Masoul (Harmony War Series Book 2) (38 page)

              “Yeah?” Mark said, Jolie getting all of his attention as he wirelessly connected to the data cube, uploading it to his internal memory and sending it to the rest of the platoon.

              She looked like she was deciding something as she sized him up.

              “Thing is you’d have to leave your guns here and agree to be tied up,” she said.

              Mark sighed, rubbing the beard that had grown since he’d stepped on the shuttle four months ago.

              It was his first beard. He’d shaved when on Earth and the EMF had reinforced that practice, it was damn uncomfortable having stubble rub on the cheek pads, or get pulled out if you didn’t get it all in.

               “Alright, I’ll do it, but no funny business,” Mark said.

              “Fine, take all your weapons off and that duster,” Jolie snapped her fingers twice, and four people came out from tents, their faces covered, restraints in one person’s hands a blindfold in another’s.

              “Don’t trust me to come peacefully?” Mark said with his deep voice and a grin.

              “You’re the size of a small car and you have enough scars visible on just your neck and hands to say you’ve survived some shit. What would you do if you were me?” Jolie asked.

              Mark laughed and pulled off the duster, blades, and weapons that were sown into the coat.

              He put it down; a rifle and shotgun hung from him on slings.

              The twin pistol belts joined the guns and duster.

              Then there were blades in the small of his back and his boots. There was a small pile of weapons to his side, and wide eyes looking between him and the pile.

              “I know every single weapon. One of them goes missing and I’ll hold you responsible Jolie,” Mark said, looking into her eyes.

              “Daz! Get out here and put this in my vault,” she said. Daz was there in a few moments, gathering the weapons up in the duster and hurrying off.

              The restraints went on as Jolie stood, and she ran her hands over him, checking for weapons. Mark didn’t miss her smile as she got close to some sensitive areas.

              “At least buy me dinner first,” he growled, getting a few laughs from the foursome.

              Jolie smiled and stopped her searching.

              “Blindfold him and let’s get this show on the road,” she said.

              “Fucking tall bastard,” someone muttered behind him. He bent a knee to make it easier for them. The colonists didn’t get much in the way of good food and with lower gravity the CEO’s and Harmony decided they needed less food, leading to them being short and wiry.

              Mark was pushed and prodded, as they blinded and bound him.

              Mark sent a message to Tyler, Jerome and Haas, with a recording of the situation, except for putting down his weapons. Haas would blow a gasket if he saw that.

              They passed lots of people and travelled in so many odd directions that Mark knew it was being done to throw off his sense of direction.

              He was stopped and something waved over his body. His implants read faults and he shut them down.

              It seemed he’d passed as he moved on.

              Finally, he was stopped and his blindfold removed. In front of him sitting at a simple table were three women and two men, all of whom wore items to obscure who they were, leaving only their eyes visible.

              Jolie and the rest of the gang left, and a door closed behind Mark.

              There were three guards toting weaponry, ready and waiting to put Mark down if he did anything.

              “Fucking talkative lot aren’t you?” Mark said, looking at them all after a few quiet minutes.

              “Why don’t we just torture him like they torture ours with their educators? Should get at the information,” one of the men at the table said.

              The woman at the center rose, a hand silencing him.

              “We are not Harmony, we are better than them and we will act accordingly,” she said.

              “Can we get past the threats? Yes, you could shoot me, or kill me in some manner and make it look like a mistake. You want information and I want some cooperation,” Mark said.

              “Fucking enforcers,” one of the guards spat.

              “Real smart, spitting inside a mask, bet that feels awesome,” Mark said shaking his head.

              The guard didn’t say anything, but the others moved awkwardly.

              “You Madam Song?” Mark asked gesturing to the head-woman. The table moved in shock and the guard’s guns rose a few inches.

              “Ahhh, good. That agent’s damn fucking good.” Mark admitted, he’d owe Moretti a few cigars if this worked. “The hand, says hello,” Mark said tilting his head.

              There was a hiss of breath being released.

              “How do you know the hand?” Song asked, still masked.

              “We’re working together,” Mark shrugged. T
hough you wouldn’t believe who he is even if I told you,
Mark thought. Moretti might be a spy, but he was good at his work.

              “How can you, an enforcer, be working with the hand? He has guided us since the beginning, working to use us to fight Harmony, supplied us with the means to be prepared for the eventual trooper arrival,” she said.

              Mark grabbed at his shirt, as the weapons in front of him started rising.

              He ripped the shirt, showing his bare shoulder. Puckered scars couldn’t hide the tattoo he’d received from basic and the M&T over V tattoo that had been redone to have M, J, T&A over V.

              The guns wavered as the five people started muttering.

              “I think it’s about time we got the resistance organized. It won’t be long before my fellow troopers are here,” Mark fired up his implants and applied a cracker to the restraints. He tossed the restraints to the bodyguard who’d spat in his own mask and turned to face them.

