

“Yes we do,” Jack said as they pulled out of the department store’s parking lot and headed back to Samuel’s stash.

It took quite a bit less time to reach the stash in the SUV than it had on the bikes and they were able to enjoy the comforts of the vehicle’s air conditioning.

At the stash they loaded up as much ammo, explosives, and spare weaponry as they could fit in the vehicle and made good time back to the ship. The Hoplite II’s vehicle/cargo bay hatch was already down when they got back and Fuji met them at the foot of it following as they drove into the much larger bay of their new ship.

“Any problems while we were gone?” Jack asked.

Fuji shrugged. “Not really Ren is still kind of worried about the girl being so non-responsive,” he told them.

“Who knows what drugs they may have pumped her with to keep her quiet,” Samuel grunted as he lifted a 5,000 round case of ammo from the tailgate and set it on a small cart.

“That’s the thing,” Fuji explained. “Ren said he can’t find any trace of drugs in her system at all,” he explained.

“That is odd,” Jack said as he opened the rear passenger door and unlatched the handcuff from the handle over the door frame.

“Who’s that?” Fuji asked.

“That would be Jack’s orange juice bandit,” Samuel said with another grunt and plopped a case of grenades down on a cart. “Now if you are done gawking Fuji you mind helping me with this stuff?” Samuel asked sarcastically.

Jack escorted the OJ bandit to the brig and locked him down making sure he wouldn’t be able to escape.

“There really isn’t any need for this,” the blonde said.

“By the way what’s your name?” Jack asked instead of answering him.

“You can call me Steve,” the man said.

“Alright Steve, yes there is a need for it. You are a wanted felon and as soon as we get some other things cleared up you are going to be handed over to the authorities and we’ll get a nice fat bounty,” Jack explained to him.

Steve stopped fiddling with the bunk mattress he was sitting on and looked Jack straight in the eye. “There is more than you realize going on here, son of one long dead,” the blonde said in a eerily still voice.

“What did you say?” Jack said gripping the bars of the cell.

“I said you don’t have to be so mean,” the blonde whined.

Jack smacked the bars with the palm of his hand. “Keep it up and I won’t feed you for a couple of days, and especially no orange juice,” he threatened.

“You wouldn’t?” Steve asked gulping.

“I would,” Jack said with a nasty grin.

“Oz,” Jack queried to the air.

“Yes Sgt. Major,” The AI answered.

“Stop calling me Sgt. Major; that was a long time ago and another life, just call me Jack,” he ordered.

“Certainly Jack, what can I do for you?” Oz asked.

“Keep an eye on this nut bar,” Jack ordered poking a thumb at the blonde in the cell.

“Not a problem. By the way Fuji and Samuel are done unloading the supplies from the vehicle and have it stowed properly,” Oz informed him.

“Thanks for the info Oz,” Jack said.

“Also there is a news broadcast you may want to watch, I’ve recorded it for you to all review,” the AI told him.

“What’s it about?” Jack asked puzzled.

“I think it would be much easier for you to watch than it would be for me to explain,” Oz told him.

“Alright, get everybody, in the, uh…,” Jack paused for a second. “Normally we would do this on the bridge or in the mess hall, where would you recommend?” He asked.

“There is a small conference room off of the Captain’s day cabin next to the bridge,” Oz suggested.

“Alright have everyone meet me there then,” Jack ordered.

“Certainly,” Oz replied.

Everyone was already in the small well appointed conference room when Jack arrived. The conference room was actually larger than he had expected and the gray battle steel bulkheads had been softened by indirect lighting, thick maroon carpeting, and a teak conference table with half a dozen overly plush chairs that sat on their own motorized tracks.

Might have to get some art for in here, maybe some dogs playing poker or some movie posters, Jack thought to himself.

The conference room was completed by a small counter with a built in sink, a coffee pot, hot plate, and refrigerator as well as a mini-bar that was currently empty.

Samuel had his red dust coated combat boots up on the table and was leaving a light dusting of it on the surface and he had a Corona in one hand and a ham sandwich in the other; Fuji was sharpening a couple of leaf bladed throwing knives; Ren was hunched over an E-PADD that most likely contained the latest scans from the girl in Medbay; as for Rick well deprived of his porn he had somehow gotten his hands on a handheld game unit and was blowing something up by the sounds coming from it.

“Alright guys Oz said he has some news clip that he wants us to watch,” Jack said sitting down in the first chair he came to.

The other four put down their various distractions and switched their attention to the huge plasma monitor on one wall of the conference room.

“Here is the clip I told you about,” Oz informed them as a news anchor sitting behind a desk appeared on the screen.

“This just in from our correspondent in Tokyo; it seems that the body of CEO and president of Kawamura Industries Toyatomi Kawamura was found earlier this morning in his penthouse office in the Kawamura tower, hold one second while we go to our correspondent in Toyatomi,” the blow dried anchor said.

The screen changed from the anchor to a young Japanese woman standing in the lobby of an office building with a small picture of the anchor was superimposed over one corner of the image.

“What can you tell us Misato?” A voice over of the anchor asked.

Below the picture of the correspondent scrolled her name; Misato Kusanagi. “Well Robert authorities are saying that earlier this morning the body of CEO Toyatomi Kawamura was found in his office by his secretary when she brought him breakfast.”

