They turned at the next intersection. Engstrom saw that the walls here were strafed with bullets, and spent bullets and drops of blood and ichor littered the floor. She stepped around fragments of chitinous bug shell.
"Kronos will listen to me," she said. "I have chits to play. My father is Commander Engstrom. I can make a call back to the Terra. I can get them to hold off on your sentence. Then we can get it reversed."
"I'm not taking any chances."
"You'll never change, will you?" She stopped at a doorway labeled Stairway. "Let's get Level 2."
Engstrom pushed open the doorway and stepped into the landing: a dozen guns pointed at her from the first landing of stairs. She raised her hands slowly.
Snake cursed behind her.
"Engstrom," a voice called out. "Thought you were bug food." Laughter rung out. "Put down your hands, Sarge, and come on up. We're going to need every soldier we can find."
Engstrom saw that it was Gomes. No longer in stasis. Her own team member that she left behind. He was the lucky one.
His smile faded when he saw how few members of Marine Team 6 came up the steps with Engstrom. "Where are the others?"
She shook her head.
"Damn. We'll pour a glass to the others later, but right now I'll run you to Kray. He's staging a counter attack."
"The bugs..."
"Yeah, they've overrun the Poros. We've got them contained on Level 3 but we don't know for how long. We're going to hit them with everything we got. We're going to show them what it's like to stand up to the Federated Space Marines. We're going to send those bugs back to the dark hole that they crawled out of."
She and the others followed Gomes up the steps to Level 2 and then he led them towards the mess hall where he said the others were gathered.
"Sorry about the stasis pit," muttered Engstrom.
Gomes glanced over his shoulder. "Looking at how few of the team survived I'd have to say I was lucky not to have gone into the Acheron. I should be the one thanking you."
"I made a mistake. I should have followed orders. I never should have gone in there."
"The bugs got out anyway. Makes no difference. We never should have answered that emergency beacon or at least isolated that ship. Kronos made a mistake. He's the one who's going to have to answer for all this in the end."
"Provided we survive."
"Sarge, we're marines. We survive. Against all odds, against all enemies, that's what we do. When have we ever fallen before?"
Engstrom nodded and bounced back a "hooyah" to him but she wondered. The Space Marines had never faced an enemy like this before. And it was not as if in the history of the Space Marines that entire squads or platoons had not gotten wiped out before the tide had turned. The dice on the Poros had not stopped rolling yet. Their fate had still not been decided.
The mess hall was packed with Marines. She guessed that there had to be about fifty of them, the remaining four teams and a handful of other unaffiliated men and women. They were prepping for battle, testing their weapons, adjusting armor, gathered around a holographic map that showed Level 3. Engstrom saw the clusters of dark marks, too many of them, what she could only imagine represented the bugs and where they were on the Poros. At least a hundred if not more. The odds were stacked against the marines.
Captain Kray tore himself away from the remaining sergeants, crossed the room with long, quick strides, and wrapped Engstrom in a tight hug. He smelled of gun grease and the stench of the bugs. He held her at arm's length and laughed.
His armor was stained with bug and human blood, and his left bracer had been singed as if he had been caught in a fire or explosion. One cheek was swollen just beneath his eye and his ear was covered crudely with electrical tape above a track of dried blood.
"Back from the dead?" he said loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. "Good to see you, soldier. Good to see you. Hope you're ready to dish out some whoop ass to these bugs."
A cry erupted from the gathered soldiers.
Engstrom surveyed the room. It looked like they had fought with the bugs already and come out relatively unscathed, or at least the damage had not been too bad. She wondered how many were too injured to gather here or how many had died. But she would ask later.
Kray led her and others to a table in the corner and listened to them tell their tale. Engstrom talked of going into the prison cells to rescue the men, the ambush, the meeting up with the prisoners, their first victories, and the bravery of Roy.
Kray listened quietly, nodding, taking it all in, then he turned to Snake.
"I got nothing to add. But I already did my turn with the marines. That didn't work out so well for me. And I am pretty sure I've got one of those big black dots by my name."
Kray laughed. "I don't think we want you back. A salvage pirate. A man who left the corps. But here's the thing. We need to borrow you. Help us retake Level Three. Flush the bugs out of the system."
"And what's the other choice?" asked Snake.
Engstrom did not like the direction this conversation was going. Snake was being too combative. He was not in a position to negotiate.
The smile on Kray's face disappeared. He lowered his voice. "No other choice. You join us or I shoot you in the head."
"You give me and my crew our freedom, we'll fight for you. Guarantee we can get back to the Phaethon."
Kray looked at Engstrom and then Snake. "Admiral Kronos sentenced you to Telemachus-4. I can't get him to reverse his word. I know the bastard too well."
Snake lowered his hand to touch the hilt of his gun.
Engstrom wanted to cover his hand in hers, to pull him aside, to warn him to go along with what Kray wanted for now. She would help him escape. She would honor her word even if it meant going against Kray and Kronos.
Kray lifted a palm. "I'll give you my word. You fight with us. You help us exterminate these bugs and I'll get you a clear path to the Phaethon, and probably a half hour head start. Does that work for you?"
