Chapter Sixteen: To Beat a Hasty Retreat

Looking upon the ruins of the spaceship, Jonathan did not even recognize it. It was a chared husk that was torn and dented. Looking at it, he did not understand how anybody had lived, let alone fully half of the people onboard. The ship had been torn asunder, there were two large pieces and various scattered remains. It seemed impossible that there could be any hope of salvaging anything.
"Got it!" a voice shouted from inside. "Pull me out!" It was the young girl Jonathan had seen earlier. She had a small frame and had managed to snake her way into a tight spot and find one of the data moduals. She was covered in carbon, her face and hands streaked with black soot, but she was smiling. She tossed the Modual to Marcelle when she saw her standing nearby. Marcelle attached a small device to the modual and studied some figures.
"Good work, Sam. The modual is good." Marcelle pressed tha transmit button on her Radio and said "Everyone not currently at the ship, rendezvous at the gate. Mission is accomplished."
Grinder's voice crackled back as they heard gunshots in the distance. "We could use all the help we can get up here as soon as possible. We have company."
All the troops at the ship immediately began running for the front entrance of the compoud. They had the advantage of superior numbers when taking the compound, but had lost a number of people.
The forces outside were large, but there was skill in the realist squad - there was also a lot of determination. The Idealists outside had no clue why the realist were realy raiding the junkyard. The realist were staring down a fast action light armoured squad of the Tapert familiy military. There were, in the beginning, twenty-two footsoldiers and three officers in the outfit. They were pined down by the Realists. At least one sniper was still out in the feild, because it looked as if two of the officers were dead. The squad was in shambles. They had probably never seen a real battle before. they were trying to lay down covering fire towards the plains, but they couldn't figure out where the sniper was.
As Jonathan mounted the wall, he saw what was happenening. The last officer was shot by one of the realist and fell to the ground.
Grinder found the base loudspeaker system and turned it on. He was up in the tower. "Gentlemen, I suggest you lay your weapons aside."
One of the soldiers from outside raised his hands in the air and lay his weapon on the roof of they vehicle, a sleek looking on eight wheels. He walked forward with his hands in the air. "I uh, I guess I'm in command of the outfit." He yelled towards the base.
"Excellent," Grinder said over the com. It was easy to see that the booming, seemingly sourceless voice was bothering the young man trying to negotiate.
"Uh, I, I beleive you've won the battle for now. I, uh, I want to, uh, ask you to spare us."
One of the other soldiers jumped up and shouted, "McTagert! We're going to get thrown out of the military!"
"Would you Rather be dead, Hampton?" The soldier negotiating shouted back. "We surrender!"
"Very good!" Grinder said over the com. "I'll ask you to place your weapons in the vehicle and for all of you to walk into the base with your hands placed firmly on the back of your heads."
The Idealist squad complied, but they acted slowly. Marcelle kept on glancing towards the horizon, as if worried about something.
"What's wrong?" Jonathan asked.
"More are going to come. We have to get out of here." She clicked on her radio. "Everyone in the troop transport, now. Move!"
All of the realist jumped at the command and moved into action. Jonathan noted that two men were carrying Buck's body. There weren't as many people going back as there should have been. People had died during the skirmish. It was just sinking in to Jonathan that these people were risking their lives for an end that was to them very nobel. All he wanted to do was go back home to Earth. It struck Jonathan as selfish to demand that he merely come along for the ride. In meeting their ends, these people would be able to help him more than anybody ever had.
He jumped in the back of the vihicle. the door remained open as it started to move out towards the plains. the Snipers in the feild were running towards it with some urgency, and people were jumping out to recover the wounded and dead from the feild.
Jonathan heard a rattle above his head. The vehicle was equiped with a large calliper machine gun turret. One of the realists was i the turret, firing at something.
"Gun it!" somebody yelled as the last person was aboard, and the vehicle immediate lurched into high gear, accelerating enough to throw the people inside back. There were no other on board weapons like the turret, but Jonathan watched as a few soldiers grabbed what looked to him like a rocket launcher and moved to the back of the vehicle. He didn't understand what was happening, and there were no windows to see out of, only slits in the armour to fire out of. A low thrumming noise accompained by a high pitched whine made Jonathan think that maybe a shuttle was following them, but he knew better than to assume as much. It was unlikely that a merey shuttle would be after them on a military world.
A wide hatch was opened at the back of the vehicle, and the two men with the Rocket launcher lined up a shot on an aircraft outside.
It was hovering along at an alarming rate. It bristled with weapons. Jonathan could see that it was far enough away that a clean shot was impossible, and the driver of their vehicle was trying to be as erratic as possible. It didn't help the gunner, but it did keep the ship outside off their back enough to keep from being utterly destroyed.
The two men with the rocket launcher had managed to afix it to the vehicle. It was now supported by the sil of the open hatch. Wind was rushing through the interior of the veihicle and Jonathan could hear nothing but the thrum of the engine and the ship behind them.
A few shots from the turret laced one of the wings of the ship, but it did not slow down. A thin veil of smoke streaked out from the front of the ship and, for a moment, all sense were overtaken by a blast of heat and white light. Jonathan noticed that he could not hear anything except for a ringing. It was a few moments before he could see a again. A large earthy crater where the ship's missile had impacted was quickly falling away from the vehicle. It had beena very near miss.
The two men at the back seemed to be arguing over something, but they could not hear each-other. Eventually one shoved the other out of the way and took aim. The shot was true, and the missle slammed into the front of the ship. The ship was engulfed in a huge ball of flame for only a second, and then immideatly dropped to the soil. It did not explode, but it did shower the surrounding area in peices as it rolled to a stop.
Jonathan could see specks on the horizen. More ships were coming. It might only be a few minutes until they arrived.
The truck stopped almost as suddenly as it had started moving. The scrapyard was long behind them. they had arrived back at the Realist base. "Everybody out, double time. Grab what you can, get the bodies first!" Marcelle shouted as she took hold of one of the injured soldiers.
One man stayed in the pilot's chair. He ahd a solmn look on his face. he was about to embark on a mission that would probably claim his life, but would save the realists. He had to drive the truck away from the base before teh Idealists arrived with re-enforcements. If the base was discovered, it would be the end of the rebellion on Vaudeveldt.
The soldiers all ran inside as the vehcile sped away. Jonathan heard somebody mutter "Godspeed" as it directed teh enemy away from the secret location of the base.