“Have they released any facts yet?” The anchor asked.

“Yes they have Robert,” the correspondent paused for a second as if gathering herself. “We even have some pictures of the scene released by the authorities.”

The screen blanked for a second then showed a well appointed office with rice paper screen walls and a large mahogany desk in the center. Tasteful water colors were on the walls and several bamboo trees were strategically placed in the room. As the camera panned around and closer to the desk it showed that a large pool of blood had soaked into the tan carpeting and was puddled in the seat of an expensive black leather chair, and a bloodied Tanto knife was laying on the floor next to the chair.

“Wow that is quite a bit of blood Misato,” Robert said with a low whistle. “What exactly happened?” The anchor asked.

“Sometime during the night Kawamura committed suicide via Hara-Kiri, by slitting his belly open and allowing his intestines to spill out,” the Japanese correspondent told him.

The news anchors face took on a slightly green tinge. “So the authorities are positive that it was suicide?” He asked.

“Yes Kawamura’s fingerprints were found on the hilt of the Tanto,” she told him.

“Does anyone have a reason as to why he would do such a thing?” The anchor asked.

“Yes apparently his head security officer was leading a team to rescue his daughter who had been kidnapped for ransom by pirates and in the process the Pirates set off the self destruct mechanism aboard their base killing everyone on it including Kawamura’s daughter and the security personnel sent in to rescue her,” she informed him.

“Wasn’t Kawamura’s daughter suffering from a terminal case of cancer?” He asked.

“Yes Robert, she was en route to a Jupiter hospital for treatment when she was kidnapped by pirates.”

“Has Kawamura Industries released a statement yet?”

“Yes they’ve named Edgar Rice as interim CEO until his appointment is either finalized or someone else is chosen. He is currently unavailable due to being on location at Saturn doing a SAR mission to possibly see if Kawamura’s daughter might have survived.”

The talking heads blathered on for more minutes than they really needed to before Jack shut the recorded message down.

“What a bunch of bullshit. Rice probably had one of his goons murder Kawamura,” Fuji said.

“No, no, I think he did really commit suicide,” Jack said quietly.

“Why do you think that?” Ren asked him.

“Well think about it; Kawamura was hardcore old style Japanese; with the loss of the girl and her supposed death he lost a lot of face. Rather than confront his mistakes he committed, Seppuku, or Hara-Kiri to save what little amount of honor he had left,” Jack told him.

“Nasty way to go,” Samuel commented finishing his ham sandwich.

“Yeah and I have a feeling Rice was hoping this is exactly what would happen,” Jack finished.

“You sure he would be thinking this far ahead?” Rick asked.

“Yeah, he seems like the long term goal kind of guy,” Jack paused. “And it wouldn’t surprise me if he didn’t have a couple of other nasty things up his sleeve yet,” Jack said darkly.

The others nodded and sat silently with their own thoughts as they digested these new bits of information.

Sol System - Saturn Orbit Near Titan

Privately Registered Vessel - New Edo

July 20th 2535 AD - 20:08 GMT

“Well you’ve gotten what you wanted,” Greaves sneered at Rice. “Kawamura is dead, you’ve killed his daughter and any witnesses that would have told the board of directors exactly what you have done,” he said in disgust.

“Did you also figure out the part where I hired the pirates to kidnap the girl?” Rice asked quietly pulling a cigarette from the pack in his inner jacket pocket.

An expression of startlement crossed Greaves face at that revelation. “You set this whole thing in motion then,” he said the realization hitting him like a fist.

“Oh, yes about forty years ago actually,” Rice told the man.

“For…, Forty years ago that means that you were responsible for the explosion at the Olympus Mons Dig site as well,” Greaves felt another mental body blow.

“Yes, well that one was actually done following orders from Kawamura himself. He didn’t want Erskine Sikorsky finding any more technological wonders before the company could lock them down and exploit them for profit,” Rice explained to him.

Greaves just gaped at the man.

“So I hired some fundamentalists, gave them a bomb and told them that if Erskine were allowed to uncover the entire dig site that Satan would be able to dig his claws even further into the hearts of all god fearing worshippers in the solar system,” Rice said nonchalantly.

“You are fucking mad, once we get back to Earth I’m letting the board of directors know about this and then the authorities and police,” Greaves hollered pointing his finger in Rice’s face. Not paying much attention as the man’s hand dipped back into the coat pocket thinking he was just getting a lighter for his cigarette.

Thwang.

Greaves body was tossed back by the impact of the ballistic knife’s blade; his head cracking back against the wall and breaking open like a chicken’s egg. A smear of gray and red trailing down it from his body, the blade had lodged itself over half its length into the man’s skull.

Rice tossed the empty hilt of the ballistic knife on Greaves’ corpse and pulled out his comm. “Do it,” he ordered.

Unheard by crew or anyone outside the ship men in black full body armor boarded the New Edo and using silenced weapons executed the ship’s crew and took over.

“Captain,” Rice said looking down at the dead body of the ship’s captain as he flicked a match to life and lit his cigarette. “Sociopath I may be, cold and calculating I may be, but definitely not mad, I have no hidden base, no secret agenda save to get a piece of the pie that was denied me just because my mother was an occidental,” Rice coldly told the man flicking out the match.

Rice flipped the used match onto Greaves body and pulled his buzzing comm unit out of his pocket. “It’s done,” a gruff female voice said from the speaker.

