The Adventures of Whirlwind

Warfare in the Thirtieth Century

Episode 2

The Mercenary

Chapter 3 The Pursuit

Both Kamis turned their massive armament on the Aello’s Ocelot. Her diversion had worked, her friends were escaping, but now the attention of their pursuers was on her, and she had only a split second to find her way out of her predicament.

Her fingers flew over the controls; she hit the brakes, tilting the Ocelot forward at an alarming angle. Then she punched the jump jets. The Ocelot accelerated forward only a few feet off the ground and directly beneath the legs of the nearest Kami. All around her the fire of her enemy exploded, but none of the deadly bursts of energy struck home, and then she was away, breaking through to the other side and rocketing away from the stunned enemy.

Aello shut down the rockets and pushed the throttle open wide. Her mech hit the ground running. In a few seconds she would be out of range of the enemy vehicles.

WHHOOMP! A burst of energy struck the ground just in front of her, blasting fragments of molten rock in all directions. Her eyes flashed over her instrument panel. “Those things are incredible,” she murmured. Her tactic should have taken her well out of the range of her adversaries, but instead they were right behind her. A few more seconds and they would figure out the range.

Just off to one side was a narrow canyon. Turning hard, Aello darted into it and then ran as fast as she dared. In the tight confines of the canyon, she had to twist and turn to avoid slamming into huge boulders that had fallen from the canyon rim. That slowed her escape, but she reckoned that it would also slow the Kamis’ pursuit.

He maneuver was partly successful, however, the canyon ran the wrong way. It was taking her farther and farther away from the rendezvous point and the two Kamis were still only a few hundred metres behind her. She would have to think of something else quickly, or she would find herself cut off and hemmed in by enemy forces.

As she jumped the Ocelot over a particularly large boulder she had another flash of inspiration. Acting immediately on the thought, she hit the jump jets and propelled her vehicle to the top of the canyon wall. Turning the Ocelot in mid air she reversed her direction and raced back along the canyon rim. Below her the two Kamis had stopped their pursuit, no doubt realizing that their quarry was no longer on the same elevation as they were.

As Aello had surmised, the canyon rim was highly fractured along almost its entire length. All it would need was a little bit of help to send tons of rock crashing into the fissure below. Aello supplied that help. She opened up on the opposite rim with everything her light mech had. Chunks of rock flew into the air under the bombardment, but more importantly, great chunks of rock crashed into the canyon. The two Kamis were helpless as thousands of tons of rock crashed down on top of them.

Triumphant, Aello stopped her vehicle over the huge cloud of dust that had been thrown up by the landslide. She could not resist a glance down into the canyon in an attempt to spot her defeated foe.

WHAM! An explosion staggered her Ocelot. Where had that come from? With a sudden flash she realized that she had been hit by an anti-tank rocket. She had committed the cardinal sin of exposing her mech in enemy territory.

Her eyes scanned her instrument panel. A number of blue dots were closing in on her. The rocket had probably come from one of them. She put her Ocelot into reverse, intending to move it away from the rim of the canyon and get it as far away from the enemy as possible, but nothing happened. Instead the Ocelot tilted dangerously and then crashed down on its side.

“Oh oh!” This was trouble. She could fire her jump jets and hope that they would take her in the right direction, but that was risky. She was surrounded by large chunks of rock and the jets might direct her into one of them. She popped the hatch, grabbed her fusion rifle, and dropped to the ground. She had no plan of escape, she simply knew that to stay near her downed vehicle was to invite capture. The enemy troops would probably be closing in fast.

Quickly she moved among the rocks, keeping her body in a crouch. It was well that she did; a flash of energy struck just over her head. Aello dropped to the ground and rolled behind a number of small boulders. Raising her rifle she prepared to fight off her attackers.

Sergeant Amane Chiba signaled to his men. Their quarry had gone to ground, but there was no place that the mech pilot could escape to. It was just a matter of getting into position and then putting him out of the way.

Using hand signals, Chiba moved his men into position. They had helmet radios, but those were sometimes just as useful to the enemy as they were to them. He crept slowly forward. His squad was now approaching from all sides. There was no way that the enemy pilot could defend against all of them.

