“It’s abandoned, LT,” Dutch said over comms.
“Copy. Let’s get the lay of the land then set up base camp.”
“Roger that.”
After Magnus conferred with Awen back on the ship, she stepped onto the grass-covered stones behind the shuttle and stretched her arms. “Smells good.”
“Ocean air smells familiar,” he said. “Just not sure I can get used to the purple-light thing.”
“You will. It grows on you.”
“I’ll take your word for it. Where do you want to set up base camp?”
“Well, it’s a team decision. What do you think?”
“Well, we’ll want optimum visibility of all terrain but the least amount of exposure.”
“Which means what?” Awen turned to look at the hexagon’s perimeter. “Something like that?” She pointed to a small rise behind the north side’s main body of buildings. It had several trees near the summit but seemed relatively free of obstructions. It also had a cluster of buildings that might serve as suitable housing so long as they were accessible and in relatively good repair.
“Something like that, yes.”
“Lieutenant,” came a voice in Magnus’s ear.
“Is that you, Ninety-Six?”
“It is indeed, sir. Well done…”
Awen, hearing the voice too, rolled her hand in circles, prompting Magnus to keep the bot talking.
“Auditory pattern matching can often be a challenging skill for a biologic to master,” TO-96 added.
“Got it, Ninety-Six. Did you want to contribute something to our base-camp choice?”
“Ah, yes. That is precisely why I was transmitting to you—a contribution.”
When TO-96 didn’t make any additional comment, Magnus asked, “And what is that contribution?”
“Ah, yes. After hearing your limited specifications, Azelon and I have denoted three possible locations for your base camp. You should see those in your eyes now. Of course, should you provide more data for us to consider, we could expand or contract our search results as desired.”
“Did you—” Magnus blinked several times. His bioteknia eyes flickered as data streamed down the right side, populating his vision with vector indicators, waypoints, and intercept distances. “Did you just hack my eyes?”
“Hack seems to be a fairly aggressive word, Lieutenant. I prefer to say—”
“Just call me Magnus.”
“As you wish, Magnus.”
“Keep going.”
“I prefer to say that we deduced your new eyes’ operating protocols and have expedited the transmission of valuable data in the most efficient way possible.”
“So you hacked me.”
“Hacked, sir?”
Magnus knew that if Cyril was here right now, the kid would make some smart-ass comment about code slicers ruling the galaxy. And he’d be right too. Damn brainiacs. “Never mind, Azie.” Magnus turned to Awen. “Seems we have a few possibilities to check out, but yours is top on the list.”
“Sounds good,” Awen said with a smile. “Lead the way.”
* * *
After exploring the two secondary options, Magnus and Awen ended back at the first site, the hill behind the northern end of the hexagon. It offered a good view of the ruined city as well as the oceans far below. The island’s triangular shape rose sharply out of the sea, some of its sides being sheer cliff faces instead of steep slopes. So high was their observation post that they could even see other islands on the horizon, appearing as hazy bumps in the humid air.
Magnus and Awen explored what they decided would be their new base camp, wading through knee-high grasses and stepping along ruined walls. The air would have been painfully hot were it not for the constant breeze rising up from the ocean. Magnus wondered if the climate was always this comfortable.
“I feel like this was some sort of spiritual center.” Awen was speaking off comms, calling over her shoulder at him from inside one of the main building’s doorways.
“Yeah? Why’s that?”
“It feels very austere. And the rooms are spacious with high windows.”
Magnus leaped down from a boulder he’d climbed and walked across what he thought was the town’s square. He joined her in a doorway that led to an open room. It could hold maybe thirty or forty people and seemed to have evenly spaced windows in—yet again—a hexagon pattern.
Awen walked over to one of the walls and pulled some vines from the surface. She was curious—that was for sure. Magnus wanted to warn her that the vines might be poisonous or carnivorous, but she’d acted too quickly. Where he was cautious and strategic, she seemed more intuitive and adventurous. Just the type to get herself killed on an op.
