Adventures of a Drunkard Pilot

Chapter 10: Eye for an Eye

"On it," I said into my radio. I nodded to the guys, who were checking the bodies. Arthur and Mitchell both ejected their magazines and grabbed new ones from hard points on their armor. I walked to the spot where I had dropped my shotgun.

"So, any plans?" I asked again. I picked up the empty scattergun and started slotting shells into the shell port.

"Let's start with seeing what Cameron has for us," Mitchell replied. He bent down over one of the skidders that still had its face mostly intact. "Man, you are some ugly mother fuckers."

"Yeah, I forgot how nasty these things were," I added. "Let's go guys." We ran out of the hangar right as a cleanup crew of security guys came in. they had a shocked look on their eyes, but I couldn't understand why. They looked like they were surprised we killed the skidders. I brushed it off and sprinted back to the briefing room. The automated doors were blocked open by a weapons crate that sat open, empty. We trotted in and were greeted by Cameron, Tex, Smith, Mack, Graves, and Roberts, all in combat gear loading guns from our stash.

"Where's everyone else?" Arthur asked.

"You asked for anyone with combat experience," Roberts replied as he loaded a magazine into an M4. "This is it."

"So you mean to tell me that you guys wanted us to take a bunch of kids with no combat experience," Mitchell inquired, now pissed off, "and turn them into a fighting force?"

"We thought we had more time," was Graves' response.

"Now what the fuck-" Mitchell started, taking a step towards them and raising a hand.

"Later!" I shouted. "We don't have time for this. What's this situation we have?" I turned to Cameron, who was loading a sniper rifle.

"Well," she paused, "the Legion are trying to talk to us."

There that silence was again.

"What?" Arthur finally asked.

"The Legion are ordering that we send out an ambassador to talk about something. They are threatening that if we don't, they will call in an orbital strike."

"Trap?" I asked the others.

"Trap," Mitchell said.

"Definitely a trap," Arthur added.

"Alright, we'll go." I told her.

A look of pure shock and surprise crossed everyone's faces. "What? No!" Cameron exclaimed. "We wanted you guys to come up with a way to fight back, not give in!"

"We have a plan." I said. "Trust us, okay?" I winked at her.

"But-" she started to object.

"We don't have a fighting force," Mitchell told her. "Put everyone in a defensive posture around the base. We'll deal with the rest." Before they could object, we walked out. I kicked the crate blocking the door into the room as we passed. As the door slid closed, I turned to the guys.

"Sooooo," Arthur asked, "do we really have a plan?"

"Meh," I told him, "Kinda."

"So what are we doing?" Mitchell asked.

"Improvising," I replied simply.

"Improvising?" Delta spoke up, appearing next to me, "I hate it when we do that."

"So, about that orbital strike..." I inquired.

"Theyre bluffing." He said simply. "There is only one battle-capable object in orbit, other than the Legion mega-carrier, and I think you know what that is."