by Lucas Marcum
Nodding, Elizabeth responded, “Yes, sir.”
With a nod, the admiral said, “Then it’s settled. You’ll be our capital area deputy commander of operations for the medical relief command when Task Force Mercy arrives on the Elai home world. Until then, you’re on the Planning and Operations Staff.” Pressing a button on the side of his desk, he continued, “Your orders and promotion paperwork will be sent to you by my staff.” Standing, he said firmly, “Dismissed, Colonel Suarez.” He turned his attention back to the piece of paper in front of him.
Elizabeth stood, saluted and replied, “Yes, sir. Thank you for the opportunity.”
He gravely returned the salute and sat down, then picked up another piece of paper, clearly dismissing her.
As she turned to go, the admiral, not looking up from his paperwork, said, “Oh, Colonel, one more thing.” He looked up at her as she paused. “I expect nothing short of excellence from myself and my staff. The incident from last week in Louie’s Bar and Grill is not to be repeated. Are we clear?”
Feeling her cheeks flush, Elizabeth responded, “Yes, sir. It won’t happen again.”
His piercing eyes now locked on hers, he responded, “Good. I’m counting on you, Colonel. Don’t let me down. Dismissed.” He returned his attention to his paperwork.
With a nod, Elizabeth walked out of the room and, meeting Mrs. Lang, allowed herself to be lead to the aircar, somewhat stunned at the outcome of the meeting.
Back in his office, Admiral Ozawa watched the aircar leave with his hands folded behind his back. Mrs. Lang came into the room. After a moment, she said, “She’s a lot like Domingo. More than she probably knows.”
With a half-smile, Ozawa shook his head. “Yes. Yes, she is.”
****
Huxley Crater Hotel, Hellas Basin, Mars
August 30, 2248
“Lieutenant Colonel? Staff at the G3? God-Empress of the Elai home world? Holy shit, that’s amazing!” Elise pointed at Elizabeth and declared, “Drinks, you and me. My treat. Let’s go!”
Sighing, Elizabeth shook her head. “Elise, I really can’t. I got in huge trouble last time I went out. I’m sure you remember that little incident?”
Waving her hand, Elise scoffed, “Oh, you’ll be fine. We’ll drink in moderation. Plus this time I’ll be with you the whole time. I won’t let you get in trouble.”
Shaking her head firmly, Elizabeth replied, “Nope. Moderation? You? Come on. Your record of keeping me out of trouble isn’t exactly stellar. The last time you said that, you got us into a shot contest with those guys from the 335th Aeromedical Squadron.”
Grinning unrepentantly, Elise nodded. “Yes, I did, and we would have won too, if that skinny ass captain of theirs wasn’t a closet alcoholic with a supernatural liver.” She paused, then asked, “Come on, Liz. I’m heading outsystem in a couple days. Let’s go get a quiet dinner someplace to celebrate. We might not have the chance for a long time.”
Rolling her eyes, Elizabeth sighed and responded, “Fine. But we’ve got to eat first.”
Thirty minutes later Liz and Elise’s taxi pulled up in a narrow, dusty street in Old Hellas City. The buildings were all from before the domes went up, with thick walls and airlocks, and from a mishmash of decades and nations of origin. Looking out the window, Liz saw a large, round door with a hot pink neon sign over it, the color lighting up the dingy street. It read ‘CHESTY’S’ and flashed on and off. The sign itself flickered, intermittently dimming and brightening.
Elizabeth regarded the door and said, “Nope. Uh-uh. No way am I going in there, let alone to eat.”
Already climbing out of the taxi, Elise just waved dismissively. “Oh, it’ll be fine. Live a little, Liz. Plus, the reviews say they have the best burgers in the southern hemisphere. Let’s go.” She stepped away from the taxi, leaving Elizabeth sitting inside, looking out apprehensively.
After a moment, she sighed. “God dammit.” Climbing out, she tapped the key that released the autotaxi, which slid silently away. Stepping up next to Elise, she muttered, “If this is a strip club, I’m going to kill you.” Elise just grinned and reached for the door handle. Entering the bar, the two women looked around. A sign on the counter near the door said in glowing paint, ‘Seat Yourself and Mind Your Manners’.
A woman with bleached blonde and pink hair and a low-cut top was working behind the bar. She nodded to them and called out brassily, “Have a seat, ladies. I’ll be right over!”
