Read Online Star Force: Marauders (SF63) by Aer-ki Jyr - Free Book Online
Authors: Aer-ki Jyr
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attention.”
“You can hide your ugly face, it won’t bother me,”
Mason quipped.
Le’han’trel grimaced. “Next time we’re eating
together, I think I’ll peel my arm just for fun.”
The Lieutenant stared at him for a long moment. “Hide
your beautiful face, then.”
“That’s better,” he said, pointing to the doorway.
“Don’t know when the last time you slept was, but tomorrow here begins in 4
hours, and our contact is set to meet us in just under 9.”
“I’d better catch a crash nap then. Do we have any
donuts on hand?”
“If the rest of your guys haven’t eaten them all up,
sure. If they have there’s more in packaging, but they’ll have to be baked.”
“Always the last one to the food,” Mason grumbled,
getting up off his stool and heading for the cafeteria.
6
May 5, 2735
Noop System
Tieor
Mason, Le’han’trel, and a local named Varsa sat in a secluded booth listening to a potential
client explain to them what was happening in a nearby star system. Coming
through double translation, Mason wasn’t sure he was getting the gist of all of
it, but from what he could tell the number of militants had doubled since the
initial offer had been made that had prompted the Lieutenant to come out to
Tieor. They were set up in a confiscated complex that had originally been a
livestock processing plant, but had killed off the surrounding herds and were
using it for their headquarters while they raped and pillaged, literally, the
surrounding cities.
The local defense force had been killed earlier,
having gone up against the militants and been beaten badly over four years ago.
With no resolution to the matter and the militants gradually reaching out to
more and more distant cities, the locals had put together a fund to hire
someone to come in and clean up the mess before it got any worse.
Those mercs they hired, which
were on the very low end of the respectability ladder, took their money and
ran. It had been another two years since that point, with the militant base
expanding and setting up the planet as a haven for more and more offworlders to come to, escalating to the point where they
were running rough shot over most of the planet. The other cities’ civil
defense forces couldn’t stop them for more than a single instance before the
other militants would retaliate by blowing up a building or two, or perhaps
just strafing the streets from the air with one of their aerofighters .
Eventually the entire planet had banded together and
put together the funds necessary to hire a respectable mercenary agency, and
had come all the way to Tieor to do it, which was how they’d found their way to
the Marauders.
Mason had already known this wasn’t going to be a milk
run, and through his double translators he pressed for more specific details.
The Batarank that they were speaking to produced a
series of plastic sheets of paper with information and images on them from a
briefcase it was carrying, and Mason began to sort through it while Le’han’trel
continued with the questioning on his behalf.
The militants were offworlders ,
but they didn’t belong to any faction known to the Marauders. They were
collecting more and more personnel, including some tanks that were giving the
locals all kinds of headaches. A few of the militants had been killed by
vigilantes, who were striking back despite the reprisals, but they couldn’t
scratch the tanks nor stop them when they often went in to wreck a local
village.
They also had four aircraft. Two were shuttles, one
was an orbital dropship, and the other was an aerofighter .
Or at least as far as the Bataranks knew. They’d only seen one operating at a time,
and from the markings it appeared to be the same craft, though Mason wasn’t
going to assume that as confirmed. All in all, there were probably some 2,000+
militants on the ground, but with the more recent updates it seemed that
several new ships had arrived to deposit more
“You can hide your ugly face, it won’t bother me,”
Mason quipped.
Le’han’trel grimaced. “Next time we’re eating
together, I think I’ll peel my arm just for fun.”
The Lieutenant stared at him for a long moment. “Hide
your beautiful face, then.”
“That’s better,” he said, pointing to the doorway.
“Don’t know when the last time you slept was, but tomorrow here begins in 4
hours, and our contact is set to meet us in just under 9.”
“I’d better catch a crash nap then. Do we have any
donuts on hand?”
“If the rest of your guys haven’t eaten them all up,
sure. If they have there’s more in packaging, but they’ll have to be baked.”
“Always the last one to the food,” Mason grumbled,
getting up off his stool and heading for the cafeteria.
6
May 5, 2735
Noop System
Tieor
Mason, Le’han’trel, and a local named Varsa sat in a secluded booth listening to a potential
client explain to them what was happening in a nearby star system. Coming
through double translation, Mason wasn’t sure he was getting the gist of all of
it, but from what he could tell the number of militants had doubled since the
initial offer had been made that had prompted the Lieutenant to come out to
Tieor. They were set up in a confiscated complex that had originally been a
livestock processing plant, but had killed off the surrounding herds and were
using it for their headquarters while they raped and pillaged, literally, the
surrounding cities.
The local defense force had been killed earlier,
having gone up against the militants and been beaten badly over four years ago.
With no resolution to the matter and the militants gradually reaching out to
more and more distant cities, the locals had put together a fund to hire
someone to come in and clean up the mess before it got any worse.
Those mercs they hired, which
were on the very low end of the respectability ladder, took their money and
ran. It had been another two years since that point, with the militant base
expanding and setting up the planet as a haven for more and more offworlders to come to, escalating to the point where they
were running rough shot over most of the planet. The other cities’ civil
defense forces couldn’t stop them for more than a single instance before the
other militants would retaliate by blowing up a building or two, or perhaps
just strafing the streets from the air with one of their aerofighters .
Eventually the entire planet had banded together and
put together the funds necessary to hire a respectable mercenary agency, and
had come all the way to Tieor to do it, which was how they’d found their way to
the Marauders.
Mason had already known this wasn’t going to be a milk
run, and through his double translators he pressed for more specific details.
The Batarank that they were speaking to produced a
series of plastic sheets of paper with information and images on them from a
briefcase it was carrying, and Mason began to sort through it while Le’han’trel
continued with the questioning on his behalf.
The militants were offworlders ,
but they didn’t belong to any faction known to the Marauders. They were
collecting more and more personnel, including some tanks that were giving the
locals all kinds of headaches. A few of the militants had been killed by
vigilantes, who were striking back despite the reprisals, but they couldn’t
scratch the tanks nor stop them when they often went in to wreck a local
village.
They also had four aircraft. Two were shuttles, one
was an orbital dropship, and the other was an aerofighter .
Or at least as far as the Bataranks knew. They’d only seen one operating at a time,
and from the markings it appeared to be the same craft, though Mason wasn’t
going to assume that as confirmed. All in all, there were probably some 2,000+
militants on the ground, but with the more recent updates it seemed that
several new ships had arrived to deposit more
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