“Look,” she said, pointing to marking on the walls. “It’s some sort of decorative script.”
“Looks like squirrel scratch to me.”
“No, no, it’s not.” She moved to another wall and pulled the vines away. He was sure she would have to visit sick bay before the day was out. “Look, it’s too detailed to be meaningless. It’s saying something.”
“Whatever you say, Luma.”
Awen turned on him with a look in her eyes reminiscent of a boot-camp drill instructor. “Don’t call me that, please.”
Magnus froze. Splick, now what’d you do, Adonis? “What’d I say?”
“Don’t call me Luma.”
“But… isn’t that—”
“No, it’s not what I am. Not anymore at least. And maybe not ever again.” She returned to the wall and let the vines fall back into place. “Just don’t call me that anymore.”
“Copy.”
Awen walked to the far side of the room. There was a wide window about chest height that looked over the north coast. She rested her elbows on it and stared at the ocean, the waves shimmering in the purplish-white sunlight all the way to the horizon.
Say something, Adonis. Magnus walked through bits of stone and clumps of grass to stand beside Awen, mindful of how still she was. He’d never been one to think he understood the opposite sex. Hell, all of his relationships had ended pretty badly. Especially his marriage to Dani. He never knew what to say to her or how much to tell her. But in this particular moment—here with Awen—he actually felt that he knew what to say, like he knew what she was going through.
“I’m not a Marine anymore,” he said, his voice just above a whisper, almost lost in the sound of the wind.
Awen turned to face him. “What’d you say?”
Magnus cleared his throat. “I’m not a Marine anymore.”
“That’s a little melodramatic, isn’t it? At least, it’s presumptuous. You’ll get your name cleared. We’ll figure all this out.”
“No,” Magnus said, shaking his head. “It’s not even about that.” He tapped a finger just beside his right eye. “These… they’re not real anymore.”
“I… don’t understand.”
“That orbital strike that we survived on Oorajee blinded me. Abimbola had some bioteknia eyes that Valerie gave me. Surgery went well, apparently.”
“So… those aren’t your real eyes anymore?”
He sighed. “Nope.”
“Okay. So you have prosthetic eyes, what’s the big deal?”
“They’re a no-go in the Corps. Too easy to hack. Human biology may be old-fashioned, but it’s pretty hard to take over in battle. Tech like this is cool, but it makes you a liability. I’m out.”
“You’re saying you’ve been discharged?”
“Well, not officially, but… yeah. And even if I could clear my name, there’s no way they’d be interested in moving a finger once they found out I was no longer a viable asset. So, like I said, I’m not a Marine anymore.”
“But don’t you guys have that saying? ‘Once a Marine, always a Marine’?”
Magnus stared at her long enough that Awen eventually looked away. He didn’t mean to make her uncomfortable, but he didn’t have the energy to explain a Marine slogan that tore his heart in
two.
Awen played with a few strands of grass that had grown between cracks in the stone sill. “You’re trying to comfort me—is that it? Shared experiences, similar emotions?”
Magnus examined the windowsill. “Something like that. Why? Is it working?”
“No.” Awen hesitated. “Maybe.”
Magnus caught her smiling at the blades of grass. Something about the way her lips curled made him want to… Splick. He felt like he was in tertiary school again. He hadn’t felt anything toward a woman since Dani, then suddenly, Awen shows up on a mission gone sideways, and Valerie appears on a broken-down shuttle in the middle of nowhere. What is the deal?
Magnus was tired. He desperately needed rest. He needed a break from plotting and strategizing and trying to stay ten moves ahead of his enemies. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he was one move ahead at this point—he hardly knew what his side was doing, let alone what the enemy was up to. Still, coming here felt right. And being with Awen again was…
What is it, Adonis?
Good. It felt good. Like being with an old friend.
Even though you’ve known her for fewer than three weeks?
Combat forged strange bonds. And no matter what happened next, Magnus knew he was connected to Awen in ways he wouldn’t be able to describe. So he wouldn’t try. He would just be in the moment.
