After War (Revenge Squad Book 1)

by Tim C. Taylor

  Everyone laughed. Everyone except Silky. My wife looked away when I glanced at her, but I didn’t need to see her face to read her feelings. Her head was a complex mix of joy, amusement, satisfaction, and a heavily fortified zone of wariness.

  That will do for now, I told myself, and settled down for a very long journey.

  Looks like you weathered the storm, said Bahati after a while. She sounded awkward as if trying out new words.

  That’s the kind of philosophical drent that Sanaa says, I told her. Or Efia if the moralizing and philosophizing is going to involve pain.

  Bahati laughed. Guilty as charged. I’m filling in for Sanaa while she’s busy.

  Busy? She’s dead! What can she possibly be busy with? Is she doing her hair?

  She needs to apologize, explained Efia. Then she unexplained by adding: actually, she feels the need to apologize, which isn’t the same thing at all.

  I just had time to frown before my body drifted away from me and slumped against Nolog-Ndacu. From a great distance, I heard the Tallerman tell the others to let me sleep, but I knew sleep was not where I was headed. My first wife needed me.

  I smelled the toxic air of Aries-6 through the filter of my combat suit.

  Sanaa’s broken body lay at my feet, the light fading in her eyes.

  My memory had rolled forward beyond the point where I usually woke screaming. I shuddered to think what awaited me.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “I never told you I was pregnant.”

  I remembered the shock and surprise I had felt.

  “I worried that you would be so obsessively protective that you would get us all killed,” she explained. “I think I made the right call, Ndeki, but I’m sorry for it all the same.”

  She was pregnant!

  The ACE armored combat and environment suit had medical diagnostics aplenty; I just hadn’t been looking for the right data. I told Conteh to interface with her damaged suit.

  The baby was still alive. I had a daughter. We had a daughter, but her mother was dying. I pleaded with Conteh. Surely there was something I could do. I couldn’t imagine a more horrific act than cutting open my dying wife to extract our child, but I would do it without a moment’s hesitation. And Conteh would know how.

  But Conteh said no. He told me to leave it be.

  Even if I could bring the baby out it would be into a toxic world of caustic, choking death. Maybe if we were in a clean medical facility there would be a chance. Maybe. But not here.

  I floundered for a solution like a landed fish. But there was nothing.

  It is not an easy thing for an Assault Marine to sit idle and wait for events to take their course. We’re just not built that way. But to wait beside my wife and child as they slowly died was enough to drive me insane.

  It took five minutes for the life to leave Sanaa. I removed the gauntlet of my right hand and with my uncovered fingers, I closed her eyes, said a clumsy prayer, and then removed the front segments of her armor so I could place my palm on her belly where I could feel the little life inside her as it ebbed. She was a fighter, my daughter. I never named her, but that didn’t mean I wasn’t proud as hell, and I knew Sanaa would be too. She fought for nearly an hour. As my daughter struggled, my right hand burned in the corrosive smog of Aries-6, but I barely noticed. That was the least of my hurt.

  After that my memory blurred, going dark and silent. It wasn’t that the remembering ceased but that my memory after the moment my daughter left me was of sheer nothingness.

  Bahati had been with me throughout my reminiscence, and eventually she reached inside my void and placed a comforting hand on my shoulder.

  I could feel the truck once more, its wheels pounding along the track, but I kept my eyes closed. The dried tears had welded them closed in any case.

  Is that it? I asked my ghosts. Is that what’s been bugging my mind? Can I shoot people now?

  I don’t know, Efia replied. You’ve taken an important first step, but your mind is still a minefield of places it is not safe to go.

  You need help, said Bahati. You always did.

  Sanaa’s essence joined us. I know she was just a voice inside my head that had its origin in a lump in my spine, but her tears were real.

  And you have had help, Sanaa told me in a cracking voice. Since Bahati died, we’ve all done our best to fulfil our oaths, to keep you safe and alive. Open your eyes now, my love, and see. Look around. You have help in the real world now. You have a new family. A place to belong.