“Good,” Rice replied. “Did you set the charge?” He queried.

“Yes Sir,” the voice answered.

“And the other part of the plan?” Rice asked.

“Should be going into motion as we speak,” the woman told him.

Rice didn’t reply to the last and thumbed the comm off leaving the bridge just as two men clad in black armor started dragging Greaves’ body away.

Sol System - Earth

July 20th To August 2nd 2535 AD

The next portion of Rice’s plan kicked off at the same time that he had his men dispose of Greaves and his crew.

In Tokyo board of directors member Hisato Masumoto choked to death on his own blood after eating some red hot curry that was flavored with ground glass.

London, England - Sasha Toya was found electrocuted after taking a shower with her toaster.

New York City, New York - Gen Fujimitu was mugged and stabbed to death after leaving a showing of Rigoletto.

Shanghai, China - George Takemi was killed when the gas main his limo was parked over exploded.

Maui, Hawaii - Misa Higemi was found on a beach after being stung to death by a giant man-o-war jelly fish.

The list went on till all twelve members of the board of directors of Kawamura industries were dead along with their closest relatives and heirs.

The two week period was a veritable blood bath as the police of a dozen different countries and Interpol raced from bloody crime scene to even bloodier crime scene.

Rice’s final touch was to have his own suite at the Haven Hilton bombed.

When the smoke cleared Rice was the only senior member of Kawamura Industries still standing.

Sol System - Mars

20 Miles East Of San Kapolla Mars

August 3rd 2535 AD - 19:32 GMT

Jack let out a low whistle as they finished watching the rest of the news report. “Nice touch killing his own ship crew and bombing his own hotel suite.”

“No kidding, no one will suspect him now,” Rick said.

“Yeah and blaming that guy Rostov and his boys for the job was a neat little way to tie things up. Blame people who are already dead and no one will ever be able to find the scapegoats,” Samuel muttered from his chair at the conference table.

“I’m surprised he didn’t try to blame us,” Fuji commented.

“Pretty much impossible,” Ren told his brother.

“Why is that?” Fuji asked confused.

“Didn’t have enough information on us,” Jack explained. “He really didn’t know what we looked like and only had a contact number for us,” he told the slower of the two brothers.

“Huh, hadn’t realized that,” Fuji said.

“Yeah, remember this is the fucker that’s responsible for my mother and Aunt’s deaths,” Jack said through gritted teeth.

“Yeah, and a lot of our squad members too.” Samuel pointed.

“Oorah,” Ren grunted out.

“Oorah,” the others echoed.

“So what’s our next step from here?” Rick asked.

“I think it’s time for Big Bob to make another appearance,” Jack said with a smile.

“Oh Christ not Big Bob,” Rick groaned.

Sol System - Earth - Tokyo, Japan

Kawamura Industries Corporate Headquarters

August 10th 2535 AD - 14:35 GMT

“Names Robert Bordeliano,” Jack said handing the fake business card to the receptionist. “Of Big Bob’s Automobile Emporium, we’ve got over two hundred locations throughout the system,” Jack said with joviality and a huge grin his thick Texas accent slowing the words to a near standstill.

“What can I do for you Mr. Bordeliano?” the receptionist asked looking over the rather loud and jovial man standing in front of her desk in a tan western suit, bolo tie, cowboy hat and boots.

“Call me Big Bob little lady, all my friends call me Big Bob,” Jack thickened the charm.

“Uh, what can I do for you Big Bob?” the receptionist asked again.

“Well missy here’s the thing; old Big Bob,” point a thumb to himself. “I said Big Bob, having over 200 car dealerships across the solar system is a pretty good achievement but I need something bigger, something more challenging I told myself,” Jack explained.

“Don’t over do it,” Samuel said into Jack’s earbud.

“So’s I told myself, heck why not get into them thar spacy ships and start building and selling those, so I’ve decided to build my own shipyards,” Jack couldn’t help himself as he chuckled mentally. “Gonna call ‘em Big Bob’s West Texas Drive yards, on account of my wanting to build them in a geo whatsits orbit over West Texas,” he explained.

In the back of the large sedan they had rented to deliver Jack and reinforce his cover story Samuel heard Fuji and Rick snorting and giggling in the back. Jack had only used the Big Bob persona once before when they had needed to get some hostages away from a Jovian terrorist group. He had infiltrated the place by being captured, he’d also almost gotten himself shot with Big Bob’s annoyingly jovial manner but later when it was time to free the hostages Jack had fed that particular terrorist his own gun literally butt stock first.

“I’m not exactly sure what we could help you with,” the receptionist said slightly flustered.

“What’s your name little lady?” Jack asked.

“Patricia, Sir,” the receptionist told him.

“Well Patricia, I hear tell that Kawamura Industries is the leading designer and manufacturer of space technology; that is after Hildebrandt Technologies anyways,” Jack amended.

The receptionist nodded at the information.

“Wahl you see I was wanting to lease some of them thar patents from ya’ll and start building ships, I figure we both make out in the end. I just need to speak to whoever is in charge,” Jack paused. “Somebody like that Rice fellow that’s the new CEO,” he told the woman.

“Oh Mr. Rice is still currently on Haven Station, I can set up an appointment with Mr. Gudonovich he’s the Vice-CEO and is in charge of things until Mr. Rice returns,” Patricia told him tapping a few keys on her work center.