              “I’m an enforcer, just of a different type,” he smiled as saucer-sized eyes looked up at him in shock.

Chapter 33

             
Shipping Station

             
Shipping Station, Masoul System

             
5/3241

              Nerva looked over the latest download from the communications satellite. The platoon had made contact with the underground and were trying to get as much training into them as possible. Harmony had armor plates on an industrial scale. They might not get all four million wearing the plates, but they’d get their enforcers and core Chosen, to wear them.

             
Chosen. Why is it that religious fighters always have some connotation that they are the select few able to do what they were told to do?
He sighed as Captain Harold’s replacement, Captain Sholtz, informed him that their enemy was pushing through the refined metals storage area.

              Sholtz had the situation under control so Nerva left him to it, turning to the last report he’d held, a reading from Masoul Actual.

              It had been written up by Mark, and it seemed that he, Dashtund, Dominguez, and Ali might get an opportunity to see if the powered armor was a reality and if it was, then they might be able to pilot it and find out where the other sets were being held.

              Haas and the flight team had wandered around checking out the various landing pads and terrain the troopers would have to cover to get into the towers.

              Jerome was borrowing the shuttle crew and Iliev to go down to the various water reclamation, heat exchange, and atmospheric controls. They probably knew them better than the people that kept them running.

              Zukic and the rest were out creating maps of the towers. They mapped the tunnels that connected them, the defenses across the inside of the towers, and those on the surface.

              Nerva checked the message he’d been given from Colonel Sangh.

              In five months they would start pushing up operations on Shipping Station once again. After that the team on the ground only had as long as it took to get back on the carriers and get to Masoul Actual.

             
“So, who is pulling their strings?”
Nerva asked NIDenise, knowing full well that General Wai would have used this to push the troopers hard through Shipping Station just to hit Masoul Actual before they got any good intel from the platoon on the ground… just because they were Nerva’s people and she could blame it on him.

             
“Selvra,”
NIDenise said.

              That made Nerva tap the floor next to him in thought.

             
“Why?”
Nerva asked.

             
“He needs us to show a definitive victory, he also thinks that this isn’t the end of Harmony. Harper seems to have come from Osdal,”
NIDenise said anticipating his first question.

             
“But...,”
he started.

             
“He’s willing to waste the resources because he wants more information. With the powered armor rumors he’s focused himself on this and this alone. If Haas and his platoon confirm that there’s powered armor on Masoul Actual, then in his mind it’s just a testing bed for what Osdal might have. He’s drafted up orders to have powered armor made up if it is the case,”
she said.

             
“Is it?”
Nerva asked. He knew that while on operation within the EMF he had to limit the amount of information that he couldn’t easily explain. This definitely fell in this category and NIDenise was waging an internal battle to protect her user and also uphold those mandates.

             
“You will find out soon enough,”
NIDenise said, going with a neutral answer.

             
“Is this only linked to Osdal?”
Nerva asked.

             
“Nivad believes so,”
NIDenise answered.

             
“What does the legion know?”
Nerva asked knowing that Earth and her colonies’ tech was several generations behind legion tech at the best. At the worst it wasn’t even in the same league.

             
“I cannot confirm or deny anything unless you choose to return to the legion,”
NIDenise said, clearly not liking the answer she could not give.

              Nerva tapped his fist on the floor a few times.

             
“Shit,”
he said, reading between the lines. He knew that NIDenise could read his thoughts but she made no comment on them.

              As NIDenise had evolved as all NIAI’s do, she had gained the ability to inflect emotions in her tone, Nerva had his answer whether she wanted to give it to him or not.

              He glanced around at the troopers cleaning their guns, talking and eating, waiting to be pushed up to attack the Chosen. Killing time and taking their minds off of their task with idle chatter.

              He had seen soldiers like them the universe over, he knew war better than he knew women. And felt that this one was only just beginning.

Chapter 34

             
Landing City

             
Masoul Actual, Masoul System

             
7/3241

              Tony and Mark had hung out for the last six months, going from friendly enforcers to full on bromance.

              Tony was an okay dude, well he would be if he wasn’t so wrapped up in Harmony talk, hated troopers for no reason other than being told to, and had a mean streak where women were concerned.

              Mark swallowed his bile and repressed his usual somatic response, thankfully it looked to have paid off as Tony led him through checkpoint after checkpoint.

              “Weapons,” an enforcer said, looking at Mark blankly.

              “Sorry dude, them’s the rules,” Tony said, pulling out his own weapons. “It’s worth it though,” he said, laying his duster on his gear.

              Mark shrugged and dropped all of his weapons except the two blades under his arms.

              “Better be right,” Mark said, as the enforcer stepped forward and patted him down. “Watch it, pervert,” Mark said. Tony laughed, as the enforcer sighed, obviously he’d heard the line a few too many times for it to be interesting anymore.

              “Good,” the enforcer said, letting Mark past, and the other enforcer let Tony go a few seconds later.