© Becca, Dana Simmons and Starbright 2001 The Young Riders is an Ogiens/Kane Production, created by Ed Spielman.
We only borrow his characters for fun. No infringement of copyright intended. There is absolutely no financial gain for the authors. We survive on the feedback, and we need plenty of it.
2313
Chapter 7
They rode fast, the fresh air and the solid ground allowing them to travel in a fast canter as soon as the horses got warmed up. The horses loving the fast gait, competing with each other, running over the dunes in a rolling canter. Lou smiled as she felt Lightning's strength under her. The horse pushing forward in mighty strides, born to run like this. To have him carry her like this gave her a sense of complete harmony and collaboration. She leaned forward to whisper encouraging words in the flattened ears, surpassing Jimmy and Sundancer. Smiling triumphantly as Lightening reached Katy's side and Kid glanced at her. She was lighter than all of them and that gave her the upper hand. She was getting short of breath herself, standing in the stirrups, allowing the horse to run, following its moves. Then the ground changed from sandy dunes to harder, stony ground and the open field turned into a rocky path. They were rapidly nearing the stream. Lou reluctantly stopped Lightning's pace and made him slow down into a trot, the horse lively under her, still wanting to run flat out. She turned and smiled at the riders following her, for a moment she forgot the mission and loved the moment. The wild run, the total freedom and the wind blowing her hair back. She wondered if the others had felt it too?
Katy and Kid rode up to her side, and she knew Kid felt it too. There was a expression in his eyes telling her he felt the unique sensation of horse and human, working together. Without forced submission, only need to please and joy in doing so. She finally understood why Kid loved horses so. Knowing that, she understood him a little better, she understood without having to ponder on it.
"We're close, but we'll have to take it slower," Kid warned the rest over his shoulder.
"You don't say," Jimmy replied, "I just love sitting on a horse without brakes or steering wheel. Specially since its running like the devil was chasing it."
"Or sitting on it," Cody cracked breathlessly while trying to stop his mare from running into Ike's.
Jimmy had use all his skill to hold Sundancer in the following commotion of horses trampling around and riders trying to calm them while Buck's sensors started to flash red, indicating fluctuating airstreams. Ike's EA emitted a low warning tone and he raised his hand. As on cue they all pulled themselves together, steadying the horses under them and turning their full attention to Ike.
"Unidentified ASA landing," Ike communicated sternly.
"Trouble," Buck affirmed, "half a mile upstream. I think we found what we're looking for."
They all looked at each other, knowing this was it. Their first real trial. Time to show that they had the situation under control. Time to show they were worthy of the cause.
"Let's go," Kid said, voice firm and determined.
Jimmy kicked his horse into a trot, zig zagging the trees on the path as they all followed in silence. The hooves thundering against the hard ground.
They spotted the landing ASA as they stumbled alongside the creek on foot. There was no doubt it was a terrorist group in action. The ASA carried all the signs; identification marks covered, the paint shedding due to lack of adequate care. It was an old model, those who were no longer in use by official government. It hovered over the ground, searching the perfect landing spot near the wreck. Then it finally landed, close to the trees lining the bank.
"Shit," Jimmy groaned as they stopped behind the rock, covered from view. "Ya know what this means folks, shoot before you ask questions."
They remain looking at the spectacle, the wreck on the bank, the men coming out of the landed ASA. All heavily armed, running fast to the goal of their mission; the cargo ASA, the strontium. Lou shruddered at the thought of what might happen if the lethal cargo got into the hands of these men. They worked fast, stripping the metal of the wreck and getting inside it. Shouting orders to each other. Stern words that arrived unscrambled to the gruop watching them.
Kid and Ike moved further down behind the rocks, Lou glanced at them, wondering what they were up to?
"Signals still scrambled," Ike pointed out, "but they have a good pilot, he was flying the thing on visual cues."
"Not if he ain't got no eyes to see with he ain't!" Jimmy lashed out. "Let's rush 'em!"
"You're nuts!" Cody growled and took a firm hold of Jimmy, jerking him to the ground. "That thing could be filled with 'em, that vessel holds up to 20 men!"