Taking an empty table toward the middle of the room, Elizabeth looked around, finding it less disreputable than she’d thought. The bar was dimly lit, with pools of light over the tables and various paintings on the walls of old battles, wet Navy sailing ships, and battered tables and comfortable chairs. Old music with a hard beat was playing from a battered entertainment console pushed against a wall. A group of five young men with close-cropped hair and garishly bright clothing were drinking and talking loudly off to one side. At the bar sat several other patrons, mostly men, dressed in rough civilian clothing. Singles and couples were scattered at tables throughout the dim room. Behind the bar there was a large portrait of a man in a very old Marine uniform, with an amused look on his face and a gold plaque underneath that read ‘Lewis Burwell Puller’. Elizabeth looked at Elise, who was smiling, reading the menu, and tapping her foot to the beat, clearly enjoying herself. Elizabeth sighed and picked up the menu as the woman came up to them.
“Ladies, welcome to Chesty’s. I’m Roxy. What can I get you?” The woman was in her late forties, with the wrinkles and deep tan people got from living under the older domes. She had a sparkle in her eyes and a casual, confident manner that Elizabeth found strangely charming.
Elise looked up. “Local beer and house burgers ok with you, Liz?”
With a smile and a nod, Elizabeth handed the menu to the woman, who nodded cheerfully and replied, “I’ll be right back with your drinks.”
As the short woman disappeared, Elise announced, “I’m starving, and those burgers smell delicious.” Elizabeth had to agree; the smells coming from the kitchen were making her stomach rumble. Over in the corner the group of young men held up shot glasses, shouted “SPACEBORNE!” and tossed the shots back, then cheered and pounded the table.
Elizabeth and Elise watched them for a moment, then Elise said, “Damn. They’re so young.” Elizabeth nodded again silently and watched the young men ordering another round.
Roxy came past and deftly dropped their pint glasses off, disappearing again with a friendly smile. As she walked off, one of the young men, clearly intoxicated, stood up and made his way unsteadily past where Elizabeth and Elise sat. As he passed their table, he paused and looked at Liz with a puzzled expression on his face, then disappeared into the bathroom.
Taking a sip and smacking her lips in a satisfied manner, Elise said, “Ok, this place isn’t so bad, now is it?”
Setting her glass down, Elizabeth nodded sheepishly. “I guess not. It’s way better inside.”
Leaning forward and folding her arms on the table, Elise looked at her friend for a moment, then said, “Ok. So what are you actually going to be doing in this admiral’s group?”
With a slight grin Elizabeth replied, “Well, supposedly we’re planning for the peace after the war. It feels like we’re planning the occupation and rebuilding.”
Impressed, Elise leaned back. “Wow. That’s…Wow. Hell of a job. How do you even start? I mean, it’s not like you can really draw on wars and stuff from the past, right?’
Taking another drink, Elizabeth responded with a smile, “Weirdly enough, there are more similarities than you might think. They need to eat and sleep and have shelter. They need their local governments to continue to function. They need public health and works to function. All the stuff we’d need, they’ll need too.” She paused, then added reflectively, “Of course, that’s all in the context of the fact that they’re a completely alien species we know next to nothing about.”
Elise nodded thoughtful
ly. “Didn’t we get a bunch of prisoners on Paradise? Didn’t we learn from them?”
Nodding, the younger woman responded, “Yeah, and we did. For example, we know they’re a matrilineal, clan-based society. The main genetic lines are female dominant, and the clan leaders are all female.” She took a sip of her beer and added, “They also have a crazy complicated system of inter-clan conflict. It’s based off of which clan is stronger, and when one proves its dominance, the other sort of just submits and joins the stronger clan like nothing ever happened. The scientists think it’s got something to do with preventing devastating wars. We don’t really understand it, and most of it is just educated guesses by the science guys.”
Considering this for a moment, Elise asked, “So how does that help us? In dealing with them?”
Shrugging, Elizabeth took another drink and answered, “I have no idea, and the science dorks have no idea either. No one does!”
With a grin, Elise added mischievously, “So we know a ton but understand nothing. Typical government operation! Well, it sounds like a hell of a job. Glad it’s you and not me, sister. I’ll stick to flying!” She took a deep drink of her beer and grinned.
Elizabeth laughed and nodded. “Yeah. Going to be different, that’s for sure!”