“Why certainly, Mr. Gudonovich would be the person to see then. How soon can I get an appointment darling?” He asked.

“Well it may be a little hard Mr. Bordeliano,” Patricia paused as Jack interrupted her.

“Big Bob.”

“Er, Uh, Big Bob, it may be a little hard, most of Mr. Gudonovich’s schedule has been cleared so that he can attend the funerals of the Board Of Directors and their families,” She said nodding her head towards the semi-circle of flower wreaths on easels with pictures of the afore mentioned individuals and their families.

“Terrible thing, terrible thing, heard it on the news when I was visiting one of my Martian Lots,” Jack told her a sad expression on his face.

“Yes it’s truly sad the CEO himself barely escaped being killed in his own suite on Haven Station and his poor crew was all killed,” Patricia said sadly.

“She’s kind of cute,” Samuel said over Jack’s earbud as he watched through the microscopic camera in the bolo tie.

“Not to sound cold hearted little lady but when will Mr. Gudonovich be available for a meeting?” Jack asked.

“Well he’s out of the office all week, and pretty much the entire place will be closed down for that week for a mourning period,” Patricia explained and tapped at her work station some more. “I can get you an appointment on the 25th for 09:30 hours.” She told him.

“That’ll be excellent little lady, once again my condolences about your bosses,” Jack tipped his cowboy hat to the woman and left the office building. As he reached the large sedan Rick got out and held the door open for him.

“She’s kind of cute,” Jack said to the back of Samuel’s head. “You pick the worst times to fall in love amigo,” Jack told his friend.

“Samuel’s got a crush, Samuel’s got a crush,” Fuji sniggered until he found the barrel of Samuel’s gun shoved up one of his nostrils.

“Just kidding,” Fuji said waving his hands back and forth.

Samuel retracted the gun and put it back under the jacket of his chauffer’s uniform.

“If you two are done playing we need to head back to the hotel and do some planning,” Jack ordered.

Back at the hotel Ren was waiting in the large suite they had rented, the girl was still on the ship under the care of Oz’s remotes and Steve was still locked in the brig.

“So were you able to hack into their systems through the remote?” Jack asked Ren.

“A little; I got us some floor plans, evacuation routes, the secure office directory as well as guard and work schedules,” Ren said tossing a sheaf of hard copy on the suite’s dining table.

The squad members spent several hours going over the information that Ren had been able to drag out of the system and it was well into the early morning before they had finished memorizing the pertinent details.

“I say we break for some sleep,” Jack suggested.

“Agreed,” Rick said pinching his nose, he was starting to get a migraine from reading all the small type.

Fuji just snored; he’d fallen asleep a few minutes earlier after finishing the last of the papers.

“Yeah, I could definitely use some,” Ren said rubbing at bleary eyes.

Samuel grunted and stacked all the papers neatly in the center of the table.

“Alright sleep it is then,” Jack looked at his watch. “Say six hours; hell make it ten; even with the downtime during the transit here we’re still on edge and could use the time to catch up on some sleep,” he commented.

The others just nodded tiredly and went to their bedrooms.

The next morning the team finalized their plans and got everything they needed together. Mainly getting magnetic stickers for the SUV and sedan stating that they were with Martel Security Services who provided on site video and audio surveillance; as well as replicas of Martel’s uniforms.

Unfortunately for the team it would take nearly a week to make the uniforms they would need so they cooled their heels in the hotel with daily reports from Oz on the girls condition and what Steve was up to.

“Come on guys I just want some orange juice,” Steve was saying to one of the ship’s audio surveillance pick-ups.

“Jeeze what is with him and orange juice?” Fuji complained as it was his turn to watch their prisoner for the next eight hours.

“Dunno,” Rick said shrugging from his seat on one of the overstuffed chairs in the spacious living room of the suite they had rented.

The surveillance monitoring equipment was set up on the coffee table that faced the couch; there were also some other electronic items; including Ren’s portable laptop which he was punching away at as he slowly hacked his way through Martel’s firewalls so that he could insert a fake work order for the Kawamura Corporate HQ.

“Maybe he’s afraid of scurvy,” Ren grunted out.

Rick and Fuji just gave him a blank stare and Ren went back to working on his lap top muttering something about the lack of good schooling these days.

“He do anything interesting?” Jack asked walking out of the master bath toweling his hair dry and motioning with his chin at the monitor. He had another towel wrapped around his waist and his scarred and bullet puckered chest still showed beads of water from the shower he had just taken.

Samuel was the only one not present in the living room but he was just a few feet away in the dining room cleaning and loading weapons that they might need for the infiltration of the building.

Sol System - Earth - Tokyo, Japan

Kawamura Industries Corporate Headquarters

August 15th 2535 AD - 17:07 GMT

“Yeah I’m Captain Jackson with Martel Security Services,” Samuel said handing the receptionist Patricia his ID Badge and work order. “Seems there’s a fault in one of the Stereotypical Digital Pre-Recorders,” he told her.

All five of the crew were dressed in the dark blue on light blue of Martel Security services with the peaked caps and sunglasses most of them wore; Ren and Jack were additionally wearing technician’s vests and carrying large four foot long tool boxes.

“That’s strange nobody informed me that you were coming,” Patricia told them with a frown.