"You chicken Cody?"
"Shut up both of ya!" Lou intervened irritated, having them two get into an internal fight wasn't the best course of action right now. "We have to find out what is going on exactly first!" Lou wheezed, hoping deep inside that maybe, just maybe this was a rescuing action. What if these men weren't who they thought they were after all? What if they were wrong? "Maybe they ain't what we think they are," she ventured."Maybe...."
"So why not walk over and ask Lou? Hope you brought a low cut dress or something, that outta divert their minds for a moment," Jimmy snorted.
That snide remark had Lou boiling over, her fingers dug into Jimmy's collar as she jerked his head up. "You little prissy asshole you, another word outta you an' you can forever join the boys quire at church, take my word for it."
"Geez Lou!" Jimmy head snapped back, freeing him from Lou's hard grip. "Ain't it enough with one monk in the congregation?"
"Speaking of which," Buck said as he finally managed to salvage the EAs the combatant trio had managed to spread around. "Where the hell are Ike and Kid?"
"Right behind.... what the hell!" Jimmy rose to his feet realizing they were no longer behind the rock. "What's he up to now? The goddamned...."
Cody too scrambled to his feet and turned to watch the direction from which they had come. A few moments ago there had not been those marks of trampled grass. "This way," he said. Taking a firm grip on a muttering Jimmy's arm he dragged him along, in the direction of the tracks left behind. The wind was picking up, damping the sound of their moves.
Keeping their heads low they followed the tracks made by the two. The grass covering them as they made their way to the vessel.
"What the hell kind o' a stunt was this to pull on us?" Jimmy groaned as he followed the rest of the group through the high grass. His gun ready, unsecured.
Lou decided to fall behind him, she'd better hold an eye out for him, walking in front of him felt less than safe at this moment. Holding her eye to the muddy ground under her, cursing herself for getting involved in the male struggle for power. "I should have stayed cool," she muttered to herself as she followed Buck and Jimmy. Cody was right behind her, holding the sensors close enough for her to hear too, if it would go off they would have no other alternative than drop back and see disaster spread like prairie fire. Or die trying to stop it.
Buck stopped and crouched lower, examining the ground under him. "They diverged!"
"What?" Cody stumbled on forward, pushing Lou in front of him. "What ya mean diverged?"
"Kid went that way and Ike took this way! Clear enough for ya?" Buck grunted irritably.
"Why?" Jimmy wondered in a tense voice. Lou turned to watch him, she could see in his eyes that he was thinking the same as she was. The two of them had a plan. A plan that was dangerous. So dangerous they had decided to leave the rest of them out of it.
"They're gonna stop the vessel from taking off!" Buck stated, "I know it. Ike's gonna get close enough to try and get the steering out of order. He's gonna try and prevent them from taking off, and they won't even now what hit them when Ike gets his hands on the control panel!"
"Can he do that?" Cody inquired, "how close?"
"Close enough to reprogram the intakes and the airtunnels, close enough to get killed!" Buck moaned, sinking to the ground. "Damned fool!" he let out, jerking grass up with it's roots and throwing it onto the ground.
Lou watched fascinated. Something with Buck's movements stirred up something deep inside her. Then it hit her! ASA's were never allowed to land on anything but sand or solid ground. The ground had to be absolutely flat, and grass would make it difficult for the vessel to read the airstreams and decide the direction to take. "That's how they're gonna do it!" she exclaimed. "The goddamn grass!"
"What?" Buck turned to look at her.
"We need to give them room to work," she insisted, there was no time for them to start pondering on the why's right now. They needed to give them the room to do their work. "We better get to a place where we have full visual of the vessel and then we'll start causing troubles for the terrorists! Follow me!"
She turned and crawled the rise in front of them, keeping her eyes on the shrubbery. It would cover them enough to let them do their work, with scrambled signals there was no way for the group in the ASA to keep them under extended vision, that would entail that they themselves were possibly detected. The group worked on actual vision and hearing, no technical aids. Kid and Ike must have understood that and seen their chance.