  Does that mean you’re leaving me now? I asked my ghosts.

  Sanaa sent in imaginary electric shock up my ass. Imaginary or not. I yelped as I half-jumped out of my seat.

  You should be so lucky, she said.

  “You all right?” asked a concerned César.

  “Yeah, I just… jolted awake, that’s all.”

  I looked around and realized Sanaa was right. Shahdi, Nolog, the mysterious César, and even Chikune – I did belong with these people who were looking at me with concern in their eyes. Especially the one sitting opposite. Silky was studying me with a peculiar expression I didn’t recognize. She must have had a blast of the upheavals going on in my psyche. Well, I decided, it’s only fair if she is as confused about me as I am over her. Our story was just getting going. Silky the alien with the lumpy head and Ndeki Joshua McCall, the old warrior with a mind like a minefield. We were a riddle that I was in no hurry to solve. There was a more pressing problem to address.

  “Looks like we have a lot of time to kill,” I announced to my friends. “Did I ever tell you about the Second Battle of Khallini?”

  There were a few good-natured groans, but Nolog set me up as my straight man.

  “I was not present,” said the alien. “Therefore your account will be both entertaining and educational. Scandalous, even, since I understand you fought on the side of the Empire. Please proceed.”

  I gave the alien a wink and began to recount my story, to share it with my friends.

  FOLLOW NJ McCALL IN REVENGE SQUAD

  REVENGE SQUAD Book2: HURT U BACK

  The first morning of NJ McCall’s posting to Port Zahir doesn’t start well. Revenge Squad Incorporated’s outpost is deserted, the police give him a serious shakedown, and he’s the target of religionist interference. But Fate has decided to take things easy on NJ for his first day, because it’s not until the afternoon that people start trying to kill him.

  ‘The Dresden Files’ meets ‘Firefly’ in this new series by bestselling author, Tim C. Taylor, set in the worlds of the Human Legion.

  The second Revenge Squad novel, Hurt U Back, is available now, a short novel of how much trouble one former Marine can get up to on his first day (spoiler: it’s a lot). Even better, if you enlist in the Legion then you can download the eBook for free directly to your device. Enlisted Legionaries get bonus material, updates and exclusive news through the Legion Bulletin. The eBook edition of Hurt U Back is only available to Legionaries; Amazon doesn’t stock it. If you prefer paperback, we’ve got you covered too. The paperback edition of Hurt U Back is available now from Amazon.

  Follow this link to JOIN THE LEGION and receive Hurt U Back, Demons of Kir-Lir (The Sleeping Legion prequel novella) and any other special downloads.

  Please note that if you have already enlisted in the Legion, you can see the links to download the latest free content at the bottom of the latest copy of the Legion Bulletin. If you can’t find the Bulletin in your inbox, check your spam filter. If all else fails, leave a comment on humanlegion.com or the Human Legion Facebook page and I’ll sort you out.

  Or, if you don’t want to enlist in the Legion, go forward to the next adventure in Port Zahir and SECOND STRIKE (available Spring 2017). Things are looking up for NJ McCall. He’s part of a close-knit team that knows how to deliver revenge to bad guys. What could possibly go wrong? Well, for a start, NJ picks a fight with the all-powerful Mayor of Port Zahir, he loses count of the people blackmailing him, and lurking in ev
ery shadow is a foul mutant known as the Grotesque who takes a very special interest in his wife.

  REVENGE: it’s a tough job, but somebody’s gotta deliver it.

  Visit humanlegion.com or subscribe to the site for the latest Revenge Squad news and more.

  Better still, you can also enlist in the Legion and receive the Legion Bulletin, and free downloads.

  Join the Legion!

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  (Winter 2016: The Sleeping Legion prequel novella: ‘The Demons of Kor-Lir’, Human Legion Book1: 'Marine Cadet', and Revenge Squad Book2: 'Hurt U Back')

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