Commando Quarterly 1st Quarter 2006 - low res

Fort Loudon Prime
Fort Loudon
Tamar March, Lyran Alliance
31 December 3063
Captain Susan “Siouxsie” Nansouty lay flush with the roofline of
an old warehouse situated across a wide alley from the Fort Loudon
Prime Penitentiary. Loyalists transformed the city jail into a holding
area for revolutionaries after Prince Victor declared his sister,
Katrina, unfit to rule. Siouxsie’s combination Camo/IR sneak suit’s
highly specialized sensor array detected the reflective properties of
the tar and gravel roof and mimicked the pattern on the opposite side
of the suit, making her nearly invisible to the naked eye. The prison’s
IR sensors were equally blind to her presence due to the high-tech
cloth, which collected and dissipated her body heat in measured
portions to exactly match the surrounding air temperature. Using the
suit’s built in night-vision goggles, Siouxsie could easily see a lone
guard standing sentry atop the loading dock where every morning at
about 0300 hours a local farmer delivered fresh milk, butter, and
eggs for the warden’s mess.
The night-vision goggles dimmed as they compensated for a
bright light in the alleyway. Siouxsie checked the chronometer
displayed in the lower left corner of her visor’s data display. Two-fiftyeight.
Seems our delivery will be a little early this morning.
The farmer, Gerard, carefully backed his hover-truck into the
same loading bay he used every morning. Killing the power, as usual,
he let his hover-truck settle onto the pavement before opening the
door and stepping down from the cab. Same way he did every
morning. Gerard always followed the same routine as he delivered
fresh milk and eggs to the maximum-security prison.
Just like every morning since the facility opened, Gerard greeted
the sentry as he reached the tailgate. “Bon jour. Como c’est va?”
Despite hearing the farmer’s friendly greeting dozens of times
over the past year, the sentry never bothered or cared to socialize
with the locals. In fact, he took advantage of every opportunity to
insult the elderly farmer. “Yeah, whatever hayseed. Just hurry up an’
get those eggs t’ the mess.”
“Ceva Bien. Merci.” Gerard’s usual, pleasant response. Not
showing any signs of understanding the insult, the farmer continued
through the normal routine of delivering his goods.
After lowering the tailgate, Gerard stepped back and allowed the
guard to perform his customary inspection. After a brief look, the
guard’s usual scowl took on an even more menacing look. He
pointed his rifle right at the farmer’s nose.
“What’cha waitin’ for! Get this stuff unloaded or I’ll find someone
born after the fall of Star League t’ make these deliveries.” Laughing
as he lowered his weapon, the guard turned, walked over to the door
and radioed the command center to unlock the door to loading dock
number two.
***
On a nearby rooftop, another sneaksuit-clad warrior lay hidden
beneath a chameleon tarp. Trent “Headhunter” Thiébault slowly
exhaled as he relaxed his finger from the trigger of his compound
crossbow. “That guard doesn’t know how lucky he is.”
44 The Commando Quarterly I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I
***
By Buster G. McCall
B H ANSHEE H ANSHEE UNT
Back at the dock, Gerard quickly went about his usual, methodical
process of activating the hover pallet and carefully sliding, first the
milk, then the eggs out of the truck and onto the dock. Gerard fed on
months of well-concealed hate for the soldiers who killed his only son
during an unjustified raid of the family homestead. His hate provided
the strength needed to overcome the growing fear of being caught
delivering a bit more than his usual breakfast fare, but the guards
little prank set new and unsettling fears into motion. Gerard began to
lose faith in the plan. When one is nervous, minor, inconsequential
mistakes are amplified to the point where even a poorly-trained,
arrogant guard might notice something out of the ordinary.
Ready to push the pallets to the mess, Gerard nodded to the
guard who then activated the retracting door. Gerard unconsciously
wiped the sweat that was forming on his brow, despite the brisk
morning chill and the lack of any strenuous physical exertion. As he
slowly pushed the produce through the door, the guard stepped
forward and hit Gerard in the shoulder with the but of his rifle.
“Where’s your head old man? You’re leaving the box of butter
behind. I don’t have time to baby sit you for two trips.”
Rubbing his shoulder, Gerard went back to the truck to get the
box of fresh butter without locking the pallet stabilizers. The untended
pallet started to drift slowly toward the edge of the loading ramp.
Seeing movement out of the corner of his eye, Gerard turned and
snatched the control rail and activated the stabilizer, rocking the
pallet to a sudden stop. One egg-shaped container of knock-out gas
fell free from a crate right in front of the guard only to be caught just
a few centimeters off the ground by Gerard.
The guard just glared at the farmer. “Go ahead. Mess up my
dock an’ I’ll make you lick it up.”
Smiling at the guard, Gerard nodded then with shaking hands
placed the egg back into the crate and continued with his delivery. He
left the full pallet in the usual place and brought back the empty
pallet from yesterday’s delivery. The eggs would remain untouched
for at least an hour, when the cooks arrived. By then, there would no
longer be any need to conceal their contents.
Less than ten minutes Gerard’s hover-truck disappeared around
a corner and Captain Nansouty completed her survey of the prison’s
perimeter through the snaked coils of a fiber-optic camera. Satisfied
no unexpected friends would show up to ruin her party, Siouxsie
remotely released the colorless odorless gas into the prison. With the
assistance of a nearby air intake located in the kitchen, the potent
chemical rapidly spread throughout the complex, incapacitating
everyone inside. Confident the gas was doing it’s job, Siouxsie gave
Trent the green light to get this show on the road.