13. Allies
Riddik docked his Marauder in Aeolus Trading Prefect and purchased a stretcher to move Keria into the station to get some medical assistance. The dockhands raised an eyebrow when they saw him pull a Serco female out of his hold, but them not noticing anything was what they got paid for. Riddik moved as fast as he could and only narrowly avoided the two groups of six black uniformed persons that exited a set of Centaurs. They immediately spotted the Marauder and after leaving three men to guard it the others moved into the station. Riddik thought about finding the local SCAR representative but didn't want to have even the slightest chance of them turning Keria over to GESTEBO. He mentally thumbed through his contacts in Grey and disregarded the Serco ones. That left him with one person, Lebermac from the Cargo Liberation Movement. He sent a query asking where Lebermac was. Within seconds a link opened.
"Riddik you ole swinger, how's it hanging?"
"Pretty bad my friend. I need help and I need help bad."
"Not really all that welcome up the Ladies way buddy. But I can probably send someone if ya need it."
"Not necessary, I am in Grey."
There was a moment’s silence on the other end before Lebermac answered.
"This is going to land me in a lot of trouble isn't it?"
"Probably, but I have nowhere else to go mate. I need medical help for Keria."
"Roger, send me your posit and I'll be there in a jiffy."
"Leebs, I owe you one."
"Yarr, don't think of it. Think Tequila instead."
Riddik sent his position and the link closed. Now all he had to do was hide Keria until help arrived. He checked his heavy needlegun and the two liberated thin guns. He didn't really like the thin guns. Propelling a charge of xithricite powder that was lethal to a Serco at ten metres range or less, it was rather inefficient at more than 30 metres. A secret police weapon, but beggars can't be choosers. He moved along the grease stained, well he hoped it was grease and dirt filled corridors, to a coffin motel and checked in with only a slightly raised eyebrow from the clerk at the unconscious person on the stretcher. A small extra donation to the clerk guaranteed their privacy for at least a day. Riddik ensured that Keria was as comfortable as she could be and placed himself in front of the door with the needle gun ready. What the hell was he to do now...
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The UIT Counterinsurgency Team Alfa was all kitted out for heavy combat, with two members carrying the heavy neural laces that was the only known way of restraining Serco soldiers. Some would argue that shooting the arms and legs off would make the Serco incapable of resisting but that was because they had never seen a Serco use his teeth and body to kill a man. Which they had been known to do. The team hoped that the Serco would follow willingly, otherwise it could get really nasty; the team was eight highly trained and extensively boosted soldiers but that was not going to be enough if the two Serco decided to slug it out. And why the team leader had decided to use nerve gas pre-emptively.
The team leader received a message that the nerve gas had been pumped in and nodded to his security man. He inserted the code breaker and cracked the door code, withdrawing his gear immediately upon getting a green light. The two gyrock-equipped point men smashed the door open, their weapons at the ready and moved fast into the room, the two soldiers with neural laces following. They were surprised by the two Serco persons that were deeply concentrated on a game of Go, ignoring the soldiers completely.
"Don't move" one of the soldiers shouted nervously.
One of the Serco raised one finger as if to indicate that they should wait before exclaiming a victorious cry.
"Ha, I believe I have won. If I put the stone here I win, correct?"
He put a stone onto the board and looked up at the other Serco who nodded slowly and methodically.
"I believe you are right. Congratulations. Now, what do we do to the intruders?"
The two Serco turned their heads and looked at the two point men completely unafraid.
"Don't move" the soldier shouted again.
"Yes, yes we have heard you. We heard you fifteen minutes ago and we hear you now. Silent please, the Serco are speaking."
The two Serco exchanged information fast and agreed.
"So officers, where are we going?"
With the prospect of the Serco surrendering peacefully the UIT team relaxed slightly, ever so slightly. The troopers never noticed the heavy blade that spun through the air as if appearing out of pure vacuum, impacting with the heavy xithricite enforced point upon the full face mask of the left soldier with a neural lace, ignoring the plastic and rubber of the mask and slicing clean through the skin, muscles and bones of his face before stopping when the point hit the inside of the skull in the back of his head severing the central nerve routing and removing muscle control immediately. The other Serco moved up and towards the two gyrock-equipped soldiers and managed to push them both aside as they started firing, Boom-swoosh-Crack, Boom-swoosh-Crack, Boom-swoosh-Crack-fwomp-Gung. One of the small deadly rockets impacted on the left shoulder of the Serco that threw the knife, severing the upper arm by exploding inside it. The Serco didn't even notice it, instead twisting his body backwards and grab his needle gun from behind the seat. The other Serco pushed the two point men into the last standing UIT trooper with a neural lace, toppling the three of them and jumped on top of them with a blood-curdling cry. One UIT trooper looked into the room over his pulse rifle and was rewarded for his efforts with a full set of twenty millimetres long and two wide samoflange darts that had been accelerated to more than 350m/s from the needle gun of the wounded Serco. The trooper's head made no resistance to the darts whatsoever, the helmet flying into the corridor empty except for the remains. The team leader swore and decided to escalate. He found his thermal grenade and primed it.
The Serco with the needle gun walked into the door entrance and looked into the corridor left and right. He shot the security man in the lower neck neatly severing the head from the body and changed aim to the petrified soldier that was pointing at the floor with his pulse rifle. The thermal grenade flew into the room and the Serco in the corridor grinned fiercely. He dropped the gun and grabbed the soldier, yanking him inside and put him on top of the grenade pinning him with his bulk. The soldier's eyes widened in fear, as he was eye-to-eye with the one armed berserker and even more when he realised what he was lying on. The grenade went off, scattering the trooper all over the room and taking a sizeable chunk out of the Serco as well. The UIT team leader peeked in and drew a clean bead upon he neck of the unscathed Serco. He fired a maximum charge pulse burst that impacted on the Serco's neck, blowing a fist-sized hole in his head. The Serco finished dismembering the soldier he was working on before turning around to face the leader. Another shot rang out, this time slightly under the nose and removing another fist-sized chunk of Serco. The Serco staggered slightly but kept advancing. The troop leader aimed carefully and fired the remaining charge into the same hole under the nose and succeeded in toppling the berserker. The team leader sank to the floor in exhaustion, dropping his rifle to the floor. He keyed the command centre and gave the all clear. The second team was just in the next corridor ready to move in. The team leader looked around at the remains of his men and crawled over to the group of three mangled bodies in the corner.
"Almost UIT, almost. Pretty good for human norms."
He turned and saw the one armed Serco with a large hole in his stomach and chest swing the rifle down upon his head, impacting with terrible force. Darkness.
###
The room was empty of personal belongings, empty of any signs of the inhabitant, devoid of atmosphere. The eight standard uniforms in the closet, the meticulously clean desk and the neatly folded bed could have been found in any cubicle. Nothing indicated who or what she was. Precisely as the circumstances dictated her but not necessarily as she wanted it. Yarina called her cubicle home nonetheless; after all she was going to live here until her assignment was finished. And so far she had liked it, relished in the opportunity to do her part for the Itani people, enjoyed the challenges. But now it was getting personal, the one factor she could not control. She needed to get out, and soon too. She opened the secret compartment in her desk and activated the small beacon inside, telling her case officer that she needed to be contacted. Nothing to do but wait now.