“Listen, I get feeling betrayed.” Magnus leaned against the stone ledge, looking out to the ocean. “And I get feeling disenfranchised, like you’ve been left behind or abandoned. Like the thing you joined isn’t what it once was. But you know what’s kept me going?”
Awen shook her head. Magnus thought he saw a tear slide down one side of her face.
“My next mission. This one, I mean. I’ve got a new unit.” He suppressed a chuckle. “Crazy as they are, and diverse as they are, I’m responsible for them now in some strange way. Humans, Jujari, a Miblimbian, a bunch of Marauders, bots, a little girl—”
“And me.” Awen looked at him, fighting back the tears that filled both eyes. “Don’t forget me.”
“Couldn’t if I tried.” He smiled at her as she held the floodwaters back. “When everything goes sideways, Awen, I’ve got you.”
“Thank you,” she mouthed.
The two of them rested against the ledge, watching the light grow long across the water. “We’re something new, you know,” Magnus said. “Something different. I doubt there’s any going back for either of us. So whatever this is, we gotta figure it out together. We make the best of what we have—we make it work. We train who we’ve got, and we get the job done. When it’s all over, if we survive it, then we can worry about putting things back together. But until then, we do this. We become who we need to be right now, and we stick together. That’s how we endure, that’s how we fight, that’s how we win.”
Awen didn’t say anything, but Magnus noticed her nodding out of the corner of his eye. His monologue had drained whatever energy reserves he had left. He felt spent. The loss of identity, the several near-death experiences, the energy needed to formulate a plan—it had all caught up with him.
Finally, Magnus lowered his head, feeling his body’s weight slump between his shoulders. Just as he did that, he felt Awen lean against him. Then her head rested on his shoulder armor. He thought that if he moved a muscle, she might jerk away, startled like some shy woodland creature. So he didn’t. He wanted the moment to last, fearing it might never happen again.
20
Nearly two days had passed before Piper was allowed to take the shuttle down to Nieth Tearness. She’d begged her mother to let her go at least a hundred times, but no matter how much she pleaded, Valerie didn’t budge. So Piper took to badgering TO-96 and Azelon instead. At least they didn’t ignore her but always offered some status update on Magnus and Awen’s progress, complete with pictures and “percentages of completion.”
When TO-96 had finally given the all-clear to Piper, she raced through the starship to find her mother. Valerie was in sick bay, as she always was, attending to Sootriman’s recovery. And for the first time, when Piper entered the medical unit, Sootriman was awake. Ezo stood on one side of her while Saasarr stood on the other.
“Well, hello there,” Sootriman said in a smooth voice. “You must be Piper.”
“And you’re Sootriman.” Piper froze, wide-eyed. Sootriman was quite possibly the biggest lady she’d ever seen. Beautiful. Powerful. “You look amazing.”
Sootriman laughed. “Thank you, Piper. You look lovely yourself.”
“Thanks.” Piper extended a hand and walked toward Sootriman. “Pleased to meet you.”
Sootriman reached down from her bed and took Piper’s hand. “And you.”
“You’ve been asleep for a while. Are you feeling better?”
“I am. Thank you for asking.”
“Everyone seemed very concerned for you and your recovery,” Piper said. “I think you must be very important.”
“No more than others.”
“Then maybe everyone just likes you. I can see why.”
Sootriman placed a hand on her chest and looked across the room at Valerie. “You have quite a wonderful girl here.”
“Thank you,” Valerie said. “Piper is special.”
“No more than others,” Piper replied. The adults laughed at that, but Piper didn’t see why it was funny. She turned to Sootriman. “Are you going to come down with us? To the planet’s surface, I mean? TO-96 and Azelon say Magnus and Awen are ready to have everyone else come down.”
“Magnus?” Sootriman looked at Ezo. “Who’s everyone else?”
“There’s a lot to explain.” Ezo looked at Piper. “We’ll be down once Sootriman is feeling more rested.”
