Miranda's War Read online

  Miranda saw Gary flinch as if someone had struck him. The fingers of his right hand shot up to the comm piece he wore in his ear.

  “Director!” Gary’s voice was panicked. “Three ships have just dropped out of Void Space and are en route here. Two of them are register as Earth Gov transports.”

  Director Shelley blinked, taken aback by the news.

  “That was fast,” Miranda commented.

  “Should I have the planetary defenses brought online, ma’am?” Gary asked.

  Director Shelley shook her head. “No. Given what happened on Betax III, that might be something we would come to very much regret. Let them land unchallenged, but put out the word to our security forces to be ready for action. Those bastards aren’t just going to swoop in here and take control without a fight if they refuse to listen to reason.”

  Miranda shifted nervously where she stood. She and her crew couldn’t just leave. Their contract on Nix V wasn’t completed yet. They were bound by their word to stay and see it through. That, of course, put them right in the heart of the war that had just started, at least in terms of Nix V.

  “Look!” Gary shouted, pointing out the window of Director Shelley’s office. In the sky beyond it, the three ships coming in for a landing could be seen burning their way down through the planet’s atmosphere. Miranda’s heart skipped a beat as she recognized the lead ship. It wasn’t Earth Gov. It was an older warship like her own ship, Strider, though much more heavily armored. The ship’s bow was covered in the painting of a snarling bear, and there was no mistaking who it belonged to.

  “That’s Bear Wiggins’ ship, The Brute,” Miranda told Director Shelley.

  “The monster hunter?” Director Shelley glanced at Miranda. “Why in the hell would a monster hunter be escorting two Earth Gov transports?”

  “My crew and I bumped into Bear and his crew before we came here,” Miranda said. “Wiggins and his people aren’t just monster hunters anymore, Director Shelley. They’ve sold out to Earth Gov as enforcers to help keep the fringe worlds in line. If he’s in command of those troops on the transports, this isn’t going to be pretty for anyone.”

  Director Shelley turned to Gary. “Get a detachment of security to the spaceport at once. I’ll met them there.”

  “Yes, ma’am!” Gary snapped and darted out of her office.

  “I’d like you to come with me,” Director Shelley told Miranda.

  “I don’t think that’s a very good idea,” Miranda said. “Wiggins’ crew had an altercation with two of mine the last time we ran into them.”

  “I don’t care, Miranda,” Director Shelley barked. “I want you there.”

  “I’m not your muscle to boss around.” Miranda scowled at Shelley. “The contract between us is only for me and mine to slay your monster. Nothing more.”

  “I understand that, Miranda,” Director Shelley sighed, “but just having you there might make this Wiggins think twice about pulling any crap.”

  “And it might throw him into a rage.” Miranda frowned. “I know Bear. He’s not big on thinking things through before he acts. Just seeing me here might set him off.”

  “Let me worry about that,” Director Shelley told her. “Come on. They’ll have already touched down by the time we get there.”

  * * * * *

  Chapter 25

  On the way to the spaceport, Miranda contacted Strider. The old man was in a foul mood.

  “Was that Bear Wiggins’ ship I just saw leading two Earth Gov transports down?” Lee snapped at her.

  “It was,” Miranda said. “The director and I are on our way to greet him as I speak.”

  “Bear won’t like us being here,” Lee warned her.

  “Tell me about it,” Miranda said. “But the Director insists on me being at her side.”

  “That’s not your job, Miranda,” the old man reminded her.

  “Tell Joe to get over the spaceport as soon as possible,” Miranda ordered. “I want him in position to lend me some support if things go like I think they will.”

  “Roger that,” Lee answered. “I’ll be there, too.”

  The old man cut the transmission before she could tell him to stay on the ship.

  Miranda and Director Shelley joined up with a group of five heavily-armed security guards as they rushed toward where the ships had landed. The Brute’s rear bay opened and its landing ramp thumped down. Bear Wiggins came swaggering down it, accompanied by his second in command, Davis Bloodstone. The swordsman looked eager for a fight at Bear Wiggins’ side. There were four other hunters on Bear’s crew. They stood at the top of the ramp above their two leaders, rifles and machine guns in their hands.

