The Fringe Wars

2.11

Solitary Run

Reyne, Sixx, Boden, and Birk were going up against the Collective's highest security prison with only the crew of the Honorless and Seda, and ten of his hired guns, for support. Twenty men suddenly felt like a pitiful match when Reyne saw the Citadel. The structure was a stone fort so large it disappeared deep into the twilight. Every twenty feet or so stood a titanium pillar. Automated drones armed with photon guns perched in chargers at the top of every pillar. An open plain of rocky ground surrounded the Citadel, with no trees or structures to offer camouflage. Whoever had built the Citadel was a very smart person.

Reyne glanced at his wrist comm and watched the blinking dot that represented Critch. The dot hadn't moved for the last ten minutes, and he guessed the man had been locked in his cell for the night. He had no way of knowing where Chutt was, if the man was even still alive, so he figured they could rescue him when they freed the entire Citadel. Besides, Reyne wasn't in as much of a hurry to rescue the pirate who'd so callously killed Doc after finding out she'd betrayed the torrents.

They needed Critch's intel before they risked taking down the Citadel, assuming Critch had what they needed.

Retrieving Critch wouldn't be easy. Escape attempts were common, and Seda had assured them that as long as they made the rescue with a rudimentary approach and tools, they shouldn't raise the CUF's suspicion. Assuming Seda was correct, they wouldn't be putting the second part of their plan —freeing everyone inside — at risk.

They waited in a bombed-out house nearest to Critch's location, which was still at least three hundred meters away. They needed to be one hundred meters away for the harpoons to work, but Reyne liked to play it safe, so tonight they were going to get much closer.

Reyne looked across the faces of his men. Sixx sat with a smoothly calm expression, though Reyne worried he was thinking of his wife as much as of the mission. Boden's strong features were tense as he stared straight ahead. Critch's crew remained stoic, but Reyne knew they had to be anxious to retrieve their captain.

Seda and his men also bore cool looks, not a single man fidgeting with his rifle. Reyne trusted his team, but he most certainly did not trust the stationmaster and his team. Over the past day, he'd constantly reconsidered his earlier decision about calling in the specters, but there was no time to wait for them to fly to Terra now.

Reyne checked the time and swallowed before speaking quietly. "It's time. Give a thumbs up if you're good to go."

Each man lifted a thumb. Reyne motioned to his handpicked team of Sixx, Boden, and Birk, leaving everyone else to provide much-needed cover fire from their present location. Reyne's team of four, each carrying a long harpoon gun, hustled over what was left of the house wall and piled into the small hovercraft Sixx had stolen earlier that day. Over the past couple of hours, Boden had been attaching makeshift armor to its body. The team hoped it would be enough to stop photon fire.

Reyne took the driver's seat and laid his harpoon across his lap. He took one final look at the setting sun. The darkness offered no benefit against drones, but it could offer a slight advantage if Reyne and his team were still there when human reinforcements showed up. He looked back across the faces of his team. "Ready for this?"

"Ready, boss," Sixx said without hesitation.

"Ready," Boden and Birk echoed.

Reyne nodded and then accelerated. The hovercraft moved slowly at first, groaning under the excess weight.

"Two hundred meters out," Sixx said after they had driven some distance.

Two drones lit up and lifted from their perches.