“Well ya might want to double check that; because if we don’t finish off this work order our butts’ll be in a sling with the main office; they want it fixed and fixed right now,” Samuel told her affecting a disgruntled air.

“I’m still not finding any such work order in the computer,” Patricia told them.

“Canya believe this bullshit Maguire?” Samuel said turning to Rick.

“Yeah stereotypical head office,” Rick added.

“Why don’t you call the main office,” Samuel suggested. “Here you can even use my comm,” he said handing it to her.

“No that’s alright I’ll just dial it from my console here,” She told him and tapped a few keys a few seconds later a phone started ringing at Martel Security Services. However the phone wasn’t in the customer service department it was an unused phone in the sub-basement that had been set-up earlier to be rerouted to the Hoplite II and Oz picked up the phone.

“Martel Security Services Oscar speaking, can I have your customer identification number please?” The AI said.

Patricia gave the customer number.

“Okay, Ms. Patterson what seems to be the problem?” He asked.

“I have some of your tech people in the lobby saying they are here to repair some fault in one of the Stereotypical Digital Pre-Recorders,” She answered.

“Hold on one second,” Oz pretended to pause. “Okay yes I’ve found the work order. What seems to be the problem?” He asked her.

“Well I never received the work order from you,” Patricia said.

“Hold one second again for me. Okay I’ve found the problem, they somehow managed to misspell the address, they sent it to Kawamura@KIC.jp instead of KawamuraTSP@KIC.jp, I’ll send another copy of that work order to you, and it should arrive shortly,” he politely told her.

“Thank you,” Patricia checked the directory and found the work order had been sent to her. “I see it now, thank you again,” she told him.

“Not a problem Ms. Patterson, if there is anything else you need just ask for me personally,” Oz told her.

“Thank you Oscar, if I ever need to call for assistance again I certainly shall,” Patricia disconnected and turned to the five “technicians”. “Okay everything seems to be in order now,” She told them and handed over a digital clip board. “I just need you to sign in please, and give you these,” She handed each of them a security clearance badge which since they would have to get into sensitive areas were coded accordingly.

“Do you need building security to show you the way?” Patricia asked.

“No we were briefed on how to reach our destination, thank you,” Samuel told her touching the brim of his cap and smiling.

“Oh, do you know how long it’ll be before you are finished?” Patricia asked tearing her attention away from Samuel’s smile.

“Well ma’am if it’s something simple, half an hour at most but if we have to replace the STDPR it may take several hours to run all the leads and double check them,” Ren stepped in to field the answer.

“Thank you again Miss,” Samuel said and led the others to the elevator where he swiped the pass card.

“Stereotypical Digital Pre-Recorder,” Ren said glaring at Samuel.

“It’s the only thing I could come up with on short notice,” Samuel said shrugging.

“And what would you have done if she knew even the least bit about the building’s security system?” Ren asked.

“I’d have laughed and told her that was the term we gave the piece of equipment, told her it was inside joke you know,” Samuel said uncomfortably.

“I think he was too busy staring at her tits,” Rick said with a grin.

“Can it guys, we need to act like professionals, we’ll kid and joke around once we get out of here alive,” Jack ordered somberly.

“Sure Big Bob,” Samuel said eliciting laughs from the others.

“Oh, go to hell,” Jack grumbled.

The others were all serious and stoic faced by the time they reached the level of the computer server room and past a security checkpoint before they were allowed into the room that covered almost the entire 29th floor.

Once inside the room Ren and Jack went about taking the camera systems offline and putting them in a test loop, after that they cracked open the tool boxes and handed everyone an H&K MP12 SMG that fired 4.6mm round. The weapons were compact enough to fit in the boxes but weren’t overly powerful.

Samuel and Rick covered the main door while Fuji covered the fire exit.

Jack and Ren then pulled out a rather cobbled together looking laptop that was quickly plugged into the main server and they started downloading anything involving Cidonia, Erskine Sikorsky, the girl and other key worded information.

Sol System - Earth - Tokyo, Japan

Kawamura Industries Corporate Headquarters - IT Department 28th Floor

August 15th 2535 AD - 17:27 GMT

Elliot Grisbane had worked in the IT department of Kawamura Industries for the last ten years and not a single red flag had popped up during that time period. Now several highly encrypted files were tossing red flags around like tissue and Elliot spilled his coffee down the front of his shirt in his haste to grab the phone and call security.

“Security,” a voice answered laconically.

“This is Grisbane in IT we have someone downloading encrypted files from the server,” he practically screamed into the phone.

“Well then deal with it,” Security told him.

“I can shut them out but they are downloading the files from onsite,” Grisbane said through clenched teeth.

“Shit, where are they?” The security officer asked.

“They’re actually in the server room,” Grisbane informed him.

“In the server room itself, how the hell did they get in there, hold on a second,” the officer told him.

Grisbane could still hear voices on the other side of the line as the duty officer yelled at the men in the control room.

“Get me some camera footage of the Server Room,” there was a few seconds pause. “What do you mean the cameras are in a maintenance loop?” The duty officer came back on the line. “Get those servers locked down, I don’t care if you have to crash the whole system, Rice’ll have our asses as it is,” the officer ordered him.

