Mai and her people huddled together in the lee of a tree. They were roughly three hundred paces from the farm, and on the edge of the cotton fields. Jock had sent a drone into the air and they were all watching the drone’s relay.

“Main farm house is four hundred paces to our North. North-East are five sheds, to the North-West is where they keep farm machinery. Then to the South of the main complex is a water tower or something like that,” Jock highlighted the buildings as he spoke, populating their minimaps.

“Looks like three buildings to the East of the compound are where the workers live and sleep. Small building next to them houses the harvesting drones,” Hind pointed at the buildings, waving his finger at the three buildings as people moved in and out of the buildings.

“Think we can just walk up and buy the material?” Mai looked over at Dakota.

“Not a chance. This farm’s under the control of the Beer Chuggers. Bunch of thugs. Most likely the people on the farm aren’t working for them willingly,” Dakota indicated a couple of clearly armed gangers. “There’s more here. Another there. Looks like one on the tower too.”

“Six guards minimum,” Jock scratched his chin. “Doesn’t seem fair, they need more.”

Bleeping, the drone’s battery indicator warned them that it was low. Shortly after that the feed went blank.

“We won’t waste bio-mass on another drone. Six guards marked. We know where they are, they don’t know we’re even coming. If we take them first, we can deal with any others we might encounter,” Mai sketched a plan of attack as she spoke, indicating which of her people she wanted to go where.

“Tower guard has to be the priority. If I were them I’d have them armed with a sniper rifle or a machine gun,” Hind said. “I can drop them from roughly one hundred paces to our right.”

Mai pursed her lips. Having one of her people so far from the others was a risk. Hind would be on his own and if there was any trouble at his end, they’d be hard pressed to get to him quickly.

“Okay, move off now. Click when you’re ready to take the shot. Fire when you get two clicks back.”

Hind nodded and made to move towards his firing position.

“Looking at it, we can hook around and approach the worker’s barracks, see if we can speak to someone there. Then make our move as soon as Hind has taken his shot. We’ll sweep through the rest of the compound, hopefully some of the workers will help. Especially once we’ve given them a taste of bio-mass,” Mai shook a bottle for emphasis. “Let’s move now.”

*

“We’re in position now, Hind. Click when ready to take the shot, going to speak to what I hope is a friendly local.”

She’d marked the local in question, an old man who seemed to be content to just sit on a bench and watch over the other workers. Out of all of them, he looked like the least able to run away, the least able to fight, and most approachable. He was also well-positioned out of sight of the guards they’d marked on their minimaps.

Hind clicked.

Mai gestured to her people to stay where they were. Too close for words, she didn’t want to spook the workers. Moving slowly, she made her way through the cotton, keeping low so that she could be as close as possible before exposing herself.

Much as it went against her natural instincts, she’d absorbed her weapons. Totally unarmed except for her culling knife, she hoped that she wouldn’t be seen as a threat. Not until she needed to be that was.

Ten paces out, she froze as the old man looked directly at her. She cursed, thinking that the cotton was hiding her.

Old man’s got eyes like a hawk. Or ears like a cat.

“Help you, miss?”

Mai sighed, and stood up. Approached the man with her hands open and held wide.

“Just looking for some information,” Mai kept her voice low as she closed the distance. “How many guards are there?”

“Guessing you mapped the six in the open?” He narrowed his eyes at her. She had the distinct feeling he was five steps ahead of her. Not just her but everyone else.

“We did. Any more?”

“Plenty, they work in shifts. Like us. Three shifts a day, eighteen guards. The rest are all in the main building. This time of day, both shifts will be sleeping. That or relaxing.”

His mouth twisted as he said that last. Mai didn’t press for details.

“Take it you aren’t fond of these people?” she asked, head scanning for possible threats.

“If they were on fire, I’d try to put the flames out with gasoline,” he spat onto the floor. “Are you after something else?”

“Cotton. Need them for some clothing. Shop called ‘Bob’s your armourer’.”

“Know it,” he nodded. “Bob’s a nice guy. Tell you what. Kill the guards, you can take what you need. We won’t shed any tears for the bastards.”

FREE THE WORKERS

DO YOU ACCEPT YES/NO?

Mai smiled as she pressed YES. This was one mission she was more than happy to accept. Turning to face the field, she called her people out.

“Reckon your people will fight alongside us?”

“We ain’t fighters. No bio-mass either, just enough to let us form our tools. This is your mission. We’ll be happy to keep supplying you in the future though. Fifty per cent discount.”

Mai’s people joined them.