She reached the top of the ridge and closed her eyes for a moment, half expecting something to happen. Clinching her teeth she waited for bullets to start flying or the greenish light of the argon laser to detect her and warn the men below. Jimmy crawled to her side and she opened her eyes. The vessel was down on the bank, softly humming, like the sound of a soft wind blowing. The wreck lay in the stream, the top ripped off. The cockpit devastated. Men were walking back and forth, carrying large boxes between them. Heavy boxes for what it seemed. Boxes of lead, on of them alone containing enough of strontium to make the northern sphere deadly for the next 29 odd something years, inhabitable for the foreseeable future.
Jimmy's gun emitted a soft clicking sound, searching it's target. Lou turned to look at him, flabbergasted by his move. "You can't..."
"One of them is right behind the ASA," Jimmy answered in the same low voice. His eyes not on the men carrying the boxes, but searching the surroundings.
Lou felt ashamed, she had misjudged his intentions. "I thought..."
"I know what you thought Lou, just gimme some clout will ya, these things can do more than kill. It just ain't that simple Lou. I got one of them pegged, and just maybe there's a chance we will pull this thing off."
"Or die heroically trying," Cody commented dryly.
Lou shrugged at his words, and turned back to watch the heavily armed men. So close and still so out of reach.
"Kid's right under the left side," Buck commented.
Lou closed her eyes momentarily, waiting for guns to be fired. She dared not breathe as she opened her eyes and tried to get a visual of the vessel and Ike or Kid. She couldn't see a thing from where she was laying, all she could hear was her own heart beating wildly.
Ike watched his friend crawl under the vessel while he effectively blocked the signals from the surveyor. They had so little time, the men inside would soon detect the disturbance. Ike cursed silently and hammered on his RPD, hoping against hope to be able to override the scrambled signals and close the front for good. There were no boxes inside the vessel yet, and if he succeeded, there would be none either. The men were not aware of any threats from the ground, all their sensors were directed to airbound danger. But that might change at any second, leaving them exposed. He had to keep an eye on the the RPD and Kid. under the vessel, working with less sophisticated tools, stuffing grass into the airtunnels. Blocking the ASA the oldfashioned way, just in case the technology would not work. The thick grassroots would effectively block the manual steering system. Screw the pilots up for good. The RPD blinked twice and Ike stared down on it in surprise, it had effectively overruled the scrambled signals and was looking the door. Ike started moving towards the front to block it manually, just in case. If everything went south and they were able to override his programming anyway they would at least be locked inside effectively. By now they must have realized something was wrong. He crawled under the vessel finding the outer instrument panel and flicked it off, smiling as it protested slightly at his actions. Having predicted the exact maneuver's of the automatic system he almost laughed at how easy it was to fool the old systems. He caught a glimpse of Kid coming towards him and nodded at him, all was done, now they had to get out of there.
As they reached the edge of the ASA the alarm went off, they had been detected. Ike held his head down and threw himself flat on the ground, holding his breath as he rolled down the bank.
"Oh God," Lou squealed when the first shot was fired, hitting the bank right at Ike's side. She pulled her gun and fired at the shooter, dropping him instantly and revealing their hideout. A hail of bullets reached then, flying over their heads, the sound momentarily deafening them.
"Their ATF ain't working, them fools have scrambled that one too," Jimmy let out with a sidelooped grin, his eyes expressing a mixture of excitement and fear. "Come on guys, lets disperse, keep our heads down and get them bastards!"
Lou was already on her way down the bank of the stream, keeping behind protruding rocks, her sensor finally working, warning her instantly of any moves around her. A clear advantage the men below did not have. Her EA giving her instant knowledge of any impending danger. Stopping behind a rock she assessed the immediate surroundings, no one in sight. Her planned target seemingly unaware of her whereabouts. Rising her gun she squeezed the trigger, dropping one of the men, shooting him in the back. Watching as he fell over. A wave of nausea hit her, she was actually killing people, but it somehow didn't feel real. Like it wasn't really her doing the monstruous deeds. The gunfire was thick, her EA momentarily blocked from all the flying projectiles she had no other options than trusting her own senses. Crawling even closer to the battlefield she held her breath and dragged herself onwards, her fingers digging into the hard ground ahead of her she felt no fear any longer, only a will to survive, at any cost. She felt nothing as she dropped the next man, rolling away as she watched him sink to his knees and then keel over head first into the creek. Bullets stirring up the sand at her side had her roll sideways to the bank, hoping for some cover. She didn't quit understand what happened as somebody took a hold of her coverall and jerked her into a standing position.