“Working on it now,” Grisbane grunted in annoyance as his fingers flew over the keyboard in front of him. He heard some more shouts from the other side of the phone, clattering feet, and then the slam of the security room’s door, the duty officer had forgotten to hang up the phone.

Elliot turned on the speaker phone and set it back in the cradle just in case someone might try to contact him from the security office.

Sol System - Earth - Tokyo, Japan

Kawamura Industries Corporate Headquarters - Server Room 29th Floor

August 15TH 2535 AD - 17:40 GMT

“I think we have a problem,” Ren stated rather matter of factly.

“And that problem would be,” Jack said standing with Fuji by the secondary exit of the Server Room.

“Somebody just crashed the whole server,” Ren told him.

“Shit,” Jack cursed.

“That means they know we are here and will be on us any minute,” Samuel said.

The others nodded in agreement.

“Alright you’ve got some of the files right?” Jack asked.

“Yeah,” Ren replied.

“Good guard them with your life; we’ll take them back to Oz and let him decrypt them,” Jack ordered.

“Roger,” Ren said.

“Now how do we get out of here?” Rick asked.

“Same way as always, hey diddle diddle straight up the middle,” Jack said with a wolfish grin.

“I was afraid you were going to say that,” Fuji groaned.

“Why is it you never have a contingency plan?” Rick asked.

“That is my contingency plan,” Jack told him and he and Fuji joined the others at the server rooms main entry.

“Shooting our way out is not a contingency plan?” Rick grumped.

“Sure it is, it’s just a really simple one, gotta remember what Drill Sergeant Adelaide said back in boot camp,” Jack told them.

“KISS,” Samuel grunted.

“Keep It Simple Stupid,” Fuji muttered.

“Alright, let’s go then,” Jack ordered and yanked the door open ducking through.

The five of them made it down to the 15th floor before running into resistance; the resistance consisting of about two dozen security guards armed with pistols and riot guns.

Jack’s first three round burst took one guy off at the knees while Fuji and Ren both nailed the same guy punching the rounds through his lightly armored vest.

Samuel took down three with single shots to the head, neck, and upper chest while Rick sprayed and prayed emptying out his first magazine downing two of the guards in the process.

The remaining dozen and a half or so guys fell back to the stairwell and occasionally poked a weapon out to fire.

“Too bad we don’t have any grenades,” Samuel grumbled.

“Too much chance of taking out a civvy as collateral damage,” Jack reminded him.

“Hold on a second,” Fuji said and walked over to the cubicles on the fifteenth floor and started looking through them.

“What’s he doing?” Rick whispered.

Ren just shrugged his shoulders and shot an unlucky knee that stuck itself out too far past the door.

A few seconds later Fuji came back with an ovoid shaped paperweight about the size of a baseball. “One grenade coming up,” Fuji said and tossed the paperweight into the stairwell. “Fire In The hole!” He shouted.

The paperweight clattered around the stairwell and two guards stumbled out onto the floor they were on and they could hear the rest clattering down the stairs.

“Oh Fu…,” One of the guards started to say realizing they had just jumped out into a free fire zone and were taken down by precise bursts from Rick and Ren.

The five of them burst past the still falling guards and into the stairwell catching three of the guards in the back and legs as they exited out the door to the 14th floor.

Fuji picked up the paperweight on the stairs. “I realize it isn’t that nice a looking paperweight but its nothing to run away in fright from,” Fuji said bouncing it a couple of times in his hand and dropped it over the rail fifteen stories to impact with the ceramic tile of the bottom most floor.

“Done testing the terminal velocity of cheap paper weights?” Samuel asked dryly.

“Sure why not,” Fuji shrugged.

“So do we go finish of the guards or do we get out of here as fast as possible?” Rick asked.

Jack was just about to answer the question when the stairwell door flew open and Rick took a shotgun blast to the chest that tossed him over the railing of the stairwell.

“Motherfucker,” Jack said emptying his MP12 into the man that had just killed Rick.

In a red haze Jack blasted through the door taking out two more guards after tossing the MP12 aside and pulling out his Five-seveNs.

Like a god of war or a mad man depending on one’s point of view Jack stalked down each one of the guards from the security force and shot them dead, even any of them that tried to surrender.

No mercy shown and no quarter given, in Jack’s mind these were the people responsible for his fathers death, the murder of his mother and aunt, the destruction of all but a few of his former Marine squad and the loss of the woman he loved.

It took Ren, Fuji, and Samuel all the combined strength they had to restrain Jack and drag and him back to the stairwell and down the stairs.

At the bottom of the steps Jack yanked Rick’s dog tags loose and set the incendiary device that all of them carried to immolate his remains. Thankfully the shotgun blast had killed him before he hit the bottom of the stairwell.

“Well you’ve certainly sent enough enemies to the halls to serve you,” Samuel said saluting the pile of ash as they passed into the lobby.

“Shit,” Ren shouted and threw himself behind the reception desk as heavily armed goons came blasting through the front doors literally.

The others joined him with Sam smiling and saying hi to Patricia the receptionist.

“Doesn’t look like they care much about collateral damage,” Jack said pulling his head quickly back before being shot.

“How many?” Fuji asked.

“Even dozen,” Jack told him.

“Not a problem,” Ren said and slipped a fresh magazine into his MP12.

“What about the girl?” Samuel asked nodding at Patricia.