Snake shook Kray's hand. "All I want is a chance. And that's better than where I was twenty-four hours ago."
"Let's get you properly armed then."
Kray led them to the side of the mess hall that opened to the service counters. But instead of bug porridge or gelatinous vegetables behind the counter, Engstrom saw guns. Stacks and stacks of guns, piles of armor, prods and nets.
"Booker," Kray said to the gaunt man standing behind the counter. "Get these soldiers suited up. We've got some fighting to do."
Engstrom went behind the counter and started looking through the weapons. "I need something that going to spit out some fire. You got anything like that, Booker?"
Half his face turned up in a smile. "I might have something that will do the trick for you." He rummaged through one of the boxes and pulled out a heavy-looking gun. "Part one," he said. Then he rolled out a cylindrical backpack. "This should give you some fried bugs."
The prisoners were busy armoring up, gathering weapons, and whispering among themselves. Fifi had claimed one of the bigger guns, one that was not recommended for use on the Poros for fear that it might actually tear a hole in the wall.
She saw Engstrom looking at her. "You don't worry. This one's for when I am surrounded by interior walls." Then she patted a slightly smaller rifle looped across her back. "And this one, for the rest of the time."
Crunch was squeezing into body armor. An assortment of handguns lay about his feet.
Snake was almost completely geared up. Like Engstrom, he had opted for a flamethrower, but he also had a pair of machetes and a pistol in his belt.
"Can I trust you?" asked Engstrom. "You'll walk with us?"
"I gave my word, didn't I? I'm not the one usually backing out a deal. I said we'd fight and we will. But first chance I get, we're back on the Phaethon."
"The bug threat might be greater than we anticipated."
"Not my problem."
"So you'll leave us?"
"I'm not going back in
to a stasis pit. Not going to die mining some desolate planet for the Federation. I'm never giving up my freedom."
"Soldiers!" Kray had leapt up onto one of the tables and waved a rifle over his head.
Engstrom turned back to Snake to challenge him but he had slipped away to huddle with Fifi and Crunch.
"Soldiers!" yelled Kray.
They howled back at him. Engstrom felt the hairs on the back of her neck lift and without meaning to, she joined in the howling.
"This is our time! Space Marines. Best of the best." Kray lowered his voice. He gazed across the gathered soldiers, slow enough that Engstrom was sure that he was talking to her, but then his eyes passed to the others in the room. "Between you and me, I think we have a little problem. A little bug problem. Cockroaches infesting our ship! Our ship, the Poros! Bugs! Are we going to stand idly by while these vermin infest our ship?"
"No, sir!"
"They've come for us. They attacked us. They drew first blood." His voice trailed and he let the silence grow. "But we are marines!" Spittle flew from his lips. "We are bug stompers! We don't back down for anyone. Especially not insects. Do we?"
"No, sir!" The room thundered with the voices.
"Who do we back down for?"
"No one, sir!"
"Who are we?"
"Bug stompers, sir!"
"Who are we?"
"Bug stompers!!!"
Engstrom could not suppress her smile. Energy surged through her limbs. She wanted to get out there and get revenge for her team. She wanted the walls painted in ochre blood. Bug juice everywhere.
"So gear up! Pack up that ammo! Get your game on! We've got some bug stomping to do!"
Kray pumped his fist in the air and his men and women howled at him.
A chant swelled among the soldiers. "Bug ... stompers! Bug ... stompers!"
Kray leapt from the table and the sea of soldiers parted before him. In the next moment, he was at the door, and the soldiers were charging down the hall after him, Engstrom swept up in the crowd, fueled by the strength of her brothers and sisters, ready to die for them.
Chapter Thirty-One
SNAKE WAS SWEPT up in the surging soldiers, bringing him along amidst their shouting and energy. It was almost infectious. But not quite. Because even as he charged down the hall with them, he wondered whether he should find Fifi and Crunch and peel off from the soldiers, slip into a doorway, and hide until silence filled the halls and then dash in the opposite direction towards the Phaethon.
While Kray had been given his rah-rah speech, Snake had Crunch hack into the operating system of the Poros, not far, but enough to generate a map and the location of the Phaethon. It was docked on the other side of the ship. Not a long ways away. A fairly straight shot.
But Snake did not turn for his ship. Instead he surged with the soldiers.
He did not know whether it was from the euphoria of being part of the force, or whether it was because he had made a promise and was loathe to break his word. It seemed equal parts and that bothered him. He had been done with the marines long ago, and to now feel a high from being among other soldiers annoyed him.
Either way, he was in for the ride now and he would see this out. He would honor his word and help fight off the bugs.
Crunch had found his way to his elbow. The throng of soldiers had slowed down now, the initial enthusiasm waning and the need for a more measured approach countering the emboldened charge.
"You think he'll keep his word?" he asked.
"We gotta trust that he will." The gun felt good in Snake's hand. Too comfortable as if he had never left the marines before, as if all these years that passed had not made a difference.
"I think we should run for the Phaethon."
The soldiers walked forward. He smelled the nervous sweat of the men and women around him. No words came out of their mouths as they moved into those places in their minds where they contemplated their own mortality.