"You stinkin'...."
The eyes that met hers left her completely paralyzed. Staring into them she felt her strength vanish and pure shock invade her. Her fingers didn't respond to her brain any longer as she stood limp, held by strong cruel hands, staring into the cold eyes of her own father.
Ike felt Kid land on top off him, pushing all the air out of him, making him groan. Then hands gripped the back of his coverall and he was dragged further down the bank, into shelter.
"Ike, you hit?" Kid asked, his voice barely audible over the gunfire.
"No," Ike finally exhaled, drawing his gun. "Just got surprised that's all." Clutching the gun in his hands he felt somewhat safer.
"We gotta get away from here!"
Kid has a way of stating the obvious, Ike thought as he pushed his friend onwards, a desperate need to get away from the line of fire making him feel the taste of blood in his mouth as they ran, flat out. Ducking for the fire, not really seeing where they went. Then he stopped dead in his tracks, his breath coming in raspy exhales, his lungs burning. He tried to shout out a warning but couldn't find his voice. Straight ahead of them, covered by a sandbank stood a man, holding Louise by the collar, shaking her. Lou's eyes were wide of fear and something Ike couldn't make out. Was it recognition? Her arms hung limp at her side, she made no gestures of fighting herself free.
Then it all happened so quickly, Kid fell to his knees at his side. Pointing the gun at the couple.
"Lou!" Kid hollered, the panic in his voice obvious to them all.
The man turned and watched them, the gloved hand automatically going for his gun. The man had no time to squeeze the trigger, the shot went off from Ike's side, startling him as it rang out. The man's gun shot one single shot in midair as he was thrown back by the force of the shot. Ike realized that Kid had shot to kill, the man had been hit in his chest, and it sure was no anestesizing gun Kid was using.
Lou staggered backwards and fell, staring at the man at her side fighting for air, still looking for his gun. Kid started crawling towards them. Lou remain staring and Ike noticed tears forming in her eyes.
"Lou?" Ike asked and rushed to her side, sensing something was awfully wrong.
When Ike arrived at their side, Lou turned to Kid with tears in her eyes. "That man was my father!"
Ike could feel the shock Kid went through right in that moment. His friend's labored breath stopped completely for a moment and he automatically withdrew from them. Inching backwards, staring at them in disbelief. Ike felt it like he was part of the shock Kid went through, almost sensing it. Kid dropped his gun to the ground and rose to his feet, his face ghostly white. Then he tried to say something but failed, he kept backing, looking at Lou with fear in his eyes. Like she was about to lunge at him.
Turning back to Lou, Ike noticed her gaze resting on Kid, but he saw no blame or hatred, only deep sorrow. Ike extended a hand to lay in on her shoulder and Lou sobbed and hid her face in the palms of her hands. Ike entwined her in his hold. "Lou we didn't know."
He turned back to the young man standing a few feet away, staring at them. Ike read the deep shock and disbelief in the pallor of his face, "Kid?"
"I-I-I'm sorry, I didn't know, God - I had no idea..."
A violent roar drenched the rest of his words and Lou fought to get to her feet. Ike scrambled to his, holding on to Lou, knowing exactly what was happening. The codes had been overridden, the ASA was taking off. They stood and watched as it hovered for a while, shots ricocheting on the hard surface. Lou's fingers dug into his arm, and she cursed vehemently at the sight of the escape. The vessel rose into the air, now misty and thick of gunpowder. Ike heard Jimmy yell a curse at it as it rose high above them. Staring up into the sky Ike watched the sky grow green and orange. Then there was a loud blast, making the ground under then shiver. Then there was absolutely nothing before Ike felt the air being knocked out of him and he flew backwards right into a black nothing.
TBC
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