“Well if she wants to stay alive she can come with us,” Jack said matter of factly. “I’m sure her bosses aren’t going to be too happy about her letting fake armed security techs into the building,” he added.

“You want to stay alive?” Samuel asked her quietly.

Patricia just nodded as tears streaked down her face.

“Okay then, when I tell you to do something, you do it, alright,” he told her.

Patricia just nodded again.

“Good Girl,” he commended her.

“Okay here is the plan,” Jack said and was awarded by groans. “Damn, would you guys stop doing that every time I have a plan,” he told them.

“Okay now, Samuel you take the sedan and get out of here, Ren, Fuji, and I will cover the two of you and draw their fire. Do not fire unless one of them spots you, if you stick to the columns surrounding the lobby you should be able to get out without them noticing,” Jack ordered.

“Gotcha,” Samuel said.

“Everyone ready?” Jack asked getting nods all around.

“Okay on three, one, two, three,” Jack stood up from behind the reception desk and emptied the magazine of the little machine pistol into the more heavily armed and armored guards that had come through the front door; Ren and Fuji followed his lead and between them they managed to take out two of the guards.

Sol System - Earth - Tokyo, Japan

Kawamura Industries Corporate Headquarters - Lobby/Front Stairs

August 15th 2535 AD - 18:02 GMT

With the guards distracted by the others Samuel pulled the receptionist along with him the short barrel of the MP12 leading the way and his finger tight on the trigger as they wove behind columns pausing at each to make sure the guards were still focused on the others.

Samuel and the woman finally reached the last row of columns and ducked out the door without anybody noticing. Still sitting in the drive in front of the steps were the rented sedan and the SUV; half a dozen security cars were parked hodge podge across the driveway but none of them had the foresight to block the two vehicles in.

“Get in the car and stay down,” Samuel told the woman and shoved her towards the rental sedan.

While Patricia pretty much crawled into the knee space on the passenger side of the vehicle Samuel pulled out his replacement Kabar and put holes in every single one of the guard car’s tires. Satisfied with his work he jumped into the driver’s seat of the sedan and peeled out. As they approached the entrance to the industrial complex the guards at the gates started to fire when they saw that he wasn’t slowing down.

“Hold on,” Samuel said and pushed the accelerator to the floor and rammed through the flimsy wooden barricade that blocked off the entrance and exit of the complex.

As they went through the barricade one of the guards hadn’t gotten out of the way; there was meaty smack and thud as the vehicle powered up and over the unlucky guard.

“Oh god I think I’m going to puke,” Patricia said and then tossed her launch all over the passenger seat.

“Don’t worry It’ll come out,” Samuel reassured her.

“You’re a madman,” She told him in a high pitched hysterical voice.

“Maybe but would you rather be dead?” Samuel shot back.

“No but I do want you to pull over,” She told him.

“Sorry sweetie can’t do that till we get to safety,” he told her.

“It’s not a request, it’s an order,” She told him her voice steadying out.

“I…,” Samuel said and turned towards her finding a short-barreled .357 magnum revolver clenched in her fist and pointed at him, the muzzle didn’t even bob in her hand.

“Okay don’t shoot I’ll pull over,” Samuel did exactly as he said just a little more violently than his passenger would have liked.

Sol System - Earth - Tokyo, Japan

Kawamura Industries Corporate Headquarters - Lobby

August 15th 2535 AD - 18:05 GMT

“So what we got nine of them left?” Fuji asked sliding in his last magazine and slapping the bolt release.

“Yeah, I’d say nine,” Ren said just as Jack popped around the corner and put two rounds of 5.7x28mm AP through the breast plate of one of the guards. “Eight.”

“Eight,” Ren told Fuji.

“Oh yeah that means we are still only outnumbered almost three to one,” Fuji grumbled.

“Well then stop griping and help even the odds,” Jack growled.

“Blah, blah, blah,” Fuji retorted and put two three round bursts into another guard dropping him. “Seven,” he said to his brother.

“I can count thank you very much,” Ren said.

“Oh just making sure,” Fuji told him.

“So any suggestions before more guards show up?” Jack asked.

“Look really scary and shoot them all,” Fuji suggested.

“I mean constructive suggestions,” Jack said sarcastically.

“Well next time you need to be more specific,” Fuji said with a sniff.

Ren was looking around for anything useful when he spotted something that might work. “Hey guys should I push the big red button on the bottom of the desk?” He asked.

“What big red button?” Jack looked under the desk.

“Sure why not, it could be fun,” Fuji said.

“Or it could backfire on us horribly,” Ren said.

“Well yeah that too,” Fuji added.

“Go for it,” Jack said.

Ren hit the button; the three of them were expecting alarms, or cages, or gates to drop all over the place what they didn’t expect was for a dozen panels in each column to pop open and spew out hundreds of TASER barbs and nail the guards still standing in the middle of the lobby.

“Oh that so has got to suck,” Jack said watching the men twitch and flop on the ground as electricity flowed through the thin metal wires between the columns and the barbs.

“What kind of sadistic bastard puts TASERs in the main lobby of an office building,” Ren asked.

“I don’t really care but let’s get the hell out of here,” Jack said and vaulted the reception desk skirting around the edges of the lobby to avoid any more nasty surprises.