Moving around a large boulder, his quarry came into sight. He raised his rifle to fire and then paused. Although the enemy pilot was clad in a bulky mech pilot’s suit, it was obvious that she was a woman, and apparently a mighty shapely woman at that. He held his fire. “OK boys, take it easy. We want to take this one alive.”

He got an affirmative on his order from his squad. They would not shoot to kill unless their lives were endangered.

Aello knew that she was trapped. There was no way that she could get away. The best she could hope for was to either die fighting or be taken prisoner. After her last experience of being captured she was not so sure that she did not prefer death.

BBZZZZT! A fusion bolt exploded just over her head. She could hardly move without showing herself, and the enemy clearly knew where she was.

Thump! A small object landed only two feet from her. A grenade! She stabbed at it with her outstretched arm, trying to knock it a safe distance away, but it only rolled a foot.

BANG! The grenade exploded with a deafening blast and a blinding flash. Aello was stunned, but not dead. She realized as someone tore her fusion rifle from her gasp, that the grenade had only been intended to stun, not kill. Then she was seized by several pairs of hands and dragged from her hiding place.

She did not go down without a fight. Since her capture and rape several months ago, she had upgraded her martial arts skills, training more than two hours a day. She was now a very proficient fighter, but she was still no match for the toughened soldiers who lay hold of her. Sheer strength of numbers overwhelmed her. Her legs and arms were immobilized, and then to her horror and chagrin, the soldiers began to remove her pilot’s suit and the clothes underneath it.

She redoubled her efforts to escape, but she was too strongly held. By now her boots had been removed and her pilot’s suit had been unzipped and pulled off her arms and torso. Underneath, her tight fitting shirt and slacks could not disguise the exquisite beauty of her body. Slowly her legs were spread apart. It was obvious that she was going to be gang raped.

Sergeant Chiba settled himself between the struggling woman’s legs. He was going to be first as befitted his rank.

“Oh yes,” said Chiba as he unzipped Aello’s pants, “this is going to be great.”

Almost feverishly, he stripped her slacks from her body. As he pulled the slacks off her right leg, he released it for a second. Aello, however, had not given up, and she hammered her foot into his solar plexus. The force of the blow drove him straight back; the breath knocked out of his body. For several minutes all Sergeant Chiba could do was gasp helplessly while he tried to regain his breath. His men, however, thought that the spectacle of their sergeant laid low was incredibly funny, and roared with laughter. They had immediately laid hold of Aello’s free leg, so she was no closer to escape than before, but her resistance had bought her a few minutes respite.

Chiba slowly got to his feet. He was quite red in the face, both from having the wind knocked out of him, and from rage and humiliation. “Goddamned bitch!” he exclaimed. “She wants to play tough. Well, I can play tough.”

By now Chiba’s men had finished stripping off Aello’s few remaining garments. Her awe-inspiring body was revealed for all to see, and her continued struggles soon had every man in a state of arousal. They could hardly wait to have their turn with her. Chiba, however, was beyond wanting just sex; he wanted to punish the audacious female who had shamed him.

Seething with rage her ordered his men to tie Aello’s wrists in front of her. She was then hauled over to a large boulder. One of Chiba’s men got on top of the rock, and pulled her hands over her head. Her body was stretched full length; completely exposed to any attack.

Aello realized that her lucky hit on the enemy sergeant had placed her in special danger. The man was only controlling his rage with difficulty. By now Chiba had picked up a second length of rope. This was a little heavier than the one that she was bound with, about the thickness of a man’s finger. Taking out his canteen, he soaked about three feet of it in water. He swung the wet rope over his head, letting it smack against the rock next to the helpless young mercenary.

“You, know,” Chiba said, “I really hate mercenaries. “They have no loyalty to anything but themselves. And I especially hate women mercenaries. You need to be taught a lesson, and I have the time and patience to teach you one.”

Thwack! As he finished speaking he brought the length of rope down as hard as he could across Aello’s exposed torso. The damp rope cut into her flesh with brutal effect, leaving a long welt. Aello jumped in pain as the rope made contact, but to the amazement of the men gathered about her, she made no sound.

Her silence seemed to enrage Chiba. He struck again, this time putting all of his considerable strength into it, and then again.

“Uhh!” Aello grunted as her flesh was brutalized, but that was all the sound she made. Enraged still further by her resistance, Chiba flailed away mercilessly. If she would not give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream, then he would beat her to death!

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