As they talked, the drunk soldier re-emerged from the bathroom and headed back toward his friends in the corner, but again paused by the table. After a moment, Elise gave him an icy look and demanded, “Can I help you?”
The young man shook his head, looking at Elizabeth, who leaned back in distaste. After a moment, he said, “I think I know you.”
Shooting a glance at Elise, Elizabeth replied, “I promise you, you don’t.”
Looking closer at her, he said again, “No. No, I know you. How do I know you?”
With a hard glare, Elise leaned forward, “Listen, dipstick. She said she didn’t know you, so she doesn’t. Now take a hike before I get pissed off.”
The young man pulled out the chair across from them and sat down, leaning his folded arms on the table, still staring at Elizabeth. He tilted his head to the side and didn’t speak.
Elizabeth could hear one of his friends asking “Hey, where’s Mike? Oh, shit.” Chairs scraped as two of the other men stood up to come retrieve their friend.
As they did, the young man snapped his fingers, and smiled, “You’re her. You were there!” He turned to his approaching friends, grinned broadly and said, “Guys, it’s her! The one I told you about! See, I TOLD you she was real!” Two other young men—one a stocky man with dark hair and eyes, and the other a skinny redhead—approached, and each took an arm of the man sitting at the table.
The stocky man said, “Come on, Mike. Time to call it a night.” Turning to Elizabeth he said, “Sorry about that, ma’am. He thinks everyone is his friend when he’s drunk.” Turning back to his friend, he said again, “Come on, man. Let’s let these ladies eat.”
The young man shrugged out of his grip and turned to the stocky man. “Angelo, dude. It’s HER. The one who saved me. The angel.”
Elizabeth looked at Angelo, who shrugged apologetically and explained, “He was hit on Desolation during our first drop with the Seventeenth. He swears a woman in power armor appeared out of nowhere, killed a bunch of Elai with a pistol, then patched his wounds and saved his life. He calls her ‘The Angel of Desolation’.” He shrugged again and continued, “He’s been talking about as long as I’ve been in his unit, mostly when he’s shitfaced.”
The drunk young man shook his head, shrugged his friends’ hand off and said, “No, man. It happened, and it’s HER.” He leaned close and stared into Elizabeth’s eyes for a moment, then said directly to her, “I remember. You patched me up, gave me a shot of something, and then touched my shoulder, and said, ‘Hang in there, kid.’ I asked you if I was going to die, and if the Valkyries were coming. You told me that you were already here, and Valkyries never die, and neither do those they come for.” He stopped for a moment, then continued, his voice sounding almost sober, “I remember that because then something happened, I fell on the ground, and then I looked up and the light was shining from behind you, outlining your head like a halo, and your pistol was spitting fire.” He fell silent. He looked around, then back at her face. “You looked like an angel spreading the vengeance of the gods.”
Elizabeth stared back at the man, her eyes wide, biting her lower lip. Elise watched silently.
The skinny man with red hair was also staring at Elizabeth. Suddenly he said, “It was you. I remember you now. You got a silver star with a starburst cluster from General Terell afterward. I remember you guys helped us when the sharkie armor hit us. You were in the aid station, and your partner, the short guy, was out on the line.” He patted the back of Mike’s head, “Well, man, here she is. Sorry we doubted you, buddy. You remember your speech?” To Elizabeth, he added, “He’s had a thank you speech prepared for ages. We hear it every time we go out.”
The young man suddenly said, “I do have a speech, but I don’t ‘member it, but look at this.” He fumbled in his wallet for a moment, then gently placed a battered picture in front of Elizabeth and Elise gently. It was a picture of a beaming little girl in a t-shirt and a pink tutu. She held a stuffed duck under one arm and she was wearing a pair of bright green rubber boots. He said softly, “That’s my baby. Her name is Svetlana. She turned five last week. If it hadn’t been for you, she wouldn’t have a daddy.” Tucking the picture carefully back in his wallet, he stood, swaying gently, and said in a solemn voice, “Ma’am, thank you.”
Elizabeth looked down at the table and then cleared her voice, and said with a cracking voice, “You’re welcome. I’m glad I could…”
One of the men from the bar appeared suddenly at the side of the table. He was tall and dressed in rough clothing, with a hard face. He said to Elizabeth and Elise, “These guys bothering you?”
The redheaded soldier turned to the man and said, “Take a hike, pal. We’re just talking.”