The three of them made it out the front doors just as a bunch of standard security guards raced up on golf carts, although they were quickly dissuaded by several bursts from Ren’s MP12 as they all piled into the SUV and Jack with a little more vindictiveness than he really should have and ran over one of the golf carts.

The three of them managed to get away clean and clear and back to the ship in less than a few hours.

When they reached the ship Ren went directly to the med bay to check on the girl and Fuji went to the mess hall.

In his cabin Jack sat on his bunk and stared into space, peeling the Martel Security Services uniform off he tossed it angrily against the wall the badge and brass clinking softly against it and then again as it hit the floor.

In just boxers he sat with his head leaned against the back of the chair pushed under the desk letting the dog tags he’d been clenching unravel to the end of their chain and he stared at them for quite some time as he recalled when he had first met Rick Shepherd, hot shot pilot and loser at love.

Sol System - Mars - Fordtland

Fordtland Middle School

October 10th 2507 AD - 14:45 GMT

“You’ll go blind looking at that stuff,” 12-year old Jack Sikorsky told a boy with sandy brown hair who had hidden himself away in a hedgerow.

“Gaaahhh,” the youth shouted hopping to his feet and looking around agitatedly and then saw Jack standing there.

“Jeeze man, I thought you were a teacher,” the boy said clenching the magazine he had been holding in one hand.

“I’m not and you’re going to wrinkle your reading material,” Jack said nodding at the magazine.

“Oh, uh yeah,” the boy said and rolled the magazine up and stuffed it into the back of his pants under his shirt.

“So, my name is Rick, Rick Shepherd,” the boy said sticking out his hand.

Jack looked at the hand for a second and Rick blushed heavily, and then felt the urge to wipe it on his pants. “Uh, I didn’t do anything,” he told him.

Jack chuckled. “Yeah I know,” he took the offered hand and shook it. “So you’re the new student?” He asked.

“Yeah, so what kind of trouble is there to get into around here?” Rick asked pulling a pair of mirrored aviator style sunglasses out of a pocket and slipping them on.

“Well, there’s…,” Jack started to say but was interrupted as a body went crashing through the hedgerow leaving a large hole behind.

“What the heck was that?” Rick asked peering through the hole to the outside of the hedgerow.

“That would have been an eighth grader,” Jack said calmly. “Excuse me,” he said politely stepping through the hedgerow in the direction the flying body had come from.

Just as Jack had thought there was Samuel Zion punching an upper classman in the face and then dropping him to the ground. Unfortunately for both Jack and Samuel the next group of upperclassman was more than they would be able to take on by themselves. Jack just shrugged and waded in when the group of teenagers reached Samuel.

After a few minutes things were going from bad to worse, Jack had taken several blows to the stomach and face leaving him somewhat punch drunk.

Just when he thought he was going to go down for the count Jack saw two more figures enter the fight and start pounding heads, one he saw was his girlfriend Suzanne Di’Espinoza, she must have just gotten done with detention, the other to his surprise was the new kid Rick Shepherd.

Between the four of them they were able to easily mop-up the last of the upper-classmen and then go about their way, after that the four of them hung out almost constantly together.

Sol System - Earth - Tokyo, Japan

Tokyo International Spaceport, Privately Registered Vessel - Hoplite II

August 15TH 2535 AD - 20:50 GMT

Jack clenched the dog tags in his fist tightly enough that even with the plastic protector around them they came close to cutting into his hand. Unclenching the fist he stood up and hung the dog tags on the mirror over the desk. Pulling out the desk chair he sat down and turned on the computer console and started composing a letter.

Dear Mr. & Mrs. Shepherd - 

It is my sad duty to inform you that your son Martian Marine Corps Corporal Richard Dean Shepherd was killed in action during a top secret mission and his remains were taken care of on site.

I deeply regret his loss and my heart goes out to you in your time of need.

- Sincerely Yours Sergeant Major Jackson Daine Sikorsky

After composing the letter and sending it on its way Jack shut down the computer. He felt a bit of a heel for slightly lying in the letter but he couldn’t really tell them the truth because he knew it would break their hearts even more.

“Oz?”

“Yes Jack,” the AI answered.

“Where is Ren?” He asked.

“He’s currently in Med-Bay checking the girl over for any changes in her condition,” the AI told him.

“Get him for me please,” Jack ordered.

“Yes Jack.”

Jack’s comm screen flickered to life and a somewhat blood shot eyed Ren looked out at him. “What is it Jack?” He asked.

“Any luck decrypting those files yet?” Jack asked.

“No I’ve been kind of busy making sure that the girl was okay and trying to get over Rick’s death; you know the sort of thing a normal human being does when a close friend dies,” Ren said in disgust.

“Don’t even start with that Ren, Rick was a friend of mine long before you ever met him,” Jack said coldly. “And it would be a shame for his death to become meaningless if Kawamura Industries and Rice were able to either move or destroy whatever information those files will lead us to,” Jack said gritting his teeth.

“You know what Jack, Fuck You,” Ren said and the comm screen blipped off.

“Shit, shit, shit,” Jack said lightly pounding his fist against the desk’s top.

“Might I make a suggestion Jack?” Oz asked quietly.

“Yeah Oz,” Jack said not looking up from the desk.

“Why not let the others handle their grief and I’ll start decryption of the files,” the AI suggested.

“Thank you Oz,” Jack said quietly.

“You’re welcome Jack,” the AI said shutting off the comm.