"I made a promise," he said. "And I intend to uphold my word."
"I'll stick with you," said Crunch. "For now. But the going gets bad, I'm out of here. I'm not going to die for the Federation and I'm not going to go back into that stasis pod. Too pretty to lose everything."
"I don't intend on dying either."
Snake followed the soldiers as they wound their way back down the stairs to Level Three. He was not halfway down the flight of stairs when he heard the gunshots and the shouts of soldiers.
"Not too late to turn around now," grunted Crunch.
Snake tightened his grip on his weapon and pretended to not hear him. He felt his heart quicken and his feet suddenly grow heavy forcing him to take each step with careful deliberation. Behind him somewhere, one of the soldiers chatted nervously to himself. Another mumbled a prayer.
The soldiers pressed around him, the space tightening as they squeezed through the door. Crunch was wrong. Right now, shoulder-to-shoulder, with the other marines, it was too late to turn around. He was squeezed among a dozen soldiers, and a wave of panic shot up his spine and he had to muffle a sudden scream, and then he was through, breathing again, in the wide hall, the lights bright, almost painful to look at.
"Let's go! Let's go!" someone shouted, and he was swept up the mass of soldiers charging towards the voice.
Guns popped.
"Go, go, go."
He rounded a corner and saw the soldiers on the point battling bugs at an intersection ahead. The gunfire was overwhelming. Chitinous shells cracked open. Ochre blood painted the walls. High-pitched whirring and chittering filled Snake's ears.
The bugs suddenly scattered, retreating down the three other halls of the intersection.
"Marines, chase them down."
The soldiers charged.
It seemed unreal to Snake. Their first contact with the bugs and already the marines were turning the tide, forcing them back. Laughter escaped his lips. Maybe it was not so bad to be back with the marines.
Snake skidded to a stop at the intersection.
"Which way, captain?" Fifi asked. The gun in her arms hummed.
He stared at the weapon. "That thing's gotta weigh as much as you do."
"You know a girl and her guns."
Snake looked down each of the halls. Engstrom had gone down the one to the left.
"To the left," he said.
Fifi snickered.
"What?" he barked.
"Nothing. Nothing at all."
"It's not like that."
"I don't care. Let's go." Fifi darted past him, the gun reaching a fever pitch.
Snake hoped he was not too close to whatever she ended up shooting. He raced after her, with Crunch tagging along at their heels.
They found the marines battling again at another intersection and once again the bugs split.
Snake caught up with this team of marines before they split into three again. "They're breaking us up into smaller units. They're doing this on purpose."
"They're bugs," said one of the soldiers. "They can't think."
Engstrom took a shot down the hall at one of the slowly retreating bugs. "No. Snake's right. We stay together. We protect our backs. We hunt them down."
"How can we track them if they're splitting up?" the soldier asked.
"I'll paint them with a mark," said Fifi and she fired her gun down one of the halls. The blast knocked her from her feet, the hall exploded, and Snake covered his face from the fireball rushing at him.
But at the last moment it dissipated and the only effect was a sudden heat washing across his arms and face, and then that disappeared.
He stared down the hall.
The exoskeletons of the bugs were charred. One of them left a charcoal silhouette on the wall. Wisps of black smoke rose from the floor.
Snake squinted into the smoldering hall. Not a single bug remained.
Fifi picked herself up to her elbow and laughed. "See? I marked the bugs."
Another of the soldiers followed her lead and fired down
another hallway, again obliterating the bugs. But the remaining bugs, half a dozen of them fled down the remaining hall.
"What are we waiting for, soldiers?" asked Engstrom. "We've got bugs to stomp!"
They pursued the bugs for several more minutes never again getting a clear shot.
Engstrom forced them to double their pace.
"They're heading back towards the Acheron," said Snake.
"Fifi, don't shoot," warned Engstrom. "You hit one of the outer walls of the Poros and you risk blowing a hole in the hull. We'll be sucked out of the ship and die." She turned to the others. "Ceramic bullets and blades. Snake and I will light them up if we get close enough. Let's finish these bugs off."
They followed the trail of bugs down through the halls until once again they found themselves at the compression chamber. The bugs had somehow managed to open the door and filled the connector tube heading back towards the Acheron.
"Cockroaches going to get away from us," said Fifi.
"No, they're not," said Crunch. He attached his mobile keyboard to the port beneath the controls for the compression chamber.
"What are you doing there?" asked Snake. "I don't think I want to follow them back there. God only knows how many of them are over there now."
"Fifi's not the only one who can take out the bugs. Go look at the window."
Snake joined the other soldiers by the window.
The bugs filled the tube, pincers clacking, antenna waving. He could imagine the stinking bugs jeering at them after the raid on the Poros. Sure, maybe they had been beat back, but how many marines had they killed? And how many corpses of the prisoners did they have to feed on? They needed to do something more. The bugs needed to pay for all that they had done.
The wall shuddered and the soldiers as one jumped back.
"What the hell, Crunch?"
He pointed at the tube. He had disengaged the connector, undoing the seal. The bugs had no chance. The atmosphere sucked out of the tube and the bugs tumbled after them, arms waving, feet uselessly kicking.
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