The big man looked at Elizabeth and Elise and said to the young soldier, “Seems like you were doing all the talking. Maybe you and your friends oughta go sit down.”
Angelo spoke up, squaring up to the man, “And maybe you oughta mind your own fucking business, roughneck.”
Turning to look directly into the face of the much shorter soldier, the big man said again, “How about I…” He stopped and looked at his shoulder. Resting on it was a wooden stunbat with silver contact rings embedded into the wood. At the other end of the bat stood Roxy with a serious look on her face.
She said in a matter-of-fact voice, “Gus, sit your drunk ass down, or I’ll tap you.” The big man looked at Elizabeth, then at the bat, then at back Angelo, his face darkening. He opened his mouth to speak. Roxy cut him off. “You wanna get zapped again? Say what you’re gonna say. Go ahead. I dare you.” The whole bar was quiet for a moment, the only sounds from the ancient jukebox and clinking from the kitchen. The big man glared at the soldiers and then turned to go back to his seat. Over his shoulder he shot a dark look at the three Spaceborne, then went to the far end of the bar.
Lowering the stunbat, Roxy gave a stern look to the three young soldiers, then said, “You three, scram. Get back to your buddies and stop dropping peanut shells on the floor, or you’ll be next.”
Nodding, Angelo and the skinny soldier helped Mike up. As they did, Mikey said to Elizabeth, “Ma’am. You’re the best. An angel. I owe you. My daughter owes you. We all owe you.”
Elizabeth smiled at the earnest tone in his voice, and replied, “Glad I was able to help, Michael. It was good to meet you.”
The young man nodded and said solemnly, “You guys are heroes. I’m here because of you. I hold my baby and my wife because of you. I will never forget you. WE will never forget you.” He paused, nodded solemnly, and stood. He gestured to his friends, then abruptly turned and made his way unsteadily back to the table, propped up by his fellow Spaceborne, with the two men gently speaking to hi
m as he wiped his eyes. As they walked away, Elizabeth wiped the corner of her eye, and blinked to try to clear the tears.
Roxy watched the three young men rejoin their table, and turned to Liz and Elise with a sigh, “Sorry, ladies. Gus is a good guy, but he’s been a real bear since his wife passed, and with the mines closing, he’s out of work a lot. He gets to drinking and tries to pick fights, usually with much younger men in way better shape than him. I try to stop him when I can so he doesn’t get his ass whipped.” She regarded the two women for a moment, then said, “Those guys for real about you two being a Valkyrie crew?” Elizabeth nodded silently. Roxy continued, “You were on Desolation? Me, too. I was a mech maintenance specialist with the 101st. We got nailed pretty hard, but not as bad as you guys.” She paused, then continued, “I ended up getting out after, met my husband Chuey, and I’ve been helping him run this joint ever since.”
Elise replied in an unusually subdued tone, “Yeah, we were there. Liz here is a nurse. I’m a pilot.”
Roxy nodded, her eyes wandering back to the young men in the corner. After a moment she said, “You know, a lot of them aren’t coming back. The ones who do are different. They know it. We know it. Even that old shithead Gus knows it. I try to let them have fun and blow off steam, have a few beers and a good burger, ‘cause you never know. You know?”
Elise replied quietly, “No. You don’t.”
Suddenly the short blonde woman turned to them and said briskly, “Dinner’s on the house tonight, ladies. Call it a thanks from us here at home. You guys go out and do what you can to bring ‘em home.”
-25-
“Task Force Mercy”
Headquarters of the United Earth Alliance Navy
Hellas Basin, Mars
September 5, 2248
Elizabeth pushed her keyboard away and rubbed her eyes. Yawning, she checked the time and sighed. It was past twenty-one hundred hours again. She’d wanted to leave at a more reasonable time, but the workload was never ending. Admiral Saunderson wasn’t a bad guy to work for, but he had a timetable to meet, and he demanded results. When she’d arrived, he’d congratulated her on her promotion and promptly put her to work, in charge of a team analyzing the potential medical and nutritional needs of the Elai home world. With a grimace, she pulled her keyboard back and stared at the document. There were two columns, both blank, and at the top were two descriptors. The first column read ‘Intact Infrastructure’; the other read ‘Damaged/destroyed/failed infrastructure’. Leaning back from the keyboard again, her mind wandered back to the conversation when she’d been given the job.