  Earth Gov shock troopers were disembarking from the two transports. From the size of the two ships, Miranda put their number at two dozen total. Not exactly a planet conquering force, but a dire threat to Nix V’s freedom anyway, especially with Bear Wiggins leading them.

  Director Shelley marched up to Bear at the end of The Brute’s landing ramp. “Your ships weren’t cleared to land here.”

  Bear gave her a look of contempt. “You must be Director Shelley.”

  “I am,” she growled at him.

  Bear wore his heavy trademark brown armor. The shafts of his two spears extended over his shoulders, ready to be used if need be. “I’ve been instructed by Earth Gov to reclaim this colony. I trust there will be no resistance on your part, Director Shelley, and that the transition of power here will proceed smoothly.”

  “Reclaim this colony?” Director Shelley repeated the big hunter’s words through gritted teeth. “This colony has never belonged to Earth Gov.”

  “Who do you think paid for its establishment, Director?” Bear Wiggins snorted.

  “That debt was repaid long ago, Mr. Wiggins,” Director Shelley replied.

  Bear’s chest puffed up as she used his name, acknowledging that she knew he was.

  “Not according to my superiors.” Bear laughed. “I’m to take command of this colony at once. Its resources are needed for the war.”

  “And if I refuse to submit to this crap?” Director Shelley said, barely holding back the intensity of her anger.

  Miranda heard the clicking noises of numerous Earth Gov–issued rifles being readied as the troops from the transports aimed them at her, Director Shelley, and the guards who had accompanied them.

  Bear glared at Miranda as if he was just realizing she was there. “You’re that little girl monster hunter, aren’t you?”

  “I’m not a little girl, Bear,” Miranda said gruffly. “I am a hunter, though, and currently under contract to this colony.”

  “Then your services here are no longer needed,” Bear told her. “My crew can handle whatever it is they hired you to deal with.”

  “No they can’t, Bear,” Miranda said. “The monster here…it’s different from anything we’ve ever run into before. It killed one of my crew last night.”

  Laughter rolled out of the big hunter, and he doubled over, slapping one of his armored knees. Davis Bloodstone took over the talking for him.

  “Miranda, we don’t want any trouble here,” Bloodstone said. Anyone with half a brain could tell he was lying through his teeth. “Just get back on that junk heap of a ship of yours and get out of here while you still can. Earth Gov no longer permits private monster hunting operations in this sector.”

  She saw the armbands Bloodstone, Bear, and the rest of the crew from The Brute were wearing. Miranda remembered Lee telling her about them.

  “You have no more right to shut my crew down than you do to take over this colony, Bloodstone,” Miranda kept her voice calm.

  “You’re wrong about that, girl,” Bear told her, standing up to his full height. He pointed at the armband he wore. “These give us the right. We’re officially appointed agents of Earth Gov, here on official business.”

  “In case you haven’t noticed, Bear, you’re in the fringes, not the core worlds,” Miranda said.

  “Doe
sn’t matter.” Bear snorted. “All these worlds out here were financed and initially established by Earth Gov.”

  That, too, was a bold-faced lie. There were many colonies established in the fringes that Earth Gov had never had a hand in. They were free worlds created to escape exactly the kind of tyranny being brought to their doorsteps now.

  Director Shelley watched the confrontation between the two hunters closely and kept out of it for the time being. No doubt she was hoping it would play out in her favor by forcing Miranda and her crew to take her side.

  “None of that matters to me, Bear, and you know it,” Miranda said. “But I do have a contract to fulfill, and I’m not leaving here until it’s done, and I get paid.”

  “Girl…” Bear stared at her. “Your contract was canceled the moment we arrived. This world is Earth Gov’s, and if there really is a monster here, like I said, we’ll deal with it.”

  Miranda was silent for a second as she thought things over. Giving in to Bear would hurt her rep as much as leaving Nix V with her contract uncompleted. Monster hunters were only as good as their reputation said they were. Staying on Nix V until the monster they had been hired to kill was dead was a matter of honor.

  “I’m not leaving, Bear,” Miranda told the big hunter. “I’ve got a job to do here.”