“But she’s been asleep for days. I would be so rested right now if I were her. I’d be sick of resting, I think. It would be time to go outside and do something fun.”
“Okay, dear,” Valerie said, placing her hands on Piper’s shoulders and escorting her toward the door. “Let’s leave Sootriman alone.”
“And head to the surface?”
Valerie turned toward Sootriman.
“Got it covered,” Ezo said then proceeded to thank Valerie for all her help. “You get our little cadet to her new teacher. We’ll be down to join you in a day or two.”
“You’re sure?”
“From what I hear,” Sootriman said, “your care has been amazing. I think he can handle it from here.” She placed a hand on Ezo’s arm. “Just go be with your daughter.”
“Okay. We’ll see you planetside, then.”
“Bye, Sootriman,” Piper said with an emphatic wave. “See you soon!”
* * *
As the shuttle descended toward the landing zone—a small clearing outside the central hexagon—Piper’s heart raced. Base camp looked so exciting! Slate-blue tents with yellow markings were arranged in a pattern to one side of the hexagon, while the other side had several large tents and two open areas with strange-looking furniture in them. Portable light poles were spaced evenly throughout the camp, and Piper even thought she saw a place for a campfire with chairs around it.
Beyond the camp, bordering it on all sides, looked to be the ruins of an old town. The buildings were half hidden by vines and trees and grass, but she could still make out their shapes despite the forest’s attempts to swallow them up. Some buildings stood atop a small knoll to the town’s northern end. These buildings looked the most interesting to Piper. Then, several hundred meters past the edge of town, in all directions, the island dropped away toward the ocean far below. She couldn’t wait to explore this place! It looked so magical.
“Prepare for contact,” Nolan said from his seat behind the shuttle’s controls. “In three… two… one…”
Piper felt the shuttle lurch as it landed in the field beneath them.
“Touchdown,” Nolan said.
Piper clapped her hands then squeezed Talisman. She slid down the ladder into the cargo bay and ran toward the ramp.
Her boots tapped out a rhythm as she waited for Dutch to open the door.
“I wonder if someone’s excited,” Dutch said.
“I am, Miss Dutch, I really am!”
“Huh. That’s funny, because I really couldn’t tell.” Dutch smiled and pressed a large button on the hull’s side. A mechanism whined as a slit of light appeared near the ceiling then grew wider with each second that passed.
“Piper, wait for me,” her mother said. Piper glanced back at Valerie but only for a second—she was compelled to catch her first glimpse of this new world. She couldn’t miss a thing.
The tops of distant trees appeared, then the outline of some buildings, and then people’s heads. She saw Awen and Magnus and the rest of the Marines and Marauders who’d come down to help set up.
“Hello!” Piper said. Before the ramp was even all the way extended, she was bounding toward Awen.
“Piper,” her mother yelled.
“It’s okay,” Awen said, laughing as Piper approached her. At the last second, the ramp hit the ground and caused Piper to stumble. She would have hit the metal floor had Awen not scooped her up. “Gotcha.”
“Piper, you have to be more careful!” Valerie said as she trotted out of the shuttle.
“Thanks, Miss Awen,” Piper said, grinning at the Luma.
“No problem. But listen to your mother, okay?”
“Okay.”
“It’s good to have you both here,” Magnus said. “Can we show you around?”
“Please,” Valerie said. “Lead the way.”
Magnus and Awen took them into the barracks section. This was the first part Piper had noticed when they were landing.
“Each tent can hold four people,” Magnus explained. “They were built for Novia Minoosh, who were bigger than us, so originally, these were two-person tents. For you, however”—Magnus winked at Piper— “we’ve got one just for you and your mom.”
“Thanks, Mr. Lieutenant Magnus, sir!”
“You can just call me Magnus.”
“Okay, Mr. Lieutenant Magnus, sir,” Piper replied with a wide smile.
Ruins of the Galaxy Box Set: Books 1-6 Page 84