“Your best bet is take the two walking the worker’s barrack’s first, as well as the one in the tower, move across into the main barracks, and take out the bastards there. Your man should be able to take out the others as they come to reinforce. If he’s where I think he is, he’ll have eyes on the front entrance.”

Mai quickly commed Hind and asked him to confirm what the old man was saying. Hind affirmed it was correct. He had a clear shot to the front door as well as the tower.

“Weapons up,” Mai formed her SMG, gritting her teeth against the pain, deciding to accept it rather than activate ENDURE PAIN before she needed to. Seeing that the others were ready, she sent a double click to Hind, then stepped around the building. From her minimap she knew exactly where the two guards by the worker’s barracks were. Their mouths barely had time to open in surprised O’s before she dropped them, her suppressed machine blasting them to pieces.

As the workers scattered, surprisingly calmly, Mai led the charge across the compound. Shouldering the door open, she turned left whilst Jock went right. Faced with another door, she opened it and stepped through. Four guards were sitting around a table playing cards, food and drink piled high. Opening fire, she raked the group sending blood, glass, and food into the air as she cut them down. Releasing her trigger she checked them for signs of life. One was snoring horribly, so she put a bullet in each of their heads to make sure.

There was only one way in and out of the room, so she went back to the hall. Jock greeted her with a raised hand, two fingers extended.

Six down. Six more to go. Dakota appeared from further down the hallway, shaking her head. Dammit, we’re going to have to go up.

Mai took the lead once more, placing her feet gently on the stairs. Moving carefully, her feet placed on the outskirts of each step where they were least likely to creak, she made her way up.

The room at the top of the stairs had been converted into an open plan dormitory. Six men and women lay in beds, sleeping. Signalling to the others, Mai spread them out, gave a countdown with her fingers, and then opened fire. Every one of the gangers died before they even knew what was happening.

“Engaging,” came Hind’s voice. There was a shout of alarm, cut suddenly short. “Two down.”

“One left to go,” Dakota grimly surveyed the bloody scene before them. “Best find them, that shout will have been heard.”

As the others sprinted back down the stairs, Mai took one last look at their handiwork. From what she’d been able to tell, the gangers had well and truly taken advantage of their power over the workers, but she still felt dirty, as if there was a stain on her soul that she’d never been able to get rid of.

One thing’s for sure, I’ll never be able to forget the smell of blood. It was everywhere, the heavy iron smell hanging so thick that she was surprised she couldn’t see it. Her tongue felt coated in the stench.

“Mai you coming?” commed Dakota.

“On your six, just checking they’re dead,” Mai turned and went down the stairs. “Hind, you got eyes on the last one?”

“If I did, they’d be dead. Nothing boss.”

Leaving the building, Mai signalled to Dakota, Chan and Jock to head clockwise around the main building whilst she went anti-clockwise. Looking at one of the workers sheltering behind a harvester drone, she raised her eyebrows in an unspoken question.

Pointing at the far corner, the woman held up a finger, then ducked back down into cover.

“Enemy at the corner of the building, marking,” Mai whispered as she marked the location on the minimap. “Dakota, Jock, Chan, push around the back of the building as quickly as you can. I’m going to move up. Let me know when you’re at the opposite corner, and I’ll distract them.”

“Be careful, Mai,” Dakota warned.

Don’t have to tell me twice, thought Mai as she activated her STEALTH and approached the corner where the enemy ganger was hiding. Crouching, she moved slightly away from the building, so that it would only take a couple of steps to bring whoever was hiding there into view.

“At the corner,” Dakota’s voice was tense. Whereas they’d had the element of surprise with the previous attack, their target knew they were coming.

“On my count, red, red, red, green,” Mai moved as she spoke, stepping further away from the building and angling so that her weapon could be brought to bear on the guard quickly.

A body tumbled forward, surprising her, her own weapon spitting bullets into the already dead guard as she lay on the ground.

“Had her back to us,” Dakota stepped around into Mai’s sight. “Too easy.”

FREE THE WORKERS COMPLETED

TITLE GAINED – SMALL HOLDER

“Let’s get the damned cotton loaded up onto that ground car, there’s no way we can carry it back,” Mai pointed at the ground car in question, it was beefy, a six-wheel drive which looked more than capable of holding a roll of cotton cloth. “Hind, move in. We’re done here.”

Mai looked around at the celebrating workers. Smiling faces greeted her every way she turned, hands slapping her on the back.

Looks like I own a farm now.

And then she sighed, the gangers would be back, so she’d have to send her own people to guard the farm. Shrugging, she set about organising the trip back. One thing at a time.