  “Fine.” Bear shrugged. “You leave me no choice but to place you under arrest, little girl.”

  “Arrest? For what?” Miranda snapped.

  “Failing to comply with the direct orders of an Earth Gov representative.” Bear grinned.

  Bloodstone’s hands moved to grip the hilts of his swords.

  “Take her into custody,” Bear ordered the nearby Earth Gov troops.

  The Earth Gov troops started toward Miranda. She didn’t want to start a conflict. Heck, she hadn’t even wanted to be here to meet Bear Wiggins in the first place. But she wasn’t about to let them take her into custody, either. Thankfully, the troops looked reluctant to approach her, even though they were. They knew her armor wasn’t just for show.

  At that moment, an RPG roared across the spaceport into the ranks of the Earth Gov troops. Miranda, Bear Wiggins, and Bloodstone all saw it coming.

  “It’s a trap!” Bloodstone shouted, drawing his swords as he ducked for cover.

  Bear Wiggins threw himself off the ramp just before the RPG hit.

  “Get down!” Miranda yelled, grabbing Director Shelley and taking her to the ground in her arms. Miranda used her own armored body to shield Shelley from the explosion as it ripped through the Earth Gov troops. White-hot flames shot skyward from the impact of the RPG, as shrapnel cut into many of the troops that hadn’t died in the initial blast. That was only the beginning, though.

  A sniper rifle cracked in rapid succession from somewhere nearby. One Earth Gov troop died, the back of his head bursting open as a high-powered round exited it. Another troop was knocked backward as a bullet ripped into his throat. Miranda knew the shots had to be coming from Joe where he had holed up to cover her.

  Director Shelley’s guards joined the fight. They and the remaining Earth Gov troops exchanged fire at near point-blank range. Rifles barked, and machine guns roared. The entire spaceport was thrown into hellish chaos.

  Miranda, seeing that Director Shelly was okay, rolled and sprang to her feet. She drew her sword as Bloodstone rushed toward her. The short man screamed a battle cry as he took his first swipe at her. Miranda was barely able to parry it. Their blades met, and sparks flew from where they struck each other. Bloodstone brought his other sword around at her waist. Miranda dodged its blade, retreating several steps. There was bloodlust and madness in the swordsman’s eyes, and Miranda knew there would be no escaping him without seeing the fight he had started through to its end.

  The only advantage she had was her armor. Bloodstone was far and away the superior swordsman, though it pained Miranda to admit it. She braced herself as he came at her again, twirling his swords in his hands, end over end, by their hilts. A feral grin parted Bloodstone’s lips as he sprang at her. Miranda surprised him by going on the offensive. She met his charge and leaped forward to swing her sword at his face. Even taken off guard, Bloodstone didn’t miss a beat. He blocked her blow with one sword, while thrusting the blade of his other straight at her stomach.

  Miranda twisted her body, but the sword’s blade still made contact, although it glanced because of the angle. Her leg lashed out at the short swordsman, slamming into the center of his chest before he could right himself. Bloodstone grunted as her blow sent him stumbling backward. Miranda dove at him, sweeping her sword through the air in a mighty arc. Both of Bloodstone’s blades met in an X that stopped it from cleaving his head from his shoulders.

  Out of the corner of her eye, Miranda saw Bear Wiggins rise up from where he had taken cover. The big hunter roared like an animal, drawing his spears. He shook them violently above his head. Miranda knew she couldn’t survive taking on both Bloodstone and Bear together at once. Thankfully, she didn’t have to. She heard the crack of a sniper rifle. A high-powered round smashed into Bear, scarring the chest plate of his armor and sending him toppling over to land on his back, with a loud thud that rang out across the area.

  Miranda made a mental note to give Joe a raise if she lived through the next few minutes. Bloodstone didn’t need Bear’s help to be a deadly threat. His swords scraped each other as he slid them apart, flipped them in his hands, and came at her with a double slashing motion. Miranda somersaulted head over heels to land a few feet back from where the swordsman’s blade cut empty air. She rose up in a defensive stance, winking at Bloodstone. Her flippant attitude ticked him off even more than he already was.

