Breaking Ranks

Samantha: Sightseeing

"They're on the run now," Potter stated as though it wasn't obvious. You didn't need a sniper rifle to see that. The defending side was streaming into the Fore Gate, a few others going around the walls to different gates, and those too slow to follow were being butchered by the attacking raiders.

"Why are they even attacking?" I asked myself, belatedly realizing that I had spoken on the squad channel.

"These fucking passengers will fight over anything," the sergeant replied over the comms. "But O-36 grows most of the food crops in this region. Sweet potatoes, mainly. This aeroponics facility is optimized for that crop."

"They call it Sandstone now," Kaltran added helpfully.

"They might," Sergeant Gunnarson replied, his dismissive sniff clear even over the comms. "But it's O-36 by Regulations. Yeah, that right there was a billionaire's billet."

I glanced at my HUD. I'd never heard the term billionaire's billet, and even scrolling down the info I saw nothing about it. Just some techno garble about genetically modified yams, about its assignment to Agricultural Specialist Salazar before the First Mutiny, and scattered reports since then. I didn't want to ask and appear ignorant... but after all, I was the rookie. If not now then when?

"Sergeant, what's a billionaire's billet?"

"Best seats on the Tranquility that money could buy," Sergeant Gunnarson said as crossbowmen along the earthen wall fired a first volley into the raiders, felling friend and foe alike. "Smack dab in real Earth nature and right next to the food. Not like the multimillionaires scattered through the rest of the Section, or like us working folk who actually run the ship." He sniffed as the raiders reeled back, the attack coming to a halt outside crossbow range. "But that's Ancient history now."

"Huh, who would fight over sweet potatoes?" Kaltran asked after a moment. "Now, bacon I can underst—"

"Can it, Kaltran," the sergeant said.

We stood there on the ridge for some time, watching the scene, as those still able to limp away trailed into Sandstone's gates. It didn't look to me as though the attackers would breach the walls even if they continued the attack. There were just too many defenders who got away. It looked like a missed opportunity to me. Though they might just take the town tomorrow. Starving out an aeroponics facility didn't seem like an option.

"Henderson, how are the drone feeds looking?"

The tech specialist wasn't far away from us now, and had his data slate out, which was linked by a wire to his helmet. He carried four small surveillance drones with him which could keep a watch over a significant amount of area, but they only had a limited power charge and could be spotted by any observers. With this many people around it seemed a certainty that someone would spot the drone.

Still, we're Seraphim after all, and the passengers know we keep watch on them.

"I have visual from three different angles, sir," Henderson said. "I'm keeping the fourth with me as a backup."

Even before Lift Off cameras had been present throughout the entirety of the ship, but through the centuries many of them had simply flickered off, while others had been intentionally destroyed during the Mutinies. The maintenance technicians did what they could but they were swamped with the really important stuff, and there was no way a button pusher would be able to fix a camera with all the chaos going on in the Agricultural Section. It was a spotty patchwork that we had, which was one of the reasons for these patrols in the first place.

"No need to stick around, then."

"No sir. I can keep them circling for days."

"Very good. We'll move out then, but I want you to keep an eye on the siege. Anything against Regulations, use of fire, massacres, things of that nature. You know the drill."