  More of Director Shelley’s security forces poured onto the open field of the spaceport. All the Earth Gov troops were either dead or wounded too badly to continue the fight, but Bear Wiggins’ crew were still very much in it. They continued to slaughter Shelley’s guards as they arrived. Bear’s crew had spread out around The Brute, taking cover where they could, and were entirely occupied with holding their positions. They had the better weapons and training, but Shelley’s security forces outnumbered them four to one.

  The sniper rifle cracked again, and one of Bear’s hunters collapsed with a gaping hole in his back.

  “Somebody take out that fragging sniper!” Bear roared, up again from where he had fallen and back in the fight. He threw a spear that tore through one of Shelley’s guards, ending the man’s life instantly as its tip pierced his heart.

  Miranda didn’t have time to see anything else because Bloodstone charged her. He feinted with his right sword, and Miranda fell for it, parrying its strike, as the blade of his left sword struck her leg. The blade sank into the armor, cutting just deep enough to reach the flesh underneath it. Miranda yelped at the pain and staggered sideways as Bloodstone pressed his attack.

  Lee appeared out of nowhere with a double-barreled shotgun aimed at the swordsman. The weapon thundered as both of its barrels flashed. The dual blast at such close range splattered the upper half of Bloodstone’s body in every direction. Bloodstone’s lower half fell forward to lay twitching on the ground in front of the old man.

  “You can thank me later, kid,” Lee growled at her. “We’ve still got Wiggins to deal with.”

  Bear Wiggins raised an armored hand in the direction of the guard he had slain, and the spear jerked itself free of the guard’s corpse and flew into his hand. Holding both of his spears like swords, Bear whirled about on the two of them.

  “You bastards!” Bear Wiggins shouted. “Do you know how hard it’s going to be replace him?”

  “Stand down, Mr. Wiggins!” Director Shelley shouted from behind him. Several of her guards were gathered about her, their weapons aimed at the big hunter.

  Bear Wiggins looked around at the Director and her guards. He saw that most of the troops who had accompanied him were out of action, one way or another. Only his crew were holding on, and even as he watched, a second fell
to sniper fire. He took a step toward Miranda and bellowed, “I invoke the Combat of the Wolf!”

  Director Shelley had no idea what the big man had yelled, but Miranda did. During the peak of his fame, Claus Wulf had been a leader among monster hunters in the fringes. There were constant disputes among hunters that usually led to entire crews being wiped out in order to settle them. Claus Wulf had proposed having a duel between two crews’ leaders as a means to resolve such disputes without the usual costly loss of life of trained hunters. His idea had been accepted by the other hunters, and now anytime two crews found themselves at odds, the Combat of the Wolf could be invoked.

  “He’s issued me a challenge, Director Shelley,” Miranda said. “One that I must accept. I ask that you and your people be the ones to stand down to allow Bear and I to conclude our business with each other.”

  “What?” Director Shelley blurted out. “The man is surrounded, Miranda. There’s no need for you to fight him.”

  “Yes, there is,” Miranda told her. “It’s a matter of honor.”

  “I won’t allow it!” Director Shelley barked.

  Lee turned the reloaded barrels of his shotgun on her and her men. “You will, or you’ll be facing two monster hunter crews, and not just what’s left of Bear’s.”

  The old man’s threat stunned Shelley. She grunted as if someone had punched her in the stomach.

  “You hear me?” Lee asked her.

  “If your boss wants to get herself killed,” Director Shelley started, but the old man finished for her.

  “Then it’s her business, and you’ll stay out of it,” Lee warned her again.

  “Do you accept my challenge?” Bear growled at Miranda.

  “I do,” she answered.

  Everyone else backed away, giving the two hunters room to have it out.

  “Ready when you are!” Miranda taunted the big hunter.

  “Rrrraaa!” Bear flicked his spears, and large blades sprouted from them as they become battle axes. Miranda didn’t wait for the big hunter to come to her. She went straight at him, sprinting across the distance between them. Bear swung an axe to meet her as she came, but Miranda dropped, sliding under its blade as it slashed over her. The blade of her sword lashed out as she passed Bear, raking across the armor of his right leg. Sparks flew where the blade made contact, but the big hunter’s armor was too thick for it cut through.